tuesday

Finally, a day off of work…time to get the apartment set up!

After I got back from errands, I made a big lunch.  A pseudo BLT (soy bacon, spinach, and hummus)…ok, so it was a BLH.  I used Lightlife soy bacon and Sabra hummus (obvi) on my fave, Alvarado street bread.

Looks delish, huh!!!

I cleaned the apartment while snacking chowing down some dried fruit.

I was a bit of a slacker, and really wasn’t feeling the gym, but I dragged myself there (my goal is to not come in last in April’s half marathon).  It ended up not being a total waste, and I got in some decent cardio and arm stuff.

I snacked on frozen green grapes while prepping (aka chopping).

It doesn’t get any better than the “big salad.”  In this massive bowl was: stupid romaine lettuce (nutritional value = blah), soy-tein with spinach, and some de-thawed frozen veggies (I was in a rush), and brocc slaw.

Not too shabby, but I needed more carbs, so I had 2 slices of Alvarado street bread with Sabra hummus on the side.

 

I also had gotten myself a treat for dessert.  A slice of vegan vanilla/coconut (tofu) “cheesecake.”

Get ready for a montage…

Half way through…I added some berries, too.

 

Oops!  Where did this one come from?  I guess I had more figs, too…although I don’t remember this, so I don’t think it counts.

How often are you surprised by things you forgot you ate when you are loading your pics onto your computer?

working Easter weekend

On the way to work I was debating how embarrassing it would be to puke on the subway…after weighing my options, I boarded the train. 

No, it wasn’t the current economic situation or the fact that we are supposed to be saving for a wedding that forced me to go to work (although it didn’t help), it was the knowledge that by suffering through a 12 hour shift while your insides were in a deep turmoil was actually preferable to moving.  In case you couldn’t tell by my last few posts, I HATE MOVING.  I hate packing.  I hate unpacking.  I hate everything associated with getting your things from point A to point B.  I think if a magic genie granted me one wish, I’d ask to never have to pack again.  I’d just snap my fingers and viola, done!  Obviously, I’ll never be an interior decorator…

The ride to work was a rocky one, but I didn’t puke, so I took that as a sign from my creator and earned my keep.

I had coffee at the bucks as per usual.  I was there at 6:28 waiting for the doors to open, like the addict that I am.  Starbucks is like my methadone clinic. 

I felt better-ish as I sipped the coffee, but I milked it for hours rather than pounding it like a champ (which I usually do).  It lasted me until 11 am!!!

For lunch I had a sammie that I made the night before.

It had honey mustard, smart deli “turkey” and leftover grilled veggies from last night (zucchs, bell pepps, and squash).  Mmmm…

***sorry these pics are from my bberry, but Kyle’s parents don’t know about HHH so I can’t photo my food in front of them (and still pass as normal)

Other eats throughout the day: dates/dried figs/carob raisins mix, apple, apricot clif bar, carrots, a tall steamed soymilk (potential new obsession it was SO good) and a huge bag of my grandma’s home-made granola/cereal clusters (there were nuts in it and I actually ate them)

I’m going to have to get the recipe from her because it was GREAT.  A bit like kashi cereal and oatmeal crunch clusters that were toasted in the oven with honey, raisins, dried cherries, pecans, and chocolate chips…mmmmouth watering!

Anyways, nothing too thrilling to report about work.  On the way home I stopped at WF for some hot bar action. 

 

Love me some baked ‘fu.

Other items in Pandora's box: farro, wheatberries, peas, cranz, and white cannellini beans.  If you’re thinking this seems like an odd mix, you’re right…it was good, but maybe not the most flavor integrated dish (without the beans it would have been perfect).  I get so overwhelmed at the WF hot bar because everything looks so good and I want to sample everything, and yet, I want to make sure I get a balanced meal.  Sometimes my creations don’t turn out quite so successful, case and point (above).

I almost did a double take when I entered the door to our new place.  The apartment looked FANTASTIC!!!!!!!!  It is so much bigger than our old place and makes me wonder how I lived in such a prison cubicle for so long.  I can’t wait to take pics to show you all. 

 

I was a bad vegan and had the above (and FIVE others)….Kyle’s parents are a BAD influence on me :(

Plus some coconut date rolls and dried figgies…Thanks Easter bunny!

Back to work AGAIN tomorrow.  Buzz kill.  Happy Easter!

Sunday started just as bizarre as Friday…I was up way too early, feeling a bit on the queasy side, so I had some OJ.

Orange juice?!  Me!?  I don’t know…

But wait, it gets more bizarre.  I didn’t want coffee!!

Who am I!!!

To settle my tum, I had Smart Balance light (it’s vegan) on Alvarado street bread.

No lunch pics.  Same old sammie, odwalla bar, apple, and dried fruit.

For Easter dinner, I figured I deserved a treat.  Enter Whole Foods (again)!

Vegan “chikn” salad, on a bed of spinach, with a sesame seaweed salad, peas and cranz.  GREEN much?  This was DELISH, but I needed some carbs.

I caked on the Peanut Butter like I’ve never caked before (it was almost as thick as the bread).  (I’m out of soynut butter, and Kyle did this week’s groceries, so that’s why it’s CHUNKY, in case you were wondering…)

…I’m liking it :)

I had to sample it a bit more…on apple slices.  It passed that test too.

Just multiply this picture by 3…grrr. 

It’s ok, I’m going to chalk it up to being a holiday, and move on tomorrow. 

So I went a bit overboard this weekend…

almost back to normal

I woke up insanely early this morning considering I rarely eat brekkie at the apartment on work days.  But, hey, I like to color outside the lines.  Watch out!

Coffeeeeeeee!!

If you add a gallon of soymilk, it doesn’t really stain your teeth, right?  Sure, Elise, whatever helps you sleep at night…

I was feeling nearly 100% (thank goodness) so I had a quick bite (Alvarado street bread toasted with Earth Balance spread) and then I was off to work…

Look at all the Odwalla bars my mom sent me home with!!!  She knows how much I love these babies, so she packed up a case of them.  Isn’t she the BEST!!  Thanks mom!

I never leave home without one with me.  As Phoebe says “always be prepared” – it just makes good sense!

Work was work.  Whatever.  I had packed my lunch the night before.  It looks like a subway commercial it’s so textbook “healthy.”

Sammie: lettuce, tomato, smart deli “turkey” and honey mustard on Alvarado street bread

Apple, carrots, oatmeal raisins cookie odwalla bar.

I got home to a semi-controlled chaos.  At least dinner was on the stove (Kyle’s mom knows the key to my heart)…so I tried to ignore the mess in the apartment, and focus on the good: such as the fact that our bed and couch miraculously fit through the doorway (and I wasn’t involved in the process to force it to do so).

Dinner was an interesting one.  As a tofu virgin, Kyle’s mom was a bit nervous to prepare a dish for me.  I had to relinquish control (difficult would be an understatement) because it just wasn’t worth it.  Chicken broth!  Ick.  I could have died.  I think my tofu was right next to their chicken, too.  They may have touched.  Ew. 

No photos because they don’t know about the blog.  Sorry kiddos.  I DO have the recipe though:

Chicken Monterey

• 4 boneless chicken breasts (plus tofu for me)
• onion
• 4 carrots
• garlic
• chicken broth - 2 cans
• orange juice
• canned tomatoes (diced)
• rosemary
• red bell pepper
• zucchini
• yellow squash
• white rice

Please note the ingreds I would drop dead before using probably not choose: white rice, chicken broth, and OJ (not my faves)

Still it was good and I didn’t have to make it. 

I had several handfuls of these while getting organized for work tomorrow (which is hard to do when you can’t remember which apartment your things are in).

Adios 3D

I woke up today feeling exponentially better than the past 2 days.  YES!  So I made coffee and got to work MOVING!

I made lots of progress, and hardly realized how quickly time was flying by. 

I had to go with a quick and easy lunch, so naturally I turned to my girl Amy.  This company can do no wrong in my opinion.  Every meal I have is better than the last.

The delicious Indian Mattar Tofu was no exception. 

The above photo was straight out of the package.

The below photo was after I bulked it up with some extra veggies.

I steamed brocc, cauliflower, and green peas with curry and mixed it in with the Amy’s dish, and it was the perf meal.

Here it is in all it’s glory. 

After lunch I got back to work.  I still didn’t feel well enough to get to the gym, and as frustrating as that was, I knew I’d regret it if I pushed myself too far.  Plus, carrying boxes all day was probably a decent arm workout in and of itself.

I got sooooo much done, I’m rather proud of myself.

Since 51% of our belongings are now in our new apartment, I think it’s fair to say we are no longer living in apartment 3D.  Will I miss it?  Sure.  About as much as Lindsay Lohan misses food boys. 

No, I’m just kidding…it will always have a special place in my heart.  It’s “technically” the first place Kyle and I shared, and even though it is about the size of my closet growing up in CA, I will still remember it with fondness.

For dinner I popped some eggplant and zucchs in the oven, EVOO aplenty.

Then I lathered some bread up with hummus and added the veggies for a delightful Mediterranean style sando.  Oh, and in case you can’t tell, that’s a smiley face I made in the sabra.

Clearly this wasn’t enough to satisfy me, so I made a big salad with lots of healthy fats.

Lettuce, tomato, avocado, hummus, and Country Bob’s.  I’m beginning to understand the humbecue craze in the blog world.  I don’t know what took me so long to discover this magical combination.  Add in half an avocado and it’s a party!!!

It was so good, I wanted another only a few hours later.

I used up all the tomato on the last one, so I subbed in carrots.  Get ready for some food porn, because this salad is a TASTY one.

This is a new fave, so be prepared to see it a LOT in the future.

[Insert more packing/moving here]

Dessert time!!

No, your eyes are not deceiving you, I actually changed up my daily dessert dried fruit platter (dddfp?) and went with what I was craving…the last of the avocado and more sabra hummus.  Ummmm, elephant in the room – yeahhhhh, I ate an entire avocado tonight (and it was a big one)! 

Bed time.  Exciting weekend activities anyone?  I’ll be working the entire time, while my boyfriend fiancé and his parents move the rest of our crap (basically all the heavy furniture) into our new apartment.  I can see it already: PIVOT!!! PIVOT!!!!

Trying to move

Well timing couldn’t have been worse for moving day to arrive.  I woke up in agony.  My stomach was still rioting, my head was spinning, and my body couldn't keep up with all the drama.  I tried to stand up and make my way to the living room and nearly collapsed (and by “nearly” I mean “actually”, since I did in fact collapse but the couch broke my fall).

So that’s how the cable guys found me.  Sprawled out on the couch in my PJs, looking like I had just returned from an overnight rave in hell.  I wanted to crawl into a hole and die wrap myself in blankets and put off moving until I felt human again, but alas that wasn’t an option, no thanks to the devil.

Then the apartment staff came to take our flat screen off the wall and remount it at our new place.  Upon seeing me, there faces said it all…

There will be very few food pics in this post.  How picture worthy are water and sprite, really?

I’m mostly just frustrated by how incapacitated I am.  All I keep thinking about is how detrimental this bout of stomach illness is to my half marathon training.  I tried SO hard during last week’s vacation to keep myself semi-active so I didn’t completely set myself back in training, and now that I’m back in NYC, on my days OFF no less, I’m forced to stay within an arms-length of the toilet.  GRRR!!!  I hate being sick :(

Eventually I made it to the new apartment and successfully set up the tvs (which was shocking considering how slow I am in the tech department and how many cables and cords there were)!!

In the afternoon I tried to eat a little somethin’ somethin’…

More bread and hummus, which sorta worked.  I felt awful after I ate it, but at least it stayed down.  Small steps, right?

After moping around feeling bad for myself all morning, I decided to get a move on it in the PM…focusing on moving helped.  In fact, I got pretty good at ignoring my pain altogether while boxing and packing.

I managed to move all of my clothes (ok, most of my clothes) and all the contents in our bathroom before calling it a day.

Here are some things I’ve learned after just one day of moving (I’m so smart):

• I have too many clothes
• I need a dresser
• I hate moving

Thank goodness Kyle’s parents are flying into NYC this weekend to do all the heavy lifting (meanwhile I’ll be at work Fri, Sat, Sun – haha).  Suckas!  I kid, I kid!  But in all honesty, I am really glad to be out of the apartment while the majority of the moving is taking place.

Dinner was way boring tummy friendly digestibles. 

Frozen grapes, which were eaten at a snails pace (10 minutes apart).

Once I determined my stomach was up for the challenge I decided to have a couple (errr…handfuls) of coconut date rolls.  My tum-tum liked these (finally).  Nice and neutral. 

A few hours later I decided to try something with a bit more substance and had an English muffin with soynut butter.  Look how gooey and melty it is.  I LOVE toasted carbs with nut butter.  Mmm!

I still didn’t feel 100% well, but at least everything was staying down.  What is going ON!?!

I have tomorrow off of work too, so hopefully I will be back to normal and able to make a bigger dent in the apartment moving process.  Otherwise I may just have to sit around the apartment all day and catch up on the latest happs with my NY housewives. 

Sick

The title of this post should have been vomit-ville, but I that’s a little gross.  I have no idea what happened today…I was at work, going about my business, saving lives, you know the deal, when suddenly I started feeling pretty yuck.  Fortunately, it was already after 6 pm so I knew I only had to make it ‘til 7 and then I could figure out how to remedy my tummy sitch. 

I didn’t eat anything weird for lunch, in fact, it was pretty much the same as yesterday.

Sammie (in re-re-re-recycled tin foil) with honey mustard, cranz, lechuga, and some smart deli “turkey.”

Plus the rest of the typical cast of characters (ie apricot cliffy, apple, wasabi peas, and a bag of carob raisins/figs/dates).

It’s hard to even type this post and look at those pictures, since I saw the entire meal in reverse about an hour after I got home.  I knew something was up on the way home and was just praying I made it home before anything too disastrous happened (subway ride + no control over bodily fluids = no bueno).  I felt SOOOO horrible.  I don’t know what the eff caused this.  I ate so normal, and out of the blue I felt like I was going to puke, and sure enough…

At least I felt a little better after, but that didn’t last long.  I fell asleep on the couch and dozed in and out of consciousness for a few hours before trying to have some water.  UGH.

Since I was STARVING, I tried the most benign thing I could find in the apartment, bread.  I dipped it in hummus and slowly tried to get some kcals down…which backfired about 15 mins later.  I was shaking I was so dehydrated and weak.  My body started aching everywhere, and I couldn’t find any position that was comfortable, fetal position included.

I managed to make my way to bed (THANK god I don’t have work tomorrow) and had the single worst night of my life.  That may seem like a bold claim, but I woke up about 10 different times in a delirious stupor.  I’m pretty sure this is what the textbooks refer to as death. 

No worries guys, I’m a trooper, I’ll make it…