Creme Brulee

The friggin' creme brulee in my work cafeteria gets me every time!  It is so amazing.  I don't even want to know how much heavy cream & sugar is in it.  Thankfully, it's a small serving but STILL.  I must take after my mom - we both love it as well as mexican food.

I had that with a healthy salad... go figure.

I had a personal day yesterday which was nice.  I was able to do 3.5 miles on the treadmill in which I finished in 38:19.  No knee pain!

I won't be home until 10:30 tonight so training will commence tomorrow and over the weekend.  Ahh.. the weekend is close.  I'm off on Saturday!  So I'll cross train Saturday and do 5 miles on Sunday afternoon.

I just glimpsed at the calendar on my desk and Daylight Savings is only 10 days away - Yay!  it'll be lighter later and I won't want to get into my PJs by 5:00 p.m.  Ha!

Have a good rest of the day and weekend :)

Fitness Pal & Breakfast Shake

Here's today's breakfast which is 1.5 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk, a handful of strawberries and blueberries, a few mango chunks, 1 tsp flax meal, 1 tsp raw honey and a handful of spinach.  It was really good.. and filling.  I drink this on the way to work (7:30-8) and have a snack around 10:30.

This blender rocks.

 For lunch I brought white bean soup and after my apple with PB snack and two cookies (oops), I only have 333 calories left for dinner.  MFP (My Fitness Pal) gives me 1,220 calories per day which is NOT a lot, especially on days that I don't exercise.  My knee is feeling better and according to the schedule, I should run 3.5 miles today.  I'm not going to.  The Sunday run, I pushed myself a little to hard.  Plus tonight, I probably won't be home until 10:00.  Last night I did 30 minutes of core/Pilates which actually was good for my knee I think.

Tomorrow, I have a personal day.  I will cross train in the morning and prep a meal for the crock pot for dinner :)

I'm going to try this cashew cream that I'm hearing about lately.  I found a spinach and artichoke dip recipe which calls for cashew cream rather than sour cream, mayo and/or yogurt.  You just soak raw cashews in water over night, drain and blend.  Sounds interesting.  Nuts are so pricey though!

5K problems, Sore knee & Grocery trip

So the 5K was postponed - AGAIN.  I was so bummed because A) It was the 2nd Saturday I took off work for it and B) It was literally drizzling all day.  The conditions will never be perfect!  Luckily I am off this coming Saturday, the 2nd but I doubt they'll schedule it for then :-/  Oh well though! 

Friday night when I was walking the dog, I slipped on ice and banged my knee pretty hard.  Soo - it was probably better that I didn't run on Saturday morning, ha.  I iced it a lot on Saturday and took Motrin.  Sunday morning it felt 10x better so after work, we went for 4 miles.  Around mile #2, it started to feel really tight and a bit sore, so I walked about 1 mile out of the 4.  I iced it some more when I got home.

I thought the Oscars were pretty good and I really liked Jessica Chastain, Jennifer Aniston and Charlize Theron's looks.  Reese Witherspoon's look was nice too - she pretty much alwways looks good, as well as Halle Berry.  I always like to see what the actresses are wearing.  I have to catch up on some of those movies, though!  Tonight I'm going to see Identity Thieves with my girlfriends (our once monthly girls night) and I think tomorrow Saro and I are going to see Silver Linings Playbook.

So far, so good as far as meal planning and not spending $ on breakfast and/or lunch at work.  I still ended up spending around $90 at the grocery store yesterday, but got a decent amount of stuff.  I coupon when I can but it's hard for meats and vegetables, which is pretty much all I got yesterday as well as some other items.

Today I had an almond milk berry smoothie with flax meal for breakfast.  Snack will be an apple with peanut butter and lunch will be last nights leftover dinner (5 oz shell steak with 1/2 of a goat cheese/pesto/spinach stuffed portobello mushroom which I got the recipe from my friend - came out really good).

I bought lean ground turkey, a whole chicken and pork chops so tonight will most likely be ground turkey with spinach and brown rice before I head to the movies!

Mid Day Exhaustion

Blah.  Does anyone else suffer from mid day exhaustion?  It could be 1:00, 2:00, 3:00.  Lately I've been feeling very tired in the afternoon.  I'm going to grab some vanilla spice energy tea with hopes that will help.  I sleep enough - maybe too much?  Last night was about 10:30-7am this morning.  What's funny is the nights I work (like tonight), I'll be yawning the entire time but when I get home at 10:30, I won't be able to fall asleep right away and normally the day after working those late nights, I feel more awake.  So I guess I should try to stay up until at least 11:00 on "school nights."

Also, we're two days away from the 5K that was rescheduled and guess what?  It's supposed to rain and/or snow again!  I'm really hoping it doesn't get cancelled but it is what it is!

Last night Saro made a really good Moroccan stew with chicken thighs, chick peas, butternut squash, carrots, spinach, tomatoes, lot of spices and brown rice, with a side salad.  Very tasty and flavorful.  I had that again for lunch today :)

Off to grab that tea now and hoping this blah mood passes soon.  Thank God tomorrow is Friday and I'm off Saturday!

Down a size!

So, I went to Kohl's on my lunch break yesterday.  I had a 30% off coupon and I'm noticing most of my clothes are starting to feel loose.  I was really excited that a size 8 dress pant fit very comfortably.  I also picked up a maroon Lauren Conrad casual blazer (on clearance for $21 -from $70!) so $15 after the coupon, a polka dot blouse and a pair of green jeans (still a size 10.  I don't want my jeans too tight).

I think they definitely mark up their prices so that when you get a 30% off coupon, you're like yes!  This is great!  Or I notice everytime I go in, most of the stuff I find is on sale.  So say a pair of dress pants, originally $60 are on sale for $40.  I don't mind spending $40-ish for dressy work clothes.  $60 is a bit much for me.  The cheaper, the better - ha!  For some things, anyway.  I've had bad luck at NY & Co. with clothes shredding after one wash.

Last night I completed 3 miles in 30:55.  Tonight I will do some Pilates/core, tomorrow I'm working all day and night and Saturday is the 5K so I will probably rest on Friday.

On another note, I need to get back on track with packing breakfast and lunch for work.  I didn't food shop on Sunday so we don't have much in the house.  Eek.  Although I can get breakfast from the cafeteria for around $2.25 and lunch for $5, it still adds up.  This weekend I will do a big shop and plan and prep for next week!

Weigh In After a Long Weekend

I took a friends advice and upped my calories last week.  They weren't all healthy calories either.  Oops.  Wouldn't you know it, the scale said 144 this morning.  That's 16 lbs. down since last March.  Really can't complain!

I completed week 1 of the half marathon training.  It was "easy."  This week is the same as last week.  Next week, they up the mileage a bit.

I was extremely lazy on my day off yesterday.  Much needed and necessary.  Originally, a window company was supposed to come for a free consultation for window treatments, but they cancelled.  I was kind of glad actually!  So by 9:30AM I was out and about.  I hit up Home Goods (we were there Saturday night - oy, what a nightmare.  People everywhere).  So early in the morning was much better and I found a new hamper for the bathroom - exciting, I know.  Our cat scratched the heck out of the old one.  I don't think he will be able to do the same to this one :)  Little devil.  I got home around 11 and had lunch, watched some TV and NAPPED from 1-3.  That was nice.

I had a 4:00 hair appointment in the next town over so I headed there.  My cousin did my hair and it's the ombre look.  Some people hate it but when it's done correctly, I think it looks cool and different.  Sick of highlights.  My hair is ashy and grayish so I basically "NEED" to color it ;)  I have it half up today:

In other news, Carlo's Bakery (Cake Boss) opened up another store - TWO miles from my house.  Great!  Sunday night we went over there and I got a red velvet cupcake for $3 friggen dollars.  Anyway, the cream cheese frosting was amazing.

Here I am before doing 4 miles on Sunday.  My time was 43:21.

Trust me when I say you don't want to see an after picture ;)

Have a good week - I'm glad it's Tuesday!

Some runs are better than others

Last night's run was just okay.  I think I made the mistake of eating first and then running.  I ate around 5:45 and ran around 7:30.  I only had a small amount of salmon and some zucchini.  Prior to running, I did about 20 minutes of Pilates.  As soon as I started, I had that "tired" cramping feeling in my left abdomen.  I thought to myself - geesh, I JUST started running, this can't be good!  After a mile, I walked at a fast pace (4.5mph) for 10 minutes.  The pain went away.  I finished the 3 miles in 34 minutes.  Not terrible but that cramping worries me.  I don't think I could bear it for 13.1 miles.  Too much water?  Too little?  Breathing technique?  Not sure.

Some days are just better than others and it's okay!

This weekend, we don't have any plans which is kind of nice.  I'm off on Monday for President's Day - yesss, I can sleep in! :)  Today is a rest day, tomorrow cross train, Sunday 4 miles.