better late than never.

hello!  how did everybody’s monday pan out??  mine was busy but productive~so it went by fast.  that is always a plus!

i am going to get right into the daily deets because i have a little something to tack on to the end of this post (the title is a hint!)

meal 1: egg whites+peppers+mushrooms+onions+tomatoes & 1 slice of dry wheat toast & coffee

i had to take an emergency trip to the dentist because my temporary crown fell off last night! i was eating the risotto my roomie made me and all of a sudden chomped down on a chunk.. i thought it was something in the food, but nope! it was my temporary crown! lame.

i was really busy all day—oh and the power went out for awhile! we used the time to put up the christmas tree in the show room.  time to get into the christmas spirit :)

eventually i found time to eat something.. i think i went nearly five hours between meals. not cool.

meal 2: garbz+cottage cheese

eaten at my mess of a desk! unfortunately i had NO ranch seasoning at work.. tragic, i know.

and then i ended up working a 10 hour day. it happens.

after work i broke into a package that was waiting for me at home!

the fantastic folks at oh! nuts sent me some of their nuts & dried fruit to review.

dried pears, sun dried tomatoes & pine nuts!

i immediately broke into the pears~

i expected these to taste like all the other dried fruit i have tried~boy was i wrong!!

these were SO moist and juicy!! (TWSS)  seriously, this was the best piece of dried fruit i have ever tasted in my life.

the sun dried tomatoes & pine nuts will be saved for an upcoming recipe that i will make and incorporate them.  the pears, however, may not last very long ;)

thanks oh! nuts!! i am extremely stoked on your products!!

at 6:30 i went to a spin class! since that is not something i can really tell you all about, you can go ahead and check out my new additions to my moves page!

abs.

• oblique twists with medicine ball on decline bench.

full body weight training.

• barbell deadlift to bent over row.
• bridge with chest press.
• dumbbell pullover to ball crunch.
• jump-over-lunges on bosu ball.
• lunge off step with forward lean.
• single leg bench dips.
• step up with knee up+biceps curl.
• wide stance squat with dumbbell front raise.

go ahead and peruse those if you feel so inclined.  the spin class was killer! and i spent another 10 minutes afterward whittling my middle.

i was really hungry after my intense workout but i managed to wait about an hour after my spin class to eat dinner.  i like to fast for one hour after cardio for optimal fat burn.

meal 3: balsamic glazed chicken + sweet potato rounds + veggies

for the chicken, i used trader joe’s 21 seasoning salute and some balsamic vinegar and cooked it in a pan on the stove.

 

the potatoes were sliced thin and coated in EVOO+thyme and baked at 425 degrees [f] for about 20 minutes.

 

halfway into the baking process i flipped the rounds and sprinkled them with cinnamon & salt~

the veggies were easy, i used a bag of steamfresh broccoli medley.. but riddle me this, why do they make the carrots in the medley round?

carrot balls.

and what the crap do they do with the remainder of the carrot? i mean, they don’t come round. i hope the rest of the carrot found a good home.

good, healthy dinner!

afterward i was craving something sweet.. which never really happens. i decided to give in to my craving and had a single black & white milano cookie~

one cookie clocked in at only 60 calories & 7g carbs so i figure it was the perfect thing to satisfy my sweet tooth! i mean, it was no vanilla bean ice cream, but it did the trick ;)

now i am hanging out with the dogs & my roomie and typing this! look how much yulek loves randy!!

****************************************************************

now.. about that title…

so last friday i found myself posting from my new baby computer and i had no photos loaded on there that i could use for flashback friday.. and then by the time i posted again i had waaaay too much to talk about and flashing back just was not an option.  BUT when i saw naomi’s memory monday post today, i decided i could do a super late edition of flashback friday in honor of her weekly memory monday posts :)

SO.. what i had planned for last week’s flashback friday was, of course, thanksgiving!  let’s talk about it.

last year~2008 i spent thanksgiving at my parents’ house, which is how it goes every year.. surprise, surprise.  i was not yet a food blogger but that did not mean that i didn’t blog about the food!  you can check out my thanksgiving 2008 post here (on my other blog).  here are a few of the highlights~

hummus & veggies

bread & tapenade

CHEESEBALL (i die)

and of course~the glorious spread thanks to my fabulous mom.

we spent our post-dinner digestion time playing dominoes together.  look how tiny penelope was!

the year before~2007~ was also spent at my parents’ place.  my mom roasted a HUGE bird~i think it is bigger than randy the dog!!

this was mine + marshall’s first thanksgiving together. 

after dinner we all went to the bowling alley!  it was a really fun way to work off that big meal.  i though we might make a tradition of it but nope, this was the only year we did it.  maybe in 2010?

in 2007 my friends and i lived in an enormous house that had a giant kitchen and two ovens.  we decided to take advantage of this situation and had a massive thanksgiving party with all of our friends.  we mad so much food! and i successfully cooked not one but two turkeys.. my very first attempt!  i was really proud :) side note: why is it not turkies?  but it is puppies, cherries, babies.. but not turkies.. it is turkeys.  weird, right?

i enlisted two of my friends to carve each bird~

i don’t have any photos of any thanksgivings prior to 2007, unfortunately, but i can tell you that one of my favorite thanksgivings was spent in london when i lived there in 2001.  so fun!

well i hope you all enjoyed this late installment of flashback friday monday!  like i said, better late than never, right??

i cannot believe tomorrow is DECEMBER! that is crazy!! it also happens to be my half birthday~ i will be accepting gifts :P i kid, i kid. but it is hard to believe my birthday was six months ago! yikes!

hope you all have a great first day of december!!

Qs~

1. what is your favorite DRIED fruit? i usually love my mom’s dried apple rings but i am 117% certain my new favorite is the oh! nuts dried pears. yum!

2. there are a lot of opinions about when christmas stuff (ie: music, the tree, lights, decor) is “allowed”~it ranges from the day after halloween to the day after thansgiving to the first day in december.. maybe even later. when do YOU think the christmas shenanigans should ensue? i think the day after thanksgiving is perfect. my neighbors put up the whole north pole the day after halloween and that was a bit ridiculous!!

xo. janetha b.