Lunch Date With The Ladies

4:00?? Really? Is somebody joking? 😯

You guys will have to forgive me for the sporadic posts. Unfortunately, things may be like this for a couple weeks, seeing as though I have lots to prepare for with going back to school, as well as our trip to Vegas! I hope that you all will stick with me and my crazy posts! 🙂

Workout

Me and my boo-tayy headed to the gym nice and early this morning. Before leaving the house, I snacked on a fave: half an Arnold Sandwich Thin with Blizzard Butter.

I started with 20 minutes on the elliptical, followed by a BodyPump class. I seriously LOVE this class. Really. The instructor switched up some of the tracks today, going back to some of my faves from Release 72 (I think?). My entire body felt so pumped (no pun intended…well, yes, actually it was) afterwards. My legs were like jell-o after the lunge track!

Breakfast

It was a little bit later (10:30am) by the time I got to eat breakfast, and since I knew I had lunch plans at 12:30, I wanted to keep things on the lighter side.

Fresh cantaloupe

And a vanilla flavored Chobani topped with some Bear Naked Fit granola and a few Quaker Oatmeal Squares.

 

This meal was absolutely perfect for my appetite; it satisfied me just long enough until it was time for my lunch date!

Lunch

Yup, that’s right. I had a hot lunch date at Salad Creations with three of my favorite ladies: Kathryn, Rachel, & Joelle. 😀

I already knew that the “Create Your Own” salad was definitely in the cards, but I was going back and forth between a “Jr.” or a “full” size. By getting the full size, however, you get to choose as many mix-ins that you want; so if you know me well enough, you know I went with the full.

Just to give you an idea of the actual size of this beast, here’s a little comparison shot. Yup, it’s massive.

Before I even sat down with this mammoth bowl, I made sure to grab a to-go container. I’ve tackled this beast before, and have shoveled the entire thing into my belly without even realizing it. So knowing that I was going to be chatting it up with the girls today, I made sure to pack up a little more than half of it before I even dug in. Definitely a good way to control portions the size of your head. 😉

This thing was STUFFED with goodies:

• Romaine
• Carrots
• Cukes
• Tomatoes
• Green Peppers
• Roasted Red Peppers
• Strawberries
• Dried Cranberries
• Red Onions
• Corn
• Peas
• Edamame
• A Hard-Boiled Egg (protein)
• Feta Cheese
• A few Croutons
• Reduced-fat Caribbean Mango dressing, on the side (I used about 1/2 of one container)

Lunch was fanTASTIC! Not only the food, but to get to have the time to chat with the girls. We did A LOT of Vegas talk! Let’s just say there is going to be one FUN Bachelorette party happening next week! 😯

Snack

By the time I got home from running some more errands (aka, story of my life this week) I was in need of a little something sweet. Solution? Raid the swag bag. 😉

This Mary’s Gone Crackers “N’Oatmeal” Raisin cookie was totally calling my name. I wasn’t quite sure what to expect of it, but it was ridiculously GOOD!! I could totally foresee some of these in my future. WOW!

  

I also broke out the Ayala’s herbal water bottle that came with my swag: The lemongrass flavor is definitely prominent in this beverage. I’m still trying to decide my final take on it. It’s ok, but not that great. I’d be curious to see what the other flavors taste like?

Tonight, our friends Joe & Kate are coming over for a double dinner date! 😀 Not exactly sure how this is going to work though, since the food supply in our house is a little low; we’re trying to clear the fridge of as much as we can before leaving next week.

Question for the Afternoon:

What are some of your favorite meals to make when trying to just use pantry items?

A Day at the Races…and a Celebrity Meeting!

Today could not have been a more perfect day to head up to the race track. The weather was absolutely beautiful! 😎

Our trip into the track got off to an interesting start. We had all packed a cooler with some food and beverages to snack on throughout the day, but it turns out there’s no glass allowed inside the gates. Seriously, why did we not remember this? It was not new news to us! So we had a couple options…walk it all back to the car, leave it outside the gates, or do our best to drink up what we had.

So at 11am, it was time to crack open a couple beers! Hey, it’s 5:00 somewhere, right? 😉

The girls each managed to get one down, but the boys chugged two in about 5 minutes. Our motto: Beer does not go to waste! I had packed two of my favorite blueberry beers to enjoy during the day, so since I drank one early, I was able to pour the other one into a water bottle. Oh yeah, I was definitely rockin’ the ghetto “beer bottle.”

 

Once we finished the early morning chugging beverages, we headed in to attempt to get our favorite spot…and wouldn’t you know, it was totally vacant! Yessss. 🙂

We settled in, and around 12:30 decided it was time to break into some lunch. Jay and I still had a bunch of leftover snacks from the party, so we packed ‘em up and brought them to share.

  

On our way up to the track earlier, we stopped into Salad Creations to grab a couple wraps for lunch. I opted for the Boca Veggie which was green bell peppers, carrots, red onions, mushrooms, cucumbers, artichoke hearts, corn, tomatoes, chickpeas, croutons, romaine lettuce, and balsamic vinaigrette (which I got on the side). Talk about a a lot of veggies mixed into one wrap. YUM!

 

My plate – 1/2 of my wrap, some pasta salad, and a meatball. I also snacked on some pretzels throughout the day, too.

Finally, it was post time, and the races began! I only did a little bit of betting, thanks to the hubby contributing a little money my way to play with. Honestly, betting gets me very flustered and nervous, so after betting on 3 races and losing, I threw in the towel. That’s totally fine with me though, since I really just love going to enjoy the atmosphere.

   

Watching the horses prepare for the races. They’re all so beautiful to watch.

For a couple of the races, we actually walked up to the track to watch from the rail, which is always fun and definitely a lot more exciting. Even though I wasn’t betting at that point, I was definitely feeling the adrenaline of the crowd!

   

On our way back from one of the races, I ran into my friend Sam, who told me she just had a “celebrity sighting” nearby of someone that definitely got my excited. I had my eyes totally peeled, and sure enough, about 3 minutes later, I had the opportunity to meet…

BOBBY FLAY!!!!!

 

Oh.My.God. I was practically jumping out of my skin with excitement, yet trying to “play it cool” by saying hi and asking if he wouldn’t mind taking a picture. I feel like it took me about 5 minutes to get out what I was actually trying to say…sheesh! But he was totally cool and very friendly. I almost wanted to ask him to fire up a grill for me, although I’m guessing it probably wasn’t in his plans for the day. Either way, it was definitely the highlight of my day!!!

Had I not met Mr. Flay about 10 minutes previously, I might have said that this was the highlight of my day…

 

I ordered myself a small cup of raspberry frozen yogurt & cookies and cream. It was fantastic. The price, not so much. But the ice cream, yes. 😉

Out of the nine races that they run for the day, we decided to call it quits after the eighth, since everyone was getting a little tired of losing. But win or lose, it was definitely a great day!

   

By the time we got home, I was ready to have some dinner, so I broke out the rest of my wrap and had that with some leftover carrots and celery.

The wrap got a little soggy from the cooler, but it was still tasty.

Now I’m saving room to enjoy a cupcake while watching The Bachelorette! Sarah’s coming over to watch it with me, so I’m sure it will be a fun way to end a great day!

Question for the Evening:

Have you ever met/encountered any celebrities?

A few years ago, I met Curtis Martin who used to be the running back for the Jets (and whom I absolutely LOVED) and Herm Edwards, who was the coach of the Jets at the time. I haven’t seen many, but celebrities I’ve seen up close but never “met” are Coolio (in an airport), Martha Stewart (at a taping of her show – front row!) and Chris Berman (the sportscaster, in an elevator).

Afternoon Eats & Treats

What a great afternoon!!  I got to spend my entire lunch outside, enjoying the beautiful weather, eating some yummy food, and finishing it off with a little fun shopping! 😉  Let’s start with lunch first…

Today’s lunch included a trip to Salad Creations, which you may remember I visited about a month ago for the first time.  I LOVE a place that lets you create your own salad with as many veggies as you want 🙂  Last time, I got the full size and totally STUFFED myself after I ate the whole thing… 😳  So today, I decided to go with the “Jr.” size, which was still pretty hefty in size.

I started with a spring mix base, and included tomatoes, cukes, peas, beets, grapes, carrots, & an egg for some protein.  I got a side of their Caribbean Mango dressing, and used about 1/2 of the container…it really didn’t need that much!

I polished this baby off no problem. 😉  It was super tasty, and I’m so glad I decided to add the grapes.  The little hint of sweetness every couple bites made this salad that much better.

After lunch, my mentor and I decided to head back over to the same cafe we did last time, Mocha Lisa’s, and we finished up the rest of our meeting with a sweet treat 😛

I got this chocolate chunk cookie, which was deliciously chocolaty, crunchy, and chewy all at the same time.  I knew ahead of time that I wanted to save 1/2 for the hubby, but when I saw the pretty presentation on the plate, I knew it would be trouble.  So, I asked for a “to-go” bag, promptly broke it in 1/2, and put it out of sight before I devoured the whole thing.  Things got a little “melty” on the way home 😉

To go along with my cookie half, I also ordered a Cinnamon Sticky Bun flavored iced coffee.  HOLY YUMM!  this flavor was out of this world…it must have been gone within 5 minutes 😀

Once we finished our meeting, I decided to make a quick trip into HomeGoods.  This store has some GREAT deals and such cute items!  Look what I found today…

My new “summery” plate was only $1.99, my new smoothie cup was only $2.49, and my new oatmeal bowl was only $2.99.  How great is that!! 😀

While I was waiting to check out at the register, I almost jumped up and down right in the middle of the line when I found THIS:

Have you guys ever seen these?!?!?  I’ve been keeping an eye out for one of these for months, but had no luck…until today! 😀  I always hate throwing my bag on some dirty floor in a restaurant, and these are the perfect solution.  It even came with a carrying pouch.  How neat is that?!? 😉

All you do is stick it on the end of the table, hook your purse to the end, and you’re good to go!

My whole purchase today only came to $15.00 – now that’s my kinda shopping! 😀

Tonight, Jay has a softball game in his men’s league, so it looks like I’ll probably be headin’ down there to cheer him on.  Until then, I’m going to try to catch up on my ENORMOUS stack of magazines and throw in a session of Pilates. 🙂

Did any of you guys happen to see the killer dress that Michelle Obama wore last night for the State Dinner?  How GORGEOUS is this dress, from designer Peter Soronen.

(photo source)

I totally love her sense of style!  She always looks so classic yet chic & polished at the same time.  I totally consider her a style icon of today! 🙂

Who do you consider to be a “style icon”??

Psychic??

I mentioned this morning that I was going to be trying a NEW place for lunch today, and boy am I excited about it!!  The surprise location is Salad Creations!  I’ve passed by it numerous times when shopping at the mall, but never made it in until today.  In addition to some featured salads, wraps, and paninis, my choice was the “Create Your Own Salad”.

You can pick from their “full creation” or a “jr. creation”, but with the full size, you get to pick as many of their 40+ “throw-in” choices that you want!  Look at all these veggies & toppings!  I was SOLD! 😀

For an extra amount, you can add a protein, such as turkey, roast beef, tuna, or a variety of chicken choices.  Normally, I would add chicken, but after everything else that I “threw-in” I figured I had plenty.

My “Salad Creation” was LOADED with goodies!

-Spring mix lettuce

-Carrots

-Chickpeas

-Cukes

-Dried Cranberries

-Feta Cheese (just a sprinkle!) 😉

-Green Bell Peppers

-1 Hard-Boiled Egg (I picked out some of the yolk…not my favorite)

-Red Onions

-Roasted Red Peppers

-Sliced Almonds

-Tomatoes

Now that’s what I call a SALAD!  I ordered my salad “chopped” which really combined the flavors of everything wonderfully.  I also ordered my dressing on the side, which was their Low Fat Caribbean Mango.  It was pretty good!  I only needed one of the containers though because everything mixed together tasted great without the extra “juice”. 😉  Part of the reason I had ordered the full size, was to try to save some of it either for dinner tonight or lunch tomorrow.  Ummmm, yeahh….that didn’t work out so well.  I ate almost the ENTIRE thing!  Just sitting, chatting, and eating, and before I knew it…DONE-ZO!

Needless to say, I’m sure I will DEFINITELY be visiting here again…they even have a Frequent Diner Card! WOOO HOOO! 😀

After chatting at lunch, we moseyed on over to a nearby cafe to grab a cup of coffee and get to work.  Right down the “sidewalk” was ANOTHER new place I’ve never been, MochaLisa’s Caffe.  It was super cute inside…I wish I had gotten more pictures!  But if you check out their link, there’s some good shots.  You can’t really read the menu here, but trust me, they have quite an extensive one!

They also had a whole separate menu for all of these yummy sounding teas, but I was feeling a little chilly and needed something to warm me up.

I couldn’t decide on what flavor to get (hellloooo indecisiveness!), so the kind woman working recommended a combination of two flavors that is apparently very popular amongst the staff there.  So I like to call my cup-o-joe “Hazel-Doodle”! 🙂  It was a combination of hazelnut and Snickerdoodle flavored coffees.  The verdict?  DEEELISHH! 😀

I was hoping it would last me a little longer through our meeting, but it was so good, I downed it in a matter of minutes.  Oops! :”>  Our meeting went very well, and we got A LOT accomplished, so we both left feeling quite good about things!

After our meeting, it was time for the gym.  I was going to do a BodyPump class, but got their earlier than normal and didn’t feel like waiting around.  So instead, I did my 3 mile interval run on the treadmill (check out the Workout Log for details), followed by an easy 25 minutes of intervals on the elliptical (I needed to catch up on some mags!) 😉  After the cardio, I wanted to add in some strength training to make up for the missed BodyPump class, so I did about 25 minutes of some upper body strengthening, and some glutes.

“Geez Courtney, you must have been tired!  You went home after all that, right?”……

Oh no, I did not!  I still had to make it to softball practice…yikes!  Luckily, my gigantic lunch salad held me over quite well, but I wanted something quick before practice, so I snacked on this sweet thang on the car ride there.

Practice lasted for about an hour and a half, and luckily it was not 40 degrees out like it was on Sunday, so things went MUCH better tonight.  When I got home for dinner, I was hungry, but feeling SUPER lazy.  I was on my own, since the hubby is out of town again today for work ( 😦 ) and really wasn’t in the mood to make anything difficult.  So I scrounged through the kitchen and ended up with this plate.

Ham & provolone cheese with lettuce, pickles (LOVE pickles!), and honey mustard on a La Tortilla Factory wrap.

On the side, some carrot sticks with hummus and Kashi’s…

These babies are so addicting. I may have had a few more right out of the box while getting things ready… 😉

It wasn’t the most exciting dinner, but it left me satisfied.  After finishing, I still needed to satisfy the Sweet Tooth, so I dug into this bad boy that we got on Easter from Jay’s parents.

There’s nothin’ like chocolate and gooey caramel, right?? 😛

So today at lunch, my mentor and I ended up having a really long and elaborate discussion on psychics.  She has been to one, along with many of my other colleagues, and she said it was out-of-this-world amazing.  She said that the woman she went to told her things that nobody else would have known, and gave her clues into a handful of things that were going to happen later on in life (some of which already have!).  So I got to thinking, maybe I want to go visit the psychic!  It’s always fascinated me, but at the same time, makes me a little nervous, ya know?

So I’m looking for some input tonight, and need you guys to help me out!

Have you ever been to a psychic?   Would you go?  Or would you rather keep the “unknown” where it is?