No, I Didn't Use Drugs. Its The Maca.... Or The Greens... Or Something.

I woke up this morning feeling GREAT. I don't know if its the fact that I haven't worked at Target all week, or the smoothie I had before bed last night, or the maca powder in my smoothie this morning, but I'm a ball of energy right now. I'm never like this, (I mean, NEVER LIKE THIS,) so its a great feeling. If I could feel like this every day, my life would be complete. I'm thinking maybe I will do the green smoothies at night more often. I didn't put any maca or hemp protein in it last night, just fruit, spinach, peanut butter and chocolate. It was so good. I also had sprouted wheat toast with an avocado and tomato on top. Its one of my new favorite things :)

I was thinking about what I've been eating, and it dawned on me how drastically my diet has changed in the past few weeks. I always thought I was eating well because I would make sure to get as much organic foods as I could, but at the end of the day I still was not getting nearly enough fruit and vegetables. Since deciding to try to eat as Raw as possible, there is no way I don't get enough. Just this morning I had 6 pieces of fruit and a huge handful of kale in a smoothie. I had a salad for lunch, and I will probably have another smoothie for dinner. Its crazy. And if the energy that I have today is an indication that its finally paying off, then its totally worth it. I cannot explain how fabulous its been to not be so tired. Usually I'm dragging around at this point in the day, praying that 3:30 comes, and cursing Target because all I want to do is nap. Let me tell you, the LAST thing I want to do today is nap. I'm actually ok with going to Target because it will get me moving. (Provided my customers follow the rules I posted a couple of days ago, lol.) AND... sit down, I don't want to cause anyone to pass out... I think I am going to wake up early tomorrow, on a SATURDAY, and go to spinning before Target. That's right. I said it. I have Sunday off, and I plan to go to the gym again, but probably for an elliptical workout and some ab work. I used to have a 6 pack. I would like that back please. I am going to lunch Sunday afternoon with a friend for some very un-Raw Thai food, but its all good. I'm sure I will have a couple of smoothies to balance everything out.

Have a GREAT weekend everyone!!

The Rut

First things first. I am IN LOVE with the smoothie creation I made for breakfast. It was: 2 bananas, 1 mango, 2 kiwi, 1 handful of kale, 1 tablespoon peanut butter, and then of course hemp protein powder and maca powder. It tastes like peanut butter banana, which is one of my favorite snacks. Even J liked it, he asked me to save him a glass. He is usually a good sport and tastes the smoothies, but he has never asked for his own glass. Points for me :)
Now onto other things. I have come to the realization in the past week that I have become LAZY. I was not really aware of this because before the second job, I was going to the gym at least 3 times a week. Then when I started the second job, I didn't have time for the gym but I was working 70 hours a week and therefore I was justified in spending my 2 nights off a week in bed, catching up on sleep. Now, last week and this week I have only been working 3 days at Target. Friday, Saturday and Sunday. This gives me 4 nights off, and what have I been doing? Running some errands after work, and then going home and right into bed for a nap, dinner, shower, back to bed for the night. Why am I not cleaning my house? Why am I not going back to the gym? I don't know. Yesterday I wanted to go, but my body had a mind of its own, and before I knew it I was waking up at 7:15, already in pj's, and then in a bad mood for the rest of the night because I felt so lazy but wasn't motivated to do anything about it. So I have a tentative plan. Today after work J and I have to go to the bank. When I get home, I am going to CLEAN MY HOUSE. It really needs it. Tomorrow and Saturday I have to work, but I have Sunday off. So Sunday, I am getting my ass to the gym. And hopefully Monday night as well. I have a wedding coming up in April and a general NEED to lose about 20 pounds, and its not going to happen by laying around watching Grey's all night every night. I mean, the gym has TV's on each cardio machine. I can watch Grey's there. Its not the end of the world.
I hope that by posting this here, I will be forced to do exactly what I said I would do. I guess we will see tomorrow if I started. I'll see if I wake up to a clean house.

Sorry Coffee, My Feelings Have Changed And I Want To Break Up

So I started to write a post yesterday, but when I was about halfway through I decided I didn't like it so I have it saved. When I have time, maybe I will revise and pass it along. In the meantime, I have something exciting to tell you :)
For those of you who don't know, I work 2 jobs. Its supposed to be a full time job and a part time job, but Target just loves me so much that they usually give me almost-full-time hours. So on an average week, I am working about 70 hours. This on top of the fact that I am not naturally a super energetic person, and I seem to require more sleep than most, and I am usually dragging around as a result. Coffee has been my very best friend these past couple of years, but lately I have wanted to try something else. I don't like to be that person who has to rely on a huge cup of caffeine every day, not to mention that the jittery feeling isn't fun, and it has usually worn off by lunchtime. This leaves me sleeping at my desk for part of the afternoon, and I don't think my superiors appreciate that. In fact, I'm pretty sure its frowned upon. Anyway, I have been reading a lot of blogs and articles about natural ways to increase energy, and came across Maca powder. It was mentioned by a few different people so I looked it up and found that among other things, it is supposed to "combat fatigue." I found it at Whole Foods, ($25 a pack, damn..) and mixed it into my smoothie yesterday. Now let me tell you, this stuff on its own smells and tastes like vomit, but since it calls for only a teaspoon, its fairly covered up in the smoothie. And coincidence or not, I was bouncing around in my chair during work yesterday. I didn't get sleepy till just before I left work. This is HUGE. NEWS. I am trying it again today to see if it really is the powder doing it. If it is, and if you are like me and tend to be sleepy a lot during the day, I suggest you try it. I researched it online, there are no known side effects, and it is Raw, kosher, vegan, organic.... it covers all bases. (Just make sure to only use a teaspoon, I think I accidentally put more than that in today and I am not enjoying my smoothie as much as usual.. vomit flavoring anyone?)
Anyway, everyone have a Happy Wednesday and if I have time later, I will revise and post from yesterday.

Can You Tell It Was a Bad Weekend At Work?

I want to begin by saying that not every day/weekend is like this. In fact, this was really a perfect storm of events that all happened in a single Saturday/Sunday, but I want to prevent them in the future. A preemptive strike if you will. So read, laugh, cry, sympathize with me, but whatever you do, please reference this list before your next trip to your local Target/Walmart/Grocery Store. The employees will LOVE you.





1) Coupons. I am all for coupons. I went through a good year long period where I was an avid coupon clipper, and one time I planned so well that I saved over $100 on a shopping trip. So if you come through my line and you have 7000 coupons, I am all for it. But with this being said.... PLEASE KNOW WHICH COUPONS YOU WANT TO USE. There is almost nothing more aggravating to a cashier than to stand there and wait after ringing up your $250 order while you dig through an envelope of coupons to find your $.50 off the laundry detergent. Because first of all, in the scheme of $250, making it $249.50 is not worth wasting 5 minutes of my time, and everyone else behind you and their time. And second of all, when you triumphantly emerge from your coupon mess, holding the wrinkled offender in your hands, I am no longer happy that I'm saving you money. I am looking for any reason not to be able to use it because you made me mad. So it better not be expired, it better be for EXACTLY what you got, or else I'm not letting it slide. Have it ready beforehand, and you will avoid all this.


2) DO NOT lean over and take the bags while I am filling them. It doesn't "help." Most of the time I'm not done with the bag, your arms come over into MY space in an awkward way, and get in the way of everything I am trying to do, and no, it is NOT helpful. If we are all done and you want to ask to make sure you got everything, or peek over and check for yourself, this is fine. I'm not perfect and I have totally forgotten to give someone a bag before. But don't just think you can reach over and take it. Let me do my job, thankyouverymuch.


3) Do not leave your cart, (buggy, basket, whatever you call it,) in my lane or at the end of the lane and leave because you think you can carry all the bags without it. I don't care whether you can or not. You pass the cart terminal on your way out. It is pure laziness to leave it there, its rude because this means that I need to move it, (and do you think I have time for that when I'm ringing up literally hundreds of people a day?? No I do not,) and it gets in the way of every single other person in line behind you.


4) If you and your significant other come through my line and you decide in the 2 minutes it takes to complete your order that I am really cool and you both seem equally eager to hang out, and you BOTH give me your separate cell phone numbers, well.. I am going to think you are swingers. And I am not going to call because even though it makes us prude, J and I just are not into that. Call me old fashioned. And if you are not a swinger, you totally came across as one so maybe don't be so creepy next time.


5) I know that I'm wearing a name tag, but it really creeps me out to have you call me by my name. I've never met you before, so saying "Hi Rachel!!" catches me off guard every time.



6) If you are coming to return something, please bring the entire thing. DO NOT come to me with one pair of socks out of a pack of three and demand to exchange that ONE pair with the itty bittiest hole in them for another 3 pack. I'm just not going to let you. And when you storm off all mad because now its my fault that you need to go find the other 2 pairs, I have no sympathy for you. I'm simply laughing at you as soon as you are out of range.



6.5) Along with that, I am also laughing at you if you come to me with one thing to return from the dollar spot. Especially if you let it slip that you live a half hour away and can't believe you had to come all the way back because your grandson didn't like it. Did it ever occur to you that getting that $1.08 back does not equal the cost of gas for an hour long round trip? Throw it away and call it a loss.



7) And last but definitely most important. Please wear something that covers your bottom half. I do not like to look up from my register and see that you decided to wear a short coat with absolutely NOTHING underneath, bent over your cart so everyone can see your everything. The customers in my line don't like to see it either, and I'm sure the words, "Oh my God that woman has no pants on!!" were not words she was ever planning on uttering in Target. (Or any public place other than South Beach for that matter.) Poor girl. She was way to young to see that, and the offender was WAY too old to not be wearing at least a pair of underwear.



So yes. These are all true stories of my weekend. Some are specific to this weekend, some happen every single day. (I'm hoping/praying/crossing my fingers that #7 never happens again. It was life changing, and not in a good, Maca Powder way.) I'm positive that none of my fabulous readers are guilty of any of these things. But for the rest of the troubled world, I'm hoping you will pass it on, because its back to work on Friday and I just don't know if I will live through it. I feel a stroke coming on..

One Of My Many Secrets

I consider myself to be a fairly open person when it comes to my life. I'm not extremely private, and for the most part if you ask, I will tell. With that being said, I tend to be more private when it comes to my family. And you are not going to get the whole story here, but I will let you in on a small part.

I have an older brother. This is not exactly a secret for people who know me personally, but since I usually only discuss my younger brother, people are surprised when they hear this for the first time. He is my half brother, and we were thisclose when we were little. Times and circumstances happened, and an EXTREMELY long story short, we are anything but close anymore. We spoke for the first time in years in September. My father had some pretty serious health scares and so I tracked him down and filled him in on what was going on. We had a pretty heartfelt conversation, (actually I think we had 2 althogether,) and we found each other on Facebook, and have been ever so slightly keeping in touch. I learned a few things from him during these conversations. One: He works on a scallop boat. Two: He wishes he had done some things differently and that we were closer. And the third, and the reason for this post.... he spends a couple months each winter in South America, mainly Chile. Guess where he was this weekend..

No need to worry, because after a day of stressing out he updated Facebook to say that he was ok, but his vacation would be extended due to "the end of the world." I can't imagine being there during this time, and seeing all the devastation, and being probably the most scared anyone could be in their entire life. I am going to keep checking to see when he is back in the country, and then I will call and see if he wants to talk. Life is too short.

Molly

Here I am with my little, (huge,) baby, Molly. She gets on my nerves a LOT, but at the end of the day I love her to pieces. And last night I got zero sleep because she was sick :( I think she has the flu but I'm not totally sure. I do know that she was laying by my bed panting for about a half hour and seeing as it was pretty cool in the apartment, I couldn't understand it. I decided to bring her outside to see if she had to use the bathroom and man, did she ever. She squatted right down and, ahem, did both at the same time. I have never seen a dog do that before. And she kept on trying to go long after stuff stopped coming out. I had to gently coax her back inside, where she avoided sitting down because I think she was in pain from straining to use the bathroom. She looked miserable. After she settled down I went to sleep, but I had to get up again in the middle of the night for a repeat performance and then I couldn't get back to sleep. As a result I am physically sitting at my desk at work but mentally still asleep in bed, and I didn't get up in time to make a smoothie or anything for lunch. Quiznos salad it is.

The good news in all this is that the cat is able to roam freely around the apartment, because Molly is too tired to chase her. Lexi, enjoy your freedom while you can. I don't think its going to last long.

Transformers, Taco Shells and Snow

Its Thursday, yay!! I don't work at Target tonight so that means one more evening of laziness until tomorrow, but even tomorrow is just a 4 hour shift. Last night J and I watched Transformers 2, which I actually really got into. I'm not really an action film girl, but I decided to watch since he watched Obsessed with me the other night. Transformers is a 2 and a half hour movie so its a good thing I ended up liking it!

Today the healthy eating went totally off track. I didn't even completely do it on purpose. I started with my usual green smoothie. I jazzed it up with some dried Goldenberries and it was delicious. But then I got to work, and of course we had to be celebrating something, and there were bagels and cream cheese. I didn't even try to resist. (This prompted my boss to say, "YOU ate a bagel? A whole bagel? With cream cheese on both sides?" I said yes, and he asked was I falling off the wagon, and I said no, but that even eating fruits and veggies makes me gain 5 pounds so a bagel couldn't hurt. To which he looked at me for a minute and said, "5 pounds? Where?" Fabulous news.) Anyway, for lunch I brought leftovers from my bean tacos that I had last night, which consisted of organic vegetarian refried beans, tomatoes, lettuce, cheese, plain Greek yogurt and salsa on a hard taco shell. They were SO good, but I forgot the shells today. So I will be "forced" to get Doritos from the vending machine to eat them with :) I have no idea what to have for dinner tonight, but I'm thinking another green smoothie may be in order, just to cleanse out the bagel and Doritos. But maybe not. I will see if my Mexican food craving is satisfied after lunch, because if not I may need to make more tacos tonight. They are as healthy as I can manage, so I don't feel that bad about it.

In other news, it was a full on blizzard when I drove to work this morning. It was literally a white out, and I had to drive S L O W L Y because I couldn't see anything. Now there is zero evidence of snow, its almost 40 degrees out, and the sun is shining. Come on NC. Get it together.