Snow Day turned Ice Week

  
     What a week it has been so far. Sunday night brought loads of beautiful snow and to my great pleasure classes were cancelled for Monday. I spent that day running and playing in the snow, enjoying all the beautiful cold white fluffy goodness! Alas, the beauty swiftly turned into a nightmare.

     Tuesday the beautiful snow turned to thick sheets of hard glass-like ice. It's now Thursday and the ice still isn't gone! Today was actually the first day I was able to drive because of the roads being so bad. It was just in time too; I was going stir crazy being stuck at the house for 3 days in a row. The ice was so menacing that I couldn't even go running outside. My one attempt to do so resulted in me almost breaking a leg. Fortunately I have only a few bruises to show for my idiocy.

     On the bright side, being cooped up gave me plenty of time to work on our (my mom and mine) book. I mean one can only watch episodes of Murder She Wrote so long before becoming desperate to do something more productive. And don't think that just because I couldn't be physically active in the ways I wanted to be deterred me from continuing my training. I decided to use this time stuck inside to work on some of the muscle areas I don't normally focus on such as my abs, glutes, thighs, and arms.

With just a mat and a pair of 5 lb. weights I worked up quite a sweat. . .

Monday

• 1 hour playing in the snow (e.g. snowball fights, walking, running, snow angel making)
• 100 crunches
• 20 push-ups

Karate Dude

Tuesday

• 100 crunches
• 20 push-ups
• 30 minutes of stretching with some random yoga moves thrown in.
• 50 squats (ouch!)
• 20 minutes weight lifting

Vibram Foot Prints

Wednesday

• 5 minutes Mountain Climbers
• 50 squats (double ouch!)
• 30 minutes weight training
• 20 minutes stretching
• 1 minute intervals running in place (5 rounds/reps)
• 100 crunches
• 20 push-ups

By late morning today the sun had been out long enough to melt sufficient amount of ice for my to go to the gym where I finally got RUN!!! :-D

Thursday

• 60 crunches with a seated abdominal machine 
• 6 reps of 10 on the abnominal twisting machine
• 45 minutes run (5 miles)
• 5 minutes stretching

     With all these high energy workouts I have been one hungry girl. Some of the food I've been enjoying these last few chilly days. . .

     I hope all of you guys are staying warm, healthy, and happy out there. Until next time! :-)

Hello 2010!!

     Can you believe it?! We are all now getting settled into the year  2010, and this is my very first blog post for this brand new year! Let me tell you that this January has been FREEZING!! Mind you, I know that there are quite a few places in the U.S. that are much much colder than here, but for me, it is more than uncomfortably cold. Still, I have not allowed myself to use the nippy temperature to give me an excuse not to get outside and MOVE. It may be cold out, but it's also bright and sunny (Vitamin D baby!).


     This weekend I spent loads of time freezing my little bum off outdoors! LOL. :-D Saturday I went for a 30 minute walk/run (trying to increase my running distance) before going to the park with my mom, brother, and our two dogs (Charlie and Penny. Love them bunches!) to go for a 30 minute walk. By the time we all got back to the car, body temperature wise, I was actually feeling quite comfortable as I was wearing my new insulated outdoor running jacket. My poor mom, however, had by then lost all feeling in her hands and toes. Before we left we also took the time to set Charlie loose on the geese that had gathered in the field. That dog had a ball!! Hehehe. . . it's the sheep dog in him I guess.ice

How my brother managed to stay warm in nothing but a long sleeved t-shirt and a hoodie is beyond me.

     Sunday, my mom and I did our routine grocery trip. We went to Whole Foods and Rainbow, stocking up on all the good stuff:

• Blood Oranges
• Red and Green Grapes
• Strawberries
• Blueberries
• Blackberries
• Persimmons
• Bananas
• Apples
• Pineapples
• Tomatoes
• Leafy Greens - Spinach, Romaine Butterhead
• Celery
• Okra
• Bell Pepper
• Fresh Coconut Water
• Raw probiotic coconut yogurt
• Raw Tahini

     After coming home and unloading all the goodies, I grabbed some Persimmons and headed off to pick up my friend Terra to go (drum roll please)  ICE SKATING!! Woohoo! :-D We skated for about an hour until we were chilled to the bone and had blisters from the renter skated before walking around the town taking random pictures of our chilled selves and whatever else we came across until my mom came to pick us up.

Winter's Beauty

     We stopped of at Starbucks to chat over tea and coffee while we warmed up. I felt so excited when Terra expressed interest in raw food!! So happy that one of my friends is really open to the idea and not so skeptical on its validity. She actually expressed interest in trying a green smoothie instead of wrinkling her nose at the mention. It pays to have opened minded people as friends.

     This morning was sunny but I just didn't feel up to braving the cold again. I settled instead to do weight circuit training indoors. Let me tell you, my muscles are going to be feeling it tomorrow! It was worth it though, a good workout always is. :-) 

     My college applications are well on there way to being finished. I have the applications all filled, almost all my college packets assembled, and all but two of the supplement essays completed. All that's left is for me get Paragon Academy to send out my transcripts and pick up my teacher recommendations. The deadline for all this stuff to get sent out is January 15th, so I do believe I am right on schedule.

     So far this year is off to a pretty good start. I have a good feeling about this year for me and I think a lot of adventure is in store! Until next post, may Yahweh love you and keep you all the days of you life!

Cold No More!!

     Ok, ever since last Friday the weather has been feeling WAY more like winter, and as a result, I have been feeling so COLD! I tried eating warming foods (ginger, hot peppers, greens ect.),drinking tea, and wearing warming clothing, but I couldn't lose the chill. 


     Today though was when I found a remedy. Since it has been much chillier outside I have avoided exercising outside, but today I gave myself a kick in the butt and told myself get out there and MOVE! So I bundled up, grabbed my iPod, hooked it up onto my brother's bike (he's so nice to let me borrow it whenever I want), and hit the road! 


     For 20 minutes I peddled as hard as I could before it started to rain and I had to go inside. But do you know what? Half way through my ride I actually wanted to take my jacket off because I was becoming quite warm. For the rest of today I haven't felt cold, at all! 


      I think the reason that going outside to exercise (even though it was cold) actually warmed my body up was because 1) exercising increases blood flow in the body which makes your body warmer and 2) going outside in the cold allows you body to start adapting to the colder environment after experiencing 4 months of warmer weather. I think I'm going to be exercising outside for the rest of this winter!


     In other news, I think I may have turned my brother Benjamin onto kombocha! He tried his first glass at our Thanksgiving dinner and he loved it. In fact tonight he came to my door and asked me if he could have the rest of my grape flavored kombocha. Of course I told him yes. Kombocha is loaded with antioxidants, probiotics, B vitamins (B12 included), and essential amino acids. I'm hoping that it will help him fight off his cold. I love my brother to death and just makes me so happy that we can both enjoy something that's healthy! :D

     I think that's all for today, except for a couple of pictures of what I had for lunch today. It was just so beautifully simple, bright, colorful, and delicious that I just wanted to share it with you all. My lunch just reminded me how refreshing and satisfying a raw plant based lifestyle can be.

Butterhead Lettuce, Orange Bell Pepper, 

Greenhouse Tomatoes, and Cucumber

A Sweet, Crisp, and Juice Gala Apple 

with a Handful of Dried Apricots