Kristin's Nibbles

WORDPRESS SWITCH!

2009-09-05T06:57:00.002-04:00

Have you guys found me yet?

I've switched to wordpress.com, but I'm still Kristin's Nibbles... yet I have no readers yet!!

Switch your google readers, my new page is http://kristinsnibbles.wordpress.com

Kris

P.S. If there are any bloggers out there who could give me a shoutout on the blog just to let people know my address has changed that would be greatly appreciated!!

CHANGING IT UP!!!

2009-09-04T13:43:00.001-04:00

Good Afternoon!!

All my posts are now being transferred to...

www.kristinsnibbles.wordpress.com

It is still in the works, and www.kristinsnibbles.com will be up again soon as well!

Thanks, I'll be back with my day's post later on this evening!

Kris

Taking It easy

2009-09-03T20:44:00.003-04:00

Evening guys!

This morning's workout was... well... better than the other day's HIIT, but the fact that I can not walk was an issue! I have to admit, I definitely pushed myself too hard. So I took it easy for a while this morning on the treadmill instead of jumping right into my intensity training. I don't want to hurt myself!

This morning's HIIT:

1 min @ 4.5

1 min @ 4.8

1 min @ 5.2

1 min @ 5.6

1 min @ 6.0

1 min @ 6.8--> getting faster!

1 min @ 6.0

1 min @ 6.5

1 min @ 7.0

1 min @ 7.5

1 min @ 8.0 --> made it to 9!

1 min @ 6.0

1 min @6.5

1 min @ 7.0

1 min @ 7.5

1 min @ 8.0

1 min @ 6.0

1 min @7.0

1 min @ 8.9--> up to my "10"!!

1 min @4.0

5 min @ 3.5, reading a mag to cool off

After I eased into it and got going, it was a great workout! I was glad I made it back up to my 8.9mph high point again!

As for my eats, Meal #1 was one of my fave combos

1/2 c eggbeaters cooked with Mrs. Dash Garlic & herb, wilted spinach and mushrooms, LCL cheese wedge and a banana on the side

Meal #2 was a deeelicious repeat...
0% chobani, juicy juicy juicy chopped nectarine

All day I have been sipping on these babies:
Mojito-water! I've been sprucing up my regular h20 with some fresh mint and lime juice, and voila! Mojito water!

Lunch (Meal # 3) was leftovers, reinvented.
Bean and corn salad and cajun chicken over mixed greens with chopped cucumber and salsa on top. HUGE MONSTER SALAD= amazingly filling and delicious. Perfecto.

Meal #4 was also filling + tasty...
1/2 c lf cottage cheese, blueberries

I spent the day organizing the files on my computer, cleaning the bathroom, and just lazying around!

Dinner was the REAL star meal of the day...

I sauteed my shrimpies in 1 tsp of EVOO, 1 clove of garlic and added s+p, parsley and basil and a splash of white wine (the good stuff- Riesling from Canada!). Then I placed them atop a bed of 1/2 c brown rice with more asparagus on the side.

Droool.... little pieces of buttery heaven, with no butter used! Amazing!

Well, these kept me full for a while but my sweet tooth was kickin' in so I grabbed meal #6 a couple hours later- "Chocolate Milk" and a Kiwi!
I used Protein Powder + 8oz h20 + a splash of almond milk. Creamy!

In other news... I hope you enjoyed my Installment # 1 of my Winery posts... (If you haven't read it, it's the post right before this one!)

And I have to thank Angela from Oh She Glows (And Glo Bakery!) for helping me send my boyf a fun 1-year gift (it's on Sunday)... Cookies! He loves them! =)

I'm going to bed. Night!

Crush on Niagara

2009-09-03T16:04:00.011-04:00

Crush on Niagara: Part I

As promised, I’m going to take you through my 2 spectacular days of wine touring through the countryside of Niagara, Ontario. I apologize for this post being so late; I've been caught up in organizing!

Who knew the land in Canada would be so great for growing wine grapes? Surely no one gave it a bit of thought for some time, because the wine business in Niagara has only been thriving for 60-some odd years. But now with the rising popularity of Icewine and vintages such as many 2007 varieties gaining worldwide popularity, the wine industry in the Niagara peninsula and further has put Canada on the map for wine making.

On both Sunday and Monday, I participated in two 4-vineyard wine tours throughout the Niagara area, put on by Crush on Niagara wine tours. For five hours each day, Nick and I were led from vineyard to vineyard on a company bus, learning more and more about the wine tasting, varieties and the industry and how far it has come today.

Our first tour guide was a retired man named Paul who simply does the tours because he likes to. Informative and candid, he picked us up right on time at 12:45 and we headed to downtown Niagara on the lake to pick up one other couple, from California, and take us to our first winery.

The first winery we went to was a fairly small 12-year-old winery called Strewn, which produces around 25,000 cases per year. Our guide brought us downstairs into the wine cellar where we were among the barrels as she taught us the basics of wine tasting. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the “rules” of wine tasting, a brief overview:

Look at the wine for color and clarity, or any sediment (aged wines can collect sediment over time)
Sniff the wine first without swirling it to get a pure sense of the wine straight out of the bottle. THEN swirl it around, and smell again. Notice what smells you pick up. Remember: wine is purely made of grapes. Essences of other smells may come through, but really, anything you smell is possible.
Take one sip to clear the palate of whatever else you had in your mouth last
Take another sip, and then another. Now what do you think of the wine?

· Is it dry (not sweet)?

· Or if it is sweet, how sweet? Wineries tend to use a sweetness scale, from 1- semi dry, to 20 or above being very sweet (as a dessert wine usually is)

· Does your mouth tingle and dry when the wine hits your tongue? Those are the tannins in the wine causing these sensations.

· Do you pick up certain flavors or spices, fruits or maybe an oaky taste from the barrel it was in?

All of these will help you develop a sense of the true taste of the wine- to you, that is. Good wine is good wine, but everyone has their taste preferences and that will never change.

I loved doing the tour because I felt as though I heightened my taste for certain wines, and have more of a general idea as to what I prefer. But the perfect wine can always change that! More on that later.

In the cellar at Strewn, we were presented 3 wines; a white, a red and a late-harvest dessert wine.

The white- a 2006 Riesling Gewürztraminer. This was a scale 1 semi dry white wine. I could instantly smell the fruit- very peachy. With a little bit of spice. I liked this a lot, it was great for a white because I usually prefer red. Hmm. Maybe I just haven’t been trying the right white wines for my taste?

The Red- a 2008 Cabernet Sauvignon. We were lucky enough to have the opportunity to try the red from both the barrel, and from the bottle. The straight-from-the-barrel wine was as expected; bitter and lacking depth of flavor. The tour guide also explained to us that the wine in the barrel came from all of the same vineyard, whereas bottled wines contain many different barrels and many different vineyards. The bottled version was much more mature, and much heavier. It was good, but not my favorite- a bit too spicy for my taste.

The Late Harvest- Late harvest wines are harvested in Novemeber versus September, so the grapes are much sweeter, and the wine serves as more of a dessert wine or an aperitif with cheeses. This late harvest Riesling wine had a Level 4 sweetness- I liked it a lot. Definitely for dessert, not the table, but I would have a glass for dessert any night of the week! It is similar to Icewine, just not as sweet.

All of the Strewn wines are VQA labeled, which stands for "Vitners Quality Alliance," which means all of the grapes in every bottle come from Ontario vineyards.

The second winery we went to was Caroline Cellars, a smaller family-owned winery that produces approximately 10,000 cases per year.

For only ten thousand cases, that is quite a selection!

I had a lot of fun at Caroline cellars, because we were able to mix and match wines of our choice to try. Nick and I each decided to choose our four and share so we could get a taste of 8 wines!

We tried two white, two red, two fruit wines and one Icewine.

We ended up buying a red 2007 Merlot- it was fantastic! Nick doesn't normally like reds, and he picked this one out! The fruit wines were amazing as well, I had never tried them before, and fell in love at first sip! We tried a cranberry and a blackberry- the cranberry was my favorite!

The Icewine was good, very sweet!

After Caroline Cellars, we made our way to Iniskillin for a tour of the large factory, as well as a tasting.

We saw the machines where the wine is made...

The only difference between white and red wine (aside from the taste)?? White and red grapes both give off clear juice- red wine has the peel added for color!

Iniskillin has the most history of the wineries we went to. It is a large winery, producing over 120,000 cases per year! It is famous for it's Icewine, a special sweet dessert wine only available in Canada.

A few fun facts about Icewine:

Icewine is produced from grapes that have been left on the vine and are FROZEN
The sugars in the grape are condensed, so the wine ends up being extra sweet.
It is incredibly expensive to buy white wine, because you need far more grapes than you do for regular wine
A 12-pound puck is used to crush the frozen grapes, and only a few droplets of wine are produced in each large batch
The word "icewine" is patented, and can only be used for wines that are naturally frozen in Canada!
There is evidence Icewine was produced in earlier times by the ancient Romans, and proof it was produced by the Germans (called "Eiswein") but the climate is not cold enough in either regions to produce a sellable quantity of icewine!

We tried three wines at Iniskillin- a white, a red and an Icewine (of course!)

The White- A good table wine. It was very dry- not my favorite so far, but a quality wine.

The Red- a very high-tannin Merlot. My mouth went tingly instantly after a sip of this, but it was better than the white.

The Icewine- Incredible. And how could it not be? I don't think I've tried an icewine I haven't liked!! It was incredibly sweet, but not overly so, I think I could drink an entire bottle myself!

Too bad it was $70 =(

The final winery we went to on Sunday was Reif Estate Winery. We were led in through the big doors of the boutique to a small room in the back for a special wine-and-cheese pairing. Being such a foodie, I loved this!!

Pairing # 1- Vidal White + Montasio

-It was a great white wine- very fruity and sweet, so I don't think personally I would drink it alone, because I prefer a dryer white. I liked it with the montasio but I think I would have liked it even better with a soft cheese such as a Brie.

Pairing # 2- Ontario Sharp Cheddar + Cabernet Merlot

-Sharp Cheddar and red wine are always a perfect pair in my book! The Cab was smooth and deep, with hints of blackberry. I loved both the wine and the cheese combo.

Pairing # 3- Icewine + Bleu cheese

-The most unexpected pairing of the trio, this one was my favorite by far! I loved the way the creamy tanginess of the bleu cheese combined with the sweet notes of the Icewine. I loved this wine alone as well- so much so that Nick bought a bottle to bring home to my parents! It wasn't as sweet as the others I had today; definitely more for my palette, although I enjoyed all of the icewines of the day.

That is all I have for Day #1! I will post day #2 soon!!

I hope you enjoyed my write up, I sure enjoyed my tastings!

Healthy just tastes better

2009-09-02T19:23:00.005-04:00

Evenin'!

This a.m. I did my first LBWO (lower-body workout) and let me tell you- my legs already hurt!!! HIIT may be slightly difficult tomorrow. We shall see.

Here's what I did:

Quads

Leg press

12 @ 110 #

10 @ 130 #

8 @ 150 #

6 @ 170 #

12 @ 130 #

Barbell squats- 12 @ 30 #

Hamstrings

Dumbell lunges

12 @ 10 #

10 @ 16 #

8 @ 20 #

6 @ 20 # ----> my legs were shaking, couldnt make it to 12!!!

12 @ 16 #

Straight leg deadlifts- 12 @ 20 #

Calves

Angled calf raises

12 @ 10 #

10 @ 16 #

8 @ 20 #

6 @ 24 #

12 @ 20 #

Single legged calf raises- 12 @ 20 #

Abs- I didn't think the pyramid pattern would be effective for abs, so I've chosen to do more ab exercises- one for each part of my abs (upper, lower and middle) and work up to more each week.

Today I did:

Decline sit-ups- 50 (1 did them in between the calf exercises)

Floor crunches- 50 (1 min rest b/t 10)

Twist crunches- 50 each side (1 min rest b/t 10)

Phew! Definitely got some muscle-building in!

I came home and had some mud for breakfast...

Ok, it's not really mud... ;)

But it was some very watery (it thickened up a bit before I ate it) Chocolate protein oats: 1/2 c dry oats, 1 scoop chocolate EAS protein powder.

I had meal # 2 a couple hours later...
You can't see it, but there is 0% chobani greek yogurt underneath the mass of delicious juicy nectarine. Yummm....

This baby kept me full for a few hours, until I used leftovers to make a very reminiscent lunch... I always used to make Meatloaf sandwiches with (gasp!) melted american cheese, and loads of ketchup on white bread (gross!) when I was a kid, after mom had made it the night before. Well mine's a little healthier!
1 piece leftover meatloaf, sliced in half and placed between 2 pieces of Ezekiel bread with a LCL cheese wedge and a squirt of ketchup. Carrots + cuke to round it out!

I made a lot of progess on my room today- my closet and desk are all organized, as is all my school stuff! Finally, I'm feeling on top of things =)

I also went on a 30-minute walk to stretch my legs out, and then I had to get ready for my sister's volleyball game.

So I grabbed this for meal #4 on the way out the door-
WOW! These bars never fail to amaze me. This tasted like a cross between a Reese's cup and a peanut butter brownie!! Must. Buy. More.

And the best part? It held me over until I could make my dinner

(Ali's team won, by the way- Congrats Lady Mariners!)
I lightened up my cajun chicken AND my bean and corn salad. The bean and corn salad contained:

black beans
corn
quartered grape tomatoes
red onion
lime juice
salt
pepper
Mrs. Dash Fiesta Chipotle

And it was amazing! I served myself a slightly large portion, but I measured and had PLENTY of leftovers, so I'm sure the carbs were ok. For the protein I covered the chicken breasts with cajun seasoning and a dash of ss+p and baked the chicken at 375 for 30 minutes. Came out perfect!

And no fat added to EITHER of these dishes... I truly believe healthy just tastes better. When the food is fresh, the ingredients are wholesome, and the spices are spot-on... it just tastes BETTER!

That's all for tonight folks. I'll update on my Meal #6 status later or tomorrow morning. Night!

The Good, the bad and the lumpy...

2009-09-01T19:40:00.004-04:00

Happy September!!!

I love fall, do you?

As I'm sure you can tell from my post title, today was good and not so good.

The not-so-good was my morning workout. I don't know if it was the fact that I was boiling hot in my crowded basement or if I was still asleep, but my HIIT was NOT as good as the other day!!

At least I made it through the 20 minutes, and was still drenched in sweat at the end!

HIIT- Day 3

1 min @ 5.8

1 min @ 6.0

1 min @ 6.5

1 min @ 7.0

1 min @ 7.5

1 min @ 8.0

1 min @ 6.0

1 min @ 6.5

1 min @ 7.0

1 min @ 7.5

1 min @ 8.0

1 min @ 6.0

1 min @ 6.5

1 min @ 7.0

1 min @ 7.5

1 min @ 8.0

1 min @ 4.5-->here's where it went downhill...

1 min @ 6.0

1 min @ 7.0

1 min @ 7.8--> High Point, I was DYING at this point!!

1 min @ 5.4

Then I did another minute at 3.5 walking to cool down.

Not horrible, but those last 5 minutes were killer!!! I wish I could have made it all the way through at the highest level, I guess there's always the next HIIT day!!

At least I started the day with some delicious breakfast...

LOVE this combo- Wilted spinach, mushrooms and grape tomatoes cooked with 1/2 cup scrambled egg whites, sprinkle of Mrs. Dash Garlic & Herb and a laughing cow light cheese wedge. With a banana!

Savory, full of protein and tons of nutrients from the veggies! One of my faves!

So onto my good news...

I got a new job!!! Nothing big, but I needed a second job (Rite Aid doesn't have as many hours in the fall)... and I start Saturday! I'm just working at events at the University- Saturday is a football game, but it's sweet because I get to see all the games/hear all the concerts as well as make some $$!!! Sounds good to me =)

Around 11 I had meal #2 on my way to my interview...
(I keep forgetting to take pics of my bars!)

This bar was AWESOME. It truly reminded me of a chocolate brownie! And it held me over because I didn't eat lunch until 1:45...

Meal # 3

I didn't realize you couldn't see inside the pita before I put this up! Sorry!

It was awesome though- I used leftover salmon (from dinner last night), a squirt of honey dijon mustard, sliced tomato and cucumber and a handful of sprouts in an Ezekiel Pita (only 100 calories!) with some baby carrots on the side.

Filled me up well!

Meal #4 was also very tasty... Today's meals were a hit!
Ok, very lumpy and not so photogenic. But it is 1/2 cup lowfat cottage cheese mixed with 1/2 cup Dannon Light n' Fit cherry yogurt, to make for a tasty mid-afternoon meal!

Dinner was my own invention...
I had been craving meatloaf (I know, weird for me- the ex veggie) and I knew my mom's version was not so healthy... so I created my own!

This contained:

-1 lb 95% lean beef

-3 tbsp nonfat milk

-1/2 c egg whites (2.5 eggs)

-1/2 c whole wheat panko breadcrumbs

-a couple squirts of organic ketchup

-heaping spoonful tomato paste

-1/2 c diced onion

-salt, pepper, parsley, oregano, basil, garlic powder

All mixed up in a bowl and pressed in a sprayed loaf pan with a tiny sprinkle parmesan cheese on top.

Baked in the oven at 350 for 1 hour.

I also made mashed red potatoes with garlic, and roasted brussels sprouts and squash (with italian seasonings and the tiniest drizzle of EVOO).

It was tasty! Almost as good as the original I served myself too much taters so I gave a scoop to my sis. And I went back for another 1/2 serving of veggies, just 'cuz.

I'm tired again tonight! Maybe it's because I have given up coffee?? Or I'm just tired from being lazy. I don't know, but I need to get my act together- school starts a week from tomorrow!

Not sure if I'll have meal #5... I'm not too hungry! We'll see!

Edited to add: Craving something sweet, had a nectarine- I know I'm not balancing protein + carbs well for my last meal... but if I'm not hungry, why go overboard??

Motivation

2009-08-31T21:14:00.005-04:00

I was lacking in the motivation department today; but not for Body For Life- for cleaning!

I had put today aside to clean and organize my room and closet; well I think that was a bit ambitious for on day. I am the biggest procrastinator in the world!!

At least I got my butt moving early this a.m. and got to the gym before the procrastination set in!

I drank 2 glasses of water and headed to the Y for my 1^st (real) day of upper body strength training on BFL. I say “real” because two days ago I went through all the exercises at the gym with my mom- and my arms are still sore from it!

Here’s what I did for my UBWO (upper body workout):

Chest

Dumbell bench press

12 @ 10 #

10 @ 16 #

8 @ 20 #

6 @ 24 #

(1 min rest between each)

12 @ 16 #

Dumbell flyes- 12 @ 16 # (no rest in between)

Shoulders

Seated dumbell press

12 @ 10 #

10 @ 16 #

8 @ 20 #

6 @ 24 #

(1 min rest between each)

12 @ 16 #

Side raises- 12 @ 16 # (no rest)

Back

One-arm dumbell rows

12 @ 10 #

10 @ 16 #

8 @ 20 #

6 @ 24 #

(1 min rest between each)

12 @ 16 #

(No middle set- missed it! whoops!)

Triceps

Dumbell extensions

12 @ 10 #

10 @ 16 #

8 @ 20 #

6 @ 24 #

(1 min rest between each)

12 @ 16 #

Bench dips- 12 @ bw (body weight) ---> these were HARD!!

Biceps

Barbell curls

12 @ 10 #

10 @ 16 #

8 @ 20 #

6 @ 24 #

(1 min rest between each)

12 @ 16 #

Hammer curls- 12 @ 16# (no rest)

Phew! Great workout!

Total time: 50 minutes (a few over the intended 45!!)

When I got home I immediately whipped up a quick and filling breakfast- I was starving!

Not the prettiest I know, but ½ cup oats cooked in 1 cup water, and 1 scoop chocolate protein powder was the perfect combo to hold me the next couple of hours while I began to tackle my cleaning challenge.

Two hours later and I had hardly made a dent...

Meal #2 was 1 container 0% chobani and a handful of blueberries.

After making some progress, I had meal #3 around 1pm.

Delicious combo! 1 baked mini sweet potato (thought ahead last night!), ½ cup low fat cottage cheese spiked with some Mrs. Dash and sea salt (the cottage cheese is low sodium) and some deliciously fresh cherry tomatoes and baby carrots. I snagged a few more tomatoes after this pic was taken. Theyre just so good!!

Easy to whip up and very filling! I loved this!

I have to admit, I was pretty upset this afternoon. I tried on some of the clothes I bought less than 3 weeks ago for school and they’re VERY tight. So of course I had a mini-breakdown and decided I was a disgrace to nutrition majors everywhere, yada yada, well a few texts to the boyfriend made me feel a little better and then I went for a 30-minute run to clear my head.

It helped a lot; I realize I’m not in the shape I used to be, but I’m working at it. And I am more motivated than ever to make this BFL challenge work. So I will!

I only had a small afternoon meal because I wasn’t very hungry- just a juicy nectarine to hold me until I made dinner (no protein, I know!)

Dinner (Meal 5) was fab though- I made my favorite Salmon with sea salt, black pepper, cayenne and garlic cooked with a tiny bit of EVOO, a slightly large serving of whole wheat couscous and some boiled asparagus.

I made extra salmon and I’m glad I did!

I ate dinner by the TV and somehow ended up falling asleep to Anthony Bourdain’s No Reservations… I never fall asleep by the TV, and never at 7:00 pm!! I must have been exhausted!

Well, I talked to the boy on the phone for a bit (trying to work out visiting schedules…I don’t have Columbus day off this year? Wtf??) and now I’m sipping Meal #6

And soon I will be off to sleep… but not without reading a couple chapters of Mastering the Art of French Cooking of course =)

Night all!

Success

2009-08-30T19:34:00.005-04:00

I'm happy to say today was a successful first day of Body For Life!!!

I woke up at 7am, chugged 2 cups of h20 and was at the gym by 7:30.

I did my 20-minute HIIT and let me tell you... It was HARD!!!

Here's my routine:

1 min @ 5.8

1 min @ 6.0

1 min @ 6.5

1 min @ 7.0

1 min @ 7.5

1 min @ 8.0

1 min @ 6.0

1 min @ 6.5

1 min @ 7.0

1 min @ 7.5

1 min @ 8.0

1 min @ 6.0

1 min @ 6.5

1 min @ 7.0

1 min @ 8.0

1 min @6.0

1 min @6.5

1 min @ 7.0

1 min @ 8.9 ---> Crazy hard!!!

1 min @ 4.0 (Cool down)

Total time: 21:01

Miles: 2.42

Average HR: 172 (wow, almost 85% of my max!!)

I came home and ate breakfast...

1 container 0% chobani, 1/2 c Kashi Go Lean, small handful blueberries

(I count the Greek yogurt as a protein because its so high in protein and low in carbs)

I spent the morning organizing my google calendar and doing laundry (yuck).

My snack was fab...

Chocolate protein powder + big squishy banana + 8oz h20 + handful of ice= heaven in a cup (and a half!)

Then my little sister proceeded to break my blender.

Poo. Not happy.

Lunch was delicious as well- I made a Janetha classic!!

1/2 c garbanzos, 1/2 c low fat cottage cheese, ranch seasoning, chopped up tomato and carrots on the side.

My sis and I headed out to Staples for some back-to-school shopping (took WAY too long... giftcard issues, ugh)... and I had this for a snack on the go:

Hershey's Cookies and Creme! I swear!!! Definitely buying this one again!

It didn't hold me until dinner though, I grabbed a small unpictured handful of grapes before cooking.

Dinner was healthy but oh so yummy-
Baby baked sweet potato (love it!), Chicken rubbed with Spike seasoning and cooked in EVOO and chicken broth, sauteed mushrooms, steamed broccoli.

Today's major project was this:

I organized my pantry! Stuff we don't really use at the top, beans/cans/grains in the middle,

breakfast stuff/snacks for my dad and sis on the bottom shelf... oils, dog food and onions/taters (and a large lunch box collection!) on the floor. I love organization!

So it was a great day, clean eating, great exercise and I got a lot done. Oh, and I drank 10 cups of water and didn't even crave lemonade or diet soda!! Yay!

Ok, that's all for now folks. I think for meal # 6 I'll make another protein shake (minus blender... boo....)

Body For Life: Day 1

2009-08-30T08:36:00.003-04:00

Good morning!!

And a good morning it is, because today is the start of my Body For Life challenge I mentioned in a previous post.

I'm so excited because both Janetha and Danica are also doing BFL at the moment, so it feels like I have some blogging-companions on my journey, as well as my mom who has come along for the ride!!

Starting today, I will be participating in the "challenge" for 12 weeks. The weeks consist of 6 days on, 1 day off (a "Free day" where you rest from exercise and get to eat whatever you want!).

The basic principles are as follows:

Eat 6 meals a day, 2-3 hours apart
Balance your protein and carbohydrates equally, and add a bit of healthy fat too in a 40-40-20% ratio
Add vegetables to at least 2 meals a day
Count portions, not calories
Drink TONS of water!!! (10 glasses at least!)
Workouts consist of 3 days of strength training (alternating upper and lower body) and 3 days of 20-minutes of HIIT (high intensity interval training)
Write everything down! Record your efforts every day, and read over your goals to inspire yourself =)
Always plan ahead

My basic goals boil down to:

lose the 7-10 pounds I gained over the summer
get back in shape and gain muscle
return to my healthy eating habits
drink more water
avoid bingeing just because "i can"- on regular OR free days
regain the balance I strive for in healthy eating and exercise
record all of my progress, from start to finish (I've already got my notebook!)

So that's where I'm headed!

Because of the challenge and my impending school schedule... the blog format is going to change slightly. I am going to be posting my food/exercise once daily, along with other topics/points of interest I may post throughout the day (or I may not, depending on the day).

So expect my recap of BFL day #1 this evening!

Have a great Sunday everyone!!

Back in Action

2009-08-29T18:09:00.005-04:00

Evening everyone!

Thanks so much for your support in giving me a little "break from blogging"... sometimes I feel that since I'm home I need to blog every meal, and that's not fair especially when I have a special guest over! But I'm back in action in the blogging world now (or, at least tomorrow morning) for sure!

Lets see, where did I leave off?

Lunch...

As promised, the second half of my Broadway Calzone. Perfect!

We spent the afternoon in Garden City, window shopping at the bookstore and doing some stock-up shopping at Whole Foods (ground flax for $4.99? awesome!!).

We had a lot of unpictured samples, and I had some Simply Lemonade on the way home.

Back at home, I prepared dinner- Nick's favorite (remember anyone?)

We cracked open a bottle of Reisling from Flat Rock for my mom to try...
She loved it!

And we ate Garlic Parmesan chicken, blanched green beans and whole wheat couscous prepared with the tiniest bit of butter and some seasoned salt.
It was delicious, if I do say so myself!

My sister's boyfriend was over for dinner too, so my mom took us all out for ice cream!
Black cherry and Mint Oreo (with sprinkles, of course). I think my sweets cravings have been cured!

Nick and I settled down to watch The Hangover (hilarious!!!) and then drifted off to sleep.

This morning I woke up early and said bye to Nick... it was sad, but unfortunately I'm getting used to saying goodbyes- I know it won't be too long until I see him again =)

My mom and I started our planning day off with my fave on-the-go breakfast...

Everything bagel toasted with cream cheese, large iced coffee. I also had a nectarine mid-morning.

We went to the gym and I took her through the entire upper body workout for BFL. She's in good shape, but I think we'll both be sore tomorrow!

Lunch was the usual from Picnic Basket...
Mmm... the Ed-wich...

Then we proceeded to spend a ridiculous amount of money at Target and Trader Joes to stock up on healthy foods!!

My mom is going out to get pizza and watch Top Chef because I am long overdue in seeing the last 2 episodes!! Tomorrow we are starting Body For Life and I am so ready!!!

To come....

A full BFL-plan post
Wine tasting recaps!
Possible new blog format...
Back to school fun =)

I'm off to relax, 'see' you tomorrow morning!

Bad blogger... again!

2009-08-28T10:54:00.003-04:00

I've been a bad blogger yet again... I definitely deserve the bad blogger award right now- it's been a whole day since I posted and you guys are waaaayy behind...

But I've been busy. It's my last day here with Nick and I'll be back to posting regularly soon.

That being said, I've been livin' it up (maybe a little too much...) before starting Body For Life on Sunday. So here's how I've been eating and indulging...

Wednesday night we got home from Canada, napped and really just wanted a relaxing evening. So we went out- the classic dinner-and-a-movie date.

We ate at Kabuki, which I've mentioned before... and I absolutely love their take on japanese/asian cuisine! SO delicious!

We started with the obligatory HUGE calamari with sweet and spicy chili sauces...

Then we ordered some maki to share. Salmon, Tuna and Yellowtail spicy rolls (I ate 7 pieces of these)
And my alltime Kabuki favorite, the (not-so) angry dragon... (I ate 3 pieces, plus the tail!)
Of course we had to go for dessert... the Exotic Bomba!
3 types of tropical gelato in a white chocolate shell drizzled with chocolate and topped with a dollop of whipped cream... heaven. freal.

And then we went to go see Julie & Julia!! I read the book about a year ago, loved it and was so excited to see it! Nick was hesitant to go see a "chick movie" but he ended up liking it (and I'll admit he said he could relate to Eric, Julie's husband! lol). We laughed and smiled throughout the movie. The perfect movie for the food blogger/chef-to-be and her boyfriend =)

We were up late so we slept in pretty late on Thursday morning.

I had some chobani with fruit (bananas and blueberries) and slivered almonds for breakfast...
Then I proceeded to go on a quite painful 30-minute run. On top of my achy food stupid me didn't drink enough water and I got dizzy halfway through and had to walk for two minutes! At least I got out there, I guess. I came home and made Nick breakfast (garlic and herb french omelette with grated fresh parmesan, toast with maple butter and grapes) and hung out for a while before getting going. I snacked on some unpictured grapes as well.

We met up with a friend a couple hours later to grab lunch at Pick Pockets and then go play mini golf and go karts!! We had an awesome time, and lunch was great- I got the Chicken Pick Pocket, which is eggplant, roasted red peppers, fresh mozarella, chicken and balsamic viniagrette all wrapped up. I devoured it!

We did some window shopping around town and grabbed a gift for my best friend Danielle who's birthday is next week- she had her party last night so we had to grab a quick dinner before heading to her house. We grabbed calzones from Pier Pizza- I got the "Broadway" which consisted of chicken, mozarella, broccoli, onions and honey mustard. Sounds kinda weird, but it was AMAZING I promise!!
I ate half and saved the other half for today's lunch!

We went to Danielle's and had some strawberry cake...
Happy early birthday Tira!!! <3

Stayed up a bit late, woke up a bit late, but had a deeelicious breakfast... Crazy Burger- what else?!?!

I got an omelette with steamed spinach, sauteed mushrooms and goat cheese, plus homefries (because theirs are SO damn good, and NOT greasy at all!) and brioche, and fresh squeeze mango grapefruit juice. I drank all the juice, and ate 3/4 of the omelette, 3/4 of the homefries and left the toast. It was amazing and totally worth it!!

Now we're hanging around, a possible shopping trip later this afternoon, and then I'm making dinner this evening! Have a great day!

Sails, tent poles and vineyards: Adventures in Ontario

2009-08-27T09:46:00.010-04:00

Hey guys!

Sorry I haven’t gotten the chance to blog since last Monday, I’ve been super busy and I lost service on the blackberry as soon as I crossed the border so I figured I’d do a full recap and do my wine-tasting reviews separate =)
I had an amazing week- we went lots of places, did lots of fun stuff and even though everything didn’t go as planned I had a great time overall.

Get ready for a monster recap…

Note: Not ALL of my food/adventures are pictured! It was long enough already!! here are the hilights...

Monday- My dad and I woke up earlier than the crack of dawn to head to Sarnia. It was dark almost 5 hours into the ride, but other than that it went smoothly and we got there in record time. Food-wise, I already had my chance to McDonalds-rant about my breakfast, but the rest of the day was much healthier- we snacked on some fruit we brought and some TJ’s salt and pepper rice crips before stopping for lunch right at the border. We grabbed chicken sandwiches on toasted wheat with iced tea and then set out for the last bit of the ride into Canada.

When we got to Nick’s house I said goodbye to my dad so I could spend a little quality time with the boy before dinner. My dad met us again in a few hours back at Nick’s house where his dad made a delicious grilled teriyaki steak dinner with potatoes and fresh Ontario corn.
For dessert Nick and I went for a walk through the park and made our way to get some real-fruit frozen yogurt- I got mango pineapple, and it hit the spot! I was pretty tired after a long day of driving, so we called it an early night.

Tuesday morning we grabbed some fruit and muffins and set out early to bring Nick’s mom to work and spend the day in Port Dover. Our first stop after dropping his mom off was the Pickard's peanuts where we got some fun treats to snack on throughout the week...peanut brittle, dried pineapple, beer nuts, and fuzzy peaches… mmm!

After the peanut factory, we headed down to Port Dover for a relaxing afternoon in the sun. We went for a very sweaty run (only got 20-minutes in due to the heat!) then retreated to the beach for a 30-minute jaunt in the ocean and some sun bathing. We topped off our fun afternoon with some friendly competition- an exciting game of mini golf! Nick beat me…but only by 3 points!
We did some window shopping in my new favorite shop, which happens to be the place Nick bought me the crystal necklace he gave me for my birthday…The Circle Game. How did he know that was one of my favorite songs growing up? Crazy!

After picking his mom up, we ate a nice dinner at a beautiful setting overlooking the beach at sunset. His mom and I split a greek salad and we all had fish and chips (I swapped the regular fries for sweet potato fries).

Wednesday- Nick and I were up and on the road again- this time for a run around the park. It was still warm but we made it 25 minutes instead of 20! We spent the day preparing for our camping trip- camping supplies at Canadian tire, food at the grocery store, drinks at the drugstore. It was an errand-filled day, but we split it up with a delicious sushi lunch at the Japanese restaurant in town (name). I got the Maki lunch special which included a small miso soup, salad with my favorite ginger dressing, and 2 sushi rolls- shrimp tempura and California roll. I devoured all but 2 of the maki pieces!

For an early dinner, Nick and I put together my favorite one of his recipes- Jambalaya!

Mmmm...
I had a fun experience Wednesday evening- my first time in a sailboat! Well, a boat bigger than a dinghy that is. I headed out with Nick in his friend Kelly’s dad’s 32-foot boat for a race around the lake. It was a lot of fun, and they came in 3^rd place! We grabbed one drink at the bar before making our way to the Pinery for the most disastrous camping experience in history!

Let me start by stressing- disastrous doesn’t always mean awful. I had a great time camping, although not much went as planned. Since the tent is so easy to put up, I had nick on tent duty while I started the fire; figuring I had the hard job. Well less than 10 minutes later we had a blazing fire and the tent was…well, it wasn’t anywhere near up that’s for sure- Nick forgot the tent poles (in Rhode Island, nonetheless) and he had to rig the tent up to two trees to get it to stay. Needless to say, we were a little bit nervous we would wake up in the middle of the night with the tent on top of us.

While the tent was being put up, I made us some jiffy-POP… when I say pop, I mean POP!... the side popped open in the process and popcorn proceeded to spill all over the fire pit, while burnt pieces of popcorn shot out of the pit everywhere! I was cracking up, it was THE funniest thing that happened all day. When the tent was somewhat rigged we enjoyed our half bag of popcorn and a s’more before heading to bed.

Yes, the tent made it through the night. =)

Ghetto rig:

Thursday morning we woke up early enough to get a fire going and cook up one of the most unhealthy, but in my opinion, most fun campfire breakfasts there is… California Crackle! Yep, the only semi-valid excuse to eat cheez-its for breakfast. Gross, but delicious I promise.

Eggs, maple sausage, crumbled cheez-its, and OJ on the side.

We went for a run around the dunes in the morning, then made our way 10 minutes away to Grand Bend for nice day at the beach. Well, our beach day never really happened…

We had a good lunch- I had a lamb burger (!!) with a salad on the side (picked around the ridiculous amount of dressing).

Then we did some shopping around before the sky turned BLACK and we decided it was about tq-ime to head back to the car! Good thing, the sky opened up and it was one of the most intense rainstorms I’ve ever seen! So we packed up the very wet campsite and went back to Nick’s.

Not long after, it was sunny again. =( But our stuff was wet, so we decided leaving was a good decision and we opted for Taco Night at Nick’s with his friends instead. We even had a ‘campfire’- in the fire pit on his patio! We made monkey bread…

And I had one more s’more… can’t get enough!

A few too many rye & gingers were consumed and I woke up with a bit of a headache on Friday. We made it out for a nice bike ride anyway, stopping at Albert’s for bridge fries and chicken for lunch (yum!) and we laid out on the beach for a while.
Around dinner time we went to Nick’s friend Kelly’s for a bbq- grilled chicken sandwiches, corn, pasta salad, way too many beers and chips… and we chilled out in the hot tub for a few hours. So relaxing!

Saturday was a lazy day, we slept in, walked over to Kelly’s to get Nick’s car (we got a ride home after all those Keith’s :P) and made delicious nachos for lunch with leftover Taco night stuff. After lunch Nick needed to head out for a regatta and some bartending work, so I spent the afternoon with Nick’s mom. We went shopping downtown and had lots of fun! I got a couple nice things- a new bracelet, a new lunchbox, and Nick’s mom bought me yummy spicy pasta sauce from Salvatores which I can’t wait to use!! After a long day of shopping, Nick’s dad made a delicious dinner of barbequed chicken with his homemade bbq sauce, corn, roasted potatoes and some Ontario white wine!

Nick was done a couple hours later, so he took me out for a drink… we shared the Irish flight- I snagged the Guinness (yum!) and the Kilkenny, he grabbed the harp and the Smitwick's. After drinks it was back home for us, we had another early morning on Sunday!

Sunday morning we woke up just in time for breakfast before making the 3 hour drive to Niagra. We arrived around noontime just in time to meet our Crush On Niagra wine tour guide, Paul, right outside the hotel! He was great- very informative and we had a great Sniff n’ swirl wine tour- but I won’t go into too much detail now…that’s for the review post! Didn’t drink too much the first day, but we sure were hungry when we got back! We checked into the hotel where we dropped our stuff in our room with the huge bed (and Jacuzzi!!) and made our way down the street for an Italian dinner. I got the pasta primavera, and Nick got spaghetti and meatballs. Both were very good, but I mostly ate the vegetables and just picked at the pasta- I had a fluffy piece of Italian bread as well!
The rest of the night was spent wandering Niagra.

We played at the Ripleys museum...

And found Candy Mountain!!!
We left with our kidneys ;)

Plus this loot...
Fun times!

Monday morning we went for a gorgeous half-hour walk along the falls...

and then made our way to brunch. Not healthy by any means, but my favorite breakfast is Eggs Benedict- and it was vacation! So I got Eggs Benedict, which I ate all of, and it came with homefries (had one bite and decided it wasn’t worth it) and a fruit cup (ate it all of course!). We needed something big to hold us because this was breakfast AND lunch- our tour was just after 12!
Again, I won’t go into too much detail about the wine tours just yet, but let me tell you we had SO much fun on the second day! Our tour guide, Richard, was hilarious, and we drank some truly wonderful wines.

We DID get pretty tipsy by the end of the 4 wineries… so it was dinner time again when we got back to the hotel! This time we had Mexican… we started off with this yummy Mexican bruschetta-type appetizer (don’t remember what it was called!) and for dinner I ordered the chicken burrito, which I ate almost all of (yes, it was huge!) it came with rice and beans, which I had a bite of each.

Mexican is never complete without Margaritas!!

Later that evening we went up the Skylon tower for a beautiful view of the falls at night. Too bad I didn’t get the best pictures!

Tuesday morning it was time to head home, but we stopped at Tim Horton’s for iced coffees and bagels (mine was the 12-grain..so good!) and went for a refreshing run along the water. We grabbed lunch before we left- a fabulous Indian buffet!! $8 for all this deliciousness? Awesome!

We just laid around in the afternoon when we got back to Nick’s, and then made dinner- my famous burgers with caramelized onions, corn, roasted potatoes and Shiraz we got on our tour. Perfecto!

Dessert was a shared cup of Oh Henry ice cream…best way to end the week!

And yesterday we headed home. Just the usual travel-type food- muffins on the road, coffee, orange pieces, dill popcorn and subway sandwiches for lunch… no pictures, just traveling. I did spend the trip typing up blogs and getting all of my BFL stuff in order… but more on that later =)

I’m glad to be back!

**Wednesdays dinner and this morning's breakfast is to come later!!**

Never again?

2009-08-17T06:47:00.000-04:00

Never again, I'd told myself. I read the books. I browsed the nutrition facts. I watched Supersize Me.

Never again, I told myself, would I eat at a fast food restaurant.

But what happens when your ONLY OPTION is fast food??
Well, when the going gets tough...

Yep, that's right kids. I ate fast food. At McDonalds nonetheless!

But no worries, I didn't splurge on a burger and fries- I made a fairly sensible choice and I know ill make up for it later with healthier choices. We were on the highway and it was the LAST stop for hours and we were already starving...so we knew we had to stop.

At first I considered the fruit n yogurt parfait, clearly the healthiest menu choice. But at only 200 calories and a LOT of sugar in both the yogurt and the granola, I knew it wouldn't hold me until lunch.

Plus I had already snacked on a banana and some granola earlier in the a.m.
So I chose the Egg Mcmuffin, which is an egg (yes, a real egg! I was surprised too.) With cheese and ham on an english muffin. Clocks in at 300 calories, 12 g fat. So I figured it was alright- the mix of carbs and protein would hold me over better than the sugary parfait.

It was alright. Nothing gourmet (obviously) but both my dad and I admitted they were not as greasy as we had expected. And I took the ham off to make it a healthier choice as well.

So there you have it- travleing, even nutrition majors have Mickey D's every once in a while!

Back to the road...
Xo
K

Superquick

2009-08-16T20:43:00.004-04:00

Packing snacks: Cherries, PB puffins, 1 tootsie pop (whoops...)

Dinner: Crazy Mac inspired by Janetha's post (aka healthified hamburger helper!)

Annie's bunnies + ground chicken breast + cajun seasoings + broc on the side

Delizioso!

Night all! I'll post again once I've crossed the border!

On and off

2009-08-16T14:23:00.007-04:00

Afternoon everyone!

I'm sorry it took me so long to get yesterday's pictures up- we were out and about this morning and then my internet was on-and-off for unknown reasons... now I'm finally able to blog!

Yesterday was a gorgeous, fun-filled day. In the morning I went for a 30-minute run, then a 30-minute walk, and had a beautiful and delicious breakfast to start my day.

0% chobani with peach, banana, blueberries and slivered almonds

I had this bar on the train on the way to Boston-
Love the salty-sweet combo! I'm lucky enough to live about an hour away from Boston on the train, so tickets are only $8 and we got to leave late morning instead of early like we do for New York!

We were starving by the time we got to Boston so we went to one of my favorite eateries on Newbury street- The Otherside Cafe for lunch. The sandwich I got popped out at me on the menu it looked so delicious!
Prosciutto, fresh mozarella, roasted red peppers and onions with pesto on foccacia bread, with a side salad instead of the chips. I ate 3/4 of the sandwich and 1/2 the salad with fork dips of dressing.

We shopped around all afternoon until taking a much-needed froyo break. It was HOT out!

So J.P. Licks it was...

I was disappointed they didn't have the chocolate chip cookie soft serve froyo I wanted, but I settled for oatmeal cookie hard frozen yogurt in a waffle cone instead. Hit the spot!

We shopped some more and I got a few back-to-college basics (jeans, button down, hat, scarf) and even though we weren't terribly hungry for dinner we stopped before we headed back on the T to the train.

We ate at b.good on Newbury for healthy "fast food". I got the b.good burger:
Turkey burger, caramelized onions, garlicky greens, mushrooms and steak sauce

And the three of us shared these babies...
Baked, not fried, sweet potato fries! I ate my fair share =)

We got home late so I hit the sack as soon as we got back. This morning I got up for another 30-minute run and 30-minute walk. Then Peko and I went up the street to the Coffee & Bagel Connection for breakfast- we got fresh bagels!
Honey wheat bagel with a smear of light cream cheese, iced coffee with skim milk

Mid morning I grabbed some grapes to take in the car with me as we drove Peko to the bus station =(
It was a sad goodbye because I had such a great time with her these last few days (and the whole summer!!) but I am planning on taking a trip to England to go see her next spring =)

On the way back from Providence, my dad and I stopped at Whole Foods to pick up some essentials for our trip (fruit, snacks) and we had lunch from the salad bar- a little bit of everything!
Now I need to get a move on packing my stuff because we're leaving at 4 am tomorrow to assure we're in Canada as soon as possible!

Dinner will be an easy one, but I'll post it nonetheless.

Boston fun

2009-08-15T22:49:00.001-04:00

A mix of shopping, good food and healthy indulgences made for a wonderful fun-filled day in Boston!

I'm tired now, full recap in the a.m.!

Honesty

2009-08-14T16:45:00.013-04:00

There's really no point in not being honest at this point.

Before I went to camp, when I was having some binge-eating struggles, I used to lie by "forgetting" to blog the candy bar, or the extra scoop of ice cream... and then when camp rolled around, there was no one to impress. Which, of course made it worse... on top of the fact that I was stressed, and the bad eating caught up with me.

Now that the stress is gone, the social eating I've mentioned in previous posts is coming to the front. Feeling the need to have what others are having, just because.

So yes, today I had the fudge and the gelato. I am still on my "vacation" but I shouldn't be making excuses for unhealthy choices- I could have just chosen one instead of both, and it would have been a perfectly moderate indulgence, right? Well, sometimes my brain gets the best of me.

I can't wait until I'm officially on BFL- this girl needs some FOCUS!!!

But enough complaining, onto the eats.

Breakfast looked like the classic indulgent American breakfast...

until you look at those Rockin' nutrition facts! Love Trader Joes!

I did 30 minutes of running and then took a 30-minute power walk with Peko in the morning. At least I got my exercise in!

I grabbed a snack before we left- the rest of the cottage cheese with some blueberries.

Peko got her hair trimmed, and we headed to Newport mid morning. Luckily we got there in time to get a parking spot but it was still busy as can be!!!

We did some shopping, but more window shopping than actual purchasing. I did buy a gift and a skirt to wear to the beach, so I didn't spend too much seeing as I am jobless and really need to watch my spending!

My first treat of the day was some fabulous home made fudge- Vanilla Toffee flavored! I ate about 1/3 of this throughout the day.

For lunch I grabbed the Pick Pocket Wrap from Pick Pockets- it had eggplant, roasted red peppers, lettuce, fresh mozarella cheese and balsamic viniagrette. Delicious and healthy!

We ate it overlooking this GORGEOUS view at the docks

Mid-afternoon we were all shopped out, so we decided to take a breather at my favorite gelato shop in RI- Cold Fusion! I had a small Carribean sorbet and Hazelnut chocolate gelato.

The perfect way to cool down!

We were going to do dinner in Newport but Peko was exhausted, so we opted for going home for a nap (or in my case, a blog stop!) before heading to dinner.

I snacked on some organic cherries from TJ's

We went to Marshalls before dinner and I scored an awesome deal- a $65 Billabong hoodie for only $29.99 in my size! Whoo! I'm such a surfer girl at heart =)

When it was time for dinner we headed to El Fuego for burritos! My mom, Peko and I all got burritos and every one of us were satisfied, they were delicious! I got the veggie burrito with black and pinto beans, mushrooms, onions, peppers, cheese and rice with sour cream, salsa and tortilla chips on the side. I ate the whole burrito with a bit of the s.c. but only had a few chips, I was too stuffed!!

Afterwards I came home and had another big bite of fudge. =/

I love sweets so... I really am going to have to get used to only having them once a week on BFL!!!

Thats all for tonight, tomorrow we're off to Beantown- I wish we were going to the Healthy Living Summit, but we'll have fun nonetheless!

Social eating

2009-08-13T19:19:00.005-04:00

I will not over eat. I will not over eat. I will not over eat.

Ack, Social eating is the worst is it not?

I did pretty well today with my eats, I had a few grapes before we left, and then we headed to Calvittos-an Italian bakery/deli close to my house, to grab lunch.

My sister and I shared our favorite white pizza strip and I also had a medium sized multi grain broccoli pie and a sprite zero.

It was a healthy choice and it filled me up well!

We went to Barnes and Noble to browse; I decided on a few future books but didn't get anything now. Then we headed to Target for Peko's first trip, and had so much fun! I got a bunch of goodies but by far the best deal was this baby:

$21.49 for a whole 2 lbs of EAS protein powder! This will last my mom & I the whole challenge, I'm sure!!

We also went to Trader Joes and I got a bunch of essentials, and Peko and I shared this clif bar for a snack late afternoon.

Back home I cooked up some healthy burgers using lean ground beef, tomato paste for moisture, parlsey and spices with carmelized onions, avocado and tomato on top in TJ's whole wheat hamburger buns. On the side we had some of TJ's Italian 3-bean salad (I'd make my own but we wanted something quick and easy tonight!).

It was delicious! I love the burgers, even my mom who hates red meat liked them =)

Peko and I are hanging out for the night because it's still dreary out, baking cookies and relaxing. Newport tomorrow!!!

Slip ups

2009-08-13T09:27:00.003-04:00

Morning!

So I'll admit last night I had a bit of a healthy eating slip up. Nothing extreme, no binge-eating bouts or extra meals, but we settled down to watch a movie, popped up some Healthy Pop popcorn (not a bad choice for a late night snack)... then the sour patch kids came out, and I had 10-15 of those.

Not a big deal I know, but because I'm trying to be so healthy I was a little disappointed in myself.

But today is a new day!

This morning I made up for my late night snacking with a GREAT workout and some healthy eats.

I was starving when I woke up so I had an unpictured banana before I hit the treadmill for a 30-minute workout. I did 5 minutes of walking to warm up, then I did 20 minutes of HIIT (high intensity interval training) straight from the BFL plan, just to try it out, because it's a rainy day and I prefer not to run in the rain.

This is all I have to say: WOAH.

By far, the BEST intensity workout I have ever had. I was dripping with sweat so much so that I had to take my shirt off I was so warm! I thought I wasn't going to make it through- in fact, I skipped the last minute because it was just too much! But I got 20 minutes of that in before a 5-minute walking cooldown and breakfast.

Breakfast was BFL friendly and delicious if I do say so myself!

I made an egg white scramble that included:

1/2 c egg whites
1/2 vine ripe tomato
handful mushrooms, sauteed in EVOO spray
large handful spinach, cooked with mushrooms
LCL cheese wedge mixed in
sprinkle of Mrs. Dash garlic herb seasoning

Not the prettiest, but taste perfection and packed with healthy ingredients! Yum!

So Peko and I's plan was to go to Newport for the day, but because of the rain we're changing our plans to go to Warwick instead and hit up the bookstore, Target and Trader Joe's!!

I'll be back after dinner for the day's post!

Sushi and Ice Cream

2009-08-12T19:32:00.005-04:00

Mango on sushi and hummus on pita

laughing with friends and beautiful photographs

Big waffle cones filled with home made ice cream

These are a few of my favorite things...

Today was such a great day!

I have to keep this post short and sweet because my guest is waiting for me downstairs, but all in all we had a fab day!

I picked Peko up around noontime, and we headed back home to make a fresh and healthy lunch!

I used ingredients I had picked up at the store yesterday to make a pita sandwich:

Hummus, Organic spinach, sprouts, mushrooms and tomatoes and Annie's honey mustard on an Ezekiel Pita with some grapes on the side

Peko made a dipping plate she wanted me to share (isn't her presentation great? She wants to work on her presentation when shes with me but I think she's doing well already!)
We hung around and did some shopping in the afternoon (I got new Neutrogena mascara!) and then headed to my favorite sushi place, Kabuki

We started with Calamari with Oriental dipping sauces:
Delizioso!

Then we ordered two specialty rolls to share:

The Angry dragon
Fugi Apple with Mango and Lobster
They were both good, but the dragon FAR surpassed the apple roll!

We were planning on dessert there, but they didn't have what we wanted, so we decided on Brickley's instead!
I got the Bing Cherry and Cookie dough in a HUGE waffle cone
That was a small?!?!

Yes, it was an indulgence. But I did very well all day long so a bit of a treat can't hurt, and it's still my vacation until the 30th anyway- as long as I keep with moderation I should be ok =)

Finally green

2009-08-12T08:13:00.003-04:00

Morning loves!

I'm SO glad I still have readers after a summer long hiatus, love you guys!!!

I apologize for not posting last night- I couldn't take a picture of my dinner because my camera battery was charging, so I wanted to wait until I had a picture for you to post!

Last night's dinner was quick but delicious, and BFL friendly! Definitely a do-over.

I had a mexican-inspired salad that contained:

~3 c mixed spring greens
3 oz sliced chicken breast, cooked in EVOO spray with lime and Mrs. Dash chipotle seasonings
1/4 c chopped red and yellow peppers
~3 tbsp medium salsa
1/4 avocado
~ 1 tbsp sliced black olives

YUM!

For dessert I had a peach, and then a couple hours later my stomch was growling again and I had 3 graham crackers left over from camp. I know, I know, not the healthiest choice but it was what I had right there- and I was proud of myself for not going overboard. I've been known to eat a WHOLE PACKAGE of grahams (this summer!) so three was a good cutoff for me.

As for this morning, I was SO excited that my breakfast actually turned out how I wanted!

But before I ate, I headed out for a brisk 30-minute hill run. It was cool this morning, which was a nice change from the 90+ degree days we've been having!

When I got back in I was starving, so I quickly whipped up a delicious green monster!

And guess what? This time it was ACTUALLY GREEN!!!

The pic did not do it justice, I promise you, it WAS green!!

Musta put extra spinach in this time! It was awesome those, definite winner, my

Strawberry Kiwi Banana Green Monster:

8 oz nonfat milk
1 cup organic frozen strawberries
1 medium banana
1 large kiwi
~2 heaping cups organic baby spinach
1/2 c water

It made 1.5 HUGE cups! Awesome! And filled me until a few minutes ago, when I had 1/2 cup low fat cottage cheese and a small handful of Annie's whole wheat bunnies (great alternative to normal "snack foods"!).

In about an hour I'm off to pick up Peko, my lovely friend from camp- she's from England and she's staying here for a few days before she goes off on a Trek America trip and I'm off to Canada! It shall be a fun few days! We've got plans for sushi, a trip to newport, a possible sunset cruise, and a day in Boston! So exciting!

Have a great humpday everyone! =)

I'm baacckk!

2009-08-08T16:08:00.017-04:00

Hey guys!

Long time no blog, right?

Boy, do I have a lot to talk about!!

But pictures are worth a thousand words, so I figured I would give you a visual tour of the hilights of summer 2009:

We made lots of fun food on the campfire- pancakes, french toast, even tortilla lasagna, but my alltime fave had to be the Thin Mint Rice Krispy treats
On July 30 I turned 20 years old (officially not a teenager anymore! whoo!) and my wonderful boyfriend came all the way from Canada to visit me!
I had a big party with family, home friends and camp friends! Twas a wonderful night.

Here's the spread, courtesy of Pick Pockets (one of my fave mid-eastern delis) and my momma!
Because there were so many people I had not one, but two cakes- a carrot cake from Gregg's, and the best cake of all- dark chocolate with raspberry filling and the BEST home made frosting in the world, made by my amazing Grandma =)
(Yes, I am apparently five years old and requested a Hello Kitty cake. Love it!)

The next day I celebrated my second day off by heading to Boston with Nick and a couple camp friends, Hermione and Peko (camp names of course!). We ate at a Buddist Centre for lunch and it was incredible!
After a couple more long weeks, we had another weekend off where Peko and I went to the farmer's market, and she bought me one of these FABULOUS fresh-baked whole wheat banana walnut scones. I want to learn how to make some myself!!
Lunch was Tuna Nicoise
And dinner was fresh tomato sauce from the farmers market over whole grain pasta with basil and parm

We had an amazing staff banquet, but then it was time to say a sad "so long"... but not to this fun girl, because she's staying with me for 4 days after camp!!

So today was my official last day. I had a wonderful summer, full of many ups and downs, and I'm sad it's over, but also glad to finish the rest of my summer.

As I mused about in my last post, the camp eating situation has been tough. I wish so much I could sit here right now and tell you that it went alright, I ate balanced, kept snacking under control and stayed a good size.

Unfortunately, this was not the case.

The summer was not easy. And with this came stress-induced binge eating, too many sweets, WAY too much snacking and, needless to say, a weight gain of approximately seven pounds.

Also needless to say, I am not happy with this. I have been struggling with binge eating for a long time, and I thought I had put a stop to it until I started this job, and it came back again full circle.

When I came home last weekend after those seven weeks at camp I looked in the mirror and was horrified. I was disgusted with myself, with what I had let myself become. I know I have the strength to control myself and eat healthy, and not let this happen. But this summer I let my mind get the best of me, and my body and health suffered.

After my initial shock of looking at myself and realizing how much bigger I was, trying on clothes and realizing nothing fit, I decided to put an end to this once and for all. Right then and there I vowed to make a change.

For the last few days, I have been eating extremely healthfully, and exercising dilligently in hopes I can shed a few pounds in a healthy way before school begins.

And on September 1st, 2009, my eating habits and the blog are going to go through a big change.

Inspired by the lovely Janetha and her mom, I picked up a copy of Body for Life and have decided to take on the 12-week challenge along with my mom, who also wants to get back on the healthy track once and for all.

I LOVE the concepts in this book, and I highly encourage you to pick it up if you have a chance, and I will be hilighting some of my favorite concepts in a later post (soon I promise!).

But for now, it's back to the basics- lots of fresh organic produce, lean protein, low fat dairy and whole grains to stay on track

My grocery shop today:

And my favorite new snack find:

Can you say yum?!?!

So that's about all I have for now, I'll be back again posting regularly- but I will be in Canada from the 17-26th, so I will probably be doing a big recap post when I come home- I'll let you know if I'll be posting when it's a bit sooner.

I'm also toying with the idea of changing the blog format, because I'll be doing BFL in September, some of my meals may be a little repetitive and boring- are any of you interested in more of a hilights/recipes/articles format instead of a 3-meals-a day setup?? I'd love to hear your opinion!

It feels so great to be back!!

Fun on the fourth

2009-07-05T08:41:00.004-04:00

Feasting on the fourth!

Lunch:

Appetizers/afternoon snack:
Dinner for the fam:
Healthy Burgers from Fitness Magazine, Jenna's baked beans, balsamic marinated zucchini, squash and portabella caps

Dessert:
Warm peaches and blackberries cooked in lemon and raw sugar over low fat vanilla froyo with coconut and TJ's cinnamon crisp (x2 crisps)

Dessert #2-
Tiny piece of 4th of July Cake!

Off to camp, see you in a week!

P.S. I just got a blackberry and a new email for it; so all of my blog emails are now to be redirected to kristinrugg@gmail.com. Thanks!

Doing my best

2009-07-04T09:04:00.006-04:00

Happy 4th of July!!

Although I'm currently not the biggest fan of the establishment that runs the good ol US of A, it was the country I was born in, and I appreciate the freedom I have in it and therefore I'll celebrate the holiday. It is, of course, a great excuse to have a barbeque ;)

So as you can tell, I'm back from camp for a bit! Only today, but the one day off was much needed, that's for sure.

From tick bites to ant attacks, bat rescues, crazy cleaning escapades and contaminated water I am sure glad to be home!!

It is EXHAUSTING to say the least, but I must admit I am loving it.

I had one day off earlier this week, but I was far too tired to post anything!

In general, we only have about 1 day off every week or so, so posting is definitely going to be limited.

But I can tell you this much: Only two weeks into this, and my perspective on food and eating habits is already changing drastically. Not necessarily my own habits; more the way I apply my own personal beliefs on healthy eating to the traditional American diet that is served at camp. Now, the foods are not all that bad- there are a good amount of fresh fruits and vegetables available, but the main qualms of the nutrition of the basic American diet definitely arise: white bread/pasta/ rice, high fat meats, salad dressing, cheese, butter/cream/mayo laden dishes, processed cheese, sugary cereals, juice mixes and flavored milks.

Avoiding all of these foods is fairly impossible. I'm given food to eat, and it's good food, albeit not nutritious, so I'm grateful for that. I'm not going to starve myself or feign an allergy in order to avoid the unhealthy aspects of camp dining. Because lets be real; that would be even MORE unhealthy.

So I decided to strategize. How was I going to reach my goals for staying healthy at camp, without making eating difficult? How was I going to get good nutrition, as well as enough food to keep me energized without gaining weight?

My first strategy of trying to keep portions in check worked for a while. I would eat what was served, until I was full, and then stop. I got in my fruits and vegetables, calcium through skim milk and yogurt, but I still wasn't eating very healthy.

For example-

June 28, 2009

Before breakfast: 2 dates

Breakfast:

1 sausage

1.5 chocolate chip pancakes with syrup

1 small yogurt

fruit salad

coffee with skim milk

Lunch:

Sausage and peppers in a bulky roll

Salad with Italian dressing

Bite of chicken salad

Grapes

Snack:

Banana

Dinner:

Chicken with vegetables and rice (in a creamy sauce)

Salad

Cherry Italian Ice

Shack party treat: 1 piece chocolate cake

A week or so went by, and I wasn't feeling too hot. I would have spurts of energy, and then serious drops- i attribute this to the abundance of white carbohydrates and lack of fiber in my meals. My stomach wasn't always feeling the greatest- probably the excess fats in the meats, and I would be hungry soon after I ate. This resulted in a lot of snacking- sometimes good (i.e. puffins, trail mix) and sometimes not so good- I ate a lot of cookies and peanut butter m&ms. My pants were feeling tighter and there was no doubt in my mind I was gaining weight.

I like the place I was a while before camp. Before my last week of stress eating, that is. I don't know how much I weighed, but I know I felt good in my body. I'm not tiny any more, but I'm not big. I felt I was a good weight for my height, I felt strong and comfortable in my clothes. This is the way I want to stay.

So I decided I needed a revision to my strategy. To up my energy, to avoid gaining excess poundage- although if I do, I know it won't be hard to get back to my happy weight once I get back to my healthy habits at home; I'm not stressing over this, and keep me a healthy role model for the girls.

So here is my plan:

Make the most of what I have. There is a full salad bar, fresh fruit, skim milk, and a cereal bar always available.
Don't always eat everything that is served; especially if it's not even appealing

For example: For breakfast the other day, we had pancakes and sausage. While I like

sausage, I know it's not a healthy choice, and I don't really like pancakes. So I opted to nix

pancakes and sausage option and go for some cheerios with strawberries and banana and a

peach yogurt instead. I made the most of what I had and didn't eat pancakes just because they were available. It filled me up and made me feel a lot better than a heavy pancakes and sausage breakfast ever could.

Choose leaner options when available
Reduce my consumption of: sweets, processed cheese, white bread, extras like butter and dressing
Fill up on vegetables and fruit and have less of fatty entrees

When I'm home, I try to fill up on veggies, fruits and healthy fare. I try to eat greek yogurt, fruit and nuts or cereal, fruit and soymilk for breakfast, and have a healthy lunch and dinner, but still indulge a bit on foods I can't have at camp. The other day my mom and I went to the Picnic Basket for my favorite turkey sandwich, and we had Broccoli Calzones for dinner. Last night I went to Crazy Burger with my friend Katrina, and we got Mushroom Burgers and Sweet Potato fries, with Frozen Yogurt for dessert!

So that's where I am now. We'll see how it goes, and I'll report back with how the changes are making me feel.

For now, I need to get some healthy exercise and cookout shopping in! I'll post again later!!

The Camper I am

2009-06-25T12:12:00.004-04:00

Hey guys!

Long time no blog!!

I have to say, it was bittersweet not blogging for 5 days. I had a lot of fun at pre-camp, met a lot of new people, and didn't have a single minute to blog- so it would have been stressful trying to!! But I did miss it a lot!

Pre-Camp was fun; I met all of the new counselors, already made a few new friends, my camp name is Leo for all of you who wanted to know, and we've been doing a lot of rules talk, paperwork and plenty of teambuilding games throughout the week.

I have been staying active, even though the weather hasn't been the greatest. I've been playing lots of games, doing LOTS of walking, some swimming, I ran once in the morning (we did "Road Runner", it's a one mile loop the girls do first thing in the morning to earn a pin) andof course toting my HUGE trunk from one end of camp to the other!!

I didn't take any pics of my food; a few people know I have a food website but I didn't go into many details yet. So no pictures as of now! I do have a mini recap of the foods I ate while I was at camp so you all can see my attempts at trying to be healthy while in the middle of the wilderness of West Kingston, RI!

Note: I brought NONE of my own food, I found out I CAN bring some healthy snacks to have while I'm there (!!) so I will surely be doing that soon!

Saturday 6/20/09

Snack: Before leaving I grabbed a nectarine and on the way to camp my dad treated me to a Coffee Light Frappucino from Starbucks! My fave!

Lunch: After filling out some paperwork, we headed to the dining hall for lunch.

We had chicken tacos, filled with chicken, sauteed veggies, tomatoes, and cheese on a HUGE tortilla as well as some fruit salad.

Dessert: 1/2 a home made cupcake

Dinner: Stuffed pepper with sausage, veggies and couscous

Mac n'cheese

Cauliflower

Salad

Dessert: Ice Cream sandwich

At the campfire: 1 S'more

Sunday 6/21/09

Breakfast: Cheerios and skim milk

Apple

Coffee

Lunch: Turkey and ham sandwich on bun

A few doritos

Salad

1 orange

Snacks: 2 pieces turkey meat (leftover from lunch)

3 starbursts

Dinner: BBQ chicken

Spicy baked beans

2 bites potato salad

Salad with french dressing

Dessert: 2 m&m cookies

Monday 6/22/09

Breakfast: 1 piece french toast with maple syrup

3 small pieces of bacon

fruit salad

Coffee with skim milk

Snack: Small piece cake

Lunch: Cookout; Tin-Foil meal

Chicken with zucchini, squash, potato and onion

2 helpings salad with Italian Dressing

4 tiny GS cookies

Snack: Ice cream bar

Dinner: Pasta with meat sauce

Green beans

Garlic Bread

Salad with french dressing

Dessert: Rainbow pudding

(Too many desserts today! I know, I know...)

Tuesday 6/23/09

Breakfast: Cookout

Bun with Gardenburger, Cheese & Ketchup (wasn't feeling the sausage/cheese/bacon sandwiches... veggie was so much better, tasty and heart healthy!)

Apple

Coffee Milk

Lunch: Turkey with gravy

1 pc bread

Salad with French dressing

Grapes

Watermelon

Snack: Ice Cream sandwich

Dinner: Chicken

Rosemary potatoes

Carrots

Salad

2 macadamia cookies

Wednesday 6/24/09

Breakfast: Oatmeal with raisins

Cinnamon bun

Fruit salad

Snack: 1 pc deli ham, 3 ritz crackers

Lunch: Beef fajita with onions and peppers, sour cream and salsa

Mexican rice

salad

1 pc cake

Dinner: Grilled cheese

Tomato soup

Salad

Banana boat (banana cooked in fire with marshmallows and chocolate chips!)

At campfire: 1 S'more

Thursday 6/25/09- Day off!

Early morning: 1 slice bread with peanut butter

Breakfast on the way home: Dunkin' Donuts

1 veggie egg white flatbread sandwich

medium iced coffee with skim milk

Snacks at home:

grapes

laughing cow light cheese

Lunch: Spinach salad with carrots, cucumber, yellow bell pepper, goat cheese, Annie's dressing

Rudi's whole wheat bagel with Sundried tomato hummus

(feels good to be home!!)

I go back to camp at 9 a.m. tomorrow morning so I've got a lot to do today- shopping, laundry, packing etc so I need to get on that! I'll post again when I can! Hope you all are having a wonderful summer!

Into the woods

2009-06-20T07:55:00.005-04:00

Morning everyone!

I am off to camp very soon, but I couldn't leave without a recap of my day and AMAZING dinner last night!

Breakfast:

Optimum Zen, banana, blueberries, nonfat soy milk

Snack: Salt & Pepper kettle chips

Lunch:
1 egg & 2 egg whites scrambled in ezekiel wrap with light laughing cow, spinach and 365 organic ketchup; nectarine on the side

Snack:
Crackers with herbed goat cheese (x3, and yes, I am in the car). Plus a few strawberries!

Dinner:

One word: Amazing.

We went to Kabuki, a new japanese restaurant in the area. It's expensive, so we deicided to order a bunch of appetizers and maki to share.

We were not disappointed!

Appetizers:

This one was good; mango, avocado, shrimp and greens in rice paper.

Calamari with a sweet sauce and a spicy sauce:
These were sooo good! I had three =)

Tuna wasabi dumplings:
I wasn't a huge fan. The tuna was fresh and flavorful, and the wasabi sauce was very spicy and creamy, but they were FILLED with avocado... and I love avocado, but this was overkill.

Asian Crab Cake with sweet chili sauce:
Second-to favorite appetizer! These were chock full of crab, and were a bit spicy, very tangy, and delicious! I ate one and half of the seaweed salad underneath!

Mango Girl:
Favorite appetizer, hands down. Lobster and asparagus wrapped in thinly sliced mango covered in sweet chili sauce. Perfection.

Maki rolls!

Green Peace:
A vegan roll with asparagus, avocado, mango and kiwi! The sauces were tropical blends, and they tasted like sherbert =)

My favorite: The angry dragon
Shrimp tempura, spicy tuna, papaya, topped with crab

Also delicious:
Don't exactly remember what was in this one, but it was fab too!

Desserts:

Tempura cheesecake with signature ice cream
Fried cheesecake? Sounds better than it was. It pretty much just tasted like tempura. Ok, but nothing to write home about. The ice cream was delicious though!

THIS dessert took the award for the evening...

Tropical Bomba!
This was a white chocolate shell filled with mango, passionfruit and papaya sorbets. Ohmigosh, heaven in a shell =)

After we were stuffed to the gills with delicious japanese food, we headed over to the Ryan Center at URI for my cousins' graduation.
That's me and Sammie (I couldn't find Cate!)

We now have 7 Narragansett Alumni in the family! Congrats, Sam & Cate!

When I got home I wasn't hungry, but I definitely had a sweets craving, which was cured with this deliciousness:
Then I talked to the boy on the phone for two hours before saying goodbye for a week and getting some sleep.

This morning I woke up and had the one breakfast I LOVE and can not have for the next week!
Greek yogurt topped with Nature's Path granola, sliced banana, blueberries and strawberry.

Now I'm sipping on a hot cup of Ice Wine tea, soon I am going to do some exercise, finish my packing and be off to camp! Yay! See you in a week! =)

Packing and prepping

2009-06-19T12:21:00.006-04:00

Good Afternoon!

I'm posting now because I probably won't have another chance until late or tomorrow... I still have a bunch to do before camp, and I have my cousins' graduation later this evening.

So onto my food.

Last night was a lot of this:

and this:

and yes, I will be the first to admit that I have not been eating 100% healthy lately. I mean, what happened to Green & Healthy, anyway?

Well, to be honest, life happened. I had a great first week eating super clean, and then Nick came, and I splurged some, and then this entire week was so frenetic obsessing over eating healthy was the last thing I wanted to do.

I've tried to keep a balanced diet, being at it has had a lot of sweets & treats, I've been making sure I at least get in some healthy lean protein, whole grains and lots of fruits & vegetables.

So at least I'm getting my nutrients in, and I feel that is the most important thing of all.

As for Camp... well...

I'm not exactly sure how my diet is going to be. And exercise will not be structured as I wish it could be. But I signed up for this! I knew this when I applied, and it's all a part of the experience for me.

I do have some at-camp eating and exercise goals...

drink enough water
make sure i get my fruits & vegetables
keep portions in check
eat the healthiest way, whenever possible
try to get in whole grains
stay ACTIVE whenever I can; playing games, swimming, etc

And thats as far as I'll go. I think this way, I can stay as healthy and happy as possible without being obsessive about the food, seeing as I can not control what is served to me!

I will not be blogging or photographing my food while at camp. I'll be in the middle of the woods! But I WILL be blogging on the weekend, so I'll give you an update on how camp's going, how I am and of course, how the food is!

I'll post my eats for today later. Now I have to jet- lots of errands and exercise to do!

Last day at work and a sleepover!

2009-06-18T19:24:00.004-04:00

Evening Guys!

I apologize in advance; this post is going to be brief because there are cookies in the oven and my cousin will be back soon with mocktail ingredients!

Can you tell we're having a sleepover this evening? Old-school style with a "big girl" twist =)

We had a Starbucks date, just picked up dinner, baked cookies are making mocktails, and have an entire agenda of romance movies, horror flicks and girl talk planned for the evening =)

Backtracking, I can't even talk about my last day anymore, it exhausts me just thinking about it. I thought yesterday was hard, well this day made yesterday seem like a breeze, no joke!

I started the day with a few dried figs before hopping on the treadmill for a 3o minute speed walk.

Then, I made myself a healthy breakfast to fuel my morning...

My favorite yogurt bowl, which I am going to miss dearly at camp!! 0% chobani, a banana, a handful of blueberries and slivered almonds.

Silly me forgot my snack today... so I picked up a 2-serving bag of Rold Gold pretzels... surely not whole grain, but not a bag of potato chips either. I munched on that to hold me through the morning.

Lunch was a Tuesday repeat...

BEST sandwich combo, EVER! Natures Promise 12-grain + organic turkey + light laughing cow + TJ's red pepper eggplant spread =heaven in a sammie! The carrots added even more crunch & nutrients!

For my afternoon snack, I had a small handful of my newest obession- cranberry raisinets...

and for a second sweet treat-

A Grande Mocha Light Frappucino, at my Starbucks date with Sam! We had a whole lot of fun chatting and sipping our drinks!

We were going to make dinner, then we got talking about our favorite Middle Eastern food (we're both Syrian of course)... and decided Markos was in order!

I got the usual- healthy baked falafel wrap, along with half a piece of kibbeh with some plain yogurt. Yum!

Gotta run, the cookies are beeping!

Unloading

2009-06-17T19:51:00.005-04:00

Good evening bloggies!

I had a nice second-to-last day at work; it wasn't easy- in fact, it was one of the hardest days at work I can remember in a long time! It was truck day, which means unloading ALL of the new stock that comes in... and today we had twice as much (if not more!) than we usually do! Talk about crazy! It took me three hours to get the skincare isle done. Three hours! And another three to do the stationary isle. So why was work so good?

I was busy.

I HATE standing around and doing nothing!!! I like to be productive with my time, so having something to do my entire shift was nice.

Not to mention the fact that I started my day off in the best way possible- with a glorious 3-mile run... at 5:45 in the morning!

I knew I was meeting Danielle after work, so I decided to get my exercise in early and avoid that afternoon slump where I was likely to skip exercising and opt for dinner and a book instead.

Before I ran I had a few dried figs- I know, in theory eating figs before a run probably doesn't sound like the greatest idea, at least for my digestive system. But in reality, they were the perfect pre-run fuel. I don't normally like to have a lot of fiber before I run, but the fiber kept me full over fat that would have surely upset my stomach, and the carbo content was high. So it worked!

When I got back I showered and made myself the perfect breakfast- an (almost) Green Monster!

I am still in awe of all of you fellow bloggers who actually make green smoothies... even my mom's come out green, and somehow mine always end up looking like sewage. Oh well, this one tasted great!

It contained: 1 cup soy milk, 1 cup frozen berries, one banana, one kiwi and two huge handfuls of spinach.

For lunch I packed MORE greens... a big salad with spring greens, tomatoes, red pepper and broccoli (I added after the pic!) and a big sunshine burger for protein and healthy fats. For dressing I used Annie's Gingerly Viniagrette. Yum!

The salad was great, but I had my second snack soon after. For snacks I packed some mixed nuts I ate in the morning, and some grapes for the afternoon.

I stopped at Starbucks after work and got Danielle and myself our favorite drink- iced soy caramel macchiatos!

It was a wonderful treat =)

So was visiting Danielle and Matt, who I hung out with for about an hour after work.

Then I came home and made a delicious dinner, if I do say so myself!

I made fish "tacoritos"... basically a cross between a taco and a burrito! I used some left over frozen flounder I cooked in EVOO, with fresh lime juice, salt and pepper, black beans, mango, TJ's lime habanero salsa (YUM but SPICY!) and some reduced fat mexican cheese.

On the side I sauteed some zucchini and squash in a Chipotle Lime seasoning with EVOO and garlic.

I also ate a few more pieces of zucchini raw and some more mango! Yum!

Dessert:

Early to bed again, tomorrow is my last day at work, and a sleepover with my lovely cousin Sammie!

Back to reality

2009-06-16T19:52:00.008-04:00

Now that Nick is on his way home, I have to get back to reality... today was a work day, and so are the next two days... then I only have one day off before I start my new job at camp!

My mom was nice enough to go out early this morning and bring back fresh bagels for the family and our "guest" (although he's hardly a stranger). I chose a honey wheat bagel that I smeared with TJ's PB, with a banana on the side.

For a snack, I had a babybel light cheese, and for lunch I packed an AMAZING sammie.

Seriously guys, this was probably one of the best sandwiches I have ever eaten. And the secret ingredient that made it so special? Trader Joe's Eggplant Red Pepper spread. Sooo good! I used two slices of Nature's Promise Organic 12 grain bread, a big tablespoon of the spread, a light laughing cow wedge and two slices of organic smoked turkey breast. On the side I had some carrots, and the grapes were my afternoon snack.

I also had a couple small handfuls of trail mix throughout the day- love the Tropical mix!

I had intended on going to the gym, but it was far too nice out! I was super exhausted though, so instead of wearing myself out on a run, I opted to go for a nice fast 45 minute walk around the neighborhood with my mom.

When we came home, my mom put together my favorite dish of her's- Tuna Casserole! I had tuna along with a side salad with some leftover dressing from last night.

Plate 1:

and Plate 2:

Dessert-

Newport Chocolate! (x2)

I am off to BED, I am one tired girl!

Nick's Visit- end of weekend recap

2009-06-16T17:07:00.024-04:00

Ciao!

I am sooo sorry this post is super late! But I wanted as much time away from the computer, spending time with my boy as much as possible, so I'm sure you understand =)

I'll keep it semi brief for boredom's sake.

Here's a recap of my eats Sunday-Monday...

Did I eat healthy? Not entirely. But I tried to watch portions and choose my indulgences wisely.

And the verdict... every indulgence was 100% worth it =)

Snack before we left Sunday morning:

TJ's Salt-Free PB pretzels and dried figs =)

Lunch- We headed up to Pawtucket with a specific lunch planned. An RI classic, Hot Weiners from Kip's!

Ok, not the healthiest. I know. A weiner covered in seasoned ground beef, onions and mustard? But one of my alltime favorites growing up. The taste reminded me of my childhood, visits to my great grandma's house with my Grandpa and special lunchtime treats. Nick had never had one, so I had to bring him!

His opinion? Not as good as his beloved chili cheese dogs, but damn good in their own right! He had two, I had one.

On the side, we had the picture of health...

Ho Jo potatoes. These are like fries, but seasoned and pan fried instead of deep fried. We shared this, and ate almost all of them. So. Good.

After Kip's we headed to my favorite park in RI- Slater Park, to ride the Carousel. Another favorite memory from my childhood! Unfortunately, the carousel was under repair and we couldn't ride... but we had fun taking pictures and trying to win candy and stuffed animals anyway =)

We went to Providence after Pawtucket, because Nick had never been to Thayer street... or had the little treat we stopped for as we walked...
Bubble tea! I love love love bubble tea! It's iced tea with milk and "bubbles", which are really tapioca pearls! Nick liked them, they don't really have much taste they're kind of like little gummy balls that are really just a lot of fun to suck through the huge straw!

After a while browsing the shops and having fun on Thayer, we headed to meet both of our parents at Red Stripe for dinner.

I love Red Stripe! I had to order my favorite soup first...
I recently discovered the amazing French Onion Soup, and I absolutely adore it. This bowl was divine! Nick liked it too...
For my entree, I decided on a salad because I wasn't overly hungry. So I ordered an "everything but the kitchen sink" salad with grilled chicken. Well this, my friends, is what I got...
That is a serving bowl full of salad! It was incredible, packed with TONS of deliciousness, including but not only spring greens, green beans, olives of every sort, chickpeas, feta cheese, tomatoes, hearts of palm, roasted red peppers, cauliflower and hard boiled eggs.

Amazing. I managed to down 3/4 of this and saved the rest for home.

We were all so stuffed we passed on dessert, and Nick and I headed to Newport for the night.

He headed to meet a few friends for a while, while I waited for my friend Katrina. We hung out for a while, took a little trip to 7-eleven, which ended in some snack mix and oreos that were consumed throughout the night (whoops...) We picked Nick up and we all had fun hanging out for the rest of the night.

We stayed up LATE though, and Monday morning I was super tired! I would have liked to sleep in, but we had already made plans with Nick's parents and my mom to do breakfast at Crazy Burger! So we tiredly made our way back to Gansett for a delicious mid morning feast.

I started out with fresh squeezed mango grapefruit juice...
And 0ne of my favorite indulgences, Eggs Benedict with a side of fruit!
I ate both english muffins with egg and ham, and didn't eat too much of the holladaise it was doused in, as much as I like the taste I know how unhealthy it is! I had enough for flavor's sake, and I ate 3/4 of the fruit.

Since we ate breakfast a little late, lunch was a bit off- I had some animal crackers while helping Nick pack up his room, and then when I got back to Narragansett I had some leftover salad...
And then a while later I had some grapes (x3) while prepping dinner.
I made Nick, his parents and my parents/sister dinner for his last night in town!

We started with a delicious salad that I also topped with "Honey" Mustard dressing I whipped up, recipe courtesy of Eat, Drink and Be Vegan.
The salad had spring greens, red pepper, corn, blueberries and goat cheese!

Dinner was Nick's favorite- Garlic Parmesan Chicken, with some roasted rosemary chicken and blanced broccoli.
Nick's parents brought over some delicious dark chocolate we shared over coffee after dinner...
And then we had a special ride to go and get ice cream up the street!
That's my super cool limo driver dad, who drove my cousins to prom (in town) earlier that evening and snuck home for dinner... and to give us a classy ride to Brickley's!

I had my favorite- black raspberry chip with chocolate sprinkles =)

What a great weekend!

An even happier Sunday

2009-06-14T09:15:00.017-04:00

Good morning!!

I apologize for being MIA yesterday... but the dinner went much longer than expected and then we picked Nick up from his parents' hotel right after, so I didn't get a chance to post!!

Here's a quick recap of my day yesterday:

My mom and I had a nice trip to Target and Trader Joe's! I found some Champion Trail Running shoes at Target for only $27.99 which will be perfect for camp! They're no asics, but they're better than my old beat up sneakers!

Before we left we stopped at the Picnic Basket for lunch. Unfortunately, I forgot my camera! I never do that! But I got the same thing I get every time- my alltime favorite sandwich, the Ed-wich! Honey roasted turkey, fresh mozarella cheese, roasted red peppers, lettuce, tomato and honey mustard on basil foccacia. Delicious! I also had a pickle and a few BBQ soy crisps while we were waiting for our sammies.

Trader Joes was a success, as usual- I got a lot of fun things to try that I will feature very soon!

Back home, I had a couple snacks before I got ready for my aunt's president's dinner.

A few figs and a piece of my sister's dried mango:

Half a serving of TJ's PB pretzels!

The dinner was great. I had a lot of fun with my cousins-

don't they look cute? =)

My Aunt was honored as the 134th President of the RIPA (Rhode Island Pharmacist's association) from 2008-2009. My grandpa was the President in 1975-1976!

My Aunt, the newest Past President, with her friend Margot, another past President!

She also got two awards, which my cousins presented her with!

Congrats, Aunty Linda!

And congrats to my friend from high school, Nick, who was inducted as a student member!

We started with some appetizers- I had a few pieces of fruit and veggies and a couple cheese cubes from a big platter, as well as a mini quiche and a stuffed mushroom.

Dinner was great! Lots of flavors, lots of courses and it was all delicious!

Italian Wedding Soup

Salad

Chicken Cordon Bleu, Baked potato, vegetables.

I ate all of the vegetables and 3/4 of the chicken. Chicken Cordon Bleu is one of my all time favorites, as unhealthy as it is! I only had a bite of the potatoes- not worth it for me.

This, however, was very worth it:

Chocolate mousse? Yes, please!

We snuck out towards the end of the dinner, because Nick and his parents got in in record time, and we picked him up directly afterwards.

This morning we woke up early to try and make it to a race we were going to walk... but it was way too rainy =(

We had breakfast:

Trader Joe's Muffins!

I ate the whole muffin, which was two servings, but both only equalled 220 calories and a whopping 6 grams of protein- great for a muffin!

I also had a banana to round out the meal-

So now we're hanging out at home until we head out later, when it clears up!

I'm just glad I get to spend the day with this guy...

Have a great one! I'll post again when I can!

A happy Saturday

2009-06-13T07:47:00.005-04:00

Good morning!

This day has been a wonderful day so far, even though it isn't even 8am yet!

I just got news that Nick and his parents crossed the border and he is on his way to visit me.

What could be better than that? =)

Last night my Mom and I watched Bridewars, which was a bit ridiculous, but cute, ate our Chocolate Underground "dessert" Stonyfield Yogurts and hung out for a while. It was a nice night!

I skype chatted with Nick, said goodnight and attempted to get a good night's sleep.

Umm... note the "attempted". I couldn't fall asleep, then when I finally did, I woke up at 5:00!

I think you can assume this is NOT the time I had wanted to wake up =(

Sooo I tossed and turned for another two hours, finally getting out of bed at 7 and (still a bit painfully) heading into the kitchen to make myself a healthy yogurt breakfast.

The usual greek yogurt bowl; 0% chobani, banana, blueberries, slivered almonds and (again) the last strawberry.

Along with some ice wine tea (need to go back to Canada and get more soon!) it was just enough to keep me fueled for the morning.

I have a busy day today, hence my morning post- I won't be able to post the rest of the day until later!

Today is another "exception" from my Green & Healthy plan... as is the rest of the weekend.

But, seeing as this is not a diet, only a "get back to healthy" plan... I don't think of this as a problem. Because, after all, this is a jump start. This weekend will test my ability to eat healthy and indulge sensibly in challenging situations.

My mom and I are starting the day off with some exercise, then heading out for lunch at one of our favorites, The Picnic Basket, and then up to Trader Joe's for some fun foodie shopping time, and then back home to get ready for my Aunt's RIPA dinner. It is her dinner because she has been President for the last year! Congratulations, Aunty Linda! And we get a really nice dinner out of it, so I'm excited for one of my alltime favorite indulgent dishes... you'll see later!

And then... Nick comes to visit! He may not be here until late, so I'll be up late again tonight, but it's worth it!

So that is my crazy day! I'll post again when I can! Have a wonderful Saturday, and weekend!!

Halfway there

2009-06-12T18:23:00.007-04:00

Happy Friday!!

The weekend is finally here, and boy was I glad for a day off!

Of course I didn't lay around all day, as much as I would have liked to!

I started out with a healthy green breakfast...

Ok, not so green. But it had lots of greens in it! Spinach, banana, frozen and fresh berries and nonfat soy milk- the perfect start to my day =)

I needed to get some exercise in, but my legs were still very much sore from a couple days ago!

So, I decided (as I posted on my new Twitter account...) to do some walking, and some yoga for a mix of cardio, strength and stretching.

Worked like a charm! My legs aren't perfect, but my back is much better, the 20 minutes of speed walking and the 20 minutes of Yoga Downloads were perfect.

After yoga I had a small snack to hold me until lunch:

Raincoast crisps and TJ's organic PB! Yum!

I ran a couple errands, grabbed some groceries and headed back home for a FABULOUS mexi-inspired lunch!

This was one of the greatest Mexi-salads I have ever eaten! I took the hint from miss Gina and Jenna, and combined spicy with savory for a delicious healthy salad!

Spring greens, black beans, sweet corn, reduced fat mexi cheese, salsa and home made guac (avocado, tomato, onion, lime, cumin, garlic, tabasco, s&p), fresh cilantro and carrots on the side.

For a snack, I had a juicy nectarine.

Dinner was by far the best meal of the day though!

Burgers and fries!

Can you say yum?!?!

I made the classic American fast food favorite healthy, by using lean turkey with mynew favorite recipe by the amazing ZestyCook, and topped my burger with a slice of soy cheese, some caramelized onions and a big hunk of tomato. We had sweet potato fries on the side for a healthy baked fry treat!

For the sweet potatoe fries, I tossed sliced sweet potatoes with EVOO, sea salt, pepper and garlic powder in a baggie and baked for 30 minutes at 425, turning every 10 minutes or so.

I had a few more sweet potatoes, and some leftover tomato slices!

Tonight I am staying in; again! I'm not completely anti-social, I promise! I've just been busy and so have my friends! Plus, I enjoy my movie nights with my mom =)

Tonight we're watching a movie On Demand and having our healthy dessert treat- Stonyfield Organic yogurts!

Have a great Friday all!

Beat.

2009-06-11T18:21:00.008-04:00

Guys, I have got to confess right now: I am NOT in the mood to blog. Or do anything, for that matter.

I am so beat, in every sense of the word. I didn't even exercise today because my legs are SO sore from my workout yesterday (I knew I worked too hard!) and my back feels like it was run over by a mack truck. Work was long, and boring, and I am damn glad this work week is over with for me!

Today was definitely a "listen to my body" kind of day. Hence why I didn't exercise; I wanted to, I felt like I should, and I struggled with saying "ok" to taking a day off. Because of course, I was being super healthy this week.

But then I thought to myself; what does "being healthy" really mean?

It means taking care of yourself.

And today, my body was in no shape for a workout. All I wanted was the big R: relaxation.

So that my friends, is what I did.

And now without further ado; my eats for the day.

Breakfast:

Yogurt & Cereal bowl with 0% chobani, 3/4 cup Optimum power, banana, blueberries and the last strawberry

Snacks:

An apple and some mixed nuts.

Treat:

A fig newton.

Yes, I caved.

My sweet tooth got me today.

But you know what? It wasn't bad. And I'm not angry at myself about it in the least. Because it was ONE cookie (ok, 1 and a half- I ate another half with my apple!) One cookie never killed anyone, that's for sure.

For the record, last night a sliced nectarine and a big much of Egyptian Licorice was all the sweets I needed =)

Lunch:

Greek Salad with romaine, kalamat olives, cucumber, tomato and reduced fat feta, 1 tbsp low fat dressing; turkey rollups

Dinner:

Chicken piccata, whole wheat couscous and steamed broccoli (broccoli x 2! i loves me some greens!)

Dessert:

Half of a HUGE mango my awesome dad went out to buy me. It was divine!

Ok, thats all for now folks. I am wiped. I'll be much more enthusiastic after some sleep, I promise!!

The Perfect Meal

2009-06-10T18:18:00.007-04:00

Ah, humpday. Here again.

I must say, this week has been dragging on... probably because Nick is coming to visit me on Saturday and I'm so anxious to see him!! In any case, work has been a drag, to say the least.

And my Green & Healthy challenge? Well, it's going. But I can not tell you how much I am craving a soda or a cup of frozen yogurt right now... Now soda is definitely a "no." I mean, for someone very against artificial sweeteners, I'm very addicted to diet soda and I NEED it to be a special treat, once in a blue moon, instead of a daily fix.

Now the frozen yogurt... well... I feel a bit like I'm on a "diet". And I hate diets. This is SO not a diet. I do LOVE the way I've been feeling how I've been eating these last couple of days. Energetic, alert, and I've had no stomach problems whatsoever.

I definitely needed that "kick" to get me jump started back into my healthy ways. No more crap for me!

But my sweets... ah, my sweets. I'm wondering if fruit (like grapes, my late night snack last night) is gunna do it tonight...

Even if I do cave, I know I'm doing it in moderation.

Anyway, lets get out of my head and into the food I had today!

Breakfast:

A Rudi's whole wheat bagel with TJ's no salt added organic PB, a sliced banana (and a half) and some strawberries.

Snacks:

A babybel cheese in the morning and some grapes in the afternoon.

Lunch:

Organic turkey + Avocado + Laughing cow light + tomato on a whole wheat sandwich thin with carrots on the side

I also had a small handful of trail mix (unpictured) after lunch because I was still hungry, even after all that healthy stuff!

All my healthy food fueled me at the gym though; I did 30 minutes on the bike and 20 minutes of full body strength. I have to admit, I have not been doing as much strength training as I used to. It's hard enough as it is to hop on a cardio machine or go out for a run after waking up at 6am and spending 7+ hours at work... my current goal is to get in 2 20-minute sessions each week of full body exercises to keep my muscles strong, but no more gaining for this girl- I have been WAY too tired! My workout was good today though, and I can already tell I did some damage... muscle damage that is! My quads are killing me!

Dinner was perfect. In every sense of the perfect meal- balance, healthiness, taste... I had the hot and the sweet and the flaky and the squishy and the crunchy... It was colorful, full of Omega 3's, Omega 6's, Vitamins A, C, D, Minerals Iron, Zinc, and more!

Pan seared salmon rubbed with salt, pepper, cayenne and garlic powder, seared in EVOO with a baked sweet potato (with a dab of Smart Balance) and blanched asparagus.

My sister says, "can you make that again?"- This coming from the girl who didn't even want salmon for dinner. Guess it was a hit! I loved it, that's for sure!

I'm off to scrounge the kitchen for a healthy dessert!

Work/Gym tomorrow... same ol' same ol'. I can't wait until the weekend!!!

Green & Healthy Day 2

2009-06-09T19:16:00.002-04:00

First off...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!!

Hey guys! My first day of the work week is finally over, and let me tell you it was a BORING one... ah, well, I guess not every day can be interesting.

On a brighter- well, more green note I started my day off better, With a Green Monster!

I love how great I feel after I drink these! Like I ate a salad AND a parfait for breakfast =)

Lunch was tasty and healthy too!

I made a big salad of spring greens topped with grape tomatoes, cucumbers, 1/2 cup white beans and a large sprinkle of goat cheese. I tossed this with some Annie's Green Garlic dressing and had some baby carrots on the side.

For snacks I packed some mixed nuts I had early on to hold me until lunch, and a nectarine to fuel my workout.

At the gym after work I did 35 minutes on the elliptical, hopped right off and after a quick chat with my friend Alessandra, headed to belmont to grab some last minute dinner items.

My dad's request was for chicken enchiladas, and enchiladas I did make!

I started by whipping together my favorite bean and corn salad (see Recipes page!)

And the enchiladas came out great!

Here's my portion, plus a little more bean salad it was so good I needed seconds!

For dessert, I went a little different than cake...

Ice cream sandwiches with freshly made chocolate chip cookies, vanilla frozen yogurt and rainbow sprinkles!

My dad loved 'em!
Mine:

Messy, but oh so good!

YES, I know I ate dessert today. But I mentioned today as one of my "exception" days, because it was my Dad's birthday and we had to celebrate!

Tomorrow I'll be back on the Green & Healthy train full force... but tonight was a moderate, delicious splurge =)

How was your Tuesday?

Green & Healthy Day 1

2009-06-08T19:38:00.002-04:00

Evening guys!

I am going to begin to post just once a day, at night as I can, because besides the fact the rest of my week is filled with work... I want you to see all at once how my Green & Healthy days look!

Starting with breakfast this morning.

Last night I whipped up some hot & sweet fruit salad, which I got from the newest issue of Clean Eating magazine.

It contained strawberries, mangoes, nectarines and kiwi, mixed with some chopped walnuts, agave nectar and a pinch of cayenne pepper for a little kick. I served it up with 3/4 cup of low fat cottage cheese.

This one was a hit! Both my mom and I loved the sweet/spicy mix, the cayenne definitely gave it a "kick" as my mom said, but it was not overdone at all. Delicious, and kept me full for hours!

I wanted to go for a run, badly, but I knew after running two days in a row my knee would thank me if I did not. So I decided on a nice walk instead. I walked for 45 minutes around the neighborhood, up and down hills with a magazine and my ipod. It was a little dreary out this morning, but at least it didn't rain... yet! It got bright and sunny in the afternoon which was nice!

Mid-morning I had my first snack of the day- some baby carrots and kalamata olive hummus.

I looveee this hummus! I love kalamata olives in the first place, but TJ's beats every other one I've tried.

I'm trying to keep my metabolism running on high and keep full with healthy, whole foods all week to avoid any hunger or sweets cravings!

I did some organizing in my room, and then my growling stomach told me it was time for lunch! I made a HUGE salad, based one on in... surprise surprise, Clean Eating magazine! You'll see a lot of Clean Eating meals featured this week, because it is exactly the way I am striving to eat!

This Tuna salad with Dijon viniagrette included 5 oz of chunk light tuna mixed with 1 tbsp EVOO, 2 tbsp balsamic vinegar and a tsp of dijon mustard, tossed and placed atop a big salad of spring greens, cucumber, grape tomates and white beans. I had some sweet grapes on the side.

I sat outside in the beautiful sun and read my newest issue of Bon Appetit for a lovely lunch al fresco! =)

I did some MORE organizing of my room... it's coming along! And then I stopped for a snack in between. I had 4 raincoast crisps smeared with some PB, and half a banana because that didn't fill me up quite enough!

Dinner took a little longer than expected, but it was worth it- really good!

I made a recipe from, you guessed it- Clean Eating magazine! Chicken stuffed with spinach, tomatoes and breadcrumbs along with spaghetti in a lemon basil sauce.

Delicious!

Dessert was not exactly added-sugar free, but since it's all natural and organic, I let it slide.

That's all for today! Tomorrow is another lonnnggg day of work... I'll be back afterwards of course!

Kind of Italian

2009-06-07T19:51:00.009-04:00

Evening guys!

I had another long, albeit fun day! I'm tired, so my post will be brief =)

I woke up to a big yogurt bowl to fuel my morning.

1 0% chobani cup, ~1/3 cup each of cereal crumbs from Kashi U and Kashi Go Lean as "granola", sliced strawberries and banana and a few almond slivers.

I went for a run this morning; my knee was aching a lot so 30 minutes was enough for me.

When I got back I was hankering for some fruit, so my mid-morning snack was a juicy nectarine!

I headed out for some shopping and then made my way to Danielle's new house (less than 5 minutes away from mine!) for lunch!

We had intended on doing an all-out italian feast, but we were lacking supplies so we settled on sort-of Italian =)

We started with fresh Italian bread from the bakery up the street and prosciutto e melone!

For our entree, it was our favorite pasta dish... from a box! Annie's Organic Mac and Cheese!

We hadn't discussed dessert beforehand, so Danielle and I BOTH ended up bringing dessert! Of course we had to share both!

I brought mini cannoli from the bakery...

and she made strawberry shortcake with fresh strawberries and whipped cream!

We had lots of frosting fun...

I stayed for a couple hours and we had lots of fun chatting and catching up!

Sadly, Danielle had to go to work and I had plans to go trunk shopping with my Dad for camp. So off we went to Wal-Mart, where I found myself a nice big trunk to haul all my new ON shorts and tees to camp with me!

I was starving once we got home, so I whipped up a quick and healthy dinner- my favorite burger, of the Sunshine Variety that is, on a whole wheat sandwich thin with soy cheese, organic ketchup and honey mustard. I also had a big salad with spring greens, grape tomatoes and cucumber, drizzled in Annie's organic green garlic dressing. Yum!

I had to have dessert... it's my last day eating dessert for a while!

A VeggieGirl blondie hit the spot!

Tomorrow starts my Green & Healthy challenge! Yay!

An important issue

2009-06-07T08:13:00.008-04:00

Before I get into anything food related, I decided I need to address an issue that has arisen firsthand.

It has come to my attention that there are readers that find some of my commentary on the blog as "triggering" to those with disordered eating, or body image issues.

I am here to state that in no way do I want to be considered a "trigger" or a promoter of unhealthy body image.
That's not what this blog is.

I started this blog as a way to reach out to others about my struggles with healthy eating. I hoped to inspire others through my experiences losing weight and gaining weight, and maintaining a healthy balance.
As someone who has had a past of disordered eating, I knew that in my own experience, I was the only "trigger" I had. It wasn't what other people said that made me want to hyper-control my eating habits. What triggered me was being the best that I thought I should be. Which sometimes, meant eating too little, or exercising too much. If I wasn't living up to these expectations I was a failure to myself.
This is a sad way to think, I know.
And I know that other people have similar struggles, and other people have different struggles.
Whilst I am in no way encouraging people to discontinue reading my blog, please, if my personal thoughts are hindering your success in becoming healthy, please, stop reading.

I want this blog to be a healthy community-like atmosphere. I want to be able to share my thoughts with you, and you with me, in a constructive manner.
I don't want there to be "fat talk" or judgement.
If you have a problem with something I said, please, email me, come to me, and I will address it.

But one of the things I pride myself in, within and outside the blog, is my honesty. Some of the most touching comments I have gotten on my blog have been about my "realness". What I say is what is on my mind.

Sometimes, my thoughts may not be the healthiest. But I recognize this and try to express the way I am feeling outright as just that; the way I am feeling at the time.

Do I think a small cup of ice cream is "bad"? No. I love my treats! But when I say something like that, most likely it is referring to the amount of ice cream, or sweets in general, I have had recently- and as I have demonstrated in my starting my Green & Healthy challenge, I am trying to stay away from too much of those kinds of things. A little of anything is fine, a lot of anything is too much. The struggle between just enough and too much has been a big one for me, having battled binge eating in the past. So with this struggle I am trying to relay to others that it can be hard to distinguish between just enough and too much. It's finding your own balance, what works for YOU that matters. Everyone is different, but the goal is the same: health.

I am not perfect, no one is. And it will be a very long time, if ever, I am completely over all of my food issues. I am going to struggle with those last pesky 5 pounds for a while. But the support I have gained on this blog has been incredibly encouraging to me.

I hope to be able to continue to share my thoughts and journey to being the healthiest I can be with all of you. I hope to encourage others by showing you that it is a journey to health. There are going to be bumps in the road. I'm not going to eat healthy 100% of the time. And sometimes, I'm not going to be happy about it. But I AM still healthy. And I'm happy. I have a wonderful life, filled with a wonderful family, wonderful friends, and a wonderful boyfriend, no matter how far away any of them may be. I love them all and they support me, just like you all support me.

This is what gives me strength. There was a reason I got it permanently tattooed on my body. Everything in my life involves strength. The strength to stay healthy without being restrictive. To learn to fill my body with nutrient rich, healthful foods. To exercise and keep my body strong. To look back every day and say, I felt healthy today, or maybe I didn't, and I'll try to be more healthy tomorrow. This is what I am trying to demonstrate for you. It's all about balance.

I am trying to be the best I can be, and I strive to encourage all of you to be healthy, active and happy as well.

So from here on out, I'm going to make the promise to you that I will be totally, 100% honest with you. If that means maybe one day I'm not feeling so hot, and maybe I might say a few words that may be a "trigger", I'll let you know beforehand. And you can stop reading. Because it is up to you to learn when to look away, when it is healthiest to be a little selfish at times and think only of yourself. There will only be one me, and only be one you. It is up to each of us alone to gain the strength to be confident in ourselves. Confident enough to know that each and every one of us has the ability to be healthy, and happy and balanced. Confident that we are all beautiful in our own ways. That our bodies are wonderful, powerful machines that can, and will carry us far- if we fuel them properly.

Two of my favorite Italian phrases translate into a life well lived:

La vita e bella. Mangia poco, ma bene.

Life is beautiful. Eat moderately, but well.

So those are my Sunday Morning musings. Take them as you will. I'll be back after a nice run, and a wonderful lunch Italiano with my best friend in the world, the lovely miss Danielle.

Green & Healthy

2009-06-06T18:55:00.003-04:00

Hey guys!

I know I promised my challenge... and here it is!

Green & Healthy

Crap-free before camp “detox”

How this started:

Recently, I posted about my reasons as to why I eat healthy here.

And I will say, that since then, I have not binged, and I have kept my cravings in control, only having smaller portions of what I’m craving.

But still, I’m not totally healthy. Which is ok, I mean, no one is perfect.

But I am admittedly easily drawn into buying candy, especially when I am at work, because it’s there, not even because I necessarily crave it. I THINK I crave it, so I buy it. I am also ashamed to admit I have a slight addiction to diet soda and flavored waters. I know, I know- can you get a crappier beverage? They’re nothing but chemicals and artificial sweeteners! So real sweets & fake sweets overload!

I also jumped off the organic bandwagon for a while, not caring about what I was consuming because non organic was cheaper. Well, we all know that being healthy is worth the cost.

I’ve been eating out a lot (Canada being an exception, it was vacation for me), and not choosing the healthiest options.

Through all of this, I have noticed a lack of energy, and I really just do not feel great.

I know I will feel better when I eliminate these unhealthy offenders from my diet. So, the idea for a “detox” began.

Why I want this change:
I’m going to camp soon, and as I’m sure all you camp-alumni know, camp food is not the healthiest. This is in NO way going to be a 2-month unhealthy eating spree though. I fully intend on making the healthiest choices possible, and reporting back to the blog on my success as much as I can.

Still, I want to be in the healthiest shape I can be, body and mind, before camp starts. I want to rid myself of the crap and fill my body with nutrients so I am healthy and energized at the start of camp, and motivated to be a healthy influence. I know how much I looked up to my camp counselors, and I want to be a good example for my campers, who will undoubtedly know I love to eat, but healthfully so.

Purpose of the challenge: To “detox” our bodies of artificial sweeteners, added sugars, chemicals and all that CRAP we’ve been putting into it, in the healthiest way possible!

My co-challenger: Recently, My mom started drinking green smoothies after reading Green For Life, and she feels a lot better. She quit eating candy (also a vice for her), but she still felt like she needed something to jump-start an overall healthier lifestyle, and a mini-detox sounded perfect for her. I’m so glad to have her along for the ride, and I’m hoping she will jump on the blog once in a while and give her take on the challenge as well!

So without further ado...

Rules (more like guidelines!)

NO-

Candy

Soda

Artificial Sweeteners

Added sugars*

Excess salt/sodium

Excess oils & saturated fats

White bread, flour or pasta

Anything packaged INCLUDING Frozen meals and bars

Anything fried

Anything that does not look like it belongs in nature

Desserts aside from all natural fruits or naturally sweetened organic yogurt

*Certain exceptions may arise; such as nonfat soy milk.

MORE-

Organic fruits and vegetables (That means Green Monsters!)

Water!

Complex Carbohydrates

Lean, low fat protein in the form of beans, legumes, poultry, fish and dairy

Exercise- every day, at least 30 minutes!

Foods: Organic fruits, vegetables (especially greens!), whole grains, beans, fish, low fat yogurt/dairy, soy/almond milk, lean meats, sweet potatoes, unsalted nuts, olive oil, avocados, all natural seasonings

Drinks: Water, Water and more water!!! And unsweetened hot/iced tea. That’s it.

Exceptions:

6/9- Dinner only. My Dad’s birthday celebration. But it will be made by ME, and as clean as possible!

6/13- My Aunt’s big RIPA dinner. Goal: Eating as clean as possible (with no menu)

6/14-6/15- Nick’s coming up to visit me. Goal? Eat as healthy as I can, where he wants to eat.

**Because of these exceptions I will continue with the challenge on Thursday & Most of Friday, just to get in as much “detox” as possible** =)

Is this a diet? NO!

Are we cutting calories? NO, at least not intentionally. I’m sure a few will be cut from lack of excess sugars, etc. But not in order to lose weight.

Am I planning on losing weight? No I am not. I will still be consuming a normal amount of calories, with just less "crap", aka empty calories, amongst them!

It will start on Monday, June 8^th and Continue through Thursday, June 18^th.

So that is the challenge! I would love for any of you to come along with me, if you do, I am thinking up a great prize I’ll send out before camp for any of those who are willing to participate!

So come join in on the green & healthy train!

So. Many. Clothes.

2009-06-06T17:46:00.005-04:00

Hello all, happy Saturday evening!

I am staying in tonight, and with good reason- my day was PACKED with cleaning, cleaning, and more cleaning! I literally spent 4 hours straight cleaning, and my room is now almost clean... yes, I said almost! The floor, closet and my bed (which piles LOTS of junk when theres only one of me sleeping in it!!) are all spotless, but my desk and bureau still need a little work!

I'm still glad I got so much done though, and now I can relax =)

I went on a run this morning, I told myself I would go as far as my legs took me. Lucky for me they took me 5 whole miles! They ached the entire way, but nothing I couldn't handle. I'm still looking a knee braces and a doctor's appointment though!

After my run I immediately grabbed a snack- some dill almonds I brought back from Canada.

I need more!!

Lunch time came fast while I was cleaning, and I had an amazingly tasty, healthy lunch!

Yes, that is a sweet potato covered in low fat cottage cheese! I saw it on Jenna's blog a while back, and it sounded right up my alley. Yes it was! I loved this combo, the sweet/savory flavoring was exactly what I love, it was nutrient PACKED and filled me up well. I had some strawberries and cucumber slices on the side for even MORE nutrients!

I continued on with my cleaning; my first afternoon snack being not so-healthy- a few Werther's that I happened to "find" while I was sorting through things. They really need to GO AWAY! No worries, I'll be done with that "crap" soon!

My second afternoon snack was much more nutritious and filling.

A berry pomegranate Cabot greek style yogurt. I LOVE the Cabot greek yogurts. They are so thick and creamy!!

After finishing up my cleaning I did some blog reading and decided on a simple, early dinner.

I knew exactly what I wanted- eggs!

I used one egg and two egg whites to make an egg scramble! I sauteed some grape tomatoes and mushrooms in a bit of EVOO, then scrambled up my eggies with some garlic herb seasoning, tossed it all together and topped it with goat cheese and fresh parsley. Divine!

On the side I had a delicious mini Rudi's honey sweet whole wheat bagel with some Smart balance.

Altogether it was a delicious healthy dinner.

But my sweet tooth got me again, and since I KNOW I will be going away from all these sweets very soon, I had to indulge a bit one last time...

That's Breyer's All Natural and Edy's Slow Churned.

Stay tuned for my challenge post in a bit!!

Return of the Green Monster

2009-06-06T08:09:00.006-04:00

Good Morning!

I am happy and energized from a great night of sleep (despite some weird dreams... Carnivals anyone? Strange) and a faaaabulous way to start my day....

With a Green Monster!!

It wasn't too green so I put it in a green cup to make it seem more monsterish ;)

This one contained 1 cup frozen mixed berries, 1 medium/large banana, 2-3 cups spinach, 1 cup nonfat soy milk.

NOTE: I also ate 4 Rainforest Crisps right after I posted this because the lack of protein/healthy fats in this didn't hold me! Guess I need to add some powder or nut butter!

Inspired by Angela, Caitlin, Jenna, and all those other bloggers hopping on the GM train, clearing up their skin and radiating with healthiness, I have decided to include GM into my diet much more frequently!

This inspiration has also sparked an idea for a new challenge which I will be hilighting later today!

Until then, I have this to-do list:

Feed Klaus
Go for a Run (as long as my knee will hold out)
Put my dirty laundry where it belongs (aka not on my floor)
Clean my room from top-to-bottom
Run an errand for the boy (he's a little too far away to do it himself)
Start getting camp stuff together
Emails to certain colleges... (curious anyone?)
Organize my finances (ugh...)
Write up said challenge for my fellow followers
Plan out Dad's birthday feast on Tuesday

Off I go!

Treats with Mom

2009-06-05T20:34:00.008-04:00

Evening all!

I am STUFFED to the gills with good old fashioned relaxation food- pizza and ice cream!

But more on that in a minute.

My mom and I had a great day! The gym was packed when we got there, but we still managed to grab a couple of cardio machines. I did 35 minutes on the elliptical, then headed over to the weight area to do about 35 minutes of upper body strength with my mom.

After the gym I had a couple of snacks to hold me the morning while we shopped. 4 raincoast crisps, and an apple.

I love these crackers!!

I made out really well on camp clothes at Old Navy- 3 whole outfits for $80! We were hungry after all that shopping, so we headed across the parking lot for some Extreme Pita! I had the grilled chicken pita, with lettuce, tomato, grilled onions, peppers and mushrooms, hummus and banana peppers.

I meant to take a pic of the inside, but I devoured this before I could snap!! Whoops!

I got a little hungry later in the afternoon, so I grabbed a string cheese

and a few Werthers for my sweet tooth, on the go before a couple more errands!

After errands and grabbing some fresh produce, we headed home to put away groceries and order pizza!

We settled on my alltime favorite pie, the Athenian pizza from Boston Neck pizza. Thick, doughy crust with a juicy layer of sweet sauce, salty feta, hunks of garlic, fresh tomatoes and bright green spinach.

Mmmm....

Of course I needed a little more color with my meal.

I may or may not have gone for another slice. (Leaning towards may...)

And because it was raining, we needed to go for an ice cream run! Because I firmly believe ice cream is SO much better in the rain! We had four people waiting on us, and we got extra big scoops. See? So much better ;)

I actually got frozen yogurt; half raspberry and half mocha chip. It was divine!

Phew. As I mentioned, I am one stuffed girl. Time to throw on the boy's sweatpants and read in bed.

G'night!

Starting to get better

2009-06-05T08:14:00.012-04:00

Morning everyone!

Sorry about the lack of post last night, I was exhausted and really just needed some sleep!

I honestly think stress+exhaustion+allergies was the cause of my ailments. After a nice night of sleep, I feel much better, and more energized to have a busy, but productive day!!

Flash way back to the night before last. I had a small cup of frozen yogurt as my treat before bed.

I slept alright, but not as much as I had hoped. I felt a little like a walking zombie at work.

For breakfast before I left I made a big cereal bowl-

1 cup optimum power, 1 cup nonfat soy milk, a sliced banana and a handful of blueberries and raspberries.

For a snack I had (unpictured, whoops!) my FAVORITE clif bar of all... Chocolate Chip Peanut.

Half in the morning, half in the afternoon.

Work was ok, I kept myself busy ripping sale signs and chatting with Erica about past camp experiences (she went to the same camp I did; the one I'm going to be a counselor at!) We can't seem to remember anything about the food, aside from her horrifying encounter with copious amounts of apple jelly-peanut butter sammies... yuck.

For lunch I dug into the 'last' of my corn edamame sesame salad; I say last because I saved a bit for my mom to try- she loved it! And I also had a nectarine.

This held me over far better than a little salad with spinach like I had yesterday.

My sweet tooth was screaming at me after lunch, so I had a few Werther's Caramel-Filled Candies. I reaalllly wanted more than I had, but I was proud of myself for keeping to a good small portion from a large bag.

After work I was planning on going to the gym, but it was an unexpectedly sunny, warm day- so I decided there was nothing better than a nice run!

Well, there are things better than the run I went on...

I was planning on 40 minutes, and I ended up making it 30. Not too bad, but my knee was killing me the entire time. I just could not keep running. I'm looking into knee braces for now, but, as my PT-to be boyfriend keeps urging me, I think I need to see someone about it =/

But I came home, stretched it out, iced it out and relaxed for a while.

I had a couple of snacks to hold me over because I knew dinner with Katrina was going to be late!

Carrots and TJ's Kalamata Olive Hummus (my alltime favorite! yum!) and a small apple, sliced thin for more nibbling.

When I finally met up with Katrina I was starving again, but dinner was deeelicious!!

We shared again; which is the perfect adventure for our taste buds, and a true money-saver.

I picked up Crazy Burger (what else?!), and we ate it at her casa.

Pacific Rim Rolls with Peanut Dipping sauce (droool)

Birdie Mae Burger (Tempeh, Sweet Potato, Rice, deliciousness) and sweet potato fries

I ate half of each, with LOTS of crazy burger ketchup! I also kept picking at the greens from under the rim rolls... bad girl, I know.

Katrina brought us a special treat- Dunkin Donuts Coolatas!

They were HUGE so we tried to split them half and half, but still only ended up finishing 3/4 of each- strawberry and coffee. Super filling, but a fun summer treat!

Needless to say, I was not hungry before I texted the boy good night and passed out in bed.

I 'slept in' this morning- at least to my standards. 7:45 wakeup compared to a 6am wakeup is definitely an improvement!

I had a big yogurt bowl to fuel my day.

1 0% chobani cup, a sliced banana, the last of the berries (tear) and a handful of slivered almonds. A little more than usual because I wanted this bowl to hold me over!

I'm having a day with my mom today; she has the day off, so we're going to the gym this morning (Trainer Kristin gets to come out, yay!) then camp-clothes shopping in my favorite city (Newport!) and then having a pizza/movie girls night at the house =)

I PROMISE I will post tonight!

Sick Girl + Late night =...

2009-06-04T22:30:00.000-04:00

Blogging in a.m.!!!

I'm getting some much needed shut-eye. Night all!

Sneezy

2009-06-03T18:36:00.007-04:00

Ciao!

You guys can start calling me Sneezy from now on, because I am a snot machine! Ok, sorry for the gross graphics. But I can not stop sneezing/blowing my nose/using up tissues like it's my job. What the heck?!?! I got back from Canada and now I'm sick? Well, sick I'm not sure yet, but if these are just allergies they're pretty damn intense!!

Besides not feeling too hot, I didn't get a lot of sleep last night either, which, needless to say put a damper on my exciting (not) day at work.

I woke up and had a healthy breakfast to start my day, at least.

A fruit n' yogurt bowl with one 0% chobani, some bluberries, raspberries, a sliced banana and a sprinkle of almond slivers.

This held me well throughout the morning; until I dug into my snack- one of my favorite Clif bars, which, as usual, I ate half of in the a.m. and half of in the afternoon.

Lunch was SOO tasty! Last night I made one of my favorite warm weather recipes- Veganomicon's Corn, Edamame and Sesame salad. I had a generous serving on top of a bed of spinach, with a juicy nectarine (they're baacckkk!) on the side.

This was delicious, but didn't fill me too well. I had a couple small handfuls of Kashi Heart to Heart as well, which did the trick.

After work I attempted a gym trip. I say attempted because I made a good effort- 30 minutes on the elliptical, and then 10 minutes into my strength training I quit because I wasn't feeling great.

Back home I was excited to find a surprise at my door- Frito Lay sent me some of their new healthy Smartfood products to sample, which I am very excited to do a review of soon! Tune in soon!

As soon as I got home I needed something to munch on, but dinner wasn't for about a half an hour, so I had a small cup of organic baby carrots to chew on.

Dinner was my favorite soup my mom makes- Split Pea with chicken sausage! YUM!

I had a bowl with a small piece of baguette with smart balance...

and then went back for another 1/3 of a bowl because it was so good!

I'm full now, but thinking about a little dessert later...

I will be going to bed early for sure! I hope I get better, I have work again tomorrow and then I'm going out with the lovely Katrina for another fun dinner date!!

Have a great hump-night!!

Falling into place

2009-06-02T19:05:00.005-04:00

Looks like things may just be falling into place for me right about now.

This morning I went for a glorious 45 minute run around my neighborhood. It felt good to just run, after all of this craziness the last week or so, it was just what I needed.

Before I left I had two of these AMAZING crackers I got at Sunripe on Sunday.

Note to self: MUST stop up as soon as I go back to Ontario!!!

For lunch a little later, I had a healthy nutrient-filled lunch, because I knew the BBQ at the Yacht club would be less than stellar in health department.

My mom left me a big colorful salad in the fridge that included grape tomatoes, cucumber, red bell pepper, mushrooms and romaine lettuce. I tossed that with about 1.5 tablespoons Amy's Raspberry Viniagrette and on the side had an ezekiel 'white pizza', basically a warmed Ezekiel tortilla smeared with a heap of kalamata olive hummus and some crumbled goat cheese.

For dessert, I had a few pieces of dried kiwi.

Lunch was delicious and filling, and since the meeting/BBQ was so early I didn't have an afternoon snack.

I didn't bring my camera; but dinner wasn't overly interesting to look at. I had a burger with ketchup/mustard/relish, a slice of swiss cheese, lettuce, tomato and onion. For dessert I had a butterscotch cookie and a small walnut brownie- I couldn't choose just one!!

Now I'm relaxing for a while, I have work early in the morning so I need to be well rested!!

As for the big changes I've been alluding to; here's the first one: instead of my current summer jobs, I am going to be working as a full-time camp counselor at the Girl Scout Camp I grew up going to. Now what does this mean for the blog? Well, I'm not really sure yet. But I WILL be blogging when I can, and I will keep you updated with the situation. For now, all I can tell you is I am SO excited to be doing this!! Being a counselor was seriously my childhood dream job, and camp is so much fun!

Across the border and back

2009-06-02T09:16:00.017-04:00

Happy Tuesday everyone!
I apologize for my lack of post yesterday; I know I promised a Monday-eve post, but we didn't get back until 12am and I was waaayyyy too tired from driving (and a great weekend!) to do a post that late. I just hit the sack and slept like a baby =)
I'm going to give a full recap of my mini-vacay this weekend, but refrain from posting ALL the pics... there were a LOT!!

Flashback to Friday.
3:30 a.m. and my alarm jolted me awake. I have not felt that awake at 3:30 in the morning since, well, ever (that I can remember! maybe back in girl scout camp days... hehe).
I was so excited to get on the road and take the 11+ hour trip to go see Nick! I managed to shower and get all my stuff together in about a half an hour, and we hit the road at 4:15.
I grabbed a bit of breakfast on the way- some strawberries and half a banana before we left, and I had a whole wheat english muffin with some all natural TJ's peanut butter around 5:30.

My dad was nice enough to volunteer to come with me, so I had someone to accompany me on my first drive to Sarnia. I drove for about 6 hours before we stopped in NY and my dad switched for a few.

I made a big dent in my book, while having a couple of snacks- some organic grapes, a primal stick and a handful of trail mix.

We stopped for lunch in a random spot in Buffalo, NY and grabbed Quiznos. I had a chicken sub on whole wheat with lettuce, tomato, onion, honey mustard and a side of banana peppers, which I covered my sandwich in =)

I split a Snicker's bar with my dad in the afternoon for the obligatory crappy-roadtrip-eats... it was delicious.

A few (ok, 4) more hours of driving and a slight unplanned detour (thanks to Nick's sister Emily for getting us back on track) we made it to Sarnia, ON. I immediately dropped my stuff, gave my boy a kiss, grabbed a beer (drinking age is 19 in Canada) and started helping him with dinner.
Nick made one of my favorites, Jambalaya!
I had my spicy portion with a piece of fresh italian bread and a glass of lemonade.

(plus a little extra).

For dessert, we had the amazing Tiramisu from the italian restaurant down the street, Salvatore's.

After laying around for a bit, Nick and I decided to go out for a couple drinks. I had two small ones- one being my absolute favorite, a tribute to my Italy days- Sambuca on the rocks =)

After a great night's rest, Nick and I slept in on Saturday morning, before finally rising and grabbing some breakfast. Nick's mom made a great fruit salad, which I had a bowl of along with a small Berry Bran muffin and some coffee.

We had a great morning- we headed to Sears to look for sweatpants (because I keep stealing his) and sheets (i somehow got enthralled in the oven section...). We ended up at Toys R Us where the 5 year old in me came out and bought Hello Kitty Bubbles... and then after browsing a couple more stores we left and went to grab some lunch.

Nick had been telling me of the wonders of bridge fries since I first visited in November, but I guess they're only good when you actually sit beside the bridge to eat them. So I had my first chance to try them at lunch on Saturday! Lunch choices were limited, so I got a small portion of exactly what I wanted- chicken tenders with bbq sauce and the famous bridge fries!
I ate all my tenders (3) which were breaded and not battered (yay!) and half of my fries. Ok guys, I've gotta tell ya. I don't really like fries all that much... but these were the BEST fries I have ever had. With salt and vinegar, they were a hot salty and tangy delight.

We ate them with a gorgeous view of the bridge.

Nick had fries, plus a chili cheese dog, which almost killed him later...

we headed to the Carnival, where we spent about an hour pretending we were about 8, riding bumper cars (with an 8 year old), playing some games- Nick "won" me a bright green Monkey with a red butt he named Tiki a the balloon darts tent, and then we went one one "scary" ride- the Gravitron, which was a lot of fun! But we had just eaten lunch. So neither of us got sick, but neither of us felt too good after.

Luckily we had some time to relax at home after, blow some bubbles, play some of Nick's new Simpsons game on his Xbox and hang out before dinner. Nick's parents took us and my dad to Salvatore's for a big Italian feast!
There's no menu, they just bring you huge plates of amazing food!
Salad, Bread and Chianti to start...

And I had a bit of everything for dinner!

Dessert was lemon ice (pretty much lemon gelato in a lemon!) I shared with Nick.

After dinner, we all headed to the horse track where we had a lot of fun watching the horses and placing $2 bets and I won twice- $2.60 and $3.10!! Ok, so I'm not a heavy gambler. But it was a lot of fun!!

On the way back from the track Nick's parents dropped us off at one of his favorite bars where we spent the Nick having a few drinks and hanging out with his friend Zan.

We played pool, I lost.

I missed my boy!!!

We stayed out late, so needless to say we were both tired the next day (do not confuse that with hungover; I did feel fine!), and slept in, I caught up on a little blog reading in the morning and then Nick's dad made us brunch.

French toast with REAL syrup, bacon, OJ and berries! I also had another bowl of fruit salad.

After brunch Nick took me to Sunripe, their local specialty produce store, which I had a lot of fun at.
Look at the size of these carrots!!

I had a couple of fun purchases, including home made peanut brittle which I had a couple bites of.

We went for a walk in the afternoon, about an hour around town. We played on playgrounds, fed fish, walked by the water, and grabbed ice cream on the way back!

Nick was a bit too ambitious with his banana split... he couldn't finish it!

After our walk we hung out at home for a bit before going on our date! Nick had promised to take me on a 'real date'- dinner and a movie, for a while now, and we finally got to go out on Sunday!

We went to Paddy Flaherty's, a great Irish pub in his town.
Of course I started with a Guinness-

and we had blarney chips (aka pumped up waffle fries) which I indulged in a bit as a starter.

For my entree I had the BEST pot pie I have ever consumed- the Salmon and Leek pie, with grilled vegetables (and Nick's pickle off to the side).
I ate about 3/4 of the pie (it was really rich!) and all of the veggies.

After dinner, we stopped for coffee because we had a while before the movie. We both got Mocha Canadians- which, we still have no idea how they are any different from Mochas in the US. Tasted the same to me!

We went to go see Angels and Demons, which was really good. I was on the edge of my seat the entire time, I was glad we chose it!

Another late night, and another early morning. Monday was a somber day, I had some fruit salad, coffee and a big muffin Nick's mom bought us before saying my goodbyes and getting back on the road.

The drive took a little longer than expected. We stopped at Bulk Barn for some road snacks- dried kiwi and dill almonds

and Pita Pit(!!) for lunch. I had a whole wheat pita with all the veggies available, olives, babaganoush, tahini and grilled chicken.
(look at all those olives!)

I had a cookie Nick's mom sent us with, plus a bit of my bulk barn goodness for snacks.

For dinner we stopped at a little Italian restaurant off the highway.
Started with salad and bread, and I had linguine with clam sauce (all I was craving!!), which I ate about half of (maybe less, it was a HUGE portion!)

For dessert I had a couple pieces of peanut brittle.

My dad and I split the drive about half and half, and I slept for the later half. Still, I was not happy to be home, even though it was midnight and I was very ready for bed.

So now I'm back home in Gansett. A little lonely, but hey, life will go on.
And to answer questions from all those curious minds... No, we're not getting married (at least not for a long time). Yes, we are going to make this work, even if it's 12 hours away, Yes, there will be more frequent trips to Canada, and Yes, you will hear about the 'big changes' I have been alluding to soon.

This morning I slept in at home, and woke up to a big bowl of Optimum Zen to start my day off right.

1 cup Optimum Zen cereal, a sliced banana, some blueberries and a cup of soy milk.

Today I am going to try and get some real exercise in, and get my life back in order!! Then, I have a work BBQ at the Yacht Club later on today.

Packing up

2009-05-28T18:06:00.004-04:00

Hello again!
This is going to be a speedy post, because I just spent an hour packing some of Nick's stuff from the apartment and I still need to pack my own things!!

As angry as I still am about the current situation, I feel very refreshed and a lot more in-control of my eating since my 'revelation' on Tuesday.
Last night I had dessert- a small cup of strawberry froyo with half a crumbled home made cookie on top.

It was just enough sweetness to end the night, and I didn't feel the need to eat more.

I woke up at the crack of dawn this a.m. to get some exercise in before work- I had tons to do when I got out so this was my only chance to squeeze some activity in!!
I did 30 minutes of walking on an incline on the treadmill. It wasn't the hour-long gym fest I had planned, but I sure worked up a sweat.

Before I walked I had an unpictured date to suppress any hunger pangs, and then immediately after my shower I made breakfast. I used 1 0% chobani, some strawberries, blueberries and half a banana, topped with some almond slivers.

A parfait in a bowl!

For a snack at work I had this Soyjoy bar.

It was good, but I much prefer the mango variety.

Lunch was leftovers- some tabbouleh and chickpea salad.

I also had my daily chocolate fix-

It was tasty and filling; held me through the rest of my (long, boring) day at work, and then I had planned on meeting with my cousin for coffee, but she forgot, so I decided to go home and grab an apple (and my sister!) instead and pack up some stuff in Newport.

After packing, I was one hungry girl, so I stopped at Natural Foods for a delicious vegan dinner! I chose the vegan chipotle sweet potato soup, and the eggplant mozzarella wrap, which featured sautted eggplant, roasted red peppers, greens and vegan mozzarella in a spinach wrap.

I ate every bite! I'm stuffed, but in a good way.
My sister and I got some organic cookies to have as a treat after dinner as well, I'll probably snack on those while I'm packing away!!

Ok, time to get my stuff together! I'm leaving at 3am, so like I said, I will post when I can or do a recap on Monday! Have a great weekend, everyone!!