ashleyd /

Monday Recharge

In case you missed it, this weekend was an absolute blast filled with great friends, a Derby themed housewarming party, plenty of homemade Southern comfort food, and lots of moving stress! You can read more about it and one of my favorite recipes right here!
After such an indulgent weekend I knew this week needed to include lots of exercise, sleep, and whole foods. Bo and decided that one way we’d achieve this goal would be to wake up and go to bed 30 minutes early each morning in May. This would ensure we’d be able to workout from 5:30-7am each morning. Extending a morning workout by 30 minutes allows me to pump some iron after sweating through a cardio session.
Luckily after curling up in bed at 10 last night, I woke up this morning craving a sweat fest and lots of whole foods!  This morning’s workout included a few of my favorites:
4 mile run in 38:10
10 mins on the stairclimber
Chest press, bicep curls, tricep dips, lat pull down
20 pushups
Lunges/Squats/Leg Press
Today I tried to focus on only putting whole foods in my body versus processed foods. It was definitely a challenge and opened my eyes up to how much I’ve started relying on bars as go to snacks. Today’s eats were as follows:
1/2 c oats, banana, cinnamon, and flax seeds (sorry for the Blackberry pic)

Late morning snack was 1/2 a grapefruit
Lunch was a delicious salad from Pax including romaine, egg whites, chicken, tomatoes, celery, red onion, and sprouts. I stuck with lemon juice, salt, and pepper instead of dressing.

Dinner was delicious grilled chicken with veggies Bo and I steamed/sauteed this morning in between showers and dashing out the door. We knew that if we had a dinner all ready to go when we got home we’d be more likely to eat our own food versus ordering. It worked perfectly!

When I got home from work and the Junior League meeting I was craving some yoga and stretching. I popped in the Core Fusion dvd and did thighs, arms, and stretching. It was a perfect 30 minute session that left me feeling stronger and relaxed! I forgot how much I love this great DVD. Any dvd that breaks the workouts up into convenient 10 minute segments wins me over!

The rest of the evening includes nothing except lounging on the couch with Gossip Girl!
xoxo

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ashleyd /

An Emotional Few Days…

I apologize for the lack of posts over the last 3 days. Wednesday morning, I enjoyed an intense workout session at the Westin gym. This gym didn’t disappoint though it did feel like a sauna due to the pool area. I did a 4 mile hill workout on the treadmill before Heather and I did a 30 minute lifting session together. She shared some of the tips her trainer has given her along with some exercises. We did a number of arm and leg workouts including squats, calf raises, step ups, lat raises, bicep curls, and pushups.

Afterwards we were able to enjoy a lovely brekfast from the Westin continental breakfast buffet included with our room. There were huge strawberries, blueberries, and bananas. In addition I was suprised by their delicious egg whites and asparagus dish. Heather and I took advantage of the gorgeous weather and worked outside near the pool in the sunshine for 2 hours before we had get ready for an afternoon of management store tours.

My trip to Dallas and week was going wonderfully until I returned to my room at 11:30 to shower and get ready for the afternoon. As I was heading down my Backberry rang and I saw that it was my brother. He told me to sit down before he’d continue. He shared with me the unfortunate news that my Uncle Carl had passed that morning. I felt like I was hit with a ton of blocks as this was my dad’s oldest brother but still only in his mid 60s. He’d died of a major heart attack and had passed before the ambulance even arrived. My mind went into shock as I realized that my father had suddenly lost his mother and father within a short month time period. After immediately calling my father and other relatives I immediately started reseraching airfares in hopes to be with my family during their period of difficulty. Unfortunately, airlines are not very understanding unless an immediate (mother, father, husband, or wife) has died and therefore all flights were over $1500! During all of this all I could focus on was how happy I was that these people were all together along with the rest of my dad’s extended family for our wedding on November 21st!

My father and his siblings decided to have a delayed memorial service since other family members were out of the country and wouldn’t be able to attend this week. Therefore, May 8th my family and I will all come together in South Bend, Indiana to celebrate two wonderful people: my Grandma Hazel who died at the age of 102 and my Uncle Carl who died at the all too young age of 67. This memorial weekend to celebrate both their lives is unfortunately the same weekend as my dear friend’s wedding. As you may recall, I was down in Atlanta celebrating Meg’s bachelorette just last month. I am so glad I was able to spend that weekend with her but also very sad that i’ll be in South Bend instead of celebrating her wedding in Macon. While it will be a very sad weekend it will also be a wonderful weekend of remembrance in the town where my father and his siblings grew up. I haven’t been to South Bend since I spent a prospectus weekend at University of Notre Dame during senior year. I’m sure our weekend will include dinner at Roccos and Little Italy, walks through campus, and maybe even a trip to the lake.

The rest of the week in Dallas was a blur because I was trying to keep my emotions together while also focusing on the business. Oh and yes, I forgot to tell you that the below is my BROKEN computer. I somehow stuck my thumb completely through my screen when I was trying to adjust the screen. You see that thumb mark at the top. Oh yes, I kid you not, I can’t make these things up! To make matters worse, this happened on Wednesday morning right after my phone call with my brother. The screen went from this (below) to completely black in about 3 minutes. Needless to say, I have never been happier to arrive back home than I was last night! All I wanted was a big hug from Bo.

Luckily, he was also able to greet me with wonderful news. We’re officially moving into our new apartment next Friday! After sleeping over 12 hours, we headed to the apartment to take measurements, tape off furniture ideas, and take pictures.

Bathroom #1

Living room (the previous tenant left the lights but we’ll be removing them when we move in)

100 square foot walk in bedroom closet. Oh yes, I kid you not!

Bedroom view #1

Front hallway closet

Kitchen

Guest bathroom

Dining nook and living room

This is one of the benefits to having a husband with an architecture background. Sketches, measurements, and plans.

We’re spending the rest of the evening posting ads on Craigslist (need a Pottery Barn entertainment console? Patio furniture? Pottery barn Bedford desk?), watching a very odd moving called A Serious Man, and relaxing. I still feel a bit off both physically and emotionally even though I worked out daily and ate well in Dallas. I think part of it is the emotional stress paired with the fact that my team was out at the Ghost Bar until nearly 3am on Thursday night! Three hours sleep is NOT enough for this gal!


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ashleyd /

How I wake up at 4:25

   

The alarm went off WAY too early this morning at 4:25. I knew that the only way I’d wake up and feel ready for travel was if I got my blood flowing. Therefore, I did a 5 minute bootcamp routine in the living room that left my heart pacing and my mind awake. This morning’s five minute quickie consisted of the following:

-20 pushups

-1 minute jumping jacks

-20 pushups

1 minute jumping jacks

1 minute abs

50 toe squats

1 minute jumping jacks

My next step was getting dressed and ready to dash. Normally I’d opt for a quick shower since it always helps me wake up but I really didn’t want to risk getting my hair wet since I’ll have no time to go to my hotel and freshen up when I land in Dallas. This also meant that I couldn’t travel in Lululemon or other comfortable clothes. I think getting dressed in “real” clothes helped me wakeup and mentally prepare for the day. Luckily real clothes were able to include a super cute jeans outfit that I randomly put together Saturday night before we headed out to the beer garden.

Kentucky brand dark jeans from my Fitness Magazine jeans fashion shoot

White crisp tunic blouse from J Crew – The top is more fitted than the bottom which is very complimentary and it has lots of cute details like button up sleeves, pockets, and princess seams. This was one of my hot JCrew Outlet finds 3 weeks ago when we were up in Vermont

Bright yellow, green, and white summer scarf- Our friend Geoff makes constant fun of girls and their obsession for summer scarves since it really makes no sense to most guys. But, if you’re on an airplane or a chilly airport you want something to help keep you warm and this also has a wonderful cozy factor

Wide braided brown belt- Talk about great investments. This Banana Republic belt was a random purchase 4 years ago in my attempt to buy a FULL outfit straight off the mannequin versus just pieces. My mom taught me long ago that if you buy outfits it will be MUCH easier to get dressed and put together different combinations. Therefore, I rarely buy just one top or pair of pants. If I buy a top I’ll buy the cute necklace or belt they’ve paired it with.

Giant Coach tote- this has quickly become my favorite briefcase/purse when traveling. It is chic enough to carry into any restaurant or store without horrible embarassment, it’s slim lines keep you from feeling bulky yet it expands easily. It is soft which means it can easily slide under your seat on an airplane even when stuffed to the hilt like it is now. In addition it has 2 zipper side pockets and a zip top that ensure nothing falls out when you’re dashing through security or pulling it out of the cab.

This outfit will stay crisp during my 3.5 hour flight, full day of store checks and strategy sessions, and easily take me straight through our team dinner this evening at a local Dallas restaurant.  🙂

Now, back to this morning’s mad dash. I always use Limo Res when I need airport transportation as it is reasonably priced, allows me to rack up Delta miles, and is very trustworthy. However, this morning I had been pacing in my lobby for 10 minutes when I frantically called their dispatch center. It turns out my driver had been at the BACK entrance to my apartment building for 15 minutes. I was immediately nervous that my bag wouldn’t be able to get on my flight since last minute I had to use a bag too large to carry on. Our trusted Tumi finally bit the dust last night and will be returned today for replacement/repair. I quickly asked the driver to go as quickly as possible to Newark Airport. He slowly pulled off and started making his way down the dark roads. I felt like he was going VERY slowly but hey, maybe I’m just accustomed to the midtown taxi drivers who drive like mad men. After getting myself situated and checking my flight status on my Blackberry I looked up to find that he wasn’t stopped at a red light. Oh no, he had stopped to look at a map! Are you kidding me?! Did they really send a driver who didn’t know the area. Luckily I knew how to get him to Newark and quickly started barking directions. I say barking because I know I was not the friendliest passenger this morning. What can I say? It was early, I was worried i’d miss the 45 minute bag check requirement, or worse miss my flight.

Blog Pictures 2010 115

He redeemed himself once we hit midtown where he started buzzing down the streets and swerving in and out of other lanes as quickly as he could. Thirty five minutes later he pulled up to the Continental terminal and immediately ran my bag straight over to the curb check with me running behind. I had exactly 2.5 minutes to spare when my bag was put on the conveyer belt. Phew!

This was actually my first time in Newark Airport. It was a madhouse! The security line length reminded me of the Atlanta airport accept it was far less organized. They were directing people into different lanes and it wasn’t until 15 minutes later I realized they’d put me in the family and leisure traveler lane. *sigh*  Since it was now 15 minutes before my flight departed, I asked the cute couple two rows in front of me if they’d let me cut them in line. I felt like I was in elementary school all over again. They were on their way to Florida and in no hurry since their flight didn’t leave for 2 hours. I guess grandparents like to be REALLY safe and relaxed at the airport.

Blog Pictures 2010 116

I bolted through security and made a mad dash for the gate as I heard them announce my  name over the intercom. Like that my visions of breakfast and a grande tea from Starbucks evaporated into thin air.

Blog Pictures 2010 117

However, Continental has been one refreshing surprise after another! Not only was the flight only half full which meant we all have our own rows (sorry Continental I know this isn’t good for you but it’s great for the passengers) but they’ve also offered us beverage refills 4 times thus far, and served a continental breakfast. While it wasn’t necessarily the breakfast of champions, it far exceeded my expectations. We each received a carton of skim milk, 90 calorie bag of raisins, and a box of Chex Honey Wheat. 

 Blog Pictures 2010 118

My closest seat mate offered me his banana since he doesn’t eat bruised bananas. Therefore, I was able to save the raisins and enjoy some cereal and banana for breakfast. While the cereal had very little staying power alone (90 calories, less than 1 gram of fiber) I’m hoping that the milk protein and banana will help give it some substance.

Now it’s time for some quality time with my Kindle. I have three books on there now that I can’t wait to read!

Iron Ambition: My Journey Seat 2A to Ironman

Once a Runner: A Novel

Omnivore’s Dilemma

Happy Tuesday! I’ll check in later with more of my Big D adventures!

Don’t forget about Ulta’s FREE FEKKAI BLOW OUTS this week! Click here for more information!

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