Upstream

It is late this is going to be short and sweet, well as sweet as possible 🙂 Gorgeous green monster for a morning pick me up with Vanilla Whey, Soy Milk, Baby spinach, sunny delight and fresh strawberries

 I went to Starbucks and got my free pastry for free pastry day, anyone else??

 I was contemplating either the Reduced-Fat Banana Chocolate Chip Coffee Cake or the Iced Lemon Pound Cake and went with the Lemon Pound Cake.

Umm yeah with stats like this, should have gone with the former! 

 I got a lot done this morning and felt almost caught up by the end of the day. Anyone else think it’s weird I didn’t talk to any of my co-workers today? Yeah me too. I heart working with socially awkward people who don’t like to socialize (they seriously need a font for snark)

For lunch, I had Annie’s Shells and Cheese with broccoli along with pulled chicken breast with a side of Chick Fil A honey mustard dipping sauce.

This was one comfort meal that I just loved.

I’ve had this song in my head all day….it is really difficult for me to spell courvoisier by the way but I used to love this jam 

 I snacked on fresh strawberries, geek yogurt, flax and unsweetened coconut this afternoon and later got a Starbucks refill on my drip coffee

 I had a networking dinner at Upstream with my Professional Women’s group. I’ve only been to Upstream twice-once for Sunday brunch and for Thanksgiving so I was super excited to go for dinner and drinks! This was my first time meeting these ladies and I had a wonderful time! It was great to get out, have a nice meal and some drinks with women my age who have the same interests and career driven.  I had two Stella drafts and went with The Flying Salmon Roll, Cucumber Roll and Firecracker Roll (top to bottom)

The Cucumber Roll and Firecracker Roll were great but the Flying Salmon Roll, not so much. I was expecting raw salmon and it was cooked which I am not a fan of. However great conversation, beer and meeting new people made up for it! Soon it was 930 and we were all ready to roll out and now I am at home catching up on some stuff.

I’ve been majorly sucking with tracking my food online lately. Starting tomorrow, I am bringing my a-game back and tracking everything. Hell, I may even take pictures of every single thing as well to make me accountable. I hate being a grazer. And I hate being a grazer who has four bags of 75% off Valentine’s Day chocolate sitting in my kitchen.

Sigh, how is it 1030 already?? Hope everyone had a delightful day!

I’m not irish but kiss me anyways!

Happy St. Patricks Day party people! I love how a majority of people I saw today were wearing green. I think we as a society should incorporate that more…like on Earth Day, wear green. Memorial Day, yellow (like the ribbons), Valentine’s, red or pink and so on. But not mandatory because if something is mandatory, I don’t want to do it because authority and I don’t mesh well.

Of course the people I work with weren’t wearing green because they are festive and lame. Suffice to say, I wasn’t surprised.

Every wonder why people who don’t wear green on St. Patricks Day get pinched? It started in the early 1700s in the Boston area—They thought if you wore green  it made you invisible to the leprechauns because leprechauns would pinch anyone they could see. So the pinching is to warn peeps about the leprechauns out there.

I love learning new things but personally the only leprechaun that freaks me out is this one

I would have loved a GREEN monster this morning but unfortunately it came out more of a brown hue.

Ok so the picture is a lie because there it looks quite green but for real, it was not. I was hesitant about trying it and wanted to mix it up a bit so decided to make a fruit based green monster instead of my am iced coffee one. It was just alright but I definitely think there is some potential! I mixed baby spinach, V8 Light Fusion, Soy Milk, ice, frozen strawberries and some splenda. The flavor didn’t pop out too much so maybe will add more juice or something protein powder next time around. I am almost out of my chocolate whey and debating whether to try vanilla or strawberry flavored protein next.

If anyone has any suggestions on brands and flavors-hook a sister up please let me know what kinds you like best!

I got my gold card from Starbucks in the mail today and now have a coupon for a free drink. I think I will save this for Friday or this wknd for a special drink. I never get the frou-frou drinks at Starbucks, just regular coffee so I think this will be a frou frou drink. Maybe an iced Carmel Macchiato or Skinny Cinnamon Dolce latte? The possibilities are endless! I love that Starbucks has this rewards program now. I always thought they should have this especially for what they are charging for their coffee.

I had avocado that I wanted to use so I made a breakfast wrap with one scrambled egg, mushroom, shredded cheese and half an avocado on a whole wheat wrap-delish!

We were super busy today so again, another day flies by and I am happy. Lunch was leftovers of Barilla whole wheat pasta, onions, mushrooms, artichokes and turkey sausage tossed in evoo.

I came home and wanted chinese, so I decided to make my own! Mushrooms, asparagus, onions and bamboo shoots cooking in soy sauce with ginger and black pepper.

I cooked Trader Joe’s Mandarin Orange Chicken in the oven while that was cooking and served over a bed of rice.

Holy close up!

Tonight, I’m just hanging in.

Now, for my drama. As you all know, I hate my job. I don’t like waking up in the morning, cry when I am at work (most days), am not “myself” when I am there and feel like I am at a dead-end. I transferred to Charlotte with my company and that was three in a half years ago. In that time, I have gotten title promotions and pay raises but still in the same position. That is the part I get depressed about. I cannot do the same function I have been doing for three and a half years anymore and seriously feel like a trained monkey can do my job. So the past two weeks, I have been looking for jobs in other cities where I have friends because I have made none here. I was starting to accept the idea of taking a job I would enjoy more but as much as it would suck, probably pay less. Yay, so that’s worked out and I can explore something that suits me better right? Wrong.

My parents have been helping me with one of my student loans while I pay the other one. They have really taken a hit with the economy and other financial issues and can’t afford to pay it anymore. So that’s another bill to worry about each month. I can budget my money just fine (I was actually in the USA Today two summers ago in an article about saving money and living frugally) and have cut many corners in the past. But now with this payment, I am not sure how many more corners I can cut. I don’t have cable tv, rarely go out and drink or party like I used to, shop at thrift stores for the most part,  go longer without getting my hair done among other things. I make good money for a single girl my age and all but it is just frustrating the amount I see go into my checking after 401K, health care, taxes, savings acct and bills. I just don’t know what more I can do.

I also wish I was more financially secure to help my parents out because that’s the least I owe them for everything. It’s out of my hands and is frustrating. That paired up with me being so unhappy with my job and location, I feel like I’m stuck between a rock and a hard place. This is just bringing me down so much I don’t know what to do. All of friends are in different cities so it’s not like I can talk to them in person or go out and have fun. ARRRRRGH! I just need to vent and need to figure something out because I am not an unhappy person and cannot do this much longer.

Anyways, I need to get a full night’s sleep so I am attempting to take some nyquil and pass out. For your partiers out there—be safe tonight!

Till I collapse

 Thanks all for the sweet comments on baby got back post 🙂 I almost want to break out into my rendition of Buttermilk Biscuits now

 

And you thought Baby Got Back was old school!!

I work up this morning absolutely starving and grabbed a Clif Z Bar for the bus ride.

To my dismay, we got the futuristic bus today which sounds awesome but it sucks. Charlotte Area Transportation put a few new buses out this past year and they are horrible. They have fewer seats, florescent lights and when you sit down (if you can find a seat) you can barely see out the window since the seats are low.

Yummy Starbucks iced coffee with non fat milk and one pump sugar free cinnamon dulce

My produce for the day

I spent the morning training an associate on our floor so that made the morning fly by-which we like 🙂

I finally had my breakfast around 11A which was greek yogurt, blueberries, flax and granola

I met up with a co-worker and we went to Brixx Wood Fired Pizza since I had a BOGO coupon

It was starting to rain out and the tail end of the lunch hour so we got in quick and didn’t have to wait. Since I work Uptown, there tends to be a small wait for lunch which is one of the reasons I never go

I got the Roasted Chicken Caprese Pizza with sun-dried tomato pesto, shredded basil, wood-roasted chicken, roma tomatoes and fresh house-made mozzarella.

My friend got the Chicke Florentine Pizza with wood-roasted chicken, crumbled bacon,
roma tomatoes, fresh spinach, and feta and mozzarella cheeses . I tried to get a picture before she grabbed a slice!

Mine was good but nothing to write home about. The flavor really didn’t pop out to me and I’ve had better there. I do not like how their tables look exactly like my work desk!

The rest of the afternoon went by quickly—I think I worked a little, read some blogs, socialized, etc. A good day!

I came home and made chicken and black bean tacos

I long for the days of summer when avocados are aplenty and cheap!

Nom nom nom!!

Raining and nasty outside but I sadly got out of my fleece pajama pants and sweatshirt and suited up for my run. I was NOT feeling this run at first. Then Eminem’s Till I Collapse came on and it was on! I ran the furthest I have done to date–3.2 miles and am feeling it now! I finally found my happy pace….which is super slow…..but one where I am not having any problems breathing and can run further and not have to stop every few minutes. I know this doesn’t sound like an accomplishment but it is for me 🙂

I came home and made a smoothie. Sad, I have no baby spinach and barely any soy milk so it turned out real chunky. I made it with soy milk, ice cubes, Barney Butter and chocolate whey protein

Lincoln was intrigued 🙂

I am so beat tired but need to clean for my mom is coming in town tomorrow night for a long wknd. I am sleeping in though so I can roll into work later and then head to the airport from work and pick her up.

And I leave you all with a beautiful vision post workout

Holla if ya nasty