Waka Waka and J. Biebs

(if you stayed to read the post after that ridiculous  "this-HAS-to-be-awesome-post" title, THANKS. I promise you won't regret it.)

Quick, it's almost/past bedtime!!
It's been a lovely Saturday. HOT, but lovely.

-had a big bowl of delicious banana whipped oats for breakfast.

fancy sprinkles for Saturday breakfast

-loved on my big carton of bluebs

amazing.

-tutored 3 hours...we worked on adjectives, and then synonyms for "good".  My helpful lesson: "Sure, cereal is good, but pizza is great, pasta is excellent, and corn on the cob is outstanding!"  It's legit.
-hustled to the gym-- 60 minutes (5 miles) on the elliptical made me sweaty and bored. I need a book next time.  I almost didn't go to the gym after tutoring, but kept remembering a great mantra "you'll never regret a workout"...so I repeated that to myself about a billion times, and finally dragged myself onto an elliptical. 60 sweaty minutes later, I felt outstanding.

get it!

-also loved on my new socks. ASICS running socks! they feel like pillows for my feet. 

love YOU.

-got my Skinny Runner running top in the mail! Thanks, Katie, for the gift! Can't wait to wear it!
-ate an unpictured green salad topped with two fried eggs and my leftover chicken sausage. YUM.
-headed over to my friend, Sarah's house for a girl's night!

love maxi dresses :)

-had a DELICIOUS and healthy potluck-snack dinner!

my plate :)

-beaded lots of jewelry

earrings, duh

by request, for Alyssa

random bracelet

-took Sarah's dogs for a 35 minute walk around her neighborhood. It rained around 7:30, but only for 20 minutes, so when the rain stopped it had cooled down and was a really nice night! We even saw a HUGE rainbow!
-came home, made asked Ben to take me out for frozen yogurt. I got low fat blackberry soft serve yogurt, with plenty of fresh fruit and some sprinkles, granola, and chocolate goodies. I need to remember to NOT load up with lots of toppings, because then I don't taste the frozen yogurt! And that's my favorite part! So next time, I'm rolling with froyo + some fruit, and that's all.
-home again, listening to my new favorite song: Shakira "Waka Waka" . It's so bouncy; it would probably be a great running/workout song! also of note: new j.biebs song (well, it's Chris Brown, ft. Justin Beiber). You know my feelings. haha!

Goodnight!

Grillin' and Chillin'

Yes, a very overused phrase...but so appropriate for tonight's post!

My Trader Joe's trip this morning supplied us with ample dinner choices, and we decided on grilling items!

YUM!

one huge zucchini, topped with EVOO and Mediterranean spice blend

Also, we grilled two ears of corn, doused in EVOO, salt and pepper, and wrapped in aluminum foil.
Ben did an excellent job "manning" the grill (baha), and when he brought our dinner in, it was all nicely cooked!

YUM!!

I prepared our plates with simple spinach and tomato side salads...lightly topped with my new Champagne Pear dressing!

those plates are the same color, I swear. 

And then we loaded up our plates with fresh grilled goodies!

my sausage is a liiiiiitle burnt... STILL DELICIOUS!

The highlight of the meal was a no-brainer for me...

corn on the cob is my favorite summer food!!

The meal was excellent...a perfect summertime dinner. The best part (besides the corn)? No dishes, except our plates!
Oh, the corn... I could have eaten 4 ears. It looks burnt, but it was so amazing. The corn was nice and ripe, and then cooked to a soft, yet still crispy perfection. The olive oil and spices were great, and we didn't even miss the old days, when we would smear the corn with butter.  :)
The TJ's sausage was good! It was slightly sweet, and contained big chunks of cooked apple! It would have been great on a bun, but I liked it just plain with bites of salad.
The zucchini was the only bummer of the meal...we overcooked them a bit and they ended up a little mushy and soft...still tasty, but not ideal consistency. I'd really like to get a grill pan for roasting veggies on the grill.
The salad made me feel really good about my plate. My salad took up half of my (too big) plate, and it was fresh, simple, and yummy.

After dinner, I convinced Ben that it was walk time. It's a beautiful, summer night in North Carolina, and I hate to miss an opportunity for an evening walk!

no nature walks for you, inside-cat. 

We walked down the road to the entrance of our local greenway, and took a little nature hike.

woodsy! 

face-camera picture from the iphone. really nice. 

It was a nice walk, and we ended up walking for 60 minutes, about 3 miles. I'll be surprised if my legs aren't sore tomorrow from all this walking and running I've been doing. My total mileage for today is 7 miles of walk/runs, and 5 miles of biking. Awesome!!

Ben's in the running for husband of the year...while I took a shower (still struggling with not showering after those 2-a-day workouts), he made me a smoothie! Granted, I left him instructions. :)

perfect post-walk dessert! :)

Goodnight, friends!

Fierce Friday

Hello and HAPPY FRIDAY!

I'm not sure why I'm so excited...it's habit, I guess, to be really enthusiastic about the weekend. Now that my life is a weekend (at least, for 2 months), I suppose I should cool it a bit. :)

Today started off with a delicious bowl of protein oats! 

topped with sprinkles, obv.

These oats were good...but the vanilla protein powder didn't dissolve like the chocolate did in yesterday's oats. Maybe I used more today? Or maybe they needed to simmer longer? I'm not sure. Still tasty!

colorful!

In the mix:

• 1/3 cup steel-cut oats
• 1/3 cup unsweetened almond milk
• 2/3 cup  water
• 3 tbsp vanilla whey protein powder
• dash of vanilla
• 1/2 banana mixed in, 1/2 on top
• handful of blueberries
• 1 tbsp almond butter with flax seeds
• sprinkles! 

YUM. 

a little breakfast snuggling. <3

After digesting and checking out today's Living Social and Groupon deals (thanks, Katie...I'm addicted), I headed to the gym! I haven't been in about a week, due to my car being out of commission, so it was nice to be able to use the machines and work up a good sweat. 

I had my version of FIERCE FRIDAY: 

3 miles of running HIIT intervals (1 mile warm up @ 6mph, 1 mile intervals- .1 mile @ 6mph, .1@ 6.5 mph, repeated, then 1 mile cool down @ 6mph)

1 mile of incline walking (4mph, increasing incline by 1 every .1 miles)

20 minutes of  biking, about 5 miles. 

...SWEATY!!!!

tomato face!

Lets talk about what's going on in this picture. 

A. I'm in Ben's Audi, which is nice but the steering wheel was dirty. Ew. 

B. My short shortie short hair is a hot mess. Must wear a baseball hat to work out tomorrow. 

C. There's a full sized tire in the backseat. Not sure what's going on back there...

D. Sun roof! 

After the gym, I made my way over to Trader Joe's to stock up on some snacks for tomorrow's girl's night! 

YAY!

Let's just see here...from the left we have: 

-mini pita bread (2 bags, one for home and one for tomorrow's girl's night)

-in the back- frozen pineapple tidbits!

-maple apple chicken sausages 

-Hummus quartet! for tomorrow :)

-Tzatziki!!! for my mouth, which I immediately opened and LOVED.

-Roma tomatoes

-HUGE carton of blueberries

-4 ears of corn (dinner tonight! with the sausages!!!!)

...and coming back around counterclockwise...

-spinach

-spring mix

-Red White and Blue tortilla chips (also for tomorrow)

-jar of roasted red and yellow peppers (for homemade hummus...or homemade PIZZA!)

-and my FAVORITE DRESSING: Champagne Pear Gorgonzola dressing. <3

Such a great shopping trip!

Time for lunch and then a little chill time. See ya! :)

2-a-days

Hi guys!

Can I please just say how much I am LOVING being on summer vacation!? Waking up today (without serious neck pain), knowing I had no obligations or appointments or work to attend was amazing.
I promise I'll stop bragging soon...the novelty of this freedom will wear off in a few weeks. :)

Since I have all this free time, I've decided that I can dedicate a bit more time to workouts. Crazy, right? I mean, my husband works all day long...my best friend is taking summer classes...and my school friends live 30+ minutes away. Instead of moping around my house and watching an excess of Sex and the City, Ice Loves Coco, and Teen Mom...I'm going to spend my free time working out, blogging, reading by the pool, and being healthy!
This morning, I walked (and ran a little) 5 miles. It was a beautiful morning, and I got nice and sweaty. Then I took my car to the collision center, came home, had lunch, and took a shower.
Fast forward to about 4:30pm. Alyssa was at my house, but she had just left to go to work, and Ben wasn't home yet. Soooo, girlfriend broke out the Jillian Michaels' 6-week 6-pack DVD.
....wow....
It was an INTENSE core workout! I was dripping sweat, cursing Jillian's perky self, and doing an obscene amount of mountain climbers.
So, then I took another shower.

I feel like this is ridiculous! If I know I'm going to do 2 workouts in one day, I should obviously NOT shower after the first...but I can't STAND being sticky and sweaty from a workout...especially if I'm indoors where the AC is blowing...I just feel gross.

Suggestions?
My thought is that I should just do my workouts at the same time...but I just have SO MUCH FREE TIME! I don't want to cut myself off from working out later, even if I've already showered.


Moving on.
I got an itch to bake tonight. I needed something sweet, but I knew I did NOT want an entire batch of cookies or brownies sitting on my counter, tempting me all weekend.
So, I hopped over to one of my favorite blogs, the lovely Miss Banksyface, where I perused her recipes page until I found a winner: Maple Pumpkin Pancake Breakfast Cakes! Sounds like a mouthful, and they sure were!

simple (though not completely healthy- that Aunt Jemima is killer) ingredients

ready to bake! all three of them! :)

hurry UP in there!!!!

pumpkin cakes! 

These breakfast cakes turned out so well! They were (yes, were...I ate them) moist, flavorful, slightly sweet and very delicious! I think next time I'll add dash of vanilla, and hope to have chocolate chips on hand, as we all that pumpkin + chocolate = heaven. 

I am TERRIBLE at portioning and managing my servings, so I'm really glad I only made 3. Next time, I need to immediately put 2 in the freezer, so that I won't be tempted to eat them all in one siting!

I did have some (more!) veggies earlier to balance out my baking indulgences...

GREEN!

I topped a bed of baby spinach with leftover couscous salad, grilled chicken, and a drizzle of light Goddess dressing. It was simple and yummy...and I'm so glad I had leftovers in the fridge; this was a 3-minute meal! And wouldn't you know it, after seeing my salad, Ben wanted one too!! He even doctored his up with sliced strawberries! Wonder where he learned that... ;)

big and colorful!

Now, I'm waiting for the husband to get home from work, and then we're having a game night!!! :)

perfection.

A (mostly) wordless Thursday morning post showcasing how (after a few yucky days) perfect this day has been so far. Enjoy! :)

 oats...

plus fresh fruit...

(plus chocolate protein powder and sprinkles) = super chocolate protein oats! with sprinkles!

and a BIG tumbler of ice water!

Chocolate Protein Berry Oats

• 1/3 cup steel-cut oats
• 1/3 cup unsweetened almond milk
• 2/3 cup water
• 1/2 banana (whipped into the oats)
• 2 tbsp chocolate protein powder
• splash of vanilla 
• 4 strawberries, sliced 
• 1/4 cup blueberries
• dash of sprinkles
• spoonful (1 tbsp) nutella :)

her silliness. 

walk/run in Lochmere

happy sweat.

geese!

and a heron?

snack on the ride to the collision center (bye-bye car for a few days)

the start of a great salad...

homemade cobb salad! 

Homemade Cobb Salad

• 2 large handfuls of baby spinach
• 2 oz baked chicken breast, chopped
• 3 slices of Oscar Meyer turkey bacon, chopped
• 1 slice of mozzarella deli cheese, sliced
• 1 hardboiled egg, chopped
• 1/2 green pepper, chopped
• 2 small carrots, chopped :)

See you later! 

Neck Update and a Couscous Salad!

Hi, friends!

*neck update* I went to the chiropractor and my doctor said that I am suffering from a neck strain. He gave me a really good, "dumbed-down" explanation, which helped me to understand what had happened and what was causing me such pain. It was explained that it only took sleeping "wrong" for a few hours for the tissue (?) between the vertebrae in my neck to get inflamed and cause SERIOUS pain. It can be caused by sleeping on your stomach (I'm guilty of this), or slouching in a cushy couch for too long (also guilty...oops). My chiropractor gave me an excellent neck massage/adjustment, and gave me directions to put an ice pack or bag of peas on my neck for 10-minute intervals throughout the day. He also suggested ibuprofen, which I purchased a few hours ago! He told me to keep an eye on the pain level, and to check back with him in a few days if the discomfort hasn't decreased.
Overall: feeling better! Still some slight, achy pain...but nowhere near as miserable as I was this morning!

Due to my lack of car, I've been pretty immobile. Thankfully, my best friend Alyssa came to my rescue! She came over around noon, and I got started making us lunch!

let's get cooking!

couscous a-brownin!

I decided to make baked chicken and couscous salad...all right out of my head! So proud. :)

so fresh!

moist and flavorful chickens!

lunch!

Veggie Cous Cous Salad

• 1 cup of cooked couscous
• 1/2 chopped green pepper
• 1/4 cup crumbled goat cheese
• 2 carrots, shredded
• 2 tbsp fat free italian dressing
• 2 tbsp Goddess dressing
• mix and serve cold over a spinach salad!

YUM!! :)

After lunch and a little Bed, Bath, and Beyond shopping, and a successful visit to the chiropractor,  Alyssa dropped me off at my tutoring center. I purchased a new Tervis Tumbler! And immediately filled it with lots of ice and diet coke. Ahhhh yum. 

almost gone!

I tutored for a few hours, then my man friend, Ben, came to collect me from tutoring. I am SO thankful I have friends and a husband who will drive me around while my car is out of commission. The good news is that I have an appointment to get an estimate for repairs at a collision center tomorrow...which means then my car will be on it's way to recovery! It's so sad, sitting in the driveway, undriveable. 

Dinner was quick and easy: a sandwich thin with cranberry apple butter and mozzarella cheese, and a little yogurt bowl topped with blueberries and mini reese's pieces. <--- those need to be gone SOON...they're so good!

a very Peanut Butter Fingers sandwich! 

Have a good night, friends!