Magic Car!

So I joined in on the Breakfast Challenge and luckily I remembered yesterday morning while I was already making my yummy oat combo. So to make it “new” I added fresh figs on top!

• 1/2 cup oats
• 1/2 cup FF milk; 1/2 c cup water
• 2 egg whites (used egg whites today instead of a full egg to test it out)
• Cinnamon & vanilla extract
• Skippy natural chunky PB

Topped with:

• Justin’s maple almond butter
• Banana nut cheerios
• 2 chopped figs

Verdict? Yum! It was very very tasty 🙂 But I actually prefer it without the figs – I’m just not a huge fruit & oatmeal combo person.

I honestly don’t remember what else I did yesterday (besides gym & Whole Foods). Another run? Oh yes sir!

2.25 mile run interval (last week was 2 miles),

3 minute walk

1.75 mile run.

Total: 4 miles running (5.15 miles including all the walking)

I’m feeling really good about my treadmill runs the past couple times. My knees have felt stiff during and immediately after the runs, but have not been sore later in the day or in following days. This is unheard of!! Could that second cortisone shot really have done it’s job?!? We’ll see how it feels when I actually run outside.

On my drive home from Whole Foods/Target, I snacked on this new Think Thin Cookies & Cream bar (I have a couple buy-1-get-1-free coupons so I stocked up). Sorry for the blurry car pic:

Blech blech blech!!! I’ve never wanted to try these because they’re “sugar-free” so obviously made with fake sugars, and it tasted just like Promax cookies & cream bars (which I used to like, but can’t stand now). Nasty nasty aftertaste from these!

On to dinner…stir-fried veggies, garlic-lime chicken patty (chopped up), and Trader Joe’s mini cilantro chicken wontons (these are delish!):

My sister’s failed attempt at frozen pizza (it started to collapse in the oven)

I also snacked on a few things while prepping dinner (including some of the above pizza crust), so I was pretty full after din. But not full enough for dessert later on 🙂

Some of this Memphis Mud Pie ice cream I picked up at Whole Foods (made with coconut milk!!)

There has been so much talk over the blogs about coconut milk ice cream so I was very curious to try it out myself. The coconut taste was pretty strong at first (and not being a fan of coconut, I was a little disappointed). But after a few bites, it became more and more delicious. I really do like it! I wish this particular ice cream had a bit more fudge and cookie pieces in it though 😉

With my momma’s homemade chocolate chip congo square crumbed on top:

And some hot chocolate with mini-marshmallows later in the night (I obviously was wanting chocolate!)

This morning to continue with the New Breakfast challenge, I heated up some frozen blueberry-banana-buckweat pancakes, and topped them off with blueberry syrup!

The syrup was obviously the “new” part to my breakfast – first time making it! I just combined blueberries (fresh ones that we froze) and syrup on the stove to boil and mash! This time I used sister’s more artistically made plate:

Meet my family! From left to right: Daddy (sorry for the pancake head!), Madre, me (I’m not sure why I’m blonde and shorter than my sister in the blue dress?), Paige, Grant, Mackie, Brooke (who made the plate – she’s obviously much more talented than I am 😉 with my own plate).

More errands today (blah blah, boring stuff), but dinner was at my fave local burrito place – High Tech Burrito!

I got the Godzilla but subbed and altered things to my liking 😀 Sauteed veggies, chicken breast, brown rice, pico de gallo, lettuce, guacamole, lime sour cream, & mango dressing in a whole wheat tortilla (again sorry for blurry phone pic):

Mmmm 🙂 Except I would’ve preferred a bit more mango dressing in there. Muh fave part!

PS: Check out this awesome car we came across the other day.

Wait is it purple?

Or is it teal?

Or is it both?!

It was a magically color changing car! (Depending on the way the sun hit it). Crazy!

Well us girls (aka me, two of my sisters, and my mom) were going to go see Time Traveler’s Wife tonight, but guess those plans fell through. I guess that’s on the agenda for tomorrow night! I’ve heard it’s good (although different from the book). Eric Bana doesn’t hurt either 😉

Pssst…check out Paige’s 100th post giveaway!!

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Home for Giants!

To make up for my lack of waffles on Waffle Wednesday, I had brought some along to work for Thursday’s breakfast!  (Note: I’ve been bringing breakfast with me to work when I work at 7 am because I tend to “nap” while there so early & the girl is still sleeping.  Then I’ll eat when I wake up!)

Kashi Strawberry flax waffles topped with sliced bananas (there were also ‘naners on top of the bottom waffles) and peanut butter.  Drizzled with some real maple syrup I found in their fridge!

Mmmm tasty 🙂

Then it was a trip to the public library, which I love doing because then I get internet which equals blog reading! And facebook stalking browsing. 😀  All settled into my cozy cubicle:

Camera ate my picture 😦 Imagine a computer, iced Peet’s coffee & a Cooking Light magazine.

I’m sorry, but Peet’s coffee is 100x better than Starbucks.  Yum iced (decaf) coffee! I also dug into a container of blueberries while there.

Lunchie was another turkey + hummus + BBQ sauce + spinach & tomato wrap on my last 7 grain flax Rudi’s wrap.  You can tell it was my last (aka a bit dry) because it completely cracked open when I rolled it.  Still tasty though!

And buttloads of fruit (obvi).

I also helped myself to a slice of this white sauce pineapple pizza (I picked off/ripped around the ham):

And a bunch of cherries:

I hit up the gym after work where I did the longest run in a long time.  I repeated this twice:

• 1.5 miles at 6.0 mph
• Walk 3 minutes
• 1.5 miles at 6.2 mph
• Walk 3 minutes
• 1 mile at 6.4 mph
• .75 miles cool down

Total: 4 miles running, 1.2 miles walking

It felt okay, but my knee has definitely been stiff and sore since then.

For dinner I wanted to use up everything left in my fridge.  I had some brie cheese left, vegetable chili, avocado, sour cream, and lettuce mix.  The solution?  Brie cheese nachos! Brie cheese melted over sweet potato chips with guacamole, sour cream & chili on top.

I topped the rest of my chili on my spinach salad.

Oh wow.  This was amazing.  I’ve been lovin’ all my brie creations this week – SOOO good!

Friday’s eats:

Food for Life sprouted seed & grain English muffin.  Half topped with Naturally More & banana, half topped with cream cheese/strawberry jam mixture:

I just wanted to proclaim again how chewy and dense these English muffins are!

I then took the girl I nanny bowling!!  I rocked my first game – with 3 spares and 2 strikes (good for me!).  The second game – ehhhh not so much.  Sorry for the blurry action shot, but she’s not such a great photographer 😉

I then had to stop by the beach farm again for more apricots.  I was out, and wanted to bring some home! 🙂 We also grabbed a fresh corn on the cob while there.  My fave!

I scarfed mine down!

For lunch, I put together a salad mix of lettuce, craisins, tomato, Newman’s Own Sesame dressing, some guac & blueberries (I may or may not have gone through a whole 11 oz container of blueberries that morning).

And a Kashi veggie sandwich pocket (with some more guac)

For the last few bites I stuffed some BBQ sauce inside.  It makes anything better 😉

I then hit the road home!!  My caffeine choice for the drive:

Splenda schmlenda.  Whatever…I still have fake sweeteners in moderation.

When I got home, my mommy had one of my favorite dinners ready for me – BBQ turkey meatloaf!! It is the only meatloaf I like, and it soooo simple!

• Ground turkey
• About 1 cup BBQ sauce
• Croutons

Mix!!  Then I top it with tons of ketchup 🙂 Sorry, no picture – I downed literally half the loaf last night!  haha.

Today my sis and I took BART to the Giant’s game!! It was a beautiful day – and a great game!  GO GIANTS!

Our tickets were also good towards $5 of food, so we ended up buying lunch at the park.  Pac Bell has awesome food – besides the normal hot dog & burgers (including veggie, turkey & chicken burgers), they had tacos, nachos, Caribbean food, a Boudini stand (with clam chowder bread bowls), lots of fish and crab dishes, sausages, mushroom burgers, etc.  There was even a wine stand:

And a Safeway stand that sold sushi!

It was a tough decision (obvi!), but I decided on the Caribbean stand and got a bowl of jerk chicken, black beans, white rice, pineapple cole-slaw & smothered it in BBQ sauce.

And what game would be complete without Gilroy garlic fries?  My sister got them with her burger & we shared 🙂 YUM.  Giants won 4-2!!  Go G’s!

Eats the rest of the day were mundane and munchy (fruit, leftover meatloaf, small salad, another 11-oz blueberry container, broccoli, few bites of french bread…blah blah).  That’s one thing that’s hard about being home – my family is always munching on food (like tonight when they had a loaf out and they were just ripping pieces off), and it’s tempting for me to join in.  Not to mention all the boxes of cereal in the cupboard (like Lucky Charms!) that I am constantly picking out of!

Sorry for the long (if pointless) recap post.  With no scheduled workout for the past couple days, I know I definitely need to fit something in tomorrow morning.  Then we’re celebrating my sister & Nana’s birthday with the family!  I hope you all are having a wonderful weekend! 😀

Here’s another yogurt giveaway!!

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It’s a Zoo!

Yo yo yo muh peeps.  Recap in order?  Yes I think so 😀

But before I get started, I want to quickly answer a few questions from my last post regarding the zucchini boats, pumpkin pancakes and pumpkin smoothie.

For the zucchini boats, all I did was halve the zucchinis, scoop out the flesh, and fill the insides with my Black bean & corn salsa.  Then baked them for about 30 minutes.  Easy-peasy!  There are lots of stuffed zucchini recipes out there filled with all sorts of goodies (usually involving some type of ground meat).

For my pumpkin pancakes, I basically just combined the following ingredients:

• 1 cup oats
• HEAPING scoops of pumpkin (probably about a cup or so)
• 4-5 egg whites (can’t remember exactly – just ups the protein)
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• Bit of salt
• 1 T sugar
• Tons of cinnamon & pumpkin pie spice
• Almond milk to make it the right consistency

I often times add in greek yogurt or cottage cheese as well.  Then just plop them like pancakes and wa-lah!  They turn out much mushier than normal pancakes – so beware!  I know most people blend their oats in a blender when they make oatmeal pancakes, but I like my oats nice & whole 🙂 You can also just add scoops of pumpkin to any pancake recipe – you may just want to add a bit more liquid?

Pumpkin smoothies have been a long time favorite of mine.  I combine:

• Milk (soy, almond, cow, your choice)
• Huge spoonfuls of pumpkin (I don’t measure, but it probably comes out to 2/3 cup or so)
• Ice
• Cinnamon &/or pumpkin pie spice
• Sweetener (optional – sometimes I drizzle in some maple syrup)

And blend!  Just experiment with measurements – I never measure, just eyeball.  It is amazing topped with some whipped cream.  Best combo ever.

Anyways….

Monday

Today was long day #1.  Work from 7-12:00 and then hurry to the next family 30 minutes away to work 12:30-5:30.

Workout: About 30 minutes of P90X shoulders & arms DVD at work + 20 minutes ab work

Eats: Breakkie was my last Rudi’s spelt english muffin. Good thing I have the whole grain wheat flavor left!  Although I loved the unique taste of the spelt flavor.

I prepared my lunch the night before while I made my stuffed zucchini boats.  Stuffed bell peppers!  Super easy, I just stuffed each half of the bell pepper with some vegetarian chili & topped it off with cheese:

Along with an insane amount of fruit this afternoon (I literally went through a whole pound of strawberries & 6 apricots today + all my other fruits.  I think I’m going to have an apricot baby).

Dinner was an incredible combination that got together to have a party in my mouth.  Grilled brie cheese, turkey, tomato & BBQ sauce on a whole grain flax wrap.

With more of the best BBQ sauce in the world (from a local restaurant) for dippage.

Incredible.  You’ll probably be seeing this again soon 😉

Tuesday

Long work day numero dos.  7:00-5:00 (I’m calling these long days because all summer I’ve only been working 12-5:00ish except for one 10-6 day).

I brought along a baggie of cereal (mixture of Kashi Golean, Good Friends, & Quaker brown sugar squares, blueberries, & cottage cheese to make my breakfast:

I also whipped up 1 egg/1 egg white scrambled to add a bit more protein.  Topped with a bit of cheese & ketchup (duh!)

Exciting event outings included the smallest zoo I’ve seen in my life, where this was literally one of the highlights:

Woohoo how exciting!  Too bad it’s August, and it didn’t look to be anywhere near finished!

While out, I dug into the baggie of leftover cereal from this morning, and this Kashi cinnamon coffee cake bar, which was really quite tasty!  Almost too sweet for me (surprise!), but probably one of my faves:

Sorry no actual picture, but I was driving when I ate it, and I’m not that talented stupid!

Needless to say, I was starving by the time we got home around 3:00 for lunch.  Turkey, spinach, tomato, hummus, BBQ sauce & avocado grilled on a whole grain & flax wrap.  With 2 apricots & blueberries on the side.

HOLY MOLY YUM!!  Wherever I read to combine BBQ sauce & hummus – I thank you!! Sooooo good.  I also had a salad with olives, craisins, & Newman’s Own light sesame Asian dressing that I found in the fridge.

And while I was waiting for my wrap to cook, I dug a handful of seasoned almonds out of this baggie o’ snacks:

I was to that point of hunger where you just down everything in one breath and end up way too full!

After work, I went straight to the gym where I did 25 minutes stairs level 12 while reading Nineteen Minutes.  I’m getting to the end!!  I was going to do more, but decided to hurry home and head out for a sunset hike.  It was so nice out and it was still early enough, I thought why stay stuck in the gym?  I should hike!  So I did the Bishop’s Peak hike again, only this time was the evening version!

Giant mountain shadow.

I went up the super steep side this time, cutting out about 1/2 a mile – and it was a tough tough climb!  It totaled out to be 3.8 miles.

I wasn’t too hungry when I got home & it was late so I made a small dinner and popped this in the oven.  The last of my black bean & corn salsa, goat cheese “pizza”!

Last time was on a wrap, but this time was on a sandwich thin, and I liked it much better.  I ate the last scrapings of my salsa in the bowl with a couple sweet potato chips.  I’ll miss you oh so versatile salsa!

Also had my usual mug of hot chocolate (times 2!) at night while vegging in front of the TV.  A healthy, rich version – just cocoa, a little sweetener, hot water, & a splash of almond milk!  It’s a nightly treat of mine that I never blog about 😉

Wednesday

Today was a 10:00 workday (and not 7:00) so I planned to wake up early and do weights & abs before work, but I woke up last night feeling slightly nauseous and just not that great.  So I decided to just sleep instead 🙂 I was feeling better once I woke up though.

I also planned to have waffles today in honor of National Waffle Day, but had some extra time this morning and craved pumpkin oatmeal! (Gotta use up the pumpkin, ya hear?).  I was also just finishing up my Naturally More stash, so thought “DUH!  Oats in a jar time, it is!

Note: ignore the jar – it really was naturally more that I was just storing in this glass jar.

Cooked up on the stove:

• 1/2 cup oats
• 1 egg
• 1 cup almond milk
• Heaps of pumpkin
• Tons of cinnamon
• Bit of maple syrup
• Topped off with some Feed’s raisin nut granola

I obviously got every last scraping of PB out of there 😉

Besides the peanut butter in the jar, I also added a bit to the middle and top of my oats.  I need my PB in every bite! 😀

Lunch at work was what I grabbed out of the freezer.  Kashi sweet & sour chicken.  I also ad ded in extra broccoli and some extra strips of chicken to beef it up a bit.

With these yummy fruits throughout the day (add in another apricot & some snap peas).

I also planned to do the P90X yoga DVD at work, but I got super lazy distracted by blogs hungry.  I finally got off my lazy behind and popped in the DVD.  I’m not sure how I feel about yoga.  I try to like it.  I really want to.  But I often find it so boring that I just don’t have patience!  Today’s yoga was okay – I could feel my thighs start to burn a bit (during all those warrior poses), but I still only did 30 minutes.  A 90 minute DVD – um sorry.  Plus it was actually bothering my knee quite a bit with all the poses, supporting myself while bending your knee, etc.  What doesn’t bother my knee?  Argh.

Dinner was kind of a mixture between my grilled quesadilla the other night and wrap yesterday.  Brie cheese, tomato, BBQ sauce & hummus on a 7-grain & flax wrap.  This time I had guac AND BBQ sauce on the side for dipping.

Can you tell from my recent meals that I’ve had food to use up before Friday? 😉 My sister brought me down half of a whole wheel of brie cheese last weekend, so that’s the reason for all my “brie” meals!  And I recently opened up my bag of wraps.  It’s such a hard life being the only one to eat food that you open.  *Sigh* 😉

Tomorrow is another 7:00-5:00 work day, then gym, then packing (I leave on Friday straight from work).  Hope you’ve all had a wonderful week/humpday!
Pssst…here’s another Chobani giveaway!!

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Itsy Bitsy Spider

There must have been a spider on my left arm last night because I woke up with 2 bites – one on the front, and one underneath by my armpit.  Ewwww.  Creepy!!

How is everyone’s week going?  I am so excited for this weekend because my sister is coming down to visit on Saturday, and then on Sunday we’re driving down to LA for the Keith Urban concert!!  I just downloaded his new CD on Itunes just a few days ago and really need to get on the ball listening to the songs.  I know most of his “popular singles”, but I don’t know most of his new CD at all!

Where did I last leave off with you all?  Oh that’s right…I was about to embark on a banana dessert making adventure! I threw 1 ½ frozen bananas into my fake “magic bullet”, which didn’t work out too hot.  Maybe my bullet wasn’t strong enough or something, but my bananas were not blending!  I ended up having to add a bit of milk (I used the coconut milk I recently bought to try out), kept having to scrape the sides, and ended up blending it for such a long time that I could smell my motor starting to burn!  Eeek!

I have to say, I was madly disappointed L Maybe it was the fact that I used coconut milk so it added a slight coconut taste, and I’m really not a fan of coconut taste at all (sorry everyone – it seems to be such the hot stuff on the blogs).  Or the fact that I used very overripe bananas (and I don’t like overripe bananas, either).  Or maybe it was because it was pretty melty after being blended for so long (and I don’t like melty froyo either).  Sheesh…do I like anything?! Haha.  But don’t let my experience turn you off, because I know everyone seems to think it is absolutely amazing!  So I’ll probably try it another time (minus the coconut milk!).  I ended up picking off all the chocolate chips and throwing the rest away.

Wednesday highlights:

I realized it had been a while since I’d had French toast! Topped with whipped cream cheese, Naturally More PB, syrup, and a sprinkling of Feed cinnamon raisin granola:

For dinner I used up my leftover quinoa, and stir-fryed some veggies with a chopped up Morningstar Chipotle Black Bean patty.  I got these patties in a huge box at Costco, and they’re like twice the size of the patties you buy in packs of 4 at the normal grocery store.  Mixed some 2% Mexican cheese in and topped it of with a drizzle of BBQ sauce for a finishing touch:

Yes, there’s quinoa under there somewhere!  It’s been a while since I’ve made a simple stir-fry!  I used to live off of them along with couscous last year!

I was insanely craving froyo later that night.  I admit that I’ve had problems overdoing it on ice cream and frozen yogurt for the past few months.  And by that I mean eating ridiculous amounts.  I finish off one bowl, go back for a second (because it’s so good), then a third, and by that point I’m almost to the end of the container so I might as well finish off that, right?  Um….not such a good idea.  Anyways, I was definitely craving the cake batter froyo I had in my freezer, so I decided it’s not wise to deny cravings (to a certain extent, of course!).  I probably didn’t need to top it off with extra chocolate sauce, a TJ’s peanut butter cup, Oreo cookie, and whipped cream (in addition to the brownies that were already frozen with the yogurt).

It was delicious!  But that’s where I overdid it a bit.  Whoops!

Thursday:

Early quick gym workout before I headed to physical therapy appointment numero dos.

• 15 minutes stairmaster (level 11)
• 20 minutes treadmill 4.3 mph 15% incline

We focused a lot more on strength during PT than last time.  He had me do 5 different strength exercises, one stretch move, and then an ultrasound.  I did ask him about incorporating running back in, and he said to hold off.  He’s had me warm up by using the stationary bike, and said that next time we’d work up to the elliptical and see how that feels.  I told him I’m already doing the stairmaster a lot, and have been doing slight running on a treadmill lately with only slight and little bit of pain.  I’m still not as impressed by this place as I was by the one back home I went to for my calf last year.  At the other place, they watched me walk and stand to analyze if I overpronated, how my ankles rolled inward, etc.  They didn’t do any of that at this place, which may likely play a part in my knee problems.  Besides all of that, I definitely got a lower body workout there today!

Had a little extra time between PT and work, so I grabbed some crack an iced Americano.

Blech!  This thing tasted almost of pure water!!  People, people!  Americanos are supposed to taste strong because it’s espresso!

As for lunch, I’m so sick of quick frozen meals (but I have so many in my freezer because of cheap deals & convenience).  However today I had no time to make anything else.  So I grabbed the last of my cottage cheese, strawberries & blueberries, and bagged up a mix of cereal – TJs high fiber twigs, & Nature’s Path multigrain flakes:

Having a party all mixed together now…

I proceeded to spend most of the day reading my book Nineteen Minutes, which is really, really good.  I’m already more than halfway done after having only read it for two days.  I gotta say, Jodi Picoult’s books are hit or miss.  Some have been ridiculously page-turning (like this one and Change of Heart), while some have been a bit slower, but still excellent reads (like My Sister’s Keeper. I really enjoyed that book, but it took me a while to get into it).

Thursday nights = Farmer’s Market!! Even though I still have apricots left from Costco, I knew I needed to restock on these apricots at got at Farmer’s last week.  They are the best ones I’ve had in my life.  Hands down.  $9 later, I walked back to my car with a 1.5 pounds of apricots, 3 white nectarines, a peach, and a basket of strawberries.

Check out this odd man out!

Extra tasty, I’m sure! 😉

Didn’t get great deals, but summer fruit at Farmer’s is the sweetest thing around.  Can’t pass it up!  Helped myself to samples while there as well – tons of pita bread & hummus bites (favorite stand ever!  They just stuff pita bread & hummus in your face!), handful of candied almonds, and some fruit.  I also got these 2 lovelies, which I saved for later:

Was supposed to be Rhubarb pie & ollalieberry crumble. But that’s lookin’ more like apple pie to me, no?  Unless that’s what rhubarb pie looks like.  Honestly, I’ve never had it!

Ready for my next book review? I know you’ve all been on the edge of your seat waiting for it!  😉  I’ll make it quick since I’m one tired lady!

I recently finished The Queen’s Fool by Philippia Gregory (author of The Other Boleyn Girl).  This book follows a young girl, Hannah, who escaped the Inquisition in Spain and is now living in England.  She has the “sight” (is able to see the future on occasion) and ends up working as a fool at the court of King Edward (Henry VIII son – you know, the guy who beheaded all those wives?).  She gradually gets drawn into working as a spy to try and bring Princess Mary (aka Bloody Mary) to the throne, and eventually works with her sister Elizabeth.  Throughout the book, Hannah must also deal with her love towards her master, while also being betrothed to her cousin.

I found it to be a great read!  My sister is extremely interested in much of historical London royal stories, and she gave me a brief history lesson on it all when we went to London a couple summers ago.  So it’s interesting to read about those historical figures, especially when you’ve visited their actual old stomping grounds!  Personally, I liked The Other Boleyn girl a lot more (if you’ve seen the movie – read the book! It’s so much better).  This one was good, but I got kind of tired of it about 3/4 of the way through.  It was getting slightly repetitive.  Recommend it?  Yup!  But I overall recommend this author.

Grade: A-

I hope you all have a wonderful Friday (I’m posting this late late Thursday night, so I know you’re all reading it on a Friday!).  Any special plans this weekend? Like I said, mine include work, sister date, roadtrip and concert!!

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You know what Tuesday means…

Okay, I’m not sure exactly what Tuesday means.  But it does mean that The Bachelorette was on last night!!  It’s gettin’ down to the final home stretch….get excited!  Any thoughts on what happened?? I have to say the bedroom scene was a slight letdown!

I can’t tell you how restless I was Sunday night!  I tossed and turned until 2 am, reading (I finished my book…more on that later), facebook stalking…y’know, the usual.  I went downstairs 2 or 3 times to get food because I was so hungry! I’d forgotten the kind of appetite long runs (or long hikes) will make me!  Crazy!!

Yesterday morning I jumped on the bandwagon and made…

You got it!  Oatmeal in a Jar!! I had transferred my Naturally More PB into a glass jar (so I could microwave it to make it melty/spreadable), so I used the leftover container for oats!

Topped with a mix of:

• another spoonful of PB Loco chocolate chip cookie dough,
• TJ’s just flattened bananas
• Kashi golean cereal
• Feed granola

The first flavor of this granola I decided to try was the Cinnamon Raisin flavor, which I have to say, tastes exactly like an oatmeal raisin cookie!  No joke! About halfway through my oatmeal (after I’d finished off all the toppings), I tried out the Blueberry Almond flavor.  Mehh, it tasted like a generic, normal granola.  I definitely like the Cinnamon Raisin flavor better, and I’ll let you know what I think of all the others.  And speaking of granola, you can mix your OWN creation here!

Anyways, it was so fun to eat my oatmeal out of a peanut butter jar!  Can’t wait to be done with my next batch!

Then off to my PT appointment! It was…nothing special.  I explained to him the past 3 months, where it hurts, how much, pretty much everything I explain to the doctors.  He tested out some stretches, moved my knee around a bit…In the end all I really did was 3 different types of strength moves to strengthen the hamstring muscle.  After reading about Caitlin’s PT experience, I was hoping for some information on how to incorporate running back into my life, taping/knee braces, stretches, etc.  If he doesn’t bring it up at the next meeting I’ll ask about those things.  I just don’t want to pay $20 every time to do a few strength moves I can do at home!

Work was work, where I had this spread for lunch/snackies through the afternoon:

Leftover slice of Kashi veggie pizza to tide me over for the drive (literally just grabbed it out of the fridge on the run – I was late & hungry!)

Looks quite appetizing all mushed up from the fridge, eh? 😉

And lunch a little later while at work.  Kashi veggie medley pocket (with some marinara sauce for dipping), blueberries, apricots, cherries (quite the fruit spread!)

This morning I allowed myself some sleep in time 🙂 And hit up the gym slightly later than normal to do 30 minutes stairmaster level 11.  Oof my arms were ridiculously sore today (especially my bulging biceps 😉 )…I think from my hike?  I guess because I was crouching and supporting myself with my arms so much as I slowly inched down the hill – yowza!  My arms haven’t been this sore in ages!!  And then since I did actual strength yesterday, and also didn’t want to do anything else to stress my knee (since it was a little sore from the downhill hike),  I hopped in the pool for a quickie 25 minute swim.

• 1300 yards
  • 800 free
  • 500 pull with paddles

I felt strong and fast today!  And no pounding headache!  Unfortunately, even though I felt great, I couldn’t swim long…work was calling!!

Lunch: Burrito filled with cheese, rice, black beans, & a mixture of veggies (potato, zucchini, yellow squash, bell pepper, onion, tomatoes, green chilis, & cilantro).  Guacamole (yes – it’s a delicious looking brown, but it was still tasty!) for dipping, a side of cherries, apricots x3, and strawberries/blueberries for a snack.

After work I ran to Costco where I picked up this incredibly soft blanket for only $12.99!!  It’s unbelievable!

I literally stood staring at the blankets for probably 20 minutes because I couldn’t decide between this color or a dark, shimmery gray.  I’m kind of wishing I got the gray, but oh well!  This one is still nice as well!

Then hurried home for dinner where I tried to make a Greek meal.  Unfortunately, I had no pita bread, so I used quinoa instead.  Quinoa mixed with sauteed onions, orange balsamic vinegar, and feta cheese.  Topped off with falafel veggie balls and huge scoops of yogurt & cucumber raita dip.

Times the amount of dip here by like 5!  haha.  I just kept adding more.  With an unpicture spinach salad I ate while it was all cooking.

In a bit I plan to whip up the unbelievable banana magic that seems to be spreading through blogworld like the plague.  Although this stuff may be even more deadly than the plague.  According to reviews, it’s amazing!! I’ll let you all know how it turns out tomorrow 🙂 Talk about a cliffhanger!

Adios, nighty night, and have a good hump day manana!

Before I sign off…click here for a chance at a few birthday gifts!

And I’m so glad that Ange is doing an Amazing Grass giveway.  I really really want to try this stuff out!

Nut butter giveaway!!  Who doesn’t love that?

Oh, and I just started a new book today at the gym, Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult.  So you know what that means!  Be on the lookout for another book review soon!  This time… The Queen’s Fool!

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Spontaneous Hike!

Yesterday was a busy day of shopping + appointments!

1. I got my orthotics re-fitted.  Since I’ve been having knee issues, I wanted to make sure that they were still fitted properly.  The doctor did a little alterations, so hopefully that helps whatever problem I’m having.

2. Got my MRI done!  Now I can’t wait until Thursday to meet with the orthopedic doctor to discuss those.

Then it was girl’s shopping trip to the mall!  I picked up a few summery tube tops.  I’m really lovin’ the tube tops lately!

This morning started off with a big ol’ bowl of pumpkin oats:

Mixed with globs of peanut butter (although I’m out of any of “my” type of nut butters.  I had to use my mom’s chunky Skippy.  I normally try and stay away from ones of hydrogenated oils – but it wasn’t going to kill me!).  Topped with more peanut butter, and some type of Nature’s Path cereal (not sure what kind – it was from the bulk bins).  I’ve been having this breakfast almost all week, and while it keeps me full for hours (literally 4-6 hours!), it leaves me feeling heavy right after.  I think I need to eat only a portion of it since it makes a monstrous bowl!

Then I set off expecting to head out on a 30-40 minute walk.  Little did I know it would turn into a 2-hour walk/hike!  It was a new neighborhood to me, so I kept going and going down random streets, and eventually found a random trail!  Why not, right?

It was actually quite a nice walk!  My knees felt a little stiff at times, but not once did they hurt so badly that I had to stop or limp.

I could see this house in the distance, but there were no roads leading up to it!

Check out that rock thing on the left.  Waterslide into your own backyard pool, anyone?  Yes please!!

Total: 2 hours…I’m guesstimating a little less than 8 miles.  Maybe 7.5-7.75?  I wish I had my Mr. Garmin with me!  I’ll do some ab work later on as well.

I came back to this yummy bowl of goodness:

I also added in some watermelon and apricot slices to the mix after taking the photo.

And my sister opened up the See’s Chocolates assorted box.  Mmmm butterscotch square & mocha. The absolute best ones.

I think we may be running to Costco this evening to pick up a few things for our cabin trip in a few days.  I’m sure my family will get some dinner there (hey – it’s cheap!), but I really don’t eat anything at their food court (besides their delicious Berry Sundae frozen yogurt of course!), so I’m not sure what my dinner plans will be.  We shall see….!!

Oh and check this out this Element Bar giveaway on An Apple A Day!  Those bars look awesome, doncha’ think?

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Celllllebrate good times!

Yay done with finals!!  Well…I do still have an online exam due by Friday.  Which I should be studying for right now….whoops!

This morning’s eats: Alpine Valley bread toasted w/ Trader Joe’s flaxseed peanut butter, boysenberry jam, & banana slices.  Plus coffee & almond milk.

Final(!!!) followed by a decent swim.  Sometimes (actually often times) I get a really bad headache while I’m swimming, making me dizzy.  I drink water, and I can’t loosen my goggles anymore or else they flood with water!  So I went as long as I could handle: (pretty similar to my last swim)

• 1000 yards freestyle (kick with left leg only)
• 200 yd IM
• 500 pulling
• 300 yd IM
• 600 pulling (with paddles)
• 300 yd IM
• 200 pulling cooldown

Total: 60 minutes; 3000 yards

I hurried home, grabbed a snackie-snack:

Goat milk yogurt with fresh bluberries & Kashi Golean cereal.  Okay ladies & gents, I am in love with this yogurt.  It’s definitely different than normal or Greek yogurt.  Has a slight tang.  But I love goats cheese, and this tasted almost exactly like it.  I found it at my local health food organic type store (like a mini Whole Foods), and yes, it’s quite pricy…but I’ll splurge on it in the future.  Does anyone know if Trader’s sells it??

I then met my friend at the local beach barn!!  I adore this place – fresh produce, cute trinkets & gifts…and a candy/ice cream store!!  I picked up some saltwater taffy to go along with my brother’s grad gift.  And had a sample of brown sugar fudge & mocha almond fudge ice cream. 😀

Lunch & snacks throughout the afternoon at work included:

Cedarlane couscous & vegetable wrap.  I stuffed it with some black beans & guacamole from the fridge.  (The dark stuff is old guac – it still tasted good!)

Delicious plum I picked up at the barn.

Couple cups of delisioso coffee + creamer.

And…

Kashi Chocolate Pretzel bar! Verdict is…*mehh*.  It was OK.  I like the caramel one much better.  This one almost had no taste to it?  I was expecting a huge pretzel/salty taste in contrast with the chocolate.  Don’t get me wrong, it was yummy!  But not my fave!  And I think my pack melted/flattened??  It seemed way smaller than normal!  ha.

And an apple on my drive home after work.

Came home to do some last minute laundry, vacuum (my chore for this week), pack, and make some din.

Kashi honey oat waffles made into French toast.  Topped with honey almond cream cheese, PB, & syrup.  Sorry no picture!!  I was eating with the roommate and we chowed down ASAP!

The rest of the night should be fun – we’re heading out downtown for a little Celllllebration!!  I’m not going crazy – I do have to drive home in the AM!  🙂 But it is pint night at our favorite bar ($1 beers!!!) so I will definitely treat myself to a 1 (or 2…).  😉

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Sweet Relief

Sorry I usually don’t post until so much later in the day!  I’m so busy early on with classes or work, and I’m also on pacific time (so 3 hours ahead of a lot of ya’!).

Okay I just need to let out a giant EEEEE!!!!!  😀 because I am DONE with my projects, essays, and presentations!!!  Phew!  Okay, that was quite a lot of exclamation marks.  But you get the idea.  I do have a final on Tuesday (but only 1 final out of 4 classes?  I’ll take it!).  And it won’t even be a super hard final.  My classes were all mostly just project based this quarter.

My campus bookstore had their 30% off sale today.  I got some goodies:

a shirt, new cute wallet, book for my Daddy for Father’s Day, and a couple graduation gifts for friends (a couple books & a frame).  Good deal.

I then went to the gym where I really felt the need to sweat out all that sodium from yesterday!

• 30 minutes stairmaster level 10-11

• 20 minutes ab work & about 5 min. lower body

I didn’t do too much because of the knee – but I did work up a sweat on that stairmaster :-).

This afternoon I sat down with an 18-oz container of blueberries to snack on while working on my presentation….wait a minute!!  Where did all my blueberries go?  Oh that’s right, I just ate half the carton in one sitting!  And I easily could have finished them all.  I can pound blueberries like there’s no tomorrow!

I’m also excited because my roommate let me use her parking permit (her class was canceled so she went to the beach this afternoon – jealous!) so I didn’t have to wait for the bus after my class got out at 8:00 tonight.  Yippee.

Sorry not many foodie pics posted today.  I have class 4-8:00 on Thursdays (well, technically not anymore since today was the last Thursday of the quarter!), so part of dinner was 1/2 a turkey sandwich in between classes.  I hoped to make it home for a bigger dinner afterwards, but I got starving during class, and ate this baby that was in my backpack:

Um…best flavor ever.  And I only have 1 of them left now 😦

Once I got home I helped myself to a huge bowl of broccoli (still working on that Costco sized bag!) mixed with Trader Joe’s red pepper, garlic & eggplant spread.  I’m sure I’ll be hungry later for another snacky snack.  (Hot chocolate & cereal anyone??)

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Technical Sunday

My Sunday plan was gym and then homework all afternoon.  But I spent my Sunday researching and looking at computers.  Completely not how I planned my Sunday to go!  I woke up to a big ol’ bowl of oats:

The mix included:

• 1/2 c. oats
• 1 c. almond milk
• Egg
• Cinnamon
• Couple spoonfuls of PB
• Spoonful of almond butter
• HBO cinnamon clusters
• Ground flaxseed
• Sprinkle of brown sugar

Phew!  What a bowlful!  I planned to go to the gym soon after, but my dad texted me that today was the last day to buy this cheap computer at Costco.  So I had to go check out and compare the two computers he recommends I get.  So my afternoon was spent examining computers at Costco and Best Buy and then researching them online.  I still can’t decide between the two!  There’s a 12 inch super thin/light one and a 14 inch one – argh!

My snack at 3:30 was intended to fuel me through my coming up gym workout:

Kashi blueberry waffle topped with some honey almond cream cheese, peanut butter, and boysenberry preserves.

But I was awaiting a phone call from my dad, and before I knew it, it was 6:00 and I was tired and hungry!  So I just did 25 minutes of quick upper body dumbells and some ab work here at home.

Dinner consisted of the other half of my California Dreamin’ sandwich from last night, and a HUGE salad with feta cheese, onion, and BBQ ranch dressing.  With a side bowl of honeydew melon.

I did find some more good buys today!  New running shirts (or just exercise shirts in my case right now) at Costco!

32 oz blueberries for $7.99!! My absolute favorite fruit ever and that is dang cheap!  Ralph’s also had raspberries for $1, and I decided to try out these Cedarlane couscous vegetable wraps.  I love their bean & cheese burritos, and these were buy 1 get 1 free, so being the bargain shopper that I am, I thought I’d check them out!  I obviously get excited over good finds and good deals :-D.  Hey!  I am a college student on a budget here!

The roommates and I planned an Angels & Demons movie night, but it looks like maybe that’s not going to happen.  We have a big day tomorrow (Santa Barbara road trip!) so maybe we’ll just take it easy.  Woohoo for 3-day weekends!

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