Workin' at the Car Wash

Hey everyone, how's your day going?  I've had a pretty relaxed first day of summer break.  I got up and ate breakfast while watching Live! with Kelly (breaking my rule that I can only watch it at the gym).  But that's okay, because then I did an at-home workout.  I started with a jump rope routine that I originally posted about here.

New jump rope, old school boombox.  I got that boombox in 4th grade, I think, and passed it on to my dad for his work bench in the basement (hence all the dirt/ dust).  But today I took a trip down memory lane and used it to blast some tunes while I did the jump rope workout.  Should have rustled up a Hanson CD to make it more authentic.

Then I did this 10 minute arms workout video:

I used 4 lb weights which I thought might be too light at first, but some of the moves - especially the one-minute isometric hold - were pretty tough.  Phew, I was shaking.  Then I went on a short jog, followed by stretching and foam rolling.  I did the whole workout in 4 different places, and I think switching up the location so much helped it to fly by.  Except for the jump roping parts... those were killer.

I continued my workout (kind of) by washing my car after that.

So stylish, right?  Ha.  I was actually hoping it would start raining while I was washing the car because then I wouldn't have to dry it... that's my least favorite part.  No such luck, but at least my car looks better for it.

Lunch today:

A salad and a taster plate of carrots, hummus, snap peas, and 1/2 an apple.

The salad had spinach, grape tomatoes, yellow bell pepper, sliced almonds, and homemade Italian dressing. Tasty!

This afternoon I baked a loaf of beer bread to take to my grandparents' house for dinner tonight.  It has just a few ingredients (all-purpose flour, white whole wheat flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, a bottle of beer - I used pumpkin ale, and butter) and it's really easy and quick because you don't have to let it rise.  Plus it's delicious.

Off to dinner with the fam.  Have a good night!

Forget-me-nots at my parents' house.  I transplanted one clump into this area  in high school and they've really spread!  Love them.

Song of the day:

"Psycho" by Imelda May.

Bun in the Oven

Not THAT kind of bun - this kind of bun:

One of my contributions to our family Easter dinner was a loaf of homemade sourdough bread.  I followed this recipe by the lovely and hilairous Mama Pea.  I used my own sourdough starter that I've had for awhile now, though, which I made by following a recipe from Martha Stewart's Breads cookbook.

I let my sourdough starter sit out for about 2 hours, then added all of the ingredients to a mixing bowl:

I stirred together 1 teaspoon active dry yeast, 1/2 cup unsweetened almond milk (heated to about 95*F), 1 1/2 tablespoons honey, 1 1/3 cup white whole wheat flour, 1/2 cup all-purpose flour, 1 teaspoon salt, 1 tablespoon olive oil, and 3/4 cup room temperature sourdough starter.

After the ingredients were all combined, I turned the dough out onto a well-floured surface and kneaded everything together.  I had to add quite a bit of white whole wheat flour, probably about 1/2 cup, and continuously added flour to the counter so that the dough wouldn't stick.

I kneaded the dough for about 10 minutes until it was smooth and springy.

I lightly coated a clean mixing bowl with olive oil and placed the dough inside, turning the dough around so that it was completely coated.

Then I covered the dough with a towel and let it rise overnight, for about 12 hours.

Ta-da!  

I punched the dough down and let it sit for 15 minutes.

Then I placed the dough on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper, which I sprayed with cooking spray, and shaped the dough into a loaf, lightly scoring the top a few times.  I baked it at 375*F for 27 minutes.

It smelled ahhhh-mazing.

And tasted delicious!  My family agreed.  I think it actually tasted more like honey whole wheat bread (which makes sense since it contains both honey and whole wheat, imagine that) but not so much like sourdough.  Still very tasty, though!

I wish I could take credit for this little guy, but my mom got him from Great Harvest.  I wanted to have a back-up loaf of bread in case mine didn't turn out, so I suggested my mom pick up a honey bunny from Great Harvest after seeing them on Kath's blog a lot!

We had a special helper in the kitchen with us:

That's Bella.

Just one of the girls.

Well the weekend went too quickly and it's back to the grind.  I got in some cardio at the gym this morning (elliptical and rowing machine - still loving it) and had to stop by the post office to mail my taxes.  Fun stuff!

Most exciting thing of the day:  Hart of Dixie is finally new again!!  Ahhh so excited, I really love that show.  I will be foam rolling my way through it tonight.  I think 2 Broke Girls is new, too - perfection.  

Hope you had a great weekend (filled with chocolate like mine, haha) and that the week is off to a good start for you.

Song of the day:

Okay, this isn't so much a song of the day as it is a video clip of the day (but I do like the song, too).  For your viewing pleasure, here is James Franco in all of his corn-rowed glory, singing along to "Love You Like a Love Song" by Selena Gomez & The Scene.  Yes.  Yes, please.