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!

Shin splints!

Hi everyone! This is a lame excuse of a post (no photos, just a lot of me rambling on!), but I just wanted to check in and let you know that I'm back from my out-of-town shows. They went OK--nothing spectacular and honestly not the most fun I've ever had but sometimes work is just work, right? Even when that includes playing in a band. But I tasted an excellent beer with a photo to come, had an amazing (and free!) meal of roasted chicken breast, fingerling potatoes, artichoke hearts, mushrooms and peas (no photo--sorry!) and went for a 55 minute run/walk on Saturday morning.

Other than that, I got home on "Saturday night" (aka Sunday early morning) at 2:30am and went to bed at 3:30am because I wanted to unpack everything! Today after church I went out for a 5.25 mile run. It turned into a run/walk and it took me 58:15. I know this isn't exactly breaking any records but it's a decently long run for me. And I decided to time myself and then to compete against myself, run the exact same course and try to improve my time!

My question for all of you is about shin splints. For me, I only get them on the inside of my left leg and nothing else ever hurts. No knee pain, ankle pain, the right leg is fine, etc. What could be causing this? I've read a little about it on-line and the only thing I can figure is that I need to go get real running shoes from a store where they measure my stride and so forth. I will do this as soon as possible, but until then, does anyone have any advice? I have been icing after runs and it helps a little. Have you ever had problems with shin splints? What did you do about it? Do they still bother you?

Well, I do have some pictures for you from the past few days that I'll try to get up tomorrow. I'm teaching quite a bit though, so it might be late. Now I'm going to read a bit before bed since I have to be up in a little over 6 hours, which is also why I didn't want to put a full post up.

However, in the meantime check out these giveaways:

AnAppleADay is giving away the Gruve Solution workout tool.

One Frugal Foodie is giving away a truly spectacular goodie basket!

Jamie is giving away a reusable grocery bag.

Jamie is also giving away Kathy Ireland Skin Care products.

Good night!

So many giveaways!

Hi everyone! This post is seriously just to catch up on giveaways that I want to enter! Haha! I'm inspired because I won a bottle of Glam Eyes Mascara from Leah's blog, so now I want to win other things, too! :) I've been teaching a lot and I don't have time to put up a full post right now. {Lame excuse, I know....} Today I'm teaching from 2-8:45pm with an hour break in there to grab lunch and read. So anyway, without further ado, I present the following fabulous giveaways:

Missy is giving away coupons for free Soy Milk!

Nutritious is Delicious is giving away MixMyGranola!

Errign is gving away cool, exotically flavored applesauce!

Naomi is giving away some Annie's lovin'!

Abby is giving away Amazing Grass bars! I want to try these, so don't actually enter!! ;-)

Lucky Taste Buds is givng away delicious soy puddings!

Jamie is giving away Justin's nut butter! (This ends tonight, but I'm glad I entered in time!)

Jamie is also giving away NuGo nutrition bars!

And one more from Jamie...need a brand new pair of super nice shoes?

Jen is giving away a book that looks fun!

More to come....

Have an AWESOME Wednesday! :)

A 5K, more giveaways and being a girl!

Good afternoon everyone! I have had an exciting day so far! Yesterday was one of my friend's birthdays, so we all went out and hung out ridiculously late and I got home and went to bed at 3:30am! The problem with this is that I had to wake up at 5:45am for the 5K race at the Zoo! I was definitely exhausted, but I still ran it in 30:44, which for me is a PR. I know that that time is slow in comparison to others, but I'm trying to focus on the huge improvement I made and not fall into the comparison trap! I have been running more consistently and improve my endurance, and I was so proud of myself after the race today because I felt like my work has been paying off. I literally started sobbing (or trying really hard not to!) at the finish line just because I felt relieved and happy and I was very tired (and emotional--thanks to being a girl! Don't know if the period is going to show up, but I'm definitely VERY emotional today!) so tears are hard to hold off on. But I also am so inspired to keep running. I know that Kath posted this following several days ago, but I wanted to share it anyway, because I thought it was beautiful:

You know the saying that your only competition is yourself? Well I don’t even think you can compare yourSELF race to race because there are just so many variables. Races are not science experiments!!!!!!! Factors like sleep, temperature, HILLS, crowds, GI tracts, fuel, hydration, weather, emotions all create so much variation that you really can’t even compare annual races. This year has a totally difference course with different hills and terrain, so I will do my best to run fast, but to compare myself with last year to a T isn’t a fair test.

Just like weight, calories, weight lifting reps, etc. – we cannot let the numbers override the pride of finishing strong.

To that I say, "Amen."

Needless to say, I came home and took a nap and I still don't feel great. I'll post food pictures tomorrow but today I just wanted to leave you with two giveaways around the blog world.

Julie GoLean is giving away candy! Sweet tooth satisfaction! Woo!

The Good Deal Gal is having a Nature Valley prize pack giveaway!

Have a good night everyone! I'm going to go to Starbucks now and try to get some work stuff done. (Bookkeeping for my violin lessons...being self-employed can be a tremendous pain!)

Giveaway winner + more giveaways to enter

Good morning! Quickly, before I announce the winners of the giveaway I had last week, here's my breakfast.

-banana bread with PB (didn't turn out as well as I hoped because I was out of baking soda!)
-cottage cheese
-a sliced plum

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I know I'm a few days late selecting a winner for my Nut Clusters giveaway, but here it is.

"I would like to try these products for the simple fact that the name Nut Clusters sounds dirty and makes me want to say "that's what she said". Is that inappropriate or is it a good enough reason? Haha"

Congratulations to Michelle, who also won my last giveaway! I promise this was randomly generated!


But it's OK because Michelle is such an awesome blogger! :) And yes, that is definitely a good enough reason! Haha!

And for the second winner of two coupons for nut clusters The Skinny Plate was selected who said:

"Would love to try these. Nuts are great snack."

Please send me your addresses and I'll put them in the mail.

You can e-mail me at violingrad19 [at] yahoo [dot] com

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Here are some more giveaways happening in the blog world:

Leah from Simply Fabulous is giving away a bottle of GlamEyes mascara!

RuntotheFinish is giving away gluten free vegan Agape nutrition bars. These things look amazing!

Healing With (Raw) Juices is giving away raw chia seeds! I've wanted to try these for so long!

OK, I'm off for another run. Hoping it goes well! Have an awesome Friday and Saturday everyone! A good friend of mine is coming into town tonight, so I'm packing her up from the airport and hanging out with her! I'm so excited!! And tomorrow I have two gigs to play (a wedding and a formal event of some sort) as well as a lesson to teach, then in the evening one of my friends is having his birthday get together/hang out and I'll still be wanting to spend time with my out-of-town friend. So I might be away tomorrow but hopefully back on Sunday after the zoo race! :)

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!

Nutty, Clustery Giveaway!

Happy Wednesday everyone!

I have a new giveaway for you all, but first let me catch up on some food quickly. Here's some of what I've been eating lately. Breakfast today was a lovely bowl of oat bran:


-oat bran
-ground flax
-raspberries
-Naturally More PB
-Almond Butter
-Cottage Cheese

With coffee:

I always seem to have plenty of breakfast pictures for you all and today is no exception. Here is yesterday's breakfast:

A mushroom and spinach omelet with salsa and a piece of ww toast with almond butter.

**I woke up craving mushrooms, so that's what I made. Who craves mushrooms other than me? Seriously! What's the strangest thing you crave regularly or have craved recently? Other than those mushrooms, my regular craves are broccoli, red peppers, chocolate, peanut butter, and oat bran.**

Yesterday I went back to my doctor because my finger infection is NOT going away!! I have started a third course of antibiotics (but a different kind this time--a nastier antibiotic!) and that's one of the reasons I've been eating a lot of yogurt. I've also been taking a probiotic supplement because three courses of antibiotics are really rough on your body! I m really hoping that this new antibiotic clears it up!

Back to breakfast from Monday morning, which was a bowl of cereal:


This was a base of frozen strawberries, with two kind of cereal, plain yogurt and peanut butter.

Later that day I snacked on a yogurt with more cereal and an apple with peanut butter.

And going back all the way to Sunday was another great bowl of oat bran:


-flax
-cottage cheese
-grapes
-almond butter :)

And for lunch I made a "real" meal of an Indian spiced sausage from Whole Foods (I have one more of these that will probably get eaten later today!) as well as sauteed veggies and spaghetti squash topped with hummus. And some red wine! Woo!


On Sunday morning I played with my church and in the afternoon I played an awesome show with a local rock band which was so much fun!

At some point for dinner I had some sauteed veggies with almond butter on them. Don't knock it 'til you try it! This is so good!


And another apple, yes with MORE almond butter.

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And now for the new giveaway of a product that I personally love!!

I am giving away two packages of Nature Valley Nut Clusters in Nut Lovers and Roasted Almond varieties, along with two coupons for $1.60 each off this product! Additionally, I will select a second winner to receive just two coupons also for $1.60 off the product! You can view the full product details and nutritional information here.


How to enter:

There are many ways to enter. Please leave a separate entry for each one you do! I will select the winner via random integer generation next Wednesday, Sept. 30th!

1. Leave a comment on this post telling why you would like to try this new product, or if you've already tried it, what your thoughts on it were.

2. Follow my blog and/or add me to your Google Reader or let me know if you already do.

3. Spread the word about this giveaway by linking back to it on your own blog.

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I'm off to work out then teach all afternoon! Happy hump day!