Flashin’ Costumes

Guess what I have been enjoying lately?

Pumpkin smoothies!!

In giant mugs no less.

With swirls of chocolate syrup.

When I first started making these back in my sophomore year of college, I’d have one every night (no joke).  Often times twice a day.  Such a simple recipe:

• 1 cup milk of choice (or part milk, part water)
• Huge scoops of pumpkin
• Cinnamon and/or pie spice
• Maple syrup or sweetener
• Ice

Blend and enjoy!!  Best topped with whipped cream.

And now…

A Flashback Friday post??  Well…sure, why not

I know I’ve already done a Halloween costume flashback last year (in fact – it was my first Flashback Friday post!), but….I thought I’d do it again to remind you

I only have pictures of the past 5 years on this computer.  But I can tell you what I’ve been!

Junior year (of high school) – Mary Kate Olsen (my friend was Ashley)

Senior year – “Taylor the Sailor”.  Yes – I pinned a sign that said that to my shirt

Freshman year (of college) – a polar bear.

Sophomore year – a fairy when I visited my friend in Santa Barbara.

Night#2 at a party back at school, I was an Indian:

And an Eskimo on actual Halloween night (it was on a Tuesday that year).

And for you’re enjoyment, some pre-party getting ready dancing

 

Junior year – Minnie Mouse!  And sporting my marathon necklace

I found my twin!!

Senior year – Indiana Jones (on the far right)

This was my first Halloween bars experience – it was crowded!!

Then I was Santa the next night.  It was actually November 1st, yet still “Haloween Weekend.”  We assumed people would be dressed up again.  We thought wrong.  It was slightly awkward….oh well!

Last year, my house braved it, and had our own party!  We had a blast decorating…

Making the jungle juice….

Getting ready together…We seriously had no idea what we were getting into. 

I was a gangster/mobster, by the way.

But it was lots of fun!!

The next night, I was a pumpkin when we went to the bars. 

 

What was your best/favorite/most creative Halloween costume you’ve ever been?

I seriously come up with costume ideas a year in advance.  I always have too many ideas and then know what I want to be next year.  Or as I’m shopping throughout the year, I see something and think “that would be great for a costume!”  That’s exactly how my Fairy (saw the dress at Walmart and thought Fairy!), Indian (saw the dress at Target and thought “Indian!”), and Minnie costumes (saw the shirt at Target and thought “Minnie!”) came to be.

In 5th grade, I was a picnic blanket.  I literally had a blanket over me with plastic food, plates, and even ants glued on.  I’ll find a picture and show you, I swear.  I loved being “Taylor the Sailor” – got a few laughs on that one.  I also loved being Indiana Jones because I love Indiana.  And that whip got a few comments lol.

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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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Freshmen once again

Welcome to finals graduation week! Most eveyone else is in finals, but since I technically already graduated and am already out of school, I’m just continuing my normal routine of work. And maybe a bit of shopping. And tanning 😉

Breakfast contained something that’s been in my fridge for a while and I’ve been waiting to try. Waiting for what? Not quite sure…

Raspberry Chobani! It was delicious, but still not as great as my beloved pineapple 😉

Eaten with

• Kashi Honey Sunshine cereal (broke into a new box of cereal)
• Nature’s Path Pecan Crunch
• Bluebs
• Dollups of PB (Smart Balance)

And cinnamon chips because I felt like it.

 

Where’s the yogurt you ask? Ahhh there it is.

I then did a bit of strength training and foam rolling before sitting out in the warm sun for 30 minutes. And then shopping for a graduation dress. Oh the life 🙂

I came home starvingggg and whipped up a pizza. Sorry it’s a deconstructed mess. I forgot to spray the pan and it stuck.

x this amount by 2.

Whole Foods lavash wrap topped with

• Butternut squash pasta sauce
• Crumbled Sunshine burger
• 1 egg white + 1 egg

Yes I cracked the egg over the pizza and then cooked it. Got the idea from this lady.

 

I could actually barely taste the egg. Guess it just added some protein!

And snack was a blended strawberry smoothie topped with a bit of whipped cream 🙂

Anyways, in honor of my graduation this weekend, I decided to do a little flashback action each day to celebrate the highlights of each year of the past 5 years of college.

Let’s pretend we’re freshmen for the day, okay? I already did a Flashback Friday post about my first summer here at school.

After spending the best summer of my life in the dorms, I moved to an off-campus student housing facility. It was suite style (with 9 people per suite) and had 1 common dining area for the whole facility.

I had a hard time adjusting. I don’t adjust well to new situations if I loved the last one so much. I really missed my summer dorm life. But I tried to move on and enjoy myself!

I took a couple months, but I eventually grew closer and bonded with my new roommate. 🙂

Dorm room shot:

Halloween trip to Santa Barbara!

I also took another spontaneous trip to visit my best friend in Santa Barbara. It was 9:00 one Saturday night, I was feeling lonely, and she convinced me to hop in my car and drive the 1 1/2 hours to see her. Best decision ever!!

I took another trip that October to surprise my other friend for her birthday. We went to Hollywood for the day!

Mary-Kate & Ashley. I once was beyond obsessed with them. In high school.

There were beach trips…

And “crunk suite nights” as we liked to call them 😉

Hungry for bagels? And this is me being normal…

My family came down in December for my cousin’s graduation!

I took my first roadtrip by myself from SF to LA to meet up with my friends. Then drove to Vegas from there for New Years!

We liked to have random (completely sober) dance parties. Normal.

Money shot.

Our wall we demolished. It was a work of art.

And painting it 😦

Another Santa Barbara trip to visit my besties.

More theme parties…

Mud fights in the rain.

Birthday fun…

Summer friends reunion!

Farmer’s Market

And then our last day moving out. It was sad 😦

You can tell I’d been crying.

Sorry for the huge array of photos, but I get caught up in pictures 😉

As you might be able to tell, freshman year was also the year I got serious about my weight loss. I had previously lost weight in high school (my higest all time weight was 195). But in college, I went from 185 in November

to 145 by June.

All in all, freshman year in September started out a little rough, but I ended up having one of the best years of my life. And was sad to see it go! I wish I could go back and start college all over again as a little freshman!

What was the best part of your freshman year at college? If you remember 😉

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Foam Party and Giveaway Winner!

No not this type of foam party.

Source

More like this type of party:

Source

Looks happenin’.

But seriously, I can’t even begin to tell you how excited and happy I am. As I’ve mentioned before, I’ve been starting to incorporate running back into my routine starting about 4 weeks ago. I started with 2 minutes run/2 minutes walk, then gradually increased to 5 run/2 walk (all of this on the treadmill). Unfortunately, my knee still hurt. Although not incredibly bad, I couldn’t deny the pain was there.

Around this time I also started foam rolling after every run, and on most of my days off. Let me tell you, it hurt. Especially my IT band and parts of my quads. I could feel those tight knots hanging out in my muscles!

I also went and got refitted for shoes as part of my birthday present (thanks Nana!), and got a completely new style of shoes. The days after my first run in these, my knee was throbbing. But eventually it died down. And I’ve gone on 3 runs since then, and here’s the exciting part – my knee is almost pain free!! Okay, it’s not 100% pain free (it hasn’t been 100% at all in the past year), but it’s almost as pain free as it was when I was taking 2 months off. I’d say it’s at a 2 or 3 on a scale of 10. And that’s incredible considering I’ve been running – outside.

This is amazing amazing to me. I know it’s not just the new shoe style. But I believe it’s the combination of foam rolling and the shoes. While still painful at some points, foam rolling has gotten so much easier and I can tell I’m massaging out those tight muscles. All I can say is, if you’re having some sort of knee pain – try foam rolling!! I spent the past year going to multiple doctors, x-rays, MRIs, and physical therapists, and I can’t believe it’s foam rolling that’s finally making a difference! I only wish I knew to do this all throughout my long distance running to help prevent injury.

I usually spend 15-25 minutes (depending on how tight my muscles are, and how much time I have) foam rolling focusing on my IT band

Source

Hamstring

Source

Quads

Source

Adductor (this might look wrong, but my inner leg muscles are super tight)

Source

And even sometimes my hip.

After foam rolling, I also stretch for 5-8 minutes, and ice my knees for a good 20 minutes.

Moving on from my foam roller infomercial…

Yesterday before my run, I chowed down on a sprouted cinnamon raisin bagel with whipped cream cheese and Crofter’s jam.

Yum – these bagels tasted just like a bigger Ezekiel english muffin.

I then went on a 3 mile run (5 min run, 2 min walk intervals). My other two runs this week were .5 mile more than the week before (making them 3.5 miles each), so I knew I needed to keep this one closer to 3. Bringing this week’s total to: 10 miles. Crazy how my weekly total is the same distance as how much one run used to be on anyday of the week. I need to carefully follow the 10% rule or increase my mileage based on how I feel.

I’ve been craving a nice fresh salad lately too.

• Sauteed Costco chicken patty (thew away the container – can’t remember the flavor) and onions
• Craisins
• Kooloos
• Balsamic dressing

I then ran out the door to use my free Coldstones birthday coupon that was going to expire! Cakebatter + Twix

However, due to my “no sweets for the day” challenge, I didn’t eat any, just brought it home to refreeze for later 😉

I did, however, pick up a Mango Mantra flavored Jamba Juice right next door.

And then quickly hurried to work, where I helped myself to more salad.

I think this was from Costco. It was okay – but I think it needed more flavor, and I didn’t like the texture of the lentils. Or maybe it was the split peas. It was also quite calorie dense due to lots of oil. I’d love to recreate something like this on my own!

And a staple of mine:

Dinner was unpictured, but it was another pita pizza and salad.

And now, the winner of the Green Giant/My Blog Spark pack is #1, Cara who said We are eco-friendly by only having 1 car between the two of us, and using reusable bags while shopping!”

Congrats Cara!! Email me your address at TaydorTott@gmail.com and I’ll have your package sent out to you asap 🙂

Have any of you tried foam rolling and had success with it?

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Hypocrite Runner

As much as I say “rest rest rest!” if you’re in pain, I’ve started to get back into running. It’s now been a year since I started to experience knee pain and stopped my marathon training. I then went through periods of cross-training, then absolute rest, then more cross-training, then easy treadmill running, track running, and finally a period of 2 1/2 months of absolute rest again. Even after 2 months of complete rest, my knee would still hurt as soon as I did anything activity related (even easy cross-training!). I’ve seriously gotten to the point where I just don’t care, and just want to run even if I have some pain.

Yes, hypocrite runner over here 😦

Today I completed my 4th run in the past couple weeks – outside!! I’ve kept my runs short (about 3 miles of run/walk intervals) with lots of cooldown, stretching, foam-rolling and icing. I’m not going to say I’m pain free. Not at all. But the truth is, I’d rather run with pain than not run at all. **Slap hand**

I guess we’ll see how it goes…

In foodie news, I’ve been starving the past few days! Nonstop hungry (I think I know what part of the month it is, eh?).

Breakfast this morning was slightly small, but chowed down ASAP.

Peach Chobani with sliced bananas, cereal (added after picture), and almond butter.

Then went on my run

• Warm-up/stretches at home. Then .25 mile walk
• 3 miles run 5 minutes, walk 2 minutes (completed in 30 minutes so faster than 10 min/mile pace. I think I should slow it down for the time being to save my knee)
• ~0.7 mile cooldown walk
• 15 minutes foam rolling, stretching, then ICE!!!

Post run lunch:

French Meadow hemp bagel – 1/2 with chive cream cheese. 1/2 with almond butter & Crofter’s jam

And a Funfetti mix cookie my sister mailed me.

My dearest sister mailed me an early birthday package yesterday which included these cookies, 6 cards (she thought it’d be more fun that way), and a painting she painted!

My favorite trees ever – Cherry Trees!!!

My sister is wonderful – I love her soooo much!!

Only 3 hours after lunch, I was starving again. Enter pumpkin smoothie.

And literally a whole pint of strawberries (drizzled with about 2 servings of almond butter post-picture).

Dinner was quick and frozen but delicious. Healthy Choice pumpkin squash ravioli.

Ooooooooooooo M. G. One of the best frozen meals ever. The ravioli filling was sweet – tasted like candy! For the occasional frozen meal, this was a good choice 🙂

Plus multiple handfuls of chips.

And literally 1 1/2 hours post dinner, I was ready to raid the fridge again. My roommate was also making brownies for her friend and the lingering smell didn’t help 😉

Um, hello roommates?? Frozen yogurt time?! Bali’s (our local self-serve froyo place), it has been too long.

That would be cake batter (yes – best flavor!) loaded with oreo pieces, a mini Reese’s, a bit of cookie dough & chocolate fudge.

I could’ve gotten tart +fruit combo, but sometimes you just need to go all out 😉

In other (not so pleasant) news, I got pretty sick last night 😦 Not sure if it was something I ate (um frozen yogurt maybe?). I still feel a bit off, but actually was a bit hungry this AM and managed some toast (unpictured…sorry). I originally planned to swim today, but I don’t see that happening. Hopefully I feel better by tonight to make it to my school’s baseball game against UC Santa Barbara!

Question: What is your favorite spring tree/flower?? I love love love cherry trees. And they only bloom here in California around President’s Day (in February) for a few weeks! So short lived 😦

Also…

Any fun weekend plans?!

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Back in the Water

Another Wednesday, another day at work. This quarter I’m only working one full day (Wednesdays 10-7) and 1 or 2 half days (Thursdays 3:45-6, every other Friday 3-6). Yes, not much. But my school schedule just didn’t work with my work schedule this quarter. (I nanny for any of you who didn’t know).

So Wednesdays are definitely long, and it helps tremendously when the little girls are in a good mood 🙂

Such as today for example, when the 3-year old kept complimenting my dingy old sweatshirt. “I love your sweatshirt Taylor!” she kept on saying. HAHA She was so enthusiastic about it.

Later she wrapped her arms around me, sighed and said “I love you Taylor.” It just melted my heart. And put me in an awesome mood 😀

Today was also the last Wednesday for Jamba’s $1 oatmeal. Tired of seeing them by now? I’ve tried the

• Banana brown sugar
• Cinnamon-apple
• Very cherry pecan

And today I got the Blueberry-Blackberry flavor.

Topped with cooked up (and sweetened) blueberry/blackberry preserves and brown sugar.

I realized afterwards that this counts as an “added sweet”, but I’m not kicking myself over it. It’s a little bit on oatmeal for crying out loud 😉

This was probably my favorite flavor out of all of them! The preserves tasted exactly like a pie or cobbler. It was delicious all mixed together.

Unfortunately, even though their oats are supposedly cooked with soymilk and have protein in them, I’m always hungry ridiculously soon after!

Snacked on some turkey & hummus (only 1 1/2 hours post-breakkie!)

I admit lunch wasn’t anything impressive. With a coupon, I scored a pack of 4 Lean Cuisines from Costco for only $5.25. As a busy student on a budget, I caved and bought them because I knew they’d be a cheap and easy option to grab when absolutely necessary.

This honey roasted chicken flavor was mehhh. I really liked the lemon chicken I had a few weeks ago much better. The pilaf side was very bland – I had to add extra seasoning!

But in general, these “Spa Meals” have been 10x better than the Lean Cuisines I used to buy in my pre/early-college years. They’re flavorful, usually whole grain, and the chicken is actually tender and tastes like chicken!

Snackies have included carrots & salsa (with no great picture).

Multiple (I mean multiple) cups of coffee with creamer.

Campbell’s light southwestern soup with cheese around 5:00 to hold me over through the girls’ dinner-bath-getting ready for bed rush.

And then a big bowl of cereal when I got home at 7:45 😀

I also made myself a fruit smoothie out of frozen pineapple, mango, papaya & strawberry mix.

In workout-related news, I finally got around to swimming on Monday and Tuesday!! After so much struggling with my knee pain, I finally gave up all exercise (besides weights and ab work) about 1 1/2 months ago. At first it was beyond tough (I felt slobbish, depressed, sad – you know the exercise-withdrawl symptoms!). It got easier to deal with, but of course I missed exercising. For the past 4 years I’ve exercised on a regular basis (usually everyday), so 1 1/2 months is a crazy long break!

Monday I hopped in the pool and went 1300 yards pulling (no or slight kicking with just my left leg) in just under 30 minutes. It felt awesome. I was actually very happy with how easy it felt considering I’ve been on such a hiatus.

Tuesday I went another 2100 yards in 45 minutes.

Swimming doesn’t give me nearly the same effect as a good run or good sweaty workout gives me, but I’ll take what I can get. Until then, I’m still focusing on hip strengthening and I’ve also been splurging on regular massages to get rid of the scar tissue around my knee.

I realize now that I’ve never asked where you all work or what you do? What does your job look like?

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I do orange

I attempted some more homamde Greek yogurt last night, this week with a cheaper storebrand – Lucerine’s non-fat plain.

I didn’t think that brands of yogurt would matter, but I noticed something right away compared to last time. I ended up with only about 1/4 of the amount of liquid strained out as my last batch with the Trader Joe’s organic yogurt. There was still a little liquid left on the top, so it just didn’t strain as well. I found this rather interesting. Maybe TJ’s yogurt is worth the extra .50 cents to strain?

I incorporated this into my breakfast.

• Strained plain yogurt with agave
• Kashi good friends
• Nature’s Path pecan crunch cereal
• Flaxseed
• Bananas
• Sunbutter

Yes, there’s yogurt under there.

Yummm. The yogurt still tasted good 😉 Though not quite as thick.

I was so tempted to skip my workout after class. I get awful heart burn symptoms occasionally (I don’t think it’s heart burn exactly, but it’s a burning pain in my chest, so that’s what I call it. And yes, I’ve been to the doctor about it, and have yet to figure it out), especially for about a week or so after drinking. So I was greatly suffering from it today. It was so bad in class that I felt nauseous.

But I told myself to just do the stairmaster easy for 15 minutes, and before I knew it I had gone 30 minutes on level 10. Followed by 15 minutes of abs.

Post-gym I tried this bar for the first time:

Honestly? Not a fan. I was so excited to try it – so many people love this flavor! But it just tasted like another Clif bar to me, with that chalky Clif bar flavor that seems to follow every bar. The only bars I’ve truly been a fan of include the holiday flavors (Pumpkin Spice & Gingerbread), and Banana Nut Bread. The other flavors have been meh. So I whipped out a tried and true bar (that I obviously have lots of, thanks to my friend’s dislike for them, but my stash is finally dwindling!)

(Recycled picture since I was literally running to class by this point)

In between my next two classes, I ran to the campus market to load up on the salad bar (was really craving it!), and my salad rang up at $1.06! To compare, my Friday’s salad was over $6. Apparently, they’re having a 14-day special as a grand opening special for the new salad bar. I’m definitely heading back um…every day? (Sorry no picture, I also chowed down on this in class).

The next part of my lunch (once I got home from classes) included leftover spaghetti squash stir-fry from last night:

And a smoothie on my drive to work. (Blurred – in a hurry)

Some people do green smoothies. I do orange.

I couldn’t resist a few snackies at work, either.

Dinner = unpictured, but honestly nothing too exciting, so I’ll just skip to my snack after.

A delicious Nutridel cookie!

I received 2 samples of these cookies a couple of weeks ago – Flaxseed and Pecan. Crispy gourmet cookies made with wholesome, quality ingredients including oatmeal, amaranth, sesame seeds, pecans, almonds, molasses, coconut, flaxseed, sunflower seeds, cinnamon, and wheat germ. The nutrition stats aren’t bad on these suckers either.

Not bad, eh?

Looking at the cookies, they remind me of a crisp cracker. But they are delicious. I was actually quite surprised! They’re nothing like your traditional doughy or even crunchy cookie. But they have a delicious sweet and nutty taste. Both the pecan and flaxseed are yummy, and I’m sure the almond and oatmeal are just as good 🙂

I enjoyed one topped with some sunbutter. Yummmm.

And a mug of hot chocolate. Duhhh.

Cool swirly action pic.

Here’s a good piece of news: Monday’s over 😀

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Oh God…more pumpkin?

First, off I want to say a huge congrats to my little sister Brookie for getting 2nd place on vault at her gymnastics meet this weekend 🙂 9.45 – her best score yet! I’m so proud of her 😀

Second, I’m glad you all enjoyed the le tour de France my house. Or at least pretended to like it. I’m kind of on the Vlog bandwagon now…or at least trying to make up for my lack of pictures and phone photo shots.

Last night I got a bit hungry while in bed, but was too lazy to head downstairs. Then I remembered I had the sample pack that One Lucky Duck sent me sitting on my desk!

Hmm…I’ve obvoiusly been enjoying these snacks unpictured on the blog

I’ve tried the Gingerbread cookies, and they were amazing. I loved the distinct taste of cashew in them. The Cheese-y Crackers crackers were also pretty tasty, although they had a strange aftertaste. But I loved the sharp taste! Last night I tried the Chocolate chips cookies and blech, was not a fan at all! Something was off and I couldn’t even eat one!

But the granola bar was quite tasty! I enjoyed the whole thing 🙂 I loved the sweet, sweet sticky texture from the honey. Yumm!

This morning I woke up to prepare some pumpkin pancakes!

Rather than using a recipe, I just used the boxed Quaker oatmeal pancake mix, and added pumpkin, cinnamon, & pumpkin pie spice. They were delicious, but not as good as my made from scratch WW oatmeal pancakes 😉

Topped with pumpkin cream cheese, sunbutter, & maple syrup.

Fueld my gym sesh quite nicely 🙂

• 2 mile run 6 mph
• .25 mile walk
• 1.5 mile run 6-8 mph intervals
• 4 minute walk 10% incline

Total: 3.5 miles running, 4.5 miles total

I seriously hadn’t done intervals in years. When I was into running long distances, I would just run miles and miles at the same speed – no intervals involved. Back in the day (about 3 years ago) when I was just running on the treadmill for fitness, I ran intervals. And man did it feel good to go fast after going at a constant 6 mph TM pace these past few months!

Post-gym, I stopped by the froyo store to check if they had pumpkin flavor – and left a happy happy gal 😀

~ 1 serving pumpkin + cake batter froyo with some chocolate syrup (I saved the rest of the froyo in the freezer for future consumption)

Sandwich thin with PB & J

A delicious fuji.

And a pumpkin smoothie “don’t jude me, okay?” smoothie.

(recycled picture)

Boring afternoon of errands, studying, and party shopping procrastinating stuff.

And then dinner was thrown in the oven. Kashi black bean mexicali pizza topped with the last of my turkey pepps and some spinach.

I only had 1/4 of this because I filled up on about 5 servings of broccoli. Oh well, more for later!

I did get hungry later on (obviously, after only 2 puny thin crust pizza slices) so helped myself to a treat I picked up earlier.

Pumpkin chocolate chip cookie!

Warmed up in the microwave…..mmmmmm boy.

I also snagged this day old muffin (I think it was spelt bran pecan and berry?). Sorry the picture’s still in the wrapper – I don’t want to unwrap it until I actually plan to eat it.

I may or may not have another Vlog surprise tomorrow to make up for my last day of non-real camera pics. Stay tuned!!

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Flashback Like it’s 2003

Tried out my knee strap for the second time today for a 4 mile run broken up into:

• 1.5 mile run; .2 mile walk
• 1.5 mile run; .2 mile walk
• 1 mile run; .2 mile walk

I originally wanted to go 5, but the knee was a bit sore. My knee strap feels pretty good while running – hardly any pain whatsover. But it’s just as sore as normal later in the day. So I’m not sure if it’s doing much work.

Hungry hungry today!

Post-workout snackie was so good, it was like dessert. I tried So Delicious Coconut chocolate yogurt! Wow. Topped with some Nature’s Path peanut butter granola. Amazing. I couldn’t get over how good it was.

Definitely a treat.

Hungry an hour later –

Hungry an hour later – unpictured bowl of frozen mangos.

Then dinner was some of this soup (chili?). (Old picture). Sooo good! Love it. I mixed in some pumpkin to make it more filling and pumpkin chili-ish. Great idea.

Currently munching on olive oil + garlic salt popcorn and more snack definitely to come. I’m so hungry today!

I wasn’t going to do Flashback Friday this week, but seeing as how I don’t have much going on in the photo department today, I thought I’d grace you with some flashback ones.

I don’t have many pictures on this computer pre-college, since I didn’t get a digital camera until my senior year. I do have a 2003 folder filled with random pictures that I suppose I got from my dad’s computer. Anyways, today I decided to grace you with my entire 2003’s random picture collection.

2003 consisted of partly Sophomore year and partly Junior year.

My neighbor/one of my best friends at school. His last day before moving to Colorado 😦

And this is when my sister and I went to wish him off to Coli (if it works for Cali why not Coli?)

Birthday celebration. Go Giants!!

Awww sleepovers 🙂

And our obsession with Mary Kate & Ashley.

Swim meets!!! Love. Obviously was an “off” meet – why aren’t the other lanes filled?

Go me!

4th of July!! Hanging out to watch the fireworks.

Hanging out at our cabin.

Wow. Cool post-it notes guys.

And outside at the cabin.

Gingerbread House of 2003!! It’s a yearly tradition.

Pre-church on Christmas 🙂 I miss you Papa 🙂

And Christmas morn!! Remember playing with your new presents?

And looking quite happy at my sister’s birthday party.

I have so many other 2003 pictures that just must be on my other computer. Booo. But hope you enjoyed my 2003 folder tour!

Coming tomorrow: something else exciting!

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Strawberry Fields

You can tell it’s midterms week when there are 75 people on facebook chat.

Very true.

Although I have no midterms this week, I’m still crazy stressed/busy! Hence why this is a quickie.

Operation “Eat out the Cereal”:

• Nature’s Path strawberry yogurt
• Quaker oatmeal squares
• Almond milk
• Blob of sunbutter

At the end it’s like you’re drinking strawberry milk! Mmmmm.

With coffee and my new favorite creamer I got at Whole Foods on sale.

Deeeelicious. I wish I had gotten 2 because it was on sale for only $2, and the carton was only about 3/4 full upon opening!

Gym Sesh:

• 20 minutes stairmaster level 10-11
• 30 minutes upper body strength

Knee strap felt wonderful again. I wore it on my walk to the gym and my knee didn’t hurt one bit. Can I pleeeease live in it? 😉

Post-gym snackie:

Unpictured raspberries + pumpkin smoothie.

Lunch at work – Kashi mayan bake.

Love the sweet plaintains!

And….snackies.

Mini baby cupcake.

Honeycrisp apple slices dipped in pumpkin cream cheese (don’t knock it until you’ve tried it!)

Unpictured late and easy dinner of

• scrambled eggs +
• deli turkey +
• parm cheese +
• queso dip

Winning combo.

And 2 mugs of hot chocolate while studying.

Okay, I definitely should not have procrastinated the past couple days, but as I can barely keep my eyes open to blog, let alone study…I’m out.

Enjoy your hump-day dear blog friends!

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