Wrong Side of the Bed

Today I woke up in an unnecessarily bitter mood.

Jordan had slept over and had trouble sleeping, and then woke up on the wrong side of the bed, and as the saying goes "misery loves company" so he took me along for a grumpy morning.

Once he was gone, I was faced with a mountain of dishes in the sink, and dishes I had previously washed piled up in the drying rack. Some of these were mine of course, but being in a grumpy mood, I washed them all while bantering madly to myself of how I always get stuck doing everything around the house, when I am the one that has the most to do! Geez I just took the trash and recycling out last night too, and cleaned the bathroom which looks like crap again because Sookie likes to throw litter!

I then took the feminist approach and assumed the boys were leaving all of the house work for me to do because I am the only girl and clearly they must think I am only good for domestic purposes.

After settling down from my pity-party, I comforted myself with a nice breakfast of left over
home-made cottage potatoes (aka homefries :P ) and my last egg, over-easy, with some ketchup and a cup or 3 of Pumpkin Spice coffee. I think its the cold, but I have been craving really "breakfasty" breakfasts lately.




After breakfast I headed out to Framingham to get some school work done and go to class. I brought an apple and nutrigrain bar as some brain food.


Despite my snacking I was definitely in need of some more substantial lunch when I got home. I mixed up some more left over Spaghetti + mixture of frozen veggies + Vegan Chili, and some extra spaghetti sauce, and then added some 50% reduced fat Cabot Cheddar Cheese (currently on sale at Shaws.)

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In the mix: Broccoli, Asparagus, Green Peppers, and carrots... I wish I had a few other colors in there, but the chili livened up the mix.
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Vegan Chili
(Its always frozen come photo-op time!)

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Nomnomnom. It was very good.

I may have snacked on a mini bag of popcorn with chocolate chips and raisins while watching "Charlie Bartlett" and cleaning the apartment (SEE!! AGAIN!)

Tonight I am heading to Gloucester so it I wait that long to eat I'll just go get to steal J.'s food, a rare and exciting treat :)


And just to confirm, I am no longer bitter, and am in a much better mood, and now off to take my Sports Nutrition Quiz!

Tightening the belt buckle

This past week I have been completely freaking out about everything I have to do, and even moreso, about money.

Right now, I am technically doing ok moneywise… I have some savings, and an adequate amount to pay for bills/rent/loans/food etc. etc…. unfortunately- the key word is NOW!

I am doing a lot of forward thinking right now (which is good and bad.)

Next year I will be doing my internship and grad school full time. It is HIGHLY inadvisable to work during... which means, right now I basically need to save up enough money for living expenses and tuition for the next year.

Unfortunately a lot of expenses are nonnegotiable e.i, I do not think my landlord is going to suddenly come down on my rent, and now that I legit have to be commuting a lot more, I have to resign myself that paying for gas is inevitable.

three of the only "expenses" I can really control, are food, going out and shopping. Shopping: I technically do not NEED to go shopping at all... other than for some household items like toilet paper, tooth paste, etc. In regards to going out, I am already relatively frugal, and most of my friends are too (clubs with covers? psht, overrated) so that makes it a little easier... however, based on my mental health, I refuse to become a hermit, so I will be budgeting in some 'going out money'

Finally there is food. I am really good at not spending money EXCEPT when it comes to food (girls gotta eat, you know!) I rarely go out to eat, but I can do some serious damage at the grocery store.

I believe I have mentioned in the past, I have a slight obsession with Mint.com-- which is basically a budgeting website.... based on this website I have concluded that I spend about $230 on food (including groceries, restaurants and alcohol) a month (excluding what I pay for with cash,.... which is very rare.)

Since I am constantly talking about the topic of 'Eating Healthy on a Budget' I am going to put myself on a budget and test my own capabilities! I started doing this a bit throughout January-- but for the sake of officially keeping track I am going to start February 1st.

Since I usually spend $230 a month,

(Here's the summary of the last year...)

I am going to attempt to cut that in half and go down to $115. We shall see how this goes....

(You can imagine there is another $100 there. C'mon! If I had $115 to photograph, I wouldn't be in this situation!)

since I am not completely starting from scratch it is not 100% fair. I do have some food on hand. and throughout January, thus far, I have spent $200 on food, which I don't think was THAT bad considering the fact that throughout the month of December I seem to have let myself get down to the bare bones. At the end of the month I'll do a sum up of everything I am starting with.

Also, I have the issue that the $115 is supposed to just be for me. Which, generally I do only shop for myself, however, with two- four other people "living" in my house, it doesn't always work out that way.

On the other hand, I also have the benefit/ problem in this experiment that Jordan likes to go out to eat etc rather frequently, in which case, he pays, since if it were up to me, I'd just cook. I am going to inform him of my plans, and perhaps he'll get on board, otherwise I'll just consider anytime we go out and he pays null, considering how much of my food, etc. he eats/uses. (Perhaps we'll consider it his 'rent').

Back in the Swing of things....

The first two weeks were (1 word, 2 syllables) STRESS-FULL!

But I have to keep telling myself: It's NOT unmanageable! I can do this. Life is really all about balance, and I feel like in week three of school, I am finally feeling like I have at least somewhat achieved that.

I did overload my plate a little bit too much (AGAIN.) with full time school, internship and the equivalent of full time work.... but, it is going to be ok.

I started this week off by spending some time organizing my various syllabuses for my classes, and really trying to figure out what is due when, and comparing it to my schedule to find out when I actually have time to do things. It's amazing how much better you can feel just after making an organized list of what you need to get done! It's just so intimidating when its all floating around your head all mumble-jumbled.

One thing I did this week that definitely improved my psyche was getting a two-week pass to Bally's in porter. As I mentioned, I canceled my membership to Planet Fitness since I never went. It just wasn't for me. So far I have only made it there a few times, but every time I went, I made sure to kick my own butt! I love working out, but I am currently so out of shape. I really need to start scheduling in more workouts, even when I am busy. Exercise really does release endorphins :)

Also, there is hope in sight for the spring! Spring is my favorite season. I may technically like summer better, however, since I HATE winter, spring makes me the happiest. I just become in a significantly better mood. I appreciate the nicer weather so much more after holing up inside and under a million layers for months. And just getting some more sunlight in the day is amazing :D

Let the Tuesdays Begin!

This semester I am again teaching Exercise Physiology. This time I was lucky enough to have all of my labs scheduled on one day; Tuesdays.

I am very happy I don't have to commute to BU multiple days a week, however, it does mean I have to be here for a very long day.

My labs are at 8am-10am, 12pm-2 pm and 6:30pm-8:30pm. Factor in that I have to get here AT LEAST half and hour early to set up, and it takes about an hour to commute by walking and T to get here = Long Long day.

And consequently, since I am working on budgeting my food money better= lots of food to pack!
I was also STARVING last night when I packed my lunch, which might have lead me to overpack a bit....

Since I passed out so early last night, without accomplishing much prep for lab today, I was up at 5 and hit the road by 6! Consequently, I of course started off with some coffee,( pumpkin spice flavored), with nonfat lactaid milk and splenda.


For breakfast I had a nutrigrain bar on the train ride here, and then after my first lab tucked into some Cheerios and Fiber One, with nonfat, plain yogurt, and a big banana.


I also brought some fruity snacks of a small green apple, and 2 lil' tangerines (which were sooo seedy!).


I had several cups of tea to satisfy the need for warmth, and prevent me from buying a cup of coffee. I am also developing a very sore throat (NOT AGAIN!!) So I hoped that would help a little.


For lunch I brought some of my Vegan Chili, with added whole wheat spaghetti and extra carrots and tomato sauce. It was nice and hearty and warm for a cool day in the lab (outside was actually really nice out today, for January, but inside. burrr.)



I also brought a pack of Lorna Doones - in case a sweet craving struck, but alas I wound up eating them mindlessly when I was on hold with the insurance company instead >___<
I am now finally home at 8:30 pm.... and am considering soup for my sore throat. My body is just exhausted and I can't wait to snuggle and pass out.

Zzzz....

Rain Rain go away...

Miserable. Sleepy. Cold.

Those are the three best words to describe my mood at the current moment.

It is pouring out!

I had my first day at my internship site this morning (Melrose-Wakefield Hospital), it seemed really nice! All of the dietitians were very friendly, and I got to go on rounds and read medical charts-- and I actually understood 90% of everything that was going on! I was very impressed by myself, though I need to review my medical abbreviations. And of course its only day 1, not too intense so I can't go getting cocky yet! But so far, I am very happy with my placement. So the day started off good... other than the rain.

I then had to drive to Framingham for class. Driving down the highway in that downpour was scary :( Then, it took me a good 20 minutes of puttering around to find a parking spot. I eventually gave up and made my own spot >____<

After class I hurried back to my illegally-parked car (Thankfully, no ticket!)

Upon coming home I informed Ghrey how lucky he was to be an indoor bird today!
I then immediately put on my sweats and monkey slipper socks!



Sookie also appeared to be grateful for her indoor status, as she curled up in her hanging shelves.



I had originally intended on going to the gym right after class, but it was so ghastly out, that plan went out the window.

Speaking of window... This is the view from my window!


I also had a nice hot cup of tea, and made a bowl of oatmeal.

My oats were really just an excuse to satisfy a sweet craving. They included:
~1/2 cup dry oats
1 medium banana
1 tb Almond Butter (Which I know I shouldn't! But I haven't had a reaction to almonds yet and its sooo good.)
1 tsp pancake syrup
2 tb raisins
1 tb butterscotch chips
1 tb fruit preserve
lil bit of vanilla extract
and A-LOTTA hot water!

It was soo delicious-- but as usual just looked like a murky mess due to my insistence on having drowning oats.

After warming up a bit with the tea and oats I did get my butt to the gym. Of course, just my luck, half way down my street my umbrella completely fell apart. But after that- things looked up and I had a good work out, including squirrel elliptical-ing for30 minutes, and a nice, painful (in a good way) whole body circuit.

I am very happy I forced myself to the gym. I really need to kick myself back in shape.

A combination of waking up early, all that driving, the rain and some physical exhaustion made me very very sleepy and I hit the hay by 10 :) noo complaints there! (Except maybe from Ghrey who was not too happy about having to go back into his cage so early. )

Planning ahead!

One of my tips for eating healthy on a budget is to plan ahead!

After the past few days of disorganization and lateness I definitely had the motivation to pack myself a lunch for work. Packing my breakfast and lunch ahead of time generally causes me to eat healthier and spend less money, so overall positive!

I work at Mass General from 7:30 am - 6 pm so the food I bring tends to span me from breakfast to afternoon snack.

Today I brought:

A grapefruit, which I pre-peeled, because inevitably whenever I attempt to peel a citrus fruit at my desk it never really ends well.



a salad including: baby spinach, romaine lettuce, whole wheat spaghetti, two whole carrots, some frozen corn and snap peas, pumpkin seeds, and raisins.



and some multigrain cheerios and a banana.




In my locker at work I also keep a stash of Healthy choice soup, some plain oatmeal, sometimes some granola bars, and of course A LOT of tea bags, for those times (aka every day I work) where I am not actually hungry but want to put something in my mouth.

If you are trying to eat healthier, or tighten the wallet, I definitely recommend buying your own groceries and prepping ahead of time. You are more likely to make wiser, healthier choices, and pay a fraction of what you would at a restaurant or work cafeteria!

Ugh!!

Day two of school, and stressed out and exhausted!

Not so much because of school, but more so because of all of the driving I have been doing.

After my extended getting lost trip yesterday morning, I still agreed to go with J. to Gloucester, provided I was back home by 11:30 am to get to FSC for my 12:30 class.

Which made yesterdays total driving: Somerville -> Worcester ->Framingham -> Somerville -> Gloucester = about 120 miles, excluding the trip back to Somerville and Framingham this morning.



Of course we were subject to Murphy's Law when first J.'s mothers car battery died, and J. had to spend the morning fixing it, and the 128 was underconstruction and all backed up... getting me back to Somerville a little late and consequently to class late, again.

Today was two hours of metabolism. ::Yawn:: I do sorta enjoy the topics, but it's a very dry topic. Thankfully the professor is nice and relatively interesting, and helps to make the topics more understandable and interesting, but you can only do so much with ATP, Ribosomes, Kinase, and phosphoinositides.

The worst part about being late today was I was SOOO HUNGRY and tired throughout class. We did have breakfast, but being the frequent snacker than I am, by the end of the class at 2:30, I was not a happy camper. I have also developed an even stronger coffee addiction than usual and I missed my morning cup (or 6) of coffee, so staying awake through two hours of Biochemistry was no easy task!

I had originally been intending to check out the FSC gym after class today, but given my hunger and caffiene withdrawl symptoms, I opted to grab a snack instead.

I had a Mocha Odwalla Bar and a Cuppa Joe (which I took pics of on my phone, however, apparently forgot to save them)



The Mocha Odwalla Bar was heavenly! I had been soo hungry and it fulfilled my desire for food and coffee flavor at once. As I usually say, I am not a huge bar person because I am much more into volumetrics and enjoy eating larger quantities of food, but a bar was perfect for this situation.- quick, easy, nutritious and filling. I have enjoyed every flavor Odwalla Bar I have tried thus far, this and the Green Superfood one are probably my favorites. They have a nice soft, moist texture, and are big enough to make me feel like I have gotten my 200+ calories worth.

I was disheartened by the morning and lost the will to work out (which has been happening far to frequently lately.) so I just headed home instead, where I have since been being lazy and relatively unproductive unfortunately.

I need to get back on my game and get this semester started on the right foot!