Author Archives: Emily

Full Court Press

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Yikes!  The semester is starting to get real and today was just a bit stressful.  I’ll keep this post quick because I have to get in the shower by 9 pm to have any chance of getting in bed in time to workout in the morning.

We finally got some info on due dates in class today (we still have several assignments that are unknown though frustratingly) and as of right now here is what I have on tap of this semester –

  • 15 exams
  • 4 personal papers (2 of which include presentations)
  • 4 group papers/presentations

That’s in addition to quizzes and homework assignments.  Fun.  I originally said I was going to aim to finish all assignments by October but clearly that goal is shot!

During class 1 I ate this Nature’s Path Peanut Choco bar from my HLS Swag bag.

A bit sticky for my liking but it was packing a great amount of chocolate and peanut butter, especially for 150 calories.  I actually enjoyed it so much that I tried to buy more at Wegmans this afternoon.

After class 2 and I headed to the gym for a quick (quick!) workout.  1 mile run and 10 minutes of strength/stretch moves.

During class 3 I ate this mini pack of dried cranberries and pineapples.

After school I drove a friend to work, went to the tailors, and did a grocery run with Adam.  Thank goodness we had a free coupon for hot bar because getting to 4pm on 200 calories made me just a bit cranky.

Garlic eggplant, garlic broccoli, roasted veg, and some sesame chicken.

Plus h2o-melon, pineapple, and a few berries.

I was freezing this afternoon so I made a mug of hot chocolate to sip while I worked.

I wish I could say I had gotten more done but it’s hard to study when this is your scenery –

I love my boys!  Actually, I told Adam the other day that sometimes I think about leaving him so I can get away from the dog but that’s a fleeting thought when I’m cleaning up after 1 or both of them and in general I think I’m the luckiest lady on earth.

Dinner was a Panini masterpiece.

A sandwich idea was sparked by my desire for this combination –

Trader Joe’s mango butter with brie.  Plus Applegate Farms Organic Sliced Turkey on rye bread.

The sweet brie pairing is always a winner (see baked brie with dried cranberries) but turning this into a sandwich took it over the top.

Yum!

Plus a side of roasted green beans which sadly seem to have gone bad and were mostly left uneaten.

Rotton beans can’t put a damper on that sandwich though, dinner was still considered a success.

Do you like brie?  What’s your favorite way to pair it?

More Sleep More Hunger

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Apparently my body didn’t get enough sleep or food the other day because it demanded more of both in large quantities.  Good thing it’s the weekend and I had time to indulge in both.

Adam and I actually got out of bed at 8 am this morning but when the dog got back into bed we thought we’d cuddle with him, just for a minute.  4 hours later it was noon and we were waking up for lunch.

Adam made chicken salad my favorite way; shredded chicken with grapes, walnuts, and Miracle Whip.

Grapes totally make chicken salad.  But apparently this didn’t fuel us that well because we totally went back to sleep until 2:30!

When we got up and set out on errands I was starving.  We stopped at Tim Hortons on the way to Goodwill for a caramel apple cider.  On Friday I was bemoaning the pumpkin options I can’t try until Pumpkin Month (aka October) and my friend Kim convinced me that September should be all about apples.  Another theme?  I’ll take that challenge!

That happy face was before I actually tasted the cider sadly, yuck city.  It tasted like it was made with fake apple flavoring.

I chucked my cider after 1 sip but I did eat 2/3 of this filled maple doughnut.

This was a very out-of-character thing for me to eat but I was low on options and we were running late for our afternoon activity.

The Bison Ballpark Brew Bash is a craft beer tasting event whose proceeds benefit Cystic Fibrosis research.

We got our tickets 50% off with Groupon so it wasn’t a big deal that I didn’t end up drinking that much.  I ended up taking a few sips of a few things and calling it a day.

Buffalo Brew Pub’s Oktoberfest.

I don’t really remember this one; not bad but not my style.  I drank ~1oz.

Ithica Beer Co’s Smoked Porter.

Eek, not my thing at all; one sip was enough for me!  The smoked flavor was almost meaty, I imagine drinking a full one of these would feel like eating a meal.

Rohrbach’s Brewing Company’s Vanilla Porter.

For a porter the flavor was nice and light and I liked the vanilla scent.  ~1.5oz.

Post Road’s Pumpkin Ale.

Ewwww.  The smell of this was good but it was way too sour for me, I was sad that I even took one sip.

Six Point Brewery’s Sweet Action Cream Ale.

Yum!  This had a great light fizz and almost orange-y undertones.  I drank 95% of my pour happily.

Shipyard Pumpkinhead Ale.

Now this is what pumpkin brews should taste like!  The smell was pumpkin pie and the taste was pure pumpkin.  I am definitely going to be on the lookout for a bottle of this before October Pumpkin Month.

I ended the day with Heineken Light.

I know most people who drink craft beer would call this a low note, but don’t hate, I love Heineken Light.  The flavor is mild enough that it’s sort of like drinking water, but the brewery is quality enough that it’s not like drinking dirty water (my thoughts on Bud, Miller, and Blue Lights).

The most exciting taste of the day was this soft pretzel – covered with mustard – that I split with the husband.

We took the train to the event but ended up walking back to our car in Allentown afterwards.  When we lived in Allentown I used to walk down to The Spot all the time and it was great to do some Delaware ambling again.

Adam and I were both still starving when we got home and we weren’t quite sure what to do with our evening.  Thankfully our friends Patrick and Michelle had just headed to dinner and invited us to come along.  We ended up at Gin Gin for Chinese food.  They had bobba!

I got a taro milk tea with tapioca.

I got the chicken and eggplant in garlic sauce with rice.

I also took several bites of the table’s order of bok choy.

The food was good but my meal was pretty heavy so I started feeling sick before I felt full.  I ate about half of my food and boxed the rest up for Adam’s lunch this week.

Finishing out my day with dessert, I split these Panda Yummies with Adam,

and ate a mini sundae whilst watching “That ’70’s Show” and blogging.

Today’s been fun, hopefully tomorrow will be productive!

Fillo Me Up

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When Adam got home at 3 o’clock (two hours late, I might add) we realized that neither of us and had eaten all day and we were both starving.  Waiting for dinner wasn’t an option because of our stomachs, eating at home wasn’t at options because of our pantry, and grabbing food close by wasn’t an option because we’re growing tired of Elmwood take-out.  To the internets!

I found a Groupon for Mississippi Mudds that we could buy and use this afternoon so we headed out.

The food was cheap and sounded good so we were excited to try something new.

Adam and I got a spread to share and headed to the roof for a meal with a view.

Problem # 1 – The complete and total bee infestation at Mississippi Mudds scared us back inside in a matter of minutes.  Problem # 2 – The food was freaking bad.

I ordered the seafood salad sandwich.

I knew that there was a chance of the fake crab mix but this was basically egg salad!  I ate about 1/3 before giving up.  Plus, even with my small serving I was left completely nauseous which means I’m probably sensitive to one of the preservatives in the fake crab mixture.  <– yet another reason it’s better to eat whole foods

Adam and I also split the sweet potato fries with honey and butter (on the side).

I imagine it’s hard to produce a product that is both undercooked and burnt but they managed.  The fries were cold too, which was pretty much the final straw for us.  We’d give Mississippi Mudds a 1.5/10; the only positive was that we used a Groupon so we only had to pay 50%.

So in spite of our efforts to branch out, the bulk of lunch ended up coming from our old standby.  Wegman’s hot bar can basically do no wrong.  I got a broccoli mixture and a cauliflower mixture, plus some apple cider sweet and sour chicken.

Still cheap, but now healthy and delicious!

I have a less busy weekend with time for school work so I spent my afternoon watching tv instead of studying.  I’m typically not an emotional eater (I eat junk because it makes me happy, not because I’m sad) but I will admit that the full glass of Arnold Palmer the dog spilled on the couch did push me towards the this mint chocolate chip swirl cupcake.

I ate the top half of the cake with icing, because that’s the good part anyways.

The husband and I weren’t hungry again for dinner until pretty late in the evening so we wanted something quick.  Thank you HLS swag bag, for the mini fillo shells.

Our final meal was “Strawberry Fields” themed.

We baked the mini fillo shells with chunky peanut butter, diced strawberries, and a sprinkle of brown sugar.

I ate 6 (technically two servings for 90 calories total) and the pb&j feel was perfect.

On the side we had salads with leftover diced strawberries.

Also romaine lettuce, roasted buckwheat groats, crumbled blue cheese, and Newman’s Own Light Caesar Dressing.

Cheese plus fruit (particularly blue or goat cheese with any type of berry) is a combo that never fails.

Fellow HLS attendees; what did you do with your fillo shells?

Sleeping Hungry

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Yikes, this is one of those blog posts that veers a little further into the definition of “healthy living.”  Though actually, I think it’s pretty darn healthy to listen to your body!

for this week…

  • the good – I’ve been doing my best to get lots of sleep and I’ve been doing my best to deal with my intense hunger in healthy ways
  • the bad – I’ve been doing a terrible job of packing food for school and I haven’t worked out in almost a full week(!)
  • the ugly – My eats yesterday were consumed under the assumption that I was fueling for a long workout

Yesterday morning (Thursday) I didn’t have time to pack food before school and my stomach was growling in our four-hour class.  I ended up buying pretzels and diet pop from a vending machine at 9am.

Best. Breakfast. Ever.

I stayed on campus for a club meeting and happily ate a slice of cheese pizza as breakfast component #2.  Note, this was also bread/cheese component #1.

Post-pizza my stomach was still growling and I wanted to make sure I was well-fueled for my long workout so I turned to Wegmans hot bar.

Actually, first I ate a Oreo ball from the Tupperware in the back of my car.

But then I turned to hot bar.  Veggies from many different containers plus a few pieces of chicken.

And then bread and cheese component #2.

A jalapeno cheddar bialy with veggie cream cheese.

Yuuuuuuum.  Seriously, just yum.  And I was left super well-fueled … for my nap … at 4pm.

Yup, I fell asleep on the couch at 4pm and stayed fast asleep until 9pm when I awoke just long enough to brush my teeth and transition to the bedroom.

Since I still slept until 7:20 (what? this week my body demands food and sleep) the best I could do for breakfast was iced coffee.

Coffee, skim milk, and 1 Tbsp of English Toffee syrup.

I got out of class at 1 (which is when Adam told me he could pick me up) and have been stuck in limbo waiting for the husband to call ever since.  Sometimes I think being single would help me waste less time; I certainly would have eaten lunch and done some schoolwork this afternoon!

I’m not sure what my plans for this afternoon/evening are now, though I am making my way through this pitcher of Arnold Palmers.

Half home-brewed green tea and half Wegman’s brand organic lemonade.  Good (though I think I prefer AP’s with black tea), but my stomach is definitely ready for lunch!

Bombay To Book Club

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So this last week has sort of been a healthy living fail.  I haven’t worked out since Sunday, I’ve been eating a fair amount of junk, and I clearly haven’t been hitting my bedtime goals.  I am 100% determined to get in a longer run tomorrow though, which is all the more reason to keep this post short and sweet.

Liquid breakfast consumed in class 1.

An Americano with skim milk and a lavender mint Herbal Water.

I bought this Turkey Pepperoni and Cheese GoPicnic snack back from the bookstore on our break.

The pepperoni was crumbly and weird but the crackers reminded me of Mary’s Gone Crackers which was nice.  I ate all of the cheese and crackers, half the pepperoni, and the candy (duh).

For lunch lunch a friend and I decided to check out the new Indian place that popped up in the food court.

Healthy, real food at Buffalo State?  What, what!  I ordered a channa masala with rice,

topped with tamarind chutney and tons of spicy pickled mangos.

Yum!  I never see tamarind in the states (I used to eat them straight from the pod growing up in St. Thomas) so that was fun.  I ended up using two portions of spicy mangos which may have been a mistake as my mouth was on fire and my stomach hurt all afternoon.

My meal also came with a Naan bread but that was the only part of the dish that wasn’t great so I left it uneaten.

Healthy, spicy, veggies for lunch are totally worth a tummy ache.

After classes 2 and 3 had wrapped I headed back to my house for a quick cupcake frosting session.  Janessa actually stopped by to drop off goodies early this morning because we were heading to Kim’s house for…. book club!

Side note – I’ve always wanted to be part of a book club but when I thought about suggesting the idea to my group of friends I felt a little lame.  I sucked it up and you know what?  They were just as excited about the idea as I was!  Lesson learned when in doubt, if you are excited about something your friends probably will be too.  Don’t be so afraid of sounding silly that you miss out on a fun opportunity.

We already chose our first book (The Help) but haven’t gotten to read yet so tonight’s meeting was more of a drinks/snacks/silly YouTube videos party.  We had a nice foodie spread for sure.  Kim made spinach and artichoke dip with fresh spinach and white beans,

Hillary made taco dip,

and crescent rolls with pizza filling.

And Anna brought booze but since I was the designated driver I sat that out.

Here were my bites.

Plus dessert!  Janessa made Oreo cheesecake balls with Biscoff!

This idea was so good I sort of can’t even describe it without drooling but it sparked an even better idea that I’ll share later.

And I made Mint Chocolate Chip Swirl Cupcakes.

Recipe to come tomorrow.

And I shall see you all tomorrow too; if I don’t get to bed soon my long run will turn into a short shuffle!

Window Shopping Wednesdays

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I am not much of a shopper, much to my mother’s chagrin.  The woman can spend days at the mall, while I start to feel itchy after just a few hours.  It’s not that I’m not materialistic, I totally am, it’s just that the thought of adding more stuff to my life makes it hard to breathe.  But I like the idea of things.  So I’m an avid window shopper.  I browse catalogs I’ll never buy from and hold my breathe when I pass the window at J.Crew.  So while I’m stuck at school all day Wednesdays, I thought we could have some fun via blog.  Let’s window shop!

Here’s what I’m coveting this week –

1. The Cooperative Lace Shift Dress from Urban Outfitters.

Shift dress, check.  Pockets, check.  Lace but not see through, check.  Yep, this dress is adorable.

2. The Harness boot from Urban Outfitters.

I know it’s an itsy bit early in the year for boots but these are just so cute.  I rode horses for years as a kid but I think I overlooked the amazing outfit potential.

3. The Technicolor Tweed Jacket from J.Crew.

At $595 I will clearly never purchase this, but that doesn’t quell my obsessive love of blazers any.  I love that there are only three buttons on this one too.

4. The tuxedo tank from Gap.

How cute would this look under a blazer??

5. The cascading ruffle tank from Banana Republic.

Have I mentioned that I like ruffles?  I like how this top feels girly yet casual all at once.

Coupon Chief

I want to always be completely upfront with my readers so I am letting you know that I was compensated for this review.  Please know that I always (compensated or not) will give a fair and honest assessment of any product I review.  Also, know that if Coupon Chief hadn’t contacted me directly, I probably would have blogged about this site anyway as soon as I found it on my own.

Part of the reason I don’t actually buy the items I covet in Window Shopping Wednesdays is a lack of funds.  Actually, let’s be honest, when Adam’s making doctor money I’ll probably get over my fear of too much stuff in a hurry and start shopping a lot more.  But as a student I don’t do a lot of purchasing and when I do I scour the internet for coupons first.

Googling “store name + coupon code” isn’t exactly difficult, but you do have to wade through a lot of crap once you get your search results.  One of the most frustrating things is finding a coupon code, filling up your online shopping cart, getting excited about your purchase, and then realizing at the last minute that your code is a bust.  When I did our grocery shopping online in New York City I spent more time looking for current coupon codes than I did looking at the items I was actually buying.  It would be much easier if there was a single site to search through, one that gives you only (mostly) codes that are up-to-date.  Enter Coupon Chief.

Coupon Chief (http://www.couponchief.com/) is one of the fastest growing coupon sites, with over 250 thousand visitors a month.  They have over 50 thousand coupons for over 15,000 stores, making them one of the largest databases of online coupons on the net.  The database is easy to navigate and they keep up to date by constantly gathering information from their users about the usability of the codes listed (when you use a code a small screen pops up for you to click the coupon worked yes/no).

I mock-shopped for each item listed in today’s post to test out Coupon Chief myself.  I was able to easily find at least one coupon that would save me money on each purchase (or at least on shipping).  From my experience, here are the pros and cons –

great things about Coupon Chief

  • You can browse by popular tag, an alphabetized list of stores, or through the search bar.
  • Every fashion store that I could think to look for (J. Crew, Banana, Sephora, etc) was listed, as well as several grocery and drug stores.
  • The coupons are clearly marked with, and ranked by, success percentages.
  • One click copies the coupon code and opens a new window for the store’s website.
  • After you use the coupon an easy pop-up system opens for you to label the coupon as successful or not in order to help them rank the coupons correctly.

not-so great things about Coupon Chief

  • Wegmans was not listed (though Publix, Whole Foods, etc were so this may be a more regional complaint).
  • Some coupons with a 0% success rating are still listed.
  • Only coupons for online shopping are available, no printables for in store use.

Overall, I highly recommend using Coupon Chief when you pick up some of the fabulous finds from my window shopping post 😀