Sunday Happenings And a QUICK money saving tip

Hope you're all having a great day thus far. My sunday is rounding out to be quite productive. However, I must confess that yesterday there was whole lot of "leisure" time spent at my apartment just lounging around. I managed to do some cleaning/organizing and did pay some bills but a lot of time was also spent watching pretty useless TV (aside from a couple of somewhat interesting lifetime movies ha!). I downgraded my cable to save money so I am missing a couple of channels that I really loved :(. I am considering bringing back those channels or just finding a way to get them and still make my cable bill cheap enough. I made a quick stop at my aunts house but then came back home and relaxed some more.

Today, however, is going pretty well. Woke up with running on my mind and so off I went for a nice 3.47 miler around my neighborhood. I must admit it was windy and somewhat cold but it was quite a gorgeous day thanks to the sun.

  
There was also a TON of geese just "chilling". Wish I would have taken a photo. It was quite the view. Anyways, here is the run down of my run/walk (I had to stop and walk at certain times because of the wind):

 My first mile was ran in less than 10 minutes which surprised me because last time I checked my average time was around 10-ish so, I am excited that I am getting better (either that or the wind shall be credited for pushing my assets me forward). Post run I immediately took a shower, changed and made a pretty satisfying breakfast:

 

On the plate: 2 eggs (1 with yolk, one without), scrambled with white onions and spinach. I added a little bit of organic ketchup to the eggs, post pic. On the side-- one whole wheat English muffin, toasted w/ a little bit of butter. Plus my cafe and milk on the side (no sugar) on one of my absolute fave cafe cups!

I decided to get ready before breakfast because that way I knew I would need to get out of the house as soon as I was finished. Sometimes I just lounge around in my pajamas and ultimately decide to stay in. That wasnt happening today! (interesting how much we can learn from carefully observing our behavioral patters).

Before leaving the house I noticed my gazillion bananas sitting on top of my fridge (which I had purchased for about $1.29 at the supermarket about a week ago). They were getting extremely ripe (borderline going bad) so I had to rescue them!!!! I mashed up the ones that were the most "mushy" and put them in containers (I see delicious banana bread and muffins in my future). The rest I split them up in to pieces to make smoothies-- put it all in the freezer and you're good to go!:

So here's a money saving tip (you may or may not know this, but here it goes): Next time you're in the supermarket around the vegetable/fruits area, see if the have a section where they place things that are about to expire or "go bad" according to their standards. (I am pretty sure there is an official name for this which I cant remember from the top of my head). You can find all kinds of fruits and veggies but I usually just grab bananas from there. I get a TON for about 99 cents or $1.29. Is pretty crazy. I make smoothies and banana bread from that. Some of the bananas often times arent even ripe yet so I can eat them right away.

By the way--- Aside from my love for health and fitness I am also a HUGE fan of personal finance. My undergrad degree in finance, my MBA pursuit and my dad may or may not have something to do with that ;). I am thinking of starting a series on the blog where I'll share tips on personal finance, and anything else on the matter than may seem interesting. We'll see if I can gather enough material. Let me know if you have any questions or anything you'd like to see on the series regarding money matters.

Anyways, now I am visiting my parents and sis and taking advantage of their washing machine. Sometimes is awesome having family so close :)


Question: Do you have any supermarket "money saving tips" you can share? What do YOU do with ripe bananas?

The Cold Is No Excuse

Hello everyone! Hope you're all having a blessed and peaceful Sunday thus far. I don't know what it is about Sunday mornings---I just love the feeling of tranquility that it can bring. Not sure if I'm alone on that :)

On a different note, I have to confess last night I ate like CRAZY. I am not sure if that time of the month is approaching or whether I am just anxious about life in general or bored, or just plain crazy but my evening pretty much went like this: food + television and I ate so much that at some point I just passed out. I dont want to continue talking about that because whats done is done and all I can do is dust myself off, get up and MOVE ON from that! I love the feeling of being healthy and treating my body well/working out. I wont allow some episodes of overeating to take away the feeling of treating myself well that I know and love so much. I actually wrote out a list of my two choices: continue having a mindless feast or going back to what I know is right and what I know feels amazing. I choose the latter. So, moving on!

This morning I literally got up, dusted off and went for a run. I think this is the coldest I have ever ran outside and I wasn't sure what to expect. I put on some layers and a sweater that has a hoodie and off I went! At first the wind scared me a bit and my hands were cold but after pushing through and with the help of music on my Ipod I ran 3 miles straight and walked an extra mile or so for cool down. This FELT AMAZING. This was my fastest run ever according to my Nike App:

Lessons for today:
1. Dont let the cold ever steer you away from exercise. Layer, Layer, Layer!
2. Invest in some workout clothes for the winter
3. I may actually run faster when is cold out (my miles were UNDER 10 minutes. How cool is that?!)

Thanks for reading! Off I go to make breakfast, clean a bit and do some school work. I also have to do some food prep and wait for my mom whom is visiting me later :).

Question: What is the best tip you can provide about running in the cold?