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San Diego: One Cupcake At A Time

November 4, 2009 by

Hey All! I’m going to make this short and sweet (how appropriate for my post below), so on your mark, get set, GO!

I think I am slowly eating my way through every flavor of cupcake in San Diego. Well, it’s really not that bad, but I have officially caught the bug – not H1N1 or avian flu, but the cupcake bug. Today will mark my 3rd cupcake in 4 days from ….

11.3 cupcake sign

Heavenly Cupcake in San Diego. What started out as a novelty has become a challenge – a challenge to try all of my favorite flavors before I leave on Thursday morning. I guess you could say I’m making my way through San Diego, one cupcake at a time! So far, I’ve tried the red velvet, the chocolate peanut butter, vanilla (a taste), pumpkin (a taste), and now today…

11.3 cupcake

Tonight I had a strawberry cupcake with strawberry frosting. And on the cupcake menu for tomorrow is Lemon! They only offer lemon cupcakes on Wednesday, so I hope I get there in time to try one.

OK, that’s short and sweet enough – even for cupcakes! I have an early morning run planned along the bay then it’s back to work for me. Tomorrow is my last day here – woo hoo! But, I will miss the absolutely gorgeous weather we’ve been having here – boo hoo!

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Top 5 Reasons Healthy Eatings Habits Fail While Traveling

November 3, 2009 by

When I’m traveling, in most instances, I will choose healthy over nonhealthy foods. However, during our big meeting ever year, I find this extremely challenging. Everywhere – and I do me everywhere – I go there is food. Not just a little food, but a LOT of food. And, unfortunately, much of this food is the unhealthy version that on any given day would remain right where it was and never reach my lips.

In regard to healthy food choices, today was not a good day for me. Although I started with a great 3-mile run (I could have run way more but I didn’t have time), I proceeded to eat probably twice the amount of food I would normally eat on a regular day. OK, maybe not twice the amount, but quite a bit more food than I’m used to, especially in the “junk” food category. Take a look at what I had:

  • Breakfast: 2/3 of an egg white omelette with ham, veggies, and cheese; one slice of bacon, a muffin top, and fresh fruit
  • Snack: a small bag of potato chips and a chocolate chip cookie
  • Lunch: a small salad with lettuce/veggies and a scoop of chicken salad; 2 slices of salami; 1 piece of chocolate cake (as if the cookie wasn’t enough)
  • Snack: a small bag of potato chips and a chocolate chip cookie
  • Dinner: 2/3 Mediterranean salad with chicken; 1 potato skin; a few fries
  • Dessert: Fried pound cake (I’m not kidding – it really was fried!) topped with caramel sauce, butterfinger candy, and whipped cream

11.2 dinner2

I know, I know, I can hardly believe it either. How in the world can I eat this much junk food in one day? Well, that is a very good question. And the more I thought about it, the more I realized that there really are definite triggers for making me eat this way…

  1. Convenience – when I’m crazy busy at work and especially during the annual meeting, I sometimes grab whatever is closest, whether it’s chips, candy, or cookies.
  2. Variety – When I’m at home, I eat, for the most part, many of the same foods each week. My food is sort of reliable that way. But at our annual meeting there is such a wide variety of food to choose from that, unconsciously feel like I have to sample everything.
  3. Abundance – Again, the annual meeting is never at a loss for food. There is always food and plenty of it. And, when you’re faced with food around every turn, it’s hard to always say no.
  4. Stress – When I’m tired or stressed – and I am currently both – I find that I have poorer judgement when it comes to food choices.
  5. Reward – So, after working through the stress and the craziness all day, my subconscious tells me that I need to treat myself. But seriously subconscious – did you really need to have 3 desserts today?

So as you can see, despite all of my efforts to maintain a healthy lifestyle, I am very human, just like everyone else. No matter how hard we try to live out our ideas – be it healthy living or anything else – our plans and ideals are not foolproof. But the key is to recognize that we’ve strayed from our plan and try to get back on the path to being healthy. Sounds perfect – But I may need to postpone that thought until after the annual meeting 😉

Night everyone!

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The Traveling Runner

November 2, 2009 by

One of the best things about traveling is the great opportunity I have to run in fun and exciting places. I have been fortunate enough to run along a tiki-torch lit path in Maui; in balmy weather in Mexico; in and around Kensington Park and Palace in London; and along a Mediterranean beach front on the coast of Spain.

And this week, my job has been kind enough to indirectly support my travel and running habits because today, I ran along a fantastic pathway along the Pacific ocean. My 4-mile journal took me along cobblestones, gravel, and pavement, but all among the fresh, clean, and salty sea air. Not only did I have an amazing view of the water, but everything that comes with water, including sailboats, naval ships, and pelicans! Being away from home due to business is definitely hard. You’re not sleeping in your own bed, you live out of a suitcase, and you have to deal with airport hassles. Yet somehow, running in the cool, crisp air along the Bay in San Diego –  hearing the waves hit against the rocks, makes being away from home that much easier.

And, on my way back from my glorious run, there just so happened to be a Starbucks across from my hotel. Perfect timing and a perfect convenience…

11.1 breakfast

If you can’t tell, I tried to take a photo that incorporated my lovely latte with the perky palm trees below. However, this was not the extent of my breakfast. Raisin Bran Crunch awaited me in the staff lounge, taunting me a little because I arrived too late for the hot breakfast.

After setting up my meeting room and doing “work” things, it was time to head back to the staff lounge for a bit of lunch…

11.1 lunch1

I started with my version of a cosmopolitan salad, which was a mix of green leaf lettuce, squash, roasted veggies, tomatoes, cheddar cheese, and bacon. It felt sooo good to eat a salad today, especially one with tons of goodies. My salad was quickly following by a cup of bake potato soup with a few fixins’…

11.1 lunch2

Hmmm… good, incredibly tasty and filling. 

There was no “dinner” per se tonight, only a series of buffet lines and pasta stations at an evening reception. I ended up having a little pasta with side of huge green olives and aged cheddar cheese. The food was actually really good – too bad I had to eat standing up – a situation I hate nearly as much as I hate eating in the car. But, when you’re tired, hungry, and are threatened with a group karaoke song, you just have to eat and then get the hell out of there!

On the way back from the reception, I stopped in our staff lounge and found that there were still 3 cupcakes left from yesterday! How fantastic because I just so happened to be craving a cupcake – a chocolate peanut butter cupcake to be exact….

11.1 dessert

This was definitely NOT as good as it would have been last night when I actually bought it, but it was still a melt-in-your-mouth, peanut buttery cupcake.

Now I must leave you for the evening before I fall asleep. 

Night all!

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Cupcake Heaven

November 1, 2009 by

Hola Todos and Happy Halloween! California is still sunny and beautiful, and I still have 4 days left here!

I started my Halloween with a super fast 4-mile run on the treadmill. I woke up around 6:30, jumped out of bed and was in the hotel fitness center by 7 AM. About 5 minutes into the run, as I was staring out the window at the ocean, I thought, why the hell am I running inside? Duh – I don’t know what I was thinking.

Due to a few work issues that came up, I had a late breakfast, which ended up being a very small bowl of blueberry yogurt with chopped walnuts…

10.31 breakfast

I spent the morning working on a few projects that I should have finished last week, but just didn’t have time. Through all of the work and chaos today, I did actually find time to eat lunch. However, because I was so hungry, I completely forgot to take a picture of what I ate. It would have also helped if I would have brought my camera to the restaurant. Anyway, I had a huge turkey and brie sandwich – the sandwich was serious 6 inches high!! I only ended up eating 1/2 the sandwich, but I polished off the fries in record time.

Later in the afternoon, as things were winding down for today’s activities, a colleague and I walked to a nearby pastry shop that specializes in cupcakes. Heavenly Cupcake is located in the Gaslamp District of San Diego. They sell AMAZING cupcakes. They have different flavors of cupcakes each day, such as pumpkin, carrot, vanilla caramel, and lemon coconut. I had one of the best cupcakes I’ve every eaten…

10.31 Heavenly Cupcake2

A red velvet beauty with cream cheese frosting. Oh my, absolutely sweet and sinful! Obviously, this is not the actual cupcake I ate (photo from Heavenly Cupcake web site) but you get the idea of how gourmet these babies are. We were so excited at our new found dessert heaven that we purchased a dozen cupcakes to put in our staff lounge at our meeting. I highly recommend this boutique dessert store (although the staff were NOT very friendly) although you may need to save your pennies to eat here.

Tonight, I attended a special VIP dinner. I did not pick the menu personally, so therefore there were very few things that I ate at the dinner. However, I did start off with a very nice salad…

10.31 dinner

It included what looked like bibb lettuce, grape tomatoes, and hearts of palm – all topped with lime dressing. Very good, although I wish my salad had been bigger. When the entree came out, I was give the beef with a side of sweet potatoes and asparagus. Hmm, who needs beef when you can eat pureed sweet potatoes?

Having a lighter-than-normal dinner made it easier to say yes to the super awesome dessert that was served at the dinner…

10.31 dessert

This dessert was cross between chocolate mousse and a white chocolate torte. So yummy indeed, but I only ate about 1/3 of it because of the cupcake I had earlier today.

Once again, I am falling asleep as I’m typing away. I must go recharge my battery with a good night’s sleep.

Happy Daylight Savings Time!

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Pinkberry on the Pacific

October 31, 2009 by

Hey there! 

I’m writing to you from sunny San Diego – well actually, it’s dark now, but it was definitely sunny earlier! I arrived in San Diego about 11 AM local time. But before I get into that, let’s start from the day’s beginning…

Very early this morning I had a dream that I woke up late and the car service guy was knocking at my door to pick me up – yikes! I woke up in a sweat and realized that it was only 5:00 AM, about an hour before I really intended to get up. Well after that dream, I couldn’t really sleep so I got out of bed to get ready and finalize my packing.

I arrived at the airport sans drama and had a pretty calm 3 1/2 hour flight. During the ride, I snacked on one of my all-time favorite airport snacks/breakfast…

10.30 breakfast

You can’t go wrong with vanilla yogurt with fresh fruit and granola, although I still prefer Greek yogurt.

When I arrived in San Diego it was about 70 degrees and amazingly bright here immediately when we landed – how perfect – did they order this weather just for me, or do they do this for everyone? 😉 I would take this weather any day over the cold/rainy weather I left in Chi-town.

After checking into our very fancy hotel, my colleagues and I lunched at Harbor House, a seafood restaurant located in a cute little shopping district on the water.

10.30 lunch

The yogurt was filling but man was I starving by the time I ate lunch. I ate about 3/4 of my chicken salad wrap and most of the french fries as well (I know I’ve been so bad lately with the fries 🙁 )

After lunch, my colleagues and I had to tend to a few work-related duties, then we took a walk to a very close-by Pinkberry yogurt!! When we work our annual event, we rarely have time to do anything else but work, eat, and sleep. So today was a special treat to be able to walk around the city a little. And of course, Pinkberry was top on my list to try in my limited free time. Yes – this was my first ever Pinkberry yogurt EVER…

10.30 pinkberry

How cute is that! I had the small original flavor topped with chocolate chips, mixed nuts, and strawberries. It was amazing! I think I may have to venture there late in the week to get another fix before I return to Chicago.

When I arrived at my room a small package had been delivered to me…

10.30 goodie bag

It was the “welcome bag” that my training team and I made last week. It has all sorts of goodies in it like gum, a lint brush, a plastic hand clapper, and hand sanitizer. What a nice touch!

In the evening, all staff were asked to attend a special wine/cheese reception with some of our members. It was actually quite fun because I was able to see many of our VIP members who I adore and hadn’t seen since last year. 

After some polite chit chat, my brother and his wife Liz picked me up at the hotel to take me to dinner in Del Mar. We ate at a charming bistro called Sbicca, which was again, on the water (or close enough to it!). Unless you’re really far inland, it seems that everything in San Diego is “on the water”.

At Sbicca’s, I started with a mixed green salad with tomatoes, feta cheese, and lemon pepper dressing.

10.30 dinner1

Quite good, but then again, what salad isn’t good with feta?

For dinner, my sister-in-law and I split the garlic chicken with mashed potatoes and feta cheese…

10.30 dinner3

This dish was fantastic! It has a ton of flavor and the presentation was equally as good. Thankfully I split this dish because I know I could not have eaten all of it.

Plus, I wanted to save room for dessert….

10.30 dinner5

Pecan bread pudding in a caramel sauce topped with caramel gelato. Oh my, this was way too good to be true! Luckily, this was another split dish because, as you know, 1/2 the food = 1/2 the calories. Besides, i was too full to eat a full dessert by myself.

Ok, I’m starting to fall asleep. It’s now 11 PM Pacific, but really 1 AM my time, which is way too late for this chica to be up and blogging. 

But, before I go, I will leave you with a view from my hotel room…10.30 Harbor view

Ahh, I love where i work!

Have a great night!

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The "Glass Slipper" of Running Shoes

October 29, 2009 by

Hello Everyone!

I have to make this quick because the car service is picking me up for the airport at 6:45 AM tomorrow and it’s already 11 PM!

My day started like this…

10.29 shoes2

I had Happy Feet in my new 2010 Nike Air Pegasus running shoes! I have been wearing the Air Pegasus for about 10 years and absolutely love the way they feel. When I put these on for the first time a decade ago, it felt like Cinderella finally fitting into her glass slipper – a perfect fit – without the horse-drawn pumpkin.

Avid runners know how important finding the “right” running shoe is for their performance. Runners can also tell a good shoe from a bad shoe within seconds, many times without even trying the shoe one. And, when runners finally find their “glass slipper” of the running shoe – the perfect match in their running life – they rarely stray from that style of shoe, or at least the brand. I just pray Nike never puts my glass slipper out of commission!  

10.29 shoes1

So, with my new shoes on, I went out to run 4 miles in 55 degree weather – again, perfection! It was just beautiful outside this morning. At one point, I ran under a huge maple tree, with all of it’s leaves still on it, and a big gust of wind blew a shower of fresh leaves on top me. I love the Fall!

The rest of my day went like this:

  • Breakfast
  • Packing
  • Macy’s to return an item
  • Lunch with Scott
  • Hair appointment
  • Dentist appointment
  • Trip to the bank
  • Starbuck’s run
  • More packing
  • Dinner
  • More packing
  • Work/blogging

I literally had no time to rest today, except for when I was getting my hair done. However, I am very happy to report that I am all mostly packed and ready to go. But I still have a few more emails to answer before I go to bed.

Have a great night everyone and I’ll chat with you all tomorrow from my hotel room in San Diego!

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A Salad Duet

October 28, 2009 by

So this morning started off very early, or what seemed to be really early. I didn’t end up going to bed until nearly midnight and then my alarm went off at 6 AM. I really wanted to just stay in bed but I knew I’d better run today because I did not run yesterday. 

It has not been getting light until 7 AM here in Chicago – yikes! That is way too late for me to start running during the work week. So I was on the treadmill again today. I’d better get used to it because winter weather will be here before I know it. However, with the time change this weekend, it will get light by 6 AM instead – bonus!

I literally had my breakfast in-hand this morning as I walked out the door…

10.28 breakfast

There’s nothing wrong with a little all-natural creamy peanut butter on Brownberry’s double fiber bread. Gotta love that it’s a very nonmessy and portable breakfast.

I was heads down at work from about 9 AM to 1 PM. I’m so glad I brought my lunch because I had no time to run out…10.28 lunch

Leftover taco salad saved the day! The protein in the meat and cheese was a huge help after a full morning of work. It kept me energized all the way to dinner too. 

Dinner ended up being a close replay of last night (and today’s lunch actually) – a salad duet if you will. Scott baked parmesan crusted chicken tonight, but I chose to have mine in a salad rather than eating it with potatoes and steamed carrots…

10.28 dinner

I’ve just been in the salad mood lately. This is the third one I’ve had in two days! Salads are so easy and healthy to make, especially when you have a salad spinner. I just chop all the lettuce up at once, rinse it off really well, spin it, and leave it in the fridge for a week. I take the lettuce out whenever I’m in the mood for a quick salad, or we use it for other things like tacos. Again – so easy!

After dinner I headed out to finally get my new running shoes! And that is exactly what I did. I’m so excited that I have new shoes to run in and I’m especially glad that I have new shoes for my trip – the old ones were getting pretty bad. I didn’t take a picture of them tonight because of the bad lighting, but I’ll post one tomorrow for you all to see. FYI – I am very picky about my running shoes. I have worn the same make and model (hmmm….sounds like a car) for most of the last 10 years.

On my way back from Dick’s Sporting Goods, I stopped at Cold Stone to pick up ice cream for Scott. I had a coupon to buy 2 ice creams for $5 so I ordered one too, just to save money really 😉

10.28 dessert

I’m not very fancy when it comes to my Cold Stone. I usually just get chocolate or dark chocolate and one mix-in. Tonight, it was chocolate and red velvet cake! Kudos to Cold Stone for venturing into the red velvet cake territory – it is a favorite of mine, especially when the cake is done right. I also tried a little taste of the pumpkin ice cream – hmm…not a fan – way too pumpkiny, but then what did I expect?

I am off tomorrow as is customary the day before I travel. Then, Friday is the big day – I’ll be off to sunny California. My brother and his wife live there and I’m so excited that I get to see them on Friday night for dinner!

OK, gotta run before I turn into a pumpkin. Have a great night.

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Too Much Anxiety and Too Little Sleep

October 27, 2009 by

Hello All!

How did your day go? I woke up at 3:30 AM and could NOT go back to sleep. Ugh – I hate that! I think it’s anxiety related to my trip/meeting. So, as you might have guessed, too much anxiety and too little sleep = no running this morning. The alarm went off at 6 AM and after having only 5 hours of sleep, I decided to stay in bed for an extra hour.

Breakfast was a quick cereal bowl – only Kashi Go Lean Crunch this time…

10.27 breakfast

Then I was out the door so fast I left a trail of dust behind me. 

I was busy, busy, busy all day today. I was dealing with my projects but also helping my boss with his. All in a day’s work!

Lunch was pasta and sauce leftovers….

10.27 lunch

I swear I can never get tired of this meal! It is so amazing. I only wish I had a meatball to go with it!

After work, I attempted to call Disney’s Dining reservations line to make our lunch/dinner reservations for our trip in the spring. I had to call 10 times just to get through. They had been having problems with their system all day apparently. So then I waited for 25 minutes on hold – on my cell phone no less – but there was NO chance of me hanging up for fear of not being able to get through again. It’s kind of like calling for concert or baseball tickets. After being on hold, I spent about 30 minutes making all of my reservations. Whew! That was rough. Although we had planned out where we wanted to eat, making actual reservations was a little dicey when we weren’t sure what park we wanted to visit on what day. But, after nearly an hour of cell phone minutes, I have 12 reservations to get me started!

Dinner was on my own tonight so I threw together a very yummy and flavorful grilled chicken salad…

10.27 dinner

For my salad I included

  • 3 cups of red leaf lettuce
  • Shaved carrots
  • White cheddar cheese
  • 1/2 grilled chicken breast

And I topped it all off with a little olive oil and Trader Joe’s Balsamic Vinegar. This was JUST what I needed tonight. Something light, yet pleasing to my tastebuds.

I’m off to do a little more work. I will hopefully have time to blog more and comment on all of your other blogs after next week.

Take care and have a great night!

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A Successful Shopping Trip

October 26, 2009 by

Evening everyone!

I switched my weekly day off to today because I will actually be traveling on Friday. I started off with run on the treadmill then a cereal bowl quickie…

10.26 breakfast

It was a mix of just about every cereal that is open in our house: Honeynut Cheerios, Kashi Go Lean, and Kashi Go Lean Crunch. I accidentally poured way too much Kashi Go Lean into the bowl (it comes out too fast!) so I did not end up eating all of it. After breakfast, I was out the door to run work-related errands until lunchtime. 

Thankfully, I finally had a successful shopping trip! Ironically, it was not with clothes. I needed to get a bunch of Clinique things for the trip but didn’t realize that yesterday was the last day of Macy’s “bonus” gift time. It turns out, they still had a few bonus gifts left so they gave me one anyway – yeah! Honestly, I only use 2 or 3 of the free items I get, but it’s more the excitement of getting something free that I like.

Since I was at the mall and near several good restaurants, I popped over to Corner Bakery for their new Mediterranean salad…

10.26 lunch

This salad was SO completely yummy that I ate EVERY morsel. It really was fantastic and made me wonder why it has taken Corner Bakery so long to get a full Mediterranean salad.

After lunch, I headed home and worked for about 2 hours. I still haven’t finished all of my projects so I’ll be working more tonight. 

Because I was home this afternoon, I volunteered to make turkey tacos, using Scott’s secret recipe of course – because how would I ever know how to make tacos by myself if they were not from a box – right Scott? Not to toot my own horn, but the tacos turned out amazing…

10.26 dinner

I was so happy that Scott stopped for guacamole on his way home from teaching class. I used to hate guacamole (I actually had never tried it and just thought it looked gross) but now I feel like my tacos are naked without it!

Shoe shopping (running) was on the agenda for tonight but I am very tired and can’t bring myself to go out again. I absolutely need to get new running shoes before I leave for San Diego on Friday. My Nike’s are Terrible with a capital T! Experts say you should replace your running shoes every 6-8 months, depending on how many miles you run each week. I’m probably more in the 8-month range. I can’t even remember when I bought them but I know it was over 8 months ago. 

I’m only in the office two days this week. But, those two days are going to be packed! I’m trying to get everything done by the time I leave the office on Wednesday so that Thursday can be a packing day. I guess we’ll see how productive I am!

OK, time to say good night! Have a great evening everyone!

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Orzo Risotto Improv

October 25, 2009 by

Hey there!

Well my headache from last night has continued through today, although I have had intermittent headache-free spells. I did take over-the-counter sinus medication last night. It really helped me sleep, despite being the daytime kind.

Getting a good night sleep really helped me with my run this morning. It was a gorgeous morning for a run as well, so I ran about 5 miles and felt GREAT! Only problem was that it has rained the past few days so when I ran through the grass, my shoes were a completely soggy mess! No worries though because tomorrow I’m heading out to buy new running shoes – yeah!

I was nearly starving when I returned from my run, so I made an awesome breakfast…

10.25 breakfast

Nothing like a huge bowl of homemade oats to curb the appetite! I added a little brown sugar, sliced almonds, and of course, all-natural creamy peanut butter. I mixed it all together which promptly turned my oatmeal into a giant gooey, but very yummy, mess in a bowl.

I ran out to Target soon after breakfast to pick up more medicine and a few essentials for my upcoming trip. Then I stopped to take a walk in the park (rather a forest preserve) which was just lovely with all of the trees at their peak color.

Lunch was similar to yesterday…a simple and fairly small salami and ham sandwich, but this time I used the three-cheese bread that we bought yesterday.

10.25 lunch

Oh my, high quality bakery bread makes all the difference in a sandwich!

I spent the afternoon doing MORE shopping for my big meeting. I still haven’t found any new clothes to my liking, but my frustration was replaced with excitement as I purchased a few new pieces of jewelry! Bling, bling!

Scott and I decided to stay in for dinner tonight. I offered to make risotto to go with the mesquite chicken he was making. Come to find out, we had no aborio rice! Ugh! But, never fear, we had orzo, so I improvised.

10.25 dinner2

I boiled the orzo according to directions but added a cube of bouillon to the water. After it was cooked, I drained it and added sauteed red peppers, onions, shaved carrots, and baby spinach. Top this with parmesan cheese and it’s good to go!

Almost forgot to mention that, while we were cooking, Scott and I polished off a box of Trader Joe’s spinach and artichoke dip…

10.25 dinner1

This is fantastic dip, as I mentioned before, and way cheaper than anything you could buy in a restaurant.

I still have a bunch of things to get done tonight so I will say my goodbyes now!

Have a great Sunday evening!

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