Reunited & It Feels Sooo Good!

Good Morning Muffins :) Hope you all had an exciting weekend (especially those of you who went to FoodBuzz!! I'm extreeeemely jealous) So it's Monday once again.. oyyy. It came so fast. I'm doing okay accepting that fact because I had plenty of time this weekend to relax for a change which I don't feel like I get the time to do very often.


I also got to reunite last night (Sunday) for a dinner date with one of my best friends & roommate of 3 years during college! That was definitely the highlight of my weekend... Alyssa & I became friends during school and just clicked. We have the same sense of humor and can be, at times, children...which we do much more often when we're together (lucky for our waiter) But we've both progressed past the time of power-houring at 8pm to pregame for the bar, get overdressed, go to the bar to consume even MORE beer, and then order pizza very late night only to wake up with a booze & food hangover, vow to never do it again, and then proceed to reenact the night a few days later. Ehhhh.... yes, luckily, I can safely say we've progressed far past this.

Alys & I during my last semester at school

So when she told me she was coming home for the night I was beyond excited :) :) We made plans to go to my place of employment for dinner:

Reason #1-the pizza portion of the meal is free.

Reason #2-Alys is quite the daredevil when it comes to eating hot & spicey things and she's obsessed with our hot sauce which you can buy whole bottles of in house and she HAD to do it....

Reason #3-GOOD, quality local brewed beer on tap. That'll do.

We had such a great time catching up, laughing, talking about old times at school, and eating some phenom food & drink! I slacked, per usual, and didn't take pictures. Apologies but I was too busy chatting with my daaaahling :) But I started with the Goat cheese organic salad (which you've seen countless times since I eat it every chance I get while at work) followed by a pizza that Alyssa & I split...

I got my 1/2 with no tomato sauce, mozz, parm & herbs, free-range chicken, roasted red peppers and lots and lots of mushrooms...

Alys ordered her 1/2 with our homemade tomato sauce, olives, Roma tomatoes, & roasted red pepers... then obvi dumped her entire pizza with Amigo hot sauce. Gotta love her.

I also had 2 (we'll say two... but it was 3-oooops) Blue Point Toasted Lagers on draft. Sooo delicious... and since my beloved Magic Hat was unavailable, this has to do and you'll hear no complaints from me on that! ;)

Since Alys had never had dessert there, I ordered us a 1/2 dessert (since we were basically full to the brim) and asked for 1/2 a brownie sundae with the Graham Central Station ice cream. Holyyy Bajeeeez, I could go on forever about this ice cream. It's BOMB ahhh! And, of course, because we have such great employees, my "half" dessert came out with a whole brownie, 2 scoops of the graham, and a tower of maple syrup sweetened whipped cream (Thanks Evelynnn you're my girl! ;) haha) we couldn't even finish half of it but IT. WAS. UH-MAZING.

Such a fun time with my biotch who I've missed sooo much :) And we're planning on getting together before I head into work tonight for a coffee or something along those lines. Yayyyy!!!! More time with the Lysssybear :)

Nowww...I suppose it's time to backtrack. Bear with me, I had a pretty uneventful and relaxing weekend which you would think would make it easier to recap my eats & acts but... it's not. Plain and simple. Apparently I'm still a scatterbrain.... hense why I've downed about 5 glasses of this already today..

And seriously needed THIS more than ever this morning...

1 cup water, 1/2 cup oats, 1 small naner, 1 tbsp. Teddie PB, 1 tbsp. chopped almonds, lots and lots of cinnamon...

Saturday morning I woke up and made oats ASAP along with making my regular coffee with the LAST of the coffee grounds (Breathe Allison. Don't Panic)

Oats with 1 tbsp Teddie PB, chopped naner, and 1 crushed graham cracker board

I headed to the gym soon after breakfast to get a quick workout in before I had to head off to my Grandma's house with brother & nephew to see some of the family coming up from Maryland to visit for the weekend.

I did 35 minutes on the treadmill... 10 minute warm up followed by 3 sets of speed intervals for 5 minutes each, did a quick cooldown and got in about 15 minutes of leg & ab work before having to race outta there in order to get back to my house, shower, get ready, AND eat lunch before brother got there!

I whipped up the quickest lunch I could come up with while in the kitchen, which actually turned out to be pretty delish!

WW wrap, peppercorn turkey, lettuce, dijon mustard, & chopped avocado

Along with a piece of perfection; yummy Honeycrisp

All wrapped up and ready to roll!

So I ate lunch on the go while in the car and brother & I made the half hour drive to my Grandma's house... My aunt, uncle, and two of my cousins had yet to see Baby Jakey so the rest of the afternoon was spent ooooh-ing and ahhhh-ing at every little thing he did :) They just couldn't stop taking pictures and each wanting to hold him and talking about how adorable he was. It was nice to catch up with the fam (my younger cousin Amy just started college.. Whaat!?) and discuss what everyone had been doing lately...

A few hours after my lunch my stomach was getting cranky again so my Grandma made me a cinnamon raisin mini bagel with some peanut butter (along with a cup of coffee because I was turning into a zombie before everyone's eyes - oops) and then brother and I had to leave so he could make it to band practice on time...

When I got home it was dark out but was only 5:30!!! Holyyy moly... I could have gone to sleep for the rest of the night I was so tired! So I made a cup of tea & just spent the rest of the night relaxing... read a few blogs... caught up on The Hills for the majority of the night (Ummmm Kristin really turned into a biotch, huh???)

This little munchkin cuddled with me for most of my Hills watching :)

Then a few hours later it was time for dinner and I wanted something warm & easy... So soup it was! I had a can of Amy's Cream of Tomato soup (which is awesome, just FYI...give it a try) so I warmed some up...


And what's tomato soup without a grilled cheese on the side? It's nothing is what it is. Pointless. HA! So I made a much yummier version to go alongside it...

Grilled Chez a la Allio - Goat cheese, sliced tomatoes, chicken (seasoned with s&p and cooked in a pan) with 9-grain bread...

Looooved ittttt :)

The goat cheese was soooo creamy & delicious, the tomatoes were perfectly ripe, and the chicken wasn't overpowering since the seasonings were so simple... This sandwich & soup combo was pure comfort food and warmed me up right away. It kept me full for quite a while but in the middle of a mini-Always Sunny in Philadelphia marathon I was having I needed a little dessert.

Plain Chobani with lots of cinnamon, a teaspoon of Dark Chocolate Dreams mixed in, and a tablespoon of white chocolate chips... holy decadence in a yogy-dessert!

Now the plan is to rush off to the gym... get showered up and ready to go to work... stop & have my coffee date with Alys on the way down to work.. and then serving the night away at worky :) What's your plan for this lovely Monday?

Friday Night In

Tonight turned into a pretty low-key night... I'm already in yoga pants, sipping a glass of white wine, and putting on some good movies.. beginning with Kill Bill Volume 1 (such classic Quentin). And I'm loving every minute of it :) Sometimes a relaxing night at home is the perfect idea...


Not to say I haven't run around like a crazy person for the majority of the day, because I did... but at this point it's barely 10:30pm and I'm ready to snuggle up in bed with the Bella-Cat and get some shut eye! Not until doing a little high-quality blogging, of course ;)


My day started off with a delicious yogurt mess... complete with Vanilla Nature's Promise FF yogurt, 1/4 cup of Kashi Warm Cinnamon, 1/4 cup of Kashi Honey Almond Flax, lots of pumpkin pie spice, & a melted tablespoon of Teddie PB...

Heaven in my favorite bowl...
All mixed up & with a couple bites of the remaining apple crisp from last night's dessert...

After breakfast I did an excessive amount of stretching because I've been feeling tight all over, ALL of the time. My legs constantly feel like they need a gooood loooong stretch. But once I got tothe gym I was ready to kick itttt....

I did an awesome 45 minute workout chock full of alternating sprints & runs ... 30 seconds & 1 minute respectively, and felt amazing! I even upped my speed during my running sessions.. I don't know what gave me so much energy and helped me keep up a consistent pace but I was loving it. (Could have been Matthew Fox's twin weight lifting in front of methe majority of that time... who knows)

My total time was:

45 minutes / 4.0 miles / 470 cal

Followed by a 20 min core strengthening yoga class from yogadownload...

Immediately after leaving the gym I had to rush off to meet Mamabear at her office to go down to the DMV and switch my car registration over from her to me (thumbs down)

1. I hate the DMV... I hate the lines, hate waiting, and it always seems to be full of the weirdest characters, seriously.

2. This means no more Mamabear paying my monthly car insurance bill (major thumbs down)

3. I guess this means I"m officially an adult (EW)

4. I was absolute staaaahvin mahvin the entire time & quickly turning into a brat...

So after what seemed like an eternity of waiting in one line, switching to another, getting a ticket with a rando number on it and waiting for that numberto come up, we FINALLY left and after getting back to Ma's office, I was sooo happy when she offered to give me her apple she had brought to go with the rest of her lunch. Which I happily ate within 5 minutes of it being offered to me...

I remembered from all the bloggies I saw this morning that the holiday cups are now out at Starbucks!!! (along with the holiday inspired lattes) soo I of course had to stop for a Grande Nonfat Gingerbread on my way home..

My belly was still yelling at me when I got home so I whipped up the most rando lunch plate ever... just a combo of a bunch of things I found in the kitchen. A "snack plate" if you will; very GC of me :)

...1/4 of a sweet potato microwaved with a bit of cinnamon

...Baby carrots & 1/4 of a yellow bell pepper w. Annie's Honey Mustard

...3/4 of a can of tuna mixed w. Dijon mustard, s&p, atop a bed of lettuce

Then it was time to get crackin on making a batch of cookies for Mama because she told me Grandma I would for tomorrow's family get together... My aunt & uncle (and maybe my two cousins!) are coming up from Maryland for the weekend so the fam has planned a little dinner & dessert event at Gram's house. Luckily, Mama remembered to tell me that she signed me up for the responsibility while we were growing gray hair (what?) at the DMV today... so I stopped and grabbed white chocolate & semi-sweet chocolate chips on the way home to make my Chocolate Almond Cookies....

Mixin it up....

I added 1 cup chopped almonds and 1-1/2 cups of a mixture of white chocolate & semi-sweet chocolate chips...

I dont know how I restrained from digging into this amaaaazing cookie dough...

Popped into the oven at 350 for about 11 minutes and they are golden & perfect!

This recipe is, by no means, a dieter's cookie recipe... I won't lie- it's got 2 whole sticks of butter, 2 cups of sugar (a mixture of light brown & regular granulated sugar) and, as you can see, has loads of chocolate in it...but I know these will get eaten and because I wasn't planning on digging in myself, I took the easy way and followed an old recipe for these I had laying around...

The whole batch came out awesome and the 1/4 or so of the cookies that I saved to keep around the house are ALREADY GONE if you can believe it... My parents had a tad too much wine and consumed what was left of the stash haha. I also remembered after dinner that it was, indeed, Cookie Friday so I indulged in one of these babies and I can safely say... I'm not a horrible baker ;) I'm sure the rest of the family will love them tomorrow...

Dinner was stress-free, mostly because Mamabear aka Jillybean whipped it up herself! It was a pretty nice change of pace because I'm usually searching through the kitchen forever, sooo indecisive about what to make.. It helps when Mama lets me know she's already on it :)

She made a recipe she found online for Chicken Scarpiello... It's a lot like a stew of some kind. It's an easy one skillet dinner that combines chicken, veggies like bell peppers & mushrooms (my favs!), potatoes, sausage, white wine & chicken broth... I can't explain how good this dinner made the entire house smell as it was cooking. I kept wandering into the kitchen and peering into the skillet to see if it was done, only for Mama to slap my hand like I was a child and tell me to "keep your fingers outta there" Fun times.

The end result? Phenom! I didn't eat more than one bite or two of the sausage, but I ate my fair share of chicken, mushrooms, and the other veggies...

Yumalicioussss!

What's a meal that reminds you of home or your parents' cooking??

Spaghetti & meatballs always reminds me of being home.. Sunday night was always Italian night as I was growing up and we would always have my Mom's homemade meatballs with some kind of pasta.. salad... garlic bread... & a dessert was always a necessity. Ahhh, those were the days... when I ate countless carbs & never gave it a second thought haha :)

Happy Friday!!

Boundless Energy

Do you ever have those days where one little thing happens during the day and sticks with you for hours afterward?? I had one of those moments today in one of the most random places from the most random person and it has kept my attitude upbeat and energetic all day from that moment on... I love random acts of kindness.. although this was more of a random act of motivation. Definitely a fan of this, also :)


But let's jump back to yesterday (my day off!) I love having days off from work that turn into uber-productive ones rather than the "lay around the house and do nothing with myself" days.. although those aren't too bad on occasion.


After my oats.. scratch that; DELICIOUS oats.. I headed off to the gym and got in a fab workout:

50 minutes treadmill / 4.1 miles / 486 cal

I felt awesome after this one... I had more energy than I thought originally and although I had to take a few walking breaks I killed plenty of calories and was good & sweaty afterward. After the gym I stopped at the grocery store to pick up essentials for "Date Night" planned for later that night. I told my parents I would make my vegetarian chili recipe (along with all-natural corn muffins.. thanks Hodgson Mills, you're a lifesaver) so once I got home it was time to get down to cookin...

Snacked on a few of these while I cooked because I didn't end up eating lunch today (oops) I didn't mean to "miss" lunch but I had a late breakfast and wasn't particularly hungry the rest of the day until I got home around 5pm and started cooking... A small handful of these cured the hungry beast that I had become...

For about 20 minutes of course... but thankfully I was able to enjoy a glass of Chardonnay while the chili simmered a little while longer & it was sooo worth the wait...
I had a bowl with 1/4 of an avocado chopped on top..yum!


The recipe is simple as pie....

Although I originally began making this chili following a specific recipe, overtime I've learned to just "wing it" and base the cook time on how it tastes, how the vegetables have softened, etc. I sometimes alter the original ingredients, depending what we have in the kitchen at the time & whether or not I'm planning on adding meat of any kind... Wednesday's chili was pretty close to the original.

2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

3 cloves of garlic - minced (I usually add more.. love me some garlic)

1 large red bell pepper - diced

1 large white onion - diced (I used 2 medium yellow onions for this batch)

28 oz. crushed tomatoes

1 cup chicken broth (or any other kind on hand.. I used veggie this time)

Cumin, Chili powder, Cayenne pepper (I don't measure these, I just add & taste test until I get something delicious)

Salt & Pepper

1 small can sliced black olives

15 oz. red beans

15 oz. white beans

Cilantro

1. Heat the olive oil on medium-high in a large pot then add red bell pepper & onion - sautee until soft

2. Add garlic & cook about 5 mins

3. Add crushed tomatoes, cumin, chili powder, s&p, and a dash of cayenne pepper, depending how SPICY you like it... bring to a boil

4. Pour in chicken broth, stir, reduce heat, cover & simmer 30 minutes

5. Add beans & olives & cook for another 10 minutes or so

6. Remove from heat, add cilantro, stir.. serve.. consume... and love everyyyy bite :)

I whipped up a batch of quick & easy apple crisp for dessert using my stash from my apple picking adventure with my biotches....

It was a pretty basic recipe....


3-4 apples sliced
2 tsp lemon juice
Cinnamon
1 tbsp white sugar
2 tbsp brown sugar
3/4 cup Quaker Oats
2 tbsp flour
1 tbsp vegetable oil


Basically, just toss the apples with a little extra lemon juice, sprinkle with cinnamon, and place them in glass pan sprayed with nonstick baking spray...
Mix the rest of the ingredients in a bowl until crumbly (is that the right word? haha) and then top the apples with the mixture, bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes, serve warm with Vanilla Froyo... if you're me. YUM!
Ohhh and an extra sprinkle of cinnamon if you're feelin sauce-ay... Heyyyyy ;)

I went to sleep with a very full (but happy) food-baby and awoke absolutely craving my Vanilla Caramel tea (say what!?) I'm usually a zombie until I've "attached" my coffee IV... so this was a change, fo sho. Enjoyed my steaming cup while Facebooking... no need to lie, the picture just outted me anyway...

And I strayed from the oats for a day because I really wanted eggs.. no lie.. I HAD to have them. And seeing as how I just bought a bottle of organic ketchup yesterday, it seemed only fitting to try it out in my fav way possible: atop of me lovely eggies.

With a side of 9-grain toast & Raspberry All-Fruit spread...

Delicious. And perfect pre-work fuel... I stayed full for most of the day. I packed lunch, per usual...

A WW wrap spread with 2 tbsp Teddie PB & banana slices, sprinkled with cinnamon...

Along with one of my beloved fruit friends...

And a Luna for my mid-morning snack...

Got to work and had a mere 2 tables before being "cut" Yeah.. thanks.. after making the 40 minute drive down to work this wasn't exactly making me too happy but I made the best of it and thought...

"More time for running"

Got dressed & headed to the gym..

30 minutes treadmill / 2.7 miles / 318 cal

30 minutes elliptical / 3.3 miles / 250 cal

Now.. this is where my happy moment of the day occured... While on the treadmill, going through my intervals aka me being the sweaty beast that I tend to be switching between 1 minute sprints and 1 minute runs & blasting David Guetta into my ears... I noticed an elderly woman in front of me on the stationary bike...

After she was done & cleaned up her bike she walked up to the front of my treadmill so I took my headphones off and she says to me "I could see you in mirror running. You have such boundless energy. Keep it up honey!"

After smiling & thanking the lady I couldn't stop smiling... OH and you bet I pumped up the speed for the last 5 minutes with those two words in my head. You have BOUNDLESS ENERGY I told myself.... now prove it. It felt amazing and I'm pretty sure I owe that lady another thank you for being my motivation today.

What do you tell yourself to keep your motivation up during a workout??

I usually repeat "You're strong and fast as hell" in my head (cliche, I know but it works!) and as long as I have some good tunes in my ears, I'm able to find hidden energy and keep going ...

After getting home, I stretched out for a looooong time... today required a lot of work from my ever-so-tired legs but it was well worth it. They're still feeling it right now. I'm thinking a yoga session will be my first priority tomorrow morning since I don't have work and will have plenty of time for it... my body is definitely asking for it at this point!

I snacked on a few more Pita chips while pondering what to make for dinner... hence the vegetarian cookbook (Thanks to my lovely boyfriend!)

Then I went searching through the vegetable options in the house which are seriously dwindling (me no like) but I did find a perfect sweet potato.... perfect for FRIES that is!

Sprinkled with paprika, salt & pepper, cinnamon & a drizzle of EVOO

Bake in a 450 degree oven for 30 minutes, turning the fries every 10 minutes or so and they came out sooo delish! Crunchy & browned on the outside, warm & soft on the inside...

I served them alongside my LAST MorningStar black bean burger (R.I.P).. all rolled up in a WW wrap with lettuce, red onion, FF all natural cheddar cheese, and a drizzle of medium taco sauce...

Uhhhhh-mazing combo!

Now I'm contemplating what to have for a little dessert... already stressing about having to make a dreaded trip to the DMV tomorrow (ew)... and then planning to hit the hay early tonight!

What's one errand you really dislike having to do??

Where's The Beef?

Well, well, well... here we are.. on Wednesday (can't believe how fast this week is flying by!) and I've finally found enough time to sit down and enjoy a leisurely breakfast, a cup of steaming hot coffee, reading up on all your recent happenings, and recapping my Halloween weekend...

As I mentioned last time... I had two costumes that I threw together last minute...

Friday I was Mrs. Varitek (obvi)

And Saturday, my friend Sara and I put together a Christmas themed costume...

So simple! And the best part is all of our costume pieces (maybe minus the light-up Santa hats) are reuseable! I loved the sweater dresses we found & got a pair of uber-cute black zip up suede boots to match that I'm actually planning on rocking today in fact ;) Perhaps you'll see them on Miss GC's bloggie on booties in the near future...


Dress: H&M $25
Belt: H&M $7
Boots: Charlotte Russe - they had a special... buy one pair get the other for $15! So Sara & I split the total cost... $54 for TWO pairs of super cute boots :) That's a steal right there...
Hat: The Christmas Tree Shoppes $3


Which brings us to a GRAND TOTAL of......


$62!
Not bad in my opinion seeing as how a costume at the store would cost about this much (maybe even more) and I would have no use for it after the Halloweeny-ing season.


Halloween was SO fun!!! Friday night consisted of a house party at boyfriend's apt at UConn which brought a mob of people their way... about 5 dance parties, one beer ball, 10 games of beruit, and about 3 lbs of Halloween candy later... we all called it a night and honestly, I can't even remember what time it was that that happened. Oops!


Oh and prior to making the trip up to boyfriend's I had a delicious lunch at Panera that just HAS to be shown:
No.. your eyes are not deceiving you... that is another bowl of the Cream of Tomato soup (I'm obsessed... ugh) Luckily, I was smart enough to end my obsession at least for a few weeks because I've gotta get some variety in my life... sheesh~


Alongside a 1/2 Turkey on Honey Wheat sandwich... which I couldn't even finish. Could have been because I had it after the gym and I had just not worked up much of an appetite yet...


Speaking of which, my gym workout was superb!
40 minutes run/walk - treadmill
20 minutes cardio - elliptical


Then headed home quick (not before stopping at Lombardi's for my regular Friday treat - I got a coconut macaroon which was delectable, by the way) packed up all my stuff... overpacking per usual, only to regret it when hauling about 100 lbs. of clothing & shoes to boyfriend's apt from the car... most of which he carried of course, he's sucha sweetheart :) haha...


But jumping back to Saturday... sorry, I'm scatterbrained today ahhh.. hence why I NEEDED this day off from work otherwise I would have gone insane...


But that's neither here nor there....


Saturday morning I woke up thanking my lucky stars that I had purchased this for hangover purposes:
It did wonders...


Once we were all able to handle food we headed off to my absolute favorite breakfast place near my old school *tear*
Nita's is an amazing little Polish breakfast & lunch place just 15 minutes down the road from boyfriend's and seeing as how I hadn't gone since I was still at school, it was a long overdue trip. And satisfied as always!


Sadly.. I left my camera in the car while we were there... (not that I would have had the patience to take pictures.. I was ready to eat a house)


But I started with their fresh fruit salad.. because I opted for this rather than the homefries & instead just snagged one or two from BF's plate :) It was exactly what I needed...


Have you ever tried coffee & fresh fruit for hangovers?
It's my go-to quick breakfast when my stomach isn't feeling well aka I've had too much to drink the night before... I promise you, it'll cure it!


Then I had the veggie omlet. Ummmmmmmm..... YUM; best omlet I've ever had! Chock full of my favs: mushrooms, onions, broccoli, spinach, tomato... it was UH-mazingggg! Finished every little bite...


After breakfast we made a trip to the mall to put the finishing touches on our Halloween attire for night #2... where Sara and I formed our Santa's Helpers idea... came home and had basically a repeat of the first night.


Blech... my stomach does NOT like being abused. I can't even remember the last time I was able to drink a 6-pack of beer... and I still feel like my body is recovering. I'm a Grandma... what can I say????


Soooo Sunday I was supposed to be working at 11 a.m. Thank Goodness my friend Kari texted me Saturday asking if she could still cover the shift for me (she really wanted the hours) Ummmmm yesh please!


So I got to sleep in Sunday a.m. which I was overly happy about when I woke up at 1030 a.m. (this is wayyy late for this chica... I'm an early riser) and the discussion began when BF, his brother John & GF Sara, and I needed to make a plan for "breakfast" or now brunch.... It was decided sushi was the perfect cure.


And I was absolutely craving Lo Mein... I can't even tell you the brat I would have become if I didn't get an order of Lo Mein. When my body wants something, it gets it... so delicious veggie noodles is what I got...
The portion was ginormous to say the least... I barely made a dent after satisfying my craving. So I saved the rest and added some more to dinner that night and it was just as perfect.


Along with the sushi combo that BF & I split....

Tuna roll, salmon roll, and California roll = happy belly :)

John & Sara got some yummy looking salads along with a couple delish rolls too... minus the avocado because Sara is allergic... not to be a downer, but I would probably be the saddest person ever if I couldn't eat avocado..... I don't even want to think about it. haha

So the rest of the day was spent recovering, watching football aka the Giants lose... this meant a not-so-happy BF, and consuming lots & lots of both tea & apple cider.

Then BF remained the angel that he is and asked me what I wanted for dinner because he wanted to cook that night. yayyyyy :) We went to Big Y and headed straight for the seafood, of course, and settled on the Coconut Panko haddock. Holyyyy Bajesus was this good!!!!!

Don't mind the rather dark picture... I used my phone because it was on my lap and I didn't want to search for my camera!

This definitely doesnt do it justice.. the fish was delicious and I paired it with another scoop of my lo mein from lunch.. I could have eaten this times 3 probably. I love me some good seafood!! :)

We took it easy the rest of the night, relaxed, and got to bed early because BF had class the next day and I had work the next afternoon...

Made a quick breakky in the a.m. before leaving...

WW english muffin with a spread of smooth PB (I couldn't wait to get home to my Teddie...) and an apple on the side...

Stopped at the gym on the way home to get in a quick workout...

20 minutes treadmill - 10 min walk warmup - 10 min run

30 minutes elliptical

My shins were NOT cooperating with me Monday morning which was a real downer for me because I had such false hope that they were getting better because of my awesome run a few days before this...

I figure I just need to keep icing my shins after workouts, resting when I can, and maybe start wrapping my right ankle pre-workout... *sigh* let's hope that makes a difference.

Work was work....

Came home exhausted & sleep deprived and went to bed.

Just to get up yesterday morning and do it again, only this time I had a double! Blech...

Packed some snackies quick... I didn't have enough time to make lunch so I had to use my noggin when it came to time to eat...

I packed my pumpkin oats in a travel mug because I was running late.. lovely between the legs shot here bahaha.

It ended up being wayyyy too ridiculously busy yesterday during lunch to even finish my oats. FAIL. Plus the fact our regional manager was at the restaurant all day today meeting with my bosses sooo it was kinda looked down upon to be snacking in the corner. Honestly... I was too busy to even think about eating until 4pm when I finally had a break! I made $105 at lunch (unheard of!) which made the rush veryy worth it...

Apparently it was a local voting day?? So alot of the kids had the day off from school... therefore lots of families were wandering in and there were only 3 servers on, including me-self.

Dinner was slightly less eventful.. It wasn't too busy and I was exhausted from lunch and my lack of sleep still so after getting cut I had a nice glass of Chardonnay (much needed - I promise) with two co-workers and chatted for a bit then headed home to fall into a coma in my mem foam.

Are you still here???

Haha... finally coming up to today....

Woke up this morning rested, ever so comfortable... pretty much "Don't ever want to move from this bed" type comfy, and felt ten times better :) I took my time getting up and when I finally did I wanted oats in my belly after so much non-Allio style food this weekend because I was up at UConn, meals like this are sooo needed.

Apple Cinnamon Raisin oats to be exact...

Shown in the morning light.

What a beaaaautiful image.. it makes me smile :)

1 cup water, 1/2 cup oats, 3/4 chopped Gala apple, lots & lots of cinnamon, small handful of raisins, melted Teddie PB...mmmmmmm

Great start to my day that's for sure!

The agenda for today is:
~Gym (after icing my ankle for a bit & LOTS of stretching)

~Errands (Bank, grocery store - we have a lack of fruit in this house and it won't do for a second + ingredients for dinner)

~Baking (I need to use my apples from the apple picking so I'm throwing together an Apple Spice Cake for dessert tonight)

~Cooking (Wednesday nights are "Date Night' for my parents and before I started working at the restaurant, I was always home for it and we would make a big, delicious dinner... drink wine... chat & catch up which I loved doing... Now I'm usually working doubles on Weds but luckily this week they had switched me to working a double Tues so for the first time in a looong time I'll be home for Date Night.... that calls for my parents' fav recipe of mine: Veggie Chili!)

I originally began making the chili a looong time ago with beef (back when I still kinda enjoyed it...ehhh) and they were infatuated with it, but over time I've weened off of most meat & began replacing the beef with turkey and then most recently opted to leave out the meat completely and see if anyone noticed the difference.

All three versions were family approved so I'm sticking with the veggie version... I will post the recipe once it's done tonight, along with the Apple Spice cake! :) I'm pretty excited for dinner, I wont lie... chili is SUCH a comfort food for me. It's warm, filling, hearty, and full of great nutrient rich ingredients... not to mention it always reminds me of Fall & Winter when it's soo cold outside but a bowl of chili by the fire keeps me nice & toasty.

What's your favorite warm meal on cold days???

Well I'm off!

Happy Wednesday Darlings :)