Rep Your Accent

Hi Friendsssss!!!

How was everyone’s weekend? I hope lovely.  The warm weather finally took a little dip here, and it got a little chilly and rainy on Sunday.  But it’s all good.  I mean, it is still January right?!

Today, I wanted to express my love for a new find (to me).  Oat bran!  I know many of you have been eating oat bran since the Land Before Time…

Pause here for remembrance of such a great movie

Source

…and I’ve been wanting to get some (oat bran that is) for a while.  LOVE IT!  Oats are “so last year” kind of old for me since I’ve been eating them day in-day out for like 7 years now.  Oat bran is creamy and just…..delicious!

It’s taking me a while to get the oats:water ratio down (different than oatmeal?  Help a sista out!).  So today I added too much water, then had to add more oat bran to even it out.  So now I have leftovers!  (although who knows if I’ll put leftover oat bran to good use).

It should be noted it was delicious in my almond butter jar

Today’s mix (made 2 servings):

• 1/2 cup oat bran
• 1/2 cup almond milk + 1/2 cup water
• 1/2 cup egg whites
• Cinnamon, cocoa powder, instant coffee powder
• Cinnabon candied nuts(!!)

I also had oat bran on Saturday (thank you sleep-in days!).

Pumpkin oat bran!  Topped off with 1 Tbsp pumpkin butter and 1 Tbsp pumpkin cream cheese.

I want it to be known, I’m trying really hard to cut back on my oat toppings.  I’ve always been an extravagant/extra special toppings gal, so that’s one thing I’m trying to change.  But the calories can really add up, while not adding much staying power (think granola, chocolate/cinnamon chips, too much jam, cream cheese & nut butters).  Of course, some toppings are delicious and needed (oats are too boring without them!). 

Today’s lunch (after the mocha oat bran) was a ginormo salad:

• Bed of lettuce
• Rotisserie chicken
• Onions & tomatoes
• Sprinkling of feta
• Champagne dressing

+ an apple on the side

And just because I’m in weight-loss mode right now, it definitely doesn’t mean I can’t enjoy my treats

All you have to do is work it into your daily “allowance.”  Or just enjoy a treat, and not let it get you down!  Once and a while won’t do any damage

Apple pie at lunch on Sunday – I hate half a slice.  Along with a colorful salad:

When I get salads at work, I like to load them up with:

• Beets
• A little bit of cheese (parmesan, feta or blue cheese)
• Whatever veggies are out (bell peppers, onions)
• Kidney beans (if they’re on the salad bar)
• Fat free raspberry dressing
• Drizzle of Caesar or 1000 Island

The heavier stuff makes the salad too expensive!!  So it all depends on what else I’m getting.

In other news, has anyone seen this at Trader Joe’s?!?!?!?!

That would be Peanut Butter Cream Cheese.  AKA the evil of all evils.  Take it awaaaayyyyy!!!

 

And now for the accent Vlog that is making it’s away around blogworld.  I did this video on Saturday, and since then have seen multiple other bloggers do one as well.  A few things:

1. I’m so sorry for the awful awful quality.  I think my webcam just sucks.  I swear it wasn’t that dark and I swear I wasn’t actually a dark-eyed zombie while filming it.  Proof!

2. I don’t know if the video is super skippy and slow for you.  Or if it’s just  my internet/computer.  My computer has been sh*tty slow lately.  And so has my internet.  So muchos apologies if it’s skipping.

3. I was put on the spot for some of the questions.  Such as how I address a group of people.  In all reality I probably just say “Hey guys.” Yeah, I’m that creative.

4. At the end I said: “I hope you guys are all having a better night than I am.”  But it sounds like I said “Mumble mumble…djkgsdgh grrrrrhgoihdsgdsjgdsk…”

5. Born and raised near San Francisco CA.  I’ve traveled to Arkansas for 10 days one time.  And London/Paris for 2 weeks.  And that pretty much sums up my childhood travels.

 

I also don’t know why I felt like swaying back and forth so much.  I swear I didn’t have to pee.  I don’t think.  I actually don’t remember.

Okay, enough of the excuses.

Peace out(?).

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Resolution check-up

I’ve been doing pretty good with those New Year’s resolutions goals – how about you?

Listen to my body? Check.  Seeing as how I’ve ran probably twice in 2 weeks.  That might be because I’ve had no time, or it might be because I’ve been listening to my ankle/inner shin pain.

 

Intuitive eating? How about delicious intuitive eating at work?

Such as homemade Black Bean & Turkey chili one day:

And an amazing salad the next?

Mixed greens, mustard apricot dressing, feta, grilled chicken, and a bit of Mediterranean pasta.

Froyo while shopping:

And yogurt messes for breakfast:

I’m not a big chips and salsa person, but lately I’ve been loving it.  I wouldn’t recommend these chips, however.  I love Food Should Taste Good chips, but they have much better flavors out there (such as multigrain, olive & sweet potato!)

Strength training? I started to strength train a couple weeks ago, hurt my writs, and had to take a break.  Seriously.  Injuries never cease to surround me.  It’s feeling better now though, so I should be able to start up again!

 

Happy-Weight plan?  Yes, I’ve started it.  But good times with friends (which may or may not involve drinking) have gotten slightly in the way this past week.  So this one kind of conflicts with…

Do something social once per week?  Yes, yes!  I went to Chipotle last week with some friends (yes, that counted as my something social).  Then went out on Thursday with some friends.

Which was tons of fun.  But left me feeling like this the next day at work:

Feelin’ swell as you can tell.

And then mimosas, breakfast, and spending time downtown on Sunday:

Sourdough french toast.  I got fresh fruit on the side instead of bacon or sausage.  Which was just a cut up green apple.  Disappointing since I dislike green apples!

It was BEAUTIFUL weather. 

 

Hot chocolate once per week? You betcha!!  Okay, I might have had it twice the first week.  But it’s a huge step from every single night like usual.

 

Organization? Ummmm working on it.  I cleaned a little today!!

 

How are your resolutions (or goals) coming along as we enter the third week of January 2011?

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Will Run for Tiffany’s…and food

I did it!  I ran the farthest I’ve ran in over 1 1/2 years, with no foot pain, and minimal knee pain! 

That’s not to say I’m no in pain now.  My legs are definitely stiff, and my hips are sore!!  A sure sign that I need to work on strengthening my hips more.  But we’ll worry about that tomorrow, or another day

 

My mom and I arrived pretty late to the expo on Saturday.  After standing in line for a while, we finally entered the tent at 4:30.  I definitely encountered a few problems during the trip.

First, I couldn’t find my college ID (remember – I registered with the college student special).  They almost didn’t give me my bib number.  Then I found it – thank goodness.  A few things went wrong the next morning, but I’ll get to that!

Okay, I don’t want to complain here – but the expo was horrible.  I knew it wasn’t a great expo to begin with.  But this year, we literally got our bag (which I love, and am so happy I got a pink one), with 1 mini Luna bar and 1 sample bag of Kashi crackers.  That’s all the expo had to offer.  Oh – we did get a Safeway smoothie sample.  In previous years at least we’d gotten free Jamba Juice, Luna moons, Clif shots..I’ve walked away from the expo with 10 mini bags of Bare Naked granola before!  Oh well, moving on….

The new slogan of the race:

I like it better than the “Run Like a Girl” slogan they’ve had in the past.

Since it was late 5:30, and we were both trying to rest our feet, we didn’t shop around much.  Just went straight for some grub.

Chipotle, because that’s how us cheap women roll.

What a beast.  Bed of lettuce, black beans, rice, chicken, fajita veggies, pico de gallo, and corn salsa.  Guacamole was in a container on the side so I could eat it throughout the salad.  Don’t ever think I don’t get guac at Chipotle.  I don’t disappoint like that.  Plus chips on the side for more carb consumption, of course.

I also had an apple + PB, 2 hot chocolates, and a small chocolate piece back at the hotel that night.

 

The next day went a little something like this:

5:50 – wake up.  Slightly on the late side.  I thought I could handle it.  Wrong.  Turn on coffee machine

6:00 – Go to get cup of coffee and notice there is no coffee in the pot.  However, the machine is sitting in a lake of coffee.  Great.

6:05 – slightly panic.  I need caffeine.  Call front desk to send up new pot and new thing of coffee. 

6:10 – Eat.  Toast bread x2:

6:15 – Make new pot of coffee.  Strong coffee.  To get in maximum caffeine in as little liquid as possible.

6:20 – Can’t find my body glide.  Anywhere.  Research substitutions.  Result to smearing lotion on my arms.  And pray there’s vaseline early on in the race.

6:30 – Chug cooled coffee.

6:40 – Try to go to the bathroom one last time.  Fail.  Oh crap.  No pun intended.

6:50 – make my way onto the street (our hotel was literally next to the start line).  Try to forge my way to the front of the 9:00-9:59 section.  Street is blocked.  Fail.

6:55 – Go the back way.  Get stuck in the back of the 9:59 pacers.  Oh well.

7:00 – Start!

7:05 – waiting…..

7:07 – still waiting….music, cheering, excitement going on…

7:08 – moving!!  I seriously started to tear up with excitement and disbelief that I was there!

7:11 – Cross start line.

Miles 1-3: Stuck behind tons of slower people.  Frustrated.  Averaging 10-11:00 minute miles.  Try to breathe and soak in the experience.  I walked for 45 seconds at mile 2 and mile 3.

Mile 4: Still frustrated at being around slower paced people than I want, I try and realize it’s not the end of the world.  Enjoying the race, and knowing I won’t PR, I stop for a photo op!  Plus a 45 second walk break.

Mile 5: Take vanilla Gu.  I planned to take it at mile 6, but I knew mile 6 is a hill, and I’d rather take it before the hill.  Plus I was already at around 50 minutes.

Mile 6-8: HILLS!!!  I’m not going to lie, I really like hills.  Really.  I love powering up there, and the relief once you get to the top. 

Mile 8: Dodge orange peels.

Mile 10: Downhilllll.  I think this was the downhill mile.  Or it was sometime around now.  I took 2 clif shot blocks (that they handed out on the course) before going downhill.

Mile 11: It wasn’t nearly as packed on the course now, and I was able to pick up my speed.  Only 2 more miles to go, and I was feeling good, so I definitely wanted to pick it up!

Mile 12: Chocolate mile sign!  Chocolate?  Where?  I almost missed the chocolate mile!  Luckily I grabbed one from someone at the last minute and held onto it.  No way was I slowing down to eat chocolate now….sorry!  I looked at my watch and it said 2:02.  I would’ve loved to come in under 2 hours, but that didn’t happen.  So I decided to try and make it under 2:10. 

Mile 12-13: Sprinttttt.  Ready, GO!  Wait…are those rain drops?

Mile 13-13.1: Finish line in sight!  I went at it so hard, I really started to feel nauseous during that last little bit….but….then…finish!!!!!

Official finish time: 2:10:17 (darn so close!)

However, my Garmin told me I went 13.16 miles.  So if I go by that…technically I very well might have ran 13.1 in under 2:10

 

Garmin splits:

• Mile 1: 10:23
• Mile 2: 10:00
• Mile 3: 10:50
• Mile 4: 10:49
• Mile 5: 9:33
• Mile 6: 10:33 <—huge hill the entire mile
• Mile 7: 10:57
• Mile 8: 9:10 <— uphill
• Mile 9: 10:33 <—uphill…again
• Mile 10: 9:33
• Mile 11: 9:17
• Mile 12: 9:14
• Mile 13: 8:09 (told you I still had it left in me )
• Mile 13-13.1: 7:34

Elevation chart (if interested):

(Since this is for the full marathon, there actually was no big incline at the end of the half)

Oh….why hello.

(Source)

Thanks for my Tiffany’s Mr. Fireman!

This is by far my favorite out of all the years I’ve done it.  My other 2:

I can’t find the one from 2006 when I walked the half, but it wasn’t too pretty.  It honestly reminded me of a bottle cap.

One thing I have noticed about these necklaces is that they tarnish and get very dinged up looking very fast.  The background behind the runners on my marathon one (on the right) tarnished within days. 

I love my mom’s from when she walked the full in 2005.  Any runner would want this one.:

(Source)

Sadly, I don’t have that one.  I’m jealous.

Anyways…back to race day.  I got my goodies, and went to stand in line to get my picture taken.  I’ve never done this before, and I also had a good 1 1/2 hours to wait around for my mom to finish.  Standing in line is where I ran into this lady!  She was standing right behind me, and tapped me on the back, recognizing me from the blog.  Congrats Hillary on your PR!!

I ate a banana, drank a few sips of chocolate milk, and some Gatorade recover while waiting.

After some photography posing, I headed to the medical tent to ice my knees and foot.

It was freeeezing, by the way, and it had started pouring while I was in the tent.  I immediately headed to the stretching tent where I foam rolled, and stretched.  Hence the name – stretching tent.

Ate a protein Luna bar (peanut butter flavor.  Not my fave.  But I was hungry!!).

Then stood in line in the rain for a massage.  Mmm felt nice.

Finally I met up with my mom, where we caught up for 5 minutes.  Then I left her to catch the shuttle back to our hotel.  She waited for my dad who was picking her up and they were leaving straight for Sacramento (another story).

I then stood in line for an hour waiting for the bus.  In the freezing rain.  Crazy crazy cold!! 

On the bus, I ate another banana – yes 3 bananas all before 1:00.  Call me crazy.  Or call me a runner.

 

Back at my hotel, I showered and got so fresh and so clean in the locker rooms.  Then hauled my suitcase down to the shopping mall area, where I sat and ate some grub before catching BART (basically a subway that runs around the bay area).

Thank goodness I decided to go for this Thai place in the food court because you will never guess what they had –

Pumpkin curry chicken.  Oh yes.  Yes they did.

I also got garlic pepper chicken, which was bomb.

Now you see it.

Now you don’t.

HUGE plate, by the way.

It was 2:00 pm.  I figured this would hold me over a good 4 hours right?

I figured wrong.

I was hungry when I got home at 3:50.  Where I grabbed handfuls of this bad boy:

On my way out of town, I had a snack dinner?  It was 5:45.

So this beast weighed in at 15.0 on the scale.  In my head, I thought it was 1.5 pounds.  I was shocked.  But somewhat proud. 

Heck yes I just got myself a 1.5 pound yogurt.

Is it sad I was slightly disappointed when I realized it was only 15 ounces?  Still a beast of a yogurt though.

Pumpkin pie + vanilla wafer flavors.

I knew I would get hungry on the road, and packed a snack dinner part 2.

Frosting?

No no.  Just awfully photographed cottage cheese + nectarine.  In a frosting container.

And once back at…home?…school?  (I really don’t know what to call this place anymore). I had a bowl mug of cereal.

Well. Guess I can say I got my fiber in for the day.

I like how most people have post-celebratory big race dinners.  And I had froyo, cottage cheese, and cereal.  Gotta love it.

So, that was my day, race, and eats in a nutshell rather long post.

All in all, I felt awesome during the race.  My knees were a bit achy.  But not bad at all.  I do wish I could have kept up a faster pace, but I just got stuck.  Sometimes I seriously felt like I could have been walking faster than I was running.  But I knew from the beginning I wouldn’t beat my PR of 1:53.  I was just happy to be out there! 

I also only walked about 4-5 times for 30 seconds during the entire race.  I’m not lying when I said I actually forgot to walk.  During the mile 6-9 hilly sequence, I was so caught up in the hills that I forgot to take walk breaks.  It was all fine in the end – I really only started doing long runs with walk breaks to ease back into running.  But I felt good!  Funny enough, one of my biggest regrets is not getting more pictures.  It was only me and my mom with an Iphone camera, so we obviously didn’t take many!

 

But now…I can’t wait for my next race!!  Thank you for all your guys’ support and encouragement throughout my injury and training.  You guys are the best

And stay tuned for what I ate the day after my half

Did you race this weekend?  How’d you do?  Brag your story away!!

What do you “Run to be?”

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Running This Flashback

I had PB&J for breakfast the past 2 days. 

One in yogurt-mess form:

• Peanut butter yogurt (peanut flour mixed with yogurt)
• Cereal
• Raspberries
• Pumpkin butter

Yes, there was yogurt under there

The juicy berries mixed into the yogurt like PB&J!

This morning in overnight oats form:

• Peanut butter overnight oats
• 1/2 a nectarine
• Raspberries
• Sprinkle of granola
• Jam

Mmm pretty much like fresh raspberry jam

 

I also was quite the fashion statement:

Running shoes + cute dress = oh shush it, I have a sore foot.

 

Today I worked a bit, then hit the road home!  Grabbed a sandwich at a local deli on the way.

Sooooo good.  Seriously – big ol’ sourdough rolls make deli sandwiches.  I used to get plain sliced wheat.  But the sandwich is 3097532085032 million times better with this bread.

 

I drove straight to my orthotics appointment, where I was refitted.  And told I need new orthotics.  SUPER DEEEE DUPER.  Apparently, my arches have stretched out and are now over-riding my current orthotics.  Causing my ankles to roll slightly inward.  She was also in shock how tight my ankles are.  Even though I stretch after each run – it’s not enough!!  Most likely the cause of my recent foot pain.  I really need to focus on like hour long stretching or something if I want to keep running.

 

Then to Target.

 

And guess what was right next door across the street?

I can’t turn down the fact that they have pumpkin pie flavor.  If I see Yogurtland, I must buy.

 

This then welcomed me home when I walked in the door:

Except someone seems to have been picking at it!

 

I thought the yogurt and trail mix would ruin my appetite for dinner, but I still felt munchy.  I rummaged around, and found some tomato soup in the cupboard.  Eaten with a quesadilla made with a flatout wrap and cheddar cheese.

 

And then I was soooooo full.

 

I haven’t done a Flashback Friday in so long, but I figured this race weekend would be perfect to flashback to my previous times running this race!  I actually flashbacked to it last year as well, but I’ll re-flashback

 

In 2007, I ran the full Nike Women’s Marathon in SF.  It was my first marathon, and actually one of my first serious races!

I spent the day before with my sister, mom, and cousin hanging out at the hotel and exploring the Expo!

…and getting attacked in Macy’s.  No big deal.

The next morning, we were up bright and early!  (My mom and cousin walked the half)

 

I was wandering the streets, when I ran into my dad and siblings!  Seriously, out of all the people in the crowds, and out of all the places they could have been.  Talk about coincidence!  It really made me excited.

It really meant a lot that my whole family came out to support me.  I love you guys!!!  During the last 3 miles, I randomly saw a huge sign that read “DO IT FOR ZIMMER!!” (Zimmer was our dog who died of lymphoma, what this race benefits).  I cracked up, and my brother started to run alongside with me.  I challenged him to beat me But he dropped off behind me.  HA!

Sprinting to the finish!

Done

Finishers!!

 

In 2008, I ran the half! 

Enjoying the day with mom and her friends:

My hand always looks like it’s hanging dead when I have my Garmin on haha.

The weather was freeeeeezing this year!!  I ran the half, and everyone else walked, so I hung around for a good 2 hours afterwards waiting.  So cold!!

 

I can’t wait to make new memories this year!!

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No Ordinary Day

I just finished watching No Ordinary Family on Hulu. Pretty good! But thank goodness we are finally getting TV tomorrow 🙂

Anyways, this morning wasn’t too hot. I won’t even go into detail about last night, but lets just say the alcohol consumed made this morning’s 7:30 am wake-up rather rough.

I definitely wasn’t ready to eat until noon.

This was so damn good.

And I snacked on some PB crackers.

After babysitting, I got the genius idea to go to Einstein’s and pick up some pumpkin cream cheese!! I was giddy with excitement.

Unfortunately my Einstein’s is way behind the times. There was no pumpkin anything in sight. But they did have these bagel poppers I’ve been dying to try.

I had about 4 or 5.

Meh. Nothing to write home about. Kinda bland. They need more poppin’ flavor.

Seriously. I was truly 100% craving this. So sue me.

I spent the rest of the evening in my bed watching online tv before throwing together an extremely random dinner.

Zucchini which I topped with hummus.

The last of my pumpkin bread pudding with some vanilla ice cream. (I know I already had froyo today, but vanilla ice cream is mandatory with this stuff. It’s like having meatloaf without ketchup smothered on top. Unacceptable).

Yes – I ate out of the plastic container, while standing in the kitchen waiting for my zucchini to cook. Class.

And a roasted butternut squash.

I’ll be orange in no time.

I really hope my stomach doesn’t hate me later. I love you tummy!! Do you hear me? No rumbles tonight, k?

We’re headed to a friends for a movie. I really hope it’s better than Wolfman, which we watched last time. Don’t torture yourself.

Cookies and/or ice cream may be involved. But I may try to resist since my eats haven’t been the healthiest as of late.

Oh who am I kidding.

Happy Friday!!  Doing anything exciting tonight?

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All Day Happy Hour

The reason I only had 1 spoonful of ice cream last night was because I find that sometimes eating ice cream late at night causes me tummy aches in the morning.

Yet, I still woke up bloated and burpy (when I say burpy, I mean I feel like I have burps stuck in my chest. I’m pretty sure it has something to do with my acid reflux/stomach issues). Perhaps it was the late night plain yogurt that did it to me? haha.

Anyways, it was hard to scarf down food when I already felt pressure and full. But I needed to before my long run!

2 pieces of Ezekiel cinnamon raisin with a special nut butter, vanilla-pear butter, and a whole giant banana (I ate the rest of the ‘naner separate).

I had to break into this jar of almond butter, I swear!!!

The only nut butter I had open was my chocolate hazelnut butter, and I really wasn’t feeling that on cinnamon toast. This Justin’s maple almond butter was bought on super sale, and meant to be saved for a while.

Oh well.

Anyways, on to my run. My legs felt dead the whole time. From mile 1, all the way until the end. Tired tired legs.

My whole left side was also screaming at me. My left knee had a slight pain. My left butt cheek occasionally had a sharp pain. And towards the end, the bottom of my left foot was aching. WTF left side – what was your deal??  Cardio wise, I felt fine!  Never gasping to dying for air.

Don’t worry, I didn’t push through any horrible pain. And if I hurt later on or on my next run, I’ll rest up. But I am worried I need new orthotics and that was the cause of my left foot pain. Oh the joys of money.

I decided to cut my run short at 11.5 (I wanted to do 12), but after a short break on a bus stop bench, I decided I could push through another .5 mile easily enough. 12 it was!

Distance: 12 miles
Time: 1:53.05
Average: 9:25

• 1 – 8:38
• 2 – 9:13
• 3 – 9:13 (I’m so damn consistent, I can’t stand it)
• 4 – 9:26
• 5 – 9:08
• 6 – 10:01 (bummer. So close)
• 7 – 8:55 (woah missy!)
• 8 – 9:59
• 9 – 9:49
• 10 – 9:27
• 11 – 9:51
• 12 – 9:22

During, I fueled with my usual peach rings (I had 4 at mile 5.75), and a new find I got on sale at Target.

I brought along 2 little balls, and had 1 at mile 8, and another at mile 10.

These were actually pretty tasty. Stats:

I do feel that their recommended amounts per hour are a bit high though:

I really felt like a post-run beer.

Unfortunately it was 10:43 am.

Fortunately, I didn’t really care.

Yes – before 11 am. It is Thirsty Thursday, after all. I actually only drank half if that makes any difference.

A 12 mile run also deserves a long awaited pumpkin spice light frappie. Especially since I had a giftcard.

Sidenote: $4.35 for this thing? Are you kidding me?!?!? That’s a bit ridiculous.

Too sweet. Less pumps next time.

For lunch, all I really wanted was leftover pumpkin bread pudding. (BTW – I’ve totally been picking at this all week unpictured. It’s bomb). But I knew I needed more substance to my lunch.

I’m not sure why I added more bread and some chocolate filled crisps and called that substance.

On second thought, I added some feta to the hummus bread.

Mmmm pumpkin pie bread pudding.

At work I snacked on some of my new favorite granola.

And then ran some errands. Guess what’s right next door to the bank?

That’s right. It was pretty small – only $1.50 worth of yogurt. I honestly thought about not posting about this…WHAT?!?! Why should I be ashamed that I had a frappie in the morning and froyo in the afternoon? I shouldn’t. And I’m not. It was delish!

More snackage. Or dinner appetizers. However you want to look at it.

With ketchup and hummus for dippage.

Once I awoke from a glorious nap, all intentions of making lasagna went out the window. Something easy instead was required.

Whole wheat sweet potato gnocchi with pumpkin pasta sauce and some feta cheese. I thought about adding veggies to the mix, but nixed the idea. It’s a good thing I had those carrot fries. And that pumpkin definitely counts as a vegetable.

Come here my little pretty.

The sauce was phenom. The gnocchi was blah. No sweet potato flavor at all.

I’m now enjoying a cup of cookie dough coffee at 8:00 pm. Why? Because, like I said. It’s Thirsty Thursday. And I don’t work at 6 am tomorrow like I do the rest of the weekend.

Therefore – a great reason to go out on the town.

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Connected

BREAKING NEWS: I now have internet!! I even set it up without once calling my dad for help 🙂 Oh the empowerment of such things.

And since it’s now Thursday, it’s only appropriate that I catch you up on the week’s adventures.

Monday morning started with toast on cinnamon raisin Ezekiel bread.

Then I headed out on what I wanted to be a 6 miler. But it was pretty warm when I set out. And I was thirsty. And the area I live now is pretty boring for running. My old house was near many different routes I could take, including many neighborhoods to wind in and out of. My new place is in a more commercial district and there’s really only 2-3 straight shot paths I can take. I did a loop that I’m sure will become a staple that ended up being 4.5 miles. Then tacked on another .5 mile at the end.

Distance: 5 miles
Time: 45:56
Avg pace: 8:59

BOOYA!!!! I definitely wanted to get below 9 minute miles and I did! Sure it might have been 8:59, but it’s below 9, which equals 8. No rounding up in my book. Since my injury, I’ve been running mainly 9-10 min mile pace, so I was happy. I guess there’s an upside to living around straight shot flat land, rather than giant hills.

I came back, fiddled with our new broken shower (which the landlord seems not to want to deal with), grabbed a quick lunch, and headed off to nannying.

PB&J never fails when in a hurry.

Monday’s dinner at work was delicious. I love cauliflower. And this couscous was amaze.

I also got a flat bread pizza, which I obviously didn’t need all of after the side entree of couscous. So I had one slice.

And left room for dessert – S’mores pudding parfait. Yes. There are marshmallows on the bottom.

Tuesday morning consisted of a cottage cheese mess bowl.

In the cottage cheese container since it was near empty. CIACCC (cereal in a cottage cheese container).

I got this cottage cheese because it was on “Introductory super sale” for like $1.50. I’m not a huge fan of the added fiber to things. I feel like it’s used to make things lower calories, lower “net carbs”, etc. And I’d rather get my natural fiber from natural sources. But I feel it is good for people who do struggle to get their fiber in – although whole foods should be pushed! But it was actually very tasty!!

I ate the last bit of the banana with some chocolate hazelcrack nut butter.

I’m so happy to be moved in with my own dishes – my mugs are back!!

At work, the 3-year old and I walked the 15 minutes to Jamba Juice downtown. She got the Orange A-peel, and we had it split in 2 kids cups (did you know you could do that?! I didn’t).

Sure, I’ll take the other kids cup.

I also had a “buy 1 get 1 free” coupon and used it to get a very special smoothie I’ve wanted to try since last year.

Well, doesn’t that look nasty.

Pumpkin Smash smoothie!!!!! I took only a couple sips of this thing to try it ASAP, and it was SWEET. So sweet I actually puckered up a bit. I asked them if there was a way to make it “lighter,” and they really didn’t know. I think I would look into this more. But until then, I make my own pumpkin smoothies quite delicious, thank you 🙂

I’m losing you aren’t I? Ok I’ll hurry up through the rest of Tuesday and onto Wednesday.

Lunch was leftover flatbread pizza.

And I think I had a fruit salad cottage cheese mixture on my way out the door to work. I think.

Dinner was unphotograped but it was soup, salad and rice. Meh.

But dessert was phenom. Cake batter & dulce de leche froyo with the most necessary toppings known to mankind – crushed oreos and chocolate sauce. And a bit of cookie dough. Oh and I wanted to try those mochi balls(?). Not a fan.

Moving onto Wednesday, I honestly can’t find a picture of my breakfast. I think it was oatmeal. So sorry, this has been a crazy week.

I randomly snacked at work, and then picked up a salad at TJs while picking up groceries for my nannying family. My old roommate always raved about this Spa Salad (I think it’s the spa salad – I could be wrong).

Rip-off!!! Where did my mandarin oranges run off to?

It comes with chicken, mandarin oranges (supposedly), cheese (also seemed to be missing that?), grapes, and a curry dressing. Over lettuce and some type of noodles.

On second thought I added some of my new hummus as well.

Pretty good. But I probably wouldn’t buy again.

Mmm splurge-worthy hummus.

A bit basily for my taste (and I love basil!!). I want to try the plain white bean hummus next.

The rest of the day went unphotographed again, but let me just say it contained parmesan crusted potatoes, peach crisp, and a brownie pudding parfait. Yes sir. Or Ma’am.

I’ll try to recap today during tomorrow’s post so as not to overwhelm you. I’m just so happy to have internet!!!

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Moving Weekend

First, I want to apologize for being so MIA – in blog posting, blog reading/commenting, Twitterland, etc. The past weekend was jam-packed with moving. And now I don’t have internet at my new place yet.

AKA – I’m stealing using Borders internet at the moment.

There’s so much I wish to post about and catch you up on. But that might be impossible. I’ll try to work with you in stages.

Secondly…I’m Obsessed.

But that’s another story.

Today’s story focuses on the weekend Taylor finally moved from her longly coveted half-deflated air mattress, and onto a real bed.

The weekend was full of yogurt mess bowls:

And cottage cheese mess bowls.

With my new love.

And cottage cheese obvs.

It was also filled with salads such as one from lunch –

And one from my favorite BBQ place in town where I went with my parents (they came down for about 3 hours – yes a 7 hour drive roundtrip to help me move in for 3 hours. Love).

Lettuce, bell peppers, onions, tomatoes, feta, pine nuts, and shredded chicken. Doused in the best BBQ sauce EVER.

Then came moving, unpacking, and more moving. And my room is still a mess. I’m guessing it will take another week to fully unpack.

A Costco trip was definitely in order to stock up on necessary toilet paper and paper towels.

This is what happens when you go to Costco hungry on a Sunday evening, yet the tasters are all packed up:

I LOVE their berry sundae. Although I know it’s just tons of added sugar with the sundae “sauce”. Meh. It’s tasty and I rarely get it.

Oh and you really can’t forget my ginormous brownie from work either.

Huge, and I had already eaten a good 1/4 of it.

PB cream cheese brownie to be exact.

I ate about half before calling it a day. It was too dry for my taste.

Well that was my weekend in a nut shell as short of a post as I could make it. I know it’s not super interesting. And I also know it’s now Tuesday, so you probably don’t care to know about Saturday/Sunday events and eats.

But maybe I’ll get around to catching you up on Monday and Tuesday by the time Friday rolls around. You know how that is.

Or perhaps by then I’ll actually have internet. And my room will be unpacked.

But I doubt that one.

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Blurbs

I rrrrreally want to catch you up on the past few days of my life. But I just have so much mumbo jumbo to talk about, that I’m worried I’ll bore you.

Meh. Deal. But I am quite tired so I’ll split it up and make it quick.

Wednesday’s bad-quality oats in a jar.

Road-trip yumminess.

Road-trip nastiness.

Concert fun.

Brad Paisley, Darius Rucker, Justin Moore, Easton Corbin, Steel Magnolia…

Amaze.

Concert eats.

Ooozing cranberry sauce.

Morning eats.

Mommy knows I love fruit 🙂

Pumpkin pie yogurt at Yogurtland!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Pre-long run fuel.

Adorable cake made by sister.

Best peanut butter ever in the entire world infinity and beyond.

1/2 the jar gone in 1 day? Yes it’s possible.

10.25 miles in 1:36:33.

Not a great run. Hard.

Sign of being lazy? Or just color blind?

Post-run lunch.

Shredded BBQ chicken & whole wheat wrap.

Hungry 2 hours later.  More PB duh.

Pre-drive snack.

Favorite part.

Traffic + 10 mile run = must stop for food.

$5 dolla footlong (I really hope you sang it in that tone).

Veggies galore. But no guac apparently.

Still starving. No food in the car…except…..

It happens.

Roommates making gordita crunch quesadillas at 8:30. Me likey.

It’s pumpkin season!

Well that covered Wednesday-Friday.

I’ll catch you up on my whirlwind of a weekend tomorrow 😉

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Live Your Life

I love this shirt. LIVE. YOUR. LIFE. Do it. Now.

Only do it forwards – not backwards like this picture states. Or do it backwards. Whichever makes you happiest.

I like to have a smaller light breakfast before a run so I don’t cramp up.

Whole wheat english muffin – 1/2 with berry cream cheese. 1/2 with maple PB & vanilla-pear butta.

I then set out on a 5-6 miler. Super great run. Why? Well, since you asked – let me tell you.

• I didn’t walk once. Nope. Not once. Except for stopping at stop lights, this was the first and farthest I’ve ran without any walk breaks since my injury. Amaze.
• It was pretty speedy. Not Speedy Gonzales, exactly. But kind of. Maybe more like his half-brother type of speedy.

Distance: 6 miles
Time: 54:45
Avg pace: 9:07 (darn – so close to the 8 minutes!)

• Mile 1: 8:50
• Mile 2: 8:46
• Mile 3: 9:16
• Mile 4: 9:11
• Mile 5: 9:00
• Mile 6: 9:41

So I like the idea of negative splits and all. But honestly, like I mentioned before – there are hills and inclines all over where I live. The first mile I usually run is also slightly downhill, making my first mile normally faster than the rest. Therefore, negative splits and I – we’re just not that compatible. But I try.

I came back and was superbly hungry. But I didn’t want to eat lunch until after I showered. So I cut up some….

And had an overflowing bowl of…

Did you know watermelon sprinkled with salt is quite delicious?

After showering, doing my hurr, and getting into some clothing, I nuked up some sort of Kashi meal. Sweet & sour chicken to be exact. Not my faves, but it was in the freezer saying “Use me up!” So I listened.

Plus some carrot fries on the side 40 minutes later. They took that long to cook.

I struggled about 10 minutes to get the remaining ketchup out of this bottle. I think a re-designing of the ketchup bottle is in order.

Some homemade iced coffee for “dessert.” While scanning and clipping coupons from the weekly grocery ads of course.

I’ve decided I need to start wearing a bib.

I have Thursday and Fridays off from my hospital job. So I suppose it’s technically my “weekend.” However I still nanny. Hello 2 jobs!

At least today we made cupcakes!

Red velvet cupcakes – the Sprinkles (store in LA) mix. Frosting? I had more than my fair share.

Sprinkles!!!

I took one…

And cut it in half…

I had already had SO much frosting and some batter while baking.

Carrots & apples consumed while they were baking. Nothing in comparison of course.

I requested to get off in time to go to Farmers Market. Then I sat around for a bit waiting to hear from my friend when and if she could go to Farmers (while I also snacked on another bowl of watermelon). Finally I decided to just GO. Get out of the house and do it! I got one of my favorite meals at Farmers – chicken teriyaki! Drowning (I mean probably 1/2 cup’s worth) in teriyaki sauce. Plus some random white and pink sauce I wanted to try out.

Yes – there’s rice under there!

About 2 cup’s worth of white rice. This meal doesn’t skimp for $6.

Stuffed and satisfied, I wandered more of Farmer’s and had a few samples (a couple almonds, pita & hummus, and a multitude of delicious peaches). Before stopping in Yogurt Creations for a small bit of dessert.

Cake batter(!!) topped with spiced apple topping and some Reese’s crumbs.

After a bit more wandering, I came home to enjoy some of my yummy wine (in a wine glass from my grandma!)

x2. Remember – Live yo’ life!

I also just enjoyed an egg roll and potsticker that my roommate brought home from her job working the Chinese food stand at Farmers. Live your life – and enjoy good food 😀

How are you living and enjoying your life right now? What’s your favorite current thing about your life that makes you happy?!

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