Back To The Grind

ingSorry for the weekend of silence. I had every intention of posting last evening, but after uploading my weekend of pictures I was beat and just went to bed early. I have to admit that I wasn't the healthiest in terms of the food that I ate but I did get a healthy serving of family, friends, and fun which was nourishment for the soul. I wasn't able to upload the pictures to the blog so I'll post later tonight after class.

Off to work and study for tonight's quiz!

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Weekend Pictures!!

Went to the Maryland Stair Fair after work and made it just in time to see my friend Mike and his lady

Palmyra Farms Their cheese is awesome. Cheese w/ Old Bay? Oh yeah

I had to stop by and get some ice cream

We walked through one of the (air conditioned) buildings and saw some of the fair entries

Pound Cakes...mmmm

I heart Maryland

 Elvis sculpture made out of cardboard

Saturday morning hike at Gunpowder Falls

Rae came too

She IS a dog! The little princess got her feet dirty

The walking stick that was way too tall for me

We found this little guy

Water break for the ladies

Sunday at the river with the family in York, PA

The crew on the boat. Hi Dad!

Tubing!

Say cheeeese

View from my parent's backyard.

Goodbye Summer?

The first thing I did when I got to the office yesterday was flip the calendar. Hello September!

but it sure felt like summer!

The weather in Baltimore yesterday was hot, hot, hot. The high was 97 degrees but it felt like it was over 100. It's looking like it's going to be another hot one today. I added a Weather Channel gadget to my sidebar so that you can see just how hot it is in this town. I know that Fall doesn't officially begin until September 22, 2010 at 11:09 pm EDT but since Fall classes have started, it's Fall for me. This means cracking the whip, setting a schedule, and possibly setting some new goals. I have a few in mind and the blog was one of them but I'll post a more organized list soon.

Breakfast in the office was the normal coffee (I think it's Dunkin Donuts), Stonyfield Farm Organic Mango Honey yogurt topped with Blueberry Almond Granola from Whole Foods, a banana, and a large cup of water to stay hydrated in the heat. I usually stick with the vanilla flavor but I loved the Mango and it's only a Limited Edition so try it now if you haven't done so yet. It's a little sweet but worth a try.

Lunch was the same as yesterday so I didn't feel the desire to take pictures. After work I had a Chocolate Coffee Larabar for a pre-gym snack while driving in traffic. I've never had the flavor before but Larabar didn't fail me. It was as delicious as I hoped it would be. I got my chocolate and java fix in one.

The gym workout was simple and sweet because it was my first day of Organic Chemistry lab and I still needed to go home to walk the pup and make dinner. I did 30 minutes on the elliptical and 15 minutes on the stationary bike and then bolted out of the door. I thought abut skipping it all together because of all of the things I still needed to do before lab, but even a little bit of exercise helps and I felt better afterwards that I went.

Rae was anxiously awaiting some park time with her mama.

I love this park. Who needs a backyard in the city? Welllll it would be nice but this is a great alternative.

Then a quick dinner before running out of the door for lab. I still needed to stay lean and green for the bf's Medifast plan so I made chicken and broccoli per his request. I opted for the Free Range, Organic Chicken...from Wegmans of course ;)

2 cloves of garlic and a few drops of olive oil

I cut up the chicken into bite sized pieces

and added some rosemary (also per the bf's request). Raw chicken just doesn't look very appealing.

While the chicken was cooking I rinsed the broccoli and dropped them in the steamer basket for a light steam. I put them in the steamer basket to cut down on nutrient loss in the water and only cooked them for a couple of minutes until they turned bright green. There is nothing worse than mushy broccoli. Bleck!

Garnished with a lemon and some fresh ground pepper

I have to admit that this meal was lacking a little in the flavor department due to the use of dried rosemary over fresh but with a little lemon squeeze and a dash of terriyaki from the fridge it wasn't too bad. Gotta use what I have available. It was quick, easy, and healthy which were the main goals for this pre-lab meal.

Speaking of lab it was nothing to write home about. All we did was go over the lab schedule and lab report expectations (which were the exact same handouts from the summer) and checked in our lab drawers and micro kits. It took me about 35 minutes to get there, we stayed for 30 minutes, and then it took me an hour to get home due to road construction traffic. UGH!! I still ended up getting home earlier than normal and was able to hang out with bf while he was awake. I was pretty excited about this because I was able to share some of the goals that I've set for myself for the month. More on this to come later...

What personal goals have you set for the new school year, season, month, or just because?

So Fresh and So Clean Clean

I am feeling super sluggish this morning. Last night was the first class back for the Fall and I am tiiiiiiRed. I am currently taking Organic Chemistry II in the evenings at a nearby community college while also working full time at a law firm. It makes for a super long day but I keep telling myself that "It'll all be worth it someday". I only had about 4 weeks of a break this summer and I was so not ready to go back yet. Class runs from 7:30PM-10:30PM and my professor likes to give us our money's worth and teach up until the last second possible so I don't end up getting home until after 11:00. Since class is so late and I don't have much time to work on the blog between work and class. I'll probably be posting meals the day after especially on the days that I have class and lab. I'm sure I'll figure out a schedule and get in to a groove once the semester and the work really starts.

Breakfast in the office consisted of the other half of my muffin from the day before

 The last South Mountain Creamery yogurt that we got from the Farmer's Market a couple weeks back...

and a banana for some texture. I mashed up half of it and mixed it in and sliced up the other half and put it on top along with the pumpkin muffin crumbles.

Lunch was a combination of whatever I had in my desk and fridge.

Organic Marathon Bread from Wegmans

White nectarine

almonds

Roasted Garlic Hummus

baby carrot snack pack

I've never had white nectarines before but I saw them and decided to give them a go. They were very sweet, almost like a pear but with a mild tang of a nectarine or peach. I was worried that it wasn't going to be enough food but it was actually quite filling which I think I can attribute to the bread. The marathon bread is amazing and the ingredient list looked pretty good. It's soft and chewy and the smell is almost as good as the taste. I highly highly recommend trying it if you are close to a Wegmans. Soooo good.

Ingredients:

Water, Organic Unbleached Unbromated Flour, Flaxseed, Organic Sunflower Seeds, Pumpkin Seed, Organic Stoneground Whole Wheat Flour, Organic Stoneground Whole Rye Flour. Contains 2% or less of the following: Yeast, Organic Rolled Oats, Organic Cracked Rye, Organic Wheat Gluten, Organic Carrots, Salt, Organic Malted Barley Flour, Organic Soy Grits, Organic Pumpkin Seeds, Organic Honey, Organic Sesame Seeds, Organic Apple Dices, Organic Banana Chips, Organic Sugar, Guar Gum.


I didn't take any pictures of dinner because it was just the leftovers from the Cajun Shrimp Stir-Fry. It was purdy good even for leftovers. I'm usually Terrible with eating leftovers but I've gotten so much better. I started to think about how much food I was throwing away and about how many people are starving in the world. It put things into perspective for me and really motivates me to eat what is in the house. Plus my wallet appreciates me not running to the store every day for more food.

Since class didn't start until 7:30 I had just enough time to give the pup a bath. She's been stratching like crazy so I decided to give her a good scrubbing with the flea and tick shampoo even though I couldn't actually find a single flea on her. As you can see she is quite the princess and is not a fan of getting wet.

Get me outta here

OH NOOOO

ALL CLEAN!