Winning Friends with Salad

Hey guys! I’m safe and sound in Cali! Trip was okay, but long! I haven’t been on a flight that long in ten years! Here’s the recap:

Yesterday was a total cluster**** at work. Everything was so crazy busy all day long. Some exciting news though: I got my first writing assignment for the company! It will be the first big piece for my portfolio - exciting, but definitely nerve racking and overwhelming. It’s due on Wednesday of next week (ironically the first day of my writing class) and I have to have a sample ready today, so my vacay won’t be much of a vacay! It’s a huge opportunity though, so I’m really grateful!

Anyway, seeing as how I was getting my assignment for most of the morning, and had a meeting in the afternoon - I had no time for a proper lunch. My boss gave me 1/2 a roast beef sandwich with jalepenos around 1:30 during our meeting, so I had that. Then, around 3 PM, I had the most disgusting fruit and yogurt parfait in the world. It was from Guy and Gallard and must have been sitting around since the AM. I had a few bites and tossed the rest. Barf.

I met up with Peter around 4 PM, and we took the LIRR out to JFK. Checking in and all that stuff was a breeze, and our plane boarded on time. I was hungry though. While waiting for the plane to take off, I had a Luna bar in the flavor of the moment:

The rest of the flight turned into a snackathon.  Between episodes of Project Runway and Jon and Kate Plus 8, I had: a new type of granola I found in the Organic Market called Meteorbites:

This was Maple Pecan Quinoa flavor.  Personally, this was the first time I’d ever seen Quinoa in a snack!  I thought it was a great use of a underutilized grain!  These little bites were filling and tasty…I’d definitely get these guys again.

And this was the main snack of the flight:

Ryvita Fruit & Seed Crunch Crispbread.  Peter and I split this box through the 6 hr flight.  I LOVED THIS CRISPBREAD!!! Sweet, salty, nutty, crunchy - it had everything.  The only problem was, 2g fiber per serving X 1/2 box X 6 hr flight = unhappy tummy.  Wasn’t the best planning on my part.  That fiber really was not sitting well after a while.  Peter partook in the flight snacks too.  Here were lime cookies and biscotti:

I had a bit of each.

We landed early, but it was 1 AM my time, and I had been up at 6:45.  After meeting up with Peter’s parents, we went back to their house and I went RIGHT to bed.  I was conked out.

This morning, I woke at 9 AM Cali time.  I called my parents and talked to them for a bit before I decided to go for a run.  Before I left, I had a little snack.  Another Meteorbites, this time in Blueberry Yogurt Flax flavor:

Oh, do you know what’s great about these things too?  They’re called fruit baked because rather than being cooked in oil, they’re cooked in apple purree.  Neat, right?

So I set out on my run.  I didn’t have to go far before I bumped into Peter’s high school.  I did some sit-ups, push-ups, and ab work in one of their huge fields while watching the marching band practice.  Totally fun!  Then I started my real run.  I really was having trouble keeping pace.  I know it was mostly mental, because I wasn’t that tired, I just didn’t want to do it.  I compromised by alternating running, walking, and skipping - never staying with one thing for longer than 2 min or so.  I finally screwed up my resolve and finished off with 5 min of straight running.  Cardio and mat work = 711 calories burned.

Back at the house, I got cleaned up and had breakfast.  1c Cheerios, 1c nonfat milk, and strawberries:

Delicious strawberries!  It was a nice change.  I also snacked on two pieces of nectarine.

Now I’m off to hit the advertising books!  Bye guys!