Winning Friends with Salad

Hey guys,

I’m sorry about dropping off the earth for a bit - you have no idea how guilty I feel when I miss a post! I’ve been overloaded with work so I haven’t had a second of time for myself to blog, relax or even work out! I feel so all over the place not blogging and exercising, but at the same time so bogged down with work I can’t move. But it’s Friday, I’m in the home stretch…I just need to power through and then it’s the weekend!

Wednesday afternoon, I left work around 5:45 to get to the bookstore to pick up the reading for my class. Class started at 6:45 downtown. I think it should be a good experience - I realized how much I enjoy advertising during the class discussion. It’s so interesting. Before the class started, I had an apple (unpictured) around 6:30; during the class break at 8:30, I had 1/2c cottage cheese:

I really enjoying being in ’school’ again - I was much more prepared and involved this time around. I definitely slept through class when I was a kid!

When class ended at 9:45, I walked the 2 miles home. I could have subbed it, but since I’ve been unable to get to the gym, this seemed like the best option to get in some exercise.

At home, my amazing and supportive boyfriend made me dinner while I sat down to get more work done. A few min later, we ate his creation:

Turkey sandwich on toasted double fiber bread with mustard, tomatoes, and spinach; carrots; and grapes:

and then he made me hot chocolate made with water, took a picture, and brought it to me while I worked:

In our coffee cup from our Maine trip, no less! What a sweetheart!

I got to bed L.A.T.E. but managed to get up around 7:40 AM on Thursday. A workout was out, but I decided to act on Keri’s advice and make breakfast at home. I made one egg and two egg whiles in a double fiber bread sandwich, along with sliced banana and ketchup for dipping. (Love ketchup on eggs.)

When I ran errands after my meeting with Keri on Wednesday, I picked up some candles from Whole Foods. I’ve never been big on candles, but since I’ve been having trouble sleeping AND waking up, I figured some olfactory influence might help. This one was Rosemary, to help me wake up.

I have to admit, it was nice to go about my morning with a full stomach. Although, it was almost too filling! Those egg whites are intense!

I had a morning snack around 11 of some blueberries and 1/2c cottage cheese:

It felt kind of weird, eating again after breakfast and before lunch, but I don’t remember being hungry at all yesterday, so maybe there is something to this whole ‘breakfast at home’ thing.

For lunch, I had packed again (hooray!). Double fiber bread sandwich with 2 oz smoked salmon, spinach and sprouts, with watermelon slices:

See all the work on my desk?

And carrots on the side:

I decided to head home early and work from home. It’s so much easier for me to write in my jammies at my empty, clean desk at home (compared to my messy and paperstacked work desk), with some soft classical playing - not to mention P sitting outside the door telling me to focus and stop messing around on YouTube.

Being at home gave me chance to make dinner. I decided on a Mexican Quinoa Casserole I saw on someone’s blog - I forget who…let me know if it’s yours! I cooked quinoa and grilled some spinach, CSA corn, tomatoes, roasted red peppers, celery, and yellow peppers. I layered it in a casserole dish, added salsa, sprinkled cheese on top, and popped it in the over for 10 min. Here’s my portion with a dollap of 0% Fage:

When I sat down at the table, I realized I was going to need some more protein - which is when I realized I forgot an important ingredient - black beans! Grr…it was still good though. I had two slices of turkey afterwards to get my protein in.

Since we still had a good portion of the casserole left, I cooked up some black beans and added them to the dish for future meals.

I spent the rest of the night writing. P left for a bit and came back with a surprise to cheer me up and spur me on - a little brownie! Unpictured because I was so excited he was so thoughtful. I also had two mugs of hot chocolate made with water over the course of a looooong night of writing

Friday I woke up waay behind schedule - a long night will do that to you! I FINALLY got to breakfast around 11 AM:

After delivering a presentation (which went well, thank goodness), I have been working every since. I stopped for lunch around 2: leftover casserole with black beans.

How colorful! The black beans added so much to both flavor and fillingness - I was happy to have them!

And an apple:

I’m going to have a snack around 6, then I’m meeting up with MaryBeth for a training session at 8.

Tonight I’m meeting up with Eva for dinner and drinks (perhaps more drinks than dinner after THIS week). Not too many though, because the Fitness 4 mi race is tomorrow! I can’t believe I’m running a race tomorrow - and I haven’t even worked out in 3 or 4 days…yikes.

I’m definitely going to have to work a bit this weekend, but I’m planning to buckle down Saturday afternoon so I can have a relaxing Saturday night out with Peter and a quiet Sunday. Monday is our 1 yr! Man, where has the time gone?? Happy FRIDAY!!