Drenched

You might not be able to tell, but this puppy is soaked.

He was a rock star today though. Usually I get out of work around two or three, but of course the one day that I made plans for tonight (and had to cancel) and leave Reddick out of his crate all day, I don't get out until 5:30. Super. You can imagine how thrilled I was to come home and find my little pup taking his day long nap on his bed without any disruption in the house. I felt so bad for him being alone all day and I knew I had to get him outside to move around, but of course, it was the crappiest day we've seen in weeks. I threw on some running clothes and promised him a quick mile jog and off we went. Of course, it was just sprinkling so I took him a little farther and that's when it started to pour. Thanks a lot Mother Nature.

This extra day kind of sucked.

Dinner wasn't even that exciting.

Yep, I had a plastic-wrapped microwaved sweet potato for dinner. It looks hideous, and slightly inappropriate. Sorry. Ignore the fact that I'm in culinary school right now. 

The rest of the night looks like this because I am one sore mama from doing my 100 Burpees. And Reddick jumped to take the spot on my lap before the laptop could...

What is the sense in having an extra day when it's going to rain all day and make me cancel my only fun plans? Come on now...

The 100 Burpee Challenge

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How many times are you going to hear from me that I need to get into tip-top wedding shape? I'm warning you, I'm not going to shut up about it until the wedding day. I'll probably try a million different workouts, try to get you guys to do them with me and get bored with them within a few days. It's going to be a never ending cycle. If your as random about working out as I am, jump on board...if not, please forgive me.

Yes, I have goals (weight, measurements, etc.) but they have been the same goals that I have had for years and not a lot has changed. I've been in good shape, bad shape and the best shape of my life...the only measuring factor there was that I was happy and I liked what I saw in the mirror. This is what I'm aiming for for the next six months. 

So what's up first? Burpees. Click here if you don't know what a burpee is. The other day I was talking to MJW about getting back into shape and he said mentioned trying to see how long it would take to do 100 burpees. I cringed and admitted that I usually only do five to ten at a time, so it might take me a few days. I  asked him how long he thought it would take him and he swiftly replied seven minutes. Damn.

The next day at the gym, after doing some running on the treadmill, I thought I would give it a shot and start with fifty. I set my timer and got to work on my fifty burprees. It took me a whopping eight minutes. I was doing about five to seven at a time and then resting for five to thirty seconds. It was not an easy task, but I made sure I completed all fifty and all fifty with good form. If there was one thing I learned about P90X is that quality still trumps quantity when you are trying to firm up. 

Today I bump it up to 100. Even if it takes me twenty minutes, I'm going to do it and continue to do it every other day and track my times. I don't know how long I'll do this, but I know for as long as I do I'm getting a killer workout. I'm not really that sore today, but I can definitely  feel that I got a full body workout after my run yesterday. 

Who wants to join me with the 100 burpree challenge? I'll post my times on my Facebook Page and I'd love if you guys left your times in the comments. Let me know that you'll be joining me! 

Kombucha

There are those of you who know what kombucha is, and still love it.

There are those of you who know what kombucha is, and are completely freaked out.

And then there are those of you who think I'm speaking a different language right now. 

I love kombucha. I also admit that my only experience with kombucha is the Synergy line of products (which have been said not to be as beneficial as pure kombucha). I used to try and drink 3-4 a week until it was getting to be a really expensive habit. Considering I'm going to be giving up other things, like jars of frosting, I'm probably going to allow a little more kombucha back into my life. They usually range between three and four dollars each.

Why do I drink kombucha? I actually like how it tastes. Synergy offers a large variety of flavors. It has a bit of a carbonated feel to it, so it's a much better beverage to grab when I'm craving a Diet Coke. Also, you can drink an entire bottle and only consume about 60 calories. I like to think that it helps my digestive system and is providing more health benefits than if I were to be drinking something else. But what actually are the health benefits to drinking kombucha?

Some claims are:

• It heals/prevents cancer
• It stimulates the immune system
• It aids the digestive system
• It improves liver function

Maybe it's in my head or maybe it's real, I just feel healthier when I drink it. 

There haven't really been any substantial tests done to see if any of these claims are true. The only thing we know is that it doesn't cause any harm...except for the fact it contains alcohol. Some of you might remember when Synergy had to remove all of their products from our local shelves because it has a trace of alcohol in it (it is fermented tea after all). Shortly after, they introduced a new product that had the alcohol removed and could sell it all ages. 

Why might it freak people out? Well the process of making it isn't exactly glamorous. Anyone can make kombucha in their home but it does involve fermentation and this strange looking blob thing in the middle of a jar. That's enough of a reason to scare people away. 

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I'm not sure if I'll ever make my own kombucha, but I'll drink Synergy forever. There are a million awful drinks out there and I'd much rather spend four dollars on something like this than a Mountain Dew or Vanilla Latte. 

What do you guys think? Are you kombucha lovers or haters? 

Something New

Clearly, I'm still in a blogging slump. I haven't posted in a few weeks and couldn't really find the motivation to. I've been spending a lot of time planning the wedding and trying to work out my goals for after I graduate school. As much as I love you guys, those things kind of trump this little old blog.

The blog is still going to be about culinary school and the wedding planning, I just decided to try out a new header. What do you think? I didn't have the heart to take Reddick out of the picture quite yet. Hopefully a new design will jump start the brainstorming and I'll have some new posts for you soon! While I don't think I'm going to have much time for recipes right now, I promise that I have lots of fun wedding planning news for you all. For right now, it's back to the wedding planning and work - hopefully tonight I'll have some time to work on some posts for you!

Wedding Planning via Pinterest

Pinterest has taken control over my life. I could sit here for ours browsing through everything from banana recipes to purple shoes. It's a godsend...or maybe the exact opposite, but it's been a huge help with planning my wedding.

For those of you who aren't following me on Pinterest I thought I'd share some of the ideas for the wedding that I've found so far. And truthfully, we all know this is the extent of the wedding planning that's going on right now. Good news though, we hope to find out next week if we can have the wedding in the venue that we want. So to all of my potential invitees, please be patient, we're working.

Clearly, Reddick will be involved somehow. He is the one who spends the most time with us.

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I really want the bridesmaids to wear different dressesand allow them to pick their own dress so that they are super comfortable.

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This would be amazing...if my Dad wasn't a firefighter.

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I LOVE this idea - having a caricature artist at the wedding, but I'm sure we'll debate over a photobooth, too.

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And this might be one of the cutest favors ever...

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What are your favorite wedding ideas from Pinterest?  Here are the rest of my wedding pins on my Everything Wedding board.

The Recipe I've Been Waiting For

Earlier this week, Katie posted a recipe for German Chocolate Fudge Bites. No sugar, no flour and no butter? I was immediately intrigued, considering I'm eating only plant-based foods this week. I headed over to Whole Foods and picked up the ingredients to make the bites. Within about twelve hours they were all gone. They were delicious. At first I thought that they might taste like a Larabar (which I love, but wanted something richer) but they were definitely rich and full of cocoa. Nice work Katie!

Once I had a few I got to thinking about what they tasted like and finally it came to me - these bites have the same fudge taste as my all-time-favorite Chocolate Raspberry Luna Bar. I have been dying to figure out how to make these Luna Bars at home for awhile. With Katie's recipe inspiration, I got to work and came up with a recipe that tastes pretty darn close to my beloved Luna Bars.

Chocolate Berry Squares

1 cup dates, pitted and chopped

2 T unsweetened shredded coconut

2 T unsweetened cocoa powder

1/2 t vanilla

3/4 cup berries (if frozen, thaw first) - I used a frozen assortment of raspberries, blueberries and strawberries 

1/4 c pecans or walnuts

Mix all ingredients together in a Magic Bullet or food processor. I recommend a food processor because my Bullet just couldn't handle all the hard chomping. Give everything a good mix once your done processing it. At this point, I shaped them into little squares, but you could do balls or bars, too.

Wedding Motivation

The countdown is (almost) on. We hope to know in the next few weeks whether or not our date and venue will work. I hope this is the last time during our wedding planning that I have to rely in patience because I'm dying over here and my patience bucket is nearly empty.

Knowing that our date could be in less than seven months is really exciting, but it's also stressing me out. Now I have a date to look forward to that I know that I have to look and feel my best. A lot can happen in seven months and I'm hoping that the changes I've made in the past week are going to kick start everything. I'm going to try my best to make positive changes to my health and hope that they pay off for the wedding.

1. Workouts based on strength training and not so much "jogging to lose weight". Let's be real, I'm closer to thirty than I am to twenty and that means that jogging really doesn't do much for me anymore, sitting down on the weight machine doesn't do nearly as much as actually picking up the weights and spending more time stretching on the mat is great, but isn't going to do much for the way that I look. If I get on a treadmill, I'm going to sprint...If I pick up a weight, it's going to be challenging...If I'm going to workout, I'm going to sweat. I know, I bet you guys are sick of hearing me talk about working out, but it's really something that I've struggled with lately.

2. A more focused diet. I snack. I love sugar. I love carbs. I love everything that I shouldn't, but I also love eating healthy. Is this like some weird thing among healthy living bloggers? We can go from downing a green smoothie to eating a hamburger in just a few minutes. Balance is balance. I can't say I won't eat a burger or a chocolate chip cookie for the next seven months, but I do need to be more aware of what I'm putting into my mouth. I want to focus on less sugar, less gluten and less dairy. Right now, because I'm doing the detox, it's not that hard to stray away and cheat...but once it's over, I hope that I can stay committed.

3. Taking better care of my body.  It's really hard to focus on a schedule when my work schedule changes week to week, but I want to try and get more sleep and keep my sleep hours regular.

I'm sure I'll have more heart-to-heart, freaking out about getting ready for the wedding posts. Let's hope I can hold myself to it!

Detox Smoothies

On Monday I started the Whole Living Action Plan. I'm posting more about it next week on DC Ladies, but I wanted to let you guys know a little bit about it, too. I wanted to do something to get myself back into shape and back into healthy eating habits. I was slowly making my way out of the hole over the past few weeks, but I knew it was time to commit myself to something that would promise results.

I'm on Day Three and I will be honest with you, it hasn't been butterflies and sunshine. Monday was great. I was at work and I have an ample supply of the allowed snacks at my fingertips to help me get through the day (dates, avacados, nuts, etc.). I had yesterday, today and I have tomorrow off, and I knew that days at home might be a little more challenging. Luckily, I set myself up pretty well and stocked my fridge and pantry with food that I am allowed to eat. It hasn't been too difficult eating and hunger-wise, but I feel a little awful. I've had a pounding headache for two days and am so tempted to grab a cup of coffee to whisk it away. But I won't. 

To learn about what foods are restricted, click here. To read more about my experience so far, be sure to check out my post next week on the DC Ladies website. 

I will share with you some of the smoothies that have been my breakfast treat. I have always been a fan of smoothies but I also find it pretty difficult to gulp one down in the middle of winter. Luckily, the past three days haven't been that bad. I think the key thing is giving myself time to drink it. I'm not rushing the meal like I normally rush breakfast.

So far I've made the:

Antioxidant Smoothie

Green Smoothie

Berry Grapefruit Smoothie

my own recipe

1/2 grapefruit, peeled, seeded and cut into pieces

2 cups frozen berries

1 cup pomegranate juice

1/2 cup carrot juice

The Antioxidant Smoothie was very tart, of course, but it was still pretty good. The Green Smoothie was chunky and tasted a lot like parsley but it was refreshing. It made my stomach a little upset, but you could tell in a good way. The smoothies are made with fresh, whole fruit and they are supposed to be making my digestive system work less and clean out all of those toxins. The smoothie I made this morning was really great. I love adding the carrot juice because it brings the sweetness and tartness level down.

Any smoothie recipes out there for me? I'd love to hear them! 

Victory! and Reddick's Big Reveal

Just in case you aren't my Facebook friend, fan or Twitter follower, I'm pretty excited about last night's victory. I love my G-MEN!!!

But, I won't get into too much detail about how exciting yesterday was because I've got enough on my plate blog-wise as it is. Eats, Love, Happiness and Football? Maybe someday.

In puppy news, we got a really interesting e-mail yesterday. I'm not sure if I've told you or not, but when we adopted Reddick he was also with his brother. When we left the adoption site with Reddick in hands his brother was left behind and I was pretty devastated. I felt awful about not being able to adopt both of them. So of course, I did the second best thing and practically stalked the adoption agency to make sure that his brother, "Alex", was adopted. They were great and put me in touch with the new owners and we've stayed in touch every since. Sadly, the dogs haven't gotten together yet, but hopefully someday.

Anyways, Reddick's brother's new name is Santino, and Santino's owner contacted me yesterday to tell me that they caved and bought a DNA test to determine our pups breed.  (This dog looks EXACTLY like Reddick, they are twins.) She mentioned that they paid for one of the cheaper tests and I think the results showed that. Wait until you see what Reddick's heritage might be...

Any guesses?

In case you forgot his cute little face, here's our puppy:

We were told he's a Boxer/Shepard mix and would grow to be about 45-50 pounds. He's 75 pounds.

Here's a Boxer...

They are both pretty top heavy...but we have always guessed he's a little Rottweiler, too.

But...we're all wrong. Here is what the test results revealed:

Chow Chow and Keeshond. 

SERIOUSLY?! Did they get the test results mixed up? This is nuts.

I'm really happy that they went through and ordered the test because now I know never to buy one. Ever. 

I'll go with my gut and just say that Reddick is healthy, happy and perfect (most of the time).

I Desperately Need To...

...start taking pictures again. Blog posts without pictures are dull. I also have very few things to write about when I'm not photo-documenting everything. Let's hope Reddick hasn't gotten his paws on my SLR. 

...stop burning myself. Every time I feel my arm hit those damn hot racks at work a tear falls for my beautiful wedding dress. (Ok, there's a hint, I did not get a long sleeved wedding dress.)

...plan that wedding. We're close, I promise. Cross your fingers from now until February 7 and I'll hopefully have good news. (We aren't eloping.)

...finish writing my goals. I broke out a big piece of paper and sharpies last week and started getting to work on the list of things I want to work on right now. It's hiding under my bed, mostly so Reddick doesn't get a hold of it, and I have to finish it. Now.

...figure out my workout plan. I won't be doing Soldierfit. I know, I know, I told you guys I was practically their spokesperson, but it of course came down to money and I just cannot spend money to workout. I'm sorry. BUT, I did download this awesome app on my phone with really great (free) workouts and I'm debating dipping back into P90X.

...sharpen my knives. There is nothing worse in a kitchen than a dull knife. Does anyone know which farmers markets around here have a knife sharpening tent?

...get to work on my business. I'm working on developing a business and website plan and I want to have most of it done by the time I graduate. I've gotten some quotes, but if anyone is interested in working with me to develop my website(s) please let me know! 

...donate. It's time to get rid of another round of clothes, dishes, cups and whatever else would be better off at Goodwill. 

...fold laundry.