Living Life Happy & Healthy

2010-04-23T06:05:00.000-04:00

If your still hanging around my old blog(which I doubt!). You'll have to mosey on over to the new one I started... The new chapter in my life... Two Hearts ~ One Life

Food Blogging For A Season

2009-09-10T16:21:00.002-04:00

Obviously I haven't been posting in here recently. Food blogging was fun while it lasted but it was never going to be a forever thing for me like it is for some people. So now it's time for me to get back to the first blog I ever started... Melissa's Life Unscripted (which is a little behind but I'll try to catch up this weekend maybe...).

From now on I want to focus on sharing with friends, family or whoever drops by, the life I'm living instead of the food I'm eating. Feel free to come say Hi and I'm sure as time allows I'll still be dropping by some of the blogs I always hung out at to say Hi. : )

Windows Live Writer

2009-08-18T17:37:00.002-04:00

So at the Healthy Living Summit this past weekend Kath said how that if it weren’t for Windows Live Writer she would never still be blogging. Hearing her talk about it perked my interest and I decided that I just had to give it a try. So right now I’m on my trial run. So far it’s been pretty easy to set up. I know I have a big weekend recap post to do but for now I’m just going to fill everyone in out what I ate today.

Since I had a barney butter sample to use I decided oatmeal was the perfect breakfast for me.

I really wasn’t planning on having a snack but something about my being at works means I’m hungry every 3 hours. I decided on my yogurt and some fiber one cereal

Lunch followed soon after. Since we just got back last night it wasn’t very well planned. I was just grabbing things out of the fridge this morning.

Carrots, Cauliflower & an Apple

The fact that I ate all that and still didn’t feel full wasn’t a good sign. So a couple hours later I knew I wasn’t going to make it the rest of the work day without something else to eat. When I went for my walk over my break I decided to swing by Sheetz to see what I could find. I ended up with a lite iced latte and some crackers. It hit the spot.

I’m already ready for dinner when I get home from work(at 3:30). Yeah, that’s a bad thing because that means come evening I’m starved when I really shouldn’t be thinking about food. Oh well, I decided to eat when I got home anyway. I even ate my snack too…

Omelet toppings/ the finished product

My pita bread omelet sandwich with pepper jack cheese and spinach plus some Trader Joe’s cinnamon almonds which I love!!!

And last but not lease a chocolate brownie Z-Bar

It was raining cats and dogs a little while ago and right now the sky looks a little iffy but I might attempt a walk. I’ll be back later with my weekend re-cap!!

Oh and aside from my trying to figure out resizing pictures(I need to reference my notes) I think I’m going to love Windows Live Writer!!!

One Day Closer

2009-08-11T21:55:00.003-04:00

To a few days off of work and a weekend away!!! : D

Cantaloupe & Cereal & Milk

Yellow Watermelon!! Yum!!

Baby Carrots

CousCous, black beans, lima beans, parmesan cheese & cilantro lime olive oil dressing... plus some red pepper flakes. I'm happy to annouce that this was a random idea that turned out very yummy!! I'm glad I get to eat it again for lunch tomorrow!!

Onion flavored crackers and pepper jack cheese

Apple & PB

Some other randam (and probably not necessarily needed) snacks were a nutrigrain bar, peach cobbler, piece of dark chocolate, cereal & raisins mixed with nuts... If only I could conquer my evening hunger!! I'm going to blame it on the 45 mins of tennis and 30 min walk but my snacks were way more calories than the 800 that I burned during exercise...

FarmVille

2009-08-10T23:01:00.005-04:00

So is anyone on Facebook? And if you are have you played FarmVille??? For some reason I have become extremely addicted to this little game. Who would have ever thought that I would have fun gardening?? If you haven't seen it yet you've gotta check it out. I'm actually so busy planting and harvesting crops that it's keeping me away from my blog!!!

My real life sunflower garden!! It's so pretty buy they are all facing AWAY from my house so I don't really get to enjoy them unless I'm standing at the back of the yard. Ohhhh well....

Black Bean Taco Salad: Toss together 3⁄4 cup black beans, 2 tablespoons shredded Monterey Jack cheese, 2 tablespoons salsa, 2 cups shredded romaine lettuce, 1 diced tomato, and 2 tablespoons crushed whole-grain or blue-corn tortilla chips. Drizzle the salad with 2 teaspoons olive oil and juice squeezed from 1⁄2 lime. 340 calories

This was my lunch on Sunday and I can't believe I ate a whole tomato!! First time ever cause I don't really like them...

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Random pictures from today's food

I had to many packs of crackers today...

Am I the only one that thinks this looks like a face??

Question of the day: Is anyone that comes by my blog going to the Healthy Living Summit this weekend?? I can't wait!!!

New Favorite

2009-08-04T21:59:00.009-04:00

Oh let's see, how did my day go? It was a loooong BORING day at work. But it did start off with a wonderful breakfast. A little fiber one, vanilla greek yogurt and peaches

Plus some almond butter(my last pack and I EXTREMELY sad about that) and some home made peach jelly

The final "yogurt mess" : ) Greek yogurt is quickly becoming my new favorite food. I love the stuff and wish it wasn't so expensive!!

I FINALLY made it to lunch(yeah, it was a long morning) and had some cantaloupe

And a frozen healthy choices dinner. This is what happens when I get tired of figuring out what to pack for lunch. Don't be surprised to see more of these in the near future.

My afternoon was just as long as my morning. I did get out for a 20 min walk. Normally after my walk I have a few minutes to spare and I like to sit at some picnic tables that are at work. The problem is people started throwing trash in a random blue barrel that was sitting around. This wasn't really a supposed to be used for trash which meant it never got emptied. It's been WEEKS and it starting to really smell BAD!!! I tried to move it but it was to heavy. I think because there was rain water in the bottom of it. So anyway, I emailed our maintenance guy and he got in touch with somebody and now the blue barrel is "supposedly" going to be thrown out. I hope so. I miss sitting outside in the afternoon for my little break away from it all!!

Cereal when I got home from work

This dreamy desserts! advertisement also came in the mail. I swear the whole world must know that I have the biggest sweet tooth ever. Do they have to tempt me??!!

Still hungry after my cereal and I knew Dad and I were going to play some tennis so I had two bites of leftover parleyed potatos from the fridge and a peanut butter banana : )

Dad and I got our 45 mins of tennis playing in. This is about the 3rd time we've gone this year and I think I'm already seeing some improvement. I'm hitting the ball a little more anyway. HAHA!! After tennis I took a short break and then headed out for a 45 min walk. My legs were very tired and I dreamed about calling home for someone to come pick me up. But I was strong and pushed through my tiredness!! : )

I decided to snack on some more Mary's Crackers, some pepper jack cheese and salsa, I had a second similar plate with just crackers and salad but no cheese.

And sugar free jello made it's apperence again. There's still two more left in the fridge and they'll be gone... Have I mentioned that I'm still very hungry?? I feel like I ate enough. I drank water but I'm hungry. I can't decide on another snack or not...

I tried to jump rope again tonight and my jump rope broke. This is my third one that I've broken. I guess I'll have to pick another one up at the store. Any suggestions?

I ended up with a snack of some cereal... Could be worse...

So this morning when I got up I could barely keep my eyes open. But I really had no choice and I forced them open and went and jumped on the exercise bike for 20 mins. As normal at some point I ended up getting behind and when it came time for my make up I skipped the foundation. I'd love to get away from wearing make up at all but I still practically have the face of a teenager(blemishes) so I've gotta wear a little. So that being said...

Question of the day: What is your morning skin/makeup routine? Do you have "problem skin" and how do you keep blemished under control??

Creating Good Habits

2009-08-03T21:42:00.006-04:00

Ok, so I'm trying to get back into the swing of things. That not only means blogging on a fairly daily basis, but also means doing better at eating healthy(which I've not been doing at all) and getting back into taking my vitamins on a daily basis. I was doing so well and then suddenly I just seemed to "throw in the towel" and forget about all my healthy habits. Today wasn't the best of days but hey, it could have been worse... I'm determined to find that girl I used to be with all the healthy habits!!

I started my day off with a yogurt "mess" a light & fit yogurt with an apple, fiber one and a tablespoon of almond butter

Lunch was a veggie mixture

I also had some cherries and carrots

Lunch!! Yeah I know, kinda pitiful looking...

This afternoon my boss stopped by my desk with a treat. A sugar free Popsicle. I didn't feel to bad eating it even though I think I probably eat to many things with artificial sweeteners in them. It's really hard to escape them...

Supper was bran flakes mixed with fiber one, some walnuts, some peaches and fat free milk. I LOVE cereal and eating it every day is something I plan on doing. I just can't eat it for breakfast because it doesn't keep me full long enough in the morning.

Evening snacks...

Pepper jack cheese

Salsa and Mary's Cracker in the Pepper flavor (had a few more crackers)

Sugar free vanilla pudding with some strawberry jam (I did end up having a second pudding, opps...)

And this is me after some time jump roping and walking/jogging on the treadmill. I'm probably goofy but I love my sweaty look it makes me feel like my exercising paid off!!

Tonight I actually sat down at the piano after I ate my cereal and played for 30 mins. It's a new goal of mine to play every day or at least every other. I normally only play on Sunday mornings at church. Only playing once a week is fine. It keeps me from getting rusty. But I'd like to be a little better than I am and I know that's never going to happen if I don't practice more.

Question of the day: Is there anything that you've gotten "rusty" at because you didn't practice as much as you should have?

Micah & Noah Then and Now

2009-07-29T22:13:00.006-04:00

Getting to see Micah and Noah this past week brought back memories of when they were born. I've already shared most of these pictures before but I just kinda felt like thinking back tonight and thank God for these two little miracles. They were born REALLY early on September 27 of 2008. They were due the beginning of December. Neither Micah or Noah weighed even 3 pounds when they were born. So very very TINY!!!

Micah

Noah

When they were finally allowed to go home from the hospital both boys were around 5 pounds. Still tiny little babies!!

This was Jen and I in the hospital. She was holding Micah I was holding Noah.

This is Jen and I on Saturday she was holding Micah and I was holding Noah(they are 17 pounds now).

Last evening we got to visit for a short time again. It was my Mom first chance to see the boys(other than in pictures).

Micah(who LOVES to squeal and it's very HIGH PITCHED!!)

And Noah who loves to roll around all over the place.

Micah & Noah

Such little sweet hearts. I wish they lived closer instead of 4ish hours away!!

Back To Food

2009-07-27T22:27:00.007-04:00

I think my last few posts haven't really been food related. Which is what this blog is all about. I try not to focus on just one thing all the time. Just posting pictures of what I eat everyday makes me bored after a while. Here is most of Sunday's pictures...

I started off with my favorite bowl of oatmeal. It has 1/2 a banana in there with some peanut butter and jelly. Yum!

When Mom asked if I wanted sweet corn I was all for it. I've only had it once so far this year. These two ears were not disappointing. So sweet and delicious. I used to butter and salt sweet corn but not anymore. It's good just the way it is. : ) With my sweet corn I had a turkey & ham sandwich with pepper jack cheese and spinach and carrots.

And a little bowl of cherries

Afternoon snack was a yogurt mess. Red raspberries, vanilla yogurt and fiber one.

I also had some chicken breast w/ a little bbq sauce and mashed potatoes for dinner.

In the evening I got hungry and had a snack of cereal. This bowl X's 2.

And some grapefruit.

Monday morning, the dreaded day. ; ) I started off with some cantaloupe and a bowl of cereal. Kashi and Fiber One mixture with fat free milk.

Lunch was carrots & cherries

And a turkey/ham sandwich with pepper jack and spinach and some pretzels.

Afternoon snack was raspberries, yogurt and cereal

Raspberry season is over... I'm going to miss these guys!!

Craving something sweet got the best of me. But just 1 piece(well two if you could the vanilla tootsie roll type candy I grabbed when leaving work) is a lot better than I have been doing...

Dinner was grapefruit...

Roasted cauliflower(my favorite and I think I could have ate the whole head in one sitting!!)

And a turkey breast burger with a slice of pepper jack cheese(yeah, I'm addicted to the stuff!!).

Later in the evening I did get a spoonful of naturally more to snack on.

And unpicture is a pretzel that I dipped in a little chocolate. But yeah, I stopped at one. Staying up to late is not good for me because I get hungry!!! I was planning on going to bed at 10 this week so I could get close to 8 hours of sleep. Was curious if it would help me with my food cravings. But I was bad and laid down and took a nap in the evening so I couldn't fall asleep when I wanted to. It was probably closer to 11:39/12 when I finally feel asleep. Evening naps are evil. I'm kinda tired this morning but I'll wake up soon enough!!

Right now I'm putting in a lazy 20 mins on the exercise bike, then it's breakfast, get ready for work and off to work I go....

Have a great day everyone!!!

Busy Fun Tired

2009-07-26T07:00:00.017-04:00

My Saturday started off the the wedding of my co-worker Mary and her now husband Rodney. They had a lovely little outdoor wedding. It was peaceful and cool there. I loved the location!!

Their wedding reception was later that evening so I'm skipping ahead to that and then I'll finish up with photos from my afternoon...

Beautiful cake!! I loved the cake topper!!

First dance...

Awesome watermelon/cantaloupe fruit baskets!!

Cute little boy : )

Me at the end of the day...

Mary saw this turtle while we were leaving the wedding. He seemed picture worthy. ; )

During the afternoon before swinging by a picnic with some old friends I stopped for a walk in the park. First up are some curious horses...

They all ended up coming over to the fence to see me. : )

Beautiful creek. I wanted to get in and wade so bad. It just wasn't the right timing.

Then it was off to see my friend and her twin boys. I haven't seen them since they were premies in the hospital. They are such adorable babies!!

All in all a great day, just a wee bit tiring!!! : )

Animals At The Fair

2009-07-24T22:32:00.004-04:00

Me and a friendly cow who felt the need to slobber? drool? on my shirt. Lovely. HAHA!

This little guy looked so sleepy. I felt bad that he had to deal with all the people coming to look at him. Especially the annoying ones that felt the need to take pictures(me...).

Oh yeah, of course I had a soft pretzel and a little bit of funnel cake. That's what fairs are for, right?

Have Your Cake And Eat It Too

2009-07-21T21:53:00.007-04:00

Ok, so your not exactly going to be inspired to eat healthy when you look at these pictures BUT... I had loads of fun making both of these treats!!

First up is fruit pizza which I made because I was going to a friends Friday night.

Saturday I used the leftover fruit and layer it with greek yogurt and fiber one cereal. Yum and so pretty!!

Then it was on to bigger and better things. A birthday cake!! My Aunt turned 60 this past Sunday and I wanted to make a cake. I rarely make cakes so quickly regretted making this decision. All it all it turned out pretty good!!

Nothing better than an oreo icing layer. : )

The finished product!! I didn't do to bad if I do say so myself...

We did a pretty good job eating it!!

The balloon with the face cracks me up!!

I'm ordering a power cord tonight so I should be back in business with my laptop(instead of my parents PC) very soon!!

Hi!

2009-07-20T20:24:00.002-04:00

I've been so MIA!! Hopefully I'll be back in action in a couple days. My computer cord died so I need to get another one. I'm going to shop around tomorrow night!!

Can't wait to share the birthday cake I made for my Aunts birthday!!

Right now I'm busy planning our fast approaching trip to Boston!!

No Method To This Madness

2009-07-14T22:23:00.006-04:00

So I know I've gotten out of my normal posting/commenting on your blogs routine. Hopefully I can get back into the swing of things. Here are just some random pictures from the last few days... Starting off with my favorite flower!!

Oatmeal pancakes

Nothing better than pancakes, a good book and a swing after a long bike ride.... 14.5 miles to be exact.

Giving the Gnu bar another try. I like them but I don't think they are worth the money...

Roasted Chick Peas - these were pretty awesome!!

Saturday the rain poured down!!

And I got flowers from a friend

Mom made some comfort food.

Love, LOVE, LOOOOOOOOOOVE fresh berries!!

Monday dinner ~ Omelet and mock "crab cake" made with oat bran and zucchini

Tuesday dinner ~ Lentils, couscous and cherries

Awaiting me Wednesday morning... red raspberries!!

Again I'm sorry for being MIA in everyone's blogs. Last week was just BUSY!! I'll try to catch up soon!!!

Last Day Of My July 4th Weekend

2009-07-11T10:03:00.003-04:00

Sunday was the last day away on my July 4th weekend. I felt like this meal was the healthiest one I had all weekend. It tasted soooo good!!

Starbucks espresso frapuccino anyone?? LOVE them!!

Headed to Penn's Landing with an all you can eat ice cream fest on the agenda. First we walked around some...

And then it was time!!

$5 well spent dollars!!

Ummmm yeah, it was a little crowded in there!!

Here I am looking a little wilted from the heat. Yes, I am holding NINE empty ice cream cups... Can I still remember them all?? Mint Chocolate Chip ~ Chubby Hubby ~ Chocolate ~ Phillies Graham Slam ~ Chocolate Marshmellow ~ Butter Pecan ~ Starbucks Java Chip ~ Strawberry ~ Cheesecake!! A seriously awesome experience!!

And there was still time for a walk to Reading Terminal Market to split a cheesesteak!!

Hope everyone had a Happy 4th of July!!

July 4th Weekend Day Two

2009-07-09T22:11:00.000-04:00

If you have to be set up at a craft show could you have a better view?
My friend's Mom makes soap and was set up at a craft show this past weekend. The show just happened to be on the boardwalk at the beach!!!

The view from behind the stand

So many boats!! I've never been on one but that day I wanted to be out there VERY BADLY!!!

My friend had things under control at the soap stand so I got to go mingle with this crowd. I loved soaking up the sun!!

July 4th Weekend Part One

2009-07-08T22:21:00.009-04:00

Waiting patiently outside of Cheesecake Factory

Corn Fritters

Salmon and broccoli

A trip to the zoo

Me and my friend Kina

The perfect shirt for a day at the zoo. The best part is that I didn't even know we were going their. I just bought and wore the shirt cause I thought it was cute!!

Cute little babies!!

Fuzzy Wuzzy was a bear...

Got bugs?!

This deer was at our hotel. They were EVERYWHERE!!!

That was pretty much the excitement of day one. I still have Saturday and Sunday to post as well but I'll let you check these out first!!

Does anyone else think this week is flying by???

2009-07-06T22:28:00.005-04:00

I was busying last night uploading pictures from my weekend away but I ended up falling asleep during that process. So until I have that finished here's what I ended up eating yesterday...

For breakfast I had two nectarines
Plus and egg and some almonds.

Mid morning snacks consisted of baby carrots

And some dark chocolate covered raisins(I told myself these were good for me)

For lunch I had some veggies and an apple

And when the mid-afternoon munchies hit I ended up with some chocolate macaroons. Yeah, this ended up being a bad choice because once I ate two, I ate four and well, I ate to many...

I pretty much just snacked through the evening when I was hungry versus sitting down and having a meal.

Fiber One cereal

Potato salad

Yogurt(I only ate half cause I thought it was gross)

Almonds

And some grapes

Right now I'm riding the bike before work but I feel oh so tired. I wish I could just go back to bed. Oh well!! Hope everyone has a great Tuesday!!

Better Late Than Never?

2009-07-01T20:29:00.017-04:00

Note: All of the things in this blog post are from last week. When I'm not posting a day to day food journal you can pretty much bet that I've not been eating well. Such is the case this week. It amazes me how some people manage to eat healthy week in and week out. Maybe some day I'll figure it out. Until then I'm not going to get to worked up about this week. I know I've put some weight on but I also know that it'll come right off when I start upping those fruits & veggies and cut out the bread, pastries, cookies, candy, ice cream, ect...

Raspberry Cottage Pudding

A family favorite at my house is Raspberry Cottage Pudding. I'm not exactly sure why we call it "pudding". Maybe it's because we always pour milk over the cake. You can use raspberries, cherries, peaches, any fruit really, when making this. It's good hot and it's good cold. What can I say, I love the stuff!!!

Even though it already had raspberries in the cake I added more plus some strawberries.

These have gotten me into MAJOR TROUBLE this week!!!

Even though I'm eating bad I'm still getting lots of fruit in. Raspberries and blueberries especially!!!

MONSTER COOKIES (these also got me in serious trouble this week)

Did I mention I made Chocolate Chocolate Chunk Muffins too(what was I thinking??!! LOL)

Some absolutely delicious plums!!

One of the best omelets every. Just sauteed up some spinach and filled my omelet with it. Then topped it with some cheese and bacon bits. Delish!!

So no, it hasn't been such a "healthy" week. But it's still be a happy one. I was walking through the park last night and got invited to play in a game of soccer. It was my first time playing soccer ever and I had a blast. Let me tell you though, 45 mins of running around has my body oh so sore today. Even the muscles in my feet hurt. It was a great work out though and I can't wait to do it again!!

I also have some 4th of July plans so I'm looking forward to that. And after the holiday weekend it's back to getting on track with the healthy part of my blog. :-)

Have a great night everyone!!

Comparison

2009-06-30T12:11:00.002-04:00

Boy I really haven't been much in the blogging mood this week. Maybe tonight I'll get busy uploading some pictures. No promises though...

I've basically decided that this isn't going to be my best of weeks. PMS, ravenous hunger all followed by a holiday weekend away with my best friend. Ahhhh well, all part of life.

I had to smile yesterday at a little men/women comparison I had going on. See a group of us from work headed to another CHC(Community Health Center) to see some of their operation. We had barely gotten to a training room when it was announced that someone had bought donuts for us. Now I know some people don't like them, but donuts are one of my FAVORITE treats!!!

Come on, admit it, I can't be the only one tempted at the sight of a donut, right???

So anyway, after the announcement of "free donuts" I of course went over to check things out. There laid my favorite blueberry cake donut which I immediately with no shame, claimed as my own. After our group had sat down I started looking around and realized. All the women were sitting at the table with a donut in front of them. And the men? They were all sitting there with just a cup of coffee. Eventually one or two of the guys had a donut, but for the most part they didn't touch them and in addition to that, none of the skinny guys had any.

Fast forward to lunch. We had ordered our meals and got started in on the soup/salad buffet. Everyone had a small salad. Some also had soup & some bread. Then our meals came(I had a grilled chicken breast and baked sweet potato). After I had finished my meal(yup I ate it all, I think only one of the women had some french fries left on her plate) I went and grabbed two cookies and some pudding dessert and a couple of the other women had similar desserts. I'm not all that chatty when out with a group so once again I got to looking around. There sat all the men in their little group. They had finished their meal and I think all of them had food left on their plates and in addition to that NONE of them went to the dessert buffet.

I suddenly started to wonder if I should be learning something from these men. No only did they pass up donuts they also left a little bit of their lunch on their plates and had no dessert. While we the women all had donuts, ate all our salads, some had soup/bread and a meal, plus still had room for dessert.

Now I'm not saying men never eat these things, I know better. Maybe they are just more in tune with their bodies and know when to stop. Or maybe they don't have such intense cravings for sweets that so many women do. But it was just very interesting watching the difference of eating habits between the men and the women. Maybe next time someone offers me a donut I'll be able to say no. Or maybe I'll leave a couple bites of food left on my plate and skip dessert. There's always wishful thinking anyway...

If not I guess this is always an option...

Hope your having a happy Tuesday!!

Ugggg...

2009-06-29T06:02:00.003-04:00

I don't eat perfect through the week. I indulge every now and then. But let me tell you what... I can't tell you how BAD my body feels this morning after 2 days of eating a TON of sweets(think cookies, chocolate & ice cream). I wish in the future I could think back to this moment and remember that IT'S NOT WORTH IT(how quickly I forget)!!!

I have a ton of pictures and updates for this week so I'll try and get started on that tonight. In the meantime here's to a healthy and happy week(that ends in a long weekend, wooooo)!!

A Fun Day

2009-06-25T22:15:00.005-04:00

So it's normally not normal for me to do any kind of beauty product review. But I just can't keep quite about this one. Alba coconut lime shave cream is amazingly awesome. Seriously I ALWAYS cut myself when I shave my legs. I always end up with a cut bleeding somewhere. But I saw this alba shave and thought I'd give it a try. Three shaves later(with both dull and sharp razor) I'm pleased to announce that I haven't cut myself ONCE while using alba shave. And yes that makes me very very happy!! So if your like me and always find yourself cutting your legs while shaving you absolutely must pick some of this up!! Enough of that, I feel like in info-mercial.

Moving onto food for today. And I'll admit it's pretty pathetic and I couldn't possibly have eaten enough. But at the same time my stomachs not growling either...

Breakfast: cup of raspberries, cup of strawberries, cup of golean kashi cereal, 3/4 cup fat free milk. It was all quite delicious!!

Lunch: Yeah, this was lunch, pepper jack cheese, carrots & cantaloupe

Snack was a danactive(no pic) and 3 whoppers

Supper was a quick bowl of blueberries and 1/4 cup of nuts before running out the door to take an hour walk and then mow the grass. Then we(mom and I) got to babysit for the evening.

These have got to be some of the cutest kids EVER!!!

Taking a walk to see some barnyard animals(Hannah was a little freaked out by the goats)

Autumn with th goats

And again with the donkeys

Ok, this is a pretty bad picture of me but I had a pretty sweaty afternoon... Gary & Hannah with the donkeys. It was a fun evening with three well behaved kiddos!! :-)

Last but not least... I'm sure you've seen somebody somewhere talking about the Healthy Living Summer that Kath, Tina, and some of the other girls were organizing. Well, I decided that since Boston was just a 8 hour drive that I wanted to go!! Mom said that she would tag along too!! I just wasn't sure if I'd be able to get registered because with a 125 limit I knew it would sell out fast. Well, fast was right because it sold out in 15 mins. And yes, I happened to be one of the people who register so looks like I'll be going to Boston!! WOO HOO for Mom and I going on a road trip in August!!!! I'm really looking forward to a long weekend away with my Mom and going to the Healthy Living Summit and meeting everyone!!

And that my friends wraps up this post for tonight. Anyone other than me excited that tomorrow is Friday???!!!

Berries Galore!!

2009-06-24T21:42:00.005-04:00

This guy here has been the highlight of my week thus far!! We were invited for dessert to celebrate a friends birthday and this m&m ice cream cake was on the menu. Not only was it cute but it was yummy too!!

I've also been eating a ton of berries lately. Blueberries, raspberries, strawberries!! Good thing I love them all!!

Couldn't leave out the cantaloupe and carrots either.

I know I've been pretty quite so far this week. I have a project I'm busy working on. I'll try to do better with my posts. Ideally I'd like to do a post every other day. I'll try harder to get that done!! Hope everyone having a good week thus far. Can't believe it's half over already!!

Pointers?

2009-06-23T09:40:00.001-04:00

Just a short and sweet post... Does anyone have any pointers on creating a logo for a new business? I'm TOTALLY CLUELESS so any help would be appreciated!!! :-)

Me And My Dad

2009-06-21T18:03:00.005-04:00

2009

Trip Down Memory Lane... 2008

2007

2006

Welcome To My Saturday

2009-06-20T20:23:00.011-04:00

Because I'm crazy I never change my alarm during the weekend. It still goes off just the same as it does Mon-Fri...
But when I woke up to this...

I couldn't help but to more of this.

Finally after hitting snooze a gazillon times(why didn't I just turn the thing off?) I finally rolled out of bed, just in time for one of my favorite morning activities...

Riding bike in my bare feet while surfing the internet. Seriously, do I have it made or what??

30 mins later it was time for some breakfast. I had a little zucchini left over from making cookies last night so I figured and omelet was in order.

Omelet and a blueberry muffin. Could breakfast be any better?

No it's not really a Starbucks drink. I just recycled the cup. My eyes were deceived but my taste buds however, were not fooled...

After doing dishes I moved onto the next activity on my list...

Accelerated pilates!!

Who was I kidding? About 40 mins in I had no strength left in my body(hey, it works as an excuse to "give up") and decided to just watch the last 10 mins. The folks on the DVD did a great job! Haha! I gotta admit I love the 20 min DVD a ton more than the 50 min. Hopefully someday I'll be able to power thru it!!

Up and dressed in my Carrots N' Cake tee playing with my blog. : )

Mom mentioned that my toes were just way to BRIGHT

So I toned it down a little bit. : )

Headed to the library and afterwards I stopped by C and C Coffee for a mocha treat : )

Then it was time for the dreaded assignment for today! Welcome to my MESSY room!! Seriously how does it get like this??!! I know I'm a better house keeper than that!! Sigh...

Cleaning is hard work and I got hungry and had to break for snacks a couple of times... apple & Zucchini cookie

Black raspberries, bran flakes, fat free milk

My room was just about completed for the night so I squeezed in a walk. During my walk I felt nearly starved the whole time. I was so happy to get back and enjoyed sitting down to this meal. Sour Cream/Onion Pop chips(yum!), black bean burger on a english muffin, zucchini cookie, steamed veggies

Since I showed you the before I MUST show you the after pics.

Still got a little left to find homes for. But man am I so glad I got that done. My room looks WONDERFUL!!! : D

Were you wondering what I got at the library? No, not really? Well, let me show you anyway... ; )

Fun things to come...

And now I'm beat. It's time to clean up and kick back and relax the rest of the night. Hopefully everyone else's day was as fun and happy as mine!!!

Soft Zucchini Spice Cookies

2009-06-20T00:31:00.005-04:00

How's everyone's weekends going? Mine's going pretty good. I want to take a walk but the weather is playing tricks on me. One minute it looks nice and sunny, the next minute dark and stormy. I'd just rather not get caught in a storm. So for now I'm going to head to my bedroom and try and be a busy bee and get it cleaned up(my Mom would love me for it!). In the meantime I wanted to share some baking that I did last night...

I'm really in baking mode this week so last night I played around with a zucchini cookie recipe and I ended up with a delicious cookie that tastes like zucchini bread. YUM!! Give them a try and let me know what you think. I promise, you won't regret it. ; )

Ingredients

1/4 cup margarine, softened
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
2 egg whites
1 1/2 cups zucchini, grated
2 cups whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1 pinch ground cloves
1 pinch ground nutmeg

Directions

In a medium bowl, cream together the margarine and sugar until smooth. Beat in the eggs then stir in the zucchini. Combine the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg; stir into the zucchini mixture. Cover dough and chill for at least 1 hour or overnight.
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Grease cookie sheets. Drop dough by teaspoonfuls onto the prepared cookie sheet. Cookies should be about 2 inches apart.
Bake for 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven until set. Allow cookies to cool slightly on the cookie sheets before removing to wire racks to cool completely.

Nutrition Facts
Serving Size 1 (32g) Recipe makes 24 servings
Calories 87
Calories from Fat 18		(21%)
Amount Per Serving		%DV
	Total Fat 2.1g	3%
	Saturated Fat 0.4g	1%
	Monounsaturated Fat 0.9g
	Polyunsaturated Fat 0.7g
	Trans Fat 0.0g
Cholesterol 0mg		0%
Sodium 130mg		5%
Potassium 83mg		2%
Total Carbohydrate 16.4g		5%
	Dietary Fiber 1.5g	5%
	Sugars 8.8g
Protein 1.8g		3%

Blueberry Oat Bran Muffin

2009-06-19T23:10:00.003-04:00

Lara from Thinspired commented about getting the recipe for the blueberry oat bran muffins I made the other day. I wanted to wait until I tasted these guys before sharing the recipe with all the world. But they passed my inspection so hopefully someone else with enjoy these as well (I am putting my modifications in parenthesis) and just so you know the batter is pretty running but it bakes nicely!!

As you can see they are a great addition to breakfast. : )

2 cup(s) dry oat bran
1/4 cup(s) unpacked brown sugar, packed
1 tbsp baking powder
2 medium egg white(s
1 cup(s) buttermilk (I used 1 cup of fat free milk with a teaspoon of vinegar)
1/3 cup(s) molasses
1/2 cup(s) unsweetened applesauce
3/4 cup(s) dried apricot halves, finely chopped (I used 1 cup of blueberries)

Preheat oven to 450°F (230°C). Spray a 12-muffin tin; set aside.
In a large bowl, mix oat bran, brown sugar and baking powder. Make a well in the center of the mixture.
In another bowl, beat egg whites until foamy. Stir in buttermilk(milk & vinegar) and molasses. Add buttermilk mixture to oat bran mixture and stir just until moistened. Fold in applesauce and apricots(blueberries).
Spoon batter into muffin tin, filling each cup to the top. Bake until golden brown, 10 to 12 minutes. Remove from oven and cool 5 minutes. Remove muffins from tin and cool on a wire rack.

Hope you enjoy!! And FYI, I will be sharing another recipe with you sometime tomorrow. It involves zucchini and cookies. Hmmmmmm.....

Have a great night!!

Picture Catch Up...

2009-06-17T21:57:00.009-04:00

Blueberry Wheat Bran Muffins that I made tonight...

Pictures since Saturday...

Finger Prints Of God

2009-06-13T07:45:00.001-04:00

I can see tears filling your eyes
And I know where they're coming from
They're coming from a heart that's broken in two
By what you don't see
The person in the mirror
Doesn't look like the magazine
Oh, but when I look at you it's clear to me that...

I can see the fingerprints of God
When I look at you
I can see the fingerprints of God
And I know it's true
You're a masterpiece
That all creation quietly applauds
And you're covered with the fingerprints of God

Never has there been and never again
Will there be another you
Fashioned by God's hand
And perfectly planned
To be just who you are
And what He's been creating
Since the first beat of your heart
Is a living breathing priceless work of art...

I can see the fingerprints of God
When I look at you
I can see the fingerprints of God
And I know it's true
You're a masterpiece
That all creation quietly applauds
And you're covered with the fingerprints of God
~scc~

Hair Cut

2009-06-12T13:25:00.005-04:00

Ok, I've been all kinds of excited about getting my hair cut today. It's been such A LONG TIME!!!! So here's pics of the results(with before & afters)!! : D Oh and it looks kinda bad this morning cause it was still wet...

Love my new "do"

Satisfied

2009-06-11T22:04:00.004-04:00

Yes, it was a very satisfying day. Nothing majorly special happened, I just feel like it was a good day!! : )

Maybe I should start every day off with blueberry waffles, a banana and ff milk(missing from pic) : )

Lunch was a whole mess of things that left me feeling stuffed!! I scaled back my lunch for tomorrow... But for today, carrots and cauliflower

Egg whites

Dried plums a.k.a prunes

Beef and squash

Everything at once...

I still snacked on an apple mid afternoon

Cereal yogurt mess for dinner

A visit to Starbucks to meet up with a friend meant a light coffee frappuccino (I could drink this stuff every day!!!)

And then a few almonds to nibble on to tide me over til breakfast

Exercise was crazy today. I was thinking it was going to rain over lunch and I was going to miss my lunch time walk so I got up a little extra early and walked 15 mins before my normal 20 min bike ride. But then I still got to walk 15 mins over lunch. Got home and mowed the lawn which took 30 mins. Then I rode the bike for 30 more mins. And walked for 30 more mins. Then a friend was meeting me for coffee so I walked to meet her which was 10 mins there and back. And then I walked home with her and back which was 10 more mins there and back. And last but not least I did 20 mins of pilates. Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!! That's how much energy you build up from sitting behind a desk for 8 hours!!!

Have a great night and YAAAHOOO tomorrow's Friday and I'm getting my hair cut!!!!!!

Wandering Mind

2009-06-10T22:26:00.004-04:00

Tonight my mind is wandering all over the place so I'll make this short and sweet.

Copy cat breakfast from yesterday(it was still just as yummy!!)

Snack was an apple

And some apple cinnamon oatmeal

A new picture for my desk at work... I love sunflowers and this was the picture from my one co-workers May calendar. I asked and she said I could have it, yay!!

Big ol' salad, spinach, cauliflower, carrots, hard boiled egg whites, chicken, spicy pumpkin seeds

No really, there was spinach ; )

Dried plums for "dessert"

Yogurt mess, cereal, blueberries and yogurt

Raspberry creamsicle

Some almonds to try and help tame the growl in my belly

I got in lots of exercise...biking, walking and pilates. A good day!!! Hope you can say the same too!!

Strawberrylicious

2009-06-09T22:08:00.004-04:00

How can you not help but look forward to strawberry season? They are soo SOO good!!!

Breakfast was 1 cup strawberries, 1/2 banana, 2 kashi waffles and 1 cup milk, yummo!!

For snack I grabbed a string cheese and a little over a cup of cantaloupe

Lunch was a smart one's frozen dinner(lasagna something) and sauteed squash

Snack was a cup of carrots

Dinner was similar to yesterday... strawberries and strawberry yogurt with Kashi Good Friends cereal

Of course that didn't hold me enough to make it through the night so I snacked on this Weight Watchers latte bar

A microwaved egg white(I was hard boiling eggs and this guy was broke)

And a Kashi bar (almond flax)

I'm sitting here thinking how my tummy is starting to growl and I'm a little bit hungry. Oh well, that just means I'll enjoy breakfast tomorrow!! : )

Exercise:
20 mins on the exercise bike this morning
20 min walk during my break at work
60 min walk after work
45 mins biking outside
20 mins pilates

I was so happy just to be able to be outside and not get rained on(I almost did at lunch time)!! Day two of the work week is complete. Just 3 days until the weekend!! I have some things to look forward too so I'm happy!! : ) Have a great night!!

Back In Action

2009-06-08T19:57:00.009-04:00

I was going to try to do my catch up blogging last night but lo and behold I left my camera at my Grandparents. Mom was nice enough to go pick it up for me tonight while I was out for my hour walk and riding bike. Speaking of riding bike Dad and I managed to ride 7.5 miles tonight. I followed that up with 20 mins of pilates. Hopefully that'll help out with any hamstring soreness. They were really starting to feel stiff toward the end of the ride. It was only my 3rd time out this year. Hopefully the 3rd of many to come...

This takes us back to Friday. A handful of cereal to tide me over until my "real" breakfast.
Which was cereal, peaches and milk.

Snacking on a hard pretzel and yogurt

Lunch started with watermelon and cauliflower

And ended with potatos, lima beans, black beans and kashi 7 grain pilaf

A granola bar followed not to long after(so hungry)

Then I ran across a little bit of vanilla ice cream left over in the freezer at work, sure, I'll eat that topped with some cinnamon...

Pre-supper snack of apple & peanut butter, egg white and crackers(supper was 2 slices of pizza but I didn't take a pic...)

Friday I headed to WV for an overnight stay at my brother and sister-in-laws. I didn't get a picture of them but here's their one dog Abby

And their other dog Maddie

Saturday morning my awesome brother fixed pancakes and eggs for breakfast. I had FIVE!!! They were oh so good!! Also had some strawberries!

Lunch was a turkey sandwich, carrots, apple, corn chips and a pickle(also had a bite of pretzel)

Before heading home I decided to make a detour into Sheetz for a treat. I grabbed a granola bar

But the real purpose was a frozen latte!!!

Snacking in the evening ensued... wheat crackers, dried plums, egg white....more snacking was to be had after this plate(I was out of control)

Sunday morning I felt like having lots of fruit... so that's what I did. A peach, banana, blueberries, strawberries and a granola bar

Lunch at my grandparents(we were celebrating a birthday...) Let's see...carrots, broccoli salad, watermelon, cantaloupe, baked beans, mac n' cheese, tator tots, deviled egg...I'd like to say that's all I had but yeah, had seconds of the bottom half of the plate and larger servings the second time. Oh and LOTS of strawberries!!

Happy Birthday Aunt Nancy!! :-)

I am missing the rest of Sunday's food along with today's food. Don't worry, your not missing much...

Over all it was a great Monday. Tomorrow's calling for thunder storms but hopefully I'll still managed to get a walk and ride in between the rain drops...

Well, it's time to start packing my lunch for tomorrow. I got lazy and bought a frozen dinner for lunch tomorrow because it looked good!! But I still have a little prep to do anyway...

Raiding The Kitchen

2009-06-04T22:25:00.005-04:00

I'm so excited that tomorrow is Friday!! Yippee for it almost being the weekend!! I started off this morning with my weigh in at work. As suspected I didn't lost anything over the past week(didn't gain either). So over the last 15 weeks I've lost 4 pounds. Nothing to get all that excited over... But hey, I've been trying to relax and enjoy myself more so that's why I didn't get the results I was looking for. Anyway, I still have my goal to work toward but I will continue to enjoy myself while getting to that goal. : )

Breakfast today was a mix of cinnamon honey bunches of oats and kashi crunch with a pretty large banana and some fat free milk

Breakfast held me quite well and I didn't even need a snack between it and lunch. I ended up having this mess which was chicken/egg salad with spinach, black beans and kashi pilaf.

Also had an apple and carrots on the side

For supper I finished of the leftover spaghetti(that was a cups worth) plus I had a can of green beans.

And a fiber one bar for something sweet

Of course as normal supper really didn't fill me up so I was back to raiding the kitchen and on top of my spaghetti/green bean supper, I also had 2 oz chicken breast, almonds and dried plums(love these things). Oh and another granola bar. Hmmmm...I'm pretty sure this is the reason I'm not losing weight. LOL

I wasn't going to, but a little bit ago I ended up eating a raspberry creamsicle. These have 70 calories in them. Edy's has something similar with only 45 calories so once this box is gone I want to try and pick some up. I couldn't find them where I normally shop but I search online and there is one local store that does carry the Edy's bars!!

It's been rain rain raining like crazy again this week. Dad and I started riding bike outside this week and that lasted all of two days. It's been raining every since. : (

Exercise today was walking a mile this morning and riding the bike for 10 mins. Riding the bike 20 mins this evening. Walking an hour(the rain was nice and stopped so I could head outside). And I just did some pilates a little while ago. See, I put the energy from that extra food to good use!!

Hope everyone has a super fast Friday and a super SLOW weekend(if you get my drift!!). : )

Tempted

2009-06-03T21:38:00.004-04:00

Good evening!! Hope everyone's weeks are flying by!! This morning after I woke up I actually did 20 mins of pilates. I'm going to try to stick with them for awhile to see if they do help me tone. Has anyone else had success with pilates??

Breakfast was a pack of oatmeal with oat bran, wheat germ, ground flax and apple sauce added to it...
With some dried fruit on the side

Then I got into some of the egg salad I had made for lunch(there was a ton of it!!)

Lunch was watermelon, egg salad on spinach, carrots & cauliflower

Plus I got into the pretzels again. Ended up eating two. Since I can't stop at one I better stay away from these guys. Too addicting!!

So did I mention how I wasn't eating ANY chocolate for the entire month of June(which is why there were no pictures to drool over Marisa ; ) ) Well if someone I work with didn't bring me in DARK CHOCOLATE PEANUT M&M's!!! Sigh... I tucked them away in my drawer. I think I'll eat them July 1st after I get back from the denist, haha...

Dinner was some cereal & yogurt

And some spaghetti(steam made my picture funny) I also grabbed a peanut butter fiber one bar, they are almost like a candy bar to me!!

Tomorrow is the last week of our 15 week weight loss challenge at work. I didn't even manage to lose 5 pounds(pretty sad). And actually over the last three weeks I've gained each week. I'll be lucky if I show a 3 lb lose over the course of the challenge. Opps, hopefully things get better as we are kicking off another 15 week challenge tomorrow!! But at least I'm managing maintaining my weight. Half the battle, right?!

Hope everyone has a happy Thursday! I'm looking forward to spending some time at my brother & sister-in-law's this weekend so hope the next two days go quick!!

Starving ALL DAY!!!

2009-06-02T22:27:00.005-04:00

This morning started with yogurt and some dried fruit
Then some oatmeal with 1/2 a banana and strawberry jam

Some beans and rice

Apple and turkey & spinach sandwich

Pretzels x 3

Pack of cheese on wheat crackers(no pic) and carrots, cauliflower and string cheese

Cereal w/ 1/2 banana and milk, had a second bowl of just cereal, AND a slice of bread with peanut butter...seriously was starved today!!

A little R&R prior to an hour walk and 30 min bike ride...

Food Days Running Together...

2009-06-01T22:01:00.010-04:00

I'm going to try and get back into a regular posting schedule this week... here's a overview of all the days I've missed since I posted last(I'm going to let you read between the lines since there's no captions).

Oh and yes, that was Eclair cake that we had on memorial day. I did my own twist but you can find a yummy recipe HERE!!! Hope everyone had a happy Monday!!! : )

Thursday's Food

Friday's Food

Saturday's Food

Visiting Hershey Chocolate World to celebrate some friends 21st birthday!!

Sunday's Food

Today's Food!!

Food time!!

2009-05-27T22:28:00.005-04:00

I'm thinking about not doing a food post every day. Since that's what I'm doing anyway. I'm getting bored with posting food day after day. I need to mix things up so we'll see what that ends up becoming... Here's some food though from my past 3 days. Well, most of it's here anyway. There were some things that I didn't snap pics off...

Memorial Day(Monday)

Tuesday

Wednesday

And that's that. One of these days maybe I'll get back to a normal posting schedule. But today's not that day...

Is everyone having the same raining weather I'm having? I'll be glad for some sunshine!!!

Kiddos

2009-05-25T22:40:00.004-04:00

Hi everyone!! I know I've been MIA in my blog. Sometimes I just get tired and need a break and last week was one of those weeks...

Anyway, this is a blog to focus on both a happy & healthy life. I've been more less focused on the healthy part so today I bring you some happy from last Friday and a friends. I LOVE these kids!!! :-)

Swing(yes of course I got to swing too!!)

Picking strawberries...they seriously made it look fun...

Nope, Kendall and Cody aren't camera shy at all...little hams!!

As always I had a great evening of food and fun with my friend Michelle and the kiddos Cody and Kendall!! :-)

This And That

2009-05-19T22:30:00.017-04:00

I'm really slacking this week on my blog. To try and catch up, here are some random pictures from Saturday - Tuesday. Keep in mind this is not everything I've eaten, just what I've been able to snack photos off...

Portion explosion!

You’ve probably heard that portions have gotten bigger over the years, but do you know how much bigger? Check out some of these popular foods and see how different things were 20 years ago than they are now.

20 years ago: a bagel was three inches in diameter and had 140 calories.

Today’s portion: six inches and 350 calories.

20 years ago: a cheeseburger had 333 calories.

Today’s portion: 590 calories.

20 years ago: a portion of spaghetti and meatballs used to have 500 calories.

Today’s portion: 1,025 calories. This includes two cups of pasta with sauce and three large meatballs.

20 years ago: French fries were 2.4 ounces and 210 calories.

Today’s portion: 6.9-ounces with 610 calories.

20 years ago: a turkey sandwich had 320 calories.

Today’s portion: a 10-inch turkey sandwich has 820 calories.

Even though I know portions are bigger, actually seeing these examples - which by the way, are from the National Institutes of Health - really brings it home. No wonder obesity rates are so out of control in this country.

Did any of these portions surprise you?

Hope everyone is having a great week!! I'm so happy it'll be a long weekend for me!! : )

Pancake Praise

2009-05-16T08:46:00.005-04:00

So yesterday I saw that Tina from Carrots 'N' Cake made an oatmeal pancake for breakfast. No, this wasn't the first time I've ever seen an oatmeal pancake. In fact I first saw them at Kath Eats and from there I proceeded to created my own oatmeal pancake which was featured here.

So this morning I was planning on having a strawberry-kiwi smoothie for breakfast. But suddenly I had oatmeal pancake cravings too!! I knew I had all the ingredients I needed so with a little improvising(this normal is a bad thing) I started whipping up my pancake "batter". Once I had whipped up the ingredients I thought it was just too runny so I added oatbran to the mix. I think this was the PERFECT addition and made these more pancake like then mine have ever turned out before. I was so impressed I'm even going to post my recipe (haha)!!

First I whipped together my smoothie. 2 cups frozen strawberries, 1 kiwi and 1 danactive drink

Nice thick yummy smoothie!!!

Then it was onto the pancakes...

OATMEAL PANCAKES

1 pack of instant oatmeal(I used kashi maple brown sugar)
1 1/2 tablespoons oat bran
cinnamon(use your judgement, you might not want to add any, I LOVE a ton of it!!!!)
splash of vanilla
2 egg whites & fat free milk (put ONE egg white in a 1/3 measuring cup and then top it off with milk)
1/4 teaspoon baking powder (I put this in right before making pancakes)

Mix all of the above ingredients well. Once they were all combined I let it sit for about 20 minutes. I'm not saying you have to but I wasn't ready to make the pancakes yet. Right before I made the pancakes I added the baking power.

Just like making normal pancakes I heated my pan to a medium heat and then used a 1/4 measuring cup to divide my batter. The hardest part was knowing when to flip the pancakes because they don't get all full of holes like normal pancakes so my are a little on the brown side. That didn't stop me from eating them though. I LOVED them!!!!

Topped with some strawberry jam!!

The complete breakfast(I only drank 1/3 of the smoothie, the pancakes filled me up!!)

Who would guess this is an oatmeal pancake???

Delicious!!

Hope everyone has a FANTASTIC weekend!!!!

Trying To Catch Up

2009-05-14T20:28:00.017-04:00

Hi Everyone!! I know I've been MIA for the last couple of days(in my blog and yours...). I managed to get a cold(thanks Dad!!) And was seriously not feeling much like blogging. My boss even sent me home from work yesterday so I could rest(that was a first for me!!). But I'm semi-recovered now and decided to play a little catch up today. Again, like the other day not much as far as captions go but ya'll are smart, I know you'll be able to figure it out. I'm still getting my walks in. I've just been getting my mile at lunch and 3 miles in the evening. Since I normally do around 5 miles a day I've been doing an extra 30 mins on the bike to replace the 2 miles. Food wise I've been doing pretty good. I think I got pics of about everything I've eaten the last couple days.

Even though I'd rather not, I'll admit that tonight I was crazy hungry(I think due to my small lunch) and went a little overboard on 1 scoop of coffee ice cream w/ chocolate chips, a blueberry z-bar, a slice of chocolate banana bread and two many honey wheat pretzels. Obviously I was craving carbs??!! Oh well, it happens, I'm really not all that concerned. I've been doing a lot better on the food front with portion sizes and enjoying sweets. I've been doing better at eating in moderation (except tonight) which is a good thing!!

Hope everyone has been having a good Happy & Healthy Week!!

Oh and by the way, the cupcakes were just vanilla cupcakes with butter cream icing. I put food coloring in the icing. But sometime I want to try it by putting raspberry puree in the icing. I saw it in a recipe and think it would be yummy!!

Picture Parade

2009-05-11T22:24:00.009-04:00

Captions to come later when I'm not sleepy...

Sunday

Monday

Good Night!!

A Sneezy Saturday

2009-05-09T22:32:00.018-04:00

What better thing to wake up to Saturday morning than your favorite breakfast?? I LOVE french toast although I never really eat it much because well, I could probably put away a whole loaf of regular bread. But we still had some of the cinnamon raisin bread Mom made Sunday, lying around(it was ok but not great) so I decided to use it up by making french toast. I whipped up 1 egg, 1 egg white, 1/4 cup ff milk, vanilla, nutmeg & cinnamon and let the bread soak in that overnight. Then this morning I heated the oven to 350* and baked the french toast and a apple(with a little brown sugar on top) for 40 mins. I got to ride the exercise bike for 25 of those minutes.

Pre-bake
Into the oven

Out of the oven and ready to eat!!

I did drizzle a little syrup on my french toast... I was only planning on eating two of these but my eyes were bigger than my stomach and I ate ALL 3 minus 1 bite. It was really good with the baked apples!! Trust me, this kept me full for ALONG time!!

After breakfast I went for a 5 mile walk because I wasn't sure how the weather was going to hold out(was it going to rain or not??). Although for me going outside seems to be a forecast of "partially sneezy with a chance of running nose" SERIOUSLY...my allergies are driving me insane!! And I've developed a sore throat due to all the sinus drainage and will, I'm the biggest, moany, groany, baby when I have a sore throat, I just HATE them!!

Getting back from my walk I decided to do my GOOD HAIR DAY CHALLENGE and do a chamomile tea rinse for my hair, read more here...

After that I picked up my brother and sister-in-law from the car dealership(their car needed some work) and we ran around a bit before heading home to wait on the call saying the car was done. After they picked up their vehicle we- James, Danelle, Dad, Mom and I when out to eat a small Italian Restaurant. I had been their once before but it was everyone else's first time. I think we all enjoyed our food and I took a picture of EVERYTHIN!! LOL

Dad's
Lasagna

Danelle's Gyro

James' Manicotti

Mom's Chicken, Bacon and Mozzarella Cheese Sub

I wasn't feeling like anything heavy(both allergies and breakfast playing a part in this) so I had a simple spinach salad with cracked peppercorn Parmesan dressing(which was awesome!!) on the side.

I love the atmosphere of this place. Got a quick picture by the wall by the table we sat at. I'd love to visit Italy someday!!

And James took another picture outside with me and Danelle my sister-in-law :-)

After we got back home J&D and M&D took off for a visit with my Grandparents before J&D headed back to West Virginia(they live 45 mins away).

I decided to do a little baking. Here I was trying to choose between chocolate or washing dishes...hard choice!! LOL

Munchies got the best of me this afternoon... honey wheat pretzels

Almonds and cheese

Banana and peanut butter(at this point I stopped taking pictures...I was just WAY TO SNACKY!!)

So were you wondering what the dishes were from? Well, I tried my hand at Chocolate Banana Bread and this might be something I'll have to acquire a taste for. I'm guessing it'll be better cold than it was warm... For 12 servings this only has 166 calories per serving which I think is pretty good. I think I'm going to play around with this recipe and see what else I can come up with...

Sorry this picture is so dark... it wasn't bad. I'm just probably not used to the flavor. I love that there is NO SUGAR added to the recipe other than what is in the fruit!!!

So are you like me? You never really take much time to pamper yourself? Well, tonight since I was feeling miserable from my allergies I decided that I would. It's not that I never use these products, but I normally rush right though and don't really enjoy it. So tonight after I used the Apricot Scrub on my face I filled the tub up and soaked while reading a magazine. Used my Nivea scrub(Lime Blossom Scented - very refreshing!!) on my body and paid a little extra attention to my feet with some foot scrub!!

Question of the day: What are your favorite products to use when "pampering" yourself??

Well, I had a very full day but sadly I'm not really feeling tired. Must be that nap I took this afternoon. Although I did take another 30 min walk afterward. I'm behind in keeping track of how many miles I've walked. Maybe I'll work on that and my About Me Page tomorrow. I'm determined to have it finished by the end of this month!!!

Hope everyone is having a super weekend thus far!! Happy Mother's Day to all of you Mom's out there hope your day tomorrow is special!!

Oh, one more thing... I fixed my Self Challenge FINANCES post... it is now readable if anyone is interested!!

Friday's Food

2009-05-08T21:24:00.004-04:00

I must not have a creative bone in my body or I could have come up with a better title. I got a chuckle out of some of the comments you made about coming up with your own blog titles. I don't feel so bad knowing that I'm not the only one that struggles from time to time(more so than not). :-)

So did everyone have a good Friday?? I hope so!! The sun did shine for a "little while" today and I did get to take two walks so I guess I can't complain. Today I worked, treated my boss to lunch as a belated b-day gift, walked after work, hit up Kohls(left empty handed) and Wal Mart (left not quite $15 poorer so I did good!!) Did a few other things and now of course I'm blogging.

Breakfast kashi cereal mixture, ff milk & banana
I knew I was never going to make it until the time Shelli wanted to eat so I snacked on 1/2 piece of banana bread with peanut butter on it(this is what you settle for when you don't pack a snack).

For lunch I tried something new!! Louisiana Blackened Chicken & While Crab Meat wrap with cole slaw & a pickle. Once I got to the second half of my wrap I took two bites and then got smart and unwrapped it and just ate the meat and lettuce out of it...

Shelli wanted to split fries and I couldn't say no since it was her b-day lunch...

I wasn't to hungry when dinner came around, had some carrots, hummus and pepper jack

Then I decided I needed a little more and had a little cinnamon raisin bread and almonds

A little bit ago I started getting the munchies...cold cooked broccoli at 9pm anyone??

The rest of my snack is a little more normal. Honey Wheat pretzels(my favorite!!) and a kashi bar(which is still waiting to be eaten...)

Exercise:
25 mins stationary bike
15 min walk
1hr 15 min walk
some exercises with 5 lb dumbbells
600 jumps w/ jump rope

And that's going to wrap things up for the evening. It's still kinda early so I'm not sure what I'm going to do. Maybe start a movie and walk asleep during it. That's standard procedure for me and movies at night! Hope everyone has a great weekend!! Anything fun planned???

Solar Powered

2009-05-07T22:19:00.004-04:00

It was a BEAUTIFUL sun shiny day!!! Abosolutely LOVED IT!! And I had so much energy so I've come to the conclusion(with the help of friends) that I am solar powered. With no sun shining I find myself just wanting to lay around and caring less about exercising. But when the suns out everything seemingly just falls into place. It's a great feeling!!

Breakfast was strawberries, a english muffin with Justin's almond butter and ff milk

I was supposed to be in training from 9-1 so I decided to have a ice coffee on the way to the training it was 1 cup strong coffee, 1/2 cup milk, and 1 PACK of stevia. To be honest it didn't taste right today. Oh well...

I also took a granola bar and apple into the training. I knew I'd never make it through. Part of the way through the training(and there were only 3 of us) the one girl brought a chocolate chip cookie in for each of us. I was thinking "oh rats" but I took it and slipped it into my apple bag thinking I would eat it later or give it away...

I got back to work at 12(an hour before I thought I would) and decided to have part two of my lunch, a blueberry yogurt. Oh and did my Mom every get a steal on these yogurts today. They were on sale 10 for $4.00, but she had a $1.00 off coupon PLUS a coupon that would DOUBLE a $1.00 off coupon so she got 10 yogurts for $2.00!!!!!

I was STARVING this afternoon. Seriously there was no way I was going to make it without having something. Of course I had to extra food around but one of the girls had these pretzel sticks (3 for 120 calories) and they hit the spot!!

Dinner was SOOOOO yummy, specially after being to hungry this afternoon. I had broccoli, baked sweet potato and a grilled chicken pattie with pepper jack cheese.

Remember that cookie? Hehehe... I had it was my supper. I left it in my car this afternoon and it had gotten warm and the chocolate chips were all melting and it was just SOOOOOOO YUMMY!!!

Seriously, I earned that cookie, I rode the bike for 25 mins today, walked a mile over lunch, walked 6 miles here at home and I did 600 jumps with the jump rope(didn't even trip) so I think the cookie was burned off!!!

Sorry I'm such a slacker with commenting on your blogs. I'll try and get to that in the morning. Bed time is looming!! If nothing else I'll find time to comment over the weekend and even if I don't comment I am reading!! :)

Have a great night and tomorrow's Friday, WOO HOO!!!

Catchy Title??

2009-05-06T21:45:00.008-04:00

I know at some point during today I had the perfect blog title. But until it was time to post my blog that title was totally washed away. I'm going to blame it on all this rain!! Although there was some sunshine today!! I was totally excited to be able to get out for a walk around the block during my lunch break. The sun was OH SO ENERGIZING!!!! But alas, until I got off work the sun was gone and left it it's place were more gray clouds. I did at least get to walk outside. I think that was the first time ALL week!! The rain drops were starting to fall during the last 5 mins. Per my Dad (the unofficial weather man) it's supposed to be nice tomorrow, chance of rain on Friday & Saturday and then nice the first 4 days of next week. I can't wait!!!

Despite the sun playing hide and seek(Ooooo, maybe that should be my title, haha) I feel like I FINALLY had a completely good food day!! I have to admit it's almost been a week since I could really say that...

Breakfast: banana, slice of homemade cinnamon raisin bread with pb on half and strawberry jam on the other half

Snack was coffee to which I added 1/4 cup of fat free milk

Lunch was a cup of chili (leftover from Mom making it the other day) apple and asparagus

A little while after I finished lunch I decided I need the carrots I had packed after all...

Dinner was strawberries and a mixture of kashi cereal and life cereal with ff milk

I decided that was never going to hold me so I grabbed another Potent bar to try... I'm still thinking that all the bars I've tried so far have the same odd taste. I'm guessing it's the maca??

And this evening I decided I'd never make it through the night without a little something to munch so I grabbed some almonds...that my friends was the end of my good day!!

Curious about how my fruit/veggie day went on Tuesday?? Well here it all is. I think the only thing I didn't take a picture of was 1 apple and a small bowl of ice cream(opps). Over all I hung in there pretty good until the end of the day when I was just to hungry and needed something a little more filling. It was quite the colorful day though...

I know I'm behind in my 30 day self challenge posts ALREADY!! I thinking instead of calling it a 30 day self challenge that I'm going to change it to just Self Challenge. That way there's no dead line and it can be a continual ongoing challenge for myself!! That's my thoughts anyway...

The only other thing I've got going on this week is that I'm trying to do lights out at 11 instead of 11:30/12/12:30. LOL I'm so bad about going to bed but I like to get up at 5:45 in the morning and it's pretty rough not getting a full 6 hours of sleep. At least if I'm going at 11 that gives me almost 7 hours. Better than nothing. I just don't ever see myself going to be any earlier than that and since I have to be to work at 7 I don't see being able to sleep in any longer either...

That about wraps things up for tonight. This week suddenly seems to be flying right by...

Because I Can

2009-05-05T11:17:00.000-04:00

I'm sitting at work (working obviously ) and in the back of my mind I keep thing of this whole new concept of being able to blog from my email. Seriously, I had NO IDEA!! So even though I did a test last night I want to try it out so bad. I'm silly like that. The only thing that will be missing is a lack of pictures...

I am only eating fruit and veggies today. It's going ok. I'm no hungrier than normal. I normally walk around like this always waiting for my next meal. I had some very yummy fruit for breakfast and snack and now I'm munching on some steamed veggies. I'm wondering if dried soybeans count as a veggie? I have some here and I wouldn't mind trying them out with my apple later... And I'm already thinking about the roasted cauliflower and asparagus I'm having for supper later.

Ok well, this isn't meant to be that exciting of a post. Just something I wanted to try out!! I'm going to hit the send button and see what happens...

Hope everyone's having a good Tuesday!!