Little victories

Hello, hello, hello! I hope everyone is having a lovely Saturday. I'm not doing much of anything (which seems to be a running theme of this winter break), but it's still been a pretty good day. 

Yesterday, I said I wasn't feeling a workout in the morning. I did eventually get my ass to the gym. I went around 8:45 (craaaazy Friday, right?). There were more people than one would expect to be at the gym on a Friday night (once again, damn resolutioners), but I pretty much had the gym to myself. After a 10 minute cardio warm up, I did PBFinger's Total Body Circuit Workout, followed by Blogilates's Victoria's Secret Model Ab Workout video (which I think is my favorite ab workout video, it's not unbearably hard, but it is challenging). After coming home from the gym, I made a nice little protein smoothie, because I'm worth it.

Only looks slightly radioactive.

Here's what I used:

1 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk (give or take)

1 handful baby spinach

1/2 frozen banana

1/2 cup frozen mango chunks

1 scoop vanilla protein powder

Before my nighttime workout, I went to the movies and had a late lunch/early dinner with my dad and grampy (once again, craaaaaazy Friday, right?). We saw The Imitation Game, which was about breaking the Enigma Code during WWII. I would have never picked this movie myself, but it was actually really good. It was entertaining and engaging. I knew very little about Alan Turing and the Enigma Code going in and I still found it pretty easy to follow. Benedict Cumberbatch and Kiera Knightly were the two leads, and they were fantastic. Benedict Cumberbatch's fandom on Tumblr annoys me, but he's a great actor, so I suppose I get the hype (though I don't see the sex god in him that some people see, but to each their own I guess).

Seeing the greatness but not the sexiness.

After the movie, we went out for a 4:00 meal (which was kind of lunch for me) at a nearby resturant, the Sylvan Street Grille. I got a salmon salad with chipotle lime dressing. I was worried the dressing would be too spicy, but it wasn't at all (and I am the biggest spicy wimp). The salad was delicious, and the dressing gave it a nice smoky flavor. I also had a couple of pieces of the bread with parmesean and red pepper oil dip. I think that may have actually been my favorite part of the meal. If you've ever been to Not Your Average Joes, the oil dip tasted exactly the same, but the bread was a little softer and more dense. Again, I would have avoided the bread a few months ago, but now that I am being less restrictive I'm really trying to enjoy little treats like that (little victories).

Today started like any Saturday for me does. I had two slices of Ezeikal bread with peanut butter (once again, no bananas in the O'Neil household, so I added some honey instead), and, even though it was about 25 degrees out, my usual venti-iced-coffee-with-skim-only from Starbucks. The 25 degree weather also did not hold me back from going for a run (though I'm not going to lie, it was a bit of a struggle to motivate myself). I bundled up and actually ran the furthest/longest I've ever run before! 5.43 miles in 50ish minutes according to RunKeeper. I realize this probably isn't super impressive to a lot of avid runners, but this is p freaking cool for me (once again, little victories).

Post-run, I foam rolled, made some oatmeal for lunch (basically the same thing as what I had yesterday for breakfast), and went grocery shopping. Sadly, it's starting to snow here, so tonight will be filled with doing nothing and loving it. I see some hot chocolate in my future.

Having a vision of hot chocolate, I'm so Raven.

Wow! A long post, but I can't tell a short story to save my life. Lovely readers, have a fun Saturday night! If you're getting snowed on like me, I see hot chocolate in your future too!

What's you favorite snowed-in thing to do or treat to eat (I sound like a kindergarten teacher)? Also, how do you motivate yourself to get your ass to the gym or out for a run when it's cold as balls (professional term) outside?

Kulie Julie