How Unseasonable!

What a weekend! Friday through Sunday, Charlottesville was graced with pleasant temperatures from the upper-50s into the 60s! You know what that means--take your workout(s) outside! And that's exactly what I did!

Friday Shopping Failure

Friday was an unsuccessful shopping trip, in search of some new workout gear. While I did purchase two pairs of tights, I have recently concluded that I just bought them because I needed some and not because I'm terribly fond of them. I also needed to spend Christmas money that I was explicitly told "not to spend on bills." So long story short, I will be returning said tights and holding out until I find some that I do love, not just accept for what they are.

Saturday Scramble


Not only did Saturday start with scrambled eggs an omelet, but it included a scramble of other sorts, aka rock scrambling! Central Virginia is pretty well-known for numerous beautiful hiking spots, so a couple friends and I took our workout to the trails--and what a workout it was! We ended up busting out the 8-9 mile hike (9ish if you factor in the fairly long walk from the parking lot to the trail head) in around 4 hours! And this was no walk-in-the-park hike--it was fairly vertical at times, full of rock scrambles, and we kept on at a pretty good clip. And that included our stops for photo ops along the way.

This was much more easily staged for the
 ~5-foot Megan than for me.

Finally on the summit! And apparently Jared is #1 since he gets to be head
of the human pyramid.

When we finally did reach the top, some dark clouds rolled in which made our descent a little cold and rainy, but halfway down, the weather turned again and we were once again graced with sunny weather. Needless to say, that evening's plans of dinner and a movie turned into dinner...and passing out on the couch. Twice. A girl needs her rest, right?!

Sunday Wipeout

I think it's time to revisit my New Years resolutions...already. Solely based on the adventures I've gotten myself into the past few days, I only think it's right to add a third "Try as many new things as possible" resolution into 2012's list. Sunday I was invited to participate in an activity that I've only done once before. It required a getup like this:

You know you like it!

If you guessed riding motorcycles, you are incorrect...for now. If you guessed ATVing, you may have hit the nail on the head! And of course, any adventure involving me and my partner-in-crime (PIC) has to have a silly story attached to it. This is no exception! Unfortunately, there is no photographic evidence of actual riding, but being that I'm fairly new to the ATV scene, PIC decided to take it easy on me and not try the stuff he normally would. Well, scouting out a fairly tame route that involved a decently steep ditch, I was told to "hold on tight." Even though I generally tend to disobey directions, I did as I was told...and landed on my ass in the clay dirt. Don't get me wrong, I was still holding on tight...and PIC was still sitting on the seat, but the seat had become unattached(!!) from the ATV. It was one of those situations that happened so fast and was just too ridiculous that you couldn't help but laugh. I made a pitiful attempt at dusting myself off, but I was too riled up with laughter to really care. Needless to say, I received some badass points on Sunday. The verdict: I'm ready for Round 2--bring it!

Prep Changes

I finally got my new plan for prep--macros are a bit different, as are meal orders, but all-in-all, I think it will be manageable. I know I've expressed that I'm concerned/confused about starting so early, but after talking to Pleasants, I am a bit more at ease. He wants to take a different approach--deplete me at first, cut me down a little past where I need to be, and once I lose more body fat, we will start to incorporate more meals, more supplements, etc. He doesn't want me to start on the fat-burners just yet since I am a little under 17 weeks out, and I personally don't think I need them yet anyway. Carbs are fewer and further between, but at least Sunday is pretty much a prep-friendly carb fest! I wish I could say that I enjoy carb loads, but I just feel like a puffy panda bear when Sundays roll around. I really shouldn't complain...seeing as Wednesday through Saturday leave me running on empty (read: ZERO carbs aside from greens).

Workout plan is back to a 6-day split, thank goodness!! It took all my energy not to lift according to a 6-day split when I was supposed to be reduced to 4-days when "building." Yeah, I'm stubborn. And I've been getting in more enjoyable workouts--hello, Crossfit!--though I've been told to scale back on those... Like I said before, I don't follow directions well--so sue me!

Upcoming this Week

Let's just say I have an event which will require me to wear this:

The super awesome spender in me spent
less than $10 out-of-pocket for a $90 dress!

I have mixed feelings about the outcome of this event, but no harm, no foul. More on that later.

And...back to winter. Yesterday we saw some snow. It looked a little like this:

...but less artificial and not indoors. Those pictures were actually taken on New Year's Eve when I had to take down the snow-laden trees at work. As you can see, I was amused to be so festively adorned with fake snow!

Until next time--which will hopefully be sooner rather than later!