My sister!

She's leaving. She and her husband are going to India to teach overseas for a year or so. I am a little saddened by this, since I know I won't get to talk to her very much (although even now I only talk to her twice a week or so). We are very close! Best of luck and all the success in the world, sister!

Since I'm new to blogging, I forgot to take a picture of my delicious bowl of oats! But here's what was in it:

1/2 C organic dry oats
1/3 C pumpkin
1 vanilla honey "energy chunk" (from the Whole Foods bulk bin--it's delicious, mostly seeds and honey together in little squares. It's pretty calorie dense at 60 cals per square. I chopped it into little pieces as a topping. And I ate my first one ever yesterday while putting away WF groceries.
Delicious!)
"some" (I didn't measure) fruit and nut trail mix also from WF. It had so many different things in it. (Papaya, almonds, pepitas, cranberries, raisins, sunflower seeds, and probably other things)



"some" (ditto) chocolate trail mix. OMG, so good! Chocolate chunks, chocolate chips, PB chips, yogurt covered peanuts, peanuts and raisins. There MAY have been another two tiny handfuls of this eaten. :)



And absolutely delicious coffee. Today it was a blend of organic Serena blend from Starbucks and Christmas coffee from Baltimore Coffee Co. (any bloggers in Baltimore? This stuff is AMAZING! I've only tried two flavors, but I have two more to try and I can't wait!) Today's flavor is orange, butter rum and cinnamon!)





And somehow I was still hungry (I've been working out a lot!) so I had a carrot with PB. I finished the last of my jar from Whole Foods!




Please forgive the blurry pictures! I need to figure out why they are blurry and I will try and make the next ones better!

Really quickly, before I go the gym again, I want to also keep track of my workouts. Yes, I want to get in shape and become much more fit/toned, but I also feel WAY better with hard workouts that challenge me and leave me sore. I was a gymnast when I was younger and I completely fell of the gym bandwagon in college. Now I'm much heavier and not in shape, but I still enjoy working out. Yesterday I did 30 minutes on the elliptical (14 % ramp incline, 14 on resistance!) and 12 minutes biking (then they kicked us out since the gym closes at 6pm on Sundays!) The day before that I did 30 minutes on the treadmill, a legs workout and more biking. But it's not just any old biking. I use the Expresso bikes, which are AWESOME! Basically, it's a bike with a TV screen in front and you can ride through all these simulated courses with tons of different scenery. And it's like a 30 speed bike so you have to adjust the gears depending on the hill grade. Plus, it's so technologically advanced that it keeps track of all your rides in its system and when you re-ride a couse, it sends a ghost rider which is you previous personal best time! Which is EXCELLENT for competitive people like myself. I see it and it motivates me to beat my best time! I always end my rides dripping in sweat! Check out their page: http://www.expresso.com. So much fun and an incredible workout!

OK, I need to hit the gym, the post office, and start some laundry before I teach 3 private violin lessons tonight. I love teaching and I'll post more about that later. For now, take care of yourselves and have a great afternoon!