Terrific Ten!

Ay bloggies! I can’t believe it’s Sunday night already. Whereee does the weekend go?! Last night after posting I went to a friend’s apartment to celebrate Molly’s birthday. We had plans to eat out at a Mexican place and then go to a bar, but there was a ridiculous wait at the restaurant so we ended up ordering takeout instead. I had three veggie fajitas with mountains of salsa, guacamole and jalapeño peppers, plus my weight in homemade tortilla chips. So. Freaking. Good. Afterwards, we just hung out, made margaritas and danced like crazy people to Beatles music. I only had one “birthday drink”, in preparation for today’s run, but it might have been more fun to be hyper than drunk J It reminded me of being a kid. The only damper of the night came when I left to go home. I swear, there were NO EMPTY CABS on the entire island of Manhattan. Mike made sure I got home safe, but a half hour trek in four inch heels is never fun!

This morning I woke up surprisingly early for having gone to bed at nearly three, and had my favorite breakfast:

Nature’s Path SmartBran + frozen blobs + almond milk, topped with cinnamon

I got on a roll with homework and didn’t end up making it to the gym until pretty late in the morning, so I had a snack before I left to fuel me through my run:

Toasted Nuts and Cranberry Luna bar

My run went great! I thought I would be dying of boredom by the end of 10 miles on a treadmill, but a combination of Lil Wayne, DJ Earworm, the Olympics and a book for class on my iPod got me through it pretty painlessly. I tried to take it pretty slow, finishing in 1:27:55, roughly a 8:48 minute mile average. It felt great to do my longest run to date!

I came home HANGRY and decided to make a MONSTROUS bowl of oats to refuel. This puppy was DENSE! Before I left I’d mixed 2 T chia seeds with ½ c almond milk, then left it in the fridge to gelatinize. The result:

Pure, chia pudding goodness

I also added some Vega vanilla flavored Whole Food Health Optimizer to my oats while they were cooking:

The result?

½ c steel cut oats, 1 c almond milk, Vega packet, chia pudding, sliced banana, 2 spoonfuls of Naturally More and a large handful of Ezekiel Golden Flax cereal

Maybe it was the fact that I was so hungry, but these were hands down some of the best oats I’ve ever made. The picture doesn’t do them justice- they were super filling! I also had a sliced apple:

I spend the whole afternoon working on an outline of Parisian history for one of my classes. Talk about painful! My oats did an awesome job of keeping me full, but I knew I needed to keep refueling, so I had some baby carrots and Mary’s Crack with hummus:

 

Went back for seconds (and thirds) on the hummus. Portion control containers are great, but not for dipping endless supplies of snacks!

For dinner, I had a serious veg craving. I made a massive salad beast:

Spinach, tomato, zucchini and Brussels roasted in EVOO and sea salt, green olives, half a block of Lightlife soy tempeh, all topped with EVOO and red wine vinegar, plus nooch after the photo was taken (can’t believe I almost forgot it!)

This was another super-filling meal! I had a slice of toasted Ezekiel bread on the side for carbs, and an apple with Once Again sunflower seed butter for dessert:

After dinner, I stopped by my friend Zoe’s to say hi….it’s been awhile since I’ve seen her! We chatted for awhile while snacking on some of her mom’s amazing homemade granola with almonds. I came home and had another snack:

So Delicious Coconut Milk Blueberry yogurt

I was very pleasantly surprised by this yogurt! It tasted almost like a regular blueberry yogurt, but a bit lighter. The ingredients list isn’t great, and it has a lot of sugar, but it’s definitely a nice replacement!

Alright mes belles, that’s it for tonight…I’ve gotta buckle down and get some reading done! Have an awesome Monday!

What’s your favorite way to pass the time while working out? I’m definitely an iPod girl, though sometimes I wish I could learn to enjoy exercising without it!

Just call me Strawberry Shortcake

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!

 

Please excuse my bra in the second pic. It was Halloween, and clearly I was following the Mean Girls slut rule.

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:

Nature’s Path SmartBran with frozen strawberries and almond milk

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:

With steamed baby carrots topped with EVOO and S&P, sliced strawberries and two dates

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!

PB&J Oats: ½ c steel cut oats, 1 c almond milk, 1 sliced banana, frozen strawberries warmed in the microwave and smashed, Naturally More PB

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!

Best Meal Ever: My birthday dinner this year at Candle 79 was not only a perfect meal, but the company made it truly memorable. I definitely want to make it back there soon!

Best Sleep Ever: Comes from being outrageously tired, both body and mind! I love crawling into bed and falling asleep before my head even hits the pillow. You wake up so recharged!

Best Cup of Coffee: A café crème from a French café. Coffee + cream = heaven!

Best Romantic Moment: This isn’t really a “romantic” moment, but it will always hold a special place in my heart. Last summer when I met Mike, we were going to college 7 hours away from each other and were both trying not to think about what would happen when the summer ended. We were in the car one day when the Blink-182 song “Going Away to College” came on, and without saying a word he took my hand and sang the whole song to me (let’s just say he’s no Josh Groban). It was the best song I’ve ever heard J

Best Childhood Memory:  Making a diorama on the Titanic for my second-grade book report. My dad and I made the whole thing together, and I just remember it being so much fun to spend time with my daddy making something I loved so much!

Best Moment of Life: Hmmm, this is a really hard one! I’d like to think it hasn’t happened yet! As old fashioned as it sounds, I can’t wait for my wedding day and when my kids are born (so excited to be a mama down the road!) But up until now, it would probably be my high school graduation day. I LOVED my high school, so it was very bittersweet, but we were like a class of 82 sisters who had been together since 6^th grade. It felt like we had all accomplished something so incredible!

Best Moment of Revenge: I’m too much of a pushover to seek much revenge. I do have some good karma stories, though…I don’t want to post them because I feel mean relishing in someone else’s misfortune, though!

Best Thing You Have Ever Done for Someone: This year for father’s day, I made my dad a scrapbook of old pictures and quotes. The look on his face as he read it was one of the best things I’ve ever seen in my life; I was so thankful to be able to give him something that meant as much to him as what he means to me.

Best Life Changing Moment:  Transferring to NYU this year was probably the best life-changing decision I’ve ever made. I won’t go into why I disliked my old school so much, but suffice to say I made the decision to go there for a very silly reason. Making the switch to NYU felt like the first time I made a big decision independently and followed what my heart told me to do.

Now for the 5:

1. Katie at Healthy Diva Eats

2. Marina at A Veggie Girl (And her cat)

3. Lizzy at Healthy Bites Conquer Athlete Appetite

4. Anna at Spectacles

5. Jessica at The Process of Healing

Thanks so much for the award, Karen!

Well chickadees, I’m off to get ready for my evening out! Have a great Saturday night!

PS- Checkout Averie’s and Stef’s giveaways!

Pancake fail

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.

   

½ c steel cut oats, 1 c Almond Breeze, 1 T Green & Black cocoa powder, frozen cherries, Maranatha almond butter remnants

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!

Too Much Chocolate Cake (from allrecipes.com)

Ingredients

-1 (18.25 ounce) package devil's food cake mix

-1 (5.9 ounce) package instant chocolate pudding mix

-1 cup sour cream

-1 cup vegetable oil

-4 eggs

-1/2 cup warm water

-2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

Directions

-Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).

-In a large bowl, mix together the cake and pudding mixes, sour cream, oil, beaten eggs and water. Stir in the chocolate chips and pour batter into a well greased 12 cup bundt pan.

-Bake for 50 to 55 minutes, or until top is springy to the touch and a wooden toothpick inserted comes out clean. Cool cake thoroughly in pan at least an hour and a half before inverting onto a plate. If desired, dust the cake with powdered sugar.

I normally make this in 2 9-inch round cake pans, but I left them at a friend’s house last time I made it, so I used an 11x13 brownie pan and made a square cake, instead:

The finished product, topped with Duncan Hines Classic Chocolate frosting. I cheated, I know J

Between baking and doing three loads of laundry, I grabbed a salad snack:

Spinach, chopped tomato, green olives and Dr. Praeger’s TexMex Veggie burger, all topped with heaps of salsa

Plus a medjool (or 3…I can’t help myself):

For dinner, I was planning on making a tempeh stirfry, but when I reopened the tempeh package, the bottom was covered in gross black mold. Yuck. I hate wasting food, but it was pretty much inedible. Instead, I made an assortment of things:

Baked sweet tater with raisins, Ezekiel English muffin with hot sauce, steamed carrots, zucchini, broccoli and cauliflower with nooch, sliced apple with Naturally More PB

A little bit of everything, and it took me forever to eat! I love it when I’m forced to eat slow, since I’m usually a super speedy eater. Bad habit, I know!

For “dessert” I finished the box of raisins I used on the sweet potato. I’m actually getting used to the no sweets thing, and it’s way easier than I expected. One positive thing I’ve noticed is that I’ve had fewer mood swings since eating less sugar. Energy crashes usually put me in a horrible mood, so it’s a welcome change! I was tempted to lick the bowl when I made my cake this afternoon, but I was able to resist J

Most of you have probably heard that this week was NEDA week, and a lot of bloggers have been doing posts to honor it. I wanted to point out two that I thought were especially touching- Katie’s and Kailey’s. Both are absolutely amazing, beautiful women who wrote truly inspiring messages on their struggles and life after recovery. Definitely worth a read!

Time to go get ready to partayy! Hope you all have an amazing weekend!

Are you a slow eater, or do you chow down marathon-style? I try to make myself eat slowly, but it usually fails.  My mom always has to remind me to eat like a lady!

So put another dime in the jukebox, baby

Bonjour beautiful bloggettes! Hope you've all had a fantabulous Thursday...tomorrow starts the weekend!

This morning I woke up ready to tackle my 6 mile run! I ate a nanner with a little smear of  Naturally More PB before heading to the gym by 6:45. To my dismay (and surprise!), there was already a line for the two banks of treadmills, and an employee standing there to enforce the 30-minute rule. WTF?! In the six months I've been going to this gym, I have never seen it as packed as it was this morning. Knowing I couldn't gather some superhuman speed and finish my run that quickly, I opted for the elliptical instead. I knocked out 45 minutes at a pretty intense pace, to get back into the training groove, all while watching Good Morning America. Not the workout I was hoping for, but decent nonetheless.

I came back and fixed myself a bowl of cereal before heading to class:

Simply Fiber, blueberries and almond milk

Let me just say that the weather was MISERABLE in NYC today. It started off rainy, snowed for most of the day, and was sleeting when I came home a few minutes ago. Not fun! Between classes, I came home with a deli purchase to cheer me up:

  

Healthy Korner Power Fu Salad Sandwich (LOVE these!), spinach and tomato with humnut sauce; apple with Maranatha AB

I had every intention of going to my afternoon class, but when it came time to actually leave, the jeans I'd taken off to dry were still freezing cold. In my lazy mind, this was a completely acceptable excuse to skip class. It doesn't happen often, but when it does, there's no convincing me to change my mind! I spent the afternoon lying in bed on my computer and reading, instead. I can't imagine a better way to spend a snowy afternoon! When snacktime came around, I was craving something carby:

Ezekiel bread with BOTH Maranatha AB and Naturally More PB. I couldn't decide which I wanted, so I had them together!

I also sampled these little guys, which I've been seeing on lots of blogs and wanted to try!

Dried Mejool dates

These were tasty! Definitely a good way to curb my sweets cravings during Lent :)

Earlier this week, Jillian invited me to go to a screening of The Runaways with her as part of the NYU Fusion Film Festival, which supports women in the filmmaking industry. Since the movie doesn't come out in theaters for another month, I jumped at the chance to see it early and for free! The movie was surprisingly good! Since the leads were Dakota Fanning and Kristen Stewart, I kind of expected it to be teenybopperish, but it was actually a very powerful movie about Joan Jett's first band. Dakota Fanning was incredible! I can't believe she just turned sixteen. Kristen Stewart was also far better in this than in Twilight- I'm not a fan of those movies, but this definitely redeemed her! Afterwards, Joan Jett herself was there to answer questions, which was pretty cool. She was incredibly down to earth and funny, and gave some really great, thought-provoking answers to people's questions. 

While waiting in line to enter the theater for two hours, I made a quick Cosi run to get Jillian and I some dinner. I had a hummus and veggie sandwich on their white flatbread (Shelley tipped me off to the fact that the whole wheat is made with the same ingredients as the white- thanks, girl!), plus some baby carrots and a red delicious apple. I didn't take a pic, since we were standing outside and my hands were full, but here's a recycled one from a few weeks ago (just sub an apple for the pear):

  

I also went on a Starbucks run a little bit later to help warm up- I got a grande soy cappucino.

After the movie, I came home ready for some snackage:

Dried pinapple, papaya, dates, raisins, apricots and walnuts

Two more dates have also been consumed since typing this- I added some PB to one of them and fell in lurveee. This may become a new habit!

I've gotten a few more questions on my Ask Me Anything that I decided to post the answers to:

how much time per day do you think you spend blog reading/sufring?

Too much! Usually, I get most of my reading/posting done in chunks first thing in the morning and in the evening. But I have definitely been known to procrastinate by reading blogs, and I'm usually on my Google Reader during boring lectures...bad habits!

You seem to make all your meals yourself. Are you on the NYU meal plan at all?

Nope! My dorm is about a 15 minute walk from the closest NYU dining hall, so it would be kind of silly. I have my own kitchen, so I much prefer just buying and making whatever I please!

do ur roomies comment on ur healthy eating? do you eat with them

My roommates and I have a pretty strange relationship...none of us knew each other before living together, so we generally keep to ourselves. We're cordial and don't really have any issues, but we don't eat together, and none of them have ever commented on my eating. We tend to stick to subjects like whose turn it is to buy toilet paper :)

Thanks everyone for your questions! I think this will be my last Q+A post for awhile, but I loved answering all of them and thanks so much for submitting them!

Today Stef at More to Life Than Lettuce gave me his super fun "Creative Writer" award! Here are the rules:

1. Thank the person who gave this to you.
2. Copy the logo and place it on your blog.
3. Link to the person who nominated you.
4. Tell up to six outrageous lies about yourself, and at least one outrageous truth.
5. Nominate seven “Creative Writers” who might have fun coming up with outrageous lies.
6. Post links to the seven blogs you nominate.
7. Leave a comment on each of the blogs letting them know you nominated them.

So, here goes:

1. I once spent the night sleeping on a bench in the train station after missing my train home.

2. I'm not a natural blonde.

3. The weirdest/grossest thing I've eaten is dog poop.

4. I'm a closet Hannah Montana fan.

5. I'm know how to shoot a rifle.

6. My parents got married when they were 18.

7. I have a tendency to faint when I get nervous.

I'm interested to see if anyone can pick out the real one! I'll reveal it tomorrow. Maybe :) Now, for the seven blogs:

1. Angela at Veg is Sexy

2. Ashlei at the Vegster 

3. Danielle at Coffee Run

4. Therese at Healthy Hott Housewife

5. Jaclyn at JustJac

6. Susan at Tangerine Trees and Marmalade Skies

7. La at Love, La

Thanks so much to Stef for the award, and I can't wait to see everyone's responses!

Well, kidlets, it's been real. I got a comfy bed and a full Google Reader to tackle this evening...yay for no Friday classes! Have a great Friday :)

What's one crazy-but-true thing about yourself?

And the pumpkin turned into a coach

Bonsoir mes belles! Thank you all so much for your recovery wishes. I guess they worked, because I feel completely back to normal now! I guess I was just a little run down and my body rebelled!

This morning I woke up feeling fine, but still a little wary of feeling sick again. I hate when you think you're better and it creeps back up on you! I started off my morning with the usual, nothing fancy:

The last of my Arrowhead Mills Spelt Flakes, sliced nanner and almond milk

I spend awhile catching up on blogs and finishing some homework, but started to get antsy. I knew I shouldn't do any intense workouts, but since I felt fine, I was itching to get moving! I'd remembered a few of my friends going to a 10 am class on weekdays at Yoga to the People, and the studio was fresh in my mind since Jaclyn reminded me of it in a recent comment. It's a studio in the East Village that provides donation-based classes. You can pay just a few dollars for a class! I've tried it before on evenings and never been a fan since it gets soooo crowded, but decided to give it another chance.

It was actually great! I felt much more comfortable with space to move in...I'm not very good at yoga, and bumping shoulders with someone while attempting to do the poses always made me self conscious. I tried to really focus on stretching, since so many of you recommended yoga to me in Monday's post. I left feeling stretched out and energized! I don't think I'll ever become a yoga fanatic, since I've tried it many times and just never fell in love, but it did help me to appreciate how great your body feels afterwards! I'm definitely going to try to incorporate it into my routine a few times a month, just to get rid of tight muscles.

I rushed home afterwards to make some lunch before heading to class. I knew I had half a can of pumpkin in the fridge, so during my walk back I invented a recipe and prayed it would turn out edible! The contenders:

Canned organic pumpkin, Pacific vegetable broth, Almond Breeze and cinnamon

I combined half a can of canned pumpkin, 1/2 c vegetable broth, 1/2 almond milk and a dash of cinnamon and heated until warm. Meanwhile, I steamed some carrots in the microwave and then chopped them up to add for extra texture and veg:

When I tried the soup, it was a little lacking in flavor, so I decided to wing it. I added a drizzle of olive oil...better, but still not there. Then, I had a stroke of genius:

Maranatha Almond Butter. Lifesaver. 

I melted a spoonful of AB in the microwave before adding it to the soup and giving it a good stir. The verdict? Exactly what it needed. It turned out great! Every time I experiment like this, I'm reminded of how easy cooking can be!

Enjoyed with Mary's Crackers and an orange, which I swapped for an apple at the last minute because it was less messy to eat and type at the same time :) Nom nom nom. 

After lunch, I skiddadled to my afternoon of classes. On my way, I realized I forgot my water bottle and stopped in a deli to grab one. Look what I found!

Kitten! The deli dude said he was watching it for his girl friend and called it a "pain in the ass." How can something that cute ever be a pain, anywhere?! Made me smile :)

Later, I munched a Larabar between 18th c French Lit and Paris in Art, History and Literature:

Peanut Butter Cookie Larabar

And some unpictured raisins during Paris. I've found that raisins are the perfect in-class snack: the box makes no noise when you open it, and they're chewy, so you don't annoy everyone with your crunching! 

I came home, went to a quick mandatory meeting with my RA (ugh...I hate dorms), and made a monster tupperware salad for dinner. A lot of my toppings got lost in my mountain of spinach, but lots of greens is how I like it!

 

1/2 block Lightlife tempeh, spinach, tomato, steamed Asian blend frozen veggies, sliced green olives, red wine vinegar, EVOO and nooch; Ezekiel english muffin with hot sauce and an orange on the side

After my tum was satisfied, I buckled down and wrote my French paper. 4 pages in two hours, baby! While working, I had a bowl of Envirokidz Peanut Butter Panda Puffs with applesauce and cinnamon:

Is it weird that I chose the Panda Puffs over Leapin' Lemurs solely because the pandas on the box were cuter? 

In other news, I wanted to say thanks to Ashlei at the Vegster and Susan at Tangerine Trees and Marmalade Skies for both giving me the Sunshine award! I'm supposed to tag bloggers who bring sunshine into my life, but as I've said before, it's impossible for me to narrow it down to ten! On top of being the most indecisive human being in the world, every single one of you brings so much sunshine into my life on a daily basis. It sounds so corny, I know, but just the other day I was thinking about how much you've impacted me in the short time I've been in the blog world. I know that it might not always be as easy as it seems, and that many of us have our "issues" when it comes to certain foods, but I truly believe that in reading your blogs every day I've come a long way further in accepting a balance of health and happiness. If I want to eat calamari, I'm going to eat it, and enjoy every single delicious, fried bite!

Well, it's been a long post and I still have some work to do before getting to bed early! Hope you all have an amazing night!

What's the best impromptu creation you've ever whipped up in the kitchen? Today's pumpkin soup was definitely one of my tops! 

Sick day

Hi lovies! Just wanted to do a quick post to tell y'all I'l taking the night off. I've had a stomach bug all day and haven't been able to keep much down, so the eats have been pretty minimal and boring. I took pictures of a few, but I'll spare you the excitement of dry toast, cereal and plain oatmeal :) Thankfully, I've been feeling better these past few hours, so hopefully by tomorrow I'll be back to normal!

On the plus side, 10 hours of sleep last night plus multiple naps have probably reduced my sleep deficit to 0..

Have a great hump day and I'll be back tomorrow!

Are you a napper? I usually never nap, but today my body was just screaming at me to get back in bed! This is an interesting article I found today on FitSugar concerning the benefits of napping...something to consider!

Lead legs

Hi blogettes! Happy Monday...at least the worst day of the week is already over :) I loved reading all of your comments on your favorite 90's shows and post-workout snacks. I've been busy all day and am finally getting a chance to relax with some tea. Never mind all that homework that's waiting for me...


I woke up when my roommate's alarm went off at 6:45 and couldn't fall back asleep, so by 7 I decided to just forego my extra half hour of sleep and start my day! I had some breakfast while tackling the Google Reader:

Kashi GoLean and Arrowhead Mills Spelt Flakes with almond milk and frozen strawbs. The spelt flakes are neverending...I want to open a new box of something!

A little later, I headed to the gym to get my 5 mile training run in. I got there super energized, but for some reason I felt sooo slow. My legs just felt like they were dragging! I guess my 8 miler on Saturday took it out of me, even though I took a day off from cardio and didn't do any lower body strength exercises. I guess it comes with the higher-mile territory! I finished in a hair under 46 minutes, meaning a 9:12 minute mile average. Not my best, but I got it done! Afterwards, I made sure to do PLENTY of stretching in case that was the culprit last time. 

After I came home and showered, I fixed myself some of Angela's pumpkin quinoa:

  

1/2 c dry quinoa, cooked, 1 c canned pumpkin, 1 c almond milk, 1 T almond butter, cinnamon; grapefruit and zucchini stirfried in EVOO and balsamic to balance it out

Yum! I obviously added way too much almond milk, since I forgot the exact proportions from the last time I tried this recipe, but it was still delicious! Such a quick, easy and original recipe!

I then headed off to a long afternoon of classes. Between classes #1 and #2 I snacked on an organic Gala apple and Tropical Fruit Tart Larabar:

And in class #3 I had an unpictured box of raisins to tide me over until dinner. I came home starvin marvin and made something quick and delicious:

  

Allie-style banini on Ezekiel bread with Naturally More PB, a sliced banana and cinnamon; baby carrots with the last of my Yorgos hummus and a sliced organic Gala apple

Delish! PB sandwiches are one of my favorite foods of all time...they can never go wrong! I'm currently snacking on a honey graham flavored Clif Z-Bar as "dessert." Love these little guys!

I got a few more good questions on my Ask Me Anything page, so I thought I'd post some:

dream day?! what would you do/eat/where would you go?

This is a tougher one! This summer I actually had a "dream day." It was gorgeous weather, so Mike and I decided to go hiking at a park near our houses. We packed delicious picnic lunches of triple decker PB sandwiches and fruit and lots of chocolate and just got completely lost for awhile, goofing around and taking pictures. We came back to my house and went swimming, and then went to get sushi and Coldstone for dinner before sitting on my porch and watching a thunderstorm. It was definitely all I need in a "dream" day!

What brand almond milk do you use in your cereal? What kind do you recommend? Thanks!

I've tried Pacific, Almond Breeze and Almond Dream and I like unsweetened vanilla Almond Breeze the best. It's more flavorful and creamy than the other two, but with no added sugar!

whats your fav flavor of cliff bar?

Tough one! I love most of them, but my two favorites are probably Oatmeal Walnut Raisin and White Chocolate Macadamia. And the Iced Gingerbread holiday one is absolutely amazing, too!

what made you want to start this blog? why the hiatu sand what made you come back? i used to follow your blog and was sad when you stopped for a few months! ;)

I started this blog because I'd been reading so many others, and thought it might be fun to start my own! I stopped for a few months for a few reasons, mostly time and the fact that I wasn't sure what I wanted from it. I went out a LOT towards the end of last semester- I was probably in a club drinking 4-5 nights a week. Not healthy! I was kind of infatuated with the whole "club scene" for awhile, before realizing how shallow and silly it really is. I saw girls get turned down at the door for not being pretty/tall/thin enough, and heard some horrible stories about "club politics". I still clubbing from time to time, but now that I'm no longer trying to stay up until 4 am and still handle all of my homework, it's much easier to find blogging time! I also kind of jumped into blogging without thinking about what I wanted from it. After my break, I came back with a fresh picture of exactly how and what I wanted to write about. I'm glad to be back :)

Thanks for all the great questions! I'll probably do one more post if anyone else has any questions! 

Since I got a question on bars, what's everyone's favorite kind? I have a few, but I absolutely love Luna White Chocolate Macadamia and Lara Key Lime Pie! And does anyone have any good stretching tips for runners? I always kind of ignored the stretching part, but I'm starting to realize how important it is and would love some pointers!