Green thumb

Look, I (almost) have tomatoes!!

I like to think I have a semi-green thumb, although there's not much I can back that up with. I work for almost 2 years for a gardening magazine so I should have picked up something, right?  My only problem is that I get lazy and forget to water my plants.

This year I purchased a tomato plant.  My dad suggested cherry tomatoes as he said the plant would yield more fruit.  It has taken a while, but I'm happy to say that I'm seeing a nice volume of fruits and a few of them are starting to turn red.  I'm excited.

I can't wait to have garden tomatoes!!  I'll probably end up eating them as I bring them inside, so I'm not even sure it's worth trying to find a recipe to use them.

Garden tomatoes.  Yum!

New food find

I love cinnamon raisin bread.  Love.

So I was super excited to see these at the supermarket yesterday..

Whole Wheat Cinnamon Raisin Breakfast Thins!
Finally!

Last night I had one toasted with spray butter and it was OK.  It seemed to be missing something but that totally could have been the fact that spray butter doesn't always taste like real butter.

This morning I had almond butter and jelly on one and it was delicious!  The consistency kind of reminded me of being a kid and taking a pb&j sandwich for lunch at school.  It had gotten a little mushy from sitting for a few hours, but to me that just made it even better.

Here are the stats:
100 calories, 1g fat, 170mg sodium, 5g fiber, 4g sugar, 5g protein

I'm a little obsessed with the whole sandwich flat concept so this is exciting!

Fun then, tired now

The resolution is going well.

On Monday night I had a glass of wine with my boyfriend after dinner, something that I'd ordinarily say NO to.  Last night I went with a friend to watch Don Juan's softball game, which was supposed to start at 9.  9 was a bit late, but I was bringing a friend and had told players on both teams that I'd be there.  When we arrived at 8:30 and the 8pm game hadn't even started I knew it would be a long night.

Let's just say I got home around 11.  Ugly.  Especially ugly since I was subbing a 6a class this morning. 

So while I'm totally exhausted now, at least I was fun last night.  I hope that's not negated by the fact that I am SUPER excited to be in bed tonight by 10p.  :)

On a total tangent, last night I tried a new form of bug spray.  My mother had told me that she heard that the original form of Listerine (the brown/yellow one) can act as a bug spray.  So I bought a bit bottle of it and put it in to a spray bottle.  I took it to the game last night, got very made fun of, but used it to repel the bugs.

It seems that I have no new bites.  Tons of old bites, but nothing new.  Plus, while bug spray feels really sticky, this feels light and refreshing.  Yes, you smell a bit medicinal, but it's not that bad.  I'll give it another try and keep you posted as it's way less expensive than bug spray.

Have happy Wednesdays!!

Ugly race photos

This was the beginning of the race, when the pack was just starting to thin.  It wasn't raining (yet).

In the background is a girl in a blue shirt with black shorts, then next to her is a girl in all black (capris and a tank) with a pink headband.  That's me!

The funniest part about these pictures is that a) they would make a good flip book, but really, b) they are very clearly of the guy in the neon shirt who actually saw the camera.  We're just in the background but as of this moment, it's the only proof I have that I was there and running.

On a side note, I'm rethinking the headband, it does NOT photograph well.

Saturday's spin sesh

Here's the ride I used on Saturday.  This was actually a very easy ride to put together as I took a bunch of the songs I've used when transitioning from a 45 to a 60 and put them together.  Of course that won't be much of a help tomorrow when I have to make a new ride for Thursday, but I'll deal.

This Is How We Do It - Montell Jordan - 3:38
Warm up

Ecstasy - Rusted Root - 5:02
This song totally takes me back to high school.  Light climb, in the saddle, keep the pace quick for the entire song, coming up to jog on the Ecstasy chorus.  There's also a hidden hill.  When the music slows down, I ask them to add on as much as they can take and muscle through it, then back to the fast light hill.

Where Them Girls At (radio edit) - David Guetta ft Flo Rida and Nicki Minaj - 3:15
Jumps, 6 or 4 count, staying up in position 2 during Niki's rap

Man Down - Rianna - 4:27
Back to climbing in the saddle.  I tell them that we've done something bad and the police are after us (there are sirens in the song) so we have to move.  5/10, moderate hill, fast legs for the whole song.  Yes, it's dorky, but they get the idea.

All Around Me - Flyleaf - 3:19
Climbing out of the saddle, ending heavy.

This is How A Heart Breaks - Rob Thomas - 3:51
Sprints!  Short recovery and then sprints on the chorus.

Moves Like Lady Jagger (Brian Cua Mashup Mix) - Maroon 5 and Christina vs Modjo-  4:44
Climb, start out moderate, mix it up, in the saddle, out of the saddle.  I keep this pretty unstructured and go with what I'm feeling.

Lighters (feat Bruno Mars) - Bad Meets Evil - 5:04
Climbing.  When Bruno sings, we're in the saddle with the hill as heavy as we can take.  When it switches to the rapping, back the resistance to about a 6 or 7/10 and come out to three, making sure that your combination of resistance and pace is challenging.  Then back to the saddle, heavy as possible when the chorus comes around.

One - U2 and Mary J Blige - 4:20
Continuing from the last song, standing climb.  Ending nice and heavy.  For the last 2 minutes I think I had them add resistance every 30 seconds.

Zorba the Greek - Kostas Papadopoulos - 3:28
Let the pace of the song guide your legs.  Light resistance.  The song picks up as it goes on, so by the end you should be at an all out sprint.  (This song was a departure from my normal style but something someone suggested ages ago.  It was fun and the one Greek woman in the class went nuts over it, so that alone made it worth it.)

Spotlight - Jennifer Hudson - 4:12
Cool down and stretch.

If you use any of these, let me know what you think. :)

August resolution

I meant to comment that today was August 1st on my post earlier but I got a bit sidetracked.

But it is.  All day.

For some reason I'm having a VERY hard time with this fact.  Here's what I'm thinking.  I LOVE the summer.  I pretty much spend all year anxiously awaiting the summer, the warm weather, and the fun activities.  This year however, while the weather has been warm, I don't feel like I've done much in terms of fun activities.  In fact, I feel like I've been extremely un-fun.  This bothers me sooooo much!

I feel like I have constantly had obligations or things hanging over my head.  I've been too busy to make plans and when I do get out, some responsibility is always looming so I feel like I can't really relax and enjoy myself.

Therefore, I decided to make an August Resolution.  The plan is to be more laid back, fun, and carefree.

I'll keep you posted on the progress.

Oh Monday...

Good morning and happy Monday!

I hope all your weekends were great!  The weather here was perfect and I'm happy to say that I finally got in some quality pool time.  Much needed and appreciated.

But first, the run...
The weather was a bit iffy and they kept announcing that thunder/lightning would delay the start.  While there was a little thunder at one point, thankfully it wasn't enough to hold things up.  While still not a super official race, it was way more official than the Bronx zoo run.
The route was nice.  It went through a park which had a couple of lakes/ponds, wound around some residential areas, and the returned to the park for the finish.  It had quite a few hills.  Nothing crazy, but definitely rolling hills.  I don't mind hills, so that was OK.  But hills definitely slow things down a bit, again OK.  I did the run with my friend C-Dawg and we stayed together the whole time.  She was a few steps ahead of me at times but that's OK.  She probably also got a kick out of my exaggerated "in through the nose, out through the mouth" breathing.
I'll admit, the first mile was tough.  My breathing was strained and my legs/feet hurt a bit, but as usual, once I got past that, all was good.
We also did the Bronx Zoo run together and agreed that at the end of that one we felt like we could have kept going.  At the end of this one we were very much ready to be done.  Guess that is the difference between an early morning April run and an evening July run.  Holy difference in air quality!

But I did it.  Ran the whole time and overall felt really good afterwards.  The next day I reflected on how it was even possible that I could run a 5K with zero training.  I used to not even be able to run a quarter mile.  It honestly blows my mind.

Saturday spin class was PACKED.  I honestly can not predict summer classes at all.  On a rainy day I figure it will be crowded and it's empty.  Then Saturday is gorgeous, and it's packed and I have to turn people away.  There is no rhyme or reason whatsoever.

I used a new ride and will post it in the next day or so.  But now, time to crack the whip.