Tonight’s my big break! I get to debut 3 of my own zumba dances at class. I can’t wait. I hope everyone likes them. (And even if they don’t, I’ll enjoy them at least. They’re so fun!)
I practiced them a few times during my lunch break, and they went very well.
Then I ate a repeat of yesterday’s lunch.
A bagel sandwich with a few more frills compared to yesterday. I added avocado and tomato to my original turkey, light mayo, and spinach. I also dashed a tiny bit of garlic powder in the center of the sandwich. Such a great idea because it tasted fabulous!
Do you want to listen to my zumba songs?
Okay, here they are- just ignore the actual videos if possible. They’re nothing like my dances. (And some of them feature scantily clad women acting less than ideal. Sorry if you find the actual videos offensive.)
Wish me luck tonight!
Hello loves! I’m feeling a little bit better this morning.
I’d love to say it was from resting all night long, but I actually decided after work yesterday to try going to zumba after all. It wasn’t an intense class, and I actually felt my best all day while I was dancing.
Once I got home from class, I made a gigantic pot of Annie’s Mac and Cheese for Dennis and me. I used 2 boxes because Dennis is always starving when he gets home from work.
Huge.
This was my one cup serving. Dennis ate the rest.
I also had a pumpkin muffin top and some stoneyfield yogurt. (Guess who ate the bottom of the muffin?)
Delicious.
After dinner, I felt a little wonky and ended up passing out on the couch at 9:30 pm. I vaguely remember Dennis waking me up and insisting I go up to bed. I was so sleepy, though.
I actually slept until 7:30 am this morning, but it wasn’t really a continuous sleep. But hopefully it will help me feel 100 percent soon.
Love.
Truth be told, I’ve had better days.
I still feel so icky. I’m a little warm, and my body feels unsettled.
I thought exercise might make me feel better, but I was wrong. I danced around the living room for 40 minutes and got super sweaty. I don’t think I have a fever, but I do think my body is fighting off something.
Even though my appetite still doesn’t exist, I made myself a delicious sandwich.
Turkey, spinach, and kraft light olive oil mayo on a Thomas’ whole wheat bagel. So simple and yet so perfect.
Zumba might be out tonight in favor of some rest and maybe a movie. I’m thinking a favorite movie like Little Women and my comfy bed might be just what the doctor ordered.
Love.
Hello there!
I hope you had an excellent weekend.
Mine was good for the most part. On Saturday, we hung out with our friends who just had a baby last week. The baby is SO tiny. He’s adorable but, at the same time, I in no way, shape or form am ready for that type of responsibility. It’s crazy how your life truly changes once a baby is born. Betty, the new mother, told me all about her new routine, and she literally has to wake up every 2-3 hours in the middle of the night to feed him. And he needs his diaper changed about 15 times a day. And she’s not supposed to leave the house with him until he’s at least 6 months old. Crazy.
Yesterday I planned meals for the week and then went grocery shopping. I also bought the ingredients for pumpkin muffins which I made later in the evening.
I used this recipe, and they turned out great.
See.
They’re so huge because I loaded the batter into the cups. I don’t have an extra muffin pan and really didn’t feel like making a second batch or wasting the batter. Of course this fact means they have a higher caloric content but, to tell you the truth, Daisy will get a good hunk of each and every muffin because she stares at me like this.
And then I cave and share.
See this muffin here?
Daisy got the majority of the bottom, and I got the top. It was delicious- very light with a nice punch of pumpkin. It actually reminded me of a healthier version of a pumpkin whoopie pie. I could taste the pumpkin flavor, but it just wasn’t as rich with oils or butter.
I’m actually feeling a bit ill this morning, so I didn’t eat anything else. I went to bed feeling lousy and woke up at 6:40 am feeling lousy. I made the executive decision then to sleep a bit longer and skip zumba. At 7:30 am, I then decided that I could probably handle work. I’m not exactly sure what’s wrong with me. My tummy’s a little off, and my allergies are bad. Hopefully I’ll feel better fast, and my appetite will return soon. I didn’t really eat much yesterday which gives me anxiety because of my history with anorexia. It’s sort of scary knowing that you should be eating but not being able to. But at the same time, it’s important to listen to your body and what it wants. I feel pretty in touch with my body’s needs, and it’s definitely telling me it’s not really hungry right now.
Talk to you later.
I had such a good time at zumba last night. After class, I stayed after and showed the instructor- my new friend Stacey- some of my zumba dances. She loved them and wants me to teach 3 dances on Tuesday night. How fun!
Between the walk to and from my house to the gym, the actual zumba class, and staying afterwards, I burned 1300 calories. Yikes.
I was so glad that dinner just had to be reheated. I was so, so hungry.
As expected, the lasagna was wonderful.
I ate a serving sized piece with some romaine and 2 tablespoons of light yogurt thousand island dressing.
For dessert, I had an apple and another mini-sized Hershey bar.
Then this morning I got up bright and early for another zumba class. It was slow-paced, and I’m extremely sore this morning from lifting weights and doing strength exercises yesterday morning.
On a positive note, I loved my breakfast again.
Yes, I’ve had this combo every single morning this week, and it’s still perfect ; )
Any fun Friday plans?
Lots of love.
Dennis is in for a fabulous surprise later.
I am such a wonderful girlfriend and decided to make him his dinner during my lunch break so that all he’ll have to do while I’m at zumba is heat it up in the microwave. See, we’re on slightly different eating schedules. He’s always starving when he gets home from work at 5, and I don’t usually eat until 7 at the earliest.
So what did I make?
The lasagna- finally!
I used this wonderful recipe from Cooking Light. It was actually one of the only meals I remember cooking for myself when I was really sick. And surprisingly, I felt comfortable enough to eat it. I only made it twice before today, but it truly is tasty.
And relatively simple.
First you combine the various light cheeses (cottage cheese, ricotta, and cream cheese). Then you add some parmesan, dijon mustard, dry mustard, salt, pepper, chives (I actually used oregano because it’s my favorite), garlic, 2 egg whites, and 1 egg.
Then you layer the mixture with lasagna noodles (I used the no boil kind because it shortens the process significantly.) and the sauce of your choice.
After you top the last layer of noodles with pasta sauce, you bake it at 350 degrees for 20 minutes. Then you top it off with skim mozzarella and bake for another 20 minutes.
Check out the end result.
Mmmm. (Note the variance in cheese distribution ; )
While I was prepping and baking, I did a little dancing while I worked. I literally had my iphone stuffed in my bra and sang and danced to my favorites. It was really so much fun.
I also put together a simple sandwich that included avocado, sabra, and spinach for my lunch.
And I ate a crisp honeycrisp on my way back to work.
The only bad part about my break was this little girl.
All she wanted in the world was a bite of lasagna. (I wouldn’t be surprised if her daddy gives her some later. She’s spoiled rotten.)
xoxoxo
My general knowledge of Persimmon didn’t extend too much further than Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream until last night.
See, that’s the role I played during my sophomore year of college in my school’s production. I still remember feeling a bit bitter that I was cast as Persimmon, a lowly fairy, rather than in the desired role of Hermia. I kind of felt like the little kid in elementary school cast as a tree when she wanted to be the princess. But then, it was the first production I had ever auditioned for in college, and I was excited to have the chance to flutter around stage and have fun. Plus, the bitterness has melted away since then after having a few lead roles during my college career. (I just adore theatre if you didn’t know.)
Can you spot me, Persimmon, in this “ancient before everyone had a digital camera” photo? I’m in my pretty, purple fairy costume on the right.
But you know what? A persimmon isn’t purple at all- at least not the kind I’ve spotted at the store lately. It’s actually a lovely shade of orange-yellow.
I also really love its gorgeous stem and leaves. It looks like a flower doesn’t it?
The best thing about a persimmon is that it’s actually quite delicious. It’s hard to describe the flavor- sweet but unfamiliar. Apparently, you can’t eat a persimmon before it’s ripe. It will taste chalky and disgusting.
But if you spot a ripe persimmon in your grocery store, give it a try. I’d love to hear what you think.
Love.
Sorry to say, but the lasagna didn’t happen for dinner last night after all. I didn’t get home from zumba until 7 pm, and I still needed to get 2 ingredients that I forgot over the weekend. Since the lasagna takes about 40 minutes to bake, Dennis said he’d rather just skip it and eat right away.
So pasta it was.
Dennis wasn’t thrilled to hear that I only had whole wheat pasta on hand, but I tried to convince him that he wouldn’t even notice the difference. I actually used Barilla Plus, which I had never had before. I really loved it. It has 10g of protein for a serving, which is pretty impressive.
I combined Dennis’ huge portion of pasta with some reduced fat Mexican cheese leftover from our Baked Chicken Tortillas, asiago, parmesan, garlic, Jane’s Krazy salt, a bit of olive oil, and oregano.
I had a serving of pasta with broccoli, a bit of parmesan, garlic, Jane’s Krazy salt, and oregano. It was delicious. And hot. 
See all that steam. I was too impatient to wait for the steam to dissipate to take a photo. Sorry it’s blurry, but I was hungry.
I also had a banana and a mini Hershey bar for dessert. I sort of luck out on the candy front. I’m not tempted to eat too much because I really can’t. Temptation has nothing on the possible risk of breaking out into hives if I eat a bar exposed to peanut dust. A plain old Hershey bar is one of the only candy bars that doesn’t have a peanut allergy warning on it, so it was a true treat. Dennis, on the other hand, will probably be turning into a Kit Kat bar within a day or so. That man loves Kit Kats.
Breakfast this morning was the same, delicious meal I’ve been eating all week long.
I love, love, love Cascadian Farms granola and Stoneyfield farms vanilla yogurt.
I love it almost as much as this song I can’t seem to stop listening to. It puts me in a fantastic mood.
Enjoy the day!
What a nice day so far.
I’ve entertained myself during some tedious tasks at work by singing (sometimes in my head) along with some songs from Glee.
I also had the chance to do a little dancing during my lunch break. I choreographed a really great song for zumba, too.
And then came lunch.
A delicious whole wheat pita stuffed with some chicken from last night, sabra, spinach, and a few grape tomatoes. I love that it matches the plate.
Hope you’re having an excellent day, too!
