A girl of many bags

The morning light makes taking pictures with my iPhone so much more successful. I barely set foot into the house when I sat down on the floor and unloaded my gym bag.

I have the lululemon Retro Groove bag. I yearned for this bag when I first saw it in the Asheville showroom. It was on sale at South Coast Plaza for $79(?) so I nabbed it.

What's inside?

• Sigg water bottle I've had for a few years. It's probably time to update. I bought the same one in gold, but they dent so easily! I went back to this one. I just bought a new cap because it gets gross.
• Grippy socks for barre, which I bought at Studio Fusion
  
• An iPhone armband that was on sale at Fry's Electronics for runs
• Lifting gloves from Big 5 to keep my hands callus-free
• The Gymboss timer has been the most useful fitness gadget and it doesn't cost very much ($20)
• A piece of paper with my workout if I'm not going to a class. Today's workout: the Spartacus workout, which I've done once a week for 3 weeks now. Killer.
  
• My sneakers, which are never in my bag, but I took them off so I thought I'd include them. They're Nike Motion Fit in awesome colors (magenta and orange) and have the Nike Free technology.
• lucy socks that are cushioned on the bottom and ventilated on top made with CoolMax material for my sweaty self/feet
  
• A ton of hair ties in case I ever forget or one of them falls apart and some bobby pins

• ...and my emerald green lock, which I put in the back of the bag

While I'm at it, here's a less exciting bag: my Billabong backpack from TJ Maxx. I carry this one around with me when I'm traveling. It's the best bag for my laptop, a book I'm reading, my notebooks (I write a lot!), and pens.

Do you carry more or less in your gym bag?

Cooler, packed for a long day

When the preschoolers gave me their work last year, I tossed it. It wasn't very special, and I just didn't care. Geez, I have no heart right? Well, one of my high school kids students meticulously worked on this painting. Yes, it's a painting he did of his friend, and I'm posting it because it's hilarious. Note the chicken legs and mandals.

It was that kind of day. Then I went to my other job, anticipating 5 new pieces of clothes. Alas, I will have to wait a couple more days for the go ahead. Still, I nabbed a bra on sale for $9.99 (originally $38!). I also got paid more, but only because we had to stay longer. A couple of customers came in late and didn't realize we closed at 7. :( Luckily, my supervisor got us outta there quickly.

I'm exhausted, but I promised something. And that something is... a look into my lunch pail. Har har, right? But seriously, here it was today:

• Shrimp and green beans for dinner
• Sliced apple for post-dinner
• Foil wrapped lunch that I've eaten everyday this week: chicken, onions, guac, and spinach on a high fiber/low carb tortilla
• Kroger Greek yogurt in lemon-verbena and 2 pumpkin protein bars for snacktime
• Staples: almonds and 2 bags of instant oatmeal in case I forget a meal!
  

I'll share another bag tomorrow! I need sleep NOW!

Do you pack all your meals? How do you keep them? One of my co-workers always buys prepared food. She never cooks not even sandwiches. That's insane to me!

Hey Mr./Mrs. Smith

Next week I have to start waking up earlier, kind of. I've been forgoing some of the 8:30 AM classes so the time crunch post-class won't be present anymore. I can go in at 7:30 and finish up at 8:30 or 8:45 then get home for a shower and food before leaving for work at 10.

But that's all next week. I woke up at 7:15 and had time to slowly ease into a 7:45 AM workout. I went till 9.

My workout this morning: Fitnessista's Winter Shape Up Week 2. I'm not following the plan, but I liked this workout.

I made some notes on there, but if you can't see 'em:

• The squats, deadlifts, and bent-over rows killed my back! I learned to use the Smith machine after peeking at others and will be going back to it for better squats.
• I can up my deadlift weight. I went for 45 and 55 lb barbells. 50 is probably best but I have no clue where that barbell went - there's not even a spot for it.
• Doing the hill drill on the stair climber was not a good idea. The point is to go till you can't anymore, but then wouldn't I just fall off?
• For HIIT intervals, I started with biking, which was easy since I was all warmed up. I switched to some plyometric moves after including, alternating jumping jack and tuck jump.
  

*I'm notorious for writing my workouts down on loose leaf paper. Maybe one day I'll invest in a mini notebook, but I find that it'll get all crinkly anyways and I'll want to toss it out. Plus, I catalog all my workouts here. :)

Post-workout meal: leftover salmon and some broc.

I'm off to see some boys about English. I have some exciting posts coming up!