You are here: Home / Archives for Fit Bloggin

Live From Fitbloggin – It's Friday Night

March 19, 2010 by

Hey All! I made it to Baltimore for Fitbloggin! Scott is here with me which is so awesome – kind of like a mini-break sans kids. The weather here is fantastic – 70-75 degrees and sunny all weekend. That’s warmer than it was in Orlando when I was there 2 weeks ago! I was so excited by the warm weather, that as soon as we checked into the hotel we went for a walk around the harbor area.

We stopped off at a restaurant on the water for some fruity drinks (ok, I had the fruity drink 😉 ) – a mango-pineapple smoothie…

We also had a few “snacks” for lunch, including a small Greek salad, cheese quesadillas, and cheese stuffed mushrooms…

We continued to walk all around the harbor and just soaked in the gorgeous day. Then, it was time to head back for the first Fitbloggin event – the POMtini cocktail reception. Even though we arrived about an hour late for the reception, there were still so many bloggers (yes, mostly women) there and plenty of martinis too! I’m not a huge pomegranate fan, but the martini was actually very good.

Next, it was off to dinner in Little Italy at Cafe Gia…

Cafe Gia serves old school Italian food. The building looks a little shady, but the inside decor has a lot of character. The “boss”, an older Italian woman, was completely charming to all the customers, including us. She was very sweet, but looked so tired – obviously working too hard 🙁

Seeing as it was a Friday during lent, I was limited on what I could order – so it was the Penne Primavera for me. The pasta was good, but nothing spectacular. But, there were many other chicken and meat dishes on the menu that sounded really good – guess I’ll have to head back there sometime to try them!

Ok, time to hit the sack. The 5K run around the harbor is going to come awfully early – 6:30 AM (but that’s 5:30 AM Chicago time).

Have a great night everyone, especially all of the Fitbloggin ladies (and the 3-4 gents that I saw) 🙂

Filed Under: Fitness, Travel Tagged With: , , ,

Starbucks and Fitbloggin: Who's Ready?

March 17, 2010 by

Hello All and Happy St. Patrick’s Day! Although I have kissed the actual Blarney Stone in Ireland (said to give the kisser the gift of gab), I am far from being chatty tonight so I will let my cupcake friend say it all…

I’ve had a busy day at work and at home. At this point, I’m ready to crash on my bed right in the middle of all of my clothes for Fitbloggin that I still need to pack. Speaking of packing, I am sooo happy someone invented packing cubes – packing cubes are absolute genius! It must have been a woman who invented them, ‘cuz Lord knows that women appreciate anything that can make packing easier.

For anyone going to Fitbloggin, the closest Starbucks is .1 miles away from the Marriott. I predict that is going to be one busy Starbucks this weekend!

Ok, gotta run. See you on the flip side.

Filed Under: Travel Tagged With: , ,

Do Not Disturb

March 16, 2010 by

Hey All,

I didn’t sleep well at ALL last night. It doesn’t help that I was:

A) Up late picking out clothes for Fitbloggin
B) Up even later worrying about my clothing choices Fitbloggin
C) Distracted by Miss M who, at just 2 years old, insists that she is not tired and would like to play with cars in the dark

    Ugh! Sleepless nights are hard and they make for even harder mornings. So, it may be no surprise that I did NOT run today as planned. I had hoped to get an extra hour of sleep, but that plan didn’t go over very well.  I need to hang a sign on my door that says Do Not Disturb – too bad Mr. C and Miss M can’t read yet. The other day, Mr. C so kindly asked me, do they let you sleep at work? No, mommy does not get nap time at work – or at home apparently.

    Maybe I’ll actually get some sleep at Fitbloggin – he he! Unless of course, we’re all going out dancing, at which point I will stay out all night reliving my sorority girl days. I’m hoping Ashley can give us all the scoop on the Baltimore restaurants and nightlife!

    Aside from Low and Behold, has anyone else started packing yet? I’m usually like Low and pack a week or so in advance just because I’m so excited. But, I literally feel like I just unpacked from my trip to Orlando, so I’m not motivated to start packing yet. Aside from my trip to Baltimore, I’m headed back to Orlando just after Easter, then back to Washington, DC, for a week in May. Anyone else have travel plans for the Spring/Summer?

    The other day I went to the grocery store and found myself in the produce section, as always. I’m very frustrated that fruit costs so much, yet you’re supposed to eat 4-5 servings a day. Looking at all the fruit, I was reminded of the healthy eating tip about buying several single pieces of fruit and placing them in a big bowl on your counter or desk at work. Then, when you have the urge to snack, you eat a piece of fruit.

    I tried that, but unfortunately, the fruit is not ripe and won’t be ripe for a few days. So it is just sitting in my cute little bowl mocking me as I contemplate what snack I can actually eat. Some chocolate chips are sounding good right about now.!

    Oooh, wait. Scott just came home with 4 quarts of ice cream from our local dairy…

    This is exactly what happens when you’re fruit is not ripe – he he!

    Have a great night.

    Filed Under: Life Tagged With: , , ,

    Oooh, So Spicy!

    March 15, 2010 by

    Hello All and  Happy Monday! After my 4.5 mile interval run, I had an another awesome, and very French, breakfast..

    I try not to eat a whole lot of bread, but when I do I want it to be good. This morning, I smeared some Bonne Maman raspberry preserves and all-natural peanut butter on a fresh French baguette. Hmmm…so good! I really think I should move to France just so I can have fresh French bread everyday and have it be normal. I also had a couple strawberries just ‘cuz they’re so good for you.

    I am really looking forward to warmer weather when I can enjoy these types of breakfast out on my huge front porch. Spring/Summer can not come soon enough.

    It was status quo at work today. Even lunch was a meager 1 1/2 cups of chicken soup and a couple Dr. Kracker flatbreads. But late in the afternoon, I enjoyed some purple yogurt!

    If you have not tried Dannon’s Greek yogurt yet, I highly recommend the blueberry flavor -it’s fantastic! I think I may even like this better than Trader Joe’s vanilla Greek yogurt – I can’t believe it either!

    Dinner was some very spicy chicken stir-fry a la my husband who can’t tell things are too spicy when he’s congested.

    Oooh, so spicy!

    After dinner, I headed out to the mall for another fruitless, 2-hour shopping trip. I think the retail gods are laughing right about now at how much time I’ve spent searching for new clothes.

    I’m going to make one more attempt at shopping this week, before Fitbloggin. If I can’t find anything, just remember I tried!

    See ya all tomorrow 🙂

    Filed Under: Dinner Tagged With: , , , , , ,

    Yogurt Sundae

    March 14, 2010 by

    Hello Everyone! Hope you all had a wonderful and relaxing Sunday. After my typical Sunday morning run, I made a super yummy yogurt parfait for breakfast…

    I layered the parfait with the following awesome ingredients…

    • 5.3 ounces of Trader Joe’s nonfat Greek yogurt, vanilla
    • 1/4 cup Galaxy Vanilla Almond Granola
    • 1/8 cup blueberries
    • 1 huge strawberry, chopped

    My own Greek Yogurt “Sundae”. This was, by far, the best breakfast I’ve had in a long time.

    And, if you can believe it, the whole parfait added up to less than 300 calories – now that’s a great breakfast!

    Scott and I took the kids to church at 11 AM then headed to Jason’s Deli for lunch. It really wasn’t too exciting, but I did snag a couple of Dr. Kracker flatbreads for a snack at work tomorrow – he he!

    After lunch, I headed back out shopping. I am trying to find something fun to wear for Fitbloggin. There’s been a little chatter about going out dancing, which sounds really fun. Unfortunately, my dancing days post-kids are few and far between and my fun, party girl close have taken a hit because of this. I shopped for more than 2 hours at Gap, Banana Republic, Ann Taylor, etc. and only found one thing that I remotely liked.

    Is it just me or is anyone else having a hard time finding cute clothes for Fitbloggin and Spring in general??

    For dinner ….it was taco night at the RWC house tonight.

    Scott makes fantastic turkey tacos – really juicy and just the right amount of spice. He makes it all from memory too. As you can see, I had my fair share of the taco fiesta…

    After letting my stomach settle, I hopped on the treadmill again for a fast 2-mile run. I had to shorten my morning workout a bit due to church so I wanted to make up for the lost time tonight. I used to do double workouts/runs quite often – mostly in the few months post-pregnancy. I love how strong the fast bursts of exercise make me feel. However, I stopped doing them so often because running in the evening tends to make it difficult for me to fall asleep.

    Anyway, post evening run, I enjoyed a little sweet treat…

    Double chocolate Ghirardelli brownies. I cooked them a tad too long, but they were still ooey and gooey!

    Time to plan my wardrobe for the week and for Fitbloggin! Have a great night!

    Filed Under: Dinner Tagged With: , , , ,

    Give It Up

    February 17, 2010 by

    Today is Ash Wednesday, the official start of Lent in the Christian faith. Lent is also a time of sacrifice. When I was growing up and attending Catholic school, this meant giving up something that you love – usually a food item. Even after leaving Catholic school, I would still continue to give up something during lent – most of the time it was food-related, like chips or cookies. One time I gave up gossiping and that was very hard considering I was in my sorority-girl phase. 

    So what do I give up this year?

    This year, I toyed with the idea of giving up chips – after all, I do love chips. I also thought about giving up French fries – something I love, but I really don’t eat them very much. So it wouldn’t be much of a sacrifice. Instead, I decided to give up Starbucks’ Mocha Frappuccinos! That’s right, for the next 40 days (or until Easter Sunday) I will not have a single Starbucks blended coffee drink – yikes, I can hardly believe it myself.

    After discussing my semi-addiction to frappuccinos with Anne this weekend, I decided that giving them up was not only a great Lenten sacrifice, but also a necessity if I wanted to reduce excess spending. It’s going to be a looong 40 days.

    Also in Lenten tradition, Ash Wednesday means a day of fasting and no meat. Seeing as I didn’t eat very much for most of the day (a Luna bar and a 1/2 PBJ sandwich) dinner was my main meal of the day…

    Instead of our planned cheese ravioli, Scott and I got take out at Go Roma. I had an awesome veggie panini with red peppers, onions, fresh basil, and goat cheese, plus some fries on the side. Hmm…maybe I should have give up fries for Lent 😉

    For all of you Fitbloggin attendees, remember to sign up for the 5K run on Saturday morning. I’ll be there, will you?

    Gotta run – Psych just started. I have been sooo Psych-deprived!

    Filed Under: Dinner Tagged With: , ,

    Those Bloody Oranges

    January 27, 2010 by

    Hey There! 

    I am feeling sooo much better today! I was actually able to run my full workout this morning – woo hoo! I guess my body really needed the two-day rest.

    After the run I was craving fruit so I started digging around the fridge to see what I could find. Apparently, Scott went shopping on Monday and bought a bunch of oranges. But, not just any oranges – Moro oranges or blood oranges…

    These oranges are freakin awesome! I can’t believe I have never tried these before!!! According to Sunkist’s Web site:

    The Moro Orange, sometimes called the “blood orange” because of its deep burgundy flesh, has been a favorite in Europe and North Africa for years. They are characterized by a distinctive flavor, with a hint of raspberry added to the rich orange taste.

    So cool, and not just because of the red-purple-ish color. This orange really had a great flavor – juicy and sweet. Ironically, my 2-year old was having a “I only like things that are purple day” so I was excited to show her my new find. She was just as excited as I was 🙂

    After my bloody orange, I was still in a fruity mood, so I opted for a nana…

    It was perfectly ripe – potassium at its best!

    I worked at my desk for what seemed like hours on end (blood clot alert :-(). I made myself get up to make an unpictured bowl of chicken soup – I still didn’t trust my stomach was I was keeping the lunch light and brothy.

    By dinner I was pretty hungry, so I dug into Scott’s leftover baked ziti that he made on Monday night – when I was too sick to even look at food…

    It was good, but I really wish I could have tried it on the first go around.

    In other news, I booked my flight to FitBloggin today! Woo hoo!! Is anyone else as excited as I am?? I’m flying in on Friday early PM and leaving on Sunday afternoon. I can’t believe it’s less than 50 days away!

    Gotta run, have a great night!

    Filed Under: Breakfast Tagged With: , , ,

    Pretty in Pink Cara Cara Oranges

    January 19, 2010 by

    Hey out there,

    Fitbloggin Info: If anyone is going to Fitbloggin, you may want to book your room at the Marriott ASAP. I just booked mine tonight and was told they had no more rooms left under the designated block. She finally “push it through” and gave me the conference rate. It looks like there are about 75 people signed up so far – at least there are 75 people with Web sites. Can’t wait!

    As some of you know, a couple days ago I tried my first ever pink orange. I was at a loss for what kind of orange would be pink (kind of an oxymoron) but thanks to one reader, I now know where these pinkies come from. As quoted from the Sunkist Web site:

    Cara Cara oranges, a type of navel grown in California’s San Joaquin Valley, are available January through April. Their outward appearance is similar to other navels, but their interior is a distinctive pinkish red and has an exceptionally sweet flavor with a tangy cranberry-like zing. Cara Caras are a rich source of Vitamins A and C, fiber and Lycopene. A perfect snack served as wedges, they’re also a colorful addition to beverages or squeezed into a vinaigrette salad dressing.

    It just so happens that I had another pink orange today, and sure enough, when I looked on the sticker, it said Cara Cara!

    Scott started teaching his night class again, so I was on my own for dinner tonight (well, actually with two kids in tow). So, it was a sandwich for me…

    I put a few slices of lean ham and reduced-fat salami on a piece of double-fiber Brownberry bread, plus a little Swiss cheese for good measure. Apparently, when Mr. C saw the cheese, he had to know where cheese came from. I replied, “from milk that comes from cows.” He was satisfied with that answer. But when I added, “or milk from sheep,” he said, “but sheep don’t drink milk”. Not entirely true because sheep do drink milk, but it’s still funny, especially when that is my only entertainment for the night.

    After dinner, I enjoyed one of the last pieces of the Trader Joe’s apple bread…

    I am sorry to see it go so quickly, but luckily gingerbread is next.

    2010 Trip #2: Washington, DC

    As you’ll recall, two weeks ago I headed to Phoenix/Scottsdale for my first work-related trip of the year. Tomorrow, I leave for the second – to Washington, DC. My bags are packed, I’m ready to go…or so the old song goes. I am heading out a little earlier in the day to avoid the rush in the evening. Also, I really don’t like getting into a new city in the dark. I usually feel a little uneasy taking a taxi or public trans at night, particularly when I’m by myself. Fortunately, I am meeting an friend for dinner. I haven’t seen her in a year so it will be fun to catch up.

    Off to bed now, but stay tuned for Bloggin from the Capitol!

    Filed Under: Dinner Tagged With: , , , ,

    Fit Bloggin Bound

    December 29, 2009 by

    Hello to all my blog buddies out there! I just returned from an amazing Italian dinner with my in-laws. I’m so full and completely exhausted from the wine and food. I plan to share all the details with you tomorrow morning, but here’s a preview of how I ended the meal…

    12.29 Protiferoles

    I just have to say – OMG!!! These protiferoles (cream puffs) were huge! Again, check back tomorrow morning for more details.

    Fit Bloggin, March 2010

    Before signing off, I must tell you that I just registered for the Fit Bloggin conference in Baltimore! Woo hoo! I am so excited. If you are at all interested in the Social Media-Fitness/health combination, I highly suggest you check it out! If any of you are going, drop me a note. Maybe we can arrange an early morning run (for exercise or just to Starbucks ;-)) or a dinner. March can not come soon enough!

    See you all in the AM.

    Filed Under: Fitness Tagged With: , ,