Saturday Night Yoga

This is gonna be a pretty quick post (well hopefully) because I have to be up in about 6 hours. Fun stuff I know..

Here's some of my eats for the day..

1/2c European TJs Plain Yogurt, cut up pear, cinnamon, 1tbsp TJs Pumpkin Butter, TJs Fiber Sticks
Carrots, salsa, TJs Garlic Mustard :)
Arnolds Sandwich Thin, 1pt WW cheese, sliced tomato & garlic powder

During the day I also decided to dabble with HungryGirl again. I can never make it through a weekend without trying one of her recipes :) I went with the HungryGirl Topless Cherry Pie.

It wasn't hard to make at all but it was kind of dull in flavor. I had a tiny piece after dinner because I reaally wanted to have one of these with some coffee.My parents and I went to our towns County Basketball Championships tonight (we lost by 1 with less then a second left it was craaazed) and on the way we stopped for some coffee. This was soooo good with coffee and I'm so glad we picked some up in the foodstore today. I always forget how underrated biscotti is. Definitely go out and buy some of these! They're the perfect coffee snack :)

I dabbled with tofu again for dinner tonight and decided to throw it on the frying pan instead of bake it. I marianted it in Yoshita sauce first for a little less then a half hour then threw them on the frying pan. I really liked the way they came out and think this might be an easier and definitely faster way to make it! My fam even helped eat the whole thing up! Deej and Van were so into it. Van didn't even know what it was at first...thought it was fish or something (haha he would) and ended up coming back for seconds!

Along with the tofu we had some delicious string beans (thanks to moi) and a side salad with a few pieces of chicken thrown in there. It was so good

I did my first Yoga Download tonight! I chose to do something quick and easy because I have to get to bed soon so I downloaded the 20 minute Gentle Hatha Yoga 1. I can officially say that this is definitely something I want to do a lot more often. I would love to do Tina's 30 Day Yoga Challenge and I think I might try it just because I'm sure I can find 20 minutes every day to squeeze a yoga sesh in there. It would definitely do me good especially since I'm starting to run a lot more. I'm gonna definitely take on the challenge!

I bought these today to snack on tomorrow at the tournament

I'm really excited to try them tomorrow and will definitely let you know what I think of both! The girl I coach with is making my sandwich and I'm not gonna lie I'm nervous about the calories and such in it. But its okay I'll just have to man up. She knows I like being healthy so hopefully she pulls through haha.

I'll be back tomorrow night! Until then have a FABULOUS Suunday!!

Improve your life #3: Know when to say goodbye. Friendships being on what we view as a positive reflection of ourselves. Over time, that view may change as another's true nature puts us in conflict with our own beliefs. Don't blame, judge or shame others. Know that you've experienced something that has forced you back to your own truths, and walk away, grateful for the experience.

Super Saturday

OH! I'm posting so late today. I had everything ready to go up like 2 hours ago but then Deej asked me to go food shopping with her so naturally I was gonna say yes! So we did that and now I'm back ready to post! I'll probably post again tonight because tomorrow I'm at a tournament all day long. How is everyone's Saturday going? Ugh I'm kind of upset because we're supposed to get a HUGE snowstorm on Monday. With this nice weather lately I thought we were past snow...ugh I hate hate hate snow :( Whatevs I guess I'll have to deal..

So for lunch yesterday I was definitely feelin the greek yogurt path. So I hit up TJs on my lunch break and bought a nice Fage 0%. I came prepared to work with some honey packets (well I yoinked them from 7-11) and a pear with TJs Fiber Sticks (new addiction). I mixed that all up in the cup of Fage to only creative food heaven. It was so good :) And very filling...
Pictured prior to the cup of maddness..

But of course not too filling for me to forget about the new Luna Bar I picked up at TJs too. I wanted to buy the Chocolate Peppermint Stick but my gut (literally) was telling me "Julie, try something new...expand your bar horizons.." So I decided to dabble with Caramel Nut Brownie.

Here's the thing. It was really good and most likely I would buy it again. BUT it still in my heart doesn't beat Chocolate Peppermint Stick! I'm just a minty girl all the way. Now on the other hand if you were say a chocolate brownie nut lover (haha I'm so immature) then you should seriously consider dabbling with this bar.

News Flash: I caved. I purchased PB2 from their website. I know I know I'm supposed to be saving money. BUT I realllly wanted to try it. So I bought the minimum amount I could which was two Peanut Butter and two Chocolate flavored ones. I mean I figured there's a 99% chance I'm going to love it. And if it ends up being the 1% I'll eat it anyway haha. But let me tell you I'm prettttty pumped for it to get here! What has everyone (or whoever has tried/bought it) being using it in?

I ended up getting my wish to come true and after Deej, Jen and I went shopping for a dress for next weekend we ended up hitting up this new sushi spot by the mall called Fortune Asian Bistro. Here's some of my eats..

A bowl of delish miso soup..

A nice Seaweed Salad & the three of us split Steamed Veggie Dumplings (first time and YUM)
Picture not seen but I thought I was ordering a mixed vegatable roll but instead they brought me a vegatable hand roll? It was like seaweed wrapped over rice, lettuce cucumber and avacado. Very interesting. I also chowed down on some of the broccoli that my sister had in her beef & broc.

All in all this place was okay. Not sure if I would go back but the sushi was half price! So can't beat that.

When we got home I was pretty tired so we opted for a movie and we ended up watching Forgetting Sarah Marshall which was hilarious. During the movie I had TWO HUGE BOWLS of popcorn. I was popcorned out by the end of the night haha.

This morning I woke up and had a banana sammie with extra PB and some Kashi Crunch in the middle (no picture). I had just made a new playlist last night so I was pretty pumped for the new songs haha.

Run Stats:
70 minutes

7.10 miles

I ran inbetween 6.0mph and 6.5mph

When I got home from the gym I was starrrrving so I made myself a big ole bowl of oats :)

1/2cup oats
1/2c Light Vanilla Soy

1/4c canned pumpkin

LOTS of cinn
2 Splenda packets

1/2 small naner smushed in
1/2 naner chopped on top

MORE CINN

1 scoop of Better N PB

1 tbsp of Pumpkin Butter

Todays workout jam: Jai Ho (Remix); A.R. Rahman ft Pussycat Dolls

IF you haven't already check out these four awesome contests that are going on right now! And don't miss out on your chance to win either of these four really super great prizesss :)

Strawberry Shortstuff 3rd Giveaway :)

Chocolate Covered Katies Jocalat Giveaway!!
Yogurt and Berries sweet Yoplait Giveaway!!

Lucky Taste Bud's Barney Butter giveaway :)

I'll post a tip later :) In the mean time have a great afternooon!!

TGIFF (Thank God It's Friggin Friday)

Good Morning :) OR Afternoon-ish?

So its pretty gorgeous out in NY today but Mr.G (the weatherman) said it's supposed to rain this afternoon! It's okay though today is definitely one of those sluggish days. I woke up this morning with a pounding headache again! Very weird so I'm definitely glad its Friday :)


Yesterday after lunch I was contemplating skipping the gym but I knew if I skipped I wouldn't be a happy camper so I dragged myself there and had a pretty quick and good workout:

Yesterday's workout:
Run Stats:
50 minutes
5.25 miles
I did Tina's 30 minute Treadmill Workout but for 45 minutes at a 1% incline with intervals of 6.3mph, 6.8mph, & 7.3mph then cooled down for 5 minutes of jogging.

Chest & Back lifting
Standing chest fly: 3 sets 12; 20lbs
Inclide chest press: 3 sets 12; 30lbs, 35lbs, 40lbs
High Row: 3 sets 12; 40lbs 45lbs, 45lbs
Pectoral Fly: 3 sets 12; 45lbs, 50lbs
Back flys: 2 sets 12; 20lbs
Back rows: 3 sets 12; 30lbs

After that I can most certainly say two things: 1. I do not like working out on a full stomach! I felt my hummus from my salad mixing around in my belly and it made it very hard to run. 2. The gym in the morning is the best. At the time I went is when all the meaties start to get there and it's hard to get some free weights and they stand in your way so they can stare at their own muscles for 45 minutes. Silly Long Island meatheads haha.



Dinner was as planned and I took no pictures because I figured you wouldnt want to see my same old eggs and Arnolds Thin with a Boca burgers. Who else loves boca burgers...I do! On WW they're only 1 pt! That's why I really love WW because you learn to love and create foods that are like 0 and 1 pts...hello my obssession with carrots and salsa :) So for dinner I had HungryGirl Cheesy Microwave eggs, an Arnolds Thin, 1 Veggie Boca Burger & a side of carrots and salsa. On the car ride to practice I sipped on some Swiss Mix No Sugar Added Hot Chocolate and a package of these yummy crispies. I love the cinnatwisty crispyness of it,

I was exhaaausted at practice last night. Felt so out of it. I think between the 4 hour test and then a pretty hard workout I was just beat. So I crashed hard when I got home. This morning I woke up with a crazy headache but I still pushed myself to get to the gym. I ate this before I left the house..

The banana was so cute and small :) So I packed on some extra PB and may or may not have ate a little out of the jar haha. I packed on some TJs fiber sticks too for a little crunchiness!

Today's workout:
10 minutes warmup Elliptical
30 second Planks: 3x
Pushups: 3 sets 15; 1 set regular, 2 sets stability ball
Military shoulder press: 2 sets 12; 12lb dumbbells (24lbs)
Bicep Curls on Bosu: 2 sets 12; 12lb dumbbells
Kettlebell swings: 2 sets 20; 20lb kettlebell
Stability ball chest press: 2 sets 12; 12lb dumbbells
Leg Press: 2 sets 15; 50 & 60lbs
Glutes: 2 sets 20; 45 & 50lbs
Leg Extension: 2 sets 15; 50 & 55lbs
Hamstring curl: 2 sets 15; 45 & 50lbs
Standing calf: 2 sets 15; 35lbs
Lat pulldown: 2 sets 12; 40 & 45lbs
Tricep pushdown: 2 sets 12; 30lbs
Ab chops: 2 sets 15 each side; 12lb medicine ball
10 minutes Elliptical cooldown

I was not feeling cardio today at all. I got on the Elliptical and wanted to pass out haha. So I thought of what else I could do and opted for a longer weight lifting sesh instead of straight cardio. I figured I did a lot of cario this week anyway so I could pass on the half hour of straight cardio. This was a good workout and tomorrow will be a long run too so I can get some more cardio in there.



When I got home I had some yummy yummy oats that included:
1/2c oats
1/2c 8th Continent Light Vanilla Soy
TONS of cinnamon
1/4c of pumpkin (because I love how it makes the oats nice and fluffy)

Then nuked it for 2mins 40secs and added:
1/4 banana
Spoonful of Better N PB
1tbsp TJs Pumpkin Butter
and duh MORE cinnamon :)


I also may or may not have munched on some of these babies before I left for work..
Grapes are like the healthy Pringles...once you start popping them in they're pretty hard to stop haha. So in order to stop I was forced to leave for work.

Workout jam of the day: SemiCharmed Life; Third Eye Blind



Who has good weekend plans? I have a tournament on Sunday and tonight I'm gonna go shopping and hopefully find a recession friendly dress for my best friends engagement party that's a week from Saturday :) Congrats to Jenna for signing the lease on her apartment!! It's time to go grab some lunchies!
Thanks to everyone for the good words about the GREs! Definitely have to reschedule those babies and get er done better :)
PS: Can't wait for the nice weather so I can start my outdoor running adventures!!


365 10 Minute Solutions
Tip #3: Share the warmth when you cook. A pot of soup simmering on the stove fills the house with fragrance and warmth all afternoon. Baking can also contribute some warmth to the house: Leave the door ajar after you turn off the oven, and let that heat fill the room. :)

GRE Bombing

Well it's pretty much safe to say that I officially bombed the GREs this morning. Well actually I know I bombed them because they give you your scores right in the end...soo yeah haha. I'm gonna have to retake them again which I can't imagine because it was painful to sit there for 4 hours. I actually almost fell asleep at one point..Anyways on to more important stuff..FOOD.

For lunch yesterday I came home to eat before I hopped on a train to get to my meeting in the city. I had some leftover coleslaw salad from the night before with a piece of deli meat turkey thrown in and a side of Garlic & Herb Laughing Cow with Trader Joes Reduced Guilt Muligrain Chips (which are sooooo yummmy).


I know it looks pretty nasty haha. Then for some dessert action I had 1/2 cup of TJs FF European Plain yogurt, mixed with TJs Pumpkin Butter, cinnamon, TJs Fiber Sticks and a small pear cut up. It was so good!

I love being creative & random with food...
Not so creative but my snack for the train ride in :)

When I got home Deej had dinner already made! Which I was very excited about because I was stressed and hungry at the same time. I mixed a tiny piece of pork in a salad with a little bit of the choppped turkey meat from the lettuce wraps the night before. Also had a side of sauteed spinach and mushrooms in garlic


Then my Biggest Loser slash LOST snack was a giant bowl of popcorn duh :)

I really wanted to go to the gym this morning but I knew it was more important to get some last minute studying in before the test (not that it helped)..so instead I made myself a good old brain food breakfast which was amazing.

I used one whole Pink Lady apple and microwaved it with some Splenda and cinnamon with a splash of water. It was so gooey I was pumped for it..

Then I took two Strawberry Kashi Waffles and used about 1 tbsp (or what was left of my Better N PB jar) and spread that on top..then topped them off with the "apple pie mixture" Sprinkled with a little cin sugar and oh. my. god. foodgasm. I took half of one of the waffles and spread some Pumpkin Butter on top..just because I was in the mood..
YUMMMMM :) with a cup of Mango Green Tea it was the perfect breakfast :)

I ate this in the car ride on the way over to the test because I didn't want to be hungry during the test but of course my hunger pains hit me about half way through

The test was my doomsday and so when it was done I could not wait to get home and eat some lunch...eat my sorrows away haha. So I made this deliciously divine salad..
Which included lettuce (obvi), some veggies (tomates, mushrooms, carrots), a Laughing Cow Garlic & Herb wedge, a self serve Sabbras Hummus (for those of you that asked I got them at BJs wholesale...first time I've ever seen them there!) and on the side I had a few TJs Reduced Guilt Chips.

After I wanted something sweet but not to heavy because I want to hit up the gym in a little while before coaching tonight..so I threw 2 5cal jellos with some cool whip and a little TJ crunchiness in there. It was perfect :)

Now I'm going to do some blog reading and hit up the gym to do a nice run in a little while. I'm thinking its gonna be a breakfast for dinner type of night :) Hope you all have a faaaaaaabulous Thursday!! YAyyy tomorrow is Friday!

Way to Improve Your Life #2: Let the slow cooker cook its way to cleanliness. Pour soapy water (about teh same strength as you use to hand-wash dishes) into your slow cooker and let it cook on high for atleast an hour before rinsing.
(I know not as exciting but I'll mix it up every day)

New Man In Town..

Move over old school popcorn machine.
Enter: new and improved amazingly fabulous popcorn machine.
Seriously my old crappy popcorn machine dieing could have been the best thing to happen to my food life in a while (besides oatmeal haha). I come home last night only to find a present for me from Amazon...could it be?? YES my new popcorn popper came already! I opened the package like a kid on Christmas and inside was this wonderful creation..

It worked SO well. My first time using it I was afraid that I was going to burn the popcorn so the packaging said microwave 3-5minutes but I decided on 2mins 40 seconds which ended up being perfect. I put a 1/2 cup unpopped kernels in there with nothing else and there were hardly any kernels which is a vast improvement from the old school one that bit the dust. It even popped so much that the top started to come off in the microwave! It was very excited and made my night great haha. Everyone should have one of these. And it was only like 9 bucks on Amazon! Talk about recession friendly shopping :)

Yesterday for lunch I had same old spinach salad with Sabras 100cal Hummus packet. It's too addicting not to! Also had some grapeys on the side..

And this new bar for dessert: Muscle Milk Light Vanilla Toffee Crunch. (I know expensive! Damn 7-11 prices). The bar was okay it was kind of like a candy bar and creamy in the middle..kind of reminded me of a Milky Way. I'm not sure if it was nutritional enough to buy again but I'm glad I tried it and it had 15g of protein in it!

Later in the afternoon I snacked on Kashi Trail Mix bar (def my fav because its like a surprise every bite haha)

Dinner was fun :) My mom and I decided to make a whole slew of things and I was feeling in the mood for something not too heavy. So we decided on The Biggest Loser Thai Lettuce Wraps. Check out the recipe :) They're so easy to make and really delicious. The only thing I could say is that I wish they were a littttle spicier..so I added some salsa on the top of mine to add a little kick. We also came up with some random Coleslaw salad and mixed in Fat Free Honey Dijon dressing. It was reallllly random but good at the same time :) Deej made some Sweet Potatoe fries (not pictured) and I had one or two but they definitely needed to be crunchier (she needs to pick up her cooking game big time if you ask me haha).

This morning I decided to have breakfast before the gym because I was heading straight to the office from the gym. I made myself myself a yummy bowl of cereal which included 1/2cup Kashi GoLean Crunch, 1/2cup Trader Joes Fiber sticks, about 1/4cup of Special K Cin Pecan & half a banana with FF 8th Continent Vanilla soy. I decided that I realllly don't like eating this much before the gym it just feels like too much jumping up and down in my tummy when I'm working out.

So I had BIG plans to hit up a spin class tonight after work. But when a last minute meeting with the bosses was sprung on me this morning I hit up the gym for a quick sesh before work.

Workout included:

20 minutes on the Stairmaster: 2 1/2 minutes warmup. Then intervals of 1 1/2mins at level 8 and 1 minute at level 11 for the remaining 17 1/2 minutes.
Tina from Carrots N Cake 30 minute Elliptical Workout
Ended with about 15 minutes of abs

After the gym I picked up a yummy cup of coffee from 7-11 and snacked on a cup of grapes and a Kashi TLC Honey Almond Flax bar. I'm definitely feelin the hungry pains so lunch will be around the corner..

You may be wondering who the new man in town is. Welp he's my prince..

For Valentines Day my friend Jenna gave me the best present ever. It was a little frog and you fill the container with water and in 72 hours a prince trasforms :) Well he's full transformed and the perfect man for me.

Todays workout jam: Third Eye Blind; Blinded

Check out the PB2 contest at Lindsey's Love of Oats contest

On another note for Christmas my lovely sister gave me a book of 365 10 Minute Solutions to Improve Your Life. I've decided that I'm going to share 1 a day with you. Comment on them...tell me if you've tried them...should be fun and interesting :)
#1 Accept that you are aligned with the Universe. Go outside. Find a park or a beach or a mountain or anything natural. Look around. Take some deep breaths. Look at the sky. Look at the earth. Don't think. Just absorb. You are part of this. Right here. Right now. You exist. And it's all good.
Some of these may be really good...some random and weird...some fun...but I just thought it would be something cool to share :)




GREs tomorrow morning. Ahh!! Lots of studying to do tonight :) And a little LOST thrown in there with a side of Top Chef finale. Have an awesome day!!

Happy National Pancake Day!!

1. Happy Tuesday :)

2. Happy Mardis Gras

3. Happy National Pancake Day!

4. Happy Birthday to my lovely friend Lisa!

So many "happys" today I can't even handle it! So this morning started out great. I felt totally rejuvinated today which was a good start, better then yesterday where I felt a totaly blahh day.

Yesterdays lunch was divine. I'm completely addicted to the little personal to-go Sabra Hummus packets and mixing them in a salad like salad dressing could be the best thing to happen to me in a while (haha sad I know). Also had some little freeze dried Fiji Apple action going on in the background over there.

Mid afternoon-ish (really earlier then that because I had the snack attack going on in my head) I munched on this bar. Definitely not my fav...kind of lacking in flavor and I was hungry about 10 minutes later with nothing left to eat and stuck at work for another 2 hours. DANGER :(

After work Deej and I did some food shopping and YAY we hit up Trader Joes. Let me introduce you to a new friend of the family...

He made an appearance this morning for breakfast..Along with some other new friends :)

I won't bore you with my boring dinner pictures (welp mainly because there aren't any) But I just had some rotisserie chicken mixed in with stir-fry veggies, a side salad and a nice sized helping of my corn casserole leftovers. Boring snooze I know the whole nine yards. BUT WAIT. Because dessert was the main event.

Pictured here is the ultimate of desserts. Because Apple Pie is a major weakness of mine. I was inspired yesterday and made "the inside of apple pie." I took 1 Pink Lady apple, 2 splenda packets, ALOT of cinnamon and a splash of water. Microwaved it for about 1 1/2mins. Mixed it all up..

Then I added in some Cool Whipped Lite, TJs High Fiber Sticks (another new friend of the family), a tiny spoonful of PB and MORE cinnamon. Mixed it all together...

And YUMMMMM :)

My night cap while watching the Bachelor and the reruned Gossip Girl that I thought was new..

Before the gym I had my same old same old banana and BetterN PB sammie. I was back on track with that and a half a glass of FF 8th Continent Vanilla Soy.

Workout:

Interval running: 10 minutes 3.5% incline, 1.5mins @ 6.0mph; 30 seconds 7.0mph

Treadmill Warmup 5 mins 2.5% incline at 5.5mph

Interval running: 10 minutes 3.5% incline, 1.5mins @ 6.0mph; 30 seconds 7.0mph

Pushups: 3 sets 12; bodyweight

Rear delt row with bands: 3 sets 15; Red band (does anyone know the difference in band colors?)

Chest Press: 3 sets 12; 30lbs, 35lbs, 40lbs

Interval running: 10 minutes 3.5% incline, 1.5mins @ 6.0mph; 30 seconds 7.0mph

Overhead Press with twist: 3 sets 12; 10lb dumbbells

Front & Side Raises: 3 sets 12; 5lbs dumbbells

Shoulder Shrugs: 2 sets 15; 20lbs dumbbells

Interval running: 10 minutes 3.5% incline, 1.5mins @ 6.0mph; 30 seconds 7.0mph

Bicep Curl with Anterior Raise: 3 sets 12; 10lb dumbbells (2 sets) 15lb dumbbells (1set)

Hammer Curls: 2 sets 12; 10lb dumbbells

Tricep Dips: 3 sets 12; bodyweight

Stability Ball Back Extension: 3 sets 15; bodyweight

Workout Jam of the Day: Britney Spears; Stronger

Due to the fact that today is National Pancake Day...I did not have pancakes haha. I'm just realllly not a pancake person. But I will still celebrate it by having breakfast (well probably twice today). Breakfast was a wonderful creation this morning, especially because I was craving so many different things due to the new additions to the family last night :)

I had a Kashi GoLean Strawberry waffle with a tablespoon of Pumpkin Butter (oh. my. god. is it heaven in a jar!) It's so good and I know it will be making frequent appearances in my food life. I also had a yogurt concoction..

This consisted of 1cup TJs Plain Greek yogurt (new addition & almost gone), 1/2cup of TJs Fiber Sticks, 1/4 cup of pumpkin, LOTS of cinnamon, 1 splenda packet, few Kashi GoLean chunks thrown in, and about 1 tbsp of BetterN PB. It was yummmy :)

I'm thinking that since today is gonna be an early dinner...that it should probably be a breakfast dinner. Breakfast for dinner = amazing. How do you plan on celebrating National Pancake Day? Have a fabulous Tuesday.

Oh and don't forget to breathe. Sometimes I think we forget how underrated breathing is, and when you're stressed or feeling overwhelmed a nice deep breathe makes you feel like a brand new person :)