3 strikes you're out

I’ve been trying to eat healthy. I even wrote daily goals. Blogger World, I took the time to write on a piece of paper, healthy eating habits! Every day I’m trying to eat 2 fruits, 2 vegetables, and drink 64oz of water during work hours. I’ve been doing so well with my new healthy eating goals. But today the crap hit the fan. I don’t know what happen?

Let’s start with breakfast. I tried to be good- 2 whole wheat pancakes, with fresh blueberries and honey on top. But then I arrive at work and found homemade Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins and fresh Banana Bread. I couldn’t be rude and turn down those breakfast treats. Strike One!

After the train wreck of breakfast, it was on to lunch. I always bring my lunch, and my lunches are always healthy. No, they really are healthy. I would have been fine during lunch, if I would have eaten the lunch I prepared. But did I do that simple thing? Nope, I had a nice slice of blueberry pie with my healthy lunch. The lady who brought the muffins and bread also brought homemade Blueberry Pie. If you ask me, it’s a crime to pass on homemade blueberry pie. I mean, who even makes homemade pies anymore? Put your hand down Pioneer Woman! Strike Two

The afternoon snack I brought was grapes. At 3:30 I began to get hungry for my snack. But across from my office, in the food cub, I could see the homemade brownies. The lady who brought the muffins, bread, and pie also brought brownies. Seriously, what is wrong with this lady? Is she trying to make us all fat! STOP WITH THE BAKING! I ate my grapes thinking it would curve my hungry, but it didn’t. I could still see the brownies. They were calling my name. I could hear them…OK Chick eat me….EAT ME…EAT ME! I was strong for 35 minutes. At 4:15 I caved and had brownies, and not just one brownie but two! AHHH I’m awful, just shoot me now! STRIKE THREE!

Blogger World, it has officially been a bad, bad, bad, bad day on healthy eating goals. Tomorrow will be a better day…I promise.

The Yogurt Test

I’m not into the organic foods thing. I am into eating healthy. I try to eat fresh fruits and vegetables, and low fat foods. Even though I do not eat organic, it doesn’t mean I’m totally against the concept. The reason I do not buy organic is because I can’t afford to eat organic. I’m sorry but I’m not paying a dollar more for products because the word Organic is on the label. You guys know I’m too cheap.

Last night I was shopping at Target and on a whim I purchased some Stonyfield Blueberry Organic Yogurt. I had never tried this yogurt, and I’ve always wondered if organic yogurt tastes different. I guess you could say I wanted to compare my normal Light Yoplait to Stonyfield Yogurt.

This morning I tried the new yogurt. The taste of yogurt was good, no complaints. However, when I flipped the back of the container, to view the nutrition, I was shocked. The calories were 20calories more than Yoplait, which is fine. I’ll burn those calories walking to the bathroom. But what shocked me was the amount of sugar. My normal yogurt, Yoplait, has 14 grams of sugar for 6oz of yogurt. This morning I discovered that Stonyfield Yogurt had 20 grams of sugar for 6oz of yogurt. I think both yogurts have too much sugar, but I was shocked the organic yogurt had more sugar. I’m not really for sure why the organic yogurt had more sugar. Anyone care to explain???

Move over Pioneer Woman

A few months ago, my friends KC and her husband Baker Boy invited me to join a group of their friends at Kam’s Kookery. Kam is a lady in town that gives cooking classes and host dinner parties in the comfort of her beautiful home. She's kind of like Pioneer Woman, but in the city and not on a cow farm.

Last night, 14 of KC and Baker Boy’s friends attended the dinner party at Kam’s. Blogger World, it was fabulous! I’m going to wager that it was hands down the best food I’ve had all year-ALL YEAR! Our dinner party was a lovely 5 course meal, and every course was prepared with food from her organic garden. Oh not only does Kam give cooking class and host dinner parties; but she also has a massive garden that has loads of fruits and vegetables. Really, is there anything this lady doesn’t do?

The evening was very fun, and I was thankful KC and Bake Boy invited me to join them. Not only did I eat lots of great food, but I also met new people. If you ever have the chance to visit Kam’s…DO IT!

By the way, my new hero Kam has an amazing kitchen. I want her kitchen. I need her kitchen. I need a rich husband, so I can have Kam’s kitchen!

Here are some pictures from the evening...

Just call me Lance

It’s been almost 4 months since I decided to take a break from running. After the half marathon in April, I was convinced that I was done running for good. I was tired of the sore shins, running the same routes, eating the same food, and the expensive running shoes. However, eventually I came to my senses and realized that I just needed a break from running. So I stopped running for the summer. I spent my summer going to aerobics and walking with friends. I was still received plenty of exercise, and I was enjoyed the new exercise regimen. Finally, in August I decided it was time to get back into running. I took off one morning to run and made it a mile. It was awesome, I felt really cool. But I kept on trying to run 3-4 times a week, and push myself to farther distances.

Saturday, I ran my first race out of retirement. It was ugly. I received my worst time with a 5K. But that’s ok; I knew I wouldn’t have a great time. Saturday my goal was to run the race. I needed to see how much work I have ahead of me, before my half in December, which is quite a bit of work. A lot of work! So needless to say, I’m back to running and it looks like I have months of hard work ahead of me. If Lance can come out of retirement than why not OK Chick; and yes, Nike will be sponsoring me as well!

Blind Date Review

Fried Food Lover Who Runs, who I will call FFLWR for short, and I went out for our much anticipated blind date. So without farther ado…here is the FFLWR Date Review. Folks, brace yourself, its pretty exciting stuff. Ok, not really but I had to say something for you to keep reading.

Well, we decided to meet at a restaurant for dinner, due to our offices being so far apart. Oh wait, before I get into this let me back up to my restaurant choices. Earlier in the week I told FFLWR to email me three restaurant suggestions. He agreed and sent me the following choices; Applebee’s, Olive Garden, and a place on the lake. I’m not a huge Applebee’s or Olive Garden fans so by default, I selected the place on the lake. It’s not like it’s my favorite place either, but at least you have a view of the lake. OK, now you are up to speed.

I arrived at the restaurant about 5 minutes late. I didn’t want to get there early, and then resort to sitting in my car until the time, so I thought 5 minutes late would be perfect timing. I walk into the restaurant and see no sign of a single guy who could possibly be waiting on me to arrive. Actually, the only person waiting was a 60 year old man, which obviously wasn’t FFLWR. You know, waiting on someone at restaurants is always awkward. I always feel like I have to prove to the hostess that I’m actually meeting someone. While waiting, I tried to be as casual as possible. I walked over to the dead shrimp display, to seem interested in dead shrimp, but I still felt stupid so I just went and sat down. I finally just accepted that he was late and picked up a newspaper to read. After I read the whole newspaper, he still hadn’t showed up. I was starting to panic- OH MY GOSH I’M BEING STOOD UP; THE HOSTESS IS LAUGHING AT ME! Oh wait no she’s not, she’s flirting with a hot waiter. Stupid college girls with their perfect legs!

After 15 minutes of sitting there like a dork. I start thinking exit plans. Do I just walk out? Do I tell someone? Do I escape through the bathroom window? Does this place have a bathroom window? As I was contemplating the bathroom window scenario, FFLWR walked in the restaurant. FFWL didn’t look exactly like the picture that was sent to me (he looked better), but let’s just say I was able to tell it was him.

The rest of the evening was a pretty basic first date. We talked about work and running most of the time. He’s a hard-core runner, so I took full advantage of his knowledge. I asked him lots of running questions. All-in-all it wasn’t a bad experience. He was a really nice guy, and as always I enjoyed meeting someone new. Will we go out again? Probably not, but it was still an ok night.

Ramblings...

I haven’t done Ramblings in awhile. I haven’t done Friday Fun Facts in awhile either. It was toss up on today’s post. Ramblings won.

Do you remember when you were a kid; playing Nintendo and it wouldn’t work? You would take the cartridge out, blow in it and that would magically fix the problem. Everyone knew that trick, but how did we know how to fix the problem? There were no internet or message boards. We just figured it out. Today, if I can’t figure out a problem, I immediately Google the problem to see what millions of other people recommend. Case in point, last week my garage door broke. I Googled the problem, and had the solution in 10 minutes. God Bless Google!

I’m going to start a petition for sarcasm font. I think there is a high demand for the font.

Someone please explain to me how you are supposed to fold a fitted sheet? I don’t know anyone, besides my grandma, who can properly fold a fitted sheet. Mine are just rolled and stored in a cabinet. I’m dead serious. By the way, half my office just crammed into my cub to watch a YouTube video on folding a fitted sheet. Apparently, this is a common mystery.

Why is it when you have a blind date, everyone needs to interrogate or give their opinion on the blind date? For instance, all week I’ve heard the following comments….

So, you ready for the big date?

What do you think he looks like?

You know, my wives’ second cousin’s daughter met her husband on a blind date.

What if he’s Mr. Right?

I have no answers for these questions or comments. But my favorite comment was…what if he’s Mr. Right. I finally started giving the answer; well, start saving up for my registry because it’s going to be a dozy.

I take back all those times I didn’t want to nap as a child.

It’s been one week since my last Starbucks non-fat Chai. I’m into smoothies this week. Starbucks smoothies are WAY overpriced. Shut up, I know their tea/coffee are overpriced as well!

I have a new pet peeve; ignoring email invitations. Blogger World, if you are invited, by email, to an event/activity you need to respond to the email. I don’t care if you will not be there; the invitee needs to know you are not going to attend. You should do this because…it’s polite, and it doesn’t make you look like an A-Hole! Ok Chick’s words of wisdom for the day!

Ok, I think I’m done Rambling. Peace out Blogger World.

She's movin' on up....

Sister #2 is going to college. She has gone and grown up on us. I'm afraid we can no longer call her Baby Sister #2. No, we still can. Saturday, my parents are packing her up and shipping her a whole 20 miles away! Yup, it's a long journey.

I have no idea how the whole growing up thing happened. One day I'm stealing her yellow blanket to make her cry, and the next thing I know... I'm having her drive me to the grocery store. It's crazy how they grow up!

Meet the blender....

I have a new kitchen gadget! I recently became the proud owner of a blender. I’ve wanted a blender for awhile, but I hated to breakdown and buy one. However, never fear my mom is to the rescue. While I was in Hometown, USA this past weekend my mom donated her blender to me. Sister #2 was not happy about me stealing the blender. She argued that I couldn’t take mom’s blender because she used it to make smoothies. I really felt bad for taking the blender until my mom informed me that Sister #2 has made a total of three smoothies the entire summer. So, due to the lack of action the blender has seen at my parent’s house; the 1970-something blender is now mine! I’m very proud of my new blender. I’ve already made three smoothies this week. Today’s smoothie was A-MAZING! I’m passing on the recipe because I think others would enjoy the tasty treat!
Oh, and I didn’t really measure, I just dumped ingredients. Sorry, I was in a hurry this morning.

OK Chick’s Smoothie
Ice
1 Banana (sliced)
2 spoonfuls of reduced-fat Peanut Butter
Skim Milk

Anybody else have smoothie recipes they’d like to pass on to OK Chick? Please, don’t be shy.

What the heck?-Update

Blogger World, I would like you to meet Fried Food Lover Who Runs. Ok, so this isn't actually Fried Food Lover Who Runs, but it looks just like him. Yes, this is my blind date; and NO I'm not being dramatic. No, I'm not trying to be funny. I.AM.BEING.FOR.REAL! Stop laughing! No, I'm serious...stop laughing! I would post the real picture of Fried Food Lover Who Runs...if that wasn't wrong on every level. I'm sorry, you will just have to take my word on this.

Friday night, a friend sent me Fried Food Lover Who Runs's picture. When I saw the picture I was speechless, he looked just like the guy from Revenge of the Nerds. I immediately called my friend's wife to see if his email was a joke. It wasn't a joke. It was for real.

So, yeah this is the guy I'm being set up with. I think the date will be fun? He really does have a great personality. His emails are funny, so I know he'll make me laugh. He seems very polite so I know he will treat me with respect. I think it will be a good night. Yes, it will be fine.

Alright, now you can laugh...Ok Chick has a date with the Revenge of the Nerds dude!

UPDATE: Tonight I had dinner with my coworkers (the ones doing the matchmaking) and I feel better about this date. I've been told the picture I received is really bad, and he is a nice guy. Of course, I knew he was nice from his emails. I'm actually forward to the date. It won't be bad.

Ironing Wound

Let this be a lesson to everyone! Ironing is not a game, it is dangerous!

I am now resigning from ironing. Blogger World, I will never iron another piece of clothing. I'm now a fan of the dry cleaners-for life. Today, some of my skin started peeling. It hurts. It hurts real bad!

Blind Date #2

So, my friends are pimping me out again. My old coworkers/friends are setting me up on a blind date with one of their coworkers. Earlier this week I was told about the blind date arrangement. Apparently, we’ll get along because he likes fried food and runs. I guess I can see it. I like cookies and attempt to run? Our bad eating habits and love for running must be the reason it will work.

This morning I was surprised to find an email from Blind Date #2. Actually, we are going to call him Fried Food Lover Who Runs. Seriously, that was the description I was given about the guy. By the way, just because I run or attempt to run doesn’t mean I will get along with every runner in the free world. I just wanted that noted.

Fried Food Lover Who Runs would like to go out on a lunch date, which is fine. I’m pretty open to lunch dates. As you know, I just eat with my Lunch Partners at work. A lunch date would be a nice change from the normal Lunch Partners discussion on coupons and fat/calories in Yoplait Yogurt.

I’m ok with going out with Fried Food Lover Who Runs, but I’m having a hard time responding to his email. He was pretty witty in his email. I’m a witty girl, but am I a witty girl if you don’t know me? Probably not. The Cousin has volunteered to proof read my email before I hit the magical Send button. You know, this whole blind date business is very stressful. This is why I couldn’t do eHarmoney. I couldn’t handle the stress of coming up with cute/witty emails every time someone emails me!

Soooo that's a new one

The past five years I have witnessed many things at Jazzercise. I’ve seen women with no rhythm semi-dance. I’ve seen grandma’s get down to Usher and Justin Timberlake. I have even seen husbands come to class and be better “Jazzercisers” than their wives. Surprisingly, I’ve seen that last point more than once. As a seasoned Jazzerciser, I feel like I’ve seen it all.

Last night, class was like most nights. I was standing in my same spot, near my same Jazzercise friends, and wearing my same tennis shoes. It was a typical class. We were almost done with our heavy cardio song when it happened. The lady in front of me took off her shirt. I’ve never seen anyone take off their shirt at Jazzercise, but I have worked out in enough gyms and ran enough races to know this is common. However, what was underneath the lady’s shirt was a bit uncommon. When she took off her shirt, she reveled to everyone that she was wearing a Speedo swimsuit. At this point a couple things went through my mind:

1) So she hasn’t done laundry and thought a Speedo swimsuit would suffice.
2) She’s planning to go swimming after class?
3) She’s proud of her new Speedo?
4) She’s hot and wants to shed clothes?
5) A new fashion trend with Jazzercise?

I suppose all these things could have been reasoning for sporting a swimsuit in Jazzercise. I really have no clue. All I know is I was in the middle of an attitude when I witnessed the lady in front of me strip to her Speedo. Folks, Jazzercise is never boring.

Stupid Moments by OK Chick

Blogger World, every once in a while OK Chick has not-so brilliant moments. For instance, in the past 12 hours, I’ve had not one, but two stupid moments. Let’s start with the first stupid moment….

Last night I made a quick stop to my local grocery store. There were a few great coupon items I wanted to purchase. After I gathered all my coupons, I opened the door to exit my car. As I opened the car door, my car alarm went off. I’m talking a blaring siren that people in China could hear, headlights flashing, wind shield wipers going strong alarm! I immediately shut the door and tried to get the alarm to stop. I tried everything- pushing the Panic button, starting the car, reversing in the parking spot, but nothing worked. As I fumbled with my keys I quickly glanced up to see everyone in the parking lot staring at me. I don’t blame them for staring, I’d stare too. After all they were witnessing a girl sitting inside her own car, with the car alarm going off-loudly. I would qualify that as pretty funny. However, the girl sitting in the car, that’s me, didn’t find any of it funny. It took three minute, which felt like eternality, to shut off the alarm! Not one of my finer moments, but whatever. I shut the alarm off, and was still able to buy my three boxes of General Mills cereal- for a total of $3.00!

The second stupid moment happened this morning…

After my two mile run, quick shower, make-up/hair fix it was time to get dressed for work. I decided to wear my new fashionable belt, which I’m sure no one at work will notice I’m wearing. My new belt has a pretty dark blue color in it, so I decided to pair it with cropped khaki pants and a dark blue summer sweater. The only problem was this wonderful outfit is my khaki pants needed to be ironed. I quickly ran into another room to set up the iron/iron board. After the iron had heated I began to iron. I was almost done with the last leg of my pants, when I became distracted for two seconds. I don’t know what distracted me, but something caused me to take my eyes off my pants and the iron. In the two second distraction, I ironed the top of my hand. Yup, you read right. I missed the pants and ironed the top of my hand. Sadly, this isn’t the first time this incident has happened. I have many scars on the top of my hands from ironing. Currently, my new ironing wound is white and puffed up. By far, the worse ironing wound I’ve ever had!

Today could be a looooong day.

Gray Hair???

I’m 28 years old. I have no stress in my life. I don’t have screaming kids running around my house, a dog pooping in the living room, and a husband gripping about my recent trips to Ann Taylor Loft and Starbucks. My life is pretty much stress-less, which yes, stress-less is a word I just made up…deal with it.
Well you can imagine my surprise, when in San Francisco I noticed a few gray hairs on my head! Yes, gray hairs! At first I thought it was time to visit my trusty eye doctor, because my eyes MUST being going bad, or maybe the lighting in the bathroom was bad, OR maybe the gray hairs are really blonde. It’s a fact that in the summer my hair turns lighter. Yes, there’s no way I have gray hairs, it must be one of those things. Still, Saturday night in our fancy hotel bathroom I inspected the gray; I mean blonde hairs in the fancy super-up-close hotel mirror. Blogger World, it appears I am getting old, because I have gray hairs. Multiple gray hairs! Do you realize I’m going to have a full head of gray hair before I have a decent date? Folks, please excuse me, I need to call my hair lady for a color appointment.

JKLM Dinner

Last night I had dinner with The Roommate, The Roommate’s Husband, and MrT. As I was scurrying around in the kitchen, putting the finishing touches on dinner, The Roommate noticed a Hula Hoop against the living room wall. This summer I have rediscovered the Hula Hoop. When The Cousin was in town, earlier this summer, Sister #1, The Cousin, and I taught her son to Hula Hoop. After a weekend of Hula Hoop lessons, I realized the Hula Hoop had done a number on my abs. So this summer I have been Hula Hooping while watching TV. Sure, I might look goofy, but no one will be laughing when I have rock hard abs!

The Roommate picked up my Hula Hoop to show us her Hula Hooping skills, which are very little. However, it did give us a good laugh. I would love to describe to you The Roommate’s Hula Hooping method, so you could get a laugh but it’s beyond words. After The Roommate failed at Hula Hooping, MrT decided he would take a crack at the childhood toy. Folks, MrT’s Hula Hooping about made me wet my pants. It was one of the funniest things I have ever witnessed! His body did this hip thrusting convulsion thing that made the Hula Hoop turn in record speed. Then he started walking around the living room, while Hula Hooping, telling us he and his cousin used to Hula Hoop all the time. He said they would walk up and down the street while Hula Hooping. I made the comment that they had to be the coolest kids on the block. But with all that said, MrT did manage to keep the Hula Hoop going so I guess he is in fact- a Hula Hooper. Of course, no one could compare to my mad Hula Hooping skills. All the summer practice has done wonders for me because I was the best Hula Hooper out of the group. It was a proud moment for me!

I’m sure when I started this post it had some grand point, but right now I can’t think of the point I was trying to make. Soooo I guess now, I just want it noted that I can Hula Hoop better than my friends!

We are family--still

Blogger World, my family and I made it back in one piece; and we still love each other! The dreaded car ride wasn’t too bad. Of course, at first I thought the car ride was going to be horrible. My parents, who sat in the backseat, were loudly directing Sister #1 on how to maneuver through Hometown, USA. This was super important because it’s not like Sister #1 and I have ever lived in Hometown, USA; all of our life. And it’s not like we have ever driven to Dallas; only a dozen times! Really, it was imperative that my parents give Sister #1 directions from the backseat. But despite our rocky beginning, the rest of the road trip was perfect. The Sisters and I did not have to sit next to each other, which illuminated the touching; and I did not have any car sick flare ups. My parents decided to sit in the back with Sister #2, but don’t worry…. my dad stayed awake the entire time to make sure we didn’t get lost.

Our fancy hotel ended up being very fancy. We stayed at The Four Seasons. The pool was super nice. Also, they had these people who came around to put towels on your chair, so you didn't have to lie on the nice cushioned chairs.
BUT, my favorite part of the hotel was the gym. It was hands down the best gym! They have personal TVs (with cable) in front of all treadmills, ellipticals, and stair steppers. I ran while watching The Food Network, and then I did the elliptical while watching Monk. They also had a huge indoor pool where The Sisters and I swam multiple laps. When we were finished swimming laps they had fancy soft robs for us to wear. After we were done swimming we decided to head back to our room, while wearing our robes. Yes, The Sisters and I marched through the beautiful swanky lobby in robes and flip flops, and yes, the lobby was super busy. I’m pretty sure it was illegal with The Four Seasons but we really didn’t care. Other than that one redneck moment, we were on our best behavior at the fancy hotel.