Coffee Week

Hello everyone 🙂

This week at work as I was absolutely swamped. I was sipping my coffee and came up with the idea to do a coffee week on my blog! I absolutely LOVE coffee. It is the best part of my morning. Work days I struggle through patient rounds at 6am, but I know at 7am the coffee shop opens. It’s the highlight of the work day. I walk up and my cup is just handed to me (yes we have that kind of relationship). When I finish my cup I feel a little twinge of sadness, but there is always tomorrow 🙂

On weekends I love coffee even more. I brew a large pot at home, as I catch up on computer related things. Again, the highlight of my day. It’s crazy to think that I didn’t start drinking it until I was about 20 years old. Once I had a taste of the good stuff, there was no turning back!

So this week I am going to include a bunch of coffee options you can make at home. I do LOVE going to Starbucks, but going frequently takes a big chunk of my paycheck away. These are also going to be healthier options, rather than the calorie loaded drinks you find in the store. Do yourself a favor, save some pennies and your waistline 🙂

My first coffee recipe is a CREAMER recipe. You guys know I am a creamer addict. I can’t help it. I cut it out for most of prep, and the second I got off the stage I thought oh my goodness I get coffee creamer tomorrow! I love it. I could probably take a shot of it straight out of the bottle… no joke.

I use the full fat creamers, not the sugar free or fat free. They taste like poo, and since I only use a little, I might as well use the good stuff. But that “good stuff” is loaded with the “bad stuff” because it’s a chemical storm. Look at the ingredients…

YIKES!

I took matters into my own hands and made a delightful Vanilla Bean Coffee Creamer for my mornings 🙂

Recipe after the jump!

Moving on from coffee… Yesterday I started my day with some fasted cardio. For those of you who do not know what fasted cardio is, it’s cardio completed when you first wake up, without having breakfast first. The idea is this helps to burn fat, rather than the meal you just had.

I was feeling adventurous and decided to do my fasted cardio in the form of a quick run outside. I quickly remember why I am an indoor girl. Here in Maryland heat is not just heat. It’s MUGGY, HUMID, AND GROSS! Every bug in the world was out because of this weather, and after my first 5 minutes I thought, okay the exercise I can do, this weather, NOPE!

I pushed through it and completed my 20 minutes with a 5 minute cool down. I probably won’t do that again though, I will stick to my air conditioning folks! Sorry, I’m just not one of those people who enjoys long runs outside or being one with nature. I much prefer fans, fancy TV’s, and electricity. Everyone is different though 🙂

Do you see how red my face is in comparison to the rest of me? Yeah I was done! Competition abs are gone, but still manageable for not being on a super strict diet. 

Later on in the evening I went to my gym for round 2. I hit some leg work. Let me say my hamstrings are STILL sore a week later. What the heck did I do to those things!? I don’t know but I do know I’m happy that I got myself together yesterday. Wait… what am I talking about?

Well….

The past week or so I lost myself again. I don’t know what was going on. I started to have these feelings of defeat, I felt lost, and my motivation was at an all time low. I still cannot fully explain it. I guess everyone has “funks” so to speak. It might have had something to do with work. This past week was pretty terrible, I barely had time to breathe we have so many patients on our list. I was exhausted and would just pass out on the couch, even without a workout. So when I got up yesterday morning I thought okay this is unacceptable. Whatever is going on in there brain, it needs to stop. Hence the run and the fasted cardio. They say running clears the mind, so I needed some clearing. I think it was the jumpstart I was looking for.

If you find yourself in my situation, guess what? YOU have control to change it. Don’t let little bumps in the road stop you from your goals. Take a flying leap over that bump and never look back.

I’d like to end today by wishing my best friend, Mary a HAPPY BIRTHDAY! I hope you have a great day “boo boo” and I’m so glad you came into my life. I love you! 🙂

XOXO With a Cherry On Top,

-Minnie