Afternoon at the dentist

I had an appointment for a teeth cleaning this afternoon. When I was a kid, I dreaded these appointments because it always meant I would have to get a cavity filled. Now that I am an adult who doesn’t drink soda on a regular basis, I really like the dentist. Why? My teeth are clean and feel wonderful. I also like the feeling of leaving and knowing nothing is wrong with my teeth. I am so glad I no longer have to return to the dentist for fillings, crowns, root canals, etc. like I did up until 10 years ago or so. Do you like going to the dentist or fear it?

Moving onto my eats for the day…

Breakfast today was cheerios and coffee.

Lunch (unpictured)–two pieces of pizza, an applesauce, Chobani lemon and a moser roth toffee chocolate for a taste of something sweet.

No snacks at work today. Literally, I was that busy. I tried to get a chance to make a hot coccoa and eat some almonds, but I didn’t have time because I was in meetings for about 90% of my day.

After my dentist appointment, I headed to the gym. I had been tired all day (because it’s Monday and because I opted for less sleep and more Colin Firth goodness before bed last night), but the gym woke me up. I feel like I should do a month long challenge to go to the gym every day and see how I feel. I always feel so much better when I leave there. I wouldn’t have to go hardcore, but just to get there and walk the indoor track sometimes, bike and read a book, and so on.

My energetic gym time consisted of intervals on the cybex arc trainer for 30 minutes and then a full circuit of weights. I also lifted some free arm weights when the machines were too busy.

On my way back from the gym, I was craving peanut butter and a smoothie. I figured, why not combine the two and make a peanut butter protein smoothie!

Oh my, this was so good. Ingredients were natural peanut butter, skim milk, ice cubes, soy protein powder and two spoonfuls of Nutella. The nutella was wasted because I really couldn’t taste it with the peanut butter flavor overpowering everything.

Dinner was shells with mushrooms and green peppers. I made leftovers for work tomorrow too. Love having my meal already cooked and decided for my lunch the next day.

Today was the first day I could sign up for the spring session of recreation classes. I used to only take fitness classes through them, but now that I go to the YMCA, that’s not necessary. I still miss by Boot Camp through the rec because the teacher was really good and motivating. I am super excited though because I signed up for two cooking classes! Both are vegetarian and one is focused on springing into summer and the other is on vegetarian Indian dishes and called “Treasures of the Taj Mahal.” How fitting because our favorite Indian restaurant is called the Taj Mahal. I love Indian food and so does Craig, so I figured this would be helpful for meal planning in general.

I am still thinking about signing up for French, but not sure about it. I love languages and barely speak any French, but can read on a basic level because of my background in Italian and Spanish. Oui oui or au revoir to the idea? Not sure yet.

On that note, bonsoir!

Me via the ABCs

Ok, I am joining the ABC party so you can learn a bit more about me!

A. Age: 30 (turning 31 this year)

B. Bed size: double, we don’t have room for anything bigger in our small bedroom

C. Chore you dislike: cleaning the toilet or bathtub

D. Dogs: had a puppy once. I am a cat person now.

E. Essential start to your day: coffee

F. Favorite color: teal (see my banner above)

G. Gold or silver: silver

H. Height: 5’4′

I. Instruments you play(ed): never played an instrument, sang in the choir and not well

J. Job title: I coordinate programs in a non-profit organization. I don’t want to reveal my official title for privacy reasons.

K. Kids: two cats; borrow kids via babysitting for my nephews

L. Live: Milwaukee. I have also lived in California and Switzerland.

M. Mom’s name: Mary. I also call her Mutti, which is German for Mom.

N. Nicknames: Lis; high school nickname–Frog (because I swallowed a fly while playing tennis in high school); Monie (like Mona Lisa)

O. Overnight hospital stays: none

P. Pet peeves: manipulative people who are also passive aggressive

Q. Quote from a movie: anything from Amelie

R. Righty or lefty: righty, but am a bit ambidextrous. I play all sports with my left hand except for tennis. I grew up with two brothers who were lefties and they put baseballs in my left hand, etc. so as a result, I am an ambidextrous

S. Siblings: four brothers, two sisters. I am the youngest of seven children. Oldest brother is 51.

T. Time you wake up: weekdays: 5:40 am, weekends: 7:30 or 8am (nap on couch later in the day)

U. Underwear: yeah, not much to say here

V. Vegetables you don’t like: love all veggies

W. What makes you run late: watching TV while eating breakfast in the morning and my cat who insists on joining me on my lap for breakfast.

X. X-rays you’ve had: in all seriousness, I think it’s about 50-75 in my lifetime. Last year alone, I had about 10 between my stomach problems, a trip to the emergency room and a broken ankle. Now I ask not to have them because I don’t want too much exposure.

Y. Yummy food you make: chocolate chip cookies

Z. Zoo animal favorites: birds

Movie day

Today was movie day, in honor of the Oscars of course! We finally got to the theater to see The King’s Speech. I really enjoyed it and so did Craig. I also find Colin Firth to be extremely attractive. I explained to Craig the whole Mr. Darcy Pride and Prejudice thing, but he doesn’t get it that I would like “an old man.” There is something about Colin though–I think his eyes exude kindness and vulnerability. I hope he wins Best Actor tonight! His acting was superb in the movie and I enjoyed learning more about the Royal family.

Breakfast today was french toast! I am not sure if I have ever made it before. I used a recipe off of my half and half bottle from Target. Craig hadn’t had it with vanilla extract and cinnamon before and said it tasted different. I loved it with those ingredients because I don’t think my mom made it with those when I was growing up. It tasted like it was made in a restaurant.

I completely forgot that I wanted to add some Nutella to it until my last two bites, so I added some and it was pure bliss.

I ate a quick burrito with refried beans, cheddar cheese and Frank’s Red Hot before we went to the movie.

For some reason, the movie made Craig and I tired so we napped when we got back. I slept way too long and then got up to go to the gym.

I did 10 minutes on the rowing machine, 16 on the bike while reading about Happiness in Real Simple magazine and lifted weights on a few machines and some free weights.

Dinner was a mango pineapple smoothie with protein powder.

And two pieces of frozen pizza with some added broccoli.

Dessert was a Fit & Active mint chocolate ice cream sandwich.

Ok, time to switch the laundry, look around on the internet a bit and then it’ll be bedtime before I know it!

Hope your weekend was an excellent one.

Stress, stress go away

I can’t believe the weekend is over. Here’s what we’ve been up to.

Yesterday, I woke up in a fog of thoughts and heart palpitations. We’ll leave it at that. This cannot be a healthy living blog if I cannot get past one particular aspect of stress that keeps haunting my life. Let’s just say Friday was my lucky day until about 11:15 p.m. and then all hell broke loose.

I woke up and had this for breakfast:

Craig and I were going to see The King’s Speech yesterday, but decided to save it for today instead.

Yesterday, we went shopping for organizational items for our house!

Before our big shopping trip, we fueled up at Qdoba. I had a small chicken tortilla soup and a naked burrito.

I was like a kid in a candy store shopping for organizational items, especially since all of the things we purchased should end up being free through his work. We ended up at Target, Home Depot and Office Max. We got a few things at Home Depot and most items at Target. We came away with a nice 5 prong hook to hang in our staircase for our keys, my purse, our coats, scarves, etc.; a big plastic tote for storage; huggable hangers; a three tiered shelf for the kitchen cabinet; a three drawer cabinet for our hallway closet (we put medicine in it); four plastic containers with lids; and a shelf for the garage. It will feel good to have our small house a bit more organized with these items!

I also was like a kid in a candy store when I went to Sentry grocery store and found Chobani for $1.00 each, thanks to a tip from Karis at Karis’ Kitchen. Thanks Karis! The weird thing was that I must have looked like I found the best thing ever because the lady handing out samples next to the yogurt section said to me, “what’s with greek yogurt anyway?” She basically wanted to know if it was a “gimmick” and I explained why greek yogurt is superior to regular yogurt, in my opinion of course. I told her that for me, as someone who eats a mostly vegetarian diet, it is great to eat a yogurt that has 14-17 g of protein every day. I also explained that the ingredients were ones I was comfortable putting in my body every day. By the end, I had convinced her to buy a couple of Chobani yogurts and try them for herself. Made me wish I was a registered dietitian as I walked away because my true passion comes out when I talk about nutrition.

I lounged around at night, had a big salad for dinner.

A Fit & Active (Aldi) mint ice cream sandwich was my dessert.

I had a glass of wine later on. Because it makes me tired, I didn’t have it until close to bedtime and then I was tired when we played Wii play right before bed. Oh well!

This is the Three Wishes wine from Whole Foods. It is their “two buck chuck” and I found it to be ok, not the best flavor, so just ok. What do you expect for $2.99 though!?

Now onto blog about today while I watch the Oscars. Inception is winning a lot of awards at this moment! Are you watching the Oscars?

It’s my lucky day!

I am off of work this morning because I have an event to work this evening until about midnight. I slept in a bit, even though our cats were trying their best to knock down the baby gates we use to block them from getting to our bedroom door.

I woke up, had my coffee and breakfast of stovetop oats with a banana and topped with sliced almonds, cinnamon and peanut butter.

For my morning coffee, I had to grind some whole beans and noticed something fantastic on my Starbucks French Roast package.

See it? When I finish using the whole beans, I can bring in the bag to Starbucks for a free tall coffee. It’s the little things in life that make me happy.

Speaking of little things in life, I was reading blogs on my iPod while eating my breakfast. I went to Tina’s Trading Up Downtown
and discovered I had won her “Tea for Two” giveaway! I scored a really cute teapot and some Sarabeth’s ceylon tea.

Source

After letting my breakfast settle, I hit the gym. I did 36 minutes on the elliptical and then a few weight machines.

Well, here’s hoping that I maintain my good luck streak and that my event goes well tonight.

Enjoy the rest of your Friday! I am definitely looking forward to the weekend.

We don’t have any plans, but we will need to hit a few home stores to purchase organizational items for our house. My husband’s work wellness program allows him to purchase fitness gear up to $150 a year and his work reimburses him. For the month of February, we get to purchase certain organizational items for the house and they will reimburse for those! Sweet! We’ll need to get to Target, Home Depot and Bed Bath and Beyond. I doubt my husband will want to go to all three stores, but I won’t mind looking around somewhere like Bed Bath and Beyond all by myself, especially when getting free items to organize us.

Adios y hasta manana!

Running out of blog titles title

Tonight is a good example of why morning workouts are probably superior to afternoon ones. I got home from work later than I wanted to, made myself dinner, sat on the couch, then laid down on the couch and eventually took a little nap that turned into an hour of sleep. No gym for me tonight, boo. I guess I will save all of my energy for tomorrow morning’s workout and work twice as hard then.

Breakfast today was plain old honey nut cheerios with skim milk and a coffee.

Lunch was the rest of the noodles from last night’s dinner mixed with some fettucine alfredo sauce. I also had a pretty big salad of spinach, tomatoes, cucumbers, green peppers, sunflower seeds, pepperoni slices, feta cheese, and olive oil/balsamic vinegar mixture for a dressing. The apple pictured was a wonderful Pink Lady type that I saved for a 3:30 snack.

Plus, I had a sweet tooth today so I went to the cafe and got a baklava. It was almost too sweet for me and I only ate half.

Oooh, look at all of those yummy, gooey layers. Love baklava!

Dinner was a whole wheat tortilla with refried beans, tomatoes, shredded cheddar cheese, and Frank’s Red Hot sauce. I normally don’t buy refried beans, but love to eat them on nachos at restaurants. I received the can that I used for tonight’s meal from my mom because she got it free and doesn’t eat refried beans. Now that I had them, I know they’ll end up in my grocery cart more often because I love the flavor they offer in this kind of meal.

I picked up a new Bill Bryson book at the library tonight, so that book is calling me. It is called At Home and covers the history of domesticity. Should be an interesting read and I’ll share my thoughts on it as I go. I am a big Bill Bryson fan. I’d have to say my favorite authors are him and David Sedaris.

Time for this tired blogger to go read before bed! Good Night!

Getting my sweat on in the morning

I switched up my routine today and got up early, put on the workout clothes I had laid out the night before, had a quick snack of a White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Lunabar and got to the gym by 6:15 a.m. Usually I am an afternoon gym person, but because I had to work until 6:30 or so tonight, I decided to get my workout in first thing in the morning so I didn’t miss it.

It felt good to get there early and be finished with my workout by 7:15. I did miss having more time there, but I still managed to get in a half hour on the elliptical and a full circuit of weights. I actually felt better at work too. I think it really affected my mood and set the tone for the entire day. Maybe I should do this more often during the week and get to work a little later.

Then again, I sometimes do look forward to going home, changing and working out after a long day of sitting at work.

Anyway onto the eats.

Breakfast was a big bowl of stovetop oats with a ripe banana and tons of peanut butter. Love how the pb melts and gets all gooey!

Snack at work was a latte with skim milk and a pump of almond syrup. I was offered the pump for free and couldn’t pass it up. The almond flavor was superb!

Lunch was a ham and cheese sandwich on wheat, a Black Cherry Chobani yogurt, a tangelo and a Moser Roth toffee chocolate bar.

Throughout the afternoon, I snacked on whole almonds and milk chocolate chips off and on at my desk.

Dinner was pasta shells with mushrooms and green peppers that I cooked up on the stove.

My evening went by quickly because I got back from work later than normal. We have been going to bed earlier since we got back from vacation and now that it’s 9 p.m., my eyes are really tired and ready for the 9:30 bedtime I’ve been adhering to.

Good Night!

Back to “the usual”

It’s time for me to get back into my routine, which I find awfully boring to present to my readers compared to traveling. Truthfully though, I actually seem to enjoy reading people’s routines and seeing their daily meals rather than hearing about their travels. Maybe it’s because I love traveling and I get a bit jealous?

Back to showing you my meals and talking about my regular day, including the workouts I am incorporating into my routine after a vacation without them.

I started out my morning back to work with some Honey Nut cheerios and a bowl of blueberries. I desperately wanted to make stove top oats with a banana and pb, but with having to scrape my car off for 20 minutes and de-ice, that wasn’t happening.

Snack at work was a cup of hot cocoa with marshmallows and a trail mix bar.

Lunch was my leftovers from yesterday’s meal at The Cheesecake Factory and an apple. I also had a moser roth toffee chocolate bar for dessert.

I realized that before I left on our trip, I really was packing huge lunches at times. I think I am going to try cutting back a bit and watching my calories.

Dinner was a Strawberry Banana Chobani with a few cheerios on top and some of my naughty cheesecake.

My meal reflects this, but I was pressed for time because I stayed at work later and then had to get to my yoga class.

I had a piece of toast with peanut butter and a glass of chocolate milk when I got back from yoga.

Yoga tonight was excellent. I really love this teacher’s class because he always changes up the poses every week. I am always learning something new. My body needed yoga badly after our vacation! It felt so good to stretch.

Well folks, I need to start limiting my computer time and read a bit tonight since it’s already quite late.

Chobani is love

I had lemon Chobani yogurt for dinner tonight. After a gluttonous day (or past couple of days), all I wanted for dinner was a chobani yogurt. It hit the spot. I seriously ate the lemon flavor and said out loud, “I love chobani.” I hadn’t had it for a while because I rely on someone else’s Sam’s club membership to get my chobani cheaper by the case.

The lemon flavor was light, airy and just plain good. I find these new flavors to be less thick, but it isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Anyone else experience the same thing?

CookinFanatic is hosting a Chobani giveaway–check it out and maybe you’ll get to try out the new flavors yourself.

Enter by Friday because that is when she is picking the winner!

Time to get to bed and start a busy workday tomorrow. Coming back to work from vacation is never fun, even if I got threw a lot of my e-mails today. Not looking forward to it but I have to remember that I am only one person.

From warm to icy

What another nasty day in terms of the weather. Before we left the house, I had to move my car out of the driveway and scrape off all of the many layers of snow and ice. It is not fair to transition from Florida’s warmth to this crap! That is especially true because it was unseasonably warm while we were gone. I swear that always happens when we are on vacation.

Breakfast was coffee, honey nut cheerios and toast.

The burial was nice and had to be quick because it was so cold and snowy out. We’ll have to go back to the grave site and visit Grandma and Craig’s Grandpa when we can see their headstone.

We then went out to eat at the Cheesecake Factory. For once, there wasn’t much of a budget because the funeral money had been set aside for a meal and the meal we were supposed to have yesterday had to be canceled due to the weather.

So, with not much of a budget, we all indulged a bit. I had a Pomegranate frozen Margarita.

My husband had a yummy berry (non-alcoholic) smoothie.

My lunch was half of this plate. The rest can be my lunch at work tomorrow.
It was Evelyn’s Favorite Pasta and was penne tossed with Broccoli, Oven-Dried Tomato, Roasted Eggplant, Peppers, Artichoke, Kalamata Olives, Garlic and Pine Nuts. Totally my kind of meal!

The eggplant tasted so good. I really need to cook with it more often. I forgot how much I like it.

We all ordered cheesecake slices to go. When we got home, I had a few bites of my Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup Cheesecake.

My husband Craig should have ordered his namesake off of the menu, “Craig’s Crazy Carrot Cake Cheesecake,” but doesn’t like carrot cake, so he got Snickers instead.

Well, time to get back to my work e-mails, of which I worked on for the last hour and then took a little break from to blog. Then I need to scrape off my car some more and get to the gym. A long workout is in order to burn off that big lunch!

Hope your Monday has been swell!