Lazy Day

Let’s just start off by saying that I did not sleep well last night. Which basically means I felt entirely too lazy today. But what’s life without a lazy day now and again (or as often as you can get it)?

My lovely day started off with my usual lovely breakfast…

Wake up!

… of Greek yogurt, Diet Coke, and a banana. Does anyone want to help me break my (terrible) habit of 2+ Diet Cokes daily? … Bueller?

After that, I headed off to yoga. I was a wimp and didn’t drive there… or back. I was tired and crabby and it had been a week since I last drove. Oops.

There were a lot of people at yoga today. New Year’s resolutions in full force, I expect. And I have to say, my legs were sore afterwards. Really sore. I should probably work out more often…. something I notice every time I work out… 😉

When we got home, I walked up the stairs and collapsed into bed. I was seriously exhausted. When I woke up, my parents and Pippa were taking a walk, and it was time for my lunch!

I was (not surprisingly) craving veggies. Desperately.

Behold…

Big bowl, big flavor, big nutrition!

… the giant weekend salad! In the dish:

• 2.75 c. baby spinach
• 1 oz. baby carrots
• 1 oz. cherry tomatoes
• 25 g. Baby Bella mushrooms
• 100 g. chopped cucumbers
• 2 slices of the Braeburn apple I had on the side
• 1 T. Kraft Sun-Dried Tomato Vinaigrette

And my full lunch looked something like this:

Happy lunch

I ate a 100% whole wheat Bagel Thin and the rest of that apple on the side! Tasty stuff.

Dad and I went to the grocery store to pick up a few things, and to give me a chance to drive this afternoon. In-town driving is just so much fun. No, it’s actually not that bad at all. Just a lot of construction around here. Like Daddy said, “When you’ve graduated college, gotten married, and had a few kids, all of the construction should be finished.”

Basically, it’ll be a while. 🙂

When we got home, I was quite hungry. Probably the lack of protein in my lunch. So, I satisfied my hunger with Fiber One cereal and a new flavor of Greek yogurt!

Times 2!

New flavor? Whaaaa?

While we were at Kroger, we decided to pick up a few extra cups of Greek yogurt to hold me over for a few more days. I had my usual vanilla and honey flavors in hand when I noticed this stuff. Cranberry-fig Greek yogurt? Hm, I’ll try that. Oh, look! There’s also black cherry and strawberry-mint… Why not one of each?

And after I finished talking to myself, I picked those up in addition to my standbys.

I didn’t really think the cranberry-fig was too different than strawberry. Maybe I’m a freak. It was a little tangier, and maybe a little more exotic (not that that can be defined/measured), but not too different.

I got sidetracked by hockey and football during my snack. I had intended to start my newspaper layout for February. That didn’t happen. Instead, dinner happened!

In the form of tacos!

Twice as nice 🙂

I had two Chi-Chi’s taco-size flour tortillas, topped with taco-seasoned ground beef, a few tablespoons of Mexican cheese, a few tablespoons of chopped white onion, some sliced cherry tomatoes, some shredded spinach, and two large spoonfuls of medium Wholly Salsa. Delicioso.

After dinner, I got serious and started my layout. Hmmm I could be in trouble this month. There’s a little too much white space… like, a quarter of a page too much. Ah, this happens every month. It’ll be fine. Right???

Right.

After finishing the one real school thing I have to do this weekend, it was time to catch up on Parenthood. I love this show. It is hilarious and adorable. And my parents like it, so we watch together.

During the shows, I had a mini-feast. Or a big snack. Either way. 😉

So much goodness

On the menu:

• a Jell-O Chocolate-Vanilla Swirls pudding cup
• 2 t. unsweetened cocoa powder (to make the pudding taste less sweet)
• 2 clementines
• 1 large Braeburn apple
• 2 T. peanut butter
• 1 Clif Peanut Butter Pretzel Mojo bar

And it was all delicious. The perfect combinations of creamy, crunchy, sweet, salty, and slightly-tart. Great snack!

Now, it’s time for some serious sleep. Good night!

Not So Productive…

It’s break-from-school syndrome – I can’t accomplish anything. Today, I sat down to write a paper for an online class I’m trying to finish and got, oh, nowhere. No, I do have an outline done! But that’s the easy part. And then I tried to make more progress in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, but I’m tired, so I kept zoning out. That’s okay; I’ll go see the movie with my mom next week after the Christmas craziness dies down a little instead of seeing it Wednesday with my mom and my uncle. Not a big deal. Just gotta remember that! 🙂

Breakfast was the usual – Kroger Honey Greek yogurt, Diet Coke, and a banana.

The lineup!

And it was followed by the usual Fiber One cereal…

Same old, same old

… and a mini Kit-Kat bar from a giant bag my Secret Santa got me.

Crispy, crunchy, chocolaty goodness

I cranked out the outline of my paper between my snack and lunch. And reorganized my notes. Lunch was good, though, even if my achievement wasn’t great.

Yummy stuff

I had 2 clementines (the slices are piled on top of each other… oops!), about 4 ounces of baby carrots, and an open-faced sandwich with leftover Sloppy Italian filling (ground beef sauteed with onions, ketchup, and Sloppy Joe seasoning), the other half of a whole-wheat Sandwich Thin my mom had the other night, and a handful of shredded mozzarella cheese. It was quite the tasty lunch!

I tried to get back to work after lunch and succeeded only in writing the first paragraph of my essay. Woo-hoo! Then, I had another bowl of Fiber One and a banana before heading off to get a massage.

'Nana

When I got back from the massage, I started making the marinade for the steak we had tonight. Then, I laid down for about an hour to read, while snacking on some animal crackers.

Juvenile? Perhaps. Delicious? Definitely.

I love animal crackers. Correction: I love Barnum’s animal crackers. They are the lightest, the crispiest, the best. After my hour was up, I went to go work out. When I got done showering, dinner was served.

Teriyaki steak, another Six Ingredients or Less recipe, was on the menu – and it was  really good, despite being a little heavy on the soy sauce. We served it alongside steamed broccoli seasoned with a little lemon pepper.

Broccoli + steak

I knew productivity wasn’t in the cards for tonight, so I just relaxed with my family. And snacked.

On my plate tonight:

Mmmmmm

A Braeburn apple and 2 slices of whole wheat toast spread with Parkay. It was odd – I took a bite of cookie dough ice cream and realized that I  wasn’t in the mood for anything too sweet. How strange. So, I went for slightly sweet and slightly salty (and very bread-y). Totally hit the spot.

And now I’m off to bed. Driver’s ed tomorrow – wouldn’t want to fall asleep! 😉

Early Morning Meeting

This morning, I woke up at an even ungodlier hour than usual. Class Cabinet meetings are before school, see, and I’m the president. I ate my usual quick breakfast.

Quick and easy, it is!

Since it’s almost the holidays, our adviser “surprised” us (I knew 😉 ) with Panera bagels. That’s a great reason to get up extra early.

Asiago cheeeeeeese

Panera’s bagels are absolutely the best if you get them first thing in the morning. They’re just about always delicious, but these are even softer and doughier and, in this case, cheesier. More divine. (I’m easy to please when it comes to carbs.)

Then, because I’m a bottomless pit, while I had a free 1st period at school, I snacked on…

You guessed it!

Fiber One.

I had my pre-calc test shortly after that (pretty easy, I think) and the rest of the day basically flew by. Lunch was simple.

PB & A

It included an Aunt Millie’s 100% Whole Wheat English muffin topped with Jif Creamy peanut butter and a Braeburn apple. Classic.

I had Book Club (Page Turners – clever name, right?) after school and then I stopped by a pizza place to collect money for ads for the school newspaper.

When I got home, I had more Fiber One.

My grandma and uncle are here right now and we’re about to head to Chipotle! I’ll be back later. Have a fabulous evening!

Barilla and a Blizzard

Yesterday was really quite good; I just had a little studying to do when I got home. So, I put it all off, like a good high-schooler… 😀

My lunch was rather… orange.

Told ya!

It was pretty small, but I wasn’t overly hungry. I had a handful of baby carrots, 2 clementines, and a pack of Nature Valley Peanut Butter Crunchy Granola Bars. It was quickly tossed together, but it held me over for a while. The orange theme was completely unintentional!

I had no after-school obligations, which felt really good. I came home and relaxed with Pippa and my mom for a few hours and eventually was hungry enough for a snack of…

Cereal ♥

Fiber One and…

Creamy 🙂 So lovely!

Strawberry Greek yogurt! This was a delicious precursor to my dinner and, since it was packed with protein, was a good choice. (Dinner was carb-heavy. And heavenly.)

I began studying for my chemistry exam next week before my dad got home from work. While we discussed our days when he did arrive, I started prepping the pasta.

Big ol' bowl of bread & pasta

Spaghetti! We made Barilla Thin Spaghetti with Prego Roasted Garlic & Herb sauce. I topped mine with shredded Parmesan cheese and had a slice of Cole’s Garlic Mini-Toast. It was all very tasty. It had been way too long since I last had spaghetti (I should do that more often).

After dinner, I wanted some sweetness to balance the savory meal, so I had…

Sweet stuff

a few mini bars of Hershey’s Special Dark Chocolate.

I restarted studying – this time for pre-calc – and was done with my review for the test just in time to watch Survivor. I love that show. It is the one reality show I can stand. I love Probst and I like that all the competitors have their own crazy personalities. I like it. Anyhow, my sweet/chocolate tooth apparently wasn’t satisfied by my after-dinner chocolate. (Shocker. Not.)

So, I treated my parents to Dairy Queen Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup Blizzards (they share one).

There are no words.

So good. So good. (The picture, not so much....)

I adore Blizzards. I have too many of them, probably at least once a week. I only get Reese’s Cup ones and our Dairy Queen location always puts peanut butter in them (apparently, most places just do ice cream and Reese’s Cups). They are pure, chocolaty, peanut-buttery, creamy goodness. It was incredible and I basically never wanted it to end.

And now I’ll catch up (on today’s post). This getting-behind thing might happen sometimes. Sorry!

Late Start, Late Sleep

My school has a 2-hour late start today – and I actually used those 2 hours for sleep. I don’t sleep in. It doesn’t happen. But it did. It’s nice to have gotten some sleep in the week before semester exams (that doesn’t happen either).

The unfortunate thing about 2-hour delays is that nobody gets anything accomplished because all of our classes are about 30 minutes long. Given that, we should probably just have the whole day off (and who wouldn’t love that?).

Breakfast was the same as yesterday.

I'm a little bit boring.

And it was followed eventually by…

... Fiber One.

Now, why I eat the same breakfast just about every single day.

I have some strange stomach issues, namely constipation. Yeah, that’s lovely. Sure you wanted to hear it. Sorry. It’s an ongoing problem, but I feel that it gets worse when I start my day with anything else – eggs, oatmeal, cereal, bagels, smoothies, etc. So, I eat the same thing every day. That’s also why I eat so much fiber and Fiber One. I would love to train my stomach to be happier with a wider variety of morning meals (I might make that effort over winter break). However, I certainly am not going to force it.

Also, if my intake appears to be decreasing slightly, it’s safe to assume that I’m just particularly constipated and it’s harder to fit more food in my overcrowded, tiny tummy.

And there you have it!

Have a good day!

A Little Relaxation

Today hasn’t been nearly as bad or stressful as I expected. I really like those days. I started it with a usual breakfast of honey Greek yogurt, Diet Coke, and a banana.

Ta-da!

I snacked on this stuff….

Fiber + Flavor 🙂

And in my 5th period class, our teacher had a bunch of candy, so I had an unpictured Rolo and three Tootsie Rolls.

Anyhow, my tests today weren’t too bad. I just had to work really quickly on my chemistry test and made a pretty stupid mistake on my pre-calc quiz (I think). That’s okay, I have a top grade in that class (or at least last time I checked). I’m okay with that.

Lunch today was hastily thrown together, as I was running late this morning.

Hasty, but tasty!

I had a Braeburn apple, a Chicken of the Sea Chunk Light Tuna Peel & Eat Cup, a Thomas’ 100% Whole Wheat Bagel Thin, and a tablespoon or so of Sabra Roasted Garlic Hummus.

I got home after a few clubs today and snacked on more of the above. No need for a picture, I assume? I think we all know what Fiber One looks like. It’s an addiction. A very strange addiction.

I actually had time to fit in a workout today, so that was very nice. When I was done and had showered, dinner was ready!

Divine. Just divine.

We had slow-cooked pork roast with a really good rub (Apple Horseradish) from Heartland Herbs, steamed broccoli with a little unsalted butter melted over it, and Parmesan-roasted red potatoes, with some Panko crumbs, extra virgin olive oil, parsley, and (of course) Parmesan cheese. I’m planning to start a “Recipes” page, and these potatoes will be on it in one way or another. I like some mashed potatoes, French fries, and these, as far as potatoes go. They’re pretty much that good.

My snack tonight came a little later than usual, but it was quite delicious.

Lotsa chocolate

I ha a Jell-O vanilla pudding cup mixed with about a tablespoon of unsweetened cocoa powder, a packet of Nature Valley Oats & Dark Chocolate Crunchy granola bars, and most of a Braeburn apple (a few of the apple slices were totally bruised through 😦 ).

Now, we’re watching Glee, even though it’s been a little more disappointing lately. I have a late start at school tomorrow, so I can afford to stay up a little bit later. Maybe I’ll even watch Parenthood tonight instead of later in the week. What a concept.

I’m going to have a mini Reese’s cup now. Here it is:

And here it is!

Good night!

 

Long, late day

Yesterday was the first day at school after a pretty relaxing weekend. I should have known the relaxation would end, especially since everyone is trying to cram all our assignments in before exams next week. It was a long day. I’m 99.99% sure the week will actually never end.

Breakfast, however, ended too early. As always.

Good stuff

And it was followed by the typical dose of Fiber One…

Love this stuff. If you couldn't tell.

My morning was full of assignments and studying. Two tests, at least one quiz, a presentation, a scrapbook, and two essays. And a bunch of newspaper articles to edit (at least those are fun).

We had distribution day and a party on the school newspaper. It was a smaller party since we were all working, but Jet’s pizza was involved!

Thick and cheesy

That wasn’t quite enough for me, so I had two clementines as well.

Citrus for me!

I got out of school early for a physical therapy appointment (I love massages). Afterwards, I had a completely delicious Asiago cheese bagel from Panera.

Cheesy, carb-y, blurry, goodness (This was in the car, so I may have eaten the other half before actually remembering the picture element of things...)

After studying for my chemistry test tomorrow, I had a nice leftover dinner salad.

So many flavors, so little time

In the mix:

• Baby spinach
• Baby carrots
• A few slices of chopped-up Braeburn apple (the rest is pictured on the plate)
• Shredded Swiss cheese
• Rotisserie chicken
• Kraft Sun-Dried Tomato Vinaigrette

And Pippa may have been staring reproachfully at me while I was eating. When I was finished, I was pretty sure she deserved some chicken, so I got her a few pieces out of the half-full container.

I enjoyed still more Fiber One while working on chemistry conversions. So fun. Or, way too repetitive (kind of like my constant Fiber One-eating).

Same old, same old.

I continued studying for pre-calc and chemistry, but I needed more fuel. Enter…

Protein + Fiber + Fat = Satisfied Ellen (for, you know, 30 minutes :D)

… strawberry Greek yogurt with ground flax mixed in and an Oats & Chocolate Fiber One Chewy Bar! This kept me going through all the studying. Then, I wanted a treat.

This brownie X 3. They're that good.

I can’t eat just one. It’s impossible. I can eat one potato chip. Not the case for these – at all.

I went to bed exhausted, but finally feeling totally prepared for my quiz and test. Success!

Last Hours of Freedom

I’ve spent the afternoon going through old all of my AP US History (APUSH) notes and assembling a timeline of what feels like every single thing that happened in the history of American religion. Yeah, I only made it through religion. I still have rebellions (and Americans seem to be really good at those, so there are lots) and the beginning of our foreign policy. Hmmmm. At least it doesn’t have to be done for a while.

During all of this, I really wanted high quality chocolate. But I don’t have it right now. Hence, my Fiber One and Hershey snack.

The Mint Truffle Kisses are actually pretty good, I must say. Then it was back to work with me. After plowing through all the religion material, I decided that dinner sounded pretty appealing. Tonight I made panini. The only bad thing about these is that we don’t all three get to eat at the same time, since the panini press is too small. Other than that, these are melty, gooey, cheesy goodness.

Look at all the texture!

My sandwich was composed of Giant Eagle Multigrain Tuscany bread (the best), Dietz & Watson turkey breast, mozzarella cheese, and Stonewall Kitchen Maple Chipotle Grille Sauce. On the side I had two stalks of celery (broken into more manageable pieces) and some Kettle-Cooked Lays chips. These might be the best potato chips ever. Just sayin’. While I was making the sandwiches, I had some Vlasic Bread & Butter Pickle Chips. I enjoyed my meal with SoBe LifeWater Black & Blue Berry.  So delicious.

I’ll probably lay off the work for the rest of the night since I do go back to school tomorrow. I’ll just enjoy my last night of break with my family and Pippa. 🙂 After all, with Harry Potter and Blue Jackets hockey, how can you go wrong? (You can’t! :D)

Pippa and Pizza Dinner

This, ladies and gentlemen, is…

She's a snuggler!

Pippa!

She isn’t exactly named after Miss Middleton, but she looked a little more boyish than girly to us, so when we said she was a salt-and-pepper color, we thought of naming her Pepper. Since that isn’t exactly gender-specific, we settled on Pippa. Gender problem = solved! And, pop culture references aren’t bad, either. 😉 She is quite lovey-dovey, but she is pretty stubborn – and loves to walk. She’ll be keeping us quite active, I imagine.

So, we spent today gathering supplies for our first dog. Mom and I went to PetSmart and Target and dropped Pippa off to be groomed. The above picture is post-grooming; she was very shaggy before. While we were out, I snacked on a Milky Way bar.

Chocolate, caramel, nougat, and more chocolate! Yum!

Since grooming takes about two hours, we came home to eat dinner before picking Pippa up again. Daddy ordered us a large Works pizza from Papa John’s and some cheese sticks.

Cheesy deliciousness

It’s been a while since I’ve had pizza and it tasted good. During dinner, the groomer called and said they were done. So, we got back into the car and loaded our nice, neat puppy back into the car. She is so calm and she didn’t make a peep the whole way home. She must be pretty worn out – it has been a long day for her. Now, she’s lounging around the house getting acclimated, and so are we. We’re introducing Pippa to Mr. Harry Potter tonight, watching Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. Last night, we watched Sorcerer’s Stone.

My evening snack is a multiple-parter, so I’ll probably eat it in rounds, but I’ll just take the one picture. It includes:

Nice spread 🙂

• 1 large Braeburn apple
• 2 T. creamy peanut butter
• 1/2 c. Fiber One Original Bran cereal
• 1 sugar-free Jell-O Chocolate Vanilla Pudding Snack with 1/2 T. unsweetened cocoa powder (to bring the sweetness factor down a little)

I might enjoy a few pieces of candy later, but I’ll post those in the morning. Off to find the Chamber of Secrets before I get some much-needed sleep!

A Bit of a Surprise

Yoga felt amazing today. My legs are going to be killing me all day, but it was so worth it.

Lunch today was one of the leftover (and not so pretty) variety…

Noodles! Carbs! Yummy!

…Japanese pan noodles and shrimp. From this angle, the bowl looks just about empty, but it was actually just about full. It’s about the size of a small order at Noodles and Company, since that’s about half of a regular size. The noodles are always perfectly doughy and the sauce is perfectly spicy. It’s easily my favorite dish from Noodles, but they’re all pretty incredible. This was a nice lunch to help refuel from the 75-minute yoga session.

However, since I can’t seem to go more than an hour or so without eating something, I quickly added on some Fiber One cereal.

You're going to get tired of these pics. 😉

Today is the “big” Ohio State-Michigan football game, and since we are in Columbus, we are watching it in the best way – on TV.

And now for the surprise – drum roll, please – we just got a dog. Pictures to come, of course, but she’s a little black and grey Lhasa Apso-Schnauzer mix. And she’s adorable. Today should be another fun one!