Sunday Funday

Today started off perfectly: I woke up around 8:30 and stayed in bed until about 9:00, when I realized it was probably time to be productive.  I did the dishes and whipped up some delicious breakfast:

Please notice the new placemat, the new coffee mug from BFF, and the new (barely visible) spoon.

The Abs Diet's Ultimate Power Breakfast.  Essentially, it's oatmeal, skim milk, half a banana, some mixed berries, chia seeds, vanilla protein powder, Greek yogurt, and walnuts.  It's supposed to include an egg, but since I had hard-boiled all of mine, that was left out of the equation.  Let me tell you: it took me nearly an hour to eat this breakfast - so substantial.

I then spent about an hour figuring out my meal plan for this week.  Unfortunately, it's already a bit messed up since I had planned on a salmon Caesar salad for tomorrow but will instead be going on a dinner-date (say what?!).  At least the salmon's frozen (so I can use it in the future), and it won't interfere with my leftover schedule.

After the breakfast had digested and I had my meals and grocery list all figured out, BFF and I went on a run.  We did the Grand-Ingersoll 3.1-mile route that I ran way too often during my marathon training.  It was, however, the first run for both of us in quite awhile, so we took it pretty slowly and walked a fair amount.  It took us 40 minutes to complete; it should have been a lot faster, but I was proud of us for getting out there together and getting it done.  We also did abs exercises: 25 toe touches, 25 butt lifts, 25 full sit-ups (me) and crunches (her), and a 25-second plank.  I think my abs are going to be sore tomorrow just from the run, though!

After a good shower, a hard-boiled egg and an apple, and a chat with my favorite soon-to-be sister-in-law, I headed out for more errands with BFF.  We hit up Old Navy so that she could return a vest, Trader Joe's so that I could pick up some produce, and Super Target so that we could both get the remainder of our groceries.  (If you're keeping track, I was at Target Friday, Saturday, and Sunday this week.)

My grocery bill was significantly less than last week, but it was still a whopping $140 total.  Honestly.  I would be a lot wealthier if I could just eat Mac & Cheese or Ramen noodles.  How do you grocery shop on a budget?


I have some leftovers from last week: two Chobanis and lots of almonds, cashews, pistachios, etc.  The only things that went to waste from last week's trip were two chicken breasts (I forgot to freeze them) and half a bag of Romaine.  So it's not like I'm buying too much.  The "big-ticket items" this week were the salmon and tilapia (which can both stay frozen since I'll only be using one filet of three at a time), two chicken breasts (which will be used this week), spicy chicken sausage (which will be used with extras frozen this week), and shrimp (which will be used this week).

It's just frustrating.  Can I afford this diet?!

(Side note: on the way from TJ's to ST, I sampled three of BFF's new crackers - rosemary and raisin, or something like that.  They were delicious, and I'm sure I could've devoured the entire box.)

When I got home from the grocery store, I threw in some laundry, chopped up some veggies for the week, whipped together the Best Broccoli Ever, and then headed to "family dinner."

(Side note: on the way to FD, I ate up a few stray gumdrops that were in my car from who-knows-what. Shame.)

I'm not sure I've mentioned before: a group of my friends and I get together every Sunday for "family dinner."  When we first started this, we ate dinner and watched football.  Now, we are starting to watch all of the Academy Awards' Best Picture winners.  It's crazy how much we all look forward to "family dinners" and how sad we are when one of us has to miss or when we didn't see each other over the holidays.  In fact, we were so sad this weekend that we spent both Saturday and Sunday together this week.

While we watched Shakespeare in Love tonight, we savored Eric's Famous Chili and Katie's Delicious Cornbread (not pictured):

(It looks like a lot of cheese, but I swear it wasn't that much.)  Sunday dinners are going to be a bit tricky for me regarding the Abs Diet.  Saturdays are for sure my free day, but I'm not going to go super overboard with them.  For example, I might do a not-so-great breakfast and a not-so-great dinner, and I may have a couple of adult beverages, but I'm not going to be crazy.  Likewise, I'm planning on being super good all day Sunday like I was today (with the exception of my random cracker and gumdrop intake), but I'm going to go ahead and enjoy "family dinner."  That doesn't mean that I'm going to go nuts with whatever the meal is, however; that is, I'm not going to have 18 helpings of chili - I'll have one reasonably sized portion.

I think this is the best way to ensure this diet actually becomes a lifestyle change; it needs to be manageable.

Okay: I'm off to chug some water (so thirsty - too much sodium?) and write up some quick freelance things before crashing.  I'm EXHAUSTED.

I hope y'all had a lovely weekend and have a wonderful start to your week tomorrow!