Day One Of Thirty? {Again}

Complaints first – The chance for 8-hours of sleep passed before I even started this post.  All of my end of internship assignments are due on Friday and I’m freaking out.  I ate two snacks after dinner and I am still flipping hungry.

Complaints aside, it wasn’t a bad day.  We got lots (and lots) of shipments at work so I was nice and busy.

The morning started with smoothies.

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For two: 1 Thai young coconut, ~1 cup frozen blue/blackberries, 1 medium frozen banana, and 2 Tbsp Hey Shuga!  <– don’t forget, you still have another ~hour to enter my giveaway!

I didn’t have a lot of time for lunch so I kept it simple.  A Garuka Bar (from my yumvelope).

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The sweet peanut butter coating was addictively good; I planned on snacking on it throughout a task but every time I tried to walk away I took another bite instead!

I also had a Fage 0% Greek Yogurt with Cinnamon Apple Raisins.

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The flavor isn’t listed on the Fage website and I’ve only seen it at Target.  The apple compote was good, but nothing can really compare to the pure decadence of the honey and strawberry flavors.

I only had an hour between work and night class so Adam and I cashed in a coupon for Subway for dinner.

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6 inch turkey with lettuce, tomato, green pepper, banana pepper, red onion, and honey mustard on Italian herb and cheese bread.

I knew my sandwich wouldn’t quite fill me up and I shared this peanut butter spoon with Webster when I got home.

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Then I also had a plate of baby carrots with the last of some smoked gouda spread.

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And a bag of Smart Fries.

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I ended up dipping my “fries” in yellow mustard.  And then I had a big glass of water; methinks I’m a bit dehydrated!

Back On Winter Break

My title’s no joke – I am officially back on winter break until the 28th!  Since I started my rotation early I’m spending the rest of this portion of the semester catching up on the days of winter break that I missed.  I do have a placement with an outpatient RD on Thursday, but other than that the time is mine.  I’m not doing anything super exciting; in fact, I work every single day of the next two weeks!  I’m hoping to get back into the gym habit too.

My last day of senior practicum was bittersweet, I loved this experience so much more than I was expecting to.  I am going to post some more about the internship after I gather my thoughts, but for now I’ll stick to breakfast.

Breakfast.  A packet of Spiru-Tein Chocolate Peanut Butter Swirl Protein Powder shaken with 1.25 cups Silk Unsweetened Vanilla Almond Milk.

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I didn’t really love the texture/flavor all that much, but at least this kept me full through rounds.  p.s. – this flavor has bee pollen in it so it won’t work for strict vegans

Lunch was packed with veggies.  I brought a container of roasted butternut squash and green beans,

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and topped it with a thing of Sea’s Gift Sweet Seaweed Snack.

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That combo was ridiculous good.  I actually drove to Wegman’s the minute I was done with the day to buy more of the sweet seaweed!

Can I brag for a second?  I brought the nutrition department a thing of my Triple Butterscotch Blondies to say thank you and everyone raved about them.  You know a group of dietitians doesn’t go for seconds on a dessert unless it’s good!

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I couldn’t have a blondie – they are sooooo not vegan – but when I got home I did eat 1.5 servings of So Delicious Coconut Milk Cookie Dough Ice Cream.

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The flavor of the ice cream is a little bit funky, but the cookie dough pieces are the best I’ve ever had (vegan or otherwise).

Let’s do a final Fashion Friday Monday –

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I accented my outfit with this great bracelet my mom sent me for Valentine’s.

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That is seriously such a “me” pieces of jewelry.

Since the college is closed for Presidents’ Day, my night class was cancelled.  This meant I could go out for celebratory drinks and dinner with friends.

I didn’t plan on drinking much, but I kept a Tea’s Tea Green Tea with Grape in my purse for rehydration purposes.

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Really I only drank 1 Jack and ginger ale.

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I was embarrassingly tipsy afterward.

My friend had a friend visiting from out-of-town so we had to shower her the wonder of Sun Restaurant for dinner.

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I went with the Pad Kee Mao, ordered Thai spicy.  Thai-style fried wide rice noodles with hot and spicy sauce, mixed vegetable, and basil leaves.

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There wasn’t egg listed in the description, but it was definitely present in the dish.  I’ve already cheated on the Vegan 20 Day more than once though, so it’s not like it was a big deal.

I ate a little more than half of my pasta, then brought the rest home for Adam.  I also brought him a whole order of the tea leaf salad that he loves to help bribe him into making me popcorn.

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Score!  I smothered that bowl in melted SmartBalance Light and it was amazing.

Did you have the day off for Presidents’ Day?

And A Class To Go Before I Sleep

My mom texted to check on me after I didn’t post last night, but I promise I wasn’t snowed in/buried alive/on a bender – I’ve just been busy!  Monday wasn’t quite as crazy as Sunday, but I am getting this post up early before night class so I have some tiny chance of painting my nails this evening.  If I miss another holiday colors polish opportunity I will be so sad.

Sunday I ate this Tandoor Chef Vegetable Pad Thai for breakfast.

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Not traditional “morning food,” but one of the best frozen entrées ever.  It is a little calorie-dense at 490kcal a package, but the texture and flavor makes it taste like a splurge and not a sad frozen dinner.

I tried to take a cup of my latest impulse purchase to work with me, but ended up passing Adam my glass after one sip.

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I love Silk’s almond milks but I think I am just not a soy milk girl; this had such a strong aftertaste to me.  Thankfully the husband enjoys it so our carton won’t go to waste.

Adam and Webster picked me up from work, and we got this box from the co-op hot bar on the way home.

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Vegan “cheesy” pasta and 3 stuffed grape leaves, shared 70-30 my favor.

We also split this Opal apple.

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It is fun to try new varieties, but we probably won’t get this one again for the increased price versus “regular” apples.

I was tired from work, and really didn’t want to go to the gym, so I bribed myself with this Justin’s Chocolate Almond Butter packet.

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That stuff is just chocolate frosting, I swear!

At the gym, I finished my first week of CT10k workouts.  4 minutes walking/1 minute running, x 8.  Except I shouldn’t listen to Fiona Apple while I run because I’m obsessed; I ended up running for 10 minutes straight in the middle of my workout.

Dinner was all over the place, but the components were all good.  A handful of baby carrots.

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Pizza crusts stolen from the husband.

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A bit of Chocolove Currants and Almonds in Dark Chocolate.

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Who knew I loved currants?  They definitely helped break up the intensity of the bar.

Finally, we made tasty smoothies.

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Thai young coconut, frozen banana, frozen blueberries, and a bit of brown sugar.

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Adam has recently decided that he is obsessed with Thai young coconuts, so expect to see more of these.  Especially since our coconut was so exciting – it was pink!

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Apparently it’s a common variation relating to the varied levels of phenol found in the coconuts.

Today I grabbed a Coconut Chocolate Chip Clif Bar for breakfast.

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I attended a workshop on TPN in the morning so I got to eat in the hospital rather than my car, which was nice.

Lunch was another tasty black-eyed pea salad.

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Black eyed peas with bread and butter corn, green pepper, smoked almonds, and green Tabasco.  I made a big batch so my lunch for the next two days is already packed.

With a serving of the dark chocolate for dessert.

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And when I got home I ate a pear.

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I took care of a few things for school when I got home from the hospital, and sudddenly I was starving.

Dinner was pretty lame, but I’m in a hurry trying to get to school so I can finish some reading before class.

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And lame doesn’t mean it didn’t taste good!

A box of Health is Wealth Asian Spring Rolls,

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with a dipping sauce of chunky peanut butter and Smart Balance Light.

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Mmmmmmn!

P.S. – You can still win!  Comment on this post before midnight for a chance to win a copy of the “Petite Treats” cookbook.

Last Friday Night

I spent Friday night getting a little drunk.  Mind you, not so drunk that I would actually want to listen to Katy Perry’s “Last Friday Night.”  We did watch some bad stand up comedy on Netflix though.  <– Tim Minchin, not as funny as this joke would lead you to believe.  (It’s so dirty, don’t click, Nana!)

Yesterday, Bitchtastic

Friday morning started with a Chocolate Dipped Coconut Luna Bar on the way to the hospital.

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I had plans for a morning gym session but when I saw the weather report I decided to sleep in instead.  We got really lucky here, the snow was annoying but not anything dangerous.

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I had a nice day at the hospital in spite of the weather.  I got to chart on several interesting patients and had a little more practice with doing pediatric TPN orders.  I love the nutrition support aspect of dietetics but children are really different from what I’ve done with adults.

Lunch was a simple salad.

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Chopped green pepper and cucumber with evoo, Sriracha, and some salty peanuts.

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What a winning combination!

Plus a GoGo Squeez Cinnamon Applesauce packet.

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Great on the go, but not as amazing as the pile of fruit I had when I got home.

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Underneath my mounds of blue and blackberries was Naked Vanilla Oat Milk, a little honey, and 1/4 cup each All Bran Bran Buds and Nature’s Path Coconut Chia Granola.

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So flipping good.  And it was a good thing I got in a healthy snack because my responsible food choices took a downhill turn during the rest of the evening.

I blame the Bitch Bubbly.

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A girlfriend came over and she, Adam, and I drank the bottle in mimosas.

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The sparkling wine was pretty bad, but our next round was fantastic –

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Sips Lavender Lemondrop Sparkling Cocktails!  This was so fun, and quite delicious.  I described it to my coworker today as “Kate Spade’s Four Loco.”  I would definitely buy them again.

But maybe I’d eat dinner first next time.  My evening meal ended up being… A slice of bread with Smart Balance Light,

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and a huge bowl of popcorn with melted Earth Balance.

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Major thanks to the husband for making me two bowls of popcorn; I spilled that first one within a matter of minutes!

Fashion Friday

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Today, Tofutastic

Saturday’s meals were a little healthier.  Still very tasty though.

For breakfast, Adam and I split a great pb & j.

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With a pear on the side.

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I worked today, but only a half shift, so I had time to get lunch from Wegman’s hot bar.  Some tofu and veggies in mushroom dashi with two pieces of inari.

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I did lots of Googling, and as far as I could tell mushroom dashi is just mushroom stock, so I’m still not sure what that yummy sauce was.

We made tofu for dinner too.

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A bed of cabbage —a bag of “Asian Slaw” mix cooked with a bit of Earth Balance with caramelized onions tossed in towards the end— topped with walnuts —cooked in a skillet with salt and sugar— and tofu —super firm tofu cooked in the skillet we used for the onions, finished with a sauce of tamari, rice vinegar, sesame oil, Sriracha, honey, and orange juice.

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I was glad I added the nuts at the last-minute to help break up the texture.  The flavors were spot on though.

I had Goody Good Stuff Tropical Fruit for dessert.

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Adorable, and much firmer than the other varieties.

Was your area hit with this weekend’s crazy weather?

Ball Of Stress

I’ve been trying to let myself sleep in as late as possible this week and bars help me do that. I ate this White Chocolate Macadamia Clif Bar in the car on the way to the hospital.

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I’m feeling a lot better from Monday but I’m still making a point of not skipping breakfast.

For lunch I veganized my favorite bean salad by swapping out cheese cubes for spicy Nayo.

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Black eyed peas + chopped green pepper + smoked almonds + spicy Nayo.

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Nothing is ever as good sans cheese but this was still pretty damn good.

With a Mango Coconut Sparkling KeVita.

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And cola breeze and sour mix and match gummies for dessert.

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I found these Goody Good Stuff Gummies at 7-11.

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They are vegetarian and pretty good, though they are a little soft for my tastes. The husband loved them though; he had one taste and rest of my bags were gone.

I am having a really great time at the pediatric hospital, but I have to admit that I am really stressed out right now. There are a lot of things happening in my school and personal life at the moment that are freaking me out. I can’t talk about any of it on the blog, but I will say that I am a giant ball of stress. My stomach hurts all of the time.

Thankfully I had the afternoon free to decompress. I did some fun baking (and tasting!).

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Then I brought a friend some of my baked goods and we had a mutual vent session.

And I walked to and from the gym. The icy patches made the trips take forever, but it was a good way to clear my head.

At the gym, I did another Couch to 10k treadmill workout. 4 minutes of walking / 1 minute running, x9.

I ate these Darrell Lea Strawberry Licorice while I cooked dinner.

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I kept it simple.

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Adam and I shared a package of Tasty Bite Channa Masala – bulked up with some frozen veggies – over a package of brown rice.

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Easy peasy.

What do you do to let off steam when you are feeling stressed?

Sparkling KeVita Giveaway

If you’re here for the giveaway – scroll to the bottom.

If you’re here for Fashion Friday – have you seen me lately?!  But also, scroll to the middle.

If you’re here for the food – that’s coming up first!

Breakfast/Lunch

Breakfast is hot chocolate and mini marshmallows.

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So yummy.

Since I’m doing a morning post, I can do lunch in advance.  Black-eyed pea salad,

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with a Lemon Ginger Sparkling KeVita.

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More on that below.  I hope everyone has a great Friday!

Fashion Friday

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The striped gray pants are from my emergency “oh god, I have no professional clothing” outlet mall trip and I really like them.

Sparkling KeVita Giveaway

Full disclosure – my ginger lemonade was purchased with a free coupon.  KeVita sent me a few vouchers to introduce me to their line of sparkling probiotic drinks.  KeVita features four complementary strains of probiotics: Bacillus coagulans, L.paracasei, L.plantarum, and L.rhamnosus, combined with KeVita’s signature and proprietary probiotic culture.

They recently introduced a Mojita flavor – lime/mint/coconut – and I’m dying of longing since it’s not sold in my area yet.  But hopefully it’s available near you, since KeVita is letting me share the love with you guys!

Two readers will have the chance to win three free KeVita Sparkling Probiotic Drink coupons.  Simply comment on this post by midnight on Monday (02/04) for a chance to win.

Baking Tasting

My breakfast was pathetic.  Someone {ahem!} only left behind a tiny bit of my Low-fat Coconut Chia Kefir.

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I planned on taking it to-go and didn’t have time to grab anything else so I had to spend the morning hungry.  Even worse, I think Wegman’s isn’t going to carry that flavor anymore.

I spent my morning in the formula lab at the hospital and my afternoon in an off-site clinic and I had to drive through lunch.  I packed it simple with packaged things I could eat in the car.  Luna Blueberry Bliss Bar.

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Normally I’m all about the chocolate flavors, but this blueberry flavor is one of my favorite Lunas.

Key Lime Crumble Chobani Flip.

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After all my anticipation for this flavor, I actually didn’t really like it.  The yogurt was weirdly thin and every key lime Greek yogurt I’ve tried has tasted too artificial.  But I have an Almond Coco Loco Flip in the fridge that I’m still excited to try.

I didn’t realize how sore I was from yoga until my drive home.  Moving around during the day was fine but sitting for a long stretch on the highway was killer.  Last night’s practice kicked my butt.  <– I had to edit out a typo here where I wrote “butts.”  It’s a Freudian fat joke!

During the drive I also realized how hungry I was.  Days I don’t eat breakfast are a disaster because I end up eating so much crap in the afternoon.  I started with a sliced Honeycrisp.

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And two Alexia Artisan Sweet Potato Rolls with butter.

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But then I had to do some baking for tomorrow’s book club.

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Adam wasn’t here this evening to help me taste-test and I did an insane amount of nibbling and bowl licking.

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Plus I ate one of the (mostly) finished baked goods.

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Delicious but so unnecessary.

At least dinner was healthy.

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My black-eyed pea salad is so easy to make – BEPs, chopped green pepper, smoked almonds, chopped Kerrygold Vintage Cheddar, green Tabasco, done!

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It’s quickly becoming my favorite dish.  There is even another serving in the fridge for tomorrow’s lunch.

I’m hoping that this weekend will include lots of baked goods and booze, but my goals for next week are bedtime, breakfast, and less sugar overload.  {and the Vegan 20 Day challenge!}

Two Days, Too Many?

My mom called to tell me that not posting yesterday ruined my 30 day streak.  But my focus wasn’t so much the daily posting as the posting of everything from each day.  I’ve decided that as long as I blog everything I eat it will count towards thirty days straight of blogging even if I have to do some recaps.  Thoughts?

The past 48 hours have included some really tasty things, but they have also included too many missed meals and way too much sugar.  I need to keep getting better about my sleep schedule.

I didn’t have breakfast together Tuesday morning so I just had coffee – half sweet, half regular – from the cafeteria.

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Lunch was a fun assortment.  An apple.

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A Cascadian Farm Crunchy Oats & Honey Granola Bar.

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And an Artisana Cacao Bliss packet.

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I planned on eating the coconut butter as a granola bar topping, but that got too messy and I ended up just spooning it into my mouth with a knife.  That stuff is so flipping good; like a coconutty chocolate frosting!

When I got home I ate two fun sized candies,  <– so unnecessary

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and a Müller Strawberry FrütUp Yogurt.

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A friend and I are doing a Vegan 20 Day challenge soon and I just can’t stop buying yogurt!

Adam and I haven’t seen much of each other lately so we decided to make Tuesday night Date Night and make use of our King and I Groupon.

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We split the Tofu Tod to start.  //fried tofu with a sweet and sour peanut dipping sauce//

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This is one of our favorite Thai appetizers and King and I did not disappoint.  We both kept grabbing spoonfuls of the sauce!

I went with the King and I House Noodles, vegetarian and Thai spicy.  //broad rice noodles with egg, vegetables, and ground peanut//

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I wish my meal had come with more vegetables, but I was very impressed with the spice level.

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Adam commented that he could *hear* how spicy my meal was so I must have been doing a lot of sniffling!  Sadly, his dish was too salty and he didn’t really love it.

The husband went with a coconut sticky rice and custard dish for dessert.

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I took a few small bites, but decided to have these gummi candies instead.

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They came from Wegman’s bulk bins and were totally to blame for the headache that caused me to lie down while taking off my boots, and end up falling asleep on top of the covers, fully dressed!

I was still pretty out of it this morning and I left for the hospital without so much as a scrap of food in my bag.  I bought this serving of Kashi Heart to Heart from the cafeteria.

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And I got Wegman’s hot bar after work to eat while I was journaling.

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Many veggies with some chicken (salad and dumplings) and pasta.

I ate a Honeycrisp when I got home.

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And then I ate a bowl of gelato for dinner.

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And did so with impunity; I topped it with a protein-rich Bare Naked cereal sample.

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The Talenti Caramel Cookie Crunch was good and the combination was even better.

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And it was exactly what I was craving.

In healthier news, I made it to yoga this evening!  60 minutes of hot yoga was amazing, every time I go I love it.  But – if I go both days this weekend I will have officially gotten 4 uses out of my unlimited pass, whoops!

I took advantage of my (messy) high yoga ponytail to show y’all my current hair.

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The bottom is still good, but the top has lost a lot of color and has white streaks.

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I have to go back to brown for my next internship placement so I won’t bother refreshing it, but I am still love-love-loving the purple.  FYI: It is very difficult to take a picture of your own hair!

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