Stuff I Find: What Does 2,000 Calories Look Like?

Happy Saturday!

I've never embedded a video before so I really hope this works. Here's a little thing I call, "Stuff I Find." Basically it is stuff I find. Brilliant right?

This video, from Buzzfeed, is self-explanatory and eye-opening. What do you think of it? Anything shocking to you? Let me know in the comments and we can discuss away. We're both pretty available today, right?

WORK IT! Tracy Anderson Hates You and Your Arms

If you haven't heard of her, Tracy Anderson is the trainer to the stars. Most specifically the recently

crowned most beautiful Gwyneth Paltrow. 

I started following Tracy on twitter and she just opened a gym out here in L.A., has a line of workout leggings, and soon a national food program. 

She's a busy lady.


Despite her busy schedule she still finds time to hate you. You've never met her, but she hates you AND your arms. I know because I felt it. 

I found this workout about a month ago and this little 7 minute-ish workout is no joke. Yeah, 7 minutes!

I watched it at first just to see the expectations. It seemed like just a bunch of silly arm moves that you would probably not want anyone else seeing you do. Truthfully. I felt like an idiot. The day after however, it was most definitely a burn I was feeling.


Survey says? 
I'm doing this workout at least once a day. It is relatively fast and just painful enough that I know it's working but I'm still able to do it. Also, I hate lifting weights. 


Give it a try and let me know what you think... hopefully the video works! 

The 40 Day Pescatarians

As I mentioned last Friday in my 2013 so far recap, things have been a little fishy around here. My husband and I practice abstaining and fasting during Lent. I always tell people even if I weren't Catholic I'd probably still participate in Lent. 

From a spiritual standpoint I find abstaining from particular vices to be cleansing, especially if you don't complain about it. From a non-religious standpoint I can say many Lenten seasons have come and gone and left me free of an unhealthy vice either temporarily or permanently. (I'm looking at you Diet Coke!)

This year husband and I decided that we would make the same sacrifice together:

no beef, poultry or pork for 40 days.

Admittedly this was going to be an easier task for me. I was already leaning into a semi-meatless diet. Over the past few years I've become a lot more selective about the kind of meat I consume. Even as a kid I would tell my parents I didn't want "big meats" and I never enjoyed BBQ (I know, people think that is weird) even though I like BBQ sauce. 


Husband on the other hand. Not. So. Much. He is carnivorous. To illustrate: if this were Jurassic Park he would be the T-Rex eating poor baby goats in the rain. The man loves meat. For months he's talked about celebrating his birthday at "Animal" a restaurant in Melrose that apparently is a meat lovers palace (I already made the reservation). Despite these feelings he jumped wholeheartedly into this sacrifice and I have to believe it was mostly the scientist in him. He, like myself, was curious. 

Could we go 40 days on veggies, fruits and fish? 
What would our health be like? 
Would we want to keep going?


COULD WE GO 40 DAYS ON VEGGIES, FRUIT AND FISH?
We did! Only once did Andrew slip up and eat a small piece of chicken at a work function without thinking about it and the other time he was sabotaged at Saladfarm by a bacon bits happy worker. Other than that we were full on Pescatarian! I have to say it wasn't that bad.

To start we armed ourselves with recipes. I can't imagine going into this unprepared. We planned our shopping lists with purpose! Thankfully we live in the pinterest age and there are so many choices. Since we were both working we didn't always have a lot of time to cook so we found 20 things we could do and just doubled that and BOOM 40 days meat free.

The real challenge was dining out. 

Even in health conscious L.A. it's not always easy to find vegetarian dishes and even when the restaurants cater to the veggie friendly crowd the temptation is still there. Because Husband and I had such opposite work schedules (mine being all day, and his being all night) there were many times where we'd have to grab something fast on our own at work. When's the last time you tried to get something meatless at a fast food place? And don't tell me salad. They're just too sad. 

One thing husband was excited about was that our grocery bill dropped significantly. All those chicken breasts and meats add up! We knew they were the more expensive items on our weekly shopping trips, but the true impact wasn't felt until we gave them up. 


WHAT WOULD OUR HEALTH BE LIKE?
This is why husband initially was interested in this. Both of us seemed to have more energy. Since this experiment we've returned to eating meat occasionally and I seem to find the more I consume the more I need to make a coffee run. In fact, as I'm typing this we've had more meat than normal and I have been drowsy all day. I feel much more aware of how I feel after I eat certain things. 

Weight wise I didn't notice a HUGE change. The scale moved 3 lbs. for both of us. I truly think that if we were going to do this for weight loss we would have to drop dairy as well. I noticed our intake of cheese went up when the meat went down. It seemed like the easiest, tastiest substitution especially in restaurants.

WOULD WE WANT TO KEEP GOING?
The day we broke fasting was...interesting. In fact here is a little picture of

husband on Easter Sunday in San Diego. Yes, we are at McDonalds. On Easter. Husband ordered almost the entire breakfast menu. While I was a litttttttle bit embarrassed we were even there, I knew he'd made a big sacrifice and I didn't want to rain on his meat parade.

For husband, being a vegetarian or even a pescatarian is high on the unlikely scale. So many of his favorite things are meat. He hasn't stopped eating meat and probably won't but his intake has changed considerably. Some days he'll go without meat and not even think about it but he loves meat and will probably never give it up. 

I on the other hand really didn't want to go back to eating meat. Even though health wise I hadn't seen a major change, I knew that the little change over time would make a big difference. I didn't anticipate how difficult it would be to not eat meat when you're constantly eating with someone who does. No one is holding a gun to my head forcing me to eat meat, but like all things there is strength in numbers. I wonder how couples manage to cook/eat with each other while having different diets. There are some things that I love that are meat (In-N-Out burgers!) and there are still some meats that I can't stand the thought of.

THE VERDICT? 
We both agreed that we liked not having meat in our house. So when we had the chance we still bought fish or vegetarian items at the grocery store. Lately we've incorporated a little meat here and there but still no chicken breasts (which we had every other night almost).

Maybe we aren't vegetarians or pescatarians but I do think that going 40 days without meat was an eye opening experience and I can see that there might be a time when it will be a permanent lifestyle change for me. As for husband? I'm not holding my breath

Fancy Seeing You Here

Happy Friday y'all! I feel like I blinked and POOF February and March just disappeared. They certainly didn't show up here on this blog.


Where have we been? Living life I guess!


Like I mentioned in our New Years post, last year was rough. But 2013 has been a surprisingly happy and joyous time. I've been M.I.A. from blogging about it because I did work tax season (thank Bob that's over!) and when I wasn't working we were busy with our California bucket list! But I will have a little more time to spend around here now.


Here's what you probably didn't miss...
January

We went to my first NBA game and instantly became Clippers fans. (I know everyone is a Lakers fan but we have too much purple and gold in our lives!) I know nothing about basketball except that it was created by James Naismith and I only know that because I went to a middle school that believed in grading you in P.E. including the history of sports. Despite my lack of knowledge we had a BLAST!!!

We hiked to the top of the Hollywood sign. Man does that make you feel small! It was such a great, moderate hike and only took 1.5 hours up and back. Plus it was dog friendly... we can't leave our darling Juju at home!

February

We celebrated Valentines day even though we aren't big fans since we act lovey dovey all year long much to the chagrin of those around us. Husband never sends flowers, mostly because I'm not a big flower fan since they die so fast and cost so much. But he sent TULIPS! They are my absolute favorite and remind me of my Grandma. Don't worry there weren't any chocolates. just a heart shaped veggie pizza ;)

We FINALLY got our California licenses. Thankfully we both passed the tests the first time because it was rough! 

I turned 28! We spend the day in Pasadena. It was delightful and perfect. Such a great birthday.

March

We went on a "whale" watching cruise. It was three hours of cold, windy sailing and not one whale. But we did see dolphins and I am now obsessed with sea lions which I lovingly call seals with puppy faces.

On St. Patty's we finally tried Sprinkles Cupcakes and yes, it is everything you dream for a cupcake to be. (My favorite is the black and white!)


For Easter we went to San Diego and spent the day at the beautiful San Diego Zoo. I am a huge animal lover and could not have had a better time. I'd never been to a zoo that took an entire day to truly experience.

April

In April we worked almost every day until my cousins, Jennifer and Emily, came to visit. We basically crammed all the Los Angeles highlights into one 5 day trip. I am still exhausted just thinking about everything we did. 

Word to the wise: if you ever need to find a needle in a haystack you can call my cousin because she spotted celebrities EVERYWHERE! 








WHAT CAN YOU LOOK FORWARD TO?
I've got some posts in the works and I'll give you a little low-cal taste of what is to come:

• Sharing our challenges and surprising thoughts on going "Pescatarian" for 40 days. I would say vegetarian, but to be truthful we did eat seafood.
• Los Angeles hits and misses (you know in case you want to come visit us: hint hint!)
• Workout reviews for arms and an at-home barre circuit (both legit!)
• Recipes & reviews for a homemade frappuchinos & jack-o-lantern muffins

So I guess I'll have a little more time to spend around here and I'm really excited. I missed blogging about being healthy and working out. It certainly kept me on the straight and narrow. I hope you're excited too!

Treat Yo Self!

If you don't watch Parks and Recreation you probably don't understand the amazingness of "Treat Yo Self" but you should! Treat yo self is a way of life and it's what I am about to hit you with...

Since it is the start of a new year I know you are all kicking off your resolutions. And this is an addendum to my previous post about resolutions that delves into the "health" aspect of my goals. Here we go...

I claim to be an expert on nothing except one thing: being chubby. :)

I have lofty health goals and at times the mountain seems pretty daunting despite how many times I sing Miley Cyrus' "The Climb." 

To combat the inevitable bad days, weeks, months... I try to set myself up for success by acting as though every little thing matters. It does matter. You can't lose 50 lbs until you lose the 1st lb. This means I am a firm believer in rewarding yourself every step of the way.

HOW CAN YOU DO THIS?

1) SET YOUR GOAL.
My personal goals are to lose 17.5% of my body weight by our anniversary (Which we will be celebrating in Vegas! Holla!) and to exercise for a minimum of 30 minutes a day. Those are two very manageable goals. They are also challenging. Just because you CAN do something doesn't mean it will be EASY. 

2) IDENTIFY WHAT MOTIVATES YOU
I am motivated by treats...clothes, shoes, certain activities... I'll delve more into that later. What motivates me about these things is that I don't always spend money on these things. I would suggest picking things that are actual rewards and not things you'd just go out and buy anyway.

3) GET IN IT TO WIN IT!
No seriously...

I keep my "rewards" list on my phone in a note. I delete things from it as I go along. I have two sets of rewards- a treat for every pound lost and a treat for every 10 days that I don't miss a workout. It looks something like this:

REWARDS FOR LOSING ONE LB EVERY TEN DAYS (Very very doable)
January 10- Pair of Shoes
January 20- New Book
February 1- Nail Polish/Lipstick
February 10- Movie Date
February 20- Dress
March 1- Manicure
March 10- Bowling
March 20- Spa Day

REWARDS FOR NOT MISSING A WORKOUT FOR PREVIOUS 10 DAYS

January 10- Donut

January 20- Cake

February 1- Frozen Yogurt

etc.

***Yes I know people say don't reward yourself with food BUT I don't believe in depriving myself. Believe me, if I knew the only way I could have a slice of cake from Cheesecake Factory was to workout every day...I'll be sweating forever! I would never reward myself for losing weight with food, but I will reward myself for working hard. Even if it is counterproductive. 

So yeah, some people might think it's a bit overkill to reward yourself for every measly pound. Maybe that's true. But consider this my blessing and encouragement that you would do the same thing with whatever your goal is. I know that if I only reward myself every 5 or 10 lbs I would certainly become discouraged. So set your goal, hang in there, and TREAT YO SELF!

An Ode to My Dear Friends: Chips & Salsa

It's about 10:30 PM here on the west coast and I am desperately searching for one last recipe before I hit the stores tomorrow. Just one recipe between me and my beautiful inexpensive IKEA bed. 

I'm going to tell you a little story about how this is all my fault. 

I remember with longing a time in the not so distant past where I ate dinner for one. Hummus and pita. Chips and salsa. Both pretty common dinners for a single gal throwing her paycheck to rent and the outfits and alcohol that make for top nights out with the girls. It was a beautiful time and I realize now the beauty in the simplicity of a life where grilled chicken breasts in a George Foreman was an elaborate dinner. 


I didn't learn how to cook when I got married because I am a sometimes genius who selected a marriage partner who is an outstanding cook. Not only is he good at cooking, but he likes cooking AND likes experimenting with new recipes. It was a wonderful arrangement. He did almost all of the cooking and when he didn't feel like cooking I urbanspoon-ed us a nice restaurant. Also, a beautiful time. 

So simple. For me at least. Fast forward to California. 

We arrived and husband had a job that started right away. I on the other hand spent most of my time applying for jobs and starting this blog about working out and eating healthy.

Naturally I had more time on my hands than husband. In between looking at gifs on tumblr and rolling out the yoga mat I had a thought, like sometimes morons do, that I would learn how to cook. 

What. An. Idiot.

Now I do almost all of the cooking. Yep, a kitchen novice is feeding two people on a nightly basis. 

I may or may not have mentioned that my mother, while a great cook, really served a majority of pasta dishes. To the point where I thought we WERE Italian. We aren't. So that was pretty much the only thing I knew how to make. 

I learned to boil water. (Who knew salt was so important?)
How to brown meat. (That sounds disgusting.)
And other various simple kitchen tasks. (Let's not discuss the litany of questions involving my first go at the rice cooker)

Then I realized that by cooking I had control over our grocery budget.
I was so excited that I started making 2 week-at-a-time meal plans. I used that as my template for trying out new things. The learning curve though has been rough. Like eating the same rotation every two weeks. Husband went from cooking every night to never cooking because he wasn't going shopping. 

Knowledge is a funny thing.
You think I'd be happy now that I know how to properly scramble eggs and substitute Greek yogurt for sour cream, and I am.
But right now, as I distract myself from searching for one last easy recipe to finish off a two week plan, I can only think how happy I was to eat chips and salsa for dinner. 

I wonder what husband would say if I put that on the table tomorrow?

Resolutions and Solutions

Happy New Year!

Admittedly 2012 wasn't the greatest year. It took from me both of my grandmothers and I'd be lying if I said that moving to sunny California has been anything other than a challenge. Somedays Husband looks at me and says, "let's just go home." 

But there are silver linings to every dark cloud.

Like most new years eves, Husband had to work. We decided to have dinner at a little Greek restaurant to celebrate since a year would come and go and that's something to celebrate.

At dinner we talked about our resolutions for next year.

It took Husband all night to decide that his resolution was to feel less emotional about his sports teams. I'm sure it won't be easy but I think his poor heart deserves a break.

My resolution is to finish 2013 feeling healthier than I feel today. I do believe in and have measurable goals (get moving 30 minutes a day, lose x amount of lbs, etc.). I just felt like this was the most important. 

I DO feel healthier than I did a year ago and that's not something to scoff at even if the scale doesn't make me smile as much as I'd like.

Together we agreed that we would start focusing on the positives of being out here in Los Angeles. More emphasis on the reasons we came here in the first place.

We came for a two year adventure. To see places we'd never go otherwise. We didn't come here to settle roots and we both agreed that when we try to make California our "home" it just fails to meet our expectations. I'd hate to think that we'd move home in a year and a half and not have seized this great opportunity. I saw somewhere the saying that, "Comparison is the Thief of Joy," and in my experience that's been 100% true. 

Today at lunch we are finally going to make an actual "California Bucket List" and I suspect it will be amazing. 

So I hope you all have real resolutions that will make you happier, healthier and maybe a little bit more grateful. Good luck with your resolutions and share them here if you'd like. :) Happy New Year!

Everything has its time...

To be honest I thought that my first post back after my vacation home to Louisiana would be exhaustingly chipper and optimistic. Turns out that wasn't quite going to happen but I hate to go into too much detail, especially when the wound is so fresh. I want to get back to blogging about things that now seem so unimportant like eating healthy and working out, but I don't think I can do that until I acknowledge one thing.

Last week my grandmother passed away. 

She was really more than a grandmother. She was my Maw-Maw and an important fixture in my childhood, adolescence, and certainly my adulthood. At different points in my life she was also my roommate, my confidant, and a willing participant in my comedic ventures.

I've come to terms that I was wrong about a lot of things.

I thought I had said goodbye. It wasn't enough.

I thought that the comfort of having almost 28 years of memories and the knowledge that she was ready would carry me through this. It hasn't. 

It's only been a week but looking into the near future I can only see how difficult this holiday season will be and how every step of the rest of the life I hope to lead will be missing an important piece. 

Hopefully I will find some way to carry on. At the moment I really don't know how that will happen but I'm trusting that it will because loss is a part of life and my family is certainly not unique. I do know for certain that you cannot continue about your life while sobbing every time you're left alone with your thoughts.

I'm sure this blog will return to it's intended purpose someday, but for now I guess the radio silence is necessary as I try to navigate the change that has taken place. I'm in good company as my Maw-Maw left many wonderful people to mourn her passing and they are a great comfort to me now.

If there is a lesson to be learned here I guess it's this: there is no corner of the world that holds anything more valuable to me than my family. 

Ecclesiastes 3:1-8

Where yat?

No post since November 13th? What the heck is going on!?

Well, a lot actually.
I started a job. 
Applied to go back to school. 
Planned a trip back home. 
Discovered a local donut shop and yet lost 1lb the week of Thanksgiving.

Wait. Pretend you read only half of that last one.

Needless to say, I've been really busy. Surprisingly being busy isn't even my excuse for not posting. What is my reason? 

We broke the internets!

The Twitter Fail Whale seems appropriate for this story.

It's strange but true. You may have read in my post about pretending not to be poor that we used a Target gift card to buy a signal extender for our wifi. It's actually not our wifi so much as it is the free wifi in our building. Long story short, our wifi extender lasted about a week before it started to fizzle out. When we reset it, it renamed the wifi for our entire complex. In a panic I unplugged it hoping it would fix the problem. It didn't. The whole wifi signal was gone pecan.

Updating from the blogger app is like hitting yourself repeatedly with a fly swatter. It's not the most painful thing but it is annoying and useless.

So we went without internet for a few days while we tried to get our own personal wifi. As with so many things in life, internet/cable companies are in a competition to see who can suck the most. We finally got the problem solved and here I am back in action (at least for the next few days before we go off on a little trip back home to the south)

I have a lot of things I'd like to talk about if they peak your interests:

1) Jessica Simpson's weight loss. 

2) Comfortable tennis shoes

3) Tricks and tips to breaking bad habits (I've stopped biting my nails...I'm hoping it lasts!)

So yeah...let's get this show back on the road!

Eat this not that OR Why You Can't Trust Pinterest

I am titling this post "eat this not that" because this is exactly what I'm going to suggest.

The two ingredient angel food cakes on pinterest are too good to resist. I'm sure I've made just about every combination possible. They are usually crazy low cal and you don't have to put eggs or butter or any of that other fattening stuff in it. Heavenly!

I've made one with great success and I'll tell you more about that later, BUT FIRST let's talk about the cake you should not make... The Blueberry & Angel Food Cake

I guess that graphic comes off a little harsh. Anyway, I followed the directions exactly and I'm too embarrassed to show you the pictures (which did not look like that) because I am certain that you'd be able to taste the tragedy through your computer. 

If you see this pin RUN FOR YOUR LIFE.

Instead, may I suggest making the same cake and using pineapple chunks instead. It's delicious and moist and everything the blueberry cake isn't. It makes me sad to even write that because I love blueberries!

How to Pretend You Aren't Poor

This post may seem silly, but in these hard economic times this is a very real thing happening in our little casa! After all, I always say Los Angeles is Spanish for "expensive." That and one of the goals of this blog from the very beginning was getting healthy without breaking the bank.

We aren't really poor and we certainly aren't wealthy, but we are really good at budgeting and are trying to be better at saving. All this adds up to times where we are trying to build our savings and not spend frivolously. Right now we are saving every penny in hopes of going on a big trip to the Philippines in the Spring.

The real tragedy of saving is not being able to just buy something unnecessary without thinking about it first. To me, that feeling of indiscriminate shopping is what makes me feel very, very rich. (Imagine I said that in Nene Leakes voice)

Gift Cards = Magic Currency

Anytime Husband or I get a gift card for anything birthday, Christmas, whatever, we always ALWAYS put it aside for a rainy day. If we need to buy something and it's in our budget we just buy it, even if we have a gift card. 

When those budget crunching times come along, as they often do, and we are in a funk we just pull out those gift cards and go wild. Almost literally.

I know it seems silly but it actually helps a lot. Using gift cards during budget crunches is a lot more satisfying than using them in times when we have the extra cash to burn. If you can hold on to them long enough the reward is awesome.

Example: last week we were in a mega crunch. We had just received our first electricity bill after living here for 3 months because of a glitch and it was a lot higher than we planned for. How can you guesstimate a 3 month bill you've never seen? We could have broken it into installments but we decided to tough it out and pay it off all at once. Once that happened all of our "fun money" was gone. After about a week we were getting cabin fever. We took our gift cards out and bought a much needed wifi signal extender at Target and both got shoes on sale at Macy's. 

It was a little trip that felt fantastic. Shopping really is a therapeutic experience.

So that's my money tip. Do you do anything kind of strange like this?

The Start of SONG SWAP!

Here's a new kind of gymspiration and I'm really hoping this works because I need and love getting new music for my workouts. When I get some songs that work out well I'll share them here and hopefully you can share some in the comments! Maybe a little 3 songs for 3 songs deal? Let me know what songs you love and if these are in your rotation. 

SONG SWAP:  THE TRIED AND TRUE

These are three songs that I've used for a while that are always, ALWAYS in the rotation for my workouts.

1. Outkast - Bombs Over Baghdad
This is actually my pace when I run. Before I found other songs that were the right BPM I would listen to this on repeat during runs. If you don't like rap this isn't for you but it that beat does not let you let up!

2. Lee DeWyze - Sweet Serendipity

I know this might be cheesy but this song really motivates me and is perfect for a light jog preferably in beautiful weather. I heard this song the day before my wedding when I was running last minute errands and had to shazzam it. I've always thought it was such a good message and can help motivate you to work it out!

3. Kelly Rowland - Commander

I don't know why she doesn't get as much attention as she deserves but Kelly Rowland created this song for elliptical lovers like me. If I took aerobics I'd expect this on the playlist. It slows down and picks up just ride it out! 

Okay, so what are some songs that are always in your rotation?

Take a Hike! - All Trails App Review

One thing I really wanted to try when we moved was hiking. Louisiana has a few good hiking places, but the incline is pretty nonexistent so we never really went. Now that we are surrounded by hills and mountains it seemed like a good time to start and I really wanted to get to those amazing views!

Image from All Trails website

I downloaded an app called All Trails. I've used it for two different hiking experiences so this review is kind of a mixed bag because we had two very different encounters. First let me bust out the pros of All Trails so you can understand why and how we used it.

PROS:

• Trails are sortable by distance, popularity, and time it takes to complete
• You can specify what activities you are planning to do (walk, hike, bike, dog friendly, etc)
• Pictures! You can see if the views are worth the climb.
• Hiking burns the most absurd amount of calories. 

Happy Hikers!

Our first time using All Trails we went to Calabasas Peak on Labor Day. The picture of our little family that I've used a lot in this blog are actually from that hike. It was a pretty difficult climb for our first attempt. The description was that it would be a "good aerobic workout with a moderate but steady uphill trek for about 2 miles." Um, yeah whatever. It was pretty hard. 

There were parts where the incline was so steep we had to help each other along. I thought carrying a 10lb pack filled with water would be a good workout and it was. I did stop about every half a mile just to breathe because the elevation was totally new.

Overall it was an amazing hike and we got to see a beautiful view of Los Angeles. Julia also loved it up until we were about to get in the car and she stepped in some fire ants.

Labor Day hike was a success and we said we would try to go hiking on or around every holiday.

Now onto the cons.

CONS:

• Horrible, horrible, horrible trailhead location
• Trails are usually marked a level easier than they actually are

Husband being brave ...or crazy

Husband worked on Halloween so we didn't get to go on the actual date so we tried the next day.

We picked a relatively easy and dog friendly trail. The directions to the trailhead were ridiculous. It literally lead to an apartment building. All we saw were sidewalks around the country club which I would not consider a scenic view. We could see a canyon but no actual trails or signage. We eventually gave up circling the supposed trailhead and decided to pick another location.

Yet again the driving directions made absolutely no sense. We went up a very winding road and were then directed to turn into someone's creepy driveway. Total fail. We headed back down the scary road and it was at that point I realized the app's driving directions to the trailhead were several miles away from where one reviewer checked himself in. The directions were absolutely nowhere near each other. 

Out of frustration and driving around for an hour trying to find two trails we had never been to in areas we weren't familiar we did all but give up.

We decided to go to a lake which is not a hill or mountain or even remotely considered hiking. It's basically a dirty duck poop covered sidewalk around a lake. 

Overall I have mixed feelings about All Trails. We did have an amazing day at Calabasas Peak but the Halloween hike that never was certainly made me less likely to trust this app in the future. I'm currently looking to see if there is another app out there that is more reliable with locations. Overall I guess this is a 3 out of 5 which is more generous than I was feeling last week. 

Cruisin' - The bike shopping experience

So I mentioned last week that we had purchased bikes and were riding around town immediately. If you're my facebook friend you may have noticed that I mentioned something about a pain in the butt....which is exactly what that bike seat was on our first ride.

Despite the face he is a happy bike rider.

Why Bikes?

One of my friends immediately remarked how funny it was that I wanted to get a bike considering how much I used to be against them. I was not a fan of bikes BUT after attempting Couch to 5K before and really hurting my knees I wanted something new. One of my cousins suggested bikes. She is a long time runner and recently switched to biking for the very same reason. Now that we live in a pretty bike friendly area it seemed like a great time to invest and get ourselves some wheels! 

Why Cruisers?

This was actually the hardest part. I didn't realize there were so many choices when it came to picking out a bike. We searched online for advice and got some great tips, but ultimately it was the advice of our friends who bike regularly that we used. Cruisers, as opposed to mountain bikes, fit what we wanted. It's still a decent workout but unlike mountain bikes, cruisers are a little more gentle on your spine and neck area. If you're looking for a more intense bike for trail riding, this might not be the best pick for you.

How we picked them...

I hate talking to sales people in stores, but this was one purchase we really needed the advice and expertise of people who know about this stuff. It's not a cheap purchase so you want to make it right. We went to a large bike store by our house and asked some questions. We found out that your height and gender narrow down a lot. I was immediately drawn to a teal bike with an old school look and Husband eventually found a green one that also had a vintage look. The store actually let us take the bikes into the parking lot and around the building for a test ride. I immediately knew that this was the right bike but Husband tried out three before he went back to his first choice. 

Paying for a big purchase...

Bikes are not cheap. Especially when you're as frugal as I am, this purchase almost seems excessive. We had just moved to California and were still trying to get all our finances in order. We decided to put the bikes on lay away. This is actually the first time I've ever put anything on lay away- partially because I just didn't understand it. This turned out to be a great alternative. Instead of charging $600 in bikes and equipment on a credit card we paid a little every paycheck over 3 months. The wait was worth it and I'm glad we had already made the commitment to purchase as opposed to saving up the money and buying it flat out later. I felt like the layaway guaranteed that I wouldn't change my mind and spend the money on clothes instead- a likely alternative.

For now we are just riding them casually, going a little bit longer each ride. I am pretty pleased with our decision to buy bikes. When you ride off into this view it's kind of hard to regret that choice...