Adversity.

This thought came to my mind the other day. I never envisioned myself as quotable but figured I would write it down. Maybe I'll become famous someday. ;)

"If I was going to let adversity get the best of me, I would have given up long ago."

A Memory Lapse

Do you have memory lapses?

As in, large chunks of your life that you just don't remember?

I started to get scared in the last few weeks as it dawned on me that I literally do not remember large portions of my life during college. It isn't like it has been ages and ages ago...

Oh, I remember the big things. Getting married, meeting Justin's girlfriend for the first time, people staying at our sweet little apartment with us, buying different vehicles, locking keys in vehicles, bitter cold winters, weekends spent at both of our parents' houses, passing my Photoshop semester exam with the only 50/50 score in the history of the class, special events... the big things are easy.

But the daily life. I don't remember normal daily life.

What did I eat for breakfast? What did I do with all my time? Why did I only get together with my awesome college buddies 3-4 times during the two years I was there? Why is everything a blur? Did I even sleep at all? And then, how did I survive before coffee?

It's these little things that I wish I could remember.

As I was looking for something last week, I stumbled upon my old planners from college.

Heh. And now I understand why I don't remember the daily life. I understand why it's just a blur of madness interrupted by weekends.

5-6 classes per semester, usually in the mornings, with 2-3 shooting assignments a week. Shooting assignments included buying film, renting the Blad cameras, shooting the assignment, processing film, developing prints, completing the paperwork, and turning it in. That's assuming everything went as planned, and you didn't have to re-shoot. ;)

Then, I worked at the bank about 30-hours a week... which works out to almost every afternoon/evening and some Saturdays.

Plus, all the other "things" in life... including wedding planning in the first few months of school and then being newly married.

Wow. Crazy business. I was literally busy from 7 in the morning until midnight.

It's no wonder I could fall asleep at any given moment.

What is a wonder is how my incredible husband put up with me... :)



Anyway, I don't mean to give the impression of doom and gloom. When I think back, there are so many happy memories. Lots of love and laughter accompanied the stress. Some of the best years of my life!

It really makes me appreciate the daily life I have now. Who would have thought in just a few years, I would be setting and controlling, to an extent, my own schedule? Who would have thought I would be a business owner... for three years already?

It also makes me stop and take note every once in a while: this is what's happening. This is what your life is like. Right now. Enjoy it.

I even still keep a planner... Well, two actually. Some habits are hard to break. ;) They are mostly to keep track of how I spend my time for business purposes and for setting appointments.

But, also, so I'll be able to look back once I forget (probably will be sooner rather than later) and remember. This is what my days were like. This is what I enjoyed.

And it will make me happy.

5 deadly terms used by a woman

I actually laughed out loud at this one.

I saw a rendition of this on Facebook... but didn't enjoy the beautiful image of Whoopi in the background.

I spent 2 minutes doing a quick re-do.

I actually use all of these.. does that make me a bad person? Whatever.

It was obviously a profitable use of my time. ;)

This one time in Starbucks..

Maybe some of you remember my lovely Walmart story? You know... the "incident" where a young-ish black guy asked me to carry his babies?

Disclaimer: Yes, it's a stereotype, but yes, it's true, so let's just get over it that black men appreciate junk in the trunk. We all know it. It's not being racist, it's (actually) personal experience. Sigh.

Anyway, I won't lie. One of the reasons I was excited to lose weight was so that I wouldn't be attractive to black guys. I thought I had accomplished that! Honestly.

Turns out... no.

I was sitting in a consultation with a lovely gal in Starbucks yesterday. (I know, you're thinking... Starbucks? This isn't Walmart!) Towards the middle of our chat, two older black gentlemen walk in. To be honest, I am in tunnel vision mode during consultations as I'm concentrating on my prospective clients, but that's the chronological order of things. I'm horrible at estimating ages, but they were possibly 50's-ish?

I assumed they were gentleman because they were sipping from the little espresso cups that Starbucks has. I know these things because I spend so much time there. ;) Hello, "Gold" status! Just got the card in the mail today!

Anyway, I'm having a grand ol' time chatting and laughing away when one of the guys asks me if I'm a photographer. He then asked to see some of my work, so I tossed one of my sample albums at him and continued on with my conversation.

He interrupted me one more time to ask if the album he was holding was bought in a store, if I was published, and if I had an agent.

Thankfully, he then shut his mouth and let me finish up talking with the sweet gal. I do mean sweet... she even gave me a hug when she left! I love those kind of consultations! :)

Of course, with her gone, that left me to pack up my stuff and get out of there.

And, of course, a conversation ensued in which I was complimented on my photography, asked where I was from, and told that I must like to get down-and-dirty since I'm from Iowa, so wouldn't I go out and take pictures of him and his gal at the track. ... ?? Your guess is as good as mine. I left that statement alone.

Finally, I got my big consultation bag packed, and one said that it must be heavy. I said it wasn't bad, and mentioned the fact that I lift, and was again enthusiastically complimented... this time on my abs. Urk. (Time to get some shirts that aren't as tight!)

Then I answered his question, yes, my "old man" is, in fact, waiting outside for me. He also lifts and is very strong. ;)


This bootay I have, while very nice, isn't near as large as it used to be. And, for once in my life I actually have wider shoulders than hips.

So tell me. What is it? Why the random black men? Why the awkward conversations?

And seriously, why always ask where I'm from?! What does that have anything to do with anything?

Cholesterol.

We're ingrained to cringe at that word.

However, I came across another great article that debunks the original study where they concluded that cholesterol = bad and moves on to exciting territory: cholesterol = good!

This guy is a genius. Read the article here: Cholesterol Doesn't Cause Heart Disease

From the article:

Contrary to popular belief, cholesterol is not a dangerous poison that causes heart disease. Rather, it is an essential nutrient present in the cell membranes of all tissues of all mammals, and has some very important functions in the body.

And another phrase:

As you can see, not only does high cholesterol not cause heart disease, low cholesterol can actually be dangerous to your health. So toss out your vegetable oil and start eating butter and eggs again!

Yessir. I'm on it!

This was my supper the other night: grass-fed, sugar-free bacon, 3 eggs (I added another one after the photo), turkey roast meat, and a few green pepper slices. Fried in bacon grease. Delicious.

Wondering what does cause heart disease?

Another couple good articles to ponder:
All About Inflammation
and
Definitive Guide to Grains


Happy reading! :)

Monday.

I like Mondays.

There. I said it. Let the bashing begin.

My weekends are pretty random, though, and I never have a set schedule of how everything will go.

I like my schedule. Not going to lie.

So, that's why when Sunday evening rolls around, I get excited for the next morning.

Familiarity. Predictability.

Do I sound like I'm 80 years old yet? ;)

Trust me. I'm halfway there, at least.

Anyway, today wasn't quite so exciting... unless you count spending 5 hours (!!) in the kitchen. Ugh.

I think I washed dishes like 4 times. Not pleasant. Especially on my poor callouses.. Heavy deadlifts + heavy pinset deadlifts + pullups + multiple washings = ouch.

I did, however, whip up the most amazing meatloaf for myself in the midst of all my cooking and preparing food.

Turkey... beef... onions... green peppers... cayenne...

It was amazing!

I whipped it all together, threw in an egg, and put it in the oven for an hour at 350.

Perfection. :)



A few randoms, now, since my life just thrives on randominity... ;)

Another shot of our meatza's... bonus: pepperoni!

Hooray for 30-second, cheerleader hairdo's!

Isn't this sweet? I found this on my phone from awhile ago. :)

Hope you all have had a great Monday!

Ps. I live in my large collection of hoodies. True story. What's your wardrobe staple?

Deadlifts, Dog Food, and more!

A few days ago, I created a "bring it" playlist on my phone.

It's pretty powerful stuff. Gives me my gym swagger. Perfect for breaking my past PR of 195-lbs for deadlifting.

Deadlifts. Ahhh. My holy grail. :)

If you've been following along lately, you'll remember that I've had a mental block with getting past 195-lbs. I knew the strength was there, but couldn't get past the wall. Or something.

Anyway, I could feel it. Today was the day to break that.

Not only did I pull up 200-pounds, I completed a full set of 5 at 200!

Then, I added a bit more weight, and on the second attempt, pulled up 205.

Aaaand, then I got so excited, I set the bar down to do a happy dance. I figured completing one full deadlift at 205-lbs was victory enough.

I'm pretty sure I shouted in glee, but it could have just been a satisfied grunt. Hard to tell with my awesome "bring it" music pounding in my ears.

In case you were wondering, this is what one side of 205 looks like.

I also worked on some single-arm kettlebell snatches, which are always fun. Then, I completed an intense WOD that completely sucked out my will to live. The good ones usually do. :)




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For lunch today, the hubbs and I fought the crowds at HuHot, where I set another PR in meat consumption in one sitting. It was glorious.

I honestly was not hungry from the time we ate at 1:15/30ish until 6:00 this evening. And after a workout like today's, that's just crazy talk.

Maybe that's why I wasn't feeling inspired to make supper. 





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After taking stock of what was in the fridge (very little) and what was in the pantry (also very little), I decided upon something with eggs, turkey burger, and hopefully a can of chilpotle sauce. I scoured Pinterest for a bit, looked at my food inspiration boards, stopped by PaleOMG, one of my favorite Paleo/CrossFit food bloggers, and still had nothing.

That's a lie, actually. I wanted to do something like this yummy-looking breakfast scramble from PaleOMG. But I ventured out on my own...

... and created my very own recipe for spicy dog food!

Kidding.

But even though it was quite tasty, it still looks like dog food.

Don't say I didn't warn you.






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First off, I sauteed a bit of garlic with some coconut oil.

And then I added some turkey burger. That was boring, so no picture.

Fun fact. It's actually spelled chiLpotle rather than chipotle. I refuse to pronounce the first "l." Chih-poht-lee. It's how I roll.

Another fun fact. Notice the word "hot" on the label? Yeah, neither did I. I like things pretty much as spicy as they can get. The hubbs? Not so much. Oops. More about that later.

Yumm. Dog food. I let the sauce cook up a bit in an effort to make it less "runny." It worked.

While the turkey had been cooking, I whipped up 10 eggs and sprinkled some cumin on for good measure. Yes, 10 eggs.

I also had preheated the oven to 350*. Don't you love it when I blog the steps out of order?

Anyway, I poured the egg mixture on the meat and threw it in my preheated oven.

About this time, I started getting worried that this was going to be a complete fail. Yikes. A pound of turkey burger. 10 eggs. Yummy sauce. I probably would have seriously cried if it wouldn't have turned out. I hate wasting food.

After 17 minutes in the oven, it looked like this.

How about we zoom in?

See?! Dog food! The most unappetizing thing I've ever seen!

I could almost feel myself breaking out in a nervous sweat.

After hesitantly calling the hubbs to the table, I flipped a couple pieces upside down on plates, put on my cheery face, and took the first bite.

Success!

And then I breathed a sigh of relief.

But not for long... as it was pretty spicy. Lovely amounts of spicy. In my opinion.

After a thoughtful compliment about the flavor, the hubbs deemed it too spicy to have a second piece.

That just means more leftovers for me, right? ;)


Anyway, here's the combined ingredients and steps, if you'd like to make your own dog food
Chilpotle Turkey & Egg Bake

Ingredients:
Coconut oil
3-4 cloves of garlic, chopped/minced
1# turkey burger
1 can chilpotle sauce, mild or hot
10 eggs
Cumin, to taste
Salt, to taste

Steps:
Saute garlic in coconut oil.
Set oven to 350.
Add turkey burger to pan, cook.

Add chilpotle sauce.
Let meat and sauce boil to thicken.

Combine 10 eggs with cumin.
Pour egg mixture over meat.
Cover, and put in oven.


Bake for 15-ish minutes at 350.

Let sit for 2 minutes, slice, and serve upside down.

And enjoy!

Good Friday. But what Friday isn't?

Good Friday. It's been great, so far!

Started the day off right with a couple eggs, delicious bison sausage, and some sweet potato chunks.

Where have you been all my life? How did I live 24 years without you? That's a lie actually. My mom fed us very well as children... we had eggs nearly every day for breakfast. :) Unfortunately, I never appreciated it then.

Next highlight of the morning? Training! :)

We'll skip right by the over-enthusiastic gal in the locker room going on and on about how fun Zumba was. Honey, if you love Zumba, Zumba your little heart out. I've never been able to shake my hips. And, all the ladies that shake their boo-tay's every day in Zumba never seem to go through any major changes like weight loss, etc.

I simply told her that I love training. And we all know how much I respect Zumba. Please pardon the language, but I died laughing when I saw that pin on Pinterest.

I'd been looking forward to today's training session for most of the week because I knew we were going to do some Turkish Get-Ups. Score!

However, I didn't know we were going to do backsquats and split-jerks as well. Split-jerks are another favorite of mine. I ended up PR'ing in those... 3 at 95-lbs. Sweeet.

And then, TGU's. The most I'd done with these before was just the bar (45-pounds), which was quite some time ago. After doing one/each side with just the bar, we threw a 10 on each side, making for my very first attempt at 65-pounds.

Not bad, my friends. Not bad.







Please pardon my flailing legs. I'm quite graceful, no?

I've had a serious perma-grin ever since. Like the whole day.

After that, I had a WOD that was pretty intense. 6 rounds of power-clean/push-presses, pullups, and kettlebell swings. Another first for me was using the 55-pound kettlebell vs. the 35-pound, which I had been using all the time. It was time for the weight increase, but 55-pounds gets heavy when you're swinging it 9 times up to face level!

Good thing I liked my breakfast as I got quite close to tasting it again...

A quick stop at the store was next, where I was asked by an odd older gentleman: what are you planning to do with all this water?

Uhm. Is that a trick question? What does a person normally do with water? Drink it, obviously.

I believe I said something like I was stocking up. Plus it makes for a good workout... lifting it into the car, out of the car, up the steps and into the house.






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Anyway, in other news, I've stumbled upon this amazing little news video:

Is Saturated Fat Good For You?

My favorite line?

"Everyone is following the conventional advice, but the problem's not going away.
It's getting worse."

I've also been in contact with the author/owner of Eat Fat, Get Fit on Facebook. He writes a blog focusing on the Paleo lifestyle but highlights some transformations as well. I put together a little transformation image for his page, which he posted, and has since asked me to do an interview more about my story/success/motivation/etc. to post on his blog, www.eatmorefat.com.

I'll give you more details and obviously link to his blog again once everything is ready to go. Exciting. :)






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Hope you're all having a great Good Friday... and have a wonderful Easter!

Hazards of Deadlifting

Ow.

4x8 deads... at 185-lbs.

The bruises are totally worth it.

Yes, that's the dog (in her sweater) running through the frame... :)

Ps. I have oddly shaped knees. My kneecap isn't centered. This bothers me.

*Insert witty title here*

My creative writing streak must have disappeared.

Maybe it was the bajillion errands I had to run today. Seriously, how can a person waste an entire afternoon just running around town?

Oh well.

Anyway, last week, I made a little impulse buy. Shame on me.

I looked all around at the grocery store, trying to find some sort of breakfast sausage that didn't have msg or other nasties in it to "protect the flavor." Right.

Being at the grocery store was probably my first problem. ;)

Anyway, I stumbled upon this.

I read the ingredients. And threw it in the cart.

And this morning, I fried it up and used some in my breakfast hash. Sorry, bacon. It's not you, it's me. Promise.

Oh. my. word. Hello, delicious!

A bit dramatic, but then again, I usually am.

The sausage was not spicy at all (a little bit of a bummer, since I love all things spicy), but had a slightly sweet flavor, which complimented my sweet potatoes.

Then, I hopped online tonight and come to find out, NorthStar Bison sells things other than bison meat. Annnnd, here's the kicker: 100% grass-fed. Wow!

And they're based in Wisconsin and Minnesota, which is another thing that I had missed in my impulse buy.


Long story short? Check them out! Again, here's their website and their Facebook page. They sell online also and seem like a great small family business to support. And nope, no compensation/benefit paid to me for this little advertisement. :)

I can't wait to try other products!