insert profanity here

WDE.  (I’m in a TLA mood). 

For those who aren’t too UTD…

Translations: worst day ever, three letter acronym, up to date

But in order to preserve my sanity I will do minimal venting here.  Remember the same horrible co-worker I b$%^ched about a few months ago?  Well, he’s AGAIN up to his evil, sly, scheming ways, and since his lazy apathetic nursing care was compromising the patients, I was forced to do my work AND his just to make sure certain people didn’t die.  AHHHHHHHHH!!!  I could have killed him.  I have never sworn at work before, but today I had to run into the pyxis room to scream.  Eff his effing lazy ass.  It’s aggravating just thinking about it.  Ok, breathe, relax, repeat.

Foods for the day.

AM coffee, duh.

Lunch “turkey,” hummus, and bell pepper sando.

Plus odwalla bar, figs, carob raisins, and apple.

And more coffee x2.

Thank god I had Twilight to read on the subway ride home, it really calmed me down.  I’m trying to stretch out the end because I don’t know what I want to read next.

Dinner was a mini-mexi fiesta.

I heart Amy’s burritos.  They are the perfect last minute meal…or in my case, quarter of a meal.

Veggie and black beans with half an avocado, greek yog, and salsa.

The second part of my dinner was an AMAZING bean chili concoction I made.  Heather was my inspiration for making it from its dried form.  And it WAS as easy as she said!

16 different beans, WOW!

Water and beans, that’s it.

I can’t believe I ate half a pound of beans.  That may be BNB (bad news bears) later tonight  :P

I mixed in greek yogurt and even MORE avocado and salsa.  For anyone who is thinking greek yog seems a super weird thing to have in mexican food, don’t hate.  Plain chobz taste like sour cream.

Check out this “creamy” chili.  I’m so proud of my last minute creation.

Dried fruit for deezer, APU (as per usual).

Dried pineapples and coconut date rolls.  Heaven.

Thanks for bearing with my ranting and abbrevs.  And also thanks for all the sweet comments regarding my profile info.  I honestly love  how supportive the blogging community is.  Even if I am blogging for nobody besides myself, it’s nice to know that there are others out there who struggle with the same challenges in life, whether they are related to work, food, family or friends.

Obama nation

I got chills!

Yes, we can.

No I wasn’t there, these pics are from my television.  Anyways…onto the food!

What better way to start off the day than with a warm frothy coffee and french toast.

 

I used egg beaters, vanilla silk and cinnamon with ww bread, and then CAKED on the earth balance.  Seriously, I went overboard with the EB…

I know it’s vegan and all, but I’m not sure that’s an acceptable excuse to add as much as I do to my food. 

I also had a blueberry o’soy.  Loves it.

For lunch I had an Amy’s black bean burrito.  My local health market FINALLY started carrying Amy’s products so on my last grocery trip I went on a may-jah shopping spree.

This was my first Amy’s burrito (!!!), and after seeing them praised on various food blogs, I was SUPER excited to try this one. 

YUM!!!!!!!  I put some plain greek yogurt on top (as a non-sour cream topping) and it was SO good.  I can already tell these are definitely going to be a new obsession.  It was the perfect combo of black beans and veggies and spicy enough to give it flavor without overpowering it.  I really hope my local store keeps stocking their Amy’s products because I’m in love. 

And a few grape clusters to wash things down.

Gym time!!

breath taking

I can’t even put into words the gorgeous views I have been taking in over the last couple of hours…literally took my breath away.  I was also running up and down a mountainside though, so that may have contributed a bit…

I set out to go on a 30-45 minute run and literally lost myself in the beauty of the landscape.  The time flew by, and if my playlist hadn’t ended I may have kept running forever.  I was just so caught up in the scenery, I felt on top of the world. 

Here’s the view of part of where I ran from our villa – see the brown stone wall way on the tippy top of the hill (zoomed in below).  Yeah, I was way up there!  Imagine what THOSE views were like…I can’t even put it into words.  Clear blue ocean and sky forever…

I so wish I had my camera on the run…but then, I was also dripping with salty, sunscreen-y sweat, which may not be so good for the camera. 

I jumped in the pool when I got home because I was freakin’ HOT…only to discover our pool was, like, 40 degrees.  Holy crap, I almost got frost bite!  I literally think I was in and out of the pool in less than 5 seconds! 

Post run snacks.

I L-O-V-E dried fruit, and these kiwis are totally rocking my world!

This was my first of several mugs of chocolate soymilk…I just didn’t see the point in taking multiple pics of the same thing. 

The rest of the day: reading, hot tubing, showering, reading, dinner.

 

Sorry this photo is SO horrible.  We went to a place called Mariscos Mazatlan for dinner, and it was just me and the parents (my sis flew home this afternoon).  I was so hungry by the time we got there, I was inhaling the chips by the handful, which is why taking a picture only occurred to me after the basket was nearly empty.  I think I may have had enough chips for all of 2009 on this vacation.  Seriously.

The size of the fish on this plate should have been enough of a warning…and yet, I cleaned my plate.  Bad news.  I’ll let you use your imagination, but it’s suffice to say I was running for the bathroom as soon as we got back home.  Pretty sure fish is also done for 2009.  My dad’s plate was even bigger, if you can believe it.

Back to snowy NYC tomorrow…so sad :(

a whale of a time

I heart being on vacation.  Doing nothing will never get old.

AM routine, same old same old (glass of lactose free milk, followed by a mug of cafe con “leche”).

With no real agenda for the day, we spent the morning lazing about on the sun deck and roof.  Later, my parents ditched us for a Costco shopping spree, so my sister and I headed to the beach.  I grabbed an apple for the road. 

Rather than get harassed by vendors every five seconds (like yesterday) on the public beach, we decided to go to our gated community’s private beach.  It’s also closer, which was a big selling point, since we were walking there.

Prior to leaving, we had a brilliant plan all laid out - walk to the beach, get some sun, hitch a ride home from the ‘rents (they said shopping would only take them a few hours).  I’m not sure how or why, but somewhere along the way the plan broke down (even though it was very clearly organized before they took the car in the first place).  Pretty soon it was 2:30 and there was still no trace of my parents…communication gap?  I think so!  I had to pee, my stomach was growling, my non-text savvy parents were MIA, but we were really trying desperately to avoid having to hike it back up the hill.   Eventually we had to accept the impending trek, so we packed everything up and up, up, and away we went.  Ugh.  No work out necessary after that. 

Yes, my parents were at home when we finally made it back…completely oblivious!  They made it up to us by taking us to Los Quesadillas for lunch. 

The obligatory chips and guacamole…YUM!

Since I was stuffed with guac I split and order of fish tacos with my sis.  The fish was battered and fried (not typically my cup of tea) but I’m on vacay, so what the hell.

Piled with refried beans, guac, and salsa = heavenly :)

Whale watching time!!!  In the afternoon/early evening we took a speedboat dinghy out to try and find some whales.

I can’t even put into words how cool this was.  We were SOOO close to them, and they are HUGE!!!  That’s the tail popping out of the water in the pic below.

Not to mention the sunset was pretty spectacular.  

I like this one because of the pirate ship in the background.  We were on a tiny speedboat, so we could follow the whales much easier than the other ships.  Plus, at times we were practically next to them.  There is no zoom on these pics, we were actually that close.  It was so so so cool. 

We got back home pretty late, but not too late for hot tubbing with some vino :)   Since my sis wanted to watch the Golden Globes, we decided to buy food and kick it at the villa for the night.

Pre-dinner apps.  The kiwi was the best part of the platter, so juicy and sweet.  I think I ate all but 2 of the slices!  Don’t worry, I did some serious damage to the chips and guac, too…

Some fish on the barby…

Our balcony dining set up.

I was in charge of the salad :)  Look how colorful!!!

On my plate is a bit of fish, wild rice, and salad.  I only had seconds of salad, and wine (times 3).

We chatted, played games, and watched the golden globes for the rest of the night.  No work out today, and I feel great!  I’m totally sore in all these weird places from yesterday’s jetskiing (mostly my inner thighs from squeezing my sister for dear life).  Time for zzzzzzz!

plenty of fish in the sea?

Fresh guacamole, sunshine for days…this is the life!  I’m definitely glad I ditched NYC, no matter how long and annoying the flights were.  Now that I’m here, even multiple 3 hour layovers seem well worth it.  It’s like I forgot that “winter” in other parts of the world were actually tolerable.

Anyways, I have been feasting while on vacation, I had to take a hiatus from my pseudo-vegan eating for a more practical diet while on vacay.  So now I’m sticking to a pesce-vegetarian diet. I know it’s stupid (since I’m on vacation) but it feels weird not going to the gym or working out.  Why is it so difficult to just relax?  I know I should let my body enjoy the break from my normal exercise regime, but I still feel guilty.  Even if I do booze and feast to the max, I doubt 3 days could do that much damage – although my level of exertion here pretty much consists of turning pages and lifting my fork to my mouth, haha…but isn’t that what vacation is all about?  I’ll kick my ass at the gym when I get back. 

So, back at the villa I had some more dried fruit – these kiwis are AWESOME!  And in case you’re wondering, that’s Angelina Jolie’s head under the fruit.  Then, since everyone else was just vegging out until dinner, I decided to go for a walk/jog around the neighborhood.  Yeah, I know, after everything I just said, I still couldn’t help but feel like I should do something physical.  It’s not like it felt like a chore because I wanted to, the problem is the “should” in my previous sentence.  Why do I feel like I should?  When other people have down time, I don’t think exercise is the first thing that comes to their minds, and yet, when I have down time, I just feel like doing something that gets my heart pumping and endorphins flowing.  I can’t decide if this is weird or not.  Anyways, it felt GREAT!  I managed to learn the area a lot better while exploring surrounding roads/loops.  And even though I was only out about 20 mins, since it was really hilly, I know I worked out a bunch of different muscles.  When I got back I had a big glass of CHOCOLATE soy milk and jumped in the hot tub :)

For dinner we went to the water front, and ate a place called Alexander (standard Mexican/American dining).  We started with a bottle of Malbec wine (a red grape normally part of a Bordeaux), which was the best I’ve tasted in a while. 

I got the mixed salad as an app (tomato, beets, avocado, etc) and a hot roll.  Both good, nothing stellar.

For dinner I got grilled sea bass (the orig. portion was bigger but I split it with my mom).  She couldn’t finish hers, so I had most of hers, too.  The rice was blah, I think I had, like, a bite.  The veggies were veggies, nothing new.  The sea bass was great, but I felt so bad eating it.  I’m not sure if it’s because it’s been SOOO long since I’ve had meat, or what, but it really felt awkward.  I am definitely ready to go back to being a true vegetarian after this vacay.  Fortunately, while my sis and I were out on the open sea earlier today we found a nylon hat floating in the water, and scooped it out and brought it back to land, so I am considering that my “animal rescue” for the vacation.  Sure, maybe saving one fish is small beans, but it makes me feel a little better about abandoning my vegetarian ways for convenience.  Who knows, maybe I saved a whale!

The rest of the night we played games.  So fun.  And btw, my sister and I ROCKED my parents in Catch Phrase.

surf and turf (vegan style)

Ok, actually being vegan in Mexico is pretty impossible, so I’ve made a few compromises for the sake of enjoying the vacation…let’s just say, chips and guac will never get old.  But I’m getting ahead of myself.

This morning I slept in and woke up to the sun beaming through my window.  Here’s the view from out my room.

 

LOVE it!!!!  New York, smell ya later.  My parents’ villa has 3 floors and my room is on the bottom floor along with my parents’.  There’s also the casita (where my sis is staying) which is a single separate room/bathroom, next to the garage.

I enjoyed this Mexican coffee while vegging by the pool…

 

Look what my family got for me!  The left is lactose free milk, the right is chocolate soymilk.  Score!

I couldn’t decide, so I tried some of both.  Then made myself a cafe con leche.

And after the caffeine loading, we were off to the beach!  Sunshine!!

We read, laid out, and played in the water until my stomach started growling, lunch time!  We went to a really fun place called The Office. 

These chips were GREAT!!!  The guacamole disappeared pretty fast since we were all starving, but the pico de gallo was also really good, so we def got a second round of chips.  I loooove hot, fresh tortilla chips. 

I had a huge iced tea to drink (plus lots of bottled water) and then my lunch came…I ordered fresh fish tacos, and whoa!

Don’t be deceived, this plate was HUGE.  Those are big flour tortillas each with a filet of fish inside (not chunks of fish, whole freakin’ filets)!  Sooo much food.  I stuffed the tacos SO full with mexican rice, black beans, salsa, and guac that I ended up eating only 2 of the 3.  They were amazingly delish, though, totally worth how full I felt after. 

Following lunch, my sis and I rented a jet ski.  SO FUN!!

I can’t tell you how much of a blast this was!

Until I get dinner pics up, here are some beautiful scenery shots of various views from our villa: