Happy Tuesday!  (or should I say “Friday” for some VERY lucky people!)

I still have to work on Wednesday – so I’ve got a little ways to go, but if I get stressed or upset – I just keep reminding myself “2 more days, 2 more days, 2 more days” – because Thursday…

I’ll be in MEXICO!

Okay – I’ll stop rubbing it in.

Because of our trip – I’ve been trying to use up items in our pantry/fridge/freezer that I know will go bad while we are gone. I knew I had Almond Milk to use up – which meant I HAD to buy cereal at the store on Sunday!

My choice:

Fruity Cheerios!

These tasted exactly like smaller Froot Loops! And while the ingredient list may not be “all natural” or “organic” – I was impressed that I actually could pronounce MOST items on this list:

Whatever.  I eat “Kids Sugar Cereal”.  And I make no apologies for that. 

Lunch was the rest of the romaine (that I think had already started to go bad – doesn’t this look like one sad salad!):

and the rest of my Shells & Cheese/roasted veggie combo from Saturday night:

and for snack (as if my Shells/Veggie combo didn’t have enough sodium) – some Lindt with “A Touch of Sea Salt”

This is still the bar I got in San Fran – and it’s almost gone!!   I need to find a place in Cleveland that sells these suckers on the cheap!

At the end of the day – I was working away, while simultaneously day dreaming of how fabulous Thursday will be – and I decided I wanted to get in a few more good “sweat sessions” (I know – lame word, but it’s the phrase that I thought.  So at least I’m lamely consistent. ) before our trip.

I rushed home, got changed, grabbed half of an apple, and took a picture of my man hand holding said apple, while my crazy dog begged at my feet for a walk instead of Mommy going to the gym.  (Was that really even a sentence? )

I am seriously OBSESSED with spinning right now. While I would rather be running – my foot isn’t totally cooperating, and spinning makes me feel like I’m still getting in an amazing workout!  LOVE IT!

By the time I got home it was 8pm and I hadn’t eaten dinner – and I wanted something IMMEDIATELY.  I went straight for the veggie dogs!

Served up on “poor buns”. 

Funny story*.  (*I am by no means making fun of the poor)

When Mike and I first started dating – I had suggested having hot dogs for dinner one day.  (Yeah – I’m a classy gal)  Here’s how the conversation went:

Me: Want hot dogs for dinner?

Mike: No, we can’t have hot dogs, we don’t have buns.

Me: (extremely nonchalantly) Oh that’s okay, we have bread

Mike: (staring in disbelief) What would bread have to do with hot dogs?

Me: We can just use the bread as buns.

Mike: (left speechless)…

To this day – Mike finds it simultaneously hysterical and mind boggling that we grew up eating our hot dogs on slices of bread.  He just can’t wrap his head around it.  Apparently – if you grew up with a house over your head and a warm bed to sleep in – all hot dogs should be eaten on hot dog buns. 

I digress.

Dinner:

Dessert – some ghetto guac:

My avocado OBVIOUSLY was not ripe enough since I could barely cut it – but I wanted “needed” to eat it since it would go bad over our trip.  It was still tasty – just not the consistency I was going for!

On the agenda from now until we leave – GO GO GO GO GO GO GO GO GO GO!    Are you ready for your holiday?  Is it time for you to relax??

After being up and about all day Saturday – the whole GDW family was T-I-R-E-D!   Poor Mike had to get up early and go back down to “Law School Event Thingy” – but Lando and I slept in until 9am!  That’s unheard of!  Both of us are usually up like clockwork at 7:30!  (Me, just because of my internal alarm, Lando – because she’s an eating monster!)

Even though I woke up late, I still had enough time to make some coffee, breakfast, and make it to the gym for my spinning class.

Breakfast: FlatOut with PB, Pumpkin PB, and 1/2 of a honeycrisp:

Once I got to the gym, I ran into my bloggy friend/reader Heather!  We’ve talked for months now (she lives in the Cleveland area and teaches at the gym I go to – but our paths just hadn’t crossed yet!)  Hi Heather!  Thanks so much for introducing yourself – it was so great to meet you!

After the gym & showering – I hit the grocery store to spend the remaining $14 left in the Thanksgiving Challenge. And by $14, I mean $14 and then some.

My favorite treat that I purchased (which then became my extremely nutritionally sound lunch):

I mean.  Did you expect anything less from me? 

The rest of the day was a blur!  I took Lander on a long walk, did a whole bunch of work on my laptop (blog & work stuff) – and then decided I needed a kick @ss healthy dinner to make up for my “chips and dip lunch”

Here’s what I came up with:

Hugh Jass Salad with: 

• romaine
• sun dried tomatoes (I have a problem!)
• butter beans
• cucumber
• yellow bell pepper
• banana peppers
• red onion

Continuing with my sun dried tomato obsession – I figured it was only appropriate to test this dressing out:

Very average.  The taste was fine.  Not great, not bad.  A little on the oily side.  I think it would make a better marinade than a dressing.

And as if that weren’t enough veggies – I ate the rest of the leftover roasted veggies from last night:

and that’s about as exciting as my Sunday got! I had plans to go to bed early, and wake up early to work out – but I couldn’t fall asleep until after 12!    You can imagine my morning workout didn’t happen.

Here’s to having a 3 day work week!

No!  Butter Beans!  You’ll see.

Saturday morning – I woke up – with not a single thing to do on my schedule.  I absolutely LOVE that feeling.  If I wanted to stay in my pajamas until 3 – I could have – but I decided to head to the gym and get my workout over with!  I was in, and done by 10:15 – that’s my kind of weekend workout! 

I decided to go what the big game over at my parents, so I rushed home, and hopped in the shower.  When I got out – Lando was no where to be found, which only means trouble.  I finally knelt down to find her under the bed, chewing on my favorite pair of Jessica Simpson heels..

I grabbed the shoes away from her immediately (no time for a photo opp), but she hid under the bed for another 5 minutes or so because she knew she was in trouble…

She is so dang bad – and yet so flipping cute at the same time.  I just can’t win!

My entire family was home (both of my brothers live with my parents again) – so it was nice to be able to hang out and watch the game with everyone. Oh yeah – and steal all of my parents delicious food.  Like this delicious chili:

eaten with these delicious chips:

I was at least polite enough to make sure that I brought some “appetizers” for Lando (hey – I can’t expect my parents to provide for EVERYONE right? )

I found these on clearance at Target (you can see the sticker) – and Lando LOVES THESE.  She actually runs away from us when we give them to her, as if she is afraid we are going to take the treat away from her (which we NEVER EVER DO!)

The treats are actually different vegetable shapes (celery stalk, carrot stick, an ear of corn) – but I fed Lando the last one without snapping a picture.  Instead – you get 2 blurry pictures of her CHOWING down!

(Sorry Lander, those are very flattering pictures of you! )

I also munched on these throughout the day – they are so addicting – I started with “Oh I’ll have just one” – and probably ended up having at least 5 handfuls!

After OSU’s absolutely expected victory (:razz:) – I headed home to do some cleaning and work for work.   Around 7, I decided I SHOULD really start cooking dinner (since Mike had been gone for over 12 hours at this “Law School Event Thing” and would be home any minute) – but was not feeling inspired to do so.

Then I tried a little old school bribery.  On myself. 

“If you start cooking dinner now – you can have a glass of wine!” – DONE!

To make that glass of wine even tastier – I relied on my FABULOUS FRIEND – Mr. Soda Stream!!!  I made a quick bottle of carbonated water so I could make my glass of wine a “white wine spritzer”.  Refreshing!:grin:

I cooked some Hot Italian Turkey Sausages (TWSS?) for Mike, but didn’t snap a picture.  Mike had also requested that I make the last box of Velveeta Shells & Cheese that we had in the cupboard – which I did – but stole half of, for my own dinner! 

Meat – check!  “Grains/Carbs” – check!  Veggies????? – of COURSE check!

I roasted up all the veggies I could find in the fridge, so I could bulk up my Shells & Cheese dinner – and I also decided to experiment with these for the first time:

I always tend to buy the same 5 or 6 types of beans – and the last time I was at the grocery store – I decided it was time to branch out!

The final product:

Definitely a hit!   The mixture of the veggies and the cheesey noodles was perfect!  As for the butter beans – I’d say they taste like “a better tasting lima bean”.  They are similar in shape and size – but have an easier consistency.  Does that description even make sense?

Funniest part of the evening?  Mike didn’t even need dinner when he got home, because he had been given all the leftover swedish meatballs from the “Law School Event Thing” Reception:

Figures! 

We ended up heading back over to my parents around 10pm to watch the UFC Fights last night!  We had a few drinks and some appetizers, but I didn’t even think to take pictures.  I was too tired, and operating on auto-pilot!   

Hope you are all having a great weekend!!!!

All I can think about today?  In 3 more days we’ll be in MEXICO!!!!!!!!!!!!