St. Augustine Grass

What I know about dating these days comes from my friends who are dating and man…a lot has changed.

Text messages.

Non-date dating.

Forever friend zones.

Talk/text all day. No communication at night.

Etc.

Etc.

And a lot hasn’t changed.

Mainly…you meet people where they are and people meet you where YOU are. They were attracted to what they saw and felt when they met you.

Now…if you’re in a good place, that’s mad cool. You’re happy and all smiley and healthy and you’re all awesome and shit just straight chilling. You love your family, they love you, you have good friends, your dog doesn’t have fleas. Your tires are good and your grass is green.

You also know what kinda grass it is. Fescue. Bermuda. St. Augustine. Zoysia. Whatever. You know what kinda grass it is and you keep it watered and fertilized. You feed it, keep it cut, etc.

And it’s green and beautiful and fabulous. Just awesome.

So if someone meets you there while your grass is all lush, that is going to be amazing for both of you.

But let them storms hit hard and rain and rain and rain. All that water will stack up into a flood and wash all your good topsoil away. Nothing good but weeds can take root and they are good for nothing. They hurt the remaining grass and choke the life out of it and if someone doesn’t put some major work into bringing it back to life…it will ruin everything it touches.

So yeah…if you are in that space…you need to chill because the people attracted to that person are going to be in a bad space too. Bruh…that’s a whole lot of weeds.

Be with the people who love you and who can help repair you and get back to where you know you need to be. You don’t need to do anything other than that. Just chill. Be still. Work on what you have to work on and then…life will, hopefully, follow the natural order and you will be able to meet someone where you are with your grass all green.

I say this because I love you.

Take care of your grass.

Don’t end up with someone attracted to who you were when you were at your worst.

Grass baby. Green, green grass. St. Augustine grass. Lush and shit.

Bok choy and Mushroom Saute

1 head of bok choy, chopped

1 container of mushrooms

Roasted sesame oil

Sesame seeds

Soy sauce

Red pepper flakes

Put a bit of roasted sesame oil in a skillet with a cover.  Add bok choy and mushrooms.  Drizzle with soy sauce and sprinkle sesame seeds and red pepper flakes.  Cover and cook on medium low for 10 minutes.  Stir.  Cover and cook for 2 additional minutes.  

Should still have a bit of crisp to it.  Add salt if you like but the soy sauce should cover it.  (I use gluten-free soy sauce.)

We eat this a lot.  Bok choy has all kinds of super healthy benefits.  Check it out HERE.

Plant Based Creole

When's the last time you asked Mr. Google a question and found that there was no assistance whatsoever in populating the search results?  Hardly ever right?  Right.  So...imagine my surprised when I typed in 'PLANT BASED CREOLE' and found straight crickets.  LOL!

Now...let's backtrack here so you know where this came from.  The Robinator has decided that he wants to train for another marathon.  I was like...cool.  Go you!  Then he was like...I think I want to train plant based.

Me:  Um...

Him:  Check out www.NoMeatAthlete.com and tell me what you think.

So I go and I read and I'm like...UGH but then I'm thinking...if he really wants to do this, I guess I'll have to help him.  I downloaded the app, Forks Over Knives, and placed a hold on the book of the same name on Overdrive because some smarty pants had checked out all copies from my library.  UGH!

And I kept reading and then I started remembering onefromphilly talking about how good she feels doing plant based and I thought to myself...hmmmmmmm...

Okay...now I'm real particular about food.  I like good food.  Bacon is the best thing ever in life.  And ribeye's grilled on the charcoal grill.  And lawd...CHICKEN.WINGS.

But I want to be supportive and I seriously doubt that this is something you can do without the support of your spouse.  I mean...The Robinator isn't about to start cooking.  You know that.  I know that.  He knows that.  

I gave up wine for Lent this year and I've stuck to it.  It wasn't as difficult as I thought it would be.  You can do anything for 40 days right?  So I started thinking that maybe I could try the plant-based thing for 30 days just to see how it goes.  And...if I can't stick to it, certainly I can do my middle meal non-plant based if need be so I can still support him by doing something plant based for dinner right?  I mean, I want to do it the right way so he has enough protein to train and yeah...again...I can always grill a steak for lunch so I don't have to eat it in front of him.

In looking for recipes I came up with nada Creole initially and that made me giggle.

All that said, for the month of April, I'm going to try and go all plant based foods to see how it goes.  It can't hurt and I'll learn some new recipes, hopefully, that I like and figure out how to make it work for him while he trains.  A whole month of plants only.

This should be interesting.

Lemme go figure out that app.  It even makes the grocery list for you so yeah...that's gonna be nice.

Have you ever tried it for any length of time?  Would you?

Free Workouts!

This picture has nothing to do with the post...it just makes me laugh.  LOL!

I'm of the mind that once you get really serious about something, you don't have a problem paying for it.  And, since we are all really serious about our money...if we pay for it...then we'll use it since we don't want to waste our money.  That said, when I hear that someone has hired a personal trainer, knowing how much they cost, I know they are about to get for real brickhouse.

But...what if your money doesn't support personal training, which can be pretty costly?  What if you don't have all of those fees runs/races charge to participate?  What if, once again, the universe if playing a sick joke on you giving you the willpower and the mindset but not the means to make it happen?

And...what if this is yet another one of the ways your own mind plays tricks on you by getting you all riled up to do something and yet...you end up not having any follow through?

I know someone who gets really serious about working out several times a year and I always notice that they start off by buying stuff.  New sneakers, yoga pants, tank tops, sport bras, sweat wicking socks and underwear, headbands, etc.  By the time she's at an actual gym...she's spent several hundred dollars getting ready.  She looks good from head-to-toe in that matchy, matchy way.  She gets in there hot and heavy for about a week and then...previous routine work gets in the way and let's face it...having responsibilities really does take up the majority of our time.  When you're a professional woman...being worried about what your hair is going to look like at the office later is a for real concern no matter what anyone says.  Nobody sees your biceps and abs under  your suit jacket but they do see your hair so I never, ever, EVER discredit anyone who is concerned about what their hair looks like after an early morning workout.

When I workout I keep my hair bound as tightly as possible and I never take it down until it has completely dried.  That's easy for me since I'm in complete control of my time, but for others...not so easy.  

And I get that.

So...you need to really know what your hair will need in order to be work presentable after working out.  If you know you sweat a lot and that your hair is very porous so it takes a long time to dry...you will need to build in enough time to use your blow dryer on the cool setting to dry your hair.  

And time is really the biggest deterrent I've noticed in people who don't workout.  

I have a friend who gets up before goodness in the morning to go workout.  She gets dressed quietly so as not to wake up other members of her household and she rolls out, returns and then gets ready for work.

She also has a husband who is home with their children while she does this and she understands and appreciates that benefit.  If you're a single mother of a younger child, you can't very well roll out leaving the child(ren) solo while you get your sexy on.  You'd have to get the child up too and take him/her with you.  At 5:00am.  Now...I know yall love your babies...but I don't know many of you who would wake your child that early and drag them to the gym with you.  You will CLEARLY elect to let them sleep while you have some quiet time in the early mornings.

So...what do you if these are your challenges and you don't have the money for a personal trainer you can go to after work while your child is in after care or in a program at the gym that you pay for?

There are lots of things you can do actually.  LOTS.

I know someone who used to be overweight.  They lost all of the weight by walking.  They opened their door and walked out of the house and then...walked around and around and around their house.  She's been doing this for so long, you can see her "track" around her house.  She lost all of the the weight over time and incorporated weight training into her routine.  She's one of the healthiest women I know.  When she's not home, she uses a treadmill to do the same thing.  Three miles of walking a day.  Just walking.  

It worked.

If you have Hulu, search for GAIAM workouts:  GAIAM on HuluPlus

The Wake Up Workout is pretty good to get your morning started and you can mix up the different workouts daily.  All you'll need is a pair of weights.  You can do these at home wearing your underwear if you want to.  LOL!  Add that to some walking and you'll have a pretty good start if you need a jumpstart that your finances will support.  Get up at 5:00am, do some walking and one of these and you'll get a good workout in as far as heart rate and working out muscles go.  I mean...you can't do this to train for a marathon mind you...but you see where I'm going here.  It's SOMETHING.

The worst thing you can do is nothing.  That just doesn't even make sense.  Some of these workouts are 20 minutes long.  Add 30 minutes of walking and you're well within an hour.  Drink water and get it in.  Once you feel like you have surpassed the skill level of some of these workouts...think old school bootcamp workouts.  I fully agree that these moves are great to maintain on your own:

The Only 12 Exercises You Need To Get In Shape  

I love planks, pushups, lunges and squats and all the variations of those.  They keep my butt and tummy tight.  Those things are important to me as I'm vain as hell.  A droopy booty would send me spiraling into a free fall of depression I'm sure so...when I say I love those exercises...please note that I really mean that I love what those exercises DO because baaaaaaby...sometimes they can drain your brain.

Another thing you have to make sure you do is stay hydrated.  I have a tiny bladder so I tend to hydrate significantly twice a day.  After I have my morning coffee, I try and drink as much of a 40 ounce bottle of water as possible.  I usually get about 28 ounces in before a workout.  Then...I don't workout for another hour or so so I can get my bathroom breaks all out of the way.  If I drink even the tiniest amount of water while working out...I will have to take a bathroom break so I tend to workout completely and THEN drink the rest of the water in my bottle which I immediately fill up again and keep with me at all times.

I generally make a pot of organic green tea to drink during the day.  Just one pot.  Sometimes I drink it unsweetened and sometimes I add a bit of honey to it.  Around lunchtime I hit another big swig of my water trying to make sure I've finished it all before 7:00pm.  I try my best to not drink water after 7:00pm so I don't have to get up in the middle of the night and use the bathroom cuz when I get up I wake Robby and, more importantly...Jaru.  LOL!

I weigh myself every.single.day.  When I get out of bed, I use the bathroom and then weigh myself.  That helps me maintain throughout the day.  If I'm heavier than I like to be...I adjust.  If I'm lighter than I like to be...I adjust.  I make sure I do what I need to do to look like I want to look at all times.  

I eat more fruit and veggies than pretty much anything else and only eat meat for dinner regularly.  Of course I have bacon sometimes for breakfast but honestly...that's maybe twice a month and I SAVOR those times.  LOL!  I.LOVE.BACON!

The meat we eat with dinner regularly is always a good piece of something.  There is pretty much nothing we don't eat but whatever we do eat I try to get the best of it that is available to me.  One of the things I want to try to do really soon is to try and go for as long as we can eating foods that DON'T come in any type of packaging.  I think that will be an interesting challenge.  Straight fruit and veggies and meat from the butcher.  Should be interesting.

I was having this conversation with someone recently and they pointed out that it was easier for me to stay in shape because I never had babies.  *YAWN* Since she has a sister who also never had babies and who is overweight...I made my point pretty easily.  ESPECIALLY since we both know PLENTY of women who have had multiple children and are fine as a glass of wine.  We all work with what we have no matter what.  We all know what is needed in order to maintain the body we want.  Some of us never slacked off and some of us did but to slack off and not work on it is the true, major problem.

You simply can't live a good quality of life without moving.

You can't.  Stop fooling yourself.  You simply can't.  

Do this for yourself.

This year, instead of buying something to start a workout or joining a gym you know good and well will take more work to get to than you have time allotted for, try working out at home using free resources.  Search YouTube, ask your friends who are in great shape, put on a playlist built with music from  your senior year in high school and first year of college and WALK.

Once you build a for real routine...then spend some money.  If you have it and IF that's what you want to spend it on.

No excuses is a for real thing when it comes to working out and eating right.  

What type of at home workouts do you do?  Are they effective?