Category Archives: Uncategorized

Happy Thanksgiving and Some News!

Posted on November 26, 2009 | 5 comments

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! I can’t believe it’s already here. I’m writing this post bright and early before my race (the Turkey Trot) at 9:30 a.m. I’m actually a little nervous. I haven’t run a 5k race in a long time. I’m hoping I can work up enough speed – I’m so used to longer runs now. Wish me luck!

I’ll get into my eats from yesterday in a minute, but first I just want to share some fun news. I recently started writing for Examiner.com as the NY Health and Happiness Examiner! I’m pretty pumped about this new prospect.

Those of you who know me, know that in my former life I was an aspiring journalist and freelance writer. But sadly, journalism wasn’t exactly paying the bills, if you know what I mean. Seriously, it’s the most difficult profession to get into and the most underpaid.

Anyway – I learned about Examiner.com and liked that I could write about what I wanted and do so within my timeframe. As of right now, I have two articles posted, but am sure I’ll be churning out some more soon. Feel free to check out my page and articles:

Finding holiday balance
Happiness: on a budget

I’m very excited about this opportunity to write creatively and I really welcome your feedback and ideas! You can subscribe to get notifications about my latest articles (subscription is free).

So now back to the blog. My eats yesterday began with a breakfast of oatmeal, 1 tsp. of pumpkin butter, 1 tsp. of peanut butter and a handful of raisins.

Lunch was eaten early because I was soo hunnggry! I usually wait till about 1:00, but 12:30 hit and I lunged for my food. Reduced fat triscuits, Laughing Cow Original Flavor Light Swiss Cheese, and some carrots.

Our office closed yesterday at 3:00 for the holiday, so I ate my afternoon snack right before I left. I had Greek yogurt with Flax Plus Granola and oats mixed in.

After our “early dismissal” I headed to Penn Station (the bain of my existence – hate it soo much) and waited eagerly for my train. As I expected, it was PACKED with holiday travellers and worse – an HOUR late! I found a seat, settled in and proceeded to read David Copperfield for a while. I am happy to say I really and truly am almost done!!

What are you currently reading?!

I was raveous after my trip and was thrilled to see that Momma B (that’s my mom’s nickname) had a nice little dinner all ready for me.

I am getting this recipe – it was delicious. Pasta, chicken, grape tomatoes, chicken broth, artichoke, roasted red peppers. I gobbled (giggle) it up and then had some banana pudding that my mom “had made too much of.” Yeah right. I ended up only eating about 2/3 of this.

Then I set to work making some homemade apple sauce for today! YUM.

I drank water throughout the night in preparation for the race today. Although it’s a very short race, I’m a big believer in proper hydration! Then I went to bed super early because I was exhausted. 🙂

Oh and here’s a picture of my big bully kitty attacking one of my parent’s cats. Murphy is the mean looking tabby about to attack. They look vicious, but they never actually hurt each other. It’s apparently how they “play.”

And now it’s almost race time and then lots of good eating with the Callahans! Have a great Thanksgiving everyone!

What was your favorite dish of T-Day?!

My final, final note: I came across this article yesterday about The Biggest Loser and it got me thinking. Take a look:

On ‘The Biggest Loser,’ Health Can Take Back Seat

Then I saw part of the Biggest Loser special and decided that I think the show does more good than harm. What do you think?

5 Comments

Posted in Books, Running, Uncategorized

Why Blogging is the Best!

Posted on November 25, 2009 | 9 comments

The reasons to blog and read blogs seem unending. As a fairly new blogger, I’m still discovering all the new and exciting things blogging has to offer. Undoubtedly, for me, one of the best things about blogging is that it makes me accountable for living a healthy and balanced life. I’ve become more aware of what I’m putting in my body and working harder to keep it healthy and active.

But I digress! That’s not what I wanted this post to be about at all. I encountered another reason yesterday that showed me why blogging is the best. Connections – it’s all about connections! Yesterday through the blog world, I came across another blogger living in NYC from my hometown area (Melissa), sent a fellow blogger a job link (which she applied to), discussed a potential fun run (with Dori), and felt much relieved to read that so many other runners worry about running in the dark (it’s not just me) and take necessary precautions (Caitlin – comments section).

It felt great to be so connected!

What are some interesting and inspiring ways you’ve connected with other bloggers?

Now on to my day…

Breakfast yesterday was a multi-grain English muffin with peanut butter on one side and jelly on the other with a splash of light cranberry juice.

Lunch was… can you guess? Leftovers!! I actually think this was better the second time around.

Snacks for the afternoon were Greek yogurt with oats and granola, and an afternoon apple (no pic of the apple) before the gym.

I hit the gym after work because I wanted to get in a quick speed workout before the Turkey Trot on Thursday morning. Here was my workout:

3.1 miles in 25:20
.9 mile – for a total of 4 miles in 34 minutes
85 crunches
30 alternating leg crunches

I did notice that my left foot is hurting a little bit. It’s not unbearable, just a weird pain underneath the ball of my foot. I’m hoping it’s nothing serious and that it feels better by Thursday.

Once I got home from the gym, I flew into action. I ate, showered, vacuumed, packed and tidied up. I was too exhausted to go to any great lengths with my dinner. This is what I managed to scrape together:

Amy’s Organic Lentil and Vegetable Soup, some cheddar cheese and two dill pickles – from varying jars. But then my body also told me it was craving peanut butter, so I had this for dessert:

And then it was basically time for bed. Seriously – my days are disappearing! I was able to squeeze in a few more pages of Copperfield before I passed out. I have a feeling I may be able to finish it this weekend!

I’m switching up my schedule a bit and trying to post a daily recap of the full day on the following morning. We’ll see if this works better with my schedule.

If you’re a blogger, what’s your blogging schedule (if you have one)? Do you post several times a day, once a day, once a week? What time(s) of day work best for you?

And a general question: when (time of day) do you most frequently “browse” other blogs?

I get out of work today (Wednesday) at 3:00 and am then hopping on a train upstate. I’ll be cooking with my momma tonight and running the Turkey Trot in the morning, so I’m not sure if I’ll get another post in before then. Then it’s off to Utica for Thanksgiving with the Callahans! 🙂

P.S. – I cried twice while watching The Biggest Loser last night. I just can’t help it! I also want Amanda to come back at the end and look as hot as Rebecca did. I think she can do it.

9 Comments

Posted in Bloggers, Uncategorized

Happy Birthday Hubby!

Posted on November 23, 2009 | 8 comments

Good evening. It’s Monday night and I’ve finally found some time for a Monday recap. First, Happy Birthday Hubby!! I miss you and hope you’re having fun upstate. Can’t wait to see you on Thursday.

Second, I have to admit that I am still exhausted from my busy, busy weekend and I did NOT make it to the gym this morning. I don’t know why I keep trying for these early-morning workouts, it really doesn’t seem like it’s going to happen. And then I lose an hour of sleep when I keep hitting snooze over and over for an hour.

Do you prefer to work out in the morning or at night?

Breakfast this morning, after I didn’t work out, was oatmeal with Flax Plus Pumpkin Granola and pumpkin butter.

In retrospect, I probably should have grabbed a coffee on my way in today. I was dragging all day. And I was ravenous all day. I ate my mid-morning snack (granola bar – no pic) at 9:30 a.m.! Way too early for me. I think because I ate way too SO much food this weekend, my body was in devour mode and was ready to keep on eating at my weekend pace. I ended up eating my afternoon snack before noon as well! Walnuts and raisins – and I didn’t snap a pic until almost halfway through the gobble:

I didn’t plan anything for lunch and the cupboards in our apartment are nearly bare! I’ll be gone from Wednesday through Sunday, so I don’t really want to stock up much. That means that lunch ended up being a salad today with Romain lettuce, carrots, cheddar cheese, dried cranberries, peas and chick peas.

A little while later I was still hungry – so I had some greek yogurt with oats.

And then about an hour after that some chips.

As you can see, I was on a rampage. I left work and really wanted to go to the gym for a quick run, but I had a bunch of errands I needed to run and I wanted to throw in a load of laundry. I love holidays, but it also means I have to squeeze some of my weekend cleaning and organizing into the week. My hope was to get enough done tonight, so that I can hit the gym for a bit tomorrow night.

I came home after running a few errands and threw together dinner with the remainder of last week’s Sweet Potato.

I made a nice little Sweet Potato Veggie Mix-Up that consisted of the following:

Ingredients

1/2 large sweet potato
1/4 cup chopped onion
1/4 cup carrots – chopped
half of a green pepper – chopped
1 cup of chicken or vegetable stock
4 veggie sausages
tablespoon of soy sauce
salt and pepper to taste

Directions
Soften the sweet potato in the microwave for 7-8 minutes – place in a bowl with the chicken stock. Meanwhile, saute the carrots, onion and pepper in olive oil. Remove the sweet potato from the microwave and place the veggie sausage in the microwave for 45 seconds. Remove the sausages and cut them up. Place the sweet potato with stock and veggie sausages in the pan with the other veggies. Add a tablespoon of soy sauce and cook together for approximately 7 minutes.

After dinner I was still a little hungry. I intended to only eat half of this Pecan Pie Larabar…but I ate the whole thing. It was just a hungry, hungry day.

Interesting in the News:

Eat and Drink Your Way to a Healthy Colon?

I have to travel for work next week, so this was interesting: America’s Healthiest Airports. Sadly, neither of the airports I’ll be visiting were listed in the top 10 – oh well, I’ve survive.

Good night blog world!

8 Comments

Posted in Recipes, Uncategorized

Whirlwind Weekend

Posted on November 22, 2009 | 8 comments

It’s Sunday afternoon and I finally have nothing to do. Well, that’s not true – I could be doing laundry, cleaning, unpacking, etc. – but instead I chose to upload photos from this weekend and blog. It was such a crazy weekend, I really don’t know where to begin.

Friday afternoon I left work around 3:30 and headed up to Albany on the train with my friend Rachael. Our friend Stephanie picked us up from the station and we headed to Beff’s for dinner. Before we even got there, I knew I HAD to have the nachos. I was ravenous. The nachos at Beff’s are amazing. So we all decided to share a huge thing of nachos and then have side salads as well. Here is Rach getting ready for the nachos.

What is your biggest “can’t say no” food? I love nachos so much, I can’t deny myself.

And here are our nachos and small salads (not so small – nothing at Beff’s is small really).

Needless to say we were totally FULL by the end of our meal. We called it an early night and headed back to my parents.

Our friend Kelly’s bridal shower was Saturday at noon, so I had a lighter breakfast to tide me over: some cranberry bread my mom made and some apple cider.

It was a good thing I didn’t eat a heavy breakfast because this was my lunch at the shower:

Deliciousness – salad, pasta salad, beef medallions, fruit salad, penne with vodka, steamed veggies and roasted potatoes. I think I got almost everything available at the buffet. And this was my plate afterwards:

A job well done – I think! But then of course there was some dessert to be had. Amazing, amazing desserts:

I ate almost all of the desserts on my plate. No after picture was taken.

The shower was so beautiful and a ton of fun. We left the shower, ran a few errands, relaxed for a bit and then Rachael and I headed back out to Buca Di Beppo to meet some of the girls for “pre New Moon” drinks. We had some calamari there, as well as some wine, but I forgot to take food pics. So here is a group pic instead!

Kim, Becky, Lauren, Rachael and me!

We left Buca and headed over to the mall to wait in line for New Moon. My New Moon reaction: I definitely liked it better than the first movie, I think Bella and Edward can still be a little too cheesy, but overall it was pretty decent. I also heard they already finished shooting Eclipse. Maybe we won’t have to wait a year for the next one. Update: Just read that Eclipse is coming out June 2010. Not a full year – good!

If you saw New Moon – what is your reaction? Thumbs up, thumbs down?

I also have to be honest and say that the Sour Patch Watermelon candies were calling my name at the theater, and I gave in:

We left the movie and by this point, it had been a pretty long day. We met up with a few other friends for one more drink. I sipped on some water and a diet coke (I needed some caffeine). I think we got back to my parent’s house around 1:00 a.m. So tired!

And finally we get to Sunday. I woke up and had some more of the cranberry bread (I’ll post the recipe tomorrow) for breakfast. Then we headed over to Lauren’s house to meet her new kitty cat and see Tera’s son Jackson. It was such a cutefest – I have to post a few pics. This is Miss Scotia!

And this is Jackson – growing up so fast!

Then Lauren’s sister came over with her little boy: Riley!

The cuteness factor was off the chart! They are both growing like little weeds. Pretty soon it was time for Rach and I to head back to NYC on the train. We got to the station and I was famished. I ended up getting a pre-made Turkey sandwich on Rye bread and a piece of chocolate for the trip.

And my gosh – that was just the longest, most all-over-the-place post ever! Sorry. What a busy, crazy and fun weekend. Now I wish I had a rest and recovery day before heading back to work on Monday.

How do you “recover” after a busy weekend? Any tips or tricks to feel more rested on Monday morning?

Now I’m off to unpack and probably head to bed early tonight. I MAY try to hit the gym in the a.m. We’ll see how that works out…

Have a great Sunday!

8 Comments

Posted in Restaurants, Uncategorized

Poor Planning, Poor Me

Posted on November 20, 2009 | 5 comments

Happy Friday – Finally!! To be honest, this week went by pretty fast for me. Except now today is dragging. But first, my Thursday night recap.

When I left you in my Thursday afternoon post, I was getting pumped up to go running with my co-worker after work. Alas, it did not happen – sadness. The skies were threatening rain and she didn’t seem too eager about the idea in general, so we postponed.

That can mean only one thing – a date with the dreaded treadmill. Boo. But I survived. On Wednesday night I actually forgot my iPod and had to run sans music. Thank goodness for TVs with closed captioning. Last night I remembered my iPod – so I was golden. My workout:

4 miles on the treadmill in 35:05
1/2 mile cool down
85 crunches
15 leg lowers
stretching

Then I headed home and threw in a load of wash and made some dinner – by which I mean I reheated my leftovers from the night before. I LOVE leftovers! And I added a pinch more curry to the dish – yum.

Do you plan ahead and make extra food so you’ll have leftovers or are you not a leftovers fan?

I promise I took a new pic, it’s not just a repost from the previous night.

And then I needed some dessert. I threw together a glob of plain Chobani Greek yogurt, dollop of peanut butter, a little granola and crumbled up the remaining two pieces of chocolate from the night before to make this mess:

It was yummy!

Then I packed for my trip upstate this weekend and watched Grey’s Anatomy. Was anyone else thrown by the jump from Thanksgiving to Christmas in a span of 5 minutes?! All of a sudden Mark’s daughter had been living there a month and there’s a Christmas tree? What?

Again, I got to bed later than I wanted, but made some progress on David Copperfield – I’ve surpassed page 600! My “To Read” List is soo long, I really need Copperfield to end soon. But I will admit, the story has gotten a little more captivating.

I woke up this morning in a flurry to gather all my odds and ends for my trip and made a lazy breakfast of Kashi Cereal with blueberries and skim milk.

I got to work, realized I forgot my ID card to get in, and decided that I was going to need some coffee. So my morning snack was coffee and a granola bar.

At my office, it’s kind of a hassle to enter the building if you don’t have your ID card. You pretty much feel like a criminal. You have to wait to be “escorted” up by another employee. I didn’t really bring much food with me today because of all the other junk I had with me, so lunch became a desperate situation. And I didn’t want to leave the building and have to go through the whole “escorting” thing all over again.

This is what I managed for lunch (forgive me). Some Progresso’s Chicken and Wild Rice soup that was in my food drawer (yes, holy MSG, but desperate times people…), Chobani peach yogurt with oats, and a few Rice chippers.

So the soup is really the only less-than-good food on my lunch list, but it was just such a disappointment. I used to eat these cans of soup for lunch ALL THE TIME, but since trying to eat “cleaner” and cut out unnecessary chemicals, I’ve been avoiding them. Oh well.

And lord help me, but my only snack for the afternoon is a banana (no pic).

I’m a little scared to see how ravenous I’ll be by the time I get to Albany at 7pm. Or to see if I can hold off buying something terrible at the train station. I’m out of here at 3:30!!

Dinner tonight will be with my good friends Stephanie and Rachael at my uncle and cousin’s restaurant Beff’s. They have the best nachos in the world… my restraint will be tested – I make no promises.

Some interesting headlines:

Phys Ed: Why Exercise Makes You Less Anxious

U.S. Food Safety Likely to Get Overhaul in 2010

Have a great weekend all! I’ll try to post as much as I can – I am pretty sure some delicious food will be had this weekend. 🙂

5 Comments

Posted in Books, Running, Uncategorized

More Curry Please!

Posted on November 19, 2009 | 5 comments

It’s Thursday – yay! Before I get to today, here’s the end of yesterday. After work yesterday, I hit up the gym and this was my workout:

4 miles in 35:35
75 crunches
25 leg lowers
50 (25 on each side) twist crunches
Arms: 5 pound weights – 2 reps of 15 biceps, two reps of 15 shoulder press, 2 reps of 15 tricep kick-backs
15 squats
15 lunges

Then I came home and found this:

Bill is taking some time off and heading up to his parent’s house and I won’t see him until Thanksgiving! He also took Murphy up with him, so the house is super quiet. Very strange. So sweet of him to leave me a nice gift. Love you hubby!

I was so hungry after the gym that I instinctively grabbed one of the Workout Cookies I made Sunday from Tina’s recipe. I just couldn’t wait for dinner to be ready. And I didn’t remember to take a pic until it was almost gone – I was devouring it.

How do you stop from snacking too much before dinner’s ready? Do you have a light snack that holds you over, do you drink tea, etc.?

For dinner, I made a recipe from Cooking Light. It’s old – from 1997, but the curry idea drew me in after my Indian dinner last month with Katie.

Do you have a favorite curry dish?

Curried Sweet Potato Apple Pilaf

Ingredients

1 1/2 teaspoons olive oil
1/4 cup chopped green onions
1 garlic clove, minced
1/2 cup uncooked long-grain rice
1 cup water
2/3 cup diced peeled sweet potato
1 cup cubed peeled Granny Smith apple
1/4 cup frozen green peas
2 tablespoons currants
3/4 teaspoon curry powder
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon salt

Preparation

Heat oil in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Add onions and garlic; sauté 1 minute. Stir in rice; sauté 1 minute. Add water and sweet potato; bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 15 minutes or until liquid is almost absorbed. Stir in apple and remaining ingredients; cover and simmer 3 minutes or until thoroughly heated.

My Modifications: no currants (the grocery store I went to didn’t have any and I was too lazy to go elsewhere), instead of a granny smith apple I used a Gala apple, and I used brown rice instead of long grain wild (we already had some in the house).

It was gooooood! I actually think my apple substitution worked really well – it went perfectly with the curry and sweet potato. I held back a bit on the curry, (having not cooked too much with it), but next time I’d add a bit more.

After dinner I treated myself to two squares of chocolate – yum!!

It was a quiet night in the house with my boys gone. And this morning was silent as well. Usually Murphy is running around trying to get me to play with him and Bill is in the kitchen making coffee and his breakfast. So I made my breakfast of a multi-grain English muffin with peanut butter and banana in solitude.

Thank goodness it’s Thursday! I am ready for this week to be over and for the fun to begin upstate. Tomorrow night I have a dinner date with two lovely ladies, Saturday is Kelly’s bridal shower, and then Saturday night a bunch of us girls are going to see New Moon. It should be interesting – I fully expect to be surrounded by teenage girls.

Anyway – here was my lunch for today: veggies (carrots, green pepper and cucumber) with balsamic vinegar, honey Greek yogurt with oats, and a clementine.

I’m hoping to go for a nice run outside with my co-worker after work (if the rain holds off) and so my afternoon snack is pretty decent. Triscuits with Lite Original Flavor Laughing Cow Cheese and a Workout Cookie.

As you may have noticed, I am not trying the “Vegan Blogger for a Day” challenge, organized by two other bloggers (Katy and Michelle), but I fully support the idea. Maybe next year I’ll give it a shot!

Are you participating in Vegan Blogger for a Day? How’s it going?

5 Comments

Posted in Uncategorized

A Bloggy Dinner in the City

Posted on November 18, 2009 | 14 comments

You know the drill – it’s Wednesday, but my Tuesday night recap comes first. After work last night, I headed to Candle Cafe on the UES to meet up with Megan and Chelsea, two other local bloggers, and Darien and Courtney – local blog readers! I’m constantly reading Megan and Chelsea’s sites for interesting recipes and running tips.

It was so nice to get together with these welcoming and interesting ladies. I really enjoyed my meal: the Ginger-Miso Stir Fry. And everyone elses’ dinner looked and smelled amazing as well. Here’s my dinner and the two other bloggies snapping away!

Aren’t we so cute?!

(This photo courtesy of Megan – thank you!)

Our convo was all over the place: food, running, blogging, reading blogs, restaurants in the city, etc. It was nice to hear everyone’s perspectives and finally meet Megan and Chelsea in person. Hopefully we can all do it again soon and maybe even plan a run in the near future!

I left our dinner party pretty full and tired. I headed home and watched the hubby pack for his trip to Utica and then headed to bed early. I can’t believe Thanksgiving is almost here… as is Bill’s Birthday!!

This morning’s breakfast was oatmeal with FlaxPlus Granola, pumpkin butter and blueberries.

Lunch was leftovers from the Sunday night (it was time to finish them up): rice and beans with onion and corn. It actually really hit the spot. I also had some Greek yogurt (honey flavor) with oats. I’ve never tried the honey flavor before (I don’t know why), but the hubby picked it up for me and so I gave it a whirl. Pretty tasty.

Snacks for the afternoon will be carrots, two clementines and probably a few chippers.

I’m hitting up the gym tonight to add some POTM miles to my list and to train for the Turkey Trot, which is not so far away! Dreaded treadmill here I come!!

Happy to see this headline: USDA Backs Rewarding Schools Serving Healthy Food

Wary of this headline: New U.S. Guidelines: Routine Mammograms Start at 50 (instead of 40)

14 Comments

Posted in Bloggers, Restaurants, Uncategorized

To Eat Meat or Not to Eat Meat…

Posted on November 17, 2009 | 7 comments

Happy Tuesday! But first let me recap my Monday night. I had my dinner last night at the office before heading to the book reading. Dinner was leftover rice and beans.

Event: Eating Animals Book Reading at Barnes & Noble
Last night, I went with my co-worker and one of her friends to this book reading in Union Square. I have to say, the author Jonathan Safran Foer was extremely articulate, engaging and passionate. It was one of the best readings I’ve gone to so far.

I was a little nervous that the reading/discussion would be all about the slaughterhouses and cruelty. I was relieved when Foer specifically veered away from the area. Instead, he talked a lot about how the meat industry is a very closed-off and untouchable business. He said the most disturbing thing he encountered during his research was that we buy these meat products, ingest them, give them to our children, and yet we have no idea how they are made and can’t find out if we tried.

Foer wrote to Dyson and other meat producers and asked for admittance to their factories and he never so much as received a response. It’s really scary to think that we are eating this food and we have no idea what’s in it! He talked about the fact that the meat industry actually makes more money by producing “sick” animals – animals injected with antibiotics and hormones. And then we eat these animals and everything in their bodies.

He actually really didn’t focus on the “humanitarian” ideals that lead many people to become vegetarians – not wanting to hurt/kill animals. According Foer, that’s not the question we should be asking at this point. The meat industry and its issues were more prominent focuses by far. And he brought up the thing the gets me most – how these antibiotics and chemicals are being ingested and affecting humans in so many ways: girls going through puberty at an earlier age, increase in issues with pregnancies (miscarriages), and much more.

Here are a few pics from the event (I didn’t have my Rebel with me):

I left right after the discussion and apparently missed out on seeing Natalie Portman! She was in the front row. Oh well – maybe at the next book reading I’ll run into her.

Sorry for the long recap, but this event really got me thinking. What do you think? Do you eat meat, and if so, does the lack of transparency in the meat industry scare you? Would you or have you considered going vegetarian? Do you buy local non-factory-farmed, grass-fed meat – where?

After the reading I headed home and was still a little hungry despite my earlier dinner. I snacked on some popcorn (with a little Parmesan cheese sprinkled on top) and a few raisins (no pic).

Then I headed off to read some more Copperfield before bed (I broke 500 pgs!).

Breakfast this morning was just what I was craving: a multi-grain English muffin with peanut butter and banana. Yum!

I set my alarm for 5:15 a.m. because I was going to get up and do some pilates and that never happened. I am definitely not a morning person. Bill always laughs at me when I do this, but it’s frustrating.

What are your tricks or tips for actually getting up in the morning to work out?

Lunch today was a mix: a workout cookie (I know – I didn’t workout today!) and Greek yogurt with oats.

My afternoon snack will be walnuts and raisins and carrots:

Tonight a few local bloggers are getting together for a nice little dinner at a place in my neighborhood that I’ve wanted to try. Can’t wait!

7 Comments

Posted in Bloggers, Books, Uncategorized

Master Murphy = Murky Monday Morning

Posted on November 16, 2009 | 8 comments

It’s Monday (ugh), but first I have to recap Sunday night. I left off after my beautiful run. I wish every weekend could be as nice and cooperate with my plans.

After my run I started cleaning like c-r-a-z-y. The apartment was gross. I stopped after a little bit to have a snack. Triscuits with Laughing Cow Light Original Swiss and two pickles. I LUV pickles.

Cleaning ensued for way too a LONG time. Murphy is terrified of the vacuum cleaner, so he was not a happy camper. But finally, I finished around 4:00 and read a few blogs. Tina’s adapted Workout Cookies sounded divine, so I decide to make them. I used bigger muffin tins and filled them a bit more, so it only made six.

I tried one and it was really good. And then I’m ashamed to say… I ate another one! I know – probably too much for one day, but I felt my long and great run earlier entitled me to a treat.

I was pretty full after that, but knew that I needed to have a “real” dinner a little later. I needed something quick, so I made rice and beans. I cooked the rice with some chicken (bouillon cube) flavoring, corn and onions. Toward the end I added in the beans. We had “pink beans” in the cupboard, which I must have bought because they sounded pretty. They weren’t too bad – added a different flavor to the rice.

After that, I was very full. The remainder of my night was watching some football, reading and missing my hubby – who was away again this weekend.

Are you a “three square meals a day” eater?

Do you eat/cook differently when your significant other isn’t around?

And so finally we come to Monday morning. UGH again! Murphy harassed me all night, so I’m very tired today. He was snuggling, purring, laying on me and then biting me all nite! Bill came home late and ended up sleeping on the couch because, and I quote, “Murphy was hogging my side.” Don’t move him or anything?! Let the little prince have his way.

Is your pet(s) allowed to sleep on the bed with you?

So I got up late and ended up having a lame-o breakfast of Kashi Cereal.

Lunch was sort of lame-o as well – as salad from a nearby cafe: lettuce, cheddar cheese, walnuts, craisins, peas and carrots. And some Greek yogurt.

My snack for the afternoon will be raspberries and blueberries. I usually have more, but I’m actually going to eat my dinner right before I leave work tonight because I’m going to a book reading/signing at 7:00 p.m. and I know I’ll be hungry before the end of it.

The book is Eating Animals, by Jonathan Safran Foer and the event is at Barnes and Noble in Union Square. I actually don’t have the book yet and I’m hoping the reading will help me decide whether to buy it or not. Here’s a little blurb from the synopsis:

“…Eating Animals explores the many fictions we use to justify our eating habits-from folklore to pop culture to family traditions and national myth-and how such tales can lull us into a brutal forgetting.”

I know he’s probably going to talk a lot about the slaughterhouses and all sorts of terrifying and depraved circumstances animals are raised in. We’ll see how I do. I’ve already been eating less meat, but I don’t think I could ever go entirely vegetarian.

A full recap of the event will come tomorrow! Hope the rest of your Monday is great.

8 Comments

Posted in Uncategorized

A Great Weekend to Run

Posted on November 15, 2009 | 3 comments

It’s Sunday and I didn’t get any blogging in yesterday. But I did get something else in… a nice run!! I woke up to a light drizzle yesterday, but checked weather.com and it said no “real” rain was in the forecast until later on. Ever since marathon-training, I’m an eat-before-I-run-runner, so I had a multi-grain English muffin with peanut butter and banana before I headed out.

Then I went for my much-needed run. I did probably around 5 miles on the East River Esplanade. I tried to figure out the exact distance on mapmyrun, but the site doesn’t show the esplanade, so it’s hard to estimate. That’s why I really want a Garmin!! I ran what I guess to be 5 miles in 46 minutes, not my fastest, but not my slowest. Then I did some stretching afterwards.

About an hour later I was hungry again, so I had some Greek yogurt with Flax Plus Granola.

The rest of my afternoon consisted of two loads of laundry, a little boob tube and this (yes, I’m STILL reading it):

And I may have napped for 3o minutes by accident. Oh well! Then it was time to eat some food and get ready for my friend Alexondra’s apartment-warming party on the West Side. For dinner I finished up the lettuce and some veggies and fruit in the fridge: lettuce, cheddar cheese, apple, grape tomatoes, cucumber, walnuts, raisins – balsamic vinegar on top.

I’m a bad blogger – I forgot to bring my camera with me to the party! But I can tell you that her apartment is gorgeous – what a great find. And there was some tasty homemade humus which I nibbled on, along with a glass of red wine and 2 beers. Then I called it a night. I knew I wanted to get up and try to run again today.

Today’s weather was even better for a run! Again, I had some breakfast first: oatmeal with pumpkin butter, flax seed and blueberries.

Then I set out for Central Park – it was 60 degrees outside! It’s 1 mile from our apartment to Central Park, so that serves as my warm-up and cool down. If I hit the lights right I can fly there non-stop, which happened this morning and helped set my pace. Here are my times:

1 mile warm-up there: 9:13
6.1 mile CP Loop: 51:30
1 mile cool down home: 8:30

I calculated my average mile time for the loop and I was averaging an 8:26 minute mile! That’s almost exactly where I need to be to qualify for Boston. However, I felt like I was pushing it and was pretty tired after the loop, so I don’t know if I’d be able to sustain that speed for 26.2 miles. It’s something to work on.

I also feel like I tend to run faster in Central Park because there are soo many runners and I’m the kind of runner that doesn’t like to be behind people or too close to other runners, so it seems like I’m constantly focusing on passing the next runner.

Do you have certain running routes that push you to run faster or harder than others? What helps you increase your speed?

After my fantastic run I came home, stretched, showered and had a snack. Chobani Greek peach yogurt with more blueberries, apple, and Flax Plus Granola with Pumpkin. The pumpkin bread is finally gone – sadness!

Murphy also stretched a bit:

Now it’s time for the not fun part of my weekend…CLEANING. Our apartment needs a really good once over. So that is my plan for the remainder of the day. I’m thinking dinner tonight will have to be quick and easy, because I’ll probably be exhausted. Have a nice Sunday!

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