Hello December

December has arrived! How amazing is that?! I LOVE that it’s December already, although I hope the season doesn’t fly away from us as quickly as it arrived.

I started out the day with a very festive bowl of oats – probably my most festive yet: cranberry-granola oats. For this flavorful bowl, I used:

-1/2 cup old fashioned oats
-1 tbsp cinnamon
-1 tbsp vanilla extract
-water (eyeballed it)

Cooked for 2 minutes in the microwave and gave it a good stir. Then, I topped it with:

-1 tbsp of ground flax
-2 tbsp homemade maple pecan granola
-2 tbsp almonds
-2 heaping spoonfuls of homemade cranberry sauce

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I really enjoyed this bowl – the tartness from the cranberries combined well with the sweetness from the granola. Not only was it delicious, but it filled me up for FOUR hours (from 5:45am until 9:45am!). Amazing staying power, I must say!

Mid-morning (around 10am), I snacked on a peach yogurt w/ half a cup of fiber one.

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Delish as usual, but didn’t really fill me up, so I wound up digging into lunch at 12pm.

My lunch consisted of the usual suspect: whole wheat english muffin topped with chunky peanut butter and pumpkin alongside some new sides: a ginormous apple and crunchy pretzels.

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I guess my lack of hunger yesterday explains why I’ve been starving today. I was planning on just having half a Clif bar prior to my workout tonight, but my co-worker brought in some leftover collard greens for me to try, so I dug right into them around 2:30pm. He is from the “south” and told me that the kind they serve here in BBQ places are NOTHING like the ones he makes – he was RIGHT ON.  They were delish!

After work, I headed to the gym and finally snacked on half of this bar.

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I did lower body strength training, some quick abs, and then headed off to 5:30 spin class. I got a great workout in (burning over 400 calories), probably because I felt like I ate well today and didn’t load myself down with junk (like I had the last few days!).

Dinner was MORE pizza. It is the never ending pizza, at least it is delicious and not too heavy :) I had two slices of tomato pie with an amazing side salad, that included celery, carrots, cucumbers, and lettuce, that Bill made for us. Yummo! It was even more enjoyable because I didn’t have to cook tonight :)

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Up-close pics:

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Now I’m getting all settled in to relax and watch Heroes, but currently we’re watching Little People Big World – one of my favorite TLC shows. Bill still isn’t feeling well so I just made us some decaf tea and I am eating half of a Kashi TLC Pumpkin Spice Flax bar – totally love this flavor.

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Have a great night blogland!

Hearty ‘n Filling

Last night, I tried magpie‘s tip to use lukewarm tea bags to cure the itch from my mosquito bites… I think it worked because I’m not itchy… yet… I’ll let you know the verdict tonight!  Bill’s Nana also sent me an email after reading the blog about using WD-40, who knew?! :)

After my dinner & snack last night, I was still really hungry to the point that my stomach was growling… I think Fitzalan was right when she said that on days she has a “sweet” breakfast (aka choco oats), she craves food all day long because this definitely happened to me!  I had a small cup of Fiber One + Skim Milk… I forgot how much I loved Fiber One…  I think I will have to stock up on this and have it more often :)

Now, onto the breakfast!  I decided to switch it up today and concoct one of my winter oatmeal creations… oats with tons of strawberries, flax, and Kashi Go Lean… It was so hearty & filling and really warmed me up this morning (yes I still woke up cold today but no sore throat this time!)…

My mid-morning snack is going to be a Kashi TLC Pumpkin Spice Flax bar… I can’t wait… love the flavor and super crunchy texture of these bars…

My lunch post is going to be severely delayed until dinnertime because I’m going out to lunch with my dad, so I won’t have a picture to share until tonight… If all goes as planned, work schedule permitting, we are going to walk across the street (instead of driving) to head to a small Italian restaurant, which has amazing salads & paninis… I haven’t been there since before I started the blog, so I can’t wait!

Before I forget, happy Thursday-almost-Friday everyone!!!!!  We are so close to the 3-day weekend :)   And only 8 working days left for me!