Fit Club Update

It's Monday, and that means it's time for my first Fit Club update. Last week, I wrote about my fitness and health goals for 2012 here. It's been a week, and some goals have been easier to stick with than others (to be expected, right?). Let's start with the positive, shall we?

I made it to the gym 5 times this week! + a Sunday morning hike

Monday: Boot Camp class (1 hr)

Tuesday: Lower Body Blast class (1hr)

Wednesday: Took a day off

Thursday: 35 minutes on the treadmill (3.6 miles)

Friday: Spin class (30 min)

Saturday: 25 minutes on the treadmill (2.5 miles)

Sunday: Hike (2 hrs)

Turns out getting a routine down can be pretty helpful for making sure I get in my gym time. I've actually really enjoyed mixing up my work outs, since I can get bored pretty easily. The boot camp and lower body blast classes are really awesome for pushing me to my limits, and making sure I get a nice long work out in (I am usually dying and looking prettyy cute after these classes). I've never been much of a runner, so the treadmill has been a really great challenge for me. This Thursday I ran a straight 5K without stopping, and I have NEVER been able to go that far. I got so excited that I took a picture: 

Yeah I know, I'm cool like that. The spin class was challenging and a great way to start my Friday morning (it was at 6AM!), and the hike was BEAUTIFUL. I definitely need to start hiking more to really appreciate how lucky I am to be living in gorgeous Santa Barbara. 

Kristen and I at the end of our hike

Aaand to the more challenging part of my week, the 80/20 rule. I would say this week I did more of a 60/40 rule, so I've got a bit of improving to do. I really like my carbs, so cutting down on breads, rices and pastas is proving to be a bit of a challenge. But I know I can do it, so this week my goal is to focus on making healthier eating options. I plan on cooking up some healthy meals, so expect a post including some recipes next Monday (you know they'll be quick and easy if I'm cooking them!)

I hope everyone had a good weekend! I certainly did, but more on that to come. 

Happy Monday!

Friday Facts!

One of my New Year's resolutions was to find my blogging voice, basically to stop worrying about readers thinking I'm too boring, weird, crazy, annoying, insert any other adjective here, and just blog. So for this week's Friday Facts I'm gonna just type what comes, and maybe throw in a few fun facts about Amy. 


1. Today, I listened to this song on repeat for like over an hour. Pretty loudly. At work. Take a listen, maybe you'll get as obsessed as I am.

2. Another New Year's resolution was to read the bible in a year (which I've kept up with so far, yay!) so I figure I can share my favorite bible verse each week during Friday Facts. There were a bunch that I liked this week, but here's one of the top favs:

God blesses those who realize their need for him, 

for the Kingdom of Heaven is given to them. 

God blesses those who mourn,

for they will be comforted. 

God blesses those who are gentle and lowly, 

for the whole earth will belong to them. 

God blesses those who are hungry and thirsty for justice,

for they will receive it in full.

God blesses those who are merciful,

for they will be shown mercy.

God blesses those whose hearts are pure, 

for they will see God.

God blesses those who work for peace,

for they will be called the children of God.

God blesses those who are persecuted because they live for God,

for the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs. 

Matthew 5: 3-10

3. When it comes to food, I don't mess around. Following the 80/20 rule is a bit challenging, because I just LOVE food. All kinds. Like I said yesterday, today was my day to supply for Donut Friday. And like I said yesterday, I went all out. Photo proof:

Yes, I took a picture on my phone at work. And yes, some coworkers made fun of me for it. I'm just really cool like that. 


4. Sooo I have a confession. I try and keep it classy on this here blog of mine, but the truth is, sometimes I drink this thing called alcohol. And when that happens, I look like this:

It's not very pretty, I know. But I feel like we all just got a whole lot closer. 


5. Speaking of keeping it classy, my friends and I keep our convos classy all the time. See the below example:

There's a slight chance that I may get in trouble for posting this convo. But don't worry Kristi, I blacked out your last name so no one knows who you are. 


6. I have completely failed at taking pictures of anything other than food lately. But that will change this weekend. Hopefully.


7. I went to my first spin class in probably like the last 5 years today. And the one I took 5 years ago, well that was my first ever. And the one this morning, well it was at 6 AM. I feel like a champ. Even though I used like barely any resistance, but hey it's the effort that counts right?


8. These two youtube videos pretty much made my work week. 

Enjoy. 

9. This time next weekend I will be in San Francisco with these people:

I.Can't.Wait.

10. Not gonna lie, coming up with 10 things has kind of been difficult the last few weeks. Does that mean I'm not very interesting? Aw dang. Well, I'll work on that this week. 

Happy Friday!

What We Had For Dinner

Remember in this post how I mentioned our roommate dinners? Every week we take turns making dinner on certain nights, and these are seriously some of the best homemade meals I've ever had. In an effort to post more recipes on this little bloggy of mine, I'm gonna start a weekly "What We Had For Dinner" post. I know it's hard, but try to contain your excitement. 


What was on the menu tonight? Some chicken piccata with sauteed veggies. If you haven't already checked out the Eat Yourself Skinny blog, do yourself a favor and head over there asap. Kelly posts the best healthy recipes that are seriously delicious. I used her chicken piccata recipe, and it was ah.may.zing. I had never cooked chicken before (amature hour over here) so if I can follow this recipe, anyone can!

Chicken Piccata

Ingredients

1/4 cup + 1 tsp. all-purpose flour

8 (3oz) thin boneless, skinless chicken cutlets

1/8 tsp. salt

1/8 tsp. pepper

2 tbsp canola oil

2 tbsp capers, rinsed

2 medium garlic cloves, minced

1 cup low-sodium chicken broth

1/2 cup dry white wine

4 (2-inch) strips lemon zest

4 tsp. fresh lemon juice

1 tbsp unsalted butter, chilled

Directions

1. Spread 1/4 cup of flour in a shallow dish. Rinse chicken cutlets and dry with paper towels and season with salt and pepper. Dredge one side of each cutlet in the flour, shaking off the excess. 

2. Heat 1 tbsp of oil in a large skillet over medium-heat high until simmering. Lay 4 cutlets, floured side down, in the skillet and cook for about 3 minutes on the first side or until golden brown.

**I only cooked 2 thin sliced chicken breasts since I was only cooking for Kristi and I. I basically cut the recipe in half. Well, except for the capers and garlic cause you can never have enough flavor.**

3. Flip the cutlets over and continue to cook until the meat is no longer pink, about 1 minute. Transfer the cutlets to a plate and tent loosely with foil. Repeat with the remaining oil and cutlets.

4. Add the capers and garlic to the oil left in the skillet, return to medium heat and cook for about 30 seconds, until fragrant. Stir in the remaining 1 tsp. flour until incorporated. Whisk in the broth, wine and lemon zest strips **I just used a bit of shaved lemon zest**, scraping any browned bits for additional flavor. Bring to a simmer and cook until thickened slightly and reduced to about a 1/2 cup, about 10 to 15 minutes. 

5. Return the cutlets, along with any accumulated chicken juices into the simmering sauce. Continue to simmer until heated through, about 30 seconds. 

6. Transfer the chicken to a plate. Off the heat, remove the lemon zest **I kept mine in since it was just shavings** and whisk in the lemon juice and butter. Spoon the sauce over the chicken, serve and enjoy!

**If you want a printable version of this recipe, go visit Kelly at Eat Yourself Skinny!**

I quickly sauteed some zucchini and onions for a side:

And voila! The final product:

This meal was seriously delicious. I highly recommend it! And for dessert, we baked some chocolate chip pumpkin muffins from a pumpkin bread kit that Mom gave me for Christmas.

The muffins were a success, and hopefully my coworkers will enjoy them tomorrow morning! It's my turn to bring stuff for Donut Friday, and you better believe I'm going all out with muffins, donuts AND bagels. What can I say, I don't mess around when it comes to Donut Friday.

Happy Almost Friday, everyone!

Bull Dogs, Dinner and a Movie

That's what my night consisted of: two slobberly/loveable bull dogs, a delicious dinner and a feel-good movie. It just doesn't get much better than that. 

Blurry, I know

Maybe taking better pictures (aka not forgetting my memory card at home so I'm left with only my camera phone?) should be added to the resolution list. 

That's a bit better

Carly's been dog-sitting these two pups for the past week-ish, so we visited them before heading to dinner/the movies. 

Dinner was deelicious. I got the seared ahi salad with a cup of tomato basil soup. SO good. Then we saw this movie:

I was excited to see the movie, but it was honestly better than I expected it to be. You know, one of those where you walk out feeling all inspired to just go do something big to make a name for yourself? My big plans for the rest of the night, well those would be to do some laundry. That's going in the record books for sure. 

New Years Resolutions

2011 was a big year, a good year. There were a lot of changes, and I really can't say that any of them were bad ones. I've been blessed with a full time job out of college, so many amazing friends, and an incredibly supportive family. I've done a lot of thinking in the last few weeks of 2011, and I've realized that of all of the things that I've been blessed with, I've never really appreciated my faith as much as I should. Through all of the curve balls that life has thrown at me, I've never lost my faith in God, the good in the world, and most importantly myself. That is something that I have been feeling very thankful for lately, and I have faith that 2012 will not only be a good year, but a great one.

So here it goes, resolution time.

1. Be healthier

You can read about this here.

2. Read the entire Bible in one year 

My church has provided me with a reading guide, and it could not have come at a more perfect time. So excited to devote more time to my faith this year. 

3. Laugh more 



Yeahh I graduated this year. No big deal.



Okay, so this one's a bit vague. But basically, I want to stop sweating the small stuff, and just enjoy this year. I spent a good portion of 2011 stressing over the future. All of a sudden I graduated, and I felt like I needed to have it all figured out. Well, reality check, no one ever has it all figured out. Some more so than others, but I don't need to start planning the rest of my life just yet. I want to embrace the fact that I am only 22, and get excited knowing that so many things can and will change in the next few years. So basically, I want to do this:

4. Travel

This is ony of my biggest resolutions. I haven't really traveled any where outside of the US (besides Canada and Mexico when I was too little to really remember). I know that there is a good chance that if I don't do it now, I might never get around to it. So here's to forking up the cash in 2012 to get myself some plane tickets to somewhere amazing. Step 1: get my passport.

5. Find my blogging voice

It has been SO much fun watching this little blog of mine grow (8 followers? Well look at that!). There have been a lot of times that I think of something to post about, and then chicken out. Maybe it's too serious, maybe too embarrassing, but for whatever reason these posts aren't making it to the big screen. Enough of that! This year I want to figure out more about who the heck Amy is, and blog about it along the way. Let's keep it real folks.

6. Love more

There are so many amazing people in my life, and I want to spend this year truly appreciating my time with all of them. I want to enjoy living with my girlfriends while I can, and make the most of the time I get to spend with my family. Even beyond that, I want to smile more, compliment more, say 'thank you' more. You never know what kind of day a stranger is having, and sometimes a little "I really like your shirt!" can go a long way. I know it does with me. So this year, I'm going to try my best to keep a positive attitude as often as possible. It really is contagious. 

So, there you have it: My resolutions for 2012. 2011, you were awesome. But here's to an even better year that lies ahead. 

Here's some pics from NYE this year:

The roommates

Homemade egg nog. It was bomb.

What would New Years be without glow sticks?

The girls

Cheers to 2012!

Joining the Fit Club!

First off, I am SO excited that it's a new year. I've got a good feeling about this year, and maybe it's just optimism, but I have high hopes for 2012. I plan on doing a new year's resolutions post sometime this week, but for now I'm going to focus on my health and fitness goals. Why is that? Because I'm joining the It's a Crafty Life Fit Club. Every Monday I'll be doing a post about how I'm holding up with my fitness and health resolutions. Let's hope I'm not admitting how much I'm slacking.

So here it goes with an introduction to my other Fit Club members.

Picture from NYE this year

Every year I make the same standard resolutions to work out more, and eat healthier. This year, I want to get a little more realistic and a little more specific with my goals. I was pretty consistent with working out more in 2011, but I also realized that if I want real results, I might need to make a few more changes. Hence goal #1:

Follow the 80/20 Rule

Let's be real, I'm not going to completely cut out Mexican food or bagels any time soon. That's the beauty of the 80/20 rule, 20% of the time I can give into my cravings. But the other 80% of the time, I want to start making some changes to my diet. I want to eat more of these things:

And less of these things:

I want to switch that Friday donut breakfast (yes, we get free donuts at work on Fridays. That's gonna be rough), for a healthier yogurt. Have some cottage cheese for a snack instead of a bag of chips. I know my metabolism is only going to slow down with time, so I want to start making these changes sooner rather than later. 

Get to the gym 3-4 times a week

Ideally, I'd like for this number to be 4-5. But like I said, I want to keep these goals realistic. I know that there are some weeks that I can only get to the gym 3 times, and others that I get there 5 times. So as long as I get there as often as I can (the bare minimum being 3 times) and get in a solid work out each time, I know I will see a difference.

Lose 5 pounds, and keep it off

Again, I really would like for this number to be 10. Maybe even more. But I'm keeping things realistic here. As the weeks go by, you can be sure that I will keep you posted on my progress. If I do as well as I hope to do, that number will definitely be more than 5. And finally, the most important goal:

Be happy with my body

Believe me, this year I am serious about making some progress in various areas of my life. I plan on making these changes, and enjoying the results. But I also want to realize that even at my current weight, I am happy, healthy and beautiful. Body image is something that so many people struggle with, myself included. So this year, I want to do my best to rise above this. I want to work hard to keep up with these goals, but also appreciate the body that God has blessed me with. 

2012, bring it on!