Oh here it goes, here it goes, here it goes again.

Well look at that. Haven't written in this blog for, oh, 7 months! So much has happened since then. I moved into my very own apartment, and I couldn't be happier with it. I love my place, how it came together and the feeling of complete independence. Of course I lived away from home throughout college, but this is the first time I don't have a roommate and the place is all mine.

Funny that when I moved into my place, I expect to buy a ton of fresh food and cook a lot of healthy meals. Hasn't really happened! A lot of nights I'm content with waffles, a bowl of cereal, or some mac 'n cheese for dinner. Pathetic, I know. Or, I'll go out to eat with friends instead of cooking. It's rather challenging to buy food for meals for just one person and use it all before it spoils. I still hate dealing with raw chicken (barf) and ground beef isn't something you should eat every day. I've used Morningstar's veggie crumbles quite a bit, and I actually like them more than ground beef!

I've made veggie tacos with black beans and have also used them with whole wheat pasta and marinara sauce. If you use them for tacos, mix in a bit of taco seasoning. A lot of people cringe at veggie meat, but I say give it a try! I can't stand ground beef in my pasta sauce, but this stuff is great.

About a month or so ago, I tried to go vegetarian for a week (succeeded except for giving in to a Buona beef sandwich for lunch one day). I didn't miss eating meat, but I felt unbelievably tired. I had protein from sources like eggs, beans, peanut butter, and the Morningstar crumbles. I also took an iron supplement each day, since I already have low iron. Still, I felt awful. Probably should have done more research on going veg before I tried it, and I may try it again in the future, but I really doubt I'll ever go full vegetarian. I love burgers too much for that!

On the workout side of things, I've mostly kept up with my regular training - except for boot camp. When I joined in October of last year, I was working for JSTN and could attend the 6:15 AM class since I didn't have to be at work until 9. With my new job, I have to be at work at 8:15...which means I have to go to the 5:30 AM class. I did pretty well with it for a few months, but when the season change started happening in April, I seemed to have a more and more difficult time getting up. In fact, getting up for work feels impossible most days. I'm still not sure why I have felt so exhausted - it's not something I'm used to. Even when I was able to wake up, I was completely wiped out by 2 PM and struggling to make it through the work day. I will say that my new job is a lot more stressful and challenging, and I'm still getting used to a lot of things there. Of course I had to make sure I was rested enough to do well at my new job, so boot camp has fallen to the wayside. I went sporadically in April and May, and then for the month of June, I completely stopped going.

I've been meaning to cancel for a few weeks, but couldn't bring myself to do it. I finally went there today, and decided I'm going to try one more time to get back into it. Even though I know a lot of the exercises now and could do them at home, it certainly won't be with the same intensity or number of reps. I never felt as toned and in shape as I did when I went to boot camp.

Alarm is set for 4:50 AM tomorrow. Let's do this!

My new year starts February 1st.

As usual, it appears the holidays got the better of me since I haven't blogged since December 15th. I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and New Years! Also as usual, my workouts have slacked off a bit - averaging 3 to 4 times a week instead of 5 to 6. I've still been doing boot camp. I set my LA Fitness membership to freeze at the end of January - I have hardly gone since joining Heaven & Hell Boot Camp. I find boot camp to be more engaging and a better work out - it's really helped me tone up and I work out in 35 minute as opposed to slaving away on boring cardio machines for an hour or more. I move into my apartment on February 1st and can use their fitness center along with my regular boot camp visits until it warms up outside. Then I'll be back to running outdoors again - cannot wait!

While many are launching their new year's resolutions and trying to eat better, lose weight, get organized, etc., I'm just keeping up my regular lifestyle for a few more weeks. To me, my new year will begin February 1st - the day I move into an apartment of my own for the first time. I had an apartment for two years in college; each time with a roommate. I've been living at home since graduation, paying down college debt and saving up money. This will be the first place I have entirely to myself. I'm beyond excited! I cannot wait to have my own place to stock with my choice of healthy food, cook my own meals, and have a bunch of space to myself. Right now, I feel suffocated in my bedroom as boxes line the walls alongside my bed. I can barely navigate around my room to find workout clothes, organize papers, etc. so that is part of the reason I'm cutting myself some slack on establishing a routine - it just feels impossible right now!

One goal of mine when I move out is to cook more vegetarian meals. I've been making small steps toward this - reading about vegetarianism online, received a great beginner vegetarian cookbook for Christmas. At my dad's restaurant, Smashburger, I've become fully addicted to the black bean burger - I don't even crave meat burgers when I go there anymore!

Smashburger Black Bean Burger

I find the black bean burger to be much more tasty and satisfying (though I do need to lay off the fries when I eat there!). I can't wait to make some black bean creations of my own.

I'm not sure if I'll become a "real" vegetarian; right now I'm just thinking most of the time. I mostly want to do it for the health benefits, although the animal aspect does play a role as well. Part of me just feels I could never go without eating turkey on Thanksgiving day, having a hot dog at a baseball game or passing up delicious wedding food, but I'm going to stick by the "never say never" phrase on this one - a year ago, I never thought I'd be able to run a half marathon but I did.

Speaking of half marathons...! I am officially signed up for the 2012 Chicago Half Marathon on September 9th. My main reason for choosing this one over the one I did last year, the Rock 'n Roll Half Marathon, is it was almost 50% cheaper than the Rock 'n Roll. I also just want to try a different one.

I know many people have jumped into some resolutions to lose weight. The biggest piece of advice I can give is to start slowly. I know you want to lose weight. I know you want to lose weight fast. However, if on January 1st you swore off every type of bad food, candy, dessert and drink known to man, I promise you you're only setting yourself up for failure. Start by making small changes a few at a time: focus on eliminating soda. Make a goal to eat more vegetables. Plan meals and plan ahead for dinners out with friends. The people I know who have been successful at losing (and keeping off) weight - myself included - have taken this approach. This should be a lifestyle change, not a short lived resolution. Make sure the changes you're making are ones you can live with long term.

Hope you all have had a good start to your new year. I wish all my family and friends good health, financial stability and happiness this year!