1. My new camera and photography

My dad just got a brand new D7000 a few months ago so I bought his D80 off him. Then around Father’s Day, I saw a Groupon for two photography classes in Central Park and bought one for each of us so we could take it together. We just took the second one together on Saturday and I loved it! I learned a ton. Here are some photos taken on my D80:

Look forward to some better quality (AKA not taken on my iPhone) pictures around here soon!

2. Qi

Qi’s the name of a Thai restaurant in New York with two locations. I went to the one in Times Square last last Saturday and my dad and I went to the one in Union Square this past Saturday after our photography class. It’s official – this is one of my new favorite restaurants. I love the atmosphere and decor of the place and the food is awesome and reasonably priced.

On Saturday, my dad and I started with the Herbal Coconut Calamari. I feel like calamari is usually a hit or miss for me – I either find it really oily and heavy or light in a you-can-barely-tell-it-was-fried way. This was the latter and I really liked it! Super flavorful and the sweet chili sauce it came with complemented it perfectly.

My dad ordered the Gai-Yang & Som-Tum. It came with two huge pieces of perfectly tender chicken with a dipping sauce, a pickled vegetable and papaya salad, and black forbidden rice. It was delicious!

I had the Triple Mushrooms Gravy. I absolutely love mushrooms so I knew this was what I wanted when I saw it on the menu. It was really flavorful and full of mushrooms, so of course I loved it. I will say that it kind of struck me as just a generic Asian dish though, and not particularly Thai. But it was still good and we finished every bite.

3. Eating clean

The last two dinners I ate at home were both clean and tasty. First up, a roasted zucchini cucumber hummus wrap:

And a black bean burger with zucchini fries. Yum!

I also bought this Muscle Milk last night so I could get my protein fix this morning and it’s not bad! I still prefer my own protein shakes, but this isn’t bad for when I’m trying to clean out the fridge.

4. The fact that I will be in Hawaii in less than 48 hours!

This is why I’m working on cleaning out the fridge. I cannot tell you how excited I was to put on my out of office and get out of the building yesterday at 6 pm! Hawaii, here I come!

Happy weekend!

I have a gloriously lazy day planned today. My only plan for the day is to clear out the fridge and get some cooking done.

Unfortunately, I haven’t gotten started yet despite waking up bright and early at 7 am. My roommate doesn’t usually get up until noon or so on weekends and I try to respect that by staying out of the kitchen since her room is right next to it. In all honesty, it can be a little annoying when all I want to do is get up and at it, but it’s also nice to lounge around in bed all morning. I’m not minding at all today!

I don’t normally wake up hungry but today, I was starving the moment I opened my eyes! I’m always inspired by Lauren‘s gorgeous yogurt bowls and I have a ton of fresh fruit right now, so I put together my own.

In the bowl: half of a blueberry Chobani, blueberries, strawberries, homemade granola, a drizzle of peanut butter, and chia seeds. Yum! I think I’ll be recreating this one tomorrow.

Enjoy your day!

Happy Hump Day!

A new goal I’m adding to my June goal list is to participate in WIAW every week this month. I’m hoping it’ll keep me much more accountable for my eats, especially switching it up because I am absolutely a creature of habit. This month’s theme is sensible snacking!

8:30 am: Breakfast

Breakfast was my usual overnight oats. I’m not too adventurous with my breakfasts, sadly. Occasionally, I’ll try something different and like it, but the oats are just so easy to make and so delicious! Ah well. I do change it up on the weekends though.

I enjoyed them with a big blob of Peanut Butter & Co’s Mighty Maple. I finished off the jar today so I get to have overnight oats in a jar for breakfast and start my new jar of sunbutter tomorrow!

11 am: Snack

I brought some pineapple chunks to work today! They’re so delicious. It’s like eating candy, which I don’t mind one bit.

1:30 pm: Lunch

For lunch today, I had another awesome salad from my building’s cafeteria. I’ve been loving their healthier choices lately! They’ve had a lot of beans, quinoa, barley, and other grains, which I love throwing on top of my salad.

Today I went for spinach and romaine with some tofu, roasted sweet potatoes, grilled chicken, mediterranean-style orzo, and spicy feta. Yum! I also had a few more pineapple chunks for dessert.

2 pm: Tea and snack

I decided to try some of my friend Angela’s loose tea around lunchtime. She got it in Switzerland! Neither of us could read the package, so I have no idea what was in it, but it was good! Really fruity, but also a bit tart. Perfect with some agave.

I also finished off my pineapple chunks a little later, around 5 pm or so.

8 pm: Dinner

I just bought a new package of Al Fresco Buffalo Style Chicken Sausage, which I haven’t tried yet. I was so excited to today! I was in the mood for something lemony and had half a bunch of broccoli left over from the other night, so I threw this together.

I started out cooking my penne in a pot on the stove, while also chopping up half a chicken sausage and microwaving it. When the pasta was almost done, I threw in my broccoli and let it boil with the pasta. Then I just drained it all and threw it into a bowl along with the chicken sausage, a little bit of olive oil and lemon juice, and some grated parmesan cheese. So good and easy! I’ll be making this one again.

So overall, a pretty good eating day! Though my snacking wasn’t so sensible… I should work on that. Have a nice night!

I’ve written before about how I have trouble stopping to smell the metaphorical roses. I’ve always known that I’m the type of person that needs to make a conscious effort to slow down. Otherwise, I end up doing too much and getting burnt out. It wasn’t until last week that I realized that I really need to make more of an effort to “smell the roses” though.

To give some background on this, I struggled with a few stress-related health issues in high school. It took a lot of work, but I eventually got rid of them… up until recently when they resurfaced. In the past month or two, I’ve noticed some changes in my body. Two of them have been discussed on this blog: sleep and stomach problems. The other one is a little too embarrassing for me to be comfortable mentioning online, but it also affected me in high school.

Last Tuesday, I went to my doctor’s office to ask about my recent health problems. She suggested that the the sleep problem may be due to light in my apartment in the morning, which I definitely agree with. She also mentioned that the stomach problem could be a problem with my diet, specifically eating too much fruit and vegetables! Shocking, I know. I know that getting too much fiber can cause digestion problems, but I really didn’t think that I was getting too much. She didn’t totally nix my idea that my stomach problems could be due to stress too, but she did suggest making some small modifications to my diet and seeing how that affects me. Lastly, she confirmed that my suspicions that my more embarrassing problem was caused by stress. She gave me a request form to get my bloodwork done to find out if there could be any hormone issues going on and also a recommendation for a dermatologist in the area. So we’ll see!

With that said, it’s become very clear to me that I need to work on reducing my stress levels and to help me do so, I’m setting some health-related June goals for myself!

Goals for June

- Go to yoga

My gym has yoga classes, but I almost never go. I always prefer to lift weights, run, or row, but I think this would be better for both my fitness in general and my mind. I think I may join in on Courtney’s June Yoga challenge to help me meet this goal, actually!

- Take rest days

This is something I have trouble with. Meg’s recent post about taking more rest days really hit a note with me. I definitely don’t take enough rest days, even when I feel my body needs it. Instead, I often just force myself to push through it, though I’ll know I’ll be better the next day if I do.

I also want to apply this to Sleep and Repeat! Since I started this blog, I’ve felt like I need to share every food-related photo or fitness-related experience I have, which I realized is actually kind of an absurd goal for me. I took a break from the blog this weekend because 1. I didn’t have much to share and 2. I had plans for a rest weekend following my doctor’s recommendations about my stress levels. So as much as I love sharing my life, I’m going to try and pull back and take “rest days” from the blog a little more often as well.

- Eat more balanced

I generally eat very healthy, but according to my doctor, I also need to work on eating more balanced in general. She suggested that I might be getting too many veggies and fruit, so I’m going to try and cut back a little on both and see if that helps my stomach issues.

- Improve my work-life balance

Last week, I worked two 11-hour days. Way too much! It’s not what I’m used to at all. I haven’t mentioned this before since I try to stay away from real-life talk on the blog, but my boss and I are changing groups and our new group manager is a crazy workaholic. I’m talking 6 am to 10 pm days. Insane, I know. I absolutely am not ready for that to happen to me. Luckily, I have the coolest boss ever and he is really understanding of it being my first year in a full-time job. Usually when he offers to let me leave early (early being a relative term to my usual 6 pm leave time), I turn him down. I’m not unwilling to work and I want to make a good impression, but one of my goals is to take him up on that offer a little more in the interest of finding a better work-life balance.

And I’m leaving the June goals at that for now.

Dinner

Tonight’s dinner was a new creation that I think I’ll be throwing together for quick dinners more often: a hummus egg wrap!

Ugly photo, I know. But trust me, it was delicious and super quick! I just slathered a whole wheat tortilla with red pepper hummus, then topped it with spinach, an egg (cooked in the microwave), and a sprinkle of goat cheese. It was literally done in five minutes! The perfect speedy after-work meal.

Just finishing up The Bachelorette and I can’t wait to see who gets booted! I’m loving Arie, Jef, and Sean. Obvious choices, I know. But what can I say, I’m a sucker for reality TV editing. If you’re watching, who are your favorites?