Easter Egg Bracketology

Anyone have any super weird family traditions for holiday get-togethers?

Here’s one for ya.

Every year on Easter Sunday, my dad puts together a little Easter egg cracking tournament.  Oh yes.  It’s probably the most ridiculous ten minutes you’ll ever witness in your life.

It’s also complete with a bracket that for some reason we like to call bracketology.  Don’t ask.

First, my dad writes down everyone’s names.  Then my cousin Greg picks the names one by one out of a hat, while my dad announces who will be cracking their egg against each other.  “And… Athena will be cracking her egg versus…. Uncle Dan!!!!”  There’s a lot of yelling and screaming that occurs, no matter whose name is announced at what time.

Easter egg bracketology gets very intense you know!

There’s a final four…

…and a drum roll for the final round…

Papou with the win!!!

Awesome pic, right?!

My family will be talking about this for months.

Tell me about your family traditions!

Off to teach Core Strength and work the floor at the Y tonight — if you’re around, come in and say hello!

Calories Don’t Count on Easter

…right?!  I hope not, because as you can see I clearly ate a ton of food yesterday for Greek Easter!  Rewind a day – Saturday I spent the day at the Beer Summit sampling brews, which in turn lead to a lot of munchies – bruschetta, frozen yogurt from Chill, and a grilled peanut butter and banana sandwich from Moogy’s.  Apparently calories don’t count on Easter Weekend either!

Embrace a Positive Mindset

Okay, just kidding.  That’s bad healthy living advice.  Of course calories count.  I know I ate too much this weekend; however I do not feel guilty about it.  There is NO need to beat myself up just because I had a couple off days, and you will NOT find me saying “My diet starts again today.”  I certainly don’t want to set myself up for failure by completely depriving myself for three days just because somehow too many Mike & Ike’s made it into my tum tum yesterday. 

Healthy living – it’s about balance, allowing yourself to indulge now and then, and cutting yourself some slack.

If you find yourself feeling guilty or remorseful when you stray from healthy living, try this.  Instead of beating yourself up, try to praise yourself for the things you did do well – no matter how small they might be.  This in turn will put you in a more positive mind frame and set you up for success because you will already be feeling good about yourself.

Ready?  I’ll go first.  This weekend, although I didn’t eat my best, I’m proud of myself for:

1. Sticking to one serving of mostly everything at Easter (the chips & salsa get me every time!)
2. Taking the time to bake cupcakes that had a few healthier ingredients than I normally would bake with.
3. Going for a walk after Easter dinner.
4. Getting 8 hours of sleep on both Friday and Saturday night this weekend.
5. Getting up early to squeeze in a workout on Saturday morning before the Beer Summit.

See?!  Now I’m feeling way better about the week than I would be had I been kicking myself for everything I “didn’t do correctly.”  Try it, I promise that you’ll notice a difference in the way you feel about yourself.

If you are wondering what workout I did on Saturday morning, here you go!

The Golden Workout

I stole this workout from Miss Jen‘s blog.  It’s called The Golden Workout because everything is done in sets of 50 reps.

The Golden Workout
10 minute warmup
50 squats (weighted)
50 jumping jacks
50 lunges (weighted)
50 jumping jacks
50 push ups (take breaks if necessary as long as you get to 50)
50 jumping jacks
50 leg lifts
50 jumping jacks
50 hip raises (weighted)
50 jumping jacks
50 side crunch push ups (25 each side)
50 jumping jacks
1 min plank
10 min cool down

I didn’t feel like heading to the gym, so I actually did this workout outside!  I went for an easy 10 minute jog around my neighborhood for the warmup, then set myself up a little station in the driveway for the rest.

Got some weird looks from passerby when doing the weighted hip raises, but whatever.  Was nice to be in the sun!

Weekly Workouts

I’ve gotten a lot of good feedback on my weekly workout summaries + planning, so here you go:

Last Week’s Workout Wrap Up

• Sunday:  Sweaty Strength Sets
• Monday:  Taught Core Strength
• Tuesday:  Two a Day Tuesday – Took Kix, then taught my circuit class with the 70’s Rock Workout
• Wednesday:  2 classes at CBC! (Cutz and Kix)
• Thursday:  Taught PUSH
• Friday:  Off
• Saturday:  The Golden Workout, above.

This Week’s Workout Plan

• Sunday:  Off
• Monday:  20 minute HIIT Cardio Intervals plus teaching Core Strength
• Tuesday:  Two a Day Tuesday – Kix, and Circuit Workout TBD
• Wednesday:  Off or TBD, depending if Tim wants to work out on his birthday 🙂
• Thursday:  Teaching Circuit
• Friday:  Off or TBD, depending if I workout on Wednesday
• Saturday:  Kickboxing, either at CBC or at the Y

I gotta run for now, but I’ll be back later with some more Easter festivities and some new recipes to share!

How was everyone’s weekend?  Were you “on” or “off?”  Either way, what are you proud of yourself for accomplishing?  What’s on the workout agenda for the week?!

P.S.  Good luck to all the amazing people running the Boston Marathon today, and Happy Birthday to my Uncle Danny!!!