Fun Friday Night Recap

Hey! Happy Saturday. :)

Last night we had such a good time hanging out with friends. It was great to see my old college roommate (who I miss, a lot!) and my other Boston friends who I see too little of. I definitely splurged a little while we were hanging out, but that's what weekends are about, right? I had a pecan pie larabar before we left because I was super hungry. I'm not sure how I got along without larabars for so long.


At our get together, there was homemade guac which is definitely a weakness of mine - I brought some honey wheat pretzels that I was dipping in it. YUM! Dinner was awesome - burritos that were very thoughtfully vegetarian friendly for Brian and I. There was black beans with garlic, refried veggie beans, sauteed peppers and onions, and the best part - mashed sweet potato. Everything was so tasty! I also enjoyed 1.5 ish glasses of red wine during the evening. And on the way out, I couldn't resist two twizzlers and a small piece of chocolate candy. I was pretty full on the drive home, but definitely happy. :)

This morning Brian made a nice breakfast - egg and spinach omelettes with sourdough toast and french press coffee. I also had a bit of grapefruit juice because I was feeling the need for some fruit. Breakfast was super tasty and light. I topped my omelette with ketchup and franks red hot of course. You're viewing Brian's roommate's slightly off the wall collage-coffee table in the background. I totally didn't notice the need to cover certain parts of it up. Sorry about that! :)


Brian and his roommates are having a going away party tonight so Brian just left to run some errands. I have to meet up at school later to work on our final project, so I'm just going to hang out at Brian's place in the meantime. I think I may do some yoga to pass the time.

Hope you guys have a great day! Be back laters.

Em

A Taste of Spring

Yay for Friday! It is an absolutely beautiful on here! Its close to 50 degrees and sunny out there! I'm SO glad that I brought stuff to go running during lunch (especially since we're supposed to get a snow storm later in the weekend !?). Before I get too far ahead of myself though, here are my eats so far! :)

Brian and I were running early this morning (a miracle!?) and so we stopped at Dunkin on the way to have some coffee to enjoy on our 40 minute commute to work. I got a small latte lite with one splenda. Yum.

Once I got to work, I decided to have some cereal for breakfast - kashi go lean crunch with some raisins and low fat milk. I definitely think that part of my appeal to this cereal is that its so crunchy, it takes me forever to eat it. It definitely keeps me from hoovering it down! :)


Knowing about my lunch run and getting a little rumbly, I had a snack of a banana with a packet of barney butter around 10:30. I just smeared the BB on - I may have given up on nanner sandwiches...


I decided to do a longer run than I usually do from work. I ran towards the beach, which is on a super beautiful, rolling (read extremely hilly) road. I went out for 2.5 miles and back the same way. It took me 42:24. Such a symmetrical time, I like it. I felt pretty good - it was great to be out in shorts, but it was extremely windy! At one point I got tipped off of the road by a gust! Phew. It was definitely a great workout. I can't wait until we have days like this, minus a little wind, regularly!

Lunch, as promised, was leftovers from last night's Thai dinner - Basil Scallops with broccoli. This also has peas, bell pepper, mushrooms, hot pepper, onion, white rice, and of course, awesome leaves of fresh basil. So good.


This afternoon, for a snack, I broke out the kashi crackers and my artichoke and spinach hummus (which is quite good by the way). I also had a diet coke because I was feeling pretty lethargic and needed the boost!


Tonight a bunch of my friends from college are visiting, so Brian and I are going to meet up with them at another friends house. It should be a great time. I can't wait to see them! Any good plans for your weekends???

Thursday!

Yay for Thursday! Today is probably close to my favorite day of the week. Its almost Friday, class is over, and NBC tv is the best! :)

I'm having a super hungry day today. Its like I can't be satiated! I'm not sure what that's about, but I wish it'd stop!

For breakfast, I switched it up with an egg and low fat cheddar cheese sandwich on nine grain bread. I nuked the egg here and it came out really well. I didn't use my little egg poacher because I wanted more of a scrambled egg "patty." It was really good. I had colleagues commenting on how good it looked while I was making it in the kitchen. I also witnessed an oatmeal explosion while I was in there, and I had to give some advice regarding the power of the nuker and the stir-to-cook ratio of microwave oats... Hopefully it'll prevent future mishaps. :) I also had a small french vanilla coffee with low fat milk and splenda.


While my sandwich was really tasty, I was hungry pretty shortly after. I waited until 10:30 and had a banana with chocolate pb. I've been having such trouble with nanner sandwiches lately - there was chocolate pb everywhere! The picture looks kind of gross, but it was super tasty.


Lunch was very similar to yesterday's. Soup with crackers and hummus. Today I had Amy's minestrone. So tasty. Sorry for the repeats - its really simple and easy to make at work and I don't like buying my lunch all the time. I think I'm going to treat myself to the salad bar tomorrow though. :)


This afternoon's snacks consisted of a blueberry chobani and a chocolate brownie z bar. (I told you I've been hungry!). I'm also having some earl grey tea right now with a tiny bit of fat free half and half.


I'm not sure what the plan is for tonight. I really want to do some yoga, so hopefully that'll happen at some point!

Hope you guys are having a good one!

Em

Yoga, Dinner, Goofiness

I'm not sure if its because we were both super tired, or because its almost the weekend, but Brian and I were super goofy tonight! I went home after work and did a really intense strength and flexibility yoga session (lets just say that it was a good thing I was alone since I tend to swear out loud during long poses). I followed my session up with some major meditation though, which was awesome.

After that, I headed back to work to pick up Brian and some dinner and head back to his place. We ordered more Thai food from the awesome restaurant in Ipswich. I got the basil scallops with broccoli and Brian got the same but with tofu. Last time we ordered it was a bit oily so I asked them to go easy on it this time around. It was delicious! :) I managed to only eat half of it so I have some for lunch tomorrow. :)


For dessert, I had some English breakfast tea with low fat milk and a bowl of cinnamon roll instant oats with chocolate chips on top. I was still a bit hungry after dinner and this really hit the spot.
Brian had a kozy shack pudding. Here he is all snuggled up under a blanket with his cup. :)


30 Rock was absolutely awesome - so was the Office rerun. I convinced Brian to watch Kath and Kim last night and we both really enjoyed it. Do you guys watch?

Slow Mo

Class tonight seemed to be in slow motion. We had really interesting discussions, I think I was just tired and ready to go home earlier than normal!

I was pretty hungry this afternoon - around 3 I had some kashi go lean crunch with low fat milk. I love this cereal! It fills me up and keeps me satisfied for so much longer than other cereals.


For dinner tonight, I made myself a pb and j sandwich to bring with me. Of course, I used my new dark chocolate pb (did you think I was going to go a day without it!?) and my smuckers all fruit raspberry jam on nine grain bread. It was delicious. I also got a medium latte light with splenda from Dunkin on the way. I was really jonesing for one and it was quite tasty.


During class, I broke open a banana nut clif bar (total yum) to keep me going.


This probably sounds weird, but when I got home at 9:45 I really wanted some veggies. So I heated up some spinach and broccoli and added some black pepper and garlic powder. A perfect bowl of green.


I'm going to go wind down now. I'm hoping to get up and do some yoga before work tomorrow. Hope you guys have a great night!

A+ Wednesday!

Well, I just found out that the paper I was working on all last weekend earned me an A+. My professor was very happy with my writing style and was very flattering. Yay! I think I definitely having an advantage for writing assignments in this business school, however, finances might be another story! I'll take the A's where I can! :)

Last night I threw together a pretty good meal for Brian and I. He had some morning star chik'n strips that I sauteed in some olive oil until a bit crispy (I love them this way because they don't get soggy and soft). I nuked a sweet potato for a bit to start the cooking process, diced it, and added it to the pan with the chik'n. I then steamed some fresh broccoli (very lightly) and added it to the pan. I used the steamer to wilt some fresh spinach as well. I cooked some ready made uncle ben's brown rice. They changed the recipe and its much better! Ready in ten minutes but it has much more of a "real" rice consistency as opposed to the more rice crispy like previous recipe. To the broccoli, sweet potato and chik'n mixture I added some garlic powder, red pepper flake, black pepper and some light soy sauce.


I heated up some Thai Kitchen chili sauce (a new to me product) to add as we wanted to the stir fry. It was awesome! I'll definitely be buying more of this.


Here is my bowl: brown rice, spinach, stir fry, and chili sauce. Yummers!


For dessert, Brian and I tried a new Kozy Shack pudding - Green Tea. It has all natural ingredients and was quite tasty. They come in 100 calorie packs which is great portion control. We also split a chocolate pepperage farm Pirouette to dip. Tasty!


This morning I made myself some hearty oats - 1/2 cup oats, 1/2 cup low fat milk, 1/2 cup water, banana and crunchy AB. I realized that I always show you the "neat" bowl and so I've also included the all mixed up bowl. :) I had a small vanilla coffee with low fat milk and splenda as well.


I went to the gym during lunch because of class tonight. I was planning on just using the machines and skipping running, but when I saw my male summer running partner (we meet up during lunch) on the treadmill, my competitive side got the best of me. I started with 20 minutes on the Arc Trainer (weight loss routine, level 6) and then did 2 miles on the treadmill. The first mile was split into 8:27 and 8:00 pace and the second at 7:45 and 7:30 pace. My legs were pretty tired after last night's hilly run and the Arc Trainer, but I felt pretty good. After, I did some ab exercises using the exercise ball.

I was starving for lunch by the time I got back. I heated up a typical Emily lunch - Health Valley 14 vegetable soup along with some kashi crackers and spinach and artichoke hummus. So simple, but so tasty!


Well, I better get my afternoon started! Hope you guys have a great one!! I'll be back after my class, hopefully!

Em

P.S. I've realized that stir-fries are my go-to meal when I have little prep time. Do you guys have a go-to meal?

Winding Down

Hey there, this is going to be brief because I'm going to make some dinner for Brian and I, but I just wanted to get some blogging in because I'm not sure I'll get another chance tonight!

This afternoon, I was pretty hungry and had the best hunger quencher - a plain chobani with kashi go lean crunch. There's so much protein and goodness! :)


I walked over to the gym to change and couldn't believe the beautiful sun (which was still out!) so I decided that I HAD to go for run outside. I did a different route today, but I think it was about the same distance 4.1 miles or so. It was pretty hilly but had great views of the ocean so that was great. :) It took me 33:21.

Once I got back to the gym, I did 2 sets of crossed leg sit ups, raised arm push ups, reverse crunches, and bicep/shoulder free weights. I was beat!

I met up with Brian and we headed into Somerville. I had some cashews before hitting the showers and here I am! I think I'm going to make a stir fry of sorts for dinner, but we'll see what happens! :)


Hope you guys have a great night! Thanks for reading!

Em

Windy and Chilly Tuesday

Hey there! Happy Tuesday. Its a really cold and windy one here. Last night the wind was gusting so hard against my bedroom windows that I wedged myself into the corner (on my bed) and made a cocoon with pillows and my microwave bag. Luckily, I was super tired so it didn't keep my up as it has in the past. I'm so ready for Spring!

This morning I made myself some chocolate peanut butter and banana toast on my favorite new 9 grain bread. I had the rest of the banana with a little bit more chocolate pb (of course). I also had a small pistachio nut coffee with low fat milk and a splenda.


I got super hungry around 11 and so I had some kashi crackers with spinach and artichoke hummus. This batch of hummus is completely packed with spinach - I was so excited when I opened it up.


Lunch wasn't too much later, but I was still ready for it. Health Valley Vegetable Barley soup with a few more crackers for crunch. I love this soup. The barley has such a good texture along with the beans and peas. Yum.


Its looking like a relatively low key day here at work (after yesterday, I think anything would seem low key!). I'm planning on going to the gym or out for a run tonight (depending on the temps, or course) and then I'm not sure what the plan is. I'm hoping to see Brian but I'm not sure if his work schedule will interfere. We'll see!

Hope you guys have a great one!

Em

Catching up!

Happy Monday guys! I feel like I have so much catching up to do! I'm sorry for my lack of posts, Saturday-now was pretty much non-stop action for me. Here goes...

Saturday

I got to Brian's Saturday afternoon and he wanted to go for a run! Now, this is awesome and amazing because Brian really seriously broke his leg playing ultimate frisbee in June (he needed surgery to place a plate and two screws). Brian is an amazing marathon runner who was just really getting into an awesome groove so it was quite a blow. But, anywho, I was sooo excited to go with him for his first run back at it. We went out and did a mile! He felt ok, still kind of stiff and a bit sore after, but it was awesome to be out there with him and he's planning on trying to go running a couple times a week and mix that in with his usual biking and elliptical stuff. It was also great for me because I ended the day with 6 miles in (which somehow seem so much better than 5). :) Yay!

Once we got back, we got changed and had a snack. I had a small piece of homemade banana bread with crunchy pb. Yummers...


One of Brian's friend is a musician and was hosting a cd release party in Cambridge so we hung out for a bit and then headed out to grab dinner at an Italian restaurant near by called Cinderella's. The minute we got inside I knew it was going to be good. Everyone who worked there was speaking italian and the tiny (extremely clean) restaurant was packed to the brim! We split a garden salad with italian dressing and I ordered fettucini with sauce and fresh cheese while Brian ordered the vegetarian lasagna. Our meal came with AWESOME garlic bread - it was absolutely covered in garlic! :) We will definitely be going back - we didn't really have an Italian restaurant but I'm so glad that we do now!

The cd release party was awesome - great music and fun. I was hungry again by the time we got back and so I had a bowl of instant cinnamon roll oats before bed. It definitely hit the spot!

Sunday

After our late night, we didn't end up getting up until close to 11, which is pretty late for us! We got to making breakfast which consisted of scrambled eggs, some provolone cheese, sauce pan veg-head beans, and some toast. We also had some french press coffee. It definitely hit the spot.


It was a rainy day and we were both feeling antsy and needed to do some shopping so we decided to go to the mall. We spent a good amount of time looking around and I ended up getting some new work pants and some stuff from Aerie. Brian got some board shorts for our Costa Rica trip which is so close (we leave March 6th!).

We were both hungry by the time our shopping finished up so we stopped at Au Bon Pain in the food court. We both had the corn and green chili bisque with multi-grain bread and it was amazing! It was my first time eating at Au Bon Pain and it certainly didn't disappoint.


We did some grocery shopping for our Sunday Night Dinner and then got home just in time to get a workout in before having to start cooking. I did the strength/fitness yoga session on my yoga for athletes dvd. It was 50 minutes of intense moves. Phew! I was definitely beat.

I knew I would be starving for dinner and would probably overreat if I didn't have a snack, so I grabbed a plain chobani with a banana to hold me over.


Our theme for dinner was Indian. Brian's roommate Andrew decided to make homemade vegetable curry (he bought whole mustard, cumin, chili peppers, etc) so Brian and I made chana masala (chick peas in a tomato sauce), white rice, and bought whole wheat Naan. The curry consisted of a huge amount of fresh spices that were cooked in some olive oil, a ton of frozen veggies, and a mixture of corn starch and nonfat plain yogurt tossed in at the end. It was really really good and looked just like a "real" curry. :) Our chana masala was super easy because we bought pre-made masala sauce. We first sauteed some white onion and garlic, then added two cans of chick peas, diced tomatoes and the masala. We also added some extra cumin and curry powder. Everything was quite tasty. Our friend Roy who's moving to Israel LOVES orange juice, so we all had mimosas in his honor.


Dessert was mango and raspberry sorbet which tasted so good after our spicy meal!

And now Monday!

Today I started the day with a new product - Peanut Butter Co "Dark Chocolate Dreams" peanut butter. Yay! :) I've seen Jenna eating her chocolate peanut butter oats in the morning and couldn't resist buying this when I saw it at the store.


I made a bowl of oats with low fat milk, banana, and a spoon of my new treat, of course, and boy was it good! I can't wait to have more of it. I also had an earl grey tea with low fat milk.


I completely forgot that today was a three hour meeting day - one hour during lunch and 2 hours during the afternoon (yikes!). I really wanted to be able to head home after work because my roommate has been sick and I wanted to spend time with her so I did what would have been a lunch workout a bit early.

I went down to the gym at 10:45 and was back, showered and presentable at my desk just in time for our 12:00 lunch meeting. I did 20 minutes on the Arc Trainer (weight loss routine level 6) followed by 20 on the stairclimber (aerobic fitness routine, level 9). This is definitely my "go to" workout when I don't have that much time and am staying away from the treadmill.

There was pizza and salad there which was nice. I had a slice of tomato basil pizza - it was very light on the cheese (you can see the one spot) and heavy on the sauce, just like I like it! I also had a good amount of salad with a tiny bit of peppercorn dressing.


I knew I would be super hungry if I went to the 2-4 meeting without eating anything so I had a plain chobani with some go lean crunch right before leaving. I also brought another earl grey tea with me to keep me going.


I made it through the meeting without dozing off so my tea and yogurt definitely worked! I was pretty hungry around 4:45 so I broke out an apple cinnamon z bar. So yummy!


I'm glad I had it because I ended up staying a little longer visiting my roommate (she's staying with her parents until she feels better) and was trying to cover up my grumbling tummy by the time I left!

I came home and made myself scrambled eggs with spinach, two veggie sausage links, a piece of reduced fat cabot cheddar, red pepper flake, garlic powder, and dried onion flakes topped with some ketchup. I also made some 9grain toast with a tiny bit of butter. It was so good!



Now, I'm going to get to some school work and eventually to an amazing looking cupcake that my co-worker made and brought in for me - its vanilla cake filled with raspberry jam. Yum! I'll be back with pictures, don't you worry!

Hope you have a great night!

Em

Added: So, the cupcake didn't have an frosting or anything and so I got to thinking what I could do to spiff it up. Since it has jam in the center, I thought, What if I heated up some teddy pb for a bit and spread it on top? Well, I think I found something... SO GOOD! :) Thanks for the delicious cupcake Nan! Yay! :) Now to enjoy some sugar cookie tea and get to work! Oh yeah, I had a hershey's kiss while heating the pb. Total snack alert!

Time for Weekend Fun

I just finished some reading for class and I think I'm about done with work for today! Its time to get to weekend fun. :)

I ended up going out for a run and I'm so glad that I did. It didn't feel too cold at all and the sun is shining and lovely. I did 5 miles in 41:42. I took it really easy and didn't push it since my legs have been feeling pretty tired as of late!

When I got home, I showered and then got to leftovers for lunch. I heated up some of the stir fry, added some sprouts, and had some kashi crackers for crunch. It was just as good today. :)


While reading, my tummy was getting grumbly so I broke out a strawberry chobani.


Now, I'm going to go pack a bag of clothes and head to Brian's place. My mom and dad got me a gift certificate to DD so I think I'm going to stop on the way and get a latte. Yessss....

Hope you have a great weekend!

Paper? Check!

I'm pretty sure that this is the most beautiful flower I've ever seen. I've never been a big rose girl, but man, it is so amazing to walk into my room and have a whole vase of these staring at me. To temper the swoon worthy nature of the roses, I also have this card which makes me giggle every time I look at it...


Thanks Brian. :)

So, I slept in until about 9 this morning and it was glorious - especially considering I was asleep by 11:30! Its been so long since I've had a weekend day like this. I got up and started some water boiling for tea, and got some cereal together. I had some GoLean crunch topped with half of a banana, some golden raisins and low fat milk. For tea, I had my new favorite, Earl Grey with a bit of low fat milk.

After breakfast, I got started right away on my paper, and, yep, I finished it! It definitely needs another read through and probably some editing, but I'm so glad to have the hard part over! :)

Now, I'm having the other half of the banana from this morning with pb - I'm going to do some type of activity as a break. I was thinking about running, but its super windy and feels like 17 degrees outside! Brr. I might just end up doing yoga. :)


Hope you guys have a great day! I'll be back laters!