Round Two

Good evening!!

Who's up for round two of this girl's blog? Not too much has happened in the past 24 hours to report on, but I'll do what I can!

First things first, I should probably reveal to you how I'm spending my summer. I had originally applied for an internship at a laboratory for child development, but didn't get the position :( . At first I was really bummed, but then Joey proposed a fun alternative..."come live at the Jersey Shore with my a cappella group and I!" Well the Jersey Shore is far from anything this southern girl has ever experienced. I'm used to places like Myrtle Beach and Charleston, but Ocean City is a whole different breed of vacationing. It took some time to convince my parents and find a job up here (I'm nannying for a couple of great families), but eventually they agreed and so here I am writing this blog post in a house full of eight guys who, if they're not blasting tunes from the computer, are singing in (almost) perfect harmony 24/7. They are an a cappella group after all, so what did I expect really?

So far, I have loved every second of living in the house with the eight guys of Coastal Vibes (that's their name). They all have embraced a girl living in the house, and although I knew most of them before moving in, I know them wayyyy better than I did almost two weeks ago. They're a ton of fun and you'll definitely be hearing me talk about them a bunch so be prepared.

Coastal Vibes performing "Shout!", From left: Ben, Sean, Joey, Tony, Devron, Channing, and the crazy soloist is John. (They're also missing one member at this gig-Noah)

Today my eats were pretty normal for me. For breakfast I had a bowl of Grapenuts with almond milk and lots of berries added in as well as a cup of nonfat apple cinnamon greek yogurt (a great new flavor Chobani is making). One thing you will very quickly learn about me is that I LOVE breakfast. It is by far my favorite meal and I just can't skip it no matter how busy I am. Good thing they say you should never skip breakfast if you're trying to be healthy! For lunch I had a big salad with a veggie burger, candied pecans, goat cheese, broccoli, and dried cranberries. It was delicious, but I wasn't full yet so then I proceeded to have an apple and a little air popped popcorn (aka-best snack ever).

Dinner was really late tonight because of my post run snack that filled me up for a while (I'll get to that later). So while the guys where rehearsing in the living room, I whipped up some quinoa and sautéd veggies. The veggies where from the farmers market I ventured to the other day, and so they were super fresh. The mushrooms especially had so much flavor. Lucky for me this farmers market happens every Wednesday so you better believe I'll be there. In addition to the quinoa and veggies, I of course had a nice helping of apple slices and nonfat plain greek yogurt (Chobani is my life). And now my brain is working hard writing this blog so I'm fueling it with more air popped popcorn :) 

A quick thing about quinoa, it is so easy to make and packed full of fiber and PROTEIN. I'm a vegetarian (I do eat fish though...so what is that called? a pescetarian..), so quinoa is a great way to supplement my diet. All you do is throw it in a pot with water (I do about 1 cup of quinoa at a time and 1 and 1/2 cups of water) and turn the heat to high until it's boiling, and then turn the heat down to low and let it simmer with the lid on for about 15 minutes (or until the quinoa has absorbed the water). And there you have it, delicious quinoa that you can eat for breakfast lunch and dinner... and it's sooo healthy! 

This is actually my dinner from last night, which also included scrambled egg whites with spinach and some carrots and hummus on the side, but at least you get the idea of that quinoa!

I just think it's funny to note the difference in my dinner and my boyfriend's. I'm cooking the veggies, he's cooking some sort of beans and hotdogs out of a can with cheese melted on top...interesting. I hate boys who can eat anything they want..ugh the world is not fair...

I could talk about food all day, but we'll move on to the workout part of the post. Yesterday I went for a quick 3.5 mile run on the boardwalk before hitting the beach with the boys for about 30 minutes (it started to rain booo), and then I went to the gym late last night for a little strength training with Joey and Devron. While they got to work on the heavy weight lifting, Joey gave me a couple of sets to do to work my upper body. I'll just tell you now, I am a weakling when it comes to lifting anything heavy. As Joey likes to say, I have the strength of a kitten. Here it goes...don't laugh...

Dumbbell shoulder press (working shoulders):

20 X with 10 lb weight

18 X with 12 lb weight

16 X with 15 lb weight 

14 X with 18 lb weight

12 X with 20 lb weight 

Those last two sets were BRUTAL!! I was shaking. 

Tricep Dips (working triceps): 

4 rounds of 20 dips on a bench with legs extended straight out 

I was told that if that becomes too easy, then try lifting one leg up in the air while dipping, but I definitely didn't find this too easy, so I kept my feet on the ground thank you very much. 

Super Set: Pushups/ Straight Bar Bicep Curls (working chest and arms)

10 pushups 

15 bicep curls with a 20 lb straight bar

^repeated 4 times^

Hammer Strength Chest Press Machine (working chest)

4 sets of 20 reps at 50 lbs

Then I just meandered around the gym doing various ab and back exercises until the boys where done with their workout.

Let me tell you, I woke up this morning and could barely move my upper body. I was so sore it took all of my strength to lift a carton of almond milk out of the fridge for breakfast. That's the best feeling in the world though-knowing that you've worked hard and pushed your muscles to get stronger. I'll admit that I really was scared of doing any strength training for a while because I didn't want to "bulk up". For a shortie like me, "bulking up" would look so funny. But Joey quickly talked me out of that fear and explained that it's not going to happen because A. I'm not on steroids, and B. I'm not going to the gym and lifting massive amounts for hours every day..I'm just toning up! So if you're like me and are afraid of the muscle building stuff, you apparently need not worry. And anyway, the more muscle you have, the more fat your body burns throughout the day, even when you're not engaging in physical activity because you're metabolism is increased. Hoorah! 

So since I could barely move my arms this morning, I decided I nice run was best for today's workout. Joey accompanied me for a nice 4.7 mile run on the board walk around 5pm this evening. It wasn't too hot out and we didn't  go too fast so it was actually really relaxing. Well, I didn't think it was bad, but Joey isn't the biggest fan of running just yet so he said it was horrible. We actually made a deal for the summer- he trains me in strength stuff, and I train him in running. We have even signed up for a half marathon in the fall! 

Blast from the past post run snack: Freeze Pops!! Our freezer is filled with these things because the boys love them, but they are especially amazing after a long hot run. Not the healthiest probably, but who cares. I love those things.

That's it for tonight guys!! Adios until tomorrow!