Dreams & Last Night's Dinner

I've been having strange, memorable dreams lately.  I go through periods of this from time to time.  No, I'm not pregnant.  Example - my SIL went to Germany yesterday for business.  She goes twice a year.  I knew she was going, ok no biggie, so one of my dreams last night was that I was going to Germany and I remember in my dream writing a Facebook status "GERMANY!"  It's often times things that are in the back of my mind and I'm sure subconsciously I think about them.

My crazy coworker was telling us this insane, sad story about how years ago, his cat got out of his apartment and someone killed it and left it on his doorstep!  Well obviously that was disturbing, so that night I had a dream that someone set our dogs bed on fire.  Ugh.  I find that this usually happens when I sleep for a long time.  Long meaning around 10 pm - 6:45 am.  Not that that's excessively long but it's close to 9 hours.  I should try to stay awake until 11.

Has this ever happened to you?

Last night we watched the movie "Flight" with Denzel Washington.  I thought it was good.  I don't think he's ever been in a "bad" movie.

I was supposed to make these for dinner on Sunday but we got tied up with something so my MIL cooked for us that night and I saved this recipe for last night.  Turkey & quinoa stuffed peppers.

1. Preheat oven to 350.

2. Sautee 4 cloves chopped garlic, half of a chopped vidalia onion, and the tops of the peppers (chopped) in olive oil for about 10 minutes.  While that's cooking, you can de-seed the peppers.  The recipe called for 6 peppers but I only had 3, so the leftover quinoa turkey mixture can just be had by itself.

3. Next, add 1 lb lean ground turkey, 6 oz tomato paste, 14 oz diced tomatoes to the garlic/onion/pepper mixture.  Cook for 5 minutes.



4.  Add the cooked quinoa (1 cup uncooked, boiled in 2 cups chicken stock and simmered for 15 minutes).  Mix thoroughly and then fill each pepper with the mixture.  Bake for 30 minutes.

5.  Enjoy!

Damned scale!

I know the number on the scale doesn't always mean everything but the last month or so, I've been fluctuating between 145 and 150.  I'm not sure what else to do.  I got a coupon for hot yoga - 12 classes for $12 but with that sort of deal, the classes are probably going to be super crowded.  I haven't done Jillian Michael's DVDs in a while so maybe I'll do that on the cross training days.  I already drive myself bonkers with food shopping almost weekly, prepping and planning *healthy* meals for the week.  Just frustrating but oh well.

Some nights, like last night, I simply do not have time to exercise.  I don't like excuses either.  I guess I COULD get up an hour earlier which would mean 5:40 :(

With the half marathon training starting today, I guess I might have to get up earlier on days that I work until 10 pm.  Here's the schedule I'm following:

Unfortunately, the first couple of weeks might be on the treadmill... until it stays light until 6:30 or so.  I haven't jogged alone in the dark and I don't have any reflective gear yet.  I'm not even sure I'm comfortable going to the track alone at night.  Saro has work until 10:00 tonight so he ran last night.

Well, here goes nothin'!

Lazy weekend, Day off, Nemo

We got out of work early on Friday, around 2, when the snow was starting to stick.  I work near NYC so it's usually a little warmer over there.  By the time I got home though (about 25 miles northwest), we had 4 inches on the ground.  We did a little shoveling but not much.  We took Murphy to the park and he REALLY loved it. 

I prepped a french toast bake for Saturday morning and we had chili for dinner.

We ended up getting about a foot of snow by Saturday morning.  It took us 3 hours to dig out.  Good work out!  After that, we went to my Mom's to help her out too.  We went out to lunch and grocery shopped.  I made a spinach crust pizza for dinner.  It came out really good!  Two cups of chopped spinach blended with 2 eggs, spread out on parchment paper, bake at 425 degrees for 15 minutes.  Add whatever toppings you like (we used sauteed onions and peppers, roasted garlic and a little parmesan) and broil on high for 5 minutes.

Have a good day!

Snowy Friday

TGIF!  We are expecting a huge Nor'Easter here in NJ starting today into tomorrow.  I love big snow storms!  Let us just hope we don't lose power.  The only problem is that we disconnected cable TV (we're going on my MIL's account - she lives upstairs) so we won't have TV until Sunday.. LOL.  We can always go upstairs though.  Or I can pop in Jillian Michael's DVDs!  Ha.  We can watch shows on the iPad too!

They're predicting 1-2 inches of snow per hour for 10-12 hours tonight.  Eek.  I can't wait to let Murphy play in it!

Overall the cleanse was good.  I feel like my stomach shrunk but I didn't see any changes on the scale :(  TMI - blaming it on the time of the month.  I would definitely do it again next month but not during that same time.  Oof.

Have a great weekend!

Cleanse - Day Two

All in all, yesterday wasn't terrible.  I consumed about 700 calories.  This morning I woke up with a headache, I believe due to lack of coffee yesterday.  So today I am having the coffee!  Long day ahead and I don't want to have a headache all day.  I guess this stuff really is addicting.. eek.  I only drink 1 cup in the morning!  Anyway, I packed sliced cucumbers and blanched asparagus (with greek yogurt/mustard dip) for snacks.  YUM! :)

As for the 5K planned for Saturday, I'm almost positive it'll be cancelled due to this impending Nor'easter.  Ugh.  I took the day off and was really looking forward to it.  The weather keeps changing so who knows.. maybe if we get a few inches of snow they'll still have it!  I love snow so I'm kind of looking forward to it.

Last night, I worked at my part time job with my "sister."  No lie, almost every time we work together, a customer or even an associate asks if we're sisters.  We smile and say "no" but we should probably just go along with it and say yes ;)  This was us at Christmas time:

Two Day Cleanse & Back Problems

Last night I did two miles on the treadmill at 6 MPH or 10 min/mi.  I also did some core/yoga/pilates for about 20 minutes.  I woke up this morning with severe upper back pain and my ankle feeling a little "off."  This is odd because I didn't try anything new last night.  Hmm.  The 5K is on Saturday (if weather permits - I'm hearing about a nor'easter!).  So until then, I'm not exercising.  Not going to lie, I kind of want a big storm!  Although I'd prefer if it was during the week so I could work from home - ha!

Plus, my friend and I are doing a two day cleanse so too much exercise isn't necessary.  It's not a juice cleanse but still pretty low calorie.  I had my "normal" shake this morning (which is funny because the cleanse calls for a similar shake) and am already starting to feel hungry :-/  Normally around 10:30, I have an apple.  Sometimes with peanut butter, sometimes without.  Today's snack is cucumber slices with green tea.  Yum!  Lol.  I'll be busy today, since I'm working tonight.  However, working in a supermarket isn't always easy when you're hungry or craving something.  I like this cleanse beacuse you can still have some protein. 

Murphy (the dog) needed some shots, so last night I took him to the vet.  For the most part, he was very good, even for the Bortadella shot (which they spray up their nose).  He's a pretty nervous dog but after a while, he warms up to people.  When he sees me, Saro, my mom or Saro's mom, he knows us so he immediately gets excited and tries to jump on us.  Other people, not so much lol.  He was pretty sleepy afterwards:

Today he's at camp.  A little blurry but here he is playing with the other dogs!

Wear Red Day & Casual Friday

I work for a pretty big company and we don't get to wear jeans every Friday but when we can, I definitely take advantage.  Today is the 7th Annual Wear Red Day for the AHA (American Heart Association).  They ask for a $5 donation to the AHA in order to wear jeans.  This morning I realized I didn't have any red tops to wear!  So I went with dark jeans and a pink & grey striped shirt.

I don't really like getting dressed up for work, mainly because I need some new dressy clothes.  But, it's just not in the budget, especially now.  Exciting things happening this year and next, to be discussed later.  I'm going to shop around to see if I can find a coupon for Express or something.

Tonight we don't have plans as of yet.  Tomorrow I'm working and then celebrating a friends birthday at a Cuban restaurant.  Cuban food + mojitos = yummy but eek.  I'll have a light breakfast and lunch.

Sunday is the Superbowl.....don't really care about it unless I win in the pool I'm in :)  I'm gonna go with SF since I love the city - LOL.  I think we'll probably just end up stopping by my Uncle's for a bit.

I'm looking forward to a day off on the 18th and the 27th.  The 18th is Presidents Day and back to my window treatment debacle, a company is coming to give an estimate.  I'll probably tell them to go kick rocks when I get the price, ha.  The 27th, I'm going to see an acupunturist/holistic dr. down the shore.

I've been on birth control since I was 16 (not for THAT reason) but for another reason.  I stopped getting my period at 16 and was diagnosed with premature menopause.  Yup, at 16.  Hot flashes, night sweats, the whole nine.  I'm 29 now.  I have mixed feelings about it and won't get into it too much but basically I want to see if there are other options besides remaining on BC for the next 30 years (which my gyno recommends - until the "normal" menopausal age).  She says I need the hormones.  Eh, we'll see about that.  The BC is probably what's keeping on the last 10 lbs I want to lose, too!

Hope you all have a great weekend!