Internet Outage!

I have felt so out of the loop all day because my Internet has been down since LAST NIGHT! It just now came back on. What the heck?! Way to be on top of things, Charter. The cable was out too, so today has been a very quite, boring day around the house. On top of that it was rainy and gray outside all day, so needless to say, it has just been "one of those days".

I really wanted to get an outdoor run in today, but with the rain and cold I just wasn't feelin' it too much. I couldn't go to the gym and run on the treadmill either, because my sister has my card to get into the gym. So I just decided that a nice rest and stretch for my muscles would do me some good, so I did an hour of yoga instead. It was very relaxing and helped me de-stress from the week.

Operation "get-out-of-the-food-rut" led me to a new breakfast. I don't know though, I was really hoping that eating cottage cheese everyday would keep me kicking all the way up past the 100s. :)

• Blueberry Waffles
• 1/2 Banana
• Strawberry Preserves
• Blueberries
• Maple Syrup

Keeping with the "get-out-of-the-food-rut" theme, I fixed up a mixture of things that did not include a sandwich OR a wrap. I get so indecisive when it comes to my meals that I always end up just putting a little bit of random things together to make a meal. Why can I NEVER make up my mind?! haha.

Here is lunch:

HUGE SALAD!

• Spinach leaves
• Romaine Lettuce
• Cucumbers
• Green Pepper
• Tomatoes
• Broccoli
• Cauliflower
• Celery
• Light Italian Dressing

• Mushroom Burger
• Cheddar Quacker Oats Mini Rice Cakes

I may or may not have had a couple of pieces of Easter candy from my basket after that as well. ;)

After that I got ready and went to work. Work went well, we spent the whole night rearranging the store to look pretty with all the new spring clothes we got it. I was doing some hard physical labor in there! Climbing ladders, hammering in shelves, putting together wall displays. I felt pretty bad ass. But, now I am exhausted! Time to catch up on blogs, make some dinner, and call it a night.

Goodnight! Lots of Love, <3 Ems.

Good News and Bad News

Oh yes everyone it is officially Hump Day. For those of you lucky enough to have a Monday through Friday job you are half-way there! For me however, I havent even started this week yet! I have had Monday through Wednesday off this week, but starting tomorrow I work everyday until Sunday. That is if I still have a job!! The conflict STILL has not been settled between my two jobs. I have really only talked to Rave about this, but if Stir-fry doesn't wanna work with me on the scheduling, then it will have to come down to a choice between the two. I was literally in tears yesterday trying to work it all out. Its such a hard position to be in because one job (Rave) I'm absolutely in love with and love all the people, but make no money...and the other job (stir-fry) I'm not even sure that I will like, but will make more money. What do I do?!!

I do have some more positive news however. Today I get to go see Lucas! He is playing a baseball game at a college that is only about 30 minutes away, and he gets to pitch this game, so I told him that I would definitely be there. I have never gotten to see him play before, so it should be fun. PLUS I might just get to sneak in a pic or two, Jen! ;)

Yesterday for dinner I decided to try one of the new Healthy Choice meals, after hearing Katie talking about them on her blog.

I tried the Portabella Marsala Pasta, Here is the box:

Here's the Nutrition:

Serving size: 1 Meal (9 oz.)

Calories: 270
Calories from fat: 70

Amount/Serving %DV*
Total Fat (7 g) 11%
Saturated Fat (2.5 g) 13%
Trans Fat (0 g)
Cholesterol (15 mg) 5%
Sodium (550 mg) 23%
Vitamin A 0%
Calcium 10%

Total Carbohydrates (38 g) 13%
Dietary Fiber (5 g) 20%
Sugar (4 g)
Protein (12 g)
Vitamin C (0%)
Iron (6%)

And here is what it looks like all plated up:

Review:

It kind of reminded me of a stroganoff, which I love. But I just didn't really care for this one. There was a layer of cheese on top that just sort of got this super weird texture after you cooked it. You know the type that just adheres to your fork and won't let go?! The one thing that I did like about this was that they did not skimp on the mushrooms. At first, I was going to add a little more of my own, but after seeing the meal I decided that it looked like it had plenty! Very rarely do you see a microwave meal that has plenty of any ingredient. I will probably not purchase this one again, but I do want to try some of the others. I give it a 6 out of 10.

The salad I had on the side however, is a solid DIME!

I always stick to the "colors rule" and try to incorporate lots of different colors into my salad. Nothing is more boring then a salad full of all greens. And I am just lovin the purple cauliflower as of late.

Backtracking to lunch I had my "pre-workout" fuel. I still swear by it:

Grilled Peanut Butter and Banana with Strawberry Preserves, and a few Honey Twist Pretzels on the side.

Note: While the sandwich def. gives me the fuel that I need for a workout, I would not recommend eating pretzels with it before working out. The saltiness of the pretzels made me more dehydrated during the run, and I had to drink about 3 bottles of water in one 30 minute run! haha.

I got to the gym late, which is one thing in life that I try to aviod at all costs. Because it is a college gym the later you go the more people and the less serious they are about actually working out. I had to wait for an ET, wait for a treadmill, wait to fill up my water bottle, etc, etc. But it actually turned out to be a good thing because I got in a pretty killer workout!

• 35 minutes on the eliptical
• 10 minutes on the squirrel thing?? - i did this to occupy my time while waiting for a treadmill, but this burned almost 150 extra calories!
• 3 miles on the treadmill, average pace was about 10 minutes a mile, but I bumped it up to 9 minutes for the last mile.

Speaking of workouts, I have to go get in an early one before coming home to shower and go to the baseball game :) So, Im off!

Hope everyone is having a good "Mid-Week" Lots of Love,

<3 Ems.

DO DO You Got a First Aid Kit Handy?!

But really?! Anyone?! Or at least know how to give a good massage, because I think my legs MAY just fall off at any second. Whew! Those two days of running 6 straight miles are killing me! I decided to take it easy today because I do not want my legs to be hurting this bad on Saturday, so I just did an easy 3 miles today and some on the eliptical. Tomorrow is my rest day, so I dont plan on running at all so that my legs can have a rest.

SO excited to get THIS today:

#217 baby! Im starting to think that I'm in over my head though. Last night I was talking to a friend whose wife is running the race just as training for a TRIATHLON! And then when I went to pick up my number today I started talking to another girl who looked about my age who was running it to. She asked if this was my first 10K and I said yes. I, in turn, asked if it was hers as well and she said "yes, its my first 10k". Automatically I assumed that she had probably ran a 5K before and that this was her first 10K, but no no no...she just ran a marathon. hmmmm oh well, as long I complete it I will be happy, Im not going to worry about pushing myself too hard for a great time. Ive got nothing to prove to anyone but myself, and I just want to have fun doing this!

So after the gym I came home and ate lunch. I have been soooo hungry since running everyday. Its weird because I'm not technically burning as many calories, but I feel like I get so much more of a workout (and I def. sweat ALOT more!). haha. I wasnt really sure what I was hungry for though...so I just stuck to the usual wrap.

• Italian Herb Flat Out Wrap
• Red Pepper Hummus (mixin it up from the garlic)
• Deli Sliced Turkey
• Salsa
• Cucumber (you guys dont even wanna know how I initially had this spelled...lets just say it was slightly dirty!)
• Spinach
• Spicy Mustard
• With a Granny:

I decided that I needed to balance all this fruit out with some veggies. So I added some broccoli and celery with a side of salsa for dipping.

I always use the most random things to put food in. My apples are in a coffee cup and my salsa is in the lid to a jar :) Hey, if the food fits...

After lunch I went to pick up my race goodies and then to the FREE tanning bed. Oh, how I am lovin the free cancer in a box. I know, its horrible. I need to stop...I just need the real sun to come quick! After tanning I headed to work at the mall for a few. I had the most touching moment with my manager. She knew me when I was right in the midst of my ED and she watched me go through recovery. She was a HUGE support and still tells me almost everyday how good I look now and how proud she is of me. Anyways, she was asking me some questions about what I went though (which I have no problem talking about with her) when all of sudden she just stopped and said "I just have to give you a hug and let you know how proud I am of you, I was really scared for you when I first met you, and you have come such a long way since then". I almost started tearing up! I know its a long hard road, and I would be kidding myself and everyone else if I said that I was 100% now, but I know that I will get there and I see changes everyday that get me closer and closer to my goal.

Ok so after work I came home and made up a veggie burger. At the last minute I decided that it might be good with some cheese on it, so I threw it on top of the burger while it was on the grill. Boy, did I regret that decision. The cheese got wayyyy to melty and the burger was almost too messy to even eat! Well, ALMOST...I did manage, of course ;)

• Morningstar Veggie Burger Patty
• Arnolds Sandwich Thin
• Spinach
• Sprout
• Mustard
• Ketchup
• American Cheese Slice

With a beautiful salad on the side:

Now it time to get ready for bed. I have to SUB in Kindergarten at 730 AM tomorrow. Keep me in your prayers...its 5 year olds + Friday the 13th + the friday before their spring break = umm you do the math!

I hope everyone has a great Friday...any fun plans?!

Lots of Love <3 Ems.

Grocery Day = New Foods!

Wow! I have been busy running around all day! Not that I minded too much, because it was SO PRETTY outside. I think it was in the upper 70s and not a cloud in the sky. I cruised around in my drop-top (ok, maybe I just have sunroof, I can pretend can't I) and my bug-eye sunglasses and just loved every minute of it :)

I started the day with some brekkie. I had toast with TWO different kinds of jelly, because thats how I roll.

Honey Wheat Bread (toasted) with Strawberry and Apricot Preserves.

Fat Free Cottage Cheese with Strawberry

I can not tell you how much I love cottage cheese, as weird as it may be. The only thing is that is so damn expensive now! And I can only eat the Breakstone's Cottage Cheese because I think I have just gotten used to it. I tried a cheaper brand once and just had to throw it out, because it was GROSS! Does anyone else have a different brand that they like?

Anywaysss after breakfast I head on over to the gym. I didn't get in a great workout, but it was better than nothin' and I have kinda been in a yoga mood all day, so I think I'm gonna do a yoga download later on tonight. My workout included:

• 30 minutes on the eliptical - 250 cals burned
• 25 minutes on the bike - 150 cals burned

While I was on the bike I caught up on my intellectual reading with my all time favorite magazine:

If you have not read this magazine and have a slightly "off beat" type of humor, you will LOVE it. Most of the articles literally make me laugh out loud. Yes, I may have gotten some funny looks at the gym today and I may now be known as "the girl that laughs randomly while exercising. haha.

After the gym I ran home to check the mail and found this lovely surprise:

Free Greek Yogurt?! YES PLEASE!

The only problem is that I have NO idea where to find this. And the options at most of our grocery stores are pretty limited. So I ended up having to go to three different places before finally finding some.

My sisters and I have been trying to get my mom to eat healthier and try new foods. She is a southern mom to the core (I.E. uses lots of breads, butter, oils, etc. when cooking) You know, southern comfort meals. So after I picked these up I took some over to the parents house for my mom to try. She tried the vanilla greek yogurt, and said that she liked it a lot. Im hoping to get her into even more healthy eating habits. I wanted to take her picture and get her review for the blog, but she refused to be on camera. So my sister volunteered to give her "greek yogurt virgin" review.

In her words: "Its so thick! Its sticky to my lips!"

Im not sure how much she liked it, but I think it takes some getting used to after only eating regular yogurt...its very different. I told her though, that once she gets used to eating greek yogurt, regular will never be good enough. We'll see if she can convert. Right now the verdict is pending.

Another new product that I saw in the store and wanted to try was a new natural peanut butter, called Naturally More Peanut Butter.

It claims to have 50% more fiber, 25% more protein, and 20% fewer carbs and its made with flaxseed and flax oil. Here is the info.

Of course I just had to try it, so I whipped up one of my grilled pb&j's, here it is in the "hot seat" being grilled to prefection:

And here it is ready to eat! I always have to cut my sammies into triangles, it just feels better that way :) Anyone feel this way about cutting their sandwiches?

Honey Wheat Bread, Naturally More Peanut Butter, Cinnamon, Banana, Blackberry Preserves.

My Review of the PB:

When I first opened it up it was SO runny. I had to straight stir the stuff for a good 15 minutes! But after I got it all to a good consistency is was really good! The taste was great and I really like the texture too. I'm not too into smooth peanut butter, so I liked this because it was kinda chuncky and grainy. Of course it not Mighty Maple, but what is?!

Also, they had these babies on sale at the grocery store, and I have been craving all things fruit lately. So I threw it in the cart:

Now, let me first admit that I usually go for convenience when it comes to most food and I have NEVER tried to cut one of these things before. But I thought I would give it a go, theres a first time for everything right?...but of course I cut it the wrong way, if there is a wrong way.But thats what google told me.

I managed to get out all of the seeds:

Then I just cut it into small chunks. It filled up THREE tupperware containers!

For dinner tonight I had a nice BIG salad:

• Romaine Lettuce and Spinach
• Broccoli
• Cauliflower
• Cucumber
• Tomato
• Carrots
• Greek Dressing

And some fettuccini noodles with broccoli and Alfredo sauce (quick but good!)

Now Im off to shower, get in my PJ's, and watch the City. What is everyone else doing tonight?!Hope you all had a great Monday! Lots of Love <3 Ems.

Do You Dream?

Ok, so it is currently 7:36 in the A.M. and I am wide awake, despite the fact that I have absolutely nothing pressing to do this early in the morning. Why you ask?!...I just woke up from a horrible nightmare and CAN NOT go back to sleep! I have been having the craziest dreams the past couple of nights. So I decided to do a little research on dreams this morning. Because I mean really, you have to admit, dreams are WEIRD! So here are some cool facts to start off your day:

• 70% of females and 65% of males report reoccurring dreams.
• 12% of people only dream in black in white.
• The most common emotion experienced in dreams is anxiety.
• Back in the Roman Era, striking and significant dreams were submitted to the Senate for analysis and interpretation.
• If you are snoring, then you cannot be dreaming.
• You are more likely to remember your dreams if you are awaken in the middle of REM sleep.

Famous Dreamers:

• The song "Yesterday" by the Beatles, came to Paul McCartney in a dream.
• The Bible mentions dreams 121 times. The most famous is Jacob's ladder.
• Writer Robert Louis Stevenson got the idea for "The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" from a dream he had had.
• Writer Mark Twain dreamed about his younger brother Henry's death. Less than two weeks later, his brother was critically injured in a a boat explosion.

So do any of you have a partially weird dream story?! Not too many people that I talk to remember their dreams, and I usually don't either. But I have always thought that dreams were really interesting!

I think I need to pick me up one of these babies:

Anyone partically skilled in the area of dream catcher making? If so, feel free to send me one :). haha

Anyways, enough of the weird stuff. Onto my food update. I have not been feeling too well. (Probably from being back in the schools with the kiddos) So my craving have been CRRRRAZZYY! Yesterday for lunch all I wanted was fruit, any kind and lots of it. haha. I went to the grocery store and stocked up on apples, bananas, oranges, grapes, blueberries, and pears. wow. I think I'm good for a while. Then for dinner all I wanted was veggies. I made up this HUGE-O salad:

• Spinach and Romaine Lettuce
• Cucumber
• Grape Tomatoes
• Onion
• Green Pepper
• Broccoli
• Cauliflower
• Celery
• Chickpeas

It def. hit the spot with the veggie cravings, I also had some toast with laughing cow cheeezzzee on the side. After dinner Britt and I went to hang out with some people at a local bar. Nothing too crazy, I think I was home by 1230. hehe. Here is the infamous "us getting ready in the cramped bathroom" picture.

haha notice how we have to store things in the sink because there is a very uneven ratio of makeup to counter space! Also, notice how totally into the feather thing I have been lately. It is becoming a serious theme for me. I dont know if that is good or bad. Its stylish, right?!

Ok, this post is so totally random and you can tell I have gotten up WAY to early. I'm gonna eat this bowl of oats that I just fixed up:

This mornings mixin's included a WIDE variety of just about anything I could think of to throw in:

• 1/2 cup oats
• 1/2 banana
• Handfull of Blueberries
• Strawberry Preserves
• A few Raisins
• tbsp. Maple Syrup (soo good in oats!)
  

After I eat Im headed over to get finger printed, because for some reason they want to make sure I'm not some sort of criminal trying to substitute teacher little kids! Then I'm thinking about being spontaneous and heading over to Asheville today for some window shopping downtown. I have the whole day off, why not?!

Also, the fabulous Michelle from Lucky Taste Buds is having a Barney Butter Giveaway...so head on over there and ch-ch-ch-check it out!

Hope everyone is having a great weekend so far and also having pleasant dreams ;) Lots of Love <3 Ems.

V-Day Recovery

hey hey pretty ladies! Hope everyone is having a relaxing Sunday and recovering well from the valentines weekend. Last night I spent V-day with my friend Tina. She was my date to the movies. We saw The Uninvited, which was surprisingly really good. I didn't think it would be scary at all, but it was and it had a really good twist at the end ;) After the movie we hung out at my house and drank some wine and talked about guys. haha. Pretty good valentines, I guess. Here is a pic of Tina and I driving to the movies.

This morning I was definitely feeling the wine that we drank last night and unfortunately I had to get up and work open to close today!! I packed up my lunch to go. It was a repeat of yesterday's "apple, peanut butter, and jelly sandwich." Because it was just THAT good. I mean look at this:

Honey Wheat Bread, Mighty Maple Peanut Butter, Blackberry Preserves, and half an apple thinly sliced. And allll toasted up!

Archer Farms Blueberry Pomegranate yogurt topped with blueberries.

All packed up and ready to go to work :)

After work I came home and made up some din-din.

Brown rice with Chinese veggies stir fried with soy sauce and served up with a side of steamed broccoli.

Salad with cucumbers, onions, tomato, celery, and green peppers with a light vinaigrette dressing.

Now I'm going to take a nice bubble bath and get ready for some sleep. I need it!

Goodnight dears! <3 Ems.

P.S. Am I the only one that was not aware that it was a holiday tomorrow?! What the heck is presidents day anyways?! haha. Does everyone have the day off?

Submitted for the approval of the Midnight society...

So the boyfriend and I were talking about the 90s and all the awesome things that came with it. I dont know how many of you bloggers are around the same age to remember some of these things, but my favorite memory from that time was gathering around the T.V. with a big plate of chocolate chip cookies and milk, with my sisters, and watching SNICK. It was a special time every Saturday night when 4 shows played on Nickelodeon. My favorite of them all was Are You Afraid of the Dark. I even just recently bought every episode on DVD!! haha. Another show that I absolutely loved was this one:

LEGENDS OF THE HIDDEN TEMPLE! I used to want to be on that show so bad, I thought for sure I could totally blow everyone away. As we were talking about these things I was looking some of them up on the internet and I found this little gem that I just think I have to have.

You can actually buy the shirts! Purple Parrots were always my favorite team.

Anyways, enough of that, Im sure alot of you have NO idea what I am even talking about and are probably questioning my sanity right now.

This morning I woke up, had the usual breakfast...which I did not take a picture of, because it would look the same as the other 10 times I have taken a picture of it. Maybe tomorrow morning will be an oatmeal day...we shall see! After breakfast I got ready and ran some errands with my mom, she had to run by the grocery store so I ran in with her and was pleasantly surprised to see they had their raspberries on sale! What else could possible go better with my massive amounts of blueberries?! So of course I had to buy some, and of course I had to dig into them as soon as I got home! :)

YUM!!! I think i may just enjoy raspberries a tiny bit more than blueberries...what would your vote be on that one?!

After I got home I did one of the yoga videos on yogatoday.com. I did one that said it was for core strength and it was intermediate to advanced...WOAH! It was a workout!!! I was pretty proud of myself for attempting all of the poses and we even did some "lifts" and "jumps"! After yoga I made some lunch. Which is beginning to get boring as well. A turkey sandwich with regular hummus, spinach, and salsa on wheat bread...with an apple of the side (this time it was gala) and a few wheat thins.

Some one needs to give some ideas other than sandwiches for lunch...I need something easy, and Im not a very big fan of most soups. AND while your at it give me some creative ideas for dinner as well! haha. I really wanna start branching out and cooking new things, now that I have a little bit more time on my hands.

Anyway, I think its time to hop in the shower and get ready for work! I wont be home until late tonight! I hope everyone is having an amazing day :)

***DINNER UPDATE***

well I got home from work at almost 10 oclock and was starving...i needed something fast (because Nip/Tuck was about to start) and I needed to use up some more of those crazy peas that I had cooked up last night. So I cooked up some noodles, added some pre-cut chicken that my roommate had in the fidge, and some broccoli and grape tomatoes. I mixed it all together with some melted laughing cow swiss cheese...and of course PEAS!!

I usually make a salad to go with my dinner, but tonight I wasnt really feeling alot of veggies, which is really weird because usually I CRAVE veggies. But I had bought some raspberry vinaigrette a while back and decided to try a salad with FRUIT instead! It was really good for something different. It is just a mixed bag of lettuce, raspberries, blueberries, and cucumbers, mixed with the raspberry dressing.

Not too shabby

Does anyone else watch Nip/Tuck?! The new season started last week, and I am seriously questioning why I am still watching it! It just keeps getting crazier and crazier...they really are trying their hardest to push the edges of cable television!

Well, Im off to bed now dearies! HAVE A WONDERFUL NIGHT EVERYONE!

DOGS!

So i was sitting at my computer earlier and just realized that my dogs are pretty funny, if you are not used to them! first of all they both weigh about 200lbs. and are VERY lazy. so, of course I had to take a picture to share with everyone the humor.

Here they are laying by the door (their usual spot) Riley is a German Shepard and Rhett is a Great Pieranese.

And here is Riley laying by the other door now...OH WAIT!! I think he hears something!
haha. Ok moving on. I took a picture of my breakfast this morning, but I accidentally deleted it before I uploaded it to my computer. This is gonna take some getting used to! I just had the same breakfast anyways (Im trying to eat all my cottage cheese before I leave for California) Then for lunch my mom and I ate at Jason's Deli. I had the turkey slimwhich with a side of fruit.
I did manage to get a picture of my dinner...just look at this wonderful salad! YUM!
Its a spinach salad LOADED with veggies. It has broccoli, cauliflower, mushrooms, celery, and cherry tomatoes. I LOVE vegetables so with this salad I also had some broccoli, cauliflower, and carrots topped with low fat cheese. I felt like it needed to be rounded out a little bit more so I added some crackers and a tangerine as well.

I feel like I still have SO much work to do before I leave on Thursday. I really only have tomorrow to get everything packed and ready to go! On top of all that I still have a few finishing touches left to take of for school and then a closing celebration at my supervisors house to turn it all in. can we say stressed?! Im going to get started on what I can tonight so I wont have as much to do in the morning, but its already 1115, so i dont know how much I will really get done before Im ready to call it a night!
well, I better get started! wish me luck! I hope everyone has a wonderful night :)