Tuesday, April 5, 2011

CLICK review and personal training

Great Morning! I miss blogging, but a few friends from NOLA and work had me tied up.  It's all good :)  Nothing major has happened since the last time I was on here, so I'll just share with what's on my mind today.  First let's start off my CLICK review. The CLICK peeps were nice enough to send me some awesome samples for me to try, along with their super cool shaker.
Remember I was on the hunt for a good protein shake/recovery drink, well this one met all of my expectations and more!  The flavors are amazing, my favorite was Vanilla Latte.  Tasted just like an iced coffee you'd never thing would be an actual protein drink!  When I read the following:
120 Calories
15g of Protein
23 Vitamins & Minerals
Double Shot of Espresso
... I was instantly sold, but when I tasted it, it was everything I've always dreamed of and more!  I followed the instructions (which are very easy) to make and drank it after my 4:30am runs.

It was so yummy and gave me the energy I needed post recovery, I didn't even need to make a trip to Starbucks for my daily cup of Bold coffee.  It kept me satisfied for over an hour while I got ready for work and until I could have a real breakfast.  I will definitely be buying this and can't wait to have it again. I promise you won't be disappointed.  They are actually having a sale right now on Amazon and you know I will be taking full advantage of this. :) Thank you CLICK for letting me sample and review this, you are awesomeness. xoxo

This week is going to be pretty chill at work and home, we are going to New Orleans next weekend for the boyfriends b-day so we are taking it easy until then.  This weeks work outs will look like this...

Monday- OFF
Tuesday- Spin
Wednesday- 5m Tempo run
Thursday- 6m run
Friday- Strength Training + Elliptical
Saturday- 5K
Sunday-10m easy run
I'll be very active and I love it... I love sweating!  However, I've been stuck in a rut and have plateaued so I may call up my personal training who I haven't seen in about 6 months.  I know how to work out, know what to do and stay away from, I have tons of magazines with work outs, I can easily go online and get something, BUT there's nothing like having someone constantly push your limits a way you can't do alone.  Anyone else agree?  Sometimes I'm a little to easy on myself and give up.  I know she won't let me, I need a good butt kicking!

I'm off to enjoy an apple with Justins Almond Butter.  I'm addicted! :)


 Has anyone tried CLICK?
What are your thoughts on a personal trainer?

Have a wonderful Tuesday!

xoxo
Simi

Monday, March 28, 2011

PR & Good eats

Let's see how my weekend went... I ran an unexpected race- "Law Week fun run 8K" This was my first 8k so I PR'd :) 47:28!!! I am really proud of myself for being able to run consistently under 10 min miles.  Last time that happened was at the RNR SA in November.  It felt good and was on the runners high all day.
The weather was perfect to lay out and try to get a tan, I'm a little ghostly right now :)
Sprinkles Vegan red velvet cupcake.  Has anyone tried sprinkles?  AMAZING! Go try one, I promise you it'll be the best red velvet you've ever had in your life! (of course they have the regular red velvet).  My 2nd fav that isn't pictured because my bf devoured it in the car, is their coconut dark chocolate.  Heaven in my mouth. Seriously.

Low sodium rice cakes with the best Almond Butter known to man!! Amazeballs!  Perfect snack.
Clearly I have an obsession with Nut butters (there are 3 diff. jars in the fridge).
Look how beautiful these are- roasted bell peppers are my absolute favorite!
After searching long and far, I finally found this! A grapefruit spoon.  It's perfect and now I wont have to get my face all wet and have things stuck between my teeth.  No one likes that, and it's not cute.
I can now fully enjoy this 10 pound bag of grapefruit I bought at Kroger for only $3.99!!! Whole foods has the same thing but at $7.99 no thank you!  We all know Grapefruit is one of the things we don't have to buy Organic.


Congrats to Kim! who PR's in the Dallas 1/2 marathon.  You're awesome girl and you rocked it. 

Friday, March 25, 2011

Smiles and Inspiration

Happy Friday!!! Finally, the work week is over.  I'm not complaining, I really like my job and the people I work with, but I love sleeping in, enjoying the sun and spending time with my bf even more.  It's going to be a great weekend; possible 8k tomorrow and a company cook off at night with friends and I plan on hanging at the pool all day Saturday.  It's warm out and the breeze feels great, time to get my tan on.
Last night my bf's dad surprised us at home and took us to dinner which was really nice.  I had this...

We all shared and I must say, the mushrooms were my favorite!  I am obsessed with mushroom.  Funny thing is that I have always hated them until my bf made me try some that he cooked, it was love at first taste.  Now I want them every day!  The meal was accompanied by a glass of Merlot, smooth and sweet, it was lovely.  Lately I've been reading Jenns blog, I've mentioned her before and I am so happy I found her.  She's on the front of Lululemon website where they blog about her and have a link to her blog.  She's very inspiring and has made me thing about a lot that's going on with my life.  We all have all ups and downs, more downs for me lately.  That's all going to change and because of that I've been thinking about things that make me smile (happy).  Of course there are tons of things that make me smile, but this made me smile last night:

-Yummy food from PF Changs

- Chobani Yogurt!! (Review will come when I'm done eating them :) )
New magazines!
Who doesn't like getting new magazine in the mail right?
I plan on running 3 easy miles tonight with my sick friend.  Yesterday, Food won over Spin class (again) hehe.  Hope you have a great weekend!

Love this quote- “The challenge in running is not to aim at doing the things no one else has done, but to keep doing things anyone could do—but most never will.” —Joe Henderson

Wednesday, March 23, 2011

What kind of Psycho wakes up @ 4am to run?! Me! that's who

Today was really hard getting out of bed because I’m not used to waking up so damn early anymore!  I went to bed @ 11 (dumb ass) and woke up @ 4 to run. 
My running partner talked about doing that again because it’s 80 degrees after work and in Houston, it feels like almost 90 with the humidity.  It’s not difficult at all! It takes some time getting used to and this is hour I did it.  This was my crazy, I have no life other running routine.
About 6 months ago I would wake up almost every day @ 4am or 4:30 to meet up with my running partner and log in 6-7 miles a day.  I was training for my very first Marathon is Houston and with the humidity being horrendous, waking up and running before the sun came up wasn’t really an option.  Summers out here are hell and I absolutely hate the heat, more so the humidity. 
Some “tropical” people like my mom (who was born and raised in Veracruz, MX) Love it.  Well, I don’t… San Diego has the most amazing weather this planet can offer and it has clearly stuck with me.  Don’t get me wrong, summers here are fun; crawfish boils, ice cold beers, hanging with friends, pool time, instant tan, etc… that’s about it.  Who “likes” the frizzy nappy hair and sweating so much your make up literally melts and runs down your face because you’re constantly sweating??  Yikes.  You can’t even imagine what it’s like to run during the summer here (unless you’re from Houston).  I had no other choice but to suck it up, get over it and learn how to deal with it if I wanted to be a marathoner.  The race wasn’t until January and I started training in July.  You get the picture. It was HOT. 
As much as I complained about it, I enjoyed it.  I was becoming a better, stronger, faster runner and I loved it.  I love sweating and feeling my clothes drenched in sweat, visual yet? Lol sorry, but I absolutely loved THAT part of the summer because running at 4am made it tolerable.  There’s no way I would go outside for an hour while the sun is out and since the city is mainly concrete it would feel like 110 + 100% humidity! This was my routine 5 days out of the week:
Monday-Thursday I’d wake up @ 4am, out the door at 4:10 or 4:15 to meet my friend and start running at 4:30.  Sometimes earlier depending on the mileage, mostly 5,6,8 miles.  We would finish by 5:30 or 5:45 (again depending on the mileage).  I still had time to get ready, have breakfast and drive to work (30 min. commute)!  I loved it because I would come home, do some weights on a couple of days, cook dinner, clean up, relax, etc... Bed time was usually 9pm, I would get everything I needed ready the night before for the run in the morning.  Shorts, tank, sports bra, socks, headband, garmin, blinking light, sweat band, fuel belt in fridge, body glide, towel for after and a big thing of water to leave in my car.  Lots of prepping the night before, but it saved me about 15 mins every morning.  I sure as hell didn’t want to wake up @ 3:40!!!
                                                                   (not my stuff)
It was super hard to get into the habit of waking up at that time and going to bed early while all of your friends were still up. I used to sleep with my running clothes on so all I would have to do was roll out of bed, get my stuff and run out hehe My poor bf thought it sucked so I bought him a PS3 + Call of Duty so he wouldn’t complained when I had to go to bed.  He would turn it right on and play until midnight.  There were a couple of times when I would up to run and he was asleep on the couch with the controller in his hand and the game was running.  Pretty funny, but he never complained about my schedule after that. ;)  I sacrificed so much while training, no late dinners with friends unless it was a Thursday night where I didn’t have to wake up until 6 the next day.  Friday’s were my days off, but I couldn’t do anything that night because Saturdays were my long runs (which I miss). 
Saturday’s were my fav!  Not only was I running 15+ miles and feeling freaking awesome after, the runners high was in full effect all day,  I was so happy, kept busy and would meet with friends for drinks that night.  They were super fun J  It’s not too long  before I go back into that routine, but for now it’s a nice little break.  Sundays I would veg! Hang out by the pool, tan, BBQ and just relax and get ready to do it all over again Monday.  I wouldn’t have it any other way because that’s what I had to do to get this picture ;) 

                               Above all of that- food!  I changed my mentality, I would eat to run. 

 I would fuel and hydrate my body properly for tomorrows run, it made a huge difference in my performance and helped me not die of a heat stroke in the middle of the road at 4:30 am eeek!
I'm starting up that routine and can't wait until it gets easier!  I love having the evenings to myself and when I'm at work I feel so much better knowing that my run is done and can go straight home and cook a delicious dinner.  My running partner is sick so I won't be waking up early, instead I'll be taking a spin class which I really need.  Gotta get these legs stronger are toned for the summer.

Have you tried running before the sun comes up?
What was the most difficult part about it?  Mine was not spending as much time with my bf :( but I'm so glad he's so supportive and understanding!


5 Celebrity crushes

Good Morning!  I am doing a 30 day challenge (it's not so much 30 days anymore, but I'm posting on most topics). Since I've been posting some about me and my life, I thought I'd change it up a little bit and do #23- 5 celeb guys I find attractive.  This shouldn't be that hard right, but I couldn't come up with a 5th one for some reason!  For now- I'm doing 4 :) Here we go, in no particular order except for #1.

#1. Johnny Depp

I have been "in love" with him since his 21 jump street/ Halloween days.  I still want him to be the father of my children lol.  Yes, I'd take him even as Captain Jack Sparrow.  He's truly talented and my favorite actor, obviously very dreamy.  I feel like a 13 year old girl when I see him.  Am I the only one?  Friends tell me he's too scruffy now and looks horrible.  I don't care! I love his mysteriousness quiet sexy self ;)

#2.  Gerard Butler
I fell in love with him watching 300 and all of his other movies!  I watch his movies over and over because he's so easy on the eyes.  Very attractive!

3. Bradley Cooper

I think it's his piercing blue eyes is what got me hooked and I am attracted to him.

#4. Hyden Christensen
He's so dreamy and had me from his Star Wars days ;)


for #5 I know I can easily pick Brad Pitt, Shemar Moore, Mathew McConaughey and the list goes on, but I'm not drooling all over them like how I am with my 4 choices.  I feel like a little girl again with a mad crush. 

Do you think any of them are attractive?

Who are your celebrity crushes?

Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Diet pills & protein shakes

Hi! I'm back :) It's been a crazy couple of days and I love it.  Today was the first day of getting back into my early morning habit of waking up @ 4:15am to run.  It was really hard, but I know I'll get used to it and go back to loving it.  I am feeling a little tired, but that's ok because I know I don't have to run tonight heheh.  I am, however, going to hit the weights!  Can't wait. 
This morning I got on the scale and saw that I had gained a pound.  I'm assuming it's because of the muscles I'm building, but still I freaked out (I ain't gonna lie).  I feel like I'm NEVER going to lose these 10 lbs and get to my goal weight. So damn frustrating.  For some reason I can't cut my calories because I get hungry and if I get hungry and don't eat, my stomach starts to really hurt and get hunger pangs really quick.  Sucks. Any suggestions?  A friend of mine even suggested diet pills and I refuse to take it, I'm scared, but at the same time I know I'll get faster results.  I'm eating healthy, working out, running a lot, etc... so it can't fail right?  Well, in the past I've tried them and my hair started falling out.  Was it due to stress, or the actual pill? I'll never know, but I don't want to find out.  Are there any natural and safe fat burners out there that will speed things up?? Who knows. I am running out of patience and I just bought a new bathing suit!
I've been drinking protein shakes as a meal replacement, but I see no results from it.  I only use this one because it's huge ass tub and it was a gift.  I'd feel bad if I didn't use it, but I can only drink so many of these before getting sick and tired of them!
I really want to try this one, but I'm afraid they're like all other protein drinks I've had and I'll end up wasting money.  Hopefully I'll try it one day, it sounds great and I love their shaker :)
On another note- I have started making a vision board! Does anyone else have one?  Of course I got the idea first from http://fitnessista.com/ and my new favorite blog This girl is amazing you must check out her page.  She's so inspiring and very positive!  Once I have it made up, I'll post it on here. 
Geez I sure did miss blogging and can't wait to be back with a new post :) 

What are your thoughts about weight loss pills? Any safe, natural ones that actually work? (I don't plan on using them)

What's your fav protein shake and why?

Do you have a vision board?  I have too many things to put into just 1 and that's why I'm making 2. :)  See you in a while.

xoxo
Simi

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

#28- Something I miss

Come run walk with me down memory lane.  Let's do #28 This topic couldn't have been more applicable to me because I have a billion things I miss.  A small history of Simi:  I'm from San Diego, CA and moved away 2 years ago (in 2 weeks to be exact), I'm 100% California minus the beach blonde hair and hippy ways.  I'm currently living in Houston, TX ... why you ask? because of him...
You guys will get a post on how we met, it's quite interesting so stay tuned... 
So of course I have so many things I miss, but living out here has made me realize what I don't miss.  So let's go down the list of things I miss most.
My friends (duh right?) This was at my 26th bday I think.

Most of us went to High school together and we always partied on the weekends.  Went to tons of clubs, bars, happy hours, house parties, etc... Some of the best times of my life were with these girls and I truly miss having lots of friends to go out and have so much fun with.  They are wild and always the life of the party, everyone was always happy to have us around hehe.
Not only do I miss my friends, I miss my best friends (most of all).  I love my friends here, but I miss having that 1 best friend I can hang out with 24/7, talk about anything and everything, being myself 100% of the time and laughing at my stupid jokes. This is my best friend Stephanie, she now lives in El Paso and I miss her dearly, but we email/text/call each other everyday.

My other BEST friend who lives in LA- Ruben

I can be absolutley silly with him and he doesn't mind hehe.  We have so much to talk and joke about and can be with each other all day.  I sure miss seeing him every weekend and making fun of people. :) I wish I had a Ruben in Houston.

Next on my list is Running in San Diego.  This is my old running trail right behind my parents house in San Diego.

I miss seeing mountains from my bedroom, running by the lake, being able to hear the sound of Nothing, seeing the modern mansions.  That one has been under construction for 3 years now! Aside from running by the mountains, running by the beach is my favorite past time.  It's like I'm a different world...
That brings me to Home.. I miss home. It's clean, beautiful and amazing.  I'll let pictures do a little explaining although they won't do it any justice.

                                   California has the best sunsets anyone will ever see.  Promise.


Last and most importantly- my family.
It's so hard not being able to see my parents and brother on a daily basis.  It took me this long to adjust not being around them, but it's still really hard.

Making this post was fun and emotional, if you can tell I really love everything I miss and not having it around is hard.  It's also made me appreciate everything I had/have and I now see it a little different when I see it in words.  I guess that's why I'm blogging right?
My bf does everything and anything he can to make me happy and support me when I get sad. He's just awesome and that's why I'm here. ;)  I can't wait to visit San Diego in June now only this time I'll have lots of pics to post and stories to tell.

What are some things you miss?