weekend recap & i’m an idiot.

hi guys.  sad to say that the weekend has, once again, come to an end.  happens every sunday night, unfortunately.  well, apparently tomorrow is a holiday and a bunch of people i know have work off, but not this girl.  i will be back to the daily grind bright and early monday morning.

okay, enough whining :)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO DANICA!! her bday is monday the 18th :)

SO~ i have completely lost it.  it is official.  you know how i did my flashback friday post theme “first passport experience”?  and i flashed back to when i studied abroad in london?  YOU GUYS.  that was not my first passport experience!

somehow i completely disregarded the fact that i went to italy in august of 2001 when i was 18 years old.  the funniest part about it is that when i busted out the old school developed film photo bucket, i had to sort through the different rows of film and consciously set aside the “italy” photos and snagged the “london” photos for scanning.  i didn’t even process the fact that i went to italy before moving to london.. a good YEAR before.  it is official, i am a moron.  i thought i looked a tad younger in my passport photo than i did in all the london photos. woops!

do crazy things like this happen to other people or is it just me?  i am going to go ahead and blame my mom for this mistake.  she passed on the forgetful gene to me ;)  but honestly~ can you believe it?! i am so dumb!! it cracks me up.  i woke up saturday morning after having a DREAM about posting the wrong flashback friday.  crazy.  whew.. okay, not that any of this makes a difference to you guys.. but i had to get it off my chest for my own sake!  so no worries.. next week i am going to flashback to my REAL first passport experience in italy.

whew.  glad that is out of the way!  moving on…

wow. you guys really want to win a piece of jewelry from lisa leonard designs, don’t you?!  i have had great response to the giveaway i posted yesterday.  don’t worry, you still have until wednesday night to enter. 

one more piece of business before i dive head first into the weekend’s meals & moves… if you have not yet signed up for my secret bloggie valentine, please do so now!  email me (janethabenson at gmail dot com) your name, your mailing address and your blog address if you have one.  remember:

• you do not have to have a blog to participate
• i will issue you a name/address of someone to send a valentine to on january 3oth
• valentines should be mailed out so they arrive on or before february 14th
• spending limit is set to $25

so join in the fun today!!

WHEW.. that was a whole lot of rambling, wasn’t it?  thanks for bearing with me.  time to talk about FOOD.

i left off on friday afternoon so there is no way i am showing you everything that passed these lips between then and now.  how about the highlights? sure, ok.

friday.

friday night i drank a green protein smoothie on the way to marshall’s house.  i am addicted to these lately and plan to drink one a day for the rest of my life until i get sick of them.

• 1 cup almond milk
• bunch of ice
• 1/2 frozen banana
• 4 strawberries
• 3 cups spinach
• 1 scoop protein powder

marshall and i ate at cafe rio on friday night.  i got a small salad with grilled chicken, lettuce, cilantro, pico de gallo, guacamole and black beans.

after dinner we went to see the lovely bones which turned out to be a pretty good flick!

saturday.

i decided to designate saturday my rest day from exercise because i like to spend it with the boyf and relaxing.  plus, the gym is way better on sunday because it is nearly empty.  SO, with that said, marshall and i made our way to breakfast around noon.

the selection for places to snag breakfast around marshall’s house are very, very limited.  i hate it.  we did find somewhere new to try out~

one man band cafe.  it is just what it is called.. one man cooking for the whole place.  you seat yourself, check out the menu and order on a phone that is at the table.  when your meal is ready they buzz you and you go pick it up.  the beverages and condiments (syrup, ketchup, etc) are self serve. 

we both helped ourselves to some coffee~

which, for the record, was not very good coffee.  too bad.

i went with two slices of french toast + two eggs over medium

 

this tasted pretty average.  the eggs were cooked perfectly and the french toast tasted good but i could have made better french toast at home.

marshall wasn’t very hungry, he ordered on the lighter side.

on the upside the food was cheap.  on the downside.. it tasted cheap.  sorry one man band, i won’t be back.

saturday was spent running errands and loading my ipod with new music.  i did pick up my first item for my secret bloggie valentine’s gift!  i will have to have marshall select someone at random for me since i am coordinating the recipients.

saturday night we had a double date with our friends.. indian food + jazz game!

we went to one of my favorite restaurants in salt lake city: the himalayan kitchen.

marshall and i selected two dishes to share.

chicken tikka masala:

chicken vindaloo:

we also had rice + naan which came with the meal.

YUM.. i could eat indian food all day every day.

then it was off to the game!  we decided to walk in the freezing cold~ it was about 7 blocks each way. definitely worked off all those carbs ;)

the game was fun and we won!  woohoo, go jazz.

after the game we grabbed some coffee to stay awake and stopped by a couple parties to visit a bunch of different friends. 

we got home pretty late and i was BEAT.  it was a really busy day!

sunday.

i woke up around 10 AM and made myself a pot of french pressed coffee and served it up with some frothed almond milk~

after downing copious amounts of java, i decided to fuel myself before my planned total body workout.  i went with a strawberry banana protein shake (too bad i was out of spinach!)

something that made this shake special was the addition of xantham & guar gums that HEABs so graciously sent me to try out. 

thanks heather!  i could immediately tell a difference in the consistency of my shake.  it was so thick and delicious! TWSS.

 

my workout today was off the charts.  i will send five dollars to anyone who tries it.. so let me know if you do!

• warmup: 5 minutes on elliptical resistance 7 (2.5 minutes forward/2.5 minutes reverse)
• block #1: three times through:

move	weight	reps
chest press to skullcrusher	30# barbell	15 (of each)
squat jumps	body weight	15
stiff legged deadlift to bent over row	30#	15

• HIIT on treadmill:

minute #	speed
0-1	5 mph
1-2	6mph
2-3	7 mph
3-4	8 mph
4-5	9 mph
5-6	5 mph
6-7	6 mph
7-8	7 mph
8-9	8 mph
9-10	9 mph

total: 10 minutes, 1.15 miles

• block #2: three times through:

move	weight	reps
side lunge w/ biceps curl	10# db in each hand	30 (15 each way, alternating)
squat w/ upright row	10# db in each hand	15
hyperextension w/ twist	10# db	30 (15 each way, alternating)

• stairmill routine:

minute #s	level	orientation
0-1	6	facing front
1-2	6	facing right
2-3	6	facing back
3-4	6	facing left
4-5	6	facing front w/ double step
5-6	7	facing front
6-7	7	facing right
7-8	7	facing back
8-9	7	facing left
9-10	7	facing front w/ double step

• block #3: three times through:

move	weight	reps
woodchoppers	10# dumbbell	30 (15 each side, consecutive)
YTWLs	5 reps w/ 3# db in each hand, 10 reps w/ body weight	15 of each letter, alternating
sumo squat w/ twist	10# dumbbell	15 squats w/ 30 twists (i would squat, twist left, then right, then stand up)

• 20 minutes on bike @ level 5: 5 miles total.

WHEW. the freaking end.  total time was 1 hour 25 minutes.  i am too lazy to link each specific move but if you are not sure what one is and are curious, please ask about it in the comments.

i refueled with muscle armor + protein powder and an apple~

the rest of the day was spent grocery shopping.  i stocked up on berries, spinach, greek yogurt (i found pineapple chobani! bought it for a treat.), and other fresh produce.  this week should have some delicious meals.

i have spent the day grazing and haven’t actually sat down to a proper meal.  YES i had a bowl of cereal..  i also had a luna bar and a string cheese. and a pear. and a clementine. and some chicken. i think today has been really balanced, so i am not worried.

well~ that sums up my weekend!  hopefully it didn’t bore you too much.. i know it was still long even though it was the shorter version!  i am excited to get back to the daily eats because i did way too much eating out over the weekend (three times!) and while the meals were yummy, i prefer to eat at home.  that’s just how i roll.

i have updated my jamaican me bikini ready challenge page as well as my mileage page if you want to check them out.  for the record, my challenge is going pretty fantastic! i am feeling really strong and lean and my skin is looking a lot nicer than it did two weeks ago. so excited for jamaica~ less than 3 weeks away!

WELL FOLKS. that is all she wrote. i will be back tomorrow for more nonsense! hope you all survive your monday!

Qs~

1. where was the last place you ate out and what did you order? see that baller indian cuisine above. that’s my answer.

2. do you prefer eating out or eating in? and if you are eating in, do you prefer to do the cooking or do you prefer someone else to cook for you? i like eating in and cooking for myself.

xo. janetha b.

p.s. LOOK WHO FINALLY SHAVED!

it’s a miracle. no more huge beard!