Bonsoir mes belles! Hope you’ve all had a fantastic day! I can’t wait until tomorrow, when I’ll be headed home for Easter! Lent went pretty fast this year- thank God there’s only 48 hours left until I can eat sweets again (Lent technically ends at sundown on Holy Thursday, which is the start of the Triduum…what 7 years of Catholic school will do to you). I’m been craving chocolate like CRAZY these past few days and am telling myself to hold out just a few days longer!!

This morning I woke up early for a pre-class workout. I grabbed my favorite banana/nut butter fuel (this morning it was Justin’s original almond butter), which fueled me through the 12-machine circuit. I did 3 reps of 12 on each machine, which took me about 45 minutes, then followed it up with some stretching. I’m experimenting now with strength-only days to see if I prefer to split up my weight/cardio workouts, or combine them. We shall see!

Breakfast was a bowl of Kashi GoLean, frozen peaches, almond milk and cinnamon.

I accidentally tore the bag totally open when pouring it in my bowl this morning, which means I’ve gotta get rid of that stuff before it goes stale! I suppose I could buy a big Ziploc, but that’s entirely too much effort…I’ll just eat more cereal J

Those of you in the Northeast can commiserate with me about the lovely weather we had today. After my soaking wet walk home from the gym, I decided to pack all my stuff for the day and cab it to campus, rather than make the trip home for lunch. I can’t find my umbrella at the moment, so the 7.50 cab fare was money well spent! Plus, I got to splurge on my favorite deli lunch between classes:

I forewent the veggies because I couldn’t bear to part with another few bucks. I’m a cheapo, and fruit will always beat veg in the battle of worthiness. Unfortunately, I forgot Danielle’s advice to eat fruit BEFORE the rest of your meal, so this had a little trouble settling in my tummy. It was still delicious, though!

Afternoon snackage included this Chocolate Peppermint Stick Luna bar in my last class (excuse the bad lighting…this was actually taken mid-lecture. BAMF):

Plus a blood orange and some sundried tomatoes. Don’t let the picture fool you, somehow the entire package of tomaters was consumed…these little buggers are good!

 

For dinner, I took an inventory of my dwindling fridge supplies and decided to make a twist on one of my favorites:

Humnut, I’ve missed you!! Dessert was an apple + sunflower seed butter, and the last of my medjools (x2):

According to your comments and some research I’ve done, it seems that most of my responses to your comments have been sent to somewhere in email Siberia. I really apologize if you’ve asked me a comment via comment and never gotten an answer!! Clearly, I’m technologically stupid. For the future, how would you guys like me to answer comments? I can either answer in your comments section, by email, or in another comment on the post you’ve commented on. (I need to stop using the word “comments!”) How do other Blogger dealers work around this?

Alrighty mes belles, time to pack and finish up some reading for tomorrow….gotta make a dent in that Kashi GoLean before I go home, as well! Have a lovely night bloggies, and talk to you from the Keystone State!

How do you answer comments for your blog? Personal emails/commenting back?


PS- Check out Ashlei’s chocolate giveaway, and Steph’s Tropical Traditions giveaway!

Hi bloggies! Thank you all so much for your photo-taking tips. It sounds like I need to play around with my settings, so I’m going to dig up my manual when I’m home this weekend! And for those of you who asked, to play The Departed drinking game you take a sip every time the “F-bomb” is dropped, and finish your drink every time someone dies. If you’ve seen the movie, you understand how lethal a game this is!!

For breakfast today I had a mixture of Wheetabix Flakes and Fiber and Kashi GoLean, plus some thawed bloobs, almond milk and cinnamon:

Afterwards, I headed to the gym for an elliptical workout. I can’t wait to get my orthotics so I can start running again! I did an intense hour of intervals on the elliptical, plus some ab work and stretching. I love intervals because they make the time go faster and I always work up way more of a sweat while doing them!

For lunch, I was absolutely CRAVING nut butter, so I made something I haven’t had in awhile: a sunflower seed butter and banana quesedilla (or a banini, Allie style)!

I packed a Clif Peanut Butter Builder bar and a super-juicy honeycrisp to get me through my long afternoon of classes. I’m absolutely in love with Builder bars now- this thing is vegan and has an ingredient list comparable to regular Clif bars, only with 20g protein. It’s slightly more calorie-dense than regular Clifs, but sat like a rock in my stomach and tasted delicious!!

One of the reasons I picked up the Builder bar on my last WF run was because I’m trying to up my protein intake a little. While I don’t believe that tons of protein is necessary to be healthy and strong, I have realized lately that my diet is pretty lacking in the nutrient. Since I’ve been strength training recently and wouldn’t mind developing a little muscle, my goal is to add an extra serving of protein to my diet every day. Not a big change, but something I’d like to experiment with!

Even with my satiating snacks, I was HANGRY by the time I came home from lab at 7. I whipped up the first thing I saw in the freezer:

Dessert was another unpictured honeycrisp, and one of these bad boys:

I wanted to ask you all whether you’ve been receiving my email responses to comments. I usually get them on my phone, so if there’s a question/comment I’d like to respond to, I just hit reply and send it off. However, I’m just realizing that people may not be getting these, since I can respond to everyone but some people don’t leave email addresses. Any input on this would be much appreciated, and I’m sooooo sorry if no one has been getting my replies!!

Unfortunately, it’s homework time L I foresee some protein cookie dough snackage in my near future, as well! Hope you all have a great night and wonderful Tuesday!!

Hello my gorgeous girls!! Sorry for my lack of postage…I was out and about last night, and figured it would just be easier to do one big weekend post!

Thank you all so much for your great feedback regarding my cereal addiction!! I’m glad you agree that it’s an okay habit to have, as long as I don’t get neurotic about it J My goal is to start switching up my cereals more often and trying new ones, just to make sure I don’t get stuck in a rut. Of course, I currently have three boxes to finish before I can buy any new ones!! In keeping with the cereal theme, yesterday’s bowl was a combination of Kashi GoLean, Envirokidz Panda Puffs, almond milk and frozen peaches:

Post-breakfast I headed to the gym for a strength day! I did their 12-machine circuit, with 3 reps of 12 on each one. I was definitely feeling it in my arms by late last night! I came home and made a salad beast to refuel:

“All shook up”:

I also had a nanner and four of my favorite medjools:

 

I ended up heading to see Mike a few hours earlier than I’d originally planned, which meant a mad rush to Grand Central to catch the Metro-North. Luckily, I got to the train station with a few minutes to spare and was able to find a snack to tide me over until dinner. I was planning on finding a bar of some sort, but the second I passed Zaro’s Bakery I knew what I wanted:

I haven’t had a huge bakery bagel in far too long…I honestly can’t remember the last time! This poppy seed one was absolutely delicious.

After hanging out with Mike for a bit, we decided to grab dinner with a few of his friends before heading out for the night. We went to an incredible mom-and-pop Italian deli, where I had an “Eggplant Supreme,” sans mozzarella- fried eggplant, tomato, oil and fresh basil on the most amazing fresh-baked crusty bread. To die for. I didn’t get a picture, since I always feel weird whipping out my camera in groups, but trust me- this thing was amazing!!

The rest of the night was super fun, as well. We went to his friends’ apartment and watched The Departed for a while while pregaming (ever heard of The Departed drinking game? Let’s just say I didn’t partake, for sake of living), then eventually headed to a bar. I’ll admit to enjoying my fair share of Coronas and midori sours J After a few years of drinking because I felt socially pressured, I’m glad that I’ve finally learned to drink when I want to. It definitely makes it more fun when I don’t as often! We ended the night with a 2 am pizza run, where I enjoyed two slices of cheese pizza, and one of Mike’s garlic knots. Worth it!

This morning I woke up still full from my late night pizza! I hate skipping meals entirely, so I had a Clif bar from Mike’s stash (he loves them as much as I do) before taking the train home. I had an apartment viewing at 1, so I had a quick, produce-filled lunch before:

 

I spent the afternoon touring a few studio apartments with a realtor; I’m not sure exactly what my job/living situation will be for this summer/fall, but I’m trying to keep my options open so I wanted to see what kinds of places I could find in my budget! I definitely saw some nice places, but Manhattan is SO EXPENSIVE L I guess we’ll see what develops once I’m more sure of my summer plans! My appetite was back by the time I got home, so I made some of April’s protein cookie dough with 1 scoop Spiru-Tein cookie dough protein powder, 1 t Green and Black cocoa powder, 1 splash of water and a spoonful of Justin’s almond butter. This is definitely a new addiction- I apologize for all the repeats!!

Plus a few dates:

For dinner, I decided to experiment with some tofu shiritaki noodles. I’ve posted before about how I don’t really like their “diet food” advertising, but after seeing them mixed with hummus and pesto on Ada’s blog recently, I couldn’t resist giving them a whirl with some substance in there to counteract their diet status! I sautéed a yellow and green squash, plus half a block of Lightlife tempeh, in olive oil, then combined them with two packages of noodles. I topped them with nooch (in homage to Julie’s newfound love of it!) and two spoonfuls of baba ghanouj, then nuked it all for a minute. The result was perfection:

 

I was pleasantly surprised by how great they were! Adding the tempeh and other toppings really helped to jazz up the flavor, and this bowl was huge! I also had an unpictured blood orange for dessert, while watching Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution online. What a powerful show. I don’t watch much TV at school, but I’m hooked! I think it’s a great concept and can’t wait to see how he progresses. Of course, no night would be complete without a bowl of lovin’:

Hit the spot! And on that note, I’m off to do some homework…at least it’s a short week, since I’m going home for Easter!!

PS- Check out Averie’s Tazo tea giveaway!