grammy’s!

Watching the Grammy’s and let me just say: Lady Gaga + Elton John = AMAZEBALLS. So good. And then the Green Day performance was good too. That’s as far as we’ve gotten, but I think we’re in for a good show.

Jeff left for the Dominican Republic for 10 days, so its just me and Mona for a while! We made dinner tonight and did the Easy Curried Chicken (recipe in my RECIPES tab!) but with bone-in chicken instead of using the pre-cooked rotisserie chicken like the last few times. Mona sauteed summer squash with onions and parmesan cheese. There was a tiny bit of the knish left, so we split that. And FYI, its not wine or juice that is always in my glass, but some flavor of Crystal Light. Seriously I can drink an entire pitcher of it in a day. Its my sugar substitute vice but it helps me get my servings of water in (I’m not a big liquid drinker usually) so I suck the stuff down.

Dinner:
1 thigh & 1 leg of Easy Curried Chicken – skinless
1/8 knish
1 cup sauteed squash with onions and parmesan cheese

things you don’t learn in college

Today, while shoveling snow for 2 hours, I made a mental list of things I never learned in college. Even though I have a degree now, I still feel vastly under-qualified for life in the following areas:
1. shoveling snow (today was my first time!)
2. paying bills
3. filing your own taxes (this will be my first attempt… my mom has done it before!)
4. fixing plumbing (I don’t live in the dorms anymore!)
5. office politics
6. how to make friends in a new place
7. the true value of clipping coupons

If you have more to add to this list, feel free to make suggestions.

So I went out to dig out my car so that I could leave for work in the morning and it turned into me digging out the whole driveway. The neighbor came over with a broom to get the 7 inches off my car and another neighbor came over and said “So this is the first time you’ve shoveled snow, huh?” Apparently, it was that obvious. He got done in 15 minutes what would have taken me over 30. I cannot thank him enough! But, the whole driveway, minus a few patches of snow that are in the shade and not melting, is clear! It is continuing to clear as today it is very sunny and temperatures are above freezing. Yay! We’ll probably put out some rock salt tonight before bed so it doesn’t freeze the driveway too badly in the morning.

I worked up such a sweat and an appetite from shoveling that I was pretty starving. I microwaved a sweet potato and topped it with spray butter (what IS spray butter??), cinnamon, nutmeg, salt, and pepper. So good and it smelled like pumpkin pie! I INHALED it. I also toasted a sandwich thin and put a wedge of Laughing Cow cheese on it. Now I’m going to lie around and read a book, possibly nap. What else are snow days for? Ugh, and my hands hurt from shoveling! I’m sure more of me will hurt later/tomorrow!

Lunch:
1 medium sweet potato
spray butter, salt, pepper, cinnamon, nutmeg
1 Arnold sandwich thin
1 wedge Laughing Cow Light French Onion

snow day, take 2

We’re still snowed in! The roads are a bit clearer and we’re really hoping to be able to make it out to the Y and get some exercise in. If not, we’re taking the puppy on a long, snowy walk. Shivering burns calories, right?

I woke up craving egg but not feeling like actually doing much. So I toasted an English muffin and made a boring egg sandwich accompanied by a browning banana that needed eating. There are a couple of sweet potatoes and a butternut squash lurking around the kitchen, so I think they will be used for lunch and dinner. Stay tuned to see if I get creative, or not.

Breakfast:
1 Thomas’s Better Start Light English muffin
1 egg
cooking spray
1 large banana

boring day

I’ve been trying to not snack all afternoon, though I am guilty of a few handfuls of raisins, a dip into the pickle jar, and a WW cookie. Could have been worse, right?

For dinner, Mona made the Asian noodles & chicken that she made a few weeks ago and it was tasty once again! It was basically buckwheat (udon) noodles, a spicy sauce, cilantro, and chicken. I had a plate and a half of that. Mona also made a pear  and apple crisp with OATMEAL and hardly any sugar and butter. Super good and relatively healthy, as far as desserts go. I had a tiny piece of that and now I’m gearing up to spend a thrilling Saturday night watching the Miss America pageant (I know you’re dying of jealousy). I’ll probably pop some 100 calorie popcorn and enjoy a glass of wine. Ate a bit extra today, but no one can be perfect every day!!

Dinner:
1 1/2 cup Asian noodles & chicken

Eeek not really sure why the picture looks so blurry! Shaky hands?

burnt tongue :(

I sat down with a cup of tea to read the paper, and burnt my tongue!!! It really hurts.

Whining over. It was a nice relaxing morning watching reruns of “What Not to Wear” on the couch. After I finished my productiveness (see previous post), I wanted to do the opposite. Then I got out the paper and tea and was impatient. But eventually I got hungry for lunch, though my oats held me over more than usual, and I decided that I wanted snow day comfort food.

Enter: soup and grilled cheese! Jeff went by the Jewish deli and got some incredible rye bread, corned beef, knish, and rugula (yesterday, pre-snow). I had a piece of the rugula last night but only a bite of the corned beef and knish. I did really want the rye bread and took two small slices for my sandwich. I once again used a Laughing Cow Light Garlic & Herb wedge and made an incredible grilled cheese! Also present was 1/4 of a jicama root, chopped up, a kiwi, and black bean soup.

Lunch:
2 slices rye bread
1 wedge Laughing Cow Light Garlic & Herb
cooking spray
1 tbsp ketchup
1/4 cup jicama root
1 medium kiwi
1 cup black bean soup

hot oats, cold day

Last night we made tentative plans to go to 9am spin class. I woke up, looked out the window to all the snow, and ran downstairs like a school girl to see if spin was cancelled. Well, the Y is closed for snow, so that was a yes! Don’t get me wrong, I love spin and I really need to exercise, BUT having a day off that isn’t my fault is kind of nice. When the weather is nice and I am able to go, I feel guilty skipping. But today, there is nothing I can do about it!

Jeff is flying to the Dominican Republic for a golf trip so his plans might be derailed a bit, but we’ll just have to hang around the house and see!

After spin was cancelled I slept for about another hour then got up to be productive. So far I’ve showered, put away all my new purchases from yesterday, played with my Garmin, paid bills, and backed up my computer. Oh, and made a big old tasty bowl of oats!! They were good today. I had so many options for what I wanted to put in them that I used less oats than normal to account for more toppings!

Breakfast:
1/3 cup uncooked old fashioned oats
1 small banana
1 tsp raw almond butter
1 tbsp plain 0% Greek yogurt
1 drizzle maple syrup

I snapped a picture of my (giant) Garmin but the snow backdrop made the contrast really bad. I tried to brighten it, but I guess you’ll just have to deal with the bad photography and the blinding white snow!

Side note: FYI, you can comment on all my posts! You don’t have to be a member of any site or anything. I think some people thought that…

wonderful day

The picture I took of dinner is not working!! My computer won’t let me open it and says it is corrupted. Sad face. Use your imagination as you read.

I had a really, really wonderful day! I met up with my family friend shortly after lunch (which held me over really well) and I saw the new couch she bought. Then, accompanied by her 12 and 13 year old stepdaughters (who I’ve known since they were born), we went to the mall and spent HOURS shopping. One store had great sales, like buy one get one on pants!! FREE JEANS! And certain items were buy one, get TWO free! It was great. I started to get hungry but a small soy latte did the trick and kept me over.

After a great day with them, they had to leave to get back home, and I was on my way home, stuck in interstate traffic, when my cousin called and invited me to Panera with her husband and a few of their friends. I will never pass up Panera! I had a You Pick Two with a half Café Classic Salad and half Med. Veggie Sandwich. So yummy! And I loved the impromptu dinner with my cousin, it makes me feel like I have somewhat of a social life (even though I have no other friends here in Va Beach).

I got home, content with my purchases and my dinner and, lo and behold, my new Garmin Forerunner 305 GPS Running Watch was on the counter waiting in it’s package!!! Its sitting next to me now, begging to be played with, so I’m going to go and play with it. Now I really hope it doesn’t snow overnight because I am dying to use it ASAP! Anyone have these or other running watches??

Dinner:
1/2 Café Classic salad
1/2 Med. Veggie sandwich
1 small apple

squash!

I busted out the spaghetti squash for a lunch adventure. Even though it had been roasting for an hour (whole), I think it could have used another 10 minutes or so. It was a little crunchier than I prefer. But alas, I ate it anyways! I do not have the strength, patience, or adequately sized knife to cut it in half PRE-roasting, so I stabbed a few holes in it, roasted it whole, and cut it in half after it came out of the oven. I burned my fingers in the process, but in my haste for squash (typical) I couldn’t wait! I also threw in a sliced beet to roast for the last 20 minutes of the squash, and they could have gone a few more minutes too. I think I should have turned the oven up… But I made a salad of kale, beet greens, roasted beet, and some balsamic, olive oil, and lemon juice to accompany my squash. The squash looked boring in the bowl with just salt and pepper, so I stirred in a wedge of Laughing Cow Light (garlic & herb flavor!) and it made it into a fake, healthy version of fettuccini alfredo. This isn’t my favorite type of squash, but it was good and so was my salad. But I really didn’t care for the beet greens. Next time, they’ll just go straight to the garbage!

Off to Norfolk to meet my Mommy Megan (our family friend who I visited last week) to shop with her and her stepdaughters, the first kids I ever babysat 10 years ago! I can’t believe they’re teenagers now. I have no plans for tonight, but I’m taking my bag for yoga in case I decide to go to the Norfolk Y or to the hot yoga studio I found by my house. I might give a hot hatha class a try. Who knows? I really need to find friends in Va Beach! (The Conversation Group was awesome, but only once a month!)

Lunch:
1 cup roasted spaghetti squash
1 wedge Laughing Cow Light
1 beet
1 cup combined kale and beet greens
1 tsp olive oil
1 tsp balsamic vinegar
juice of half a lemon

a big bowl of sunshine

Not working today so I slept in (a little) and headed to the gym. Since I’m trying to fix my foot, I took it super easy and just did 30 minutes of interval training on the elliptical. On the down intervals it was a moderate resistance and incline and on the up intervals I challenged myself. My foot never hurt while I was on the elliptical (only hurts now that I’m thinking about it, of course). So after stretching, I put my coat back on and headed out into the wind and back home to the puppy.

I’m not a huge cereal eater, especially in the winter, but I have to eat lunch soonish because I’m meeting a family friend in Norfolk. So I ate a small breakfast so I can have lunch before I head to Norfolk and not have to forage for food once I get to the mall. It looks like a big old bowl of sunshine with the way the light hit the table!! So pretty!!

Breakfast:
3/4 cup Special K Fruit & Yogurt
1/2 cup skim milk

tired!

I am so tired! I hardly did anything this afternoon (on purpose) because I wanted to rest my foot and rest my body for spin class. I know its a bit extreme to do as much exercise as I did today, but then I think about people training for Ultras (50 and 100 mile running races) like this guy and I don’t feel so overworked.

My foot feels better already. After I stopped panicking (the internet searches kept saying “STRESS FRACTURE” and it got me worried) I calmed down and sifted through and found some pretty decent answers/remedies. For one, I’ve been tying my shoes too tightly! That has probably had the most to do with it, especially because the pain started when I was in my old shoes that were too small on me. A self diagnosis has told me that is is probably just some irritation and inflammation of a tendon in my foot and I’m icing it twice a day and taking Advil. If it gets bad, I’ll rest my foot by swimming more and if it gets really bad, I’ll see a doctor.

Spin was intense, as usual, but I seemed to have sweat more than usual. Which was fine with me! I drank so much water it was unreal. We came home starved and made a quick dinner of split pea soup, steamed asparagus, and Trader Joe’s mushroom risotto. I snacked on my other persimmon while everything heated and I think I could get addicted to these! I only bought 2, now I want to go to Costco and get the 8 pack!!!

Dinner:
1 cup steamed asparagus
1/2 cup Trader Joe’s Mushroom Risotto
3/4 cup split pea soup

Project Runway tonight!!!!

**Addendum: after reading this hours after writing it, I realize just how bad my English has gotten. Good thing I’m not applying to graduate school for English literature! I’ll stick to foreign tongues