Cleaning Day

Today was another sleep in day for our household.  Since I had the day off, and Keenan didn’t have to go in to work until 3pm, we lounged around until about noon, before we finally got up and moving.

I started off the day with a delicious nectarine fron Monday’s CSA box.

Then we headed out to Fred Meyer to pick up some food essentials that we’re low on, and I grabbed myself a Kombucha just for fun.

I also managed to smuggle some organic raspberries into the cart, and ate half the container as soon as we got home.

Keenan left for work, and I got busy with some house-cleaning.

First, I attacked our crazy sink full/counter full/table full of dishes, and cleaned up the sink area.

I’d show you the “before” picture, but you’d probably never talk to me again.

Then, I cleaned off the stove, which was also so dirty that I was disgusted with myself.

Don’t we have the tiniest, most ghetto little stove ever??  Once, we got a pizza from Papa Murphys, and we actually have to cut in in half to fit it in the oven.  Sad.

At this point, I definitely needed a snack.  It may not look like much work, but, like I said, you didn’t see the “before” pictures. 

I toasted some frozen gluten-free Nature’s Path waffles, drizzled them with sunflower seed butter, and added a few more raspberries.

It was perfection.  And it gave me the energyI needed to vacuum the apartment, take apart the vacuum to unclog it, re-vacuum the living room, and get in a level one workout from Jillian Michaels’ 30-Day Shred.  I still don’t have the guts to move up to level two, even though level one is getting easier for me.  Some of the strength toward the end is still pretty rough for me, so I figure I’ll give it another shot or two, before boosting the intensity.

Now, I’m going to grab a little snack, head out for a run, and come home and fix dinner.

What have you done to get moving today??

❤ Lindsay

Celebration Dinner!

We had a wonderful birthday celebration for my mom this evening!

I love the goofy look my step-dad is making!  We went out to Bremerton Bar and Grill (Again!!! They’re gonna get sick of me!)

My grandma joined us as well!

My mom is amazing.  She is always there to support me, help fix my problems, or just to be someone to sit around and watch Mamma Mia! with for the dozenth time.  Her love is inifinite.  She has also majorly impressed me in the last couple years in her attempts to live a healthier life.  She cleaned up her diet, began walking/jogging, and recently even joined the YMCA with my step-dad and started doing cardio there, along with trying out various classes such as yoga and zumba!  Go girl!!  But yeah, basically, I totally love my mom. ❤

I started off my dinner with a house salad minus the feta.

Along with a Neighborhood Punch.

My mom, who is NOT a fan of alcoholic beverages, tasted it and said, “Tastes like alcoholic juice! Not bad!”  Neighborhood Punch for the win!  I do think my liver is starting to hate me though.  Not like college, but still.  Definitely time to take a break from the booze for a bit. 

My entree was the Treehugger Burger minus the cheese, with sweet potato fries.

I ordered the portobello mushroom, instead of a burger patty again, but when I tried it I realized that it was so charred that I couldn’t eat it.  I really hate to be a picky customer, especially since I’m already altering all my orders to be vegan, but I really had to send it back.  Turns out it was the last portobello, but I gladly welcomed the Gardenburger in exchange.  My burger came back and was absolutely delicious.  I was able to save half for later, since I had already devoured all of my fries by the time my burger came back.  They were also kind enough to offer me a free dessert for my inconvenience!  I split my free blackberry cobbler with my grandma, and my mom and step-dad ordered their own to split as well. 

Definitely another wonderful dining experience at Bremerton Bar and Grill.  (I’m also a fan, because it’s Keenan’s first week at work and they’ve already given him about three small pay raises from what he was initially offered him!)

After saying goodbye to my family, I came home to Arlo and caught up on some Family Guy while my food settled, then got my Jillian on.

Before Jillian.

After Jillian.

The frighteningly messy apartment is my next project for the night.

 As usual, I was feeling better about my workout after it was over, rather than before it started.  That’s how it works!  You never regret a workout after it’s over, it’s just about finding the motivation to get going!!!

Time for me to straighten up the apartment, and find some way to entertain myself until my boyfriend gets home from work around 1am!  Gahhh!  this schedule is gonna kill me!!

How do you feel about sending food back at a restaurant?  What is the line between “Oh well, I’ll just deal with it” and “I can’t eat this”?

I’m really usually more of an “I’ll just deal” sort of person, but if there’s something seriously wrong with my food (like a crispy charred portobello) or it it goes against my diet (like if they accidently forgot no cheese), then I’ll send it back as politely as possible.  I hate seeming over nit-picky or high maintenance.

Have a good one!

❤ Lindsay

Peanut Butter Cup Green Smoothie

How’s your weekend going so far?  Mine has been pretty groovy.  🙂

Last night, my wonderful boyfriend took me out for dinner at a local casual Mexican restaurant called Los Cazadores.  I discovered their veggie menu (which was on a different wall than the rest of the menu, and not lit up like the rest of the menu), and ordered the veggie enchiladas without cheese.  It was served with rice and beans on the side, and I was hugely regretting forgetting both my camera and my Blackberry, so I couldn’t show you the awesome deliciousness.

We went home, and I did a workout from Jillian Michael’s 30 Day Shred.  I’m not nearly as sore today as I was the day after last time I did that workout.  I’m wondering if maybe I didn’t push myself as hard, since I had a huge belly full of food.  I’m usually more of a morning exerciser, and I definitely don’t like working out on a full tummy.  I did feel that I got a good workout, though, and had a good sweat going.  I also don’t feel quite ready to move on to the more advanced levels of the DVD yet, either.

After my workout, I decided to make a green protein smoothie for recovery/dessert.  I remembered the smoothie that I created and tweeted about a few days ago, and decided that now was the time to show you guys on the blog!

Meet the Peanut Butter Cup Green Smoothie.

It’s a salad and dessert at the same time!

Ingredients

1 cup Almond milk

1 scoop Sun Warrior vanilla protein powder

1 scoop Chia seeds

1.5 T Cocoa powder

2 T Peanut butter

1 Banana

2 cups Spinach

Agave syrup to taste

Put all of the ingredients in the blender, and blend until smooth.

If I were to plan ahead for this recipe, I would make sure to have a frozen banana, or some ice, to use for it.  Mine was room temperature, and while it was good, I think it would have been more enjoyable cold.  It was still amazing though.  The spinach was completely overwhelmed by the peanut butter, chocolate and banana, and it tasted just like a peanut butter cup.  Soooo good.

This morning, I woke up frantically to an incredibly loud jet engine noise.  Although I don’t  really believe in conspiracy theories, with all the talk about the end of the world ending today, all I could think was that my town was about to become a crater, and started saying my prayers.  Of course Keenan woke up as well, and after a few moments of “WTF?”, he reminds me that the Armed Forces Day parade was a few blocks down the street from our apartment, and that the noise was most likely just military planes doing a fly-by for the festivities.  Thank God.  Armaggedon evaded for now. 😉

I woke up and was reading my Twitter as “Today we’ve got vegan chocolate cherry coconut muffins...” caught my eye from the yoga studio near our house.  With that, Arlo was leashed up, and Keenan and I took a walk down the hill to the park/the yoga studio.

These were waiting for me when I got there.

As was this.

Grande soy coconut chai.

I couldn’t ask for a better breakfast. 🙂

Then, of course, it was time to get ready for work, and here I am.

Have a fantastic Saturday!!!

Do you guys have any fun dessert smoothie recipes?

❤ Lindsay