NEW BLOG ADDRESS!! IMPORTANT!!!

Hello and thanks for stopping by…Confessions Of A Black Belt has undergone a name change and is now called Raya Runs. You can find me HERE at RayaRuns.Com.

Please bear with me as I work out the kinks on the new blog site…I’m still working on a good header, etc…

And if anyone knows how I can link this page to automatically go to that one, that would be awesome! I own both domains so it shouldn’t be a problem, I just don’t know how to do it??? HELP!! Thanks

Greetings!

So, in case you’re wondering, no I did not forget I had a food blog!! I am now going to have to buy a new laptop so until I get the $$ to do so, I’ll be using the Roommate’s laptop. Currently, I’m actually using a loaner laptop from my supercool boss so kudos to her!! But I’ll have to give it back soon. While I have been dutifully taking pictures and still eating healthy, I am a bit hesitant to upload pictures on someone else’s comp. we’ll see. I will, however, post my workout details for the last few days or so…I’ve been increasing my workout schedule and it feels great!! Feeling very motivated lately

Thursday 7/16

2-mile run (in the morning!!!)

Martial arts class (about 50 mins)

Friday 7/17

Gym: elliptical, 30 mins, level 10

Martial Arts: Arms!! Biceps, Triceps, Shoulders.

Saturday 7/18

Gym: elliptical, 30 minutes, level 10

Sunday 7/19

Rest

Monday 7/20

Tennis Lesson

Martial Arts

Run-2 miles. (ran 1st mile, 2nd mile alternated betweein running/walking/sprints)

Tuesday 7/21

Martial Arts Class (70 minutes- KILLER cardio class!! I was dizzy by the end!)

 

I have been noticing that after I work out I have zero appetite. It doesn’t even matter how hungry I was before I started. So I’ve been trying to eat more calories during the earlier part of the day since a lot of my dinners lately are consisting of smoothies since that’s all I feel I can keep down!!

Anyways, I’m heading to bed early b/c I work early tomorrow and I’m beat!!!

P.S. Please be patient, I’ll be back at full speed soon!!!!!!!!! THANK YOU!!!!!!

R.I.P. My Precious Laptop

Wellllll……after taking my old Dell laptop into the Emergency Room (AKA the Geek Squad at Best Buy) I am sad to say that I’ve decided  to pull the plug.  My choices were either to pay $150 to recover what I wanted from my harddrive (a MILLION pics aka memories and a bunch of other stuff) and come home with my own external harddrive that I can use over and over….OR to pay $69.99 just for them to diagnose the problem, and then pay to fix it depending on what’s wrong with it. The estimate was anywhere from $150-$300. And then if they can’t fix it, I’d still need to pay for the $150 for them to recover my data from the hardrive.  No. Thank. You.  So I’ve decided to just bite the bullet and get a new laptop. And in the meantime I can use the Roommate’s computer. (I haven’t asked her but I’m sure she won’t mind…:-D )

Any recommendations on what kind of ‘puter I should get?!?!

Begin Physical Memory Dump…

That is the message currently displayed on my laptop when I try to turn it on.  Hurray. I’ve brought it to work in the hopes that someone here can fix it? Right now I’m on my work computer.  Sorry for the lack of posts!!!!!! Hopefully I’ll be back up and runnin’ soon

 

2 mile run this morning though

Maybe I’m Sick?

Hey! So yesterday I came home from work and I thought I would just lay down to take a little nap…instead I passed out from 4:30-9:30! I even missed tennis! I then was back in bed by 11:30 and slept until this morning. I guess my body really needed the rest! Here’s a quick recap of my eats from yesterday, cause they were good!

Kashi Honey Sunshine cereal with mega blueberries:

Midmorning snack of Chobani and granola:

Lunch:

a ripe peach, carrots, and a FlatOut wrap stuffed w/ turkey, muenster cheese, hummus, lettuce, and tomato.

Afternoon snack of banana bread w/ smart balance:

After my nap I made a quick dinner of grilled cheese on whole wheat and two hardboiled eggs sprinkled w/ salt and pepper

I also tried out the Banana Soft Serve recipe from Choosing Raw that I came across the other day. I froze the banana chunks a few days ago and broke out the food processor last night. It seriously took less than 5 mins and was SO GOOD!!!!

Look how good that looks!!! It was delish and I will absolutely make it again!

Then it was back in bed.

Today was technically my day off, but I worked 5 hours at my second job. Breakfast was a PBJ smoothie:

Strawberries, PB, spinach, milk, ice, and a scoop of Amazing Grass. Now, with the addition of the PB, this tasted great. Couldn’t taste the Amazing Grass at all. Much better than my first one!! Also had two pieces of banana bread w/ smart balance.

Snack:

the last of my Smores trail mix and a tiny plum. When I got off work my friend Erin and baby Alyson met me and we went back to her house for lunch and some chitchat. I grabbed this to eat:

It was actually pretty good:

After lunch I played with the baby

Apparently we have the same color eyes. lol.

Afternoon snack was some dried peaches…

and dinner was out of the new Cooking Light magazine…

Pan fried chicken and potato-summer squash salad. The chicken was a bit greasy, and next time if I were to make this, I would use boneless chicken breasts instead.  But the salad was the perfect light side to cut through the grease.

I got to thinking, we are currently in the month of July which is just past halfway through the year. Everyone starts out the year with resolutions, but I’m going to set some Goals or Resolutions, if you may, for the rest of the year.

Here Goes:

1. Go on dates. I’ve had my heart broken more than once in the past few years and I’m tired of the drama. I just want to meet a nice guy.

2. Run my first 5K (August 1)

3. Be able to run a 10K by Dec. 31.

4. Start Culinary School

5. Buy A House

So there you have it. My 5 goals to reach by the end of this year.

Hope everyone has a great night!

<3 Raya

Weekend Recap!

Since I’ve been MIA all weekend (sorry!) I’m just gonna type a general weekend post. I swear I feel like I haven’t had a chance to even breathe since I got back from vacation wednesday night and this weekend was no different. Normally on weekends I have free time where I don’t plan anything and I can just relax but for some reason this weekend was jam packed.

Starting with saturday am, I worked til mid afternoon…On the way to work (a co-worker and I carpooled today so I ate in the car) I had two pieces of cinnamon toast from Greenwise (I’ve been keeping it in the freezer) with raspberry jam

And a smoothie w/ a secret ingredient:

ice, skim milk, blueberries, spinach, 1 banana, honey, AAAAAAND…

A scoop of Amazing Grass!! On friday after work I stopped off at Vitamin World to get some supplements and I saw this. Since I’ve been hearing soooo much about it in blogland, I decided to give the little container a try. I’m all for getting more fruits/vegetables into my diet!! My first opinion?? I could definitely taste something different in the smoothie….It almost had like a chocolate aftertaste?? I wasn’t too crazy about it but it’s not horrible either. I’m going to try adding some PB to the next smoothie and we’ll see how that tastes.

**If you’re a guy, feel free to skip the next paragraph as you probably wouldn’t understand**

In regards to the supplements I picked up, I’m attempting to control some symptoms that may or may not occur at approximately the same time every month…if you catch my drift. I did some research online and there are several “natural cures” for PMS you can take…1200mg of calcium, magnesium, and chasteberry have all been shown to improve mood swings/emotional symptoms etc. So i figured I’d make myself a little “cocktail” and see how that works. There are certain people in my life who don’t always appreciate the moodiness I’ve been noticing lately. Heh.

Lunch was eaten on the fly at work since 1-I still haven’t gone grocery shopping and 2-I was starved. So I dug into the fridge and found some leftover pizza from yesterday. I had one veggie piece and one margharita piece, toasted in the toaster oven (this made it soooooo much better than microwaved!)

And a nectarine:

After work I ran around like crazy shopping for a gift, cleaning my car out, making guacomole, finishing the banana bread, and then headed out to an engagement party for two of my co-workers.

At the party I FILLED UP!

A wheat bun filled w/ some mini cocktail sausages (I’m hoping they were beef? lol) Guac, tortilla chips, tomatoes, carrots, broc, deviled egg, and some macaroni salad.

Then I had a dessert plate:

on the top left is actually potato casserole…the person that brought it was late but I had to try it! and some fruit and a mini brownie.

Aww look at the happy couple! Congratulations Keri and Steve! ( I passed up the cake)

(One of my coworkers made a penis cake for the future groom as a joke)

Rania and I.

I then had to excuse myself from the party early to meet some friends for yet another dinner. Except I did not really eat because I was STUFFED to the gills! So instead I just ordered a fruit plate and munched on that (no pic-sorry!)

I then went home and passed out from exhaustion.

Woke up sunday morning to go right back to work. Woo! I was late so just grabbed brekkie on the way out the door-

(Boring right?)

Then for lunch I had a “fruit and cheese plate”

I went to the movies with a friend, then headed over to my BFF Heather’s apartment for her daughter Bella’s birthday party…

I had gotten her a FurReal Puppy and a sundress and another cute shorts outfit…And can you believe that when I got there, I saw that someone else had gotten her the exact same dog!?!?!?!  What are the chances!!!   Oh well, Happy Birthday Bella!!

 

I had a sliver of cake here (no pic)

And then it was home to grocery shop and finally sit down. Dinner was a mish-mosh as I have almost no appetite for some reason (maybe I’m still full from yesterday? lol)

tortilla chips, an english muffin topped w/ muenster cheese and broiled, and a fruit strip for dessert.

GOODNIGHT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

TGIF!

Workout: ran 1.5 miles*

*I could definitely feel myself running faster than normal, and I was feeling it at the halfway mark!*

It definitely doesn’t feel like friday since I just started working on thursday…but still, glad it’s here!

Breakfast was a quick bowl of cereal:

And Bella thought it’d be a good idea to hide…

She likes to hide under one of our side tables between the chair and couch. She slithers her way in there and I think she feels safe. What a goof!

When I got to work, I had lunchie…I had gotten lunch from Jason’s Deli and then when I got to work I was informed there was pizza. So i compromised and had one piece of pizza:

I only ate the red piece. The other one I gave away. And then I had 1/2 of my sammie:

Funny thing…I’d asked for mayo and mustard on the side, so I could control how much went on the sandwich. I got a little container of what I thought was mayo, plus one of those little mayo packets. I thought they’d just given me extra or something. So I put the “mayo” from the container on the half of the sandwich that I ate. The sandwich tasted extra sweet. Turns out, they’d given me a yogurt dip to go along with the fruit cup I’d ordered and I’d put that on the sandwich instead of the mayo!!!!!!  Haha oops!! It didn’t taste awful, just a little sweeter than I was expecting.

But I did use the rest of the dip for the fruit

Then a little later I had a treat!!!

I NEVER drink soda but when I do, I drink diet IBC Root Beer. But it’s a rare occasion!

 

Afternoon snackolas:

And then dinner:

the other 1/2 of my lunch sammich (sans the yogurt dip lol):

And the other half of my soup from yesterday. I toasted the sandwich to make it all melty and delish.

I’m currently baking banana bread for a work engagement part I’m going to tomorrow night and dessert has been raw dough I could seriously live on raw cookie dough/bread dough/etc… But I’m trying to control myself!!

Haha, Night!

No More Vacation :-(

Hello! I’m BACK!! Hope everyone has had a lovely thursday I got back from my trip about midnight last night and was right up for work this morning at my usual time. I’ll be typing up my vacation post tomorrow, since it’s already so late and I’m sleepy. I feel I’ve had no time to breathe since I got back!  After work I had to go pick up Bella from my friend Heather’s house and she was fixing up her daughter Bella’s room since they just moved into a new apartment. I offered to help and we made dinner and drank wine and stuck things on walls

Let’s rewind…breakfast was the very last of the oatmeal, portioned out between the Roommate and I. I put 1/2 a chopped apple and some candied ginger in mine (you’ll see where I got this when I do my vacation post!) plus a tsp of brown sugar

Mid morning I had some S’mores trail mix (I’m amazed this bag made it through the vacation!)

This was actually too much for me so next time I need a little less! Lunch is not pictured but due to the lack of food that is currently in my apartment, and the fact that it rained all morning and felt “cold,” I went to Nature’s Table and got some tomato basil soup and a grilled cheese sammie w/ american and provolone cheeses. It was AWESOME and perfectly hit the spot!

Afternoon snack was dried fruit-peaches and a bit more candied ginger (this stuff is spicy)

Before dinner I had a serving of these:

Boy didn’t I just come back with all these fun foods…Hmmm….

Dinner was scallops in champagne cream sauce (A Cooking Light recipe) w/ salad.

The side salad was simply dressed w/ olive oil and cider vinegar and s&p. The cream sauce over the shallots was white wine (I subbed it for the champagne), dijon mustard, shallots, tarragon and red. fat sour cream. It was good. Not sure if I would make it again, but it tasted yummy. It needed something else but I haven’t decided what yet.

After dinner and wine:

we put together some stuff in her daughter’s room (she’s 5 and is going to be so excited when she sees her room tomorrow!)

 

This is on her door…

And we hung this cuuuuuute gauzy thingy over her bed-I want one!!

And here is my Bella posing in her room:

So cute

Now I’m off to bed! Night!

Benefits of Stretching

I have a love/hate relationship with stretching. I LOVE the way I feel when I’m done stretching, but I HATE the way stretching feels. Because, let’s face it, if you’re stretching properly, it hurts!!

**Disclaimer: Please note, this is only my advice/opinion and I am in no way an expert on this subject. This is just what I’ve learned in my experiences stretching/exercising that I’m sharing with you**

As some of you may know, one of my goals this summer has been to get my middle split. I am pretty much there as you can see here. Well, actually, I am there, but I want to be able to do it with less pain!

As a martial artist, stretching is important to me because the more flexible you are, the greater range of motion you have in your movements, especially kicks. It also allows you greater control in your movements.

My favorite kind of stretching is partner stretching because you have someone there to push your limits and, at least for me personally, that helps me go farther than I would normally go alone.

Benefits of Stretching

-Stretching increases your range of motion

-Stretching after a workout can also help in workout recovery and decrease muscle soreness.

-Stretching can increase blood circulation to various parts of the body which can result in increased energy levels

-Stretching “lengthens” muscles, which can result in a leaner look over time. A great example of this is yoga.

Stretching Tips

-Hold each stretch for a minimum of 30 seconds (up to a minute is even better)

-Don’t “bounce”-hold the stretch constant.

-BREATHE BREATHE BREATHE!!!! Many people tend to hold their breath while stretching and this is the worst thing you can do. Muscles need oxygen, even during stretching

-It’s best to stretch when your muscles are warm.

-Stretch everyday for best results

About Me

Since this blog is fairly new, I figured I would write a little “About Me” so that everyone could get to know me a bit better! Feel free to comment, please!!! 

 

About Me 

Name: Raya

 Sign: Leo 

Hometown: Honeoye, NY

 Nicknames: RaeRae, Ray of Light, Raya Sunshine

Where did my name come from? I get this question a lot since my name is somewhat unique. The story is that I was nameless for several days in the hospital until it came time to make the birth certificate and my mom had to pick a name. My mom’s middle name is Rae, so she basically changed the spelling and added an “A” to the end and voila. 

Single/Dating/Married?: Single

 3 Weird/Random Things About Me:

-I like all my food and drink to be either extra hot or extra cold.

-I absolutely hate getting the mail (I think this is b/c I live in an apt. and the mailbox is far away)

-I used to be the BIGGEST Backstreet Boys Fan ever on earth. I’ve been to like 4 concerts and I had my walls plastered with their posters when I was growing up. AJ was my favorite. Haha

 Tattoos? I have 2…they are both very small and somewhat hidden. 

If I could have a superpower, what would it be? the ability to fly (sans airplane of course)

Favorites:

Food: I really really love pasta, especially in cream sauce. But it’s so not healthy! So I save it for special occasions. I also love fruit.

Type of Music: I love Britney(!!!), Kelly Clarkson, Daughtry, Mary J. Blige, Norah Jones, some rap, r&b, alternative, etc. I’m very much a “lyric” person so if I like a song it’s usually because the lyrics speak to me in some way.

Movie: “Serendipity”

Song: “Wonderful Tonight” by Eric Clapton

TV Show: FRIENDS!!! I am a Friends addict, I own all 10 seasons on DVD and I still watch them all the time. Literally.

 Sport: obviously tae kwon do…but otherwise, to play I love soccer. To watch, probably football!

Why Did I Decide To Run a 5K? Running has always been the best thing for me to relieve extreme stress, but it’s never been something I took very seriously.  When I started to try to run on a more regular basis, I got horrible shin splints. So I decided I needed to slow down choose a goal within easy reach. My intention is to slowly increase my mileage up to that point without injury and “The Race” gives me a tangible goal to work towards.