Ode to coffee!

(Scroll down to see why I titled this post what I did).

Good morning! I hope everyone had an awesome St. Patrick's Day, full of friends, hanging out and good times! I was teaching from 4:00-9:15pm and I drove home quickly to drop off my violin before heading out with a small group of close friends to an Irish pub in town. It was busy, but not as busy as I thought it would be. I really do think that the Saturday before St. Patrick's Day is much bigger here in town. (I was working all day on Saturday, so I didn't go to the parade or anywhere else). Anyway, we just ended up with 5 of us playing darts and I had one shot of Jameson plus a Smithwicks beer. We left around 12:30am and headed to the bar that I'm at most frequently--it has a really friendly feel to it, and even though it's just a sports bar, it seems to attract fairly nice people, so I like hanging out there. (OK, this makes it sound like I don't do anything except hang out, but I do work during the day and end up going out 3-5 nights a week usually, although often those are just with one of my best friends, who happens to be a guy).

Anyway, I have now officially been drinking for 3 nights in a row. Oops...I need to get some alcohol calories burned off at the gym! But anyway, onto breakfast!

I had a similar bowl of oats as yesterday:

-1/2 C oats/bran mixture (Ok, maybe it was a big half cup!)
-1/2 C pumpkin (I love the volume and fiber and nutrition it adds, for few calories)
-some frozen cherries
-small handful of trailmix (same as yesterday)
-about 1 sq. inch of Green Raw revolution bar cut up
-carob chips (I might or might not have had a small handful of these after breakfast too!)
(No fig or fish oil today)

With the other 1/2 of my grapefruit on the side:


Then I added:
-1/3 C ff cottage cheese for a protein boost


Altogether with my fine piece of literature (that was sarcastic if you didn't catch it!) and phone hanging out in the back:



I haven't seen Confessions of a Shopaholic yet. Is it good? Anyone want to give your opinion of the movie? Is it worth my time? The book was super cute, hence reading the next one! They are incredibly fast reads so they're good for right before bed when I'm exhausted and don't feel like reading anything requiring too much brain power.

I also opened a new coffee to try:

Does anyone else get Boca Java coffee from on-line delivered to them? I'm a huge fan and have had them shipped to me for a few years now! They have an incredible amount of flavors and a variety of roast options from light, through medium to dark. I don't know if I have a consistent preference. Coffee for me is one of those things that I choose based on my mood. Right now I'm going through a flavor phase (which is why I opened the Irish Creme flavor, above) but sometimes I just want black. Some days I sweeten it, some days I don't. Today I just put skim milk in, no sweetener. I realize that coffee for me is almost a meditative experience. Like it's not "just coffee". Oh no. I drink coffee to cheer myself up (at least it's calorie free, unlike chocolate, right?!), I drink it to celebrate, I drink it to wake up, I drink it for enjoyment. I savor it, breathe in the aroma, let any aftertastes develop. Sometimes though I gulp it down. I might have even been know to swallow vitamins with it! I truly love it that much, and I have to admit that most days I drink between 8-40 ounces of it (that's not a typo!) I'll worry about my blood pressure when I'm older, and exercise is often motivated by lowering my blood pressure so I can continue to drink coffee (but my blood pressure is normal right now!)

OK, so that was my short tribute to coffee. What are your favorite coffees? Brands/coffeeshops? Flavors? Roasts? Ways to drink it? Orders from Starbucks? Please leave me comments so we can all share our love for coffee!

By the way, Sarah at Mom on the Run (with her adorable daughter, Daijia!) is having a giveaway for an Honest Kids juice pouch. While the flavors all look great, I am most excited about the Tropical Tango Punch! Oooh! :)

Run to the Finish is giving away a sample pack of YOU bars. These are the amazingly cool bars that you candesign to include your particular tastes. Such a unique concept for a bar and definitely something I am interested in trying, and probably then buying if they're as phenomenal as I think they will be!

Emily at The Health Nut is giving away a reusable green grocery bag. I practice green living by recycling as much as possible, having a composter in my yard, and carrying reususable bags into stores, and my reususable coffee mug to Starbucks for fill-ups. (That are also less expensive than the same size coffee in a paper cup!)

OK, I just had a big carrot (picture later) and I'm somehow still hungry. Like, headache-y really actually hungry. I don't get it. How could that bowl of oats not have filled me up? It was a little low in fat, so I think I'm going to grab some form of snack with nut butter in it and maybe some more protein. I'm experimenting with breakfasts that actually keep me full and keep my blood sugar up. I've had problems with hypoglycemia in the past and I still can't tolerate much cinnamon (which is known to lower blood sugar). I'm getting better with refined sugars, especially if they're eaten with protein, fat and fiber. By the way, the post-prandial hyoglycemia developed in recovery from my eating disorder (anorexia). My pancreas just went haywire and decided to release WAY too much insulin evey time I eat carbs. This is partially responsible for my weight gain because I simply feel hungry all the time, even when I'm eating pretty clean. I'm not willing to do any "low carb" crap, but I do focus on high fiber, whole grains to try to keep my blood sugar up as long as possible but it tends to fall the most in the mornings. I had a glucose tlerance test done about 5 years ago and my blood sugar dropped to 31 by 2 hours after the test. PEOPLE, THIS WAS NOT FUN! I was practically comatose, asleep in the waiting room with my mom and so cold!! My endocrinologist called my physician at like 1am to tell him the results! It is slowly geting better, now that I've been healthy for a few years. But this is YET ANOTHER REASON THAT EDs ARE SO EFFING HORRIBLE! OK, sorry for yelling. I need to go grab a snack to silence my headache. Thanks for listening to the rant.

Have a great day!