Party's Over

Well that didn't take long!

Today is the first day of the full summer session and I started working on two of my three full 8-week classes today. Tomorrow I start my internship as well. I'm thinking it's going to be a rather busy and full summer! That is okay though. I just keep reminding myself that I have halfway done! 3 terms complete and 3 more to go. The time will fly by, I'm sure and in something like 9 short months I will have a degree and be looking for a J O B.

I had an excellent birthday weekend and many thanks to everyone who got in touch with me one way or another to share birthday wishes.

Dinner last night at the Jacksonville Inn was very tasty, but our service was a little lacking. I did share dessert with Chris and it was OMGosh...delicious and amazing. I dressed appropriately this time.

I don't know why I am making a weird face...

Of course, after another weekend of indulgences my scale is up a bit this morning. So, I am right back to my "eating as usual" this week. Fruits, veggies, and lean proteins are on the menu for this week, plus lots of good exercise.

I did finish the 4 day Firm Express Kick Start last Friday. It was awesome, and tough and I can already tell improvement in some areas. I took a rest day Saturday, but yesterday morning (yes, on my birthday!) I got up first thing and did a 20 minute sculpt session, 20 minute cardio/sculpt session and the 10 minute ab session. I haven't gotten my workout in yet today, but will be moving on to do that here shortly!

Short and sweet today...

Have a great week!

Happy # 3-6!

Today is my birthday! Yay! I love birthday's, especially my own! :-) I turn 36 today, so officially starting the second half of my 30's and slipping ever closer to the big 4-0! Chris now has 4 years to plan an incredible birthday bash for my 40th. Friends, if you love me, help Chris out and remind him. Thank you.

Here are a few pictures of what we've been up to this weekend:

We did something I have wanted to do for years and went to Wildlife Safari! It is a very cool place where hundreds of animals from all over the world live essentially "cage free." We saw lions, tigers, bears (oh my!), cheetah, rhinos, hippos, giraffes, zebras and many other cool animals. I will have a separate post about this trip, but it was awesome!

Afterward we stopped at Abacela winery in Winston, Oregon. It was very beautiful! The tasting room is about a year old and set in the vineyard with some amazing views. The wines were decent, but I wasn't overly impressed. We did come home with a bottle of white that had a bouquet that was very sweet, but actually drank crisp and balanced.

Our next stop was Spangler Vineyards, also in Winston. A tucked away little vineyard down a gravel road. The tasting room had tons of cute wine-abilia, like this t-shirt:





 Ha! And this nightgown:

So great! We actually bought this on a magnet and another one that says "Domestic Bliss: one bottle of Cabernet away." So funny! The wines were quite good, lots of reds here. We ended up purchasing an Estate Syrah and a sparkling raspberry that will be great for a brunch or hot evening.

Today I wanted to get a couple pictures of myself on the day I turned 36, and I was wanting a couple with Roxie. However, she was unwilling to cooperate.

 Look at those teeth! What a whiner...she is in the middle of a whiney meow because she wanted to get DOWN thank you very much!

 Our next attempt wasn't much better. She was having none of the picture taking today. Brat-cat. So then we moved on to taking a picture of just me. Here I am! 36 years alive!

Not too bad if I do say so myself.

After our photo session we headed out to run around. We dropped off some car parts to a guy in Cave Junction, and then met my friend August for some sushi lunch in Grants Pass. It was actually very delicious and fresh! The restaurant is called Hunan Gardens. We will definitely be going there again!

August was a total sweetheart and bought me a wine tasting tour so Chris and I headed out to check out a couple of the wineries on our way back home. First stop was Troon Vineyard.

I would tell you how the wines were but since they were too snooty to acknowledge our existence and we left after being ignored for ten minutes I can't tell you anything about their wines. I can tell you that I won't be going back. Too bad, Troon!

A bit farther down the road is Wooldridge Creek Vineyards.

The wines here were lovely, balanced, crisp and not too sharp, tart or with too much acid or tannins. Smooth and balanced. We really enjoyed several of the wines particularly the 2011 Viognier, which we bought, and their port and their sparkling Brut, pictured below. The people were friendly, the view lovely and tons of regulars were coming and going.

After Wooldridge Creek we stopped in at Bridgeview Winery.

Bridgeview wines are widely available in Southern Oregon. They are inexpensive, and we enjoyed several of their varieties. The chardonnay was clear and crisp, the Riesling was not too sweet, but very drinkable. We ended up purchasing their sparkling muscat, sweet but slightly bubbly, and also a really unique Cabernet-Merlot blend.

Tonight we will be headed out for a lovely dinner. We are going to the Jacksonville Inn again. This time I am going to dress for dinner so hopefully the old man manager doesn't look down his nose at me like he did last time! So far it has been an awesome weekend and I have enjoyed driving around, seeing new places and things, trying new wines, and visiting with lots of different people from all over Southern Oregon.

What a great way to kick off my 36th year!

The Friday Five 6/22/12

1. What I'm Reading

Does anyone remember that I am trying to finish all of my "currently reading" books on Goodreads (you can friend me at Corrie Beebe) before I start any of the (more than 30!!) "to-read" books I have on my shelves? Well, I am. With school taking so much of my time, and the fact that I had to request this book on inter library loan, it has taken me a while to get to this one. I started reading this book in 2009! I only barely started it when Chris and I suddenly and without warning decided to up heave our lives and move 300 miles south. I had borrowed it from a friend so I gave it back to her but I have wanted to finish it ever since. I am a little more than halfway through at this point and it is fascinating! Raj Patel does an amazing job of detailing all the dirty little secrets of how food has become an international political power player. Hunger is not an issue because there isn't enough food people. There is more than enough food. Hunger is an issue in our world because of politics and logistics and money. Never doubt that it always comes back to money, power and politics. This book is international in scope, well researched, yet completely readable. It is a bit more on the scholarly side than say Michael Pollan's books, but still filled with valuable information. If you are at all interested in where your food comes from, why it is priced the way it is, who is running the food system in this world, and so much more this is a great book!

2. What I'm Listening To

Lady Gaga Radio on my Pandora station through my blu-ray. Oh, this station is amazing! SO much good music. I completely love the fact that I can play it on my house speakers. I have been tuned in for over a week and I'm still not tired of it! Yay for Pandora and blu-ray! Plus, I love being able to see who is singing something. I am terrible at knowing who the artist is, even if I can sing along every word.

3. What I'm Watching

Seriously, I *loved* this movie! I would go see it again in a heartbeat. Kristen Stewart did not suck and was not awkward and uncomfortable to watch. Chris Hemsworth does an incredible job as the Huntsman (and he is just delicious) and Charlize Theron is epic as the evil queen. There is nothing about this movie that I didn't like. There were no boring parts. There was nothing ridiculous or "unbelievable." It was not the traditional story of Snow White, but that made it even better. Yes it had the features of the story we all know and love, but it was so much better! The cinematography was awesome and it reminded me of LOTR. This story was not predictable or boring. It was a great film! Go see it!

4. What I'm Eating

My friend Ann turned me onto these when she was visiting a couple weeks ago. I really like them. They are lite and crunchy with a nice flavor. They are about 130 calories for 17 crackers, so I can actually eat a handful without consuming a whole bunch of calories. They have made a great crunchy addition to my lunches and are a great snack with a little cheese. There are several other flavors that I haven't tried, but the Almond Sea Salt are really good!

5. What I'm Pinning

Oh yes, good grief. The original Friday Five created by Laura Virginia had number 5 as "What I'm Pinning" from Pinterest. I wasn't a part of Pinterest so I've always changed number 5 to something like What I'm Thinking or What I'm Looking Forward To. I have been coerced and badgered into joining Pinterest and mostly I am pinning things that I think are funny! You can follow me on Pinterest at Corrie Beebe.

Source: someecards.com via Corrie on Pinterest

Source: theberry.com via Corrie on Pinterest

Source: someecards.com via Corrie on Pinterest

Ha! These crack me up!

What's on your five? Do you Pinterest?

Pinterest = Dangerous!

I did not need another thing to suck time out of my life. Seriously! I am busy with school and life. I do not have time for Pinterest. But, I caved recently and joined up (you can find me under Corrie Beebe). One of the reasons was because I found some cool recipes on Pinterest. I am a sucker for good recipes.

This recipe could not be more simple and delicious and it totally falls within the 10% of my eating plan, which is why I scheduled to make it last weekend when the girls were here. One, we all love a good treat and two, there would be four of us to eat them up rather than just two of us.

I do apologize for the ridiculously bad pictures. Between me just basically being a crappy photographer and the lighting and reflective surfaces in my kitchen things just didn't work out. But you really don't need the pictures to understand the deliciousness factor.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough
Reese's Peanut Butter Cups
Prepared Brownie Mix

oh my.

Uhm..YUM!

Put cookie dough in the bottom of muffin cups.

Top cookie dough with a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup.

Add prepared brownie mix to fill muffin cups.

If you happen to have Reese's Pieces add those, too, just for good measure.

We did one row before baking, one row after 15 minutes and left one row plain.

Add ice cream and enjoy!

Brownie peanut butter cup chocolate chip cupcakes...heavenly!

As you can see these were terrible. Riight!

Oh Pinterest...what have you done to me?! These were amazing. Jennifer and Chris thought they were better the next day. Jennifer liked hers cold. I liked mine warm and gooey. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes or until desired degree of doneness (gooey or less gooey).

A couple things I would do differently: one I would either use two squares of chocolate chip cookie dough or I wouldn't press the cookie dough down like I did. Honestly, the cookie dough gets completely lost and what I tasted was brownie and peanut butter cup. Another thing would be to either use my silicone muffin cups or to lightly spray the muffin pan with non-stick spray. The tops of the brownie had a tendency to come off while I was removing them from the pan. They didn't really "stick" but I think the muffin cups or a little spray would have helped that problem.

Next time I might just skip the cookie dough and do brownie/pb cup/brownie.

Do you Pinterest? Have you ever actually made or done anything you have pinned? I mostly pin funny sayings.

I AM...TRIUMPHANT!

Last year my friend Emily Segal over at Triumph Wellness organized Team Triumph with the challenge for participants to sign up for and complete any kind of race event sometime in the next 12 months. I agreed to participate and immediately signed up for the Helvetia Half Marathon on June 9, 2012. I had over half a year to prepare. I originally planned to run it. And then life happened.

I started with good intentions in January by getting outside in the good weather and spending time on my feet.

Then Winter Term at school started in full swing. I was taking 5 classes. The weather was still frequently dark, cold and miserable. I was studying all the time. I still tried to get outside to spend some time training, even working up to 1 minute walk/jog intervals at one point. But as the term wore on and I realized that I was not going to be able to put forth the time necessary to train to run 13.1 miles the way I thought I should.

I seriously considered just quitting and not doing the event, even though I had already signed up.

And then I remembered Team Triumph. I had made a commitment to do an event. I had told all of you about it, told facebook about it, put it on twitter and had invited a bunch of friends to do it with me! I couldn't quit! But, it was apparent that I wasn't going to be able to run it.

I could walk it though. I could easily already walk 6-7 miles without too much difficulty, so there was already a base level of distance there. All I needed to do was increase my distance. I wasn't doing it for speed. All I wanted was to finish in less than four hours. Spring Term started and I was only taking four classes. They were still fairly work heavy, but I made a commitment and I found time during my week to get in at least one long walk. Some weeks I did two or three, but I felt that if I got at least one long walk in per week I would be ready. As the race crept closer I increased my distance in earnest. 7+, 8+ and 10+ miles...then a taper week with a short hour long walk then...RACE DAY!

I walked 13.1 miles in just shy of 4 hours (3:52 something) with my friends Kelsey, Ann and Shorey. Kelsey walked much faster than Ann, Shorey or myself, so she finished in 3:18! We had a great time together, laughing and motivating people around us. The scenery was gorgeous and the weather was perfect! Slightly overcast with sun breaks and only two drops of rain at mile 12.

We took lots of pictures, laughed much and kept each other energized. Here are some of our pics:

We did it! YAY! Ann was staying in a great hotel with a lovely jacuzzi, so after the race we went there and toasted each other and our own success with a glass of champagne and a soak in the jacuzzi. It was a great way to end the event and certainly helped with the sore muscles!

I feel grateful to Emily for encouraging me to do another half marathon. I am so proud of myself and my friends. My body was sore Sunday, but I wasn't in pain. I had a lovely massage and chiropractic adjustment Monday and was back to feeling great!

I am Triumphant!

Eating As Usual

One of the things I've been working on in my life, for years, is undoing the bad eating habits I learned in my childhood and early adulthood. I really had no concept of portion, calories, good or "bad" food. It has taken *years* of education, trial and error (still in progress) to educate myself about food, why and how I should eat a certain way, and learn how to implement that into my daily life.

I have said before, here and elsewhere, that I don't like food labels, as far as vegetarian, pescatarian, vegan, omnivore, raw foodie, or whatever else there is out there because I think it sets us up for challenges by others if we don't do it good enough. Meaning: if I claim to be vegan (I'm not) and I eat honey then some other non-honey eating vegan might come out of the woodwork to attack me as not being vegan enough. (I've seen this happen on other blogs). I don't like the divisiveness created by labeling.

Here is what I do like: eating food. Yup. Food. Real food. 80-90% of the time.

This past weekend when my girlfriends were here fell in to the remaining 10% of the time. We ate quite a few different things (pizza, rice, cupcakes, other sweets) that are NOT a part of my daily diet. The food was delicious, the company was magnificent and I enjoyed both fully. But, this is not how I eat on a daily basis and if I want to continue my journey to health and living my life fully it is important to keep those items confined to a 10% ratio of what I eat.

This is not a diet. It's life. If you want to be healthy and fit (which I do) then you have to eat healthy and act fit (exercise) most of the time. It is a difficult lesson to learn and, like I said, one that I still work on daily. I'm not perfect. But I never give up.

So, today I mentally and physically recommitted to my "eating as usual." This meant that I didn't have any coffee this morning, I had an apple and some cheese for an early lite breakfast. I exercised. I spent time prepping food for the week including some steamed broccoli, hard boiled eggs, turkey breakfast sausage and turkey Italian sausage, and a cucumber salad. I have lots of other fresh veggies and fruits ready to eat as well. Now lunches and dinners are one or two steps closer to being ready. I've said before and will say again: prep work is so important for my success. So, take an hour and cook a handful of things to have ready to grab and eat. It can save you!

I also made myself a big salad for lunch with fresh greens from my garden, tomato, peas from the garden, one of those cooked Italian sausages cut up and a couple cut up hard boiled eggs. Simple and delicious! Filling, too. I topped it with a tablespoon or two of a mustard dressing (grainy mustard mixed with a bit of plain yogurt). I'm drinking my water and plan to limit my wine intake to only a few days a week over the next few weeks.

This is what my eating as usual plan is like. This is how I need to eat and behave 80-90% of the time to succeed in my goals and to live the life I want to live.

I also have a plan for the next few weeks. I am once again following the FIRM Express workout plan and am utilizing (some) of their menu. I am kicking this off with the 4-Day Kick Start Plan.

This morning started out with the first 20 minute workout: Ignite Cardio followed by 10 minutes of Pump It Up from the Kickstart Your Metabolism disc. This afternoon I will do the Turbocharge Sculpt 20 minute workout and then 10 minutes of Shortcut to Flat Abs from the Kickstart Your Metabolism Disc. I got good and sweaty during my first 30 minutes this morning!

I'll look pretty much the same after my workout this evening!

After the 4-Day Kick Start plan I will move on to following their month long FIRM Express rotation which is 20 minutes every other day from each of the four, progressively harder, disc groups. Ignite, Accelerate, Turbocharge and Overdrive. Each workout is 20 minutes with 4 segments of "bursts" (otherwise known at High Intensity Interval Training or HIIT). The bursts last for 8 seconds with a 12 second recovery. There are three discs in each group, one is cardio focused, one is weights focused and the third is a blend of cardio and weights. I will follow the prescribed rotation in the FIRM Express booklet.

I hope to supplement this plan with walks, and other cardio as time permits. I have a very busy summer school schedule, but I need to make my fitness a priority. High intensity, short exercise will be just what I need to help me get my exercise in while not taking up too much of my daily schedule.

So that is the current plan! Back to eating as usual (fruits, vegs, proteins, minimal carbs/grains) and adding at least 20 minutes of exercise in on a regular basis.

Do you have a summer workout plan or goal??