Xterra Texas Trail Run Series

Check out this awesome runner!!!



Last weekend I was working a race for PowerBar and I was able to see quite a few spectacular runners. Two in particular were a couple of 10 year old girls that ran a 21k. Yep! A 21k! Not only did they finish it, but they took first and third for the women. Truly spectacular. The day started off a little yucky with a light rain, but the runners enjoyed the race and the weather right off the river at Cameron Park in Waco, TX. The 21k run was accompanied by a 5k as well as a kids fun run. It was exhilarating watching these runners from all age groups push their limits and reach their goals.

These two young girls have inspired me to run a 21k within the next year. Training will be tough, but completely possible.

Dangers at the gym!

I had my Monday dose of Zumba today and it was great, but I hurt myself during the abs class afterward.
You're thinking maybe I pulled a muscle? Nope. Maybe I strained my back? Nope again. I cut my ankle!



Leave it to me to hurt myself. We were working on our abdominals and I was using a resistance tube. When the instructor said to let go of one end of the tube I did, and ouch! It sliced a little bit of my ankle. I'm not a stranger to injury...trust me. I have fallen on and off a treadmill, dropped weights on my feet, and now this. You live and learn right? Well this won't stop me from exercising, although I will be more careful next time!
Do you have any gym or exercise related injuries?

Mmm salads!

First of all, I LOVE salads. Sometimes they are a bit healthier than others, but usually the more salads I eat the more weight I loose. Sounds like a game plan!
This is my salad tonight.



It is full of vegetables. I steamed a bag of mixed vegetables and added them on top of my organic spinach. Why spinach you ask? Well, it is my own preference because spinach is highly treated with pesticides and I'll like to keep those yucky chemicals out of my dinner. I also like using spinach instead of lettuce because spinach has folate which is beneficial against birth defects.

Here is a link to the dirty dozen. When possible (when our budget allows for it) I purchase these food as organic.

Back to the salad-there is also a red bell pepper (also organic), jicama, and some cucumber.

To include some protein in the mix I threw on a boiled egg and some bacon. I don't like bacon normally, but I enjoy it on my salads. One good nutritional tidbit about bacon is that it contains choline which is important for pregnant ladies.

Here lately I've been digging blue cheese dressing, and I found a reduced fat version from Wishbone. Yum yum!

Home!

Finally back home!  We went out of town for almost a week for a family member's funeral and although I enjoyed seeing the family, I'm glad I'm home.  Glad I'm back to my own kitchen!  We ate out almost every meal for 4 days.  That's 12 restaurant trips! Ughh..  And probably 12,000 calories.  It is really difficult to eat healthy while eating out, and even harder when others are eating unhealthy too.  I did make a few healthy decisions like baked and grilled chicken over fried chicken, and I passed the bacon and opted for BBQ beef. 

One restaurant that I haven't been to in a while what Jucy's Burger in Longview Texas.  It was tasty!  I didn't eat a burger because I don't like ground meat, but my husband and mother-in-law enjoyed theirs while the kids and I chomped on chicken.  The fries were from scratch, and although a little greasy, they had a good flavor. 

Another restaurant we had food from was Bodacious BBQ, also in Longview.  We've been there a few times over the years that I've known my husband and I'm not disapointed.  It's no Rudy's BBQ here in Austin, but it is mighty tasty.  I ate BBQ brisket 3 days in a row its that good!

The funeral service was beautiful, and I know it will take all of us a while to come to terms with what has happened, but I feel getting the family together was beficial for us all.

Yourshape fitness evolved 2012 review

I'm quite impressed. I always wonder how good an actual exercise game will be, especially after my experience with wii fit where I was greatly disappointed.


Yourshape fitness actually has an image of you, not a cartoon character. It calculates calories burned, although I do not trust their calculations. There are multiple levels of different exercises. For example, strength is split up into the different body parts which is then divided even more into multiple levels. It even advertises dance classes and up to 90 hours of workouts. I tried out the jump rope section, wall breaking section, as well as two strength sections. Not bad! This game is definitely geared to somebody who is just starting to exercise or wants a bit of variety in their routine.

Glad to be home!

I love visiting family, but am always happy to return home. Before leaving we went to our local YMCA and swam for a bit. Surprisingly the boys loved it! My oldest, who is 4, isn't a fan of water but my little man, 10 months, loves it. We bought new life jackets and hit the pool.

Upon arriving at my parent's house we soaked up a few rays while enjoying the nice Texas March weather!
J






Even though we enjoyed our visit, I'm glad o be sleeping in my own bed and going to the gym again. Yes, spring break is over, but we enjoy our day to day life!

My SunRype products came in!

We went out of town this weekend and while we were gone my SunRype stuff came in! Yeah!




I LOVE getting stuff in the mail, especially things I can share with others. How did you get these you might ask? Well, I became an active ambassador last year and have since signed up with SunRype to help promote their yummy fruit leathers.
They're quite tasty and like many other fruit leathers except you can break them apart much like Twizzlers pull and peels. For expect them to taste like candy or a super sweet snack though. It is a good amount of sweetness that will kick your sweet craving while not costing you tons of allowed calories. One serving of the strawberry banana flavor is 50 calories and provides 15% of your Vitamin A needs.
What is a must for eating healthy? Reading labels! When looking at this particular snack that way, it isn't too bad. The fruit leather contains fruit and vegetable purée and juice concentrates. No added sugar or artificial sweeteners, nuts, or gluten.

Of you'd like to try it out, comment below and send me your email address.

Lessons from a preschooler

The boys and I went to Target today, twice. We usually go at least once a week for something, and we always have the same routine. Walk in, get a snack, browse the cosmetics and kitchen areas, off to the toys, swing by the clothes, and end with the shoes. What can I say, we are creatures of habit. Today Braxton wanted every single toy he saw, which is also normal. He then told me, "Mom, I'm gonna ask Santa for these Legos for Christmas".Still...pretty routine. Then he saw the spiderman mask. He forgot about Santa. He forgot about the Legos. And he really thought I would cave and get him he mask. "Mean mom" you might say, but I say "no". I'm teaching him life long values about self control, money management, and budgeting. Braxton reluctantly put the mask back, and pouted until he saw the Imaginext dinosaur that he received for Christmas from Santa. So yes, I did good! Until I looked in our cart and noticed the tube off lipstick that I didn't need, because I have 10 others at home, the hair bands that will probably end up in my bathroom drawer, and the exercise video that I'll use for a few months until I'm bored. Hmmmm. Apparently I haven't taught myself the lessons that I'm trying to teach my son. :( I return the items to their proper place after prying Braxton from the toy section, and we both go home without junk. I know we made the right decision. Everybody needs self control and discipline in their lives. It is all about give and take, and I hope that my kiddos learn while they are young that we don't need lots of material things to make us happy, because we'll probably forget about them once out of sight...just like the spiderman mask!

Embracing the distant parking spots!

Today started off bad. Texas State University is a good college, but has major issues with parking. I spent 30 minutes looking for a parking spot and then ending up parking across campus and walking 1.5 miles to class. Needless to say I wasn't happy, especially since it was raining. However, I made the best of the situation. I was given 30 minutes of exercise! Yes I was hot and sweaty after walking to class, but I was able to exercise for 30 minutes without interruption. No hubby asking me to do something, crying baby, or demanding preschooler. I started to become very thankful for my 30 minutes to reflect on my day, plan my activities, and just enjoy being able to walk! So yes, I'm embracing my 1.5 mile trek to class and will do so twice a week until the beginning of May!

Welcome back oats!

The family and I headed to our local warehouse store and stocked up on a few things.

We only went for two items, bacon and tissues, but came out with a whole basket full. Most importantly we restocked my oatmeal supply! Of course that's what I had for breakfast this morning. I resorted to a staple of no sugar added oatmeal (oats + peanut butter + banana). Delicious!



The little one decided he wanted cottage cheese this morning, so pretty soon I'll be heading to the store to restock that too.


I'm a bit of a cottage cheese snob and really prefer Daisy cottage cheese, but if it isn't available I'll get the local HEB brand. Anybody else a brand snob on certain food items?

Making baby food

Baby food can be expensive! Little jars can be around a dollar for certain brands, and the two pack of plastic containers were $1.17 when I looked a few weeks ago. Sure a dollar doesn't seem like much, but my little guy eats about one little container at each meal. When you add the cost of formula the price drastically increases. Making your own baby food is a great way to keep costs down, while knowing exactly what goes into your little bundle of joy's tummy.

I decided to purée apricots the other day, and it was extremely easy. I put a very small pot of water on the stove and heated to a boil. I removed the pot from the heat and added dried apricot. After covering and letting it sit for a bit, to make sure the dried apricots absorbed the water, I placed the apricots and a bit of water into a small food chopper.


Depending on how smooth or thick you want your purée, you'll need to add some of the cooking water and purée a bit longer.


I only filled my little pot about half way with apricots, but it made quite a bit of food.



Another great point about storing puréed fruits is that you can freeze them for baby later on, or can cook with them. Apricot bread anyone Personally I wouldn't keep any frozen foods over 6 months.

On the search for inserts

Went on the search for sof soles today for the hubby. We went to the doctor a few weeks ago and he recommended the comfort soles by Sof sole that you heat in the oven and then place in your shoe. It should actually mold to the foot. Sounds pretty interesting, and so we were going to buy a pair and try them out. Well, it's impossible as they have been discontinued and replaced with a different style insole by Sof Sole

Has anybody tried these? I'd love some feedback before we purchase them.

While we were at Dick's sporting goods store we browsed around and my son wanted to get on "Daddy's bike".



So now it's two against one for the bike and I'm outnumbered. I do have a feeling that I will probably cave in the near future and get it.