Saturday, February 27, 2010

Meatless March Madness

When my boyfriend and I first got together he didn't eat meat.  He wasn't always a vegetarian and slowly through the course of our relationship he started to eat meat.  I think this is partially due to the fact that my dad cooks one hell of a steak...

I've never been a vegetarian.  I get asked if I'm a vegetarian quite a bit, but the reality is that I just enjoy veggie-themed meals.  And I don't like preparing meat at home that much.  You have to be careful what touches what, the trash gets smelly, etc.  Plus steak is like salad to me- much better when someone else makes it!  Scott (the boyfriend) isn't a huge fan of chicken and we don't really eat pork a whole lot either.  When I use meat at home it's usually ground turkey, chicken breasts, or fish.

A few weeks ago Scott said something about how he really got away from his veggie-eating days.  I think we were talking about how he introduced me to mushrooms and bell peppers (via pizza!) and thus began my love affair...  I mentioned we should go veggie for a month.  He accepted.

Now I have no idea if he will really do this with me.  He probably will.  But when I started thinking about how I have never not eaten meat I started to feel it was something I should do at least for a short pocket of time.  And then I thought about when we went to go see Food, Inc and I was eating a salad with chicken on it and I couldn't eat the chicken...

I'm not sure where vegetarianism lies in my brain.  I do feel the animal-rights argument as well as the environmental implications of a meat-based diet.  But I was raised in a household of meat, starch, veggie and side salad plates and that's kind of hard to break away from sometimes.  So I'm going to try it out for a month.  Maybe I'll even re-read The Case for Vegetarianism: Philosophy for a Small Planet.

So Meatless March Madness begins Monday!  All about alliteration around here!

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

2010 goal assessment

I've been enjoying blogging again- granted this is week 2 in my 2-week vacation from work so I've had a ton more free time but I think blogging with more frequency should be a new goal! 

Speaking of goals...

With February coming to a quick close I thought I'd take a look at what I want to achieve in 2010:


Fitness 
Workout at least 3 times a week in January; move up to 4 times a week in February
        I'm wavering between 3 and 4 times a week.  I definitely dropped the ball in this department at the end of January and the beginning of February due to the move.  I say needs improvement!

Run 1 mile without stopping by March 1st
        Not yet.  I think this goal may have been too ambitious.  I'm going to amend this goal to April 1st.  We'll see what happens...
      
Move up to Level 2 of 30 day Shred by March 1st
        Fail.  I have not done even level 1 of the 30 day Shred since December.  I should get back on track- the 30 day shred is fun but brutal!

Healthy Eating
Bring lunch to work at least 3 times a week
        Success!  When I am in the office I designate Monday as "eat out day" and bring my lunch the rest of the days.  When I'm working out in the field it's a little more difficult to bring my lunch but I tried it last time I was out and it was fine.  It just depends on who's on my team I think.  I give myself an A+ on this one!
 
Plan menus for the week on Sunday
        I've been doing pretty good with planning out our meals.  Sometimes they change but it's definitely helped us cut down on the amount of food we waste.

Cook 1 new meal a month
        Considering I ate out almost the entire month on January I'd say I'm not off on the best foot with this goal but pledge to do better next month!

Financial
Stick to budget for 3 months (January-March)
        So far so good!

Save 20% of paychecks
        Check!
Build up 3 month emergency fund 
        Fail.  But I should start on this soon.  As in ASAP.

Eat out no more than 15 times per month
        I know 15 times sounds like a lot but considering that in December I ate out 25 times, 15 was cutting back!  In January I ate out 19 times and so far for February I've eaten out 15 times.  We are getting ready to go on a trip where we will be visiting our fav restaurants so...  Needs improving but have definitely cut down!

Personal Growth
Read 1 book every 6 weeks
        I just finished a historical novel by Phillipa Gregory that was pretty good (I got it some time in January) and am starting to read Shutter Island.  I got the book for free when we went to a sneak peak for the movie!  I'm only 12 pages in but I liked the movie so much I'm sure I'll like the book!

Join some sort of social group
        Does my 12 week 5K training group count?  

Overall I'd say I'm doing pretty good with my goals.  My fitness goals definitely need some attention but since I added the 12 week training program I'd say I'm almost on track.  I do want to start up the 30 day shred again!  I'm doing well on my healthy eating goals as well as my financial goals.  I plan on opening a new ING account for my emergency fund this week and it's still not too late for that new meal for February!  

How are you doing on your goals/resolutions? 

Saturday, February 20, 2010

You gotta be starting something

I ran for 5 (five) (FIVE!!) minutes!!!  Straight!  Twice!  WooHoo!  Go me!

I mentioned in my last post that I'm doing a 12 week prep program with a friend to run a 5K at the end of April.  So far the program has called for me to run 2 minutes walk 2 minutes.  I've definitely been a walk/jog person throughout my quest to become a real runner and the other day when I saw "walk 2 run 5 for 30 minutes" on the training schedule I have to say I was so scared!  Seriously.  Terrified.

I tried to have positive thoughts about it.  Afterall, I read a ton of blogs written by people alot like me and they started somewhere similar, right?  But my negative thoughts kept creeping in and I talked myself out of my workout for Thursday.  Yep, that's the day I was supposed to run for 5 minutes.  So I talked myself out of the Thursday workout.  And yesterday I magically found myself with "too much stuff to do" ie going to lunch and furniture shopping. 

This morning I knew I had to do it.  So I got up, put on my clothes, laced up my shoes, and headed out the door.  I warmed up for those two oh-so-short minutes and then I ran for 5 minutes and I didn't stop once.  And then I did it again!  Channeling Caitlin and chanting "pain is temporary, quitting is forever!"

And then I tried to do it a third time and felt like I was going to die so I walked a little more and ran when I felt I could and walked when I got tired.  But that doesn't matter!  What does matter is that I ran for 5 minutes twice without stopping and I never did that before.

Thursday, February 18, 2010

To the edge and back...

So I think it's been about a million days since my last post!  Things have been pretty hectic around here the last few months!  We got a dog and bought a house.  Add all the other life stuff (grandma, mom and dad health issues, planning friend's wedding shower, work drama, turning 30 (30!) etc...) and you have one crazy me!  The good news (aside from the aforementioned dog and house) is that I found my camera cord in the move!  The bad news?  I lost it again in the unpacking!  No worries!  I'm sure it will turn up by next week...

Dog story:

Four days after I ran the Race for the Cure my boyfriend called and told me to come down to where he was working to look at a dog.  It was 4:45 PM and my reaction?  "Umm, I'm not going to drive in 5 o'clock traffic to look at a dog." 

boyfriend: "We could keep him..."

me: "I'll be right there..."

I have wanted a dog for just about forever but always felt that my job was not conducive to owning a dog (I travel part of the time and work long hours) and my boyfriend's job requires him to work looooong hours as well.  But then I saw this dog and I knew there was no way I was leaving without him. 

He had been hanging around where they were shooting (my BF works in film) for the last 2 weeks, scavenging for trash.  He was so scrawny and had a horrible make-shift collar tied too tight around his neck.  I seriously got teary when I saw him.  He was so sweet albiet slightly skittish.  I got him home, fed and bathed him and we made fast friends.  My BF named him CutCut because he perked up his ear when they said "Cut!" through the walkie-talkie.

When I took him later that week to the vet, she said he was pretty healthy and about 1 year old. 
* I just want to say here that at first I thought "sweet- free dog!"  Yeah- most expensive free dog ever with all the shots, lab work, etc!  But soooo worth it!

We speculate on CutCut's back story alot- he is so sweet but took awhile to get comfortable.  He would cower if you walked up to him to fast or made any sudden movement.  He also had no concept of playing.  I think that was the saddest.  We had to teach him how to play with toys!  He's a fast learner- so far he sits, sometimes stays, comes to his name, lays down and shakes hands.  He's slowly putting weight on too.

Oh, and he's the cutest dog in the world! 
Now where's that camera cord...

House story: (not as long!)

My boyfriend and I started looking at houses in August and closed at the end of January.  My brother helped us and it was his first home sale.  There was craziness with our lender the whole time of the house buying process!  Some of this was due to our first loan officer being a wannabe Jersey Shore star and the other part was them not understanding that my BF is freelance, not self-employed.  There was other craziness mixed in with all that stuff but I really don't want to think about it, nor write about it!

We packed up all our stuff and moved in a weekend (Super Bowl Weekend!) and I had to leave town for work that same Sunday.  I was bummed to not spend the first week in the new house but in the end it was all ok.  We have a functioning kitchen and CutCut loves his new yard.  It's slowly coming together!  I was able to take the last 2 weeks in February off which has been great so far.  Lots of organizing!

Fitness update:

A few weeks ago I started a 12 week training program with a friend.  The goal is to jog a 5K at the end of April.  I've been doing pretty good with sticking with the workouts (slacked during the move!) and yesterday was our first time trial.  I did half a mile in 6:20.  Always room for improvement!  I had to walk a few times but I tried to keep it short and pace myself while running so I wouldn't get so out of breath.  We also did drills which include side-to-sides, hi-knees, butt kicks, skipping, etc.  Really fun!  I'm definitely feeling it today!

Ok- marathon post over!

Race for the Cure Recap

* In my neglect of this blog I found that I never actually published this post!  The Race for the Cure was November 1st.  Wow... 3 and 1/2 months ago!  Here you go!

A few weeks ago I participated in my first 5K, Race for the Cure.  My goal was not to run the whole thing- so not there yet!  But I wanted to see how long it would take and how I felt.  I planned on doing the 5K solo but the night before the race, my boyfriend said he wanted to run/walk with me instead of waiting at the finish line.  Awesome! 

Despite leaving early for the race, traffic was terrible and I knew we would be late if we didn't do something quick!  We ended up parking in a neighborhood near the race and figured we could just walk to the starting line.  Turns out we parked near the middle of the race!  Normally this is where I would start freaking out (I have weird timeliness issues) instead I took things in stride and said "why don't we just start here and do it backwards?"  Boyfriend was game so we hopped in the race with the non-timed runners.  We started running, well I started running and boyfriend walked briskly (he has long legs!).  It felt great!  I've been doing my run/walks solo so I can focus on myself and not compare myself to others which I thought was a good thing but now I'm rethinking that stance.  Running with my boyfriend next to me really encouraged me and pushed me to run longer and faster than I ever have before.

We "finished" the race, got some free swag (finally peanut butter and jelly Larabar!  Yum!), registered boyfriend for the race and headed to the starting line.  We ended up with all the walkers which was kind of nice.  We would jog where there was space between the groups and either walk when we came to a group we couldn't pass or gently weasel our way through them.  When we came to the part of the race where we jumped in, we jumped on out.  On the way home, boyfriend pointed out that one group of people thought we were cheaters for joining in the middle and another group thought we were lame and couldn't handle the 5K.  Haha!

It was a totally bass-akwards way of doing the race but it's one I'll never forget for so many reasons.  Yeah, I may not know what my exact time was and I definitely walked more than I planned the last half of the race but in the end I had a fun time and got to experience another "first" with my boyfriend!