Such a Softie!

The path we take Hunter on for his evening walk takes us right past our neighborhood grocery store, Henry's, so on many nights I pop in to pick up what I need for that evening's dinner and always emerge with a doggy treat from the bulk bin for our favorite lab.

Only, Henry's has just done away with the bulk doggy treats and tonight, I just could not deal with the look on Hunter's face when I came out from inside the store without a special "prize" for him.

So, even though we have a TON of treats at home, I purchased another box to avoid the guilt.

How could I say no?

After our walk, I warmed up leftover chicken from last night, with quinoa, avocado and sweet red peppers for dinner.  I put it all in an Ezekiel wrap that I heated on a griddle.

I thought this was an interesting tidbit about why Ezekiel utilizes sprouted grains in their product:

Sprouting is the only way to release all the vital nutrients stored in whole grains. The sprouting process activates beneficial enzymes which cause the grains to sprout and become living and nutrient-rich. Stores of vitamins and minerals dramatically increase over the amount available in flour. Sprouting also converts the carbohydrates in grains into maltose, which is ordinarily done by the body during digestion, thereby predigesting nutrients for you. The enzymatic action enables the body to assimilate the vitamins and minerals more efficiently. Plus, the sprouting process naturally increases the protein content and decreases the calories and carbohydrates found in the original grain.

These sprouted grain tortillas are a complete protein and an entire one is only 150 calories.

I also like to warm them with a tiny bit of peanut butter and banana for a low-cal breakfast...hmmm maybe tomorrow!

Michael built a fire outside so its time to relax with my boys and finish up a tiny bit of work!

Good night!

Today

I hit the ground running this morning with my super food packed shake of Fage, Flax Oil, Blackberries, Blueberries and Banana.

And even though I spent the afternoon on the go, I managed to sneak in a small lunch of 1/2 a grilled chicken breast and leftover quinoa from last nights dinner.  I was so hungry and in a rush I scarfed it down before taking a picture!

We've been neglecting Hunter lately and have not gotten him out for his walks.  When I got home, Michael and I spent some quality time with our boy and headed out to explore the neighborhoods of La Mesa.

A hidden gem in the Village is La Torta Cafe with just about every type of Torta you could ever dream up.  On an indulgent day (or a day with a slight hangover), this is worth every little calorie.  On most days however when we are craving La Torta we stop by and order the chicken tortilla soup.

The soup is full of pinto and kidney beans, white chicken breast meat, tomato and a delicious broth.  I order mine without the tortilla strips and without the cheese.

I also headed to my garden and cut greens for my salad.

And topped with yellow bell pepper, tomato and almonds.

Spin Class vs Hunter

Last night, my plan was to come home, drop off Hunter, and head to the gym for a hard core Spin Class workout.  Dressed and ready to go, keys in my hand, I look back and see this.

Now, I should know better than to ever pose what was intended to be an internal monologue audibly in the form of a question to my dog.  Hunter, you want to go for a walk?

Oops!  I mean, later, go for a walk later.  If you have ever tried to rationalize with your dog, you know that it rarely if ever works.  I tried all kinds of bargaining, promised a longer walk and treats if I could only go to Spin first.  But this is what I got.

So, we went on a walk and I skipped the gym. 

But instead of me walking Hunter, he walked me.

We did a long power walk for 45 minutes with a few distractions that slowed us down from time to time.

But it felt good to spend a bit of time with my boy...I totally made his night.

Super Secret Girl Night

Let me start by saying that I am very excited to have Michael home tonight.  He has been on a long trip in D.C. and it will be great to have him home.  Last night however was my long overdue "girl's" night at home alone.  I think all of us can probably relate, whether male or female, kids or no kids, to the appeal of having one solid night of solitude to do absolutely anything you want.

So tonight, after my walk with Hunter, I came home and made myself an iced coffee.  Okay, a slow start to girl's night but still, I love iced coffee in the afternoon.

Then, I checked in on my garden, which has surprisingly provided me with a wonderful calm in my otherwise on-the-go life.  Michael thinks I'm nuts because I go out to the garden every morning and every day when I come home to look at the changes.  I have blooms on the tomatoes, blossoms on the zucchini and rows of micro greens from the lettuces.  I'm in love with this gardening thing!

Yep, that's a squash blossom.  Beautiful right!  I especially love them stuffed with goat cheese and deep fried but I'm going for a healthier, kinder garden and will let this one grow into the squash it wants to be.

And my baby lettuce.  I was actually sad to clip these but quickly got over it.  They were so yummy in my salad!

After time in my garden, I moved on to the next mini indulgence.  Online shopping.  Let me just say, GILT Group is awesome!  I did not buy anything tonight but did plenty of window shopping.

Dinner was totally no fuss.  I microwaved a Cedar Lane low fat Bean, Rice & Cheese Burrito.  All organic, and great topped with a little Fage and salsa!

And of course, a salad.

With a bit of watermelon to cure my sweet tooth.

Next guilty pleasure on girl's night?  Top Chef.  Back, to back, to back episodes followed by the season kickoff.  I'm a Top Chef addict and could watch the episodes again and again, no matter how many times I've seen them.  And, best yet?  We scooped Top Chef and featured Chef Kenny Gilbert at the San Diego Bay Wine & Food Festival.  Oh yeah, we discovered him first!

During commercial breaks I did what a lot of women do when their husbands, boyfriends, girlfriends are away.  I covered my face in a mad scientist mix of beauty products promising to bring out my youthful glow.  I've tried to do facials while Michael is home but he always looks at me like I'm some alien creature who has invaded his wife's body.  Better to do this when he is gone.

Hunter, however, thought I had lost my mind.

Top Chef over, clean pretty skin, and an evening of puttering around online I finally settled in to finish traffic school.  I got a bogus ticket for "rolling" through a stop sign which apparently is not actually safe.  I tried talking (flirting), my way out of it with the cop but it did not work.  For the record, online traffic school is a great way to fall asleep fast!