Whole30, Take two.

Attempting this once again.  I think I made it two weeks last August, but I'm determined to make the whole 30 days this time!  Sean's on board for this go round, so that'll make it easier (I hope!).

So far we've survived the beach, a Phillies game, and a family visit.  In the first 7 days.  Apparently we're busier than I thought in August!  Or we're just spontaneous.  Let's go with that.

We're more than halfway through! So far it's easier than I thought it would be. Yes, I want ice cream every night, but knowing I can't have it, not just that I shouldn't, really helps.

And yes, I did stay up until midnight a few times prepping/cooking foods so we'd have lunch the next day.  It's a good thing I like to cook.

I've made a meal plan for dinners through the month of August.  I just have to keep figuring out breakfast/lunches.  HB eggs and deli turkey are getting old, quickly.

I should start making a list of all the foods I'm really missing.  Beer.  Ice cream.  Cheeeeeeeeeeeese.   Surprisingly, I'm not missing the cream in my coffee as much as I thought I would.  (Good) black coffee is actually pretty delicious on it's own.  Once I get past the fact that there's no cream in it.  haha  And Americano > Black coffee.  Mmmmm so delicious!

The WOD a few weeks ago was terrible.  I don't know if it was the fact that it was the 4th day in a row, or the 155# back squats, orrrrrrrrrrr GHD SITUPS (damn them), but it still hurt to walk Wednesday (from Monday!).  We planned to take off tuesday, but the DOMS was just so bad that it called for two rest days.  Oh well, life happens. 

 Then earlier this week we did heeeeeeeavy deadlifts.  I'm pretty sure my hamstrings are STILL sore.  I think I need to get into this post-workout snack thing.  However, I wasn't tired during the WOD!  Day 15, and I think I'm starting to feel the "tiger blood" :). I think we may consider eating this way for the long term. 

Here's some eats from the past two weeks:

Paleo pad Thai from "Well Fed"

Taco salad! Love me some guac.

Attempting to stretch post-WOD.  Not happening.

These La Croix drinks have been a lifesaver.

Watermelon + ice + lime juice, top with La Croix lime.

Somebody is not so happy about the Whole30 ;)

So we'll probably keep this up for awhile after 30 days.  It's not as difficult as it seems, except for eating out, that sucks.  And beer. And pizza. Lol.  Having Sean do it as well for support really helps.  Not stepping on the scale has been tempting, but I'm excited to see what the final results are.  12 more days!

Seriously, 26? How did we get so old?

Last week was my birthday.  Remember when every birthday required a party or get together of some sort? When did that stop? When did I not care about seeing everybody to celebrate my day of birth?

I even WORKED on my birthday.  I know.  Blasphemy.  This must mean I'm REAAAAALLLLYY old.

But I more than made up for that with a(n unintentional) 6 day weekend.  No complaints here :)

After work we started the celebration with a birthday WOD. 26 (age) reps of 7 (month) exercises.  I initially had 3 rounds (day), but Sean talked me out of that one.  Good idea, babe.

(Future reference: don't let me write your birthday workout)

It was rough.  

I sported my new Under Armor headband that I got on our trip to the UA HQ in Baltimore.  It's awesome (the store, and the headband)

Then we cleaned up and went for sushi.  Sean's idea.  Fantastic idea. It turned out to be 1/2 price wine night, so sommmmebodyyyy got an entire bottle of wine to herself.  Worth it!

And obVEE we had to get ice cream. It's just not a birthday without ice cream.  And Sean got me this sweet new tablet.

I guess turning 26 isn't so bad  :-)

Snatch City, B*tch...

Snatch, snatch city, bitch.

So we kinda signed up for our first CrossFit competition.  There's two online qualifiers, and the top 20 men and top 20 women get to compete in Rehoboth one weekend in July.  I mean, I'll take almost any excuse to spend a day (weekend?) at the beach :D

We signed up awhile ago, and I've been kind of scared ever since.  The description says it's for the "heavy hitters" and I am by no means a heavy hitter.  But I'd like to be... (200# club I'm coming for you!)

Random sidenote:  We did deadlifts the other day that felt GREAT.  3 rep max @ 165#.  I figured out my issue, I was trying to squat rather than deadlift.  Don't ask.  I don't know what I was thinking either.  Thank you KStar.  #becomingasuppleleopard

Another random sidenote... HASHTAGS ARE ON FACEBOOK!  (Can you tell I'm excited?) Can they come to blogger next?  Pretty please?

Back on track.

So the first online qualifier WOD was posted early on Thursday night.

7 min AMRAP
3 Snatch 115/80
3 Bar Facing Burpees (jump over)

6 Snatch 115/80
6 Bar Facing Burpees

9 Snatch 115/80
9 Bar Facing Burpees

12 Snatch 115/80
12 Bar Facing Burpees

Continue in increments of +3 for a total of 7 min.

Not too bad.  Considering I think my 1RM snatch is 85#.  No big deal, right? lol  Like I said, not a heavy hitter over here!  I guess it could be worse.

We lugged our bumper plates to Sean's gym and filmed the WOD there.  I got 6 snatches into the 12th rep round.  42 reps total.  Better than I expected to do!

Don't mind the terrible form towards the end.   I'm working on it.  And apparently I like to walk around with the barbell overhead.  And my husband can't hold a cell phone camera.  (hopefully this won't disqualify me. :(  ...that is if I even have a good enough score!)

I did the math, and so far there are 71 people registered for the online portion of the competition.  26 women.  If I play my cards right and basically don't come in last, I may just get my trip to the beach :D

And then I can freak the fuck out and be terrified of what weights they are going to prescribe for the competition.  Such fun.  Lifting is such a mindfuck.

Deadlifting a 75 gallon fishtank on moving day should help prepare for that.  Yaaaaaaay.

Oh, in case you're wondering, Sean did amazing as well.  Got through the snatches AND burpees for 12 reps for a total score of 60.  He's got a little tougher trip to the final comp, but I think he has a good chance :)

I'm obviously the better photographer.  And can control the dog from wandering all over the place and getting in the way.

Too bad he couldn't just do his job and watch the damn clock the whole time!

If you need me, I'll be laying on the foam roller...

What we've been up to lately

Photo Dump!

Confession.  I've been a slacker.  I take the pictures, but I forget to post them.  Oops.  Here's some of what's been going down in DE for the last few months.

 We did a MudManX mud run in April.  It was lots of fun!! It'll probably be our last mud run for awhile...until someone gets a team together and convinces us to pay $60-$100+ a person.  :)

Oh, and CHECK OUT THIS SHIT:

That's right.  7th in my age group!  71st overall.  #BOOMSAUCE

We were so tired!  But had a blast, so all was cool.

 Using up our Applebee's gift cards from Christmas time.  On alcohol.  The best way to use gift money (only 5 months later, NBD).

Took Yankee on a walk in a new to us park.  And the required cuddles afterwards!

I don't think we have enough?

Yankee getting his WOD on. 

Apparently this was the week of the "Girls" and Schmalls.  Holy suckfest.  This is also the week I learned how to do kipping pullups.  LOTS of them.  I have since developed some nice calluses to show for that.  Oucccchhhhhhh.

These are my coconut flour paleo waffles.  Except I used 8 eggs (total) instead of the whites.  Same outcome, much less planning!  Oh, and homemade coconut milk chocolate ice cream.  This was dinner last week.  #thesprinklesarentpaleo

We drove up to PNC for the Pitbull concert.  Lotsssssss of good people watching.  They were there for Ke$ha.  'Nuff said.

Sean decided to rock his Yankees shirt with a Marlins hat to the Phillies game.  No one noticed.  They must've been too busy watching me trying to eat that ginormous turkey leg.  #paleoerrrywhere

And now for some Yankee pics:

Sneaky sneaky.  Trying to get into his new treats!

 

Enjoying some front seat riding in styyyyyyyyyle.

Is he serious?

I cannot handle the cuteness.

For real, this dog lives a better life then we do.

Four years of marriage!

Yesterday marked our four year anniversary.  Seriously can't believe how time flies...it feels like it was just yesterday that I was waking up (who am I kidding, I didn't sleep!) to get married to my best friend.

But on the other hand, SO MUCH has happened in those four years.  Moved out of NJ, got new jobs, new cars, and as of next month, a new house! Whoop!

We went to OCMD two weeks ago as an early, somewhat celebration.  It was lots of fun.  Stopped at Rehobeth on the way down, and will definitely be taking lots of day trips down there this summer!

Normal occurrence.  He thinks he's a lap dog.

Fresh made donuts from "The Fractured Prune" So.good.

We attempted to take Yankee on a walk through this park on Saturday, but got caught in the middle of a thunderstorm!  Tried to wait it out under a tree, and then made a run for it and hung out in a dugout until it finished.  Figures.  Was pretty cool, but we were SOAKED and so over the walk at that point.  We finally got our walk in Sunday morning before we left.  Very pretty.

Our new house has a fenced in backyard for Yankee.  He's going to LOVE it :)  Oh and stairs.  Fatty McYank will finally be in shape!

You'd think he has the worst life ever.  The toy is SOFARAWAY.

We close June 26th (hopefully!).  Anyone want to help us move? ;)  I pay in pizza, beer and baked goods!

Bacon/Brussels/Sweet Potato Hash + Crossfit Total

Soooo this could probably be labeled as a "breakfast" hash, but since I've never had it for breakfast, it's not.  Plus, I could eat eggs for every meal and probably never get sick of them.  Seriously, had fried eggs for breakfast AND lunch yesterday.  Makes a great pre-workout snack, too. ;)  Oh, and don't forget the BACON!

Now I know you're going to tell me you don't like Brussels sprouts.  I thought I didn't either.  Lies.  Roast the shit out of those suckers.  Add bacon.  Delicious.

Another way to get people (yourself!) to like them is buying the bag of "shaved brussels sprouts" from Trader Joe's.  That's what I used here.  I'm sure you could chop them up yourselves, but this is just so much easier!  And add bacon.  Duh.

Without further adieu, my favorite breakfast for dinner recipe:

Bacon/Brussels/Sweet Potato Hash
source:  How Sweet it is

4-6 slices bacon  (who am I kidding, always use more)
1 small red onion, diced
2  medium sweet potato, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch cubes
3 cups shredded brussels sprouts
4-6 large eggs
salt + pepper to taste

Fry bacon in skillet until crispy.  Remove and drain on paper towel.  Add chopped sweet potato and onion to bacon grease and cook until softened, 8-10 minutes.  you may need to add a little coconut oil if they start sticking.  Add brussels sprouts and stir to combine everything, cooking another 4-5 minutes until wilted, but still crunchy.  Set aside to cool a bit.

Fry up eggs in another frying pan, and place atop hash.  Stuff your face!

I always get 4 servings out of this, 2 for us for dinner, and 2 more for lunch the next day.  It's also a quick, easy meal to make when I forget to pull meat out to defrost.  (...which is more often then I'd like to admit!)

We ran out of bacon last week, and it took a few days for me to get to the store to pick some more up.  I obviously needed to make up for some lost time.
 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------

So, let me set the scene for how our weekends go around here:
Thursday evening, checking the WOD blog last week, I'm in the kitchen, Sean's on the couch.

Sean: I'm going to tell you the warm up and after bash, guess what the WOD is.

Me: Okay... (thinking it's Murph - naturally)

Sean: Skill Warmup is "Total Skills"; After Bash: "Ring that PR Bell!"

Me: Uhhhhhh Crossfit Total?

YUP!

PR SATURDAY BABY!

I'm still not a member of the 200 club. :sadface:  I tried.  I failed. (literally dropped the weight on myself. That was fun.)  God, I want it so bad.  IT'S SO CLOSE.

I DID make significant improvements though!  +15# on back squat, +10# on strict press, +20# on my deadlift. Whoop!  Sean did well, too.  Up to 795# total from 770#.  In almost four months.  We celebrated with some beers.

We're going to need more bumper plates veeeeeeeeeeeeeerrry soon.  Or well, now.  But I don't feel like dropping $200, so OB-VEE we're waiting for a sale.  Or something like that...  :D

PR's are fun, bro.

And exhausting, apparently.

Crossfit Open 2013

Thoughts?  No?  Well, you're going to get mine anyway.

We've been doing the open workouts, but haven't registered.  It would have just been a pain in the ass to either try to get into a box every week, or attempt to videotape to send it in.

Either way, we've been having a blast with the WODs! (kind of)

I mentioned 13.1, but the rest have been just as FUN.

13.2:
Complete as many rounds and reps as possible in 10 minutes of:
Shoulder to overhead, 5 reps (115/75)
Deadlift, 10 reps  (115/75)
15 Box jumps, 24/20" box  

13.3:
Complete as many rounds and reps as possible in 12 minutes of:
150 Wall balls (14 lbs to 9' target)/(20 lbs to 10' target)
90 Double-unders
30 Muscle-ups

13.4:
135/95 pound Clean and jerk, 3 reps 
3 Toes-to-bar
135/95 pound Clean and jerk, 6 reps
6 Toes-to-bar
135/95 pound Clean and jerk, 9 reps
9 Toes-to-bar
135/95 pound Clean and jerk, 12 reps
12 Toes-to-bar
135/95 pound Clean and jerk, 15 reps
15 Toes-to-bar
135/95 pound Clean and jerk, 18 reps
18 Toes-to-bar...
This is a timed workout. If you complete the round of 18, go on to 21. If you complete 21, go on to 24, etc. 

Not gonna lie, I've been pretty impressed with myself.  I'm not putting out any top of the line scores or anything (not even close), but we have been completing every workout as prescribed.

And we're onto Reebok Crossfit One.  Every week they've posted a WOD on Tues/Wed with something to do with the Open workout of that week.  At first I thought it was coincidence, but it does NOT appear that way.  Jerks.  I was mad for 13.2, we had just done a shitton of deadlifts on Thurs, and had to wait til Sat to recover enough for the Open WOD.  However, for the C&J, I totally PR'd the day before, and it really boosted my confidence for 13.4.  I was kind of scared of the 95#, but once I got 110 (and felt like I had more!) I was totally ready for it.  So I guess their programming isn't so mischevious after all ;)

 This week so far we've done running and power cleans.  And burpee pullups.  And thrusters.  I have a feeling some kind of jacked up Fran workout is coming for 13.5.  According to Dave Castro, "They're going to have to feel pain that they've never felt before ... It's going to be a bloodbath."

CAN'T. WAIT.  

They are having Camille Leblanc-Bazinet (vs Sam Briggs) and Rich Froning (vs Jason Khalipa) do the workout after the announcement.  The only two people I'd want to actually tune in for the live stream, but we'll be at a Green Day concert tonight.  Maybe if they aren't on yet, I'll stream from my phone :D

Are you participating in the Open?  How'd you do?
  

St Paddy's Day Pistachio Cake

I can't be the only person who, while trying a new recipe, has 14 tabs open in Google Chrome, tries to substitute everything for anything, yells to ask my husband if he thinks if I leave this out, add that, and then sub an entire different recipe in for an ingredient if it'll work (like he knows what he's talking about!).

Oh, I am?

Well that's what went down Friday night.  I asked what he wanted, and Sean requested pistachio cake for St Paddy's Day.  I knew I had a recipe one of his co-workers gave me 4 years ago at my bridal shower.  (side note: FOUR YEARS?!?! Holy crap.)  Of course I didn't check the recipe before I went food shopping (why would anyone do something like that?).

I knew it had pistachio pudding mix.  I assumed it would have flour and sugar, maybe some milk.  And pistachios, OB-vee.

Yeah.  Notsomuch.  A BOXED CAKE MIX.  Some "recipe"!

So off to google I go to find another pistachio cake recipe.  Sour cream? Nope.  Mix for 90 seconds exactly while jumping up and down, then add eggs at the same time as flour?  Sounds like a mess. Nope.

Well, at least I had the pudding mix.  I can find a yellow cake mix recipe....right?  Dry milk powder?

No dry milk powder.  DAMNNIT.

This is where I start yelling to my cooking-illiterate husband about substitutions.  This cake is happening tonight.  I'm desperate.  I throw some stuff together and hope for the best...

And THE BEST it is.  I am NOT a fan of pistachios, and I wanted to lick the entire bowl before I even put the cake in the oven.  That miiiiiiiiight have something to do with 2 cups of sugar, but we won't talk about that right now.

St Paddy's Day Pistachio Cake
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 3/4 cups cake flour
2 cups sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 package (3.4 oz) instant pistachio pudding mix
4 eggs
1 cup fresca (or club soda)
1/2 cup light olive oil
1/2-1 cup shelled, roasted pistachios

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Mix both flours, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and pudding mix until combined.  Add eggs, soda, and olive oil, and mix on low until incorporated, then on medium for 1-2 minutes to combine.

Pour into a oiled/floured large bundt pan, or 9x11 dish, and bake for 40-50 min until toothpick comes out clean.

Allow to cool and transfer to plate.  Serve with optional glaze (below), or ganache, or powdered sugar!

Glaze
1 cup powdered sugar
1 tbsp butter, softened
2-3 tbsp milk

Combine glaze ingredients in small bowl, adding milk to reach desired consistency.  Drizzle over cake.  Top with more pistachios, sprinkles, chocolate chips, etc, etc.

Pretty green inside.  (Terrible photo...I kind of killed the cake when I tried to cut it!)

I need to get this cake out of my house!  Any takers?

Knockoff Chipolte Burrito Bowls (and 13.1)

Ever get in the mood for Chipolte?  Usually this coincides with "I don't want to cook tonight."   Haha.  For once, I was feeling some Mexican, but since it was a Saturday, I had no excuse not to cook.  I may or may not have also mixed up some grapefruit margaritas.  Mmmm.

I threw these burrito "bowls" together based off the Chipolte burrito bowl.  They were AMAZING.  And so simple!  A lot of steps, but VERY easy.  And if you already have leftovers, it's even easier!  I used quinoa instead of rice, and crockpot salsa chicken.  Fry up some pepper onions, heat up the black beans, and BAM!  This will definitely be happening again.

Burrito Bowls (serves 4)

Ingredients:

Cilantro Lime Quinoa:
juice of 1 lime
2 cups quinoa
4 cups water
1 tbsp EVOO
2 tsp cilantro
S&P to taste

Salsa Chicken:
5-6 boneless skinless chicken breasts
1/2 jar salsa  (I used trader joe's roasted garlic)
1 (16 oz) can tomato sauce
1 4 oz can green chiles

Toppings:
1 can black beans
1 bell pepper, sliced
1 red onion, sliced
EVOO

Optional Add Ons:
Cheese (cheddar, colby jack)
Avocado
sour cream
more salsa!

Start with the chicken.  Add the chicken to the crockpot with salsa, sauce and chiles.  Mix up to coat everything, then cook on low for 6-8 hours.  Shred chicken and return to sauce for 30 minutes to incorporate everything.

Once chicken has been shredded, start on the quinoa.  Bring water to a boil, add quinoa and olive oil, and cook for 20 minutes, until water is absorbed.  Pour quinoa into a bowl and fluff with fork.  Mix in cilantro, lime juice, season with S&P

While quinoa is cooking, add some EVOO to a frying pan over medium high and fry up the peppers and onions.

Drain and rinse black beans, heat in small saucepan.

Once everything is done, it's time to assemble!  (News Team, ASSEMBLEEEEEEEE!)

Quinoa, salsa chicken, black beans, peppers and onions.  Add a dollop of sour cream, some shredded cheese, top with sliced avocado.  YUM!

So...last week was Workout 13.1 for the Crossfit Open.  It's 5 weeks of WODs, they announce it every Wednesday.  We didn't officially sign up for the open since we don't belong to a box...figured we'd save our money...but we are still going to be doing the WODs!  Last week was killer.  Burpees and Snatches.

Considering my 1RM before attempting this was 85# for Snatch, I was somewhat intimidated by the Female RX.  Buuuuuuuuuut I did it!  We finished the 30 burpees with 7 minutes to go, so I had 7 minutes to attempt 30 snatches at 75#.  And I got 21!  I feel like if I did it again I could have gotten more...but not really all that motivated to do it again.  ;)  I also broke our futon on the 21st rep.  Whoops.

I'm pretty impressed with our attempts.  Sean had never snatched 135# and said it was going up pretty easy at the end.  It's a scary weight, but 90% of it is a freaking head game.  Once you get past the mental block that "HOLY SHIT I'M THROWING "X" POUNDS OVER MY HEAD" and just do it, it's surprisingly easy.  Amazing.  Too bad I learned that AFTER the WOD. ;)  At least now I'm prepared for 13.2!

Somebody needs a haircut.

Things I will Never Understand

Warning:  This is a judgmental post.  If you don't like it, don't read it.  

I know you're all dying to find out what I can't stand/don't get.  Here you go! 

Fro-yo.  It's not that good.  I'll take the real shit over fake "fat-free" "yogurt" that tastes like plastic and is only exciting because you get to cover it in your own toppings aaaaaaany day.

Taking pictures of yourself after a sweaty workout.  Seriously? Ew. Why do people do this?  Just tell me you worked out, I'll believe you. 

Traffic for no fucking reason.  Enough said.  I at least want to see a body on the side of the road or a car flipped upside down if I have to sit more then an hour to get home.  #justkidding #kindof #beentheredonethat

Why people have to explain the same thing 14 times.  I'm not an idiot. I promise.  I probably got it the first time.  Definitely the second.  Now you just like to hear yourself talk.  ::cough::realtor::cough::

Politics.  Our country is falling apart and all anyone can worry about is campaigning/guncontrol/theirnextvacation.  Good priorities. #Highfive.  Budget? What's that? We need one of those?

People that document their entire lives on facebook.  Don't be that guy.  Live yo life!

Ermagerhd?  Why is this cool?  Can OMG come back at least? This is just dumb.  You sound like a 2 year old learning how to talk.

American Idol/The Voice/competition shows.  I get it.  One was enough. We don't need 15.

Nutella.  Never had it.  Don't get the appeal.  Why not just eat nuts and chocolate without all the extra crap?  (Ingredients: sugar, palm oil, hazelnuts, cocoa, skim milk, reduced minerals whey (milk), lecithin as emulsifier (soy), vanillin: an artificial flavor.)  NOTHANKYOU

Seinfeld.  It's not funny.  Like, at all.

iPhone. Yeah.  I'm an android girl.  I don't get the hype.  The headphone jack is at the bottom? Holy shit that's so new and exciting! Ineedtobuyitrightnow!1!!!!1!!!

Nail Polish.  People are OBSESSED with this shit.  Have you checked Pinterest lately?  I can't even paint my own nails without getting it everywhere.  These people are like professionals.

Soy.  Just, yuck.  This isn't good for you people.  Look it up.  Don't eat it.

Lululemon.  Why you so expensive?  $98 for YOGA PANTS?  I totally own some, but I still don't like the price tag.

People wishing their small children "Happy Birthday" on Facebook.   They can't read.  They don't have a FB.  There is no reason for this.

Taxes.  Apparently being married with no house or children means we get to pay Uncle Sam out the ass.  Fuck taxes.

Grown-ass women that are obsessed with Disney.   Just, no.

People that drink soda... before 9AM.  Haven't we learned soda is terrible for you?  And for breakfast? Ew.

What are some things/trends you just don't get?