weekend and superman

you guys

it's monday

but it's a holiday week

so let's all rejoice in that fact

if you're catching up from the weekend

i posted my 30 before 30

and showed you my typical grocery haul

and if i were anything like my neighbors i would have pictures of fireworks...

going off at 5pm on saturday...in the broad day light...

but i'm not...

i do have some of my eats from the weekend, though, to share

egg mcmuffin knock-off - bill proclaimed this being better than mcdonalds

 i got new vegan protein powder delivered...so i made a green cake batter smoothie - and it was tasty!

saturday's dinner was brought to us by the fine folks at whole foods - and their cheapest option of fish - sockeye salmon.  i was really eyeing some tequilla lime salmon burgers they had pre-made in the display - maybe next time

 i've never grilled fish (this summer is my first time ever owning a grill)

i youtubed a few videos before laying the filets over the coals

and i think i did an okay job - i overcooked it probably by a couple minutes - still edible, but it's hard to go from grilling chicken and trying to get it done whereas a little undoness with salmon is perfectly fine

i may get more adventurous with seasoning next time - i only added salt +pepper+1/2 tablespoon of butter per filet

i also charred some corn - rubbed with just a bit of olive oil and salt

and a side of skinny broccoli slaw

this meal was so good!

sunday was reward day, and bill's reward was seeing man of steel

we ended up seeing it in 3d since it was the earliest showing

we always go to the matinee - because we're cheap - and also because we got stuff to do the rest of the day!
 

we pretended these were complimentary clark kent glasses

ok, so i won't give away any spoilers

and i'm definitely not a superman geek die hard

but back in the day i loved me some smallville

 

and i'm pretty sure i wanted to make babies with tom welling

(side note - one of my good college friends and i would rent episodes from the local blockbuster (clearly before the time of hulu and netflix and amazon prime) and we would watch for hours on end lapping up all the cheesiness)

and even further back in the day





i watched a lot of lois and clark

and dean cain was 90's hot

so this was superman to me

i knew going into this movie that it was a "darker" side of superman

and i was ok with that - i loved all the batmans and i loved the spiderman most recent reboot

i loved the beginning and i loved the end of man of steel

but the whole middle - i completely hated

at one point i was thinking "i didn't see all of Thor (because i hated it too) but this would totally make a better Thor than the original one..."

the whole middle conflict and fight scenes - lost on me.

and since there was SO MUCH fight scene i start criticizing it all

so, superman is clearly distraught at one point, trying to save a family

but the whole prior scene they're flying through the city knocking over sky scrapers and bulldozing through parking garages - i'm supposed to believe that the hundreds of thousands of people trapped in there aren't dead/dying?  and now he's worried about 3 people who he doesn't even know?  or that everyone in the ENTIRE city was able to escape - save for 5 people he just ran in to?

i love a good storyline, and contrary to what it may seem, i do like a good fight scene.

but a fight scene cannot last an hour without some sort of meeting of the minds to devise a plan (i mean, ok, a plan is there, but the audience isn't like really in on it and they don't give much detail about it and there's not like this huge buildup of suspense to try and figure out what will happen, clearly superman will survive since it's the first movie in what will probably be at least a 3 movie franchise)

so before anyone is like "yeah, but that's kind of more like the original superman/comics" blah blah blah

i'm just saying, some of these action movies need like a really good editor to be like "listen producer/director man - blowing up all this stuff is cool, but we really need a but more substance in here to justify tearing down the whole city"

ok - rant over -

my reward for sticking with diet/exercise for 3 weeks?  was SUPPOSED to be froyo

i worked out saturday (twice) and not at all sunday - and after we ran errands on sunday i was STARVING and knew i needed FOOD before i touched froyo

and then we were at home for a late lunch, and i knew we weren't going to get back out for froyo

we could have, but i kind of felt guilty consuming extra calories on top of my daily allowance - even though for the week i netted plenty of extra calories - i just couldn't looking at the daily allowance

so even though i was all like "you eat whatever you want on your cheat day, girlfriend!" i'm totally re-thinking that since i have too much guilt

so no reward for me - YET!

i may switch out my reward for something i was eyeing at target this weekend...

the remaining hours of weekend were spent walking around the neighborhood and playing with woodford

 

 

it's the freakin weekend

happy friday!

i've taken a half day and am enjoying the rest of this kombucha out on the patio

can i also just say that i think my muffin top has shrunk, if ever so slightly?

it's a great way to start the weekend - indeed!

weekend plans are fairly minimal right now - except for the fact

i have crushed my 3 week goal of working out and sticking to a meal plan!

oh yeah!

hip hip!

i got this ya'll!

so what does that mean?

well it looks like bill's reward is to see the superman movie (and i guess i get to tag along)

and i get FROYO!  aww yeah.

i hate when people say don't treat yourself with food when you're dieting - you eat that ice cream on your reward day and you enjoy it!

just don't reward yourself daily...

so 3 weeks down but not done

i'll touch on my next goal monday - but it involves my lady crush jillian michaels.

i was pretty absent yesterdy on what i've been stuffing my face with - i was quite exhausted

but i managed to net 1400 calories - which is an improvement

that food looked like:

knock off sausage egg mcmuffin, cliff crunch granola bar, leftover channa masala, peanut butter pretzels, and tortellini with red sauce and parm

i think i'm going to grill some corn tonight - i have a hankerin'

enjoy your weekend!

 

today's eats

so my goal to net 1500 calories today

is kinda not happening - yet

i'm sitting at 947, and while i think my fitness pal overestimated my workouts by about 150 calories

i'm still way under

so right now i'm contemplating spoonfuls of peanut butter OR a smoothie. 

smoothie would be delicious, but peanut butter, also delicious, is so much easier, and clean up is basically licking the spoon and putting it back in the drawer

just kidding

so i apparently burned 748 calories - which was 50 minutes of elliptical as well as some weights

1700 calories consumed today look like:

 

 

top left to right: knock off egg mcmuffin, 2 servings of trader joe's peanut butter filled pretzels, turkey + cheese sammie

bottom left to right: KOMBUCHA! (my first fermented tea experiment), cliff crunch granola bars, and channa masala+jasmine rice

so it's not for lack of trying to eat throughout the day that i'm not netting enough calories

probably should amp up the veggie factor and eat something green - i just haven't been in the mood to eat salads

blah.  

and with that i guess i'll throw a handful of greens in the smoothie i'm about to make

have a goodnight!

 

summer solstice

(this post is all over the place - i'm clearly antsy for the weekend)

happy first day of summer!!!

i love picmonkey.

so how did i spend my first day of summer?

i woke up at 5:45 and kicked it on the elliptical!

 

30 minutes of hard hills and then 20 minutes of weights - shoulders and chest since i've really been concentrating on arms and legs and butt recently.

 

nothing too difficult - just sets of overhead presses and butterflies using 2 10 lb free weights

 

i think next week i'm going to try and do 1 set with the 20 lb weights

 

oh and we were watching an old season of the amazing race the whole while

 

oh oh- and while i finished up on the weights

 

bill was werkin it.

i've been trying to come home and do at least 20 more minutes on the elliptical everyday (and succeeding) and bill has been running 2-3 miles in the afternoon - i can't wait to be back out on the pavement with him!  it's so weird how sometimes i hate running so much in the act of doing it and after an extended break i really miss it.

moving on to last night's eats

no pictures, but bill already prepared some jasmine rice so i had a cup of rice + 1/2 cup of canned black beans topped with red chili sauce and 1/4 of an avocado - delish!

i also mustered up the energy to prep dinner for tonight!

i threw the ingredients into my stand mixer for pizza dough, let it rise, and then covered it and put it in the fridge for tonight

i always use this recipe from king arthur - and it's a sure fire - i substitute 3 cups of all purpose flour for their ap flour + semolina mixture (i've never even tried semolina but am tempted to pick some up) and i also omit the pizza dough flavor 

 

so all i will have to do when i get home is shape, top, and bake!

 

speaking of eats, i've been wrestling with the idea of going back to a vegetarian or vegan diet.  

 

i hate labeling my eating habits in such a way, because i seriously don't always care if there's fish sauce in my pad thai

 

but one thing i really liked about going vegan (for a year) is it made me pay attention to every single thing i bought (food wise - i still had leather products) and ate

i think vegans get a bad rap for being judgey, and it's less about animal rights (i do love me some animal rights) for me, and more about mass produced food and practices - and weird ingredients.

and also the perk of being more conscious of adding veggies to every meal

so while many of my meals will probably be vegan or vegetarian i'm going to slowly ease myself away from turkey sammies

changing gears again

i need some help with some laptop recommendations

i was kind of looking at the chromebooks - that are cloud based?

anyone use a chromebook?

 

and i don't think i'll spend my money on a macbook...even though i'm kind of lusting after one.

 

i would like to keep the price under $500

 

primary uses are blogging and photo editing

 

help?

 

"beauty" routine

oh hey hey hey!

i'm just sippin on my coffee trying to wake up from this morning's workout = just dance wii video game for 45 minutes

it was all for exercise and fun, but i was secretly trying to beat bill at every dance

and i did

and i'm gloating.

i was starving by the time i got to work to eat my breakfast

trader joe's strawberry greek yogurt (120 calories) topped with trader joe's breakfast trek mix (210 calories)

it went down way too quick.

last night i made a new to me recipe courtesy of two peas and their pod

southwestern pasta salad - they had me at avocado dressing.

my only substitution - i swapped out the buttermilk (didn't have any) for 1/2 Cup Almond Milk + 1/2 T white vinegar

YUMMMY!  i've packed a cup for lunch today as well, and per my calculations this recipes serves up between 400-700 calories depending on serving size - i'm erring on the conservative side and going with 700 calories for last night's dinner and today's lunch - all that lovely avocado is hard to resist

so other than my eats i thought i would share my paired down make up and hair routine now that i'm working out in the mornings

the last thing i want to do in the mornings in the summer is blow dry my hair and get sweaty all over again after my shower

it's unavoidable for me - the humidity leaks into the house and makes post showers feel like a sauna

so in an effort to keep feeling shower fresh and not sweaty

here's my minimalist routine

from left to right:

bare escentuals buxom lips in "ginger" , maybelline colossal mascara, physicians formula BB powder/bronzer, and my naturally fresh crystal deodorant

fresh clean face - right out of the shower - totally hot picture, no?

i also use one of these bad boys to keep my face/neck/shoulders feeling soft and smooth

i'm not quite sure how i survived without it in the past

once freshly scrubbed - i apply a basic moisturizer



i really like this brand - BONUS- it's not hard on the wallet

and then i sit, drink my coffee, and watch the today show about 10 minutes before i need to be out the door and in my car

with only a couple of minutes to spare (i NEED coffee and i NEED to enjoy the today show before i prepare for my commute!)

i go back in the bathroom and quickly brush BB bronzing powder all over my face

added bonus - it has sunscreen! (note, i couldn't find this product on the skin deep database, but i looked up those two active ingredients - titanium dioxide only has inhalation risks and doesn't absorb into the skin...so...don't inhale, and zinc oxide has low concerns)

then a sweep of mascara, and if i'm feeling extra fancy i put on some lip gloss...or some chapstick most days

yay - creepy work selfie!

my hair is in desperate need of a cut + some sort or curl product, but the <5 minute beauty routine is where it's at

especially if you have trouble waking up early for your workout

or insist on spending 30 minutes watching tv over actually getting ready.