Bienvenue chez Laduree!!

Friday morning, I mixed up breakfast a bit with a Perfect 10 bagel topped with 1 tbsp. Chocolate Dreams and 1 tbsp. cherry jelly and 1/2 sliced banana. This breakfast held me over forever!! Must be all the protein in that bagel!

My boss just returned from a press tour in Europe, where he made sure to visit Laduree in Paris to get some famous, fresh macaroons to bring back for us! Here is a picture from the company’s site of the macaroons in all their glory…

Gorgeous, no?? The colorful box of sweets got quickly devoured and there were only a few left when I walked by at only 10:30 so I quickly snagged a coconut one and a piece of the pistachio before they all disappeared! My boss also gave me a bite of her caramel one, which was my favorite of the three. Sorry my photo is not nearly as pretty!

I worked through lunch and ended up making a Lean Cuisine veggie ravioli bowl and added a Green Giant Immunity Blend veggie mix to fill me up. It was awesome as always!

The day was a long one. I snacked on a cinnapple but I was too busy for a photo — I’m sure you can picture it by this point!! I worked at 110% capacity until the clock hit 5:15 and then I peaced out. I got home and met up with my sweet love Julia!!! She has been nannying in Laguna all week and I’ve been all on my lonesome 😦

We settled down for some gossip and I had a little more than half this glass of my favorite white, Honey Moon.

Julia convinced me to get off my butt and we walked to Trader Joe’s to pick up some supplies for dinner — gorgeous, gourmet veggie pizzas!!  I brought a piece of red pepper for the walk to hold me over until our late meal.

Back at the apt., I made half white/half whole wheat dough and rolled out 2/3 to make one big pizza. My half had tomato sauce, cheese, eggplant, zucchini, mushrooms, red onions and fresh basil. Julia topped her crust-less half with tomato sauce, extra cheese, eggplant, zucchini, meatless meatball crumbles, red onions, basil and olives. Before and after!

We added lots of crushed red pepper, which totally made the pizza!! We ate our halves while watching the season finale of Gossip Girl. A lil behind, I know. I was dying when Chuck brought Blair her favorite treat from Paris at the end — the same macaroons from Laduree that I ate today!!!!!  I wish we didn’t have to wait for next season to see what happens 🙂

Last night I got the baking bug so I decided to make some chocolate chip cookies for Stephanie’s birthday. Best part about baking for someone else — you still get to taste test!  I had one of these cookies hot from the oven with a huge glass of milk, plus some raw cookie dough of course!!

Three Things for Friday

1. Added extra veggies to my Lean Cuisine
2. Measured out the cheese for my pizza
3. Walked to the grocery store instead of driving

 

“When your cake just doesn’t turn out right…” ~Julia

Today and I are NOT friends!!!!  It was just one of those days. My morning started off with an attempt at shredding right after I got out of bed, but I felt really dizzy only a few minutes in so I got ready for work instead.  My breakfast helped redeem the morning of course 🙂

My day was just looooooooooong. At lunch, I ran to my absolute favorite clothes boutique in Westwood to grab one last belated birthday present for my sister and bumped into Steph!  She is nannying for the cutest two little kids while going to school; the little girl gave me a huge hug after telling me she had to leave to eat her macaroon.  How cute is that?!

I found a fun little diddie for Rach (YAY!) but was about ready to eat my arm off by then.  I decided to grab Poquito Mas because I was SO HUNGRY and really not craving the PB sandwich I brought for lunch.  I needed something with substance!  I got my usual, the Nature’s Grill burrito with tons of delicious veggies and black beans.

The chips were HOT & FRESHy good, so I helped myself to these times 2.

From there, the day just went DOWNhill.  I am trying to get a million things done since I won’t be in the office Friday. Then I got assigned a new client goal to meet that my other coworker basically passed off to me because it’s so hard to get done, ick. FINALLY the day ended and I talked to my mommy about how I probably can’t get back to the East coast for my sister’s graduation part 😦

I knocked off a few errands, including getting a prescription that was supposed to be $252 (!!!!!!!!!) but they finally figured out the generic so I only had to pay my copay.  Dramalama.  Then I went to the gym to stir up some good endorphins only to get there and realize I forgot to pack a sports bra. OHHHHHKAY. So I stopped in the store to pick up frozen fruit for my yogurt mess and of course they were out.  Then my gas light went on while driving home…

My night was saved with a relaxing walk to Trader Joe’s.  They had tons of frozen fruit in stock AND I grabbed my favorite Honey Moon wine. I love this stuff!!!

For dinner I decided to stick with lots of protein and veggies, since I got plenty of carbs at lunch.  Do you love my Christmas red, green, red, green action?!?!

The best thing about my super filling lunch was that it held me for more than seven hours before I got hungry for dinner!  What do you guys prefer, a big lunch and no snack, or a lighter lunch with a late afternoon snack?  I actually prefer a big meal but usually that involves going out to eat so I normally just have a lighter lunch and then a snack.

SO EXCITED for BOSTON!!!! AND RACHEL!!!!! I am going to finish sipping this vino and pack that bag up! Trying to squeeze ten million outfits into a carry-on. We shall see 🙂

Three Things for Wednesday

1. Got my burrito without cheese or sour cream
2. Skipped the afternoon snack
3. No dessert, again, GASP!

 

Weekend Kickoff

I am still kinda full from last night!! Yesterday morning I kicked off the day with a Perfect 10 Western Bagel and 2 tbsp TJ’s whipped light cream cheese.  This combo was only 220 calories! I also added an apple tossed in cinnamon.

At lunch I dug into leftovers from Thursday night.  I love making twice the amount of a really great meal the night before. I had two of these tacos and whatever stuffing I couldn’t pack in there!

I was still a little hungry, and it was Friday, so I treated myself to a grande skinny cinnamon dolce latte.  Continuing the cinnamon theme from breakfast I guess!

I was going to call it a day there since I was planning a big dinner later, but I got hungry around 4 and was going to the gym so I tried the Chocolate Coconut Chew Larabar.

I really love Larabars, and I love chocolate and coconut, so I thought this one would be a sure thing. Honestly though, I couldn’t really taste either flavor.  It did have the amazing staying power of the other bars though, and lasted me through my workout and until I ate dinner at 9:30. Yes, 9:30!

I did 30 minutes on the elliptical and 15 minutes with the assisted dip/chin machine and free weights.  I definitely pushed myself hard for the 45 minutes and could really feel it afterward! I met Steph at the grocery store where we proceeded to go to three places in the rain to get all our ingredients for dinner. Gotta do it right!  We started with a glass of my favorite Honey Moon. Here’s Steph cheering to getting home and starting the meal!

I pulled out the pizza stone that Steph gave me for Christmas (thanks love!!) and we started putting it together.

Here is our pizza pre-veggies:

And here it is after adding all the veggies. Now it looks like a salad LOL

All cooked up! YUM! I had two of these pieces.

Plus this mini guy for a final taste 🙂

We were planning to go to the movies but it was already after 10 and Steph has been dying to try Yogurtland, so we got froyo instead. I TRY not to go here too often, but I went last weekend too! Ooops. Here’s my mix of chocolate, peanut butter, and pistachio fat-free frozen yogurt with blueberries and mango on top.

But wait, check out the inside! Look at all those toppings. MMMMmmmm DELISH.

All this = beyond stuffed!!

 

Tamalelove

I finished the last of my strawberries last night, so I had oatmeal with half banana for breakfast instead.  This is what I ate all winter, but now that I’ve switched over to yogurt, the oatmeal just can’t compare! Plus coffee.

For lunch I went the bagel/hummus route again. This combo is just so good! I had an apple and yogurt on the side.

After lunch, I went over to the Farmers Market with two of the girls on my account team.  There is a small FM across the street from my office on Thursdays.  It’s so funny — everyone there is in suits!! It’s basically a FM just for all the offices in the area. I got all these brussel sprouts and green beans for $2!

Seriously, look at the size of some of these guys!!

We also got roses from the flower guy.  I stuck mine in a water bottle.  Here it is next to my pretty Asian art calendar. Aren’t yellow roses so pretty??

Around 3 I dug into this z-bar.  I’ve never tried any of these before!! I definitely liked the chocolate flavor.  It was a good lower-calorie option. Still, it doesn’t compare to some of the other bars. Maybe I should try some other flavors?

After work, I went to the gym for 60 minutes on the elliptical.  The workout went pretty quickly with my Thursday trifecta — Shape, Marie Claire, and the iPOD 🙂 I really need to start adding more weight training to my workouts.  I was good with it for awhile when I was going to a cardio/weights class, but lately every single time I go to the machines section, a personal trainer tries to get me to sign up for sessions.  Last time, I even made an appointment with one because I couldn’t say no and then my roommate called and cancelled it for me!! Maybe I should invest in some free weights for home?  Then I would just have to make myself use them…

After the gym, I went to Trader Joe’s to pick up ingredients for my dindin, inspired by another Farmers Market favorite…ready for it…

FRESH, HOMEMADE TAMALES!! I picked up a sweet corn tamale and decided to plan dinner around it. There is a stand that makes all kinds of tamales, fresh that morning.  I always get the sweet corn one. It looks and tastes like sweet corn, but I have no idea what else they make it with.  It’s addicting, really!! Anyone ever made these before?? I would love to know if they are the worse possible things to eat or not all that bad LOL. Here’s a view of the corn husk all peeled back:

So impromtu tortillas were born! Luckily my roommate let me dig into her supply of these awesome La Tortilla Factory tortillas.  Two are only 100 calories!!

At the store, I picked up green & red peppers, pineapple salsa, and cilantro chicken sausages. I cooked up all of this, plus some onions and half of the tamale. It was SO GOOD! I had two tortillas plus some leftovers on the plate that I easily finished.

AHH so good. Can’t believe I held off biting into this long enough to snap a picture LOL

I also picked up the Honey Moon Viognier when I was at Trader Joe’s. This is one of my all-time favorite wines. It’s seriously so good. I had to have a little glass!

Right now I am watching Grey’s & Private Practice and dreaming up dessert 🙂 Something with berries and chocolate maybe??

Update! Dessert alert:)

So I mixed some berries and pineapple and a half cup of kashi with a few spoonfuls of TJ nonfat yogurt. My first stab at non-Dannon/Yoplait type. I think I still need a little while to get used to it LOL.  I added some cocoa powder to chocolate it up a bit 🙂

Night! It’s almost Friday, YAYZERS!!