you’re my boy, blue!

bonjour! salut! hello! how are you all? how was your monday? more importantly, how was your weekend? and why did it go by so quickly? the never ending question…

today is my cat blue’s birthday. he would be 20! but he died at 13 due to stomach cancer~we had to put him down.

i miss him <3

thanks for all the super sweet comments on my mom’s guest post.  she is thrilled that you all have said such nice things about it :) she may not be able to keep up on her own blog (ahem, last post was in june!) but she can guest post on my blog any day of the week.

well yesterday was a free day for me, which means no exercise and eat whatevs.  instead of rehashing the whole day, i bring you an angharad-inspired collage (though not nearly as exquisite)of the deliciousness that occurred.

what you see: eggs benedict sans hollandaise (so does that still mean it can be considered a "benedict" or does the hollandaise make or break it?) plus avocado for brunch~some bites of fresh peach pie with whipped cream from marie callendars in the mid afternoon~a few veggies with sabra sometime during the day~one of my favorite pizza combos: pepperoni, green pepper, olives, mushrooms & onions later in the evening, eaten alongside an unsweetened iced tea~and of course i had a few more bites of that glorious peach pie before marshall took it home with him ;)

i did not go buck wild on free day, i only ate those four items. i didn’t intend to go nuts with the eating so i am glad i kept things according to plan.  instead, i ate the few things i had been craving.  eggs benedict is always a craving of mine when eating out at a breakfast spot.  i NEEDED sabra in my life so that explains that one.  and then i had not had pizza, white carbs or real cheese in 3 weeks so the pizza i had definitely hit the spot. it was a 7" personal size and filled me up perfectly without making me feel that nasty steeze that can sometimes come with pizza.  i knew the spot we went had pizza that wasn’t greasier than elvis’ hair so that is why i picked to eat there ;) and i was going to have ice cream as my dessert craving, but when marshall brought a peach pie over.. well duh.

if there is one dessert that rivals vanilla bean ice cream it is anything with peach. peach pie, peach cobbler, peach crisp.  obviously my favorite dessert, which i forgot to answer in my last post, is vanilla bean ice cream with fresh sliced peaches on top!  heavily doused in cinnamon, mind you.

it was a nice, relaxing sunday.  i had a lot of cuddle time with these characters:

oh! marshall and i found the first episode of season 4 of dexter leaked online so we watched that. ohhh boy, season 4 is going to be good.

anyway! let’s dive right into monday, shall we?

 

breakfast was my typical monday fare. for those of you just tuning in, i have a meeting at the original pancake house every. single. monday. morning.  it is good to eat there every now and then, but try eating there every monday and it gets old.  i think that if i was not limited to healthier choices i would enjoy it more (hello breakfast burrito, eggs benny, blueberry pancakes and waffles with ice cream!) but since i am keeping my eats in check.. mondays prove to be rather boring for breakfast.

meal 1: egg white scramble with mushrooms+green & red bell peppers+onions+tomatoes+avocado, small side of fresh fruit & black coffee @ 8:00 AM

 

the exciting part was there were peaches in the fruit today! that never happens. oh peach season, i love you.

typical monday shenanigans ensued after breakfast.. lots of problems and not enough solutions but i managed to make things work. 

i know you are somewhat sick of seeing my regular lunch concoction and i can assure you that today is the last time you will see it for awhile as i have officially run out of precooked chicken… i will have to think of something else for meal 2 until i cave and go to the grocery store again and cook another batch (who am i kidding, i go to the grocery store like 5 times a week)

meal 2: garbz/cottage cheese/chicken/ranch seasoning + veggies & hummus @ 12:00 PM

props to my girls holly and julie and therese (again!) who have given this banging concoction a try recently (with their personal touches such as sunflower seeds and broccoli slaw and tuna, respectively).  it is all about the hidden valley ranch!  highly recommend you try it.

so i know i said no more hummus except on free day, but i think i am ready to bend that rule.  i originally set this guideline in place because i was eating my own weight in hummus on a daily basis and because i am trying to lose some extra LBs this whole hummus relationship was not working out and i had to pull the plug.  but i love hummus, me and hummus have such a special flame and it is just impossible to deny my obsession.  so at lunch today i got out the measuring spoon and measured out a serving of chipotle sabra.  i think that if i continue to keep the hummus calorie intake in check then i can continue my love affair with the glorious garbanzo in blended form. thank you for reading my hummus thoughts.

insert more work here.

i worked too much today, an hour and 48 minutes more than i was supposed to.  guess that means i will have to leave early friday ;)

meal 4: peach cobbler protein shake @ 4:00 PM

it is so dang good. i can’t decide if i like this one or my chocolate/banana/PB one better.. hmm. anyway, in the mix:

• 1 freshy fresh farmer’s market peach
• 2/3 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk
• 1 scoop EAS vanilla protein powder
• 3 cups of cinnamon
• ice

THEN.. i finally went and got the loan documents signed for my car, which is still unnamed, but it has been decided that it is a boy because marshall’s is a girl… and they are the same car… and we are hoping they will mate and make little subaru babies and we can sell them and make millions.  what? isn’t that totally legitimate?

my car payment worked out to be $40 less each month than anticipated. holler to my freaking amazing credit score!

then i worked out.

upper body workout

• 5 min treadmill warmup/0.5 miles

dumbbell chest press

• 12 @ 35#
• 15 reverse crunches
• 10 @ 40#
• 15 reverse crunches
• 8 @ 45#
• 15 reverse crunches
• 6 @ 50#
• 15 reverse crunches
• 12 @ 40#

dumbbell flyes

• 12 @ 20#

single arm dumbbell rows

• 12 @ 17.5#
• 20 bench tuck crunches
• 10 @ 20#
• 20 bench tuck crunches
• 8 @ 22.5#
• 20 bench tuck crunches
• 6 @ 25#
• 20 bench tuck crunches
• 12 @ 20#

bent over barbell rows

• 12 @ 30#

dumbbell tricep kickbacks

• 12 @ 5#
• 30 (15 each side) standing oblique crunches w/ 25# plate
• 10 @ 7.5#
• 30 (15 each side) standing oblique crunches w/ 25# plate
• 8 @ 10#
• 30 (15 each side) standing oblique crunches w/ 25# plate
• 6 @ 12#
• 30 (15 each side) standing oblique crunches w/ 25# plate
• 12 @ 7.5#

bench dips

• 12 @ body weight

overhead dumbbell shoulder press/upright dumbbell rows i did two shoulder exercises today because i have not felt the burn in my shoulders forever, these two motions really got the burn flowing!

• 12 of each @ 20#
• 15 second rest
• 10 of each @ 24#
• 15 second rest
• 8 of each @ 30#
• 15 second rest
• 6 of each @ 35#
• 15 second rest
• 12 of each @ 20#

dumbbell side lateral raises

• 12 @ 15#

barbell bicep curls

• 12 @ 20#
• 20 standing oblique twists w/ 25# plate
• 10 @ 25#
• 20 standing oblique twists w/ 25# plate
• 8 @ 30#
• 20 standing oblique twists w/ 25# plate
• 4 @ 30#<—bicep fail. my robot arm was holding me back.
• 20 standing oblique twists w/ 25# plate
• 12 @ 20#

dumbbell hammer curls

• 12 @ 15#

weighted crunches on decline bench

• 3 sets of 15 w/ 10# weight

stats: duration=45:09, max HR=150, ave HR=121, calories=233

my arm hurts bad. for those of you who don’t know, i broke my humerus snowboarding over 2 years ago yet it still gives me a really hard time, especially when working out :/

 

went back to my car and had

meal 4: syntrax roadside lemonade protein powder+EAS muscle armor @ 7:45 PM

glug, glug, glug.

came home, slacked off for awhile, checked out some recipes and did some meal planning for the week… i hope i find some time to make a few of the millions of recipes i want to try!

then it was time for a (very late) dinner…inspired by miss PBjenny because of her baller wrap i saw today and needed tuna in my life ;)

meal 5: mixed salad topped with tuna & balsamic drizzle @ 9:30 PM

this was realllly good. i love fresh, local veggies. it contained:

• spinach
• romaine
• cucumbers
• red peppers
• green peppers
• cauliflower
• broccoli
• mushrooms

and the tuna i topped it with was mixed with a little cottage cheese and some diced dill pickles. my roomie hates pickles and one time i dropped a whole jar on the kitchen floor. the house smelled like pickles for a week.

i drizzled the top with some balsamic for a little extra moisture. bellisimo!

and since that was not too carb-heavy, i had a little room to spare for some meal 5 dessert~

half of a baby watermelon!

welp, i am aiming to get at least seven hours of sleep each night this week after last night’s measly five hours. eep. so i guess i better hit the hay!

but first, i must show you what tomorrow brings, since it is the first day of september!!

THE MONTH OF SEPTEMBER IS:

• national biscuit month
• national better breakfast month
• national chicken month
• national cholesterol education month (ok…)
• national honey month
• national mushroom month (!!!!!!!)
• national organic harvest month
• national papaya month
• national potato month
• national rice month

holy balls. that is a long list. it does not end there…

first week of september = national WAFFLE week

second week of september = national biscuit and gravy week & national vegetarian awareness week

fourth week of september = national wild rice week (i first typed “wild ride week”…hmm that could be fun, no?)

 and as for daily holidays tomorrow is a triple-header:

• national cherry popover day
• wine season begins
• oyster season begins

wow! lots to think about here people. i take my national food holidays rather seriously! ;)

Qs:

1. of all the national shenanigans coming up in september, which are you most excited to celebrate?

2. do you like pickles? what kind is your fave?

xo. janetha b.