What do kettlebell certifications, microwaves, and raccoons all have in common?

They make me nervous.  Tomorrow is my second official taekwondo tournament and I’m a bit nervous.  Okay so I’m really nervous. Considering MMA Mama beat me in the last tournament giving me a nasty bruise adding injury to insult  , I think my nervousness is justified.  Wondering IF she is going be there is more worrisome than the tournament itself.  Next week I’ll do a recap…if I live.  Just kidding the sparring is totally controlled and fully padded.  It’s nothing like a “real fight”.  It’s actually really fun especially for a girl who grew up with pictures of Rocky taped in her junior high locker while all the other girls had New Kids on the Block pictures.  Weirdos.

As of late I’ve felt like I’ve come across a bit more beastly than I actually am.  Sure I may love picking up heavy stuff just for fun and sparring until I can’t breathe but I also love glitter nail polish, red lipstick, fake eyelashes, and cozy leopard print pj’s.  Not all the same time…the make up and the pj’s that is.  I’m feminine, really I am.

This picture, as ridiculous as it is, captures my two sides, the glamour girevik (Russian word for kettlebeller) even though my nails are all chewed down.

BTW Brent took that for project someone is putting together.  I just don’t put on eyelashes and grab a kettlebell for photos.

My 30 Day Primal Challenge is going well, three days into it.  I’m enjoying the “challenge” going “Grok“.  After leaning out and training the last few months for the RKC, I found myself sort of bored and not sure what to focus on next so the primal challenge is a perfect fit.  I need mini-goals to keep me focused, excited, and on track with the big picture.

Lastly, I saw this older but good post on Planet Green, 7 Foods So Unsafe That Even Farmers Won’t Eat Them.  I love it when I read an article and I can feel all self righteous.  Don’t you?   Actually, I’m really sad about the tomatoes.  I LOVE canned tomatoes for the flavor and the convenience.

Does anyone else ever feel like you have two sides equally important but totally opposite?  What about that list?  Do you follow some, none, or all of it?  I would say I follow all of it 90% of the time.  Does anyone know if Muir Glen and Trader Joe’s canned tomatoes have BCA in the lining?

Have a great weekend!

Hugs and High Fives,
Jenn

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The post Fluffy Friday: Glamour Girevik Goes Grok appeared first on Girl Heroes.

I live in Southern California and with that comes pollution, earthquakes, smog, fires, mudslides, extreme politics, gangs, and bad drivers but it’s all worth it.  For the strawberries.

I think strawberry season in California for me is what manna from God in the wilderness was for the Israelites.  Other people feel the same way because we have festivals devoted to the berry.  I grew up in Indiana and I don’t remember having “corn” festivals but maybe we did.  Anyway it’s strawberry season here and I’m lovin’ it.

Put together this simple salad the other day and it was….ummm….I’m mad.  Rachel Ray took all the annoying words I’d like to use.  Oh well…this salad is really really good if you like strawberries.

Salad

2-4 cups of mixed greens  (I used a baby lettuce mix.)
4 oz of grilled chicken (I almost always keep some leftover chicken.)
1 cup of strawberries – sliced

Strawberry Tarragon Dressing
8 strawberries
4 tbs balsalmic vinegar
2 tbs olive oil
1/8 tsp dried tarragon or 1/4 of fresh – finely chopped (I used dry b/c it’s what I had)

Put the strawberries in a blender or mini-chopper and process until smooth.  Add the rest of the ingredients and do one more quick swirl.  Drizzle over your salad.

This makes 4 servings (dressing only).  Approximately 82 calories, 0g protein, 5g carbs, 7g fat per serving.

xoxo
j

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This past weekend we celebrated my oldest son’s birthday.   My sister and I made him a beautiful dilapidated limousine cake which I did not have one bite.  Thank you. Although I nearly had a nervous breakdown trying to ice it without licking my fingers.  Besides having severe anxiety over the fact that my son is now at the halfway point to being and adult I nearly had a coronary stressing over what I was going to eat during his party.  So an hour before the party I whipped up this quick dip.  It’s pretty much the same thing as my skinny spinach dip but tastes different.  It was really good.  Someone at the party even commented on how good it was and asked how I made it.  So here ya go!

Sun Dried Tomato and Artichoke Dip

2 cups of low-fat cottage cheese
1/4 cup goat cheese
3  cloves of garlic
1 (150z) can of artichokes (in water)
1/4 cup sun dried tomatoes (in oil)

Throw everything but the artichokes into a blender or food processor.  After the mixture is smooth throw in the artichokes and pulse until the artichokes are blended in the way you like them.  I prefer my artichokes a little chunky.   Dip veggies  or use less as a spread on a sandwich.

Makes 4 servings.  Approx 206 cal, 13 grams carbs, 17 grams protein, 8 grams of fat

Hugs and High Fives,
jenn

PS – This was my “awesome” limo cake.  I know. I’m not a baker.  (He is obsessed with all things financial right now.  Alas the reason there is play money surrounding the cake.  It was a “Ritchie Rich theme.”  That we are not at least not by American standards.)

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I was thinking about this time of my life last year. Honestly, I was a wreck. Unless you knew me well you might not have known but inside I was hurting and struggling with some severe depression due to some circumstances outside my control and faulty wiring in my brain. The thing with the faulty wiring is that I’ve learned over the years, through some intense therapy and hard work, that I can function really well IF I take care of myself. But this takes some serious discipline, a skill I greatly lack. For some, reason last year I wouldn’t take care of myself. I was eating crap all the time and I started to slack on my exercising. Unfortunately, this is a bad cycle and it’s hard to break, even when your not depressed but I think if your depressed it’s even harder. Because you know going to the gym will help your depression but since your depressed you can’t find the motivation to care. So as the months wore on, I felt worse and worse and eventually quit exercising all together and was eating crap all the time. My depression started to compound with a series of disappointing news. And then a friend who I had confided in used personal information to betray and hurt me. Although, my friend had given plenty of warning signs, the emotional pain sent me deeper into one of my worst bouts of depression. And after a few months I wasn’t sure who I had become. I was angry at my friend.  I was angry with God for not “fixing” my brain.  I was angry at the housing market. (I still am.) I was angry with my body. But most of all I was angry at myself.  One day I tried to pull on a pair of jeans that I had worked really hard to fit into after I had my kids but they wouldn’t button. I had to go out to the Goodwill box and get an old pair of jeans that I was planning on giving away because they were, at one time, too big. This was a very painful moment for me. I know weight shouldn’t matter so much and it’s what’s on the inside that really counts. And I believe that. I REALLY DO but the reality is we live in a culture that values beauty and for most people fat is not considered beautiful. I tried to tell myself that what I looked like didn’t matter. But the truth was, to me, it did.

It was time to get honest with myself and my choices. There were a lot of disappoints and hurt surrounding those months but I had chosen to console myself with food and apathy. I had chosen to abandon who I really was and what I believed was a healthy lifestyle. I was choosing to be angry instead of looking to the root of my problems.  I had to make a choice. Was I going to continue to console my feelings with food and get sadder and fatter or was I going to face my feelings? I decided I would start small and get back to the gym a few times a week. And I started watching my food.  I decided to quit eating sugar. Within days I started to feel better.  A few months later and a few pounds lighter I decided I needed more motivation if I was going to get in the best shape of my life. So I set a date to compete in a figure competition. And now a few months later, a year after one of my worst bouts of depression began, I feel like a new person. I knew cleaning up my diet and working my butt off in the gym would…well…shrink my butt. What I didn’t know was that this would end up being much more than a battle with fat. But it became a fight to dig up some of my old “moxie” that had been buried under hurt, self-doubt and depression.

If you struggle with depression and are reading this, I want you to know that I and many others know what you are going through. And as cliche as it may sound, it’s imperative, if you are not taking care of the basics, i.e., getting regular exercise and eating well, that you start to do so. Don’t wait. Start small. Start today. Most people can improve their depression if they take care of the basics and after you take care of the basics you’ll be amazed at how great you can feel. I’m not a doctor or psychologist by any means but as a fellow person, a friend, who has struggled with depression off and on, I’ve noticed a HUGE correlation with my mental well-being and my food and exercise habits. When I’m taking care of myself my body responds by taking care of me. Not that a healthy diet and exercise will solve EVERYTHING. It won’t but it sure can make a enormous difference.

Wow. I sat down intending to write about how excited I was to see 120 pounds on Evil Scale but realized that what I’m truly excited about is how great I feel due the the healthy lifestyle choices I’ve been committed to the last 6 months.  And I want you to know that no matter where you are on your journey that you’re awesome (yes I still say “awesome”) and that great things are ahead.

Hugs & High Fives
j

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