yoohoo.

*HAPPY BIRTHDAY LAUREN!*

hey guys! i know it isn’t normal for me to post on saturday, but i just realized i have a lot to share.. so i am posting. the end. wait, no, it is just the beginning!

friday.

friday after work i really was not feeling like going to the gym, but then i read this post of allison’s and it kicked my butt into gear! the tips/tricks that i took from her post and used to get me to the gym were:

• get dressed
• remember that someone out there is way busier than me and THEY still manage to workout
• “you will never regret a workout” this is ALWAYS a good one to say out loud to myself!
• bribe yourself. and i did. “if you workout today, you get to take a rest day this weekend”
• ditch the technology.. i didn’t bother with my HRM but i did bother with my ipod!

these tips helped me get the motivation i needed and i went to the gym for my HIIT workout. for this workout, i increased my speed by 0.5 each minute, but i also took a cue from jenny and when it was time to slow down, i didn’t go quite all the way back down to the 6.0 MPH that i started at. here are the details:

minute #	speed (MPH)	incline
0-1	6.0	0
1-2	6.0	0
2-3	6.0	1
3-4	6.5	1
4-5	7.0	1
5-6	7.5	1
6-7	6.1	1
7-8	6.6	1
8-9	7.1	1
9-10	7.6	1
10-11	6.2	1
11-12	6.7	1
12-13	7.2	1
13-14	7.7	1
14-15	6.3	1
15-16	6.8	1
16-17	7.3	1
17-18	7.8	1
18-19	8.8	1
19-20	6.0	0

total time: 20 minutes, total distance: 2.3 miles

after my workout i refueled with a GSIAB!

did you guess that acronym??

if you guessed green smoothie in a bowl, then you were right. this had:

• 3/4 cup almond milk
• 1 scoop vanilla whey protein powder
• 1 frozen banana
• handful of frozen blueberries
• a TON of ice
• xanthan & guar gums
• sprinkled with kashi go lean

it made way too much to serve in a cup! a bowl definitely was the dish for the job.

after this i cleaned myself up and marshall & i met our friends at brewvies, which is a movie theater that serves beer, wine, liquor and food. pretty cool concept, although i didn’t take full advantage of the situation since i wasn’t drinking any booze.

water, kombucha and flip flops.. waiting for the movie to start.  we had food on order, they have a keno-type board up on the wall (photo on the left) and you are given a number for your order (photo on the right).. when your number lights up, your food is ready!

pardon the flash, it was a dark theater.. but i had the garden salad with grilled chicken and it was surprisingly WAY good! fresh and delicious!

you may be wondering (or may not be wondering, who really cares?) what we saw.

this movie was cute and hilarious. definitely glad i saw it!

after the movie we went to salt lake roasting company where i had a decaf black coffee.. i am trying to cut the caffeine intake for health reasons. i LOVE the taste of coffee and didn’t miss the caffeine. i just wanted a warm libation :)

saturday.

AKA “free day” AKA “rest day”.

i woke up at 10 AM today. no, i am not an early riser and yes i could have slept longer. i wish i was a morning person, truly i do. i am sure i would get a lot more done on the weekends. but truth be told, i love to sleep in. and today was glorious because i didn’t have to wake up for a thing in the world. except maybe breakfast ;)

chobani plain greek yogurt + kashi honey sunshine + slivered almonds +cinnamon

french pressed kona coffee to drink.

perfect saturday morning, erm.. late morning breakfast!

marshall sleeps even later than i do. when he finally peeled himself out of bed, i fixed him some scrambled eggs that had ham, onion and cheddar.

i am gonna be a good wife.

this afternoon was full of running around to several different stores. we are trying to find a kitchen faucet and sink for the house. we also spent quite awhile in IKEA and i left with nothing more than a few cute new placemats for the blog. we will have to check some other stores!

we made a stop at whole foods to get some items for the picnic we were going to at 5 PM.  since there was still three hours before we would be eating, i declared snack time.

luckily, whole foods was having an outdoor BBQ with kebabs on the grill!

marshall and i each had a chicken kebab.

perfect snack.

we wandered around whole foods and i declared it sample time and partook in plenty of free samples! among them were:

CHEESE. gouda is good-a.

some super delicious bison+KWI-NO-AH… oh wait, no, KEEN-WAH meatballs!

and mass amounts of fresh pineapple and oranges. i love sample day.

we bagged up our purchases and went to my parents’ house for some picnic fixing!

my niece turns four on monday (wow!) and so her birthday party was today, and the theme was teddy bear picnic!

rosemary sourdough bread, a selection of meats and cheeses from the deli, heirloom tomatoes, avocados and a couple salads from the cold food bar.

i sliced the bread and ate the ends.. because that is what i do.

then i got busy on building a total of four sandwiches: ham & swiss for dad, herbed turkey & swiss for momma b & myself and vegetarian for marshall. he is not into meat as much lately, or so i was told today.

once they were all packaged up in paper towels, we bundled them into our picnic baskets!

our trusty transporter:

my niece’s birthday party AKA the teddy bear picnic was at the park that is just down the road from my parents’ house, so we walked. it was SUCH a glorious, sunny day!!

for the record, i am carrying a trampoline ladder.. which is a gift that was for my niece. no, it is not typical for me to tote around ladders. yes, i am short.. but i have other ways to deal with this inconvenience :)

we got to the park and immediately broke into our baskets.

my sandwich, which i only conquered half of, some potato salad and some israeli couscous spring salad with asparagus (way yummy!) and an izze for sipping with a straw!

this sandwich was incredible. those heirloom tomatoes were eight dollars (!!!!) for TWO.. but they were SO tasty!

and it has been decided that izzes do not count as soda pop. i gave soda up for new years, but that refers to items like coke, pepsi, sprite, dr pepper, etc etc.. any high sugar, HFCS laden crap. izzes are amazing. and only for free day. and my wedding.

it was a lot of fun to eat our lunches on at the park. i am excited for summertime and i think picnics should happen more often! i demand more picnics.

after eating, it was time for teddy bear games! we didn’t participate but it was fun to watch the kidlets have fun.  among the games they played were musical bears (instead of musical chairs.. get it? haha.. i laughed out loud, twice.), they went on a bear hunt and they played pin the heart on the bear.

i am sure all of those games were pretty exhausting for the young tikes.. naturally they recharged with, what else, cake & ice cream :)

love that birthday girl!!

hope she made a good wish ;)

i was the designated cake server, but the only problem was there was no knife or spatula. luckily my dad had his trusty pocket knife, so we improvised!

in the end, i was covered in frosting and still smell like it.. for those of you who don’t know, i hate frosting.. so i am not sitting here licking my hands. but penny is :)

i had some ice cream. obviously.

it was such a fun teddy bear picnic! HAPPY BIRTHDAY IZZY B!

i have to show you guys the fun things my mom brought back from california for me!

as you may or may not know, utah does NOT have a trader joe’s OR a crate & barrel. ugh, the horror. BUT.. my sister lives in california, so we always have a reason to lug 50 lbs of stuff back from her neck of the woods after paying her a visit.  luckily my mom goes for a visit about 4 times a year.

from trader joe’s:

• gorgonzola crackers
• PBJ&A nut mix
• plantain chips
• everyday spice
• spinach & chive linguine
• masala simmer sauce
• soy protein powder

the girl scout cookies are not from trader joe’s.. they are from my niece!

from crate & barrel:

• those adorable spoons everyone but janetha had. until now.
• super cool double bowl (the white thing there in the middle)
• sorbet cup and spoon (hello portion control)
• orange and yellow bowls, perfect size for yogurt or cereal
• cake tester! i already used it once!
• AWESOME bowl in the back that says BREAKFAST! yes yes yes.

thanks mom!

dang, i wish we had a crate & barrel. i really want to register there.. i wonder if i still should? i mean.. they ship.

i just finished baking some banana protein bread.

prebaked:

post baked:

the banana slices sank. they didnt stay on top and bake into the top of the crust like they usually do when i make banana bread. oh well, i am sure it still tastes great! i will let you know, i am about to go have some.

the stats for a slice: 100 calories, 1g fat, 11g carbs, 9g protein. recipe coming soon!

do you see why i had to post today? this was already a marathon post as it was! tomorrow i will be doing an upper body workout and going to celebrate marshall’s dad’s birthday. i am sure i will have plenty to talk about after all that!

check back tomorrow for the giveaway!

Qs~

1. are there any stores that you don’t have near where you live but you LOVE and make sure to hit up whenever you are near one? trader joe’s, H&M, and now.. crate & barrel. COME TO UTAH, STORES!

2. last movie you saw in the theater? see above. i used to never go to movies until i started dating marshall. he is a movie junkie and goes all the time, so now i do too!

enjoy your sunday!

xo. janetha b.