A quickie before bed

I am SO tired right now! I almost said forget this I'll do it tomorrow, but with some encouragement from my hubby I decided to post to my blog before bed. So here goes...

This morning we were running late (it's been one of THOSE days), but I somehow managed to make some toast (my staple 'breakfast' apparently), pack a quick lunch and make myself look presentable before running out the door to drop off my daughter at summer camp and my husband at the skytrain then head to work. 

Shortly after arriving to work on my 'Starbucks off day' I was hungry and had a little snack. You guessed it. 20 of them!

I made a point of saying 'my Starbucks off day' because it really is a big deal for me to not drink Starbucks every single day. Seriously, I've been doing that for about 3 years!! One of the first goals I made when I committed to getting more fit, was to only drink Starbucks every second day...for the most part, I've kept that goal. However, I just want you all to know HOW HARD IT IS because I have not one but two Starbucks at the end of my street AND one in the lobby of the building I work in. God, it takes willpower!

A few meetings later and it was lunch time. The leftover minestrone soup (recipe on yesterday's blog) tasted even better reheated the next day. Got some protein and veggies with this lunch :-)

As I mentioned above, it was one of THOSE days. Stressful decisions to make at work made me want....food. Sigh. That's right. Coping with food *insert eye roll here*. I had two things left in my bag, a banana and a granola bar. Good news! The banana won. I didn't even eat the chocolate covered sugary granola bar. Yay me!

Time flew by in the afternoon and I looked up and realized it was time to go if I was going to make it to Burnaby Hit before having to pick up my chicklet. This morning I managed to throw some work out clothes in my gym bag to take to work - reason being, I wasn't sure if I'd be able to fit this workout in if I didn't go straight from work. My daughter has guitar lessons on Monday evenings, so if I don't go to the gym before picking her up and and making dinner so she doesn't starve, I run out of time to get to the gym! Because of this small but important decision (to pack the bag in the morning) I was able to get to Hit, where Zunobia showed me more ways to challenge myself in my workout. More punches, bigger kicks, intensifying cardio and crunches with medicine balls...oh my. I must say though, when I get through the circuit after thinking I'm never going to make through this, it feels AMAZING. I always somehow find the energy to kick the crap out of Bob at the end!

Feeling great, I rushed to get my chicklet, went home to make dinner and ate a protein bar (recipe here) while dinner cooked.

Tonight's meal needed to be quick and easy so I immediately thought of pasta when planning the menu. I wanted to make something new, with veggies and no thick red or white sauce, so I settled on pasta primavera. I had quickly stopped at Safeway on the way home because I had everything I needed except asparagus, but they were all sold out....so I made it without. One other thing I changed was to use only 2 tbs of balsamic vinegar 'cause I thought 3 might be too much. The verdict? I loved it, my daughter really liked it and my husband said it wasn't his favourite but would eat it again. Maybe if I add chicken to his next time he'll like it better?

I thought the roasted veggies and lemony flavour was amazing. I think I'll pack some for lunch tomorrow! One last thing...my husband and I were watching Hell's Kitchen before bed and he thought it would be a good idea to have a snack or two (again). It's really not fair that he can eat mad amounts of junk food and stay exactly the same weight with little to no physical effort. Not to say he doesn't get some exercise, but geez...I really have to work to stay thin! The longer I put off having a snack too, the more my mind started thinking about the ruffles chips in the cupboard. I started craving the crunchy texture, but knew if I had salty chips, I'd then crave chocolate and it would all be downhill from there. So...I had grapes!

They might seem like a weird midnight snack...there were 10 of them by the way...but somehow they satisfied my craving for crunchy and sweet and I didn't feel guilty taking the picture ;-)

~Shannon