healthy happy hour

The first cup is for the guest, the second for enjoyment, the third for the sword. - An old Arabic saying on coffee

That's right, pourin' one out for my homies this morning. Funny story. After my run and while making a morning protein-a-cinno, I checked Facebook while the blender mixed up my treat.  I found Facebook chat was open, which is odd as I never have it turned on, probably some Facebook software upgrade so I have to go re-do my settings again...

My favorite mug of all time, purchased at Vernazza in the Cinque Terre

To my delight, an old friend from Italia, Giovanni who speaks zero English, messaged me to come back to Parma and visit his cafe for a delicious cappuccino. Me speaking only a bit of Italian, and babble fish translating the rest, responded with what I think probably read to him in Italian: I go work now. Make coffee for myself. How is you? I miss you a lot. What I wanted to say: Getting ready for work, making some coffee but really missing the coffee from your cafe. I believe it translated awkwardly because he responded with 8,000 kisses emoticons. Whoopsies.

New obsession: love burritos.

Healthy Treats

I personally am a very big fan of treats.  I love snack food and could live off of snacks and never eat an entire meal.  Luckily my Tone It Up plan calls for little meals all day long and I can snack like a king.  It is my gigantic need for good snacks that has inspired today's post.  For quite some time I have been purchasing Kale snack chips from Whole Foods, but they are usually like $100 for one small pack (okay maybe $7.50 but still) so I was beyond delighted to find a kale chip recipe in my Tone It Up plan! 

Kale all dressed up, and in the oven we go.

I heart kale by the by.  I could eat it everyday and I actually probably do.  Yesterday I was in need of a snack to hold me over between lunch and dinner and decided to give baked kale chips a try.  I strayed from the TIU recipe just a bit and here is what I created:

Kale Cayenne in my Belly Chips:

• 1 1/2 cups of fresh kale (torn into "chip pieces")
• 1 Tbsp. of drizzle olive oil (probably could use 1/2 Tbsp., this was too much)
• A few shakes of cayenne pepper
• A few shakes of onion powder
• A few shakes of cumin
• A few pinches of Sea Salt
• Juice of 1 lime

Lined a baking sheet with foil and baked for 15 minutes.

Mmmm baked deliciousness! 

Nosh away I did! The verdict: I think I have found my new favorite snack, though next time I will definitely use less olive oil. And I am dying for a dehydrator because I think they would taste even mo bettah!

Very much not on the TIU plan: Carne Asada Tots (luckily I don't eat meat and was not tempted)

Did I mention I met my slo-pitch team before our game last night to watch the NBA finals?  Surrounded by big hungry men they ordered no less than 4 trays of Carne Asada Tots!  I am a vegetarian and sat happily full with kale chips in my belly, and a veggie patty on the way. Though I may have picked at one tot on the edge that never touched the meat...  Just one.  I also enjoyed a pear cider, just 2... 2 too many....  All the sugar from the 2 ciders really did not sit well with me and I did not wake up too happy this morning. 

Summa Summa Summa Time: Healthy Happy Hour Drinks!

My RA rattles every now and again when I eat things like sugar and basically anything white, so I was a bit achy this morning.  From my achy breaky bones, I started dreaming of healthy summer delights and so I thought I'd share my favs with you to wrap it all up!  I'd probably prefer to make every single recipe from the Fashionably Bombed girls, but their drinks tend to have a lot of sugar which does not sit well with me.  Not to mention is a leading culprit in hangovers!  So here are a few of my favorite summer healthy happy hour recipes!  Share 'em, enjoy 'em and love 'em in moderation.  xo

My best beezy whom we share the exact same tastes in food and cocktails and life!

Beezy Breezies

• 1 Shot Vodka
• 4 oz Water
• 1/2 Lime
• 70 calories of delish. P.S. These can get you quick, so probably just a couple and take it slow.

Grapefruit Drank Drank

• Juice of 2 Grapefruits (makes about 1 cup)
• 1 shot vodka
• 163 calories of refreshing deliciousness, and the best cocktail to escape the warm weather.

P.S. Got any healthy happy hour recipes? ALWAYS in need of more!

che sera sera... dance into the brightness.

Almost 2 months ago I looked deep at myself and decided to make some changes for the better, from the inside out. My Grandma Betty passed away shortly before this, and she really was one of the biggest influences in my life. On the day she passed, she made her bed, perfectly, after suffering a heart attack. I tell you this not to make you sad, but to help you understand my sense of elevating the life I was currently living. My life was wonderful but I wasn't holding myself to the standards I deserved. If I were my own boss, I should have been fired.

The lady of the hour!  She was so smokin' haute huh? 

This was a lady who was married to a man who would literally drive away from my high school softball games if I did not go 3 for 3 with a homerun, so to say my roots are tangled with high standards would be an understatement.  But that's always been a blessing and not a curse for my life, I simply needed to be reminded to honor them.  Since these two months have passed I have stuck to a few new good habits that have made a world of difference in my daily standards.

The trusted running partner, ready to turn in after 4 miles.

Today I am happy to report that though I am missing my granny, dearly, I am doing my best everyday to carry on a bit of her legacy of greatness.  In the hopes that someday my children (far far in the future) will inherit her creed to live everyday with love and laughter, balanced with a big heaping of hard work.  She could always hang her hat on a day to proud of, everyday.  Jackalope and I with our morning runs, healthier eating, and desire to treat everyone, including ourselves, with joy and respect are doing our best to do her proud.

Jackalope definitely has an insatiable appetite for food and life, similar to Grandma Betty's really...

So really, I hope you dance now and always.  To the day my Granny passed, she loved to dance.  In the privacy of her home she would shut her blinds, fire up some Michael Buble, and dance the hours away.  I think it brought her moments of happiness, memories of her childhood, and of my grandfather whom she was ready to dance with again.  She was always right about one thing, you can't help but smile when you dance, regardless of the moment it's held within.

Bottoms up Granny!

So here's a toast to my Grandma.  For teaching me to be great, reminding me to be good to myself and to spoil the ones I love with my love everyday, because life is simply too short and too fun.   And since you were always a fan of dressing to nines, and not a fan of my sloppy sweats, here's a little bit of the fashionable legacy you left in me.  We always loved us some bright colors and tribal threads.  Must be our Swedish roots?

Bright. Bold. Navajo. Summer. by whitneybenj

Have a great day.  Great week.  And dance away the summer.

small detour, big realization

"He that can have Patience, can have what he will." - Benjamin Franklin

Let's go let's go let's go let's goooo

Meet my morning running buddy equipped with a built in alarm clock! In the past two weeks buddy boy has grown very fond of our morning runs. So much that he starts barking promptly at 6:15 so we are out the door and on the move by 6:30. What a guy. He is a terrific running partner. He is faster than I am, gets distracted easily, and warns off anything that dares walk near us. What more could a gal truly ask for?

By 7:30am Jackalope is curled up in the laundry fresh out of the dryer and ready to reenter his slumber.

As devoted as this running buddy is, I still managed to take a small detour on my getting it right getting it tight mission. Why? I ate too much cheese, did not plan out my meals, and decided my weekend was fair game for all things sugar.

Exhibit A. caprese at 9pm on a Thursday... First wrong turn of the week. 

There is nothing wrong with a little caprese salad once and again.  But when you almost eat the entire log of mozarella at 9pm on a Thursday when you are in full blown bikini shape up mode, there's a small problem. It was like the gateway drug to my weekend of terrible food choices.

Exhibit B. Hello 1995 it's nice to see you again. 

You didn't hear slurpees were making a comeback? Well apparently they were. Granted it was 85 degrees and I ran 3 miles that morning... Ironically my 3 miles did not cancel out my slurpee, #hurtful. It wasn't really the slurpee that bothered me, it was the "why" behind my detour... I popped on the scale Saturday and it didn't budge from the week before. What gives, what's the point, self-loathing, terrible judgments of myself ensues.

Back on track side braid... Aka I had 5 minutes to get ready this morning... 

I wish I had the ability to just say "so what, it means nothing, and you worked your donk off this week". I am slowing trying to become that person who rolls with it with patience, faith and hard work, but my olden ways of self belittlement creeps in now and again. Nonetheless, this morning at 6:30 my running buddy and I were right back on track and ready to kick the ish out of this week. Before I started to write this post this morning I really thought, I guess I shouldn't post about my progress, or maybe I need to fudge the results a bit... I'm sorry, whaaaa? Who lies to themselves that extravagantly? It was just a flash thought but the fact that it was there frightened me.

Feeling a rut, I wore 2 lucky bracelets today just because. My Grandma's gold links, and my Marc Jacobs haute pink pretty little thing.

A ton of you have commented on my progress and have gone so far as to email me your praise and encouragement. I am super thankful for all of your thoughts and wishes. If it weren't for you lovelies holding me accountable, I'd probably be lying to myself and moving nowhere. Much love.

Equipped with two of my favorite bracelets and some tougher skin against myself, it's sure to be a better week. Isn't it amazing how a little fashion is a big pick-me-up sometimes?  Have a rockin' week. xo

Get Over It and Blog It

I am obsessed with health and fitness blogs, but it wasn't until recently that I realized why; I am living vicariously through the bloggers that I follow. They seem to have all the answers, they seem perfect, their lives seem easy, and above all they look healthy. A goal I believe every woman shares and envies of other women who have attained it. This has got me thinking... I can do this, I should do this, and starting now, I am officially doing it.

Julie from Peanut Butter Fingers

It's obvious

The women I follow are healthy, fit, and seemingly happy, if they weren't I probably would not be following them. I am intrigued by what they do, what they eat, how much they eat, how they work out and how their day went because, it's a life we'd all love to share.

It's not that complicated

The truth is my life is not that far off and I could be these women.  But I always look for the shortcut, give myself excuses, and tell myself daily that I am too fat to be healthy. I'd rather eat as little as possible and then bash myself later for not being the healthy weight I "should be". It's easy to do that.  There's no prep work needed, just don't eat that much, and tell yourself how much you suck later when you dip your chip into the cheese sauce.  

The lovelies I follow all work out in different ways, follow different diets and have a different approach to health. But they have one undeniable commonality that I am missing in my life, accountability. Accountability in the forms of daily food, exercise and even mood logs,  for all of the world to see.

It's time to get over it, it's time to blog and log it.

From this point on, I'm done complaining about my body, my big old donk, the fact that I have muscles left from college, and believing that I cannot ever have the body that I want.  I am going to keep a weekly fitness and food log for the world to see... Or at my Mom and Grandma, let's be real here... I'm also taking a stand for my happiness in this process. I'm going to plan a bit more, whine a lot less, and vow not to talk about how much my body sucks to anyone including myself. Here I go...

This Nike Ad makes my heart warm.

Day 1

The morning did not start off with my renewed sense of commitment to my health and more importantly my happiness, so please excuse today's recap:

Grub
Breakfast - Coffee with 1 tablespoon of Coconut Creamer
Lunch - Spinach salad - 2 cups of spinach, 1 roma tomatoe, 1/4 cup of aduki beans, 1 tsp of peanuts, olive oil and balsamic vinegar.
Snack - Handful of mixed nuts
Dinner - Chips full of cheese sauce, salsa, black beans and a glass of sangria (Post Savasana bliss at Baja Betty's guarantees a Baja Belly)
Dessert - 1/2 cup of Pinkberry (I felt so bloated and annoyed with myself I threw
away half of it.)

Sweat
Ran 2.5 miles
Hot Yoga - 1 hour

Rant
Over feeling bad about my body and making it up with boatloads of cheese dip. Tomorrow really is a new day for me...