Does Dancing Count as Cardio?

Happy Tuesday!  I've missed y'all!!!!

I have had a crazy few days, filled with errands, workouts, fun, whiskey, dancing, waiting rooms, couches, great friends from near and far, bands in crazy costumes, and unhealthy food.

I'll try my best to keep my recap brief.  First off, I had a hell of a week of workouts last week!  I really pushed and was sore as hell and happy with myself.

Monday - rest
Tuesday - this CrossFit WOD (135# & box HSPU in 5:57)
Wednesday - morning: hot 4 mile run, evening: this CrossFit WOD (23:24.  I hate burpees!)
Thursday - this CrossFit WOD with 65# (woohoo!  I was terrified to go this heavy but I got to 5 in minute 5! and then did about 2-3 per minute for the remaining time.)
Friday - awesome 4 mile run and dancing!
Saturday - dancing!
Sunday - rest
Monday - 5 mile run + 2 mile walk (It was supposed to be a 9 mile long run but my weekend indulgences caught up with my and my stomach hurt soooo bad.  Plus, I got lost!)

Now, for the fun stuff!

Friday night: One of my besties who now lives in Jacksonville, FL was in town for her birthday.  We did dinner at Luna, followed by the Molly Ringwald's, a totally awesome local 80's cover band at a bar.  I danced until I couldn't dance anymore.



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 Saturday: The day was pretty lazy.  I ran a couple of errands.  Then, I got all gussied up and went to a Mardi Gras ball.  My friends are members of the krewe and invited me as their guest.  This, of course, meant more drinking and much, much more dancing!  The limo picked us up at 4:00 PM and the party began!  Another fun local band, the Chee Weez, played at the ball.  I ran into so many friends and had the BEST night!



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Sunday: Slept very, very late.  Had a late breakfast lunch of eggs, ham, hashbrowns, biscuit, AND pancakes at a local diner with my date from the night before.  Watched that gorgeous Serbian, Djokavic, win the Australian Open.  Watched the Kardashians leave NYC.  Watched the RHOA take over South Africa.  Uberly unproductive day.

source - Holy hotness, those eyelashes!

Monday: Woke up very, very, very, early.  Went to the surgical center to see my dad before he went into surgery (he had a torn rotator cuff repaired).  Hung out in the waiting room, munched on some McDonald's breakfast burritos, and read local magazines while wondering why I'm never featured in "Society Spice" until he was taken to recovery.  Went home, napped, ate crap, and did a couple of loads of laundry.  Went on my neglected Sunday Monday long run, which was awful and cut short. (see above)  Took Lola to see her paw-paw (my dad) and ate BlueBell.  Hit the hay very early to prepare myself for my short work week.

As you can see, my diet has been atrocious!  I've gotta re-focus. 


***Sorry for the lack of pictures.  I did actually take a lot through the weekend, but most are out of focus and too ridiculous to post for all the internet to see.  Plus, I have been too busy lazy to upload them.


How do you get back on track after a weekend (or week?!) of indulgence?

Jellyfish, Sting Rays, and Sharks. Oh My!

Day 5 of vacation. (see day 1, day 2, day 3, and day 4)

We decided to do the standard snorkel/booze cruise combo.

We met at the dock and the dancers were there to get the party started.

We boarded the boat.  The water was gorgeous!  It was fun to see all the resorts from the water side.

We sailed to a massive holding tank, where we interacted with de-barbed sting rays and swam with nurse sharks.  I didn't enjoy it at all.  The sting rays grossed me out (although they were super soft, and I wouldn't mind a handbag made of that buttery soft skin...sorry PETA!) and the sharks were sad.  They would just gang up in one corner.

We then sailed a little further out and free style snorkeled.  It was okay, but definitely not the best snorkeling I've ever done.  It was crowded and I kept running into strangers.

I was back to the boat earlier than most because I was ready for a cocktail.  They served rum & cokes and Brahma beer.  It was a Brazilian brew and I liked it more than Presidente.  It was a little darker and had a much less generic flavor than Presidente.  I actually am going to try to track down some Brahma in the states.

Let the dance party begin...

We took shots of Mamajuana.  It is a local drink made by soaking a special blend of roots and bark in rum and honey. It was de-lic-ious!  The roots gave the rum an almost tobacco flavor.  The combo of the honey and the earthy, tobacco-y flavor reminded me of a hot toddy.

Things got really crazy after the shots.  There are pictures, but I would be risking my life by posting them.

When we arrived back at port, all the other guests shuffled off the boat, but we didn't want to leave!  So we hung back and had a private dance party for a little while.  Then the bar tender poured us some Brahma to go.  It felt just like home sweet Louisiana home...gotta love drinks to go.

After shopping and pics on a beautiful old boat,

we stumbled walked back to our beach chairs and napped.

Dinner was at Jellyfish, a restaurant a little ways up the beach.  After our adventure on night 2, we decided a cab was a good idea.

This restaurant was amazing!  We were the only ones in the whole place.  It was right on the beach.  The whole restaurant opened up to the beachfront, but it was raining, so they had the shades down.

My cocktail of choice was the Jellyfish.  It was very banana-y and very sweet.  Not something I would order again.

My sister ordered the pina colada and it was divine.  The creamiest pina colada I've ever tasted!

Hot pockets and calamari for appetizers.  The hot pockets tasted exactly like hot pockets from the freezer section, although they obviously are not freezer hot pockets.  The calamari was good and I forgot the picture. 

My entree was langostines with a side of yucca gratin.

Isn't the presentation stunning?!?!  If a lobster, a shrimp, and a crab had a baby, it would be a langostine.  It looks like a mini lobster, but the texture is the mix of flakey lump crab meat and shrimp.  Sounds weird, but it was so good.  And being a child of southwest Louisiana, I am very particular about seafood. The sauce was a champagne and cream.  The meat of the langostine itself was slightly sweet, and this sauce complimented it well.

The yucca gratin tasted just like my mom's scalloped potatoes, but the texture very starchy and unlike anything else I've ever had.  I loved it.  I was stuffed like a thanksgiving turkey, but continued to eat this starchy, fluffy, cheesey deliciousness.

It was a great last night in Punta Cana!

Have you ever eaten langostines?  What about yucca?