Trainer Session, Fitness Competition, Vegan Horseradish Relish Slaw Dressing, Words To Live By

Hi Bloggie Friends, how was your Weekend?  For those of you who celebrated Easter, I hope you had a lovely holiday and I hope everyone had a chill and fulfilling weekend!  I had a great weekend!  As I mentioned, I relaxed by the pool for a few hours, I got some power walks in with the family, some solo runs and yoga, and on Sunday morning we had Easter Bunny Baskets! 

As I mentioned in This Post, we are a split household: half Catholic, half Jewish; neither practicing or observant nor followers of organized religion.  But I view the Bunny as good fun and He (or she) Brought Skylar A Basket with Some Bunny Ears, Books, and Socks in it.  Gotta love Target’s Dollar Bins!

She loved the New Surprises!

Modeling her Bunny Ears which were a little big and kept falling off but we got a few pics

And then this basket was sent to her from a relative

Complete with enough HFCS-laden Candy to choke Barney

She chose to read her new books and hasn’t had any of the candy.  She Didn’t ask and by now, it’s outta sight, outta mind.  If she would have or does ask, I will give her some. 

It was great to see her Excitement over the Easter Bunny Stash and what he brought her.   You know, the “The”One and Only Easter Bunny  haha!

And Scott and Skylar were sweet enough to Surprise Me with an Easter Lily! 

 It’s so pretty and I was truly surprised because I surely didn’t expect to receive flowers yesterday!

So today I had an awesome day because I worked out with my New Trainer that I discussed I would be doing here!  I had my first ever Training Session with a real Trainer and it was great!  I learned so much about weights, machines, exercises, and routines I can do at the gym I have a free membership at.  The yoga I teach at a local gym just came with an unexpected benefit as I never previously “used” the gym for anything other than other teachers’ yoga classes, but that’s going to change!   

Although I only did one set of of everything today, my trainer had designed 3 days worth of workouts for me: Full Body, Upper Body, and Legs, and we went through my whole Cheat Sheet about what I should do, how to do it, how much to lift, body mechanics and form, pretty much a crash course in weightlifting.   

I’ve decided to attempt to train for Fitness Competitions!   I’ll see how I look in a few weeks or months and see if this is something that’s do-able for me or not.  I could get up on Stage today and not be laughed off, but I really want to hold my own and give it my best effort!  I felt energized and pumped up after the trainer session, and had a decent workout in the process but came home and did 20 minutes of yoga stretching and went for a couple miles of cardio. 

I’m not playing around and am using the approach for my Training like I do Everything Else in My Life:

Go All Out, Give it 110% Every Day, Every Time, Do Not Quit, Do Not Take No for an Answer, Do Not Stop when the Going Gets Tough, Perseverance, Dedication, Discipline, Sacrifice, Heart And Soul Are All In.  Go Big or Go Home.  Pretty much a total ballbuster approach.  I don’t know how to do anything in life halfway.  Do you? And after I have done that, given it my all, if it doesn’t work out, I can stop knowing that I tried my absolute best.  This is how I am with everything and this is where my yoga guides me:  Finding the perfect balance between strength and surrender. 

I wish I could afford to go on a regular basis, but I will continue to see him every few weeks as I work towards my Fitness Competition and Bikini Shows and am going to the gym on my own tomorrow morning to lift.  I can’t believe I just said that.  And then I am going to the Trainer’s Gym on Thursday so he can watch me and make sure I am doing things right.

Moving along because I know some of you only read my blog for recipes, but I wanted to share that piece of news with you all!

I’m glad you Enjoyed the Highlights of the Week Post yesterday
Everything from Cabbage Wraps and Sauces 

To Stevia Recipes
Homemade Vegan Gluten & Soy Free Granola

To my Recipe for Vegan Parmesean Cheeze over the Raw Zucchini Pasta and Raw Marinara

To Nude Yoga & Nudist Colonies 

And I really enjoyed the Comments You Left about Unsolicited Help and Advice.  I try to handle most of it gracefully and just accept that people mean well, but sometimes it really frustrates me.  As I mentioned in my What Blogging Entails section of the post, it is a heck of a lot of work to turn out daily posts, with engaging content, and to be a good and supportive blogger in the community commenting on dozens and dozens of blogs daily, while managing and having a real life.

There’s real life and then blogging life, and real life must come first, but as a blogger I give of myself freely to my blog and to this community, so that’s why unsolicited criticism, however well-intended, is not necessarily well-received.  I appreciated the feedback and your support, and glad I’m not alone in how I react to unsolicited advice; thanks for telling me your thoughts everyone!  

But most of all, thank you to everyone who told me you appreciate my blog and that it’s clear to you that I do work hard on it, and I just want to say as I have said before in my Why I Blog Post, but it’s for the friends, community, interaction and relationships with others that I do this.  If I wanted just a recipe, I’d go to Allrecipes.com or the Food Network site.  I want more which is where the blogosphere is a wonderful medium, but I also realize I can’t please everyone and that’s life. Since it’s my blog and I will keep posting, blogging, living life and writing about it all just the way I want to and thanks to everyone who continues to read and be a friend and supporter!

Today after I got back from the trainer session and put out 14 fires burning on the homefront and it’s quite amazing how many things can be brewing by 11am on a Monday, but
I Unwrapped A Wild Pomegranate Pecan Bora Bora Bar to snack on

I had a few bites and gave the rest to Skylar because this bar was too sticky for me!  I hate having sticky hands and every time I broke a bit off, my fingers got so sticky that I had to rinse them off.   But toddlers don’t care as much about having sticky fingers, and she loved it.  I know when she loves something because she asks, “Mommy, WHO sent you this bar to you?”  If she doesn’t like something she asks, Mommy, did YOU make this?  As in, please Mommy, tell me it wasn’t you who made this crap.

I give Bora Bora their props because you can really see the Pecans, Peanuts, and Pomegranate pieces

Green Food was Romaine, Cukes, Asparagus, Sugar Snap Peas

With a New and Kicked Up Dressing: Vegan Slaw Horseradish Relish Dressing

Vegan Slaw Horseradish Relish Dressing I use the following but feel free to change the ratios:

2-3 Tbsp Vegan Slaw Dressing
1 Heaping Tbsp Sweet Relish
1 Tsp Horseradish
Optional: 1 Tbsp prepared Mustard or 1 Tsp dry mustard spice powder

Stir to Combine and Dip Your Veggies in It or use as a Salad Dressing!

I love the spicy bite of the horseradish and the crunchy and sweet pickle relish with my raw Veggies

I’ve been dipping Sugar Snap Peas, Brock, and Cauliflower from my Shopping Trip into the Vegan Slaw Horseradish Relish Dressing and have been clearing my sinuses with every delicious bite.

Move Over Mustard…

There’s a New Horseradish Sheriff in town and my Seasonal Allergies are Thanking me for the Horseradish Action!

After all the horseradish it was time to cool the fire down with some Peppermint Chia Seed Pudding

I haven’t made my “Holiday” Peppermint Chia Seed Pudding since the Holidays and it was great now that the weather is getting warmer, because the coolness of the peppermint hit the spot!

And of course some Raw Vegan Coconut Oil Chocolate

Yoga Today is revisiting the Hanumanasana Challenge.  Well, I wouldn’t really call it a challenge, but more of a set of tips for getting into the splits.

A month ago I posted a Hanumanasana Challenge.  See This Post.
And the month before that, I also posted the Challenge.  See This Post.

The Splits (or Hanumanasana, which means Monkey Pose)

Hanumanasana (Monkey Pose, or the full splits)

And Utthita Hasta Padangustasana, (The Standing Splits)

I know that some of you told me you were going to try to work on your splits just a little bit every day.  How’s that been going for you? 

Tip of the Day:

Questions
1. How was your (Easter) Sunday and your Weekend?  What did you Do?  Family Festivities or Not?  Drama or Not? What’s the best thing you ate or did all weekend?
For me it was just being outside, enjoying the fresh air, savoring the change of season and the warmth and sunshine which makes me super happy and it just feels so good to be alive this time of year!

2. Do you like Horseradish? Any condiments or foods you’ve forgotten about and can’t believe how much you love it and that you ever forgot about it when you try it again?
Horseradish was a “forgotten about” condiment for the past couple years but I have a newfound love of it!  I also forgot about mustard for a couple years and have brought that back.  And for about 10 years I didn’t eat watermelon.  But last summer, I ate so much watermelon and love it so and can’t wait for it to become more seasonal!

3. Do You Have Any Life Motto’s or Words You Live By?  What Inspires You?  What Keeps You Going, Focused, On-Task, Committed to Your Goals?  Is drive and determination genetic or can it be manipulated and coaxed?
I mentioned in the body of the post that I am the type of person to go all out and I cannot do something halfway, part of the way, or in a half-assed way, is just not in me.  It’s not in my makeup. 

I do believe that this is inherent, hardwired in me, that it’s in my genes.  I don’t think you can “make” someone have drive and tenacity, they have it or they don’t.  You can give them opportunity, help paint the picture of what their life would look like or how it would be improved if they would follow through on a particular goal, but ultimately, you can lead a horse to water, but can’t make them drink.  I believe an individual must find their own passion and purpose deep from within.  However, after years of undergraduate and graduate work in Psychology and Biology, I still don’t have that nature vs. nurture thing all figured out. 
What do you Think? What words Do You Live By?  Are you a Go-Getter or More of a Mellow Whatever Happens, Happens Person?  Why or How do You Believe You Came to Be This Way?

Stay Tuned For Blogger Meetup Details and Pics…