Happy Hump Day! (I couldn’t resist!) 

What’s up???  Not too much new and exciting over here, I feel like I’m falling back into a fairly repetitious cycle over here.  The next three weeks are basically – work, eat, train for the half – that’s about it!

Yesterday started with spicy oats – actual real “spicy oats” – Morning Star sausage patty and all!In very sad news, I’m out of Frank’s Hot Sauce now.  Any day I go without Frank’s in my house…is a very sad day 

Lunch was back to salads – BOOOOOOOOORING!with a teeny tiny side of quinoa to serve as my noon excitement!  When I left for work in the AM, it was about 65, and when I got home from work, try closer to 45!! – not to mention drizzly and gross.  I was SO uninspired to run outside, but at the same time – I knew I had to be because I want to do better in my half marathon than I did in my 10 miler.  So I ate some Luna Moons (no pic, sorry) and forced my ass out the door.  The end result?  Awesome!  The whole run seemed so easy, and I felt great as I sprinted into my driveway. The whole run took about 56 minutes, including probably about a minute worth of stopping for street lights.  Not too shabby right?  Now if only I’d done more of the 10 miler training OUTDOORS.  Oh well, that’s the curse of living in Cleveland!

For dinner – I had my first attempt at making kale chips myself!

I got Mike on board to at least test them out too!   Here they are pre-oven:We ate our Boca Burgers while they were cooking, we were both so hungry!  Finished product/final verdict?Total awesomeness AGAIN!  God I love theses things!  Mike’s verdict:  not bad, but NOT potato chips either!   When I asked if he would eat them every time I make them, he said yes, which is about as good as it’ll get with him – so I consider it a win!

Did everyone see Bobbi’s May Challenge?  I think it’s fantastic – and as soon as I read it – I e-mailed her saying “I’m IN!”  

Not sure Mike will be so on board, especially with the “not eating out” part – but you never know!

Hi my lovelies!

Hope this week is treating you well!  We’ve had some typical Cleveland weather – 80 degrees yesterday – 40s today. 

I didn’t have time over the weekend to make oats for the week – so I switched things up Monday morning – and had two whole grain waffles!  For some reason this week, I’ve been downing Diet Coke like CRAZY!  I usually drink 2 cans a day, but this week I’m at 3 or 4 (I know it’s a terrible habit – leave me alone)

Diet Coke & edamame for a quick morning snack:I also wasn’t feeling to inspired to pack my lunch Monday morning – so instead I headed home at lunch to hang with Lander and whip something up:Quick sweet potato fries, skinny hot dog, and broccoli with hummus – a nice change from the same ole salad. 

For a snack I polished off my Oikos yogurt – making it a pineapple upside combo!I’m not sure what it is about the combination of pineapple and cherry (maybe it was all the Pineapple Upside Down Cake shots back in college) – but I’m just a sucker for these two things together!

Over the weekend I’d taken a bunch of stuff out of the freezer to eat so we aren’t so “stocked up” – and decided to make some quick, easy salmon for dinner last night.Salmon with:

• honey
• soy sauce
• rice vinegar
• garlic salt
• onion salt
• chili powder
• cayenne pepper

Quinoa (cooked in light chicken broth), with:

• banana peppers
• red onion
• green olives

I always forget how much I love quinoa! When it comes to week night dinners, I love taking the easy route (meaning something can be cooked with dirty-ing practically NO DISHES, and it can be made in 5 minutes).  Quinoa dirties 3 things, and takes about 15 minutes – but it’s totally worth it!

I think it early to bed for me – G’NITE! 

After the race Saturday – I was starving – and Mike & my parents hadn’t really eaten – so I was all too quick to say “LET’S GO GET BRUNCH!” 

Since it was such a gorgeous day, my dad picked his favorite local hang out “Around the Corner” – and we got to sit outside on their patio and enjoy more of the day!

I was too excited for food to come, so I didn’t really take any other pictures – just my delicious meal:2 veggie patties (cheese on both) – topped with fresh onion, tomato, and lettuce.  The chips on the side were from when I started to feel sick to my stomach because I’d just burned over 1,000 calories, and had done nothing to replenish any of them! (translation – our food took a DAMN long time to come – I’d say over an hour – with only roughly 20 people eating at this place to begin with).   The burger was great though, the company fantastic – and my Dad paid the bill!!  Perfect ending to a great morning! 

Once we finally got home, Mike and I walked Lando, and then I showered and got cleaned up.  Mike really wanted to go watch some of the NBA playoff games so we headed to ANOTHER patio to have a few beverages! I started off with a Sugar Free Red Bull (and perhaps a shot of vodka – who can say really?) – look at the can tab!It’s a little bull!  I just thought that was so neat!  The easy stuff is what keeps me amused! 

We got bored with that patio though (it was way $$$) – so we hit up our favorite local watering hole for some Strongbow drafts.  (insert angels singing here)Our addiction to Strongbow totally paid off.  LISTEN TO THIS STORY!

The bar that has the cheap Strongbow drafts we LOVE,  doesn’t have a porch – so it was dead when we walked in at 4pm on a beautiful saturday.  The guy bartending was the guy we usually see when we head up there – so Mike and I served as his only entertainment.    After politely chatting with him for a few minutes, he goes into the “secret” drawer behind the counter, and gets out a $20 gift certificate and hands it to us!

Mike and I were both like “What the what?!”   – and asked him what it was for….

He said because we are such nice people, and we are 2 of his 5 favorite regulars – I GUESS IT PAYS TO BE A NICE PERSON WITH A VERY SERIOUS STRONGBOW ADDICTION!

Saturday night it was early to bed since it was such a long day – and Sunday was pretty much a blur as well.  I rode 20 miles on my bike (Kristin did too!), along side Danielle who had her last long run before her marathon (same day as my half marathon!!)

I got seriously sunburned and just laid around in misery most of the day. 

Sunday dinner was about all I could photograph – it was GC inspired dinner, after I watched her second video post!  A few MS buffalo wings, a few chicken wontons, broccoli, peppers & hummus – follow up by a cool dessert (because my body was on FIRE):I love these Smart Ones – 170 calories – and two in a package – one for me, one for Mike! 

Still sunburned this morning - looking like Ms. Lobster – sweating and shivering at the same time – thumbs up Allison!

Hope you all had a great weekend!!!