Mornings Aren’t Pretty

The past couple of days have been crazy. Busy. Frustrating. Disorganized. Packed. Sleepy. Stressful.

But I really feel like the worst is over.

And now it’s time to get back into my normal schedule! While my days have been crazy, every morning started with the same drink…coffee!

I know a lot of people try to stay away from caffeine…but I love it! I really wouldn’t be able to get through my day without caffeine. I have to take medicicine that makes me really tired, so drinking a cup of coffee in the morning and a little caffeine later in the day really helps me stay at a normal energy during the day, and I’m still able to sleep at night.

In fact, I’ve been going to sleep around 10 every night, which is really early for me.

I think it’s important to do whatever works for you and not just follow the trends. I love coffee and I’m not afraid to show it!

Busy Girl’s Oatmeal

This morning I was up at 7 am. I’m actually a little proud to say waking up that early isn’t difficult for me anymore! Once school starts, I will have to change my workout time to the early morning so this is good practice for those days.

Breakfast:

Busy Girl’s Oatmeal

Ingredients:

1/2 cup oats

1 cup water

1/2 banana

cinnamon

1 tsp vanilla

strawberries

blueberries

Mix all ingredients except berries in microwaveable dish and microwave for about 2 minutes. Whip with a fork to incorporate banana into oats. Top with berries and nut butter. I used sunflower butter, of course.

I call it Busy Girl’s Oatmeal because it was quick to make in the microwave. Normally I make my oatmeal on the stove, but this morning I just didn’t have time.

I’m now off to pour my coffee into a thermos to take to work. Today I’m teaching a First Aid class. The rest of my day I will be soaking up the sun and enjoying this weather! In case you’re confused, I do still work at the summer camp but I also teach CPR, First Aid & AED classes part-time. Im a busy, busy girl!

This Weekend You Should…

1. Eat this smoothie:

The Mix:

4 ice cubes

1 handful spinach

1/2 frozen banana

1/2 cup frozen berries

1/2 cup chopped watermelon

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/4 cup oats

2. Visit this page & find out how you can help with the Fundraiser:

3. Relax by the pool…nothing feels better than laying out in the hot sun and running into the pool to cool down!

4. Find a new way to exercise that you enjoy

5. Try Sunflower Butter

6. Keep these tips in mind for people who just don’t “get it” while attending your weekend events
Happy Friday!!

What are your weekend plans?

This weekend I am teaching a First Aid class, hopefully going to the river and getting organized for next week. It’s gonna be a busy couple of weeks!

What is one product you’re dying to try?

Chia Seeds! It seems like people have so many different opinions of them, but I need to try for myself. If you have any recipes or ways to eat chia seeds, let me know!

Chocolate Covered Strawberry Smoothie

Chocolate Covered Strawberry Smoothie

The Mix:

4 ice cubes

1/2 frozen banana

handful of spinach

1/2 cup strawberries

1/4 cup oats

1 tbsp cocoa powder

1.5 cup milk (i used almond milk)

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 tbsp flax seeds

1 tsp agave

Toppings:

Granola

Sunflower (or any nut) Butter

If you don’t top it with nut butter I suggest blending it in. It makes a big difference in taste!

What I Ate Wednesday #2

Breakfast:

The only thing that sounded good this morning at 6am was a big yogurt bowl.

The Mix:

greek yogurt

clustery granola

strawberries

blueberries

sunflower butter (duh)

I haven’t been adding agave lately because I am starting to like the tartness of greek yogurt. My taste buds are getting used to less sweetener!

 

Lunch:

Today the summer camp I work for went on a field trip right next to a Mexican restaurant, so we ran over there on our break. I got a small cheese quesadilla, which I didn’t have time to snap a photo of. I haven’t had a quesadilla in forever…reminds me why I love cheese so much!!

Snack:

Once I got home from work I ate a quick smoothie in a bowl before my meeting and it was greeeeeeeeeeen!!!

The Mix:

spinach

almond milk

strawberries

1/2 frozen banana

frozen pineapple

vanilla extract

Topped with:

granola

sunflower butter

I honestly never thought I would get into the “smoothie in a bowl” trend, but I’m obsessed! They really do fill me up, especially with oats in them (check back tomorrow a.m. for a new smoothie recipe)

Dinner:

After my meeting, I came home to eggplant parm. I didn’t make it, but I’m pretty sure there was eggplant, marinara sauce, mushrooms, onions, a little ground beef and……..cheese!! I normally am not a fan of mushrooms or onions, but I’ll eat anything covered in cheese!

Sorry this post was so short & to the point but I’m exhausted from work and I get to wake up at 5:30 am to sign up for classes, even though I don’t work until 9:30! It’s going to be a long day…but check back tomorrow morning for a new smoothie recipe! Mmmmmmmm

Have a great night!

Sunflower Butter Obsession

First of all, welcome those of you who found me this morning through my guest post at Beautiful Busy Bee! I’m so happy you all enjoyed that post!!
Breakfast:

After I woke up with a terrible migraine yesterday, I decided to set my alarm a little later for this morning. My yoga class was at 10:30 so I set the alarm at 9:30. Of course I decided to ignore my alarm so I woke up at 9:55, not leaving much time for breakfast. Luckily my mom had picked up a couple gourmet bagels yesterday, so I split a spinach parm. bagel with her as I was running out the door.

Yoga was fantastic. I haven’t gone in a couple of weeks because I’ve been busy with work and being out of town, so I think that might be why I’m getting migraines again. This morning’s class was a Hatha Yoga with Guided Meditation, which I never usually go to. The “guided meditation” part of the title has always kept me from going to the class because towards the end of yoga classes I get pretty antsy and I thought the ending 15 minute meditation would drive me crazy, but I actually liked it! I really needed to stretch, I had no idea how tight my muscles were! Taking this class just reminded me I need to make more time for yoga in my life because it’s too easy to save workouts for “the next day” and never do them.

Lunch:

After yoga I drove straight over to one of my favorite stores.

I could spend hours walking around TJ’s and WF. And sometimes I do.

I grabbed chocolate chips, organic blueberries (only $4!), sunflower seed butter (which I didn’t even wait until I got home to open up and try. Um….yum.), and TJ’s brand “Almond Smooth” almond milk (which I’ve never tried before). Luckily, I stopped myself from buying more before I went too crazy. I was actually really surprised by the taste of sunflower butter. I’m not really sure what I expected, but this was a great surprise. I used to eat handfuls of the super salty Ranch Sunflower Seeds, so I forgot how original sunflower seeds taste. It’s funny how our taste buds change, I actually really enjoy plain sunflower seeds now rather than salty flavored ones.

I was starving by the time I got home, so I whipped up a yogurt bowl.

In the Mix:

Greek Yogurt

Strawberries

Blueberries

Honey Almond Granola

Drop of Agave

Drizzle of Sunflower Butter (mmmmmm)

This felt extra filling for some reason, which is a good thing! Maybe it was the addition of my new bff Sunflower Butter?

Dinner:

I’ve been baking away alllll day so I was really ready for dinner! I wasn’t really in the mood for anything specific, so I just grabbed a piece of fish out of the freezer and whipped up a quick meal.

The Mix:

1 piece fish

.5 cup white wine

2 tbsp olive oil

1 clove garlic, crushed

handful cherry tomatoes

salt & pepper

cumin

lemon zest

Throw lemon zest, tomatoes, olive oil, wine and garlic into heated skillet

Poke tomatoes and squish tomatoes with back of fork. Be careful, they explode.

Add fish & let simmer in sauce

Enjoy!

Shout Out Sunday: 

I’m starting a new series on the blog called “Shout Out Sunday.” Every Sunday I will post 5 posts from other blogs that I really enjoyed/thought were funny/found thought-provoking that you might enjoy too! To start off the series here are the 5 posts:

Oh She Glows- 10 Ways to Live in The Present

Healthy Tipping Point- Small Ripples

PBFingers- When the Money Isn’t Worth it

How Sweet Eats- Dark Chocolate Macaroon Toasted Almond Butter

Meals and Moves- The Great Fundraising Act

I just found out about this fundraiser today, and I thought it was really important to mention. Janetha of Meals and Moves is hosting a fundraiser for Susan of The Great Balancing Act, who was recently diagnosed with Lymphoma. As you can imagine, hospital bills are ridiculously expensive and the blogging community is coming together to raise money for Susan. Basically, there is a bake sale/auction happening on Monday, July 25th, as well as monetary donations being accepted. There will be around 100 fantastic items up for auction including baked goods, gift baskets from major companies, autographed books and cookbooks and a ton of other awesome items. For more information, visit the Fundraising Page. There are so many ways to help this cause, so I encourage you to donate something, bid on one of the great prizes or promote this fundraiser. I’ve contacted Janetha & will be donating a baked good.

I’ve had several family members diagnosed with cancer, so this cause is really important to me. Please spread around the word of this fundraiser, you can make a difference!

Lastly, today is National Pina Colada Day, so be sure to end your day with an icy cold Pina Colada tonight. See you tomorrow with a blue recipe!

Don’t forget to follow me on Twitter @ThatDeepBreath and “like” me on Facebook! I’ve been neglecting the Facebook lately but I’m trying to actually use it now! Also, I would like to get my Q&A page together so if you have any questions for me, be sure to comment on my Q&A page or email me at thatdeepbreath@yahoo.com. I would love to answer any questions!

Good Night San Diego

I’m having a blast on this roadtrip! I can’t wait to post all the pictures when it’s finished!! Today we were in San Diego…it was a busy day! I’m also taking a ton of pictures for my Weekly Challenge #3! I haven’t had internet access until today, so all my posts have been through my phone. Not so great. Now my posts can be a little more normal!

Breakfast:

Today we went to the continental breakfast at our hotel to grab some breakfast. It was in a tiny room that looked like a ski lodge. Pretty random in San Diego, right? There were Cheerios, Raisin Bran, Oatmeal, Make Your Own Waffles (pretty cool!), and fruit. I ended up grabbing an apple and orange on the way out to have later. The food choice wasn’t that great but it was free so I’m not complaining.

There was a free Quaker Maple & Brown Sugar oatmeal packet with a cup of coffee.

(source)

It was not filling at all so I ended up eating my apple when we got to the hotel. I guess all those toppings I put on my oatmeal at home really do help fill me up. I really missed the peanut butter on my oatmeal!!

Lunch:

After traveling aroung San Diego State University’s campus, we found a small Mexican restaurant. The campus is huge so after a ton of walking, we were starving!

I had a veggie burrito with guac, potato, lettuce, beans, cheese and tomatoes. Wasn’t really a veggie burrito but it was pretty good! Later we went to the beach. Of course we decided to go when it was overcast but it was still awesome to see one of the best beaches in San Diego!

Dinner: 

We found a great restaurant called Studio Diner for dinner. It was a 1950’s themed diner that had fantastic food. I ordered the burger with pepperjack cheese, guac & salsa (I think it’s called the San Diegan burger?) and it was soooo good. This was actually the very first time I have ordered a burger in a restaurant!

Of course we saw someone else drinking a milkshake, so we had to get one too! I ordered a coffee milkshake. Ohmygod. Sooo good.

This restaurant was awesome! I can’t wait to share the rest of the pictures from my trip. There are so many!!

Dirt

The past couple of days have been a blur from all of the traveling, but I’ve been having a blast! Once we arrived in Arizona yesterday morning, we spent the day relaxing by the pool and swimming. Later that night, we decided to drive to Flagstaff to stay the night. The town was adorable and I totally fell in love with the local friendly atmosphere. We ate dinner (as posted last night) and fell asleep early. I was completely exhausted after being awake 40 hours.
Today started off with a Cranberry walnut bagel from a small bagel shop in Flagstaff. At around 12 we headed to the grand canyon to go hiking and take a ton of pictures. At about 1 we noticed some storm clouds, but decided to keep going because it was awesome to be there! About ten minutes later there was thunder and lightening. We kept taking pictures and hiking until all the sudden, the wind storm came. Literally, a if a light switch got turned on, dirt and rocks were being hurled at us and we couldnt even see because of the wind. We started running through the wind to get to a bus and almost got blown off the cliff! I’ve never felt that much wind power. So crazy!! I am now caked with dirt.
Dinner and the rest of the night was a little less dusty. I had the most perfect pesto pizza ive ever eaten. We walked around & shopped and I fell in love with flagstaff. I’m exhausted but today was so worth it.
Tomorrow’s Monday…and that means a new weekly challenge!! See you all tomorrow!

No Time to Sleep

It took us 15 hours to get to Arizona and I got about 10 minutes of sleep total. That means I’ve been up for about 38 hours so far, so I’m a little delirious but I’m gonna do my best to sound like a functional human being. The past 15 hours have felt like one big blur. This is the longest drive ive taken for a road trip, but it was worth it!! When we arrived we went down to the gorgeous pool at the apartment complex we are staying in. Laying by the pool was crazy relaxing but the best part was actually being able to get into the pool because the temperature was so high!

Breakfast:

Since midnight I have had a Clif peanut toffee buzz, a handful of “cheddar cheese things” aka Quaker cheddar cheese rice cakes, and a big cup of gas station coffee at 4am.

Lunch:

Lunch was real food!! I was so excited. We went to a great shop with yummy treats and sandwiches. I chose the veggie sandwich with cucumber, sprouts, artichoke, tomato and goat cheese on a flat bread. yum!!!

Dinner:

Black bean veggie burger w/ fries

Tomorrow I’ll have a recap of Weekly Challenge #2: Vegetarian Week! See you tomorrow!!

A Week on the Road!

Iiiiiiiiiiiits Friday!!!!!!

First things first….breakfast! Today’s breakfast was a bit of a repeat from yesterday. Copy cat!! Except it didn’t taste anything like it. When I woke up, I couldn’t shake off the sleepies quick enough and my smoothie turned into a mess. It had way too much almond breeze. Do you guys ever pick up a gallon of juice or milk and go to add it to a recipe, then realize you have an awkward amount left in the carton? Should I just throw the rest into my recipe or put it back in the fridge….well I put it in the recipe. Not so good. Also there was no banana..and I can’t make a smoothie without banana! That’s just weird!! Hopefully this bad luck ends this morning. I have a big day ahead of me.

The Mix:

1 cup frozen fruit (berries, pineapple, mango, peaches)

1 cup milk

1 tbsp peanut butter (mixed in this time)

1/3 cup oats

1/4 cup plain greek yogurt

small squirt of agave

splash of vanilla

1/4 cup granola (for topping)

I also wanted  to mention that today I am leaving for a roadtrip! I will be gone until July 8th traveling to a few different places!! I can’t wait to share my pictures and adventures with you all. It’ll be a loooooong drive tomorrow though, so tonight’s post will be pretty early and uneventful! Stick with me this week…posts won’t be formatted the same but I promise they’ll be fun!

I hope you all have a great day!

What are your weekend plans?