Random Things

Bit of a cliche post... but it's Friday and I feel like throwing some random things out there. What I've been doing, eating, whatever!

1. Kicking butt at Words with Friends with a 71 point word... yep, triple word, triple letter, using all my letters.... ok so I'm a nerd.. who cares ;)

2. Making amazing overnight oats... this was oats, vanilla soy milk, and half the banana cooked in the microwave for three minutes, heaps of cinnamon added... then extra banana added on top after. Pretty simple, but I think the vanilla soy milk really took it over the edge because it was AMAZING....

3. Taking gross pictures of my broken toe... this is after one month of injury... looking kinda angry, and still super fat :( I won't show you the pics I took closer to the injury... eww!

4. Getting up at 5 am to volunteer to take photos at the running club's weekend race - going again this weekend. I figure while I'm out of action, might as well help out! First actual "volunteer" work I've done. Felt good! I think a lot of people didn't like me taking multiple photos of them though... there was like 100 people in the race and I took 1000 photos (it was an out and back multiple times race) :S

This pic is just the view I had before the first runners got to me... that's my tiny little city across the other side of the river :)

One of the better shots I got... blurred the dude out coz I don't know him!

5. Uni starts back on the 27th of Feb! After sitting around on my butt for four months (well, not totally - I did work for a month of it) I'm wondering how I'm going to take being extremely busy again. I do love being busy, and routine, but I have (slowly!) gotten used to not having much to do.

6. Totally random, but I'm in a job which requires me to travel (sort of by choice, though), and have been debating whether to go away for six months at the end of this year. It means delaying the half-marathon I was going to run, as well as deferring uni in second semester, missing some of uni this semester, moving my exams around, quitting the gym & kickboxing, putting my stuff in storage, sorting out finances and bills, living in a foreign country, and STRESS STRESS STRESS... I'm so gonna do it though! Face the fear and do it anyway...

7. One other thing... I've installed intensedebate and I so don't get it. None of the comments that have been sent to me by email are showing up on the blog. I've checked on the moderation and all that and "accepted" all the comments, but none of them show up except my "testing" comment??! Anyone got any idea, or should I just can the stupid thing and return to blogger comments? Grrr arrrgh...

WIAW - Migraine foods...

Yay! 50th WIAW... can't believe it's been going that long.
I will preface this WIAW by saying that I haven't logged everything I ate today - and that also it was a lighter eating day since I was crook all day. I was pretty bummed. Kickboxing went back last night (after Christmas break), and a migraine started to develop so I went to bed early. Unfortunately it persisted through today, so I can't go tonight either. And then I'm going away for two weeks again with work! D'oh!
So I spent today watching trashy TV like "Glamour mums" and "Dance mums" haha. They're fascinating... what can I say... and also rummaging through my massive pile of running magazines and pulling out inspirational bits to keep. While the migraine came with lovely nausea & epic bloating, that can never put me totally off food. I love it too much.
Anyway, without further adou / adieu / ado???? here is the food.

A weird creation I made over Christmas break - chocolate cherry bread with eggnog & using chickpea flour. A little too chickpea-ish, but yummy all the same.

The best lunch ever. It looks pretty simple.. but it was so tasty!

1: Ricotta with blackcurrant jam on four seed bread.

2. Yellow capsicum (called bell pepper in the US I believe?) avocado and rock salt on the same bread

3. Hommus with homemade cherry tomato chutney and rock salt. Probably the best one!

Dutch mints. Mints seem to help with the nausea that accompanies my migraines. I had to hold off buying the whole Dutch section at the supermarket... stroopwafels, chocolate hagel, almond fingers... *drools* (... I'm half Dutch if you're wondering)

Another snack, self-explanatory. 

Chocolate avocado mousse - this is a recycled picture, the one I had today didn't have the fancy fruit going on.

Soy cappuccino, caffeine helps dull the pain.

Oats... recycled pic. This morning's oats were actually cranberry & vanilla ;P

Dinner... I know everyone's probably sick of seeing sweet potatoes with nut butter.. but that's what I had for dinner, so there :P

WIAW #9 or #10... Random goodness.

I originally started WIAW for a few reasons - meet new bloggers, find new recipes & to encourage myself to try new foods - mainly vegetable related as that is my weakness (love veg - can't be bothered preparing it) But I've gotten a bit lazy with it and end up just taking pictures when I eat something interesting - and mainly only stealing recipes for sweet foods ;). Oh well, at least I'm trying! :) 

Here's some eats from the last week or so.

One of the ugliest bowls of oats - steel cut oats soaked overnight and then cooked in the microwave this morning, mixed with a banana, tbsp maple syrup, cinnamon and about a tsp of peanut flour. Great combination :D

Peanut butter protein cookie by Titan. Only seem to be able to buy these at my gym, but it was sooo good! Soft and gooey like a cookie should be. Should definitely try making my own.

These were some peanut flour pancakes that didn't really go to plan... needed waaay more liquid because they were super tiny and fat. Tasted great though! Topped with mixed berries & cottage cheese.

A packed breakfast for Sunday since I was out all day Sat up until Sunday afternoon. Chocolate Hazelnut milk + Dark Choc, Cranberry & Almond Bar.

Packed snacks for Sunday - cherry tomatoes, blueberries & medjool dates. 

Saturday's packed lunch - my attempt at a bento box!! Included: 1 PB & J sandwich (in roll-up form), chocolate animal cookies, 2 medjool dates (stuffed with chocolate cookies), blueberries & a luna bar (nutz over chocolate?)

This was a bit of a challenge... was over a friend's place one night and we had cocktails and chocolates. First time I tried Blue Caracao... wasn't a huge fan!

A peanut & choc chip banana bread from the freezer, yummooo

Gummy vitamins... cheers to whoever's blog I saw these on. Best way to get vitamins ever :D Who cares if the packet has "Kid's vitamins" on it hehehehehe.

Here's my workout for today - I missed the BodyPump class I was going to attend due to my car having a flat battery, so I devised my own home circuit. This is copied from dailymile:

Circuit sesh 00:36 mins

Missed BodyPump but made up for it with a wicked home circuit. Had 10 "stations" with bits of paper telling me what to do (something I do often) and went around in a circle in the room 3 times (no rests). All weights used 2.5 kg per hand (or bodyweight)
1st station: Biceps x 15 & 1 min wall squat.
2nd station: chest press x 15 & tricep dips x 15
3: Lunges 15 each leg & bicycle squat thing
4: Shoulder lift thing x 15 & shoulder side lift thing x 15
5: wall squat again
6: 15 x pushups
7: situps with medicine ball x 15
8: squats with medicine ball x 15 & upright row x 15
9: plank 1 min + side plank each side 30 seconds
10: deadlifts x 15 + army situps x 15

After doing that 3 times I did this mini circuit once (all the exercises I hate ;)
mountain climbers x 15
burpees x 15
turkish getups x 15
toe taps x 15
jackknifes x 15

And then lay down for five minutes catching my breath ;)

It was a pretty good circuit, might have to repeat it next time! Definitely had my heart going a lot more than in a BodyPump class.

WIAW, WIWW, WIWW

(What I ate Wednesday, What I wore Wednesday, What I worked Wednesday)

Woohoo my favourite blog day of the week!

Already been drooling over many of the blog foods posted so far...

So at 6.30 this morning I was happily munching away on my oats (a fairly boring mix of 1/2 cup oats, 1 cup hazelnut chocolate milk, and a few spices (cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg) when my mum came in my room with...

My Amazon package!!! I ordered this September 9... so I have been stalking the letterbox ever since then, and it FINALLY arrived. YAY! Umm, excuse the bed hair.

It consisted of these three books. Awesome timing, just in time for exam week and procrastination... I did manage about five hours of study today though.

I also happened to buy this book yesterday while partaking in retail therapy.

And these magazines... think there was another one, but I couldn't find it at the time of taking the picture.

So this is my super-hot outfit for the day... pyjamas! Well, the pants and shirt are. The jacket is just a random jacket I decided to wear over my pyjamas. And sooo matching too! (P.S. Purple is awesome.)

I did actually manage to get out of the pyjamas to go to a BodyPump class at 10.30 am. It was a good class, but the bicep track was super easy for once, although maybe that's because the instructor turned the music up really loud and started singing in a whiney voice, so I was busier trying to block that out... abs are killing me though!! 

(I totally got back into my PJs after BodyPump)

Second workout of the day was kickboxing tonight, which was an all boxing night.. but we did a bit of sparring at the end and I went with a guy who managed to get in a good kick to my kidney, stomach and a good punch to my face... yowzer! The instructor said I did good fighting back though, so yay! I also entered myself into the tournament at the beginning of Nov. I entered as a novice though since I've been away from training for three years. Can't wait!

Part of my daily routine always includes hugs with the kitty, so here's a pic of him chilling out on my lap...

One of my snacks. These are good!

One of my pumpkin / almond muffins with ABC spread on top.

Self-explanatory snack bar :D

This was my lunch (PB & marmalade)... I dunno, I felt like a lot of simple stuff today because my tummy is not feeling right the last couple of days (Not just from all the situps, though!)

Dinner was a beef stir fry and rice and vegies. I think there were other snacks in there too that I forgot to take pics of. Oh well!

Carbalicious Wednesday.

I love What I ate Wednesday. It encourages me to eat more of a variety of food :D

So here's my eats from today... plus one pic from yesterday because it needed documenting ;) I've been in a bit of a rut lately  which has led me to be totally uninterested in food in general - I've had to force myself to make food. Somehow it's led me to making and eating totally different food to what I normally would... and some of it has been pretty great.

I made this for breakfast yesterday. I call it "breakfast trifle". I don't know if Americans eat trifle...?? It's usually cake, jelly, fruit and custard with whipped cream on top, I think, but can be modified a lot. Anyway, mine included: 

a Mini Chocolate PB Muffin

blueberries

 strawberries

"diet" peach jelly (as in the gelatinous stuff)

and "custard" which was... umm... cashew spread, greek yoghurt and a banana whizzed up.

Believe it or not this totally tasted like yoghurt! Anyway a pretty random breakfast - but so good!

This morning I was up at 6.00 am to drive to uni... I have to get up that early or I have to spend hours looking for a car park, and I just can't be bothered with that. So today's less inspired and quick breakfast - instant oats!

I did add a spoonful of cashew spread to spice it up, though (I so love overcooked oats when it goes all dark in the corner...)

When I got to uni (7.30 am) I was feeling pretty tired. I didn't get my usual eight hours of sleep, and anything less than that makes me super cranky. So I got a cappuccino (plus it's half price this week, so how can I say no?)

I ate this after the cappuccino to 'freshen the breath' ;P You can see the riveting chemistry study that consumed my hours from roughly 7:30 am - 1:30 pm. Organic chemistry is evil. I pretty much sat in the one spot in the library all that time, only moving for coffee and the toilet. It was super fun.

I was hungry again in like, 30 minutes after the coffee... so I ate these both in quick succession! (Brain food?)

Quick lunch grabbed before sitting my test at 2pm, salmon sushi & a selection from the salad bar. Think there was pumpkin, capsicum, onion, couscous, spinach... dunno what else, random stuff!

Then I sat my test, after waiting for one hour!!! (There was like 100 people trying to sit the same test in a tiny room, so I had to stand in line... ugh!) I got 85% which I am fairly happy with, as it was a difficult test. I may have dreams about 1,2-dichloro-cyclo-hex-2-ene tonight or something though...!

On the way home there was traffic because of a car accident. Seriously, every single time I drive to uni there is a car accident. I usually take the train because traffic makes me crazy. So I got home at 4.30 and was starving, I immediately dug into one of these that I made yesterday...

Not sure what to call it - peanut flour apple apricot oat bread/brownie/cake? They were based on a banana sultana bread recipe, but they came out super fudgey. I won't share the recipe because they aren't that great... like, the batter tasted AWFUL and I almost threw it out, but I added stevia quickly before putting it in the oven and now they taste good :) Which is good - because I doubled the recipe!

I also had a bunch of roasted chickpeas.

And an apple with some water.... (I was sooo hungry..)

Then I went for a walk for about 30 mins. I wasn't feeling up to a workout since I was tired - plus yesterday I went for an hour walk, 20 min run & kickboxing - which ended up being quite a difficult session!

Dinner was light after that with spinach, beetroot, cauliflower and carrots... but then I followed it with the best dessert ever...

Chocolate Avocado Banana Pudding!

I've had chocolate avocado pudding heaps of times before with just the avocado and cocoa powder, but this time I mixed in a banana, some protein powder, a splash of almond milk, and a tsp of greek yoghurt and it was soooooooooooooooo good. Then obviously strawberries and blueberries - I even prettified it for the blog ;P

This picture makes me drool.

I kinda want to jump on the outfit bandwagon as well, because honestly most of the time I am way too lazy and just wear jeans and a shirt and don't make much effort. I think if I take pics of my outfit it might encourage me to make the effort?

And I'm not the question kind of person but... have you ever had chocolate avocado pudding??? It's amazing...

Oh and if you're American I have a few questions: What is candy corn? Do you guys eat trifle? aaand... have you ever tried vegemite! (I guess we all ask that lol!) ;)

Just for my own curiosity!