Refuse

As in trash. Not as in I won’t do it. Today is trash day in my neighborhood. On the way to the gym, I passed a giant rat and a toilet. Awesome.

I did arms on the step and the StairMaster at the gym. Stats: 1 hour, 7 mins; 424 calories, 131 average hr, 177 maximum.

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For breakfast, I had my first serving of the pumpkin pie crockpot oats I made yesterday, along with the vanilla creme tea from Vani and soymilk:

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I topped the oats with 1/2 cup yogurt, 2 crumbled graham sticks, 1 crumbled Earl Grey Biscotti Bite, cinnamon, and nutmeg:

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I’ve got class tonight after work, so it’s going to be another looong day. I’ll be back at the end of it with a full report!

The end of an (oatmeal) era

I slept until 9 this morning!!! That’s a record — I usually only “sleep in” until 7:30 when the sun and the birds start coming out. Earplugs are saving my life, let me tell you.

Heather noticed that the little doll/decoration that I knocked over and had to glue back together on Thursday had red hair and wondered if people have been giving me red-haired things all my life since, you know, I’m a redhead. The answer, unfortunately, is no. This is why:

with siblings at high school graduation party in 2000 (I'm on the right)

with siblings at high school graduation party in 2000 (I'm on the right)

That’s right — in some sort of biological accident, I was born with BROWN hair.

On to the oats …

I was hungry the second I got out of bed, so I threw my last serving of gingerbread crockpot oats into the oven. You might be happy that these oats are gone since this is the sixth day in a row you’ve had to hear about them, but I am very sad to say goodbye :-(. I usually take a million pictures of my oats and then choose two to post, but today I can’t choose and I’m going to show you more. I won’t make a habit of this, I promise.

with 1/2 cup yogurt, 2 crumbled graham sticks, and more powdered ginger

with 1/2 cup yogurt, 2 crumbled graham sticks, and more powdered ginger

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And tomato plant tea on the side:

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chocolate caramel enchantment chai with unsweetened silk

Around 11:30, I got hungry again, so I refilled the hot water in my tea and made a happy snack:

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A tbsp pb split between ants on a 1/3 banana log:

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And a juicy Medjool date:

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The existence of the Brooklyn half marathon may be up in the air, but I’m feeling psyched for my imminent 7-mile run in the sunny FORTY degrees we have going on outside. I think I’m going to be able to swap my running tights for capris today, yayyyyy!!

New woman

Last night’s bedtime snack:

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A dark chocolate Godiva heart filled with chocolate goo!

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YUM!

Onto today! Not only have I been taking pictures with my very own camera again (Erin, thanks again for sending the battery to me!), but I am also blogging from my very own computer! That’s right — my new adapter arrived today, so I could finally charge my latop again. My roommate Brigitte’s camera and computer have valiantly kept me afloat this past week (thank you, Brig!!), but it’s so nice to be back to my own gear. I feel like myself again!

I started this morning with my favorite 5am workout — 5 minutes jog to the gym, 15 minutes arms with free weights on an aerobics step, 30 minutes stairmaster, 10 minutes abs/stretching, 5 minutes jog home. Stats: 1 hour and 12 minutes, 422 calories, average heart rate 126, max heart rate 157.

Breakfast was more gingerbread spice crockpot oats:

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For this morning’s oats, I actually stirred in the egg yolk that was left from ravioli-making last night and then baked it at 375 for 40 minutes. Nothing goes to waste around here! With 1/2 cup healthy cream cheese icing, two crumbled graham sticks, and more powdered ginger:

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I love love love gingerbread oatmeal. I would make it every week if I could. Come to think of it, why can’t I??

I ate lunch around noon, right before the parents’ group. Kale and date curry with brown basmati:

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Yogurt with apple, banana, raisins, cinnamon, ginger, and grumbled graham stick:

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Orange:

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I ate the equivalent of one more orange in the group :-O.

Jessica restocked Belkis’ candy jar, and it was suddenly full again today:

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I found (and ate!) some pretty crazy stuff. I had the standard three pillow mints of course:

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And a wild apple bubble-gum lollipop and a tootsie roll:

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Jujyfruits:

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Fangs:

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And … wait for it … a chicken lollipop!!

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So weird, right? It actually tasted like canned peaches with a bit of heat to them. Here’s another angle:

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I might die tonight from the ingredients, but I think I’d be ok with that since at least I got to experience candy chicken on a stick first:

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After my final visit of the day around 4:30, I dug out my broccoli trees and hummus:

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And my apple:

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And with that, the week was over!!! Siiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiigh …

After work, I met Vani from Fit for Free briefly for a little impromptu tea exchange. She stopped by to pick up her participation gift from the BSI: Dates contest I hosted last week (Kath and I decided to split the tea portion of her winnings amongst the participants since she’s drowning in tea as it is!). Vani was so sweet (and beautiful!) in real life, and she brought me a little treat, too:

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Inside the package, I found an array of very useful tea types considering my frenzied pace lately. Calm bedtime tea, peppermint tea, pink lemonade emergen-c, organic Indian vanilla creme tea (wicked excited for this one!), and TJ’s pomegranate white tea:

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Thanks, Vani! I’m so excited to try these new flavors:-).

For dinner, I had the other half of my BSI Spinach entry: Citrus-Berry Spinach and Goat Cheese Ravioli with Balsamic Glaze:

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SO.

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GOOD.

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Thanks for choosing spinach as the ingredient, Brandi! Eating this was so fun :-).

Dessert was a chocolate fig vitatop with peanut butter and chopped apples:

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What a satisfying food day!

Tomorrow’s going to be a busy one, too … but fun busy (finally!). Among other things, Kate and I have a 7-mile run planned as part of our Brooklyn half marathon training, though HangryPants Heather has passed a rumor my way that the Brooklyn half is no longer happening??? I am off to go check into this now!

Sunlight!

Good morning! I’m in such a good mood — I love my Thursday morning time with daylight :-). I went for a quick little sunrise snow run outside this morning in the 11-degrees-but-feels-like-negative-1 weather (about 2.5 miles) and then came home and did the 20-minute Gentle Hatha #1 from yogadownload.com. Once again, I’m not a yoga person at all, but I really enjoyed this class — such a relaxing and thorough stretch! Total workout stats, including “transition” time:  56 minutes, 281 calories, average heart rate 115, highest heart rate 171.

Breakfast this morning was yet another bowl of crockpot gingerbread spice oats. Only two more servings left after today — sad! With 1/2 cup healthy cream cheese icing, extra powdered ginger, and two cumbled graham sticks:

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Again:

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I could take pictures of oats all day!

I’m currently sipping on some soymilky black tea, and I’ve got class later this morning followed by a group field advisement meeting … but I could actually be home by 3:30 if all goes according to plan! Here’s the lunch I’ll be enjoying during advisement:

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You can probably guess, but just in case you’re stumped, the lunch includes 3/4 cup kale and date curry with 1/4 cup cooked brown basmati rice, an orange, and Greek yogurt with chopped apple, chopped banana, and ginger. I’ve got some work homework to finish up when I get home, and then maybe I can get moving on this week’s BSI (I bought spinach yesterday for $2, bringing the week’s grocery total to $33) because competition is fierce and I want to win those chocolates!

The best laid plans …

(Don’t forget to go visit Brandi — She’s hosting this week’s BSI: Spinach!)

As usual, I have a food plan for today. And as usual, my generous coworkers may throw it into a tailspin :-D.

After the gym this morning (I did Tina’s 45-minute treadmill run for the 3rd time — love this workout! Stats: 1 hour, 6 minutes; 538 calories; 149 average heart rate and 183 max heart rate ), I came home to a gingerbread theme. A shower with this new soap that my stepmom Rae Ann gave me for Christmas:

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Followed by a cup of gingerbread spice crockpot oats topped with 1/3 cup healthy cream cheese icing, 1/4 cup plain yogurt, more ginger, and two crumbled graham sticks:

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With Celestial Seasonings chocolate caramel enchantment chai + unsweetened Silk on the side:

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If you recall from yesterday, I crafted the main course of today’s lunch plan from the chicken + rice Vianni made (see previous post) and the other half of my kale + date curry:

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I left the above entree in the work fridge last night and gathered everything else I needed for today once I got home:

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orange (mid-morning snack), yogurt (lunch dessert), pb + raisins I've been carrying all week, carrot sticks (from Monday night's findings) for afternoon snack, end-of-day apple, and emergency granola bar

Today’s yogurt contains 1/2 cup plain yogurt, chopped apples and melon (both from Monday night‘s findings), raisins, almond extract, and nutmeg:

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I’ll report back later on how it all pans out!

Do you plan your daily food? How closely do you stick to your plan?