Confessions

Posted on October 7, 2013 by Jen @nutcaseinpoint

Confessions. Getting right to it.

1. I really want Reggie to wear his Halloween costume every day this month. It looks too funny and I can’t get enough of it.

2. I went to SEVEN drug stores yesterday to hunt down my latest Essie obsession. Not only did I text the work ‘EUREKA!!!!!’ to Tyler, but I also shouted it out loud in the store when I discovered my mission had finally been accomplished.

3. One of my co-worker/new friends invited me to get my hair and makeup done for free. And it just so happened that I was able to get my makeup done by the Benefit counter. Aka: the recipient of most my money for the past 12 years. The girl was trying to sell me some of the products, and every one of my responses were: “I already have that” I managed to pick out two things that I felt I needed the most. Plus I got a free makeup bag and TONS of samples.

4. When we can’t decide what to have for dinner, it’s almost always Turkey Clubs. They’re yummy and easy to make. That is all I have to say about that.

5. I have been OBSESSED with edamame lately. Like, I have been ordering it as an entree in restaurants (me-thinks my over exuberant sucking-of-the-pods is what got us our free meal last week. I mean, think about it. You’re a guy and you’re alone at the bar and you see some lady going to town on hoovering some beans out of their straw-like homes and you might be tempted to just pay for the pleasure. I get it.) This weekend, threw together a batch with a sriracha sauce. And it was so good. And my face was sweaty and on FIIIIIYYYYYAAAA (read: fire) afterwards.

6. My mama sent me some fall goodies! Pumpking pancake mix, a cute kitchen towel, and a frame of her and my dad somewhere in the Adirondacks kayaking. And you follow me on IG, you’ll have read that I am now a cider donut and slice of ma’s apple pie away from feeling as though fall is complete. I’m not one to love the cooler weather (let’s just take a second on laugh at my current geographical location then) but I do love some of that comfort food/outdoorsy mumbo jumbo. To make up for my lack of east coast fall-wonderfullness, I threw together a batch of cranberry muffins. Mmmmmmm SO GOOD.

7. I have been running outside. You’d think I would have taken advantage of this during the warmer months, but I surprisingly love slightly cooler weather for running. Plus, I feel bad for not having taken advantage of outdoor running in the summer months, so I’m trying to squeeze a few in before it gets dark too early. Let’s all let out a collective sigh for when THAT happens.

8. I have been loving this song lately. I had to drive into work today to leave early for a doctor’s appt, and I cranked the crap out of my stereo when it came on. Mind you, this is at 7:30am when just about every person on the road is a Mr. or Mrs. Cranky Pants for having to be awake. And I was head bobbing and steering-wheel-tapping.

9. And now Usher’s damn song is stuck in my head. “These are my confessions….”

Free Eats and Supersets

Posted on October 3, 2013 by Jen @nutcaseinpoint

Free food seems to be the thing as of late. I ain’t complaining!

Last night, my friend Nicole and I met up at Local on 8th Ave. We split a pitcher of sangria (the bartender told us it was the first batch he ever made and we determined that he definitely forgot the alcohol) and some spicy edamame. I had the fish tacos for an entree and Nicole got a crispy chicken sandwich. Anyhoo, after a few hours of sitting there chatting, we were approached by one of the waitresses who told us that some guy paid our tab. Some guy that we never even spoke to who just so happened to be sitting at the bar watching the hockey game. SO AWESOME. That totally made our night, so we opted to buy a round of drinks for ourselves, since we wouldn’t have anything to pay for otherwise!

This morning, my office offered a complimentary breakfast to kick off our United Way fundraising (omg you guys, they sent out an email of all the different events we will be doing in the office throughout the month, and one of them is a LIQUOR LOTTERY. I am totally participating.) I grabbed some of the fruit to save for a snack later in the day.

Then, my team was taken out to lunch at Moxie’s where I opted for the roasted beet and arugula salad with grilled chicken.

And to top it all off, I came home from work to a meal cooked my the husband!

I haven’t been hating my eats lately at all!

Now that I’ve recapped some food, it’s only fair I share my last workout:

This workout consisted of 4 pairs of supersets. The first exercise in each pair requires you to perform 12 reps, then 6 reps with a slow count on the contraction, 12 reps, and 6 reps with a slow count on the contraction. The second move is performed to max reps (as many as you can do). Then the superset is REPEATED before moving on to the next set.

Hopefully that explanation works, as I didn’t attempt to rewrite it in the graphic.

When I did this workout, I really challenged myself with the amount of weight I used, and I could REALLY feel it by the second set! It’s up to you if you want to decrease your weights on the second set, or if you want to take a quick rest between the 1st and 2nd round of each set.

Some helpful links for the moves listed above:

IN THE COMMENTS:

Ever had your tab picked up by a stranger? Did you pay it forward?

The Great Debate

Posted on October 1, 2013 by Jen @nutcaseinpoint

I’m sitting here wrestling with which to share first:

The WORKOUT or the RECIPE????

Honestly, this is a huge problem because I don’t want whichever I choose to write about first to feel more important or better than the other. They’re both pretty good and left me weak in the knees..

So to play a fair game of eenie-meenie-miney-mo, I will go for the muffin recipe first (please, please don’t scroll down and skip the recipe, it’s pretty fantastic).

Pumpkin Muffins with Nutella Yum Yum (made that name up on the spot!)

2 c unbleached white flour
1 t baking soda
1 t baking powder
1/2 t salt
1 c pumpkin puree
3/4 c brown sugar
1/4 c honey
1 egg
2 T unsweetened applesauce
2 T unsweetened almond milk
2 t vanilla
NUTELLA

Preheat over to 350. Spray muffin pan (as you can see, I got a little spray happy)
Mix all the dry ingredients in one bowl.
Mix all the wet ingredient (minus Nutella) in another bowl
Add the dry mix to the wet mix.
Fill cups 3/4 full and top each with about 1 teaspoon of nutella. Use a tootpick or knife to ‘swirl’ the nutella over the top of the batter.
Bake for 13-14 minutes or until toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.

Ah, I can’t handle how good these are. I made them last night and managed to not even sneak the tiniest taste until I had one for a snack at work. I might’ve moaned at my desk. I blamed it on the computer?? No, I took the credit for all ‘mmms’ and ‘ahhhs’.

Ok, ok, so the workout. Last night I did that upper body pyramid, so tonight I decided to focus on lower body. I actually incorporated some new and haven’t-used-in-a-while exercises!

Each move (except the farmer’s walk) consisted of completing 20 reps, 5 pulsing reps, 10 reps, and 5 pulsing reps. For the moves that are ‘L’ and “R’ sides, complete the 20-5-10-5 on one side, then do the same on the other side.