Hi All –

I hope everyone had a great back to work day and a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday 🙂 I really enjoyed my five days away from the office. It was my longest break from work in several months, perhaps since last holiday season! It was a much needed time away… I woke up this morning at 5:40 AM actually feeling rested, what a nice change!

I have started this week off on the right foot which is such a great feeling. I spent a lot of time yesterday doing laundry, food shopping, cooking and getting my work bag packed for my important day at work today. I went to bed last night feeling well prepared for my first day of the work week. The only thing I forgot was my camera, so I could not record my lunch for the blog. (Sometimes it is hard to get back on track when you have gotten out of the habit of taking photos of your food!)

For breakfast this morning I thoroughly enjoyed a cup of coffee out of my new French press coffee maker. On Saturday I bought a cute Bodum French press coffee maker. I have always wanted a French press (being a coffee lover it is one of the best ways to make a fantastic cup of coffee). I do not know if I will ever look at my Cuisinart coffee maker in the same way now that I have had a couple of cups of coffee out of the Bodum!

After purchasing the French press, I made my way to Starbucks… I used the excuse of needing a coarsely ground coffee to purchase a pound of Starbucks wonderful Christmas blend. The barista ground it specifically for a French press – it has been wonderful so far.

This morning for breakfast I had half a piece of a whole wheat pita and a tablespoon of peanut butter:

Somehow this breakfast kept me going until 1:30 this afternoon when I finally had time to take a lunch break. I am really sad that I did not have my camera today, because my lunch was pretty fantastic. I had a few pieces of my Sunday night dinner – steamed (still a little crunchy – perfectly done) broccoli (my favorite vegetable!), half of a baked chicken breast (seasoned perfectly with paprika, garlic, thyme, rosemary and ginger) a cup of spinach with a healthy drizzle of balsamic, and the other half of my whole wheat pita. I cut up the chicken breast and put it into the pita with the spinach for a pita sandwich – yum!

As I was driving home from work, I knew that I was in charge of dinner tonight. I was sort of tired from a long (but good!) day at work and I was wondering what I could make for a good meal. During my drive I remembered that when I was growing up, Monday nights were taco nights… so I decided to do a throw back to 1988 and make it a taco night for mom and me 🙂

I stopped by Dave’s Market on my way home from work and picked up some pretty good fixings for tacos… fresh salsa and guacamole, light sour cream and of course taco shells:

I cooked up some chicken and added some seasoning:

(have I mentioned how much I love my new Cuisinart pan?? I adore it…)

The taco shells were a little small…. it was hard to get all of the layers of ingredients in without breaking the shell. I put spinach, chicken, reduced fat cheese, guac, salsa and sour cream into my taco:

Dinner was two tacos, POM juice mixed with seltzer and a big glass of water.

I am glad to report that the work / run / food / life balance is starting to come into view. Over the last few days I have been able to incorporate healthy food (as usual) and exercise into my daily routines. Of course having some time away from the office really helped in my quest for more time to exercise. I was not able to run on Thanksgiving like I wanted (a lot of time in the kitchen preparing food for the holiday!) But on Friday, Saturday and Sunday I was able to get to the gym, run, and do weight training (weights and running Friday, cardio on Saturday, and running on Sunday). I am hoping to be able to keep up the routine this week now that I am back at work.

I hope you are all doing well and having a good week so far. See you tomorrow!