Ohio State Fair!

Well, I can cross one thing off of my summer list.  My life list, as well.  I finally made it to the Ohio State Fair.  I grew up in Texas, and the State Fair is a huge deal there.  And as long as I've been in Ohio, I've never gone to the Ohio State Fair. Never.  Cuyahoga and Lorain County Fairs?  Yup, always.
But never the big one.
What's this fascination with the fair?  One word:  FOOD.  Food on food on food.  The people watching is phenomenal, I adore looking at the animals, and the smells... Warm air, the sounds, the crazy-amazing smells of fried deliciousness, sweet sticky cotton candy, BBQ.... Ugh, drool.  Here's what I got this year.  It's the one thing that I always have to get. And fortunately, since my food allergies have developed (or identified, at least), it is the one thing I can still eat without negative consequence:

Roasted corn, no butter.  So good.  Not pictured:  more than one bite of corn dog and an entire caramel apple coated in chopped nuts.  That I didn't have a chance to photograph, as I was too preoccupied with devouring it.  Sorry.  

Then there were animals.  A goat bleated at me, and it was much, much louder than I had expected.  I may have jumped a little.  

It was a delightful day, and the weather was perfect.  The day just kept getting better, but it's dinner time and I'm ravenous after my PM cardio.  More later!

I said I would!

Here is a little glimpse of the tornado of food that is taking place in my kitchen at the moment:

Starting from the top left and moving clockwise, we have:  Chicken breast & summer squash, sweet potatoes & acorn squash & peppers and onions, my packed fridge, and my favorite meal each and every day:  apple eggy oats. Not pictured are my turkey muffins, which haven't been made or prepped yet, and my daily shakes.   I love food prep day!  Except I want to eat all of it NOW!  Instead, I'll have this:

Which would be my recovery shake, made with my favorite protein powder (Muscle Pharm Cookies n' Cream), half a frozen banana, plain, unsweetened Silk Almond Milk, some frozen spinach, and BCAA's courtesy of someone awesome at work.  I love sharing supplements!!! Yeah, I'm a total fitness geek, I know.
Here's the rest of my day:

Yes, I think personalized plates are stupid.  Yes, I totally just got them.  I mean, come on.  I LOVE CLEVELAND!!!  It's my adopted hometown and a pretty awesome place!  Been making some decent progress at the gym.  Had one of those days where I wasn't really feeling it.  I trained legs today, and I don't LOVE training legs.  Saturday is usually shoulders and maybe plyos.  But I missed a day and had to make it up.  Shoulders will be tomorrow, early.  So today involved legs, sprints, and a little bit of elliptical action.  And I killed it.  Strange.  I'm not complaining!  Hope you're all having a great weekend!  Gotta go pay attention before I burn about a million dollars worth of chicken.

Hello, Lovely...

I am currently blogging from this beauty:

Happy Flippin' Birthday to me!

YAY!  I love it.  My first Mac.  I'm a fan of Apple products, but I've never really used a Mac before.  And I love love love it!

Maybe I'll even write more often.

I am currently involved in a food-prep tornado, and will (possibly) post pictures later.  Rainy and cool today, which is very conducive to cooking.  In opposition to the last few weekends of 90* weather with 100% humidity.

And now I give you:

Now go be fabulous!

Random Observation Time!

While shutting down my open apps, the following dawned on me:

• Open apps are like a snapshot of my day. Up, meds, gym, food, music, food, internet, music, food.

While getting ready to eat dinner, I mused up this little dandy:

• Watching episodes of SNL from the 90's is like a little history refresher mixed with a big dash of awesome. Right now: 1992, John Goodman hosting. Bill Clinton everywhere! Oh, Bill. Delightful.  

Summer!

Summer never used to be my favorite season.  It was actually my 3rd favorite.  That has changed as I've gotten older.  Fall, Summer, Spring, Winter, in that order.  I don't know what changed, but something certainly did.
On my drive to work this morning, I was musing over the fact that summer is in full swing, but I don't feel it!  I haven't done anything that screams "SUMMER!" yet.  So here is a little list of the fun things I plan to do this summer.  (Please note - Cedar Point, a usual summer staple, has not made the list this year.  Why?  Because I went last year, for the first time in quite awhile, and my back let me know immediately that I am too old for roller-coasters.  Big. Fat. Boo!)

• Cuyahoga County Fair
• Long weekend road trip... Maggie... you're on notice...
• Birthday tattoo (BIG.  FAT.  GRIN!)
• Visit to Edgewater beach, even if it's kinda nasty
• Patio/porch beers

I'd like to add a trip to the State Fair, something I've said I was going to do for years, but it'll never happen!

I'm finally allowed to lift again, which is great!  I did shoulders the other day, and will start my usual lifting split tomorrow.  Simple pleasures!

Happy Monday!

Alive! And Independence Day!

Good morning, and happy 4th of July! Hopefully the wet weather isn't destroying all of your plans! 

I'm still a week away from being able to lift again; however, I have been back doing moderately intense cardio for the past week. I don't love cardio, aside from running, but it's nice to be back and is certainly better than nothing. I will be spending my morning getting in a little bit of cardio work and then intend to spend the rest of the day being super lazy! I considered driving out to see my parents but decided against it, knowing first hand what kind of drivers are on the road on holidays like this one. So. A little work and a lot of relaxing. Here we go!