Oh My Soreness

As I mentioned in my last post, I started working out at a CrossFit gym yesterday. Oh.. my.. goodness.. I'm hooked! Okay so here's my 5 minute rave about the place..

When I was on my way to the gym after work I've got to admit I was a little nervous, especially since I was going to a new place by myself. To my surprise everyone there was incredibly welcoming, I met so many people that I can hardly remember most of their names. I felt like I belonged almost immediately, it reminds me so much of my gym back at home where I worked last summer.

Our warm up was a 200 meter run, 10 squats, 10 push ups three times. I wouldn't necessarily call that a warm up because I was pretty breathless after it haha. Then one of the trainers went through each exercise to show us proper form. I am thankful that he took the time to show us step by step because CrossFit uses typical exercises, but they're turned up a notch. After our warm up everyone circles up and a trainer prays for us which I thought was awesome, yet another reason it reminds me of the Bodyshop. It's so cool to see how God can be worshiped in such a multitude of ways!

The actual work out was 100 sumo squat high pulls, 75 thrusters, and 50 pull ups for time. Since I was deemed as a "newbie" I was assigned level 1 of the workout. (50-25-15). I finished the workout in 6:28, and I literally said "am I seriously done?!" It's so fast and so intense that you literally have no time to think about what you're doing, but trust me, your body lets you know about 5 minutes later that it's going to be extremely sore!

I felt extremely accomplished, plus I loved how encouraging everyone was there. Everyone working out or hanging out cheer you on the entire way through the workout, which keeps you pushing harder. I think the guys who work there were a little surprised that I could hang in there as a "newbie," but it was great hearing that I did a great job and that I was a little underestimated! I have officially signed up for a month, but I'm sure I won't stop there. I'm excited to see how my body transforms and to accomplish things I never thought possible.

Okay.. I admit that was probably more than a 5 minute rave, but really, I can't say enough good things about his place!

I saw this beautiful rainbow on the drive home!

After working out I headed over to Emily's to make dinner before the Bachelorette. We made Parmesan crusted chicken with a zucchini pasta marinara, a Dashing Dish classic. It was seriously DELICIOUS! I was incredibly surprised at how flavorful it was.

Mmm delicousness!

We finished off dinner with some strawberry froyo that Emily bought from the grocery store, it was the perfect way to end such a savory meal. The girls showed up right at 8 for the Bachelorette and we had so much fun commentating, that show is so ridiculous but so addicting at the same time. Might I add that my boy Sean is still in the running!

This afternoon I'm going for a run and then to CrossFit's foundations class. Then Bray and I will be going to his grandparents to celebrate his grandpa's birthday. I can't wait to celebrate him!

I hope everyone has a wonderful Tuesday :)

Weekend Recap

This weekend was a great refresher. Friday consisted of planning for the next day, a full day on Lake Jocassee. We had to run around town to get things ready (food, gas, etc), which took a little longer than I had expected. I have never realized how much work goes into preparing for a lake day, major props to my boy who makes it happen! After all of the running around I made enchiladas for the first time, which were surprisingly good! After dinner Braden and I set off on a post-dinner walk to enjoy the weather, which turned into a 3 mile trek.

The sky was absolutely beautiful during our walk, and Bray made a point to pick every pretty flower we passed by! By the end I had a pretty little bouquet, he's quite the keeper :)

We've been on a big movie kick, so we thought we'd give "Like Crazy" a try.. I was so excited about this movie, only to find it highly disappointing. We turned it off after about 20 minutes of confusion and having no idea what's going on. I'd give this one a big bad movie rating.. sad day!

Saturday morning Braden, Elliot, Drew, and myself packed up the car and headed to the lake. I've come to the conclusion that I'll probably be spending lots of time with these 3, but what can I say, they're all great to have around! We spent the day cruising, wake surfing, and the boys climbed up rock walls. It was a pretty perfect day despite our few minor setbacks with boat mishaps.

Yesterday we went to Grace and then to Braden's parents for lunch. Overall a very laid back day with a little grocery shopping thrown in. Now it's the start of the work week, and I'm counting down the minutes until it's the weekend! We'll be attending our fourth wedding of the summer, with 3 more still to go, geez louise wedding season is definitely in full swing! I'm loving it though, I mean really, what girl doesn't?!

Oh side note: I'll be starting my first day at CrossFit today! I'm super pumped, nervous, excited, anxious, you name it I'm feelin' it! I've gotten so run down and bored with my normal weekly workouts (MWF strength and sprints, TTH cardio and stretching) I need something to push me harder and keep me entertained. I'm signing up for a month, so we'll see how this goes!

Tonight I'm making dinner with the lovely Emily, and then watching the Bachelorette with some wonderful ladies. I always look forward to Monday's because I know this time with these girls is always right around the corner. Plus I'm mildly obsessed with watching the guys on the show make fools of them self, but I must say I'm team Sean and I'm not ashamed to say it, haha!

I hope you have a wonderful week!

Did You Say Chickpeas?!

Happy Thursday people! Even with the rainy weather, I still feel like this week has been flying! My week has been the definition of chill:  Monday Bachelorette with the ladies, Tuesday "small" group, and last night a few girls got together and watched the new Footloose. That movie could never get old, it brings out my secret dream of being a dancer, and that will probably never happen haha. I love the freedom and laid-back nature that summer comes with, because I do a lot more now than I would have ever done during the school year. Weekly girls nights or dinner dates are a common theme this summer, I'm not going to know what to do once school starts again!

Okay, enough with the babbling! Monday night Emily and I wanted to bake something to munch on while we watched the Bachelorette, so naturally, we went digging to see what ingredients she had stocked in her kitchen. Well.. Emily had stumbled across a recipe that called for chickpeas instead of flower.. that's right I said it, chickpeas. Initial reaction... gross! We were feeling pretty adventurous so we went for it!

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Bites

Ingredients:

1 1/4 cups canned chickpeas (well rinsed)

2 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 cup + 2 tbsp natural peanut butter

1 tsp baking powder

A pinch of salt if your PB doesn't have salt in it

1/2 cup chocolate chips

Directions:

·· Preheat oven to 350°F

·· Combine all ingredients, except chocolate chips, into a food processor (a blender works great) until very smooth

·· Make sure chickpeas are processed until they are no longer lumpy!

·· Put in the chocolate chips and stir

·· Form little balls with the dough and place onto a piece of parchment paper

·· Bake for 10 minutes!

They are so moist and gooey, seriously addicting!

I hope everyone is having a wonderful week so far, we're almost to the weekend! I'll be heading home for a few days to celebrate my birthday with my family (a month late, no biggie haha), and I'm sure I'll go for a run or something of that sort to be outside. It's supposed to be a beautiful weekend!

Meetin' and Greetin' my Sistas

As mentioned in this post, a bunch of girls here this summer are taking our extra time to fellowship with one another every Tuesday night. Last week we kicked off with the topic of what God is doing in your life, in this season. It was so great hearing all of the girls hearts, and seeing that we are all on different paths. I love how we can all be so different, but share one Father, so cool! This week we decided to have some chill quality time with yummy treats included. I expected the traditional cookies and brownies spread, but these girls stepped up their game!

The cheesiest, beaniest, yummiest mexican dip!

An assortment of cookies

Alex & I's creation of Nutella cookies with PB & chocolate chips

Oreo balls, yummm!

Chocolatey caramel concoction that was delicious 

A few of the lovely ladies hanging out!

We all had so much fun chatting and getting to know one another a little better. Our vision for this summer is to not only grow with the Lord, but also with each other, and what better way than to get to know those around you better?! This group is blessing me more than they realize, I am so excited to see what is in store for us this summer!

Sweet Potato Pancakes

I don't know about yall, but I LOVE sweet potatoes. Baked sweet potatoes, sweet potato fries, you name it and I probably love it. I've been exploring with pancake recipes and came across this one, and it's actually really good!

The first time I tried making these I just mashed the sweet potatoes.. I wouldn't suggest it haha. Definitely puree or blend the ingredients before you put them on the griddle.

Sweet Potato Pancakes

What you'll need:
1 small sweet potato
1 scoop vanilla whey protein
1/2 cup egg whites
Cinnamon
1 packet Stevia or Splenda to taste

Step 1: Put sweet potato in microwave for about 5-7 minutes
Step 2: Add egg whites, protein powder, cinnamon, and Stevia in blender (in that order!)
Step 3: Peel skin off sweet potato (careful, it's hot) and put everything but the skin in blender
Step 4: Blend/puree well, then spoon batter onto griddle

Spray with non-stick cooking spray -- Keep griddle on medium heat

The pancakes are ready to flip once edges firm up. Cook another 2-3 minutes until the undersides are also golden brown. Sometimes they'll get a large air bubble, no worries, just press it down with a spatula!

Mmm sweet and healthy, drizzle with maple syrup and enjoy!

Clean Eating

Happy Monday people! Typically, I always have a case of the Monday's but I'm feeling pretty good today. Probably because I know tonight means the Bachelorette with a few of my favorite ladies, it's always fun to get together and commentate on the ridiculousness of reality TV, although it is quite entertaining.

I've been a "healthy" eater for about 5 years now, but recently I have been taking it a step further by eating clean. This topic has taken off in the news and it sparked my interest so I did my own research on what clean eating is exactly. Clean eating is eating whole, natural foods such as fruits, vegetables, lean proteins, and complex carbs. Most prepackaged foods have a long list of ingredients that most people can't even pronounce, so why allow those icky things in your body?!

I used to try buying healthy & organic foods from regular grocery stores but the prices were outrageous, especially when I'm a cheap college kid. My absolute favorite place to shop these days is Trader Joe's, they have an awesome variety of healthy foods that are super cheap! It's a bit of a drive to get weekly groceries, but it's so worth it.

For those of you interested in clean eating, here's a typical day of eating clean!

Breakfast:
1 egg + 1 egg white
whole wheat english muffin
Coffee!

Snack:
Protein shake
[Dashing Dish has great recipes!]

Lunch:
Whole grain wrap with all natural sliced deli meat
Hummus
Lots of veggies

Snack:
Greek Yogurt [TJ's Mango is my fav!]
Berries

Dinner:
Broiled Tilapia
Brown rice
Lots of veggies

I started eating clean about 3 weeks ago, and I have to admit that I've had a lot more energy and I feel less sluggish. I wasn't a "junk" eater, but I still did eat food that had been processed before I started this process. I can definitely feel a difference and my body is much healthier!