Marking Time

I never really made an official announcement on my blog last year when I began working again. I decided that work would be something I referenced but didn't discuss in depth. After all, this is a gluten free healthy living blog - I want to focus on those aspects of my life with you all. Yet today I do want to share that it's officially been a year that I've been at my job, even if I was just part-time this past fall. It's definitely been quite the year though and something I wanted to note!

On a different note, my cold is still lingering. This is pretty standard for me but I'm ready to feel 100% again. I'm all sniffles and sneezes despite the rest of me feeling better. Thanks to those of you who have sent your well wishes. I cannot report a full recovery yet but I'm hoping to soon.

To promote my recovery, I've been enjoying some good food along the way. This morning: hot cereal in a jar! I whipped up a batch of hot cereal last night so that all I had to do this morning was heat it and add it to the jar. This mix had a spoonful of mashed sweet potato, blueberries, cinnamon, and maple syrup plus about 1/2T of peanut butter left. Plus an egg white. Yum!

Because of meetings and my weird stomach I wasn't hungry for lunch until 1:45 today. First up, a little salad with spinach, romaine, and leftover roasted squash.

Next was the last of my broccoli soup. I went through the batch in 3 days flat! Must. make. more.

A couple of hours later I was feeling hungry and not in the mood for my apple so I picked up some roasted veggies, black beans, and rice...and a little dip of my spoon in my work PB jar O:-)

After work I had an exciting little field trip planned. To take advantage of DC Spa Week,  I had scheduled a 1-hour massage for myself! I went to the Health Club at the Fairmont Hotel and had a fantastic experience. When I arrived I was greeted with a key to a locker that was equipped with slippers and a robe to change into. I was excited for this pampering reward!

The hour passed quickly and I felt amazing and more relaxed. My muscles appreciated the rubbing!

I wasn't in the mood for anything too exciting for dinner, I really could only look forward to a nice hot shower, my couch, an sweats. I whipped up a simple meal of a scrambled egg white, roasted green beans, toast, and baked beans.

I just sat down with more toast and a pear to watch Grey's Anatomy and then I'm calling it a night.

The masseusse warned me that I would experience an increase in my cold symptoms from having my feet and back / respiratory symptom worked on and she wasn't kidding! I've gone through 2+ liters of fluids today and have made a pretty sizable dent on a box of tissues!

Goodnight!

How long have you been at your current job? Have you ever had a massage? Love 'em or hate 'em?

Say Yes to the Dress

I knew that all of those nights of watching TLC's Say Yes to the Dress would pay off one day! Today I got to spend time with my friend Bethany, 2 other bridesmaids, and Bethany's future mother-in-law shopping for dresses. Our mission was to find a bridal dress as well as the bridesmaid dress we will be wearing come Memorial Day Weekend 2011.

My wake up call was earlier than a usual Saturday's but I bounded out of bed and got ready for the day. I knew that fuel would be important as no one likes a hangry bridesmaid so I whipped up something quick, filling, and delicious. I had an egg sandwich with one egg white, red pepper spread, spinach, and a bit of Cabot 50% sharp cheddar on a Food for Life gluten free English muffin.

We met at Bethany's which meant a quick Metro ride over to her part of town. However today there was a huge Tea Party rally on the National Mall which added a lot of stress, fantastic people watching, and aggravation to an otherwise pleasant Saturday morning. I finally made it though and it was time to shop!

I'm excited to say that Bethany found her dress. It was truly a great moment and I loved being part of the dress shopping. While I won't show you what she chose, I can promise you it's nothing remotely close to this:

We were ravenous by the time we left the store and decided on the Cheesecake Factory for lunch. I was in the company of a few other hangry folks so we were in no mood to debate where to eat. We started with the chips and guacamole and I had a few.

I loved my main course - the Fresh Vegetable Salad with the cheese and dressing on the side. I ate about 3/4 of the salad and was perfectly content.

Then it was on the bridesmaid dress shopping, round 2. We have narrowed it down to 2 options and now are waiting for the Maid of Honor to try on her dress so we can decide. She lives in South Dakota so she couldn't join us today.

After our shopping I had a quick errand to run and was hungry again. I popped into Whole Foods for a little snack of carrots, peas and corn topped with a bit of black bean soup and feta cheese plus Moroccan chick pea salad. It totally hit the spot.

Its 6:30 and I just got home a bit ago. I don't think it'll be too exciting of a night. Everyone seems pretty tuckered out and this lady has some business homework to do before Monday!

Daddy's Girl

August 25th has always been an important day in my life. Usually because that's around the time that school started (or in college definitely did start) and it's also my dad's birthday! It makes it easy to remember :)

All day long I couldn't help but think about all the ways in which I'm a daddy's girl. I've long taken pride in that title and anyone who knows us (including my own mother) will admit that it's the truth. What can I say, we're 2 peas in a pod!

A few years ago my dad cut out gluten from his diet. He was convinced it was the culprit behind a couple of decade's worth of stomach issues. I was excited because I got to share all of the great gluten free products I'd discovered with him.

One of those products was Bob's Red Mill Mighty Gluten Free Hot Cereal. That my friends is the official name of the hot cereal I've come to eat during every season. When I'm home, my dad requests that I make him a bowl for breakfast too. Today's standard bowl with Asian pear, black berries, and 1/2T peanut butter was eaten at work, along with an egg white.

I worked diligently throughout the morning and because appreciative of my organization skills. Those too are things I learned from my dad and have even taken to the Nth degree. We are Type-A people who love to-do lists, organization, order, writing things down, and more. I swear we're fun!

Lunch was a delicious and random mix: arugula and romaine with carrot, a serving of baby lentils, a pickle, and Amy's Italian dressing. I also had the end piece of my Udi's loaf (something my dad and grandfather love b/c it's extra crispy!) with roasted red pepper spread and a sprinkle of parm.

I headed back to the office, glad to have walked out some of my jitters. I have always been the kid / college student / young professional that squirms in her seat, prefers to stand, and doesn't ever like to sit still; it's another trait inherited from Phil.

In between squirming and standing in meetings, I managed a few snacks. The first was steamed veggies left over from a lunch and the second was 1/4c of Greek yogurt with a peach drizzled in peanut butter.

After wrapping things up for the day I set out on a couple of errands. 1) Staples and 2) Whole Foods. Those 2 places always seem to be errands Dad and I enjoy running (see above). Others always included walking through Macy's early on Saturday mornings helping my dad match ties and shirts (once upon a time I loved to wake up super early), bike rides and long walks, and many more.

Staples was an adventure in and of itself and Whole Foods was nothing out of the ordinary.

Out of character for me, I wasn't too hungry for dinner so I threw together a repeat bowl of pasta from the other night. 2/3 of a serving of pasta, 1/4c chickpeas, roasted veg, tomato sauce, and a bit of parmesan.

I'm now listening to jazz and Broadway (2 kinds of music Phil loves), doing lots of blog writing because there's lots on my mind, fidgeting, and doing some volunteer work for the sorority. The last item is something I've definitely learned from my dad - the value of giving back to something important, making a commitment, and having fun. The program I run is based on something my dad runs for his fraternity (which I helped design).

Not such a bad night. I mean, who doesn't love celebrating one of their parents, even if they're out having more fun on a Wednesday than you are?!  :-D

Happy birthday to a wise, loving, fun Dad that's taught me so many things in my 25 years!!

A

Lot's Going On

When you wake up to sunshine and no humidity, you know it's going to be a good day. Add to that some seersucker work shorts (yes, I'm a real Southern girl) and lots to look forward to this week, it makes for a good Monday! I'm going to apologize in advance for this post being scatterbrained. There's a lot going on this week! I'll give you the update tomorrow. Anyways...

This evening I went to the gym for my normal weights workout and to test out my foot on a couple of machines , per my doctor's orders. I'm happy to report that after 6 minutes on the bike to warm up, it felt good enough for me to lift AND cool down for 6 minutes on the elliptical. I exercised (no pun intended) a lot of self-restraint and got off the machines when I was supposed to. This was in part out of fear for aggravating the injury as well as not being able to walk in my friend's wedding this weekend. I plan to keep up with ~5 minutes or so on each machine and see how it goes. I can tell you that I was one extremely happy camper this evening!! My gym friends were excited to see my getting back in action as well :)

If you follow me on Twitter, you have have seen my mini-goal of eating cleanly this week. The idea of a short-term goal was inspired by Tina's post this morning. What a great concept! My goal will drive many of my meals this week and you'll see an increase in protein. I've been craving it and am hoping to satisfy that craving in a healthy way.

Yesterday I baked a pack of chicken breasts which I purchased from Whole Foods. They are grass-fed, organic, hormone free, and fed an all vegetarian diet. I only mention all of these things because of the moral struggle I've been having with meat over the past few months. I had 0 guilt about my meat purchase and in fact, have been savoring each and every bite of the meat! It tastes so rich and flavorful - exactly how I remember chicken used to taste. I also cooked it very simply:

• Preheat oven to 375
• Add 1/4c water to a baking dish (like Pyrex)
• Place chicken breasts into the dish (make sure they don't overlap)
• Season chicken. I seasoned one breast with salt, pepper and oregano, one with TJ's 21 Salute Seasoning, and 1 with homemade taco seasoning - garlic powder, onion powder, paprika, and cayenne
• Bake for ~45 minutes or until meat is cooked all the way through
• Remove from heat and let the chicken rest for ~20 minutes

When I usually make chicken I only wait about 10 minutes before I cut it or put it in the fridge for lunches during the week. I doubled that time yesterday which allowed for the juices to set in the meat and some of the broth was soaked up by the meat as well making it extra flavorful. Yum!

Recapping the day:

Breakfast was a light bowl of hot cereal - 1/4c BRM, 1/4c almond milk, 3/4c water, 1/2T chia, 1/2c blue and strawberries, 1/4t PB drizzle

Morning snack - apple with 1T almond butter

Lunch was a big greens salad topped with dill and some chopped English cucumber plus 1/2c asparagus and a serving of chicken (with TJs seasoning)

Afternoon snack pre-workout was 1/2c plain yogurt with a couple of raw pecans on top and and an orange. This one was so flavorful - I loved it!

Dinner included chicken once again. I wanted some rice but had to cook it so I munched on this veggie salad while I waited. Then, I chopped up a small piece of chicken (3.5oz) and mixed it with 1/2c rice and some roasted artichoke hearts and peas. I seasoned it with juice from a fresh lemon, basil, oregano, garlic, and red chili pepper.

This was fantastic - fresh, light and comforting and I didn't want it to end. A great Monday night dinner!

My snack was another 1/2c of yogurt with berries and a little bit of rice "pudding" with a few raisins. Simple and delicious.

Tomorrow is another day - and I'm seeing James Taylor in concert. Yay! Add to that tomorrow being my hump day since I'm out on Friday. I have a feeling it's going to be a good and quick week :)

The Best Kind of Sunday

It was a lovely Sunday. The best kind in fact.

The sunshine-filled morning began with this little snack of raisins, Whole-Os, and cashews

And the Farmers Market had all sorts of delicious summer fruits. There aren't enough words to describe how happy things like fresh strawberries make me.

At 11, I met a lovely group of ladies for a blogger brunch. Meghann, Ashley, and a couple of others were in town for a marathon relay and made time to hang out with some DC bloggers and readers. I was happy to see Jacquie, whom I met in April, and catch up with her!

We had brunch at Scion which I suggested because it seemed like a great place to take a large group of healthy eaters.  Most of us took advantage of the fruit bar, which we snacked on while awaiting our entrees.

I got this build-your-own-omelet with egg whites, black beans, spinach, red pepper, and asparagus. It was great!

I never knew what a wonderful community existed until I started my blog. It always amazes me how easily conversations flow with complete strangers and of course, it's fun to make new friends!  I'm looking forward to hanging out with some of the other DC bloggers soon :)

My afternoon included a trip to Friendship Heights, killing time in Whole Foods during a monsoon, and reading whilst laying on my yoga mat. Perfection. There was about 1.5 servings of these chips in there - I had a craving while in WF.  I also snacked on this pear.

Dinner was smaller because of my snacks and munching all day. It's odd - I didn't eat breakfast within an hour of waking up like I normally do because of brunch and I've found myself grazing on all sorts of crap stuff all day long. Breakfast is good for you folks! And it should be substantial enough to avoid mindless munching for the rest of the day! Lesson learned :)

I whipped up this bowl of healthy fried rice with brussel sprouts, peas, corn, GF soy and teriyaki sauces, and a couple of ounces of chicken. Plus the last 1/4c of baked beans - I needed to clean out the fridge.

I ended my weekend in a perfect way - sitting outside with friends for a couple of hours as the sun set. The humidity is gone after our afternoon storms and it could not be more perfect. There were also french fries  :)  There might be some more munching tonight - I'm still in that kind of mood :-/

It really was the best kind of Sunday - food, fun, sun, and friends. I don't want Monday to come!