Fuel me up, yogurt cup

So how was Monday for everyone? Mine was alright, considering that I barely slept due to my sugary brownies. I was seriously pretty much awake all night and still awake when my alarm went off this morning. I actually got up early, which is odd considering how I maybe got 2 hours of sleep total.

Our staff meeting was extra long this morning and resulted in lots of stuff for me to do. Love those meetings, haha. But the day went by super fast with all the hubbub, which is good because if it had been slow I probablywould have fallen asleep on the keyboard.

Breakfast was the usual (smoothie plus coffee for you new readers). I had a pretty terrific work lunch today though – leftovers! I started off with a side salad with my homemade Asian dressing.

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I was still out of it when I packed this though, because I left off any toppings. I snagged some grated parmesan from the work fridge to jazz it up a bit.

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Along with my salad I had leftover pasta from last night and two more pieces of bread.

That looks like way more pasta than I actually had for some reason. I actually could have eaten a lot more, haha. But it was around a 1/2 cup if I had to guess. But your eyes are not playing tricks on you with the bread – I ate another two pieces of it :)

After lunch I noticed that my face felt really dry and kind of itchy, so went and looked in the bathroom mirror. I was presented with quite the tomato face, which was a bit alarming considering how little sun I got over the weekend.

A few moments of brainstorming led me to the culprit of my face dilemma – bare minerals powder. I ordered some from Sephora last week, and it arrived on Friday. I googled it and apparently a lot of people have had similar allergies to the product because of the fact that the “minerals” are actually composed of ground up metals.

I was quite peeved because I spend a pretty penny on this makeup and will now have to spend another pretty penny to buy my usual foundation since I’m out. I’m going to see if I can return it, but I have a feeling that won’t go over so well since it’s already been opened. Frustrating. I am crossing my fingers that they’ll at least let me exchange it for a makeup that won’t burn my face off. We shall see though. Has this happened to anyone else?

My afternoon snack was another Oikos honey + NP Pumpkin Granola cup.

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I ate double the amount of granola you see there, it just wouldn’t all fit on the top. I knew I wasn’t going to be eating again untl after yoga and I was hoping to get in some quick cardio after that so I knew I would need the fuel.

Btw, I love referring to food as fuel – it’s such a positive connotation. I think we should view food as a positive force, not one that is working against us. Easier said than done, I know, but just some “fuel” for thought (couldn’t resist).

Oh, and on that note. Thank you guys so much for the comments on my post this morning. I was just hesitant to bring that up because the vegetarian thing really makes me happy, and I’m a little sad to say I’m not 100% committed.

However, I think I can still get the health and environmental benefits (and semi observe my moral stance on the matter) by cutting back to only eating meat a handful of times per year (I can only tolerate it if it’s fresh and well-prepared) so I’m happy with this for the most part.

It was really interesting to hear all your thoughts about it. One particular comment really struck me. Angie in Atlanta said, “I just label myself a ‘conscious eater’ and call it a day.” Brilliant.

Yoga was so amazing today. My teacher, who is usually kind of tough, was putting off great energy. And she had us do 5 minutes of our own flow. It was fab. I really need to start practicing on my own, I think it would really help me. I don’t know why I find it so difficult.

Now I’m about to scrounge together dinner, which may prove to be quite difficult and hopefully make up for my lost sleep last night. Enjoy your evenings!

The meat talk

Happy Monday!! ;) I haven’t had a chance to finish up reading about everyone’s weekend yet, but I hope you all had a great one!

Yesterday was a good day. It started out with a simple, delicious breakfast.

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This was basically the only option I had for breakfast, but I love it so it worked out quite nicely.

After eating I headed to the grocery store to get some baking supplies and a few essentials. I had to watch it though, because I’m already a little over my budget for the month, grrr.

After shopping I hit the gym. My neck is still really bothering me, and running makes it hurt even worse. So I did the ellipical for 15 minutes, ran a mile on the treadmill and then walked for 10 minutes. I hope this goes away soon, I miss running! I also did a lower body workout and then walked on home.

For my baking project, I whipped on some brownies courtesy of a recipe Kristen posted last week.

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These were SUPER easy to make, however I had to make some substitutions based on what I could find at the grocery store and I wasn’t all that happy with the taste. Also, I think if I made them again I would use half the amount of sugar it calls for. They were way to sweet for my taste and kept me up ALL night :(

I made the brownies to take to dinner at my brother and sister in law’s. They have my roommate and I over for “family dinner” every once in a while, mainly because I’m poor and they feel an obligation to keep me form starving. Or maybe they just like me, who knows.

I only got a picture of the appetizers because there was football on and we got distracted. My SIL was born and raised Chi-town so she’s a huge Bears fan.

We started with a lovely spinach salad.

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I ate both pieces of that chewey delicious bread. Along with the salad she served a lobster bisque.

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And this brings me to a conversation I’ve sort of been avoiding. As you probably know, I stopped eating meat in late May. It was a very easy transition for me and I never really missed eating it.

However, as time went on I began to get uncomfortable with the label of “vegetarian”. I certainly enjoy eating a vegetarian diet, and will probably never buy meat and cook it for myself. But to say that I’ll never eat meat again just felt a bit extreme. I’ve had seafood a handful of times since going veg, so I guess I was never a true vegetarian anyways.

That being said, I ate about half of that lobster bisque and about a fifth of a filet of sea bass last night. I don’t plan to eat meat very often at all, but it probably will happen on occasion. So, that’s that. I hope I didn’t offend anyone.

The rest of dinner included whole wheat pasta with a veggie-ful sauce and my brownies with frozen yogurt for dessert. I was definitely full after eating all that!

It looks like today is shaping up to be a very busy day! I’m off to be productive.

What are your thoughts on vegetarianism?