NSVs

On weight loss message boards, a lot of times you read about NSVs (or nonscale victories). In other words, cool stuff that happens that isn't reflected on the scale (compliments, etc.).

I had a cool NSV Saturday morning. I decided that I wanted to check my true resting heart rate again (that is, in the morning before you get out of bed). It's best to check it on a weekend day or some other day when you don't have to wake up with any alarm.

So I checked mine (with my heart rate monitor, so I didn't miscount):

46 beats per minute

Pretty darn cool!

The last time I checked it a few months ago it was 66 bpm, so it's definitely come down a lot.

Yet another reason why running rocks!!!

OH YEAH, I also improved my 3[.07] mile time Sunday morning--35:36 (11:34/mile)!

We have our second kickball practice tonight at 9 p.m., so we're pretty much just hanging around until then.

My parents rock!

Just sayin'.

June 2008 @ Jimmy Buffett

August 2009 @ Oak Island


My mom has become a super cyclist and walker and my dad just finished Day 36 of P90X (he's also still running and cycling--he ran 3 miles today at 8:41/mile).

I think it's pretty awesome that my dad is 25 years older than me and is running miles 4:21 faster than me!

Go mom and dad!

There's gonna be a lot more room in the seats at the App. games this year!!

If you're looking for a funny movie and aren't easily offended, Brian and I highly recommend "The Goods." It's hilarious!

A River Runs Through It*

* It = Our Backyard

This afternoon, it rained pretty much the hardest I've ever seen it rain for a good 20 minutes. It was pretty crazy. Once the rain stopped, I was walking by the sliding glass door and happened to glance outside and was surprised to find out that we now have river access from our backyard:

Sorry the footage sucks. That's why I manage content and don't film it.

We have a drainage easement right at the back of our property that we had occasionally notice fills up with some water after it has rained. However, now that a lot of the houses along the back side of the easement have been built, H.H. Hunt (one of the builders in our 'hood) has planted grass seed and covered it with hay. It pretty much sucks for the people who are behind us where the land is significantly lower (especially because a lot of their grass seed washed away today). I'm just glad that our house is up on a hill (kinda like Jerusalem)! None of this flooding was on any of our property. We're not sure what's up with that drain right behind us with the black meshy stuff. We're pretty sure it's just there to keep construction mud out of the drain and that the mesh will be removed when the house immediately behind us is finished. Hopefully that will help reduce the flooding in the future.

We also came across something pretty funny at the grocery store Wednesday night. Smack dab in the middle of the Kraft Macaroni & Cheese was a box of Kraft Dinner (which is what Kraft Mac&Cheese is called in Canada). The box is clearly meant to be sold in Canada because it's half-French/half-English.

We would have bought it but decided not to because we have our own box of Kraft Dinner that we bought in Canada on our first road trip there. (Kraft Dinner is immortalized in a few Barenaked Ladies' songs--namely, "If I Had a Million Dollars.")

Pretty funny stuff!

If you're bored on Saturday, Brian will be hosting a shift at WCPE from 3-6 p.m. (www.theclassicalstation.org | 89.7 FM).

I, on the other hand, will be hosting no one.

I did, however, run my fastest 3.07 miles this afternoon: 37:55 (12:20/mile). The fastest mile I've run is 11:16 (on Monday), but that was only 2.39 miles. If I could get under 30 minutes for 3.07 miles, I'd be ecstatic, but I'm thinking it's gonna have to be about 50 degrees and I'm going to need to be about 30 lbs. lighter. :-)

And, finally, we got our kickball game schedule today. If you ever want to come out and see us, we will probably need fan support! All games are at East Wake Middle School.

Wednesday 8/26 at 9pm
Monday 8/31 at 9pm
Thursday 9/3 at 9pm
Thursday 9/10 at 7:30pm
Tuesday 9/15 at 8pm
Thursday 9/17 at 7:30pm
Monday 9/21 at 7pm
Thursday 9/24 at 7:30pm
Thursday 10/1 at 7:30pm
Monday 10/5 at 7pm

GO TEAM!

Wednesday Night Groceries | Nice People

We went back to the grocery store last night (even though we had just been on Friday) to get back in the same weekly pattern (plus, we were almost out of fruit and some things that we didn't get Friday).

The List

Kashi Cherry Dark Chocolate Granola Bars

Kellogg's Smart Start Cinnamon Raisin Cereal

Ken's Fat Free Raspberry Vinaigrette

South Beach Living Mocha Snack Bars

Healthy Choice Mixers (Ziti with Meat Sauce)

Propel (Grape)

Diet Cheerwine

Harris Teeter Diced Tomatoes

Mrs. Cubbison's Croutons

World Harboro Teriyaki Marinade

Fresh Caught Alaskan Salmon (8 oz.)

Boar's Head Genoa Salami

Weight Watchers Chocolate Chip Cookies

Weight Watchers Chocolate Brownies

Yellow Bananas (3)

Bartlett Pears (2)

Blueberries

Dried Figs

Cucumber (1)

Yellow Sweet Onion (1)

Smart Ones Chocolate Eclairs

Smart Ones Fudge Brownies

Ittibitz Ice Cream

Lean Cuisine Three Meat Pizza

Harris Teeter (Sweet, Frozen) Pepper Strips

Sargento Colby Jack Cheese Sticks

Harris Teeter Fat Free Cream Cheese

Yoplait Light Orange Cream Yogurt

Yoplait Light Strawberry Shortcake Yogurt

Yoplait Light White Chocolate Strawberry Yogurt

Yoplait Light Cherry Cobbler Yogurt

Eggbeaters

Harris Teeter Fat Free Half and Half

***

I've pretty much felt crappy all week. Just kinda tired and generally "blah."

Tonight, when I came home from work, I actually fell asleep on the couch for about 30 minutes until Brian came home. When he came home, he was Mr. Up and At'Em and went right upstairs, changed into his workout clothes, and leashed Gatsby up into his special new walking harness that keeps him from pulling (it works great!!) and they were out the door.

I, on the other hand, was still laying on the couch half awake.

It took pretty much all the energy in the world to motivate myself to get up, walk upstairs, put my shoes on, and go out to run.

Right after I started running, I went by one of our neighbor's houses who we know sorta well (aka, we know their names). He was outside on his patio and gave me the nicest compliment about weight loss. It definitely kept me motivated through the rest of my run. That was the second compliment I had received this week from people that I pretty much just know as acquaintances. It really goes to show how small comments to people can really make people feel better!

It was only 88 degrees out tonight, but it was INCREDIBLY humid. Probably a CODE BLACK ozone day. Fortunately, none of us died, but I think Brian probably thought he was going to die.

Speaking of whom, he's probably going to have to go jeans shopping pretty soon because the ones he has now are getting way too big!!! YAY BRIAN!

TGI(almost)F

Title Image Update

From left to right, top to bottom:

L&B with the Stanley Cup (June 06)

L at the hotel in Michigan right before App. completed the greatest update in College Football History (Sept. 07)

L&B with Sold sign (Feb. 08)

B driving home from Baton Rouge (escaping Hurricane Gustav) (Sept. 08)

L&B at Put-in-Bay, Ohio (Oct. 03, I think)

L&B before a Panthers game (Nov. 03, I think)

B ice skating in Ottawa (Feb. 06)

L&B at Callie and Clay's wedding reception (May 09)

G on the couch (April 09)

B on our honeymoon cruise (June 06)

L&B at Callie and Clay's wedding rehearsal (May 09)

L&B at an App. game (Nov. 06)

L&B at Callie and Clay's wedding reception (May 09)

B with the weedeater (July 08)

L&B at Callie and Clay's wedding reception (May 09)

L in Ocean sporting Callie's App. jersey (June 09)

L&B at L's Master's graduation (May 06)

G napping over Christmas in Ocean (Jan. 09)

Bears | Laura Beth is a Klutz

I think I mentioned a few months ago that every time I lose 10 pounds I e-mail NutriSystem and they mail me a bear.

So my fourth bear came on Friday:

Aren't they cute?

They live on the TV in the exercise room to help keep me motivated.

Speaking of which, I never got out to do my exercise until after it was dark, so I decided to do the elliptical. I don't mind the elliptical, but sometimes it can get really boring and ever since I've started running, it's been really, really hard to keep my heart rate up while I exercise. (Because my heart is getting stronger, it beats less often when I'm not working out as hard, so I have to go really, really hard to keep it up if I'm not running.)

Like, my poor little legs were moving so fast that I got sick of it. I hung around for like 32 minutes and then decided to jump off and just run around the house for the last 8 minutes (up and down the stairs and so on). Well, as soon as I jumped off the elliptical to bounce out of the room, I definitely plowed right into the side of the door. It kinda hurt, but it's all good (nothing broken but my pride). Kept going and ran around for 8 minutes with Gatsby chasing me. (He couldn't hang the whole time though and had to stop for a water break.)

Brian just thought I was insane.

Probably so.

An organized pantry and fun with the rice cooker

Today I spent the day organizing our kitchen pantry (and kitchen cabinets), which was BADLY needed. When I first started NutriSystem, I just kinda threw all the old food up onto the top of the pantry to make space for the NS food and it looked not-so-very-good. In fact, I got hit in the head last night when I was putting up the groceries.

So, if you want to laugh at our lack of disorganization, you can because I took before and after pics of the pantry.

http://picasaweb.google.com/lsleblanc82/PantryReorganization#

I'm not incredibly pleased with the top shelf (we really need more shelves down on the floor), but it will do for now because it's pretty much all baking stuff and other things that we don't use everyday. I tried to organize based on what we use the most (so breakfast, lunch, and dinner foods are on the bottom shelf; snacks on the middle shelf; and other cooking supplies on the portable shelves on the floor).

After the pantry, I was pretty much on a roll, so started reorganizing some of the cabinets to consolidate things and move things around so that they'd be in better places on the counter.

Gatsby pretty much laid on the couch and stared at me and watched the Roomba zip by on the floor. (Brian drove to Wilson with his friend Adam so that Adam could take some pictures for his Web site.)

When Brian got home, we decided to attempt to make fried rice since we've had a rice cooker since February that we had never used. The rice cooker was pretty much the greatest thing ever. We had perfectly cooked brown rice in like 20 minutes and then we each were able to fry it up like we wanted.

Brian's was pretty much just fried rice with soy sauce and then he had some turkey sausage sandwiches. My rice was fried up with some peppers, broccoli, mushrooms, hoisin sauce, soy sauce, and some veggie burger crumbles. Both our meals were DELICIOUS. We were so pleased and it was really fun to cook together. Next time I think I want to put some Eggbeaters in mine.

My dinner:

Brian's dinner:

Oh yeah, I also had a veggie omelet again this morning--does anyone know the best way to flip an omelet? I seriously screw it up every time. At least it tastes good, even if the presentation sucks!