trader joes

In The Grind

Today marks my last day off from work or school for 15 days.  Ill officially be in the grind for half a month!!  Usually I get a bit compulsive and stressed when this happens, but I’m determined to accept the situation and have fun with it.

I started the day catching up on some blog work and dishes.  I then headed over to my parents house to wait until my moms car was ready to give her a ride to the shop.  It took longer than we thought it would but I did get to spend some time outside in the sun.

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It was getting kind of late and I was about to put off grocery shopping until tomorrow, but somehow I had the energy to drive all the way to Trader Joes.

While in the store I noticed I was very content.  For one thing, I had officially made it 2 weeks on $100 worth of food (a lot of it organic/natural)  for the two of us and its exciting to do it again

The other reason was very much related to this mornings post about making peace with food again.  Even though the contents in my cart didn’t change much, it felt like a lot less pressure to shop and a lot more fun!

I can also say that I’m content with getting 5 bags of groceries for $85 . . .

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Along with this mornings theme, I decided that I wanted to post more of my meals.  Maybe this is boring to my readers but I’m convinced that it will help me make sure that I am eating whatever I want and also that every meal becomes a pleasurable event. 

 

I notice when I photograph my food for the blog, it forces me to slow down a lot.  I get a nice plate, I try and make it look pretty and then I take my time to enjoy it a lot more.

 

Breakfast

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I started out with a frothy coffee which kept me from eating for a while.  I have a bad habit of drinking a cup really slow and not actually eating breakfast until late on mornings that I have time.  This sets me up for ravenous hunger later in the day so I gotta work on that!

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Eventually, I topped a slice of Ezekiel toast with some scrambled eggs and salsa.

Lunch

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Mom fired up the grill at home where I had a little more than half a cheeseburger.  The meat was really thick and I was satisfied very quickly.  Good thing for the dogs!

Snack

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I snacked on half of this at home, and half before I grocery shopped.  I haven’t eaten one of these in a while and honestly, it was because I was told that it has way too much sugar.  Yeah, it does but it was there and I wanted it.

Dinner

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Dinner was a bit of a mix.  I had 1/4 of a gigantic stuffed pepper that I made recently which im chipping away at along with a few blue corn chips and a simple but delicious Mexican type salad.IMG_0212

I chopped up some lettuce, red onion and cilantro and mixed in some olive oil, salt pepper and a squeeze of lime juice and THEN topped with a glop of pineapple salsa.  Cilantro makes everything taste so fresh!

 

My plan for the rest of the night is to possibly tackle the shower that is getting pretty dirty.  I probably wont get to it but worse things have happened. Besides, I probably should be doing something relaxing before I’m in the grind . . . .

Yogurt Toothbrush

This morning I slept in a bit.  I don’t have many chances during the week to actually sleep so I try and take advantage when I can.  As I said last night, this very well may be the last Thursday I have off for a while so I needed to make it count.  I had so much to do!

 

I fired up the Keurig and consulted my to do list.

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Since there was a lot going on, I actually mapped out my day plan separately to be even more organized.  First up was breakfast.  I made a simple, delicious frittata that held me over for a long time!  I have the recipe post in the works.

 

I served it along side a piece of toasted rosemary bread I found in the freezer.

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After getting a few things done, I trekked up 40min to hit up Trader Joes and Whole Foods.  I was really surprised to find that I got about 78% of my list complete at Trader Joes!  I actually contemplating NOT going to Whole Foods but I love to food shop and I was there anyway.

 

I did get hungry though and snacked on a Greens Bar in the car.

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I’ll admit.  For a while I had big plans to go on a shopping spree for myself to get some new clothes and things that I wanted.  I had gotten my tax return in recently so I figured it would be ok.  After realizing that I will be losing 5 hours per week at work and am unable to make them up, I re-evaluated my list and will make do with what I have for now.

 

However, I did end up having a mini spree . . .

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Tea Tree Oil Face Wash

Pink Himalayan Sea Salt

Peppermint Dr. Bronners (on sale for $9!)

Toothbrush

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I needed one, and this one is made from recycled yogurt cups!  I thought that was pretty cool and I didn’t feel like making another stop to a drugstore to just get one so it worked out. 

 

The rest of my day will be spent working on blog and business stuff and heading over to my parents to watch our Thursday night line up, but before I go . . .

 

What do you think about the Top Chef All Stars win last night?

I’m undecided.  I kind of wanted Mike to win because he was the TRUE underdog and came back with a vengeance, and he’s from NJ.  But Rich has been consistent and set a goal for himself to win and achieved it.  I just have a problem with him worrying so much and always thinking he’s not confident and going to lose when he KNOWS he’s going to win . . .  Share your pick in the comments!