Healthy Friday Finds

I’ve been thinking a lot about what else I want to bring to the blog besides sharing all the intimate details of my life and the usual randomness that happens. Not that you all mind seeing picture after picture of my puppy at the dog park or anything ;) But I figured a great way to incorporate my love for health and fitness is to start “Healthy Friday Finds” where I share healthy foods, snacks, desserts, recipes, or fitness related items that I am using in my own life! That, plus the randomness you all love. If there is anything else I can add to the Healthy Friday Finds, let me know!

Earthbound Deep Green Blends from Costco and Organic Carrots of Many Colors from Trader Joes: These two have been my vegetable obsessions lately! Anthony and I went to Costco last week and stocked up on all the fresh produce and I am loving the massive blend of spinach, baby kale leaves, full kale, and other greens in the Deep Green Blends. Great for salads, cooking, or tossing into smoothies. Plus, it is already triple washed, which saves some time for the extra lazy, like me. The carrots from Trader Joes are so great to toss into salads or to nibble on as a snack. I am loving the purple ones! Mango Ginger Smoothie: Told you all that I am still on my crazy smoothie kick. The weather is really starting to heat up in San Diego and they just hit the spot. I grabbed a smoothie from a sandwich and smoothie shop called Corner House right before my physical therapy appointment this morning. The ginger had a nice little kick and extra immunity boost! Shrimp Scampi Zucchini Noodle Fettuccine from CPK: I shared with you all the to-die for dessert at CPK from date night a couple days ago, but I didn’t get a chance to share my main dish- CPK’s Shrimp Scampi Zucchini Noodle Fettuccine! It is a great item on the menu if you are looking for something lighter that does not sacrifice flavor. Love the zucchini ribbons mixed with the fettuccine noodles and it made for a great healthy option at the restaurant. Emergency running and exercise shoes in my car: A couple of months ago, my co-worker told me about a time her car broke down on the side of the road and she had to run 2 miles in boots to find someone to help her. Ever since then, she’s kept an extra set of running shoes in her car for emergencies. I took note and thank goodness I did! Had a massive brain fart this morning and left for Physical Therapy in flip flops. Looked into my back seat and viola! These glittery Nikes did the trick, even though I normally don’t wear such shiny shoes. Riding my tri-bike on the trainer: Still not ready to get back on the roads yet but putting a lot of quality time in the seat with my bike on the trainer. I won’t complain though, because watching Netflix and avoiding cars has been really nice. Freelance writing for Women’s Running Magazine: I’ve been freelance writing for Women’s Running for a little over a year now and I love the diversity of my assignments! From interviews to sharing my own personal experience in running and racing, it has been awesome to get to pursue my writing in different ways. My newest article was an interview with actress Amanda Schull and about how she stays active in between shooting scenes for her new show, 12 Monkeys on the SyFy channel. And now some usual randomness. Had some sorority sisters come to work today to volunteer! Loved seeing their beautiful and happy faces first thing this morning when I pulled into the building. Great start to my Friday. My coworkers are also the best and left this for my birthday. They left me a gift card to Coldstone because they know donuts and ice cream are my favorite, a sweet card, and a toy for Elle that she is already tearing apart. I think in dog world, that means she liked it.

TODAY IS NATIONAL DONUT DAY!!!! Please tell me you all are getting or eating donuts right now! I am going by Krispy Kreme later today after work and absolutely cannot wait. Yes, my donut obsession is serious. Yes, I need help.

Thursday Things and I’m 23!

Hello everyone! I’m 23 today! Happy birthday to me! I am excited to celebrate with friends, brunch, workouts, and drinks this weekend. This includes a track workout with my team tonight and the first track workout since my injury. Can’t tell whether or not to be excited or scared. Let’s rewind to the rest of our Wednesday. Elle has become quite the couch hog. Nothing better than catching a sleepy pup about to wake up. During my lunch break yesterday, I took Elle to the dog park again. I’m trying to teach her how to play fetch but so far it’s been a game of “I got the ball and now I’m going to run away with it.” Turned out to be more of a workout for me!Anthony went to do a couple of errands for his sister yesterday and came back with an acai bowl for me. I am really liking this whole celebrate your birthday for a week thing ;) I’ve been working from home the past couple of weeks since my injury since I don’t feel comfortable driving with one arm yet. However, Anthony has been taking me into the office to get caught up every now and then since and I walked into my cubicle to see my desk all decorated for my birthday. Seriously, the sweetest of coworkers. Can’t wait to spend the rest of the day celebrating!

What’s your favorite way to celebrate your birthday?

You Can’t Take Us Places

When I was a kid, my parents use to tell me to enjoy the playground because once I got older, I wouldn’t get to go to the playground all the time. Little did they know, Ikea and Costco would exist by the time I got older and would be my new playground.The best part of our Ikea trip was the Costco right across the street, which meant once we were done sleeping on every bed, we had to refuel with some food from their food court. It really is hard to find anything healthy on their menu, so I tried my hardest with a turkey and provolone sandwich, and just took off the mayonnaise. It really hit the spot.
You can’t take us places. I swear we actually had a list of things we needed for our new apartment but it came down to “Can we buy everything in the store?” This was the most effective way to try on pillows at Costco. You should try it sometime. We also think these horses would be great additions to our living room… Surprisingly very comfortable and I wanted all the stuffed animals in this isle. All of them. Since I’m graduating at the end of this year, I figured I needed to explore my career options. I think karaoking professionally would be a great choice. The fact that I am tone deaf is just a minor setback. All this fruit and lifetime supply of chia seeds make me so happy. Once we got home from Ikea and Costco, it was time to eat again. I love the days I have long runs because it means a lot of food. Met up with these two beauties for dinner at P.F. Changs. This is Marie’s, “my hair is in a ponytail and I don’t want to take a picture” look.We did the 4 course, 2 person meal but we split it amongst the three of us. College students- being cost effective and cheap, per usual. Started the meal off with some dumpling soup. Then vegetarian lettuce wraps, which ended up stealing my heart, and were my favorite part of the four-course meal. The main course was vegetarian fried rice and kung pao shrimp. I’m not a super big fan of meat but I could eat seafood all day, everyday, especially shrimp. Ignore the huge mess Marie made on the table- she thought the plate went out way further than it actually did and had an epic battle with the tofu for the vegetarian wraps. Dessert was tiramisu but by the time that rolled around, it was too dark for the photo to come out well. It was the second best part of the meal only because I had to share my dessert and I’m not very good at doing that…

Fine, I won’t tell Facebook and will just stick to the blog. Time for an easy 3 miler to cap off my running week. Hope you all are having a great weekend so far!