Major clothes shopping success!

Good morning! Finally, a real blog update! I feel like I have so much to share with you after just a few days away. The trip went pretty well. The shows were OK...nothing too special. But I got to try this beer:

(Yes, that does say Imperial Pumpkin Ale-8.0% alcohol! I was definitely tipsy after this!)

And for the only available breakfast I had a boring bowl of PLAIN oatmeal! Toppings, people, c'mon! ;-) (Oh wait, you mean non-food bloggers don't get so excited over adding ridiculous amounts of chopped Larabars, nut butters, granola, fresh fruit, etc?! Oh, why didn't anyone tell me?)

I got home, slept for 6 hours (more like 5 1/2) and woke up to a "real" bowl of cereal, Lisa-style:

But wait! I realized as I was sitting down to eat it that something was missing! One guess....

Peanut butter!! (Much better, by the way!)

I had various unphotographed snacks but somewhere along the way I had this bowl of overly processed vegetable barley soup. (Not that good, but hey, it was cheap!)

And a slice of bread with grated ff cheese on top. (Hence the lack of melting.)


For a random sugar burst, I ate this gummy which was being handed out (along with many other candies!) at work!


Next up was breakfast yesterday...back to oatmeal:

The most exciting part of this bar is that I added 1/3 of a Tropical Larabar! I loved this flavor (first time trying it!) I would DEFINITELY buy it again and instead of some of the other flavors! It tasted so fresh and tropical! (Over the course of the day the rest of the bar found its way into my mouth!)

While out and about yesterday (I was out from 9am-11pm!) I stopped for an Herby Turkey sandwich from Bruggers:

(times 2 for the other half, plus a pickle!)

And I had a lot of food that I didn't take pictures of. Mainly, I PB sandwich that I added one square of dark chocolate to!), a Raspberry Luna Bar, and two huge glasses of milk--mainly for the calories/protein because I was drinking them while teaching since I didn't have time for anything else!)


"So Lisa, what about the shopping success?"

Here it is!

First, a pair of knee high black boots that actually fit my calf perfectly!


And another pair of slightly-higher-than-ankle brown boots:

And my most exciting find...7 For All Mankind Jeans that fit me perfectly...for $39.95!! I couldn't believe it! (I definitely can't afford these usually!)

Onward...a cute Ralph Lauren coat that can be dressed up or down.

And several new tops:

Plus I got a great SUPER warm light blue down jacket (that I'll try to photograph at some point and put on here!) and for EVERYTHING listed I paid $160!! Talk about finding bargains! Woohoo! So exciting for me because I do love to shop! :)

Wow, talk about following that up with something not nearly as exciting...breakfast this morning:

(omelet with sauteed zucchini, mushrooms, cheddar cheese, and bell pepper plus leftover veggies on the side, and sweet potato with PB.)

With coffee, too:

Finally, I had this beautiful, freshly picked, locally grown apple when I was baby-sitting yesterday night.

Since I won Ellie's giveaway of a case of Chobani (so incredibly excited!!) I wanted to make sure to enter all of these, too. (I mean...spread the word for you all to enter! Hah!) So here are some more awesome giveaways.

Taylor is giving away See's Candy! I love this stuff, but it's only available (I think) on the West Coast, so I can't get it near me anymore!

Leslie is giving away some Raw Crunch loving!

I'm off now to get a workout in and then teach all night. See you all later!

The ups and downs of life are a funny thing.

Thank you so much for your encouraging comments on yesterday's post! They really mean so much to me, I could not even tell you! I am so glad to be a part of the blog world!

Today went much better! I think my bf and I realized that we had both let things slip in terms of making sure the other one felt appreciated and loved in this relationship. The discussion we had yesterday was very good, even if it was hard, and I think we both feel closer to each other today! I honestly feel like I'm a better person around him, and I love his companionship and constant support of me. I am blessed to be dating him and I can't imagine us breaking up. Therefore, I am going to be more intentional about making sure he knows how much I care about him and how valuable he is to me. This doesn't mean that we don't still have some differences to work through, but I think that we're coming at it from a much better angle to resolve those things.

And on a related note, I'm really proud of myself for not even once--at all--having thoughts of restricting through all of this! In the (recent) past, I've had those thoughts but I haven't acted on them--despite the strong temptation. And in the farther past, this is exactly the thing that would feed disordered thoughts. I'm very pleased about that--like I said, I haven't actually struggled with that for a while, but this is the first time that those thoughts haven't even showed up! :)

So here's the yummy food I've been eating.

Yesterday's breakfast was a great bowl of oatmeal with PB, raisins, flax, pumpkin and cottage cheese:

And a whole plum (I had already eaten most of it--sorry!)


Then, while I was baby-sitting I had one chocolate chip muffin that the mom said I was welcome to--it was delicious!!

I slept in a bit more today but still got less than 7 hours of sleep. Surprisingly though I felt OK and I went on a 5.5 mile "run". (Remember my running is short segments with a lot of walking in between.) It was great though, and I felt awesome afterwards! I have that 5K at the zoo on Sunday, so I think I'm going to do one more "long" run tomorrow and then rest on Saturday (which is a VERY busy day for me anyway, so it works well.)

Yesterday night I made a delicious dinner/snack of sauteed zucchini and EVOO topped with Sabra spinach and artichoke hummus! I think it's a new flavor and I love it!


Speaking of hummus, check out this awesome giveaway to win some free tubs of it!

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Yesterday I got my first ever package from FoodBuzz!! I got ridiculously excited upon opening them! Woohoo!

(I apologize for the blurry pictures!)

So far I have only tried the Whole Wheat loaf and it is excellent! I have been enjoying it--many pieces of it!--topped with cheddar cheese and avocado like this:

And then with spinach too like this:

It also makes excellent sandwiches, such as this one with veggie "bologna", cheese, avocado and spinach:

For a non-traditional breakfast this morning I had the same thing (finished the avocado--so sad!) and had mushrooms and carrots with hummus also.


And with coffee. (By the way, yes my plates are always perched precariously on the edge of my computer desk, where I'm eating while either reading blogs or doing e-mail!)


The bread is so delicious and I am very much looking forward to trying the other loaf soon! Thanks FoodBuzz!!

My bf and I went on a real date to get dinner at Chik-Fil-A (my first time ever!! I got the char grilled sandwich and fries and I loved it! It seems A LOT better than most fast food places!) and to see "The Hangover" which looked good and was still showing in theatres. It was hilarious (minus a few raunchy scenes!) and I actually really enjoyed it!

We sneaked these in and I had quite a few. (Like definitely more than one serving...so good!) This has been kind of a major choclate week for me!

Finally, I've been snacking on many Shapers whole grain chips (black bean and salsa flavor!) because I fund big bags at Big Lots for $1.80! They're very comparable to Sun Chips in their nutritional facts and I've been enjoying them frequently!

(Thank you Google Images!)

Here's one more great giveaway:

AnAppleADay is giving away Tropical Traditions coconut oil to cook with! I've wanted to try this for so long because I've read about it frequently in the blog world.

Good night everyone!

Blah day.

Good evening everyone. It's Monday around 9pm and I wanted to recap my day quickly, because there were some lovely eats. As for exercise...does a 40 minute walk and a few push ups count? ;-) Honestly, it's getting colder here (= 50 degrees is cold for me!) and although I don't want to make excuses, it made it really hard to want to exercise. (And my gym was closed for Yom Kippur.) So I just enjoyed the walk.

BUT...

I did sign up for a 5K race this Sunday at the local zoo! It should be super cool, because I'm heard that you can see the animals while you run! And all the proceeds benefit the zoo, so it doesn't matter that I will probably have to take many walking breaks. Plus, my boyfriend is running it with me! I'll let you know how it goes!

Onto my food.

I made a bowl of oat bran today, but I need to switch it up soon, because I didn't enjoy this very much. *Gasp*

-pumpkin
-ground flax
-some black grapes cut up
-1/2 a banana
-cottage cheese
-PB

With coffee:


Then I was literally on the computer all morning (blog addiction! But don't tell anyone!) until lunch. (Wow, that really makes it seem like I have no life!)

I made this lovely meal:


Started with this:

(one zucchini, 1/4 white onion with EVOO and garlic)

Then I added this to the pan, which was EXCELLENT, by the way!


Leftovers in the pan:

Up close and personal:


With dry toast. I hate butter! I do salt it though--is that weird?

Went out for a walk, did some work around the house, overall it was a very lazy day! I need to do something with myself in the mornings! But tomorrow and Wednesday I have LONG days of baby-sitting 8:30am-12:30pm, then teaching all afternoon (3-8 and 2-8 respectively) both days! So I'll keep busy enough. And I'm honestly exhausted. I have no idea why, but I considering getting in bed right after I finish this post to be asleep by 10pm. That's super early for me, but my body is asking for sleep. I don't see why I should fight it. I just hope I'm not getting sick! (By the way, I sleep a ridiculous amount--like I think I need 9 to 10 hours each night (does anyone know why this is?!?) and the past 2 nights have been closer to 6, so maybe that's why!)

How much sleep do you get every night? How much do you think your body really needs and does its best at?

I use to survive on 3-6 hours in grad school, but I felt awful all the time. Now my body has rebelled and insists on at least 6-8 every night, but more like 9-10 is better!

Back to food though. I had a quick snack before teaching from 5-7pm.


And finally for dinner, I made soup and toast, because I have been freezing for the past 3 days! I wanted something warm!


I ate the whole can. Everyone knows there is not really two servings in there!


Toast with cheddar cheese!


And since I have been hungry ALL DAY (argh!) I made a dessert sampler plate--YES, this is a VERY good idea, in case you were wondering!


-1/2 a banana
-1 Kashi Trail Mix cookie
-PB
-1 square amazingly ridiculously good 70% dark chocolate bar from Whole Foods!
(And unpictured, I had sugar free hot chocolate with this!)

**Edit: I'm not going to lie. I had two more squares of dark chocolate, more PB and the other half of the banana! Such is life!**

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Onto other matters. I have been given this award by Kris and Nancy!


Thank you girls!

And for my nominations, I present this to:

1) Michelle: She's doing clinical rotations in Minnesota, but this girl's a Pittsburgher at heart and we share that love! She also a darn good runner, but sadly I don't share that with her!

2) Emily: Studying hard to be a dietician, completing an awesome internship, and the first (and to date, only!) food blogger I've gotten to meet in real life!

3) Heather: I love her eating style and her general positive attitude. Such an inspiration!

4) Caitlin: She's a wildly popular food blogger (for good reason!) and she probably won't ever even see this, but I just had to give her an award for all of her accomplishments, her general outlook on life and her endless energy! She pretty much amazes me EVERY SINGLE TIME she posts!

5) Jess: She's still in high school but this girl knows what she wants from life and has her stuff together! And she has a kick a%& blog, too!

6) Sarah: What an amazing runner she is, regularly hitting the double digits of miles! I think if you added up my mileage for the whole week, it still wouldn't break the big 1-0! Plus, she's freaking hilarious in her writing style!

7) Sophia: This girl is living life fully in Southern California as she embarks on her college career! I'm so proud of her for fully beating ED (from one recovered woman to another!) and we share the experience of both being missionary kids! (More about this in a future post!)

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OK, I'm going to get in bed and read about teenage vampires. (A.k.a, Breaking Dawn, or the 4th and final book in the Twilight series, which I just started for my FIRST TIME!)


Have a wonderful night everyone! No post in the morning tomorrow because it's an early morning for me. Goodnight!