We Are Juicing!

Recently I found this awesome Facebook page where residents of my county buy and sell their unneeded items. I love this idea! I hate throwing things away. Originally I was only going to sell, and sell I did. I sold, all of my costume jewelry I was over wearing, 2 over the top dresses, softball cleats and wall hangs. Last week I did see a Jack Lalane juicer on sale for $50. I read the reviews, original price being $100 I jumped on it. I offered $40 and we are now the proud owners of a juicer. The elderly woman who purchased the juicer hated it. She told me she preferred milk shakes.


This juicer is pretty rocking. I know it isn't the $500 Vita-mix everyone seems to love but lets get real. I had no idea if I would like this thing or like the way the juice even tasted so $40 was enough for me. The juice tastes fresh and I really enjoy it. The negatives are the cleanup. This is by no means an easy or quick clean up. There are 5 separate parts of the juicer that need cleaning afterwards. It also takes a lot of fruit to make the juice. It is a pricey adventure.



Here are my 2 favorite juices.

Each of these made 2 glasses of juice

First Attempt- I have no cute names for them

1 cucumber
1 apple
1 orange
1 handful of blueberries



Second Attempt

2 carrots
2 celery stalks
1 orange
1 mango
2 strawberries
(The strawberries were on their way out so I threw them in)
I also added a little coconut water

I really loved both of these. I add a lot of ice because I really like ice cold juice.We also started saving the pulp left over and freezing it for smoothies. No use in wasting it.



BTW, what is up with Pinterest (or me?) and the embed button. I've tried to days to embed things into blog posts and it is just NOT working. Grrrr!

April...

Holy cow! March is really over?!?! It just seems like it flew by. I think it is because most nights I was out cold by 8:30! I guess boot camp will do that to you. I'm a sucker for pain or a glutton for punishment because I'm doing boot camp again this month. In case you missed it in Friday's post I felt pretty successful after the last class in March. I didn't lose any weight which was a bit of a bummer BUT I did lose 3.5 inches. I'm hoping for the same thing if not better this month. My first April class started this morning and I'm feeling great. Especially after eating all the goodies yesterday during Easter brunch.

We had such a beautiful Easter. We skipped the fancy Easter dinner and pretty clothes for a simple Easter brunch at my in-laws and a long family hike. It was perfect. Food was delicious. We indulged on some quiche (I made it), ham, chicken, mac and cheese, vegetables, pulled pork, cole slaw and a ton of other goodies. We got to enjoy a beautiful day out in nature with our family and all our dogs. For me it was the best kind of way to celebrate family and the beginning of Spring. 

Bogart interacting for the first time with our nephew Ryan. 

Seconds after this he pulled a clump of hair out of poor Bogart's ear. 

Poor doggie.

Chubby baby cheeks! 

Paul and Bogart are best buddies. 

Paul wanted to hold my hand to protect his "Aunt Asqueena"from wild animals on our hike.

He protected me from all the bears, tigers and kangaroos out there.

I love the imagination of 3 year olds. 

Hope everyone enjoyed their Easter as much as we did. 

Happy April Fools day! 

Happy Baseball Opening Day. 

GO YANKEES!!!! 

Happies and Crappies...

HAPPIES:

- I completed boot camp! I DID IT!!! I did not miss one class! I think I may have been the only one! 

- I lost a total of 3.5 inches. 
Arms- Down .5 inch
Chest- Down 1 inch
Waist- Down .5 inch
Hips- Down 1 inch
Leg- Down .5 inch

- My birthday weekend was great. I will probably post about it when life gets a bit less hectic. I took a zumba class. Went shopping for some new work out clothes, dinner and breakfast at my favorite place the next day. 

- My parents got me a Home Depot gift card so we can do some home renovations. I also got some great earrings. Brian got me another month of boot camp! I'm so excited. 

- We got a juicer! I'm loving juicing but hating the clean up!!!

CRAPPIES:

- My phone broke. BOO! Verizon did replace it but I lost all of my photos.

- Work is just INSANE! Plus, I'm kind of jealous that it seems like everyone has a 3 or 4 day weekend. Not me! 

- Between work and the 4:45 wake up call I am so tired all the time. I haven't stayed up passed 8:30 this entire week. 

What are your happies and crappies this week?

Happy Easter! Enjoy your weekend. 

Boot Camp- Day 3 AND 4

Boot camp Day 3

Thanks to a pretty large March blizzard our boot camp on Friday was rescheduled to Saturday morning at 5am. It was tough to see 4:45am on a Saturday. That hasn't happened in a very long time and I was usually getting home at that time and not getting up.

Source: Uploaded by user via Heidi on Pinterest

Morning 3 work out consisted of:

Warm-up
- Arm circles

- Jumping jacks

- Calf lifts
2x each

Stations-
2x around the circuit

- Downward dog push ups

- Plank/ 10 pound weight

- Squat, leg lift, shoulder press with resistance

- Sliding leg stretches

- Knee lift taps

- Sliding mountain climbers

- Spiderman push ups

- Partner push ups with high fives

We finished up with abs and planks.

Source: photo.showcasecameras.com via Rexann on Pinterest

My favorite part of the day was going home for coffee and getting back to the gym by 8:30 to get a good hour of Zumba in. I'm starting to feel good. I need to get my food intake under control. I didn't realize how much hungrier I would feel. I have to make sure I pick up a lot more fruits and vegetables than I did last week. I really want to check my measurements too. I just can't wait to see some results!

Boot Camp- Day 4

Today, UGH, I'd like to call today boot camp with cramps.  It was not fun. On top of the time change. It certainly felt like 3:45 today!
We changed things up a bit.
We skipped stations and stayed stationary.

We did a few sets of each
3 minutes of cardio- Burpees, Jumping squats, High knees, Jumping twists (Not sure of the correct name but we basically jumped and twisted our hips and legs in opposite directions)

2 minutes weight training- Several different types of jumping squats.

2 minutes of abs- Crunches, scissor kicks, and bicycle crunches.

To say I'm hurting is a tremendous understatement! However, I can not wait to get the day started. My best friend is having a baby today. I can not wait to meet little Jayden! Sending lots of loving to my best girl and her family this morning. Good luck Lindsey, Terrance and big sister, Danika. Love you all.

Happies and Crappies

Happies:

- Having 2 days off this past week. Made the week fly by! I'm still thinking today is Tuesday. BONUS!

- Matchbox 20 concert was ridiculous! They put on such a fun show. Two hours of constant good music. Lots of their old stuff I really love! Plus, we ate out at Cuban Pete's. I've heard amazing things about this place for years and now I know why. The food was amazing! Lots of authentic options. I went with crispy shredded beef, black beans and plantains. It was a great time with my mom and my husband!

- I am surprised but I'm really loving bootcamp. It's really difficult and I'm really sore but I love the way it makes me feel. I love all the women in class and my instructor. They are all so amazing. It is such a great and empowering environment! I've never felt better doing planks, push ups and jumping rope!!!

- I made some really great spring purchases and I can't wait for the warm weather to break them out of the closet.

- I'm now a member of the North East Blogger's Network. Check out the link on my sidebar. I'm looking forward to being part of a network and meeting some new bloggers!

Crappies:

- Looking outside my window today to find THIS. Come on its March 8th!!! I'll a little worried to even drive to work in this. We are expecting 8-12 inches but tomorrow 50 degrees.

-Bootcamp was rescheduled for tomorrow morning due to weather.

- I'm getting used to waking up at 4:45 in the morning so even on days I don't have bootcamp I'm up way to early but I did get a lot done this morning. Wiped down Brian's car, made him breakfast and lunch, washed dishes. So I guess I do feel a bit accomplished today and its not even 8am.

Happy Friday everyone!!!

Boot Camp- Day 2

Day 2 complete!

Today was a rough one. After the Matchbox 20 concert last night I only got about 4 hours of sleep before boot camp wake up call. I also wanted to push myself pretty hard considering I indulged on some delicious Cuban food last night. I am still very sore from the class on Monday but I pushed through.

Source: get-thinspiration.tumblr.com via Keely on Pinterest

This time our instructor, Sam, created 8 stations, 2 minutes each as opposed to Monday, 7 stations, 1 minute each.

Source: fitsugar.com via KatieMilliron on Pinterest

Workout consisted of the following exercises.
- Walking Plank with a walking woman
- Alternating front kicks with alternating punches
- Burpies
- Alternating front lunges
- Lunge into a shoulder press with resistance bands
- Jumping squats into a push up
- Side squats with weights
- Jump ropes

After al the stations we completed the class with an ab workout.
I followed up the class with a Balance Protein Bar and a green monster and took the dog out for a nice walk before the snow hits. 

I was really hungry and extra thirsty after my class on Monday. I'm trying to eat something every 3 hours to keep the metabolism moving. I'm really pleased that I'm enjoying it so much. I usually hate the gym and running. Boot camp is kicking my but and it feels great.