Monkey Business

Hello Bloggers!
I am sorry for no post last night but man was I beat! I will start by saying I LOVE CHIMPS!!!! I had so much fun! We worked with a 3 year old girl chimp named Suzie and an 8 year old boy named Jake. Suzie was the most adorable and I only have pics of her to show you for now. The trainers were a "bit off", as animal wranglers usually are to us who do not spend their whole lives around animals, but very sweet to the animals. They were more strict with us humans, in ways to behave around the chimps. So I do not have a ton to photos, just a few.

Second-Let's catch up with my eats from yesterday:
Breakies- Cereal and green tea

The usual cereal mix of 1.5 grains, 1.5 skim, shot of almonds, blueberries and a dash of cinnamon. I also tried a sprinkle of Cayenne, which was a nice kick.

DRUM ROLL PLEASE.....Suzie:

Yes Su Su is sporting a very chic diaper courtesy Sesame Street! Here we are just having a cuddle:

Here she is swinging on her trainer:

And again:

For lunch we had catering and I chose the Smoked Chipotle Tofu with an assortment of veggies and salad:

It was very tasty! And for dessert I split a brownie with my co-worker Mark

When I got home and told my BF all about my day by the time we looked at the clock it was 8:30pm! Way later than I would usually eat dinner but we were hungry and my afternoon snacks of nuts and fruit (no pic) was long worn off so we went to Thai BBQ and had soup and Chicken Satay (no pic). When I got home I wanted to try a new treat I bought; Skinny Cow Ice cream Sandwiches!!!!!! Omg these are the best!!! Only 140 Calories and 1.5 grams of fat! They are not the healthiest ingredients and not natural but very tasty for not a lot of guilt! And one every once and a while is not bad. http://www.skinnycow.com/myproducts/sandwiches.php?myflavor=vanilla_chocolate
My review: Sweet taste, soft texture, creamy, so much like the Ice Cream Truck type sandwich I would never know it was low fat!

Okay, enough monkey-ing around, lol. Let's move onto today's eats!!! For breakies I had a bowl of cereal with dried apricots and a small banana:

For my mid morning snack I had this lovely bar, excuse the hair on the place mat I didn't notice it on my camera:)

For lunch I brought Sean's left over Pad Thai with shrimp, brussels, and a piece of satay chicken:

When I got home today I had a killer headache! My goodness was it BAD! So I thought :0 I must not have had enough to eat!!! My first thought if I have a headache is always that I must be hungry. So I made myself a snack; honey roasted peanuts, dried tamarind, prunes, dried apricot, chocolate yummmm:

Not satisfied and still with a headache I had the last of my Fage and some more dried fruit and nuts:

Hello???? Not satisfied and spoiling my dinner I had some more....

I had to go to Target to do some returns for the shoot and I picked up a few things after roaming the aisles for 2 hours!!!! Love the Target!

My most exciting purchase: Jillians 30 Day Shed!!! I have heard blog buzz on this DVD and finally bought it! I will start tomorrow! For dinner I made myself a plate of assorted veggies and tofu with a beer. Why? Cause why not! (in the back you see a new tea container I got on sale, I also got a flour container but sadly I dropped the bag in my driveway in the rain:(

The beer was fabulous and thick and sweet! A nice contrast to my light and fresh meal!

Ok folks I am off to take a bath, hopefully my headache will be long gone after that! And then watch Top Chef!

Goodnight!

C

Chic Chimps!

Yes you read right! Tomorrow I am working with Chimpanzees! I am doing a shoot with the cute lil guys for a magazine (that I will tell you the name of when it comes out) piece!!! A fashion magazine using Chimps how cool?? I am so excited! I love animals especially monkeys and apes!!!! So in tribute to my day tomorrow I started with a lovely small yellow banana, I hear Chimps love these! HeHe! I was also in a huge hurry with waking up way late, ya sadly no morning work out, so I only had time to grab one of these bars:
I think I liked the Brownie flavor better, to tell you the truth I am not happy with them in hindsight. Besides holding me for a whooping 4 hours, they are not too tasty nor too much fun to eat. IE; dense, dry and heavy. Not a great texture and not a great flavor in my foods= not worth eating! Even if it lasts me for a long time, I am not going to be satisfied in the end. I need a complete emotional, sensual and visual eating experience!
Moving on... I had this thick and creamy experience around 10am along with a coffee with skim (not pictured)I packed a boring lunch like yesterdays; beets, brussels, carrots, tomatoes, chicken and potatoes, this time with a dash of Goddess dressing:

I like a meal like this for work because it is so colorful and it makes me feel really full with out being really full!

When I got home I was wired from my coffee, I have not been making coffee a daily thing so my buzz is extra strong! I needed a lil something so I had this lil apple with some dried fruit and sliced almonds:

I did some exercise!!! Yes finally I got my priorities straight and rolled out my yoga mat turned on the Exercise TV On Demand and did 16 min abs, 10 min booty liciouse (I did not make that name up) and then 30 extra Sweet Squats on my own and one set of 15 arms. My wrist is mostly better but I am afraid to hurt it or strain it so I stopped when it began to feel pain.

* * *

Feeling like a million bucks, amazing the littlest amount of exercise can do wonders for your state of mind! I settled down and drew a bath and treated my self to an early dessert!

After my bath and a long read!! I made a dinner that will not excite but did the trick:

Look familiar??? Well it should it is very close to my lunch. sorry not too creative tonight! But I did change a few items; I added cucumber, red pepper and replaced chicken and potatoes with tofu.

I am happy to be going to bed soon, I am like Ella lately all I want to do is eat and sleep!!! I do have an early call and so I am listening to my body and getting rest.

I hope everyone is having a good week thus far.

C

P.S. I just want to thank you for being active on my blog and being so supportive! I really love you all and will try to keep up with my comments on your blogs. I am always reading and do not always have time to comment but you are the reason for my sanity and I am so inspired by you!

Hot Day

Good afternoon ya'll!

Today was super hot! I am so confused is it summer> or Spring or isn't it still Winter???? LA is not very clear today :) It has been a while since I have had the chance to post mid day! I love it! For my Monday Bfast I had a Breakfast Cookie! I put in 1 small banana, 1/2 scoop Vanilla Whey, 1 shot Sunflower seeds, 1 shot mix of raisins and Craisins, tbsp of Almond butter, and a dash of Cinnamon:
I love these guys! The cookie makes for a delish bfast! I also had this CREAMY yogurt! It is sooooo good! Very lemony and very smooth and thick! Kinda high in calories (over 200) but I think it's worth it!

Here is the yummy yogurt's close up, you can kind of see the bites of Lemon zest!

For lunch I brought 1 sliced beet, 1 cup microwaved brussel sprouts with a dash of Annie's Woodstock dressing and a dollop of Spicy Dijon and a small amount of mashed potatoes from a while ago-yikkes hope they weren't too old! And a bit of roasted chicken shredded with more Woodstock:
I made a smoothie after work to satisfy my mid afternoon hunger. In it I put; 1/2 cup skim, 1 orange, 1/4 cup frozen blueberries, 2 frozen mango chunks, 1/4 scoop Whey protein and filled the rest of the cup with ice. I used my dinky Magic Bullet, I don't have a real blender :( But I like this machine for one reason; it makes a perfect portion!

This smoothie as pretty and refreshing as it was, it didn't leave me feeling like I had ANYTHING! Maybe next time I will add more Protein Powder or a spoon of nut butter. So I had 1 Mu's Munchies!!!

A handful of Dried Apricots:

I had this lovely treat! Guilt free non the less!

Ok peoples I am off to do some laundry and run some errands. See ya for dinner!

C

Shout out to Cardio and Dried Fruit

Good Evening (afternoon or morning) Bloginns'

I am in such a better mood thanks to all your comments to cheer me up!!! I am so grateful! I did as I promised and woke super early to do a Cardio Butt Kicking Calorie Burn OnDemand 30 min session and burned a nice 211 calories! My body was feelin' the burn and I LOVED it! I was sweating and huffing, man I love endorphins!!!!
After my work out and a big glass of ice water I showered and made myself a bowl of blueberry oats with 1/2 cup oats, water, 2 shots frozen blueberries, a splash of Almond Milk, a shot of raisins, a shot of Craisins, a shot of sliced raw almonds, 1 tbsp of almond butter, one date and a small sliced banana:

Along with my oats I had a small glass of Skim:

At work I had a funny run in with an old friend's mother! She was so happy to see me and it was crazy that the last time she saw me I was eating her homemade blueberry muffins (best I've ever had) in my pj's watching cartoons with her daughter!

For my mid morning snack I had this bar with another Green Tea Frappe(no pic):

Work was slow today due to a HUGE car wreck on the 10 East bound, 2 fatalities from a car driving the wrong way on the freeway! So sad, and last night I saw a huge car wreck with the white sheet covering the passenger side of one of the 3 cars! This is such a crazy week with the news flashing FEAR all over! I hate it! I also heard a sad story about a family of 7 all found dead due to a murder suicide by the father who killed his wife and 5 kids due to getting fired and not being able to handle life with the economic crisis. I hate the news and normally don't watch but for some reason this morning I flipped it on for one second and this is what I got-my heart and prayers go out to the families of those who are no longer with us!

Sorry for the heavy load but these stories have been weighing on me today.

On to lunch :) I had a leftover lunch to clean the fridge and save some moola. A Shrimp wrap with Muenster and cabbage on a Sun dried Tomato Jalapeno tortilla:

and some red bell pepper spears:

I also packed a little dessert for lunch; Fage 0% with Agave and some Bare Naked Granola! This was so good!!! I have not ventured into sweetening my greek yogurts yet and might I say YUMMMOOO!

When I arrived at home I was a bit peckish (my moms favorite descriptive word) so I had a small bowl of 1/4 cup Twigs Flakes, and Clusters, 1 shot Kashi sunshine, and a spoon of reduced fat PB with Skim:

For dinner I was hungry very early so I settled for more leftovers (Sean was not coming home for a while after my dinner time and when that happens we usually eat totally different things). I heated a Brown Rice tortilla with a slice of muenster and the last of the shrimp in the microwave:

Then topped it with butter lettuce, cabbage, red onion, Fage 0% and fire roasted salsa, with a crank of pepper:

It was my version of a Shrimp Tostada! I later settled in with some Vanilla Tea and some dried fruit:

I had 2 more serving like this of dried fruit, not sure what it is about the Tropical Mix from TJ's but it is addictive!!! All the Mango, Ginger, Hibiscus and Palmelo-mmmmmm! I also had the last of my beloved Dragon Fruit!

When Sean cam home I baked him a Margarita Pizza (easy way out) and I had a nibble of crust as you will see in exhibit A:

I felt more alert and more energized all day! I know it was the exercise this morning so I plan to do another round tomorrow! Ya'll mean soooo much to me and I love the comments from every one of you!!!!

Be safe and count your blessings!

<3>

Too many raw veggies!

I had way too many for dinner and my stomach hurts from too much fiber! As I sit in pain I now remember how this happens to me so I will be more careful to have balanced meals.

HMMMM I am really letting my health come last these days and I feel it! I know it is no excuse but my work is so consuming right now (doing the two jobs) and it is taking me over completely! I know I am taking it out on my boyfriend and my parents so I hate to vent here too, but it is helping:P

Moving on to my more positive side...my eats! I had a chai tea this morning:
And Egg White Oatmeal with 1/2 cup oats, water, a sprinkle of Cinnamon, 1/2 shot raisins, 1/2 shot Craisins, 1 shot raw sunflower seeds, a small sliced banana and a 1/2 shot of Bare Naked Granola:

I put about a tbsp of Agave on the oats because they had a strange "eggy" taste that was turning me off, and this helped!

I brought this bar to work and ate it around 10am and I made myself a non fat latte at work( no pic)

For lunch I had left over Shrimp tacos in a wrap with the same veggies as yesterday and sorry no pic:( I am really on a wrap kick, it's just so easy to prepare the night before for lunch! I will try to change it up for sake of the blog!

For my walk home I made my self a Green Tea Frappe; which is blended skim milk, ice, and green tea Matcha powder with no sugar!!! Yummy and refreshing with a bit of a caffeine kick!

I also had this little bit of brown rice and fat free baked beans to hold me over while I went on the continuous hunt for furniture for the Fashion Island shoot, this job is stressing me out big time!

When I finally got home from the shopping I had this mini apple and behind it are my new curtains, courtesy World Market! Great store!

For dinner I made a HUGE salad like last nights + raw broccoli, brown rice and baked beans!!!!!

My tummy was fine for a half hour or so after I ate but then... the bloat came full fledged and I can only blame the raw broccoli and overloaded veggies on my salad for this tummy ache!

Needless to say I ate some dried fruit and a few peanuts?!?!?!

I hope you all understand my bad behavior of late and stick with me as I get through this job and the beginning of school! Once stress hits me I really need to exercise it off, but I have yet to get that going! Tomorrow morning I am waking up 1.5 hours early to do some living room cardio!

Good night ya'll!

C