That's a lot of food....

I write to you now while sitting in the Barnes and Nobles Starbucks listening to 2000's Pop Radio station (The BEST station on Pandora if you grew up loving Britney Spears, early Justin Timberlake, and maybe even a little Avril Lavigne) and sipping on a skinny gingerbread latté...pretty good morning for me I'd say!

...except for after this post I have to start studying for the exam I have Tuesday :/ The semester is coming to an end, but with that comes the craziness of finals period. At least there's Christmas break to look forward to. If that's not a light at the end of the tunnel, then I don't know what is...

Ok I have tons of foodie pictures to show you guys so I'll jump right in with those first! They're in somewhat of a chronological order.

Carma's for dinner last week--> farmhouse salad with vegan bacon and a cup of pumpkin black bean soup (vegan). Carma's hits the spot every time, without fail 

Banana brown sugar oatmeal for breakfast

Quick breakfast before running out the door to class...banana and berries, Vans gf waffle with almond butter to go!

Lunch...all of my lunches have looked like these strange concoctions of whatever I had left in the pantry. I was running quite low on supplies before Thanksgiving break. Luckily I did my monthly trip to Whole Foods yesterday to stock up! But more on that later...

Dinner picked up from Belvedere Market and shared with Joey--sautéd veggies, baked sweet potato, and spelt bread with fresh goat cheese spread on top. Joey also had honey barbecue wings, but I did not partake in those. 

Belvedere Market was just introduced to me recently and after one trip I was in love. They have sooo much delicious and fresh food there; it's heaven for a foodie. If you live in the Baltimore area and haven't been there, make it a priority to go! You will NOT regret it!! 

The oatmeal just keeps coming....

aaaand another strangle lunch plate...

Sisterhood Thanksgiving with the sorority sistas! Everyone brought something and we have some seriously amazing chefs and bakers in our chapter so needless to say, we had a pretty impressive spread. 7 long rectangular tables were full of everything from 2 whole roasted turkeys, to stuffins (stuffing made in muffin tins), to vegan sweet potatoes, to green beans, to roasted squash, 5 different kinds of salad, pumpkin scones with honey butter, pumpkin pie, cranberry apple ginger pie, pumpkin cookies with cream cheese icing, and the list goes on and on and on. 

Food coma doesn't even begin to describe the aftermath of this dinner...

But we still were able to pose for a christmas card <3 

Yes the flannel was planned....

Then after two days of school that seemed to drag on ever so slowly, it was time to go home to the Queen City for break!! 

Breakfast was not oatmeal for once! --> Siggi's blueberry yogurt with berries and my mom's homemade granola

Mama Shelley's Pinterest inspired cocktail: champagne + apple cider with apple slices and pomegranate seeds sprinkled on top. My taste buds were very happy with this drink. 

Dinner out with friends who came over before for appetizers. Mama put out a spread of veggies with hummus, crab dip, and a cheese plate that the cheese expert (that's me) approved of :) 

Dinner at Aria Tuscan Grill! It's a favorite place of ours so I was happy I got to go while home. I had the "Scottish Salmon alla Plancha- with Brown Butter Potatoes, Warm Butternut Squash & Haricot Vert Salad, Pomegranate Vinaigrette" ...yeah...it was as amazing as it sounds 

Thanksgiving meal! My aunt made me a few dishes that didn't have any meat in them so I had no trouble filling my plate despite avoiding the turkey. Quinoa with veggies and a honey dressing, salad with squash, goat cheese and balsamic dressing, little sweet potato casserole, and pumpkin soup! Obviously I went back for seconds...and also shared a plate of one of each of the desserts with my Dad.  

More oatmeal....

I'm sorry.

After a really nice and relaxing few days at home, it was time to come back to Baltimore and get ready for the next few weeks of craziness. Sirens concert, 2 year anniversary, winter formal, Christmas party, papers, finals, prep for an intersession class I'm TA-ing....should be a bit hectic, but you'll get plenty of updates along the way!

Considering so much will be going on, I wanted to get to the store yesterday so my pantry and fridge be fully stocked for the next 2 weeks. 

Some notable items that I left Whole Foods with: 

• Siggi's Yogurt

• Light Havarti and Jarlesburg Cheese
• Goat Gouda cheese
• MaraNatha No Stir Almond Butter
• Real Food Corn Thins

                  

• Ezekial Sprouted 7 Grain bread (gf)

• Nature's Path Buckwheat waffles (gf)
  
• Quia- Chia, Buckwheat & Hemp cereal (I like to mix this in with my oatmeal or yogurt for breakfast) 
  
•  Apple, pineapple, strawberries, raspberries, blueberries
• Carrots and celery
• Whole Foods brand Original Hummus 

Frozen shelled edamame

Frozen chopped spinach

Light Agave Nectar 

• Two cans of low sodium black beans 
• 1 can of low sodium garbanzo beans 
• Natura Foods Apple Delight Jam

That's all I can recall for now but you get the idea!

Onto the workout part of the last couple of weeks! 

It seems like right after I hit publish on my last post about the great running weather we had been experiencing in Baltimore, the weather gods got confused and thought Baltimore was the arctic. It got so cold here so fast. I'm a baby when it comes to cold weather so I wasn't pleased. Most of my runs have migrated to the treadmill as a result...

A longer run

But then I got to go home to Charlotte and the weather was a bit more bearable so I decided to brave the outdoors for a run with the pup..

She was pretty tired after our little jog

I hit the gym earlier on Thanksgiving day so I could get in a quick workout before the day's festivities. 

No one was at the gym and it was a little odd to have the whole place to myself. At least I didn't have to  worry about looking creepy when taking this picture. 

Believe it or not, people usually do NOT like to be photographed by a strange girl while they're busy breaking a sweat. 

Here's another workout to try this week! 

Other than good food, workouts, and lots of sleeping, my break was full of family :) Just what I needed! 

Mama <3

Cousin Josh posing as an adorable indian...

We played the "Let's Annoy Evan" game. We won.

OK I should probably get to the studying now...nooooo I don't want to...can I keep blogging all day instead?? Ugh I wish. 

I'll leave you with a picture of a funny cat...

Honestly it doesn't get much better than that...

Lots of love!! 

Run Happy

I can't tell you how amazing the weather in Baltimore has been the past week. With the exception of one drizzly morning, it's been a continuous stream of brisk fall weather that I love. The skies are blue, the leaves are falling, and the sun still shines. You couldn't ask for better weather to run in so I've been taking full advantage of that these past few weeks. The other day I found a great 6 mile loop that runs through the most beautiful neighborhoods with giant monster mansions. It's really entertaining to look at them while I run and admire their architecture/wish I lived in one :)

I took this collage of photos while on that 6 mile loop the first time last week. Since then I've done the same one a few more times, and have taken some of my running friends on the trail too. 

If you're lucky enough to live in a city where there is decent weather in the fall months, I beg you to take advantage of it and just go for run or even a walk outside. I can't tell you how rejuvenating it feels to give your body a break from the stuffy indoors, for a little exercise in the fresh air. It does the mind a world of good. I swear I come out of an outdoor run feeling like a new person. I don't think anyone ever comes in from a nice relaxing run outside regretting that they did it. So trust me, it's always worth it. 

 Okay enough with my run outside before it gets too cold! rant. Onto regular foodie updates! 

Smoothies for breakfast! Last week I used the ingredients above: banana, Vega chocolate protein powder, almond butter, spinach, and Café Latte (made with almond milk!!-awesome whole foods purchase). This smoothie tasted just like a mocha frappuccino from Starbucks...only better. Definitely the best combo I've made in a while! 

A noteworthy dinner-quinoa with spinach and kale blend, and one of my mom's homemade sweet potato veggie burgers--doesn't get much better than that.

Just a random snack for a day in the library (big exam on Thursday ugh). 

Did you know they came out with KIND bars that have a third of the sugar! I love Kind bars but have always felt the need to limit how much I have them as a snack because they usually are high in sugar (aka 11-15g per bar). But when I saw these, I could have jumped for joy. Not only do they have WAY WAY WAY less sugar, but they taste BETTER than the regular ones. If you see them anywhere, definitely buy in bulk...or at least that's what I did...

Way to go KIND! 

Saturday night I went out to dinner with friends to a local sushi place. We shared steamed edamamé and then I got two smaller rolls-rainbow and spicy tuna. 

Breakfast just this morning--small bowl of fruit, Light and Fit raspberry yogurt (only 80 cals), and a slice of Ezekial sprouted grain toast with...

Another great recent Whole Foods find--Peach Delight Jam made from only peaches and sugar, and another bonus, they use way less sugar than most of the other jams on the market.

A little snacky-snack to fuel me through some work before I head for a run. Apple, GF pumpkin bread, and a soy chai latté (literally can't get through a day without one)

Speaking of chai lattés, one of my favorite places in Charles Village, Carma's Cafe, now has almond milk! I stop here at least 4 times a week for a chai so I was really pleased to see that they now offer almond milk in addition to soy for those of us who try to avoid whole or even nonfat milk. How accommodating of you Carma's! 

Before I leave you, I want to get back to running for a sec. Does anyone else listen to audiobooks while running or even just working out in general? Obviously music can be an awesome way to power through runs and can motivate you like no other, but if you enjoy reading, try downloading an audiobook and taking it on a run with you. It's just as easy as listening to music, and can be a really nice distraction. 

Last fall when I ran the Baltimore Half Marathon, I listened to The Davinci Code throughout the race, and it was great! I felt myself becoming so involved in the story, that I often forgot my legs were hurting and I was exhausted. 

Right now I'm finishing up a book called Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walter. It's been on the best seller list, and my must read list for a while now, so I finally started it about a couple of weeks ago and am almost done. Really cool story that spans different characters' stories over a number of decades. Love, Hollywood, the coast of Italy, what more could you ask for?! 

Here are a few of the other books that are at the top of my must-read list:

If anyone has read any of these, let me know!! I don't know which one to read first! Also, any other book suggestions are always welcome!

Have a great Monday y'all!! 

I leave you with a cute pic of my little and I, she's the best. 

<3 Phi Mu!!