It's Probably Worth Doing

After being away from the city for so long, I knew exactly what I wanted to have for lunch...

Tofu pita pockets! It's been far too long since I devoured these. I had two with some watermelon chunks.

I still have yet to get to the grocery store to buy fresh produce, so it was pre-cut deli melon for me. Hoping to pick some more fruit up this afternoon- can't go too long without apples :)

I also had a shot glass of frozen Maranatha almond butter. Remember my obsession with this last summer? It's back!

Said lunch came after a quick workout at the gym: 30 minutes on the Arc Trainer, followed by some ab work. The gym my parents belong to is nice and big, but I love my gym in the city. I'm excited to get back into some of the classes, too.

After eating, I set out to on a long walk to pick up my NGI uniform. (I start classes in less than two weeks!) I really took my time wandering to the uniform store. Walking is one thing about city living that I absolutely love.

Love this billboard.

The east side of Washington Square Park is finally open! Figures this happens after I graduated, because cutting through the park definitely shaved a few minutes off my campus commute.

Once I got to the uniform store, the lady on there had me try on the super-sexy outfit I get to wear.

I had a choice between high-waisted grandpa button pants and high-waisted grandma stretchy waistband pants. I went with the stretchy waistband. So hot right now. I'm going to be setting some new trends with this look...

I also got my jackets and a few other required supplies. It feels official now!

Trying to decide whether I should go to the grocery store or take a nap right now...my life is so difficult. Hope you're having a great day!

What's the best or funniest ad you've ever seen? I still remember the old-school Chewy bar commercials with the kids saying the most inappropriate things...they were awesome.

Fourth So Far

It's been a pretty chill day so far! This afternoon, I met up for lunch at Cosi with my old friend Rachael. We grew up together but went to separate schools and colleges, so we don't get to hang out all that often. The two of us had tons to catch up on over my favorite sandwiches!

I had a fire-roasted veggie sandwich on white bread with baby carrots on the side.

My usual order used to be their hummus & veggie sandwich since the fire-roasted has feta cheese, but recently I've been tending towards the latter. I can make a hummus & veggie sandwich at home easily! Plus, the roasted vegetables and feta spread are really good. As for the white bread, I've heard from a few sources that Cosi's "whole grain" bread doesn't actually contain whole grains, so I just go with what tastes better :)

After our long lunch, I hit up Trader Joe's for a few things. Since I'll be returning to an empty fridge and pantry when I head back to the city on Wednesday, I'm bringing groceries up with me. Easier than lugging them home in NYC.

I got some old favorites as well as some new things to try: my favorite tomato-basil hummus, meatless meatballs, chocolate bars, lentils, edamame, tofu, soybeans and a few other things I'd already put away. I'm proud that the damage wasn't too bad and I didn't waste over an hour in there, as I've been known to do.

Packing and maybe a nap are on the agenda for this afternoon. I'm going to dinner with a friend tonight as well, which I'm excited about. Being home has been nice just to catch up with everyone! Hope you're enjoying your holiday.

Random Fourth of July question I was thinking about while driving: how many people still remember the preamble to the Constitution from elementary school? I have no shame in admitting that the Schoolhouse Rock song is the only way I remember it. It's also how I remember how bills are passed and how to diagram sentences.

Y2K

Just blowing through the years now...my mom took fewer and fewer pictures as we got older, but the pictures she did take are way more out of order. It's kind of a puzzle trying to put everything together!

Y2K party! Remember when everyone thought the world would end?

My with my French tutor Laura. I loved her because she always did the homework for my correspondence course for me, then I'd re-copy it and send it in. Sorry, Mom.

Skiing in Copper Mountain, CO

In my bedroom before I had it painted. Like the ducky wallpaper? Also, please note the picture of kittens above my head.

I played the flute for a few years! And yes, those are chopsticks in my hair. So stylin'.

Right before my tonsillectomy. My doctor was amazed by how massive they were. I'm still strangely proud of my abnormal tonsils.

My 10th birthday at the City Tavern in Philadelphia. Luke's too cool to play the spoon game. The guy on the far right is Andre, who was our foreign exchange student from Brazil for a semester.

The day after I got Cali! She was such a sweet little nugget. Now she's just a rodent-killer.

On the Maid of the Mist in Niagra Falls.

Parents' anniversary dinner at Buddhakan in Philly. We were hip way before Sex and the City made it cool a few years later.

During my short-lived riding phase. I remember that horse's name was Cat, and he sneezed on me. It was gross.

During my swim team years. Are we picking up the theme of Gabriela trying everything then quitting?

With my grandpa and brother at the Jersey shore. Yay big J!

* * *

In the midst of my picture organizing, I broke for lunch.

I wasn't in the mood to make anything, so I just heated up an Amy's teriyaki wrap and sliced up some raw veggies to have on the side.

The doughy wrap on the outside of these is hands down the best part. It's all flaky and delicious.

I also had an apple with some Justin's maple almond butter- a new favorite. It's the perfect balance of almonds and flavorful sweetness.

Hope you're enjoying your Sunday!

Where were you on Y2K? And have you ever had any surgeries?

Hungry Rebel

My camera must have been hungry, because it devoured today's lunch!

I just had a plain old hummus, tomato and veggie burger sandwich on sprouted bread with an apple and Justin's maple almond butter, but I forgot to put a memory card in before taking the pictures. Blogger fail. I did, however, realize my error before dessert...

A chunk of leftover chocolate cake from last night. The mousse and fudgy frosting kind of melted into the cake overnight, making it even better the second time.

Delectable.

Along with my lunch, I drank a new obsession of mine:

I've heard great things about La Croix sparkling water for awhile now, and finally got the grapefruit and coconut flavors at Target the other day. I'm a huge fan of bubbly drinks in general (champagne, diet soda, beer and seltzer are other favorites), but the coconut taste of this is incredibly unique.

Rewinding to this morning, I hit up the gym for an upper body workout + 15 minutes of incline speed walking on the treadmill. The gym was surprisingly full for a holiday weekend- and I thought I was one of the only people who stuck around!

Hope you're enjoying a beautiful start to your weekend!

Bubbly drinks: yay or nay? I feel like carbonation is either a love it or hate it thing...

This Is Where It Gets Embarrassing

I'd say 1998 was the "switch" year for me. Over the course of a few months, I went from cute and endearing to chipmunk-cheeked and unwashed. I'll let the pictures speak for themselves...

There are three things wrong with this: I'm wearing a t-shirt with dolphins on it, I'm wearing smudged hooker eye makeup and I'm drinking a glass of red wine. Yes, my mother gave it to me. Don't worry, it's legal in France.

I still do this in the privacy of my own bathroom sometimes. I'll leave it up to you to decide if I'm kidding.

There's the chipmunk cheeks!! They were great for saving snacks for later. Fact: I suck at sailing.

Our old dog, Indy. I miss him!!

Just a casual rendezvous with the Clintons in DC. The guy on the far left was my brother's Slovak camp counselor, Peter. Shame I was too young to fully appreciate his good looks. By the way, aqua headband + lime green shorts + baby blue tank top = stylin'.

With my bunnies- Inky and Caramel. They lived until they were like ten and my poor father had to take care of them after I realized that bunnies don't actually do anything and lost interest.

Oh and once, my brother shaved half his head. Good look, right?

* * *

Anyway, onto lunch!

I had a big slice of asparagus and brie pizza leftover from last night, with some baby carrots with pesto hummus and a handful of almonds. This pizza was so good. I'm not even a cheese lover, but I can't believe brie isn't more commonly used on pizzas!

Almonds. I saved some extras in my chipmunk cheeks for snacking on later.

I also had two chopped up peaches.

Said lunch came after a gym session: 40 minutes of steady state cardio on the elliptical, followed by some abs. I think abs are actually my least favorite body part to exercise...they hurt so quickly!

What's your least favorite body part to strength train? And your favorite?

Pasta Fumble

I was right- my biceps and triceps are burning after yesterday's upper body workout! This morning, I signed myself up for another sore day tomorrow by completing a lower-body strength routine, too.

I did three sets of 12 reps each of the following exercises:

• squats, 12 lbs
• plie goblet squats, 20 lbs
• lunges, 12 lbs
• straight-leg deadlifts, 25 lbs
• single-leg dumbbell calf raises, 15 lbs
• single-leg hip raises
• weighted side leg raise, 12 lbs (only did 2 sets of these...they are tough!)
• fire hydrant in-outs

For the record, the fire hydrants look about as classy as they sound. Yes, they are so named because you look like a dog peeing on a fire hydrant. Cute.

As my post-workout lunch, I had a big bowl of yesterday's salmon pasta salad.

Which, unfortunately, I then dropped the last serving or two of on the floor in our kitchen while putting it away. 

Maggie helped me clean it up. She's such a weird dog- the only human foods she likes are meats/fish, peanut butter and chocolate chip cookies! Along with the pasta salad, I also had a big bowl of fruit- two diced peaches with a few handfuls of blueberries.

A few peanut butter fingers slipped in there as well :)

While eating lunch, I wasted time looking up concerts on TicketMaster. There's about a million I want to go to in the next few months, but they are either a) hundreds of miles away, b) insanely expensive, or c) too embarrassing to convince anyone to go with me. For instance, I really want to see Josh Groban at Madison Square Garden in November. Who's with me?!

Unless I'm forgetting something, the last concert I saw was Blink-182 in October of 2009. I actually saw them twice- once in Philly, and once in NYC. It was an amazing show! I'm pretty sure Travis Barker's drum solo was the coolest thing I've ever seen in my life...fast forward to 2:15 for the best part.

Do you like going to concerts? What's the best one you've ever been to? 

Scaredy Dog

And you thought it was cats that were afraid.

Maggie is scared of everything, seriously. I took her on a walk around our neighborhood this afternoon and she freaked out about:

  -  cars
  -  dogs barking
  -  the wind in the bushes
  -  a pug in a fenced-in yard
  -  one of those big plastic mailboxes

Just look how far her tail was between her legs! Poor little fraidy dog.

The best was the bushes. I snagged a short video of her reaction...she was pulling so hard on her choke chain!

Silly Mags.

Earlier this morning, I went to the gym for an upper-body workout. I completed three sets of 12 reps of the following exercises:

• bicep curls
• hammer curls
• tricep dips
• tricep kickbacks
• dumbbell bench presses
• dumbbell flies
• dumbbell rows
• lat pulldowns
• shoulder presses
• side raises
• pushups (real ones, though I only did 6 per set!)

Unsurprisingly because they were first, I think I worked my biceps and triceps the hardest. These guns are gonna hurt tomorrow, hardyharhar.

My midmorning snack was a bit bigger than usual, so lunch was on the simple side. I spread a whole-wheat tortilla with a layer of crunchy peanut butter, then had some fresh strawberries.

An apple was also had, but you've all seen those before! Hope you're having a great day so far.

Do you have any funny or irrational fears? Make Maggie feel better about her bush phobia!