Monthly Archives: March 2012

Mar 30 2012

Condiments & A Sipping Snapshot

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Yesterday morning I woke up and thought, “yaaaay it’s Friday!”. If you’re familiar at all with how the seven days of the week work, you’ll know that definitely was not true. What a disappointment.

Let me tell you, there’s almost nothing worse than thinking it’s the last of the work week and then realizing it’s actually Thursday. But Friday is finally here now, and I’ve recovered from yesterday’s early morning trauma ;) What better way to celebrate the upcoming weekend than with a random post?

Random > everything else.

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Lately, there’s been one thing on my mind. I can’t stop thinking about it. I need it, I’ve gotta have it.

Mustard.

Seriously. I saw a picture of a meal with mustard on it the other day, and I’ve been itching to put that kick ass condiment on something ever since. Yesterday’s lunch was mustarded up to the max. There’s a mix of barley and chia seeds on the bottom, then steamed broccoli, peppers, asparagus, and carrots. Then a spoonful of Greek crack yogurt (you probably saw that coming if you’re a regular reader of YHG) and the beloved mustard.

So colorful! And incredibly delicious :)

What are your favorite condiments? In addition to the obvious mustard (and I’m counting Greek yogurt too), I love me some hot sauce. I think I’ve actually damaged tastebuds from my excessive use of it.

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The awesome Janice (seriously she’s a superhero mom and she’s Canadian) over at Fitness Cheerleader tagged me in a cute little post earlier this week.

It’s all about drinking coffee! The challenge is to take a photo of yourself enjoying your morning cup of java (and I promise to never use that phrase again). In my case, it was a cup of Mom’s Apple Pie green tea made by the fine folks at David’s Tea. It’s the best tea company on the planet. I’ve been planning on doing a big, dramatic post about how much I love them. I just haven’t got to it yet.

I’ve never shown my face on Yellow Haired Girl before, and I haven’t decided whether or not I’m going to yet. So here’s a happy medium. Mid sip.

Try looking at a camera without spilling on yourself. Also, try looking at a camera without smiling and attempt to not look like a crazy psycho.

That’s my favorite mug. It’s so big (TWSS), I’m pretty sure my whole face could fit in it if I tried. That hasn’t happened yet, but don’t count it out ;)

Are you a coffee drinker? I am – but only sometimes. I usually stick to a smoothie or a cup of tea. But I always drink at least one cup of tea at my desk once I get to work, too!

Mar 29 2012

Good Pain, Bad Pain

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My butt, shoulders and abs hurt. A good hurt.

That must mean it’s been a successful week so far, right? I recently realized that I was going to the gym just to go to the gym. I felt like I was just putting in time, and I wasn’t feeling or seeing the benefits of my daily visits. I mean, being active is great. And by going, I was being greater than the version of me who would rather sit on the couch. But I wanted more. So I ramped it up this week. And it’s definitely working. I tend to do a quick full body weights workout. This week, I’ve been focusing more time on specific areas of my body. I’ll be continuing like this, I think.

I must go buy a foam roller. A tennis ball just isn’t cutting it anymore.

Any DOMS for you today? Hurts so good ;)

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My shins hurt. A bad hurt.

I’m not a runner, although I’d really like to be. I’ll get on the dread treadmill every so often, to surprise my body with a new routine (I love throwing myself into something that my muscles aren’t expecting). On Monday, I did an interval workout. I went for two minutes on a high incline walk (I think it was 9.0?), then went two minutes at a 7.0 run, for a twenty-minute, sweatacular cardio workout.

It felt GREAT – at the time.

I’ve learned that procrastinating over buying new gym shoes is something I need to smarten up about. For months I’ve been saying, “this weekend I am going to put out the money and buy some new gym shoes.” But then the weekend hits and I’ve got much more exciting things to do then battle with people at the shoe store. But my pair is starting to fall apart, and I’ve come to the conclusion that these broken down babies are causing me more harm than good. I’ve gotta get me some arch support, yo.

Have you ever had shin splints? What was the culprit?

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I’m 21 years old, with a college education and a budding career - but let’s face it, I’m a braces wearing 14 year old on the inside. So I’m going to take this brief opportunity to mourn over the fact that One Tree Hill is ending next week.

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Don’t laugh, okay? I cried at last night’s episode. I’m sad it’s ending (both the grown up me and the teenaged me).

Am I the only person on the planet still watching it (for only one more week, waaaahh!)?

Mar 27 2012

WIAW: A Triumphant Return

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When I find something I like, I stick with it. I’m talking inseparable.

I go hard until I get very, very, very sick of the particular obsession. And I’m not just talking food, guys. I’ve had this affliction with every single season of The OC (sorry Adam Brody, we’re on a break), vanilla cupcake flavored coffee (the Van Houtte people are brilliant), and even certain flavors of chapstick.

My latest obsession? Overnight oats.

You see, I’ve had this addiction before. I ate a big, cold bowl of overnight oats every single day for several months, and then didn’t want to see it again.

But they’re baaaaaaaack. A triumphant return, you might say.

This week’s WIAW (hosted by the stupendous Jenn at Peas and Crayons) is full of oaty goodness.

Thursday:

Kamut flakes/green juice/Greek yogurt/chia seeds/flax seed oil, topped with berries and crunchy PB

Friday:

Kamut flakes/green juice/Greek yogurt/chia seeds/flax seed oil, topped with sunflower butter and trail mix

Monday:

Kamut flakes/chocolate protein powder/chocolate almond milk/Greek yogurt/flax seed oil, topped with cranberry granola

I even had a ginormous container of them for LUNCH on Tuesday:

Kamut flakes/green juice/Greek yogurt/an apple/a banana/flax seed oil/chia seeds, topped with trail mix. With kombucha on the side!

See what I mean? It’s go hard or go home in my household. Stay tuned next month for a post detailing why I hate overnight oats so much and never, ever, ever want to see a bowl of them again ;)

I’ll leave you with two more meals this week, just brimming with vegetables (that’s a big deal for the weekly WIAW party!).

Monday’s dinner:

A shredded chicken breast, roasted butternut squash, barley, and edamame.

With a spoonful of Greek yogurt on the side, of course ;) gotta mix all that goodness together!

Tuesday’s dinner:

A salmon fillet, barley, roasted butternut squash/sweet potato/carrots/broccoli, topped with more Greek yogurt.

A big thank you again to Jenn for hosting this weekly shindig :)

I’m off to drool over some other WIAWs. Have a wonderful Wednesday!

Mar 27 2012

You Know…

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You know you’ve really been missing working out when the alarm goes off at 6AM on a Monday and you practically fly out of bed with excitement.

You know you really went too hard, too fast when you have to cut your workout short by 20 minutes because those sprints you just did may lead you to throw up in front of everyone at the gym (I’ve never had that happen before, can’t say I liked it).

You know you want spring to arrive when you decide to wear a bright white spring jacket and flats when it’s zero degrees Celsius (that’s 32 degrees Fahrenheit).

You know it was probably stupid to see that it’s only zero degrees outside yet you choose to walk to work for the first time in months. Brrrr.

You know you have a problem when instead of checking your work email once you get to your desk, you automatically and mindless log right on to Pinterest.

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You know that making plans to try out a new Thai restaurant on Friday will lead you to daydream at work about curry/have nightmares about losing your appetite/drool sporadically this entire week.

You know it was a productive Monday (minus the Pinterest incident) when you fall asleep (I’m talking “dead to the world” sleep) at precisely 5:40 that evening, and don’t wake up until someone texts you more than an hour later.

You know you have too many bottles of nail polish when you can paint every finger a different shade of green.

You know there’s hope for you yet when you turn on E! during your lunch break … and there’s an episode of Keeping Up With The Kardashians you’ve never watched before.

…But then you watch it, so maybe you are hopeless. ;)

Fill in the blank for me! You know….

Mar 26 2012

A Meal Plan

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So, tell me. How was your weekend?

Mine was fantastic. I was able to spend time with a great group of people Friday night, then went to The Hunger Games on Saturday. Just so you know, I’ll be seeing it 8 more times and then buying it on DVD. It was done so well, and stayed as true to the book as possible. Oh just awesome.

But the weekend wonders didn’t stop there! I had a reunion with a group of friends that I had been missing dearly on Saturday. So many laughs, such a spectacular night.

I have the greatest friends.

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Now I’m ready for the week … and it’s going to be healthy one! I’m FINALLY recovered from my cold (hooray!!!) and I’m hopping back on the healthy train. And I’m taking a new approach.

I’ve made a meal and exercise plan for the next five days.

While I had a blast in glass this weekend, I treated my body a little like a garbage receptacle. I’m talking beer, pizza, nachos, greasy concoctions … zero nutrition. Kinda like how Ron Ron eats when they get back from Karma on a Saturday night. And as delicious as it all was, bacon was involved in at least two meals, come on now ;)  , I’m ready to commit to eating clean this week.

Also, my groceries are dwindling and my plan will carefully utilize what’s left in the fridge :)

I’ve never meal planned before, but I’m very excited about it! I’m looking forward to getting back on track.

And the scheduled workouts?! I can’t wait. Typically, I just go to the gym and do my thang without a lot of planning ahead of time. Since I wasn’t feeling top notch last week, my workouts were 98% non-existent (except for the sweaty attempt on Wednesday). Now I’m craving sweat. You must know what I mean, right?

I can't WAIT to feel better. Yaaaay sweat!

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Did you have a stellar weekend? Do you meal plan?

Have a great day – and how can you not, since I managed to fit three Jersey Shore references into this post?! I did that just for you :)

Mar 23 2012

Sweating Out Sickness

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Falafel makes the world go round.

That’s how the saying goes, right? :)

After a busy work day, I was famished last night and cooking sure wasn’t registering on my radar (I had tons of cleaning to do!). So a quick stop on the way home for a pita happened. So delicious … a great move on my part!

I didn’t ever used to be a fan of the chick pea patties. The phrase alone kind of gave me shivers (truthfully, typing out “chick pea patties” made me shudder just there). But a friend of mine got me to try some a few months ago and now I can’t believe I didn’t start enjoying falafel sooner.

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Do you fancy falafel?

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I’ve been struggling with the idea of getting to the gym and working out all week. I’ve had a head cold, and have honestly prefered that extra hour and a half of sleep in the morning. I thought about “sweating the sickness out” on Wednesday … and did my usual 6AM wakeup call. I decided I wasn’t going to push myself, I just wanted to be moving. I hopped on a stationary bike and started a hilly routine – at about half the effort that I would usually put in. People probably hated me because I was using equipment and not working very hard (does anyone else resent people who aren’t going hard and are on a machine you want?!). I spent the duration of the bike ride reading blogs on my phone, totally at ease.

Oh my goodness.

I was hardly moving and the sweat was just pouring out of me! Seriously, I sweated through my t-shirt in like 20 minutes. It’s very rare that I will sweat THAT much, let alone from a leisurely routine!

If I sweat, I’m proud of that water running down my face. It means I’ve busted my butt and that sweat is proof of how hard I’ve worked. Wednesday morning’s sweat just made me feel really gross (a little like I wasn’t worthy of SWEATING, weird right?). And I really don’t know how much it helped my healing progress.

Needless to say, I haven’t been back to the gym since then. I’m hoping to use the next few days to sleep sleep sleep the germs away, and then I’ll get back on that gym train Sunday or Monday. I really hate the feeling of not getting in my regular exercise, but this cold needs to say buh bye!

Do you work out when you’re sick, as an attempt to “flush it out”? I’ve definitely done it before, and I have had success. But maybe those times I was closer to being healed than I was on Wednesday?

Who knows. I’d like to hear what you do!

Mar 22 2012

Getting My Act Together

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Anyone else do this to their hair the minute they walk in the door at the end of the day?

Proof that I do actually have yellow hair.

Messy hair + sweatpants. Immediately after work.

***********

Okay. I’m using today’s post as a wake up call. I need to give my head a shake, folks.

I’ve been feeling gross lately (nasty cold) and prior to that, life was busy. The result? My apartment is in shambles, and that makes me feel like my life is too ;)

I use my blog to hold myself accountable, as many other healthy living bloggers do. But I’m going to throw a twist on that today, and instead of using it as a reminder to eat healthy and get to the gym … I’m holding myself accountable to get my act together.

Here is what I need to accomplish after work today:

  1. Wash the *bleeping* dishes. My least favorite chore. Remember my WIAW post yesterday? I said I had to spread the cream cheese on my breakfast wrap with a fork. That’s because all my knives were dirty. And yesterday’s lunch that I tweeted?

    I ate it with a serving spoon, because there were no normal sized person spoons in the drawer. That’s so humiliating and I don’t exactly know why I’m admitting it. Haha. It’s just ridiculous, I’m not a college student anymore! Washing dishes is definitely priority numero uno tonight.
  2. Make the godforsaken bed. For goodness sake, I’ve just been rolling in and out of it since Sunday. I didn’t ever used to make my bed, but then I bought a very pretty bed set a month or so (?) ago and it just begs to be made up and look presentable. But not this week! I will do that tonight too.
  3. I did laundry … last week? I think? And to dry some of my clothes, I hung them on the back of kitchen chairs. Aaaaand all of those items are still hanging there. Those need to get put away. Are you picturing me living in some sort of dorm room by now? I really do have a nice place. I promise.

I’m going to stop the list now, because I think we all know that might be more than I’m already capable of doing in one night. Wish me luck?

Mar 20 2012

The “Is It Friday Yet?” WIAW

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Seriously though, can this week be over? Please?

Remember how I *boom* got a sore throat at the end of the work day on Monday? Well it was still there on Tuesday morning, so I decided to skip the gym and get some more sleep. Aaaannnnnd then I ended up sleeping too late, and had to throw together a really quick breakfast wrap to eat on my way to work. Since there was a lack of time, I didn’t add my usual chia seeds or nutritional yeast. And I spread the cream cheese with a fork since I couldn’t find a knife. And I photographed it rather quickly under my kitchen’s fluorescent light (I hate that thing). What a hectic way to start the day!


Once I got to work (and on time – score!), it was go-go-go all day long. I didn’t get a chance to eat lunch until 2pm, and didn’t have time to run home and make something like I usually do. I was so hungry. Like, starving. Since my stupid sore throat was still lingering, I decided I needed something full of vitamins.

Enter the foot long veggie sub, on 9 grain bread. Toasted, of course :) and inhaled at my desk so I could get back to work.


After an incredibly stressful rest of the day, I got home (after almost running out of gas in my car, Jeez Louise) and collapsed on the couch with sweatpants on and my hair piled on top of my head. Cooking was the absolute LAST THING I WANTED TO DO. And since my throat was still feeling like someone stuffed a sword down there, I wanted comfort food. That meant some quinoa, topped with organic spaghetti sauce and some nutritional yeast. I had a container of lemon Greek yogurt for dessert. No vegetables were included :(


And there you have it, my latest WIAW. It was definitely not a balanced day. I was feeling under the weather, and things tend to slide when I feel like crappola. I need to get better at preparing healthier meals when I’m sick. Is that something you do too?

Thank you to the lovely Jenn for hosting this blast in a glass for all of us every week.

And this means we are one day closer to Friday.

Thank. The. Heavens.

I’m off to check out some other lovely dishes from today’s party :)

Mar 20 2012

Smoothie Supper

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Happy Tuesday! As promised, I’m returning to my typical silly self today after yesterday’s post. Thank you to those who left your thoughts!

I know I’ve mentioned this the last two (maybe three?) Mondays … but seriously, the first day of the work week sucks. I didn’t ever used to be one of those people who hated Mondays or blamed things going wrong on the fact that it was a Monday. Actually, I detested those people. But now – I’m cursed.

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It was just a frustrating day. Ugh. Then, just as I was wrapping up my work for the day, it hit me.

A sore throat. NO!!!

That meant I only had one option when it came to suppertime:

I needed some vitamin C, bro!

The bad boy was made with frozen berries, flax seed oil, three handfuls of spinach, and then I dumped in a whole shwack of Green Energy juice made by  Arthur’s Fresh Company (love all their stuff!)

Don't worry, this isn't all I ate :)

I topped it with bananas. Funny story (but not really), I used to hate bananas. Couldn’t eat them, I hated the smell. I didn’t even like banana flavored candy! Now I can’t get enough (of the fruit, still not sure how I feel about the candy). On two separate occasions last week, I ate two in the span of one day. What is happening to me?!

Now, three random thoughts that struck me while writing this that I would like to share with you now:

1. Smash is an amazing TV show. Do you watch it? Seriously, it’s so worth it. It’s on Monday nights, you should start watching it so we can discuss it on Tuesday mornings. It could be described as a grown up Glee :)

2. I’m going to see Hunger Games this weekend. Yes, I’m one of those people. Stop rolling your eyes. Team Peeta or Team Gale? PEETA!

3. I watched Bruce Almighty the other day on TV. What the heck happened to Jim Carrey? This is a very serious question, guys. He had so many great movies … Ace Ventura, Dumb & Dumber, Liar Liar. What happened to you Jim?!

I want to hear three random thoughts from you now. Aaaaaand GO!

Mar 19 2012

Getting This Off My Chest

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Frustrated.

That’s how I feel sometimes when people comment on my body. I eat an abundance of fruits and vegetables, I work hard at the gym, I get lots of sleep … I do everything I’m supposed to do to live the healthiest life. And as a result, I’m happy with my body. Very happy! I’m healthy. I’m proud of myself – because while I was never overweight when I was in high school and college, I wasn’t always leading the healthiest, most balanced lifestyle.

But I get so frustrated when some people make snap judgements about me. Some people look at me … and because I fit comfortably into a size 4 … they just assume “that girl doesn’t eat” or “that girl is a gymaholic”. I’ve received this from family, friends and even coworkers (one in particular says it regularly). Or, on the flip side of not eating at all … friends have watched me enjoy a plate of pasta and a cupcake for dessert and then said, “you must have a really high metabolism, because there’s no way you can eat that sort of stuff and look like you do without one”.

My metabolism tends to work at a higher rate because I get off my butt and WORK OUT. And I can enjoy a plate of spaghetti and a delicious dessert because I believe in balance. I’m not going to deprive myself from things I enjoy (hello, chocolate and carbs!). I just know how to do it right.

People I haven’t seen in a while? They say “oh my goodness, there’s nothing to you!”. That’s most definitely not true. I’m strong, I have muscle. There’s A LOT to me.

5 lbs of muscle vs 5 lbs of fat

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I don’t go through life fishing for compliments from others. I live my lifestyle for me, because it makes me feel good. And because of this outlook, I really shouldn’t let those words distract me. But they do sometimes, I’m only human.

If you’re going to comment on my body … don’t put me in that category of people who have come to look like they do through unhealthy means.

Don’t reflect your unhappiness with your self-image by cutting me down. Also, there’s a BIG difference between being thin and being fit. I am fit. Stop telling me I’m skinny.

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Maybe this post doesn’t make any sense. If you read this and it just seems like a big jumble of words, I apologize. Come back tomorrow for something more lighthearted and coherent ;) I just wanted to get this off my chest, and the last thing I want to do is come across as having a “holier than thou” sort of attitude. I just want to know if anyone else feels the same way.

Do you put work into living a healthy life, and people assume (because they might be uneducated or have a poor view of their own body) that you are unhealthy? Do you let it get to you like I do sometimes?