Rethinking

I’ve been rethinking some things today…

First, before lunch I met up with my friends Merri and Laurel at the pool by Laurel’s apartment to soak up some sun and catch up.

My Friend Merri, the Bathing Beauty

Both Merri and Laurel are running in the Chicago Rock ‘n’ Roll half marathon with me on August 1 and started their training last week. Initially, I figured I would follow Hal Higdon’s training plan, which requires two decent runs a week, along with one long run.

Then, I began considering shortening my running days to one run on Tuesdays, followed by a long run over the weekend so I could continue to take BodyPump Monday, Wednesday and Friday, and also take a yoga class on Thursdays and fit a rest day in on Saturday or Sunday.

Though I am excited to run in the half, I just want to finish the race and I am not worried about my time in the least.  I want to finish strong though and feel adequately prepared, so after rethinking my plan, I am going to try to make running part of my workout three times a week, but I won’t beat myself up if I feel like missing a day for yoga or cross training instead.

Hal Higdon’s plan worked for me back in 2007 when I ran my first half, so I suppose sticking to his plan again is a pretty safe bet! 🙂

Snack + Lunch

Post pool time, I came home and enjoyed a snack of Brie cheese and whole wheat crackers with Ryan.

Brie + Crackers

We bought the cheese at Whole Foods after church this morning, and booooy is it a stinky wedge!

I really filled up on the cheese and crackers combo (I think I easily ate three-plus servings), so I wasn’t very hungry when lunchtime rolled around.

I wanted to try the Wanchai Ferry Beef & Broccoli frozen entrée I received to sample from Wanchai Ferry through MyBlogSpark, so I cooked it up to share with Ryan.

Wanchai

Sizzlin'

After looking at the slew of ingredients and nutritional information, I must admit this is not a product I would purchase on my own. Flavor-wise it was very tasty, but the long list of ingredients, white rice (I prefer brown) and less-than-stellar nutritional stats would deter me from buying it for myself.

Ryan, on the other hand, really loved it! 😀

Beef, Broccoli, Rice

Snack #2

Though my cheese and cracker snack sustained me through lunchtime, around 2:30 p.m., I started to get a little hungry again.

I made myself a protein frosty, following Janetha’s recipe.

Protein Frosty

It was really delicious but took a while to make because my blender struggled to chop down all the ice!

Rethinking Bridesmaid Dress Color

On to the second thing I am rethinking today…

This afternoon, Ryan came with me to the bridal boutique where I found the bridesmaid dress I like.

Bridesmaid Dreess Number One Contender

(You may see a picture of my sister in the dress here.)

I wanted to check out the color swatches for the dress one last time before fully committing to the cashmere/champagne color I love.

Though Ryan liked the dress itself, he seemed a little unsure about the color. When I described the color as “champagne” he thought that color was a light pink. Ehhh, not really. 😉

Ryan said he “trusts my vision,” but his reaction to the color is making me rethink my choice at the moment. I think the cashmere color is classy and timeless, but I want my groom to like it too! I picture the color with our flowers and color scheme (yellow, gold, ivory, white, wheat) and think it could look gorgeous. (Here’s an example.)

Ryan and I looked over some swatches and both liked the maize color, which was basically a muted yellow, so I am considering changing the dress color to that. We’ll see! I’ve got some thinkin’ to do!

Dinner

Post-bridesmaid dress dilemma, we headed next door to The Fresh Market to pick up a couple of whole wheat baguettes to use for our meatball subs for dinner.

The Fresh Market

While there, we also picked up a kitchen sink cookie to share on the way home, but that was gobbled up so fast that it eluded any photographs.

Once home, we straightened up the apartment for a bit before getting to work in the kitchen.

I used Quorn meatless meatballs as the base for our meatball subs, and smothered them in marinara sauce before topping the subs with lots of mozzarella cheese and placing them in the oven to get all ooey-gooey.

Quorn Meatballs

Balls 'n' Bread

Meatball Subs

Cheesy

Dinner is Served

Dinner was delish and suuuuper easy. Ryan and I both agreed this lil’ combo will be recreated again soon. 😀

Dessert?

I’m in a baking mood. I see some homemade treats in my future… Off to browse some recipes!

I hope you’re all enjoying the last little bit of the weekend. 😀

Peanut Butter Stuffed French Toast

I woke up this morning to a bug-eyed dog, wagging her tail and breathing heavily in my face. After one big doggie kiss, I bounded out of bead to make a breakfast I thought of as I was falling asleep last night.

Apparently food is the first and last thing on my mind… 😉

French toast may be my favorite breakfast food. When it’s stuffed with sweet treats like bananas or candied pecans, it’s all the better.

Last night as I was going to sleep, I thought about combining my beloved peanut butter with French toast.

This morning, I began by creating a sweet peanut butter filling by combining two tablespoons of Crazy Richard’s natural creamy peanut butter with 10 grams of powdered sugar.

PB + Powdered Sugar

I spread the peanut butter sugar combination on two slices of honey wheat bread and dipped the sandwich in a mixture of Almond Breeze almond milk and egg.

Once the French toast was cooked, I sprinkled it with cinnamon and powdered sugar before topping it with syrup.

A Dusting of Cinnamon and Powdered Sugar

Syrup Sweetness

The creamy peanut butter mixture held its own against the cinnamon and egg flavors.

Peanut Butter Stuffed French Toast

Sunday Morning Breakfast

What a great way to start a Sunday.

I’m off to change for church!

What is your favorite Sunday morning breakfast?