Grocery shopping!

Biking
Yesterday was great because Callie and I went on  14 mile bike ride in under one hour! This was my first time meeting another food/fitness blogger offline, and I was kind of nervous, but she is totally down to earth and cool. The funniest part is that we talked about other bloggers, as if they were our friends. There were definitely some mentions of Caitlin, Angela, Ashley, etc. We both laughed at ourselves. Both of us agree that following other food/fitness blogs have made us healthier because if you look at someone like Caitlin who does marathons and centuries, then you kind of think to yourself, "Hey, I can do that, too!" whereas before, a marathon or iron-man was always out of the question, a far off dream. It all seems like it could be a reality someday. Okay, enough sap towards my fellow bloggers.

I loved riding with someone else because I feel like I had to step up my game a bit more and I had someone else there to hold me accountable. I think Callie made me faster, woo! We got caught up in a women's ride from the place I bought my bicycle. Seeing them ride made it feel less intimidating, so maybe I will do that.

After my 14 mile ride, I had never been so thirsty. I don't know what the deal was because I drank my entire water bottle on the ride, but on the way home, all I could think about was ice, cold water. I gulped down like 3 cups and then made a smoothie!
It consisted of:

• 1 cup water
• 1 banana, not frozen. fresh out
• couple of ice cubes
• 1 cup or so of frozen cherries
• 1 packet of Amazing Grass chocolate powder
• 1 tablespoon hemp protein powder

This was my take on the Cherry Chocolate Bomb shake, and I must say it was the best one yet! The Amazing Grass must have been the reason. The entire thing was sooo cherry flavored, with hints of chocolate. And it wasn't too thick. Mirza loved it, too!

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Running

As for this morning, I had planned my final week 6 of C25K: A full 25 minute run with no stops!

Longest one yet. Since my butt is already hurting from the ride last night, I was not much in the mood,but I put on my game face and drove to the trail.

This was definitely one of the more difficult runs. And of course, my longest run EVER. I am finding it actually easier to run straight through now, as opposed to the run-walk method. But I am happy to say that I ran the entire 25 minute period, except for about 6 seconds halfway through when I stopped for a drink from the water fountain.

Go me!

The plan for tomorrow is SWIMMING. I MUST swim. I've been lazy about it, quite honestly. I think it is because I feel terrible at it. Also, I want to do some sort of strength workout, or yoga.

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Food and savings!

I got paid last Thursday and I immediately took out $140 in cash for food. I normally use my debit card, but I am trying to budget and track my spending more. I figured that $140 would give me $70 for each week (I get paid bi-weekly), which should be more than enough to last.

I am happy to say that from Thurs until yesterday, I only managed to spend $30 in food. I just simply had food left over from the week before, and Mirza bought the ingredients for one meal.

This left me with $111 for today.

I left the house with a list and recipes in mind...

No matter how many times I turn this photo in iPhoto, it will not turn with the upload!

My first stop was Nature's Finest, a local health-food store.

There, I purchased:

• Nutritional yeast from bulk
• Dried black beans from bulk
• Dried Garbanzo from bulk
• organic Romaine lettuce
• Cilantro
• Green onions
• Salsa
• Avocado
• 3 plum tomatoes 
• corn on the cob

Grand total with a 10% discount from Mirza's cousin, Amra (Thank you!): $20.38

Next, I ventured over to Publix for the rest of my shopping, where I bought:

• 1 can corn
• 2 small cans tomato sauce
• 1.55 lbs red potatoes
• Greek yogurt
• 2-15oz cans crushed tomatoes
• Raisins
• Jar Roasted red peppers
• Blue crumble cheese
• Kashi cereal ($1 coupon)
• plastic wrap
• 1/4 watermelon
• Red bell pepper
• Limes x 2
• yellow onions x 5
• Garlic x 2
• Portobello mushroom caps
• baby spring mix
• Blue corn tortilla chips
• Eggs
• Bananas
• chocolate chips.
• FLOWERS

Total: $53.60

The flowers were only $3.99, and the only thing not officially on the list that still made it into the basket. I just wanted something pretty to look at, ok!?

And now I have $35 left over from my food budget to last me until Thursday (pay day). Any left over money will be going straight to saving's!:)

Now, I just need to figure out how to cook dried beans, haha