130.4 - Frugal Friday - Ideal No Cal Sweetener (FREE SAMPLE!)

Hey folks! Notice the bump in weight? Nice, right? Ah the joys of being a female.

Anyways, onto the free sample...

IDEAL No Calorie Sweetener

Just click the link and fill out the form. :)

From Ideal's website:

Ideal™ no calorie sweetener is the ideal replacement for your sugar bowl! Ideal™ is more than 99% natural, and it keeps its sweetness, volume and texture in baking as well as dissolves quickly and completely in hot or cold drinks. It measures cup for cup like sugar, and you can use it straight from your sugar bowl to sweeten in a natural way with no calories. Ideal™ is delicious for sweetening fresh fruit or cereal to satisfy that sweet tooth in the morning. Ideal™ is also the perfect ingredient for sweet treats, like cold smoothies or cookies any time of the day!

I totally jacked this post idea from A Thrifty Mom. Gotta give credit where credit is due! but I knew my fitness friends would like this freebie as much as I do! :)

P.S. I don't know if Freebie Friday will be a recurring theme, but it has a nice ring to it, eh?

EDIT: I totally just changed my Friday theme to Frugal Friday. At least now I have a few more posting options... frugal recipes, free stuff, etc. WOO!

129.8 - Thirsty Thursday - Sugar Free Margaritas!

It's Thirsty Thursday! WOO HOO! I want to share with you my favorite "diet" alcoholic beverage. Of course, these can be made non-alcoholic as well and are mighty mighty tasty! Introducing *drumroll please* Sugar Free Margaritas by Baja Bob's! Just add booze (optional), water, and ice and you have a delicious, festive beverage without all the guilt! I plan on indulging in one or two (non-alcoholic) this weekend! You know I add my tequila in the off season, though. ;)

My favorites are:

Wild Strawberry Daiquiri & Margarita Mix (Packet)

Bob's Wild Strawberry Daiquiri & Margarita Mix is so berrylicious he couldn't risk getting stuck without his own personal stash when traveling. This 60 gram powdered packet makes 1/2 gallon (64 oz.) of mix.

Simply mix with water and then add Rum for a delicious Strawberry Daquiri or with your favorite Tequila for a Strawberry Margarita.

ZERO calories and ZERO sugar per 4 oz. serving! *

Makes TWICE the amount of mix for the same cost as other brands.

Sweetened with Splenda. Other sugar free mixes are made with erythritol or aspartame, which have an aftertaste and can have a laxative effect. Bob says: "That's just not right."

Mango Margarita Mix - Singles

Baja Bob listened to all of your requests and created these portable packets that you can take wherever you go! Each box comes packed with 10 single-serve packets. Use one at a time or all 10 to make a batch for your guests. Simply...add water and tequila. Try substituting club soda for a refreshing non-alcoholic calorie and sugar-free mango soda. Either pour into glass filled with ice or blend with lots of ice to make slushy. Just $4.49 per box!

Let Bob break it down for you: ZERO calories per serving! * That's right, ZERO! The average sugar-loaded margarita mix can run over 250 calories per serving!

Definitely check them out! They are SO good!

FITNESS

This morning I checked my ego at the door... or shall I say the foot of my bed, since I did cardio in my basement. The plan was to pick up the Spark your way to a 10k program over at SparkPeople (LOVE THIS SITE!). Anyways, my legs were like lead this morning and tonight is legs day! No way was I running 3 miles! This program is designed for someone who can easily run 3 miles. I, on the other hand, am enduranced-challenged. I decided to back on down to the Spark your way to a 5k program. It was a great call. I warmed up with a brisk 10:00 walk, then ran my half a mile, and finished up with incline walking. I actually felt GREAT! not tired. I am now energized and my legs are feeling like they had a wonderful pick-me-up this morning. So YAY!

As you can see, the scale bumped up a smidge. Have no fear! 'Tis a bit of hormonal bloat. I can definitely deal with the .4 pound increase. ;) Not too shabby.

FOOD

The diet was a struggle yesterday. Hunger was a'raging, but I pulled through. I had nagging cravings for chocolate, icing, ya know, the sweet stuff! the STRONG sweet stuff. LOL! But, we all have days like that. Sometimes you just have to suck it up! although sometimes this seems impossible ;)

Also, I know that many of you have requested my blueberry muffin recipe... It is STILL in the works, but I'm hoping to make some minor tweaks this weekend for the BIG REVEAL for next week's Tasty Tuesday. I'll be making these muffins every weekend until I get it right! LOL! I'm determined to get this recipe to you all. ;)

FUN

I finally have hubby excited about fixing up the house! WOO HOO! I've done some minor home improvement DIY type things (the main bathroom is a work in progress, and I installed a digital programmable thermometer), but I haven't done much. Seth is very frugal (thankfully!), so I always feel a little guilty fixing things up. These things aren't that cheap. Now we will start budgeting for it. I am so SO excited!! Of course, I'm going to scope out the deals and try to do as little financial damage as possible!

Here's an item we have on the way... A new chandelier for the eat in kitchen area. Our old (and ugly) hanging light broke (yay!), so this is a forced upgrade. This area of the house has a warm goldeny paint job (not our doing, but I have grown to love it!), as well as a very rustic feel. I think it will look fantastic!

I would like to paint or get a new chandelier for the formal dining area as well, but that will just have to wait.

I'll be sure to post upgrade pictures as they occur or upon completion. :)

MAKE TODAY COUNT!

129.4 - Wordless Wednesday - Felicia Romero (Motivational Pic!)

130.4 - Tasty Tuesday - Easy Fruit Dip and More Vacay Pics!

Ingredients

2oz. Fat Free Cream Cheese (it doesn't necessarily have to be fat free) 15g (1T) fig preserves

Instructions

Mix

Seriously. That is all. This is even great on Ezekiel toast (especially cinnamon raisin). Mmmmm!

Check out more Tasty Tuesday recipes and meal ideas at Balancing Beauty and Bedlam.

FITNESS

Well, I did it. I woke up and actually ran… at a snail’s pace, but I did it! And it actually felt kinda sorta good. ;) I ran 2 miles. Now, I know that doesn’t sound like much, but we all gotta start somewhere, right? I first wanted to do the Couch to 5k plan on Cool Running, but, honestly, I have started that damn program a handful of times, and I never ever finish it. I get B O R E D. So, I hopped on over to SparkPeople, took a gander at some of their running programs I had saved from 2007 (no joke! LOL!), and then opted to do their 10k running plan. I originally thought I would do the 5k running plan, but I didn’t want to start with a ½ mile run. There are also walk/run programs on pages linked. Fun stuff!

ALSO, wooty woo, I managed to crank out some 60# DB bench presses yesterday. That is 60# per arm, so a total of 120… 120 on a BB is old news for me, but I’ve never tried to bench that heavy with dumbbells. YAY!

MORE FLORIDA FUN - DAY 2

WARNING: To say we got a little intoxicated this day would be an understatement. Early morning storms led us to the bar before noon. We are rebels, I tell ya!

Innocently, we started off at a car show.

which led to a bar... or two.

Then we went back to the room and cleaned up!

Water Taxi Ride:

PIMMMMMP!

>

Seriously. This is a house.

Check out my new friend. At this point, I was back to sober. Unbelievable.

Best. Food. Ever.

Hubby accidentally orders a $120 bottle of wine. LMAO. He doesn't even like wine much. Best damn wine ever!

On the way to the Pirate Bar. ARGH! This place was the shizz! We got to listen to Sublime all night long!

Uhm. Tanked.

Oh yeah.

BWAHAHAHAHA. This cracked me up.

Does anyone else have problems with Blogger formatting things all funky, or even losing formatting code? URGH!

133.0 - Menu Planning Monday - A little over TWELVE WEEKS OUT!

It's Monday, again. Seriously... time goes by way to quickly! Vacation was wonderful! As you can see, the weight bumped up quite a bit, although I am confident that a lot of it is water. Man, am I bloated!! I'll do a mini recap at the end of this post... First things first. Menu Planning Monday! Gotta stick to the schedule folks! :)

My meals are about to get pretty darn boring. Thank you contest prep!

MONDAY: Chicken breast, salad, baked fries

TUESDAY: Turkey burger on whole wheat English muffin, green beans

WEDNESDAY: Chicken enchilada casserole

THURSDAY: Crab cakes, side salad (plus, DH will get a broccoli, rice, and cheese side)

FRIDAY: Chicken breast, side salad, baked potato

SATURDAY: Steak on the grill, sweet potatoes, salad

SUNDAY: Chicken "fried" pork chops (DH), plain baked pork tenderloin (me!), green beans, mashed potatoes, gravy (DH)

Check out more menus at I'm an Organizing Junkie!

CONTEST PREP

Where oh where does the effing time go?!

From and including: Monday, July 27, 2009
To, but not including : Saturday, October 24, 2009

It is 89 days from the start date to the end date, but not including the end date

Or 2 months, 27 days excluding the end date

Alternative time units

89 days can be converted to one of these units:

• 7,689,600 seconds
• 128,160 minutes
• 2136 hours
• 12 weeks (rounded down)

Yes, that is right, showtime is quickly approaching. My suit should be here any day now. I will follow up with the designer tonight. I am doing the stoning myself. :) I can't wait to see it! The fabric is on point. Loves it!

FITNESS

While I didn't miss a workout last week, my diet certainly suffered with all of the travel. I'm looking forward to cleaning up my act. On the fitness front, I will start the Couch to 5k program from Cool Running tomorrow. I need to find my running groove again!... I am also thinking about posting up my workouts in my side bar... just an idea.

PREP IS HERE! and I am ready to BRING IT!

FLORIDA FUN

We could not have had a better time! The food, people, weather, EVERYTHING was fabulous! Man, did we stay active, too! There was no lounging around for me or DH. Most of the time we were walking, swimming, err... drinking... LOL! 12oz. curls counts as something, right? I'll close out this post with a couple pics. I'll be sure to post up more later in the week as well. I don't want to bog you down with hundreds of pics at once! LOL!

DAY 1

I tried to get an action shot of him jumping. Action shot: FAIL

Oh yes, we were breaking it down, Thriller style!!

TOLD YA there were lots of pics!!! LOL!

Happy Monday folks! Make today count!

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G is for Genie and Godiva dark chocolate ganache. Omg!

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So.... i am totally wondering how much protection tissue paper has... is my ass REALLY safe from toilet germs?! ;)

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So many typose, so little time. view from the room

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Oops. i havent been weighing mysekf and i have been eating and drinking merrily... but i loves my dress... $19.99 on Forever21 and my shoes are $3 jelly shies from target several years ago. lmfao

Oops. i havent been weighing mysekf and i have been eating and drinking merrily... but i loves my dress... $19.99 on Forev

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Testing 3

Okay, so I guess this works. Too bad I can't just text to BLOGGR like it says I should be able to. LOL!

128.2 - Thirsty Thursday - Green Monster Movement

Hey guys!! Here's my first Thirsty Thursday post! What a perfect opportunity for me to share a wonderful website where you can find my favorite Green Monster recipe! Check out Angela's site, Green Monster Movement. Click on Reader's Recipes on the right hand side, and scroll down to the second post. Anyone look familiar? :D




Genie’s Green Monster

I have always had an interest in all things nutritious, so when I stumbled across Green Monsters, this was no different! However, I am a figure competitor, so when I am dieting for shows, I usually don’t get all the yummy add-ins I usually see in blogs (like nut butters). I have to make them lower calories, so this is my favorite go-to GM when I have to keep my calories in check!

150g baby spinach
1 banana
1 scoop protein powder (Chocolate Ultimate Muscle Provider by Beverly International or Chocolate by All they Whey)
1/2-1c water

And that’s it! It keeps my calories low enough that I still eat under maintenance, and I still get to eat a lot of greens! YUM!

There are a ton of great Green Monster recipes on Ang's site! Check it out! :)

Fun in the Sun

The hubs and I are going on a mini vacation this evening. We're going to Fort Lauderdale until Sunday to enjoy some BEACH TIME! WOOTY WOO! (Becca, you gots me hooked on saying that. LOL) I have mass quantities of food packed, protein powder baggies (man I hope they don't think I am trying to smuggle drugs!), tuna packets, salmon packets, Clif bars (delicious treats!), clean carbs, etc. I even have my kitchen AND bathroom scale in tow. Gotta keep it real since I'm in prep... not to say that I might not enjoy a meal or two out, but I'd rather maintain, or at least keep it under 130, since weight loss tends to get very sticky for me at the sub 130 numbers. Ya wanna know what is MOST impressive? I've packed all this stuff in carry-on only! I have never tried to pack so much food (and junk) to bring as a carry-on. My suitcase and personal bag are designed for carry-on, but I'm nervous. AND, I just know they are gonna think I am a nutjob when they check my bags. HA! Oh well.

Pics of the food stash:

Unfortunately, our hotel does not have free wireless, so today I will try to figure out how to blog from my phone, via text. If you have any tips please let me know! :) I guess I could blog via email on my phone, too!

Teaser

And here are some pics of some recipes that I have been working on! :) These are two different batches of CLEAN, contest prep safe muffins... I think they will be almost perfect after a couple minor tweaks.





Later dudes! :)

128.8 - Wordless Wednesday - Scale Drop!