This morning I got up at 5 and dragged my spandex-clad self over to the gym with my reading.  I propped my work on the cross-ramp and sweat it out for 30 minutes, never mind the dark sky outside.  The work had to be done, so why not wake my body up while doing it?  I did a few ab exercises, then went home to work some more, get ready for the day and have breakfast.

This bowl of oatmeal was almost a little too belly-busting… I finished it, hoping it would hold me over for a longer period throughout the morning, but I didn’t feel so great afterward.

In the mix:

• 1/2 cup oats cooked in 1/2 cup water
• 1 banana
• pumpkin
• 1 tsp ground flax
• 1 HUGE scoop almond butter
• stevia
• cinnamon

It did hold me over for about 3.5 hours, after which I snacked on an apple (but left the orange).

For lunch, I had leftover chickpeas…

… and a HoneyNana Chobani Champion from Ada.  Read my review here!

Lunch held me over really well… must have been all of the fiber in those garbanzos! Beans are champions when it comes to  staying-power and fullness. Around 4, I snacked on some baby carrots.

After work, I ran some errands then headed home to make dinner: Quinoa Risotto with Mushrooms and Thyme. I doubled the mushrooms for a certain mushroom-loving guy…

We had it with a little broccoli.  To be honest, this wasn’t my favorite recipe… it just didn’t have a whole lot of flavor.  Thank goodness for parmesan and salt!  Maybe it’ll taste better in a few days, once it’s hd time to stew a little in the fridge.

We had small glasses of chilled Réserve de Villecours Cabernet Sauvignon that my friend Howard gave us.

For dessert, I had a bowl of Mint Galactica Coconut Bliss Ice Cream with cardamom chocolate sauce and hazelnut butter.  Then I went back for more.  And I did not feel bad about it.

Sometimes, without realizing I’m doing it, I put a lot of pressure on myself to juggle many things at once and just deal with it.  I don’t always acknowledge how stressed out I’m feeling, and before I know it: BOOM! It goes to the bad place.  Sometimes I just need to remind myself that I don’t have to do everything, and I shouldn’t waste my energy feeling guilty when I give myself a break.  So tonight, in honor of Operation Ten P.M., I will not feel guilty.

I will not feel guilty about returning a Netflix movie unopened.

I will not feel guilty about leaving work at work and giving myself time to sleep.

I will not feel guilty about being moody from time to time.

I will not feel guilty that I’m not returning every owed phone call all in one night.

I will not feel guilty about ignoring my Blackberry and e-mails.

I will not feel guilty about leaving my closet in a bit of disorder until tomorrow night.  (Okay, maybe just a little…)

I will not feel guilty about that extra ice cream.

What won’t you feel guilty about today?

This morning I woke up, naturally, at 8, and instead of rolling over and going back to sleep, took advantage of being awake in the early hours.  I finished watching Jackie Brown while enjoying a nice bowl of oatmeal.

In the bowl:

• 1/2 cup oats cooked in 1/2 cup water
• 1 TJ’s flattened banana
• frozen pineapple, warmed
• 1 tsp chia seeds
• 1 scoop flaxy PB
• cinnamon
• 1/3 packet stevia (this is growing on me!)

And because it was Sunday and I didn’t have to function quite as highly as usual, I had a mug of green tea in place of coffee.

I lounged around, practiced some light yoga, and went into the city to meet Liz at One Lucky Duck for lunch.

We both had S+M salads: greens with avocado, hemp seeds, dulse, rosemary crackers and argon-lemon dressing.

Although I recently made a similar version, it makes such a difference to have the real ingredients, like Rosemary Quackers!  I splurged and bought some for home… as well as a treat for later in the evening.

Liz and I chatted for a while, then went on our merry ways.  I had some important grocery shopping to do (3 buck chuck, anyone?), and she had to fly home.  I spent the rest of the afternoon doing some work in bed, napping, and snacking on this yogurt.  I’d never tried Trader Joe’s “French Village” variety before, but I liked it! Fruit-on-the bottom yogurt always feels comforting to me; I ate it all the time growing up.

For dinner, I had a bowl of Porcini Mushroom Soup (made last night), toasted bread with Asiago cheese, and steamed carrots.

Washed it down with carrot water and TBRM…

… and for dessert: a raw “oh-reo” from One Lucky Duck.  The cream was dead-on! Nabisco should be worried

It was quite a productive day.  To keep this up throughout the week, I made myself a meal plan so I wouldn’t have to scramble at night after a long day at work.

It’s already been adjusted a little bit as my dinner tonight was slightly different, but it’s nice to have everything all laid out.

Speaking of which… as I tweeted Friday morning, I got into the NYC Half Marathon!  It’s on March 21.  Training starts TOMORROW.  I haven’t been able to run as much lately (and haven’t run seriously since the 15K) but this is the incentive I needed to get back in the game.  It’s still going to be a struggle for me to figure out what time works best for me in terms of training, but I’ll do it.  Here’s my training schedule, customized by Smart Coach:

On days when cross-training (XT) is scheduled and I can’t make it to the gym, I’m going to practice yoga at home.  I’m confident I can make this work!

On that note, I’m off to shower, finish my reading, and go to sleep.  Have a great night!

Is The Upwelling coming to a venue near you?

Our house guest left this as a parting gift when he left.  I’m sure it’s delicious, but I really didn’t pause to smell or taste it before throwing it back.  I’ll let you know about that tomorrow

I replenished my supply of POMx to dissolve my Ester-C into.  I’m still so proud of myself for discovering this works!  (For new readers: I drink a little bit every day with breakfast to dissolve Ester-C, which aids the absorption of an iron supplement I take for low energy, but don’t photograph it every morning.)

I was excited to try out a new product with breakfast: Stonewall Kitchen’s Lemon Curd.  I’ve been curious about this for years, and my mom was nice enough to buy it for me this weekend.

Breakfast was a double portion of Sarah‘s pumpkin “cakes”, topped with a heaping cloud of 0% Fage, cinnamon, walnuts, and a scoop of lemon curd.  Lemon Meringue Pumpkin Pie before 7 AM? Yes, please!

I had two back-to-back interviews starting at 9 (which I think went well); afterward I needed to unwind a little with some teasing retail therapy (AKA touch everything, buy nothing) at J.Crew and Anthropologie.  How is it that a store (or two) can be filled with only perfect things?  But my bank balance remained stable, and I left satisfied with the clothes on my back.

The tree is going up in Rockefeller Center…

I sat in the plaza and ate my Criterion apple.  Sometimes it’s okay to be a tourist in your own city.

After making sure there were no more stores I needed to browse through, I came home to get some done and eat lunch.  I heated up a bowl of Spinach & Rice soup and added lots of fresh parsley, and served it alongside a small sweet potato with brown sugar and cinnamon.  Perfect mid-Monday comfort food, if you ask me.

I thought I deserved a treat, so I had some 55% Dark Chocolate Peppermint Chococolove.

The rest of the afternoon was spent writing. Welcome to my “office”!  You may recognize it as the kitchen table, but during the day I spread out and use it for reading, writing, researching, and tea-drinking.  I tried the Sugar Plum Spice holiday tea… so good.  I think this might have been the first flavor they came up with, because I remember having it a long, long time ago before they changed their packaging.

After successfully moving to decaffeinated tea, I didn’t want to go back to drinking coffee so late in the day.  Instead, I moved on to a cup of Sugar Cookie Sleigh Ride.  I don’t know how they do it, but this smells so much like a cookie! It’s very vanilla-y, but it has a very soft taste without a hint of bitterness.

I finished up my work, then went into the city to meet my friend Ilena at 5:30 for an early dinner at FreeFoods NYC.

Tonight was another example of how many secrets this city has to offer, both food-wise and other.  I never would have suspected that a restaurant like this could exist (and thrive!) in Midtown Manhattan, in the heart of corporate offices and tourist attractions.  Was I wrong!  It goes to show that people do want to eat locally and sustainably, the options just have to be made available.

FreeFoods serves fresh soups, sandwiches and salads; they have raw, vegan and gluten-free options.

I built my own salad with arugula, avocado, spiced mango, shittake mushrooms, spicy shrimp and Manchego cheese with Thai basil dressing.

One of the staff members had made an extra Vitality Berry smoothie (sweet cherry, açai, blueberry- pomegranate juice, ginger-agave), so Ilena and I split it with our dinners.  It was really good, and helped ease the heat in my mouth leftover from my spicy salad dressing!

Ilena and I sat for a while catching up…

…and were treated to another smoothie sample! This time we tried the “orange creamsicle” (it’s new, and the ingredients aren’t listed).  As Ilena said, it really did taste like a creamsicle, “but not in the bad way”!

Since we dined early, I was back home by 7:30 to get some things done before Gossip Girl.  Sadly, it seems like most TV shows have already had their holiday finales, so I did some more work instead.  I did, however, make a fabulous dessert to fill my Chuck Bass-sized void…

My dad found a great deal on takeout containers of Tasti D-Lite, so he picked me up some peanut butter frozen yogurt.  I added frozen berries and Dark Chocolate Dreams peanut butter.

Another sweet end to a good day.

What was the best part of your Monday? What are you looking forward to about Tuesday?

P.S.  Please vote for Lyle!  She is a talented, beautiful actress who deserves to realize her dreams.  Register, vote, and help here get there!

We slept in yesterday morning as well.  I got up first, talked scary movies with this girl, then woke the boy up.  We went to the diner for the first time in a long time; I was finally ready for an omelet again! I ordered an omelet with 1/2 egg whites and 1/2 egg, spinach, tomato, feta and mushrooms. After my order, Ari gave me the you’re-being-a-pain-in-the-bum look… I know it was kind of an obnoxious order, but I wanted it to be just right.  It was pretty big, and I only had room for one bite of home fries.

Toast was enjoyed as well… diner meals are pretty much the only time I like my toast buttered.  It must be something about it mixing with HFCS-filled grape jelly, but it’s just delicious! Unfortunately the toast came dry, and by the time I added my own butter the bread was cold so it didn’t melt.  It was still good, though!

After brunch, Ari carved our pumpkin…

… while I toasted the pumpkin seeds.

Salty-Sweet Toasted Pumpkin Seeds

• seeds from 1 pumpkin
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 tablespoon brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
• 6 cups of water
• 3-1/2 teaspoons salt

Preheat oven to 400.  Thoroughly remove stringy insides from seeds.  Rinse well; the seeds should be completely free of orange pulp.   Put seeds in pot with water and salt over medium-high heat until water boils.  Lower heat and simmer 10 minutes.  Drain seeds.

Mix oil, sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg together in a bowl.  Add pumpkin seeds and hand-toss to coat.  Spread seeds evenly in a glass baking dish or cookie sheet.  Put dish in oven and toast until crispy, 30-40 minutes.  Enjoy!

We ate almost all of those while we worked around the house… I definitely ate the lion’s portion, but they’re so good!  Soon, we heard a knock.  Fitting that our first trick-or-treaters should be part of the veggie and fruit patch!

This tomato was sassy.

Would you let us operate on you?

Dr. Ari started to look a little sick by the time dinner rolled around…

… but he treated me to sushi.  What a nice zombie!

Bentos two nights in a row?! Lucky me! It came with sashimi, shrimp shumai, a California roll, rice (which I didn’t eat), and salad.

It also came with honeydew.

Ari and I brainstormed about what would make the perfect Halloween dessert cocktail.  If you’re an old-school reader, you may remember the hot cocoa/marshmallow debacle of Halloween 2008.  Not pretty.   Well, I based this year’s Halloween Scream on the same Martha Stewart recipe, but added some personal touches.

Ari requested butterscotch chips (I’m not a huge fan, but that’s love!), and we added Kahlua. The colors are a little Halloween-ie, yes?

We topped the finished product with cinnamon and marshmallows.  (I’d thought marshmallows went on Ari’s “white and creamy veto list” –he’s going to have to do his own post on this someday soon– but it turns out he likes them! What a breakthrough.) This photo doesn’t show it, but the cocoa was red!

I drank about a third, but it was too rich for me.  It reminded me a lot of the drinking chocolate we had in Paris! I switched to an apple instead… I wasn’t really hungry for it, but I needed something to munch while watching Halloween H2O!

It was a low-key Halloween, but it was a really nice day.  Hope you had a good one, too!

Congratulations to Melissa and all of the other NYC Marathoners!!!

Yesterday, in honor of said Midwesterner, I had a PB2/VitaTop parfait, using a Fudgy Peanut Butter Chip VitaMuffin.

I made chocolate honey peanut butter mousse with TJ’s Organic Nonfat Honey Greek yogurt,  then fancied it up with layers of peach and crumbled muffin.

By the time I’d finished catching up on my morning things- what is your routine like in the morning between when you wake up, breakfast and lunch? -  I didn’t have enough time to go to the gym as originally planned.  I’d wanted to run on the treadmill so I could build some mileage, but decided to try it outside instead.  You may recall a certain killer run I went on with Ari’s brother (a four-time marathoner) a couple weeks ago… well, that was the run I set out on.  I laced up my shoes, bought some new headphones at the dollar store (my Clean & Clear ones were long dead), pressed play, and took off.

Since I was planning on a longer run than I’ve been doing,  I kept my pace slow, concentrating on breathing easily, listening to the music, and watching the scenery.  I made the trip to the park- which, in itself, is almost the 2-mile distance I’m used to running in our neighborhood- ran the length of the park, and ran home.  I didn’t rush, but I got a rush (hehe ) because of how pleasant the run was.  Before I knew it, I was back home.  The funny thing is that for this distance- about 4 miles- the length of Ari’s CD is perfect! I started running during “American Girls”, and stretched during “New Streets”.  I have to remember to keep my playlists fresh; having music really makes such a difference to me in terms of the length and quality of my workout.  Luckily, I have these ladies to keep me on my toes!  I really want to start running longer distances.  The 5K is on September 13, and we’ll see where it goes from there.  It’s really important for me not to get too cocky about training, however, because I don’t want to end up with another injury. I’m going to try to keep going to yoga in between long runs, and make sure to cross-train and strength train throughout the week.  But, I have to say, I’m excited! I never thought I really had it in me to be a runner.

Total distance: 4(ish) miles

Total time: 44:40 minutes

Maximum heart rate: 192 (96%)

Average heart rate: 178 (89%)

Calories burned: 540

The distance is only an approximation… I really need a Garmin.

After a quick shower, I downed some carrot juice, my new recovery drink of choice.  For those of you who asked: I do not make this myself.  I wish I had a juicer, but I do not wish I was cleaning it every day!  I got a 32-oz jug of Organic Carrot Juice at Trader Joe’s for $3.99 (non-Organic is $2.99).

Then I hustled into the city to meet my long-lost love and blogger, Miss Sarah, at the Candle Cafe.

There were so many things that I wanted to try, so I gently forced the waitress to choose for me.  At restaurants, I usually try to stray from having things I can (and would) make at home, but going against my rule, I ended up ordering one of the daily specials, soba salad.

It was very good! The dressing reminded me a lot of Woodstock Dressing, which I haven’t had in a while.

Sarah ordered the Aztec salad: bi-colored quinoa, black beans, red onion and corn topped with spicy pumpkin seeds and barbeque grilled tempeh. Served over mixed field greens with a toasted cumin vinaigrette.

I think she won that round… but it’s okay! I’ll just have to go back   I will also have to go finish this girl in Russia… she’s leaving for Moscow in five days! What a life.

We needed to end things on a sweet note, so we split the chocolate mousse pie.  Pure, chocolatey heaven at 2 PM.  Again, what a life

After Sarah and I figured out how to get her to the airport, we parted ways and I went home to run some errands (stencil-shopping at Home Depot!) with Ari.  On the way back, we stopped at Starbucks for a Pumpkin Spiced Latte.  Jenna really talked this up this year!

The last time I remembered ordering one was when I was college visiting, at Wellesley. I’d been out late at a Beastie Boys concert the night before, and thought the caffeine/pumpkin mix was just so very collegiate.  Yeah, big dork, I know.

I spent part of the evening doing work, then broke to make dinner.

I used the George Foreman (which I should really be utilizing more, it’s fabulous) to grill us up two swordfish steaks.  I tossed each steak in a quick salmoriglio sauce that I whipped up; there are many variations of this, but the basic mixture is equal parts lemon juice (I used lime) and olive oil.  Then add herbs of your choosing (oregano), salt and pepper. It goes on just about anything, and can help quell that strong “fishy” flavor that’s prevalent in a lot of seafood.

On the side, I braised some spinach and dried mushrooms (Ari’s choice) in vegetable stock, reduced the broth down, and drizzled the mixture with a little sesame oil.

We also split a sweet potato with butter and agave.

I got the swordfish steaks in the frozen section of Trader Joe’s; they were perfectly portioned out! One baby steak and one man steak I added more salmoriglio sauce to the fish once it was plated, and drizzled a little on the spinach and mushrooms as well.  I wish I’d made more, because it’s such a versatile sauce.  Thanks for teaching me, Mom and Dad!

I had some vino and a nectarine for dessert, and we settled back for a mini staycation with For Your Consideration (genius!) and In Treatment.  It was a lovely night.

Well, off to pack my lunch, get my yoga on and go to work.

Before I go: if you’d like to sponsor me in the race 5K Race For the Cure, you can do so here. I appreciate the support!

Also, the lovely Lauryn, formerly of Making Moves, has started a new blog, Mastering Manhattan, about her tradition to NYC living. Woohoo! That’s right, she’ll now be a New Yorker, so expect some awesome collaborations

Have a great day!