Follow Me (everything is all right)

Uncle Kracker song anyone?  Anyways, first things first guys. I never thought I would say this, but, I now have a twitter. Follow me? Fly after me? Soar after me? Whatever birds do…do it. I know almost everyone else in blogland has a twitter, but I don’t know how to find y’all! I’m obviously new to it. So anyone else? Post your links, I guess!

I started out the morning with a 2 mile walk. My knee has been very tender and sore since my outside run last week. I did do a couple treadmill runs this weekend (which I’m sure didn’t help), but it’s really amazing how much more outside really irritates my knee. Unfortunately my school gym is closed for 3 more weeks. I guess I can try a track?

I knew exactly what I wanted for breakfast again this morning. Overnight muesli of course!

I soaked overnight:

• 1/4 cup muesli mix
• 1/2 cup almond milk
• 2 spoonfuls strawberry chobani
• Cinnamon, vanilla & squirt of maple syrup
• Chopped date

This morning I mixed in Banana Nut Cheerios and then topped it all off with:

• 1/2 chopped nectarine
• Rest of the strawberry yogurt (about a spoonful)
• 1 spoonful almond butter
• Zoe’s cinnamon raisin granola

I wanted some crunch on top and went in search of granola. I saw this box was “Best by August ’09” so I knew I needed to open it up and use it pronto! I forgot how much I love Zoe’s granola!

K guys, this stuff is awesome! Although not as good as it was mixed with banana (I had none last night 😦 ), it was still yumm-o in my tumm-o!

Then it was off to work! The little baby was adorable today (although I did get spit-up on about 4 times. Why do I shower beforehand again?) She couldn’t stop giggling at one point! Too cute 🙂

Lunch was a Cedarlane bean & cheese burrito I grabbed quickly out of the freezer. I really didn’t plan ahead for lunch! Topped with a dollop of guacamole.

These burritos are amazing for a quick frozen meal. All organic, the ingredients list is so simple. All it really contains are: organic Pinto Beans, Organic Brown Rice, Soy Cheddar Cheese, Organic Tomatoes, Organic Tomato Puree, spices & a tortilla. I love how it’s soy cheese & brown rice!

With the rest of my nectarine from breakfast:

And snackies:

My 30 minute drive home was spent thinking of what to make for dinner.  I have an insane amount of food that needs to be used up (I always come back to school from home with soooo much food loaded up in a cooler 😉 ), so I have a ridiculous amount of meal options! I do, however, have a couple perishable bulk items that I need to use up quickest (more quickly, quicker…??).

I got this large Cranberry Quinoa Salad with Pumpkin Seeds container at Costco:

Quinoa, tart cranberries and raisins, balanced with the smoky flavor of toasted pumpkin seeds, infused with the taste of honey.

It’s delish!! While it has delicious and wholesome ingredients, it’s pretty calorie and fat dense (due to added canola oil) for the 1/2 cup serving (which is a teeny amount!), so I’m trying to find different ways to beef it up. I know I can just eat it straight up, but that get’s boring, right?! And what fun is that? 😉 I’ve already stuffed it into bell peppers.

I was starving tonight and had no unique ideas, so to “spice it up” I cooked up some nectarine pieces and mixed those in with some feta cheese.

The feta cheese really added to it. I’ll probably mix that in again. Anyone have any other good ideas to use this for? I’m already thinking a wrap filling.

Is it weird that quinoa never keeps me full very long? It always surprises me because it has so much protein & fiber. But I’m always hungry so soon after. I ventured downstairs just now in search of something…something…ahhh some nut butter 🙂 Never fails.

Trader Joe’s just flattened bananas rolled up with PB (x3):

And a couple dried apple crisps dipped into almond butter:

(One of the best discoveries ever).

Also enjoying the CMA Music Fest: Country’s Night to Rock tonight. I wish I could go to a major festival like this! How fun 🙂 Also squeezed in 15 minutes of ab work at one point while watching. That makes up for my ultra laziness all day right?

Speaking of country music, Rascal Flatts added a new stop to their concert in San Jose (30 minutes from my house). YESSSS!!!! 😀 My sisters and I jumped at this and purchased tickets A-stat. Prior to this addition, they didn’t have any concerts in CA at all! We’re excited. I’ve heard they’re amazing live.

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You Look Good In My Shirt

Okay first off…Mr. Keith Urban was fantabuloso!!!! Amazing amazing concert.  He is just such a great singer, performer, and guitarist.  But I shall get to that…

My sister and I started the roadtrip on the right foot…Starbucks style (of course):

Apparently I didn’t get the memo that it was a “cute” not “funny face” picture.  Then we hit the road to LA!!  What do you all think of this dude we passed on the drive?

Remind me never to move to LA.  It took us 30 minutes to go 1.5 miles off the freeway.  We finally arrived at The Grove (a shopping center) where they have an (cue drumrolls please) American Girl Store!!!

Okay, girls, who else was completely obsessed with American Girl dolls?  Now you understand my excitement at a whole store of them, right?  Or am I just really a 7 year old kid?  My absolute favorite was Samantha (who I dreamed of actually being), and I was so excited to see her whole “land” and display in the store.  Now I don’t know if you all heard, but she was “retired” recently, so apparently they stopped producing her and all of her accessories.  Which means that she was absolutely nowhere in the whole store.  At all.  Shouldn’t they have some sort of “Retirement” section, or something?  Man, I was devastated!  I don’t get to see her fancy dresses or early 1900’s historical display?  😦 At least I got to see Kirsten!  (my second favorite doll):

And my sister go to see all her Molly dolls:

And what LA trip would be complete without froyo of course!  I got to try out the new Pinkberry flavors – passionfruit, pomegranate, & coconut!  Man soooooo good!  With mango, kiwi, and blueberry toppings:

We then walked around the huge Farmer’s Market with tons of little food stands/shops, gift shops, candy & nuts shops, etc.  This nut stand was having quite the deal – 75 cents for a small container of freshly ground peanut butter! Since it was one per person, I made my sister buy one also 😉

I think they’re about 10 oz each.  What a steal!

Dinner was a BBQ chicken panini with the most BBQ sauce I’d ever had on a sandwich in my life!  And I am in love with BBQ sauce.  I usually have to ask for extra on the side.

Sorry for the blurry car shot as I ate it on the go.

Then off to Keith!! So here’s where I got super sad 😦 There we were, waiting excitedly for Sugarland (who was opening for Keith – and we love Sugarland), when Lady Antebellum come on stage.  Wait, what?!  Apparently the main singer of Sugarland lost her voice the night before when she performed with Kenny Chesney.  Nooooo!!!  Don’t get me wrong, I also love Lady Antebellum.  Under any other circumstances I would be stoked to see them perform!  But the ironic part is that they’re actualy performing next week at the local Mid-State Fair, and my sisters were already planning on driving down next weeked to go see them with me.  Out of all country performers, it had to be the group we already have tickets for in a week!  Ahhh the irony.  Oh well, they were wonderful (as much as I would have loved to see Sugarland!).

Keith was great and we had a fantastic time.

I love all his songs, but I definitely rocked out to my favorite ones –  You Look Good in My Shirt & I Wanna Love Somebody Like You.

Rather than pay for a hotel, we just decided to hit the road back to my house.  It was a tiring late night drive, but we had coffee, veggie chips, and a delicious PB&J on Rudi’s spelt bread to keep us energized until we got back here at 3:30 am.

Needless to say, I was quite tired this mornin’, but for some reason I woke up at 9 and couldn’t fall back asleep.  So I decided to take advantage and hopped up for a quick 25 minute walk (about 1.7 miles) while my sister was still sleeping.  We then grabbed lunch at a deli I’ve been dying to try.

Turkey, avocado, lettuce, tomato, onions, peppercinis & cranberry relish (the star of the show – it added just the right amount of sweetness) on a wheat roll:

(sorry for the awful quality picture) A little more than half of it stuffed me at lunch, and I hate this second half for my afternoon “snack” at work.  Plus a delicious (unpictured) peach.

Dinner was a repeat of my Black bean burger salad the other night because this thing was beyond awesome.  It was massive – I used up an entire bag of spring mix salad blend!

But before I go, check out Angela’s post on appreciating our bodies and loving the journey.  She’s challenging everyone to sit back and reflect on the good choices we make each day.  So here are mine about today:

• I got up and went on a walk this morning rather than lay in bed.  It was short, but refreshing!

• I listened to my body at lunch and stopped about 60% of the way through my sandwich because my stomach was hurting.  I’d already taken a few bites of my second half, and it would have been so easy to finish it.  But I wrapped it up and ate it later when I was actually hungry again

Well I’m off since I’m exhausted.  Gym and physical therapy in the morning!

Here’s another Amazing Grass giveaway!  I really want to try this stuff out!

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Listen To Your Body

Yes, I’m hittin’ the road today for a trip home again!  I wasn’t planning on going home this weekend, but all of my roommates are, and I knew I’d be very lonely and depressed this holiday weekend if I stayed alone!

Yesterday was work-a-riffic!  I started the day with a 25 minute quick walk to start the day fresh!  And then the same Kashi waffle combo as yesterday, but didn’t feel overstuffed this time. I only had half a banana this time- guess that other half a banana was super filling?  haha.  Or not.

The 2-year old actually napped for most of the day, so I didn’t have too much to do, besides hang out with this smiley!

(sorry for the blinds shadow)

Food was not too exciting.  The highlight was honestly probably this Starbucks sample I picked up with my coffee on the way to work.

Banana bread, I think?  Not sure…but it was really good!  Other snacks included carrots in salasa + infinate cups of coffee & creamer before lunch – Kashi Mayan Harvest Bake.  Originally I planned to have my Minty Bulgar Peach salad leftovers, but I honestly almost gagged this morning when I tested it out again, so I grabbed this frozen meal:

Sorry, felt too lazy to take it out of the package and create a pretty presentation.  ha.

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again – Best.  Frozen.  Meal.  Ever.  So tangy, sweet, spicy, perfect…all in one!

The night was not complete without more of the Vegan Maple Spice Cake and hot chocolate.  Mmmmm.

This morning I had the same waffles (yes…I am a creature of habit – plus I wanted to finish off the box!), but satisfied, I left a few bites on the plate:

Okay ladies and gents, I know that looks like nothing, and it’s like “c’mon!  That teeny bit couldn’t make much of a difference”, but as someone who has always struggled with intuitive eating (and am also reading the book),  I was very proud of this.  Alright, y’all?  😀

Followed by a gym trip.  I already pushed my run to today, but my knee wasn’t feelin’ it so I’m pushing it yet again to tomorrow.  But you know what…that is A-OK!! Listen to your body!  I won’t get anywhere pushing through this pain!  So instead, I did:

• 30 minutes stairs level 12 (no intervals – b/c going too fast bothers the knee)
• 10 minute elliptical (level 10 – not too hard, but enough to breathe heavier)
• 20 minute strength
  • Mostly upper body, but with a teensy bit of ab work

Off to work now, where I am reading a new book (yes – I’m getting a LOT of reading in this summer).  I’ll review the Certain Girls and let you know about my new book soon…promise!

The lunch spread for work includes leftover turkey lasagna, carrots & jicama with the Raita dip, strawberries, and a couple apricots.

I nixed the fig flavored Greek yogurt and instead made a green smoothie.

Simple mix of:

• Last of my almond milk
• Spinach
• Frozen mango chunks
• Ground flaxseed

It was deeeeeeelish!

Dora kept my goodies chilled in my cutsie lunchbox!

Then my roommate and I are hopefully grabbing some din-din after work, and hitting the road by 6:00.

Catch up with you all 223 miles north!

Also…check out this nutritious but delicious giveaway!

Danica’s also having a green giveaway.

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First Shred

Yesterday was quite the looonnngggg day.

It started with getting up before work to embark on a new journey:   Jillian’s 30 Day Shred workout. There has been so much hype about it all over and I’ve heard such great things!  Honestly?  I wasn’t a huge fan.  Maybe it was because I was only using 2 lb weights (32 oz water bottles!  I had no actual small enough weights to use!).  And the cardio portions were too “jumpy” for my knee.  So I ended up scratching it halfway through and just continued with my own upper body strength moves (with heavier dumbells I have).  I usually love circuit strength/cardio classes like at the gym – I just need heavier dumbells and be careful about my knee!

Breakfast was mad delish though:

Nature’s Path Maple waffles topped with maple almond cream cheese, chunks of PB, & maple syrup.  With a side of cottage cheese & raspberries.

These waffles were amazing. Soooo much better than the Kashi waffles I’ve been eating for a while.  You could really taste the maple flavor coming through, and they were much more crisp and dense!  Too bad they took 10 minutes to cook in our toaster oven (since my old roommate took our normal toaster when she moved out).  It’s all good since I stopped at Wal-Mart and got a handy dandy gourmet toaster for 6 bucks(!!) last night.

It was just a long day at work filled with (extremely) dirty diapers and a stubborn 2 years old choosing to rip up herDora the Explorer books rather than take a nap.

But my day got much better when I came home to these lovelies:

Thank you roommate!! 😀

As for the knee/running update – my knee yesterday felt no worse than it did before my Tuesday’s treadmill workout (knock on wood!!).  My hips, on the other hand, were soooo sore all day long!  I remember when I used to occasionally run my leg muscles wouldn’t get so sore, but my hips would!  Anyone have any hip strengthening moves they recommend?

I woke up hungry this morning (weird because I haven’t been waking up hungry lately at all) and knew what I wanted right away!  Oatmeal!!

• Oats
• Egg
• Soymilk
• Cinnamon & maple syrup
• TONS of PB mixed in & on top
• Kashi Golean cereal & Cocoa Beach granola

I popped open my Naturally More PB to try out this morning.  Umm…can you say Y-U-M yummmmmm??  This stuff was good.  Different tasting (a little sweeter) than most peanut butters out there.  What’s also so unique about this PB, is that is has added egg whites, flaxseed oil, and flaxseeds to give it more protein and omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids.  It also has more fiber than most peanut butters!

Here’s the nutrition facts, if interested:

Definite goodness! 🙂 You should check out places they carry it by you – I recommend it!

I devoured that oatmeal puppy and caught the bus to head to the gym/pool where I did: 20 minutes stairstepper (is that thing called the stairmaster, or is the revolving one called the stairmaster?  I never know which is which!).  Unfortunately, hormones (aka That Time of the Month – ladies???) played a role and my tum tum wasn’t feelin’ too hot.  So I scratched swimming and decided to walk the 30 minutes home instead of wait for the bus.  I know that exercise is recommended to help relieve cramps, but I’ve honestly always found exercise makes mine worse!  Strange?

And just to remind everyone, it’s….THURSDAY!!! You know what that means right?  Tomorrow is Friday!  Yay get excited 😀

Interested in some giveaways (Obvi…who isn’t?!)

Get green with this Super Green giveaway!

Or check out what Ms. Hangry Pants is giving away!

And Iowa Girl Eats is having one as well!

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Power Hikers!

What a wonderful way to drink morning coffee, don’t ya’ think? 😀  I also had myself a nice bowl of Kashi Golean & Nature’s Path Heritage multigrain cereal.  Plus a spoonful of Skippy crunchy PB for some lasting fat to fuel me for our hike!  When my dad whipped out his breakfast cereal, I may or may not have gone back for a second smaller bowl of Raisin Bran & some Reese’s Puffs.  I just LOVE certain “kiddie” cereals, don’t you?  I often find myself reaching into the Lucky Charms box, but this Reese’s Puffs was quite tasty!!

We’re now back from a wonderfully beautiful hike to Cleo’s Baths.  You start out hiking partway around the lake…

Then a side trail takes you off away from the lake towards our final destination.  It’s a pretty “flat” trail for a while  (about an hour or so).

We came across a beautiful butterfly grove.  They were everywhere!

We also came across a tree with a random growth coming out of it.  My sister called it the tree’s “boo-boo”.  Haha!

Soon you get into  some major rock-climbing action!

It took us about 2 hours to reach our destination, because my awesomely strong 8-year old sis powered this mountain, but she wanted a few rest breaks.  Then you reach this….

Welcome to Cleo’s Baths!! We made it!!  😀

Since it’s pretty early in the summer, the falls are still rushing and strong.  No swimming for us today!  I’ve gone before in August, and by that time, there’s less water and we were able to jump off of some of the rocks into pools!  A huge difference.  We relaxed a bit..

And had a few snacks.  I had a Kashi honey almond flax bar, along with half of my sister’s Chewy Cookies & Cream bar (I didn’t realize we’d be gone so long – so I only packed 1 bar & no lunch!  I was hangry hangry!) We also had a pack of Jelly Belly soda shop flavors to inspire us along the trail!

View of the lake (where we hiked from)

How beautiful, huh?  I’ve Garmined it before, and it came out to about 6 miles.  But who knows exactly, since you’re climbing up for so much of it!

By the time we got back to the lake, soft serve ice cream and a nice cold soda sure sounded heavenly.

(I had already finished my delicious vanilla cone by the time we took this pic).

I’m most definitely icing my knee now – it bothered me slightly with all the downhill pounding on it.  And I sure am ready for some good dinner grub!  Looks to be sauteed tomato, onion, basil & garlic sauce over WW pasta.  I think I’ll also throw in some leftover chicken from last night.  And after discovering some vanilla ice cream in the freezer, my sis and I planned on root beer floats for dessert.  Mmmm we sure worked up an appetite today!

Also…want some hotness delivered to YOUR doorstep?  Check this giveaway out!!

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Spontaneous Hike!

Yesterday was a busy day of shopping + appointments!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

I came back to this yummy bowl of goodness:

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

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

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

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

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Sisterly Walk

Sorry I’ve been slacking with the posts lately.  You’d think I would have more down time at home – but being home puts me out of my routine.  Therefore, I often forget about pictures and posting!   ….sorry guys!

I never got a walk in yesterday, so today I was all for one!  I convinced my younger sister to walk with me…bribing her with a stop at Starbucks, of course.

A sister after my own heart 😀

Total: 45 min. walk (about 15 min. was straight uphill).

It was probably about 2.5 miles (maybe closer to 3).  My Garmin had died on me!!  Booo….

The morning started off with a different breakfast.  Since I’ve been home, I’ve had pumpkin oats every morning, and it’s kept me full for hours (probably 4-6 hours!).  But this morning, I decided on:

3 egg white + 1 whole egg scramble with turkey bacon, onion, bell peppers & goat cheese.  Half a WW english muffin & PB on the side.  And about half a small potato on the side.  I tried to make fried breakfast potatoes, but it didn’t turn out so well.  Plus an apricot and coffee 🙂

Now my sisters and I are off to Target (!!!) and then I have my good friend’s graudation BBQ this evening.

Hope you’re all having a relaxing Sunday!

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Beach to the Books

I actually have gotten a good amount of studying done today!  Hopefully this final tomorrow won’t be too bad…

My walk along the beach was wonderfully beautiful. I passed a lot of people running and how I so wished to join them.  Found many cracked & broken sand dollars, but never spotted a whole one.  Bummer!

Total: 35 mins walking (1.5-2 mile range) I did bring my Garmin with me, but he (or she??) died on me right away.

As refreshing as my walk was, I was not completely satisfied until I had a little caffeinated coffee in me!

Mmmm Starbucks hazelnut iced coffee, how I love thee so.

Lunch at work was something quick I grabbed on the go:

Kashi Mayan Harvest Bake. Definitely one of my fave frozen meals ever!  So sweet and savory with a little tang.  It’s a mix of plantains, black beans, sweet potato, and kale over whole grain pilaf, amaranth & polenta.  There are also some pumpkin seeds in there!  I also had some carrots dipped in the most delicious homemade marinara sauce.

I’ve been eating quite a lot of (and probably will in the future as well) Kashi meals lately, but that’s because I found these awesome coupons for them a couple months ago.  $2 off frozen meals and $3 off their pizzas.  So when I find their frozen foods on sale or cheap somewhere, I can get frozen meals for $1 and pizzas for $2!!  They’re not the most filling, but they’re the only convenience frozen meals I really like to eat (none of that Lean Cuisine stuff…sorry!) and they’re good if I’m in a rush.

That lunch kept me “OK” satisfied for about 3 hours – it wasn’t very big.  Afternoon snackies consisted of blueberries & handfuls of Kashi Golean cereal.  I sure was hungry for din-din!

Vegetarian chili over quinoa.  Topped with sour cream & Trader Joe’s red pepper/eggplant/garlic dip (the red stuff under the chili – plus I added gobs more afterwards).  Plus this dude:

Add in a few bites of Starbucks Caramel Macchiato ice cream, some hot chocolate later in the night & the show Greek…and I’m set!

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