30 Miles in 30 Days

To say that this week has been a struggle would be an understatement. Bourke's eye drop schedule and activity limitations are killing me. Not to mention the huge project at work I'm lawyering. It never stops, does it?

The only solace I've found has been in exercising. It's been my refuge.

I'm going to the  beach next weekend, so that has also motivated me to exercise. I wouldn't say I'm 100% bikini ready, but I don't think the whales will be singing "we are family" too loudly. I'd call that a win.

Here's how I did this week:

Friday: 3 miles - walking

Saturday: 2 miles - walking + 75 minutes hot yoga

Monday: 2.5 miles - walking

Tuesday: 2.5 miles - walking

Wednesday: 2 miles walking - walking  + 75 minutes hot yoga

Weekly Total Miles: 12 miles

Total Miles: 23

Miles to Go: 7

One thing I've found that really helps me is wearing a pedometer. I check it periodically during the day and that motivates me to either (1) keep up the good work or (2) get my tail moving! Plus, we've had just wonderful weather the last week or so, and I have just loved getting outside and walking.

I've done great so far, but I'm traveling a lot over the next couple of weeks, so I hope I can find time to exercise while I'm gone.

How do you stay healthy and active while traveling? I need some tips!

Tennessee Sundrop Cake

Kris gave up sweets for Lent, and although I never bake/cook I wanted to do something special for him. So I made him a Tennessee Sundrop Cake.

If you don't know, it's a super moist lemony cake with glaze icing. It's delish. And probably the reason I gained 2 pounds last week. Man was it good.

You'll need:
Cake                                                                            Glaze
1 box lemon cake mix                                                 1 cup powdered sugar
3 eggs                                                                          2 tablespoons water
12 oz Sundrop                                                             1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup applesauce
1 pkg lemon pudding mix

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Spray your bundt pan with non-stick spray and put it in the freezer.

Empty your cake mix (setting a tiny bit aside to dust yout bundt pan) and lemon pudding mix into a mixing bowl. Combine the eggs, sundrop, and applesauce into another mixing bowl. Whisk to combine the wet ingredients. Stir the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients. Mix together with utensil of choice. I use an electric hand mixer on low for 2 minutes and high for 1 minute.

Once all the cake ingredients are mixed together. Get your bundt pan out of the freezer. Use the cake mix you set aside to dust the inside of the pan. This will help prevent the cake from sticking.

Pour the mix into the pan, and put in the oven on the center rack.While the cake is baking, go ahead and make the glaze. Stir the water and vanilla into the powdered sugar until well combined. You can add more water or sugar to get your desired thickness. Stick the glaze in the fridge. This will thicken it up a bit. After your cake is done (mine took about 30 minutes) let it cool for 15-20 minutes before you take it out of the pan. After it cools, place it on a cake stand or serving dish. Let it cool for another 10-15 minutes.

After it cools, drizzle the glaze over the cake. Use as much or as little as you like. Clearly, I like a lot.

Then, I suggest you eat a giant piece. Life's too short.

Style Statement Tuesday

To be honest, you're lucky you're getting a Style Statement Tuesday post today. After the weekend I had, I can barely see straight let alone dress myself. Which might explain this week's choice.

This outfit is all about comfort. It's such an easy look.

Tee & Bangle: J.Crew; Jeans: Gap Outlet; Shoes: TOMS; Watch: Michael Kors

I'm not normally a t-shirt girl, but this tee is soft, v-neck, and very loose. I swear it was screaming at me in the store. I'm glad I bought it because I really do love wearing it. The jeans I've had for years, and they never stop being good to me. Rolling the hem and wearing flats make them perfect for the weekend.

Although this look isn't exactly 'Classic Pretty,' I still feel it fits my style statement. Jeans and a tee, can you get more classic than that? The vibrant pink trends it up a bit. Overall I'm happy with how this looks, but I don't think Vogue will be calling anytime soon!

Link up and share your style!


I'm linking up here, here, and  here.

I saw the future, and it wasn't pretty

I mentioned last week that my pup, Bourke, had surgery on Thursday. He was released from the hospital Friday night, and it has been one crazy weekend. Before I go into the details, I'll give you a little back story. Bear with me, this is a long one.

Bourke has always been a low maintenance dog. Like sleep and lie in bed with you all day never caring if you feed him or take him out (which we always did). All he cared about was being with you. If you dream up a perfect dog, it would be Bourke.

Do you know another dog that can pull of a pink bow tie?

In September of last year, we started noticing some odd behavior from him. Long story short, he was diagnosed with diabetes. This low maintenance dog now has to eat at the same time every day and get insulin shots with his meals. He can't really have treats, and we have to go once a month for the vet to check his glucose level. It was difficult at first, but we've adjusted to our new way of life.

Diabetes Diagnosis = Pirate Boot for the weekend

 In February, we noticed him acting odd again. He walked very slowly and kept his nose to the ground almost all the time. Over the next few days, we realized that he couldn't see. The vet confirmed that he had cataracts. Apparently 80% or so diabetic dogs get cataracts.

Shortly thereafter we made the decision to have his cataracts removed. I know that dogs can live perfectly fine lives being blind, but I constantly worried about him being scared not knowing where he was or what was going on. So, Thursday was the big day.

We were sent home with 4 different eye medicines we were supposed to dispense 4 times a day. All this on top of his insulin regimen. He also has to be in a e-collar (cone of shame) and be kept away from our other dog, Five, for 3 weeks.

1 shaved face and 2 artificial lenses later, we're on the way home

Kris worked Friday night, and I was responsible for both dogs. Who couldn't be in the same room. And I haven't figured out how to be in 2 places at once. So it was a rough night.

When Kris got home at 1am, I was still awake and exhausted. Because Bourke and Five can't be together, Kris and I decided the easiest thing to do would be to sleep apart for the next few weeks. I'd take Bourke and he would take Five. Our dogs are spoiled and sleep with us, spare me the grief on this one because it ain't changing.

When he realized the cone was staying, he got depressed

6am came and it was time for Bourke's eye drops, food, and insulin. It was also time to go outside. I don't know why, but I picked him up after we went out. I got mud all over me. By that time it was around 7am, and I was seriously too tired to care. I just crashed on the couch mud and all. 

I woke up about 9am, and Kris was getting ready for work. Lucky bastard. I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror. Yikes! Messy hair, muddy sweat pants and t-shirt, no bra, and some serious dark circles. I think they call that a hot mess. While staring at the unfortunate stranger I saw in the mirror, it hit me. Oh god, this is what I'll be like when I have kids. Probably worse.

I've always thought I would be the kind of mom who takes care of herself. Still fixes up and wears makeup and nice clothes. Well, the best thing that I can say for myself last weekend is that I managed to swipe on some mascara and throw my hair in a pony tail.

Apparently this isn't going to be me

I told Kris to look at me. That this was the future. That I was one step away from thinking that yoga pants were appropriate for things other than yoga. He laughed, but as he walked out the door for work he said, "It would do you some good to get out of the house today."

Ouch.

Linking up for Weekend Shenanigans. 

High Five For Friday

Hey, Friday. What's up? I'm so happy you're here.

This has been a helluva week. Sometimes being an adult is fun. For example, having a salary is pretty cool and being able to stay up as late as you want isn't bad, either. But, sometimes being an adult is not fun. For example, having to stay up late and do your job in order to earn your salary is not cool.

Nevertheless, the weekend is here, and I shall rejoice. Here are my five things.

1. This little girl got a haircut. Now she looks more poodle than doodle. Love this sweet angel. 

2. Kris worked on Sunday, so naturally I took pictures of myself to keep entertained. 

3. Before yoga. Trust, the after wasn't pretty, but it was so worth it. 

4. Cute shirt sent to me from eshakti. 

5. My baby boy had surgery yesterday and is still in the hospital. He's been with me for 8 years and is the reason I don't have human babies. I'm not sure I could ever love a human baby as much as I love my dog babies. Keep him in your thoughts as he recovers!

 

 

Linking up with Lauren today. Have a great weekend!

 

 

Motivation

You may remember me talking about my goal of getting off the couch. Well, I've largely succeeded in my goal. I wouldn't say I'm 100% there, but I've definitely improved.

I've attended 13 hot yoga classes since my March 11 post. I'm also walking with a co-worker every day at work for 15 minutes (we do 5 laps around the hallway and up the stairs, so a little over a mile). I try to walk for 30 minutes at least one more day during the week. This is where I could step it up a bit, no pun intended.

I feel better than I have in a long time. I'm sleeping well, and I have way more energy. I guess it's true what they say, "a body in motion tends to stay in motion."

A huge factor in sticking with an exercise regimen is support. If I have to have someone to "report" to about my exercise habits, I'm much more likely to stay with it. It's like I don't want to let that someone down. I want to be able to proudly report that I did, in fact, exercise yesterday. Thanks for asking.

Even though I do exercise, I also do some pretty awful things to my body. I fill it with preservatives, refined sugar, and artificial sweeteners almost every day. I deprive it of sleep, subject it to unhealthy amounts of stress, and Lord only knows what my caffeine addiction is doing it. Amazingly enough, regardless of the crappy things I do to myself, my body still performs pretty well for me. I mean it got through a 109 degree 50% humidity 60 minute yoga class with only 500 calories of energy that day. If that's not a miracle, I don't know what is.

After that awesome yoga class, I got to thinking. What if I stopped treating my body like a machine and started treating it like the vehicle that will take me through life for the next 60+ years. How well would it perform for me then?

When Nikki decided to host the 30 Miles in 30 Days link-up for April, I knew it was just what I needed to give me a little more motivation. That extra push I need to be kinder to my body. So, I'll be linking up with her each week to share my fitness progress, in miles. The goal is to have logged 30 miles, in some way or another, by the end of April.

Here's my week so far, all miles are walking miles.

Sunday: 2 miles
Monday: 2.6 miles
Tuesday: 3.4 miles + 60 minutes of yoga
Wednesday: 3 miles

Total: 11 miles
Miles to go: 19 miles

I'm so excited to keep moving and feeling great. What about you? What keeps you motivated to stay fit?

5 Things

I've been seeing these 5 Things posts all over the place lately. Technically, I think someone is supposed to tag you before you can do one. Well, no one tagged me, and rules are made to be broken. So I'm doing one anyway.

1. I only wash my hair 2-3 times a week. Mostly because it keeps my hair healthy, but I"m not going to lie. Part of the reason is because I hate, gut hate, blow drying my hair.

This is 4 day hair

2. I don't like paying for manicures. I just do not see the point. I can file and paint my own nails. For free.

Done by me FOR FREE

3. I've never had an entire beer. I just hate the stuff. When someone says "Try this, you'll love it. It doesn't taste like beer," I try it, but just can't stomach it. I call BS. If it's a beer, then it tastes like a beer, and I just can't drink it.

This is what I prefer to drink

4. I'm a homebody. My husband would prefer me to the person who wants to go out until 3am, but that's just not me. Maybe when I was 21, but at 28, I love being home and getting a good night's sleep.

Lying on the couch is my favorite

5. I'm a wine snob. My boo for life is a country club manager so I've been spoiled with trips to wine country and bottles of the best.

Private Guest House = spoiled Jessica

 

 

Eff, the rules. Tag yourself and tell me your five things.