Boo to Traffic School

I am hurting real bad, and I am in a pretty fowl mood, can we say Aunt Flo! My wrist is killing me so I can't type really so this will be short.

As I said I would I wore my HMR at boring, terrible, "I vow to abide all speed limits" traffic school and as I sat on my butt for 8 hours I burned....1148 calories?????? huh? I did walk to my car 4 times to feed the meter but other than that and the occasional trip to the restroom I didn't move much. So why so many calories??? I can only assume ( I have no medical proof) that you burn so many calories a day just by living! and for me I thought that it would be much less! So in these 8 hours to burn almost my daily intake is not so bad! Maybe my metabolism is not as bad as I though!

When I got home I ran around the block a few times to try to shake this buggering down in the dumps mood and burned another 84 calories! But it didn't help the headache, back ache and bloatingggggg.

Here is a recap of me eats from today but due to my wrist I am not going to caption every pic. I packed my lunch to bring to traffic school; a wrap with Tofurkey, munster cheese, lettuce, cucumber, broccoli, mustard it was ok, not anything mindblowing, and an apple. The rest of the pics are pretty self explanatory. I have been a creature of habit of late. I will get to your blogs tomorrow! I love all your complements on my Hand Made Larabars! You guys are the best! Really worth a try!

Goodnight everyone, I am off to soak in the tub with a glass of wine to erase this day! The pictures start with my bfast:

C

Love/ Hate

This morning I had a nice sleep-in and so a late-ish bfast. It started with the last of my kefir:
Yummm! Then I had some very missed Blueberry Oatmeal mix with 1/2 a mashed banana and coffee. It is funny how much I miss oatmeal when I don't have it for a couple of days! This bowl was a bit over 1/2 cup of oats and it was so much more filling than dry cereal!

Topped with 1 shot raisins, 1/2 shot sliced almonds, 1/2 shot Kashi Sunshine....mmmmm!

I drove to Calabasas to see my parents this afternoon. My mom had a gift card to California Pizza Kitchen!! So we had a little feast! I split my meal with my mom so ordered the Split Pea and Barley Soup:

For the table we ordered the White Bean Hummus with Pita Bread. I had 2 Pieces of Pita dipped in the tasty hummus.

For the entree my mom and I split the BBQ Chicken Chopped Salad right down the middle. We always order the salad with no chips and dressing on the side. They bring a small bowl of Ranch dressing and BBQ sauce. I dipped my chicken in the BBQ sauce and had a little fork taste of the ranch. The ranch + BBQ sauce = divine!

Then we took a family trip to Costco. This type of Sunday adventure is always fun with my parents and usually ends in a big bill! We ate at 12:30 PM and got to Costco around 1:30ish. There were samples galore! Hence my love/ hate; I LOVE good deals and monster amounts of toilette paper, but HATE the temptations and the way Costco makes you buy way too much of something you may never use! I tried to be good but had a few tastes as we braved the crowd. My first taste was this new tasty nutty cluster Mrs. May's naturals Dry Roasted Snacks! I had three (all flavors). I even bought the package they were so good!I had a sip of orange-pineapple juice! Pardon the foggy pic:

I saw the tray for Laughing Cow Light cheese with apple and had to try it! I have never tried this cheese. It was good, very creamy and mild but not my fave.

I had one little bite of the Mulitgrain cracker with Sun Dried Tomato Hummus but was not really feeling it so tossed it.

We left minimal damage and went home to sort out the goods. I nabbed this from their fridge:

I also sliced into one of my new apples:

And my new little clusters of joy!

This is what's inside:

The perfect little snack to switch up my bar habit. On my way home I snapped a pic through my sun/moon roof of the sunset! The sky is rarely this clear, usually smog ridden! The wind had been crazy here lately, how about in your neck of the woods? I love how in LA at this time of year the only weather there is to talk about is the wind lol!At home my new Roma tomatoes sitting pretty:

And the Red Deliciousness:

For dinner I put together a Mixed Bean and Broccoli Salad with Eggplant Hummus, edemame, black beans, tomato, steamed broccoli and a tbsp of Sesame Ginger dressing. It was so perfectly balanced I will for sure make this again!!!

For dessert I had a HEAPING spoon of Fage 0% with 2 mission figs and 2 tamarind pods. A very good mix!

And a cup-o-tea:

Goodnight everyone, tomorrow is Monday so I hope everyone enjoys their last hours of the weekend! I know I will be watching the Golden Globes, How about you?

I will leave you with this Yogi Tea mantra:

C

Monday Blues

Yes I have had the Monday blues all day :( Mostly because I started my day by sleeping in and not going for my run. What can I say I was tired.

Next was breakfast, that is always a good part of the day! I had coffee and 1/2 cup oatmeal, 1 cup water, 1/2 mashed banana, 1 shot of blueberries, 1/2 shot of Bare Naked granola, 1 shot Keifer, 1/2 shot raisins and a few Quaker oatmeal squares on top. With it I had a big glass of water.

I then headed out to school to see whats what with my classes and payments. I arrived at a parking lot that I thought was for students, but was staff only. Then directed to a street with metered parking that was OVER full, only to circle the block 3 times and then head home. I was not only discouraged and intimidated but very frustrated. GRRRRRR! On my way home I decided that now was as good a time as any to hit the pavement and look for a job. I basically picked up applications from every restaurant and coffee shop in my city. Some seemed promising, like the macrobiotic cafe mcafedechaya.com/- mmmmmmm my favorite place ever! (I will have to eat there soon to show you how amazing the food is) I also got good feedback from a Japanese fusion restaurant for a hostess position, and an organic coffee shop that said they were hiring. It's hard because I have never worked in food service before and everyone seems a bit skeptical. But I did my best so fingers crossed! I also applied at an AWESOME sporting goods store just for women!!! While I was there I picked up a sample of the mini Luna bars, and a flyer for their second annual 5k run/walk!!!!!!! So I am signing up for sure!

Here is my little treat- the flavor was new to me and I must say a new fave.

After a long day out I was HUNGRY! It was already 2pm when I got home so I did what I know best and made a wrap. In my WW tortilla was: 3 spoonfuls of hummus, green beans, red leaf lettuce, 1/2 tomato, slice of sweet potato, red onion and a splash of Tapatio.

I had my quick wrap with 3/4 cup baby carrots and 1 tbsp of Dijon mustard. Funny thing about carrots; when my sister was in town she asked me if I had been "molding clay", and I said "no why?" She asked to see my palms and said they were "orange". I had to laugh because I had done this once before in high school....eaten too many carrots and my skin actually turned ORANGE! Well this time it was odd because I really didn't think I was eating that many, but there was the proof I "was caught orange handed" LOL. Have you ever had this happen?

After lunch I wanted something sweet, and sticking to my no refined sugars I pulled out this guy outta the fridge- Coconut Date Roll- yumm quite a bit of heaven! I had a cup of Vanilla tea with skim to complete it.

Then I buckled down to filling out my apps and a couple of hours later I had this big glass of ice cold skim milk. I used to be Lactose Intolerant so now any chance I get I enjoy a cup like this. And since drinking milk I have noticed my nails are much stronger, coincidence....I think not!

I dropped off my apps and came home a while later to start dinner. I started with leftover veggies and made what my boyfriend is calling a "Persian Christmas Salad".. ok.

In it is:

-6 Persian cucumbers peeled and chopped

-2 vine ripened tomatoes chopped

-1/2 a green bell pepper

-1 red pear chopped

- 1/2 cup rice wine vinegar

- 1/2 tbsp olive oil

-1/2 tsp sesame oil

S&P to taste. Mix gently and store in fridge for 30 min until crisp and cool. Serve over lettuce, in a wrap, over rice, or by itself!

I also made stove top Brown rice, frozen Spanakopita ( I love these and they are not crazy bad for you...but very addictive so I had 2...then 2 more:) And I finally made my Lime Chicken!!! It was sadly disappointing. I marinated it overnight, probably close to 24 hours. I wonder can you over marinate something??? Well either way the flavors melded in a bland way and made it all one note. Hmmmm must re-try and see. All together my plate looked like this:

Now off to do something fun so tomorrow I can focus on getting to school and actually walking in! Hope you all have a fun evening too!

C

I am so STUFFED...

After my Chinese food lunch I was full, then later at home was still fine, a bit hungover but fine. A couple hours later I felt a bit of a headache and could not tell if it was from caffeine withdrawal, (no coffee today), my hangover, or hunger so I drank a Diet Coke and had a small snack a bit later.
I had 3 or 4 tbsp of hummus, a WW Pita, 2 Persian cucumbers, 1 cup baby carrots, and good handful of raw french green beans, -I love raw green beans I always eat a few raw if I'm cooking with them but I was too lazy to dirty any more dishes so I just ate them raw. Good and crunchy! This was more like a meal but I have been craving veggies so it really hit the spot!

Sean and I did as planned we lounged around most of the day. It was rather cold in the house so I made my favorite non caffeinated tea:

Then later we snuggled up to watch our Netflix of Annie Hall-so cute I highly recommend this movie to those that have not seen it. We popped some organic pop corn with no butter and 120 cal per serving. I had about 1/3 of the bowl (less than 1 serving). Love pop corn it's a guilt free snack!

I was craving something sweet, probably because I have indulged so much lately, so I had a piece of marzipan form Spain's stash.

After the movie I had some more tea and a chocolate- ahhh what's up with my sweet tooth?????

For dinner I wanted to do something simple because we didn't feel up to much so I made 2 of these: WW tortilla with a tbsp of skim cheese, lettuce, Persian cucumber, tomato, raw tofu, a tbsp of hummus and a splash of Tapatio hot sauce.

This is my plate of 2 wraps, I am not sure why I made 2 but I was oddly needing bulk and then I was super stuffed.

It was all very healthful and low caloric but I am very full. I do feel a bit soft and heavy these days so if anyone has some advice on an extra boost to burn more calories-my running does not seem to be doing enough, I would greatly appreciate it. I was watching the "Half Ton Man" and felt the sudden urge to exercise so Sean did a mini boot camp in our living room for me and I did 3 sets of arm weights, lunges accross the house 5 times, knee thrusts in a push up position and leg lifts. I am pooped but feel better. Tomorrow I am doing a morning run and then yoga with mom and sis!! I haven't practiced in so long I desperately need to find a studio near me! Hope you all have a good night and had a good first day of 2009!

C