It's that time again...

Heya kiddos. How is your day going? Mine has been very strange, mostly because I got up at 9, ate, then went back to sleep until 1. Glorious, but you know how I do.

I had a big bowl of cereal, with two handfuls of All Bran Flakes and two handfuls of Smart Start. I sliced an entire banana (halfway down the road to mushy, also glorious) on top and bathed it in skim. Who says cereal has to be boring?


I had an apple when I woke up...


... and grabbed some dried fruit (date, fig, prune, apricot, candied ginger) on my way out the door to go to the gym.


Got a small coffee with skim milk to take on my ride into the city.


My workout today was not so great (but they can't all be, right?). Since I'm going out to dinner tonight, I'd planned on having a wonderful, 600+ calorie busting session, but that just wasn't in the cards today. I did 35 minutes on the bike, then moved on to the stairs and started to feel sick to my stomach. I hope I'm not coming down with something!

To make up for the lack of greenness in yesterday's eats (just chives and cilantro... bad news) I went to the Whole Foods salad bar. I got some spinach, baked tofu, "chicken" salad (I love this stuff), lemon baked tempeh, broccoli and jicama mango cucumber salad. I squirted on a little creamy avocado dressing (the name itself is enough to make Ari vomit) to give it a little oomf.


I didn't want to have something too heavy, because my parents and I are going to the Tribeca Grill for Restaurant Week. This is the first time since having the blog that Restaurant Week has occurred, but it's pretty much my favorite time (well, times, since it now comes thrice) a year. Assuming you act fast, you can get a three course lunch or dinner at the city's best restaurants for $24.09 or $35.00, respectively. Woo-FREAKING-hoo! By the time I called, our first choices were already booked, but I got us reservations for 7:30 tonight. I'm excited to try something new. It's also co-owned by Robert De Niro, so it'll be interesting to see what his tastes are like (I have a feeling this isn't exactly Italian mobster food).

Have a lovely Wednesday night!

I just can't get enough

Happy Christmas Eve Eve! This is always such a strange day... it feels like it should be a holiday, but it's not. I tend to Grinch-out a little with all the crowds... everyone (including myself!) is frantic trying to find last minute gifts, and it is pure and utter chaos. Humbug!

Last night I ordered something different from work when I finished my shift: veggie stirfry! It was made up of carrots, broccoli, zucchini and fresh ginger, and came with a side of steamed rice. The thing about ordering a stir fry at a restaurant is you never know how much oil it's being cooked in. This one tasted pretty greasy, but it was delicious and I was pretty hungry so I ate the whole thing! I had about 1/3 of the rice.


My dad was nice enough to pick me up from work and drive me from Queens. He brought me a sack full of clemmies, and although I was stuffed I had to taste one (or six) to make sure they were good. They were.


Another citrus-y breakfast cookie:


This guy was made with:
1/2 cup oats (ish)
1/2 scoop vanilla protein powder
1 tbsp PB
1 clementine
2 spoonfulls yogurt
dried fruit (craisins, currents, date)

I slept in a little this morning (meaning, I got up at 8, ate breakfast, and promptly got back under the covers and slept for 3 more hours) and then went back into Manhattan to meet my little redheaded friend (Kalle!) for lunch at Alice's Tea Cup. Oh, you guys would all love this place! It's decorated to look like the Mad Hatter's tea room, and everything in there is Alice themed. It's impossible to go in there and NOT be happy.

We started out with a pot 'o Christmas Tea (note the little kitty that catches the drips!):


I ordered my usual, the Light Fare of a bowl of soup (chickpea artichoke) and Warm Pear and Belgian Endive Salad that comes with roquefort cheese and carmelized onions. So. Freaking. Good. The bread that comes with the soup is also divine... it's soft and buttery and has some kind of herb in it... maybe chive? I ate every last bite of everything!


We stopped at the new Magnolia Bakery on the Upper West Side...


We each got a devil's food cupcake with mocha frosting. Holy Yum, Veggie Girl!


I almost talked myself out of going to the gym, but I know I won't get there tomorrow or Christmas (there are better things to do!) so I settled for a quick workout.

Stair Mill:
20:00 minutes
1.8 miles
86 floors climbed
227.1 calories burned

Machines:
shoulder press- 3 x 10 @ 10 lbs
chest press- 3 x 10 @ 10 lbs
lateral pulldown- 3 x 10 @ 10 lbs
lateral raise- 3 x 10 @ 10 lbs

Usual ab series minus plank holds

Sometimes my joints kind of "pop" when I'm doing exercises. Does this happen to anyone else?

I came home to drop off my sweaty gym clothes and found this ENORMOUS container of Fage in the fridge.


I can't get enough of these clementines! I had a bowl of yogurt with one clementine, blackberries, and basswood-flavored honey.


Off to work... it's an early night (I get off at 11) so it shouldn't be too bad. Have a great night!

You'll shoot your eye out, kid!

Hiya kiddos! I'm so sorry about the posting delay. I hate posting once a day! Oh, how did I live before the blog? (Just kidding... sort of.)

I had a nice dinner at home with my parents last night. My dad made one of my favorites: a sort of Cajun-rubbed salmon. We also had garlicky broccoli and basmati rice. I enjoyed it all with a nice mug of skim milk.


We had Haagen-Daaz Vanilla Swiss Almond ice cream for dessert; it's a Lilveggiepatch family favorite. We had it with homemade passion fruit jam that we brought back from Switzerland a few years ago. The flavors had time to steep together and it was delicious on the ice cream!

We watched A Christmas Story while we ate; I had to leave before the movie was over so I'm watching it while I type this. My mom gets so excited each year because she's from Indiana, too! Apparently the house has been restored to "its original splendor," with all the old furnishings and everything!


Ari treated me to breakfast this morning at our diner. What a nice boy! Look at that fuzzy smile.


Bagel with lox it was, again! I got the cream cheese on the side, and I only spread a little on each quarter.

Breakfast was a little bigger than I'm used to, and it put me right to sleep for two hours. The epic napper is back! I had a banana and left for the gym.


We got so much snow today, and it's still coming down! I thought I got a vacation from this! Actually, I'm hoping it'll stay around until next Thursday... we haven't had a white Christmas in years.


My workout was less intense than yesterday, but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't sweaty and gross by the time I was done. I was so sore when I woke up this morning. Guess I haven't done a workout like that since before my injury. My little abs (very little) hurt when I laughed! No pain, no gain, right?

Stair mill:
20:16 minutes
201 calories burned
1.57 miles
75 floors climbed

Elliptical:
10:08 minutes
102 calories burned
.89 miles

Bike:
10:00 minutes
1.5 miles
74 calories burned

Usual ab series (I added a 6-pound medicine ball to my seated twists today and yesterday, which probably added to my soreness).

I was starving when I finished, so I had half of a Pear Apple Streusel Clif Bar. I was SO EXCITED to finally find this... it's the one flavor I hadn't found! (Yes, I know it's a little sad to get so happy about a nutrition bar, but whatever.) It was pretty good, but I think I still prefer the kinds with chocolate in them.


I got home around 4:15 and made a huge salad. We conveniently had some of these Morningstar Farms Chik'n Meal starters, unopened, in the freezer from over the summer. I always forget how much I love these, which is sad because they are SO GOOD!


In my salad:
romaine
Chik'n Strips
grapes
apple (I ate most of it before it made it into my bowl; I was so hungry!)
craisins
walnuts
vinaigrette: mustard, pear-infused vinegar, olive oil, salt & pepper


I'm going to have a little snack before I go to work tonight, since I won't get to eat until midnight. Enjoy your Friday nights!

Long day's journey into night

This day has been so long! I've only been up for 9 hours though, so I really shouldn't complain.

Jalene made me get out of bed this afternoon... I'm snuggling a manatee, if you were wondering.


We went to Coffee News to study. We both ordered the same things (16 oz dark chocolate with 3 shots of espresso), but she ordered whole milk and I got my usual skim. Well the barista forgot which was which, and would you believe that we couldn't even tell the difference?! I think it was because there was so much cocoa in it. So, I may or may not have consumed a milkshake... oh well.


A little later I ordered the Ahi tuna salad, made with lettuce, caramelized onions, tomato, pineapple, blue cheese and balsamic on the side. It was pretty good, but the tuna was a little too well done for my taste. I only ate about 2/3 of it... it was so filling! So I'll have leftovers.


A trail mix bar:

Some of Sarah's scrumptious garlic fries:


I finished my paper around 7:30, thanks to RefWorks (take that, MLA!) and went home for dinner by Chef Amy:


I had some steamed veggies on the side:


Here's what the gooey insides look like. I ate it with black bean and corn salsa. It was pretty good for a frozen burrito. The corn part was more like cornmeal, which I liked. I feel inspired to make a superior burrito from scratch.



My Bear Naked sample came in the mail, so I had about 1/3...
...mixed into 1/3 container of Oikos with 1/2 banana and honey. (Those fractions are making my head hurt.)


I'm headed over to Sarah's to watch Mad Men with Sarah and Carlye... it's our last tv night for six weeks! They're both going to Russia though, so I don't think they'll miss it too much :-)

OH. BIG NEWS. Sarah and I got tickets to see BRITNEY SPEARS in April. I AM SO EXCITED. There will be animals (and PETA) and the Pussycat Dolls. Sweet Lordy, I can hardly wait.

Have a great night!

Midnight Madness

It's very late, and I'm very tired, so without further ado...

After my monster nap, I had two clemmies:


Crudités:


I'd been planning on having something healthy for dinner, since I've been eating pretty heavy things recently. But, of course, I started picking at the cold macaroni and cheese (leftovers) in the fridge, so I just gave in and heated it up. I steamed a whole bunch of veggies, but after only a few bites of my dinner I felt really full. This should have been my cue to stop eating, or at least wait a while for my stomach to settle, but no. I saved a few of the veggies but I ate all of the pasta. Ugh.


For some reason I'm always of the mind that fruit will un-bloat me.


And when that fails, why not try some chocolate?


It's a tradition at our school that every semester on the first night of finals, we have a "midnight breakfast" from 10-12. The teachers serve the students, you don't have to pay to get in, and pretty much the entire campus squeezes into our little cafeteria. Believe it or not, this is the first time I've actually gone!

I had some fruit and H2H cereal with skim milk.



I think they're starting to like being in the pictures! I rarely even get a grumble from this bunch anymore... I only had a little Reese's cup.


Hmm. So, I guess you can see that I've been thinking a lot about how eating when I'm not hungry anymore... I've noticed that I've been doing it since I went home for Thanksgiving. Going home always means eating my favorite foods, treating myself, and going back to that glorious childhood mentality of not caring. Oh, if only! The rich food in and of itself isn't what worries me, it's the mindless grazing and not listening to my body telling me it's had enough. So, I'll be working on this in the future...

Anyway, time for me to go to bed. Hope the week's off to a good start!

Hit the jackpot!

I'm alive, just a little tired and a lot busy!

I'd set my alarm for 7, and I got up and ate half of this Clif Builder's Peanut Butter bar. It is soooo much better than the Vanilla Almond! It has a delicious crunchy middle layer and I would buy it again.


Sadly, I decided I needed to sleep more and would go to the gym later, so I slept until 9:20 and had the rest of the bar.

I got a small skim latte with honey during Poetry:


Cafeteria lunch! I was starving.

Salad: spinach, cabbage, carrots, black olives, broc, cucumbers, chick peas, beets, etc. I got a chickpea/tempeh dish on the side. I didn't end up eating all of the salad, or any of the celery.



Muligatawny soup! I added peanuts, parsley, coconut and raisins.


With coffee. One of the guys who works there asked if I "always eat this healthy"... we all know the answer to that! Ha.


1/2 a cookie bar for dessert.


Pre-workout banana:


Bike:
35:00 minutes
6.06 miles
292 calories burned

ab series


Cheese sample at Whole Foods:



Groceries:





Total: $60.53. I saved $5.00 by using coupons!


This lovely package arrived in the AM, and brightened up my day!


My vitamins also finally came! Good day for mail.


I'm going to be late to my film screening, but I had to shower after my sweaty bike ride! I made dinner to bring, so I'll post those pics later. Happy Monday!