Bon arès-midi! It's been a lazy morning chez Ari et Katie... we slept until 10:40, which hasn't happened in I don't know how long! It's kind of a nice change, although I do feel like I missed out a little on my day considering I have to be at work in five hours. Oh well! Let's backtrack.

Yesterday I had an amazing workout at the gym.

20:00 minutes stairmaster
13:00 minutes bike
10:00 more minutes on the stairmaster (I found a new magazine I wanted to read, which really makes all the difference)

arm machines (shortened to two instead of four; the gym was very crowded)

ab series (no plank)

I used my HRM Andrea-style and kept it on the whole time I was active (machines, stretching, abs, etc), and burned a whopping 600 calories in 1 hour and 8 minutes. Woohoo!


I was pretty hungry after my workout, so I headed to Whole Foods and bee-lined to the salad bar. I filled up the bottom with mixed greens, then proceeded to try every form of fake meat there: plain baked tofu, Indian curry tofu, seitan something, etc. I can't remember everything, sorry! I also had two dumplings, couscous, and this amazing fig and dandelion salad. I love figs!


Although I wasn't exactly hungry, I finished off "lunch" (at 4!) with a ThinkThin Brownie Crunch bar (sorry for the blurry pic, I took it on a moving subway car) so I wouldn't be ravenous throughout my work shift. I've put off trying these bars before because 1) the name kind of puts me off, and 2) they're pricey! I had a coupon for .50 off so I sucked it up and bought it. It was pretty good, although I'm not entirely sure why "glycerin" needs to be on the ingredients list.


I had some goldfish and white chocolate (blegh!) nibbles throughout work, and champagne for my shift drink.

I ordered a spicy tuna handroll:



And this is what's left of my Crispy Crunchy Salad. I was so hungry I forgot to take a picture!


Usual breakfast cookie this morning, although it was 36 hours old, so it was actually kind of hard like a cookie!


Gotta go, busy day. I'll catch up on your blogs tonight!

Take a deep breath...

I know no one wants to hear how stressed out I am, but I just need to write it once: I am stressed out. Hopefully now that that's out of my system I can get over it and move on. I am, and have always been, the kind of person who leans towards ignoring/ denying a problem when I'm overwhelmed, which in turn ends up making things worse because I get down to a supreme time crunch, don't get enough sleep, and almost make myself hyperventilate. So here's to changing that as soon as I "Publish Post"!

I had a Chocolate Brownie Z Bar at Brewberry's. This was (I think... my memory seems to be going) the first time I tried this bar, and I liked it a whole lot better than the Honey Graham flavor. It did still have a little of that "protein" taste that I'm not so fond of, but at $.49, it's hard to complain about the small things.


Surprise surprise, cafeteria lunch again! I didn't have time to go home and make something to eat before class, but it wasn't too bad today.

Starting from the white blob (yogurt) on the left: plain yogurt, chili sauce (burned my poor tastebuds), cinnamon-flavored bulgar topped with coconut and raisins, steamed cauliflower, mixed greens with balsamic vinaigrette, cornmeal-dusted seitan with pick-a-peppa sauce.



Skim milk and coffee:



Joe presents my oh-so-beautiful chocolate chip cookie bar:


My reward for getting this Russian paper done is going to the gym. It's open until midnight, so I should be able to do that... It's funny that working out is a treat since I used to have to bribe myself just to get myself into my sneakers and running shorts! I think it's because I was so itchy to move when I was debilitated because of my injury, that now it really does seem like something special I "get" to do. Anyway, hopefully I'll be super-duper productive, get tons of work done, and get a nice little sweat session in.

Happy Humpday!

Hmm... case of the Tuesdays?

This day has been going by in a blur. It's already 4? How did that happen?

Nothing was screaming at me to eat it in the cafeteria at lunch, so I just grabbed a big mound of seitan, celery, and two types (spinach and garlic) of hummus.



I had all the seitan, a little of the celery and about 1/4 of the hummus. I also had half of this grapefruit. I guess my oats held me over longer than I'd expected this morning, and I just wasn't that hungry.


After class I had to go to Media Services to watch movies for my Russian paper. I snacked on this Lemon Bar Larabar.


I'm glad it was tart, because I really wasn't in the mood for something too sweet. I'd buy this flavor again.

Sorry I'm so blah today... I'm a little tired, and pretty overwhelmed with schoolwork. I'm going to get a quick workout in right now; I could really use the energy boost.

Have a great afternoon!

The morning after

So sorry for my lack of breakfast post! I had a hard time falling asleep because I was so excited, so it felt a little too early when my alarm went off! So I was about an hour late picking up Sarah, but we got to Brewberry's around 8:30 all the same.

I had an apple and an Erin Baker Breakfast "cookie":


I really liked this bar! It was just the right size, and great for an on-the-go snack. I was going to pair it with yogurt, but I knew I would get some kind of milky coffee drink so I held off. Oddly enough, I found the bars next to the sweet potatoes at Target! I didn't see them last time I was there, but if I can find them again, I'd love to try out the other flavors.


At Brewberry's, Sarah and I each got cafe au lait's with skim milk and a shot of espresso, with a sugar in the raw packet stirred in. This is my new favorite drink.


I had a grapefruit during poetry...



... and Linda brought treats to class again! Katie held my dum-dum so I could take a photo.


Meal #2 since September in the cafeteria! Woohoo! The spread was pretty good today. I got some cornmeal-crusted seitan (recipe idea!) with pickapeppa sauce, smokey Tobasco, and ketchup; steamed cauliflower with a little lemon juice and pepper; corn salad in a lime-cilantro dressing.



A small bowl of vegetable tortellini soup (which I'm pretty sure was the minestrone from yesterday + tortellini)...



... and red ants on a log!

Carrots 'n' Cake reminded me how much I love ants on a log when she posted her snack a few weeks ago. My mom used to make these for me all the time (with "traditional" ants, aka raisins). She tried to give me "ants on a snowy log" once, using cream cheese, but that didn't go over so well!


I was trying to resist the magic bars all through lunch, but I caved and grabbed one on the way out. However, I through out half (the bigger half!) right away so at least it wouldn't be quite as bad. But it made such a loud sound when it hit the bottom of the trash... those are dense little puppies!



I got so sleepy this afternoon! I already told my mom so she won't be horrified when she reads this, but I took a little nap in my car in the parking lot before class. There's a lot to be said for the power nap!

I'm going to get in bed and watch Monday's episode of Gossip Girl, maybe doze a little... then, back to the grind. But doesn't "the grind" seem so much brighter and happier now? One last hooray! for Obama!