~* Eating Dirty *~

I've been eating Paleo since the new year. Mostly, I love it. Every now and again, I want some kind of junk, but I usually resist and pat myself on the back for making the right choice. Usually.

But every once in a while, I just say "fuck it, dig in" and I eat whatever the hell I want.  And I inevitably pay for it the next day. Today is that next day.

Yesterday, J and I grilled some burgers and had a small gathering. I had a cheeseburger (on a bun), sweet potato fries, chips and dip, and cupcakes. And my digestive system is making me pay today. I feel terrible, and I kind of just want a salad to atone for my sins.

Lesson learned- cheat on a part of a meal, not the whole meal. 😣

~* One More Great Weekend *~

I did have a pretty fantastic weekend. Let's break it down, shall we?

Friday- I was done work at 9:30am. Yeah, I know, it's ridiculous. I'm actually just taking Fridays off for the foreseeable future to avoid going in for just a few hours. Anyway, after work, I headed out to J's place, let out the wrinkle-faced monster, and gorged myself on spaghetti squash alfredo. OMG Paleo amazingness!! He really is an amazing cook. After the energy tank was full, I went to SoPi Crossfit for my first one-on-one session. I LOVED IT!! My sessions are with a chick named Mila, and she's awesome. She's friendly, but she's tough, which I need. I've been too easy on myself lately, and I need that extra push. I learned a few basics, and how to fix my deadlifts. Then, I did my first Fran. I don't think it was timed, and it wasn't Rx- I only used the 45lb bar, and I used bands for my pullups- but I'd guess it came in somewhere around 7 or 8 minutes. It felt like an hour and a half. All in all, it was a great workout, and she kicked my butt!

Saturday, we headed back to SoPi so J and A could do 13.3. I love watching the whole group get together and just suffer to be better. Then, we all went for ice cream. Ugh, my body hates dairy these days. It's funny how quickly I've adjusted to eating super-clean. But, it was delicious. Later in the afternoon, J and I went to the range and shot a zombie. That was a blast. I don't think he expected me to be very good, but I'm a decent shot. I may not have a lot of gun knowledge, but I have pretty spot-on aim. Then we went to Smokey Bones for dinner with a couple who we will be dogsitting for next weekend. They were an interesting pair, but it was a nice dinner.

This morning, I made French Toast with the Paleo coconut bread we scored out in SoPi, and then whipped up the rest of the egg-batter-mix-stuff into scrambled eggs. It was a little weird- eggs with cinnamon and vanilla?? But not bad. It was a nice change up since he's always doing the amazing work in the kitchen, but he's still a WAY better cook.

Right now, I'm sitting back in my own kitchen, waiting on my pork in the crockpot. This week's food adventure is going to be shredded pork with plantains. The recipe actually calls for mashed plantains, but I think I'm just going to slice and fry them up in some coconut oil. Wish me luck!

~* Partners In Paleo *~

People tend to think Paleo is either really complicated or really boring. It can be either, sure, but it doesn't have to be. Especially with a partner.

During the week, I do tend to keep things boringly simple. It just makes my life easier. I'm up at 4am Monday thru Friday. No, I don't want to waste time thinking about what to have for breakfast. I have lunch right after my workouts, when I'm starving and in no mood to decide what to have for lunch. And, if I can pop dinner right in the microwave so I can sit down and study at the end of my day, well, the easier the better.

Breakfast is usually 2 hardboiled eggs, 2 strips of bacon, and whatever fruit I decided on that week (this week it will be strawberries and blueberries). Lunch is a tuna-stuffed avocado. Dinner is some kind of meat (currently, grilled pork chops), a green veggie (Brussels sprouts), and sometimes a sweet potato. Bam, easy.

But, on the weekends, J. and I usually make one meal together. Well, he makes the meal, I make dessert. And I say usually, but really, it's only been the last 2 weekends. I'd like to keep it up though. ANYWAY- this weekend, he made burgers from ground sirloin and ground bacon. We had planned to use Portobello's as the "bun", but we couldn't find any regular sized ones. So, we prepped sweet potatoes to use instead, but these are definitely knife-and-fork burgers. SOOOOO GOOD!!! And for dessert, I made dark chocolate cherry brownies, which are simply delicious.

I love doing this because it forces me to get creative. He'll text me early in the week saying "We're having .... for dinner on Saturday. Dessert's on you.", and it forces me to get creative and put a little effort into it. I appreciate him so much for that. Sometimes, we need a little push to prevent us from getting lazy or trapped in the meat-and-veggies mindset. So, grab your partner, and get busy in the kitchen!! (Perv.)

~* 13.1 *~

Fuck no, I didn't do it! I've never done Crossfit, and I damn sure am not gonna start with 13.1!!

BUT- I did go watch it at Southern Pines CrossFit, and I have decided to take an intro class for sure. It was a blast to watch these people kill themselves for 17minutes just to try to be better than they were when they walked in the door. I watched a chick PR on her snatch. You could see it, she had never done it before...then she did it again, and again, and again. It was awesome. The vibe was so chill but encouraging all at the same time. I'm super-excited! The only downside is that Southern Pines is sooooooooo far away. No joke, like an hour from me. I have to try to squeeze it in between my morning and afternoon sessions, on a day when I'm not taking my poor car through inspection....Or....Fridays are always early days for me.....but I don't wanna wait....sigh. We'll see what happens. It will be this week, for sure.

On a semi-related note, I am LOVING this Paleo thing. I've been doing it for about 2 months now, and most of the time, I take the easy way out. Breakfast- eggs, bacon, fruit. Lunch- tuna-stuffed avocado. Dinner- grilled meat of some kind and whatever random green veggie I have laying around. I've been studying too much to put a whole lot of work into it. But today, I decided to try one new real recipe each week, even if it is a simple one. Today was banana donuts with chocolate coffee frosting. I don't own a donut pan, so I made mini-muffins instead, and they are AMAZING. I got the recipe here...  http://paleomg.com/chocolate-coffee-banana-donuts/.  Delicious. Warning: It has been incredibly hard to stay away from the fridge, where 21 more of these mini muffins are waiting to be eaten.

~* Changes *~

Change is not always a bad thing.

I just revamped this page some because I needed to change it up. Seeing as how I no longer live in a house with a pair of parade boots (rare in this town, I know), I decided to change the title. It's time to put a little more focus on the positivity in my life, and I think I can do that now.

I had noticed I was starting to post more about my clients, the gym, and my healthy lifestyle in general. So, it just made sense to make the leap and change the format. Hope that's ok with y'all.
Enjoy!!