Happy Thursday! It is really Friday for me because I am leaving for Connecticut tomorrow morning! It is my mom’s birthday and we are going to the Gathering of the Vibes festival! My dad sells Jerry Garcia artwork there every year and his band played there last year. It will be a nice little get away! It is always fun to play with hippies for the weekend!

I am currently chugging lots of espresso because I did not get home till 1:00 in the morning last night!  Angela from Miss Chubby Hubby invited me along with a few other bloggers over to her new apartment for a housewarming party! She moved into a gorgeous apartment near Union Square. I met Mari by my work and we headed over to Starbucks before the party. We had to refuel since we both had been up since 4:30 in the morning! I got a sugar-free vanilla latte with soy milk. Best drink ever.

Her apartment is a mansion!!! This picture does not do it justice! I want to live there!!

She even has her own little patio! Yesterday I mentioned how we should be inspired by each other instead of getting jealous. Well in this case, I AM JEALOUS!!!!

Hi Dori!  We were all talking about how we could have yoga classes up there! I would lay out up there every single weekend! So nice!

Angela made us her famous sangria. This stuff is dangerous!

We snacked on some chips and salsa while chatting away.

One more picture of her apartment. I am a little obsessed!

Angela was nice enough to make us all dinner! I had one of her homemade veggie burgers! She was worried that we would not like it but it was delicious! I also had some salad on the side. It was so nice having a home cooked meal!

She also made us lots of cookies! They are hidden behind the empty wine bottle and salsa bowl! You can tell I had a a ton of sangria at this point!

The chocolate chip cookie was wonderful of course.

Angela!

Dori, Me, Mari, Angela

It was a great night! Of course the night did not end there! I left and realized 20 minutes later that I forgot my gym bag! I am losing everything these days! Mari and I walked all the way back to Angela’s apartment to get it. At least it was more exercise right? An hour later we got to the subway and it took FOREVER to come! It was also 100 degrees underground. Not fun when tired and buzzed! Eventually I got out of the subway and some guy tried to walk me home! He begged for my phone number but I was not giving it to him. Finally I got away and made it home safe and sound. Always some kind of adventure! I have pepper spray, don’t worry! I am off to go chug some more caffeine! I’ve got some more intenSati tonight and tomorrow morning! Excited!

I am choosing the winner of the Tropical Traditions Coconut Oil giveaway tomorrow!

Related posts:

1. Blogger Meetup!
2. Blogger Meetup
3. Birthday Celebrations, Lost Phones, Cop Cars, Graduations!

Morning!  Have you entered my Tropical Traditions Coconut Oil giveaway yet?? If you want really smooth skin and a good time in bed (genius idea from Rachel), enter now! Your boyfriend will thank you.

Okay, let’s move onto another topic. Have to keep this thing G-rated! I went to 2 amazing intenSati classes- last night and this morning! Patricia Moreno was teaching last night so it was a nice change to the usual morning routine. She played amazing house music! I felt like I was in a dance class with some of the moves we were doing! There was no air conditioning in the room again but I survived! I need to take a picture of this class one day. We had to keep wiping our towels on the floor because we were slipping over our sweat! Sounds delicious, I know. Mari and I did our usual Whole Foods routine after class.

I seriously go overboard every single week at the salad bar. I always want a little bit of everything! This time I got vegan tuna salad, 3 bean salad, broccoli, steamed kale, quinoa, and feta cheese. If I am going to eat too much of something, let it be a Whole Foods salad! At least I’m gettin’ my nutrients in!

Yesterday I was stalking Mari’s Facebook page and saw that she was baking her special protein muffins.  I hinted to her that I would LOVE to try one!! She granted my wish and brought us some for dessert. Thank you Mari!!

This was the best muffin ever!!!!!!!! It was a banana, chocolate chip, protein muffin to be exact. It tasted like moist banana bread with chocolate chips. She gave me the recipe but I don’t think I could keep them in my apartment. They would be gone in 5 minutes! Oh, and that is not a roach next to the muffin. She decided to buy some dates after we did a little “tasting”. So good.

This morning was 6:30 am intenSati with Natalia! It was a very interesting walk to the subway at 5:00 in the morning! There are always people on their way home from a night out partying. Makes me feel so old! Well I guess I can’t say that after the weekend I had! Anyway, there were two guys smoking weed right where I walk down the subway stairs. They tried to hide it from me when I walked by. Did they think I couldn’t smell it? And did they think I was a cop? They were discussing breakfast and how they had to wake up in 2 hours.  There I was, all ready to get my workout on! Another dude was passed out on the subway platform when I walked down the stairs! This older couple thought he was dead! They asked me if he was breathing and they started kicking him. He wouldn’t wake up. Then a nurse happened to come downstairs. She assured us that he was alive and breathing. The train came so everyone just left him.  I feel bad for that guy when he wakes up! He is going to be so clueless! I hope no rats run over him!! Oh New York.

Luckily I made it to Equinox without any other weird things happening. You never know at that time of day. Before every intenSati class, the teacher shares a motivational story about how some of the affirmations have helped them in everyday life. Today Natalia talked about inspiration and how when someone does something amazing, we tend to get jealous or think less of ourselves. Instead we should learn to feel inspired and motivated by the person. I think this is so true in the blog world. Too many of us are comparing ourselves to one another and thinking we are not good enough. Just because one blogger runs 8 miles every day does not mean another blogger is lazy because they do not run. Everyone is different.  Next time someone completes a triathlon, gets that amazing new dream job, or loses 10 pounds, be happy for them instead of secretly wondering why you did not do the same.

Do you tend to compare yourself to other bloggers?

Related posts:

1. Pizza and Beer!
2. IntenSati Addict and AADP Certified!
3. Morning!

Hello! Where do I even begin about the weekend I had? It all started with one of these…..

Friday night was Mari’s birthday dinner at 5 Burro… of course! There were 5 of us there. It was Mari, Me, Mo, Carol, and Gigi. Carol was visiting from California so it was nice to finally meet her! There was about a 45 minute wait to be seated so we all got pretty buzzed from the margaritas before dinner. I actually had to send my first one back…tragedy! I ordered an Apricot margarita but it was all ice on top and syrup on the bottom. The ice and syrup would not mix! It looked a mess! Not a typical 5 Burro margarita. I went with the Strawberry instead since it was premade and could not be messed up.

Gigi, Mari, Me

I decided to stick with something healthy for dinner since those frozen margaritas are the complete opposite of healthy! I got the Grilled Shrimp salad.

I have to give credit to Mari for all of these pictures. Mine are gone forever. More on that later.

Mari and I split the guacamole to top over our salads. It was perfect!

Enjoying margarita number 2….

The table next to us definitely started to get annoyed because there were a million cameras going off at once! That’s what happens when you bring 4 bloggers to a restaurant together. The other table behind us did not mind and offered to take some pictures for us!

We decided to continue the celebration so we headed next door to another bar. We ordered some birthday shots. 1 birthday shot turned into 8 or 9 birthday shots.

They were all girly shots and seemed weak so we kept ordering more! Probably not that best idea! It was really fun though! Eventually we drank enough and headed our separate ways. The next part of the night went from amazing to awful….

The bar was only 2 subway stops away from my apartment. I went to get on the train and asked some guy if it was going local or express. You never know at that time of night. The guy told me it was local so I believed him and got on. Of course, the train went express and went 4 stops past mine! Once the train finally stopped, I got off to turn around and go back towards my apartment. It was 100 degrees underground and I was tired and pretty tipsy. I needed a local train again but an express train came. I did not feel like waiting for the local so I decided to take it back to where I started and just get in a cab or walk home. I got back to where the bar was and saw one of those black town car cabs. I got in. He asked me how much I wanted to pay. I said $5.00. He said $7.00. I said fine. He drove me the 5 minutes to my apartment. He asked for a $6.00 tip on top of the $7.00!!. I think he was trying to trick me. Whatever. I did not fall for it.  Anyway, that part is not too important! I just dislike cabs.

I finally got home and dumped out my purse to find my Droid. I was supposed to call Mari and Mo to tell them I got home okay. The phone was not in my purse.  I dumped it out about 5 more times and looked everywhere but there was no phone. I started hysterically crying and ran outside to find the cab but he was long gone. I think I left it on his seat or it fell out of my purse. I walked down the street to find a pay phone and saw some cops. I cried to them about how my phone was gone and asked if I could borrow theirs. Instead, they put me in the back of their cop car to see if we could find the cab. I knew I would never find him since he was in a black car but we drove back to where I got in the cab anyway. No luck. Luckily that was my first time in the back of a cop car…and hopefully the last!  They drove me around for a little until they got a call about an assault.  They told me I had to get out so they left me a block or two away from my apartment. I really don’t think that was too smart of them to leave a drunk crying girl on the street!  I still wanted to at least call someone so I decided to walk towards CVS since I knew it was open 24 hours. The guy let me borrow his cell phone and I left a few voice mails to let everyone know I was alive. I tried calling my phone but it was dead of course. I walked back home with no phone but luckily still had my apartment keys!! I felt lost with no form of communication. I don’t even have a working laptop right now! I realized I could get online through my iPod touch so I was able to email Mari to let her know I was okay! What a night!!

The next morning I was supposed to be at school at 9:00.  I decided I needed to just sleep and then go to Verizon in the morning. There was no way I was sitting in school all day feeling sick and worrying about my phone. I felt kind of guilty missing my 2nd to last day of school but I had already completed all of the graduation requirements so it was not a huge deal. I went to Verizon and ordered a new Droid but they are on back order. Luckily I have insurance but still had to pay $90! Ugh. I activated an old phone for now. This will be Droid #3 in one month. So sad. I dropped my first one after 2 weeks of owning it and cracked the screen. I am horrible with technology! I will NOT lose or break the third one!!!

I stayed in on Saturday because I did not want to risk missing my last day of school on Sunday! Yes, I celebrated National Tequila Day a bit too early!! Luckily I did not miss much on Saturday. Class on Sunday was a lot of fun. We did not have an official graduation ceremony or anything but received diplomas and danced a lot!

It is official!

It is kind of embarrassing to talk about how I graduated as a certified health coach in the same post as the story above!! Oh well, I am human and it was a very special occasion. Accidents happen!

After class, I celebrated with Dori and Kristine at a bar called Banc. We split a pitcher of the Cucumber Splash: Fresh Lime Juice, Simple Syrup, Fresh Cucumber House Infused Absolut Vodka, Mint Garnish, On the Rocks.

It was so refreshing! Next we headed over to a cute restaurant called Penelope for some dinner. Kristine goes there all the time and raved about the Veggie Burger! I had to get it!

She was right! It was delicious! There was this amazing pesto mayo on the English muffin! Loved it!

Dori got the FBLT (fakin’ bacon, avocado, lettuce, tomato with black pepper balsamic mayo on sourdough).

We loved it there! Now that I am done with school, we are going to make it a Sunday tradition to go to Core Fusion followed by drinks and dinner! Besides my phone drama, it was a really fun weekend!

1) Have you ever lost your phone? I want to hear stories!

Related posts:

1. Birthday Margaritas!
2. Bridal Party, Birthday Party, Blog Meetup!
3. Blogger Housewarming Meetup!

Morning! It’s Fridayyyyy! I’m on a little exercise high from intenSati this morning. The class today today was labeled, “HCB” on the schedule (high calorie burn!) It was intense but amazing as always. I did not wear my heart rate monitor but Mari burned 690 calories! Our awesome instructor, Natalia, mixed our routine up a little today and made us do everything backwards with sprints mixed in. Loved it. Mari and I stayed after and did some arm exercises with free weights. We were asking Natalia what else she does besides intenSati because she has such an amazing body! Of course us food bloggers asked her what she usually eats as well!! I am so grateful that she let me on her guest list this whole month! I have one more week at Equinox on guest lists and then I need to figure out what to do. I really want to join Equinox so that I can continue intenSati! Nothing at New Yorks Sports Club excites me like intenSati does! It is about $100 extra dollars a month though so I would need to cut back on something big! We’ll see! I have this debate with myself almost every month! I do think it would be worth it because I leave there feeling so happy every day. They also have a million other great classes too. I have a week to decide so I will keep thinking about it.

After class today, I refueled with a delicious breakfast sandwich from the deli nearby. I got egg whites, mushrooms, spinach, and feta cheese on whole wheat toast.

I also got a beer iced coffee!

Last night after work I went to intenSati again! I told you I was an addict. It was a great, hot class! The air was broken but hey…more of a detox right? I love that we were twice as loud yelling the affirmations at 6:30 this morning than at 6:30 last night. There was just so much energy today. Maybe because it is Friday? I liked the trancy, fast music today too!

Mari and I headed over to Whole Foods for dinner last night after class. I made a salad beast!

It contained vegan tuna salad, steamed kale, bean salad, zucchini, edamame, broccoli, quinoa, feta cheese, and probably 5 other things! We both wanted something sweet afterwards so we decided to go to The Lite Choice! There is one in Union Square where we were but we decided to walk 2 avenues further so we could use my Living Social coupon. I bought a coupon for 8 servings of TLC for half price! We got to the 7th Avenue location and it was closed because of an electrical failure. We decided to walk another 10 blocks to the 23rd street location. They did not take my coupon but it was completely worth the $4.00!

I got 1/2 Chocolate and 1/2 Scoopstachio with crunchies. Scoopstachio is their brand new flavor so I had to try it! It tasted like a mix of peanut butter and mint. I loved all the different flavors going on in my cup! We decided to walk while eating so we ended up walking another mile and a half to the subway! We like our exercise!

In other news, I can now write A.A.D.P next to my name! I got my certificate for the American Associatian of Drugless Practioners yesterday! I also graduate from Integrative Nutrition this weekend! It went by so fast! I am officially a health coach and am offering free one-hour health consultations so let me know if you are interested! We can do it over the phone if you don’t live in New York. You can also sign up for my health coaching newsletter below for more wellness tips and recipes.

Sign up for my Email Newsletter

Besides school this weekend, I have a Core Fusion class planned, Mari’s birthday dinner at 5 Burro, and some other celebrations since tomorrow is National Tequila Day! Can’t wait!

1) Are you planning on celebrating National Tequila Day tomorrow? I plan to celebrate all weekend!!

2) How do you like your coffee? Lately I’ve been getting iced coffee with soy milk from the deli. No sugar necessary!

Thanks for reading! Have a nice weekend!

Related posts:

1. The IntenSati Situation
2. Pizza and Beer!
3. Are you Inspired?

Happy Thursday! I never though I would say this but I think I am getting used to waking up at 4:30 in the morning! I woke up this morning at 4:30 but unfortunately there are no morning intenSati classes on Thursdays! I could not fall back asleep so I started checking the Core Fusion schedules on my phone! There was a class at 6:15 that I seriously considered going to but I knew I could use more sleep. I also have an intenSati class planned for after work so I wanted to rest. After a half hour of staring at the ceiling,  I got up and had a snack. Finally I fell back asleep. It is funny how a snack in the middle of the night always helps me fall back asleep! It is also kind of annoying! Oh well, I slept another 2 hours and now I feel better! At least I know waking up at 4:30 tomorrow morning for intenSati will be somewhat easy (as long as I don’t drink too much tonight). I have a Whole Foods date with Mari after class tonight and luckily they don’t let you drink in there! I should be good to go!

So…you might be wondering what I snacked on at 5:00 in the morning! A few days ago I received a lifetime supply of bread from a company called Manna Bread.

9 loaves of bread heaven!! I stuck 8 of them in the freezer and chose one that sounded delicious, Fruit and Nut!

Manna breads are a cake-like, sprouted bread, yeast free bread, organic bread, free of salt, no oils, no sweeteners, no leavening agents.

Fruit & Nut Stats(per 2oz slice/56g): 140 Cals, 1g fat, 7mg sodium, 27g carbs, 6g fiber, 16g sugar, 6g protein

Ingredients: Sprouted organic wheat kernels, filtered water, organic raisins, organic dates, organic almonds, organic cashews, organic hazelnuts, organic cinnamon, organic nutmeg, organic oatmeal

I loved this bread! It was sweet from the dates and raisins and filling from the cashews and hazelnuts. The only problem is that the bread is not pre-sliced so it is hard to just have one serving! Next time I will slice the bread right away when I open a new package! I also enjoyed the bread with breakfast yesterday morning:

It makes a wonderful addition to Greek yogurt! I can’t wait to try the other flavors!

For lunch I had my monthly lunch date with Marina at Sea Thai. I started with my usual Roasted Tofu Salad. I love the peanut dressing it comes with!

I got the Steamed Mix for my main course (select vegetables, tofu, brown rice, and pepper sauce).

I loved the pretty rice display! This dish used to come with white rice so I was happy that they changed it to brown. We chatted for a while and tried to stalk the movie that was filming across the street but no luck seeing anyone famous!

After work I met my roomy and we went to Friday’s for some drinks and dinner. We started off at the one in Penn Station because we saw that they had happy hour. They were supposed to be $4.50 each. I got the bill and they were $9.00 each! I asked the bartender and he said that the happy hour drinks basically have no alcohol in them. He said he would dump the full-priced drinks out and make the weak happy hour drinks instead. Of course I did not let him throw out my strong drink!  Just one did the trick for my 45 minute commute home!

We left Penn Station and decided to go to the Friday’s in Queens because the bartender knows us and only charges us for half of the drinks we order. I got 2 more cosmos but he only charged me for one. I don’t enjoy the food at Friday’s but this bartender makes the drinks super strong for free! Of course I will keep coming back!

I went with the Cobb Salad. It is actually one of the lower calorie items on the menu (574) I get it without the blue cheese and olives and get the dressing on the side so it is even less than that.

I gave most of the cheddar cheese to the roomy and barely ate the chicken because it scares me there. Maybe I should just order a giant salad with avocado and hard boiled eggs from now on when I go there. The remainder of the salad was good at least! Oh and the dessert was good! We split the Caramel Cheesecake but I only had a few bites because 3 cosmos was enough of a dessert for me!

Thanks to my awesome bartender friend, 4 drinks, 2 dinners, 1 side, and dessert was $37.00. Mission accomplished.

1) If you eat at Friday’s, what is your favorite menu item?

2) Are you a bread or a wrap kind of person?

Related posts:

1. Pizza and Beer!
2. Are you Inspired?
3. Thirsty Thursday

Happy Friday! Let’s start things off by choosing the winner of the Omron GoSmart Pace/Distance Tracker Giveaway!

Random Integer Generator
Here are your random numbers:

11
Timestamp: 2010-07-16 13:36:40 UTC

The winner is….Mari! Congrats girl! Hope you enjoy your new pace/distance tracker!! Just in time for your birthday!!

Back to yesterday….

I was craving cereal in the morning so I stopped at the nearby deli for some breakfast ingredients.

I can’t be trusted with large boxes of cereal so the single serving Kashi bowls are perfect! I made a delicious yogurt mess!

The deli has a new kitten! So cute!

I’ve been bringing lunch every day this week. I made a turkey and cheese wrap with Food Should Taste Good chips and cucumbers on the side.

After work I had another intenSati class! The class was actually a special event hosted by Well+GoodNYC. Anyone who is a subscriber to their newsletter was invited to attend intenSati for free last night! It was perfect for me since I am not allowed to do the Warrior Challenge! The class was really fun and led by Natalia, my favorite teacher. She always has so much energy and keeps letting me on her guest list! Love her! The Well+Good girls gave away a Lululemon gift bag at the end but unfortunately I did not win. One of my blog readers was at the event too so she came up to me to introduce herself. That always makes me feel special! I think the Well+Good girls took a lot of pictures during the class so I will be sure to let you know when they are posted (unless they are extremely embarrassing)!

**Edited to add: Here is the link to the article! You can see me in the 2nd picture!

After class Mari and I walked over to Whole Foods for some dinner! I made an awesome salad!

It contained avocado kale salad, seaweed salad, broccoli, beets, peppers, eggplant, tofu, and more! We sat outside and people watched while eating.  We got some very weird looks while taking pictures of our food!

I probably should have went home and went to bed after that because I had another 6:30 am intenSati class planned! I got invited to the W Hotel so I ended up going out for some drinks instead! I had 3 Stellas by the end of the night. I totally planned on just having 2 drinks but the bartender brought me out a free one. No complaints here!

Next thing I know, it is 1:30 in the morning and everyone decided they wanted some pizza! I could not resist a slice when I saw this:

So good!! Probably not the best idea to eat that at 2:00 am when I had plans to wake up at 5:00 am for a workout! I obviously woke up feeling dehydrated and nauseous so I decided it would be smart to sleep for another 3 hours and skip intenSati for the morning! There is a free outdoor intenSati class at 5:30 tonight so maybe I will take that one instead! I definitely still want to work out at some point today after all the pizza and beer last night! I’m not sure what else is going on this weekend but I do have an 8-mile hike on Sunday! The best part is that there will be a wine tasting at the end of the hike! Talk about a motivator! Can’t wait!

1) What are you looking forward to this weekend?

2) What was your favorite workout this week?

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I’m sure you guys all know my love for Mexican and margaritas by now. I put the only two Mexican restaurants in my neighborhood to test this weekend. On Friday I went to 5 Burro and on Saturday I went to Garcia’s. I was not planning on having Mexican 2 nights in a row but it is kind of tough to find a decent restaurant where I live. I refuse to eat at Friday’s and Applebee’s again (even if their drinks are half-priced!) I tried Garcia’s back in October of 2009 (thank you blog) and remembered the food being pretty decent. Garcia’s is one of the only restaurants with outdoor seating in the area so that was the determining factor in trying it again.

5 Burro Cafe never disappoints me. It is nice to know that I only need one frozen margaritas to feel tipsy there. It is hard to get drunk for just $8.00 in
New York these days.

At other restaurants, I order a margarita on the rocks with silver tequila since it is a lot less calories. I learned that at 5 Burro, non-frozen margaritas are $1.00 more and half the size so I need 2 or 3 to get drunk. I decided to just stick with 1 frozen margarita there since I know how strong they are.

I went with the Lobster Mexican Salad as my main course.

I love how generous they are with their lobster . I am always impressed by how fresh and delicious it tastes for a Mexican restaurant! My friend and I shared some rice and beans on the side.

We also got some guacamole. Perfect salad!!

My friend ordered the spicy sausage 5 Burro Quesadilla. I had a taste and it was delicious!

Sometimes the food can take a little long at 5 Burro but on Friday the service was great. We were there at 6:00 which is earlier than usual so that could be why. I wish 5 Burro had outdoor seating like Garcia’s!

We ate at Garcia’s around 9:30 pm so we got a seat outside right away. I decided to order a margarita on the rocks because I was not sure how the frozen drinks would compare to the ones at 5 Burro. I asked for a large margarita with silver tequila since silver is a little healthier than gold.  On the menu it said the margarita was $11.00. Our server said okay but came back 2 minutes later and told me the only silver tequila they had was Patron so the drink would cost $28.00. I was not paying $17.00 extra dollars for silver tequila! I could buy an entire dinner for $28.0o somewhere else! She told me the drinks had 4 shots of tequila. I still was not paying almost $30 for a drink so I went with the house tequila instead.

The drink did not even taste that strong but whatever. I went with the Vegetarian Fajitas for dinner.

Hello grease!  The fajitas were so much greasier than the ones at 5 Burro. I enjoyed some rice and beans on the side. I asked for extra guacamole instead of sour cream. The waitress said that the meal already came with guacamole. Did she not understtand that I wanted extra? Ugh. I did not argue.

My friend ordered the Mexican pizza but the waitress said they ran out of the sausauge (the main topping of the pizza). Instead she got Steak Fajitas which was also extremely greasy.

I needed more alcohol since my large margarita with “4 shots” did nothing so I played it safe and got a Corona Light.

The meal ended up costing double what we payed at 5 Burro the night before. I will never go back there. I don’t know where they get off charging so much for weak drinks and lower quality food. Glad I gave it one more try though! Looks like I am sticking with my 5 Burro Cafe forever!

1) What is your favorite Mexican restaurant?

2) What do you do if you have a bad restaurant experience? Write a letter? Blog about it? Never go back?

I am choosing the Michael Season’s Chip Giveaway! winner tomorrow!

Check out by post on Hollaback Health about 6 ways to get your readers involved!

Related posts:

1. 5 Burro Cafe and Tequila Fun!
2. NYE and Five Burro Cafe!
3. Will the Margaritas Pass the Test?

Morning! I just got back from an awesome intenSati class with Mari!We were up at 4:45 in the morning again for our 6:30 am class! Crazy but worth it. Unfortunately I’m not sure if I can go 4 days a week now. Last week I mentioned that I may not be able to participate in the July Warrior Challenge. The final decision was no.  I am still very upset. The rules of the challenge said that you would have to attend 4 intenSati classes a week for the month of July. Two of the classes had to be morning classes. It also said that you cannot participate in a challenge twice. I did participate in one back in January but I figured I would apply anyway just in case they had extra room. I thought that I would have a chance at getting in since it was summer and the challenge involved 6:30 am classes! Turns out there are 90 people in the challenge! Who knew? Anyway, a day after I applied, I was accepted. In fact, I got this email 3 times:

CONGRATULATIONS!! You have been accepted to our Warrior Challenge Rise & Shine!

Your Team name is Team Determination!

We are looking forward to meeting you and supporting you on having an awesome summer!

Go to satilife.com to order an IntenSatiDVD for a friend before July 2nd. We recommend intention and power. Send us your invoice number to verify you have ordered the dvd no later than July 2nd.

I was excited and figured they had enough room for me! I was extra excited when I found out Mari got in too! Mari and I planned our first class together last Friday morning. As I got on the subway at 5 am on Friday, I saw an email on my phone. It said:

Hi Melissa,

You were in a prior challenge.
Requirements:
Only open to non members who have never participated in previous challenges. If you despute it could you let us know how?

Thank you,
The Sati Life Team

This was sent to me at 12:30 am the night before the first class! I would have been fine with the whole thing if they had never accepted me in the first place. As soon as I got the acceptance email, I put my gym membership on hold! I also spent $23.00 for the intenSati DVD that I was required to purchase. They should have checked to see who was in previous challenges as soon as people applied. Instead they just accepted people right away and checked the night before. I was able to attend the kick-off class but my name was taken off the list after that. I emailed the Sati-Life Team and told them my situation. I explained that I put my gym membership on hold after they accepted me so now I was stuck with nowhere to workout for a whole month. I also said that I wanted to review the challenge on my blog and asked if there was any way they could make an exception. They still said no.

Luckily I still have some other options. Even though they rejected me, they were very nice about it. They gave me all of the instructor’s emails and said that I could try to get on their guest lists.  As soon as I heard this, I emailed 3 different teachers and asked if I could be added to their guest list for classes this week. All of the teachers said yes! I was able to go last night and this morning. I am also on the list for Friday and Sunday morning. I am good to go this week but I am kind of worried about the rest of the weeks in July. I’m not sure how often they let you on a guest list. I will definitely email them again for next week though and give it a shot. Luckily I have a 10-pack of Core Fusion classes as a backup plan! I think I should be fine!

Wooh…I think I got a workout just from typing that story! Let’s move onto some eats from yesterday. I know this looks nasty….

…but it was delicious! That brown stuff is apple butter! It gave my mushroom omelet a deliciously, sweet flavor.

Lunch was another wrap!

Tuna, lettuce, and Eggland’s Best hard boiled eggs. I made a ton of hard boiled eggs last week so I’ve been trying to figure out new ways to use them!

As I mentioned before, I went to intenSati after work with Mari. We were both starving afterwards and Whole Foods happened to be down the street! I made a nice big salad of course.

It contained yucca fries, quinoa, kale, bok choy, sweet potatoes, beets, etc. Mari got some great looking sushi! I am getting it next time!

I always crave soft serve after Whole Foods so I finished the night with The Lite Choice!

I got half Vanilla and half Chocoleche with crunchies. It never gets old. I needed the cold dessert because my air conditioning is broken so I had to sleep in a 90 degree room. Luckily my dad is coming to New York later to save the day. He used to own an air conditioning business so I am good to go! Okay, I am off to go chug some more coffee! I’ve been awake for way too long!

1) Besides going to the gym, what other kind of workouts do you enjoy?

2) What is your favorite way to use hard boiled eggs?

Related posts:

1. IntenSati Addict and AADP Certified!
2. New Challenge: intenSati Warrior!
3. Core Fusion Sale & New Challenge!

Happy July! I wanted to let you guys in on a little deal before I get started! A few of you have emailed me expressing interest in attending my school, Institute for Integrative Nutrition. They are holding an Independence Day special where if you enroll by Tuesday, July 5, you will receive a $300 tuition scholarship plus a “Let Freedom Ring” gift bag .

Here’s what’s in the “Let Freedom Ring” gift bag:

• 7 Habits of Highly Effective People 50 Card Deck
• Achieve Everyday Journal
• EnviroSax MiniSax
• Goji Cranberry Cacao superfood bars by graduate Moria Felber
• How to Find the Work You Love book
• Strengths Finder book
• Write it Down Make it Happen book
• IIN logo goodies

Just call (877) 730-5444 to speak with an Admissions Advisor about enrolling. You don’t have to live in New York to attend because they have a distance learning program. Feel free to e-mail me with any questions about the school! Also, if you mention my name when enrolling, I will personally send you an extra $50.00 check! Let me know if you are interested

Yesterday’s Eats

I’ve been having the same breakfast every single morning this week: a Chocolate Banana Burger!

It doesn’t get much better than that! I finally ran out of the Nature’s Pride wheat buns so looks like I’ll have to move on! Dark Chocolate Dreams peanut butter is dangerous in my apartment anyway. I will explain later. The tub is almost gone just after 1 week. Oy.

I brought a lovely lunch to work! I made a salad with a Morningstar Farms Mushroom Lovers burger, avocado, hard boiled egg, and grilled mushrooms.

Delicious lunch! I also brought a snack to munch on for the side. The folks over at Smile.ly sent me Snikiddy Cheddar Cheese baked fries to try out.

About the fries:

• 50% less fat than regular potato chips
• Gluten and wheat free
• No preservatives
• No corn syrup
• No trans fats
• Low in saturated fats
• No hydrogenated oils

I liked that there were a ton of fries in the bag for just 130 calories. I don’t think I would buy them because the ingredient list is just way too long and they don’t really have any nutritional value. They were fun to munch on though! I guess they are a better option than french fries!

After work I went to the gym and did 30 minutes on the elliptical and some hand weights. I also walked outside for another half hour to pick up a package at my sister’s. I made up for not going to the gym in the morning!

I made another fun salad for dinner!

It contained salmon cake bites, edamame, mushrooms, avocado, and hard boiled eggs. I used my cool egg slicer that I got at the Eggland’s Best event!

So fun! It made slicing my eggs much easier. Daisy spotted the hummus on my plate.

One more…

I had an intense chocolate craving after dinner, like always. I searched my fridge and freezer and found a Chocolate Heart Thrive bar. I heated it up in the microwave for 30 seconds and then went a little dessert crazy….

Apparently just the bar itself was not enough. I wanted more chocolate for dipping! Then I saw a banana and decided that it would be fun to dip in the chocolate peanut butter. Then I saw whipped cream and decided to make it like a sundae! It was delicious! That was all fine until I went in the fridge again. I made myself another banana chocolate burger earlier in the evening to bring for breakfast today and just could not let it sit there. I ate half of that too. Blah. I guess I can’t make such a good breakfast that involves chocolate the night before because it is too tempting! Maybe it is just a bad time of month.  I don’t know. I didn’t let it get to me. Instead I just set my alarm for 5:45 am and hit up the gym this morning. I knocked out 45 minutes of cardio plus some arm weights. Good to go. I was just sad this morning when I only had half of a breakfast left! I ate it as my pre-gym snack. Perfect. I will try to be a better intuitive eater today. It was just one of those nights!

1) Do you struggle with intuitive eating? Can you stop when you are full even if you are craving something?

2) Are there any foods you crave after a meal? Chocolate and fruit for me!

Related posts:

1. Veggie Burger Competition
2. Feel the Burn
3. Mexican and Ice Cream Fiesta!

Hello! The weekend went by too fast! I had Nutrition School so I didn’t get much of a weekend. Class was amazing as always! I woke up bright and early Saturday morning and made some breakfast before heading to school.

I made a mushroom omelet with American cheese on a Nature’s Pride whole wheat bun courtesy of Foodbuzz. I am loving these buns! I’ll show you some more creations I made with the buns in my next post.

Who needs McDonald’s breakfast sandwiches when you can make this?

In the morning Dr. Mark Hyman, author of Ultrametabolism spoke to us. I read his book a few years ago so I was pretty excited to see him in person. He was amazing and so inspirational. I think I am going to read his book again!

For lunch I went to a fancy Chinese restaurant called Shun Lee with my health coach. Every student is assigned a health coach that graduated from the school last year. I was required to speak to my coach about 6 times during the course of the semester. I had lunch with her and 4 other students who had the same coach. It was nice to see her after speaking to her so much on the phone the last couple of months!

We got there and she had already ordered a few appetizers for the table.

The most delicious string beans I’ve ever had…

Tofu with grilled vegetables…

Broccoli…

My plate:

It was the perfect lunch! We ended up ordering another string bean appetizer since it was so good. Loved this place!

Later in the afternoon, Howard Lyman spoke to us. He used to be a cattle farmer but eventually turned vegan after seeing what went on in the factory farms. We watched some very disturbing videos. He said what went on in real life was even worse than the videos. He even got sued with Oprah when he went on her show and told her the truth about the beef. After 6 years, they won the case. He was another very inspiring speaker.

After school I met my friend Kaity for a nice cold beer!

I got a grilled chicken sandwich with goat cheese and avocado for dinner at the bar.

I pretty much stuck with the salad, avocado, and goat cheese. Those videos from school kept popping up in my head! 

A few hours and a few beers later, we left the bar and got some pizza. I got mushroom and cheese. So good!

On Sunday I made the same breakfast before school! I had the other half of the bun while the eggs were cooking because I was too hungry to wait, lol.

I made it a much healthier day after 4 beers and pizza the night before! I got some Whole Foods for lunch!

I spent 45 minutes of my lunch walking through Central Park. My legs are STILL sore from my race! Those 3 miles really wore me out! Our final speaker was Paul Pitchford, MS, author of Healing with Whole Foods. He spoke to us for 3 hours about…everything! One more book for me to add to the list!

I was so inspired from the class weekend that I headed over to Westerly Market and stocked up on tons of organic vegetables. I got home and started cooking!

Kale chips:

Roasted broccoli and onions:

Roasted asparagus (the kitchen was 90 degrees…hence the fog):

I set my fire alarm off 3 times. We don’t have air conditioning in the kitchen or vents for the smoke! All of the veggies still turned out great! I cooked them with coconut oil, lemon juice, pepper, and garlic powder. Now I have lots of veggies to snack on this week!

I made a nice dinner with the vegetables:

A Morningstar Farms Mushroom Lover’sburger with salad, roasted veggies and hummus. I also had some grapes and raw chocolate for dessert! It felt nice to prepare a bunch of veggies on a Sunday! The only problem is that I snacked on so many while cooking that I probably only have enough for 2 more meals! Oh well! Better than no veggies at all!

1) What is your favorite way to prepare veggies?

2) What fun and exciting new food did you eat this weekend?

Related posts:

1. More Fun at School and Skinny Margaritas!
2. 1st Day of School!
3. Falling Veggies