Category Archives: latte

5-miler and chili on a chilly day!

I woke up early today and decided to go to the gym to exercise.  30 degrees, and dark – so no running outside!  I set the treadmill for 1 hour and set to jogging.  I can’t believe I can jog for an hour without stopping!  I never would have thought that was possible a few years ago.  Did a little over 5 miles in that time.  It felt so good to get totally sweaty LOL!

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I really like how my arms look in this picture.  You can’t see the loose skin on the biceps and my shoulders have nice definition.  Thanks NROLW!

In honor of the apple orchard yesterday, I made a yummy topping for cream of wheat:

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In a skillet I put in a little butter (yes – butter!), a sprinkle of brown sugar and cinnamon and sauteed the apples up.  Cooked until they were soft and caramelized and topped the cream of wheat.  Sooooo goood!

Early start to the day on all fronts.  I worked with minimal breaks to finish up fast so I could start my weekend!  That meant leftovers for lunch:

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I did have to make time for my afternoon latte, though!  I posed it up for fall:

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I did finish up early, so my weekend is here!  Woo Hoo!  We went out for dinner tonight, taking John’s mom to a local place called Maxwells.  They have new place mats designed by kids, and I think this one was appropriately placed in front of me:

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😀

I wanted something warm and comforting as we are going to get wet and sloppy snow tonight.  So I started with a salad:

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And the best. chili. ever.

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Just a cup, but it was phenomenal!  I loved the melted cheese on top.  It was nice and thick chili, too.  I think I have finally figured out how to take good pictures in a dark restaurant, too!  I set the ISO at 3200 to let in as much light as possible.  I really should read more on photography :mrgreen:

Question: Any exciting plans for your weekend?

Bagel Day and Hot 100 update!

It’s Sunday, so you know what that means!

I woke up feeling so puffy and tired this morning.  I am not sure if it is from the flu shot I got yesterday or not.  I have never gotten a flu shot in my life before, but decided to this year.  I don’t think I have ever had the flu, either.  John will get it and I never catch it from him.  Go figure.  Anyway, since I am now a gym bunny, I thought it would be a good idea.  My arm is pretty sore, too.  We chose not to bike to breakfast and go grocery shopping instead.  I was up nice and early due to the time change 😀

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French toast bagel.  I cannot wait until the Gingerbread bagels come out at Panera!

And the all important tasty beverage:

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We didn’t get a lot of kids for trick-or-treating yesterday.  It was pouring buckets for a while and drizzly for the rest of the night.  I’d say maybe 20 -25 kids.  We had Teddy Grahams and Animal Crackers packs, which I am fine with having around the house leftover.

I have gotten tired of tuna, so I bought some Boca Burgers to have for lunch.  In avoiding soy stuff and trying to get rid of processed items, I had stopped buying these.  However, I don’t think having them every so often is bad.  So I had one for lunch! Topped with feta cheese and A-1

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Plus half of a Comice pear.  This was delicious!

If you like chewy granola bars, you must try this recipe – they are absolutely delicious!  I made some with modifications today and had a snack with my latte:

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They take 15 minutes to put together and I think are better than Kashi chewy granola bars!  I need to try making some with protein powder.

Went great with this:

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I’m not going to post a dinner shot because the color is bad.  I need to figure out how to light those meals in the dark now.  Our CFL bulbs take nasty pictures LOL!  It was crockpot cooked pork with bbq sauce.  Delicious!

I really had good control with eating today, as I am taking a rest day and don’t need too many calories.  I’m not snacky like last week, and that is a good feeling!

Hot 100 update!

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1. Duathlon.  DONE!!!
2. Limit the number of eggnog lattes this year to 2 or 3.  Not out yet, phew
3. Keep a redline of weight in mind to not go over during the holidays.  Back under redline
4. Complete the New Rules of Lifting for Women.  Finishing Stage 6 this week
5. Enjoy time with family during the holidays.  Planning on dinner this weekend

6.  Better organization of time to be productive.  Help!

7.  Do some freelance writing.  Done another

8.  Run at least 2 more official 5K races this year.  1 down, 1 to go

Tomorrow I will talk a little bit about getting through the holiday season coming up and how I have done the last couple years.

Question:  Flu shot either H1N1 or seasonal for you?

Blood donation and chilly run.

Woke up this morning and it was again 32 degrees!  I was going to run outside as I don’t like to drive to the gym just to run unless it is precipitating horribly outside.  So, I made some fantabulous oats for breakfast and got right to work:

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40 grams of oats, 1 medium banana (part cooked in, a few slices for garnish), blueberry jam, peanut butter.  (Note  it was dark out when I made these, too early).  So freaking good!  Some days food tastes even more amazing, and this was one of them.  Maybe because I was hungry, but not starving like after a workout.

Worked until 10:30 and saw the temp was getting close to 40.  I knew it probably wouldn’t get much warmer, plus we had afternoon stuff scheduled, so here I was contemplating the thought of being cold!

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….. nice camera……

I am just a wuss, because the cold only lasts about 10 minutes, then I get hot and sweaty when running, even in almost freezing weather!  3.2 miles of sweaty goodness, although I should have snacked before I went out.

Had a fun lunch of Total Blueberry Pomegranate (love this stuff!), lowfat vanilla yogurt and a chopped kiwi.  I have never had kiwi on my yogurt cereal mash before, and I liked it.  😀

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After more work, we took a break to donate blood.  It was lickety split because no one was in line, and my veins were really fast today.  I don’t even think it took 1/2 hour from start to finish at the snack table.

My iron was at 15.4  – Broccoli and chicken rock!!  My iron was higher than John’s LOL.

Afterwards,  I had a bottled water and 1 Lorna Doone (my favorite post donation cookie).

dooneDidn’t want the whole pack because we went out for a latte at Cool Beans, where I spotted my pink item:

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I chose a skim latte and it was tasty.

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Not too hot, either.  Most times, coffee shops make the lattes hotter than the sun and I burn myself.

Did more work before dinner and then wanted more fall-themed goodness:

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Chicken on wheat bread with Cabot reduced fat cheddar topped with cranberry sauce (toasted).  Plus more broccoli – go iron!!

I’ll be working late tonight since I flexed time to donate blood and have coffee.  Plus I have to make more soap.  Busy!  Sitting here snacking on some unpictured cashews while busting out this post.  I admitted them back into the house after being banned for a while and maybe it was too soon.  I’ve eaten too many today.  Think I will put them in the freezer.

PSA:  Don’t forget to donate blood if you are eligible!  It’s a little inconvenient, but you can save up to 3 lives with each donation.  I hope that whomever gets my blood will get a little bit of radiance. 😀

I also found out that it takes 5 days for your body to replace the red blood cells that you donate.  Ooopsss… I have a race on Saturday (weather permitting).  Might be a little slow – or at least that is my excuse and I am sticking with it!

Tomorrow is biking to bagel day, hopefully.  Catch you on the flip side!

The day the camera died

(The new power cord arrived this morning, so I am up and running again with my own computer – happy, happy day!)

Rainy day. Got up and it was cloudy, but not raining and J and I were going to go out running. By the time we got dressed and had a prerun snack – it started raining. So, I popped down to the gym and hit the treadmill with pace music for 45 minutes.  Not going to get off schedule!  John went for a walk.  Then I look out the window of my gym and see him outside! He walked all the way to the gym (1.7 miles) and then hitched a ride home with me. Silly guy.

Came home and made Cream of Wheat with a mashed banana and cocoa powder. Topped with some chocolate sauce and toasted pecans. Tasterrific!
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John offered to go to the mall today to shop since it’s rainy – what a great hubby! Returning these to get a bigger size for my niece.
Pink item:

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I put on my long rain coat and put my camera into the pocket. As I got in the car and pulled the door shut, I didn’t realize my coat was dangling out the door and I had slammed the door on my camera that was in the pocket. Sad me… the LCD display is cracked and nonfunctional. It takes pictures, but I can’t see what I am taking a picture of. I am so sad! I loved this camera and it was such a bargain when I got it. The same camera now is $40 more. 🙁 What is a food and fitness blogger to do without a good camera? I have a crappy backup one to use until I get this one replaced.

Here are some photos I took not being able to see.

Looky what I saw at Target:

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Candy Corn soda!  It’s a Jones Soda brand.  I would have bought 1 if they sold single cans, but we would have had to get 6.  I loves me some candy corn, so I was all over this 😀

Hopefully some successful new slippers bought.  We stopped at Starbucks for some coffee:

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Almost in camera field 😛  Not doing too bad for not having a viewfinder.

John and I had a long talk about possiblities for the future with a new business.  I have to think a little bit about this.  Okay, a lot.  It’s a food-related business (not coffee).  We do so much pondering over coffee.  It’s a good medium for that.

My parents went out to see Jeff Dunworthy (???)  today – (whom I don’t find funny at all).  That meant I had to do a little puppy sitting!

Lizzie says “Hi – aren’t I cute??”

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Now it’s an evening in, or maybe some grocery shopping.  I have batteries charging for the backup camera, so hopefully I can start taking more pics tomorrow.  It’s too hard to guess what is in the viewfinder frame.  I can’t imagine it would be very cheap to replace the LCD screen in the camera.  I just have a tough time with technology, this week was rough between the computer and the camera.

I did finish up an ornament this morning.  I am pleased at how sparkly it is!  It’s going to be purty on the tree. (That 42 you see is my duathlon bib!)

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Question:  Where do you do your best chatting/philosophizing/pondering?