Think Thin Thursday

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Let's fight the fatness together.


T-minus 48 hours until the Race for the Cure 5K. I am already getting excited/jittery and sending big requests up to the Heavens that the adrenaline will carry me through like it has in the past because DEAR JESUS this girl should have trained way better for this.

Marathoners - I 100% idolize you. You're absolutely insane, but man, you all are incredible.

Tomorrow night we're supposed to meet up with a friend for her bday where they will be eating yummy mexican food and margaritas will be flowin'. I am debating whether or not I could have juuuuuust 1 marg...

...too bad I know that 1 will inevitably turn into 3 or 4 and then I will be hurting and cursing the Tequila gods come Saturday morning.

Why don't I lose weight like I want to?

Oh riiiight...because I drink like a fish.

On the upside, if you run next to me while I'm sweating it out after a night of drinking you could lean over and lick my face and immediately achieve a blood alcohol level well above the legal limit. For free.

See? I do it for my friends.

One more sleep 'til Friday!!!



*I totally understand that this edition of TTT really wasn't that healthy.
Get over it.

During dinner...

Saul
You know, the whole time I was in school, I never had detention or anything.

Me
Seriously? I had lunch detention all the f'ing time.

Saul
Well ok, I did have lunch detention. Once. In 7th grade.

Me
Rebel. For?

Saul
Some of my friends and I got some paper plates and during lunch we wrote numbers, 1 through 10, on them. Then we rated all the girls who walked by by flashing our numbered plates.

Me
No. You. Didn't.

Saul
Actually, we even had a 'DOH!' plate, y'know, like from Homer Simpson?

Me
(FYI - not a Simpsons fan, here)
Was 'DOH!' really good or really bad?

Saul
Below 1.

Me
SAUL!! You do realize that you probably embarrassed the shit out of those little girls that day, right? That they probably all remember their numbers?! That's so terrible! I can't believe you would be that cruel!

Saul
It wasn't that bad.

Me
You don't know that!! Poor 1's...I bet those girls hated you guys.

Saul
C'mon baby, it was really funny at the time. We were 13. Also, you totally would have been a 10.

Me
(smiling)
Aw, really??

Saul
Haha! BUSTED! Hypocrite!!!


Daaaaaangit...

Finn can fly?

Not going to lie - I wasn't the biggest Britney fan when she was super popular. I knew all the songs of course, but I wasn't obsessed. I watched her public disintegration, then put her out of my mind. Really, I couldn't care less about her now. When I heard last night's Glee was going to be all Britney I was intrigued, but kinda "meh" about it. I figured Quinn would be all over it (don't freak, I do love me some Quinn...just, expected) and was NOT looking forward to anyone's rendition of "Not a Girl, Not Yet a Woman."

HOLY SHIT BALLS.

The episode was uh-mazing!

Brittany S. Pierce is officially my new favorite character in the cast. Not that she wasn't already sliding into that role after last weeks "Coach Beiste didn't touch my boobs. Actually I want to touch her boobs," but this just totally solidified it.

Why does this outfit make everyone who wears it look like they have a GINORMOUS head?

"I don't brush my teeth. I rinse my mouth out with soda after I eat. I was pretty sure Dr. Pepper was a dentist."

"This room looks like that room on that spaceship when I got probed."

Anyone else think it was totally lame that the actual B Spears got a line in the credits and appeared for like, .5 seconds in Rachel's fantasy? C'mon Glee.

In other news, I woke up this morning fully thinking it was Thursday, which - FAIL, so here's to hoping that WEDNESDAY goes by smoothly. I have a feeling that just by letting myself want that, the exact opposite will actually happen.

Happy Hump Day to all!

all photos via Google

Fall Resolve

Things everyone in the world loves about fall - pumpkins, pumpkin pie, pumpkin spice lattes, pumpkin spice candles, pumpkin spice potpourri, pumpkin spice kitty litter...

I mean, I all for a sweet carved gourd, but GOOD GOD, I GET IT!

Fall to me usually means 1 thing, and 1 thing only:

Houston weather is a finicky-ass bitch.

This is The Week in Houston. The week when, even though it was 97 degrees and humid as a swamp all last week, the temperature drops to 80 during the day, 50 at night, and the humidity disappears. The week when you remember what your neighbors look like because all of a sudden, everyone is taking walks again. The week when windows are thrown open and it's actually too cold outside to sit comfortably in the pool.

It's a blissful week.

The weather people swear it will last. Make cheap promises of it looking like it will stretch into "the next few weeks," and make punk statements like, "Well Houston, seems like Autumn is upon us! Turn off those AC units and enjoy the crisp air!"

Truth: The Week is just that - a WEEK.

I'm 100% distrustful of The Week. I am the wasteful jerk that continues to run my air day and night, lest I get caught with the windows open the night the humidity returns. And believe me, it will return. It will come back in full-force and the temperature will jump back up to 98 for another month or so. I've been The Week's bitch once before and you can bet yer ass I've never let it happen again.


This fall I am going to try and lead a more fashionable existence and take advantage of the opportunity to wear cuter clothes. My job allows for me to wear jeans, tshirts and flip-flops as my uniform, so generally when autumn rolls around I add a hoodie to my totally stylish ensemble and call it a day. Let it be known that in Fall of 2010, I resolve to not look like the homeless kid in the office. I don't guess that I will venture too far from something like this, though:


Or this


Pretty sure my mom had a sweater like this in the 80's...I'd rock it


And I love this jacket


and this one...good job, Old Navy


Speaking of Old Navy, how cute are these boots? (sing along...)

Happy Tuesday, y'all. Hope wherever you are, Mother Nature is being kind and that she won't flip the switch on you next week like I know she will to us.

What a hoe.


- clothes from F21 & Old Navy -

Thinking Thin...now with recipes!

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For me and Saul, one of the hardest parts of maintaining a healthy lifestyle is eating right. I typically work 55-hour weeks, and combined with his insane coaching schedule, it's pretty safe to say that we don't always eat dinner together at 6pm each night. I love cooking when both of us are home early enough to eat, which happens maybe 2 times a week, but I am decidedly less motivated to make a whole meal for myself on nights when Saul is with one of his teams until 10pm.

This leads to me heating something up, or making a sad little sandwich, or just picking something up on my way home. This, my friends I am convinced, is where my THIGHS came from.

Last night could have easily turned into one of those nights, but I decided to be good and make something healthy. So what if it was cold when Saul finally got home? We DO have a microwave. I didn't let the old excuses stop me.

It wasn't the best meal I've ever made, but it was light and included vegetables, protein and whole-wheat pasta, so I feel like it was fairly balanced. I am a sucker for pasta - have I mentioned that? LOOOOOVE it. I didn't take any photos because for some reason my head and my camera are just REALLY not connecting right now, meaning I completely forget to take my camera anywhere and I never take any pictures anymore. Sad, because the dish was actually kind of pretty.

Here's the recipe, if you're interested. I kind of just made it up as I went along, and I really never measure anything, so these are all total estimates...

Lemon Garlic Shrimp Pasta

Ingredients:
Whole-wheat thin spaghetti
About 2 tbs Olive Oil
1 large Lemon
1 small Yellow Onion
3 Garlic cloves
1/2 bag Baby Spinach (I would have used more, but this is all I had left)
About 1 lb Shrimp, peeled, tailed and deveined
White wine (you could use chicken broth for this, but I was drinking some wine, so I poured some in...heh)

Boil water for the pasta
While water is boiling, heat olive oil in a pan on medium
Dice up onion and garlic and throw it into the olive oil
- this creates one of my favorite smells in the world, fyi -
When onions are cooked through, pour in some wine or chicken broth, as well as the juice from the lemon
Let this reduce a bit
Water should be boiling by now, so drop in the pasta
Put the shrimp into the onion/garlic pan and cook it until it's opaque all the way through
When shrimp is about done, put spinach into the pan and let it wilt down
- I squeezed more lemon over the spinach to help it wilt and also because I really love lemon -
Drain pasta then pour shrimp/spinach pan over it
Toss to combine - there really shouldn't be any liquid left at this point
I zested the lemon over the top of my bowl, but fresh parmesan cheese would have been amazing on this, too.

Enjoy!


I'm late on this again, but whatever. I was too busy yesterday to post and then clearly I was doing amazing things in the kitchen last night.

Tonight we are going to a football game at the high school where Saul teaches. He has a bunch of the football players in one of his classes this year and they've been hassling him to come to a game. If you don't know about Texas high school football, just go watch Varsity Blues - I swear to God, it's pretty much exactly like that. I hope one of the players brings beer.

Happy Friday!!

Grey day

In my dreams, this is what our master bedroom looks like:



Also, in my dreams, I never get grey hair, but guess what I saw peeking out from the dark brown mop atop my head today?

I am 27 years old. WTF.

I am 100% freaking out.

Eventful

So, about "The Event."

I am so, so doomed. Just 1 episode in and I have no f'ing clue what is going on. The episode ended with a really weird twist that actually was 100% LOST-esque, and I am already getting annoyed by how much I am comparing the 2 shows. I am intrigued, but I think I might drive myself crazy looking for similarities and trying to get ahead of the plot by assuming that since I watched all 6 seasons of one show, I am totally going to figure this one out.

That's a lot for my brain to process on a Tuesday morning.

In other news, I was asleep by 9:20 last night, which makes me feel very old, but also really responsible because I was able to spring right out of bed this morning (even though it was raining...y'all know how nice it is to sleep through a storm) and meet Sarah at the gym at 5:30 to run for a while so we're ready for the 5K, which is in like 12 days or something - OMG.

Also, I am so ashamed to admit I watched some of Dancing with the Stars last night. I was not totally engaged, as I was on my Mac Googling the shit out of "why is my Blackberry so slow?" and "why does my BB Bold suck ass?" because pretty much every time I try to use my phone for the past day or two it freaks out on me and freezes and all I get is the sad little clock face, ticking away at me for like, 10 minutes. I've reset it, I've run updates on it, I've shaken the shit out of it...all to no avail. So, while I was desperately searching for a fix, I forgot to change the channel and the show came on.
A few things:

1. Audrina Patridge has dead eyes. I mean, seriously - she is gorgeous and has a smokin hot body, but her eyes...looks like she belongs in an alien abduction flick.

2. I'd completely forgotten how ridiculously hot Rick Fox was. Good lord, that man is beautiful.

3. I was laughing my ass off at Margaret Cho. I believe the tumble at the end was staged, but her insane Madame Butterfly demonstration in the middle when she got tangled up? I was dying.

4. The smallish Italian(?) judge? What a freaking nut-bag.

Enjoy the 1-viewer boost in ratings last night, ABC...you shan't get that from me ever again.

Enjoy your Tuesday!
At least it's not Monday anymore, right?

Totally gleeking out

I get really bored with TV shows easily. It's true that Saul and I have recorded entire seasons of a show only to get 3 episodes in and I lose all interest and the show just sits on our DVR, to be erased when we need to make room for the next new show that catches our eye. I'm talking to you, V and Parenthood.

I am really looking forward to a few new shows this season, and we started recording the first of that set last night...

A show with Steve Buschemi as a mob boss? Um, yes please. I remember him best for his role as the wacky guy who asks, "you have a gun in SPACE??" in Armageddon, so to see him as a seriously calculating and manipulative dude orchestrating booze-trafficking during prohibition makes me all kinds of excited.

This show seems to be trying to make vague promises to fill the void in my life left by LOST, but I don't know if i should try and hold it to that standard to start off.

I will likely be left disappointed (because really, nothing can replace my LOST fix), but I am really stoked to see just what "The Event" is. Also, I would 100% love to live in a world Presidented by Blair Underwood. For you True Blood fans, you'll recognize the Magister in this character line-up...not sure what role he plays in this cast, but if I get to hear him shout things like, "I WILL BE REPORTING THIS TO THE AUTHORITY!" I might pee myself tonight. Crossing my fingers...

This one is only new to me, but I am excited about the second season premier on Tuesday.

I watched the season 1 finale last week while it was being replayed on TV and recorded it for Saul to watch, too. He agreed that it was an OK show (I can see myself being REALLY obsessed with this one) so it got the stamp of approval and will be taking up space on the DVR. I will set this disclaimer, though - I was drinking wine while I watched it, so this might all be for nothing...a mere result of an inebriated lapse in judgment. I do looove me some Jane Lynch, though.

Favorite shows? Anyone else into the ones I like?

The sport for white men dressed like black pimps

Why do weekends never feel long enough? I don't think I have ever come back to work on a Monday thinking, "wow - I am so incredibly satisfied with that short respite from my daily routine...I definitely don't need another day." Newsflash, folks - I can ALWAYS use another day.

Friday night, we kicked the weekend off right with some junk food and beer at Buffalo Wild Wings with bff Sarah and her husband, Dustin. One of our biggest complaints about the area where we live is that so few of the restaurants have patios. Granted, it's pretty uncomfortable outside in Houston for a few months out of the year and you can bet you'll not find me anywhere not totally chilly via strong strong AC during the month of August, but now that it's started to get a little cooler at night, a patio with a drink and some friends is the place to be. The B'dubs by the house just unveiled their - wait for it.... - brand new patio!, so up to sit on it we went. Saul had to coach a CC meet Saturday morning, so we were home and passed out before midnight.

Saturday while Saul coached, I watched a lot of really terrible TV, and it was fantastic. I cleaned up the house a bit and when Saul got home, we met up with other bff Chandra and her man, Kevin, at the driving range. Y'all, I hit golf balls! And hoo-boy, am I feeling it. I basically did a squat and then rotated the entire top half of my body over and over again for a half an hour. I am totally hooked. I'd never swung a golf club, save for on the putt-putt course and oh my god, I get it now. I never understood the appeal of golf, but connecting and smacking the shit out of that tiny-ass ball and then watching it fly is sooo satisfying. And both Saul and I are competitive as hell, so I am curious to see where my new-found love for this hobby of his takes us...

Yesterday I went and was the supportive wife, sitting on the sidelines of Saul's club soccer game. He and a friend put together a team (The Kickmasters...heh) that includes a lot of guys they've played with since they were in high school. The team is really good - for a bunch of (usually hungover) 30-somethings - and I love to watch him play. When he scores goals he says they're dedicated to me and I get all school-girl giddy and ask him if I can wear his letter jacket ;)

After the game we went to my parent's house and had steaks with a parmesan cheese and the best balsamic vinegar topping EVER, and listened as they talked about their recent Italy trip. I am so happy that my parents are able to take trips like that - even though it makes me crazy envious to hear about them - and the fact that they bring home wine and legit olive oil and balsamic vinegar (from the Tuscany region of the country, no less) for us as gifts makes it that much sweeter.

We also drank A LOT of wine with my mom and dad yesterday, so my Monday morning sucked major balls. I am drinking water like crazy and still don't feel 100%.

Damn you, lazy Sundays.

**Title of post is from a quote by Tiger Woods. He might be a cheaty-cheater, and usually I would prefer to watch ice melt over him giving an interview, but this made me chuckle.

Think Thin Thursday...a little late

Yeah yeah yeah, I am a liiittle late in posting this, but y'know - sometimes life is just too busy/fun/crazy to blog. I haven't fallen off the wagon. Yet.

I am running two 5K's in October. Two. Some of you might be all, pssshhhh...sack up you weenie! (oh yeah, I just said weenie) But y'all, I am not a runner. I run occasionally. And by occasionally, I mean like, EXTREMELY OCCASIONALLY. I always have these grand plans to wake up bright and early at 5am every morning and put on my shoes, leash Bella up and go for an invigorating run. Pretty much every morning I hit my alarm and roll back over in my comfy bed and think, "I'll really get up tomorrow." Um, right...

I've run two 5K's this year, so the two in October will put my tally at four, so yay me. The first one I ran was in Austin for the 2010 Texas Round-Up. It was the morning of one of my best friend's bachelorette parties so another bff and I ran with the bride while she wore a HUGE sash and veil. It was a blast and the weather couldn't have been better. Thing was, it was in Austin and if you don't know what that means for runners, think small-scale San Fransisco. FREAKING HILLS EVERYWHERE. I thought I might die, but with the help of the besties, finished in 34 minutes. Not bad for a non-runner, I think.

The second one was in California. My whole family was in Lompoc, visiting the rest of our extended family, for the annual Lompoc Valley Flower Festival. My brother, aunt and uncle and Saul ran with me, and I cut 3 minutes off my time, which admittedly I was pretty disappointed with considering it was like, 65 degrees out and the course was completely flat. But, I improved, so woo hoo.

The first one I am running in October is the Race for the Cure and I am taking this one a little more seriously. I know I can finish a 5K in a half an hour, but my goal this time is to run the whole thing - no wimpy walking breaks. I don't walk for long when I walk, but I am determined to cut out the breaks entirely. I CAN run 3.2 miles. I know I can.

The 4th for the year is the Run for Your Life the week before Halloween. Costumes are encouraged. I am running with the bff again and we want to be seen. Ideas??

Also, any tips from you runners out there? I hydrate like WOAH the day before the race and eat a banana or something like that the morning of. I think my issue is that I always start off waaaay too fast. The adrenaline gets to me and I just blow it all out the first mile and a half. I am dying by about mile 2 and consciously slowing down my pace, but I think I am just too wasted at that point. Help help help!

Happy Friday! Pretend this was up yesterday, k?

STFU

No f'ing way.

These kids are tha bomb.



PS22 Chorus covers Landslide, by Fleetwood Mac.

Check out their website - there are a ton of other videos to watch. I just scrolled through the pages for like, an hour, mouth hanging open. Talk about a productive Tuesday morning.

Via

Think Thin Thursday

In thin news, I've lost 7 lbs since the first time I weighed myself, which was about 4 weeks ago, so yay! I think it might have something to do with my weird food schedule (read: no time to eat) because of work, but hey - I'll take it where I can get it. I promise I am being healthy, I just am eating way less than normal, which is something I needed to work on anyway - it's called portion control, and I was not a fan. I'm all about it now, though, and I'm eating slower and actually snacking during the day, so I never really feel hungry.

7 pounds. Fuck yes.

Aaaaaand in not-so-thin news, it's the first night of football and Saul (his name is Saul!) and I are eating pizza and drinking beer watching the Saints wreck on the Vikings.

Pizza and beer...yum.

It's light beer. And veggie pizza. Hey - LAY OFF I'M STARVING!

And don't lose your mind and call me a band-wagon fan; the Saints are not my dudes. I will always and forever, no matter how far I get from my old stompin' grounds, be a Raiders fan. I loved them when we were both in LA, so THERE. Thing is, I am so over Brett Favre, it's ridiculous, so I am just always FOR the team he's AGAINST. I get that he's done what no player has ever done, but gawd, if I have to watch one more "will he? won't he?" press conference, I will shoot myself in the face.

Also, if whoever is announcing this game pronounces it "New Or-lee-anns" one more time, my ears might start bleeding.

Possible eating disorder and shootings - that's a hell of a blog post, right there!

Happy Thursday

xo

Friday, I'm in love...

Go here to join!

It's finally Friiiiday and does anyone else feel like this week just punched them in the face? Like, repeatedly?

I am so looking forward to the 3-day weekend, mostly because of it's 3-day quality, but also because the little bro is coming home! It's been a few months since I've seen him and he just got his first deployment orders (I don't have any clue if I am using the correct terminology here...just go with it) so he decided to take advantage of the holiday and come see the fam. Sometime in October (we think) he will be deploying to Saudi Arabia for 30 days. He's going over there to work on jets or something. All I know is it's not a combat mission, so really, I couldn't be more thrilled about it. Break out the Coors Light...the Wittmann kids are together again!


Also, this makes me really, really happy...

via

Happy Friday!! Have a great Labor Day!

Think Thin Thursday

Welcome to week 2 of Think Thin Thursday - my desperate attempt at staying motivated to keep up a healthy lifestyle. Join in, if you'd like...the more the merrier!

So, about hot yoga. Anyone out there tried it?

I have.

It's yoga. And it's HOLY SHIT hot.

I am not a yoga person. I'm not zen. I'm not calm. I have issues with quiet.
I work out best when someone is yelling at me, not speaking softly. I need fast-paced music pumping through my iPod. Sounds of water trickling tranquilly down a faux rock wall? Um, no.


And then I went to the Bikram Yoga studio in The Woodlands. Can we say "ass kicking?"

ASS KICKING.


Seriously, y'all, I have never worked harder. There were moments during that 50 minute session that I literally thought I was going to pass out. For all you yoga enthusiasts out there, hear me when I say this - FUCK you, Camel.

I was sweating more than I ever have in my life, and I am SUCH a sweater (TMI?). Did you know your shins can sweat? If you've never done it before, you are sure to think this next sentence is a complete exaggeration, but you guys it looked like someone was just pouring a continual stream of water over my head, there was that much sweat running off me. And yeah - everyone else looked exactly the same.


I've done it a few times since and OMG I love it. Like I said, I'm not quiet. This forces me to be. I am concentrating so hard on making my body contort to the poses, I can't think or worry about anything else. Shitty work day? Problems with money? Car trouble? For 50 minutes, it's all gone. It's wonderful.

I feel stronger after the class. I am sore in such weird places the next day, but it is such a fulfilling soreness. I know I worked for it and I know my body is better for it.


Try hot yoga! Come back and tell me what you thought. I bet you cuss me for the first few minutes, but trust me - it's worth it.

Happy Thursday, loves.
To anyone on the East Coast, prayers to you through the next few days while the hurricanes blow through!

photos via