What routine?

This week was full of birthdays, house guests and road trips! All of which have a way of coming hand in hand with eating out of the norm. This could have been a massive set back for me but I think I made mostly good choices and still allowed myself some splurges.

Last Saturday I hosted a Wildtree tasting. I'm in love with their all natural seasonings and flavored grapeseed oil and my pantry was getting pretty bare. The party was great! Everyone loved it as usual and I earned over $100 in free groceries! Can't beat free. :) After the tasting it was time for birthday party #1. Ms. Daisy is my best friend's mom, and one of the most intoxicatingly happy and energetic people I know. The celebration was at The Max, which has been one of my favorite places to eat in the past. I splurged on a couple glasses of wine and only had small nibbles of the appetizers which I felt ok about but I still needed to order my dinner. What seemed to be the healthiest option was way out of my budget. In fact most things were either deep fried or pretty spendy. Crap! Now what? I thought about ordering the affordable hamburger but knew I wouldn't be happy with the plain burger. It would have to be the one with the blu cheese, fried onions, bacon and sauteed mushrooms. (NOM!) But I REALLY didn't want to do that to myself. So, instead I ordered a spinach salad with some goodies on it and because I wasn't sure if that would leave me feeling satisfied I ordered some butternut squash soup. The salad was super delicious! And filling. I ended up taking the soup home and I skipped on having a piece of cake.

Happy Birthday Daisy!

 The next day was my awesome mom's birthday. We started the by going for a walk on the Centennial Trail for a couple miles with the family. I love doing anything on the trail! It's so beautiful and really puts me in a great mood. After our walk we went out to brunch, again at The Max. This time I was a little more prepared. I passed on drinks and ordered a grilled fish sandwich that was A-MAZ-ING! And splurged on some sweet potato fries. I was proud of myself for not even considering ordering the chicken fried steak with hash browns, eggs and extra gravy. And since I was so satisfied by my fish sandwich I didn't even have any nagging cravings.

Walking the trail with the family. Happy Birthday Mom!

Monday was Maddie's birthday and she turned 2! Josh, Katie, Maddie, Lody, Zues and I went on a walk/jog/jump rope around the neighborhood. I love the trickle down effect of getting active, others around you start getting active too. SO awesome! Yay for all of us! :D

Josh and Maddie walking Zues

Josh and Maddie spent the day together playing and shopping while Lody, Katie and I took a road trip to pick up Alyssa from school.

The birthday girl playing in the tubes with her dad.

I love a good road trip! However road trips can easily mean lots of extra calories and junk food so I was a little nervous. When we stopped for gas and a snack I sought out the healthiest granola bar I could find but also got a Starbucks energy drink. Not sure what happened there, should have gotten a regular drip coffee if I wanted the caffeine. When we got there we opted to get Subway for lunch, with lots of veggies and water. Not too bad for not planning ahead. Then on the way home we stopped at Starbucks for coffees and I wasn't thinking so I ordered what I've always ordered. I don't get fancy coffee often so I haven't had to consider my low-fat and sugar free options. It could have been worse, but it could have been better. Bringing my own snack, lunch and drinks would have saved me money and calories.

Lody, Katie and I on our way.

Alyssa was in town for the week for her spring break and I was pretty excited to have a new motivated workout buddy in the house. On Tuesday we worked out for and hour in the morning. I did some Tabata intervals, some weights, and a little running.

After the first workout, feeling good.

Later we worked out more while watching the Biggest Looser finale. Then we walked two miles round trip to pick up Katie from school/ jump rope club. I felt great and was ready to do it again!

Walking home from school.

Then Wednesday I was pretty sore. My legs were killing me so I stretched a lot and decided to go with a shorter low impact ride on the stationary bike. Thursday I was STILL sore and really bummed. I wanted to work out hard all week but my body seemed to have other plans. I ended up taking the day off because I knew I needed to have plenty of energy and happy muscles so I could enjoy our Friday plans.

Friday we went to Sky High for some trampoline fun! We had brought the girls here before and they had a great time, but Josh and I just sat and watched from the side. This time we were all in! I had been looking forward to it for a month and couldn't have been more excited.

Here I go!

This is exactly the reason I finally decided to get healthy. I wanted and needed to feel able to participate; to be able to participate! Well I am now, so we stayed and jumped for two hours. It was exhausting and used muscles I hadn't used in years. We had an absolutely fantastic time!

Having fun at Sky High!

Even when I tried to run/ jump across the trampolines and biffed it over a yellow mat, thus landing entirely on my face, I kept jumping. Obviously I took a minute to laugh at myself and check out the trampoline burn on my forehead, nose and cheek but I didn't throw in the towel over it.

Ouch!

Saturday was Maddie's birthday party! The party was fun and Maddie seemed to really enjoy herself all day. However, it was a complete day off from exercise and food tracking. I'm pretending it didn't happen.  ; )

Waiting for a cupcake.

Sunday, before taking Alyssa home, we got in one last workout. We did a bunch of the 10 minute work outs from FITSUGAR. I have really liked most of the videos on there and totally recommend them to anyone looking for free workout ideas. You can do 1 or do 10 depending on how much time you have or how you feel.

Taking Alyssa and Scout home, it was a 90's dance party in the car!

You would think I would have learned from the first trip this week and brought my own food along, but no. That would have required me to plan ahead, and I didn't do a good job of that this week. Even so, this time when I bought a snack it was a super tasty and filling Clif Bar. (I will definitely get this again. It would be great for taking along on a hike or long bike ride. )

Sooo good!

This time when we stopped for coffee it was of the non-fat/ sugar-free variety. This time when I stopped on the way home, I was still full enough from the Clif Bar, that I just bought some pineapple chunks and a refill for my water bottle. I big improvement from the last trip.

Heading home, feeling at peace. :)

Here we are at Monday again. My mother-in-law, sister-in-law and both of their dogs have gone home and it's back to the routine again. I wanted to start the week out on a good note, so, this morning I ran most of 2.3 miles. I hadn't ran in almost a week and I can't believe I'm going to say that I had missed it, but I really did. It feels good to get super sweaty and imagine the fat melting off, then be sore and imagine my muscles growing. After my run I weighed in and I was 208.6, down 1.6 pounds from last Friday! Here I come 100's!!!

After my run, love those endorphins!!