A work in progress

I pride myself on trying my best to be a positive person.  You see, positivity and optimism don’t exactly come 100% natural to me.  I am, by nature, a bit too practical, realistic and pragmatic.  And although I am a constant work in progress, occasionally I get weak and the not-quite-as-nice and more-easily-annoyed me comes out.  Case in point: today.  Here are two things that “irked” me today (you guys use that word too, right?):
 

1. If you and your co-workers decide to have a Pot Luck…and the purpose is to bring (and share) food, why, inevitably are there two or three people that want to sign up to bring tea and lemonade?  Is that what you want to eat for lunch?  Lemonade?  Tea?  No?  Well us either!  It’s a Pot Luck, people, not a beverage bar!  And there is only so much liquid that we need.  FOOD.  That’s the purpose.

2.  Attention Mr. Weird-little-short-man at the gym (whom I have affectionately nicknamed “Chispirito”): there is absolutely no reason that you need to walk around the gym doling out unsolicited advice.  I know you are probably just doing this to be helpful, but:

#1 - no one asked you,
#2 - you don’t exactly have the physique of William Levy, David Beckham or Ryan Gossling, so I’m going to need you to STOP, and
#3 - I think you need to concentrate on your own work out.  The last time I checked you hadn’t even broken a sweat because you’re too busy walking around telling everyone else what to do.  And by the way, after you so kindly told and showed that girl how to "correctly" do the Lat Pulldown, I saw her roll her eyes at you when you turned around and walked away.  Rude, I know!

Now that we have gotten that out of the way, we can move on to something a bit more fun.  Thanks for letting me get that off my chest!  

Leticia’s Thursday Favorites

(a collection of random things I am loving right now)

1. Pinterest

Do I really need to say anymore?  Wait, maybe I can find a pin that says it for me! #officiallyaddicted

2. Hungry Runner Girl

Janae Jacobs (HRG) is hilarious and I love reading about her running, teaching, Costco-visiting and pregnant shenanigans!  I have faithfully read her blog everyday, twice a day, for the past year and a half.  I read her blog more consistently than I write my lesson plans!  (Just kidding, Cheantal, I’m only saying this to try to make people laugh. *awkward silence*) …well, moving right along…

3. Completerunning.com

Why?  Because in their on-site store (Cafe Press) I found this shirt.  How cute is that?
     

4. My friend Amanda

Aside from being one of the wittiest, most fun, adorable and absolutely entertaining people I know, she also happens to be the reason I started running.  If it hadn’t been for her FORCING me to run the Race for the Cure with her in October 2010, I’m not sure I would be running today.  I can honestly say that was one of the BEST birthday gifts I have ever received!  Thanks, friend!

5. Trader Joe’s

Yep, it’s official.  Trader Joe’s, you’ve created a monster!  Thank gosh a new one will be opening up closer to me on September 21^st, in exactly 92 days.  Not that I’m counting or anything.

6. Friday’s

I love Friday’s for the same reason that everyone else does, it means the end of a long work week.  But since Summer School only runs Monday through Thursday, Friday’s are especially fun because I’m off!  Hello three day weekend!!  And this Friday, for me, means that the day has finally come for my big “Girl’s Weekend” with mi Madre linda y querida, her best friend (mi segunda madre), and my daughter.  Wooohoooooo!!! 

See?  I'm ending on a positive.  Maybe I have learned a thing or two.  Work in progress, I tell you, work in progress! J

Blazing hot run, weights and dough-y goodness!

I accidentally slept in late this morning and started my morning run about an hour later than I normally do.  I think I must have forgotten that I live in Houston, Texas. And I think I must have also forgotten that in Houston by 7:00 a.m. it is 75 degrees, with 70 percent humidity, and feels like it’s 84 degrees.  Lesson learned!  It was blazing hot by the time I walked out the door!  The sun was up high in the sky and shining brightly.  I think I might have even started sweating during my two-minute warm-up stretch.  I ran a quick 2 miles…and I do mean quick; the heat motivated me to run faster than I normally run in the mornings.  J  Plus I didn’t want to be late for work. 

By lunchtime, which for Summer School is pretty early, it was raining cats and dogs.  It was a sunny rain at first but then for the next couple of hours it got a little more serious with thick clouds and blackened sky.  When I was little my grandmother used to tell me that when it rained while it was sunny out it meant that somewhere someone was crying because someone they loved had died. 

My workout this afternoon was a total body weights class, which I topped off by working chest and back. I wanted to do shoulders too but by the time I was finished with this, I was tired! 

I was in a cooking mood when we got home (when am I not?) and for dinner I made Lentils with Italian chicken sausage and pizza.  It was my first time ever making Lentils and I was impressed by how easy they were to make!  I also made some pizza using the Whole Wheat pizza crust that I got from Trader Joe’s Saturday.  Here’s how I made the pizza, it was so easy to do! 

 Leti’s Easy-Peasy Pizza

I kneaded out the dough into two rectanglish 12”-ish size pizzas. Gotta love Trader Joe’s! $1.25 for two pizzas worth of whole-wheat dough!   I lightly drizzled the dough with evoo, and then sprinkled with dried parsley and dried oregano and Leti’s Season-All (I make it by combining parsley/salt/garlic powder/pepper in a shaker).  Then I topped with pizza sauce (I normally use jarred spaghetti sauce) and mozzarella cheese.  I spread around some sliced Portobello mushrooms, and torn, fresh basil leaves from my TJ’s basil plant that I have managed to keep alive for almost a full week now!  I topped the whole thing with a little more cheese (mozzarella and some thinly sliced Swiss that I had in the fridge and put it in a 450-degree oven for about 10 minutes.  Viola!   It was so good!

 Now that I’ve eaten some lentils and dough-y goodness my belly is full, my body is achy, and this girl is ready for some zzzzzzzzzz’s!

Tangent Tuesday

This post is going to be a conglomeration (woooo…fancy word!) of random thoughts.  We’ll call it Tangent Tuesday since that is what a lot of other bloggers do on Tuesdays.

*****

Here was what I ate yesterday.  As you can see, I take my food very seriously!

Breakfast 8:30	Jasmine green tea, cottage cheese mixed with Greek yogurt (was running out of both so I combined the two), diced strawberries, walnuts, drizzled with honey and topped with freshly ground cinnamon.  Eaten directly from the container. #classylikethat
Lunch 11:45	whole wheat pita stuffed with sliced smoked turkey breast, swiss cheese, and roasted red bell pepper; cantaloupe and grapes on the side, ice water with freshly squeezed lemon.  Oh, and a slice of the most luscious chocolate cakes that my friend Astrid (aka “Betty Crocker, Jr.”) made.
Snack 3:00	The rest of my fruit from lunch that I did not finish.  Cup of chicken soup.
Snack #2 5:00	Usually pre-workout fuel.  Today I skipped it, though.
Dinner 8:30	Pan seared chicken breasts (pounded and seasoned with my salt/garlic powder, pepper, dried parsley mixture), orecchiette pasta with brocolli, brussel sprouts, red bell pepper, onion, and bacon in a spicy (red pepper flakes) garlic cream sauce
Dessert 10:00	Jasmine green tea

*****

I have to tell you something that I found so hilarious today!  My friend Rachel (one of my BFFs and my Trader Joe buddy from Saturday) text messaged me about her first experience with curry.  We both bought a jar of yellow curry sauce from TJ’s on Saturday and she decided to make curry for dinner yesterday.  She wrote, “I just want to share with you that my house smells like Bangladesh and my nails are stained yellow from this curry chicken that I cooked!!!  And I have discovered that I don’t like curry, I only like the COLOR of curry!” Part of the reason that this all struck me as so funny was that I could totally visualize the whole scene in my head; her anticipation of the delicious-smelling (and surely tasting) food, the disappointment when she realized she didn’t even like the taste after all that hard work of preparing it, and the horror when she discovered her stained nails!  She might like the color of curry but not on her nails!  My poor friend.  I don’t mean to find humor in her situation…but you have to admit that was one funny text message!  She is, by far, one of the funniest people Iknow!

*****

Being new at this whole blogging thing, I’m still trying to figure out…well, just about everything. I have worked through a couple of things, though.

1) Ideally, I would like to post at least once a day;

2) I want to write about life, food, running, food, music, working out and food.  In that order

3) I want to include lots of pictures, inspirational quotes, links to interesting articles to read, and whatever else tickles my fancy at the time!  Of course, I welcome any suggestions from you all as well!  

*****

My workout today was 3 miles on the treadmill (the hubs ran along side me!) to warm up and then I did weights.  I focused on arms today: biceps and triceps and finished off with some planks.  As we were leaving the gym, the sky was picturesque, to say the least.  Being the artist that he is, and with his photographic eye that is always at work and ready to catch some beautiful image, he automatically posed me and snapped this picture using his phone (he had actually left the Cannons at home, which almost never happens!):

Wait, did I just insinuate that I was the beautiful image that he captured?  Totally didn’t mean that!  Just look at the sky behind me!  This pic is all real...no editing whatsoever!

*****

Dinner was SO DELISH that even the hubby ate all the veggies in the pasta!  No, you don’t understand, he almost never eats the veggies!

*****

FIVE QUESTIONS FOR YOU:

1. What do you think of the blog so far? 

2. What kinds of things would you like to see more of/readabout? 

3. What is it that would make you want to keep coming backfor more?

4. What was your work out today?

5. What kinds of delicious foods have you been you grubbingon lately?

LIST-mania

Today I was in the mood to make lists. Wow, sometimes my OCD-tendencies even surprise me!! 

GET IN MY BELLY!!! Grub Menu (6/18 – 6/24)
Monday	Pan seared chicken breasts, orecchiettepPasta with brocolli, brussel sprouts, red bell pepper and bacon in a garlic cream sauce
Tuesday	Pork tenderloin with brown rice and green beans
Wednesday	Chicken sausage pizza on whole wheat crust; salad
Thursday	Ground turkey tacos (whole wheat, high fiber tortillas), avocado pico de gallo, black beans
Friday	Steak, chimichurri, roasted veggies
Saturday	- out to eat - - Curry chicken with onions, bell peppers over brown rice, cucumber salad
Sunday	- out to eat (hopefully Pho or Malaysian food again!) - Salmon, asparagus, orzo salad

Work out	run	Cross Train	weights
Monday	3	---	Arms: biceps, triceps, abs
Tuesday	4	Zumba, Spin	---
Wednesday	5	Step	Whole body
Thursday	3	Zumba, Spin	---
Friday	2	Pilates	Legs
Saturday	3	Step	Chest/Back/Shoulders
Sunday	7	---	---

RUNstreak playlist
Desabafo Deixa Eu Dizer	Marcelo D2 & Claudia
Where Have You Been?	Rihanna
Girls Gone Wild	Madonna
I’m a Machine	David Guetta ft. Crystal Nicole
Turn Up the Music	Chris Brown ft. Rihanna
Dance Again	Jennifer Lopez ft. Pitbull
Danza Kuduro	Don Omar ft. Lucenzo
Countdown	Beyonce
Feel So Close	Calvin Harris
Maimbe Danda	Daniela Murcury
Titanium	David Guetta ft. Sia
What Doesn’t Kill You Makes You Stronger	Kelly Clarkson
Rumor Has It	Adele
Mr. Know-It-All	Kelly Clarkson
Set Fire to the Rain	Adele

Right Now I’m…
Reading...	The Prophet of Yonwood, Slob, 50 Shades of Gray,
Listening to	Pandora! Hello?! Who isn’t?! I’m obsessed with my Adele, Sade, Concha Buika, and Alejandro Sanz stations!
Watching:	Qubo with my daughter…she is obsessed with He-Mann and She-Ra…which were my favorite shows at her age, too, so I watch them with her!
Craving	Jasmine Cream Tea with a double shot of boba, 3-minute mug brownie, and my teaching partner’s Peach Cobbler (best I’ve ever tasted!)
Loving	Getting off at 2:30pm everyday (Yay for Summer School!), being able to spend more time with my family, my Summertime favorites: strawberries, pineapple, watermelon, mango, grapefruit, ice cream,
Wishing for	The weekend would hurry up and get here! I am ready for some girl time with my momma, my bambina, and my second momma!!

Hope you enjoy reading them and that you find something helpful and/or useful.

FIVE QUESTIONS FOR YOU:

1. What are some lists you frequently make?

2. What are some of your favorite foods to make/grub on?

3. What does your work-out plan for this week look like?

4. What songs are you ROCKING TO right now? (I need some suggestions for my playlist!!)

5. What things are you reading/listening to/watching/craving/loving/wishing for?