Post-School Year Detox

First of all, I'd like to wish a very happy Father's Day to all the dads out there!

My dad, circa 2010

I hope you were able to celebrate with the dad in your life. We'll be heading up north next weekend to see my parents, and we saw my father-in-law this weekend.

It wasn't intentional, but a three-day hiatus from my usual routines felt fantastic. And it happened to coincide with the end of the school year, so I suppose we can call this last weekend a little detox.

Thursday was the final day of the school year, and after a lunch with my coworkers plus assisting at graduation, I got to bed early that night. Friday I woke up feeling less than stellar--sore throat, achy, headache--so I scooted off to school to pack up my classroom and then took it easy the rest of the day until a double date with Jenn and Justin. Yesterday Terry and I headed out to spend the night with his grandparents and to celebrate Father's Day, and today we went to a movie and for a walk.

That walk was the only form of exercise I even attempted over the last several days, and I know I'll be ready to get back to my usual routine. After all the "taking it easy" I'm anxious to get moving and crank out some productivity!

Now that the school year has ended and summer has officially begun, I'm ready to reflect a bit on the year. The tough parts certainly threw me for a loop, but I think overall it was my most successful year of teaching. I suppose that each year should get better, so it makes sense, but I really feel I learned a ton and did a good job of applying those lessons. I made strong connections with my fellow teachers, and I hope those friendships continue. I maintained a positive relationship with my students, despite my occasional (frequent?) frustrations. And I also created a more healthy work-life balance for myself, which is a goal I want to continue striving to improve.

And now it's summer. So far, our plans include:

• a trip to Hawaii
• visits with family 
• celebrating our two-year wedding anniversary
• trying out new recipes
• seeing movies in theaters (This is the End and Much Ado About Nothing top our lists right now)
• hitting up the farmer's market as often as possible
• morning workouts (much easier if it's not a 4:30 wake up call!)
• planning a trip to Europe for fall
• perhaps check a few items off my 30 Before 30 Bucket List

You know we like to keep things busy around here, and this summer will be no different. So I'll be back tomorrow with my regular workouts, meals, and blog posts!

Zumba Remix and WIAW

I absolutely love hearing everyone's bucket list goals! Keep the comments coming! Between writing that post and today, I've already thought up ten more ideas, but I think I'll stick to 30 for now.
Also, I want to wish a very happy birthday to one of my best friends Winnie! Welcome to the 27 club--it's not half bad!
I meant to share yesterday, but on Monday Jenn invited me to a Zumba class nearby, and I was thrilled to finally get to join her. The place was packed--the teacher Wil is obviously a fan favorite--and we had a great time. I've only taken a few Zumba classes and honestly haven't been as into it as I thought I would be. I used to dance, and I guess I assumed I'd still love to get my cardio in that way, even though the style isn't what I used to do. 
Well, apparently the teacher makes a huge difference! I loved the music selection and was sweating the entire time. I was totally into it--engaged, laughing, pushing myself, and getting my heart rate up! I would most definitely go back to his class, AND I'm excited to try more Zumba now that I know it's all about finding the right teacher. 
Terry and I also woke up super early yesterday to complete our workout: 5 minutes warm up, 20 minutes HIIT (30 seconds HARD, 30 seconds recover), 20 minutes steady state. I've joined in the fun of Fitnessista's Summer Shape Up and am loving it so far! If you're interested, it's FREE and never too late to join (I think if you join now you can get the whole workout calendar still, so you can still do the full month of workouts!). She has some crazy moves, like the plank-to-pike on the stability ball that makes my shoulders cry, and I love the challenge of trying out a new workout plan. Today's an off/active recovery day, so we completed a 45-minute walk around the neighborhood while we chatted about our days.
Alright, so those have been our workouts; let's check in on today's meals.

Check out the other WIAWs!

Breakfast: Piece of toast with avocado and cottage cheese (plus a sprinkling of pepper), and tea

I actually credit my parents for this breakfast idea. I never would have thought to combine avocado and cottage cheese, especially on top of toast, but it totally works! Great way to incorporate several food groups into one easy meal.

Midmorning snack: blackberries and blueberries, eaten while grading and hanging with my coworker

Lunch: leftover tuna (we made tuna melts last night) and woven wheats

Afternoon snack: bowl of Erewhon rice cereal (I am so proud that I only ate one bowl!) and another cup of tea--the grading has sucked the life out of me today

Post-walk snack (no, I couldn't wait the hour until dinner--I'm a champ)

Dinner: lasagna, salad, berries, and brownies at UCLA for our final volunteer meeting of the year (no photo, just scarfed it down)! So sad this year ended because it was a BLAST, but also excited for all our team accomplished!

What's a workout that you tried but didn't love the first time? Would you try again?

30 Before 30

Gina's "Before 30 Bucket List" inspired today's post. I'll be 28 this August, and with summer vacation just a few days away, I figured now is as good a time as any to start thinking about all the fun I want to have before I hit the big 3-0. So in no particular order:

1. Travel to Europe at least one more time.
2. Take a few more cooking classes, including one with my mom for her belated Mother's Day gift.
3. Move to a bigger place and perhaps even buy that place.
4. Read some classics I've never read.
5. Go snow skiing.
6. Attend another health and/or blogging conference.
7. Rescue a puppy.
8. Travel somewhere within the United States we've never been.
9. Find my ideal homemade brownie recipe.
10. Try out at least a part time job as a fitness professional.
11. Do 5 pull ups.
12. Run another 10K.
13. Build another puzzle.
14. Finish (start?) our wedding album.
15. Go to a movie by myself.
16. Learn to bake pastries, especially croissants.
17. Get my flexibility back.
18. Host Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve, or Christmas dinner.
19. Go camping.
20. Volunteer.
21. Go to a farm and learn all about it--and perhaps pick some of the fruit or vegetables.
22. Find or make or purchase the perfect gift for someone.
23. Have a sleepover in the living room (fort optional).
24. Make an ice cream cake.
25. At least seriously consider getting my Master's.
26. Take a dance lesson, hopefully with Terry. I'm thinking salsa or swing.
27. Attend a music/theater/performance in the park type of event.
28. Go to a chili cook off or art and wine festival.
29. Have a baby.
30. Try something daring, like zip lining or bungee jumping (except not bungee jumping because that's too daring).

I'm ready to get started! What's on your list before your next big milestone?

Weekend, Year End

As usual, we packed way too much into our weekend but had a blast. We woke up early Saturday morning to join several of my fellow teachers out at Rocking K Horse Rentals in Thousand Oaks. My coworker Courtney used to be a professional equestrian and offered to take us on a trail ride.

I should have stuck with this ride. 

Terry and I got to bust out our boots again!

Courtney took this photo while on her horse. Impressive.

The ride was super fun, despite my temperamental horse, Duke, who twice decided to take off  at a gallop. I was not thrilled. (Granted, each time was only about three seconds, but I was sufficiently terrified.) 

After our ride, Terry and I raced a few exits down the freeway for our BBQ class, To Grill or Not to Grill, which he found through Groupon. We arrived just in time for the class, which included one chef/teacher and about a dozen students. It wasn't hands-on, which disappointed us at first, but we quickly realized how much of grilling is just throwing the food onto the grill and then NOT touching it, so a hands-on class wouldn't have made a lot of sense.

The class lasted about three hours and included three grilled entrees: salmon, tri tip, and chicken. Chef Craiger talked while prepping and grilling the food, demonstrating and answering our questions. Here's a bit of what we covered in the class:

• How to preheat the grill properly
• How to grease up the grill so it's seasoned and won't ruin your foods
• How to choose a grill if you don't have one
• The best ways to marinade different types of meat
• How to time and flip the foods (and how to tell when they're ready)
• How to clean the grill

Overall, we learned a ton and can't wait to try out our new moves! Hopefully we'll be in a bigger place soon(ish) so we can own a bigger grill, but for now our little guy is going to have to suffice. 

One other aspect of the class I loved was the recipes. Here are our favorite two:

• Rub Dijon mustard and sprinkle brown sugar on salmon right before grilling
• Tri tip sandwiches: French bread, boysenberry jam, garlic, Cambozola cheese (brie/blue combo--AMAZING), fried onion strings, and arugula

I'm drooling just thinking about that sandwich.

Saturday night was at Terranea resort in Rancho Palos Verdes. Heidi and Ed were staying the night there, so our friends Katie and Corey (and their gorgeous almost-two-month-old Ainsley) and Terry and I drove down for dinner and s'mores. We had so much fun catching up and cooking s'mores over the open fire pits! And dinner was deeeeelicious. We ate at Catalina Kitchen for dinner and all loved our meals.

On Sunday, Scout wasn't thrilled with my decision to start the day grading. Or maybe he was. I can't really tell. 

Either way, after breakfast and a bit of grading, Terry and I drove closer to campus and then completed the four-mile perimeter. We planned to walk and jog, but I think we ran more than walked, and we went the hard way (for those familiar, I consider the "hard way" to be north on Hilgard and south on Veteran because the hills are more intense!). I was so proud that we pushed a little harder than we expected, and it felt great to be outside.

Sunday afternoon we attended Terry's cousin's baby's baptism, which was quite lovely. Later that evening, after Terry headed out to tutor our neighbor for math (how cute is that?), I drove to Santa Monica because my sister-in-law Ashley was in town! We had a blast hanging out before I finally had to head home for some more work.

This week is the last of the school year, and I'm exhausted but feeling quite fulfilled. I'll write more about it soon, but this year taught me at least as much as I taught the students (see what I did there?). For now, though, I'll just say that I'm grateful to be nearing the end of the seemingly endless piles of paper and looking forward to a delightful summer!

What are you looking forward to this summer?

What I've Learned About My Fitness Self

We had a phenomenal weekend over here, and I need just one more day to recover. In the meantime, I typed up this little post the other day and had fun thinking about all the quirks I've come to recognize in myself when it comes to fitness. I'd love to hear similar realizations you've had about yourself!

1. I simply won't do core work by itself. I have done it before, sure. And I've even created what I think are some pretty awesome core workouts, such as:

• Stable/Unstable Core Circuit
• It's-Winter-But-I-Still-Want-Sexy-Abs Circuit
• Beach Abs Timed Circuit

But I've learned that I'm not good at following through on pure core work attached to my workout. During Best Body Boot Camp, Tina usually scheduled cardio and core together on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and I almost never did the core work. I used the excuse of being too sweaty and not wanting to get the carpet gross after a workout (hello? could I not just pull out a yoga mat or towel?). Or I claimed I would do it before bed. Yeah, right.

2. I really love working out in the mornings... Because it feels great to get it over with early in the day, it frees up my evenings, it energizes me for work, and it sets a "healthy tone" for the rest of the day.

3. ...but I'm very good at talking myself into staying in bed. The thing is, I rarely skip a workout, so when that alarm goes off at 4:30, I very easily negotiate with myself: "Well, hey, if I don't get up now, I'll just do the workout later." And I do. It's not a now-or-never situation, so I just bump it back. And then I kick myself later for not getting it done and having to drag myself to the gym at the end of a long day.

4. Even though I love to work out, I have to convince (bribe?) myself to get out there and just do it. Sometimes I tell myself I'm not allowed to have a drink or dessert unless I get the workout done. Sometimes I procrastinate by cleaning house, prepping dinner, whatever. Sometimes I put on all my gym clothes and then just wander around the apartment, convinced that I'll eventually get there.

5. But once I get started, that lovin' feeling comes right back. It usually only takes about five minutes for me to get in my groove, especially if I have some decent music or a little extra motivation, like beautiful weather. Just getting started sucks, and then the rest feels great--about 95% of the time. Sometimes I just never hit my stride, and I take it easy that day, no harm done. But often I find that the worst starts end the best--I'll set out thinking, "Okay, just walk two miles," and then before I know it I'm running my fourth mile and feeling like I can do more!

6. A short workout is better than none at all. You know I love to squeeze WAY too much into my days, and sometimes I just don't make time for a solid hour workout, which is my ideal time frame. Still, skipping the gym altogether just mentally puts me into a funk. So I'd rather bust out a super short strength circuit or a 20-minute HIIT than not do anything at all. And I feel so much better!

Some of my favorite short workouts:

• Quick Run/Walk HIIT (25 minutes)
• 12-Minute Incline Walk
• Quick Quads Workout
• Quick Upper Body Superset Workout
• 12-Minute Circuit Workout

7. Workout DVDs are totally hit-or-miss for me--and usually it's a miss. I have one yoga DVD, Yoga Fitness Plus by Elise Gulan (<--NO WAY!!! I just found it on YouTube! YAY! You can do it too!)--that I've done for years. It's one 45-minute routine, but somehow it never bores me and still gets me just as sweaty and fatigued as it did the first time. But other at-home exercise options aren't so successful for some reason. Once in awhile I'm all about it, but usually I get bored or annoyed 10 minutes in and quit. Any suggestions for awesome DVDs? I would love to try a Cathe video--she seems amazing.

Yeah, that's happening. I didn't do this video. 

8. I absolutely need a plan for my workout. I actually like to plan out my gym time for the week if I can. I like knowing what I'm going to do, visualizing the workout and the results, gearing up for a great time at the gym. I guess it just mentally prepares me and gets me all amped up! (I'm actually the same way about food. I like preparing my palate for what I'll be eating, and if I am expecting one thing and don't end up getting to eat it, I sometimes feel really bummed. But I think that's just weird.)

9. No matter what, I feel best when I'm feeling fit. I hope that never changes, because it keeps me pushing myself and ensures that I will stay active!

What have you learned about your fitness self?

WIAW: Three Photos

Remember the other day when I said I was on a mission to find healthy snacks? Well, Julie over at PB Fingers came to the rescue! Check out her huge list of healthy snack ideas!

And now...

Check out the other WIAWs!

Today's What I Ate Wednesday only includes a few photos and some fairly typical foods.

Post-workout breakfast: egg sandwich

A peach and a few shortbread cookies for a snack

For lunch, half a sweet potato with peanut butter

A small bowl of Love Grown Foods granola cereal for a quick snack after school

My first time at Veggie Grill--unfortunately, I was not a fan. Listen, I'm all about going vegetarian (we did it for Lent and often eat vegetarian as part of our normal routine). But I was disappointed to find that almost every menu item has a meat imitation item--as opposed to just fresh vegetables prepared different ways. I went in hoping to find a grilled veggie sandwich, not soy patties. I guess I should have done my research, but when you see "veggie" in the name... So I went with the "steak" tacos, and I really wasn't a fan The vinegar slaw overpowered the flavors. Terry tried the carne asada sandwich, which tasted nothing like carne asada.

Sadly, I don't think we'll be going back, though I must say the service was phenomenal!

After dinner we met up with some UCLA friends at Palomino and shared a few appetizers and each had a drink. We had so much fun sharing random stories from our past (best story of the night: our friend told us about how she once accidentally went on a blind date with her relative). We had a great time, and I hope we'll be able to get together again over the summer.

And now we're off to bed! We actually got up early this morning for 30 minutes on the treadmill (we did most of this tough workout) and a little bit of core. But here's an adorable photo of our kitten to keep you company.

I can't handle it. 

Just When I Think I Have My Life Together...

Several times today I found myself asking, "Is it really only Tuesday?" I hit up happy hour with some coworkers after school, and they said they were feeling the same way. On his way home from work, Terry said it feels like a Friday. I guess we're all dragging a bit, huh?

Terry spent last night in San Diego for work; in fact, he's spent about one night there each week for the last month or so. Of course I miss him when he's away, but his absence also emphasizes his importance around the house. We normally help each other out in the morning, for example: I cook breakfast, he feeds the cat; I make lunch, he packs it.

So today I left the house without putting away the cat food. And guess what scene I happened upon when I arrived home?

What'd I do?

Just in case I ever wanted to think I have my life together, I have myself to remind me that, in fact, I do not.

 I also made a salad that seemed like it would taste delicious: spinach, pecans, strawberries, peaches, and balsamic...but it was way too sweet or tangy or something. I think it would have been better with some blue cheese. Or a burger.

My most successful meal today was a smoothie. Goes to show you, huh?

Thank goodness the rest of the day--teaching, happy hour with coworkers, a lower body strength workout--went far more smoothly than those first missteps. Thank goodness tomorrow's the halfway point!