sometimes, the simplest things are the most beautiful (and delicious)

Hi lovelies!

the past couple of days have been amazing for me (well, besides the forensic anthropology quiz I totally bombed today)! Speaking of anthro, today we had the option of watching how an autopsy is performed. Needless to say, I didn’t stick around to watch a mans skin being literally ripped from his bones. Yeah.

Anywho, my days have been filled with wonderful breakfasts:

Classic oats with the good stuff

Eaten on a Tweety plate, of course

A new yogurt for me:

Plain Lucerine.. when I bought it I thought it was vanilla. Shoulda seen my face when I tasted it, ha

Throwing away most of the nasty yogurt and instead eating something trustworthy:

PB & J with an apple. No disappointment here.

Absolute FAVOURITE. I highly suggest this bar ya'll!

times 2. Eaten with a huge unpictured butter tart. Yuum.

Veggies with balsamic & olive oil

Filling lunches and dinners:

Flatbread + sauce + onion + pepper + cheese, yum!

Close up.. loaded!

Fish stew brought over by my dad. Doesn't look great, but it tastes fabulous.

Another batch of mushroom + yellow pepper + paprika risotto. Mmmm, carbs

Black bean sauce beef atop white rice (boyfriends gourmet grilled cheese up front). Neither dishes hit the spot unfortunately.

When dinner fails, dessert always helps:

Back when I was in high school, I would eat these 24/7! (my pant size never grew, either.. weird)

What do you guys (well, gals would be more precise) have planned for the weekend? I’m going down town for a friend’s birthday party, and sunday I have work at 5am. Wonderful.

xoxoxo!

Vera

Sorry for my wacky posting times lately – I’ve had quite a bit to do.

Yesterday started bright and early – 4:45Am. Fun. Does anyone actually like early morning shifts at work?

I’ve never been much of a morning person, so these shifts are a real pain. For breakfast, I had oats (yet again), but this time with EXTRA peanut butter… gosh knows I needed it:

Bad lighting, I know.. but it was still dark out so.. no natural light!

I wish I could have enjoyed my oats more, but I had to get to work. My shift ended at 10Am then I had a nice chunk of cheese, and went to the gym for a short while.

I did 25 minutes on the elliptical and 15 minutes of weights and stretching. The moment I got home I knew it was going to be a binge day. Why? Well, with my eating lately (which I think has been pretty healthy compared to my normal stuff), I have learned to be able to tell when my body is hungry, full, or just plain anxious. Because of my lack of sleep, I felt off all day so that’s what triggered it.

risotto and SUPER creamy spinach. Not healthy by any means

Salmon on crackers with mayo - YUM!

Lots, and lots of maple butter ice cream with various toppings

No seriously. I ate over 25oz. of ice cream and a couple cups of toppings ya'll!

The binge from 1:30 – 3:30 included all that (obviously not all the ice cream was pictured), then my hunny and I made pork potstickers with soy sauce. Yum yum yum.

We finished off the ice cream, relaxed for a bit, and then went out later in the evening to get this:

Mondo chicken burrito w/ sour cream& cheese + rice & refried beans. Look up that horrible nutrition info!

I also had a couple bites of his pizza, but I was mainly focused on my oat fudge bar from Starbucks. Almost 500 cals, but sooo worth it.

The weird thing was.. this wasn’t a normal binge for me. Sure, I easily ate over 4000 calories, but this time, something felt weird. The main part of my binge (1:30 – 3:30 when the pictures were taken) I ate a lot, but yet I didn’t feel TOO full. Usually when I binge, I eat to the point of PAIN. Not this time though.

I don’t understand it, considering I know I ate more than my tummy needed. I managed to stop myself before the pain without even thinking about it.

After the burrito, though, I definately felt some pain, haha. Surprisingly, the oat fudge bar helped? Miracle cure for tummy aches? I think so!

So that, my dear friends, was my day. Nothing too interesting, and it’s still confusing the heck outta me.

Maybe I’m slowly starting to get over my binging?

As for the title of this post, all morning I’ve been trying to register for a couple summer classes, but since we paid my deposit late, I wasn’t able to. So, I called my school and THANKFULLY they helped me out. apparently I owed a cent from last term? Lol.

The best part of it all is that I was able to get the LAST spot in one of the classes I wanted, woo!

QUESTION: What are you looking forward to this week? Personally.. nothing. At least not when it comes to school.  have a lot to do thanks to my procrastination all weekend, ha.

xoxo!

Vera

I hope all of you are having a great weekend! Mines been great – no studying, but at least I’ve been working out. There’s a gym near where I live which has horribly high prices, but they offer a one week free pass for first timers so of course, I had to get in on that. Friday, I did a one hour beginners class, followed by 25 minutes on the elliptical, and 20 minutes of weights. Talk about a lot! (for me) 

Pre-workout, I had a little mini brekkie: 

A piece of Ezekiel toast with pb and apricot j

I ended up going for a two hour walk around town with my boyfriend afterwards, so I didn’t get to have lunch till around 2:30. 

We ended up stopping at the mall where I had a salmon roll with wasabi and soy sauce, and a few bites of his McChicken. I don’t think I’ll ever give up McD’s, even though I know how horrible it is.  

For dinner though, i had left over fries, chicken, risotto,  and egg whites inspired by this lovely lady : 

I tried to pick out as many mushrooms as I could. Yuum.

Followed by desert: 

Tart but sweet!

I had work from 6pm – 11pm, and that lack of snackage throughout the day lead me to have a cinnamon bun, and a VERY generous piece of cake. Do I regret it? Nope 800 calories well spent thank you. 

Today, however, I really felt that aches from yesterday. I went back to the gym with my hunny a little after noon, but beforehand I had another mini brekkie: 

Flax Plus waffle with pb & j

I did only 15 minutes on the elliptical, followed by 20 minutes of weights and 5 of stretching. My body just can’t talk all of this quite yet and I’m not going to force myself. 

We went to subway but I wasn’t hungry yet (it had only been about an hour after my waffle), so I only had a couple of bites of his meatball marinara (he didn’t have breakfast). Afterwards, we went to Dairy Queen where I got a DQ sandwich and my hunny got a small dipped cone. It was jussstt enough to satisfy my sweet tooth! 

Now dinner is in the making, but I don’t have enough time to post it because I need to get ready and, as you may have guessed, go watch the Bounty Hunter This movie got horrible reviews, but I love Jen Anniston & Gerrard Butler so tough!  

QUESTION: Did you really enjoy any movies that got horrible ratings? Personally… I loved Twilight. Or maybe I just love Taylor Lautner, I don’t know 

Wishing you all a wonderful rest of your weekend, 

xox Vera

No pb this time, I was saving that for my oats!

I don't think you can ever have too much pb!

I repeat.. NEVER too much!

I’m going to have to change up my breakfast tomorrow because I’ll be taking a beginners fitness class! Yay The fact that it’s at 10:30am doesn’t sound appealing to me. I’m much more of a night owl than a morning person.. that’s probably why 6am shifts make me feel like sh*t all day!

I went to my policing class and had clammy hands up until my presentation. I really don’t like public speaking! I act like I have confidence though so, eventhough I’m freaking out on the inside, I don’t look like a complete nervous wreck on the outside, ha.

I got home at 4:30 and was STARVING! I don’t know how some of you last for 4 hours with out food… it just doesn’t work out well for me.

By 5:30, I had eaten a piece of fried chicken, numerous french fries (both home made), and some salad with apple cider vinegar dressing. Because i was so hungry after I ate, I felt horrible after my meal, eventhough I’m sure (for once) i didn’t overeat. I was hoping it would pass by 6pm =(

At 6, with a still hurting tummy, I met up with a friend and we went for a 2.5 hour walk. It may not be much for some of you, but personally, my feet were KILLING me afterwards! I love that I got out of the house for a couple of hours though, and didn’t stop at a fast food joint (we both forgot out wallets at home, so we couldn’t even if we wanted to haha)

I showered when I got home (because I wont have time tomorrow morning), and ate 3 of these:

mmm. although I have to admit I haven't really been into kiwis lately..

I don’t know what I was thinking when I assumed that would keep me from being hungry.. so, I went back to the kitchen and poured myself a nice big bowl of cereal:

kashi Go Lean + Kamut puffs + Almond Milk + Keyboard in the background!

I think all that fresh air is starting to catch up to me – I’m getting a little sleepy!

QUESTIONS: What’s a good pre-workout meal? Also, how are you with public speaking?

xox!

Vera

I was the only one who wore green (of the people I was with)!

Hi Dolls!

I was hoping to get a post in last night after I got home from being with friends, but my internet was down. So, here I am Yesterday was an amazingly sunny day! Perfect for running. unfortunately, I didn’t run because I had to rush to get ready and go out right after class.

So, as I promised yesterday, today I’ll be showing you what I put into my morning oats.

You’ll need:

.

1/3 cup oat bran

2-3 tbsp rolled oats

1 tsp amazing meal

~0.5 tsp protein powder : I use as much as a tbsp sometimes, but the one I have been using lately is quite sweet so I find I don’t need very much to get it to my liking

1 tbsp raisins

Stevia Sweet to taste (if I’m not using a sweetened protein powder)
1 small or medium/ half a large banana

Enough almond milk to cover your oats in the pot

dash cinnamon

What my oats look like right before they boil

Doesn’t that picture look delicious? Ha, not so much…

Personally, I put everything in the bowl (except the banana – but feel free to mash up half a banana and put it in! I also add pumpkin puree when I have it), bring it to a boil, then turn down the heat to a bit under Medium. I stir for a few minutes (until I get my desired consistency), and then transfer it onto a plate and spread it out evenly.

Next I cut up the banana and put it around the finished oats, and top it with dollops of pb (I use both DCD and regular PB). In the end it looks like this:

yum yum yum

What I do after I take the pic is lightly use the back of my spoon to spread the pb dollops all over my oats

This is a different plate of oats.. i forgot to take two pictures on the same day - sorry!

and that’s it ya’ll! Personally I think it’s super simple, and doesn’t take as long as I used to think oats would.

Now I’m off to make myself a nice bowl of these babies!

I wish you all a wonderful day!

QUESTION: Did anyone actually go out and celebrate st. patties? Personally, this was my first year.. it was never a big thing in my circle of friends!

Xoxxo Vera

To be honest I feel like something is missing in my day if I don’t blog.. but the truth is, there’s only a month and a bit left of school so I can’t be distracted, yenno?  

First off, I’d like to start with the binges. Sunday was Pi Day (get it? March 14th – 3.14? I’m assuming ya’ll had math in high school ), so of course my boy and I had to celebrate! Be bought a pecan pie, kfc, Cadbury creme eggs, a skorr blizzard, a cookie dough blizzard with extra cookie dough, and other things I’m probably forgetting. The good news? I didn’t have the creme eggs. The bad news? I ate both of the blizzards over two days Oh well, you win some ya lose some. Yesterday (monday) Was just plain tiring. It didn’t help that I got only 3 hours of sleep the day before either! I stopped at a pizza place and picked up a pepperoni and cheese pizza, and a veggie on whole wheat crust cumulatively, I had 3 slices of the meat, and 3 of the veggie. Alrighty enough of that crap. Onto todays eats   

I woke up after almost 9 beautiful hours of sleep, got up, visited the loo, and made my favourite breakfast:  

Oats, I love you!

I’ll be posting a rough recipe within the next 24 hours, so look out for that! After this bad boy I finished an essay I had to do for school, cleaned up my room, showered + put my face on, then made myself some lunch:  

ya take some flatbread...

Add a couple scrambled eggs and cheese, and there ya go!

 The only thing that made my wonderful day kinda sucky was the horrible weather. Maaan I dislike rain! While I was on the bus I made a little agreement with myself: If for some reason, it stops raining by the time I get home, I’m going out to jog a mile. Well, you could only imagine the expression on my face when I got off the bus and it wasn’t raining. As I walked towards my house I saw two groups of runners. “Okay,” I thought, “this has to be a sign. I’m going out for a run.”  

HERE my friends you’ll find out just how out of shape I am. I put on my pedometer and headed out. At .1 of a mile I stopped because I was COMPLETLY out of breath! How embarrassing is that?! Yeah. The jog made me realize how much I HATE running! The thing is though, that needs to change. For my age, I shouldn’t only be able to run 0.1 of a fricken mile, ahaha! I’m going to take it one day at a time though. Personally I’m just proud of myself for getting myself off the bed and out. For many of you, one mile is nothing. But you have to understand that for someone who doesn’t exercise, it’s quite a first step.  

After 1.21miles of jogging and walking, I went home and had a shower, then ate this:  

Papaya! This times 2.

Believe it or not, it was my first time eating this tropical fruit! My rating? It’s pretty alright. i can see myself eating it again, but it doesn’t replace cherries or strawberries and such.  

Now I’m sitting here, enjoying a bowl of Kashi Go Lean mixed with Kamut Puffs, overtop almond milk.  

I wish you all an amazing week, and I’ll talk to you all tomorrow!  

QUESTION: 1) Whats a fruit/veggie you’ve never tried? 2) When you don’t get enough sleep, do you find yourself really, really thirsty during the day?  

xox Vera

First and foremost, REMEMBER TO PUT YOUR CLOCKS ONE HOUR FORWARD @ 2AM!

Sp, people like me who have to be at work at 6am will really need to be there at 5am. How great.

A couple of days ago I asked you all what you thought about mixing oat bran and oatmeal for my brekkie…

1/4c oatbran, 1/4 oatmeal, amazing meal, stevia sweet, cinnamon, raisins, 1+ cups almond milk, and a banana

I LOVED it!  It was smooth & creamy and yet chewy from the oatmeal.

I’m definitely going to be doing this again!

After breakfast I got ready and went to the mall with my hunny, where I got some cake:

yum.

annnnnnnd a burrito:

because clearly a giant piece of cake isn't enough for me.

Both were delicious, but faarrrrr too much.

I rushed home to change and headed off to work for my 4-8pm shift. Thankfully I was so full of cake and burrito that I didn’t feel hungry what so ever at work.  Yay!

Work was the usual.. I work at a grocery store and today was spent stocking shelves. It’s a bit of an arm workout so I guess I burned off some of that lunch of mine, eh?

My boy and I were texting while I was walking home, and we agreed that we would start going to the gym once or twice a week again. Personally, I HATE the gym. I hate being stuck in a smelly room doing repetitive things… I’d much rather go on a hike or do something interactive, yenno? But a girls gotta do what a girls gotta do..

When I got home I had some spaghetti, with extra cheese

Veggie spaghetti (unusual for me!)

After this I had 4 mandarins, and a raw food bar. Tomorrow I’m going to the store to buy a whole box, so I’ll talk more about the bars tomorrow!

Okay, back to the gym topic. My period has been coming later and later the past few months.. I’m assuming this is because of my lack of excercise? I don’t know.

QUESTION: Does the amount you eat/workout/sleep affect your time of the month ladies?

I had a blood test a few months ago and everything was normal so I don’t think there’s anything else wrong with me haha :S I guess I just want to know if I’m the only one this happens to.

Wishing you all a great daylight savings,

xox Vera

I just wanted to write a little bit about something I realized a couple of days ago.

The day before I had my usual oats for brekkie, and some strawberries. That day, though, I decided to mainly eat fruit for the first few hours I was up (with a few little tidbits of other food here and there) and I realized I was feeling.. I don’t know how to put it.. but kinda antsy. By the time I got to school I was craving food left, right, and center.

Now, I know I binge quite a bit, but I also knew I had eaten really well the day before, had gotten enough calories, and should have been fine today.. nope. So of course, I ended up eating chocolate croissants, scones, brownies, pecan bars, and a burger. It wasn’t all in vain, though. I realized that day what the problem had been: fruit.

Don’t get me wrong, I love fruit, but it must have made my blood sugar go WAY up, which clearly really affected my body.

From now on I’m only going to be eating sugar later in the day, or along with A LOT of protein & fiber & carbs.

My question for ya’ll is, How does your body handle fruit on an empty stomach? Is there another food that just completly sets you off balance?

xoxo!

Vera

So I was laying in bed last night, unable to sleep because there was one thing on my mind: Oats.

So, I have a question for ya’ll:

Considering I don’t have that much oat bran left, would it work out if i mixed half oat bran and half oatmeal, considering the ones I have take the same amount of time to cook?

I’d just try it out but personally, I don’t like wasting oats, ha.

Let me know!

xox Vera

I hope all your days were fantastic! Mine was spent with my mom (and at school, unfortunately, ha!)

My marvellous morning started up with some delicious, pumpkin-y, oat bran:

l.o.v.e. - what I look forward to each and every morning!

In the mix: oat bran, amazing meal, stevia sweet, pure pumpkin, cinnamon, almond milk, and these two bad boys:

2 types of pb? yes please!

When I bought the organic PB I didn’t check the label, so it wasn’t until I got home that I realized it was salt free… yuck. It just doesn’t taste like the over-processed Jif pb that I love!

My delicious brekkie was soon followed by these ladies:

sBerries!

I don’t know why, but I generally tend to eat fruits/veggies that aren’t in season.. is that weird?

Anywho, an hour later I went to school for my policing class. We learned about crime prevention programs and a while lot of other things I don’t want to bore you gals/gents with!

I had a snack during class:

Pita! It's a Serbian thang.

I arrived at home to an amazing dinner with my dear momma:

deep fried chicken & taters, jumbo shrimp, and some salad

gah, I love my mommy… as childish as that makes me sound, LOL. I don’t need international womens day to appreciate her.

Some more pics:

yum yum.

Since that wasn’t enough for us, I quickly went to the store and picked up my mom a piece of Tuxedo cake (have ya’ll ever tried it? YUM!), and myself a far too decadant brownie:

I had to put it in the freezer for a bit 'cause the lucious top was melting!

Totally worth the 400+ calories. Yep.

The rest of my day was spent… ugh.. doing nothing in particular. Well, except for eating some more and watching some tv. and I guess reading some non-school books.

I had another piece of chicken later on, and finished off the left over fries. I ate a good 3 potatoes! Blah. I’m glad I’m not binging as much anymore? Oh well.

QUESTION: Did you celebrate womens day?

xoxo!

Vera