Tired In Different Ways

I think it’s funny how our bodies can be tired in totally different ways.

Sometimes my body is physically exhausted and other times I feel mentally drained.

Today my mind feels shot!

Apparently date nights and bridal showers are more draining than I thought!

Fortunately my body felt totally rested, so this morning’s BodyPump class went well! The teacher incorporated the  bicep track  from the newest release into today’s class and I loved it. Our class will do the new release in its entirety next week and I can’t wait!

Breakfast

After BodyPump and a walk around the lake near our apartment with Sadie, I was ready to eat!

I made myself a peanut butter and pumpkin sandwich using the PB2/pumpkin ratio I used for last week’s pumpkin peanut butter French toast.

PB2 + Pumpkin

I spiced up the sandwich a bit with some nutmeg and coconut shavings.

Oh La La!

Open Faced

I purchased the unsweetened coconut shavings at The Fresh Market yesterday and can’t seem to keep my lil’ mitts out of the container.

Coconut

I am a huge coconut love-ahh!

Smooshed Together

Question of the Morning

Do you ever feel like only one part of your body is tired? Just the bod or just the brain?

Sadie Loves Animals, Animals Don’t Love Sadie

Good morning!

Wake Up, Orlando!

Isn’t downtown Orlando pretty before 7 a.m.?

Workout

This morning Ryan and I headed to the gym and split up do do our respective workouts. We workout together, but not together. 😉 While I took a BodyPump class, Ryan hit the stair-stepper, bike and treadmill for a cardio workout. Ryan almost always does weights only at the gym. He gets his cardio during weekly soccer games and soccer practices, but is on a mission to integrate more cardio into his daily workouts.

Just like many women seem to struggle with integrating weights into their exercise regimen, I think many men may struggle with incorporating more cardio into their routines. It’s kinda funny how each gender seems to have a different “go to” exercise.

After our respective workouts, we came home and gathered up the pup for a 2.5 mile walk.

Walk, Walk, Walk

No Standing??? Psssh. Such a Rebel.

It was nice to enjoy some calm with Ryan and Sadie before the workday madness sets in.

Sadie seemed to enjoy the walk as well… though she seemed to prefer stalking the birds and squirrels to actually walking.

"Oh Swanyyyy. Come Out and Plaaaay..."

Much to her chagrin, the animals didn’t seem to reciprocate her interest and all made a beeline for treetops or the lake at the sight of her gangly body and the sound of her overly-excited wheezes.

Maybe next time, Sadie. 😉

Breakfast

Breakfast once again paid hommage to Tuesday’s delicious pumpkin peanut butter French toast.

I made myself a pumpkin peanut butter sandwich that included banana slices since I had a banana that basically had one foot in the grave and needed to be used.

PB & P & B

Before inhaling this breakfast, I dusted the sandwich with pumpkin pie spice because it make it look so perdy and taste that much better.

Open Faced

Eat Me!

I wonder when I’ll get sick of this pumpkin and peanut butter combo? If it’s anything like my love of peanut butter, I don’t see it fading any time soon.

Healthy Eating in College Follow Up

Before signing off, I want to take a minute to thank you guys for sharing some amazing tips for eating healthy while away from home at college. If you’re looking for more quality tips and advice, definitely check out the comments section of yesterday’s post. You readers are so wise. 🙂

I also received some additional requests for posts about the following topics:

• How to maintain an exercise regimen in college
• How to eat healthy on the cheap

Stay tuned! 😀

Of Possible Interest

• 5 Healthy Squash Recipes That Celebrate Fall (My butternut squash pancakes are mentioned!) – FitSugar.com
• The Facebook Workout – FitBottomedGirls.com
• The Importance of Rest – FaithFitnessFun.com

Pumpkin Peanut Butter French Toast

You read right.

P + PB + FT

Pumpkin + Peanut Butter + French Toast = Winning Combination

Last night as I was drifting off to sleep, I thought of this odd combo and had high hopes for a recipe success!

I’ve had a jar of PB2 powdered peanut butter collecting dust in my pantry for a while now, mainly because I typically overlook it in favor of real peanut butter.

As I was trying to think of creative ways to use the jar, a light bulb went off!

What to Do with PB2?

Combine the powdered peanut butter with pumpkin!

To bring PB2 to life, you typically add water, but I figured that by adding pumpkin, the powdered peanut butter would be much thicker and also take on a pumpkin flavor.

PB2 + Pumpkin

I combined 2 tbsp. of PB2 with about a third of a cup of canned pumpkin and stirred up the mixture until it was nice and thick.

I then got to work on the French toast.

Arnold Honey Wheat Sandwich Thins

I dredged one Arnold honey wheat sandwich thin in a mixture of one egg white and 1/2 tsp. of pumpkin pie spice.

Dunk-a-Roo!

After cooking the French toast on the griddle, I spread one half with the pumpkin peanut butter and placed thin slices of a ripe peach on the other.

Open Faced P & PB French Toast

After smooshing the two halves together, I dowsed them in syrup and sprinkled the ’em with nutmeg.

Voila!

Chomp!

I couldn’t wait to dig into this bad boy!

A Bite o' Yum

Eat Up, Buttercup!

This breakfast combined many of my different loves: peanut butter, pumpkin, doughy bread, pumpkin pie spice and fresh fruit.

Win!

Workout

Today’s workout included a five mile run with this little one:

Running Buddy

She’s such a good running buddy.

Sadie’s reward for keeping me motivated through our five mile run was licking the container I used to combine the peanut butter and pumpkin.

She was quite a fan.

Pumpkin Peanut Butter French Toast

Ingredients:

• 1/3 c. canned pumpkin
• 2 tbsp. PB2 (I’m sure regular peanut butter would work as well)
• 1/2 ripe peach, thinly sliced
• 1 Arnold sandwich thin
• 1 egg white
• 1/2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice
• Nutmeg, to taste
• Syrup, to taste

Directions

• Combine PB2 and pumpkin in a bowl and set aside
• Whisk together egg white and pumpkin pie spice
• Dredge sandwich thin in egg white mixture
• Spray a pan or griddle with non-stick cooking spray
• Cook sandwich thin slices at a medium-high heat until egg mixture is set, flipping once
• Remove sandwich thins from griddle and spread one half with peanut butter mixture and layer peach slices on the other half
• Press two halves together and cover in syrup and sprinkle with nutmeg, if desired

Peanut Butter Packets?

Whoa, whoa, whoa.

I thought this was Peanut Butter Fingers?

What’s with the packets?

Peanut Butter & Company

This lil’ packet you mean?

That packet of heaven was tucked into a gorgeous card sent to me by Lisa in honor of my one-year blogging anniversary.

Can you believe I’ve never tried Peanut Butter & Co. peanut butter before?

They make about a bajillion different flavors of peanut butter but I’ve never actually purchased a jar for myself.

I’ve avoided buying Dark Chocolate Dreams peanut butter or Cinnamon Raisin Swirl for fear that an innocent peanut butter finger would turn into a peanut butter hand… and then peanut butter arm, and I would polish off the whole jar in one day.

This Would Be Me

Seriously, it could happen.

This morning the highlight of my breakfast was not the yummy yogurt bowl I created.

It was the packet of peanut butter I slurped down while making my actual breakfast.

See Any Boogs?

More. Give Me More.

So, so good. Thank goodness the packet provided built-in portion control.

Breakfast

After my pre-breakfast snack, I enjoyed my yogurt bowl which I made my combining a cup of Fage 0% Greek yogurt, 1/2 cup of canned pumpkin, pumpkin pie spice, sweetener and a large handful of Gerber Graduates Apple Cinnamon Puffs.

Big Baby

These little puffs are full of flavor! Love ’em.

Yog + Pump + Puffs + Spice

The Token Food-On-Spoon Shot

The apple cinnamon puffs mixed with the pumpkin and pumpkin pie spice tasted like fall in a bowl. Too bad the morning chill Central Floridians experienced yesterday was a big fat tease. The heat was back in full-force this morning!

Workout

My workout today was just what the doctor ordered… If I actually went to a doctor and they were to prescribe me a workout, that is.

I started off my gym session with 30 minutes on the elliptical before taking a yoga class.

Today’s yoga class made me sweat! I loved it.

I was really into everything that the teacher was saying. The woman who teaches the 6 a.m. yoga class at my gym has the most soothing voice, but still manages to make the class challenging at times. She’s fantastic.

Also noted during this morning’s class: I have the tightest hamstrings on the planet.

Alright mah friends, back to work fo’ me!

Pig-Pen

Today’s workday ended on a good note when I got a call from Ryan saying he wasn’t working late tonight. That meant we would have ample time to head to the dog park with Sadie!

It’s been a while since we’ve paid a visit to the ol’ park, and Sadie was ready and rearin’ to go!

Is that the face of a happy dawg or what?

Sadie’s face wasn’t the only happy one at the park tonight…

After I snapped this picture of Ryan he said, “I feel like Pig-Pen!”

 

He wasn’t lying. The noseeums were out in full force tonight!

I can’t wait until the weather cools off a bit and the pesky bugs are gone. They attack me every time I go outside to take pictures of my food in our backyard. Not fun. The only thing I like about them is watching baby ducklings jump into the air to try to eat them with their little beaks. Adorable!

We played with Sadie at the park for just under an hour before heading home for dinner.

Dinner

Tonight was quite the unusual night: I wanted something cold for dinner.

A “throw a little bit of everything in a bowl” salad sounded good to me!

My salad included:

• Cabbage
• 1 large red pepper
• 1/2 medium zucchini
• 1/2 plum tomato
• Large handful shoestring carrots
• 1 stalk celery, chopped
• 3 oz. shrimp, chopped
• Kraft Light Asian Toasted Sesame dressing

It hit the spot!

Pumpkin, Pumpkin Everywhere!

Good news!

Not only are pumpkin spice beverages available at Starbucks now (I have a serious obsession with light pumpkin spice Frappuccinos), but other places are stocking up on fall decorations, treats and more.

Check out the lovely autumn display I saw at Bath and Body Works this evening when I stopped by to nab some soap for our kitchen:

I spent a good 20 minutes smelling all of the fall-scented candles. A new favorite: Creamy pumpkin.

I absolutely adore the smell of pumpkin, cinnamon, nutmeg and vanilla. Any candle that combines those scents is a winner in my book.

Here’s hoping grocery stores begin stocking canned pumpkin soon…

Tonight

I’m off to update our wedding registry and add some new dish towels to the list because Ryan someone burnt a hole in one of our nice ones tonight. 😉

See ya on FRIDAY morning! 😀