Brie Fit

After a few really horrible days of nausea, it looks like I got a preview of second tri today! 

For a solid twelve hours (6 am to 6 pm), I felt GOOD.  It was seriously awesome.  I didn’t even need my morning Zofran today.  Okay, I had very minor queasiness, but I felt great otherwise.  I wasn’t exhausted, and most foods actually sounded semi-appealing.  If I hadn’t been having some other aches and pains down low, I would actually be nervous!

But then, 6 pm hit, it had been six hours since my last meal, and I started feeling crappy again.  Oh well.  Tim made a frozen pasta meal out of a bag, we ate, and of course I felt better.

And then I made muffins that taste like donuts.

Having the energy to bake is a HUGE step.  Seriously.

I think I’ve said it before, but it is nice to have occasional good days.  I’m hoping that within the next few weeks, the good days will start to outnumber the bad!

Our NT scan is on Monday, and if I’m still having good days then, I plan to return to CrossFit.  Ever since my scare last week, I’ve been continuing the pelvic rest thing just in case.  But I think that if we have a third good ultrasound, I’ll finally be able to relax a little bit.

CrossFit yesterday…man.  They’ve decided Saturdays are partner WODs, which is fun, but it meant double the work yesterday!  We did TWO back-to-back WODs.

WOD #1:

• Sprint 200m with partner
• Partner “Karen” (150 wall balls)
• Shuffle 200m while passing medicine ball

WOD #2:

• One partner keeps time by going through the “box jump gauntlet” twice, a series of 6 or so boxes of different height.
• While they do that, second partner works on completing:
• 50 push press (52#)
• 100 hang cleans (52#)
• 100 air squats

I don’t remember our times, but we had fun anyway!  I love working with a partner.

Then, in kind of hilarious developments…we bought a treadmill!

Tim’s friend was selling an almost brand-new treadmill for a steal, so we went for it.  Now we just have to figure out how to get it in the house and down to our basement!  I think we’re going to have to recruit a third person, because even though we’re both awesome that shit is way heavy.  We bought it mostly for Tim’s use—his old job had a gym on-site, but his new job doesn’t, so this will be a great way for him to keep up with his running.  I also plan to use it now and then, and I think that when we do have kids it will be a great in-home exercise option when I can’t make it to CrossFit every day.

(And then, after buying the treadmill, we went to Five Guys for dinner.  The irony is not lost on me.)  We also saw the new Mission: Impossible movie, which was pretty good for your basic action flick.

Today, I baked soft sugar cookies, at Tim’s request.

I practiced my (non-existent) piping skills by making them Mizzou-friendly.  They will go to work with him tomorrow!

Now, we’re relaxing away the rest of the evening with reruns of The Wire on DVD and leftover sparkling grape juice from New Year’s Eve.  Fun times!

Do you own any home gym-type equipment?  Do you use it a lot?

Hey everyone!  I’ve been MIA for a few days, but frankly life wasn’t too interesting.

Friday I did a WOD before work—“Cindy,” one of the benchmark workouts.  For 20 minutes, do as many reps as possible (AMRAP) of:

• 5 pull-ups
• 10 push-ups
• 15 air squats

I completed 16 2/3 rounds.  Of course, I’m unfortunately nowhere near Rxed on this…I’m still on my knees for push-ups and using a green band for pull-ups.

My goal is to do toe push-ups and move to the purple band (less resistance helping pull me up) by 1/1/12.  Knee push-ups feel too easy, but I’m not sure I’m ready to go to my toes yet.  We’ll see!

I had to work for a few hours this morning (boo) but then I got busy in the kitchen.  I’ve been uninspired to cook lately, mostly because I’m sick and tired of our teeny tiny kitchen with one square foot of counter space.  But I made some homemade applesauce since apples were super cheap at the store!

Recipe: peel and chop up a shitton of apples.  Throw them in a pot with about half a cup of water.  Put a lid on, stir occasionally.   In a few hours, boom.  You got applesauce.  Add some cinnamon if you’re feeling crazy.

I also made these buttery soft pretzels.  I immediately knew I had to make them after seeing the recipe!

They are as awesome as they sound, even though they’re ugly.  I froze half.

I also got my hair trimmed.  I’m letting it grow out again, because I have hair ADD and suddenly miss the hair I had in our engagement pictures.

And now that fall is here and the air is dry, it’s time to stock up on my favorite heavy duty hand cream.

You know what’s funny?  My running calluses and blisters and black toenails are fading away and my feet finally look normal, but now my hands are starting to get rough and callused from CrossFit.  I can’t win!

Oh, and guess what?  We’re meeting with a realtor tomorrow!  I don’t think we’re actually looking at houses, but we’re going to get all our ducks in a row so we can start looking for real.  Yay!  I can’t wait to get out of this rental after 2.5 years here.

What fall activities are you partaking in this weekend?

First day of school today!

You all know I’m excited about it, but Callie pretty much summed up my feelings exactly this morning, so go read her post. 

I’m really loving Kashi GoLean lately.  The cereal itself tastes a bit like twigs, but in a good way.  Adding the freeze-dried fruit and a splash of cinnamon makes a world of difference. 

Also, please note the very important new addition to the back of this photo:

Being nice to the IT guy means that when you say, “Um, do we have any of that air to clean out keyboard junk?” you get an entirely new fancy silent keyboard. 

I had a light lunch today—soup (only ate about half), salad, and a bowl of cantaloupe, pineapple, and cherries.

Why the light lunch?  Well, we went out to happy hour to celebrate the new school year!

I had a beer, a slider, a chicken kabob and a few french fries.  It was pretty delicious. 

(It was a really happy hour.  For serious. )

For dinner, we had this quick Birdseye Voila! meal I received as a part of Foodbuzz’s Tastemaker program.

Specifically…Tim decided he wanted to make it.  I figured it was easy enough that he could figure it out, as he’s not the most adept in the kitchen.

It worked well, once we got past the initial hurdle of “What’s a skillet?”

We aren’t so much frozen dinner people around here, but the ingredients on this weren’t too bad and I liked that it was veggie-based.  It tasted pretty good, too!  I liked that it wasn’t drowning in sauce—it was very light and flavorful.   Tim also commented that the veggies tasted nice and fresh and not soggy, and I agree!  All in all, not something I’d eat every day, but I’ll definitely keep one or two in the freezer for extra busy (or, okay, lazy) nights.

Due to the fact that I went to happy hour and I apparently injured my foot in my sleep last night, instead of going to the gym, I baked this sour cream coffee cake.  Except I used Greek yogurt instead of sour cream.

This will be going to work with Timbo in the morning.  (He licked the batter bowl and deemed it “like cream cheese frosting” so I think it’ll be a good one.)

Welcome to happy hour.  What appetizer and drink do you order?

Thank you for all your awesome comments on my last post.  I’m obviously having a rough time of it lately, but…I’m just doing the best I can.  One day at a time, one foot in front of the other.  There are good days and bad days.  Luckily, today was a good one!

We woke up semi-early (for me, on the weekend) to head to church.  I had a small bowl unpictured cereal beforehand.  Use your imagination.

I came home and had some lunch. 

I had a fried egg with bacon and a sprinkle of goat cheese on a whole wheat English muffin, carrots, a pretzel, and hummus, with a side of watermelon.

I can’t get enough hummus these days!

After lunch, I made cookies, as I promised I would for my boss’ birthday.

Minor victory: instead of shoving cookie dough down my gullet, I sucked on a mint.  It’s the little things.

We did a little pre-dinner house hunting online with a glass of cab.

Southie did not find our antics amusing, once she realized we are not looking for a home with a catio.

For dinner, we took advantage of the good weather (okay, it’s still hotasballs here, but not TOO bad) and grilled. 

I made spinach and strawberry salads, and we grilled pork chops (manager’s special, $2 for two, woo!) that I marinated in this chipotle lime marinade.  We also had some grilled corn on the cob.  I will miss it when it’s out of season!  The marinade was great—just spicy enough.

For dessert, a little piece of the ice cream cake I made for the brother-in-law’s birthday yesterday.

Is there any food that marshmallows don’t improve?

Anyway.  I’ve got a few hours of weekend left and the final season of Friday Night Lights calling my name on Hulu.

First of all—I loved all the comments on my Pill-free year in review post!  It’s kind of a weird subject to put out there, but I thought it was important to provide a charting-to-avoid perspective, since most charting info out there is geared towards those trying to have babies. 

Anyway.  Tim and I spent Friday, Saturday, and Sunday down in the Ozarks with his parents.  I took zero pictures, but it was lovely to spend some time relaxing in the country together.  There was no exercise and there was homemade ice cream. 

Except for this part.

The part where Milhouse threw up copiously all over Tim’s car, five times, on the drive down. 

He’s never been a great traveler, and has puked before, but Friday’s journey was epic.  It just kept coming, and coming, and coming.  It ruined a blanket and one of Tim’s winter scarves. 

Thankfully, we gave him some Dramamine for the drive home and he was puke-free.  But still, it was not pleasant.

But anyway.  Tim woke me up this morning by physically bringing a plate of chocolate chip pancakes into the bedroom to wake me up.  It totally worked.

I then went grocery shopping for the week, and had some breakfast (eggs, toast, yogurt, fruit) for lunch.

It was all in all a lovely day.  We lazed around and watched TV and had a nice little BBQ for two for dinner.

I also attempted a bread project I’ve been wanting to try for a long time—double-braided challah!

Before…

…and after.

I haven’t tried it yet, but it looks absolutely amazing. 

Related: I don’t know what I did before I had silicone baking mats.  I do not miss scraping baked goods off the cookie sheet one bit.

After a weekend of indulgence, I’m looking forward to hitting the gym (or maybe pool) hard this week.  I fly out to Atlanta on Thursday for three days, and it looks like the hotel has a decent gym that I plan to take advantage of.  I’m hoping to keep up my speedy running streak and do at least one good swim.

Did you travel this weekend?  Did you go anywhere fun?

So, today, I was craving hummus from my favorite Mediterranean place.  I had packed my normal healthy lunch, but was grumping because it wasn’t REALLY what I wanted.

And then, my boss was like, “Hey, Brie, business lunch with a colleague, let’s go.” 

And so I was like, “Uh, okay.  Where are we going?”

And she was like, “I don’t know, what do you think?”

And then I was like, “MEDITERRANEAN PLACE.”

And she was like, “Great choice!  Way to be decisive.”

And then I stuffed myself silly with hummus, pita, and lemony chicken, and all was right with the world.  Except I still have a stabbing pain that is kind of harshing my mellow. 

I combined a few elements of my lunch that I didn’t eat for my afternoon snack—a delightful summer fruit salad with watermelon, strawberries, and pineapple.

I’m taking a rest week this week from the gym.  It’s been so long  since I’ve taken a rest week that I’m just going with it.  I actually wanted to run after work today, but my…issue…was not cooperating, so I went home.

I immediately saw these and knew they needed to be turned into banana muffins.   Specifically, Leah’s recipe, found here.

They are totally as good as she says they are.  Tim and I split one after dinner…

…which was this very unattractive, but delicious, crockpot salsa chicken over brown rice.

I was all good and tracked calories today, but the lunch out threw me off and I just feel like tracking calories for meals out is an exercise in nailing Jell-o to the wall.   My meal was healthy—grilled chicken, olive oil, hummus, and pita—and that’s really all I care about.  Also, I was so satiated that I did not do any random snacking today, which is usually something I really struggle with.   So, anyway, I’m happy with how I did food-wise today, and I think I’m going to start focusing on goals like “no more random pretzel vat drive-bys” rather than tracking calories, since I’ve burned out on that a bit lately.

Also, I bought Buckley a new collar today, since he broke his, presumably while “fucking with shit,” which is one of his main hobbies.   I’m kind of obsessed with how cute and appropriate it is, given that he is the master of destruction.  (It’s from Etsy seller SweetPicklesDesigns—check her stuff out!  It’s all super cute.   I had a hard time passing up this adorable robot collar, too.)

Unrelated: Susan is basically my Canadian twin, and we’ve “known” each other online since 2008 through our blogs and various forums and Twitter.  She received some devastating news today, and could use some extra support and love.  Please hop on over to her blog and leave her some hugs and prayers.

Today I am focusing on the good things.   And it helps.

Like having a day off with my husband. 

And being able to do a killer workout in my nice, cool guest room rather than setting foot out in the humid, swampy weather, and the resulting endorphins.

And fuzzy, though mostly disagreeable, cats.

And packing for a trip.  (Roll, don’t fold!)

Five days in California—leaving bright and early Wednesday.  It’s for work,  but there will be plenty of free time.  Me and my SPF 50 will be soaking up some Vitamin D by the pool quite a bit, I think.

And a good DIY mani-pedi.

Toes: Lollipop by Essie, fingers: Planks a Lot by OPI

And Memorial Day burgers on the grill and oven fries.

And brown butter blondies, inspired by these. 

Recipe:

• 1 c. butter, browned
• 1 1/2 c. packed brown sugar
• 1/2 c. white sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 t. vanilla extract
• 1 t. baking powder
• 1/4 t. baking soda
• 1 t. salt
• 2 c. flour
• 2/3 c. chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350.  Brown the butter by cooking over medium-high heat until it turns brown and smells like heaven.   Whisk butter together with both sugars in mixing bowl.  Add eggs and vanilla and whisk until glossy.  Add flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt and mix.  Stir in chocolate chips.  Bake in a 9 X 13 glass dish for 28-30 minutes.  Forget that you were ever sad.

Also, three more tiny things:

We might be fostering a tiny trio of kittens through the cat rescue who helped us out with Bubbles.  It’s still in the works, but if they can’t find anyone else to take them, they may be pattering around our guest room until they get adopted later this week.

If I can’t have a baby right now, at least I can clutch some tiny kittens to my bosom and spew my dormant motherly instinct all over them, right? 

Also, the registry for the Joplin Humane Society has continued to explode.  I can no longer count high enough to calculate, but we are OVER $22,000 in donations.  I predict the poor UPS man will be sore on Wednesday from unloading all those packages from the truck tomorrow!

If you haven’t donated yet, please consider it—their most urgent need right now is Frontline Plus flea and tick control.  As you can imagine, those sorts of things spread quickly in close quarters.

Anyway.  Breathing.  One day at a time.  One foot in front of the other.  This, too, shall pass.  And all that jazz.

What little things have you enjoyed today?

Oh, I love a good lazy Saturday.  I know June and July are going to be busy with lots of travel, so I’m soaking up the sleep late and putter around thing while I still can.

I lazed around in bed for awhile this morning with my girl.

(She’s doing much better lately!  Since our cheap dry food breakthrough earlier this week, she will munch happily a few times a day, and has a lot more energy.  She’s been sunning herself, and climbing things, and using her scratching post.  We’re hoping she will be strong enough to finally get her dental work done later this week.)

And then I made pancakes.

Since dating Tim, pancakes have become a finger food.   When we were lazy law students with no dishwasher, not washing a fork and knife was a bonus, and it’s just kind of stuck.  Heathens!

I felt like baking, even though it’s in the 80s here.  Specifically, I’ve been kind of homesick lately, and pretzel rolls always make me think of my favorite bakery back home in Chicago.  So, I tried out this pretzel roll recipe from PreventionRD.

Yum.  They weren’t as large as I would have liked because I misread the recipe and didn’t let them rise a second time, but they were still really good!

I suppose you can guess what was for lunch.

Fruit (strawberries and pineapple) with some yogurt and a sprinkle of Kashi, a still-warm pretzel roll, and a bit of sharp cheddar.

Since I cook dinner 6 nights a week, AND we both pack our lunches pretty much every day, we like to do dinner out on Saturdays.  It doesn’t have to be  expensive or fancy or anything, it’s just…not me, cooking.  Today we went for Thai carry-out.

I got my favorite, Lahd Na (which I’ve seen called everything from Rard Na to Lard Nar on Thai menus!).  It’s rice noodles, chicken, and broccoli in a garlicky black bean sauce.  It was great, but I could barely make a dent in the amount of food we got!  It will make good leftovers for lunch this week.

Tim mentioned earlier that he had a taste for something sweet, and when I asked him what he wanted, his answer was what it always is: “brown butter cookies,” or Cook’s Illustrated’s Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookies.

I always groan at this suggestion, because frankly…they are kind of a lot of work for chocolate chip cookies.  And while I don’t dislike chocolate chip cookies, I balk at any dessert that tastes better uncooked.  (Cookie dough > cookies.  Sorry.)   And several times, I’ve made this recipe, and they haven’t turned out well.

Anyway, I think I’ve got the hang of them now—it’s a finnicky recipe, but a good one, and I recommend chilling the dough for about 10-15 minutes before baking the cookies so they don’t spread too much.

Get excited: I’m preparing a big post for tomorrow about how I’m becoming a travel rewards ninja.  Have a great night!

What is your favorite kind of cookie?  AND, cookie or cookie dough?

Not a whole lot to say today.

Leftover pancakes for breakfast before church.

Eggs, toast, cheese, yogurt, and berries for lunch.

Tim stalked me in an action shot in the kitchen.

It was a busy day of baking.  I’m bringing snacks to work tomorrow for the students because it is finals time, so I made mini cinnamon rolls with homemade cream cheese icing, cranberry orange bread, and banana chocolate chip bread.

We watched Black Swan in the afternoon, and it was creepy.  While I don’t think I could say I LIKED a movie like that, I definitely appreciated it.

Also, I’m feeling a little dumpy because our sweet little Southie is sick.

She hasn’t been eating very much lately, so I gave her some milk (which I know is not great for cats, but she loves it).  She promptly puked and pooped all over, and has been drooling and sleepy all afternoon.   She’s eaten some wet food and water, but hasn’t touched her kibble.  She will be going to the vet in the morning, but I’m so worried about her. She’s my baby—we were volunteers at the shelter when she came in, tiny and frostbitten, and I’ve loved her ever since. 

For dinner, we grilled out hamburgers and eggplant and popped some waffle fries in the oven.  And I had the last of last weekend’s riesling.

We overcooked the eggplant a bit, and it was really slimy and gross on the inside.  I’m not sure what went wrong, but it wasn’t tasty.

The burger was good, though.

I’m not looking forward to a full week of work…but two bright spots on the horizon:

• Starting next week, we go back down to four-day weeks all summer!  I’ll be working Tuesday through Friday until August 1st.  Helloooo, Mondays off!
• Tim and I are road-tripping to Omaha this weekend to celebrate our first anniversary!  There will be a nice dinner, a trip to the zoo, a fancy hotel and CUPCAKES.  I can’t wait!

Anyway, please send lots of healthy vibes and prayers Southpaw’s way if you can spare them.

What are you looking forward to?