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I couldn’t take it.

| cheriarmour

It’s super rare that I ditch a workout, but after a particularly hot trail run on Sunday night where I left completely drenched, a little nauseated, and with my achilles doing it’s own thing, I made the executive decision to meet a coworker at the pool, and pool run, instead of sacrificing my entire soul on a 95-degree trail run.

photo 1This was the trail run in question.  If you kinda look at my face, you can see my eyeliner is all runny.  I literally felt so sick after this run, and it was approximately 90ish degrees at the time of the run.

photo 2I took one feel at the humidity outside, grabbed my Kindle and bikini, and ran in the pool til I was over it.

And it was amazing.

I don’t think I’ve had the time (since the serious wedding planning started) to read a book, so it was nice to press the pause button while I tried to finish “Orange is the New Black”.

The deal is though, since I’m almost done with that book, and since I got a big fat $6 settlement in some Kindle class action lawsuit, I’m gonna need another book to read, and once we get married I’m gonna read the HELL out of some books.

Give me some books to read please!

How was your weekend?

| cheriarmour

So for your personal enjoyment, I will share with you a few of the pics me and Kimmy went through after my brother’s graduation on Thursday night.

photo 2We were very active kids.  Animals in fact.  There were like two other pictures of us doing things on the swingset that are not OSHA approved.

photo 3That’s me in the mask,  I had a sore throat when my brother was born, so I had to wear this so I wouldn’t get the baby sick.

photo 4

Preciouso.

photo 5And lastly, my brother as a sheriff.  How cute right?

Anyhoo, so this weekend was really good.  I was not as productive as I would have liked to have been, but I got a ton of rest, and woke up Sunday morning almost at 10.  I have not done that literally in forevs.

Saturday, I went and checked out a performance of Marcus Anderson, a pretty sweet saxophonist (did I spell that correctly?!) The really cool bit about him is that I’ve been watching him for like 4 years when he came down to regularly perform where I worked in graduate school.  I have semi-fangirled him over the past few years, and now he’s playing with Prince.

tumblr_mi2qao3J2M1rdnvweo1_400Prince guys.

giphy

I need to get my life together.

From there, we headed to Buffalo Wild Wings in Cary where the female server treated us like garbage. But the dranks was poppin!

And from there, I had a semi-lazy Sunday.

We started the day off by binge-watching 3 episodes off Orange is the New Black, and then I cleaned, and topped off the day with some time in the woods on an almost 4-mile trail run.

photo 1And since you asked so nicely, here’s a pic of my poodle.  We were in full-cuddle mode, which includes me talking in strange voices.

How was your weekend?

 

 

My baby brother graduated yesterday + healthy nachos.

| cheriarmour

As you’re reading this, my ass has been out on the trail, to work, and is currently dashing to Charlotte to see my little brother graduate.

I’m not sure what to say, cause I remember when he was born and now he’s graduating high school, and I cannot even.

I drove down to Charlotte on Thursday, but not after first noticing that I was sunburnet from a trail run early this week.

photo 1If you ever have awkwardly asked a black person why they wear sunblock, or if they can tan, here is your answer.  A resounding hell yes!

So I made it down to Charlotte just in the nick of time,  but not before my dad sent me this to take us down memory lane..

photo 2This, folks, would be my brother on his first day of kindergarten.  I can barely stand it!

photo 3This is the bro, getting ready to graduate!

photo 4And this is us, after the ceremony.

He did great, and we were all so proud of him.  And we followed the big day with a visit to the local Ihop to celebrate his big achievement.  My brother’s favorite spot is Ihop, and he we had to give the man what he wants.

After such a huge accomplishment, once we got back to my parent’s house, we were all in a very nostalgic mood, and it all summed up to us looking at a bunch of old family pictures.  For your viewing pleasure, I will share with you this…

photo 5No idea.  No idea.  Thank you god for my adult face coming in.

Let’s switch gears for a minute.

Who likes nachos?

So a food that I’ve sort of struggled with is nachos.  I love nachos like a ton, but they’re not particularly easy to fit into your plan, especially when you’ve suffered from gastritis.  Nachos + an inflamed stomach lining don’t get along particularly well.

So, The Hungry Runner Girl posted a recipe for healthier nachos, and they weren’t particularly terrible.  Actually, they were pretty good, so I’m gonna share with you!  If you’re looking for a better way to do nachos….

photo 1 (2)Start with two baked potatoes.  Slice em up, and layer a teensy bit of olive oil, salt, and pepper on top.  Stick them in the oven for 30 minutes (my oven was a little overzelous, so make sure you keep tabs on how the potatoes are smelling).  Pull them out, and add 1/4th of a cup of low-fat mexican cheese blend, and pop the potatoes back into the oven.

Melt them for about 4 minutes at the same temp.  Once they’re done, add avocado, some beans and some corn, and a few jalapenos.  You’ll end up with these…

photo 2 (2)It’s kinda like nachos, but less fried.  A solid, solid recipe, without the terrible stomachache after.

What are your plans for this weekend?

 

The 1800 Minute Challenge

| cheriarmour

I follow a really great chick named Erin at Living in Yellow.  Back in April, Erin challenged us to partake in her 1800 minute challenge, a challenge that entailed documenting 1800 minutes of exercise between April 1st and May 31st.
#1800MinuteChallengeThat number averaged out to about 30 minutes per day of working out, which for me, didn’t seem too hard, since I’m pretty active, but for this challenge, I focused on my old motto of sweating once a day (rather than relying on the fact that I was running for hours on end to carry me through the challenge) and I managed to complete the challenge with 2278.18 minutes, an average of about 37 minutes of activity a day.

The challenge was good for me.  I respond well to challenges, real or not, and I take them very seriously.  Last year, at this time, I was doing a streak, and something about the officialness (in my mind) of the streak, pushed me to continue running, even though in North Carolina it gets hot as hell, and staying active.

My activities over the 2k minutes included a lot of variety.  With me getting my Body Pump cert, I did a ton of Body Pump, some Body Attack, some trail running (cause it’s so crazy hot and humid here), as well as continuing to teach my regular Zumba class schedule.  The bod is looking good, and I want to keep it going so thankfully, Erin hooked us up with ANOTHER challenge, 1000 minutes in 30 days.  This time, the challenge has us averaging closer to 33 minutes a day, so I’m excited to see what I can do.

Anyone else in?

 

Summer Concert Schedule.

| cheriarmour

As I’m writing this, I’m sitting here with a clearing face mask on.  I was totally gonna take a picture of it for you, but it literally is so scary, I couldn’t do that to you.  So, just use your imagination.

Okay, so not sure if you know, but the summertime is my absolute favorite time for a number of reasons.  Summer nights in North Carolina are ridiculously beautiful, and the best best part about North Carolina summer (not the heat for sure) are the live shows that I’m so looking to go forward to.

So here are the shows I’m looking forward to.

tumblr_mzorblChMz1r85uiyo1_500Paramore @ Walnut Creek – July 22 – I saw these guys once, with the old line-up.  I really liked the new album, and I have always loved the concept of Hayley being the only chick in a really bad-ass band.  SO into it.

john-legend-o

John Legend @ Red Hat Amphitheater – July 30th – I saw him live once time at Duke.  Dude sounds way, way better live than he does in studio.  He’s going to be with Earth, Wind, and Fire, so I’m thinking this is going to be a pretty epic, do-not miss sort of show.
tumblr_mtwi2i344I1rtt08so1_500Gavin DeGraw @ Red Hat Amphitheater – August 5th.  I have seen him live like 3 or 4 times.  He was amazing all of those times, and once told me that I was pretty.  So if you ever try to tell me that I’m not pretty, consider yourself ignored, because what you say doesn’t matter.

tumblr_mtvj5rOBnT1rvcjd7o2_250Demi Lovato @ PNC Raleigh – September 12th.  I saw this amazing chick in February and me and Deb vowed to go again.

I’m really pumped to see all of these shows, but because of our upcoming wedding and me recently tightening my belt when it comes to money-related issues, I may have to forgo a few lattes to makes sure I get to see these shows.

What truly excites me, however, is live music.  I love the way a live band sounds.  I love to hear and feel how excited the crowd gets.  I love to dance like a complete idiot with virtual strangers.  And my favorite thing is to hear the crowd singing a song word for word, fully along with ad libs and all.

Now all of that endless blathering aside, what bands or solo performers are you excited to see this concert season?

Body Attack in Review

| cheriarmour

Two mornings ago, I dragged my butt out of bed to go to something called Body Attack, a class that is in the Les Mills family.  Les Mills, by the way, is the umbrella under which Body Pump falls.  Body Pump is that toning and weightlifting class I’ve been taking.  But I digress.

So I dragged my butt out of bed because I knew my favorite Body Pump teacher would be teaching this called Body Attack.  I get there, and I started off a little skeptically.

Screen Shot 2014-05-29 at 9.23.03 PMI was skeptical, but as I looked around, I saw a lot of the folks that were regulars at Body Pump, and the class was pretty packed, especially for 5:45am.

Instead of the class being dancey or boppy, like the classes I’m sort of used to taking the class involved some plyometrics, aerobic exercises, and high energy interval trainings that sort of reminded me of when I would go off on my own and do some of the Nike Training Center (NTC) workouts on my phone.

As the class went on, I felt like it got a little less weird, and the class morphed into exactly what I needed, especially some of the plyometric exercises that involved me holding and working with my own body weight.  Especially in my upper-body, this is something I’d like to try to develop.  Additionally, the class involved a good bit of running around the studio, something that I feel so at ease with.  So between the running the development of some sweet strength, I think me and Body Attack (and Monica, the fabulous teacher) will get along just great.

So, when you go to try this class out, definitely give the class a little longer than the warm-up, which definitely feels strange, and you will fall in love.

**As a side note, the adorably amazing teacher, who can bust out like a million push ups, kept saying “jack it” when she wanted us to fly into some jumping jacks.  I could not stop laughing.  I have the maturity of a 15-year-old I know.**

Splenda and the Judgey Moms Committee

| cheriarmour

Okay, so yesterday, I’m not sure if you caught it, but a sort of funny study and the results were released.  And not funny, like HA HA, but funny like hm.  You get it.

image via wikipedia.org
image via wikipedia.org

Basically, the study was industry-funded.  Two groups of folks, all weighing on average over 200 pounds were divided, and folks who were permitted to drink diet sodas, on average, lost a little bit more weight than folks who were banned from drinking sodas all together.

If you are a complete idiot, you might read the study to say to “drink diet soda rather than water to lose weight,” however, if you are a reasonable human being who thinks critically, you might think just as I did.  The folks who went cold turkey off of soda had a bit of an easier time than folks who “stairstepped” their way off of drinking regular sodas.  Because for a lot of people, going cold turkey is really really challenging, and ends up screwing them in the end.  I am one of those people.

The rub was, the “judgey moms committee,” as I’ve dubbed them, got themselves all up in arms about the findings of the study yesterday.

The Judgey Moms Committee (JMC)

The Judgey Moms Committee is a committee of, well, judgey moms who like to get themselves all up in arms about many things, and then write really really angry Facebook posts about them, a lot of times, without reading into what it is, and getting the facts.

Topics that the JMC members get really upset about are not limited to:

  • Aspartame
  • Sugar
  • How to parent other people’s children
  • Judging other mothers negatively
  • The age at which it’s appropriate to stop breastfeeding, which is truthfully no one’s business
  • Gwenyth Paltrow (they usually either love her or hate her, there is no in-between)
  • Miley Cyrus

The JMC was out in full-force yesterday to speak out on this study.  So here’s what I say on the study, its findings, and diet soda as it pertains to health, wellness, and weight loss.

  1. Diet soda is not good for you.  Duh, but I really needed to put that out there.  I am not saying that it’s good for you, so be smart.
  2. Many, many studies are industry-funded.  So yes, the findings of this study should make you raise an eyebrow, however, the findings of a lot of studies should make you do that.  Do your own research, and figure out what may be best for you and your family.  Do the benefits of whatever this is outweigh this risks?  That is for you to determine.
  3. For the soda-drinkers out there….what kind of quitter are you?  Are you a cold turkey kinda gal/guy?  Or do you did a little bit of something else to motivate you through that?
  4. Though diet soda, and the things that it’s sweetened with are not at ALL the best thing for you, I strongly believe that diet sodas and artificial sweeteners can be a valuable tool to ease someone that’s not living the healthiest lifestyle, into a healthier phase of life.  I know, I know.  Insert your horrified gasps here.  But I believe it to be true.  Cold turkey is really hard and unsustainable for a lot of folks.  So maybe someone like me, who guzzled Coke like it was going out of style can benefit from Diet Coke instead.  After I graduated, and began teaching a ton of classes, I stepped it to club soda, water, and water infusions.  The same went for my addiction to sugar and sweets.  I started by cutting down the sugar I was eating and drinking, and moving to something like Splenda or Truvia.  When I was good and ready, I stepped it down, and now, though I admit I still enjoy my sweets, I don’t feel the compulsion to shove them into my face like I did before.  So while I’m not suggesting you go on a strict diet of Coke Zero and cheesecakes fashioned with Splenda, I think a little bit, especially in a time of transition, can really help you go a long way.
photo (1)
On the right is Coke-guzzling, non-working out Cher, from about 5 years ago. I actually got a little bigger after this. On the left is much-healthier, much better-feeling Cher, eating mostly clean with the occasional treat snuck in. I was busting out of the dress, which didn’t fit at one point, and now, it totally doesn’t fit. Shame though, that dress was cute!

Tell me what you think about all of this buzz?! Who else loves club soda the way I do?

Luluemon Run Club

| cheriarmour

So first, look at this thing I made today.

photo 2I had a hankering for Chinese food, so instead of getting a big greasy box of rice noodles, I went for my own.  Super yummy, and I ate WAYY too much of it instead of splitting it like I was planning to for lunch.  As a result, if you need me, I will be running laps around the parking lot of my building.  (Jk!)

Hoookay, so guess what I did today?  I didn’t work out this morning cause I wasn’t feeling up to it, so I made a deal with myself that I had to find something to make me sweat.  I kinda remembered that the Lululemon in North Hills had a running group meeting up, so without too much into, I totally went for it.  So glad I did!

The group was a small, but super cozy group, and we headed down Lassiter Mill to start off our run.  I hung with Caitlin, who works for Lululemon, and chatted while we pretty easily cruised through four miles.  Fun fact, going up the hill was not fun, but it made for some really good conversation!

Wanna see what this chick looks like after a 4-miler in sweltering heat and humidity?

photo 1Don’t worry, I will be back at the Lululemon giant mirror to take selfies often 🙂

But on the real, Raleigh peoples, especially in the North, check this little group out.  They were awesome, and I truly felt like the girls there were some of the nicest girls possible.  They’re [unfortunately] not paying me to say this 🙂 but check out their small but mighty running group, Wednesday evenings at 6pm.

On that note, I had such good convo with some of the Lemons there – you ever meet someone and feel like you would be great friends with them cause you have so much in common? 

Maya Angelou

| cheriarmour

I didn’t feel like it was appropriate to post anything but to express my sadness at the news this morning, that 86-year-old Maya Angelou was found unresponsive in her Winston-Salem home.

In a sense, it’s sad, the world has suffered such a huge loss.  However, in another sense, you look at what she’s accomplished over her 86 years, and it’s almost selfish to keep her all for ourselves right?  So, in the words of Franchesca, Rest in Power, Maya Angelou.

Also, Buzzfeed did an awesome job covering this. Check it out here.