I always feel like somebody's watchin me

LOL ok, so I was eating grapes and watermelon the other day and one bite looked like this. It reminded me of the Geico commercial.

I trust you all had a fabulous weekend. I did! However, this post is going to be rather short as none of my pictures from the weekend turned out. :(

Brittany and I did an "Ambush Makeover" of our best friend, Michelle's, apartment. We mostly just organized her things and utilized some of the stuff she already had to create a more "cozy" atmosphere.

After the makeover we went to the downtown Portland "Pastini Pastareia" for lunch. It was delicious. :) Good choice Michelle.

The rest of my weekend included house hunting with my husband, cleaning, and watching some Heros.

Josh and I found a couple houses in our price range. We were pre-approved yesterday for a loan, but we still need to talk to the loan agent today and get somethings figured out with the down payment and closing costs. Hopefully we get it all figured out soon. Brittany if you're reading, this is something we just decided to pursue Friday night.

Of course buying a house would mean we'd probably forfeit a trip to Mexico :( but I suppose buying a house to raise future children in is worth it!??

About Running

Okay, so last week I was up to 17 minutes of running. I wanted to push myself to 20 minutes (I'm training to do a 5k in November). But, my heels started hurting so badly. I know it's because I'm running in worn out shoes. I talked to my husband (the sport expert) and he told me absolutely no running until my feet feel better. I also have to go buy shoes, something I just don't feel like doing.

I've been icing my feet and they tend to feel better the morning after, but after walking on them for a few hours they begin to hurt again. Anyway, I probably need to buy at least one par of supportive dress shoes as well. All my dressy work shoes are either heels or flats with no support. *humph* I'm only 25 this stuff isn't supposed to happen. LOL

Today's plans

First, as soon as I get off of the computer, I'm going to do a 1/2 hour of Tony Horton's Yoga-X. It's way extreme. The video is actually 90 minutes and it's supposed to burn 500 calories. So, divide that by three and it's only 167 calories. :( But I can't think of any thing else that would be ok on my feet.

I also plan to follow this motto WWKE (or BE). LOL This means What Would Kath or Brit Eat. I'm not really trying to idolize Kath (from Kath Eats) or Brittany (my best friend) but I'm trying to follow what a healthy person would eat. Wish me luck.

Well, I'm off to do yoga, shower and go to work.

Blessings,

Shawnee

Peaches and Cream: Is there a better way to start my day?

Good morning!

I finally feel like I have a little direction at my new job. It's always intimidating starting a new job and learning how things work. This position is kind of scary in that I'm dealing with people's lives. Well, their education anyway.

I'm in charge of recruiting, informing, and getting prospective adults enrolled in our Family Studies degree completion program. For many of the adults, this is their last chance to finish the degree they've put off for 20 years (or whatever), or it's their chance to get involved in ministry or counseling and help people who've struggled with the same problems the prospective student has struggled with; problems such as drugs and alcohol, or physical, sexual and emotional abuse.

Anyway, I am the one who has to make sure these adults are on track with their incoming (or transferring) credits, I have to make sure they complete all the steps necessary to be accepted, and as of right now I, along with my director, am the acceptance committee.

It's a huge job, with tons of stuff to learn. I've felt like I've had stuff just kind of thrown at me in terms of paper work and responding to students. In the midst of all that paper work, I've also had students "walk in." In these cases I have to drop what I'm doing and go over the program with them. Of course, for now I have another coworker in there with me.

Ok, that's more than you ever wanted to know about what I do. LOL sorry. I just think I needed to write that to see who important my job is! :)

Anyway, on to eats...

Peaches and Cream!

Ingredients:

• One whole peach, sliced into sections
• 1 serving of organic Greek yogurt
• 1/4 cup of oats
• 2 tsp of brown sugar
• 1 tbsp of butter (or I used Smart Balance Light)
• A sprinkle of Cinnamon

First melt the butter on medium heat in a non stick frying pan. Place the peaches in the pan and sprinkle the brown sugar over the top. Let the peaches saute for a few moments. Next sprinkle the oats over the top of the peaches. Stir frequently, but be careful. Peaches are delicate. It's done when the oats are soft. Place most of the yogurt in a bowl, place the peach/oat mixture on to top, place the rest or (a dollop) of the yogurt on top of the peaches, and sprinkle with a tiny amount of Cinnamon.

If I had to have a favorite way of eating oatmeal, this would be it! This was the perfect breakfast, with the right balance of carbs, bulk to fill me up after my morning run.

The rest of my eats:

You might be able to click that and make it large, if you want to see what I'm eating. :P Sorry for the bad handwriting.

Anyway, I was so full after lunch. My coworkers and I ate at this little restaurant in Salem, OR called Rolling Bagels. SO GOOD. They had a salad bar, a soup bar (with about 7 varieties of soup), sandwiches and fresh bagels. I highly recommend this place.

I ate a little too much. I also had a strawberry cobbler, as it was my director's b-day and well...I was away from my desk making copies and a piece of it was already dished up and on my desk. So I ate it. It was amazing too.

I balanced the big bulky lunch with steamed veggies and rice for dinner. :)

Exercise:

I was only able to run for 17 minutes and walk for 13. I'm not quite up to my 20 minute jog like I was hoping to be.

Weekend plans:

Tomorrow I am going to Portland to makeover/organize my friend's dorm room for her b-day. My friend Britt and I have some tricks up our sleeves to make her tiny space more livable. Plus, we're sending her away to enjoy a day to herself while we clean.

I plan on blogging about my weekend on Sunday!

Have a fabulous weekend all.

--Shawnee

Just an OK kind of day

Yesterday was not too very exciting in terms of good eats. Or in terms of exercise for that matter. :(

I ended up eating lunch on campus for a lunch meeting. It was just a sandwich and salad, but it made me feel really awful. I felt bloated and had my tummy issues all day long.

I also didn't exercise yesterday. I ended up blogging my exercise time away and ran out of time. :( I planned on doing it when I got home, but I got home an hour later than usual and ended up just veggin' out.

I'm trying to not be too hard on myself. I'm hoping I'm tired because I'm still getting into the groove of working longer hours and waking up early. Who knows.

Anyway, I have exactly a 1/2 hour to exercise in the morning and I need to burn optimal calories during that time. I do my run/walk 3 days a week. I need something else to do on the off days.

I have a series of strength training exercises I can do, but I would also like to implement some cardio. Anyone have any suggestions? Any cardio/strength training videos that are only a 1/2 hour?

Well, wish me luck today. I'm going out to lunch for my coworker's birthday. Sometimes I wish we lived in a society where we didn't celebrate with food.

Blessings,
--Shawnee

Journaling, Weigh-In and Questioning Life

Morning all! I hope you had a fabulous Tuesday night. I sure did. I just focused on relaxing. :) I needed it after work last night.

Pizza Wraps:

Dinner ended up being super quick and easy with my Hawaiian Pizza Wraps.

Ingredients:

• Flour Tortilla
• Cheese
• Ham/Canadian Bacon
• Pineapple
• Tomato slices
• Pizza sauce

The amount of each ingredient doesn't matter, just stuff that tortilla to your hearts content.

I had mine with 1/2 cup grapes, as I had already eaten 4 servings of veggies for the day.

Calories in/Calories Out


I haven't done this for a while, but I finally tracked my calories on SparkPeople.com.

Calories in: 1668

Calories out: 237

My goal (as of now) is 1700 calories in and 288 calories out. This is what I need to do to lose 1 pound a week.

I only have a 1/2 hour every morning to exercise, and so sometimes I don't meet my 288 calorie goal. I guess I need to think about possibly cutting my calories in :( . Not something I want to think about doing right now.

Click here to see my cals in/out details at SP. Oh and you might be able to click the pic of my journal above, no promises though. :P Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.

Weigh in Wednesday:

I'm going to start weighing in on Wednesdays. I kind of copied the idea from "Fat Free Me." I just need to be accountable. For the past 6 months or more I've been fluctuating between 169-173 pounds. At some point I was up to 176 pounds.

Today's weight: 172.2 :( Last week I was at 171.

This bums me out. I'm really against starving myself, and when I eat less than 1500 calories I do feel like I'm starving! I want to lose weight slowly, naturally and healthily.

I'm 5'8 and right now my bmi is "overweight." I really want to be back down in the healthy range. I also want to feel healthy. Right now I don't feel healthy. Anyway, I'm rambling on about this because of the post I read from Jen, a Prior Fat Girl.

Her post just made me realize and question "WHY?" Why are we so freaked out and worried about looking like Angelina Jolie (sorry that's the first name that came into my mind). Life is just too short to worry about these things ladies.

Do I want to lose weight? Yes! I want to lose weight because I don't feel healthy. There is the side of my that wants to lose weight to look good, but that's vanity talking. That's my Perfectionist talking.

Anyway, I can't preach any longer, I'm 12 minutes into my morning exercise time.

Gotta run. Well, I got to lift weights anyway!

--Shawnee

P.S. I almost forgot, check out Jen's amazing blog post here.

Look who's back, back again

..Shawnee's back. Tell a friend. (Wicky Wick Slim Shawnee) HAHAHA. Sorry you may be too old, or too young to get that reference. ;)

Happy Tuesday everyone! I am on my lunch break at work, so I'm going to make this super fast. :)

Last week: I fell off the face of the earth by choice last week. I just woke up and decided, I'm going to take the day off from blogging. Though, I fully intended on blogging on Sunday. Anyway...

Thursday Night's Dinner: Lemon/Citrus Chicken

I borrowed a cook book from Brittany that has nothing but fabulous crock pot meals in it. I tried the Lemon Citrus Chicken one.

I would give you the recipe, but I'm not sure on copy right laws and such. But basically this was a whole lemon, orange juice and honey. I also threw in some carrots and a yam on top.

The flavor was really mild, but absolutely fantastic.

I ended up soaking a piece of french bread in the juices. YUM!

Saturday's Dinner: Deceptively Delicious Chicken Quesadillas and Brownies

Here is the deal, my husband despises beans of any sort. With these quesadillas I was able to hide white beans in with the sour cream mix. He had no idea he ate beans. He may have induced vomiting had I told him. ;) Also, this sneaky recipe hides butternut squash puree in with the cheese.

The husband's verdict? Well he said he would have preferred just chicken and cheese and had the sour cream on the side. I don't think I could have gotten away with just the cheese/butternut squash mixture. He may have been able to tell.

Anyway, I think I will make these again, but put the sour cream on the side for him. :) At least he'll get in some beans.

Are there green specks in your brownies? Why yes, yes there are. In fact, my husband stuck his face about three inches away to inspect this mixture. All he said was, "That's brownie batter?" And then walked away. LOL But what he doesn't know is that I hid spinach and carrots in the batter. MUAHAHAHAHA

Thankfully you can't see the green specks once cooked.

He told me I was zero for two. Meaning, he wasn't excited about either the quesadillas or the brownies. I didn't really like the brownies at first, but with a little powdered sugar over the top, they're pretty darn delicious.

I think my husband didn't like the fact that they weren't very sweet. The recipe called for only a 1/2 cup of brown sugar. Most brownies call for regular sugar, and a lot more of it. I liked them though, they had a dark chocolate taste to them and they're really moist and fluffy!

Check out http://deceptivelydelicious.com/ for more information on Jessica Seinfeld's cookbook.

My weekend at a glance...

Here are some of my highlights for the weekend:

• Watched "The Soloist" (Great film)
• Watched "Knowing" (Ok-cheesy ending though)
• Began watching season 1 of Heros (L-O-V-E IT! Yes, I'm a nerd at heart)
• Cleaned the whole house (8 man hours between Josh and I)
• Hiked all of Silver Creek Falls (8 miles)
• Planned all of my meals for the week

I don't normally watch that many movies or TV in a weekend, but I was so exhausted from my first week of work that I just wanted to relax. It really felt good.

I started food journaling again!

That's yesterday's journal. :) I didn't exercise 'cause my legs were still sore from the hike on Sunday, but I did exercise this morning. I plan on pushing up my jog time to 20 minutes on Thursday.

I'm gonna run. I'll post tomorrow morning. :)

Have a great weekend all!

--Shawnee

The Kashi Kraze

I got a Kashi coupon in the mail for one free box of any of their product. This reminded me that I had a $1.50 off a box of TLC crackers or cookies when you buy a box of Kashi GoLean Crunch cereal.

So late last night after youth group, my husband and I drove to Safeway. I had two of those $1.50 coupons, but they say one per person. I made my hubby buy one separately. Oh and we also had one of Safeway's double off coupon for up to .50. So the total discount ended up being $2 off. :)

Anyway I got about $23 worth of Kashi products for 12! I was very excited when I realized that each box of the Go Lean Crunch cereal contained two snack sized pouches of crackers, and they have two $1 off coupons on the back of the boxes. :)

Major score!!

Anyway, I really do have to make this one short this morning. I'm about 45 minutes behind my morning schedule. I'm thinking I don't have time to exercise. I am going to attempt to force myself to do it tonight.

Go to www.kashi.com for your $1.50 off coupon! I printed off a couple more just in case.

Happy Thursday everyone! Tomorrow's Friday. Yippee. :)
--Shawnee

The way snacks were meant to be

Quick post this morning. I don't really have anything exciting to share with you in terms of creative or exciting meals.

I thought I would take a picture of my lunch for today, which I packed last night.
My lunch looks really large, but its actually about 4 small meals or snacks. For my first snack I'll have the Oikos with blueberries and granola. For my actual lunch I have 3 of my enchiladas (in the smaller Tupperware container) and two wee oranges. Third lunch includes carrot sticks, cucumber slices and 1 tbsp of almond butter. Meal number four includes watermelon and a small slice of cheese.

The method behind my lunch madness? Well, I was reading an article in Real Simple magazine that talked about snacks and what they should include to keep you full and energized throughout the day. Basically your snacks should have bulk, protein, and a carb.

Thus, each of my snacks/meals have bulk with the fruits and veggies, which are also my carbs in most cases, and protein. I have protein in the yogurt, the beans/turkey in the enchiladas, a slice of cheese, and almond butter.

Of course we've all heard that we should eat smaller meals throughout the day. I fully agree. Smaller meals will keep you satisfied longer.

Anyway, my in-service day went well yesterday. There was a whole lot of talking going on, but being a Christian work environment, I kind of enjoyed some of it.

All three meals were included. For breakfast I had eggs, hash browns and a large serving of fruit. For lunch I ate a salad and splurged on the blue cheese dressing. :) I also had a half sandwich with turkey and pepper jack cheese. Oh and I also had a cookie which I should not have eaten, 'cause it kind of pushed my full-o-meter over the top. For dinner I had a salad, a small chicken breast, a small scoop of potato salad, and a dinner role.

I think throughout the rest of the day I ate a banana, a plumb, two starbursts, grapes and a slice of smoked Gouda.

I did not exercise yesterday. My excuse was that I had to leave for work at 7:30 a.m. and I didn't get home until 7:30 p.m. I was really tired, but I should have still forced myself to at least walk for a few minutes.

I'm now off to run and shower. Today is day 3 of my new job. Wish me luck. :)

Blessings to all,
--Shawnee