meetings, friends, & famous restaurants

Good evening! I hope you all checked out the amazing guest post this morning from Bess and enjoyed it thoroughly! Great tips, especially for me because I’ll be traveling a lot and will have to go to lots of restaurants!

Well today, as you know, I was in meetings all day long for my summer job. I started off the morning with a pathetic spread at the hotel continental breakfast where I had some yogurt and a piece of wheat toast with a smear of PB. We had lunch in a university dining hall (my summer job — an immersion “camp” for high schoolers — is held on a college campus) and it was just alright. I ate her all last summer and know it isn’t the best. But I did make a pretty decent salad with sprouts, tofu, and hummus and I had an apple with PB on the side. Later in the afternoon, I snacked on a banana and met my old boss for coffee where I had a skim vanilla latte (iced) and half of an oatmeal cookie.

I’ll spare you the details, but the meeting was actually really fun and productive. Plus it didn’t hurt that one of my friends from last summer is returning (I’m technically her boss now?) and a lot of other friends from the other language academies (there are 8, I do Spanish obviously). Super fun!! I cannot wait to work with these guys all summer!!!

After the long day ended, I headed to my old college campus (15 minutes from my summer job’s locale!) where I’m staying with a friend this weekend. Everyone here is finishing work for finals and I’m so glad that I have this semester off to relax (technically graduated in December). We hung around and eventually pulled ourselves back out the door to try a restaurant I’ve wanted to try for years but never have! I figure before I walk at commencement next weekend, I might as well have gone!

I saw Dot’s Back Inn on Food Network’s “Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives” a couple years ago when the show was brand new and knew I had to go. There have been many Richmond restaurants featured on various FN shows, but this was the first I actually had never heard of before the show! I’ve been dreaming about the Black Bean Corn Cakes since I saw the show, and the rest of my dining companions got some of the other dishes that had been featured. Everything looked amazing and the restaurant had a really cool, friendly vibe! I can’t believe so few people in Richmond know about this place! I also had a light beer to go with dinner

Black Bean Corn Cakes (corn pancakes topped with black beans, provolone cheese, fresh veggies, salsa, and sour cream).

Did not disappoint. At all. I might make my family come here during my graduation weekend next weekend! The prices were SO reasonable, not at all what I expected for a restaurant that is FAMOUS.

Off to hang with Kim and enjoy a quiet night

an honored guest

Dear readers, you are cordially invited to read the guest post from the amazing Bess, a fellow Hollaback Health blogger, vegetarian, and friend She is an honored guest here at Sweat Every Day and I hope you enjoy reading what she has to say!

(FYI: I’m stuck in meetings all day for my summer job, so I figured you’d enjoy this more than pictures of my hotel continental breakfast and lunch at the sub-par campus dining center — I know it is bad, I ate here all last summer too.)

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Vegetarian Dining Dilemmas Solved: Part 1

I was hardly the girl who saw Bambi and swore off meat for the rest of her life.  More like I hightailed it to the nearest steakhouse and powerhoused a 16 ounce rib-eye (since venison wasn’t on the menu).

In fact, I didn’t even realize I liked vegetables until after college when I moved to Southern California and discovered farmer’s markets.

Now fast forward to the present, where the only vegetable I don’t like is the pickle (and not even sure if that classifies as a veggie because of all the brining and sodium). And the only meat I eat is of the “tofurky” variety.

My vegetarianism was initially met with a “Oh she’ll get over that phase real fast,” or a “You’ll make an exception for sushi, right?”

I stuck to my guns but that doesn’t mean it’s always easy to find something yummy to eat at a restaurant.

So I wanted to share some of my best kept secrets for vegetarians when confronted with Mexican, sushi, and the especially terrifying steakhouse.

I am the first to admit I am a bit of a “Type A Foodie”, as in I want to eat exactly what I want.

However, I have found that as long as I am polite and just explain I am a vegetarian before making special requests, waiters are happy to comply. Remember, you are paying; it’s your right to enjoy delicious food!

Mexican Food:

Have you resigned yourself to assuming you will just carbo-load on chips, salsa and guac, a bland burrito the size of a brick or enchiladas hidden under a never ending coating of cheese? I’m here to tell you there’s broader horizon beyond those warm greasy triangles and pillars of fat such as:

Veggie Fajitas
*Disclaimer, if they come with frijoles, I recommend asking if they have lard in them or not (some places use lard, others don’t).*
Tamales
*When I sleep over at my friend’s in Venice Beach, I am always awoken to the smells and sounds of the “tamale truck”. Most Mexican restaurants offer at least one form of tamales.
Fancified Quesadilla
*Ask for grilled fajita veggies to be added in, or even plantains for a sweet/salty combo.
Salad
*Kick up your basic salad by adding grilled veggies, guac, black beans, a sprinkling of cheese and pico de gallo.  *Be wary of the deep fried taco shells (especially if you’ve gone to town on the chips)-I usually request my salad without the shell.*

Sushi Restaurants

I have to be honest when I say that vegetable rolls do not do it for me, in large part because I am not a fan of rice…even when I ate fish, I ate mostly the innards of my sushi rolls. If you think you will regurgitate if you have to eat another cucumber or avocado roll, here are some great alternatives:

Agedashi Tofu
*This lightly fried tofu is served over a warm, flavorful broth. *Ask if the broth has dashi and if so, I like it to be served atop a green salad with ginger dressing*. — Side note from Meredith: I tried this for the first time a few weeks ago. Amazeballs.
Miso Eggplant (pictured below)
*One of my favorite appetizers of all time, this piping hot eggplant is topped with an earthy yet sweet miso sauce and generally garnished with sesame seeds. The flavor parade in your mouth is so intense from this dish, I have been known to get 2 orders in the same meal.

Miso eggplant

Edamame
*I’m convinced these green pods are infused with crack. Confession: sometimes I like to dip these bad boys in some spicy mayo and follow it up with a ginger chaser. Then again, I have quite the obsession with ginger. (http://bit.ly/aBbB7v) (another side note from Meredith: ME TOO).
Dumplings
*Even if there aren’t steamed veggie dumplings on the menu, I’ve found if I request them, most restaurants are happy to oblige.
“Geuged Up” Miso Soup
*A lot of Japanese restaurants take your regular miso soup to a new level by adding vegetables, soba noodles, etc. *Again, if it’s not on the menu, I definitely recommend requesting it.*

Steakhouses

While your dining companions start with the shrimp cocktail, oyster on the half shell or lobster bisque and wash it down with a thick steak, you will not be forced to seek solace in a loaf of bread slathered with butter.

I should note that for some reason when I am at a steakhouse, my cohorts always feel the need to repeatedly offer me a bite of their meat, deeming it “exception worthy”. I politely decline, and that is that.

Behold the Upscale Salad
*I love me a good steakhouse salad, especially because they tend to use ingredients that “upgrade” the salad like burrata cheese (sinfully good), Asian pears, toasted pine nuts, jicama, etc. *If the salad has bacon in it, just ask for it sans bacon*
Sides Are Your Friends
I have had many a delicious steakhouse meal constructed purely out of sides like:
*Sauteed mushrooms
*Steamed asparagus or broccoli
*Snap peas
*Roasted, baked, mashed potatoes
*Baked yam *Try asking for a side of balsamic vinaigrette with it-yum!*
*Mac and Cheese (this is a good share for the table dish)
*Grilled or roasted vegetables

—-

Thanks, Bess! This is so helpful for me because I love Mexican food (I lived in Mexico for a summer) and my family loves steakhouses

I hope you’re all having a great day! As you read this I’m likely sitting in a planning meeting, directing my new staff (I’m Lead “RA” — more like camp counselor — for the same Spanish language immersion program I did in high school & worked at last summer!).

pleasant change in schedule

Hello Once again, I am sitting in a hotel room, catching up on blogs and emails. I wasn’t lying to you when I said how much I am traveling in the coming weeks! I won’t bore you with the details, but let’s say I’m not even halfway through this travel marathon.

Today I was super hungry for lunch (a 5 mile run will do that to me) and went with what I was craving!

Steamed brussels sprouts with s&p; smoky sweet potato hash with 2 tbsp crumbled goat cheese

This hash is so easy and so amazing. I use smoked paprika but you could use any spice you wanted to create your own flavor!

A short while later, I wanted something sweet and was not entirely satisfied. Apparently there wasn’t enough carbs in my sweet potato because that is all I wanted!!!

A handful each of Cheerios & flax flakes with blackberries and 1/4 cup light coconut milk

Since I’m not a huge milk fan as it is, I decided to change it up and use the light coconut milk. It isn’t something I’d do every day (it has a lot of fat, still) but it was yummy and definitely satisfied my sweet & carb craving!

I then cooked my dinner to pack for the hotel room and headed out the door to the tailor to get my bridesmaid dress fitted. I ordered it in November when I warned them I would be losing more weight, yet the snooty boutique wouldn’t order it in a size that wasn’t “correct” based on my measurements. Well guess what? That was like 30 lbs ago or something so I am swimming in the dress. $100 in alterations later, I will have a dress that fits in 2 weeks. While leaving the tailor, I found out my babysitting skills were not needed for the day so I got on the road 3 hours early for Richmond.

I snacked on a banana and a 100 calorie pack of natural almonds while I drove

I like the empty hotel room, but will be glad when Harris gets here (we’re sharing a room since we’re both attending the same meeting tomorrow). It has given me the opportunity to take a short nap, do the mountain of paperwork for my meeting tomorrow, and get some writing done for a couple projects. Yay!

I finally busted out my dinner that I cooked earlier…

Steamed broccoli & Mexican pasta

This pasta was rocking! Along with another recipe by my bff Harris, I will be adding it to my recipes page stat! There are a few I still need to add, but don’t have the written (official) versions with me right now. Another day…

Dessert was necessary (when is it not?) so I brought along the end of my Chocolove Crystallized Ginger bar. I don’t think I’ve detailed my love for this bar adequately. For anyone who has ever eaten sushi with me or read a post in which I ate sushi, you will know that I LOVE ginger and ask for extra. Well this doesn’t change when it is put into chocolate! I think I have a special taste for it since I get motion sick pretty easily and I innately know it is good for me THIS BAR IS FANTASTIC.

The end of my Chocolove Crystallized Ginger bar!

And did you know that this bar came with a love poem inside the wrapper??

An excerpt from Robert Browning's "Two in the Campagna"

If you’re a nerd like me, you’ve already Googled the rest of the poem. But from the excerpt, the middle stanza is particularly amazing:

Such life here, through such lengths of hours,
Such miracles performed in play,
Such primal naked forms of flowers,
Such letting nature have her way
While heaven looks from its towers!

And I leave you with that Tomorrow there is an AMAZING guest post lined up, so tune to see the first official guest post that someone wrote for MY blog!!

git r done

This morning I woke up with the Larry the Cable Guy “Git r done” attitude.

So I headed downstairs to grab my pre-run fuel and got right back into bed with my laptop. This routine works so well for me because I am a little slow to wake up and get motivated for a run! And sometimes I like to digest my food.

Mini Luna Lemon Zest bar

Side note: MINI Luna bars are a great creation.

Almost an hour later I got myself slathered in sunscreen (my face and chest, at least) and faced the breezy, chilly morning. I drove out to the Oceanfront and went all the way down to the end of the world boardwalk and met up with Mel, a friend I met in my wave at the 10k. We’re both training for a half marathon in the fall (different races) so we decided today was a good day to try and run 5 miles. And who doesn’t love running with an ocean view?? It was so nice to have her there, I surely would have quit earlier had I been alone. My legs are killing me from the million squats we did in spin class yesterday and I have really not been feeling running lately. I really enjoyed having company & conversation, it made the whole thing go by so quickly and we both needed the extra push from each other at the end! The whole time I was thinking “Git r done” and Mel was chiming in “Almost there” every time I checked our distance on my Garmin.

When I got home I felt so good for just having accomplished it and it was just the push I need to get my attitude back into running. The lighter running I’ve been doing has been a nice break but the change of scenery and added company was the extra boost I needed And I also needed breakfast.

Banana cinnamon pilaf with an egg

It may look weird but I was craving salty and sweet. So I had the rest of the batch of sweet pilaf I made yesterday and after I reheated it, I topped it with an egg (I had planned for it to be over easy but I’m spatula-challenged). It was SO good. Just the right amount of salty and sweet.

Now I need to pack and get to the tailor! I need to drop off my bridesmaid dress for a fitting before I babysit this afternoon and pack because as soon as I finish with the kids, I’m going to Richmond for the weekend. Tomorrow I have a meeting for my summer job and they’re fronting the hotel room and reimbursing gas And then Saturday and Sunday I have stuff to do for Tiffany’s wedding (luncheon and shower) and friends to visit!!! It shall be a lovely weekend. Do you have fun plans??

in need of running inspiration?

Yeah, me too.

Tonight I was totally lost as to what to write about and my college friend Corinne suggested writing about first ever 5k experience. Since I’m in need of running inspiration and so is she (she’s running a half this weekend — whooo hoo!!!), I figured why not? Instead of boring you with the details I’ll recap it: when I crossed the finish line, I felt like puking. Then I had to catch my breath and figure out where the bananas were. Then I had to sit around and stretch awkwardly among the super fast runners who had finished far ahead of me.

Thinking about this race brings up a lot of thoughts and emotions, but definitely inspiration. That 5k was a hard race, mentally and physically. But once I finished it (and after the nausea disappeared) I felt like I could conquer anything. Even though I may have taken a walking break, even though I may have huffed and puffed across the finish line, and even though I had not yet learned of the wonder that is a Garmin watch, I was officially a runner from that point on. That race was never about winning or losing, but about proving to myself that I was capable of something I never thought was possible.

As I am about to start training for a half marathon (technically I already started, but it is pretty loose and unstructured at this point), I need to remember the feelings from that race and use them every day. Hey, I am out there doing it. Isn’t that what counts? Even if I’m not running 7:30 mile splits (or even 10:00 mile splits) I am still just as much of a runner as Joe Marathoner.

Tomorrow I am planning to run with my friend Mel, again. And I am going to attack that pavement with renewed vigor and inspiration. I may not go fast, but I will get it done and be proud of what I have accomplished. We’ll all have our good days and our bad days, but we’ll always remember our races and what we’ve proven to ourselves

And to turn this post in an entirely different direction, I now present my eats:

Lunch was a chick’n sandwich and lots of vegetables. I woke up craving hummus, too!

Roasted red pepper hummus with carrots & broccoli; pear; chick'n sandwich with a Gardein patty, cheddar cheese, ketchup, lettuce, on a sandwich thin

At babysitting I had a delicious afternoon snack!

Strawberries; Kashi Fire Roasted Veg crackers with Laughing Cow Light

I got done with babysitting early since their dad picked them up today and I had plans to see my friend Nathan! I saw him a couple days ago when we had breakfast together. He quit his job and moved home (to where I grew up, about 30 minutes from where I am now) to be with his very ill mother But, he got a temp job in Va Beach so we made plans to have dinner & dessert.

At No Frill Bar & Grill , a place I’ve been to several times before and loved, my hummus craving had not yet subsided. Since I wasn’t terribly hungry (dinner was earlier than usual!), I got the appetizer hummus plate for dinner. I was under the impression the veggies would be more substantial, but I did not have a problem consuming this in it’s carby goodness (and about 1/2 that hummus as well).

Hummus plate with fresh pita, carrots, cucumber, and cabbage.

I was glad I kept dinner on the lighter side because we went to get crack froyo for dessert at the self-serve bar down the road.

Vanilla & mint swirl froyo with mochi, coconut, and jellybeans.

The jellybean canister exploded into my bowl, so I forced myself to eat them all. What a sacrifice.

Off to bed early tonight. Waking up at 5:30am for spin was fun, but now I’m dead on my feet. But before you follow suit, check out the guest post I wrote for Bess!! She’ll be contributing to this very blog on Friday!

you know what really grinds my gears?

Watching “The Biggest Loser.”

Don’t get me wrong, I think the concept of the show is admirable and it clearly helps people get healthy. The 5k in Texas they did last night was really moving, especially seeing the community members trying to get in shape. I commend BL for programming like this.

What I don’t like about it? The whole obsession they have with exercising “enough” and their desire to lose “double digits” every week. This is giving America the WRONG impression of realistic weight loss and I fear it is is making some people give up their fitness goals because they simply cannot keep up with ridiculous weight loss standards. There are people on that show that have lost the same amount of weight as me in less than half the time. Sure if I was living on a ranch, having all my food controlled by the producers, and having Jillian & Bob yell at me all day, I might lose weight quickly. But is it healthy? We’ve all seen the previous BL contestants who put back on the weight and we act like we’re shocked. But we shouldn’t be! The habits they build on BL are NOT conducive to real life!!! Realistically, unless you don’t go to work or have other financial & family obligations, we can’t hire a personal trainer to train us in the gym for 6 hours a day. Yeah, you heard me. 6. The contestants spend obscene amounts of time in the gym! I’m happy to get 1 – 1 1/2 hours of a workout in a day and I take rest days. I’m sorry but to me, it seems unhealthy and it is sending the message to America to over-train, burn out, and quit your goals.

Slow & steady wins the race (also my running mantra, as I’m really, really slow).

What are your thoughts on “The Biggest Loser”? I always find myself torn between loving and hating it.

Enough ranting. How was your morning? I woke up at 5:20am (then 5:30am after the snooze button) and dragged myself out into the cold, dark morning to drive to spin class. The class wasn’t fantastic. In fact, it was downright weird. But I feel so much better for having gone and done it and I am feeling motivated again. I won’t go into the weirdness of the class, this post has seen enough complaining.

I used the leftover Kashi Pilaf from last night to make 2 batches of pilaf “oats”. I took 1 heaping cup of the pilaf (all the leftovers), 2 tbsp milk, and a mashed banana and reheated it all over the stovetop. I then stirred in cinnamon and divided the batch into breakfast today and the rest for tomorrow. It was a nice change from oatmeal and felt heartier than oats, actually.

1/2 cup pilaf with 1/2 mashed banana and cinnamon; topped with blackberries, 2 tbsp light coconut milk, and 1 tbsp creamy AB

Off to get out of my gym clothes, shower, and get ready for the day!

boring day

Today was a relatively boring day as far as my life goes. Did anyone have anything fun and exciting happen to them? Please share so I can life vicariously through you.

At work, I thought my lunch looked particularly bland and “diet like”, but at least it tasted great?

Whole wheat tortilla with a Laughing Cow Light wedge; steamed brussels sprouts and broccoli with mixed spices

And then at I paired this bland plate with something amazing!

Strawberry 0% Chobani with blackberries and fresh strawberries

I may have snuck a piece of dark chocolate from the office candy jar, but I made it out of the office on time to go pick up the Devil Twins from school. While sitting on babies, I enjoyed a tasty afternoon snack.

Kashi Cherry Dark Chocolate bar and an apple

This apple was called a “Red Rose” I think. I’d never had it before, that I know of, and it was so pretty and yummy close up. A great color!

The kids were fine and when I left them I was just starting to get hungry. I came home with some leftover sauce in my head to do something for dinner.

Kashi pilaf with leftover TJ's Palak Paneer sauce and sautéed curried eggplant

Sometimes you just need a steaming plate of Indian food to make life better. Mmmmm. And I have big breakfast plans for the leftover Kashi Pilaf.

So since I have nothing of interest to say tonight, I will pass on a few amazing posts I’ve read today! Ooooh but before I do, you should follow my feed (link on the right-hand menu). I finally figured out how the Internet works (okay, not really) and got an RSS Feed for my blog. Okay posts:

-This jewel from Fashionably Fit
-A reality check I needed from Size Queen
-This one for all the healthy living bloggers out there
-And one of my favorite posts from Jogger’s Life

I am going to 6am spin class tomorrow. If I write it on here, you will keep me accountable. I AM GOING.

stress & exercise

Happy Tuesday! It is one more day closer to Friday

Last night I decided to end my vegetarianism and eat some meat: rabbit.

I kid, I kid. It is a Lindt Gold Bunny that I got for Easter and it had been sitting docile long enough. Twas time to rip it to shreds. That pretty chocolate bunny is now deaf as I ate his ears. Apologies to the bunny, but Lindt milk chocolate is sometimes necessary.

I slept horribly last night. Sometimes I go through bouts of sleeping poorly because I can get really stressed & worked up about things and stay up all night thinking about them. Lately it has been grad school and the apartment hunt, but now that that is over my mind has turned to some stressful family issues. You think exercise helps stress, right? Well lately I’ve been so unmotivated to exercise and honestly I think it is doing me some good. I am taking time to relax.

I was so tired from a bad night’s sleep that when my alarm went off this morning, I accidentally turned it off instead of hitting snooze. The next thing I knew, it was 8am and I had to get up and ready for work! I’m not planning on going to the gym later because I want a break. Since February 2009, I have been faithfully going to the gym 5-6 days a week. It won’t kill me to have an off week or two and the rest does a body good. I have a fun buddy run planned for Thursday, so I won’t back out of that And maybe it will re-motivate me? Until now I’m going to enjoy my morning of extra sleep and my evening of relaxed TV time.

Breakfast was extra special today!

Grapes; egg sandwich on a sandwich thin with 1 piece natural cheddar cheese, 1 egg, and ketchup

Egg sandwiches are one of my favorites, especially with ketchup. It reminds me of the sandwiches my mommy used to make for me before swim meets!

Off to work in the dreary weather. I hope it doesn’t start raining again, though it appears that way.

facing my flaw

Hello everyone!!! I’ve had another busy day, complicated further by the fact that we had a freak thunderstorm with hail that hit PRECISELY as I was driving home from the gym. I have a thunderstorm fear and the rain was so awful I had to pull over! But I made it safely

This morning I decided to face one of my fears/flaws: my upper arms. I recognize we all have flaws, but is one of the few physical ones I dwell on. Even back in my swimming days I hated them and they are unusually flabby for the amount of work I’ve put into them recently. I seriously have not worn a sleeve shorter than the average t-shirt since high school. (If I have worn a tank/sleeveless dress, it was with a cardigan). Well today I decided to actually wear one of the shirts that has been hanging in my closet patiently for a few weeks. I did this in preparation for bearing my arms publicly, whether I want to or not, at my best girl friend’s wedding in May. Also, my mom thinks I should face my fear and wear my graduation dress without a cardigan. We’ll see.

I put on the shirt and it had shorter sleeves than I would normally wear. My friends recognize one of my nervous habits is to pull down my sleeves near my underarm because I hate my upper arms so much. Well today I tried desperately but the shirt simply wouldn’t cover the flab. I left the house without a jacket or sweater and let my bat wings fly free. It was scary and I was constantly wondering if people were looking at my arms all morning, but by the afternoon I kind of stopped caring. I started looking at other women’s arms less and started concentrating on the fact that the shirt I was wearing made me look skinny… no, downright HOT. I am far from over the fear of my flaw (one of many) but I think today was an important step in the right direction. I might not wear another daring shirt tomorrow, but maybe this weekend?

Oh my eats, you ask? Well, this afternoon I enjoyed the leftover sweet basil tofu I had last night.

Leftover sweet basil tofu with a little leftover rice, baby carrots

I had grapes for lunch dessert but my camera ate the picture. I’m sure you can all imagine them in your head? Yes? Moving on.

I left the office as usual and had just enough time to kill to run over to the fro-yo bar, conveniently next door to my boyfriend. I got some self serve as a treat for facing my arm fears!

Tart & Kahlua swirled low-fat froyo with unsweetened coconut, chocolate granola, and mochi!!

I then headed over to nanny Thing 1 and Thing 2. Thing 2 stayed home from school at his dad’s house, so I had to orchestrate picking up Thing 1 at school and meeting their dad for the hand-off, but the kids were relatively easy after that.

I had my gym bag packed in the car and ate a banana with organic PB while waiting for their mom to get home. When she finally did, I headed straight for the gym and got in a quick sweat session. I am hoping to run tomorrow (weather permitting) so I took it easy with 25 minutes of random hills on the elliptical and some weight training (my arms… any surprise?)

On the way home was when the awful rain hit so I pulled into a church parking lot for 10 minutes while the worst passed. I was about to eat my arm off. But I made it home and made a quick dinner to satisfy me.

Small sweet potato with 1 tbsp nutritional yeast, 1 whole wheat tortilla with 1/4 small avocado and sea salt

So delicious. Seriously avocado with a touch of sea salt is AMAZEBALLS.

Off to write a little. I have some fun guest posts lined up (by me and for me) so keep your eyes peeled towards the end of the week! And to all the bloggers out there, thanks for the awesome feedback on my first Hollaback Health post!

off start to my day

Eh, morning. It would be too optimistic to say “Good” before it. So just morning.

I didn’t sleep well at all but I valiantly climbed out of bed early in venture of some pre-run fuel. I ended up eating a mini Luna bar and got back in bed to read emails while it digested before my run. But then my stomach took a funny turn and let’s just say it is a bad idea to run when my tummy is acting that way. I’ve had digestive issues my whole life so it is nothing to be alarmed about, but just annoying. And frankly I feel like crap.

So I stayed in and decided that, if I feel well enough, I’ll just go to the gym after babysitting for some cardio goodness. We shall see.

Eventually I did get myself out of bed to make something and brighten my day a bit: oats in a jar. Seriously the best way to scrape the last of the nut butter out of the jar. On today’s menu was finishing the last ~1 1/2 tbsp of sunflower seed butter. I have too many jars of nut butter (not possible) and since I’m leaving Va Beach in about a month, I should start trying to use them up.

Oats in a jar

1/3 cup rolled oats, 2/3 cup water, 1 handful mixed dried fruit bits, the remainder of the sunflower seed butter

I’m pretty convinced that any amount of nut/seed butter can cure most anything. I’m already feeling happier

I think I’ll call this post quits and take my bad mood elsewhere! Hopefully I’ll be back this evening with something more deeper and longer (TWSS?).

Didn’t see my guest post last night? Read Why I’m a Vegetarian!