Posts Tagged ‘Ambrose’

Well folks, it is nice and snowy here in the Burgh.  This was expected.  The Public Works Department at my work was ready to go on Thursday having all of the salt and plow blades replaced.  At least you can travel in Carnegie! =)

That gave me a good opportunity to do some Yoga Download and mini strength training.  Along with some serious shoveling

 

We also had the opportunity to have Ambrose experience snow that literally buried him…

 

 

 

 

The best part was his “hopping” around like a rabbit to navigate through the snow. 

Sunday I decided to make a quick meal as Jared was busy installing our new faucet into the bathroom.  He made two additional Home Depot runs for items that we need that made the installation last five hours. 

 

I was craving quesadillas, and decided to see how that went.  I steamed some shrimp to split between us.  I also incorporated these two cheeses I picked up at McGinnis Sisters this morning.  I love sharp cheddar and wanted a smokey cheese to try. 

 

 

The gouda was good.  Smokey flavor with a creamy texture.  A small bite (below) goes a long way…

I made myself quesadillas using La Tortilla Factory tortillas.  One had gouda, shrimp, and beans, and the other just had cheddar and beans.  Quite yummy with guacamole and plain fage on the side. 

 

This is what our upstairs bathroom looked like at one point of the installation.  Yikes. 

This is what Ambrose looks like when he gets hungry. 

Though the picture is dark, I am clearly eating a cookie while reading healthy living blogs.  Go figure.  

Speaking of doggy meals, last night I roasted the other chicken in an attempt to get “dinner” ready for Tuesday night.  I had the chicken cooked and it was cooling before I was going to cut & refrigerate. 

 

Ambrose was all over the chicken while I was making it.  He smelled bird and was positioning himself for anything that had fallen on the floor.  It also doesn’t help that he licked clean a few small drops of chicken juice (aka blood) that had gotten on the floor when I removed it from the bag.

 

Jared comes into the living room after I had taken it out and said, “Ambrose likes the chicken”.  I was hoping the worst didn’t happen 

 

Low and behold, Ambrose ate about half of the chicken.  Including a wing and drumstick.  He also knew he was wrong.  That picture is quintessential Ambrose—he knows he was wrong, but doesn’t want to be right. 

The past few weekends have been pretty exciting for Jared and I.  We usually don’t do anything, or enjoy the freedom of not having to work.  Saturday was the gym (more on that later) and a party at my parents house. 

Sorry for the fuzz, but Ambrose came along…  He does well in the car, for the most part, but here he looks like a backseat driver.  Satruday I got my nails done, which is a rare treat.    Maybe twice a year I pay the $12 and get them manicured professionally.  The guy that did it this time really butchered a cuticle, it’s still red.  Oh well.

 

And there’s nothing wrong with my camera here, it’s been so dreary in Pittsburgh lately.  I guess that’s why I feel fortunate to have the gym as my back-up plan.  -Insert many grumbles here-

 

 

Snacks have comprised of what remains of the tub-o-hummus and Back to Nature crackers.  Jared said I am addicted to these crackers.  He may be right.  To be blogging cliche, they are crackers.

 

More often than not, Jared comes into the bedroom at night to find me passed out with this book on my lap and a pen in my other hand.  I love this book, so I am taking my time to ensure I absorb every ounce of its knowledge.  I will be back with a recap.

 

Sunday was a glorious day.  I got a run in on the dreadmill, worked on abs, back, and arms at the gym, then went to the drill sergeants spin class.  My aunt belongs to the gym and at my parents party we decided to meet-up for it.  I’m glad I did.  I left the gym feeling like I got a good exercise out of my system.  I made some Italian Wedding Soup, (no pictures, sorry) and it was delish.  I rarely ever made soup with meat in it before I met Jared.  I don’t think he’d like my vegetable minestrone, so I’ve been trying to adapt to him.  So veggie chili becomes white chicken chili.  Meatless wedding becomes regular Italian wedding.  My minestrone will stay meatless.  I won’t budge on that. 

 

The Steelers won, we enjoyed the game with some awesome soup and sandwiches. 

I spent the rest of the evening on the couch, browsing the internet reading blogs planning for my sisters shower.  This is going to be a crazy event.  There are so many details I refuse to overlook!

 

Happy Monday.  Friday will be here before we know it!

I had yet another night meeting yesterday, but luckily I got to leave work for a bit before it started.  That’s always a plus, it makes you forget you are working two 14-hour days in a row!

 

My meeting was on the campus of the local community college, which happens to abut the local animal shelter.  I arrived early, so I decided to stop in.

 

I am a dog lover.  Having grown up with dogs, I feel like I understand them more than cats.  Having Ambrose as my own for 3-4 years has helped me in more ways than I can describe.  I love that dog, even through the chewed cell phones (x2), chewed CD collection, chewed couch, etc., etc.,…

 

Anyways, I have been bugging Jared for another dog.  Why I am on this kick, I don’t know, but it comes and goes.  I stopped in the animal shelter last night just to see if they had any puppies.  One lesson I learned from Ambrose is that, if you are going to be busy and have a dog, it’s best they be a puppy so you only have to train them, no retrain them…

 

Look at how adorable, this picture doesn’t do them justice.

They are cute little pitbull mixes.  I don’t know if this is one entire litter, or what, but there’s got to be a dozen of them.

 

I also semi-fell in love with this guy…

Okay, so maybe I am a bit shallow, but I cannot help but love cute dogs, I mean, look at Ambrose….

 

He is sleeping in this picture.  His “posture” here is unique, though, because he usually uses a pillow. I don’t know a dog spoiled smart enough to use a pillow.

Matthew from Breaking the Plateau suggested I blog about my weight loss journey.

I’ll navigate this through a timeline, as that seems like the best way to do it…

Freshman YearSpring 2002: I was ending my first year of college and was at my heaviest. This was a great time in my life, college always is. I remember helping a good friend move out of her college apartment, I was moving boxes, etc., and the next day I was sore. I was always heavy at this point, but I just thought that’s how I was. But after being sore, I thought, I’m 19, I shouldn’t be sore. That was the point that I never looked back to, or I looked back to it, but wanted to focus on moving forward… I just started walking every night on the treadmill in the basement for that summer. I had spent that summer working at a daycare part time and the kids would call me “fat” or make fun of me. Well, little kids are rude, but they are also very honest. I also listened to a co-worker rave about the Atkins Diet and insult me for wanting to focus on whole health. Well, my “diet” worked for me, but years later, via MySpace, I realized it hadn’t worked for her.

Sophmore Year Late Summer 2002/Fall 2002: I was gaining momentum. I started to get bored walking and would make little run “breaks” that, at the time, were hard physically, but not mentally. That was okay, I kept remembering the soreness I felt and wanted to be physically strong. I started the Couch to 5k program. Google it. It got me running. We went on Vacation to the beach that summer and I still focused on health. It was a god focus.

Winter 2003: I kept losing weight, I took a weight lifting class at school but still focused on running. I also went to Prague in January 2003 and took a lot of my old clothes with me to throw away. I didn’t run once while I was in Prague, ate well (without being obsessed), and still lost weight. I came home and took some cardio class for school but I still ran.

Junior Year Spring/Summer 2003: I had lost, I’d estimate, about 50 lbs at this time. I worked long hours at Starbucks that summer. I would take the bus to one area of town and walk all the way down to Station Square before work. Running still, getting better, but not breaking any plateaus. This is when a co-worker (who was also a personal trainer) suggested two things to me: 1. Drink Coffee (at that point I didn’t really drink coffee) to help wake me up in the morning; and 2.) Interval train. He said to run/walk slowly increasing the intensity of both. Wow, that was good advice. We can see where my coffee habit started, too.

Fall/Winter 2004: I was really concentrating on my running at this point, but I was still on a treadmill. I also took Pilates on my off days and saw a major improvement in my running. This is class XT, I’d say. I moved off Chatham’s campus b/c it became too expensive and I would rather open my time to work. So I started a job at Blue Horse Coffee. I really needed to balance my time then. I’d also say this was the point that I was at my lightest (weight wise), happiest, but certainly not busiest.

Senior Year2005/2006: My running was on a steady schedule. Which you can find here. I was up at 6, running at 7, out the door by 8:30. It was perfect. I graduated from College and was looking forward to Grad School. I spent the summer babysitting my Cousins several hours away, my running schedule was interrupted, and it was uncomfortable to me. But I dealt with it. My parents also moved. I got Ambrose.

Grad School 2006/2007: I spent one year in grad school, started with one semester done because of my studies in college, and finished one semester early because I wanted to enter the job market. Because of these things, and all of the life changes, my running slowed down a bit, and I struggled to be in a relationship I was unhappy with. I’d say I gained a little bit of weight in grad school. I still focused on myself, though. I joined a gym for the first time, but I didn’t really like it.

The last two years 2007-2009. The last two years, were different, too. I wasn’t happy at my job, my running schedule was gone, I was underpaid, and I had a house to myself to maintain. All of these things combined, in addition to what I’d experienced in grad school, I know I gained some weight back. Part of this is due to the fact that I met Jared and his diet is horrible, part of it is birth control, part of it was motivation. Don’t get me wrong, I still ran. In fact, summer 2008 Jared and I ran a lot of races, but my mileage was lower than in college and eating the best healthy foods wasn’t always the first option.

2009 and forward: I think I’m lucky. I’ve got to experience the joys of weight loss and have been 95% effective in keeping it off. I am back training for something, and I can afford the outrageously priced healthy goodies which I do love. I am also lucky to be in a place, professionally, that I can make my own schedule.

Here are some other tidbits you may find interesting:

• I never went on a diet.  I ate what I wanted, in moderation, and I ate “low to the ground”.  My diet was packed with fruits and veggies.
• Running was not easy.  I did have a few good friends that supported me, but I also had naysayers
• I don’t talk about my weight loss to everyone
• I’m not preachy
• It’s something that happened to me, and I am moving on with it.  The biggest loser isn’t always accurate for everyone.
• Running saved my life.  Running on the road, gave me a breath of freshair