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!

Whose woods these are, I think I know...

It's a particularly frosty night here, and the Robert Frost poem ("Stopping By The Woods On A Snowy Evening") just popped into my head.

Sarah, Joe, Carlye and I had a late dinner at Cafe Latte this evening. I used to go there a lot with my grandparents, before we started going to their club. They have killer (as in to die for!) cakes, but I resisted and had this veggie sandwich instead:


I didn't know that the almond asparagus "spread" filling would translate into "cream cheese," but it actually wasn't too bad. I did end up wiping a bit of it out on the second half of my sandwich. It also came with a side salad with balsamic vinaigrette:


We stopped at Blockbuster to pick up Mad Men (for later) and I couldn't resist the giant gumball machine...


I made a strange concoction of a finger of gin with applesauce (!) and water. It wasn't terrible, but I don't know if I would have had it again had I had other options!


Hot cocoa with vanilla, marshmallows, cinnamon and a side of Blue:


Cinnamon toast (B&B, sugar, cinnamon on fiber bread):


Off to bed! I'm going to a coffee shop bright and early to get some work done. Bonne nuit!

Slow down everyone...

For some reason, the Jack Johnson songs of my not-so-distant youth (ha) have been drifting in and out of my head recently. I'm not such a fan anymore, but there is something to be said for not rushing through everything just to get it done all the time. And, you know, surfing in Maui sounds pretty great right about now ... it's 20 degrees here).


Blue was taking this philosophy to heart. What a happy kitty!



Then this guy came along...



Uh oh.


Oh well.



The breakfast cookie held me over really well! I didn't realize I was hungry for lunch until about 3:30. I did have a light cheese-stick snack, though, while jotting down my CRAZY nightmare about a Liz Phair concert and Veet. Think those two things are unrelated? Wrong!

Notice my gloriously empty coffee cup.... It feels good to be back!


I had an eggy lunch: warmed Ezekial sprouted tortilla with 1 whole egg and 1 egg white, spinach, and crumbled herbed goat cheese. I added some chili pepper flakes, and had salsa on hand in case I needed it... you know me; it was needed.


A blurry pear:


Perfect lunch! I browsed through the Lunds/Byerly's publication while I ate. Some of the desserts look SO GOOD. I'm trying to decide what I want to bring to Thanksgiving, but so far I haven't come up with anything.


There's some kind of semi-formal today for the Senior Gift Drive, which will hopefully have some good treats since we're going to be wearing dresses in below-freezing weather. Hope you're all having a nice Thursday!

Rare moment of harmony #4

I couldn't believe it when I walked into my room today... they were sitting like two happy little sacks of fur! They started hissing again as soon as I saw them, but now I KNOW they really love each other. Ha!


I wasn't hungry for a full lunch before class, so I just had a snack of fat-free cherry-pomegranate yogurt (from Target, $.59 a pop!) and a Chocolate Peppermint Stick Luna bar. I bought this flavor because I couldn't remember if I liked it.... And now I know the answer is "no." Yuck.




I had a veggie roll from school around 3, and this might have been the worst sushi I have had in my entire life. When sushi is concerned, I am such an addict that I'm usually pretty happy with whatever I can get, but this was terrible. The rice was hard, the avocado had black spots in it.... Just not good. But, on the bright side, that just makes me all the more excited to go home and eat at my favorite Japanese restaurant!



I went to Cahoots with Megan after class to get a little studying done. I got a 16 oz chai with skim milk. I used to get these all the time, but then I started to feel like these were more of an indulgence than I needed, and didn't provide me with adequate caffeine (do I sound like an addict or what?). I was in the mood today, though, and was pleasantly surprised that they didn't make it with Oregon Chai. I love the Oregon stuff, but sometimes it can be just a little too sweet if the proportions are off. Anyway, this was very good and had a nice little spicy kick to it.


I got a great recipe from my friend Ben that I really want to make tonight, but I'm missing a crucial ingredient. I can't decide whether I want to go to the store and get it, or take a little cat nap...

Hit repeat

Whew am I tarrrrred! Hopefully I'll be able to to sleep early tonight, but I still have some work left to do so we'll see.

This afternoon's theme seems to be repeats... leftover pasta, a salad like last night's...


I did have a new flavor of Rachel's yogurt, however! Peach Green Tea was pretty good, but not amazing. It mostly just tasted like peach, which is still delicious, but is no Pomegranate Açai.




Tonight is "Chef Night" at the French House, and we have to cook something and present the recipe en français. I'm making... big surprise here... Vegan pumpkin chocolate chip squares. I know this is the third time I've made them in a month, but they're the easiest seasonal thing I know how to do. Sorry! I'll find a new favorite soon.

Licked this bad boy clean...



Have a lovely afternoon!

Monday Funday

The alarm clock and I warred over Snooze this morning (he won eventually, but I put in a pretty good fight). Got one paper done, one more to go...

A wonderful thing came to my door today... the Bakerella shirt I won from one of her contests! So cute, and I love the color. Check out her site; she makes the gorgeous cupcakes and other baked goodies.



I had a delicious bowl of "regular" oatmeal this morning (i.e. with banana).




1/2 cup oats
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup skim milk
1 banana
1 tsp flax
1 spoonful AB
1 1/2 tsp brown sugar


Around 10:30 I had a snack of mixed nuts and dried apricots- they're organic and unbleached, which is why they are brown and not orange.


Kitten in a box:



Happy Monday!

Race to the polls!

I've heard some poll lines are going around the block! Good thing I voted absentee.... I heard on the Current last night that twenty-somethings are the least likely to put up with long waits to vote, and will opt out of voting instead of waiting. Scary! I hope that doesn't happen.... There is such a feeling of opportunity (and, yes, anxiety) in the air today as the possibility that reparations will be made for the past 8 years grows closer. Please please please...


Betty Ford is hopeful here! He also wanted to make sure my bath water was juuuust right.



I had another bowl of overnight oats this morning. I love these! And I actually really like the idea of cold oatmeal. It feels kind of naughty, like having pizza or cake for breakfast.

1/2 cup steel cut oats
1/2 cup light vanilla soy milk
1 banana
3 frozen strawberries, microwaved into a chunky syrup
1 1/2 tsp brown sugar
1 tsp almond butter


Pre-mixed:



Post- aren't the colors pretty? It's like a watercolor in my oats!:


I went back for some almond butter!


Coffee, vitamins and Emergen-C.



I had a settlement voucher (for paying too much for my multivitamins) from the Vitamin Shoppe, so I ordered some more calcium supplements. It still ended up costing $11, but not having them really wasn't an option. I'm running low on all my others; I might just wait to re-stock when I go home for Thanksgiving.

Have a lovely day and GO VOTE!

Rare moment of harmony #3

This was actually sort of a trick; Jalene had the laser pointer between them so they were kind of enthralled by it. Right now, however, Betty Ford is stalking Blue around the house. Not nice!


I had one of my favorite breakfasts this morning: Kashi waffles with yogurt, bananas and walnuts and a little honey. Perfect for a Saturday. Delish!



I'm going off to Brewberry's now to be a good and productive student. Have a lovely day!

Breakfast in the PM

Sorry in advance if I sound a little moody in this post; I'm in a bit of a funk. Before I start my little rant, here's a cute little picture of the kitties- it looks like they're getting along!




I have mixed feelings that it's already the end of October: the semester's more than halfway over, and in a few months I'll be back in New York trying to find a job. The job part in itself is pretty scary, especially with the market the way it is. Almost the whole time I've been in college, I've been waiting to get out and move back to the City and start my "real" life; especially since that's where my boyfriend lives most of the time. He's pretty busy now though (which is great, and I am so so happy and proud of him, don't get me wrong) so I probably won't see him until mid- December. And the injury, and the crutches.... I know it's so easy to get down about the things that aren't going quite as well as they could be; the hardest part is staying optimistic. But that's really what I need to do, so I'm going to stop my whining right now!

I had a Sugar-Free Carnation Instant Breakfast packet around 10:00. I've never tried chocolate before, but it was pretty tasty. I bet it would be delicious blended with ice and a banana.




Lunch was a total Caitlin knock-off: grilled cheddar with spinach (broiled, actually) with carrots and pickles.




DO NOT buy this Dasani Plus water. It is SO GROSS. The bottle says "With great taste, refreshment and nutrients, it all adds up to the mouth-watering experience you expect from Dasani." It IS mouth-watering, because it left such a horrible aftertaste that I still felt thirsty!


I was pretty hungry after my presentation (which went alright, I think); I'm going to Katey's to carve pumpkins and watch a movie so I probably won't eat until I get home. I made a big bowl of pumpkin pie oats:




1/2 cup oats
1/2 cup light vanilla soy milk
1/3 cup pumpkin
1 tsp brown sugar
pecans
spoonful of almond butter

This is a pretty big and calorically dense "snack," but since I probably won't be eating until 9ish I figured it was okay. And I wanted a little comfort food, and I thought it would fill me up better than a big bowl o' ice cream!

I was still feeling a little bummed so I finished the episode of Gossip Girl that I started yesterday. Sorry to be such a "Debbie Downer"... it seems like a lot of us are feeling that way this week!

Humpday Oats

Look at that face! That was the look I got all night while I was doing my reading. Sometimes he plops down right on my chest, and I can barely see over the book! Our old cats, Spotty and Sasha, used to sit right down on the newspaper or whatever else we were doing. Cats are very demanding of attention!


I had another sleepless night; I got up a little after I turned out the light and had this Clif Nectar bar. I used to eat these a lot sophmore year... they definitely taste more like a dessert, but they're a lighter form of Larabar. I think they're pretty good!




Warm bowl of oats to combat the 60 degree thermostat I woke up to:



1/2 cup oats
1/2 cup water
1/2 banana
1 tsp flax
small handful raisins
1 tsp brown sugar
1/3 cup skim milk




There's going to be some kind of parking drama (something about a crane somewhere near the parking lots?) so I'm going to get to school early so I don't have to walk a mile to get to class... Happy Humpday!