HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN EVERYBODY!!!!!!

Yeah, I'm sure you guys haven't heard that phrase a millions times already, but I'm not about to be the one person on the Earth who doesn't acknowledge a holiday that is totally centered around candy....

Oddly enough, none of us crazy college students really went all-out this year.  I think it has something to do with "being responsible" and "studying for midterms"... whatever that means.

This doesn't mean I had a boring weekend, though -- don't worry! My halloweekend was filled with friends and fabulous food, thanks to a night out in San Francisco :)

So, after my half-marathon fail, I went to work and pretended to look busy for a few hours until my friend, and part-time slave from Friday night, Lee, came to pick me up!  We headed into the city for some dinner and shopping :) sounds like my kind of Halloween.

I was yelping around and I stumbled across a restaurant dedicated solely to BAKED POTATOES!!

Obviously, I begged Lee to go there for dinner. 



They're an Americanized version of the UK specialty: Jacket Potatoes.  Which is essentially a loaded baked potato that acts as an entree because it's so massive and delicious!  Hot Spud turned out to be a made-to-order baked potato joint with a nice salad selection, as well.

I went with the Veggie Potato which included melty cheese, mushrooms, onions, peas, black olives, jalapenos, and steamed brocolli.  I got to choose my own sauces so I went for half beurre blanc sauce (white wine and capers) and half spicy chicken wing sauce :)

We also got a Fiesta Salad to split -- chopped romaine, tomatoes, tortilla shreds, black beans, olives, and a cilantro-lime dressing.

Lee decided to be manly and go for the steak potato.... which was amazing.  Of course, I snuck a bite!

We left feeling oddly satisfied.  Oh, baked potatoes, how I love you. Seriously, I need to start incorporating more taters into my life... maybe in the form of steak-cut french fries?

Anyways, I discovered something incredibly that night: Lee may have a sweet tooth that either rivals mine... or surpasses it!!!? What the...

SO after dinner, he suggested we do a mini-dessert tour of San Franciso.  As in, we walk around a stop at all the places that have incredible desserts and sample them :) It was totally like hanging out with my Sister -- sorry Lee.

Our first stop was Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory

where we picked up a frozen cheesecake dipped in chocolate. and a double chocolate peanut caramel apple on a stick! that's Halloween-ish right?

We ended up nibbling on the two items, but packing away the caramel apple and tossing a few bites of the cheesecake, so we'd have room for other adventures!

These included:
- Mrs. Fields cookies: chocolate chip walnut, white chocolate chip macadamia nut (my fave), and butter sugar with m&ms.  We, once again, nibbled and saved the rest for later.
- A stop for some dreyer's frozen yogurt - not too impressive, hence the lack of a picture.

Then, we came upon heaven-on-Earth.  Chocolate Heaven to be exact!
CHECK OUT WHAT I FOUND:

Yes, that is a mint chocolate kit kat!!
It was soo good!  They also had a vanilla kit kat and an orange kit kat... but let's be honest, mint will always win my heart over.

Finally, after some strolling and some shopping - new jeans!! - we stopped at a diner and picked up two treats that we planned to take with us to the top of Indian Rock, so we could watch the lights twinkle from the East Bay :) The Golden Gate and the Bay Bridge at night are spectacular.

Excuse the horrible picture...
Creme Brulee Cheesecake and Carrot Cake.

I literally hiked to the top of this cliff in Ralph Lauren boots just so I could get a piece of that cake!! and by piece I mean I ate the majority... Carrot cake is my cryptonite

Lee and I kept joking about how this would have made the perfect date -- of course, anything that involves 5 types of dessert within a two hour period would be classified as a "perfect date" in my book :)

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Unfortunately, the rest of my Halloweekend was kind of lack-luster, due to some application duties and some exams to cram for :(  However, I did get in a good run to stretch out my legs a bit.

I ran an easy 9.3 miles -- surprisingly my legs could handle it.
Plus, I needed to blow off some steam because somebody ate all my leftover cookies and pumpkin bread last night :(  Yeah, it was a big deal.

I came home to have a repeat-salad -- thanks to the addition of Trader Joe's Masala Veggie Burgers, I've been craving these salad beasts recently!

chopped romaine topped with sauteed broccoli, mushrooms, veggie masala burger, soy crumbles and fat-free feta cheese.

Alright, alright, you caught me.
I might have taken a five-minute study break (ehhh closer to five hours...) to get a little goofy with my ladies.

I mean, if you had to guess what we were.... your first thoughts would be Spongebob super fans, right?

It's a long story, don't worry.... there's an explanataion for our ridiculousness.

Anyways, my schedule at work just got changed, so I'm not writing this post from the front desk at the gym :(  at 8 am!  Not that I mind, but this is usually my run + abs and back day... darn.

I'll catch you guys later and fill you in on my delicious dinner from last night!

Happy halloweeen!!

The Half-Marathon That Wasn't.

FIRST OF ALL -- happy Saturday :)

Okay. Now I can go on complaining about my life.  
It's official, you can put me down in the books as a total failure.

I mean, not to sound completely dramatic or anything... but I'm a little bummed.

Saturdays are my fun days! A nice, long run is always in the books. 
So, I laced up my sneakers and headed out after breakfast....

Maple rolled oats with bananas, blueberries, and topped with coconut almond milk!

Alright, so I started to run and my legs felt amazing.  They weren't sore OR tired and I was literally thanking the running Gods for helping me out.  I decided to go for it.  I was going to tackle my goal of 13.1 miles!!! Literally, if there was ever a time and place to do it, it would be now.

I don't have a Garmin, nor do I have any way to gauge my distance, so I decided to go off my time and pace.  After running for about 1:56 minutes, I arrived back at my apartment, feeling accomplished.

I ran in to check my distance.... 12.83 miles. seriously? REALLY?!?!?!?!?!?
I was tempted to put on my shoes again and finish another .3 miles but I decided to tackle my dreams of a half marathon another day.  Damn.

I refueled with one hell-of-a-salad beast.
I sauteed some broccoli, mushrooms, soy crumbles and a Masala veggie burger from trader joe's!! THESE THINGS ARE AMAZING.  amazing.  amazing. 

Then I threw them on top of some chopped romaine with feta.  No dressing required.

And I had to get my sweet tooth satisfied :)
With some rice pudding and sliced nanners!

Ahhh.... I would run another 12.83 miles just to eat more rice pudding....
kidding, I'll eat the rice pudding either way.

Anyways, I'm currently at work (sneaking in a blog post from under my desk!!)

Hope you're having a stellar Saturday! AND A GREAT HALLOWEEN WEEKEND!

Bring-Your-Friends-To-Work Day!

Today was my lucky day!!

My usual Friday night shift at the gym turned into an impromptu holiday -- bring your buddies to work day (and bribe them with chocolate or whip them if they complain)

Before we get to the numerous ways I exploited my friends...
Let's backtrack to dinner!

It's a Friday night, after all.  So, we decided to celebrate a few things:
1. Annie finished her midterm-from-hell
2. Lee is back in town from non-stop med school interviews
3. And Casey and Lisa.... like to hang out and eat food a lot. no big.

We decided to try out the newest restaurant in town: Troy's Greek Cuisine.
After yelping it, and reading all the great reviews, we were ready for some authentic Greek food!

We started off with some Greek Fries for an appetizer.
Baked fries with parmesan, garlic, salt and pepper.

I had trouble deciding between a sampler-type plate and a big greek salad with Gryo meat, but my love for all things falafel won me over...

Meza plate (for two).  Yes, this was meant to be an appetizer for two people... but if it's an entree it's totally acceptable to be eaten by one, right??

Falafels on a bed of lettuce, dolmas, feta cheese, kalamata olives, babaganoush, hummus, and fresh pita - right out of the oven!

I was loving the hummus and the babaganoush!  probably some of the best I've had (and I've even been to Greece... yeah, crazy, huh??) Plus, falafels always have a special place in my heart.

Annie and Lisa both ordered the Chicken Souvlaki.

and Lee ordered the Mousaka plate. Which is one of my all-time favorite Greek dishes... think of it as a Greek lasagna with eggplant instead of pasta noodles.  Yum?? (he let me have a bite... and if he didn't, I probably would have wrestled him for it)

We all agreed this would be a repeat dinner in the future!  I love Greek food - probably one of my favorite cuisines out there.

So, want to know something crazy?
We had approximated 22 minutes to eat our food before I had to go to work... so, we set a strict eat-chew-and-don't-talk rule for a good 15 minutes in order to make it on time.

Somehow, we still had room, and time, for some dessert. Go figure.

I made Lee pull over at YogurtLand (literally, he pulled off and let us out....) so we could grab some FroYo and sprint to the gym so I wouldn't be late. 

Red Velvet Cake, Pecans and Prailines, Death By Chocolate froyo topped with CANDY CORN, oreos, circus animal cookie, a nilla wafer, some coconut, and red beans. 
 

By the way, have you ever eaten frozen yogurt at the gym and NOT gotten dirty looks from all the people on the treadmills?  Yep, didn't think so.

A few minutes later, as I was knee-deep in towels and locks (I was working in the locker room today), a few friendly faces made an appearance:

ANNIE, LISA, AND LEE decided to be super cool and spend their Friday nights with me :)

 It started off innocently enough, but before they knew it, I had them folding towels, checking out locks, helping customers... they could basically replace me at the gym and be ten times more efficient :(.

Fortunately, one of my coworkers was kind enough to bring me a back of JUMBO MARSHMALLOWS (after I begged him) and we entertained ourselves by playing some heated rounds of Chubby Bunny -- for those of you who haven't played, you essentially have to put a huge marshmallow in your mouth, one at a time, and say "chubby bunny" after each one.  You can't chew or swallow and you have to see how many you can fit in there

CHUBBY BUNNY. My record was five.... and I have a large mouth.


We entertained ourselves... with each other?? for the rest of the night.  Yeah, don't ask me how that works.  I HAVE THE GREATEST FRIENDS.

Annie and Lee, hard at work (doing my job, specifically...)

I'd say it was a great Friday night :)
Although, I'm sure they'd tell you otherwise...

I bought Annie two chocolate bars today and I bought Lee some chocolate straws (that turn your milk into chocolate milk!! I know, it's super cool and mature)... so, that makes up for working them like a sweat shop, right?

I'm off to bed!!
HAPPY HALLOWEEKEND!

Spaghetti Squash - TWO WAYS

Ahhh, the beauty of leftovers...

Basically, it gives you free reign to try weirdo things with your squash and blame it on "re-vamping your leftovers" -- so, if it turns out great, you're a winner

and if it tastes like you tried really hard to be creative in the kitchen by adding a bunch of random food into a pan and frying it... well, that's okay too.

Fortunately for the... both of us?... as in, you and me, my leftover remixes turned out delicious!!!

Yesterday, after my run + abs and back class, I came back to whip up a quick lunch.
On the menu? Spaghetti squash...

Spaghetti squash sauteed with soy crumbles, walnuts, cinnamon and raisins. 
 

Wow! This was seriously my favorite combination of the "spaghetti squash series"!!
If you've ever had pork seasoned with cinnamon, it's really similar.

The sweet raisins, and salty-ish soy crumbles (aka ground meat-less beef), and the crunch walnuts were a perfect combination -- and you can't go wrong with cinnamon.

I called my mom and told her to try it immediately (she's a huge squash fan too!)

Anyways, tonight I decided to try a different, more savory, version of spaghetti squash:

Spaghetti squash sauteed with soy crumbles, onions, basil leaves, tomatoes, salt, pepper, and parmesan cheese! 

Of course, it just looks like I'm eating a bowl of cheese...
But, really, this was also a yummy combo.

Spotlight on Soy Crumbles as being a perfect meal-starter!! You can throw these babies into any dish and it tastes even better than ground-beef, in my opinion.

Okay, I need to be really weird and tell you I added cinnamon to my squash too - I can't be stopped I have a serious cinnamon-y addiction.

Um.... WANT TO HEAR THE SCARIEST NEWS EVER?!
I got a phone call from my roommate today telling me to rush home because she had walked in on a robber-in-progress... in my apartment.

Thankfully, nobody was hurt.  But it scared the living daylights out of Jenny (my roommate) and those jerks ended up taking Matt's laptop (and hopefully nothing else!).... We gave statements to the police and the ID techs came in to take some fingerprints of the area. 

It made me realize how careful you need to be, especially living in a college-area on the first floor of an apartment complex!! Anyone want to take a self-defense class with me??

I think this calls for some froyo therapy, don't you??
Before I rush off to indulge in so froyo lovinnnnn', I'll leave you with some random things that I find too damn funny to keep to myself :) Just because I love you.

 IF YOU GOT IT - FLAUNT IT!!!!

andddd... my personal motto:

Have a good night, friends!

Nailed it.

Hahahahaha.
Good morning.
 

let's hope all of our cooking adventures turn out like this little beauty today!

I'll keep it short and simple:
Maple and Brown Sugar Oats with Kix and Coconut Vanilla Almond Milk

Does anyone else realize how watery it is?
I've been cursed by the cookie monster cupcake debacle...

Oops!
Off to go run and hit up my favorite abs and back class babyyyy!
Catch ya later :)

HAPPY HUMPDAY

Spaghetti Squash, Please!

Alright, I've been really lame recently.
I totally own up to it.

I used to be super on-top of all my food pictures and blog postings (because I know you all check this thing religiously...) but I've just been slippin!

Want to hear the list of excuses that completelyyy absolve me of any responsibility for this:
1. my friends are too funny. We hang out and I get carried away laughing at all their dumb jokes (I said they were funny, not witty or intelligent...) and before I know it, it's my bed time!
2. boys. They are distracting.  Especially when they're dramatic and they try to fill your head with nonsense...
3. fear.  I've been feeling super un-interesting lately! hahaha as weird as that sounds, I feel like I've been eating the same things, running the same routes, and getting the same huge bowl of froyo.. so I feel like a dummy showing you the same things all the time.

But anyways, I promise to be better.
I already told my friends I have to spend AT LEAST 10 minutes NOT laughing at their jokes and instead focus on trying to make myself sound super cool and funny on the internet. Deal?

Breakfast!!! I've been having Cinnamon and Spice oatmeal with Kix and Vanilla and Coconut Almond Milk! This combo is delicious.  The coconut almond milk makes it extra creamy!

After eating breakfast and catching up on my bloggies, I headed to my political psych class -- have you ever tried staying awake through lecture without drinking coffee?? Jeez louise... it's a true test of character, I tell ya.

I had to go to drop-in advising for my major so I packed a lunch and awkwardly ate outside the room until it was time for my appointment. 

Mulitgrain bread with laughing cow lite swiss cheese, sliced roma tomatoes, guacamole and lettuce! The return of the guac!!!! WOOHOO. and a bomb granny smith apple.

Ohhhh this is probably the most exciting thing to happen to me all day...
nap time,
It was a good one too, especially when you wake up to your roommate making blueberry streusel muffins - from scratch - thanks, Matt, I LOVE YOU.

Before heading out to my next class and to Tuesday Spin, I toasted up two slices of Sara Lee Multi-grain bread, which I topped with Laughing Cow cheese.  One had honey drizzled on top and the other had Raspberry Preserves... this has been my go-to snack for the past few days! 

 I had an awesome spin class -- we raced? yeah, don't ask me how that works on stationary bikes.... also, don't ask me why the old, bald guy in the back kept winning -- and I came home to get dinner cookin' while I hopped in the shower!

I sliced open my spaghetti squash and took out all the innards.  I added in some chopped yellow onion, minced garlic, salt and pepper then microwave (covered) on high for about 8 minutes.

I showered and got dressed before the squash was even done. What does that tell you about my stellar appearance? hmm?

Once it was ready, I spaghettied the squash (as in made it look like spaghetti strands by scooping out the inside) and added some Tomato and Basil marinara sauce, soy crumbles, and mushrooms!

Spaghetti squash with onions, garlic, salt, pepper + topped with Tomato and Basil marinara, mushrooms, soy crumbles, and PARMESAN!
 

Get in my belly.
Do it.

I enjoyed my dinner with the company of my roommates and The Little Couple on TLC..
I also helped myself to one of Matt's Amazing Muffins and this...

I told you, rice pudding is seriously addicting.
Good thing I stocked up yesterday! expect to see this by the bucketful over the next couple of days... potentially weeks....

I can't believe tomorrow's already humpday?!  We're half way through the week!

I'll leave you with this reminder:

I'd rather have a life of 'oh wells' than a life of 'what ifs'

THE PUMPKIN PATCH ADVENTURE

It finally happened!!!
I went to the pumpkin patch!

If you haven't had the misfortune of encountering me within the last, ohhhh, two months... you need to realize something: I've been talking about the pumpkin patch since late August.  And yesterday, my friends and I actually went!

It was entertaining to compare our first Bay Area pumpkin patch excursion to the memories we all had of trips to the 'patch with our families (back in the day because we obviously don't make special trips home to go to the pumpkin patch at home or anything....k, that happened last year).

Anyways, we started off on our adventure at 11am!  With bellies full of oatmeal and eyes filled with excitement! Seriously.. there are some pictures with "crazy eyes" that had to be edited.  keep on the lookout for them.

In order to get there, we had to take the bart into the city then take the Muni to our friends house to get his car to drive to the pumpkin patch... sound exhausting?  It sure was!

So, because we're responsibly college students, we all brought homework for the trip -- which didn't end up happening because we were giggling the entire time (Bart passengers moved away from us...)

By the time we got to West Portal, where my friend, James, lives -- we were hungry!

He mentioned Squat and Gobble and I was more than game.... any restaurant title with the word "gobble" in it has to be amazing

The boys (James and Tommy) headed to get subs, while the ladies (me, Annie, and Lisa) popped in to order ginormous salads and take a squat to wait for our orders... ahah. funny.

I went with the Asian Chicken Salad -- it included a freshly-grilled chicken breast, ramen noodles, onions, sliced veggies, peanuts, fresh cilantro, watercress... it was one of the best salads I've had in awhile!  And their Asian Soy Sesame dressing was delicious.

We ended up getting our orders to-go and heading to James' beautiful house in San Francisco..it is such a classic.  Check out his weird halloween decor, though...

Is that a baby hanging from a spider?
Yes.

The inside was just as stunning (I felt like a tourist taking pictures of everything... go figure).

Since Tommy and I were rocking matching flannels (for our pumpkin patch attire, duh) we decided to take awkward couple pictures all day... seriously... it didn't get old.

Other findings in James' household:

THEN, we all jumped into his car - stick shift on those SF hills?!?! crazy - and started the drive to Arata Pumpkin Patch in Half Moon Bay.

Windows down. Music blasting (Mumford & Sons and Florence and the Machine). Sun shining. Gorgeous views. Great friends. It was a perfect Sunday.

And before we knew it, we had arrrrived!!!!
Welcome to Arata Pumpkin Patch!
 

We started off the day with some much-needed pumpkin fondling and some extremely mature posed pictures with assorted squashes...Annie
 

Cutest baby pumpkin. Almost.

Then we stupidly decided to cash in our tickets to enter the two-acre hay maze of death... I swear.  The first five minutes we were all excited, and then it was just a ruiner of hopes and dreams.  This thing had spirals of hell and dead ends galore...

Hidden in the maze, was a minotaur who would give you a golden pumpkin if you found him!

First five minutes...
 

Finding the minotaur and the golden pumpkin!! Mine was a dinker.
 

The next 45 minutes of ridiculousness... 
We got a little stir-crazy and started goofing off.
 

Finally... we took an emergency exit out of the maze.. we gave up.  We're quitters.  BUT we had to go pumpkin picking! Duh.

More maturity.

My small dwarf albino pumpkin.

My new earrings.

James' barrel o' pumpkins for his mamamama!

We stopped at McDonalds for some treats before heading home, dropping off the car, caching the Muni, taking the Bart, taking the bus, and finally getting back to our real homes.

I got a Vanilla soft-serve
 

andddd we all split this new discovery:
Pumpkin Pie?!?!?!?!?!!?
What is this?!

Delicious, that's what it is.

Anyways, we spent the rest of the night exhausted but happy - andddd we were stuck doing homework until midnight :) so worth it. 

I'm so excited!
HAPPY MONDAY!