Weekend Shenanigans

Hi-di ho, neighbors!

Well, you blinked and the weekend was over., right? Sigh. It's such a shame that weekends go by so fast. Anybody know when the next holiday is? I'm ready for another 3-day weekend with my Hunk:) We had a good weekend, but I feel I didn't get nearly as much quality time with my love.

On Friday night we went over to our friend's house for dinner and a bonfire. Melissa and Dave live on 11 acres and their house is tucked away in the forest. So cool! Melissa made a healthy dinner for us and afterward the boys did a little shooting in the backyard. They put up a target and practiced their aim. Yours truly even shot a gun for the first time. I was a bit nervous but actually have a great aim! Watch out, Lara Croft! j/k

Annie, get yer gun!

BTW, no living things were harmed during shooting practice:)

Afterward, our cavemen built us cavewomen a bonfire. It was nice and chilly outside so the bonfire kept our toes nice and cozy. We They all roasted marshmallows and made s'mores while I sipped on my yummy casein shake that I brought. (I don't have to tell you who got the better end of the deal, now do I? HAHA!) Hubby thought it would be cool to bring fireworks since we bought a ton for 4th of July but never actually used them. Since Dave and Melissa have so many acres, we had our own little fireworks show. I took video on my cell phone (remember how my camera broke last week?), however I'm having difficulty uploading the video to this blog post, so unfortunately this is the only picture I have. Lame, I know!

Whoop-di-do, right?... I promise the fireworks were WAY more exciting than this picture HA!

On Saturday, Hubbs and I woke up and hit the gym around 8am to get our cardio out of the way. On our way back our Indian neighbors invited us over for a Cradle Ceremony, which is a celebration signifying the 21st day of their baby girl. We asked what this tradition meant in their Indian culture and apparently until the 21st day, the baby is not yet put into a cradle. Interesting.

We do not really know our neighbors because they keep to themselves and we don't even know their names (mainly because we can't pronounce them and they are very hard to remember!), but we thought it would be a nice gesture to stop by to show our support. The party was from 11-2, but we had to shower and look presentable so we knocked on their door around 12:45pm. When we walked in, there were a lot of Indian people in the apartment and the women were dressed in the most elaborate and beautiful silk gowns (called saris). Everyone was so friendly towards us and even though we were nervous at first (being the only white people we stuck out like a sore thumb!) we tried to engage in conversation and strike up conversations with them.

OK, so here is where I ran into my FIRST difficulty with my comp diet. Up until this point in my prep diet, I haven't allowed ONE "unauthorized" bite to hit my lips. To tell you the truth, it's actually not been so hard. However, at the party, they handed me a plate of cake and I almost freaked out. I didn't want it. At all. I gave Hubbs a look like, "What do I do?" and he whispered, "It's OK, hon. You don't have to eat it. Just mix it around to make it look like you ate some." So, I played with it a bit until I realized the women were looking at me. Hells bells! I put the tiniest bit of cake (sans-frosting) on my fork and bit down. I probably looked like a kid whose parents demanded he eat his brussels sprouts or no t.v. I was not happy about it, but I really didn't want to be rude since it seemed everyone was watching me. Then Hubby did the sweetest thing. He got his fork and ate a GINORMOUS bite of my cake, saying something to the effect of, "Ohhhh, let me try yours. It has chocolate in it." (Which is funny because we both had the exact same kind of cake BAHAHA!)

Anyway, at this point I looked at the clock and since I had to be somewhere, I stood up to say "Thank you" to the hosts. As I was just about to escape leave, the father-in-law said, "Wait, wait, wait. You must try food." I stopped in my tracks like a deer in the headlights and said, "Oh, thank you, but I really must be going". I'm telling you- as friendly as those Indians are, they are a tad bit pushy HA! They escorted me over to the spread (and by spread, I mean it looked like I was in line at Indian Palance buffet!!!) and they excitedly proceeded to explain each and every dish and said I must try. They handed me a plate and fork and told me where to start. Oy vey! At this point, Hubbs just smiled at me because there really was no way of getting out of this one without offending someone. I put about a tablespoon of everything on my plate and nibbled on each thing giving occasional "oooohs" and "ahhhhs", saying how yummy and flavorful everything was. The thing is, it WAS so yummy and flavorful, but I really didn't want to eat it. If I weren't so dedicated to accomplishing my goal, I would have LOVED to sit down and enjoy authentic Indian dishes and savor big bites full of Indian yumminess. But not now. Sigh.

Later Saturday afternoon, I went back to the gym for Legs workout. Let me tell you- Saturday around 6pm may just be THE best time to go to the gym. I think there were maybe a dozen people in the gym TOTAL, including upstairs and downstairs. I didn't have to wait for any weights or machines and it was fantastic. My workout consisted mainly of compound moves

• Static Lunges superset with Plie squats (3 sets)
• Weighted Step-ups superset with Romanian deadlifts (3 sets)
• Seated Leg Press with feet higher to target glutes
  
• 3 sets of 12- Calf raises
• Glute pushback <---I'm convinced this machine is manufactured in Hades
• Hip Abductor and Adductor machines

I burned a little over 600 calories doing this workout. Surely enough to compensate for my minuscule bites of Indian food, right?:)

One of my main focuses right now is creating a BUTT. Seriously, I may need to put up flyers around the neighborhood, because my butt's gone missing!!! When I came back from the gym, I was just in time to catch my Texas Tech vs. UT game. By halftime I seriously thought we had a good chance of beating the Longhorns, but alas, we lost. I was really disappointed, but took the opportunity to focus my frustration on my blueberry. I did a few more wall squats, plus donkey kicks during commercial breaks to further harass my...um, arse;)

Yesterday, (Sunday) I awoke to cramps, bloating, fatigue, MOODINESS and insanity and pretty much stayed in bed all day feeling sorry for myself. I felt fat and miserable and was retaining so much water that my wedding ring barely made it on and off my finger:( We decided to go to a late church service since I wasn't feeling well and other than going to evening Mass, I didn't leave the house. Not even for Hubby's soccer game. Bad wife. I will definitely be at his next game, no matter what. I love to watch him play and cheer him on. Plus, it helps that he's got a rockin' soccer butt! hehe

QUESTION:

1) Have you ever tried Indian food? The food smelled AMAZING and looked so colorful, but honestly, I can't really give you a good assessment of what it actually tasted like because I seriously nibbled bites that were the size of pennies.