First and foremost, I want to shout out a big CONGRATULATIONS to my best friend Anna who was just accepted to Purdue University’s Vet School.  Since she doesn’t have the degree in hand yet I won’t post any super embarrassing, inappropriate pictures of her.

Yesterday was my first day of solo-mediation.  To say the least…it was interesting.  The thing about walking into the courtroom is that you look out over the pews (ironic that it is the same seating arrangement as a church) and faces stick out to you because you just know that person is going to make your life hell today.

The worst part about (okay, one of the worst parts) about transitioning into my adult-real-job self is the shoes.  The nearly mandatory pantyhose are too awful to mention. Wearing heels all day, or even a few hours, kills my legs!  My leg pain has magically returned.

After my stressful morning I came home and made a random, delicious lunch.  Sometimes I don’t really know what I want to eat but pieces of random crap look good so I just eat it all.  Exhibit A:  leftover melon, leftover blue-cheese grape salad, sandwich thin with PB & banana, and sandwich thin with LC & jam.

After lunch I enjoyed a hot chocolate for dessert.

I then cleaned the apartment a bit, procrastinated by watching my DVRed shows, cooked dinner for the hubs, and then continued my love for Exercise TV On Demand with 10lb Slim Down Core.  24 minutes of core work.  Ugh.

Snackage was some pre-bottled caffeine.  I also snacked on some Ritz with PB but those escaped the camera to enter my mouth.

Dinner was a bad picture of a really good salad.  Spinach, mushrooms, carrots, onions, leftover blue-cheese grape salad, chicken, and obscene amounts of Parm.  You can see my faux garlic bread in the upper corner.

And yes, that is my computer and the remote.  I multi-task big time during my meals.  I am working on stopping that to actually spend more time enjoying my food…but when the hell else am I going to be sitting down long enough to watch TV and read blogs?

Because my hubby is awesome…er cruel he motivated me to go run last night. I had put off my workout (a measly 2-3 miles) all day and it was now after 8pm.  After 8pm = this chick’s bedtime and/or cram corporations reading time.  We decided to make it a Trooper run too…much more motivating.  We drove over the park and kicked out 2 miles.  I then crammed in corporation’s reading (Why do I need to know the capital impairment statutes for dividends?  Oh yeah, I don’t!)

Fast forward to this morning….I woke up on my own about 5:30 but figured I should go back to sleep until the alarm at 6.  Big mistake. I was ready to go at 5:30 but after I went back to sleep I did not want to get up.  Finally rolled out of bed a bit before 7, dog walked, lunches made, breakfast made, realized another light burned out (shadowy breakfast picture), and have since been sitting on the computer.

I am now 20 minutes behind starting my gym time.  Oh well.

Don’t forget to enter my iTunes Giftcard Giveaway! I will announce the winner on Friday!

If anyone has some secret shoes or magical stretches for easing high heel leg pain/aches fill me in!

I woke up to a wind chill of 8 degrees this morning.  Now I realize that the North Eastern part of the country is experiencing Snowpocalypse and probably wants me to shut up and stop whining…but this is HOUSTON!  We are supposed to have like 3 days near the 40 degree mark and throw in the towel on this whole Winter thing.

To really make me Grumpy McGrumperson…one of the very few things that allows me to stand HTown is that I don’t have to deal with cold or snow.  When my hubby and I remind ourselves to find the good, it is the lack of cold.  So if Houston wants to have single digit windchills I am ready to move somewhere else pronto!

Okay, enough complaining.  [Gosh I complain so much more during the school week....correlation?  I think so.]

Cold morning=warranted hot bowl of oats for breakfast!  I even made these on the stove!

I also had to seriously layer to walk the dog this morning.  Of course I left my winter coat back home in Indiana because I assumed there was no point in storing it here.  Ha.

Yesterday I had to be a grown up again.  Dang it.  Soon I will have to be a grown up everyday.  I dread it.  4 inch heels are extremely painful to wear all day when you are putting in the miles for marathon training.

Luckily I wasn’t going to be in court yesterday so I could go more business-casual.  This outfit includes a pair of BCBG pencil pants (way too trendy to wear into a courtroom); Express button down shirt; Banana Republic jacket (I mix and match my jackets and pants from my suits); and Nine West black pumps.

I got out of my mediation way earlier than expected so I came home and decided to make dinner.  I had picked up this box of falafel mix at Whole Foods a couple of weeks ago and figured now was the time to give it a go.

The mix was easy, add water, let rest, cook.  I cooked them into thin patties because I wasn’t going to fry them.

Success! I ended up nibbling 2-3 baby patties while I was cooking away.

I realized I didn’t have any pita bread, so falafel salad it was to be!

Heavy on the falafel, light on the salad part.

While I was in the kitchen I whipped up a Tomato-Lentil soup inspired by this recipe. I didn’t really follow the recipe–I made more of a Southwest tomato lentil stew.  If anyone is interested in the recipe I will post it.

The best thing about making a big pot of soup/stew/chili/etc is that it makes so much!  You easily get 4-6 meals worth and can even freeze for times when you just can’t make dinner.

After my kitchen party last night I was craving dessert.  I wasn’t hungry but I wanted dessert.  I think it was the cold.  Anyway, I gave in.  At least I made it until Tuesday without sugar right?  Eh…don’t answer that.

Cinnamon apple parfait made with warm diced apple, Cinnabon cereal, splash of Silk, and drizzle of carmel.

My hubby just emailed me all the photos from his phone of my 20 mile run this past weekend so I will try and get working on that post!

I am going to attempt to go run 8 miles before class if my car will start.  Good ol’ PT does not dig the cold!

I woke up this morning and took Trooper on his walk in a balmy 70 degrees.  Not even 20 minutes later I had to go move the car and it was 43 degrees and 20 mph winds!!!! Wtf Houston!  If you aren’t going to remain 60 and mild in the winters I am leaving you.

P.S. We are under tornado watches this morning and ice warnings tonight.  I would swear I was back home in Indiana with all of this temperamental weather.

I had a nice bowl of oats with blueberries and bananas for breakfast.  The best part about these oats…No sugar!  I usually add Splenda to my oatmeal but I am really making an effort to curb my sweet tooth and with all this fruit the oats were sweet enough all on their own!

One day I hope that new highlighters aren’t the high point of my week.

One day I hope to still be excited about my new sparkly heart-shaped plate and ginormous scone!

Okay, I must go get suited up for mediation today.  Of course the one day that the weather will be terrible I will be out with the rush hour corporate world traffic.  Figures.

After a full 9 1/2 hours at school yesterday I believe I know why long runs are meant to be run on the weekend.  I walked to school yesterday (big gasp from any Texans who read my blog) because I knew my legs were going to be unbearably stiff if all I did was sit.  My legs had loosened up a bit by the time I got to school and without even thinking I took my usual route into the staircase.  Bad decision! After about 1 and 1/2 steps I immediately regretted my thoughtless decision.

I made it to the third floor and decided the stairs had won today and I would use the elevators for the second time in my law school career.

Last night I arrived home famished with about 10 minutes before game time.  I stood and inhaled about 1 serving of pita chips.  I must stop mindlessly snacking, especially on seriously salty stuff . I then used the crumbs–my favorite chips are the broken ones; my hubby eats the whole ones and I search around for broken pieces–and made a taco salad with 1/2 cup black beans, 1 Tbsp hummus, 2 Tbsp fresh salsa, and ranch dressing.

The hubby and I then watched the nail-biter Purdue vs. Penn State game.  Five seconds left in the game and JJ hits a jumper!!!!

Okay, enough of my love for Purdue.

Just kidding, not enough.

GameDay this Saturday is at Purdue!!!!!

Now I am really done talking about Purdue.

This morning I had a huge bowl of apple-cinnamon oats.  The picture does not do these baby justice.

Apple Cinnamon Oats

1 small to med apple

1/2 cup oats

1 Tbsp Flax meal

sweetner of choice

cinnamon

optional protein powder

Dice your apple, sprinkle with cinnamon, and microwave for 1-2 minutes until desired done-ness reached.  Add oats, cinnamon, flax, and sweetner to bowl.  Fill with water or milk until oats are covered in liquid.  Microwave additional 2- minutes until bubbly.  Sprinkle with cinnamon.  Optional to stir in protein powder.

As I sit here blog, eat, and do computer work (my usual morning routine) Trooper is also doing his usual routine…going back to bed!

Wanted to give a BIG THANKS to those who left me encouraging comments about my big run. It may sound silly but when I am really struggling in a long run or having a rough day I think about those comments and it always gives me the kick I need!

I will be honest…I don’t think OIAJ are all that special.  But…I don’t like wasting anything and I kind of think it is fun to see if I can scrape every last bit of peanut butter out of the jar.

So this morning I had some overnight OIAJ.  I prepped last night then topped with banana, Cinnabon cereal (the best cereal ever!!!), and a splash of Silk.  I enjoyed the breakfast and it was nice to get out of my cereal rut.

Sometimes Trooper is just so freaking cute that it hurts my heart!  Honestly, I have no idea what I did with myself before this dog.

I have an 18 mile run on schedule today and guess what…it is still raining!!!!

The biggest thing I have learned in training (or in failing to train) for my first marathon is that it is just as much of a mental test as it is a physical test. Case in point:  I had an 18 mile run scheduled for Sunday.  It was pouring rain!  For those of you not familiar with the Houston climate, rain means tropical downpour.  I could not run 18 miles in this weather.  First, I am just now getting over my sinus illness and 3 hours in the cold rain would be dumb.  Second, I would risk having blisters that would again derail my training.

Solution?  I flipped my days around this week because I am on a 4-day weekend.  We decided to run 8 miles yesterday (originally planned for Tuesday) and I would run my 18 miles on Monday or Tuesday.

Now for the mental challenge: It was Sunday morning, raining, and dark.  There is nothing more I would have loved to than to stay curled up in bed with my husband, enjoy a leisurely breakfast, then move to the couch to watch pre-game coverage.  But I had to train.

By mile 3 my right shoe had already been soaked, we had already been sprayed by a car, I realized my jacket wasn’t actually waterproof, and we get to the trail to find it mostly underwater or forming mudslides.  Great.

This is where mental endurance really kicks in.  If your mentally ready to handle it, you can get your body ready too.  If you aren’t mentally ready, your body isn’t going to perform.

My conclusion:  I don’t think I have the mental energy to marathon train, go to law school full-time, work a part-time job, take Saturday class, apply to the State Bar, get a resume together, figure out what the hell to do with the rest of my life, take care of my dog, and take care of my hubby who works ridiculous hours.  I just don’t have enough mental energy left over from my daily life to train.

But I already signed up for this thing, so I kicked out 8 soaking wet miles yesterday.  Then napped on the couch for 3 hours, then ate a bunch of random comfort food all day to recover.

Huge salad topped with all leftovers from the week. (Yes that bowl is bigger than my netbook).  I also had about 1.5 servings of pita chips and hummus.  Salty snacks are my thing.

I had a 100 calorie biscotti, glass of milk at like 4 plus my lunch was late so I honestly wasn’t hungry when dinner rolled around.  But my hubby was eating dinner so I made something for myself too.  Eggs, toast, and banana.  I know a lot of bloggers talk about intuitive eating but it is something I have never really given much thought.  But I am pretty sure that eating just because your husband is eating would go against the whole IE concept.

Generally this is not an issue I would even address on my blog because I am usually hungry all the time. Seriously.  But for some reason marathon training actually kills my appetite.  I always pre- and post-fuel my runs but I might also start paying more attention as to whether I am actually hungry or just eating because it is a scheduled time to eat.

Clearly the hubs and I were practicing these intuitive eating principles when we ate cream cheese frosting straight from the container on Friday night!

The hubs continued to eat frosting for his dessert while I made a bowl of Turtle oats!

I am working on a playlist for my marathon and the remaining long runs.  What songs are on your running playlist?

This morning the hubs had to be into work super early so I had planned on sleeping in a bit as a Friday treat.  Trooper planned on being up before 6am.  You can all imagine who won that battle.

Trooper was also already back in bed before I even got my coat and shoes off.  Luckily, he is cute or I would have been mad.

Since I was up I decided to make a old favorite: banana split oats! I varied the recipe a bit because I didn’t feel like chocolate this morning.

Peanut Butter Split Oats

1/2 cup oats

1 tsp flax meal

sugar to taste

1/2 banana chopped

1 scoop peanut butter

1 scoop strawberry jelly

nuts optional to top

Cook oats & flax in microwave as usual.  Top with banana pieces, scoop of peanut butter, scoop of jelly, and sprinkle chunks of pecan on top!  Yum!

In other Trooper news, he has moved on to squirrel # 3.  He received this new squirrel for Christmas just in time because #2 had strings and stuffing falling out of it.  As usual, he took new squirrel to meet his other toys.

Then it was attack time.

I spent most of my afternoon yesterday in my Purdue Snuggie catching up on computer work, e-mails, financial aid crap, etc, etc, etc.

I had a really orange dinner last night.  I roasted up a large sweet potato and a few carrots all topped with a bit of cinnamon!  Unfortunately this lovely dinner was ruined by the Boilermakers loss to Minnesota!!!!  Massive mood kill.  I get so emotionally involved in my sports it probably is unhealthy.  Case in point:  I opened my cabinet this morning (after last night’s loss), grabbed my Purdue coffee mug, then huffed, shoved it back in the cabinet, and told my mug I was mad about the loss.  Haha!  Yeah….no comment.

Anyway, it is FRIDAY!  And I will be back later today with the usual Friday Fun Facts Post!

Yes, it’s summer! And is there a better summer treat than the classic banana split?

[Source]

As you may know, Foodbuzz helped Electrolux and Kelly Ripa raise money for the Ovarian Cancer Research Fund by sending two Foodbuzz Featured Publishers to New York and giving them an opportunity to make banana splits with their kids.  (Source:  Foodbuzz, click here for more information: : http://www.kelly-confidential.com/foodbuzz.)

Foodbuzz is helping raise awareness again for the Ovarian Cancer Research Fund by hosting a Top 9 Takeover.  Foodbuzz Featured Publishers, like myself, are encouraged to create their own banana splits in hopes of being featured on the daily Top  9.

As much as I love bananas I admit that I am not really a big fan of the traditional banana split.  No fear, I made over the banana split into something more my style.

Banana Split Breakfast

Don’t worry, this oatmeal bowl still has chocolate, strawberry, and banana.

1/2 cup oats

1 tsp flax meal

1/2 scoop chocolate protein

1 cup milk or water

coconut, shredded or shaved

1/2 chopped banana

2-3 chopped strawberries

small scoop of nut butter or chocolate peanut butter

*optional blueberries

Mix oats, flax meal, and milk together.  Cook as directed.  Stir in chocolate protein.  Sprinkle coconut on top.  Top with bananas, strawberries, and optional blueberries.  Stir in nut butter.  Feel free to top with a cherry.

This breakfast bowl contains all elements of a traditional banana split:  chocolate, vanilla, strawberry, banana,  and nuts.

Red, White, and Blue Oats

1/3 cup oat/bran mixture

2 tsp ground flax

1/2 scoop BSN Lean Dessert Protein-Fresh Cinnamon

banana

blueberries

1 large strawberries

optional coconut

Place oats and flax meal into bowl, add desired water, and microwaved two minutes.  Stir in protein powder.  Dice up your fruit.  Option to add layer of shredded coconut on top first.  Then arrange banana, blueberries, and strawberries into 3 rows.  Enjoy before July 4th!

This morning I wake up and it is beautiful out!  A storm came through last night so there is not much humidity and a slight breeze.  Of course this beautiful weather would be the day after National Running Day.  Oh well.

Breakfast was routine and delicious.

Dinner last night was also delicious!  Jordan was jealous that he had already made himself wings after he saw my plate.

This was actually a stir-fry that I had frozen ahead of time with a side of cinnamon-glazed carrots.

Broccoli Stir-fry

4 cups + fresh broccoli

small container or 10 button mushrooms

1 can pineapple chunks

Light sodium teriyaki sauce

Light soy sauce

In large pan heat small amount of oil then add broccoli and diced mushrooms.  When vegetables are about halfway done, drain and add can of pineapple chunks.  Add desired amount of teriyaki sauce and about 1 tsp of soy sauce.  Mix well and let cook additional 3-5 minutes tossing.  Serve with brown rice. Makes 2-3 servings (More if you eat normal portions of veggies, which I don’t).

Do you ever make meals ahead of time to freeze?

I should start doing it more often because it was so easy to reheat and have a nice dinner!