beach day @ rio del mar

rio del mar is south of santa cruz and capitola.  beating the crazy california traffic means getting on the road no later than 9am.

we met up with several other fun families and made our way to the beach.
parking wasn't too bad too (another reason to get there early, like by 11am) but i think we took one of the last spots.  if you head down beach road, go left on the round about and head to the end there is some public parking, $10 for all day.

ash is in town.  which always adds some fun and color to any outing...

this pretty much sums up us.  

love our friends here in california.  seriously such a fun group!

we spend the day eating, laughing, napping and just enjoying the sun on the beach.

and then there's this guy.
he spent the day in the water totally loving every minute.  on the boogie board chasing the waves, playing football and watching the school of dolphins.  i forget sometimes what a fish he is.

to avoid the returning traffic we stopped for dinner in capitola at paradise beach grill for some tasty food.  eat out on the deck and watch the sunset against the colorful homes on the beach, sets for the perfect relaxing end to a day.  after which walk across the street to a tasty little ice cream shop for some "monkey business"  (my favorite flavor).

yep...i'm still at it.

i'm onto week 3 of eating lean.mean.2014.
at times it's been a breeze while at other times i'm ready to poke my eye out.  i follow the meal plan pretty closely and have been hitting the gym hard.

i had 1 day each week i faltered on my eating.  one day i was in need of comfort food (aunt flo was in town) and wanting to snack while at my office desk.  i thought crackers wouldn't be bad.  i grabbed and filled up a red solo cup of these delicious munchies...

idea gone oh so wrong!  after eating them i thought, hmmm... wonder how many calories that was.  600!  can you believe that?  i wasted almost 1/2 of my calories on those dirty crackers.  had i known i would have gone for ice cream, a delicious hamburger or something of substance.  but animal crackers?

anyway, back on track-

i have gone 5 days a week to the gym for 1-2 hours burning anywhere from 500-1,100 calories.  i've been focused on cardio these last 2 weeks and will be adding more strength training starting week 3.

Result:  when i stick to the plan i haven't been hungry and for the most part haven't had cravings.  honestly though, my body has been super tired, which is why i took an extra day off.  my body has gone from 1-2 days of a semi-workout to 5 hard days.  i think it's acclamating and feeling better for week 3 which i plan to move to 6 days.

i do feel my muscles tightening. i haven't dropped any inches or seen any change in the scale until just the other morning where i went from 131/132 to 127.  not too focused on that right now.  my dedication to eating cleaner and working out more has been the exciting part.

i figure the rest will follow.

adventuring @ sunrise

we talked about doing this all summer.  chasing the sunrise.

these cute girls (who i absolutely love and adore), on their very last day of being able to sleep in and enjoy summer invited me to wake up early and go for a morning adventure with them.   we piled in the mini with hot chocolate and blankets and headed for the hills.

 the hike up was awesome chatting all the way until we met "the hill".  a definite cardio workout.

 

up at the top was beautiful.  peaceful.  we sat there on the hill in silence and just took it all in.
best way to start a morning.  and i guess end a summer :)

the challenge.

i'm not much into fads and trends but when i watched the original ALS ice bucket challenge i knew i had to join in when my girl Julie Edgin challenged me.

please join in and donate here : ALS DONATE and enjoy getting doused in frigid ice water ;)



so here i go,  Morgan McArthur Stevenson, Jeff & Jana Dodenbier, Valerie Miller, and Michelle Morley.

you have 24 hours!!

a night of champions.

 they won!                                                    

dublin city champions!                                         

great job team captain.  you not only rock as the team captain but you rocked the ballpark.

Florence

it's been awhile since this trip.  but who wouldn't want to walk down memory lane today and think back to write and post about this place.

ahhhh...firenze aka florence.

such a beautiful place and one i wish i could spend a day getting lost in.  well, that is if jill is by my side.  she and her adorable little family made the experience not only memorable but a favorite stop for shawn and i.

our favorite part of the trip?  staying in their beautiful little home.  i mean can you see those windows and that view!  the spaghetti was to die for.  wowwy.  michele and jill made it from scratch, fresh tomatoes their garden and honestly the best spaghetti we have ever had.  shawn and i still to this day crave it.  (jill...overnight package??? ;)

being my second time in the city, she took us around to places i had never seen and some that i had seen but with stories that were new and fascinating.

mateo stole the show wherever we went with his little monkey backpack on.  while standing in front of the florence chathedral more were turned taking pictures of him with his face covered in chocolate gelato than the Brunelleshi's masterpiece dome.

http://www.houserentalflorence.com/florence-cathedral-duomo

http://www.tourist-destinations.net/2013/06/florence-italy-travel-guide.html

this was towards the end of our trip and we were done with the camera.  thanks to the internet for helping relive some of the picturesque sites.

http://www.italylogue.com/featured-articles/getting-from-the-cinque-terre-to-florence.html

florence has several bridges that have fascinating WWII history behind them.  of course, jill knew it all.

http://tortora.wordpress.com/ksu-florence-program/

thank you jill for the best Florence experience!

day one.

it’s a go!

11am and i’ve just finished my second meal.  

i'll be honest, while the meals might be on the bland side, they really aren't too bad....yet.  but, knowing what i'm doing for my body gets me excited and makes the food tastier. 

 I’m aware that this energy won’t be lasting the entire  6 weeks so i have a game plane...  

when i’m hungry, bored, stressed or wanting sugary treats this is what my back-up plan is:  

• get busy.
• work on a project. clean. laundry. edit pics/work on photo album
• change my thoughts.  
• sing a song. repeat a memorized quote/scripture.  review from my anatomy studies
• get moving.
• pilates. run. squats. pushups. burpees
• brush & floss my teeth.  
• write in my journal
• reach out.  call mom or a friend.

gotta get my booty goin--heading to meet the girls for a pump class.

lean. mean. 2014

and it begins!

a few of my girlfriends and i started on a new quest to a healthier lifestyle.  staying up oh so late one night we filled our freezers with prepacked meals for the next week.  we were totally in the zone, weighing it all out and strewing it across the long counter.  my face hurt from laughing so hard.  overall the newness and excitement of the big commitment to eat like this for the next 6 weeks (seriously six weeks...am i crazy?!) is a great momentum. i mean look at those beauties.

the plan goes like this:

5-6 meals a day.
45% carbs
35% protein
20% fats
+workout 1 hour/ 6 days a week.

my goal:
-create healthier habits. (ie. no snacking...seriously. :)
-healthier meals in my freezer always ready to go!
-fit comfortably into my pants again.

doing it with friends has already proven to be the most valuable piece of this equation.
let's just see how the next 6 weeks go.

wish me luck!

san francisco. cupcake style.

what better way than to see the neighborhoods of SF than with a cupcake tour, right?

we made our way to 5 different shops following this adorable woman in hot pink pants and a big cupcake on the top of her head sharing the most random scrapin' the barrel facts about cupcakes.  it made for some giggles.

We stopped at:

Susie Cakes

Kara's Cupcakes

Caffe' Dolci  (my favorite!  gelato + chocolate cupcake = sugar goodness)

La Boulange

and some cream puff place that wasn't too memorable other than the fact across the street we finally found a bathroom.

...after the 3rd stop i think we had reached a sugar max and were laughing over everything. (sugar level only increased as we had to stop on our way home at Charlie's churro stand--a total fav of mine :)

• #hashtag#
• when the lights go down
• paco the picture man
• "it's gelato, not ice cream"
• Nick's Crispy Tacos--uh, is this a burlesque bar?? 

love these girls!