I love my friends

Last night, I set my alarm to start going off at 5:45 a.m. and continue to go off for the next 10 minutes at 2 minute intervals. However, before my alarm could even begin going off, Matt called me. It was 5:40 a.m. Now, I know you're asking yourself who would be up that early, but he's working some conference that requires him to be at work at 5:30 a.m., so don't worry - he's getting paid and isn't willingly getting up that early. If he were doing it willingly, I would stage an intervention and have him committed. Anywho, the point is that it was his nice and early phone call that really pushed my lazy butt to get out of bed and go to the gym even though my knees were really aching. I do remember telling Matt that my knees hurt and he basically told me he didn't care so I got up and got ready anyway. And this is why I love my friends. They don't take my crap and make me do what I should really be doing.


While I was on the phone with Matt, I did my daily weigh-in. Last week, the scale read this:

That says 214.8 if you can't read it

This week, the scale reads this:

That's a 2.4 pound loss which is awesome. It also means that I only have 5.4 pounds to go until my goal. I'm going to have to start taking my morning workouts a bit more seriously if I want to get there. Boo - that means more early mornings. This is how I feel about that:

I took this at 5:55 a.m. I'm pretty sure happiness isn't allowed that early in the morning

When I got back from the gym (I did a half hour on the elliptical since my knees were bothering me), I chowed down some overnight oats because I was starving.

I didn't realize this was so blurry

After my oats, I hopped in the shower and then made some more breakfast since the oats aren't an actual meal for me (for some other bloggers, this is super filling - perhaps they were blessed with tiny stomachs).

Note the ibuprofen in the background

After breakfast, I headed to work and actually had stuff to do for the majority of the morning. Shocking, I know. I prepped some samples, re-did Dillon's résumé with him, and spent some time searching Craigslist for tables and bookshelves.

Then I came home for lunch and had the typical English muffin pizza. Yum!

I also made some oats for dessert because I wanted some protein to fill me up a bit more.

I snuck out of work a bit early today (and by snuck, I mean I left at 4:45 p.m. and told my boss I'd see him tomorrow. He didn't care - he knows I'm not doing anything. How does he know this? He won't give me any work since I'm leaving soon). Anyway, I snuck out early because I had training with Mark at 5:00 p.m. We did some push-ups (I was still hurting from yesterday with Emily), some chest presses, some leg extensions, and some quad work. Perhaps I was still in my disheartened mood from yesterday, but I feel like I'm sucking at my workout lately. So I stuck around and put in an intense 32 minute session on the elliptical. I upped my resistance from the morning and made sure to keep my pace up.

When I got home, I immediately started working on making turkey tacos. I was really in the mood for them and so I was pretty happy how quickly I made them happen.

They really hit the spot. I also had more oats, but I didn't snap a picture because I figured you'd seen enough oats for the day. I think I'm going to need to cut down on those...maybe just one serving a day. They're not too bad for you - they're under 200 calories, but that can add up!

Now I'm just sitting on the couch with Bailey cuddled up right next to me. I'm going to wash up for bed shortly and call it an early night so I can be up early for a kick butt early morning workout. I'm going to lose this 5.4 pounds in no time!

Finding something new

So, as I mentioned before, I got reassigned to the Grand Rapids campus for medical school [insert happy dance here]. I found out about 2.5 hours after having my wisdom teeth out so I spent my post-surgical period calling people to set up apartment viewings. Not exactly my favorite thing to do. But what I like even less is apartment hunting. And that's what I got to do today. Woo hoo. Fortunately, my mom came with me and shared in the misery.


We left Midland a little after 8:00 a.m. and traveled to the other side of the state. Our first viewing was at 10:30 in a janky, janky neighborhood. It was a two-bedroom apartment that was on the top floor. The apartment was as janky as the neighborhood. Yeah, I'll leave it at that. The second apartment was even more janky, which was a feat that I didn't think could be achieved. And the woman who showed us both apartments was kind of a jerk. So, it was nice to go see a nicer part of town and meet a lovely old man who showed us a well-cared-for, but really, really small apartment. After that viewing, I got a call from a place that I was supposed to see later saying that they'd rented out the apartment I was going to see. Following that, I got a call from another place saying their place was rented out. So, I began freaking out. Thus, it was time for a break and for lunch at Marie Catrib's (pronounced Cuh-treebs). It was awesome! My mom got the roast beef sandwich and I tried something completely new: the sweet potato and quinoa burger.

I didn't know that I'd like it, so I was a tad nervous, but I definitely recommend it - especially if you're vegan.

After lunch/my minor freak out session that I wouldn't find an apartment I love, we headed to another viewing near where my friend Eric lives. And though the landlord was about 20 minutes late, it was well worth the wait because I fell in love. And now, you shall see all the bajillion pictures I took of the place:

My private entryway/staircase 

The view from the door/the living room

The living room with my new landlord, James (what a hunk).

My kitchen (there's a dishwasher!!)

How cute 

The kitchen has real tile

View of the living room from the kitchen

Coat closet

Bathroom

Large bathroom closet 

Another storage closet

And another storage closet 

Bedroom view from door

Other view of the bedroom

Bedroom Closet #1

Bedroom closet #2

View of hallway

View of dining room 

After seeing this unit, James took us downstairs for a look at a ground-level unit, but I was sold on the top floor unit. It was a bit bigger and it just felt more open. It was also in a beautiful neighborhood and only a 10 minute walk from school. I signed my application and will be getting my lease in the mail soon. Woot, woot!

Once we were done at this apartment building, I called and canceled all of my viewings for the rest of the day. We drove home and then I coaxed my mom into taking me to Midland's new(ish) organic market where I bought some PB2.

The thing that's awesome about PB2 is that it's got 85% fewer calories and fat than does regular peanut butter. Take a look for yourself!

Normal peanut butter has anywhere from 160-200 calories per serving and about 16g of fat. And since I intend to use this mostly in my oatmeal cookieish thing I'm not too concerned about it tasting exactly like peanut butter.

Once I got home, I vegged out for a bit and watched The Glee Project. When I got that rumbly in my tumbly, I decided to order pizza. And I know that I probably could've opted for something healthier, but I've been craving pizza for a few days now and I figured it'd be better to get what I wanted instead of grazing on a bunch of things trying to satisfy my craving. 

Yum! And now I'm going to have to get serious for a bit. Medical school is starting in about a month and like I've said before, I really, really don't want to be the fat girl anymore. And though I've been kind of half assing my workouts and eating the last few days, I'm feeling pretty pumped up to get my groove back - especially now that I've gotten my pizza craving out of my system. So, though getting up everyday this week is going to be rough, I'm going to power through it. And I'm going to be the pleasantly plump girl at med school!

Awesome day

Today was awesome. I woke up at 5:15 and met up with Ali at the gym and did about 25 minutes of cardio before heading out. I know it doesn't seem like much, but Mark said that you should do at least 20 minutes of cardio before eating in the morning, so I did just fine. Plus, I didn't want to wake up any earlier (I have to get to work early this week). Once I got home, I made this epic breakfast that was way healthier that the Big Apple Bagels sandwich that inspired it:

It was an everything bagel with chive and onion cream cheese, a few slices of honey smoked turkey, and two egg whites. It was amazing. I paired it with a delicious spotted banana: 

And this:

I was talking with my friend Alicia this weekend and we were talking about my low iron level and she talked about how her doctor recommended a multi-vitamin. After reading up about it on my own, I figured it couldn't hurt so now I will be taking one of these [huge] pills everyday. And they have 100% of your daily dose of iron in them, so hopefully I'll be able to donate blood again soon!


After my yummy breakfast, I packed up some snacks for work and then headed there early since I need to make up some time thanks to all theses tooth-related appointments I have coming up.

Once at work, I did a happy dance because Carrie wasn't there. That meant no silly kid stories, no complaining about how much she has to do [which is a big lie], and no one creeping over my shoulder looking at my phone or reading my computer. Woot!


The morning went pretty quickly despite me getting there early and then I had a lovely lunch:

After lunch, it was back to the grind. But, I added another snack to my afternoon.

These teddy grahams are awesome. You can eat quite a few for one serving and they're pretty darn good for you.


I was busy all afternoon and then came home to get ready for the gym. Ali was at the gym again when I got there and so Mark invited her to work out with us. It was actually a lot of fun and I think she's going to look into training, too. We may even look into doing it together if it's cheaper. Also, I lost six pounds since last Wednesday. Woooot!


Once I got home from the gym, I whipped up a taco salad. It was just taco meat, cheese, spinach, and tomato. It was pretty delicious. 

I also took a quick shower and was back out the door within 40 minutes to meet Ken Andrews, a Chi Running instructor. We met at a local coffee shop, talked about the philosophy behind chi running, how it could impact my joints (it's not supposed to), and what a first-time runner like me could expect. He gave me a few recommendations for good books to read (like Chi Running pictured below) and wanted me to explore some more before I signed up.

Now, after a quick trip to meijer to buy Bailey some cat food, I'm home and updating you before I turn in early so I can be up nice and early for another morning work out.


Hope you had a great day! Do you know anything about alternative forms of exercise? Also, if you're in the area and would be willing, we could do a class with Ken. Let me know if you're interested!

I blade because I'm a bamf

Today probably would have been the perfect day to bike to work, but I didn't get my butt out of bed until 7:30. Oops. I made it to work a bit late and upon scanning the parking lot, I didn't see Carrie's van. Then I realized she was going to miss the morning because her kids had some kind of concert at school. Woooooot! That meant no morning stories to suffer through. Sheli and I were so excited, we did a little jig.


During the morning, I had a few things to do and Dillon helped for some of it. He's fun to hang out with when I don't have much to do because he's actually my age, doesn't have kids, and thinks that his job is boring, too.


At lunch, I had an English muffin pizza and a hunk o' turkey. And since I was still a bit hungry, I had a South Beach protein bar on my way back to work.

During the afternoon, my work list began to dwindle. I forced Dillon to do physicals for some new oils with me and was entertained for about an hour. Then, I began being inefficient to waste some time. Fortunately I had just enough to last me through the day. Tomorrow's probably going to be painful though. Womp, womp.


After work, I tried to donate blood, but my hematocrit was a 33. Your hematocrit is the percentage of  blood volume made up of red blood cells. For women, it's supposed to be a 38. So, yeah, mine was a bit low. I'm not surprised since it's my "lady time," as Mark calls it.


I left the hospital disappointed and then went home for a little food before going blading. I had a slice of pizza from yesterday. Yum!

After my pizza snack, I went tanning (I'm trying to get a base tan before Colorado) and then went blading like the bamf that I am. I was going to go to the gym, but my thighs are killing me from my workout yesterday. So, I decided blading was the way to go. Plus, I like blading way more than I like the treadmill. Plus, the rail trail is a great place to blade.

The rail trail

It's also nice because the rail trail has markers to let you know how far you've gone.

Mostly, I just like that the rail trail is flat and like an exclusive little happy fitness trail. Everyone says hi as you pass each other. Also, it's just pretty (and historic).

The river

Anyway, once I got to the 1.5 mile mark, I decided to turn around because the skies were starting to darken and I didn't want to be caught in a storm like any of those we've been having lately.

On my way home, I decided to grab some Jimmy John's instead of making dinner since it was already 7:30.

Yum! And though I really wanted to stop at Tim Horton's (which is conveniently right across the street), donuts count as dessert and I've given up dessert for a while. So, I went straight home where I parked myself on the couch to watch Glee, blog, and work on some applications.

Also, did you guys see the Bachelorette last night? There was some guy on there who was 31, had two masters, a doctorate, had run 39 marathons and visited over 70 countries. I would like to marry him, please!

What kind of exercise is actually fun for you?