I am so exhausted! After my craptastic week and busy day today I am pooped. My bed is calling my name!

Quick recap of yesterday.

I started my morning with Chic Fil A chicken nuggets, which was not the original plan. As you can see, I did take the time to pack myself and apple and PB sandwich on Great Harvest cinnamon chip bread.

For some reason I just could resist the thought of the chicken as I stopped by the drive thru to grab a drink.

I did end up eating the sandwich and the chicken nuggets at some point in the morning. Both were delicious.

Lunch was leftover chicken and rice with mixed veggies tossed in ranch.

In the late afternoon I went on a snacking rampage. I started with the last bits of the guac that I made on Wednesday.

It looked brown and icky on top, but it was still really green in the middle, and it still tasted good.

I also snacked on strawberry slices, string cheese and swedish fish at points in the afternoon.

By 5 PM I was ready to get the heck out of dodge, and I was really looking forward to seeing my parents who came into town for Father’s Day. They met me and B at the house and we went to Brixx for dinner. No pictures though because I totally forgot. I was too busy enjoying the company.

After dinner we hit up a local outdoors store where my Dad got a pair of Vibrams 5 finger shoes that Ashley is always talking about. They look so weird!

After a bit more visiting we called it a night because I had plans to put my Dad to work today and I needed him to be good and rested.

I slept in a little later than I meant to this morning, but that is because I stayed up a lot later than I meant to last night. I got caught up watching crazy antics of the Real Housewives of New York on DVR and didn’t end up in bed til late. Oopsie.

B was awsome and had already loaded and started the dishwasher by the time I got up so all I had to do was fix myself some breakfast. I made a bowl of cereal that I am referring to (in my head)as an EnviroKids Medley. What a great way to start a Saturday!

Shortly after breakfast my parents arrived and the work began.

We took a midday break for a Roly Poly wrap, which was delicious. I had the Chicken Cobb and B had the Catalina. Mmmmm.

In the past we have always been big Subway fans, but I have a feeling we will be hitting up Roly Poly a lot.

The afternoon consisted of a lot more housework. My Dad hung some shelves in our closets and hung some of our artwork. He gave us some tutorials so we can give it a go on our own next time. We also had to treat our yard for ants. They are everywhere! Well, they aren’t anymore.

Dinner was steak and BBQ chicken cooked on the grill with roasted red potatoes and an amazing salad. Unfortunately, I totally forgot to photograph it to.

But I didn’t forget dessert! My Mom made a homemade pound cake and we topped it with strawberries and a little whipped cream. Her pound cakes are the best. And the best part is that there is still 1/2 of the cake left. Hooray!

Now I must go to bed. But I need your help first. I am planning to go to a potluck picnic tomorrow evening and I am at a complete loss for what to take. I know some of the people who will be there are vegetarian, so I would really like to make something they can eat. Do you have any suggestions? What is your favorite dish to take to a picnic?

Night!

I am not caught up yet, but I am getting there!

I was dreading Monday even before I got on the plane to come home from San Antonio. Crazy, I know! (it turns out today, Tuesday, was the day to worry about).

I started my day with a bowl of cereal and fruit. The cereal was Koala Crisps and whatever the EnviroKids frosted flakes are. I am loving the kiddie cereals!

The fruit was only okay, I was actually disappointed. After 1 day the cantaloupe was already mushy and the berries barely had any flavor. Boo!

Plus I was hungry for lunch in no time. My stomach was grumbling at 10:30. So I held out until 11 AM and then went ahead and heated up my leftovers.

Leftover pasta with a 1/2 slice of Great Harvest rosemary garlic bread and come cucumber slices.

My afternoon involved a lot of fat and sugar heavy junk food as I tried to eat away my stress, frustration, and annoyance at work.

I was excited whan I got home to see that B had made some major progress on one of our flower beds.

Before:

Sorry for the blur.

After: It’s not finished yet, but well on its way!

Dinner was a simple baked chicken breast covered in Bone Suckin’ BBQ sauce with green beans on  the side.

I did my dinner photo shoot in a cute little cubby under my stairwell. It is so big and deep that we decided to put a piece of art in there. I love it!

With the mayhem manage (or so I thought) I scooted up to bed for some much needed rest. Much more needed than I ever anticipated.

I am so busy! Gah! And there is no end in sight since I fly out for San Antonio on Saturday morning for a tradeshow. Posting will most definitely be sporadic between now and next weekend, you can can’t on that!

Since I am so busy I gotta make this a quickie, and since I haven’t posted in a few days it is gonna be a long one.

Tuesday

B’s Mom made fluffy, delicious pancakes. I ate about 3/4 of what you see here.

I was craving salt like an addict all weekend. I ate several mugs worth of cucumber salad alongside several handfuls of salt and vinegar chips as a morning snack.

Lunch was from one of my hubby’s local faves, Taco Town. I had a bean burrito (1/2), a beef taco, part of my senora salad and some chips with dip. The special that I ordered (didn’t include the cheese and guac) was on $3.50!

As an afternoon snack I had a ginormous bowl of baked beans. It was definitely a random snack. I was hungry and trying to avoid the potato chip bag.

Dinner was jalapeno steak quesadillas from Chili’s.

Wednesday

On the road again to make the looooong 9 hour ride home. At least we got home before the rain started.

Breakfast was picked up at a gas station. There were only 3 cereal options: Cookie Crunch, Cheerios and Cinnamon Toast Crunch.

I love my choice except for the gigantic crack in the side of the container that I neglected to notice. Milk went all over the floor board. Oops!

Lunch was a BBQ sandwich from some random place off the interstate. It was saucy, just the way I like it.

I also ate B’s chips later in the drive.

Dinner was simple. B chopped up a quick salad while I ran errands in the torrential rain and we called in a pizza.

I am so glad we have a Brixx pizza near our new house. I love that we don’t have to drive far to enjoy this Margarita goodness.

Thursday

Breakfast on Monday has left me with a serious craving for chewy bagels.

I have also had an insatiable craving for Great Harvest cinnamon chip bread, especially since Diana has been eating it lately.

My solution was a Panera cinnamon crunch bagel. It was very satisfying to my taste buds. I ate 1/2 for breakfast and another 1/4 for a morning snack.

Breakfast part 2 was a small batch of overnight oats that I made just in case I didn’t have time to go by Panera this morning. I couldn’t be late on my first day back to work, after all.

1/3 oats, 1/2 Greek Gods pomegranate Greek yogurt, 1/3 c milk, 1 tbsp chia seeds. Topped with 1 chopped nectarine and a cereal medley (Koala Crisp, Whole Foods High Fiber cereal, granola).

Lunch was eaten kind of early because I had an errand to run at lunch. I am kind of liking this not going home thing. I have an extra hour to get stuff done! Hopefully I will get to use that hour for blogging most days once things settle down.

Lunch was leftovers that I had frozen last week. It is a homemade version of an cheesy enchilada Hamburger helper. Mmmm, Mmmmm. Can you tell I love me some Mexican/Southwestern flavors?

Afternoon snack dried cherries and roasted almonds. More salt!

Hopefully I will be back for dinner. If not I am not sure when I will see you again!

Too dramatic?

Phew. This girl is looking forward to the upcoming holiday weekend. My morning was good, but my afternoon was psycho! I know I had a half day yesterday but I am feeling worse for the where and I can’t believe I have another whole day to go!

Breakfast was another yogurt mess.

Strawberries and blueberries, granola and Koala Crisps, and peach Greek yogurt.

I got hungry for lunch around 11:30. I have been eating earlier since I have had so many errands to run on my lunch breaks(not counting yesterday’s super late lunch). Since I am trying to eat up the food in the fridge I automatically grabbed a leftover baked potato that was in the fridge. It was leftover from Saturday nights dinner from Outback.

I also had some broccoli and ranch on the side, and a sliced red bell pepper as a snack later in the afternoon.

Dessert was a few (and a few too many) Riesen caramels. Chocolate covered caramels are by far my favorite candies. One of these days I m going to get my hands on some gourmet salted caramels to try. Mmmmm.

I may have eaten too many, but I really needed all of the chocolate I could get this afternoon. I think I could have eaten the whole bag had I not put them out of my sight. It was like the bottom fell out of my work load. My job is always feast or famine, drought or flood. Today was definitely a flood!

I kind of had a plan for dinner all day, but when I got home I wasn’t sure I was feeling my plan….or cooking for that matter.

It turns out that I felt like throwing together dinner more than I felt like going somewhere to pick up food.

Dinner was super simple.

I diced a potato and tossed in ranch dressing and then baked on 395* for 25 or 30 minutes. I really don’t remember. Then I just nuked about 1/3 of a can of vegetarian baked beans.

I liked the potatoes so much that I went back for seconds, and now I have a ton of baked beans that I have to eat tomorrow for lunch. I like beans, but the amount leftover might even be more than I can handle.

Time to finish packing for my trip! Have a great night!

Eek! I only have 15 minutes to write this post if I am going to get in bed by my goal bed time, and 10 minutes if I want to squeeze in a load of laundry.

Ready….Set….Go!!!!!

Breakfast was a batch of overnight oats.

I topped my overnight oats with berries and Koala Crisps.

I made the oats pretty runny so I could stir in my toppings easily. They were delicious. Creamy and crunchy.

I had a pretty busy morning at work. It is getting close to the end of our fiscal year plus the biggest tradeshow of the year is coming up in a couple of weeks. Fortunately, I got a lot done and I did not have to feel too guilty when I asked to take a half day of sick leave. I have been feeling overwhelmed with the travel (ATL a couple weeks ago and a couple trips coming up), moving, and the increased workload (not complaining!) and I have been feeling run down. When I feel run down I also have a much lower tolerance to aches and pains related to my knee. I really have had trouble walking at points in the past several days due to knee and/or ankle pain.

I had several errands to run today and I wanted to give myself a little time to rest a recuperate, thus the early bed time. I have been getting up between 6 AM and 6:15 AM working all day, doing house stuff/errands during lunch and after work and not getting to sleep until midnight. My body loves sleep, I think it is because of the wear and tear on my body from having a knee replacement, so I can only do that for a few days. I really feel like I have been running on fumes all week.

Fortunately, I had available leave time and my boss was very understanding and had no problem with letting me leave. I spent the afternoon running errands so they wouldn’t consume my evening and so I could spend my evening resting. I stayed busy until 3 PM, which is when I finally sat down to lunch. I had been walking around hungry for an hour but too focused to stop to eat.

I ended up eating leftovers from last night with a side of veggies.

So. Filling. I was stuffed for hours. I spent a nice chunk of time after that sitting on the couch getting caught up on DVR. It was so nice to sit and do something mindless for a little while. Those few hours alone helped me feel rejuvenated.

I had a 7:15 PM hair appointment with a fabulous stylist in my new neighborhood. Thanks for the recommendation Diana! The layers in my hair were all kinds of jacked up and Jason is on the way to getting them all fixed up. Since I am trying to grow my hair out we have to do it in stages. Right now I am glowing in post-haircut happiness. Love it! I would take a picture but I am running short on time and my self portraits never come out good.

Because of my later lunch I was not really feeling dinner….so I thought.

I started out with a small bowl of Koala Crisps thinking I wanted something small. Then I saw the can of ABC’s and 123’s on my shelf. I started with half the can, but ended up eating the whole thing.

I won’t lie, I love these. I have been wanting to try the Annie’s version but B says no since they cost twice as much.

I am officially over my time limit so I gotta run. Time to get a full nights sleep. Sweet dreams!!!

I have a major case of the Monday blues.  How is it that I am stuck inside at my desk all of the time?! I am definitely ready for a job that includes a little out of the office interaction. Plus it would be really nice to interact with people/customers on a face to face level more often.

My morning was so relaxed because I did all of my prep work last night. I really need to try to do that more often. How easy is it to chop up a few extra fruits and veggies in the evening when I already have everything out for dinner?

I started my day with a green smoothie ( spinach, ice, skim milk, frozen banana, and chocolate Spira-tein) with some cinnamon chip toast topped with The Bee’s Knees PB. Tasty.

My morning breeze along, with a somewhat steady flow of work streaming in. I had a mid-morning snack of chopped nectarine, kiwi, and strawberry. I didn’t eat the fuzzy part of the kiwi though.

I do not do fuzzy fruit. Ick.

I was starving for lunch by the time I got home. I dumped the last of my chili mac in a bowl and topped with a huge handful of shredded cheddar. I really enjoyed it again, but I am glad it is gone. Having the same meal 3 days in a row is enough for me.

While I was at home I also had to get my massage table into my car. I posted it for sale on Craigslist this morning and it looks like I already have a buyer. Their has also been some interest in a desk I posted. I really hope I can get rid of some of this stuff and make a little money in the process.

After getting my car all loaded I enjoyed a few of my chocolate and toffee covered pretzels. These are so good that I just can’t seem to keep my hand out of the container!

Time to find something to keep my busy for the afternoon. The steady stream of work that I had this morning seems to have run dry. Argh.

Blargh. My stomach feels icky, and I have done so much gazing today that I have no idea what did it. Oh well. This too shall pass.

Another things that seems to have passed is the scare with B’s Pawpaw. It looks like a late evening surgery yesterday may have turned things around for him. He is not out of the woods but we are thankful to hear that he has been improving.

After blogging last night I ate a late night snack of a Lindt milk chocolate bunny and a tall glass of milk. I really only ate the bunny head before getting tired of it though.

What? Why is there of picture of chili mac where breakfast is supposed to be?

That’s right folks, I like the chili mac so much that I ate it for breakfast this morning. 2 bowls of it.

After breakfast and reading the paper we decided to try to spend a lot of time outside enjoying the spring weather. We started by taking Piper for a walk on a local greenway. It was a nice walk but I felt heavy from all the chili mac I ate. We ended up cutting the walk a little short.

We also made a stop by Home Depot so we could finish off our garden. We totally scored because the plants were buy one get one free!

We have a nice sized yard that could easily accommodate a garden, unfortunately the yard is on a slight incline and is shady most of the time from all of the trees in our backyard. Instead of a traditional garden we have decided to do a container garden on out patio. We now have a tomato, yellow bell pepper, basil, cucumber, jalapeno, squash, and zucchini. I wouldn’t mind adding a few more herbs otherwise I am really happy with what we’ve got.

After Home Depot we spent some time in the yard repotting out veggies and them we hopped in the car to head to Fresh Market. We wanted to pick up a few items to put together for lunch and dinner.

For lunch we were going to try to recreate my Great Harvest sandwich from Friday but we weren’t motivated enough to make pesto mayo. Instead we put together a sandwich creation of our own.

Jalapeno pimento cheese, turkey, lettuce, tomato,and red onion on Great Harvest rosemary garlic bread. The onion was too strong, which is probably why I usually avoid raw onion; but it was good. I love jalapeno pimento cheese.

I only ended up eating 1/2 of what you see here. I wrapped up the other half for tomorrow.

I also munched on a few of these chocolate and toffee covered pretzels.

I also ate a couple small spoonfuls of The Bee’s Knees Peanut Butter & Co. peanut butter.

It’s not as good as Justin’s honey peanut butter but it will do, and I don’t think it will last long.

Unfortunately the pictures end here. I spazzed out and forgot to take a picture of dinner which included bbq pork ribs that B slow roasted in the oven before putting on the grill with vegetarian baked beans and salad on the side.

While prepping dinner I also cut up a lot of fruit and veggies and there was some inevitable snacking done on strawberries, nectarines, cantaloupe, and sweet peppers. Now my fridge is packed to the max with tupperware containers of fruit and leftovers.

My weekend had sadly come to an end. I gotta get the lead out of pants and start wrapping things up. Laundry here I come.

Have a great night!

Hi all! Sorry for no afternoon post. I got a new cell phone today and most of my free time has gone to setting it up. I just love getting new gadgets!

I blew the whole getting up early thing this AM. I finally got a good nights sleep and just could not peel myself out of bed. I still made it out of bed 15 minutes earlier than I used to get up, but no time for a workout. I did dishes instead.

Yes, I lead an incredibly exciting life.

I wasn’t feeling that hungry for breakfast so I decided to make a smoothie and try a new product. I have seen Spiru-tein on several other blogs (Run Eat Repeat is the main one that comes to mind) so I picked it up at Smoothie King this weekend when I stopped by.

I am pretty sure my smoothie included Spiru-tein, spinach, banana, ice, and strawberries.

It made so much! I had to use a giant German beer mug that my brother sent to B as a gift.

It took me several hours to drink it and I still ended up dumping about 1/4.

I did some more work in the warehouse this morning and by the time I sat back down at my desk I was starving. I wanted salt and I wanted crunch so I immediately grabbed a bag of popcorn.

More than one person ended up my desk after they smelled it. Too bad for them that I had already inhaled it.

When lunch time rolled around I wasn’t all to hungry. I really wanted some gyoza from Yoshi’s for lunch (it had been too long since I have had a Wednesday lunch with Jennifer), but I had leftovers from last night.

They were really good, again, but their was way to much. I kept eating after I  was full.

And then I ate dessert! I grabbed a chunk of angels food cake that I had in a loaf pan.

On top of this I have part of a  Hooter’s sandwich that B brought me sometime in the afternoon. They were leftovers from his lunch and he knew that I would like to try it. I wasn’t hungry when I ate it, but it smelled good and I just couldn’t leave it alone. No picture because I was embarrassed that I was eating even though I wasn’t hungry. I really didn’t want to document it.

Now, several hours and a walk around the neighborhood with Piper later, I am still not hungry for dinner. I will probably eat a snack before bed, but I definitely don’t think I will eat a real meal. It is really weird to not eat. I feel like I should be eating just because it is dinner time, and I am really not sure where these feelings are coming from.

Time for some quality time with the husband and pup. Have a great evening!

I have got the post vacation blues like crazy.

I have been trying to get work done, and I have, but I have felt all overwhelmed and discombobulated all day. Does that happen to everyone?

Breakfast was the usual. I ate a chopped nectarine, strawberries, and grapes with a Glo bar.

I spent the morning catching up on work that others sent me over the weekend. Why wouldn’t someone take advantage of the holiday? I don’t get it!

I was happy to head home to Piper and to grab some lunch, although I was not loving my food options. I was torn between what I wanted and what needed to be eaten. Ultimately, I ended up eating Wednesday nights leftovers. No more leftovers in the fridge, for now, so hopefully I can have something a little more fun tomorrow.

For dessert I just had to dig into my Easter candy. I ate 2 of the Rolos along with some robin eggs (malted balls), 4 or 5 jelly beans, and about 1 tsp worth of Nerds. I sampled just about everything in the basket!

Sadly, it is time to head back to the office. Have a great afternoon!

My vacation is over and I am feelin’ sad. I seriously contemplated trying to stay another day, but I really didn’t think I could pull it off with my employer. I don’t want to lie and I don’t want to leave my coworkers hanging so I can have an extra day. So B and I packed up the car around lunch time to head home to Charlotte. At least our ride was traffic free.

This morning I was greated by an Easter basket! I am 26, but I still love a good Ester basket. Thanks Mom and Dad!

There was lots of candy, a muffin recipe book (for me), and some coffee (for B). I am looking forward to digging into the candy.

I had to make breakfast quick. We went to an early church service and I did not leave any time for breakfast. I grabbed and adore Glo bar and some milk to go. I ended up giving about 1/3 to my Mom because she hadn’t eaten anything either.

After church there was definitely some snacking because it was too early for lunch. I ate a handful of Cheese doodles and Cape Cod chips. After snacking we took the dogs for a walk, otherwise I would have just kept on snacking. We wanted to savor our last few hours at the beach by taking a walk on the beach. It was another gorgeous day. I can’t remember the last Easter that was this warm!

Lunch was leftover lasagna.

And strawberries for dessert. You guys tired of seeing these yet?

My parents and I took a trip to the flea market after lunch. B doesn’t love the flea markets like we do. I was excited that I came home with some zucchini, squash, and a cantaloupe.

Before church I put some laundry into wash so I wouldn’t have to do it once I got home. As soon as the laundry was dry we packed up the car and hit the road. Neither of us were ready to go.

About 1/2 way through the trip I snacked on some (more) Cape Cod chips that B had picked up when he went to put gas in the car.

We were excited that we made it home right at 3 1/2 hours. I think that is the best time we have made so far, much better than the ride down.

After spending the afternoon riding and unloading the car we knew there was no way we were going to cook dinner. We decided to go to a local Asian fusion restaurant, Eez.

We started with Mu Shu lettuce wraps. The filling mainly included chicken, lettuce and zucchini. I was really happy to see the veggies.

I topped my with some carrot shreds and extra Mu Shu sauce. I loved how spicy and flavorful they were. I wish I had ordered these as my entree.

We both ordered sushi rolls as out entree. B ordered the King roll. He wasn’t over enthused about it but I thought it was pretty good. I don’t know that I could have eaten the entire roll though.

I ordered the Super Crunchy roll and I was pretty disappointed. The shrimp tempura no flavor and it was not crispy. Plus the rolls were huge! I couldn’t bit it in half, but when I put the whole thing in my mouth I almost choked because it was so big.  I ended up picking to rolls apart, and then I left 2 on my plate.

After dinner we made a pit stop at Baskin Robbins for some soft serve to make up for the disappointing sushi. The Baskin Robbins was pretty disappoint too though! The only soft serve flavor they had was vanilla. I ate it up anyways and really enjoyed the cone.

Gah! It is time to shut this operation down so I can get ready for work tomorrow. I love vacation, but I always hate getting back to my real life. It’s so hard, especially when you are looking for some kind of drastic change in you real life that just isn’t happening.

I hope you all had a great weekend!

Oh! And I just realized that the winner of the Amazing Grass giveaway never contacted me with her address. I am going one last call to Nicole!  Nicole, please send email me your address so I can send you your prize!

If I do not hear back from Nicole by Tuesday night I will select a new winner.