Hi bloggies! Happy Saturday! I hope your weekend is off to a great start J Thanks for everyone’s comments on yesterday’s posts…it sounds like a lot of you chow down just as quickly as I do!

Last night after posting I headed to my friend Molly’s birthday party. Molly and I grew up together; our parents were best friends and we both ended up at NYU!

The party was at her friend’s apartment in SoHo and was a TON of fun. I had a few Blue Moons and Peronis but stopped myself before I got to that tipping point from silly to sloppy. There was obviously some snackage going on there, as well…one drink and those pretzels and Tostidos didn’t stand a chance.

I got to bed around 2:30 but woke myself up by 8. Once I get into a sleeping pattern, my body just doesn’t want to sleep in! After yesterday’s oaty adventure, it was back to cereal for me:

I dawdled around for a bit kind of doing homework and kinda reading blogs before heading to the gym for a strength workout. Following Gina’s plan, I did:

-10 minute warmup on the elliptical (10 resistance, 10 incline)

Superset 1:

-       12 overhead presses (20 lb on the machine)

-       12 saxon side bends on each side (5 lb weights)

-       20 jumping jacks (I omitted the burpees because of my knee)

Superset 2:

-       1 minute plank

-       10 renegade rows on my knees on each side (5 lb weights)

-       20 mountain climbers

Superset 3:

-       10 incline stability ball bicep curls (7.5 lb weights)- these were HARD!

-       10 stability ball tricep extentions (10 lb weight)

-       1 minute high knees

                        Repeated x3

Even though Gina’s Winter Shape Up Challenge is almost over, I plan on starting it from the beginning again, this time using her intermediate/advanced level moves rather than the beginning ones. I’m starting to get arm muscles for the first time in my life and I want to keep getting stronger!

I came home and made myself a vegan grilled cheese for lunch. By tweaking Mae’s humnut recipe just a little, I was able to come up with a great spread for my sandwich! I mixed 2 T nutritional yeast, 2 T Yorgos Vegetable hummus, and 1 T EVOO (instead of 2 T water). After mixing it awhile, it took on a really thick but creamy consistency, kind of like Velveeta cheese! I spread it on to some Ezekiel bread and added a sliced tomato before grilling. Finished product:

This afternoon I spent awhile trying to figure out my future sister in law’s bachelorette party. I never realized how much effort it would take! We’re torn between NYC and Atlantic City at the moment, so I had to look up hotel rates/restaurants/transportation for both. After catching up on my emails and doing some homework, it was snacktime! Today’s was more like a meal, though…nothing wrong with that!

Despite this being the third serving of strawberries I’d eaten today, it was delicious! I can’t wait until berries are back in season…they’re just not as good frozen! I made a big snack today since I usually eat dinner early, around 6, and we’re going to a Mexican restaurant to continue Molly’s birthday celebrations at 8. I needed something with staying power! I’ve also consumed an Ezekiel pita with organic salsa while writing this…feeling snacky, I guess!

Today Karen from Fitness: A Journey, Not a Destination awarded me with the Honest Scrap Award. I’m supposed to fill out a list of my “bests” and then pass this award onto five other bloggers. Here goes!

Bonsoir mes belles! Take a deep breath and relax- it’s finally Friday, and even if you’re stuck inside because of the snow, it’s still the weekend J

I loved reading all of your guesses about which fact was the right one! No one guessed the truth, though, which I think is because you were all grossed out and hoping it wouldn’t be true. But yes, I must come clean…

I’ve eaten dog poop. You see, I’ve had an obsession with chocolate icing since my days as a toddler, during which my older brother thought it would be funny to feed me a turd under the pretense of delicious buttercream. In my three year old mind, I didn’t realize that icing generally doesn’t come from outside. In the grass. Suffice to say, it was not a pleasant experience. Luke got quite the spanking for that one. For those of you without a big brother, see what you’re missing out on?

Onto the eats, if you can stomach it after that…

Rather than the usual bowl of cereal, breakfast was consumed in jar form. I present to you: Chocolate Cherry Almond oats.

Nom nom nom. Even after totally undercooking the oats (adding the cherries to thaw while the oats were cooking threw it off, I think…it looks like chocolate soup!) these were amazing. I highly recommend replicating them, stat!

After breakfast had digested, I braved the gross, slushy streets to hit the gym. It took me twice the usual time to get there, but I was rewarded with a practically empty space and a killer run. I completed 6 miles in 52:36, just under an 8:45 minute mile average. Getting back into the swing of things!

For lunch, I wanted to make pancake roll ups a la Katie, in order to enter her Artisana Coconut Butter giveaway. Well, let’s just say I just suck at making super-thin pancakes, in addition to being a pancake-flipping failure. What I intended to be three perfectly rolled, crepe-like creations came out as boring, slightly burnt vegan pancakes. Still yummy though, no worries J I used Arrowhead Mills Buckwheat waffle and pancake mix, and used a combination of canola oil, mashed banana and almond milk to make them vegan. The batter was actually delicious…I scraped the bowl when I was done! They tasted pretty good cooked as well, despite being a little, uh, crisp. To compensate for my slightly disastrous attempt, I got creative with the toppings. For pancake #1, I mixed an individual container of organic applesauce with half a sliced apple and some cinnamon, and then nuked it for a minute in the microwave. Pancake #2 was slathered in the other half of my mashed banana, with a tablespoon of Naturally More mixed in. Pancake #3 simply had frozen strawberries thawed in a teeny bit of honey. Yummy scrumboes! On the side, I had the remainder of my apple and some baby carrots:

This afternoon, I got productive! First, I made a birthday cake for my friend Molly’s birthday party tonight. It’s the same recipe I made a few weeks ago, which honestly never disappoints. It gets rave reviews every time I make it, and no one suspects it’s a box base!