un-bleched!

well, the workout did the trick. hey, look at me, two workout posts in a row! no, really, it did do the trick. I even made a new sticker for my calendar (I can't believe none of you have written me for one yet - it's so pretty, har har, knee slap).


see? right there, in the 28th box, is a pink heart with an S in it. S stands for strength. pink heart because it made me feel so much better about myself.

so, today, I did the 20 minutes of cardio. I'm not sure it was higher intensity than my usual, but I did the best I could. that meant 1 mile of jogging at 6mph, 1.0 incline (10 minutes), followed by 2 minutes of walking at 3mph, three sets of 1 minute run, 1 minute jog, then 2 minutes of jogging for the finish. all of that added up to 1.78 miles at 1.0 incline.

I recommend the strength program. it was short enough to couple with the cardio for a reasonable overall workout time (during work). I liked the moves - there was nothing really complicated, and little that made me feel really self-conscious in the gym (although there was only one other person there, so maybe that was why I felt so 'free'). oh, wait, the stability ball push-ups? ai-yi-yi! I nearly went flying during each set. I only did 5 per set...well, it gives me something to strive for.

the blech continued

no, I didn't go home and work out. instead, I went home and made dinner, hung out with John and Henry, and fell asleep with Obama on the tv.

so, crappy night of sleep, and I was CRABBY this morning! but I am going to turn it all around with a good work-out. on Kate's excellent advice, I went to Fitnessista's website, and found her "Intro to Iron Pumping" work-out plan. it's supposed to be coupled with 20 minutes of cardio (maybe higher intensity than usual cardio workouts), and there are three sessions, to be done on non-consecutive days, designed to work out 'synergistic' muscle sets.

I'm impressed by the Fitnessista's well-maintained website, but like Kate, I find it hard to relate to the raw-food fascination. there are a lot of raw foods I can't eat because I'm allergic to them. cooked, they're fine...but ingest them raw, and I stand the chance to go into some kind of air-choking shock (usually, they just make me really itchy). oh well, I suppose I'll never be crazy healthy. anyway, what I like about her website is all of the information she's got packed in. thanks, Kate!

I'm enough of a weight-lifting neophyte that I don't know what the exercise names really mean. Fitnessista has all of the items on her list linked to explanations. This is my list - I had to make drawings to help me remember.


see all those red faces on my calendar? next month is going to be a lot less angry looking.

frustration

I suppose that being a mother means that I can't always 'decide' what to do with my time. I was so excited to go to the gym today, but couldn't due to work & Henry (well, specifically, I don't want to leave John at home with Henry by himself any longer than I need to - it's not that he's an unfit parent; no, it's that he would kill me if I went to the gym, rather than come home right now). so sigh, I'm going to do my best to get a really good strength work-out in at home. hey, maybe this is a great opportunity for me to begin working on a workout that I feel good doing at home. I like to do yoga, but am generally too un-energetic for that.

look! an entry all about exercise!

on Monday, I ran a whole mile at once! it was a landmark! 6mph, and incline set to 1.0. after that mile, I did intervals of two minute jogs to one minute runs. I was beat after only 30 minutes (2.6 miles, I think), but still proud that I ran an entire mile at once. it used to be that I could not run for ages, then whip three out from the get-go. life is so different now!

my goal is to add to the one-mile-all-at-once every other day. that's my plan to stretch my actual jogging ability. otherwise, I will be doing intervals.

oh, and of course I will be working out with Jamie! I love those days, even though I sometimes want to throw up during the work outs.

"forbidden fruit makes many jams"

that's what I saw on a church sign today, as I was driving to my in-laws' house. Henry and I are sick, and they're taking care of us.

well, if forbidden fruit makes jams, then forbidden rice makes boss drool. that's what my boss was making lusty sounds about yesterday. ok, well, maybe it was the fish on top of the rice, but really, the cool thing about my lunch yesterday was the rice.


see? look at the rice, it's cool looking because it's purple. plus, the black rice is supposed to have many nutritive benefits. I think that mainly Koreans eat their rice this way, but maybe I say that because it happens to be a Korean brand? The package directions say to mix one part black rice into two parts white rice. I did it that way, and it was delicious. oh by the way, the black rice is called, forbidden rice. I'm not sure why.


I also had some miso soup with my lunch. I felt very sophisticated in my cube on Monday, really.


one thing that wasn't good about Monday's food choices was breakfast. don't get me wrong, I ate healthily, but I chose wrong. I put cottage cheese together with blueberries and granola. hey, they were all in the same bar, plus I always see cottage cheese with fruit in grocery stores. why the granola? it just looked aesthetically pleasing, see? pretty, right?


pretty gross! I didn't like it at all, but of course, I choked it down...after separating all of the ingredients and eating them separately.

by the way, I'm time warping back to the weekend for this post. It's been a while since I've posted, so I'm re-capping in the interest of divulging my true eating habits. John, Henry, and I went to H-Mart, a Korean grocery store (tiny mall) in Elkins Park, PA. there are other locations, but I haven't been to any of them. I LOVE going to Asian grocery stores, and H-Mart is great because it doesn't smell like an Asian grocery store! why do I love going to Asian grocery stores? maybe because I'd never find this at my local Thriftway. I didn't purchase a box of these, but considered it for a moment. they're seafood sausages which I think are to be eaten on the go?


Plus, H-Mart has a food court on the second level, where Henry discovered escalators, and I discovered that chicken and joy DO go together. I wasn't sure, but now I am.


oh yeah, and H-Mart features a "Paris Baguette" bakery. I stopped in and picked up some treats. I wasn't sure of what everything was, but I'm game that way. There was a chocolate croissant in the box too, but John snapped that up before I could manage the photo. yes, that is a hot dog wrapped in croissant pastry. that was for Henry, and he pretty much ate the hot dog out of the croissant.


Before going food shopping, we went food eating, of course. John was in the mood for a bowl of noodles, so we went to get some Pho (Vietnamese beef broth & rice noodle delight) in South Phila.

I'm sorry for taking such a graphic photo, I know there are those of you who can't "do noodles." I swear, they are so good! but of course, I'm still trying to be good (I only at a bite of each pastry, I swear), so I mostly drank my broth.


The pho restaurant we frequent is actually Henry's favorite dining establishment (aside from Sulimay's). here is he is, enjoying his meal. he prefers rice over noodles, and like me, loves a good broth. mostly he eats hoisin sauce. he uses a spoon to eat it. this kid would probably be happy if I bought him a salt lick for his birthday. hey, I could shape it like a cake.

I have lots to say, but I'll shorten it to this for now

my boss was drooling over my lunch today, and it made me uncomfortable. it was kind of a heavy breathing type of, "oh that looks good" comment that was repeated at least two or three times! I took photos of it, so I'll post them once I'm home, tonight. xo, e.

hm...

I'm not the only person who thinks of putting a shot of espresso into my green monster (a.k.a. greenie), am I? AM I?