I realize I have been a bad blogger and have been neglecting my little baby blog, but here’s a little bit of everything from the past 2.5 weeks of my life! Lots to say and show, but I’ll save the best for last haha. You’ll see.

 

Broad Street Run 10-miler

I said I’d have a Broad Street Run recap, but now it’s 3 weeks later and I’m going to be honest and say I’ve forgotten some of it. Whoops! Let’s just say I had a great time and it was quite an experience. It was the longest I had ever run, I was running in downtown Philly (I had only been to Philly once when I was 10 years old), and the race had more than 26,000 runners. One word: awesome. And I really have to thank my college friend from Bucknell who let me stay at her house that weekend and took me around Philly the day before the race. She REALLY made the race day stress-free for me in terms of transportation, baggage check, etc.

 

Day before the race, exploring Philly:

Race expo, which was not impressive!

City Hall. I ran down this street and right past it during the race. How cool is that?

Chinatown!

 

Awesome indoor market. It was HUGE and had everything you could ever think of, EXCEPT frozen yogurt!

So we went to Phileo Yogurt on South Street to satisfy my craving! I only have it a couple of times a year, so when I get it, it makes me very happy.

I loaded up with all of the froyo flavors that sounded good: NY Cheesecake, Red Velvet, Cookies and Cream, and Peanut Butter! Topped with mochi, strawberries, bloobs, kiwi, and a little bit of cookie dough. Quite expensive, but devoured within 5 minutes while walking. YUM.

 

Oh, and the official pictures from the race sucked, as they were huge group shots at the finish line, so here are the pictures my friend took on race day:

 

Waiting for the train into Philly at 6am.

My totally awesome friend Meghana! Too bad we’re a bit blurry.

My corral!

Lots and lots of people!

In all of my post-race glory. Satisfied. Killed the 10-miler. Hells yeah.

 

Oh My Gahhh-min

I’ve had my Polar F6 HRM for a year now, and I’ve always had to use various online route mapping tools to figure out the distance of my runs. And if I’m trying to hit a certain mileage on a run, I have to map it out beforehand and remember the route. Not anymore!!

I got a Garmin Forerunner 305 as a graduation present to myself. Yes I did. And his name is Chuck, named after Chuck Bass and Chuck Bartowski.

 

I love love love Chuck!! And I really like that I can get the stats on my computer through an actual USB connection because my Polar F6 does it by some sort of weird sound link (no physical connection to the computer) and it DOESN’T WORK. So frustrating. I also love that I can see my pace in real-time. Such a fun little toy.

 

Graduation

Oh yes, and I GRADUATED!

 

I hate that the gown is kind of like a garbage bag and makes me look so short. But hey, I now have a Master’s in Communication and Information Studies, so I’m not complaining haha.

 

Vacaaaation!!

Not gonna lie. Ever since I submitted my last paper on May 6, I’ve been doing very little. I did help my mom A LOT on her garden for multiple hours over multiple days, and I vacuumed the whole house one day, but other than that, I’ve been sitting on my ass. =X

I spent many hours and days on the computer researching our annual family vacation. We decided on Miami for 2 days and then a 4 day cruise to the Bahamas in June, and I’m super excited for it! The last time we were on a cruise was in 1999 in Hawaii, and although I was going through my ‘angry years’ and pouted in all the pictures, I think I still had fun haha.

[source]

I’m looking forward to clear blue water! The Atlantic Ocean is pretty darn yucky compared to that! I can’t wait to go kayaking in it.

 

Workouts

I was in an exercise funk for the past few weeks, and I honestly didn’t visit the gym very often. I just wasn’t feeling it. Gardening was really exhausting on the days that had good weather and we worked on the land, and I did lots of BodyRock.tv workouts. I LOVE those workouts because they are short and sweet and totally kill you. I can feel myself getting stronger already, even though I only use my bodyweight! I updated my exercise page, so go check it out and try the workouts!

Now that I have a vacation planned to Miami and the Bahamas, I need to get my butt bikini-ready! Thank goodness The Fitnessista started her Summer Shape Up 2010 today just in time! I think this is just what I need to get out of my exercise funk! I love having new routines and a whole training plan, so this should do it for me. I did the lower body strength training and cardio workout today instead of the prescribed upper body routine because… well… you’ll see…

 

Emergency

I couldn’t do the upper body workout today because I couldn’t grip the weights very tightly. Why? Well take a look at what happened on Saturday:

Here’s the long story:

While doing yardwork, my dad and I came across a H-U-G-E boulder underground that we needed to remove. After digging and digging and digging, I went to grab the rock to try to pull it out, but my dad didn’t realize it and pushed the rock with the shovel towards my thumb. And unfortunately, my thumb was crushed between the rock and the cement. Thank goodness I had a glove on, but it still did a lot of damage.

I screamed and cried like I have never cried before. Luckily my dad doesn’t panic in these kinds of situations, immediately grabbed my finger to stop the bleeding, and guided me inside to clean off the wound. I was sobbing and sobbing and when he ran water over it, I screamed some more. I felt my body tingling from my hyperventilating and I was afraid I was going to pass out. My dad put Neosporin on the wound and wrapped 2 band-aids tightly over it to stop the bleeding. I eventually stopped crying and just succumbed to the intense throbbing. I wrapped my thumb up in an icepack and my mom took me to a local clinic to take x-rays and make sure nothing was broken.

Gosh. Clinics are so SLOW. First they put me in a room and I waited 30 minutes for the Radiologist to come and take my x-rays. He unwrapped the band-aids and blood started coming out again. It was actually dripping while he was taking the x-rays. Gross.

Then I went back to the examining room and waited 30 minutes for a nurse to come in and take my BP and temperature. I was pleased to learn that my resting HR was 55 bpm. When I was at my unhealthiest in 2005, it was about 70 bpm. By this time, I was really really hungry and had to pee really badly. But my would was still open and I only had a paper towel to control the bleeding. I couldn’t go to the bathroom and pee, and I had no food on me.

Another 30 minutes pass and the doctor comes in to look at my finger. He tells me the x-rays showed nothing was broken, and I didn’t need stitches. Good news! However, I would need a tetanus shot. No big, right? He says the nurse will be right in.

20 minutes later, the nurse comes in with the shot and injects it into my left arm (right thumb is crushed) so “both sides will be even”. Thanks, nurse. As soon as he injected the shot, he left. Not 10 seconds later, I felt myself losing consciousness and then I went into some sort of dream state. It felt like a pretty long time, and I had no idea what was going on, so I was really confused when the next thing I heard was “Doctor, doctor! She fainted!” It was my mom. Thank GOODNESS my mom came with me into the examining room.

Apparently I had passed out for 30 seconds from the shot. The nurse comes back in and props my feet up so the blood flows the other way. He keeps saying that it’s normal for people to faint from being nervous about shots, but I was not nervous at all. In fact, I was surprised how calm I was about it, and how painless it all was. I suspect it was probably the lack of food in me, but hey, it’s not my fault that I had been at the clinic for 2 hours by then!

The nurse then dressed my wound and put that huge cloth on top of it. I finally got to go home after that. I got up and felt something wet in my shorts. Odd. Also, I didn’t have the intense urge to pee anymore. Whoops. Apparently when I passed out, I also wet my pants. Who knew?

Oh gosh was my arm sore from the tetanus shot. Felt like someone punched me there! I could barely lift my arm, and I still can’t! Two days later (today), I had a follow-up to check for an infection, and I was nervous to see what my thumb looked like, after not seeing it for almost 48 hours.

Sorry. I hope that didn’t gross you out. It’s really not as bad as it looks. But now I just have to wait for it to heal and it’ll be all good. I’m glad to have that big cotton thumb off and I can just use band-aids and Neosporin now. I have full use of my thumb again! I didn’t realize how useful my thumb was until I couldn’t use it this weekend haha.

This was my first real emergency so I had no idea what to expect or how bad my finger would be. Thank goodness nothing was broken and it all turned out well. Whew. Ok. That was LONG.

Here’s the short version: My thumb got crushed on Saturday, I sobbed and sobbed like a hyperventilating baby, my mom rushed me to the clinic, I waited a long time for different people to see me, got x-rays, nothing broken, got a tetanus shot, promptly passed out, wet my pants, got my thumb wrapped up, went back for a follow-up and everything’s all good.

 

Well, that’s just some of the things that I’ve been up to these past few weeks, but this is a monster post already so I’ll stop. I’ve been reading posts, but not posting my own, and only occasionally commenting. I’ll try to comment more often, though. I love you all! I hope you still come around and read my blog too, even though I seem to be super sporadic in posting. Sorry!

 

I hope your weeks have gotten off to a good start, and didn’t start like mine did with sitting in a clinic for hours!

Hey guys!!! Guess who’s done with school! …ME! I emailed my last paper to my professor yesterday, and that marks my last assignment in my graduate career. My thesis presentation went oooookay on Monday night… I was super nervous and it definitely showed, but I am just glad it’s ovahhh! After being in “school” for the past 18 years, I’m not really sure what to do with myself now. I know I need to find a job, but I am really worried about that. I fear it will take me many, many months to land a job, but hey, I gotta do what I gotta do.

 

Also… I completed the Broad Street Run 10-Miler in Philadelphia this past Sunday in 1:34:31!! The longest I had ever run before that was 8 miles, so this was both a PR and a PDR hehe. I loved that the race was so HUGE (26,000+ runners) and riding the subway with all of those runners to the starting line gave me a feeling of camaraderie, as odd as that may sound. Even though it was SUPER hot (90*), the crowds were great and very supportive, and the fire hydrants were opened up into sprinklers (LOVED running through them!!). I’ll have a full recap later when official pictures are posted, so stay tuned for that.

 

Anyway, let’s get to the product reviews! These reviews have been a LONG time coming, but now that I have a bit more time to post about them, here they are!

 

[disclaimer: I was sent all of these products for free to review]

 

NUNATURALS

Ron from NuNaturals was too kind and sent me a whole bunch of stevia products since I wasn’t too satisfied with my experience with PureVia.

 

Pure Liquid Alcohol Free Stevia

 

Oh gosh, I use the liquid stevia in EVERYTHING!! I lovelovelove it. It’s probably my favorite product that they sent me. I put it in my oatmeal, tea, greek yogurt chocolate pudding, everything else! It’s so convenient to use and mixes right into cold or hot foods, whereas a powder would really only work in hot foods. I also love that it comes in a dropper bottle, which reminds me of my chemistry classes. Definitely a 10/10.

 

NuStevia White Stevia packets

I used these mostly in my coffee at work because I didn’t want to bring my bottle of liquid stevia with me. Super convenient and I thought it tasted great. I also put some in my dad’s coffee a few times on the weekends, and while he didn’t mind, my mom took a few sips and tasted bitterness. I secretly put sugar in the coffee one morning to test whether it was because she knew there was stevia in it, but she tasted it and immediately said “you put regular sugar in it this time, didn’t you?” I don’t taste any odd flavors in it, but because my mom did, it gets an 8/10.

 

NuStevia Quick Dissolve Tabs

I used this in my hot tea, but I don’t know how the powder and tablets have different uses. Also, one tablet is a bit too much sweetener for a 16 oz mug of tea, but you can break them up yourself. Overall, it was convenient, but again, not as convenient as the packets which I can take to work with me. 8/10

 

NuStevia Sweetener Stevia Baking Blend

[source]

This was the last product that I tried. I just didn’t have any time during the semester to sit down and bake something, but once I handed in my thesis paper and gave my presentation, I only had one small paper to finish and a bit more free time on my hands.

 

I searched my Google Reader for a fun recipe to try, and found Mama Pea’s Zucchini Chocolate Chip Muffins. They were so simple to make, and I just needed to go buy a zucchini! I used half granulated sugar and half NuStevia Baking Blend for the whole amount of sugar, as Mama Pea did as well, but I only used half of the amount of chocolate chips (and it was still VERY chocolatey).

 

And oh gosh were they delicious!! My whole family loved them and the zucchini really made them moist! They were veryyy sweet, but I couldn’t tell the difference between the stevia and white sugar, so I would probably just omit the white sugar next time and use the stevia, but also bring down the total amount of sugar.

This was a great substitute for sugar in baking! Couldn’t taste the difference, but was still quite sweet! 10/10

 

Thank you SO much for sending me these products, Ron!! I will definitely be purchasing the liquid stevia after mine runs out!

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KARDEA NUTRITION

The nice people at Kardea Nutrition  also kindly sent me a sample box of their bar flavors:

From their website:

These bars have 50% Recommended Cholesterol-lowering Plant Sterols; 30% Recommended Heart Healthy Soluble Fiber + Low in Saturated Fat + Low in Salt + Vegetarian Protein.

 

The bars are good for managing your cholesterol, but I don’t have any cholesterol problems (in fact, my doctor was amazed as my cholesterol numbers), so these turned into straight pre-workout bars for me.

 

Cranberry Almond

Cranberry Almond was a very tasty bar that actually had REAL cranberry pieces in it! I absolutely loved finding those pieces! It was sooooo good! 9/10

 

Banana Nut

Banana Nut was probably my favorite flavor of the bunch. Tasted like BANANA BREAD! I closed my eyes while eating it and actually fooled myself into thinking it was real banana bread for a few moments. 9/10

 

Chai Spice

 

Oddly, Chai Spice was the least flavorful, and probably my least favorite because of that. It had a very subtle flavor, but would probably have been good with a fruit flavor in it as well. Tasted kind of like a chai tea I guess? 7/10

 

Lemon Ginger

The Lemon Ginger was great and had a great balance between the lemon and ginger flavors. One was not overpowering the other, and I was appreciative of that. For those who are not used to ginger outside of traditional cooking, this might be a little weird, but I even eat ginger candy, so this was a very pleasant bar for me. However, I’m more of an apple/banana/strawberry/cranberry/blueberry/etc-flavored bar person, so this was not as impressive as the first two flavors I tried. 8/10

 

Overall, the Kardea nutrition bars were great pre-workout fuel and I would probably purchase the Cranberry Almond and Banana Nut flavors if I were in need of bars.

 

Thanks Kardea Nutrition for sending me your products!

 

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Alright, it’s time for me to get off to work now, but it feels SO good to be done with school!! Be back later for my Broad Street Run recap as soon as I have pictures!

 

Bye!!! and TGIF!

Hi there, lovelies! You all still out there?

How is everyone??? I’m still hangin in there! I’ve taken a few days to decompress at night, so last night I watched Food Inc. with my parents (lovelovelove it, and my mom wants to go local now! Woohoo!), and I watched The Biggest Loser on Tuesday night. That was a very inspirational episode for me, personally. The temptation and their willpower not to eat all the crap in front of them was EXACTLY what I needed to see after I’ve been struggling with the same thing lately. It was wonderful and totally gave me the kick in the butt that I needed.

 

11 days until my thesis paper and presentation are due, so it’s cruuuunch timeeee! That also means 10 days until my 10-mile race! I got an 8-mile training run in last week, which is a PDR, and I surprisingly ran it faster than I ran my previous long run of 7 miles. I felt awesome afterwards and not one bit sore the next day. Howeverrrr… I suffer from allergies and it totally did a number on me. My nose was out of control later that day and my eyes were horrid:

 

I’m not sure if you can see, but they were so red and itchy and painful. But nothing a little Visine-A couldn’t help!

 

I wanted to do 9 miles this past weekend, but the weather just plain sucked. And with the potential aftermath of allergies, I don’t think I’ll be making that run up this weekend either. I’m already suffering a bit from walking to and from my car each day! Oh, and my Exercise page is all up to date now!

 

Alright… let’s see what else I’ve got for you! It’s been a while, guys!

I went to the UNITE Half Marathon expo at my university but it was a big disappointment. I’m not running the race, but I wanted to see what they had at the expo, and I was already on campus, so why not? A running store had brought in bags and bags of ‘once worn’ shoes from all over the country, as their policy is that if you’re not satisfied with your purchase from them, you can return it within 60 days. That’s a lot of days. So all of these shoes were purchased and returned, and there were some that were in pretty bad shape (muddy, sole is worn down already, etc.), but some were pretty darn like-new. And only $50! For shoes that cost between $100 and $150, that’s a steal. Think Mizuno, Brooks, Asics, Nike, and the like. They weren’t sorted by size or gender, so I spent 45 minutes rummaging through all of the bags and boxes to find all womens shoes that were my size. I tried them all on and really liked a few, but apparently they weren’t the right type of shoe for my feet. Gahh that was really frustrating after spending all of that time looking. I probably tried on every womens size 7 sneakers they brought. Oh well…

Looks new, right??? These were probably worn maybe only once or twice!

 

My internship celebrated National Student Workers Week by throwing me and 4 other student interns a little luncheon with subs, cookies, and cake, and they gave us each a cute bag of goodies!

 

Beach towel, water bottle, luggage tag, and Dunkin Donuts gift card! How sweet of them!

 

I don’t have time to go shopping anymore, but I decided to join my parents in an impromptu trip to Bed Bath and Beyond to look for this breadmaker. Too bad none of the Bed Bath and Beyonds near us have it in stock!! However, I did find these:

A bamboo chopping board – LOVE IT!!

 

Clif C bars (mini bars) that were discounted because their expiration date is coming up. These are great for a pre-workout mini snack, but they are definitely small in size. Very cute though, if you’ve ever seen the individual packages.

 

And what have I been enjoying on the food front, you ask??

I’ve been totally loving my baked beans:

In a Flatout wrap with eggbeaters – perhaps a bit unconventional, but so warm and soft!

 

And on top of huge freakin salads, of course:

Salad base, mushrooms, cuke, carrots, stir fried snap peas + more carrots, Morningstar Grillers Vegan, baked beans, brussel sprouts, and bbq sauce! Whew!

 

I love a smoothie in a cup…

AND a smoothie in a bowl!

With Kashi 7 Grain Puffs on top – totally key for the bowl smoothies, love the crunch!  

 

Here are the ingredients in most of my smoothies:

Almond milk, frozen banana, frozen strawberries (when I have them), AmazingGrass green superfood, ice, and organic baby spinach.

 

I finally used my coupon that I won from Julie’s giveaway a while ago to purchase the Asia flavor of Crofter’s Superfruit Spread:

I wanted Europe, but the store didn’t have that flavor.

I’ve been eating it on bread and in PB&J sammies – it’s really, really good, but I wish it were chunkier, as in more chunks of fruit.

 

And… Dark Chocolate Dreams PB!! My bro wanted it, so it ended up in the house… 

 

Tastes JUST like a Reese’s peanut butter cup. Amazing.

I’ve been putting it in my morning CHOCOLATE oats to add an extra chocolate kick to it hehe.

And I’ve also been loving greek yogurt in my oats too! I don’t know why I didn’t put it in there before!! I was always wary of mixing something hot and creamy with the cold yogurt, but it TOTALLY goes.

 

Dessert!

Here’s the chocolate pudding I had one night…

1/2 cup plain greek yogurt, 1-2 tsp unsweetened cocoa powder, and a few drops of NuNaturals liquid stevia = amazing. Even better than real chocolate pudding, perhaps!

 

And on top of a deep chocolate vitatop with frozen strawberries:

Gosh this was heavenly.

 

I also got a package this past weekend!

I won Flatout’s first twitter contest and they sent me all of the flavors of their new edgeOn flatbread crisps!

They are ridiculously good and addictive. And they have such a cute shape!

Thanks Flatout! (and Jenn!) 

 

And finally… last night I made KALE CHIPS. I have never had kale before, and I’ve been wanting to try the infamous kale chips, but I was honestly scared! I sucked it up and bought a small bundle yesterday after work and immediately made it when I got home. I first saw it on Kath’s blog and roughly followed her directions.

 

The scary kale!

 

Just the green leaves dried in the salad spinner:

 

 

Torn into bite size pieces, massaged with 2 tsp olive oil and a little salt, and lined on two trays:

 

Baked at 350* for 10 minutes:

 

Some were burnt because my mom was roasting a chicken in the large oven, and I had to use a small convection oven that doesn’t heat evenly. I was really impressed with the taste, though! It’s definitely different from what I’m used to, and I can’t really say what it tasted like, but I liked it. And I ate it all. I ate a whole head of kale. Yep!

Alright friends, that’s all I have for you now. Gotta get back to the grind! It’s gonna be a loooong two weeks because I have to finish my thesis BEFORE my race, as it literally sucks up the whole weekend before it’s due! Check it out:

• Race expo May 1 – stay overnight
• 10-mile race May 2
• Thesis presentation and paper due May 3
• Consumer Behavior final exam due May 6

YIKES! *no stress, no stress* *breathe* yep… and then I’m DONE with school and my degree!!!! But… I’ll be full-time jobless. I’ll have 1.5 part-time jobs (yes, 1.5 haha), but I want a ‘real’ job now. It’s time. Gotta grow up some time!

 

Keep an eye out for a Kardea nutrition bar review, as well as a full NuNaturals stevia review – they’re coming, I promise! See ya lata! I hope you all have a great week!!!

 

Giveaways:

Janetha’s blog’s first birthday giveaway!

Green Giant giveaway at Lucky Taste Buds!

Bobbi is holding an Aurorae mat giveaway!

Heyyyy there, lovelies!! We made it to the weekend! Well, I barely did, anyway haha. Let me update you on a few things…

 

Update on Life:

Let’s see… I did the usual work, school, schoolwork, and commuting this week… nothing special, really. Just a lot of time suck, especially in the car.

 

I’m not sure what happened here, but I went straight to the library after work on Wednesday (skipping a workout) for 5 hours and worked on my thesis. I was understandably feeling a bit worn out mentally after that, and left the library at 9pm. When I woke up the next morning, I felt like DEATH. Why?? This happened to me about a month ago and I was miserable, but I was really pushing myself hard then. Well, add to this some major allergies, and I was not a happy camper on Thursday.

 

Update on Exercise:

Unfortunately, I only managed a few mini workouts this week. I’m starting to realize the order of things in my life. When things get busy, blogging is the first to go, then exercise (my exercise page is now updated).

 

Post-run on Tuesday.

 

Even though I was feeling horrible on Thursday, I still made the decision (perhaps stupidly) to get in a workout. In my head, I couldn’t not workout for multiple days in row, after skipping Wednesday to study. I was supposed to do HIIT and strength training, but decided on a less intense workout. I tried the 500 rep workout from BodyRock.tv, which I first saw on Jessica’s blog. It took me 30 minutes exactly and boy oh boy am I SO SORE from it! 100 of those 500 reps were straight push ups and my back and shoulders are feelin it!! But it feels so good afterwards, even if I was cursing during the workout.

 

Even though I loved the workout, I was so mentally and physically exhausted with a horrible case of allergies that I even had to leave class early that night. I just couldn’t stand it anymore. I was so uncomfortable in the classroom. It was hot, my nose was going crazy, my head was dizzy, and I couldn’t pay attention, so I just left during break at the halfway point. I got home, ate dinner, and promptly slept soundly for 8 solid hours.

 

Oh yeah, and that 10-mile race coming up in 3 weeks? Yikes. My PDR so far is 7 miles and I plan to do 8 miles sometime this weekend or the next, depending on soreness (I’m still sore!), weather, and time constraints, but 10 seems much farther than 8. Perhaps the farthest I will run before the race will be 8 or 9 miles… but probably not 10. Wish me luck…

 

Update on Bingeing:

Unfortunately, I’ve been having trouble with bingeing at night again (this, mixed with minimal workouts = no bueno!). I’ve stopped buying my trigger foods (cereal, granola, chips, crackers) in an attempt to curb this behavior, so hopefully out of sight, out of mind works for me. It’s working so far (day 2), but I can only hope it lasts.

 

Update on my Bowl:

Bad news… I accidentally knocked my special oatmeal bowl off of the counter on Tuesday morning as I was making breakfast. RIP bowl.

 

Update on Dinners:

This was a super tasty dinner last night!

Brown rice, watercress, tilapia, and egg+shrimp. All made by my mom, and all yummy!

 

Brussels were brought back for Thursday’s dinner:

Salad bowl topped with carrots, cuke, mushroom, tomatoes, brussels, Gardein Tuscan chick’n, black beans, and hummussssss. Totally awesome.

 

Update on Snacks:

Fage, pumpkin, 1/2 Kashi Honey Almond Flax bar. I’m starting to like bars better crumbled over yogurt than eaten on their own!

 

Update on Bread?:

Guess what I found on sale at my local grocery store! Rudi’s Organic whole wheat bread! For $2!! What a steal! I had seen it on a few blogs before but had never tried it, so this was my chance. I had a slice on its own and it was light, yet so tasty! I don’t like super dense bread because it sits like a rock in my stomach. So go find this bread if you can because it’s awesome!

 

Update on NuNaturals:

So… I have some NuNaturals reviews for you! I was sent a bunch of their products and I’m slowly trying them in different things.

 

1. Stevia packets

I added two of these to my cup of coffee instead of PureVia or Splenda, and I was so glad there was no aftertaste or bitterness, and I think I could even drop it down to one packet since stevia is so much sweeter than sugar!

 

2. NuNaturals NuStevia Quick Dissolve Tabs

 

 

 

I used 2 of these tablets in my Honey Vanilla Chamomile tea last night when I was stuffed up with allergies and trying to feel better. I also added a splash of almond milk, and this was possibly the yummiest tea I’ve had in a while! It did help calm me down, too. I’m not sure what the difference is between the powder stevia packets and the stevia tablets are, but both get my approval!

 

3. NuNaturals Liquid Vanilla Stevia drops

[this photo is from the NuNaturals website because my camera ate my photo… sorry!]

 

Last night’s dessert was chocolate avocado pudding from Evan at FoodMakesFunFuel, except I only used 1 Tbsp of cocoa powder instead of 2. I decided this would be the perfect time to try the vanilla stevia drops, and I had a ripe avocado that was begging to be used.

 

Here’s what I mixed together:

• 3 oz avocado
• 1T unsweetened cocoa powder
• 3T almond milk
• 20 drops of NuNaturals Vanilla Stevia drops

Mash and mix it all up, and voila!! SO amazingly delicious and chocolatey!

I made it before dinner, (taste tested it of course, hehe), and popped it in the fridge to chill, and ate it during Food Revolution. I love Jamie Oliver. Go sign his petition!

 

The NuNaturals liquid vanilla stevia drops made this dish very, VERY yummy! I love that the vanilla is in it already, so I don’t have to add vanilla extract. This is probably my favorite NuNaturals product so far! Next up to try from NuNaturals is the stevia baking blend – perhaps sometime this weekend if I have time?? So far I’ve been very impressed with their stevia products!

 

I was also sent some Kardea Nutrition bars to review, so after I try those I will let you know what I think!

 

And that’s all I have for you today! Have a great rest of your weekend! I’ve got to finish up this paper for class that I’m writing, as well as hunker down for some more thesis reading and writing. Aiyooo it never ends!!

 

Now I need life updates from all of YOU! What have you been up to, or what are your upcoming plans? I can probably live vicariously through you haha.

 

And here are a ton of giveaways for you to enter!

LuckyTasteBuds – outsmarting temptation giveaway

JocelynEatsFresh – crock pot giveaway

AnAppleADay – YogaDownload giveaway

AnAppleADay – Peet’s coffee giveaway

AnAppleADay – VITATOPS!

Heyyy guys!! You’re all SO awesome for the support you gave me in my last post!! Every one of your comments made me smile and work just a little harder on my thesis in the past few days. Thank you!!!

I worked on my thesis ALL day yesterday for 12+ hours and had no exercise whatsoever. I sat on my butt for a loooong time but got a lot of work done! And after pestering my adviser for some answers, he finally wrote back and I could move forward with my work! Yay! I also have to give major thanks to my family for making an effort to stay quiet and not turn on the TV so I could work at home. It was much appreciated!

I did some more work today for a few hours, but decided to go out and run some errands with my dad since I hadn’t left the house for 48 hours. o.O I’m happy with the amount of progress I made this weekend, so I’m taking a break to update you all now.

Ok, let’s roll with the updates list-style today, shall we?

1. I don’t always have big salads for dinner. In fact, I don’t always have veggies for dinner. Enter a tasty dinner:

1 pineapple chobani, Kashi Autumn Harvest cereal, Total Blueberry Pomegranate cereal, and frozen bloobs. TOTALLY awesome and dinner tasted like a treat.

2. Sometimes I did have big salads for dinner and this one was phenom in particular:

romaine, spinach, cuke mushroom, carrots, tomato, LENTILS!, baby broccoli, fresh roasted chicken breast, and a dollop of roasted red pepper hummus. Oh gosh… I love it!

3. I had a spectacular dessert one night too:

Chocolate OIKOS topped with Naturally More pb. Chocolate + yogurt + pb = amazing. Try it. Now.

4. I was so stoked to come home from work on Friday with two packages waiting for me!!

Stevia samples that Ron from NuNaturals was kind enough to send me for review:

I can’t wait to try these in so many recipes (there’s stevia drops, capsules, powder packets, and baking blend), and they even sent me a whole packet of recipes that incorporate their products, some of which were developed by bloggies! Than you Ron! Look out for my reviews of these products as I use them!

And Amazing Grass Green SuperFood chocolate powder and bars that I won in Lara’s giveaway:

I actually only won the chocolate superfood, but Amazing Grass was awesome enough to throw in a few bars as well! I used to have a jar of chocolate superfood, and I loved mixing it into smoothies, but I have never tried the bars! I’ve heard good things about them, though. Thanks Amazing Grass and Lara!

These totally made my Friday after a long week that much better!

5. I immediately tore into the Amazing Grass Chocolate Peanut Butter Protein Bar:

I love that it was covered in chocolate, tasted like yummy peanut butter and most of all… was GREEN! LOVE IT! haha! I can’t wait to break into the other flavors, but I think this one will be my favorite already.

6. My first try with NuNaturals stevia was in my morning oats:

I put a stevia packet in with my unsweetened cocoa powder to make chocolate oats and it was great! I think a big test for the stevia packets will be on Tuesday when I have my morning coffee at work.  I’ll let you know how that goes.

7. As expected, I used my Amazing Grass chocolate superfood in my next Green Monster:

You can definitely tell that there’s grass in it, but I actually love tasting the grittiness of it and knowing that it’s super healthy for me.

8. Since the weather got ridiculously nice, I have been trying to get outside as often as I can (which isn’t very often when I have to be tethered to my computer to do thesis work!). I actually did my Tabata intervals in my backyard on Friday!

I loved it, but the only downside is that the ground is lumpy and it throws off my balance sometimes when I’m doing jump moves. For this Tabata, I did a version loosely based on this workout at BodyRock.tv, but replaced jumprope and jumping lunges with other exercises. I’ve updated all of my workouts on my Exercise page!

9. Pre-workout one day was a Raspberry Chobani with 1/2 of a crumbled Berry SOYJOY bar from *ahem* early 2009. haha. oops.  I had put off eating this bar because it was like an overbaked cookie-thing, but crumbled over a Chobani, it was perfect.

10. I made Angela’s version of Chickpeas and Spinach for dinner last night:

As she promised, it was on the table in 15 minutes, but I put too many spices in it… both the cumin and red pepper flakes were overkill and my mouth was on fiyahhh! I did like the addition of the toasted sandwich thin!

11. For lunch today, I made Kath’s black bean burgers. Seriously amazing. I have made them once before, but I had forgotten how quick and easy they were to make! Just mash some black beans with flour and a dash of water, form into patties, grill for a few minutes on each side, and EAT!

I loved it. And I’m so glad I have the other “patty” in the fridge so I can experience the tastiness again.

Alright, it’s time to get ready for the week… usual Sunday night activities. I am almost a certified brain trainer at my job #2 – I took the written exam last Wednesday and I have my practical this Friday. So I’ve got lots of practicing to do! And I have my thesis class tomorrow night, including a presentation of the progress I’ve made so far. Ah yes, and two papers for my Consumer Behavior class due soon. And my other jobs everyday. Aaaaand of course my ongoing pain in my butt aka my thesis. Oh and a 10 mile race to train for in less than a month. haha this is getting out of hand.

April will be the busiest month of my liiiiife! WoooooO! It’ll be weird for it to be GOGOGO for a month and then pretty much entirely stop after May 3. My thesis will be done, my class will be done, and I will have run my 10 mile race. And I might even be done with one of my jobs then too. Wow. I can’t wait. hahaha…

Goodnight bloggie friends! Keep rockin’ on, and I’ll see you when I get another break!

***EDITED to add a couple of awesome giveaways I forgot to link to! Oops!***

P.S. 2 giveaways at An Apple A Day:

ICUeyewear sunglasses!

Gluten Free CheeCha potato puffs!

Coco is having a Namaste Foods giveaway!

Katie is having a raw chocolate giveaway!