We went for a nice long walk today, made a dinner menu for the week, made a trip to the grocery store, tended to the garden, and got some laundry done.

A fairly productive day in the life of a newborn and a new mama.

Somethings I didn’t get around to today – taking a shower/doing hair/getting properly dressed/wearing make-up. (Also, notice Punky smelling Adrienne’s dirty diaper – thanks for pointing that out, Punk – I promise I change that diaper at least 10 times a day)

Breakfast

the butt of a watermelon scooped out (eaten) and filled back up with raspberries and blackberries + an apple/cinnamon scone that my parents brought me from Whole Foods yesterday + a nice big cup of black coffee that my dear Meeker brought me this morning

Lunch

salad + a piece of toast with almond butter

In this salad:

• spinach
• cucumbers
• red/yellow mini peppers
• green beans
• flax meal
• crispy oven fries
• balsamic vinaigrette

Scrumptious.

Dinner

A pretty boring dinner, I know.

But when you want a bagel plus peanut butter and raspberries, you just have to go for it.

What’s your lazy dinner standby?

Today I woke up, and ate breakfast, which is kind of unusual. Usually it takes me a couple of hours and some exercise to work up an appetite.

Spinach, banana, ½ peach, blueberries, water, almond milk

I drank this while reading my latest Rachel Ray magazine – which Evan is featured in!! I screamed aloud when I saw his face. Pretty dang cool.

Then I lesson planned for the week, worked out, then went to a bbq at my in-law’s best friend’s house.

This was my plate. However, I didn’t eat the bratwurst (just wasn’t feeling it), and had about 5x the amount of fruit you see. Yum city. We spent the afternoon there, and then came home and I napped away the rest of the day. When I awoke, I graded papers and then Meeker and I went on a massive grocery shopping trip. We have soooo much produce!! I’m a happy, happy girl.

For dinner, I only wanted one thing.

Yup, ½ a watermelon for dinner. I have to get my fix while they’re still available!!

What’s one food you’ll miss during as summer dwindles? Watermelon for me

What’s one fall food you’re looking forward to? So many!! Fall is my favorite “food season” – apples, squash, soup, mmm, I’m feeling cozy just thinking about it!

And trail mix and coffee. Neither of those helped with the re-hydration, but they tasted good.

Walnuts, almonds, PB Bumpers cereal, coconut, dried cranberries, sunflower seeds (on the bottom)

I love coffee.

***

Okay, so the last challenge I made for myself was running fast. Done. I can now run fast. However…

I have a confession: I cannot do one single push-up.

Sure, I can do them from my knees, and I can do a wimpy version from my toes where I only go about halfway to the floor, but I want to be able to do REAL push-ups. Like military style two-inches-from-the-ground push ups. So my next big thing is going to be a push-up challenge! I know Teri did one of these a while back, but I was to chicken to join in, so I’m doing it now.

I will be able to do at least 25 consecutive push-ups by the end of this month. (I’m scared just typing that.) When I accomplish that goal, I will up the number to 50. I’m really scared, but I’m going to do it anyway. Care to join?

Also, keep those questions coming!! What do you want to know about me??

I started out this day with ½ a mini watermelon and some blackberries.

Coffee on the side. A beautiful breakfast. About an hour later, Punky and I went for a run. We are so lucky to live in a community where leashes/dogs don’t necessarily have to go hand-in-hand. It’s so much fun to run with the doggie off her leash. She gets better exercise, and I don’t have to hold anything in my hands. Win, win.

All tuckered out.

After working in the garden for a bit, I decided it was time for another breakfast.

It’s been SO long since I’ve had eggs! These were runny and yummy. I had some mushrooms and salsa on the side for a little flavor flave. Now I’m off to the grocery store – happy Monday!

What’s your favorite season and why?
I think I’ve made it pretty clear that I love summer with all my heart.

Also, I used my food processor for EVERY meal today.

The veggies are self-explanatory, but the orange blob is:

• 1 sweet potato, cooked
• 1 tbs. peanut butter
• Salt
• Cinnamon

All into the food processor until smooth. Voila! The best dip/baby food ever. After this, I finally followed Cait’s instruction and had some nuggets…

Morningstar Chik’N Nuggets and BBQ sauce. I felt like a 3^rd grader…and I loved it.

I ran errands and went to the grocery store after lunch, and then came home and spooned into this…

Dig in.

When dinner rolled around, I looked at my dinner calendar (which I make a week in advance) and got excited to see that I had planned to make falafel tonight! I used Adrien’s Falafel Recipe, with a couple substitutions:

1 Can of Chickpeas
2 Cloves of garlic
1 Egg
1/4C Tahini
1/2 tsp Cumin (ground)
1/2tsp chili powder
3 T cilantro, chopped
2T green onions, chopped
Salt (to taste)

All into the food processor until smooth. Then balled them up and baked them at 375* for 15 minutes.

Eaten with a lettuce + carrots + corn + cucumbers. Perfection.

I dressed the salad with a mix of spicy mustard + red wine vinegar + stevia + olive oil

On an exercise note, I went for a barefoot run today! I couldn’t sleep the other night, and so I got out of bed, and started reading articles about the benefits of barefoot running. After watching this video – I knew I wanted to at least try it out. To summarize, humans survived perfectly well without shoes, and some evidence shows that shoes are ruining our running stride/posture. You can check out the pros/cons on the above link if you are interested – but I have to say I loved it! Sure, there are the obvious drawbacks: stepping on a pebble (I actually cut my foot today, ouch), strange looks from onlookers, hot pavement, etc. However, I felt really FREE! Like a little kid running through the park. I’m sure it was mental, but it just felt easier and lighter.

What are your thoughts on the barefoot running movement??

Breakfast

Watermelon + apples

Sweet, juicy and delicious

Lunch

Weird hodge podge salad – broccoli slaw, spaghetti squash, black beans salsa

After this salad, I wanted to show my love for some fat.

So I hugged it. In honor of Katie’s Hug-a-fat month. My favorite fat sources are nuts and seeds – You can tell from the waning trail mix jar that I eat it often. Daily, actually. My faves are walnuts, cashews and good old peanuts.

Dinner

red potato nuggets, chicken meatballs, spinach. Everything was so yummy. I could have eaten 1000 potatoes – which I just cut into cubes, tossed in olive oil, salt and parsley, and then baked at 450* for about 40 minutes – turning halfway through.

Also, I put up a recipe page for the Raw Chocolate Cake …it’s yummy. I might make some tonight.

Happy Thursday!

Then we headed to a place called Great Beginnings Cafe. When the weather gets warm, I always crave fresh things, so I went with the fruit medley for breakfast.

Oh so yummy. Watermelon, cantaloupe, strawberries, apples, blueberries.

There was also coffee. Always coffee.

When we got back home, we all went for a walk and then my parents headed home and Meeker and I headed to the gym. He had to work, I wanted some exercise. Before we left I had a Dr. Kracker.

These babies are big!

This held me over nicely during some running and weight lifting. Then it was home again to re-fuel.

Gaaah, I love salad. Meeker says you don’t win friends with salad…

I disagree.

In this beauty:

• Lettuce
• Broccoli slaw
• Corn (cut off the cob)
• Jicama
• Sunflower seeds
• Pepitas
• Flax seeds
• Dressing: balsamic vinegar + spicy mustard + evoo

I desserted (yeah, I made it a verb) with a hefty hunk of watermelon.

I just dug right into this puppy…so fresh and sweet! I love summerrrrrrrr.

Dinner was grilled.

Chicken kabobs, zucchini, barley

That barley was so good! I seasoned it with chicken broth and garlic powder. Mmmm, lick.

Meek had to go back to work (booo) so I’m just relaxing and watching The Bachelorette (I like Frank!). I hope you all are having relaxing evenings before this short week! Wahoo!

What is your favorite summer fruit? Mine is watermelon, without a doubt. In fact, I think I’ll go cut myself another slice right now…

We like taking walks at night because we can let Punky off the leash and no one is around to care.

Playing fetch with Meeker’s empty gatorade bottle.

A German shepherd was chasing me!

She caught up, but in my defense, I only have 2 legs.

Tired Punky in the cool, green grass.

This morning, I was sitting on the couch, catching up on some blog reading when my super husband set this on the coffee table in front of me.

The best guy.

This is another of my homemade ww frozen waffles from last Saturday

I followed up the waffle with this enormous watermelon that I just sat in my lap and dug into with a spoon.

I got through about half of this monster.

The damage is done.

Now I am off to school for (hopefully) the last time before the kiddos arrive on Monday. 2 days!

I used my homemade, whole-wheat frozen waffles (so handy) and finished off the first half of my watermelon plus some extra yummy fruit.

With this sitting happily in my belly, I am off for a (hopefully) productive last day at school before the kiddos arrive on Monday!

I the spirit of elementary school this morning, I matched my breakfast to my bowl. (You know, shapes, patterns, colors, etc.)

More bluberry and watermelon love.

Here we go…