It’s been a while since I’ve made stove top oats.  I was so excited to combine:

• 1 cup of water
• 1/2 cup of oatmeal
• 1 tablespoon of cinnamon
• 1 cup of frozen blackberries
• 1 spoonful of peanut butter

I couldn’t ask for a better breakfast! 

I ate lunch around 11 because I was going to Body Pump at noon.  I opened my last box of Pacific Natural Foods’ Spicy Black Bean Soup.  I love this stuff!  It has just the right amount of spice for me, not strong but very flavorful.  I crushed the last of the tortilla chips and mixed them into the bowl.

I was psyched to get to Body Pump.  I brought a list the weights I used last class and wanted to make a few changes.  I increased my weight for the squat, chest, and tricep tracks.   The warmup, back, bicep, lunge, and shoulder track weights stayed the same.

Uping the weight was a good decision.  I got more of a workout without overdoing it.  Knowing I was adding more weight made me feel like such a bad ass as I worked throughout the class.  One woman in the class kept trying to lift too much weight and she’d stop several times during multiple tracks to change her bar so it weighed less.  I know lots of people like to make the most of their workouts, but this woman was trying to do too much and it was sad watching her struggle.  If I see her in class next week, I hope she makes better weight decisions.

*Do you have any stories about taking your workout up a notch?*

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles themed cupcake t-shirt?  Thank you Johnny Cupcakes!   How awesome is a pepperoni pizza in the shape of a cupcake?!?!  I actually bought this shirt when JC hosted a movie night in Coolidge Corner.

I made Pacific Natural Foods’ spicy black bean soup and added a dollop of plain Chobani (sunk to the bottom) and cheddar cheese.

Eventually I just tossed the tortilla chips into the soup.  Not the prettiest lunch but it tasted soooo good!

My brother had another hockey game in the area.  This time Skidmore played at UMass Boston.  It’s only a 10 minute drive from my apartment so I’ll be going back to visit the JFK Library which is right nextdoor.

Matt scored a goal, didn’t get any penalties (last game he had 2), and Skidmore won in overtime.  Great game!

Jared and I drove home and chose a local spot for dinner:  Anchovies!

We ordered a bottle of Malbec to share.  Mmm, Malbec is always smooth, buttery, and delicious.

Bread with a very garlicky dipping oil.

Caprese salad.  I’ll eat fresh mozzarella all day, every day!

Side salad.

Carnivore’s delight: Pork, chicken, and sausage on roasted red pepper risotto.  I didn’t even come close to putting a dent in this so it’s sitting in my fridge for lunch later today.

Jared wanted to go out and meet friends at the Beacon Hill Pub.  I was feeling really lazy and had to be bribed into going.  The promise of a trip to Lululemon was good enoughto get me out the door.

It ended up being a really fun night.  BHP is a divey, cash only bar on Charles Street.  Much better prices than we’re used to in Boston.  We hung out with Mark, his friends from school, Matt, and Natalie.  The guys drank Brubakers, but I stuck to Blue Moon.

I scarfed down the last of my tomato soup (and an unphotographed banana) before hopping in the car and driving 1 hour to get to the dentist.

I love hanging out at Blackstone Valley Dental.  My mom and my cousin (Hi Steph!!!) were both working so I chatted with them before getting my tooth fixed.

I’m SO happy with the results.  I have to be a little more careful with what I eat: No biting into hard apples anymore.  But it’s totally worth it to feel like myself again.  The dentist also reminded me that I grind my teeth at night and I need to wear my mouth guard.  Oops.  Totally forgot about that!

I lounged around my parents’ house, read a magazine I “borrowed” from the dentist office, and ate a chicken sandwich while my mom was packing food for her trip to Saratoga, NY this weekend.

I also modeled the Winter Classic hat that my parents got to wear when we go skating at Fenway Park on Sunday night.

I’m back in Boston and snacking on cheese and Triscuits until we can figure out what to have for dinner.

My soup and grilled cheese was so tasty that I knew it would be on the menu again today.  I wasn’t in the mood to mess with a good thing!

But first, there was breakfast…

I had a bowl of Special K with Red Berries.

I would love to follow the Special K diet mainly because I would be thrilled to eat several bowls of Special K every day.  Specifically the kind with Red Berries.  I don’t know what it is about those freeze dried strawberries that I like so much.

Even though I still have a cold, it’s so much more bearable today.  I have a slightly stuffy nose.  Feeling better, but still being lazy, I wore my glasses to work and the same pair of pants I wore yesterday.  Just being completely honest with you guys.  (And I really need to get a stronger prescription for my glasses because I can’t see very well!)

I made a cup of chai from the office coffee machine.  I normally avoid the machine like the plague because the coffee packets are NOT good.  But the chai actually had a decent spicy flavor and drinking something warm made me feel better.

The moment I’d been waiting for finally arrived:  Lunch!  The only difference from yesterday’s meal was that today my grilled cheese was on a wheat Arnold Thin.  Thank you Jared for going grocery shopping last night!

Plus I found a packet of oyster crackers in my desk so I added it to my tomato soup.  With a high of 29 degrees in Boston and my space heater on full blast, this was the perfect meal!

I thought ahead and put this lunch together when I was cooking last night.  The leftovers didn’t disappoint.  Gnocchetti with green peppers and tofu.

I was feeling feverish and still dealing with a sore throat so I walked on the treadmill instead of running.  I did crank up the incline and felt like I still got an ok workout in.  I used the foam roller and sat in the sauna for about 10 minutes.

I nibbled on this Clif bar when I got back to work, but I wrapped up half of it to eat on another day.  Just wasn’t feeling it.

I was craving grilled cheese dipped in tomato soup.  I used my last box of Pacific Natural Foods organic tomato soup.  Really really good!  I also had a Clementine for some added Vitamin C.

I went back for a small second helping…and then I gobbled up a small bowl of Annie’s mac and cheese.  I’m not sure why I’m wasting my evening watching The Bachelor.  There really must be something wrong with me!

I snacked on a green apple not long after I ate my lunch.

My closet light burned out so I did sort of get dressed in the dark.  But I was very well aware that I wore purple pants to work.  My cardigan is made from sweatshirt material so I almost felt like I was wearing pajamas.  To stay warm and dry, I had my boots on during the commute and then switched to flats once I got to the office.

Still snacking on leftovers from last week’s Sweet Swap.

I decided to skip the gym and hung out with my coworkers Courtney and Molly and helped clean out old files in the research library.  We made boring work more fun by gossiping the entire time.

I had planned to work out once I got home.  But the only sweat I worked up was while wrapping presents.  I got a decent amount done, but I still have several items at my parents’ house that will get boxed up when I go home on the 23rd.

Multiply this times 2 and you have my actual dinner.  I had 2 helpings of Pacific Natural Foods roasted red pepper and tomato soup along with 2 toasted Arnold Thins.  Looooove this soup!

Looks can be deceiving.  I have a lot of leftover pumpkin cookies and they are still moist, chewy, and delicious.  I was able to show some restraint and only snacked on one while I was watching TV.

I’m already trying to decide what I want to do at the gym tomorrow.  It’s between taking a spin class and running intervals on the treadmill.  Hmmm, tough call.  My workouts have been very sporadic and unplanned during the past few weeks.  I’m going to wait until after the holidays to plan my cardio and strength sessions.  For now I’ll just hit the gym when I have time and motivation.

Thank you to Katherine for giving me the Beautiful Blogger award!!!

Long quote, but it’s a good one!

Today was all about lounging and relaxing.  Miles took a nap on my slippers.

I made a bowl of Pacific Natural Foods’ roasted red pepper and tomato soup for lunch.  I added ground turkey and cheddar cheese.  Another hit from Pacific!  This soup was thick and creamy.  It tasted similar to the tomato soup; the red peppers only created a tiny difference in flavor.  Mmm!

I watched football, cleaned and vacuumed, and dyed my hair to a slightly different shade of brown than it was before.

I had my last leftover ravioli made from Nasoya’s egg roll wrap as an appetizer.

Dinner involved a lot of Chiavetta’s marinade.  Both the chicken and the veggie mix (zucchini, green peppers, and onions) were marinated in the good stuff.

I mixed the vegetables with fettuccine and topped my chicken with a little bit of feta cheese.  This was a really tasty dinner.  I think I’ll buy another bottle of Chiavetta’s when we’re in Rochester.

After dinner, I started to get a little stir crazy.  I decided to try Cheryl Burke’s Disco Ab Workout that Melissa tested out this morning.  I had a lot of laughs and further proved to myself that I’m NOT a good dancer.  But my heart was pumping and I felt like I got an easy and fun cardio workout.

With renewed energy, I bundled up and took Miles for a walk.  Jared helped me clean off my car.  The parking lot was plowed really well so we just used our sleeves to brush the snow off of the windows, roof, and hood of my car.  Wow, Boston really did get some serious accumulations!  At least it was so cold that the snow was light and easy to clear off.  And thank God for those fleece liners in my Hunter wellies.  I was able to wade through the snow mounds without feeling a chill.

I snacked on a Gala apple around 10:30.

I had a bowl of Trader Joe’s pesto tortellini around noon.

I forgot my gym bag so I decided to make today about relaxation and sweatin’ it out.  I sat in the sauna for 20 minutes and then showered.  With my gym bag at home, I didn’t have any deodorant!

I decided to kill two birds with one stone:  I walked across the street to check out the new Star Market and buy something prevent any underarm odor!  Star Market is awesome!  It’s so much bigger than the old store so it offers so many more products.  I didn’t get to wander up and down every aisle, but I plan to soon.  What’s most interesting is that the entire store is on the 2nd floor.  There’s an escalator for people and a separate escalator for shopping carts!

I had an Amazing Grass Berry Whole Food Energy Bar for a snack.  This was ok.  It had a tangy flavor and I weird sticky texture.  I didn’t care for it at first, but the more I nibbled and drank water, the more I enjoyed it.

I had more of Pacific Foods Tomato Soup for dinner, topped with a sprinkle of cheddar cheese.  I also had a whole grain mini-bagel with homemade veggie cream cheese.  Instead of buying a container of veggie cream cheese, I made my own by mixing vegetable soup mix and a splash of milk into a container of plain cream cheese.

My dinner was tasty but didn’t fill me up.  At 9 pm, my stomach was growling!  I didn’t want to eat a little snack and be hungry at bedtime.  I made a bowl of vanilla yogurt with blueberry flax seed, granola, pomegranate arils (which I also ate a few handfuls of), and a spoonful of PB&Co Cinnamon Raisin Swirl.  Mmmm, SO good.  Sweet, crunchy, creamy, tangy…all at the same time!

I had planned on doing yoga tonight, but there are piles of clothes all over the bed.  I think it will take another hour to finish putting everything away.  Grrr!

From an Apple…

To a Z bar!!!

I almost skipped the gym today so I could finish some work, but I ended up completing things early.  Treadmill time!  I wanted to work up a sweat instead of doing my strength training.  I ran on the treadmill for 20 minutes at a 9:05 pace.  Baby steps to increase my speed.

I drove across Boston after work to pick up some packages at UPS.  Big mistake.  The 15 minute drive took almost an hour.  Grrr!  But a huge YAY because…

Newman’s Own Organics sent a huge box of goodies for me to try and review.  Mmm, salivating already!

Pacific Natural Foods sent sooo much soup, also for sampling and reviewing.

I spent most of the car ride trying to decide what to make for dinner.  The soups provided an easy solution.  I just needed to pick a flavor.

I chose the Spicy Black Bean Soup.

“This south of the border sensation features a winning combination of black beans, green bell peppers, tomatoes, and chipotle peppers, simmered to perfection and infused with spices to create an exquisite soup that’s got just the right kick.”

(590 mg of Sodium)

I can’t argue with the description.  I heated some of the soup in the microwave for a few minutes, added a scoop of Chobani, and a huge sprinkling of cheddar cheese.  I had tortilla chips on the side (though I eventually added them to the soup).  I was afraid the soup would be too spicy, but it had just a tiny kick to it.  The soup was thick to begin with, and once the cheese melted the texture was ideal.

Ok, I have to be a huge dork for 1.2 seconds.  Yesterday I told Jared that I really do love my blog.  It makes me so happy!  I’m so grateful to have such wonderful support from so many of you!!!