Finishing up January and Follow Through Friday

It's the last day on January and this month has been a success in more ways than one! I've lost 10 pounds. My 14 in 2014 Goals have been going well. I worked out 18 times this month. December my workouts were almost nonexistent due to lots of overtime/helping move to a new location for work. I listened to my body and rested/stretched when I needed to. Since I was being a lot more active this month, I didn't want an injury from doing too much too soon. I've read 1 book and tried 1 new recipe. I also volunteered with my sister for a race-Hypnotic Donut Dask 5k.

Next month I hope to do a craft project or 2 and try lots more new recipes. And of course keep up with all the things I've been doing well this month. I've been doing roller derby for a month now and it's going really well! I bought basic skates because I wasn't sure if derby would be a good fit for me. Now that I know I want to stick with it, I want to invest in some better skates.

I'm linking up with the wonderful women that put together Follow Through Friday. Now it's time to see how your weeks went!

WIW # 3 New Stuff

Good morning, I'm off to Zumba so this will be a quick post. I'm down 2 pounds this week. Exciting stuff. Next week I hope to break into the 150's! I apologize if I didn't respond to your comments on my post before. Apparently most of them were tagged as spam :( Then when I cleared them to post, I couldn't reply to them. Anyone know how to fix that on blogger? I'm brand new at this! I appreciate the comments and any help you can give me. :)

 My new shoes have been working out great. Brooks Adrenaline GTS. Check these bad boys out.... Fuschia, Neon Orange, White and Navy.

I also got a new Nathan Hydration belt/id holder for my long walks/jogs. It was a steal from TJMaxx at $12.99. I'm looking forward to using it, I hate holding water, or drinking warm water from a fountain.

This Sat night I'm doing the Blacklight Run in Ft. Worth with my sister and some friends. It should be a blast!

Tonight is roller derby practice for 2 hours. Tommorow is Pound (cardio class using drumsticks) and walking. Friday is Body Pump. I'm linking up with Heather and Ash for WIW. Also linking up with Liz@Fitness Blondie for The Humpday Blog Hop. I hope everyone has a successful week. Don't let the lure of naughty Super Bowl snacks get ya ;) If they do, moderation is key.

Throw some D's on it!

My busy weekend is over and it's back to the grind! I love alliteration, this weekend was all about the letter D. :) It started off early Saturday morning at the Hypnotic Donut Dash 5k. That's 1/14 for the 14 races I want to participate/volunteer for in 2014.

 I volunteered with my sister, we got to hand out awards to the winners in each age group. The fastest overall time was 15 minutes 44 seconds and the 2nd place female in the 30 to 35 year are group was several months pregnant. It was fun to see everyone finish!

Deep Ellum Brewery was there giving out free tastes of their new coffee ale. I dig their beer van!

Live music was also a part of the event. Shotgun Friday performed. Their instruments included a kazoo and washboard! They did covers of sublime and Bob Marley, hillbilly style! As they like to say Shit Dang!

We headed to my sisters house and walked our dogs Diamond and Jules. After that we grabbed some Genghis Grill. Mine was steak and scallops with lots of veggies, cabbage instead of noodles and Dragon sauce. Then we went home and took a well deserved nap. Next up was derby in Denton. It was our first time seeing the guys do roller derby. WOW! They are amazing to watch. Check out you tube if you are interested to see a men's bout. Dallas Deception won the tournament.

I ended the night back in Dallas, seeing a great cover band Empire 6 perform. My friend Jennifer and I closed the bar down! I only had one drink-a pint of Ace cider, my fav! Since I was out till 2 am, I slept in till 11. We took the dogs on a 2 mile walk, then it was off to the dog park to meet up with some of our furry friends. 

Once we finished up there, we headed to White Rock Lake, met my dad, sister, their dog and walked for 2 hrs which was about 9 miles. It was such a gorgeous day! in the high 60's and full of sunshine. We finished the day with my dad grilling steaks for dinner. They were delicious!

Speaking of delicious, I have some yummy looking Super Bowl recipes from 2 of my favorite food blogs for you to try!Peace Love and Low Carb has some great ones posted, as does Peas and Crayons. I'm linking up with Mamas Losing It for Motivational Monday and Kristin and Kristin for Healthy Tips and Tricks Tuesday. I hope your week is off to a great start! 

Weigh In Wednesday #2

Another week, another weight loss. It's exciting! I'm linking up with Heather and Ash for WIW.

Last week I mentioned being down 6 pounds since the New Year. What I didn't take into account was how I weighed in. For my dietbet I wore clothes, when I weigh in for myself...I....don't. So total weight loss from Jan 1st-Wednesday was 5 pounds, minus another pound this week which NOW makes it 6 pounds down for the New Year. Ideally I'd like to lose at least 16 more which would put me at 147, someplace I've never been. The lowest I have reached was 150 and I didn't stay there very long.

My motivation is really high right now, so I am actually enjoying the "process" this time around. Trying new fitness related activities helps a lot. Last year mud runs and bike races were new to me. This year I've added in roller derby in addition to those 2 and the gym (Body Pump-weights, Body Combat-MMA style cardio and Zumba), hiking and walking my dog. I enjoy them all and it keeps me from getting bored.

Eating has been great. I cooked some chicken to have for dinners or lunches. Egg muffins were also made with shredded yellow squash onions and mushrooms. I had enough of the veggies left over to freeze and use for next week. Spice wise I used garlic powder, onion powder and red pepper flakes. They went in the oven at 325 for 25 minutes.

 

I bought a great Salad Dressing at Sprouts Drew's Roasted Garlic and Peppercorn. It was really flavorful and jazzed up the cuke I had for a snack.

 

 

 

Monday I took my dog for a 45 minute walk. Tues I went to my first Body Pump class of 2014 and also went skating/derby skills for an hour at night. Today I plan to go for a 30min jog alone, then take my dog for a walk later. On Thurs it's Body combat in the AM then 2hrs of skating/derby skills in the evening. Friday Is Zumba and Body Pump back to back. How did you do this week?



 

 



Weekend Wrap Up

What a wonderful weekend! Saturday I went shopping with my mom. We hit up JCPenney. They were having some great sales, with an additional 25% off clearance. I ended up getting 4 dresses that were super cute! One was $14.99 and the other 3 were $3.75 each (CRAZY right??) I'll try and post some pics of them this week. 

After that I took my dog for a 45 min walk then showered and got ready for roller derby. Right now I am a Flamingo (Non Skating Official) and "fresh meat" That means I help referee bouts to help out/learn more about the rules and being fresh meat means I am a free agent but get to attend derby practices until I get placed on a team. This Saturday night we played a team from Anchorage Alaska, and won the battle of the big states. I was one of 3 people keeping track of the girls in the penalty box aka SIN BIN! It was awesome to be so close to the action, I can't wait to get out there one day.

After that bout there was a mashup which is a mix of girls from different local teams and leagues-team Bigfoot vs Team Yeti. If you have a local derby league, I highly suggest you go see them in action. It is fast paced and even family friendly.

Sunday I slept in which was fantastic! My younger sister M lives about 45 minutes away from me and invited me to go to church with her, so I went and enjoyed myself. She is hard of hearing and has learning delays and one of the kindest girls you will ever meet. We had brunch when we got home, then took our dogs for an hr walk around the local trail by their house. My dog Diamond is a 3yr old all white husky that I rescued from a shelter when she was 4 months old. M's dog is named Jules and is about 6. They adopted her when she was 3. Here are some pictures from out walk, I'm looking forward to the grass being green again. 

After our walk my sister and I had fun playing Wii bowling. I do awesome on the Wii, but real life bowling...not so much! It's still fun to go do every now and again. I stayed and had dinner with my mom, dad and M. They fixed yummy fish tacos with yellow rice, and broccoli on the side. 

Ahhhhh today (Monday) was just what I needed. A day of rest and relaxation. I don't really watch TV during the week, so I caught up on that today. Found 2 new to me shows that I like. Dads was hilarious! With Giovanni Ribisi and Seth Green, how could it NOT be?? The other was Guy's Grocery Store Games. I use to work as a cashier at a grocery store in high school and love to grocery shop these days. So it's like the tv show Chopped, but set in a grocery store. I filled out/updated my planner during all that tv time. Overall it was a fun, family filled weekend. 

Follow Through Friday

Hey ya'll! I am loving all of these link ups, the accountability really helps me stay motivated and on track. Everyone's journey is different and I applaud all of you for sharing it publicly. That was a big hurdle for me when I debated starting a blog, even though I've been following various healthy living blogs for a while now. 

                        

This week went by SO fast! Monday was a rest day. Tues I practiced roller derby skills and skated with a friend for an hour and burned 530 calories. Wed was league roller derby practice. I'm considered "fresh meat" and while not on a team yet, still practice with everyone. It was only my second practice EVER, while some of the girls there have been doing derby for over 8 years. So they are great role models and very encouraging but WOW I got my butt handed to me! These girls are fierce and in shape!! I look forward to learning more about this awesome sport. There I burned 1400 calories in 2 hours. They had us doing sprints on skates. So 7 rounds of 1 minute skating as fast as you can followed by 30 sec of coasting and recovery. We also did knee taps, which are lunges essentially-on skates! Thursday I took a short walk and stretched to alleviate some of the soreness.

Today I've got more walking and some jogging sprinkled in. Running kills my bad knee. I'm also on my way to get fitted at a running store for new shoes. My old ones have had it! I've got the Dallas Rock n Roll half marathon coming up at the end of March. 

Bold crazy colors always call my name, especially in exercise gear. Excuse the Captain Morgans pose, but I had to show you my spiffy lime green compression socks that went with my outfit ;) Have a great weekend, this is my first time linking up, please leave a comment. I look forward to checking out your blogs also!

Weigh In Wednesday

Morning! I'm linking up with Heather at Pretty Strong Medicine and Ash at Ash's Right Direction for Weigh in Wednesday. Right now I am down 6 pounds since 2014 started. I am a part of 3 dietbets to kick off the New Year, so hopefully I will win some money for all this hard work happening!

Workout wise I took a rest day Monday. Did Zumba and a new class called Pound yesterday. Pound is brand new to my gym and looks like it's going to be lots of fun. You get to embrace your inner rock star and use drumsticks to jam out to songs. At first it felt a bit cheesy, like we were in kindergarten music class, but everyone was smiling and getting into it so I just let loose and enjoyed myself. I had to replace a dead battery in my polar FT7 after class, but in Zumba I usually burn around 400 Calories. (It was 30min Zumba, 30min Pound) I also roller skated for just over an hr with a friend last night. We practiced sprints and other roller derby skills which was a great workout! Check out the stats!

Food wise I had 2 eggs over easy on Ezekiel bread with strawberry jam sprinkled with red pepper flakes (I love the sweet/spicy combo). Plate is from Target (recently) and cup is from Old Navy.

I always have water with my meals and will have a cup of coffee during my afternoon slump which usually hits around 2 or 3pm. Green tea and "lemonade" or "limeade" (water, lemon or lime, stevia drops) also make an appearance on the daily. Lunch was a mixed green salad with chicken and dinner was a grab and go which consisted of a few deli ham/cheese roll ups. Even though I wasn't hungry, I do plan to eat more on days when I workout.

Tonight will be 2 hours of roller derby practice and I might go for a short walk to loosen up my muscles before I get started. I need to remember to stretch, stretch, stretch! I'll post my race schedule for the upcoming year soon. On the horizon are mud runs. bike races, fun run 5ks and The Dallas Rock and Roll half marathon. So my training is all over the place, but that keeps me on my toes and never bored! I want to buy these shoes for my mud/trail runs. They are Addidas, from Academy and onhy 50 bucks!

I also plan to get fitted for new kicks for the Half Marathon which is coming up FAST-March 23. This is my first time linking up, so I'd love to hear about your successes and NSV's this week. Feel free to leave me a comment. I plan on checking everyone that linked up out.

Goals: 14 in 2014

The past few weeks have been very refreshing for me. Whether you make resolutions or not, a new year is a great time to start with a clean slate and learn from the past 12 months. I refer to these as goals because they are things I intend to achieve. The word resolution can almost have a weight attached to it, making it harder to accomplish and some might feel like it is going to fizzle out and you are destined to fail. So goals it is!

My favorite number has always been 7, (3 floats my boat too) so below are 7 goals I am starting out 2014 with. I plan to update progress as I accomplish things in each category and will add goals as the year continues. Let the fun begin!

My 14 in 2014 goals

14 races to complete and/or volunteer at

I have already signed up for  the Dallas Rock n Roll Half Marathon with my dad, sister, uncle and cousins. On the volunteer front I have already signed up to help out at the Hypnotic Donut Dash here in Dallas (donuts at every mile, yum) and the Dallas Hot Chocolate 5k/15k (chocolate fondue finisher's treat, DOUBLE yum). Several mud runs, fun runs (color, zombie, glow in the dark), and bike rallys are also on tap. Stay tuned.

14 books to read

Reading goes in spurts for me. I'll read several books back to back, then not read for a few weeks. Rinse and repeat. It is highly likely that I will surpass this goal, but it gives me a place to record what I've read and get recommendations from people through my blog. Any books I just HAVE to read? :)

14 recipes to try

This is one I plan to blow outta the water! There are so many fantastic blogs out there with healthy, flavorful food that  I can't wait to recreate. I will talk more about my favorite food blogs in a future posts and take photos and give my opinion on how the dishes I made turned out.

14 new places to visit

DFW offers so much in regards to culture, art, entertainment, restaurants and outdoor activities. I have a mini bucket list of things I want to see and do. Museums to visit, trails to hike or bike, art galleries to attend, can't wait!

14 craft projects

I mentioned not being on Pinterest, but that doesn't stop me from having craft projects out the wazoo I want to attempt! As much fun as DIY is, I need this push to get all the fun things done I have been drooling over for ages.

14 "classic" movies to see

Now this comes with a disclaimer, classic is a relative term. Comedy wise my classics include Tommy Boy, Billy Madison and Dumb and Dumber. (High class, I know!) But in general I still have yet to see any of the Lord of The Rings, Scarface, A Clockwork Orange, even (gasp) Gone with the Wind. As you can see, this is a broad term. But it's about time I saw some more of the "greats".

14 exercise sessions minimum per month

Between roller derby, biking, walking/jogging (running is too hard on my knees), Zumba, Body Combat and Body Pump I will ROCK this goal! I also plan to hike and swim some this year, as well as kayak, SUP (Stand up Paddle) and indoor rock climb. I have exercise ADD because there are so many FUN ways to get fitness in. If you hate your workout routine, change it up! You shouldn't dread what you do. 

What fun things do you have to look forward to in 2014?

 

New Kid on the Block

Since I was born in the 80's, I figured this was a fitting title to get this blog started with. I'm old school and use a pen and paper for to do lists and my scheduling. The brightly colored pens and planners draw me in and put a smile on my face even when my list is a mile long. I was the kid that loved picking out their school supplies at the beginning of every year, making sure I got the coolest folders and spirals and pencils. It's the little things in life people! :)

Who is this girl anyway?? My name is Stephanie, I'm 32 and live in DFW, TX. Last year mud runs and bike road races (bicycle) were my new endeavors. I did 5 mud runs, 2 bike races and 1 half marathon (Rock n Roll Dallas) as well as volunteer for glow runs, color runs and the Hot Chocolate 5k (so much fun to be a part of someone's race experience). This year I've added roller derby into the mix. I saw a bout a few years ago and always doubted that I could do it. But after last years adventures, I realized I'm capable of a lot more than I realized, so I finally gave it a shot. It's been a blast so far!

Food makes me swoon! There are so many amazing restaurants here in DFW that I have enjoyed trying and several more that continue to pop up. I am just as adventurous in my food choices as I am with my fitness. Greek, Thai, Italian, Indian, Mexican etc I love it all! Cooking is also becoming a bigger and bigger part of my life. I am always on the hunt for new dishes to make. Overall I eat pretty clean at home which is a mix of low carb/gf/paleo/primal. When I go out to eat I'll indulge in sweets or bread, but at home I use stevia and zylitol as well as gf flours. Healthy food doesn't have to taste bland or boring!

Being frugal, fashion and DIY/crafts have always been a part of my life. I will be posting pics of what I've been wearing as well as things I've DIYed. I have yet to join Pinterest, for fear that I will dive in and never want to leave the site! I live vicariously through other peoples blogs and things they mentioned or pinned, which will suffice for the time being. I am always down for a good sale and enjoy thrift and vintage stores.

Blogs of all sorts are read by me on a daily basis. My interests are all over the place as are my favorite blogs. So this blog will be a mix of things, basically whatever I'm up to at any given moment, what thoughts are running through my head, an awesome deal I just scored, or the latest recipe I tried. It will be fun to connect with new people and look back on this blog of mine in the future and see what adventures awaited me.