A wonderful end...

This morning, Nyssa and I headed to the Wrentham Outlets to beat the crowds. I really needed to grab some business attire to wear to the hospital. After four years of being a personal trainer, and before that a house manager, my business wardrobe is rather bare. I did very well at jcrew with two pairs of pants, two cardigans, and a shirt. Then, picked up a dress at Ralph Lauren. I feel ready ready to go! :) Thanks Nyssa! :)


Later in the afternoon, we went to our friends Sarah and Toby's for dinner. We had a wonderful meal and a great round of 'spoon.' Luna and Evelyn had a marvelous time. together!


The 'ladies' having a little mat time.


Aren't they the cutest together!




Our wonderful spinach salad



My plate: fresh corn, turkey burger, and spinach salad.



Toby made a wonderful 'birthday' dessert of fresh peach sauce over vanilla ice cream with toasted coconut on top! It was glorious!



Thank you Toby, Sarah and Evelyn for a wonderful evening.

Memorial Weekend Fun

We've had a great weekend so far filled with time outside.
Yesterday, we went down to East Greenwich, Rhode Island to Uncle Bobby & Aunt Jane's(Ali's parents) house. We played frisbee with Luna outside, boccee ball, and even hit some golf balls.

JLo cooked a wonderful dinner for all of us!

The salad course: romaine wedge with tomatoes, feta and ranch dressing


Our menu: steak tips, stuffed shells(not gluten free), eggplant(gluten free), broccoli, and chorizo and more.


The best gluten free eggplant ever!



My plate... and yes, I ate it all! I was filled to the brim...


But JLo had made me a birthday cake: Betty Crocker(gluten free) brownie's and frosting! It was delicious, I had to keep eating!






Dave and I then headed back this morning and got a lot done around the house, including putting together some new book shelves!


During the cleaning frenzy I had some leftover tuna from Whole Foods, red pepper, and avocado sandwich. It was so good!


We took two nice walks with Luna in between cleaning and hanging out in the backyard, and got Stone Hearth Pizza for dinner.

I had the Blue with roasted chicken.



Surprise Surprise Dave had the pepperoni!



We had some arugula leftover in the fridge so I made a side salad.

My plate

Drinking my Coffee

I'm about to head out the door for a stadium workout, but thought I would blog quickly. I have gotten so much in in the last two days. Phew! There was class, my first assignment due, more trips to the hospital(for volunteering), great workouts(including a run which I have NOT done in awhile), a bbq with friends, and taking care of Luna.

Some fantastic pictures of our bbq last night.

The simple yet elegant table



Our Menu:
5-layer dip
3-kind potato salad with veggies
Grilled corn
Greens( special salad dressing for Jay)
96% lean burgers
Organic/Uncured lean hot dogs
Whole wheat buns(for the gluten eaters)


My 5-layer dip( homemade black bean dip, corn, pea&avocado gauc, diced tomatoes and salsa, with cheddar on top)



The table starting to get filled up...



Everyone is ready to eat and I made them stop to take a picture- sorry!



Dave and I are now on countdown to Rumbling Bridge. We are heading down to PA to take a little vacay and starting the wedding planning process in about a month.

This is the tree in which I think a ceremony would be breathtaking...

Lunch & Dinner

For lunch today I had zucchini and summer squash(long grated) with romano cheese and olive oil. It was gloriously fresh and summery!




Dinner(with Luna at our feet) was tilapia fresh tacos with salsa, arugula, and avocado/pea guacamole.



I made a new kind of meringue cookie later cooked at 300F, for 25 minutes. They tasted more like marshmallows.

Avocado & Pea Guacamole

After all the buzz around using peas for guacamole I decided to try it out. It seemed like a perfect treat on a such a hot day.


Ingredients:

1x medium ripe avocado
1/4-1/2 cup of Cedars fresh salsa
1/2 cup of chopped parsley
1 clove of garlic minced
1 cup of peas( I used frozen and then cooked them for 2 minutes in boiling water and cooled)
1 tsp. of hot sauce

Add ingredients into a food processor and blend til the consistency you prefer for guacamole( about 15-30 seconds). If you do not have food processor, you can use an immersion blender and blend. Bon Appetit!

Avocado, parsley, salsa and garlic


The above ingredients plus peas


The finished product ;) I like it but I think next time I'll use about 3/4 cup of peas.

Get Better Soon Luna

Luna got spayed today. Dave and I waited all day to hear from the vet. Finally, around 2:30 we got the call and rushed over. She is now home(cone-less)but whining a lot:(



Her boyfriend, Subo, brought her over a package of marrow bones! He's such a lover.

Here is his note

Tuesday Night Class

What a scorcher today! Phew! It was hot!
I got a workout in early by going to Interval Challenge this morning, then had to head over to the Longwood area to get shots I need to volunteer.

Food wise:

Breakfast
Egg sandwich on brown rice and millet bread

Lunch:
Pear
thinkThin bite
brown rice/quinoa salad( 1/2 cup)
iced latte

For my late afternoon snack and dinner:
blackberries
strawberries
green pepper filled with brown rice and red/black quinoa salad
vanilla greek yogurt
homemade granola bar(I made them yesterday)



Now, off to watch Glee and to get ready for an early morning spin class.

Hot Monday

A busy Monday morning I saw five clients this morning, and then headed to Market Basket and Whole Foods to get some shopping done. Since it is going to be in the upper 80s this week, I wanted to stock our fridge with tons of fruits and veggies.


Then, I came home for lunch and made a tuna sandwich with carrots and celery, on toasted bread with sliced peaches and cheddar. It was a dream!



All day Luna has been hot, a couple of times I got the hose out a couple of times to cool her down. Yet, as you can see from this picture she was stil hot!



Then afternoon I cooked a couple of dishes for a friend and then came home and did some school work. It's been so hard getting back into it.





For dinner tonight we cooked 96% lean burgers, and corn on the grill with greens on the side.

Lab Day/ Jane's Sunday Dinner

We took a trip down to Rhode Island today for Lab Day. Our breeder invited us to come down for dog classes including agility, recalls, etc. Luna was very sweet and ran right up to Ann, and did very well with her 'retrieving' and 'fake' duck hunting! I forgot my phone in the car, and didn't take any pictures. :(

Ali's parents came with us and afterward Lab Day we drove back to their house for a 'Lo Afternoon Dinner.' We had grilled chicken, salad, summer squash and zucchini, grilled corn, and sweet potatoes, twice backed potatoes, and garlic bread. We brought some cupcakes for dessert, and as always left stuffed!




My almost empty plate



We got home, and walked over to Subo's(Luna's buddy)house, and they had a nice puppy play. His mom, Katie, gave us these wonderful flowers. They smell so wonderful!

A Day in Portsmouth

After a round of stadiums this morning with Dave and Luna, the three of us headed up to Portsmouth for the day.

We went to Portsmouth Health Food and got some lunch to have by the water.

While there, I saw this pasta...has anyone else seen this before?



I had a 'build your own' with organic turkey, greens, red onion and tomato. We also shared this gluten free peanut brown rice noodle salad.



We then stopped at Captain's Cove Adventure Golf to see Dave's buddy, Brian. He owns and run the entire place himself. Stop by and play a round this summer in Hampton, NH!



Also, they have amazing New England made ice cream!! So we had to indulge, and even Luna got a little cup of soft serve.

Wedding Dress Shopping & Stone Hearth Pizza

I would like to thank: Sarah, Ali, Beccah and Jamie for their help this afternoon at Priscilla's. You all were so wonderful at finding dress and lifting those heavy pieces of art over my head! Though I did not find a dress today, I was able to fine tune some styles that work with my body type(small on the top/ larger on the bottom).

The first dress I tried on(the scallop shells were a little too much!)



Baby Joey, even came today to the sample sale. He was a big hit with the ladies, I mean look at that face! He and Ali had some major QT(quality time)!


Dress #2(not good on the hips, but the top was pretty)



Even Sarah held Joey for awhile. He is such a love bug!



After trying on over 20 dresses, I left empty handed but was still happy with my first wedding dress experience. It is exhausting though ;)


Today, BuyWithMe had a deal for Stone Hearth Pizza- buy a gift certificate for $15, and get $30 worth of food. Since Stone Hearth has gluten free pizza, I had to get it!

We got the antipasti(artichoke hearts, fresh mozz, prosciutto, olives, roasted yellow peppers and crisps). I was worried that the crisps were not gluten free, so Dave ate them all.


My gluten free selection was the Margherita pizza. Dave got the Pepperoni(wheat crust).


I added some of the artichokes and prosciutto to my slice, so warm and summery!It's great pizza!



Stone Hearth Pizza
1782 Mass Ave.
Cambridge, Massachusetts 02140
617-492-1111

Where did today go?

Whoa, today flew by...I went to Total Body Conditioning, and then did some homework for my summer class.


For lunch and breakfast I had
Abigail's raisin toast! I thought their regular brown rice and millet was good, but now I'm hooked on the cinnamon raisin!

I have also officially become my mother and grandmother, look at this cutting board - it reminds me of my childhood! :) Toast, part-skim mozz, green pepper and tomato slices a perfect lunch outside on the picnic table.


Then, another loop around Fresh Pond for Luna and I today. We took her boyfriend, Subo-tai and his mom, Katie. They did so well together and had a nice long swim.



Before I knew it it was time to cook dinner. We had turkey burgers on the grill and then some wonderful side dishes.

Our side dishes: broccoli slaw(made with greek yogurt and fresh strawberries), salad greens, and pesto polenta topped with fresh tomatoes.


My plate- look at all those greens ;)



Tomorrow, I'm trying on wedding dresses with some of my bridesmaids. I'm diving right into wedding planning this month ;)

13 Bean Chili

Another rainy day filled with exercise and wonderful friends. I saw clients this morning and then taught a killer spin class. There was a walk to Harvard square with Luna, a trip to the airport, and even a walk around Fresh Pond.

To keep me fueled today I made: buckwheat noodles, green peppers, edamame, and carrots for lunch.



I had soaked Bob's 13 beans overnight in water to make chili. I added ground turkey, diced tomatoes, onions and garlic into the 13 beans and created a chili this morning.




Tonight we met with Jen/Len for a walk around Fresh Pond. It was dead- which meant the pups had the pond to swim all to themselves.




We had the chili for dinner with Xochitl tortilla chips. Dave actually hoovered it, I don't think he understood just how many beans were in this! :)




For dessert we had strawberries, vanilla Chobani and one meringue cookie.