Hey guys! This is going to be short and sweet for a few reasons:

1) I am busy eating baked apples with melted carob chips and drinking beer! I have a history of spilling beverages on laptops.

2) I have to blog from home now that I am busy at work and can’t focus here (but I am thrilled to be busy at work finally!!!)

3) I got a Macbook a month ago and don’t really know how to use it. It takes me hours to blog now! Is there a quicker way to upload pictures from these things?? I miss Windows Live Writer!!

4) It is already 9:30 at night and I really want to wake up for 6:30 am Intensati!

5) I would rather be reading your blogs and playing on Twitter!

The main reason is that I don’t like to blog from home. I just want to snack when I am sitting at my desk so I try not to be on the computer that much at night. I am on the computer all day at work so blogging is the last thing I feel like doing when I get home. I think I am going to start a 3-times a week posting schedule from now on. I don’t want blogging to become something that stresses me out. I’ll just post when I have something really exciting to talk about! We’ll see! I am loving my new job though so that is all that matters!

I do have to announce the winner of the NatureMade TripleFlex giveaway!

Random Integer Generator

6
Timestamp: 2010-10-15 01:46:54 UTC

6- Kate! She said, “I do tons of low impact exercise (to promote joint health).”

Congrats Kate!

I am off to go finish my Bud Light Lime and catch up on some blogs! Have a great night!

Related posts:

1. Omega 3 Greens Winner and Gum Update
2. Yoplait Light Giveaway Winner!
3. Stop & Shop Yoplait Greek Yogurt Winner!

Hello and Happy Friday! I love this weather and I already made it to the gym today so I am in a good mood. I made sure to go before work since I am getting a massage after work! A massage is always that much better when you are sore from a hard workout. This morning I did 40 minutes on the elliptical, 10 minutes on the treadmill, and some arm exercises using free weights. I usually hate doing weights without an instructor telling me what to do but I really enjoyed it today. I felt more productive than when I just do cardio and leave. I also want to make sure I continue weight training as much as possible since I can’t take Core Fusion anymore. I do plan to request some Core Fusion classes for my birthday (hi Mom..hint hint).

I was starving after my workout so I decided to try a new restaurant for breakfast. This restaurant used to be Pita Grill but it closed out of nowhere! I was very sad but was also pretty curious when I saw the new sign over the store: Muscle Maker Grill. The name sounded like it had to be a new healthy restaurant right? I checked out the website and thought the story of how Muscle Maker Grill started was pretty interesting:

At the age of 18, Rod Silva began working-out and bodybuilding. He learned that 80% of the result of exercise is eating the right food and he could not find any restaurant that had the correct nutrition he required. Having come from a family of great cooks, he began creating recipes that taste great and are nutritious as well.

On December 8th of 1995, Rod opened the doors to a protein smoothie store in Colonia, New Jersey. The store also carried a line of Sports Supplement products. Rod was 23 years old, still exercising and working out more than ever. While running the smoothie store, Rod would bring his food for lunch and dinner. Customers would smell the delicious aroma and would ask if they could buy the food. Rod started cooking extra and began selling tasty meals to his customers.

From the beginning menu of Home Cooked Chicken Wraps, Grilled Chicken Breasts, and Awesome Turkey Breast Meatloaf along with a $15,000 loan on his Nissan Maxima, Muscle Maker Grill was born. As they say, the rest is history.

I checked out the menu and loved all of the healthy options. They have everything from Fit Salads, to Muscle Maker Wraps, to Power Pastas.  You can substitute shrimp or steak with any of the chicken entrees. They also have a vegetarian section with edamame, brown rice and beans, a wrap, and more. The menu lists all of the calorie counts and is recommended by HealthyDiningFinder.com.

I walked in this morning and was greeted with a friendly welcome. There was one other customer in the restaurant. The employee told us that they specialize in lunch and dinner but their breakfasts are great as well. He said nothing in the restaurant is processed or cooked with butter. There were a bunch of great looking breakfast options such as sandwiches, wraps, breakfast bowls, protein oatmeal, and protein smoothies.

I decided on the Nitro: scrambled egg whites, reduced fat cheddar cheese and turkey bacon with MMG signature sauce. (227 calories)

I had the choice of getting the sandwich on a whole wheat English muffin, whole wheat bagel, or heart-healthy waffles. I decided on the whole wheat English muffin. The other woman in the store got the bagel and asked if she could get it scooped out. They said it was not necessary since the bagel is thin and only 100 calories. Good to know. I got my sandwich to-go and brought it back to work with me.

It was a bit messy but hey…messy food always seems to taste better! I liked that they provided a nice amount of egg whites. I also enjoyed the melted cheese that was oozing out of my sandwich!

The sandwich was delicious. I would love to know what their MMG signature sauce is! It gave the sandwich so much flavor. I could probably make this at home for a lot less than $4.99 but it is a great option in terms of convenience. It would be pretty tough to make this myself on days that I go to the gym in the morning. The breakfast wraps are $7.29 so I think I would have to stick with the sandwiches. I can get a perfect breakfast wrap from Energy Kitchen for just $2.99!

I was a little disappointed about this….

Apples in a bag just freak me out. I love a little fruit after breakfast but I would rather not eat a bag of preservatives. Nothing is processed?? Hmm..I don’t know about that. I would rather them give me no fruit at all than crappy Fruit in a Flash. This makes me compare the place to McDonald’s. Just give me a fresh apple and I would be one happy customer. To top it off, the apples were expired!!

I wish I would have noticed this before leaving the restaurant! The apples went right in the trash. Besides the little fruit incident, I was very happy with my breakfast. I plan to return for lunch and dinner. I will report back here with a review!

1) How do you feel about fruit in a bag?

2) What is your favorite kind of breakfast sandwich?

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3. Macaroni Grill Prize Pack Giveaway!

Good Morning! Hope everyone had fun in the snow yesterday. If you are from somewhere warm, I am jealous. I had a nice half day!

I got to work and made baked apple yogurt oats.

Nice change from the usual banana! I got the lovely half day e-mail after breakfast and made my way home at 1:00. I stopped at the food store to stock up because I thought I was not going to leave my apartment again.

I made a nice turkey and cheese wrap for lunch. I had Food Should Taste Good chips on the side!

I sat around and watched the snow with Daisy. She has a new obsession with the windows.

My roommate  had off from work too so we decided to go to the movies! We were a little early and 5 Burro Cafe was across the street so we ended up splitting a banana margarita! We had to warm up somehow in the cold

We saw Edge of Darkness which was pretty good. We decided to do a double feature so we saw Legion after. This was the worst movie ever. Do not waste your money.

We left and Forest Hills looked like a ghost town! Not one restaurant or store was open! We decided to see if 5 Burro was still open and it was! They said they never ever close! I had one more Apricot Margarita!

Sorry you guys are probably sick of seeing these drinks all the time. I am done with them for a while (maybe)! They are no good for my waistline haha. I also woke up feeling like I had a fever. Probably not smart to run around in the snow with tequila in my system! What else is there to do on a snow day though?

We came back and played with Daisy in the snow!

I had to…it was her first snow storm!

Fun night! I am now chugging coffee so I can wake up a little! I had the subway ride from hell…2 guys battling at 8:00 in the morning. They were rapping at the same time really loud for the entire hour. Good thing I had my music! 2 other guys also got arrested for punching eachother. The subway stopped for 10 minutes at every stop too so it took foreverrr to get to work. Blahh. 

How was your commute? How do you get to work/school? Have a good day!

Related posts:

1. Snow Day!
2. 5 Burro Cafe and Tequila Fun!
3. Food Deals and Fun Meals!

Hello! I just got done cleaning up coffee from my keyboard! Luckily it is still working. I tend to spill liquid on every piece of technology that is put in front of me. I could write a whole blog post about my spillage stories! I will save that for another day. For now I will do a little update of some yummy foods I’ve been eating the past couple of days.

I started out my morning yesterday and today with some juice!

Egg whites with mushrooms, tomatoes, and low-fat mozzarella on a whole wheat wrap

So much better than oatmeal sometimes!

Free Lunch!

Yesterday Jamba Juice was giving out their new California Flatbread pizzas! You guys know how much I like free food so I walked on over during lunch.

I chose the Mediterranean: A crispy flaxseed crust topped with Mediterranean-style grilled zucchini, onions, bell peppers, mushrooms, and a combination of feta and mozzarella cheeses.

You may not be able to tell from the picture but the pizza was tiny!! It was smaller than my hand. I guess it makes sense since it is only 250 calories! I decided to stop and pick up a little salad to eat with the pizza since it looked like it would not be too filling.

Even though the pizza was tiny, it was delicious! It had a crispy crust with delicious vegetables and melted cheese. I’m glad I got to try it for free!

I snacked on an organic apple afterwards until I bit into something very yucky!

What is that!!!!!???!!! It looks like a bug or dirt! Ew! In the trash my apple went.

After work I went to a great Total Body Conditioningclass at my gym. Between kickboxing on Monday and TBC last night, I am very sore today! Yay!

Dinner!

I came home from the gym and made some dinner with the roommate. My snack plate was so fun on Monday that I decided to make another one last night. We used Sabra Roasted Red Pepper hummus as the dip instead of Vivi’s Carnival Mustard Sauce.

Very fun to munch on while waiting for our food to cook! We decided to make nice big salads. They were pretty similar to the salad I had the night before. I started off by steaming up some broccoli.

We also made brown rice and corn to give our salads a little Mexican feel.

We made salads with grilled mushrooms, carrots, cucumbers, red peppers, and avocado.

We topped the rice and corn over our salad! Perfect!!

We ruined our healthy dinner with a nice pint of Cookie Dough!

I added bananas and whipped cream.

Delicious and so worth it.

I have some work today so I am off! I will leave you with a few questions!

1) What do you think that brown stuff was in my apple?

2) Are you going anywhere fun for the holidays?

Related posts:

1. Mexican and Ice Cream Fiesta!
2. Gluten-Free Vegan Pizza!
3. Kale Salads and Yogurt Combos!

Food Deal Alert!

In case you have not heard, Jamba Juice oatmeal is only $1.00 until December 11th! Here is a link to the coupon: Oatmeal For a Buck.

Last year, they had the same promotion and I made it there every morning! They have delicious steal-cut oats that come in 4 flavors: fresh banana, blueberry/blackberry, apple cinnamon, and berry cherry pecan. Today I decided to get the apple cinnamon.

Yum! It is just like eating apple pie for breakfast! They top it with brown sugar which gives it a nice sweet crunch. I hope to go each day this week! It is a great deal and also forces me to walk an extra 10 blocks in the morning. It is a win/win situation (besides the freezing weather!) I had some coffee to warm me up a bit!

Workout

Yesterday I attempted to wake up before work for the gym. I knew I had plans after work and wanted to start the week off with a nice workout. Unfortunately I had crazy insomnia and was up from 2:00 in the morning to around 4:30! Morning gym=fail!

I decided to bring my gym clothes anyway and go at lunch! I rushed there, did 30 minutes on the elliptical, and burned 250 calories. It was a nice little mid-day workout! I used to do it more often but my lunch was an hour earlier at the time. Now I get way too starving by 1:00! It is always nice to have the option at least if I have plans after work.

Lunch!

After the gym, I rushed into the health food store and grabbed a quick sandwich. I got a Vegetarian Turkey sandwich and Riceworks chips.

I love the power sandwiches they have at the health food store. This one was only 140 calories and had cabbage, soy turkey, and vegan mayo.

I had a Z-Bar later in the afternoon as usual!

Night Work!

My dad sells Jerry Garcia artwork for a living. He happened to be working a Relix show in New York last night so he said I could help him out.  There was some sort of eclectic show going on with a few local bands.

This is what my dad’s gallery looked like:

(The guy in the flannel is my dad). I tried to help sell artwork even though I don’t know much about the Grateful Dead! They were giving out free drinks so I basically got to walk around and drink the whole time!

I made a little extra cash which is nice since my vet pretty much put me in the poor house! I stayed till around 11:30 and then took a cab home. I didn’t feel too hungry for dinner while I was there for some reason. Maybe because I had 2 dark beers along with the 2 vodka drinks above! As soon as I got home, I felt famished!! I had absolutely nothing in the apartment except for 6 packages of Applegate Farms hot dogs! I quickly boiled one, topped it over a salad, and had some pita chips on the side.

Lovely midnight dinner! I must go to the grocery store tonight!

1) Do you meal plan for the week?

2) How often do you go grocery shopping. Do you make one big trip or several small ones?

1) I don’t meal plan but I really should! I know it saves people a ton of money!

2) I used to make one big trip a week. I moved and now the grocery store is very inconvenient! I find myself stopping at the health food store right at my subway stop a few times a week. I only get a few things but I know it adds up. I should stop being lazy haha.

I am off to go do some work! Have a nice day!

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1. Outback + Bailey’s + Food Inc.
2. Tequila in the Snow!
3. Drunk Chinese Food and Dance Parties!