Its Ok Thursday

To hate winter but know you're not moving from the Midwest anytime soon
To be totally in love with your new laptop
To be glad tomorrow is Friday
To just let go
To be counting down until spring
To watch the superbowl for the commercials ....what my teams not playing
To only blog twice for the week - because you can't think of a thing to put up here

Just Tuesday

Questions I have been asked a lot lately

Q: What workouts do you do?
A: In no particular order: treadmill, yoga, pilates,  the following Jillian Michaels DVD's; - yoga meltdown, Ripped in 30, 30 day shred,  extreme shed and shred. Playing with my grandson and nephew's.

Q: Whats on your workout playlist?
A: HA this question made me realize how trashy/angry my play list is. However those are the songs that get my feet moving so it is what it is, in random order a small sample:

1.  Play - David Banner
2. 2 Fingers David Banner
3. Funhouse P!nk
4. Crazy Bitch - Buck Cherry 
5. Breaking Dishes - Rihanna
6. Blow Me (one last kiss) P!nk
7. You Outta Know -  Alanis Morissette 
8. Crutch - Theory of a Deadman
9. Jar of Hearts - Christina Perri
10. Slut Like you P!nk
11. For your Entertainment - Adam Lambert 

Q: Whats your secret in losing weigh?

A: SHHH don't tell anyone .... there is no secret - I have had the same person ask me the same question more often than I can count - Honestly you have to watch whats going in your mouth and move your feet! That's IT that's THE secret. 

Q: What do you do with your clothes that are now to big?
A: They are sitting in bags to go to Goodwill.

Q: Whens your next 5k?
A: In March, I am participating in the Diva Dash which is the ONLY all women 5k. Its a charity race that benefits girls self esteem programs in the area.

Q: How often do you work out?
A: I aim for 3 or 4 nights a week

Q: Whats your favorite gadget?
A: My Fitbit One


Anything you would like to ask?? Sound off in the comments or shoot me an email.

Odds and Ends - Wordless Wednesday

Pump it up Tues - Link up with

Its a fitness link up with Nicole at  GrubnMarriage - This Tues is fitness tools..

I use My Fitness Pal (MFP) where I log everything that I eat... (ok almost everything). Based on the goals I choose it tells me how much I am supposed to eat everyday.  I have the APP both on my phone and my computer.. Handy dandy lil tool..

I also use the Fitbit One - I love this lil gadget more than anyone should love a fitness gadget - it tracks my steps, how many stairs I have climbed, how active I have been, how I sleep (if I wear it at night) and how many calories I burn.  It also syncs with MFP and I only have to log things 1 time.  The only things I have to manually enter exercise wise are weights and circuit training type activities as the fitbit doesn't pick those up so well.

                         












Circuit training - all of this belongs in the Jillian Michaels category - I have most of her DVD's and practice cussing her regular.

Superbowl recipe link up

The Superbowl is when a cheat day is needed diet wise.  I generally make Beer Cheese Soup which is served with Roast Beef Sandwiches - though one year we have Philly Cheesesteaks with it (hence the cheat day). There are a ton of recipes out there for Beer Cheese Soup - I find the simpler ones the better the soup - and forget that whole garnish with popcorn BS - nice big croutons are where its at...

This wonderful recipe for Beer Cheese Soup can be kept warm in a 3-1/2 to 4 quart crockpot if you stir it frequently. 

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cook Time: 15 minutes

Total Time: 35 minutes

Ingredients:

• 1 cup minced celery
• 1 cup minced carrots
• 1 onion, minced
• 1/2 cup butter
• 1/3 cup flour
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/4 tsp. pepper
• 2 cups half and half
• 10 oz. bottle beer (non alcoholic works just fine)
• 10 oz. can condensed chicken broth
• 3 cups grated sharp Cheddar cheese
• white cheese popcorn

Preparation:

In heavy stockpot, saute celery, carrots, and onion in butter until tender, 4-5 minutes. Add flour and cook with a wire whisk, stirring constantly, until mixture bubbles, 4-5 minutes. Add half and half, beer, and chicken broth. Cook and stir until thickened, about 10 minutes. Then add cheese, salt and pepper and cook until soup is blended and cheese is melted. Serves 6

Whats in your bag??

Beth over at Shug in Boots has asked Whats In Your Bag - thankfully at the moment not much as I just got this bag for Christmas and its pretty compact due to the design it stay's cleaned out..

This was a gift from my wonderful sister-in-law for Christmas 

It has my make up bag, wallet and checkbooks (yes 2 one personal and one household. Keys, a pen, chapstick, and a pink electronic cigarette with vanilla refill bottle for the e-cig.  The zippered pocket holds odds and ends like my keycard to get in my office building after hours  band aids a ticket stub to Breaking Dawn Part 2 (no judging!) and allergy tabs.

Make up bag essentials - more chap stick, 2 lip glosses powder, eye liner and a glass cleaning cloth. 

Wallet is a Kenneth Cole tri-open - Love this thing I just am still getting used to opening several flaps to find what I am looking for LOL..

So what's in YOUR bag?? 

Completely Random Tuesday

When faced with deciding between multiple choices  - its not the decisions themselves that are hard its the fact EVERYTHING comes with a consequence - can you live with the consequence is what you have to determine.

 No matter what you do someone will always find fault with you.

It's your life - only you have to look back at it when you get to the end and decide if you lived like you should have.

Its not how many times you fall on your ass, it's how many times you get back up. If you get back up just 1 more time than you fall its a success.

Bank accounts and possessions do not define you - its WHO you REALLY are that defines you.

If you ignore your life, it will ignore you right back.

Have a goal - don't just wander aimless, unless that is your goal then by all means get down with your bad self!

Quality friends are way better than quantity of so so friends.

If lots of people have the same opinion - maybe its NOT them it could possible be YOU.

When do something the same way every time and are not happy with the results - perhaps you need to change how you do it.

Be kind to yourself - some days you may just be the only one who is.

84 days til warm!!

Yes I am looking forward to Spring, I HATE winter, I abhor being cold.. I love that it doesn't get dark until 9 pm or later. I love walking out of a building at 8 pm at night and being warm and smelling the heat. I hate scraping windows and dodging puddles of icy water.  I like warm weather clothing, tanks & shorts and flips. So yes, I am counting all 12 weeks until warm weather hits!!

Operation Red Bikini is in full swing and I have been kicking with my girl Jillian just about every night we have been hitting Ripped in 30, tonight I am going to hit Yoga Meltdown.  Even on my break nights I have been doing active breaks - walking and dancing around the living room with the grand baby.. which he loves and just giggles and smiles.














The weekend was pretty uneventful - which is what we needed after the hustle and bustle of the holiday weekends.  Costco Saturday, really just to walk around, watched Lil Man, Sunday I was in the office to review billing before it was due the next day and some grocery shopping...

BTW this stuff .. AMAZEBALLS!!!

And I got a planner and stickers for workouts - yes those are Starwars lego stickers - I'm a geek at heart so shush..

And finally - make sure you eat your veggies!!

Hello Friday!!

The end of the last short week for awhile, bummer I was loving the day off toward the middle of the week.

Resolutions are going up on blogs everywhere - I normally don't do resolutions because in all honestly by February 1st 75% of the population has abandoned them however I read a post over on Erin's blog Keep Calm & Sparkle that I liked.  I left her a message saying I really needed to get with # 1 & #5 - She emailed me back with a so do it... Challenge accepted - I so love a good challenge. 

#1 Save more and spend less - this will thrill The Hubs to no end!! End of 2012 brought a surgery for me and he ended up in the hospital for 4 days, thankfully we are insured but we have a coinsurance payment, its gotta come from somewhere.  We also have our eye on 2 trips in the next 2 years - 2014 I want to go to Vegas for my birthday and in Spring of 2015 the family is itching to go back to Hawaii - this time we are thinking 10 days. 

#5 Be active more - veg less .. Lets face it time is passing no matter what you do with it, you may as well do something productive.  Now I love trash tv as much as the next gal (the Real House Wives anyone??) but no one needs to watch all of everything that is offered on 500 plus channels all the time.  In order to be kind to your body you need to MOVE your body.  When you are kind to your body, it will in turn be kind to you.  Besides I have the Operation Red Bikini to own! 

Thanks Erin for the kick in the seat !! 

It's Ok Thursday

To cuss winter while you are scraping off your windows every single morning

To be totally in love with your new Fitbit

To Dream about your next tropical vacation a full 2 years before your planning to take it

To be digging through last years emails and sorting them

To turn the heater up so you can run around in shorts

To be thrilled to workout with no knee pain for the first time in ages

To say NO and mean it when asked to do something you'd rather not

To not feel guilty for the above