Oh Today…

You have yet to out-do me!  Mwahaha! 

I’ve been up since 5am again, did 6 hrs of surveying, drove 2 hrs to get there and back, exercised (abs, calastinics, etc.), intermittedly ate, and am now going up to Orlando driving one hour there and back to go clubbing…or bar hopping…whatever ends up happening.  And I still feel ok.  Not bad for lil old me…who is usually tired by 7pm! Hahaha!  But it’s the start of my weekend so damnit, I’m going out with a BANG!

Lets get onto eats, shall we?

Breakfast at 5.30am in the dark..hahaha…same as yesterday but w/ dried cranberries added to the kashi go lean almond flax crunch, unsweetened almond breeze and banana w/ cinnamon.  Out the door by 6am in the freeeeezing weather!  Holy cracker it was cold (for FL or my CA gene standards).

I had this stashed in my life jacket for needed fuel…but it was so cold outside and on the boat that the freak’n thing FROZE and was as hard as a rock to eat…but still delicious!  dipped chocolate peanut mojo…which i noticed is being loved by miss lee at For the Love of PB.

By lunch we had finished the first survey and needed some grub to fill up and be ready for the next survey.  I prepared an italien flat out wrap w/ laughing cow cheese and hummus, lettuce, tomato and cucumber…and on the side, my nice new staple of mixed berries and pb…seriously, i thought my orange/apple/banana was good w/ pb…but plain berries are taking rank!

 

While surveying me and coworkie also worked on a bag of my cookies I made yesterday…i might have eaten around four…:]

got home…blah blah blah…nothing very exciting, I promise…other than whining w/ my coworker about how tired we were and if we really wanted to go out tonight still.  Alas, other coworkers weren’t going to have that, so we’re still going.

But dinner…omg dinner.  I have been wanting cheese soooo bad but because of my lactose intolerance that is IMPOSSIBLE…so I resorted to this: flat out wrap w/ two slices of cheddar soy cheese w/ fresh spinach, carrot w/ hummus and apple w/ cinnamon…The quesadilla of sorts was great but the flavor of the cheese just wasn’t right.  I want my seriously sharp cheddar cheese damnit!  I’m sad now…

Oh yeah, and I might have also had some mint chocolate truffle kisses that have been moching me from my freezer for the past month…those stupid 6 pieces of heaven! 

K, off to get ready for night out!  it’s us three girls and boss man…we shall see how the night goes…hopefully nothing too crazy…but seeing as how we living the boondocks we get a little stir-crazy…hehehe!

Not As Planned, but Still had FUN!

Soooo…we left at 6.20, in the pouring, torrential rain, on our hour drive to Saint John’s Marsh to do two surveys which would have taken about 8 hours to complete.  We got there at 7.30, and I was starving by then, so I chowed down on this snackeroo…and now I remember why I don’t buy this flavor…it tastes horrendously fake.  I liked the smores one a lot, but have yet to try the others…if only I could find there in my no-where land!

So the rain was still comin down, but that doesn’t stop us…so we got the boat ready and set to go out, got it in the water…then got a call from my boss that even though the rain had stopped, we were in a lull and that a huge front was going to be coming through in a few hours.  That would have been bad news for us.  So, we bailed.  Dangit.  That means we have to do it tomorrow…another 5am morning wake up!

We ended up hitting an outlet mall on the way home (hehe…bad workers) and i got a pair of capris at the GAP outlet, and a plate at the corelle store…hehe!  I also got Meghann’s bday present!  ;)

By the time we got home I was famished so I had my prepacked lunch: arnold’s thin w/ laughing cow and hummus, tomato and lettuce, mango, and strawberries w/ natural pb.  Such a great lunch!

We worked on a bunch of stuff around the trailer and I had snack…I was so hungry!  I seriously hadn’t done anything as of that time so I was totally going crazy; why I was so hungry!?  I started w/ an apple and cinnamon, then had my trusty kashi sunshine cereal…I’m addicted…or obsessed?

 

As we were hanging out the UPS man showed up with a FUN BOX FOR MOI!!!  I couldn’t remember what it might be, but I was excited for it’s contents:

WILD GARDEN HUMMUS!!!  I won this during a contest through Back in Skinny Jeans and was totally happy to receive it today!  The great thing about this hummus is that it doesn’t have to be refrigerated so I can easily take it out in the field with me!  A blessing in disguise!

I’m super stoked to try this stuff once I finish my other hummus, so stay tuned for a review on their traditional and roasted garlic hummus!

We weren’t doing much by the afternoon so I decided to bake…since I have a near dozen bananas that are ripe and ready to be eaten.  I decided to make some healthy cookies and based my recipe off of this one found on FatFree Vegan’s blog.

Lower-fat-peanut-butter-banana-cookies:

• 1/2C dark chocolate dreams pb from pb &co.
• 1/2C brown sugar
• 2 smashed bananas
• 1 1/2C all purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• Generous sprinkle of cinnamon
• 1/2C semi-sweet chocolate chips

Bake at 375 for 10 minutes and you have wonderful cookies!

I used what I had and since a grocery store is not readily available: Presto!  My two lady coworkers really liked them and said they could still taste the bananas but loved the chocolate chips and the tasty pb-ness of it all.  Success!

I went out for a short 30 minute, +3 mile run, and then lifted weights and did calastinics for another 45 minutes.  It’s amazing to me how fast I lose my strength!

But, on my run I did make my way to the mail box and found this waiting graciously for me from Biz at Biggest Diabetic Loser.  My WHOLE FOODS GIFT CARD courtesy of my win w/ Meghann for our Sushi BSI entry!  We’re going to be going out to lunch at WF with these cards so stay tuned for that too!  (P.S. Biz, I LOVE YOUR HAND WRITING!!!!)

And since I was on a roll, I decided to make a homemade dinner for myself!  Yes!  If there is one thing about me, it’s that I’m afraid to use ground/fresh spices. I believe it’s because the one time I made something from scratch from spices, it came out so strong I wanted to hurl and ever since then have been afraid to make anything from scratch with spices.  But tonight, was another SUCCESS!  I made SNOBBY JOES from my lovely Veganomicon cookbook that I bought myself and trugged along w/ me to FL!

 

I had it w/ an arnold’s thin and some more of my spaghetti squash…It was pretty good but I felt like I was missing something…I didn’t use the mustard of maple syrup because I didn’t have either…but I’m thinking because I didn’t have fresh garlic and had to use powder that might have made a difference?  Maybe…whatever; it was still delicious!  I can’t wait to have the rest (I have three servings left!).

Alright, off to get ready for tomorrow’s duties and adventures…oh, and yes, my blogroll did grow exponentially because I FINALLY got around to updating it!  Geez!

Another 15 hr day

Hey.  Quick post for this morning before a very long day today.  My leg is ok after the slip/ fall but still very very soar.  I have a very long day ahead of me today (since it start at 5am) so i’ll try to update tonight and read/comment but bear with me!  i have work tomorrow too but my weekend starts sunday till monday!  Here was breakfast quick this morning: Almond honey flax kashi cereal w/ banana and unsweetened almond breeze.

 

and for your amusement, this is my bar stash.  that is a full size target reusable bag chock full of bars…hahah…think there’s enough?

Later.

My left leg currently hates me

I did a nice one on my leg today, falling off the trailer, into the water trying to get the boat off…

Don’t look at these pictures and scroll past them if you’re a bit weery when it comes to scrapes and stuff…I mean, it’s not bad, but it’s not the most pleasant thing to look like.  I just like sharing my misfortunes.  Hah.

 

The picture is angled looking down from my knee cap to my ankles…the cut is just below the knee cap and the gash is on my shin.

You can see the bruise starting to form w/in 5 minutes of getting hit…it’s located just below my big toe, just below the strap…can you see the purple? 

 

I sure am glad I’m able to laugh about this kind of stuff.  It sure did hurt like a mo-fo but we had surveys to do and birds to GPS so I did my best to alcohol wipe it, bandage it up and get on with it.  It still hurts 8 hrs later plus two Tylenol extra strengths and some chocolate…hehe!

Anyhow, food is much more interesting to look at!  I started off the day early w/ a hopefully hearty and different breakfast of sorts.  It was my normal cranberry/cinnamon/banana/nut oats but this time I mixed up the walnuts w/ some of the sunflower seeds and soynuts from my trail mix last night for the crunch I like in my oats.  It turned out wonderful!  I’m def using this again in my breakfast oats!

We headed out, I had my little extravaganza, and then after retaping and bandaging I had a quick lunch.  I had a Rudy’s honey wheat bagel w/ laughing cow, tomato slices and pepper.  On the side I had a bowl of berries.  So good!

We got back and I was hungry again, seeing as how lunch was so light.  I started off w/ an apple and chocolate dreams pb, then had some kashi sunshine, times 2.  Great snacky snack!

I’m in the midst of taking an online exam so I have to get to that but i plan on attacking the last two of my brownies i made w/ meghann last weekend right after I’m finished!  I’ve got an idea for dinner in my head so stay tuned for that! 

15 Hour Day

Yes, that is how my day went.  I hope I’m so exhausted I get a good night’s sleep tonight because I have two lakes to survey tomorrow.  Bah.

More of a picture post tonight…but there will be some text…not a lot though.  I need to shower and BED!

These are what I worked on all morning…tying lots of fun fun knots on snails!

 

Then proceeded to help install a 100 gallon gas tank and weather proof storage box to the back of a truck…I was much dirtier than this.

 

Lunch!  Tried the Quorn Chick’n burgers and omg they are divine!  Like really breaded chicken patties.  I’m in love.  On an arnold’s thin w/ mustard, side of carrot and hummus, and apple.

 

Around 5 after getting off the lake and getting soaked because it rained, we had a snack…I had my zbar…Bossman tried out the new quacker bar I got because he was hungry too, and I was willing to share.

Excuse my finger in the picture.  He said he liked it, but didn’t want the dark chocolate pieces; not a fan.  But overall enjoyed it!

More errands and installing gas valves and filters and shit…dinner was picked up at Publix at the last minute…garden salad w/ vinaigrette and some trail mix on the side…there was soynuts, cashews, walnuts, almonds, sunflower seeds, raisins and chocolate chips.  I ate all the chocolate chips…I was hungry, tired and just exhausted. hehe.  They were GOOD.

Off to BED NOW!

Bad Night of Sleep

I had to be such a ranter, but I have not been able to get a good night’s sleep in over about two weeks!  I keep waking up in the middle of the night, extremely exhausted, and totally uncomfortable…does that make sense?  I mean, I’m all warm and comfy in my bed, but my body just isn’t happy with me…

So as I layed there last night, after waking up 5 times before, I was trying to figure out why I was not being able to sleep well.  Stress?  Work does stress me out, but I’ve def had worse stress than this.  Exercise?  No, still not sleeping well when exercising, though it does tend to help.  Eating?  Hrm…this could be it.  Is my uncomfortable-ness from a lack of eating normal meals? 

Let’s put it this way, I looked back on yesterday, thought of all the things I did throughout the day (activity wise) and looked at the amount of food I ate…then calculated (roughly, which I try very hard to stay away from…very triggering) and simply are not getting in enough cals.  I’m going to try for bigger meals today that I can have when I’m able to sit down at the trailer and eat, but as far as out in the field goes, we always get caught up in stuff that food/hunger is the last thing on our minds.  But the thing is, this uncomfortable feeling at night is not like the normal hunger that I get during the day…no growling tummy or anything…Do any of you wake up in the middle of the night sometimes from hunger?  Does is feel different than your hunger during the day?  How can you tell?

Anyhow…woke up 15 minutes before my alarm and started getting ready for the day.  It’s gonna be a long one.  But I enjoyed breakfast!  Around a cup each of Kashi sunshine and Kashi H2H, spoonful each of dried blueberries and cranberries and an orange…which was disappointing because it was so sour and tart.  Eep!

K, off to tie snail nooses!  I’ll be back tonight!

The Joys of Mistakes and Stress

It has just been one of those days. 

Mistake number one: forgot to photo breakfast.  It was nothing special, but it was pretty…oats w/ dried blueberries, cinnamon, walnuts and apple…

Didn’t hold me over long so I had the TLC pumpkin bar in the car…the other two are in the picture because I brought them along, but ended up not eating them at all out in the field.

We headed out to Lake Toho to do some trapping and came upon another problem.  Stressor number one: boat won’t start.

Then, we figured it was the started for the engine so we took it off to put on the new one and found out: it’s for the wrong side = Stressor number two.

We finally got out on the boat to a place where we wanted to trap some kites…that went fine.  We put out the traps and waited…and I had part of my lunch.  Arnold’s thin w/ hummus, tomato and spinach, two strawberries…

Then one swooped down to get our snail and instead of getting caught, ran off w/ our snail, all nooses attached…Stressor number three.  So we went on a wild goose chase of the bird to make sure it would drop the snail and not get snagged in the nooses, therefore having a snail permanently attached to it.  Joy.

Then as soon as we got back, barely settled from the last incident, another bird got caught…Yay for the day!  We caught a kite!  Got it out of the noose, onto the boat and started doing all the measurements and such…then we put the radio tracker on it, tied and glued it all up…and it didn’t fit = Stressor number four.  Tried to just cut off the knot; didn’t work = Stressor number five.  Went to try putting the second radio on: chipped the radio tracker = Stressor number six.  Had to make all new radio tracker w/ string that is very desagreable and finally finished…What a relief!  Then, let the bird go.  Whew!

Got back and I had to back the trailer into the water to put the boat in…i simply couldn’t do it.  Bossman had to come into the car with me and take me through it step by step…I was on the verge of tears I was so stressed out = Stressor number seven.

Ran off to the city to get a gas tank and pump for the back of our truck and headed home…where I had a very interesting, eye-opening and revitalizing conversation with my boss about dating…it made me feel much better…I think because I am coming out of such a long term relationship (ie EIGHT YEARS) it has been hard for me to really understand and enjoy dating…but we talked and I felt a whole lot better afterwards…sometimes boys are the best ones to talk to about these things!

Anyhow, by the time we got home it had been almost 6 hrs since I had eaten my lunch.  I had originally packed this as part of my lunch and the bars as a snack, but never got around to having them.  See the cute thermos!?  It’s just the right size to take out in the field!  I love it!

 

But I ended up eating it at home while waiting for my din-din to cook: strawberries, blueberries and blackberries w/ a spoonful of pb…soooooooooo GOOD!

I decided that i had to have a real home cooked meal tonight and what better than SPAGHETTI SQUASH!!!  I’ve had it sitting around for a while so I finally dug into it…I baked it and somehow it totally flattened out in the baking process…i’d never had that happen before!  Anyhow, had it w/ some Yves veggies crumbles mixed w/ spicy salsa and broccoli…and some TLC crackers on the side for carbs!

And because it has been such a long day…I had one of the brownies Meghann and I made this weekend…ok, I had one and a half…hahaha!

Now I’m off to clean all my dishes, shower then some reading and bed…I’m pooped!  We have another long day tomorrow…so I’m getting geared up for that!  And sorry for the rant of all my stressors today!  Yikes!

I look HOT in a full body wet suit

Actually, I don’t, but I thought it would be an enjoyable title.  More on that later.

After breakfast I went on a nice little bike ride along the country road near my home…it totaled out to almost 9 miles and was a lot of fun!  I came back and did a MTV Power Yoga DVD with my coworker and truthfully, IT SUCKED. 

I HATED this video with all the blood in my heart.  Ok, maybe not that much, but I REALLY REALLY didn’t like it…I think it was because I seriously couldn’t do half the moves and it was going so fast…and because I really don’t like those freak’n sun salutations.  Oh yeah, and I hate downward facing dog too.  Why do I even do yoga!?  It’s supposed to be relaxing and all right?  I never feel like that and damnit, I can’t even get my fingertips past the base of my toes when both of my legs are out…wtf?  I think yoga makes me feel like a failure and that’s why I don’t like it!  Bleck! 

Anyhow, when I finished I was super super hungry and was totally excited for my lunch.  I was going to try out my new pb that I bought, but I wasn’t feeling the chocolate that was in it so I resorted to my good ol’ unsalted natural pb.  I topped an Arnold’s thin w/ the pb, cinnamon, a banana, a tablespoon of bear naked granola and a few cut up dried blueberries.  And I took 3 pictures and couldn’t decide which one i liked the most because they all make me drool…so you get to see all of them. Teehehe!

Yes, I drool.

I headed out with bossman to the Florida Mall to pick up a wet suit to use throughout the season.  I seriously forgot how hard it is to put those things on!  Especially a full body one!  But I put it on in the dressing room and damn, I looked funny.  Hahaha… I seriously just stood there and laughed…this is going to be an interesting survey season when I’m jumping in and out of the water and boat!  Eek! 

We were pretty hungry after walking around and getting lost in the mall so we stopped at the food court.  The healthiest thing I could find was a veggie wrap on whole wheat, but I had to omit the cheese…so it was kinda blah.  But I think I was more upset because I paid almost $7 for it when I could have made it at home for about a dollar.  I hate rip off food.  I ended up eating about 1/2 the tortilla and all the veggies… :(

Anyhow, went and ran a few other errands like picking up our airboat and some hot dogs for the boss man (seriously, he goes through an entire pack in a week…can that really be good for you? hahaha!).

We got back and I checked to mail to find Yay!  A package from foodbuzz!  I’ve seen other people receiving their Quaker bars and I finally got mine today!  I’ve had the macadamia/banana one from when Meghann, Caitlin and I did a blogger exchange, but I’m super stoked to try the other two flavors!  Stay tuned to see reviews of those in the future!

I had a few things to do around the trailer and started to feel hungry again so I settled on this lovely plate of yumminess for a dinner part II:

Arnold’s thin with laughing cow cheese, slices of tomato w/ pepper, an apple w/ cinnamon and carrot sticks…again, can you believe that was just one carrot?  Yeah…madness!

Now I’m off to get ready for bed and because I have an early morning tomorrow out on the lake.  I’m planning some yummy eats that will work out in the field tomorrow so be happy for them in tomorrow’s post!