bring out the violins

because I'm ready for a pity party.... I'm sick. With another rotten cold. You heard me right another cold. I'm not one to get sick very often but this is the second time in 2 weeks that I've been down for the count with a cold. Last time it was a stuffy nose and sore throat turned laryngitis while substitute teaching in a busy classroom of 54 kindergarteners (not all at once thank God!). I mean you try teaching a bunch of active, busy, talkative 5 year olds when all you can do is whisper... not fun.

Now, I'm down with the stuffy nose, watery eyes, sneezing, cough from hell. It is no fun, no fun at all. And ironically, I'm still substitute teaching, but in PE (hello, whistle!). I don't tend to get sick very often but when I do, I'm usually down for awhile. Last time, I pushed through and managed to sweat it out with multiple torturous sessions on the death machine stair climber. This time no such luck, I even had to miss bootcamp for the second time ever :O( (First time was because of vacation, since I know you're wondering :O)) All that means, that I haven't been in the gym since Saturday's killer strength training workout ala The Fitnessista and I'm a little cranky about that. I'm trying to "listen to my body" because it is screaming at me that it's not ready to go back yet. Mentally, I need a good workout. Physically, I still need daily naps to make it through the day. I try to keep telling myself, "you've only missed two workouts, you'll be fine" but there's a not so tiny part of me that is dying to get back in there and make up for lost time.

So I don't know about you, but when I'm sick, my appetite goes to zero. I am rarely hungry and when I am, all I want is carbs. So I've been fueling my sick body with Ezekiel toast, whole wheat wheat thins, pancakes, graham crackers, and ice cream; with some peanut or almond butter thrown in for some fats and proteins. Oh yeah, and I had some overnight oats this morning. That's it. That's been 90% of my diet for the past 2 1/2 days. Gee, I'm sure the trainer would looooove to hear that. Funny thing was, I stepped on the scale today (fully clothed) and am down 2 lbs. from my lowest (non-clothed) weight. I can't quite decide if that's because I'm not eating as many calories as I usually do, or if my body is trying to tell me that I need to be incorporating more carbs from grains than I am now, (usually most of my carbs are from fruits and vegetables with about 1 to 2 servings of grains a day). I'm chalking most of it up to being sick. I definitely don't think I'm one of the lucky ones who needs to eat ice cream and crackers all day to lose weight. I wish!

Which brings me to today... I got off work (half day woohoo!!) and wasn't completely exhausted (like yesterday) so I stopped by Fred Meyer to pick up a prescription. I was told that it would be ready in 20 minutes. Now I didn't really need anything (especially after my natural foods splurge last week) but I swear the pharmacists know that if they leave you hanging for 20 minutes, you will buy something. Plus I can't be left alone in a store when I'm all sick and pathetic, bad things happen... And of course it did.

First thing that caught my eye (and the attention of my very sore throat) was the ice cream

I've heard ammmmmazing things about this ice cream so I decided to give it a shot. And it was so worth it! I don't really like the milk-y taste of dairy ice creams and this was perfectly sweet with tons of cookie chunks, without that milk-y taste. Perfection! Plus they donate to help save sea turtles... yummy, organic, and eco friendly!

mmmmmmm!!!!

Doesn't it look delicious? And no, I didn't eat half the

container by myself... My momma helped me too!

But ice cream alone wasn't enough... plus I found that in the first 5 minutes... So I kept looking, and found this...

All natural mango sorbet... the first ingredient is 

mango puree :O) And all the ingredients were

pronounceable and recognizeable... oh and did

I mention it tastes like heaven????

 Look at that yumminess :O) Yes I had help here too,

from several people (since I know how worried about my

waistline you are :O)) I don't count sick calories anyways :O)

Mmmm.... I took 2 test shots of me eating the sorbet

just to make sure I had it perfect :O)

But that's not all... I mean Fred Meyer has everything... so while I was wasting away the last 10 ish minutes, I headed over to the beauty department in search of some adorable pink/coral nailpolish (couldn't find anything I couldn't live without) and then peeked into the workout clothing area to see if they were sporting any good sales, and oh boy were they ever!

I found my all time favorite Nike workout capris, in my size, on sale  for 40% off!!!

Source

They look pretty much like this. Fairly generic looking,

but they fit so amazing! It's like giving my lower half a hug,

in breathable fabric of course!

I also found these adorable shorts, also from Nike

I've never been one to workout in shorts, but these

were so comfy and fit so well that they were worth it,

even if the were only 20% off :O)

And also these super cute shorts from New Balance. 

They were on a super sale for about $15 which totally

made up for the fact that the Nike ones.... weren't :O)

And after doing some damage to my bank account and sufficiently doing my part to support the local economy, I picked up my prescription and headed home to indulge in enough ice cream to ensure that those shorts won't fit tomorrow :O) All in all, not a bad "sick" day at all.

I'm a bit wacky

"Everyone is an athlete. But some of us are training, and some of us are not." --Dr. George Sheehan

I am training. Training to be an athlete. Training to be healthy. Training to become fit. And along the way I am learning to laugh, enjoy life, celebrate the small victories, and push through tough times. I am training for life.

I am just a regular girl who is obsessed with health and fitness. It wasn't always that way but that's a story for another post :O) I'm a bit messy and emotional but I truly love exercise and have a sincere desire to share what I know with you. I have been inspired by some amazing bloggers and finally decided to branch out on my own. I hope you'll have patience as I try to figure this all out!

The other thing I love is cooking. I love to bake cookies and muffins and anything else I can think of just to see the joy it brings those who eat it. I love to cook healthy and satisfying meals and fuel my body with good food. This blog will have lots of recipes and my (often hilarious) stories of what works and what doesn't.

Beyond that, I love research. I am a sucker for numbers and statistics. If research says it, then I'll probably try it. I will try to find relevant health and fitness research and put it out here with my own two cents attached... because yes, I am a little opinionated at times :O)

This blog is a chronicle of all these things and more. I want to share my story with anybody who wants to hear it. I want to hear your stories, because they inspire me more than you know. I want to share some of the wacky things I've done so you won't have to do them yourselves. I want to learn from your mistakes and celebrate your victories. I want to inspire and be inspired throughout my journey. So if any of this sounds relatable to you, come join me for the ride. Tell me what works for you, tell me your stories, tell me anything at all. I promise I'll listen and together we'll train for all sorts of things.