Work today was… work. It went by quite slowly, which was to be expected. I have a lot to say about Texas, but I only have 20 minutes of free Wi-Fi, so that will have to wait.

I enjoyed this lovely mint from dinner Wednesday night at some point this afternoon. It was tasty. I like Andes mints way better than York or Junior mints, because the mint flavor is second to the chocolate flavor.

I was really nervous about finding parking and getting checked in and through security on my own. It couldn’t have gone more smoothly though. I just hope I’m not forgetting something!

It went so smoothly in fact, that I was very early for my flight. I didn’t want to be rushed, so I left work an hour early, but I think I would have been fine if I would have stayed until 5. I guess I’ll know that next time.

So what did I do with all my extra time? Yes, I drank a cold brew all on my lonesome. I feel quite independent right now if I do say so myself. I just had a conversation with that random hand to the back left of the brew. Well, the man who owns the hand. His flight is delayed, poor guy.

I board in about an hour and until then I’m going to sip my beer and write about how much I hate (The University of) Texas. So if you are a Longhorn fan, I would suggest you avoid my next post.

Here’s a toast to the weekend!

I did NOT want to get out of bed this morning at 5:30! I was annoyed to be awake that early and not even have time to workout.  I did do most of my Tone Up Challenge moves, but I was still grumpy. When my alarm went off my first thought was, “Do I really want to go on this trip that badly?!”

I still managed to drag myself out of bed, but I’m not the kind of person that immediately decides it’s a lovely morning. I was moody the whole time I was getting ready. And the fact that I’m out of spinach did not improve my mood at all.

I got to work at 7 a.m. and had to wait until 8:30 to eat breakfast. I was about to whither away I tell you! My extreme hunger shall be my excuse for eating this.

I just took the casserole to be polite, and ended up giving it to a coworker, but I had two of these cinnamon rolls. Oh, they were good. Soooo good. Like pure butter and sugar so-unhealthy-you-can-feel-your-veins-thicken goodness.

It may not have been the breakfast of champions, but I had a sugar rush that got me through the rest of the morning, so all was right with the world by that point and I forgot about my moody morning.

I had to go to lunch early because I am on phone duty today. I wasn’t really hungry yet, so I just steamed a bowl of broccoli with balsamic vinegar and Romano cheese.

Sorry for the dark picture, I’m trying to stop using my flash, but it’s taking some training.

After I finished the broccoli I did some last minute packing and 190 crunches and headed back to work! I’m pretty excited about this trip now! Is it wrong that I’m the most excited about going to Whole Foods?

I am bringing my computer so I hope to blog while in the big D, but there’s always a chance that won’t happen. I will take lots of fabulous pictures though!

What was the last ridiculously unhealthy thing you’ve eaten? It’s gotta happen every now and then, right?

I have to make this short because I have to be up way earlier than I care to be in the morning.

This afternoon when I got home home from work, I had a very specific list of things that needed to be done. But instead of doing them I cuddled up on the couch with my box of Puffins. It happens right?

Eventually I did pry myself away and went to run my 2 miles from my schedule. It was okay. Not painful but not euphoric.

When I came home I didn’t think I was hungry because of all the snacking, but after some showering and packing I decided some leftover pizza sounded good.

This tasted like a gazillion times better cold than it did last night. When I was younger, I used to put hot pizza in the freezer because I only liked it cold.

This also might have helped it taste good.

Yum! While I was drinking this glass of vino I painted my toes. (The title was to appease a certain Blog Stalker, btw…)

Wine induced pedicures can get a little scary, but it’s better than what they looked like previously, trust me.

In other news, the delightful Whitney recently declared that I was one of her favorite bloggers! This is highly coincidental since she is one of my faves also. We’re also kind of freakishly similar, but that’s another story.

So now I pass on the torch by naming some of my favorites. (I agree with Whit’s list whole heartedly but will list newbies so that this can keep on a-going.)

I Have Issues

Inner Wellness

Peanut Butter Prerogative

The Actors Diet

The Gourmet on a Diet

Madison’s Healthy Happenings

I read a massive number of blogs every day and love them all for different reasons, but these are a few of the girls I really dig. I wish I could name all my faves though!

Okay, I’ll be back at nooner tomorrow for one more Okie post before I go to Dallas! Have a good night everyone!

If you follow me on Twitter, you know that the highlight of my morning was spent watching my new white shirt turn into my new multi-colored shirt. What an exciting life I lead, eh? I really don’t know why I thought owning a white shirt was a good idea. I know the pen stain is there for life, but the other two may come out.

For lunch today I had a multitude of leftovers to choose from. I brought home my remaining pizza, some bruschetta, and my brother’s baked ziti from dinner last night. He barely ate any of it and was just going to throw it away! Uh, I don’t think so buddy. I think I was the only one who took home leftovers, because I am classy like that. Or a sucker for free food, either one.

I decided to give the ziti a whirl since I didn’t enjoy the pizza last night and need time to think of a way to improve it.

Of course it was really good. Cheese + pasta is always good.

On the side I had some lightly steamed broccoli with bruschetta topping. I usually don’t like broccoli unless I’m dipping it in something, but this was delicious!

All together, with half of a bread stick. I brought two of these home since I didn’t eat any last night and thought the roommate might enjoy them.

Then I had an intense out-of-box experience.

As in Puffins straight out of the box, as opposed to a serving dish. Bad news.

I also sliced up a not-so-ripe mango to have for a snack later.

Tonight is going to be busy as I prepare for my weekend getaway to Dallas! I have to fit in serious workouting, rent paying, cash getting, stuff packing, toenail painting, food eating and clothes mound sorting into a 5 hour window of time.

Any suggestions for what I should buy at Whole Foods this weekend? Remember, it’s my FIRST time!!!

What?! That snuck up on my about as fast as the man goodies in Forgetting Sarah Marshall. I just don’t know what to do with that! I feel like it was just yesterday I started doing this. Crazy… I wish I had a cool giveaway planned or something. Maybe we’ll do that for post 150?

Anyways, those lunchtime beans really kept me full! I didn’t even start thinking about a snack until around 3, which never happens. Those must have been magic beans. I ate a Puffin/edamame mix much like the one I had for lunch dessert around 4 p.m.

After work I came home and relaxed a little. Then it was time to go to dinner with my family at Olive Garden. I really suck at food blogging at family dinners. I’m just going to put that out there. So this is a super sad 100th post. Kind of ironic, really. I think you’re supposed to do something fabulous at this milestone. Eff.

I did take a random picture of the pizza I ordered after I’d already eaten two slices of it.

This was really not very good. The dough tasted charred and the olives had no taste. But I had lots of the famous Olive Garden salad to fill me up, so I was fine.

Then it was time for presents! My Grandpa got my Grandma this beautiful ring.

The lighting in our little room was terrible but this ring was gorgeous. He also got her a necklace to go with it. My Grandma definitely has more bling than Diddy. She’s got ice coming out of her ears! My roommate (who is now a semi-reader of the bog, hullo!) says she associates my Grandma with the beautiful jewelry she wears. That and how damn cute she is, which is very true.

My aunt always gives people really random gifts for Christmas and Birthdays. She gave my brother and cousin footed lake shoes tonight.

That’s my water glass at the bottom left. I may have eaten a few too many pieces of fried zucchini, but at least I didn’t booze! My Aunt got a rubber chicken. I guess we all give odd gifts?

Sorry for the rando glass of vino. No one wanted to pose for pictures tonight.

Well, honestly that’s all I’ve got? Sorry for the total let down. I’ll make up for it, somehow. Maybe.

I did my Tone Up moves already and I’m about to check and see if there are any SGBC exercises to be done!

Aw hell, I just realized I missed the real world tonight. Do they replay it right after? I guess we’ll find out.

The glorious sleep of yester-week is gone, and I’m back to my old habits of laying in bed for 1 to 2 hours before falling asleep. I guess I was just sleeping so well last week because I was exhausted from my trip. The less than amazing zzz’s I got last night made my wake-up call this morning highly unpleasant.

I got up early to go get in a mini-run before work, since I’m going to dinner with my family tonight. Have I mentioned that I’m not a morning person?

It’s a good thing I didn’t look outside before I went because it was pouring down rain and I got soaked both on the way into the gym and on the way out. Still, it felt nice to get a workout accomplished. My workouts on Mondays and Wednesdays have been pretty slackerish lately.

Other than the Wet ‘n Wild workout, the a.m. was pretty vanilla. The gloomy weather made me sleepy, but there was lots to do so I kept myself busy and before I knew, it was time for lunch.

I thought about my beans more this morning than is even close to normal. Who thinks about beans all day?

I didn’t do anything fancy with these leftovers. They were so good, I wanted to enjoy them in their natural glory all over again. I can’t believe I used to hate beans so much. I would get so mad if a single bean came into contact with my food, especially at Mexican restaurants. Now I thoroughly enjoy a good bean every now and then, even though I still think refried beans look like raw fecal matter.

While my beans were reheating, I decided to try my hand at making Iced Coffee.

This was not tasty.  I used 1/2 a cup of almond milk and 1/2 cup of skim milk and used my Keurig on the Iced Coffee option. I still drank it, but there was a funky taste going on in there. I’m thinking about adding a drippy drop of vanilla extract in the milk next time. Or maybe buying vanilla rice milk or soymilk to use instead. New project. Anyone have any iced coffee recipes/tips?

As I type up this blog, I am desserting on some PB Puffins and chocolate covered Edamame. And thinking about Hugh Hefner, the Vanilla Puffin extraordinaire.

Well, the flavor of the Pad Thai was definitely a bit better today, but I still didn’t love it. I have, however, come up with a way to fix it next time.

1. Soak noodles in less water.

2. Steam veggies and add them at the end instead of stir frying them.

3. Per my roommate’s suggestion, I will use less sugar next time. Maybe some peanut oil?

I can’t wait to try it again. Pad Thai is one of my favorite foods ever, and being able to replicate it at home will save me a shiz ton of cashola. I’ll probably spend that money on clothes to further overstuff my closet, but oh well. It’s the thought that counts right?

Aside from my Twitter frustration, the rest of the day went off without a hitch. Well, except for some faxing frustration. I guess I was pretty techno-frustrated in general, haha.

I was pretty much starving when I got home, so I had a Z Bar courtesy of Whit.

This was very Tasty! I love that I get to eat a whole bar for only 120 kcals!

My run was especially tough today. There weren’t any treadmills available when I got to the gym, so I had to do 15 minutes on the recumbent bike while waiting for a machine to free up. So by the time I got on one, I tried to make up for lost time by running faster than normal. I was pretty much wheezing after the 2 mile mark. I had pretty much convinced myself to stop and walk after 2.5 miles, but I slowed down my pace and managed to keep going. I had that, “I’m gonna puke” feeling after I was done, but when I walked outside I was greeted by this beautiful sight.

I love rainbows! LOVE! It was like a reward for not quitting during my run, as corny as that is.

When I got home I had more baking to do (after showering of course)! I got my first batch of peanut butter chocolate cookies in the oven and then got after my dinner. I had put some beans on the stove before leaving for the gym, and I was craving something lasagna-ish.

I just combined some Great Northern beans with a small jar of regular pasta sauce and a cup of 2% cottage cheese. I know this is 1st grader simple, but it was SOOO good. I haven’t been this satisfied after a meal in quite a while. It was exactly what I wanted. I can’t wait to have the leftovers!

Then I had a cookie fail.

These are supposed to be macaroons, but instead they are flat as pancakes. They still taste good though. Here are the cookie packages for my family, minus the failuroons. I am still going to include them, but they weren’t cool at this point.

I told you I’m not a baker, but everything in there tastes good even if it’s not that pretty.

Man! Baking is hard work. I don’t know how Angela does it!

I’m about to hit the sack since the storms just cut out the last ten minutes of the Bachelorette. Obviously technology hates me today.

I am among a large group of people whose followers have been erased on Twitter, therefore if you used to follow me and still would like to, you will need to re-follow me here.

Twitter is also screwing up my phone setting and in general just annoying me. But most all technology-based things do that to me and some point or another, so I’m not too worked up about it.

This morning went much more smoothly than yesterday! I managed to wake up in time to get my Tone Up Challenge moves slammed out so that I’ll have more time for baking this evening. It felt good to get my heart rate up a little, even if it wasn’t for very long. My stomach is also feeling back to normal today, which is always appreciated!

My coffee and GM wanted a picture with the flowers today, so I obliged.

This is what my breakfast consists of almost every morning, even though I never show it.

I have errands to run at lunch, so I snapped a picture of what I packed for the day.

Leftover Pad Thai, which I’m hoping will taste better today.

Some Peanut Butter Puffins (!) and a cookie for dessert.

And of course an apple and some agua to round out the day.

I have a 2.75 mile run to accomplish today. Pretty big deal for this gal. I’m excited about it though, I really pushed my speed on the last run and I’m hoping I can kick it up a little and finish this run strong. I have a long way to go on this journey, but I haven’t done anything in a long time that has made me feel this motivated and proud. I love it!

After running I have a lot of cookies to bake! But I have no idea what to make for dinner.

What are your plans for dinner tonight?

Today went by incredibly fast!

After lunch I wanted two prunes for dessert.

But one fell on the floor so I only had one prune.

Later in the afternoon I had a banana and some cocoa almonds for a snack.

I stayed late at work today to make up for the time I missed this morning. Around 5 I was really craving a cup of coffee. But I knew that was out of the question if I ever wanted to sleep again. So I had a sugar free hard candies. Ummm… I guess it has been a long time since I’ve had artificial sweetener because these things tore me up!

Luckily I had a very exciting package waiting for me when I got home!

My Giveaway package from Whit!! Look at all the goodies!

I definitely had to sample to Puffins and the edamame! They were both so delicious, but my stomach stopped me from taking it too far. Thank you so much Whit! This is such a treat and I can’t wait to work these treats into my eats over the next couple of weeks!!

Even though my tummy was in a bad way all evening, I was more than ready to start in on the night’s activity: BAKING! I’m by no means an extraordinary baker, but we’re having a birthday dinner on Wednesday for FIVE of my family members and I simply could not afford to by five birthday gifts. So I’m hoping the cookies come out alright and at least let them know that I love them and have been thinking about them.

I only made one batch tonight, and have two more to make tomorrow. Wish me luck!

For dinner I made the roommate and myself a little Pad Thai. I am obviously obsessed with ethnic food, no?

I was impressed in the look of this dish, but the taste wasn’t quite what I wanted. I’m going to see if the leftovers are better though. The roommate really liked it so I know it has potential.

For dessert I had to taste a cookie. These are double fudge cookies. Yum!

Yeah, that’s totally The Bachelorette in the background. I was definitely pulling for Ed, not gonna lie!

I just did half of my Tone Up Challenge and SGBC moves, but I’m having seriously intense stomach pain. So, I’m going to lay down for a second and let that settle and then finish up my strength training because I gotta!

Have a good night bloggies!