Happy Memorial Day!

What a crazy few days.

Work has been SLAMMED. It was, hands down, my best week to date since I started as an esthetician. I can’t wait for my paycheck next week! The downside to being so slammed is that I come home and am exhausted from work/working out every day last week. Thus no blogging for the past few days.

I was able to muster enough energy to go Saturday night to watch the UFC fights with some friends. It  was a very fun night; we laughed until we cried, ate some horrible buffalo wings, and some drunk girl tried to bite me. Yes, bite me. The only explanation I have is that she was drunk and reved up into looking for violence thanks to the fights. We left after that.

Sunday, I ran my 3rd 5k at the Delaplane Strawberry Festival. Its a cross country course out at Sky Meadows State Park and boy, did it kick my ass. It starts out on a paved road then veers off into the woods/cow fields. We ran through mud, cow patties, over a creek, gravel roads…and LOTS of hills. My pace was ALL OVER the place!!! My first mile was 9:27, my second was 11:21, my third was 12:27, and the last .1 was a 9:47 pace. The  3rd mile was almost all uphill, you’d get to the top of one hill only to see another in front of you. On top of that it was at least 75 degrees out there. Needless to say I did a very slow 34:42. But who cares because it was SUCH a beautiful course and so neat to run somewhere SO different (I live downtown so almost all my runs are on sidewalks, in the park, or on the road)

The road the race started and ended on.

what a gorgeous day…and view!

Me & my BFF Katie. This is our third 5k together…its crazy to think a year and half ago we could barely run 1 minute! We always run a little bit together and then Katie goes out on her own as she is MUCH faster than me.

Katie and I after the race. She of course looks GORGEOUS and I look like a tomato.

Despite it being a very difficult course, Katie and her husband BOTH won 3rd place for their age groups. Even cooler, this was the first race they have ever run together!

The festival had a bunch of craft booths, food, music, a petting zoo, and a bunch of other neat odds and ends.

Strawberry stand.

Matt and I shared a delicious strawberry sundae after the race.

Kodak made a new friend. I think both of them were wondering if the other was a dog.

Playing ball and charming everyone in sight.

SLURP!

Kodak was such a trooper. It was VERY warm out and he only started to really get tired as we were leaving. Here he is showing us where we should go to cool down.

I found the cutest halter for Roxy from this vendor. (Kodak’s argyle halter is also from her)

Here she is modeling her new cupcake halter:

The giant batch of strawberries I bought!

To celebrate an awesome race, I made an extra awesome smoothie:

1 cup kale

6 BIG strawberries

1 cup frozen pineapple

1/2 cup frozen mango

1 cup vanilla ultra soy milk

It was soooooo delicious.

Today Matt ran the Loudon Street Mile and freakin’ dominated! He ran a 4:51 mile this year, shaving off 11 seconds from last year! He also won 3rd in his age group AND was 16th overall. I am very very proud of him.

Walking home, I was struck with how BEAUTIFUL it is here.

After the race, we went to the grocery store and then to Matt’s dad’s for a cook out.

I thought this “burger” cake would be an excellent addition to the cookout…but Matt said no.

Matt snuggling his nephew.

After the cookout we went to the Winchester National Cemetary to take photos.

Its been a really nice weekend. If only we had had another day…it all feels like it flew by.

What did you do???

Posted in life, matthew, pets, running | 5 Comments »

3 for 3!!!!!

….ok you can stop your applause.

Well I had plans to wake up for 5:30 am spin class but my body had other plans. I woke up at 3 and barfed twice. Let me just says, throwing up kale…is freaking disgusting. Needless to say I was NOT in the mood to go torture myself two and half hours later. I let the ol’ belly settle and decided to do yoga on my comcast on demand instead (it’s pretty much all ashtanga Yoga which I like much more than hatha or bikram) HOLY GUACAMOLE…that was no joke. At times in certain poses, my heartrate was in the 140 and 150s. I tried to do some of the level 2 moves but stuck mostly with the easier ones since I am no yogi. I will definitely be doing this one again! Doing it made me see how unflexible and unbalanced I am.

At least I can pretend to look like a yogi standing up. Any kind of pose with leg lifting and I look like cripple…

My day was looooong and boring.

It consisted of this:

sitting outside of work trying to freckle my legs.

It was a very dull day with only one client. Wednesdays are always slow…today was no exception.

I like wearing my hair like this…no muss no fuss.

After work, I was bored and decided to bake!

How cute are these measuring cups my mom got me for xmas???!?!?!

SO SO SO CUTE! I looooved russian dolls as a little kid!

These were NOT the meringues I dreamed they would be. The vanilla was way too strong in my opinion. Perhaps its for the best because if they tasted like these I would eat all of them. The grocery store doesnt have anymore of those meringues and I am trying to just accept it…but my addiction is strong.

After trying my meringues and being annoyed by their non-deliciousness, I watered the garden since today is the first day it hasn’t rained and being in direct sunlight, a lot of them get pissy very easily.

Any ideas what kind of annuals I should plant for the summer once my  spring annuals go RIP on me????

After we tended to the garden, Roxy and I went for a walk.

I run by these honeysuckle a lot and I cannot even begin to tell you how amazing they smell. The smells of summer always floor me. This morning I went outside and it was the perfect mix of cut grass and flowers and warm weather. Its hard to describe but Im sure you get the idea.

Dinner was easy: Poblano, Black Bean, and  Mango Quesdillas.

YUM!

Grateful 5:

1. Not being busy at work makes me appreciate the days I am busy. My slow days are getting fewer and fewer but it always reminds me that when I am crazy-ass busy with no time for lunch…at least I am busy!

2. Having an awesome chiropractor. He’s so positive, so sweet, and always giving me great advice about any number of things. We had a discussion about me using soymilk in my green smoothies…and as usual, I will be following his advice and switching to just hemp milk with whey powder.

3. I get to run tomorrow…Im excited!

4.  Getting back some $$$ from my taxes.

5. Finding  balance/moderation in my food journaling and how seriously I take it.

Posted in Uncategorized, cooking/baking | 11 Comments »

Can it be….two posts in a row! Girl, thats crazy !!!!!!!(I am well known for saying this at work. Its my phrase)

Today was a good day. I woke up thanks to my trusty 4-legged alarm, fiddled around online for awhile (and posted this!), and got down to business…doing an easy 3 miler. This of course turned out to be NOT easy at all. Im not sure what my deal was but it was a struggle.  I’m going to blame the humidity, it takes a lot out of you. Luckily I still had enough energy to bust out 3/4 of Jackie Warner’s Power Circuit Training (legs/booty/chest/arms/back)

My goal is to do something active for at least 30 minutes (running 3x/doing a dvd, spinning, cardio 3x) 6 days a week. I am DETERMINED to actually feel decent in my bathing suit this year. I’ve made the decision to also keep a food diary and track my caloric intake.  Im simply just trying to get in my 5-9 servings of veggies, at least 6 glasses of water, at least 60 grams of protein, and trying to watch my fats (minus things like avocado, olive oil, nuts) plus hopefully burn more calories than I consume. So far so good. I know it starts to go in a direction I don’t like…I’ll quit. Simple as that.

Awesome busy work day (waxing/facial/makeup/makeup/waxing….go gen go!) followed by an even more awesome dinner.

Black bean burger with half an avocado and sweet potato fries with greek yogurt garlic-basil dipping sauce.

Get in my belly!

I can’t believe its almost June…where did May go?

What did YOU eat for dinner?

Grateful 5:

1. Warm weather. It was so cold last week and now its great (albeit a little humid)

2. Being busy at work..and having wonderful clients. I truly enjoy seeing them every month.

3. Having curly hair. I HATED my curls when they suddenly appeared in 6th grade. Its been a longggg process…but I love that I can wear my hair so many ways. Its so nice to shower, scrunch in some gel, and goooooo! The result is really pretty spiral curls.

4. athletic tape. My arch of my right foot and ankle feel wonky today… taping it  immediately made a difference.

5. Making good choices that make my body happy.

Posted in Uncategorized, cooking/baking | 2 Comments »

Remember when I thought I was going to blog alllll the time and be amazing…yeah, me too. It seems that blogging like so many other things (art journaling and knitting to name a few) is something I get all reved up to do, totally excited to  ”become” some craftier cooler version of myself…and it falls flat. Plus blogging these days isnt just “oh i’ll write about my day”, its “giveaways, getting book deals, and having 10000 followers”…or that’s how it seems sometimes. I read so many really awesome cool inspiring blogs (aurajoon, becoming jennie, bitchecakes, oh she glows, skinnyrunner, fitnessista, nhershoes and healthy tipping point are all my faves) and just get intimidated. It’s REALLY dumb when I write it down since that whole thinking kind of counteractswith the whole point of blogging “be yourself! share your day!”

ANWAYS…Im trying it again.

The last time I wrote here I was training for my first half marathon. I DID IT! Yes…lil’ ol me ,the laziest girl in the world….ran 13.1 miles.

For the complete story go here. It was one of the most AMAZING days of my life. I couldn’t have asked for a better first race. The weather was perfect, the scenery was picture-perfect, and the fact that I went from barely running a mile in November of 09 thanks to my hip injury to running a half 5 months later…well, I think that’s pretty freaking cool.

Since then (its been a little over a month) I did my first 10k, got shin splints, am slowly getting better, and  hoping to do my fist trail 5k on Sunday. I truly love running. I miss it when I take time off and I am astounded at how centered I feel when it’s a part of my routine. I am so new to it still and have a lot to learn but it makes me so genuinely happy to just have the ability to do something so simple that is so good for me physically and mentally.

a very sweaty genevieve after a 4 miles run in 88% humidity. sexy!

In other news, I have a garden!

I started one last fall after I moved into my new apartment but it really wasnt too interesting because I was new to it al. All I can say is that thanks to some hard work and some help from my mom, it is looking SPECTACULAR!

my garden in all its glory!

lovely little stonecrops!

the herb corner: so far I have rosemary, chives, cilantro, basil, and  a few tomato plants.

the HUGE lavender plant left behind by the previous occupants. I love it!

cobweb hen&chicks. I love this little cactus!

cacti…with my mint pot in the background.

front porch.

I love coming home and seeing what looks different, whats growing, whats dying. Its such a beautiful burst of color.

I have a new addiction….green smoothies.

The love affair began after reading countless blogs about them. I am a spinach fan through and through but salads rarely fill me up so throwing spinach in an awesome smoothie seemed like it could work!

I call this one “berry good morning!”

(garnished with fresh mint from my garden)

-2 cups raw spinach
-1 small banana
-1 cup frozen berries (rasberries, strawberries, blackberries, blueberries)
-1 cup hemp milk (great source for omega 3s&6s)
-1 tbsp agave nectar

“choco-berry surprise”

-1 cup spinach
-1 cup kale
-1 cup frozen berries
-1 small banana
-1 cup hemp milk
-1 scoop chocalate amazing grass
-a little agave to cover the kale taste (blech)

“maui morning”

-2 cup spinach
-1 cup frozen mango
-1/2 cup frozen pineapple
-1 cup vanilla soy milk (for protein!)
-1 small banana
YUMMMMMMMMMMMMM! I did this one this morning and it was DELISH.

Who knew you could get 5 servings of fruits and veggies before 10 am?!?

Have no fear, I am still a Sonic loving machine with a love for all things fried…but by and large, my diet is really starting to change (and I like it)

Im eating fresh foods a lot, packing my own meals, and rarely getting fast food/take out. The only frozen meal I’ve had lately is a black bean veggie burger from Gardenburger that I like to put fresh avocado on.

My boy and my weenies are all well too!

we went on a 2 mile walk around one of the civil war battlefieds last sunday. the weenies LOVED it.

and a few more random pictures…

sooo sleepy.

devious creatures.

my little love.

my constant.

cleanin’ up good at a friends wedding.

Genevieve…over and out!

grateful 5:

-1. I took Roxy to the vet for a spot on her belly. They say most likely it is benign and nothing to worry over. I blame being a worry-wart and skincare dork.

-2. the gorgeous weather lately. i haven’t turned on my ac yet and its perfect with just the overhead fans going.

-3. avocados are PERFECT right now. I love me a good avocado.

-4. Matt let me sleep in this morning…it was divine.

-5. being alive.

Posted in garden, life, running | 8 Comments »