June 26, 2009

We interrupt this program for a brief reflection…

It’s really hard to believe Michael Jackson is dead…at 50 no less.  He had such an intense life and influenced so many.  I remember when Thriller came out and I watched the video on MTV.  It kinda scared me, but I liked it.  RIP Jacko. 

It’s also hard to believe Farrah Fawcett died yesterday, too, at 62.  I feel so bad for her because of the type of cancer she had and how strong it was.  I didn’t watch Charlie’s Angels, or other projects of hers, but she did have the hair that changed the world.  RIP Farrah. 

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Ah, Friday is over.  My day was rather quiet, successful, and seems short looking back.  It started with a massive headache from allergies and dehydration, but thankfully I kicked that around lunch time.

I started off with a bowl of traditional oats with a little Silk Vanilla Creamer on top.  My kitchen scale went bonkers last night, so the proportions were a bit off probably, resulting in a goo-ier consistency.  I use the scale b/c it’s easy, and I can’t quite eyeball some things like 10g of protein powder, apparently.

I’m diggin my lunch salads as of late since I’ve moved away from burrito gut salads.  Today it had romaine, yellow bell pepp, the last of my leftover corn salad, Fuji apple, avocado, chow mein noodles, goat cheese (had that yesterday, too, and forgot to mention it), Boca burger, balsamic, and sliced almonds.  Phew, everything but the kitchen sink!

I had part of the fruit and veg for a snack mid afternoon, and the rest as a snack before dinner. 

Once home and outside with Lily and caught a few good pics:

She loves catching the ball, so I figured an action shot was in order:

The great people over at Blue Diamond sent me a little gift in the mail today–coupons for Almond Breeze and their other products!! Yippee!!  I went online and told them that I love their products, especially the refrigerated almond milk, and they sent me these as a way to say thanks 🙂

Chris was hell bent on eating at Fajitas AGAIN tonight, whereas I wanted to stay home and BBQ or something.  I always give in to the man, cuz once he gets Mexican in mind nothing else is good enough basically.  I also didn’t have anything to cook for him, so this avoided a trip to the store just yet.

For dinner I had a vegetable quesadilla, light on the cheese, with a little bit of sour cream and guac.  Chips and salsa, a tiny bit of a Cazuela, and half of a La Casa were involved as well. 

This bitch is getting tired of quesadillas and burritos.  At Fajitas there aren’t many other veggie options, other than cheese enchiladas, chile relleno, and other super unhealthy options I won’t go for.  I had better figure out something quickly because I don’t know if I can stand it much longer!

This lady bug stopped by to say hi 🙂

Tonight I hit up the gym for full workout session:  upper body weights, abs, and 50 minutes on the mill.  This was my first full workout this week…oops.  An older man was watching me do my chest workout (not quite seedy/creepy, but nearly), and when I walked by him afterward he was like, “Ma’am, excuse me?”  He told me I’m doing well and to keep it up, and that I look good now but am on track to look even better if I keep at it.  He didn’t say it quite like it may sound; it came across very positively and I thanked him for the encouragement.  Alrighty then…

Post workout snack was a shake:  almond milk, Genisoy chocolate shake mix, flaxseed meal, cocoa powder, and ice.  Tasty dark chocolate goodness!

And so I leave you.  It is already 11:30!  Shit, wish I had a little more time to just chill.   My plans changed a little for tomorrow morning, and I think I’d like to treat myself to a special breakfast, solo.  I’m heading to my mom’s house to sort through crap and pack stuff she’s keeping, so I wouldn’t mind some peaceful time alone and a nice treat beforehand. 

Oyasuminasai  🙂

It’s a bird, it’s a plane…it’s a B.L.O.A.T.! June 20, 2009

I had a fun new dinner that happens to have the acronym B.L.O.A.T. 

How about another backwards post?!

I just finished this smoothie:  almond milk, lots of strawberries, a drizzle of honey, ice, and some ground flax.

After dinner I washed & organized all of my produce buys from today, and snacked on some of the fruit along the way.  No pic.

Here’s the B.L.O.A.T. fun:  Boca Lettuce Olive Avocado and Tomato sandwich on a whole wheat bolillo roll.  The addition of the olive was especially tasty–I used my stick blender mini food processor attachment to process a few kalamata, herbed green, and one feta stuffed green olive.  Bomb!  A little went a long way 😉  I ate more tomato and avo on the side as you can see.

My body wasn’t satisfied after my first afternoon snack, so I went in for some raisins, almonds, and one piece of dark chocolate.  My tum wasn’t too happy, though.  Not enough fresh stuff today?

Before that I consumed a small bowl of NP GingerZing granola with cinnamon, sliced almonds, raisins, a pinch of salt, and almond milk.  The granola didn’t taste flat 🙂  Yeah!

After a morning of sorting through and moving boxes at my mom’s, lunch of my leftover half burrito was in order.  I also had the rest of my fruit from yesterday.

Breakfast was a yummy bowl of the usual oats 🙂

My pre-butt-crack-o-dawn workout snack was a Kashi TLC Chewy Peanut Butter Peanut bar with some raisins on the side.  I nuked them both and rather liked the warm raisins.

I had a big dinner last night, and never ate after dinner.  I was also dog tired–woof! Dinner was a big ol’ burrito of beans, rice, vegetables, and jalapenos topped with verde sauce.

Prior to and during eating I imbibed in this:

Lunch was leftover pesto pasta from Thursday.  Whoa, super heavy still.  I added more carrots and mushrooms, and even sopped up some of the oil before eating, but felt rather heavy all afternoon from it.

Friday’s breakfast was the same as today’s–yummy oats 🙂  I DID notice a difference when prepping these oats–I don’t think Freddy’s used Bob’s in the bulk bin prior to me buying this batch, as I noticed how much bigger the oats were when pouring them next to the old batch.  I wasn’t smoking crack when I compared bagged Bob’s and bulk before 😉 Bob’s turn out chewier indeed. 

This bitch is tired!!  And tomorrow won’t really be any relief for the weary–busy Father’s Day that includes another trip to Freddy’s, eating out at Red Robin for lunch, and cooking dinner for my dad.  I think I’ll get up early again to get working out done with and move on. 

Some random comments/reiterations before I leave you:

• my body needs lots of fresh food daily and I feel sluggish/bad if I don’t get it
• I can’t tolerate heavy/greasy/fatty/creamy meals any more
• I love fruit and it loves me 🙂
• I often forget to buy organic at the store even though I’m consciously trying to buy more and more organic
• washing fruit/veg immediately and getting it put away neatly is a godsend for the week ahead
• my house is a mess and I don’t feel like cleaning
• I hate the smell of mayonnaise
• Lily won’t leave me alone and it’s annoying me

Toodles!

Back by popular demand… June 18, 2009

…highlights of Kersten’s world.  Well, not really…I mean no one’s banging down my email inbox asking me to come back.  I know my little blog gets readers, I just wish there were more of you, and that you would comment more actively.  Any suggestions?

Pretty lunch–salad had romaine, avocado, grape tomatoes, burrito guts, verde sauce.  That glorious fruit has been my go-to for afternoon snacking as well 🙂

Mondo dinner of steamed corn with SmartBalance Light, oven roasted butternut chips with Northwoods seasoning and garlic salt (too salty), veggie burger with sauteed mushrooms, ketchup for the burger and chips.  I ate too fast 😦

Genisoy chocolate shake mix, almond milk, ???

Pina!!  I sliced up this baby and enjoyed the fruits of my labor.

I. love. fruity. cereal.  Kashi Go Lean Crunch with fabu blueberries, cherries, and strawberries, covered with almond milk I think.

My eyes enjoyed this more than my stomach–quesadilla with sauteed veggies, cheese, sour cream, guac, tomatoes.  Too many onions + too much sour cream + too much cheese + too much food = unhappy tummy. 

When the tum wouldn’t settle I went for 1 tablet of Alka Seltzer.  You ever use it?  At first it doesn’t seem better, but then comes the burp that cures your woes.  I know, gross details, but it works.

For some insane reason I thought I needed a treat later.  I ate one square of Cadbury milk chocolate with almonds, went “meh,” and instead had some roasted almonds and dark chocolate pieces. 

More fruity cereal, but this time with Nature’s Path GingerZing Granola.  I like the texture of this granola, but it is missing something.  Salt maybe?  It isn’t very zing-y to me.  I miss my crack–NP Pumpkin Flax Plus Granola.

A pretty lunch 🙂  Salad had romaine, pickle, avocado, grape tomatoes, cremini mushroom, balsamic, crunchy chow mein noodles, and a veggie Gardenburger.

Dinner tonight at McCormick & Schmick’s Fish House.  The menu was tough since nearly every entree had seafood or meat, but they are quite flexible with preparations.  I had them leave the fish off of the  mushroom pesto pasta, and asked for extra veggies to be added in.  It tasted really good, but I was expecting a real pesto, not a creamy white wine sauce with pesto in it.  The cream was too heavy for me, and totally weighed me down tonight. 😐

Sometimes I think I want creamy and rich things, but when I eat them I often regret it b/c I feel super crappy.  That helps me avoid the temptation to get/make them I suppose!  I did bring home half of this, and figure I’ll eat it for lunch tomorrow with more veg added in.  I’ve run out of other things to eat for lunch, so I’ll just have to grin and bear it.

This was Chris’ dinner–filet mignon with the obvi veggies.  I thought it was pretty and deserved a pic.

My exercise this week:

Monday–legs, abs, 30 min on the mill

Tuesday–upper body, 50 min on the mill

Wednesday–off.  too stuffed and gross feeling to move!

Thursday–legs, abs, 50 min on the mill.

I suppose that’s about it!  I can’t remember all of my genius “oh I should put that on the blog” moments from the last four days 😐

Bon nuit 😉