M.I.A.

Man, I guess I’ve been M.I.A. again, huh? So sorry! Just trying to catch up in many areas of life. One major thing is finally done though – taxes! We had been waiting for one last document from one of the husband’s previous employers and we finally got it yesterday. So the taxes are done, filed, and we are expecting a pretty refund! (Definitely encourages us to keep checking out cruises! I’ll let ya know when we book one!)

Anyway – I’ll back up a bit. Last night for dinner I tried something new: black bean burgers! However, I decided I wanted mine sans bun, on a bed of spinach, with sweet potato. As long as what I crave is so packed with nutrients, I don’t mind eating what I want at all!

In my black bean burger I had black beans, bread crumbs, cumin, black pepper, a teensy bit of salt, and garlic powder. The cumin was an AWESOME addition! I highly recommend it for a kick of flavor, warmth, and fun in your next black bean burger.

My burger was topped with sliced grape tomatoes, cheese and ketchup. The sweet potato was topped with cinnamon, ground black pepper and a bit of vegan smart balance. I just realized that this would be an entirely vegan meal had I held the cheese.

Now for a realization I had yesterday.

I am Free to be ME!

Ok, I know this sounds cliche, trivial, etc. I am sticking up for myself/ not letting my own pressures and expectations get me down. I think a lot of the blogosphere is full of avid, hardcore runners, which is awesome and motivating. It was partly what helped me realize I CAN run. However, most of the times I still just don’t like running. It is RARE that it is enjoyable to me. Enjoyable even in the sense that it can be an escape, a chance to think things through, etc. Most of the time it doesn’t always work that way for me.

I realized this as I was driving home yesterday. It was beautiful and I sat at a red light thinking, “I want to go for a long walk when I get home. I want to lift weights and do a bunch of strength exercises”. And I embraced that. I didn’t pressure myself to go running like I do most days. That does not work. Instead of getting anxious and putting all the pressure on myself to do something I don’t want to do, I decided to happily embrace what I DO want to do! And I am going to try to make a committment to myself to continue to do this. I hate pressuring myself to do things. So I am going to put an effort into doing things that I love and finding exercises that are FUN for me!

Ok, end of realization. I just was happy to come to this “aha” moment, and encourage you to share any of your “aha” moments, any agreeances or arguments against this, or whatever whatnot you want to share.

MOVING ON!

Happy Good Friday.

Ross and I had work off this morning so we slept in a little later (a lot later for Ross!). I made us a Caitlin-inspired treat for breakfast.

Honey wheat english muffin french toast! I dipped my two english muffins (one for me, one for Ross) in a mixture of an egg, a tiny splash of OJ, a splash of vanilla almond milk, cinnamon, ground ginger, and ground golden flax seed. Served with real maple syrup for dipping.

I also had a small green smoothie on the side – loads of spinach with ice and approx. 1/3 c. vanilla almond milk. YUM! As I took my first sipped I literally exclaimed, “I LOVE getting some green in the morning!”.

Breakfast followed with some errands (including something I found for a giveaway soon!) including lunch at Firehouse Subs. I had a medium turkey on wheat with lettuce, tomato, and cheese. I only ate half the bread but all the veggies and turkey, because that’s what I wanted and felt like.

Then more errands, including a stop at a produce stand I recently found and Big Lots – two places for frugal finds!

Produce stand finds (and how much they cost compared to the grocery store!)

• bananas ($0.29/lb here, $0.69/lb grocery store)
• cucumbers (3/$2 here, $1.29 for 1 at the grocery store)
• jicama ($0.95 here, can’t find it often at my grocery store!)
• really orange spaghetti squash ($0.89/lb here, and usu. $1.49/lb grocery store)

Big Lots finds

• Wolfgang Puck soups for $1 each (I know Caitlin, your favorite perv!)
• a new cereal with lots of whole grains, decent protein, and minimal sugars ($3 for the equivalent of 2 -18 ounce cereal boxes). Is it just me or has the normal grocery store price of cereal grown extravagently over the past few years??

All of that was about $13!

Ok, well this post is definitely long enough now! I’m going to keep scouring craigslist for a cheap wooden desk that we can renovate (I wish I had more space in my apartment – I had just found a pretty wooden china cabinet WITH china for $100!!!)

See everyone later tonight!