A busy Monday

Rewind to yesterday afternoon/last night. I accomplished what I consider the two worst chores (besides mopping the kitchen and bathroom)–I scrubbed the shower and I vacuumed my car out. I love my cats but I hate the amount of cat hair that sticks to my car seats and clothes. It felt good to get both chores done though.

After the chores, I treated myself to some relaxing time in the kitchen. I was reading blogs on Google Reader and Julie’s almond butter granola caught my eye. I had some Trader Joe’s almond butter to use up in the fridge, so I figured I should whip up a batch of granola.

It turned out ok. I think where I went wrong is using up the bottom of the almond butter jar. It didn’t blend together as well as I had hoped, even after melting the honey and almond butter together. I kind of like the clumps that I got as a result though.

I had granola with milk for breakfast this morning.

Once I got to work this morning, I sort of regretted taking off for two days last week. My e-mail box was full & I felt overwhelmed and stressed all day. Then, I had a new intern beginning today and had to prepare for her 8:30 start time. I got things sorted out for her first day and she did very well. I love when interns impress me right away because I can usually tell that they’ll work out within the first day. I have one more intern starting on Wednesday and I think she’ll be great too. Coming up with tasks for someone else is always so stressful for me. Glad I am not a manager! Enough about work. Let’s move on to more fun things like lunch, even though mine was pretty normal.

I had TJ’s pizza, salad, and strawberries for lunch.

The good thing about being busy today meant that I didn’t have time to snack mindlessly. The bad thing? I didn’t drink much water.

I drank this whole tea when I got home from work because I felt super dehydrated. Loved this flavor! I am bringing a huge container of it to work tomorrow for an intern luncheon. Glad I didn’t offer to cook anything because I am too tired tonight.

Dinner was the pomegranate Chobani pictured above, a veggie masala burger without a bun, and a Soy chocolate mini ice cream sandwich from Trader Joe’s.

After lounging a bit and meditating, I got my tired butt to the gym. I lifted some weights, rowed for 11 minutes and walked on the treadmill. My bad ankle was really bugging me during the end of my rowing session, so I took it easy the rest of the time. Going to the gym lifted my Monday blues, as always. Love that I can count on the gym, my wonderful husband and seeing my cute cuties to always do that.

It’s late, so I am going to sign off!

Donuts, Strawberries, and the Crohn’s/Colitis Walk

I felt like unplugging a bit this weekend, but I am back with a recap.

On Friday, I had to participate in National Donut Day by going to Dunkin’ Donuts to get a large iced coffee and a chocolate creme donut (which was free with the purchase of a large or extra large drink).

After work, I went to Trader Joe’s to stock up. For once, the store wasn’t jam packed, so it made for some nice shopping.

It was hot out, but cooled off later in the evening, so Craig and I took a nice walk around a neighborhood next to us.

Then it was time for a new episode Food Revolution! In case you missed it, here is what I took away from the episode.

-I forget if Jamie said this or if someone else did, but the question of “Why can’t we do better?” was raised in regards to food in our schools.
-I was prompted to think, “Why does the governmenet allow bad food in cafeterias?”
-It is clear that Jamie and others in this country have a passion for good, nutritious food, but they face resistance to implement using this food in restaurants and schools.
-Fear is stopping progress. I think Jamie said this during the episode.
-Jamie showed the need to educate kids on food education in schools. Why aren’t we doing this, especially when facing an obesity epidemic in this country?

On Saturday, I slept in a bit, relaxed around the house, and then made it to the gym by 10:30. I stayed there for an hour and a half and did a full circuit of weights, 35 minutes on the elliptical, and rowed for 10 minutes.

Later in the afternoon, we braved the heat and went to the West Allis Farmer’s Market.

We found lots of flowers and vegetable plants for sale.

The only veggie for sale for consumption was spinach. I’ll return to the market when more veggies and fruits are for sale.

We went there with the hopes of getting a hanging strawberry basket. We found one for $15, which may be kind of expensive, but we decided to experiment this year. If the basket is successful, we’ll buy our own plants and put them in the basket next year. Can’t wait for fresh strawberries from our backyard!

We have little bunnies in our backyard, so we figured having the strawberries hanging would be better than having them in containers, which allows easier access to the berries.

I also made Banana-Blueberry Bread from this book.

I like her “skinny tips” at the bottom of the recipe.

And I like that she includes nutritional information.

It turned out really well! Nice and moist and I like the addition of the blueberries.

And onto today. Had this for breakfast. Oh my gosh is that cereal addictive!

I am going to head to the gym for Body Pump this morning. I haven’t done it in a while and after reading parts of The New Rules of Lifting for Women, I am convinced I need to do it more often.

Later on today, I am meeting my friend Danielle for the Crohn’s and Colitis walk at Miller Park.

I did it for the first time last year and since I have Ulcerative Colitis, I need to support research efforts by walking and donating money to the cause. I wish the walk had as good as a turnout as the Breast Cancer walks in Milwaukee, but they market the hell out of those walks and women feel compelled to walk together.

Hope you have an excellent Sunday!

Lucky Friday!

Happy Friday everyone! This week went by quickly! I hope the weekend goes by slowly. Tomorrow, I must clean the house, go to Craig’s grandma’s b-day party, grocery shop and then relax and read my book. On Sunday, we have to devote the day to taxes and I plan to start by 10k training.

Breakfast was strawberry waffles and coffee.

At work, I needed a Friday pick me up, so I got an almond latte. I can’t get used to drinking those fancy drinks and I need to go back to my peppermint tea.

Lunch was applesauce and a pb&j sandwich. I had a cookie for dessert.

I always read blogs on my lunch break and was so excited to see that I won Food Snob STL’s “favorite things” giveaway! I won justin’s almond/chocolate butter packets (which I also love), KIND bars (love and eat all the time), a meal/grocery planner notepad (totally need this badly) and raw honey (will definitely use).

It was definitely a lucky day! I came home to find a lovely package in my front door! Vitalicious was kind enough to send me some of their products.

Yum, can’t wait to try these! I put all but one in the freezer. I am saving that one for tomorrow morning!

When I get home from work, I often just want a little snack. Today, I had a few cheese curds.

My workout was 10 minutes of rowing, some weight machines and 25 minutes of biking while reading Health magazine.

I wasn’t too hungry for dinner, so I just had a mini bagel with an egg white and cheddar cheese and some red grapes on the side.

Now Craig and I are geeking out. He likes watching Shark Tank and we both are being geeky and watching a PBS show called “Electric Dreams” where a family goes back in time with the technology in their house and they see how things change from the 1970′s to current times. It’s the history nerd in me that loves this type of show! It’s so interesting to see how technology really does isolate the family members over time. I hate that it does that, but then again, here I am blogging away for the last hour on a Friday evening when I could be reading a book I have to finish by Wednesday.

Do you embrace technology or have you found it has isolated people at work and at home more over time? What is your favorite piece of technology? Mine definitely is my iPod touch. I don’t have a fancy phone, but I love playing with my iPod touch and surfing the web when I don’t feel like pulling out my laptop.

Gardening class, massage, and work

Sometimes it’s just more difficult to post on the weekend, so here’s my recap of the last two days.

On Saturday morning, Craig and I went to a “Grow Your Own Groceries” workshop at the Zablocki library.

It was totally free and a really good class. I definitely feel like I’ll be more passionate and ready for gardening season to begin. We learned about pests, composting, when to start planting in our area, soil composition and other tips about gardening. We are going to container garden again this year because it worked well for us last year. Someday, it would be nice to have a raised bed.

We even picked out a bunch of seeds at the end of class!

Saturday’s breakfast was a mini bagel with egg whites, provolone, and Frank’s Red Hot. I also had some Chobani plain yogurt with blueberry preserves.

On the way back from our class, I snacked on a Larabar because it was nearing 12:30 and I was hungry!

Lunch was a ham, cheddar, spinach, tomato, and oregano panini and strawberries.

After lunch, I went to the Aveda Institute of Beauty and Wellness for an hour long massage. They just moved to a new location and it was really hip, yet relaxing inside.

Unfortunately, they were running late and I didn’t get into my appointment until about an hour after it was scheduled for. The masseuse I had made up for it because she did a fantastic job. I asked for deeper pressure and I got it. The interesting thing was when she told me I had crystals in my feet. That could mean many things, but it could have to do with reflexology. I guess I should rub my feet more and get the crystals out. She also said she could tell I work out a lot. My body wasn’t really that tight in areas though.

We had dinner late and I was in the mood for pasta, so I made some rotini that has servings of vegetables contained in it. This was for my husband’s sake more than my own.

I made some Nature’s Pride toast, cut it in half, and covered it with earth balance and garlic powder.

We watched part of the movie “The Town” last night and finished the other half tonight. It was better than we both expected.

This morning’s breakfast was plain old Cheerios with some coffee. It’s going to be hard, but I may stop using half and half in my coffee when it runs out. I think it will be better for me, but I also just have to get used to the taste of black coffee.

I also had a bite of a cashew cookie Larabar before going to the YMCA.

I had a really good workout. I stayed for an hour and a half and felt like I could have done more, had I had the time.

I biked for 15 minutes while reading Health; lifted weights and can tell I am getting stronger because my old settings seem too light; ran on the treadmill and felt really good doing that; rowed for 6 minutes and then stretched.

After stretching, I looked outside and thought it was snowing. Then I saw the huge chunks falling from the sky and realized it was hail. We got a really bad hail storm today. It was not fun to drive home on and felt like a fresh coat of snow and ice.

I was hungry when I got home! I had an egg white with cheddar on a mini bagel and made an awesome chocolate banana protein smoothie.

I was still hungry before going to work this afternoon, so I had a raspberry chobani yogurt. It was my first time trying raspberry and it didn’t disappoint!

I worked an event for almost three hours and then got of there because I was itching to be home.

We made pizza for dinner–boboli with mozzarella, pepperoni, and I added spinach and broccoli to my half.

Only two pieces for me so I can save the rest for my work lunch tomorrow!

Well, it’s getting late and I need to clean the house a bit before going to bed early. If I learned anything from last Sunday night, it’s that I need to get to bed earlier on a Sunday so I don’t feel tired and cranky on a Monday.

Hope you all had a great weekend!