Baking Friday

So, today was nicely crazy at work. I took about an 8 minute lunch (but was able to leave early because of that). As soon as I got home, I started baking my cinnamon bread. Since it's still rising, I will wait until tomorrow to post any pictures, or recipes. I still have 1 hour of rising and then 45 minutes of baking.

It was so cool to see how many people liked the recipe for the Peanutella balls. I liked them so much, I decided to make a double bunch tonight. They are too waiting to be eaten. I just put them in the fridge about 5 minutes ago. I will be snacking on them tonight for sure!

For dinner, we just had a PB&J sandwich with some tortilla chips and water. I didn't want to cook anything (and have left overs), since I'm making my French dinner tomorrow and will have left overs for the week. I don't like to waste food.

Since I came home early and ate so early, I've have a few snacks. I've had some grapes, a Clif Crunch Bar and some juice (apple). I love being responsible about my snacking. There was a time when I would come home and eat a bagel with a ton of cream cheese for dinner, then Doritos and chocolate chips cookies for dessert (sometimes I'd wash that down with some chocolate milk). I didn't run or even think about doing any physical activity. Once day, I saw a picture of myself and realized that I needed to do something (I had gained about 30 lbs. with the unhealthy food I was eating). That's when I started running and going to the gym and entering races. I got excited that I was seeing results and I was finally happy with how I looked. I was happy with my life, again. I will never get back to that again. I love my life and my body and I will do everything possible to keep it that way!

Here are my hubby and I are after my Run for a Safe Heaven last year. It's a race I do every year for a battered women's shelter. It's for a great cause and the run is pretty awesome. You run through the older homes of Sacramento, in a nice, peaceful area. I love this race. I can't wait until this years!


Do you have a race that you do every year (or at least try to)?

Construction Can Ruin a Run

Today was completely normal. Work is getting busier and busier (which is a great
hing). I had tuna for lunch (still a 1/2 sandwich). We have a lot left over from our dog.

After work, I got changed and went to run outside. I drove to a local park. I was so excited to run outside during the week. Usually, I can only run outside on the weekends. It's finally getting cooler...I love fall weather!

My run was pretty good. I took it nice and easy. I set a new PR. I finished my 6 mile run in 1:05! I know, I'm awesome (just kidding). I did have a lot of obstacles to go through. I go about 1/4 mile into my run, I saw construction workers starting to appear. I thought they were cleaning up (since it was about 4:30pm). They were actually just starting to clean up and blow lose dirt everywhere. The only way to continue was to run through the blowing dirt. I also came across fresh tar, and huge rocks to jump over (in the middle of the road). Oh well, all that matters is that I finished and I PR'd!!

When I got home, I immediately put on my compression socks (to heal my soon to be sore legs), and did some house cleaning. I then ate some left over meatball sandwiches (which I finished, so sad). After watching some shows on the dvr, I then showered and finished cleaning up. Now, I'm blogging while listening to Judge Judy and playing with Izzie.

I'm getting hungry, so that means it's time for a snack. Last night, I had 2 of my Peanutella Balls crunched up with some plain Greek yogurt. Such a great combo. The balls are almost gone, I'm going to make some more tomorrow. I think I'll make a double batch.

What is you biggest weakness, for dessert (recipes please)?

Run, Run, Run All Day Long

This morning was a normal day. I ate my usual stuff. I am now allowing myself to drink coffee in the mornings. I need those extra calories, and I love coffee. So, I'm more energized and and ready to go for the day. I don't put as much creamer as I usually do, so it's a little better for me.

I left work and went to the gym. It's so good to be back to normal. I feel like I took so much time off from the gym, when it was only one day. How funny how those things feel. It felt so good to run my usual 4 1/4 miles (not really all day long). I wanted to run more, but my spin class was starting. It was so nice to make my legs moving that fast.

In my spin class, a lot of new people joined us. Usually, there are a set of about 20 people that spin every Wednesday. We had about 10 new people today. It's so neat to see how people start. I was once there. It reminds my of my progress. I've came so far. Our instructors call us "usuals" veterans. It's pretty cool that I'm a veteran at something.

After I got home, I heated up my left over dinner from last night. I really love the mini meatball sandwiches. They are so good and carry so much flavor. Hubby had a few when he got home last night. He loved them.

I watched a few shows on the dvr, and then made a snack for later on this weekend. I made Peanutella Balls. They are so easy to make, you don't bake them, so you don't heat up the house and they are yummy!! I added some chopped almonds to the mix. It did make about 16 balls. Not often, do the recipes I try actually make the correct amount. This one did.

They are sitting in my fridge getting ready for me to snack on. I can't wait. I tried these before they went in the fridge. This was the first time I have eaten Nutella. I love it. Wait a minute, I take that back, I had some in a crepe in Paris a couple years back. It was so yummy!!

I have decided that once a month, I will make a dinner and dessert from another country. This month, I'm starting easy and going French. I'm making this meal this Saturday. I am making chicken crepes and French style green beans. For dessert, I will fix Nutella and banana crepes (our favorite). I can't wait. I'm so excited!!


What's you favorite French food?

Mini Meatball Sandwiches

Today was more normal than it has been. I ate normally and everything. I went to the gym and did 25 minutes on the elliptical and 30 minutes on my abs. Then, I went grocery shopping. That almost took longer than my workout. Crazy people always trying to shop when I want to. Not fair. I think everything should be closed to everyone, except me. It would make things go so much faster.

When I got home, I unloaded to groceries and started dinner. I made mini meatball sandwiches that I saw on a great blog that I read. I love this blog. She is such a great cook! I did change just a couple of things. I used ground turkey and added chives, oregano, and basil to the meat. I used shallots instead of onions.

I love all the fresh green herbs I used!

Simmer away while I take a shower.

I also used Parmesan cheese instead. I also used potato bread (my favorite).

I applied the top to the sandwich and ate all the yummy-ness. This was so good. I ate a couple of these with some green beans. I think green beans are one of my favorite veggies to eat. So good!!

On the Road ID poll, it looks like 57% of you guys already have one of these great tools. I can't believe that I just got one. I feel so lucky they contacted me and that I can get one lucky person a Road ID. Don't forget to comment in order to try for the great giveaway!

I have a new, fun poll. I can't wait to see these answers!

What is your favorite thing to do on a rainy day weekend?

The Workout That Didn't Exist

Today was a very long day. I can't believe that I could keep my eyes open as long as I did. I still haven't caught up from Thursday. I was still tired from my last 6 miles. I never slept in this weekend. I decided the best thing for my body was to take another rest day. I had a lot to do at home (I needed to catch up from not being home this weekend).

My co-worker brought in Halibut dip (like crab dip, but with Halibut). I stuffed my face and didn't eat lunch. The dip was so good! He makes this only twice a year. I have to beg him to make it this often. I guess it's good thing.

Of course, when ever taking an unplanned rest day, I feel so guilty. Especially after stuffing my face. On my lunch break (I didn't eat, only slept), I took a nap. When I woke up, my eyes burned so badly and I couldn't see straight. I tell you what, I can't wait to back back to the gym tomorrow!

I was looking at my post from yesterday and half the text was missing, I'm not sure what happened. I wanted to make sure that I mentioned that I wore my Spi Belt on our hike and it was so comfy. It never once slide around or anything. It held my camera and my snacks.

One reason why I didn't eat lunch after our hike was because we took a break (once we got to the lake) and we ate something I ate some of New England Naturals granola. It was so tasty and obviously, it was very filling. I love this stuff!


Hurry!! Only a few days left to enter my awesome giveaway!!

Do you ever take any unplanned rest days while training? How do you feel afterwards?

A Camping Weekend

On Saturday momrning, we got up and enjoyed our breakfast and some coffee while we finished getting ready for our short camping weekend. We headed out and ended up at the camp just about 1 1/2 hours later. By the time we got there, I was satrving. We set up and I fixed us some lunch. It was just PB&J with some chips and a beer. Here's our little set up.



After we finished getting settled in, we chcked the place out. We were staying at a marina at Lake Berryessa (which is in Napa, Ca). Neither of us had been there before. I found our that the lake isn't privatly owned, just the camp ground where we stayed. Here's the view from our site.

The lake was so low, we had to hike to a swimming area. When we finally found a place, we noticed some deer were following us (not really, though).

Here I am after a nice litle swim in the water. The was a litle cold, but once you got in, it wasn't that bad.

When we got back and changed, we had a snack. A healthy one, I might add. We played some cards and relaxed until dinner.

We didn't want to set up the entire tent just for one night, so we made a comfy bed out of the back of the truck.

It's getting dark, time to start making dinner and a fire.

Here's the hubs warming dinner I made the night before (my famous chili).

We had a few more beers (why not, we weren't driving anywhere) and played some more cards and went to bed. We had some hiking to do the next day.

The next morning, we got up and made breakfast. Here are the donut holes I made (baked not fried). They weren't that great, so I won't bother you with the reciepe. The toppings were powered sugar, cinamon and sugar and cocoa powder.

We also had oatmeal with our warm, yummy coffee.

The sky didn't know if it wanted the sun to come out or not. It ended up coming out and being a nice day. Not too warm.

We packed up our camp and headed out on the 20 minute drive to our hike. On the way, we daw a horrible motorcycle crash. It didn't seem like the guy survived. It looked like he went around the curve way too fast, hit the rock side and bounced. His nike was smashed to pieces. Very sad.

Here is the trail head to our hike. It was 2.6 mile one way.

We saw so many critters. We saw some deer, a ton of ground squirels, and some alke otters (pictured below). I dind't even know lake otters existed. They were so cute. The traveled in a pack of 4. In and out of the water.

There was also a lot of acorn woodpeckers. There were a lot of trees that looks like this. This is how the emtire tree was (all the way we could see). The acrons were really wedged in there.

Busy Friday Night

It was a nice day at work, not as busy as I expected, but nice. About 1pm, my boss walked in with bagels. He got my favorite, chocolate chip. With this bagel, I don't toast it or put anything on it. I just eat it plain. The best way! I was still full by the time my lunch came around, so I just took a nap (much needed). I woke up refreshed and ready to work. The rest of my work day went by fast.

By the time I got home, I was pretty hungry (because I didn't have lunch). So, I heated up left overs from last night and made some brown rice. This time, I ate mostly with chop sticks. The rice is always difficult for me. So good, even the next day!

Tomorrow morning, we leave for a camping trip. It's going to be a short one, but much needed one. We're going to Lake Berryessa. This is in the Bay Area of California. I've never been there, but I heard it's privately owned. There is of course, a lake and lots of hiking to be done. I can't wait! Hiking and laying in the sun (if it's warm enough there). This workout will be different from my usual run. We usually hike so much through the day. That's usually all we do until the sun goes down.

I've made us some yummy treats. I made some brownies, and (baked) donut holes and chili. We have oatmeal for breakfast and PB&J for lunch and granola bars, bananas and grapes for snacks. I'll be hiking all this food off, so I'll be pretty hungry.

I've had my little girls following me around the house as I pack and get all our gear out. Here's me and Izzie relaxing. I know it looks like I'm choking her, but she likes the be held like this...very strange.

Good night all and enjoy your weekend. Sunday, I'll be posting my recipes and letting you know how everything turned out. Don't forget to enter my giveaway!

Are you a big camper? How many times a year do you try to go? My goal is to climb Mt. Helena (in CA).