Snap Back To Reality

Dang its hard to get back to your norm after a get away, no matter how long it is.

The hubs and I went away Saturday-Monday for our one year wedding anniversary. We had a blast, but its always great to be home and back to normal.

We went to Topeka Saturday afternoon, stayed in a suite at the Holiday Inn. The king size bed after sleeping in our queen feels SOOOO HUGE. I love big comfy beds. Someday, I want a nice california king, right now we don't have the space for one, but someday I'll have one. 

We got all cleaned up, went out and had nice dinner and then headed to the casino. It was a fun time but neither of us our quitting our jobs anytime soon! 

We came back to the hotel enjoyed the hot tub and just relaxed. 

The next day we slept in, got up and headed to the mall, we searched the mall for FOUR hours trying to find Asic GelNoosa Tri8's in the neon colors. Two stores had them but didn't have my size. These babies were my anniversary present and I wanted them badly! FINALLY, finally, as we left the mall I spotted a famous footwear down the street that closed in a whopping 8 minutes and I begged the hubs for just one more stop. I run in there and AHHHHHHHHHH there they were, my size and everything, I grabbed the box and rushed to the cashier. Boom, they were mine and I wasn't letting go of them. I probably would of cried if I wouldn't of found them. Hey don't judge the relationship a girl has with her running shoes!!

I felt really good this day, body wise.

After we got back to the hotel we watched a movie and cracked open our year old cake and shoved it in each others faces. Just like at the wedding I had cake up my nose, in my bra and in my hair. We don't play nice haha.

We did a lot of minigolf and driving ranges, thats just our "thing". We both just really enjoy it, its our go to vacation thing. Anytime we are away we always look for a minigolf course and then go hit some balls.

With new running shoes I had to go break them in and I decided on the elevator down that I was going to do my own "virtual" 5K. So I hopped on the treadmill and away I went. Damn it if I didn't PR. I ran the 3.1 in 25:08, with an average of 8:09 a mile, my first mile was 8:40. I had been so excited a week earlier to break the 10:00 and run a 9:30 that this 8:40 brought tears to my eyes. It was a good run the kind that makes you just glide around the gym. Or my legs were just going numb?

We shopped some more the next day and then headed back towards home. 

My Old Navy mini-haul. I'm totes in love with these neon sheer blouses. I have the melon and now lime and I WANT MORE!!!! I picked me up an adorable insulated lunch bag that is almost to cute to be a lunch box. and the pinks and purples are twisty bands. They are hair ties that look like bracelets and look much more stylish on your wrist and in your hair, they hold your hair great and are just super effing cute.

We stopped in Salina to get groceries at Aldi and Dillons and then home again home again bib-ity-bob.

It was a good weekend and I felt really good about how and what I ate.I put cholula on EVERYTHING! I love that stuff. I splurged at our anniversary dinner and split a skillet chocolate chip cookie and a scoop of ice cream with the hub and had a Mai Tai at the casino. Other than that I was pretty much on point.

      

Some food once we got home and some great finds durning Grocery shopping.

Eating clean home cooked foods and fresh fruit sure beats fast food and eating out big time. I feel so much better inside and out when I eat well!

What'd you do this weekend?

-J

IG- ms_st4tus

Baked Not Fried

Show of hands,

How many of you like fried foods? Onion Rings? Mozzarella Sticks? Fries?

Most of your hands probably shot up...including mine.

When it comes to eating healthier there are still days you want those damn fries.

The trick is baking, not frying.

I have found ways to put more of a healthy spin on those pound adding, addicting, fried lil gems of deliciousness.

Skinny O Rings

Large Onion

Skim Milk

Quina

Bread Crumbs

Pre Heat your oven to 425, Slice your onion into rings.

Place the rings in a shallow dish and cover with skim milk. Let these sit in the fridge for a minimum of 10 minutes. In another dish mix breadcrumbs and quina together. Lightly grease a baking sheet with spray butter, olive oil or whatever you use. Take a ring out of the milk and lightly shake it off and then dip it into your crumb/quina mixture until it is covered. Place in a single layer on baking sheet. Bake for 10-15 minutes or until golden brown.

Mozzarella Skinnies

5 Light Cheese Sticks

1 Egg

Skim Milk

Flour

Bread Crumbs

Quina

Preheat oven to 425. Slice each cheese stick in half, creating 10 lil stubs. Beat one egg with a splash of skim milk in a small dish. Mix Bread crumbs and Quina together in another small dish. Have a third small dish with flour in it. With each stub roll it lightly in the flour, dip in egg mixture and then into the crumb/quina mixture. Lay out in a single layer on a ungreased baking sheet. Repeat. Bake for 10-15 minutes until golden brown. Makes 2 servings.

UnFried French Fries

Large Potato (Sweet or Russet)

Olive Oil or Spray Butter

Cold Water

Sea Salt/Salt/Mrs Dash Seasoning

Preheat oven to 425. Peel potato if you like if not just slice it into fry like shapes. After they are cut place in a bowl of Cold water for a minimum of 10 minutes. Drain. Toss fries with olive oil or spray butter, spread on to ungreased baking sheet and sprinkle with your choice of seasonings. Bake about 20 minutes, flipping half way through. Season more if desired when they come out of the oven.

Skinny Dip

 1 Cup Plain Fat Free Greek Yogurt

Any Flavor Dressing Mix or Vegetable Soup Dry mix

Or your favorite Mrs Dash Seasoning.

Blend packet of dry mix with greek yogurt for a perfect dipping sauce with any of these baked appetizers!

Enjoy!!!

Whats your favorite healthy spin on a restaurant favorite?

-J

Follow me on Instagram - ms_st4tus

30 Day Shred Results -- Work Out Wednesday Link Up!

Good Morning Everyone!!!

Linking Up today with Skinny Meg again for Work Out Wednesday!

Be Sure to leave a comment about were your at so I can jump over to your page!

You can also find me on instagram at ms_st4tus.

As many know I did a personal challenge in the month of June, Shred into Summer, Where I did Jillian Michaels 30 day Shred.

It was tough, it was intense, I was sweaty and tired, but IT WAS AWESOME!!

Theres a reason she has her reputation for kicking asses and sculpting Pillsbury dough boys into lean mean machines. I am so so SO going to do it again, and then probably again. I loved it a lot.

A LOT

The results I got were FANTASTIC.

I'm a space case and I totally forget about taking measurements, 

BUT

I did watch the number, and through out this I lost right around 7 pounds. Pretty solid I thought.

I'm not going to lie, there were days I missed, but I always did it twice the next day to make sure I did it a full 30 times!

Here are the results:

This is Day 1 and Day 30

This is Day 1, Day 10, Day 20 and Day 30 Side View

This is Day 1, Day 10, Day 20 and Day 30 Front View

And 

Yes This is the EXACT same shorts, and tank tops.

I was shocked at the difference it made. Each week I could see new definition and muscles building.

Like I said I'm so in to do it again and again. Its really great and only 27 minutes start to finish!!

Easy Peasy.

 Also I hit a PR on Monday and then AGAIN on Tuesday, you can follow the link to read about my Fastest Miles to date. Also as promised I tried my wedding dress on to see the difference from a year ago. WOW. It was cinched as tight as possible and still fell off, read about it here.

From our wedding day til now I'm down well over 60lbs, almost 70 actually. I lost around 10 pounds between our wedding and Christmas. But I didn't start my lifestyle change and keeping track til January 1, 2013. Thats when I made the BIG changes and made myself accountable. January 1 to July 1. 6 months or 181 days of working out daily and eating as clean as possible has led to a 57 pound weight loss. I hope to hit the big 6-0 by our anniversary Sunday. I'm close so close. Those last three pounds are just playing peek-a-boo with me. But I'm confident I can do it.

What are you doing/what did you do to get yourself "summer ready" this year?

What are you next fitness goals?

Any good challenges for July?

Have a freaking wonderful Wednesday!!!!

- J

We Survived Year One

On Sunday the 7th it will be our one year wedding anniversary!

Whoooooo!

We've been together for a little over three years, March was our dating anniversary. Time sure does fly. I can't believe our wedding was a year ago. Although planning a anniversary photos and a small get away is a bajillion and ten times easier then the wedding was. (and i'm less irritable)

We got some new outfits to wear in pictures and to wear on our mini getaway. 

I had to have pictures because, well I hated our engagement and wedding pictures...not the memories just the fact that I didn't have a handle on my weight back then. For the first time EVER, we got our pictures back and I liked every SINGLE LAST one of them. They made me happy, like they should.

Heres a few of our engagement and wedding pictures that made me the most sad, when looking back:

 

None of those clothes fit, I don't ever remember feeling like I let myself go, but a pictures worth a thousand words, and when I saw these I cried a little. Because I was disappointed in myself, I was still happy I married my best friend but I was not happy with my appearance. As for the McDonalds picture, long story short, when the old mcdonalds store was in that location, and I worked there in highschool the drive thru window that we met at was there. They built a new store and put an M there instead, so we had to take a picture in the spot where our journey began.

Where did you meet your love?? 

Don't be shy, I mean I got picked up in the drive thru of McDonalds. Haha.

Now heres the pictures we took yesterday, my best friend took, them she is just gifted at photography and she always takes our pictures, then we take her out to dinner. Its always a fun evening!

LOVE THEM:

(Outfits: Me- Top, Old Navy, Im in a large but definitely could of done a medium. Shorts - Miss Me's and Shoes Walmart. Hubby - Top, Sears. Bottoms, Old Navy and shoes from American Eagle) I love me some bright colors and right now i'm stuck on teals/aguas and melon and mint!!

Gosh I love these so much.

We had a blast and it literally was like 30 minutes or less of shooting cause each pictures just turned out great the first try. These pictures were just ment to happen.

As for our anniversary we are leaving this weekend to go to Topeka for two nights, go to dinner, go gambling at a casino (I've never been)(hopefully we win, pshhh) and then do as we feel and do some shopping. This girl is getting a new pair of running shoes! (much needed)

While I was on my photo high, I pulled out the wedding dress, and DAMN. I expected it to be loose, but I didn't expect it to be cinched as tight as possible and still fall off...Good feeling though.

I'm still shocked!

What happened to your wedding dress?

I will hold onto mine, sentimental value. 

-J

My fastest mile, So Far.

I had kinda pulled back on my running, not as far, fast or as hard as I usually go for, but I woke up Monday and decided that I was just going to go out for a leisure run. I'd been killing it with Jillian Michaels  for my 30 day Shred into summer personal challenge (Results to come on W.O.W linkup!!) so I wasn't worried about my physicalness missing out on anything.

So I get up grab my gear, and out the door I go.

Away, I went.

I felt like a snail. I knew I hadn't really timed myself lately so I wasn't expecting much. I figured my normal 10:20 or longer would be my pace..as I'm snail trailing away over top of my music I hear, "this mile's pace, 9 minutes, 47 seconds" And I was SHOCKED. I had NEVER broke 10 minutes before. I couldn't believe it, I did a happy dance as I kept running, and yes, people stared. But I didn't care. I was ecstatic!!

Sweaty, thirsty and happy!

With that high now boosting my confidence, I woke up today with the same goal, get out and run. I was just hoping to hit 9:47 again or be under 10 in general. So away I go and as I'm rounding my first turn, here come three snooty, skinny twig high school girls running. They are just feet behind me and I saw the look they gave me and the snickers. I wanted to get away from them. I kicked it up, while going up hill. Away I went....they disappeared behind me to never be seen again, by me of course, and the pace of escaping their judgement, stuck. Still not expecting a good time at all, then my music quiets down and the voice comes on " this mile's pace 9 minutes and TWENTY SEVEN seconds" I smiled and a tear ran down my cheek. I was so proud of myself. I knew I had only made progress this year and I was proud of the gal I had become. 6 months, 8 months, a year ago, I wouldn't run for the fun of it, let alone run a mile or three with out stopping and curling up to die in the ditch. The girl I used to be wouldn't place such importance on a good daily workout or the time she ran a mile in. But this girl, this girl right here does. This girl gives herself pep talks and encourages her while she runs. This girl doesn't give up.

I was so thrilled, I just sat in the driveway staring at my time.

Confidence and feeling of a job well done washed over me.

This girl got to have a s'more after supper tonight. I earned it.

I watched the serving size though! So I got two s'mores in the serving size and it was only 390 calories! I enjoyed EVERY SINGLE BITE! It was delicious. and worth it.

Whats your fastest mile so far??

- J

(these pictures are always posted along with others on Instagram, be sure to follow me! ms_st4tus )