Deanna's Christmas

Just in case you missed my meeting this week or were wondering what happened to me... I went to Ohio to see my amazing family. I cannot tell how much I miss them and appreciate every moment spent with them. We had an amazing Christmas. My mom is so awesome at making us feel so special at Christmas time. Here are a few photos from the holidays...



Myself and My niece Mahaylee in our matching Bearcat outfits!



My Awesome Sisters looking great!

All the Awesome women in my family

Have a safe and Happy New Year and I will post again either tomorrow or in 2012!!!

A thought to ponder...

From the Weight Watchers Magazine...

"You can have your cake and eat it,too, but its what you eat before and after the cake that makes the difference..."

What can you do before and after the new year to make it your year?

Gotta sweet tooth... Try this.

Product Review Day! These are always fun.

This is made by NESCAFÉ. All you need to do is add hot water. If you have sweet tooth in the afternoon this will truly fill your craving. Its AMAZING! In fact if the people at NESCAFÉ happen to see this silly blog they should send me some because I am in love with it. You can visit their website by clicking here!


They come in packets like pictured below and all you need is a mug and some hot water. I have a water warmer here at work so I just heated some water up and enjoyed.

Do you have a favorite seasonal product? This may just be my new favorite.

What do you want...



These always feel good!



"If you do what you've always done, you'll get what you've always gotten." Tony Robbins

My motivtional calendar really got me thinking today.

What do you really want?

How are you going to get it?



Are you ready to make your 2012 goals? Every year since 2009 I have set some high expectations for myself. What will your goals be? What do you want?



I would like to continue to do this and maybe even get better

How to have an epic fail at a Christmas party...

The day was super busy... I didn't make enough time to eat well before the party. So I went in fairly hungry and didn't eat much...

 OK well at least we looked good....



 So here is the breakdown....

Got to the casino about 2 and half hours before the party started... So what else do you do... start having a good time.

Dinner was good. However who can avoid miniature cheesecake and some yummy cupcake the boss insist you must have... Really who can...and several hours of yummy drinks.

12 hours later... passed out. Great night with great people.... the scale will reflect this.

Bonus... I won some money!!!

Spicy Meatless Chili

I decided to buy myself a Christmas gift since a friend was getting me a great deal on it. I got a new crock pot... One that actually holds enough to make a decent meal. I was really excited about getting this. So I decided I need to get making something this weekend. My coworker brought me a cookbook to look through because it had a section of crock pot recipes. So I found this Spicy Meatless Chili recipe. Its easy and yummy.

Ingredients:
2 (14.4oz) cans Mexican Tomatoes (the ones I bought were only 10oz so I used half a can of fire roasted tomatoes that I had open in my fridge to make up the difference) Do not drain.
1 (14.5oz) Can Black Beans (drained and rinsed)
2 Cups Frozen Corn Kernels
1 Cup Salsa (I used the kind I buy from Costco)
1 Medium Zucchini cut into 1/2 pieces
1 Celery Rib
1 Medium Pepper (cut)
3 TBS Chili Powder
1 TSP Oregano
2 Garlic Cloves (I forgot to put these in)


The Finished Product



Salt

Pepper

1/2 tsp Cumin

1/2 tsp Cayenne Pepper (I didn't have this)

Combined all ingredients into crock pot cook about 8 hours.

Makes 5 servings.

4 Points Plus Values is what I came up with in my Recipe Builder.

Survey...

One of my new favorite blogs is Onion In my Hair she has a very fun blog. She's a vegetarian so if you like things related to vegetarian recipes I really recommend her blog. Today her post was a survey about fitness and all things related. So here are my responses... check out her blog to see how we differ on a few things.

Five Fitness Things I Can’t Live Without:

• Motivation/Goals
• Magazines that give me ideas
• Good Running Shoes
• I love doing fitness DVD's
• Running Partners

I really like brooks running shoes

Most Embarrassing Song I Listen to While Working Out:

• I think most of my music is embarrassing but you never know when something like Vanilla Ice or New Kids on the Block.

Favorite Pre-Workout Snack or Meal:

• During the week when I workout after work I normally have either a granola bar or something very light like some dried fruit.
• On weekend before runs I have oatmeal with almonds and raisins. I also usually pair that with a glass of OJ depending on how much I plan to run.

On My Fitness Bucket List:

• Run the Air Force Marathon in 2012
• Run the Flying Pig Marathon... someday
• Buy a treadmill for my basement
• Disney Princess Half Marathon in February



Must Have Tech Tools:

My Garmin watch is awesome. It really helps me keep pace when I am training for races or when I am in a race.

 



Garmin Watch

I also really like using the app on the smart phones called Run Keeper... My good friend Sara told me about it. It is really great when I am running alone. You can read about the app here!

Top Exercise Gear:

Actually this is one thing I am not particular about. I really like that Nike has some funny sayings on many of their shirts. I also really like some of the Fila brand stuff I find at Kohls. Target also usually has some good deals on their Champion line... I do almost always wear a hat. I really love running bottoms that have a holder for my keys.

Motivational Mantras:

• Pain is temporary
• I run because I can
• We would accomplish many more things if we did not think of them as impossible.

Favorite Cardio Exercises

• Running Obviously
• Jumping Rope (makes me feel like a kid again)
• Jumping Jacks

Favorite Strength Moves:

• Lunges with some kind of bicept work
• Holding Plank... makes me realy sweat.