>They sandwich master

>Good evening! I hope you’re all enjoying this beautiful fall weather. I sure am!

Last night I met my old roomie for happy hour at Farmers and Fishers at the Georgetown Waterfront. If you are in the DC area and craving a margarita, you must stop by.

Silver tequila, cointreau, fresh lime juice, and organic agave nectar. 

Perfection? I think so.

Then I wandered to meet a friend at a housewarming rooftop party – so much fun!

———

This morning err afternoon, I woke and made His & Her smoothies.

HIS was extra packed with vitamins because the Manfriend isn’t feeling so great:

Vanilla whey protein, frozen banana, 1 cup frozen berries, fresh spinach, almond butter, honey, OJ, ice.

*I added honey to soothe his aching throat, and almond butter (as a source of fat) to promote absorption of fat soluble vitamins

And HERS:

Extra thick. I like mine almost like FroYo.

1 scoop vanilla SunWarrior, frozen banana, 1/2 cup frozen fruit, fresh spinach, tsp almond butter, stevia, xanthan gum (to thicken), dash sea salt, H20

HIS was accompanied with a glass of OJ…

While HERS came with the perfect cup of coffee, a la Keurig:

———–

For lunch, I was craving a childhood favorite: A turkey sandwich.

Why was I craving this, you might ask? Perhaps the fact that my sister eats one almost every single day, might have something to do with it!

Behold, a conversation with the Turkey Sandwich Master…

Me + Kelsey (sister)

ME: Kelsey, how many turkey sandwiches do you consume per week?

KELS: Umm, maybe 4-5. It’s better than college though..

ME: Lately what type of bread do you use?

KELS: Flat bread. You know, those bagel thins.

ME: Toasted?

KELS: Nope.

ME: Please describe the perfect turkey sandwich.

KELS: Funny you ask, I feel like I have developed the most ideal, perfect, and delicious turkey I’ve had in my entire life. It’s simple and to the point. On one side of the flat bread, smear one wedge of Laughing Cow Cheese. On the other side, put a layer of light mayonnaise. Next, place shredded turkey on the cheese side. Put the top side on, and smush it down with your hand to create the idea turkey sandwich consistency.

ME: Do you ever get sick of turkey and perhaps want something else, like tuna or ham?

KELS: Nope. I sometimes eat it for breakfast too.

Whelp, there ya go!

Kelsey nicely sent me a picture of her latest creation:

And here’s my version of perfection:

My players:

Whole grain bread, toasted

All natural deli turkey

Light Laughing Cow cheese

Spinach

Tomato

Organic low-fat mayo

The sandwich paired nicely with an organic fuji apple + peanut butter

———-

Well I’m off to do a little yoga, make dinner, then get ready for tomorrow’s 26.2K (16.3 mile) race! I’m VERY nervous!!!!

Stay tuned for an amazing guest post from Tina! She wrote a beautiful letter for the “Letters to Me“ campaign.

Questions:

What’s your favorite sandwich?

If you’re a coffee drinker, what’s your perfect cup of Joe?

Laur

>TGIF and Bedding Giveaway!

>Happy Friday! Have anything fun planned for the weekend? I’m meeting up with some friends tonight for a little vino. I’ve been promising myself an expensive glass of Shiraz if I do well in the productivity department 🙂 Then Sunday is my Half Marathon!

Last night after work, I went for a 4-mile run around the Potomac River, stretched a lot, then Kelsey (sister) and I ordered sushi. Delivery sushi has to be one of the best discoveries I’ve made.

I went with the salmon-avocado roll

Seaweed salad

And split some steamed veggie dumplings

Hit.the.spot.

—-

This morning I woke with an excruciating migraine. Sadly I had to postpone a coffee date with Alex (we’re going this weekend instead). I rested for a while, took ibuprofen, then went to a BodyPump class to shake the pain. Although all I want to do is lay in bed when a migraine hits, exercise 95% of the time makes me feel better. I attribute it to the increased oxygen to the brain!

Feeling much better, I made coffee and a protein smoothie to enjoy on the deck in the (California-like) beautiful weather:

Today’s coffee a la Keurig was Caribou + warmed almond milk:

Raspberry-Chocolate Green Smoothie:

Scoop chocolate protein powder (SunWarrior is my fav)

1/3 cup frozen raspberries

1/2 frozen banana

Fresh spinach (hand full)

stevia (to taste)

Pinch sea salt (to bring out sweetness)

1/2 tsp xanthan gum (t0 thicken; optional)

1/2 tsp maca powder (optional; source of vitamin C, also for energy)

1 tsp PB (to promote absorption of fat soluble vitamins)

Ice

H20

I absolutely love our deck. It spans the width of our apartment and looks up to a canopy of trees providing some shade but also let’s in the perfect amount of sunshine.

The pup also enjoys it…

Watching the neighbors’ dogs

Happily chewing on a leaf

I really believe mornings that start out right set the pace for a productive and enjoyable day. For me this includes, waking up early to exercise and enjoying a healthy/substantial breakfast either on the deck or reading the news.

Do you agree?? How do you start your day?

—–

Well I’m off to grocery shop, run some errands, and do a little bit of reading before meeting up with friends. Have a great weekend!

Lauren

*To those that asked about PB Flour, read here 🙂

—–

It’s GIVEAWAY time!!!!!!

Do you want to update your bedroom decor?? Looking for new bedding? The lovely people at allmodern.com have offered an amazing modern bedding giveaway to my readers! All you must do is:

1) Visit the site and tell me what you would do with a $35 gift certificate
2) Link this post to your next blog post and leave me comment and link to your site (if you don’t have a blog just leave me a comment saying so)
3) Add me to your Blogroll, leave me a comment letting me know you did


Enter as many ways as you like and it will increase your chances of winning!

Good luck!!!! I’ll announce the winner Tuesday evening!

>EXAM day

>Happy Friday! I have a hectic two days ahead of me…

I woke chipper and anxious for the day, made a gigantic Strawberry-Banana protein smoothie…

1 scoop Vanilla protein (SunWarrior brand), 1 frozen banana, hand full frozen strawberries, stevia, dash sea salt, ice, h20

And caught up the news. This lasted about 5 mins because it’s rush, rush, rush today!

Tomorrow morning is my Nursing Aide board exam. To read about my recent career change, click here and here.

Coffee and snacks are usually my study vices:

Mug #1: Caribou coffee w/ steamed soy + Mug #2: Fiber One, Goji berries, raisins, blob almond butter

Studying however, is not so easy with this guy staring at you 🙂

[Insert a few more hours of studying + 45 min run]

Whelp, I’m almost ready to get on the road (my exam is out of state), I made Cinnamon Raisin French Toast for dinner!

Who says French toast isn’t healthy???

2 pieces Ezekiel Cinnamon Raisin Toast dipped in 4 egg whites, cinnamon, stevia, 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract. Topped with almond butter and 1 tbsp organic maple syrup

See you after my exam!!! Have a great weekend 🙂

>My brain hurts

>

You know those mornings when you wake after a full 8-9 hours of sleep feeling utterly exhausted? That was yesterday. But alas, I dragged myself out of bed. Correction: My growling stomach dragged me out of bed.

Breakfast was Raspberry Vanilla Overnight Oats. And they were scrumptious:

1/2 cup oats

1/2 cup Greek yogurt

1/2 scoop Vanilla protein (I use SunWarrior)

1/2 mashed frozen banana

splash almond milk

1/4 cup frozen raspberries

dash stevia

Picture does no justice. I swear it was delicious.

Oh, and a couple of these..

Caribou Coffee a la Keurig + unsweetened organic soy

[Insert 2.5 hours of Thesis-ing]

Feeling like my brain was going to explode, I threw on my gym clothes, grabbed my ipod, and jogged to the gym (1 mile away) for a BodyPump class. I freakin’ love that class. Love to feel STRONG!

Starvin’ and craving PROTEIN, I whipped up some grilled chicken patties. Orrrrr, I toasted some Morningstar ChiK’n Grillers. The latter is more likely 😉

2 Morningstar patties, toasted bagel thin, Laughing Cow Light Swiss. lettuce, tomato, side of veggies and Trader Joe’s Jalapeno and Cilantro hummus.

And sipped some Kombucha:

(check out the cutie in the corner)

Patties were kind of blah. They went for a ketchup bath.

[Insert 3 hours of Thesis work]

Again feeling like my brain was going to explode, I decided to TurboFire it up!

Did the trick! Love the Fiyaaaah.

For dinner I made turkey meatloaf and sweet potato chips

Meatloaf:

ground lean turkey

3/4 cup oats

1 chopped medium yellow onion

1/2 cup ketchup

1 egg, lightly beaten

1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce

2 cloves garlic, finely chopped

1/2 tsp sea salt

1/4 tsp black pepper

bake for 45 mins at 425F

(Original recipe here)

Sweet Potato fries:

 3 medium sized sweet potatoes, peeled and finely sliced 

Sprayed with EVOO and seasoned with sea salt and pepper

Baked at 425F for (roughly) 30 mins, flipping fries once during cooking

Last night Kels (sister), the Manfriend, and I watched The Disappearance of Alice Creed. I enjoyed.

This morning I woke ravishing and made a Mango-Coconut Green Monster Smoothie:

1 scoop vanilla SunWarrior, 1/2 cup frozen mangoes, 1/2 cup frozen pineapple, 1/2 frozen banana, 1 tbsp red. fat organic dried coconut, ice H20, stevia, 1/2 tsp xanthan gum (for thickkkness)

OK, I’m off to a doctor’s appt (just regular check-up) then:

– Thesis, thesis, thesis!

– workout

– Target (?)

– Thesissss

Sounds exhilarating, eh? 😉

Have a great day!

>Weekend successsss

>Holaaaaa,

How are you??? Hope you had a splendid weekend! Was the weather bueno??

THANK YOU all SO MUCH for helping out with the SURVEY I posted last night! If you haven’t done it yet I’d greatly appreciate it!

What’s in it for you???



1) Its quick (and from the comments I’ve received) it’s kinda fun!

2) By completing and re-posting (or just commenting if you don’t have a blog), you are automatically entered in my SURPRISE GIVEAWAY!

3) If the label launches, I will be giving away plenty of goodies!

Moving on….



My weekend was pretty fantastic. The weather was nice, I went on a few good runs, did some shopping, and we found our NEW APARTMENT!!! It’s only a couple of blocks from our currently place but it’s SOOOO much bigger and nicer! I can’t wait! We’re moving in June 1st so pics will come 😉

In the spirit of a new apartment, we did some apt shopping. Here are two of my fav purchases:



^Book end

^Theme for bathroom

The weekend was also filled with some good eats. Salads seemed to be the theme (or the theme of the meals I felt like snapping pics of!)

^Whole Foods salad bar (Romaine, kale, organic chicken, egg whites, cherry tomatoes, onions, Cuban garbanzo bean salad, olives, wasabi peas, chili powder, cumin, and chipotle salsa. SO GOOD!

^Manfriend’s meal, and obviously stole a few bites: Shrimp and veggie quesadilla from Surfside (amazing restaruant btw)

^Shrimp salad (Grilled shrimp, corn and bean salsa, romaine, pico de gallo, avocado, cilantro

^Amy’s Tuscan bean and rice soup. A new Amy’s favorite!

^Had a few of these throughout the weekend (1 scoop vanilla protein, frozen nanner, cherries, 1 tsp flax seed oil, handful spinach, almond milk, stevia)

Even better than my food was the MUCH needed R&R…

^Rosemont Shriaz. A personal favorite

^Picked these up cause I haven’t had Jelly Beans in 2349873 years. Crazy how only a few satisfies a sweet tooth. Or maybe that’s cause I’d rather have wine??? 😉

And drum roll please….

^Season 9 has arrived!!!! Whooo! Let’s see if we can stretch this out longer than a week! haha

And some much needed cuddle time with my favorite puppy:

Aaaaand what weekend wouldn’t be perfect without some gorgeous runs in the city?? (that sounds a little nast, ha)

Saturday: 7 mi; L2 Shred

Sunday: 5 mi; L3 Shred

Monday: 5 mi (no shred, ma booty hurts!)

And I still stopped to smell the roses:



^Well not really roses…but still perdy.



And some other pleasant things along the way:

^White House (view from Pennsylvania Ave)

^Potomac River

^LOVE this window (Caribou Coffe3 @ Pennsylvania and 17th St). Reminds me of my BFF Alyson (who I miss like crazy and needs to get her act together and move to DC asap!)

Alight I’ve gotta tend to my experiment, I leave you with this hot stud I stalker-ishly captured the other day:

^This style seriously exists in DC (and pretty much only found in Georgetown). Plaid pants (often Seersuckers), pressed and/or popped-collar polo, blue sports jacket with gold buttons, brown leather loafers with NO socks, and these Ray Bans (I also like them better on Jessica Alba).

There are soooo many of them!! Clones I tell ya! haha

And CONGRATULATIONS to all BOSTON MARATHONERS!!!!

I ran my first Boston Marathon six years ago, and my life was never the same…

Have a good evening and fantastic Tuesday!!! ❤

>Bonjour!

>Hey heyy,

It’s alllllmost the weekend for me! Whooop! Tonight I’m heading to Quebec for a wedding, lots of skiing, and DOG SLEDDING!!!! I am soooooo excited if you can’t tell!

My shopping woes turned into success, thanks to BCBG and Steve Madden. I am in lurrrrve with my outfit. The pics aren’t that great, don’t know what was up with my camera but you get the idea.

This little black number (BCBG):

Nude Pumps (Steve Madden):

I LOOOOVE BCBG. Little outta my grad student price range for regular wear. But for a special occasion? Perrrfect. I’ll be sure to post pleeeenty of pics from the weekend when I return, don’t you worry! Lol

After quickly blowing through the week’s (or weeks?) budget, I headed out for a 7-miler (Casa to VA to White House to Casa):

Perdy, eh?

This morning I woke starvin and made egg whites and toast:

^Ezekiel w/ Earth Balance and egg whites topped with red pepper flakes, pepper, and sprinkle sea salt. Yeee-UM.

And grabbed some of my favorite coffee en route:

Running late this morning and I didn’t have time to make a lunch so I let Amy take care of that (and made sure to write a clear “L” so no ones swipes it, ha):

^Pretty pumped about this one. Have you tried it???

Also grabbed this for post lunch snacking:

Dear Lara, I love you.

Well I’m off to sneak in a quick workout before lunch, tie up some loose ends in scienceland, then head to Quebec!

I leave you with this pic from the inside of my Orbit pack:

^LOVE San Fran. If you’re looking for a Cali half or full marathon run this one!!! Gorgeous!

Have a great week and weekend!!! See ya Monday! Oh and PS, sorry if I haven’t commented on your blog lately…My computer isn’t letting me comment on Blogger accounts 😦

QUESTION: What are clothes, accessories, etc. will happily splurge on???

xx

Lauren