I woke this morning extra, super early because I had an interview at the YMCA for my internship starting next week. I walked into the kitchen and started a pot of coffee.

Ooooh, coffee! That’s easy..I drink it black…Easy Vegan Decision #1. My mind starts to think, hey…this is gonna be pretty easy.

*Opens cabinet and stares blankly at an array of cereal, grit and oatmeal boxes* Aha! Oatmeal

When made with almond milk (which is the only kind of “milk” I drink) it can be vegan! This discovery leads to Easy Vegan Decision #2.

So I put my pot on the stove–because making oats on the stove is the only right way, if you ask me –and Jason says “Can you make me a bowl too?” Sure thing hon. I pour more oats into the boiling water/almond milk mixture. By now, I’m feeling completely confident and satisfied with myself and my Easy Vegan Decisions. I probably even have a little half-smirk on my confident little face.

That boiling mixture is later turned into this:

Oats+Pb+Salt+Peach Jam+Peaches+Honey Graham cracker crushed on top=Yummy, satiating breakfast

Then it was off to my interview!

It went really well. I think that I am going to love working together with YMCA and bring nutrition education to their clients We even talked about me giving a few cooking classes!

After leaving the Y, I took some books back to the library and headed home to get the grocery list and my reusable bags.

*Tummy grumbles* Arg. There’s nothing at the house I could eat for lunch, my stomach will just have to make it through this shopping trip. Just a quick dip in and back out.

I glance at the list as I stroll down the aisles…Hmmm how about a salad for dinner? With chickpeas, tomatoes, cheese…Wait. You can’t eat cheese today, you’re trying to be vegan for a day! Ok. Nevermind the cheese. I can still have a salad.  Oooh..how about getting some chewy, just-baked bread from the bakery to go along beside? Yes! That sounds wonderful.

I stroll over to the bakery and pick up a loaf of heavenly smelling pull-apart bread. My stomach is beside itself with excitement about this heavenly bread. I turn over to the label and read the ingredients and down at the bottom, I read: This product contains milk and egg ingredients.

Crap. I put the bread down and pick up another type of bread…same thing at the bottom.

I continue until I’ve picked up every kind of bread there is on display in the store. The bakery women are looking at me with concern: Who is that girl? And why is she slamming our bread down and cursing to herself?

Well, Jason will still want bread. So I grab a loaf of a Pane Italiano and then continue on my way.

All is well until I get to the ice cream aisle. It’s marked down to $2.23!!! I let out a squeal of excitement and browse the different flavors..but then I stop. What are you doing?! You are going vegan for a day, Stacey. Ice cream=animal product!

Then it hits me: I’d have to give up ice cream?! Lovely, wonderful, cold, delicious ice cream?!!! I’m not sure my willpower is that strong.

Well, maybe I’ll get some for Jason. Yes, for Jason…he likes it. It’s totally NOT for me. So, what kind do I…er…I mean, does Jason, like?

I pick out my his favorite kind and keep going.

By now, I’m feeling a bit doubtless of this whole ‘Vegan’ thing. I can sacrifice cheese, but ice cream?? I just can’t.

My confident smile from the morning has turned into a semi-worried, forehead-creased sort of look. Now I start to wonder: What else isn’t vegan? Is my Diet Cherry Pepsi vegan? How about this salad dressing? What about those dark chocolate covered caramels I have at home?

My drive home was filled with thoughts of all of the un-vegan things in my cabinets. What would I eat for lunch?

I made a quick Morningstar Chicken pattie on an Arnolds thin bun along with pickle, mustard and ketchup (is ketchup vegan??) And a banana for a side.

It’s 2 o’clock by now, and I’m still pretty hungry. I mindlessly walk into the kitchen and grab the first thing I see that will quiet my growling tummy…a handful of Cheezits. It’s only after I’ve stuffed a handful in my mouth that I realize what I’ve done.

I just failed my Vegan For A Day challenge. Epic fail. I’m so used to going in the kitchen and sticking my hand in any open chip or cracker box that I didn’t even think about it today!

I let myself frown a little, and decide that it’s only one mistake. I’ve been doing good all day, no need to quit now.

Grabbing the blue corn tortilla chip bag out of the cabinet as my substitute, I go into the bedroom,crawl in bed and read my book for a while…

…It’s 5:05 when I wake up.  Jason is coming in the door. I sit up in bed and wipe the smudged eyeshadow off of the side of my face. Though I’m not very hungry, I decide to go ahead and make our salad dinner anyway because he has plans to go out with friends tonight, and I don’t want him to go hungry.

I slice the bread and prepare the salad. All of the ingredients are sitting out on the counter and I’m combining them in a large bowl. Sometimes my hand grazes across the grape tomatoes and I eat a few…a few mandarin oranges here, a couple of chickpeas there…a few pieces of feta cheese.

Ughhhhh. I did it again. I mindlessly ate something cheesy! Darn it. Darn it all to heck <–you like my potty mouth language? At this point, I say “Screw it”.

Vegan lifestyle isn’t for me. It’s too hard and I already eat a healthy, vegetarian diet. The only thing that I will have no problem cutting out is eggs. I hate buying them, they make me feel extremely guilty.

Finally coming to the realization that I just can’t be a vegan (or that I do wayy to much mindless eating of cheesy things) I put my salad together, grab a couple of pieces of the toasted, buttery bread..and sit down with my honey to enjoy my dinner…

And I ate it guilt-free

I found out what is wrong with my leg…finally.

It seems I have torn muscle fibers in the medial collateral ligament of the right part of my knee. Twisting and turning your foot in certain ways for an extended period of time can cause the muscle fibers to tear…and to me, it makes perfect sense. During “the wood run”, I was constantly stepping on rocks and bending my feet in unnatural ways.

The only thing I can do now is ice it after every type of exercise, and not run for a while Oh well, it’s for the sake of my body….so, let the wait begin.

On to other news!

This morning I woke up and fixed the boyfriend and I a YUMMO, MOST DELICIOUS breakfast. Silly me. Went to take a picture of it and my camera batteries were dead :/ That’s what happens when you don’t blog for a decade

Here is the link to the recipe that you must try: Vegetarian Sausage Gravy Biscuits

(picture borrowed from myrecipes.com)

It’s so delicious…no, delicious is not even the word. It’s perfectly sinful.

After my tummy was pop-a-button full, I decided to get started on my project of the day.

Painting! I had been given the chore of painting over the ugly green splattered paint in our bathrooms and kitchen. First, I made a Counting Crows station on Pandora (a great, great invention), then turned it all the way up, and then set out to paint!

It took me 4.5 hours, but I finally finished…not without ruining a pair of gym shorts and night-shirt

Sexy, right? I know, I know

Oh–skipping around thoughts here–the breakfast mentioned above always holds me over for at least 4 to 5 hours, no kidding. I didn’t even get a tummy rumble until my painting was complete. And since I was completely covered in paint and needed to clean up a bit, I had a quick lunch of:

…a homemade granola bar smothered in pb and a naner. These granola bars are so easy to make!

You just combine all of the following in a bowl, and preheat oven to 350 degrees.

• 2 cups oats
• 2 eggs
• 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup canola oil
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1 cup raisins (or chocolate chips, or any dried fruit!)

Spray 8-inch baking pan with non-stick cooking spray, spread mixture in pan. Cook in oven for 25-30 minutes. Let cool completely before cutting. Make 9 servings.

Um, I also may have stuck my hand in the Sun Chip bag a few times…but just a few dozen times

Then, I guess I was feeling re-energized because I plopped down onto the floor to do my 30-20-10 sets.

Let me explain. For the past 3 weeks, I have been doing a combination of push-ups and bench dips, starting with 30 pushups, then 30 dips…then moving to 20 pushups–>20 dips–>10 pushups–>10 dips.

I do this twice a week and can totally feel a difference my strength. No more huffing and puffing while carrying the dog food one-handedly to the car from the grocery store. It definitely has shaped those guns babies too! It was sort of hard at first, seeing as how I could only do 15 pushups to begin with, but each week I was able to increase the amount I did more, and before I knew it, I was reaching 30

Anywho, now my arms feel like Jell-O and I’m ready for a nap

But before I go, guess what?!

Yesterday, I found out that I made A’s in both of my summer classes (Dietetic Ethics and ServSafe)…and I also found out that starting in about 3 weeks, I will be teaching Nutrition & Wellness classes at the local YMCA!!! How awesome is that?!

Gotta go now, the couch and a book is calling my name! Jas and I are having leftover potato soup for dinner, because this girl is totally not cooking tonight

See ya later taters!

It’s been one of those days!

The cat decided he wanted to use the bathroom on our new bedspread this morning (perhaps he isn’t fond of down comforters?? ). My morning was spent washing-and then re-washing-our blanket. I also managed to stomp around  the house and  mutter “Stupid cat” under my breath every few minutes. He spent the rest of his morning hiding under the couch like the shameful kitty he is.

All of this commotion made me late for a study date  at the library with a friend from class. Luckily, she was late too. That gave me tons of  time to browse books…and tons of time to get tons of books, hehe

In case you can’t tell from that stack-I’m pretty obsessed with cooking lately.

After our study session, I decided to go for a short, flat run on the greenway. Mother nature has not been very kind this week. It was 12:30 and the tempurature was already up to 95!! Yikes.

I started out fine, but then my right leg started to to bother me. Ever since I did my last half-marathon, it has not been the same. It burns down the side of it and it continues to shoot pain every time I walk anywhere for the rest of the day

I think I shall have to give running a rest for a while…until this ol’ leg of mine gets better.

Meet my bike:

I love her. She will be my fill-in for the next few weeks/months(??) <–I hope not! I gave her a go last Thursday night after work and it was only then how much I realized how much I had missed her.

She’s been stuck in the shed for the past few months. We brought her in, dusted her off, put some air in those tires and she was ready to go! It’s kind of nice to be able to have a workout inside, away from the near-100 degrees. Plus, I get to watch Weeds while I ride

This afternoon, I ventured out to do the grocery shopping and now our house is full of healthy (and some not-so-healthy) items! Lunch literally consisted of an old dark chocolate granola bar that I found in “The Yuckiness”- a.k.a.  the bottom of my purse. And a naner that I had just bought from the produce section.

..and maybe a few handfuls of Kashi crackers while putting the goodies away.

Once the groceries were put away, I put on my cleaning gloves and set out to sanitize the kitchen. Those that have been reading for a while know that I am a freak about always having a clean kitchen.

I was set to spray the first counter when: ‘Knock knock knock’.

Ughhhhhhhhhhhh. <—said in my head as I walk towards the door with reluctance.

It was Jason’s aunt. She wanted to know if I could take her to the drug store. Mkay! The sanitizing will have to be put off. (As will the vacuuming, laundry and toilet scrubbing). ‘Twas a quick trip and I was back in no time.

Only when I got back, my body was taken over by a baking demon. What can I say? I was possessed. It made me cook Banana Chocolate Chip Oatmeal cookies and they were scrumptious…I hope he comes back to visit me soon Maybe next time he’ll have me cooking Julia Child’s Le Succes- Meringue Layer Cake with Butter-cream Frosting and Filling. Yes, yes. That would be nice

(We keep our cookies in tupperware…cos we’re fancy like that)

Needless to say, I didn’t get a lot of housework done. But oh well! I’ll take oatmeal cookies and cookbook reading  over scrubbing toilets any day. I’m off to begin dinner! On tonight’s menu: Butter Bean burgers with chipotle sauce, along with roasted  parmasean asparagus and cajun red potatoes. YUM YUM.

Have a lovely week bloggies! See ya soon!

P.S. New Balance sent me some pretty awesome shoes to review, so be on the lookout for that! Also coming up: An Ode to Cooking G’night ya’ll!

I hope everyone’s week is flying by like mine is I finally have a moment to sit down and breathe, so I thought I’d show my blog a little lovin’

Here comes Part 2 of FitBloggin!

Sunday morning I woke up suuuppperrrr early so I could take advantage of all the fitness classes that they had scheduled It’s like a free fitness class, people! <—My gym doesn’t offer any type of classes at all, so I get excited about free ones Though I only had 4.5 hours of sleep, I felt wide awake and ready to start workin out.

First up: Yoga.

Promise I’m not asleep. Or am I?? You can decide

Yoga lasted for an hour, then we jumped right into 30 Minute Bootcamp Solutions with Jessica Smith.

Holy moly. Let me just say: I was not prepared for the intensity of this workout! Within the first 10 minutes, I was a sweaty, mushy pulp. Think Jillian Micheals meets the Army.  Jessica made it fun with music and phrases like “Come on! Give me 10 more! You can do it!” Lurrrrvvveee it

I was planning to leave after bootcamp ended, but then this vibrant, loud Spanish guy came into the room and immediately grabbed my attention. What could this be about?? <–is what I wonder.

Martial Fusion (a.k.a. a mix of martial arts and dancing)!!!!! I’m sold. Just give me a minute to snack on a banana and guzzle a bottle of water

So, another hour of working out passed…but it was sooooo fun!

Maybe it was the fact that I had just worked out for 2.5 hours, or maybe it was the fact that I was delirious from lack of sleep, but I felt freakin’ awesome after the last class ended. My confidence and strength were soaring sky high

With a little pep in my step, I headed back to the room to see if my two sleepy-head roomates were up yet. They were! Katy already had breakfast plans, but Whit was free to go to Starbucks with me. The shower would have to wait cos I was a starvin marvin.

Grande iced coffee with skim milk and….

..Starbucks perfect oatmeal with all the fixins’.  Gone in about 2 minutes flat.

Ha It’s always fun to take pics of other people taking pics!

From there, it was back to the room for the shower that I desperately needed, then out for a day of ‘splorin with the girls! Joining Whit and I were Casey and Julie.

We took a walk along the water and saw a couple of boats:

…an old lighthouse that is now over land…

..and I could probably show you 1,000 different pictures of water..but I’m pretty sure they all look the same We continued to walk along the water and LOOK AT WHAT I FOUND!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

OH my..is..is that a five-story bookstore?? Have I died and gone to heaven?? The answer is: HELL YES! Get me in there A.S.A.P. I have to see this for myself.

Oh gah..I’m in love. There were tunnels that were in the middle of the store that went all the way up to the 5th floor and a winding staircase that made me just want to squeal with excitement!

Forget my flight. I’m already home. After having my small conniption, the girls and I looked around and wouldn’t you know that the first place we browsed was the “Diet” section! I can’t believe some of the crazy diets that are out there today. The future Registered Dietician in me just wants to rip all of them off the wall and use them for a bon fire! (But not in my beloved bookstore )

But I did end up finding this little treasure:

I shall review once I have it finished. Moving on: we were getting a tad bit hungry with all this walking around so we found a cute spot named “Pizzaz” that had outdoor seating…and vegan food!

I ordered a non-vegan salad that had avocado, feta cheese, tomato, cucumber, black olives and red onion. With a side of fries Gotta have my carbs.

My lunch dates:

(Note to self: invest in sunglasses)

Lunch was pretty good, but dessert was da bomb! And it was vegan

Chocolate Mint Cake

…and Peanut Butter Chocolate cake…

YUMMO. Split four ways, it was the perfect amount to satisfy my sweet tooth.

Sadly, after lunch, we had to get back to the hotel so Whit and I could catch a cab to the airport. All of the activities of the day were starting to wear on me. My body was feeling worn down and low on fuel, screaming “Rest me! Rest me!”

We arrived at the airport, made it through security and I proceeded to conk out on a chair beside our terminal.

One turbulent plane ride later and maybe 3 small panic attacks later…I was back in my hometown with the boyfriend. I said my good-byes to Whitney and then talked Jasons head off about the trip during the 40 minute trip home. My body was overly tired now. It felt like my legs weighed 500 pounds, every step I took was a huge effort. My eyes were droopy and I was getting a little grumpy and hungry at that.

On the way home, we stopped by our favorite watering hole for some beer and pizza!

The beer made me feel better

And a few kisses from the guy did too!

Pizzzzaaaaaa! No other words for that. The garden pizza is our usual and it is always de-licious

I was glad to get to bed that night asleep by 9:00. However, I was really sad to leave Baltimore. I love the water, the atmosphere, the bookstore, the food, the people, the bookstore, the walkability of the city, and the bookstore. It was a fun, fun time and I really hope I can make it to next years FitBloggin!

(Can you spot me?? )

Lot’s of stuff going on this weekend! I’m helping out with metabolic testing at our college health fair this Saturday, and then Jason and I have a 12 mile run planned! T minus 3 weeks until my half-marathon! Woot woot. What do you have going on this weekend??

PS. Is it sad to say that my favorite part of the whole trip was going into that bookstore?? <–TOTAL NERD :p

It was so much fun

I think I am officially in lurve with the city of Baltimore and all of the bloggies that I met too. All of the girls were great, all of the sponsors were beyond great and the experience was just amazing. Let’s start with Friday night:

After a successful (<—successful meaning I didn’t manage to puke) airplane ride, Whit and I got our baggage and boarded the shuttle that would take us to the hotel. Guess who was on there?! Ali :D (Just so ya know, Whit let out a loud, girlie scream when she saw Ali that scared the bee-Jesus out of me) We all decided to get checked and in and get some food before we starved to death.

There was a swanky little Mexican eatery around the corner from our hotel called Talara’s. Ali and I ordered Negro Modelo’s to start out with:

Yum. Cold beer makes Stacey a happy girl They ended up splitting the $5 tapas that were on special, I ended up ordering a vegetarian panini with fries It was either that or some sort of rice and bean mixture, so the veggies won!

I ate all of the sandwich and half of the fries…it was pretty yummy, kind of oily though.

After lunch we went back to the hotel to get ready for the night! POM was hosting a cocktail party for everyone upstairs so this was our chance to get all dressed up! Here is the dress:

(Sorry for the bluriness!) Ok. You guys, I am totally not used to wearing a dress. You can find me in workout clothes probably 5 out of the 7 days that are in a week. High heels? Not my thing. Skin tight hooker dresses? Not my thing. Despite the dress being adorable (because it is!), I was so uncomfortable all night!! It only took me an hour and I was back in jeans Oh well, I guess they aren’t meant for everyone.

Upstairs was jam packed with ladies lining up for cocktails, so the girls and I decided to go down into the bar on the first floor for some drink action. I casually ordered a screwdriver:

‘Twas gone in about 3 minutes flat. I spent some time mingling at the party and joined Whit and a few others for a bar crawl. We didn’t really end up staying in one place long enough to have a drink, everywhere was so crowded! I decided to head back to the hotel, get into my jammies and call it a night.

________________

Saturday mornin’ we were up-and-at-it for the FitBloggin 5k! The folks from New Balance were beyond generous in giving us a free pair of shoes to review! 

I figured, why not run in them?? Just to test them out? So I threw on some running clothes, my new shoes and headed out the door with my roomies:

The weather was gorgeous, even at 6:30 AM!! I’m pretty sure I talked Whit and Katy’s heads off about how pretty the scenery was. The run was right by the water and it was fabulous. And guess what?! I even beat a PR time on this 5k!!!!! We finished in 28:20 A little over a minute faster than old PR time! I think it helps to run with friends

As for the shoes, they were very comfy but they didn’t have the high-arch support like the ones that I usually run in. I’m not really sure I would run in these again, but I am definitely going to use them for walking/hiking shoes (ahem, wearing them right now).

Everyone congratulated everyone else on doing an awesome run, then it was shower—>breakfast—>seminar time.

Breakfast was provided by Quaker oats

The only thing that was missing was the peanut butter!

There were several great seminars throughout the day:

….including: Junk Science: How to Critically Evaluate Research….

…From Blog to Book: How to get Published…

…and Using Social Media to Reach Goals. Then it was lunchtime!

Another vegetarian panini (!) with a delicious cup of mushroom soup with pumpernickel croutons…the soup was to die for. So good. Dessert consisted of a fruit plate with a small Jell-O shot, minus the liquor

A bunch of us decided to head out for an after-lunch walk to soak up the atmosphere of Baltimore (and some vitamin D as well )

Picture courtesy of Anne!

We walked for about 30 minutes then it was time to head back for the last 2 seminars and a closing session from David Grotto. I skipped the post conference reception and the book signing. Instead, I went back to the room took my shoes off, lay on the bed and called my mom and boyfriend . A girl starts to miss familiar voices after a while, know what I mean??

After chillaxing for an hour or so, I realized how bad I wanted to be outside!! <—Seriously in love with Baltimore. I decided to venture out to find some take-out for dinner. I came upon a Lebonese place two blocks from our hotel, it held the promise of vegetarian food! I ordered the Vegetarian Mezza, and since I can’t pronounce anything that was in it, I took a pic for you guys  

I sat by the river while I waited for my food:

How beautiful is that sunset?! Very beautiful, I would say As weird as it sounds, sunsets are kind of a spiritual experience for me..especially when I see a sunset over water.

Once I was back at the hotel I eagerly opened up my dinner!

Where to start?! I’ve never had Lebonese food before…but I quickly learned that it is amazing! I ate EVERYTHING off of the plate…and the fried/breaded things were the most delicious of course

Ugh. I was stuffed. Like pop-a-button-on-my-pants stuffed. But not too stuffed for a blondie from the cafe in the hotel lobby

It was the perfect ending to a perfect day

The sun was setting and it was time for me to relax and get myself ready for Day 2 of FitBloggin!

Stay tuned to find out what I did on my favorite day of the whole trip

Gosh, that weekend went by fast, no? I can’t believe it’s already Monday night.

Jas and I spent so much time doing homework this weekend, the only “us” time we had together was our date night on Sunday. Our day started out with fab-u-lous oats:

In this bowl:

• 1/2 cup oats
• 1/2 cup vanilla soy milk
• 1/2 cup water
• chai seeds
• 1/2 banana
• 1/2 Cliff Zbar S’more
• 1 tsp pb
• 1 tsp blackberry jam

..with coffee of course …all on top of my algebra homework.

This bowl was so filling. I went 5 hours without any hunger cues whatsoever!  I spent the morning with my calculator and my laptop. The 6 hours spent was worth it because I totally made an A on my homework At 2-ish, I realized I should probably eat so I whipped up an easy lunch:

A Smartdog, vegetarian baked beans and grapes. Nothing fabulous, but it served it’s purpose. I also had one of these for dessert:

These intrigued me while I was grocery shopping. Caramel? Mousse?60 calorie dessert? What’s not to love, right?? The texture..that’s what! Maybe I had different expectations for it in my mind, or maybe I just wasn’t thinking of a “mousse-y” texture when I picked it up….either way, I hated the texture. It was like air. I felt like I was eating nothing. The flavor was good, but it was gone in a matter of minutes…leaving my dessert craving still raging. Oh well!

After dessert, time to get ready for our date!

First, we went to Target to go lamp shopping I know it sounds corny, but I love doing stuff like that together. Doing couple-y things makes me happy <—–Cheeessseeeballll.

We decided to have dinner at Thai House. I wanted some fried tofu. The place is soooo dark, so these are the only pics I was able to get!

Ummmmm…I promise there are veggies under the fried tofu In fact, there are cucumbers, tomatoes, red and green peppers, onion, mushrooms and zucchini. All in a pool of sweet-n-sour sauce. 

 Oh, and there was steamed brown rice in the mix too And you see that beer glass on the far right? That, my friend, was a Sierra Nevada that Jas and I shared. And how sexy do I look with that big hunk of food in my cheek? Uber-sexy, I know

 After stuffing our faces finishing dinner, it was time for the movie! We went to see……….dun-da-da-dun-dunnnnn, dun-da-da-dun-dunnnnn, dun-da-da-dunnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn:

Shutter Island! Doesn’t that make you want to shutter? Enough with the bad jokes That’s my “ooohhhh this might be scary” -face.

[Side-note: Got the jacket at Forever21 for $12!!!!!!!!!! It was marked down from $45...who loves a good bargain?? This girl.]

The movie was really clever and kept me on the edge of my seat. I could do without the blood, but otherwise it was great! Leo DiCaprio is a great actor, though he always looks like a kid put in grown-up clothes in every movie, haha

Now, I am “ashamed”…..or, I guess I should say that I am having the “non-exercise guilt” right now. I’ve been feeling so tired lately. Jas and I both got up before 8 on Saturday and Sunday so we could do homework. He has been sick, so he was super tired and weak to begin with. The only time we did a work out was on Saturday for 45 minutes. Here is what we did:

• 100 crunches
• 50 left/right side oblique crunches
• 3×10 lat pulldowns (65 lbs)
• 3×10 v-pulldowns (50 lbs)
• 3×10 bicep curls (25 lbs)
• 3×10 military press (45 lbs)
• 3×10 rowing machine (50 lbs)

..and then we had planned to do cardio but we were so weak. It took all of our strength just to get through that last exercise. We left the gym and I silently promised myself I would run 6 miles on Sunday..because I really wanted to get out and run.

Well, the run never happened either. I spent much more time on homework than planned and before I knew it, it was time to get ready for our date night. When Jas and I got home from the movie, I lay on the couch and started watching FoodNetwork love of my life and I fell asleep while talking to him.

This morning, I woke up after he had left for work. This week is our “Spring Break” at school so I didn’t have school. The only plans I had were to meet my mom for lunch, coach and then the gym. As the day went on I felt more and more sick. Sore throat, watery eyes, weak and tired…needless to say, the gym didn’t happen today either. You guys ever have an off-week??

I can’t say that it doesn’t bother me that I haven’t done cardio in three days. It does. Tremendously. Help me feel better about my exercise mishaps!

Do you guys feel this way when you miss a workout, or 3 in a row?? Hope I’m not the only one!

Ugh. I need to drink some sleepy-time tea and curl up under a fluffy blanket. See ya Wednesday

[Edited to add: It's a few days later and I guess my body knew what it was doing. I left work sick yesterday and am still recouperating. I don't care that I haven't been to the gym in 4 days, I just wanna get better so I CAN go running or to the gym! Thanks for the support ]

Yay for the almost-here weekend! Seems that the weeks fly by now that I am back in school..anyone else feel that way??

Before I get started on what I really want to talk about, I shall tell you about my day!

I started this morning with a re-make of the oatmeal I had at Kath’s house on Saturday:

In this bowl:

• 1/2 cup oats
• 1/2 cup water, 1/2 cup vanilla soymilk
• chai seeds
• banana
• Tbsp pb, tsp raspberry jam
• 1/2 oat&honey bar crumbled on top

Yummo!

….with coffee of course

This breakfast was soooo good, but I was almost sweating by the time I finished it up! The hot oats with the hot coffee had me craving a big ol’ glass of ice water.

After kissing the boyfriend goodbye, I was on my way to school. The director of our program came into the classroom today to talk to us about Food Management and Food Budgeting…interesting stuff I tell ya

Around 11 o’clock we took a break and I broke into the munchies that I had shoved in my purse on the way out the door:

Blueberry Crisp Cliff bar and some grapes.

And then, can you guess what we made in class today?? Here: I will give you a few hints

It’s red…

You eat it…

If you guessed ketchup muffins then you are wrong Haha.

We made red velvet cupcakes!! And I got to shove my face with icing put the icing on top of them!

I like to pretend I am Rachel Ray.

Actually, I sort of volunteered. The person that is in charge of icing them obviously gets to scrape the remaining icing out of the container…and then eat it So you see, I figured I was the perfect girl for the job.

Holy moly. I could’ve lived off of the cream cheese topping….mmmmmmmm…….*drool*

The class was allowed to leave only after finishing our cupcakes. I had to eat all of it…you know, just so I could get out of there..

My next destination was the gym. I guess this is a good time to bring up what I want to talk about!

I realize that this is a “food, fitness/running” blog, but I often forget to share my workouts with you guys It’s not that I don’t want to, I just forget! The other day I was talking to Jason about the blog and he says: “You need to run more.” The name of my blog is “I’d Rather Be Running”. Because it’s true. I would rather be running, no matter what I am doing, I would always rather be running. I don’t want to seem like a running “poser”, if that’s even possible!

I run when I can. Just because I am not running 20 miles a week doesn’t mean that I don’t love to run. I admit that this winter has kind of hindered me and my running, but I have just gathered all of my upcoming spring race info and put it on the right side of the page You guys should also know that I go to the gym 4 times a week. I will try my best to keep you updated of my workouts, runs and other fun stuff

Here are my workouts so far this week:

• Monday: 1 hour yoga session with Jason
• Tuesday: strength training: 60 left/right leg ab workouts, 3×15 deadlifts (8lbs), 3×20 shoulder press (8lbs), 3×20 punches (8lbs)..by the way, I usually skip cardio on tuesdays..and these exercises were done during Biggest Loser commercials
• Wednesday: see below!
• Thursday: 100 crunches w/balance ball, 3×15 incline pushups, 45 minutes of speed walking (at park with dog)
• Friday: gym with Jason? or off?
• Saturday: whatever I don’t choose Friday
• Sunday: bicycle crunches and a Valentines Day 5 mile run with my honey <3

With that being said, I headed into the gym to conquer a run on the dreadmill. First, I warmed up with 100 crunches, 3×15 chest press (45 lbs.), 3×8 bicep curls (25 lbs.), 3×20 bench dips. Then it was time to run! I’ve succeeded in avoiding the treadmill all winter, but today I gave in. It was a biting chilly wind outside I managed to complete 3.5 miles!

Here are my stats:

1st mile: 10:09

2nd mile: 9:40

3rd mile: 9:24

I was pretty happy with the end result. It actually wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. House Hunters was on the tele in front of me

Once home, I walked Trixie and came back to snack on some Kashi cereal while I worked on a few reports for dietetics class:

Jason and I sat and chatted for a while after he got home from work. Beer was opened:

..and drank

We decided that tonight would be a good night for an orzo dinner! This Giada orzo was on sale at Target for $2 I love Target, I was pretty excited to come up with a dinner to make with it!

The final decision: Orzo Pasta with Spinach, Chickpeas and Dill

Ingredients:

(Makes 8, 1 cup servings)

• 2 cups orzo, uncooked
• 2 cups frozen spinach
• 1 pint grape tomatoes, havled
• 1/4 cup goat cheese, crumbled
• 1 can chickpeas, drained
• 1 Tbsp. dry dill
• 3 Tbsp. olive oil
• 1 lemon, juiced
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp minced garlic
• pepper to taste

Cook orzo and spinach in a pot, bring to a boil. Remove from heat. Add chickpeas, dill, grape tomatoes and goat cheese. In a seperate small bowl, whisk together olive oil, salt, lemon juice and garlic. Add oil mixture to orzo, stirring until pasta is completely coated. Serve in a bowl and enjoy!

I had mine with a bit of homeade garlic toast

‘Twas delicious…I loved the hint of lemon in the pasta. It had a nice zing to it Of course, there were unpictured seconds.

Now my tummy is fully satisfied and I am ready to go night-night. A good book, a fluffy blanket and snuggly cat are calling my name! See ya later taters

Do you have a weekly workout regimen? Or do you mix it up?

Hola chica’s

How goes it?? My weekend has been pretty great so far!

I started off my Saturday with an oatmeal brunch at Kath’s house. ‘Twas delicious and nutritious Upon arriving, we were met with a table of toppings to add to our oats:

Jams, Great Harvest muffins, granola, wheatberries, raspberries annnnddddd….the star of the show, of course, was the peanut butter selection!

Holy cow. How can one not be jealous of her peanut butter selection?!? It was love at first bite sight for me I ended up choosing a spoonful of the Chocolate Cherry peanut butter and a spoonful of the Cacao Bliss to go into my fab bowl of oats:

Mmmmmmmm….waiting to take a picture of it was pure torture. I was ready to dig in! And the way the French Press was smelling too, ohhhhh Lordy…my stomach was being obnoxious..luckily there was enough chatter from the rest of the ladies that no one noticed

After everyone went through the ‘topping buffet’ we went to take our seats at the dining room table:

Let’s see if I can remember all the names! Here we go: Whit, Kath, Diana, Michelle, Kate, Jessie and Emily. There. I think I got them all

HAHA. Look at that face I’m giving Whit! Sorry Whit I don’t really mean to look so angry lol. This pic (and another previous one) were courtesy of Diana and her camera

The ladies sat and chatted for a while after our tummies were full of oatmeal, then it was time for me to leave to go see my niece and nephew! I drove back into my neck of the woods and spent some time with my sister, her two kids and my mom. We went to this huge place called “Monkey Joes” where they have all this inflattable stuff the kids can play on. It looked like a lot of fun! I didn’t take my camera in though because there were so many people in there, and I figured I’d be riding down some of the slides with my Lukey anyway Here is a pic of us last summer:

Love him <3 Miss the straight hair too!

After my visit with the family, I headed over to Books-A-Million for some reading, writing and more coffee time:

Jason was stuck at home doing homework I thought that we he was going to meet me when he was finished, but it was a big miscommunication! I headed home after I found that out.

On my way I gobbled down an unpictured banana, and then popped veggie marsala Kashi meal into the micro for a quick lunch fix:

Yes. Very appetizing, right?? It was just okay, nothing outta this world or anything. I’m not a big fan of microwavable meals, but I was pretty desperate for some nourishment at the time! Plus, these were on sale at Target for $2!!! Can’t pass up a bargain

While Jas finished up his homework, I took it upon myself to finish a book and soak in a hot, steamy bath Around 8 o’clock I set out to make a soupy dinner!

Broccoli and Potato Cheddar Cheese Soup, with a twist.

Into this pot:

• 6 small (or 3 big) red potatoes
• 1/2 medium onion, chopped
• 2 cups frozen broccoli
• 2 (14 1/4 oz. cans) veg broth
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 1/4 cups skim milk
• 8 oz. sharp cheddar cheese
• salt, pepper, Tabasco to taste <–perfect kick!

Directions: Whisk together 1/3 veg broth and flour in small bowl, set aside. Pour in rest of broth into pot, add broccoli, onion and potatoes, heat to a boiling until potatoes are tender. Gradually stir in flour mixture, stirring often for about 5 minutes. Add in milk and cheddar cheese. Stir until cheese melts evenly in pot. Add s+p, Tabasco to taste. Ladle into bowls, top with sprinkle cheese and enjoy!

On a rainy day like yesterday, it was a perfect comfort meal

My bowl:

Mmmmm…melty, cheesy, ooey, gooey goodness.

Dinner was the prelude to a little game playing Jas and I set up a game of UNO on the couch, and pretty soon the popcorn came out as well!

Jason won three games in a row…

…he was a happy, gloating, camper

Finally, around 11:30, it was time for bed. I was in some serious need of sleep, these past few nights have been 5 hour nights, so I was totally excited about being able to sleep in! ‘Twas a peaceful, uninterrupted night of sleep…At 9 a.m. I woke up to this:

That would be Humphrey..the bear I got from my pe-paw when I was 4 years old. He gave him to me as a Christmas present back in 1989, and I was immediately in love with the bear. When you would press his heart, it would thump beneath your fingers Poor Humphreys heart has beaten since I was about 7 though He sleeps in the bed with Jas and I, and I desperately casually mention how cool it would be if his heart still beat…and this morning, I found Jason doing his magic on him

Out of all of the stuffed animals I have ever owned, Humphrey seems to be the one that has been by my side for years…through moves, breakups, school, fights, friends..everything. At first, having him through all that was unintentional, but now I can’t seem to sleep in the bed without him, as corny and childish as that sounds!

And OMG, you should’ve seen my face when Jason fixed him!!!!!! He had to hold the battery in place the whole time, but minus a few smoky sparks it started working! I felt the same Tha-thump, Tha-thump I did when I was 4 years old What Jason did is actually better than any store-bought gift he could give me.

Ironically, I am currently listening to Celine Dion’s “Where Does My Heart Beat Now” Haha Jas is waiting for me to finish up the post so we can head to Target, the gym and then to our fav little lunch spot. Stay warm today and be safe!

Do you have a childhood treasure that means a lot to you?? Please say you do so I don’t feel like such a dork

….snowy weekends with the boyfriend….

…sledding on a box in the middle of the woods…

….making dirt snow angels…

…thawing out on the couch with the whole family…

…a warm bowl of oats on a cold, rainy morning…

…cofffeeeeeee!!!

…good food….

tomato basil cream soup

"Napa Salad" with mixed greens, blue cheese crumbles, dried cranberries, walnuts and champaigne vinagerette dressing

…good friends…

Jessie, Meredith, Whit, Holly and myself

…and good desserts

chocolate cake with caramel gelato, turtle cheesecake, tiramisu

…I also love throwing on some high heels and pretending that I am “Baby” from Dirty Dancing…

Jas and I had a pretty good day yesterday. We woke up, ate breakfast and immediately went to Cramerton to run

It was freezing out there! Once we got started it didn’t feel as cold, but my hands and ears were practically numb by the second mile. The winds were coming right against us too, so even if we didn’t want it, we got a little resistance training in on our run

Cramerton is just full of hills!! I’ve already told Whit if she wants to get in some hills when we train for the half-marathon, that we should just run in Cramerton! For some reason I didn’t really feel the impact of the hills on my knees and legs during our run. I don’t know if it was the wind or the cold, but my legs felt fine the entire time! Stupid wind made me feel like I was going 4 miles per hour! Oh well It was nice to get out there on the pavement.

After our run, Jas and I came back to get ready for our day! We had some christmas and grocery shopping to do, and his little sisters christmas play was at six, so we had to haul butt!

As the day went on, I started feeling more and more sick My head was pounding, my throat was scratchy and I just felt so tired. So I ended up staying home while Jas went to the play. But while he was gone, I attempted (for the second time) Rachel Rays’ Tandoori Chicken (tofu for me). I did everything the recipe says, but it still turned out really dry The tofu didn’t really soak up the spices the way I wanted it to. But oh well, it’s a learning process. I’m getting closer and closer to making a good tofu meal!!

Either way, I’m not one to waste food, so I ate it. Along with some deeeee-licious mashed taters and green beans

Jason ate his chicken, even though he thought it was dry. We have leftovers, so I’m trying to think of a way to “fix” the leftovers  lol…we’ll see what I come up with! After dinner, I soothed my palate with some dark chocolate and nighty-time tea (third cup of the day).

The dark chocolate seemed to help but the night time tea did not. I had a ton of trouble with insomnia last night. Tossing and turning, fading in and out of sleep. I remember waking up at 3 and just laying there, for what felt like hours, just thinking about things and life in general. Jason’s alarm went off at 8 and I unhappily got out of bed with him.

It was time for some oats!! And today, I am I feelin’ a little artistic with my food

Hehe It’s a smiley bowl of oats! In this bowl we have:

• 1/2 cup skim milk, 1/2 cup hot water
• dash of salt
• 1/2 mashed naner, the other half cut in slices on top
• 1 HUGE spoon on pb mixed in
• 1 natural cinnamon granola bar sprinkled on top (for the hair )

This bowl of oats, along with a cup of coffee, made me perk up and forget about my sleepless night. How can I stay mad when my food is smiling at me?!

On the agenda for today:

• clean out the car
• christmas shop
• bake cookies (I promised Jason!)
• wrap presents
• walk trixie
• pilates?? or yoga?? haven’t decided which  one yet!
• spinach fettucine dinner

Most of my day will be spent out and about! I was going to start my day by walking the dog, but she is snoring on the couch, so I will just let her sleep <3

Well, better get crackin’ on that to-do list! Happy Monday everyone