The Not-So-Glamorous Side of Running!

Hey you guys! I have had a busy day! After blogging I took a look around and realized my apt needed some cleaning. It wasn’t dirty, just messy. So I cleaned until about noon. At 12:00, I had a quick and messy lunch. I had a whole wheat wrap with feta, tabouli, salsa, and spicy hummus with a side of BBQ Popchips.

After lunch I headed to the gym and did a 5 mile run in 46 minutes. After the run I walked for 5 minutes at a 10 incline, just to spice it up. It was HARD!!!

As you all know, I always talk about how great running is an how much I love it, but there is a less than glamorous side to it.

Sports Bra Burn:

Time to invest in some Body Glide.

And….runner’s calluses.

There are actually other gross foot things that I certain you guys aren’t wanting to see. I am pretty sure these are all things a little Body Glide can help. After my workout, I showered and headed to Trader Joe’s, Whole Foods and Market Basket groceries.

Today’s Outfit:

Jeans (GAP), Sneakers (PUMA), Gray Thermal (AE), White Cami (H&M).

Before heading into TJ’s, I grabbed a tall skinny cinnamon dolce latte.

My deal of the day was I got $37.00 worth of groceries for $4.97 at Whole Foods! Thanks coupons!!!!!!!

After unloading the groceries, cutting up the fruits and veggies for the week, washing dishes and doing laundry, I started some work for my part-time job. I was interrupted by a phone call with GREAT NEWS! It’s not my news, it is really someone else’s so I am not going to share it on here for a while. I want to give that person enough time to tell everyone they are close too, and I don’t want anyone finding out that person’s news on my blog, it is theirs to tell. But it is the best news I have heard in a long time. 🙂 I am thrilled!!!!!

Dinner with my handsome fiance started with a glass of red wine and a fresh salad.

Colorful! I only drank half of that glass of wine.

Dinner was homemade turkey burgers. We mixed lean turkey breast with egg whites, whole wheat bread crumbs and garlic powder and grilled them on the Forman. We ate the on whole wheat Arnold’s thins. I topped mine with cheddar cheese and mustard. We had some baked sweet potato fries on the side with organic ketchup for dipping.

It was awesome!!!! I spent the rest of the evening watching the Grammy’s and getting ready for my day tomorrow. FYI: packing tape is a great substitute if you don’t have a lint roller 😉

Well, I have an early morning, so I got to get to bed. I am going to bed with a big smile on my face tonight 🙂 See you in the morning bloggy friends!!!!!

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Italian Lentil and Grilled Veggie Salad.

Hey everyone! Well, I have to make this kind of quick as I have a lot of reading to do for class tomorrow. After work, I popped down the the gym for a run on the treadmill. I ran 6 miles in at a 9:13 min/mile pace while watching the end of Oprah and the news. I wish I had gotten down there earlier, Oprah had Michael Pollan on and I missed his interview! I did, however, catch the brief interview with Alicia Silverstone about her journey to go vegan. It was really interesting and I loved that she took the interview on a trip to Whole Foods and pointed out a lot about what she eats. So cool, a lot of it looked familiar 😉 I think it is so cool to see others talk about changing their lifestyle in regards to eating, how they keep it up, how it makes them feel and why they did it, since I write about that everyday.

After my run, I showered at the gym and came home. I worked for a little while on some phone calls for my part-time job by the time I finished that I was pretty hungry. As I mentioned  earlier, it was time to get creative. I secretly love the challenge of having to work with what we have for a few days. Some of my best recipes were experiments, so I really do get a thrill from this. I looked in the freezer, fridge and cabinets and came up with a yummy and quick (remember I was starving by this point) meal 🙂

First, I looked in the freezer and found these marinated and grilled zucchini and eggplant  from  Trader Joe’s that I have only eaten a few of. They have been in my freezer longer than I have been blogging…it’s about time I used them up!

In my cabinets I found these lentils (also from TJ’s) that I had bought and forgot about.

and half of a packet of Italian dressing seasoning I must have used for a recipe at some point. Gosh, I save everything!

I cooked the lentils and veggies following the directions on the packaging. I also cooked some brown rice. I mixed everything together, added the Italian dressing seasoning, some vinegar and some olive oil and topped it with a little reduced fat feta.

It was AMAZING!!!! I call it Italian lentil and grilled veggie salad! It made about two servings so I will be having the other half for lunch tomorrow (spoiler alert). It was awesome warm, but I bet it will be ever better tomorrow served cold like a salad.

Adam made a pot of coffee while I was cooking, so I had a mug of that for dessert and a vitamuffin topped with Barney Butter.

Nothing is better than a warm gooey vitamuffin topped with Barney Butter….seriously, nothing!

Well, I am off to get some reading done and drink my coffee. Have a great night everyone!!!! See you guys in the am 🙂

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Relaxing Friday Night!

Hey everyone! How was your Friday? Mine was great! After work, I suited up and hit the pavement. Oh man, it felt great, there were still come icy spots, but nothing too bad. The one thing I didn’t bank on was all the puddles. Around mile 3.8 I stepped in a large puddle and had a wet and cold left foot the rest of the way, but I just blocked it out and kept moving. I ended up doing 6.6 miles in 1:00:29. I was a little surprised when I saw my time, because I felt like I was moving in slow motion for a lot of the run. I was slower than normal for sure, but still kept up an decent pace.

Splits:

Mile 1- 9:11

Mile 2- 8:57

Mile 3- 8:51

Mile 4- 9:13

Mile 5- 9:20

Mile 6- 9:21

the last .6 miles- 5:33

After the run I showered and made dinner. Today was Adam’s Captain’s last day- he is retiring, so Adam and I canceled the dinner/wine/movie night so he could spend some time with work friends. When I went to pick up Oscar, my dad gave me this bottle of wine! 🙂

He ran into my Uncle Alan today and Alan gave it to him, but my dad is not a huge red wine drinker. I was super excited to try it because Uncle Alan knows wine! He actually owns a Bistro on Nantucket called Le Languedoc, it is AMAZING!!! The food it OUT OF THIS WORLD! If you are every in Nantucket I really recommend it, you need to make a reservation though…it is a very busy place. I had a glass of wine while cooking and eating, I really took the time to sip it.

It was very good! I love Pinot Noir, my favorite! Dinner was these yummy whole wheat tortelloni that I bought at Costco this weekend.

I only cooked one package and there are a ton of leftovers! While the pasta was cooking I made a quick salad as well.

The salad was: spring mix, tomato, cucumber, orange bell pepper and carrots with an organic light Italian Dressing and some cracked black pepper.

I had about a cup of the tortelloni with some marinara sauce and some vegan “cheese”.

It was perfect! YUM YUM! After I ate dinner Oscar and I headed up to my parent’s house where there was some birthday cake!

I had a small piece with some tea with a little fat free milk.

The cake had strawberries and whipped cream frosting…TO DIE FOR! My parents and I decided to have a movie night! It was great to hang out with them and watch a movie, and nice relaxing Friday night! Well, I am off to read in bed! I know, I know I am a party animal!!!!

See you in the morning!

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Pumpkin Chili?!

Ok, I am back! Ugh, I have felt out of sorts since I haven’t blogged since yesterday morning! So, let’s just pick up where I left off last. After blogging I went to pick up my friend Melissa and we headed to Body Pump. It was her first time and she loved it.

She commented that she could feel it afterwards while trying to wash her hair. That is exactly what I said when I first tried it.To read about my first time Body Pumping click here!

After we pumped, we stopped at Zume’s and grabbed coffee. I got a medium, medium roast coffee with a little vanilla syrup and some half and half.

I hoped right in the shower once I got home, I had 40 minutes to get myself ready and get to a Bridal Shower. The shower was in honor of my friend Stephanie and her fiance Jimmy. I have known Steph my entire life, our parents are best friends. I was so excited to go to the shower. Here are the bride and groom with their moms!

Aren’t they a great looking couple? The moms aren’t bad to look at either. 🙂 The shower was actually held were I work part-time. Everything was fantastic, the moms and bridesmaids did an AMAZING job! The centerpieces were so springy and refreshing.

I really loved the favors! So fun and different. They were Crate and Barrel mugs with personalized hot chocolate pouches.

I sipped on one giant glass of red wine throughout the whole shower.

The food was fantastic too!  It started out with a salad:

My plate:

Pasta, Chicken Parm, Chicken with Broccoli and Ziti, Eggplant Parm.

As usual, my eyes were bigger than my tummy and I barely made a dent in my plate. Here is what was left…hate wasting food!

The cake was gorgeous! But, I was so stuffed from the meal, I didn’t have any. I heard it was as good as it looked.

Here is my mom and the Mother of the Bride, Eileen. They are besties!!!

Look at all the guys that showed up to help Steph and Jimmy bring their gifts home. Nice guys!!

After the shower, a bunch of us girls headed to a local bar for a few drinks. I stuck to bud lights, there were many. 🙂

At around 7:30 pm, we all got a little hungry. We decided to order a few pizzas from Pallo’s.

I had two small pieces.

Since I was so rushed to get to the shower, I never took a picture of my outfit. But, here is a picture of my friend Neal and I from last night, you can see my outfit pretty well.

Green Ruffle Collar Top (Forever 21), Black Pencil Shirt (Target), Black Knee High Boots (DSW).

I headed home around midnight and hit the hay. I got up this morning, walked Oscar and then made breakfast. When I went to take a picture, I HAD NO CAMERA! I emptied out my purse, looked in all my pockets, searched my WHOLE APARTMENT and I couldn’t find it! I called the bar and they hadn’t seen it. FREAKING OUT does not describe my reaction, there was a lot of panic and tears!!! Finally, my friend Kevin told me it was in the backseat of his car. UGH! SIGH OF RELIEF! Since I didn’t take a picture of my breakfast, I will have to use and old one.

It was exactly the same breakfast as in the picture. An Ezekiel sprouted english muffin, smooth Barney Butter, 1/2 of a banana, a clementine and some coffee. I ate it when panicing and almost choked twice. NOTE TO SELF: Do NOT eat while hysterical!

After the camera was located, I got dressed into my workout clothes and headed over to Adam’s work (our friend Kevin is Adam’s work partner, so my camera was there in his car) and grabbed my camera. Then I headed to a birthday party for our niece Emily and nephew Gavin. It was a pool party that was actually at the YMCA I belong to, so I hopped on the treadmill while the kids were swimming in the pool. I ran 3 miles in 27:35. After my run, I headed upstairs for the party. While catching up with relatives, I snacked on some raw veggies.

My lunch was a mini meatball sandwich (with my future mother-in-law’s homemade meatballs 🙂 ) with some raw veggies on the side.

Look at this cake she also made…so adorable!

After we sang Happy Birthday, all of the kids got to decorate their own cupcakes.

Of course, I totally made one too, because I am a 26 year old child!!!

AWESOME!!!! My cupcake was so delicious, if I do say so myself. While I was chatting with Adam’s brother, I looked up and caught our nephew Jack climbing up onto the table to get the candy the kids left there after decorating their cupcakes.

After the party I showered at the gym and then headed to Costo and the grocery store. Dinner was Healthy Turkey Chili. There was a secret ingredient that made it super healthy. PUMPKIN! Pumpkin in chilly? YUP! Now you are totally thinking what the heck won’t this girl put pumpkin in, right?!

Ok, so there is what you will need:

• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 green bell pepper, chopped
• 1 lb. of ground turkey breats
• 1 16 oz. can of kidney beans
• 1 can of pumpkin (14.5 oz)
• 1 large can of peeled and diced tomatoes.
• 2 tablespoons of chili powder
• red pepper to taste

How to make it:

1. Sautee onions, peppers and ground turkey breast until turkey os browned

2. add in spices, pumpkin, tomatoes, and beans

3. simmer for 20 minutes

4. Enjoy!

I topped mine with a little reduced fat cheddar cheese, plain greek yogurt, and a spoonful of guacamole. This recipe is awesome, healthy and seriously delicious! You have GOT to try it. It makes about 10 cups of chili. I froze 4 cups of it, the best thing about chili is it freezes so well!!!

Dessert was the hot chocolate from the shower yesterday.

It was creamy and tasty, it the spot.

In Other News:

So since I was so busy this weekend and didn’t blog since I didn’t have a camera for a little over 12 hours, I owe you guys 2 Self Love Tips, right?

Self Love Tip For Yesterday: Have a Me, Myself and I Night. Remember the one I had on Friday? Make a list of your favorite things to do that help you to relax and do them all in one night. Having a night to yourself filled with activities you enjoy is a great way to pamper yourself. I am super social, but sometimes a night alone just focused on me is exactly what the Doctor ordered.

Self Love Tip For Today: Do a Good Deed: Do something good for someone else. Studies show that doing something nice for someone else can make people happier and feel better about themselves. It can be anything from lending a friend a few dollars when they need it, volunteering at a local homeless shelter, or giving directions to someone that is lost. On Friday evening, while waiting for the train, I saw a girl sharing at the subway map and she looked a little confused and anxious. I asked her if she needed help navigating it and she said yes. I asked her where she was going and I told her where to get on and where to get off, she seemed a little uneasy that she had to switch trains, but I assured her that it was super easy. Seeing how relieved she was to know where she was going, made me feel great. I was glad that I could help her and it took me about 1 minute to help.

Well, I am off to catch up on some of my favorite blogs. See you all in the AM! Please say a silent prayer of thanks that my camera was located!

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Only Out Of A Mug!

Hey everyone! How is your Friday night going? Mine is great! I have checked everything off my list of things I am doing on during my “Me,Myself and I night” list except reading, which I will get to after blogging! While wrapping up at work, I had a Kashi Dark Chocolate Oatmeal Cookie and a coffee (extra foamy) as my pre-workout snack. In honor of Tina’s Cookie Friday…obvi!

After work, I headed to the gym and ran 6.1 miles in 57:20 while watching What Not To Wear and Say Yes To The Dress. To be honest, the last mile was torture because I had to go to the bathroom, but an overbearing mother on Say Yes To The Dress was entertaining enough to keep my mind off of it.

After my run, I enjoyed a nice long stretch, since it is one of my resolutions to stretch after every run, which I have bee keeping up with. 🙂 To see my other resolutions, click here. After the stretch, I headed to the sauna to read a celeb gossip magazine. I decided to sauna instead of steam so I could read. I followed the sauna with a shower and headed home. Once I got home, I changed into sweats and made dinner. While cooking, I sipped on a glass of Shiraz.

I like Shiraz, but I have been drinking more Pinot Noir lately and I really like it a lot better. Dinner was a pasta dish, as promised! I used the Quorn “chicken” cutlets I bought a few weeks ago and forgot about to add some “meat” to the dish.

I used the left over veggies from pizza night this week and sauteed it with the chicken, whole wheat pasta and some organic marinara sauce and called it dinner.

It was great! I love veggies with pasta, it is my absolute favorite! That is the same glass of wine in the picture, I only had one that I sipped.

I ate while watching this weeks Law and Order: SVU (one of my favorite shows). Gosh, I love you Elliot Stabler!!!

HANDSOME!!!!!

No “Me, Myself and I Night” would be complete without dessert. I had some dark chocolate almond frozen yogurt and am still sipping on a nice hot mug of chamomile tea 🙂

Ever notice I only eat FROYO out of a mug…I just like it better. I am quirky, what can I say! Goodnight blogland, I have a hot date with my book!!!

See you in the am!

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Happy Engagiversary!!!

Hey everyone!!!! How are all of you doing? Can you believe it is Christmas Eve? Wow! I feel like the weeks leading up to Christmas went by so fast!!!!

Let me catch you guys up here. After I got my internet issues all squared away yesterday, I got to work baking!

I made a peanut butter pie ( don’t you love my apron? It was an engagement gift from my bestie/maid of honor May. It says, “You May Now Kiss The Chef”).

Doesn’t that look delicious?! YUM YUM! I also made some sugar cookies. They are Adam’s favorite!

Adam brought home some goodies from a bakery near his work.

AMAZING looking cheesecake!

and a ricotta pie (MY FAVORITE PIE OF ALL TIME). I am tellin’ ya, the boy loves me!!!

After Baking I made I quick dinner, because we had evening plans. I made a whole wheat wrap with garlic loves hummus, turkey, spring mix, tabouli, cucumbers, tomatoes and reduced fat feta.

I enjoyed it with a side of red grapes.

It was so good! Something about the mixture of hummus, feta and tabouli makes my tummy smile! After eating we headed to our local bar to meet up with some friends. Our friend Mike is home for the Holidays and I was super excited to see him. I have been friends with Mike since I was in preschool! He lives in North Carolina now and I think it has been about a year since I have seen him. The next time he comes home is going to be for our Wedding (!!!).

Here is a Mike and I.

Here we are being nerds and watching something hilarious on youtube…gotta love iPhone nerds!!!!

Most of the night I drank Sam Adam’s Winter Beer (I think I had like 3).

In an effort to not get drunk/feel like crap this morning, I switched to Bud Light.

We had a great night! We were waiting for our friend John to show up, he is always late. So we all placed bets on what time he would arrive. I bet 9:16 (he said he would meet us at 8pm). He actually ended up showing up at 10pm. When 9:16 rolled around and still no John I was cursing him!!! I hate loosing bets even it is just for $1.

All in all it was a fun night with friends, drinks and Holiday cheer!!!!

Molly and I.

Jackie and I.

So, that brings us up to this morning! Today is actually Adam and my Engageiversary!!!!! One year ago today Adam asked me to be his wife, and I obviously said “yes”! Easiest “yes” I ever said 😉

This picture was taken about 2 hours before Adam Proposed!

So in honor of our engagiversary, we got up early drank down romantic matching green smoothies:

and headed out for a run! We did 4 miles in 38 minutes. I have to admit, it was hard, I was not feeling 100% after all the “holiday cheer” last night. After the run, we sat in the gym sauna and chatted. I love how I feel after a few minutes in the sauna. After the sauna we hoped in the showers and them went to the 99 for lunch. My fantastic boss for my part-time job (aka my dad) gave me a gift certificate there for Christmas, so we deiced to use it.

We snacked on some popcorn while looking over the menu. For an appetizer we ordered the spinach and artichoke dip.

It was hot, cheesey and delicious! I love the red and green chips 🙂 For my meal, I got a cup of french onion soup (My fav!!!)

This one was just ok, not the best I have ever had, but still pretty good. I also got the Asian Grilled Chicken Salad (dressing on the side).

This was goooood!!! Yum Yum!

I ate it all, but the pita bread on the side, Adam ate those. After lunch, I was sooooo tired I laid down in bed and took a nap with Oscar. It was sooooo nice to take an afternoon nap! When I woke up, I had a sugar cookie. Hey, I had to sample my work, right?! It was really good!

Bu the way, I am totally dressed like a bum today:

Sweet gym bathroom shot!!!! Sweatpants, I forget where I got them, I have had them forever, Oxford University Hoodie (Oxford in England), White Long Sleeved Shirt (Target). I plan on making myself look more presentable for dinner with Adam’s family tonight.

Well, I got all of my gifts I have ben waiting for except my dad’s gift (which was ordered on 12/14), I just tracked it and it said that it is “out for delivery”. I hope it comes today! I will be super bummed if it is not here for Christmas!!! Ugh…It is stressing me out!

Well, I got to get going and help out my cook-off team mate! Every year Adam, myself, his sister Linda and her husband Dave have a cook off. Two years ago it was spinach dip. Ours won by one vote when Linda and Dave’s son Domenic betrayed them and voted for our dip. Last year was nachos, which we did not win 😦 This year is Chicken Parm (Adam’s specialty)!!! So, I got to go help….Adam has been working while I blog!

Ah! I love Holiday Traditions! Look out Linda and Dave, we are coming for you!!! What are your Holiday Traditions?

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THANK YOU!!!

First, let me begin by saying THANK YOU!!!! Thank you for all your support and well wishes for my final exams and for dealing with my sporadic blogging over the last few weeks. I feel so lucky to have a  great support in my readers! My finals are done (!!!!) and now I am back to my regularly scheduled program, so you will be seeing a lot more of me! But, let me catch  you all up right now!

So, I think I need to rewind all the way to Monday’s lunch…wow, that feels like forever ago! Monday’s lunch was left over’s from Sunday night’s dinner!

I also had a few shrimp and cocktail sauce that was brought in by one of my co-workers are well. What a treat!

All together!

After lunch, I worked until about 4pm and then headed to a study group for my final. While studying, I snacked on some fruit snacks and a clementine (not pictured).

My final Monday night went a lot better than expected! I am certain that hour and 4o minute study group beforehand really helped! I can’t wait to see my actual grade in a few days 🙂

After the final we met for another study group for last night exam! It was productive, but we were there for over three hours!!! While working, I had dinner which was a turkey, mustard and lettuce sandwich on an Ezekiel tortilla.

On the side I had some sliced cucumbers and baby carrots.

After the study group, I headed home and conked out! My brain was tired!!!!

I got up yesterday morning and was VERY anxious about my exam. I made a quick breakfast to get into work early so I could get out a little early and make a 4pm study group. Breakfast was two pieces of Ezekiel cinnamon raisin toast with natural peanut butter and a clementine with some coffee.

Here is yesterday’s outfit:

Yellow Chinos (J CREW), Black flats (Anne Klein), Black Cami (H&M), Black and White Floral Sweater (Target).

Close up of the design on the sweater:

Lunch was Pacific Roasted Red Pepper and Tomato Soup:

I also had a few Kashi crackers, a lite laughing cow and a clementine on the side as well.

This soup is seriously delicious!!! I know I raved about the tomato soup last week,  and this flavor did not disappoint either! SO. GOOD!

After work, I headed to my study group were I had a few snacks while going over the material. Tall nonfat Gingerbread Latte:

and some rice crisps.

Last nights final went…ok. I sort of blanked out on some stuff and no matter what I tried was unable to get it back! I think is did well enough, but it was not a shining moment. I know for sure I passed it, but I am fairly certain it was not “A” quality. Oh well, I did my best and that is all the matters, right? After the final, I headed to my part-time job (my days are seriously NEVER ENDING!) and worked for  about an hour and a half. Whew! It is a busy week there for sure! When I was done there, Adam picked me up ans took me for dinner and a beer to celebrate the end of my semester.

I had two Sam Winters (one for each class…dur).

CHEERS to hard work and now relaxation!!!!

For my meal I ordered the grilled scallops! My meal came with a salad I ate 90% of it use the dressing on the side for dipping.

Dinner!!!!

It was delicious! the scallops had a sweet sauce that made then taste so different, I loved it! I ate about half the scallops and all of the rice (oh and four of Adam’s fries 😉 )

I asked the waitress to wrap up my last 6 scallops for lunch today and she did, but I totally forgot to grab them as we left. 😦 I hate when I do that!

When I  came home and had a few gifts waiting for me! 🙂 Pop chips sent me a HUGE box full of chips!!!! I squeeled with delight! I loooove POPCHIPS!

And….

My mom gave me this book! I am excited to be able to read for pleasure!!!!!! This is the newest book from the author of The Time Traveler’s Wife. I will let you guys know what I think when I am done!

We got home at 9:30 and I crashed, I was exhausted. I got up at 6:25 this morning and headed out for a COLD run along the Charles River this morning. It is seriously freezing here in Beantown! It was 30 degrees this morning ans with the windchill it left like 20 degrees (according to the weather girl) it was a cold and windy run, but I needed it! I gave all the stress I had been feeling the past few days to the pavement. During my run I realized that I can relax and enjoy the Holidays now and I got really excited. All in all it was a fantastic run even though I was cold.

I ran 4.67 miles in 44:30

Splits:

mile 1: 9:13

mile 2: 9:00

mile 3: 9:21

mile 4: 9:19

.67: 6:33

I had a liquid breakfast today.

Green Monster and coffee!

Today’s outfit:

Gray Pants (GAP), Black Flats (Anne Klein), White T-shirt (Target), Blue Blazer (Target).

Well, I got a lot going on here at work busy, busy!!! See you all in a bit!

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Reunions and Celebrations!

WOW!!! Well, it has been a world wind the last few days! The Holiday season is so busy as is, but add final papers and wedding showers to that and you have a recipe for a busy weekend! Without further ado, let me catch you up on my crazy life!!!

After my last post, I ventured out in the snow to meet up with two old friends Jeremy and Julie. I haven’t seen these two in almost 10 years! We used to spent our summers in Maine together as kids  and lost touch after our parents bought property elsewhere.  We recently reconnected through facebook. It was great to see them and catch up after 10 years! As much as things have changed, they have stayed the same. Jeremy and Julie are still as cool and put together as I remember!We met a Emmets and spend about 2 hours just chatting! I sipped on one Sam Winter during the two hours.

The three of us decided to split two appetizers. We ordered the Buffalo Chicken Nachos and the Curry Fries.

I had a few fries, fried food hurts my belly so it needs to be really, really good for me to eat it. These were just ok… But the Buffalo Chicken Nachos were divine!!! As we all know, I am kind of partial to anything Buffalo!!!

After parting ways with Jeremy and Julie and deciding to meet up again soon (another 10 years is too long to wait), I headed to  my friend Derek’s House Warming Party! Derek and his girlfriend Crystal bought the most adorable condo right around the corner from our apartment. It was great to see all my friends and see their new home! I also met their new dog too! She is adorable, but was a little afraid of all the people! Congrats to Derek and Crystal on the new home and new pup! So happy for you guys!!! While, at Derek’s I sipped on a pumpkin beer! Delicious!

I guess I wasn’t really in a drinking mood. While at the party, I used my new iPhone (who my friend Ibelis named “Lady”…great name!) to sign Adam and I up for our HALF MARATHON!!!! Yay! It is not until May, but I let me tell you I am super exited about it!!! I never thought I would run a half marathon!!! Woop!

Sunday morning I woke up expecting to be super sore from the Boxing I did Saturday Morning with May. But, I really wasn’t. I had a little soreness in my upper back with is probably from throwing punches and and a little soreness in my calves, but that’s it. I got showered, dressed and and made a quick breakfast before heading to my co-worker Wendy’s bridal shower.

Breakfast was a mini whole wheat bagel with scrambled egg-whites, American cheese and veggie sausage with organic ketchup for dipping!

I also had some coffee with it. Adam brought home some Seattle’s Best Christmas Blend last week and we love it! It is very flavorful!!

Of course we drank it out of Christmas mugs because we are giant geeks!

Wendy’s shower was at the Danversport Yacht Club, which was beautiful!!! It had a Holiday theme and everything was just perfect, I really loved the centerpieces. They had pine, poinsettias and holly berries in them.

Our co-worker Teri won the one at our table by finding the “diamond ring” under her chair!

The favors came in this adorable little boxes that looked like Christmas presents.

What? You want to see what’s inside? Ok, ok!

Pretty, right? Can’t wait to hang it on me tree (which should be going up tonight!!!)

The food was really great too. It started off with a salad.

I also had a piece of a wheat roll.

The meal was either stuffed chicken or seafood casserole. I choose the stuffed chicken.

I peeled off the skin and ate with chicken with no skin, no gravy. I ate about 3/4 of the chicken all of the broccoli and two potatoes.

Dessert was apple crisp!

I enjoyed my dessert with a coffee with some half and half.

The cake was so pretty too!

Of course I had to try a piece, it was super yummy, but I only took one bite. I was way too full got any more.

While Wendy and Charlie were opening gifts, the Maid of Honor randomly pulled names from a hat and those people got little gifts! I was so excited when she called my name! I loved my little gift too!

After the shower, I headed home and relaxed for about an hour before going to my parent’s for dinner and to decorate their tree!

My mom made spaghetti with her homemade “meat” sauce. Instead of ground beef, she used veggie crumbles 🙂

I had a big ol’ plate of it! Spaghetti is my absolute favorite! I had a small brownie and a few sips of coffee for dessert.

Then it was decorating time!!!

Here is mom and I sorting through ornaments. Yup, I am totally wearing PJ’s!

Action shot of dad with the garland!

HAHAHAHA! I am not sure why mom and Pa look so annoyed with my picture taking!

Here is one of my dad adding the newest ornament. It is a Longhorns one I bought him during my trip to TX. Adam and my friend Kara (who lives in TX) have a football bet going, so he is trying to grab the ornament away from dad in this picture because he is afraid it will ginx him.  I guess if Kara wins the bet she will not have to pay for a drink the entire time she is here visiting for our wedding. If Adam wins the bet, she had to do the kickworm at our wedding in her bridesmaid dress!

For those of you who don’t know what the kick-worm is, here you go!

Adam is actually does an amazing worm! After a beer or two at any event where there is a dance floor, the worm makes an appearance! It is genetic, in my opinion, his cousin Nicole is a natural as well!

Final Product:

After decorating the tree, the started working on my last paper of the semester, but only got about 7 pages done before going to bed. I had taken yesterday off to get some stuff done fore school, the blog and around then house.  Gotta love those personal days 🙂 Even though I wasn’t going to work, I was up at 6m to get things done. Here is my to-do list for the day:

I got everything done except blog, and grocery store!!! Pretty good, right?

Breakfast was eaten while finishing my paper. I had two Van’s waffle PB&J sandwich with a veggie sausage.

YUMMMMM! Since I had a little extra free time, I decided to head our for a run! My pre-run snack was a Kashi Bar.

It was in the low 30’s so I had to make sure I was covered!

Yes, people this is what a runner in Boston looks like from December- March! The roads were icy and I slipped a few times and actually fell once, but I was determined to finish.

I did 6.52 miles in 59:58. This was a hard run, and I have a feeling I will be facing a lot of those over the next couple of months. Cold, thin air is very hard to breathe in and makes running a lot more difficult. Since I already have pretty damaged lungs from smoking (you can read more about that in this post), running in the cold is that much harder. But, I am convinced that if I work hard and run through the winter months, when the weather gets warmer (i.e. in time for my half marathon) I will be that much of a better runner, no?

If  you where it gets really cold in the winter, do you still workout in the cold?

When I returned from my run, I downed 2 bottles  of half coconut water half regular water.

For some reason, the whole time I was running I was CRAVING coconut water! Like it was all I could think of! I love this stuff! When I first tried coconut water I thought it was gross! Now, I love it! I think it is definitely an acquired taste!

While I was running, Adam ordered himself a sandwich and got me a Greek Salad since we have no food right now. I ate the salad with my own balsamic vinaigrette dressing and a half a piece of garlic bread.

After my late lunch, I headed to class! I am seriously nervous about these finals I have coming up! I can’t wait until this semester is over so I can have a month of freedom. I am most excited about being able to get a book and read for pleasure. So sick of articles and textbooks! After class, I headed to my part-time job to get some work done for the week.

Dinner was eaten around 8pm. Since it was freezing, all I wanted some grilled cheese and soup. Luckily, although we are our of basically EVERYTHING in our apt, we had the ingredients to make exactly what I was craving!

Adam cooked us up some grilled cheese using American cheese and spelt whole wheat bread.

Super melty!!! The tomato soup was this Creamy Tomato Soup from Pacific. This is honestly the best Tomato Soup I have ever had!!! No Lie!! I was super creamy and was not salty at all! I really dislike salty soups and feel like anything tomato based usually is salty unless you make it yourself. If you are a tomato soup fan, you have got to try this!

Breakfast this morning was whatever I could scrape together from the small amount of groceries we have in our apt right now (I promise, I will be going to the store tonight after class).

Annie’s chocolate and vanilla cereal with organic fat free milk and a tiny apple. I really love this cereal, it makes me feel like a little kid 🙂

Today’s outfit:

Sorry it is so blurry! Yikes! Everything is GAP, except the clogs, those are brown tooled Dansko!!!

Well, I gotta get back to work! See you for a lunch post in a few hours!

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Goodbye Old Friend …

Today I had to sadly say goodbye to an old friend 😦 Look what happened this morning!

Uh Huh!!! THAT’S MY BLENDER!!! As I was grabbing it off the top to my fridge this morning to make my Green Monster, it slipped out of my hand and smashed on the floor. I stood there for like a straight minute just sobbing! I love that thing, and it was expensive. Since it is the Holiday Season and I made a goal not to spend money on myself, I will have to wait until I get one for Christmas (which Adam promised would be one of my gifts when I called him in tears this morning). So of course I was running super late today because glass clean up is a b*tch! Last thing I need is for Osc to get glass in his paw!

Ok, enough about my dramatic morning, let me back up to yesterday after lunch. Around 3:30pm I had my afternoon snack.

and a handful of trail mix:

I bought this trail mix a few months back from a co-worker’s son who was selling it for Boy Scouts, and let me tell you, these Boy Scouts know a thing or two about trail mix. I am addicted to this stuff!

After work I hoped on the train to meet my friend Ashley to Pump, Body Pump that is!!! OH Yeah!!! We got some exciting news too: Body Pump 72 will make it’s debut in 2 weeks!!!!! YAY! Although this current set is still challenging, I think my body is ready for a change. I may have gotten a little used to it. I am super excited/nervous to see how it is. Rumor has it the lunge track in 72 is a KILLER and we all know I just love lunges (sarcastic). After BP, Ash and I decided to get a coffee at the Starbucks downstairs and catch up. We hadn’t seen each other in two weeks or so.

I got a short, non-fat gingerbread latte.

Ashley was cracking up at the size difference in our coffees, mine was so little!!

We chatted for an hour and a half about boys, music, Holidays and working out. It was great to catch up with her 🙂 I love girl time. After coffee I hopped on the trained and headed home. Dinner was quick because it was eaten at 10pm…SUPER LATE FOR ME!

Veggie burger and some Food Should Taste Good Chips.

I ate my veggie burger on a whole wheat sandwich thin topped with reduced fat feta, buffalo sauce and some lettuce.

I had sort of a rough night’s sleep last night. For starters, I got sucked into MTV’s  Jersey Shore show, I am mildly embarrassed to admit it. That show is complete trash, but SO entertaining! So I watched that until 12am. Then, Adam was working until 3am, so when he got home, I woke up and hard a hard time falling back to sleep. So, needless to say the 6:30 alarm and I were not friends. But, I listen to and and got up and suited up for a run. I met Julia for a run this morning.

We ended up doing 5.27 miles in 43:21. Pretty good right?!

Splits:

Mile 1: 8:43

Mile 2: 8:51

Mile 3: 8:50

Mile 4: 8:58

Mile 5: 8:00

2.7 miles: 2:30

When I got home I attempted to make a Green Monster to refuel and we know how that turned out. So I cleaned up the glass and then went to my parent’s house (bathrobe, slippers and wet hair up in a towel, mind you) to cry to her and borrow her blender. She told me I could hold on to it until she needed it 🙂 Aren’t mom’s the best?!

I drank it out of a beer glass, because I felt like I really needed a drink 😉

Oh Green Monster, I will never take you for granted again!!!

Monster Mix:

• 1 frozen banana
• ice
• spinach
• Fat Free Organic Milk
• Bee Pollen
• PB2
• Chocolate PB2
• Chocolate Green Superfood
• Protein Powder

And…there was some coffee to go!

Today’s outfit was thrown together quickly since 20 minutes of my morning was spent cleaning up glass:

Coral Cardigan (H&M), White T-Shirt (H&M), Leopard Scarf (H&M), Jeans (Express), Black Pointed-toe Boots (Nine West circa 2001).

In Other News:

Remember when you guys submitted all those questions for blogger interviews??? Well, today I am posting the first interview…YAY!!!! I figure I will post one every Friday, until we are out of bloggers. Sounds good right?

Today’s interview is with Tina! Tina is actually one of the very first bloggers that I started reading and is definitely someone to inspired me to write my own. I have also met her in person several times and she is a cool and down to earth in real life as she comes across on Carrots n’ Cake. So without further ado, here is my interview with Tina 🙂

Blogging Related:

1. Why did you start your blog?

I had been reading food blogs for awhile and I was getting married in a few months, so I thought having my own blog would keep me on track with healthy eating and fitness. Plus, it looked fun!

2. What is your favorite blog?

I have A LOT of favorites! But, the one that really inspired me to start my own was Kath Eats. I still read it everyday.

3. How do you keep readers interested in your blog? Especially if your blog is new?

Post frequently. It keeps people coming back. Also, make sure to add some personal info to your posts. Readers start reading to see your food and workouts, but they “connect” with your personality, interests, and lifestyle.

4. Have you found blogging difficult to keep up with?

Yes! In fact, I quit my full-time job to do it!

5. Has anything happened that was unexpected or shocked you as a result of having a blog? For example, negative feedbacks, new found blogger friends that live next door? really anything that didn’t expect?

Pretty much everything!!! The friends I’ve made, planning a conference for 100+ people, appearing and being quoted in magazines, public speaking (!!!), traveling across the country for blog conferences and to learn about pomegranates, WRITING A BOOK! It’s been an amazing journey

6. Do you have support of your family?

Yep. They read everyday!

7.  how long have you been blogging?

Since February 2008.

8. how has your blog changed over the years?

I used to just blog about food. Now, I blog about anything and everything!

9.What new directions do you see taking it in?

CNC is getting a facelift in early 2010, so you’ll see some changes soon!

10. What is your favorite ‘freebie’ that you’ve ever received?

A trip to the POM orchards! It was an amazing experience and one I will never forget.

You and Your Healthy Lifestyle:

11. What is your favorite workout?

I have two: running and Body Pump!

12. How often do you workout?

Depends on the week, but typically 4-6 times.

13. Have you always lived a healthy lifestyle? If not, What made you change you lifestyle?

For the most part, yes. But, I lived a very unhealthy lifestyle right after college– too much beer and bar food and not enough exercise. I put on 25 pounds!

14. What is you favorite healthy snack?

Peanut butter anything! 😉

15. What is your all time favorite food?

Cake with lots of frosting! Nachos are a close second!

16: What is your least favorite food?

Red Bull. Keep it away from me! Ick!

17. What is one kitchen appliance you can’t live without, besides your fridge?

Coffeemaker!

18. What is your favorite thing to try? New workouts, new restaurants, bars, beer/wine.

I love trying new wines!

Getting to Know you:

19. What are you wearing today?

Trouser jeans (J.Crew), off-white sweater (Banana), faux Burberry scarf (streets of NYC), brown boots (Nine West via Marshalls), pug (Murphy P. Haupert)

20. What do you do for a living?

I’m a healthy living blogger, freelance writer for Health, and social media guru for NuVal. I also have some side gigs working for Gordon’s Wine and Liquors as well as Eggland’s Best.

21. What is your favorite movie?

Pretty Woman.

22. What are your hobbies?

Blogging, running, and baking. Is working a hobby?

23. What trends are your fashion favorite this season?

Scarves!

24.what are your plans for 2010?

Hopefully, some travel and writing a book! Eek!

Well, I got some stuff to do around here, so I will see you guys at lunch! have a GREAT Friday!

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40 YEARS!!!!!!

Hey everyone! How is your weekend wrapping up? Mine had been good, but FAST! After my last post, I cleaned up our apartment and did a little laundry before heading out for a run. My Garmin heart monitor has been falling off lately and ends up as a belt about 5 minutes into my run. I had it the smallest it can go too. Today I reluctantly safety pinned it about 1/2 inch smaller.

The first mile of my run I was worried that my movement would pop it open and it would stab me, then I just forgot about it and got in the zone. In the end it worked out perfectly. Does anyone that has a Garmin and is too small for the heart monitor have any advice on keeping it on other than a safely pin?

I ended up running a little over 6.5 miles in a little over an hour.

I had to turn the light on, because in every picture I took all you could see was my taking the picture. Weird lighting?! Oh, before I left for my run, I has 1/2 of a banana.

When I got back, I showered and refueled with a “kitchen sink” salad.

Spring mix, cucumbers, tomatoes, carrots, black beans, beats, edamame. It was perfect and just what I wanted, something crisp and cold!

Today is my almost Mother and Father-in-law’s 40th Anniversary! Isn’t that great!!! 40 years, 6 kids,5 children-in-law, 11 grandchildren and 3 fur-babies (2 of which are Oscar’s biological mom and dad) they are still in love!

I love that Bill wore a “Groom” hat and Minnie wore a veil to dinner with the family. Don’t forget Aunt Debbie, she was the Maid of Honor!

See my crazy soon-to-be husband in the background…I bet he will still be jumping in my pictures 40 years from now. Actually, by the time Adam and I celebrate out 40th Anniversary, we will be together 52 years!!!! I guess that’s what happens when you date someone for 12 years before marrying them!

Dinner started with a glass of Pinot Noir that I sipped though out dinner.

I also had a wheat roll.

and a few appetizers.

Bruchetta, toasted ravioli, zucchini stick. I has some salad too, but only ate about 1/2 of it.

For my meal I ordered the Eggplant Parm.

As you can tell it has FAR TOO MUCH SAUCE, not problem I just scrapped a bunch off. It was good because it wasn’t super greasy of super fried.

Pretty cake!!!! I had a small piece, special occasion.

I just ate the cake and left the frosting

I also had a cookie and a coffee (that I drank half of).

  

After dinner I met my bestie May, her co-worker Abby and her roommate Gabe for a beer. I ordered a Sam Winter (I am so sad the Sam Octobefest is gone 😦 )

Here is my outfit today:

Dark wash skinny jeans (Paper Cloth Denim), White T (Target), Gray Sweater (Gap), Scarf (H&M).

Flats (Steve Madden) love the big bow!

In Other News:

1. Earlier today I wrote about wanting to interview other Boston Bloggers, but it has been brought to my attention that NOT ALL of my readers are from this area, so I thought it was a good idea to open it to ALL HEALTHY LIVING BLOGGERS!!!!

For Bloggers: Please let me know if you are interested in being interviewed and highlighted in these interviews/ get ready for an e-mail from me asking you to be involved;)

For Readers and Bloggers: Let me know what questions you think should be asked it can be about their blog (for example: Why did you start blogging) or about them personally (For example: How do you take your coffee). If you want to submit a question(s) shoot me an e-mail (foodfitnessfashion@gmail.com) or comment on this post. I have already gotten some great questions!!!

2. Don’t forget about the Athena Cup. I donated 18 BRAS TODAY!!!!

Reminder: Vote for me for the Wellsphere People’s HealthBlogger Awards 2009! Click here to Vote!!!

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