Mother's Day Brunch and New Cards

I went over to the house to help Julie make brunch this morning. Mom was actually on her way to Costco when I parked, so I guess that worked out fine since we could cook while she was out. Julie made the eggs and sausage and I made the (slightly squished) French toast. Mom was out for a while, and I didn't want to wait anymore, but just as I was leaving the house, she parked her car. She went over to my uncle and aunt's house after going to Costco. I watched her eat the French toast to make sure she liked it (she did), and then I went off to Target and Kohl's. I didn't find as good deals that I did yesterday, but that's okay. At least I got my steps in!

Ok, so presentation wasn't that great, but it sure tasted just fine!

Julie asked me to make a card for her friend Rachel's wedding and a thank you card for her host mom for when she stays at her house for the wedding. I was sure that I had lost the "you" die somewhere when I opened up the package. I even went back to shake it around to see if it was stuck somewhere. Third time's the charm because I found it! Whew.

CrossFit and Shopping

9:30 AM CrossFit, check! Jeff shaved off his beard! He has kinda a babyface underneath it all, ha ha. 3 x 5 front squat at 65 lbs.

WOD: 10:00
Start off with 800 m run
In the remaining time, AMRAP:
25 kettlebell swings (26 lbs)
20 goblet lunges

I got through 2 complete rounds and then tacked on 1 KBS in the last second.

The sun was actually out today, which was so nice. I did quite a bit of shopping this afternoon.

• Ulta. I had a coupon and an Ebates gift card to use. I bought The Body Shop body butters in strawberry and mango (OMG, they smell so nice!), NYX Soft Matte Lip Cream in Budapest, and a self tanning mitt.
• The healthy eating challenge states that  you can have a treat on Saturday or Sunday. There are 4 options: dark chocolate, wine/cider/beer, popcorn, white or brown rice. I went to Whole Foods to check out the dark chocolate there. Yikes, it was a little expensive there, so I went next door to CVS. Ah, buy 1, get 1 50% off. Perfect. I bought 2 bars each of 85% and 90%. As I was walking out, the homeless guy with his service dog were sitting not too far away. I see him there pretty frequently. I asked him if he wanted some chocolate. His face lit up, "Sure!" I handed him one of the bars of chocolate and continued on my merry way. :)
• I went to Marshalls to get Mom a Mother's Day gift: a teacup/saucer set and 2 picture frames for photos I printed from my uncle and aunt's 50th wedding anniversary.
• My last stop was New York & Company where I bought 2 lace sleeveless tops.

Julie texted me later to say that they were going to get sushi for dinner at the house. So, I wandered over there with the Mother's Day gifts. We also planned to make brunch for Sunday, so we went to Safeway to get milk, sausage and flowers to give to my aunt. I wandered down the ice cream aisle and stared longingly at the ice cream selection. Sigh. On the way home, we stopped by my uncle and aunt's house to deliver the flowers and also check in with my uncle who is currently undergoing dialysis.

I left the chocolate at my parents' house and didn't end up eating any since we had sushi for dinner. Julie said that she had moved the chocolate so that a) Mom wouldn't accidentally eat it and b) so I wouldn't be tempted to eat it if I'm at the house when my sister wasn't around to police it.

This healthy eating challenge apparently requires some teamwork.

I got a few compliments on this lipstick while I was out. It's Stila All-Day Liquid Lipstick in Bacca.
Mom said that I looked like the Catwoman image on my t-shirt.

Captain America: Civil War

I decided to take a rest day. My shoulders and abs were definitely feeling it. I'll go to CrossFit tomorrow morning instead. I had very important things to do like ogle Chris Evans. And by that, I mean I went to see Captain America: Civil War with my coworker Reggie, and the movie was awesome! So so good. I enjoyed it more than Avengers: Age of Ultron (Am I a bad Marvel fan for saying that? Oops.) The CGI was amazing, but more importantly, it was interesting to see the struggle between government control and non-government control and also see friendships tested. It was well worth the wait.

I wanted to check the office mailbox for my payment check for the anniversary cards I made two weeks ago, and whoo hoo, there it was.  Reggie was talking to the IT guys about the movie. One of them was like "Tina, would you go see the movie again?" Um, but it's $11!  "Aren't you a baller now?" Umm...I'm a baller on a budget. "There's no such thing..." 

Whattt.  Yes, there is!  Just because I have the money doesn't mean that I should go spend it. That's how people get in major debt! I might just buy the movie when it comes out on DVD and watch it as many times as I want. 

 

I did some meal prep for the upcoming week since I had the time and wanted to feel productive before bedtime. I baked some chicken, green beans and sweet potatoes. YUM!

Long Workout Day at CrossFit and Meals During this Healthy Eating Challenge

6:30 AM CrossFit, check! It’s long workout day…

Three rounds of:
Wall-ball Shots (Reps), 10 lbs
Sumo deadlift high-pull (Reps), 55 lbs
Box Jumps, 20" (Reps)
Push-press (Reps), 55 lbs
Row (Calories)
1-minute rest
1:00 at each station, no rest between stations
Score: 173.

There are breakfast leftovers again, hooray! Eggs, turkey bacon, and some potatoes. For lunch these past two days, I've been eating salad that I bring from home: vegetables, egg, topped with balsamic vinaigrette. And for a snack, I've been eating grapefruit and nuts, instead of reaching for the candy bowl.  The candy bowl that sits at the edge of my desk, near the aisle, was empty when I came to work on Monday, so I put it away. It was about 10:30 AM when Reggie asked me if I wanted candy from his refilled-to-the-brim bucket of candy. No, go away. I can't eat any of that for a month!  Don't tempt me!

Bench Press at CrossFit

6:30 AM CrossFit, check! Bench press day for me (deadlift for the other folks)…3 x 5 at 75 lbs. Maybe I’ll go for 80 lbs next week? Coach Christian showed up with a bandaged up leg...he broke his ankle yesterday morning and it'll take about 6 weeks for it to heal.

WOD…4 x 500 m row. Fastest time for me was 2:03 and slowest was 2:11. Eric and Matt were averaging 1:40.

My abs were sore this morning from yesterday’s hanging leg raises, and now my shoulders are like AH!

At least my workout is done, and I got some meeting breakfast leftovers at work: eggs, sausage and some potatoes. We are so spoiled with meeting leftovers this week. I'll have to be better at planning my breakfasts next week while on this Healthy Eating challenge.

My coworker Reggie and I purchased our Captain America: Civil War tickets for Friday. Well, technically, he purchased them to pay me back for when I paid for Zootopia a few weeks ago.

Push-ups and Leg Raises at CrossFit and Lunch with Sadira

6:30 AM CrossFit, check! We worked on our push-ups and hanging leg raises (not hanging knee raises this time, yay!)

WOD…5 rounds:
7 front squats (45 lbs)
10 lateral burpees
Time: 11:37

I didn’t want to straighten my hair this morning for work, but braiding it proved to be difficult because my shoulders got a workout this morning. 4 day work week…I’m taking Friday off to see Captain America: Civil War. YAY!

My former coworker Sadira sent me a text message on Friday, asking if I wanted to meet up with her for lunch on Monday. YES!  I haven't seen her since August when she moved to California to be closer to family. We went to Sweetgreen, which is her favorite place to eat near the office.

Today is Day 1 of my CrossFit gym's Healthy Eating challenge. The nutrition coach gave all participants a list of Yes foods, No foods and foods that you can eat, but you should stick to the Yes list. I got the Avocabbo salad with no corn and balsamic vinaigrette instead of the usual blue cheese dressing. I told Robyn about the challenge yesterday, and how we have to have a mantra that we tell ourselves throughout the challenge. "What's yours going to be? 'Donuts in June?'"

Maybe, hah. That does sound pretty awesome after not having any for a month.

For extra credit today, I went to 6:00 PM spin class and then went next door to the grocery store to restock on grapefruits. Mangoes, watermelon, pineapple and bananas are on the flexible list because of the sugar content, all things I like to eat! Especially bananas since they are convenient to eat before CrossFit in the morning. Citrus fruits, on the other hand, are on the Yes list.

Baltimore Aquarium with Robyn

Robyn and I went to the Baltimore Aquarium today. My favorite part was being able to touch the moon jellyfish (they were kinda slimy). It was also cool to play on one of the interactives that my sister’s company built for the aquarium.

Other interesting things:

• Calypso the resident sea turtle only has one front flipper because an infection forced the aquarium to amputate it.
• The rainforest exhibit has 4 sloths, but we only saw one of them. Robyn wanted me to check out the tarantula...mmmNO THANKS!
• I learned that recyclable plastic items can only be recycled one time, so it's best to use reusable water bottles instead of getting bottled water.

On the way home, we got crab cakes to eat there and slices of cake to go. I shared the red velvet cake and leftovers with my sister. Yummm!

Look at us, goofballs. We’re just as silly as the kids in the background.

The CrossFit gym is doing a 30-day Healthy Eating challenge, which starts tomorrow. The nutrition coach gave us a Yes food list and No food list so help us with our diets. We'll see how this goes! No ice cream/candy for a month will be a challenge by itself!