Category Archives: routine

Weird Wednesday

Posted on March 23, 2011 | 3 Comments

For some reason, the day has felt off to me. There hasn’t been a particular event or anything to make me feel this way; it was just a weird Wednesday I guess!

I’ve been enjoying my Food for Life English muffins for breakfast as of late. On Tuesday I had a whole egg on one, with red pepper spread on one half and sriracha and some cheese on another. This morning I went the PB&J route with the last of my fig jam. A side of fruit (1/2 a pear and blueberries with cinnamon) is non-negotiable!

For lunch I’ve been all about healthy meals that can be thrown together quickly. Today’s bowl had 1/3c brown rice, a serving of Cuban black beans, 1c frozen kale, and some frozen bell pepper strips and corn with hot sauce.

My afternoon snacks have made use of  some carrot and celery sticks. Today I added a mammoth Fuji apple – note that this apple is bigger than my hand. Let’s just say all that fiber gave me a stomach ache for a little while.

After work I stopped by a DC Fit Week event where I learned about a few cool initiatives taking place in the city. I was also given a sample of VitaCoco water to try.

From there I headed to happy hour where it felt great to unwind with some friends. It was just what I needed to wipe away the weirdness of the day and end it on a high note. Friends will do that for ya, huh?

When I got home I knew exactly what I wanted – roasted potatoes and broccoli with baked beans. I was also starving so I cut a small Russet potato into pieces and roasted them on a baking sheet at 450*. They were done in ~25 minutes, just enough time for me to decompress from the day and prep the other parts of my dinner.

I’m already looking forward to Friday and am hoping that tomorrow feels more normal.

Happy hour – love it or leave it?

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Posted in apples, breakfast, dinner, friends, lunch, routine

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Kick in the Pants

Posted on January 19, 2011 | 3 Comments

Happy Wednesday! I especially love that in a few short hours we’ll be half-way through the work week. <3 short weeks!

As I was photographing breakfast this morning, I noticed  a little happy face of nut butter. It was a complete accident and I’ll take it as a sign for a good day!

Yesterday the DC area woke up to the remnants of an ice storm. Even though there wasn’t too much, enough ice had formed to delay most of the schools, the government, and many businesses in the city. I was not part of that group and made the slow and [somewhat] slippery trek to the office.

I kicked off the day with a new breakfast – buckwheat groats that I cooked in water and almond milk. This serving also had chia seeds, blueberries, and almond slices and about 1tsp of peanut butter on top.

It was okay but not great. Also, despite having an egg white on the side it just didn’t hold me over very well.

I ate some pistachios and a PB rice cake before hitting the gym for a Total Body Conditioning class. This was my 2nd time and I think I’m more in love with it than I was last week. Perhaps I’ve found a replacement for my old favorite Cardio Sculpt class!

The gym was also a great kick in the pants to get down to being productive for the rest of my day. I ate more broccoli soup plus a salad of mixed veggies and worked away through the afternoon.

I took a brief pause for a snack (midday workouts make me hungry) of cucumber and hummus and then finished the day strong. As soon as I got home I set to work on 3 loads of laundry and some other tasks around the apartment.

I wasn’t too sure of what to have for dinner and used some frozen vegetables as my inspiration. I heated up some cubed butternut squash on the stove and added a serving of Cuban black beans (thanks, TJ’s) and the rest of some fresh spinach on its last legs. I served the mix over 1/2c of brown rice and topped it with a bit of cheese and hot red pepper. Yum!

I continued being productive for a while and then made myself relax and decompress a bit and watched the Biggest Loser. I also managed to munch on a pear with cinnamon and a bit of nut butter.

Now I’m just hoping that this productivity streak continues and I’m able to knock out the reset of today’s to-do list!

Does a midday workout motivate you to take care of business? Make you extra hungry?

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Posted in Biggest Loser, breakfast, dinner, healthy, lunch, routine

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Crunched for Time

Posted on November 22, 2010 | 1 Comment

To kick off Thanksgiving week, I am beyond grateful that I have a 2 day work week! This little break couldn’t come at a better time and I can’t wait to be home with family and friends for one of my favorite holidays!

Until then though I’m trying to cram a lot of things into my schedule. I even resorted to a day-by-day To-Do list to get it all done! Tasks on the list include:

  • packing
  • cleaning out the fridge
  • cleaning up my kitchen
  • running a few errands
  • perhaps the gym? (errands will definitely keep me moving)
  • charge electronics

Yesterday the day kind of seemed to get away from me. Having a commitment right in the middle of the afternoon (and getting home 1 hour later than expected )prevented me from getting the things done that I needed to. When I woke up I had another bowl of pomegranite blueberry hot cereal after sleeping throughyoga in until 10:30am. My body was tired!

I spent the next few hours organizing, cleaning and dusting, and then getting myself ready for an afternoon trip to College Park, MD. I ate a small lunch before heading out the door of leftover spicy veggies and hummus and red pepper sandwich on a slice of Udi’s. Thank goodness I ate this around 1:45pm because I wouldn’t end up eating again until 6:15! :-/

I spent my afternoon at the newly renovated house of the Maryland chapter of my sorority. They had invited all of the area board members to see the updated house which is gorgeous! It brought back wonderful memories of my own time living in a sorority house and also made me appreciate living outside of one now :)

They had snacks for us which included cake, cookies, and more cookies so I just had some tea and chatted with the friendly chapter officers and fellow board members. By the time I walked in the door my stomach was growling and I was ready to eat.

I had a quick chicken fried rice utilizing some of the contents in my fridge. I heated up some frozen broccoli, peppers, corn, and peas and added in ~2oz cooked chicken breast, 1/4c brown rice, and an egg white. It was seasoned with soy and teriyaki sauce, garlic, and hot sauce and eaten alongside a spinach salad with beets.

The rest of the night was spent taking care of some tasks and getting ready for the short week. I also decided to whip up a mini batch of biscuits using some GF Bisquick. I know I said it once but I’ll say it again, this mix is pretty bland and has no taste compared to the smaller company, whole grain baking products. The biscuit also left a weird texture and feeling in my mouth, similar to that feeling after eating cooking spinach. I’m officially done with Bisquick for good!

This morning I whipped up a quick bowl of blueberry hot cereal and am hoping to work efficiently throughout the day to get everything done. I would love to avoid an extremely late night tonight!

How long is your workweek this week? Do you have a usual pre-travel routine?

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Posted in breakfast, dinner, healthy, product review, routine, sorority, travel, weekend

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Repeats and a new discovery

Posted on January 15, 2010 | Leave a comment

This week has continued rather uneventfully – making progress on some things at the office and finally making my way into the gym. It always baffles me at how “off” my week feels when my routine gets mixed up. Nevertheless, I have still found ways to incorporate the same amounts / types of exercise into the mix, just at different times. I guess I really like the comfort of routines!

I also made an interesting discovery. One of my goals for 2010 is to focus on nutritionally sound, clean foods as much as possible. For the the french fry and potato chip lover in me, I thought that this would be pretty challenging. However, yesterday when I attempted to snack on a mini-bag of kettle cooked chips, I realized that they didn’t taste good to me at all! Definitely not a normal reaction to one of my favorite salty snacks but a step in the right direction towards my goal.

In the spirit of routines, Thursday’s day-time eats were repeats.  Breakfast was the BRM hot cereal and buckwheat combo, with berries mixed in and topped with 1/2 T PB. I’m missing the addition of sweet potato for added flavor, fluff, and texture but haven’t had time to bake another one. *mental note to take care of that this weekend*

Lunch was left over souped-up black bean mix with a corn tortilla and a large salad.

We had a meeting at work yesterday and I snacked on this plate of fruit x2 along with some Tazo Passion tea… AND got to take home some of the extra pineapple and strawberries. I’m excited to spruce up my fruit routine I seem to have fallen into!!

After work I spent a few minutes cleaning up my apartment and putting things back in their place before meeting my friend L for dinner. Originally we were going to attend a cooking class on root veggies but realized we wouldn’t make it on time.  We ventured to Whole Foods for some healthy eats. I decided on a salad with veggies, topped with some more black beans and ~1/4c corn salad along with carrot and avocado veggie sushi. I ate 4 pieces and then the seaweed and veggies from the other 4.

Whole Foods is one of the only places that I can eat sushi because they prepare their veggie sushi on separate surfaces from their fish sushi, which makes it a safe option for this fish-allergic girl!

Grey’s Anatomy was new so I curled up to watch the 1st hour of the 2hr cross-over show. Not feeling Private Practice, I headed to bed for an extra hour of sleep.

This morning was the usual breakfast along with an egg white and 1/2 pear. Just one work day between me and a long weekend!

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Posted in breakfast, dinner, routine, staying on track, work