Party!!

There's so much to update you on! The past few days have been a whirlwind, but a lot of fun.

We'll start with the rest of Friday. After our day early afternoon of laying in the sun, all 11 of us (my mom, dad, the 8 Coastal Vibes, and myself) all drove to Lexington, NC because the guys had a gig at a country club event that night.

Look at the awesome sign that was made for the guys! They got to keep it! 

That's my grandmother...the guys brought her up so they could sing "It's Gonna be Me" by N*Sync directly to her. It was so funny, and she ate them up 

Made her night I'm sure! 

Such a great performance once again! 

They also had some good ol' southern comfort food for dinner which included fried chicken, green beans, corn bread, and mac n' cheese (chicken fingers and french fries for the kids). Although the guys scarfed it down, that stuff isn't really up my ally so I ordered something off of the menu that is possibly one of my favorite meals....salmon and asparagus! I meant to take a picture, but I ate it before I remembered to do so. 

Saturday morning we all woke up early to help my mom set up for the party. Then Joey and I went for a quick 4.5 mile run around the neighborhood before we had to get back and throw on our bathing suits for a day at my Aunt's lake house! 

Such a perfect day! 

Livin' the life 

The weather was absolutely perfect and everything was so relaxing. We just laid in the sun all afternoon, jumped in the water and swam around on noodles, and then ate lunch. The guys had giant subs from Jersey Mikes and I ate the lunch I had packed. Again, I forgot to take a picture in all of the excitement (you'll see that no food pictures is a theme in this post unfortunately). In my lunch went a small spinach salad with walnuts, apples, and cranberries, carrots and hummus, an apple, and a Chobani greek yogurt for a snack later on. 

After thoroughly enjoying ourselves out on the boat for a few hours, we had to head back to Charlotte for the PARTY! Everyone was so tired on the car ride back that I turned around towards the end of the drive and everyone was passed out. 

The party started at 5, but most people didn't arrive until 6 or so (no one wants to be the first one at a party anyway). The backyard was decorated beautifully. Mama Shelley did a fantastic job, not that I expected any less from her. She really should be a party planner. Several people told me it looked like something that would be on Pinterest....SO true right?! I should pin these pics. 

The food was amazing too. It was catered by a chef who owns a food truck (my mom and I LOVE food trucks so it was perfect). He made an assortment of hors d'oeuvres including coffee seared beef sliders with chipotle aioli, mini crab cakes with horseradish sauce, pigs in a blanket with spicy mustard, black bean hummus with banana chips (weird combo I know, but it was pretty good...I'd be lying if I said I didn't break out the Kashi crackers later on to dip in the leftover hummus), mini grilled cheese with roasted red pepper aioli. Desserts included phyllo cups with mascarpone mouse and blueberries, brownies, and chocolate chip cookies. 

I was so busy mingling that I really only had time to try the black bean hummus and the crab cakes and they were delicious!

Taste the rainbow...the guys call their colorful v-necks "the adult wiggles look" which is highly accurate 

Everyone LOVED Coastal Vibes. Everyone wished that they lived here so they could perform at their parties and various venues around Charlotte. No joke, they got several offers to do other gigs here, but unfortunately we leave to go home tomorrow morning, and this trip was probably a one time deal :( Why can't the Jersey Shore be closer??? 

Even my brother Evan made an appearance at the party...notice his shirt..."Beach Chick" really?? He is such a weirdo, but I'm glad he came for a bit 

Two of my very best friends from high school were at the party as well! Meredith (left) and Hannah (right) are rising seniors in high school and freshman in college respectively, but we all ran cross country and track together in high school. They're honestly two of the nicest girls I know. I'm so glad they came by!!

After most people left around 10:30, we stayed outside and continued to hang out around the hottub until about 12 when most of us went upstairs and crashed. I had to pull myself out of bed at 9am so I could come down and help get everyone breakfast and write this post before we have to help clean everything up. You should see our backyard...it's a total mess, but that's just a sign that it was a great party!! 

After we do that it will be a nice relaxing day. I have a few errands to run including one to Earth Fare (aka-my favorite beyond favorite place to go food shopping), and possibly getting my nails done :) 

Enjoy this lengthy post! I'm sorry it's not so much health and fitness related as usual. This weekend has just been more about having fun and making sure everyone is having a good time. I promise once we get back it will be back to normal!

See you guys late tomorrow, once we're back in Jersey. 

The Art of Road Tripping

Sorry I missed y'all yesterday! It was a super long day of being crammed a small two door car for 10 and a half hours with only three measly potty breaks (a major record for me).

The day started with my alarm going off at 7:15 so I could get out for a very quick run and be back by 8. 4 miles on the boardwalk and I was back at the house scarfing down my usual Grapenuts with berries and green tea. Then it was shower time, loading up the cars, and by 10am on the dot, we began our long journey south.

I was lucky enough to have two pretty funny guys with me in the car, so I was pretty entertained by their shenanigans throughout the ride. I tried to get a video of them belting all the words to songs from the Broadway musical Wicked, but my camera died :( You get the idea anyway though. I was thoroughly serenaded the entire way down with their renditions of songs by everyone from Beyonce to Gavin Degraw, to more Broadway show tunes...and everything else in between.

Like I said, my camera died early on in the trip so I couldn't take any pictures of the day's eats! But I can still tell you about them:

I never really had a distinct lunch perse, just nibbling on snacks throughout the day whenever I got hungry. I had packed some apple slices, carrots, celery, and a Chobani greek yogurt-all of which was gone by about 2:00 (meaning 6.5 more hours in the car with nothing to eat...not happening). So at our second stop I grabbed a low-fat cheese stick, peanut butter Clif Bar, and a soy unsweetened green tea latté (my absolute favorite drink) from Starbucks to hold me over until the big dinner my mom was busy making for us. That was the first time I have ever had a Clif Bar...I'll be honest and say that I didn't care for it too much. I know that tons of people love them (my Dad is a huge fan), but for some reason I just can't get into the texture or something.

We made one more stop around 6 for Joey and Duncan to try some Bojangles-a southern fast food staple, but I opted out because unlike them A.) I would not have been hungry for dinner a coulpe of hours later and B.) I really really really dislike fast food. Ever since I since 7th grade health class when we watched those movies about what fast food chains do to their food, I have never been able to look at a chicken tender, french frie, or McDouble the same way.

Often on trips I feel like my healthy habits have the tendency to go out the door a little bit, but I felt decently good about my eats yesterday! It's always always a smart idea to pack your own healthy snacks for the road because more often than not, there's nowhere to stop where you can get a healthy selection--and no a "real fruit smoothie" from McDonalds does not count as healthy.

FINALLY we arrived home around 8:30 and got to sit down for an amazing dinner prepared by the best chef I know....Mama Shelley duh!!

Baked Ziti for the guys!...Of course I tried it though...I can't even to put into words how good it was.
For recipe, click here.

Spaghetti squash pour moi! 

Mmmm so healthy...and it actually tastes SO much like real spaghetti 

Topping for the squash! (see below for recipe!)

Commence mouth watering.

Big salad for the group! Gotta get some greens in there somewhere!

Baked spaghetti squash:

You can get a spaghetti squash at most grocery stores. Cut it in half (which might be difficult to do), clean out the seeds and gucky stuff on the inside like you would a pumpkin. Spray down a baking sheet and place the two halves of the spaghetti squash face down on the sheet and pop them in the oven at 350 degrees for about 30-45 minutes or until you can stick a knife into the squash and it feels pretty soft. Then take the squash out, and use a fork to scrape out the squash that brakes apart into stringy pieces that look like spaghetti!

For the topping, simply sauté onions, garlic, and tomatoes (my mom used canned diced tomatoes) with some olive oil.

Scoop topping onto the squash and add some basil and feta cheese for extra flavor. Voila! A simple, healthy, and delicious dinner you won't be able to stop eating...even the boys wanted to try it because it looked so good!

So happy to be here!! 

After a quick dip in the pool/ hot tub after dinner last night, we all crashed. This morning my mom, Joey, Devron and I woke up semi-early (it felt like we were waking up at the crack of dawn), and went to our local gym to get a quick workout in before the day got started.

My mom and I worked out with her trainer and good friend Traci (she's amazing), while Joey and Devron did their own thing.

Traci always kicks my butt when I work out with her. Seriously, I'm not even kidding when I say that everything gets worked. I knew I wasn't going to be able to remember everything that we did so I intended to bring a notebook with me to just jot it all down so I could share it with y'all...but then my mind wasn't working this morning and I totally forgot :(

No worries though! She'll be at our party tomorrow so I can ask her to help me fill in the exercises I can't remember, or don't know the name of, and I'll post it up tomorrow so you can do with it what you will.

Relaxing in the sun out back! 

Mama Shelley checking to make sure the backyard is perfect for da PARTAY tomorrow! 

Alrighty, I'm off to relax in the sun a little and do some reading before we have to get ready and go to the guys' gig at a country club in Winston Salem tonight. Have a great start to the weekend!!

Happy Hump Day

Last night was a doozy. I had about three cups of caffeinated green tea to keep me awake because I had to pick Joey up at the bus station at 1:50 in the morning. It was pretty miserable since, like I told y'all before, I didn't fall asleep until 3 am the night before. Somehow I made it there and back without falling asleep behind the wheel, but as soon as I walked in the door, I crashed and was out until 9:30 this morning.

Plain Greek yogurt with berries, Kashi Go Lean Crunch, and a little agave nectar for sweetness :) Green tea on the side! 

After breakfast I got caught up on the Glee Project while the guys had practice...and maybe I watched them a little too...

Just the guys practicing their "It's Gonna be Me" choreography...they are exact replicas of N*Sync don't ya think?

When they were done, Joey and I hit the boardwalk for a run. I was going to surprise him and not tell him that we were doing 2.5 miles down and 2.5 miles back (grand total of 5 which would be a new record for him), but he surprised me at mile 2 when he said he wanted to keep going another mile before turning around! In his mind he thought he was saying, "Hey let's run three miles in this direction and then take our time getting back, maybe slowly jogging the fourth mile and possibly walking the last two miles"...of course that's not what I thought so we ended up running the whole SIX MILES. He barely even complained (well...at least he didn't during the run...I heard all about it later). We weren't going super fast or anything, but I was still very impressed that he did it. 

After the run I was starving so I immediately whipped up a big fruit smoothie. I was going to take a picture...but I inhaled it before I could even find my camera. Oops! In the blender went ice, blueberry greek yogurt, frozen berries, a little almond milk, a spoonful of almond butter, and a heaping handful of spinach. It hit the spot! I also had some carrots and celery with hummus :) 

Since we had gone on a long run this morning, I tagged along with Joey to the gym later tonight so I could hold up my end of our deal and do some strength training. Here's what went down: 

1st circuit: (pretty much the same as the other day)

squats holding 20 lb dumbbells 

pushups

lunges holding 10 lb dumbbells

shoulder press with 10 lb dumbbells 

Go through the circuit doing 10 reps of each exercise (10 reps on each leg for the lunges), and then repeat the circuit again doing each exercise for 8 reps, then 6, 4, and finally 2 (add more weight on at the end if it seems too easy). 

Then I did twelve minutes of abs which included a lot of bosuball crunches, leg raises, bicycles, sit-ups,  and a couple of planks. 

2nd circuit: 

10 assisted pull-ups (if you can do real ones, then by all means...more power to you)

15 Romanian dead lifts with 45 lb bar (hamstrings on fire!!) 

10 pushups 

15 bicep curls with 10 lb weight ( I should have done more weight on that one... I wimped out)

repeat the whole circuit 4 times through 

When we got back from the gym I was on a mission to eat because I was STARVING. Time to whip up the ever-delicious sautéd mushrooms, asparagus, and zucchini that I bought at the farmers market today. 

Mmmmm!

With the veggies went a pink lady apple, grapes from the farmers market, and a Chobani apple cinnamon greek yogurt! 

Okay so that was my first dinner. What I didn't realize when I saw Joey making dinner...was that he was making some for both of us. So poor me had to have two dinners! Lucky for me the second one was AMAZING! Who knew Joey could cook??

First he sautéd portobello mushrooms and red onions (both from farmers market) with olive oil and garlic 

Sweet potato (last farmers market purchase), cut up and mixed with cinnamon, sugar, and olive oil before being baked in the 400 degree oven for 20 minutes (flipping them over after 10 minutes)

The chef at work with his Betty Boop oven mit...I was dying...

Plating his dish...

He also made salmon cakes! Salmon packet mixed with celery, red onion, one egg, lemon, and breadcrumbs. Thrown on a pan with some olive oil and cooked for 2-3 minutes on each side until golden brown...SO delicious.  

Good thing I did a lot of working out today!...I think I deserved all this food :) 

Obviously Joey approved of  his own dish...ate it all but the lemon rind!

Alright! I'm off to get ready for our big road trip to Charlotte tomorrow! The guys have some gigs there (including one at my house..PARTY!!) I'm so excited to go home; it should be a great weekend. Tomorrow is going to be a longggg day of riding in the car for ten hours, but it's worth it! I'll talk to you guys tomorrow night! 

Baking!

Happy Tuesday!

Last night I told myself I was going to get up early this morning and head to the gym...didn't happen. I couldn't fall asleep last night until 3am so when my alarm went off at 8 and I looked outside to see it was a cold a dreary day here on the Jersey Shore, I turned that alarm right off and curled back up under the covers. My eyes didn't open again until 9:30 when I finally willed myself out of bed because my stomach was grumbling. What do you know I had my usual grapenuts, berries, and almond milk this morning. Sorry I've been in such a rut with my morning meal! Usually I'm not so boring, but I hadn't had time to get to the store to by anything new...until today!!

There are few things I love more than grocery shopping

This trip to the store occurred after a quick workout at the gym.

A quick 4 miles before doing ab work and lots of squats and lunges! 

When I got home from the gym and store, I got right to baking these delicious things...

Whole wheat oatmeal muffins with berries. Mini muffins have dark chocolat chips instead of berries :)

The awesome thing about these muffins is that they taste amazing, but aren't bad for you! I'll post the recipe below (from a healthy food blogger) so you guys can try them out! I highly recommend them. Even the guys in the house like them!..and since when do boys like anything healthy??

Raspberry-Blackberry Jumbo Muffins

• 1 and 1/4c. oats (quick cooking)
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour 
• 1/2c. whole-wheat flour
• 1/3c. sugar (I used agave nectar instead)
• 1/4c. brown sugar, unpacked
• 1 tbl. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1 egg (I used an egg white substitute) 
• 1c. fat-free milk (I used almond milk)
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla
• 2/3c. frozen raspberries and blackberries
• Cooking spray

Instructions:

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
2. Mix together the oats, flour, brown sugar, baking powder, and salt together in a medium-sized bowl.
3. In a smaller bowl, combine the egg, milk, and vanilla, and agave (if that's what you're using) 
4. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry, and stir together just until moist (over-mixing can cause unpleasant texture).
5. Mix the frozen berries with 1 tbl. flour until they are coated. Fold berries gently into the batter, making sure they are evenly distributed
6. Spray a 6-cup muffin pan with cooking spray, and fill each muffin cup about 2/3 of the way full with batter 
7. Place the muffins in the oven and cook for about 20-25 minutes: this changes depending on where you live and such, so make sure to keep an eye on them! (Tip: To test if they are done, either stick a toothpick in and see if it comes out clean, or touch the top of the muffin and if it springs back it is ready).

Here's the link to Healthy Bites, which is the blog that I got this recipe from! There are so many things on there that I want to try.

Since I obviously had to try the batter several times(*perks of baking*), and had a few bites of muffin fresh out of the oven, I wasn't very hungry for lunch yet and it was getting late so I decided to just snack on some fruits and veggies with hummus to hold me over until dinner.

yes that is a piece of muffin hanging out on the edge of my plate....

That's it!! I need to go shower...still haven't done that...oopsies. Go bake something!!

Busy start to the week!

Ello!!

Sorry I didn't get to a post yesterday! I didn't think it was totally worth it since I didn't have any new or interesting eats, and I took a day off from working out because it was a crazy busy day and my body was just beat.

Today was slightly more eventful and started with a 9am run on the boardwalk with Duncan and Joey. We had a good time on our quick 3.6 mile run..or at least I had a good time! Joey later said, "Jordan...I'm not getting any better at running..." But he's only been running with my about 3 times since the summer started so just like I'm not going to grow muscles and be able to do those dreaded pull-ups overnight, he's not going to be able to run like the wind for miles and miles without feeling slightly miserable just yet. All in good time!

post run photo op...is Joey crying??

Obviously not a happy camper...

Not sure what to think about these shoes yet, apparently they're great for working out...I still think they look funny

After the run we were starving so I whipped up some cinnamon graham cracker pancakes for Joey and Duncan. It was a mix that I got at William-Sonoma so it was really easy and I think they enjoyed them ;)

PANCAKES!! 

Told you they were well received 

Grapenuts, almond milk, berries, and cinnamon for me :)

Then I let my food digest while watching Lost (of course..). The guys were practicing and I had a lot of energy so I went back out onto the boardwalk to run another couple of miles. It felt great! Sorry I don't have any strength training stuff for y'all today. I was being a boring runner.

The rest of the day's eats were pretty boring because I was busy running around doing errands, babysitting, and taking Duncan and Joey to the bus station so they could be on their way to New York City! They're going to see Book of Mormon for Duncan's birthday and I'M SO JEALOUS.

So that's about all I have for y'all today! I promise I'll have something more innovative tomorrow whether it's food or workout oriented...we'll see! I'll leave you with a few fun photos from our trip to the Ocean City Boardwalk last night. I think you'll see we had a good time...

Shenanigans....