Thinking Outloud Thursday

I'm wondering if I've ever used this blog title before, but I'm too lazy too scroll back and find out.

Oh well.

I swam at the outdoor pool this week at Patterson Park. I’ve never dared to go there after work because it’s typically over run by neighborhood kids… so my coworker convinced me to go early with her when it opened; 6 AM. Per usual of 6 AM, I dragged myself there in a very crabby manner, but left feeling glad I got in a solid 30 minutes of cardio. Outside of the dead cockroach floating in my lane, I think I like swimming laps outside better than inside.

Also, morning swims = shower, right?

Driving to work with windows down = blow dryer, right?

I'm curious as to who made the call that new music is consistently released on Tuesdays? Whoever it was, I like them. Tuesdays are literally worthless outside of new albums/singles being released. 

THIS GUY, is killin' it.

I’m back to eating pumpkin in the mornings –I made a weird pumpkin chia pudding and kind of loved it. Don’t know what chia pudding is? Check this out.

I’m also back to chewing on my cuticles like a savage. I swore I would stop once I had a pretty ring on my finger AKA a legit reason to keep my hands looking nice. Yeah… that lasted about a month. Does ANYONE have ways that they’ve stopped chewing on their nails/cuticles without paying for gel manis on a bi-weekly basis… because I can’t afford that.

Crossfit was last night. My weird shy self is slowly making friends. I wrote about it over here. 

Anyways, there’s some thinking out loud for your Thursday. Make it great.

Cheers –

Kait

Discussion Points

Well I wish I could say it's just been a crazy busy rush-around week and that's why I didn't write for Hump Day Confessions, but that would be a lie. Really I just got lazy on Tuesday and wasn't feeling inspired to write.

It happens.

The week workout wise was good - I got both a run and hot yoga in yesterday, followed by some frantic packing. Andrew and I are off to Colorado later this evening to meet the newest addition to his family - his new Nephew, Caleb! Can't wait to meet him!

I always like to try to utilize plane rides to do some longer-term planning; it's especially nice when Andrew is strapped into the seat next to me and I can talk his ear off and he has nowhere to hide.

Things to discuss with Andrew:

1.   Volleyball. It has been on my mind a lot lately, and I have a yearning to play it to some degree this summer. Baltimore has several beach courts, and I’ve seen a few things about some grass tournaments in the area, and I really just want to get signed up. CALLING ALL B'MORE VBALL PLAYERS, give me some guidance here.

I used to be able to jump before running took over my life.

2.   Bullet Proof Coffee. When I discover new fad/health trends that I want to try, I usually try to drag him down with me. While he didn’t jump on oil pulling (which I still occasionally do) I want to to hear his reaction to Bullet Proof coffee.  If you don’t know what it is, read more here – my cousin actually recently sent me an encouraging message about how much she loves it and feels great since she started drinking it.

3.   Puerto Rico. We have the flights and hotel booked, but outside of that, nothing. We need to nail down a few plans, don’t ya think?

TAKE ME THERE NOW

4.   Speaking of PR, I'm thinking about doing another 21 day detox come May 1. Puerto Rico is booked for May 23 so it would be pretty good timing. However I already have a few dates booked in May that would possibly have to warrant exceptions for staying sugar free... so we'll see.

5.    I discovered on Wednesday night that there is a Giraffe Manor in Nairobi, Africa. Basically, it’s a hotel on the property of a 140 acre giraffe sanctuary. Windows and doors are left open so that the giraffes can come visit whenever they want.

WHAT.

If we ever go to Africa, that’s at the top of the list.

This reminds me, we also still need to go check out the new twin giraffes at the Maryland Zoo!

Solid discussion list for the 4ish hour plane ride, don’t you think? I’ll leave you all with a new recipe to try this weekend if you’re feeling adventurous.

Eggdrop Broccoli Slaw:

-          1 cup broccoli slaw

-          Handful of chopped mushrooms (or onions or whatever you like)

-          ½ cup shrimp (mine were frozen)

-          ½ cup vegetable broth

-          1 glove garlic

-          1 egg

-          Salt/pepper/crushed red pepper to taste

Saute the broccoli slaw, mushrooms and shrimp in the vegetable broth and garlic on medium heat. Meanwhile, boil water and follow these directions to poach your egg.

Throw it all in a bowl, and gently ladle your poached egg on top. Season to taste. Good stuff. I <3 poached eggs.

I’m off to start my Friday. I’ve got a plane to catch and a baby to see. #Backthatazzup today for me, will ya?

Cheers - 

Kait

Eggs Eggs Eggs

This past week has been a tad abnormal for me. This weekend is actually looking to be the same. It’s one of the last weekends until June that we don’t have packed full of travel/activities, and so we literally have zero plans, outside of church on Sunday and some kind of Easter meal.

I was working out of a different office all week, so my gym has been too far away to make the commute after work. I’ve been mixing up my workouts between biking and interval stuff – last night I hit Brooke’s Dirty 30 pretty hard, the sesh looked something like this, with some jump rope mixed in –

http://www.babblingbrookelyn.com/

We haven’t talked food in awhile, and I think we should.  I committed hard to green smoothies for breakfast every morning this week, along with a hard boiled egg. I wasn’t sure if it was going to be filling enough, but it actually held me over well until my mid-morning snack. This past Wednesday I made this paleo Deconstructed Spaghetti Squash Carbonara, and added in a little sausage because I knew Andrew would want a little bit of substance…

and I poached eggs for the first time ever!

Wild success. He loved it, and said he would love to make the meal a weekly staple. I love when I can make him love paleo meals. I also love that we watched Frozen afterwards :)

What should I do this weekend? I’m thinking some hot yoga, and maybe some hiking if it’s nice? There’s also an apparently awesome Juice Bar in Fed Hill that I’ve been wanting to try.. maybe some egg dying is in order too?

Fingers crossed for another beautiful weather weekend. Any fun Easter traditions out there?? 

Linking up with Whitney to #Backthatazzup this Friday. Leaving you with one of my favorite songs right now - it's been my alarm all week to wake up to :)

Cheers!

Kait

Spring Cleaning & Stuff

I don’t get to say this very often, so I will right now. This week freaking flew by.

Guys it’s Friday. Let’s start with a workout, shall we?

On Wednesday it was warm out after work and I was fully prepared to completely punt on my afternoon workout and have an early date night on a patio with some wine. However, Andrew text me around 5 telling me he was about to head to the gym, so I pouted for a few minutes and then decided I may as well get a workout in as well.

After some brief Pinterest scanning, I got a few ideas, made my own modifications and came up with this:

15/30 Min. Total Body Sweat Sesh

I did this twice through, with a water break in between, coming out to 30 mins total. The second time around I did the second exercise listed just to mix it up. Feel free to alter depending what equipment you have on hand. I turned up the music, jumped around my room like a moron, and am proud to say that I'm sore today.

#success

The workout was actually followed by date night, during which we ate pizza in a park, and I discovered that the trees are starting to bud…

#spring

Another Pinterest success – these guys:

I made them on Monday night and have been snacking on them all week. They. Are. Delicious. I made them with turkey bacon (no reason in particular) and highly recommend them if 1. You love bacon 2. You love paleo 3. You love bacon

A new addition to my April to-do list is to clean out my closet (yes, just like the Eminem song) and pull out those warmer weather clothes. And maybe even buy some new spring-wear. However, per a recent conversation with my sister, I realized I have more catching up to do than I thought…

Bri: crop tops and kimonos ALL SUMMER

ALL SPRING

ALL FALL MAYBE EVEN

nah kimonos will prob be out by fall

my dream kimono is at urban but its 80 dollars and i dont deserve

i search state street and michigan avenue consistently for another perfect kimono but cannot find

im on a failing kimono hunt

kcomiskey: i dont know what a kimono is

Bri: sigh

this is the summer of kimonos so you need to learn

its basically see through flowy things youll wear over croptops

kcomiskey: oh yes i saw one at target once i liked it

I suppose I’m on the market for a kimono. And a croptop. Seeing that I own neither.

Any direction in this fashion issue is more than welcome. Tell me, what spring cleaning tasks do you have on your list?

Cheers to kimonos?

Kait

Monday Blues

If we are being dead honest, I had a serious case of the Monday blues this morning. So no better of a reason than to link up for a Marvelous in my Monday post to sum up my weekend, and announce the winner of my Blogiversary Giveaway!

Marvelous was going to our first ever REI garage sale. We had no idea what to expect when pulling into the parking lot at 8:30 AM – and were really surprised when we saw a line of about 50 people deep. They passed out tickets by color depending on what time we had arrived by – we were the third group to be called back.

For those of you have never been to an REI garage sale, it’s basically when they put out products that have been gently used/returned, marked down to an insanely low prices. We managed to snag a sleeping pad for our (hopeful) camping endeavors this summer, and I got an awesome pair of North Face workout capris that were marked down to almost nothing.

I also have a Marvelous recipe to share. Last night my roommate Megan showed me a delicious looking gluten-free pizza recipe on the blog inspiralized. It gave the option to use either sweet potato or regular potatoes, so we decided to have a cook-off. I made the version with sweet potatoes to make it (almost) paleo (minus the mozzarella cheese), and she made the version with regular potatoes...

Meg's

Mine

 We then had Andrew do a blind taste test. He claimed to liked them both, but could ‘tell that mine was healthier’ and liked Megan’s better because he ‘could house it a lot easier.’

Fair enough. Round one goes to Megan.

Last Marvelous the day? It's a little bitter sweet, because I have a confession to make...

I cheated on running... and spinning... and I liked it a lot.

Awhile ago my coworker showed me a LivingSocial deal for a new crossfit gym near our work - Blue Crab Crossfit. I purchased it (10 beginner classes) and then literally put off going for a solid two weeks. Monday morning kicked my ass hard, and I knew I needed a literal ass kicking workout to lift my spirits, so I nervously headed to the gym after work.

In short, it was great. We practiced overhead squats after a short warm-up, and then the modified beginner WOD consisted of:

12 mins, every minute on the minute:

-8 wall balls (14 lbs)

-6 burpees (no jump)

I managed to finish 11/12 sets. My lungs were screaming at me after the fact, and I left feeling pretty damn good.

  AND finally, the winner of my Larabar giveaway is....

Congrats to Nicole over at Not Before My Tea, who ironically moved from Baltimore to Chicago a year or two ago. Opposite life stories, both runners, but she has funnier jokes than I do.

Cheers my friends - 

Kait

MIMM - Because it's always marvelous

Today I'm joining Katie for her Marvelous in My Monday link-up - because even if it's pouring rain here in Balty, there are always marvelous things to discuss.

Outside of watching Andrew’s favorite childhood football team bend over be embarrassed in front of the entire world last night, it was a marvelous weekend.

My favorite commercial by far was the Budweiser #BestBuds one – which I had already watched a couple time before it officially aired yesterday – makes me tear up every time.

#BESTBUDS

I made these marvelous buffalo balls to snack on during the Superbowl, and Andrew loved them – he even begged me to bag them up so he could munch on the leftovers throughout the week. I think I’m slowly but surely proving to him that I can cook. I made a ‘healthified batch’ to save for myself, sans cream cheese, which I will probably mix into some salad for lunches this week.

We drank only New Belgium beers – brewed in Fort Collins, CO – the entire game with hopes that it would bring the Broncos good luck. Apparently it did the opposite. 

The groundhog saw his shadow so apparently that means another 6 weeks of winter. Winter here in MD hasn’t been anything too mind-blowing so I’m not going to exactly throw a tantrum over Phil’s prediction, but if I was still living up in Chicago like Nicole, I probably would have sobbed for a solid hour after the announcement was made.

Most marvelous part of my weekend? Outside of two 7(ish) mile runs this on Friday and Sunday, wine tasting on Saturday afternoon was awesome. Not only did we learn a lot about wine and the entire process of making it, but we ending up getting a free bottle to take home and bought two more bottles on top of it.  The little winery was called Basignani and it's up in Sparks, MD, about 30 mins north of the city. I recommend it – it was a fun experience.

How is FABruary going? Hopefully those buns are feeling sore. I’m pairing day 3 with some spinning later today. 

Cheers to my last two days of being 25 –

K

Against the Grain

Can we all just take a quick minute and acknowledge my witty title? 

Damn I’m good.

I read a great blog post this weekend, titled 6 reasons why I’m not paleo. When I first read it I got really confused and wondered if I had blacked out and written it, because the 6 reasons that she lists are literally the same reasons I would not consider myself to be a ‘hard core’ primal. That, and pizza.

You should read it if you have any interest at all in Paleo, eating styles, etc. It’s good stuff. Recently I’ve found myself struggling/getting in arguments with some of my friends while defending the Paleo-style of eating, and trying to explain my general stance. This link pretty much nails it. Anyone who is 100% paleo I am honestly impressed by, but personally I think it’s a little bit unreasonable. If you think I’m going to a Superbowl party this weekend and passing on the beer/nachos, you can think again.

However, speaking of darn good food, I made some this weekend. On Saturday I made this chili, and then yesterday morning I (finally) made this 5 ingredient spaghetti pie.

If you are looking to make one recipe this week, make this. I’m serious, it’s mind blowing, and will have me looking forward to lunch every day this week.

Outside of food, this weekend included some skeeball fun with friends, and the Baltimore Visionary Arts Museum.

Wrapping up, I’m going to be very blunt and say that I’m stoked that this is the last week of January. It’s been long, rather cold, and the first month of the year is always intimidating to me. February is short and contains my birthday, the Superbowl, Groundhog Day, my Blogiversary, Valentines Day, a ski date, some damn good music release dates, the REI Garage Sale, the Winter Olympics… want me to keep going?

Cheers –

K

Rev (up)

I continue to forget that nothing gets me out of a bad attitude toddler slump than a solid ass-kicking workout.

I remembered that tonight though, don't worry.

Last week one of my friends asked a few of us if we had any interest in doing a charity spin class at the new cycle studio that she works at. The event was to raise money for a Team in Training fundraiser to support the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society in the fight against cancer.

90 minutes of sweat and yelling to beat cancer's ass? Sign me up.

The class/studio had everything I look for in a solid spin sesh - good music, good atmosphere, and a fantastic instructor. Since this class was a solid hour and a half they actually had two spin instructors up there.

The first - Esther - took the reigns for the first hour and got me so pumped up I wanted to head butt the girl on the bike next to me.... which happened to be my good friend Megan, so I restrained myself.

Any female spin instructor who has the balls to call the entire class the P word and consistently drop phrases like "Let's do this sh*t" is A-OK in my book.

The second - Jessie, was a little less intense but much more encouraging - exactly what we needed to finish out those last sweat-drenched 30 minutes.

All in all I was thoroughly impressed by Rev Spin Studio and am so glad that I went - check out their website here if you're an interested Baltimorian.

Now I promised you guys a recipe, and I'm going to share it because I don't break promises. These cookies are amazing, are (almost) paleo, and I may have housed two immediately after getting home from Rev.

I'm not even close to sorry.

Blueberry Lemon Yogurt Cookies

- 1 cup coconut palm sugar
- 1 cup greek yogurt
- 2 large eggs
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 cup coconut flour
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 cup fresh blueberries

- 1 freshly squeezed lemon

Preheat to 375. Grease pans. Mix sugar, yogurt, vanilla and eggs in a bowl. Slowly fold in the coconut flour, baking powder and salt, followed by the blueberries.

Spoon decent sized blobs on the pans, take half a lemon and squeeze it over the uncooked cookies before popping those bad boys into the oven. Bake for 10-15 minutes, keep an eye on them.

Flatten em down with a fork, eat, you're welcome.

Last but not least, I'm linking up with Whitney over at I Wore Yoga Pants to Work for #Backthatazzup Friday. Here's on of my favorite jams of the week.




Cheers!

K

Soup, Tunes, and Living Room Camping

Alright, let's get this show on the road.

First off, Happy Monday. You made it through the second hardest day of the week. What's the first hardest you ask? In my humble opinion, it's Tuesday. So buck up people, it's right around the corner.

Probably most importantly, my poor pathetic knees are healing. I took Friday off from working out in order to basically allow them to scab up. Instead I took the morning to hit snooze a few times, and then listen to this gem on my way to work...

Did you hear? Eric has a new album coming out February 11th. Not that I've been counting down since November or anything.

In other news, one of my new favorite Trader Joes snacks is this bag of delight:

It's literally dried cranberries. Not another ingredient to be found. I had about a handful a day all of last week, and finished them off today. A nice addition to my almonds.

My lunch for the week is a paleo buffalo chicken soup that I stumbled upon on pinterest. Preparation wasn't too bad, and the result was a whole lot of spicy soup.

Following the cooking of the soup, we tested out one of Andrew's Christmas presents.

It seems to be working just fine. Can't wait for some potential camping adventures this spring.

All this talk of food reminds me, I've been meaning of to tell you guys about a cool app that my friend mentioned to me - TwoGrand. It's basically a simple app that let's you keep track of the food that you're eating - and to follow others as well - by taking pictures. The purpose of the app is basically to encourage healthy eating and pick up on trends/ideas from others, who may have similar goal weights as yours. Now, I'm not necessarily trying to lose weight - I actually haven't weighed myself in months - but regardless, the app is a great way to keep track of what we're putting into our precious bodies, in a day and age when everyone has their phone on them... pretty much always.

Check out their website here, their blog here, or just search TwoGrand in your app store. It took me about a minute to create my account, and I can definitely see myself using it during weeks that I'm trying to really hold myself accountable, etc.

Give it a glance if you're a food/meal tracker kind of person.

It's looking like one of those 9 pm bedtime nights for me. I'm gonna finish the rest of this peppermint tea and dive under the covers.

Cheers -

K

Mugs

I can always count on my mom to throw a new healthy recipe at me when I'm home. This morning before I woke up she left me this recipe on the counter:

Grainless Banana Bread in a Mug

I substituted almond butter into my mug, and made peanut butter for my dad. That paired with a warm cup of black coffee started off my morning swimmingly. I believe she found the original recipe here.

I've been back in the Chi now since Thursday night. Before boarding my flight, I found myself a real treat at the BWI airport:

Who knew Jamba offers Pumpkin smoothies? I opted for a small, and got it 'light' which I believe cuts out some of the sugar, shaving it down to closer to 200 cals. Still considered a treat in my book, but a tasty way to start off my trip.

Also, a big obligatory thanks to the sis and her pal Manda who braved the Chicago rush hour traffic on Thursday and picked myself and my 80 lbs of luggage up from Midway airport so that I wouldn't have to take the L. Can we just talk about how my big suitcase weighed exactly 50 lbs? 50.0. The Southwest lady at the check-in desk literally congratulated me.

Had to blur out some of Bri's offensive language.

Last night I decided to try to create my own version of a pumpkin smoothie. I threw in:

- 1/2 ripe banana 

-1 cup canned pumpkin

-1 tsp pumpkin pie spice

-3 TB honey

-1/3 cup cottage cheese (to thicken it up)

-A few ice cubes

-1/2 - 1 cup vanilla almond milk

-1 TB almond butter

-1 TB flaxseed

As you can see,  I paired that with some leftover green bean casserole and called it a dinner. I'm weird,  I know. I enjoyed the smoothie, and may throw some vanilla extract in there next time.

The weekend, in short, was a whole lot of Christmas, a whole lot of Jane, and a whole lot of snoozin'.

Grams & Santa

I stumbled upon this on Pinterest the other day and loved it. It may very well me my 2014 mantra.

I have some last minute Christmas shopping to knock out today, along with a basement workout on our elliptical/bike. Yes, I'm one of those people who waits to buy presents. It makes it easier to buy it here versus Baltimore and then have to pack them all.

Enjoy your second to last Monday of 2014 - I hope it treats you well.

Cheers -
K