>It’s confession time baby

>Like the title? I promise an explanation in a sec…

Today I had the day off. That meant what it usually does: Waking up around 10am, making breakfast and a big ole mug of coffee, catching up on the news and my favorite blogs, then hitting the gym. Today was no different. Is that weird? Do you have a “routine” on your days off?

Breakfast was Raspberry Vanilla Oats

1/3 cup oats

1 cup almond milk

1 t chia seeds

1/2 t flax seeds

stevia, cinnamon, nutmeg

1/4 cup raspberries

1 scoop vanilla protein powder (added after cooking)

pecans to garnish

I didn’t capture any pictures of my coffee but I can estimate for you my caffeine intake was quite high today. It was one of those mornings. I did capture a nice pic of our back deck..

We have SNOW in DC! 

Now onto the R&R of the day…

Confession #1: My sister and I recently reached a milestone. We successfully re-watched all 10 seasons of [the old-school] 90210:

Now let’s do some math: 

10 seasons x 30 episodes/season = 300 episodes
300 episodes x 45 mins = 225 hours or 9.33 days of 90210!

Why am I admitting this again??

———————

For lunch I was in the veggie mood..

Veggies and hummus

And then snacked on yogurt and fruit…

1 cup fat-free Greek yogurt, frozen raspberries, frozen pineapple, stevia

———————

When my eyes were ready to bleed from watching too much Donna Martin, I ventured to the gym for a 30 min spinning class followed by BodyPump. I seriously can’t get enough BodyPump. I love feeling STRONG!

After a muscle-pumping sesh, I refueled with an easy peasy big bowl of thai curry veggies & chickpeas:

Step #1: Boil veggies

Butternut squash, cauliflower, broccoli, green beans

Step #2: Drain. Add spices (curry, turmeric, coriander, S&P)

Step #3: Dress in Thai Curry sauce

This stuff is amazing

Step #4: Savor

——————–

Ok, and now for Confession #2: I’ve been reading a lot of other blogger’s winter skincare routines. It got me thinking: What’s my skin care secret? And then I immediately thought, do I want to share this secret? Not because I want to keep the magic to myself, but because it’s a little embarrassing. If you happen to watch Real Housewives of NJ, you know that Caroline shaves her face because she claims it keeps her face super soft and is the best exfoliant that she’s ever tried. Well I have a problem, I have the worlds most dry nose. No matter what I do, it’s always flaky in the winter months. So I figured, why not shave my nose? I tried it, and viola! I’ve been doing this once per month all winter and no more flaky dry skin on my nose! TMI?? Perhaps! 

Well there you have it!

Do you have any embarrassing beauty secrets?

Do you have a “routine” even on your days off?

>Party all night and sleep all day and throw all my problems away, my life would be eassssyyyyy

>Hiiiii!!!!! I’M ALIVE!!! 🙂

Sorry I’ve been MIA, I’ve been quite busy the last few days. Busy working on my M.S. thesis, busy celebrating the Manfriend’s birfffday, busy errand-ing, and supa busy catching up on some ZZZZZZZZs!

So here’s a recap of the last few days..And let me just say each meal here is made with the SCRAPS we have left around the apartment. I don’t think I’ve ever needed to grocery shop so badly!!!

I’ve been on an oats/protein powda/fruit kick lately, BUUUT since we’re out of almost everything I came up with this:

^1/3 cup oats (soaked in H20 overnight + 2 tbsp egg whites), microwaved, then topped with 1 runny egg + sea salt/pepper

This was DELISH! I love the taste of plain oats (I’ve missed them!) and the gooey egg made it creamy and fantastic.

I worked on my MS Thesis all afternoon then met the Manfriend for a late lunch/coffee break at my favorite coffee shop, Soho Tea and Coffee.

I had this GINORMOUS iced coffee w/ soy:


And Seth had an iced vanilla latte:

^Perdy but too sweet for my liking. I like my coffee to taste like coffee 🙂

We split a garden salad with balsamic:

And turkey sandwich on multigrain w/ lettuce, tomato, provolone, and spicy mustard:

If you are in the DC area, try out this place! Not only ADORABLE, they have great food AND serve beer/wine/cocktails!

Friday night was a designated movie night (and much needed!). We watched The Lovely Bones. Have you seen this??? I haven’t read the book so I can’t comment on that, but the movie was just — WEIRD. Was one of those that leave you feeling a little uncomfortable at the end. Know what I mean????

Saturday I slept until 12:15pm, HA! Guess I needed that R&R. I caffeinated then slurped down this Chocolate-Strawberry Protein smoothie:

^SOOO GOOD! I need more chocolate smoothies in my life. I made it with 1 scoop chocolate Designer Whey, 1 cup frozen strawberries, dash stevia, H20, ice, pinch xanthan gum (for xtra THICKNESSSS). Twas more like ICE CREAM!

Post-digestion I had a KICK-ARSE workout consisting of:

– 5 mile run around the Potomac River (*sans Ipod!)
– Abs, weighted lunges

*If you know me, you KNOW I RUN WITH MUSIC. I would rather have a disqualifying time in a road race than run in silence, haha. Saturday however, my ipod was dead and the weather was GORG so I headed out WITHOUT IT! And????? It was FANTASTIC. Not saying I’m gonna do this all the time (esp. on boring routes or treadmill sesh’s) but there was something peaceful and mind-clearing among only the sounds of good ole Mother Nature.

DO YOU EVER run/exercise without music?????

Later in the evening, Seth and I attended a roof-top BBQ at our friend Will’s amazing apartment. On the menu:

^Romaine, avocado, tomato, carrot, onion in Will’s homemade balsamic (Balsamic vinegar, EVOO, and diced fresh garlic)

Main course (most had steak, I stuck with da fish):

^Sorry for the BLURRY pic!!! Salmon and veggie kabobs, corn on the cob, and sampled some steak.

Oh, and lots of…

And an AMAZING VIEW of the DISTRICT!

Seth happily chowin’ down:

After dinner we did a little bar hoppin to celebrate SETH’s 27th BIRTHDAY!!!!!! Sethypoo, I love you. 😉 Cornball? Um, yes.

Sunday the Birthday festivities continued with dinner in the park (thincrust pizza from Pizzeria Paradiso), wine, cake and presents. Since Seth had little sleep Sunday night (had to eeeearly in the AM, he wanted a low-key night). Twas PERFECT!

I on the other hand, got a little more sleep…

^Not even kidding. Sadly 😉

Toddddayyy has been perdy good — no complaints here. I started the day with some oats/eggs (above) and then hit the gym for:

– 45min Club Strength class (total body lifting)
– Treadmill sesh (20 mins at 7:47 min/mile then 5 X 30 sec sprints at 5:33min/mile.

Was one SWEATY beast!!!!

OKKKK folks, I’m otta here. Gotta stop at Whole Foods to get supplies for tonight’s Magic soup (its rainy hurrrr so this will be delish), laundry (boo), and then Real Housewives of HOTLANTA!!! Who’s watchin???!

PS…My LAST DAY IN LAB is May 24th!!! Can you believe it???

XX

Laur

>Date night!

>Hiiiii!!!

Just a quick post to share an awesome DATE NIGHT the Manfriend and I shared on Wednesday. I planned a yummy dinner (turkey meatloaf and grilled asparagus) but Seth blew my meal out of the water with his dessert!!!

(FYI: Not sure why my pics are a little blurry. Sorrryyy!!)

Try not to drool too much…

Heavenly:

Little bit of this….

Made us get a little crazy..

Yummm!!!!!!

With the left over choc we made HOMEMADE CANDY BARS!

^Seth’s concoction: Dark choc stuffed with strawberries and caramel and topped with coconut

^Mine (the winner!): Dark choc stuffed with coconut, peanuts, raisins and topped with Better N Butter. AAAAMAZING! Sorry Seth but I toally won! 😉

Such a fun night!

Tip: Don’t melt the chocolate over direct heat or it will burrrrrn. Seth suspended the bowl containing chocolate over boiling water.

OK off to snack and watch Real Housewives…..See ya tomorrow!!!

XOXOXO

Lauren

>Gettin’ through

>Hiiiiii!!!!!

First thing’s first — THANK YOU FROM THE BOTTOM OF MY HEART for all of your thoughtful words and advice. You all rock!!!

Things have been getting better in my world. So far, I’ve told (beyond my family, friends, and y’alll) my mentor, Georgetown advisors, and NIH advisors (I’m in a joint program between Georgetown University and The National Institutes of Health, so things get a little tricky). And so far, everyone is on board! It’s crazy I imagined (crazy as it sounds) everyone screaming in anger at me (especially my mentor). But everyone has been SO SUPPORTIVE of my decision, it’s incredible.

Ironically maybe, I received several copies of my paper in the mail yesterday:

^Bittersweet, I guess.

So what have I been doing lately to get through these rough times?? A LOT of RUNNING and quite a bit of this:

^Good ole R&R. Trash TV + mags. Mmmmm.

And (despite the warm weather), lots of this:

^Hot tea. I swear it warms my soul.

Aside from lots of R&R, long workouts, and hangin with friends I’ve been in 3847028432 meeting over the last few days to discuss leaving my program. It’s a lot more involved than just “Peace out, Yo”. Ha.

To make things a little easier, I’ve been prepping my breakfasts and lunches in advance.

I’ve been on an oatmeal kick lately. Guess I need the extra carbs for brain power while facing these difficult meetings.

Night prep:

^Soak 1/4 cup oats + 1 tbsp chia seeds + 2 tbsp egg whites in 3/4 cup H20 overnight

In the morning microwave then add desired mix-ins:

^1 cup protein powder, thawed blueberries, cinnamon, stevia, dash sea salt, blob PB

Or prepare them overnight in your almost licked-clean jar of PB:

Lunches around here have been pretty standard. Although this takes 0.2 seconds to prepare, it’s still one of my favorites.

Enter, easy breasy version of Magic Soup:

^1 cup soup broth, diced tofu, and handful of whatever frozen veggies are on hand. Brown rice and beans sometimes makes an appearance. Sprinkle some cumin and red chili powder and you’re golden.

Dear Magic Soup,

You will always remain one of my favorites – no matter where I go.

Love, Lauren

Well I’m off to a Club Strength class (total body lifting for 60 mins — very similar to BodyPump) then volunteer! During undergrad I volunteered in my community a lot. It brought me clarity, stress relief, and a great sense of self fulfillment. In my opinion there is no better way to help others and yourself than volunteering. During grad school we were not allowed to have another job (paid or unpaid) so that put volunteering on hold for a bit. I’m glad to have it back in my life 😉

Have a great day!!!!!

Lauren

QUESTION: How do you PREP your BREAKFASTS and LUNCHES???? New ideas welcomed 🙂

XX