Hey guys! How are y’all? I feel a massive weight lifted off of my shoulders: I made a doctor’s appointment today to have my knee checked out. Come lunchtime on Thursday I should have an inkling of what’s going on in there!
Today I’ve eat 2 bowls of food that have kept me positively stuffed all.day.long! First my quinoa cereal this morning, and then at lunch I had a makeshift mole bowl with some leftovers from last night:
The base is about 1/3 cup brown rice, 2 Tbsp black beans (that’s what we had leftover), 2 cups fresh spinach, 1 small sweet potato (cooked in the microwave then chopped), topped with mole sauce, shredded carrots, and the last of the chopped avocado salsa. It was SO good, but I only was able to eat 3/4 of it! I also drank a ton of water, so by the time I was done with lunch I was feeling like this:
My dogs are so funny…Bunker thinks he’s just too cool and Keira craves attention. The thing is, if you give Keira attention, Bunker’s coolness snaps and he climbs in your lap. That’s right, 100 lbs of of lab in your lap. Thank goodness Nate was there to document!
Of course Keira needed some camera lovin’ too! She loves and hates it when you blow on her face!
Sweet girl 🙂
Bye dad!
Oh! I don’t know why/how I forgot, but Nate designed some business cards for me for the blog! Cute, right? (This also displays my Butterfinger egg and sugar-free LifeSaver I had to satisfy the sweet tooth!)
About halfway through the day I got an email saying I had a box at the front desk…turns out it was the goody bag I won from Ashley at Healthier Happier Bear!
It’s FILLED with goodies like Aveeno Nourish and Condition Leave In Treatment, Clean Simply Soap, Vichy Liftactive Retinol HA Eyes, Dr. Loretta Youth Fill, Mirabella Lipstick, Suave DamageCare Shampoo, Memoire Liquie Eau de Parfum, Sonia Kashuk Lip Crayon, ELF Eyebrow Treat & Tame, Lancome La Laque Fever Lasting Lip Color, Kahina Eye Serum, Geri G Cosmetics Mixer Kit, Issey Miyake Eau de Toilette, and a TON more! Nate and I are going to dig through it more when we get home 🙂 Thank you so much Ashley!
And now, in recognition of an afternoon surprise, a portrait of a cupcake:
A co-worker’s birthday was today and he got a TON of cupcakes! The great thing is he was willing to share too! This bad boy was vanilla on vanilla (V.O.V. as Ashley says) and pretty much rocked my world.
I mean, who could really say no to that? Not I!
So as I said, I made an appointment for Thursday to have my knee checked out by a family physician. I decided not to go with a knee specialist just yet because I would rather have some sort of recommendation from a family doctor first. If she can solve the issue, there’s really no need to visit a specialist, right? AND if she can’t fix it, then she’d be better at recommending someone knowing the condition anyway. All that to say today on my walk I decided that I was tired of putting it off. I always used to say to people when I was training them that it was silly for them to let pain ruin their life. And here I am doing the same thing! I figured that was stupid and vowed to make the appointment the second I got back to the office.
Now I feel like I have something to look forward to – no pain! And in light of that, I’m processing some new fitness goals for the next 2 months or so. Assuming I’m better, I want to walk every day as usual, but something I really want to work on more is strength training and core work. Now, unlike a lot of people, I LOVE strength training, but I really do NOT like core work. Why? Basically because I’m very weak there and it’s hard – nothing overly complicated. I don’t necessarily have a “plan” other than doing strength training workouts on my own around 4 days a week, but I could definitely use some help on core/abdominal moves!
What are your favorites? Feel free to link back to pictures to explain if need be! Also, what are YOUR fitness goals for the next 1.5 months? As I said I want to focus more on strength training. I love doing it, but it’s great for increasing calorie burn and becoming more toned. I’m also hoping that by gaining strength I will help decrease the possibility of injury down the road!
your dogs are the sweetest!!!
I LOVE your business cards – ur such a pro! 😉
Yaaay VOV!! mmmmm
Yay for more strength training. It is a very useful part of health.
Also yay for getting into the doctor. I hope you get some answers and healing.
I am so glad you are going to the doctor! Keep us posted on what they say. I have my fingers crossed for you!!! 🙂
Gorgeous cupcake!
Fitness goals in the next 1.5 months are first 5k of the season (end of May) and first tri of the season (beginning of June).
GIRL I LOVE STRENGTH TRAINING!! listen-i just cut down cardio and have focused more on weights..and im eating MORE because my body needs more food..i feel better and look better!
I have two dogs as well and I have one I like to call my little ‘diva’ as she always wants attention! 🙂
I don’t have a fave ab move b/c well, I’m lazy when it comes to working them! Perhaps that should be my goal?!
As for my goals, I just want to maintain my current level of fitness and keep on working out with a combination of cardio, weight training, and Yoga 🙂
Love the puppy pics — so cute! Great giveaway package and such a yummy looking cupcake 🙂
A couple of things…
1. LOVE the dog pics! Beautiful!
2. Hooray for making a doctor’s appointment! Seriously, what a relief that is going to be for you! 🙂
3. Here are some of my favorite plank moves!
https://www.healthforthewholeself.com/2010/03/favorite-moves-basic-plank-walking-plank-plank-twists/
I love your business cards! So cute!
And wow…that is quite the giveaway package! score!
I love pilates for core work. Can I say I love it if I’ve only done it once?
I wish your knee happy healthy!! and that mole bowl. never heard of a such a thing. But I want it.
you crack me up! mole is SO amazing – sweet and savory at it’s finest!
I like to lift heavy.
Squats are probably my favourite.
Assisted pull-ups are a good one too.
What a relief– knowing what is going on will make you feel so much better!!!
Oh my gosh…I want Bunker to come live with me. Please? I’ll only keep him for a few weeks…or months… I have a slight obsession with labs, but my husband says we don’t need another (100 lb) dog– what a party pooper!! 🙂
i just tried to convince Nate that we need another dog. 200+ lbs of dog is totally normal, right?
Jealous of your goodie bag! Looks awesome!
Such a cute puppy.
I have so many ab exercises up my sleeve. I plan to do a video sooon. My favorites right now are with the stability ball they are this one https://www.ehow.com/video_2350882_stability-ball-ab-exercises-ball.html – and then a regular stability ball crunch, but with my feet up against a wall (makes it much more challenging!)
Have you ever tried the Shred? It does strength, core, and cardio and is only 20 minutes. I am always sore all over the place after doing that.
That goodie bag looks incredible too… I’m jealous!
I definitely have the shred, the problem is I never feel like going through the hassle of turning on the DVD player (which is actually quite the process). I LOVE it when I do though!
My fitness goals are to continue to run and add more stretching to my routine.
As far as ab/core exercises, one of my favorites is the ball pass. I didn’t even know that’s what it was called until I googled it. Here’s an example:
https://www.fitnessmagazine.com/workout/gear/equipment/best-stability-ball-exercises/?page=5
I pretty much like all stability ball exercises. Oh, and planks. They aren’t very fun, but you can definitely feel them!
What an awesome bag of goodies! And a great looking cuppycake 🙂
I love my niece and nephew….adorable as always 🙂
My fav? Spinning mos def! haha but I’m really starting to enjoy plyo training again and circuit training with cardio/plyo work along with killer abs!
I love the pics of your doggies!!! So cute!
lots to comment on–
glad you got made a docs appt. sometimes thats the hardest part.
LOVE, love, love the business cards. So cool.
Ab work and I have a difficult relationship.
I’m the same as you – I love strength training but HATE core work! I think it’s because I’ve heard the phrase “abs are made in the kitchen” so often that I’ve assumed core work is pointless (*ahem* total excuse right there :P). But as far as my fitness goals for the next month or so? More YOGA and more STRENGTH TRAINING. I might actually cut back on the cardio a bit, just to see how my body reacts.
Oh, and can I just mention how phenom that cupcake looks?! Cupcakes have no chance around me, especially vanilla on vanilla…!
Yeahh congrats on the win and the doctors apt and the adorable dog! Don’t pets just cheer you up any time!
If you are looking for a fun way to meet your goals I’ve got a challenge going with prizes. https://runtothefinish.blogspot.com/2010/04/3-changes-challenge-prizes.html
Yikes! Where to start…first off, I have such a soft spot for dogs, specifically labs, so I LOVED your pics! So cute. 🙂 You struck the lottery with that jam packed bag of goodies! How lucky are you? I bet you can’t wait to dig around in there. I’ve been tossing around some exercise/fitness goals for the next few months. I am starting P90X tomorrow and I want to begin incorporating a few more runs a week. I fell off the running wagon about a month ago, but I’m planning on jumping back on!