Seriously - why don’t I exercise in the morning more? Every time I work out in the AM I feel frickin fabulous all day long - not to mention accomplished! Despite getting to bed late last night, I woke up at 6:45 this morning. Must have been nerves. I slept in until 7:20 and then headed to the gym. On the way there I got a small iced coffee which I drank during my funky elliptical warm up. I felt kind of weird doing that, but hey, I had limited time and I need to get my caffeine and my cardio on. I did a 5 min run on the treadmill and then focused on weights for the rest of the time. I did a total body circuit, making sure to hit everything at least a little bit. I won’t be sore tomorrow or anything, but I think it was a good workout (although a little short on time). Still having low calorie burned though…now that I’m fitter, it takes more to get my HR up. Blessing and a curse. Cardio and weights = 321 calories burned.

Usual, shmusual at work:

I don’t leave work til 3:45, so I’ll see you guys for lunch, don’t worry!

This afternoon I got hungry earlier than normal (lunch probably wasn’t caloric enough), so I went down to see to the Organic Market to see if they had the Peanut Butter Larabar.  Ta da!

It was good!  I would get it again…although, I don’t know if it’s worth all the fervor it’s receiving in the blog world!

After a busy and stressful afternoon at work, I left around 6 PM for the gym.  I really wasn’t feeling motivated at the gym.  I did some standing weights (including the Magic Multitasker), elliptical, Arc trainer, recumbent bike with weights alternating on my thighs and doing arm and chest presses, and interval training on the treadmill.  I couldn’t get my HR up though…the highest it ever wen was the 150s, and even that was only for a short period of time.  Cardio and weights = 457 calories burned.

I felt unsettled before going to the gym (I’m hesitant to say hungry, because I should have had enough calories), but I was definitely hungry leaving the gym around 8 PM.  Knowing it would be at least 2 hrs until dinner, I picked up a snack at a bodega outside the gym.

After my snack, I dropped into the nail salon for a hot sec to get an eyebrow wax.  Can’t go to Cali with bushy brows.  Homegirl really went to town on my brows…they’re way thinner than I usually get.  I kind of like them this thin though… Does anyone else think that their face looks slimmer/heavier with smaller/larger eyebrows?  I always feel that way whenever my eyebrows get too intense.

Anywho, I headed uptown for my appt, and then called P to meet up.  Of course, he dragged me to MaryAnn’s for dinner (on my stipulation that no alcohol be consumed).  I got the most delicious meal!  Avocado, brown rice, grilled veggies in a whole wheat wrap with a side salad:

I ate it all - delicious!

At home, I had a coconut bar.  Not because I was particularly hungry, but because I love coconut bars!

Off to bed!  I’m really hoping to make it to an AM workout tomorrow!

Mancations:

Sorry, couldn’t resist.

This week’s flowers:

This day’s lunch:

Spinach salad with carrots, tomatoes, broccoli, corn, grilled chicken and egg.

On tap this afternoon, I have to make a small presentation during a company meeting (gulp). As for after work, I need to hit the gym hardcore before my appt at 8:30. I was going to do a run, but since I’m going to be sans-gym for the next 5 days, I figured it’d be better to take advantage of it while I can. For dinner tonight, P very much wants to go to our very favorite Mexican place, Mary Ann’s, for their very large and very intoxicating margaritas. We’ll see. I don’t think I’ve been doing well enough diet wise to be able to afford such a splurge.  As my nutritionist says, ‘I’m eating with a purpose.’ Have a good one!

I love my outfit today. I’m not wearing anything new, but I am wearing old pieces in a new combination - which I get more satisfaction out of than just adding a new piece. I’m wearing my black walking shorts from this Spring, swirly print black and white blouse from last Winter - blouse is too big, but I made it work by wearing a fitted white shell over it. And this particular white shell is part of a white cardigan set I purchased for my first round of professional interviews Spring of my Senior Year at JMU. So, kind of random when you look at the pieces, but I love how it looks, how it fits me and how comfortable I am!

So good mood this Tuesday morning - let’s keep it that way! I was inexplicably bummed out last night. Nothing in particular was wrong, I was just kinda upset for no reason. I hate that. At least if I know WHY I’m upset, I can troubleshoot - but when nothings particularly wrong, it’s much harder to get myself out of a funk.

Anyway, today is my last full day before leaving for the OC (I was going to link to California, but I like this song much better). Jason Schwartzman and I should be married. Talk about celebrity sightings - if he ever wanted to show himself around here, that would be great.

Coffee:

Banana, 1c nonfat milk, 1c shredded wheat:

Have a great Tuesday!

Hey guys,

You’ll have to excuse my dinner choice and video post today - I’m exausted!  My workout with MaryBeth was scheduled for 6 PM tonight, and of course, I got hung up at work.  I finally got out with 30 min to make it downtown, change and warm-up.  As I was walking over, my hunger really kicked in.  I broke into my Product of the Week for a Pre Workout Snack:

My workout with MaryBeth was awesome - I really felt like we got some work done.  I wanted to go do some extra cardio before I left, but the gym was totally packed and I just wanted to go home.  Training Session with MaryBeth = 421 calories burned.

After getting back, I wanted to have a small snack and wait to have a full dinner when Peter got home.  So I had a tbsp PB, tbsp jam on a whole wheat chollah roll:

But this PB&J only intensified my hunger.  So I had an Amy’s burrito and a banana:

Told you it was random.

Usually when I eat really randomly like this, it can turn into a binge easily - but this was okay.  I had a coconut bar a few hours later:

As I mentioned earlier, here’s this week’s product of the week: Coconut Creme Pie Larabar.  (You’ll have to excuse me - I was so exausted when I made this video, so I’m totally out of it.  :P)

Enjoy!

Hey guys,

Lucy asked in the comments, but I wanted to let you all know: I may not be able to post frequently during my vacay in California. I’m not sure of the Internet access, and I’m not sure who we’ll be eating with, so I may not be able to take pictures of everything. I’ll try to update as much as I can!

I wanted to try this new Lara bar in Peanut Butter Cookie that everyone is freaking over, so I went to Whole Foods for lunch. Unfortunately, they didn’t have it. But I did get another Lara bar for tonight’s Product of Week segment. Giving it one more try before I write off Lara bars forever!

I hit up the salad bar for lunch. I tried a new tact with the salad bar this time. I always end up getting huge salads and not being able to finish them, so this time I downsized to a smaller box, but packed it to the gills. In my salad, I picked a whole bunch of wheatberry, cous cous, and quinoa salads on a bed of spinach. I also got carrots, tomatoes, broccoli, and summer squash:

Sorry, you can only see the veggies on top!

Since I took care of veggies and grains, I was in need of some protein. I tried a new type of yogurt today: skyr.is:

I saw it on the shelf next to Fage and Chobani, so I thought it was similarly priced, but it may have been $2.79 - I’m not entirely sure. If so, that’s alot of freakin money for a yogurt cup! It was good though - 22g of protein! It was definitely more sour than Fage though - I had to add extra honey to get a good flavor.

Some exciting news: my company is getting rid of plastic disposable water bottles and buying everyone a Sigg! Part of our ‘green’ initiative. I get to choose my own design! What do you guys think?

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!

Woah.  I went a little overboard with the workout tonight - and I didn’t even mean too!  When I looked down at my HRM at the end of the workout, I had to do a double take!  Let me back track.

After lunch, I read the new Shape in bed while listening to my fave, Classical.  Midway through an article - I fell asleep!  Can you believe that?! I took a 2 hr nap in the middle of the afternoon!  Nutso.  I love naps, though.  They were my bread and butter in college.  I always scheduled morning classes and late afternoon classes so I would get in a midday nap.  Swoon.

When I woke up, I goofed around before I started to get ready for the gym.  I was almost on autopilot - it took less energy to go to the gym than to fight with myself about going to the gym - do you guys know what I’m talking about?  That autopilot mode?  Anyway, I was hungry, so I had a snack before leaving.  1/4c oatmeal with a tbsp PB.  I haven’t had oatmeal in so long!  It was a nice change!

So I headed to the gym.  I did the Self workout from this month’s issue, including the ‘Magic Multitasker’ move that everyone’s been bloggin about.  It was a good workout I thought.  Some of the moves were a little awkward - I’d like to do them with MaryBeth to make sure I’m doing them right.  After that, I did 30 min on the funky elliptical - it was perfect timing too.  I got on just as Clueless was starting.  Double Swoon.

30 min of that was a piece of cake.  After the gym I set out on my C25K run.  I used Map My Run to figure out how far I needed to go to reach 5k, so I decided to do that.  Well, I finished my run on the way out, so I had to come all the way back.  It ended up being a huge commitment - both time-wise and calorie-wise!  On the way back, I got bored so I started doing intervals of walking and SKIPPING!  It was fun to skip!  I was never that good at it as a kid (I could only gallop). but I figured it out tonight!  That really got my HR up!  Unforunately/fortunately, my runs aren’t getting my HR up as high anymore - I’m getting used to it.  But that skipping did the trick for sure!  So are you ready for the calorie burn?  It’s a little nutso.  Cardio and Weights, C25K 6.3 Run, and Long Walk with Skipping Intervals = 1188 calories burned.

I got back, cleaned up, and made myself dinner.  I had a plan for a meal, but I was really tired, so I ended up just making some corn on the cob and heating up an Amy’s lasagna:

I also had a cup of slightly reheated frozen cherries and blackberries.  Not frozen, but still on the cold side.

All together:

Delicious!

I’m off  to finish my magazine in bed.  Night guys!

Hey guys!

After a healthy and filling lunch, some Olympics-watching, and my favorite - listening to classical music while reading - I’m feeling so much more positive and rested.  After I post this, I’m off to listen to more classical while reading magazines in bed.

I sat down for lunch around 3:15 - not so bad considering I didn’t have breakfast until 10:30, but a little behind schedule for sure.  Peter got more of the amazing whole wheat challah rolls, so I used those for lunch.  Turkey sandwich with laughing cow cheese and a bunch of CSA veggies: peppers, two types of tomatoes, and greens:

On the side, I had 1/2c 0% Fage and 1/4c Cranberry Trail MIx and a bit of honey:

All together:

Fab.  And I am wearing the following t-shirt today, which just makes my existance:

Man that is awesome.

At some point this evening, I have to hit the gym and do my C25K run.  All in good time.  Happy Friday!!