Category Archives: gym

by | November 4, 2010 · 9:08 am

Weasel Crap Beer?!?

     I woke up this morning, put on my gym clothes and was on the elliptical at the gym before my brain registered what was happening. 45 minutes at level 9 – I was dying! It was awesome.

I refueled with a slice of Great Harvest Whole Grain bread with peanut butter and some of Trader Joe’s Cranberry Apple Butter! This apple butter is ah-may-zing!
     I went to the library to pick up a book for my road trip tomorrey. I finished “The Girl Who Played With Fire” this morning and wanted more! I had a hold on the final book in the trilogy, but it won’t be in for another month, so I splurged and RENTED the next book, “The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest” for a whole dollar! I think a buck for a week is worth it, plus it supports my local library, which I would die without.
After all the book renting, I needed a big Kitchen Sink Salad to replenish my energy. This had 1/2 a bag of mixed greens, 1/2 of a chopped bell pepper, 1/2 cup egg white salad, 1/2 cup steamed lentils, 1/2 of a zucchini sauteed with herbes de provence and 1/2 of an avocado with a light balsamic dressing. Many halves make a HUGE salad!
     Since it’s my last night at home for a few days, I went out to a local wine shop to pick up some fancy brews. I found the FANCIEST of fancy beers!
Let me tell you about this beer. Mikkeller Geek Brunch Weasel beer is brewed with the most expensive coffee in the world. This coffee is made by feeding weasels coffee berries. The berries go through their digestive tract and come out the other end, where they’re brewed into coffee: yes, the coffee beans are crapped out by said weasels. This coffee was added into this beer, which was then stamped with a $15.99 price for 15oz. 
Sorry to disappoint you, but I didn’t have the guts to try it…yet. With a 7 hour road trip ahead of me tomorrow, it just didn’t seem like a good risk to take.
Next time!
After the search for beer, MORE refueling was needed! We ordered in thai food, because lunch yesterday just wasn’t enough! We split tom kha gai, pad ke mao, pad thai and pineapple fried brown rice. All the dishes had meat in them, which I avoided. 
Luckily, even though I didn’t get the Weasel Crap Beer, I found plenty to try!
Oh beer, how much I’ve missed you!
First up: The Midas Touch! This one was a sweet pale ale, brewed with honey, muscat grapes and saffron. I’m not a huge fan of sweet beers, but this one had enough hops to keep me happy. I won’t be getting this one again, but I’d definitely recommend it to any wine lovers out there! You’ll love the sweet honey undertones!
     I’d love to write more, but I have to finish packing for the long drive to Scottsdale, Arizona tomorrow for my new job! Woohoo! I’ll repeat for any new readers: I’ll be at the Carefree Fine Arts and Wine Festival from November 5th-7th, working at one of the artist’s booths! 
Anyone in the Scottsdale/Carefree area want to meet up??

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Filed under beer, cranberry apple butter, Dogfish Head, Great Harvest, gym, kitchen sink salad, Midas Touch, Mikkeller Geek Brunch Weasel, thai food, Trader Joe's, Weasel Crap Beer

by | October 31, 2010 · 8:42 am

Spicy-Sweet Roasted Pumpkin Seeds!

Exercise of the day: 45 minutes on the elliptical at level 8, and heart rate between 163-174. I did 30 woodchopper core weights, a crapload of sit-ups on an exercise ball and rolled out my IT bands again whilst trying not to tear up. Will the pain EVER stop? Stupid IT bands.

I went to the pumpkin patch today to pick up a big ole gourd to butcher.

So many pumpkins!
There was a petting zoo at one end…
with a fluffy chicken-y thing. I thought this was a dog at first before I saw its head.
     Turns out the pumpkins at the patch were ridiculously overpriced, and there was no haggling, so I headed home and made a fancy Kitchen Sink Salad.
Special ingredient – half of a deliciously ripe avocado! Yum, fat!
     I headed to Albertson’s to pick up a reasonably priced pumpkin.
At the patch, a pumpkin this size cost $14. I got it for $5.13. Oh yeah!
GUTS!
I don’t need newspaper – I’m a pro!
I started to carve “welcome home” for my roommates who are both returning from their trips tomorrow, but got tired after “welcome.” Now I just seem accommodating and friendly to everyone.
Don’t be fooled.
I also picked up some decor gourds. See how festive I am?
     I didn’t let those seeds go to waste though, don’t worry!

[gmc_recipe 5567]

I like mine really crispy!
Store them in a tupperware and snack away! These have MAJOR bite to them, so carry a bottle of water and Kleenex!
One of my free samples! I’m on a roll!

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Filed under elliptical, gourd, gym, kitchen sink salad, Kleenex, pumpkin carving, pumpkin patch, pumpkin seeds, recipe

by | October 26, 2010 · 10:30 am

I Eat REAL Food!

     Exercise of the day: I woke up with a headache and sat around for a while sipping tea before I decided that if I was going to feel like crap anyway, I might as well feel like crap at the gym and get a workout out of the way and I’m really good at writing run-on sentences. I fueled up with some carbs:

1 slice of 9 Grain from Great Harvest with some peanut butter and mashed banana. I have no idea how those chocolate chunks found their way there!
     I got onto the elliptical and did the random cycle at level 7 for 40 minutes, then did 30 assisted pullups and 30 tricep dips. I used the evil/wonderful foam roller and tried not to cry as I rolled out my IT bands, then went out and did a few “woodchopper” core weights. Halfway through the workout my headache was GONE! 
     I had an icy Monsta when I got back with 6 cups of spinach, 1/2 cup of soymilk, 1/2 a frozen banana, 1 lemon and 1/4 cup of frozen blueberries. Soymilk has protein in it… Probably not enough for a post-workout refuel though. I also had some reheated butternut squash apple soup with a dollop of goat cheese – yum!
     I spent the day cleaning the house, doing laundry, CLEANING OUT MY CAR (something I haven’t done in over six months) and making hummus!
The can of garbanzo beans gave me some trouble, but I sorted it out.
And the hummus is chillin’ in the fridge, waiting to have fresh bell pepper slices dipped into it.
     I made baked sweet potato fries for dinner.
Half of a huge sweet potato sliced, sprayed with olive oil and sprinkled with garlic salt, then roasted at 450 degrees for 15 minutes.
     At work I got a lovely gift from a lovely friend.
Chocolate covered strawberries from Godiva! Thanks, Jose!
I also started this book: The French Don’t Diet Plan. I really, really, REALLY recommend reading this! I’m only a few chapters in, but this is so interesting! The author, Dr. Will Clower, talks about how the French can seemingly eat everything in sight: bread, cheese, wine, chocolates, and not gain weight, and how their diet differs from the typical American diet.
“They eat real foods, we eat food products.” – Dr. Will Clower.
     If you read the ingredient lists on different foodstuffs, it’s shocking to see how many unpronounceable ingredients, chemicals, dyes and preservatives actually inhabit the products that we put into our body. For instance, let’s look at the ingredients on a simple loaf of Wonder Bread:
I don’t want to put exthoxylated mono and diglycerides in my body – I researched them and STILL don’t know what they are!
Lucky for me, I have a Great Harvest down the street. The ingredients in this loaf? Fresh-ground whole wheat flour, water, yeast, salt, honey and oatmeal. That’s more like it!
     I’ll be going through this book and sharing on my blog as I go along! I’m making a conscious decision to only eat food with real, whole ingredients – starting with making my own ketchup tomorrey! Stay tuned!
How many things in your fridge contain crazy chemicals or dyes? 
My count – seven out of twelve on the middle shelf alone. Yikes.

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Filed under butternut squash apple soup, elliptical, Godiva, Great Harvest, gym, headache, hummus, sweet potato fries, The French Don't Diet

by | October 22, 2010 · 6:45 am

Swollen-Faced Puppy!

     I got some good news last night: I booked that audition I had on Monday! I’m still waiting on all the info, but what I know as of now is that it’s b-roll footage (the footage of what goes on while the spokesperson is talking) for a commercial. That’s all I’ll share for now until I know that I’m not crossing any lines! I film on Sunday :-D.

     Today I woke up bright and early and went to the gym! I spent 35 minutes doing cardio on the elliptical (HR at 170 or above the whole time! Not sure if that’s healthy or maybe the reader was broken?) and then did some pull-ups and core weights. I finished up with a foam roller on my IT bands which hurt so bad I teared up! Foam roller is no longer my best friend – it’s more of a necessary evil.

I refueled with a mug of unsweetened jasmine green tea and a Halloween Monsta!
     I was about to head out the door for work when I saw this:
Swollen-faced Buddha!
     The entire right side of her face was swollen to high heaven and I, the spazz that I am, freaked out and thought that she’d been bitten by an evil deadly poisonous spider and that after her face had finished swelling, her throat would close up and she would die. I called into work telling them I’d be late and kept an eye on the pooch waiting for the telltale signs of her imminent death so I could take her to the vet. She promptly went over to her food bowl and devoured its contents, then brought her bone over to me to play. I went to work.
     Work was work. Boring and long and long and boring. I came home at lunch to make sure that the Buddha was still alive (she was), had some leftover chana masala and forced myself back to finish the final hours at work. When I got home, I realized that I had a leftover sweet potato that needed to be used up, so I made more fries!
I peeled and chopped up a small sweet potato then tossed it with olive oil and garlic salt and baked it at 450 degrees for about fifteen minutes, flipping halfway though.
I also finished up the leftover lettuce, lentils and egg white salad that was in the fridge. Kitchen Sink Salads make me happy!
     I have tomorrey off so I’ll be making some butternut squash and apple soup and grilling some salmon while reading “The Girl Who Played with Fire” (book number two in the “Dragon Tattoo” series) and sipping tea. My life is hard!
Any recipes you’ve wanted to try but haven’t had the time to? Maybe I can test a recipe tomorrow or Friday for you 🙂 I need a challenge!
(Preferably not a SUPER expensive challenge!)

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Filed under audition, booked, Buddha, chana masala, gym, Halloween Monster, jasmine green tea, kitchen sink salad, sweet potato fries, The Girl who Played with Fire

by | October 19, 2010 · 9:40 am

Malibu, Mexican, Malachi!

    I woke up early this morning and headed to the gym! I’m known for going to extremes and overworking myself when I have the opportunity, so I kept that in mind when I walked through the doors this morning. I spent 35 minutes doing cardio on the elliptical because the stair-climber was broken, then did 25 minutes of weight lifting and stretching. I felt good when I got home… until NOW. Now my legs are screaming at me! I LOVE IT!

     I’ve almost used up all the leftover canned pumpkin! I had yet another Halloween Monster (thanks so much for mentioning it on your blog, Lynn!) for breakfast and I’m still not sick of it!

So thick!
     I had an audition in Sherman Oaks today – walk in, slate, profiles, chit-chat, “okay with kissing an onscreen boyfriend?”, “yes”, slate again, walk out. Commercial auditions are quick ‘n easy!
     Afterwards I went over to pick up Malachi and we headed towards Malibu.
It was a tough drive. The scenery was just SO distracting!
This is my ideal weather – I wish it were like this all the time.
     We arrived at a cute lodge tucked into the canyons of Malibu so Malachi could pick up an awesome car that his uncle was generously lending him, then went to lunch at Lily’s Cafe and Pastries for some local Mexican food.
I got the grilled fish tacos – tender fish covered with a white sauce and topped with tomatoes and cilantro, all wrapped up in fresh corn tortillas. They served a searing hot sauce on the side. Heaven!
Malachi’s food was so good it made him want to cry. 
Malachi modeled his ancient bracelets that he wears until they fall off. Here they’re arranged by age from “FREAKING OLD” to “You’ve worn that for HOW long?”
     I needed a little pick-me-up for the drive home up the coast, so I grabbed a tall soy chai from the Bucks. Malachi ordered a manly drink and posed with his manly new car.
Sippin’ a manly vanilla steamer and posing with his manly PT Loser Cruiser.
Stand proud, buddy!
     I have tomorrey off! The day will be stuffed with cooking, reading and Sundance films.

Speaking of cooking, DOES ANYONE HAVE AMAZING BUTTERNUT SQUASH RECIPES TO SHARE? 

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Filed under fish tacos, green monster, gym, Halloween Monster, Lily's Cafe and Pastries, Malachi, Malibu, Starbucks

by | September 5, 2010 · 6:06 am

Guilty Pleasures

     I hope everyone’s enjoying the beginning of their Labor Day weekend! I had to work all day today, and a few hours tomorrey, then I’m free to enjoy myself again!

     I’ve been hitting the gym every day, utilizing every single second of my free trial week. Today I spent an hour on the elliptical, burned 502 calories and went 3.75 miles. Afterwards, I did a few rounds on the lat pulldown, then did a massive amount of crunches and stretching. All this was followed by a big Monsta at home – 3 cups of spinach, 1/4 of a cup of unsweetened soymilk, 1 lime, 1/2 of a banana, 1/3 of a cup of frozen blueberries, 1 carrot, and 4 sprigs of asparagus.

     I had to work today, but I got to work with my lovely and ridiculously fun friend, Vicky, so it was more than bearable. Since nothing out of the ordinary happened today, I’m just going to put up a bunch of random pictures of some of my meals over the last few days.

After my intense workout yesterday, I decided that a trip to the indian buffet was in order.
As if the gigantic plate of food and garlic naan wasn’t enough, the chefs made my roommate and me this complimentary dessert that we’re obsessed with: Gajar Halwa – it’s basically grated carrots, sugar, butter, almonds and raisins. This is one of my all-time favorite desserts!
I had a late night craving for grilled cheese one night. I made this with Great Harvest’s Hi-5 Fiber bread, which is chock full with tons of seeds and nuts, then topped it with some real (NOT Kraft) cheddar cheese and fried it up in a teaspoon of butter. Sometimes, grilled cheese is a necessity.
Today’s lunch was a Subway 6-inch on wheat with turkey, roast beef, tons of spinach, cucumbers, tomatoes, green peppers, avocado, a little mayo and mustard.
PUMPKIN truffle from Godiva! I LOVE PUMPKIN!!!!
And a piece of the Hi-5 Fiber toast with some REAL chimichurri sauce on it. Real means delicious means not made by me.
     Keep in mind that while some (most) of this isn’t the healthiest thing I could’ve chosen, I’ve completely balanced it all out with Monsters in the morning as well as lots of time at the gym. Plus, I wanted to eat it, so I did. Deal with it.
     Tonight I’m headed out to a billiards club with some friends to play for a few hours, and hopefully drink a PUMPKIN ale? Ah geez, I really hope the bar carries pumpkin ale already! Enjoy your Saturdays!
What are some of your guilty eating pleasures?

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Filed under chimichurri, elliptical, Gajar Halwa, Godiva, green monster, grilled cheese, gym, Indian Food, work

by | September 1, 2010 · 8:57 am

Quesadillas and Serenades!

     Busy, busy day today! I woke up at 7am and hit the gym for an hour and fifteen minutes. I spent 35 minutes on the stair-climber: 35 minutes, 2.92 miles, and 140 floors. The stair climber is no longer my favorite cardio at the gym. Ouch. I did three sets of ten leg presses at 120lbs, then spent the rest of the time attempting to do arm weights (couldn’t because my arms were crying), and crunches (couldn’t because my abs were crying), and stretched out.

     I got back home and blended up an icy Monsta!

This had 5 cups of spinach, 1/2 of a banana, 1 carrot, 2 sprigs of asparagus, 1/2 of a cup of unsweetened soymilk, 1/2 of a cup of frozen blueberries, the juice of a lemon, and a handful of ice.
     Next up: Audition time! I fought the LA traffic, had an amazing audition, then headed over to my friends’ Dan and Malachi’s for some lunchy goodness.
Malachi got all gourmet – frozen chicken, defrosted in the microwave, then sauteed…
While Malachi chef-ed, Dan serenaded us with some lovely acoustic guitar.
That chicken turned into a magical quesadilla with green chilies and cheddar cheese!
Malachi was not pleased with my picture of his quesadilla. It was delicious, though!
Dessert was the same theme: Green Chile Peanut Brittle. I am in love! This stuff is amazing! I’m thinking of taking a road trip just to get some. Or maybe making my own…
I brought the boys some delicious, ridiculously cheap wine (Monte Ducay, $5.99 at Trader Joe’s) in exchange for all of the fooding and serenading.
     After the deLUSCIOUS lunch, I headed over to my parental units’ house for pottery class. FIRST…
Tutti Frutti is always a necessity. I was craving sweets and got red velvet with cookie dough, peanut butter cups, a shortbread cookie stick. Oh, yeah! My eyes were too big for my stomach, and I had about 1/4 of this leftover that got trashed :(.
I also had enough time to make a miniature Kitchen Sink Salad. This had 2 cups of chopped lettuce, 1/2 of a cup of warmed lentils, 1/4 of a cup of egg white salad, and some leftover sauteed zucchini and summer squash.
      When we got to pottery class, we found out that our glazing was finished! Yay!
Here are mine. Meh, not bad for a first try, but EW!
My HikeBikeEat bowl failed. BIG crack down the middle. Oh well…
I made FIVE pieces tonight! My favorite is the one on the far right – my new mug!
These are my mom’s! They turned out AMAZING! I’m only slightly jealous – and by slightly, I mean COMPLETELY!
     We headed back home, stopped by Trader Joe’s and picked up some Panang Curry Sticks and we’re now relaxing, sipping some wine and watching Glee. My life is a fairy tale! I am so content :).
Do you have any artwork you’re proud of? I’ll be posting pics of my favorite craft pieces tomorrey!

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Filed under audition, glazing, green monster, gym, kitchen sink salad, Mom, peanut brittle, Pottery class, quesadilla

by | August 31, 2010 · 9:15 am

Retail Therapy and Pizza!

     It was an amazing Monday! I started off with a beautiful Monsta!

Gigantic! This had 5 cups of spinach, 1/2 of a cup of unsweetened soymilk, 1/2 of a banana, 1/2 of a cup of frozen blueberries, 1/2 of a lemon, 1/2 of a lime and a handful of ice. No idea why it turned out this color…
     I also had my first day AT THE GYM!!!! I got there early, spent 20 minutes on the stair-climber, climbed 79 floors, then hit up the weights. I basically sampled a little bit of everything. My all-time favorite weight set is the lat pulldown, so I revisited that a few times throughout the hour and a half. It’s strange being back in a gym after over 2 years without. I remember when I’d sit down at the lat pulldown and do three sets of 20 reps at 75lbs, and today I struggled with three sets of 10 reps at 45lbs. Sniff. I’m so ready to get stronger again!
     I did a crapload of crunches after all the weights, then attempted to stretch out. Afterwards, my arms were COMPLETELY dead. I had trouble lifting them to type and check my e-mail. I LOVE that kind of pain! Totally looking forward to doing a repeat tomorrow, then complaining to you all again about how much I hurt.
     After I showered and changed, I headed over to the Topanga Mall to meet up with my wonderful, amazing friend/cousin Allie! We did a little retail therapy, then headed out for some lunch at the California Pizza Kitchen.
They now have a calorie guide! I started to open this, and Allie grabbed it from my hands and threw it across the restaurant. Thank you, Allie :).
We ordered our drinks – she got the Prosecco split (I LOVE PROSECCO!) and I settled for the Mirassou Pinot Noir to abide by my red wine rules for August.
YUM! Me gusta Mirassou! I could actually taste and distinguish the tastes of cherries, strawberries and lusciousness. YUM again!
We split a Spicy Chicken Tanga Quesadilla from the Small Cravings menu. I could’ve eaten six more of these!
We also split the whole-wheat thin-crust chicken pesto pizza. Full of pine nuts, sundried tomatoes, fresh basil and onions and deLUSCIOUS cheese! I may have had half. I don’t regret it – I’m lucky my arms could lift the food to my mouth after that workout :).
     We shopped around a little more, then went out separate ways, full and happy. I headed home, changed for work, and headed off to my easy shift at work. Nothing special happened – I emptied stock boxes, got some gelato and ran through my sides for my audition tomorrey.
     Tomorrey = early gym, then off to my audish, then hanging with some wonderful friends in LA before coming back for pottery class. It’ll be a busy, wonderful Tuesday!
Do you look forward to your weeks like I do? I tend to dread weekends because weekends = retail. Let’s get real life STARTED already!

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Filed under California Pizza Kitchen, green monster, gym, Merlot, Mirassou, pizza, quesadilla

by | August 30, 2010 · 7:13 am

Monster of Orange!

     I woke up when my alarm went of at 6:30am and headed out on a 20 mile bike ride. That’s totally a lie. I woke up, turned off my alarm, and fell asleep until 8:30am. When my body tells me that it needs another day of rest, I listen. Instead, I did a bunch of pushups and crunches before breakfast.

This morning was an ORANGE Monsta! We didn’t have much spinach left, so I improvised. This had about 1 cup of spinach, 1/2 of a peach, 1 carrot, 1/2 of a cup of soymilk, 1/2 of a banana, 1/2 of a cup of frozen blueberries and a big handful of ice.
     I headed off for my full shift at work. The day actually went by pretty quickly. There wasn’t too much to do, so I had lots of time to hang out with my coworkers and also read my current book, “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo”. Everyone’s read it, so I have to get onboard and read it before they make the U.S. movie version!
     I went out to lunch with my friend, Griffin, to the Lazy Dog Cafe.
Sir Griffin trying to decipher the menu.
A tasty glass of merlot!
I got half of a walnut chicken salad sandwich that has walnuts (duh), dried cranberries, thinly sliced red onions, tomatoes and lettuce, and came with a small side of fries.
It also came with a cup of chicken tortilla soup. The waiter failed to tell me that the avocado was an extra dollar. I should’ve guessed. Le sigh.
     We got back to work, kinda, and watched the clock slide by until it was time to go home. I’m pretty stuffed from my late lunch still, so I’ll probably skip dinner.
     I’ve said it before, but I am going to be going to have my first day at the gym tomorrey morning! I have a week-long guest pass, so prepare for a lot of complaints about how sore I am for the next week :).
Do you belong to a gym? Or do you prefer working out in the great outdoors?

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Filed under chicken walnut salad sandwich, french fries, green monster, Griffin, gym, Lazy Dog Cafe, orange monster, tortilla soup, work