WIAW: Pumpkin Butter Wishes and Candy Corn Dreams

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During Monday’s Girls on the Run practice, the girls were tasked with running (or walking) around the track for 40 minutes…by themselves. The lesson was about slowing down and taking time to relax and get their thoughts in order. (Funnily enough, I still haven’t master this skill at the ripe old age of 30.) The goal was for the girls to be alone with their thoughts and see where their minds would take them.

Apparently, this is not an easy task for 8 to 10 year-old girls… I finally bargained them into running every other lap alone, and at the end of class, we circled up to discuss what they were thinking about.

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(you want us to be quiet?!)

Their “deep” answers: “my Halloween costume,” “how I can collect the most candy on Halloween” “if I should be a witch or a princess this year”

Clearly, kids have one-track minds around this time of year. Nevertheless, their enthusiastic Halloween spirit reminded me that I needed to jump into the spirit in my Sometimes Healthy way: with food, of course.

I was up late last night baking some goodies for Friday’s post, and I’ll share a sneak preview with you at the end of this post (lucky you!), but first, let’s dive into breakfast for What I Ate Wednesday (WIAW).

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Chobani yogurt bowl, topped with fresh Honey Crisp apples, apple butter, sugared figs, granola and a drizzle of honey.  Continue Reading →

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WIAW: I Got a Schedule, Yo!

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I have an “autumn resolution:” stick to a schedule.

I’m an early riser – up with the dog at  6 AM and on-the-go from there. However, despite my best efforts, I rarely stick to the schedule that I have planned in my head. Inevitably, I’ll get carried away in writing way too many words in a blog post or scribbling way too many notes on the latest chapter in my NASM Personal Training Course. I also tend to underestimate the amount of time it takes to get from Point A to Point B (which around these parts “in the sticks” is never less than 20 minutes). Oh, and I have no idea how Rachael Ray coined the whole “30 Minute Meals” deal, because I’ve never actually cooked a meal that takes less than 30 minutes.

When I first moved to NYC and was working at a giant PR firm, I had a bit of trouble balancing all my client priorities throughout the day. So, on yet another midnight fiasco at the office, I made a resolve to never leave the office without plotting out my exact schedule for the day, from meetings to client work, meals, errands and even touchbases with my friends from home. And, there were no fancy-schmancy planners for this girl. Nope, I simply used some computer paper, some markers and taped it up next to my computer. I did the same for any weekly and monthly tasks as well.

Worked like a charm.

So, as I cram like a madwoman for my NASM test, while also trying to balance some other important commitments, I’ve decided to implement this “sophisticated” scheduling methodology again.

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As you can see, there’s not much slotted in the master schedule for my blog post, so I think it’s best that we hop into yesterday’s eats for What I Ate Wednesday (WIAW), don’t you?

Once again, I was up at 6 AM to feed the pup yesterday morning. Before settling in for an hour of study time, I created this autumn-centric breakfast:

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Baked apple n’ honey, leftover sweet potatoes (from Monday’s dinner) and greek yogurt, topped with dried fruit, pumpkin seeds and pumpkin pie spice. It checked off the box in many food groups and left me full, happy and ready to learn about “Energetic Metabolism and Bioenergetics.”

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