Little Bunny Flashback

Breakfast was something different this morning! I have leftover ground turkey I need to use up, so I decided to incorporate it into a Taco breakfast scramble. Topped with cheddar cheese and seasoned with taco seasoning.

Along with a sandwich thin topped with almond butter and strawberry jam.

After a bit of redecorating (pictures will come later – promise!), I hit up the pool for a 40 minute swim.

• 2 x 300 freestyle
• 1 x 50 free, 1 x 50 breast (x4)
• 1 x 50 free, 1 x 50 IM stroke (x4)
• 300 freestyle pull
• 200 IM
• 100 free cooldown

2000 yards total

Not bad, not bad. No hip exercises though 😦 I’ve really been slacking on those and need to get back on the ball since I’m going to start incorporating treadmill work back in.

Post swim lunch salad:

• 2 sweet potato latkes
• Craisins
• Pomegranate “dressing”
• Original flavored Kooloos

Mmm these latkes are so good. I picked them up at Costco and they have a delicious sweet and fatty (in a good way) taste to them.

For the “dressing” I just combined some POM wonderful pomegranate juice with some balsamic vinegar and olive oil.

The kooloos added a great boost of protein (7 g per serving!) and a delicious crunch to the salad. I liked the original much better than the BBQ (surprisingly, since BBQ anything is my favorite).

And since I told you my appetite has finally returned (I’m also thinking it’s a certain time of month??), I was starving not 2 hours later.

Snackie time! Date Heart Thrive. Warmed up in the microwave obvi.

And dinner was a cheese and black bean dip quesadilla on two sprouted tortillas.

Oh wait wait. I did enjoy some kettle corn while admiring some shirtless warewolves.

[source]

I obviously ate the actual popcorn and not the box.

A peach, carrots and clementines were also consumed this afternoon/evening. But I always manage to forget documenting those. They’re so small – they just go unnoticed!

Now…copying modeling Miss Flashback Friday herself, I chose Flashback Friday – Easter edition. However I do only have the past 3 years of Easter on this computer. So unfortunately, it’s not too far of a flashback. But we’ll live 😉

One of the perks of having younger siblings – we still do egg hunts! Hey – not gonna lie when I say I still hunt for the eggs. It’s all fun 🙂

But before egg hunts, there must be egg dying!

Now hunt!

2007:

2008:

Ready…GO!!

2009:

Then we go in and get our gifts the “Easter Bunny” left on our table 😉

Some distant relatives also have a huge Easter party every year. Their backyard is beautiful and it’s a huge family type reunion! They also have a giant egg hunt in their yard. I don’t participate in this hunt obviously, but I remember the days when I would come home with like 3 pounds of candy!

Go sister!

The older siblings and I just stand around and watch, unfortunately. 😉

Look at this yard. I want to have my wedding here!

I love their dog!! He is the cutest, softest thing ever.

My sister gets excited to capture tadpoles from their pond 🙂

After the hunt, there’s a delicious buffet lunch.

2007:

With my grandma Sissie 🙂

Daddy!

I’m not going home this year, and it’s only my second Easter not spent with my family. It’ll be extremely weird, but I’m hoping that my roommates and friends here enjoy Easter together 🙂

Do you have any Easter traditions?

Are you a Twilight fan?

I enjoyed the books, but am not a huge fanatic. I do not at all see the obsession over Edward. I’m sorry. The paleness just creeps me out.

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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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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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Who You Callin’ Corny?

We’ll start out with my favorite corny joke from when I was little:

Q: Why did the dog jump in the puddle? (answer at bottom 😉 )

My swim yesterday felt great!

• 800 freestyle
• 2 x 600 pulling (1 with hand paddles)
• 2 x 200 IM
• 100 freestyle
• 2 x 75 pulling fast
• 150 free cool-down

Total: 2800 yards (112 laps for you non-swimming folks 😉 ) in 50 minutes

I felt pretty good, especially considering I’ve only swam once or twice all summer!  I had originally planned to do 4 IMs, and another pulling set at the end to get me up to 3400 yards, but I was getting tired & had a massive headache (stupid swim cap!!).  Afterwards, I changed into a more “tanable” suit (aka a bikini rather than a one piece speedo!) to lay out and read a bit, during which I finished the book Just Friends.

It was pretty good!  Preditable ;-), but good.  I would recommend for a fun, chick-lit, “beachy” read!  I’m still working on Nineteen Minutes, but have been saving it for when I’m at the gym since it makes the time pass so much faster 😉 I also need to get started on Time Traveler’s Wife sometime soon!

So I have those 2 avocados and 4 ears of corn my mom sent me that were calling to be used.  So I decided on some type of avocado and corn salsa. Black beans also seemed like a necessity in this salad/salsa combination.  Unfortunately, my ears of corn had gone bad!  All slimy and sour smelling.  Blech!  Luckily I had a can of corn in the cupboard, but fresh would’ve been so much better!  I kind of just threw things together, but based it off of this Black Bean Salad recipe.

But basically I just combined:

• 1 can drained corn
• 1 can drained black beans
• Approx 12 oz halved grape tomatoes
• 1/2 chopped red onion
• A couple handfuls chopped cilantro (I love cilantro!!)
• Garlic paste
• Drizzle of lime juice
• 1 whole cubed avocado (which got completely mushy anyways)
• Bunch of salt, pepper & a little bit of cumin

I think it had a bit too much corn in there in proportion to black beans.  Ahh well it was TASTY!!  But missing bit of spice/salt or something.  I’ll probably add more seasonings next time.  Now how many ways can I use this Black bean & corn salad/salsa?

For Friday night dinner, I spread some BBQ sauce on a Rudi’s 7 grain & flax tortilla, topped that with the salsa, and then sprinkled it with goat cheese to make a “pizza”.  Fresh out of the oven:

OH MAN OH MAN good!!!  I wish it had more goat cheese, but I’m almost out, and didn’t want to use it all! I must say, I could really get the wrap flavor in this (especially in the crispy end crust), and it was good! I really like the taste of this tortilla/wrap.  Some whole grain tortillas can have a weird taste (such as the La Tortilla brand), but I could really taste the unique flax flavor in these.  Yum!

Saturday morning I threw the corn salsa into my 2 egg white, 1 egg omelette:

Topped with a bit of Mexican 2% cheese & ketchup (of course).  I need carbs in the morning, so I also had 2 leftover blueberry pancakes on the side topped with a bit of PB & syrup.  I was just a bit too full after this monstrous baby!

Or you can use it as a plain salsa/dip, as I did for my tonight’s dinner!  It was the perfect combination with Food Should Taste Good sweet potato chips 🙂 I also opened up my box of Mary’s Crackers (in Caraway flavor) to try out.  Yum…these crackers are delicious!!

I also had another brie + tomato + basil toast:

All together (along with a spinach salad topped with feta & TJ’s Peanut Asian dressing):

Any other suggestions on ways to use up the rest of this salad/salsa dish?

On my way to work today I hit up Costco where I got an exciting sample (well, to me!).  Besides sampling a piece of a delicious veggie burger, a small piece of chocolate chip cookie, some Kashi honey sunshine cereal…I got to try a small bite of the Bear Naked granola bars! I’ve never seen these around!  New?

Mmmmm this was really really good.  Really sweet and gooey 🙂

I also quickly stopped at Trader’s where (ironically) their sample was a Roasted Corn & Tomato salsa! haha.  It literally tasted almost exactly like mine.  They had little recipe cards, so I picked one up, which read:

• 1/2 jar TJ’s tomatoless corn salsa
• 16 oz cherry tomatoes, halved
• 1/4 cup chopped cilantro
• 1 small avocado (optional)
• 1 can black beans, drained (optional)
• 2 cloves garlic (optional)

Pretty much the same thing as mine!  Were Trader’s & I on the same page, or what?!  They recommended using it on top of meat.

Other afternoon snacks included a butt-load of fruit! This plate:

+ 4 apricots & probs 8 oz of bluebs (ugh I don’t like that word – bluebs.  Remind me never to say it again).  Also a couple handfuls of cereal.  And some cottage cheese.  I get snacky at work.

After dinner I showed some self control overdid it on the froyo a bit.  I ended up eating a whole pint of my self-serve froyo I had stored in the freezer when I was still overly full from dinner.  It wasn’t a “binge”, but was definitely un-needed when I went back for seconds when I wasn’t even hungry for firsts.  But I could’ve done much worse and devoured the second container I have outside, so I guess that’s good?

In workout news, my boss recently bought the P90X fitness program, and was talking to me about it the other day.  She’s had the DVDs lying out recently, so I tried one out today (while the kiddies were napping!).  I’ve heard other great things about these DVDs, and MY GOODNESS it was hard!! I did the Chest, Arms & Shoulders DVD, and holy mackeroly.  It was ridiculous!  I thought I was relatively strong and in good shape, but I had to take so many breaks and my arms were literally shaking for a while afterwards.  I also finished off with the 15 minute ab ripper.  I’m seriously considering buying these DVDs, as I’ve been doing the same strength routine for years (yes, talk about a plateau), and this definitely breaks you out of a plateau.  Anyone else heard anything about these DVDs or tried them out yourself? Downfall is they’re pretty expensive.  But you DO get 13 DVDs!

I hope you’re all having a wonderful end to your weekends!!

A: He was a hot dog!

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You know what Tuesday means…

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

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

Yesterday morning I jumped on the bandwagon and made…

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

Topped with a mix of:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

• 1300 yards
  • 800 free
  • 500 pull with paddles

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Car & Tum Troubles

Will somebody please remind me to only eat 1 waffle next time?  I keep chowing down on 2 before I workout, and ending up a little too full!

A little too full after one two waffles with PB (naturally, of course 😉 ), sliced banana, & syrup, I headed to the gym…only to come into a little car trouble.  My check engine light has been flashing on and off the past few months, and I’ve been meaning to get it checked out.  Today at the stop light (of a major intersection, might I add!) my car just died.  Stopped.  Turned off.  Ummm??  Luckily it restarted when I turned it off then on, and I quickly found a parking spot at the gym and called my mom (what else would you do in a time of crisis?!).  She walked me through checking my oil (which was fine), and I gave our mechanic friend a call who said it should be fine to drive on, but get it checked out soon.  Okay….but then it shut off again this afternoon!  Eeeek!  I have to drive an hour (round trip) to work tomorrow, so hopefully my car doesn’t die on me again and lasts until Thursday morning when I can take it in.  I rrrreally hope it’s nothing insanely expensive serious.

Due to my 30 minute car adventure, I was pushed for time at the gym.  I decided to forgo weights & the stair machine and just head straight for the pool where I did:

• 500 warmup free
• 2 x 300 pulling
• 6 x 75 (2 fly, 2 breast, 2 free)
• 2 x 250 pulling with paddles
• 50 cooldown

Total: 45 minutes; 2100 yards

It was decent, but I can tell I’m out of “swim shape” since I’ve only swam twice in the past month.  I get a massive headache and I can barely stand to swim any longer.  Any other swimmers get like this? I’ve tried loosening the goggles, but then they just leak water!

At work I also worked in 3 10-minute ab sessions throughout the afternoon while the 14-year old was reading.  Great to get off my butt and make use of my time!

I grabbed our mail on the way to work and I had an exciting batch of mail today!

My new Runner’s World (yay!!!), Vicky’s catalog (good sale!) and my shipment of coupons from the giveaway I won (first one ever won!) over at Fit and Fabulous.  Thanks for the coupons Melinda!!

Mid-day snackies/lunch included:

A Starbucks sample I picked up with my iced coffee.  They had 4 options, and I couldn’t decide!  A blueberry muffin/cake, the same pumpkin bread I tried last time, some type of scone, and this raspberry pastry thing:

It was meh.  I should’ve grabbed the same pumpkin bread I had last time!  Now that was good!

A Carr whole wheat cookie cracker (these things taste like cookies!)

A couple cherries they had out:

Kashi Chicken Florentine meal, topped with extra parmesan cheese:

Along with a side of juicy watermelon.  I don’t think my stomach agreed with this Kashi meal.  While it was tasty (super garlicy!), I had the worst stomach ache and cramping the rest of the day.  It might not have been this meal, but something didn’t sit right…

I got a little hungry around 7:00, and decided on a light(ish) dinner.  A Fiesta Omelette! 1 egg + 2 white filled with sauteed sun-dried tomato chicken sausage & onions, black beans, TJ’s corn salsa, feta cheese, and topped with homemade guac. And what would eggs be without ketchup of course?! 😀

Delicious, but I still walked away with an awful cramping stomach ache.  I don’t know what’s wrong today!!

Hittin’ the hay soon (long work day manana), but everyone please pray for my car! 🙂

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Shoe Rave & Product Reviews

Phew, it was finally gettin’ warmer today! 😀 First, I headed to the pool where I got in a 25 minute (1300 yard) swim.  I planned to go at least 45 minutes-1 hour, but I got a raging headache, and felt nauseous for parts, so I cut it way short.  Then I just lounged/read/got my burn tan on for a good 1 1/2 hours or so.  I love the warm sun 🙂

Followed by an evening of work, where we made scrumptious lasagna. I whipped out my cam-cam to take a pic of the final product, when “No memory card” flashed on the screen.  Drats! I had left my memory card in my computer!  So you all get pictures of my leftovers in classy tupperware I got to take home:

Made with ground turkey, spinach, & cottage cheese.

And since I got off work an hour later than expected (and was a hungry hippo by then!), a trip to the self-serve yogurt shop was in order, where they had one of the best flavors on the face of the earth: Yellow cake batter.  Oh yes.  Uh-huh.  I did a little dance in the store when I saw that one.  And loaded up 3 cartons to take home and freeze.

Girls – I gotta give you a quick shoe rave.  I recently bought these shoes at the holy land (aka Tarjay) and I am obsessed.

They are cute, comfortable (I wore them on a short walk and no blisters!), and can be dressed up or down!  I have such a love affair with them that I went out and bought myself a pair in white!

They’re complete copies of the Steve Madden brand, but at only $17.99 (or $14 like I got them on sale!), these are a steal that you should snatch up quickly!!  Okay, rave over…but for real!  And yes…I am a size 10.  I’m actually closer to size 11 in most shoes.  I have monster feet (or better known as Bigfoot).

Guess what the locos dropped off on my doorstep yesterday afternoon?!

THAT’S RIGHT!!! PB Loco chocolate chip cookie dough peanut butter!!!  Eeeee *insert squeal of excitement here*.  Two of my favorite foods ever – peanut butter AND cookie dough combined?  Noooooo way.  I have been wanting to try their unique nut butters for ages, but have just never splurged on the expense & shipping costs.

Last night I dug right in and topped off a rice cake with some cookie dough delight.  Naturally, I tried a couple licks straight off the knife as well.  Thoughts?  Sweet!! Very very sweet.  (But honestly, what was I expecting from cookie dough PB?).  And I don’t know if I wasn’t supposed to stir it up (the chocolate chips seemed to all be on one side of the jar), but the chocolate all blended in and melted once I did- so it reminded me of chocolate PB.  And in all honesty?  It really tasted mostly like chocolate PB or nutella.  Very similar to nutella with a few PB chunks mixed in.  Today, I tested it out on some waffles (and again straight out of the jar), and again…nutella, but it also reminded me of eating the inside of a Reese’s Cup.  Now, I love me some nutella (obvi!), but I was really looking forward to cookie dough!  But it was still amazingly tasty (I’m sure it would be heavenly in oatmeal!), and I still want to try out their other flavors (such as caramel apple, cocoa banana, jungle banana…).

Pros: Tasty & sweet, no refrigeration needed, no hydrogenated oils, great healthy way to make anything a dessert!

Cons: Not a strong cookie-dough taste per-say, added whole milk = more saturated fats, expensive, dangerously yum (aka – my finger will be often times found in the jar and it will be gone soon!)

All in all, this PB is great for a sweet treat, but I still love my more natural nut butters as well!

And if you want to try out their unique flavors as well, the crazy PB Loco folks asked me to remind you guys of a coupon you can use:

Purchase 5 or more jars of P.B.Loco’s flavored peanut butters and your 6th jar is free.  To redeem this coupon, place 6 or more jars of P.B.Loco’s peanut butters in your shopping cart and use coupon code BLOG709 when you checkout.  Offer expires July 10, 2009.

So feel free to check it out!

As for a giveaway, I know we’re all budgeting these days (especially as a college student), so check out this giveaway for some pretty sweet coupons!!

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Celllllebrate good times!

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

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

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

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

Total: 60 minutes; 3000 yards

I hurried home, grabbed a snackie-snack:

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

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

Lunch & snacks throughout the afternoon at work included:

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

Delicious plum I picked up at the barn.

Couple cups of delisioso coffee + creamer.

And…

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

And an apple on my drive home after work.

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

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

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

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Come Out Sun!

Well I woke up to a sunny June day pounding rain.  Wait…it is June, correct?  Luckily the rain stopped just in time for me to walk to school.  Thank the rain heavens!

I was starving this morning thanks to my unsubstantial dinner last night.  Oatmeal was just calling my name!

The mix included:

• Trader Joe’s multrigrain oats
• Almond milk
• Egg
• Cinnamon
• Maple syrup
• Pumpkin

Then I mixed in peanut butter and topped it all off with Kashi Cocoa granola & Honey Bunches of Oats cinnamon clusters, and a few  butter toffee almonds. Mmmm filling goodness!

Followed by my last class of the quarter!!! Now I have just have 1 quiz and 1 final to study for. 😀  I had a good strong swim after class:

• 1000 free
• 400 pulling
• 2 x 300 pulling (with paddles)
• 2 x 200 IM (kicking only with left leg)
• 2 x 450 pulling (with paddles)
• 100 cool-down

Total: 65 minutes, 3400 yards

My upper body was goin’ strong!!  I planned to do more IM/other stroke work, but I felt so strong going longer distances, that I just kept going farther than I planned on sets.  So it ended up being mostly distance free.

I snacked on half of this before my workout, and half afterwards:

I also walked a total of 40ish minutes (about 2+ miles) to & from school.  Icing my knees now, because I know I stressed them today.

I wasn’t very hungry earlier, but am just now starting to get hungry for lunch.  Swimming always does that to me.  I did have a few grocery store samples (Annie’s cheddar bunnies, organic Mac & Cheese, chocolate PB wafer bar) on my way home….so a late lunch it is!

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Weekend!!

Well Happy Friday all!!  So glad it’s finally the weekend :-D.  This morning’s breakfast consisted of 1/2 a slice of “overtoasted” toast before I decided to just throw it away and retoast some bread.  I felt bad wasting 2 slices, but I really like my bread only slightly toasty! 

2 slices cinnamon-raisin Ezekiel bread (second favorite bread to Alpine Valley!) slathered in flaxseed peanut butter, almond butter, boysenberry jam & a sliced banana.  The rest of my banana I ate on the side.  With coffee, FF milk and some half & half of course 🙂 Although I just came home to discover I left my half & half out of the fridge ALL morning long!  Boohoo.  I guess none of my roommates thought to put it in the fridge for me?  Aww well.

Breakfast held me over quite well, but my stomach was a little grumbly after class around 10:30, so I had 1/2 a Kashi TLC honey almond flax chewy bar before my swim.  I ate the other 1/2 afterwards.  I gotta say, my swim was awesome this morning.  While my knee slightly twinged (but way less than normal!), my upper body just felt so strong gliding through the water.  It consisted of:

• 1000 yards (40 laps) freestyle
• 3 x 500 yards (3 x 20 laps) pulling free
• 2 x 200 yards IM
• 6 x 75 swim, drill, swim (alternating free & butterfly) pulling
• 50 cool down

Total: 3400 yards (approx 2 miles swim)

I don’t know how you all count your “laps” but a lap for me = 25 yards/1 length of the pool.  I’ve been a swimmer my whole life and that’s how it’s always been for me!

I also walked to and from school today for a total of 40 minutes. And my knee is barely bothering me AT ALL!  *Knock on wood*.  We’ll see!!

I stopped at the natural grocery store on my way home and picked up a few new buys:

• Nancy’s cottage cheese (in 3 flavors!)  I’m really excited to try these
• Spicy southwestern ranch dressing
• Smoked jalapeno & garlic hummus

I was eyeing the coconut water and some vegan baked energy bars, but decided to save those for another visit ;-).  They also had a sample demo going on and I got to try out:

• BBQ chicken pizza
• Vegan buffalo “chicken” wing” with Annie’s Ranch dressing
• Pecan shortbread cookie

My oh my what a great start to my day!  🙂 I’m not too hungry yet, but will be making my late lunch here in a bit.  Not sure what’s going on tonight, but hopefully it’ll be a fun time!  Oh one thing I do need to do is fill out a couple job applications!

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