egg you on

i’m pretty sure when you’re done reading this post you’re probably going to want eggs.

there’s really no set reason why other then the fact that most of my pictures you’re about to see involve egg whites.

well except for this one of the crotch almond shot. & the notorious gorgeous dunkin straw found in my not-so-dunkin iced cawfs..

those are my balsamic stained tan pants on the right.

is it just me or are almonds not nature’s natural candy-ish? these were particularly good. they had a slight buttery taste. maybe i was just really hungry? or maybe they were sweating just like me in my non air conditioned car.

i digress. i love almonds. and eggs.

sadly there’s no goat cheese in this post

but there is eggs

deej made salmon last night. i didn’t want salmon! i wanted eggs. eggs + laughing cow + pumpkin to be exact. i think she was pissed..

i made up for it by making her a salad while my veggies crisped on the barbie

but regardless my eggs were great.

pumpkin + egg white + laughing cow omelet with a bowl of roasted veg & various cedar’s sponsored products for dunkage.

along with their tzatziki that i previously professed my love for (which i solely demolished the entire container and need more asap like a crack addict) i also had a dollop of cedar’s roasted red chili pepper hommus.

cedar’s roasted red chili pepper hommus: not including the fact that i dearly love how cedar’s spells hummus “hommus” which is probably the right way to spell it, because let’s face it cedar’s never gets it wrong, i sincerely adore this hommus. the main word being “chili pepper.” like the fire breathing dragon i am, love that there is a huge kick in the flavor. cedar’s you’ve done it again! i give you an A.

after a super-dooper wednesday spin class, some sculpting of the abduals and a nice & quiet stretching session, i headed home for breakfast.

a lot of you have wondered how i make my egg + oatmeal oh-so decadent creation that looks something like this:

well you are lucky today. because i will give you the magic secrets of the most delicious breakfast ever.

first you must make your oats ahead of time. i cook up & watch explode 1/3cup trader joe’s toasted oat bran with cinnamon, stevia & 1 2/3c of water in the microwave, the night before. then i stick it in the back of the fridge to harden up and get cookie-dough-esque.

then when i get back from the gym i cook up 5 egg whites that i previously beat the crap out of with cream of tartar, cinnamon, stevia & a pinch of baking powder. i let the mixture set in the frying pan and flip it once to make an egg-white pancake

be patient! it will look something like this when it’s done.

i’ll stick it in the freezer to cool down for about 10-15 minutes. then i break up the previously cooked oats, rip up the egg white pancake, & mix it all together.

for the toppings i drizzle on some u-bet calorie free chocolate syrup, along with some unsweetened cocoa powder & today i topped it off with naturally more & a blackberry/strawberry sugar free jelly combo.

now that you’ve been filled in on the secret, i’m about 100% sure you will all be having eggs tonight. or atleast thinking about them.

get to it!

if that tutorial was too much for you this early in the morning, then you should probably consider practicing a monster-sized caffeination like me.

speak of the devil…did you know that right now if you live in new orleans you can come visit me via jet blue and it would only cost you $69 bucks. yeah. check these prices out! you can stay with me for free ;)

welp some of today will involve: hopefully some gazpacho making (any recipe suggestions?!), a potential trip to trader joe’s, tofu pudding action, some clients, and a potential coffee date with the bestie!

love to love you guys ;)

cawfee tawk!

• in your opinion, what’s the sexiest thing a guy (or person of the opposite sex, in case there are any man readers) can wear, and the “douchey-est” thing a guy could wear? for me the more simple the better. i think it’s so hot when a guy looks good just hanging around in mesh shorts and a white t-shirt. and i’m a sucker for a guy in khaki’s, boat shoes & a polo. simple, classic & athletic gets me errrytime. the douchey-est thing a guy could wear is a friggn popped collar or jorts aka jean shorts.
• what should i name my egg-oatmeal concoction? it’s that good that it needs to be named.

for fun: have you seen the jelly belly art gallery? if i had one of those in my house i’d end up eating it.

kicked my own butt, so can you. (yours, not mine.)

hey hey heyyyyy!

so as per the usual of my monday morning routine, 6am spin was naturally on the schedule.

i get up, get dressed, chug some water, head out to the gym, park my water bottle on my bike (yes. it’s my bike), head over to the elliptical for a 10 minute “wake up” & bang out 10 minutes of abduals.

head to the spin room, get on my bike, errrrr where’s the teacher?

no show. no problem.

i didn’t need her stinky music anyways. i took the opportunity to kick my own @$$.

personal spin class in 5…4…3…2..1..

song	position/resistance	time
never miss a beat – kaiser cheifs	medium resistance – seated warmup	3:06
because the night – cascada	3rd position to seated chorus sprints	3:25
carry out – timbaland & justin timberlake	seated climb – heavy resistance	3:55
dynamite – christina aguliera	jumps – seated/3rd & seated/2nd – medium to heavy resistance	3:09
get back – demi levato	low resistance – fast pace entire song	3:14
nothing on you – b.o.b	3rd position climb – heavy resistance increase	4:29
bulletproof – la roux	heavy resistance jumps – 3rd to 2nd position	3:28
monsters – hurricane bells	medium resistance – double time pace seated during chorus	3:16
mercy (remix) – the game ft duffy	heavy climb – seated & standing	3:47
starlight – muse	chorus sprints in 3rd position	3:59
i’m yours (remix) – jason mraz	working recovery in 2nd position	4:29
solo – iyaz	rolling hills – varied resistance/seated	3:25
young forever – jay z	heavy standing climb	4:13
naturally – selena gomez	seated all out sprints	3:10
she is love – parachute	cool down	2:38

in total my personal spin class took about 50 minutes and believe me i was equally schweaty just as if the teach was there. teacher schmeacher. and i had fun!

so with that being said. print it, find a spin bike & get moving!

now. for the record i am not a certified spin instructor. i love spin, i do it 2-3 times a week and anyone can make up their own spin class! just get on the bike, pop on some tunes, & do whatever comes to you :)

i promise you’ll leave with an endorphin high.

random eats from today:

overnight protein oat bran smothered in peanut butter & jelly

salad beast with bell peppers, carrots, kidney beans, summer squash, smoked salmon & laughing cow

gala love.

and the ever glorious combination of goat cheese, balsamic & a world of veggies.

oh please long island sweet corn don’t ever go out of season. you pair too perfectly with goat cheese & balsamic.

 

the most important thing about today, are the words i wore on my hairy arms wrist.

i’ve had these bracelets for so long and forgot all about them until i found them staring at me from my jewelry box this morning!

“wear me julie!” “okay!”

“drink me julie!” “okay!”

homemade iced cawfs. mmm :) i had a question from a blog reader about how i make my homemade iced coffee. well simple! i just make a butt load of cups ahead of time (a night or two ahead) and leave it in the fridge overnight in water bottles. then just pour, sweeten, shake & go in the morning!

alright lovers gotta finish watching the men tell it all and hit the hay! i definitely hit my exhaustion wall at about 3pm today so sleep is way overdue.

see see see ya lata!

cawfee tawk!

• what’s your favorite piece of jewelry you own & why? i love love love my tiffany butterfly necklace that my parents bought for me for college graduation. it goes with everything and is a constant reminder of the end of an era in my life!
• what are the various ways you like to kick your own @$$? for me it’s at the gym ;) clearly.

and for fun if you haven’t already then check out my guest post on the no long janetha b but janetha g’s blog & score some of my tips on how to get meal & movin in the early morning!

a noah’s dinner date

saturday night i had the luxury of crashing the couple’s party and joined deej and van for a late night dinner date in downtown greenport.

deej and i had been eyeing noah’s since it’s birth this summer, and since van is the most laid back man on the face of the earth, he was more then game to give it a go.

noah’s is located in downtown greenport, new york and features a menu of seafood inspired small plates and raw bar.

you mean i get to have tastes of everything? yes, please and thank you!

when we arrived the joint was packed to the brim, and the hostess told us that all of the tables were booked but we could enjoy our meal at the bar (where they still offer the full menu).

deej, van and i were still game for that because the bartender menu just looked that good

not 2 minutes had passed though when they luck of the irish came in and a table in the front of the house opened up with our name on it. saaaweeeet!

as soon as we were seated, our waiter came around with a full picture of water for the table, and the doughiest most deliciously chewy bread on the face of the earth (accompanied with saltless butter)

he took our drink orders and i kept it simple with a club soda + lime (the fav virgin cocktail of my life)

they brought it super swanky in a semi-glass looking personal bottle. you had me at “canada dry”

the vibe of noah’s is very simplistic yet super new york city chic-hampton like. loved it because it was bustling and busy yet still gave you the “something special” feeling.

the three of us decided we would do dinner small plate style and share a bunch of different tastes, instead of doing normal size personal plates which is also an option

the one problem? everything sounded so good. decision making was hard but eventually we settled on 7 small plates.

yes seven.

the first three dishes to arrive were the

stuffed squash blossoms which were like a goat cheese explosion from heaven

the crispy tasmanian red crab tacos which deej just absolutely keeled over for. and had a little karate kick to them that must have come from the jalapeno

and the seared tuna tartare which was by far my favorite dish of my life the night. i could seriously talk about this tuna tartare for years to come. i had never had tartare before, and deej and i had always wanted to try it ever since the words “tartare” make a weekly appearance on top chef. when i saw “seaweed salad” and tartare i knew we would run away together forever.

seriously i would go back to noah’s just for this dish. it was probably the best thing i’ve ever eaten. the tuna was like butter and the combination of the avocado which had a guacamole like taste with the seaweed salad was utter perfection.  it was served with crisp crustinis which were the ultimate accompaniment.

love you tartare

i liked the tartare, did you get that?

the service was great, our water pitchers were never empty and the next four dishes followed shortly after we had inhaled finished the first three

the moroccan spiced lamb meatballs were my second favorite. they melted like butter in your mouth and were joined by a schmear of a somewhat spicy hummus. scrumptious.

deej loved the fresh calamari fritto misto, which featured a medium sized bowl of lightly crisped yet super fresh calamari, among other things like a fried lemon, fried artichokes and fried asparagus. the dipping sauce was the best part of the dish in my opinion

we also ordered the filet mignon sliders mainly for van’s taste buds. i didn’t try this one because i don’t eat red meat but van had nothing but the best to say about them. (i think they were his fav)

and we also got the featured special of the night which was a asian inspired/flavor tuna (not raw, i just can’t remember the exact name of it). which was re-dic-you-lous. i went to town on this beauty.

after our small plate feast, our belly’s were quite happy and although the dessert menu looked a dime piece we had to book it out of there to pick up my older brother james from a wedding he and his girlfriend attended at one of the local vineyards. oh the life of a chauffeur right?

we had a fabulous time, the food was amazing, and yes noah we will be back.

…i wonder if you can order out the tartare..

so the point is that if you ever find yourself on the east end of long island i highly suggest you hit up noah’s and i highly suggest you give me a call if you’re doing so.

 

cawfee tawk!

• what’s your favorite cuisine to dine at? i love me some japanese or mediterranean! give me a seaweed salad and a bowl of tatziki and i’m a happy camper :)
• for fun: check out noah’s menu! which tasting plate would you have chosen?

white girl can’t jump rope.

let’s talk about “the fight”

no no no i’m not talking about fights you’ve been in with your sig others. although..

nah. that’s for cawfs tawks.

i’m talking about the fight you have with yourself in regards to going to the gym.

we all have it. don’t lie. just raise your hand if you had it today, yesterday, tomorrow, next tuesday..

i have it, on the daily, i do! don’t be fooled, i have a fight with myself every morning. every damn time my alarm goes off and the house is so quiet. and jenna is still sleeping and even the dog is sleeping. yet i’m up.

“whyyyyy?” i whine to ask myself.

“because you’ll feel good afterwards julie!”

“but it feels so good right nowwwww”

“shutup julie. whining is so not attractive, and might be contributing to the reason why you’re fighting with yourself about the gym and not your significant other about the fact that he leaves coffee spoon stains on the counter..”

although i do imagine that being a future argument with my non existent sig other

anyways. what i’m trying to say is that motivating yourself to workout is friggin 2/3 the battle.

and for the past two days, actually getting myself to workout has not been easy. i can’t pretend that i didn’t sit in my car for two days straight thinking about how much i would love to turn the car on and drive home.

but i didn’t.

i imagine how much better breakfast tastes when you eat it schweaty and i atleast go in a give myself the chance to get motivated.

yesterday it was great. i started off sloth like on the elliptical, then gaga came on to tell me about her poker face and 45 minutes later i was sweaty, motivated and ready to pump some iron.

today? today i felt lazy. i tried to convince myself “i’d go later” but i know myself. if i don’t do it first thing. i’m never going.

so i went. and 350 calories & a half-asked legs workout later i was “cool with” giving myself the chance to sweat it out.

that’s a lot of words. i don’t blame you if you didn’t read them ;)

20 lazy minutes amt trainer resistance

alternating sets:

• weighted step ups 3 sets 12 each leg (holding 20lb dumbbells each hand)
• barbell squats 3 sets

barbell weight (45lbs?)	20 reps
60lbs	20 reps
70lbs	15 reps

altnernating sets:

• reverse lunge & leg lift 3 sets 15 each leg (holding 10lb weights)
• wall sits 4 sets @ 1 minute each

single set: weighted calf machine 3 sets 15 (75lbs)

alternating sets:

• jump rope 1 minute
• stability ball hamstring curls 3 sets 20 (bodyweight)

single sets; donkey kicks 3 sets 20 each leg (8lb weight in leg)

for the record. the jump roping was not jump roping. it was more like try to keep the rope from getting caught in your 10 inch feet and 8 inch ponytail for 1 minute…

i guess i won’t be competing in any double dutch competitions in the near future.

when i left the gym, i left hungry. hungry hungry hippo to be exact.

the solution to it all:

egg whites & overnight cooked oatbran with better n peanut butter & jelly

i think actually i’m not really sure but what the point is that i’m trying to make is that yes it’s hard to get to the gym sometimes, and no not every workout has to be balls to the wall, some weeks we’re tired, some weeks we’re the hulk, some days yoga is the perfect workout, and some days 60 minutes of spin is just not enough. whatever you can do, is just enough, as long as you’re happy. and if you’re happy, well then i’m happy.

did that make sense?

this post is way too wordy for a friday. i' apologize to my sincerest sense.

cawfee tawk!

• what are your solutions for getting yourself motivated to workout? do you usually cave in or go? for me working out in the morning helps a lot. it’s so early that i rarely have time to think about copping out. but on the days i have off and nothing scheduled for the rest of the day, i find it so much harder to motivate myself. plus i’m seriously lacking in a planned workout schedule as of late so it’s been kind of a “fly by the seat of your pants” type workout, which aren’t always optimal for motivation.
• what are some of the weird and silly fights that you get into with your significant other? the kind that afterwards you’re like “uuuh i can’t even believe i bitched at him about that..” single girls don’t have that problem ;) although i did bitch at my dad about leaving his coffee milk out to sour. does that count?

tgif! happy friday lovers ;) catch ya on the flip and STAY COOL this weekend!

yucka yucca

do you ever have those mornings that don’t turn out the way you had planned or imagined them to..

i bet you didn’t plan to be watching the intro to duck tales and finding yourself singing along and remembering all of those solid kids shows you used to pine for.

if only fraggle rock was as cool as the housewives of d.c.

what i planned this morning being like:

wake up, prep breakfast, 6am spin, abs & stretching, come home, make egg whites, cool egg whites, load dish washer, eat breakfast, watch regis & kelly, drink caffeine, start day.

peaceful no?

what really went down this morning:

wake up. make oats & put in fridge, killer spin class & relaxing quiet 25 minutes-ish of abs & stretching. (started out great right?)

come home to exploded leaking watermelon covering kitchen floor, kitchen-a-disaster, back door wide open, missing dog, run around neighborhood looking for missing epileptic dog, 5 gallons of spoiled watermelon juice poured down the front of me, scrub kitchen floor, no more paper towels, dishes piled 10 feet high in sink, make egg whites, shower sour watermelon off, angry tummy, cranky julie, unhelpful family members, everyone’s at work, lack of caffeine.

you get the picture.

at some point following the neighbor letting us know he saw jay jay at the end of our blog & the sticky watermelon juiced shoes i was sporting i managed to finally sit down and enjoy my favorite meal of the day.

you see? there’s always time for breakfast.

 

oats & egg whites, naturally more & strawbs jam, dusted with cocoa powder. a #1 favorite!

anyways i’m glad you liked my first vlog! it was dangerous fun making it. but hey gotta live on the wild side right! i won’t bore you with them too much but from time to time i’ll pop in to give you a “hey ho what’s up girrrrl”

the ultimate best part of the morning was when i walked into the kitchen and my best sister in the entire world had surprised me with this!

i hugged her for like 10 minutes straight.

can i also tell you that i had three of these today. deej bought later, and i just convinced van to bring me home one. my family loves me. we are accepted applications for adoption if you’re wondering..

i think after this morning i earned a pedicure, no?

post ridiculously amazing pedi i beasted to the kitchen to slam together a quick lunch.

i’ve been eyeing caroline’s scrambled ‘fu for quite some time now. and the ease of my new awesome ‘fu press, i was able to slam this puppy out in no time flat

i made some home made pita chips for dippage using a tjs low carb mini tortilla & topped off the dish with some cedar’s tzatziki

cedar’s cucumber & garlic tzatziki: love love love love. move over hannah’s tzatziki, there’s a new man in town! seriously this puts all tzatziki’s to shame. it has an awesome and super fresh tasting garlic flavor with hints of cucumbers. it’s not salty at all, which i usually find is a problem in most tzatziki’s. and is now my new fav! cedar’s products never fail me, so this dip being so delicious is honestly no surprise :)

the other day when i was food shopping, i saw that yucca was on sale. i’ve been dieing to make my own yucca fries, ever since i had them from the whole foods hot bar.

ergo i purchased one of the honkers

for the fries, i simply peeled the giant ant-eater like vegetable, sliced it up into long fry like shapes, laid them across some sheets of tin foil, seasoned them with garlic powder, chili powder, salt & pepper, and plopped them on the grill obviously way too long

crispy boogers.

in essence they would have been good had i not been forgetful of the power of the weber. they would have tasted much better if i removed them off the grill about 5-10 minutes earlier.

but i do love a good crunch and made the best use of them by tossing them into my dinner salad for added crunch

crunch!

tonight’s salad featured roasted broccoli & brussels, romaine, tomatoes, mushrooms, grilled peppers, yucca fries, cottage cheese & trader joe’s horseradish hummus.

talk about a everything in my house but the kitchen sink salad.

i think tonight’s cawfee tawk will be about how you manage your money and whether or not you “splurge” on yourself.

cawfee tawk!

for weeks i’ve debated whether or not i should treat myself to a pedicure. yes i can paint my own toes and save the money but there’s just something ultra relaxing about someone else doing it for you. a pedi with tip costs about $18. and a bikram/yoga week costs $20. i’ve been in debate about which i want to choose, if either of them. i work hard and have no money, i’ll be forever paying off my car repairs but shouldn’t i feel like i can treat myself to a 20 buck fun thing? i have guilt like that. i don’t consider buying fruits & veggies or food shopping a treat because it’s what i eat and a girl’s gotta eat but i rarely buy myself real things. whoa rant. i want to be able to get a pedicure, spend the 20 bucks and enjoy it, not stress about the fact that i am now down 20 bucks. do you suffer from splurge guilt? if so what are your solutions to splurge guilt and how do you decide what to choose?!

 

alright well i’m off to bed! i’ve got a lower body workout & work on the schedule for tomorrow! is it friday yet thursday already?

giveaway winner & special treat!

i feel like this post should not need an introduction.

boy do i have a treat for you tonight ;)

and i don’t mean protein ice cream..

well you let me know if it’s a spesh treat. some may want to forget they ever knew me..

the first thing i must tell you is that i started my day with a killer back & biceps workout, with a side of a two-egg white post workout protein packed smile

35 minutes elliptical resistance 10 @ cross country level 3

alternating sets

• plank position rows 3 sets 12 (25lb dumbbell)
• bicep curls 3 sets 12 (30lbs)

high row machine 5 sets

50lbs (warm-up)	15 reps
70lbs	12 reps
80lbs	10 reps
90lbs	8 reps
100lbs	6 reps
45lbs	12 reps till exhaustion!

alternating sets

• overhead dumbbell extension 3 sets 12 (25lb dumbbell)
• barbell bicep curl (standing on single leg) 3 sets 12 (30lb barbell)

alternating sets

• dual cable pull down 3 sets
• 1st set: 12 reps; 50lbs
• 2nd set: 10 reps; 60lbs
• 3rd set: 10 reps; 67.5lbs
• v-rope hammer curls 3 sets 12 (35lbs)

the second thing i must tell you is that i warned you i would be eating the same exact thing i had for dinner last night, tonight.

roasted broccoli, eggplant & brussels, grilled peppers, tomatoes, mushrooms, corn, goat cheese & balsamic.

i hope i go to balsamic & goat cheese heaven.

 

egg white omelet with scallions, mushrooms & tomatoes.

simple food = amazing.

the third thing i should tell you is that if you want to find out if you won the ‘fu xpress, well then you better click right hur.

the final thing i must tell you is that everything else you need to know about this post (including tonight’s “cawfee tawk” can be found in

my first video blog!!

i do not apologize for my awkward annoying piece of hair that is hanging behind my ear, i certainly do not apologize for the obnoxious way i chew my gum like a cow, and i definitely don’t apologize for the way i sound like a whiney new yawker.

let me know what you think!

and of course leave your cawfee tawk comments here.

vlogging is for lovers.

i’m out like sauerkraut!