my prayers are answered.

i am not an extremely religious person but i have been known to pray my little heart out, especially when there is something as drastic as the fact that i had nowhere to live come november 1st.

i posted an ad on craigslist stating my situation, a little weary that some creepers might email me offering me a place to live.  i did get an email from someone who said he had a room with a private bathroom for rent, had a fenced yard and allowed dogs.  it was in a great part of town so i figured i had nothing to lose and i went to check it out.

well, as luck would have it, this turned out to be an ideal situation! the guy looked familiar right off the bat, he said he facebooked me before i came over and that we have a bunch of mutual friends (that is what a name like janetha will do in a database like facebook). sweet! the house was amazing and we got along really well.  i ended up agreeing to move in! i am so relieved that i know what my plans are and i have somewhere to go. here is a list of pros for the new house:

• huge fenced yard for the dogs
• my own spot in the garage
• $500 covers rent, utilities & internet
• washer & dryer right across from my room
• my own bathroom! this hasn’t happened since i lived alone 6 years ago
• amazing kitchen with tons of natural light, awesome appliances, etc
• roomie works at whole foods!
• right by the freeway entrance
• less than 2 miles from my gym!
• right by target, whole foods, old navy, ross, B&N.. this could be bad ;)
• close to the mouth of the canyon (for snowboarding easy access)
• roomies who love to cook
• a long haired daschund lives there too :) cutie
• they are dog lovers! my kind of people

so, my prayers were answered. i am terribly sad that i will not be living with any of my good friends, i will miss that a lot.. i love living with the girls i am with now.  but since i cannot live with them anymore, and cannot afford to live alone, i honestly couldn’t ask for a better situation to fall in my lap.  i am really glad that weight is off my shoulders and i can focus on moving. p.s.: I HATE MOVING! the next few weeks i will be packing and cleaning things out, getting rid of some stuff i don’t need (but i am a PACK RAT so it is hard to throw stuff away! i swear i still have clothes from high school).  but, to sum it all up: yay :)

ok! onto today. today was a very good day full of lots of yummy eats, baking and a stellar workout.

i didn’t eat right away today. i waited until i was hungry, which was not for about 2 hours after i woke up.

meal 1: greek yogurt+cereal+deb’s maple vanilla PB @ 11:00 AM

every time i eat deb’s maple vanilla peanut butter i am amazed. it is SO delicious. thanks again lady!

i tackled my heap of laundry all afternoon, began packing away my summer clothes and really didn’t get a lot done considering the time i spent.  i am famous for getting distracted reading old papers and magazines and whatnot when trying to clean. woops!

i decided to hit the gym around 2:00, still full from my yogurt mess, oddly enough. must have been that healthy fat that was keeping me full!

upper body workout today! i did different ab routines between sets.

warmup: 1 mile easy run on treadmill (8 min 27 seconds)

chest

• db chest press
• 12 @ 30#
• 20 bench tuck crunches
• 10 @ 35#
• 20 reverse crunches
• 8 @ 40#
• 30 second plank w/ feet on stability ball, elbows on bench
• 6 @ 45#
• 50 ball crunches
• 12 @ 40#
• db flyes
• 12 @ 20#

shoulders

• seated db shoulder press
• 12 @ 20#
• 20 bench tuck crunches
• 10 @ 25#
• 20 reverse crunches
• 8 @ 30#
• 30 second plank w/ feet on stability ball, elbows on bench
• 6 @ 35#
• 50 ball crunches
• 12 @ 20#
• upright db rows
• 12 @ 30#

back

• single arm db rows (each arm)
• 12 @ 15#
• 20 bench tuck crunches
• 10 @ 17.5#
• 20 reverse crunches
• 8 @ 20#
• 30 second plank w/ feet on stability ball, elbows on bench
• 6 @ 22.5#
• 50 ball crunches
• 12 @ 17.5#
• reverse db flyes
• 12 @ 15#

triceps

• overhead cable extension
• 12 @ 30#
• 20 oblique crunches (crunch&twist) on stability ball
• 10 @ 35#
• 50 lower ab crunches on decline bench
• 8 @ 40#
• 20 russian twists on stability ball w/ 10# weight
• 6 @ 45#
• 15 each side crunches laying on side on stability ball
• 12 @ 35#
• cable pulldowns
• 12 @ 20#

biceps

• cable curls
• 12 @ 30#
• 20 oblique crunches (crunch&twist) on stability ball
• 10 @ 35#
• 50 lower ab crunches on decline bench
• 8 @ 40#
• 20 russian twists on stability ball w/ 10# weight
• 6 @ 45#
• 15 each side crunches laying on side on stability ball
• 12 @ 35#
• hammer db curls
• 12 @ 20#

whew. SUCH a good workout. i was a hot mess at the end.. but i didnt have my HR monitor with me so no stats! i am already sore!

then i went and checked out my future casa.. that took about an hour so when i got home i was ready to eat penelope. but i refrained.

meal 2: meatloaf+flatout+LCL @ 3:30 PM

this was so good yesterday that i had to repeat. i used the last of my meatloaf, oh and lara.. you had asked about the recipe, it can be found here!

simple but so good. and protein packed!

after properly filling my belly it was time for a baking extravaganza!

first i made veggie girl’s peanut butter banana bread 

yowza! this stuff was delicious! so moist and peanut-butter-banana-y! make it. now. i doubled the recipe and ended up with 2 loaves and 6 mini round loaves from my silicone muffin tin (which i LOVE, by the way).

i couldn’t resist trying half of a mini loaf :)

 

next up was averie’s vegan chocolate chip chocolate cookies (i added coconut on top)

 

um, incredible! and i wouldn’t expect any less, averie is the dessert MASTER!

i couldn’t find vegan dark chocolate chips so i used semi sweet, these were super chocolatey and rich.. they would be awesome alongside a glass of your favorite milk (mine is almond milk).

thanks to my two lovely vegan bloggie friends for these stellar recipes. i went up to marshall’s casa after my baking shenanigans and tested the goods out on my vegan boys. they were impressed by both treats! and marshall loved them too :)

marshall and i passed on the sunday night movie and caught up on the office instead. after one episode we took a break for dinner. i kept it simple tonight.

meal 3: annie’s mac+ground beef & steamed veggies @ 9:00 PM 

i just cooked the ground beef with one yellow onion:

whipped up the annie’s mac and stirred in a few LCL wedges for extra creaminess:

and combined the two:

served alongside some steamed mixed veggies.. super simple sunday dinner was served!

of course, i mixed this all together before eating and it was actually incredible. it def could have used some hot sauce though.

it is funny because i was twittering (tweeting? i don’t know) with jenn about lazy sundays and i had asked her what she was making for dinner.. she was making a lazy batch of annie’s mac too! you just can’t go wrong :)

we are going to finish up the office and maybe squeeze in the last episode of true blood season 2. i haven’t watched TV in a long time! i kind of like doing it this way and letting the episodes pile up because when you watch shows online you don’t have to wait for the next episode or watch commercials.

you may have noticed i have been a bit absent on reading/commenting this weekend. it has been action packed and i haven’t had a moment to just relax.. so sorry for the slackage on my part. i will catch up tomorrow.

monday manana! i don’t think i am ready for it but i think it is coming whether i like it or not ;)

oh! check out averie’s giveaway and jessie’s giveaway. go, quick! p.s. erika i still need your info so i can send you your xagave!

hope you all had a fantastic weekend and that your monday is all you hoped for. and more.

Qs

1. are you a pack rat or are you good at throwing things out/giving them away if you don’t use them? i cannot part with anything to save my life. my SIL has a rule where if she hasn’t used/worn it in a year it goes.. but i have that mentality that says.. “well WHAT IF i absolutely NEED this cardigan from 11th grade one day? i better keep it just in case!”

2. what is your favorite baked good (or unbaked, if you are a raw foodie)? i like fruit cobblers/crisps the best. specifically peach. but i am not picky and i am likely to devour anything that comes my way.. as long as there are no raisins in there!

xo. janetha b.