My Poor, Unfortunate Soles

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This morning was a total clusterf**k, but things started looking up as soon as I got home (you’ll see…).

I needed to meet my landlord, a seemingly simple task that devolved into me waiting at the wrong location for 30 minutes – driving to and having to locate the correct location – having to locate parking – backtracking from the car to the office – and then finally having the meeting.

I spent every last cent in the car paying for parking downtown which meant that parking at my campus and driving to Wegmans was out of the question.  What I ended up having to do was park at my house – walk to campus – gym it – walk back to my house – and then drive to Wegmans.  Whew!

While I was at campus I completed a workout for the study I’m participating in.  Treadmill at 5% incline for 60 minutes and 2.9 miles.

While I was at Wegmans I replaced the peanut butter Adam finished even though he knew we need it for dinner and bought myself an iced coffee with skim milk.

I’m done with errands for the weekend minus one this afternoon that will lead to an exciting announcement, whee!

For lunch I ate an Angel Hair Marinara Smart One.

I don’t generally eat a lot of frozen meals and I pretty much hate angel hair in anything else, but I’m totally obsessed with this frozen meal.  The pasta isn’t mushy at all and the veggies taste very fresh.  Plus it’s a super filling serving for less than 300 calories.

I was keeping lunch on the lighter side because I knew what was waiting for me in the oven.

S’mores Brownies!  Am I evil or a genius?  An evil genius?

A buttery graham cracker layer topped with gooey brownie and a toasty marshmallow on top?  Hells yes!

I ate one for dessert and was pretty much dying.  Click here for the recipe.

I’m going to end this post on a low note by talking about feet.  Foot blisters to be exact.  Since I was a teen, something about the way I walk has caused me to get fin-like blisters on the bottom of my ring-finger toes.  My right foot has always been worse than my left, but recently it’s gotten out of control; probably not helped by my 7 miles yesterday.

Notice the super hot blood blisters.  I’m okay when I’m barefoot but every step in tennis shoes feels like knives.  I guess I can finally relate to Hans Christian Anderson’s Ariel.  Does anyone else get toe fins?!?

Embarrassing side note – do you remember the scene in “The Little Mermaid” where Ariel gives Ursula her voice?

When I was in 2nd grade I would corner my teachers – daily – and make them listen to me sing that song!

I Made Coq Au Vin!

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What a day; I’ve been a busy bee since literally the minute I got out of bed!  I realize I didn’t do anything major – and most of you have jobs – but lots of little things added up and I feel accomplished and exhausted.  I don’t loving doing one long post a day but that will probably have to be the schedule once school starts anyway.

I had a scary doctor’s appointment across town this morning which meant I got to drive along the water.

I also got to eat breakfast in the car, in the form of an 18 Rabbits Cheeky Cherry Chocolate Granola Bar.

This was awesome; the perfect amount of chew with a little bit of tang from the cherries and a little bit of sweet from the chocolate.  Plus for 240 calories this was very filling.  I know I live for Cookie Dough Balance Bars and Chocolate Coconut Covered Lara Bars, but when it comes to straight up granola bars 18 Rabbits takes the cake oat.

My doctor’s appointment wasn’t fun, but it wasn’t as scary as it could have been.  I had a bump on my hand that needed a biopsy so 2 needles, 1 scalpel, and a band-aid later I was done.

It hurts a bit, but felt a little better once I could get home and pretty it up.

Did you know we only have children’s band-aids in our apartment?  I’m going to hit up a drug store tomorrow but Adam’s going to have to wash my hair tonight because those cuties are not water-tight.

On the way home I stopped at the gym to complete a workout session for the study I’m participating in.  We fuel with three different drinks and then walk on the treadmill for and hour at our heart rate range and take some notes on exertion levels.  Today I fueled with this 24 oz mystery beverage that I believe was water and apple juice.

I walked on the treadmill at a 5% incline for an hour and 2.9 miles.

I had to hurry to shower when I got home because I was meeting friends, but I was heading back to the gym after lunch.  It was the perfect time to try out the Champion tank every blogger’s been raving about.

I picked this up at Target the other day and I’m in love.  You know I’m all about the blouse-tank.

This may be my new favorite top for play and workouts; it was so comfy.  Plus, two different homeless guys stopped me to tell me I looked hot, so I’m giving this two thumbs up.

For lunch I met up with a few school friends at Coles.  It was so great getting a chance to catch up with a few people I haven’t seen all summer.  I ordered off of the specials menu.

A sandwich of grilled salmon in a sweet glaze with pickled veggies, and french fries.

This was okay, but the sauce was oddly sweet.  The best part was actually the spicy mayo which wasn’t even mentioned on the menu.  I ate about 2/3 of everything.

After lunch I headed back to the gym for my real workout: a running session on the treadmill.  It was pretty hard (being fat isn’t fun!) but I made myself stick to the same goal as Sunday of minimum 5 minutes running, maximum 2 minutes walking.  I did 4 miles in 42 minutes, 22 seconds.  Seven miles in one day probably wasn’t my best idea though, my back is killing me.

I was starving when I got home and dinner took for-ev-a so I ate a few snacks while I cooked.  Watermelon chunks stolen straight from the big container.

And two servings of Trolli Soda Poppers.

P.S. These aren’t bad, but they’re no gummi cola bottles.

1.5 hours later – seriously – it was time for dinner.  I made Coq au Vin!

Casey (who I had an obsessive girl crush on) made this during Top Chef and I’ve wanted to try it ever since.  I used Cooking Light’s Easy Coq au Vin recipe and my only changes were subbing in turkey bacon and using chicken breast instead of thighs and drums.

This was very good, but I’m not sure it was quite good enough to excuse the long cooking time; we’ll have to see how it does as leftovers.  At least the multiple sessions of simmering gave me time to handle my to-do’s around the house.

For my greens I made a tasty side salad.

A romaine base with Newman’s Own Light Cesar, roasted edamame, and roasted buckwheat groats.

The groats might be too savory for yogurt but I think they’re my new favorite salad topper.

I’d like to say I’m going to bed now but Adam’s still not home and I can’t wash my own hair.  But since my husband’s been at the hospital for upwards of 12 hours I guess it’s hard to complain about my day!

Preppy Provisions

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As promised, as soon as I published my last post I found myself some fruit and carbs.

The very last serving of the spinach pesto pasta,

and some watermelon cubes.

This combination was surprisingly delicious.

And since my carb was very green and my fruit was very pink, this combination was a Lilly Pulitzer approved lunch.

Sometimes I wish I dressed preppier but I wore Doc Martins in high school so I’m not sure it’s allowed.

The gym did not happen but I think that was a good thing since dinner didn’t happen either.  Adam and I had some exciting and expensive errands to run (hopefully I have some news to share this weekend) and the night got away from us.  Plus we had a gigantic pointless fight.  We suck.

But to end this post on a positive note; do you know what doesn’t suck?  This sky –

What is the stupidest thing you’ve ever fought with a significant other about?  One time in high school Adam and I almost broke up over a hair crimper.

So That’s Where I’ve Been

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Hello, hello; long time no “see!”  I’m fairly disappointed with myself for not making it to the end of my ’30 day blog everything’ goal but what can you do?  My absence was a mix of life craziness and being crazy craziness.  I’m very ready to go back to school already, I have not been spending this summer in a healthy, productive manner! 

To quickly recap what you’ve missed – Adam got sick on Monday night.  He’s fine now and didn’t have to go to the doctor or anything so we really don’t know what the problem was but we’re blaming it on the underripe watermelon.  Whatever the cause, he spent several hours clutching his stomach and moaning late into the night.  We were up past 2, including a trip to Wegmans for bread to settle his stomach, which was a terrible idea.  My impression of the hypothetical scenario at the ER due to this terrible idea (“You made him eat bread?!  Jesus, fatty, food’s not always the answer!”) was also a terrible idea since apparently laughter was painful.  Actually, I made him laugh all night long and we determined that I’m hilarious but evil.  I ended up being the one to eat the darn bread, which I dipped in olive oil and spices to fool myself into thinking I was fancy and gourmet and not the loser eating a loaf of bread at midnight.  Adam was fine by the next morning but I spent the day in bed eating caramel popcorn and feeling sorry for myself that I was too tired to go to the gym.  And I just couldn’t figure out an upbeat way to blog that so here we are.

On a less rambling note, this morning I had a orthodontist appointment and then a trip to Mr. Tire for a state inspection.  During the wait I pulled out my phone to search for coffee and discovered that Sweetness 7 Cafe (an old favorite) was only a .6 mile walk away; sweet!

Half of the drinks on the menu are things I’ve never heard of so I decided to pick something and random and go with it.  A Vietnamese iced latte.

After some Googling, I found that these are typically made with sweetened condensed milk, but I only saw the barista use a powder.  Whatever the ingredients, it was sweet but still had a rich coffee flavor.

I read while I waited.

The Little Book of Forensics was interesting, but not as in-depth or science-based as I had hoped.

Amid errands this afternoon I also stopped a Wegmans for some veggies for lunch.

Southwestern corn salad, chili garlic eggplant, sautéed broccoli, and roasted squash and mushrooms.

Yummy as usual.

Now that I’m home I need to locate some carbs and/or fruit.  I’ve realized that I either eat way too much or way too little each day and that it’s probably making me fatter than eating way too much and then a normal amount on other days.  My goal for the last weeks before summer is to get better at eating healthy stuff even when I’m not hungry and not getting so much unhealthy stuff even when I am hungry.  Make sense? 

My other hope for the afternoon is a trip to the gym but since I have to bring the materials for the study I can only go if the rain clears up.  Cross your fingers for blue skies.

You’re Getting Sleepy…

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Being a medical student’s wife is going to be tricky!  I was awake with Adam past 2am and he got me up before 8 this morning, and this is actually his easy schedule.  When we were in undergrad I’d go to bed in the middle of the night and then bound out of bed hours before Adam had his first class and feel fine.  Now he’s the one who’s unphased and I feel like I’m dying.  I’m not sure when I started needing so much more sleep but I have to assume to that it’s linked to how much better of shape I was in back then compared to now.  If that’s not motivation to step up my healthy habits then I’m not sure what is!

That said, today was definitely a “summer day” of eating.  I didn’t want to go back to sleep this morning (I’m working on getting a school-appropriate schedule going) but I didn’t want to get up either.  Reading Nancy Drew in bed was the perfect compromise!  I stayed in bed until literally the last second before I needed to leave for a meeting on campus so I ended up eating a Chocolate Covered Coconut Lara Bar on the walk for breakfast.

After my meeting I spent the rest of they running (most fruitless) errands.  I’ll be honest, I haven’t really left the house much this summer and I don’t think I realized how fricking hot it’s been outside?!!  I actually took a mid-afternoon break and saw “Friends with Benefits – alone, for the 2nd time – because I wanted to curl up in the dark with ac and a big diet coke!

Once I was back on mission I ended up at Target with the Ben and Jerry’s flavor I’ve been lusting after staring me in the face.  And they had it in a single-serve mini.  But I had more errands to run and the car was, of course, too hot.  What to do, what to do?  I bought it and ate it right in the car.

Best decision ever.

I’d like to think it was the ice cream that powered me through a much-needed apartment cleaning session this afternoon.  But it was probably the bowl of H2O-melon I had waiting to cool me off.

This wasn’t the best melon but even only ok ones are still pretty great.

I also made myself a 200 calorie bowl of popcorn; because I’m realizing that I don’t need to always eat popcorn by the bucket but I find that the 100 calorie bags just piss me off.

I topped my ‘corn with some melted butter and a few tsps of sugar for a lazy girl’s kettle corn.

I had grander plans for dinner, but when I realized I’d misread the cooking time by more than an hour we decided to go with Thursday’s planned meal instead.  Easy peasy mac and cheesy.

Adam and I split a box of Annie’s Organic Classic Macaroni and Cheese with frozen broccoli tossed in during the last few minutes of cooking.  I topped my portion liberally with Sriracha.

Spicy!  I was super hungry when we sat down to eat and I knew that kicking up the heat would help this meal to be more satisfying.  Now all I’ve got to do is get Adam in bed!

How many hours of sleep do you need to feel your best?  How many hours do you actually get?

Pizza Powered

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As planned, we ordered a pie from Just Pizza last night and it was fabulous.

We got a Laura’s Old Fashioned – “The way our Mother used to make it. Made with Extra Thick Dough, a special Sweet Pizza Sauce (fresh sliced Onions in the sauce), Mozzarella & Romano Cheese, topped with Mushrooms.”

Not so fabulous was the way I felt after eating 5 slices this size.

Fat, ill, and irritated with myself for noting getting up an eating a salad.  On the plus side though, it’s sort of like Adam and I were carbo-loading for our run this morning!  If nothing else, our glycogen stores were nice and prepared.

Actually we were prepped all around, this is the run I got to test out my new shoes on.

I’m 90% sure I like them, but I’m going to run in them once more to be sure since my most recent pair sucked so badly.

I also tested out my new favorite shirt;

handmade by ME at last week’s tie dye party.

I think it’s pretty darn cute.

It was a good run to feel cute on, because I was mostly feeling like a jackass that I haven’t worked out all summer.  My planned 3.5 miles were tough.  We had two 1.75 mile loops around Delaware Park and I’m just glad I finished.  I had to take a few walking breaks, but I made sure to run for a least five minutes each time and walk for no more than 2 minutes at a time.  3.5 miles in 40 minutes and 20 seconds.  Followed by a 10 minute walk.

The rest of the agenda was shower ~ ice ~ grocery ~ clean the dirty apartment ~ dinner.  Thankfully our grocery trip was made much more exciting by our plan to sit in the cafe for a few hours so Adam could study.  I got cozy reading Nancy.

Sidenote – I am completely and utterly obsessed with the Nancy Drew books.

And got exciting lunch from the hot bar.

In an effort to save a bit of money, we also supplemented with salads from home.

In the end my meal ended up being arugula topped with carrots, 2 Tbsp of wheat germ, 1/4 cup of roasted chick peas, and 2 Tbsp of tarragon vinaigrette.

Plus roasted veggies, chili garlic eggplant, and veggies picked out of the cashew chicken,

and a few pieces of pineapple and berries.

Delish.  I read my first Nancy and munched and was in absolute bliss.

Unfortunately, the grocery took longer than anticipated and once I added in a last-minute walk to the co-op and the task of packing Adam’s lunches, I plain ran out of time to clean the house.  Tomorrow.  And at least I’m a good wife.

Adam has one rice bowl for each day of the work week.  And I took a good many nibbles that escaped the camera while I cooked.

I also made dinner.

Polenta that turned into a fairly intimidating, but tasty solid,

and huevos rancheros inspired tacos.

I scrambled 5 eggs (with skim milk, salt, and pepper) into sautéed chopped onions and green pepper, and then stuffed them into blue corn taco shells with a bit of sharp cheddar.  I served Adam and myself 3/5 and 2/5 accordingly.

Dessert was 2/3 to 1/3 in my favor though.

A gigantic cowboy cookie I picked up at the co-op.

My entire right side of my body has ached ever since yesterday’s tennis game, so I’m going to go curl up with a book.

Change Up Your Plans

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One good turn deserves another, so we started our day with more booze.

With my Brewfast stamp still fresh on my hand, natch.

Drinks two days in a row, or martinis any day, is usually not my style, but we were at a well-known martini bar and when in Rome.  Adam and I just had to split the Pineapple Upside-down Cake, vanilla Smirnoff shaken with grenadine and pineapple juice and topped with a cherry.

It was delicious and totally fun to try something new.

Adam and I met up at Cecelia’s Ristorante with our friend Danielle for brunch around 11.  Adam and Danielle have both had martinis at Cecelia’s before and were total fans but today we wanted to check out the food.  Sadly, brunch is apparently only a Sunday thing but since it was lunch time at that point anyways it was probably just as well.

The husband and I both got the Hickory Smoked Pulled Chicken sandwich.

3 hour smoked whole chicken pulled off the bone, Carolina red sauce and homemade cole slaw.  With a side of homemade butter pickles.

Not as good as THE sandwich from Taste of Buffalo, but still pretty darn good.  The chicken was nice and soft and the Carolina red sauce was sweet and smokey; plus cole slaw on a sandwich is always a win.  I practically licked my plate clean.

The next this on the agenda was a work out which was supposed to be easy but of course it wasn’t.  I’m participating in a fueling study through my Department (which basically involves walking on the treadmill for an hour and taking some notes) and I ran into some issues.  Heres how my workout ended up actually going –

  • walk from home to the gym
  • spend 5 minutes on the treadmill figuring out that I couldn’t do the study today
  • walk from the gym to home to put the special drink for the study back in the fridge
  • work up a sweat getting annoyed about missing a workout
  • walk 2 miles to the tennis courts where Adam was playing with friends
  • spend 45 minutes getting a lesson in tennis basics

We bought me a cheapie racket recently and I’m so excited to get to play tennis with the husband!  I’m bad, but not as bad as we’d thought I’d be, and our lesson today was a ton of fun.  He totally kicked my butt.  [We also kicked my knee’s butt but I’m icing as I type and keeping my fingers crossed.]

After a quick shower we headed to the mall and I refueled with ice cream.

These Friendly’s mini take-home sundaes are seriously to die for, I was basically in heaven.  This had 340 calories and it was sooo worth it.

We were headed to the mall so I could cash in my birthday gift from my parents, new running shoes.  I’m super excited to take them for a spin tomorrow.  My parents also told us to take their credit card to a movie so we took in a showing of “The Change Up.”  Hy-STARE-icle!  No “Friends With Benefits” but definitely laugh-worthy.  Also definitely worth getting home at 10pm without dinner.  We just ordered a large pizza, which I plan on devouring and blogging about in the morning.  G’night!

Buffalo Brewfest

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Last night was loads of fun. 

I don’t have a hangover this morning, but I definitely was not in shape to blog last night! 

Adam and I had a great time at Brewfest and then we continued the party on the metro to get a late dinner with a group of med school friends.  We came home after midnight, exhausted and happy.

I’m not 100% convinced that Brewfest was worth the admission fee, since the lines were so long we didn’t even have a chance to use all of our tickets.  Additionally, a lot of the breweries had either sold out of, or not brought, the beers listed in the program.  The two brews I was most excited about were unavailable, which sucked.  And most of the replacements were IPAs, which Adam and I both hate.  We had a great time, but I would suggest only going if you want to get indiscriminately wasted and NOT if you are excited about tasting specific things.

I’m not going to do a typical recap beyond that because we were given a 3 oz glass that was filled at each station and my pictures would just be more of the same.

I can tell you that I consumed 20 ounces of beer. 

That’s not a lot (1.5 beers!) but I did get a little bit buzzed.  Thanks to the blog, I can tell you that prior to last night I only drank 14 times in 2011.  And most of those occasions were half a beer or a glass of champagne.  When did I get so tame?!

For us there were two highlights to the festival.  One was McKenzie’s Hard Cider.

I tried the original and green apple flavors and as a cider aficionado I think they were great.  These were the only two pours that I wouldn’t let Adam share.

The best beer of the night though was Brooklyn Brewery’s Concoction.

Adam and I both agreed that this was one of the best beers we’ve ever tasted!  It reminded me of a ginger ale!

After the Brewfest wrapped at 9:30, we hopped back on the train with a group of friends.  (We parked near our old apartment and took the train to the festival)  I’m not sure how Anchor Bar was able to accommodate a group of 8 so quickly but they did a great job.

I was feeling a little queasy – even when I drank a lot more, I’ve never been a big beer drinker – so I ordered off of the kid’s menu.

5 spicy chicken wings,

with a basket of fries.

Ugggggh.  I felt so sick halfway through eating that I excused myself to the bathroom because I thought I was going to cry.  I don’t think there was anything wrong with the food – Adam ate all of his beef on weck and most of my meal – but it was too rich for me and I was not a happy camper.  I ended up eating most of 3 wings and half of the fries.

I went to bed pretty hungry, which means I woke up hungry, which means I’m off to find brunch!

Have you ever attended Brewfest or a similar event?