This Saturday I…

…played tennis against Craig and lost again! It was another good workout and we happily skipped the gym and traded it for an awesome outdoor workout.

I washed my car by hand when we got home and then I mixed up Fitmixer amino acids in Fruit Punch for the first time!

The taste was delicious and I felt a bit full from the drink.

I also went online and did this today, so now I have a 1500 calorie meal plan to follow if I want to.

I played with Karma for a bit. He was asking for pets all afternoon.

My July Birchbox arrived today! Spoiler alert up next.

I liked all of the items I received this month. Can’t wait to try out the new goodies.

I was so excited when I saw that I got headphones in my Birchbox. I needed a new pair to keep in my gym bag and these actually match my iPhone case and the iPod nano I use at the gym. I tried them out already and the sound quality isn’t as good as the headphones that come with Apple products, but I adjusted the equalizer and they do sound a bit better.

I also researched trips to Europe because my mom and I might go next spring. She’s never been to Germany, Austria or Switzerland and my dad and Craig don’t really want to go, so I’ll happily travel with my mom.

I get the travel bug and then start to excitedly research a bit early. We need to decide if we’re going to go on a guided tour or if I will just organize the whole thing, which I have done many times before. It kind of would be nice to sit back and let someone else do the work this time. Plus, we’d get to more destinations with a tour.

Here is my favorite route so far. It even includes a night in Lugano, which would allow me to show my mom where I lived for 6 months!

And then I made a Target run for the $1 Chobani before the sale expires tonight and I was pleased to find some new jean shorts that are better than the ones I purchased last weekend.

We’re just staying in tonight. I think I am going to watch Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close and just chill out on the couch. Hope your weekend is going well!

Lunch at Cafe Manna, Brookfield

This afternoon, I met Karis for lunch at Cafe Manna in Brookfield. It was her first time eating there and my fifth or sixth.

It’s one of the only 100% vegetarian restaurants in the area and it was the first of its kind in Southeastern Wisconsin. Due to the fact that I can choose anything on the menu and am guaranteed to like the ingredients and flavor, it is one of my favorite restaurants in the Milwaukee area. Karis felt the same way since we both eat a mostly vegetarian diet and don’t love meat.

source

I had the Tu-No melt which according to their website is “a tasty blend of tempeh, celery, cashews, red pepper and dill. Topped with nut cheese and grilled on rye bread. Served with fresh fruit.” I loved the flavor of the sandwich and the fruit salad on the side was refreshing.

Karis had the Cafe Manna burger, which I recommended to her and she ended up loving it too. We both had limonades, which is what I always drink when I go there because I love the ingredients in it and the flavor. Their description of that is as follows: “A nutritious lemonade-style drink made with fresh limes, kale, swiss chard, pear, agave nectar and purified water. This refreshing drink contains live enzymes and a healthy supply of vitamins and minerals for natural energy.”

I always look forward to returning to Cafe Manna and trying something new or going back to an old favorite, like the Cafe Manna burger. The restaurant never disappoints!

After I left Cafe Manna, I was feeling nostalgic, so I drove through my old hometown of New Berlin and past the house I grew up in for half of my life. I decided since I wasn’t too far away from it, I would stop by Target in the area and see if they still had Chobani on sale and the new flavors in stock. My friend Laurie tipped me off because I haven’t been able to find the new flavors in any other stores. Turns out they had the new flavors, but only Apple Cinnamon in stock, so I got a couple of those to try. I am really itching to try Blood Orange.

I brought home some new books to read courtesy of Karis. She is always nice enough to pass on ones she has recently read and share them with me. Like she said, she’s been in a very French mood lately. I loved Paris and enjoy reminiscing about the trip I took there through books.

I found this free sample in the mail when I got home. I’ll try it tomorrow before the gym and let you know what I think.

As for the rest of the weekend, it’s all relaxing at home from here on out, which is fine with me. I’ll probably start a new book that I just got via the digital library. Craig and I are going to play boggle on the iPad tonight and try to find a movie on Netflix to watch instantly via the Wii.

Hope your weekend has been enjoyable so far!

Mmm nutella hot chocolate

I’m having a good week! It’s just flying by so quickly since I was off on Monday and have to work Saturday.

I haven’t blogged much because I’ve been hitting the gym instead. I’ve gotten in some good workouts this week and I have felt so energetic.

Today’s lunch was an Amy’s Light & Lean Spinach Lasagna. I contacted the company about trying some of the new Light & Lean line and they sent me some coupons!

I was warming up this lasagna in the office and kept smelling faint scents of garlic and tomato sauce. One of my co-workers said that the smell of my lunch made her hungry for hers.

The taste of the meal was wonderful too. Didn’t taste light, tasted just right. Except for Amy’s products, I don’t buy frozen meals anymore. I love her veggie pot pies too.

Here’s the nutrition facts.

Craig and I ran some errands tonight after work. Had a delicious Jimmy John’s sub for dinner, picked up some presents and then went to Target.

I got some nutella there to make Nutella Hot Chocolate tonight. Of course, I saw it on Pinterest and knew I would have to make it this winter. I LOVE nutella and have to abstain from buying it because I find myself eating it out of the jar when I have a chocolate craving. This hot cocoa was rich and lovely.

His and hers.

Target has an amazing deal on Starbucks coffee right now. Use your manufacturer coupons to get $4 off your total, get a $5 Target gift card for buying three bags, fill out a form online or via mail to get a $5 Starbucks gift card and then, bring your empty bags into Starbucks to get three free cups of coffee. Score!

It’s getting late! Gotta get ready for bed and for my day tomorrow. Hope you’re having a good week!

A baby shower, trip to Target, and a nice walk outside

Hope your Sunday has been good!

We went for a bike ride this morning and it felt good to get out on our bikes again. We didn’t go far though because it looked like it was going to rain.

After working on a lengthy blog post this morning, I got ready to head to a baby shower for Craig’s cousin, Amber.

No food pictures, but I did have Craig snap this one of me with my baby, Karma, before leaving.

My lunch at the shower was a smattering of green salad, fruit salad, taco salad, cheese, and tomatoes. No pictures of my food because I was sitting by Craig’s grandma and she probably would have been a little weirded out by me taking pics of my meal!

We played lots of fun baby shower games. One of them involved each of us cutting a piece of string that we thought would fit best around Amber’s belly. Mine was close, but didn’t win!

Another game had us all receiving this cute little mini “diaper” and whomever had the brown marker stain in it, or “the poop,” won a prize.

Amber opened lots of nice gifts–cute clothes for her little girl and not too many pink items, as she requested. She got this need framed print of her baby’s name, her and her husband’s names, and other words printed on it. Loved that idea! So personal!

The funniest game we played was this one and you’ll see why from the picture.

We had to try to draw a picture of the baby on the paper plate while keeping it on our head the whole time.

And the last game–we had to write down as many baby things as we could in five minutes. I came up with 32 and the winner got 39. I did pretty well for someone who doesn’t have kids! I guess I have been around babies so much my whole life, that it isn’t hard to think of all of the little things they need.

Can’t wait to meet her little baby girl when she arrives in late September!

After the shower, Craig and I went to Target. For once, I didn’t go with a list of food or household items I needed to buy. Craig needed some pants and I looked in the clothes section too–coming away with a pair of dressy dark jeans that fit perfectly, a black skirt that will be great for traveling because it’s the material that never wrinkles, and a gray dressier sweatshirt that may just be perfect for yoga or fall walks outside.

I also looked around at cell phones at Target because I need to switch from Sprint to a new carrier in October. I love the idea of picking out a new phone, but hate finding a new carrier. I had luck with Sprint for years, but my mom and I both use it and find that the reception is not so great lately. I swear it’s not our phones either. I am debating about whether or not I should get a data plan. I don’t really “need it” but it would be nice to have on occasion.

Instead of going to the gym tonight, I just went for a solo 20 minute walk outside while listening to the Dishing Up Nutrition podcast. I always learn so much from those podcasts! The other day, I learned that I probably should ask about why I have been on my acid reflux medicine so long, because the nutritionists said that no one should be on the med I am for more than four months. I think I have been on it for two years now. Eek! Today’s episode got me thinking about eliminating gluten, dairy, or soy from my diet and seeing if that helps me feel less bloated and sick at times. It’s so addictive to listen to those podcasts in particular, but maybe it’s my genuine interest in nutrition and health.

This post is getting wordy and chatty, so I better end it. I need to finish up my Kodak gallery post tonight too.

Food conversations at Target

Boy, what a busy Monday it was for me at work. I was running around non-stop. Just when the fax machine would go off (I get most of the faxes), the phone would ring, or a new e-mail would come in.

Luckily, meditating really has seemed to help me control my stress levels at work and also helps me think more clearly. I am sure it has helped in many other ways too!

I started off my Monday with Stonyfield French Vanilla yogurt, berries, and chia seeds. This filled me up!

I snacked on an iced coffee and a string cheese at work mid-morning.

I had a big salad with spinach, feta, and red peppers, topped with Italian dressing for lunch. I also had some baby carrots and a vanilla activia.

After eating and reading some blogs, I started The Hunger Games. Craig has been reading it on his kindle, but he’s a slower reader than me and I couldn’t wait to read it!

So, I picked it up from the library just in time for our upcoming trip up north, where we will be doing lots of reading. I wanted to get a head start on it so I can get into a bit before we are at the cottage. Hope it’s a good read! I like it so far.

A Target trip was in order after work. I got out my “All Out Of” list and coupons and was ready to conquer my list! I was on a mission to get some essentials, a few food items, and to use up some coupons! Love my coupons! I actually never bought a coupon organizer from etsy in the end. I just use this cute and cheery Clinique cosmetic bag and filled it with labeled envelopes full of coupons. It works perfectly!

While at Target, I heard one interesting food related conversation and participated in one. I overheard a young mom say to her two boys that she wasn’t buying them scooby fruit snacks because those particular fruit snacks had artificial ingredients in them. She told them, “you wouldn’t understand, but I buy things that are natural and I read the labels to make sure certain packaged foods are good choices.” They kind of whined and then she said, “you’ll understand someday.” I smiled at her as she said this and thought to myself, what a good mom!

The food conversation I participated in was at the checkout. My cashier saw that I was buying cheap balsamic vinegar. Even though it is from Italy, I am sure it’s nothing special. I just needed some to make salad dressing with and to drizzle on my quinoa. She recommended Oro di Oliva in Wauwatosa. She was so excited to share the details of how you can taste conventional olive oil and vinegar vs. Oro di Oliva’s and really taste the difference! I’ll have to check it out soon.

When I got home from Target, I found this lovely package on our back door step! I kind of squealed with joy upon seeing it! I am sampling five different flavors of Food Should Taste Good chips. The company was also generous enough to give five bags to a lucky reader. I’ll post that giveaway a week from today on the 18th, so check back then if you love these chips as much as I do!

We’ll definitely be sampling those up north too! Craig is a major chip eater, while I tend to only care for these more healthy ones and pita chips. I told him he can’t scarf down all of these bags, I must sample them for the blog!

Dinner tonight was boring frozen pizza. I had a larabar at work before leaving, so I wasn’t too hungry. I needed to eat something quickly before heading to the gym.

At the gym, I biked for a half hour while reading an old issue of Health magazine. They showed a drawing of the Bulgarian Split Squat and I decided to try it out when I was done biking.

If you haven’t seen this move before, here is what it looks like:

source

I enjoyed doing this exercise and will definitely incorporate it into my gym routine more often.

It’s almost bedtime, so time for me to sign off. Hope you had a good Monday.

Trade ups

What a relaxing day off it’s been so far! Today’s title is “trade ups” and you’ll see why.

I woke up at the same time as Craig and had a big bowl of Chobani, berries, and granola for breakfast.

While looking at the huge strawberries from Sam’s Club this morning, Craig and I wondered the same thing at about the same time (which is pretty common for us). Why are our strawberries so small compared to the ones you get in the store? We thought it was some kind of growth promoting chemical (not sure how else to describe it) that the farmers use. Anyone know?

After breakfast, I just lounged while watching the Today show and reading blogs. I also entered some giveaways, one of which I won today from Will Jog for Food! This is what I scored. Sweet! Of the items I won, I have only had larabars before, so I can’t wait to report back on how the other products are.

I didn’t feel like going to the gym this morning, so I ran errands instead.

I traded this:

For this at Starbucks. I wanted an iced coffee, but you can only trade the empty bag in for a hot coffee.

I went to Target to try on some dresses (fail, none looked great) and to buy misc. things like toothpaste, lotion with SPF in it, conditioner, and some nickel free earrings.

After my Target run, I finally went to Little India grocery store. I pass it on my way to the gym and have always wanted to check it out. It offered a nice selection of Indian foods! Lots of huge bags of basamati rice for only $10 or $15.

I picked up Ghee and a boxed Paneer Tikka Masala. Now I just need to get some more ingredients to make one of the recipes from my Indian cooking class.

I traded these ugly toes and feet:

For these beautifully polished, well-scrubbed, lotioned, and massaged feet/legs. Aaah, I love to treat myself to pedicures but I very rarely get them.

Once home, I enjoyed lunch outside while reading an old Women’s Health from the library. Notice my main man on the cover!

Lunch was pretty much the same as yesterday–a turkey sandwich with cheese and mixed greens on a french baguette. We have a huge bag of grape tomatoes to use up, so I had a bowl of those on the side. My drink was a Bolthouse Farms strawberry banana smoothie.

I’ve rested my stomach long enough and I think it’s time to take a bike ride. It’s such a lovely day outside that I hate to waste it indoors!

Hope you wonderful readers are having a great Friday!

Moist and delicious banana bread

As always, where did this weekend go? Too bad we didn’t get to do too much outside due to the dreary weather we’ve been having in Milwaukee.

Did my usual Sunday morning thing–meditated, ate breakfast and watched CBS Sunday Morning.

Breakfast was an egg on a TJ’s sandwich thin with jack cheese, jalapenos, and Frank’s Red Hot sauce. Yum! I love eggs with jalapenos.

I really want to get back to doing Body Pump on Sunday mornings, but with my nose now being so stuffy, I figured it wasn’t the best thing for me today.

Instead, I showered and decided to run my errands. I went to Target and Pick N’ Save. I needed some produce, so I picked up a bunch of it at Pick N’ Save. I also got lunch meat, skim milk, Sun Chips, blue corn chips, and yogurt at Target. Oh and gummy bears and Milka chocolate somehow made it into my cart!

I wasn’t feeling the whole shopping thing today even though the stores seemed empty to me.

I ate this when I got home. Just can’t seem to get sick of the Vegetable Masala burgers this week.

Then it was time to bake! I had three dark bananas and had been waiting to make banana bread with them.

Please excuse the big hole I created by testing the middle with a knife!

Even though I knew I was going to make banana bread, I didn’t have a recipe picked out yet. Luckily, myrecipes.com tweeted a bunch of banana bread recipes this morning and I bookmarked the tweet. I used the Classic Banana Bread recipe from Cooking Light.

The only alterations I made to the recipe below were that I used whole wheat flour and not all-purpose, I added three heaping scoops of ground flax seeds, and I used Chobani plain greek yogurt instead of regular plain yogurt.

Ingredients

* 2 cups all-purpose flour
* 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 1 cup sugar
* 1/4 cup butter, softened
* 2 large eggs
* 1 1/2 cups mashed ripe banana (about 3 bananas)
* 1/3 cup plain low-fat yogurt
* 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
* Cooking spray

Preparation

* Preheat oven to 350°.
* Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine the flour, baking soda, and salt, stirring with a whisk.
* Place sugar and butter in a large bowl, and beat with a mixer at medium speed until well blended (about 1 minute). Add the eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Add banana, yogurt, and vanilla; beat until blended. Add flour mixture; beat at low speed just until moist. Spoon batter into an 8 1/2 x 4 1/2-inch loaf pan coated with cooking spray. Bake at 350° for 1 hour or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes in pan on a wire rack; remove from pan. Cool completely on wire rack.

It turned out really moist and delicious! I definitely recommend this recipe.

After watching a movie in the afternoon, I finally got my butt to the gym. I wasn’t feeling it because of my stuffy nose, but I went anyway. Glad I did because once I am there, I am always fine. I did 25 minutes on the elliptical, a full circuit of weights, squats on the bosu, and crunches on the Swiss ball.

It was late when I got home and I didn’t have much of an appetite, but I put together a nice salad that contained spinach, chickpeas, feta cheese, tomatoes, cucumbers, & artichokes. I topped it with balsamic vinegar and olive oil.

Dessert was gummy bears and a slice of banana bread.

And now I am watching one of my favorite movies because I am a big bird lover, Winged Migration. I usually turn on the TV while I blog and I still had PBS on, which just so happened to start that movie at the exact time I turned the TV on.

Better read some blogs, catch up on the Sunday newspaper and then get to bed early. Another week awaits!

With another work week upon most of us, it’s good to remember this quote from Onward by Howard Schultz (of Starbucks).

Lunch and shopping with Mom

Happy Sunday! Boy did this weekend fly by. Today especially did because I wasn’t home for most of it. I could use another day off.

Breakfast was Crunchy Nut cereal and coffee.

Craig and I went on a walk around the neighborhood this morning. We ran for a bit too and that’s always fun to do together.

We need a case for our Kindle, so we went to Best Buy to check out their selection. They had some nice ones, but nothing we’d purchase on the spot because we are both researchers who like to take a lot of time with selecting products like that.

So, the Kindle was purchased for us to share. Then, Craig got to thinking that we may want to each have our own because there is a sweet Mother’s Day deal on them right now. $189 for the 3G one, with a $25 Amazon gift card included in the purchase. I actually signed up for an Amazon credit card last night, so I have a $30 credit waiting for me too. In the end, the 3G Kindle would be a really good deal right now and it would be great to have our own for going to work, reading at night, trips, etc. I may order another tonight and then the 3G would be mine.

I drove out to my parents’ house around 11:30 and picked up my mom to head to lunch. She’s turning the big 72 tomorrow, so I wanted to spend part of today with her.

We went to Pal’s Ice Cream Shoppe and Grille in Genesee Depot.

Totally cute house and really nice staff.

Love this gazebo!

And the inside was beautiful too, especially the door moulding.

Lunch was a Vegetable Pita with cucumber sauce and fries. I haven’t had french fries in ages and these were really good.

Mom had the same thing.

I took more pictures after lunch. I went a little camera crazy today.

When we walked into the restaurant, an older couple was sitting here, enjoying their lunch. When we left, the lady said to us, “do you want a tour?” She told us she used to live in the house and was giving us the background on which room was what in the old house. It must have been a beautiful house to live in! How weird to come back to a house you used to live in and it’s now converted into a restaurant!

Loved this sign about giving your children candy in their lunch every day.

Mom and I then did what we do best together–we shopped! We just ran to Marshall’s, Kohl’s and Target in Delafield. I had already found a beautiful floral scarf for only $15 in Genesee Depot at a really cute store there called The Pink Shopping Bag Boutique. I got black Tommy Hillfiger shorts at Marshall’s and mom got gardening gloves. Kohl’s disappointed me because I had high hopes to get the Oxo mixing bowls and a silcone pastry brush, but figured out that Bed Bath and Beyond will be cheaper for those items with their coupons. At Target, I just got my gummy multivitamins and some Target brand vanilla calcium and Vitamin D chews. I scoped out their Kindle cases too.

Phew! I was tired after shopping, but had to help my mom with some computer things, such as how to use a USB drive and how to download photographs to the computer. I barely got to visit with my dad, but today was dedicated to my mom anyway.

When I got home, I was wiped and took a nap. Too long of a nap because I skipped the gym AGAIN. No more slacking–this week was definitely a big rest week, even though I did exercise outside this morning, it’s not the same as going to the gym. I miss it, I just seem to feel like the days are flying by and I am choosing not to go to the gym and do other things instead.

I wasn’t too hungry for dinner. I spoiled my appetite with two Nutella cookies and then was good and had a blueberry Chobani.

Ok, this was a long post so speaking of doing other things, I need to manage my time. I’ll go plan my workout schedule for the week, post it and also get back to watching Amazing Race.

Yoga before running = success!

Happy Thursday everyone! Hope you all have fun plans for Easter weekend. I took off of work tomorrow because my husband has off and I just needed a mental health day.

My breakfast-I didn’t feel like making stovetop oats today, we didn’t have much in terms of cereal selection, so I improvised. I made an egg white, cut up some grape tomatoes, and had a peach chobani yogurt. I used almond milk in my coffee today and it tasted good, so that might be my new replacement for half and half.

Couldn’t resist taking a picture of this. I received it in a free sample I received in the mail from International Delight (well from Vocalpoint). My happy time was obviously 5 p.m. for the day because I would be home from work by then and today is my Friday!

I was really craving a coffee at work, but I resisted and had a peppermint tea instead. My snack was a Cran Bran Vita top. I started eating and then decided to warm it up in the microwave. Smart move because this improved the flavor immensely! I am going to warm up or toast the vita tops from now on. Loved the Cran Bran flavor.

Lunch was a Morningstar black bean veggie burger on an Arnold’s Thin, string cheese and some applesauce. Dessert was a hershey’s chocolate bunny from a co-worker.

After work, I went to Target and was so excited to check out the expanded grocery section of the Target I pass on my way home from work. I know, I am a total Target and foodie dork. At least I know this and can admit it. The new sections of the store were laid out and lit so beautifully. They had a lot of (cheap) produce and their prices on Chobani weren’t bad either. I was only disappointed at the fact that they didn’t have the big Chobanis. Oh and I found Bonne Maman wild blueberry preserves at a good price too. Score!

While there, I used a free coupon for Bagel Thins that I received from the company and got a package of whole wheat flavor.

Loved the flavor of the bagel thin and the fact that it was only 110 calories.

Dinner was a bagel thin with ham, swiss cheese and a side of strawberries.

Then it was off to yoga for an hour! It was a good class, per usual. I felt strong and flexible today, but my back did ache during the class and the stretching helped a lot.

After class, I wanted to go on the bike and read a magazine. Both of the bikes I prefer were taken, so I improvised and threw the biking idea out the window. Instead, I did what I was supposed to do in my 10k training schedule and I ran for 25 minutes on the treadmill and walked for two minutes. I covered 2.18 miles and I felt so strong and great. Like the subject of this post says, maybe yoga before running equals success!? If that’s the case, I better do yoga the morning of my race to stretch everything out!

At the gym, someone was watching Sex and the City on TV and I instantly wanted to watch a couple of episodes. I knew what I was going to do when I got home! I couldn’t wait to pop in the second season.

And now I better go catch up with Miranda and Steve and watch their first encounter! Were you ever obsessed with Sex and the City like I was? I have all of the seasons on DVD except season five I think. It’s fun watching the episodes this evening because I haven’t seen the show in a while and it’s like they are all new to me now.

Spring has arrived!

Hooray–signs of spring were everywhere today! I went for a walk around the block for a break during my work day and didn’t wear a coat because it was near 60 degrees out. I left work with the windows down and enjoyed the sun beating down on my face. The snow is FINALLY melting bit by bit.

Craig and I went for a walk around our neighborhood for the first time since November. There were birds chirping in the trees and I saw and heard a beautiful robin chirping in the tree above us, which made me so happy.

Breakfast was Chobani plain non-fat greek yogurt with sliced almonds and honey.

Snack at work was the granola bar I made on Sunday plus a yogi green tea kombucha. I read the Food section of the paper while I took a break with my snacks.

Lunch featured an Amy’s vegetable pot pie, an applesauce and a Kind Dark Chocolate cherry cashew bar because I wanted something sweet. It was a yummy flavor! Very dessert like and hard to stop eating. This one featured 14g of sugar, 4g of protein and came in at 180 calories. Total fat was 9 g.

After work, I decided to run some errands and use this as my rest day instead of heading to the gym. I went to Kohl’s to use a coupon that expired today. I also shopped for toasters and took a picture of this model to do some research on it. We need a new toaster badly, but my husband and I are both researchers, so I need to look some models up online before buying. Oh and I need the magical 30% off Kohl’s coupon before I consider buying a toaster from Kohl’s!

I also ran to Target for some other things. Per usual, I spent about $50 on random things after I just went in for some laundry detergent, toilet paper and febreeze. I finally broke down and bought some Cadbury mini eggs, so I snacked on those when I got in the car. They are my favorite Easter candy of all time.

Dinner was two pierogi with brussell sprouts, tomatoes and part of a french baguette.

Dessert was a mint chocolate chip ice cream sandwich.

I’m really tired & have a headache (which I rarely get), so I am going to sign off now, read my book and go to bed early tonight.