Something Fishy

I don’t think it’s just a Monday thing, there is definitely something fishy going on with my head-space.  I’ve been falling asleep more easily, but waking up multiple times a night, often just before my alarm goes off (often causing me to reset the alarm to a later time).  I’ve been totally distracted – my to-do list was practically untouched today – and getting out of bed feels like waking the dead.  I felt like I was peeling myself up at the late hour of 9:30 this morning.

My late wake up hour couldn’t interfere with my trip to the volunteer services office at the hospital though.  I ended up throwing jeans and a jacket over my nightgown!

I’m probably the classiest class-less person you know 😉

I wanted to speak to the volunteer office in person because I had to tell them I still won’t be volunteering until after May 7th.  I can only get to volunteering via a longish walk, and I’m pretty much useless there unless I’m running things up and down the stairs.  I felt badly, especially because I’m probably done with volunteering once summer school starts, but my leg was killing me on the walk there which helped me know it was a good decision.

On the way home I stopped into the gas station for a coffee.

I went with my usual half/half method – equal parts vanilla creme (unsweetened) and English toffee cappuccino (sweetened).

I want to say the caffeine gave me the study boost I needed, but it was more like I stared at my Chem book without moving for 1.5hours, grrrrr!  I did make an inspired sort of lunch.

I topped a everything bagel thin with 1 microwaved egg and a slice of buffalo wing cheese.

And I burnt some kale chips for a side.

Tasty, and I did manage to take some notes while I ate.

I need some advice.  This is my new $19 one piece from Old Navy –

Nevermind the fact that I clearly have been eating too many nachos, please tell me this suit doesn’t look completely ridiculous in a sport-swim capacity??  I’m planning on heading to the South Campus gym pool this Wednesday to make like a fish.

I had to pick up some stuff – dry cleaning and the husband! – but I ate another egg for some pre-workout protein.  This time hard boiled.

Today’s workout was less ‘exotic,’ by exciting in its own rite.  I slooooowly hiked up the gym stairs so that I could have a stretch/strength workout using actual equipment.  The gym was packed and I hurt my leg on the stairs, so we ended up working out for about 15minutes, but it was a nice idea!

After our “work out” we did take a walk.  Our tax refund came today and we were pretty pleased, so we took a trip to the bank and for some celebratory ice-cream.  I waited all winter to try out Sweet Tooth.

It was adorable, they had awesome looking cookies, and even had serving sizes that were ACTUAL serving sizes; we’ll be back!  I got a “baby” cup of cannoli ice-cream.

Delish.  It was marscapone flavored ice-cream with chocolate chips and pieces of cannoli dough.  I’ve never actually eaten a cannoli (I know, I know!) but I loved this.

Post-shower (and another intense staring off into space session, wtf?!?), we threw together an Easy Peasy dinner.

  1. I boiled 7oz dry rotini pasta according to the box directions.  In the last 3minutes of cook time I stirred in 7oz frozen artichoke hearts and 1cup frozen peas into the pot.  Then I drained the pasta/veggies and returned them to the pot.
  2. Meanwhile, I sautéed 1 chopped onion over medium heat.  When the onion was browned I added 2T butter,2T  flour, and 2T half and half to the pan.  I stirred and gave the mixture time to thicken.
  3. Finally I poured my onions and sauce into the pot with the veggies and pasta, along with10 oz boneless skinless canned salmon, and stirred to combine.

It doesn’t look like much, but for how simple it was this dish was tasty and healthy.  (Note – this recipe makes 4 servings)

As soon as my teeth are brushed I’m going to curl up in bed with a magazine and hopefully fall asleep pretty quickly.  I do not have time in tomorrow’s agenda for sitting/staring.  Sweet dreams.

Have you ever had a cannoli?  What’d you think?

Slept Through Breakfast but Ate Brinner

We pulled into Buffalo from NYC at 4am this morning, which meant the whole day has felt a little ‘off.’  [A trip recap is coming tomorrow, I swear!]  I got out of the car and into bed, and slept until 11 to get my 7hours.  I have a ton to do this week, and we can’t pick up groceries until Thursday, so I’ll warn in advance that my meals might be a little bit, ahem, interesting.

One of the items on our monster to-do list is switching out our summer and winter wardrobes.  That means I’m trying to wear all my fun sweaters this week before they get washed and stored.

I adore the ruffling on this one!

Although my favorite outfit detail is the little yellow crystals in the pearl necklace my mommy made me.

I needed to do lunch on the go so I grabbed an orange twist Mix1 drink.

I also snacked on a White Chocolate Chip ThinkThin bar during Anthropology.

I bought this because I read a really good review of it (Chelsea Handler, in one of the health/fitness magazines) but it didn’t really take care of my hunger.  I practically ran to buy a snack before my next class.

Hot chocolate and a carrots, celery, and ranch cup.

I had to unpack from this weekend after Chemistry so dinner didn’t happen until after 9o’clock.  I snacked on a handful of dried fruits while I worked.

And then the husband was a total superstar and took care of breakfast for dinner brinner.

He made me two sunny side up eggs,

and we split a cinnamon raisin bagel (from NY!).

I ate my bagel dry because I used it to sop up the yolks, yummy!

I was feeling a bit empty (I really didn’t eat enough today) so I made myself a little sundae.

Cyclops Greek Style Frozen Yogurt topped with Crofters Superfruit Spread and Suzanne’s Vegan Ricemellow.

Tomorrow is another crazy day, with an 8am lab, so it’ll probably be another late post.  I promise to get up a nyc recap though.

Are you good at making eggs?  I cannot do sunny side up, and it’s my favorite.  Thankfully the husband is great at it.

Back to Business

Good morning!  I’m sorry for skipping yesterday’s post, my flight got in at 10 and I wanted to get into bed as soon as possible.  My head hit the pillow around 11 which allowed me to get up at the early – for me – time of 7:30.  My 8pm bedtimes in St. Thomas rocked my socks and I think this early to bed early to rise idea is going to be my new thing.

I got up at 7:30 and hit the ground running limping.  My bags are unpacked, the house is cleaned, my school stuff is organized….and I made a tasty breakfast.

Scrambled eggs,

and a Cara Cara orange.

For the eggs I roasted some collard greens in the oven, then sautéed them with 2 eggs and a pat of butter.  Topped with Siracha for extra tastiness.

I’ve got a crazy busy day, gotta hop limp to it!

What is the craziest veggie you put in eggs?  This was my first try with collards but I did parsnips and turnips once.

Sandwiches, Smoothies, and Schedules

Hello again, happy Monday!  This will definitely be the longest recap post I’ve done in a while – Friday through Monday.  Physically things have been low-key but mentally there’s been lots of drama – my flight was canceled!  And since I’m in St. Thomas it could have meant getting into Buffalo on Tuesday and not having a ride and missing class.  I was freaking out a bit.  Thankfully 45minutes on the phone + my firm but calm voice got me on a different flight that leaves/gets in on pretty much the same schedule.  And now my layover is shorter and in Philly and not Charlotte.  🙂

I’m a big proponent of the firm but calm voice.  I was polite, and said multiple please and thank yous, but unwavering.  I didn’t ask whether or not I could get on another flight, I simply said “I will be leaving St. Thomas tomorrow, what can you do to help me make that happen?”  And it worked.

Anyway, back to Friday.  My mom served me a slice of cake,

which promptly got stripped of it’s icing because I don’t eat cake.

Then I moved on to greens, a small container I put together at the salad bar we stopped by.

Lettuce, beans, corn, cheese, 1 hard-boiled egg and a drizzle of light Cesar.

I also made myself some frozen coffee – coffee, ice, skim milk, and 2T sugar.

Soo much better than Starbucks could ever do.

Dinner was all about the leftovers.

Oven baked okra is kind of my favorite.

And I served up some leftover baked tofu on toasted rye with hot pepper raspberry preserves and sharp cheddar.

Friday night I did end up going out to meet some friends.  We had a good time and I had a few drinks but photo-taking was abandoned in favor of trying to keep my balance on one leg!  I don’t know how on earth I managed to stand on one leg past 2am but a fun time was had by all.

For Saturday morning breakfast my mom and I hit up one of my favorite places on earth – Barefoot Buddha.  I had fresh-made lemonade,

and a Bigfoot Bagel Sandwich.

Frittata, smoked turkey, turkey bacon, cream cheese, spicy sauce…

I love these sandwiches so much I ate them on my wedding day!  I know most brides say they are too nervous to eat but I was just nervous my friends would devour them before I got any 😀

We hung out and studied for a bit and I had a passionfruit, banana, coconut smoothie.

We laid low the rest of the day before going out to a fabulous dinner at The Cellar.  We did a lot of sharing and the lighting was low so let me apologize for the picture quality in advance.

There were way too many things I wanted off the drink menu but I finally settled on the Caribbean Champagne.

Champagne with coconut rum and key lime juice.  GREAT combination.

We split a cheese plate that was kind of out of this world.  The goat cheese was my favorite but the stewed plums were pretty fantastic as well.

My plate –

And at The Cellar the chef always sends out an amuse bouche.

Ahi wontons.

Plus homemade bread and butter.

For my meal I got the Vegetable Cutlet – panfried, potatoes, peas, carrots, eggplant and pickled papaya, and tiki masala sauce.

The cutlets were delicious but my favorite part of the entire meal was the eggplant wrapped papaya.  I ate one cutlet and took the other home, and I had a few bites of my dad’s tamarind mahi as well.

We were stuffed, but couldn’t not order a dessert plate to share.  It came with little forks,

because we got four little desserts!

NY cheesecake with fruit sauce and bananas foster,

cinnamon creme brulee and chocolate mousse.

Yum, yum, yum; I wished I could have had a BIG serving of the bananas foster.

Sunday morning I made a nice green monster for breakfast.

My mom and I got our nails done (green again, I’ll show you later!) and then I picked up nachos for lunch from the bar I used to work at.

Yum, but I think it’s time to be fully done with any sort of nachos for a while.

We saw a matinée of “Our Family Wedding,” during which I munched on a box of Nerds.

I would like to show you dinner but it was so dark at our table I never could get a picture.  I shared green bean fries with my parents and ate half of a tamarind turkey burger.

When I got home I had 2 maple pecan sticky blondies for dessert.

Dreena would be sad to know I deveganized these, but at least I made the recipe for my parents!

This morning (Monday) I’m hanging out at school for a bit before I head home to pack.  I brought a pineapple Chiobani for breakfast,

but that didn’t begin to cut it.

I ended up also having an egg and cheese biscuit from Wendy’s.

It is 100% time to stop eating like I’m on vacation!  Especially because I’m not sure what the workout situation with my leg is going to be like.

I had fabulous spring break but I am more than ready to get back with the husband and back on a schedule.  I get in late tonight so I won’t be posting today’s eats but hopefully Tuesday my sleeping, eating, and blogging will all be back on track!  I can tell you now though, that I have a Greek Gods honey yogurt in the freezer for a pre-packing treat!

When you get to the end of a vacation are you sad it’s over or ready to get back to business?

I Ran a Half Marathon!!!

I did it!!!

I am still disappointed in myself that I didn’t train, but I finished it and I had the time of my life 😀  The entire experience was seriously a blast and I can not wait to (train first!) and do it again.

I ‘tracked’ myself and had the updates sent to my e-mail so I could check my pace later.  Here’s the final e-mail:

EMILY WAX, 02:37:55 (NET) @ Finish Pace 12:02 .

Waking up this morning at 3:15 was no where near as painful as it should have been, I think I was running on excitement.  I had layed out all my stuff the night before so the morning could be pretty stress free.  Kristen lives 45minutes away from Disney so we dressed and checked our stuff and then ate breakfast in the car.

I had a bagel with a little bit of strawberry cream cheese and a Rockstar.

I also packed some mid-race snacks into my new belt pack.

I took way too many things but I wanted to be on the safe side.

Camile and I were both running in the race and it was really nice to have Kristen to drive us there, soo much less stressful than finding parking.  She actually slept in the car for most of the race!  We reached the course around 5am and began the 20minute walk to our starting corral.  I drank a TON of water last night with dinner and it definitely caught we with me; we used the porta-potties 4times before the race!

It was pretty cold out (40*) but once we got into the corrals I was so excited it didn’t even matter.  We were in the last corral so our start time was about 30minutes after the original group.  Sadly the five corrals didn’t do much to help the bottlenecking, I felt like the the race never really thinned out.

My longest training run (more than a month ago) was only 6miles so I really wasn’t sure what to expect.  I wasn’t even positive I was going to finish, although I’m pretty stubborn once I set my mind to something.  In the end I ran the first 8miles, a pr in and of itself 🙂  I did the run/walk method for the rest of the course, although I attempted to run the last mile.  I never really stopped to walk but I was definitely dragging from 12 – 13.1.  I got something to drink at all but 2 of the water stations; I walked through them but never stopped running for more than 30 -45 seconds to drink.

Here’s a breakdown of the race (approximately) –

  • I started running as soon as I crossed the start line
  • mile 1 – mile 5: running
  • mile 5: stopped for 7minutes to use the restroom
  • mile 5 – mile 8: running
  • mile 8: at 1hour and 33minutes
  • mile 8 – mile 12: running and some walking
  • mile 9: took an Espresso Love Goo (this was really tasty!)
  • mile 10: at 1hour and 58minutes – apparently I was really booking it between 8 and 10!
  • mile 12.1 – mile 13.1: running, but dying, I really really wanted to sprint here but I was just spent

When I saw that I crossed the finish at 2hours 38minutes I was shocked!  I figured that if I finished I would take at least 3 hours.  AND I feel pretty darn good!  My already injured leg hurts a ton (8+ out of 10) but the rest of my pieces feel pretty ok.  I did ice my legs in the car though.

With ice from the gas station where I got a Big Gulp of Coke Zero.

Mmmmmn!  I told my husband after the race that I’d probably go home with the first man to hand me a diet soda but thankfully Kristen was able to fulfill the craving for me 😉

Here are Camile and I post race.

Looking happy!

Camile got pulled off the course around mile 8 for not maintaining pace so she was a little angry.  She pr’ed as well though with 8miles and I am super proud of her.

We left from the race to go get breakfast at Perkins.  I wore my heat rate moniter so I know I have a 1968 calorie deficit to make up but sadly my hunger is pretty stifled.  I ordered sunny side up eggs which came with buttered toast and breakfast potatoes.

I was not hungry enough to kill this whole plate,

I’m definitely still a good 1000calories in the hole.  I feel pretty good though so I’m not sure I’ll force myself to eat if I’m not hungry.

Today was a great experience.  I did learn a few things:

  1. I was in the wrong corral.  I spent the first 4miles running much slower than I was able to and weaving in and out dodging people.  Next time I think I will list my pace as at least 12minute miles so I can start off at full force.
  2. I should have taken another Goo closer to the finish.  Next time I will aim to take one every hour or so.
  3. I need to get my leg checked out by a doctor, asap!
  4. This experience, which was probably the best day of my life, would have been more fun if I felt like I had earned it.  I am so excited to start actually training once my leg heals!

 Have you done any half/marathons?  What was your experience like?

Busy Busy Bee

I want to get my packing done this evening and I HAVE to squeeze in some quality time with the husband so I’ll keep this snappy.  `_< (oh yes, that was an alligator!)

I like to make to-go smoothies for breakfast on the mornings I have 8am lab.  My first proclamations were not wrong: I love Green Monsters!

This had 1 frozen banana, 1 cup oj, and 1 cup frozen spinach.  I took a better lit picture at la escuela to show of its Kermit-esque awesomeness.

I was in the bathroom because I realized I couldn’t not show you guys today’s layered look!

Love it!  Adam and Katie both asked me why I was dressed up today.

I was with Katie because we had a lunch date today!  I packed us a lovely spread from home to save a little $.

 Turkey and 2% provolone sandwiches with hot pepper peach preserves.

And caramel Oikos with blueberries.

We ate at the Wegman’s coffee bar area and Katie bought me a lovely Nutty Irish (hazelnut and Irish cream syrups) skim milk latte.

After lunch we walked around the store a bit and I managed to get some gifts for the friends I’m seeing tomorrow that I’m quite excited about.

On the way home we split this package of Newman’s Own Peppermint Cups.

Meh.  They aren’t bad I guess but I much prefer Yorks.

Adam had a suture clinic from 5 – 8 so he dropped me off at the Spot to do some studying.  I am completely caught up for Chemistry, yay!  I got dinner there, a Mike’s cheese and egg bagel sandwich.

Plus a skim iced latte.

Still on the agenda for tonight?

  • pack everything but my chargers into my suitcase
  • separate the laundry
  • paint my toe nails and shave my legs, eek!
  • cuddle with the husband and try not to cry about 12 days apart

Gotta get cracking!

*****Updated to add – packing is never fun.  Which is probably why this seemed like such a good idea –

Shamrock Shake!  😀

Me: 0, Hunger: 4

I’ve been super busy (and stressed) all day and that paired with my intense hunger somehow led to me eating 4 full meals today, whoops!  The amount of school work I have to do over the next few weeks (particularly while I’m home, boo) is sort of staggering.  I’m actually looking forward to seeing whether or not I rise to the challenge 🙂

I was feeling a bit empty still after breakfast so I grabbed a Yoplait Light Red Velvet Cake yogurt.

This wasn’t my favorite flavor, but I was pretty entranced by the color.

My study session ended up being split between two coffee shops.  First Starbucks, where I ate a low-fat egg white, spinach, and feta wrap with a nonfat tall latte.

Then the Spot where I had a Cajun Turkey Wrap (ww wrap, sliced turkey, pepperjack cheese, cajun sauce, l/t).

I ate 2/3 of the sandwich plus a 2nd diet coke.

Finally Adam picked me up around 7:30 and I headed off to get my “real” dinner.  We were so excited to try this newest location of …..

Moes!  I’ve been seeing the Florida bloggers gush about this place for years so I was super excited to try it out.  Adam and I were NOT disappointed.

I did some damage on the huge bag of chips the gave me,

but my main meal was this fellow –

A Junior Homewrecker (burrito – little bit of rice, black beans, tofu, cheese, salsa, cilantro).

Yum, yum, yum.

I would say it’s been a good day but I’m going to try to bang out some of my online Chem homework so my day seems far from over.  I hope everyone else had a great weekend!

What’s your opinion on “Fourth Meal?”  Just for Taco Bell or awesome idea?

Eggland’s Best for Dinner

Dinner tonight was inspired by a coupon I received from the Foodbuzz Tastemaker program.

I always buy Eggland’s Best brand eggs, but usually I can’t afford to go organic so this was a nice treat.

My recipe was a tweeked version of my spinach ricotta pie.  Serves 3

  • 10 oz package frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed out
  • 1 C frozen artichoke hearts, thawed
  • 5 Eggland’s Best eggs, lightly beaten
  • salt and pepper, to season
  • 15 oz container fat free ricotta cheese
  • 6 t 2% sharp cheddar, shredded
  1. Preheat oven to 375*.  Grease the cups of a muffin pan.
  2. Place first five ingredients in a medium bowl and stir to combine.
  3. Carefully pour mixture into the muffin pan.  Top each “muffin” with 1/2 t cheese.
  4. Bake for 20minutes.

Each muffin has 72 calories.

With all my mall food I was pretty full but the husband still needed dinner so I went ahead with my plan.  I had a half serving for funsies and to add a few veggies to my day.

It was a tasty meal and according to the literature I received “Compared to regular eggs, Eggland’s Best eggs now contain –

  • 4 times as much Vitamin D
  • 75% more Vitamin B12
  • 10% more riboflavin
  • 50% more Vitamin A
  • 25% less saturated fat and 3 times the level of Omega 3s”

Thanks Eggland’s Best!

I hope all my readers have a happy Valentine’s Day tomorrow!