If I had to use one word to describe my Spring Break is would be un-motivated. I had a huge list of to-dos for the week, big plans, high hopes, but…I mostly just sat around, relaxed, and watched movies.

I managed to hit my stationary bike a couple days this week, take a 3 mile jog with the boys (hubby & dog),  and did a full body strength workout yesterday.

I have also managed to eat a lot of good food (and a lot of unnecessary snackage…but lets concentrate on the good food part).

Faux cobb salad in my new TJ Maxx salad bowl.  TJ Maxx always has the best kitchen items!

Tilapia with parsnip fries, roasted carrots, and roasted zucchini.

Leftover tilapia and roasted carrots on top of a big bed of lettuce, tomatoes, and cucumbers.

Breakfast has looked like this every single morning this week.

In the bowl:  2 types of cereal, cinnamon, ground flax, strawberries, banana, and blackberries.

My big goal for the week is to stop eating after dinner.  I pretty much failed massively Monday and Tuesday due to cupcakes and ice cream…oops.  Right now none of my summer clothes fit comfortably and lets be honest…I am cheap and don’t want to go buy new clothes.

Reminder:  Enter the grocery giveaway! Right now there are only 2 entries so your chances of winning are pretty dang good!

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!

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!

Massive dilemma in my house…I can’t find my Saints shirt for the playoff game today.  Ugh.

Last night I had one of my favorite dinners:  leftovers salad.  Basically I just put all the leftovers from the fridge on top of lettuce and call it a salad.  This salad included chickpeas, 1/2 Boca, tomato, steamed veggie mix, mushrooms, and carrots.  I also had half an everything bagel-thin with Laughing Cow.  The everything bagel-thins are great as a mock dinner roll.

This morning I drug myself out of bed and headed out to run.  Run…I am failing at running.  I am so down about school starting that I have literally sat on my couch most of the week watching TV for about 10 hours a day.

Got over to Rice and they are filming some car commercial…ugh!  Traffic was terrible, the road was blocked, I forgot my Garmin, but I ended up running for an hour anyway.  It felt terrible and I have no idea how in the world I am going to run 17 miles tomorrow let alone run 26 in a month!

Anyway I returned home, showered, made a pot of coffee, and ate a bowl of cereal with huge amounts of cereal!

I have crap to do then am going to watch the Saints game with my boys.  Did I mention I woke up with a sore throat???  I just got over being sick so I am not too happy with my immune system right now.

Are you watching the playoffs? Although I love pretty much all football, playoffs of anything tend to be pretty exciting!

(Excuse the massive amount of croutons, they are about to go stale and I hate to waste). Up until about 3 years ago I would never put fruit on my salad.  In fact almost of all my salads consisted of chicken, mushrooms, onions, and occasionally salsa.  Don’t get me wrong…I still love a basic chicken cesear salad but now I will add just about anything to my salads.  This includes fruit.  I was actually converted to a love of sweet/tangy salads by a strawberry salad at O’Charleys.  I loved the salad with tangy feta, strawberries, and pecans.

Now, I add fruit, hummus, tofu, chickpeas, butternut squash chunks…you name it, I will likely eat it on a salad.  I can honestly say that the everything-but-the-kitchen sink-salads have been some of my favorite meals!

What are the different things you love to put on salads?

The last couple of posts haven’t really involved the good stuff…food!  So let me update you on what I have been eating.

BBQ Tofu

1 package extra firm tofu

BBQ of choice

Cut tofu into 5-6 slices and press.  I lay tofu slices between a few layers of paper towels and put a heavy casserole dish on top for about 5 minutes.  Coat with BBQ and marinate in fridge for 10 minutes.  Preheat oven to 375.  Line baking sheet with foil, spray well with non-stick spray, place tofu slices in single layer.  Bake 35-45 minutes turning at least once.  Once removed I spread on a little bit more BBQ!

Of course the key to my BBQ tofu is using the best BBQ sauce ever!  My mom shipped some of this to us for Jordan’s birthday last month!  Amazing!

I used this BBQ tofu to top a giant salad for dinner.

I also did something crazy last night.  I prepped my lunch for today!  It was genius.  And gave me about 15 extra minutes this morning.  Who can’t use a few extra minutes in the morning?  Especially after sleeping about 4 1/2 hours.  (I also packed some peanuts, an apple, and mini larabar to last me until dinner)

Want to know how to make a delicious guilt free, no bake dessert?

I thought you might!

Chocolate Brownie-Latte Oats a la mode

1 packet Quaker Delights Instant Hazelnut Latte oats

1 Chocolate muffin/brownie Vitamuffin

optional 1 Tbsp ground flax meal or 1 Tbsp protein powder

Here are the goods.  No baking required.

Set out a Vita muffin to thaw, or just microwave.  [I actually like my a little bit frozen for a cool/hot combo] Cook oatmeal as directed.  I opted to add in some ground flax-I like the thicker consistency it gives my oats,plus the nutritional benefits aren’t bad!  Crumble chocolate muffin or brownie on top of hot oats.  Savor the sweet aroma of chocolate, hazelnut, and latte.  Eat and enjoy guilt-free!

Anyone else totally want to try Foodbuzz’s Daily Pick:  Toddy Cold Brew System?  It looks perfect for me because I never have enough time to brew coffee in the mornings.

The first day of finals studying and I have gotten no studying done. I have just been trying to keep up with my daily assignments which have increased a ton! All of my professors seem to be trying to play catch-up and are loading the work on. Not good timing. Needless to say, I am going to try and stay up really late or get up really early to get in a couple hours of study time.

Monday recap:

Breakfast was a nice big bowl of oats/bran. This was a hearty change from the GM. I made a huge batch to last me the week! This morning I topped mine with banana, strawberries, and AB.

There was also coffee consumed x2.

Lunch was courtesy of My Fit Foods. I got a great Groupon deal the other week for a $35 giftcard for only 15 bucks! Steal.  The hubby and I knew things were going to be crazy this week so we picked up some meals this weekend.  When you go to store, all meals have labels with size, nutritional information, heating instructions, and best by dates.

These are Miguel’s Snack tacos.  3 tacos, 270 calories, 3.5 g fat, 41 g carbs, and 18 g of protein.  These were quite yummy.

I ate 2 of the tacos and saved one for the hubby to eat.  I am a volume eater-I need to consume a lot of food- so these meals are just too small for me.  I added a side salad to bulk it up.

Overall, the food was good but the meals are pretty pricey.  If you really don’t have time to shop or cook then this would probably work for you.  The hubby and I really need more food (more volume) and definitely couldn’t afford to do this for every meal.  With that said, it might be a good solution for finals time!

Snacks included some pita chips, grapes, and handful of jelly beans.

Dinner was quick and the hubby prepped everything for me.  Sweetie.

I had another Lavash wrap stuffed with hummus, sauteed mushrooms and onions, diced tomatoes, and some scallions.  I love these wraps!  Wish I could find them somewhere besides Wal Mart because I hate making the trip outside the loop.

On the side were carrots, cucumbers, and ranch.  Simple and delicious meal.  Eaten on a paper plate-one less dish.

After dinner we headed to park to run.  Bad call.  We went right after dinner so that I could get back and work.  Maybe it was lack of time to digest, maybe my stomach just hurt…but my “run” was really more of a walk.  I “ran” 3 miles in about 34 minutes.  My stomach was in terrible pain and I just couldn’t run.  Lesson learned.

Study.  Pass out.  Goodnight.

I enjoyed a wonderful 6 mile run in the beautiful, sunny weather.  I wore a thin-strapped tank top in hopes of fixing the farmer’s tan I got from sitting at the bar yesterday!

I also managed to down 2 cups of hot chocolate today.  I really wish I hadn’t broken my coffee pot.

There were also many good eats today:

I prepped some frozen banana sandwiches today.  Looks like I have dessert for the weekend!

Lunch was based with some overnight oats with greek yogurt mixed in.

On top was cinnamon apples, bananas, cheerios, and honey.

On the side a piece of ww toast with jam (and two pieces of banana-random).  I snacked on apple slices, grapes, and a mini-protein shake.

Dinner was a HUGE salad topped with mushrooms, tomatoes, onions, carrots, and a Boca burger.

I ate the last piece of my Central Market mult-grain bread.  I toasted it, topped with Laughing Cow, tomato, and crumble of Boca.  I also ate a few random tortilla chips.

Dessert was consumed.  I honestly wasn’t hungry, but I emotionally wanted dessert.  When I emotionally want sweets I try to make it nutritionally beneficial.  Dessert was “baked” cinnamon apples, spoonful of greek yogurt, half a crumbled granola bar.  I also ate a small piece of caramel.

Tomorrow is a full-on rest day.  I plan on sitting by the pool most of the day.  I will also being shopping for the hubby’s birthday.  He is turning the big 2-5 in a few days!

Ah, it is amazing how much better sleep is without a security alarm going off every 40 minutes!

Woke up to another beautiful morning and had a green monster:

Yum.  Is it just me or do these just make me feel better?  I always seem to have a better day when I start it with a GM!

St Pattys recap:  Green food!

Lunch started with the best salsa ever!  As a two-year honorary Texan I would like to think I know my salsa, and this stuff is top of the line!  (For locals, it is available at Central Market!).

Salad with veggies and green salsa!

Sammie on multi-grain bread with Laughing Cow, mushrooms, tomato, spinach, and salsa

This sandwich was amazing, plain and simple.

My friends called me about 1:30 and told me they were on the Tipsy Clover’s patio drinking green beer.  I headed over.

No green beer for me.  With running two half marathons this weekend, I am being really careful about hydration.  I did enjoy a nice glass of green water and a pizza roll.  ( I also picked up some major tan lines!  Houston sun is already in full power!)

When the hubby got home from work he and Trooper walked down,

Aren’t my boys the cutest!  The great thing about a lot of the Midtown bars is that they allow doggies outside on their patios.  Trooper was a hit!

Family photo.  I had my sweater on by this time to prevent my farmer’s tan from getting worse.

Trooper sporting the green Budweiser hat.

After the bar we headed home for a quick relax and dinner:

I wasn’t very hungry after my pizza roll, so I just made another salad.  More green!  St Pattys definitely helped me meet my veggie quota yesterday!

After that we hit the park and did a quick 3 miles.

Did you have some green beer or green food?