Found

Found: chocolate Oikos

Location: in the cooler section at Target

Reward: mmmm I get to eat it!

Yes, there’s chocolate yogurt under that serving of Honey Sunshine. Also eaten with peanut butter (can never ever go wrong with chocolate & peanut butter), strawberry jam, and another spoonful of plain yogurt since there wasn’t much Oikos in the container.

Reaction? Hmmm it was…different. Tasty, definitely. But because it screams CHOCOLATE, I was definitely expecting something more pudding like? It was tangy with a slighty chocolate taste. Yummy, but I probably wouldn’t buy again. I prefer the plain or fruit flavors if I’m going to spring for the added sugar.

I then laced up my running shoes, did a quick warm-up, and headed out on a run!

Distance: 4.33 miles
Time: 41:01 (almost stopped on an even number!)

I didn’t give myself as many walk breaks today. I usually take a 2 minute walk break every 5 minutes + stopping at the stop lights. Today, however, I did more of 1-1 1/2 minute walk breaks every 7-9 minutes. Hopefully my knee doesn’t hate me later. Splits ended up being:

Mile 1: 9:07
Mile 2: 9:11
Mile 3: 9:07
Mile 4: 9:88
Mile 4.33: 3.87

Not bad considering it includes the walk breaks. Gone are the days of 7-8 minute mile pacing. But it’s all good – at least I’m running! 😀

Sidenote: I also just got back from Toy Story 3 – SO CUTE and funny!! Highly recommend it. At least make sure you rent it!

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Help me choose!

Hello my lovelies! I was super excited to get going this morning because I had something special to use – new running shoes!!

My grandma bought me new shoes for my birthday, so I went and got re-fitted yesterday. First, they filmed me running on the treadmill (which I’ve never had done before), and then analyzed my gait.

She then filmed me again running in their normal running shoes with my orthotics in.

Now I’ve been running in Saucony Stabils, with absolute maximum support and motion control, for the past 3-4 years. The girl who was helping me was quite surprised I was running in such supportive shoes, especially with my orthotics. She said I really only needed mild to moderate support shoes along with my orthotics to fix my pronation.

I then tried on a ton of shoes. I also have a very narrow heel, so many shoes (especially Nikes) slip! The pair I really wanted also didn’t come in a big enough size (I’m size 11-11.5! Bigfoot over here). I ended up with my some new Brooks!

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I’ve never ran in Brooks shoes before, so we’ll see how this goes!

This morning I had 1/2 a hemp bagel spread with almond butter and Crofter’s jam shortly before heading out.

I tried out some soynut butter which I was sent to review on my bagel first.

But I just couldn’t get into it. I’ve been trying it on multiple occasions in all different ways. It tastes exactly like soynuts – which I do like! But I’m just not a huge fan of the nut butter version. Even though it does have excellent stats! Check out the fiber and protein!

I’d still recommend trying it out if you like soynuts! Tastes just like it.

Post 3 mile run, 25 minute foam roll & stretching came lunch.

Leftover pineapple, black beans and chicken.

With rice.

Yummy yummy in my tummy!

But still very hungry hungry an hour later.

A serving of yogurt and Kashi blueberry flakes cereal.

Forgot I had this sample from forever ago!

Followed by an apple of sorts.

Other afternoon snacks at work consisted of –

Iced SF hazelnut coffee with half & half

Cranberry heart thrive

And a banana to tide me over until dinner.

And oh what a yummy dinner it was!

Buttnernut squash lasagna (I’ll post the recipe soon)

Deeeeeeeeeelicious 😀

The rest of the night was full of my future boyfriend Idol,

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Strawberries

And GLEE!!!

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Now I need your help!!

Now it’s vote time! I’ve been shopping for a birthday dress for this Friday’s celebrations 😉 But I can never make decisions – it’s hard! So I’m asking you all to give me your opinions. Please ignore my dirty, hat hair! And my awkward looks since I didn’t know what face to make.

Option A: (closed eyes!) Yes, it has a zipper down the front – odd but I like it! And the whole body portion is kind of scrunchy. With a frilly bottom.

Option B: Looks short on the right side, but I think it was bunched up a bit. Also I was obviously caught in the middle of awkward laughing. Ummm…I obviously don’t channel Miss Kailey well.

And here I slouch…

All right peeps, opinions opinions! And if you feel the need, you can give me your reasonings 😉 I am quite indecisive, haha.

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April Beginnings

Happy first day of April!!

I know it’s April Fool’s Day, but I always like to think of the first day of April as something more – it’s definitely one of my favorite months of the year. Things I’m looking forward to this month:

1. Easter – one of my favorite holidays. A rich family member always throws a giant party in their beautiful yard. This year, they’re not having it, but I still love Easter. And still hunt for eggs! 😉

2. Brooks & Dunn and Jason Aldean concert at the end of the month!

3. Finally starting to feel like spring. Beautiful weather. Yes, there’s stll rain, but there’s also the occasional warmth for shorts!

4. Birthday month!! On April 15th at approximately 10:59 pm a little youngin’ who now goes by the name of Taylor was born. Thank goodness. What would the world be without her?! 😉

My stomach has still been off from Vegas (drinking and all that food obviously doesn’t agree with me. haha). And my appetite was finally back today.

Started the morning off with a bit of freshly cut pineapple.

And a little bit later, made a yogurt mess with this new yogut I picked up to try!

It was good! Not quite as creamy as Chobani. But still delicious. It has a higher calorie content than other Greek yogurt brands, but I’m impressed it has more calcium!

• Nature’s path Strawberry Optimum cereal
• TJs almond butter with flaxseed
• Blueberry jam

My mess also contained a bit of this delicious find I picked up on sale at Target. I’ve been snacking on this stuff nonstop in the past week. It’s madly delicious and addicting!

It’s really pretty much just super sweet granola with a few random cereal flakes 😉

I then bandaged up my blisters, squeezed my feet into my shoes, and tested out my feet at the gym.

3.3 miles total (including warm-up & warm-down) of running/walking intervals.

Good news?

Blisters or knee didn’t hurt too badly on the treadmill at all!

Bad news?

Afterwards, my pinky toe hurt like hell and it was starting to bleed. Um whoops.

Post-gym, I was hungry!! Welcome back appetite!

1/2 of a French Meadow Bakery hemp bagel spread with some cream cheese and Crofter’s jam.

A big thank you to French Meadow Bakery! I’ve been dying to try these bagels for while and they didn’t disappoint. With 13 grams of fiber and 19 grams of protein, these bagels pack a big punch!

Looks at the seedy goodness.

Chewy and nutty tasting 🙂

I also had the rest of my Brown Cow Greek yogurt (~ 1/2 cups worth) mixed with pineapple and a scoop of almond butter.

Not gonna lie when I say I’ve eaten almost the entire pineapple today. And will probably finish it off after dinner 😉

And starving only 2 hours later, had some carrots and dip (as always, unpicture 😉 ).

And dinner was giant stir fry of mixed veggies and chicken. With a bit of chow mein noodles on the side 😉

What are you looking forward to in April?

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The Red Carpet

Thank you for your well wishes for my roommate 🙂 She’s doing better, but is still in massive pain. We’re all praying the doctor found something with her ultrasound and can give her a better diagnosis tomorrow morning.

My endoscopy also went way easier than expected! I honestly don’t recall a thing of it – thank you sleepy meds! 😉

The rest of my Friday was spent sleeping and being groggy. I just completely forgot to take pictures of anything! In fact, I got in the bad habit of not taking pics of most things all weekend.

Yesterday was a breakfast repeat of Mocha PB oats.

The normal 1/3 cup oats + 2/3 cup almond milk + 2 egg whites cooked on the stove.

Instant coffee powder and chocolate PB2 stirred in towards the end. I then simmered it for a bit to thicken the oats up.

Topped off with vanilla greek yogurt “frosting”, Justin’s honey PB, and vanilla cashews.

Phenom.

Yes, I am in the possession of some new PB! I saw Justin’s nut butter on sale, and knew I needed to take advantage. His maple almond butter is the best almond butter ever. It was about double the price of the peanut butter, however, so I figured the PB would be just as good.

Immediately broken into and taste tested.

It’s good. But just like normal sweet peanut butter. Nothing special. The maple almond butter would have definitely been worth the extra $4.

I then proceeded to spend the rest of my Sunday doing pretty much nothing. Went on a walk to the grocery store, then went to Borders to catch up on some necessary reading (US and Cooking Light magazines – duh). And then home for the Oscars!!

Best and Worst dressed? Thoughts?

I admit I didn’t see everyone on the red carpet, so I’m sure I’m missing some exquisite people!

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I loved Demi’s, but J. Lo looked like she was wearing bubble wrap.

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Beautiful

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I’m sorry, but I wasn’t a fan of SJP. It was like a backwards halter? And her hair looked really messy from the front when she was giving her award.

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And many more! I feel that there were so many “best dressed” last night! Loved so many of them.

This morning I was up to drive my roommate to her appointment. I wasn’t very hungry at all, so I grabbed a light breakfast of Thomas whole wheat bagel thin. (The other half that I ate pre-photo had honey PB)

These bagels are okay – definitely thin! I was expecting them to be similar to sandwich thins, but they definitely have that “bagel taste” to them. Good for a light bagel, but definitley no chewy dense bagel 😉

All right off to CPR final and then Clinical Nutrition lab final! I’ll hopefully fit in a swim or weight sesh between the two during my break.

Have a Manic wonderful Monday!

Who were your choices for best dressed last night? Any favorites out there?

I think Cameron, Queen Latifah and Miley looked stunning. They were all beautiful!

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Sweet Sweet Oatmeal

Happy almost Friday! This week went by very quickly – anyone else? My morning started out a bit more eventful than I would’ve liked when I found out my roommate was taken to the hospital last night due to chest pains. By the time 2 of my other roommates and I got there, she was being released. She has a few different medical problems, and is back home now (thank goodness). They’re still not sure what’s wrong and I guess she has to go see a specialist. I haven’t seen her at all today and I hope she’s gotten lots of rest and feels better.

I eventually got home and decided to take advantage of the fact that I missed my class and had a couple extra hours by whipping up some peanut butter coffee oats.

• 1/2 cup oats + 1 cup almond milk + 2 egg whites
• Scoop of instant coffee powder
• PB2

Topped off with:

• Almond butter
• Plain yogurt “frosting”
• Pomegranate vanilla cashews

I love you sweet sweet oatmeal.

I finally broke into this bag I’ve had around for quite a while. They’re sweet – but not as sweet as candied nuts. Delicious! But deadly since I can eat the whole bag 😉

And 3 mugs of 3/4 decaff, 1/4 caff coffee to fuel the studying. With all the regulars. Yes, SF coffee-mate is one of my vices. I really don’t care how many chemicals are in it, I just love a mug of coffee with a dash of this sweetness 🙂

Midterm came and midterm went….all right I guess. We’ll see.

Gym was next on the list where I tried the treadmill for the first time in 2 months. After a warm-up, I did 2 minute run, 1 minute walk followed by a cool-down. Total was only 1.3 miles, but I really just wanted to test out the knee. Verdict? It felt quite stiff and it still hurts. ROAR.

Then bowling, where I promised I would bowl a strike and dedicate it the roommate. She got 4 dedications 😉

And finally came work where I snacked on:

Carrots & salsa (love this combo).

Grapes

4 juicy strawberries (strawberry season you are near!)

2 clementines + an apple. Got my fruit fix this afternoon, no?

I was obvoiusly snacky! 😉 And I didn’t want to get home starving either.

Dinner was kept light since I really wasn’t hungry (obviously).

Seasoned cauliflower (with garlic salt, pepper, paprika, curry & parmesan cheese). And roasted at 400 degrees for 25 minutes. The parmesan cheese was delicious once toasted.

And soup.

I really liked this soup. It tasted creamy and very similar to cream of chicken. And I liked the addition of white beans instead of noodles.

Tomorrow will definitely be a little off. I’m actually having an endoscopy done in the morning for heart burn related symptoms I’ve been having a problem with for years. And since my insurance is up at the end of the month, I figured I should cram in all my doctor visits while I can! It’s my first ever “procedure” (I’ve never even had a cavity drilled!) and I’ve never gotten the “sleepy medicine” (as they called it). I’m nervous!! Eeeek!

See you afterwards! And please keep my roommate in your thoughts. Thanks 🙂

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So Long Favorites

So I realize I’ve been such a slacker at posting these past few weeks. And everytime I put a post up, I apologize. I think the main reason is that my meals have been completely

A) Unexciting

B) Repetitive

C) Both A & B

Due to some unexpected circumstances, I am on an extremely tight budget. I was on a tight budget before, but now even tighter. Therefore, I’m on a massive “eat what I have in the pantry” kick. And since I have about 8 boxes of cereal, meals have been incorpating a lot of this.

And since eggs are cheap, a lot of plain boring scrambles have been consumed as well.

My breakfasts are still delicious, but I’ve been slowly saying goodbye to some favorites…

Goodbye Naturally More 😦 Until next time.

Egg + butternut squash + the last of my pumpkin butter sammy. Goodbye pumpkin butter 😦 You were tasty.

This was good guys. Thank you oh Queen of Snacks for the inspiration.

You were definitely my favorite VitaTop dear banana nut. Thanks for the good times.

Crumbled on cinnamon yogurt (cinnamon + yog) with some Crofter’s superfruit jam and Sunbutter.

I really like this Asia flavor – Raspberries and Yumberries blended with morello cherries and red grapes. A lot more than the North America flavor (blueberries and cranberries). I think it’s a bit sweeter.

But most of my lunches have consisted of nut butter + jam sandwich thins.

Oh wait! Last week I got some turkey on sale and threw that into the mix.

And dinners have been so boring I don’t even feel the desire to document them.  I realized that I haven’t made anything new or any new recipes!  I used to do that all the time, and have leftovers all week.  Hopefully once I clear out my current food stock, I can get back to that.

I promise I’ll try and be better about it, but I highly apologize if my meals seems mundane and boring. Such is life I suppose

I have been swimming! Last week I swam twice, and twice this week so far as well.

Monday – 2500 yards in 50 minutes
Tuesday – 2400 yards in 50 minutes (with a break in there because my foot was cramping up!)

This is the way most my swim workouts have been coming out to be:

• 700-1000 yards freestyle warmup (28-40 laps)
• 5 X 200’s, alternating between:
  • 200 IM
  • 200 freestyle pulling
• 400-500 pull with paddles OR
• 6 X 75’s IM order
• 100 or so cooldown

Not my exact workout, but the general basis. I need to get new workouts somehwere online. Swimplan.com?

Best get back to studying since we’re going out tonight! Rare for a weeknight, but I don’t have work tomorrow, and my roommate’s morning class was canceled. Might as well take advantage! 😉

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Valentine’s Day in November?

Well, seeing as how it is November February…

Apparently my local store is a few months behind the times. But at least I finally found the sought after pumpkin pie yogurt!!

You know what my breakfast was this morning 😉

• Stonyfield pumpkin yogurt
• Kashi Go Lean cereal
• Quaker oatmeal squares
• Pumpkin butter
• Naturally More peanut butter

But alas. Disappointed I was. It was too sweet and I’m just too darn used to the thick stuff (that’s what she said?). I like my homemade pumpkin yogurt better 🙂

More in the February spirit – Momma Tay Tay sent me a package of lurve.

Some heart shaped cookies, Lindt candies, and the mug I wanted from Starbies!! ❤ you mommy!!

Disclaimer: Contrary to my roommates and family members giving me a hard time about wanting yet another mug, I have already used this beauty 3 times in the past day. Thank you very much.

It was 4:30, I was hungry, and this girl’s sugar cravings were kicking into high gear. Of course I dug right in.

But let’s rewind to lunch.

If that’s not an appetizing plastic container of food, I don’t know what is.

Guilty as charged of enjoying a lean cuisine. Lemon chicken to be more specific. I haven’t had a lean cuisine in years. But you know what? A college girl isn’t turning down the 4 for $5 package at Costco. And at least it’s one of their “spa meals.” AKA – healthier and whole grains?

I’m not gonna lie when I say it was actually kind of tasty.

Aaaaaaand then starving 2 hours later (naturally). Raided the fridge upon entering the kitchen and many eats when unpictured. But I did enjoy carrots in some new yogurt dip!

Garlic ranch, cheddar jalapeno, and cilantro jalapeno flavors.

Found at Costco.

Determined to be quite tasty.

Also, one of the unpictured eats was kabocha squash dipped in guacamole.

Advice: that combo was amazing.

Oh and some pistachies.

Which just caused a rando thought to pop in my head. Has anyone tried pistachio nut butter? Yes, no, maybe so? Thoughts?

I kind of overdid it at snacky time and kept dinner light. Eggs + some more guac I whipped up.

And roasted broc.

Old picture, but honestly? The broc really didn’t look much different. Still green. Still roasted. And still yum.

With a lindt

And a few bites of this to round out the night.

I’m honestly not all too impressed with this flavor. I love other coconut milk ice cream flavors, but this one is just too…well, minty. I know, I know, hence the name mint chip. But there was none of that rich coconut taste. And can you tell me, where are all the ‘chips’?

And remember, tomorrow is $1 Jamba oatmeal day!!

You’ll know where to find me in the morning 😉

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