Be sure to head on over to Whitney’s Blog I Wore Yoga Pants to Work, that girl cracks me up!
Be sure to head on over to Whitney’s Blog I Wore Yoga Pants to Work, that girl cracks me up!
First I am going to say sorry for the quality of the pics, I was trying to take them at work before I got the side eye (what is that crazy girl doing taking pics of her food?) looks at my desk. I take my meals with me EVERY day, that is the only way I can stay on track and not hit up the vending machines or want to chew my arm off. My stomach is so used to eating every 2-3 hours that it will tell me when I have crossed the line into dangerous territory. For reals!
Breakfast – roughly around 6:00 am
Seriously I have the same breakfast every morning. This doesn’t bother me as I am not a morning person and the less I have to think the better! It used to be a protein shake every morning but then I caught on to Tosca Reno’s Eat Clean Diet and the recipe for her overnight porridge. I make it on the weekend and it is my breakfast for the week! Easy Peasie! Side Note: This porridge will clean out your system if you know what I mean!! TMI?! Oh well not taking it back. This has been the best part of this new diet! Seriously!
Mid Morning Snack – 9:00 am – 9:30 am
I love these Chipotle Chorizo Chicken Sausages for a little different flavor. I vary my protein as much as I can, but for work like to do the same protein source for this snack and lunch to cut out prep. I also made this awesome cucumber spring salad that was a big duh moment for me. All the fixings of a salad minus the lettuce! GENIUS! {Face Palm myself} Don’t get me wrong I love salad and have at least one a day, but this is a great alternative. Click here for the recipe.
Lunch – Noon
Another Chorizo Chicken Sausage and a salad. This salad was inspired by a post by That Fitness Chick. I just recently stumbled on her blog and I love it! Go check it out! Lots of inspiration to be found. Her salad was a Brussel sprout salad which I will be making this week. I switched out the sprouts for spring mix lettuce.
Mid Afternoon Snack – 3:00 pm to 4 pm
I try to go quick and easy and not microwaveable as I am more likely to get pulled into a meeting or had to be away from my desk so better something I can grab and go. Since I work out after work I wanted it to not be too heavy or I get an upset stomach at the gym.
Gym Time/ Pre-workout – 5:45 pm -6 pm
I workout with heavy weights and cardio so I fuel my muscles with Amino Acids supplement. This one is my favorite as it tastes amazing! Watermelon flavor, yes please!
Dinner – roughly 7:30 pm to 8:00 pm (as soon as I get home from the gym)
When I get home from the gym the last thing I want to do is make some complex meal. So I usually end up making an egg white scramble or protein pancakes. If I am still hungry for bed I will make a protein shake, greek yogurt or some cheese.
Are there any meals here that you think you could incorporate into your day? Any that you are saying hells to the no? One of my friends said she would starve if she lived in my house and ate this food, but as you can see I eat frequently so even though my plates don’t runneth over it ends up being a lot of food over the course of the day!
When it comes to healthy eating the thing I struggle with the most is coming up with sides for my protein. I mean I eat about 3-4 pounds of Broccoli a week but after a while that gets really boring. So after scouring Pinterest I ran across this cucumber feta tomato salad. I love that it is a salad minus the lettuce. As much as I love salads this is a little re-vamp that I know will make it into my rotation a few times a week. The original link can be found here.
Ingredients:
~ 1 cucumbers – thinly sliced ~ 1-2 slices of red onions, thinly sliced or diced ~ 4-6 cherry tomatoes – halved ~ 1/4 cup of feta cheese Optional Add Ins: Walnuts, Pecans, Bacon, sliced pears.
For the dressing I used the dressing from my Tomato, Plum, Mozzarella Salad: It makes it so light and fresh tasting.
Dressing: 1 TBSP White Balsamic Vinegar (I used a Fig infused White Vinegar – AMAZING – found it at stop and shop) ~ 1 TBSP lemon juice ~ 1 TBSP EVOO ~ Pinch of Sea Salt and Fresh ground pepper, 1/4 tsp of crushed garlic
The directions for this could not be any easier – slice, dice, dump in a bowl and you are done! You are welcome!
Hope you try this salad, you won’t be disappointed!
Linking up with Jessica and Ashley.
So who is having a case of the Mondays? This girl! Is it just me or are the weekends getting shorter? Feels like it anyways. I am going to keep this short because really if it wasn’t for the few pictures I took I would not remember what I did this weekend. It was a lot of errands and getting ish done, not too glamorous!
Saturday night was spent with my BFF’s. These girls I have known since I was 2 years old. They know all my dirty secrets and love me anyways! Getting to spend time with them is always the best times, and some of my fondest memories (they are closed, it is darker than an a-hole *inside joke) We went to Masa’s Southwest Bar and Grille for some tapas and some laughs.
I had the Sangria Margarita and we shared a sautéed pineapple Coconut concoction. The best part of the evening though was the company!
Sunday was a little more of the same. Errands galore, but I did get to plant some flowers. I am just hoping my black thumb doesn’t kill them.
Nails of the Week – Sinful Colors in Unicorn (photobomb by Seamus)
Smile Board of the Week – Smiles are free, give them freely!
While cleaning my kitchen I realized I have a little problem collecting protein. Oops.
My post workout meal – Chorizo Chicken Sausage with a cucumber salad. So yummy!
How was your weekend? Hope it didn’t go by as quickly as mine did.
Linking up with Sami at Sami’s Shenanigans and Leann at Join the Gossip .
Also linking up with Postcards from Rachel and Northern Belle Diaries.
Make Fancy Cupcakes * Have a picnic * Go hiking * Go on a bike ride * Farmer’s Market * Host a game night *
Make a bird feeder * Go to a red sox game * Eat on the patio at a restaurant * Go to a museum * Bonfire *
Get a pedicure * Do 100 pushups * Make elephant ears i.e. Fried dough * Go for ice cream in Quincy *
Bake a cake * Plant flowers * Play tennis * Go miniature golfing * Take my canoe out * Go to a craft fair *
Take a Hot Yoga Class * Go camping * Drive in movie * Grill Out *
So who wants to help me cross some things off my list? What are some things you would add to your list? I am sure I will be adding more things as I think of them, but I think it’s going to be fun crossing them off.
Seriously is it really Friday!?! Heck yeah! Ok I have a little confession I have seriously been slacking in the workout department this week. I am going to try and use this weekend to get back on track and I hope you will hold me accountable. So check in with me on Twitter, Facebook or Email and call me out on whether or not I worked out yet! Let’s Goooooo!
Linking up for BackthatAzzUpFriday!! This song brings back so many memories of my freshman year at Ohio State and my friend Chelsea and I dancing in the clubs to this song. We would dance our A$$es off. We dropped it low, and had a blast! Here’s to Chelsea, freshman year, Steeb Hall, Ohio State University, and 18 and up bars on High Street!
P.S. To my Dad if you are reading this I never went to above said bars, I was studying.
I can’t believe it is Thursday but I also can’t believe it’s not Friday. After being sequestered in a Continuous Improvement event at work I am completely and utterly drained and that is OK!
It’s OK that I would rather be sleeping than working today!
It’s OK that I have 188 blog posts that are unread. I will catch up soon.
It’s OK that sometimes I feel like a complete failure at life.
It’s OK that when I leave in the morning I feel really guilty, Seamus gives me to most seriously depressing puppy dog sad eyes.
It’s OK that I am looking forward to getting together with by BFF’s this weekend for a Girl’s Night!
It’s OK that I have to read in the morning in order to wake up. Anything to procrastinate getting ready for work.
It is OK that I totally want to change my Blog design AGAIN! Oh Boy!
What are you OK with today?
It is no secret that Sangria is one of my favorite sunny day drinks and what does well with warm weather days??? Watermelon, of course. I tried to search Pinterest for a recipe but didn’t really find any combinations of flavors that was grabbing me so I decided to create my own concoction.
Ingredients: 1-1/2 cups of white wine (I used Pinot Grigio) ~ 1 (750ml) bottle of Moscato (white, pink or red is fine) ~ 1/4 of a whole seedless watermelon ~ lemon ~ lime ~ 7-Up, Sprite, or lime seltzer (I went with 7-Up)
Directions: Cut up your watermelon into cubes and place in a pitcher, add white wine and Moscato and refrigerate for at least an hour or longer. Once ready to serve pour mixture into a glass halfway then top with 7-Up and add a lemon and lime slice for flavor. Then drink till you’re awesome!
Since I like you I will share another quick recipe! This is a refreshing salad that is good for you, but also great for entertaining too!
Ingredients: 1 Large Tomato ~ 2-3 Plums ~ 1 Fresh Mozzarella Ball (Oval Shaped) ~ Chopped Basil Leaves
Dressing: 1 TBSP White Balsamic Vinegar (I used a Fig infused White Vinegar – AMAZING – found it at stop and shop) ~ 1 TBSP lemon juice ~ 1 TBSP EVOO ~ Pinch of Sea Salt and Fresh ground pepper, 1/4 tsp of crushed garlic * Serves 4 – 1 cup serving size
Directions: Slice the plums, tomato, and mozzarella into slices and arrange on the plate. Mix up the vinegar, lemon juice, EVOO, sea salt, pepper, garlic with a whisk and drizzle over the plate and garnish with the basil.
I can see this paired with chicken sausage, Chorico, Linguica, or an egg white omelet. It can also be a stand alone appetizer for guests. The original recipe can be found here. It originally called out for peaches but it seems to be out of season so I substituted the plums. If you are not a fan of mozzarella you could also use crumbled feta, goat, or blue cheese. I plan to use the dressing for all my salads from now on, so light but a little spice to it too.
Enjoy!
I want to say that this 4 day weekend was glamorous, spent in a plush Bed and Breakfast while a svelte god fetched me drinks and cooked my meals but that would be so wrong. I really took the time for a mental break from work, and to tackle the multi-page to-do list that I had going on for too long. Owning a home, is not all it’s cracked up to be.
Thursday was a fairly laid back kind of day. I did a few chores around the house and then went for a hike. I love this place since it is local (only 5-10 minutes from my house).
Figured I would shove this picture in to prove that Seamus doesn’t sleep all the time. 😉
I got an amazing salad from Whole Foods (I did not know how many hot dudes shopped there, for real).
Friday was a very scary day. I woke up and checked my work email and found out the office was closed. One of the Boston Marathon bombers was killed in Watertown and the younger brother fled which is the next town over from where I work. Needless to stay I spent most of Friday glued to the news channels and checking social media for updates. You would think I would get house chores done, but you would be wrong. I sat like a bump on a log flipping channels like a mad woman. Needless to say the psycho was caught!
I did get out to do my part to help and donated blood.
Saturday seems like a total blur it may have something to do with the Watermelon Sangria I made but that was later in the evening.
I stopped at Starbucks thanks to a gift card I received but it was really horrible. We are Dunkin Donuts girls in the Northeast. Did a lot of shopping for nothing specific (pet store, library, target, and Wal-Mart). I organized my kitchen cabinet that I use for my baking supplies. Put everything in Mason jars and made custom labels for each one. So much cleaner.
Sunday included yard work, grocery shopping, long walk with Seamus and then off to my hometown for my Brother’s and my nieces birthday. Yup they share a birthday, how cool is that!
This weeks smile board – Boston Strong
This weeks nail color – Plum Luck by Sally Hansen
My four day weekend didn’t feel half as long as this post. Sorry!
Linking up with Sami at Sami’s Shenanigans and Leann at Join the Gossip .
Also linkin up with Postcards from Rachel and Northern Belle Diaries.
You can follow me through Bloglovin’ here.
I can’t tell you how much everything going on in Boston is effecting all of us in Boston. Growing up here and going to Boston for all major events, friends who went to college in the city, it is just is so hard to see what is going on in the news. My office today was closed as Waltham is the next town over from where the first suspect was killed after a shout out. The people of Boston are so proud to be from here, we are such a strong community and we will prevail. I am hoping that this second suspect is taken into custody without anymore victims. I have complete faith in the Boston Police and all other first responders.
Dear friends and family: In case I don’t say it enough, I love you all so much. I am so grateful to have you in my life. Dear Seamus: Thank you for allowing me to hug you so tightly today and your puppy kisses. I am sure it was annoying at times. Dear Boston Police and First Responders: I can’t thank you enough for all the you have done in responding to the attacks, to springing to action to help all those hurt on Monday. For tracking and finding one and on the hunt for the to brothers who caused the attacks. My heart goes out to you for all you have done. Dear Present and Past military: Thank you for your service, you are always in my heart. I am sorry if any of these attacks have caused you pain. I know some have had flashbacks and I am sorry that you have to go through that at all. Dear Fellow Bostonians: We are Boston – We are Strong!
Please hugs those you love and let them know how much they mean to you!
Go on over to The Sweet Season for the linkup!