Feed Me Seymour!

It's been another busy two days! Today I worked a whole 12 hours and had to be at work at 6:30am! Luckily I only have one more day of this and then I'm on vacation for a whole week. Yay! Along with the long hours I have to work at conventions comes a few perks. This show I'm working happened to include a private concert with 80's rock legend Foreign at Mandalay Beach along with a wide spread of food and open bar.

So all day long I was looking forward to a fun night out, came home, put on a cute sundress, was getting ready to go when - ugh, I didn't feel good. So I chugged some of my wanna-be Amazing Grass and laid down. Still didn't feel too good. I have felt like this before and narrowed it down to three things; A. I was just extremely hungry to the point where it had made my stomach upset and lose my appetite to eat, B. it was from those "signature scents" they spray in casinos, or C. I was getting the stomach flu. I was praying for not the stomach flu but the only thing I had a craving for was chicken noodle or miso soup which often is a sign of me getting sick. I had neither in the house. After scouring the kitchen cabinet I finally remembered my mom had frozen some homemade turkey broth when she was here in November. I used the broth and some rice noodles and made myself a little feel better soup.

Diagnosis: HUNGER! Now that I ate I feel 100% better. It's amazing that hunger can make you feel so horrible. I was kind of hungry all day, but there was nothing really of substance to eat so I guess I didn't end up taking in as many calories as I needed. Note to self: repack bag with healthy snacks.

Now for my EATS!

Tuesday morning I didn't really have a breakfast. I just had some coffee and snacked on some Pirate's Booty. Then around lunch time I was starving, of course. I snacked on a handful of these while I was waiting for my Jason's Deli to be delivered.

By the time my lunch got here I was starving and devoured it before even thinking about photos. My lunch was a whole wheat veggie wrap. It was quite tasty. I also had a cup of French onion soup. My sandwich also came with a side of steamed veggies - carrots, broccoli, and cauliflower but I just picked at them.

After work I was having a huge sushi craving. I went to Whole Foods and was slightly disappointed in the evenings selection. I ended up going for a rainbow roll and spicy tuna. It was not as good as the last time I had sushi at Kaizen!

Breakfast this morning was a venti skinny latte and egg white, spinach and feta wrap from Starbucks.

I had that at 7:00am so you can imagine how hungry I was when I finally got lunch at 1;30pm. I missed the free lunch by 5 mins and the food court only had open a yucky burger place so I ended up back at Border Grill ordering my ceviche platter to go.

After work I was hungry but knew I was going to the reception so held off on eating. I thought I was being wise, but ultimately I ended up getting sick!

Wow! What a difference food made. I made this soup from the frozen turkey broth and rice noodles. It hit the spot and I feel so much better now! Clearly my body was just screaming FEED ME!!!

I'm off to bed now, another early tomorrow. :-)

I really wouldn't say I've been missing it...

I have a confession. Before yesterday, I had not worked out in 2 weeks! This was partially due to my stitches, partially due to traveling for work, and partially due to pure plain simple laziness. Not to mention I partied and ate my little heart out while in San Diego. Let's just say my body is not feeling so hot. With one step on the scale, I knew it was time to get back into my routine! Only problem is that even though my stitches are out, my wound is still very sensitive and I still need to limit my upper body activity. Twice now I've mindlessly lifted my arms above my head for a deep stretch and felt excruciating pain. It's just such a natural movement I forget that I can't. I need to tape my arm to my side or something. Any ideas??

So after a day of sitting in my office and poking at my stomach all day, I headed to the gym for some much needed spinning. Only to find the class already full. It would have been easy to leave since I didn't bring my iPod, and workouts without music have never been successful for me, but I had my trusty iPhone with me and found some earbuds in the car so onto the elliptical. I did a full 60 minutes and although it didn't feel like much of a workout, especially because I avoided arm movements, it felt good to get back into the workout routine. Now that I'm through the basic recovery surgery, I am committed to getting back in my workout routine. Now I just need to get back into my healthier eats too!

Monday night I hosted Bunco at my house. I took pictures of my food and set my camera next to it so I would remember to photograph everything once people arrived. I forgot, of course. But here is my yummy veggie plate with a yogurt spinach dip.

I also did a side of Terra chips because I thought they would go well with the dip. Love these little things!

Our Bunco spread included fresh made salsa, a warm cheesy, black bean & corn dip, hummus plate, artichoke dip, some random rice pilaf and butterscotch bars. I really wish I had remembered to take photos!!

The next morning I literally had nothing in the house for breakfast. So I stopped to get one of these on the way into the office.

You won't see much fast food on my blog, but this little guy tends to make repeat appearances. I don't know why but I love Egg McMuffins!!! Like get serious cravings for them! And with only 300 calories, 12 g fat, and 18 g of protein I say why not indulge in some McD's every now and then. I'm also okay with this because I hate their hashbrowns (which normally I'm obsessed with potatoes) which makes it really easy for me to just get my sandwich.

Lunch was a salad of randomness made from some of the leftovers from last night. Bed of Romain lettuce, artichoke hearts, bell peppers, tomatoes, black bean and corn dip, goat cheese and Green Goddess dressing. I also topped it off with the few remaining Terra chip crumbs for a crunch and a veggie burger patty.

I love my random salad creations and they are always so delicious! I say try anything in a salad, even if the foods don't seem to "mesh" or are not typical "salad" foods. The more I mix, the better they become!

After the gym, I chugged down one of these and had some celery with peanut butter as a snack.

I then got a call from a friend asking if I wanted to go out for sushi. I had planned to spend the night cleaning, unpacking, and doing laundry. My bank account was kind of low and I had just spent and hour at the gym, but when she said Kaizen, my favorite sushi place, I just had to go! It was one of her friends first sushi experience and I think he liked it. Lots!

We started off with some edamame...

And since we wanted to give him the true sushi experience...

There were Sake Bombs and some unfiltered sake! We ordered several things to share between the 4 of us. We got The Kiss roll to start.

O.M.G!! It was orgasmic!!! They don't list their specialty rolls on their website so I can't remember exactly what was in it but it definitely had tuna and spicy tuna and was on top of a warm creamy sauce. We also wanted for our friend to try "real" sushi. We got this sampler platter.

We also ordered The "O" roll. While The "O" roll was very delicious, I think a name like The "O" belonged to the first roll we tried. This had something like spicy tuna, shrimp tempura, avocado and I'm not really sure what's on top there.

And then for reasons I will never know, we had shots of Patron for dessert.

These definitely changed the course of my evening. What would have been me returning home and getting a good nights rest became hoping in a cab and heading to my favorite dive casino for $1.50 beers and karaoke. If you want old Vegas, cheap food, cheap booze, cheap slots & tables (if you're a gambler), then Ellis Island is the place for you! We ended up staying out entirely too late singing, dancing, and drinking. Not exactly how I had planned to spend my evening, especially when I'm trying to get back into my healthy routine, but I had a blast!! Sometimes a few extra calories is worth enjoying life.