Hi there Bloggies:

I was out of town from Friday until Monday this week – and I feel like I am playing catch up now that I am back at home! I had a great trip to Maryland and Washington, DC to help celebrate my wonderful friend Jessie’s 30th birthday. It was quite a weekend – really great with some of my best friends. I will write more on my trip soon – and a much awaited review of Founding Farmers is soon to come. I just have to tell you – if you are in Washington, DC and if you love food you should really visit Founding Farmers. I think you will love it just as much as I do! [Fried green tomatoes, anyone!?]

Tuesday was my first day at work for the week. It was a crazy day. I did not have my lunch break until 3:30 on Tuesday – that should sum up how my day actually was. I had a Kashi pumpkin spice granola bar for breakfast and a cup of coffee. Lunch was literally a Chobani vanilla greek yogurt. (Yes, that is all I had time for – and I consumed it in just a couple of minutes – I hate eating in a rush, but at least I made a healthy choice!).

At 3:30 when I finally had a moment to myself I went out for my (belated) lunch time walk with my friend Katherine. I also had some water and a package of Austin peanut butter crackers. I love the packages of FOUR crackers – it is the perfect serving! I also had a few bites of a nectarine – but it was not ripe yet (I was tricked because it smelled ready!) and the fruit was hard and not much fun to eat, so I did not finish it.

At six o’clock I met my sister at Hotel Commonwealth near Copley Place for a training session put on by the Boston Athletic Association. It was a great hour to hang out with other runners, learn from a couple of experts and I really enjoyed hearing Bill Rodgers talk. He is a character – and he had a lot of tips that he shared with everyone. It was a good night, and it was a good way to get motivated for more training in the next few weeks.

After the training session, Sarah and I went to The Brahmin for some tapas. We ordered some amazing food. I am glad everything was on the smaller side, and that we shared everything because we ordered some rich food!

Fried pickles – why not?

Next we ordered a flat bread with caramelized onions, prosciutto and wonderful cheese:

I loved this flat bread. I can’t wait to have it again one day soon! One of the dishes that The Brahmin is well known for is their truffled mac & cheese. So we just had to order it…

(obviously!)

I love breadcrumbs on mac & cheese. It is the only way to do it, in my book!

I enjoyed everything that we ordered and we had a great night together.

This morning I got back on track. Here is a quick recap. Breakfast was oatmeal with a spoonful of Barney Butter at 8AM. I was starving this morning, which is really rare for me. Normally I have to remind myself to eat breakfast. The oatmeal hit the spot perfectly.

At lunch I took a walk. It was so hot, it was over 90 degrees… but we still walked for 30 minutes. My lunch was light, healthy and it helped cool me down:

(Chobani, Go Lean Crunch, and grapes)

A couple of hours after lunch I was hungry again. I looked at the caf where I saw pretzels, Doritos, potato chips, and cookies. Ugh. I was tempted by the pretzels, but I knew I would have a couple of bites and be sick of them. I opted for a piece of dark chocolate and a dip of Barney Butter. This hit the spot and I was fine for the rest of the work day.

On my way to the gym I had a mini Clif bar. I’m glad I did because I did not end up having dinner until 8:30 tonight. The bar definitely tied me over. The gym was great – I had a great training session with my trainer. We did strength training and abs. Ever since my surgery my abs have definitely been my weak point – I need to keep pushing myself and working more on this, hopefully I can get back to my old self one day!

After the training session I ran for 20 minutes. It felt good to be on the treadmill and not melting outside in the heat!

Dinner was a salad and an Amy’s vegetable lasagna. Easy and everything tasted really good:

(please excuse the poor photograph – by 8:30 tonight I was very hungry!)

Ok, happy Hump Day everyone! I’m off to continue to unpack and then pack up for the weekend. I’ll see you tomorrow!