This morning was the usual breakfast cookie, coffee (I didn’t have time to brew a pot, so [...]]]> Good evening! I hope you’ve had wonderful weekends full of trips to the beach, outdoor activities, or whatever makes you happiest.  Mine was lovely, even though I had to work today, so I can’t complain

This morning was the usual breakfast cookie, coffee (I didn’t have time to brew a pot, so Folger’s Instant it was) and vitamin cocktail.

• 1/3 cup oats
• 1/2 banana
• 1 scoop peanut butter
• 1/2 scoop vanilla protein powder
• 2 tbsp skim milk
• cinnamon
• 1 orange for garnish

Work was fine.  We had a couple hours where things were a little crazy, but the rush ended early and things weren’t too stressful for long.

For lunch (at 3:30), I ordered an egg white omelet with veggies and salad.  I grated parmesan on the eggs and covered them with a sprinkling of parmesan and pepper flakes, and a lot of ketchup and hot sauce (not pictured).

I joined the clean plate club with this one.  That’s what spending 8 hours on your feet without eating (unless you count the orange slices from the bar try ) will do! The only problem with these omelets is they’re cooked in a lot of oil, but I don’t want to irritate the chefs too much so I just let it go.

The gym was a-calling (it’s been a while), so I went straight from work.  I did 20 minutes on the stairs, a lot of strength, and started with the bike but realized I was just too tired.  I didn’t let myself succumb to feeling guilty for not having a 1 hour + workout… I’m really trying to get rid of this “all or nothing” mentality I have about exercise once and for all.  Anyway, I hopped off the bike after about two minutes and just moved on to abs.  No guilt!

Total time: 52:04 minutes

Maximum heart rate: 181 (91%)

Average heart rate: 139 (70%)

Calories burned: 398

After the gym, I went to Trader Joe’s for some groceries.  I’m going away on Friday, but I need enough to get me through the week, so I just got some staples.  The line was unbelievably long (about a 45-minute wait), but the prices couldn’t be beat!

• blueberries
• canned chunk light tuna in water
• low sodium minestrone soup
• nonfat plain Greek yogurt
• organic blueberry fruit spread
• extra firm tofu
• spinach
• dark chocolate truffle bar
• flattened banana strips
• frozen mango/berries
• organic cucumbers
• PURE bars (finally!!! I jumped out of the line when I spotted these)
• clover honey
• Puffins cereal
• Mediterranean hummus (I’d originally picked a different flavor, but the guy in front of me in line convinced me to get this instead)
• Organic Greek yogurt, honey flavored
• organic carrots
• bananas
• Almond Breeze
• Multigrain pilaf
• roasted unsalted almond butter, creamy

I didn’t have time to go to the samples booth and I was STARVING on my subway ride home, so I had half of a Peanut Butter Cookie Luna Bar.

Even after my Luna bar snack, I was still pretty hungry so I snacked on some rebel carrots while getting dinner ready.

For the past few weeks, Miss Gliding Calm has been making the most beautiful creations with seaweed and other Japanese ingredients.  A couple nights ago, in the wee hours of the morning, I found a magical bodega (the same bodega that sold the $2.99 medjools) that had them on display in the front of the store, so I knew it was a sign.

Inspired by Gina and Erin‘s jicama rice, I made some of my own out of daikon.  I don’t have my own food processor, so I just diced about 1/4 of the root as finely as I had the patience for.

I laid out the ingredients for my cucumber avocado roll:

I only used half of the length of this sheet of seaweed to make the roll, and used the rest to make little “wraps” with the leftover cucumbers and avocado.

They turned out pretty well! With the rest of the avocado half, I made wrap with a Morningstar Farms Chik’n Patty and a Laughing Cow wedge.

I doused the sandwich in mustard and (daintily, of course)  dipped my sushi in soy sauce.

The daikon was a great addition! I didn’t miss the rice one bit.  Now, if only I had that food processor…

Now that I’ve finally stocked up on almond butter again (I haven’t bought a jar in almost two months!), I can enjoy my favorite dessert again! I had a dried date, fig, apricot and prune with a scoop of AB and some TJ’s truffle dark chocolate.

I missed this.  Peanut butter is good on everything, but nothing beats an AB-stuffed medjool. Just how it is.

There’s a mindblowing amount of work to get done tomorrow, and I’m trying to get back on a semi-normal schedule, so I’m hoping to be sleeping by midnight.  Too much of a pipe dream?  What time do you go to bed and get up? How many hours of sleep do you usually get and if you take naps throughout the day, how long are they?

Bonne nuit

Ari and I went to Panera for lunch to soak up their WiFi.  I got my usual (can you believe I’d never even [...]]]> Good evening! I hope your Mondays passed smoothly.  Mine was significantly better than yesterday… thanks again for being so nice about my bad day.  No one likes to work though, right?

Ari and I went to Panera for lunch to soak up their WiFi.  I got my usual (can you believe I’d never even been to a Panera a couple weeks ago? Now I’m a pro!) and “picked two” :

Vegetable soup:

1/2 Mediterranean Veggie sandwich:

And I did not make that mess, by the way… the soup sloshed over the side when it was put onto the tray!

We were there for a while and I got hungry again, so I snacked on half of a Chocolate Chip Clif.

When we got back home (after getting caught in the rain for the 15th day in a row), I had a big bowl of cherries.

I was on my own for dinner tonight, so I made a huge salad:

• romaine
• 1/2 daikon
• leftover GC tofu
• Gena‘s guacamole
• red pepper hummus
• lime juice

Very filling! But I always have room for dessert   I’ve had these Late July sandwich cookies for a while now, and after admiring them on Sarah‘s blog for months, I figured it was time to eat them.

So. good.  I used to have Oreos + milk every day when I got home from school… those were the days!

Now, I know this song is about something else, but I do have “a list of things” that need to get done! So I’ll leave you with this 1997 Grammy nominee, and I’ll get back to work

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_uYsP6N4Dbo]

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