Rainy Friday

Yes it is raining cats and dogs here in LaLa Land. I am loving it up too! I love curling up by the TV and watching Gilmore Girl re-runs with Ella and my slippers!!! But before I could do all that I had a full day to fulfill!
This morning I had a wonderful bfast that held me for ever it felt like! I had a WW Light Thomas English Muffin with a spoon of Almond Butter and a small banana sliced on top. On the side I had a small orange and a small apple:
Yummy yummy! For my mid morning snack I had 2 servings of Annie's Honey Bunnies and 14 raw almonds. This snack was a great change from my usual bar or similar type "fast" snack. I counted and bagged my little treats the night before and to my surprise they held me better than a bar ever does!

For lunch I brought tofu, veggies and a beet:

I was satisfied all day long! When I got home from job #1 I wanted a lil something to keep me going for job #2 (today I did returns for both gigs I've been working) so I grabbed this new product:

Hello this stuff is sooooo good! Not too sweet and very good texture! I love Rice Pudding and Tapioca and this lil container has only 90 calories! I paired it with about 15 almonds and it made for a wonderful compliment!

Even Ella wanted to get in on the action:

She followed me the whole time I was eating this so I let her lick the container:

I know it's not good for her but I NEVER give her human food, except the occasional bite of salmon, so I thought she should get a treat too!

I did as I said and got down to business with my work out!!!!! I did the Level 1 of Jillian's 30 day shred. This was great, I probably could have done a higher level or done it twice but I am taking it slow so I don't get too sore to do round 2 on day 2 tomorrow! I love work out DVD's, especially on a rainy day like this! My living room is my own personal gym with Jillian as my own personal trainer! Man Anita on the DVD has some killer Abs!!!

For dinner I made just what I was craving; a turkey sandwich on WW double fiber bread. I put inside; spinach, red cabbage, turkey, red onion and spicy Dijon mustard. On the side I had some broccoli with Woodstock dressing, baby carrots, grape tomatoes and cucumber:

I loved the sandwich, but it was a bit dry. Any tips on condiments for sandwiches???? I sometimes use hummus and love that but I am looking for a Mayo replacement!!! Please let me know what you like!

For dessert I had a 1/3serving of Honey Bunnies and a few dried apricots. I also had a couple pieces of chocolate but gulped those down too fast to snap a pic.

I later went back for more sweets; a Coconut date roll!!!!

Ok I am now going back to the couch with my Ella and some rainy day movie. Maybe Singing in the Rain, or Breakfast at Tiffany's or Knocked Up, can't decide yet:)

Happy Friday and see you tomorrow or Sunday!!

C

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!

Cool Night

Wow it really cooled off, I am always jaded by the heat of the afternoon to the breeze of the evenings here on the Westside. I lived in the Valley for the last 7 years and this is a nice adjustment but my wardrobe does not agree:)

Sean got home in time for dinner! We went to M Cafe de Chaya, my fave Macrobiotic Vegan restaurant.

Here is what Sean got:

California Club Sandwich ~ a triple-decker of savory tempeh “bacon”, lettuce, tomato, avocado, carrots, sprouts & soy-mayo on your choice of house-baked toasted sourdough or multi-grain & seed bread with a side of Squash and raisin mash!!

I ate most of his mash because it was SOOOO GOOOD! Sweet and chunky!

The fries at M Cafe are by far the best ever so we had to get a small order with the Macro- Ketchup:

I only had a few fries because I wanted to save plenty of room for my meal!

Bi-Bim Bop ~ marinated pan-fried tofu, Korean-style vegetables, spicy miso sauce & house-made kim chee:

I loved it! The sauce on the side was a peanuty/ plum sauce!

Wow what a big meal! I only ate 1/2 the rice but still I am stuffed! I plan to wake early tomorrow to do yoga or cardio, I know I should make the plan more firm now so I don't back out but I am not sure what I will be in the mood for tomorrow. So I am just making a plan to wake early and do something! Back to the laundry pile- who knew I was so cool? haha!

See you wonderful ladies tomorrow!

C

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

Saturday and Sunday full of Yogurt

So Saturday's lunch was Whole wheat roll with Red Pepper Hummus! I heated the roll and it dipped it in the hummus!!!

Later I had another wonderful Rachel's! These are so tasty and filling!

You all saw my dinner at Akasha on my last post so here is my dessert....more yogurt! This time it was a lovely small cup from Red Mango Fro Yo does a body good!

Onto today, the Sunday from my couch as I like to call today, all day I have been bummed! I missed a Pilates class this morning and the rest of the day went to, well you know. So I rested some more and gathered myself a bit and had a mental health day.

This morning I had a lovely bowl of Egg White Oats with all the fixings! Sliced small banana, Craisins, raisins, raw sunflower seeds, a small handful of TFC (twigs flakes and clusters in case ya'll are confused) and a splash of Almond Milk.

Plus a cup of Genmaicha Green Tea-by far my fave green tea out there, the roasted rice gives it a huge flavor boost!

Being home all by my lonesome really makes me snack!!! I was way hungrier than normal today and so here the snacks begin: A new bar, very good and crunchy!

I later had more Rachel's!!! This flavor is super! But I think my fave is the Vanilla Chai! I also had some dried apricots!

For lunch I made a super salad and had a slice of heated Olive bread with it!

On my salad- shredded Chicken Mixed Spring mix, cucumber, raw broccoli, red pepper, grape tomatoes, red cabbage and a drizzle of Annie's Woodstock dressing!

Now I could have done with out this delite but I did not resist my urge! I had a Carob Brownie! It was ok not great, but for sure fixed my sweet tooth!!!!

For dinner I had a simple Turkey Wrap with red cabbage and mustard. Along side some grape tomatoes and baby carrots. Nothing too exciting but I sure got my calories worth of snacks today!

So my friends that is it for my weekend eats. I was not watching my eats this weekend but I am glad I indulged in healthy snacks, rather than the usual super Bowl Pig Out! Sean will hopefully be home on Monday night or Tuesday so I plan to CLEAN CLEAN CLEAN the apt while he is "out of my hair".

Hope everybody had a wonderful weekend!! And have a good Monday!

C