1..2..3....UPDATE.

Ah, I'm doing a bad job at balancing these days. So many crazy, fun, hectic days have filled my October to the brim.

My 2x a week Body Pump class has been missing from my routine for the past couple of weeks....cycling has been MIA too....and I just feel off.

I miss my routine: Body Pump...RPM (cycling)...running...intervals.

It's my fault that it's been lackluster these past couple of weeks. I've been pretty blah.

Just writing this makes me excited to change this ASAP.

However, I have been running!

Justin and I are contemplating training for a marathon in February, so we're going along with the training plan and if in a month we still want to do it...then it's for real!

Kind of exciting!

I'm only hesitant because I love variety. I felt a little burnt out after training for my last half marathon, so I can only imagine I'll feel like that again. I know I love running, and I love the challenge of it even more. I'm thinking the excitement to run 26.2 miles will make up for any boredom in training.

Also, some crazy, BIG, sad, but still happy news for the week is that my baby sister moved to St. John!!



I'm so excited for her, and proud of her courage to move outside of her comfort zone. I would like to think I could do the same, but I don't handle change well and would probably be too scared to go by myself.

Julia and I were originally born in St. John, VI, so it comforts me to know that she still has old friends whom she can get in touch with now that she's down there.

Justin and I recently vacationed there and had the time of our lives! This is what initially sparked Julia's decision to move back.


Best of luck, Lil Jules! I miss you already!!!!! Can't wait to hear about all your exciting adventures!!

In cooking news...

I've been trying lots of new recipes lately!

For Julia's going-away dinner, I made veganized baked mac and cheese by Clean Eating Chelsey.


(I'm borrowing Chelsey's picture since I didn't take any.)

Who would think mac & cheese would be good without real cheese? Surprisingly, it was soooooo yummy! I knew it had to be since it looked so good ;) Plus it gave me an excuse to go to Whole Foods!

Last week, I was randomly CRAVING chocolate chip oatmeal cookies. I've been eying a low fat recipe by Gina's Skinny Recipes for a while now and finally decided to give into my temptations.


These were perfectly chewy. I brought them to the office, and they were a hit!

And the final new concoction I made was a tuna salad with a healthy twist!

Anne from fANNEtastic foods was talking about how to make recipes healthier by substituting yogurt for ingredients like mayo or ingredients commonly found in baked goods.

I decided a tuna salad would be perfect especially since I'm not a fan of mayo at all. I found a recipe on AllRecipes that caught my eye. The two ingredients that really stood out to me were the curry and Parmesan cheese.


Um...this turned out to be quite the flavorful tuna salad. I doubled the recipe so I had enough for three lunches this week...woohoo!

I altered the recipe a little bit based on the reviews. I substituted plain Greek yogurt for mayo and used less parsley and sweet pickle relish than the recipe called for originally.

Question

What have you been up to? Ever tried using Greek yogurt as a substitute in recipes? Anybody else love variety in their workout routine or prefer one thing like running??