Running on Empty ...

With a sad face I say, after last weekend's excitement about my plan and where things are, this weekend I am far less excited.  Not because of that plan or anything to do with it, but because it dawned on me that I may be over committing myself, and due to that I am exhausted.

I told a friend about my dilemma and what was there response?  You do tend to jump into things like you won't have a chance again later.  And once again ... my friends make me realize something about me I've never thought about or acknowledged.  

Luckily, my insanely busy day today had some cancellations, and I did end up getting a little bit of down time.  Other than that though - I'm trying to mentally prepare myself for the week ahead that includes, little to no down time.  Awesome.  


But, that's enough bitching, on to the fun stuff!


Today marks my new plan of attack for training and eating - Yippee!!  I got a little behind on the "getting by" plan this week, but got pretty much everything done and set myself up pretty well for a successful week ahead.

Today - I spent a few hours at my gym doing a few different things.  Hang snatches with the bar (like 3 of them, super lazy).  Day one (of three) pull up progression, been doing it for a month or more BUT TODAY, I did a chin up.  Holy crap.  Did it with my arms bend a little, but I got 2 done.  I do love progress.  
The best of the day though had to be the random WOD I did with a coach of mine.  On CrossFit HQ's Facebook page they featured a memorial / tribute WOD last week for a women who died of brain cancer.  Her local gym had put this together when she was diagnosed.  My Grandfather passed away from the same thing a few years back, and my coach lost a friend to it as well as has another fighting now; so he and I decided to do it.  It was a huge challenge, but awesome and loved being able to do it.  Since it hit close to home, it made me that much more determined to kick serious ass.

Lauriel WOD

23 Deadlifts

23 Hand Stand Push Ups

23 Back squats

23 Burpees

23 Ground to Over head

Finished: 11:20

The rest of my day was spent at home cleaning and food prepping.  I was a little bitter because it was over 60 degrees and I wanted to be outside BUT, I knew I needed to do adult things.  It would set me up much better for the week.  I am now sitting here writing to all of you, and thinking of how happy I am that I did everything I did today.

The upcoming week I have a lot of things going on, so I did some serious planning ahead which included food for every single meal this week.  I don't know how I pulled it off (being home probably 8 or less hours all weekend, not sleeping) but I cooked up a damn storm!  Everything turned out awesome!  And I can't wait to try the couple things left I have not had the pleasure to eat yet (Monday lunch!).

Before I give you the goods, I need to share what I am excited about.  First, I made paleo mayo! OMG.  I have been avoiding it for a year because the idea of raw eggs makes me want to puke.  Second, I saw a new brand of paleo bread on a blog the other day, and bought some.  Sandwiches for lunch this week!  

So here's the biz ... and I have run into some technical difficulties so I have no photos to add.  Super sad face.  But you can imagine my stuff looks just like the blogs, cause I'm good like that. 

Sweet Potato Chips ... http://paleomg.com/superbowl-snacks-sweet-potato-chips/

** These are always a good idea.  This will be my lunch side with my new sammies!  I added garlic powder this time for fun.

Chicken Avocado Salad ... http://paleomg.com/clean-it-up-mondays-chicken-avocado-salad/

** I am doing my own thing with this.  As mentioned above, I discovered the brand Against All Grains.  I don't crave sandwiches, never ate many before I went paleo, but when I decide I want a sandwich, it needs to happen.  So, I am making this recipe into sandwiches with my new bread.  Holy shit excited.

Paleo Mayo ... http://www.eat-real-food-paleodietitian.com/paleo-mayo.html

** So, since I am a HUGE cheap ass, I refused to make the mayo in the above recipe.  Avocado oil is minimum $10 a bottle.  And it is maybe 6 oz.  Not cool.  So I found this one using olive oil and I think it tastes good!  

Paleo Granola ... http://www.paleocupboard.com/granola.html

** This is the second time I have made this, and I can't stop.  I used papaya this time.  Yeah. No other words are needed.

Mexican Hash Egg Bake ... http://paleomg.com/mexican-hash-egg-bake/

** Anything that includes chorizo or hash wins in my book.

Apple Cinammon Scones ... http://nomnompaleo.com/post/38369819679/grain-free-dark-chocolate-cherry-scones

** So this isnt the exact recipe I used because the one I did was in her cookbook, she doesnt have it on her website but its almost identical to this one.  The only thing really different is mine didnt have chocolate or cherries.  I learned that you really should have and use the tools they tell you in recipes.  My dough didn't dough, and I ended up cooking a big pile of sort-of-dough and then cutting it into scone shapes after.  Still, delish.

Italian Sausage Mushroom Caps ... http://paleomg.com/thanksgiving-appetizers-two-recipes-in-one-post/

** I used breakfast sausage because it some of my favorite stuff on the planet, and feta.  I also made an entire pound of meat, and just made meatballs sans mushrooms to finish it all off.  I brought these to a card night and everyone FREAKED OUT.  Apparently they loved em.  (no i did not make the skewers)

And that's it!  I am insane, I know.  But remember, I had a goal to cook more ... well, here it is.  So far I'm cooking WAY more new stuff more often than planned originally but hey, its working.  If it ain't broke, don't fix it. In the midst of all of this I made random poached eggs for breakfast and some other misc leftovers from last week so basically, there's been food happening in different forms at all times of my weekend.  But because I planned so well - I won't have to do anything except nuke a meal from now until probably next weekend.  

That my friends, is called a WIN.