BIG breakfast & weekend re-cap

Wireless is back at the hotel! Hallelujah! Seriously, I was really beginning to miss it. Pathetic, I know, but for a blogger without a day job, what the heck else was I going to do?

After going almost three days (gasp!) with only one picture-less post, I feel I owe my loyal readers (ha!) a bit of a re-cap:

First, this morning (since it’s more timely–it’s the journalist in me):

BIG BREAKFAST! Plain yogurt flavored with 1/2 banana, mashed, and 1/2 tbsp Trader Joe’s Mango Butter, blueberries and granola, AND Great Harvest whole-grain cinnamon raisin bread with 1 tbsp Justin’s Maple Almond Butter, the other half of the banana and a tablespoon of maple syrup. I was craving maple this morning.

It was 526 calories and felt pretty heavy in my stomach on the way to the gym, but I’m glad I had it! It powered me through an hour of Pilates, 45 minutes of hard swimming (did some sprints!), and kept me going for an additional two hours of putzing around after I got back from the gym. Usually I’m RAVENOUS by the time I pull out of the parking lot of the gym, if not before!

Back to Saturday:

This was my post-run breakfast on Saturday. I went out for a quick three miles while Andrew took Hadrian on a walk/ball-throwing session, then we both did a nice four-miler in the neighborhood near our hotel. This is one of my best shots yet, so I had to share.

I love granola. LOVE. This is Wegmans Granola with Raisins, and unfortunately, it’s only OK. I mean, what did I expect? It’s just light and not very cluster-y. I’d rather it be chock-full of goodies and in big chunks. Alas, it was cheap. It was the peach, blueberries and coconut milk that really did it for me!

(I did order the OpenSky cherry chocolate granola fundraiser that Kath recently sent out in support of another blogger–I would want some nice stranger to order granola to raise money if I got cancer, too–so that should be here soon. Will post when it arrives!)

The rest of Saturday, as I said here, was filled with laziness and movies. Mad Max is STILL on TV as of yesterday and if Andrew puts it on one more time, I might go through the roof.

We tried a new church Sunday, and liked it enough to go back. We’ve been a bit discouraged in the church department, so we’re excited that we found something we felt was authentic and like it could be ‘home’ to us. If we decide it is, I’ll let you know!

As Abigail will be leaving for college in less than a week (where did the summer go?), we popped over there for an impromptu visit. I brought the computer and snagged some of their internet to catch up on calorie-counting (I was trying not to get obsessive about it, but I’m less than a pound from my goal and my OCD tendencies make it hard to just ‘let things go.’) and check my email.

Did you know you can pickle things just by putting them in the juice from your pickles? I didn’t…I think I read it in this month’s Shape. I’ve pickled green beans before, but always using the canning method and pickling salt. The article said you basically just throw veggies into the juice after you finish off a jar of pickles. Go figure.

So, I bought a half-pound of green beans (for 50 cents!) and blanched and shocked them before packing them into the jar:

Don’t they have great color?

I also made two batches of Jeni’s sorbets, but they will get their own post 🙂

First Watch for the last (sniff) time?

I HAD to see Emily once more before we leave, and since she’ll be out of town this weekend, we met for brunch this morning at First Watch near the Dayton Mall.

I LOVE LOVE LOVE First Watch. I have no idea why. There isn’t anything super unique about it. Maybe because it’s always really light and bright in there, they have International Delight coffee creamer (sweet!) and their staple meal is breakfast. LOVE breakfast.

We did the whole hold-the-camera-out-as-far-as-you-can-and-hope-for-the-best thing. It worked the second time; the first time I forgot that I was still on zoom. Picture of Holly’s left eye and pores? Check.

I’ve never been very good at that, especially with Andrew’s unwieldy camera. I should ask his sisters…they have got it down to a science! About 75% of their photos are self-portraits, taken at arms’ length. I love them.

Anyway, back to brunch. I was running late, so no makeup. Oh well…I was in yoga clothes and Chacos. Emily was on her way to work, so she was beautiful and had awesome lipgloss on.

Susy and I did our last (sniff, tear) long run this morning–we met at the gym at 6:30 to get 10 miles and some lifting in–whoo hoo! So, I splurged and got the Floridian French Toast:

I usually try to get something off the “healthy” part of the menu or do enough substitutions on a regular item to lighten it up, but I figured that today, of all days, I could go carb-heavy. I love the addition of fruit (they have regular french toast, too) so I can use less syrup.

Emily was a good girl and got the Healthy Turkey, another of my faves after she discovered it when we went to First Watch in Columbus on a couples’ weekend trip.

It’s a yummy egg-white, turkey omelette with feta, spinach and tomatoes (she left them out) for about 190 calories–it does not get better than that! I feel so empowered to make healthy decisions at the grocery store and restaurants because of all I’ve learned about food. I get sad when I see people make decisions THINKING they are healthy ones, when in reality, they aren’t. And don’t get me wrong; I’ve made my share of bad decisions thinking I was making good ones. I just chalk it up to a learning experience and try to do better the next time.

I was SO TIRED on the drive home from brunch! Seriously, I could have fallen asleep at the wheel! Perhaps I was slipping into a sugar coma after all the caramels yesterday, a major depletion of energy this morning, then a sugary meal? I tried to nap on the couch when I got home (despite all the things on my to-do list today) but I don’t know if I fell asleep or not. (Story of my life!) At least I got some rest–I’m going on SEVERE sleep deprivation here! I haven’t slept past 6 a.m. in months…(this morning it was 4:40 a.m.) Seriously, I am not exaggerating.

Made an iced coffee and now it’s back to work for me!

flowers, flowers, everywhere…

Today just seems like a day to blog about my day. I usually try to have some sort of subject, or point or just something particular to type about. But today my mind is all over the place!

Andrew got me flowers 🙂 I thought they were for Heather (we did just have Mother’s Day, and I’m not a mother), until she said they had come for me while I was working at the library! They are the white roses in the pale green fish gurgle pitcher (b-day present from Heather!). The other flowers are from Heather’s dad for Mother’s Day. And, on the computer, is a giant orange rose. I’m not really into orange (see yesterday’s post on color), but I wanted a new desktop photo and it’s full of energy.

That yellow thing in my water glass? It’s a cube of frozen pineapple juice. Awhile ago (like maybe last summer), I had a giant container of pineapple juice that I didn’t want to waste. So, I filled up ice cube trays, froze them, then noted how much juice was in each cube (2 tbsp) and then bagged them all up. I also did this with some limes. I’m loving the hint of flavor it gives my water.

It’s currently 80 degrees out and I’M DYING. I took a few minutes (literally!) to go outside before lunch and clear some dead grass and put down grass seed–I was dripping within minutes! This is why I am so glad we’re moving to western New York. I spent all last summer trapped inside because all I do is melt outside. I broke down and turned the AC on…

I did my long run with Susy outside today. Note to self: DO NOT eat a high-protein, egg-white and veggie omelet before running. You may balk at this, but I do typically eat breakfast just before I head to gym. Usually I have yogurt and granola with fruit, cereal or toast. Lately, because I’m watching what I’m eating and because I’ve had an abundance of produce around the kitchen, I’ve been making omelets. Very yummy. Also very heavy. I regretted it this morning. Lesson learned: smaller, higher-carb breakfasts before runs!

After my stomach FINALLY stopped feeling like it had a brick in it (around noon), I made a lunch of salad, Trader Joe’s veggie and flaxseed chips with my homemade hummus and a mango and strawberry bowl. I splurged and had ranch dressing on my salad–I LOVE ranch-anything. Seriously, unless it’s some fancy fruit/nut/greens salad–I want ranch. Not the Hidden Valley brand (which I lived on as a kid)…I’ve been using T. Marzetti’s Light Classic Ranch. It’s in the refrigerated section in produce at the grocery store. Love it.

I have a full afternoon ahead of me–cleaning because we have a showing tonight! Honestly, the house has stayed pretty immaculate lately, but it could use some tidying-up here and there. I also have to make bread for dinner, prep dinner and have it on the table by 5 p.m. so we can eat and run before the showing.

Scored some awesome sports bras and tanks at TJMaxx today! Been needing to replace some of my stuff for awhile now, and I had some time to run in after I ran an errand at Lowe’s. I love that store–well, I love Lowe’s too–but you just never know when you’ll hit the jackpot. I did today!

Tonight Heather and I are going to enjoy some wine, cheese and crackers that we got while shopping at Trader Joe’s–cannot wait! (Thankfully, it’s a long-run day, so I can splurge!)

That might be it for now…can you tell my mind is racing?? Except that this is pretty normal for me… After I do all the things on my list, hopefully I’ll have some time to sit and have some tea.