Lighter Options

Good morning friends. I'm sorry to report that I won't be attending Zumba this evening. I have tentative plans to meet up with my friend that I was supposed to meet up with yesterday and figured it'd be best to just stick to my morning workout routine. Zumba will have to remain a Saturday morning thing.

This morning's strength training workout consisted of hammer curls, lat pulldowns, tricep extensions, and shoulder side raises. I followed the strength training with 20 minutes of intervals on the elliptical and a 5 minute cooldown on the treadmill. I'm sore already!

I kept my morning bowl of oats simple today, well simple for me anyway ;)

Just a 1/2 cup oats, 1/2 cup fat free cottage cheese, banana slices, and a little scoop of Dark Chocolate Dreams PB. Delicious!

I'm extremely bored at work today. I've been surfing the interwebs and came across an article in the NY Times about Lighter Thanksgiving Desserts. I think offering a lighter alternative to your guests is a great idea. Especially if you have a diabetic in the family. You don't even have to get as fancy as they do in the article. Fruit salad or fresh fruit with a yogurt dip is an easy alternative as well. Would you eat a lighter dessert on Thanksgiving if it were offered?

Lunch today was yummy and something I'm definitely going to recreate in the near future.

A whole wheat wrap stuffed with Cedar's Lemon Zest Hummus, grilled portobello mushrooms, sprouts, and cucumber. I love mushrooms and had grilled some for my boyfriend's dinner last night. I decided to grill a few extra and throw them in my wrap for lunch today. I'm glad I did because they were delightful.

*Don't forget to enter my Newman's Giveaway!

Say Yes To The Zumba?

One day down! Woo hoo! This day at work draaaggged. It was busy in the morning, but after 1, I was bored to tears. I sat reading blogs and g-chatting until 4. I guess it makes up for the crazy week I had last week.

I was going to meet up with a friend for tea after work, but he got stuck at work so I just ended up going home and watching GH. I haven't seen my friend in almost a year and a half. We used to hang out all the time, but then he got a girlfriend and she didn't like him talking to his friends that are girls. They broke up a month ago, so I guess we're friends again??? I don't know... After watching GH, I watched two episodes of "Say Yes To The Dress." Melissa is to blame for this new obsession. I can't believe how much money people will spend on a dress! I'd buy a condo or a car, not a dress. To each their own though. Anyway, after being a couch potato for a few hours, I figured it'd be a good idea to eat something. I was craving a sandwich earlier in the day and figured I should honor that craving at dinner.


I mashed a little more than 1/4 cup chick peas with some fat free ranch dressing, spread them on two slices of Ezekial 4:9 with sprouts, pickles, tomato, and cheddar cheese. Carrot fries on the side please! This dinner hit the spot.

I'm having trouble deciding what I want to do workout wise tomorrow. It's a strength training day and my gym is offering a Zumba class at 5pm. I might strength train in the morning then go to Zumba at night. I hate thinking about working out all day though. If I don't go to Zumba at night, I'll just strength train and do the elliptical for 20 minutes in the morning. It would be fun to mix it up though...What do you think I should do? Sleep well my dears :)

Another New Look

Happy Monday! I hope you all had a restful weekend. As you can see, I have another new look! I love the new header and I can assure you that this is the one that's going to last. All the credit goes to Emily at The Blog Fairy. I had no idea what I really wanted. Emily asked me a few questions about myself and my personality and provided me with a couple of examples within hours. Thank you Emily for helping me figure out my vision and doing such beautiful work. You're a genius!

This morning was another great morning for running. It was about 50 degrees when I woke up! Unfortunately, that's about as warm as it's going to get today. It's still warmer than average for this time of year, so I guess I shouldn't complain. My rest day yesterday set me up for a great run this morning. I ran 6 miles in 55 minutes. I ran a new route as well and that only added to the fun.

After stretching and showering I made my morning oats.


In the bowl went 1/2 cup oats, 1/4 cup fat free cottage cheese, 1/4 cup pumpkin, pumpkin pie spice, and a handful of blueberries. I wasn't sure how the blueberries would taste in this mix, but they were fabulous! It was like eating a bite of blueberry pie and then a bite of pumpkin pie. I've found a new favorite!

It's been a busy day at work, as Mondays always are. I broke for lunch around noon. It was a walk through strawberry fields.


Whole wheat wrap with PB Loco Cookie Dough PB and strawberries. Sweet and yummy!
I hope your week is off to a good start!
What is your favorite pie flavor?

*Don't forget to enter my Newman's Giveaway!

Nothing Tastes As Good...

Hi guys! I hope you had a great Sunday. Today was a rest day from the gym and I didn't have anything exciting on the agenda. This morning I got my hairs did, but that's about it. Nothing spectacular, just took about two inches off. My oats today were pretty stellar though. I call this one, "Strawberry Pie.


Strawberry Pie consists of 1/2 cup oats, 1/2 cup fat free cottage cheese, cinnamon, sliced strawberries, a spoonful of PB Loco Cookie Dough PB, and two crushed Newmans Own Arrowroot Alphabet cookies. It was delightful.

I spent the afternoon catching up on saved shows on my dvr. One of the shows was last night's SNL with host Joseph Gordon Levitt (I thought he was a great host by the way). One of the jokes in Weekend Update referenced a comment made earlier in the week by supermodel Kate Moss. In an interview, Moss stated that "Nothing tastes as good as thin feels." Dreamboat Seth Myers commented, "Said the rest of the world, BACON!" I prefer frosting, but I get Seth's point. To be honest, I think Moss said it because she knew it would be shocking and would get her press. It obviously worked. I wish the media wouldn't report on it though. It just brings that random interview into the spotlight and on the tv screens of every young girl out there. Now this story is going to be the talk of the pro-ana and pro-bulimia websites that many young girls spend time on. The media isn't doing anyone any favors by reporting one sentence taken from an interview with a fashion industry website. Why can't we ignore celebrities when they say foolish things? Now we're going to have to endure a month of her on tv talking about her weight and apologizing for her comment. It will probably only add more fuel to the fire and more "inspiration" for the pro-ana websites. I don't even want to know why she thinks that. Who cares? I mean, using a $1000 vibrator probably doesn't feel as good as shooting heroin, but I'm not about to do that either.

I was all worked up over Kate Moss I didn't realize it was dinner time. Dinner was yummy in my tummy!


I baked a Quorn Chik'N Patty, topped it with Classico Sweet Basil Marinara, and served it with cheesy broccoli slaw "pasta." To make the cheese sauce, I simply stirred in a heaping spoonful of plain Oikos Greek yogurt and about 1/4 cup of fat free Kraft cheddar cheese. I had a random serving of tomatoes and cucumbers because they looked good sitting in the fridge. If you haven't tried broccoli slaw "pasta," you're missing out. It's the bizness.

What do you think about the media's coverage of Kate Moss?
*Don't forget to enter my Newman's Giveaway!

Sushi Retreat

Last night my manperson and I headed out to see "Couples Retreat" and to grab some dinner. A little "date night" if you will. The theater was PACKED. We ended up having to park in a parking lot down the street from the theater. Those Twilight kids are crazy! It annoyed me that "New Moon" was playing on almost every screen because the movies that I wanted to see were only playing once or twice during the day to accommodate "New Moon." I think that's unfair to other movie goers and also to the other movies. Yes, "New Moon" is breaking box office records, but how can it not when it's almost impossible to see anything else? I really wanted to see "Pirate Radio" but the only time it was playing was at 11:30 PM. There's no way this old lady would go to the movies at that time. Okay, rant over. "Couples Retreat" was...okay. It was your typical Vince Vaughn movie, wait, that's not true, it wasn't. I know a lot of people thought this movie was funny, but I think I laughed once. I felt like I was watching the show "According To Jim" in movie form. It was that bad. I know I'm a movie snob and I don't deny that, but this movie was terrible. Christian kept asking me, "What did you expect?" and I guess I just thought it would be more funny because my beloved Jason Bateman was in it. "Arrested Development" was hands down the best television show in history (I will fight you on this) and he seems to make good career choices, so I guess I thought this movie would be a bit better. If you want to see it, I'd say wait for it to come out on dvd. Okay, moving on...

After the movie, we went to our favorite sushi joint, Hayashi. Fun fact, we had our first dinner date here! We started with a little edamame.

Melissa Nibbles!

The boy enjoyed some miso soup

slurp slurp

And we devoured Sake-Avo Maki (Salmon, Avocado) and Caterpilla Maki (Eel, Cucumber, Masago Covered w/ Avocado).


Even though I didn't enjoy the movie all that much, I definitely enjoyed my Saturday. I tried a new aerobics class, relaxed, and had a great date night. Life doesn't get much better :)
What is a movie that everyone else liked that you hated?

*Don't forget to enter my Newman's Giveaway!

Newman's Giveaway!

I received a huge package (that's what she said) from Newman's Own the other day.


There's no way I'll be able to get through all this food alone and I don't need this many packages of cookies in my apartment. What better excuse for a giveaway?!

You can win this bundle of goodies:


I decided to get a little creative with this giveaway. Everyone I know keeps asking me what I'm doing and what I want for my 30th birthday, this is where you guys come in. To enter the giveaway, leave a comment telling me what you think I should do to celebrate my 30th birthday and what I should tell people I want. Then, if you have a blog, post a link on your blog about the giveaway and post the linkback here. It's that easy! I'll pick a winner on Wednesday November 25th at 5PM. Good luck

Zumba!

Happy Saturday everyone! This morning I stepped out of my comfort zone and attended a Zumba class at my gym. The class description for Zumba reads: "Dance away your worries to Latin and International music. Have fun while toning and strengthening the body." I've been wanting to try a Zumba class for quite some time now and was excited when my gym added it to their aerobics schedule.

The class started right on time at 8:30. The instructor was very energetic and upbeat. I think that makes a big difference in an aerobics class. We went through about ten short dance routines featuring moves inspired by salsa, meringue, and even a few Bollywood dances! I especially liked the music. Most of the songs were by Daddy Yankee, Shakira, Wyclef, and Beyonce. There was one song that I really liked that went something like, "We like dem girls that shake that @ss, shake that @ss!" I'm not a big rap or pop music fan, but I have a soft spot in my heart for songs that have filthy lyrics. If you know who sings that, let me know. Overall, I liked Zumba. I think it's a great workout if you're feeling tired, but still want to hit the gym. It's VERY low impact (I didn't break a sweat) and you really have to get into the moves to feel like you're working out. I plan on going back again because I think it's a good cardio workout to do after strength training. Plus, it's fun to mix it up once in a while.

After Zumba and showing off my new dance moves to my boyfriend, I indulged in my favorite breakfast.


Chobani with 1/4 cup Kashi GoLean Crunch of course! I'm a creature of habit, what can I say? A few hours later, I made a comforting bowl of oats.


In my belly went 1/2 cup oats, 1/2 cup cottage cheese, blueberries, and a spoonful of PB Loco Cookie Dough Peanut Butter. So good!

We're off to the movies to see "Couples Retreat" (I love Jason Bateman!) and then grab some dinner afterwards. Be sure to check back later if you want to win a Newman's Own goodie bag!
Have you ever tried Zumba? Did you like it?