Fiasco (Lupe, that is)

It was pretty tough to roll out of bed this morning: I still wasn't feeling super hot and ended up pressing snooze a few too many times.  I grabbed a quick Stoke-Your-Fire Cereal and ate it at school.  (I promise this breakfast tastes delicous - I mean, it has to since I eat a few times a week - but every time I bring it to school, without fail, I have students remark about how it looks disgusting.  Cracks me up.)

But, all this "disgusting" eating has been making a difference: today one of my kids from last year passed by me in the hallway and commented on how I'm looking "skinny."

And I was super annoyed during my workout how my "tight" (smaller size than normal) workout pants kept falling down.

Tomorrow, I'll know for sure exactly how much my body has changed: that's when we have our "after" measurements.  I love nothing more than stripping down to my skivvies and having strangers pinch my fat.

Yippee.

For my morning snack, I noshed on an apple and some cinnamon-roasted almonds.  This hefty snack tided me over until about 1:15 - when I finally whipped out the rest of my Taste the Rainbow Salad from last night.

As the day progressed, I felt worse...and worse...and worse.  I was literally screaming all day - although to everyone else, it sounded like a hoarse whisper.  That really took a lot out of me; by the time I left school, I had a pounding headache, and my throat hurt somethin' fierce.  So, I left my workout clothes in my bag and headed home.

When I got home, I inhaled a few mini Oreos that I had leftover from a Super Bowl recipe.

Ugh.

When I entered them into My Fitness Pal, I realized that I only had 100 calories left for the rest of the day.

Yeah, right.

So, I decided that heading to boot camp was a necessity (albeit probably a horrible decision).  So I choked down four Ibuprofen and hit the road.

Shockingly, it wasn't a horrible workout.  I actually did a pretty darn good job for feeling as icky as I did.  I was pretty thrilled that I was able to hold two 30-second side planks, as I'm not sure I've ever been able to do that.

Source

Toward the end of the 40 minutes, I started slacking a bit.  I didn't do as many roundhouses as I could when I'm healthy, I didn't do my squat/sit-up/push-up/plank abs as quickly as I do when I'm not hacking up a lung, and I didn't pump my legs during those mountain climbers as fast I normally do.

However, I didn't die, so I'm chalking that up as a victory.

When I got home, I immediately got started on dinner: yet another recipe from Kristin, Quinoa Pasta with Sun-dried Tomato Pesto.

My pictures are horrible...

...because it did not turn out as planned.

Everything went swimmingly well: the quinoa pasta turned out perfectly, the chicken came out of the oven tender as can be, the veggies sauteed beautifully.

And then came the pesto.

Apparently I need a straight-up food processor since neither my Magic Bullet nor my blender could mush it up enough.  I tried over and over and over to make it sauce-like, but I was left with chunky ingredients.  And after about five minutes - and countless dirty dishes - I just said, oh well (except maybe in more colorful language).

Even though it wasn't the prettiest dinner ever, it was pretty darn tasty - and weighed in at 487 calories.  And I. am. stuffed.

Before I sign off for the evening, I wanted to leave you with a music video.  My workout station today was right next to the blaring speaker, which would normally drive me crazy.  Today, though, it was greatly appreciated so that I could focus on something other than dying.  About halfway through the workout, I heard Lupe Fiasco's The Show Goes On.  Yes, I've heard this song before, but I hadn't really heard it.

Please watch this - or, if hip-hop's not your thing, at least from 2:09-2:15:



That lyric really stuck out to me.  Remember how I said things were a bit crazy at school at the end of last week?  Well, the craziness resulted in national news coverage over the radio waves and web pages, and the comments that followed the articles (and, interestingly, most of the journalism itself) painted teachers in an extremely unfavorable light.

It is always refreshing to hear that teachers - especially those in urban public schools - are appreciated and are doing good things, no matter the media used to convey that message.

I'll be back tomorrow, obv, but I wanted to let you know that Thursday is going to be an extra special blog post.  Get excited!

I can't wait.

Peace out, yo.