I Heart Fall

I have been having a hard time simply finding the time to blog lately! It's something I really want to do, and enjoy doing, so I'm going to try to set aside just 20 mins. per day for this whole week to get the blog re-started. I haven't made my blog public yet because I want to really commit to it and not drop off the face of the Earth after people begin reading, but if I can get into a groove and blog daily for the next week or two, I will go public :)

This past week has been busy, but good! After coming down with some sort of flu last week, I managed to recover in time for my work week to start. It was a pretty crazy week at work- as usual. I only ran once and lifted full body weights once- the other days I cleaned dog kennels for four hours and spent 4.5+ hours running around walking dogs, feeding, doing tons of laundry, sweeping mopping...I came home feeling like I'd run 17 miles each day, and definitely burned about as many calories, so in an effort not to get sick again, I decided not to get in an additional workout. This week will most likely be the same at work, but I do want to run at least 1 mile on four out of five work days, plus 1-2 weight sessions. It's not about burning calories since my entire day at work is a workout- It's more about gaining fitness and de-stressing!

My one weekday run this past week was pretty great. I didn't have much time to work out, so I challenged myself to run 1 mile as fast as I could after a loooong day- ended up being a 7:10 mile :) Then I ran another mile alternating between 8:30 (normal) pace and 7:00 (interval) pace. It was a super fast but super effective speed workout, and it's inspired me to try to increase my speed and get my 5K time down to 22 mins. or less this winter!

My days off have been switched to Wednesday & Thursday, which is fine with me since Sundays & Mondays are always full of really hard work and tire me out. It's nice knowing I only have one more day of work after that! Yesterday I was dying for a nice outdoor run. I'm not sure about the rest of the country, but it's definitely fall here in Vermont, and fall is by far the best running season and probably my favorite season. I HATE knowing a brutal New England winter is right around the corner, but that doesn't stop me from enjoying the cool air, changing leaves, clear blue skies and perfect running temperatures. I ran 6 super hilly miles yesterday, trying to keep my pace to a moderately hard effort. I was pretty wiped out by the end, so I think I succeeded. I lifted upper body weights afterward. It was a great workout and I loved looking at the foliage along the mountainsides- the trees look like they were sponge painted on a giant canvas. It's so beautiful!

This morning I slept in untl 8:30! I have been really exhausted lately and sleeping as late as I can. I need to remember to take my iron pills, because I can always feel it when I forget to take them.

Breakfast/brunch was a cold weather favorite- pb & banana oats! I made mine with 2/3 c. old fashioned oats, half a banana, ~1.5 T pb, a sprinkle of stevia and a mix of unsweetened vanilla hemp milk & water.

All mixed up:


Of course I ate the other half of the banana- with almond butter rather than pb.

My parents' house is on the market, and since I currently live in a separate apartment attached to their house, I have to be prepared to clean up and evacuate at a few hours' notice when people want to see the house. They just listed it with a new realtor yesterday, and already someone called last night to tell us they wanted to show the house today!! My parents can't wait to sell the house and move, so even though it's annoying to have to clean and leave on my day off, I'm always happy when it happens. And for some reason I've had a feeling that it's going to sell really soon, even though it's been on the market for over a year now. I don't know where I'll go when the house sells, but we'll probably have about 2 months from the time we accept an offer to the time we have to be out, so that gives me time to figure out if I want to rent a place here in VT or move somewhere else yet again. I actually have a pretty realistic "plan" but don't want to talk about it just yet- gotta get the ball rolling first!

Anyway, after a late breakfast I got to work cleaning like a crazy person. Vacuuming, swiffer mopping, and shampooing the carpets - which resulted in all this cat hair being pulled off the carpets by the carpet cleaning device!


Soooo gross...and that's only from the small living room area, and after just one week between shampoos. Five cats = lots of hair. I should have looked into adopting hairless cats ;-)

Around 10:30 I was done cleaning and had about 1 hour before I had to take the pup and leave. Perfect amount of time for a run! I ran 5 miles in the crisp fall air, up into the mountains and back down. Then I quickly splashed some water on my face, changed into non-sweaty clothes, leashed up the pup and left. Cirrus and I went for a walk on a path throughout our itty bitty town, then we went to Verizon where I ended up getting a brand new phone- the Blackberry I've had since March completely died. Thankfully, the person helping me was able to retrieve my contacts with the Blackberry Back-Up Assistant! It's great to have a phone that works after over a month of no cell phone!

That took about an hour (poor Cirrus waited so patiently in the car!) and I finally got home around 2:15. It was past lunchtime, but I wasn't super hungry. I steamed some frozen cauliflower and had cauliflower & raw carrots with hummus.



I had two kinds of hummus- a store-made hummus from my local health food store (it's sooooo good!) and some original flavored Sabra. I went back for more carrots and a bit more of both kinds of hummus! I definitely prefer raw cauliflower to cooked, but this was on sale for 50 cents per bag, so I'm not complaining. Cirrus, however, was not a fan at all. She loves raw cauliflower but didn't want any of the cooked stuff. Don't worry, she still ate plenty of carrots and a doggie treat!

Alongside the veg feast, I had a pear and a chocolate coconut chew Lara Bar.



My camera thought the garden outside was much prettier than the pear, and to be honest, I agree! So I wasn't too upset that it kept focusing on the background when I tried to get a better picture of the pear.

I got in a quick lower body & abs workout in the late afternoon, then made a delicious dinner- a biiig salad that included arugula, romaine lettuce, red pepper, carrots, a tomato, half a cucumber, tons of chickpeas and EVOO & balsamic.


Hit. The. Spot.

I'm kind of obsessed with veggies, even more so than fruit recently! But as usual, I needed to end the meal on a sweet note. Enter a slice of sesame Ezekiel bread with almond butter and strawberry jam.


I have recently switched from spelt bread to Ezekiel because the spelt bread just didn't feel "natural" enough...It had lots of ingredients and was pretty overly processed. I can't find the healthier spelt bread I used to buy in NYC, so I am testing the Ezekiel to see if that goes ok. So far, so good.

I have an apple waiting for later, too.


On a side note, the furkids have been even cuter than usual lately. Three of them love to sleep on my bed all day long. Noelle, Rosie & Gracie have barely moved from this position all day...


They've got the life, huh? Cirrus got a little jealous that I was oohing and aahing over the cats and quickly jumped in to steal the show.


That's her "Mom, WHY are you paying attention to anyone besides me?" face. And also her "I need to be groomed but my groomer is booked out 3 weeks" face. True story.

Last one, I promise- Gracie being adorable as usual!


It makes my heart flutter just looking at the pics. I'm a strange one, I know.

Ugh, Top Chef Desserts is on and now I am dying for chocolate! But I have none! I need to stop watching this show.

Quickie

I was at work an hour later than usual tonight and the pets are mad at me, so this will be a quick one!

My workout yesterday was pretty awesome. I ran 3.5 miles at a normal pace (8:45ish on the 'mill), then lifted super heavy upper body weights, ran another 1.5 miles, and did lots of abs/core work. My legs were sore from doing lower body strength training the day before, so the run was not the most fun. But I'm enjoying lifting more and more! It's only been a couple weeks, but I'm excited to start seeing results!

I had an apple for a snack, followed by a salad for dinner:


It contained the usual: Romaine, arugula, tomatoes, red bell pepper, carrots, chickpeas, EVOO & balsamic. Yum!

Dessert was a slice of spelt bread with dark chocolate dreams and half a sliced banana:


And a few bites of this:


Coconut milk ice cream = all is right in the world.

I went to bed at 9:30 last night. And got up at 7:00. Yep.

Breakfast was more spelt bread with dark chocolate dreams and banana slices. I'm not addicted. I can stop any time...I just don't want to...


Hmm, a bit repetitive but always delicious!

I packed a random snackie lunch (as usual): Carrots with hummus, a Chocolate Chip PB Lara Bar, an apple and a Vitamin Water Zero.


Work work work...lunch...work work work...feed furbabies...RUN! I had a quick speedwork run planned for tonight, and even though I got home later than usual I was raring to get on the treadmill. I ran 2.5 miles with a half mile w/u @ 8:45 pace, then alternated 0.3 miles @ 7:30 pace followed by 0.2 miles at 8:45 pace til I hit 2.5 miles. It's been unusually hot lately and I was dripping with sweat by the end. I really love fast but effective workouts!

Dinner was exactly what I was craving! Course one was a "deconstructed salad," which is my name for a lettuce-less salad. I had a red pepper, a tomato and half a cucumber with a little Amy's Roasted Red Pepper dressing.


Course two was a sweet potato with black beans! So simple, yet so perfect! I dipped some bites in ketchup. It may sound weird, but you'd dip sweet potato fries in ketchup, and you'd dip black bean burgers in ketchup, so you can't go wrong dipping sweet potatoes with black beans in ketchup.


I hadn't eaten in almost eight hours, as evidenced by the soon empty plates! I think I ate all that in four minutes. Ok, Cirrus helped me with the sweet potato ;-)


I am totally watching Camp Rock 2 right now. It's so bad but I can't bring myself to get up and get the remote. Plus the only other stuff on is a show about man-eating fish and the Jersey Shore episode where the Situation almost hooks up with a dude, so really Camp Rock 2 might be the lesser of three evils.

Dessert = ? I am still so full from my fiber-riffic dinner!

Still Here, Still Running

I took a bit of time off because I moved back to Vermont and immediately jumped back into my shelter job, which takes up 95% of my time! After 8+ hours of physical labor, I come home to pets who need to be fed/walked/cleaned up after and a treadmill with my name on it, so blogging was pushed to the back burner. However, I am finally feeling like I'm back in the groove and have a handle on managing my time. I missed blogging, and I have the Green Mountain Marathon coming up in a mere month and a half. I am going to try my best to blog as often as possible, which may mean that I won't post photos of ALL of my food since it's pretty time consuming.

Yesterday was my LR day. I only ran 11 miles b/c it was HOT, I am recovering from some sort of flu bug, I had no water with me and...could I possibly make any more excuses? I just didn't want to run more than that. I haven't been running the high mileage I'd gotten used to in NYC. My job is like running 8-13 miles every day I work, and if I try to run 50 MPW on top of that I get sick really fast and then I can't do anything, let alone run! I have hit a compromise though, adding in strength training with HEAVY weights 4x per week, running mainly short speed intervals & tempo runs a couple days during the work week, and then doing a long run and an easy run on my days off. It seems to be working well, although I'm definitely feeling more aches & pains in my legs due to running around all day. I love my job though, and taking care of those animals is my #1 priority, along with keeping my own animals happy and healthy of course!

Anyway, onto today!

I slept in til 8:00 today. Sleep is VERY important to me, and while I'm usually up by 6:30 six days a week, I need to sleep in one day! Today was that day, and it felt sooo good. Once the "furry alarm clocks" started pouncing on me demanding breakfast, I got up with one thing in mind- I couldn't wait to try a new superfood powder I picked up yesterday!

Navitas Naturals "Twister Power" with organic raw hemp powder, cacao powder and maca powder! I've tried all three of these superfoods by themselves and love hemp and cacao products, but the taste of maca isn't one I've enjoyed in the past (to put it lightly!). I was looking for a protein powder that was affordable and 100% raw, and instead of buying plain hemp protein I decided to give this a try. It doesn't have as much protein as straight up hemp protein powder does, but it's got other benefits from the cacao and maca.


In case you can't read that, it's got 60 calories and 6 g. protein per serving, which is 2 tablespoons. I love the antioxidants from the cacao, the energy from the maca and the protein and healthy fats from the hemp! I mixed this into a So Delicious Coconut Milk Vanilla Yogurt.


The taste of the Twister Power is a little chocolately and a little like, well, dirt. That would be the hemp and maca. But mixed up with the yogurt and a spoonful of pb, it tasted great! I'll be adding this to my breakfast most mornings for the protein & energy boost. Alongside the yogurt-powder-pb combo, I had a slice of spelt bread with pb&j. No explanation needed for that one ;-)


After doing my weekly cat hair damage control chores- vacuuming, shampooing the carpets and swiffer mopping the floors- I was out of the apartment by 10:00 AM to run errands. I stopped at the bank to get some cash so I could take my garbage and recycling to the dump. You know you live in the middle of nowhere when you can't just roll your garbage bins out to the curb once a week...anyway, while at the bank, I was shocked to find out that I actually have a decent amount of money in my account! Living in Manhattan, I got used to holding my breath and cringing in fear when I logged onto the Bank of America website, praying that the numbers on the screen were in black and not red! It's nice to have a little bit of stress gone from my life :)

Anyway, I have needed new running shoes for a while, but have gotten used to putting off non-necessary purchases in favor of attempting to actually save some $$. Today I decided to bite the bullet and get new shoes. One visit to Dick's Sporting Goods and $125 later, I had a shiny new pair of Asics Gel Nimbus 12's!! The girl at the register asked me if I wanted to "insure" them for a year for $17. Without really thinking, I declined, telling her these shoes would barely last me 4 months...but as I walked to my car, I started wondering if she meant that if I bought the shoe insurance, I could keep getting replacement shoes for a year every time my shoes started getting holes in the heels or the soles got worn down? I need to get more information next time! How amazing would that be?

When I got home I wanted some veggies, stat! I munched on a handful of baby carrots with hummus before deciding on 1.5 slices of spelt bread topped with about 2/3 of an avocado. On the side, I had a Diet Snapple and some kind of pear. It was huge and had the look and the texture of a typical pear, but tasted and crunched like an apple. Weird, but good!


True story: There were claw slashes in my pear. My giant possibly Maine Coone cat, Noelle, really likes to sleep in my big fruit bowl. The presence of bags of apples and avocados and bunches of bananas does not stop her. She will look at me as if to say, "Mom, there's fruit in my Noelle bowl!" Then she will climb right in. I've gotten used to finding bruised bananas that she decided to lie on, but apparently she has now started attacking the fruit. I cut the claw mark areas off of the pear before eating it. Let's face it, the last place those nails scratched around in was probably the litterbox. Blech.


Good thing she's cute!

Time to get mah workout on! I've got 5 easy/normal paced miles, upper body weights & abs on tap. My eyes are going crazy from staring at the computer screen for the past hour. How did I used to do this all day??

Summer Shape-Up Challenge!

Hello hello! I will get to my Summer Shape-Up plans later...first onto my day! I had quite a productive day today, and I'm feeling a little less stressed about the upcoming move (thank god!).

It all started with a lazy morning. I slept in until 7:30 today! Love it! I'm not sure I could sleep later than that if someone paid me though. I like to get up and get the ball rolling.

After a lovely dog walk along the river and a furry food feast, I made myself breakfast of a slice of spelt bread with dark chocolate dreams peanut butter & half a banana. Of course I had the other half banana with more dark chocolate dreams. I was still a little hungry and wanted to get in a 10-miler, so I had another slice of spelt plain.


If that is not food porn, then I don't want to know what is.

Just to get this out in the open- I'd eaten a slice of spelt with almond butter & jam at around 4:30 AM so I wasn't as hungry as usual for breakfast. I do not like how I feel after eating in the middle of the night. I do not think it's a good habit at all. I do want to break it. More on that later!

I didn't leave for my run until 9:00, but it was a balmy 70 degrees out with a cool breeze. Aaah, what a perfect day in the city! I had a great, easy & slow run and got in 10.11 miles at an average pace of 8:52. It felt really good.


I was definitely a hot mess afterwards. God, I should really run somewhere where there are less people because let's get real, NO ONE should have to be subjected to this:


My cat didn't seem to mind though. Why do they always want to be pet & cuddled when I'm oozing with grossness?


After a shower, I decided to take the opportunity to show off the fact that I ran a marathon last month by wearing my Long Island Marathon race t-shirt! It's a crappy, boring cotton tee because the race directors are idiots (for more reasons than this) and ordered a surplus of XL technical shirts but barely any size Smalls. Because most marathoners are really, really large?? So I wasn't able to get the cool tech shirt. But I still like to wear the crappy cotton shirt to silently proclaim my hardcoreness to all of Manhattan.


Ok yeah, it's the worst race t-shirt ever. You have to seriously whip out the magnifying glass to be able to tell that it's a marathon race shirt. I mean, I have shirts from races in Vermont with cows all over them, and they are still way cooler than this shirt. Thankfully all marathon finishers got a really nice sweatshirt that was much better designed and has huge block letters that read "Long Island Marathon 2010 FINISHER" for all the world to see ;-)

After some packing I ran across town to Whole Foods to pick up a big container of protein powder and some other essentials to get me through the rest of the week. It was noon when I left, and I totally forgot that I just ran 10 miles and would probably need food. That tends to happen when I'm busy! After walking another 2 miles, I broke into one of the Clif Z-Bars I'd bought.


I gave myself a pat on the back for remembering to save and then photograph the empty wrapper later on! I ate the peanut butter flavored bar and it was really, really good. Soft and chewy like a cookie! It could have used more chocolate though. But that is one of the most-used sentences in my vocabulary, so take it with a grain of salt. I will definitely be buying more for pre-run snacks.

Once home, I grabbed a handful of baby carrots with hummus...


And whipped up a lean green protein smoothie with a banana, frozen mango & blueberries, spinach, protein powder and a liiiitttle bit of coconut milk because I'm a loser and forgot to buy more at Whole Foods! The smoothie was still good though.


I had a serious chocolate craving after this, so I had THREE dark chocolate squares and they were exactly what I needed!


Worst. Picture. Ever.

After getting my daily dose of magnesium (or sugar...) it was time to fill up those moving boxes I bought yesterday! Thankfully I had helpers.


Noelle is ready to go! Don't worry, I threw enough food in there to last a couple days.

One of my really good friends came over at 5:00 and we packed for an hour then took Cirrus and went to dinner! I'm going to miss this girl :-( She's my friend from elementary school! I moved around a lot as a kid so it's really rare and special to have such an old friend!

We went to The Barking Dog, a cute cafe with pretty good food and an outdoor seating area in my 'hood. I got the Arugula Portabello Salad or something like that- Arugual with grilled portabello mushrooms and sundried tomatoes, with vinegar and a little olive oil on the side. It was sooo good! Every now & then I really crave mushrooms, which is weird because thinking about them grosses me out. We chatted til 8:00 then I headed home to feed the troops!

Sidenote: I went totally make-up free all day today, not even a smidge of mascara! I loved it!

Since dinner was relatively light, I ate a banana with raw almond butter when I got back.


And I'm about to dig into the mango from yesterday- never got hungry enough for it last night!

********

And now for some news! I've decided to do a little challenge I'm calling Summer Shape-Up! I'm doing this because I have put on a bit of weight in the past 1.5 years since leaving Los Angeles (I swear they put something in the water to make people skinny out there...) and I would like to get back to my happy weight!

Let me be clear that I'm not completely unhappy with my body. I'm very thankful for what it has done and continues to do. I am grateful for every mile my legs carry me without injury, pain or complaint. I love that I'm fitter than I've ever been. But on the other hand, I am a very fit runner who consistently logs 40+ miles per week...and aside from my toned legs I don't really look any different from an average person who maybe hits the gym twice a week. I want to lean out a bit and get back into those skinny jeans and cute mini skirts! I also realize the advantage that shedding just 5-10 pounds would give me on October 17th when I haul butt across 26.2 miles in a mad dash to break 4 hours. Every little bit helps!

I am not going to be weighing myself. I don't own a scale and honestly I don't want to since I'm not overweight and scales just lead to obsessive behavior for me. Instead, I'll be going by how my clothes fit. I have a couple pairs of jeans that do not lie about how close or far I am to my goal!

My Summer Shape-Up Challenge includes:

-No snacking late at night! The kitchen is closed from 10:00 until the next morning. Snacking in the wee hours of the morning is my worst vice and I plan on breaking it by freezing the bread/carby stuff I tend to grab, and when I'm home, even putting snacky food upstairs in my parents fridge if I can't seem to stay out of the fridge late at night. It becomes a habit in 21 days, so consider this day one!

-Eat enough to fuel my running and active lifestyle- but not too much! About 2000-2200 calories per day should do it. I will soon be much more active at a physically demanding job- I only have one day left of my sedentary desk job- which is why I will typically require this much food just to lose weight.

-Train hard for marathon #2! My plan incorporates tempo runs, intervals/fartleks, loooots of hills and of course lots of long runs!

-Build a better relationship with food by honoring my cravings instead of eating what I feel like I "should" eat! I can eat anything (vegan and wheat free) that I want in moderation.

-Focus on fresh fruits & veggies! I tend to do this anyway but have been pretty carb-happy as of late.

I'm going to Long Beach Island, N.J. for vacation on July 31st, and I would like to feel more comfortable in my body by then. I believe it will happen pretty naturally by doing what I listed above and doing 40 hours of physical labor per week! Believe me when I say I will be working for my pay at the shelter- and I can't wait!

Summer Shape Up is officially on!!!

Reverse Case of the Mondays

Yahoo it’s Monday! I know it’s highly unusual to be excited about Mondays, but I don’t work a normal week so I have off on Tuesday. And I move this Saturday, which means I’ve been counting down the number of days left at work. Which means I feel like I’m back in middle school and it’s June 2^nd and we get out for the summer on June 5^th. Yep, I can’t sit still or concentrate! I just want to be done so I can get on with my life!

Here's a quickie photo recap of yesterday's eats!

Protein oats with oatmeal, coconut milk/water, protein powder, almond butter & strawberry preserves. This was just meh.

Cherries!

Lunch was a spelt bagel with 2/3 of an avocado sliced on top, plus an apple. I ate the nectarine before leaving work.


And dinner was a crapload of cauliflower- half of a huge head of it- plus carrots with hummus. I ate what is shown times about a million. When it comes to vegetables, I don't mess around.


I also had 2.5ish squares of extra dark chocolate and a spoonful of almond butter because I'm kind of obsessed with it.

So on yesterday’s post, I sort of lamented the fact that I hadn’t run since Friday. Two days has never felt so long. I popped out of bed this morning at the ungodly hour of 5:50 and geared up for a run. When I say “geared up,” I mean took of my shirt, put on a sports bra and put my shirt back on. Yes, I missed running so much that I slept in my running shorts & shirt. I’m not obsessed. I’m just dedicated.

It was too early for my little dog to get out of bed. Man, in my next life, I want to come back as one of my pets ;-)

I quickly ate a Clif Bar, fed the animals, brushed my teeth and headed out into the oddly cool but very muggy morning. Woooaaah, clearly my camera does not function before 6 AM just like me.


OMG, what was going on on the UES this morning? It was 6:20 AM and the streets were packed with commuters like they normally are at 8:30 AM. Usually it’s pretty quiet. I actually got worried that I was off by an hour or something. Of course I didn’t bring my Garmin because it looked like it was going to pour, so I ran in a state of paranoia until the big clock on the CNN building in Central Park South told me that I was, in fact, on time.

My run was AMAZING. You know the way you feel when the person you love most in the world goes away and then comes back and everything is wonderful and you’re floating on clouds. Well, that pretty much sums up my run. I ran 8 miles, my legs felt awesome, I loved every second of it and all is right in the world again.

For my real breakfast, I had just enough time (read: decided it was worth it to be late to work) to make a green protein smoothie! I added the usual ingredients into the blender:

-1 c. coconut milk

-1 banana

-frozen mango

-frozen blueberries

-spinach

-Proventive vegan protein powder- not quite a packet but most of it

Wow, this was soooo good. I was in protein smoothie heaven while drinking it! It was so thick and made so much smoothie. I ate this at 8:45 and didn’t need to eat lunch til 1:00, even after running 8 miles this morning- Winner!

I was running late to work, so I decided to go make-up free. Well, I put on mascara because um it's NYC, but I didn't put anything on my face. I will not be wearing any make-up to work in VT so I wanted to see how it felt to start getting used to it. I don't wear much make-up and honestly I look the same with or without it. Mascara is the deal breaker though. I look so much more awake with it on! I put a little coconut butter on my lips as usual to keep them from getting dry in the air conditioned office.

Just like Friday, I’d planned to buy my lunch but a co-worker ended up treating me! I think it’s because I’m leaving soon, but whatever the reason I am not complaining. I got my usual salad from Guy & Gallard with:

-romaine

-carrots

-tomatoes

-onions

-cucumber

-double chickpeas

-EVOO & vinegar on the side

Sorry, no picture. I actually wanted to bring my camera to work since I knew I’d be getting lunch from somewhere, but I totally forgot to grab it before leaving. I also forgot to mail my Netflix back for the second day in a row. I suck at doing the morning thing!

I ate it with a chocolate coconut Lara Bar! This also kept me full for a long time.

Around 5:00 PM I munched an apple. I think you know what an apple looks like, but I actually don’t like when there is food eaten but not pictured so my apple looked rather similar to this!

After work I stopped at the UPS store near my apartment to buy some moving boxes! Aaah! Gotta get the packing ball rolling tomorrow. I also stopped at the grocery. I couldn’t figure out what I wanted for dinner and perusing the aisles of D’Agostino’s, a very conventional and non-health freak-friendly store, didn’t really give me much inspiration. I wasn't super hungry so I just grabbed some brown rice veggie sushi, which I ate dipped in hummus, with cauliflower and more hummus on the side. Hummus with a side of hummus- what every dinner should be!

I wonder where I'll be able to get good, non-sketch sushi in VT? They're not really big on weird food up there.

Dessert was the best part of the day- 1.5 slices of spelt bread with dark chocolate dreams pb and half a sliced banana! I'm pretty sure I could live off of this pb alone and be perfectly happy. I ate this in half slices because my phone kept ringing. So annoying. I just want some alone time with my pb, people! If there is anyone out there who has not yet tried this delightful treat, run, don't walk, to your nearest Whole Foods or local grocer and get yourself a jar of chocolate pb goodness. Just don't blame me when your jar is empty in three days and you're the only one who had access to it...



I've got to go play with my dog and take my iron pill- tomorrow's going to be a looong day. I have this beautiful mango waiting for me to snack on later tonight!