It was great to get away for a bit – but it’s good to be back!  The couple days at the camp was a good time to be around friends and enjoying the outdoors (once again, sun would have been nice…).  And lucky for me, the cooks made special meals for me so my tummy was pretty much A-OK the whole time!  It was fantastic!

Just a short time away is enough for me to fall out of routine.  I forgot to snap pictures when I packed my lunch, so I only have breakie and supper pictures.

After an awesome sleep in, I couldn’t decide what I felt like for breakfast, so I settled for a bunch of things.

Cinnamon raisin toast + poached egg + plain yogurt + blueberries + tea.  Hit the spot!  Then I was out the door to walk to work.  I didn’t buy a bus pass this month so I’ll be doing more walking.

View Full Album

My lunch and snacks were really boring, so actually, it’s a good thing I forgot to take pictures.  If I did, you’d be asleep on your keyboard right now.

I snacked on some crackers + hummus when I got home from work, and this apple – which I sliced a piece off of so I could dip it in peanut butter.

I really didn’t want to cook tonight.  Really, really, really.  In fact, I was perusing menus online and called a couple Vietnamese restaurants to see if they delivered.  They didn’t.  I was bummed.  I decided to cook.

So, I got my lazy self off the couch and made a random but simply delicious supper.  But first, let me apologize for the awful lighting in today’s pictures.  It’s so dark outside with all the rain and thunderstorms that there’s not much natural light inside, and I don’t use a flash.  My supper wasn’t really that dingy looking.

Rice pasta + chicken + sauteed red peppers + artichoke hearts + green onions + fresh basil, oregano + lemon juice + extra virgin olive oil + sea salt.

Mmmmmmmmmmm.  I like suppers like this.  And bonus, it saved me fifteen bucks to cook rather than order-in. 

I also learned a valuable lesson tonight: new bottles of lemon juice make a world of difference.  My last bottle was probably, um, a couple years old.  Yes, that means it was expired.  Shhh. 

And one of a bunch of desserts was a balancing act of watermelon + a spongie.  Yep, I might have had more than one.  And maybe some blueberries.  And when I opened a new jar of almond butter to get it all stirred up, I might have had a spoonful.  But I’m just saying.

Pouring rain means no biking to the gym or going for a run.  I’m a wimp.  Instead, I flicked on the tv and pulled out some 5 lb and 8 lb weights to do an at-home workout (most of these were 3 sets of 12 reps).  In about 45 minutes, I did:

• bicep curls
• hammer curls
• behind-the-head-tricep-drop-down-thing
• tea pot oblique exercise
• shoulder raises
• bent over fly
• squats
• standing crunches
• 50 bicycle crunches
• 50 crunches
• 25 standing crunches
• and ended with lots of stretching and some pigeon pose.

My arms feel jelloish now but it’s a good feeling.  Tomorrow should bring nicer weather and hopefully either a gym trip or a run. 

You know what the best part of a long weekend is?  Tomorrow is Wednesday already!  Weeee!

Adi

Yum yum, banana oat bran in my tum.

This was a 1/2 c. of oat bran, almond milk, half a nan, raisins, cranberry t-mix, flax seeds, slivered almonds and peanut butter.

Ohhh so good.  It didn’t keep me full for long though because my tummy was rumbling only 3 hours later.

Refuel

I had my A-squared snack with tea and then carrots and crinkly cut cukes.

My main lunch eats was a sweet potato + salsa + green onions + 1/3 c. black beans. 

I cooked the potato in the microwave last night, and then topped it with the yummies, and then reheated it all at work.  It’s a cold and grey day here, definitely not a day for salad, so eating something hot was good!

I ate the big fat red pear this aft – my first ever red pear.  It was good!  It has a different aftertaste than bosc pears or bartlett pears, almost candy-ish, which probably explains why I liked it so much…

Refuel, encore

When I got home, I was starving.  Or at least, I felt like eating.

I ate the usual carrots + hummus combo, and a few almond crackers.

Supper was from the freezer.  I reheated roasted veggie chilli and ate it with a whole wheat english muffin.  It was very gluteney, and very good!  Why am I back to eating gluten?  I have to get the lovely celiac blood test done shortly and I need to have gluten in my system for the results to be accurate… and even then, there’s still a chance the results can be faulty.  So, you’ll see some serious gluten making an all-star appearance on Oatonomy the next little while… and probably lots of me whining about my stomach aches.  Oops!

How’s this for setting the table?

Dessert #1 was an apple + peanut butter.

Dessert #2 was a heated half of a chocolate chip Clif bar.  I see Kristie heat her Clifs and wondered what it would taste like… W.O.W.  It was like eating a chewy chocolate chip cookie out of the oven.  Kristie, you’re brilliant.

And Dessert #3 was a handful of dried cranberries.  I was annoyed and felt the need to eat. :)  … and not take a picture.

Once the bottomless pit of my stomach was tamed, I set out for some upper body strength training.  I’m leaving shortly for coffee with friends so I knew I wouldn’t have time to get to the gym.  In times like those, I love having dumb bells at home!  I used 8-pound weights for any exercises involving weights:

• 3 sets, 12 reps of push ups from my knees
• 100 crunches
• 50 reverse crunches
• 3 sets, 12 reps of V-sit crunches
• 3 sets, 12 reps tricep dips (off the edge of my bed)
• 3 sets, 12 reps tricep drop downs
• 3 sets, 12 reps forward shoulder lifts
• 2 sets, 12 reps of half-way-up bicep curls (standing on one foot – works your core at the same time!)
• 2 sets, 12 reps of half-way-down bicep curls (standing on one foot)
• 1 set, 12 reps of complete bicep curls
• 3 sets, 12 reps standing upright rows

I ended with some pigeon pose.  Before I started this blog, I was doing yoga  a couple times a week with yogadownloads.com but I haven’t done it for quite awhile.  My legs are definitely tight and I could benefit from more stretching.  I’m going to try to incorporate stretching into my routine.

Then I hopped in the shower and had a hard time washing my hair.  My arms were pooped!

I’m just back from having tea with friends, and now I’m ready for bed.  Just remember … tomorrow is hump day already… yeah!
Adi