Productive Weekend Recap!

(I always try to start my blogging with a title...and realize I have no idea what to put, and remember that I am constantly telling my students to write and THEN decide on the title! the title needs to fit the text!
Now that I'm done with the post, I still can't think of a good title...so sorry, charlies.)

Hi, guys!

I hope you are all having a magnificent weekend. Mine has been super productive. Remember yesterday's to-do list?  I was able to cross of several items, and it felt great.

Saturday
Saturday continued after tutoring with a trip to Subway for lunch! I got the Veggie Delite on cheddar/herb bread...filled with lettuce, tomatoes x 2, jalepenos, olives, banana and green peppers, and salt/pepper. SO GOOD! I ate the whole thing. :)

12 inches of goodness.

I actually ate this while sitting on the curb at a local tire shop...the first order of business yesterday was getting new tires for my car. In NC, and some other states, cars have to get inspected every year. I'm due for my inspection this month, and THANKFULLY, Ben knows a lot about cars, and could tell that my tires wouldn't pass inspection. So, we looked up the nearest used-tire shop, and headed there with our Subway lunch! We picnic-ed in the beautiful weather, and chatted about life while we waited for my car.
After I got new tires, we headed to an inspection station, where my car quickly passed the multi-point inspection. PHEW! Two things checked off the list!
We were driving home and I knew that Saturday wouldn't be complete without a trip to Rita's! I got a gelati, which is layers of Italian ice and custard. Mine contained layers of vanilla custard and caramel apple Italian ice. DELICIOUS!

Gelati! YUM!

Finally we made it home, and after sinking deep into my cushy couch, I got a call from a girlfriend, who was ready to work out!
Thank goodness! Not enough movement + gelati = sluggish and bloated Amy.
We headed to my gym, which was EMPTY at 6:30 on Saturday night, and decided to do a 15-minute cardio circuit.
Here's what it looked like:
0-15 minutes: Arc trainer
15-30: treadmill run (I ran a 9:30 mile!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) 
30-45: stationary bike (3.5 miles, slow and steady)
45-55: stair climber
It was a great workout, I was dripping sweat by the end! I'm glad we went; I needed a sweat session after my huge lunch and ice cream! And it was wonderful to be at the gym when it's so quiet and empty...we had our choice of any machines we wanted. :)

Sunday
I woke up this morning knowing that I had BUCKETS of school work to do, and that I couldn't leave the house until it was done. I also knew that I wanted to get my eyebrows cleaned up and meet my friend Alyssa for a little lunch and shopping...so I had to get crackin' on my school work right away! I decided that today would be a rest day from working out. :)
I situated myself on the couch with a little breakfast and got to work!

YUM!!!!!!!!!!

 

 

yogurt bowl and a big Tervy full of ice water!

close up: chobani, strawberries, raw oats, sliced almonds, and cherry preserves!

I took a few breaks to snuggle with the siamese...

And by "snuggle", I mean she sat on me and stared out the window.

Around 10:30 I finished my lesson plans and one IEP. I still have another IEP to write and a few papers to dabble with...but I got enough done to allow myself a trip to the mall!
I met Alyssa and we got our eyebrows waxed...the lady had us come into the room together, and we took turns getting our brows done. Good thing we're such good friends! ;)
Then we headed out of the salon (located in the mall), and bee-lined for Ann Taylor LOFT! I looove LOFT...but have to be careful going in too often, their clothing are too cute for me to leave with just one top or skirt!
I did well today; I got 2 tops and a pair of black ankle capris, all on sale. My receipt says I saved $54!
Here are a few pictures of my new tops...and both tops are worn with the black pants, though you can't see much of them. 

shirt one. it's more of a coral than bright orange, like it looks. sorry for my dirty mirror!

shirt two. I look REALLY pleased...can't wait to wear this to school or for play!

this is a Target purchase...a big comfy sweatshirt for lounging! SO GREAT.

Now I'm sitting on the couch, looking at grad school programs at NC State, digesting my delicious Mexican dinner, and trying to mentally prepare for the week to come.
Happy Sunday evening to YOUUUUU!

To-Do List with the Mister

Good morning!

I'm so glad it's Saturday. 
So, so, sooooo glad it's Saturday. 
It was a long week, full of early mornings, meetings and trainings and tests, tutoring after school, and not seeing my husband (he works two jobs also, and typically is gone 8am-5pm, and again 7:45-9:30pm).
Now that it's the weekend, Ben and I have plans to do lots of REALLY fun things together, such as...

-get new tires for the saab
-get the saab inspected
-buy groceries
-do our taxes
-finish Ben's NC State application (he's going back to schoooool YAY)
-clean our MESS of a house

Sounds wild, right? Haha, time together is time together, regardless of what we're doing. <3

This morning I'm scheduled to tutor from 10:00-12:30, and then the to-do list fun starts!

For now, I'm relaxing in my new leggings and a big cozy sweatshirt...

$8.00 at Walmart!

Eating breakfast with the nugget...

extra wet food for the pretty lady!

my pan is too small!

mmmmm look at all that Frank's!

breakfast of champions, and only about 280 calories!

Time to get dressed and head out for some coffee (I'm all out! It's on the list!) before working with the little ones for a few hours. :)
I hope you all have a wonderful Saturday!

Sorry.

I hope no one has a seizure or gets a migraine from all of the blog design-changing that's happening around here. I liked the bright blue background, but I think it was a little much. This seems cleaner and more neat. 

Thoughts on the current set-up?
Is the font too small? Too pale?
I'd like to eventually have a nice, panoramic picture behind the "Eat, Teach, Run" at the top...but first I need to either take a sweet picture or steal one from the 'net. Lots to do, obv.
I also can't wait until I've actually done a race or two so that I can have a "race recaps" page!!

Over and out.

Fuel.

Good morning! TGIF!  :)

Run: DONE
3 miles in 29:25, plus .5 mile of increasing speeds every 10th of a mile (6.0-6.4 mph)

I really wanted to go to the studio cycle class this morning from 5:30-6:30, and I thought that I could do my scheduled 3-mile run after school...but I know myself, and I know that though I'd LIKE to go back to the gym this afternoon, there's a chance I won't. And I really didn't want to miss my run!
So, I ran my 3 miles in under 30 minute (woo hoo!), did some walking, ran a speedy (for me!) .5 mile, did a few more minutes of walking, and hopped off to stretch and start my work day.
There is a studio cycle class at 5:45 tonight, and since it's Friday, I don't have tutor...so I might go! I really enjoyed Tuesday's class.

Fuel 
I am working hard to learn how to fuel my body appropriately for my runs.
Wednesday night I ate 5 donut holes, then ran a decent but not great 3 miles on Thursday night.
Last night I ate a bag of Turtle Chex Mix and a jar lot of peanut butter, then ran a TOUGH 3 miles this morning.
Um. It doesn't take a genius to realize that crappy food = crappy feeling body, which = crappy energy, which = crappy run.
I know I need to be eating more VEGGIES, more whole grains, and drinking more water!!!

My post-run fuel is:

Plus I'll probably have this in a few hours:

 

I'm not sure what's on the menu for lunch...I have a packet of oatmeal and a nectarine in my lunch bag, but on Friday's some of the staff at my school order from a local deli, and they have AMAZING salads...so that might happen. 

Speaking of fuel, gas is up in the $3.50s in central NC. What the what?? Ugh.

source

Happy Friday!

Does Dunkin Donuts count as "fast food"?

...because this happened at approximately 5:20 pm today.

source

I didn't have a whole pile; I only had 5. 

...Oh. That's how many are in the picture.

Carbo-loading for my 5am 3-miler?
Dinner of champs?
Sugaring up for two hours of not-so-sweet tutoring clients?
Temporary loss of sanity?

Tomato, tomahhhto. 

lion or lamb?

Good morning! I hope you all had a great March 1st!

it's not 2006, thank goodness. source

I'm trying to decide if March came in like a lion or a lamb! 
After some thought, it seems like this can be measured in many different ways.
You could consider the weather, your job, your fitness, your health, or any other aspect of your life.
If the month starts out poorly, perhaps you will foresee/hope for a  favorable end of the month...
If the month starts amazingly, though, isn't it pretty pessimistic to forecast a not-so-wonderful end of the month?

Well, let's review my March 1, 2011, and see if we can decide!

Yesterday was a nice day, weather-wise...but not the best. It was in the 50s, and sunny.
...oh. I guess that is pretty great, for March 1st.

Shockingly, I had a wonderful work day. I had 2 cups of coffee before 10am, which helped me bounce through my morning.  Some of my students were out for testing, so that gave me a little extra planning time!

As for exercise,  it was a GREAT day. I did spin class at 5:30 am, then walked 4 miles with a girlfriend in the evening. We even ran about a mile of that! Big progress, being that A. it was cold and dark, and B. we were outside, running up and down hills in our neighborhoods.  Two workouts in one day!? Whoa. I feel pretty beastly about that, but not too lion-like.

My food intake was pretty good. I had a yummy bowl of oatmeal for bfast, greek yogurt and strawberries for morning snack, my spicy 3-ingredient salad for lunch (with a nectarine for dessert), a gooey bagel thin with melted cheese as a pre-walk snack, and an amazing pasta topped with spinach and ricotta cheese dinner, with a side of broccoli!
(notice all those adjectives? ----->language teacher! haha)
(I have a few pictures of my foods, but again, the transition from phone->school email/computer->blogger isn't saving my pictures the right way, and so the pictures are uploading to blogger all rotated and unusable. sorry, pals.)

So all in all, it seems like March started out great! But, I'm still not sure if it qualifies as a "lion" or a "lamb". Maybe I'll give it a few more days. :)





How was did your March start?  Was it like a a lion? Or more like a lamb?

Welcome, March!

Happy Month 3, y'all! 
I, myself, am glad to welcome in this longer, more action-packed month. February was getting old. ;)

March has some really excellent things in store.
For starters, this month is 31 days long.Phew! I need more days to get things DONE.
And speaking of the 31st, that's my momma's birthday!

isn't she beautyyyyyful!? :)

March also holds St. Patty's day!
...I don't really get that excited about holidays, but it's always fun to wear green and be cheerful!

March is going to be busy at school.
I have 8 parent meetings scheduled in the next two weeks.
I have 4 papers due for my district's beginning teacher program...remember my miserable Sunday a few weeks ago? Yeah. I have to re-enact that day, but instead of writing one paper, I have to write 3 more. Ick.
I have homework due for a reading professional development training. Articles to read, reflections to write!
Oh, and the end of the quarter is the last week of March...which means the week before will be quarterly assessments...2 days of non-stop testing of all of our kids in reading and math. YUCK!

Thankfully, after ALL that mess, my sister will arrive!

hey, cupcake.

And her little dog, too!

meet Liberty Bell...LB, for short. she's a mini schnauz! <3

stretchy schnauz.

We're planning to do lots of wildness for 3 days. She's going to come to school with me on March 25th, and then on the 26th we're running a 5k!
We will probably do lots of snuggling with the schnauzer, and praying that said schnauzer doesn't eat the resident siamese, Isabelle.

"ma...I thought I told you, Ihate that dog!"

It'll be fun!


Now. There's lots to look forward to, but there are also some goals to work on!

1. no meat! -->not so hard anymore! I'm into week 6 of no meat!
2. more water! all day long!
3. [continue to] follow the 10k plan
4. run the Raising Cane 5k with Katie in under 35 minutes
5. choose a magazine to subscribe to, maybe Runner's World?
6. less late-night eating!
7. attend at least one gym group class per week!

Speaking of classes at my gym, I attended my first ever spin class today, called "studio cycle". 
I arrived early, and got in about 15 minutes of peaceful warm-up cycling before the class started.
The instructor arrived, dimmed the lights, and pulled down screens in the front of the class...and being that it was my first class, I was confused! I thought she was purposefully covering the mirrored-walls!
But she then turned on a projector, and started some films of men doing a bike race in Paris.
WOW! How motivating was that, to watch these hundreds of men biking through the French countryside, paired to super bouncy music!? I loved it! It was SUCH a challenge. Girlfriend was dripping sweat, too!  I can't wait to go back next Tuesday morning.

Happy Tuesday evening to you! I'm off to relax at home for a bit before going for a walk with Alyssa!