Refreshed and Renewed...oh, yes, I have a PLAN!!!!

Good morning/afternoon/evening!!!! Hello one and all and welcome back to my blog! Did you miss me?

I kind of miss blogging when I don't do it for a few days but I really could see that I needed some time for me, to just be, relax, unwind, have fun, cook, breathe, etc. And I did all that and it was a super fantastic weekend!!!

On Friday I worked out early in the morning but felt weak. I don't know why but I did. Friday night I made Gina's G-Fit Chicken Pot Pie.

G-Fit Chicken Pot Pie

Oh my!!! I've made this only once before and it was equally as delicious, hmmm maybe even better, than I remember! You MUST try it. Perfect dish for the winter time and just so soothing and homey feeling. Please try it. Even my BF couldn't believe how tasty it was and that it's still very good for you. Yes, to die for!

Saturday my BF and I had a THROWDOWN!!! You see, it all started with me finding a recipe using peanut flour. It was a recipe for some West African Beef. I kept it to myself though since I wanted to just make the recipe and then surprise him. But then he was telling me about a recipe that was so similar I thought I had emailed him my recipe. I hadn't. That, my friends, is where the trouble began. Being male and all, he decided that we should make it into a competition to see whose dish was better. Now mind you he grew up in West Africa. I did not. So...he actually knows what he's trying to make. I did not. Of course it was all in fun and both of them were fantastic. It was a great meal! Very tasty!

Veggie Skewers and West African Beef Skewers

Straight Up Veggie Skewers!!!

 Earlier in the day on Saturday we did a card deck workout. We used UNO cards. Now keep in mind that an UNO deck is equal to TWO regular decks of cards. Oh, yes, it was hard but a really great workout. Here's how it went down. We would draw 3 cards at a time. Each card had 2 or 3 exercises we could do. Here's what they were. For the color cards, reps would be the number on the cards for the Draw 2, Draw 4 and Wild reps would be 10.
Blue: Walking Lunge or Crab Lunge (walking lunge staying low)
Red: Jumps (touching the ground and jumping as high as possible) or Squats
Green: Side lunges or side-to-side
Yellow: Jumping split squats or Bulgarian split squat
Draw 2: For abs - Leg throwdown (other person pushing legs down), ball toss to partner or standing oblique twist
Draw 4: Planks
Skip: 50 jump ropes (originally started with 100 but after getting 2 skips in one pull decided to make it 50)
Reverse: reverse back through the draw - for example in the picture below you would do 10 leg throwdowns, 4 side lunges, then 4 side lunges and 10 leg throwdowns
Wild: personal choice that included high knees, butt kicks, backwards running, etc.

This was a super fun workout and challenging. Since my BF has shoulder problems we kept upper body out of it except for the jump rope. We got about 60% through the deck and my BF hit the wall. So then I continued with him pulling a single card at a time and telling me what to do. That was actually pretty fun because you just didn't stop. Either way is fun and I can see how the card deck workouts are kind of addicting because you can do whatever you want with them.

UNO workout remnants

View from the park where we worked out - notice the ocean between the trees! BEAUTIFUL!!!

Sunday was a day of rest and relaxation. I made my plan for the week and it is this. I HAVE NO PLAN!! Yes, my plan is to have no plan whatsoever! Yeah for me! So I will be keeping track of what I eat in my head and as for working out I will be doing whatever workout I feel like doing. I'm going to do some yoga here in just a minute or dance...hmmm...still haven't decided! I'm thinking this break will definitely help me set my priorities and figure out how I want to handle the gym. The one thing I know for sure is that I prefer doing weights in the morning due to the fact that there are much fewer people there so you can use any equipment you want and have a fairly smooth workout. However, my strength is less in the morning. This is another thing I will have to figure out. Do I eat before I work out on days I'm doing weights early? I think the answer will probably be yes but I don't know for sure. These are things I will ponder this week. OH! And IF I feel like working out in the gym this week I will but I don't HAVE to. That's the deal. Can't wait!

OTHER BREAKING NEWS!!!!!

I will be doing my free caramel sample giveaway this week. It could happen as early as tomorrow but no later than Friday. I am only giving away 50 free samples and only to U.S. residents. I mostly want people that are interested in buying for themselves or as holiday gifts to try the samples. However, I know I have no control over who signs up for the free samples. I will only ask that you send me an email to the address that I will post at the time the giveaway starts stating why you want the caramel sample.Details to follow soon!

I'm off for the night. Hope you all have a fantastic evening and that your week has started off well. Keep smiling and keep pushing and let's just see where we end up at the end of the week!