I am alive!

This week was worse than I could describe. I was at work at 6:30 am everyday and a few days was at work until 11pm, so 6:30-11:00 = no exercise this week which = stress. I picked up my race number for the 10K tomoroow, but with barely any sleep and no exercise (besides tuesday when I only worked 6:30am-6:00pm and went for a 5 mile walk) this week, I'm not sure I can do it tomorrow. I'll keep you all posted.

My client is a large Fortune 500 Corporation that is selling off one of its companies and it is to close on this week (fingers crossed), and after closing, it should be a lot slower. I'll be back to blogging on a regular basis after that happens.

I have never had a full week where I couldn't get in any exercise, so it was pretty upsetting to me.

I miss you all, and I'm sorry I can't comment on your blogs right now, but I have been stopping in to look up on your blogs while I eat my lunch at my desk.

Talk to you all soon!!

Bad Blogger Again!

It looks as thought I am having another week of 12-13 hours at the office, so blogging will be sparse this week. I hope to blog tonight with a recipe, but it depends. I left my house at 6:20 this morning and am working away already.

I am signed up for a 10k a couple months ago that is this Sunday (I have ran this race for the past 4 years), and I really don't know if I'll be able to do it physically. I haven't been able to run for a week! Saturday and Sunday I walked 5 miles around the lake both days, but just was too physically and mentally drained to run. I also got in exercise other days last week, but nothing as intense as running, mostly walking/pilates. I didn't make it home last night for my 8pm Pilates class, and actually didn't get a work out in at all. I'm hoping to get home by 6:30 tonight to walk the park or try to escape at lunch for a work out.

I'll post something soon, promise!! Have a great day:)

Best Cookies Ever!!

I didn't get to blog about my meals Friday or Saturday, but really nothing too interesting there, so I'll just get to the good stuff.....

So I finally got to do some baking!

My husband and I had picked up some black and gold M&M's to make cookies. I was trying to find the perfect recipe to use these in. Well I found a recipe in Dreena Burton's eat, drink, and be vegan, and it was fabulous. They were her "You Got Peanut Butter in My Chocolate" Cookies. However I made some changes. I used whole wheat pastry flour instead of spelt flour and I didn't use the cocoa powder, so they weren't chocolate cookies. Using the M&M's made them no longer Vegan.

Here is a picture:

I can't describe how good these were. I loved the agave nectar and maple syrup in them. So good!

I have to go to work today : ( So hopefully I will post again tonight. Thanks everyone for all of your wonderful comments this past week! I always look forward to my blogging, even with my long days at work!

Kashi Girl??

I want to start out by asking you to read this article and then tell me if you would work like this. I totally would love to be able to type while walking on a treadmill!! I just hate sitting all day.

I got to work a little after 7am this morning, breakfast was oatmeal, a peach, a yogurt and a Kashi soft apple bar. I have been loving peaches in oatmeal.

I had a 10:30 coffee break and got a skinny caramel latte and had some of my chocolate popcorn that I bought yesterday at GNC.



Lunch was a Kashi frozen dinner (some black bean and mango kind) that I put over a salad. This was a great combo. Sorry that I didn't get a picture of the box.

At 5pm I had this:
I worked until 7:20pm then I went to the gym. I did 15 minutes on the stair climber and 11 minutes running on the treadmill. Plus the walk to the gym from my office and then back to the parking garage was a mile or so.

Dinner was at 8:30, I did another cereal mix with the last thing of yogurt left. This yogurt was much too tiny to cover all of my cereal, but it was quick.

It just occured to me that I had 4 different Kashi products today, one at each meal and for a snack. One of the cereals was Kashi Go Lean Crunch. That is a little weird that Kashi consumes so much pantry and freezer room at our house!!

I feel like I want something else, but really I think it is more exhaustion and the fact that maybe I should have ate something more dinner like tonight.

Today was another 12 1/2 hour work day, so I'm beat. I am going to sleep, so I can wake up and be at the office by 7ish. I have a long work day tomorrow and another interview lunch.

Playing Catch Up!

I'll start with today and if you want to see what I ate yesterday see further down.

This morning I did 20 minutes on my treadmill to wake up. I had the speed at 4.0 and incline at 6%.

Breakfast was at home at 6am because I had an 8am doctors appointment. I had a yogurt and a mixture of 4 different cereals. Someday I'll take a picture of my pantry and cereal collection, too tired to list the kinds I added here. I measure so it is only about 1/3 cup each kind.

I had a nice lunch packed and rushed out this morning and left it at home. So I had to grab Au Bon Pain, I got a large Vegetarian Minestrone and a wheat baguette.

Later I was hungry and went to GNC across the street and bought this bar:

I also found this at GNC and sampled a little. It is now in my desk for future snacks:)

Dinner was a Garden Burger, veggies, and a tomato. I also had some Kashi crackers and soy cheese.
These were the veggies I used and it said two servings and I ate both servings.

I also had a cookie dough smart one dessert that was yummy:)

I squeezed in another 20 minutes on the treadmill after dinner and then I went to a legal clinic that I volunteer at a couple times a month meeting with people that can't afford an attorney and need 30 minutes to consult with one. I did that from 7pm - 9pm.

TUESDAYS EATS:

Breakfast was a mixture of cereals with chocolate soy milk.

Lunch was an interview lunch at a restaurant called the Carlton. I did not like the interview candidate and was rather annoyed the entire lunch. I had a salad with a mushroom on top and it didn't have any protein. For dressing I asked them to bring oil and vinegar. I also had a piece of bread. I did not get dessert, even though I was very tempted!!

The salad and piece of bread didn't keep me full long and I had to go to the vending machine and buy this:
For dinner, I grabbed Pita Pit and brought it to my office, because I knew it was going to be a late night. Whole Wheat Falafal Pita with lots of Veggies:)

I had a Smart One frozen dessert when I got home from my long day. I didn't get home until 8pm and I had arrived at work at 7am. So I didn't get a work out in Tuesday.

Until tonight.....

I was at work for 12 1/2 hours yesterday, then there was the drive to and from. I didn't get to work out, and fell asleep before the end of the Biggest Loser. I took some pictures, but I will post a summary of Tuesday's and Wednesday's eats tonight.

No interview lunch for me today, so I should have a work out and I need to go pack my lunch.

Have a great Tuesday....see you later!

Sweet Tooth Day!

For breakfast I ate the last of the Fage (less than 1/2 cup), with oatmeal, a peach, and a crumbled Kashi bar. This is great to keep be full until noon.

Lunch at the Capitol Grille was the same as Friday, two pieces of baked tofu and some sauteed veggies underneath. Today I didn't have a salad, but I did have one roll. I decided to get dessert. I got the Strawberries Capitol Grille, which was fresh Strawberries with some type of liquor and a small scoop of ice cream (less than 1/2 cup). This was great and it didn't seem to heavy, because it was a small serving of ice cream and mostly berries. No picture, because as I said I think I would scare someone interviewing at my firm away if I took a picture of everything I ate!

Around 5pm, I snacked on some Vegetarian Organic Gummy bears I had stashed in my desk. I bought these at GNC last week. No Gelatin in these, so I was so happy to have something gummy for a change. There were two servings in this bag, I had one on Friday and one today. There is 110

For dinner I had a Whole Foods Vegan Oat Scone and some PB and jam. I have Pilates at 8pm and I wanted something that wouldn't stay in my stomach and upset it at Pilates. This was a pretty sweet dinner, maybe too sweet.

Well off to Pilates!

Words but no pictures...

Well I had planned to be a better blogger this weekend, but I had a busy weekend with work stuff and didn't have my camera when I needed it (my cell camera takes pretty bad pictures).

This time of year is pretty busy at work because of Interview Lunches which I mentioned on Friday. Every fall my firm brings hundreds of law students in for a half of a day of interviews and a fancy lunch to interview them for a summer associate position. My duty as a young associate is to be a "tour guide" for candidates. So I take my assigned candidate from office to office for four 30 minute interviews, and then I take them and 2 other attorneys out to lunch. Some days I am not a tour guide, but another tour guide may ask me to go to the interview lunch.

This week so far I have interview lunches on Monday and Tuesday. This is bad for you, because it means a few times a week you can't see my lunch, but hopefully I can tell you about them. I hope that you can see that will power can make it easy to eat healthy under such temptation.

On Friday my lunch was at Capitol Grille, which is where I am also going Monday. Even though this is a steak house, they have tofu in the back and if you ask for a vegetarian dish they make a very nice tofu and veggie plate. So that is what I had Friday. I started with a house salad with the dressing on the side, and one roll. I also left half of the tofu on the plate. These lunches, especially when at Capitol Grille, last over 2 hours. I passed on dessert on Friday because I was really full. These lunches are normally 3 to 4 courses, because 1) they are on the firm, and 2) we are trying to recruit the candidate (if they get the offer) to pick our firm. Normally everyone orders dessert, as did the other 3 people at lunch on Friday. While the menu looked so tempting, I just need to remind myself that I have a lot of these lunches and even though it is free there is no need for me to order a dessert that most likely has 1000 calories!

I also need to make sure to get exercise in before work on days of interview lunches, because I am normally having a larger lunch than normal and I know I won't get to the gym during work because of the hours I have to spend at lunch. One other thing I do differently is not have snacks. On a normal work day, I eat a smaller lunch and pack a morning and afternoon snack. I don't pack these extra snacks on interview lunch days.

I will see you all tomorrow with some pictures:)

No pictures, just whining!!

Thursday I forgot my camera, and today I have too much work and a hiring lunch (more about these later, but it includes about $50 per person for lunch at a fancy restaurant) so I won't be back to my daily food documenting until Saturday.

Yesterday I did get in a Spin workout at lunch. I did 35 minutes and burned 275 calories (or so said my heart rate monitor).

This morning I set the alarm for 5:25 am, for a long outside run but it was raining and yucky out, so that didn't happen. I have a treadmill and should have used it, but that also didn't happen. Sophie started to cry and wanted my attention, so all hope was lost for a morning workout. Not to mention I picked up my blackberry and had 3 emails that had been sent for things I needed to do (these emails were sent between 5am and 5:40am).

I was supposed to go meet a client at a gas plant to pick up some plans need for permit approvals, but it took be an hour to get to town because it is raining and no one in Pittsburgh knows how to drive in the rain. An hour might not seem like a long commute for some of you, but I live 20 minutes from town. Also this plant is 40 minutes south of town (I live north), so it just wasn't going to happen. But lucky me will earn some billable hours tomorrow as I drive to pick them up.

On a more exciting note, yesterday I was at Starbucks and I was sooooo excited to see that they are serving Justin's Maple Almond Nut Butter Packets (the 100 calorie ones) with their whole grain roll. I love these and bought a large order of 4 different flavors of packets a couple months ago, before Justin's had to shut down its online store for a few weeks to catch up on demand. But, if you all are at Starbucks and need a little snack, get one of these rolls and try this nut butter!!!

Wonderful Wednesday!

Steve and I woke up this morning and put on neon vests to do a run before 6am. We ran 4.7 miles in 41 minutes. So 8.43 min/mile. Steve was so nice to run with me, because he runs a lot faster! I loved this morning run, it made me feel so good the whole day.

Breakfast: Iced Coffee and a muffin with peanut butter an banana:

Snack: grapes
At noon Steve and I met to do weights at the gym for about 25 minutes.

I ate lunch around 1:15. I have a lot of peaches, so I need to eat them daily. Peaches, oatmeal, and yogurt.

Around 4pm I had watermelon:

Steve had MBA class, so dinner was on my own and playing with Sophie was my job too, so I grabbed a wrap with hummus and veggies from the Au Bon Pain in my building and ate it around 5:15 in my office.

On my drive home from work I ate a Zbar that was stashed in the glove compartment of my vehicle.

Sorry so short, but I need to get ready for work. Happy Thursday!!

Tomato Tuesday!

Breakfast: Blueberry Greek Yogurt and a Peach:

Lunch was a salad with corn, carrots, mushrooms, and romaine lettuce.

A piece of left over Vegan lasagna:


1/2 cup oatmeal with 100 calorie YoCrunch and today I was craving sweets so I cut up and added a honey graham z bar.

I also ate my last two chocolate pieces hidden in my desk:

Tonight's dinner is my tomato recipe for Hangry Pants' challenge. The start of dinner is a Baked Potato fan. So I take a raw potato and clean it and then I cut slits into it and then I brush it with some olive oil and sprinkle it with salt. I then bake it at 400 degrees for about 40 minutes.

In a pot I cook two large diced tomatoes, about a cup of morningstar crumbles, and about a cup of diced mushrooms (I microwave the mushrooms in some water for a minute first). I add Mrs. Dash Italian Seasoning and some salt, and I then cook until the topping is warm. (this is for 2 potatoes)

I then put the tomato topping in between the potato fans. This is such a tasty and filling dinner. I started making it a couple years ago, and when tomatoes are not in season I use canned diced tomatoes.

Wicked Steelers!

Due to the crazy busy Sunday I had between the Steeler Game and seeing Wicked with my mom, I didn't take pictures of my food. We didn't tailgate so I didn't have to worry about drinks or game food. I ate a garden burger before rushing out of the door for the game, then I had leftover Vegan Lasagna for dinner.

The Steelers won and it was a beautiful day, so the game was great! Steve and I sat in the 2nd row on the 50 yard line. Here is a few pictures from the game.

Crazy packed Stadium:
Those Heinz bottles tip when the Steelers get in the "red zone" and when the Steelers score in the red zone Heinz buys 57 fans in the crowd free hot dogs. Obviously doesn't do much for me, but watching the bottles tilt is entertaining.

Here they are tipped, when the Steelers are in the red zone:Us, thank goodness Steve is tall with long arms so he can take these pictures of us together everywhere we go:P The sun was very bright, hence our eyes:

Wicked is a wonderful musical, and I highly recommend it. This is the 2nd time my mom and I saw it. Here is a random Sophie picture, to comp for lack of Sunday's food pictures:
+

Monday's Eats:

Breakfast: Greek Yogurt + fresh peach (we bought a 1/2 peck of these at the farm, so a lot of peaches to use this week). This is a great breakfast and that Greek Yogurt keeps me so full!

I had an apple for a snack before my noon gym date to meet Steve. We ran 2 miles on the treadmill and then he had me do triceps and biceps fro 30 minutes. I bet my arms will ache tomorrow.

For lunch I tried one of the vegetarian Kashi Frozen meals I bought over the weekend (a few more flavors to come this week). This was pretty tasty. I wish I packed extra veggies to throw in and maybe fake chicken. It wasn't filling enough, especially after an hour workout. This meal is 300 calories, sorry don't remember the other stats. I would buy this again, but pack the extra veggies.

Afternoon snack was 1/2 cup of oatmeal with this yogurt. This was such a wonderful snack. I have never had oatmeal as a snack and it was so filling.

I got home from work at 7pm and I had to take care of Sophie and Steve was at his MBA class, so I was alone and lost on dinner ideas, so....I ate ice cream. I am all about eating what I crave. So I had a piece of angel food cake, with a sliced peach, a 80 calorie peach yogurt, a small scoop of ice cream and some whipped cream:

I was low on veggies today, but I get a ton most days, so no worries here.....

See you all tomorrow, I am hoping to make a great tomato recipe for HangyPants' challenge:)

Wacky Weather

Well as usual on weekend, I have been busy and away from my computer. So I'm just getting to write about Friday and Saturday.

FRIDAY

For Breakfast (while driving to work) I had and english muffin with 1 tbsp White Chocolate Peanut Butter from Peanut Butter & Company and a little strawberry jam. I also had ice coffee.

Around 10am I had grapes:

I left work around noon to go work from home and wait for furniture to be delivered. Steve met me and we picked up sushi from our favorite Chinese place China Palace. I had the vegetarian sushi platter that came with miso soup and a salad.

I took a run (about 4.25 miles) at 4pm and it was almost 90 degrees out, so this was a super hard run for me, because I'm not used to running in the middle of the day in the hot, humid weather. The heat of the run took away my hunger.

At 6pm I stopped at my mom's house to pick up Sophie (who spent the day playing with her dogs). Mom offered to make me dinner, but I still wasn't hungry. I did have a small piece of no sugar added berry pie that my mom picked up from the local farmer's market.

I ate dinner around 8pm, and just had some oatmeal with baked apples and a yogurt. Steve had MBA class (his Prof made him make up Labor Day's class Friday night) so I was alone for dinner.

A little later I had some quaker chocolate snacks and a small spoon of peanut butter.

SATURDAY

For breakfast Steve made some great blueberry pancakes (whole wheat) which I topped with a mixture of maple syrup and peanut butter microwaved for 30 seconds.

For lunch I had a piece of leftover impossible pie (see Thursday's post) and some baked chips, pretzels, and tomato.

I also had a 100 Calorie Pack of chocolate prezels. I don't normally get 100 Calorie Packs because 1) no nutritional value, and 2) they do not help me feel full. But I love chocolate covered prezels, so these were a nice addition to my lunch.

I had a snack of prezels, baked chips, and 2 crackers around 4pm:

Around 6pm I ran the entire North Park lake with no walking breaks (4.7 miles) and although yesterday I ran and it was almost 90 degrees, today it was a nice cool 65 degrees.

For dinner I made the Vegan Lasagna from the FatFree Vegan Blog. I used whole wheat lasagna noodles I found at Target. This is the second time I made this, and I love it. Steve loves it too.

Here is my piece.

I also had a piece of toast with Trader Joe's bruchetta mix and a piece of soy cheese, but no picture because my camera died.

Off to get ready to go to the Steelers game and then Wicked the musical.