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Yoga – No Excuses

December 28, 2009 by

Hey There! 

I don’t know what the problem is  – yesterday and today, running has been so HARD! I could barely make it through 4 miles on the treadmill. Spring weather can NOT come soon enough!

After my mediocre run, I replenished with some Kashi Go Lean Crunch…

12.28 Kashi Go Lean Crunch

Then, it was off to my first day of work after 10 days of being off. The day was actually really good. Half the office was still on vacation so it was nice and quiet. I ended up getting a ton of things done. I hope that it’s the same way tomorrow. Plus, when I walked to my desk this morning, there was a cute little Christmas card and a Christmas tree magnet on my desk from a coworker – how sweet!

12.28 Christmas Tree Magnet

About 11 AM, I started getting a snack attack but just wasn’t ready for lunch. Instead, I grabbed a peppermint chocolate Luna bar….

12.28 Luna bar

It tasted sooo good going down, but I think I ate it way too fast because I had stomach cramps for the rest of the day, ugh!

Lunch ended up being leftovers from the other night – a little spinach risotto and mesquite chicken…

12.28 Spinach Risotto

Luckily, my stomach eased up enough to let me eat this, but then it was back to cramping again. Later in the afternoon, I found out some GREAT news! A few months ago, I mentioned on one of my posts that my office was going to offer onsite yoga once a week. Well, our office yoga starts next week – woo hoo!!! I am so excited! My colleague who is arranging the yoga class brought the instructor by my desk to introduce me. How cool is it that I can now practice yoga at least once a week and not even have to leave my office? Now I have no excuse not to practice. Hmm…I think I might have to buy a new yoga mat to celebrate!

Any recommendations on a good yoga mat????

A great thing about the yoga class, aside from it being onsite, is that my company is paying for the majority of the class. Perfect – nearly free yoga! I was so thrilled that my stomach felt a little better. I decided to splurge and have some this….

12.28 Enstrom toffee

Mmmm, melt in your mouth, Enstrom English toffee! This is my absolute favorite toffee and I only have it once a year around the Christmas holiday (good thing too, or else I’d be huge!). If you have never tried this toffee, I highly recommend it. But a word of caution, it is very hard to STOP eating it. I took two small pieces from a gift box that was delivered to our office. But, while walking to the staff lounge, I accidentally dropped one piece on the ground. I contemplated picking it up and eating it anyway (yes, that’s how good it is!), but decided to just throw it away and – what else? – get another piece to replace it!

My commute home was a breeze and I was happy to see that dinner was nearly ready when I arrived. It was a basil chicken stir fry kind of a night…

12.28 chicken stirfry 1

Hmm..so good, and not too spicy, which was good for my tummy…

12.28 chicken stir fry 3

Scott’s parents are taking us and Scott’s brother and sister-in-law out for an early New Year’s dinner tomorrow night. Can’t wait!

Have a great night everyone and see you tomorrow.

Filed Under: Yoga Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Savoring my last day of vacation…

December 27, 2009 by

Hey all!

I can’t believe how fast the last 10 days have gone by! In less than two weeks, I was able to give the house a major cleaning, spend some quality time with my sister and her family, and celebrate Christmas. Plus, I managed to accomplish ALL of my goals for the vacation…

  • Wrap 40+ Christmas gifts
  • Sort through my clothes and household items to find items to giveaway
  • Donate items to Goodwill
  • Get to a yoga class
  • Study for personal trainer certification (although I need to study a TON more)

Not too shabby!

So, my last day of “freedom” started out like this….a fast but very challenging 5-mile run on the treadmill. It’s amazing that I can do 6 or 7 miles outside with no problem, yet 4 or 5 on the treadmill is really difficult. After the run, I enjoyed a big, steaming bowl of oats…

12.27 oatmeal

Plus, I had a cup or two of Harney and Sons English Breakfast tea – loose leaf style!

12.27 Harney and Sons English Breakfast

I go back and forth between Harney and Sons English Breakfast and Tazo Awake tea. I just happened to be down to my last Awake tea bag and thought I should save it for my first day back to work – always thinking ahead!

The rest of the day was spent cleaning and studying, including a nearly 3-hour study trip at Barnes and Noble, just for the change in scenery. While I was gone, Scott spent the afternoon making his homemade pasta sauce, which we also enjoyed for dinner…

12.27 Pasta sauce

I admit, I ate way too much of this pasta/sauce combo tonight, plus the AWESOME three-cheese garlic bread. Not to mention…fresh turkey meatballs..

12.27 Turkey meatball

Now, I’m finishing off the night with a little blog reading and cookie eating…

12.27 walnut cookie

Enough from me, gotta run so I can get some decent sleep before work tomorrow!

See you then!

Filed Under: Dinner Tagged With: , , , ,

Christmas Goodies

December 26, 2009 by

Happy Day After Christmas Everyone!

From the looks of your posts (or lack of them 😉 ) I gather that all of you were doing quite a bit of merry making and rightly so. I, of course, did quite a bit of celebrating myself. Instead of giving you every detail about the last three days, I’ll just give you the highlights starting with Christmas.

I can hardly believe it, but it ended up being 45 degrees and sunny on Christmas morning in Chicago!! I was absolutely thrilled to be able to run outside on Christmas. It felt awesome to breathe in the cool, crisp air, and see the glistening snow in the trees. After my run, I enjoyed a fantastic breakfast – a 3-egg omelette (1 egg and 2 egg whites) courtesy of my egg-loving husband…

12.25 Christmas omelette 2

He put all sorts of goodies in it too, like broccoli, red peppers, mushrooms, spinach, and cheddar cheese – I’m such a lucky girl!

12.25 Christmas omelette

Then it was PRESENT time!! Most of the gifts I gave to Scott came from JCrew, that’s what he likes, so that’s what he gets. In turn, most of MY gifts came from Anthropologie. I LOVE Anthropologie but rarely buy anything there because their items are so expensive. I think that’s why Scott shops there for my birthday and Christmas because he knows that I won’t spend the money on myself.

For starters, I received some cool European-esque dish towels…

12.25 Anthropologie towels

I feel like we go through a ton of dish towels each week so these were a very welcome gift. Next up were some cute little bejeweled hair clips…

12.25 Anthropologie hair pins

He knows me so well and knew that I would fall in love with these little darlings. He also gave me a very trendy cupcake book…

12.25 Anthropologie cupcake book2

Surprisingly, there was no red velvet cupcake recipe to speak of. I find that very odd – how can you do a gourmet cupcake cookbook and NOT include a red velvet cupcake? It is still a very sweet book though! I can’t wait to make some of these cupcakes, especially because I can put them on my brand new Anthropologie plates…

12.25 Anthropologie plate 1

12.25 Anthropologie plate 2

Oh my, was I ever having fun opening these presents! And, last but not least, came my favorite gift of all…

12.25 Anthropologie teacup 1

A new tea cup! Scott knows that I’ve been wanting a new tea cup for work and for home. I kept saying how I needed to find just the right cup, not too big, not too small, and just the right design. I definitely won the lottery with this little cutie!

12.25 Anthropologie teacup 3 The detail around the cup is fantastic – especially the cute little flower by the handle as well as the inside design…

12.25 Anthropologie teacup 2

Ok, how lucky am I to have a guy who can go into Anthropologie and buy frilly things for his wife!

I also received a very pretty top from Anthropologie although it’s too big 🙁 

After presents we hustled over to my in-laws for the rest of the day. We were having so much fun opening presents and eating that I really didn’t take many pictures. But, let’s just say I ate my fair share of dip, cheese, and cookies. I am SO feeling that today too!

Moving on to today….Saturday is normally my day to take off from running. But instead, Scott and I headed to the sledding hill for a little outdoor fun. Unfortunately, I became cold really fast (only went down the hill twice) and had to take a rain check.

I warmed up with some hot Tazo Awake tea and a few little walnut cookies…

12.26 Walnut cookie and Awake Tea

These walnut cookies, courtesy of my Father-in-law, are so yummy! They taste a LOT like mini coffee cakes, so it’s no wonder why I love them!

12.26 Walnut cookie

Lunch was warmed-up turkey chili from the freezer – perfect for a very snowy and cold day…

12.26 Turkey Chili

Then it was time for a much-needed nap. I am usually not the napping sort of gal, but I do love a good nap when I’m on vacation.

Dinner was my own creation tonight – mesquite grilled chicken with spinach risotto and sweet carrots…

12.26 Spinach Risotto 2

The risotto was especially good, although Scott thought it had a little too much spinach it it.

12.26 Spinach Risotto

Now, were eating a little popcorn and watching Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince – another Christmas present.

Ok friends, that’s all for now. I want to want the rest of my movie then it’s off to bed! Have a great night everyone!

Filed Under: Leisure Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Merry Christmas From Running With Cake!

December 24, 2009 by

Just wanted to let you all know that I’m thinking about you and hoping you are all having a wonderful Christmas. And, for all of my Jewish foodie friends, Happy Hanukkah (belated)!

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!

Filed Under: Leisure, Uncategorized Tagged With:

Not Your Hello Kitty Yoga

December 23, 2009 by

Happy Christmas Eve²!

I can’t believe Christmas is nearly here – time sure flies when you’re busy. Although Wednesday is usually my day off for running, I decided to do a fast 30 minutes on the treadmill (Yes, my name is Jennifer and I’m a running addict) knowing that I may not run on Friday. About an hour after running, I headed to the gym for a much-needed 60-minute yoga session.

12.23 hello kitty yoga

Don’t let this picture fool you. There was nothing cute and cuddly about this yoga class. I have to admit, this class kicked my A-S today! Of course, I haven’t been to yoga since October, so the a-kickin’ was to be expected. Every pose seemed harder than the next. I had to really concentrate the whole time, when I can usually relax and just go with the flow. The only person that seemed to be having as much trouble was the 60-year old guy next to me – not a good sign on my part. I really think I overdid it between running and then yoga (and barely eating breakfast). I actually felt sick during shavasana but tried to lay there calmly to let the nausea pass. 

Anyway, I did get to show off my new yoga shirt from Lucy…

12.23 Lucy bag

Each year about this time, Lucy comes out with its limited edition Breathe t-shirts. I don’t know why I haven’t seen these shirts until this year, but as soon as I saw them I just had to buy one…

12.23 Lucy breathe shirt 1

Merry Christmas to me! How perfect is this for yoga, running, or really any sport! In addition to having “breathe” written on the front, the shirt sleeves also were creatively detailed. Too bad the shirts only come in white and black, otherwise I think I would have bought more (maybe that’s a blessing to my bank account!).

12.23 Lucy breathe shirt 4

After yoga, I spent the rest of the day wrapping gifts – save for an hour or two getting my hair cut (finally, time to relax!). I think I counted 35 gifts that I wrapped just today! I wrapped about 10 over the weekend, and that doesn’t even count the gifts that I already gave to my family members in Michigan over Thanksgiving. I really think we went way overboard on Christmas this year. Did anyone else overdo it on presents this year?

Gotta run to prepare for all of the festive fun for tomorrow. Have a wonderful night! 


Filed Under: Yoga Tagged With: , , , ,

Can't eat just one…

December 22, 2009 by

Evening everyone! I had a fabulous lunch with Anne today! It is amazing how fast an hour and a half can fly by when you’re catching up with an old friend. For lunch, we met at Big Bowl, an Asian bistro about 1/2 way between our houses.

12.22 Orange chicken stir fry

I had a house specialty – the crispy orange chicken. I really wanted to love this dish, but unfortunately the chicken was rather chewy – the citrus sauce was really good though.

The rest of the day was spent running holiday errands, including making TWO trips to Goodwill (yes, that is how much stuff I gave away!), a stop at the post office, and then to a few shops at the nearby mall. 

I tried to study but my brain was just not comprehending anything today. I also was distracted by these little green and red devils….

12.22 peanut mms2

I really don’t know why we keep these in the house. They are Scott’s and my biggest weakness when it comes to sweets. OK, could I pick a higher calorie food to be addicted to???? And, you CAN’T eat just ONE! Who would ever eat just ONE M&M anyway – hmm…maybe a stick skinny model from Brazil.

12.22 peanut mms1

When I don’t have them in the house, I don’t think about them. Out of site, out of mind, I guess. But when they are here, they are very hard to pass up. I did fairly well the whole day, but tanked this evening after dinner when I proceeded to have a few handfuls. We all have our vices, don’t we? So, my question to you is, what’s your food vice? Candy, cookies, pizza? What can’t you resist if it’s in the house? I seem to recall that a certain someone loves Oreo cookies, but I’m not naming any names 😉

In addition to no studying, there was also no wrapping in the house today. Ugh…that means all of my wrapping must be done tomorrow!

Ok, I’m off to get some rest before my wrapping marathon. Plus, I’m going to try to get to yoga tomorrow – woo hoo! Trying to stick with Jenna’s challenge!

Night all 😉

Filed Under: Lunch

Oatmeal Inspiration

December 22, 2009 by

Good morning!

Hope your day is off to a good start. I started my day with a fast 4-miler on the treadmill. I opted NOT to run outside today because of all the new fallen snow. Plus, after two 40-minute outdoor runs in a row, my hips are actually starting to hurt.

For breakfast, I was inspired by Kath’s oatmeal and decided to make a bowl of my own…

12.22 oatmeal with walnuts 1

I used about 1/4 cup whole oats combined with about a 1/2 cup of skim milk, then topped it all with bunch of walnuts and a little brown suga-baby – hmm..hmm…good!

12.22 oatmeal with walnuts 2

I ate it while looking out my back windows and enjoying the beautiful winter scene…

12.22 snowy backyard1

So what’s on my agenda for today?

  • Trip to Goodwill to drop off my donations
  • Mucho Christmas wrapping
  • A little more shopping (can I be done already!)
  • A LOT of studying

But, before all of that – I’m meeting my friend Anne for lunch at Big Bowl – it’s going to be a stir-fry kind of a day, whoopie!

Have a good one!

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The Cheese Cupid

December 21, 2009 by

Hello All! 

I’ve been meaning to tell all of you about this great new Web site for wine and cheese pairings! The Cheese Cupid is a Web site developed by the Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board that helps you pair your favorite wine/beer/liquor with the best cheeses for that wine or vice versa. It’s super easy to use and it gives you photos and descriptions of the cheeses and wines. And better yet, it even has a free iphone application – perfect for when you’re running around buying last-minute party items.

A few weeks ago, the Cheese Cupid actually sent me some cheeses to try….

Wisconsin cheese

They sent a block of cheddar, edam, gruyere, and gorgonzola for me to sample. I ended up trying the edam and cheddar at a dinner party I had over the weekend. The cheddar tasted – well, like cheddar. It was good, but nothing too special.

12.21 cheese tray

However, the edam was fantastic! I have never had edam before and had never even heard of this type of cheese. It was a mix between Swiss and cheddar and was so mild yet flavorful. So yum, I wish I had more! I did attempt to use the Cheese Cupid site to pair my cheese with a recommended wine. But, it turns out, I never ended up drinking wine that night!

Ok, enough cheesey talk 😉 I had another fabulous but chilly run outside this morning! I wonder if I’m getting addicted to winter running?? 

Today, Scott and I finally bought our Christmas cards. We are just now beginning to write them out to about 50 people/families. I highly doubt any of these will get delivered before Christmas, but better late than never!

Tomorrow, I’m headed to lunch with Anne, a long-time friend and former colleague. We’re headed to Big Bowl – yummy Asian stir-fry.

Gotta run. See you all tomorrow!

Filed Under: Dinner Tagged With: , , ,

Tea and Goodwill

December 20, 2009 by

Hello All! 

I had such a fantastic Sunday! I am actually sitting here sipping on some tea, thinking about how wonderful the day – and whole weekend was.

12.20 Celestial Seasonings Peppermint Tea2

I’m drinking Celestial Seasonings Peppermint tea tonight. I’m still trying to follow Jenna’s challenge’s of drinking tea in place of coffee (haven’t been to Starbucks since Wednesday!!). So, after yesterday’s afternoon tea, I’ve been craving more peppermint tea. We usually have peppermint tea in our HUGE stash of tea but I just couldn’t find a quality peppermint tea in the mix, until I saw this….

12.20 Celestial Seasonings Sampler

We don’t usually buy Celestial Seasonings tea. I’m more of a Harney and Sons or Tazo kind of a girl. But Scott must have slipped this in when I wasn’t looking 😉 It’s not that I don’t like Celestial Seasons. I think it all comes down to the fact that their tea sachets do not have strings. There’s something a little uncouth about having to dip into your tea with your spoon or fingers to retrieve your tea bag. Anyway, this peppermint tea ended up being just the thing I needed to settle me down for the evening. Plus, it helps that I’m also having a little bedtime treat…

12.20 Raspberry swirl cake

More raspberry swirl cake! Hmmm…so goood! And, a perfect combination with the tea.

12.20 Celestial Seasonings Peppermint

So, back to my Sunday….

Believe it or not, in spite of the cold temps (32 degrees) I went out for a 40-minute run this morning and it was GREAT! Yes, it was cold, but I bundled up from head to toe and, for the most part, felt toasty the whole time. The biggest issue wasn’t the cold either, it was watching for black ice which means danger for runners in the winter. It was gorgeous outside too – very picturesque with all of the snow on the trees and houses. 

After my run, my sister and I hung out for a bit before she, my brother-in-law, and little nephew had to get on the road to head back to Michigan. Then I mailed Shauna’h’s giveaway followed by tackling a bunch of house projects (aka goals for my Christmas vacation). This included going through all of my clothes to find those to donate and then sorting through all of my items for Goodwill.

12.20 Goodwill clothes

As you can see, I had a trunkload of clothes to donate to Goodwill, plus a bunch of household items. When you donate items to Goodwill, or anywhere else, and intend for them to be a tax write off, you’re supposed to document each thing that you donate and what condition it’s in. Imagine doing that for SEVEN full bags of clothes! I hope to drop them off at GW tomorrow. It will be so nice to have all of those things out of the house. The less clutter the better, if ya know what I mean…

Can you believe it? I am only 3 days into my 10-day Christmas vacation and I’ve already crossed two of the five Christmas vacation goals off of my list! I love it when I’m productive on vacation! Now, I just have to:

  1. Wrap all of my Christmas gifts
  2. Get to a yoga session this week
  3. Study for my personal training certification test
  4. Sort through clothes to give away
  5. Sort through and document all Goodwill items

That’s enough for tonight – see you all tomorrow!

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Nutcracker Tea

December 19, 2009 by

Hi Everyone! I had such a wonderful and festive Saturday! A big part of my day was spending time shopping, chatting, and eating with my sister, Carrie, who drove in from Michigan for a visit. Today, we headed to a tea shop for a little afternoon tea – Nutcracker style!

12.19 Nutcracker ornament

That’s right – the tea sitting was themed after the Nutcracker and each place setting had a little nutcracker ornament for everyone to take home. It was a very nice touch. This is an annual tea that the restaurant serves around the holidays. You typically have to make reservations weeks in advance – which I did – in order to get a spot. Today, the place was packed with groups of women – young and old – many of whom were wearing fancy hats. Sadly, I was not wearing a hat, although I plan to come better prepared next year.

Our indulgences started with individual pots of tea – mine being Republic of Tea’s Lemon Wintergreen Tea. Hmm…sooo good – this may just be my new favorite winter tea!

12.19 teapot

The tea was super flavorful and the peppermint was such a nice, fresh taste to pair with the foodie items. One problem though…even though I poured with quite a steady hand, I still managed to get tea leaves in my cup…

12.19 Lemon Wintergreen tea

No matter though- it was all good. That’s the beauty of being with your sister, you can ask her to look in your teeth to see if there are any stray tea leaves 😉

12.19 Jen Tea 2 Say Tea!

Our full tea service also included a three-tiered tray full of sweet bread, scones, cookies, finger sandwiches, and chocolate-covered delights…

12.19 Tiered tea tray

Absolutely De-Lish! And so pretty for picture taking, don’t you think? On the very top tier laid two very large gingerbread cookies. I’m not a huge gingerbread fan, although even if I was, these cookies were just too cute to eat…12.19 Gingerbread cookies

The desserts included a chocolate-covered strawberry, chocolate-covered lady fingers, and bite-size brownies. By the time we got to the dessert, we could only eat the strawberries and lady fingers – oh-please, twist my arm would you! The brownies were just too much for us so we ended up taking them home for “the guys”.

12.19 tea desserr

After our very filling tea, we walked around a few of the neighboring shops. It was an absolutely perfect snowy winter scene, with the soft, fluffy snow covering the old houses-turned shops and the covered bridges. Gorgeous! But we quickly learned that we are both marshmallows when it comes to the cold so we headed back to the car.

By the way, we never ended up wrapping gifts last night, so we’re about to jump into that right now!

Have a great night!

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