Busy, but productive Saturday

As my title says, it was a very busy day by choice, but felt so nice and productive. At about 6:20, when we were sitting down and having dinner together, I said to Craig, “wow, this day went by so slowly, but in a good way because I got so much done.” Love those kind of days!

I woke up, meditated and then had a craving for oatmeal, so that’s what I made.

I wanted to go to yoga, but by the time I ate, it was getting late and I was SO full from the oatmeal. I decided to stay home instead and clean. I was in one of my cleaning moods, so I threw laundry in, dusted, washed dishes, cleaned counters and the kitchen table, vacuumed, swept and got the kitchen ready for mopping. I managed to read my book in between cleaning too.

I wasn’t too hungry for a “real” lunch, so I had a pomegranate chobani and a triple chocolate chunk vita top.

The vita top was delicious, as expected! Very chocolaty!

Then I was off to Craig’s grandma’s 90th birthday party. I went late, after the meal was over, because I really didn’t want to pay $15 to have the meal choice they offered and there was no vegetarian option. They had fried chicken, ham, mashed potatoes, green beans, etc. I wouldn’t have enjoyed the meat and it probably would have upset my stomach. I just had a few bites of birthday cake.

Here is my sister-in-law, Grandma, and Craig.

After the party, I headed to Pick N’ Save to get some groceries on double double coupon day. I could double 10 coupons, which was great because we needed oatmeal, cereal, clementines, olive oil, etc. and I was able to save a lot of money today.

Then it was time to mop the floors! I really hate this chore more than any other in the house. It takes so much time to clear everything out and we just have a small kitchen and bathroom!

Seeing shiny, clean floors made me happy though.

I felt like the energizer bunny today. The next thing I did was lace up my running shoes and get outside for a 15 minute run.

It felt so good to run outside opposed to the treadmill. I just wish I had a garmin to see what my pace was and the distance I completed. I know they aren’t that much money, but I am not sure it is worth the investment for me. Especially because I couldn’t use it at the gym in the winter.

Clearly this is a (shiny) face of a very happy blogger who can get outside and run, at last!

Because I didn’t go to the gym, I decided to lift my 8 lb. weights too.

Dinner was delicious. Every time I make a quinoa dish like this, I just go “mmmmm” throughout dinner. I made mine with kalamata olives, roasted red peppers, tomatoes, tomato basil feta cheese, dried basil and mural of flavor from Penzey’s spices, olive oil and balsamic vinegar.

When I saw this flavor at the store today, I knew I had to try it in the quinoa dish.

And after dinner, Craig and I went on a long walk around the neighborhood. It was nice to see flowers coming up and some even had bloomed already! They’re really going to go into action tomorrow when it’s in the 70′s.

Right before I started blogging this post, I ate a skinny cow cookies n’ cream ice cream sandwich.

Time to finish reading Animal, Vegetable, Miracle. I am almost done!

Hope your Saturday was fantastic!

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.

Body Pump, Swinging and Christmas decorations

This morning, I read the Sunday paper, had a blueberry Chobani with pomegranate arils and chia seeds on top.