Tomorrow.
What do you get when you add this blogger
+ her younger sister
+ their two parents
+ their aunts all the way from Ohio
+ one of the greatest cities in America
=
?????????
THE. BEST. WEEKEND. EVER!!
The Shoup’s will be in Boston in exactly twenty four hours and I could not be more excited to spend the weekend with my family! Although I saw my parents back in the beginning of April for my birthday and Easter, I haven’t seen my sister since CHRISTMAS! Five months is four months and 29 days too long to be separated from my best friend & other half (see you soon, Steph!!). My parents and sister fly in tomorrow morning, and then they’re mine for the next 96 hours.
I CAN’T WAIT!
Today’s going to be a busy workday, so I might as well get started now! Have a wonderful Memorial Day Weekend (and have a beer or two five for me). See you guys next Wednesday with a recap from the weekend with my family!!
Oh, and GO CELTICS!!!!!!
Like this:
50 Shades of Sweat
Happy What I Ate Wednesday, friends. I’m loving how this week is just FLYING by. Only a few more days until my parents and sister are in Beantown, I can’t wait! Thanks again to Jenn over at Peas & Crayons for hosting another wonderful WIAW 
Let’s get this party started!
9:15 am – Breakfast: Although I woke up around 7:30, I decided to stay in bed until around 8:45 catching up on some blogs + Boy Meets World. When I finally rolled out of bed, I decided it was time for breakfast. On the menu was strawberry banana yogurt with granola and a banana. I decided to throw some protein in the mix and cook up an egg white with a regular egg mixed together on the stove. It was so good and kept me full all the way until lunch!
After breakfast it was time to start my workday! Working from home definitely has it’s perks, especially when the office is 7 feet away and I can wear boxer shorts with a tank top and slippers everyday But at times it’s hard to keep myself focused and on track. It takes some serious self control, which is something that fails me every now and then 
1:45 – Lunch: Usually throughout the day I’ll eat several smaller meals, along with a few snacks. Not today! I was shocked when my breakfast held me over until lunch.
I went grocery shopping yesterday and picked up a tasty looking honey glazed ham. I couldn’t hold off until dinner, so I decided to whip it up for lunch. It definitely did not disappoint! Along with my ham, I cooked cheddar and potato perogies and zucchini. One word: YUM.
4:00 – Workout: I decided to take a time out from the ol’ 9-5 and duck out around 4 to hit the gym. All I remember as I walked in to meet Jamal was “Please don’t let there be any cardio today. I don’t want to run. Nocardionocardionocardio??”. Lucky for me, there was no cardio, but five minutes in I would have traded anything to be on the treadmill!
I like to call this workout the “50 Shades of Sweat”:
Stretch & warmup by 50 jumping jacks and 3 minutes of jump rope.
- Leg Press – 50 reps
- Lap Pulldown – 50 reps
- Row – 50 reps
- Chest Press – 50 reps
- Hip Abductor – 50 reps
- Shoulder Press – 50 reps
- Bicep Curls – 50 reps
- Tricep Extension – 50 reps
- Side Raises – 50 reps
- Crunches on Balls – 50 reps
- Pec Fly – 30 reps
- Reverse Fly – 30 reps
- Leg Curls – 25 reps
- Leg Extension – 25 reps
We ended this muscle killer with 2 miles on the bike. By the end of the workout, every muscle in my body was on fire. I can’t recall the exact weights I did for each machine but please note that I did significantly less weight than I normally would when doing 15 reps 3 times. I would start out great, but the constant working of each muscle would cause them to slowly start to burn. Thanks to Jamal, I was able to finish almost every set strong. And the ones I didn’t, I knew I gave it my all
6:30 pm – Dinner: By the time I made it back home I was starvin’ like marvin’ and the only thing going through my head was a chicken quesadilla. I tossed up a few green beans to eat with it and dinner was served.
The quesadilla was extra cheesy (and extra delicious ).
After dinner I was craving something SWEET. Instead of helping my roommate finish his double fudge brownie Ben & Jerry’s (<— serious self control), I had a cheesecake flavored yogurt with granola. It cured my sweet tooth and was gone before I could even take a photo of it!
Well, all this food talk is making my stomach grumble. I think I hear a bowl of oatmeal calling my name! Have a wonderful Wednesday, catch you kiddies tomorrow!
What has your favorite meal been this week?
What’s your favorite strength training workout?
Like this:
Win Or Lose, We Still Booze
Happy Tuesday everybody! Hope you all had a wonderful weekend. Here’s what you might of missed from this past week:
- I went to the Red Hot Chili Peppers concert, and saw the band after the concert!
- I had a froyo date with a few of my favorite Boston bloggers.
- I posted a new arm circuit workout from personal training.
Oh, and one more thing. You are now all in the presence of an Olympian.
This weekend Dani and I represented the luck of the Irish in the first annual Beer Olympics.
There was an appearance by the Americans..
The Jamaicans…
And the Italians too. But they were too busy tanning & making Ron Ron juice to pose for a photo.
The Beer Olympics were composed of 7 different events: flip cup, the funnel, civil war, kegstand, titanic, boat race, and beer pong. Now us Irish, we may not be the best at playing beer pong or flipping cups, but we’re damn good at drinking beer. Although we got last place in flip cup, we quickly made a comeback by earning the silver medal in “the funnel challenge”. Next up was civil war, yet another game that involved more ball throwing and less drinking (no bueno). We may or may not have gotten last place yet again.
BUT NO WORRIES FRIENDS, two last place finishes did not deter us Irish. Instead of accepting defeat, we pulled out a bottle of Jameson and began chanting “WIN OR LOSE, WE STILL BOOZE!” followed by several rounds of shots.
Cheers ya’ll!
As I previously mentioned, our team strengths didn’t lie in tossing ping pong balls into solo cups. No, our strength was the ability to drink, and drink we did! The next event was the kegstand. Due to the rules, one guy and one girl from each team had to participate. Dani quickly backed out and Emi, our only other girl, was quick to follow. Who did that leave? Me.
Now, I went to Florida State. I’ve done my fair share of kegstands and I guarantee 99% of them didn’t last longer than 15 seconds. So although I was nervous, I was even more determined not to let my team down! This was the OLYMPICS after all. I was going for the gold baby!
I was lucky enough to situate myself to go last after all the other girls. I watched as each girl went from 15 to 30 seconds. All I kept thinking was, I just have to make it past 15 seconds! Before I know it my hands were on the keg and my legs were in the air. It was gametime.
Ready. Set. GO.
“5…10…15…20…”
Hey, this isn’t so bad. Man I love beer.
“25…30…35…40…”
Wait, did she just say 40? I’m feeling like a BOSS. Oh yay, my team’s chanting my name. Go meee, go meee!
“45…50…55…”
I’m almost at a minute. What the %#!$ is going on?? Oh man I’m full.
“FIFTY EIGHT!”
A fifty eight second kegstand?!? WHO AM I. And then I realized I was an Olympian. An Olympian with the luck o’ the Irish on her side!
Although Ireland brought home the bronze overall, I had so much fun
Sunday I decided to embark in a little spring cleaning. (AKA clean up the piles of clothes off my floor and finally do some laundry.)
I turned this…
Into this…
Magic, right?
Welp! I’m off to start my work day and catch up on the piles of work that have been stacking up. Lately I’ve been extremely overwhelmed and been having trouble finding my balance between work, the gym, and my social life. It seems as if when I’m excelling in one, the other two are slacking. It’s tough trying to figure out how to balance everything without feeling incredibly stressed, but hey I’m getting there. And I can’t wait for this weekend! My parents and sister are coming to visit Boston for the very first time this weekend and I couldn’t be more excited to show them around the city! I’m hoping the rest of the week just flies on bye
Hope you all have a wonderful Tuesday. Be back tomorrow with WIAW and a strength training workout that kicked my butt!
Olympian here, over & out.
If you’ve ever been to Boston, what is would you recommend to do while you’re here? I’m trying to make a list of things to do while my parents & sister are in town! Any + all suggestions are appreciated!!
Like this:
Oldies But Goodies
It’s Friday night morning and I just just just just juuuuuuuust got paid.
Any N*Sync fans out there? I thought I’d start your Friday off with an oldie, but goodie There’s nothing like the moment when a song takes you back in time. My neighborhood friends and I (aka “the big kids”) used to blast the “No Strings Attached” CD and make up dance routines in my front yard. After spending hours perfecting our routine we would round up my younger sister and the rest of the “little kids” to perform for them.
I was such a dramatic child ;)
Lunch
Speaking of oldies but goodies, yesterday I woke up at 6 AM and couldn’t seem to fall back asleep. I was flipping through the channels and what did I stumble upon. Oh why BOY MEETS WORLD, one of the greatest shows ever. I spent the next hour and a half laying in bed watching Cory and Tapanga fall in love, Sean screw up with Angela, and Eric scream Mr. Feeny’s name at the top of his lungs.
That show will never get old.
For lunch yesterday I was originally just going to make an egg sandwich, but after reading Julie’s post about making her own quesadilla, I couldn’t resist! It was all I could think about. After cooking up green beans and zucchini to snack on while I cooked (yes, I cooked a meal for a meal) I tossed chicken on the stove to grill.
I chopped up a red pepper and mixed it with the chicken. After adding a little onion powder for flavor, I put the chicken, pepper, and cheddar cheese on a spinach tortilla. After folding it over and letting the cheese melt on the stove, VOILA! A chicken quesadilla at your service
Workout
After lunch I finished up a couple of reports for work and then hit the gym with Jamal. I hadn’t gone to the gym on Wednesday so I really wanted to push myself.
First we started off with a warmup:
- 40 jumping jacks
- 25 squats
- 1 minute plank
Next was an arm circuit workout (repeat 2x):
- 15 pull ups
- 30 ab twists with medicine ball
- 10 dips
- 30 mountain climbers
After was a quick cardio workout on the stairmaster to get my heart pumping. We did 10 minutes starting at level 1 and increased the level every minute.
Last was an ab & arm circuit (repeat 1x):
- 30 crunches on ball
- 1 minute plank on ball
- leg raises
- 10 barbell curls
- 10 tricep kickbacks
- 10 concentration curls
- 10 cable tricep kickbacks
By the time I finished the cable tricep kickbacks, my arms felt like jelly. You can bet I’m doing an off day workout when I hit the gym later, especially considering the Celtics are playing tonight!
I’m off to attend to the 14 reports I have due today (this should be fun) BUT only 9 hours until the weekend where I’ll be representing the Irish in the first annual Beer Olympics. I can’t wait to whip out my obnoxious St. Patty’s day gear. Wish me luck!!
Who are you rooting for in the NBA playoffs?
Have you ever participated in a Beer Olympics?
What’s your favorite “off” day workout?
Froyo Festivities
Happy Thursday everybody, it’s almost the weekend! Boston is supposed to be sunny in the 70′s this weekend so I plan on making my way down to the beach to soak up some rays. I’ve been away from Florida for WAY too long
Last night I embarked on my very first blogger meet-up! Several bloggers in the Boston area and I got together and went to J.P. Licks in Somerville for some very delicious fro-yo
I met up with Tracy, Amy, Tessa, Sarah, and Lindsay (thanks again for the photo Lindsay! Didn’t want to shove 5 different cameras on someone again ). I was so nervous at first, I actually felt like I was going on a blind date for the first time. How would I find them? What if they didn’t recognize me? What if I didn’t recognize them? What if they didn’t like me? So many thoughts were running through my head as I was walking up. Although I had read almost all of their blogs before, I wasn’t sure what it would be like when I actually met them face to face.
When I saw Lindsay I immediately felt relieved and knew I wouldn’t be that awkward person wandering around the plaza looking for friends. It was such a great experience to meet everyone and get a feel for their personalities in person rather than over the internet. I had so much fun sharing blogging stories, real life stories, and just chatting about what brought each of us to the Boston area. I can’t wait to do it again guys!!
(^^^Please excuse my bangs. It appears they had a mind of their own yesterday.)
After chatting for a bit, it was time for the froyo! I had never been to J.P. Licks, but I was torn between the chocolate chip cookie and peanut butter chip froyo. I ended up getting the chocolate chip cookie but I added reeses pieces to get my peanut butter fix with fruity pebbles.
Yup, you read that right. This bad ass added some fruity pebbles to the mix.
It was awesome.
And now it’s time to get down to business. Although I would love nothing more than to throw on my bathing suit and hit the beach (seriously, it’s sunny and in the seventies, WHAT MORE COULD YOU ASK FOR!?) I’ll be spending today working from home to get everything finished up before the weekend. What I will not be doing is cleaning up the pile of clothes covering my entire floor. (Yes guys, it’s still there).
Tonight I’m off to the gym for another great workout with Jamal, and then meeting up with my best friend Dani to catch up on her recent trip to Vegas (VEGAS BABY!) as well as our costumes and strategy for this weekend. Dani’s roommate is throwing a Beer Olympics party for her boyfriend and has separated us all into teams with three girls and two boys. Although I won’t be representing America (the other boys claimed it already, damn them) I WILL be representing Tracy’s home country, Ireland! Tracy, please tell me where I can buy a kilt ASAP You would think after spending four years at FSU I would be skilled in Beer Olympics, but this is actually my first time. Guess I should go watch Beerfest or something…
Happy Thursday everybody!
