What I’m Loving Wednesday

1. The other day I told my coworker/cube mate Rachel that I thought peanut butter & jelly sandwiches were so much better when someone else made them for you. A couple days later, she brought some in for us!

This made my entire day. Love her!!

2. Greeting cards:

I’m not sure that they’re appropriate, but I love them anyway.

3. The bakers at the Daniel Island Publix are either blind or crazy. I know St. Patrick’s Day is coming, but really? Shouldn’t they have renamed this?

4. Tweet tweet.

5. On the row machine at my gym, there is a fishing game. The fish swims up when you pull, and sinks when you stop. You have to eat the baby fish while avoiding sharks. I was immediately obsessed and couldn’t stop playing. I’ll be so sore in the morning.

Also at the gym, I noticed that I wear entirely too much green and purple. My Longchamp tote, Camelbak bottle, socks, sneakers, and headphones are all in those two colors. Are there any sports teams who wear green and purple? If so, I love them.

6. Spring nail colors. My favorite hues:

Essie’s Lilacism.

O.P.I.’s Bubble Bath. (Giada wears this on her show!)

China Glaze’s For Audrey (Tiffany & Co. Blue)

China Glaze is definitely my favorite nail polish. Some bottles of O.P.I . are too thick, and some bottles of Essie peel too easily. DO NOT waste your time with Essie’s top coat. The best top coat is Seche Vite!

7. New apps. Words With Friends is out. Draw Something is in. I just started playing last night. Here are two drawings that made me happy:

#1 - I have no idea who you are, but thanks!

#2 – The answer is ketchup. Hi Courtney! :)

If you want to play, my username is Christaleena.

Best Moments of the Weekend

*My healthy lunch from Ali Baba Deli: Pita bread, tabouli, fattoush salad, grilled vegetables, and pomegranate muhammara. Swing over to Daniel Island just for this muhammara. It’s one of the best things I’ve eaten.

I’m loving all the veggies I’ve been eating since I started being repulsed by stopped eating meat/poultry/eggs. It has been 5 full days and it’s so easy! I know I said I wouldn’t give myself a title, but if I did, I’d be a lacto-pesco-vegetarian, right? I’m eating some dairy and fish, but no meat, poultry, or eggs. Enlighten me.

*The lovely Starbuck’s cups.

*My facial from Facelogic. This was incredibly relaxing and my face now feels as soft as baby’s skin! I highly recommend Dina if you’re thinking about going to Facelogic.. I also purchased this Dermalogica starter kit that they used on me.

*A visit to TCBY for frozen yogurt! I had a strange, yet delicious combo. +

with

*The Vow. I thought the movie was really good, but not as passionate as, oh, say The Notebook? Does anything compare to that movie?  I shed no tears, but came close a couple times. Deep breaths and shoving gummy worms in my mouth fixed that.

*Winter decided to grace Charleston with its presence Saturday night. The cure for the blistering cold? Winter gear + beer.

Oh, and hot chocolate for good measure. I am unsure as to why I wore a hat, mittens, and a scarf, but no socks or real shoes. Clearly I was in a rush for the necessities. 

*Brunch with Rachel at Hall’s Chophouse. I love that before bartender Darryl handed me the menu, he asked me, “Beets, right?” Well, of course. I, for the 29862968th time, got the Blackened Salmon Salad with a side of beets.

*After brunch, Rachel and I went to HIP HOP CLASS. No joke. I didn’t fall! It was sooo much fun. Definitely worth laughing the whole time! Immediately after that, we did Body Pump. 2 hours of exercise on a Sunday? Heck yeah!

And just for giggles, let me tell you about the worst part of my weekend. On Saturday as I was leaning down to adjust my bike at the gym, I knocked my head into one of the handlebars. I smacked it so hard I gasped aloud and now have a bruise. Seriously, will I ever grow out of this clumsiness?!

What were the best moments of your weekend?

GIVEAWAY coming tomorrow! Hint: It’s going to be SWEET!

goPerformance Round 2, New Workout Playlist

Last week I blogged about going to goPerformance, a new program at East Shore. They offered a second week of trial classes, so naturally I signed up for two more sessions.

This week’s class session was set up in the same fashion as last week: 8 different activities done for 45 seconds with a 15 second switch before the next one. After each round of 8 activities is a 2-minute break, followed by another round of 8, another 2-minute break, then a third round. Make sense?

In other words,  we did 3 rounds of 8 activities for 45 seconds each. With the breaks, it’s a total of 30 minutes. A tough 30 minutes. During the 2-minute breaks you can rest, run laps, or, if you’re like me with a dead knee, you can do cartwheels and swing in the hanging rings. Yes, that’s what I did on the “breaks.” I’m a former gymnast and sometimes I just want to play!

The workout:

1. Sumo Squat to Upright Row with Kettlebells –

Holding the kettlebell in front of you, squat, rise, then do an Upright Row. Like this:

(source)

2.  45* High row with hip abduction -

With one leg out at a 45* angle and the other flat and extended towards the rope, hold onto the rope with both hands, lean back, then lift yourself to standing position. The farther you extend your standing food, the more of a challenge this is.

3. Plank Rope Pulls – In plank position, use one arm to tug the rope towards you for half the 45 seconds. Switch arms for the second half and tug the rope the other way.

4. Burpee to wall ball – Placing hands on top of the medicine ball, complete one burpee and then throw ball at target. When ball lands, repeat with the next burpee to wall ball.

5. Half Rope Climb – Holding at the top of the rope, feet extended out, walk your arms down the rope until you are almost flat on the floor (backside down). Climb yourself back up. Repeat.

6. Side-to-Side Medicine Ball Slams – Lift the medicine ball over your head and slam it down to the ground, rotating your body to the side as you throw. Pick up the ball and throw to the opposite side.

7. Russian Kettlebell Swings  - This was the most difficult for me, but by far the most effective, in my opinion. Here’s what you do:

(source)

8. Suspended Mountain Climbers – Place hands in the rings and feet on foot pads. Extend into suspended plank position and climb that mountain!! These suck in a good way.

Whew, enough of that! I’m pretty sure I saw stars after that workout and I’m not talking about the ones in the sky.

…

Many of you often ask what I listen to when I work out. To be honest, it totally varies, but here’s some of what I have been listening to lately. Clink links for videos.

• The Longest Road (Deadmau5 Remix)  - Morgan Page
• Cracks (Flux Pavilion Remix) – Freestylers
• Lights (Bassnectar Remix) – Ellie Goulding
• Blackout - Breathe Carolina
• Till The World Ends - Britney Spears
• Top Of The World - The Cataracs ft. DEV
• Gotta Get Thru This - Daniel Bedingfield
• We Found Love -Rihanna
• Sorry For Party Rocking  - LMFAO
• Starlight – Muse
• You’ve Changed – Sia
• I Want You – Kings of Leon
• Backseat – New Boyz feat. The Cataracs & DEV
• Love Letter to Japan – The Bird And The Bee

That has got to be the most random assortment of music ever.  Congratulations if you know half of those songs. Let me know if you do. Enjoy!

Why Do Weekends End?

I just want one more day.

This past weekend was pretty tame and I enjoyed every minute of it. I’m starting to prefer nights in. What has become of me? I’m 27 1/2 acting like I’m 54. I say that today, and watch, next weekend I’ll be all over the place again.

Despite my “AARP status”, as my friend Justin called it when I strayed away from the bar scene on Saturday, I had plenty of fun. I read three books, spent time in the sunshine, worked out both days, and ate good food.

READ. I went to the library and did the same thing I always do. I pile as many books in my left arm as I possibly can, browse all the aisles until I’ve had a mini bicep workout, and then decide to check out before my arm falls off. This visit I came home with:

Hmmm. I like food, grammar, and things that are awesome. Shocking. I tore through The Book of Awesome first, then Food Matters (read this!), and then perused the Greek cookbook.

SHOP. A visit to Ann Taylor left me with two purchases:

That picture doesn’t show it all, so here’s a pic I sent for a friend’s approval:

and this:

Whoa, mama.

WORK OUT: I revisited this workout.

I completed it 3x as is, then 1x doubling the reps. Doubling the reps makes it so much better of a workout.  I love knowing that I did 100 pushups. My fave.

One of the trainers gave me this bracelet. Hideous colors, but I like representing. :)

EAT: On Sunday, I ate at The Macintosh for the first time. I’ve been there plenty of times for drinks, but never to eat. I have read many excellent reviews, so I suggested to my friend Logan that we go for brunch. For the first time ever, I had rabbit. Yep, you read that right. Little Peter Cottontail was in my gratin dish.

Sweet Potato & Rabbit Hash, Arugula, Poached Eggs 12

I loved every bite and was thankful for the aforementioned pushups.

I also scored a little plate of their homemade pickles from one of the bartenders.

Have I ever mentioned how great their bar staff is? They are wonderful! They’re friendly, creative, and always seem to know a good drink for you. Go see them!

See you tomorrow with a delicious and super clean recipe!

goPerformance Workout at ESAC

My gym recently converted the Kids Play Zone into a new fitness room. Move over kiddos, ESAC has added goPerformance to its Johnnie Dodds and Park West locations. Much like Crossfit, goPerformance entails “performance style training, with the ability to scale to all fitness levels, in order to sculpt lean, athletic bodies in the most time efficient manner.”

This week was open for free trial sessions with Todd Fox, an awesome personal trainer. I signed up for a class on both Monday and Wednesday knowing that I’d have a blast.

There are two types of classes: conditioning and private personal training. The conditioning classes are for 6-15 participants and last for 30 minutes. In Monday & Wednesday’s class, we completed 8 different activities for 45 seconds with a 15 second break before switching to the next. After each of the 3 circuits, there was a 2-minute break.

1. Step Ups– These can be done with weights/kettle bells or without.

2. Row Machine – I love this thing. It’s like rowing a boat. At the gym. Out of water. Nice analogy…work with me…

3. Ring Push Ups – This was my favorite part. Your friend Christina loooooooves push-ups. Seriously. Love. The rings make them harder and you work your core as well.

4. Ropes – See those ropes down there. We had to swing them up and down like a snake. This is way tougher than it looks.

5. Wall Balls – In the same picture above, we took the medicine balls and threw them up at the “go” sign. We squatted, jumped, and threw the ball so it would bounce back at us. Ouchy. 

6.  Pull-Ups – This little one can only do assisted pull-ups using the giant rubber band. I LOVE doing them. But I think I love bouncing in the rubber band more.

7. Mountain Climbers – Instead of your typical mountain climbers, we used these little pads on the floor that helped us sweep our feet back and forth. No, this doesn’t make it easier. It makes it harder. It was like dancing in push-up position.

(source)

8. Kettle Bell Squats – OUCH MY BEHIND. That’s pretty much what I said (in my head) during this part.

In Wednesday’s class, we had a couple people who had already been on  Monday. To make our workout harder, Todd had us run on the track outside instead of taking 2 minute breaks. Because I can’t run right now, I stayed inside and did cartwheels and flips on the rings.

After 30 minutes, we were all pretty tired. It’s a great workout because your heart right stays up and you’re using a ton of strength and moving in ways you don’t typically in the regular gym. If you’re an ESAC member, CHECK THIS OUT! Both days I left with a huge smile on my face because I had so much fun.