A Day at the Races

Hey everyone!

I just got back from the Dexter-Ann Arbor 10K race! It went well, and I'm so thankful! My official time was 50:57 (8:13 mile average).

I woke up at 5:00am this morning (with 5 hours of sleep, ugh!). I made my Mom and I some oatmeal.


My mom and sister dropped me off at the start of the 10K, and then drove back downtown to park and take the bus to their 5k start. The 10K started at 8:10, and the 5K at 9:05.

I have to say, I was so nervous! My heart rate was over 100 just standing around. Oh, and it was SO COLD. It was 49 degrees-- ugh. But then the race started, and we were off.

I started off at a decent speed. I just wanted to get through it without hurting my knees, and without aggravating my still-healing blister. I told myself to think of it as a little bit faster of a training run. I was feeling pretty good and I said to myself, "You know what? Just run. Don't worry about going to fast, or too slow. Just run. Don't worry about it."

So I did! I just enjoyed the scenery and the spectators. It was really cute--one of the spectators was a little girl standing off to the side of the road with her family, and as we went by she called out "great job number 3-0-7-1!!" in the cutest voice. It definitely lifted my spirits!

Oh, and I didn't need to stop at all! My blister didn't bug me, so I didn't need to retie my shoes. I ran the whole time :D As I kept going, I just kept repeating "Just run. Don't worry about anything. Just run, until you get to the very end--then you can fly."

The last half mile or so was ALL uphill. Thankfully, I don't really have a problem with hills. I did get pretty tired near the top, but I passed a lot of people! And at the last little bit, I kicked it HARD and relived my high school sprinter days! Haha. My Dad got some pictures of my coming in (you can click on the pictures to make them bigger):




Right after I finished, I was stopped by my middle school friend's Dad. It was cool to see him-- we talked a little bit about school, but I was SO tired! My Dad was off to the side taking pictures.

Haha, this picture pretty much sums up how exhausted I was!

I downed some water, and got a little fruit from the table (and some bread/bagels for my Dad. Haha).


Then I realized how freaking cold it was, and got out my warmups. I was prepared enough to have thrown a pair of gloves in the bag-- thank goodness!



I checked the results and saw that my official time was 50:57, with an 8:13 mile average-- not bad!

Checking the results, and sporting the pink bag I won at my last 5K for luck-- I think it worked!

Here are the stats from my Garmin (which clocked the race at 6.3 miles)

Total: 51:04, 8:06 pace
Avg. HR: 181
Max HR: 195

Mile 1: 8:45
Mile 2: 8:18
Mile 3: 8:08
Mile 4: 7:59
Mile 5: 7:57
Mile 6: 7:43
Last .3 Mi: 2:10 (7:17 pace)

My Mom and Sister ran the 5k. They both did great! We're not sure of their official times yet (we forgot to hang around for the 5k posted results--oops!), but my sister clocked in around 29 minutes, and my Mom busted it and we think she got a sub-40! This is huge, because it's one of her long-term goals. And this course was NOT flat, either! She ran most of the way, too. I am soooo proud of her.

Unfortunately my Dad didn't get a picture of her crossing the finish, because we were so surprised she came in so early! I had faith though, and was half-way down that last hill so I could cheer her on when she came in. I was so happy to see her come running up that big hill. She found her inner strength, and really impressed me today!

Here we all are together

Man, am I going to be sore tomorrow! I can already feel it. But I am so happy with how everything turned out! And thank you guys so much for your support--it really meant a lot to me. You are all so wonderful.

Have a beautiful Sunday!

An Ounce of Prevention...

...is worth a pound of cure! That's my motto for the race tomorrow. But more on that later. Let's begin with breakfast!

I started my day off with a nice bowl of oats.


This contained:
1/3 cup oats
1/2 sliced banana
cinnamon and pumpkin pie spice
1/2 cup pumpkin
1 heaping tsp unsweetened cocoa powder
sprinkle of lowfat granola
some carob chips

I started packing a race bag for tomorrow. I'm bringing lots of band aids and flip flops for afterward, in case my blister gets bad. My mom and sister are running the 5k, which starts about an hour after the 10K... which is about when I'll be finishing. So I'll have a while to hang out at the expo afterwards... I hope it's good!

Oh, and I went to Trader Joe's today! I don't go very often, but I kept seeing all this cool stuff from there on the blogs. I had a good time browsing around, and got some things you'll be seeing soon enough :D

The day was also spent cleaning and finding clothes to donate to the Salvation Army. I also practiced harp.

Lunch was the eggplant slices and hugh jass salad you've seen a million times.





But Dinner was great! We made Island Tofu over Brown Rice. We used this Annie's Naturals Island marinade I found at Meijer. It has soy sauce and tamarind--the stuff they use in Pad Thai. It was awesome! It was so flavorful, and definitely reminded me of the Pad Thai (which I love). You should definitely keep an eye out for it! It had great stats, too:


We baked the tofu at 450 degrees for about 15 minutes. I had it with some veggies and a salad:




Alright, guys! I'll have a race recap for you tomorrow. I hope it goes well-- I'm not putting too much pressure on myself. It will be my longest race, and with my blister and iffy knees, I just want to go steady and have a good finish. I'd like to break 60 minutes, but if that doesn't happen, oh well. It just means I'll have that much more room for improvement in my next 10K!

I also don't want to push myself to go too fast. This isn't a 5k-- I can't just bust through it like a sprint effort. So I don't want to go faster than a 9:00 mile pace, at least for the first half. If I'm feeling good, I'll pick it up later. But I don't want to hurt myself early in the race, and have to hobble to the finish. I'm also preparing myself for the fact that I probably will need to retie my right shoe around the 3 mile point (like I had to do on my last run around 10K distance). It's my blister-prone heel, and though I hate to have to stop, it's much better than getting an excruciating raw heel just because I was stubborn. Like I said in the beginning, "an ounce of preventation is worth a pound of cure." We'll see how it goes!

I hope you have a great Saturday night, and I'll catch you tomorrow :)

I Love a Good Deal

Hey guys,

Hope you had a great Friday! I just got back from Macy's. I got a really cute plate and bowl for only $5.03 total! Plus, I had a $20 Macy's gift card, so I didn't actually pay anything :D I'm getting some great deals lately, like the kickboxing dvd from Borders I got half-off yesterday (and also had a gift card!). I love great deals. Have you found any great deals lately?

I started reading this book called Chi Running by Danny Dreyer.

It's supposed to be a great method and approach to help change your running style and approach so you become injury free. I was pretty skeptical at first, but now that I've started reading, it actually looks pretty good! I'll give a full review when I finish it. Have any of you ever read it?

Backing up to lunch-- I had a La Tortilla factory tortilla with goat cheese heated in a skillet.


I added mushrooms, basil, and bell pepper strips. I also added some lettuce. It was great, and a nice change from my usual lunches.

I also heated up some Trader Joe's frozen veggies in the skillet, and topped them with reduced sodium soy sauce.


I had a smaller salad, too:

I used another new dressing-- Maple Fig! It sounded really interesting, and I love trying new dressings. It was sweet and had just a fruity touch from the fig. It reminded me of Vermont, haha! We used to go there to visit my Mom's friend when I was a kid, and they'd always have great maple syrup and maple flavored things.

I cut up a delicious watermelon, and ate a ton of it as a snack. Like, this multiplied by 3! I just love fruit :D


For dinner, I had another Amy's bistro burger on top of a salad-- my last one :( I'll have to buy more!


Oh, and we let the cats meet each other completely today! We've been letting them have extremely supervised quick visits, but today we let them both out for the first time. It went well! They're still a little bit wary, but they're both out right now and pretty much minding their own business. I think it's gonna work out! The kitties Alfred and Bruce Wayne are meant to be buddies :D

Alright, well I'm off to bed pretty soon. I didn't get all that much sleep last night, and I want to make sure I'm well-rested for my race Sunday. I know I probably won't get much sleep Saturday night-- I'll be too nervous!

Have a great night, everyone!

Up and at 'Em

Happy Friday!

I woke up bright and early at 6:15 this morning. For some reason I couldn't get back to sleep, so I got up. I enjoyed my breakfast of overnight oats in greek yogurt. Last night I mixed:
A little over 1/4 cup oats, about 1/2 cup of Oikos greek yogurt, 1/2 cup pumpkin, cinnamon and pumpkin pie spice, and a bit of water. This morning I added 1/2 a sliced banana, a smidge of unsweetened cocoa powder, a bit of agave, some carob chips, a bit of granola, and a spoon of dark chocolate dreams pb.


I was really curious to see how the cocoa powder/carob chips would go with the greek yogurt. But I really liked it! I didn't add much cocoa powder because I was nervous about the outcome, but next time I think I'll try adding a bit more. It had a good chocolately hint, and the agave drizzle helped it from tasting too bitter.

I felt like getting up and moving this morning, so I popped in my new kickboxing DVD.


I did 3 out of the 4 sections: The punches, core workout, and kicks. I didn't do the combinations section or the bonus workout yet. So far, I think it's pretty good. The punches and kicks section go over the basics, so it's pretty slow moving a lot of the time. The core workout section was good, but I didn't find it super chalenging. The sequences were easy to follow, and broken down in the beginning of the workout. So by the end when she puts them all together, the moves are already in your muscle memory.

The instructor is very into "doing your very best" and "visualizing why you're doing this," and
all. I like her, but she does constantly use those "be positive!" phrases all the time. Some people (like my Mom) might not like that.

I'll do a full review after I do it a few more times and also do the combinations section. I wore my Polar HRM while doing the dvd and here are my stats:

Duration: 57:30
Avgerage HR: 116
Max HR: 155
Calories: 212

If you were wondering why my workout calories are always so low compared to many other people's, it's because I'm so short (barely 5'0) and don't have a lot of body mass. Therefore, it takes less energy (calories) for me to move my body and complete the same movements as someone who is taller and has more body mass.

I did my PT exercises and still felt like doing more. So I threw in Jillian's 30 Day Shred DVD and did level 2. I only had 5 lb hand weights, so I was dying during some of those row exercises! Haha. Here are my Polar stats for the Shred DVD:

Duration: 27:45
Avg HR: 129
Max HR:167
Calories: 125

Afterwards, I spent some time with the foam roller. Ouch. I'm gearing up to start cleaning this house (how did it get so messy??) and trying to get into my harp practicing groove again. I've still gotta unpack my suitcases from school-- yikes!

Q: Do you have any fun plans for the weekend?
I've got my 10K race on Sunday, and the race expo tomorrow. We also got a half-off gift certificate to my favorite vegetarian restaurant Seva, so we might go out to eat sometime this weekend. What are your plans?

Kickin' It

Hey everyone!

It's almost Friday! It doesn't make too much difference to me since I'm out of school, but my Mom has the afternoon off tomorrow. Then the race expo is on Saturday, and the race is on Sunday!

For lunch, I had an Amy's Bistro burger smeared with the Sundried Basil Pesto, crumbled over salad.

This bowl had:
Romaine lettuce
Sprouts
Grape tomatoes
A few pieces of white onion
Goat cheese crumbles
Annie's ketchup and mustard

I also had the leftover butternut squash fries.


Then I had to jet to go to my massage therapist, who was also surprised at my whacked out neck. She worked on it and it felt a little better, but then slowly tightened again. Not to the degree that it did after the chiropractor, though.

My mom, sister, and I went to the gym. I did 45 minutes on the arc trainer. I rocked out to my music again, haha! Lipsynching totally makes any workout better.

Polar Stats:
Duration: 45:17
Average HR: 170
Max HR: 177
Calories Burned: 334

After that, I had dinner. I just wanted something quick and easy. I had an eggplant sandwich/burger, and a salad.



The salad featured this cool dressing I got at Meijer:


It's yummy! It's pretty fruity, so it's a great summer dressing.

My Mom and I went to Borders after dinner, because she had some coupons and Borders bucks. I saw a lot of books that I want to check out off the library. But I got a Kickbox: core cross train DVD (hence the post title).


It was listed at $14.99, but apparently it was half off, which made it only $7.50. And since my mom had the borders bucks, we ended up getting it free! Can't beat that :D I'll let you guys know what I think of it. I took an AWESOME cardio kickboxing class during the school year, and I miss it so much! It was a killer workout, and so much fun.

I tried Jillian Michael's cardio kickboxing DVD and hated it. It was so boring, and the worst workout ever. She kept stopping and talking/laughing to her "team." Don't get my wrong, I like Jillian. I've even listened to many of her radio show podcasts. But it was like they just decided to do this random dvd one day in a single take. It was really frustrating, and I was so surprised because her shred dvd is so good! The bottom line is, I do not recommend her kickboxing dvd. It's just awful. So I hope this one is better!

Q: Do you use workout DVDs? What are some of your favorites?
I don't use workout dvds all that often, but I think Jillian's shred dvd is pretty good. For Pilates, I like Ana Caban's Pilates for Abs.

Alright, guys. I think I'm gonna read some blogs, foam roll, and head up to bed. Oh, and I'm about to look at harp.com for some new fun harp music to play. I'm kinda going through a harp mid-life crisis, so I'm looking for something to boost my spirits and give me some motivation :/ I won't go into all of that right now, though. I hope you all have a great night!

Oh, and enter Danica's giveaway to score some Gnu bars! Yum!

Glad That's Over!

Hey guys!

I just got back from taking my kitty Alfred to the vet. He is sooooo glad to be home! I feel bad for him, because we just got him 1 week ago from the Humane Society, and he's had a bad track record with finding a permanent home. He's only 2 and he's already been a stray several times, and had 2 previous owners! He's the sweetest thing, and the previous owners just had no clue how to care for a cat.



Anyway, I felt so bad because I was afraid he thought we were going to take him back to the Humane Society :( He had no issues getting in the carrier, but he kept meowing during the car ride. He behaved well at the vet, but he was stressed out. When we got back home, he walked around slowly sniffing everything, like he was making sure he was at the same place. Once he was sure he was home, he started purring SO loudly! It was a pretty crazy, intense purr. I assured him that he was here to stay <3


Backing up to yesterday... I went to my chiropractor, and she was kinda alarmed at how out of whack my neck was. She's very reputable, and never adjusts anything that doesn't need to be adjusted. Sometimes she barely adjusts anything for me, and says she'll check everything again in 2 weeks. So, she's not one of those sketchy chiropractors who want you to come back all the time and feed you BS about how "you need to buy this product, and you need to do these tests, oh and come back tomorrow--that'll be $300 please!"

So with that said-- she was working on my neck, and she told me that she had to adjust 5 out of 7 vertebrae. Apparently, that's "pretty significant." After she did that, my neck felt soooo much better! I could actually move it from side to side easily! I hadn't realized how bad my range of motion had been. I had been struggling with tension headaches these fast few weeks, and my neck was all screwed up.

After she adjusted me, my neck muscles felt so loose, and so much better! But as I drove back and went to the grocery store, my neck slowly started to tighten back up. I tried to keep it relaxed, but by the time I got home it was hurting SOO much! It was like my body rejected the adjustment or something. I got a full-blown headache/neck ache which lasted for most of the evening :( I'm going back to see the chiropractor on Monday, so I'll ask her about this.

I wasn't all that hungry for dinner, so I had a salad and a TON butternut squash fries. I said "eff this" and bought some bagged salad at the store after my salad disaster at lunch. I'll keep trying to make my own salad, but I wasn't ready for another salad fail.


I had this great new mango salad dressing that I found at Meijer. It was so fruity and delicious! And it only had 10 calories per 1 tblsp. I'll take a pic of the bottle the next time I have it.


This plate of butternut squash fries was a lot bigger than it looks. And of course, I went back for more.

Before I took Alfred to the vet this morning, I had a nice bowl of pumpkin banana oats, topped with carob chips and dark chocolate PB.

I'm loving these carob chips!

I was so excited to see that I won Gliding Calm's PB and PB charm giveaway! How cool! And yesterday I won a PETA college cookbook at Livin Lovely and Healthy. I've been lucky :)

If you want to test your giveaway luck, here are a few to enter:
An Apple a Day is holding her Last May Giveaway
Livin Lovely and Healthy is having a Tropical Wholefoods basket giveaway
She Wears a Red Sox Cap is having a TJ's Products giveaway

Alright guys! Hope you're having a great Thursday. It's still rainy here, but I hope the weather is nice where you are :)

Q: Do you have the same thing for breakfast everyday, or do you like to mix it up?

I have pretty much have the same thing. Either oatmeal, overnight oats with greek yogurt, or a greek yogurt cereal mess. They all include pumpkin, peanut butter, and usually 1/2 a banana. I make slight variations, but I'm pretty much a creature of habit. And I love my all the elements in my combos, so I have trouble switching it up! But I don't really feel the need to have something else, since I love my breakfasts and know they work for me. What about you?

Polar F4 Heart Rate Monitor Review

Polar F4 Heart Rate Monitor

I have a red Polar F4 watch that I got for Christmas. I also have a Garmin Forerunner 305 that I got for my birthday. I use the Garmin for my outdoor runs, but my Polar for my gym workouts (and treadmill runs).


My Polar F4 watch and WearLink Transmitter

I like my Polar F4. It's pretty simple and easy to use, and I think it's one of the most basic of their products. However, it works really well, and I've never had issues with it. You can input your age, gender, weight, and height and it calculates your calories burned. It will tell you your average HR and max HR at the end of the workout, along with the calories burned and workout duration. While you're working out, you can have it set to show either your current HR (with calories burned at the top), how long you've been working out, or the time of day. You can switch through these screens by pressing a button.

I did have some trouble with the plastic HR band that came with the watch. It was uncomfortable, and would bruise my ribs-- especially if I was doing ab exercises or something like that. But then I bought the Wearlink and transmitter, and had no problems anymore. The wearlink is a soft band instead of the hard plastic one I had.

I like my F4, but if I was buying one for myself, I'd probably look at the F7. It's a step up, and it looks like it has some cool extra features. It's not that much more expensive than the F4. The F4 is listed at $99.95, and the F7 at $129.95. I'm sure you could find them a bit cheaper if you shopped around.

I'm very happy with my Polar watch though, and love that I can log my workouts at the Polar Personal Trainer website. I'm huge on numbers (another reason I love my Garmin, too!), and really like seeing all those stats. If you have any other questions about my Polar F4, just ask :)

Zevia Soda

Zevia All Natural Calorie-Free Soda





I gave up my diet coke addiction last summer. It was REALLY bad-- I was drinking up to 6 cans a day. It completely messed up my stomach, and I just felt like crap. It took a long time (and many tries!) to give up diet soda, but now I don't really even want to drink it because I feel sooo much better without it! Whenever I drink one I get this chemically feeling. Yuck.

I've given up all splenda/aspartame products, except for rare occasions. I've replaced splenda in coffee with stevia. I found these Zevia drinks that are sodas made with stevia, and no artificial sweeteners. I don't drink them all the time (they're expensive, and I don't want to replace my diet coke addiction with another bad habit!). But they're nice as a treat. Whole Foods was having a sale on them, at $9 for two six-packs.


They've got a little bit of an aftertaste that you just have to get used to. If you've tried erythritol and know how it has that "cooling" sensation in your mouth-- it's kinda like that. Makes sense cause Zevia has 12g of Erythritol! I also wish it was just a little less sweet.

Anyway, if you're a diet coke addict and aren't looking to give it up, you probably won't like Zevia as a replacement. But for me, artificially sweetened drinks make me feel so gross that Zevia is a great alternative. I don't get that awful bloat and chemical feel from it. Plus, I'm used to the Stevia taste now :)

If you do try Zevia, I recommend the root beer flavor! It's my favorite :)

One of Those Days (And a Zevia and Polar HRM Review)

Hey guys,

I'm having kind of a blah day. It was pouring outside earlier, and I get all gloomy when it's yucky outside. Is your mood linked to the weather? Mine definitely is. In this respect, I guess it's good that I go to school in Arizona! It's sunny 99% of the time.

Anyway, I chopped up some lettuce for my salad today. I guess I didn't dry it enough, cause it tasted gross! I think the water mixed weirdly with the dressing (Teriyaki Ginger). I had to stop eating it, and that's saying a lot! I can't remember the last time I've done that. I trucked through it for a little bit, but then decided that if it really tasted that bad, I just shouldn't keep eating it.


Looks good, right? I was fooled. Too bad it was a major fail.

At least my eggplant slices were good.


After the salad disaster, I opted for a sugar-free cinnamon roll pudding with carob chips. Just as nutritious, right? Like I said, it's just one of those days.



I actually enjoyed this much more than the last time I had it. Maybe my expectations were lower, haha.

Then I had part of a rice cake with some PB Loco Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough peanut butter (unpictured). It was awesome.

I'm also drinking a Zevia that I picked up at Whole Foods.


Read my review here

Oh, and I got a question about my Polar Heart Rate Monitor. I have a red Polar F4 watch that I got for Christmas. I also have a Garmin Forerunner 305 that I got for my birthday. I use the Garmin for my outdoor runs, but my Polar for my gym workouts (and treadmill runs).


My Polar F4 watch and WearLink Transmitter

I like my Polar F4. It's pretty simple and easy to use, and I think it's one of the most basic of their products. However, it works really well, and I've never had issues with it. You can input your age, gender, weight, and height and it calculates your calories burned. It will tell you your average HR and max HR at the end of the workout, along with the calories burned and workout duration. While you're working out, you can have it set to show either your current HR (with calories burned at the top), how long you've been working out, or the time of day. You can switch through these screens by pressing a button.

I did have some trouble with the plastic HR band that came with the watch. It was uncomfortable, and would bruise my ribs-- especially if I was doing ab exercises or something like that. But then I bought the Wearlink and transmitter, and had no problems anymore. The wearlink is a soft band instead of the hard plastic one I had.

I like my F4, but if I was buying one for myself, I'd probably look at the F7. It's a step up, and it looks like it has some cool extra features. It's not that much more expensive than the F4. The F4 is listed at $99.95, and the F7 at $129.95. I'm sure you could find them a bit cheaper if you shopped around.

I'm very happy with my Polar watch though, and love that I can log my workouts at the Polar Personal Trainer website. I'm huge on numbers (another reason I love my Garmin, too!), and really like seeing all those stats. If you have any other questions about my Polar F4, just ask :)

(Review also posted here)

Alright, I'm off to get ready for my Chiropractor appointment. My knees have been bugging me lately, too. I bit the bullet and made an appointment with the sports doctor for next week :( I'm so frustrated with them! I'm taking a TON of different supplements for them (I take so many pills, it's like I'm 90 years old). I've already been through PT, and I keep doing my exercises. I have custom orthotics in both my running shoes and regular shoes. I just don't get it! Why can't my knees just cooperate?? Oh well. I hope your Wednesday is going well, at least!

Q: Do you use a heart rate monitor or GPS unit when you workout? If so, what do you use and how do you like it?

A Stormy Day

Hey guys,

Hope you're having a good Wednesday! Last night wasn't too eventful, but during the night we had a HUGE storm! It was pretty crazy. And now we have another gray and dreary day. But backing up to dinner: Pan-Seared Ginger Tofu over Veggies and Rice.

I like the pan-searing method, but it scares me how the oil pops up over the pan! My Mom put a sheet of tin foil over it so the oil wouldn't fly up--great idea.

I went to the gym and cranked out a good 45 minute workout on the arc trainer, followed by stretches and abs.

Polar Stats:

Time: 57:31
Average HR: 154
Max HR: 175
Calories burned: 360

It was one of those days where I just had to rock out to my music and look anywhere else but the timer! Thankfully, there were a lot of people to watch. I was also (discreetly) lip-synching to some of my music. Do you ever do that? I usually don't, but sometimes I just need that distraction! I think it's funny (but sometimes super annoying) when people will actually sing along to their music while they're on a machine. It's also funny when people really get into their lip-synching and move their mouth a TON while tossing their head around! Ah well, it's more entertainment for me!

For breakfast this morning, I had a greek yogurt mess, and had already mixed all the cereal together before I saw that there was only a tiny bit left in the Fage 0% tub. That was pretty frustrating, but I managed to salvage about 1/4 cup of yogurt... with a spatula. I added pumpkin, a sliced banana, cinnamon and a little water... it's kinda more of a pumpkin mess than a greek yogurt mess if you go by ratios. And also not the prettiest thing:



The cereals I used were Cascadian Farm Kids Cinnamon Crunch (like Cinnamon Toast Crunch, but organic! haha), Honey Kix, and Kashi Strawberry Fields. I also had a spoon of white chocolate PB. It was pretty good, but I definitely wish I had more greek yogurt. Oh well.

I have to drop off my Dad at work pretty soon so I can have one of the cars for today. I've got a chiropractor appointment in the afternoon.

Q: What's your favorite thing to do on a rainy day?
I usually just wish for it to go away. Do you have any fun things you do? Today is supposed to be full of thunderstorms.

Hope your weather is nicer!

An Awesome Pesto Recipe, and my Stonyfield Package!

Hey guys,

Hope your Tuesday is going smoothly. I'm currently blogging from my treadmill, using my Surfshelf. It's a little tougher to type while walking, but I'm glad not to be sitting down!

I had a great lunch today. Yesterday I finally found the Amy's Bistro burgers at the Whole Foods here! I had these so much in Arizona, but for some reason I couldn't find them the past two weeks in Michigan. I was so glad to see them on the shelf! I knew I had to incorporate one into lunch. Which brings us to this delicious creation:



I heated up an Amy's Bistro burger, and smeared it with some homemade Sundried Tomato Basil Pesto from last night's dinner (the recipe appears later in the post). Then I crumbled it over salad with sprouts, mushrooms, and topped it with goat cheese crumbles. I drizzled it with Annie's ketchup and mustard. It was delicious! That pesto is great.

I also had a rice cake with some Whole Foods Pineapple Mango salsa.

It was yummy, but that salsa sure has a spicy kick! So flavorful, though :)


I recently won a Stonyfield giveaway from Aimee at The Healthy Lawyer, and the package came today. I was so excited!


I got a cool reusable Stonyfield bag:


And free Oikos coupons!!

This is great because I love Greek yogurt, but it's so expensive. My sister and I eat a lot of it, which can really put a strain on our wallet. These coupons definitely help feed the habit :D I also got coupons for some other great Stonyfield products!

I also got a nice card:

Thanks Aimee and Kristina!

Oh, and here is the recipe for the Sundried Tomato Basil Pesto we used last night on our pasta. It was pretty easy, and tasted amazing!:

Sundried Tomato Basil Pesto


The pesto, as featured with tomato fettuccine and goat cheese

Ingredients:
About 1/3 cup fresh basil leaves (a little over half a 2 oz package, or a large handful)
About 8-10 sun dried tomatoes, rehydrated in ½ cup boiling water (don’t throw out the water)
3 cloves garlic
2 tsp olive oil
3 tbsp grated parmesan cheese

Directions:
Whir first 4 ingredients in a blender or food processor. Add grated parmesan cheese and 3-4 tablespoons of the tomato water until you are happy with the consistency of the pesto.

Serve over pasta, garnish with crumbled feta or goat cheese or shaved parmesan.

You can use it on sandwiches, wraps, or anything else you think it would be good on!

Alright, it's about time for me to practice harp now. Oh, and I liked reading your different answers about how long you spend on blogs. I really enjoy blogging and reading all your posts-- I think it's so much fun! I'm just glad I waited until the Summer to start my blog, because there is no way that I would have been able to spend this much time during my crazy semester! When school starts again, I'll probably have to put time limits on blogging, too. But for now, I'm glad I have so much time I can spend on blogs :)

OH! And I just saw that I was one of the winners in prettygreengirl's WholeSoy giveaway! Yay for giveaways!

Q: Do you buy bagged salad or do you make your own?
I always bought bagged salad, but I've been eating so much that it's getting expensive! So now I'm experimenting with buying a head of lettuce and making my own. It's not as convienient, but it's cheaper! What about you?