Welcome to Atlanta...

...Where the playas play! How crazy is it that Anna and I just realized yesterday that we are both in Atlanta this weekend!! I am currently in da ATL visiting two of my good friends from high school that are now at school here. I drove the 5.5 hour trip to get here, and it really wasn't bad at all! My car handles like a champ on the windy mountain roads coming down, but the traffic was pretty bad at some points. Unfortunately, Anna and I can't meet up because of her strict J-rope schedule. Would have been neat!

It was a sweet reunion yesterday when I met up with Christen, the friend I'm staying with- I missed her so much!
(I'm trying to post a pic of her and I, but I can't get it work! I will have to get some up later...) 

She goes to an all-girls school and everybody here is really, really nice. We went out last night and I got to meet all her friends and lots of new people, too! We didn't get back until pretty dang late (2:30am) but that's what weekends are for, right? Not worrying about everything you have to do and just having fun! I have a weird habit of waking up early (maybe not mentally waking up, but not sleeping, at least) on the weekends, so I got up at about 9 this morning. Why does this not happen on school days instead?? I think it also helps that there is sun here, something I haven't seen in fo'eva!

One innerestin' thing we did was go to her on-campus cafeteria (called "Molly's", I think). I haven't been to a cafeteria in a long time only because I buy my own food and there usually aren't a lot of gluten-free options for celiac folks like me. I settled on a lettuce wrap sort of thing (the woman who made it for me was pretty baffled by my request). I had two pieces of lettuce with loads of veggies on it, lots of hummus and some cheeeeez! It was pretty good! Again, sorry no pic. Anywaizzzz, we are off to brunch now and I get to see my other friend, Evan, later tonight- I'm siked!! I hope everybody is having a great weekend so far and I will post some fun pics soon! -Claire

Chapel Hill and Co.

Welcome to the weekend, friends! I've already had a great start! I'm gonna recap yesterday super snappy so I can hit the hay ASAP because I have to leave with some of my jump rope team members for Atlanta, GA at 4 am (!!!) for a quick overnight trip to teach a workshop...yikes. Let's hit it!

Guess what yesterday morning's breakfast was? ....if you guessed oatmeal, you've won a high five! (even though your guessing right isn't that impressive...I eat it every morning. Come on. Get over yourself)

Got dat pumpkin oatmeal with slivered almonds...you know how we DO

Ooh yeah baby.

So good. 

Lunch was made up of two bananies blended with a few scoops of PB and some pecans thrown in the mix for a tasty pudding of sorts and another repeat of my Mexi-mush bowl from Wednesday (workin' on finishing that stuff off!)

Banana pudding (or as they say it here in the south, "Puddn")

Delicioso y fácil

After a quickie workout at the gym of some medicine ball exercises (in my personal training class), 20 minutes on the bicykle and 10 minutes on the elliptical, I had to run (well, not literally run...because it's like 30 miles away...but maybe someday I'll be able to...) to Chapel Hill to meet my jump rope team for a Duke men's bball half time show. Not many people on our team could go this time, so the few of us that could really had to step it up and jump in a lot of the routines to make sure the show was long enough. Man, THAT gave me a good little workout :)

Dinner was an anomaly (<--- whoah, how weird does that word look?) because on the way back from the show, our coach wanted to stop at a fast-food drive-thru for dinner (I hardly ever eat fast food). The group decided on Chick-fil-A:

Am I the only person that thinks Chick-fil-A's advertisements are hilarious? I freakin' love those cows

Look how few fries they gave me! What a rip off!

(alright...I ate most of them before I took the pic)

I also inhaled enjoyed one of their chicken sandwiches with only half the bun. Man, even though I don't ever eat fast food, I realllly like it sometimes!

What I had really been looking forward to all day, though, was what was to happen AFTER dinner - spending time with some of my best friends Bri and Aileen in Chapel Hill!

Chick-fil-A and red wine...what a classy dinner combination

Bri and I sipped on some Trader Joe's Coastal Zinfandel while we waited for Aileen to come pick us up to head out for a few drinks. Obviously we're seasoned pros at opening wine bottles manually:

Check out mah skillz

And then Aileen showed up and we were ready to get the party started!

Sweet reunion

The cool group out on the town

After hittin' a few bars, we were all pretty pooped and Aileen dropped us back at Bri-Bear's awesome apartment (which I was seeing for the very first time - love it! It's super cozy) for some rest before catching breakfast together in the morning...which was breakky-tastic, and will be recapped as soon as possible. 

But I'm tired, and I have to get up in like 5 hours! YIPES! So I'm hittin' the sack, mack. Have a great, sunny Saturday and hopefully I'll be able to post tomorrow, but I may be too busy in ATL. So you might just have to wait on the edge of your seat for a weekend catch-up post on Sunday.

Sweet dreams bloggies! -Anna

Go Away, Winter

Hey stalkers! :) (It's ok...I do it too)

This morning was so strange. After putting up my morning post and getting ready to drag my feet to class seize the day, I walked outside to head to class and

BAM


It's SNOWING?!?! A LOT! Where did that come from?? I was so surprised by this unexpected winter wonderland that I actually had to run back inside to change for the cold temperature!

My house this morning

It snowed for about 3 hours good and heavy, and now it's 43 degrees and sunny. Good one, Mother Nature. You go tme. And now I'm sweating in my boots, sweater, and scarf. Great.

Anywhoozy, yesterday was kind of all over the place (in a good way this time!) Breakfast was about the only part of my day-to-day routine that was normal. And MAN I love my breakfast routine!

...unfortunately it disappeared somehow before I got a picture of it. Dang! I gotta get better at that...well, here are some pictures of Fonz eating his breakfast in place of me eating mine:

Really gettin' into that bouquet

Why he likes flowers so much, I don't know. Maybe he's going to be a florist when he grows up!

...or not

My breakfast was actually peanut butter apple oatmeal, and gosh do I love all three of those things. I think I don't add apples to my oatmeal very often because I'm too lazy hungry to take the time to cut up the apples. Maybe I'll start buying apples that people have already cut up and put in bags for me! (that doesn't make me sound lame, does it?...)

I also ADORE my new make-oatmeal-with-almond-milk-instead-of-water discovery! It makes it so sweet, creamy, and thick. Mmmmmmmmm hmmm.

Lunch was some leftovers from Monday's Mexican mania, sans the tortilla:

Mexi-mush

Gotta get that close-up 

• Brown rice
• Buttah beans
• Diced canned tomatoes
• Shredded cheese
• Dollop of plain greek yogey

YUM! I didn't even heat this mush-pile up and it was still awesome possum!

This, on the other hand, is NOT an awesome possum

I also downed a giant (and I mean GI-YANT, as in a double-hander) bananie on the walk to class.

Since I hadn't taken off Monday for my "rest" day, I decided that I'd skip my cross-training gym visit since I had to attend a jump rope practice later that evening.

Joseph and I popper over to my parents' house in Chapel Hill a little before practice (which is only about 8 minutes away from their house) for a little visit and din din! My step-mom was still at work (she's a pediatric anesthesiologist at a local hospital...long hours), so my dad was in charge of preparing the food for our arrival.

Chef Steve

Fortunately my dad is a great cook! The meal consisted of:

• Red cabbage with bacon and brown sugar
• Carroway chicken
• Salad
• Fresh bread

Oh yeah baby! I especially loved the red cabbage! I can't even remember the last time I had it, and the combination of sweet and savory bacon and brown sugar really made an awesome dish. Good job, Diddy!

Showing off Dad's creation

My delicious plate!

He doesn't mess around when it comes to eating

So good to see the house and my daddy-o (wish you were there, Ann!) - I haven't been able to get home much lately because I've been so dang busy! Really needs to happen more.

YAHOOOOOO! Almost all caught up for tha posts! Crankin' 'em out baby.

On the schedule for the rest of the day:

• Personal training class
• Gym (if I have time...yarg I hate when I don't have a 100% chance of getting my workout in for a day!)
• Duke bball half-time jump rope show
• Hang out with Bri in Chapel Hill for the night!

Me and Bri-Bear a while back!

Friday's only a few hours away! Yippeee!! -Anna

Ode to Oatmeal

Hey pretty people! I swear, I haven't forgotten you all; I have just been outrageously busy, mixed with terrible weather that I'm pretty confident will never end. Anywhoozy, I have still been eating (and breathing, too! Like I said, very busy) and workin it out in da gym, so it's about time to get updated. But before you get a whole update, I would like to spend a post dedicated to my (an Anna's) favorite breakfast: oatmeal! especially BAKED oatmeal!! Here are some facts, first:

• everybody loves oatmeal
• oatmeal is da bomb
• Oatmeal is good for your heart (full of vitamin B calcium, iron, and so much more!)
• Oatmeal is good for weight loss, and is packed with fiber
• It can help lower bad cholesterol
• it is DELISH

Okay, so maybe only a few of those are factual, but all of them are true in my book. I don't understand how people can NOT love it, though!

Jezzy wants everybody to know her love of oatmeal...and everything....

So, without further adu, many of the oatmeals I enjoyed this week:

Cinnamon Bun-inspired Oatmeal:

cinnamon bun in a bowl!

This seemed like a natural flavor combination to me. I mean, cinnamon bun=good, oatmeal=good, cinnamon bun + oatmeal=great. See, everybody, I can do math! 

I used a cinnabun flavored yogurt and egg added to steal cut oats with extra cinnamon. I also threw in brown sugar and other cinnabun things that came to mind at the time (nuts!). I topped it with a mix of plain greek yogurt mixed with sugar-free syrup and cinnamon. This was delicious, but I would like to take some time one morning and make this into a baked oatmeal recipe, which will probably be even more awesome and easy! 

Baked Pumpky Oatmeal:

Pump(kin)alicious

This was a pretty traditional baked oatmeal, but instead of using just pumpkin pie filling or plain pumpkin, i used a bit of pumpkin mixed with pumpkin pie yogurt I found!! This made it super yummay and I threw cinnamon, flax, walnuts, and cranberries in for a fall throwback breakky. Topped with some PB makes it a perfect breakfast for cold days (AKA everyday in Boone!)

Cinnamon-Apple Oats:

Da Classic

When I'm feeling uninspired, I often fall back on this always superb oat combo: cinnamon, oats, apples, walnuts, and cranberries. YUM! I often microwave the apple before adding it so it has a 'baked apple' texture and flavor.

Berry Baked Oatmeal:

Just Could be like a berry muffin! (but healthier and cheaper)

This was good, and I felt good after I ate it because it was full of berries and fiber, but it needs some work. It could be like a berry muffin, but it wasn't very sweet and the texture is a tiddly-bit weird. I'm not sure if it needs some different liquids used (I used yogurt as usual, but I think applesauce could be better) or if there is another solution. Either way, I'm not ready to give up on it yet, because this has major potential!!

PB&J Baked Oatmeal:

A guaranteed crab-free start to every morning!

Oh yeah, baby!

This is my favorite baked oatmeal, and it is basically fool-proof. I make this rezzy at least a few days a week.  I throw in half a container of yogurt (any kind is okay, but for this I like vanilla), an egg (or egg white), loads of cinnamon, about 2/3 cup of oatmeal, walnuts, ground flax, cranberries and 1/4 tsp baking powder. Microwave for ~4 minutes (my microwave is s-l-o-w though). top with peanut butter and jelly and DEVOUR!!!  Sometimes I mix it all up, too and it is even more fun to eat! 

This one is topped with "Better 'n Peanut Butter" and pomegranate jelly!

I had this one today for breakfast (which was at about 12 for me since classes before that were cancelled...again! this is starting to get out of control) and it was yumalicious. I will be posting again soon, because I feel good and accomplished after I do, and it keeps me accountable for what I'm doing and eating.  I have just been so busy, and during my down time I just want to sit and do nothing...not really productive, but sometimes necessary.  Anywho, I'm off to class and then to the gym. Tonight, my step-sister, Kristen, and her roommate are coming over for a potluck dinner and chill session!! I'm very excited to hang out with them and eat up some yummy, gluten-free, and vegetarian eats (Erica, her roomie, is a veg). Hope everybody is having a great week so far; it's almost done, so don't let it go to waste!! -Claire

Toozday

Phew! I'm finally catchin' up on my posting. Not that they were all that exciting. But I guess everything here is more exciting than YOUR life since you're reading about mine, right?? HA just joshin'. I'm sure you have an awesome life. Anyways, here's what happened on Toozday:

Breakfast was a bomb-diggity bowl of pumpkin oats with roasted slivered almonds. I def think a new favorite! The almonds really add a sweet texture to it:

Pumpkin-mania

Details, details...

Then lunch included a trusty PBJ (though there is no evidence because it had to be wolfed on the run! ...after eating this next item...) and a mediocre attempt at flavoring my own plain greek yogurt:

Cherry pie filling mixed in...not bad, but really not as great as I was expecting

Looks like soft serve with cherry topping mixed in! But didn't taste as good :(

Tuesday was busy, but I made time for the gym for my 4.5 mile scheduled run for my half marathon trainin' and some awesome lifting that I hadn't done before! Lat pull-downs are definitely going to be added into my new strength routine.

Pretty sure my back doesn't look like this though (yet!)

BEFORE my run and iron-pumping, I had my personal training class (have I told you I'm taking a class to become a certified personal trainer? Cool, eh??) and we participated in a hard-core yoga class taught by one of the other already-certified trainers. PHEW! This was waaay tougher than I thought it would be...I've done some yoga before, and it always amazes me how different of a workout it is than what I'm used to. Definitely felt warm and stretched and kind of tired afterwards, but not in the high-intensity kind of was I usually like. Sometimes it's interesting to mix it up!

Dinner, unfortunately, was not documented. But it was yumalicious!! I met up with one of my best friends Laurie, her boyfriend Billy, and another friend Sara, at a local Mexican restaraunt, Cueva de Lobos for dollar taco night! My meal included a beef soft taco and a hard chicken taco. And a junkkkk load of chips and queso dip. That stuff is so dang addicting!!

Sloooooowly catchin' up on my posting. Hopefully today I'll be able to squeeze in another post for yesterday's happenings!

It's almost the weekend! Just think about that all day :) -Anna

Sunday Runday

Happy Humpity Hump Day!

This is a ridiculous picture, but it had to be shared

An accomplishment that I've somehow forgot to mention in my post on Monday - on Sunday I ran 7 miles! My longest run evah! MAN I'm good. Somehow I continue to be able to finish the long runs of my half marathon training without stopping hardly at all (seriously...I don't know how I haven't had to be carried home by somebody yet).

And though last week's 6 mile run was completed in a speedy gonzalez 47 minutes, this week's change of scenery (I ran outside at Lake Johnson park close by - very hilly and tons of people in mah way!) really impacted my time.  1:10 is a little bit longer than I'd hoped for! But I'm still proud of my endurance :D

Also, I have consumed some food and done other stuff in the past few days, in case you were wondering.  Let's get to it!

Breakfast Monday was awesome actually really horrible.

Such a deceptive picture...

...this could have been awesome! I mean look how succulent those razzies look! Alas, it tasted like crap. The failure of an attempt at being creative:

• 1/3 cup steel cut oats
• 1 cup vanilla almond milk
• 1 egg white
• 1 tbs (maybe? more like 2 "shakes") baking powder
• 2 large blobs of cherry pie fillin' from the can
• Slivered roasted almonds
• Raspberries on top

I don't know exactly what happened between tasting all of the delicious ingredients separately before putting it in the microwave for 3 minutes and putting the final product in my mouth, but it was something bad enough to actually prompt me to make another breakfast of Maple and Brown Sugar instant oatmeal. WOW! Major fail.

I love cheese and cats, so actually I would consider this picture a major WIN

Monday was also a busy bee day, so after my breakfast mishap and other dilly-dally morning activities, there was no time to plan for a homemade lunch. So I had a cat for lunch.

Fonzarelli Fotoshoot

What a natural in front of the camera.

Ok...maybe this is a little awkward

Alright, so I didn't eat Fonz, but look how sweet these pics are. He's such a model. Anyways...I actually had to scope out the campus convenience store for a few goodies:

Similar to the tuna salad croissant I recently had from the same place

Mustard overload

BANGIN' croissant

This was realllllly good. The buttery, soft, and flaky croissant was amazing. I do think I like the tuna salad better, but the chicky was still tasty too. I also decided to try this baby:

 Again with the "style" tips? Why??

Pretty dang good, actually

So the granola bar was a little super hard and chewy, but everything else was actually quite good. A decent side dish for apparently very few calories in the whole thing. If one of the sections was filled with PB I think it would be better, though...

After a loooong day of sitting on my butt in front of a computer for one of my computer-intensive classes, I decided that even though it was supposed to be my "take it easy" day for half marathon training, I needed some activity. So I hopped on over to the gym for about 20 minutes of incline speed-walking and 25 minutes of ellipticizing and broke a nice little shweat!

Dinner was quick, easy, and suprisingly dee-lightful! A creative quesadilla of sorts...

The ingredients:

• Brown rice
• Plain greek yogurt
• Shredded cheese
• Butter beans
• Canned diced tomatoes (probably the FIRST time I've ever put tomatoes in anything I've cooked. In my life. Seriously! I'm really trying to make myself like some stuff I've always avoided - and they were really good in this!)
• Feta cheese
• Flour tortilla

I think I filled my tortilla with a leeeettle too much stuff because it was runnin' ALL over my arms, but it ain't good if it ain't messy, right? (Did I just make that up? Let's just pretend like people say that...)

Yum! Tuesday and today's updates to come in the morning (I've been a little behind on tha blogging, but I'm determined to catch up!)

Have a great Turrzday morning folks! -Anna