I’ll be back later to fill you in on the results.

Related Posts

No related posts.

I hate being sick. I’m going back to bed.

Have a good night all.

Related Posts

1. I hate being sick…
2. When you're sick, even pizza doesn't taste good

I’ll be back soon to fill you in on all of my food, fitness, and family antics, plus a few surprises

Peace, Love, and Cupcakes!

Related Posts

1. 10 Days of Christmas Goals
2. Introducing the New Running With Cake!
3. Running With Cake Welcomes Foodie BlogRoll!

I just finished a whirlwind evening of shopping, which included a stop at Trader Joe’s! Oh TJ, how I love thee I know I’ve said this before but I’m gonna say it again, the people at Trader Joe’s are SO nice! Anyway, after shopping, I did a little LOT of cleaning! And now I’m relaxing, listening to a little Charlie Brown Christmas and lovin’ the jazzy tunes. They are actually making me quite sleepy – yawn…

You know one thing I don’t understand about the Charlie Brown Christmas special is …Where the heck is Peppermint Patty? She’s in every other holiday special out there but, for some reason, she’s left out in the cold on Christmas.

Anyway, back to cleaning….I LOVE when my house is CLEAN – you know, the kind of clean where you only need to “maintenance” clean for a couple weeks. And the REASON that I cleaned like a mad woman tonight? ….

My sister and her husband and my two-year old nephew are coming into town tomorrow – yeah! I’m so excited – can’t ya tell? We have big shopping plans for the weekend and my sister and I are going to afternoon tea at a snazzy tea shop. Fancy hats are optional, but I’m going to try to get one ahead of time. Any suggestions for a place to get a great hat to wear in the winter?

Ok, gotta get to bed or else I may just be too tired to run in the AM (yeah, like that would ever happen ) Have a great night and I’ll be back tomorrow with more pics of my holiday lunch with my team at work.

Related Posts

1. Randy lay there like a slug…
2. A Theme For Holiday Decorating
3. A Chicago Tourist For A Day

Just check out this crazy slide! I haven’t taken a class in soo long – I swear I don’t even remember how to study. I feel like a Freshman in college again.

Before leaving for class this afternoon, I hopped on the treadmill for a brand new running routine! Yes, I think I’ve broken out of my rut – here’s what I did:

• 5 Min walk at 4.0
• 2 Min run at 7.0
• 3 Min run at 7.4
• 2 Min run at 7.6
• 2 Min run at 7.8
• 2 Min run at 7.0
• 2 Min run at 7.4
• 3 Min run at 7.6
• 2 Min run at 7.8
• 2 Min run at 7.0
• 2 Min run at 7.6
• 2 Min run at 7.4
• 2 Min run at 7.8
• 2 Min run at 7.0
• 2 Min run at 7.6
• 5 Min walk at 4.5

Total 30 min run and 10 min walk!

Wow, this workout kicked my butt! I was sweating so bad at the end too, and I only covered about 4.5 miles! Burned a ton of calories though – whew, thank goodness

I’m about to head back to class after eating my yummy $3.50 salad…

See you all tomorrow night!

Related Posts

No related posts.

PEAR! I love this photo because it almost looks like I took a picture of a picture on the wall – just wish the pear had fewer blemishes.

Early this morning, I received a package in the mail from JCrew! Woo hoo! I ordered a beautiful olive velvet blazer and a few other things. But, I realized two things: 1) the blazer was too big, even for a size 4, and 2) I just received a 25% off coupon via email from JCrew. Decisions, decisions…. So, I decided I would take my whole order back (after all, I didn’t pay for shipping) and then reorder all of my items, but try the size 4 petite. This saved me $30 – and brought the blazer down to $72 from $148. I love when I get a deal at JCrew!

Because of my meager breakfast, I had a snack attack around 10 AM so I munched on some low-cal popcorn…

For lunch, I grilled char-grilled an Italian sausage…

I was spending a little too much time on the computer and not enough time paying attention to the grill. Oh well, it was still good, especially with dijon mustard for dipping. As you can see, I also made a little whole wheat couscous. I don’t eat a whole lot of couscous – although it’s very high in protein, it’s also high in calories. But, when I do make it, I doctor it up a bit by adding a chicken boulion cube to the water as well as a carrot sliced really thin.

Very easy and yummy!

Later in the afternoon, I got the urge to finally make Red Velvet Cupcakes! Plus, I have been seeing them EVERYWHERE – bakeries, grocery stores, the book store, etc. I’m sure it’s just because it’s Christmas time, but I figured it was a sign that I should make them for myself. 

Red Velvet Cupcakes are my favorite kind of cupcake but I have never actually made them. For my first time, I decided to try the Dunkin Hines boxed-version. Of course, I prefer to make most things homemade, but I wanted to be sure these actually turned out good!

It was pretty cool to make this mix -but also a little creepy.

The mix looked like a big bowl of blood – icky! But, despite the bloody batter, the cupcakes turned out fantastic!

Talk about Red V-V-Velvet Goodness! I have to admit, I wanted to eat one of these as soon as it was frosted, but I made myself wait until after dinner, which happened to be my homemade potato and leek soup…

You got that right baby – it’s Friday and I DID cook tonight! This soup is so rich and creamy, but it’s actually low in calories (or relatively low – because it uses skim milk and not cream). But, what really makes this soup is the uncured maple bacon – because bacon makes everything taste better.

Of course, dinner, was followed by one of these beauties…

Surprisingly, the batter is not as rich as I thought, but the cream cheese frosting I used (Dunkin Hines) was very sweet and “cheesy”.

I’m seeing a theme here – velvet blazer, velvet cupcakes…hmm, what’s next on my velvet radar

Now, Scott and I are watching Elf – too funny! I love when Buddy bangs into things – it’s so slapstick but Will F. plays the part so well.

Have a great night everyone!

Related Posts

1. Saturday Night Headache
2. 'Twas The Night Before Thanksgiving…
3. A Salad Duet

Good luck!

Related Posts

1. Explorer's Bounty Tea and First Giveaway
2. A Bit of A Power Bar Snob
3. From Salads to Shopping

My husband spent the whole day with “the boys”, hiking, pizza eating, movie-watching, etc. He asked to take the camera and I obliged. Bad move. Somewhere along the way, our $600 camera was lost. I won’t get into the details or my frustration with the situation. However, I wanted to let you all know of my dilemma so that you would understand why I may have not-so-pretty photos or missing photos completely. In the meantime, I will be using my husband’s iphone to take photos. The photos on his built-in camera are not too bad, but no where near real camera quality.

So now, as you can imagine, I need to invest in a new camera, preferably one that takes awesome close-ups. If you have any recommendations, please shoot them my way!

Sorry ladies, that’s all I’ve got tonight. Just not in the mood to write anything else. I’m sure you can relate on some level.

Related Posts

1. How Should Bloggers Reject a Free Sample?

For breakfast, I made a quick PB sandwich with MaraNatha all-natural creamy PB…

Not fancy, but still adequate, nutritious and portable!

Of course, when I arrived at work, there were still more temptations around every corner. There were THREE coworker birthdays today so the sweets were plentiful! We started with a full table of Panera coffee cakes, followed by sweet breads from Costco. Then, when everyone was pretty full on that, another coworker brought out the PIES…

There were 8 Baker’s Square pies in all – I can’t believe someone spent all this money on pies for work! Because I was feeling achy all over I was not easily swayed to have a piece. But, then I saw the holy grail of pies! The banana cream pie – bottom left!

As I mentioned in my anniversary post last weekend, banana cream pie is probably my favorite pie EVER, yet it seems to be the most elusive pie EVER. Whenever I go to Baker’s Square, they always say it’s “out of season” and when I ask them when IS it in season, they say that it varies. Could you be more vague? As a result, whenever I am presented with banana cream pie, I nearly always take a slice. Today, I took a slice but immediately put in the fridge to take home. I didn’t want to spoil a good piece of pie by eating it when I felt crappy. And, I still hadn’t eaten lunch.

And speaking of lunch….it was slim pickins’ today. I was running late as usual this morning and didn’t make anything to take. And, I was too busy to go out for lunch today. Luckily, we had our second staff training session today and I specifically ordered a veggie tray for us to snack on…

I had a bunch of little bell peppers (they are so sweet and yummy!), tomatoes, and carrots with a little veggie dip. I also scoured through the staff fridge and found a TJ’s Greek yogurt I left in there from last week.

I added some of Bear Naked’s new banana nut cereal to the mix as well as a little vanilla pound cake. This was incredible, but probably too much like  dessert to eat for lunch – he he!

I was feeling incredibly achy and feverish later in the afternoon but I stuck it out until 4 PM. I felt a little better once the Tylenol kicked in, but after 4 hours, I felt bad again and took more.

I really didn’t have the energy to make dinner when I arrived home. I just heated up whatever I could find in the fridge, which happened to be leftover tacos…

They ended up making a very nice taco salad.

Tomorrow is my day off, but I’m actually headed back into work – or I should say near work. Our CEO is retiring so we are having an all staff retirement party for him at his country club. Free food and drinks? How could I miss that? I just hope I feel well enough to go and to partake in the festivities. Don’t know if I’ll be able to take pictures…could be a very awkward situation if I do.

Anyway, I’m outta here. Gotta rest up tonight so that I can actually run in the AM.

BTW – the pie is still sitting in my fridge at home. I swear it’s mocking me because I don’t feel well enough to eat it.

Night all!

Related Posts

1. A Bowl of Clouds
2. Taking Food Pictures In Odd Company
3. My Favorite Starbucks is Closing!

When I arrived home, I was so happy to find a beautiful omelette waiting for me…

My husband made me a 3-egg omelette (1 egg and 2 egg whites) with red peppers, broccoli, and white cheddar cheese – so yum!

Eggs are a welcome change for breakfast since I don’t eat them very often. However, I am trying to eat them more because they are considered a superfood for runners. Contrary to popular belief, eggs, when  eaten in moderation (1 egg a day) account for less than 1 percent of the risk of heart disease in men and women. They are also loaded with protein and vitamins.

After a protein-packed breakfast, my husband and I are heading out to a local Renaissance Festival. I’m so excited because this is my first ever Renaissance Festival.

See you tonight!

Related Posts

No related posts.