Hi!

Just looked at my blog and I haven't written anything since October. 2012 was a slow blogging year too. So I wanted to pop on and say hello.

Hi.

We have had a busy winter. Luckily no one got the Chicago flu, but we have all gotten sick the last month. After hoping that I would get better on my own, but 3 weeks later, I finally went to a doc-in-the-box. The doctor wasn't there so I saw the "virtual doctor"

It was really cool. There was a medical assistant who took my blood pressure, pulse, and temperature. She added those to the computer as well as my symptoms. Then the stethoscope was attached to the computer so she would just hit record and then record my heart sounds. Same with my lung sounds.

The otoscope was also connected to the computer. She would take a picture of my ears and throat and saved them to the computer too. This was really cool because she showed me where my eardrum was and where the fluid was bulging behind it. If I worked there I would check my ears out every day!

Then she submitted it all to the doctor. There were three other locations and whichever had a doctor available first would review it. In less than 5 minutes a doctor in Peoria was skyping me. He asked about my history and said that it looked like I just had an upper resp. infection. He sent in a prescription and waited for it to go through and then signed off.

I paid $39 and was on my way.  The future of medicine is seeing a robot doctor. :)

Mom jeans

I hate shopping for pants! I'm too tall and stores rarely have a good selection of tall sizes or styles.
I have a mysterious problem with the pants I own now. Every. Single. Pair. have these orange stains on the right leg only. Some are just a few dots, and some are a good six inches of orange. I swear I'm not eating cheetos and wiping my hands on them! Where can this be coming from?






So, my favorite pair of jeans split wide open in the rear and I needed to get some new ones.

Confession. I have been buying my jeans from a junior's store and I'm 31 years old. They have cute jeans and long inseams! Well I couldn't find my go-to store up here (I didn't really look). I decided to try Gap. How can you go wrong with Gap? One thing about the Jr store is everything is low rise. Too low. Butt crack low. Gap had some mid rise curvy jeans in my size. They fit perfectly, but I kept thinking these feel like mom jeans. I chalked it up to a mid rise I wasn't used to.

Now I know I'm 31, and a mom, but I don't think that means I can't look good in a pair of jeans. I wore the jeans yesterday and still felt like they were dorky mom jeans. Then last night I stumbled upon this Gap Jeans Review

I knew it! Gap and Old Navy jeans are gateway mom jeans!

Where do you buy your jeans/pants?

Couch 2 5K

Tonight I started training for a 5k. The Klop family has been having a 5k the last few years and this year I would like to try to run it. It's not until September, so I have plenty of time to train.

I hate running though. So much! I feel like I'm drowning when I run and my body hurts. The jarring, the side aches, the throat closed up, oh I hate it!

I downloaded a c25k training app and started it tonight. It's a 9 week course that is 3 days a week. Tonight started with 5 minutes of brisk walking and then alternating 60 seconds of running with 90 seconds of walking. It was pretty easy. It lasts for 25 minutes and I timed my route perfectly to make it back to my driveway at the last buzzer.

I mapped my route when I got home and got these stats. 1.8 miles in 25 minutes. Average pace 13:53. Average speed 4.32 mph (like a cheetah!) I have no idea if this is good or not. I know that I walked the mile in 13 minutes in high school because I hated to run back then.

I mapped another route from my house that is half a 5k, so eventually I will run it twice. Hopefully with better stretching it will be even easier next time.

16 week results!

Aren't you dying to know how the last 16 weeks went? I turned 31 yesterday and my present to myself was my total fitness transformation.

The results are in! Drumroll.....















... I'm a food addict. I probably gained weight. I need an accountability partner. :(

However, the juicing I've done over the last few weeks has completely cured my IBS. I have had no symptoms or problems at all. It's amazing.

Juice Fasting

I decided to do a 3 day juice fast. I wanted to do a quick detox and also just to see if I liked the juice.

This was my Day 1.

Breakfast
3 carrots
2 apples
1 in of ginger root

This juice was so yummy! I would drink it everyday. I really like how sweet carrot juice is and the ginger gave it some zest.

Mid Morning
1 cucumber
4 celery stalks
2 apples
6-8 leaves kale
1/2 lemon
1 tbs ginger root

I was a little leery of this one because it smelled like grass clippings, but it was surprisingly good. The kale gives it that smell but I would put kale in every juice if I could.

Lunch
4 plum tomatoes
1 large cucumber
2 celery stalks
1 red bell pepper
1/4 small red onion
2 cups parsley
1 lime

This juice was a lot like v8. I would have liked it a little more spicy so I would throw in a hotter pepper next time.

Afternoon snack
6-8 leaves kale
6-8 leaves swiss chard
1 cucumber
6 clementines

Again another winner with the kale. I couldn't really taste the swiss chard which is good because I was a little nervous about it.

Dinner
1 lg sweet potato
1 med carrot
1 red bell pepper
2 lg red beets
2 golden delicious apples
1 orange

I have never had beets and immediately didn't like the smell. They smelled like dirt. This one had a dirt taste to it so it was not good. I would have replaced the beets with some kale for the  next time.

Day 1 was a success and I thought I would be in the bathroom a lot but never was. Bonus!