Dirty Martini, Extra Olives

I have been told that you should love people, and not things.  To this point, I am fortunate to have an over abundance of people and animals in my life to love.  Also to this point, I struggle to find any other way to describe my fondness for dirty martinis other than pure, olive infused love.

As you know, my friends and I have enlisted for another round of Game On which severely limits how often I am able to visit my friend the martini.  Last night however, after our run, I totally indulged.

Shirley, Raz and Michael opted for the Stella.

We started with a couple of appetizers.  I preferred the Ahi over the crab cake but both were pretty tasty. A bite of each was plenty for me, I was as I've said all about the martini.   I've been joking about how long it would take me to forget my camera, well, I finally did it.  I'm sorry about the photo quality but this night they were all taking with my iphone!

I also had the beet salad, without dressing, opting for just balsamic vinegar.  This is my go to when 1) there are not any healthy dressings to pick from and 2) I'd rather be getting my calories in a clear glass containing vodka and olive juice.

And the cedar planked salmon.  I told them to hold on the cream sauce and I was really glad.  The salmon was great without it!

It was a great night with our friends but the day had taken its toll on us.  We were off to bed early and looking forward to a day of sunshine in Discovery Bay.

And The Chico Bag Winner Is!

Since Chico Bag sent me multiples of the Bottle Sling I was able to draw two winners!  Congratulations Liz & Amanda!  If this is your post, please visit Fitness & The Foodie and contact me with your mailing address and I will send you your bag!

#8 Liz:

I went back to journaling what I eat. I KNOW this helps me to be more accountable and helps me, and it's the first step to losing those last 30.



#16 Amanda:

Finished furnishing my patio so I now have a covered seating area where we can enjoy our healthy snacks outdoors instead of in the house in front of the tv!
Amanda W.

There is more fun planned for next week so be sure to keep an eye out!

Doctor Kracker & Funky Monkey

Even though I totally ate the Game On way yesterday, I felt like I had a major snack attack.  It started with my usual Breakfast Bowl of berries, Fage, Flax, Ezekiel and Agave.

Then on to apples with peanut butter, Ezekiel sprouted grain cereal and 1/2 a piece of low fat string cheese.

Followed by a ham, low fat swiss and Orowheat sandwich round for lunch (really tasty!).  Even Hunter could not resist.

And a salad.

Topped off with a bag of Funky Monkey Jivealime with freezedried organic pineapple and lime juice. Funkey Monkey sent me a big box full of all their flavors to try and this was my first.  It is just freezedried fruit and spices, this bag just only 45 calories.  You have to go to their site just to enjoy the music! If you are a label reader like I am you'll really like these snacks.  In fact, Joey in our office tested it out too.  Here's what he had to say:

Thanks for coming through in a jam Michelle. That was timely. I was hungry for a sweet snack and the Funky Monkey Carnival Mix was perfect.

The first thing I pulled out of the bag was a pineapple and it exploded with flavor. Wow. There were pieces of banana, papaya, and apple as well. All very bright and easy to munch on. The package says it contained 1 serving of fruit. No glutens either, whatever those are. I can imagine my 4-year-old liking these things and not wanting to share with me.

When I got home, I was still hungry so I reached for this container of Doctor Kracker Fire Roasted Crips.  Again, when the team at Doctor Kracker asked me if I wanted to try the product I could not resist saying yes!  I'm really happy to find out about these whole grain crisps.  They are oh, so gourmet and feel very decedent but hit the right mark with organic ingredients and low fat content.  Also, high up on my priority list, all the ingredients are whole foods with no chemicles mixed in to preserve the food. I have several more flavors to try but the Fire Roasted Crisp is going to be hard to beat.  If you would like to test them out, their website has a 75 cent off coupon you can download and a link to where you can find the product!

I started thinking, would the yumminess of the Doctor Kracker Fire Roasted Crisp with cheese, sundried tomato, sweet potato, flax seed and jalapeno taste good, say, dipped in peanut butter?  Answer is YES.   This was such a satisfying combo of sweet, salty and spicey!

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!