Feeling Better.

First, I would like to thank everyone for their motivating comments on my morning post.  Evan & Karyn were right.  The 8 mile run was just what I needed.  I only wish I had time now for a yoga session.  Then I’d really be set.  I am so glad that I gave myself a break and went out on my run.  It definitely set me free & I loved every second of it!!

The Rundown:

Mile 1: 7:42

Mile 2: 7:43

Mile 3: 7:45

Mile 4: 7:43

Mile 5: 7:39

Mile 6: 7:43

Mile 7: 7:30

Mile 8: 7:25

After showering, I made a Green Monster.

and a creepy picture just for fun…

I had class tonight followed by a meeting.  I got home around 9:00 and decided on a quick dinner…

That would be a bad picture of a very awesome bowl of Split Pea Soup that I defrosted.  Along the side I had Black Bean Tortilla Chips & Kashi crackers.

Now it’s off to do work & have some dessert!

Read Full Post »

Overwhelmed.

This morning I did not want to get out of bed.  It didn’t help that it was cloudy either.  I got up around 8:30 and was pretty hungry so I ate breakfast right away.  I made a bowl of Hot Oats.

This bowl contained Oats, skim milk, water, chopped Granny Smith apple, Raisins, & cinnamon.

This bowl reminded me of Sophomore year of college.  I used to make this combo quite a lot.  yumm.  I ate the rest of my apple with Naturally More PB.

Today I really feel like I have zero motivation for everything.  I have so much work and reading to do it’s ridiculous.  blah, I’m trying.  I am also really tired and today I’m supposed to run 8 miles which clearly didn’t happen this morning.  I’m hoping I can find enough motivation in me to run this afternoon before I have class.  I really wish I was back in Margate so I could go to the yoga studio.  That’s really something I could use right now…if I had the time!

Read Full Post »

Favorite.

This morning I woke up at around 7:20 and got a 5 mile run in.  The weather was sunny & cool…pretty perfect.  For breakfast, I enjoyed a nice bowl of my favorite overnight oats.

Banana-Date Overnight Oats…

Love them.

I then headed over to campus to meet my advisor for my Graduate Assistantship Assignment.  From there, I walked over to my fieldwork placement where I am in a 1st grade classroom.  This was my first real time over there and I LOVED it.  I love the little ones.  I am really looking forward to this field placement!

After fieldwork, I walked back to campus for class.  After class, I finally made it back home and made an amazing dinner.  I used Fresh Whole Wheat Fettuccini that I bought in the refrigerated section of Wegman’s.

I topped that with my homemade sauce that I made yesterday, parm. cheese, spinach, & broccoli.  I also had a Whole Foods Whole Wheat Roll on the side.

This hit the spot!  I love, love, love pasta.

So good!  Probably one of my favorite meals.  Now it’s already 9:o0 and I have tons of work to do. gahhh.  Off to do work & have a little dessert.

Adios.

Read Full Post »

Simple Meals.

I hope everyones Monday went wonderfully!

Today was my last morning that I’ll have free during the week!  I woke up early and went to Bikram at 8.  It was a great way to start the week.  Loved every minute.  I came home and made a bowl of simple oatmeal.

Oats, skim milk, banana, raisins, cinnamon, and honey.

So good!  I also had a nice big, crunch honey crisp apple.  I did work and had lunch for the rest of the day.  Oh yeah, I also made spaghetti sauce for tomorrow night!  I thought I’d do that today since I had time and I won’t have time the rest of the week.  Class tonight was pretty good.  I got my first paper back and I got an A-!  So I’m pretty happy with that!

I came home and made dinner for my sister and I.  BBQ Chicken, Sweet Potato, & sauteed string beans & garlic.

For dessert, I wanted to make Banana Whip, but we don’t have a food processor here.  So instead I had a chopped frozen banana with Naturally More Peanut Butter and a big scoop of Vanilla frozen yogurt.  It was great, but I really wanted a creamy banana whip/PB combo!

I also just tried Newman’s Own Organics Dark Chocolate covered Peanut Butter Cups.  I really enjoyed them!  I think I might love everything Peanut Butter.

Now it’s off to do work for the rest of the night.

Tomorrow I have student teaching with the 1st graders & then I have night class.  Shall be a long, exciting day!

See you laterrr 🙂

Read Full Post »

Weekend of Great Food.

HELLO!  It’s been a few days.  I’ve been really busy and had no time to update the blog.  I think it’s going to become a little bit harder to update as frequently because I’m going to be very busy with school & everything else.  But I’ll try!

Lots of good food has been consumed over this past weekend.

Friday night & met Todd for gelato at Capogiro!  So good.  Here I am enjoying Cappuccino & Fior Di Latte (Milk gelato).

It’s really good.  I love getting this combination of flavors.

Saturday morning, I ran my long run…17 miles.  I thought about it and I haven’t ran this far since the marathon last November.  Crazy.  My run went great though.  There were so many runners & bikers out in the morning so it was cool getting to run around with everyone.  There were points in the run where I was definitely feeling pretty tired, but I was able to power through and motivate myself.  Overall, great run.  I averaged around a 7:50/mile pace which I’m so happy about.

After the run, my legs were feeling pretty tired and so was my body.  After eating & doing work, I ended up snoozin’ for a couple of hours.  It felt great to get some rest.

Saturday was my parents 29th Anniversary & they invited me along to share in their celebration.  haha.  How nice.  We went to a really nice restaurant at the Four Seasons Hotel called The Fountain.

Here are my parents when we first sat down at the table.

I started off with a glass of red wine and then we later ordered a bottle of white wine that I had some of too.

A server came around with a basket of assorted breads and we had our pick of which one we wanted.  I chose the Multigrain Roll.

Really good.  When he came around again, I tried out a crisper flat bread type thing.  Also very good.

This restaurant was neat because in between different parts of our meal they had a special complimentary small bite from the chef.  The first thing they brought out was a crab salad on a crispy baguette.

This was so good!  I love crab and there was a piece of cilantro on it that made it very flavorful.

To start off my meal, I ordered a salad with a shallot vinaigrette dressing.

Although this looks really plain, the dressing was great and I loved this.  My parents both ordered the Lobster Bisque.

They both LOVED this soup!

For my entree, I ordered a white flaky fish in which I never heard of, Atlantic Dorade.

This came with delicious Heirloom Tomatoes and about 4 Gnocchis (haha).  So good though!  Loved this meal.

My parents were on a Lobster kick and ordered the same entree too!!

This was poached Lobster with Fava Beans & Beets.  Do you see that round thing in the middle of the plate?  Well, I’m not quite sure what that was but I know it involved some Truffled Potatoes.  It appeared to be breaded on the outside.  I don’t know what it was, but let me tell you, it was AWESOME.  My mom was full so I ate half of hers and helped her finish off her Lobstah!  SO GOOD!!!

Now, it’s dessert time.  Before our dessert came out, we got another complimentary dish from the chef.

This.was.amazing.  I wish I could eat this everyday.  It was some sort of Espresso mousse/pudding?  Not quite sure. Topped with Whipped Cream & what I thought was an M&M type thing until I ate it.  It turned out to be a chocolate covered espresso bean…makes sense right?  I never had one of these but it was pretty good. It was kind of strong so I definitely wouldn’t be snacking on these by the handful.  I hate coffee too.  I finished off mine and then helped my mom with hers.  haha.

For REAL dessert, I ordered homemade Blueberry Yogurt & Vanilla Ice Cream topped with berries & a sugar cookie.

This was the best!  haha I think I loved everything tonight.  The blueberry yogurt was definitely my favorite part of this dessert.  It was so fresh and flavorful, tasted just like blueberries.

On the menu, they had Sweet Corn Ice Cream.  Sounds weird and gross right?  Well we were talking to the waiter about it and he said that we would be really surprised so he brought us out some samples.  Let me tell you, it works!  It was the strangest thing in the world but I think I enjoyed it?  I probably wouldn’t want a huge bowl of it but it was surprisingly good!

Think our dinner was over?  Think again.  MORE FOOD!  They brought us over a tray of chocolates/candies.

We had already eaten some of them.  There was Chocolate Coconut things that I didn’t eat because I don’t like coconut.  Then there was these Peach Jelly things which were awesome and dark chocolate truffles which were also great!

We had a great time and enjoyed some excellent food.  After dinner, my parents dropped me off to meet up with a bunch of my friends at a bar near my apartment.  I spent a couple of hours there & then I headed back home because I was so tired.

Today I went with Todd to the Eagles Game! (I hope that’s green, I’m color blind if you didn’t know haha)  It was a great game and the rain held off on us.  Most importantly, the Eagles dominated!  We had such a fun time.  We had club box seats and they had some pretty cool food.  I got some chicken quesadillas with guacamole & chips.  They weren’t too bad.

Tonight I went to Whole Foods to pick up a few things I needed and I also had dinner there with Todd.  I had a bowl of Minestrone Soup with a Prairie Roll.

Yum!  This was perfect.  For dessert, I got a bowl of Vegan Rice Pudding with Raisins.  I’m sorry to say that I did not take a picture.  It was very, very good though! 🙂

I have a busy week ahead of me and I still have some things to do tonight so I’m going to get some things done.  I wish we still had another day of the weekend.  Two days is just too short!

Read Full Post »

Restaurant Week.

Tonight after class, my Dad called asking if I had eaten dinner yet.  I hadn’t, but I was planning on some delicious Black Bean Chili with Avocado.  I had been craving it all day.  But then he said that him and my Mom were coming into the city and they wanted to take my sister, Danielle, and I out to dinner.  So, OF COURSE I said YES!!  We decided on a restaurant called Audrey Claire.  We walked over and discovered that it was Restaurant Week in Philly.  I had completely forgotten!  So the deal is 3 courses for $35.  Not too shabby.

I was torn on what to order for my first course.  Everything sounded SO good.  Ultimately, I decided on the Baby Arugula Salad with candied Figs, fresh berries, french lentils, and warm goat cheese.

This was incredibly good.  The fresh berries & figs were great.  There was so much Goat Cheese & it was WARM…good touch.

My Dad & Sister and I actually ordered the same first course & second course.  Boring, I know, but I think we all made awesome choices.  My Mom was a little different and ordered a Flat Bread with Bosc Pear & Gorgonzola with toasted sunflower seeds for her first course.

The Gorgonzola cheese was a little bit overwhelming, but otherwise it was pretty tasty.

For my second course, I chose the Grilled Salmon.  This came with a grilled lemon (awesome this way…it was so juicy), Pearled Pasta (not quite sure what flavorings were in this) & Green Snap Peas.

This was absolutely off-the-wall.  haha. I basically licked this plate clean.  The fish was so fresh and tasty it practically melted in my mouth.  Everything was awesome.

…and now for the THIRD COURSE…DESSERT!!!!

Cinnamon-Raisin Risotto Rice Pudding!!!!!  I LOVE Rice Pudding.  So I was so happy to see this as a choice on the menu.  This was awesome.  BUT, I have to say, it’s not the best I ever had.  The BEST Rice Pudding is made by my Mom-Mom Mary.  She is the one who got me hooked on the stuff!  Honestly, when she makes it, it’s impossible to stop eating it.  I have never tasted anything better.  It has to have raisins!

My Dad ordered the Banana Bread Pudding with some sort of White Chocolate sauce and whipped cream.

YUmmmmm.

My Mom ordered an Apple Cake with Whipped Cream.  I forgot to take a picture of it.  But I did help her finish it! haha.

This was my first time at this restaurant & I loved it!  They is indoor and outdoor seating, and we decided to sit outside.  I will definitely be going back.  I’m so glad that my parents came by to take us out.  I miss seeing them everyday!

Tomorrow I go to my first field placement observation.  Pretty excited about that.  But also nervous.  I’m with high school seniors & I’m used to working with the little guys!  But I’m excited for something new!

Well, since I went out to eat, I haven’t been able to do any work.  So I better go get on some of that.

Goodnight! 😛

Read Full Post »

To run or not to run…

Last night I slept so well.  Usually I get woken up pretty early because they are doing construction right outside of our apartment.  But they must have not been doing it today, because I had a nice uninterrupted sleep and woke up at around 8:20ish.  So nice.  I woke up, planning to run my 8 miles.  However, I also woke up with bad stomach cramps.  Sucks.  But I decided to stick it out & go because I really wanted to run & I knew I wouldn’t have time later.

I grabbed a little cereal & had some almonds and raisins & water before setting off on my run.  I felt pretty good during this run despite my stomach pains.  Starting off on my run, I felt pain in my foot and I thought that maybe this wasn’t a good idea.  However, as I continued to run I think that my pain subsided a bit.  After my run, I felt no pain walking either.  I would rate my foot an A-.  I can’t wait until it feels completely better.  We’ll see how it feels later in the day.

My Garmin decided not to work again till after I ran 2 miles…but judging by my calculations I seemed to average a 7:49/mile pace.  I did email Garmin, and they suggested that I make sure my software is up to date and that I try resetting my satellites.  I haven’t gotten around to doing that, but it is worth a shot so hopefully I can do that soon.

Another thing, don’t you just love friendly runners?  Today I passed a man running in the opposite direction as me and when we both turned around we passed each other again.  As we were passing, he smiled and gave me some encouraging words and said “lookin’ good!!”.  I gave him some encouraging words as well.  But I just love that.  Just makes me feel a lot better.

So anyway, I came home & showered and did not sit down for breakfast until 11:00!  Surprisingly, I wasn’t even that hungry.  Maybe it’s because my stomach is sort of in knots.

I made a Yogurt Bowl with Chobani Vanilla Yogurt, a peach, a banana, strawberries, Kashi GoLean, & cinnamon.

This really hit the spot.

Deeeeeelicious.

I saved some of the banana and finished it off with some Naturally More Peanut Butter!

I just made some tea hoping that it will make me feel a little better.  After this, it’s off to read.

Read Full Post »

work, work, & more work.

Today I spent a lot of time reading for school.  Really, not too fun.  Fun came at around lunch time.

I wasn’t too hungry since I’d been snacking on grapes all morning.  I had a bowl of Oikos Plain Greek Yogurt with a HUGE chopped Honey Crisp Apple, Cinnamon, Kashi GoLean, & some Raisins.

I had the rest of the Apple with cinnamon and Naturally More Peanut Butter.

I also had some unpictured Kashi Crackers with Bobbi’s TexMex Hummus.

After doing MORE work, I decided to do my 4 miler on the treadmill.  My foot felt so-so.  However, when I was walking around later, I had pain on the outer edge of my foot.  After my night class tonight, I felt no pain–except for a tiny bit of pain more closer to my ankle/inside of foot.  What the heck is the deal with my left foot??  I wish I knew.  It’s really, really frustrating.  The pain only comes when I am walking–when I am sitting or if I mangle my foot in everyway possible, I feel no pain.  I just got up right now to walk around and I did not really experience too much pain at all.  Just slight.

Anyway, class was pretty good tonight.  I just got a ton more work to do.  I’ll be starting a couple different field works soon in the 1st grade and in 12th grade honors english/regular english/film classes. Should be interesting.  I feel like I may die thinking about the amount of work I’ll be doing.  Never ending.

I came home and made myself a good, quick dinner.  I defrosted a Black Bean Burger, sauteed carrots/string beans/garlic/evoo, and had a piece of corn.

This was actually a great dinner.  I loved it.

After I ate, I made my sister what I had last night–Chicken with Mozzarella and Tomato.  She is busy and doesn’t really like to cook so I thought I would be nice!

I just enjoyed some Green Tea & a Banana with Naturally More PB.  So good!  Now I’m off to get more reading done!!

Have a great night!

Read Full Post »

Can’t get enough Fruit!

Today I have a long to-do list.  It is really never-ending and I feel overwhelmed.  This morning I woke up and made a bowl of oatmeal.

Today’s bowl had:

• 1/2 cup oats
• H20
• Skim milk
• 1 gigantic banana
• strawberries
• pomegranates
• honey & cinnamon

Very delicious, indeed!  I also had tons of grapes with breakfast.  I just can’t get those little delicious things away.

I have to go get busy on some of this work.  It really stinks because I have no motivation to do any of it.  At some point today I’ll also be running 4 miles.  I just hope my foot doesn’t give me any problems.  I’m not sure if I’ll be able to get that in before or after class.  We shall see.

Off to make tea & do work.

Enjoy your day.

Read Full Post »

Is this thing on?

Alright, well there was really no time for updates this weekend because my sister came to visit me.  I know she updated her blog, but I’m just not that good.  haha.

The four words of my post title sum up my run on Saturday morning.  I was able to run with my sister again since she was home for the weekend.  My training schedule called was a cut back week and called for 11 miles; however, Tina’s called for 10 miles.  So we decided on a nice 10 miler.  Before the run, I split a Cinnamon Roll Larabar with my sister.  It was great weather & I was so happy to be running with Tina again.  However, as I set off on my run, my Garmin decided to go through the same issues again and did not start right away.  Maybe I should inquire about that!  Then I was having ipod issues.  I finally got that to start.  But towards the end of the run it kept turning on and off and eventually died.  Not only was the power on my electronics poor, so was my power.  I just never got in to this run.  It was okay…just not an unbelievable run.  We ended up pacing a 7:59, which I’m satisfied with.  My foot also caused some issues…I decided to run through it because the pain was not nearly as severe as it had been.  Hopefully I can figure out those issues with my foot.  Haha this was actually a quite interesting run today, and I was thankful that there was a port-a-potty on our route.

Afterwards, we walked to a nearby fruit/veggie market to pick up some spinach & green & black grapes.  On our walk back we pretty much had demolished most of the grapes we bought.  We then came back to the apartment and made ourselves some Green Monsters.

We ended up walking around and doing a little shopping.  We stopped to snack on some Philly Soft Pretzels.

That is me.  Thanks for the picture Ti…haha.

Afterwards, we went with Todd to visit my Grandmom.

Saturday night I went out to eat with my family & Todd to an Italian restaurant, Maggiano’s.  It was okay, nothing stellar.  But it was a great time.  We ordered a bunch of appetizers.  I really liked the Caprese Salad…Mozzarella Cheese, Tomatoes, Basil, with a Balsamic drizzle.  I also ate loads of delicious bread with olive oil.  For my entree, I ordered Whole Wheat Penne Pasta with Broccoli and Spinach.

This was pretty good but I wish that there were more veggies in there.

Sunday morning, my sister and I met my Mom for breakfast at a diner.  The diner is actually called Ponzio’s Diner (Ponzio is our last name).  It’s an awesome diner, but unfortunately, we don’t own it.  haha.  I ordered a bowl of Oatmeal with sliced bananas and raisins.  I also had some whole wheat toast a not so great fruit salad.

After breakfast, I went food shopping with my sister to get some food for the week.  I was telling Tina about the size of the Honey Crisp apples that I have been eating.  She was in shock when she actually saw how big they were.

haha, I wish you could see how big they actually are.  I love them.  Best Apples Ever.

We then came home and watched the Eagles lose before I had to take Tina to the train station to go back to Loyola.  I’m so glad that she came home for the weekend.  I just wish she lived in Philly with me tooooooo.  I need to plan a time to go visit her in Baltimore.

After I dropped her off, I decided to head home to my parents house since my other sister was on-call at the hospital and I would have been all alone.  I also needed a printer because I was working on my first paper for the semester.  So I went home and worked for a while on that.  I took a break to get dinner, ice cream, & watch the Season Premier of Curb Your Enthusiasm.  I love that show.  The only part I don’t like about it is that it is only a half an hour long.  I want more curb!  But it was good and I’m excited for the rest of the episodes.

This morning I woke up and came back to Philly.  On the way back, I stopped for a smoothie.  I ordered my favorite one, The Chilly Palmer.

I have also been snacking on loads of grapes that I picked up this morning at the farmer’s market & some cereal.

I also am officially finished editing my paper.  I just need to print out the final copy.  I think that it’s pretty decent, so let’s hope!

Today I went to Bikram Yoga. I haven’t been in about a week so it was fantastic.  I love yoga, but do you ever find that some people who practice yoga are a bit odd?  Today there was a women next to me with dark, hairy legs and arm pits.  I bet you can picture exactly what this lady looks like too.  So I was pretty grossed out by that. haha.

Tonight I had class and it went great.  I really enjoyed this class because we did a lot of small group discussions and it was sort of interesting.  I also handed in my first paper tonight, so I hope I do well on it.

I came home from class and decided to use some leftovers from the other night.  When we went out to eat, we ordered about 3-4 appetizers of the Caprese Salad.  I guess there was a lack of communication, but anyway I got to take home the leftovers.  Tonight I made Chicken topped with Tomato, Mozzarella, & Basil over Sauteed Spinach and Garlic.

As I was eating it I thought that it was really similar to a Chicken Florentine type of dish.  It was really good.  I used almost a whole bag of spinach for this too.

Half way through eating I remembered that I had a frozen Raisin & Walnut roll from DiBruno Bros. So I pulled that out and enjoyed that as well…

It was so good!  The raisins were HUGE !

I also want to share with everyone that I made a video of my apartment so you guys can see where I live!  I will include it on one of my upcoming posts, so stay tuned!

Oh yea, today I received my Kashi sample in the mail!  Thanks, AGAIN, for the picture Tina…you are saving me a lot of time here! hahaha…

Have a good night!!!

Read Full Post »