Whipper snapper July 13, 2009

I attended my 10 year high school reunion picnic this weekend, and now I wish I would have attended the main even Saturday night.  I pussed out thinking it was gonna be a drag, but now I’m looking through some classmates’ pics, wishing I were there to see more people.  I saw about 20 people Sunday

The last few days I’ve been totally lacking with my photos, although I’ve had some really pretty eats that I wish I could share with you. 

Saturday

Ikea $0.99 breakfast with fruit and coffee! Yogurt was my mom's.

 

 

Ginger cookie samples

Funky Swedish seafood products. Fish in a tube???

After 4 hours at Ikea a froyo cone was in order

These bars were in my mailbox when I got home!! First sample ever for the blog!!  I don’t eat many bars these days, but I’ll have to fit these bad boys in.

I was so.tired. after Ikea.  Not enough sleep, not working out regularly, and not eating lunch yet was wearing on me.  I finally had a bowl of Kashi Go Lean with berries and almond milk.

My first bowl ever of Kashi Go Lean. Good stuff! Apple and PB for a snack

Art, sun, and fun (and a funktastic Friday) April 4, 2009

Once I read Andrea’s post this morning saying it was supposed to be sunny and warmer, the day suddenly grew brighter   Thank goodness, because yesterday ended up sucking ass! 

Friday started out innocent enough…rather lazy Friday start, quiet office, and a new oats combination:  steel cut oats, almond milk, PB, raisins, and some Genisoy Protein Shake mix!!  I thought it would be an easy way to add more protein.  Why the shake mix, you ask?  It’s all I have in the protein powder department.  The end result was a little scary looking at first, but when mixed turned out quite well That’s my Dark Chocolate hand cream in the background…it was a chocolate morning!

Although I ate this mid-morning, I was somehow hungry around 12:30.  I think its because I was working my little brain off all morning.  My sandwich was mostly the same, but I ran out of lunch meat!  With no protein to sub in I added orange bell pepp to my usual pickle, romaine, and avocado.  Sounds weird, but tasted good!  I also had a whole carrot–what’s up, Doc?

At some point I ate my grapes while doing some research.

I think this is where the day went downhill.  I had a headache all day that wouldn’t go away, and only seemed to get worse in the afternoon.  Staring at a computer screen didn’t seem to help   Chris was also getting funktified from some frustrating client interactions, so our evening was a bit doomed I suppose.

Hold on to your shorts, we went to Fajitas for dinner again.  They were SO busy–busier than we’ve seen them for like a year.  Crazy! I knew I’d be going to work out, so I skipped the booze, but Chris happily drank mine for me.  I had tortilla soup with avocado, jalapenos, and sour cream.  I also had a little bit of my La Casa.

A little spunk from Chris to provide interest   Thanks, honey. 

After dinner I was one cranky, irrational, PMS ridden beast…quite a force to be reckoned with.  I hit the gym and managed to bust out a full hour of cardio, split between the elliptical and the stair mill.  Whew!  But I still was in a funk.

I was a little out of sorts physically when I got home, and hungry, so I reached for a wholesome snack of a whole wheat bread butt with PB.  I nuked it for a few seconds to warm up the PB, ate a few bites, then decided I needed sugar free raspberry jam on top   I love that jam…reminds me of Jello (in a good way)!

Hunger struck again after a while, but it was too close to bed time and I didn’t wan’t to eat anything.  So I had a peppermint taffy!  That baby was perfect, and so I went to bed

Saturday

The sun was shining, birds singing, and my ass was in a cheery mood when I woke up.  Phew!  The oats once again had protein powder in them, but not quite as much.  I also added some cinnamon and vanilla extract–yum!

I headed out to volunteer at the Metro Earth Day Billboard Art Contest unveiling; this is part of my hours for the Master Recycler program.  I was staffing the denim display, an exercise in upstream thought and education.  I learned some very interesting facts, like the average pair of jeans takes 980 gallons of water to make, and travels 14,000 miles.  Zoikes! (Go Screech ) Cotton is also one of the most pesticide intensive crops, with 10.6 lbs used per acre :sick:  The display isn’t meant to pick on jeans, but rather help us think about where the things we use come from, and what resources go into making them along the way.

While at the show I ate some fruit, and then later snagged a few mondo cookies when I was done.  The house is sorely foodless, and I made lunch out of half of each cookie, an apple, and some PB.  Healthy, I know. 

Chris’ and Lily’s shadows are in there… 

I ate this while sitting outside in the glorious sun!!  It was warm (even hot) and felt so nice.  Chris and I thought about how we could enjoy the weather the next few days, and decided tennis and a meal outside today would be perfect.

We play tennis at a school nearby, and bring Lily along for fun   She enjoys chasing the balls around the court, and today she was a ball girl!  Whenever she’d retrieve a ball she’d put it at the side of the court by our bag.  It was so cute!  She also enjoyed trying to get the ball during play, and was having so much fun jumping around.  I should have taken a picture….

We had dinner at (surprise) Fajitas, sitting outside this time.  I switched things up a bit and had a chicken taco salad with jalapenos and olives.  I ate about half of the filling, and more than half of the shell.  I also had part of a Cazuela, and part of my La Casa.   

This dinner held me over for quite awhile, but now I just ate a few grapes and opened a packet of Saladitas crackers from Mexico.  I must stock up on more food and snacks this week so I have some good low carb options for night time.  I do believe that eating a bunch of sugar and carbs before bed is not helping my waist line look any better…

With that I leave you!  Happy weekend to you, and I hope the weather is great where you are

More protein, please April 2, 2009

I don’t think I get enough protein for my fitness goals and activity, and today I began trying to plan in more protein without adding more calories.  I’m not sure I want to scarf down more meat, or eggs, so I figured using a protein powder and finding some healthy add-ins should work.  I searched high and low for protein powders with low calories, low sugars, and versatility.  I came up with brown rice protein powder–has anyone tried this before?  Thoughts?  What other foods do you enjoy that are protein rich/lower in cals?

Today it was really hard to get out of bed, and the day was rather blah and unmotivated.  At least Friday is nearly here!!!

The day started with me realizing I forgot to prep my oats (again), but I made them this morning in my usual manner anyhow (same proportions, nuke for 2 minutes).  They turn out a little chewier, but still good.  While eating I found out the true fate of the office “other” recycling bin that I manage–it was thrown away while I was gone, and by my least favorite person in the office.  WTF?  Whatevs.  In a few months we’re moving into a new suite and she ain’t goin’ with us!

I ate this rather late, and then snacked on some grapes while Chris ate lunch, so I had my lunch later than normal.  I like my carrot at lunchtime a lot   Lots of good nutrients!  My sando was whole wheat bread, avocado, peppered turkey, dill pickle, and romaine.  MMMM.

Later in the afternoon I tried a new-to-me Clif Nectar bar:  Cacao Dark Chocolate Walnut.  This was like a healthy brownie, and quite good.  It wasn’t as soft and sticky as the other Nectar bars, which is okay.  I’ll definitely buy this again.  I can’t stress enough how much I like these bars for their simplicity and nutrition:  great taste, 2 servings of fruit, ~1/4 of your daily fiber, about 140-170 cals each, and only 4-5 ingredients, all of which are organic and whole.  Love!

I wasn’t sure what I’d make for dinner tonight, and funnily enough Chris recommended taco salads.  I think the man needs to see someone for his Mexican food addiction!  LOL!  But, admittedly it sounded good, and I only needed to buy the meat.  I stopped at the store on the way to pick Lily up from my mom’s, and saw they had ground buffalo at the meat counter.  Sign me up!

I sauteed the meat with onion and orange bell pepp, then added in most of one of those taco seasoning packets (low sodium version), and added some romaine, olives, more orange pepp, and a touch of medium cheddar on top.  It was really good, and quite filling.  My eyes were a little bigger than  my stomach:

After playing with Lily outside and talking on the phone with my Dad (at the same time), I suited up for the gym and headed out.  I’m such a snob about the stair mills these days–I refuse to use the old ones.  I must have my custom interval settings and smooth motion on the new ones!!!  Forty-five insane minutes later I was done.  It was already nearing 10:30 so I skipped weights and went home.

Hunger wasn’t really on my mind after I cleaned up, but I had a little spoon of PB while prepping my oats.  That was the first bigger taste of the Maranatha that I’ve had alone, and I liked it even more than before!  There’s something about the smoothness and creamy taste that is really rockin’, and the multi-dimensional taste wins over “regular” brands any day.  Maranatha, if you want to send me some goodies or coupons I’d love to officially review them!  FYI, I did pick up this jar at Fred Meyer (Kroger) for only $3   Great sale!

It’s nearing midnight, so I’m outta here and hittin’ the hay.  Happy Friday to you all!  Yippee!