Happy Independence Day!

Happy 4th of July from me and my favorite furry friend!

A quick recap of my week before it’s off to spend time with friends and family. (Note: “quick recap” equals approximately 100 photos)

Workout (Tuesday): Crosstraining day, today I did some incline walking!
Cross training is my least favorite kind of exercise to do (give me running or strength training any day!) but I know I need to get much better at it. The workout room in my building has a recumbent bike and I’ve tried it, but it definitely gets boring and my upper body feels neglected by sitting on a chair. I only really had one goal and that was to do 25-30 minutes of work. I did a 5 minute warmup at 3 mph and then did two minute intervals at different inclines until I had completed 25 minute. Kept my pace between 3.5-3.7mph and my inclines were all over the place (something like 3.0, 9.0, 2.0, 10.0, etc). I got a good sweat in!

Wednesday: Came home and ran 2 miles outside before hanging out with two of my friends from home. Avg Pace 9:38.
That run was all about trying to hold a consistent pace. Pace consistency: eh. Weather and view of lake by home: gorgeous

Thursday: 30 minute interval ride on my parent’s stationary bike.
This was a cross-training day and definitely a sweat fest! I’ve realized if it’s not running I really like to get super sweaty when I do cardio. It’s the only way it feels worth it.

Delicious meals from the week!
Tuesday: Got dinner with a girlfriend from college and it was back to Del Seoul. This time I got the BBQ pork sandwich. Really good but I like the shrimp better.

And we split Kimchi fries. PHENOM.

Today it was a walk with my two favorite things:

(She officially has cancer that will be terminal one day, so understand that there will be 8475840 pictures of her every time I visit my parents.) Fun fact: I like to wear (but not work out in) my mom’s work out clothes when I’m home because she always has something new and adorable. Like that long sleeved top.

Then a cup of red, white, and blue fruit!

(Strawberries, white peaches, blueberries. All super ripe!)

And a protein pancake, with some sunflower seeds and blueberries in the batter. Both a delicious addition to the texture!

(Pre-flip. That’s always when the massacre happens. Maybe I should make smaller pancakes. But probably not.)

And I may have topped it with peanut butter and nutella. What of it? I can’t always be healthy.

What plans have you got for the weekend?!

Three things Thursday (belated)

Yesterday’s 3 things were all about good/better/best decisions I’ve made. They also sort of roll over into today as well.

1) Dinner was the same sandwich as yesterday, just half the portion. My lunch left me very full. I also bought some Hershey’s Drops yesterday and had some for dessert. Very good decision.

(Don’t let me fool you. I had much more than the few in my hand)

2) My friend Katie and I have been trying to hang out for weeks but we haven’t been able to coordinate free nights. Yesterday we were supposed to get together for a little wine but, yet again, our to-do lists got the best of us. Last minute we realized we’re both doing the same things at our apartments (laundry and wine) do we created our own virtual girl’s night! Yes, it’s real nerdy, but we needed the girls time. Seriously, don’t know what I would do without my girlfriends(/what I would do if they though things like virtual girl’s nights were weird and not hilarious).

There’s Katie sending her cheers in her über cute wine glass. Naturally I had I send one back.

No, I’m not double fisting red wine. This time. My sister joined in the fun.
This falls under the “better decision” part of last night.

3) Sleeping in, stretching, and taking a break from running yesterday was definitely the best decision. My aches are gone and I had an awesome treadmill incline walk/run that I’ll tell you all about later. I even had time to have breakfast at my second home favorite establishment.

Drink du jour: nonfat latte with one pump of hazelnut, with some overnight oats and a banana I ate right after my workout. And PS: Trader Joe’s mango Greek yogurt is kind of bomb.

Question: best decision you made yesterday? Favorite thing to do with your girlfriends? (Or guy friends, for my male readers)

Quinoa Suggestions

Got a short but sweet post for the day. It was uneventful but I’m really curious about your feedback!

Workout: After the intense weekend I wanted to take a quick break from running so I did PBFinger’s 25-minute Treadmill Walking Workout. I’ve done this one  a few times and I love how fast and intense it is. Then I re-did Saturday’s ab circuit as quickly as I could and it felt awesome! I think I’ll be good for about 2 or 3 more days before I need to start thinking of new workouts.

Breakfast: Cranberry Cashew Granola cereal with blueberries and almonds with some half vanilla soy milk, and a banana. Blender bottles are soooooo convenient.

My spoon even fits into it when I’m done! One container breakfast=less to clean.

Dinner: leftover salmon from a few days ago. I also have so many leftovers from this weekend to get through. (Though I will admit I’m really excited to start cooking again.)

Question: Do you have any favorite quinoa recipes??? I bought a bag of it this weekend and I have no idea what dishes to make with it! Please please comment with any suggestions. I am the least picky eater either!

[Help me, I need a recipe to call home!!!!]