After a long week that consisted of a paint brush & this:

I was pretty exhausted when Friday hit. Add some heavy workouts into the mix and my body was toast.

Chris and I went to Hollywood Casino Friday night to watch the boxing  bulls game which was ever so entertaining! Granted, I am not the biggest supporter when it comes to sports, I do love a good h e a t e d match up. 

Saturday

My mother and I spent Saturday together at a close friends bridal shower. Unexpectedly that night, Chris and I threw together plans to go to iPic Theatre to see IRONMAN 3! I have not seen the previous two movies but I do give TWO THUMBS up for the third. The showing was at 10:45pm and it succeeded to keep me awake the entire time. When you are sitting in these bad boys

that is quite the challenge!

Sunday

Rise and shine at 7am was miserable not the easiest but it was Mother’s Day so of course I made it happen with a smile on my face. My parents and I drove to Chicago to see my brother and sister-in-law as well as attend church and brunch. Church was fantastic and full of joy and positivity on a very chilly Chicago morning. We followed up the mass at a restaurant called Dunlays On Clark. It was a great place to spend Mother’s Day brunch. I ordered two eggs over easy with sides of turkey, toast, and the highly recommended potatoes. The potatoes with creamy, garlicky, and very delicious! 

Hope everyone had a beautiful Mother’s Day and are ready to make this week a great one! 

One dinner that Chris and I ESPECIALLY enjoy making dinner together is build-our-own pizza! It is one of my favorite foods of all time and I love being able to add whatever ingredients I please to it. This past weekend, Chris and I both agreed this recipe was our favorite! Here’s what we used:

• Trader Joe’s Garlic and Herb pizza dough
• 1 cup+ Classico Tomato & Basil sauce ( <- the reason we think we loved the pizza so much)
• 4 pineapple slices, chopped
• 1/4lb canadian bacon thick cut, from deli
• 1 cup+ low moisture part-skim mozzarella shredded cheese

Rolling out the dough is the pain in the rear hardest part, but as long as you have a glass of wine enough flour on the table it is manageable. After that have another glass, add sauce, pineapple, canadian bacon, and top with cheese. This dough has a history with us of needing a little extra time in the oven to cook all the way. This time around we left in in of 25-30 minutes. 

HIGHLY RECOMMEND TRYING THIS RECIPE 

or at least this dough:

Weekend In Photos: Puppyfest

(Clockwise starting with dinner)

Homemade Hawaiian Pizza with Balsamic Chicken Salad

Woke up to this face! Helios was visiting all weekend.

Saturday WOD= EMOM 20 Odd= 100m sprint, Even= 20 TTB 

Exhausted pup after play date

Nala being fiesty

Helios and I on our morning trail walk 

*Pizza post coming soon! Too delicious to go without talking about. 

What I Ate Wednesday:

Breakfast (8am): French toast made with ezekiel bread, 1:1 egg/egg white, splash of almond milk, & dashes upon dashes of cinnamon. Accompanying this delicious entree were two thick slices of turkey bacon. 

Snack (1130am): Pistachios and blueberry greek yogurt

Lunch (130pm): Leftovers from dinner last night. All from Trader Joe’s. A vegetable egg roll plus about a quarter pound of chicken breast as well as the small remnants of the asian vegetable medley. 

Immediately following lunch: I was wanting some kind of froyo sweet treat so I cut two dates open and spread about a tablespoon of almond butter in between. So good!

Pre-Yoga (3pm): Like most advise, I like to do yoga on a pretty empty stomach so I ate my snack a little early today. Not really a go-to snack for me, but it caught my eye in the cupboard.

Dinner (7:45pm): Basil and garlic herbed chicken breast with a roasted golden potato and a broccoli mash (cooked frozen broccoli, got too soft, so I mashed it). 

While watching American Idol: Mini vitatop with froyo. But LITERALLY frozen yogurt. Froze a few cubes of strawberry greek yogurt.

My body was screaming  telling me to rest today. I think Tuesday did me in when I worked out in the morning and then again that afternoon ON TOP of doing three workouts on Saturday. My body was aching, and apparently wanted more carbs. Although my staples (turkey sandwich, fruit, and EGGS) did not make the cut today, I am sure they will back in action tomorrow. 

TGIalmostF!

This past weekend was simply wonderful. I got the chance to compete in my first individual CrossFit competition, go to a couple amazing restaurants with Chris, and see my friends in Chicago. Quick recap:

Friday= Ate at the wonderful Stir Crazy! I got a nice chicken stir fry with lots of vegetables including spinach, squash, zucchini, onions, broccoli, and green pepper. D-elicious 

Saturday= Athena Classic 2013

Event 1: 6 ground to overhead 85#, 8 bar hop burpees, 20 DU 

Top 12 of 65 competitors made it to Workout #4. I fell short by one rep and finished with 13th place. It was a fantastic event that I look forward to attending in the future. 

Chris and I visited my friends in Chicago Saturday night for a few drinks, but called it a night at around midnight. We were exhausted!

Sunday=

Traditionally, Chris and I went to open gym Sunday morning. We have the best time together just “hanging” out. 

We finished the weekend at the wonderful Mago Grill and Cantina. This place ranks #2 on my restaurant list. They offer six different mole sauces on a variety of meats and boy are they amazing. 

The tortillas and sangria are not too bad either ;) 

Heres to more weekends doing the things I love with the people I love. 

I am so blessed for my wonderful friends, family, and boyfriend. 

2 INGREDIENT sweet and savory delight!

I based mine off this recipe but adjusted it a bit to accommodate for the thick turkey bacon (which I cut in half lengthwise and width wise). When you are figuring out how much bacon to use, just make sure it is enough to create a nice overlap on the date. Enjoy!

I love reading other blogs for many reasons, but one especially is to see what new food items are out there and what other people enjoy eating. Idk its fun. I like it :) Here are some of my latest favorite items:

Almond butter- $6.28 for 26 ounces at Sam’s Club. This is basically a no brainer purchase for me. I have always preferred the taste of almond butter over peanut butter but the cost for most are outrageous. I have been loving this with a piece of toast, oatmeal, or just on a spoon banana ;)

Nuts- I like these Emerald nuts because the container is easy to grab and go with. They also have fun varieties that I must say are not the healthiest but sure can be tasty. The peanut butter and jelly flavor was not the greatest but I did love the dark chocolate and peanut butter <- HIGHLY recommend. *** BTW these were only $2.50 this week at Jewel #steal

Turkey breast- When I am not really into making a creative lunch, I have been turning to  this deli meat. It is delicious. (another find from Sam’s Club) 

V8 Low Sodium- I have mentioned this little can on my blog before, but I have just started loving it again lately. Get your veggies in and drink up! 

Perfectly Simple Toasted Coconut- Although it is easy to make your own bars, I am a huge sucker for convenience. I am currently OBSESSED with this flavor and like the fact that it has minimal ingredients. Delicious for the on-the-goers out there!

Ooooo the doozy called 13.5

4 minute AMRAP of:
15 Thrusters (100 / 65 lbs)
15 Chest to bar Pull-ups
*4 minute bonus for every 90 reps (3 rounds) completed.

I was going into this workout not only knowing that it was only going to be an AMRAP 4 but I also knew that making it through one round of pull-ups would be quite the accomplishment for me. Six months ago, I was using a blue resistance band (one above the highest resistance available) to string 3-5 pull-ups together at a time. Saturday, I completed 17 pull-ups. O and not just pull-ups, CHEST TO BAR pull-ups. Gahhhhh so proud of myself :) I was nervous going into this workout because honestly I thought that I would be done after the first 15 thrusters. Although it does not strike high on the leaderboard, I am SO happy with my 47 reps. 

My first CrossFit Open is complete! I am happy to say this will NOT be my last because I absolutely loved every minute of it. From spending time with the amazing members of my box, to watching my boyfriend complete the Open, to physically sitting on the edge of my bed waiting for Dave Castro to announce the workout every Wednesday night and then calling Chris immediately after to discuss our thoughts about it. The Open has showed me my weaknesses (overhead weights) and my strengths (wall balls? weird). It has also further supported my love and obsession with CrossFit. I have not felt this satisfaction, gratitude, and love since I played competitive volleyball. I have come to the conclusion that I want to see where I can go. I want to grow, develop, and compete as an athlete. I love everything this sport offers mentally and physically.

So here is to the next year of training till the 2014 CrossFit Open. May I work on my weaknesses, perfect my strengths, and never let competition ruin the greatness of the sport.

#crossfit #getafterit