July 16, 2013

Do you ever have one of those days where you just can't stop dancing or smiling, and you are having a wonderful day for no particular reason? Well, that was yesterday for me! I woke up for work bright and early for work (for those who don't know, my current work shift is 4AM-1PM, so I'm up at 3:50AM to work from my home office), feeling like the day was going to be great. Instead of sitting down, I stood up in front of my computer, helping my customers, talking with co-workers, and dancing to no music. My breakfast was awesome, my work day was awesome, my kid and husband were awesome, and my following workout and evening were spectacular! 

Monday was my chest and shoulders day. I also switched up my cardio machine. I usually LOVE the cross-country machine, but I opted for the elliptical instead. The different muscle groups that it hit and the sweat dripping down my chest, back, and face were confirmation that I made the right choice! I ended up burning 500 calories and felt pretty freakin' wonderful afterwards! 

After the gym, my husband and I ran to the store to grab some more fresh fruit. We are eating so many more fruits and veggies without even thinking twice about it! It makes it so much easier to make healthier snack choices when there are ripe peaches, apples, and bananas sitting in a HUGE bowl on your dining room table! It's a great start to clean eating if you are interested in giving it a shot! 

Even though we are making cleaner food choices, we do still have a ways to go. The biggest hurdle that I have at this time is dessert. Even though it's not clean, I made delicious lemon crinkle cookies yesterday. The recipe did call for powdered sugar, which I didn't use, but you can always use it if you'd like to. In the future, I'm going to add my own lemon zest and juice to amp up the lemon flavor. As well, I'm looking into healthier alternatives for the boxed cake mix and Cool Whip (read: LESS PROCESSED SUGAR). However, since the recipe was so easy and fast (3 ingredients, 3 dozen, 30 minutes), I'm going to share it with you. Chloë helped me with making these and we had an absolute blast working together!

Here's what you need for crinkle cookies:

1 box of cake mix (I chose lemon today. Get what you want!)

1 8-oz package Cool Whip

1 egg

1. Lightly beat egg. Add cake mix and fold in Cool Whip.

2. Drop small balls of mix (it will be very sticky) onto a cookie sheet covered with parchment paper. I used a table spoonful per cookie.

3. In an oven preheated to 350 degrees, bake cookies for 10-12 minutes.

4. Pull cookies out when finished baking. Allow to cool for several minutes before transferring to a cooling rack.

These cookies were so easy to make and yielding a large amount- three dozen. The best thing about these cookies were they were only 64 calories each! My husband and I enjoyed a couple each while sitting on the front porch together last night without feeling guilty about having dessert. 

Finally, while my daughter and I were watching "Aladdin" last night (my favorite movie of all time), I was surfing the web and came across a witty, yet inspiring poster. It really hit home because there are days when all I want to do is sleep or be a couch potato or just do nothing at all, but this poster says it all: 

Keep this in mind if you are ever thinking about skipping your workout. Hell, keep this in mind when you think about skipping out on anything that you know is beneficial for you. You'll NEVER regret taking time for yourself and doing something good for yourself. Taking time to make a nice meal, a fun dessert, spending time with those you love, or working out is what makes life fun and interesting. So don't skip something because you don't feel like it. 

Have a great Tuesday, everyone! Today is my cardio day and I can't wait to get on that spin cycle and crush it! I hope you all have plans to get out there and make it one of those days where you can't stop dancing!