The End of the World

Posted on April 26, 2012 | Leave a comment

I’m getting married in 8 days.
I also have 8 more days of finals.
Cue breakdown.

Thank God for Snuggies.

I am beyond excited for the wedding. We decided last minute that we wanted to get married before leaving NYC: close family and friends in an intimate church ceremony followed by an Italian dinner in the Village. So it’s happening.

And I’m doing my body a little favor this week.

Instead of the usual finals fare of endless pizza and snackies, I’m going to go all-out.

  • Yes, I could buy a juicer and make my own juice.
  • Yes, I could just make the effort to shop and eat super clean this week.
  • Yes, it’s expensive as heck.
  • But guess what. I’ve been wanting to do the BPC for some time now, and I’ll never have another excuse.

At the very least, I won’t feel like a bloated fat cow on our wedding day. I hate taking pictures and having all eyes on me, so this is necessary for my sanity.

Busy, busy couple of weeks ahead!

(In other news, thinking about the ING Hartford Marathon in October. Anyone run it in recent years?)

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Food Prep & (Supposed) Free Pizza

Posted on March 20, 2012 | Leave a comment

Today I caught up on two things: meals and television.

All of a sudden my apartment has a cutting board? Sweet.

I absolutely love roasted veggies. It’s nice to stick something in the oven for a while and be able to do something else…like watch Skins. I usually toss some greens with a bit of grapeseed oil, salt, and a spice mix from Trader Joe’s. Lately, I’ve been storing the resulting batches in Pyrex containers for easy reheat for meals later on.

I’ve always shrugged it off when I  heard people talking about how prepping meals ahead of time is awesome, great, super, etc., but now I get it. When I come home hungry, I don’t want to wait to cook, so I often grab a couple of Larabars and forget about a balanced meal. I’m so happy I have all kinds of reusable containers now. (They were an early wedding present from my mom!)

Twitter told me today that Two Boots was giving away free Earth Mother slices in honor of the first day of spring!

Alas, when I went into the Hell’s Kitchen location around 4:15 and asked for an Earth Mother slice I wasn’t offered it for free! I handed over my money before I thought to question the man behind the counter. Even though I made the trip to Two Boots expecting a free slice of veggie-ful pizza, I didn’t mind paying all too much.

Look at all those veggies!

Once it was in my hands, I was surprised at how big the slice was. Plus, it was loaded crust to toe with veggies (although technically mushrooms are not vegetables…). The whole wheat crust was crunchy and thick. Soooo good. I haven’t felt that way about a crust in a long time. I didn’t pay too much attention to the sauce, but I was all over those peppers. I never used to like peppers, but they’ve been growing on me lately. They proved their worth in this pizza.

And I’m pretty sure that was kale (but I could be wrong) all over the top. Pure yum.

Finally I get to showcase some of my pizza lovin’ (see where my blog name’s coming in? Eh? Eh?). I’m sad to be leaving Pizzaland (NYC) this spring. Motorino, Patsy’s, Lombardi’s, and now Two Boots…all gone.

What’s your favorite pizza topping? I’m usually all over the mozzarella di bufala, but this cheeseless wonder was a beauty!

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I got started early this morning.

Posted on March 19, 2012 | 1 Comment

I didn’t sleep too well and ended up waking up on my own around 4:45. I had my alarm set for 5, so I just ended up getting out of bed a few minutes early. But then I found one of my roommates sleeping in the living room. I could have totally used this as an excuse to not do the 30 Day Shred…but I didn’t!

Afterwards I hit up Central Park for a short, easy run. On the walk back from Central Park South to my apartment, I saw 3 gorgeous puddles of sidewalk vomit. My fave. Sorry I didn’t take a picture.

I didn’t eat before sweating this morning, and I began to feel it only a mile into my run. During marathon training I would always eat either toast with PB or a Larabar + banana before running. Since I was dragging so much this morning, I made sure to refuel as soon as I got home with some toast, PB, and clementines!

Showin' off my citrus and my diamond.

I snacked on quite a few clementines before class at 10:30, then returned home to this amazing salad (and kale chips on the side, too!):

Mixed greens, grape tomatoes, avocado, + oil & vinegar.

And then I had an afternoon crash during one of my long classes and ended up buying M&Ms and pretzels from a vending machine to prevent me from nodding off. Next time I’ll remember to fix up a travel mug of green tea and an emergency snack.

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I’m not a good traveler.

Posted on March 12, 2012 | 2 Comments

I’m on vacation at my (future) in-laws’ house in Virgina. Lately, I love getting away from Manhattan. I’m sick of all the mess…all the people. Virginia is nice and warm(er) and laid back.

But when I’m in Virginia I really miss my kitchen. My fiance’s family never cooks. I miss my kitchen stockpile of quinoa and broccoli. Instead, I’m on a steady diet of quesadillas and cookies. I feel icky.

I brought my Garmin and running shoes, but they haven’t come out of the suitcase yet. Oh, and the marathon I signed up for and am not running is this weekend.

This happens almost every time I leave home. I’m a woman of routine. I just can’t wait until my routine and my suburban home can coexist. (New Haven is suburban, right? My future husband got into Yale for grad school!)

Do you have trouble when traveling? How do you make sure you keep up with running and clean eating?

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I’m finally getting my ass off the couch. Again.

Posted on March 9, 2012 | Leave a comment

Today I walked 3 miles back from dropping off a kiddo in Tribeca. To my apartment in Midtown. It was boring. However, I did notice that everyone in SoHo has very large dogs. Like, huge dogs. They look like bears. But the Koreans in my building just have a bunch of those rabbit-dog creatures. That like to poop all over the roof.

And on top of that, I decided to work some S&M with Jillian into my day. It’s getting easier now that I’ve done it…three times.

Image

I wore my Chicago shirt. Proof I do occasionally run. Or did.

I want to change my blog name. It’s too optimistic. And it makes me feel like a bit of a fraud since I ate several Livesavers Gummies this afternoon.

I’m glad I sweat today, though.

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March Madness: Whole Foods Style

Posted on March 1, 2012 | 2 Comments

I said goodbye to February with a frown and a full stomach.

My eating tends to derail during the winter months. I camp out on the couch with Netflix and a few slices of delivery pizza. I choose an extra hour of sleep over a brisk run through Central Park. I buy more cheese than veggies at Trader Joe’s.

Well, enough of that. It’s March and I’m miserable and I’m going to do something about it. So I woke up this morning and did Jillian Michaels’ 30 Day Shred for the first time. (I bought the $5  instant video version on Amazon here.)

Don't let that smile fool you.

It was hard. Apparently I can run a marathon but I can’t hold my own with two 5-pound weights and a minute of lunges.

After that, I ran a mile to the Whole Foods in Chelsea (an easy task after shredding with Jill-Jill) and stocked up on a few BluePrintCleanse Juices. I’ve been wanting to try a day or two of the fresh, raw juices for several months now, and I’m happy I finally had the guts to make such a gamble with my wallet. I originally planned on buying a day’s worth of juice and doing an actual cleanse. However, I really enjoyed the juices and didn’t want to be done with all 6 bottles in one day, so I’ve saved a couple for the weekend.

Silly face, but that stuff was definitely smile-worthy.

See? All gone!

All in all, it’s good stuff, but not worth it at $10 a bottle. I can make a great green smoothie with kiwi, a banana, and lots of kale and get way more vitamin A for my buck.

But I don’t regret it, as a morning of juice was what I needed to get my ass back in gear.

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Lazy Lunch

Posted on February 21, 2012 | Leave a comment

On Tuesdays, I’m lucky enough to have only one class. I get to come home afterwards to a quiet apartment all afternoon. I always tell myself I’m going to be productive, but I almost always end up loafing around the apartment.

Today, however, I decided to fill up some of my lazy time with a bit of time in the kitchen.

Exhibit A — Green Smoothie

Banana, kiwi, and lots of kale.

Exhibit B — Kale Chips

These were easy, too! I threw a few handfuls of chopped kale into a baking pan, then tossed with 1T of grapeseed oil and a bit of salt. Lastly, bake in the oven at 350 for about 15 minutes. So much fun to snack on!

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