I’m Feeling Wicked

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Congrats to those of you who guessed it; last night Adam and I saw “Wicked” at Shea’s Performing Arts Center!

I’ve seen the show once before in NYC and I have to admit that the Buffalo rendition totally exceeded my expectations!

Gregory Maguire is one of my favorite authors, and Wicked is actually my all-time favorite book.  I tend to read mostly memoirs and non-fiction, but Maguire’s adult fairy tales are totally my jam!  I don’t love all of the changes that the play makes to the story, but the added hilarity definitely allow me to overlook them.  Adam loved the show as well, which was the most exciting thing at all for me.

We bought ourselves a champagne before the show started,

and nibbled on some Smarties during intermission.

It was a glorious date night, thanks Mom and Dad!

This morning’s breakfast was centered around trying out a new vegan yogurt find, Amande is made from cultured almond milk.

I tried the coconut flavor today, atop a sliced banana and topped with a dollop of Smuckers Natural PB with Honey and a sprinkle of shredded coconut.

I didn’t love love the yogurt (nothing can top the tang and thickness of Greek), but I thought it was the best vegan alternative I’ve ever tried.  I wouldn’t buy it regularly, but I am looking forward to trying the strawberry flavor in my fridge.  The bowl was pretty good,

though I have to admit, I was missing my usual crunchy/sweet nut addition.

I had to head to school a bit early because I was meeting with a professor about a project and I needed to go grovel at the financial aid office as well.  Part of the reason I have been feeling wicked is because I have NOT been keeping on top of my work!  <– more on that in a minute

Lunch was all about the leftovers; a piece of corn bread,

and a serving of steamed spinach,

topped with maple turkey sloppy joes.

The “sauce” mixed with the spinach was divine; I’m never eating ‘joes on a bun again!

I also snagged a few bites of free cotton candy from the student union.

Boo-yah for free spun sugar!

I mentioned feeling wicked above, and I think I put that shame to good use.  After classes ended today I headed to the dietetics lab (computers and silence) with a friend and hunkered down there until after 8pm!  I finished a ton of work and I’m on such a roll that I’m planning on making it a late night of studying.  The goal is a 12-1am bedtime alternating 30minutes of tv with 45+ minutes of studying. 

We grabbed lattes – medium, non-fat, half pumps of almond rocca syrup –

before the study session but dinner never really happened.  My stomach has been feeling off all day, hurting and bloated, so nothing ever sounded appealing.  I’ll probably grab a snack at some point this evening and I’ll just blog about it in the morning.

Have you ever seen (or read) Wicked?  What’s your favorite Broadway show?

May Day

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Welcome, May!  You haven’t quite warmed up to us yet, but you allowed me a glorious run around Delaware Park with the husband, so I think I’m going to like you.

The half marathon plan called for 4 miles this morning, so we set out through our neighborhood for a loop around the park and back.  Runs like this are when I’d kill for a Garmin; MapMyRun isn’t 100% accurate when you’re not going in a straight line.  To the best of my knowledge, we ran 4 miles, in 48 minutes.  That’s crazy slow, but I ran the entire time so I’m feeling proud of myself!  We finished with a short walk around the ‘hood to bring our workout to 1 hour.

Then I came home and got into bed.  The run didn’t really tire me out (my legs feel great!), but we’ve been staying up way too late watching “Scrubs” lately.  Running knocks my hunger back anyways, so I gladly showered and fell into bed without breakfast.

When I was done with the Sleeping Beauty routine I made myself a glass of hazelnut cocoa,

and some baby carrots.

And we just finished a Southern feast of a dinner –

Cheddar and Scallion Corn Bread from Fitness Magazine,

Sloppy Maple-BBQ Turkey Joes from Everyday with Rachael Ray,

and some steamed spinach.

I ate my spinach in the ‘joe juice and it was so good!  I definitely took an extra large serving of everything.  A great meal all around.

We ate the early dinner because we are headed to Shea’s Theatre to take in a show.  I am beyond excited!  My parents bought us tickets for Easter and we are seeing one of my favorites.

For funsies, see if you can guess the show from my hints –

Any ideas?  I’ll be back tomorrow with a recap!

Confessions Post II

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Confession #1 – I’m not posting today because I’m supposed to be studying, but instead I’m having long philosophical discussions with the husband.  1.a – Whenever we pull into a parking space we usually sit in the car a few minutes longer to continue talking.

Confession #2 – I’ve been chipping away at the extra chocolate cream cheese frosting with a spoon ever since we made the ‘Smores Cupcakes.

Confession #3 – I didn’t shave my legs once the entire winter.  Not once.  And though I was sporting pants for those months outside, I definitely walked around the house in shorts.  The husband’s pet name for me is Mouse, so he took to calling me ‘Wooly Mamouse.’

Confession #4 – I really, really dislike when major companies try to give themselves nicknames.  Pacific Sunwear and Washington Mutual – if you continue to call yourselves Pac Sun and WaMu, I will continue to hate you.

Confession #5 – Sometimes I’m bad about washing my hair.  Also, sometimes I lie; I’m always bad about washing my hair.  Hence my obsession with this –

Click here to read confessions part I.

A Random Assortment

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Spring had sprung.  Spring sprang so hard that it wore itself out and had to go lie down.

Let’s pretend we’re chatting face-to-face, this is the expression I make when discussing Buffalo’s descent back to 50* weather –

At least it’s not hot?!

Today was actually a busy day (hence the late recap post); I attended an event this evening and helped set up a bit as well.  Since a friend was coming home with me between class and the event, I needed to get in my workout before class.  <– not a good day to oversleep.  Sometimes when you try to live a healthy life (especially when you make the unhealthy choice to stay up too late at night) you’ve got to weigh your options.  For me today, workout > breakfast.

I had a great gym session and I’m glad I squeezed it in!  My right knee was feeling a little funny so I lowered the resistance and upped my time – elliptical level 6 random, 40minutes.  Followed by a quick strength/stretch session.

When I got to campus for class – after I walked home, showered, walked back – I grabbed a Red Velvet Latte for breakfast.

Skim milk, half syrup, fully delicious!

After class I went to the health center to get my PPD read and learn the shocking news that I don’t have TB.  <– I was holding my breath.  I celebrated my health with a new yogurt find for lunch, Athenos 0% Greek with strawberry.

I love the idea of jam-on-the-side Greek yogurts, but this wasn’t my favorite.  Actually, it was super sour and unappetizing, and I threw it out after a few bites.  I’m glad I also packed a clementine which got the taste out of my mouth.

P.S. I brought in the last of the ‘Smores Cupcakes to share and they got rave reviews.

I volunteered an hour helping to set up the event – the Nutrition Club arranged for a few local dietitians to come in and speak to us tonight – and then Rachel and I headed back to my apartment to watch Grey’s Anatomy and Private Practice.  Shonda Rhimes’ saptastic tv is so much better when you have another girl to sniffle with!

I’m obsessed with taking people to Wegman’s hot bar, so we headed there at 5.

The plan was for this to be dinner but I had difficulty finding enough food, so instead I filled my veggie quota as a pre-dinner snack.

I snagged a glass of punch at the reception,

and then came home for the world’s most random dinner assortment.  An apple with 2Tbsp PB,

half a cucumber,

a lemon Chobani with 1 sheet of crumbled graham crackers and a blob of marshmellow filling,

1.5 servings of tortilla chips,

and a Fun Dip for dessert.

Heck yes!

Blah, Blah, Blah.

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Blah, blah, blah.  Today was just blah.  My mood was blah, my food was blah, my workout was blah, my photos today basically redefine the word blah…

We started our morning by pulling the pre-made chia seed and banana buttermilk pancakes out of the freezer.

I topped mine with a smear of Smart Balance Light and drizzle of maple syrup.

They were good, not boring and blurry like the picture suggests.

Adam drove me to school – a high point in the day because the wind here is ca-razy! – so I could attend my final Biochem lab, my last science lab ever in my degree!  That last lab bit would be a lot more exciting if we didn’t have a huge lab final next week that is totally throwing off my study plans for my other finals.

In the afternoon I also attended a study session for another exam that is making me want to curl up in a ball and cry.  When I take my Metabolism final two weeks from now we will have a 5minute break after the test and then we’ll be sitting for a comprehensive exam that spans the material from a course two semesters ago through now.  Yay.  <– can you see why I’m in a blah mood?!

In between test bad news #1 and test bad news #2 I did manage to go to the gym.  My half marathon training schedule (which I promise to share on Monday) had me slated for three miles, so I hopped on the treadmill.  Aaaaaand I confirmed that I can’t run three miles without having to stop for breaks.  Ugh!  I ran 3 frustrating miles, followed by a 10minute cool down for a total of 3.5 miles and 40 minutes.  With a 5-minute strength/stretch session afterward.

For lunch I packed overnight made in the morning oats.  I combined and let stew –

  • 1/3 cup raw oatmeal
  • 2/3 cup skim milk
  • a 0% Plain Stonyfield yogurt
  • 1/2 a sliced banana
  • 1 Tbsp brown sugar
  • 2 Tbsp raisins

Tasted delicious, but looked as brown and boring as my breakfast –

Plus some greens in the form of roasted green beans.

Still tasty cold, and two days later, ps.

I was feeling seriously blah when I got home, and felt myself heading toward Crankypalooza.  So I did the not-being-a-psycho-wife thing and took a long shower, scrapped our dinner plans, ordered nachos with extra black beans and sour cream, and cuddled on the couch with Adam to watch some Scrubs.

A serving (weighed out because if you don’t weigh it you’ll seriously just eat the entire bag) of mini Reeses was also consumed.

I’m not sure if it was the cheese, the cuddling, or my Zach Braff crush, but my bad mood lifted!  And I knuckled down and finished off all of my remaining work for one of my classes; which further helped to lift my mood.  Bring it on finals week!

Are you having the crazy weather and winds in your neck of the woods?  Keep dry readers!

Spring Has Sprung

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“Spring has sprung.”  That’s what Adam said during our tv interview (which our friend Brandon actually heard on the radio!) and that’s what I was saying with today’s outfit –

Actually, what I was saying with my short sleeves was “I hibernated this winter, please don’t judge my pale, flabby bat-wings.”

It was so exciting outside that I didn’t even mind adding an extra walk home so I could eat dinner before my night class.  Dinner wasn’t especially spring-y, a Smart Ones Angel Hair Marinara with yellow squash and zucchini.

I wasn’t expecting much – I sort of hate angel hair pasta – but it was actually pretty good!  I loved the squash.

Let’s be real though, I picked dinner based on the nutritional info –

I knew I needed the caloric wiggle room for dessert.

Those Magnum ice cream bars did not last long!  I scraped it off the stick and ate it with a spoon.

Delicious.

Way Back Wednesday, Wk 3

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I missed WBW last week so I tried to make this a good one!  First, the present…

I packed a nice sandwich for lunch,

A slice of 2% Swiss, two slices of turkey, and Crofter’s Strawberry Fruit Spread on an Everything Bagel Thin.

Plus some roasted green beans.

Hopefully it’ll be enough to last me through my night class, but my huge breakfast probably did the trick.  Now on to the good stuff…

Way Back Wednesday is a new blog series.  Since I have to pre-blog lunch on my long days, I’m throwing in pictures from life BB (life before blogging) for fun.  (week 1, week 2)

This week’s WBW is about the NYC apartment I shared with the husband.  Adam and I actually lived together in college, but this was our first “real” apartment, the one we had to pay for on our own.  Apartment is a little generous of a term though, this was a studio.  For those of you who’ve never been poor teachers in New York City, studio = room.

As in Adam and I, plus all of our stuff, in one room for two years.  The place was gorgeous, but building up a mess was unavoidable.  Here’s the living room –

And this is the bedroom –

You’ll notice that the bedroom is also the living room, and that we slept on the couch.

Honestly, even with all of our stuff, it wasn’t that bad.  Fighting was a little ridiculous (how do you slam the door when there are no doors?!), but we felt so blessed to be in our neighborhood – Park Slope – that it was worth it.

But then there was the bathroom.

I wish I could really show you how small the bathroom was, but the pictures just don’t do it justice.

I’ll put it this way – our larger relatives couldn’t even fit into the bathroom.  And my model-tall best friend could only pee with the door open.  It was a little insane.

But even though I cried every shower as I smashed my funny bone into the wall trying to wash my hair, I loved that apartment.  We got to live in Park Slope, and when we moved in on a whim we had no idea it would quickly become our favorite neighborhood in the city.  Our studio was less than a block away from Prospect Park.

We also lived walking distance from 5 major subway lines, and walking distance from the arch at Grand Army Plaza.  I wouldn’t have traded those two years for all the floor space in the world!

What was your first apartment like?

Toppings Heaven

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Happy Hump Day!  I hopped right over the hump today with a nice morning workout.

Elliptical for 30minutes, on level 6 random (with several sprint intervals).  Plus a short session of stretching and strength moves.  I love my walk home from the gym because it helps me to continue to stretch out my legs.

After a quick shower I tucked into a heavenly breakfast.

I think some people think eating a yogurt bowl for breakfast will be boring, but with the right toppings it can become dessert.

Today’s bowl basically did move right past breakfast and into dessert –

Chopped banana, a sprinkle of cinnamon, Yoplait 0% Plain Greek Yogurt, butter toffee almonds, toasted coconut, a dollop of marshmellow filling, and 1 Tbsp Smuckers Natural PB with Honey.

Man, oh man!  Boring was not on the vocabularly list.

What are your favorite unorthodox yogurt toppings?