Happy Dance

YES, Fitnessista, I’m doing the happy Friday dance!

This week has definitely been a change, as I started back to school on Tuesday. It felt so weird to be back!! It was really hard for me to get my brain back into “school mode” because I’m still in “summer mode!”

I’ve gotten used to going to sleep late and waking up late so my body is feeling pretty worn out by now, having to switch around those times. So I don’t know about all of you, but I am glad the weekend is here so that I can recuperate! this week has just kind of been a whirlwind of craziness. But I think that next week, everything will settle down and become more normal. For now though…TGIF!

 

On the eating front, I just finished off a lovely lunch, made from leftovers….the best thing for the lunches the next day!

Last night I made an awesome batch of whole wheat pizza, following Jenna’s Recipe. It was just as delish as last time. :)

So for lunch today, I had one of my FAVORITE salads ever…none other than…

Pizza Salad:

This was so so so so (so so so) GOOD! Here is what I used:

• 1 slice of leftover pizza, torn up
• spinach leaves
• broccoli slaw
• sliced grape tomatoes
• chopped onion
• tomato paste + garlic powder + sea salt + basil (for my dressing)

Fork lickin’ good

As for dessert, I munched on some yummy grapes:

 

Lately for dessert, I have been enjoying a very easy recipe from a fellow blogger, Carrots n Cake!

No Bake Peanut Butter Cookies!!!

I made these fabulous little cookies except that I used almond butter and about 1/2 the amount of agave nectar. They turned out very good!! Note: if you decrease the amount of agave nectar, like me, you will probably have to add in a bit of water otherwise they are pretty dry.

This recipe took my 5 minutes to make. So hurry up and make these babies ASAP!

On the the agenda for tonight is going to my high school’s football game. Even though i’m exhausted, one of the clubs I am in runs the concession stands, which means I will be helping out. Then I will most likely come home and crash out. Wild child, let me tell ya. ;)

What are YOUR weekend plans?

Boston Recap

Happy Monday!

Well, its that time of the year…Summer has come to an end and everyone is making their ways back to school. Where did the time go?!? It amazes me every time how fast the summer goes by.

Good Luck to everybody who started school today and those who will be starting soon!

Now, back to Bahhhston. I will just show you guys some of the highlights of the trip because I doubt any of you wants to see the 1,343,434 pictures that we took. ;)

Our plane left bright and early in the morning, and I was too excited to sleep very much at all the night before…so I caught up on some Zzz’s on the plane ride. Jessica caught me in the act:

I zonked out. hard.

We settled into our rooms,

and then set out to do a little exploring.

We walked right along the Boston Harbor, which was beautiful:

Then made our way to “Little Italy”, this cute downtown section made up of tons of delicious Italian restaurants and shops, and made a stop for dinner.

I honestly don’t even remember the name of the restaurant, but it fabulous none the less. :) My sister has been to Europe and she said that this place reminded her a lot of how Europe had been.

We came back to the hotel and hit the sack. We needed to be well rested for all of the exploring that would take place!

We got a great package on a trolley tour and basically took that around the city most of the days.

One day, we went to the Aquarium. I’m sure all know, after all of my zoo pics from St Louis, that I love any kind of animal attraction. So I was so excited to go to this.

Here are some of the cool animals we watched:

Jelly Fish!

 

PENQUINS!!!

fish that I wanted to take home:

Sea horse:

I snapped this next picture at just the right time, ahaha:

Here’s some shark action for you:

 

Moving on to my birthday celebration! It was awesome to spend my 17th birthday in Boston. Living in the small town that I do, I don’t have a whole lot of options for fun things to do. So I got a great recommendation for a place called Douzo, a fabulous sushi place!

This was my very first sushi experience! It was SO GOOD!!!

here are my sis and I waiting to get in:

 

FOOD!!!

I ordered the seaweed salad to start out with. I LOVE seaweed, so was very glad to see it on the menu. Then I ordered the Scorpion Roll for my main meal. It was a combo of crab, shrimp, cucumber, and avocado made with brown rice:

What a great birthday dinner. Sushi is officially my new best friend. :)

Now here is a look around the city:

And I could go on and on (and on and on) but I better stop there in an effort to prevent your boredom (if you even made it this far, haha)

Oh, I do have one other picture that you guys might find amusing.

It was hard to walk away and not buy that sweat shirt. hahaha

Home Sweet Home

Hey guys! I’m baaaack! :D

All in all, Boston was a blast. There is so much culture and history there and I learned/saw a ton of interesting stuff. But I am definitely so glad to be home and in my own bed. I am pretty exhausted and can’t wait for my head to hit my pillow and be able to recuperate from this week’s festivities. 

Tomorrow will definitely be a relax/catch up day, especially because it is my very last day of Summer. Ahhhh, the horror! I can’t even believe how extremely fast the summer went by this time around. I start school on Tuesday and it hasn’t even hit me yet. It’s going to be weird to have to get into a new routine again but I am ready to embrace the change. I am excited for what life has in store for me, so bring it on. :)

There WILL be a picture recap, but try as I might, my eyes refuse to stay open any longer, so that will have to wait until tomorrow. I was lucky enough to spend my birthday in Boston, so there will also be some pics from a very special birthday dinner!

Also, I will be slowly playing catch up with all of my lovely blogettes. I got a chance here and there to read some blogs on my phone, but near enough to get my daily dose! I can’t wait to see what has been happening up in Bloggy Land since I’ve been gone.

See you tomorrow for the recap!

~Kristi

Bean Town here I come

Well, I can’t believe it’s finally here, but I will soon be on my way to Boston! Unfortunately not for the Healthy Living Summit, but still, I’m excited. ;)

Our plane leaves bright and early Monday morning! The airport is an hour away from where we are so we will be driving over tonight and staying in a hotel right next to it tonight.

I am *almost* finished packing. I tried very hard to not procrastinate this time around and I feel like I did a pretty good job! I started packing the bulk of my stuff…clothes, shoes, etc a few nights ago and now all I have to pack is my bathroom stuff.

I woke up determined to make today a productive day since I still have a list of things to do before I leave tonight. So as soon as I woke up, I hit the treadmill for a quick interval run/walk to start my day out right. I felt so much better afterwards!

After my run I savored every sip of this lovely Green Monster as I won’t be able to have one for another whole week. Sigh.

It contained:

• 1 cup almond milk
• butt load of spinach
• 1 scoop of amazing grass, pom mango flavor
• 1 huge scoop of cocoa powder
• 1 frozen banana
• lots of ice

GM, you will be missed. *tear*

Yesterday while out at Target, picking up a few last minute things for the trip, I picked up this:

My first aluminum water bottle! It was too cute to say no to. ;) I have been wanting to make changes to live a more green lifestyle and I think that this is the perfect place to start. I will be taking this with me to Boston and will not be using a single plastic water bottle while I am there. Go me. :D

On the eating front, I promised more foodie pictures, so here is a glimpse at what I have been enjoying lately.

My latest yogurt mess concoction…Oikos plain greek yogurt with 2 tbsp PB2, Uncle Sams cereal, Annie’s Bunnies, and dried apricots:

Some juice made it’s way into my amazing grass shaker!

Tons of sammie combos and hugh jasses:

Eggstadas:

Stuffed bell peppers and green bean fries: (holy yum)

Recipe to come? I think so.

A new peanut butter…chocolate chip cookie dough, to be exact:

*drool*

Chocolate pudding:

I made this using Oikos greek yogurt (plain) and mixed in dark chocolate cocoa powder and stevia. Topped with a scoop of fro yo, naturally. ;)

And that’s all for now, folks! I’ve got to get my boot-ay in gear and get things done!

 

Adios for now!

Hum hum Hummus

Happy Hummus Day :D

Okay, I totally just made up that day, but it seems fitting since I have been eating my way through some serious hummus today. (and lately)

I owe a big thanks to Abby for hosting that awesome hummus giveaway, because somehow, even with my luck, I managed to win it!

Here is the package I received from Abby:

3 containers: red hot chili pepper, roasted garlic, and sundried tomato:

Mini hummus to go!

Cute note:

This stuff has got some awesome nutrition stats. It is super low calorie, which means I get to eat a LOT of it, hehe.

I’ve got to say, this is pretty tastey. (as if there was any doubt in my mind that I wouldn’t like it!)

I also picked up a spicy hummus trio at Sam’s last weekend!

Pretty, eh??

This stuff is super yummy and oh so creamy. Definitely recommend BOTH hummus brands! 

Another recent package was this:

Coconut Water!!!

This is my new love. I love drinking one of these babies right after a good workout. They are so refreshing.

I picked up one of these during vacation and have decided that I NEED to order a box of them ever since. So I did, haha. :)

 

benefits of coconut water:

* Coconut Water is better than processed baby milk- It contains lauric acid, which is present in human mother’s milk and benefits the immune system.

* keeps the body cool and at the proper temperature

* detoxify our bodies and fight viruses

* Full of natural sugars, salts, and vitamins to ward off fatigue

* has more electrolytes than leading sports drinks with 15 times the potassium

* has more potassium than 2 bananas!

*naturally replenishes your bodies fluids after exercise

* cleanse your digestive tract

*raise your metabolism, promote weight loss

*balance your PH and reduce risk of cancer

* Coconut water has 5mg of natural sugars where sports and energy drinks range from 10-25mg of altered sugars.

* Coconut water is very high in chloride at 118mg, compared to sports drinks at about 39mg. Chloride is one of the most important minerals in the blood, along with sodium, potassium, and calcium.

WOW!

That is some pretty good stuff right there, if you ask me. I bought this case off of Amazon, fyi.

And come I’m going to go for a late night summer time swim with friends…I can’t believe I will only be only be able to do it a few more times and then BAM. Summer’s going to be over! Wahhhh.

Night Everyone! <3

Race Time!

Hi guys!

Sorry my posting has been so sporadic lately. I promise to get back to lots of food filled yummy posts soon! :D

But first, I have a few pics of a race I ran in yesterday. This was kind of a last minute thing and I just decided to go for it. So that makes 2 5k races completed for me! Woot woot!

The race site was about an hour drive from me, so I set my alarm clock for a bright and early 5 o’clock. I have to admit, I wasn’t exactly excited when it went off in the morning. ;)

I whipped up a green monster to take on the road:

My pre-run mix contained:

• 1 cup almond milk
• 1/2 frozen banana
• 1/2 cup frozen mango
• 1 scoop pom mango amazing meal
• spinach
• 1 scoop dark chocolate cocoa powder

Mmmmmm. :)

And I packed this snacked for afterwards:

The coconut water tasted SO good after a nice run. It is so refreshing. You gotta try it, folks.

I have been continually running throughout the whole summer, but I would have to say that I was definitely more prepared for my last 5k. I remember not being so exhausted, like I was for this one. Don’t get me wrong, I did enjoy my run yesterday, but it was also a bit of a kick of a boot-ay…which we all need every know and then!

Also of note, this course was definitely NOT FLAT. In fact, the majority of it was up-hill and mannnn, could I feel it. And mannnn, do I feel it even more today. Ouch.

My mom was the photographer for these next couple of photos. I actually forgot my camera (gasp!) so she snapped these with her phone.

Around the 1/2 way point:

crossing the finish line…while I’m trying to grab my ipod earbud that is falling out:

My official race time: 28:27.

Not too shabby, in my book. :)

The best thing about the race?  FREE HATS!

And not just any hat, but pink ones! There were other colors, too, but I of course opted for the pink. ;)

The cap say “Did I Beat Don?” The whole race was about this hardcore runner named Don who is in his 90’s. He still runs all the time!! I just find that so amazing. He was a speedy one, that’s for sure. So you guys want to know whether I beat him or not, eh? Wellll…I let him win, okay? ;)

All in all, I’m glad I did this race. There is seriously no feeling like the feeling you get when you finish a race. I just love it, and with each race I do, the motivation for running starts up all over again. I’m so glad that I am strong and able to run…and I will be darn happy if I am in half as good of shape as Don in my 90’s. :)