Good Eats

My wonderful husband brought home a free little booklet he picked up at a local restaurant. It is entitled "Eat Up: A Guide to Nashville's Essential Eateries". It is published by a group called nashvilleoriginals.com and lists 31 locally owned restaurants. Once Mike saw the list of restaurants he thought we should just go down the list and try each restaurant. We always complain that we never go out and experience this great city we live in, so this will be perfect.

Here is the list of restaurants:

1. The Acorn

2. Allium

3. Baja Burrito

4. Bound'ry

5. CABANA

6. Caffe Nonna

7. Cross Corner Bar & Grill

8. FIDO

9. Flyte World Dining & Wine

10. Germantown Cafe

11. Jackson's

12. Jimmy Kelly's Steakhouse

13. MAFIAoZA's

14. Mambu Restaurant & Bar

15. McCabe Pub

16. Midtown Cafe

17. Mirror Restaurant

18. Noshville

19. Ombi

20. PM

21. Provence Breads & Cafe

22. Red Restaurant

23. rumba

24. South Street

25. Sunset Grill

26. tayst Restaurant & Wine Bar

27. Tin Angel

28. Turnip Truck (this isn't a restaurant, it is like a small/local Whole Foods)

29. Wild Iris

30. The Yellow Porch

31. Zola

I am so excited about this list of restaurants! We have already eaten at a few of the restaurants, but the majority of the restaurants listed have been on our "must try" list for a while now. Since we have already eaten at The Acorn, it looks like our first restaurant will be Allium. This weekend is really busy and we are out of town next weekend. So we probably won't get a chance to eat there for another couple of weeks, but when we do I will give an update. Also, if anyone would like to join us at any of these restaurants let us know. We always love company!

Boot Camp Update #2

Today marks the first day of my 3rd month of boot camp. So it is time to give an update for the month of May.

I will warn you that I am writing this post emotionally upset with myself. I did not have any movement on the scale or measuring tape this month. I guess I should be thankful that at least the number on the scale didn't go up. But it is so frustrating to think that for the last month I have gotten up at 4:30am for 4 days a week and worked really hard and I didn't have better results.

I do know that all my hard work is paying off in other ways. I was able to cut another 40 seconds off my mile time and I increased my number of push-ups. I probably had too high expectations since the first month I lost 9 lbs., 2 inches from my chest, 2 inches from my waist and cut 2 min. 40 sec. off my mile time. But I am sticking with it and still giving it my all.

I started this boot camp in April because I felt it was time to take control of my weight and quit blaming it on having PCOS. When I made the decision to start working out again I remember thinking that I have just been lazy and how nice it has been to have the PCOS as an excuse. I thought I would work out for a few months and get back down to the size I was at our wedding, a size 4-6. Boy was I wrong! Unfortunately, I may be learning that having PCOS does make it really difficult to loose weight.

I know that I am only starting my 3rd month and it usually takes a few months of training before you start seeing any major results. So I will keep you posted. Thanks for letting me have my little pity party and now I'll put on my big girl pants, refocus, & continue to work hard.

Run 4 Kids

Me, Sharon & Kristin

This past Saturday I ran in the "Run 4 Kids" 5K race. A race which benefits the Tennessee Baptist Children's Home. This is the first 5K race that I have actually ran (only walking maybe a total of 30 secs. during the race)! I finished the 3.1 miles in 35 minutes. Two of my friends from work ran it with me. Once we all finished the race we ate some of the free food and then headed off for a session of boot camp. I think I need a massage!

Anyone Up For An Urban Adventure?

Attention All Nashvillians!

I wanted to share with everyone the information for the Nashville Oyster Race. A friend of mine emailed me the link and it looked like so much fun I wanted to pass it along. You can even do the race as a relay team so you don't have to do the entire course. I am thinking about doing it, but I haven't made up my mind yet. The race is on October 24th.

Check it out!

Gulf Shores Part 2

While we were in Gulf Shores I knew that we needed to take this opportunity of being together to get some good family photos. We decided that one evening before dinner we would head to the beach to have a little photo shoot. It was fun and we got some great shots. Sorry for the squinty eyes. The sun was setting and it was a little bright. Next time we will have to wait until little later in the evening to start shooting. Enjoy:

Gulf Shores Part 1

A couple of weeks ago my side of the family took a vacation together. My family doesn't take regular vacations so it was nice to get away and spend quality time with everyone. For this vacation we decided our destination would be Gulf Shores, AL. We had a really great time. It was the type of vacation I like, very laid back with lots of time at the beach.

We absolutely loved our accommodations. I found a 3 bed, 3 bath condo on VRBO. It was right on the beach and the price was great! We spent our days laying on the beach and at night we would venture out for dinner. The boys even bought fishing equipment so they could fish right off the beach.

What a fun vacation! I wouldn't be surprised if the Johnson Family caught vacation fever and wanted to do this on a yearly basis.

This is the main living area of the condo we stayed in:

Mike standing on the balcony. We were on the 8th floor.

The whole family out to dinner at the Sunset Cork Room..yum!

A few random beach pictures:

I had to add a few pictures of the Blue Herons. They were on the beach every morning waiting to steal the fisherman's recent catch.

Boot Camp Update

Well it is official, I have finished my first month of boot camp. I have to be honest, I wasn't sure if I would like getting up at 4:30 in the morning & being told what to do. But I loved every minute of it. There is something to starting your day early. I feel like I am more productive during the day and even though I do get sore from the work outs, it is a good sore.

Here is the video that our trainer, Niki, put together for advertising purposes. I am in several of the shots and my friend, Kristin, who is in boot camp with me is the one with the curly black hair being interviewed.




Sorry everyone, but I do have to brag a little.

In 4 weeks:
1. I have lost 10 pounds and quite a few inches
2. I cut 2 minutes & 40 seconds off my mile run time
3. I doubled the amount of push-ups I can do & tripled the amount of sit-ups
4. I have more energy than ever!

I have already signed up for the May Boot Camp & my plans are to also do the June camp. I would love to stick with it through September, but we'll see:)

If you are wanting to improve your health or get into shape and have trouble staying motivated I think boot camp is just what you need. The larger the city you live in the more options you have. I know here in Nashville you can find boot camps in every part of the city at all different times of the day. If you liked what you saw in the video, check out Niki G Fitness Boot Camps!

I will post another boot camp update at the end of May.