Typical Sunday night =Sushi + the Amazing Race

I ordered Sweet Potato Tempura rolls and Kappa Maki rolls.  Jared’s fishy fish rolls were squeezed in between my nice veggie rolls.

Mmm, plus edamame on the side.

I had some Kashi cereal for breakfast on Monday morning.  Then I snacked on some almonds when I got to work.

Completely unbalanced lunch!  I ate a mini-loaf of banana bread and sucked down an ice coffee.  Of course I spent the rest of the day craving fresh vegetables!

My Half Marathon training has been throw a tiny bit out of whack.  I expected this so I’m not concerned.  I didn’t find time to go on a longer run this past weekend.  Ohh well.  Still plenty of time before the race!

I ran 2 miles on the treadmill during my lunch break at 6.5 mph then stretched and went back to work.  I was supposed to run 3 miles with Jared after work, but that fell through.  He really needs new sneakers before he runs again so I think he’s going to get fitted on Thursday night.

To fulfill my fresh vegetable craving, I made a plate of peppers and cucumbers with hummus as soon as I got home from work.

I bought ingredients for dinner from Don Otto’s Natural and Organic Market.  See…organic pasta and responsibly made pork sausage.  Making those positive changes in the way I shop for food.  (While dinner was cooking, I cleaned out the fridge and tossed anything that was old, unhealthy, or just not going to be eaten.)

I ate a bowl of penne with 1/2 of a pork sausage.  I topped the penne with a swirl of flavored olive oil, a tiny bit of sauce, and some Parmesan cheese.

I made a smoothie for Tuesday’s breakfast using:

• 4 ice cubes
• 1 cup of almond milk
• 1 1/2 cups of frozen berries
• 1 cup of spinach

I spent almost 20 minutes fighting with my smoothie maker in order to get everything to blend.  Grrr.  But when my Not-So-Green Monster was finally ready to go, it tasted fresh and healthy.  If preparing and cleaning up weren’t such a pain, I’d make smoothies more often.

I loved yesterday’s bowl of Peanut Butter Puffins with peanut butter that I had another bowl for breakfast this morning.

I had my leftovers from last night’s dinner for lunch this afternoon.  Yup, lots of repeat eats today.

After cleaning the apartment and running errands, I had a refreshing Passion Ice Tea.

I decided to tear into my Core Fusion 3 pack and try a workout.  Each DVD contains 5 10-minute workouts.

I selected the Body Sculpt DVD and chose a 10-minute workout focused on glutes.  The workout was basic and seemingly easy.  By the end, my butt muscles were screaming at me and I was whining in return.  I was glad the segment ended with some stretching.  My tired glutes needed it!

Even though I only tried 10 minutes of Core Fusion, I already have a good feeling about the series.  I’ll probably take a Body Pump class once a week and then do 10-20 minutes of Core Fusion on a few other days.  Between this new strength program and amping up my cardio to start getting ready to train for the Half Marathon, I’ll feel awesome!

Jared and I ordered sushi for dinner.  Love my Kappa Maki rolls.

Steamed beef gyoza.

Edamame (I almost forgot to take pictures of the sushi because I dove in as soon as it was delivered)

We met at Oishii, a sushi restaurant in the South End, at 6 pm for dinner.  The rest of the night was still a mystery and Jesse refused to tell anyone what was planned.

We ordered SO much food.  The tuna arrived in a glowing green cube of ice.

Eggplant

Edamame

Something fishy that I didn’t try

Raw beef and our very own grill to cook it.  Amazingly delicious!

Lots of champagne!

Steamed pork gyoza

Rolls!

Sweet potato tempura

Seriously insane amounts of food

Somehow we all found room to devour dessert.  Mmmm!

Girls in our 1920′s attire.  (My pictures didn’t come out great so if anyone else has better group photos, please e-mail them to me!)

Jesse lead us out of the restaurant and onto….a party bus!!!

The Man of the Hour poppin a bottle of Cristal.

Cheers!!!

After picking up more friends, Jesse took us to the location of our next surprise: Alibi at the Liberty Hotel.

Alibi’s decor includes celebrity mugshots.  Lohan’s picture was on all of the coasters.  Hysterical!

So nice to have a tables for drinks and a couch for lounging!

Natalie and me

1920′s gangsters and a flapper!

Sweet dance moves to welcome in 2010!

Our final surprise was a late night stop at the South Street Diner.  I had a grilled cheese and a side salad.

New Year’s Eve was a blast and I’m so grateful I got to spend it with good friends and GREAT food.

We grabbed sandwiches at the 570 Market on Tremont Street.  I ordered the Farmer’s Wagon: hummus, cucumbers, broccoli, carrots, romaine, tomato, oil and vinegar on Iggy’s 7-Grain.  I was craving lots of fresh vegetables so this sandwich was perfect.

We drove 45 minutes to Bolton, MA to visit the Nashoba Valley Winery.

Apple orchards and muddy roadways after last night’s rain

Gorgeous fall day in New England!

Beautiful red apples.  Too bad we didn’t do any picking.

Nashoba Valley Winery

Metal bottle holders, each with a unique personality.

Wine tasting!  Nashoba Valley Winery uses apples in a lot of their wines.  Everything we tasted was really different from the types of wines I normally drink.  Unfortunately, nothing was overly impressive.  We sampled a lot, but didn’t buy any bottles to bring home.

In front of the vines

Apple BBQ pulled pork sandwich, chips, and a side of macaroni and cheese…the perfect snack for 2 people to share.

We took a tour of the winery and learned a few new things about wine making.  I’ve been on tours that teach you about making wine from grapes.  Nashoba Valley Winery’s processes use  local fruits so there were some new machines for sorting and pressing apples and peaches.

The scenery and weather were absolutely ideal.  Even though the wines weren’t my taste, it was still a great afternoon.

We ended the evening with sushi and sports.  I ordered Kappa Maki (cucumbers), Idaho Maki (sweet potato tempura), and Beef Gyoza.  I have no clue what seafood sushi and sashimi Jared ordered.  Our orders were mixed together and I was really nervous I’d end up grabbing a fishy tasting roll.

Now I’ll just watch the Amazing Race, football, and baseball until it’s time for bed.  Lazy, lazy Sunday night!