2012...Is coming to an end.

Wow...2012 has come and it has gone.  As I sit hear reacapping the year in my mind, it was overall a good year!  New Friends, no adventures, new goals and aspirations, and more importantly, a healthier me!  Life is a journey, life is a process and I am happy to continue on this path.   Where the path leads me in 2013, I am sure it will be an interesting ride!  I can't wait to see what is in store for the next year. 

Happy New Year to All!

I've been naughty...

I got up this morning with the intent of finishing off my Christmas shopping.  My to do list consisted of Hallmark and Target, so I was gonna head to the Fox Hill mall in Culver City.  That I did, and suddenly all things went wrong!

I am in JcPenney's buying clothes, some for myself some for others.  Then I go to the car to unload, and I am back in the mall and now I am in Torrid.  And then things went really wrong!  I had my eye on a pair of boots from there and everything in the store, was buy one get one 1/2 off.  I fell in love with the boots, and the sales person Cesar, Insisted that I got some skinny jeans to go with the boots.  I had my normal discussion with him about me and skinny jeans...but like I said, He Insisted!   And off I went to the dressing room and then I went to try on the boots with the jeans...and Cesar was so so excited!  And...well so was I!  I was actually liking what I saw in the mirror!  I was shocked.  Little Cesar knows what he's talking about!  Ya wanna see the dressing room shot?  Do ya?

Well it didn't end there!  After Torrid, I am now in Ashley Stewart! LOL!  As I walked into Ashley Stewart the lady at the register says to me, looks like you cleaned up in Torrid.  I said yea, I did!  Then she goes well everything here is 40% off! I said to her, ya know, its funny cause I came in this mall to go to Hallmark & Target to get Christmas cards and I have yet to make my way into either one of those stores!  So a sweater and a dress later...I am finally in Hallmark!  And well it has been an expensive few hours at the mall.  It will be Ramen noodles for lunch and dinner this week!  

Holiday Juice Challenge Update & Other Stuff

Hey gang!  I know I was all excited about this Holiday Juice Challenge and I was posting almost every day with my little recipes and pictures and I fell off the band wagon...Again.   I did do some juicing, I just did not do it every day.  It was a crazy week last week!  Holiday Parties, Trips to Laguna Niguel, Races in Pomona and Glendale..I can't remember the last time I did so much local California Travelling!

Well just a quick update on my juicing...my last post was Day 7 so here is a quick recap:

Spiced Cranberry Apple Juice

• Day 8 (Dec 5th)  Spiced Cranberry Apple Juice      This recipe came from the lovely folks at juicingjuice.com,     and I loved it!   
• 1tsp Cinnamon (add to the juicer before juicing anything)
• 1 cup fresh cranberries
• 2 apples

• Day 9 (Dec 6th) Bell Pepper Hormone Balancer  This recipe came from the lovely folks at earthlyjuicecart.com  Okay, I have gotten some excellent recipes from them in the past, but this one was a swing and miss for me.  The juice was not tasty, I could not drink it at all! But in case you want to try it, here is the recipe.
• 4 whole green peppers
• 1/4 stalk of Fennel
• 1/4 tsp of Nativas Naturals Lucuma  (I did not add this-maybe it would have helped the taste?)

• Day 10 (Dec 7th) - Day 12 (Dec 9th) - No juicing!  
• Day 13 (Dec 10th) Venus Juice   
• Day 14 (Dec 11th)  Spiced Cranberry Apple Juice

Last week we had our Christmas Party/Recognition Dinner for the Arthritis Foundation.  We ate at an italian restaurant at the Grove.  The food was good, company was great and I was taken back by the wonderful Christmas Decorations at the Grove!  It was so pretty!  It really did put in me in the Christmas Spirit!

Some of the Christmas Decorations @ The Grove

Me @ the Grove!

So that is all I have for you guys today, a quick update and I will try to do better as the days go along!  Happy Holidays!

Informatioin Overload....

I apologize in advance if this turns out to be a long post.  I feel like I have so much to report. 

Okay Item #1  
I got on the scale today!  I was yet again shocked!  286.4!  Woohoo!  I promise one day I will learn to rotate this before posting.  I thought I did right, but obviously I didn't!  Please forgive me!

 

Okay Item #2

Holiday Juice Challenge - Day 7 (Dec 4th)

Another juice recipe borrowed from the wonderful folks at www.earthlyjuicecart.com!  And this my friends, has completely surprised me...I love it! It is called Green Lemonade.  It is another juice in the Anti-Inflammatory category!

Here are the ingredients:

• 3 leaves of romaine lettuce
• 1 apple
• 2 inches of ginger (I peeled my ginger)
• 1 lemon

This was my first time ever juicing lettuce and I must say I am very very impressed and pleased.  This is a very tasty juice.  I am also beginning to like the taste of ginger.  This is officially one of my favorite juices now!

Item #3
Got really active today.  Did some treadmill time, did weight training, and did 30 minutes of spin class!  Yeah me! 

So overall...a great day!  I am pleased and tired!  See you next time!

Holiday Juice Challenge - Day 6

Here we are back at Monday!  And a rainy Monday morning again in California!    I love the rain, but its has been raining for 4 days straight.  At this stage, I am tired of the rain.  My pre-packing my juices ingredients, worked out rather wonderfully this morning.  It was great to just grab and bag and shove things down the chute of my juicer.

This morning's juice is called Venus.  The recipe came from the wonderful folks at www.earthlyjuicecart.com.  This juice is categorized as an Anti-Inflammatory Juice.  I learned something from their website...venture with me as I share.

Inflammation is the first response of the immune system to infection or irritation. We are all familiar with the classic signs of inflammation (swelling, redness and pain) that occur when we hurt ourselves or have some kind of infection. However recent research has shown that eating the wrong foods can cause inflammation within our bodies.

*Inflammation can be aggravated by diets high in refined or hydrogenated vegetable oils such as those found in margarine, potato chips and baked goods and lots of sugar.

Anti-inflammatory foods, if eaten regularly, can reduce inflammation in the body and bring the problem under control.

This page contains a list of anti-inflammatory foods that if incorporated into your regular diet will help bring balance to the inflammation in your body.

*Try and feature some kind of anti-inflammatory food into every juice that you make, and try to eliminate pro-inflammatory foods from your diet all together.

Thanks to Earthly Juices, they had several Anti-Inflammatory Juice recipes.  So I tried the Venus Juice for 2 reasons: (1) because I love the ingredients and (2) supposedly this juice is supposed to help melt cellulite!  We shall see..I may have to drink this none stop!  LOL!  Here is the recipe:

VENUS

• 2 Grapefruit (peeled & seeded)
• 1 Lemon juice (hand squeezed)
• 1 inch fresh ginger (peeled)
• 1/2 tablespoon of cardamon
• 1 tbl Raw Honey as desired and optional if diabetic

The recipe on the website said to blend the above items, but I put the Grapefruit & ginger in my juicer and hand juiced the lemon juice at the end.  I did not add the honey, I love grapefruit juice, so it was not tart to me, but the ginger complimented the grapefruit very well.

This juice is an absolute winner for me!  I bought enough produce this weekend to do this one more time this week.  I was not able to find cardamon in the store, so I also made the juice without it.

And my amateur phot:

Multi-tasking Like Never Before!

I had a productive day!  I am taking break right now from my meal preparation for the week.  I am waiting on my chicken to cool down, so I can chop it up and add to my salads.  I also took my food prep to a whole new level today and even pre-prepped the produce I want to juice!  I have 4 bags set aside with my stuff to juice! 

After church today, I had a rather aggressive to-do list:

1. Go to Costco
2. Go to Trader Joe's
3. Go to Buy Low Warehouse
4. Do a load laundry
5. Return my Redbox return
6. Get my mile in for the Mile-a-day challenge.

All was going well until my stop to Trader Joe's!  The Trader Joe's nearest to me is next to a Kohl's and there was just a never ending line to get into the parking lot!  Patience is not my strength so I ended up driving like 6 miles to another Trader Joe's!  It was beneficial, I was in and out of that one in like 5 minutes.  Now get ready for this awesome Multi-tasking story that is about to come...I get to the laundry mat which is not far from a Redbox so here is how this went.  Got my clothes in the washer, once I got them to the dryer.  Strapped on my arm band and head phones...and I walked to the Redbox, walked for a good 32 minutes I think got in a little over 2 miles.  Walked back to the laundromat grabbed my clothes and went home!  Now that I did that, I will have to do that more often, when I go to my laundromat.

Here is my Endomondo Tracking of my multitasking walk:  http://www.endomondo.com/workouts/111199655

Okay...I am overly excited about juicing again.  It was been a while since I juiced consistently. Yes, I know the challenge is called, Juice a Day..But I juiced again tonight! I am sipping it right now.  It's a bit tart, but good.  I am always a bit nervous about the juice recipes with lots of ingredients, but this is a good one.  The recipe came from the wonderful folks at JuicingJuice.Com.

Go Go Green Energy Juice

• Large Handful of Kale
• 1/2 Green Apple
• 1 Grapefruit (peeled)
• 4 stalks of celery
• 3 inches of peeled cucumber
• Squeeze of Lemon

Very tasty...my only dislike is that it's tart.  I think next round, I may opt for juicing the whole apple or even maybe 2 apples.  Again, putting my photography skills to test here are some shots!

Holiday Juice Challenge Day 4 & 5

Day 4 (Dec 1) ...Druid Detox From Leaf Organics
I decided to take the lazy way out with this rainy weather and I got a detox drink from Leaf Organics. It is one of my favorite drinks from Leaf Organics, here are the ingredients:

• Burdock Root
• Lemon
• Ginger
• apple
• agave
• cayenne

A very tasty drink that I am sure you will enjoy.  If you are ever in the Culver City area, please stop by!  http://leaforganics.com/


Day 5 (Dec 2):  Apple, Celery, Fennel, Maca Powder

I have been reading this week about Maca Powder.  This morning I walked into Sprouts, and the first thing that caught my eye...Maca Powder.  I think it was a divine sign!  So this morning, after I juiced my Apple, Celery, Fennel, I added a teaspoon of the Maca Powder to the juice.

My Comments:  It took a while to get the Maca powder to blend in with the juice.  I will need to see how else I can consume it.  I will have to try the powder again, it seems like it altered the taste of my juice.  Not in a bad way, but I love tasting the licorice like flavor of the fennel and I could not taste that today.  I assume maybe the Maca dulled the taste?  Not sure.  But I will keep trying this Maca Powder and see if I notice any change in my energy levels. 

So my juice recipe consisted of

• 2 red apples (I think Fiji Apples)
• 4 stalks of celery
• 1/2 fennel bulb
• 1 teaspoon of Maca Powder

And the outcome...An okay taste juice..(I would have been awesome w/o the Maca Powder) LOL! 

See ya next time! I am excited for the upcoming days of juicing...I got so many recipes I want to try this week! 

Holiday Juice Challenge Day 2 & 3

Howdy Partners...so the Holiday Juice Challenge continues....

I have bad news...There was no juicing on Day 2.  I overslept that morning and then didn't get home until 9:30pm and was exhausted and opted for a Wendy's Double Cheeseburger over Juicing!  

Day - 3:  Apples & Celery
I know Apples and celery sound really boring and it is boring.  But when I am in a jam, it my Back to Basic Juicing recipe.  I go to the simple and basic things.

• 1 red apple
• 1 green apple
• 3 stalks of celery

Final Product: Total Awesomeness!

Okay I made a rookie and amateur mistake this morning while I was juicing this.  I forgot to put the cup to catch my juice!  I had such a mess on the counter & floor!  Oye!

Happy Juicing!

Gwynnie Bee, Has Made Me Happy As Can Be!!

Gwynnie Bee...How do I describe it?  I don't know I struggle.  I am telling my friends about it, but I have a hard time explaining the concept of Gwynnie Bee (GB).  There slogan is Clothing without Commitment, they sent me a 30 day trail offer and I am trying it!

I got my first shipment last night!  I was so excited to open it.  I was very impressed with the presentation!

I have never gotten a package with a hand written note!  And it said it was for my Delight!  I got 3 items in the shipment and they were all individual wrapped as the item on the top was. So my first item that I wore...Michael Kors Cambridge Draped Top.   Here are my amateur self portraits!

My personal thoughts on the top: The material is nice and soft.  Very comfortable.  In all honesty, not a fan of the print or the neck line.  It is not fitting right for me in the neckline.  Other than that, Not too bad.

Holiday Juice Challenge Day 1

Okay I know I said I would start tomorrow, but the excitement got the best of me.  I had a full day of physical activity so said now is a good time to juice me a drink while the metabolism is going and I an absorb some nutrients.

Washed Produce

I had an intense day of weight training.  Did a little over a mile jogging in the rain,
and then played tennis, also in the rain!  I was very ambitious tonight.  After all that was said and done, I ran over to Sprouts to grab a few sale items: apples, celery, cucumbers.

Tonights Drink....APPLE, BEETS, CELERY

• 1 granny smith apple
• 1 small beet
• 3 stalks of celery

 Finished Produt: Total Awesomeness!

Juicing Through the Holidays...I'm In!

Good Morning! Blog readers real & imaginary!

This morning I got an email from the lovely folks at Active.com.  There was an article -  Juicing Your Way Through the Holidays!  It made me really happy!   I was ready to sign up and join the challenge, when I realized, the challenge was actually posted in 2011!  So there is no challenge in 2012 from what I can see!

But whatevers! I can do my own personal Juicing Your Way Through the Holidays Challenge!  Why not!  I am already set up for it!  This was the tag line that caught my attention, maybe it will move you into action!  "So, join me in the Core Diet "Holiday Juice Challenge": Juice once a day, every day from Thanksgiving to the New Year! You pick the juice, and when you drink it. You'll step into 2012 a stronger and healthier athlete..I guarantee it!"

Here is the Blog post to the Holiday Juice Challenge, please feel free to read it, he did offer up a few recipes.  http://www.thecorediet.com/blog/juicing-your-way-through-the-holidays/

So I am going to start up this little challenge tomorrow November 29th and I will juice once a day until January 1st?  Who's with me?

As long as I don't get lazy, you shall see my beverage recipes and pictures on this beloved blog of mine.

See ya next time!

Kyra

Goal Reached!!

Well Dudes and Duddettes....

I am reporting live and in living color this morning!  Sorry I should have rotated the picture before posting, but you get the point!  Excited that I have gotten under 300 lbs!  Another Undertaking reached...but my friends, now the real fight starts...staying under 300lbs during the holidays!  Pray for me!

Not sure If I will be back on this week, so I send you all a Happy Thanksgiving Wish!  Be Blessed!

Kyra

A Thumbs Up & Ave Maria

Hey Hey!  What's going on!  This has been a week of constant ups and downs.  Sadly, it has been more downs that ups, but what can a girl do, but to roll with the punches.  So I'm rolling along!

Monday for Veteran's day I visited Avenue for a sale they were having.  I had my eye on a pair of tall riding boots.  I have had a long person score to settle with tall boots, since I thick chunky calves would never fit in them!  Much to my surprise I was able to get my calves into the boots!  I attempted to take a picture.  I never realized how hard it is to take a picture of my own feet until today, but here it is. Zipped all the way to the top!

Tuesday...First day back to work from my vacation and man, It was the day for H E L L.  I won't discuss that here!  I am so over it!

But Thursday...I went to spin class instead of doing my Couch to 5K training.  The instructors name is U.B.  Don't know what it stands for but I like that he uses the projector in the room and he plays a visual of what we riding. Yesterday we rode the alps! He is a good instructor, I do like him, he gets really into class.  He was working the room last night, giving every compliments and I got a thumbs up!  LOL!  I don't know how long its been since I have gotten a thumbs up in spin class!  But I thought it was rather hilarious!  To top off this spin class...our last song of the class, was Ave Maria!   Yes Ave Maria!  I was so shocked!  Who in the world would pick that song to cycle too!  Never a dull moment!

Well that is all I have for you today.  I will be in the very near future!

Kyra

Scale Whisperer...

Wow!  I can't believe it took me this long to come share this good news with you!  I finally got my butt on the scale this past Tuesday November 6...and the results...AWESOME!

It has been like 3 months since I weighed so It is good to see that progress occurs, even when I am not obsessing about the number on the scale.  So are you ready for what the scale said?  304.0

Sorry I should have rotated the image before posting, but you get it!  LOL!  I was so excited so what does this all mean....

Well my last weigh in was August 6 and I was 331.5.  Since August that is a total of 27.5 lbs gone from my body!  I am so excited and I am so close to getting out of the 300's I don't know what to do with myself!  I see another undertaking will be accomplished in 2012!

Spinning Nation 2012 ... completed!

It's been a dream of mine for about a year...lol! To participate in Spinning Nation! It's a national fundraising event that raises money for wounded vets. The money is used to open rehab facilities and purchase equipment for vets!

This year my schedule allowed for me
to participate and I did! I want to say it was the most challenging thing I have done to date! 2 - 50 minute sessions of spin class! ohhhh weee! It may have been for charity but it was no free or easy ride!

I am glad to say I made it through! after the first session I questioned if I could make it another session but I pushed through. I actually found the
second session easier than the
first!

There was not many photo ops, but here is a post spinning shot.

The Dress has Arrived!

Well here we are the dress that I want to wear for the holidays had arrived! surprisingly I was able to get it on!

Size 18!

Woohoo!

A Very Rare Opportunity...

Here I sit, on my sofa, with time to spare this morning! 
I actually woke up and got out of bed the minute the alarm went off!  No hitting the snooze button or anything!  I am amazed!  It's amazing how much I can get done in the morning when I get my tail out of bed on time!   So since all the morning requirements are completed and I have about 20 minutes before I need to leave for work...I said...BLOG TIME!

I successfully completed my first 3-day weight training!  I have successfully made every muscle in my body sore.  My last weight training was Friday and my upper body is still sore!  I think I am lifting too much.  I don't ever remember being this sore when I'd weight train in the past.  It's probably a sign of my inactivity and I'm getting old! 

I had a great week overall.  I did not work out on Saturday as I had planned.  So this week, I got 5 days of physical activity!  I think that is a record! LOL!  Yesterday it was a bit overcast, and there was a chance of rain, but I still made it out to the beach for a bike ride.  Surprisingly the beach, was sunny and warm.  This bike ride was not the best!  I ended up getting a flat tire!  It made me sad, an unfortunately, there were no little bike shop in sight.  So I had to dismount, and walk my bike all the way back to the car!  It was painful and long ride back! 

My vacation from work is right around the corner!  I can't wait!  I'll do some short day trips, and I am gonna get my rock climbing classes in!  It shall be fun!  Well I am gonna leave you guys now!  Chat with ya later!

Kyra

Breakfast Babblings!

I am here at work sitting at my desk and I said, I should blog! :0)

I made a new breakfast concoction today.  I have not thought of a cool name for it yet.  It is 4 hard boiled eggs...egg whites only, some pastrami from Trader Joes and some salsa.  It is some really good eats, It may not sound good, but it is oh so yummy going down!  I just cut everything up the best I could with my plastic fork and knife and digged in!  I love it!  The Pastrami is a nice change from my normal, ham or bacon for breakfast!  Pastrami may just be my new breakfast meat!

Pastrami egg & salsa breakfast

The holidays are right around the corner! I am actually excited!  Christmas is my favorite time of year!  That being sad in December I have Christmas parties to attend!  So yesterday while browsing the internet, I think found and order my Christmas Party dress!  Wanna See?

I can't wait for it to arrive!  I am excited I think its cute.  Gotta find some shoes for it!  Okay, I gotta run!  Blog with ya later!

Oops...Been Missing in Action Again!

My last post was October 5th!  Oh how time is flying!  October is officially half way over!  Well since my  last post here are a few things I have taken notice off:

1. The end of the year is near!  And my undertaking list is not yet complete.
2. The end of the year is near! And I need to get to my goal weight.
3. The end of the year is near...and it's time to go into overdrive.

I know how I am, once the weather changes, I change.  Which in layman terms mean...I get lazy.  You are not gonna get me outside in the cold, to do nothing! and I mean nothing!  So I really have to push myself for these next couple of months.  I have goals to reach and I intend to reach them!

That being said, I have paid for a few lessons of rock climbing.  Just gotta find the time to do it!  But I am going to do it.  I have been high on cardio and low on weight training - I am working on increasing the strength training and maintaining the cardio level.  Yes maintaining the cardio level.  I have been eating way more calories than I should....I can get faster results with cutting some calories on a weekly basis.  So from now until the end of the year I will make small adjustments in my calorie intake.  I started off at 1800 calories, I have reduced to 1600 over the last 2 weeks.  And I will reduce every couple of weeks.  It's time to tighten it up...I am almost down to the wire...TIME TO TIGHTEN IT UP!  

Weight training has been in effect for the last 2 weeks...sadly I only did one day each week.  This week, I am going hard...3 days!  I hope I can walk and move when I am all done!  I am in no way shape or form a personal trainer, but I have done this too many times, I know the exercises I need to do.  Time to squat it out, lunge it out, plant it out, and all those other things I hate doing.  Dusting off the kettle bells, the dumbells, and going hard!  So that is where I am right now...Going hard!  

I will go now...stay tuned!  

How ya Doing Pumpkins? :0)

Hey gang.  It has been a long time since I posted.  Some times I feel like there is not enough hours in the day.  Since I decided to title this post How Ya Doing Pumpkins, I have 2 pumpkin related stories to share!

The first Pumpkin related story, goes a little something like this.   YOGURTLAND!!!!!  Has officially introduced its Pumpkin yogurt!  Oh how I love Pumpkin!  I was in heaven.  I tried it yesterday for the first time, and me o my!  It's the shiznit to say the least.

The second pumpkin story, goes a little something like this.  Decided to try to a different spin class last night. The instructor's name was Anthony.  And I am so sorry, but something about seeing men in tight biker short is so unattractive.  It took every bit of me not to start laughing.  I will say that Anthony is a good teacher, he is a bit obnoxious, and annoying, but overall a great, challenging class!  So last night, maybe 30 minutes into class, he says, "How Ya Doing Pumpkins!"  Again...the desire to immediately laugh was there.  The class was not crowded there was only 7 of us..2 women and 5 men.  So to hear him address everyone as Pumpkins, rather amusing...to me anyways!

I am happy to report that my PMS overeating binge has appeared to stop.  I was actually able to eat normal amounts of food yesterday.  I was not craving everything in the world!  So that was a plus and a much needed change.  I can eat myself into a 10-pound weight weight gain when its PMS time.

Well that is it for now, nothing to exciting or new going on.  So I will just leave it like that for now.  Busy weekend ahead!  tata!

Kyra

Sauna...Persauna!

Back in May I ordered a Groupon for some Sauna sessions at a place in Redondo Beach called Persauna.  Since I had time today, I decided to make my first appointment and dabble in something new! 

Yes something new...I have never been in a Sauna in my life!  The thing that appealed to me about Persuana was I had my own individual sauna.  I did not have to share with anyone!  I got to the location for my 1:30p appointment.  The guy helping me, was Patrick.  He explained to me what the benefits of the infrared saunas were and showed me how to change the settings, etc.  So I am in my own little room, it had a tv, a chair, water, tissue, and more importantly the sauna!  Patrick left, I closed the door to the room, and I was off my own personal Sauna box! 

I could see the tv from inside the sauna box, and somehow they managed to have speakers in the sauna so I could hear the TV.  the remote was inside the sauna with me, I could change the channel and everything! LOL!  I took in my Ipod, a book and a water bottle.  Luckily for me, CSI was playing so that kept my attention for 40 minutes.  Didn't need my Ipod or book! 

A few minutes into it, the sweat started dripping and it was hot.  Patrick started me off at 140 degrees since it was my first experience.  Normally he says, the temp is 150.  Surprisingly, I was able to tolerate the heat, I did not leave the box at all...made it through the whole 40 minutes!

I tried taking some pics and here I share them with you.  But I love this place.  Thanks to my Groupon, I have 2 more sessions, and I think that I want to make this a regular thing!  I felt really relaxed after getting done.

Check them out...Persauna in Redondo Beach.  Website:  http://persauna.com/



Inside of my sauna



Trying to capture the sweat.



The sauna..outside view




Temperature controls..heating up to 140degrees

Non-Scale Victory: From 3x to 1x

Very rarely do I ever take the time to notice the changes that happen on this journey that are not "weight related" So today, I am going to do just that.

This weekend, I got a few clothing items from Macy's and I was uncertain whether to get a 2x or 1x.  So I said, I would live life on the edge and get the 1x!  I am happy to report that the 1x's fit!

I hate taking pictures...but here it is, my 1x top from Macy's!

Okay..I look a little lumpy in the mid section, I need to make sure all undershirts lay flat!

Loving the beach!

nothing like spending these last weekends of summer on the water!

Relaxing!

I thought it was time for an Update...

I have not made any updates in a while!  OOPS!  I hope everyone had a great Labor Day Weekend!  I am kinda sad thinking about how summer is coming to an end.  I will my summer weather, so I am telling myself to make the most of it while I can.

Labor day I was able to get back out on my bike.  It was my first bike ride in about 6 weeks.  It was rather challenging!  I only rode about 6.5 miles, but I had such a hard time!  We did have unusually hot weather on Labor day so maybe that had something to do with my inability to ride longer.  I had a great time though.

Right before Labor Day I ventured off with Hailey to a new walk spot near the Getty Center.  It was a short walk, but its a hill.  A steady increasing hill. You all should know by now how I hate hills!  But I made it up there with a break!  I needed to stop, I felt like I would die.  Too my surprise, on my way down the hill, we ran into some deer!  I was shocked!  I would have never expected to see deer in L.A. like that!  One was very friendly and kept coming towards us!

I have a new meal creation...I am calling it the mushroom turkey burger.  I took 2 portabello mushroom caps, a turkey burger patty, cheese, mustard, tomato and voila..made a burger!  It was so tasty...messy to eat, but very very tasty!

Well I have to get back to work now, people are asking for things, but I thought I would just side-track myself from work for a moment.  TTYL!

Product Recommendation: Good Karma Flax Milk

Hello my dear Blog Readers, real and fictional!

I have another product recommendation for you...Good Karma Flax Milk -  Unsweetened!

How did I come about finding such a thing?  Well my friends, I ventured out to a new store on Sunday, called Rainbow Acres in Culver City.  It is a Natural Food Store, and what made me go there was a coupon for Ezekiel Sprout bread for $1.99.  While I was there I did some browsing and found myself in the dairy section looking for a milk alternative that did not have so much durn (yes, durn) sugar!

So there it was in the fridge case, talking to me, "Look at me, Look at me!"  So I gave in and looked at it.  Flipped the carton over and low and behold...low in calories, low in fat....and NO SUGAR!  I began jumping up and down...not literally!  I was excited and was overtaken by such wonderful nutritional facts!

I didn't even pay attention to the price I just grabbed it and put it in the cart!  Much to my surprise the darn Half Gallon cost $4.99!  Wowzers.  I will definitely have to see if I can find this elsewhere for cheaper!

I opened the carton and took a little sip..not bad.  It tasted like flax.  My intent was to use it as the milk in my protein shakes.  So yesterday, Monday, I made my first protein shake with it!  I was impressed, it tasted good, and it blended well with the powder.  My friends, I have a winner here!

Give it a try!  Here is the website:  http://www.goodkarmafoods.com/products

The Flax Milk comes in 3 varieties, Vanilla, Unsweetened and Original.  My review is for the  Unsweetened one!  I hope you try it and I hope you like it!

Jet to Jetty Run - Official Results Are In!

Jet to Jetty Run, Walk & Fun Bike Ride / 5K Searchable Results / Kyra Clarke | Active.com Race Results

Yah Me!

I still want to get my 3 miles at 45 minutes or less. I will get there one day!

Kyra

Jet to Jetty 2012...Completed!!!

Howdy there!  I know I have been missing in action yet again!

Some days I just can't seem to make myself get on the computer and blog.  But in all honesty, not much has been going on. My Dad & my brother has been in town, so my life and my schedule has not been my own. They came out to celebrate my birthday and we again did the Jet to Jetty race.  This is now my 3rd year doing this race.  It first started with my Daddy & I doing it, so he has done it with me for the last 2 years. This year he has a hamstring injury, so he did not participate. This year is my brothers second time at the race.  Last year he did the 5k, this year he did the 10K...and he took it all in strides! He did an awesome job!  He ran like a 11:30 mile pace!

As for me...I finished!  Hooray!  I certainly did not jog as much as I anticipated.  It was hard to get going since I was inactive for 4 days and of course ate all sorts of unusual things for 4 days.  But none the less, I was able to maintain my current pace and actually finished a little faster.  When I walk/jog on my own, I do 3 miles in about 50 minutes.  So with the 5K I did 3.1 Miles in the same time.  So not too bad.  The official race times have not yet been posted, but based on my phone tracking I think I am at 50 minutes and some seconds.

Nothing too exciting, but here are a few shots from the race.

Once the official time and any official pictures are taken, I will make another post!  Talk to you later!

Hurt

Words spoken with even the best of intentions still hurt. Again I face a challenge, Do I go alone on this journey or do I continue this "support system" that has now offended and hurt me twice in a few days?

I sitting here in tears as I try to understand how I am not to put walls when I continually get hurt? How does one open themselves up to just continue to be beaten down?

I hurt, I cry, and I just don't know where to go from here. but I'm tired oh so tired.

Hula Hooping

Yes folks...Hula Hooping!  I got an email from a place called Hoopnotica in Venice Beach, CA about a free Hoop Jam Session.  Ya know I am willing to try anything once and well, it was free.  I really had no reason not to try it.

The class was more challenging than I expected!  I had fun...I laughed at myself ALOT!  That helped burn extra calories.  So here are some our cell phone pictures.... Be forewarned they are horrible, and they almost make me want to stop eating food!

Tired from Temescal Thursday

Howdy...Thursday has come and gone and I am still trying to recover from that hike on Wednesday.  I was so unprepared for what I am currently experiencing 

Thursday I was fighting sleep all day, I am so tired, so low on energy and oh so sore!  Kickboxing was on the workout schedule for Thursday, but that so did not happen!  I didn't do any physical activities on Thursday.  I could not muster up any energy to get moving.

It is unusually warm for Los Angeles right now, so the heat inspired me to make a smoothie!  So I broke out the bag of 3 Berry Blend from Costco, Pulled out my Cranberry Juice and of course the blender and Voila! Berry Smoothie!  I had no honey or sweetener at the house so this smoothie was rather tart!

3 Berry Smoothie

My other interest concoction of the evening, I am calling Kyra's Chicken Boil Surprise.  It was a tasty meal made by accident!  No recipe, no pre-planning the ingredients, I just said, It's too hot to bake this chicken, so I am going to boil it!

Chicken Boil Surprise

Ingredients

Kirkland Chicken Breast Tenderloin (defrosted)

1/2 bag of Trader Joes Southern Green Blend

Maybe a 1/4 cup of frozen corn

Maybe 2 cups of Frozen Broccoli

I pulled out my skillet, I added some olive oil, apple cider vinegar, and water.  Brought it to a boil then added the chicken breast.  Let that Boil for about 15 minutes then I added in the veggies.  And let that boil for 3-5 minutes.  I also added the juice of 1 whole lemon.   Dinner is ready!

I scooped it out of the pan into my handy bowl here and ate it!  It was surprisingly tasty!  I hope I can re-create it again one day! 

So that is all for Thursday.  See you guys later!

Temescal Canyon: DONE!

Excuse Me, Can I have everyone's Attention?
I have a very important announcement to make!  Yesterday, August 8, 2012, I hiked!  Now I can cross that off of my Undertakings list for 2012!  WooHoo!

Now let's talk about this hike!  I am going to tell this story how I felt at the moment doing the hike!  I got to Sunset off of PCH.  Parked and I looked up and said, Damn...that is a frickin' serious mountain!  With much nervousness, I meet with Hailey at the entry of the Park.  We walked back into the park to where the trail begins.  All I keep thinking is, Damn this is a huge mountain.  So as we got to the beginning of the trail, what do I see?  Stairs!  Now ya'll know..how I feel about stairs.  I am here to hike, and not walk up stairs! Maybe about 10 minutes into the hike, my heart was almost pounding out of my chest.  I promise you it was so close to busting through my skin and landing straight on the trail floor!

Thank goodness for Hailey's patience, cause I had to stop many times up that damn hike.  At one point on the trail we moved out of the way to let this older man pass.  Of course being me, I had to size this man up.  Cause the first thing I noticed was how, big he was.  He was not all thin and fit.  He was a heavy set man, that looked like he was in his 60's and he was trekking it up the mountain like it ain't no thing!  He turns and says to me, you are doing a great job, just being out here, you are doing great!  I politely said thank you, and was thinking to myself, if he only knew how I wanted to turn around and get the heck off this mountain!

Shortly running into that older gentleman, comes a lady, walking the opposite direction.  She brought disturbing news, "Be careful up ahead, there is a rattle snake!".  Please know at this point, I was really ready to get off the mountain.  I know she meant to warn us, but I seriously, did not need to here that there was a rattle snake up ahead!

We finally get to the top of the beloved mountain...after like an hour or more!  I felt like an eternity.
Hopefully this embed photo from Picassa works, here are some photos:

The trip down the mountain was still very difficult.  The path down was very scary, so many valleys and dips and rocks, I was really scared to fall!  But none the less...2 hours 3.4 miles later!  I was done!

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!

Random Recording

Time is moving so quickly I am having such a hard time keeping up with life. Does anyone else ever feel that way?

This past Saturday (August 4th) I had another awesome bike ride from Pacific Palisades to Venice Beach.  Now that I have gone back to the West side to bike, I think I like my Dockweiler bike ride better.  It is more calming and definitely has some better views.  More importantly, less crowded!

Other than that the weekend was rather uneventful.  Not too much activity.  I did go to a birthday party Saturday night.  Sunday ventured out to the movies and saw Dark Knight Rises.  I was surprised, I did not think I would be able to sit through almost 3 hours of a movie, but I did...and I enjoyed the movie!  It was really good!

Monday was not a good day.  It was truly not a good start to the week.  Eating was horrible, exercising was completed, but not at a good level.  I ate a 1200 calorie sub from subway!  I really just felt off yesterday, I don't know what's wrong.  Even this morning, I still don't feel myself.   My fridge decided to pull a cold spell on me and all my lettuce blends, kale & greens are frozen!  What a waste!  I can't use any of it now!  Whatever veggies I was able to salvage, I juiced.  So I threw some kale, greens, roma tomatoes, celery & a lemon into the juicer and it turned out a pretty decent juice!  Never underestimate the power of random juicing! I will have to post the picture of it later, I left my phone at home.

Monday Workout:  3 Mile walk w/ BGR Westchester!

Well upcoming events in my life:

• I am going on a hike this week!  We talked about Hiking on Saturday, Wednesday I will be hiking!
• Jet to Jetty 5K on Aug 25th
• The Awesome 80's Run Sept 1

I am looking forward to them all!  I can't wait!

Thursday Took a Turn for the Better

Hello...
After my Thursday morning drama of the moving truck blocking my garage the day actually made a turn for the better.

Our receptionist at work is out of the office for the need 6 days and she offered me her parking garage entry key!  Yeah!  I get a break from the bus for a week  I am most excited!  I know that sounds very minor, but some days, its a hassle getting to places on public transportation.  So at least I get a little break!

I experienced something completely unusual.  I had an extreme case of dry mouth all day.  I think I drank like 4 Liters of water and nothing helped.  I had this chronic dry mouth!  Sigh.  I couldn't imagine that I could be that dehydrated.  But maybe I am?  I don't know, but I will see how things go today.  Right now I feel okay.

I have not listed out my food in a while so let me do that today....

Bad Breakfast:
     White Chocolate Latte
     Cheese Danish

Lunch
     My Good old homemade salad:  Lettuce, cabbage, carrots, cucumbers, tomato & 4 ounces of chicken
     Juice of 1 lemon and some Wishbone Italian Dressing!

Snack
     Apple
    handful of Sunflower seeds

Dinner
     2 drumsticks from El Pollo Loco
     Corn

Workout:
     55 minutes walk/jog intervals.
     Jogged 1/4 mile intervals

My post workout treat was a nice freshly made glass of celery & apples.  I know its a great detox drink, and since I was having hydration issues, I figure I should juice something up that will help hydrate.

Yesterday and This Morning!

It is August 2nd, and I was supposed to weigh in this morning.  Oops!  Well let me tell you my excuse, I overslept.  I am supposed to be at work at 6:30a, I straight woke up at 6:03am!  HaHa!

So this morning was a mad dash to shower, dress and get out the door.  Which I did in record time.  I was out of the door by 6:33am.  Then much to my surprise, I walk out to my garage and what do I see?  A big ole Penske moving truck parked parallel to the garages.  I can't even get into my garage!  As you can imagine...I have smoke coming out of my ears!  I had 1/2 the mind to call a tow truck!  But somewhere deep within me there was a voice of reason...I called Penske and asked them to track down the driver to come move the darn truck!  

Okay so that was the drama of this morning!  I will move on to what I really came to report in about.  

Wednesday August 1st.  Pretty decent day!  I started off the morning with Rowing.  I meet 2 of the BGR girls over at the studio for a 6am class.  Rowing is hard on its own, being in class @ 6am just made it that much more difficult!  But nonetheless, I got through it.  It was a great way to start the day!  I will have to see how often I can be late to work, so I can get to 6am rowing class.

My energy levels were surprisingly high all day, I attribute that to the early morning exercise.  I maintained my planned meals for the day and even got an easy (very easy) evening workout.  So after I got done with my Arthritis Foundation Assignment I hopped on the treadmill.  I walked only, no jogging, and I keep it at a rather slow pace.  I stayed between 3 - 3.5mph.  Nothing to taxing since I already had my hard workout in the morning.  

Let the gym, started heading home and there was an accident on the 405 Freeway!  Ugh!  It made the drive home so much more later than it needed to be.  But at least I got home safely, and it appears the people in the accident were safe as well.  

Okay that is all for me today...Oh..here are yesterdays workouts:

Rowing:  I forgot to pull my meters off the darn machine!  http://www.endomondo.com/workouts/qtQAT1Ow1Wk

Treadmill:  My really slow stroll 

http://www.endomondo.com/workouts/lV5c5axldUQ

TTYL

Get Moving Mondays....

Mondays, oh Mondays...I hate when you coming around!  But yesterday was actually a pretty decent Monday!  I am beginning to look forward to Mondays...kinda!?!

Well again yesterday..Group walk #2 with Black Girls Run!  The Westchester Crew increased from 2 people to 7 last night.  I had what I call a big group!  I had some runners, some woggers, and some walkers!  It was awesome!  So last nights 3 miles was a personal best.  I finished those 3 miles in 49:36!  Yeah me!  A 2 minute improvement from last week.  My next goal is to get under 45 miles!

After our walking adventure, Hailey and I ventured out for another game of tennis!  Tennis is still hard as heck, but we are enjoying ourselves!  We played for little over an hour.  The courts in Westchester are not as crowded as they were in Cheviot Hills.  So that is a plus. We had some guys that were eyeing us down last night and was trying to get a real, "pick up game".

Very active day...Food choices not so great.  But I will improve.  Getting ready for the big weigh in tomorrow, so I will behave myself today!

The Report is: I have nothing to report!

Usually on Mondays I get to work and I am so excited to write about all the cool things I did over the weekend, but not this weekend!  From Friday through Sunday, I punked out of every workout I had on my schedule.  No spinning on Friday no Chip trail Run on Sunday!

I did spend the weekend trying to bring some order and to my life.  The process has been started but it is not yet completed!  Well I don't have much else to say, but Aug 2 will make it a month since my last weigh in, so I guess we'll see how things have progressed in the month of July.

See ya!

TRIED Tennis Thursday

Okay, I am gonna get straight to it.  No talking about food, work or anything else.  I went and attempted to play tennis last night!  I learned tonight that Tennis Players must be in excellent shape!  I can't remember the last time I sweat so much, and now the day after I am sore as can be!  Venus, Serena, Andre, Sharapova, Kournikova...I give you mad props.  Playing tennis ain't easy!

First off, please know, that I am in no way a good tennis player.  Back in the day when I was a younin' my dad taught me and my brothers how to play.  And this is probably the first time since then, I have attempted to get on a court.  Amazingly enough...I even still have a racket!  So here is me and Hailey on the court with all these older people that obviously are great players.   Hailey a couple of times, hit the ball over into another court and the old foggies over there started to get mad!  Some people are just so rude!  He was very upset.  I wish you could of seen us, I am sure we looked at hot mess.  We couldn't serve properly.  And we were horrible at returning serves and volleying the ball back and forth.  We sure did get a lot of cardio in running after the tennis ball! Good workout...exhausting and I can't wait to do it AGAIN!  LOL!

It was a great cardio day though...I got in a little over 4 miles doing walk/jog intervals.  this time my jog intervals were 1/4 mile each time.  Got pretty decent stats from the run.
http://www.endomondo.com/workouts/uGSKJCe46qw

WOW...What A Wednesday!

I had a great hump day! Why? Well I got to go to rowing class! It was my first class back since March 2012! I miss it so! I got to go to my Wednesday afternoon spin class...how I missed that too. But it was a sub teaching and she was rathering...BORING!

So yesterday...not the best eating day. I woke up late so I had to run out of the house without making my eggs! So Breafast turned out to be: White chocolate latte and a Cheese crumble Danish.

We had a lunch meeting at work (OOPS) So lunch turned out to be 2 slices of pizza, a side salad, and some Alfredo pasta. That Alfredo Pasta was delightful!

Dinner...left over pizza from lunch.

As you can see, I definately carbed up! LOL! It was probably the best thing for me that I had 2 workouts in!

Workouts

• 45 minutes of Spinning
• 1 hour of Rowing 

Well in a few weeks I will be embarking on a 12-week weight loss challenge with my wonderful BGR girls.  The challenge starts August 21 and requires weekly weigh-ins and weekly picture taking.  I am not happy about the picture taking.  But this is probably just the thing I need to get me motivated...Nothing like a good competition!  For the competition I have to keep a food log on MyFitnesspal.com.  Logging things online used to appeal to me, but I am so over it.  I hope I can maintain it, if I don't they will remove me from the group!  I look forward to seeing how my body will transform in the 12 weeks, so look forward to the posts and possibly the pictures as the challenge begins!

Talk to you Later!

Group Walk #1 ... Completed!

Monday July 23rd...A day I hope to remember for many many years!  Why you ask?  It was the first day of leading off my Walking Group with Black Girls Run (BGR)!  Throughout the day, I had to fight the feelings of anxiousness and fear.  I was really worried that I wouldn't be able to keep up or finish the walk.  I am amazed that I still ALLOW these thoughts to bombard me.  The BGR girl are so non competitive, why am I tripping?  They are truly and genuinely concerned about everyone moving at their own pace and getting the task done.  That's it!  Again...Why am I tripping?

So I asked Hailey to come walk with me on Monday just in case none of the BGR members showed up.  Surprisingly I had 4 RSVPs; 2 cancelled last minute, so I had a total of 3 walkers, Hailey and 2 BGR girls, well 4 walkers if I count myself in.  It was unusually cold last night, windy and everything, I wish I had brought a jacket, but we pushed through!  We finish just under an hour, and those 2 BGR girls are some speed walkers for real!  I think they probably walked under a 15 minute mile!  Amazing to me!  We completed just a tad bit over 3 miles. Here is the route and my walk data:http://www.endomondo.com/workouts/ol7OJTt1M8o After the Group walk, Hailey and I walked around the park and got another 1.59 miles in..a leisurely stroll. So overall yesterday, covered 4.59 miles.http://www.endomondo.com/workouts/iCY3S0nZZNk On our way back to the car...Hailey found $11 on the floor in the parking lot.  What did we do with it?  We went to Beach Pizza on Manchester and Lincoln and have cheese pizza! It was great!  

Overall a great experience, a great group of girls, and I am honestly looking forward to doing this every Monday.!

BLACK GIRLS RUN & They Rock!

Weekend In Review...

Hiddy Ho There!
Weekends come and weekends go.  Here I am on Monday wishing it was still the weekend. Reflecting back on the last few days, this weekend was absolutely WONDERFUL!  I really did enjoy myself!

I started off my Friday with an early morning Spinning Class!  It has been a good while since I made it to spin class.  My butt needs to be retrained to handle the bicycle seat...again!  But overall a great workout, as always.  I realized then, that I missed spinning!  Gotta do better about making it to class!

Saturday...Bike Ride!  This time It was a bit different of bike ride.  We started at Dockweiler beach and then instead of getting on the bike path we rode on some of the streets!  Lo & Behold, I found streets that took me to my house!  I was so excited!  Here is the path:  http://www.endomondo.com/workouts/t7R42M9Ot6Q  Distance wise, it was a shorter route than I would normally ride, but I was able to do it very quickly since I didn't have to worry about the congested bike path!  And I only took one break!

After the bike ride, my next feat was a stroll.  Just did 2 miles, but walked on the sand!  Oh my word, it was difficult! But I got it done! http://www.endomondo.com/workouts/tnNo48jZ9Bo

Non-exercise related stuff.  Hung out with some friends...watched some movies.  Enjoyed the sun, did some shopping.  Laughed, ate, and was merry!  

Sunday, I chickened out of Speed Training...again!  That was 2 Sundays in a row I did not do it!  Oops!  Well that is all I will bore with for now, cause my boss just got to work and I guess I should pretend like I am working!  Talk to you later!

Heat & Beat

Man yesterday (Thursday) was hot!  I got to do a few new things that I feel like I want to share with you!  So join me on my story telling journey why dontcha ya!

Okay well food-wise an okay day!  On the workout schedule it was interval training.  This week on the 5K training plan is 1.5 minutes of jogging and 2 minutes of walking.  The location this time was on San Vicente on the grassy median

Side Bar:  I have never really walked or jogged on grass before.

I will start by saying this was extremely hard for me.  I died like half way through the route and ended up walking most of the way back!  It was extremely hot outside, the grassy area was not even, I was constantly having to dodge tree roots and uneven grounds and my legs were hurting.  Despite all these issues and negativity, my beloved Endomondo stats came in semi-impressive. LOL!  My time was my best 3 miles and my max speed at some point in this venture was a 13.25 minute mile!  I am not sure when I pulled that off...but I have learned Endomondo does not lie!  And maybe since at some point I was moving quicker than usual is why I died so quickly in the workout.
http://www.endomondo.com/workouts/ni9dxdpEIys

After this terrify and exhausting workout, I decided to treat myself to a juice!  I have never been to a juice bar so I was excited.  I have just always created my own juices at home.  So I tried Pressed Juicery in Brentwood.  It was...not really a juice bar.  The juices were already pre-made and bottled, stored in a fridge.  But nonetheless I gave it a shot!  I got Greens 2, which is kale, spinach, romaine, parsley, cucumber, celery, apple, lemon.  It was pertty tasty! 

Greens 2 - Pressed Juicery

Water Fountain just outside Pressed Juicery

So after we got our juices we sat outside in the little courtyard area just outside Pressed Juicery that had the cutest little rustic/semi-antique looking water fountain.  I love water...regardless of whether  its the beach or a water fountain, water just relaxes me.  

So after this little San Vicente interval training adventure, I take inventory.  My legs are a smidgen sore.  I think running on the grassy area activated some leg muscles that don't get used when running a side walk or asphalt?  Again, I am no physical fitness expert, just voicing my opinion and observations.  

That's all I have for today.  Take Care!  Can't wait for the weekend...it's bike riding time!