The wonders of the world

Hello Bloggers!!!
The wonders of the world I would love to see are the Pyramids, but the wonders of the world I am facing every day are not as extravagant. Like school and food service and relationships. I think that I am in a very fragile state with changing careers and so don't mind me if I talk about my struggles with leaving the Film Industry to become a college student. It is not all set in stone yet but my mind is pretty made up.

I am in a mood I can not quite describe, I had a headache most of the afternoon and was not feeling tip top so I lied down with Bravo and caught up on some silly TV shows. Once Sean got home I was in a much better mood and am now feeling well enough to look at the computer screen. I think it was all the reading I did for my Psych class. I am not used to looking at a text book and never really read much of them in my high school days ( I was too interested in boys, art and parties). But now in my young adulthood I am finding it still just as challenging so I am a bit upset. I have no prob doing homework or listening to lectures but I know the reading will kill me. Any tips? Anybody more left brained with some study tips??? My sister gave me great advice (very left brained) and told me to type my notes and go to the library after class to do the reading when I am in study mode and I think I will try that!

Anyways... my mind is a bit mushy now so I will move on to my eats!
Bfast; Small orange, cereal with Almond Milk and raisins:
Delish! And in case you were wondering I am still lightening my grain load in the morning. This mornings bowl was 1.5 cups total and 1.25 cups milk.
I was just amazed at how beautifully my V-Day flowers have bloomed!

for my mid morn snack I had a Larabar in Gingersnap (no pic) and this snack I had mid afternoon:

For lunch I packed a very "kid" like meal in my eyes; WW English muffin, 2 tbsp of Almond and PB which I made into a sammie and grilled at work. I also packed 2 carrots and an apple sauce with blueberries!!

After work I went to school and bought my textbook for way more than I planned and then went to Trader Joes to do some very needed groecery shopping. As I said I was battling a headache so I ate a very early dinner, I always think I need food if I have a headache, which was leftovers:

This meal was even better today! For dessert I had some dried mango and some fat free Caramel Popcorn form TJ's!

And I had Tofuti Cutie!!! I love these if you have not tried them I suggest doing so! They are vegan ice cream sandwiches!!!! This pic does no justice, so I will have to have one tomorrow to try to get a better pic!

Ok I am off to watch Dexter with my honey and get some rest. I sadly got no exercise in today unless you count walking in TJ's or serving coffee for 6 hours?!?

Love

C

What's With Wanting.....

to SNACK!!!! I got home from my shift at 1PM was procrastinating the things I had to do. Just didn't want to commit yet- does this happen to you? So my belly was full yet I was still snacky! I hate this feeling, a bottomless pit if you will.

I started my day off great with a bowl of cereal like the past few days- I can't get enough! I had: 1 cup Kashi Sunshine, 1 cup Organic Heritage Flakes, 1 cup unsweetened Almond Milk, 1 shot Bare Naked Granola, 1 Mission Fig chopped and 1/2 a banana.

I woke super early. Sean had to wake up at 4:45am and once the alarm went off, and my eyes opened I was immediately hungry! So sleeping was no longer an option:) After my bfast and before I left for work I had this yummy Larabar in Peanut Butter Cookie.
At work I had some iced Mugicha (Japanese Barley tea). It is decaffeinated-good thing cause too much makes me so wired! Sorry no pic I was afraid to bust out the camera and explain my blog on day 2. For lunch I ate the wrap I made last night with Tofurky, light Munster and Eggplant hummus with baby carrots. I was very satisfied for a good couple of hours! By the time I got home I wasn't really hungry, but as I said earlier I was distracted and procrastinating... so I ate. Bad I know. It allnstarted with a small innocent orange~

Then I had 4 prunes and a dried tamarind pod~

Then went back for more prunes, tamarind and added a shy spoon of Almond Butter for protein~

Literally 2 hours later I wanted more-hmmmm... I figured I needed some carbs so I had 2 shots of kefir, 1/4 cup of Organic Heritage Flakes, 1/2 shot of raisins, 1/2 shot of sliced almonds. This time I sat down to really enjoy it. The earlier snacks were eaten standing up in the kitchen and thinking of my to do list. I knew this time I needed to process what was going into my mouth!

For dinner I had planned to make King Ranch Chicken (low fat version) so as I prepped I made myself a Faux-tini! What a treat! These are not only fun to make and fun to drink but oh so pretty too!

BlueLime Faux-tini:

• 3-5 limes freshly squeezed = 2 tbsp of lime juice


• 1 shot frozen wild blueberries


• 1/2 cup sparkling lime water


• 1 Splenda pack or 1/2 tbsp of Agave


• 1 cup ice

Add all ingredients except water to a shaker (or a glass will do) and "muttle" (which is to mush or bash) with spoon until blueberries release their color and the lime is mixed up. Add the sparkling water and mix again. Strain into Martini glass and garnish by spooning in bits of blueberries. Drink and enjoy the guilt free delite! This drink is very refreshing, sour and sweet at the same time!

Here is my finished dish of King Ranch Chicken. The left side is my even lighter version with brown rice instead of chips and light Munster instead of Cheddar. The right side is for the boyfriend; full fat and twice the amount, you can see he already dug in before I could snap my pic :)

My plate: this is one large serving, it has a little less than half of the above pictured healthy side. With the last of the bag of baby carrots.

I had some of this as well! My favorite light beer.

I don't foresee any dessert on tonight's menu so I guess that's all for today! I think it's plenty!

Have a happy Friday night ya'll!

C

My First Day of Pastry Heaven

Well yes my first day down! I really like working in a coffee shop, I don't know why exactly? Maybe because of "Friends" or the fact that I love tea and coffee?? The atmosphere is very fun and the people that work there and the customers are super friendly! The customers are mostly regulars and I will have to memorize their names and orders but other than that it is pretty darn stress free compared to my days of Set Decorating. I am bitter sweet about leaving the industry (well I shouldn't say leaving cause I have a job this weekend doing a TV Promo for "Rescue Me"). Funny how I put the Set Dec job in parentheses, shows how high it is on my scale I guess. Today overall was a good day of eats, lets start with bfast:
1 cup Kashi Sunshine, 1 cup Kashi Go Lean, 1 cup unsweetened Almond Milk, 1/2 banana, 1/3 Blueberry Z Bar ( these are very good but a bit too artificially blueberry if you know what I mean) and coffee with skim. I will probably not be making coffee at home any longer since I get FREE coffee and tea at work.
Before I showered and got ready for work I found my self finishing the Z Bar.

I knew I would not be having lunch at a normal time because my training started at 11AM, so I did what knew best and ate lunch at 10:45AM-hehe! I had the last of the roasted veggie lasagna and 1/2 cup of baby carrots. I ate it cold and it was really quite nice, kinda reminded me of a pasta salad! Here is my "graphic" picture-the newest swag talk for photographers doing editorial.

At work I had to make a variety of sandwiches (13 to be exact) and learn to make the coffee and tea drinks. I tasted a few, my fave so far: Boba (bubble tea) nonfat Green tea latte_yummmm but I found out that one boba ball is 5 calories-yikesss! Another super tasty drink: Mixed Berry Tea smoothie_this is all natural and simply refreshing! I was sad to find out that the cafe is not all organic :( but still fresh and pretty healthy!

At the end of my shift my boss announced that the left over pastries were "up for grabs" hello!!!???!!! My heart skipped a beat-probably not healthy to get to excited over deserts but oh well- I took one of EVERYTHING for Sean to try and me too of course! I thought it better to try the sweets in my own home where I can control the portion and fully savor my indulgences. Here are the pastries and muffins I brought home: banana nut muffin, blueberry muffin, strudel muffin, Cinnamon sugar muffin

Lemon bar (my fave), candied orange zest and almond hot bun, almond torte (fave #2), raspberry scone thing, banana nut bread, and a peach danish!!!!!! yes can I hear a HECK YES!

Since I ate lunch at 10:30 AM I was to no surprise STARVING when I got home at 6:30PM. I brought a Lara bar with me to work but never ate it. So the second I walked in the door I grabbed the spanakopita out of the fridge and ate the last 4 cold-new way to eat them and very good!

I also pulled out the leftover sweet potato and added some Eggplant Hummus- I love this stuff it is lighter than regular hummus and has a Babaganush taste to it! Very Greek and went so well with the potato.

For dinner I made a salad with red leaf, vine ripened tomato, carrot, red onion, black beans and a sprinkle of Parmesan. Dressed with S&P and O&V (new abbreviation for Balsamic and olive oil)

I then made a lunch for tomorrow. A wrap with Tofurky (new product), Eggplant hummus, and light Munster cheese with carrots and more hummus on the side.
Finally settling down to enjoy my sampler plate of pastries!!! This picture is a desert plate and yes I ate it all!

Well I am super ty ty and ready for bed so Good night everyone and I will report tomorrow with more good treats from work and hopefully a work out!

C

I did it and I changed my mind

So what did I do may you wonder???
The first accomplishment of the day is that I went to see my counselor (finally) and figured everything out to start school Feb. 17 -yay! I also (drum roll) got a JOB! I will be working at a local organic Cafe/coffee/tea house! I am not sure if it all set in stone but I am going in for training on Friday and I hope it all goes well. I am very excited that I will not be jobless when I start school.

Now moving on to my eats! For breakfast I had a big bowl of cold cereal: 1 cup Kashi Go Lean, 1 cup Quaker Oatmeal Squares, 1 cup Peppermint Chocolate soy milk, 1/2 cup unsweetened Almond milk, 1/2 shot raisins, 1/2 shot Bare Naked Granola, 1 med banana chopped on top. This combo is so good, the mint-chocolate flavored soy made it very rich, thick and creamy, just what I wanted. I also had a cup of joe (not pictured).
After bfast I felt in need of some exercise!!! Not having signed up for yoga classes or a gym membership yet, I did the next best thing. I turned on my TV and flipped through OnDemand's fitness TV. If any of you have not discovered the beauty of free exercise TV, I highly recommend it! There are boat loads of programs, some better than others, and it's FREE! You can choose to pay to rent some versions but why? Today I chose a 26 min (odd number eh?) Yoga Cardio, and a 12 min Yoga Abs. I was sweating for sure! I forgot to put on my HRM so I am not sure of the calories I burned, but it sure felt good :)

I showered and then started on lunchies: WW wrap with light Havarti, leftover Lime Chicken, 1 tbsp of Dijon mustard, green beans and lettuce. Sorry for the repeat wraps these days but I am really enjoying the simplicity and filling qualities.

On the side I had two Spanakopita's cold (really good cold I must say!) and 1 orange.

The "I changed my mind" bit in today's title is about the Lime Chicken. Last night it was just ok, almost not good. BUT today it was soooo tasty! I am not sure if flavors needed to settle or if the mustard was the perfect compliment but I really liked it in the wrap. Sean agreed so I am posting my recipe. It is adapted from Cooking Light.

Lime Chicken- serves 4

• 4 boneless skinless chicken breasts cut into tenders or 1 pound tenders
• 1/2 cup low sodium soy sauce
• 1/4 cup fresh lime juice
• 2 teaspoons lime zest
• 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce (but I think it would taste better omitted)
• 3-4 large cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 teaspoon cumin powder
• 1/2 teaspoon dry mustard
• 1/2 teaspoon fresh course ground pepper

Mix all ingredients in large zip lock bag, add chicken. Close bag and toss to coat. Marinate for 3 hours minimum (remember I marinated over night) Drain and throw away marinade. Broil, grill or pan fry chicken until done.

I will for sure give this chicken a second chance and so should you!

To drink with my lunch I had made some Lemon Ginger tea and Calm tea (which is a mix of Chamomile, Rose petal and other herbs) for Sean and me last night and never got around to drinking them. So combined the 2 into a container and popped it in the fridge so I could enjoy a cold tea great for digestion! The color is a bit off putting but I assure you the flavor was delish!

After lunch I went to school and my job interview and somewhere in between I had 1/2 of this lovely bar:

For dinner Sean and I felt like celebrating the new job, so we went to our fave Mexican Restaurant in Los Angeles:

I have been going here since I was a little girl and the same waiters, owners and tortilla makers are there to great us everytime! Yes you heard right TORTILLA MAKERS! They make them fresh to order, homemade right infront of your eyes! I really should have snapped a pic for you, I'll try to get one next time.

Fun fact: This restaurant is featured in the movie Jerry Maguire "Show me the money!!!" LOL.

Here are the addictive chips: I had 4 with lots of hot and spicy salsa, I counted:)

I also love their pickled carrot, onion, garlic mix! I can polish off a whole bowl myself, but tonight I had maybe 1/2.

And to celebrate I had to have a Margarita!!!! On the rocks, no salt. I usually don't order this type of drink due to the calories and sugar, but tonight I felt needed a splurge! (oops on the "no alcohol" for 2 weeks :)

My favorite thing to get is quite simple really: side of flour tortillas (they are to die for) and a side of rice and beans. But since I hit puberty my health conscious side won't allow me to eat a whole plate of lard ridden re fried beans, rice and buttery tortillas.....SO now I order a little lighter. I get the Chicken Tostada salad on a corn tortilla-not fried, with no beans and extra lettuce. You could do even better and say no cheese, but I was in the mood for some cheese so I kept it on. This is a huge salad and the chicken is whole chunks of white meat, very tender and tasty but I could only eat 1/2.I was quite full when we left and we needed a few things from Costco so we walked the aisles and digested before heading home. Once I got home I had a hankering for something sweet so I dug into the Christmas stash and pulled out this little morsel: White Chocolate Truffle!

Now that I have officially broken my 2 week detox plan, I am heading to bed to dream of a healthy tomorrow and probably more sweet treats! I am not handling this detox plan very well.

Do you think it is better to cut out the "bad" food completely to detox if you have binged over holiday's or still enjoy the treats you crave????? Let me know your thoughts!

Gnight ya'll

C