Tag Archives: about

Co-Co-Ca-Razy

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My breakfast this morning was chockfull of coconut.

I realize that these aren’t the prettiest pictures but a certain dog wouldn’t keep his nose out of my bowl.  That’s a Liberte Coconut Yogurt with 1 Tbsp of Bear Naked granola and 1 Tbsp of shredded, unsweetened coconut.

The Liberte yogurt is sooooo sweet and thick.  I’m coo-coo for coconut!

Speaking of crazy, check out the to-do lists I made on todoist last night.

This semester is not going to be kind to my sleep schedule and working out goals.

As long as we’re looking ahead, here’s what I plan on having for lunch – a serving of baby carrots,

a mini box of raisins,

a big baggie of grapes,

a serving of Quaker Maple Oatmeal Squares (HLS swag),

and a string cheese.

I imagine these will all be eaten by the end of the day.

I’ll be home around 5, but you should stop by the blog at noon for a shopping post!

Spiders and Schweddy Balls

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Success!  I started my day with success.  In spite of not getting to bed quite on time last night I successfully managed my first morning workout today!  I was worried things were getting off track when the world’s largest spider was on my car door (seriously) but I kept it together.  Sure killing the spider calling Adam and crying did eat into my time a bit, but I still got in a good workout.

35 minutes on the elliptical; random level 6.  Followed by a super quick strength/stretch session.  <– what that means to me, by the way, is generally 50 crunches, 40 other abs moves, 3 sets of toe touching, and a 1-minute plank ending with a downward dog.

I left the gym at 6:57 and had time to drive home, shower/dress, get my stuff together, drive back to school, park, and walk to class for 8 am.  The gym opens at 6am so if the spiders leave me alone I can get in a decent workout most mornings.

This morning, “get my stuff together” included making a giant iced coffee.

4 cups of cold coffee, 2 Tbsp English Toffee Syrup, and a big splash of Silk Plain Almond Milk. 

The almond milk takes coffee to whole new level; it is sooo thick!  (twss)

I also packed myself some plums to munch on during my 4-hour class.

1 black plum and 1 dapple plucot; sliced for easy mid-class eating.

My breakfast held me over until noon, especially because I find coffee to be very filling, but I did make lunch a three-parter when I got home.

Course 1 was chicken salad.

I tossed together shredded chicken, a few grapes, and 2 Tbsp 0% Plain Fage, 1 Tbsp sour cream, and 1.5 Tbsp pickle relish.

I don’t mind mayo but it’s fun to branch out; the greek yogurt sour cream combo did a great job as a binder.

I also ate a serving of these chips but my camera was dead so no picture.

Course 2 was a green apple with peanut butter.

That unappetizing looking stuff is actually Peanut Butter Company’s Dark Chocolate Dreams.

I used to love PB&Co when I lived in the city and I was super excited to find a 170-calorie pack in my book store.

And the awesome looking plate actually came home from my grandma’s house last weekend.

My great-great-grandmother painted these by hand!

My peanut butter sparked my sweet tooth because my final course was dessert.

I made myself a small serving of Ben and Jerry’s Schweddy Balls ice cream with 2 tsp of Heath crumbles on top.

I would probably like this ice cream even if it tasted like cardboard because the reference to one of SNL’s best skits is just too good!  Thankfully it’s also delicious; the rum flavor is nice and mellow and the malt balls are still crunchy.

What’s your all-time favorite SNL sketch?  I think mine might be Baldwin’s other win, “Canteen Boy.”

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?

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!

Serendipitous Stop

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Hello from Ohio!  I’m so glad we had this long weekend so I had the chance to get over to visit my grandparents.  My grandpa is in the hospital at the moment unfortunately, but we’ll get to visit a bit and we’re hanging out with my grandma until Monday.

I went to bed at 3am last night this morning and my alarm went off at 7am so you know I turned to coffee.

Adam and I shared this cup, with a small splash of English Toffee syrup and a big splash of skim milk.

Webster had an appointment to get his booster shots so we headed to the vet’s office on the way out of town.  Adam took him alone for the first visit while I was at HLS and I was so impressed today with how brave he was.

He was a total champ on the car road too.  Most of the trip was spent like this,

or like this.

And he drank water out of a glass in the cup holder like a little traveler!

When we weren’t fawning over how cute the dog is, we were eating.  I didn’t get a chance to pack lunch for myself and I got very lucky with a serendipitous stop.  I was hungry and thirsty when I spotted a Chipotle so I asked Adam to pull over,

and then we realized that we were only 2 miles from froyo!

Booyah!  You’ve seen my froyo face, but here is my “froyo and Chipotle?!?” face –

self taken in the bathroom mirror because even I have a little shame.

We actually ate our froyo first.

I stuck with a theme and got a small cup of low-fat mint froyo topped with snowcaps, crumbled Andes, Oreos, and fudge sauce.

Swoon.

Then I ate my Chipotle rice bowl in the car.

They let me do a small scoop of rice topped with black beans, fajita veggies, corn salsa, mild salsa, and a tiny sprinkle of cheese.

I topped the whole thing off myself with TONS of green Tabasco.  Double swoon.

Other snacks included part of this apple which got warm and gross,

and this baggie of snacks (yogurt pretzels!) from my grandparents’ house.

We made it to Ohio in pretty good time and got to spend an hour visiting with my grandpa before coming home to a gourmet dinner.

I swear eating with my grandma makes you feel like you’re at a hotel!

Homemade cole slaw,

a slice of foccacia,

roasted asparagus,

and enchilada casserole.

I only left a bite or two on my plate but I definitely made room for dessert.

Homemade chocolate pie.  I scraped my crust off for Adam (crust is to filling like cake is to icing) but practically licked the rest of my plate clean.

The filling of this was like chewable pudding, so good!

I am stuffed, exhausted, and ready for bed.

Craving Meat

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A man blogger can not live on bread popcorn alone, so I did make myself a lunch lunch around 2:30.

A toasted Bagel Thin with spinach, artichoke, hummus dip,

and a handful of baby carrots.

I also at a Rocky Road mini ice cream.

Clearly I’m on a mini ice cream kick lately.  I’m just going with it.

I had some plans for dinner – plans I tell you, plans dammit! – but then Adam called.  No he didn’t get home late this time, and I’ve decided that from now on I’m just going to cook dinner as scheduled and not wait anyway.  But when he did get home on time we would need to find the recipe for, purchase the ingredients for, and then bake coffee cakes.  For tomorrow morning.  Gosh darn it, husband!

I shouldn’t really complain though, he mostly did the cakes by himself and I got a dinner out on the town out of the deal.

We went to JP Bullfeathers, because I like their stoic looking bear statue.

After my carb-filled day I was ready for some meat. 

The Cowboy Burger from JP Bullfeathers is a turkey burger with bbq rub, melted cheddar, bbq sauce, and jalopeno poppers on top.  It came with a side of cole slaw.

The cole slaw was only ok (I ate it for the veggies) but the burger was fantastic and exactly what I was craving.  I pushed the bun to the side but otherwise it was devoured.  Meghann blogged about needing a meat fix too so maybe there was something in the water at HLS!

Sidenote – I almost never crave meat meat.  When I say I’m craving meat I typically mean turkey.  I’ve never in my life had a craving for lamb or pork.  Since I stopped eating mammals 13 years ago I crave a juicy burger once or twice a year but other than that I’m generally grossed out by the idea.

How often do you crave meat?  Are you an omnivore or a veg-head?

Confessions VII

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Click here to read Confessions part I, II, III, IV, V, and VI.

Confession #1 – Sometimes I hate my dog.  But you already know that.

Confession #2 – I became completely obsessed with badgers after reading The Zookeeper’s Wife.  The book – which is the true story of how keepers at the Warsaw zoo saved hundreds of people during the Holocaust – discusses their ability to be potty trained and I decided I must have one.

Confession #3 – I ate popcorn for lunch. 

<– that’s not a confession, popcorn is freaking amazing.  The confession is that I top my popcorn with melted butter and granulated sugar and pretend its kettlecorn.

Confession #4 – I clean 80% more regularly after we bought the french lavender-scented Method all-purpose cleaner.

Confession #5 – I spend my afternoon setting up Google Reader and Tweetdeck.  Not only was I not using either before today, I had never even heard of Tweetdeck until Katy schooled me last weekend.

Do you use Google Reader?  Why or why not?