This morning was an “off” day for running. I was really contemplating a late-afternoon run but just couldn’t get home in time. Breakfast was a cup of Kashi Go Lean Crunch with flax and about 1/4 cup blueberries…

I just love the way blueberries look in cereal – they add so much color, not to mention they have a ton of antioxidants which are great for your skin.

Work went by rather slow and when that happens, I tend to eat more – ugh! Lunch was leftover risotto and a small piece of chicken from the other night – nothing special, but satisfying. Then all hell broke loose as I proceeded to eat a clementine, pretzels, and a few pieces of chocolate!

Dinner was nearly ready when I arrived home – which, I have to admit, is sooo nice!

Scott grilled some Italian sausage which he paired with sauteed peppers and steamed carrots – oh, and low-fat Cape Cod chips too

Gotta go, time for the season finale of Psych!

Introducing my new 1154 Lill Erika bag. It’s big enough to hold my Macbook Pro and a few odds and ends. The bag has a plum base color with a Queen Anne’s Lace accent stripe…

On the inside, I decided to show my wild side with an African cheetah print…

I love my Lill! After making this one, I so want to make another one…hmm, maybe for my birthday!

Alright, enough about my new chic bag…on with the day…it started with a 30-minute run on the t-mill followed by some fast walking and an ab workout. That makes 5 days of running straight – I think I’m ready for a break.

Breakfast was about 3 oz of Trader Joe’s vanilla Greek yogurt with some of my new Galaxy Granola…

The folks at Galaxy sent me 3 bags of their awesome granola while I was on vacation. I was so excited to get it and practically tore into it on the spot. I really admire the Galaxy brand and its new Web site promoting granola made with Fruit Not Fat. Many of the granola brands out there are loaded with sugar, fat, and ingredients that I can’t even pronounce. That’s the main reason why I try to make my own because I can control my own ingredients. Galaxy Granola seems to have recognized the importance of making a product all-natural because they make their granola with naturally healthy ingredients like applesauce and honey, instead of corn syrup and oils. Now that’s my kind of granola!

The vanilla almond flavor also had whole almonds in it, which made my yogurt extra crunchy…

So yum and so filling – good thing I only used 1/2 a carton of the yogurt and 1/8 cup granola! On my way to work, I also picked up a skinny vanilla latte, since I missed out on my treat yesterday. Ahh, how I’ve missed my Starbucks.

Lunch ended up being some leftover risotto which was good, but just not filling enough. I snacked on a banana, some lemon tea, and a few “thank you” cookies…

I call them “thank you” cookies, because each cookie had the words “thank you” on them, but in different languages. As you can see, I ate 1/2 of the merci cookie before I took the picture

Dinner was a family favorite – Scott’s homemade pasta sauce with a big ‘ole side of broccoli…

OK, that’s enough for tonight. I’m off to repack my Lill for tomorrow!

Ciao!

Luckily, I anticipated a very long day and started out on the right foot. I jumped out of bed just before 6 AM for a 4.5 mile interval run on the treadmill. Then, it was an energizing breakfast  - 3/4 cup Kashi Go Lean Crunch with flax..

I know flax is supposed to be good for you, but does anyone else think it leaves a weird aftertaste in your mouth?

On the way to work, I wanted to treat myself to a new Starbucks drink – the cherry mocha. Has anyone tried this yet?? Because I was running late for work, per usual, I was hoping to zip in and zip out of the ‘buck. However, as fate would have it, there was a sign on the counter that said they would only be making brewed coffee and tea drinks today due to equipment problems. Foiled again, Batman!

Work ended up being a pretty normal day – like I never left. I don’t know if that’s a good sign or a bad one???

For dinner, Scott made another one of his specialities – chicken fajitas!!!

This is usually his go-to summer dish, but for some reason he was craving fajitas – maybe it has to do with March Madness . Scott makes his fajitas with all the fixins, like bell peppers, mushrooms, onions, lettuce, and guacamole. I made a fajita salad in order to avoid unnecessary calories from the tortilla.

Now, it’s off to bed for me. But wait!  Stay tuned tomorrow for a peak at my new 1154 Lill bag. It was delivered to my door the day we arrived home from vacation – how’s that for timing?

Have a great night!

The Grand Floridan is a Victorian-themed hotel (think My Fair Lady or Mary Poppins) with beautiful landscaping and an amazing lobby. Upgrading resorts took us from a room of 315 sq ft. to a room of 460 sq ft with a balcony and view of Cinderella’s Castle. As you can imagine, from the time we checked into our “new” room, we had the most amazing and magical time – a dream come true.

Even though the weather was in the 60s practically the entire time, we made it to the parks 5 of the 7 days we were there. The kids loved exploring the parks, riding the rides, and meeting all of the characters…

I loved all of those things as well, but I also loved being pampered by the hotel and, specifically, the amazing housekeeping staff. It was so nice to come back to a relaxing, luxurious room every night, not to mention a few Belgian chocolates on the pillow…

As I mentioned in a previous post, we decided to try the Disney Dining Plan for the first time. I wasn’t super thrilled with the plan – to put it bluntly – no one really goes to Disney for the food. And, coming from Chicago – a city of amazing food – Disney has never really impressed me with its culinary offerings. However, I enjoyed the daily desserts that were included on our plan – 2 desserts a day to be exact!

Instead of giving you a long review of ALL of the food I ate while on vacation (no entrees really stand out), I’m going to take you through some of the wonderful desserts that crossed my path and my lips

Early on in on in our stay, we ate at Le Cellier in Epcot where I ordered the maple creme brule – it was fabulous, and that is saying a LOT coming from a person who doesn’t really like creme brule. Next up, the kids and I split a giant cupcake (it’s not vacation without a cupcake!) made of chocolate cake and frosted with creamy white frosting coated with crushed butterfingers…

Again, this dessert/snack was fantastic, although I had major cupcake remorse after eating it!

Finally, on our last night there, we ate at Le Cellier again at which point I ordered the s’mores dessert, which was a concoction of graham cracker and chocolate cookies that sandwiched vanilla ice cream, all topped with two candy-covered marshmallows. OMG – I can’t believe I ate this whole thing!!

For those of you who are wondering, I did run four days while I was there and walked a TON of course. Somehow, I still managed to gain two pounds – can’t imagine how

Now, it’s back on track for the next two weeks – Fitbloggin here we come!

Take care.

Yes, it DID taste as good as it looks! This was by far, the best dessert I had all week – and believe me, I had several to compare this to.

OK, off to bed for me = stay tuned for more pics in the next few posts.

1. A great 30-minute run to Hawaii and back
2. A ride on a carousel horse
3. Lunch with friends courtesy of the Duke of Sandwich
4. Pontoon ride on a lake
5. Soaking up the sun at the local watering hole
6. And ending with dinner with the big cheese himself

Oh, forgot to mention, I’ve also been enjoying a few of these….

I think this may be the best Monday I’ve had in a long time. Ahh…there’s nothing like taking it slow for a few days and really enjoying life. If you haven’t done it in a while – you should really give it a try!

So, how was your Monday?

Scott cooked up some Italian sausage and yellow and red peppers – a true Chicago dish! He also steamed a bunch of veggies – carrots and broccoli …

Very satisfying and fairly healthy – about 300-400 calories total – not bad. Although dinner was great, we basically have no treats in the house, so it was a no dessert night for me – blah!

This morning, I got up early in order to get a jump start on the day – although I did NOT start with a run. I ran Sunday-Thursday this week so I decided to give myself a break yesterday and this morning – I did a ton of walking though! I also decided to treat myself to a decadent breakfast considering I missed out on dessert last night…

Doesn’t that look awesome! I threw together some slow-cook oats and added all-natural peanut butter and Ghirardelli dark chocolate chips. It was my own breakfast triad and it was a completely gooey and yummy mess! It was surprisingly healthy too, considering oatmeal, peanut butter, and dark chocolate are all good for you I’ve had a very busy day, so now I’m off to bed.

Catch ya all later!

Last night, I met Scott, Miss M, and Mr. C at Panera for dinner before heading to my 6 PM Aveda pedicure and 7:15 PM hair appointment. I love Panera’s potato soup! But I digress…back to the pedicure.

The pedicure was awesome! I sat in the vibrating chair with my feet in the soothing water and just melted. Lena worked on my nails for nearly an hour – which I think is fantastic considering many of those fly-by-night places only give you 30 minutes for a pedicure. After my pedi, I headed out to the front counter to pay and saw that it was snowing outside. Let me add that when I went into the salon, it was not snowing and the sky was pretty clear. Well, I did not have any sandals and was not about to put on my socks and shoes with semi-dry nails. So I had to walk to my car in the those flimsy flip-floppy pedicure things – so cold! I then drove with cold, wet feet all the way to the hair salon in a blizzard – actually a complete white-out. I just kept saying to myself follow the car in front of you, following the car in front of you. I then proceeded to walk from my car to the salon in about 2 inches of snow, pretty much barefoot. Oh the things women do to be pretty!!

A Blueberry Morning

Luckily, this morning was a little better. The snow has since stopped but not after leaving us 4 inches of powder on our driveway. I’m so sick of the cold and snow. I’m so glad I’m headed to Florida soon!

After my awesome 4.5 mile run on the t-mill, followed by stretching and an ab workout, I tried another new yogurt – Dannon’s nonfat Greek blueberry yogurt …

This yogurt was definitely an improvement over the vanilla Oikos I had a few days ago. It was so thick and creamy and had a fantastic blueberry taste. I will definitely get this again! Even Miss M liked it – especially because it was purple

OK, have to actually get some work done today. Have a wonderful morning!

It’s not that I’m unpatriotic. It’s just that I do not really watch television and, quite honestly, I’m not really into the Olympics. However, I am intrigued by Apolo Ohno – how does he skate so fast? – as well as Shaun White – I’m actually disappointed I missed his gold medal jump/performance. I know I should be watching them, if not for the athletes, but for the amazing coverage of Vancouver. I’m headed there in November for a meeting and can’t wait!

Is there anyone else out there who does not really watch the Olympics?

Anyway, we’ve had a very busy day and night – between work, going to yet another Kindergarten round-up, and then cleaning the house. Dinner needed to be simple for me just for the sake of time…

An easy peasey salami and cheese sandwich on Brownberry Whole Grain bread, with a side of low-fat Cape Cod chips and some of these crunchies..

Yellow bell peppers – so sweet and good, even when they are eaten plain.

Now I must go clean on my bed so that I can actually get a good night’s sleep tonight. See you all tomorrow.