Gluten Free Grazer: Welcome to the Windy City

Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Welcome to the Windy City

This morning started bright and early in time for my flight. Thanks to some planning last night, my routine went smoothly and I even had time to package the berries and cherries from the farm that I froze on a baking sheet last night. Bonus! Now I don't need to buy frozen fruit when I'm back next week :)

I will be the first to admit that I, despite being a totally Type A person, my schedule, routines, and planning are morphing as a result of the blog community. I tend to be a night owl but growing up, I was up with the sun and loved having that extra time with my dad. How has my schedule changed? In a few ways:

After arriving home exhausted from a jam-packed wedding weekend, I've been in bed by 11pm at the latest on most nights which has me feeling bright-eyed in the morning. Yesterday I even woke up 45 minutes before my alarm and lifted weights before getting ready for work!
I've never had a problem packing healthful, easy lunches. It's something I pride myself on and was doing before the "5-minute lunch" thing caught on. However, when I find a few quiet minutes in the evening, I throw my lunch together or chop veggies that I plan to pack the next day so I'm not rushing to do so in the morning.
Because I'm exercising earlier in the evenings (I still can't attend my favorite classes which are from 6 - 7pm), I eat dinner earlier which gives me time to digest and get tired at an earlier hour.

I want to be clear that I believe there is no perfect schedule and you need to do what works best for your body and your life. In fact, who knows how long these trends will last for me. I may vacillate between being a night owl and early bird but I am confident in my ability to manage my time, using spare minutes productively, and not being afraid to unplug a bit earlier. It's helped me to feel more in control of my time and squeeze more out of my day.

I made it to the airport on time, purchased my usual liter of water and coffee, and sat down to eat my packed breakfast before boarding. Because of the staying power in Sunday's breakfast, I replicated it to fuel my morning of travel. This is one Udi's bagel (I wish they had a whole grain variety) with ~less than one egg white and lots of spinach. I used the last of my TJ's pepper and eggplant spread plus some hot sauce on half the bagel. I kept the other half simple with just a smidge of Earth Balance and cinnamon.

I've never been happier to pay for my water (despite it being less eco-friendly, it's easier than carrying around a water bottle when I'm on-the-go) because we pushed back from our gate and sat on the runway for over an hour because a storm shut down O'Hare! I made use of the time by finishing my convention reading and actually did so standing up. Why? I am horribly antsy and can't sit still. Hey, it's better for ya, right? I stretched my legs out a bit too so I was able to sit still for most of the flight when we finally took off.

The day so far has been great. Before meeting up with my friends, I checked in and was in need of some food. I picked up a fruit and yogurt parfait, discarded the granola and added a bit of my own cereal I packed.

I then met up with a few friends and we toured Chicago a bit. We walked about a mile or so to Millenium Park and back. The bean is sooo cool! I really like this city a lot - it feels like a hybrid of DC and NYC.

I also picked up my birthday gift from Sephora - some miniature-sized make up!

Despite an early dinner in my future, I needed another little meal to hold me over. We picked up Panera and I got the Strawberry Poppyseed Salad sans chicken plus an apple. I ate about half of the salad and saved the rest plus the apple for later. I'll add it to my stash of healthy conference eats! On the flip side, we stopped and got popcorn from Garrett which is gluten free. I had this handful of caramel popcorn x3 for a sweet and salty treat!