Still anxiously waiting.

There's not much news concerning the job market. I've interviewed some more, passed my resume more, and I have another call to make tomorrow. I'm not freaking out yet. (today)

I have been very down some days because this isn't normal for me to not get up and go to a job. I am enjoying it with a slight hesitancy. I'm spending more time with the kids and that's been fun. I'm taking KK and Hannah to see Kung Fu Panda tomorrow. I'm just as excited as they are! There are so many movies I want to see this summer. 

I'm leaving in a week to go to Texas to see Brad. Myself and the other Seraph wives and one girlfriend are all riding together and staying for a few days. We are all so excited!

I'm staying up later these days, getting caught up at night on Scrubs, Jon & Kate Plus 8, and Good Eats. I can't sleep in though. I did the first few days, then I couldn't do it anymore. I am however trying to keep my eating and exercise in check. I haven't had sugary desserts in 1.5 weeks. This is really hard. So, no cereals (w/ added sugar), muffins, biscottis, cake, etc... To satisfy my sweet tooth I'm having sugar free Jell-O and various fruits, some with honey on top. I'm trying to back off of unhealthy dairies as well right now. Brad is doing this with me and knowing he is making the sacrifice as well, it helps me to say no even when no one is looking. 

I swam laps yesterday and I am sorta feeling it. I loved it, I am hoping to do it more. It was such a nice change from the normal bike or elliptical at the gym. 

That's all for now. 

Peanut-Butter-Jelly-and-a-Basball-Bat!!!

I really like peanut butter. I find myself craving it like I would normally crave chocolate. I still get those urges for chocolate, but I also get it for the PB. I don't really like JIF or Peter Pan, I like Smucker's Natural Peanut Butter. I love the minute grainy texture of natural pb as opposed to the thick, waxy texture of processed. I think the flavor is better too in the natural state. Look at the ingredients: peanuts, salt. Simple, enough.
I put pb in my oatmeal. I put it on toast and top with a slice banana. I'll dip apple slices in it. I'll make a graham cracker sandwich with it (haven't done that in a while...). I'm also an advocate for the famous pb & j. I love some good multi grain bread, toasted, then paired with pb and blackberry preserves. I have been using the sugar free Smucker's version of preserves and they're not bad.
All of those are tasty ways to get this healthy fat in the system. It's really difficult to stay within the service size of 2 tablespoons. I do it, though.

About my Saturday, and well Sunday, too.

I'm pretty tired now, so I'll try to keep it short. It's already past my bedtime.

Saturday I slept in just a bit, then headed over to Fairhope to hang out with Whitney and Craig. We had a great time, of course. We ate at a restaurant called Panini Pete's (i think is the name) and Oh mah gah. It was good! I had a mozzarella, basil and tomato panini. I loved it.

We looked at some boutiques, I got a rockin pair of white shades, and strolled through a few art stores. That was really interesting, given Craig is a great artist. He painted an incredible piece for Brad and I, I'll post a pic later.

After we said our goodbyes, I met with Brad and hung out at Felix's for a while. He was working a table for the Crawfish Bowl, featuring some bluegrass and folk musicians. The proceeds of the event went to the LARSH foundation in Mobile.

Once he was done we set out to our favorite restaurant, Big Time Diner. It was great, as always. We saw a late movie, Prince Caspian.

um, it was meh. See, The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe film followed the book very well. I was pleased. This however, did not. I knew it would happen this way because there's a lot of dialogue in the book and the action, though good, is not very frequent. So, there's some added fight scenes, and a love connection which I did not approve of since it wasn't originally in the book. I mean, I'll watch it again, but I wasn't overwhelmed with joy once the credits rolled (like Ironman).

Today we went to the 11 o'clock service at church, did some grocery shopping, then I made lunch. Seraph played at a local church and I stayed at home and did laundry, cleaned bathrooms, cleaned floors, watched Raiders of the Lost Ark and read a few chapters of Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince. The HP is a re-read. I'm preparing for the film.

Robin, the kitty-son, got hurt today. Brad thinks he got hit. His back leg is real swollen, but it's not broken and his skin is fine. He's shut up in our bathroom with the necessities. I found some pain medicine I bought for Batman when he was neutered. I broke it in half, minced it and put inside some leftover shrimp. Hopefully he'll be okay. That darn cat has been injured more times than our other pets combined, and he's the youngest.

Well folks, time for bed.

Fresh Prince says It's Summuh Summuh Time!!!

The bunny and I are very excited that it's summer time. If you don't understand its caption, bunny is saying, "I has a lettuce". Since its mouth is full, bunny can't speak clearly. It's adorable, isn't it?
I love summer weather, summer vacations, summer fashions and most of all summer produce.
It's the time of year to browse the local farmer's markets for local fruits and vegetables. My favorites right now are crispy salads with loads of goodies.

Please don't make a salad with just one type of lettuce, but mix up the colors. The darker the color, the richer the vitamins. I love to mix green leaf lettuce, red lettuce and baby greens. It's also tasty to add a few raisins, slivered almonds, cucumber, black olive and grape tomatoes. I've recently discovered a delicious vinagrette recipe. It's orange balsamic, it includes: orange zest, orange juice, balsamic vinegar, extra virgin olive oil, dried basil, salt and pepper. It is delicious! It's a little strong, so it doesn't take much, which is good.
I went fishing with Brooke, Dad and the kids the other weekend. Tommy, Mikayla and Mr. Curtis (the owner of the pond) caught bass and brim. Dad cooked them for us and man, was it good. My favorite way to eat any type of fish is to marinate it with a citrus of any type (lemon, lime or orange) fresh herbs and some montreal seasoning. They need to be grilled. It's the best.

My favorite fish right now are Red Snapper and Salmon. However I do like many others. I'm currently discovering that I do, in fact, like fish and am trying different types. For the longest time I had convinced myself that I don't like it. I am still picky with it, but I try to consume fish at least 2 times a week. In the summer it's so much more fun because Brad and I like to grill at this time of year the most.
As far as vegetables go, I'll eat just about any of them. I love to stick them on skewers for the grill, steam them or sautee. I made a great concoction the other night: cabbage, squash, zucchini and onion. I chopped those up, put them in my wok with a little olive oil, salt, pepper and paprika; so tasty!
Now when someone talks about their favorite summer foods, I immediately think of fruit. I also like just about any type of fruit.

Bananas, apple and strawberries are always on stock at the Hill house. However I also like to buy mango, peaches and pineapples. Strangely enough, I LOVE the taste of an orange, but I find them too messy to eat. I mainly use them in recipes instead of simply sitting down with a knife and an orange.
It's good that summer produce is so good, therefore I find myself wanting more fresh vegetables, lean meats and fruit and wanting less of oats, pastas and breads. Conveniently, most people want to be leaner in the hotter time of the year.

New Workout Program

I’m putting together my grocery list, here’s what I have so far:
Sugar for tea
Oatmeal
Peanut butter
Bananas
Pita
Brown rice
Can tomato sauce
Can stewed tomatoes
Apples
Salad stuff
Broccoli

Here’s my new workout plan. I have to do each exercise 4 times before moving to a new program. So, basically I have to do Workout A 4 times, and Workout B 4 times, alternating them on my weight lifting days then I get to move to something else. I do 15 minutes of cardio intervals after each lifting session, then on my non lift days I do a full session (35-45 mins) of cardio. Lately I’ve been favoring the bike or cybex trainer. It’s like an elliptical. Here are the workouts:

Workout A

Front squat to a push press
This is basically the movement you see alot of Olympic lifters doing. I'm a little scared.

Step up
Yay. I can’t tell you how much I hate these. But I do them anyway. Dot would be proud.

Dumbbell one-point row
I couldn’t find the correct illustration for this, but basically you are balancing on one foot, making a T with your body. Stomach and one leg is parallel with the ground. You pull the dumbbells to your waist in a row motion. This will be interesting to see people’s response.

Static lunge, rear foot elevated
Um, I hate lunges too.

Push ups
I actually like push ups.

Plank
I love these!

Cable horizontal wood chops
I really like that I can do an exercise called a wood chop! Basically this is where you stand next to the big cable machine thing and in motion pull the cable away, twisting your body. These will be fun.

Workout B

Wide grip deadlift

Bulgarian Split Squat
What makes this a Bulgarian? Well, it's just a nice term for the worst lunge you'll ever do.

Underhand grip lat pulldown
I love exercises for my back!

Reverse lunge from box w/ forward reach
Yes! More lunges… ((groans))

Dumbbell prone Cuban snatch
Um, yeah, I don’t really know what this is either. There’s a picture in my book somewhere..

Swiss ball crunch
Reverse crunch
Lateral flexion

And that’s it!
So you may be wondering… What are Paige’s goals? Great! I’ll tell you. It’s basically what a lot of people are on the constant search for:
Stronger muscles
Leaner body
Less fat
Stronger bones
….well basically I just wanna get ripped…in a feminine sort of way.

This will be interesting.