new beginnings

So it's been a while since I've been on here, well it's been a while since I've written on here.  I have been faithfully reading many running and healthy living blogs, but haven't contributed much on my end.

Life has changed a bit and I think that's part of why I haven't written.  In January my husband lost his job- which he had held for over 10 years as a physical therapist.  It totally wasn't his fault, but rather due to budget cuts at his company.  So that sparked some changes for us as a newly married couple.  We knew we wanted to eventually move back to MA and start a family, so we decided to make the move then.

In January (2013) we put our house in RI on the market.

After about 3 months we had sold the house and moved to MA!  I work in MA, so this made my commute a lot easier, plus we have more family in MA, so it has been nice to have them closer by!
Another reason this worked out well is because Jeff got hired as a PT for an awesome company up here in MA.   Those three months were not the best at times, I know we were both stressed out-- worrying about living on one income for an undetermined amount of time, wondering if anyone would want to buy our house, wondering where we'd move to, and just hoping that by keeping the faith all things would work out. Well, they did.  Jeff and I came out stronger after this struggle and are now in a much better place!

My husband did an amazing job at helping to get us ready to move.  Seriously, he spent hours upon hours boxing and packing.  Our dining room turned into the moving room.

Because of the craziness of the move and Jeff starting a new job in April, we decided just to rent for the time being and then look for a house after.

Moving across state lines requires the help of a large u-haul truck!

So we are currently renting a 1200sq.ft. apartment while on the house hunt.  There is a great loft, which we use for all of our bikes, trainers, and exercise gear.  (The kitchen is below as pictured.)

We were able to move in by Easter weekend, thanks to our family's help!
One u-haul and 4 cars full of stuff later, we managed to sit down for a few...

and smiled because we were Massachusetts residents again!

The Easter bunny even knew our new address!

Tired on Easter morning...

Since Easter it's been a busy spring and summer.  I finished up the school year, my brother got married, my cousin got married, and we have been actively looking to buy a house in a town nearby.

Well that somewhat bridges the gap to get caught up with what's been happening over the last year... there are a lot more details to share, but I'll save that for future posts.

For now it's time to watch the final day of the Tour with the husband!

Elf for Health Update

Two weekends ago I was reading around blog land and came across this:
Lindsey and Elle were starting some called "Elf for Health."
Elf for Health Challenge

Basically it's to challenge yourself in the weeks leading up to Christmas to stay healthy and fit and keep everything in balance as the busy-ness of the holidays come.

Normally, I'm not one to just jump out there and sign up for something with someone who I really don't know, but I had read "The Lean Green Blog" before and loved it... so I figured, why not?  I love staying fit and if I can stay fit during the holidays and help others to do the same, then great!

So, two weeks ago I got our first email- our elves assignments!  Hundreds of people like myself signed up for this.  I read up and down the list and found my name, with my partner for the first two weeks- Amanda.

Ok, I thought, I will email this "stranger," tell her a little about myself, and we'll see what happens.  The  first challenge was "Meatless Monday," so being a vegetarian, I thought- no problem!  Well, what seemed like a basic "pen pal" via email has transformed into something quite larger!  I can't believe that there are now nearly 1,000 people signed up for this and am thrilled I am one of those thousand.

In addition to emails, we've also taken the elf for health to other social media- facebook groups, twitter, etc.  Via facebook, I've found there's another elf who lives a few miles from me, who I'm planning to meet up with after New Years and with a blog named "Running and Cupcakes" I have a feeling that we'll get along pretty well! (As long as she doesn't mind that I like the frosting more than the cake!) Check out this fellow Rhode Islander's blog here: Running and Cupcakes

Now back to my elf: Amanda.  She's been super supportive and fun throughout these first two weeks.  She's from Canada and says, "Eh?" I'm not sure why, but I love that fun fact about her!  It's fun to get an email from her and let her know what I'm up to as well.  I have to say that the other night I wasn't too thrilled that a run was on the agenda, but knowing that if I ran it I could report it out to my elf made me want to do it and do it well!

The challenge of the day also was to do some weight training... so I did a small amount of upper body too; have to say my arms are not buff at all! (My cardio is pretty good though-- just over in 8 miles in 62 minutes!!)

It's been fun to "chat" with Amanda about some healthy food ideas too.  When talking about the JAB's homemade pizza last weekend, she suggested a pizza she's made- with raspberries!! (I seriously am going to have to try a fruity/ sweet pizza in the future!)  

Facebook has been a great way of connecting to other elves and get inspired to stay healthy and keep everything in balance.  I haven't changed my ways too much, as I was fairly healthy before, but I did try some new things that were delivered with last week's csa from Farm Fresh RI.

I added leeks to a salad one day-- loved their flavor!

And last weekend, we went squash crazy!!  We had a butternut squash, sweet dumpling squash, and spaghetti squash in our box, so it's been a squashy week!  The sweet dumpling squash (top right) I cut in half, then roasted with a little cinnamon (could have added honey too).  The butternut squash I boiled and mashed, then added garlic salt and pepper.  (The husband added a brown sugar crumble to his for a sweeter dish).  Finally, the spaghetti squash was roasted with oil, rosemary, thyme, sage, oregano, garlic salt, and pepper.  Lots of veggies were eaten in the JAB household--- I was proud my hubby was actually asking for more, he liked it so much!

The week finished off last night with another run...

But I really try to stay to my "take Fridays off" from working out.  I find that this helps to prevent injury.  So today I "rested"... still a full day of work, but after work no exercise.  The only "cross training" I usually do on Fridays is walking- around the aisles of the grocery store!

I replenished our chobani supply!

And now the week is done... and our elf for health first cycle is finishing up too!  Sunday we get new elf assignments, but now that I'm "friends" with my elf on the fb, I am pretty sure we will still keep in touch! It's nice to connect with people who are hundreds of miles away through the internet!

Now it's time for some ABC family holiday movies with Mr. JAB-- tonight's feature- "The Santa Claus"... hopefully this gets us in the spirit before we get our Christmas tree this weekend!

Any other elves out there? Leave a comment so I can check out your blog too! :)

Thanksgiving and more!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving and spent some quality time with your family and friends! I know that I did and I loved having some time off from work just to enjoy this time!

Being a teacher, we had Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday off, which was amazing! Wednesday I was able to get ready since we were hosting dinner on Thursday!

First on the agenda, was a workout! I went to the gym for a good 80 minutes on the elliptical!

Then it was time to come home and get started on food prep! I made an apple pie... homemade crust and all for a healthy dessert!! :)

I also cleaned the house from top to bottom! Or as best as I could! Then I did a lot of the cutting of veggies and got the stuffing (well, dressing) made, minus the baking part of it.

I had to wash and cut lots of stuff... here are the brussel sprouts with some carrots and parsnips! I added some rosemary, sage, thyme, salt, pepper, and garlic with oil and then roasted!

Then it was onto the stuffing... apple cranberry stuffing!I sauteed the celery and onions first, then added the chopped apples and craisins.  The next day I baked it (with wheat bread!)!

Thursday morning Mr. JAB wanted to do the turkey himself, so I taught him how to cook it! (He did a great job!)

Here's the bird pre-roasting. We cooked it in my great-grandmother's roaster in the oven.  I love that I was given this heirloom! Even though I don't eat meat, it was special knowing that her many years of cooking are added to our dinner too! (Turkey prepped with veggies, orange slices, bell seasoning, olive oil, and butter.)
Once the bird was in the oven it was time to run!
I got in about 8.5 miles in 65 minutes, then showered up before cooking the remainder of the dishes!
We set the table... (JAB had bought me/ the table flowers!)

Then we sat down for about 20 minutes before our guests arrived!

Just around 2:30 we sat down to dine with my in-laws and aunt!  On the menu: spinach salad, rolls, cranberry sauce, turkey and gravy, mashed potatoes and squash cassarole made by my MIL, brussel sprouts, carrots, parsnips, corn, and stuffing!

We cleaned up and rested before dessert.  I was so full and tired I forgot to take a picture! I enjoyed the apple pie.  There was also a peanut butter cup pie, coffee cake, and pumpkin pie! We were joined by my parents and sister, as well as my SIL and her fam... it was a full and fun house!

A great end to the evening came with a nice Pat's victory!! ( We were too tired to stay up for the whole game though!)

Thanksgiving day 2 came Friday when I made the husband his favorite...turkey pie!

I used the leftover turkey, veggies, and gravy!

Ready for the oven!!

My legs were tired on Saturday, so I took it easy with an elliptical workout,  and then the day was spent with my sister!  My bro is getting married next summer, so we had to go bridesmaid dress shopping!

Not the best fit!

Finally, Sunday was a day of running, working out, work, and rest!

I started it off with a 6 mile run to break in my new shoes!

 6 sweaty miles at the gym!

 New Asics 2170s-- they're discounting this model, what will I do?

It felt good to run in new shoes, although they are still a little stiff!

And now sadly, as always, vacations come to an end-- but I have another exciting vacation coming up in about a month... so work hard until then!

As I said before, it was great to enjoy this Thanksgiving with my "old" family and "new" family.  This was our first year married for Thanksgiving, so it's nice knowing that I have officially added so many wonderful people into my lives.

Already looking forward to the upcoming Christmas season!!! (But first things first, 4 weeks of work before we get there!)

weekend roundup and farm fresh ri

This is quick... but here's how the weekend went:

Friday... grocery shopping for Thanksgiving!  We're hosting on Thursday :)

Saturday- AM RUN! Ran 9.25 miles in the morning in 70:45  Felt great to do this!
The rest of the day was spent driving up to MA... we went to mass at the church where we go married and then attend a surprise birthday party in Worcester.  Unfortunately it wasn't too vegetarian/ lactose-free friendly... so my dinner was bread, salad, and green beans... and for dessert they had key lime pie with whipped cream.  That wasn't happening, but I did manage to eat all of the graham cracker crust!

Sunday- 2 hour bike ride!  Then Jeff's parents were here to help with some things... the men cleaned the gutters.  I did house work.  In the afternoon we did some errands and then watched the Pats.  How about that victory!?

Monday- Full day of work, followed by the gym- 1:20 on the elliptical, then abs and stretching.  Tomorrow is the last day of work for the week for me! (and it's pajama day at school... wear your pj's to work? yes please, don't mind if I do!)

It works out nice that we have all of Wednesday off so I can start to get ready for Thanksgiving on Thursday... we got our delivery from Farm Fresh RI, so I am looking forward to using some of these veggies on Thursday!

I have already used the mustard greens- I sauteed them with some garlic a couple days ago.  Other veggies we got include onions, carrots, parsnips, brussel sprouts, apples, turnip, kuri squash, and spaghetti squash.  I am planning to cook the parsnips, carrots, brussel sprouts, and kuri squash to go with our dinner on Thursday!  It's nice to know that we're eating from some local farms!

Farm Fresh RI Veggie Box

We signed up for a few months of this and I'm looking forward to seeing what we get next!

Well time to relax and call it a night... just one more day to go!

quick check in

Just checking in... it's been busy here in RI and MA.

Tuesday I was booked solid.  I got up just after 5 am to hit up the gym.  I like to run on Tuesdays, but running at 5:30 just wasn't happening, so I did the elliptical for an hour, came home, showered, and headed up to Marlboro MA for a day long conference with the Department of Ed.

While the conference got out at 3:30, I was far from done with the day.  Rather than come back down to RI, I went to visit my parents to kill some time and catch up with them, then continued on to go back to the town where I teach to host a literacy night at the library.

We had a local author come to read to the kids... here's her site, check it out!
"Marshmallows Galore"

We did a craft and had a snack with the kids too.  Finally got home to RI around 8:30 pm to crash after prepping for another day.

Wednesday wasn't as busy fortunately, but I could tell my body was just tired from the day before.  Once again after a full day at work I didn't have a run in me, so I went to the gym and again did a workout on the elliptical, this time 77 minutes.  (7 is my favorite number!)  It was nice to end the evening yesterday though with the husband watching Survivor!

That brings us to today- Thursday, which totally felt like a Friday when I woke up, but alas no- one more day to get through the week!

Fortunately, my body was able to catch up on sleep last night, so after work today I was determined to run.

This happened:

 I let the treadmill start and as per usual didn't want to set my expectations too high for fear they might not be met.--- why do I do this? Shouldn't I try to raise the bar? Anyways, in my head I thought, "ok- 5 miles, you can do that, but as the miles ticked away I changed it to, ok Julie, just run the full hour, which I did, then the treadmill automatically adds on a 5 minute cool down, which I ran too.... bringing the day's mileage to just under 8.5 miles in 65 minutes- about 7:39 pace! woohoo, not my fastest by any means, but seeing how last week's mileage total was only 5.25 miles and the week before was zero- I was thrilled.

 This is me thrilled-- and sweaty--- and tired---- and thirsty.

I felt like a runner again today-- such a good feeling!!

And on that note, I am proud to say I earned my day off tomorrow.  I used to never take days off, but now am a firm believer in a rest day weekly.  Fridays seem to work for me as that day off.

New Big Bang Theory tonight!! Time to relax... happy almost Friday! :)

a day to ketchup-- errr catch up!

Ok so for those of you who are reading this, you may not know- I love ketchup.  It's pretty much the condiment that I will and do put on anything.  Today has nothing to do with ketchup (this photo taken on our honeymoon, I found a stash of bottles when we were out to eat on Oahu).  It's more about catch up-- catching up from a busy weekend!

Let's go back to Friday, shall we?
The husband and I went to Honda to test drive cars.  We had been before, but had narrowed it down to the Honda Insight and Civic and were going to try to make our final decision. We opted on the Civic, but weren't planning on purchasing that evening; HOWEVER, our sales guy said, "so what do I have to do to get you to make purchase this evening?"  Hm.. how about cutting us a deal?

Long story short, we negotiated a bit, traded in Mr. JAB's 2005 Subaru(pictured driving below)

and signed on to buying a new 2012 Honda Civic!!!
While I was super excited, I did feel bad- the husband had to give up his Subie baby- the first car that he had bought new. :(  But he is so generous, that he insisted I get the new car since I drive 300+ miles a week for work which is over a half hour away up in MA.  (The plan is for me to drive this car for the next 1.5-2 years, then hopefully when we move again he will inherit the new civic and we'll look into another car... maybe one more fit for a family!?;) not rushing that yet though.

After going back on Saturday and doing about 3 hours of paper work and waiting we drove home our new baby! So we are now a Honda family!!

Since that took longer than planned, I didn't make it to the gym to run, instead Mr. JAB and I went to the basement for a ride on our trainers. I rode about 1 hour and 55 minutes, then did some hip exercises before a quick shower and lunch.  Why the rush? We had a date night!

We had tickets to go to Providence to PPAC- the Providence Performing Arts Center to see a play--- ELF!
http://www.ppacri.org/events/detail/elf

No photos allowed there... check out the website! It was a great play, very similar to the movie-- minus Will Ferrell of course.  I was surprised at some of the language though... a little too vulgar for some of the younger kids in the audience.

Sunday morning I was determined to finally run.  I had taken 2 weeks off due to a calf muscle strain, but I am happy to report that I ran 5.25 miles in 40:15 and had no pain! (although I am a little sore today, not used to running and hip work)... after the run I did another 35 minutes on the elliptical to finish off the workout.
And yes, I was happy to run!:
(In the spirit of Elf all I could think of in my head was "I'm running! I'm at the gym on a treadmill and I'm running!!")

Then it was time for house work! Mr. JAB and I cleaned cars/ switched things from mine to his, did some yard work, and some house work-- I folded 3 loads of laundry, yikes!  He then told me that Lowe's had a Veteran's Day sale and the dishwasher we had eyed a few weeks ago was $40 off... so instead of trying to fight the crowds on Black Friday, we went to Lowe's to order this appliance:

A nice white dishwasher to match the new stove we got a few weeks ago.  Our kitchen is almost completely renovated!  We're still waiting to hear from them about installation, but it's nice to know that our final ugly old black dishwasher with some nice rust forming at the bottom will soon no longer be living in our home!  (It still does wash dishes, so I can't complain about it not functioning, but we know that if we want to move/ sell the house we need to update, so why not do it now so we can enjoy it a bit too?)

And as if yesterday wasn't busy enough, it was also a Pat's day--- thank goodness for DVR! The husband watched the first half while I cleaned floors and got dinner ready, we then watched the second half together after dinner.  What is it with the Patriot's letting it get too close as the game ends?

Usually Sunday nights are also getting ready for a week of work, but today I have no work- school is closed in honor of Veteran's Day.  So today is a day to catch up from the busy weekend-- and also be thankful for our Veterans.  My grandfathers and father in law all served and I am truly grateful for their courage, bravery, and selflessness.

Since I didn't have to wake up early today, I didn't set an alarm.  I slept in until 7:45 and woke up with a sore throat?! :(  I am trying to keep up lots of fluids, hoping this is just due to the weather/ dehydration/ allergies, etc.

The husband has to work today, but I did make him a special breakfast to send him off-- egg and cheese sandwich, along with nutella toast (his request!)  As he left for work, I went to the gym---> in my new car! (Although I felt guilty leaving all smelly and sweaty and getting into a new car smelling clean car.)

At the gym I cranked out 1:30 on the elliptical-- roughly 11. 5 miles! Something about not having a schedule, I was so relaxed and could have gone longer.  I'm not going to lie though, my legs were a little sore and was happy to not be running today.  

As for the rest of the day, it's all about errands, catching up from a few neglected chores from the weekend and trying to get ahead with a few things too.  Tomorrow is a busy day with an all day curriculum summit to attend, followed by a literacy night I helped organized... so perhaps some resting is in order today too since I foresee a lack of sleep tomorrow!

new addition to the family

We bought a car this morning!
New 2012 honda civic... More to come later, but now it's time for some time on the bike before Elf- the play- this afternoon!