Monday Monday

Oh Mondays, how I loathe you. Glad you’re almost over though.

I started off my day with chobani plain greek yogurt, chia seeds, wild blueberry preserves and Kashi summer berry granola. This seems to be my go to breakfast lately.

My sister-in-law Lisa has become my “Chobani dealer.” She works close to Woodman’s now and asks me if I need anything and each time she asks I say “two tubs of plain chobani please.” My mother-in-law tried some Chobani just plain yesterday and said it tastes like sour cream. I threw in some of my beloved Bonne Maman wild blueberry preserves and she loved that combo! May have hooked another person on Chobani!

Lunch was leftovers–pizza and quinoa. I didn’t eat all of that quinoa though. I saved the rest for more leftovers. I also had about 6 carrot sticks and gobs of dark chocolate covered almonds from TJ’s to comfort my Monday blues.

During my 15 minute and lunch breaks, I managed to read my Kindle and I have to say that I love the option to read so many different things. Sometimes I am just not in the mood to read a certain book, so I could preview a new one or read the Amazon Daily post. I downloaded lots of samples yesterday including The New Weightlifting Rules for Women and started reading the sample before bed last night. It sounds like a book I should buy a paper copy of. Love what I have read so far. Anyone out there read that book yet or started it?

I had an afternoon slump, so I ate half of a cherry pie larabar to see if that helped. Nope. Oh well, I tried.

Dinner was a Trader Joe’s chana masala veggie burger with jack cheese and I put it all on a TJ’s sandwich thin, which was awesome! Definitely getting those more than Arnold’s and if you remember from my post last week, their nutritional stats were better too. Had some strawberries on the side and munched on more fruit before dinner in the form of dried mango.

After dinner settled, I made my way to the gym. I walked on the treadmill for 34 minutes and logged 2.14 miles. I watched a new episode of Property Virgins on HGTV and ran very slowly (13:00 minute pace) during commercials. My ankle wasn’t irritated, but my body just felt off. I need to get back into running slowly so I can keep training for the 10k. Then I lifted some weights and left.

And now I am just chilling with an adorable cat by the name of Tanzi next to me and ready to go read my kindle some more. Almost halfway through The Secret Holocaust Diaries!

Afternoon at the museum

I am behind on posts because I didn’t have time to blog last night–so here is my Thursday recap and then I’ll move onto today’s.

Breakfast was a big bowl of vanilla Dannon yogurt and chobani plain non-fat with a combo of the rest of the Bonne Maman preserves and some Hero (German) preserves. I really do prefer Bonne Maman.

I tried So Delicious Hazelnut coconut milk creamer for the first time and it was really good!

Lunch was the rest of my Qdoba vegetarian burrito from dinner last night, a Strawberry Chobani yogurt and a big chocolate chip cookie that I baked on Wednesday night. They turned out really good!

Baking photo from Wednesday night. I really love to bake and need to do it more often.

After lunch, I went to the art museum to see the Frank Lloyd Wright exhibit.

I am cheap and I wanted some exercise, so I parked by Veteran’s park and walked to the museum. It was nice and foggy out along the pond.

I enjoyed seeing the drawings and architectural models in the exhibit. I would love to live in one of his houses! Definitely inspired wanting to take a trip out to Tallesin this summer.

I looked around in the gift shop and liked these pouches.

I think food bloggers would like the one that says “I Eat Art For Breakfast.”

I went to the permanent collection and ran into some old co-workers, so it was fun to catch up with them for a bit.

Love this Theibaud picture and any by him.

Then I ran home and got to the gym because I knew I wouldn’t have the opportunity to go after dinner. I ran/walked 2.20 miles on the treadmill and lifted weights at a few stations. I pushed myself to run fast on the treadmill and I was sure sweaty by the end of my workout! I think I need to running shoes soon though because the cushion in mine seem to be non-existent now.

Dinner was pizza at my in-laws as we were celebrating my father-in-law’s birthday last night. I had two pieces of pizza, a few breadsticks and a small piece of yummy cheesecake with strawberries on top.

Here is my father-in-law opening his presents. My silly husband wrapped up some candy in a Victoria’s Secret bag just to tease his dad.

A busy day and we didn’t get home until almost 9 last night. Now onto Friday’s post.

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!

California dreaming

Happy Tuesday! Can’t believe tomorrow is already hump day. This week is going to fly by! I’m looking forward to warmer temps in my neck of the woods and to some fun this weekend with friends.

Breakfast was an old favorite, Bonne Maman Wild Blueberry Preserves paired with Chobani non-fat greek plain yogurt. I used to eat Bonne Maman with yogurt sometimes three times a day when I lived in California and all of my tummy troubles started. Yogurt was what my body craved and I couldn’t get enough of this combination. Bonne Maman was cheaper at Woodman’s than any other grocery store I have seen it at, so I really should have picked up more than one jar!

Snack at work was some of my homemade granola bar and a Numi jasmine green tea. I must have been “California dreaming” today because this flavor of tea also brought me back to my days living in California. I was obsessed with Peet’s coffee and tea’s Jasmine Tea. I also loved running by jasmine bushes on my runs around Berkeley.

I enjoyed a ham and provolone sandwich on a french baguette with tomatoes, Frank’s Red Hot and spinach for lunch. Basically what I had for dinner yesterday. I also had a Pomegranate Chobani for the first time ever and it didn’t disappoint! Can’t wait to try Mango and Raspberry and then I think I will have tried every Chobani flavor out there. 🙂 Red grapes were my dessert.

Although that lunch filled me up quite well, I had a craving for something sweet around 3 p.m. so I grabbed a mini chocolate chip cookie dough Larabar from my snack drawer.

Speaking of Larabars, my mom picked up some things for Craig and I at Sam’s Club today (we don’t have a membership) and I asked her to just see if they had Larabars there. They did! I got a combo pack of Apple Pie, Cashew Cookie, and Cherry Pie! 18 bars for $15.88 or something like that–a pretty good deal, huh? I told my mom to grab a flavor to try out for herself, especially since she’d never had a Larabar before, and she enjoyed the cherry pie bar tonight. She said it was different than she expected it to be, but it was good.

I got home from work, meditated, rested a bit and then made dinner.

I had a Morningstar black bean veggie burger with provolone cheese on an Arnold’s thin and some applesauce on the side. Oh and a small glass of skim milk!

After my stomach settled, I hit the gym and worked hard. I rowed, biked and did the Cybex Arc trainer. I like mixing my cardio up like this once in a while. I also did a full circuit of weights. I was stinky when I left there!

Now it’s getting late and there are dishes to do and blogs to catch up on.

Night!