Weekend and whatnot

This was kind of a lame weekend actually. I took my half day on Friday, lifted, and did some baking. As it turns out, I grossly overestimated the amount of people that were coming to a really cold tailgate prior to a really cold game, so I had all sorts of extra cookies to bring to the office today. The dinner and Rock Band party were fun, and Tim's new condo was very nice. Someday, when he becomes a real adult and gets matching furniture, it's going to be very homey. ;)

Saturday morning I did not feel bad about going to pilates because it meant that I only spent two hours at the tailgate instead of like 5. Again, it was cold at the tailgate. And then Wake completely blew their lead in the fourth quarter and as a result they pretty much crapped on their entire season. Because the ACC is full of sub-par teams, more of them are bowl eligible than there are ACC bowls to go to, so Wake probably won't even get a bowl bid, even if they win next week and go 7-5. So that sucks. We had such high hopes. The only way I'm spending money to watch us botch a bowl game is if we wind up in Charlotte again this year. Because that one only costs me the price of a ticket.

Sunday I got up and lifted, went to church, did errands, and went to yoga. It was a successful day. Except that we went to lunch with Tim and Dan and I ate too much pizza...to the point where I felt like I might vomit at yoga. I wasn't even hungry for dinner so I didn't eat any. I need to stop this whole overeating thing. I have problems.

I ordered a few new yoga shirts online. I like the Underarmor Heat Gear T's and tanks because they completely absorb my sweat during the hot yoga classes. So I ordered a few new ones last week. And then I ordered and received this new yoga bag. It's from Gaiam and it's huge and awesome for when I have to bring all of my gear to work with me. I have my mat in the bottom, my brick, strap, and yogitoes towel on the inside, and I've also added some make-up remover pads for before class and blotting cloths for after. Because seriously, I am really sweaty up in there. But once I leave I feel awesome. So it's worth it.

Anyway, just a regular Monday now, except that I have like nothing to do at work this week. I'm heading to the gym at lunch and then my pilates lesson after work. This will be my only stop at the pilates studio this week because they're closed from Wednesday - Sunday for Thanksgiving. Sad. I'm going to have to do my mat class videos once or twice to make up for it. I'm making some pasta with rotisserie turkey in it tonight so that should be tasty. Have a good Monday everyone!

Yay for Friday

I'm in the office again on a Friday, but not to worry, I'm leaving at noon. Yay. I'm going to visit Kristin and the baby and then I'm going to be making some tailgating cookies. I'm excusing myself from my scheduled cardio workout today because I've already done cardio 4 times this week and I successfully completed another 90 minute hot yoga class last night (and with minimal soreness today). And I dragged Susan into it with me. So now she is also hooked.

We're having our first Rock Band party in quite some time at Tim's new condo tonight, so that will be lovely. He moved in over a month ago and we haven't even seen it yet. It's crazy.

We have the football game tomorrow, but I'm going up there a bit late so that I can go to pilates in the morning. It's going to be really cold tomorrow (high is 47 degrees), so I'm not in a huge rush to get there and sit outside for 6 hours. Especially once the sun goes down. But Dan's in town for the game, so it should be fun.

Sunday, in addition to the normal cleaning and errands, I'm going to add in lifting, church, and yoga just like last week. I shouldn't have too many errands to run since Blake's leaving town Tuesday morning. I just have to buy food for the Thanksgiving feast I am going to be cooking for myself and Tim. And I'm planning to do some advanced baking for the tailgate on the 29th, so I'll have to prepare for that (I'm thinking about replicating the delicious focaccia bread that we learned how to make in cooking class last weekend. And also cookies and brownies and the like). I also want to make a batch of chicken soup to freeze because it's awesome to come home from work and defrost some real quick when I don't feel like cooking. :)

I hope you all have good weekends and stay warm!

I have problems.

Last night when I went home from work, my arms were still really sore in the tricep and shoulder regions. But I couldn't let myself not lift. So I did a bunch of squats and lunges and worked on my back and biceps as much as possible without being in too much pain. And you know what? Afterwards, my arms did hurt less. But I think this proves that I have a serious working out addiction. Also, yesterday, I did some research on yoga and pilates studios near my mom's house so that I could keep up with my classes while I'm home for Christmas.

Hi, my name is Jen, and I'm an exercise-aholic?

Divine Intervention

So right after I wrote my last post, I went to the gym. And when I got there, I learned that they are going to be closed for about 5 weeks to do the renovation they've been saying they're going to do for like a year. They close on Thanksgiving and don't open again until January 5. We get passes to the Charlotte YMCA branches while they are closed. Unfortunately, it's going to be nearly impossible for me to go the extra few blocks to the Y and get in an effective cardio workout at lunch within an hour and a half. Plus they won't do my laundry for me. So it looks like I may be unwillingly cutting down on my cardio activity for a while.

I'm really not all that annoyed actually, because of those 5 weeks, I'll be out of town for work one of them and at home for Christmas for another, so I'm only really dealing with 3 weeks of annoyance and then when the gym reopens (god willing on time), it will be all new and super fancy. Of those 3 weeks, I'm only working 2 of them, so maybe I can sneak out for a 2 hour lunch a few days a week without it being a huge issue. I probably can. I can't help but feel a little bit like life is telling me to take a break though. Which I am ok with.

I have been wanting to check out the Y, so at least I have that going for me.

Am I crazy?

So last night at my pilates lesson, I mentioned to the teacher that I was sore in the arm region because of my yoga class on Sunday. And then I mentioned that Tuesday was usually a lifting day, and I didn't know how that would work because of the soreness. And then she was like "so you do pilates, and yoga, and you lift...that's kind of a lot." And then I realized that I also bang out 45 minutes of cardio 5 times a week. So I'm wondering if my current schedule is becoming too much? Because right now, at least Monday - Friday, I feel bad if I don't work out twice a day. Which is a little scary.

Here is my current sched:
M: 45 minutes of cardio, pilates lesson
T: 45 minutes of cardio, 20-30 minutes lifting
W: 45 minutes of cardio, pilates mat class
T: 45 minutes of cardio, 90 minute yoga class
F: 45 minutes of cardio, 20-30 minutes lifting
S: pilates mat class (when I have time I walk there and back, so that's an hour of low intensity cardio)
S: 45 minutes lifting, 90 minutes yoga (starting last weekend...until then all I did on Sunday was lift)

I will point out also that I eat at least 1800 calories a day, and this crazy schedule that started in late September/early October hasn't caused me to lose a ton of weight or anything...maybe like 3 pounds. So I don't think I'm too nuts. And I mean what else do I do after work during the week? I make dinner and watch TV or read. It's not like I have kids to care for or anything. Although, I'm thinking that now that I'm getting into more vigorous yoga I might scale back lifting to only once or twice a week instead of three times.

So thoughts? Am I crazy? Do I do this because I seriously heart living on a schedule? The answer to that last question is YES. I love schedules. But seriously, is this abnormal and crazy? Because I don't want to be crazy.

Oh the humanity

So that awesome yoga class from Sunday? Yeah. I can't lift my arms above shoulder level or straighten them completely right now. I guess that makes it ok to skip my lifting session this evening? I mean it must have done something by way of strength training if I physically can't move right now.

I'm totally going back there on Thursday night.

Weekend Adventures

The weekend was full of adventures. Here's the rundown:

Friday when I got home from work, Blake had already left for Raleigh, so I didn't have much to do. I had stopped and picked up Chinese food on my way home. So I lifted, ate my Chinese food, watched some DVR'ed TV from Thursday night, read, and went to bed at about 10. It was good until one of the damn cats started crying at 6am because he wanted water out of the faucet (Wylie almost died this weekend as a result of his whining).

The cooking class was fun on Saturday morning, I ate all sorts of pizza and foccacia and we were sent home with delicious pizza dough and a recipe to replicate it with. Best foccacia ever: caramelized onions, walnuts, and blue cheese. Now, I hate blue cheese something fierce, but used sparingly and melted on this foccacia, it was amazing. So good. I will definitely be making this recipe at some point. And I used some of the dough last night to make pizza...it tastes just like the stuff my mom buys at the Italian bakery in NJ. So I will certainly be using that recipe again...a lot.

And then it was dress shopping time. A time which I normally hate. But it went so well that I got two dresses. I figure that between the Christmas Party, DLo's January 2nd wedding, Rachael's April 4th wedding, and potentially even AT's May 2nd wedding (if it's at night), I should be able to get plenty of wear out of them both. Bonus? They were both on sale for less than $100 a piece. And of course I got some kick ass shoes to go with them. Here are the goods.

Dress #1: Susan and I kind of went into the Jessica McClintock store thinking that we would only find dresses fit for senior prom, but both wound up getting stuff there. Who knew? I will definitely wear this dress to the Christmas party, and DLo's wedding, and I'm obsessed with it. At first, it appeared to be made out of some kind of upholstery fabric, but when I put it on it grew on me. It fits really well. Actually, I think it looks better on me than it does in this weird picture from the website, but that's probably because I'm extremely conceited.

Dress #2: Just before we went to go back to Jessica McClintock and make our purchases, we stopped at Belk. They were having a large sale. Susan actually found the dress she was planning to buy at Jessica McClintock for about $50 less on sale at Belk, so she got it there. I also wound up with this number. Because I love green, and although I didn't think this would be the case, these weird bubble bottoms make my legs look super skinny. This will be worn to the April 4th wedding (it's in NJ, so day or night, it'll still be chilly winter dress weather) and will be considered for the May 2nd wedding in FL if it is a nighttime affair.

Shoes: I wanted something tall and ridiculous, as always, so I wound up with basically these. However, the ones I got were this style but black patent leather rather than crocodile skin. And the band around the platform and the one around the top (where the buckle is) are velvet. I don't know if that description made sense, but I love BCBGirls shoes, and that's what these are.

RANT: WTF is with BCBG dresses? I went into the store and loved at least a dozen of their dresses, but they were ALL strapless. Literally, all of them. Except for the one I liked the best, which had just one weird diagonal strap that would still necessitate a strapless bra. I hate strapless bras. Which is why both of the dresses that I got have straps thick enough to hide a regular bra. Also, most of the dresses appeared to be to short even for me (and I'm 5'2''). Not appropriate for functions that the people who can afford to buy those dresses are going to be attending. END RANT.

Also on Saturday, Wake lost to NC State and effectively ended our chances of going to the ACC Championship game. Piss poor effort. I was so mad when the game ended that I immediately cleaned the bathroom to get my aggression out.

Sunday, I got up early (because of the damn cat crying AGAIN) and lifted and started the laundry and whatnot. And then, like a good girl, I went to church. Blake and I did the regular cleaning and errands, and then I decided to try the 4:30 yoga class at a different studio, Yoga One. So I packed up my stuff and headed over there. And when I got there, I learned it was a HOT yoga class. Like the kind where the room is 100 degrees that I assumed only crazy people went to. It said nothing about this on the schedule or the website. I hate a lot of things, and "being hot" is in the top three (also in the top three: "Being tired" and "Being hungry." When I have the trifecta, I am completely unbearable. The entire city of Charlotte will be in danger if I ever wind up hugely pregnant in the summer months). Anyway, I was already there and thankfully wearing one of my Underarmor heat gear shirts, so I stayed. And oh my god, it was AWESOME. For starters, when you're that hot, all you think about is how sweaty you are rather than how much holding warrior 2 for 5 minutes hurts. And the time just flew. And you can stretch so much because of the heat, and during the final resting pose they give you cold wet lavender-smelling cloths to put over your eyes, and I felt AWESOME all night...long story short, I bought a yogitoes skidless mat blanket (because the sweat was totally making me skid all class) and a package of 10 classes right afterwards. I WILL be going again. Amazing.

So that's about it. Clearly my whole "trying not to spend money" thing backfired a bit, but it was a great weekend. And now we're back into the swing of things at work. Today we get to leave at lunch and head to a hotel nearby for our State of the Firm meeting. It's pretty lame, but it's an excuse to do nothing productive for most of the day, so I'm in favor of it. And then I have my pilates lesson tonight as usual. Good times. Happy Monday everyone.