I think Valentine’s Day is stupid.  There I said it.  Pink, red, and purple are my least favorite colors (next to green).  Flowers are a terrible gift to give…they die, what is that saying?  And if you are anything like me you just use VDay as excuse to throw moderation out the window and eat more chocolate/cupcakes/dessert than one human should eat in an entire month. If the government offices and schools aren’t closed, it isn’t a real holiday in my world.

That being said, I don’t mind getting gifts…so I never downright say I don’t want anything for Valentine’s Day.

While out running our weekend errands the hubby bought me the Houston Starbucks mug I have been wanting and we got some dark chocolate caramel hearts to share.

And we used the VDay excuse to splurge on Sweet Lola Fro-Yo.  We split a half red velvet-half frosting with peanut butter crutons.  Yum yum!

I went a little heavy on the dairy and packed crackers snacking yesterday considering I will be running a marathon this weekend and should really be considering how my foods affect my body performance.  Eh…I will get it together today.

We also took Trooper to the park this weekend (Saturday) for a nice long walk/squirrel hunt.

I was planning on doing intervals during our walk but after .2 miles of intervals I decided to just walk with my boys!  I had gotten in a 3 mile run in that morning but I had wanted to put a few more miles on the legs.

Go ahead and say it, Karissa, you have the most beautiful (manly) dog in the world! I know!  Notice Trooper rocking his Purdue collar!

Of course there was lots of good food this weekend.  I made a big stir fry bowl Friday night.

I had a side of toasted pita with Laughing Cow and spinach with my stir fry.  I couldn’t really find anything in my pantry that went with the Chinese-eque stir fry so I just made pita.

I had this lovely breakfast after my Saturday morning run!  I finally ran a negative split on Saturday…first time in a long, long time.

I had a wrap for lunch and dinner on Saturday so I won’t bore you with the picture.

Sunday morning we got up to run errands.  I had a scheduled 8 mile run but my leg was giving me some pain and I don’t want to injure myself 1 week out!  Per my husband’s request we at breakfast ate Ikea.  I had coffee and half of the cinnamon roll.  I know Ikea breakfast is real classy and all…but hey, that whole tray was only $4.50.

Went to Sams for my spinach, apples, and bananas run and found these sweet twin packs of Reebok workout clothes.  I only had to dig through 4 bins to find my size.

Lunch was a lame-o turkey sandwich, pretzels, and carrots….but Brinner was amazing!  Whole wheat pancake mix with bananas and blueberries.  Putting the bananas in while cooking is genius!  They get all carmelized and melty….swoon!

Okay I need to get in my last long run (I am cutting back to 6 miles) before my rest days!  Oh yeah, I will probably be attending class for 8 hours too.

Happy Valentine’s Day or whatever. Don’t forget to enter my iTunes gift card giveaway and help a girl get her tunes together for 26.2 miles!

Last night I spotted the sneak preview of Sweet Lola’s new Red Velvet flavor on Facebook and went straight to the shop after a power-hour of Corporations .  Who needs dinner first? Of course the froyo is great at Lola, but their toppings are to die for!  I had half red velvet, half vanilla, and a whole lot of Brown Betty crumble!

In case I hadn’t mentioned, this fro yo place is also the cutest, most quaint store on the planet!  Those in Houston must stop by!

After my gigantic bowl of fro-yo I ended up eating a taco salad at like 9pm.  Let me preface my next statement by saying that I never consider eating a bad thing or think I did something wrong by eating.  [I do realize that there may be some recovering from eating disorders who may read this blog and I want to be sensitive to your situation].  That being said, at the end of the night I was not thrilled with my eating choices.  Here’s why:

• Eating late at night/before bed always upsets my stomach
• I am really trying to listen to my body and I know my body wasn’t really hungry
• Marathon training has made me much more conscious about how food affects my body and level of performance
• Bottom line is that I need to stop eating just because it is a “meal time”.  If my body needs fuel eat, if not don’t.

On another note, I did make myself a wonderful packed lunch yesterday.

My lunches for the last two weeks have been a peanut butter sandwich, granola bar, and fruit.  Not that I don’t love PB (because I do!) but it was time to switch it up!  I looked in the fridge and found the leftovers from my taco salad on Tuesday night.

WW bagel-thin, guac, lettuce, mushroom, and turkey.  Delicious!  I have really been craving meat lately so this turkey sandwich really hit the spot!

Back to today: I had a simple bagel thin with peanut butter and cinnamon for breakfast.  A tasty homemade iced latte was also enjoyed.  I am about to hit up the gym to get in some incline running and my first strength workout of the week!  I need to incorporate more strength training but I always manage to let it slide.

You all have been so awesome with the mascara tips and finds!  I am actually excited to run out of mascara so I can try my new recommendations!  You have until Friday to enter the mascara giveaway!

Well…absolutely no teams that I care about made it to the Super Bowl.  I dislike the Steelers and am just neutral towards the Packers.  I might just sit out the Super Bowl this year and spend my time being more productive!

As the games became more depressing to watch more tequila was ordered.  We watched the first game at a new bar called The Distillery.  It is a nice, simple sports bars with A LOT of TVs.  I ordered the sliders (unpictured) and they were okay.  Not life changing, but only $5.

After the Bears game we moved onto a little dive bar near our friend’s new townhome.  When I go out on the weekends I try to keep a rough drink calorie estimate in my head.  Basically I like to eat a lot, so if I am going to go overboard with calories I would rather them be in the form of solid food.  Not that I always follow that logic.  Especially after a few shots.  Anyway, I know that I had had a frozen screwdriver, margarita (on the rocks), Strongbow (in a bottle!), and shot at our first bar.  Once we hit the second bar I was pleased to find they had Budweiser Select 55.  This is a nice way to enjoy a beer with friends and not go overboard.

This sign was in the bar.  It is either really fun or really sad depending on how you look at it.  My husband and I then proceeded to loose at darts.

We got home and were starving!  Besides it being past our usual dinnertime being tipsy always seems to make me hungry!  The closest thing I could find to drunk food was some Cheddar Rice cakes.  The hubby and I laughed and made a “You know you live with a healthy living blogger when….” joke.

[Source]

We popped a BBQ Chicken pizza into the oven and snacked on some crackers and Laughing Cow (again funny drunk food snackage).  I ended up eating 3 slices of the pizza!!  I like this pizza but for some reason it is just not as satisfying as pizza with a nice thick doughy crust.

I also made us  side salads.  I figure eating a salad equals out all the alcohol and refined carbs. Right?

And to end our weekend we enjoyed dessert!  Amazingly I haven’t had dessert all week so we got Sweet Lola fro-yo.  I tried their new berry flavor and was impressed at always!

I also enjoyed a couple of these Anna’s Chocolate Mint Thin Cookies. These are a really thin, crisp cookie that tastes like a girl scout thin mint!

Needless to say I woke up this morning feeling less than stellar.  I rarely ever drink or stuff my belly so full right before bed so I woke this morning needing water and a good workout!

It was raining so I hopped on my stationary bike, drank down a bottle of water, then enjoyed a nice big Green Monster for breakfast!

Time to start the week and do all my homework before class!

P.S. Purdue dominated in true GameDay fashion!

This morning I had the first of my long runs for my next half marathon (the double half Pelican Challenge).  It took me 40 mins of running until my body felt like running.  I probably should have taken another rest day this week, but we cut about 20 minutes of the run instead.  My big toe also really started hurting! I felt like the thing was broken it was in so much pain every time my foot hit the ground.  My husband told me I had turf toe.  I told him only football players get that.  Neither of us know what we are talking about, but I am staying off my feet the rest of the day and hoping it gets better!

Pre-run food was a piece of toast with AB and cinnamon.

This nearly empty jar makes me so sad and so happy at the same time!

The hubby and I then went forth and did 1 hr 22mins for a total of 8.33 miles.  It was slow and I don’t care.  Tomorrow is a 5 mile tempo run, so I wanted the energy.

Let me recap dinner last night:

Greek yogurt, banana, blueberries, tons of cinnamon, and Kashi.

On the side sandwich thin with Laughing Cow and strawberry jam.  The BEST combo ever, if you haven’t tried this- YOU NEED TO!  No joke.

Dinner was fairly small because I mindlessly snacked soooooo much last night.  The hubby wasn’t getting home until late and I just sat in front of the TV and munched.  It was relaxing.  I also watched Lifetime Movie Network for a good couple hours while the hubby was gone.

My snacks are unpictured but I had a few handfuls of tortilla chips, lots of handfuls of Special K cereal (cereal is deadly around me!), 2 of my truffles, and then a late dessert of vanilla frozen yogurt.  Somehow I still managed to wake up hungry this morning so my body must have been hungrier than I thought!

The hubby and I are going to check out a rumored gumbo cookoff and then watch the Boilers!

What are your plans this lovely Saturday?  Lovely because I saw the sun peak its little face out!

Well I woke up this morning feeling like I got hit by a bus.  I did get my butt up, finish my briefs, and make it to an 8:40 am class.  Accomplished.

My breakfast was a Carnation Instant Breakfast-Sugar Free in a to-go cup.

After class I had a nice twenty minute walk home in the wind, rain, and cold.  Is this really Houston?  These temps are annoying!  My entire walk I was Miss Grumpy until I got to my door…

Chobani yogurt!!!  Yay!  I won a giveaway over at Crunches for Cupcakes and my yogurt arrived today.  Nothing like getting some yogurt to brighten your day!

Because my hands were still cold, I decided a big bowl of whipped up banana oatmeal was necessary for lunch:

Yes, this was a good as it looks!

In between sneezes I had a chocolate rice cake for dessert.

Since this girl did Pre Trial homework then crashed last night let me recap dinner:

Leftover Spinach Artichoke Casserole

I had about half the baking dish left of spinach artichoke dip, so I decided to whip up a casserole for the hubby to eat for dinner.

I microwaved dip until warm and then broke it up with a fork

I then topped with some cooked whole wheat penne, 1 chopped chicken sausage, pasta sauce, and covered the whole thing with shredded mozz.  Since the pasta and dip were warm I just put it under the broiler to finish heating and brown cheese.

Wow, this thing came out looking good.  Too bad I had already made myself roasted veggies for dinner.

Baked tofu, roasted butternut, mushrooms with balsamic dressing, and carrots.  Everything was delicious!

And then the snacking began.  I have been in serious snack mood this week.  I ended up eating way too much-like need to put on sweatpants.  I think my body must have known I was about to get sick and needed some extra energy for today.  I won’t go thru all the snackage, but I must mention my frozen yogurt bowl:

Lots of fro-yo, blueberries, butterscotch chips, and agave.  Yummy!

One of my classes was canceled today so I am about to take a nap!

Don’t you wish you were still partying in New Orleans right now?  I know that I sure do.  But…this girl has Admin Law bright and early, so it is back to Monday reality for me!

But first…lets live in the winning moment one more time:

The hubby in his Drew Brees jersey, myself in my Mrs. Brees shirt.  SOOOOO happy for the Saints.  Also happy that Drew Brees is representing Purdue!  And yes, I really am that short!

My eats yesterday were just ridiculous!  But running for two hours gave me a lot of burned calories to make up for.

At the two parties we stopped at I munched on the following:

• roasted chickpeas
• cracker and cheese ball (probably like half a dozen at least)
• chips and spinach dip
• cupcake (made with applesauce, none of the boys even knew!)

I came home for the last quarter of the game to relax and keep Trooper company.  I made myself a huge yogurt bowl.

Sorry the weird lighting in some of these photos, I was playing around with settings on my camera.  This bowl had pumpkin yogurt (greek yogurt + pumpkin+spice), apple chunks, blueberries, Kashi Honey Almond Flax cereal!  So good!  And I was actually full after this bowl, but the game got nerve racking so I snacked away anxiety!

About a whole bag (luckily the small size bag) of pretzel nibblers was consumed and then 1/2 cup frozen yogurt with blueberries on top!  With my belly uncomfortably full the Saints intercepted the ball and ran it for a touchdown.

By this time the hubby had joined us and we were jumping up and down while Trooper stared at us in disbelief.

Onto Monday morning- I didn’t sleep well last night, maybe too excited still?  I just got up at 5:30 instead of laying there awake.  I have intervals on the schedule but my legs were still a bit achy.  I hit the bike for 5 minutes and then did strength!  Woo!  I did a whole 25 minutes of weights, crunches, squats!  I was proud of myself.

Breakfast was lovely berry oatmeal.

1/4 cup oats

1/8 cup oat bran

1-1 1/2 tsp flax

1 cup water

blueberries

almond butter

strawberry jam

Kashi

Now it is time to hit the books again…Boo!

Do you like Peanut Butter? Who doesn’t!  Head over to Une Vie Saine to check out her great PB & Co. giveaway!

How was everyone’s Super Bowl?  Any good eats or recipes you came across?

{**EDIT:  For some reason not all of this post’s photos are showing up on Google Reader, if you aren’t seeing pictures of delicious Fro Yo, head over to CardioFoodie because it was tasty!**}

After planning to get in an hour run yesterday, one thing after another kept slowing us down, and we finally called it quits.  We decided to make dinner and catch up on the DVR.  I think this was just a really mentally exhausting week for both of us!

My afternoon snack was a chocolate rice cake topped with crunch PB.  I am having a huge chocolate craving today!!!

I had a lonely sweet potato that needed to be eaten so I attempted to make Cheetahs from over at SnackFace.  I need to seriously work on my cutting skills and purchasing a better knife!  These babies were NOT even.

In the end I had a HUGE plate of delicious food!  My leftover shrimp taco, about half of my Cheetahs turned out, and then a few chips with the taco concoction my husband created!

I snacked on this pineapple while we were making dinner.

After dinner we decided we needed dessert to eat with our latest NCIS episode.  Lucky for us there is Sweet Lola Yogurt Bar. This place is beyond amazing!  I have walked by and peered into the shop a million times, so tonight the hubby decided to walk over and grab some treats!  I looked up the menu online and he headed over.  The woman who owns the shop was working, and after my hubby told her I was a healthy foodie who blogged, she gave us recommendations and even sent us home with a cup of free toppings that she thought I should try!

This place knows its Fro Yo!

I got a HUGE bowl of half Vanilla Bean and half Dark & Dreamy Chocolate.  I had the fresh fruit, Brown Sugar Cinnamon Bitsy, and the Happi-Cappa-Chino-Chips on top.  Every last bite was delicious!

My husband had a cup of half Vanilla Bean and half Agave.  There is not picture because he devoured it before I could get the camera out!

I also happily tried the recommended toppings.  I LOVED the peanut butter bar chunks!  The organic white chocolate was also to die for!  It is going to be a really tough topping decision next time we go!

For my Houstonian readers:  Sweet Lola Frozen Yogurt Bar is conveniently located on Gray street in Midtown Houston.

We are headed out for hopefully long run to make up for missed ones this week.  Check back later today for a SuperBowl Eats Post!

What are your plans for today?  How is your weather?

The sun finally came out!  It is a little chilly to start the day (40ish, which is cold here), but it is supposed to be nice later!