Happy Friday!!! I know I say this almost every week, but it seems like I blink and its already Friday!  Hope you’ve all had an amazing week!  If you follow along on Facebook and Twitter you’ll know that Monday started out with a killer leg workout, so I really had to push through the rest of my workouts this week! I was very busy getting organized with work and such, next weekend, I have a big trade show to attend.  I love going to see all the new health & food products on the market!  I’m like a kid in a candy store!  Except its with healthy food and vitamins! LOL!

Since I know there are some guy readers out there, I think I’ll leave my shoe and shopping finds to the end of the post! 😉

Food This Week:

With it coming into spring, I’m definitely wanting some lighter foods finally.  I haven’t eaten salads consistently for quite a while.  I was roasting veggies almost every week, then re-heating them to eat with lunch and dinner.  But soon it will be bye bye roasted veggies and hello salads and BBQ’d veggies!

I call this RAINBOW SALAD! As it virtually has every color of the rainbow!

Red pepper, carrots, mixed greens, pickled beets, purple cabbage, cooked broccoli, cucumber, snap peas, cocoa crusted chicken (pre-made).  Dressing was Newman’s Own Balsamic Dressing, Renee’s Gourmet Ravin Raspberry and also a splash of balsamic vinegar.  I LOVE the combo of balsamic and raspberry dressings.  You can’t really see how big it was, but this salad was ginormous!

I couldn’t even finish it…almost, but not quite.

 The other time I snapped a couple meal pictures was breakfast.

I’ve gotten quite a few emails with questions this week.  I posted my before/after transformation picture that ended up in Jamie Eason’s Inspiration Gallery.  Absolutely love that gal.  She is super sweet and on more than 1 occasion, she’s posted a link to my recipes! 🙂

Through these emails I’ve learned that most people need to add protein in their breakfast!  People say they will have oatmeal or eggs, or perhaps just toast.  I eat eggs AND oatmeal each morning, or some other lean protein and carbs.  Even if you don’t have time to make eggs in the morning, you can still put some protein in your oatmeal.  This is what I do when I’m on the go….

 Here’s how you do it: Cook your oatmeal in the microwave.  I do 1/2 cup quick oats dry, add enough water to just cover the oats.  Cook for 3 1/2 minutes.  Meanwhile, I take a scoop of protein powder.  Here I used Whey Gourmet Chocolate Peanut Butter (tastes like Reese’s Pieces!!) and mixed it with about 1/3 cup water (in a shaker cup or small bowl…if you do it in a bowl, add the water gradually or it will clump!)  You don’t want it too thick, or too watery.

Whatever you do, don’t put the protein in the oats and then cook it, it will come out YUCKY!  I find this is the best way to make it taste yummy!  Just pour the protein-type milk overtop and add your toppings!  This is 1/2 a banana, sliced, and 2 Tbsp chopped pecans!

Here’s another done with vanilla protein and topped with blueberries… 

Another quick breakfast.  Pre-made pancakes (My Basic Protein Pancakes) topped with 1/2 banana, sliced, 2 Tbsp chopped walnuts and 2 Tbsp lower sugar syrup!  Delicious!

Sienna’s Picture of the Week:

Her uncle taught her this one! She thinks its hilarious.  Says, “Momma wat dis!”

On another note, I have no idea what to do with this child’s hair!  I mean she’s almost 3 and she still hardly has any!  The only place it really grows is on the sides and in the back, and even then, its wispy. It looks ok when its tucked behind her ears but it doesn’t stay that way.  Any hairdressers out there?!?!

Shopping!!!

Ok, so I don’t shop very often at all, when I’m buying cute stuff, its usually for Sienna!  But I couldn’t resist a couple of spring purchases!

I’ve had my eye on nude heels for ages!  So I came across these and decided to go for it! Super cute, right?!!

Then I saw this at Aldo too, which was a total impulse buy.  I justified it because it was ‘only’ $45.00.  I usually carry Coach purses which are much more expensive.

Very cute for work or on the weekend! Its pretty casual, but the scarf makes it dressy.

I also have a couple of formal-ish dinners next weekend for the trade show, so I needed a new black dress, something more conservative. Picked this up at Le Chateau.

Lastly, how could I get the nude shoes without a jacket to match?!  This trench is from Suzie Shier was only $50.00  Can’t beat that!

Workouts This Week:

Monday – Killer Leg Workout

Tuesday – Treadmill Run alternating with Jump Rope (weighted skipping rope) Ran for 10 min, jumped for 5 min.

Wednesday – Bootcamp (tabata intervals, weights & upper body focus)

Thursday – OFF (my legs needed a rest!)

Friday – Treadmill Run & Weights (Back/Chest)

Sat or Sun – Shoulders/Arms

Parenting Webinar

Thanks to those of you that attended the Parenting webinar hosted by Amy at www.positiveparentingsolutions.com  Hope you found it as informative as I did!  Check out her site for additional tips!  I will also post about the winners of the SISU Vitamins!!!!

For Monday, I’m going to post “A Day In The Life” of my meals.  Now that I know how to take a screenshot (I’m not a computer whiz! LOL), I can take a screenshot of my Sparkpeople food tracker for a typical day.  Maybe it will give you all some new ideas!

Have a GREAT weekend!!