Phew!

I’ll thank my mom for today’s wonderful lunch!

Following our dinner party with Ryan’s family on Saturday night, we had a lot of roasted chicken leftover, so I took a big bag of it back to Orlando with me.

It made quite the stellar appearance in my lunch today!

Chicken Salad + Roasted Veggies

I had chicken salad (made with light Miracle Whip, Dijon mustard, relish and sweet corn) with a side of roasted veggies.

I prepared the vegetables last night by tossing them in olive oil and garlic salt and roasting them at 375 degrees for 20 minutes.

Wednesday's Lunch

Which do you prefer: Chicken salad or tuna salad?

I’m a tuna salad kinda girl, though this chicken salad was awfully tasty!

Dessert

A coworker also brought in homemade chocolate chip cookies. They were made from scratch and who am I to refuse warm, fresh-out-of-the-oven cookies? 😉

Chocolate Chip Cookie

It was the perfect sweet ending to my lunch!

AMA: Final Round

This is it… the final round of Ask Me Anything questions.

Phew!!!

Thank you to everyone who submitted questions. This whole “Ask Me Anything” ordeal was a much bigger undertaking than I anticipated, and I appreciate your support and kind words throughout this somewhat revealing process.

I tried to address most of your questions and I apologize if yours slipped through the cracks! I’m happy to answer your questions privately as well. You may email me at pgfingers@gmail.com if I didn’t get a chance to answer your question and you still have something on your mind.

You say you use a food scale but don’t count calories, is that right?  So why do you weigh oatmeal and what not? How do you know how much you want?

I do not count calories, but I am aware of calories. While I do not count calories, I try to keep my portion sizes in check and using a scale is a great way to ensure that I’m eating just one portion of oatmeal (or whatever food I’m measuring) rather than two. I do not use it to weigh everything, but I do use my scale a lot for portions of food I’d likely overestimate.

I notice your meals are so small and hardly any calories. Like the other day you had some turkey tacos but all you ate with it was lettuce and tomato. Do you think you could eat more than that? Are you afraid to eat more calories?

I am never “afraid” to eat. With regard to the taco meal you referenced, I really only like tacos with the shell, meat, lettuce and tomato, so that’s all I put on my tacos. I had two tacos and a big plate full of taco salad. If you’re a calorie-minded person, I’d estimate that meal to have around 450 calories, which isn’t huge, but is a decent size meal. I make an effort to eat healthy foods. I definitely eat until I am satisfied and I do not go to bed hungry, I promise! 🙂 Also, as I’ve said before, I do not post everything I eat in a day, like the majority of my snacks or “random nibbles.” If I am still hungry after a meal, I’ll grab something else, like a handful of nuts, to satisfy any lingering hunger.

What is your greatest fear and why?

I know it’s cliché, but my biggest fear is losing a loved one. My family and friends mean the world to me.

Do you buy organic fruits and vegetables?

Not unless they’re on sale.

What kind of makeup do you use?

I am doing a post on my makeup routine within the next couple of days. Stay tuned!

I’ve been with my boyfriend for quite awhile.  We plan to get married one day.  I worry because we live together that  there won’t be a big enough difference or change once we get married to “feel married.”  What is your take on this?  Are you and Ryan doing anything different or special before the big day? I just wanted a perspective from you since you and your fiance seem very similar to my boyfriend and I!

I love this question and think it’s wonderful that you’re concerned about making the transition from a happy couple to a happy, married couple successfully. Ryan and I really aren’t doing anything differently. To be completely honest, I hope not much changes when we get married because I really like how our relationship is right now. I’m not naive enough to think that things won’t change, but I love our relationship as is. We’re getting excited for married life and have really enjoyed reading 1,001 Questions to Ask Before You Get Married. Though there are tons of silly questions, there are a lot of thought-provoking questions as well that touch on questions just like the one you asked, such as “What do you expect to change after we’re married,” etc. It’s fun to hear your partner’s answers!

First Dance

Over the weekend Ryan and I were talking about popular “first dance” songs at weddings.

Dance, Dance

This made me curious as to what the top ten most popular first dance songs actually are, so I did some Googling and found this list on AOLRadioBlog.com:

10. Bryan Adams – Everything I Do (I Do It For You)
9. Eric Clapton – Wonderful Tonight
8. Etta James – At Last
7. Rascal Flatts – Bless the Broken Road
6. Journey – Open Arms
5. Jim Brickman & Martina McBride – Valentine
4. Barbara Streisand – I Finally Found Someone
3. Aaron Neville & Linda Ronstadt – Don’t Know Much
2. Journey – Faithfully
1. The Righteous Brothers – Unchained Melody

If you’re married, what song did you dance your first dance to as bride and groom? If you’re not married, what song do you want to dance your first dance to at your wedding?

Ryan and I are planning on dancing our first dance as bride and groom to the song Everything by Michael Bublé. That man has the voice of an angel. 😀

Lunch

Today’s lunch was a total knock-off of the burrito bowl I love from Chipotle.

I combined a slew of veggies in a big bowl and topped it off with guacamole and fresh salsa.

Veggies

Guacamole + Salsa

My re-created burrito bowl contained:

• Lettuce
• Broccoli
• Roasted cauliflower
• Portobello mushrooms
• Guacamole
• Salsa

All Shook Up

Yum!

I also enjoyed a freshly baked peanut butter and chocolate chunk Otis Spunkmeyer cookie. An office down the hall from mine makes these regularly and today they were callin’ my name. I could smell the peanut butter and chocolate and couldn’t resist. So tasty!

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chunk Cookie

My afternoon snack was a cup of yogurt pudding.

Pistachio Yogurt Pudding

I added a spoonful of Jello sugar-free pistachio instant pudding mix into a cup of Fage Greek yogurt to make my “pudding.” I don’t think I’ve ever tried pistachio puddingbefore and I loved the flavor.

Back to work… 😀