Gotta keep on keepin’ on

Well, I don’t thing I prepared myself enough for the recovery part of surgery. This past week has been a lot harder than I was anticipating. Since my last post, there have been one too many breakdowns following along the lines of…“I just want a new nose!!!!”

Seriously, I’ve been breathing out of my mouth for a week. fml. It’s just a combination of things right now that is putting me on the verge of losing my dang mind. I have been stuck in this house for an entire week like a packrat, I am VERY antsy on account of I’m not allowed to exercise, Its been extremely hard to sleep so I have been weak and cranky, and I am just plain bored out of my mind!

Ahhh…sorry for the complete negativity, but that needed to get off my chest. Yep. So now that that little mini-rant is over, I shall move on.

First off, I wanted to show you all what I have been living on for the past week:

Thank God for this big fluffy cloud of comfort. I have to have my head elevated while sleeping for a while. By this point though, I miss my bed dearly….very very verrrrry much. I have seriously been on this chair for 98% of this week, haha.

Here’s my snuggle buddy:

She’s a sleepy-head, too.

How can you not smile at that face?? She has been by my side the whole time. :)

Okay, now I believe it is time for some food pics. Although I’ve been sleeping a lot, I have still found the time for some awesome eats, of course.

I bring you: Pink Juice!

Is that not pretty?! This juice contained:

• 1 beet
• 1 small apple
• 1 pear
• 1/2 cucumber

My favorite Amy’s burrito:

Hugh Jass salads:

lots and lots of fruit:

The last of Heather’s (from Heather Eats Almond Butter) peanut butter banana muffins:

Also eaten warmed, and crumbled on top of Oikos plain greek yogurt mixed with PB2:

I need to make some more of these muffins ASAP. These are for real the best muffins EVER. Make them, I tell you!!

Channa Masala!!!

Topped with greek yogurt and fresh cilantro. Holy Yum

for some odd reason, the chickpeas were hard. (TWSS) Wth? This was still good but I couldn’t get past the chickpeas…weird!

Now, I think Edward Cullen is calling my name, so I will be on my way. I hope you all have a wonderful night!

Love Kristi xoxo

Here is a great giveaway to check out:

http://luckytastebuds.wordpress.com/2009/06/16/big-lucky-giveaway/

I’m a couch potato

Hello my beautiful friends!

I am happy to report that everything went according to plan with my surgery on Friday! They got me right in for my procedure at 12:00. I had to fast before surgery, so it was definitely weird (and hard!) not eating breakfast in the morning!  I did make up for it with a pretty rockin’ b-fast the next day. More on that below. :)

I had a great staff on duty and they were all super nice and caring. The nervousness hit me on the drive to the hospital but once I got there, this staff made me feel much better and at ease. They did have some trouble with getting my IV in my arm…UGH…and I’ve got some pretty B.A. bruises to show for it. ;)  The last thing I remember was hopping onto the table…I don’t remember going to sleep at all. The surgery ended up being about an hour but we didn’t end up leaving for home until around 3 o’clock. I was so tired and loopy from the anesthesia so they kept me for a little while longer to let me wake up a little bit more before leaving. Once I was finally able to open my eyes, they gave me some applesauce to eat, followed by some pain meds. Then I came home and crashed for the rest of the day. And that is pretty much what I have been doing since then, too. I’m a couch potato…and I’m not afraid to admit it! :D

I have managed to eat some pretty delish foods though…here are some highlights:

My redeeming breakfast:

strawberry oatmeal pancakes with greek yogurt and almond butter. Perfection. I got this recipe out of my new magazine and I loved it. Tell me if you guys want me to post the recipe and I will next time!

For the first time I tried out a peanut butter cookie Larabar, thanks to Meg! This bar was def. nothing short of amazing. This is up there on my list of favorite Larabar flavors, for sure.

greek yogurt with PB2 mixed in. Nature’s Path flax granola and a figgie on top.

Giant green monster for some more glowin’ skin :) I got this HUGE mug at Walmart last week…and this giant green monster couldn’t even fill the whole thing up! This took me a good chunk of time to slurp down.

Here we have probably one of my favorite go-to dinners:

sweet potato fries, brussels, baked tofu

For dessert, I (well, my mom actually) was able to put together a creation I had been thinking about for a while now…homemade mint chocolate chip icrecream!

Oh Yes..that icecream is green monster style.

Here is what I used:

• 1/2 frozen banana
• couple frozen mango chunks
• 2 handfuls spinach
• unsweetened vanilla almond milk
• scoop of vanilla protein
• splash of mint extract
• dark chocolate chips

I blended everything besides the chocolate chips, in the Magic Bullet and set it in the freezer for about an hour. This was great!! Talk about healthy ice cream!

Well girls, its about time for me to take some more pain meds and hit the sack. Thank you all so much for the well wishes. I love you all!

New hair, blogger inspired meals, and surgery news

Is it Wednesday already?? The days (and weeks for that matter) are passing by so fast. Summer needs to slow down a bit!

Yesterday afternoon I went into the salon for work and also to get my hair done! Ok seriously…I pretty much love my job. Who can say that they got their hair done while at work?! :D I decided that I wanted to get some highlights for the summer and I also needed a trim. I took a pic right when I got home especially for you guys!

What do you think?

And now that I have that picture up…I have been thinking that all my green monster drinkin’ and homemade juices are making my face much brighter and clearer. I guess The Glow Challenge has another success!

Today I was up early and out the door to babysit again. I am also babysitting family #2 in a few hours this afternoon. Kids can definitely keep you busy, that is for sure! But there are also helping me rank in the money this summer!  Before I left this morning, I had a lovely summer breakfast inspired by the lovely Jenna!

1 cup of Quaker oatmeal squares with almond mil and fresh blueberries. I then topped it with a dollop of greek yogurt. It was divine. I used to eat this cereal all the time and totally forgot how much I loved it!

When I got home I made an awesome new lunch, this time inspired by my girl, Dulcie. 

I always see Dulcie featuring very drool-worthy lunchtime wraps filled with spinach wraps and melty cheese. I knew I needed to try this combo ASAP! So that is exactly what I did for lunch…but I also added a special ingredient:

This flavor is freakin’ AWESOME! Must have, for sure. For my wrap, I used my favorite Joseph’s lavish squares. I get these babies at Walmart and they rock. my. world. If you haven’t tried them, please do! They are the softest wraps I have EVER used! They use a mixture of flax, oat bran, and whole wheat to make them…so the nutritional stats are great!

I also had an orange on the side:

I can definitely see this lunch repeating a ton in the future. Delish.

Now before I go, I wanted to let you guys know about my upcoming surgery.  I have not mentioned it yet, but I went to see an ENT (ear, nose, and throat) doctor a few weeks ago and decided that I needed to have surgery to fix my allergy/nose/sickness problems that I have been having for what seems like forever now. The doctor took me to get a scan and see inside my sinuses. Apparently, I was all blocked up (sorry) and he basically was wondering how I could even breath at all. So we discussed it for quite a while and arranged for him to perform Sinus Surgery…this Friday. I am a bit nervous of course, because it is surgery, after all. But I am also very excited because I have high hopes that this could be the answer to all of my health problems. Once I recover, I will very possibly be able to run better, live happier, and not constantly get sick. I will be recovering most likely all next weak but I will definitely do a blog update as soon as I feel up to it, to let you all know how things went.The only downside is that my surgery is at noon on friday and I have to “fast” until then…which means no breakfast. :( I guess that is a good thing if that is all I’m worrying about though, haha! :D

Well I am off to grab a snack and get to some more babysitting. I hope you all have a wonderful day! Lots of love girlie girls :)

5k Race Recap

Hey guys! Happy Sunday!

Saturday was an amazing day for me. I woke up feeling much better than I had been feeling, and I knew there was nothing that was going to stand in the way of me racing. I got up at the crack of dawn to get ready for my race because the race was about an hour away from us and we wanted to get there early. I made a great pre-run breakfast to take with me and eat in the car on the way there:

(with a bite taken out of it…oops)

The race was held in a beautiful area and the run would take place right along a river. It was a gorgeous morning with perfect running weather.

My sister was there to support me:

Along with her boyfriend, Steven, and my mamma:

I was a tad bit excited, obviously.

Jessica was the lovely photographer for me:

You know I gotta throw some funny faces in there, too.

Here is everybody heading over to the starting line. I’ve got my pink ipod in and I’m ready to go! Note: I was definitely also sporting my Garmin, which is one the hand you can’t see.

One final stretch before taking off:

I loved every minute of this race and the time seriously just flew right by me. I talked with some runners along the way, jammed my ipod, and enjoyed the beautiful scenery. I feel so proud of myself for being able to do this. I would have NEVER thought I would be able to run 3.1 miles, let alone actually ENJOY it. Craziness! 

I was also a lot more wise on this race. I learned from my mistake on my last race that I need to start off slowly and get into a nice even pace so I don’t wear myself out within the first mile. On my first race, I dashed off full speed like a killer was chasing after me! But this is what it is all about…making mistakes and learning from them.

I was head to head with one guy at the very end. We were talking smack and challenging each other to race. It was a pretty funny way to end the race. :)

Here is a short video of me (and him) crossing the finish line:

We both ended up finishing at the same time: 29:07. Not bad for my first 5k! I was really trying not to focus on my time, and just focus on enjoying the run, but I did secretly have a goal of getting under 30 minutes..and I did it!

After I finished my run, I met back up with the fam and we all hung out, talked to other racers, and listened to the live band that was there! I also pet a few adorable dogs:

Ahhh, SO MUCH FURRY CUTENESS!!

This one decided to dress up for the occasion:

 

I am so glad to have running in my life. It has been a source of stress relief, it gives me time to myself to think, and a way to feel truly amazing. I have already started looking at upcoming races, so be ready for more race talk in the future!

I want  to thank all you for supporting me. I feel so blessed to have this blog and have made so many awesome friends in the process. I don’t know what I would do without you guys!

Race Stress

Hey ladies!! How is everyone’s hump day going? Good I hope!

Today I got up early and headed out for an early babysitting job. This time, it was only 1 kiddo; a cutie little girl named Kate. She is 1 1/2 years old and a little ball of fun! :)

For some reason, my alarm clock went off later than I had planned (how this happened, I still haven’t figured out), so I needed something quick for breakfast. I resorted to a good ol’ bowl of cold cereal. Perfect for Summer!

 

The mixture included included:

• 1/2 cup kashi go lean
• 1/2 cup kashi vive
• handful of PB Puffins (yay!)
• fresh blueberries and strawberries
• unsweetened vanilla almond breeze
• dollop of greek yog.

I was home just in time for lunch, but we are completely fresh out of bread and tortillas (gasp!). So I decided to make a Hugh Jass salad.

The star of my salad was this:

I also threw in some chickpeas, broccoli, cucumber, carrots, hummus, and crumbled kashi crackers. After I snapped this pic, I sliced up some strawberries and put them in there too!  A huge orange was also consumed.

So it seems like there is some sickness going around the blogworld…for the past couple of days I have been feeling downright lowsy! My nose has been so stuffed up that I had to go sleep in the living room recliner chair last night because I couldn’t breathe laying down in my bed. Ugh. And as the title of this post says, this has been causing me major race stress. My race is THIS Saturday. This couldn’t be a worse time to get sick and have no energy. This is really hard for me because I have been working so hard to increase my running endurance and I have finally started to feel ready for the race. And right now, running is the last think I want to do. I just feel like laying here on the couch and being lazy, because that is all I have the energy for. I’m not really sure what the best thing for me to do is.

Should I try to get in at least 1 more run before this Saturday or will I just make myself worse?

Sorry for the not so happy writing today, I’m just really stressing out about this because I have been looking forward to this race and want to be able to fully enjoy it.

Anyways, In an attempt to nourish myself back to health, I made a lovely juice this afternoon:

1 granny smith apple, 1/2 red bell pepper, 1 beet, 1 kale leave, and a few grapes (unpictured)

I also added a splash of Pom Juice. This was very refreshing and made me feel much better.

Well, now I think I will take advantage of my down-time and watch some lovely trash t.v. I believe Daisy of Love is on. :) To all of you who are feeling under the weather, I hope you feel much better ASAP! Bye girlies!

Dancing Mouses and Pom Wonderful product review!

So as I am typing this, there is currently a mouse dancing around in the kitchen!! Eeeeeeeek! Now I am all about loving animals, but this kind of stuff creeps me out! This one is a hyper little guy…he’s in there going full speed!

Anyways, I hope everyone’s week is off to a good start! This morning I managed to squeeze in a quick 2 mile run/1 mile walk before I headed out the door to go babysit. Since I haven’t gotten hired for another summer job like I was hoping, I will be taking care of some kiddos instead! There are two families that I occasionally babysit for. One of them has 3 kids and the has 4, so I definitely have my hands full but I always have a lot of fun as well. The moms are going to try and help me make some money this summer, which is so nice of them. I will be watching the kiddos probably 3-4 times a week. And as usual, I will continue to work at the hair salon on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

So night, I spent the evening watching the Mtv Movie Awards with some friends. I was mainly excited about the New Moon sneak peak, which looks SO.GOOD. I seriously can’t wait!!!

Here is some Monday eye candy for you all:

Looooooove him :)

Now, onto my Pom Wonderful review:

I was so excited when Molly, from a Pom Wonderful, contacted me to ask to send some pom juice my way. I more than happily accepted of course!

I was even more excited when the package arrived on my doorstep a few days later…

too excited to keep my eyes open, apparently. :)

there we go!

I brought the package in immediately opened it up. I love pomegranates so I has a pretty good feeling that I would like these. The first sip was tart and flavorful…I LOVED IT! If you like tart flavors, you should definitely try this stuff. I am going to be doing some experimenting with these because I’m sure it would be good mixed with a ton of different things. I’m also thinking about some pom slushies! Sounds like the perfect treat for summer time. My first impression of Pom Wonderful is definitely two thumbs up, so stay tuned for more pom-related things in the future. Thank you SO much Molly! P.S. Their customer service rocks! :D

I also have a few other yummy eats from the past few days to show:

Stove top oats with banana, blueberries, and greek yog:

Tofu and kale chips:

Chickpea salad:

pb and j roll up:

Quick and easy homemade ice cream!

 

I got this ice cream idea from the lovely Natalie! I made this with my Magic Bullet by combining 1/2 frozen banana, 1 scoop vanilla protein powder, 2 chunks frozen mango, and some almond milk. I gave it a whirl and stuck it in the freezer for about an hour. This was SO GOOD!! Not to mention easy and healthy!

Now I am going to get ready and head out with some friends for dinner and who knows what else. I hope you all have a fabulous Monday night!