Shopping trip success

It’s been a good weekend! Productive and fun! How was yours?

We worked out Saturday morning and I biked for a half hour at a good resistance! I also lifted weights and walked. My ankle didn’t bother me at all. Woo hoo!

After lounging around the house a while, I decided to go shopping at the mall and to some other places.

I haven’t bought any clothes in a while, but I found a tank top and two shirts at the Gap–all for $20. My husband thinks the black and white top looks too much like my other “French girl” shirts but I disagree. I love these t-shirts from Gap. The material, cut and prints all are wonderful.

I also picked up a free Hand Relief at Aveda (with a coupon I got in the mail) and some foundation (back to using what has always worked for me–Double Wear in Sand) and received the gift from Estee Lauder with a cute chevron bag and makeup goodies.

I ran to DSW to look for some flats, but had no luck. I then went to downtown Wauwatosa to Oro de Oliva (more on that later this week) and finally I popped in Outpost, a local co-op grocery store. Shopping at Outpost was so nice. I found quite a few things and it had me wishing we had one close by. But, then again, when Trader Joe’s opens nearby in August, I’ll probably be there every other weekend.

Back to Outpost–I spotted this DentaTreat and called Craig to see if he thought we should get it. Karma had inflamed gums and he also has tummy troubles (besides his lung being collapsed) and this sounded perfect. It’s a powder we add to his wet food and I noticed it has acidophilus in it, which is great for his tummy. He’s had it twice so far and seems to gobble it up.

Once back home, I pulled this new spice out of the cabinet to add to the veggies I was roasting for dinner.

Chopped up the broccoli and brussels sprouts for roasting!

All done and fantastic! I swear that shopping at Outpost made me want to eat tons of veggies.

To get full use out of the oven, I mixed up this package of muffin mix.

I had one fresh out of the oven and it was delicious, of course!

Later on, I watched a few episodes of Ted Talks on Netflix. One featuring Jamie Oliver and the other, Mark Bittman.

We ended the evening with the movie The Descendents. We watched about 3/4 of it before we went to bed and finished it today. It wasn’t great, but not that bad either.

Today, I cleaned up around the house and then we drove downtown to the central library. I checked out these two books, which I probably won’t start until later this week.

Our next adventure included going to the downtown YMCA. It was such a nice facility. I loved the track. We walked three laps, which equaled 1/2 mile, did the elliptical and lifted weights. The weight machines were different than our Y, but we figured them out pretty quickly. We were hungry after and I really wanted a juice from Fresh juice bar. It was closed. I opted for some guacamole and chips from Qdoba, two bites of Craig’s Culvers burger and a Snickers custard since I hadn’t really indulged in sweets all weekend long.

Amazing Race is on, so I will end this super long post and go watch it. Good night!

Improving my sleep habits

I realize I haven’t been getting enough sleep during the work week. On the weekends, I sleep in until about 7 or 8 and go to bed around 10:45. That amount of sleep feels perfect. At work today, I wanted to eat sweets and was always hungry. To me, those two elements signal that I am not getting what I need in sleep. I currently go to bed around 10:30 and get up at 5:50, which doesn’t leave me with quite the rest my body needs. My goal for tonight is to try to get to bed by 9:30 or 9:45. Don’t know if that will happen Tuesday through Thursday nights of this week, as I am babysitting my nephews and working Wednesday/Thursday until 9 p.m. At least I will be able to sleep in on Wed/Thurs. Do you crave sweets when you are tired?

My breakfast included one of the new cereals I picked up at the grocery store on Saturday. Kellog’s Fiber Plus Antioxidants Berry Yogurt crunch cereal with fresh blueberries.

It was ok. Didn’t have a ton of flavor, even with yogurt pieces thrown in.

Lunch was leftover Baked Stuffed Shells, a peach Chobani with canned peaches on top, & a string cheese.

As I mentioned, I was craving sweets today and for some reason, that lunch didn’t fill me up completely. After a meeting, I went to buy some peanut butter cookies out of the vending machine. I think I have only bought cookies of out the work vending machine one other time. Not bad for almost three years at my job!

After work, I picked up the third and final Stieg Larsson book from the library, The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest. Maybe I will read two books in January and start my New Year’s goal off on the right foot. As for the other Larsson books–I plowed through the first one, went a bit more slowly through the second and who knows how fast I will read this third and final book by Larsson. He is an excellent writer and I wish he was still around to share more intriguing stories with the world.

Can’t wait to log off of the computer, bake some chocolate chip cookies (so I don’t have to buy any from the vending machine) and dig into this book tonight! Besides Friday, it is truly my only relaxing night this week, so I am going to enjoy it.

Since it was snowing out before and when I left work, the drive home was slow going and I didn’t make it to Boot Camp in time. I just headed to the YMCA on my own and did 25 minutes on the recumbent bike while watching the HGTV dream home special–love watching all of the beautiful touches they add to those houses! I also did 10 minutes on the stair stepper, which I must say is a good workout because I was sweating after those 10 minutes! I also lifted some free weights for my arms.

I already knew what I wanted for dinner when I got home from the gym. My co-worker had some buffalo wings for lunch today and the smell made me want some myself. I had the third and final gardein product in my freezer to try out–meatless buffalo wings. I paired them with a side of baby carrots, broccoli and pepper jack cheese.

They were pretty good! Nice and spicy. I added a little Frank’s Red Hot too, because I’m obsessed like that.

I blogged early tonight and it’s time to read a few blogs, log off, bake and read! Good night! Don’t know if I’ll be able to blog at all tomorrow, but if not, I’ll catch up on Wednesday morning before heading to work.

Wine and dark chocolate=the best medicine

I am finally feeling a little better. The afternoon of rest and relaxation is certainly what I needed.

Craig and I had a nice dinner together and I had spent my evening reading the newspaper (I’m always behind on reading the Sunday newspaper, except for the ads, of course).

I picked up this Dubliner cheese at Aldi and it is really good. I have had it before, but not for a couple of years. The price was probably half of what it costs at other stores.

I had snacked on a few slices of the Dubliner cheese and then decided to include it in my random dinner creation.

I added slices of cheese to toasted Arnold’s Thins and topped one of the slices with Trader Joe’s Bruschetta.

I also had some broccoli and baby carrots on the side to get more veggies in my diet. I enjoyed another small glass of the Bolthouse Farm Berry Boost smoothie (also available at Aldi’s currently).

Later in the evening, I felt like having some wine. I paired it with some Newman’s Own Organics Dark Chocolate. I only had about three small squares because the flavor hit the spot perfectly and I didn’t have any more cravings for something sweet. Maybe this combination could be the medicine that cures me of feeling sick anymore this week.

2011 is fast approaching and so many other bloggers are putting their goals or resolutions out there. I would like to come up with some to hold myself accountable. I already have a few in mind and probably will blog them on Friday. If you have any big goals for 2011, please share them to inspire me and other readers!

I like what Paige at Running Around Normal did with her 2011 goals. I especially liked how she reflected on her 2010 goals and whether or not she achieved them–this is the best way to be accountable for your actions if you are going to put your goals out there in the blogosphere. Like Paige did, breaking some of the goals into certain parts of the year always seems to work for me. Then there are other goals or resolutions that you just try to achieve throughout the year. I am excited to write down some goals and work towards an even healthier 2011.

Well, it’s getting late and this girl definitely needs sleep so I can make it into work and have energy for tomorrow.

Lazy Friday

Well I guess I wasn’t that lazy yesterday, but it felt like a nice, relaxing Friday.

I ate lots of leftovers…my quinoa recipe for breakfast.

I am not much of a Black Friday girl (more of a Cyber Monday gal), but Craig wanted to go to a music store to buy his Christmas present for himself with a percentage off that doesn’t come along too often. He dropped me off at a department store because they had a coupon for $10 off any $10 item. Of course, so many things were not applicable with the coupon, so I didn’t find anything. I gave my coupon away when I left the store. The crowds were bad, but I was just happy I didn’t have to go anywhere else, so I didn’t mind.

Lunch was cheesy potatoes, green bean casserole and stuffing. Holy carbs! No wonder I wanted to snack the rest of the day. Eek. I need to get back to my normal eating habits.