Oops.  It is already the 2nd.  Better late than never right?  Right.

• Be realistic! I have A LOT on my plate this semester and I am just going to have to accept the fact that I can’t do it all.  As I mentioned yesterday, I am struggling a bit on cutting down my exercise.  Exercise keeps me going and from pulling my hair out.  Unfortunately there are some days when I must pick work(school) first.
• Try not to eat packaged food. Notice that I said “try”.  This is part of being realistic.  I eat lunch on the go/at school every day but Friday.  I need to try and prepare some meals to go on the weekends but honestly I like to do nothing on my weekends!
• Spend time with my boys. I am very guilty of being so busy that I go all week without spending any quality time with my husband or dog.  Just this morning I rushed Trooper around the block for our morning walk because I knew I needed to make breakfast, blog, check my flight, workout, and get car to oil place.  Slow down!  I need to enjoy my time with my boys!

What are your goals for September?

I cannot believe it is already June!  This year is flying by me!  As with all new months I like to set up a month challenge that includes reasonable, attainable goals.  First, it is time to see how I did on my May Challenge :

• Stop eating crap that is bad for my body. I give myself a C on this challenge.  I incorporated way more fresh fruits but didn’t take out any crap.  Salty snacks hold me back.
• Shape-up, tone-up. I added both interval and strength training.  I am following the Insanity workout (although I usually take an extra day off so I can bike) and have made sure to add in at least two days of weight work a week.  No six pack abs yet…probably due to mediocre performance above.
• Read a book for fun. Done.  Call me a tween but I ended up reading Eclipse from the Twilight saga.  It was an easy read so I could do it in a day.  It was actually pretty good, but [Skip ahead if you haven't read book] she ends up picking Edward and I am on Team Jacob (who wouldn’t be?).  Anyway I googled to find out what happens in the last book and it seems kind of ridiculous so I am done with the Twilight fad.

Now time for June’s Challenge:

• Get a glimpse of my abs. The only reason I don’t have the abs I want is because I like to eat a lot of crap.  I pretty much always have my hand in a cracker box  and dessert is usually the rule rather than the exception.  I have heard it a million times and read it again in the Eat Clean Diet book someone gave me:  how you look is 80% nutrition.  Since I got a C on May’s goal (and a C is never acceptable for this girl’s Type A personality) I am going to set this goal again.  Stop eating the crap.  See the abs I work for.
• Cook a meal. Although there is nothing wrong with throwing whatever you have got onto a salad or in a wrap, I need to stop being lazy and cook up some new stuff.  I am sure the hubby would be happy to enjoy the results.  I am going to go through the cookbooks and try to cook up something once a week.
• Tackle my research early. I signed up for my writing requirement course this summer and my paper is due July 13th.  I am the worst at procrastinating on papers!  Ideally I will tackle research/planning first two weeks of June, last two weeks I will write, and July will be editing.  Here is to hoping!

Alright, give it to me:  What are your goals for June?

If you missed it, check out Summer Kickoff Giveaway!  You can have up to 3 entries!

This post is probably a day late, but oh well.  I am going to set out another set of goals for the April Challenge! Monthly goals seems to be a perfect amount of time for me.  It is finite enough to see the end results, yet long enough that the goal could become a habit.

How did I do on March’s Challenge?

3 minutes of planks a day: I kept this up until after my double half marathon when I let my body go into rest mode.

More fruits and veggies: Yep!  GM’s most mornings and laid off the Cliff Z bars.

Add in another day of strength training: YEP!  This ended up being the easiest one.  I can already see some toning results in my arms–woo!

Okay, so for this month:

April Challenge (I like calling my goals a challenge, makes me want to do them more!)

• 30 minutes of cardio 6 days a week.  No excuses. Working out is going to lose priority to finals studying, but bikini seasons has already started here!  Plus, I know that I will feel better and stress less if I take 30 minutes to do something good for my body.

• Cut down the mindless snacking. It is stress time, I know this.  I stress snack.  Stress snack+less time to workout= not ready for bikini.   I am going to want to hit the beach immediately after finals; therefore I need to back down my calories a bit to make up for not exercising as much.  I already eat  good meals so for me this means cutting out the mindless snacking.  (Lets hope my hubby stops packing the pantry with jelly beans!)

• Spend time with my boys. The month before finals I tend to disappear into my own little world.  I need to make a conscious effort to spend quality time with my hubby and dog.  I also tend to have a nervous breakdown and randomly burst into tears before finals…poor Jordan…so I am going to try and keep it together.

What are your goals for April?  Did you play any April Fools jokes?

I didn’t.  I honestly didn’t realize it was April Fools until my last class at like 730 last night.  Oops.

Don’t worry…I will start posting food again regularly!  Here dinner from last night:

Roasted veggies and hominy.

For the veggies:

Cut and dice carrots, an apple, onion, and mushrooms.  Season with cinnamon, cumin, and fresh ground pepper.  Place on pan and roast at 375.  I then served with a scoop of canned hominy.  Delicious!

Food for thought:

Unattainable Beauty: The decade’s most egregious retouching scandals.

Holy cow, it is already March???? Anyone else think February was over in a blink of the eye?  I like new months.  They mean I am closer to being done with school.  New months also give me the chance to assess and change things in my life.  In honor of the new month I am setting some challenges for myself.

March Challenges

• 3 minutes of planks a day (I stole this idea from Jill over at Quarter Life Wellness)

• Buff up my daily diet with fruits and veggies (attempting to stop living off granola bars!)

• Add in an extra day of strength/stretching a week (for a total of 3)

What are your goals for March?

Sunday Recap:

We ran a lot of errands Sunday, it was needed.  At target I picked up a couple new running shirts (for Spring) and stocked up on plain tanks and tees.

Here is one of my new shirts.  It is extremely bright, I know.  I hope it will catch the attention of the crazy-bad Houston drivers.  I honestly believe they try to hit pedestrians!

I had planned to make up a missed run from earlier in the week for a total of 1 hr 20 mins worth of running.  That did not happen.  I have been experiencing pain in two places on my right leg and the 10k worth of cement pounding really aggravated the spots.  After mile 3 I was almost in tears from pain, so I went and found the hubby and dog playing the Rice practice fields and we headed home.  Hopefully I just need ice and a day of rest!

After the less than stellar run, I decided to make my first ever Green Monster!!!

Chocolate Light Green Monster

1 cup soy milk

1 scoop chocolate protein

1/2 frozen banana

1 packet diet hot chocolate mix (25 calories)

couple handfuls of spinach

optional 1 tsp nut butter

The color turned out light green.

Of course I put my first ever green monster in a green cup with a green straw.  Who wouldn’t.

They hubby and I then went to the Purdue Alumni Watch Party.  It was an extremely sad and disappointing game.  I cannot talk about it more, or my crazed fan side will show.

The rest of the evening the hubby and I spent cooking up some food to eat through out the week!  Score!  We are really working towards eating better again!

Roasted butternut squash

In my new Tupperware!  The hubby and I finally broke down and bought good tupperware after years of using the Ziploc disposable stuff.  We were both excited to have lids that locked tight!

Stir-frying some tofu I found in the fridge.

I then soaked in some sauce we picked up from the Salt Lick adventure.  I could eat their sauce with a spoon.  Seriously.

I then made this everything-but-the-kitchen-sink salad.  Spring mix, mushrooms, artichokes, whole wheat pasta, Boca Burger.  This thing was HUGE!  I can’t believe I managed to eat the whole thing!

The remainder of the night I mindlessly snacked on candy and hot chocolate.  Call it mourning the loss.  I of course immediately felt like crap within 20 minutes.  My stomach is telling me to stop eating sugar, I should probably listen.

Monday March 1st:

New month, better eating.  (It is nearing bikini season, or so I hope given that it is 50 degrees and pouring rain!)

Green Monster #2.  These things could be addicting!

1 cup soy milk

1 scoop vanilla protein

1 frozen banana

cinnamon

spinach

YUM!  Since I did no homework this weekend, I have exactly 45 minutes to read all of my Admin Law work!