Linkup (Because you're all sick of hearing about my Iowa trip)

Today I'm linking up with Jake and Holly :)

If I had one extra hour in the day... I'd watch some pointless tv (aka Law and Order SVU)

I wish my name... wasn't used in the movie The Wedding Singer. It's been over 10 years and I'm still being called Julia Gulia.

I think anything chevron is...going to make my fiance leave me. He's getting sick of it all over our house. Although up until a few days ago he thought Chevron was the brand name haha.
 
My last nightmare...was that I had to plan my wedding in 10 minutes and see who would show up last minute. Apparently I'm not that popular.

Sometimes... I just want to sleep without 2 pomeranians on top of me and a snoring fiance on the other side of the bed.

My last meal on earth would be...depressing. (or if you want the name of the food- Mellow Mushroom Holy Shitake Pie Pizza)

I would much rather...eat glue and nails than to have to watch anything with Rob Dyrdeck on tv. Jeff watches his shows and it's literally a form a torture to listen to anything that comes out of his mouth.

Mayonnaise...is disgusting. On the other hand it's delusional to think greek yogurt is actually an equal substitute for it.

10 years ago, I didn't think...anything was more important than getting my permit, if I didn't wear pink every day that I wasn't cool, and that General Hospital was the best show ever!

Selfishly... I make Jeff sit through hours of Real Housewives episodes. I'm sorry honey. It's still better than Rob Dyrdeck.

My favorite show on TV right now... definitely Law and Order SVU. Although I always feel like there has to be something wrong with me for liking it so much.

And, George Zimmerman.. is blowing up my newsfeed. If you're going to have an opinion about the whole thing at least know what you're arguing about. (To the random guy from freshman year of college that I'm still friends with on facebook for some reason: George Zimmerman isn't the Boston bomber)
 

The Best Therapy in the World

Our roadtrip to Iowa went really well. The puppies behaved themselves and Jeff actually drove the whole way through so we made it without having to stop at a hotel. I didn't drive for one second. I'm pretty sure I owe him on the way back.

I ate my roadtrip food the whole way and I couldn't be happier for planning ahead! It honestly made me feel so much better to not eat fast food. Although to be honest Jeff got KFC popcorn chicken at a rest stop and I tried a bite, but it was disgusting!

Lacey had to be up front the whole time, no pictures of Miley because she had to be under the seat the entire drive

That can't be comfortable

I told him to smile...

We finally got to Iowa at 7am and went to my parents house. We hung out for a little bit and then drove 45 minutes to Jeff's parents house. Then we drove another 45 minutes to his sister's house. This is pretty much what I'll be doing the next 2 weeks.

Getting a hug from my mom was the best feeling ever. I've missed her so much! Today we went to Zombie Burger with my mom, Jeff, and his sister Jackie. Jeff had been dying to go there (haha dying...get it...like zombies...never mind) so I gave up on my plan to not eat anywhere unhealthy and just went along for the ride. I got the T-virus burger which was a small burger with portabella mushrooms, swiss, lettuce and tomatoes. It was good and not greasy!

Jackie got this:

















It's called the Walking Ched. It's breaded and deep fried  macaroni and cheese buns, more mac and cheese, bacon, cheddar cheese, caramelized onion, and mayo. I seriously don't want to know how many calories is in that. She said it was delicious- I'll take her word for it!

They also had burgers with eggs and bananas and all sorts of things on there. It was a pretty cool place. We also went to the Chocolate Storybook and got some fancy chocolates (aka diet busters). I had one and called it a day.

After that Jeff and his sis went back to Ames and I got to hang out with 2 of my best friends. I'm so mad I didn't get pictures, but we'll have to get some another night.

My friend Lindsey took me to a place called Glazed Expressions and we painted pottery. It was so fun! I've always been skeptical of those places since I'm not artistic at all, but it was a blast! She was so sweet and got me my piece as an engagement gift. I made a platter for all of my fruit and vegetable displays I bring to parties. I'll post a picture once it's ready (it takes a week for them to glaze it and fire it in the kiln).

Then we met up with my friend Julie and went to PF Changs. I got green beans and lettuce wraps! It was amazing! I'm obsessed with that restaurant, but my body can definitely tell how much sodium I've had today.  It's really been a struggle to eat healthy while I'm back, but I need to figure it out because I'm not going to gain weight on this trip!

In other new I have joined the Operation Skinny Jeans Fit Club! I'm so excited to be part of the group. The ladies have already been so supportive and I hope we can all help each other to reach our goals.

Hope everyone (if anyone is reading this) has a great week!

I'm Coming Hoooooooommmmmmeeee (I apologize for the Motley Crue song now stuck in your head)

T-minus 8 hours until we drive to Iowa. I'm SO excited to see my family and friends. It's been 8 months so a visit is long overdue! There is nothing better than getting to give my mom a hug or laughing with my friends in person. Phone calls are great and all, but nothing beats seeing loved ones in person. I'll also get to finally get some wedding planning done.

On the down side, it's a 22 hour drive. In a car with 2 pomeranians and someone who can't stop listening to Pink Floyd (love you honey). It's fun for a few hours, but the car ride can be very tiring.
One thing that exhausted me on previous trips was constantly stopping for fast food. I would always feel sluggish afterwards and bloated. So this time I planned ahead and here is what I've come up with for our trip.

Strawberries and Blueberries

Baby Carrots

Mangos and pineapple

Apples and Plums

Yellow tomatoes (my fave) and sugar snap peas

Dark Chocolate bar for a sweet treat

Don't judge, it's my small cheat (Jeff and I split it)

Clean Sandwiches. Turkey, White Cheddar, Lettuce, Spicy Mustard on Whole Wheat

 2% Cheese Cubes

My favorite clean bars. Soo good!

To eat with my apple

Raw Cashews and Almonds

Kettle chips are actually clean, Food Should Taste Good Sweet Potato Chips, Skinny Pop 

 

 

 

 

With all this great food we should be able to avoid having to stop during the day to eat out. We still plan to eat dinner somewhere both days (we split the drive into 2 days). I will be making healthy dinner choices. Also one of my biggest tips for long car trips: DRINK LOTS OF WATER!! It's so easy to rely on energy drinks or soda, but they make you bloated and tired. Water is the best.

I'll be blogging from Iowa as much as I can. We're going to be there until July 25th. Then we get to roadtrip all over again :) Whooo hoooo!

Staying on Track During Moving (aka what I should have done differently)

Internet is up and running. Thank goodness. I was losing my mind.

So in hindsight there are a lot of things I should have done differently to stay on track during the move. Here are some tips to follow. It's basically everything I wish I had done.

1. Plan ahead by making healthy meals and freezing them. That way when it's dinner time you can just pop one in the oven instead of ordering pizza or hitting up the drivethru.

2. Pack lots of healthy snacks. Fruit, nuts, veggies, healthy cracks & hummus...we didn't snack at all so by the time we ate I ended up eating 2-3 times more than I usually would.

3. Buy some healthy frozen entrees to eat quickly for lunch. I live Amy's or EVOL. Or make some sandwiches or other quick things to heat up for lunch. You could also eat leftovers. Just don't do what I did and eat fast food for lunch.

4. Stay hydrated. Drink lots of water. Soda and energy drinks may be tempting, because you're exhausted, but water is a much better choice.

5. Don't overwork yourself. We ended up working way too hard the first few days and ended up pretty useless the next few. You're better off pacing yourself. Exhaustion also leads to poor nutrition choices.

I weighed myself today now that our scale is here and I gained 8 pounds! That breaks my heart, because I undid a month's worth of work this week by eating horribly. I'm hoping some of this weight is from water retention due to all of the sodium I have consumed. This is when it is crucial to not beat myself up and to just keep going on my healthy journey instead of giving up.

Also I know I have preached this before, but I can't tell you how crappy I've felt from eating all of this junk. My body hurt, I felt sluggish, and my mood was always kind of blah. I really think this is due to my poor diet (although moving didn't help). I am excited to feel like my normal self again. Here we go again.

Quick Check In

Hi Everyone!

I wanted to check in quick. I haven't forgotten about my blog, moving is just a royal pain in the...everything.

We will get internet hopefully today at our new place so I can write a blog post with lots of pretty pictures. Right now I am sitting in the middle of an empty floor at our old apartment typing away quickly before the smell of bleach knocks me out (I probably should have cracked a window).

We're about 1/4 of the way with the unpacking at our new place. I'm about ready to just shove everything in a closet and be done with it.

As far as my eating and working out goes...well let's just say I fell off of the cleaning eating tree and hit every fast food place on the way down. I seriously don't even want to know how much I weigh, but I can tell you that I feel like I've gained 200 pounds. I seriously failed at planning ahead and with all of the work that's gone into deep cleaning our old place, moving, packing, unpacking, more cleaning....etc- cooking is the last thing that I have felt like doing. So I have eaten at probably every fast food place in Greenville this week.

The good news is that we finally have our new oven working and a microwave so I can cook. I purchased a new crockpot since ours died on us a few weeks ago and I will throw some things in there so we can have a good dinner instead of Taco Bell.

I'm excited to catch up on everyone's blogs soon and to be back at it with mine!

Tips for Healthier Eating at BBQs

Tomorrow is one of my favorite holidays. Back home in Iowa we would always watch the big fireworks show from my parent's backyard and grill out. It's been a tradition since I was a little girl. Since I began dating Jeff over 4 years ago his family has also come out to join us. Tomorrow will be the first time I am not home for this, but that won't stop me from enjoying my favorite holiday! We will be grilling and going to the park to watch fireworks.

Barbeques are actually great places to eat healthy, but there are also some very unhealthy options. Here are some tips to get through them without spoiling your healthy lifestyle, but still enjoying the great food.

1. Skip the potato salad (or any of the creamy ones).
 These are often full of fat and loaded with calories.


2. Fill your plate with fruit.


I always go for my favorite-watermelon. If you eat some first before filling your plate with anything else you can feel fuller and not eat as much.

3. Go for lean grilled meats- chicken or steak instead of hamburgers and hotdogs.

4. If you eat a burger or hotdog scoop out some of the bread in the bun and watch your toppings. Ketchup is loaded with sugar so use it sparingly, but mustard is guilt free!

5. If there is something you're really wanting to try- go for it! Just do so in moderation.

6. Bring something healthy to share such as fruit salad, coleslaw made with greek yogurt instead or mayo, or even clean hotdogs (the applegate farm ones are beyond delicious!)

7. To go along with that don't be afraid to bring your own lean meat to grill if you know there isn't going to be something there for you.

8. Enjoy those grilled veggies- corn on the cob, zucchini, peppers...possibilities are endless!

Tomorrow we are having clean hotdogs, homemade chips, veggie kabobs, and lots of fruit. Oh and of course a bomb pop. It just isn't the 4th of July without a bomb pop :)