Q: How much (on average) do you usually spend a week on groceries?
A: In a typical week, I try to stay anywhere between $50.00 – $75.00. The weeks where it’s on the higher end are usually weeks where I need to stock up on chicken, lunch meat and/or soda for hubby, or paper products. The bulk of my shopping trips are usually spent on produce, yogurt, milks, cereals, and breads.
Q: What’s your all-time favorite dessert?
A: Oh gosh…isn’t this sort of like asking a mom who her favorite child is? (It’s ok mom, it’s our little secret…). But if I really HAD to just pick one, it would have to be ice cream. Just don’t make me choose my favorite kind of Ice cream…not happenin’!
Q: I would love to start working out in the a.m. I just can’t seem to get up and go! How do you motivate yourself to workout in the morning?
A: I love early morning workouts for so many reasons.
- It gets me up at my favorite time of day.
- It leaves me with a huge sense of accomplishment for the rest of the day.
- It allows me to have the remainder of my day to do whatever I want (i.e., spend time with my favorite boys!)
One thing that I’ve found that helps a ton in getting me up early is having a class or workout buddy that I’ve already committed to. That way, I know I have a set time that I have to be ready for, and I’m not letting anyone down.
You can also see some of my favorite fitness tips here.
Q: What groceries do you buy when you go to Trader Joe’s?
A; Ahhhh, Trader Joe’s. How I wish you were not a 2+ hour drive to get to. I’ve definitely become a fan of a few TJ’s goodies, including cat cookies, almond butter with flax seeds, and chocolate covered peanut butter pretzels. But to see a full rundown on my TJ’s purchases, you can see my stashes here and here.
Q: Tell us all more about your life in college! What did you major in? Where did you go? How was finding a job?
A: Oh, how I miss the simplicity of my college days! I began my undergraduate studies at The College of Saint Rose in August of 2002, right after graduating high school. Thanks to some AP classes I took in high school, along with some summer classes, I was able to graduate a semester early in December 2005. Immediately upon graduating, I found myself in a temporary teaching position, which had me working until then end of that school year.
After graduating with my B.S. in Childhood Education, I immediately began working towards my Master’s degree, and graduated in August 2007 with an M.S. in Literacy.
Finding a job was difficult, and I did a lot of substitute teaching before actually landing a permanent position. Well, almost permanent…
Q: What has been the hardest part about transitioning from being employed to unemployed?
A: I’ll be honest…the whole lack of a paycheck thing is definitely tough to get used to. But besides that, I’d have to say that finding a routine is my biggest challenge. Luckily, I’ve found a few things (i.e., early BodyPump classes) to get me up and moving.
I also talked about my struggles a bit more in this post that I wrote on PBFingers a couple weeks ago.
Q: What weight amounts do you use at BodyPump?
A: Alright, I’m no big muscle machine, but I do what I can! Here are my typical weight selections that I’m currently using for BodyPump.
FYI: Our weights are in kg, so I had to try to convert them to lbs, so they may be a little off. All weight amounts include 3 lbs for the bar.)
- Warm Up: 20 lbs
- Squats: 42 lbs
- Chest: 20 lbs.
- Back: 29.9 lbs
- Triceps: 20 lbs. (or 5lb dumbbells, depending on the track we’re doing)
- Biceps: 20 lbs. (I just recently upped this from 14 lbs…I’ve been feelin’ the burrrrn)
- Lunges: 29.9 lbs or 20 lbs, depending on if the track includes squats
- Shoulders: 14 lbs. + 5 lb dumbbells (<—these are my weakest)
- Abs: None, or a 5lb dumbbell when necessary
Q: Does your hubby not eat your healthy versions of meals?
A: Most of the time, Jay will at least try to eat the “healthy” meals that I make. If there’s something that I really don’t think he’d be interested in (i.e., crab cakes, qunioa), I make sure that there’s something else here for him to have. While I can get away with having a dinner of roasted veggies and sweet potatoes, he will almost always need some sort of meat with his, so I’ll just add that to his plate. Luckily, he’s not too hard to please.