March = OVER!

Guess what?! We made it to the end of March. WHOA HOOOO! As predicted, that was one of the longest months EVER, but I made it through and now it's over.

How did I do on my goals?

1. Attend one spinning class per week- done (well except I don't think I am going to any this week, but some weeks I did 2, does that count?)

2. Attend 2 classes at Healthworks per week- fail. I barely made it to 1 per week. I guess this is why I don't belong to Healthworks as my real gym, it's just not close enough to be convenient. But I did attend 2 Healthworks classes this week...does that help? Not to change the topic completely but I had the unfortunate experience of showering at my normal gym today and it became IMMEDIATELY clear why Healthworks was voted the best all female gym in Fitness Magazine this month. No offense Y...but you will not be winning any awards any time soon.

3. Plan something exciting every weekend. Hmm, kinda forgot about this goal. I think most weekends I did at least 1 fun thing?

Overall I think my goals, and my attempts to reach them were pretty weak this month. Truthfully though, I don't care- I am just happy to make it to April!

I'm hoping to set some better goals for April- I'll post those either tomorrow night or Friday morning.

Tonight Eric and I went to his parent's house for a birthday dinner for his brother's girlfriend. Eric's mom decided to make her cooking debut when 10 people were coming over...good idea, huh?

It ended up being a bit of a family effort...

Nah, just kidding...it was a one woman show:

She made chicken piccata...yum

Blogger Confession Time:
#1- I took a bite out of my roll before taking picture of my plate. I was hungry!
#2- I really ate like twice this much. Oops.

Obviously the Captain Zoom Birthday Song came back...

Ah birthdays. Good times.

On another happy note, tomorrow is an exciting day because
#1- it's kind of like Friday, since I took Friday off to go to the Cape with my family for Easter. I'm sick of being the only one in my family who doesn't have a long weekend so this year I took matters into my own hands :)
#2- it's 100 days til Eric and my wedding! WOOOO!

Hopefully I'll have a chance to post tomorrow before I leave for the Cape but if not I'll catch you guys on Friday morning.

Are you happy March is over? How did you do with any goals you had for March?

Obligations

Ever wondered how to make a day insanely long? Get yourself stuck with 21 kindergarten children who haven't been to recess since last Friday...

But anyway. I am continuing my decision to leave my thoughts on the weather out of the blog. Instead, let's chat about "obligations."

Yesterday I tweeted "Does anyone else feel like sometimes life is one obligation after another?" I received some enthusiastic "yes!" responses, so I figured others must hear me on this. I mean obviously there is the obligation of work, and all that goes around with that. However, beyond that it seems like other obligations never seem to end either.

Individually many of these obligations are fun things: wedding events (bachelorette parties, bridal showers, rehearsal dinners, weddings themselves), parties, sporting events, etc. However, at times it can feel like entire weekends (and sometimes weeknights) can just be taken over by all of these things and we can get to Sunday thinking, did I relax at all this weekend? The answer is often times no.

Sometimes I wonder if it's particularly crazy because Eric and I tend to do things together, so spending adequate time with our families AND all our friends is bordering on impossible. I never remember being particularly overwhelmed by social obligations in high school, but back then I had just friends...not high school friends, college friends, and work friends. Nor did I have Eric's friends, all of whom I love. Plus, let's be honest with ourselves...family is not top priority for a high school student (sorry guys!) and you live with them so you see them a lot anyways.

Now I don't live with my family, so it is a top priority to see them and Eric's family. Plus I always find family time is so relaxing- I never have to wait until some ungodly hour at night to eat dinner with them (well except in California). I think Eric's family actually likes to eat even earlier than me most nights. It's fantastic. Hanging out with my or Eric's family never feels like an obligation.

Anyway, I guess my point is. I love parties and events, I do. But sometimes I am just overwhelmed by the shear number of them. I know I've said before that I need to get better at saying no. I mean, I am fine at saying no if I genuinely have something else I have to do, but if I'm completely available- how do I say no? It kinda feels rude to say no to a friend's birthday, or wedding related event. But it also feels like because we can't say no to those events, we never have time to actually spend quality time with friends. Be honest, how often do you spend quality time with anyone at your own party?

Does anyone else struggle with this? Any solutions out there? I've been told to have kids because then I'll have time for no social events. Somehow that's not quite the solution I am looking for...

On a totally different note, I made a bit of a different dinner tonight. I had leftover teriyaki tempeh and a big eggplant so I decided to make Eggplant Tempeh Tacos. I found this recipe online and I really did not follow it at all except for to use the idea for eggplant as a sub for taco shells. The reason why I didn't follow the rest of the recipe is because I didn't have the ingredients and I already had my tempeh cooked in teriyaki sauce. Otherwise, it looks delicious for another time! To make my Eggplant Tempeh Tacos, I started by peeling and slicing my eggplant nice and thin. To cook it, I just sprayed some PAM in a pan, threw in a few slices of eggplant at a time and turned them over after 1-2 minutes.

After I cooked the eggplant, I let them cool and heated up my teriyaki tempeh. Then, all I had to do was assemble the "tacos." It was pretty simple!

Fun, right?
They were pretty delicious too...although I felt like my eggplant had a hint of a bitter taste today. Does that mean I cooked it wrong? I don't know if I've ever actually cooked eggplant before...weird.
Anyway, I enjoyed these mini tacos with a side of mashed butternut squash (though not as amazing as yesterday's butternut squash raviolis!) and some extra pieces of eggplant. A little low on the carbs for me (though my tempeh is mixed with whole grains), but a filling meal nonetheless!

Have you ever tried tempeh? Do you like it? What's your favorite way to eat it?

I just tried tempeh for the first time a few weeks ago, but I am a fan now. I think I like tofu and tempeh pretty equally but tempeh is a little easier to prepare because you don't have to squeeze the water out :)

I hope we ALL see the sun tomorrow. Or even just walk outside without getting soaked...start small.

Ravioli Heaven

*Don't forget to enter my Violet Love Headband Giveaway!

I am not even going to bother commenting on the weather today. I've mentioned that my mood is highly affected by the weather so I think I mention it in almost every blog post at some point or another. The problem is...Boston has been gorgeous, rainy, gorgeous, monsoons, gorgeous, rainy, rainy, rainy. No need to discuss it further, at least for now...

Instead, let's discuss my relationship with butternut squash ravioli. It's amazing. Yet, for someone like me who cannot eat butter, it's really a pain to actually get. At restaurants, they always serve butter squash ravioli with brown butter sage sauce. I've asked for it with tomato sauce and let's just say this does not impress waitresses or chefs. Look, I get that a tomato sauce will overshadow the amazing taste of butternut squash, I do. But butter hurts my stomach, so let me ruin my food if I want to, thanks.

I've tried buying the butternut squash in the frozen section of the grocery store, but they always add random pepper, or something weird and ruin the taste. I know what you are thinking, "make your own!" However, I'm thinking that would take longer than my 20-30 minute limit on any cooking so, that's out of the question.

Needless to say, when Eric's mom told us that her friend, Susan, made her own butternut squash ravioli and was going to give some to Eric and I, I was pretty excited. Tonight was the night to try it. Ah, butternut squash in the comfort of my own home with no one to judge my topping choices = happiness.

Here is a shot of the beauties before I destroyed the view with tomato sauce...

And one of Eric's portion with his own brown butter sage sauce, "the way it should be done"...

So, the verdict?

These were by far the best butternut squash raviolis I've ever had. I know I said I don't really like them from a store, but I do usually love them at restaurants when I can manage to get them. However, these were SO much better. The pasta was amazing by itself, the filling was amazing by itself and together it was just absolute greatness. I could have easily had 10 more bowls.

All I can hope now is that Susan is going to go into the butternut squash ravioli making business so that we can get these as often as we want. That would be food heaven. Yum.

In other good news (but not quite as good as amazing butternut squash raviolis), we went to test drive Eric's new truck tonight. It's a beauty...

I would love to show you the outside because as you can tell by Eric's jacket- tonight was not a night I wanted to be standing outside taking pictures so you'll have to wait til it officially becomes Eric's. I am also in the market for a new vehicle but I am delaying the actual purchase because I can't decide if I'm going to get a newer version of my same small car or if I'm going to try to get a car with four wheel drive. I'd love to be able to drive in the snow, but I just love little cars, so much easier to squeeze into parking spaces. And so I continue to debate and procrastinate. Typical.

I hope everyone made it through Monday okay. What foods are in your food heaven? Are there any foods you love but have trouble finding "the best" of that food?

Adventures in Sweet Potato and Healthworks

Does anyone have trouble motivating themselves to blog when they are having an off day? That is me today. But I also have so many things I want to tell you guys that I have decided to bounce out of my bad mood for a few minutes to say all I want to say.

Yesterday was a very productive day on the wedding front. Eric and I went down to the Wrentham Outlets and I managed to get gifts for my two readers and 2 of my bridesmaids. I still have 4 more bridesmaids to shop for, but I figure that makes me halfway done? ish. It's movement in the right direction. Also, I think the worst part of wedding planning, oops I mean wedding list is finally complete and no longer my responsibility, whoa hoo!

So the other day I tried to make Madeline's sweet potato pancakes. However, they didn't really look like pancakes...

Lol. I blame myself completely because I was estimating how big a small sweet potato would be (I had 2-3 sweet potatoes worth of mashed sweet potato in my fridge) and I think I estimated a bit wrong. Anyway, it was more like sweet potato oatmeal than pancakes, but topped with some apple it was absolutely delicious. I loved the idea of incorporating sweet potato into my breakfast.

Today I decided to create a new sweet potato oatmeal recipe.

Baked Sweet Potato & Pear Oatmeal

1/3 cup of Old Fashioned Oats
1/4 cup of mashed sweet potato
1/3 cup of vanilla almond milk
1 sliced pear

Directions: Preheat oven to 350. Mix oats, sweet potato and almond milk together in an oven safe dish. Place sliced pear on top. Bake in oven for 25-30 minutes.

I really really liked this recipe. It was by far the best thing about my day so far haha. However, if you really like very sweet breakfasts, I would recommend adding some brown sugar about 5 minutes before you are finished cooking. The potato takes some of the sweetness from the almond milk and the pear gets a lot less sweet when it cooks. I enjoyed it this way, but I think some people would prefer it with some brown sugar.

After breakfast I headed to Brookline for my first experience at the Brookline Healthworks. All I can say is WOW. That place is beautiful. Cambridge looks borderline dumpy compared to the Brookline location. I didn't want to go too crazy with pictures but I did snap a few...

Work out area:

Lounge area:

After I absorbed the beautifulness of the place, I got ready to take my first ever HULA HOOP class...

Look at all those awesome hoops.

I really had no idea what to expect from the class so I e-mailed Emily, who I know takes the class sometimes. Unfortunately, I think her class was a bit different from mine because she mentioned some arm work which didn't happen at mine (a lot of girls got out weights too that we never use so I'm guessing they go to those other classes too). Instead we did a lot of jumping in between hooping which I can't do because of my knee. So that was annoying. I got the general feeling that my instructor did not really know how to fill the time when we weren't hula hooping and just did whatever she felt like...

The hula hooping itself was better because it did not hurt my knee but the ridges on the inside of the hoop kinda hurt my stomach, hips and back as they were going around. Another girl complained about it and the instructor said thats why she brought her own hula hoop that she bought at a toy store. I think if I going to take up hula hooping I probably would get my own hoop too so it didn't hurt so much. It was fun to challenge myself by doing weird stuff with my hands and feet while hooping. However, after 30 minutes I was definitely ready to be done with the class.

Luckily, right after was an Urban Rebounding class with the same instructor so I got to do my new favorite class...

It's so fun to jump on a trampoline. Though I have to admit I got a similar feeling that I did in the Hoop class, that the instructor didn't really have a "plan." I liked her though, she definitely motivated you to work harder.

Post-gym I headed to Cambridge to see Caroline and Chris speed through a 5 mile race. I'm not going to tell you much about it though because I'm sure she'll recap it tonight or tomorrow :) Very proud of them though.

I hope so bad that someday very soon my knee can stop being the worst knee in history and I can run races again. I only barely had a taste of the fun of it before I couldn't do them anymore. Depressing. Anyway, I said there wasn't going to be anything negative in this post right?

So I'm off. I do have one thing to look forward to tonight and that is TCBY. My cousin reported to me that the Belmont TCBY is closing so I have to get my fill OFTEN before that sad day comes. I think it's being replaced by a Rancatore's which is by far my least favorite ice cream I've ever had. I don't even care if I'm spelling the name wrong because I really dislike their ice cream. Here I am getting negative again...

I hope everyone had a great weekend! What was your favorite thing you did this weekend?

Yummy Mexican and Another Giveaway!

Good morning! It's my favorite time of the weekend: Saturday morning :)

So, you know how I decided I like Mexican food while I was in Arizona? Eric and I tried some Massachusetts Mexican last night at Ixtapa Mexican. I guess it's technically a chain, since there are 4 locations around here, but I'm not against chains. It's definitely a casual feel and the location we visited was basically in a small business plaza. We went at about 6:30 and the place was totally filled with kids, but since I was no where near work I didn't care at all :)

They did have some Mexican decorations around to set the tone:

And, the most important thing about any Mexican restaurant...

chips and salsa
AND
margaritas...

This one received the Eric stamp of approval. And it was served in the cactus glass that Eric tried to buy off the waitress in Arizona haha.

I ordered my Mexican favorite: chicken fajitas...

I make myself small wraps of chicken, rice, a small amount of beans and a small amount of guac. So yummy. Or should I say delicioso. 9 years of Spanish class and thats about all I can say! If only I didn't eat so many chips this would be a pretty healthy meal :)

This morning I went to spin class and tried out my new headbands from Violet Love . After I told Violet Love owner Rebecca about my headband breaking in the middle of my 5k (and I had to hold it because I didn't want to just throw a headband on the ground haha), she offered to send me some of her SHE headbands for working out. They are made out of that wicking fabric we all know and love and they are cute too. I wore the gray version to spin this morning...

Okay so it would've been cute if it wasn't so clear that I JUST woke up 5 minutes before the picture was taken. Oh well :) I also got another cute one which has some pink on it, so of course I love it.

So after an intense spin class, what did I think? Amazing. Not only was there no chance of this breaking any time soon, it also did not slide around at ALL, even with me taking off and putting on my sweatshirt before and after class. I am not even sure how that's possible since my old headbands (the ones that broke) used to have those small bumps to keep them from sliding and Violet Love headbands are smooth and soft.

Also, does anyone else get headaches from headbands that are too tight? Cuz I do...no headache from this at all, it fits really comfortably and not too tight at all. I've been wearing it for at least 4 hours now with no sign of getting a headache any time soon.

Basically in a nutshell you want to try these headbands. If for some reason you aren't a big work out person (or don't wear headbands while working out), check out the website anyway because she sells headbands for every day use, as well as tights AND they make tons of kids products as well. My favorite are definitely the matching tights and headbands...I'm thinking I could totally fit into an extra large, right?

So...anyone feel like WINNING some headbands?

Of course you do! To enter to win these two awesome headbands, you can do the following (leave a separate comment for each entry):

#1- Go to the Violet Love website and tell me the one thing you would buy if you could buy anything...

#2- Post about this giveaway on your blog and let me know.

#3- If you could only do one exercise for the rest of your life, what would you pick? (I ask because I have no idea how I'd decide- I love changing it up so much!)

Good luck. I'll announce a winner on Wednesday night. Since I am mailing (and these are wicked light), I'm happy to send wherever so anyone can enter!

I hope everyone has a great weekend!

Giveaway Winner and Delicious Fro Yo

Happy Friday kids!

The winner of my peeled snacks giveaway was Fit Chick in the City! Please e-mail me your address at RedSoxCap10@gmail.com so you can get your yummy and healthy dried fruit!

I am taking a week off from Flashback Friday because I have something pretty funny in store for you next week to help me discuss my sophomore year of college- I just have to do a little editing. The only clue I will give is that once upon a time 7 years ago, I actually had another blog. Well, I use the word "blog" lightly, it was more like a personal dialog between myself my friends which were my only readers, but hey! There no blog rules right?

Anyway, I have to tell you guys about my delicious frozen yogurt experience last night. Basically it all started when I was in Arizona in February and became obsessed with self serve frozen yogurt. I was so mad that I could not have this amazing dessert in the Boston area until Meg (blog reader, sister of Anna) assured me that in fact there was ONE frozen yogurt place in Boston that is self serve: Berry Freeze in Brookline!

After hearing about this I knew I had to get to Brookline to try it. I was slightly discouraged by my lackluster experience at Berryline in Cambridge, because I knew that Berry Freeze was also tart frozen yogurt and I just wasn't sure if that was my thing.

Even so, I managed to convince Melissa and Lauren to meet me at Berry Freeze last night so I could see for myself. Lauren mentioned that she really liked the chocolate flavor, so I decided to do a little taste testing of the chocolate and coconut flavors. Turns out that tart frozen yogurt (at least at Berry Freeze) is really not that tart anymore with chocolate OR coconut thrown into the mix. Instead it's just greatness. I ended up making my bowl a mix of chocolate, coconut and a little plain on the top so I could try it. The plain truly was not as tart as at Berry line, but it's still not my favorite. The chocolate and coconut WILL bring me back to this place.

Oh, and how could I possibly forget the toppings?

I added a few pieces of mango, with some m&ms and reeses pieces :)

I know you can't tell that well in this picture but I got a bright pink spoon, only adding to my overall love for this place.

Also it was really fun to meet Lauren and Melissa- and funny to be like, wait, I think I already know this story- did you talk about this on your blog? haha. They also convinced me that I have to try some of the other Healthworks locations before my Groupon membership runs out, so you'll be seeing that.

Okay time to go drink my delicious "Orange Monster" (butternut squash, banana, and mango) and do some cleaning before Eric gets home and we grab some dinner.

Does anyone else have the hardest time waiting at home to go to dinner? I am always hungry/bored (and I'm a bored eater if there ever was one) so I eat half the house while waiting. Today I am cleaning the house instead of eating the house :) I have a nice book on cd in my ears and I'm ready to start vacuuming. I hope everyone has a great Friday night, catch you guys tomorrow!

Tiny Bowls

Yo. Before I forget I want to remind you that today is the last day to enter my peeled snacks giveaway. I just ate some more of the dried pineapple and that alone is a reason to enter. I'll announce the winner tomorrow and you'll be on your way to enjoying your own peeled snacks :)

So how was everyone's Thursday? Obviously not as good as tomorrow is going to be because tomorrow is Friday :) I squeezed in a quick bike ride after work this afternoon because it was nice out and I didn't have tutoring so I figured get on the bike while I can. It was a bit of a different experience than at the Cape because I was on a bike trial, but I actually had to clip in and out more often because of all the cross streets. I ALMOST wiped out at a real bad intersection but I managed to not totally panic and get one of my feet out of the clip. Yay. I also managed to get my Garmin to say the MPH, thanks Marlene! I was basically going anywhere from 11mph-17mph depending on whether I was going downhill or uphill, unfortunately there is not a ton of completely flat roads around me. I had to brave my MASSIVE hill at the end of the ride. Last year because of my knee I used to walk up this hill but with the clipless shoes, there is really no walking haha so I just had to push it out. Hopefully my knee will not be too unhappy about it later.

On another note, I've been thinking a lot about portion size this week. I've made several unsuccessful attempts to limit my ice cream intake during the week and I decided this week I have to either ban ice cream from my house or try a new method. Clearly banning ice cream from the house two days after I bought 3 gallons of ice cream is not really going to fly so, the solution? tiny bowls from Anthropologie.

It might look big but...don't let it fool you, they are tiny bowls :)

Anyway, this is now what my ice cream goes into. It's working well so far- I haven't gone back once for seconds :)

In some ways I am not surprised this method is working for me because probably my number 1 "get healthy" or "be healthy" tip is to control portion size. Sure you want to eat foods that are big but low in calories, but you can basically eat anything in moderation while still being healthy, you just have to pay really close attention to serving size.

Other ways to control portion size are small plates, small forks, small zip lock bags etc. I almost never use a normal size plate or fork for my dinner, I like to fill up my small plate :)

How do you control your portion sizes? Do you believe in eating almost anything in small portions?

I also got to meet Melissa from Crunches for Cupcakes and Lauren from Eater Not A Runner tonight at Berry Freeze in Brookline. It was delicious and I have pictures but you'll have to wait until tomorrow because I have a few things to do before bed and I have to get into work extra early tomorrow morning- but at least it's Friday :) Any awesome plans for the weekend?

Come on the Train, and a Ride It

Yay, hump day is almost over! My day was actually pretty good. It started with an Urban Rebounding class and really, what is better than jumping on a trampoline and calling it a work out? Plus my instructor has some quality throw back tunes this morning. Anyone remember the Choo-Choo Train song (Come on the train, and ride it?)? Good times.

Anyway, my day was fantastic until I opened my wedding guest list. Am I alone in finding this list to be THE MOST annoying thing about wedding planning? I started with a list, then it got added to, but sometimes it was added to my parents list, sometimes my list and I can't tell you how many times we were like "where is aunt so and so?" or "why is my best friend NOT on this list?" etc.

Just last week I finally took the "final" list and reorganized it and reformatted it so that it was in the formal invitation language. Turns out that only confused me more. Once you delete the woman's name and formalize the guy's name, "Mr. and Mrs. Christopher Smith", now I just don't know who half the guests are! Including my own friends who all decided to change their names in the middle of me planning a wedding! (how dare they? j/k) Then I attempted to add the kids names which was another joke. Can I just write "and kids" or "and kids as long as you are willing to deal with them because Eric and I get enough of that every other day?" Formal shmormal. I tried to stick to the "rules" as much as possible but I did put the names of guests on the outside of the envelope even if they don't live together. Sorry but Eric and I see our friend's girlfriends/boyfriends/fiance's about as much as we see our friends, so no we will not call them "guests." Also, guests 18 and older are supposed to get their own invites even if they live with their parents. Seems pointless to me...do you really need two invitations to throw away save forever? I don't even live with my parents and if my cousins sent an invite only to my parents with my name on it, I honestly wouldn't care- as long as they informed me where I need to be and when.

And also- is there REALLY a need for 2 envelopes? No. Because even if someone does decide to throw away save my invites forever, do they really need a special clean envelope?

So trivia question for you: True or False- Kelly LOVES the formalities of weddings. You said True didn't you?

Okay enough about that. Have you been wondering how I've been doing with eating more veggies in honor of National Nutrition Month? (probably not but I'm going to tell you anyway!). I haven't been recording my number of servings or anything, but I think I've been eating significantly more veggies than I was before. This week I made another one of my favorite pizzas:

On top of crust I put- tomato sauce, carrots, parsnips, summer squash, mushrooms, red peppers and black beans. That's 3 delicious veggie filled lunches.

Also last week I happened to notice that I do really well prepping my veggies for the beginning of the week, say Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday...and then Thursday, Friday, Saturday- I run out of veggies and don't go grocery shopping until Sunday. Oops. This week I tried to plan ahead better and I think it worked. I still have sweet potatoes and butternut squash leftover, half a bag of baby carrots, and an eggplant still left. Not bad for a girl who's stomach regularly rejects veggies?

How do you make sure you are getting enough veggies? Do you plan ahead or do you naturally just eat a lot of vegetables?

Let's Talk Chocolate

It's yet another rainy day (I can only imagine what April, a month with a reputation for having lots of "showers", is going to be like) and we all know how Kelly's mood is DIRECTLY related to the weather. Therefore I thought I'd talk today about something mood boosting: chocolate.

Chocolate has started to gain quite the good reputation the last few years as studies have shown that dark chocolate can lower blood pressure and bad cholesterol. Plus, it contains serotonin, which is a natural way to boost your mood (hence the post today!).

Whoa hoo- chocolate is healthy! Well, except I am really not a big fan of dark chocolate, and consuming a bag of mini eggs probably does not count as healthy, huh? Oops. Seriously though, just like I don't try to pretend I'm getting my calcium intake from ice cream (though I'm sure I am getting some), I don't really like to pretend eating chocolate is healthy for me. Sure, if it has some nutritional benefits, that's a bonus- but mainly for me it's just a treat :)

This week though, I've managed to incorporate some chocolate into meals/snacks that I do consider pretty healthy.

First, I made my first ever batch of overnight oats on Sunday night. I have been meaning to try these forever, but I had the fear that I would hate them and waste time and oatmeal. I went to the gym on Monday morning so I wanted to have a breakfast that would be quick to make and I could easily bring to work with me. That's when I thought of overnight oats. What could be quicker to make? And in a small tupperware container it's quite portable. In a container I put:

1/2 cup of oatmeal
1/2 cup of almond milk
1/2 of a frozen banana
1/4 tsp of Gharardelli unsweetened cocoa powder (you really don't need a lot!)

I put the top on the container and stored it in the fridge over night. In the morning, I literally did not have to do anything, I just grabbed it and went to work.

The results? DELICIOUS. Not too chocolately, but just the right amount of sweetness and chocolate for the morning. I was a little concerned that I would not stay full, but I added a few Cheerios on the side and I was fine. Next time I'd probably add a few almonds on top and be good. You will definitely be seeing more overnight oats in my future.

My second chocolate discovery was Oikos chocolate greek yogurt. I've been searching for this forever...

I was really impressed by the nutrition facts on this baby, including 110 calories, 0 grams of fat, 10 grams of protein and 10% of your daily calcium requirements. It does have 16 grams of sugar, but considering this is most likely a dessert, there is certainly worse when it comes to yogurt :)

I couldn't help but compare the nutrition information on this to another favorite dessert of mine, ZenSoy pudding:

I love the flavor with a mixture of Vanilla and Chocolate. This dessert has 10 more calories and 4 extra grams of sugar (basically an extra teaspoon). But, it also has slightly more calcium at 15% of your daily value instead of 10%. The MAJOR perk of the yogurt as opposed to the pudding is the increase in protein you get from the yogurt. The Oikos chocolate flavor has 10 grams of protein, and the pudding only has 3 grams. Also, according to Gina, the protein in greek yogurt is a slow protein which is absorbed slowly. Studies have shown this kind of protein provides your muscles with energy throughout the night to help repair and rebuild them while you sleep. Since I usually eat dessert within a few hours of going to bed, this is pretty important to me when choosing a dessert.

Oh, and by the way- the chocolate yogurt tastes pretty delicious too, but maybe not delicious enough for me to give up the zensoy pudding forever (or ice cream!).

If I am not even attempting to be healthy (or care about my stomach at all), I have lots of chocolate favorites:
-chocolate moose (anyone had chocolate moose cheesecake at the Cheesecake Factory? heaven on earth)
-chocolate fudge
-chocolate truffles- my favorites are filled with vanilla or mint
-soft chocolate chip cookies
-brownies

I know it seems like I love all things chocolate, but I am not a fan of chocolate ice cream or chocolate cake at all!

What is your favorite "healthy" chocolate treat?
What about your favorite "we won't even pretend it's healthy" chocolate?

Sweet Giveaway!

Happy Monday? I'm actually totally lost about what day of the week it is right now because I somehow managed to motivate myself to hit the gym this morning AND my tutoring was cancelled so I'm somehow home at 5, which literally never happens on Mondays (usually I get home around 8). So, I'm just confused all around.

So have I told you guys about my newfound obsession with dried mango? I bought some as a plane snack for my trip to Arizona and I realized how addicting it is. I actually decided I can't buy it for awhile because I was eating it too much!

During my dried mango obsession I started to realize just how difficult it is to find dried fruit without added sugar. ADDED SUGAR?! It's fruit! The last thing you need is ANY more sugar. I usually buy my dried fruit at Whole Food's, but I realized if I wanted to buy it at my grocery store I'd basically be out of luck because it ALL has sugar on it. Yuck!

That's why I was particularly excited last week when I saw peeled snacks on Tera's blog. Peeled snacks are organic dried fruit with NO added sugar or oil. The fact that they even mention oil scares me...do people add OIL to their fruit too? AH! Anyway, peeled snacks doesn't. What an awesome way to manage a craving for something sweet!

Peeled snacks sent me some of their delicious flavors to try

Pine 4-Pineapple, Apricot-a-lot, Apple2-the-core, Banan-a-peel, and Cherry-go-round. Yum. I decided to try the Pine 4-Pineapple first because I've never tried dried pineapple and I was really curious. Turns out, it's really delicious. So sweet! I could see this being a dessert if you are one of those people who just loves to end a meal with some sugar! I've already tried the cherries and apples already and loved both of those as well. I think my favorite so far were probably the cherries. Yum.

So, want to try your own peeled snacks? I knew you would! Peeled snacks is going to give away an Organic Fruits Variety Pack to one of my lucky readers. However, they are out of mango, so that will not be included. Trust me though, as a total lover of dried mango, the other flavors will more than make up for it!

To Enter:
Please leave a separate comment for each entry.

1. Visit the peeled snacks website and tell me which fruit you most want to try.

2. Followed peeled snacks on Twitter and tell me you did. And while you are at it, might as well follow me on twitter, right?

3. Become a fan of peeled snacks on Facebook.

In summary, you show them some love, they may give you some yummy snacks. You have until Thursday night (March 25th) to enter and I'll announce the winner on Friday! Good luck :)

I hope everyone made it through Monday okay!

PS. If you want to buy peeled snacks for yourself, they are available at Starbucks- and I know we all have a Starbucks near us right?

Then a Bird Moved In...

It's Sunday night, which is never cool but I feel 100 times better about my weekend than I did last week. I swear my mood is 85% weather related haha. I hear its going to rain tomorrow but I'm not going to think about that now because it has been absolutely beautiful all weekend.

After I left you guys yesterday I headed out for my first outside bike ride of the spring. As I mentioned I forgot pants, so I had to go to a local sporting goods store and buy something (or else bike in pj pants, which I did consider). I managed to find a pair of youth sweatpants for 10 dollars and they were way too short, which was perfect because they didn't get in the way of the chain. I love kids clothing haha.

My first experience with clipless pedals was a huge success! I never got stuck in them and only had a problem getting my foot in once...and it didn't really matter I just kept biking with the other foot and trying. No falls at all. Yipee. Don't worry I'm not getting over-confident though, I know it will be when I start to get comfortable and forget I am clipped in that I will wipe out completely.

Also I loved the clipless pedal feel. I thought it made a difference in spinning class, but it was even a bigger difference outside. I enjoyed every minute of my bike ride through Hyannisport and Osterville.

I think I went right near the Kennedy compound, but you can't see it from the road so I don't know for sure :) I got to break out the Garmin and was happy to see it still works after it's long winter hibernation.

Garmin question for you guys. How do I get my pace to show me miles per hour? I have no real idea how fast I am biking. I mean I know yesterday I was going slow trying to navigate the streets etc. But I'd like to see it in MPH. Is there a way to do that?

Last night Eric and I went out for Japanese food with Katie and Adam. Is it just me or is Japanese food just always pretty and colorful?

Of course some of that bright color comes from roe (fish eggs) which lets just say is not Katie's favorite part of the meal...haha

It was so relaxing and fun hanging out with Katie and Adam. However after they left, things got eventful...

It all started when Eric decided to go move my dad's car into the garage. All of a sudden I hear him say, "ahh! It's a bird!" I assume he means it's in the garage until he comes running into the house and I spy a new friend IN THE HOUSE...

While Eric chased the bird around the downstairs of the house, I launched into blogger mode and found my camera. Don't worry, I also went upstairs and shut our bedroom door so we wouldn't have to sleep with a bird no matter how bad things got.

Can you find the birdie?

After having no success with opening every window and door in the house, I decided to consult google. I mean seriously, what problem can not be solved using google? I found this article, which suggested that I should cover all but one window and turn off the lights. Since it was dark already, I just turned off the lights in the house, and the outside lights on. Finally, the bird flew into the laundry room and Eric quickly opened the window to let him out. Thanks google!

Have you ever had a bird in your house?

Today was spent driving home, running errands and getting organized for the week, nothing too eventful but still nice and relaxing. Well actually, there was one minor event. Edy's ice cream (aka my favorite) was on sale- buy one get TWO free. WHAT?! We all know the last thing I need is 3 gallons of ice cream, but can I really pass up FREE ice cream? I swear I am going to control myself with it. For example, right now I am eating yogurt for dessert. Go me.

Coming up tomorrow: a Giveaway!!!
Did everyone have a good weekend? Fit Bloggin Attendees, how was it? Did anyone do anything else fun this weekend?

Better Safe Than Pink

Good morning! You know Saturday morning good mood Kelly? It's up times 100 day because I'm at the Cape, it's beautiful outside and I have absolutely nothing I HAVE to do this weekend. No obligations what-so-ever beyond the usual grocery shop for the week and remember to work out at some point :)

So those of you who wanted to cry (and/or yell at me) when you found out I was sporting a helmet from my middle school days will be happy to know I have invested in a new, much-safer version of my old ridiculous helmet. Obviously I wanted more than anything to sport a beautiful pink helmet that would match my bike. But unfortunately the guy at the store managed to convince me that yellow and red (what an ugly combination!) would be much more visible and 100 percent safer.

It's hard to argue with safety when my serious fear of traffic keeps me on the bike trail 85% of the time. My goal of this year is to get more into biking on the road so I suppose a hideous safe helmet is in order. Though, do you really think red is more visible than pink? I don't know...I think bikers are just a little stuck up and don't want something girly like bike representing their sport. Boo, why did I let them suck me in?

Oh well, I have bigger biking problems this morning, like, what am I going to wear? (let's face it, I am not someone bikers want representing their sport anyway!) I completely forgot to pack bike shorts or even any kind of work out pants. The only pants I have here are jeans, leggings (I did consider wearing these but decided I would freeze because they are too thin- I'd also probably flash my underwear at everyone) and my pajama pants. Eric taught me how to roll up my pj pants in case I want to ride with those on...but they are striped and ridiculous and it's only going to be a last resort.

Especially because I am going clipless for the first time this morning and I am definitely anticipating some serious falls! In spin class I can never get my shoes to lock in with the pedals so I am hoping I am more successful on the road when it really matters!

Now I just have to wait 20 minutes for a sporting goods store to open so I can get something relatively appropriate to wear. I have to say, I love biking, but it is much more of a process than running, huh? I promise if I do have to resort to wearing pajama pants I will get a picture for all of your entertainment.

What is the most ridiculous thing you've worn while working out (biking, running, anything!)?

What is everyone up to today?
I am obviously going to bike and then provided I make it out without any serious injuries, I'll be hanging out with Eric all day and then meeting Katie and Adam for Japanese food tonight!

Lots to Say on Friday

Hi everyone and HAPPY FRIDAY!!!! It's another beautiful day in Boston and I am headed to the Cape after work today with Eric to celebrate our 5 Year Anniversary! So basically I am happy all around. I'm so ready for a nice weather relaxing weekend.

What are YOU up to this weekend?

So before I get to Flashback Friday I have a few random things:

#1- My wedding dress has arrived and I tried it on Wednesday afternoon. I was so scared it wasn't going to fit but it zipped up, yipee! I still love it. I also saw my bridesmaid dresses. The pink color is amazing and I am truly jealous of my bridesmaids for getting to wear them, is that normal? That's 3 things I love about my wedding in one week: cake, my dress, my bridesmaid dresses. Look at me, lover of weddings. Haha.

#2- My college roommate has been in med school for the past 4 years in Chicago and just got "matched" today in Cincinnati for her residency. I want to visit her after she moves but I have no knowledge of Ohio at all. Should I fly into Cincinnati or are there other bigger airports close by? Is there anything to do in Cincinnati? Someone must know something, right? I don't know if I have any readers from Cincinnati but I have some Ohio readers, so maybe you guys know...

#3- I found Jillian Michael's Yoga Meltdown on On Demand yesterday morning. I remember hearing she had a yoga video and this is it. The video includes two 30 minute work outs (Level 1 and 2- I only have 1 On Demand). I was pretty excited to do yoga because I haven't done much yoga for awhile. I'm not sure if "yoga" is really how I'd describe this video. I mean, sure, there are some yoga poses included, but then suddenly you are doing repetitions haha. Also, there is a focus on breathing, but not in the way that true yoga focuses on breathing, more as a method to enhancing your work out. I would totally do this work out again, it was a great strength work out and I am a big Jillian Michaels fan (except for her diet pills?!). But it's definitely not authentic yoga, but it's yoga- Jillian style :) Oh and not like this will shock you with a Jillian workout, but I'm a little sore one day later. Not "shred" sore, but a little sore.

Now for FLASHBACK FRIDAY. Last Friday I began flashing back to my time in college with freshman year. Today I'll be talking about the summer after freshman year, or "coming home for the summer."

To recap last Friday's post, I had a good freshman year but I was still a little anxious for that "true," crazy, college experience. In the summer I came home and got a job working at a camp. I was a swimming instructor, which was probably my favorite job ever.

I have no real skill when it comes to swimming, but I was working with the littlest kids (including my most loved 3 year old group) so it was really more about being peppy and willing to jump in the water even when it was cold. I wish I could show you pictures of those kiddos because they were definitely some of my favorites. It's funny to look back on now since I'd rather do basically anything before I'd teach preschool. I'd still teach them to swim though. There is a difference between hanging out with 3 year olds for half an hour and managing their whole day.

Truthfully I'm relatively good at making new friends, but I'm not awesome at getting close with them quick. I think I'm always on the search for lifelong friends, and that summer I was just on the search for friends that would be up for any crazy idea I came up with...and find them I did.

I made a group of friends at work who were fully on board for letting me be as crazy and make as many bad decisions as possible. Fortunately, they were actually quality friends too, which I think is always important when bad decisions are involved.

I don't want to get into too many details about what went on, but let's just say there was not too much we did not do without some Bacardi Razz (which I recommend by the way). Oops! Let's just hope my parents are having too much fun in Florida to read this post too closely haha. Really I just don't remember caring about much of anything except when the next fun time was going to be. And maybe how I was going to get 3 year olds to not put their head under water more than 3 times in one lesson (that was a Water Safety Instructor recommendation at the time since you don't know if 3 year olds are swallowing water or not). I told my kids if they cough they had to take a little break because they might be swallowing water by accident. One kid told his mom he gets a "time out" if he coughs haha. Good thing she had a sense of humor!

My one major regret from the summer (and I am normally not one for regrets) is the biggest fight ever (which involved no real blow out at all, just sudden lack of talking) with my best friend which resulted in us not talking for 6 months. In hindsight it was probably 99.9% my fault and directly related to my ridiculous notion of what "college was supposed to be." Truthfully, this summer was probably the most selfish time of my life, other than maybe when I was 5 and not developmentally ready to understand that the world did not revolve around me. Why do I teach this age group again?

In the end though, I did learn a lot that summer and I did have a ton of fun. Plus, you can't complain about a time you had your best job ever, right?

What was your favorite job ever? What was so great about it?

What are you up to this weekend?

Don't forget to send any Ohio recommendations my way :)