Going with the flow

I might have lied last night when I made my list of 5 things I ate. I might have gotten hungry while signing my lease and stopped for froyo on my way home.

Cake batter again. How can I possibly say no to this little joy?

Muchos apologies for such bad car lighting & no camera flash.

This A.M. I searched high and low for my oats. Where did they go?!? Finally I found them in a random cupboard. PHEW. Heart attack averted.

Cold canteloupe on hot oats? Why, that’s new!

And let me tell you – it worked!

• 1/3 cup multigrain oats
• 1/3 cup almond milk + 1/3 cup water
• Cinnamon
• Peanut flour
• 1 egg whisked in
• Canteloupe (obviously)
• Nut butter!!!

I liked eating this in a mug. It made it more exciting.

No hospital job today, but I did nanny. Snacked on some almonds while we frolicked in the park.

I’m definitely taking advantage of nannying during meal times. Especially when they have food I like. 😉 Here we have a gardenburger on whole wheat with mustard & BBQ sauce.

And here we have a freshly baked chocolate chip cookie trying to imitate the gardenburger’s pose. Copycat.

Shoot – I had 2 of these at work too. I was thirsty and out of water. That’s my story and I’m stickin’ to it.

Guess what I did after work? Well, after hitting up the bank and filling up my gas tank. ROAD TRIP!!! Yes, I’m calling a 30 minute drive to Target a road trip. It was exciting.

I picked up a few necessities (PB & jelly obvs), a few treats (new bathmat for my new bathroom!), and a few good deals ($5 plain T-shirts & some on-sale-Annie’s products!). While shopping I snacked on some popcorn, but when that didn’t cut it, I broke out the bar.

My last bar 😦 Although I’m not sad to see this particular one go – not a fan of apple cinnamon flavored things.

Oh and a Target drink. Lemonade light. Still full of artificial crap. But at least not a soda? Can I say that? I’m at least getting Vitamin C…maybe?

I barely made it through the door before I got to work on my peanut butter. I’m obsessed with flavored and sweetened PBs, but I can’t afford to constantly buy them. I’ve made my own cinnamon-raisin PB, and attempted my own honey peanut butter. This time I wanted some maple PB!

• 1 container plain peanut butter
• 2-4 Tbsp maple syrup (I used 4)
• Sweetener (optional – depending on how sweet you want it)

Mmmm I definitely ate my fair share. I feel like I’m scraping the cookie dough bowl!

Awesome. So now I have some maple peanut butter for $1.79 (Skippy was on sale at Target. Now that I think of it I should’ve bought 2 for that price) + the cost of the maple syrup (which was free since it was my old roommate’s she left in the fridge). Score.

I fully intended on running after this delicious pre-run fuel, but my ex/future roommate (what do I call her during this awkward transitional between houses period?) called inviting me to Taco Tuesday.

Um. Hello. My name is Taylor and I love food. And tacos. And a good deal ($1 each – what what!).

So much for a run. Sometimes you just have to go with the flow.

2 soft chicken tacos – partly devoured at this point in time.  And fully devoured within seconds after taking this photo.

+ a few chips. And another soda. Oh dear goodness, I need to cut back on my soda consumption.

I’d say I can try and get up early to run tomorrow before my hospital orientation, but let’s face it – I’m still getting used to the fact of waking up around 7:00 a.m. to shower. Let alone waking up at 6:00 to run.

Baby steps. Baby steps.

Maybe after orientation at like 5:00. Perhaps.

And right now my left calf is non-stop twitching. Like those eyebrow/eyelash twiches….but in my leg. Interesting. Maybe my body is rejecting all the caffeine and soda today. Sorry body.

Read Full Post »

High

I’m floatin’ on a high…a runner’s high!! 😀

5 reasons my run was awesome this morning:

1. 10.5 miles. Yes…10.5 miles! My longest since pre-injury (April 2009).
2. They were some awesome 10.5 miles. I felt like I was flying. Except for the last 2 (when my legs were starting to die) and miles 6-7 (when I was parched and thirsty), I felt great! So impressed that I felt that great since this was my first week back running in a month.
3. No side cramps!! Okay…I had one itsy bitsy side cramp that went way super fast. But that’s a great improvement.
4. I finished in 1:43.50.  That’s an average of 9:53 per mile which I’m very happy with.  On these long runs, I’m not necessarily concerned with pace.  I just try to stay under 10 minute miles.
5. Water never tasted so good after my run.

A runner’s high my friends. Love this.

5 things I couldn’t wait to do after my run:

1. Drink water.
2. Sit down – my legs were shot.
3. Guzzle some H2O.
4. Collapse.
5. Chug all the agua in the world.

5 things I need to buy (random…but I thought about it on my run):

1. New running shoes. I’m not sure how many miles mine have on them. I think around 300. But no chances! Unforunately, I’m not sure where that money’s going to come from…
2. Yogurt. I ate the last of it today.
3. New nut butter. I’m using up all my expensive fancy schmancy butters. And I need to spare them.
4. Some type of fuel for runs – I had nothing to bring with me today. Unless I wanted to cart around eggs, a quesadilla, or a frozen Kashi meal with me.
5. A new Ipod arm band – mine smells. No. It reeks. And it’s nasty. I’ve had it for a good 3 years now.

5 things I ate today:

1. Pre-run cinnamon raisin Ezekiel (the last one. Sad face).

Half with Nuttzo, half with Justin’s chocolate hazelnut.

2. Post run vanilla yogurt mixed with Kashi Golean, canteloupe, and peanut flour. Originally my breakfast, but I decided it was too heavy and would probably give me cramps. Good choice Taylor!

With a big ol’ scoop of nuttzo. And 2 rando chocolate covered blueberries. I wanted to see how they’d taste in there.

3. Pesto chicken wrap thingy (not sure if it’s a quesadilla, wrap, or what Costco calls it. I got rid of the box). The middle was still cold, might I add. I was late for nannying.

4. Gardenburger portabella burger. Topped with mango chutney. longside some steamed potatoes with a herb butter sauce.

I wish I could say I made those potatoes, but alas. I cannot. They came from this bag (bought with a coupon!).

(Source)

Yes, I had time to cook today. But I have nothing to cook (besides plain pasta and sauce). I’m trying to eat out what I have before I really shop. And besides, I don’t have much dinner foods since I’ve been eating dinner at work mostly.

5. Bites and nibbles – apple slices & grape tomatoes while at work. Oh and a salad so pathetic at dinner, it hid from the camera. I’m talking romaine lettuce + brown dressing pathetic. At least it wasn’t just plain lettuce.

5 Things I Drank Today!

1. Water (if you didn’t get that from earlier).
2. 2 BIG glasses of Diet 7-up. Soda just tastes so much better after a long run.
3. Vitamin water, which I thought had caffeine in it. But nope.
4. Cawwwwfeeee.
5. A little after dinner treat of Mocha Kahlua + a splash of almond milk.

Sorry my had had to uglify this picture. My roommate had some of this and I’ve always wanted to try the mocha flavor. All it did was make me tired. Snoooooze.

Read Full Post »

Weekend Routine

Happy Friday Sunday! It’s kind of Friday to me. No work tomorrow = HOLLA!! Yes, I do work weekends as part of my job. And by weekends, I mean 6 am.

In all honesty though? It’s not that bad! The time flies by, I’m constantly doing something, and I love the people I work with.

Maybe I’m getting ahead of myself, since it was only my first weekend. But let’s hope it stays this good 🙂

I am super bummed that I can’t go out weekend nights. Well I could. But that’d be crazy. Exhaustion also tends to set in at around 3/3:30. My eating schedule is all whack. Oh and I have to figure out a running routine. I’m literally on my feet walking miles all freaking day. My feet and legs don’t feel like running after that!

Anyways, enough of that. Working has seriously jacked up my appetite! Or my body needs to get used running again. Or maybe because it’s that special time of the month. All I know is the other night I tossed and turned for hours starving!

Somehow this ended up with me in bed:

Um. Yes. Who needs a man when you have chocolate hazelnut butter?

Still hungry…there used to be ice cream in that cup.

Working these early weekend shifts throws off my eating as well. I obviously need to eat before work even though I’m not hungry yet. So I’ve been keeping it slightly small.

Yogurt with raw oatmeal, jam, & a scoop of nut butter:

Today I had the same thing, just with Kashi Golean (which I got for $2.50!! Budget post coming soon!).

Plus numerous cups of coffee obviously.

6:00-8:45: Stay busy writing out lunch tickets, putting together breakfast trays, and delivering breakfast to the patients.

At 8:45 we get our “breakfast break.” The cafeteria is closed, but we can take what we want from the leftover breakfast for the patients or from the stockroom. I’ve been sticking with:

• Scrambled eggs or egg substitutes
• Oatmeal
• Muffin (banana or blueberry)
• Fruit
• Cottage cheese
• Coffee

9:00-10:55: Restock, take patient’s lunch orders, pick up breakfast trays from rooms, get & deliver snacks, etc.

At 10:55 we break for lunch. See how my schedule is wacky? I’m usually not super hungry now, especially since I just had a small breakfast snack not too long ago. But I obviously need to eat! The cafeteria is open now and we can get food, but on the weekends there’s not as many options. For example it was beef fajitas both days

Yesterday I stuck with an herb roasted chicken, steamed veggies, and something else I can’t remember.

Today I had carrots au gratin (not sure, but it was cheesy, crusty yummy carrots), tomato florentine soup, and steamed green beans.

Plus we get free unlimited drinks. So I usually stick with the mojitos or margaritas minute maid lemonade light or diet coke. I need to stop though and stick with iced tea.

11:30-2:30: Make lunch trays, deliver lunch, restock, clean, pick up lunch trays, etc.

Then I’m off!

So since I have such an early lunch (11:00!), and I’m exercising walking aorund for 8 hours, I’m obviously hungry around 3:30 for a snack. And then again around 5:30 for dinner.

Last night I had sauteed veggies with chili beans & the last of my pasta sauce. Weird? But cheap. And it worked.

And tonight I had steamed seasoned veggies over a salad with Asian sesame dressing. And a Gardenburger portabella burger. Which was delish. And topped it off with some yummy mango chutney from Costco. Dude Costco is awesome.

x those veggies by 2 (I ate the whole bag. So sue me).

So anyways, yes. That might have been a bit wordy, but that’s what my weekend schedule looked like and will probably look like most weekends from now on!

Like I said – I really need to find a balance between work, eating, sleep, and running!

I’ve also been enjoying my new favorite night time snack. Plain yogurt + peanut flour stuck in the freezer for a good 30-45 minutes. Then mixed with some jam.

HOLY YUM.

HOLY BAD QUALITY PICTURE.

I need a camera. Pronto.

Currently enjoying some of above said yogurt and watching The Last Song. There’s no cable in this house so I missed the Emmy’s 😦 Thank goodness for Redbox and Netflix on demand!

How was your weekend? Do anything more exciting than me?

Read Full Post »

Back to basics

I’m probably overwhelming you with blog posts. Although…I hope not! Once upon a time Last school year, I wrote almost a post a day. Once I went home for the summer, my schedule was wack and was also camera-less. So my posts fell to only rarely. Now that I’m getting back into a schedule of work and eating my own foods, posting should be more regular!

This morning I was able to sleep in (praise the Lord Jesus!). And got up to make pancakes! I have no flour, but I improvised with my Trader Joe’s peanut flour.

I combined:

• 1/4 multigrain oats
• 1/4 cup peanut flour
• 1/4 cup yogurt
• 1 egg
• 1/4 tsp baking soda & baking powder
• Cinnamon

Cooked on the griddle….okay, they didn’t exactly come out perfect. They broke while flipping.

I topped them off with a sauce made of the peanut flour & some almond milk until the right consistency.

With some REAL maple syrup for dipping.

They were okay. Kinda dry. And I wish I had my SF syrup to douse them in. Yes, I admit. I like my SF syrup. Partly because it’s not as sickly sweet. Partly because then I can douse my pancakes in syrup without feeling quite as guilty. Hate on the SF stuff or not – but I like it!

Guys – I was still exhaused this morning. Even after waking at 9:30. Even after lazing around all morning. I totally debated on running or not. But I did. And I’m happy I went out!

Distance: 4.72 miles
Time: 44:38
Avg: 9:27

I went down I route I always have trouble with. It’s slightly downhill one way, slightly uphill the way back. In the direct blazing sun. But I felt I kept up a good pace for it!

Note: I don’t stop the watch during my walking breaks. But I do pause it when I need to stop in the shade. Particularly stop with a side cramp. Which I’ve been getting every run.

Quick lunch between showering and work – the rest of my egg white salad with tortilla “chips.”

I simply sprayed a whole wheat tortilla and sprinkled with salt, garlic & pepper. However it never got truly crispy like Flatout wraps do. Those rock for “chip” making.

Plus a handful of these on the way to work:

I actually remembered my camera phone today on my dinner break and managed to snag a picture! Unfortunately it was one of the more boring days – all of the entrees had meat or fish So I stuck with the salad bar:

• Lettuce
• Tomatoes
• Kidney beans
• Black beans
• Sunflower seeds
• Blue cheese (that’s all they have)
• Honey mustard dressing

+ a side of scalloped corn. It looked kinda good. (which I didn’t get a picture of)

(source)

I actually really like how the hospital cafeteria has the nutritional information below most of their food they serve. It kind of helps me order. While I am stoked about getting a free meal every shift, I am worried about eating all the sodium and homecooked type of meals. The nutrition info can help keep me straight.

My hot chocolate goes undocumented literally almost every night, but tonight he (or she?) demanded an appearance.

Resting on my new lap desk.  The lap desk’s name is Lil’ P. I will one day get to the story behind my lap desk’s name. But I’m not sure you want to hear it.

Yes, I know I’m dumb for having my drink right next to my computer. Yes, I know one day it’s likely to spill on the keys, causing a catastrophe and the world to end. And yes, I know since I know that it’ll eventually happen one day, I shouldn’t rest it there.

But do I listen to myself? No.

I now have a plain yogurt freezing in the freezer right now. I’ll let you know how that turns out tomorrow.

First 6 am shift in the morning – let’s do this!

Read Full Post »

Go Go Go!

Today marked my first double day of work.

Nannying 8:30-2

Hospital job 3-8:30

12 hours with a 1 hour break between? No sweat! It actually didn’t hit me until now how tired I am. I know many of you work 2 jobs (heck, I’ve worked 3-4 jobs before!), but for some reason today just wore me out like no other.  I think because I was literally on my feet all day long running around nonstop.

It was super tough waking up this morning. I do believe that the air mattress is taking it’s toll on me and I’m not getting a great night’s sleep.

Ready-to-eat breakfast!

• 1/4 cup multigrain oats + 1/4 cup almond milk + 1/4 cup plain yogurt + stevia + PB flour + cinnamon overnight
• Topped off with:
  • White peach (nectarines are WAY better)
  • Red raspberry jam
  • Nuttzo

I was beyond ecstatic when I found out Trader Joe’s now carried PB powder (aka PB2). It’s almost like peanut flavored protein powder – 16 grams of protein and 110 calories per 1/4 cup serving! Awesome. Beyond awesome.

Nanny job.
8:30-2:00.
Walked 10 minutes to the park.
Played.
Pushed the swing for 30 minutes (upper body workout. Right).
Walked 10 minutes back.
Held and walked around with the crying baby for 1 hour.
On my feet. All. Day.

Thank goodness the mom packed 6 snacks and I could sneak some trail mix! I was hungry 1 1/2 hours after breakfast? Weird.

Lunch. Or snack. Or lunch part 1 (whatever you want to call it) was another egg white wrap. No picture. But looked the same as this:

+ apples & hummus.

2:00 rolled around, I raced home, threw on my “catering” attire, and slammed some food. I wasn’t hungry, but I know I need to eat at 2:30 since I can’t eat until 7:00ish.

Peanut butter nuttzo & jam sammy. + necessary iced coffee.

I am so bummed at myself – I keep forgetting to stick my phone in my apron pocket when I head out on break. Therefore, none of my dinners have ended up documented. This was the best I could come up with today from google images:

Some curry chicken salad (which was nasty and tasted just like mayonaisey chicken salad. But I still found myself eating it anyways?) –

(Source)

Chicken tortilla soup (deeeelicious) –

(Source)

A small bite of mac & cheese (it looked good and I wanted to try it!)

(Source)

And some pineapple and blueberries to end with on a sweet note.

Needless to say, I was a tad too full after this 😉

I got home at 8:45 and crashed on the couch with some hot chocolate.

Then realized at 8:56 that my Redbox movie was due at 9:00. Crap. So the movie Chloe was now costing me $2.18. Not the $1.09 I was already upset about.

Yogurt mixed with PB flour and jam:

And now I really am crashing.

Good night.

Read Full Post »

Reduced guilt fail

Hello hello hello! So it looks like we got the place we wanted – good price, semi-remodeled, and decent size! Only downside is, we can’t move in until the 19th of September. Whattt??? Luckily my old roommate is letting me rent out the small room office downstairs until then.

This is where I’ve been living for the past 6 days, and where I’ll be living for the next 3 1/2 weeks (I guess…):

Yay for air mattresses! Actually it’s a pretty comfortable one.

Ok ok when I found out I’ll be staying for longer than a week, I definitely knew it was time to reorganize a bit.

Better?

I moved down with only suitcases and what would fit into my car. My dad’s coming down later with all the big stuff (mattress, bedframe, dresser, etc). So I’ll be living out of my suitcases for a while. I also left quite a few things at home (shoes, some clothes, dvds?) that I’m sad I won’t have for 3 more weeks!

Oh well, at least we have a place to move into 🙂

Today was a day off. And I’ll admit. I was slightly bored.

I took advantage of my free time to make oatmeal for breakfast.

Topped with raspberry jam, and 2 special types of nut butters.

(I kept adding more jam as I ate my way through the bowl. I LOVE jam on oats!)

These beauties:

“Wait Taylor. Aren’t you on a tight budget?”

Why yes. Yes, in fact I am. However I have 2 legitimate excuses reasons for my posession of these guys.

1. I bought the Nuttzo on a great sale about 3 months ago. Before I was on my uber tight budget. It’s just been chillin’ in my pantry making friends with the soup cans and pasta.

2. I also bought the Justin’s on sale (30% off holla!!). Plus I give myself a certain amount to spend per week. And this week, I chose to spend some of it on Justin’s.

So that’s that. I’ll get to my reviews on how I like the products later. Another time, another place blog post.

Later I had some egg white salad in a wrap.

Munched on some celery & cream cheese, and then spent a good portion of the afternoon feeling sick. Weak, heavy headed, slightly nauseous – almost hungover. But I wasn’t, I swear. I might have had 2 glasses of champagne last night at a friend’s going away party! But nothing to induce a hangover. Right?

I planned to do a long run tonight and this wasn’t lookin’ good. I updated my ipod

and drank some iced coffee

Hoping it would help motivate me. I got out the door and wish I could say went on a miraculously great long run! But alas – it was difficult. Heavy legs, hearburn, crazy crazy side-cramps. I definitely stopped and walked A TON, but ended up finishing:

Distance: 6.02 miles

Time: 58:25

Happy that I kept below a 10 minute mile pace even with all the walking.  I’ll have to do a longer run possibly Friday?

Dinner was quick and easy. I tried a new find:

Not too small. But I definitely see they skimp on the cheese.

I might have cooked it in a pie pan since there are no baking sheets in the house.  (Hey! At least now you can see exactly how big it is!)

While it was cooking I had a gourmet simple salad. I know (healthy) fatty dressings are good for you, especially to absorb your nutrients! But I do love this Trader Joe’s dressing. Plus I got my fat’s worth in half an avocado 😉

Simple? That’s an understatement.

I wish I could say this pizza tasted like the real deal.

But it had barely any flavor. The veggies were watery. And as you saw – where was the cheese?

Sorry TJ’s, but there are way more tasty and healthy pizzas out there! Reduced guilt? More like reduced taste.

At least my after dinner treat made up for it!

I headed out to pick up some band-aids (I’ve gotten some mad blisters walking around at work!), and decided to pick up some froyo. Stoked it was cake batter – my fave! Sprinkled with oreo crumbs and a drizzle of chocolate sauce.

And picked up a Redbox movie – Chloe. Which I’m watching now. And it’s SUPER weird. Don’t get it. Whatever you do. I almost want to demand my $1.09 back.  I am on a budget after all.

PHEW. What a post. Tomorrow I start my new nannying job and then head straight to the hospital job. Laterzzz peeps.

Read Full Post »

First Day Hunger Pains

I do believe that my first day of work went well!

Although I was melting is this get-up:

(Bad bad self-portrait quality. I’m no Kailey).

Technically I am a “Catering Associate” but really I’m a dietary assistant – taking food orders, putting together trays, delivering trays, restocking areas of the kitchen, etc.  Not exactly what I want to do with my life, but a foot in the door and great experience for the future!

I started off my morning with a delicious supercharge me type of breakfast.

A bowl of…..nectarine??

Don’t worry (which I knew you were) – there’s some overnight oats under there.

Topped with a chopped up nectarine, jam, and some special special nut butter 🙂

I had to be at work yesterday at 11:45 to watch some award snoozefest winning videos and then my actual shift was from 3-8:00. Not knowing if I would have access to a fridge/freezer/microwave, I packed the easiest foods known to man:

2 nut butter & jam sandwich thins

And a clif z-bar

However, I actually got a lunch break around 1:30 and we get $5 per meal to spend at the cafeteria – YIPPEE!!

I wish I had my phone with me to snap a picture (grrr) but I had a plain turkey on wheat. It was small. Dry. And unfulfilling. Now I know better. Plus I was starving (I mean stomach clenching, passing out, dizzy starving) by 4:00.

My dinner break wasn’t until 7:00 and then I chowed down on some type of pizza flat bread and tarragon butter artichoke hearts.

Then I came home at 8:30 and devoured those 2 sandwich thin sandwiches. I was beyond that type of hunger where I get an awful awful stomach ache and nothing satiates me.

Today I work only from 3-8 so I know now to eat a big meal at 2:30 before I go in!

I’m really going to have to plan out my eating schedule (and peeing drinking schedule since I drank so much I had to pee sooooo badly, but didn’t have a break!). I’m not used to having a job where I’m kept SO busy that I can’t grab a snack or use the restroom.

What about you? Does your job allow flexibility for snacking when hungry?

Read Full Post »

Sad sad empty jars

This is always a glorious sight!! OIAJ anyone?

Unfortunately I ran into 2 problems:

1. I have no oats.

2. It would be quite difficult to dig my spoon into this monstrous jar.

So I had to use my last almond butter remnants on my toast.

I try to make toast look appealing on an Iphone camera. Really, I do. But it’s hard.

Especially sandwich thin toast And since that’s my only form of bread in the house – well. Sandwich thin toast it was!

I then headed out on my first run in almost 3 4 weeks. I honestly can’t remember if it’s been 3 or 4 weeks, and I don’t really feel like figuring it out right now. Hmm…

Distance: 3.75 miles
Time: 37:10

With a few walking breaks – it was pretty tough. Gah. I’m super behind on my half training now. I was up to 10 miles before I had to take a break, and those long runs were still tough. Now I have…8 weeks to work my way back up until my half. Including taper time. We’ll see!

Good news is my side stitch/pulled ab muscle/odd side pain was barely barely noticeable! I’d say it’s about 98.5% better than what it was at the peak. It only slightly hurts now if I push on it.

Post-run lunch was another chicken pesto wrap. Frozen section at Costco.

Hope you’re not sick of these yet. I still have a few in the freezer.

Darn it. Another empty nut butter jar?

This time I used the last of my cashew butter to make my snack – CB&J sammy. Enjoyed at the beach.

I came home starving, devoured a yogurt (unpictured – mucho sorry!), and headed out to pick up some black shoes for work and get some necessary groceries. My little fridge section has looked sad the past couple days.

Pssst that’s the egg white salad container I got from Costco. It’s delicious! Reminds me of those Trader Joe’s egg white salads.

Seriously, not much to work with.

Ahh much better 😀

I’m staying at a friend’s house (actually it’s the house I lived in my past 2 years) for the next 1 1/2 weeks. So I didn’t want to get TOO much food. But I do need some stuff!

Dinner was quick, cheap, and easy.

Pasta pasta pasta! I mixed in some canned green beans.

It was a ton of pasta, but I was still hungry an hour later and cooked up my cauliflower.

Don’t judge.

I want to leave you with what I managed to look like at the end of yesterday. Babysitting + not caring about your looks + slightly hungover leads to this attractive ‘do:

Apparently I also thought I was slightly ghetto.

First day of the real job tomorrow!! Wish me luck 😉

Read Full Post »

Tastiest Looking Eats Ever

I seriously got home at 11:00 pm Wednesday night, spent all day Thursday packing everything up, and then left again this morning!

That’s a 3 1/2 hour drive I’ve done 3 times in less than 3 days! Joy.

The house townhouse I saw the other night was 1 million times better than the small apartment. TOTALLY worth the extra $30-70 a month (extra rent + extra utilities). We shall see…

Before the tour, I ate a drippingly delicious peach I picked up at Vons.

There was one thing that sounded delicious on my way out of town.

PITA PIT!!

Chicken + the usual veggies. I love to get sauteed mushrooms, bell peppers, onions & sometimes pineapple. With BBQ sauce and a touch of teriyaki sauce. Mmmm hello sodium 🙂

I also had a coupon for a free combo upgrade. YAY.

However my stomach wasn’t too happy with the fact that I chowed down my pita in 5 minutes flat. So the chips went untouched.

Okay I lie. I broke into them and ate a few soon after.

I drink and drive 😉

At one point I stopped to pee (TMI? C’mon. It’s a road trip), change into sweat pants, grab a Diet crack (I needed some caffeination), and walked out with this baby.

Quite possibly the pest pit stop ever.

Fast forward to today where I’ll quickly give you the low-down on my very appetizing eats.

Cinnamon raisin Ezekiel muffin with almond butter & jam for the AM meal. And half a banana’s worth of slices.

This is how I roll in style – front seat next to me:

Back seat:

If you assumed the trunk is just as packed, then you assume correctly.

Egg white salad (from Costco – will show you soon!) in a wrap quickly eaten while stopping for gas.

I might have eaten my intended snack 15 minutes after lunch. My gas tank might have been full, but my stomach was still on empty.

Almond butter & jam on a tortilla. You know this picture makes you drool right?

Wow that looks so good. *said sarcastically* But you know what?! It saved me mulah.

No picture of my snack around 5:00 – but let me explain to you quite how delicious it was. It was of the peanut-butter variety. With a few tons of chocolate chips in there. Quite possibly one of the most delicious Larabars um…ever?  (Peanut butter chocolate chip if you hadn’t gotten that by now).

Look how tasty my dinner looks:

(Pesto chicken quesadilla from Costco for those who were wondering).

Is this any better?

Think whatever you want, but it was tasty. And prepared in 2 minutes flat. And since I currently don’t exactly have a kitchen to use and/or all the pots are dirty in the sink in the house I’m staying in, I couldn’t exactly make pasta – my original plan.

But alas, I was still hungry and made some toast.

Plus I knew I would be drinking tonight and that little pesto quesadilla wouldn’t quite do it.

Now wasn’t that just the tastiest day’s eats ever? Yeah. I thought that’s what you’d say.

I guess Pita Pit is pretty extraordinary, but technically that wasn’t today.

Okay I’m off – hope you have a wonderful start to your weekends!!

Read Full Post »

Quick Trip

Hello hello I’m currently blogging from the comfort of Border’s comfy chairs (is that slightly repetitive?). I drove down to San Luis Obispo (where I went to school and where I’m moving back to for my job) yesterday evening to meet with some people about work today and look at a possible place to move into.

My day started bright and early at 7 am after a restless night of sleep on the futon – the earliest I’ve heard my alarm go off for quite a while. I guess I got spoiled by my unemployed summer.

Oroweat’s double fiber English muffin (is English muffin capitalized? I mean it is a country after all.) topped with cashew butter – both which I brought from home.

I always make sure to bring food when I travel.

Unfortunately my suitcase doesn’t double as a coffee machine, so I made a pit stop at Starbucks on my way into the hospital to do some pre-job paperwork stuff.

I knew I’d get hungry after such a small breakfast so I made sure to pack a snack. Just imagine this bar is cinnamon apple flavored. And imagine it was actually a bar, and not just a wrapper.

4 hours later, I had signed my name approximately 30583joditu9798 (yes my number is so large it has letters in it) times, and gotten 2 shots. OUCHIE!!

I then made my way downtown for lunch at Natural Cafe. As I tweeted, I do believe it was my first “eating out alone” experience. Not too bad, but still lonely! I think I like the social aspect of dining out.

I always have a hard time deciding what to eat, especially at this place. I really felt like a salad, and the cobb salad looked perfect. I never get to order cobb salad because it usually comes with bacon!

Avocado, tomatoes, sprouts, turkey, feta cheese and veggie-bacon bits. I got the lemon herb dressing on the side. And I sprinkled on some garlic powder & nutritional yeast.

Demolished.

I actually used the entire container of dressing. I usually just dip my fork into dressing with each bite (good trick!! Especially if it’s a creamy dressing), but this dressing didn’t seem too oily. And besides – gotta love those healthy fats!

I then met up with a potential nannying client (looks promising!) and then was already getting hungry. Stopped by Vons for a snackie because I knew could get something cheap.

Chemically enhanced banana artificial flavor yogurt.

But that’s okay because I love this flavor. And it was only 55 cents. Budget folks. Budget.

And now I’m currently escaping the heat in Borders, reading magazines, and drinking an iced decaf coffee (although I’m not sure why I didn’t get caffeinated. Considering my night of sleep). Waiting to meet up with my roommate ex/future roommate to look at one more place before I hit the road back home. We thought we had found an apartment, but honestly it was super small. This new place is slightly more expensive, but sounds promising and may be worth the extra money overall.

I’m also really regretting that garlic powder on my salad. *Burp*

Read Full Post »