A Taste of Sparkle

Sorry for the lack of posts in the past few days – I thought I would be able to post a bit during my weekend trip to South Carolina, but it was such a fiasco that I didn’t even get the chance! More on that later!

The trip was great. The only difficult thing was that during the two days of airport travel, the food situation was not good. I had to make some tough choices and eat things I would really rather not, because the other option was to not eat at all! Needless to say, I am so glad to be back home and back to my supply of yummy, healthy foods that make me feel great.

I started this morning with a bowl of oatmeal with cranberries, goji berries, and a scoop of white chocolate pb.

I’ll be back this afternoon!

It is 87 degrees in my non-airconditioned room today! Not nice weather for doing work! But I’ve been pushing through it and am slowly getting done what I need to. I didn’t sneak a yoga session in though – I wasn’t really in the mood for doing Bikram!

After my early lunch, I snacked on some refreshing watermelon (I ate it too fast, so no picture!) and a new flavor of ClifBar – Blueberry Crisp.

Now, let me say, it did not live up to my expectations. I was really excited to try this flavor; doesn’t “blueberry crisp” sound amazing? Well, it was all right. As in, I ate it. I did consider throwing it away though, but figured I should at least eat the things I buy. It was just sickly sweet. Way too much of something and not enough blueberry But, I guess I should expect energy bars to taste as good as homemade blueberry muffins I think I’ll stick with my PB Crunch flavor from now on, though.

After working for a while, I got hungry again – it was only 3:30, much too early to start dinner, even for me, so I had another snack: a cucumber from the Farmer’s Market…

…and some Mary’s Gone Crackers with a little bit of hummus (no, not the entire container!).

I ended up having an early dinner anyway, even with the extra snack. I wasn’t really in the mood for anything because it is just so hot, but I was getting too hungry to concentrate, so I made a quick gardenburger-hummus wrap with a side of carrots and almond butter. Later, I had some dessert: coconut milk ice cream with two pieces of Laura’s Wholesome Junkfood. I need to take pics of this next time, it’s so yummy looking!

Wish me luck sleeping tonight in this sauna of a room

Not me!!

Woke up early this morning ready to get my study on for my Physics quiz today and decided to take a break and go for a run around 9:30. My little temperature thing on my computer said it was about 65 degrees out – great! Oh wait, just kidding - it was mid-80s outside, with blinding sun! I’m sure that is dream weather for some people, but it’s just too hot for me, especially to run in. I had to stop every mile or so and walk.

Another reason why today’s run was a tad rough: I felt the dreaded twinge in my right shin. You know, the one where you start crossing your fingers and whispering “Pleasenotshinsplints” over and over to yourself. I’m going to take it easy the next couple of days, probably do my speedwork on the elliptical or treadmill, and make sure I’m not running on pavement too much. Luckily, this is a week where I don’t have an increase in my long run, so that should help too. I’m not too worried yet.

I did get my scheduled 4 miles done, albeit with lots of walk breaks in between.

After that run, I needed some comfort food! I was craving something COLD.

Bear Naked granola with a Chobani vanilla yogurt (16 g of protein!):

Yum! I love the combination of walnuts, raisins, and dried cranberries.

Afterwards, for something to cool me down after my shower, I had an Edy’s fruit bar in lime. I love these! I bought them to try out last week and they will definitely be making more appearances. I like the other two flavors better, strawberry and wild berry, but this lime bar wasn’t bad either.

Alright, on the to-do list for this afternoon:

• fold laundry
• write up genetics lab
• get caught up with readings for Classics
• yoga (good for a study break: relieves stress and stretches out my tired legs!)

I’ll be back when I’m done (or probably before ).

First off, flowers of the week! (Late in the week, yes, but oh well!) They are Gerbera daisies – they were beautiful in the Co-op and who I am to resist my favorite flower?

Good news, I went to the doctor today and I do not have strep! The bad news, if I’m still not feeling well in a week, she wants me to come back to test for mono. Hopefully I’m feeling better by then, especially because I have to get on with my half-marathon training! I’m getting sick of putting off runs.

Speaking of exercise this week, so far I haven’t run, but I’ve gone to the gym twice. I went on Monday, took yesterday off due to feeling quite sick, and went today to get in some hill walking and weights. I’m feeling better right now though, so as long as I’m feeling this good or better tomorrow, I’m looking forward to a run. I definitely will be doing my long run on Saturday.

This week at my nutritionist appointment, we were trying to figure out a snack that would last me from when I have breakfast (around 8 am) to when I get out of class for lunch (2 pm) – that’s a long time! I only have 10 minutes in between each class, which I spend actually walking to the next class, so I don’t really have time to stop and snack. So she suggested protein bars.

I have been avoiding protein bars for a little while now because I’d rather get my nutrients from whole foods, but it’s not looking like that’s going to be possible for my morning snack. So, what did I do? I went shopping!

This morning, I tried an old favorite: a Zone bar. I had it at 10 (I had breakfast early today, at 7) and it kept me pretty full with its 14 grams of protein. I was hungry for lunch, but not so hungry that it was difficult to pay attention in my last class, which has been happening recently. So I am excited to continue with this protein bar experiment and test all these lovely samples. We’ll see if any of them beats the Zone bar!

What a way to start the week! I had 3 midterm exams in less than 24 hours! Well, I’m finally done and now I feel like this:

I let myself relax and read for a couple hours and now I’m going to try and get caught up on some things I’ve been putting off in order to study (like showering! Shh!). I’m going to make a big grocery store run in a few minutes with my list, and I also have to clean up a bit. I like to Swiffer the floors every Sunday, but I ended up doing work most of the day instead, so that’s on the agenda. Also, I’m lacking for weekly flowers! I need cheer in here, as my poor mums are sinking quickly.

Yesterday I managed to cram in a 3 mile elliptical workout (while studying, of course!) and today, it’s rainy and cold out, so I’m thinking a stress-relieving yoga session’s in the works for tonight.

Now, speaking of grocery shopping, here’s something new on my list:

I tried it for the first time yesterday for lunch because I was need of something quick, and I loved it! This is my first time trying Amy’s products because usually I don’t like frozen meals, but for a frozen meal, this was really good and saved me a lot of time.

It didn’t look quite as pretty in real like as it does in the picture on the box (when does that even happen, though?), but that certainly didn’t have any impact on its taste. I loved the black-eyed peas and rice combo, and you could actually see the veggies that they put in there. Also, with 9 grams of protein, it is a good little meal. I had it with some more veggies on the side, sugar snap peas and carrots.

Off to the store! I’ll be back later tonight, unless of course I’m doing this

Later!