On my own.

Happy 4th!!

I love the 4th of July.  Summer, BBQ's & Fireworks!!

The past couple years have been wonderful.. with everything a 4th of July should be including friends, Boys 2 Men concert, and fun drinks!

BBQ last year!

2008 4th of July with friends & fire works!

Katlin & I

This year is a little different..
This year Jason has to work.. and I am on my own.
All my friends are either away or working.. so I have to find excitement on my own!

This morning we had coffee together and ate some breakfast.

We decided to go and wander around the city until work.
I knew that there was a parade today but thought that it was on the parkway rather than in the olde city section of the city.
We ran into all the crowds of people getting ready to watch the parade as well as all the parade members prepping to get started.
I was getting ready to take some pictures and then realized I had brought my camera without my camera card!!!
I took some pictures with Jason's iPhone and will add them in later!
We wandered around a bit.. a good walk, trying to avoid the crowds of tourists that come to Philly to see all the historic sites!
We ended up grabbing some iced coffee and lunch.
Jason got a tuna sandwich with egg and pepper while I got a pesto, tomato, basil and olive omelet.
YUM!

How to Survive the Holiday on my own:

1. Make a plan: I have made a plan to go for a run later today.. once it cools down a bit.  I have to keep it other wise I will get stuck on the couch watching movies all day 
2. Something special for yourself : Make myself something yummy for dinner.  Sometimes its hard to make dinner for just you, but it helps to do something for you and just you when you are on your own. I also want to paint my toenails in an effort to save some money, instead of getting a pedicure.
3. Relax:  Its not always easy to relax for me.  I always have to keep busy or I find myself eating mindlessly, and being miserable.  I am trying to learn to relax and not worry.
4. Enjoy being Alone: Its peaceful and gives me time to think.  Its quiet and I can do whatever I want to do!!! No having to fight anyone for the remote, and I can watch girly shows and movies!

Enjoy your 4th whatever you do and whoever you are with!
If you aren't celebrating, enjoy your Monday!

What are your plans for the holiday?
What do you do when you are on your own?
Whats your favorite thing about the 4th? or Summer?

A PACKAGE

Soon to come..
A review of these!...

I was starving during errands and could NOT restrain myself.!

Not feeling it.

What do you do when you just don't have the energy?
I just haven't felt or had the energy to blog.
I sweat I will get back into it.. 
I have some good plans for the next couple posts.

 Over the past 4 days I have been busy.
On Thursday Jason and I drove back to our home town.

We spent sometime with his grandparents before taking his younger sisters out to dinner.
His one sister just graduates and turned 18!
I wish I could go back and do it all over again...


We spent the night at his dad's house, sleeping in, and making a lazy breakfast, which was hard because Jason's dad is a bachelor and generally does not fill his kitchen with healthy options...meaning no fresh fruit or veggies..
I opted for instant oatmeal with some PB swirled in.. Jason even tried and liked it!

My dad left for the Peace Corp in March and is renting out our house to a friend.
He also left our family dog there... who I miss so much.

So we decided to stop by and see my childhood house and Morgan!

isn't he adorable...he's 11 years old!!

a walk down to the creek..

our house.

look at this kitty?  he has an extra digit..like a thumb!

It was great to see my puppy..
He is getting old now and has pretty bad arthiritis.
He was just at the vet because he was limping around and has all these cysts all over, but he still runs around and acts like a little puppy..

We headed into town, and had some time before we had to meet up with a family friend..
So we stopped by this little organic cafe.

a green juice and almond milk chai latte for me...

sesame seed and banana smoothie..

We also had a pita and hummus plate.

We headed over to my family friends house to visit.
She had just stepped on a pitch fork and gotten stabbed. She had to get stitches and had to ice her leg.

I helped by making iced tea, emptying the dish washer, and bringing her iced peas for her leg.

We headed back to his dad's and watched some of Wimbledon.
We got a bit lazy..so I decided to hit up his dad's treadmill for a little bit, running 4 miles with some hills.
I showered and we headed out to our friends birthday party.
It was a little bit of a disaster since I hadn't really eaten dinner, and there was nothing veggie friendly, only snacks available so I spent more of the night snacking on chips and spinach dip.

Saturday was a lazy day.  I felt horrible, lacked energy, and was feeling very sick.  I just laid around for a majority of the day before heading out to Trader Joes & Whole Food's to grab some groceries.  I decided to get some xanthan gum & chia seeds for my smoothies, as well as this,..

Looks pretty nasty when mixed up but.. has some pretty awesome benefits...

• Increases and sustains energy naturally
• Detoxifies and cleanses your body
• High alkalinity helps balance your body’s pH level
• Strengthens your immune system
• Insoluble fiber gently cleanses your digestive tract and promotes regularity
• Complete food with enzymes and all essential amino acids
• Natural source of antioxidants to help repair damaged cells
• Excellent source of beta carotene, folic acid and vitamin C 

Last night was a quiet lazy recovery night.. filled with Netflixs, salad & ice cream.
Fireworks have been going off and our cats are TERRIFIED of the noise.

Max crawled under the couch which had a whole in the lining.  He always crawls in there when he is scared.  So funny..

Today Jason and I headed to the gym together.  I stayed a bit longer as Jason had to go to work and walked home.
I attempted to make a smoothie when I got home..
AND disaster fell..
Blender began to steam and burn!!  AHH..
Time for a new one..luckily this was donated to me from my mom..

I headed off for some errands including..

• picking up a package
• faxing paperwork
• Target trip--Blender
• GNC for protein powder-- sadly this was closed by the time I got there!!

When I got home, somehow I got sucked into watching Skulls..
Anyone remember this movie, complete with these guys..

Josh Jackson

Paul Walker

I am trying to keep myself busy and since I didn't get any strength training in earlier today, I did some P90X which was absolute killer, not because of the work out but also because our air conditioner stopped working down stairs.  POURING, DRIPPING, SOAKED in Sweat.

After a shower, it is now smoothie and relaxing time!

complete with chia seeds, wheat grass powder, and zanthan gum.










Check out Run to the Finish for a major giveaway!!
Check out Happy Healthy Runner for Gotein giveaway!! 
Check out Peanut Butter Jenny for protein giveaway!

Kumbucha

"Take time for less doing and more being"
-Ubaldo Riboni
Words of Enlightenment

Reminds me of the Lowe's Mantra!

Working through the night..

So this post is going to be short and sweet.

This Friday we are heading back to our home town (Jason and I grew up in the same town)
We are heading back for a high school friends birthday, as well as to see Jason's dad, my dog (who is at my dad's house, where a friend is taking care of him and living in the house :( while my dad is in the Peace Corp), and a friend of my family!

In attempt to get everything done, I am working through the night so I do not have much to do later this week...

Yes I was drinking wine while working and eating ice cream (I got two Bryers, but one get one free!  How could I say no?)
Today was pretty uneventful anyway.
Check out my workout log to see my workout!

I do have to say, I was extremely sore today and the run was a struggle!!

Jason grilled me mahi-mahi burgers with avocado, tomato, lettuce, and brie cheese, along with sweet potato fries! YUM! (i did take pictures but I am lacking energy after all that work, wine and ice cream)

Hope you all have a wonderful evening!

Whats your favorite kind of ice cream?
I always say mint chocolate chip because it is so repressing but lately I have also been liking dark cherry chocolate of any kind, soy, coconut, yogurt etc.  and of course CHOCOLATE.  Jason is a pistachio lover! 

Half way there...

This is how I am feeling today!  Anyone else need a pot of coffee to start off this hump day?

Gosh I am so sore today!!
Off to work!

Getting a little Psychological

Warning I am going to get a bit psychological!!

This is the result of reading Julie's post (which I must say was really good!!)
I had a little rant because I have so many experiences with kids and how they feel (or don't feel--kids with autism spectrum disorders or asbergers which will be seperate disorders in the new DSM-V) about their appearances. 

Since I have such a psychological background, it is common that during adolescence, you are more egocentric and feel that the whole world sort of revolves around you. Everyone is judging you (that is your belief system, so you want to be liked, meaning cool clothes, looking good, and being accepted by the popular kids.  There are many theories on adolescence.. Here is one that helps explain this. (remember, it is only a theory, therefore it is not proven)!!!!

Erikson's stage's of Development 

Adolescence: 12 to 18 Years 

**(as cited from one of my textbooks, Theories of Personality 9th Ed, Schultz & Schultz, 2009)

Ego Development Outcome: Identity vs. Role Confusion

Basic Strengths: Devotion and Fidelity

Up to this stage, according to Erikson, development mostly depends upon what is done to us. From here on out, development depends primarily upon what we do. And while adolescence is a stage at which we are neither a child nor an adult, life is definitely getting more complex as we attempt to find our own identity, struggle with social interactions, and grapple with moral issues.

Our task is to discover who we are as individuals separate from our family of origin and as members of a wider society. Unfortunately for those around us, in this process many of us go into a period of withdrawing from responsibilities, which Erikson called a "moratorium." And if we are unsuccessful in navigating this stage, we will experience role confusion and upheaval.

A significant task for us is to establish a philosophy of life and in this process we tend to think in terms of ideals, which are conflict free, rather than reality, which is not. The problem is that we don't have much experience and find it easy to substitute ideals for experience. However, we can also develop strong devotion to friends and causes.

It is no surprise that our most significant relationships are with peer groups.

Hope this helps to understand what is really going on during adolescence!  It is also important to remember that social media and parenting play a huge role in how children and adolescence feel about themselves.  Fostering a positive self image and remembering to praise, PRAISE, PRAISE kids for their achievements, and trying not to focus so much on appearances helps.  Also being actively involved in their lives (but not smothering and restricting kids)!  BALANCE IS KEY (just like eating habits & exercise!!!!)  

Like Julie stated, its also just a stage that most kids go through, and at some point you feel more appreciative of the compliments that focus on your accomplishments/personality rather than appearances.  Really I could go on and on about this..But I am going to stop.  If you have questions please email me (kahnh93@gmail.com)!

Now that I got that off my chest.... phew.

Workout

After work,  I headed to the gym.  The clouds were about to burst as I was on my way and the humidity was super duper high!!

Let me say,  I am so glad that I didn't do that spin class last night!  My legs felt so good (though my abs and upper body were super sore!)

I did a little over 4 mile on the treadmill in 34 minutes.  A slower pace but I was increasing the incline while remaining at the same speed (7.2), reaching about 4.0.  Incline is killer and really burns!

I would have done more but one of the new trainers at the gym asked me earlier if he could practice doing an assessment on me for training purposes.  I am always up to help. 

He just had me do some stretches, squats, pushups etc.  The main purpose was for him to learn how to communicate what he wanted me to do.  He also told me that it was evident that my IT Band was sore as well as my lats and tricips (YESS so true)  But he told me at the end that he failed his little test because he was not able to communicate correctly what he wanted me to do.  He asked if later on I would do it again so he could see how far he had advanced.

I did some stretches and abs and then...

Did some intervals between the treadmill and stair climber (similar to last week).

•  half a mile on treadmill, 5 minutes on stair climber.. x 4 times (about, since I kept switching between the two by the time the 4th round came up, all the stair climbers were taken so I didn't do the last one)

 The first half mile and last were slower.. but the two middle ones I did in 3:30 (about 9.0 pace! AHH!  Very tough, and I was dying!)  I am growing to love doing sprints more and more!!!  Definitely feel it afterwords!!  


I also have to admit my competitive edge came out a bit.  A guy hopped on the treadmill next to me, and although I was not planning to sprint the last half miler very fast I increased the speed to 9.2 (i think) just for fun.  Can you tell I really like to race people!!??  I always do this at the gym.. I HATE when other people go faster or farther than me... it really is a downfall because I will push myself to hard.  I am working on it I swear!!


Major stretches and abs after.
The trainer bought me a shake for helping him out.  Though I wasn't in the mood for one.. I took him up and got a matcha green tea smoothie! MM.. tasted like a milkshake!  I drank some and put the rest in the freezer...  Sometimes my stomach can't handle too much after a tough run!


Questions:

Are you competitive with others at the gym or when you are running near others?
YES! 


When you were younger did you feel self concious about appearances or that you were judged?
yes, i always did.  I had curly hair when a lot of other people didn't.  I didn't always have the cool clothes.  I was soo self concious and always wanted to fit in.

Anything else?