"hey la my boyfriend's back!"

I woke up bright and early and decided to play with my new camera. Here's some shots of the backyard...

I love the sun beams coming through the trees behind the creek. I definitely miss having a yard (and space in general) in Manhattan, so it's nice to go home and enjoy nature.

(Unpictured to the left) is the tire swing and the 2 bird feeders. The birds were ALL OVER them the entire time I was home...even the squirrels were having at it when the birds were away. It was pretty amusing watching them try to shimmy down the wire to balance while hanging from the feeder, too.

Back inside I got a nice frothy mug of coffee, although it was practically a latte since I messed up the ratio of coffee to "milk" (half lactaid, half silk plain soy milk)...I think I'll need more caffeine later because this was tasty, but not the kick in the pants that I'm used to.

I was QUITE productive after the coffee...I dragged my sister off the couch (I gave her Twilight for x-mas and since then she and the book have been inseparable) and we headed out for some sissie bonding.

She was a sweetie and drove me to the DMV so I could get my CA driver's license replaced (since my wallet got stolen in Europe last month). Stupid california makes you go IN PERSON to get a new ID card (lame)...but fortunately we went early enough that the line wasn't too bad, and I had all the forms ready, so we were in and out in 30 mins. The down side was I had to take a new photo, which I was NOT prepared for...I'm a little nervous to see how it comes out since I thought they had taken the photo and started walking away, only to then have a flash go off mid-stride...hmmm. Never a good sign. Anyways, after the DMV we went and got mani/pedis. SO much cheaper than in NYC! Love it. Then we headed home for lunch.

I decided on a soup and sando combo (shocking I know).

Alfaro's Cafe and Bakery is in Santa Cruz, and their bread is pretty amazing. I've heard good things about their sun dried tomato loaf before, so I was excited to try the 6 grain. There was even an end piece left for me :) SO thick and hearty with lots of seeds and grains that gave it a great flavor and texture.

I decided on an open faced grilled "cheese" with the cheddar veggie shreds.

Isn't this snowman plate the cutest? As for my product review, the veggie cheese melted just like normal cheese and it totally tasted like normal cheese!! Granted it's been years since I've had real cheese, but still...def a product I'll get again.

I also had a can of TJ brand organic (vegan) split pea soup. It was pretty good, but it also tasted healthy. It didn't have that sodium loaded (progresso) canned soup taste, but it was no Bruno's soup. I'm spoiled!

I topped it off with some cheddar veggie shreds :)

I was in the mood for something warn after, so I made a mug of TJ Spiced Chai Tea.

This was WAY flavorful! My parents are so lucky to have a Trader Joe's so close to them. Manhattan only has one so the line is always out of control!!

I'm trying to use only x-mas mugs while I'm home. I'm pretty envious of my parents' coffee mug collection...can't wait to have an apartment with space.

A little bit later I worked up the energy to get a run in. Gotta take advantage of the warm(er) outside weather while I have it, right? I did a different loop than my last run since (1) I had time and (2) it was the afternoon so I didn't have to worry about the darkness. It was a GREAT run. I felt so invigorated throughout the entire thing and I was really sweating. It was between 4 and 5 miles - def felt like it was a good work out.

After I showered, I headed to the store for dinner ingreds...I also picked up an apple to snack on before I got things going in the kitchen.

My sister feeding the kitty cat. Think she's hungry?

Notice the apple sticker I put on her back - hehe.

The wine was flowing as I got dinner under way...Cucao Chardonnay. Nice and light. Then Kyle arrived!!! Hooray! Now the holidays are perfect :)

On the menu was stir fry, brown rice and (chicken for the fam) and baked tofu for me.

In the stir fry: snow peas, brocc, red and orange peppers, water chestnuts, edamame, mushrooms, and sprouts (all organic and fresh). I sauteed them in sesame oil and water.

Here's the baked tofu (I was lazy so I bought it already seasoned). I've never seen or heard of this brand before, I love going to new markets and discovering all these new products! It was honey sesame flavored and was GREAT! Not too strong and not overly salty like some prepackaged seasoned tofu can be. I'm going to have to find this in NYC.

My plate. YUM!

Here's my mom's plate (the chicken one)

Here's me and K in front of the tree :)

Whew, what a long day. Gotta get some zzzz's.

Pilates in the rain? Not so much

I got up early today (weekend early, not work early) to have a couple cups of coffee before I headed out in the rain.

After getting a decent caffeine buzz going, I walked to Jess' apartment to pick her up and we took the subway together to Union Square for a pilates class/fundraiser. It was a breast cancer event (after all, it IS nearly October) so everything had a pink theme. Clearly, I can't pass up on anything pink, especially when it is for such a good cause, and it didn't take much persuading to get Jess on board too. Unfortunately, the weather wasn't really cooperating for the event, and despite the huge tents, we were soaked. We got there early (which is shocking since Jess was involved) but only because I personally escorted her (I have no doubt in my mind that if we had decided to meet there, she would have arrived 45 minutes after it started). Either way, they were running behind schedule so we ducked into a Starbucks to chat. I couldn't resist ordering a grande iced coffee, which I loaded up with soy milk (mmmm...) as we waited. 30 minutes later, we went back to check in and get our gift bag full of goodies. Dripping wet, with nowhere to put all our umbrellas and crap, they had the nerve to tell us we wouldn't get the free pilates mats until AFTER the class! (WTF?) This was not what we wanted to hear, and being the fickle losers that we are, Jess and I bailed on the event, grabbing our free bags before the class even started...haha. In all seriousness though, the ground was wet, muddy, and they expected us to take our shoes off!?! Ummm, I don't think so.

So, shopping we went!

Jess spent $$$ at forever 21 on new teacher clothes. The change in weather called for a new wardrobe and I was more than happy to shop vicariously through her (since my work attire of scrubs is not thrilling in the least). Then we went to Trader Joe's for some vegan grocery shopping. We (accidentally?) had 3 servings of vitamins each because the gummies were so good they tasted like candy. Oops.

On the way home I stopped for another (yes, ANOTHER) iced coffee (grande in a venti cup). I added Silk vanilla soy milk once I got home.

Watching the soy milk swirl as I pour it in is seriously one of my FAVORITE things (I know, I'm weird).

And here is the final soylicious drink.

For my super late lunch I decided to make some breakfast pita sandos. I was ambitious and prepared 4 pita halves for packing.

To put in the pita: egg beaters, homemade blueberry rhubarb jam, and plain ff Chobani

The jam is the last of several delicious homemade jars from Kyle's grandma.

Half way there...

...and all of them stacked up, ready for consumption!
The warm eggs made the greek yogurt melt together with the jam, which was amazing. They were perrrrfect. Warm. Breakfasty. Very rainy day.

Gym: elliptical for 60 mins, abs for 5 mins, stretching for 3 mins (lazy sunday)

For dinner I wanted something warm, veggie-ish, and easy. So Health Valley canned soup it was. I usually add vegetables to prepared soup just to supplement it with something extra and bulk it up with wholesomeness (technical term).

It was good, but not great, just blah soup.

I also had a veggie souffle that I got from our whole foods. I LOVE these things. They have tons of different kinds of vegetables in them. I think I mentioned them in the past, so I will refrain from going into the details for the second time. Basically, yum.

While we watched football, I snacked on the rest (3-4) of the dried pineapple rings from Zabar's.

Bed time. Work early tomorrow!

work workity work

Today was no different than any other work day. Nothing thrilling to report. I made my lunch the night before (see below), which consists of the same delish sando I always make and a mix of raisins and yogurt covered raisins. And, naturally, I stopped at Starbucks on the way to work to grab a soy milk latte. How lame is it that I actually look forward to days I work now simply because on work days I treat myself to soy milk lattes. Today I was pretty sure jcaho was coming to the hospital (yuck), so I finished my drink before I entered the hospital (leaving me without a latte to sip on throughout the morning). So of course my stomach was growling by 9 am, making me bust out the raisins from my lunch early.

By lunch time I was hungry with a capital h. I went to starbucks to grub on my sandwich and grab another soy milk latte. I even refilled after with plain soy milk. I think I have had about a gallon of soy milk today!

My snack in the afternoon/evening/pre-gym was another very berry smoothie power bar.

Side note: I always forget about the fact that I have a couple(ish) glasses of apple juice while I'm at work since we stock it in the fridge. I tend to disregard it because the cups are so small, but I guess when you have 5, that is kinda a lot of juice...

Anyways, I went to NYSC uptown after work and the elliptical FLEW by since I was watching the new ep of gossip girl (I will hereafter refer to it as gg, not to be confused with the same abbrev that previously referenced gilmore girls). Fabulous work out. Mega-stretching. Minimal ab work.

I had a very fall dinner. This cool weather makes me want warm comfort food.

I heated up frozen peas and added organic split pea soup to it.

I love Health Valley's soups. And even though the photo makes dinner look gross, it was definitely good. Very veggie-ful.

After 2 bowls of soup I snacked on salty dried edamame (had to get some protein in) and finished off the bag I opened the other night.