Ryan comes tomorrow morning and we’re going to get started on the move that is sure to be the main event of the weekend. Eeeeek! I’m so excited to see him! It’s only been 3 weeks since he left but after living together all year, being apart that long has been really hard. At the same time though, I think in some ways it’s been good for me. I’ve been taking the time to work on individual issues I have needed to work on for quite some time, but would never have worked on if I wasn’t forced into it so I guess the time apart has it’s silver lining. I’m definitely not where I need to be with many things in my life, but I’m working on it! One of the main things I really need to work on is how anxious and stressed out I get over things that should be fun (like planning my wedding)- that one is coming along very very sloooooooooooowly. But hopefully it’s a comin’.
I didn’t get to bed as early as I hoped last night so this morning was another battle with my alarm clock. It kept telling me to wake up and I kept shouting obscenities at it. With no one there to kick me out of bed I rolled out 2 minutes before I had to leave the house. Naturally this meant breakfast was another grab and run affair. I assembled it (not that there was much to it) at my office- a container of fat free blueberry yogurt and an apple:
I actually had a pretty bad workout at the gym today for the first time in a while. It was my favorite steps class, but for some reason I just wasn’t feeling it. I did it though, along with arm, shoulder, and ab exercises. Meh.
Lunch was perfect for today’s cold and dreary day: a warm roasted veggie tamale a la Amy’s.
Plus a delicious grapefruit
Later in the afternoon my boss came into my office tempting me with a cookie. I had half (un-photographed). It was damn good and well worth it.
Dinner tonight is a real toughie to guess. That’s right. Despite the risk of boring you to tears, I had the same delicious veggie wrap again. I decided my taste buds were more important than your entertainment. Sorry!
And 2 kiwis + 2 strawberries for dessert
Alright guys, I’m going to start winding down. I’m sure it’ll take me a while to fall asleep tonight but sleep can’t come fast enough- when I open my eyes I’ll get to see my fiance!
It’s only a little past 7 and I can barely keep my eyes open! I am so totally and completely pooped after today’s crazy hectic workday. I’m really lucky with my job being flexible so I rarely work many hours straight- there’s always little breaks here and there for tea and random chit-chats with coworkers. But today was go go go from 7:30 on. After eating breakfast, I drove 1.5 hours to prison #1 and did interview #1. Then I drove another 1.5 hours to prison #2 for interviews #2, #3, and #4 which took a grand total of 4 hours. And then it was another 1 hour drive back home. I am seriously considering going to bed at like 8.
I decided I needed a really filling breakfast to give me a good headstart on fueling me for the long day. So oats it was 🙂 Luckily it was gray and dreary out unlike the really warm weather we’ve been having lately so the oatmeal sounded really appealing. I decided on peanut butter and jelly oats, an idea I’ve seen on another blog but I can’t find the entry to it right now…I think it was Lauren’s blog? Either way, thanks to whoever it was for the genius creation- it was so yummy! For my bowl I used: 1/3 cup oats, 1/3 cup water, 1/3 cup skim milk, 1 banana, 1 T Barney butter, 1 T strawberry jam.
I ate about 3/4 of this, and even that took a lot of effort! It tasted delicious, but it’s also insanely filling. I think when I add mix-ins like nut butters I really can only handle 1/4 cup of oats…
I did the best I could with lunch. It had to be eaten on the drive from prison #1 to prison #2 so it needed to be easy to drive while eating. You know what? Not too many healthy foods (or at least foods you can put together into nutritionally balanced MEALS) are driving friendly. I did the best I could with a bag of soy crisps, a south beach diet bar, and an apple:
So you know how I said dinner last night was amazing and you’d be seeing it again real soon? Here you go! It was my dinner again tonight…
And with that I’m off kiddos. Hopefully I’ll be back much more well rested tomorrow!
Hey everyone- hope your memorial day weekends were great!I had the perfect balance of a part relaxing, part productive 3 day weekend. I packed and moved some stuff to our new place, went to a pool part, hiked with an adorable toddler and puppy, and went out to eat lots of food with the wonderful Sue. Ok, maybe more relaxing than productive, but I still did some work! Today I hit the ground running hard, and had a super productive day at work. It’s so much easier to get stuff done knowing there is only 4 weekdays! I think this is something emplyers should seriously look into. Tomorrow is going to be crazy busy and productive as well- I have 2 separate prisons to go to for a total of 4 visits (1 at the first prison, 3 at the second). The catch is that the prisons are about 60 miles away from each other, and 70-75 miles away from my home, so there is a lot of driving and visiting to squeeze into one little workday! I have no doubt I’ll be working overtime tomorrow 🙂
Back to today, I woke up to what was a brilliantly filling breakfast: 1% cottage cheese and an apple-cranberry bran muffin (the TJ’s kind that’s only 100 calories but 13 grams of fiber!). My plate progression:
Then of course I had to crumble the muffin:
And then I thought the cottage cheese could be like frosting so I mixed it all up:
I thought I would LOVE this combo, but to be honest it was a bit too dense for me. I really should have added fruit to lighten it up. Despite it being quite light calorie-wise, I could only finish about 3/4 tops and it held me over forever. I think grapes (or some other kind of juicy fruit) would have been the perfect addition to this to make it a really satisfying meal for my tastebuds- it felt a little too dry…
After lunch I headed over to do some jail visits and returned in time to gobble some subway for my lunch. I had my usual- turkey and every veggies (except olives) with vinegar- no cheese or mayo. I love how the vinegar makes this sandwich so moist while still keeping it healthy, but i think I’ve been enjoying it a little too often…my wallet and waistline both like me to cook more often.
Dinner was freaking brilliantly good, and oh so simple. I found some wonderful whole wheat tortillas at Shaw’s that are only 70 calories but boast 6 grams of fiber! That was the base. For the innards (ew, what a gross word) I roasted up some garlicky veggies- eggplant, onion, squash, and bell pepper. While that was a cookin, I made some “mockamole” that I read about on Tina’s, Elina’s, Shannon’s, and Lauren’s blogs (the links to their posts are here, here, here, and here). This is a birlliant concept- mix guacamole with peas to cut down on fat and add nutrients. Plus, it lends an awesome texture and delicate sweetness to the guacamole, which I loved. Why has no one thought of this before?? After I finished making the mockamole, I melted a piece of fat free cheese onto one of the tortillas and spread it with the deliciousness:
Pile with roast veggies on top and viola!
Holy deliciousness. I piled too many veggies in to wrap it up, so a knife and fork it was. That and my hands 🙂 You will soooooo being seeing this again soon. Like, probably tomorrow.
Alright folks, I’m going to start winding down and prepping myself for the craziness that is sure to ensue tomorrow with all those visits. Keep your fingers crossed for me!
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Hey guys- just a quick note to say I won’t be posting this weekend or next- I am running all over the place this weekend and next weekend we’re moving so I’m going to stick to posting during the weekdays and take the weekends off for a bit. Hope you’re all having an amazing memorial day weekend!
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So after I finished my post last night I took some Nyquil and completely passed out. I woke up insanely well rested this morning- suspiciously well rested for my alarm clock not having gone off yet. I rolled over, picked up my phone, and saw that the time read 10:01 am. As in, I should have been at work an hour ago. And as I’m realizing this, my phone starts ringing and it’s my work. They’re not mad at all, just worried and want to know if I’m ok. My office is seriously the best place to work in the entire world thanks to my insanely wonderful coworkers. Anyway, somehow in my Nyquil stupor I must have turned off my alarm clock this morning. I have absolutely zero recollection of doing so.
I made a mad dash for the door, grabbing a quick bar on my way out. I gobbled this up on the subway on the way to work- the photo is from the inside of my purse 🙂
At work I snacked on pineapple, grapes, and strawberries from the super yummy edible arrangements bouquet my secret admirer sent me 🙂
For lunch I treated myself to my very first salad from Sebastian’s, a fairly big chain in Boston that does sandwiches and salads. The salads are monstrous sized so I only ate about 1/2 and was STUFFED. It was super duper yummy though- a big bed of various mixed lettuces, red onion, tomato, corn, pickles, jalapenos, and marinated artichokes ($1.25 extra for those but I decided to splurge) with low fat Italian dressing. What is it about buying salads that always makes them taste so much better than homemade ones?
I did not end up going to the gym today. To be honest, it’s not because I learned my lesson. It’s because in my mad rush this morning I forgot to pack clean gym clothes. But it was a gorgeous day out, so I went out for a nice long walk during lunch.
Dinner was light. I’m feeling better than yesterday so my appetite is coming back, but I’m definitely not 100% yet so it’s not full force yet. I have been really craving tuna lately, so I made myself a tuna salad (with a little bit of light mayo) which I put on top of 1/2 of a whole wheat sandwich thin with spring mix lettuce. I also chopped up 1/2 a tomato to have on the side. I’ve been good about eating my veggies lately!
For dessert I had some frozen mango and pineapple chunks, a perfectly refreshing way to end a warm day.
Alright guys, I’m off to start getting ready for bed so that I don’t oversleep tomorrow! Night!
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So you know how I was all happy my maid of honor came to visit me last week and then I had an awesome time in NY with her and my cousin? I’m less happy now because she got me sick. Grrrrrr. I’m not sick enough not to go to work or anything, but I’m all clogged up and it’s giving me a huge headache and I never get headaches. I hate headaches. And I hate not being able to breathe. But apparently I like whining a lot.
I was NOT hungry when I woke up this morning (I never am when I’m sick) but I wanted to go to the gym so around 11:00 I made myself eat a light “breakfast” of 1% cottage cheese and 1/2 an apple.
Around noon I went to spin class. Here’s the deal. I should not work out when I’m sick. It makes me sicker. I have learned this lesson many times, but apparently not enough times to make it really stick. I have heard some people say that working out when they’re sick helps them “sweat out their sickness” or whatever. I REALLY wish I could be one of those people whose body works like that but it doesn’t. I felt weak and horrible all through class and really wanted to vomit but instead of being smart and leaving I pushed through it all and came out of their feeling like crap. And you know what? I’m STILL thinking of going to steps tomorrow because it’s my favorite class of all and it only happens once a week so I really hate missing it. See how accurate the title of my post is? When I say I will never learn, I mean I will never ever learn, even given how crappy I feel right now. And it’s pretty crappy.
When I walked into my office building after the gym, the secretaries ran up to me and asked if I was hungry and did I want to eat a lot and was I in the mood for some fruit. Ignoring their strange behavior I told them that NO i was NOT hungry and NO I did NOT want to eat anything and in fact all I want to do is vomit. I promptly proceeded to walk into my office and found this:
Aha, the secretaries” mysteriously strange behavior solved. I have ALWAYS ALWAYS wanted to try an edible arrangements bouquet but have never gotten the chance. But my secret admirer surprised me with one today 🙂
Ryan thinks he’s being tricky, but I got him all figured out. Isn’t he the best? I’ve been telling him I want to try one of these for sooooooo long now, and I was so happy to come back to this lovely surprise on my desk, especially given how crappy I was feeling. Have I used “crappy” enough in this post yet? Shall I move on to “poopy?”
So that was lunch, a whole ton of delicious fruit and 2 chocolate covered strawberries. I shared with my coworkers and there’s still some leftover for tomorrow- I can’t wait! I know this is not the most nutritionally balanced meal, but when I’m sick I’m happy if I want to eat anything. Honestly I will be so much more flexible with what I allow myself to eat when I’m sick, hoping that something unhealthy might sound tempting but it never does. I contemplated pizza and hot dogs (my guilty pleasures) and all my favorite junk food I could think of just to get some real food in me, but the though of food made my stomach turn. So fruit it was. Delicious delicious fruit.
I have no pics of dinner tonight. Bad blogger, I know. I went out with an acquaintance I am just starting to get to know and couldn’t get up the nerve to tell her about the blog. We went to a Thai restaurant and I ordered a vegetarian tom yum soup and a salad- I ate the cup of soup but only managed about 1/5 of the salad tops before feeling too sick to eat anymore. Boo.
I am going to try to get to bed early in hopes of feeling better tomorrow. Night guys, thanks for reading!
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Hey all! Sorry I didn’t get to posting yesterday- I stayed up until around midnight addressing engagement announcements and taking care of other wedding stuff and by then it was time to crash. Here’s a quick recap of yesterday’s meals:
Breakfast was a cliff kids z-bar and an apple. Youll notice a theme lately with all my breakfasts being, um, portable. That’s because with Ryan not here to kick me out of bed I am sleeping in to the last minute and making a mad dash for the door, grabbing whatever I can within 2 seconds.
Both lunch and dinner were vegelicious. Lunch was a simple salad of spring lettuce mix with a whole lotta baked cauliflower:
And a grapefruit for dessert:
And dinner was a mini whole wheat pita stuffed with hummus and roasted veggies (eggplant, onion, bell pepper, mushroom), a side of leftover baked cauliflower, and more roast veggies for another side for those that couldn’t fit into the pita.
I’m going to a friend’s house for dinner tonight so we’ll see if I have time to post when I’m back- I might be totally wiped out. Between wedding planning, moving apartment, my job, blogging, and making time for every day lfie and seeing friends I’m going a little crazy nowadays! Thanks for bearing with me.
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After a grueling five hour bus ride that made my butt hurt from sitting on it for so long, I am finally back in Boston. And not so happy about it. I came home to an empty nest- not having Ryan here to greet me was pretty depressing. I know I am being a big whiner, but I really miss him.
On a happier note, New York was awesome. I got two hang out with two of my best friends (one will be my maid of honor and the other one of my bridesmaids). I cannot possibly explain here how much fun I have with these girls and how grateful I am to have them in my life. Together we walked the Brooklyn Bridge, went to the theatre, meandered around East and West villages, boogied at Bulgarian bar, listened to some amazing jazz in Harlem, and talked about my wedding! The main decision to be made this weekend was wedding colors. I found plenty of inspiration around New York to work off of:
That coral with the yellow is gorgeous, isn’t it? And check out what an amazing color palate mangoes provide:
I would love to work with both of these color schemes, but unfortunately any shade of red or pink clashes with my hair like crazy. So we talked about other options, like lavender and cream or maybe a purple/green (with chocolate brown?) color scheme. What do you guys think? It’s a summer wedding- the ceremony will be outside and the reception inside. I want the colors to be fun and summary but also elegant and they need to go well with me (check out my about me page if you need to know what that means- I have red hair and pale skin and rosy cheeks to red and pinks are OUT). Any suggestions? Please?
Ok, enough about the wedding. Onto the food. I woke up Saturday knowing exactly what I wanted for breakfast- cottage cheese and cantaloupe. Luckily my friend hooked me up, and then some. I added a piece of whole wheat double fiber toast to round the meal out.
I had a peach a few hours later:
Lunch was bought at the Hummus Place, a restaurant run completely by Israelis which made for some damn good hummus. On the left is a side of eggplant, on the right warm hummus with sauteed garlicky mushrooms which was insanely delicious. I also got a very fresh and fluffy whole wheat pita with the meal (not pictured). If you’re in New York and want some good hummus, go here!
Dinner was very late and I’m sorry to say I have no picture of it. We were out and about and my camera was at home because I knew we were going out dancing and I didn’t want to lose it. It wasn’t very exciting- 1 (big) slice of not very good pizza with arugula, sundried tomatoes, and artichoke hearts. Sounds delicious. Tasted mediocre.
After a night out, we slept in veryyyyyy late and woke up to make a delicious brunch: cottage cheese, 1 slice of whole wheat double fiber toast, and an egg over easy.
I finished brunch off with a cup of tea and a piece of calcium/ vitamin D dark chocolate (basically just like an Adora disk).
Then I spent almost 8 hours on subways and buses getting home, and came home ready to chew my arm off. I decided a turkey sandwich would be more delicious and made that instead. Toasted whole wheat sandwich thin, TJ’s eggplant garlic spread, spring lettuce mix, and turkey.
And a perfectly delicious grapefruit:
And now I’m off to shower, unpack, make tomorrow’s lunch, and think up other stuff to do so I can avoid getting into that empty bed for as long as possible. Thanks for reading guys.
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I am feeling so energized and invigorated right now- not a state Im usually in at 10 pm! The weird thing is that I was actually super productive today and got so much shit done, but instead of it tiring me out it’s only motivating me to get more shit done. Funny how that works, no? It’s actually the same way with weight loss for me- when I see progress I am extra careful about making healthy choices and exercising a lot rather than cutting myself some slack because I am motivated to see even more progress! Anyway, I was a busy bee at work today, breaking only to go to spin class and do some strength training on my arms. After work I went to a store near my house where we get all our kitchen stuff to buy a few more glasses (Ryan breaks them a lot) and empty spice jars. When I got home I got right to researching wedding coordinators, putting out calls, getting quotes, etc- I think I have narrowed it down to 2 I really like! After that task was checked off, I started calling all of our credit card companies and our bank to let them know we are moving. Then I made dinner and watched the America’s next top model finale (very important!) before getting right back to work researching more wedding stuff and starting to pack for NY. Speaking of which- I am going to NY! Not sure when yet, but it’s going to be either Thursday night or Friday after work. I doubt I’ll be posting this weekend, but expect a recap when I get back!
Whew, that was long. Sorry. On to food so I can go get more stuff done!
Breakfast was a repeat. Story of my life- I hot snooze too many time and wake up 5 minutes before I have to bolt out the door. So a yogurt it was. At least this time I also grabbed a plum.
Lunch was delicious, thanks to Amy’s. I had a roasted veggie tamale that tasted awesome, and boasted some pretty great nutritional stats too! 9 grams of protein, 8 grams of fiber, just under 300 calories (280 to be exact).
And an apple:
For dinner I made myself a roasted veggie and hummus filled pita. OMG I cannot get enough of these things. Trader Joe’s 100% whole wheat pita, sabra hummus, roasted mushrooms, bell pepper, and onion. Aka a partay in my mouth.
Alright guys, I’m off to go finish packing in case I do leave tomorrow. Night, and thanks for reading!
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Hey all! Sorry my posting’s been a bit sporadic- I am trying to fill up every minute of my spare time with fun stuff to do while Ryan’s gone so I don’t think about how much I miss him. It’s not working very well. I miss him so much, and it’s only been 3 days since he’s left. I know it’s pathetic and I’m a big whiner but at least I gave you guys a fair warning this would happen, right?
Anyway, I had an absolutely lovely day with Alisa yesterday. We slept in late, really late, and then bummed around for a looooong time. So there was no breakfast. But there was a delicious lunch. Alisa wanted an egg salad sandwich and I wanted tuna salad but in the end we ended up trading half of each of our sandwiches with each other- it was the perfect way to get a taste of everything and leave my mouth perfectly satisfied. Lunch: 1/2 an arnold’s whole wheat sandwich thin with egg salad, half with tuna salad- both made using a dollop of light mayo.
On the side we had a lovely salad of mixed greens, tomato, bell pepper, and cucumber dressed in a little EVOO, balsamic, and s&p.
I was STUFFED but somehow not too long after I managed to find room for some perfectly firm and sweet red grapes. These really put me over the edge in terms of fullness.
After we were done being bums we walked. Quite a bit actually- 8 miles in total but it was broken up. We walked the 4 miles from Porter Square to the Newbury street area where we meandered around and enjoyed the sunshine. A little more shopping was done if truth be told. Eventually we felt a little munchy so we settled in for some wine and appetizers. I can’t remember the name of the wine I ordered but it was asauvignon blanc from Australia and it was SO FREAKING GOOD. I wish I could remember what it was called! Alisa got a peach Sangria which was also super tasty. And to fully indulge, we shared a cheese plate that was pure deliciousness:
My wine on the right, her sangria on the left, and our cheese, almond, and apricot plate front and center. It came with a bread basket (not pictured). About halfway through eating this Alisa asked me if I realized I was making “mmmmmmm” noises every time I took a bite of something and I honestly truly didn’t realize I was doing it. That’s how good this was. A truely wonderful indulgence that was worth every second of “mmmmming.” Me enjoying my wine and looking slightly sleepy:
And Alisa being a big cutie:
Us being goofy with some cheese bites:
We hit up a bowling alley before walking back home. We actually didn’t end up having dinner yesterday since we had the wine and cheese plate kinda late and were both still stuffed at 11 pm. Or I guess that was dinner? Whatever it was, it was good.
For whatever reason though, I could NOT fall asleep last night, Now I usually don’t have trouble with this. In fact, I am a tremendously talented and fabulous sleeper (if I do say so myself). But something weird was up (maybe I just wanted Ryan in bed with me? There goes that whining again….) and I could not get to sleep. I finally dozed off around 6:30 am so it’s no wonder getting up was impossible. I snoozed to the very last minute, grabbed a yogurt to eat at the office, and ran out the door. So that, my friends, was breakfast:
Alisa met up with me for lunch before catching her bus to NY. We went to…Subway! Ok but really, it’s one of the only healthy-ish options in a food court wich was all we had time for. I got the usual- turkey on honey oat with TONS of veggies and vinegar. Yum!
And a not so great orange for dessert:
We said our goodbyes and I went back to work. Around 4 pm my boss buzzed me and asked me to come into her office. I was terrified- I had no idea what I’d done wrong. I walked down the hall, heart pounding, only to find my coworkers standing around a table in our conference room yelling “surprise!” They had planned a surprise engagement party for me, and had bought cheesecake and champagne to celebrate. How freaking amazingly nice is that?
I can’t tell you how happy this made me. It was so nice to be able to celebrate something I am so excited about. Of course I had to have a slice, and enjoyed some bubble with it as well:
And there went my dinner appetite. Again, it’s 11 pm and I’m not hungry at all. Oh well. Cake for dinner? Yes please! I’ll try to make tomorrow a little more nutritious…Night everyone! Thanks for reading!
Inna Scribbles 