I'VE RELOCATED!

Hey guys! If you're looking for me, I've relocated here!----> Eat, Sweat, Sing

Same blog, new location!! FOLLOW ME! :)

Heavenly Cereal Combo

Gooooood morning and happy Saturday!! :)

Hope this week treated everyone well! It was a typical one here in the Kennington household. Wednesday through Friday I teach all day and usually have things to do after school, so I never really get the chance to blog on those days. But, I do want to share my workout from yesterday morning!

I always start out with 20 minute intervals on the treadmill! I haven't gotten bored of them yet!

Then comes the full body circuit:

Friday nights, Chad and I almost always stay in and do nothing. We're so tired from the week that we can't seem to get out of the house. We did manage to walk the 20ish yards from our house to my parents' last night after dinner to visit with them though! And speaking of dinner, I cooked a recipe that I recently pinned on Pinterest! Baked Parmesan Garlic Chicken

It was so yummy and pretty healthy! I served it wit mashed potatoes and corn on the side.

Sleep last night wasn't so good for me, because I've been battling a runny/stuffy nose and sore throat for a few days, and last night my nose decided to stop up completely, which cause me to breath through my mouth all night resulting in a very dry and sore throat this morning. :( But, it's slowly getting better.

Breakfast was a good one today!

I combined 1/2 a cup of Peanut Butter Cheerios with 1/2 a cup of Special K Chocolatey Delight and just a splash of skim milk. It. Was. Heaven. The perfect combination of peanut butter and chocolate while still being healthy! 

Then to add some protein to my breakfast, I had about 1/4 a cup of plain greek yogurt with some splenda and cinnamon. Also very tasty! :)

I'm not sure what's on the agenda for me and Chad today, but hopefully we'll come up with something fun since we stayed in last night. I do know that I'll be spending some of this morning getting some work done for my voice and opera classes.

Have a GREAT Saturday everyone! Thanks for reading! :)

Another List and Tuesday 10

Morning! :)

It's kind of dreary over here,and I just want to lay around and do nothing. =/ But, I'm not going to let this weather keep me from being productive! I've got another long to-do list for today.

 -Finish memorizing my opera music

-Work on and hopefully finish this weeks voice assignment

-Finish my lesson plan for my music classes this week

-Run some errands around town

-Go to UNA's music library to make copies of all of my voice music

-Opera rehearsal at 3:30

-Work in some cardio sometime

That last one may not happen though. I woke up this morning and could barely walk. I guess I really worked my legs at yesterdays workout. So the cardio may turn into some relaxing yoga instead :)

Breakfast this morning was new, thanks to a random purchase at Walmart last night!

These were sooo yummy! I also added a piece of light bread with a tbs of sugar-free raspberry jam and had two cups of coffee, all while catching up on some blogs and episodes of Family Guy and The Office! So now, I'm ready to tackle my day! :)

How about a little Tuesday Ten to end this post!

1. I've just realized that it's the Year of the Dragon in the Chinese New Year! The dragon is my Chinese symbol, so maybe that means good things for me in 2012?? :)

What is your Chinese symbol?

2. It's also National Peanut Butter Day! I've already celebrated once with my breakfast, but I plan on celebrating again later with my jar of natural peanut butter and a spoon. ;)

3. Chad and I are currently obsessed with this creamer

It's basically the greatest thing I've ever had. :)

4. Just yesterday, I saw a preview for a movie called "The Woman in Black." 

It has Daniel Radcliffe in it and comes out Feb. 3 (Chad's birthday!). I can't believe that I'm just now hearing about this movie?? Especially since it has my all time FAVORITE person in it! I absolutely love Daniel Radcliffe! And not just because I'm obsessed with Harry Potter, but because he's also a fabulous broadway singer/dancer! I would DIE to to see him in How To Succeed in Business Without Really Trying! I'm definitely going to be seeing this movie at some point!

Actor + Singer/Dancer + Wizard = LOVE :)

5. I'm STILL reading Catching Fire, and it is still so so good! It's just taking me a while because I don't have as much free time as I did over Christmas break. (duh)

6. I know at the beginning of this post I said it was dreary out. But, I just opened up my blinds, and it looks like I see the sun shining through! :) Happy day!

7. I'm spending way too much time blogging this morning. ;)

8. I will be enjoying another one of the best snack combos evaaaa this afternoon before opera rehearsal! :)

9. It's looking like the adorable black poodle pup is going to be coming home with us after all!!! :) We're still waiting on some things, but it's looking good for us!  So now all we need is a name!  

Anyone have any name suggestions for a little black BOY poodle?? :)

10. Chad's birthday is in 10 days!! I've already bought him one present that he wanted. It's a new manly cross necklace. He needed a new one because his old one was turning colors. ;) I've got some other surprises in store for him, but I can't reveal them on here just yet! :)

Hope everyone has a good Tuesday! Thanks for reading! :)

A Long To-Do List

Gooooooood Monday morning!!!!!!!!

Now how many of you want to slap me in the face for using so many exclamation points on a Monday morning??? haha ;)

How was the weekend?? Chad and I had a pretty good one over here. 

Saturday morning was spent relaxing for me. Chad went to the detention center to do a devotion and give lunch to the kids with another friend from out church. After lunch we went to Target just because.... I ended up with a new pair of jeans, sports bra, Clif Kid Z bars (the iced oatmeal cookie flavor!), the new LUNA bar flavor (which I actually wasn't a fan of), and a vitamin water GLOW (the BEST flavor!). Chad also left with a new pair of jeans. I swear I always leave Target with things that I don't really need. Saturday night, Chad and I had a little date at Frank's Italian restaurant where I had the BEST salad I've ever had! I swear Frank's house Italian salad is better than Olive Garden's salad.

Sunday was spent at church most of the day. We had a meeting that afternoon and then took the youth to eat Mexican. But I did manage to save some of my Target purchases for a snack before our church meeting.

Quite possibly the best snack combo evaaaaa! :)

Last night we got some bad weather and had to go down to our basement for the first time since we've moved into our house. I"m a bit of a baby when it comes to tornado warnings and sirens, and now since the April 27th tornadoes, it's even worse. Sorry Chad. But everything was fine, and we were back to bed in no time. I feel so blessed to actually have a basement to go to during bad weather and blessed that our area was safe last night because other places didn't have it so good last night.

But the bad weather didn't stop me from getting to the gym early this morning!!

I did another 20 minute interval workout on the treadmill, with a one minute sprint at the end, Then did my usual full body circuit style workout that took about 45 minutes to complete.

After my workout, I came home to Chad cooking eggs and bacon, so I asked him to make me an egg for my egg, jam, and lite english muffin sandwitch. YUM! :)

I've got an extra long to-do list today:

-Fill out registration form for a vocal competition and turn it in along with registration fee this afternoon

-Work on music for my lesson this afternoon

-Start this weeks voice assignment (it's a pretty big on)

-Work on choreography for the show choir that I teach this afternoon

-Practice and memorize Act I of the opera I'm doing for our rehearsal tomorrow

-Voice lesson at 2:00

-Teach show choir at 3:30

-Have dinner ready by 5:00 because Chad has meetings starting at 5:30

-Go to Wal-mart for essentials like toilet paper, eggs, bread, dog food, etc.

-REST???

Let's get this Monday started y'all! Thanks for reading!! :)

The "Cool" Teacher

HELLO! Happy Friday! :) Hope everyone's day has been great!

My Friday has been a good one so far, I'm just sooooo tired. Fridays are my longest days of teaching, and I'm always exhausted by the time 3:00 rolls around. But, the kids seriously make it so worth it! I had a 2nd grader come to my room after school just because she wanted to talk and hang out. I love that my kids think I'm "cool" enough to come just to hang out! :)

Before I did the school thing, I had to do the gym thing. I had some pre-workout fuel that was 1/2 a tbs of natural peanut butter. ;) Then I completed a new interval cardio sesh. on the treadmill that I really liked! But, I always add my own extra minute of a sprint at 9.0 to boost my metabolism! Then I did a usual circuit workout

Afterwards, I had my usual post workout breakfast: One egg on a whole wheat 100 cal English muffin with sugar free raspberry preserves.

Then it was school time! It was a really good day, but like I said, really looooong!

As soon as I got home a grabbed one of these babies and a diet mt dew!

These Iced Oatmeal Cookie flavored Clif Kid Z Bars are AMAZING! Seriously....

Chad's gone off to Foodland to get some stuff for fajitas tonight! I love fajitas because of all the peppers, onions, and tomatoes! :) We've also got plans to stay in tonight, watch a movie, and just relax! I love nights like this. Hopefully I can get a little more reading in too! I'm definitely loving Catching Fire so far.

No news on the pup yet, but I'll let y'all know when we hear anything! I really hope he can become our new dog-child! :)

I'm off to start dinner! Thanks for reading! :)

A Fabulous Weekend!

Hello all!! Whew, what a weekend it's been!

As you know, Chad and I spent Saturday through Monday with 30 of our youth at a retreat called Behold! It was amazing!! The kids had a blast, as did the adults! :) The worship was probably my favorite part of the entire weekend! Peder Eide brought his whole band, and they rocked my face off! I think our youth really bonded and got closer to each other as well as God! (duh, cause that's what it's all about!) During free time, we took some of the kids up the mountain, and by take, I mean we drove the van. Yes yes, I know you're thinking what weenies we are for driving instead of hiking, especially since I talked so much about trying to stay active this weekend. But I just couldn't help myself! Riding sounded so much better than hiking at the time! Anyway, at least I got to look cute for pictures instead of sweaty! ;)

I roomed with 3 other Jr. High aged girls. They were so much fun! And, because girls will be girls, after just one night, our room looked like this.

We love our clothes, make-up, hair products, lotions, and perfumes! ;)

I also did really well with my "eating healthy" plan for the weekend. I munched on Clif bars, LUNA bars, almonds, special K bars, and apples all weekend. (and there was an occasional diet mt. dew ;) ) Even though I didn't really get in any exercise on the trip, I still lost 2 lbs over the weekend! So I know my plan worked! :)

Overall, Behold 2012 was a HUGE success! I'm hoping that we can get even more of our youth to go on this retreat next year! :)

More news!!

When we got back to the church Monday afternoon, I was asked by a parent to take a picture of a puppy that was found near the church so that we could try to find the owner. I walked in the church and saw the sweet little baby and fell in love! Just look at this face! (if you can find it!)

Someone offered to take care of the dog for a few days and try to find the owner. But, if they can't find them, Chad agreed that WE could take him!!! I've never been more surprised! I really do hope that we can find the owners, because I would be devastated if I lost my pup, BUT I'm so excited that we may possibly have a new dog-child to add to our family! I've already been thinking of names! :) 

So yeah, I'm trying not to get my hopes up. ;)

After the excitement of the puppy fiasco, I was pumped up for a workout at the gym! Around 4:30 I pulled into the parking lot and almost pulled right back out. There were SO. MANY. CARS. Now I know why I love going at 5:30 in the morning! But, I sucked it up and went inside. Despite the insane amount of people there, I was still able to get in a pretty good workout.

First up was some intervals on the treadmill for 20 minutes with an added minute long sprint at 9.0. That really got my heart rate up! Then I followed with a circuit that looked like this.

Because of my late workout yesterday, I decided to skip on the cardio this morning and hopefully get it in later this afternoon.

Plans for today include:

 -Work on lessons for the week

-Practice Opera music

-Lunch date with my love<3

-First graduate level voice lesson of the semester!

-Clean house/Finish unpacking

-Grocery trip to Wal-mart (We really need a Publix or Whole Foods!)

There may be an added Target run later in the day too, and perhaps more reading of Catching Fire! :)

Well, I've had my breakfast plus 2 cups of coffee, so I'm ready to go! Thanks for reading! :)

P.S. I'm also thinking of changing some things up with my blog. Like, the name, focus, server host, and things like that. More info on this later! :)

Quickie

Good morning! Hope everyone is excited for the weekend! :)

I have to be quick with this post because we're leaving for Behold in about 30 minutes! 

No workout this morning! :)

Yesterday I said that I would share some of the ways I'm planning on staying on track this weekend.

1. Clif Bars!! Those will probably be my main source of nutrients this weekend. I'll have one for dinner tonight, lunch tomorrow, and dinner tomorrow. But don't worry, I'm going to throw in some real food too! For lunch I also have apples, and I'm sure there will be some kind of veggies that I can pair with my bars.

2. LUNA bars! These are mostly for the two breakfasts that I'll be having at the camp. I'll also throw in one of the yogurt or fruit choices that the camp offers.

3. Healthy snacks for in-between meal munchies! I have Clif Kid Z bars, Special K bars, Almonds, freeze-dried fruit, apples, and plenty of sugar-free GUM! Gym always helps curb my appetite.

4. Exercise! My iPTrainer app on my iPhone gives me the option of a "vacation workout." So, it'll give me things to do that don't require weights or gym equipment. I'll have to fit in some form of exercise this weekend!

5. Water, water, water, water! And maybe a few diet mt. dews. ;)

So that's my plan, and I hope I can stick to it! But, I know that no matter what happens, this weekend will be great because God always does amazing things at Behold! :)

I'll be back Monday or Tuesday with a recap of the weekend! Thanks for reading! :)

It's Friday Friday...

...gotta get down on Friday!!

No, I do not like that song.

But I do feel like "getting down" on Fridays! Especially this one, because:

1. We have a 2 hour delay at school because of snow!

Yeeeeaaaah... can you tell we don't get a lot of snow here?? haha

2. It's the start of a 3 day weekend thanks to MLK holiday! (4 day for me since I don't work on Mondays or Tuesdays anyway! haha)

3. This 3 day weekend is special because Chad and I are taking our youth group to a retreat called Behold that's held at Camp Sumatanga in Gallant, AL. You may remember me talking about another trip we took in September to Sumatanga called Alpha. That trip was okay, but Behold is ALWAYS awesome, and I'm SO excited to be bringing 30 youth to this retreat!

Also, it's such a good Friday because I had a fantabulous workout that I didn't have to wake up at 5 am for! Yay for more sleep!!! Here's what it looked like:

Intervals on the treadmill

Circuit Style Training

 Oh yeah!! My arms and legs are sore! :)

Hey! Remember that awesome breakfast I was telling you about yesterday?? Strawberry Cheesecake Oatmeal??!! Yes, well here' how I did it!

1 package of PLAIN instant oatmeal (100 cals)

2 tbs of Strawberry Preserves (20 cals)

1/2 tbs of weight watcher cream cheese (30 cals)

I know yesterday I said it was 170 cals, but it was really only 150! score!

Oh yeah, and it's FRIDAY THE 13TH!! Does anyone really consider this a day of bad luck? 

I really don't believe in bad luck.

Anyway....

I'm off to teach a FIVE hour workday instead of seven! YAY!

I'll be back later with some info on how I'm going to stick to my diet/healthy eating plan and exercise while on the retreat this weekend! :)

Thanks for reading!! :)

An Unexpected Rest Morning

Good morning and happy Thursday!

I'm so glad it's almost the weekend! :)

Well friends, this morning's Zumba plans kind of fell through. After hitting snooze about 12 times, I got up and sat down on the couch...... and never moved. I kind of missed my opportunity to get my sweat on before work. SO, I will just have to fit it in sometime this afternoon! :)

On a better note, I did get a good workout in yesterday morning!

After a 20 minute treadmill walking incline interval sesh (which left me more sweaty than running), my workout looked like this...

Part 1

Part 2

It was killer... but left me feeling so good for the rest of the day! And even though I didn't manage to get my cardio in this morning, I think it's okay because we all need a little rest sometimes.

Plans for today include:

-Work

-Opera rehearsal

-Cooking dinner

-Reading more of Catching Fire (It's so good!)

-And fitting in some cardio somewhere between all of that!

Well, before I go teach music to my little babies today, I'm off to enjoy a breakfast hat I've been excited about all morning! Strawberry cheesecake oatmeal! My own creation that I may share with you guys later! :) Only 170 delicious calories! mmmmmm

Have a great day! Thanks for reading!! :)

You Know You Love It

You guys know you LOVE reading about all of my life's deets! ;)

This was my brother trying to be funny on Twitter talking about my blogging obsession

He thinks he's funny, but he knows that he reads my blog!! ;)

Well, like I said in that tweet, here's the contents of my random Target basket!

I was just a little too excited about my purchase

Purple long sleeved cotton shirt... so comfy!

Catching Fire (I've already started it!)

Chocolate Chip Clif bar

Caramel Brownie LUNA bar

Iced Oatmeal Cookie Clif Kid Z bar (SO GOOD!)

Vitamin Water GLOW flavor

Rainbow Sherbet gum (my favorite by far!!)

I am officially part of the Clif and LUNA bar nation! I've seen other health bloggers talk about them, so I thought I'd give them a try.

LOVE<3

Ohhhhhh yeah! And it's a good thing I bought those healthy Clif and LUNA bars, because we still have these left over from last night...

Way too tempting....

Well y'all, I'm off to lay under my electric blanket with a cup of hot chocolate and Catching Fire! Alarm is set for 5:00 am so I get hit the gym hard before work! 

Thanks for reading!

P.S. I appreciate any and everyone who reads my blog. But, if you don't like what I blog about, then you don't have to read it! ;) That may or may not be in response to mine and my brother's twitter convo today. haha! :)

Here We Go!

Gooooood morning! Happy Tuesday, and can I get a ROLL TIDE!

 hahahahaha

Now y'all know I'm not really a huge Bama fan (or any fan at that matter), but I am pretty proud that for the last 3 years, the national championship has been won by teams from the good ol' state of Alabama! :)

Anyway... last night, Chad had some of the high school youth over to our house to watch the game.

There was pizza, chips, dip, cookies, candy, cake, cupcakes, doughnuts, and other foods that I had to steer clear of. It was a little tempting to have a slice of pizza, or grab a handful of M&Ms, but I resisted! :)

I did end up heading off to bed early so that I would have the energy to get up this morning and ZUMBA! I was definitely feeling a little sluggish at first, but that feeling went away pretty quick, and I kicked up the energy, which left me extremely sweaty and ready to take a cold shower! If you know me at all, then you know that me and cold do not get along well. So that's saying something!

Today is going to be a lot like yesterday...

I've got to finish up the chores/errands that I didn't get done yesterday, go to UNA to talk with a few professors about some of my grad classes, practice more opera, and while I'm in Florence, I'll be stopping by Target (since we don't have one in Tuscumbia) to see if I can buy some random things that I don't really need but want. ;)

My trip to Target alone is going to make today a great day! :)

I may be coming back with another post later on in the day, but until then, thanks for reading! :)

Beat Those Monday Blues!

Good Monday morning!!

Hope you don't have the Monday blues... it's hard not to though. One way I like to fight any kind of morning blues is by going to the gym! I always feel ten times better after a good sweat sesh!

Last night at our youth game night, we started out with 2 rounds of dodge-ball, followed by a few rounds of extreme paper rock scissors (which was interesting), and I ended the night by playing basketball with some of the boys. I got some really great cardio by playing basketball, plus it was a lot of fun! I love it when I can workout and have fun at the same time. :)

After game time, I was starving and couldn't wait to get home to eat! I had a huge salad planned for dinner and was ready to scarf it down! This picture doesn't really do it any justice, but it was awesome!

We ended our night with some ice cream (pumpkin for me, strawberry for him) and the newest episode of The Big Bang Theory then headed off to sleep!

Due to me staying up a little later than normal, this morning's workout came wayyyy too soon! But, once I got out of bed and got going, I was ready to hit the gym!

After a quick (but INTENSE) 10 minute warm-up on the bike, I used my new iPTrainer app to get in a good circuit session.

I couldn't fit the whole thing in one picture, so here is part one.

Part 2:

I really love this app, and it was only 99 cents! SO worth it. You tell it if you're in a gym, at home, or on vacation, and also tell it what equipment you have available, and it personalizes any kind of workout that you want! Cardio, strength training, circuits, etc. It's the best!

Well, I'm off to get some work done for today! 

I have to do some choreographing for a show choir that I'm teaching this afternoon, clean the house for a youth party we're having tonight for the National Championship, run some errands around town, meet with my adviser and register for my graduate classes for the semester, work on my opera music, and go to Wal-mart. Those are just the things I can remember right now!

Hope you're day is great!

Late Pictures

Happy Sunday Sunday Sunday!!

Remember I promised pics from my graduation? Well here they are!

Here's the same pic, only edited by me!

Me and my wonderful hubby! :)

My parents!

One of my brothers... we couldn't find the other one.

Picture quality isn't very good because we used my mom's old camera. But, at least we have some proof that this day actually happened! :)

Check out the fabulous dinner I fixed Chad and me last night!

Fajitas, "His and Hers" style! His is one the right, Hers is on the left.

I just took some chicken breast, cut it into strips and cooked them a little bit in each skillet. Then I threw in all the peppers, onions, and tomatoes! His got a generous drizzling of olive oil every once in a while. He ate his with tortillas, cheese, and lettuce, while I chose to pour my skillet onto a plate and eat it plain. It was SO good! Chad said it was better than the fajitas from Casa! (Our favorite Mexican place) What do you think? Comparable to fajitas from Casa??

Well it's a cold, rainy Sunday here in Tuscumbia. Good thing I don't have anywhere to be! I do have some things that I need to get done, but at least I can do them from the house, in my sweats, and covered up with a blanket on the couch. :) I also need to work in a little exercise since I took yesterday as my off day. The youth are playing games tonight at church and usually they play dodge ball, so I'm kind of hoping to count that as my exercise for today. Let's hope they let me in on the game! ;) If not, I guess I'll be ZUMBAing tonight! :)

That's all I have for you right now... thanks for reading! :)

The Past Three Weeks

Hello! It's been a pretty long time since my last post.... 3 weeks actually. I guess that's not too bad, but in a world of bloggers who have multiple posts every day, it's horrible! Oh well!

I hope everyone had a fantastic Christmas and New Years break! Mine was pretty amazing as well! Here's just a few pictures and recaps of what's happened since my last post!

1. I GRADUATED! :)

No pictures yet, but I will try to put one up on my next post!

 It was the best feeling to walk across that stage and FINALLY have my BS in Music Education! So now I am a "real life teacher" as my Kindergarteners say now. :)

2. Our school Christmas program (The Reindeer Rebellion) was a HUGE success!! If you remember in my last post, I talked about how there were people trying to make us take "Silent Night" out of our program. Well, we fought back and sang it anyway because we were not breaking the law in any way. As soon as the kids starting singing, the audience joined in quietly and sang with us. It was amazing and beautiful and had me crying! I was so proud of our music program!

3. It mine and Chad's first Christmas together married!

It was a little different not being at home with my parents on Christmas Eve. But, on Christmas morning, after Chad and I opened our stockings, (I got cake and cupcake decorating kits, chocolates, and an iTunes gift card! He got a sweater, new ear-buds, and some random treats) we went down to my parents' and spent the morning with my family eating breakfast, drinking coffee, and opening presents. It was so fun! After church, the rest of the day was devoted to my dad's side of the family, then Chad's dad's, and we ended with my mom's side of the family where all of the cousins had a little photo shoot.

 It was an all-around amazing Christmas! One of the best we've had together! :)

4. My mom's birthday was the 28th, and I decided to try out my new decorating equipment and bake her a cake! It was so fun! I even tried my hand at some fondant. That's what the leaves of the flower are made out of! :)

5. Chad scheduled a youth lock-in on New Year's Eve Eve. So that night was spent chaperoning, eating junk food, and not sleeping. I don't know how much chaperoning was actually happening from my end though.

6. New Year's Eve was spent at our friend Jacob's house. He lives in Baton Rouge, and we rarely get to see him, so when he comes into town we try to hang out a lot! 

So, for about a week and a half, I ate nothing but holiday junk food. And as you can imagine, my clothes were starting to feel a tad snug, and I was feeling really uncomfortable with myself. 

Because of that, I decided to purchase this...

Chad and I also joined a 24 hour gym that's pretty amazing! (Yes I know, I'm now considered a "resolutioner" because I joined a gym on January 1st!)

I'm also back to my healthy eating lifestyle. So hopefully after these two weeks of the cleanse & burn, I will be back to my normal self! I've been doing really good with the healthy eating AND I've successfully completed my first week of exercising every day! (Today being my off day) On MWF I go to the gym at 5:30 am! yikes! And on Tuesday, Thursday, and hopefully Sundays, I workout with my ZUMBA game on the Wii! It's so much fun!

Well, I feel like that's enough information about my life for one post. Next time I wont wait so before my next one! :) Happy Saturday to you all! Thanks for reading!

God bless! :)