Wins & Fails

This week has been a series of wins and fails for me. I have been successful in my healthy living endeavor in some ways and came up short in other ways.

Wins:

- I made it to the gym every morning this week
- I have been drinking at least 3 bottles of water a day (20oz bottles)
- I had veggies in every meal yesterday...pumpkin (butter) in my oatmeal (hey, it counts), salad for lunch, and brussel sprouts for dinner.
- I got hit on by a 75 year old man and a 5 year old boy this week (this could also be labeled as a FAIL but I'm counting it as a WIN)

Fails:

- Tuesday I went to the Melting Pot. Enough said.
- Thursday night I had pizza and ice cream for dinner
- I fell asleep by 8pm on the couch 2 nights this week
- Two days this week I lost the cookie battle and had a moonpie (two chocolate cookies with peanut butter in the middle for those of you who have never heard of these little bites of heaven)
- I haven't been stretching after my spin classes.

Speaking of spin, this morning's workout was a 1 hour spin class (I have been taking spin Monday, Wednesday, and Friday mornings). I have proclaimed my love for spin before. It is one of the few workouts that I can do that keeps me motivated, keeps me working at my hardest, and not staring at the clock the entire time (although I will cut a bitch to get a prime spot on the bike within view of the clock outside the studio). Other workouts have me thinking this:

Breakfast was oatmeal again. I have been really feeling the oatmeal this week...and as you guys know, I tend to eat the same thing over and over again until I get sick of it. I got sick of the egg white omelettes I had been craving the past few weeks and switched over to the oatmeal. Once this stint is over I will most likely switch over to cereal again. And the cycle continues.

Tonight is date night for the boy and I...last Friday we were supposed to go to Bosphorous but ended up at Masona Grill instead, so tonight will most likely be Bosphorous. Side question - do you guys have any suggestions for good date ideas besides the usual dinner and a movie or bowling? Something outside of the box?

I have a full weekend planned including a trip to NH and a Whole Paycheck date with my bloggie friends. Have a good weekend!

P.S. I totally DVR'ed the royal wedding and I'm not ashamed to admit it. I got a glimpse of Kate walking into the church while I was at the gym. Oh my gorgeous. Oh and the boy doesn't know it yet, but this totally may be part of our date night in lieu of a movie ;)

What is your favorite workout? Have you ever tried a spin class?

Just Another Day

Good morning friends!

So I recently switched from (attempting) to get my workouts in at night after work and on weekends to committing to going to the gym in the morning during the week and just doing activities I enjoy on the weekend. It takes a lot of pressure off of trying to fit in a workout on the weekend when I have so much other stuff going on and takes a lot of the battle out of working out during the week because getting it done in the morning means not having to choose between working out and spending time with the boy and my friends. So far it has been working out really well and I have only skipped a few workouts in the morning here and there over the last month.

This morning's workout was a speed workout on the treadmill. This has actually become my ritual Thursday workout. I did a speedy 4 miles and then called it quits. Breakfast was oatmeal (which I promise I did not take a picture of and will not post for you because if I see another picture of oatmeal in the blogworld I will scream). My morning snack was my usual banana. I sometimes miss the creativity I had when I was younger. I have pretty much the same three breakfasts over and over again and a banana for a mid morning snack just about every day. Oh well, if it ain't broke, don't fix it.

As I mentioned on Tuesday, I went to Sip Cafe on Monday and got the roasted chicken sandwich, but it didn't have a lot of avocado on it. Now THIS is how you do avocado on a sandwich:

Please excuse my less than stellar phone picture. This was homemade in my own kitchen of course...no restaurant would give you this much avocado without paying extra for it. Also in my avocado sandwich is some turkey and spinach, but we all know who the real star is.

Sides:

A pair and some green beans. Not very interesting, but hey, it was nutritious! Unpictured snacks yesterday were some veggie chips and a banana.

Dinner was originally supposed to be a salad on my own because the boy was supposed to work late, but he ended up getting out early, so we decided to hit up Franco's for pizza and beer. Root beer that is. Franco's makes their own and it's pretty good. I love homemade rootbeer.

We split a large pizza, with feta and garlic on my side and hamburger on his.

I didn't love my half. I only had one and a half slices and then called it quits. The garlic in the pizza was in huge chunks and while I LOVE garlic, I don't love biting into huge chunks of it unexpectedly. On the walk home we each grabbed a peppermint stick ice cream cone. It was the perfect temperature for a little stroll.

If you follow me on Twitter or are my friend on Facebook, you may already know that I got hit on  by a 75 year old man the other day. Well, last night I got hit on by a 5 year old. Yep, he asked me to be his girlfriend. Apparently I have some sort of sign that says I am single and desperate and if you have trouble going to the bathroom on your own, I am INTERESTED. How depressing.

Have you ever received unwanted advances?? What's your go to snack that you always eat?

The Downsides to Working Out

I know you guys actually read my blog because you love my pessamistic self-deprecating humor, right? Then you've come to the right place! I actually like working out most of the time. Sure I complain about it, but the sense of accomplishment of a completed workout far outweighs the downsides of actually working out. With that being said, there ARE downsides...and here they are.

1. Sweat rashes. TMI maybe? Oh well, I'm just being honest! I get sweat rashes a lot, usually either under my arm, in the crook of my elbow, inside of my thigh...wherever I sweat a lot. No amount of baby powder completely cures this problem. It makes wearing shorts and a tank top unsightly in the summer.

2. Blisters. Even with careful planning, bodyglide, strategically placed bandaids and buying the correct shoes for your feet, blisters still happen. And they suck. I always manage to get blisters in the most painful and annoying places.

3. Raging hunger. The more I work out, the more I like to eat. Which completely negates the fact that I worked out. It's an endless vicious cycle.

4. Being tired at 8pm. Ok, in truth I would probably be tired at 8pm even if I didn't get up at 5:30am every morning to work out, but the working out ensures that I could put my head down at 8pm and fall asleep instantly. It also makes me completely useless at night because I'm so tired and lazy.

5. Having to shower twice. Some people like to shower. I do not. I do it out of necessity of course, but when I go to the gym in the afternoon or evening, that means I have to shower again and that makes me unhappy.

6. Sweaty ponytail hair. In case I hadn't already mentioned it, I sweat perfusely when I work out, and that usually equates to have sweat drip off of my ponytail, which is just the grossest thing.

7. The DOMS. That would be delayed onset muscle soreness for those of you who do not obsessively read fitness magazines like I do. The DOMS usually occurs the day AFTER your workout and then continues on for at least another day after that. Squats give me the worst DOMS.

8. Annoying or inadept class instructors. There is nothing worse than leaving a class feeling like you could have done more because the instructor clearly didn't know what they were doing or were just half-assing it (I have had this a lot with instructors who teach multiple classes in a day...by the time they get to the evening class, they have nothing left). It also sucks being demotivated by Fitness Barbie in her pink leotard and neon white teeth. When all you can thinking about is wanting to snap off her head, it's hard to focus on how hard you're working.

9. Permastink. You gym goers all know what I mean..."permastink" is the permanent smell your gym clothes take on no matter how many times you wash them or whatever fancy pants detergent you use. Gym clothes can clearly be distinguished as gym clothes by the way they smell.

10. Pre-planning. Working out takes a lot of pre-planning. If you're a runner, you have to plan your route, water stops, etc. If you are a morning gym goer, you have to pack a bag to go right to work, or pack a bag if you are going right after work. That's just a lot of WORK. For lazy girls like me, that's the number one reason I would skip the gym if I didn't live less than a mile away and had the option to change and shower at home.

What is your least favorite part of working out?

Sip Cafe and Little River Band

Good morning!

The weather is sucking the life out of me. I want some SUN. Moving on...

Lunch yesterday was a new find...Sip Cafe. It's in Post Office Square in Boston and if you work in the financial district, you have to try this place. The cafe is in the middle of post office square and it's glass all the way around, making the space feel very open and bright. All the tables were taken when I went in, but I would have loved to sit and stay a while.

(source)

They have a variety of sandwiches, soups, and salads that are all made fresh and looked amazing (I creeped other people's food while I was waiting for mine). They also serve coffee and pastries in the morning which I  may have to try out as well.

(source)

I ordered the Roasted Chicken sandwich with provolone and avocado. You have the option of getting it as is or pressed...obviously I chose pressed. Hot sandwiches > cold sandwiches. Fact. It was delicious but a little light on the avocado (clearly I like to add at least a half of an avocado to any salad or sandwich, I'm just a pig like that).

And despite the fact that yesterday I said I was not going to give in to the boy and his mission for 50% off candy, I went ahead and bought this guy anyway. It was the last one in the convenience store on the first floor of my building and I felt bad for it. Ok that's a lie. It just looked really good.

Last night I came home to a rare treat. Dinner was made for me! The boy made a pot roast, reheated some leftover mashed potatoes and boiled up some broccoli.

He did a good job except the broccoli was a little overcooked. By overcooked, I mean, it was mush. I couldn't really eat it and considered saving it to make broccoli soup but ended up just throwing it away. The rest was good though and we have leftovers to make beef stew (which I will post my recipe for eventually).

Dessert was a pineapple blueberry mix topped with homemade whipped cream. Homemade whipped cream is one of those things I always try to have in my fridge. A dollop of whipped cream makes anything better.

After dinner we headed out to Best Buy. As we get into the boy's car, he puts a CD on. Suddenly Little River Band starts playing "Reminiscing."

Me: "Are you serious with this?"

Boy: "What are you talking about?"

Me: "Is it just this one song or is this whole CD Little River Band?"

Boy: "It's the greatest hits"

: blank stare :

Boy: "Yeah, I know I'm a little gay. Wait, you're not going to put this on the blog are you?"

Me: "You know everything you say and do is subject to my blog."

Sometimes he still surprises me.

*Confession: I really love that song Reminiscing too.

What music are you embarassed to admit you like?

Odds and Ends

Look who arrived at my house on Friday! Meet Cecil:

Cecil has been making his way around the country visiting different cities. In case you want to catch up, here are his adventures with Amy and his adventures with Tiffany. I can't wait to show Cecil around Boston and tell you guys all about it!

And now onto the weekend...Friday was spent running errands waiting for the boy to get out of work so we could have our usual Friday date. I had a groupon for Masona Grill in West Roxbury, which I was going to do a review for but the owner of the restaurant and all of the waitresses were starring at us so I didn't get any pictures. I ordered the coffee rubbed sirloin steak (which I had to add salt to...the HORROR), the banana bread pudding for dessert (worst bread pudding I have ever tasted) and asked for espresso to finish my meal, which they didn't have. Instead I got coffee and even the coffee was terrible. We made up for it Saturday with a trip to tour the Wachusett Brewing Company Brewery in Westminster, MA.

I love Wachusett Blueberry (especially with real blueberries added) so I was really excited to tour this brewery. It's a small brewery, but the tour was very interesting. The brewery was started by three engineers and everything in the factory is retrofitted to their production. We got 2 free samples with our tour (which was free). The boy and I tried the Black Shack, Belgian White, Summer, and Country Ale. The best two were the Black Shack and the Belgian White.

Of course, once I get started drinking beer, it's hard to stop, so the boy and I drove back to Waltham and headed over to Franco's near our house to grab a small pizza, drink some more beer, and play pool. Of course, since we finished the tour at 2, I was ready for bed by 10. I live a glamorous life y'all.

Sunday I spent most of the day cleaning with the windows wide open because it was WARM here in Massachusetts (finally)!

I also spent a good portion of my evening perusing my new cookbook and marking recipes to try.

Everyone has raved about this cookbook and so I decided to grab it with a Barnes and Noble gift card I've been holding onto since Christmas. Sure enough, I have about thirty recipes marked to try.

Allow me to pat myself on the back for a quick second. Easter is in my opinion, the best holiday for candy. Not halloween, not Christmas. Easter. Peeps, Cadbury Mini Eggs, Creme Eggs, big chocolate bunnies....really the deliciousness never ends. This season, I managed to get through the holiday having only consumed TWO creme eggs, one large bag of mini eggs, and one medium bag. No peeps, no bunnies. Of course, the boy is a sucker for a deal and has mentioned several times going back to the supermarket this week for the 50% off easter candy, but I will not allow it. I won't be giving in!

What's your favorite easter candy? Are you a sucker for the 50% deals? Have you tried either of the Terry Walters cookbooks?

Visual Assault & The Queens of Distruction

How's THAT for a title?? Before I jump into yesterday's food, I want to mention a few things that haven't made the blog yet.

First, I posted on Tuesday about my fabulous Marathon Monday experience...but I left out a juicy little tidbit.

Melissa and I took the train in together, so we decided to meet at the Quincy Adams T station. Since I'm a complete freak about parking (I refuse to pay to park and will avoid doing so at all costs) I parked at the Home Depot next to the train station.

As I am walking along the sidewalk, minding my own business (a rare occurrance for me) I see what I think is someone smoking behind the wall. As I get closer I see that he is not in fact smoking, but peeing. And he is facing the sidewalk. With his junk out. I got a full frontal eyeful (much like the time a 16 year old trench coat mafia kid masturbated in front of me on the train a few years ago, but that's a whole other story).

Obviously he can see that I am coming down the sidewalk, but doesn't put it away. Perhaps he is considering using this opportunity as a pick up line. Thankfully he does not and casually shakes it off finally and zips up just as I am walking by.

While I am waiting for Melissa inside I see the same guy and desperately try to avoid eye contact...it is obvious we both saw each other and I would like to pretend it just never happened. Luckily he turned and walked right by me.

Nothing like starting your day off with an eyeful of penis. <---TWSS.

On a completely different note, I neglected to mention that the other day I came home to flowers. They were "just because" flowers, which are the absolute best kind. They came home looking like this:

But then quickly went to looking like this thanks to the Queens of Destruction:

Oh well. It's the thought that counts.

Now onto yesterday's food! I have told the boy several times (so much so that he repeats it verbatim back to me all the time) "the happier I am the happier YOU are," which translated to chocolate chip pancakes for him yesterday morning as a thank you for the flowers (pancakes are a pain in the ass during the week).

Lunch was a grilled cheese and tomato sandwich with a side of the Chicken Spietzel soup from Brueggers (surprisingly good if you ever find yourself at Brueggers).

Dinner was some sauteed brussel sprouts and a sweet potato to make up for my serious lack of veggies yesterday.

I also had a mid morning snack of a banana (unpictured).

I have been going to spin class Monday, Wednesday, and Friday mornings and have to say that I am really loving it. I had forgotten how much I loved it since running often takes all of my focus, but since deciding to downgrade my half marathon to the 5 mile portion, I am free to enjoy whatever workouts I want without worrying about getting my 4 runs a week in. I have been getting 2 runs in a week and feel really good about it.

So tell me, have you ever seen something you wished you hadn't?

Signs I'm Getting Old (at 28)

I'm 28 going on 80. Practically overnight I can feel the chains of death pulling me closer to it's evil grip. Ok, so maybe that's a little dramatic. I actually have no problem with aging at all...just like Joan Rivers.

The signs are all there. Here are the signs that I am getting old fast...

1. Hangovers. In college, my hangover would last an hour. Pop a tylenol, eat some greasy leftover pizza for breakfast and I was good to go! What time does the next party start? Not anymore friends. Now, I need Motrin 500s, a full breakfast, an extra 5 hours of sleep, and another twelve hours lying on the couch recovering. Getting drunk is now a full three day event...one day of actual drinking and then two more for recovery.

2. I'm tired by 9pm everynight. Which leads me to #3...

3. I can fall asleep anywhere. Sitting up. Propped up. Laying down. On the bus. At work. Mid-conversation.

4. Eating too much fiber now has detrimental consequences. Gone are the days of eating indiscriminantly whatever and whenever I feel like it. I now notice that eating certain combinations of foods can have disasterous effects.

5. My idea of a great Friday night is dinner with the boy, movie at home on the couch, in bed by 10. Quality time!

6. Liking Justin Bieber music makes me feel like a pedophile. Sure I loved New Kids on the Block and the Backstreet Boys back in the day, but back then they were age appropriate for me. What is my excuse for loving Justin Bieber??

7. U2 is now played on classic rock stations. When did this happen?

8. I sometimes wonder if muscle soreness is a sign of early onset arthritis. And then I hobble around like an old lady.

9. Cleavage. As in, I hate showing it now because it makes me feel unprofessional. Plus as you get older, things look better covered up. In college, it was the more boobage the better!!! Oh I miss those days when showing the goodies actually got you some where.

10. I constantly find myself having "remember when" conversations with my friends. As in, remember that movie The Sandlot? Or, remember that time we ran from the cops in high school with our twelve pack of natty ice? Or, remember when slap bracelets were cool?

What has you feeling old these days?

Marathon Monday

I learned the secret to drinking copious amounts of alcohol is to spread it out over several hours. Melissa and I decided to go into town yesterday to join in on the marathon monday festivities (so basically any excuse to start drinking at 11am).

We took the train into Park and decided to walk since the green line was packed...and obviously in close proximity like that on a crowded train, at least one of us was bound to get groped.

It was quite a lovely and scenic walk over to Copley, I couldn't resist snapping multiple photos of all the blooming trees and flowers.

We finally arrived at the finish line and were about 25 people deep. We were so far back we could barely even see the huge TV. We did make it just in time to see the first woman cross the finish line, though. It was such an awesome thing to be a part of.

Here is almost as close as we could get to the TV.

The crowd quickly got to be too much for the both us since we are practically midgets, so we decided to go peruse Newbury Street (which was EMPTY) and grab our first drink of the day at Charley's. Sam Summer is officially out so of course that's what I ordered!

During our first drink, Melissa got a call from Alaina to meet for lunch. On the way to meet her, we spied this.

And then this in the window of the store:

Is that not the most hilarious thing ever?? We thought so. We even sang the song straight out of Clueless...don't pretend you don't remember "Rollin with the Homies" when Ty fell in love with Elton?? You know you loved that movie and song, don't lie.

Finally we met up with Alaina to try a sandwich place she had heard good things about, Piattini.

Here is me and Alaina after spying the HOT waiter we had. All smiles :)

I ordered the Piattini Panini...which is chicken cutlets, mozzarella, tomatoes, and prosciutto (which I opted out of). It was absolutely amazing. Fairly priced as well. I will definitely eat there again if I'm ever in the area.

After lunch, we headed over to Lolita to meet up with Laura after she finished the marathon (3:18 she finished because she is AWESOME). It's at this point that the double fisting began. One shot and El Diablo margarita at the same time. I would like to be all badass and pretend that I can handle this, but typically I can't. If I hadn't had food in between, I would've been a hot mess. Again, the secret to day drinking is to spread it out.

After chatting with Laura for a while and talking shit about people, Melissa and I and her friend Kip headed out to Kendall Square to meet the boy for a few drinks at Flat Top Johnny's. Two more beers were consumed as well as a soft pretzel (to absorb the alcohol so I wouldn't have to be carried).

Melissa and I had an awesome day. As promised, while everyone else was running the marathon, we were marathoning the booze and having a great time! Proof positive that you don't need to run a marathon to FEEL like you ran one the next day (after too much drinking the day before).

P.S. I'm not an alcoholic, I swear.

Nourish Fresh Bar and Grill

Happy Marathon Monday! Today I am heading into the city with Miss Melissa to enjoy the festivities (and consume copious amounts of booze and cotton candy at Lolita). More on that tomorrow!

Friday night, Melissa and I decided to hit up Nourish Fresh Bar and Grill in Lexington.

For starters, the restaurant itself is a strange shape, almost with two seperate dining rooms. There are mirrors and art on the wall that are slanted in, making the room on the left feel much smaller than it really is. The service was lacking, as we waited a good half hour for our check after the meal was finished (and didn't see our waitress walk by in that time). However, the great thing about Nourish is that they use local food. A not so great thing though is spelling mistakes on their menu.

For my entree I ordered the Pesto Chicken sandwich with a caesar side salad. The salad was great. The sandwich however, had far too much pesto and was very salty.

I also had an unpictured glass of Sangria with dinner. I will start out by saying I am picky about my drinks, but not that picky. This was hands down one of the worst glasses of Sangria I have ever had. I promptly switched to Diet Coke. All in all, I like the concept of Nourish, but the subpar service and not so great food, I will not go back.

Before dinner, I went and got my hair did for the first time since I used a groupon eight weeks ago and got my hair botched. The woman who cut my hair eight weeks ago cut way too much off, didn't shape it correctly, made my bangs very choppy, and used bleach to highlight my hair instead of color. Probably one of the worst experiences I've had...but now it's corrected and looks so much better!

After gabbing for a few hours Friday night, Melissa and I parted ways and I went home to catch some much needed sleep. A little before midnight, the boy texted me that he was too drunk to drive and could I come get him. So I drove a half hour down to get him and he was nowhere to be found. After waiting there for an hour, his friend's girlfriend thankfully called me to let me know he was passed out at her house. I drove another fifteen minutes further south to get him (getting pulled over for speeding in the process) and ended up having a half a bottle of two buck chuck once I got there. We didn't end up leaving there until almost 3am, so let's just say most of Saturday was spent recovering. I just can't hold my liquor y'all.

Yesterday, the boy and I ran errands and then took a walk along the Waltham Bike Path since it was a nice day.  I sadly forgot to bring my camera so I didn't take any pictures :/ So far today the weather looks the same as yesterday, so here's hoping for a beautiful day for a race!

Anyone else watching the Marathon today?

I Have to Have It!

Oh Friday, I have been waiting for it all week! I can't wait to sleep in tomorrow, have a leisurely breakfast, and then head to NH to see my bestie Briar :)

Tomorrow night is date night for the boy and I (usually it's Friday night but tonight he is going to see Bob Seger at the Garden for which I am achingly jealous). We are going to a new-to-us restaurant called Bosphorus in Cambridge, so expect to see a review next week!

Last night (and actually most of yesterday) I was CRAVING some vegetarian sushi (I swear I'm not pregnant). Ever since I had it last Wednesday night at Fuji 1546, I have wanted it again. After scouring yelp for a good half hour trying to find a decent sushi place in my area that had a good variety of vegetarian sushi and coming up short, I decided to convince the boy to head to Whole Foods for dinner. This goes back to my (lack of) ability to save money. We had plenty to eat at home, but when a craving hits, nothing else will do.

Because the boy is indecisive, I had my vegetarian sushi and my plate from the hot bar picked out before he had even chosen one thing. I offered to split my hot bar plate with him since I got the sushi:

We split grilled pineapple (a must-get at the hot bar) and the apple crisp. The mac n cheese was all mine. For some reason, I really really love the mac n cheese at Whole Foods hot bar. The boy got his own mac n cheese because he knew I wouldn't share.

For my sushi I selected the avocado and cucumber rolls:

I ate three pieces and saved the rest for my lunch today. I can't wait to dig into them! The sushi was good, but obviously not as good as the sushi I had at Fuji. As far as supermarket sushi goes, it was pretty much what I expected. It ebbed my craving a bit, but I will still be trying to convince the boy he will like it so we can go to an actual sushi place to get it (I have made no progress on that as of yet). Boys are stubborn and picky.

It's funny because I'm very much a patterned eater. I will eat the same things over and over again until I get sick of them, rather than incorporating a variety of foods into my diet. I will probably drag the boy and my friends to Whole Foods or sushi places as often as I can until I can't eat sushi anymore.

Do you tend to eat the same things over and over again until you get sick of them or do you try to change things up often?