Emergency granola bars

So my friends last night I found myself in my least favorite situation.

Let me start from the begining

As I was walking out the door last night to pick up the kids I nanny I got a phone call.  The mother of another girl I babysit was frantic as she asked  if I could watch Sidney that night.  Things are pretty slow this week so I had no problem saying yes.

After I finished nannying I went over to Sidney’s neighbor to pick her up.  We went back to her  house and cut out snow flakes and hearts and played games.  Around 6:00 I figured it was time to find some dinner.  In the rush out the door Sidney’s Mom forgot to leave instructions for dinner.  With Sids help and request we found some chicken nuggets.  I warmed them up for her and then tried to find some fruit or veggies.  Could I find any-nope.

Okay no biggie- however, with a low chicken nugget supply I ended up snacking on some gold fish.  Yep a very nutritious meal 😦

SO this reminded me to restock my emergency granola bars

One for my car and one for my backpack!  While sometimes I go a long time without actually needing these-when I do, I’m always SO glad I had them.

Anyway, breakfast correct

Maybe my lack of protein last night led me to choose greek yogurt with a Nature Valley Granola bar crumbled on top

Yep that helped with my lack of protein and the pear added some vitamins and minerals!

Well I’m headed out the door.  Lunch running date with a friend should be really fun (and perfect timing because It will get it out of the way).

Have a great great Thursday

The Great PB and J debate

Sorry my internet was being really slow.  How funny is it- we live in such a fast paced world that when our internet is even just a little slow we get really annoyed.  Remember the world before high speed internet!

My goal for breakfast was to use up the greek yogurt I opened the other day.  I added some cereal and honey to bulk it up a little and enjoyed a pear on the side.

the yogurt bowl looked something like this

Yummy Yummy in my tummy

Last night as I was packing my lunch I thought- hey I’ve been eating lots of veggies (and as you know it’s been LOTS of veggies- thank you).  Maybe it would be a good day to pack my favorite lunch sandwich treat

Yep a Pb and J!  Now I’m not one to knock the PB and J.  There are some real nutrients in a pb and j- protein, whole grains, and I used low sugar jelly.  However, let’s be honest, my veggie wrap from yesterday kind of trumps it.  But not in flavor!  Something about pb and j just makes me happy and feel like a little kid.

Alright but the question is

How do you make your pb and J?

the pb and j pictured is not my “fav” combo.  The above is rasberry jam and natural creamy PB on a sandwich round

My fav is apricot (my friends tell me it’s old lady) jam and natural extra crunchy on homemade bread.  I think this could be marked to high end store were fancy people eat.

at least that is how I feel

Slow internet

Sorry folks my internet is REALLY slow today!  I will not be able to post until late tonight!

Veggie Man

Dinner tonight is just more proof that if I were a super hero I would be Captain Vegetable.  If you don’t know who that is- watch and learn

I love that clip!

Anyway back to dinner- I LOVE roasted vegetables.  Last year my roommate and I would roast vegetables and then just stand around the pan and eat them for dinner.  Woops-yeah not much protein in that one.  SO I started adding Tofu and I try to get it into a bowl and eat it with Bulgar or brown rice.

View 1

brusselsprouts (my favorite) and tofu- the sweet potatos were already in the oven.

on the pan it looked something like this

with olive oil and garlic salt- roasted for about 40 minutes at 350 degrees

Served over bulgar- oh my stomach is so happy

Just to inform you I inhaled this so I forgot to take a picture.  Good thing I have some leftovers to take the place and serve as my stand in model.

YUM YUM YUM- or as Captain Vegetable would say

CRUNCH CRUNCH CRUNCH

What super hero would you be?

I would love to be captain vegetable because I would love to teach kids about vegetables and sing all day long about them.

OR wonder woman

Maybe this is just because I like her outfit 🙂

Hummus Breathing

I LOVE hummus.  I think I was in high school the first time I had it.  It wasn’t until college when I visited Trader Joes with a good friend that I fell in love with hummus.  My favorite is garlic-extra garlic to be exact.  However, of course, that leaves my breathe in a horrid state.  As I’m writing this post it hit me, it’s not the hummus (well not just the hummus) but the garlic that leaves in this state.

But it is worth it.  Sorry to all those people who I have alienated because by breath smells horrible, I am going to keep eating it.  Maybe I should get a t-shirt or something so I can warn people 🙂  Especially in class as I eat my hummus and then sit very close to everyone else.  WOOPS

Lunch was packed last night!  This makes my day easier and helps move things along smoothly

Whole grain wrap, lettuce, hummus (the extra garlic part), black olives, and some avocado (aka butter).

All wrapped up it looked a little something like this

Packed in my very very cute reusable lunch bag.  Is it bad that I kind of love this thing.

I just got home from class and am about to head our for a run.  This afternoon is the last Tuesday Thursday I’ll be able to run in the afternoon until day light savings time.  I have a lab that starts on Thursday and will take up my afternoons.  But Day light savings time is not that far away- Right?

Do You miss Day Light Savings time?

I really miss having longer days.  While short days are kind of nice for school because I don’t feel bad about sitting in a chair all afternoon, I really miss the extra running time.  It is kind of like rainy days.  I like them from time to time, but in general I prefer the sun.

Well folks- I need to pull myself away from Hulu -The Bachelor- (I know I have too much time on my hands when I watch the bachelor).  I have a few miles to put on my shoes

Pretty Patterns

I Love  pretty patterns.  When I go shopping I’m commonly basic pattern free clothing.  I’m not sure why.  I think it may be because I have trouble figuring out how and when to wear a floral or paisley pattern.  They seem very girly and while I’m plenty girly, I am usually just getting dressed for class.

When I went into Plato’s closet on Sunday I found myself really drawn to a patterned tank top.  After going back and forth I thought, I could layer that under my favorite grandma sweater and still feel like I could walk into class.  Plus it was Plato’s closet, so it only cost $4.50.  Why not right

Well I’m already wearing it- I’ll show you the pattern

see pretty 🙂

and pretty patterns for breakfast

YUM- Vans Waffle, blueberries, and greek yogurt!  With a side of some extra blueberries.  Oh and a little drizzle of honey.  This is really hit the spot plus I liked that it hit three food groups!  Yeah

Have a great day- see all the pretty patterns as you walk around

 

Why Not

Well, my company fell through.  Which is fine I still had a lot of work to do.  I did something a little out of ordinary and decided to send my resume into a job that looked interesting.  I’ll let you know if I hear anything back.

I stuck with really easy food for dinner

I guess in the place of an elaborate meal I went with a meal that required almost no work.  A Egg sandwich with a salad.  I used vinegar, oil, and sea salt as my dressing.  I love this combination, it brings out the flavor of the lettuce isn’t think.  Thank you to the ancients for this simple dressing

I wanted something sweet simply because

SO

Activia Vanilla Yogurt and a cake mix cookie- it hit the spot and took satisfied my sweet tooth.

SO I’m still calling out for advice!

How do you make friends in a new town?

I have never done this in a non freshman in college world (everyone is new and everyone is ready to make new friends).

It does help that I do have some AMAZING friends I made in college.  I just wish they lived a little closer 😦

In good news- We will all be together for the first time since May on Saturday.  That will get me through the week.

 

One Clean Apartment

I finished cleaning today!  Cleaning was my major goal for the weekend so I feel like I got what I wanted done.  I even ran a little bleach through the coffee pot.  The day however started like this

Smelling flowers!  Yep I kind of love them- told you they were worth the $3!

and then this

a close up of the oats

which shows an amazing combination of blueberries, banana, and a sprinkle of brown sugar- this really hit the spot!  Also I finished my oatmeal, so I’m gonna have to run to the store.  Which is okay because I invited some people over for dinner.

Which leads to to my question.  I invited my best (male) friends brother and his friends over for dinner.  I’m totally used to hanging out with all guys and it gives me an opportunity to cook something exciting and new!  (Oh and did I mention that I’m new in town and kind of bad at making friends so this pushes me out on a limb).  I decided texting the invite was the easiest way to go about this.  However, that was about 2.5 hours ago.

I need some advice-

How do you make friends in a new town?  Advice-Ideas- I could use it all

If I don’t hear back by 5:30 I think I’ll ask my closest friend from class.  If all else fails, I’ll just enjoy dinner for one

Have a great day
Ellie

The Globes

I’m sitting in my living watching the Golden Globes.  Why you wonder- I mean they are actually kind of boring.  Well because I want to see the dresses of course.  Sometimes I wish I lived in a world were I got dressed up from time to time but I don’t, so I watch award shoes and Miss America and try to decide what dress I like.  I’ll give you a run down in a sec

I’m not sure why but I woke up craving a smoothing

unblended

That would be ice, a mini banana, a cup of milk, and a scoop of muscle milk light-cake batter flavor

Blended it looked something like this

YUMMMMM- I’m not sure why it has been so long since I had a smoothie.  Maybe because it looks something like this outside

Oh yeah- that could be why 🙂  Well I had some coffee to chase it and warm me back up

Yep and it pepped me back up also 🙂  I was feeling alive alert a wake and excited.  Which was perfect because my favorite Bloomington priest said mass.  I then ran a bunch of errands (and by that I mean I went to goodwill and platos closet- LOVE resale shopping).  Hit up the G store and headed some with a angry stomach that needed a snack

Oh and did I mention that they had daffodils at the store?  This is my very very very very favorite flower.  When I was a kid we had so many daffodils in our back yard that the breeze would pick up the scent and blow the amazing smell into our house.  LOVE

I did Sunday Yoga and then pulled out an amazing treat from the grocery store

SUSHI

WOW- Sorry really bad picture.  It tasted AMAZING though- I love Sushi!  Wish I could eat it every day

Okay so I just went through a bunch of golden globe pictures to see what dresses I liked.  Just a few are

Love the color and the shape

Love the color again

This is very different and I would never pick this dress, but it’s very cool

This dress/look is my favorite of all!  I love the old fashion look.  Dianna Agron always looks amazing

What was your favorite dress?

 

Miss America

I can remember watching Miss America as a kid.  I remember watching it with my childhood best friend Amanda in her basement.  In college when I was an RA I used Miss America as a programing opportunity.  We were all shoved into my tiny dorm room commenting on gowns, hair, and bad answers.

So you ask, what am I doing- well of corse, watching Miss America in my living room.  To be honest, I have not left my apartment all day (kind of embarrassing).

Today I have cleaned our apartment, done a fun dance workout, done yoga, and kettle bell.  I also took a crack into the book Cinch which is very has some good recipies I look forward to trying.

Once I finished cleaning (I took a whole three hours) I needed a snack.

A grapefruit.  I find that grapefruit make a perfect snack.  I have trouble eating them for breakfast or lunch cause I then have trouble eating other foods (the sour taste).  So when I only buy one or two at a time.  What do you eat with a grapefruit?

I was then good for a few hours in which I did a fun bollywood dance workout, Jillian shred it with weight, and finished with some yoga to stretch out my muscles.

After using cleaning as my work, I decided against working for dinner.  SO I used almost no power and opened a can of soup.  My favorite- Chicken Noodle- Healthy Choice style- they don’t go light on the noodles.

Warmed my heart and soul- Sorry Campbell’s I prefer Healthy Choice. I also dug something out of the freezer

Another funny note for you.  I am sitting on the floor in my living wearing about 100 layers of clothing wrapped in a blanket because I want to save $4.  Basically I won’t turn my heat up is what I’m telling you.  Yep that’s me- cheap scate.

Well Much Love my Friends- I’m sure I’ll have an opinion on everyones dress/answer/talent in the morning.