100 days y'all!

It's a really special day today, only 100 days until the wedding.  Oh, it's also the fiance's birthday today... and my brother's too!  Ahhhh we're getting in to the double digit day countdown.  For those of you who don't know me, or don't understand this... I'm a BIG countdowner.  Seriously, it's a sickness.  Thank goodness for the apps I have on my phone because this makes it really easy to keep track of awesome things.

For instance:
22 days until Good Friday (taking Monday off and we get Friday off of work, this is a holiday indeed!)
2 days until my 5k race! 
104 days until we leave for our honeymoon!

 When I have family or friends coming to visit, those countdowns are on there too!  Fortunately for me, my calendar is clear of visitors - that sounded mean but really I need my weekends now! 


Oh, and also - I'm stalking my wedding registry.  Seriously!  This is going to be crazy cuz on Tuesday someone bought us our first gift!  I don't know who bought it yet though, this is fun! 

I have 2 wedding showers in the works coming up so I'm thinking this could be getting more exciting, and I'm also really excited for the bachelorette party coming up as well!

In health/fitness news, I'm still seeing a trainer!  He told me yesterday that I'm his STRONGEST client!  WTF?!  ME?  Seriously?  ME!  I guess I should mention that most people doing training are older, but the girl I work out with (who has been absent the last 2 sessions BTW) is probably my age and definitely not as strong as me.  What a compliment! 

My favorite things to do at the gym are:
Bench Pressing
Triceps workouts
Biceps workouts
Anything that makes my gluts feel sore the next day (this includes lunges and balancing stuff that I've done that are extremely effective)

My diet hasn't been perfect lately, and that I regret.  But given that it's 100 days away from the wedding I'm starting the diet lockdown.  I'm extremely interested in building muscle so a high protein diet is in the cards, my trainer recommended a low carb diet too.  I'm probably not going to do anything crazy low carb, like atkins or something, but I think I'm going to increase my vegetable intake and reduce my fruit.  Also, tilapia is my new best friend.  Joining the ranks of the chicken breast, I eat tilapia at least once or twice a week. 

And this may sound crazy, given that I'm milk's biggest enemy considering I go through probably 3 gallons a week - I'm reducing my milk intake too and trying to drink more water.  I probably would drink anywhere from 6-8 cups a day which can be about 600 calories! 

A few things I have to give up for the time being (and I'm scared to admit this publicly) are the dreaded ICE CREAM and CHIPS!  I should point out these are treats that I enjoy separately.  I don't like dip chips in ice cream, although I'm sure that's delightful.  The problem with giving up a vice is the cravings, and I need to be strong and avoid the temptation.  If only I was perfect... 

Ramble ramble ramble.  This post is all over the place.  I blame the coffee I'm drinking right now. 

Hope you're all having a happy Thursday :) 

Bridal Meltdown 1 of many

Ok, so I'm having one of those terrible, horrible, no good, very bad, wedding planning days.  First of all, it turns out the premarital counseling we did with my fiance's uncle was no good.  Awesome.  So that means we have to go back in May (approximately 7 hour drive - EACH WAY) for additional counseling through the church, which admittedly isn't a bad thing, but it's just super stressful since we did this already.

Secondly, as it turns out, people at churches aren't very organized.  Well perhaps that's an inaccurate statement... there have just been several miss-communications in regards to what times our rehearsal will be, a pastor that doesn't know when our wedding is, and that there are still details to hammer out.

There are some things that the church doesn't allow that I wanted to do:
Example: Throw lavender at us as we're exiting the church
Solution: Bubbles, dammit!

I wish that I could just have gone to Vegas.  It could save me some headaches!! 

It's seriously getting about that time, in one afternoon two of my weekends were just booked up with road trips back to Iowa.  At the end of the day I just need to remember why we're doing this in the first place, but sometimes that doesn't help when I get overwhelmed!

Picture for me/Picture for Mom

Can you spot the difference?

WTF????

In case you can't read it, the cost of the bouquet is $732.95

I'm sorry, but this is ridiculous!  Who in their right mind would pay this much for a bouquet?

5k coming up!

I can’t hold it in anymore!  I am SO excited for my 5k next weekend.  I can’t believe it’s only a week away.  I’m really excited for the challenge, and I’m excited to push myself extremely hard!  

I’ve been practicing now for the last few months, focusing on cardio training as well as resistance training and I’m seriously itching to run and BEAT a lot of other runners.

I’ve never had a competitive bone in my body.  This competition is going to be quite a rush though.  I really do want to be fast and I do want to beat everyone I’m running against.  

Quite obviously I’m not the fastest girl ever, but I’ve set a goal of finishing the race in 31 minutes.  That’s a ten minute mile according to the calculator in my brain.  I looked at the finishers from last year, and if I do complete this goal, I should be within the top 30 women of my age group!  

So excited – this means that I definitely need to train tonight, tomorrow and Sunday!  

Goal for the weekend:  Run outside on both Saturday and Sunday.

OMG Shoes

I think I found them.  The shoes I'm getting married in.  OMG shoes.

Luichiny Women's Gettin Hitched Sandal

Yes, they're actually called "Gettin Hitched" sandals.  At a whopping 4" tall I'm going to have to practice walking in them quite a bit before the big day.

I only have one concern, and that is the cute flower on the toe.  I wonder if the dress is going to catch behind it and look funky.  Oh well, I ordered them, so if they don't work out I'll just HAVE to find SOME use for them... ahhh it's ridiculously hard being a girl...

Frustration Station

Happy Monday everyone, hope that you had a great weekend! 

I have to admit that I had a little TOO much fun this weekend on the annual Hooligan's St. Patrick's Day Metra Crawl.  But that's another story.

It's come to my attention recently, or more accurately I've been coming out of denial, that my left shoulder is somehow injured.  The thing is that my shoulder makes a loud POPPING sound every time I raise my arm above my head and doing certain exercises with the trainer is beyond painful.  For the most part, my day to day life isn't affected so I'm pretty happy with that but I'm just going to have to go easy on myself.

And sort of embarrassingly, I have some sort of a groin injury.  Wow, that's certainly something fun, no?  Well I can tell you that there was no exciting story of how I got injured here no matter how funny you can think of.  No it didn't have anything to do with a child hitting me with a baseball a'la America's Funniest Home Videos.  Basically it's this tight sensation that doesn't allow me to raise my left knee off to the side.

I am FALLING APART people!

I can say that both of these symptoms began before I started my training sessions.  So I am very much at a loss for how these injuries arose.  Needless to say I spent yesterday afternoon icing them and trying to nurse myself back to 100%.  Well that, and watching countless hours of Harry Potter on ABC Family...

In other frustrated news, I'm still not really noticing any weight loss.  My first thought is that I need to do more cardio in addition to the weight training I'm doing on MWF.  So there you have it people, Operation Lose-Weight-For-The-Wedding still feels like a huge challenge and I'm just putting it out there so I'm not just ignoring it!

Currently I am trying to pump myself up for 2011's first run outside.  My 5k is next Saturday!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

I'm sad to report that I'm not celebrating today with a beer, or an alcoholic beverage in hand at all.  I am somewhat recovering still from an incredibly awesome weekend with my Mom!  She's on spring break and came to town :)

At the dying of the Chicago River!

Me and the fiance!

We MAY have stopped in a bar for a green beer, and it MAY have been before 9:00 AM...

 We stopped by Ian's Pizza on Clark Street for some interesting slices.  Mine were Mac & Cheese and Buffalo Chicken.  The fiance ordered a portabella mushroom/roasted tomato/feta cheese and spicy beef taco, my mom ordered a Chicken Cordon Bleu and Spinach Pesto Feta.

YUM!

Let the record show that my fiance, over 5 days later recited the 6 slices that we all ate because my memory failed me!

Also for the record, I tried my mom's Chicken Cordon Bleu and that was definitely my favorite!

The Mac & Cheese was green in celebration of good ol' St. Patrick!

 Later that weekend I met up with my sister, her husband, and her kids!  It was a fun weekend, and now that it's over I'm sad to say that I didn't get any pictures with her or my brother in law!

But not before going for a walk with my mom and the fiance in a nearby nature reserve!

This picture was the best of at least 5 tries...

To celebrate his little brother's birthday, we decorated cupcakes!

It was such a FUN weekend!  I love it when my family gets together.  We always end up having a good time!

I miss you guys!  :(

Warning: Desk only appears clean when I prepare for pictures.

Good day to you all in blogger land.  Just thought I'd share my afternoon snack with y'all.  I'm enjoying a blueberry greek yogurt with apples, grapes and strawberries.  Jealous?

The other day I was working out with my trainer when his girlfriend came in.  Super nice girl, very pretty, and super skinny.  Our discussion, while working out ironically, turns to who has the better french fries, Burger King vs. McDonalds and she says she prefers McDonalds (when BK is a clear winner, obvi).  And not only does she enjoy her own large fries but her boyfriend's fries as well.  So I said, "Well you're skinny, it does NOT show that you like McDonalds".  Her boyfriend, my trainer, then poked fun at her saying that "everyone's metabolism slows down eventually" and that this skinny girl, who doesn't work out [bitch :)] will eventually see the error of her ways.

So that got me thinking, was I somehow blessed with a less than perfect metabolism?  The kind where I gain 3 pounds after a fast food meal?  Although this seems counter-intuitive, I'm going to go ahead and say yes.  I've learned from my unhealthy eating mistakes of the days of yore and I'm correcting it at an age where my body can bounce back from impending doom [exaggeration].  So yeah, I feel pretty good about eating healthy snacks with lean protein, fruits and veggies throughout the day...

instead of those delicious BK french fries...

4 Months To Go!

YIKES!  It's almost def-con 5, we're at threat level midnight, code red people!  Only 4 months left to go!

It's rather exhilarating getting so close to the end of this engagement!  Finally being married!!!  I am of course freaking out by now over the details.  Whoops...

Is it bad that I'm really looking forward to a week in Cancun?  I mean, I plan on getting some sun (although I don't predict a lack of sun to be a problem in July in Illinois/Iowa) and relaxing on a warm beach with crystal blue waters!  I'm also very pumped to take advantage of the all inclusive-ness of the resort we're staying at!

Look how happy we look, although I should probably go to the hospital, something is wrong with my skull

 FOUR MONTHS TO GO!!!

Weight Training - Update

Yesterday I started my 4th consecutive week of strength training.  As I've mentioned in previous posts, I love working out there for several reasons.  Primarily the reason is that I love the people I'm working out with.  There's the cute mother/daughter group that works out just before I get to the gym, the sweet middle aged man who always likes to give my trainer crap, the fun meatheads (a term I use lovingly) that scream loudly when bench pressing... ahhh it's just FUN!  I love my trainer and the owner of the gym too.  They're both so chill- that's the best word I can use to describe them.  Working out to them is clearly a passion and they take an interest in my personal story and experience with them.

I love working out.  It's come to my attention lately that I'm starting to look more toned and I'm really excited about that!  Overall I just feel better when I work out, usually because I know that I've done something to improve my fitness for the day. 

One of the challenges of working out with a trainer is that he's constantly pushing me to lift heavier weights and do more reps.  I call this a challenge because with running and doing other cardio I typically don't push myself beyond my comfort zone and I eventually fall into a pace that I find "easy" meaning that I'm not struggling as much as I once did.  With a trainer, he knows when I can move up a weight which means that I'm constantly in some sort of pain due to good ol Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness (DOMS).  This also means that I'm never going to have a leisurely trip to the gym where I lift leisurely weights and don't break a sweat or even run out of breath (who would have thought lifting can be so hard?).

So that's my opinion on lifting.  It's awesome, but in a painful way.

Furthermore, getting married in a few months has me thinking about the future and future mini-me's.  Of course I've had baby fever for about a year now and that's just for some reason NOT going away... unless of course I spend a weekend with some sugar fed kids that may or may not be my niece and nephews.  Anyways, I was reflecting on how fitness and eating healthy not only impacts me but will inevitably impact my future kids!  Eating right and living healthy for now - I think - gives me a better opportunity to be a good mother in the future, and to give my kids a healthy upbringing.  So next time I feel unmotivated, I'm gonna think about little Brunhilda or Sebastian (names I clearly won't use) and get my ass to the gym/not eat that 4th donut.

Weight on the scale

So, per the recommendation of my trainer, I've got to STOP focusing on the number on the scale.  The number is arbitrary when it comes to weight loss believe it or not especially when you're working on building muscle.  That's why I haven't seen it budge even though my pants are fitting better and my body is starting to look different.

I would like to see that number drop about 10 pounds so it would eventually be more like 140 but I am growing to understand that if I'm eating right and working out the way that I am and not seeing the results on the scale is discouraging.  Even though I'm not seeing a numerical result I need to look for physical results.  So that means you'll start seeing more pictures.  Lucky you.

Because let's be honest, on my wedding day and going forward it's not going to matter what I actually weigh, it's gonna be how I look.  Which is awesome btw.

Differences Between Men and Women - Wedding Preparation

Women (ME):
-Will go to the gym almost daily and pay thousands for training in order to look their best on their wedding day.

Men (MY FIANCE):
-Will attempt to eat 3 Lucky's Sandwiches in less than an hour in order to get his picture on the wall.

This plus two friends...

Life is extremely unfair.  :)

I lied

So yesterday I promised you all that I would to the elliptical machine.  I didn't.  I did you one better.

Did you know you can buy this on VHS at Amazon for a mere $16.95.

I thought back to my high school days when I was getting ready for prom and the workout I did back then.  Yessireedee, I used the 8 Minute Abs workout regularly.  Dammit, it was motivating.  Yesterday I wanted to do abs work after my incredibly awesome run so I thought to myself, "Self, how can I do a great abs workout in a short amount of time?"  I replied "Why, let's check out YouTube and see if you can do that amazing workout from the days of yore"

Sure enough this was just as cheesy as I remembered it being, but strangely soothing and motivating at the same time.  I love his "see you in 24 hours" at the very end of the video. 

Before working on my abs 'o steel, I did a pretty intense (for me) run.  I started at a 5.5 mph run and increased it 1/10th of a mile every 3 minutes until I reached 6.1 (all on an incline of 3 using the "random" mode).  I was pretty pumped that I was able to go that fast but at 6.1 I pooped out and walked at a 3.5 for a minute, then bumped it back up to 5.5 mph and increased it 1/10th of a mile every minute after that until I got to like 5.8 which wasn't all that impressive I know.  So I walked again at a 3.5 and then finished strong at 5.5 for about 5 minutes. 

I am running in my first 5k in a long time on April 2nd!  I'm extremely excited about it!  Less than a month away, I've gotta keep up on my training!

In other workout/fitness news, I have decided to continue doing group training after work 3 days a week.  The training is expensive, but not in comparison to the cost of personal training.  The cost averages about $25/session which is a lot to say goodbye to each month but I honestly think it's worth it to invest in myself and grow some MUSCLE!  My trainer, TJ, gets me really motivated and keeps pushing me to lift heavier and heavier weights.  I swear I can see definition in my biceps!  Every little bit helps and I can't wait to rock that wedding dress!

Just a quick note...

I am definitely working out tonight.  I'm going to the gym in 5 minutes.  Even though I don't want to and could really just go home and watch TV, I'm going to do 20 minutes on the elliptical and 30 minutes running and spending the rest of the hour working on abs. 

Yes.  This is gonna happen.