Hey guys,

Sorry for the unintentional blog hiatus - just got busy relaxing.

Saturday morning I woke up early (compared to P, who went out Friday night and was nursing a hangover) and was uber productive. I cleaned the apt, picked up the laundry and put it away, did the dishes, and Magic Eraser-ed the kitchen and bathroom. Eva called my cell around 11 - she was in the neighborhood and wanted to get coffee. I met her at a nearby Starbucks for an iced coffee and some laughs.

When I got home, P was almost ready to get it together. We decided to go to the Paris Commune for brunch - so P could get their world-famous French Toast. Well, I realized when we got there that I forgot my camera! I was so mad! (That’s what started the blog hiatus - I didn’t have any pictures to post!) I had an iced coffee (numero two), truffled eggs, half an English muffin, and fruit. I also snuck a good amount of Peter’s fries. P got the french toast, of course - and it was only so-so in my book.

The rest of the afternoon was spent reading, TV watching and relaxing. I had a snack around 5 PM of 1/2c 0% Fage, a banana, and some honey:

Around 8, I had 1/4c cranberry antioxidant trail mix:

P and I decided to order in sushi for dinner. I had two plates. Here’s my first:

and my second:

Sorry for the slight blurriness! After dinner, we hit hit the sack.

The next morning, I slept in, and met Eva for brunch uptown at the Neptune Room around 2:15. I love this place! It is my absolute favorite brunch on the UWS. We started out with some of their delicious cinnamon walnut bread (I had another 1/2 piece after this):

I got a lavender lemonade with vodka for my drink. THIS.WAS.SO.GOOD. I told Eva I wanted to bathe myself in this drink. If I only could drink one thing for the rest of my life, this would be it it. AMAZING.

For an entree, I got my fave, the smoked salmon plate:

Delicious.

After brunch, we took our tipsy selves on a tour of Central Park - where we got ice cream from a cart! Eva was buying, so she stole the last Chipwich. I got a Reese’s bar:

It was sooooo delicious. And surprisingly cold for a hot summer day. We spent the rest of the afternoon walking all around the park and then down Madison Avenue, where I tried on possible birthday dresses at Barney’s. And we saw Janice Dickinson and that Gossip Girl/Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants girl and her bf. Eva was excited about that; I was more excited about Janice. We saw her taking a picture of herself in front of one of her billboards which I thought was great. Pssh, if I came across a billboard of myself, you can bet I’d take a picture of me with it!

We walked over 5 miles and I was starving when I got home! I had some sushi from the night before:

Later, when P got home, we made dinner together. I have to wrestle to get him in the kitchen usually, but he was good about it - and we had fun! Plus it was so much quicker preparing dinner with twice as many hands. We made turkey sandwiches on whole wheat chollah bread, with tons of CSA veggies, laughing cow, and mustard:

A few hours later, I had a coconut bar for dessert:

Sadly, the weekend came to an end.

Monday morning breakfast:

1c shredded wheat, 1c nonfat milk, banana.

Kinda sad that it’s Monday but not too sad!  Short week coming up that leads into a couple packed weeks!

Monday - Training with MaryBeth at 6; C25K 7.1 Run

Tuesday - Gym Workout/C25K 7.2 Run; Appt @ 8:30; Packing

Wednesday - Leave work at 3:45 to take AirTrain to JFK; flight to Cali @ 6:15

Thursday-Sunday - California!

Monday morning - Flight back to NYC @ 11 AM

Tuesday - ?

Wednesday - Appt with Keri; Writing Class begins (every Wed night from now til the end of October)

Thursday - ?

Friday - Training with MaryBeth @ 8

Saturday - 4 Mile Race

Sunday - ?

Monday - 1 yr anniversary!

And then another 5k that weekend and my birthday the week after that.  Whew!

Brunch was so lovely this morning!  Today is my dad’s birthday (Happy Birthday, Daddy!), so I was up at 8 AM to sing him ‘Happy Birthday’ over the phone.  Since all of my sisters and I are spread apart, it’s always a race to be one of the first to call on birthdays and holidays, hence why I was up at 8 AM.  I think that I was one of the first ones today, so go me!

Of course, I went back to bed, and woke up at noon (love lazy weekends).  P and I finally got our act together for brunch around 1:30 PM.  Today is such a beautiful, sunny day!  We decided to try a new place, Peter’s choice.  He chose Cafe Cluny.  We had walked by it several times, but never tried it.  I am soooo glad we did!  Not only was the food delicious, but the atmosphere was so precious!  It felt like a lovely antique parlor.  I adored it.

(This is a picture from their site, obviously it was packed when we went).  We sat in a little booth/nook in the window…SO lovely.

Anyway, I had two iced coffees over the course of the meal:

We split a berry medley with sheep’s yogurt and a drizzle honey to start.  I thought the sheep’s yogurt was a nice touch - and the berries were so fresh!

For an entree, I had two sunny-side up eggs with 2 pieces of whole wheat toast:

and a side salad:

Such a sweet brunch.

After brunch, P went off to do more ‘mystery shopping’ and I went back to the apt to blog and watch more Olympics.  My only assignment for the afternoon is to workout before 6 PM, because P wants to do something tonight.  I’m not sure what that will entail, but I was told to be ready to go by then.

As far as a workout today, I’m doing my C25K run for sure, and I’d like to go to the gym as well, but I need to take it easy on the weights.  I’m going to start consistently going to the Total Body Conditioning class (basically a weight lifting class) on Mondays at 7.  I love the teacher and I always get a great workout when I go.  So I don’t want to do much with weights today because I’ve got class tomorrow!  Alright guys, have a great Sunday!

Hey guys,

Sorry for the posting delay…I have no real excuse - I was just out and about relaxing and having fun.  I know the delays in posting are happening more and more frequently.  They’re never too long (usually no more than a day), but I know how frustrating I found posting delays on other blogs, so I understand if they’re frustrating here.  I’m going to really try to do better, gang.  My schedule is really busy right now and I want to make sure I’m doing everything to my best ability, including the blog.  So I’m sorry, but bear with me - I’ll get it together!

I woke up Saturday morning around noon and booked it straight to the gym.  I felt so disciplined - I loved it.  At the gym, I did 10 min Elliptical, then lateral weights and jumping jacks, 10 min Step Mill, then side leg raises and back kicks on all fours, then 10 min Arc Trainer, finishing with situps on a ball and standing leg raises.  I love working in sets!  I used to think it was so confining, but now I know it’s a great way to ensure you’re getting a good workout.  Cardio and weights = 546 calories burned.

After getting cleaned up and into a cool summer dress (one of the last times this year, boo hoo), we headed to one of our favorite local brunch places, Good.  I’m usually an iced coffee girl for brunch, but on a whim I decided to order an alcoholic drink, the Good Brunch Punch, which is peach vodka, strawberry and orange juices, peach schnapps, and mint.  It was awesome:

Peter got a brunch special that included biscuits, so I had three bites of biscuit with jam and butter:

Peter got the most delicious looking entree, I had to snap a pic for you guys.  He got Banana Cream Cheese Stuffed French toast, topped with brown sugar, sliced bananas and maple syrup:

Crazy delicious right?  I tried a bite.

I got the smoked salmon platter, on whole wheat bread with salad and veggies:

SO good.  Now I’ve had alot of smoked salmon platters, but this is the best one I’ve ever found.  I’d eat this every day if I could.  I liked how there was just a thin layer of cream cheese - they didn’t over do it, like some places do.

After brunch, P went shopping (which he never does unless there’s a big event coming up - lo and behold, our anniversary is Sept 8th) and I went home to have a blissful afternoon on the couch.  P came home with chocolates and jelly beans - my favorite candies.  Grr and yay!  I was still very much buzzed from that brunch punch, so I had two butterfly chocolates:

and we both split this bag of jelly beans:

It wasn’t anywhere near full, it was one of those pick and mix bags you do yourself - but it was probably still too many jellybeans.  I’m sorry though - I freaking live for Jelly Belly.  There are the only jelly bean in my book.

P went out again, and I headed out to the bookstore and to do my C25K run.  I spent an hour in Barnes and Noble perusing the books - I found this book on emotional eating that I really wanted to get - it looked so helpful and informative, but I was in my running gear with no wallet - so no book for me.  I’ll have to go get it soon.  One of you guys recommended it actually!  It’s called Breaking Free From Emotional Eating by Geneen Roth. Even from flipping through it, I got some great advice that I can really take to the bank.

After that I set out on my C25K run.  This was the first run of Week 5, so we’re taking it up a notch with longer stretches of running.  Fortunately, I ran for 10 min on the treadmill on Friday, so doing 5 min of running outside on Saturday was a snap.  Since I started my run from Barnes and Noble, I had a long walk back when I was finished with my run, so my calorie burn was really high - but there’s a good deal of walking in there too.  C25K Run and walk = 528 calories burned.

When I got home, I showered and put on the Olympics.  We don’t have a traditional tv, but we do have a computer monitor that looks like a tv (and takes up half the living room). :P  But you can watch full coverage of the Olympics online, so I pulled up the gymnastics (the only part I really like).  It was great!  4 hrs of gymnastics - wonderful.  I made a simple dinner while I watched:

Turkey and cheese on double fiber bread, with CSA greens and tomatoes:

and a little bowl of grapes:

All together:

After that, P came home and we spent the rest of the evening watching the Olympics - LOVED it!

Hey guys,

I took an unexpected blogging vacation, a blog-cation if you will. I’ve been kinda stressed lately, and things moved very quickly since Friday - I just need a little bit of time. I took some pictures, but you’ll have to excuse the gaps in photography.

On Friday afternoon, I came home and began cleaning the apartment. There were two vacations and a busy week of mess-making to clean. I had a snack around 2PM of a Honest Foods bar: Cran Lemon Zest:

Delicious, as per usual. After some vigorous cleaning, I had an early dinner at 4:30. I had my first training session at 5, and Peter and I were meeting for a movie after that - so I wanted to make sure I was fed for all of that.

I sat down with a turkey and cheese sandwich on double fiber wheat bread and a nectarine. I only took two bites of the nectarine though - it was too mushy.

My training session with MaryBeth was great! We talked all about my goals and what I’ve been doing so far. She was super happy to hear that I am working with a nutritionist and am striving for a healthy weight loss of an additional 30 lbs, a 50 lb weight loss since December 07. After talking about my goals, we did a mini-training session that lasted about 30 min. We did push-ups - and I did 20! Can you believe it?! I’ve never been able to do more than 3 at a time, but something about having MB there really motivated me! Aside from that we did some pilates inspired moves: 100s, bridge, breathing exercises. We also did weighted lunges and squats. It was great! Afterwards, we talked more about her history (she’s a NASM-certified trainer who’s been a trained ballet dancer all her life). She’s super sweet and peppy - and I really think she can push me - exactly what I need! We have our first 1 hr full session on Monday - I can’t wait! Since most of this session was spent talking, I didn’t get a huge calorie burn. Training Session with MB = 211 calories burned.

After our session, I went home and met up with P. Our movie was in about 45 min, so we divided and conquered - I showered and got cleaned up, he went to Balducci’s and got movie snacks. We saw Pineapple Express, which was good (love Seth Rogan), but the best part was that my favorite guy of all time, HUEY LEWIS, did the theme song, Back to the Future style. That made the Apatow gang a billion percent cooler in my book.

It was kind of funny though - it was alot more action film-y than I expected. You know those guys were just like, hey, everyone loves us so much, I bet we could do an action film and people would see it and love it and not even notice that there is no way in hell that we could be action heroes. Haha, oh well, good for them, they got to live their action fantasies.

On Saturday, we went to brunch at a nearby restaurant. I had a hot ham and cheese with greens (unpictured).

I spent the rest of the day scrubbing my apt. I met my new love: Mr Clean Magic Eraser. Holy crap, this product is amazing!!! It cut through 3 yrs of New York City soot and dirt on the baseboards of my apt. I couldn’t believe it. Parts of the apt I never thought could be clean are suddenly sparkling - with limited elbow grease. Just amazing. I now have 7 boxes in my apt.

And I know I ate stuff, but nothing really of interest. Seriously, I spent the entire day on my hands and knees scrubbing the floor with my new boyfriend, Mr Clean.

This morning I woke up ready to get back to reality. I headed straight to the gym - 10 min warmup on the funky elliptical, then I did a bunch of weights and mat work - basically the same stuff I did with MB on Friday. I did that for about 20 min before I headed out on my C25K run. I got a little behind on my runs because of vacations and things, but I’m back on now. This week I ran 3 min, walked 90 sec, ran 5 min, walked 2.5 min, ran 3, walked 90 sec and ran 5 min. I didn’t think I was going to be able to pull off those 5 min stretches - but I did! My HR was up there too - in the 170s! Weights plus C25K 4.1 Run = 527 calories burned.

After my workout, P and I decided to head out to the Brooklyn IKEA. I’m redecorating our very small NYC apt. I’ve looked high and low for a dining table that would meet our needs: seats 2, but able to accommodate 4, be around 29″ long and wide (or a diameter of 29″), and be somewhat attractive. I was even willing to pay a little extra for the right table - but it didn’t matter - I couldn’t find one! As a last resort, I tried IKEA - and voila! I found my table! Unfortunately it’s a blonde birch wood (hate light wood), but I’m going to paint it, so it’s all good.

Anyway, we set out on our voyage to Brooklyn. Before we left Chelsea, we grabbed brunch to eat in the subway. We split a Venti Iced Coffee:

And I had a peach and raspberry parfait - not the my ideal nutritional, but pretty good considering.

The trip out to IKEA was a snap. We really hit all the trains and the shuttle bus at exactly the right time. We picked up our little table, some mixing bowls, and a few wine goblets. Definitely a success.

When we got home, of course, I wanted to run to Anthropology first thing to get some cute placements and little bowls. So while I did that, Peter was kind enough to set up the table (the store closed in 30 min so it was now or never!). When I got home, I had a little snack while we finished setting up the table and chairs. 2 big scoops of 0% Fage with a banana and a little honey:

Yum!

Since we had eaten so little all day, P wanted a heavy dinner of burgers. Since he had made my dining table dreams come true, I had to oblige. Here is our first meal on our new table with new place mats:

I got a turkey burger with cheddar, and P and I split a small Air Fries, and a small mixed fruit. Yum! This dinner totally hit the spot. We were both starving (poor food planning today) - so this was great.

For desert, we split a piece of maple candy from Maine:

What a perfect little end to the day.

So here’s the table at large. Like I said, I’m going to paint it to tie into my new color scheme - but that won’t be until late September or October. Until then, it’s nice to have some place to sit and eat! (It doesn’t even look so bad with those chairs, either - and believe it or not, those were a completely separate purchase P made 3 YEARS ago).

Okay, so that was my weekend! Lots of nesting. Tomorrow morning, I’d like to get up first thing and do my C25K run. Night!

I’m so sorry for the delay in posting guys! All weekend, I kept starting this post but never made much headway because I had to run along to the next activity. I have to admit I wasn’t the best at taking pictures this weekend - I didn’t even get a shot of me in my dress! (I know, I’m totally fired). Ah well. Peter took this one:

and I got this shot accidentally:

So there’s something at least.

On Friday, I left the office on time, met up with Peter on time - didn’t have a chance for a mani/pedi, but did squeeze in an eyebrow wax - score! Good thing too because I was started to look like Groucho Marx and Brooke Shield’s baby up there. While I was running around I had a Luna bar. We made it to the airport with 10 min to boarding time and managed to fly through check-in and baggage with 5 min to spare. Plane boarded on time and we were good to go.

Or so we thought.

We were stuck on the tarmak for 2 hours! Our plane didn’t leave until 4! We got to DC at 4:30, but sat on the tarmak there until 5:15. Over those 3 hrs P and I split two bars (Z bar and another trail mix one) and a tomato juice (new LOVE. 60 kcal+ 3g protein = score!). What a nightmare.

We got to my parents house and had a cocktail before leaving for dinner.  We went to a French resturaunt nearby.

I started with a glass of Reisling:

I skipped bread (go me) and we all had appetizers.  I got tuna tartar, which was incredible:

Super cute plate, right?  For an entree, I got shrimp braised in a tomato sauce.  It was really good - and light!

After dinner, Peter and I went to see StepBrothers which was freaking amazing!  We were laughing the ENTIRE time.  What a great movie!  I thought it would be decent, but I had no idea how great it was going to be.  We got home early (before 11) and both crashed because we were so exausted.

The next morning, I had planned on hitting the gym but my mom insisted I go shoe shopping first.  Lucky thing she did because there is a serious cute-shoe drought in my town!  I went to at least 10 stores and couldnt find anything!  I made myself breakfast before I left:

One egg and two egg whites on two pieces of whole wheat toast with a plum and ketchup for dipping.  I love egg sandwiches.  They are my new obsession.

So, I ran (literally - there’s my cardio) all around town trying to find shoes and ended up having to buy an extremely cute and extremely expensive pair.  Sad face (and yet, happy face).  I got home around 1:10 and had to scarf down lunch before my nail appt at 1:30.  Ham and cheese on high fiber bread with an apple and nonfat cottage cheese:

I ate all of the sandwich and cottage cheese and half of the apple.

I spent the next 3 hrs being beautified: hair, nails, makeup - it was quite the ordeal.  I hated being held captive for that long, but the outcome was great so it was worth it.  I got out of there around 4:30 - the wedding started at 5 and I wasn’t even dressed!  I ran home, did a quick change and we were on our way.

Of course it started to downpour while we were driving over, so pre ceremony cocktail hour ran long.  I had two gin and tonics before the service started.

The service was beautiful, of course, and I definitely cried during the vows (I’m such a softy like that!).  Afterwards, they served hors d’oeuvres in the garden.  I had a few crab cakes and endive leaves.  Small bites are usually my weakness, but I was good this time and had less than 5.

After a bit, we went upstairs for dinner.  I started off with a glass of white:

Dinner started off with a small salad:

Followed by a medley of main course options: chicken, salmon, polenta, grilled sweet potato, zucchini, and more:

Dinner was followed by dancing (more cardio) and some great music performances by the very talented bride, groom and guests.  It was so much fun.

Afterwards, the cake was cut.  I probably had a slice and a half of the chocolate cake with white frosting.

More dancing - and then P and I called it a night around 11:30.  We were exausted!

Sunday morning I had planned to go to the gym, but I didn’t realize I had booked us on the noon flight - no time, considering I woke up at 9:30 and wanted to spend time with my family.  My parents had an old friend of their’s over, so we spent the morning looking a photo albums and eating brunch.  Some things are just more important, I think.  Although, looking back, I could have at least done my C25k run.  Ah well.

For breakfast, I had the same egg sandwich, except with a little bit of coffee crumb cake - my favorite.  Unpictured (I told you I was bad at the pictures this weekend). My camera died at the wedding.  So I took some pictures with Peter’s camera, but they won’t load for some reason.  But in my defense, I did take the following pictures!

Of course, our flight was delayed.  While we were waiting at the airport, Peter and I split a chicken wrap, and I had an iced coffee.  When we finally got home, several hours later, we both just slept the rest of the day away.  I think all this traveling might have gotten me sick - I gargled with some salt water last night and feel a little better.

This morning, I came in late in order to recover a little bit.  When I got to the office I had a bowl of cereal and banana with an iced coffee (picture taken with Peter’s camera, sorry guys).

I’m absolutely exausted.  I’m trying to organize a little today…my schedule is jam packed.  I feel like if I can focus and stop procrastinating, I can get some stuff done.  Give me strength.

Hello,

I have a special treat for you guys today! But more on that later.

P and I spent the rest of Sunday relaxing on the porch with our respective reading material - he actually started reading Fitness when he ran out of his stuff! Haha - it was funny to see him read about how to beat that belly bloat.

For lunch, we had our leftovers from dinner the other night. I had my delicious steamed scallops with veggies:

Yum! I also had a blondie that I got at the Book and Bake sale.

Very good - nothing like homemade baked goods!

A little later in the afternoon, Peter was begging me to split a piece of homemade Maine fudge. It really is phenomenal - how could I say no?

Sweet picture on the front porch, courtesy of Peter.

After some more R&R, we decided to go to a local lobster pound for dinner. Here was our view as we ate:

and

At the lobster pound, you order your food and enjoy the beautiful scenery until they buzz your little buzzer and you collect your food. Here’s our buzzer:

Too cute right???

This menu was the same fried/mayo-laden business I’ve seen, so I tried a new tact. Maybe a haddock burger would do the trick. Sounds harmless right?

Of course it’s fried. And on white bread (cake) bun. But oh my goodness was it delicious. It was light and flaky and soooooo tasty. I’m a sucker for cornbread, so I had to try theirs when I saw it on the menu:

It did not disappoint - both P and I thought it was the best piece of cornbread we ever had.

Back at home, we had to finish the day with fudge (the last of it, thank goodness). I had 1/2 a piece of peanut butter - by far the best type we got. Saving the best for last!

The next morning, we woke at 10 AM to another beautiful Maine day. We had decided the night before to go to Acadia National Park today. As a kid, my dad made us hike there once a summer and I hated every second of it. I thought that with my new-found zest for fitness, it might not be so bad. Although, I have to admit, I was dreading it on the drive over.

I made myself a protein-rich breakfast to get through the big workout today:

1 egg, 1 egg white sandwich on Flax and Fiber bread, with 0% fage and blueberries:

We drove over to Acadia, and after consulting a Park Ranger and some maps, we decided to hike Dorr Mountain, which was the first mountain my dad every made me climb - and a personal milestone for me that marked my lack of fitness. I always dreaded these hikes because they reminded me how out of shape I was. I was terrified that I would feel just as worn out this time around - despite all the progress I’ve made!

Here’s me at the bottom of the mountain:

The first 30 minutes were the toughest part of the hike - both P and I were pouring sweat the whole way. I was really starting to doubt whether I could do it! It was basically completely vertical stairs, with little breaks or bends in the path. Really tough. Once we got over that first part, the rest of the hike started to come alot easier. Here’s me, 30 min in the climb up:

And the view:

Here’s me up at the top, after another 35 min of climbing:

And the view:

At the summit, we had lunch. I made us Fluffer-Nutters, a Maine specialty: PB& Fluff on Flax and Fiber bread:

I also got us these SnackSalad  SnapeaCrisps to try. Looking at the bag, I thought they were roasted peas, like roasted garbanzo beans. This is what they actually are:

They’re green Fritos! What the h?? Hey, Calbee SnackSalad people, if you’re selling chips, that’s fine, sell chips. But don’t package a product with a picture that looks like snap peas (a picture that looks completely different than the actual product inside the bag), list the first ingredient as Snap Peas, and then sell me chips. Boo, Calbee, Boo.

I also had a couple plantain chips:

and a Nectar bar:

After lunch, we hiked down the mountain, which wasn’t nearly as difficult, but it was more dangerous. The rocks were really steep and slippery so you had to be extra careful about where you stepped. But we made it, and here’s me at the bottom:

Overall, it was a really positive experience - both for myself personally and Peter and I as a couple. It means so much to me that we’re able to have these active experiences together. I think he had alot of fun too.

When I was a kid, we always stopped at this one place for food/ice cream after Acadia, and Peter insisted we follow tradition. Same fried/mayo menu - this time I went for a BLT. I know Keri and I had that whole bacon discussion, but this was the best option at the time, and hey - they had wheat:

I also got a small raspberry chip ice cream with rainbow jimmies, or ’sprinkles’ for you non-Mainers.

Back at home, I had a hot chocolate and little sliver of banana bread, along with 2 pieces of taffy and a couple chocolate covered blueberries. Mentioned for accountability, but unpictured because I am EXHAUSTED.

Now for the treat! Those of you who are Facebook friends with me know that I am currently obsessed with the video feature on my camera…….so, without further adieu, I present the first Winning Friends with Salad VIDEO, Hiking Dorr Mountain:

Lots of girl time this weekend! After more cleaning, cleaning, cleaning yesterday afternoon, I decided to set out for my final C25K run of the week. Before I left I had a Z Bar:

I had a fantastic, sweaty, invigorating run! In a short 20-25 min, I burned over 500 calories! I can see why people choose to run - it really is the greatest caloric return for the time invested! Lately I’ve been finding myself wanting to run more often than wanting to go to the gym. I can spend 60 min on different machines and burn 400ish calories or 20ish min running and burn over 500! Where’s the question of what to do there? I’m hesitant to go start running everyday because I don’t want to burn myself out - but I really have been wanting to run more and more (I never thought I’d say that!) C25K Run 2.3 = 519 calories burned.

After my run, I got cleaned up and met some girlfriends for dinner. We decided to go to Cowgirl. No girl’s night would be complete without margaritas…we split a pitcher. Here’s my first glass:

For an entree, I got the grilled vegetable salad (filled with zucchini, cucumber, carrots, squash on a bed of romaine and spinach). I also added a side of grilled chicken for protein.

I had a half-glass margarita with dinner:

This is such a weird quirk of mine, but I love food that is shaped like other food, like ‘pizza’ made out of fruit. When I saw Cowgirl’s Ice Cream Baked Potato on the menu - I started to get giddy. I convinced the lovely Eva to split it with me. It’s described as,

vanilla ice cream shaped like a big ol’ spud, dusted in cocoa and topped with loads of hot fudge, chopped pecans, whipped cream and a little pat of butter (frosting)

I was soooo excited!

SO CUTE! The little butter frosting pat was the best part. This totally made my night!

After dinner, we did a little bar hopping. I ordered myself a vodka soda, but barely got through a few sips. Vodka soda is usually my party drink of choice because it is the most bang for my caloric buck.

After a great night, we girls parted ways and went back to our respective mens.

I woke up late Sunday morning and was immediately hungry! I was hoping to fit in a morning workout, so I had a banana with a tbsp PB for a snack:

Unfortunately, due to my boyfriend’s innate ability to foil all my plans for productivity, I never made it out. So I didn’t have time for a morning workout before my brunch plans at 1 PM. Boo.

I met blog reader and recent NYC transplant, Courtney, at Jane for a ladies brunch. She and her husband just moved to the city last week - so exciting! Courtney and I originally met on Kath’s blog months ago, so it was great to finally meet in person! She’s so sweet and just cute as a button - brunch was so fun!

I started off with an iced coffee (unpictured) and sampled their breads: raisin walnut with some berry butter (?) that was awesome and some sort of chip thing that I just took a bite of and discarded.

For an entree, I got an AMAZING salmon scramble (potatoes on the bottom). It was beautifully presented - not to mention delcious:

That dollop on the top is a really delicious soft cheese. I ate about 4/5ths. I was so full afterwards!

After brunch, I did more cleaning and packing around the house before heading up to my apt to do some clean up and then up to 190-billionth st to Eva’s house to drop off Horseshoe. Eva is kind enough to watch The Shoe while P and I are gone the next two weeks. Sweet friend.

I ended up snacking on a few shredded wheats, some fruit and a small glass of wine while we had a little visit. No pictures - I was charging my camera batteries!

P called to check in right before I got on the subway to head home, and we decided to order in sushi for dinner. About two min after I walked in the door, so did our dinner. P arranged my plate so preciously:

There’s some edamame, 4 salmon rolls, 1 dragon roll, 4 spicy tuna rolls, 7 avocado rolls, and another weird roll. Soo good - love sushi.

A little while later, P suprised me with an Edy’s Slow Churned Ice Cream (only 150 calories):

Phew - long post!

I’m exausted - never got to my workout - just ran out of time! That’s happening to me more often lately. Usually I have tons of time to procrastinate and work out at the last minute. But as my schedule has ramped up (and shows no signs of slowing), I really don’t have that luxury anymore! I need to start commiting to the time that I choose to work out. If I say I’m going to do a morning workout - I need to stick with it. There’s a reason why I wanted to do a morning workout that day (no time later in the day!) I’ve got to stay true to my word! Night guys!

Hey guys,

Sorry I didn’t post last night - I was too tired. I managed to get out of work a bit early - score! I did a million and 1 errands and felt super productive! I was running all over town lugging bags - it was quite a workout. When I first got home (before heading out to do more errands) I had a snack of raisin chollah with a tbsp PB:

After all my errands, I got a bit of a head start on cleaning the apt before P got home. He got out of work early too! For our date, P and I decided to do one of our favorite movie traditions: dinner at the show! There’s just something about movie theaters that make you want to eat - and when we eat dinner before the movie and get snacks during the show, we always feel like we eat too much! So we picked up dinner at Balducci’s before heading up to the movies on 42nd. I had a chicken and avocado sandwich on whole wheat, eaten during the previews:

The movie started before I got a chance to snap a picture of the rest, but I had about a cup of grapes, and vanilla Oikos Greek Yogurt, and a couple of Peter’s goji berry and flax crackers, which were awesome but I can’t remember the name of.

After the movie, we walked home and crashed - it was a long day! This morning, I woke up around 10 and headed to Trader Joe’s. According to the TJ’s connoisseur Jaclyn, 10 AM to 12:30 PM on Saturday is the key Union Square TJ’s time. Usually it is so packed you can’t even turn around or move your cart without bumping into someone, so I was skeptical. But she was so right on! It was practically empty - I was in and out in 10 min!!! SCORE! I can probably convince P to come it was that empty!! (probably not, though )

Anyway, so I did some shopping for our upcoming trip: snacks, crackers, trail mix, bars - basically a bunch of dry stuff that we can have on the plane and in the car, and on any hiking or day trips we do. We’ll buy all our fresh stuff in town, but it will be good to have these staples around.

After shopping, I ran some other errands - laundry, drugstore, etc, etc. The list just goes on and on! I had a snack before I left the house: last bit of raisin chollah with a tbsp PB:

I had planned to run errands, drop the bounty back at the house, and head out for my C25K 2.3 run, but I was so exhausted and hot and HUNGRY when I got back that I was ready for brunch. So I rearranged some stuff so we could go eat.

We decided to go back to 5 Ninth to try their brunch menu. Peter ordered this amazing Bloody Mary to start:

It was really good - and spicy! I stuck to iced coffee:

I actually had two of these guys over the course of brunch if you can believe it. For an entree I got an egg white omelet with goat cheese and mushrooms; greens on the side:

I was still hungry afterwards, so P and I decided to split a brioche with jam:

I had the top piece. That did the ticket - I just needed some carbs!

After walking home, we set about a heavy duty scrub down of the apt. Around 3 I had a snack:

After that, more cleaning, cleaning, cleaning.

My schedule for the afternoon is more cleaning, then heading out for my C25K 2.3 run once the sun sets and the heat breaks. After that, Eva and I are headed out to dinner and then bar hopping with our friend Rita. Should be fun! Bye guys!

Hey all,

I woke up this morning around 11:30 after a very comfortable and restful sleep on my new bed! P is still adjusting to the firmness (or lack thereof - the old bed was a rock with a pole right through the middle of it), but I loved it. I had planned to go to a class at noon at the gym, and I was pleased that I woke up in time to do it! While I was getting ready, I had a slice of Ezekiel toast with a tbsp PB:

Pre Workout Snack was 170 calories, 18g carbs, 9g fat, and 8g protein.

At the gym, I tried the Total Body Conditioning class, which I’ve done before but not since my weight loss began. NYSC describes it as:

Total Body Conditioning: This workout uses weights and/or bodybars to promote muscular endurance, flexibility and body alignment.

Basically a strength class. Sweet, sign me up! Class was great! Lots of weight lifting and squats, lunges, push-ups (which I cannot do for the life of me) and so on. No real rest, just moving, moving, moving. I was surprised how high my heart rate was the whole class! We finished out the class with some great ab work and stretching. I think I’m going to start incorporating this class into my schedule twice or thrice a week! TBC Class = 567 calories burned.

While I was walking home, this song came on my Ipod, and - I’m sorry - it just made my day.  I was groovin down 8th ave.  After I got back and showered, I convinced Peter to go to brunch - he wasn’t really in the mood for some reason. Probably because the apt is still in shambles - there’s so much work to be done around the house! Anyway, I convinced him to go to one of our favorite places to order in from - the Bus Stop Cafe. We’ve never been there in person before - and I’m so glad we did! It was awesome!

I started out with an iced coffee:

I also got a mimosa that came with my brunch:

For brunch, I had about 4 oz of lox with about 2 tbsp cream cheese with onions, lettuce, tomatos and capers on a bagel:

Yum - such a satisfying brunch! Love lox! Brunch (including drinks) was 599 calories, 64g carbs, 17g fat, and 33g protein.

Now we’re back at the apt, ready to clean, clean, clean! Have a great Sunday!

Hey guys,

Sorry I peaced out Thursday night and Friday - I had some pretty serious family stuff come up that I had to deal with. Everyone’s okay, but I’ve had a pretty upsetting Fourth of July so far. I don’t even remember what I had to eat yesterday (probably not too much), so I just want to focus on the present.

I woke up this morning determined to shake it off and get back to happy. P and I have been doing some pretty heavy lifting around the apt - literally (we bought a new mattress). So I had a Keri-inspired protein filled breakfast.

Three egg whites, 1 egg heated up with some cilantro, basil and 51g zucchini. I melted an oz of Jack cheese over top and served it in a Cinnamon Raisin Ezekiel English Muffin:

There is another half of Ezekiel under there, it’s just hidden. Plus I had so much egg that couldn’t fit into the sandwich- I had extra on the side! I also had 4 oz of Red Jacket Orchards Joe’s Summer Blend juice, which is a mix of lemon and apple juices. I diluted it with ice and water (I always dilute juice - it’s too much straight for me).

This brunch made me so full! I had to take an extra 10 min to eat the side eggs because I was so full from the sandwich! Extra protein really is doing wonders for my satiety! Brunch was 454 calories, 56g carbs, 13g fat, and 29g protein.

This afternoon we have a billion chores around the house and a million more shopping errands to run. Plus we have plan tonight to see our friend Bryan and his band play at the Mercury Lounge. Busy, busy, busy!