Wishing I used the snooze button...

Monday mornings always come too quickly... and it doesn't help mine starts at 4:20 a.m. I know, it's a ridiculous hour to be awake but it's part of the job. I work at a fitness & wellness center (aka gym) where I teach a class called Jump & Pump. I've never done anything like this up until a few weeks ago. Now, I almost feel like it's coming naturally...but I'm not going to get too far ahead of myself.

I really, really love being able to help people, so this class is great for me. What's hard is judging different levels of fitness and deciding how hard is too hard. The workouts I've always done have never been easy. Maybe it was the workout itself, but I'd like to attribute it to the fact that I pushed myself day in and day out. Now that was me, the young, motivated, athlete. These are regular people who drag themselves out of their beds for ME? Never. I should tell them to just stay in bed, but looks like we're all stuck.

Today we did a circuit drill. For about 2-3 minutes each we did the spin bikes, jump rope, ladder work, the 6 flights of stairs, and lunges. Then they took a walking break and did the whole thing again. This took about 25-30 minutes. I have it all rigidly planned out but usually I just feel out the situation. Today, we had a little less time because we started late so the second round was all just about two minutes. They HATE the stairs. I did them with the group today and...well.. I hated them too. But they're a fantttasic exercise. I mean reallly good for your legs and derriere. One day, they too will thank me. After the two rounds, I brought them back into the room and we got out stability balls to do strength work. I did one-minute sequences of shoulder press, chest press, chest fly, lat raises, squats and rdl's... I just tried to think of what rdl stood for. I have no idea... but I know it's really good for your hamstrings and it's inevitable that you'll be sore the next day. So after two rounds of all those exercises I scrambled to cool them down and get a quick ab workout in. I must say, I do complain alll the time about wanting a perfectly flat stomach, but something about doing crunches at the end of a work out is extremely unsatisfying. I'd rather lay lifelessly on the ground than work one more set of muscles. None-the-less, people want flat abs, so we did them... but only for about 3-4 minutes... way too short if you ask me. That's what I get for not using time management. At least I have too many exercises, as opposed to not enough.

Before the class I had almonds just because eating at 5 a.m. isn't always the most exciting idea. How can you enjoy food when you are still exhausted? Right after the class I had a pretty standard breakfast of activia, an apple, and since it's finally 7 a.m., COFFEE!! By 7:15 I am a whole new person charged off the small starbucks cup o' joe. It makes my world-- or at least my morning.

Soon enough, I'm off to school and by the time class is done my stomach is rumbling but I wanted to get my workout over with because I had things to do so I chugged some water and went to the gym. I only did about 30 minutes of elliptical, or the cybex rather, and was stifled by my ipod running out of battery. Perfect reason to stop right? So then I went to do some ab work and stretch and this portly man was following me around and mimicking my stretching. It was bizarre and creepy and I think he tried to show off by doing push ups but don't tell him I noticed his last set was on his knees... what a macho man. By then, I'd had enough gym for one day and set off for lunch. Oh glorious lunch. I was pretty hungry by then but I've learned to control myself for 5 minutes so I don't ransack the whole kitchen. I made a boca burger (which I loveee thanks to Lizzy introducing them to me when we were a litttle tipsy one night), and cut up a peach. Peaches are my favorite and sadly it's almost time to put them away for yet another year... how depressing.

I went to bid adieu to my dear friend Melanie, and we decided to stroll around the grocery store for hmm... 45 minutes? We decided we hate being disoriented in a grocery store. I find solace wandering the aisles usually, and when I don't know where anything is, I get very aggrivated. I also get aggrivated when employees make snide comments. Like when Melanie tried ordering something for a three week long road trip and the lady replied "that's a lot of salami..." Sorry mel, I sold you out for buying salami; forgive me! So when Melanie replied... okay how about 10 oz? The lady said she didn't know how much that was. So, really, what's with the high and mighty 'tude? I went on a sweets binge and before I knew it, I had chocolate chips, dark chocolate m&m's, and melting caramels in my basket. I decided to say goodbye to the chocolate chips but it was a tearful departure. Then the lady at the counter told me I was so sweet because I ate so many sweets. Wasn't that just so kind of her to point out my inner chubbo?

Well, she was right. When I got home, I made my own trail mix of the m&m's, almonds (trader joe's roasted salted yummm), and popcorn with cinnamon. Pretty good mixture of healthy fats, fiber, and protein.

I was super excited about dinner because Susie had been marinating chicken thighs (yes, we too are over boneless, flavorless, breasts of chicken) in this roasted apple sauce she got up north.. Boston or Maine maybe? Meanwhile, we had no good vegetables to make a salad so I had to get creative. Creativity is not my strength in most areas but ever since I got sick of the dining hall freshman year and invented my own pizza bagels, quesadillas, rice crispie treats, etc, I've had a knack for making something out of nothing. I decided since we had black beans, corn, and tomatos, I would make a southwestern salad. Complete with baked tortillas, a tasty viniagrette with cumin, chili pepper and lime juice, and a very sloppy but delicious combination of ranch dressing, taco seasoning, and sour cream, it was kind of a big deal. But the judges are my parents and me... so it's not a tough crowd. We also had these really good cinnamon raisin rolls which weren't too sweet so it evened out the whole meal.

Since I didn't want my new caramels to go to waste I decided I would melt them onto an apple and sprinkle the top with chopped chocolate chips. Did I mention I never do anything half-way in the kitchen? It was delightful but I felt like I was an awkward middle schooler trying to get the caramel out of my braces when I was done. No, I don't still wear braces but I had the whole deal, including headgear and a gap-inducing palate expander, when I was at the peak of middle school. That plus glittery eye shadow and I was the belle of the ball! That's a whole other story though. But that's about it... fed myself pretty well for a busy day. You have to make food fun, or at least seem fun. I have lots of little tricks and quirks but they work for me, and maybe you'll pick some up, too.