Star Pupil

I woke up hungry and dove into a hearty bowl of banana flax oats topped with more banana and some natural peanut butter. YUM. I also had two mugs of tea and a multi vitamin.

I got to work straight away and broke for lunch around 1:00 pm. I grabbed the easiest option, the last of the leftover pizza. I'm glad it's gone!

Around 2:30 pm I decided to head to the gym for a 13 mile treadmill run. Running on treadmills is not my favorite thing but the Florida afternoon heat (my car read 101 degrees) wasn't conducive to an outdoor run. Well, my 13 miles were cut short at 5. Apparently there's a 30 minute limit at the gym when people are waiting for treadmills. Boo!!!! But 5 miles is better than no miles, I suppose.

I stopped for a decaf latte on my way home. Check out "The Way I See It #21"

I had to take Bella for training tonight and was planning on eating once I got home. However, my stomach had other plans. I was HUNGRY so I had a hearty snack of yogurt and a sprinkle of Optimum Slim cereal.

Here's Bella in her carrier waiting to go to class. She doesn't look too happy, does she? I cooked a chicken breast for her to bring to training. She could have cared less about her training treats last week so I made her favorite food to bring to class tonight.

It paid off! She was the star pupil tonight. I think she just needed the right motivation. We celebrated with a glass of Merlot while cooking dinner.

I made kale chips! Here's a photo tutorial. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Start with freshly washed, bunch kale (not the chopped kale that comes in a bag).

Remove the stem and trim it into chip size pieces before spinning dry in a lettuce spinner.

Arrange on a foil lined pan and spray with olive oil. Be careful not to overlap the chips.

Sprinkle with fresh ground black pepper and sea salt.

Pop in oven and check them after about 15 minutes. If needed, add 5 more minutes.

The edges will be slightly brown.

Dinner! HUGE pile of kale chips, a veggie dog on a spelt bun and a crisp, delicious apple.

I had a serious sweet tooth tonight so I had some dark chocolate M&Ms (I had about three times the amount pictured).

Time to get a bit more work done before calling it a night.

Yoga Monday

Today was an active rest day, meaning I took a day off of exercise but still took a yoga class. It was just what I needed today. I woke up hungry for a piece of PB&J sprouted grain toast.

Then a few hours later after yoga class I had a second breakfast, Siggi's yogurt and a juicy peach. This was my first time trying Siggi's Icelandic style skyr strained non-fat yogurt. I purchased the vanilla flavor and it was very good! This is pricey yogurt so I don't think I'll be eating it regularly, but it was a delicious, high protein treat this morning.

The vanilla flavor was not overpowering and complimented the peach nicely.

By early afternoon my sweet tooth kicked in so I had a mug of tea and a mini bowl of raw almonds and dark chocolate M&Ms.

My itty bitty bowl cured my sweet tooth.

I didn't feel like preparing lunch so I grabbed a piece of cold pizza leftover from Saturday. I have a soft spot for cold pizza!

And the leftover trend continued at dinner. I took all of the leftovers from last night and re-created my taco salad.

- romaine lettuce

- pearl barley

- vegetarian refried beans

- tomatoes

- onion

- bell pepper

- fresh corn

- grated carrot

- shredded cheese

- Cholula hot sauce

I decided to wash my yoga mats tonight. It's been a few months since they got a bath. I usually give them a sponge bath in the tub but tonight I decided to do a little research on alternate cleaning methods. Apparently a lot of people just toss them in the washing machine and line dry them. I thought I'd give that method a try, so my yoga mats are currently whirling around my washing machine in a sudsy bath of eco- friendly lavender scented detergent. I hope they turn out ok!

Oddly Productive Saturday

On one hand it feels like this day was a waste. On the other hand it feels like I got a lot accomplished. I started the day with a small bowl of Optimum Slim topped with a small organic banana. I was not hungry when I woke up but I had a long run ahead of me and I knew I wasn't going to be eating anything during the run.

After digesting for about thirty minutes I hit the road. I did NOT feel like running today. I was supposed to run 13 miles but I cut it short at 10. I just wasn't feeling it today. The skies were turning black, too, so I thought 10 miles was good enough.

After showering and dressing we took Bella to Winter Park for a training session in the midst of chaos. She responds well to our commands inside the house, but we need to do more training "in the field" where she's confronted with distractions. Since it was raining we headed to Palmanos off of Park Avenue for a breakfast treat and a training session. It's a dog friendly coffee house with covered outdoor seating.

Remember that amazing apple bran muffin I ate a week or so ago? I got the last one today! However, I was SORELY disappointed. It was NOT good. According to the barista they've been having trouble with their muffin consistency. The bakery from which they purchase their baked goods often has different people baking the products, which yields different results. I didn't eat much more than what's pictured here.

We made a quick pass through the Winter Park Farmers Market and I picked up some muscadine and scuppernong grapes, brussels sprouts, grape tomatoes, carrots and bell peppers. I ate several grapes once we got home.

*Native to the southeast, both grapes (muscadines & scuppernongs) are muscadines. The term scuppernong refers to the bronze type of muscadine originally grown in North Carolina. In grapes, resveratrol is found primarily in the skin and seeds. This is particularly true for muscadine grapes, whose skin and seeds have been reported to have about one hundred times the concentration as the pulp. In mouse and rat experiments, anti-cancer, anti-inflammatory, blood-sugar-lowering and other beneficial cardiovascular effects of resveratrol have been reported. (*source: Wikipedia)

I knew I needed to eat lunch to refuel from my run but I just wasn't hungry. I put together this pathetic lunch -- leftover Forbidden rice topped with grape tomatoes and 0% Fage. I made the mistake of turning on Hoarders while trying to eat. I couldn't do it. The show grossed me out so much that half of my lunch went down the garbage disposal.

A few hours later I made myself a cup of tea and a tiny dessert. I reheated 1/2 of a frozen peanut butter blondie topped with some dark chocolate. I honestly didn't really want to to eat this but knew I needed the calories, especially since I'm going on a long bike ride tomorrow morning and have a noon swim lesson.

After my "snack" I decided to book our plane tickets to Paris! Yay! I'm very excited. We're celebrating our anniversary next month in Paris. It's been a long time since we've taken a real vacation together. And I got a great deal on our flights using miles.

Dinner time came and I still wasn't hungry. The ONLY thing that sounded remotely appetizing was thin crust veggie pizza. I ordered a thin crust pizza with bell peppers and onions on the entire pizza, and added black olives to one half and pineapple to the other half. I ate a slice of each half and it tasted good. When I eat pizza it's exclusively thin, crispy crust. I try to make pizza as "healthy" as I can by ordering lots of veggies on a thin crust.

After dinner I jumped in the pool to practice some swimming drills. I have a swim lesson tomorrow and I didn't have much time to practice this week. Now, it's time for another training session with the pup. I'm determined to have the best dog in class!

So although I felt like this was a lazy Saturday, I did accomplish quite a bit.

- Ran 10 miles

- Farmers market

- 2 dog training sessions

- Booked trip to Paris

- Practiced swimming drills

Good night!

Friday Night Delivery

I started my Friday evening with a lovely glass of wine.

Chris wanted pizza, so we ordered delivery from a local pizza joint that makes a good salad. I ordered this yummy salad that's topped with hummus! I didn't use any of the dressing.

And here's my husband's chicken parm pizza.

Good night!