Burpee Love

Posted on February 6, 2013 by Jen @nutcaseinpoint

The last two nights have been fun. Why, you ask? Because I did TONS of burpees. Yes, I am now officially obsessed with them. Only took about 9 years. As soon as Biggest Loser started on Monday night (I watched it at 6pm since it was a New England broadcast) I got right into the strength portion of my Best Body Bootcamp workout. I told myself that during every commercial break of the 2 hour long show I would do 10 burpees. So, on top of getting my designated lower/upper body workout done, I also managed to get 100 burpees done! (And I had run for 36 minutes earlier in the day on the treadmill).

(Source)

Then, yesterday, I managed to bust through a 20 minute circuit workout I originally posted here. Once Bachelor (part 2) started, I did another 100 burpees- this time with an audience- then went to the gym for an AWESOME 30 minutes of HIIT on the bike.

Let’s see, burpees have been my life as of late. Other than that, I have been napping or hanging around the house, so there really isn’t that much to share. I DO have some new music that I’ve recently added to my playlist:

And I DID take Layla to the dog park yesterday to stretch her legs.

I have a new recipe that I’m trying for dinner, so stay tuned to see if I post it (totally to be determined by their outcome!)

Here are some other recipes that I’ve bookmarked:

1. Um, anything and everything CAN be made with sriracha, or ‘rooster sauce.’ This post has 50 healthified recipes that include the stuff.

2. Although there is no chocolate in this recipe, it caught my eye. PB&J is always a winner.

3. Yet another way to make quinoa.

4. Gluten Free cheddar cornbread. Yum

I have also been looking through tons of recipes that use alternative flours, etc. Some are paleo, some are not. I’m not leaning towards eating a particular diet, I just thought it would be fun to play around with different ingredients! Any suggestions?

Saturday Sign Off

Posted on January 13, 2013 by Jen @nutcaseinpoint

Hello Internet,

It’s almost 1:30am MST and I’m just getting to bed. This isn’t an unusual bedtime for a weekend, but I have to be up in 3 1/2 hours to catch a flight.

Tyler and I had a pretty full day today: B&E for breakfast, made chocolate chip bars, ran errands, ran 5.2 miles, watched football, made homemade bolognese, brewed a batch of beer and a batch of wine, and watched Storage Wars and Locked up Abroad. Productive.

Layla on the other hand: ate, pooped, and slept. Nothing different.

In about 12 hours time, ill be giving my mom a wet willy and telling my dad to drive faster.

On a side note: if you are in the Calgary, Chicago or Albany airport tomorrow and you see a girl in stretchy pants doing walking lunges throughout the terminal, say hi cuz it’s me. (And buy me food because I don’t have any American money on me).

I plan on posting like I regularly do throughout my trip (in case you were wondering. Which you probably weren’t.)

Last but not least:

Leave a comment (please) so that i’ll have lots to read when I can finally take advantage of wifi in my parents house. Stupid Canadian phone will cost an arm and a leg to use in the states so i’ll be stealing any and all wifi that pops up. Most likely at a Panera.

Ok. Wait. Now this is the last comment I have for this post. For reals. The other night I dreamt I was married to the guy that plays the alien dad on The Neighbors.

(source)
Sigh. I need to not watch that show before bed. Ever again.

Fa La La La La (you’re totally singing it in your head as you’re reading this)

Posted on December 12, 2012 by Jen @nutcaseinpoint

1.Yesterday, my wedding dress came in. If I could, I would have visited it right away, but it’s in New York. Since we are having the wedding there, I figured I might as well get the dress there, too. I don’t want to deal with customs for it. At all. So yeah, I’m really excited. I’m also interested to see how much it’s going to need to be altered since I’m 15 pounds lighter than when I bought it in August. Iiiiiiinteresting.

2. I went to the mall to get some Christmas gifts for Tyler. Don’t tell him I got a few things for myself as well.

3. I made 4093752039527059 cookies so far this week. Some were for fun, some were to eat, and some were to give away. I’m going to wait to post the recipe for the ones I sent for the cookie swap. They are seriously good. I only hope they’re still seriously good when they get to her!

4. Layla got her nails done yesterday.

Now she’s super stealth getting around the house. No more tap tap tap tap tap tap tap…I’m sure the tapping will be back soon.

5. I took her to the park immediately after so that I could wear her out. She is the weirdest dog at the park- she just sprints around paying no attention to the other dogs. Or she will sprint to them, then get about 4 feet away and realize she’s anti-social, and sprint right back to me. Whatever. She also gets diarrhea. Now riddle me this: diarrhea is pretty impossible to pick up with a poop bag, but I feel obligated to pick it up when people are around. Is it cool to just leave it?

No, no no. Don’t answer that.

6. Last night was supposed to be a cute couples night at home. We were going to decorate cookies and watch Love Actually since Tyler has never seen it. Me being the gym junkie that I am, cut the movie off about 30 minutes before it was over because I wanted to work out before the gym closed. Not romantic at all. At least we got to ~~eat~~ decorate a few cookies though.

7. So I sweat a lot when I workout. A LOT. But yesterday I must have been in beast mode because even the tinted moisturizer I was wearing was starting to drip all over the bike. Woof. I also forgot to put my ring back on after baking so people at the gym were probably all like “Hey look at that single girl on the bike. She’s sweating No. 03 Medium Nude” (Ok, first of all, no guy will know tint shades and second, how can NUDE have more than one shade?)

8. Now that I am 100% bored, I need suggestions on what to do. OTHER THAN: baking, working out, watching House Hunters, doing crafts or napping. Seriously, it’s hard to think of something!

9. I have been singing Deck The Halls all day. It’s freaking out my dog. Especially the Fa La La La La La La La La part.

10. I feel like God needs to invent more kinds of meat. I run out of ideas for dinner with chicken, beef and turkey. I could totally make every meal with bacon, but I want my life expectancy to be longer than 33 years.

11. My eyelids are peeling.

12. I haven’t ‘done’ my hair in almost 3 weeks. I’ve only put on makeup once in that same time period. Don’t even get me started on bra wearing. I feel like an ugly dump.

I gotta go. (Not go as in pee, but go as in work out, take my dog to the park and get dinner ready) Peace.

Weekend Catch Up. And free lululemon!

Posted on December 11, 2012 by Jen @nutcaseinpoint

Ok, I think I can get back to normal now. School is over and grades are in. 2 A’s to finish grad school! My cumulative GPA is 3.751. Not. Too. Shabby. I am really glad it’s over. The other night, I dreamt that I hadn’t finished all my work. But I also dreamt bears were chasing me, so I couldn’t take it too seriously. I finally checked yesterday morning and had to refrain from hooting and hollering because Tyler was still sleeping.

Made me feel even better about getting this puppy from Tyler as a graduation gift:

I have already made a batch of chocolate chip cookies, sugar cookies and biscotti. The chocolate chip recipe that was my go-to recipe has been officially taken over by a new recipe that came with my mixer. Tyler and I agreed that this batch was the best because it wasn’t as sweet. I thought they were chewier, too. Makes them last longer (or not). I am still on the hunt for a savory dish to make with this. But why rush, when the obvious thing to make during the holiday season is tons and tons of cookies?! I loaded up on sugar, flour, brown sugar, powdered sugar, eggs, BUTTER, and food coloring in preparation for the madness that will be my kitchen in the next few weeks. PS: If you have any cookies recipes you’re dying to share..PLEASE DO!

Saturday was a busy day. It was a FUN day! And, after two weeks sans makeup and normal clothes, I got myself dressed.

I rocked some red corduroys, brown leather boots, a plaid long sleeved tee, and my wool scarf from Zulily. If you haven’t heard of Zulily, I highly recommend you check out that link I provided. There are some insane deals on there! (The girls got their bridesmaids earrings from there!)

We had a Groupon for Fatburger that was due to expire this week, so we decided to make the trek to the NE for some fat-kid food.

The voucher was for the standard burger, fries, and soft drink. A meal that is totally out of my norm. I managed to finish most of the burger which was OK, and a couple of fries. Had to force feed those, since I am NOT a fry person. The best thing I can say about that meal was that it wasn’t greasy. So I didn’t feel like a tub-o-lard that I planned on feeling like.

While eating the meal, I spotted a Bulk Barn across the way. I had never been to one yet, and I really wanted to sneak a peak on what goodies they had to offer. Yup, it was heaven. I was surprised by the variety of things they had- coffee to spices to baking ingredients to candy to nuts to….everything.

I managed to restrain myself, and we walked out with only a couple of goodies:

Irish cream coffee beans, hot tamales, corn nuts (for Tyler). and silver sugar pearls. I was entirely too excited to see the pearls because I remember my mom always having them in the cupboard, ready for baking. I guess the store we went to stopped carrying them or they were discontinued because we couldn’t find them for the longest time. Tonight, we will be definitely using them to decorate christmas cookies- made with my new mixer 😉

We also stopped by this shop that was within the same neighborhood- and we got a home brewing kit! Tyler and I LOVE drinking beer, and Tyler has been interesting in making it at home. We ended up getting the kit and a box of wort for mexican cerveza.The guy at the store said it was more like Dos Equis than Corona. As soon as we got home, we got right to it!

I can’t wait to see how it turns out. We have already been looking into other ‘flavors’. I’m rooting for Apricot!

After the beer was all set (it is currently still sitting in the basement fermenting. Or doing whatever it does), we got to our gingerbread building. I opted for the traditional house, while Tyler mixed it up and got the tree. I think they turned out pretty good. Mine included red and green fondant that I had to roll out and shape myself. I now have a new respect for wedding cake bakers. But I’m still going with cupcakes.

We rounded out the evening with Caesars and Home Alone.

And Layla drooled all over us. Typical.

Sunday was nothing unusual. Except for the fact that I wasn’t bogged down with homework! Tyler watched football while I did laundry and napped and snuggled with the pup. I was feeling pretty blah and didn’t want to go to the gym, so I did a pretty quick- but effective strength circuit:

50 left reverse gliding lunges
50 right reverse gliding lunges
50 overhead presses
50 shoulder presses
100 stability ball situps
50 right single leg deadlifts
50 left single leg deadlifts

Yesterday’s workout was Workout A from Best Body Bootcamp– 6 rounds of tabatas, with each alternating between two moves (this is my favorite series for arms, because I have seen immediate results after both last night’s session and last Monday’s session. Score!) I also got to the gym and did a 30 minute treadmill interval workout.

I think that makes me sufficiently caught up. What’s going on with you?

PS: Don’t forget, if you’re looking for a fitness-related gift for you or someone you know, check out the monthly fitness apparel subscription box from pv.body. If you click here, you can get 20% of regular price! AND IF YOU SIGN UP BY 12/13 (THIS THURSDAY) YOU WILL GET A FREE $25 LULULEMON GIFT CARD!!!!!!! (You can thank me later. Or now. Or send me cookies/lululemon gift card)

A treadmill workout! And music! And..well just read.

Posted on November 27, 2012 by Jen @nutcaseinpoint

Here’s the treadmill work I did (2x through!) last night

3 minutes of running, 2 minutes of running, and 5 one-minute sprints with a minute walking between each interval, 2x.

Then, I somewhat followed Workout C from Best Body Bootcamp. I did three sets of 10 reps for each exercise; after each set, I did as many partial reps as I could (going halfway through the contraction). I didn’t move on to the next exercise until all sets (with partials) were completed.

Barbell squats on the bosu
Barbell side lunges on the bosu
Stability ball barbell chest presses
Stability ball barbell skull crushers
Barbell overhand grip standing row
Barbell underhand grip standing row

I also saw a celebrity look-a-like while I was at the gym. Brownie points if you know what this guy’s from:

(Source)

So, all day I have been listening to this song:

And when the base kicks in, I can’t help but dance like this:

In other news, I’m on a medicine to supposedly fights infections (I feel fine, but my doctor gave it to me just in case). Side effect? No booze. For 10 days. I’m going to be a ball of fun this weekend. All homework and no fun makes Jen a dull girl.

Other ramblings:

-I went to Teavana for the first time today to try and find some peppermint tea. The girl working there was such a complete female dog- and I don’t mean this kinda female dog:

I mean THIS kind:

(Source)

Never going back there again. Good thing I saw a DavidsTea place is opening up in the same mall.

-Hello, new best friend:

(Source)

-Extreme Cougar Wives. Seriously? That was 60 minutes of my life I’d like back.

– I am going to invent washers and dryers that do their specified jobs for.the.same.length.of.time. I hate when I do a load of towels, then put them in the dryer, and put another load in the washer. Then, when the washer is done, the wet clothes have to sit and wait for the dang towels to get all fluffy and dry.

[Sidenote: We are covering the Theory of Constraints in one of my courses this week, and they gave that exact ‘problem.’ Smart people of the world, why have you not fixed this yet?!]

– Is it just me, or does anyone else think that Abby from The Amazing Race looks like the actress, Kim Raver? (from Revolution,