CharlotteOne

I haven’t forgotten what a great snack yogurt is.

• vanilla greek yogurt
• Kashi Go Lean
• dark chocolate chips

Far from it. I have only expounded upon it’s wonderfulness as a snack.

This was perfect for today, because I had my new Tuesday worship with my small group from church at 7, so I needed something that would last until I got home around 9:30.

I loved my new worship! God is really blessing me with a great job, a great church and wonderful friends. I ran into a few people at service that I had not seen in awhile, so that was really nice.

The speaker, Todd Phillips, was amazing and gave a wonderful sermon on getting through the storms of life. I believe the live stream will be posted soon; I will link to it when it is. I would love for you guys to hear it as well, because it was so powerful. I found myself just nodding in agreement the whole time. Don’t you love that?

If you have a second, check out the movement that is going on at CharlotteOne online here. This group of people is amazing, with a great love of Christ. It’s so beautiful.

After I left the church, I did some crackberry checking, like any good crack addict does. I was so glad to see an e-mail from everyone’s favorite homegirl saying she got her college care package! I have renewed faith in our Postal Service. I just sent that package Friday, and it made it to Vermont by Tuesday. Ally, be on the lookout for your cupcakes. The way my post office runs, they might be there tomorrow!

When I got home around 9:30, I made a very snacky snack plate for dinner.

Almond butter and hummus dippers.

Kiwi, dates and Kashi cracks.

Blue corn chips.

Do me a favor. Dip these in almond butter. You won’t be sorry. You’ll probably thank me.

Orange tinted apples.

These apples weren’t really orange, but for some reason my camera kept insisting they were. Whatev, I’ll roll with it.

Pretty, pretty snack plate.

After consuming all that was delicious in my life, I proceeded to moan and groan until all those chips settled in my tum.

Then I swore sweated through Level 2 of the shred. 

Now I must get to bed, for morning comes early.

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food coma

AH! FOOD OVERKILL!

I made up for not having any actual meals yesterday.

Behold:

Family Sunday dinner food. Oh yes.

Fruit, ww roll, VEGETARIAN! beans (my grandma is the coolest, I know), slaw, cauliflower and a twice baked tater.

If you don’t know what a twice baked tater is, basically it’s a baked potato skin filled with mashed potatoes and baked again. Potatoes at their best.

I also ate a dessert plate.

Naner pudding, chocolate coconut cake that was INSANELY good and vanilla ice cream. A nice sampling of all that was offered.

I spent the rest of the afternoon in a nice food coma.

Until I spotted a renegade golf cart.

Josh, Scott, Anna and I took it for a spin, and then located some actual golf clubs to go with our cart.

Doesn’t it look like we are on a golf course?

We weren’t.

After our little jaunt in the golf cart, we settled back into our food comas. I may or may not have had more ice cream.

I also ran 2 miles. I was attempting a speed run. By speed, apparently I mean an 8:30 mile. That’s why you don’t run after eating ice cream.

Save the speed work for another day.

I picked something I do a little better.

Eating.

Kasey and I had a girl’s night at Zada Jane’s. Haleigh was supposed to come too, but she was not feeling well. 😦 Hope you feel better tomorrow, girl!

We had an appetizer of Spinach Artichoke dip.

Excuse the pictures. After I ate everything I realized my camera was on the wrong setting.

I also ate this. It looks to be an ugly and unappetizing salad, but in reality it was a beautiful and delicious salad.

It contained:

• spinach
• dried cherries
• orange slices
• candied pecans
• feta cheese

It was tossed in a lemon vinegarette. To.Die.For.

On the un-food related side of things, I must go tackle level two of the 30 day shred. Have I mentioned I hate level two?

I do.

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10 on 10

I did a wonderful 10 mile run after work today. Seriously, this may have been the best 10 miler of my entire running career. The weather was perfect, my pace was perfect, everything was just great. I am so glad that I have my long run behind me for the week, because Saturday is looking busy, busy, busy.

This afternoon I had a snack of yogurt+granola.

I forgot what a great snack yogurt makes. I will have to do this more often.

On my run I also had some apricots at the 7 mile mark. I discovered that in lieu of gummy bears, dried fruit will do as a pick me up. Fueling during long runs is really key to a good run I think. I just started, and really my runs have been better and better.

After my run I made a quick meal of toast topped with pb+honey,

and a bowl of strawberries and coconut on the side.

The strawberries and coconut worked really well together for the perfect fruit salad.

Does this photo look blurry to you? It’s like the toast is hiding. Oh toast, come out and show yourself.

Don’t be so shy.

As well as doing 10 miles on the 10th, I did Level 1 of the shred on the 10th. I am glad it is the last day of Level one. All those push ups are getting tiring. I am excited for Level two tomorrow. I think Level three is my favorite, but Level two will do for a change.

Romans 12:21 (MSG)

Our Scriptures tell us that if you see your enemy hungry, go buy that person lunch, or if he’s thirsty, get him a drink. Your generosity will surprise him with goodness. Don’t let evil get the best of you; get the best of evil by doing good.

I read this verse today when I was feeling a little controversial. It really helped me see that the devil was trying to get me down. I just repeated, ‘don’t let evil get the best of you’ in my head so that I could get my focus back. Sometimes no matter how hard we try, the devil will sneak in and trick us into arguments, disagreements and controversy. Don’t let him get the best of you. Kick that old bully to the curb. Remember, God is love, and love is the answer to ALL things.

Have a lovely evening my friends!

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running drama

Snacky McSnackerson.

These were delicious as are all the Peeled snacks. The bananas were chewy and the cashews were salty and yummy. Several of you have asked where I got the Peeled snacks, and the answer is I ordered them. At the Healthy Living Summit I was given two $10 gift cards to use on the Peeled website, so I put them to good use.

After work I was really feeling the yoga, so I hurriedly changed into some yoga clothes and hit up a 75 minute power class at YogaFlex and also the local Trader Joes.

I left poorer than I came, but my evening was far from over. Upon exiting my yoga class I saw that I had FOUR missed calls from Mama D. Now I love that lady dearly, but seriously what could she have wanted? I immediately returned her call and discovered that a full blown manhunt was in effect for me.

Now boys and girls, this is why you don’t live with Mommy and Daddy when you are 23.

Mama D., bless her heart. Apparently she missed me saying loudly, “I am going to TJ’s and YOGA.” When she couldn’t find me and it was just getting later and darker, she assumed I had gone running and from there assumed the worst.

She had a few errands to run, and when she left, she drove my running route (never mind my car was not in the driveway) and asked two of the ladies I often see out walking when I run if they had seen me. As they had not, they became very worried for my safety. Keep in mind that I was relaxing in down dog about now.

The ladies, being the sweethearts that they are, called the entire neighborhood and put them on the lookout for me.

Several men drove around for 30-45 minutes in vain searching for my blond ponytail.

I know this, because they pulled in my driveway at the same time I did.

Needless to say, everyone was glad to see me safe, and I am glad to live in such a great neighborhood, where everyone will come together to search for me.

Good thing it was unnecessary.

Pops on the other hand, was sorely displeased with me. (This was my fault how?) He not being a runner, greatly scolded me about running long routes and by myself. Now I am the first to say that running by myself is not ideal. However, as I work 8-5 every day I have to run when I can. Unfortunately I don’t know anyone who cares to run on my schedule. His solution would be for me to quit running altogether, but guys you know what it means to run. I am a RUNNER. It’s what I do.

In fact I signed up for another half marathon just this afternoon. It’s five weeks before my full marathon, so I think it will fit nicely into my schedule.

That is beside the point though.

I know I am not the only person who has worried non-running parents.

What can I do to dispel their fears? Any more safety precautions I can take besides the obvious (running against traffic, when it’s light out, carrying a phone, carrying pepper spray…)? I dearly love my parents, and I don’t care to worry them, or my entire neighborhood anymore than necessary.

That being said, this was dinner.

Strawberries.

Kashi crackers, dates and crack.

Egg+Avocado sammie.

All together.

I know you guys expected better after my TJ’s trip, but honestly after all the drama, I was just ready for some FOOD.

I also did the 30 day shred with Mere, once things calmed down a bit.

Now I am off to bed. I think I, and everyone within a 40 mile radius of my house deserves a good nights sleep tonight.

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bare cupboards

Here we have:

the end of grocery run snack. A kiwi and a few dark chocolate edamame.

I must say it was quite pleasant, as was the rest of my afternoon. I came home and ran 5 miles with my new Camelbak to ‘test it out’. Me like. Me like lots.

Before I left on my run, I had a piece of toast with peanut butter.

My stomach was grumbly, so I figured the smart thing to do was to answer it’s demands. I proved to be right in thinking that.

After my DELICIOUS run, I had a dinner of veggie pasta.

It consisted of:

• whole wheat noodles
• peppers
• mushrooms
• celery
• eggplant

Very yum.

I followed the pasta up with a baggie of dried apples.

These apples are INSANELY good. I will be buying an entire box of these next time I place an order. That’s a promise.

I finished up my evening with Level 1 of the 30 day shred. Day 8 and still going strong. Having a partner certainly helps!

Now I am off to soak in a warm bubble bath with a good book. Ah, my favorite pastime.

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Labor Day = Lazy Day

Hi guys!

Hope your Labor Day was wonderful and all the things Labor Day should be, which is without labor. Just plain old laziness.

Where to begin?

Sunday after church I met Haleigh for coffee.

She is just as sweet as she seems on her blog, and we ended up talking for THREE hours! Yay for new friends!

Since I had sort of skipped breakfast due to oversleeping I grabbed a grande nonfat pumpkin spice latte and a slice of lowfat banana chocolate chip coffee cake.

After coffee, I made a quick lunch at home consisting of:

Avocado and hot sauce sandwich, dates and pb and dried bananas and pb.

Then I set out for the lake to spend the rest of the weekend.

The padre had a bonfire going when I got there, and we had a cookout a bit later.

As you can see, hot dogs were provided, but I picked up some new Morning Star black bean burgers for myself.

YUM! These are really good! I totally recommend them.

I had a few chips on the side. It was a cookout, right?

No cookout is complete without the toasted marshmallow.

Or s’mores.

Meredith and I did our 30 day shred after dinner and then tried to call it a night. Tried to. SOMEBODY SNORES!

******

Despite the snoring, I managed to get some sleep. Thanks for asking.

Before breakfast, Meredith and I got in our workout (she is serious about this, guys!)

I mixed a chocolate chip muffin with vanilla greek yogurt for a parfait.

YUM!

After breakfast, some folks braved the chilled waters for waterskiing and wakeboarding. Those brave folks were not me.

I sunned myself upon the boat and yelled words of encouragement. Or more like ‘Are you crazy? It is freezing out here!’

Of course I trotted right inside for lunch after that, as if I had been exerting myself heavily.

Another pita burger, this time cut in half for a different view. Also served upon a paper plate for ultimate klassiness.

I mixed a frozen tub of greek yogurt with a frozen banana for an ice cream of sorts on the side.

Toppings included dried mango, apricots and a bit of granola. It was fabulous.

Since I had exerted myself heavily earlier in the day (as in I had not) I settled in for a nap after lunch.

Once naptime was over, it was snack time.

I finished off the apricots and mango.

And did some work on a bag of tostitos.

After that everyone piled on the boat for a long, long journey to foreign shores. By everyone I mean, perhaps the boat was overloaded, and I may or may not have sported some very unbecoming sunglasses.

Not long after we returned and everything was cleaned up to Mama D’s satisfaction, we departed the lake house. Sad times, because it will likely be the last visit this season. 😦

Oh well, we ate dinner at McAlisters.

I got the veggie sandwich with fruit and lowfat ranch on the side. Also a pickle came with it. Very garlicky pickle that was.

The veggie sandwich is quite good.

Lots of cucumbers, tomatoes, peppers and lettuce. I likey.

Ok folks, it’s time to go!

See you tomorrow, hope everyone had a FABULOUS weekend!

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Got my Camelbak, bak.

So I just finished 30 day shredding with Meredith. It’s 12 am on Sunday. What was I thinking? Or better yet, what was Meredith thinking? She made me do it. I am such a slacker. I wanted to skip.

I figure since I am up I will fill you in on the happenings of my Saturday.

I bought a Camelbak!

According to the website this is the Hydrobak which is perfect for short torsos. That’s me! I actually bought it because it was the most comfortable. I read on the website that it is great for cyclists, but who’s gonna call me out for wearing it running?

After my Camelbak buying I headed to the lake.

Hello lake!

Upon arriving there, the first thing on my mind was FOOD, as I had not eaten anything since my gummy bears this morning.

I found this box of crackers.

Wisconsin, holla!

I paired them with a kiwi and a nectarine that I found in my purse of all places!

nom, nom, nom.

I took my foodies to the hammock and spent some time like this:

Until I fell asleep. I was quite exhausted from my 10 miler!

Upon awaking from my nap, food was once again on my brain.

 

I discovered this cup of ice cream in the freezer and ate it. It was seriously in the freezer in the cup, not even a carton and I ate it. Just goes to show how ravenous I was. Or craving dairy.

Later I had dinner.

Sweet potato + green beans + slaw.

Also a cookie for dessert.

Make that two cookies for dessert. They were quite good.

Alright, I am off to bed, and then church, lunch and lake tomorrow. I don’t know when I’ll be back, but I will be sure to let you know what happens.

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Big melons

Check out the size of the watermelon my co-worker brought to work today!

I had no problems finishing it off.

Ok, maybe I shared a little bit.

And I still wanted my Luna, so I had my Luna.

Then I finished up my work stuff and headed home to start a 3 day weekend!

Which I started by procrastinating about doing the 30 day shred until I just went and did it. Then I got a shower and met Kasey to go to dinner.

I shamelessly took my own photo.

And then we found some boys.

Bearded boys.

Inmate boys.

circa 1892.

Such a jokester, that one.

Boys that ate big food.

Have you ever seen such a large fish?

Not me. No I haven’t.

I have, however, seen a large baked potato.

And ate it.

In fact I dumped hot sauce on it and ate it. With a salad.

But first I ate some hush puppies.

Just not all of them.

Then Kasey and I found Candy Mountain.

Who knew Candy Mountain was in a fish camp in Charlotte?

Not I. Not Kasey. Not Charlie.

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A lot of peanut butter

What’s better than a chocolate peanut butter cookie?

Nothing.

Makes me happy, happy, happy.

So, the whole 30 day shred thing? Making me sore, sore, sore. Apparently I don’t use my legs enough because they would barely move during my 5 miler today. Ah, well I used the time to jam to some rockin’ tunes and barely noticed my legs were not working like they should. I also dreamed of a peanut butter and jelly sandwich the whole time.

So that’s what I had upon completing my run. A PB&J and grapes. I should probably mention that before my run I noshed on some peanut butter filled pretzels. It’s barely worth mentioning because they don’t exist anymore.

Wow, that’s a lot of peanut butter in one post. Ah, well.

After I downed my PB&J, I did Level one of the 30 day shred again with my shred bud, Mere. Why do I keep punishing myself?

In other news, has anyone else’s inboxes been flooded with e-mails from Myspace lately? It’s like they just realized they aren’t cool anymore and they are trying to win you back. One email read:

Hey Whitney, come see what your friends are up to on Myspace!

Um yeah. I know what they are up to. I have Facebook and Twitter. It’s 2009 Myspace. You are outdated.

Except for creepy old men and musicians. They still use you.

 

PS: Check out Bake for the Cure!

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Happy Birthday Grandma!

Chocolate apple pie.

‘Twas fuel for my 30 day shred + 2 mile run.

Then it was Happy Birthday Grandma!

She thanks everyone for her birthday wishes.

The dinner was fruit and taco salad.

I received many strange looks and comments regarding the size of my salad.

Of course I ate it all, and proved everyone wrong.

It was ahmazing, there was no way I was not cleaning my plate.

Salad:

• LETTUCE
• Brown rice
• Black beans
• Blue Chips
• Soy Cheese

Then the cake was brought out, much to my full stomach’s dismay.

Meredith and I split a piece, just because it was so gorgeous, and also it was STRAWBERRY!

We dined with gangstas.

They are adopted. By that I mean, they are boyfriends of various family members.

The fam is large, but here are some photos (in sections, so as not to throw it all at you at once).

Grandma + her kids. That’s mi padre (the only male), Aunt Mendy, Aunt Marcia, Grandma, and Aunt Melanie. Yes, my grandma is one of those people that named her kids with the same initial. My dad is MONTY. She wanted to have another son named MARTY, so she could have MONTY + MARTY, but God did not bless her with such.

Cousins:

Oldest girls first. We have Erika, Whit, Laura, Linden, Meredith and Grandma in the middle!

Aren’t my cousins+sisters so pretty!?!?! Aw, I’m so proud.

Youngest cousins. There is an assortment of genders here. Or rather 3 girls, 1 boy. Nathan, Chloe, Grandma, Cecily and Sabrina.

They’re getting so BIG! 😦

Finally, the oldest BOYS.

I’m not even going to pretend like the are well-behaved or anything but teenage boys. Lance, Grandma, Jake and Blair (licking someone’s hand.)

Fun times, fun times.

Well, I am off to bed with a full stomach and a smile on my face. I love my huge crazy family! 😀

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