Memorial Day (a little early)

Happy Memorial Day weekend!

I'm working on Sunday and Monday to make a few more bucks before leaving for Europe, so I spent Saturday at my parents' house in Pennsylvania to tie up a few loose ends for my trip and to spend some time with my Mom, Dad, and sister!

I can't help snacking when I get to my parents' house, since I hardly ever have snack-y foods in my own apartment!

Before my dad and I headed to the mall to exchange some money for euros, I had some of their leftovers for lunch.

Papa John's (one mushroom/green pepper, two pepperoni/sausage)

no HFCS, from Niagra, NY (hence the French)

At the mall, my dad bought a Mrs. Fields cookie for snacking and he gave me some  :)

my dad is the best

Once home, I again couldn't help but snack:

yessssss

Dinner was a little better: hamburger with ketchup, mustard, and onions, corn on the cob, and pineapple, with a side of German beer.

Did you know today is National Wine Day?  Gotta get in on the action!

except it wasn't that great

Dessert had to happen, of course.  It was too windy to start the coals for a barbeque, so we didn't have s'mores.

Rhubarb cream pie....I think?

peanut butter Cheerio treats.  the best.

Thank you to all the veterans who make/made celebrations like this possible!

Work Work Work

My week so far has been work, work, and more work.  Getting ready to leave for Europe and working to make money.

This morning, I had a boring breakfast of coffee and graham crackers and milk.

Lunch was a bit more interesting.  I baked a cut-up potato (mixed in olive oil, salt and pepper, and buffalo chicken sauce) in the oven at 500 degrees for 45 minutes.  Then I added some shredded chicken (which I already cooked in the crock pot) mixed with more buffalo chicken sauce, and mexican cheese and chopped green onions; then cooked it for another 7 minutes (I lowered the oven to 400 degrees) just to heat the chicken and melt the cheese.  It was pretty good!  I really liked the potatoes done this way, so I may have to cook regular potatoes more often like this with different spices and herbs.

On my way to work, I drank an iced tea latte.

I drank most of it before taking the picture.  Oops.

Basically, I made tea yesterday and kept it in the fridge overnight.  Right before I left I added ice cubes and almond milk.  

After a long day at work (which included some energy gel chews, I have to say), I relaxed with a BBQ pizza (whole wheat tortilla, chicken mixed with BBQ sauce, mexican cheese, and some pre-roasted veggies cooked for 8 minutes at 375)

and a yummy beer.

chocolatey

I watched Atonement (man, is my Netflix queue long!).  It was pretty good, although I didn't think it was a great as a lot of people have said.  The scene on the beach with all the soldiers really dragged on for a long time!

The Past Few Days

I had quite a wonderful weekend!
Some highlights:

Katie's birthday on Friday night

Chickie's and Pete's crab fries...yum

Trenton Thunder baseball game, Saturday night

teaching Lori all about baseball!

And then Betsy's wedding on Sunday:

the "Bel" - pineapple juice and rum

Mel + Becca = Bel

me and the beautiful bride!

Guess who caught the bouquet!  Well, guess who was the only single woman there...

What the heck am I supposed to do with this?

Congratulations Betsy!!!!!!

TGIF

This was totally me this morning:

Fortunately, it IS Friday!!  And I have off of work today for WCC graduation!

So yesterday's evening meal did not go quite as healthily as planned.  Instead of a veggie/sausage mix I prepared to eat as dinner at work, I snacked on the goodies we had out for Ladies' Night in Princeton.

Well, at least there were some strawberries in there along with cheese, cookies, and chocolate.

This morning, I had my cup of coffee with skim milk and one of my favorite light breakfasts:

graham crackers and milk!

I crack up 5 graham crackers into a bowl, and then drizzle the tiniest bit of milk over top to make them slightly mushy, but still have a little bit of crunch (and also so I can pick them up and eat them with my hands).

On to the rest of my day...graduation and Katie's birthday!

A New Life

Wow, time really gets away from you, doesn't it?

I feel lifetimes away from where I was (physically, mentally, emotionally) the last time I posted.  I resigned from my full-time job to pursue my dream of being an opera singer.  I'm now living in New Jersey, where I just finished my first year of a Masters degree in voice performance.  Moving and then school full-time with a part-time job (plus homework, plus practicing) has really made me busy this past year.  But, it is time to get back on track to being healthy.  Time to restart my commitment to exercising more and eating more healthfully with this blog!

To start off the day I went for a run.  Five times around the park, the last time at a faster pace.

I WILL get faster!

It's a good thing I went out when I did; by the time I made it back there were already rain drops beginning.

So, this is New Jersey, where the power goes out when it's slightly windy.  So, naturally, the power went out because it started drizzling.  (Actually, there was apparently a huge transformer fire, but still.)  My post-shower breakfast had to be

Makes messes all over the place

Thank goodness the power went out AFTER my coffee had finished brewing.

Fortunately, the power came back on in about an hour, so I was able to cook a healthy breakfast.  I tried a egg/cheese/raspberry jelly sandwich that Julie loves on one of my favorite blogs, Peanut Butter Fingers.

toasted english muffin, shredded mozzarella, egg, raspberry jelly

Unfortunately, I didn't love it.  Maybe it's because I used mozzarella cheese instead of smoked gouda.  The smoked gouda would have given it a lot more flavor, I'm sure.

Now it's off to run some errands on Westminster's campus, go to work, and graduation rehearsal.

Color Run

I did the Color Run Philly this morning!  I got up around 5am, and since I had to stop for gas for my car anyway, I picked up a toasted bagel from Wawa.

There was no traffic on the Schuylkill Expressway!  That's kind of a big deal.  The run started and ended at Eakins Oval, right in front of the Art Museum.  Everyone lined up, wearing white shirts.  The race organizers started the crowd in waves, so that not everyone was running at the same time.  It actually worked pretty well at this run.  I think it really helped that this was not a timed run/race.  No one was stressing about how fast they were going to run or how soon they were going to get to the finish line.  

pre-color

It was not extremely hot, but it was very muggy.  The Color Run website shows pictures of people covered in colored powder but totally cool, unsweaty.  There was NO WAY that was going to happen today!  There were five "color stations" along the route, where volunteers used ketchup and mustard squirt bottles to toss colored cornstarch powder on you!

orange

I definitely slowed down at the color stations, but between the stations I was able to get some jogging in.  A lot of people were walking, but it was pretty easy to get around them.

At the end of the run, everyone gathered for a "color toss".  We were given packets of color and tossed them up into the air at the same time.  It was craaaaazy!

even more color!

Since I had gotten up so early, I decided to take a stroll to Starbucks for an iced vanilla latte (with skim milk.....and very little ice).  I had a bunch of people ask me why I was covered in color!

The rest of my day was filled with mundane adult chores - laundry, dishes, cleaning, etc.  Although lunch included a peanut butter jelly sandwich!  (since I was finished running for the day, I felt safe eating peanut butter).

Dinner was a mish-mash of various foods:  some leftover sweet potato fries, watermelon, sauteed mushrooms, and a microwave brownie (I'm not even going to give the recipe here.  It's too easy and too good and too dangerous).  I attempted a drink that I saw in an issue of Better Homes and Gardens.

muddle blackberries and mint.  add 6TBSP vodka and 2TBSP elderberry liquor (I used St Germain).  Shake and pour.

It was all right.  Perhaps it would have been better if I'd used vanilla vodka instead of regular.  I'm finding that I like most drinks using vanilla vodka, rather than regular.  I guess I like the sweet taste  :)

Here's hoping this week will stay in the 80's like weather.com promised!

100+ degrees....are you serious?!

Today was just freakin' hot.  I decided to forgo my run this morning, as it was already 82 degrees when I woke up at 6am.  So I slept in with the air conditioning instead.  A smoothie kept me cool after I woke up.

frozen banana, blueberries, chocolate protein powder, ground flaxseed, and coconut milk

We (me, my sister, and my dad) took my mother to 401 Diner in Conshohocken for lunch.  It was her Mother's Day present, so we're a bit late on that!  Oh well!  The diner is very cute, pretty small inside but it wasn't extraordinarily crowded for a Saturday morning (we were there around noon).  Interesting fact - they don't put out their lunch menu until noon!  So if you're looking forward to their lunch food, don't go until after 12:00.  Fortunately, we got there right around noon, so I was able to choose food from the lunch menu.  I had the french onion soup (I forgot to ask for it without the crouton, oops) and chicken quesadillas.

with the cracked pepper aioli the sweet potato fries were very good!

a bit bland....but I suppose it's my fault for leaving everything out but the chicken and cheese

hahaha oh boy....and here come the political comments...(it's not my car, I just thought it was humorous)

We had a lovely time talking and spending time as a family.  I spent most of the day reading "Drop Dead Healthy" by AJ Jacobs.  There's information about being healthy, but it's a funny book at the same time.  I'm finding it very enjoyable.  There are bits where I actually laugh out loud.  One-liners are the best.  :)

afternoon snack mmmm

dinner (well, after leftover quesadillas).  I got it from the Amish bakery at Reading Terminal Market yesterday and saved it in my fridge.  Whoopie pies!  Apparently a Pennsylvania thing.

There was a large (but all too short and without much rain) thunderstorm a while ago.....it apparently lowered the temperature quite a bit.  Let's hope that sticks!