Busy as a Bee!

Good afternoon! I can't believe it's 3:00 already! I feel like today is really flying by weeeeeee! I've been studying/doing crazy work all day, but woke up, ate my ushe for bfast and got my tush onto writing my paper early so I could go to step!  Fabulous, as ushe, and I just finished writing a huge paper for English that is due at 4:30.  I'm going to go proof read it one last time in a little bit, but I just wanted to say hi and apologize for the lack of pictures recently!  I don't have much time but felt that a grocery trip picture show was in order!

Sunday I went to WF and it was so great! Well, duh, it's Whole Foods, my mothership, of course it's going to be!  I went after working out and eventhough it was around 12:30-ish they had an omelet bar set up! It was so pretty.  They had regular eggs, eggology eggwhites, eggbeaters, and even egg substitute for Vegans! And every type of veggie/cheese/soy cheese/meat/soy-meat and anything else you could ever want.  I overheard one woman ask for something (couldn't hear what, exactly, she was asking for) but they noticed they didn't have the item and replied, "that's the beauty of being in a supermarket!"  How cute is that?  Unfortunately, I didn't get an omelet, seeing that I had already eaten breakfast and had just finished my workout/wasn't hungry yet (I told you my classic cc+fruit fills me like nothing else!).  We were really low on food, so I stocked up, and didn't have time to take a picture!  However, I did manage to snap a few from last week's trip!  So enjoy !  (Keep in mind that this is for a family of four and despite the fact that it probably looks like a ridiculous amount of food, I'm always having to run out to supplement a couple of times throughout the week... Not complaining though; I love being my family's market bitch.  My dad also goes to our regular supermarket to get other stuff: My brother's cereal (he's a cereal freak...I'm going to take a picture of his Cereal cabinet in the kitchen just to show you guys! It's ABSURD) and Lactaid CC (yay), Lactaid milk (Jim's), etc.  That stuff is so much cheaper at regular markets! Ok, enough of $ talk... Sorry, I, personally hate talking about $.  It drives me nuts and it's not very polite!

Fruit :) 2 Watermelons, 3 Honeydews, 2 Cantaloups, 2 containers organic strawberries, 5 kiwis, 2 containers grape tomatoes

Cut fruit for James' lunch! (He likes to keep this at work)

Mangos!

Veggie Freak Alert! (PS) Do you like the rose? Just for you! 

We Have: Asparagus (I wanted to get the purple ones, but maybe when they go down in price a little...$7.99 a lb!), Kale, Brussel Sprouts (<3!),>

Protein stuff: Eggs, Ground Chicken Breast, Turkey Meatloaf, Firm Tofu, Smart Strips Chik'n + Beef, Quorn Cutlets, WF Turkey Breast, Mahi Mahi Frozen Fillets

Prepared Stuff: ANNIE's Rasberry Vinagrette Dressing, Quorn Cutlets, Smart Strips Chik'n + Steak, 2 WF salads (the best salad bar ever): 1 for my dinner when I have class til 9pm on thursdays + 1 for my mommy's lunch!, WF Cranberry Tuna Salad for Jim's lunch, 2 X WF Ginger-Shitaki Chicken Salad (UNBELIEVABLE.) Great for quick lunches/dinners! And two types of sushi (for the brother): Spicy Tuna + Avocado (Brown Rice), Eel + Cucumber (Purple Multigrain Rice...so pretty!)

Sushi Close-up

Salad Toppers for my mom to take to work!

Organic Pastry Flour, Z Bars, LUNA bars (Jim/Dad takes to work), Zone Bar

The first time I bought these for him he was like, "Umm, These are for women..." LOL, I think that's weird and kind of discriminating...

Nosey Mylo! (He loves WF too! Obvi...He's my cat!)

Many of you have heard me discuss the GNU Bars...I'm obsessed with them.  Their nutritional stats are unbelievable, in my opinion, and these two flavors are my favorites.  The Orange Cranberry literally smells and tastes just like orange zest/juice! It's fantastic and I highly recommend them! (I get mine at GNC/Vitamin Shoppe because my WF doesn't always have them...laaaame )

New bar! Really bad...Refrain from purchasing, lovebugs...

Good Nutritionals though! (Shame they stank)

My Multi-Vitamin

And last but CERTAINLY not least! The most A.mazing tea ever! I am already 1/2 way through the pack and I drink decaf tea all day, all the time.  I don't do caffeine as a general preference so I love tea for its flavor not it's "boost"... It's such a relaxer for me. I let this tea steep for hours sometimes (if I can stand it) and the smells are out of this world.  The taste is pure joy.  Mmm! You must try it! (It's times like these I wish we had blog-smellivision)

I took my test and did very well! Yay! I'm now off to bed. Step tomorrow morning, so excited.  And then work, home and more work! I'll be posting food pics tomorrow!

Night night

(PS) I cut my finger at work today... And I'm not posting a pic bc it's G.R.O.S.S. 

Unless you want me to 

Everything Happens for a Reason

I woke up this morning eager to get my day started! So weird though... I kept waking up thinking it was 7!  I woke up at 4, 6, etc.  SO strange.  But whatevs.  I got up at 7, made myself some tea, ate breakfast (the ushe) and then lied down for a bit/digested.  I kept contemplating whether or not I should go to class or go to step because my mood was still a little iffy.  (By the way, thank you all for your sweet, sweet words... I really am not sure what's going on with this girl!  But no worries, Buddha's here to cheer me up hehe).  Anyway, I felt like I needed to go to class or STUDY for my bio exam tomorrow night, and though this sounds SO weird, I swear it's true.  I said, "give me some sign here... Help me out!" I couldn't decide: Class, Study, Step.  Well, a certain someone decided to help me, indeed, and killed my car battery.  Lol.  LUCKILY, about 2 blocks away (sort of) is a place that fixes cars so my dad drove me over there!  I would've gladly walked with Boo, but my dad wanted to talk to them, haha.  He was on his way to work anyway.  Well, I walked home with Buddha and my car battery is being replaced.  So today was probably supposed to be a rest day, I suppose.  Unless, I get out with another short (VERY short) walk with the little man.  I think it was meant to be.  You know, everthing happens for a reason? *smiles.

So that's no class and no work for me today.  I think this means that I really need to study for Bio, haha.  So study I shall!  I'll update later on... OH and shoutout to Erica from sweeteats, as I read that she is home today too! 

I'm feeling so iffy...why?

I'm feeling quite yuckers n I'm not sure why.  OK I knoow exactly why.  Class 9am, work 1pm, studying=tomorrow.  no step :( unless I skip class. NO! I totally can't do that! Can I? 

Today/tonight I didn't study enough, nor did I listen to my body at all.  I didn't eat badly, just way too much and am feeling bloated and overheated and just blech.  Ewwwww.  I want to shower but it's late and I really should get to bed soon plus I'm quite sleepy.  

Things just feel off---I'm not my usual chipper self and I just have this uneasy feeling like something bad is going to happen and I've never felt like this before.  Ew I HATE being a Negative Nancy (sorry, nothing personal to any Nancy's out there!!!) and I don't like to get into too many personals about my past/sappy drama, plus I'm blessed and don't have anything bad about my life, plus I want my blog to be a mood-lifter for everyone including myself.  Come on Julz, shake this feeling off! Hmph... 

FORBIDDEN TRAIL

Good Morning!  I got up around 8 and have step at 10, so I wanted to try and post some of my pictures from The Forbidden Trail!  However, my uploader is, yet again, not working so tomorrow morning it will be! (Fast forward to today...)In my über long post, I discuss what occured on this innocent (and someone deceiving) Saturday!  If you have yet to read it, feel free! (I know it's looong)

I didn't want to eat too much, as I really can't before a run, but I felt really low on fuel and felt indigestion creeping! Ewwwww! So I had a baby apple! These are so little! I love eating little things.  Their just precious and these were from a local apple orchard so it felt extra special!  Suprisingly, I didn't get hungry throughout my run.  On the second thought, I wasn't thinking about food on this run, it was more along the lines of, 'Will I make it out alive' lol 

(Note: About an 45 mins/an hour after my run...I was STARVING)

While taking this, I had my bag on my back, his leash in my hand, and everything set to go.  This was the, "MoooooOOOOOMM!" (Love those puppy eyes!)

Mylo wanted in on the pictures too! 

I was trying to take a picture while driving. But don't worry! As you can clearly see here, my eyes were on the road, not the camera lens! 

How cute are they?! 

Here's Buddha after 5 miles...Totally cool.  Lookin up at me like, "Hey ma, what's up, alright, that's real..." (For those who know, I'm not finishing this quote bc it would be innappropriate eww...Anyways, shoutout to ma man CAM'RON)

Here's me after 5.  As you will see, there's quite a bit more light in me in this one (compared to the 10 miler where I look pretty tired).  I felt good! (But ready to peace out)

And here is yours truly finally back in my car after 10 miles! (Betsy how do you do this?!)  I was so happy to get my tush into that seat, I'll tell ya that! Like it was a Gold Mine <3

Scenic Pictures!

Throughout the entirety of the run, there is the beautiful Wissahickon Creek.  Quite melodious! 

If your a runner, you'd love this! The second half was completed sans headphones and listening to the water really helped me to relax and refocus.  It was very calming.

I'm off to 10AM step and then....

Whole Foods (Oh yeah baby.)

Ma true love muffin... Sorry M.

See you hotties later!

A Fabulous Day

I am babysitting for two of the most precious girls on the planet right now.  In fact, it's 8:14 and both Remy (6 years old) and Haley (9 years old) are already in bed and asleep.  It was my first time babysitting for them too and they are little angels.  And I'm getting paid really well! Their mom is an absolute DOLL and their dad owns a catering company in Philadelphia! Although it's not mine, there's no awkwardness about the "competition" and he was totally impressed that I work for Culinary Concepts! Score  !

Anyways, today was a fabulous day!  Although I didn't get to take any new pictures (other than my breakfast -- And my photo uploader is working, but I'm using their computer because my battery was low...hmph), or get any studying done, it was divine.  The Bridal Shower was SO nice! Nancy looked so beautiful and everyone there was so excited and so happy.  It was such a wonderful meal too! They had a b-e-a-u-tiful salad bar set up and another table with fresh grilled and warmed pita bread triangles and these little wheat bread rolls, along with a gorgeous poached Salmon (my favorite!) and an A.MAZING grilled vegetable platter with carrots (my real favorite, lol... Everything was my fave actually, let's be honest here), red onions, zucchini, eggplant, and peppers! Omg, SO good! They also had blueberry/banana wheat bread and bran muffins.  I had (as my early lunch!) A beautiful salad with mixed greens, carrots, bell peppers (yellow, red, orange), shrooms, hearts of palm, chick peas, and some fresh tuna with this amazing balsamic vinegar (straight!).  I also had a huge piece of poached salmon, and tons of veggies, plus I ate my mom's Salmon (she doesn't love Salmon but got it for me hehe) and her veggies!  The cake was so gorgeous and unfortunately (or maybe, fortunately? ha) I left before they served it!  It was white cake with white chocolate chips and had a lemon/rasberry creme with a vanilla buttercreme icing on top! Talk about decadent  Y.U.M!

The opera was so amazing.  I cried, as I always do with La Boheme.  I've seen it about 13 times at the Met and this performance was by far the best I'd ever seen (in person!).  Oh. My. Gosh.  This cast was so moving and so united that they full on cried at the end! And still sang the most magnificent arias.  I can't even begin to explain it.  Angela Gheorghiu played Mimi and Ramon Vargas (who was beyond) played Rodolpho!  Oh man.  I understand that Opera is not for everyone, but it is for me.  I've always been in love with it and it brings out emotions in me that nothing else does.  Except for when I, myself, am on stage singing! But being at the Met is a blessing that I treasure, immensely.  I love it more than life, itself.  The end.

Anyways, I have GOT to get to my studying now! For dinner I have a WF salad but I'm not hungry yet...I got home and was STARVING and stuffed. My. Face. with tons fruit and seafood salad and had four bites of my brother's turkey meatloaf.  It is one of the few meats I adore, and I love the texture and flavors in this one! I think my Jim's totally starting to love WF! yayyyy  Welcome to the Mother Ship...muahaha

It's true though, is it not? We're totally a cult Whole Foods Lovers <3

OK, love to all and I'm going to post pics tomorrow morning or when I get home tonight! Step was so great, as ushe, and tomorrow morning step=10AM! I'll be up studying before hand, probably.  I need to study tomorrow! No dillydallying Julz!

Seeing the Light (literally)

Good Morning Everyone and Happy Saturday! 

I woke up this morning around 6am for my 8am step class (Hey Robin!!!) and it was so dark outside! And so warm and cozy inside of my bed! Haha, I laugh so hard now thinking about it, because at the time it seemed like the WORST POSSIBLE THING for me to do was stick my hand out into the harsh, cold air.  Lol, just to turn off my alarm clock.  Like, it made me contemplate life/death.  OK, not really, but it's still so hilarious to me! Maybe I'm just an oddball! Anyways, I got up and made myself a huge mug (do people still say "mug"...I wonder where it came from? Maybe because it's big enough to "hug" so you, "hug your mug?").  WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME THIS MORNING?! Haha, I'm easily amused to begin with, but this morning it's a whole nother story.  

Anyways, in the mug (ha) was my absolute favorite Decaf EB tea with an S&L (I know, B.A.D.) and I had a huge bowl of watermelon, cantaloup, and honeydew with some kiwi, strawberries and mango!  Unfortunately, the mango was not up to par despite being really ripe!   Oh well, the rest of it was divine.  And of course, I had it with some Lactaid Cottage Cheese.  

(PS) Can we all try and come up with a name for Cottage Cheese?  Like a cute/spunky nickname? I've been trying to think of one for some time because I don't particularly enjoy saying "cottage cheese"... But "CC," "Cott," "Cocheese," etc were stupid.  I'm sure you gals (and guys? Any out there?) will think of one!

So now I'm about to get ready for Step! I'm so excited...It's really ridiculous how much I love it.  Like, I feel like a kid about to go play tag, or capture the flag or something like that.  If you've never done it before you really have to!  My instructor is really hard... Or so others say.  The instructors from the other health clubs around here take her class, lol.  But I took my first class with her about a month or two ago (1.5 maybe?), so she's all I've ever known and I love her and her classes!  I have so many pictures to upload today and I'm going to get to that asap!

Oh and my mom and dad just reminded me that I have my cousin Nancy's wedding shower at 10:00 with mom, and then I'm going to see La Boheme with my dad at the met at 1:30 (we have season tickets.  I have seen it more times than I can count (my family= Huge opera buffs), but I adore it and I can't "not" go.  Ahh I need to study though! We'll see, we'll see.

Have a wonderful morning! Oh, and Boozy just came over to say hi :)

LOTS of pictures...Crazy week

OhhhhhhKAY! Here we go!  I promised I'd be back with a vengeance and here I am.  Mind you, I am writing this post feeling a little antsy that I'm not studying for my history exam that I have on Monday! I am immediately hitting the books right after I finish this post! No dillydallying allowed!(Added to Mention: I started this post last week and took my Exam on Monday... I think I did REALLY well! Let's keep our fingers crossed!)

These past two weeks have been CRAZY and it's beginning to get really difficult to find that balance, but I'm not allowing myself to get overwhelmed.  For me, the more I think about how overwhelmed I am going to be, the more overwhelmed I feel.  So it's best for me to just take deep breaths, buckle down, and not think about it too much!  In the heat of everything I still managed to getbetween 6.5-8 hours of sleep each night, worked out M,T,W,R,F, SUN 

(early!) got all my work done, and still had a little downtime.  How I did it, I couldn't begin to tell ya!  But having a good mentality through it all definitely served me well!  It started out like any other week...Except for the fact that someone broke into my car while I was in class and stole my PHONE, AND WALLET!  I am a MORON.  I left my purse in my car, bc I didn't need it and ran into my class because I didn't want to be late.  It was not a good week.  PERIOD.  

So, before I go where I left off in my last post, I wanted to give y'all an idea of what I 

meant when I described our house as having an abundance of Buddhas (including our little man), and an ora of Buddhist spirituality/all things associated, lol.  Keep In Mind blogging babes, this isn't even half(!!!!) of the collection.  You really have no idea, haha.  So here they are! 

(My mom has an incredible sense of feng shui and everyone describes our house as feeling very centered and relaxing.  There's always music playing throughout the house or even sounds (water, monk's chanting, spa music)...Some even attribute the feeling to that of being in a spa.  Sorry, I just wanted to prepare you for this so you don't think my family's crazy!)

On the side of the fridge... haha

This gold one below is one of favorites... The detail is so intricate, it's amazing!

My mom drew this FREE HAND in college. I adore it.  (I'll be taking some pictures of the paintings she's doing now soon!)

And a clearer close-up... The above picture shows you just how small it really is though!

NOTE: Though this happy one looks dusty, he's not, I promise! He's really old and had been through a war, literally. (Many of them have been...)

I just recently found this treasure when I was visiting my one of my best friends (HI JENNY!!!) in Charleston, SC.  (Shout out to Jenna! Though I doubt she reads this, lol.) It's an amazing city with such grace and charm!  Anyways, this amazing Buddha is carved out of ONE piece of wood and the woman who sold him to me had just come back from Thailand with him :) My mom gasped when she saw him! He looks so small from the picture but he's definitely the size of a toddler, maybea four-year-old (OK...this is getting weird). (And -ps- I carried him on the plane and everyone did double takes thinking he was a child lol!)

Close-Up!

Another close-up! He's a little one 

So many of y'all commented that I am super enthusiastic! (Had to throw the "!" in there... Yes, I pun, b.a.d.l.y.) A lot of that comes from my mom.  While we aren't "loud enthusiasts," I get my passion from her.  All around our home are quotes/sayings to remind us to laugh a little more, or smile a little more often, etc.  Just things that not only can brighten my day, but even more so the day's of others around me.

So my post last week ended with me and Buddha going on our walk! Or what I thought was going to be a walk.  DO NOT BE FOOLED.  In fact, be skeptical the next time you read something online about the distance of a running trail.  Or maybe read it correctly?  Yes, Julz, we learned this waaaay waaaaaaaaay back, like in kindergarten back, to read carefully (both with care, and in full).  Uggh.  So can you guess what happened to the Buddha man and I?  Well, let's just say we started walking and were at about 1.5-2 miles and we started running.  I felt great, and knew that my body could easily handle 3 miles, as I was prepared for the turn around to come shortly after I had started running.  I lost track of time and reached the end.  In my airhead state, I didn't think much of anything...Nope, not even that I hadn't turned around in about 3 miles!!! I was beginning to feel it and started to realize when I saw the sign for 4.5 miles that there was, in fact, no loop.  I kept running to the end and looked at my watch.  We'd been walking/running for 50 minutes.  I looked down at Buddha and he looked quite comfortable.  I, on the other hand, suddenly felt as if I were Pheidippides about to embark on my 26.2 mile trek from the Battle of Marathon to Athens.  Boo was bouncing around me like a BillyGoat    And totally ready for our journey back.  In fact, he pulled me the ENTIRE WAY.  I will say that after 10 miles, I felt beyond exhausted and my hips were really bothering me.  But IIIIIIIIII did it! (Ahem... What else was I going to do!? Ride Buddha back?) 

Here are some pictures from our adventure! (To be inserted later, my picture uploader keeps saying "ERROR"!!! 

The next day, I definitely laid low.  And I mean low.  Like waaaay down there.  I stayed in bed ALL. DAY. LONG. Happy as a little Hermit  That night, Mike and I did go out to dinner at Ted Montana's Grille which was great!  We both ordered a cup of their Bison Chili to start (I topped mine with onions, no cheese/jalapenos... Kath, close your eyes!) And Mike topped his with chedder.  We were both starving and it took the edge off of our hunger!  For our dinners, I ordered the Cedar Plank Salmon "dry" (no extra oil or butter) and ordered it medium (and it was perrrrfect!) with steamed broccoli (dry, as well...Did I mention I'm lactose intolerant?) and my man ordered one of their special Grilled Chicken Sandwiches with Avocado! He loved it 

OK...I am officially SO upset about this stupid uploader.  I have spent H.O.U.R.S on making this post purrrfect (I love spelling it with "purr"...).  I'm home on a Friday night because I have a HUMONGO Bio exam on Tuesday and need to study! Mike and I were supposed to go out to dinner tonight, but the fart got sick.  Grr.  Anyway, I made dinner for myself and have a PICTURE, but can't upload it.  Ugh.  I made lemon-scented tilapia's stuffed with julienne summer vegetables (squash, carrots, zucchini) and had it with Roasted Brussel Sprouts (like 50,000) and Roasted Eggplant.  I just cut up tons of fruit because I was so frustrated and upset with blogger and ate enough to probably equal my weight in water .  I love fruit like it's my job. (Like you didn't already know.).  Anyway, My dinner was delicious and now I'm so upset, but feel like I deserved this for being the negligent blogger.  Well, touché Blogger.  

I'm submitting this post, despite it not being complete...UGHHHH!!! I had a grocery trip, meals, my trek with Buddha, and so much MORE! This is so dissapointing.  Oh well, I'm submitting it, for all of you who are so nice and comment on my blog, and who are amazingly up-to-date ALL THE TIME with your beautiful blogs. Well, you're all just purrr()fect! LOL.  Anyways, I'm about to wash up and get into bed because tomorrow is this weird event at the gym where we have to sign up for our classes if we want to get in?! So I have 8am step! (My only fun for the day...other than studying, OF COURSE.) So excited, but I need to get a good night sleep so I can wake up at 6, eat, and dillydally/digest before hand! I never miss my breakfasts! No sir!

OK, with that Julz leaves you all...THANK GOODNESS it's the weekend! And uploader, pleeaassee work tomorrow!