tardy, tardy!

oops, i've been neglecting my little blog! just been busy, i guess... so what's new? yesterday I started working out to my Jillian Michaels "Ripped in 30" DVD again - I'm very happy about that! If you're looking for a home workout DVD, i definitely recommend this one. there are 4 different (representative of 4 weeks, new workout/week) workouts on the disc that are comprised of 3 minutes of strength training, 2 minutes of cardio and 1 minute of abs (3 circuits of this pattern). After doing Jillian for about 3 weeks the first time i started, i absolutely noticed a difference in my strength AND there were visible improvements as well. My booty seemed to defy gravity a little bit (which is a HUGE accomplishment!), and my core and back were more toned (abs were not brag-worthy, but there were improvements. anyone who knows me knows that I don't have great abs! I love me some sugar [ahem, and beer!] too much to have nice abs!), as were my arms and shoulders. My legs really toned up, however I think a lot of that has to do with my daily running - as they still are quite toned. 

James and I have been pretty disciplined with our morning running, which is great. on days he takes off of running, i take my 6+ mile route, otherwise we usually just stick to our 5 miles, which is pretty good. i LOVE having my workout done for the day by the time i get to work! although now that I'm doing Jillian, i will either have to get up 30 mins earlier (haha, NOT crappening!) to do it before I run, OR do it right away when I get home from work. It's kind of a drag to do it after work sometimes, but let's be real here - getting up by 5 AM to workout is maybe, just maybe, a tad too much for me.

last night i made some deeelish banana bread - a brand new recipe i found. it's very healthy and quite hearty and of course has great banana flava-flaaaave. instead of oil, butter, and sugar, I used flaxseed, chia seed (gel), egg whites, and sugar-free maple syrup. it turned out to be moist, dense bread. it's a darker color (i think due to the flax, chia seed and whole wheat flour) than my usual recipe but i don't care. would you? can't see what color it is when it is in your tummy, anyway! so anyway, i love it and like i said it's very healthy and has a great amount of fiber. i'll try to find the recipe and post. because i know you're interested. (wahh wahhhhh!)

speaking of tasty treats, I owe some pictures! here are a few snap shots of my favorite new tasty, healthy (weeee!) dessert.... Arctic Zero!

YES. It's for reals. try it! I don't ever want to eat the whole thing at once (need some for later/emergency!), but you definitely can if you want. it's not ice cream, not icy, not sherbert....it's hard to describe what it is other than delicious and frozen. I've had NO tummy aches after eating it, which is very important to me. I don't know how they make it, but I don't really care at this point. it's the closest thing to dreamy ice cream that I've found (RIP, "OatsCream") so I'm sticking with it. I buy it at Lund's and have yet to find it at another grocery store - not even Kowalski's. it's about $5 or so a pint and they have a few different flavors that so far are great - Vanilla Maple is my favorite, with Chocolate Mint in a close second. James had the Coffee and was a big fan of it, and we also have had the Cookies and Cream and Chocolate Peanut Butter. I think the last one we have to try is Pumpkin Spice. YUM.

Here are a couple more photos from the weekend. Saturday night on our way home from St. Paul, we stopped at the Blue Door Pub for some grub... James ordered "The Jiffy," which is a monstrous hamburger with bacon, the usual fixin's, and....think JIFFY.... yes, PEANUT BUTTER! yes. ......done making that "yuk!" face? I hope so because it was actually VERY tasty! YUMMY!! Can't speak much for how healthy it is (not!), but I can tell you that you won't leave hungry and you'll definitely meet your protein needs for the day! 

While we were waiting for our table, a pair of couples (yah, so that's four people) sitting in the waiting area near us starting chatting...chatting led to them displaying their artistic abilities with chalk... and this is what they made! 

How sweet!

Sunday we lounged around at Lake Calhoun for a couple hours then headed back to St. Paul. Later in the evening we dropped in on the River's Edge Music Festival, where we saw my favorites, the Flaming Lips, and then moseyed on over to the headliner, Dave Matthews Band. It was a fun night and a gorgeous sunset. Here's a pic we snapped after the Flaming Lips played "Do You Realize" (google it - its the best song ever! or at least one of the best!).

Do you realizzzzze....

So now it's back to work...this week is supposed to be quite toasty - today we should hit about 95! wahoo! I LOVE THIS WEATHER! 

That's all for now - I have other things to share, but I'll save them for next time.

Make today count!

Jenelle