Too lazy to post House Party photos

Oh man, it's late and I've got some MORE house cleaning/laundry to do. It never ends. It is for this reason, I will not (yet) be posting the House Party photos from my parents' Williams-Sonoma soiree this weekend. Mine, by the way, will be held on THURSDAY!

So instead, I'm going to tell you about something new I tried today. As I mentioned in my post race post, I had my first taste of Muscle Milk yesterday. This morning I tried another 1/3 of the bottle (bananas and crème) with a banana. It was a very banana-y breakfast. I think I liked it, but I'm not 100 percent sure, I guess :)

LUNCH

Then for lunch I tried two new items: POM light hibiscus green tea and Healthy Choice's Cafe Steamers, Chicken Pesto Classico. I've had TONS of POM drinks before, as evidenced by the following glass out of which I drank my lunch beverage:

I swear POM didn't pay me to write this post :) But if you work for POM, I wouldn't mind..... I don't usually buy POM since it's pretty expensive, but they were practically buy one get one free at Safeway last night. So I also got a Bossa Nova mangosteen passionfruit beverage. I've had floral drinks before and they're hit or miss. Either they're super flowery and remind me of drinking hand lotion, or they're subtle and delicious. This one was great! If it weren't so dang expensive I'd buy it again -- though I still have the other half of the bottle waiting in the fridge for another day.

Now on to the Healthy Choice frozen meal. If I don't make an abundance of dinner the night before, I'm pretty pressed for time come lunch. Enter the frozen meals. I've done a good job at cutting these down, if not out of my life entirely. But today, couldn't refuse. I think the idea of these plates is pretty neat: separated veggies and protein from a sauce, which you mix together at the end. I think this helps vegetables from turning into that nasty gloop they usually form in the microwave. Plus, it was kinda fun to assemble:

It wasn't bad, just could have used a bit more flavor. I suppose I could have added spices, but again, pressed for time. Then I threw an afternoon snack of honey Greek yogurt and cherries in my purse and headed back to the office. After someone got his lunch, of course. Only because he begged so pitifully for mine.

RUN

When I returned from work, I threw on the new outfit I bought at REI last night; this summer-like heat is getting to be intense already in the Valley. My friend Tori has been saying we should run practically all semester, so tonight we finally hit the streets. In all it was an easy 2.33 miles at a very mild pace, just to kind of unwind after yesterday's race. It felt great!

DINNER

After the run, I found J.D. hands-deep in making dinner -- for the second-straight night :) He put to work the new Calphalon grill pan I scored at the Williams-Sonoma dinner and spice-rubbed some chicken.

He had several burners going at once with quinoa and veggies tossed with garlic salt. It was at this point, I set to work on an appetizer for him, which could be called a post-run snack for moi. It was a caprese salad-inspired toast! I cut up a French baguette and then loaded it up with tomatoes, a slice of a mozzarella basil roulade and of course, olive oil and vinegar.

See the new dryfit tank top I bought!!! I love it, so cute!

I scarfed down my dinner while we watched The Next Food Network Star. Oh man, I love watching that show!! I wish I could be on a reality star show. That would be so awesome. If only I had fun talents someone would want to mold a show around.....

When that finished, I sliced an apple and dipped it in a little bit of almond butter and a little bit of dark chocolate almond spread. Then got to work French press-ing a soy latte. While owning Jeopardy!, well, if you don't count my answer on the final.

Ok, back to some more cleaning. And hopefully we'll know if we're moving or staying put tomorrow..... I'll keep you updated!

Fun with my French family

I love coming home to the Bay Area to see my family! We arrived yesterday and hit up Downtown Pleasanton to pick up our race packets at Fleet Feet, but also let little Woodstock wander around the streets for a little bit.

(Source)

When we finally made it to Alamo, my mom was just opening all of her cabinets and the fridge to assemble all the ingredients of a home-made salade niçoise!!! I know that I lived in the Nice academic region when I lived in France a few years back, but salade niçoise has been close to my heart nearly my whole life (see: my obsession with crêpes).

I love that my mom shares the same passion for French cuisine as I do.

Authentic French mustard for the vinaigrette:

Escargot for the appetizer... I really didn't mind the taste and enjoyed the pesto sauce, but I couldn't manage to get over the fact I was eating a snail. Then I started getting grossed out again. But at least I tried, right? I'm a terrible Frenchie ;)

There's nothing better than a glass of rosé on a hot summer spring night! The candlelight doesn't do much justice to the pink hue of our wine. And shhhhh, don't tell anyone that it's a bottle of SPANISH wine!

I would make a good sommelière, right?? No? Ok, I'll just stick to drinking it then.

My plate of salad topped with freshly-seared ahi tuna. Soooooo goooooooooood.

Finally for dessert, we each had tiny slices of chocolate lover's cake with blackberries. I went a little overboard with the plate decorations haha, awesome.

Then this morning we were all treated to very French breakfasts. Unfortunately, I can't handle a typical French breakfast. I think my cholesterol would skyrocket. So I cut my apple pastry in half, made a cup of blueberry Greek yogurt with granola, craisins and blackberries leftover from dessert, then washed it all down with a lowfat soy mocha latte.

J.D., my mom and I all went shopping earlier this morning to find fun things for our respective House Parties. J.D. and I scored a bunch of goodies -- can't wait for our game night -- and then my mom hit up Trader Joe's for her final groceries for tonight's Williams-Sonoma dinner party. While she was off, we stopped at Baja Fresh next door and shared a mini taco plate for a little lunch.

And now preparations for the party begin! I'm limiting myself to a half a glass of wine or less, since we'll be running 12 hours after the party kicks off. I hope to get to sleep early tonight and then away we'll go to Livermore for the 5K race!! When we get back, I'll post pictures of the party and the race if I ever bother to take any. Just don't hold your breath on that one.....

Hope everyone's enjoying their weekends! xx

I'm trying to eat healthy...

With the amount of running I've been doing lately (took a day off yesterday, however) I've been trying to eat healthier!!

You try running on a belly full of pizza and sugar. It's certainly not ideal.... Anyways normally I'd grab something gross and sugary for breakfast, but over the past week I've been very conscious of what goes in my mouth. Even if it means I have to come in to work a little later than usual. Or wake up earlier, but let's be real, I can't manage that one.

Today's breakfast??

Maple oatmeal with frozen mixed berries and walnuts, to go with a homemade nonfat latte! Yum :) I'm quite full and ready to get back for another run tonight.

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