confessions of an imperfect perfectionist

Confession 1.

I cooked this entire meal of eggplant pizza with the sticker still on the eggplant. I probably would have ate it, too, if I wasn't taking pictures of it for the blog...

Confession 2.

Given my state of sheer panic and constant 5 AM mornings with teaching this semester, this absolutely ridiculous fluffy and over-sized jacked from Target is pretty much all I wear these days. Fashionable? Definitely not. Cozy and comfortable and I don't give a sh*t? Yesssssss.

what i ate wednesday: issue 66

More of the same...

 Figure 1. Breakfast: The usual All Bran mixed with puffed wheat, a banana, cocoa powder, and milk.

Figure 2. Morning snack: peanut butter toast. Wow, I'm starting to feel repetitive...

Figure 3. Lunch: chocolate vanilla peanut butter protein green smoothie. 

Figure 4. Afternoon snack: a chocolate cottage cheese bowl topped Koala Crisp.

Figure 5. Dinner: eggplant pizza (roasted eggplant discs topped with marinara, Italian seasoning, and Gorgonzola cheese) on top of raw spinach with a side of couscous and almonds. This bad boy barely fit on my plate...

Figure 6. Dessert: dark chocolate sugar free pudding with whipped cream.

And that concludes another What I Ate Wednesday (featuring what I ate Tuesday, January 29).

weekend review: tuna noodle love

Figure 1. Out of the oven: bacon, tomato, and arugula pizza.

Figure 2. Friday night's dinner: bacon, tomato, and arugula pizza and a warm broccoli and spinach salad.

Figure 3. Saturday night's dinner: skirt steak with gorgonzola polenta and green beans with pecans and maple vinaigrette.

Figure 4. Out of the oven: skinny tuna noodle casserole. I have been craving this every since I made it the first time...

Figure 5. Sunday night's dinner: skinny tuna noodle casserole and lemon pepper steamed broccoli.

a serious interjection: on persistence

I was entering mile 9 of my 12th for the day and I wasn't going to make it. The sparkling water and pile of raw carrots and peanut butter I had downed two hours before just wasn't a good idea. My legs were a heavy mess. As I ran, feeling every single painful stroke, I was bribing myself to finish. This was proving to be one of the hardest long runs I had ever tackled and it certainly didn't help that the last two miles of this run were more or less solid hill - uphill.

I turned the corner and two fit older women looked up at me. One of the women said to the other, "Doesn't she have the most beautiful running gait?"

And I was transformed. 

In that moment and with those words I was reminded that after a certain mileage, running is 90% mental. With her words behind me, my attitude shifted and I pushed on. 

As I ran I remembered how that in college, when I first became active, my runs were slow and clunky and red-faced. I have worked hard - pushed myself to the limit - to be able to walk out the door and clock 12 miles on a Monday afternoon. I was finishing this run and not even a stomach full of raw carrots and tired legs could stop me.

And with these women's kind words in my my mind I finished. The hills were still hard and my stomach was still wonky, but I changed my attitude - and it made all the difference.

A Serious Interjection: Just keep going.

 --
Previous serious interjections:
on perfection 
on disappointment

what i ate wednesday: issue 65

 Figure 1. Breakfast: You know it's true - All Bran mixed with puffed wheat, a banana, cocoa powder, and milk.

Figure 2. Morning snack: peanut butter toast. It happens every day. Maybe I should get a toaster?

Figure 3. Lunch: Ethnic Gourmet vegetable korma. Dug out of my freezer and surprisingly delicious.

Figure 4. Afternoon snack: a chocolate cottage cheese bowl topped with cinnamon chex. Yum.

Figure 5. Dinner: a random leftover concoction. Leftover thai slaw topped with 1/2 a leftover thai turkey burger, roasted butternut squash, and a piece of leftover whole wheat bread topped with smashed avocado and salt

Figure 6. Dessert: dolce de leche sugar free pudding.

And that concludes another What I Ate Wednesday (featuring what I ate Monday/Tuesday, January 21/22).

weekend review: kitchen madness

Figure 1. Out of the oven: spinach, mushroom, and feta crustless quiche. I added hot sauce and dijon mustard to the eggs of this bad boy to spice.things.up.

Figure 2. Friday night's dinner: spinach, mushroom, and feta crustless quiche, lemony arugula salad, and store bought "take and bake" multigrain bread with Earth Balance.

Figure 3. Kitchen madness: okay Sunday night's meal was no easy task and resulted in piles and piles of dishes. But, it was sooooo worth it.

Figure 4. In the skillet: thai turkey burgers. These lovely patties were a mixture of ground turkey, shredded carrots, green onions, and a magical sauce made of sweet and spicy thai goodness.

Figure 5. Sunday night's dinner: thai turkey burgers topped with a spicy Asian slaw, roasted Brussels sprouts, and baked Sriracha butternut squash fries. These were supposed to be butternut squash 'fries', but mine turned into a delicious mashed mess.

Figure 6. Sunday night's indulgence: chocolate cobbler for two. OHMYGOD.

confessions of an imperfect perfectionist

Confession 1.

I ripped a hole in the sleeve of my not cheap running jacket because I was too lazy to take my watch off first. I was hooooot people. Real hot.

Confession 2.

Sometimes I load the dishwasher like this. I know what you are thinking, and you are correct. 60% of this load did not get clean. I never claimed it was an efficient system...