Can I still call this a blog?

So I’m not even sure I can call this a blog anymore, considering I never write anything, but sometimes I get a wild hair and decide to post again! I just found a ton of pics on my phone too, so this will probably turn into a long, rambling post. I’m still doing most of the same things – CrossFit, Paleo, yadda yadda yadda. I will admit that I have been a lot more lenient with my diet lately, and I really need to get it in gear or I’m going to be kicking myself soon. Let’s just say I’ve allowed myself many more cheats in the past few weeks. Sometimes I forget that working out is not an excuse to eat whatever I want, but those workouts make me freakin’ hungry! 🙂

So, let’s see. Last time I wrote about the 60-day fitness challenge that my gym was doing. I haven’t done my end measurements/weigh-in yet, and I’m a little nervous to do so. I didn’t stick to it as well as I should have, and I learned that 60 days is a long time for a “challenge.” Considering I already ate that way, it wasn’t much of a change, and there was no real motivation to be super strict with it. I started out well, and I really focused on what I was eating and drinking, then I slowly started straying on the weekends. Summer, it gets me every year. Warm weather = yes, I’ll have an ice cold beverage, thank you very much! Ya win some, ya lose some. I’m still sticking to the theory that it’s all about moderation. If I restrict every little thing that I eat and feel guilty when I eat something that isn’t Paleo, well that’s not really good. Yes, my views have changed since I first went Paleo, and that’s okay with me. I did realize the other day that I’ve only had one bagel in the past 14 months. That is crazy, considering I used to have them at least twice a week. Mmmmm, bagels! The real thing to talk about here is how I feel about my body after these two months of the challenge. Really, three, if I’m comparing to when I first started CrossFit. I’m really having mixed feelings about it. I KNOW I’m gaining muscle, I KNOW I’m getting stronger, I KNOW I’m getting in better shape by doing CrossFit, BUT my legs are getting bigger, my butt is getting bigger, my arms are getting bigger and my clothes are getting smaller! This is a TOUGH pill to swallow when I’ve spent my entire adult life trying to be smaller. Here’s the thing though – my waist is getting smaller, I’m noticing some muscle definition (slowly, but surely) and I’m continuing to lift more weight during workouts! (I think) I’m fine with me legs and butt being bigger as long as I’m in shape and feel good about the way I look, but I think I’m in the middle ground right now where I’m gaining muscle but still holding onto fat (damn you, fat, be gone!). I know how vain this probably sounds, but let’s be honest. I’m not working my ass off in the gym to NOT feel good about the way I look. Someone tell me they had the same feelings when they first started CrossFit. Anybody? I’ve been talking to one of the coaches at our gym, and she said she was in a similar situation, but after 10 months it all clicked and she started seeing the most changes. If the same goes for me, that’s 7 more months…and I’m super impatient. Not to mention, I’m having to squeeze myself into shorts that are tight on my legs and loose in the waist. I have NEVER had that problem, and it’s kind of humorous to me. I have hated my legs for as long as I can remember, so you can imagine how tough it is to see them get bigger. Maybe they will grow on me (no pun intended)…only time will tell. I really try not to compare myself to how I looked last summer, because I know I’m bigger and weigh a little more, but this year my goals are completely different. I’m not trying to be super skinny, and I guess I need to remember why I started CrossFit in the first place. To get in shape, to be healthy and strong, and be the best me that I can be. So here’s to continuing what I’m doing and hoping that all my hard work will pay off!

In other news, let me fill you in on what I’ve been eating and doing by way of pictures!

I bought this from Whole Foods after seeing paleomg post it on Instagram. Sooooo good. I’m not exactly condoning this as a Paleo food, but every now and then, ok. It’s delicious. I love that Juli from paleomg posts everything that she eats, even if it isn’t strict Paleo. Sometimes gluten free, sometimes all out comfort food, but she looks awesome so I say keep up the good work!

I FINALLY tried these babies out! They are really good and have like 20g of protein!

I got this cast-iron skillet for next to nothing at Marshall’s and love it! I had been making my frittatas in a glass pan, but this is a whole new world. The texture is so much better!

Random, but is this not the most perfect avocado ever? This rarely happens. They are usually either not ripe enough or too ripe, but I caught this one just in time!

Divine staples in the McCain household. We usually have Paleo pancakes on Saturday or Sunday, and we make a new batch of iced coffee each week. So yummy! Sometimes I get creative with the pancakes. I added a nut mix from Costco and some honey on the left – delicious!

I can’t remember where I got the recipe for this, but it was some sort of Pad Thai with zoodles. I loved it!

I try to make a batch of these once a week. They are so great on the go or if I’m hungry before a workout in the morning. They have soy-, gluten-, dairy-free chocolate chips in them and they’re so easy to make!

Another random, but I was grocery shopping at Whole Foods the other day and saw this. Now, you may not know what I’m talking about, but this is a HUGE pet peeve of mine – when people leave cold food sitting out because they didn’t want it. Wasting perfectly good food because they were too lazy to put it in a cold section…any cold section would do! Ughhh, there’s my rant for the day, but it really drives me crazy!

Mmmm, dinner. Flank steak, Japanese yams (with kerrygold butter) and brussels. I could eat those yams every day, I really could.

I finally got around to placing another Steve’s Paleo Goods order. Their granola is the best. Even better with almond milk and bananas.

I love seeing this bottle at restaurants. This was at Bareburger, but I’ve been seeing them more and more. Yay for less chemicals!

The best way to eat a burger, topped with bacon, egg and guacamole!

We made it out to the beach during Memorial Day weekend. It was a gorgeous day. I love the beach, and it’s only a 45-min train ride away. So convenient!

I also managed to do Murph on Memorial Day. Man, it was a doozie! I didn’t fully recover from it for like a week and a half. Yikes!

I have always loved tacos – definitely one of my favorite meals. So glad I found this tortilla recipe from Stupid Easy Paleo. They are SO good. Add some ground beef, salsa and guacamole with a side of plantain chips dipped in guac, and you are good to go!

I can’t believe I found this bacon at Whole Foods! Do you know how hard it is to find bacon without added sugar? Really hard! I also love that it says Paleo friendly on the package…awesome find!

Speaking of the tortillas, I had some left over, so I added some Applegate Farms turkey, avocado, tomato and paleo mustard and mayo. I’m obsessed with sweet potato fries. It’s a bad obsession.

This meal was so darn good! BBQ chicken with bacon sweet potato salad. I found a BBQ sauce with Paleo-friendly ingredients, so that was exciting. The sweet potato salad is from one of the 21 DSD books. It was to die for. I need to make it again very soon! I’m a sucker for potato salad, and this was a close second.

I made Emily’s Paleo Blueberry Banana Bread for breakfast and topped it with strawberries and butter. Yum yum yum!!

Meatza for dinner is always a solid option. I was hungry waiting for it to cook, so I made some mini pizza bites. Josh puts SO much cheese on his pizza, it’s ridiculous, but look at all those delicious veggies on mine. One of my favorite Paleo meals!

Don’t you just love my beautiful paper plates? I hate doing dishes, but there are still plenty to be done. Speaking of not doing dishes, I finally got burnt out on cooking every night, so I enlisted the help of Kettlebell Kitchen last week. I had this for breakfast one morning – wild salmon with sweet potato hash and sauteed kale. Freaking awesome and so filling. Loved it! There were a couple of meals I didn’t care for, but overall it was great, and I loved not having to cook all week!

Don’t you just love how this happens? That’s practically an entire bag of spinach!

I’m getting so excited about my sister having a little girl! I had to buy her some cute clothes. Look at that little romper. How cute is that? Ahhhh, can’t wait to meet her!

  

 

I went shopping this past week to get some cute outfits for our beach trip! I got the bikinis a while back from Old Navy. Love their cute, cheap tops & bottoms. Great for mixing and matching! Did I mention I’m going to the beach for a week with my mom, sister, grandmother and Corbett? I’m SOOOOOO excited I can hardly stand it. The only thing missing is Josh. I feel like we haven’t had a vacation together in ages, but it should be a fun girls trip (+ Corbett)! Anywho, I used to hate rompers, but now I kinda like them! This one anyway. I actually sent this to Josh earlier to see if it was inappropriate for work. I ended up wearing it, but probably never again. Do you know how long a bathroom break takes in one of these? They really should have taken that into consideration when they made these. Please excuse the background of the picture – it is really impossible to keep our apartment clean, and it drives me absolutely crazy!

 

That’s all for now, I guess I’ll be back in two months 😉 Maybe I’ll do a post on our beach adventures. I’m so ready to be on the sand with the water on my toes!!

CrossFit & Catching Up!

So, after going MIA for a while, I figured it’s time to catch back up…like I always do 😉 It seems that I left off talking about waiting for the CrossFit gym (EVF CrossFit Columbus Circle) to open. Well, guess what!? It FINALLY opened! I’ll admit, I was a little nervous about it opening – hoping I would love it and stick with it and that my plan of going before work would stick as well. As mentioned before, I’ve never considered myself a morning person. Well, guess what else?? I haven’t gone to an evening class YET (and yes, I’ve been making it to the early morning classes, sometimes waking up at 5 AM!) When I first started, I wanted a 6:30 or 7:00 am class – waking up as late as possible in order to still make it to work on time. Now, my favorite class is the 5:30 or 6:00 am. I love having the extra time to relax and not rush through my breakfast and getting ready. It’s really nice to spend some extra time with Josh in the mornings too before we head out for the day!

Guys, if you had told me even a few months ago that I would grow to enjoy waking up at 5 o’clock in the morning…I would have seriously thought you were crazy. I know everyone always says, “Ohh, it gets easier the more you do it,” but I never actually believed those people (it does). I just thought they were crazy morning people that I could never ever in a million years be like. Although it’s still hard some days when my bed is so warm and cozy, I know that skipping the gym and sleeping in is only going to make me feel worse. Honestly, on my rest days, I feel so sluggish and grumpy! I actually look forward to going to the gym in the mornings because I know I’m going to feel great for the rest of the day. I have so much more energy and feel so good about myself for sticking to my goals and getting it done! Granted, I do get sleepy pretty early, and bed time for me is around 9:30 each night, but it’s 100% worth it. [This is also a big factor in why I never write blog posts anymore. By the time I’m finished cooking dinner, it’s around 8:00, so I savor that last hour ½]. Again, completely worth it. I will happily go to bed early each night if it means I’m getting stronger every day! I couldn’t be happier than I am at EVF, and I have an awesome group of people that join & motivate me each morning…it really starts my morning off on the right foot! Oh, and bonus, it’s only 5 minutes from my apartment! Convenience is key when it comes to working out in NYC – at least for me anyway.

So, let’s see. I’ve been going to EVF for about 7 weeks now. The hardest part is just trusting the process and being patient. I am slowly seeing small changes (more muscular legs, a little more definition in the arms, etc.), and more importantly, I’m constantly getting stronger (just yesterday, I was able to lift 10 lbs more than I could last week!). It’s an awesome feeling to make progress and be able to lift more weight or use fewer bands on a pull up (hopefully, one day, NO bands)! It’s not all about how I look, but I do have a few weddings and a beach trip coming up in June, so I’m eager to see the progress that I’ve made in 2 more months! 😉 I really can’t wait to see how far I’ve come in a year or so, but let’s not wish time away!

In other news, my gym also started a “Healthy Eating & Fitness Challenge” on April 7^th that lasts for 60 days. Perfect, it ends right before the summer festivities begin, so of course I jumped on the bandwagon! There are no real rules, but it basically follows the Paleo guidelines. I had gotten way (and I mean WAY) off track, so it was nice to have this to jump into and hold me accountable. For me, the challenge isn’t so much about what I can/can’t eat, but about making better choices. For instance, having 1 drink instead of 6, haha. Right before the challenge, I was adding gluten free oats and white rice back into my diet a little. CrossFit workouts make me SO hungry! Some days I just can’t eat enough…but who’s complaining! I forgot how much I like oatmeal. Cooked with almond milk and add some coconut sugar…yum yum yum! I did kick those out for the challenge, but I haven’t missed them too much. I will likely add them back after the challenge though…especially the oatmeal!

In the past few months, I’ve been trying to figure out what really works for me. I know when I first started this Paleo adventure, I was that hardcore, annoying person who was gung-ho about strict Paleo only. But we all know that isn’t realistic. While I know that I feel best when I’m making Paleo-friendly choices, sometimes I just want a slice of pizza, or some French fries, or a freakin’ cupcake! I could go on and on. I do try to steer clear of dairy because I’ve learned my body doesn’t exactly like dairy, and I’d rather not feel like poo after eating something! The key is to enjoy those foods in moderation and not feel guilty when I eat them. The whole point of all of this is to not let food rule my world or feel guilty when I choose to eat something I wouldn’t normally eat. It’s all about balance. I do feel it’s worth mentioning that I tried macro-counting (counting Protein/Fat/Carbs) for a few weeks. Initially, I thought it was a good idea and some people swear by it, but the more I did it I realized it’s not for me. Maybe I just don’t have the patience, but it takes a lot of planning to calculate your macros perfectly for each day of the week. It got really overwhelming, and I was giving up perfectly healthy foods because they didn’t “fit” into my macros. Another thing that turned me off is that a lot of people count their macros by way of “Flexible Dieting.” They eat relatively clean foods for the most part, but they also make things like pop-tarts, ice cream, oreos, etc. fit into their diets on a regular basis. At first, I was like “woohoo, I can have pop-tarts again!?” THEN I took a step back and realized WHY would I want to eat pop-tarts again? The whole idea of Paleo is to eat unprocessed foods. To each their own, but I didn’t want to fall back into old habits, so I quickly stepped out of that mindset! It made me realize that there are SO many differing views on what “eating healthy” means. I’m not saying my way of thinking is right or that Paleo is the answer, but it all gets really confusing. I wish there was ONE set answer. Why can’t someone figure that out? Haha. I guess what I’m trying to say, is that all I really want is to find balance and not feel guilty about the foods I eat or have food consume my life…so I’m trying to be better about that, and not beat myself up about making mistakes. One step at a time!

All in all, I’m feeling really great about where I’m at right now. I made a goal to work out 5 times a week, and most weeks, I hit that goal. I have become that person who is obsessed with CrossFit, and that’s ok with me. I enjoy it, and I work out with people who enjoy it as much as I do. I love the small class setting and someone telling me what workout to do each day. I absolutely suck at traditional gyms! I no longer think of working out as a chore or something I have to do. I honestly look forward to starting my day with a WOD (yes, I just used CrossFit lingo) and never leave without getting my butt kicked. I am so happy to have found a gym that I love, and I’m more motivated than ever to reach some new goals!!

What else has happened in the months since I’ve last written on here?

My BFF, Amy, had her baby, Lucy! I can’t wait to meet this little sweetheart!

Corbett turned 3! This kid has my whole heart!

My sister found out she’s pregnant! She told me the news with this shirt on FaceTime…loved it! I’m soooo beyond excited! I can’t wait to be an Aunt “again”

Josh and I celebrated our 2^nd Anniversary! Love love love this man!

Izzy turned 3! Love this adorable little girl! (Photo, courtesy of Allyson Keller Photography)

I’m really hoping to get back into the groove of writing on here, since I actually have something to talk about now. I promise (to try) not to talk ONLY about CrossFit!

It’s good to be back in the blogging world, peeps!

kMc

Who needs a laugh?

You’re probably wondering what I’m going to write about after reading the title of my post…we’ll get to that later.

I’m happy to report that I’m still going strong with Paleo, and each week I’m making up my own meal plans from the 21 Day Sugar Detox Book and the 21 Day Sugar Detox Cookbook. It seems like the recipes are never-ending, and they are all amazing! If you don’t have one of these books yet, I would highly recommend getting one! Here are some of the new things I’ve been cooking up:

Brownies from the cookbook. These have an interesting texture, but they’re a pretty good treat when you want one!

Apple Cinnamon “Granola” – tasty, but not my favorite! Naturally, stored in my refillable beer container.

No-honey mustard chicken. I cannot believe this actually tasted like honey mustard. Instead of honey, the recipe uses apples…crazy, just crazy! Paired with a lovely little salad and homemade balsamic dressing, all of which made for a nice lunch the next day. My favorite part of these recipes is having leftovers for lunch – I easily have the best lunches in my office each day! 🙂

So, these were chorizo burgers with “buttermilk” buns. As you can see, the buns did not end up looking anything like a circular bun (as pictured in the cookbook), and they didn’t really taste much like a bun either. The burgers were delicious though, and you can never go wrong with sweet potato fries! Burgers have definitely made their way up on my list of favorite foods lately.

These were pancakes from Against All Grain. My new favorite Paleo pancake…they just keep getting better! Plus the recipe makes a million pancakes, so I can freeze them and pop them in the microwave for a quick breakfast. I paired these with some spinach and red pepper chicken sausage from Costco! GREAT way to start the day!

Here we have a delicious stir-fry. I got to use my spiralizer (really not sure if that’s a word, but I like it, so I use it) again. I am obsessed with that thing! This was an awesome substitute for stir-fry with rice and a nice alternative to cauliflower!

Mmmmmmmm…stuffed acorn squash with ground chicken and topped with an egg. Courtesy of A Dash Of Meg’s Blog! This was freaking amazing, so filling, and made me 3 whole meals with 1 acorn squash and a pound of ground chicken. You should try it too!

I really can’t say enough about this recipe. This one is from the 21 DSD Cookbook – Banana Vanilla Bean N’Oatmeal. It really almost tastes like oatmeal, but dare I say…BETTER!? I think so! I made it the night before and had it one morning warm and one morning cold. I think I like the warm better, but if you’re in a hurry, cold is the way to go. Topped with bananas, a splash of almond milk and a little more cinnamon, this is easily a top breakfast in my book! It’s good for dessert too! Can’t beat it.

I had a craving for a cobb salad the other day, and this was the perfect thing! Chicken, carrots, tomatoes, bacon, artichoke hearts (I LOVE these now – eat them straight out of the jar most of the time), avocado, a little grass-fed cheese and just pure yummy goodness!

Lunches for two! I’m glad to be packing lunches for my hubby now too!

Ahhh, the infamous Meatza!! Damn good meal right here, and it made the BEST lunch today too! Hard to tell which side is mine, isn’t it? Veggies on veggies on veggies!

This morning I FINALLY tried this Chocolate Sweet Potato Ice Cream, also from A Dash of Meg! She isn’t kidding when she calls it ice cream! I had to add a little extra almond milk so I could drink it while I was getting ready this morning. Kind of hard to eat it with a spoon while I’m doing my makeup! Boy, oh boy, was it delicious. I used to LOVE Wendy’s frosties as a kid, and this is almost spot on. So good, so so good!

And to top it off, we have chicken, marinara and zoodles. One of my all-time favorite meals is spaghetti, and this is a mighty tasty replacement!

So that’s a nice little recap of some of the meals I’ve been whipping up in the kitchen! I’m becoming a really great recipe-follower, but I don’t think I’ll ever be a recipe inventor. Just give me the directions, and I’m good! I’m actually learning to enjoy cooking…the amazing food doesn’t hurt either!

When I last wrote, I talked about how the CrossFit gym I joined was supposed to open a month ago. Well, it still hasn’t opened, so instead of sitting on my booty every day and complaining about my body until it opens, I decided to take matters into my own hands. This week, I’m 2 for 2 waking up before work and going to the gym in our building! Yay me, haha! I’m sure you’re thinking, “She has a gym in her building? Why isn’t she there every day?” And you’re right, I should be there all the time, but I hate it. It’s so small and everyone is staring at you (ok, maybe they aren’t, but it feels like they are), and I don’t really know what I’m doing. I hate making my own workout routine. Plus the equipment is limited, yadda yadda yadda! But the important thing is, I’m doing it! Getting up early sucks, and I’m pretty sure it always will, but it’s so nice to get off work and come straight home knowing I’ve already knocked out my workout for the day! Bonus: I’m feeling more energized today and not completely exhausted. I’ll credit my early-morning workout for that one! But I’m still ANXIOUSLY awaiting the opening of the CrossFit gym!

Now onto the main event! I really don’t know how I sometimes get myself into the situations that I do. I sometimes sit there wondering, “Really? How does that even happen to someone? Get it together, Kristi!” Well yesterday, after my workout, I was going to hike up the stairs from the gym to our apartment (28 flights of stairs – hoping to get these legs in tip-top shape). I’ve done it before with Josh, and it really isn’t rocket science, so I opened the door and started my way up. Well, not even 2 flights up, the stairs ended and there was nowhere to go. So I did the only logical thing and went down. The door said “re-entry on floor 7.” I was on 9. Sooo down to 7 I go, open the door, only to find what seemed to be The Twilight Zone. I was on a floor with doctors offices (need I remind you I am still in my apartment building, but at this point, I don’t even know where I am). I walk back up to 8, open the door, and MORE offices. What the heck? I don’t even know what’s going on…I know my building is right there, but I have NO CLUE how to get out! Instead of walking up and down aimlessly, I called Josh and had to have him come open the door for me. True story, unfortunately. Good news is, I solved the mystery of what lies on floors 2-8 in our apartment building! Yea, that was definitely a Monday! Only me, I swear…

Ohhh but it doesn’t end there. I’ve been wanting to share with you how I’ve been trying to wash & condition my hair with a more natural method. I’m trying to grow my hair super long and want it to be really healthy, and I don’t think that normal shampoo is really good for it. I dyed it back brown, so that’s a step in the right direction too. If you know me well, you know that I don’t really wash my hair that often anyway. I’m not embarrassed to admit it. My hair doesn’t get oily for days, and when I wash it all the time it gets really frizzy and dry, and I hate it. I rarely ever blow dry my hair anymore, I just let it dry naturally and embrace my natural curls! Plus, when I’m working out, the thought of washing my hair every day makes me cringe! I started trying this recipe that I found on this blog. I used recipe 2 after reading that the paste was messy. I don’t like messy. I washed my hair with Dove shampoo on a Wednesday, then every couple/few days I washed with the baking soda concoction and “conditioned” with the vinegar concoction. I did this until the next Saturday, so 10 days. At this point my hair was feeling a little gross, so I washed with the Dove shampoo again. My hair has never felt softer, healthier, or looked shinier. Josh referred to me as a hippie, and isn’t thrilled about my new hair washing method, but if it makes my hair healthier, I’m all about it! That is, until this morning. I’ve had the mixtures in my shower for over a week now (the conditioner has a cinnamon stick in it to mask the vinegar smell), and I used them again this morning. No biggie, I’ve used them like 4 or 5 times at this point. Wellll, this is what I saw when I got out of the shower….

I was freaking out because I HAD to go to work today to help out with a meeting (“Oh, sorry, can’t come in today…I look like I was attacked by something”), but all I could really do is laugh. I mean, HOW does this even happen??? My skin was bright red! Allergic reaction? I don’t know, perhaps it was the cinnamon? Hahaha, I’m laughing as I’m writing this because I still can’t believe this happened. I was slathering makeup on my face in hopes of not looking like a lion just clawed my face! Josh was very sweet about it, but I know he was just dying laughing inside thinking “I told you so!” Thankfully, when I got to work, the stripes were gone. I’m still not sure why this happened, but don’t worry, I’ll keep trying my natural shampooing method. Maybe I just won’t let it sit for a week before I use it! I hope everyone could get a good laugh out of this because I sure did.

Happy Tuesday, everyone! We can only go up from here!

kMc

 

 

 

 

Confession Time!

Well hello there blogger world…long time no see! I won’t say, “sorry it’s been so long” again because that’s getting old. Truth be told, I haven’t had anything really noteworthy to write about in a couple of weeks! I also must say that I’m a bit ashamed of myself. I have been in a huge SLUMP lately that I just can’t get out of! Ever since we went home for Christmas, it’s been so hard for me to jump back into the routine of working out. Just SO hard, I tell ya. I ate terribly while we were home because that’s what was convenient, and felt terrible about it for days after. Poor Josh had to listen to me complain for dayssss about how bloated and fat I felt! Although there was really no use in complaining because it was my choice, right? Yep! Anywho – I snapped out of that real quick (well, after New Year’s) and got right back on the Paleo wagon! Otherwise, I was about to just completely wreck what I’ve been working so hard for! Wanna know the crazy thing? It was EASY to start eating healthy again, but I just can’t get back into the gym. It’s so weird because a few years ago I would easily go to the gym, but eating healthy was where I fell short. I’d always say, “Oh, I can eat whatever I want, as long as I burn it off at the gym.” I’m glad my thought process has changed from back then. I know that balancing a clean diet and exercising regularly is the way to go, but I just FEEL so much better when I eat the right foods and not all of that bad stuff. It’s so not worth it!

So, back to the working out. I haven’t been working out on a regular basis for a while now, and it’s really gotten bad in the last month. I feel like such a failure and something’s gotta change ASAP! I can spit out all of these excuses like: “We moved away from the kickboxing gym I was going to” or “The CrossFit gym I just signed up with hasn’t opened yet” or “I get off work so late and don’t have time” and “I just can’t get into a routine.” I COULD say all of those, but they are exactly what I called them: EXCUSES! And we all know that no one has time for excuses. Just suck it up and tell yourself the truth: you can’t get back into a routine because you haven’t made the time or put in the effort to make it work! And that right there is the truth, plain and simple. I have all of these big plans to start doing CrossFit regularly, and that’s where my mind is stuck. The gym was supposed to open on January 15th, but it keeps getting pushed back. I’m excited for it to open so that I can start going in the morning. My nights are so unpredictable with work, so it only makes sense. Once that gym opens, I WILL make it work and get back into it 100%, but until then…I gotta figure something out and find my motivation. I don’t know where it went, but I refuse to go back to where I started, it’s just not an option!

I recently came across this girl’s instagram and it just inspired me all over again. I LOVE reading other people’s fitness stories and seeing before and after pictures. Hers is a little different “before and after,” but her dedication is something to learn from. It’s insane what people can accomplish if they just give it their all. I hope to be that person soon, the one that gives 100% and never gives up on my goals. This is the year, I just know it. Last year taught me so many things about myself, about what I can accomplish if I just try, and I can’t wait to accomplish even more this year!

On a more positive note, I started The 21 Day Sugar Detox on January 6th! I have absolutely loved it so far and have followed the Level 3 meal plan almost to a T! I’m no saint, I did have wings from our favorite wing place one night and some alcohol here and there, but other than that…haha, ok, I guess that isn’t following it to a T but you get the point. I was hesitant about the meal plan at first because it seemed so expensive. You have to buy tons of meat, which really adds up, but I must say that I’ve really enjoyed following the meal plan. I’m eating different things for breakfast each day, I always have leftovers for lunch, and dinner is usually relatively easy. The meals are absolutely delicious too! I have so many leftover meals in my freezer as well because I just couldn’t let them go to waste. Each recipes makes a ton of food! I really have no complaints except maybe the price. But once you really think about it, I think it’s pretty even with what we used to spend eating out (maybe even less), so yeaaa no complaints! I have cooked almost every single night, and it’s been great. I love knowing that what I’m eating is real food. There also isn’t a lot of prep on the weekends. Now that my dinners turn into lunches, all I really spend time making on the weekends is muffins, granola and/or nut mixes from the book. I would highly recommend it if you aren’t sure where to start!

It is a little frustrating that I haven’t seen much change in my body yet. I was seeing changes (even if minimal) ever since the day I started doing Paleo. I’m convinced that those 9 days of eating badly wrecked my body – especially my stomach (ugh)! But really, I’m sure it has to do with my lack of exercise. I need to heed my own advice that I give everyone else: just keep doing what I’m doing and I WILL see changes, especially if I can get into a set workout routine soon. I’m excited to start CrossFit full force and see what I can do with this body of mine…time to make some more changes! Bring it on, 2014!

In other news, here are some meals I’ve been whipping up in the kitchen from the 21 DSD book (I’m ordering the cookbook soon!!):

Meatloaf and Cauliflower Mash. So. Freaking. Good. I didn’t even know I liked meatloaf until this! Definitely a favorite.

Broiled Salmon Topped with Capers and Tomatoes.

Chicken Apple Sausage. Two thumbs up!!

Salmon salad mixed with capers and homemade mayo, served on egg-y “tortilla” wraps and topped with avocado. Must make this again soon!

I have loved branching out on my breakfasts. I usually eat the same thing every day, so it has been a nice change!

Bacon Root Veggie Hash topped with fried eggs! Oh so yummy!

“Not Sweet Treat” of Paleo apple donuts. Definitely not the real thing, but a nice enough substitute!

Tomato Basil Quiche. This one wasn’t my favorite. It would probably be much better eaten fresh, but no time for all that in the morning! 🙂

Shrimp Pad Thai. Pretty Darn Tasty! I was in awe of this veggie spiral thingy when I saw it in action! So glad I got one for Christmas!!

I like to call this clean-out-your-fridge leftovers. Bacon root hash mixed with chicken apple sausage, spinach and some eggs. One of my best breakfasts yet!

Roasted Cauliflower Soup. MmmMmm

Apple and Fennel Salad. I am now sure that I do not like fennel, but the apples were good!

Beef and Broccoli Stir-Fry of sorts. Can’t remember the actual recipe name, but it was really good!

Cilantro Cauli-Rice

This one was kind of thrown together last minute, but it was delicious. I love anything similar to Mexican food, and this hit the spot!

Maddie and Dad are NOT Paleo. Not sure what she did to deserve her own stack of pancakes, but she got it alright! She’s so spoiled.

SOOO good! This time I made Beef Apple Sausage. Even better than the chicken!

Meatballs and two types of salad. Delish!

The beginnings of Smoky Chicken Tortilla-less soup. Amazing.

 

Carrot Pumpkin Spice Muffins for breakfast this week. Not very sweet, but still pretty good! Especially with some KerryGold butter on top!

Cinnilla Nut Mix for work. Super tasty and so easy!

Jicama “fries.” Very very interesting – not my fave.

Buffalo Shrimp Tacos. Out of this world good. You should make some right now. Seriously.

 

Lamb and Chorizo Chili topped with guacamole. Perfect for a snowy night in.

And lastly, a nice little picture of what I got to (slowly) walk to work in today. Make the cold weather go away, I can’t take it much longer. My southern body cannot adapt!

Thanks for listening! I hope everyone has a great night!!

kMc

New Year’s Resolutions

Oh those 3 little words, that I never really think about until the last week in December. Or really the first week of January if I’m being honest. I don’t really worry about resolutions or put pressure on myself to accomplish them, but I do always make a few each year. As far back as I can remember, one of my goals has ALWAYS been to lose weight, and I ALWAYS failed! Well, I am happy to report that this year, “losing weight” is NOT one of my New Year’s resolutions. Hallelujah, praise the Lord! Don’t get me wrong, there are definitely still some lots of improvements to be made (although I’m a million times happier with myself than I was at this time last year). It’s just that this year, my goals will be focused on health and strength and not all about trying to be skinny!

I’ll start off with my resolutions for last year:

1. Lose weight/get in shape. Obviously
2. Run a half marathon
3. Run a full marathon
4. Start reading

Yep, that was my whopping list right there! I’m happy to say that I accomplished #1 (for the most part) and #2 (run/walk). I’m also happy to say that I did not accomplish #3, because if I did, I would probably be having knee replacement surgery right now. I’m gonna go ahead and sweep that goal under the rug, never to be mentioned again! And #4 was semi-accomplished during long rides on the subway, but I’m just not a reader. There are a million other things I’d rather do with my free time than read, and that’s just the simple truth.

Now, moving on to this year’s resolutions:

1. Continue to live a Paleo lifestyle and become healthier
2. Start working out in the mornings so that I can spend more time with my husband and make healthy meals for us each night
3. Workout a minimum of 5 times a week
4. Get stronger (more specifically, I want to be able to do a pull up on my own with no assistance. I am TERRIBLE at these, so this will definitely be a challenge! And abs. I want abs, however vain that may be. I know it’s going to take a lot of hard work and dedication)
5. Communicate with my family and friends more and be more involved in their lives
6. Figure out how to effectively budget our money so that we can save for the future
7. Be more adventurous in the city and enjoy everything it has to offer

I think this pretty much sums up my list of resolutions, and kind of trumps last year’s list! #2 and #3 are definitely going to be the toughest, but I feel confident that if I put my mind to it, I can make both of them happen. I realize that all of my goals are mainly about health and fitness, and that’s okay. After all, that is why I have this blog in the first place!

I’m super excited that I’ve found a CrossFit gym literally 5 minutes from my apartment to help me accomplish some of these goals! Hopefully it will make it easier to workout in the mornings – something I have never been good at, but it only makes sense to get it out of the way and start my day off on the right foot so that I can relax after work. The last thing I want to do after work is spend another hour at the gym only to get home at 8:00!

Side note: for anyone that does CrossFit, I’m curious how many times a week you go? Is it best to do 5 days in a row, or go every other day? Please weigh in if you have any advice!

Here’s to 2014 and getting back on track after all of the holiday shenanigans!

Q: What are your New Year’s Resolutions

Q: What are some healthy changes you are making for the New Year?

 

Adios for now!

kMc

Homemade Dinners

Disclaimer: I completely intended to post this before we left for Christmas break, or during the break (I started writing it on Dec. 19th…OOPS!), but I was too busy enjoying every second spent with my family!

So, since I went Paleo back in May, Josh and I have been ordering these pre-made Paleo (I don’t know why I capitalize “Paleo,” but it just seems right) meals from a place called Eat Tribal. I loved it – all you do is pop them in the microwave for 90 seconds and voila! Dinner is served. It made my life a lot easier, because let’s be honest, who really wants to cook an entire meal each night after work and the gym. Anybody? Yea, me either! We seriously did this up until last month. Soooo that’s like 7 months worth of meals being cooked for us. We only ordered 3 meals per week, so the other nights we would fend for ourselves, but those 3 meals REALLY helped.

THEN, last month, I decided we should save a little money and start cooking our own meals…whomp, whomp…I found this amazing Groupon deal where I could get 12 months of grocery lists and meal plans for $29! Wowza…you just can’t beat that! Each week, emeals sends me a new menu along with a grocery list. I simply cross off the items I already have and head to the store. Most of the meals are ready in an hour or less, but cooking every night is something that really takes some getting used to. It’s like the last thing I want to do when I get home – especially on the nights that I don’t get home until 8:00 pm! But I must say some really tasty meals have come out of this new cooking!

Tuscan Beef-Stuffed Peppers with Broccoli-Cauliflower Salad

This was the first one I made, and it was delicious!

Spicy Southwest Chicken Thighs and Roasted Sweet Potatoes and Leeks

From this, I learned that I hate chicken thighs. The sweet potatoes were awesome (topped with kerrygold grassfed butter!)

Chicken-and-Mushroom Cauliflower Risotto with Sautéed Spinach and Tomatoes

Dijon-Lemon Roasted Salmon with Ginger-Sesame Sweet Potato Spears (I chose to make chips because I refuse to try to chop a sweet potato into spears and lose a finger!)

Garlic-Fennel Pork Loin and Oven-Roasted Green Beans

LOVED these green beans with almonds!

Caribbean Flank Steak and Roasted Asparagus-Spinach Salad

And this is when I realized that I love flank steak!! Yummy!!

Tuscan Slow Cooker Pot Roast with Lemon-Parsley Carrots

Ohmygosh…I almost forgot how much I love pot roast!!!!!

Sneaking in one of my favorite breakfasts – Paleo Pancakes. This recipe can be found here.

I also thought I would share with you the fact that I am not perfect! Sometimes a girl’s just gotta have her ice cream. I have this MAYBE once a month, so I didn’t feel too guilty

As with everything, I find that if I eat the same thing every single day, I WILL eventually get sick of it. Instead of spinach, sausage and eggs, I opted for some frozen carrot banana muffins I had (thawed out, of course) and scrambled eggs for breakfast one day. Nice change of pace.

Mmmmm, Paleo Pizza (not from emeals – I was craving pizza). Obviously, that’s my half on the right. Unfortunately my veggies didn’t cook very well, but the crust was really good! I forgot where I found the recipe 😦

Skillet Flank Steak and Spicy Spinach Sauté

This was delicious!

I also managed to make some lunches for the week. I have seriously been slacking at this! I made these buffalo chicken egg muffins from the 21-Day Sugar Detox that I got for Christmas and absolutely love!

I also made this banana bread from the Against All Grain Cookbook which I absolutely love as well! I will no longer miss banana bread, because this is an awesome replacement!!

I hope you enjoyed this super late post – more on New Year’s Resolutions, how badly I ate over the break, and a new 21 Day Sugar Detox to jump start the New Year!

I hope all of you will be watching the BCS National Championship Game tonight and will be cheering on the Auburn Tigers with me! WAR EAGLE!!

 

kMc

Bad, Bad Blogger & Thanksgiving Disasters

I’m not even sure if anyone actually reads this thing, but if you do, I sincerely apologize for being such an awful blogger (it’s a good thing this isn’t my job)! Truth be told, the reason I AM such a terrible blogger lately is due to my job. I have been so insanely busy this last month and a half, I have barely even had time to think, much less write new blog posts. I hate that because I feel like I have so so much to share with everyone! Sadly, I never even got around to making a Thanksgiving post, so I think I’ll start with that!

I’ll start off by telling you a little bit about last year’s Thanksgiving Extravaganza! We were in New York for about a month and a half, it was my first holiday that I had ever celebrated without my family (well, besides my birthday), 🙂 and I was missing them a lot. So I decided to make my very first Thanksgiving dinner all by myself to try and make it feel a little more like home! I made turkey, dressing, macaroni & cheese, cheesecake, pumpkin pie and probably a lot of other really healthy stuff! haha. It started off great, with me leaving the bag (of turkey giblets?) inside the turkey the entire time I cooked it. My mom couldn’t stop laughing when I called her – what can I say? I’m usually the one bringing green bean casserole that takes 5 minutes in the microwave! At the end of the day, it was edible, and we enjoyed our first Thanksgiving meal (on our own) together. I’m pretty sure I swore to never take on the task of cooking an entire meal like that again….

Which leads me to Thanksgiving 2013. If you’ve read anything on this blog, you have probably gathered that I eat Paleo about 90% of the time (yes, this percentage has dropped since I first began Paleo). Naturally, I was bound and determined to make my very first PALEO Thanksgiving dinner this year. I knew it was a bad idea to begin with, but I kept finding more and more recipes that I wanted to try. I mean, they all LOOKED amazing! So here’s the rundown of everything I made:

• Paleo Sweet Potato Casserole
• Buttery Thyme Parsnip and Turnip Puree
• Stir Fried Kale and Bacon
• Pumpkin Cheesecake
• Eggnog Pumpkin Pie with Gingerbread Crust (this sounds amazing, right?)
• Deviled Eggs (no link, used my mom’s recipe…or so I thought)
• Apple Stuffed Turkey (or something like that, I can’t remember the link)
• Gluten Free Dressing, following my grandmother’s recipe (her dressing was the best EVER, although my mom has pretty much perfected it as well)

So, what went wrong you might ask? It all began around 10 am when we went to put the turkey in the oven. We had like a 20 lb turkey (seriously the smallest we could find, a bit ironic in New York) we got from Costco, and apparently it was too big/heavy for the aluminum pan we put it in. When we put it in the oven, somehow the pan managed to get a hole in the bottom of it, and all of the juices (apple juice, maple syrup, etc) that the recipe called for leaked onto the bottom of the oven causing it to burn and smoke up the entire apartment. I left Josh to clean up the mess (hehe), and off I went to find a new pan – we were NOT letting this turkey go to waste! New pan and all, we popped the turkey back into the oven and let ‘er cook!

I made everything else (aside from the desserts, which I made the night before) while the turkey was cooking, which took freaking forever! Cooking this meal literally took over my entire day, so you can imagine my disappointment when it was all absolutely disgusting, and not even edible like last year’s meal. Why, you might wonder, was it inedible? Well, we forgot to wrap the turkey in aluminum foil, so needless to say it was burnt to a crisp. We both died laughing when Josh went to cut it and it kind of “flaked” off the bone! Hahaha! I think I put too much coconut milk in the sweet potato casserole – that’s what happens when you’re halving a recipe but forget that you’re doing so – it was gross. On to the parsnip and turnip puree. Ok, when I made this and saw the finished product, it looked so much like mashed potatoes I couldn’t wait to try it! Not sure what went wrong on this one. The texture? Perfect! The flavor? Weird. The kale and bacon dish was okay, but not very Thanksgiving-y. Next were the deviled eggs. I really don’t know how I messed these up, but they were really dry and too mustard-y…at this point, I was just getting depressed. The gluten free dressing wasn’t terrible. I think it would have been really good if the cornbread didn’t (almost) go bad before I put it in the dressing. Seriously, y’all, I don’t think it could have gone any worse than it did. For the desserts, I honestly don’t know what “normal” pumpkin pie tastes like, so I can’t really say for certain if this was good or bad. I made it for Josh…and he didn’t even try it. Can’t really blame him after the fiasco of all the other things I messed up! BUT, the cheesecake (of all things) actually tasted pretty dang good! I was not expecting this – the filling for this “cheesecake” is made out of cashews, so I was expecting it to be the worst thing. Cheesecake is my all-time favorite non-paleo dessert, so having something that compared to it was amazing! And there you have it, my Thanksgiving disaster in a nutshell! Here are some pictures of this awesomely terrible meal:

 

 

 I

I told you everything LOOKED really good. Eating it was another story. I’ve never gone to bed hungry after a Thanksgiving meal, guess there’s a first time for everything! Maybe next year I’ll just go with the real thing. I know Josh would be thrilled!

Here’s to being glad that Christmas will be spent with family that can cook (even if it isn’t Paleo-friendly)! I think I’ll just stick to the green been casserole this time 😉

This post turned out a bit long, as I thought it might, so more updates on what I’ve been doing for the past month coming soon! Stay tuned for more!

Q: Do you have any cooking horror stories?

Q: What’s your favorite thing to make during the holidays?

Xoxo,

kMc

 

Grocery Stores Galore!

As I’m getting ready to write this post, I’m realizing how much things have changed for me in the past few months. Instead of sleeping off a hangover on the weekends, I’m waking up early to beat the crowds to the grocery store! I mean…I’m not completely lame, and I still like to indulge a bit on the weekends, but this is becoming the norm. I spend the majority of my Sundays going to the store, meal planning then meal prepping. I do this because this is how Paleo works for me. Life is so busy these days, so if I plan everything out beforehand, there’s less room for error and slip-ups! It works for me, and I’m willing to bet it would work for you too! I’m also realizing (well, I realized this a while back) that the only reason this is working for me is because I wanted it. Not some trainer or anyone else – I made the decision to make this change in my life, and that is the sole reason I have stuck to it for so long. Do it for yourself…not anyone else!

Wow, wasn’t planning on saying all of that, but there you have it!

Like I said, it’s become the norm to go grocery shopping on Sundays. Welllll, yesterday I went to Trader Joe’s, Costco AND Whole Foods! Oops! I almost got to Trader Joe’s in time to beat the crowd, but I wanted to sleep in a little, so it was worth it. It wasn’t nearly as bad as last weekend, and my trip was much more enjoyable.

I am absolutely in love with Trader Joe’s! They have some awesomely healthy things, and they’re prices are great! I am so sad that I have lived 25 whole years without going to this store! Look at what I scooped up in my cart!

Ahhhhhh Lara Bars…these are the best things to have in a pinch (just fruit and nuts), and I’m so glad I finally found them. Cashew Cookie…yummmmm! Naturally, I bought an entire box of them.

My other favorite purchase. Plantain chips. Ohmygosh…these are so, so delicious! And great for dipping in guacamole! I’m obsessed with them and happy to see they only have 3 ingredients: plantains, sunflower oil and salt! They’re also only like $1.50 for a bag of these, SCORE! Why would I ever make my own? 🙂

 

I didn’t get any pics of my Costco purchases because I basically buy the same things every time, but I didn’t quite find everything I needed in those two trips, so I decided to make a stroll to Whole Foods. Literally less than 2 blocks from our apartment! I went in there one other night right when we moved in, and the place was a freakin’ madhouse! I was scared to go back, but it was surprisingly calm on a Sunday night, and I finally got a chance to enjoy my experience. And let me just say, Whole Foods now has my heart, but that place can reallllyyyy add up if you aren’t careful!

As I was perusing the aisles, THIS caught my eye! Ummmm…you had me at paleo!! Of course I had to buy this!

I’ve been looking for coconut butter everywhere and finally found it! I couldn’t pass up the barney butter that was sitting next to it either.

And then I struck gold! They have like 3 different kinds of almond milk WITHOUT the nasty additives! Now I know I said it’s super easy to make almond milk, and it is, but this is just awesome. I love knowing that I can walk down the street and grab this if I need to, instead of the brand that sits a shelf below and contains the dreaded carrageenan! I’m not sure if you can see what that is in the brown bottle, so let me enlighten you. ICED COFFEE WITH ALMOND MILK! I am in heaven! I didn’t buy it since I’m doing this no sugar challenge again, but you can bet I’ll be buying it once it’s over! These are items I have searched high and low for, and now I’ve found them! Oh, Whole Foods, you. are. amazing.

Once the shopping ended, this is what my refrigerator looked like. Now THAT’S how a refrigerator is supposed to look!! So colorful, so healthy. Nom. Nom. Nommy!

Random picture, but I wanted to share this kale and apple salad that I had at work the other day. It’s from a little sandwich shop called Num Pang, and it is delicious! I usually hate raw kale, but this was no ordinary kale! I’m planning to recreate it this week…I hope it turns out equally as tasty!

For dinner tonight, I made The du Plooy duo’s Chicken Fried “Rice”. It was actually really good once I mixed everything together and added a little coconut aminos on top! Two thumbs up for this recipe!

I also made it back to CrossFit tonight! My arms are literally just now back to normal after last Monday, and wouldn’t you know, we worked the SAME dang muscles tonight! We did 5 rounds of:

5 power cleans

10 front squats

5 push jerks

20 pull ups (AGAIN!?)

My arms are already sore in the exact same place as last week, so I’m definitely making a point to stretch them tonight. Last week was almost unbearable since my arms were permanently bent for 4 days straight! But I’m loving getting back into CrossFit…I think it’s just what I need to whip this body into shape and get some muscle definition!

 

I’m going to end this post with something I haven’t done since I started this page – pictures. This is the best way for me to measure my progress, so I like to take pictures and compare them to each other. I took the last one because I started another 21-day challenge, and I want to see if there are any noticeable changes at the end of it. Sorry for the selfie, but I think Josh gets tired of taking my “before and afters,” so I just take them myself!

I’m pretty proud of the change from picture 2 to 3 (August and now) and just love seeing new changes in my body, but I’m still working towards my goal! I really just have to point out here…is the biggest change in my ta-tas or what? I mean, seriously, those things have come a long way since February!

Enjoy the rest of your Monday night!

kMc

Feeling the Burn!

So, I mentioned last night that I went to CrossFit for the first time in over a YEAR, and boy am I feeling it today! I forgot to post what we did yesterday, but this is how it went:

Warm Up: 

For 4 minutes,

30 double unders (let’s be honest here, I’ve never been able to do a double under in my life, so singles for me!)

2 wall walks

 

Then (I don’t know the correct term for this part):

For 17 minutes,

1 push press

2 push jerks

We gradually added weight after each round

 

Workout:

For time,

7 rounds of 7 of the following:

Push press

Pull-ups (yikes!)

Ring dips (double yikes!)

 

Let me just say, after warming up with the push press and push jerks, I was a little nervous. I was able to do 75 lbs, but dang it was heavy!

So, for the actual workout, I decided to just use the bar (I think I used the girl bar, so 35 lbs) since I was going to be doing 49 of them. Told you I was weak… this girl is in serious need of some weightlifting! For pull-ups, I used a red and a green band for help. Then for the ring dips, I used a green band.

My arms are so weak, it’s ridiculous! They always have been, so pull-ups and ring dips are NOT my strong suit! I had this goal last time I did CrossFit, but I’m making it my goal again to be able to do a pull-up without band assistance! It goes without saying that this workout was HARD – I was pushed to complete failure by the end of it all, and it was “only” a 16 minute workout for me!

I knew I would be super sore today, but holy cow, just doing my job is a task today. It hurts to answer the phone, grab a pen, use a scanner, pick up my water bottle. I am ridiculously sore, and I absolutely love it because I know my body has no choice but to change if I’m doing this on a regular basis!!

I’m planning to go swimming tonight, but I think that is going to be quite challenging! I’m always more sore on the second day, so I’m thinking swimming will help stretch my muscles out. This may end up as a failed attempt!

 

 

Too Busy to Blog!

I am SO sad that it has been THREE weeks (or more! yikes!) since I’ve done a post! This will probably end up being entirely too long because I feel like so much has happened since then!

First off, the main reason I’ve been MIA is because we moved apartments…HIP HIP HOORAY!! I have been looking forward to this move for a long time! We started packing the weekend before the move since we had to move on a Friday, and as expected, it was a huge disaster. Stuff. Was. Everywhere! Our apartment was already small, then add [what seemed like] a million boxes, and you have no room to walk, sit, eat, get dressed, sleep, etc. etc. etc.! To say we were going crazy during that week is an understatement! But we finally got everything packed up and made the move to our new place! Amazing, just amazing, I tell ya! I always like to think everything happens for a reason, and I think we had to spend out first year in a small space in order to fully appreciate this new space…and boy DO we appreciate it! I honestly don’t have anything negative to say about our new apartment! We really lucked out finding it…thanks to Josh! The new area is a lot busier and a lot less neighborhood-y, but I will never complain, because my commute to work is now cut in half (it used to take an HOUR!), and we’re in walking distance to so many places – Whole Foods, Bed Bath & Beyond, TJ Maxx, H&M, Sephora and lots of others! I am one happy lady here!

With all of the packing, moving, unpacking and organizing (my favorite part!), I just haven’t had time to write any posts…excuses, excuses! I know!! The good news is, after unpacking everything, we realized we could use a few more pieces of furniture – like I need another reason to shop! But that is DEFINITELY a good thing!

So what’s been happening in the last few weeks besides moving into our new place? We had lots of birthdays to celebrate this month in the McCain family – our nephews, Ben and Ethan, Josh’s Dad, Maddie (our sweet furry child) and MINE! That’s of lot of birthdays, and I absolutely love birthdays…especially mine (better known as my birthday week)!

Isn’t she just the cutest [6 year old] chihuahua you’ve ever seen? Yes, I thought so! I may or may not treat her like a human child…

 

Naturally, we went to our favorite local bar, Bar Coastal, to celebrate my birthday! It was 3 blocks from our old apartment, and our favorite hangout, but man is it a pain in the booty to get to now! We used to live on the East side, now we’re on the West side…such a pain to get from one side to the other, but absolutely worth it for the VIP treatment we get there! When we got home, I was served my favorite red velvet cupcakes for the perfect ending to my day! I’m also super excited about my new Paleo cookbook that my Grandma got me for my birthday!! I had the BEST birthday thanks to my family and friends!

I was also lucky enough to have this cutie call and sing me Happy Birthday – no, really, he actually sang the entire song to me! So stinkin’ cute! He also made me a birthday cake out of play-doh and had me blow out the candles! Haha, he cracks me up!

Since I didn’t get to dress up for Halloween (for the SECOND year in a row…insert sad face here), I’ll just share pics of the cutest UPS man ever! Seriously, I don’t think it gets much cuter!

I also got this from his Halloween party at school. I don’t know how he is already old enough to be in school…time needs to slow down!

Let’s see…what else has been happening?

My granola from Steve’s Paleo Goods finally came in! I love finding Paleo alternatives for foods that are 100% NOT Paleo! I love this sampler pack (which is almost gone) so you can figure out what you do/don’t like! Thumbs up for this place!

I’m still not sure if it compares to this Homemade Granola topped with bananas and strawberries! YUM YUM YUM!!

On the left is one of my new favorite breakfasts – sauteed spinach, sausage and eggs over easy (?) I honestly have no idea what you call these? Fried eggs? haha, anywho, I love them! Runny yolk and all – who knew!? Andddd on the right is a complete Paleo pancake failure! WHY are these things so damn hard to flip? I like to call it a pancake scramble…oh well.

Random, but we saw this on our way to Costco last weekend!! We LOVE Costco now! I thought this was funny…this is not a a DRIVE through McDonald’s, but a WALK through McDonald’s! Haha, only in NYC!

Yesterday, it was back to meal prepping! It was nearly impossible to do that during the move!

I finally made it to Trader Joe’s! I’m pretty sure that I could love this place and spend hours in there – if only I woke up at 6 am on the weekend to get my grocery shopping done and beat the crowds…NIGHTMARE! But I did find some pretty good stuff! Awesome healthy options that don’t break the bank!

Since Josh and I (mainly Josh) drink so much iced coffee from Starbucks, and our new Starbucks is always ridiculously busy, we decided to give homemade iced coffee a whirl! We tried out this recipe from The Pioneer Woman. Attempt #1 was a bit of a failure, so we made round #2 tonight! Hopefully it tastes good in the AM! Side note: I absolutely LOVE our full-size fridge…oh the things we take for granted until we don’t have them anymore!

Speaking of full-size things, I am beyond excited that we now have this kitchen to work with. It really just makes life so much easier!! So much cabinet space, so much counter space…I’m in love.

I finally made almond meal out of my leftover almonds from the milk I made a while back. I just stored them in the refrigerator until I had the time to bake them for a couple of hours!

I thought I would try out these Zucchini Fritters that I found on The du Plooy duo’s Blog! She has so many great recipes – definitely check out her blog! I had these this morning, and I’m fairly certain I did something wrong, though I’m not sure what. But they tasted really weird! Not surprising when I’m the chef!

I made spaghetti squash to top with meatballs and marinara for some lunches this week…delicious! I love how easy this is to make, except for cutting the squash in half – that’s what Josh is for!

Then I made these Salmon Cakes and sauteed some broccoli slaw for “noodles.”

End result? These yummy lunches for the week! I had 2 “spaghetti” and meatballs and 2 salmon cakes with broccoli slaw! I had the salmon today, and it was so good! I topped it with Trader Joe’s whole grain dijon mustard…mmm mmm!

For dinner, I made one of our new favorites, Paleo-friendly tacos! I used these Simple Paleo Tortillas for the shells. They are so easy and so good! Tacos used to be one of my favorite homemade meals, so I’m so excited to add them back to the menu! We topped them with organic ground beef, tomatoes, salsa and guacamole!

Now let’s get to the real topic of conversation – my exercise routine lately! I have been such a huge slacker, and I’ll be the first to admit it! I’m not going to make excuses, because you can always make the time to exercise, but thankfully I have jumped right back into it now that we’re settled into our new apartment! One of my favorite things about our building is that we have a gym AND a pool! I have always wanted to start swimming, just never took the plunge! Haha, bad pun there! I have always heard that swimming is one of the best workouts for your entire body, so I’m super excited! I’ve been twice already with Josh, and so far I quite like it! I did have to invest in this sexy one-piece though!

Of course it’s neon and animal print! I’m hoping I can start swimming 3-4 times a week and make it a routine! Pretty easy just to head downstairs and hop in the pool!

I am also ECSTATIC about my birthday present from Josh!! I am finally, finally getting back into CrossFit after wanting to for the past year! I couldn’t be happier! I’ve been so worried about finding a new gym since the kickboxing gym is so far away now. I am definitely a class-taking girl. I’m not a fan of free weights and treadmills! I think it was meant for me, because right around my birthday I found an amazing deal for CrossFit classes at Brick New York on Gilt City (similar to Groupon). The gym is right down the street from my work, and just a quick subway ride back to the apartment…perfecto! I actually went tonight for the first time, and having not done CrossFit in an entire year…it was TOUGH! My arms are going to be so sore tomorrow, but I loved it! Great gym, great people, great environment. As expected, I was the last person to finish the “WOD,” but as I was doing my last pull-ups and ring dips, everyone was standing there cheering me on…such a great feeling coming from people I just met 30 minutes before (and some I hadn’t even met)! I’ve got a LONG way to go, but I know this is where I want to be. It’s time to build these muscles up because I felt SO weak today!! I’m so excited for these changes in my workout routine and hope to see big changes!

Lastly, there is a new Superhero Challenge 2.0 that starts November 6th! I’m so excited for the new videos and daily tips! It’s totally revamped, and I think it’s going to be so much better! I’m also excited that I recruited a few people to join me! I really think it’s a great way to jumpstart a healthy lifestyle and get great advice from someone who knows what she’s doing! I’m so glad that I’m starting CrossFit at the same time – let’s see what changes I can make in the next 21 days! Bring on the challenge!!

Wow, this was even longer than I expected, but I’m so excited about everything that’s going on right now in my life, and I couldn’t be happier! I had to share with everyone since I’ve been such a dang slacker!

I’m calling it a night with this cutie!

Until next time!

kMc