Hi there readers –

I hope your Monday got your week off to a good start! I must say that I love the Olympics and they are getting the better of me these days! For two weeks I figure I will stay up later than normal to watch all of the skating and skiing NBC will give me 🙂 But I am sort of paying the price in my energy level! Oh well 😀

Yesterday I met my friend Kate for a lovely Sunday brunch at The Met Bar and Grill in Dedham. Kate lives on the North Shore, and I live south of the city – so Dedham was pretty much right in the middle for us – it was perfect! After a lovely brunch we shopped around Legacy Place, and hit up Whole Foods for our weekly grocery shopping – what fun!

During brunch Kate and I talked about our lives, our jobs, our commutes and how we both try to find the balance of healthy living with being so busy during the week. It is certainly not easy! Kate inspired me to get back to my early mornings, and she reminded me of the benefits of getting to work on the super early side. Oh how I hate mornings – but I know she is right about this, so last night I started getting my mind focused on getting up early for today. I packed my lunch, laid out my clothes, etc.

Somehow this morning I was able to get up at 5:55AM – even though I did not get to sleep until after midnight! I was out of the house by 6:25 this morning, and I was at work at 7:20. Thanks Kate!! I hope I can stick to my new routine. It is certainly going to be a challenge for me…

OK – breakfast this morning was back to basics. Quaker oatmeal low sugar instant oats:

I ate breakfast a lot earlier than I have been recently, at around 7:45 this morning. I added some PB2 and ground flax to bulk up the oats just a little bit. Right before my second meeting of the morning, at 11AM I grabbed a LaraBar because my stomach was talking to me. I just had a bite of this cherry pie bar (this flavor is tart, but I love it because you have to eat it really slowly – or at least I do!)

My Bite:

My second meeting lasted a while, about an hour and a half. Thankfully we had to walk around the building for about half an hour of the meeting – it was nice to get up and move around! After the meeting, Katherine and I went for a walk – it was so beautiful outside! I am not sure what the temperature was, but I would say about 49 degrees. The weather got me so excited for spring… just a couple of more weeks, hopefully!

I was starving for lunch when I finally ate at my desk at 1:30 this afternoon. I packed a turkey sandwich on an Arnold’s sandwich thin, with half a piece of swiss cheese and dijon mustard. Baby carrots and a super small dark chocolate Milkyway candy!

This lunch was really satisfying. I also drank 750 mL of water as I ate lunch. (I usually drink at least 3 liters of water a day, most days closer to 4 – but it is something that goes largely undocumented in the blog).

My late afternoon snack was Stoneyfield yogurt, granola, flax and PB2. I ate this even though I was not really hungry for my snack. I did not want to waste the yogurt, and I knew if I did not have a snack I would be starving on my way home, and I had errands to run after work.

This snack was soo good. I was glad to have it because dinner was not ready until after 7:30 tonight.

Although it is undocumented today, I decided to cook up some cassoulet for dinner tonight! I really enjoyed the chopping of the onion, mushrooms, garlic, celery and carrots. Hopefully I will remember to take a photo of the cassoulet that I will probably be having for dinner tomorrow night! It was good though 🙂

After dinner and watching some Olympics, I had to get started in preparing for my early morning tomorrow. Packing lunch:

The veggies (cucs, tomato, red onion and spinach) and tomato & basil hummus will be going on my turkey sandwich tomorrow. Oats for breakfast yogurt for a snack. All packed and ready to go for tomorrow!

OK, I am signing off for tonight. See you tomorrow!