I'm Engaged!!!!!!!

Our San Francisco trip couldn't have gone any better.

Thursday night we arrived at our hotel, got all of our belongings into the room and went to sleep. The following day (Valentines Day) we decided to go for a long run from our hotel in the Fisherman's Wharf to the Golden Gate Bridge. It was such a beautiful day, running along the water watching the fog roll in towards the bridge.

After our run, we got some lunch and went back to the hotel to shower and get ready for the afternoon/evening. Dave had instructed me to get very dressed up because he wanted to take Valentines Day portraits with the Golden Gate in the background.

A few hours later we were all dressed up and ready to go. We drove out over the bridge to our usual "lookout spot" over above Sausalito.... but the fog had completely engulfed the bridge. We could barely even see it when we were driving on it! Dave was extremely disappointed. Me being the (slightly) unsuspecting girlfriend I said "Well, at least we've taken pictures here before... it's not the end of the world!" -- But that didn't stop Dave. He had a plan B, so we drove back over the bridge and to the Palace of Fine Arts - which is equally as stunning.

As the sun was setting, Dave set up his camera and stood next to me for a couple of photos....

Then he got down on one knee and asked me to marry him!!!!!

Of course I said YES.

Let the wedding planning begin!!!

After calling all of our nearest and dearest friends and family, we sent out a few photos showing our pure excitement... and the ring of course!

The fun wasn't even over then. Dave had planned a very romantic dinner on this little island off of Pier 39, where we celebrated our engagement over a bottle of wine, dinner and a delicious chocolate dessert with the cutest message on it....

I could definitely get used to being a fiancé.

This was by far the best day of my life, and I am so thankful that Dave is so well prepared and managed to find a way to document his adorable proposal. I can't wait to become Mrs. Cox!

San Francisco bound!

7 1/2 hours from now Dave and I will be on our way to San Francisco for Valentines Day weekend!!

I am sooooooo excited.
We have plans to run every morning at Golden Gate Park and stare at this beauty...

Also, this weekend I get to spend some quality time with an old friend who recently moved there!! (She's so lucky!)

Be back soon.

Paleo Sausage and Sweet Potato Quiche

I make it a point to eat breakfast every morning. It really is the most important meal of the day, and I try to make sure to eat something that is delicious and will last me through the entire morning. Eggs are usually on the menu, but I can only eat scrambled eggs with veggies for so long before I start to get bored.

Which leads me to the new successful recipe I just tried:

Sausage and Sweet Potato Quiche

Ingredients:

10 eggs
1 medium sweet potato / yam
1/2 lb breakfast sausage
2 sprigs fresh rosemary
1/4 cup coconut milk
1/2 tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375˚
Peel the sweet potato and slice into thin round disks with a mandolin or sharp knife. Place the slices in a pie dish in concentric form around the bottom of the dish. Be sure to use all of the slices. Remove the sausage from the casings and crumble into small pieces and place them on top of the sweet potatoes. Chop the rosemary and sprinkle over the sausage and sweet potatoes.

In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, coconut milk, salt and pepper.

Pour the eggs into the dish, pushing down any sausage pieces that may float up. Place dish in the oven and bake for 30-45 minutes or until the middle is solid. (Use the toothpick test to make sure)

Slice the quiche and voila! Breakfast for the week!! I love easy ideas like this that simplify my mornings.

Happy eating!

Spartan Super Part 2: Race Photos

A few weeks ago, I posted about the Spartan Super race I decided to run with Dave. Well the photos are in, and they're awesome - and muddy!

Somewhere between mile 2 and 3 - the barbed wire crawl.

There weren't many photographers after this obstacle until the very end, not to mention I lost my bib halfway thru the race from dragging it thru the mud. The photographers re-appeared when we had to dunk ourselves into the muddy water to go underneath that wooden wall. It looks like I have a mustache, but I assure you, it is just mud. Yumm.

As we crossed the finish line, there were gladiators with padded sticks (I know there's a name for them, but my brain is drawing a blank) and they'd slam us with them to try to keep us away from the finish line. You can see the blend of emotions on my face; panic, exhaustion, and sheer joy for being so close to the finish line.

So now that it has been a couple of weeks, the bruises have healed, and the muscles are no longer sore, how do I feel about the Spartan Race? I want more!!! I am so ready to run the 5K, and really want to train for the Spartan Beast (12+ miles) to complete the trifecta!! It is by far the most intense race I've ever run, but I love a good challenge. I just wish I could complete all the obstacle so I wouldn't have to do as many burpees. (oh those burpees!) But that's what all the training is for. :)

Happy Monday!

Knocked down, but getting back up

Yesterday I woke up feeling just plain weird. After my morning shower, I noticed I was feeling very dizzy and losing my balance during my morning routine. So I went back to bed and I just sunk into it. My body was fighting something and needed to sleep it off, so I stayed home from work and took a nice easy day off from everything. It was wonderful, except for the fever that ended up creeping up on me later that day. One minute I was hot and the next I was so cold. Also, Dave made me promise him I wouldn't work out AT ALL. I hate rest days when it comes to workouts. I feel lazy when I don't work out and that is something I have to work on. Everyone needs rest days. Our bodies need time to recuperate from the stress we put on it each day at the gym. And mine was already being attacked by something, so a workout would have done me no good.

So I rested. I watched Netflix, slept, read and soaked op every minute of it. As you can see, Olive and Phoebe were loving it because they got to be inside all day with me. Score!

Today I felt much better and was back to my normal day to day rituals. Back to work, back to my lunch time body boot camp. I don't know if it was from being sick yesterday, or if it was just muggy from the rain we've had today, but I was sweating up a storm.

Today's workout:

1/2 mile treadmill warm up
50 jumping jacks

Circuit - Repeating 3 times:

Single leg bench squats with 10 lb weight (10 reps each leg)
One-Armed Deadlift with 20 lb dumbbell (10 reps each arm)
Dumbbell plank rows (10 reps each arm)
Turkish Get-Ups (10 each side)
Resistance Sprints (2 sprints) - I couldn't find a good video on this exercise, I may have to make my own ;)

These movements are very difficult and are by no means at beginner level. My trainer (who made this workout) told us this after we had completed it. He gave us a huge compliment in saying that, and how our form on these movements is extremely important and overall we are performing them very well. That made me feel very confident about how far I've come with exercise. I've got a fitness instructor telling me he basically considers my fitness group highly advanced. WAHOO!!

I'm glad to be back in the swing of things... just in time for the weekend!

Chocolate banana smoothie

I'm not the biggest smoothie fan - especially when it comes to breakfast. BUT this morning, I found a blend of ingredients that works, and tastes like a milk shake - but it's all good ingredients. Now that's a smoothie I can get on board with.

Behold.... the chocolate coconut-banana smoothie

Ingredients:

1 banana
2 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 cup coconut milk
   {FUN TIP: I freeze my canned coconut milk in ice trays,
    and add two cubes for a little chill factor}
8 oz almond milk
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup ice
1-2 tbsp almond butter (depending on how much nuttiness you like)

Blend in a blender until smooth.

Super Bowl Weekend

This weekend went by in a blur - and I'm certain I'm not the only one that feels that way. Saturday I got an early start at my gym to take a 9:00 am Body Conditioning class. It was awesome!!! I love classes that are weight oriented, and we even used the weight bar!! My kind of class for sure!
And then it was Super Bowl Sunday. It happens every year when the Super Bowl is the main Sunday attraction. There's food, friends, football and lots of commercials to watch, and before you know it, the day is over and it's time to go back to work. :(

This year, we had our viewing area ready relatively early (as we were only having a couple of friends over for the game) and I decided that sitting by the snacks waiting for the game to start wasn't the best idea, so I decided to go on a quick jog at the park by my house. I took little Phoebe with me, because she too needed to get rid of some energy. She really is the best running buddy.

I also wanted to test out my new heart rate monitor. A new workout toy is always fun!!

We got a little over 4 miles in, which felt great. The air was cool and it was about to rain.... my favorite kind of running weather! I was mostly happy to burn off some calories to make up for the delicious Super Bowl food I was about to consume.

After I returned from my run, the game started. We had one serious Broncos fan and one serious Seahawks fan, and we were all a little worried there would be lots of unkind words exchanged, so I created a barrier between them in hopes to maintain the friendship! HAHA

Once the game got to the 3rd quarter all hope was lost for the poor Broncos, and the barrier was no longer needed.

All in all it was a good day, not necessarily a good game, but a good time with friends.

And now it's Monday, and I'm not ready for the week yet. It's been cold (for our California standards) and that makes it really hard to get out of bed. There will be a significant amount of coffee in my near future.

Happy Monday.