A Busy Mother's Day

Mother's day started with breakfast at the Taghkanic Diner with my parent's and my brother and sister-in-law. We used to go to the diner for breakfast after church all the time when I was in high school but since my church has moved around since we really haven't gone there in a while. I forgot my camera so I don't have any pictures, it was too early for me to function quite yet :) I had an order of the sweet potato pancakes (it came with 3) and a fruit bowl on the side with a cup of coffee.

After breakfast we had a little break before we headed up to my great-grandmother's for lunch. Lots and lots of family were there and it was nice to see everyone. They all wanted to know what I was going to do for the summer so I pretty much said the same story over and over lol. Over the early afternoon I had two glasses of red wine - a Cabernet - and a sampling plate of some of the different dishes. There was a ton of food. Meatballs, Pepperoni, Rolls, Turkey, Ham, Potato Salad, Macaroni Salad, Baked Ziti, Baked Beans...I can't remember much else. But I realized that no one made any vegetables or salad. What a sad sad day for me. There were also cookies and brownie sundaes for dessert.

I also snapped a wonderful photo of my great-grandmother and my cousin's baby - the oldest (95 yrs) and youngest (6 months) of the family.

Towards the end of the afternoon we headed over to my other grandparent's house to visit with them for a little while. I was talking with my grandma about family and travel and found out something very interesting. My family on my paternal grandmother's side came to Canada from France in 1650 and it was my grandmother's parents who first came to NY from Canada. My grandma is into genealogy which is really cool.

For dinner I had vanilla Chobani with Muesli and strawberries (no pic) and then later on I snacked on a smashed avocado with baby carrots and celery. I finished up the avocado with a couple of baked tortilla chips too.

This morning I had an appointment to get my other cat Snickers checked out. She's been pulling out the hair at the base of her tail and I could tell she lost some weight. So we pulled some blood and I will have the results in a few days.  She did lose 1.2 lbs since last May which is pretty significant for a cat but she has no lumps, bumps, or lesions so that is good. Plus she has a ridiculous appetite so I'm just hoping it's a thyroid issue. Breakfast on the way to the vet was a Special K Protein Shake.

When I got home I dropped the cat off and immediately headed back out to bring my car to the autoshop. My service engine light has been going on and off for a month plus my inspection is due so it basically needs a full workup. I'm car-less right now and it's sad :( I hope it's ready by tomorrow. Luckily my mom was free to bring me back home.

Lunch was my cup of coffee (FINALLY!) with nonfat milk and Truvia, a flax-apple muffin, and a large salad w/ spinach, shredded red cabbage, shredded carrots, cucumber, and a packet of salmon. I didn't quite finish the salad but close enough.

I tried cleaning the house some more for my mom this afternoon but I didn't get much done besides dusting. The vacuum was just way too loud for me LOL. I had a pre-dinner glass of nonfat milk with a squirt of hershey's syrup. I like the dark chocolate variety but we didn't have that right now so it was just the original.

Me, being the good daughter that I am, peeled the potatoes for my mom to help out before she got home. I ended up making the mashed potatoes while she cooked the steak out on the grill. I have absolutely no idea how to use a grill. Add that to my list of things I need to learn. The potatoes turned out good (we always use skim milk and I added some chives and garlic powder for flavor).

My room REALLY needs to be cleaned too. But I have until I go back to Boston on Thursday to do that hehe. Not really sure what I'm doing with the rest of my night. Maybe go for a walk but the wind has been ridiculous. I'm not a fan. Also not a fan of the cold weather right now. Record low for tomorrow morning will be 29 degrees. Ugh. I hope my garden is okay out at my boyfriend's house. I also have to make sure he's been watering it for me.....

Photographics Solution

Yesterday afternoon was so beautiful I decided to take full advantage. Happy Clown (our local ice cream shop) opened up for the season and I wanted to get something while I was home for the week. So I leashed up Lena and took her for a walk. Unfortunately I made the horrible decision of wearing my flip flops for the roughly 5 mile round trip and ended up with blisters on the bottoms of my feet. I purchased a vanilla kiddie cone for Lena and I, though I must admit I did eat most of it...and even though I brought my camera, I couldn't really snap a picture with a leash in one hand and the cone in the other. I guess I should have gotten a dish. Here is a pic of Happy Clown though.

After I got home I decided to make dinner since my mom was working the afternoon shift. I made chicken stir fry with brown rice.

• chicken breast cut into cubes
• carrots
• red bell pepper
• broccoli
• water chestnuts
• pineapple
• rice vinegar
• low sodium soy sauce

I didn't think my mom had any ginger so I didn't add any. I found out later that she really did but oh well it still tasted fine to me. You can't see it in the picture but there is some brown rice under there.

This morning my brother asked me to help him out with his Mother's day photoshoots. He's an amazing photographer. If you don't believe me just check out his website www.photographicssolution.com. Before I left breakfast was a repeat of yesterday. Coffee, Vanilla Chobani, Muesli, and Strawberries. Lunch was really just a snack I grabbed at the convenience store down the street from the studio. I drank some nonfat milk and had a GoLean Crunch bar to hold me over til I would have a real lunch later in the afternoon.

I ended up leaving the studio early to go get a Mother's day card and present for my mom. I know I'm so last minute! When I got home I just had leftover stir fry and brown rice, followed by green tea and an orange and almond dark chocolate bar. Yum Yum!

While having my delicious late afternoon treat, I checked through the mail and look who's on the cover of Prevention: "Dr. Lisa Cuddy"!!! I love House, it's one of my fav shows, though I really wish Kal Penn never left. He's so funny!

My parent's went out to a 50th birthday party tonight so I was just going to relax and hang out by myself for the night. I ended up scrubbing and cleaning out the refrigerator though because it SERIOUSLY needed it. Just a little extra Mother's day present for my super awesome mama. It took me like 3 hours and I only did the refrigerator side. I was so exhausted and starving I never even made it to the freezer side but I don't think that side is too bad. I was feeling pretty crumby so I downed a glass of grape juice to up my blood sugar quick. Then I ate a hard boiled egg to hold me over until I could decide on what I really wanted to eat.

After all that cleaning of the fridge I really wasn't in the mood to prepare anything and I already had the leftover stir fry earlier so I headed to the basement to see what frozen meals we had. It was either enchiladas or stir frys haha. I ended up choosing the beef and broccoli lean cuisine because it had the lowest sodium of all my choices. I still paired it with a large glass of water and a banana for dessert.

My parent's are still out partying the night away. How sad for me haha. I hate being home alone at night though, no matter where I am living at the moment. (I had a complete breakdown in my Worcester apartment 2 years ago when my boyfriend went back to Boston and I was left alone. I thought someone was going to break in and attack me for sure. I think I have some issues lol) So now I am home alone but this time at my parent's house in the middle of the country. No one is even close to coming here yet I still jump at every little sound. It doesn't help that there are like tornado gust winds outside. I'm such a pansy sometimes really.

I guess I'll just head to bed, after I get done watching Betty White on SNL that is! Goodnight!

Cinco de Mayo y Mas

Well I decided to wait a little while to post because I didn't want to have more short, boring ones. However, I think I waited too long this time....Here goes.

Tuesday 

I tried studying all afternoon and night but I kept getting distracted and just didn't really feel like doing it. I wanted it to be over already. I made an omelot in the afternoon. Spinach, garlic, and reduced fat cheese.

I also got REALLY distracted when my boyfriend wanted me to go to downtown crossing to see Gumball 3000. It's some sort of race with really expensive cars that is usually over in Europe but this time they started over there and then flew the cars over here. We waited around for about 2 hours and the cars never showed up. We found out later on that they landed in Maine for some reason and were driving down to Boston so instead of being there at 6 when it was scheduled they arrived at like 10. We at at UFood and I got the Turkey Burger with Unfries. Then it was back to studying.....

Wednesday (Cinco de Mayo!)

I had my MNT/Pathophysiology final at 9AM. I ate a slice of whole wheat bread with peanut butter to hold me over during the exam. Surprisingly I think it went okay. I was worried because I was having a hard time concentrating on studying. When I got up I made real breakfast for lunch. I had gotten this free sample at the MDA conference last month so I finally made it. I used nonfat milk instead of water and then added some raw almonds and craisins at the end. It was quite creamy and I enjoyed it a lot.

I was going to head home right away but I decided to cuddle up and watch a movie with my boyfriend, have a little QT before we were apart for a week. Then I had a 3 hour drive ahead of me! Luckily we were having a Cinco de Mayo party at my Sis-in-law's so I had something to look forward to. I made the guac and brought baked tortilla chips. We also had taco pie, regular tacos, and margaritas!

It was a great night hanging out with my brothers and my sisters-in-law and my nephew. He is the cutest little boy. Quotes of the night: "Are you ready for this!" and "Welcome to Georgia!"

Thursday

Look how cute my puppy is! My baby Lena LOVES her tennis ball. And yes she is allowed on the furniture. She is very spoiled hehe.

 I slept in A LOT yesterday. Woke up around lunchtime so I finished up the guac with some baked tortilla chips. Really yesterday was a whole lot of nothing for me. I didn't have anything that needed to be accomplished so I just didn't do anything for once. It was nice. Well I did do a bunch of laundry. It was so windy I almost lost one of my good dresses off the clothesline! Dinner was chicken enchiladas with whole wheat wraps and black beans and a little cheese (I convinced my mom she didn't need to put on more, which she was going to do! She gets so mad at my food inputs sometimes haha), topped with some lite sour cream and on the side was some steamed broccoli.

 My mom also cut out a recipe for whole wheat-flax apple muffins. It was on the back of a box of flaxseed she bought.

• 3/4 cup whole wheat flour
• 3/4 cup oat bran flour
• 1/4 cup ground flaxseed
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup nonfat milk
• 2 tbsp canola oil
• 1 1/2 cup chopped apples
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Baked at 400 degrees for 15 minutes. They came out a little dry so I think next time I will add a little more milk. I also sprinkled some rolled oats on the top before baking to make them look more fancy.


 

 For my nighttime snack I ended up having a muffin and a banana with some Teddie Unsalted Smooth Peanut Butter on the side and a glass of milk.

 I used last night to catch up on a bunch of shows I was behind on. Fringe, House, ANTM.....

Friday (Today)

I was conveniently woken up by my nephew at 8 this morning. My brother dropped him off for my mom to babysit for a couple hours. "Aunt Chrissy, Are you up?"....."I am now" hahaha. I downed 2 cups of coffee with nonfat milk and Truvia. For breakfast I had 1/2 cup vanilla Chobani with 1/4 cup Bob's Red Mill Muesli and a side of 3 large strawberries diced up.

 Then it was off to my hair appt! For summer, I got some highlights ;) Not that great of a picture though. I HATE taking pictures of myself in a mirror like that. I'm not a big fan of having my picture taken at all really so I don't have many LOL

 When I got home I made a salad with what I could find in the veggie drawer. The spinach smelled awful so I ended up using iceberg lettuce as my base. I don't ever use iceberg if I don't have to because it has the least nutritional bang. I threw on some carrots, red bell pepper, and celery and then a hefty scoop of guac my mom made last night. The avocado wasn't ready though so it wasn't creamy and smooth but more choppy. I also had an apple muffin with Teddie PB.

 Spending the afternoon with my pup pup! Sorry for such a long post!

Back from my disappearance

Well the weekend was great! Took the train to NYC with my mom, aunts, cousin, and sis-in-law. We went to Madame Tussauds and saw Mama Mia. It was a very leisurely day and very enjoyable. The only thing I wanted to do but didn't get the chance was to go to Max Brenner's. I will just have to have some chocolatey-goodness on my next trip to NYC. Here's a quick day in review with some pictures! Breakfast at an early 5:30AM! Vanilla Chobani with some blueberries and a cup of coffee with nonfat milk and Truvia. Later in the morning, while on the train, I had another cup of coffee and a banana.

Wax Museum! Here's a couple pictures from it. It was actually kind of scary at first but I got used to it haha.

We stopped at Chipotle for lunch. I have wanted to go for a long time since there are a bunch in Boston but I never have. Verdict: I LOVED IT! I got the vegetarian burrito bowl. yum yum. After lunch we headed over to Saint Patrick's Cathedral and then went to Mamma Mia. It was so much fun but I kept thinking of the movie in my head while watching it LOL.

We were going to go to Max Brenner's for dinner but it was too long of a walk to get there in time to catch our train home. We ended up going to a place right next to Penn Station called The Flying Puck. The food was really good. I got the grilled shrimp and avocado salad and we split a side of french fries.

I don't have much to say about Sunday. I didn't take any food pics. I went to church and traveled back to Boston because my last class for the semester was Monday morning and I also had an interview. I think it went okay but I will find out sometime next week if I got the job. I also ended up coming back to Boston right after a water main break so that was interesting. It's been cleared as of this morning though so that is good.

All I have left is to continue studying for my Medical Nutrition Therapy/Pathophysiology final tomorrow morning. I got a grade for one of my classes already. A- in Clinical Nutrition Practice. Not too bad I guess.

Breakfast this morning was a kashi granola bar and a granny smith apple. No pictures though! Lunch was a bowl of oats even though it's hot out. I've had a sore throat the past couple of days so I wanted something mushy. I also had a cup of coffee with Truvia and nonfat milk.

• 1/4 cup Quaker oats
• 1/4 cup Bob's Red Mill 7 grain cereal
• 3/4 cup nonfat milk
• cinnamon
• unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 tbsp flaxseed
• 1/2 cup frozen mixed berries