Checking Things Off

Thanks to all the readers who have entered Blueberries and Oats 2 year anniversary giveaway! If you haven’t entered already, don’t forget to do so! I’ve really enjoyed hearing what you guys like about this blog.

Though I really wanted to sleep in today I was up with my alarm before 9am. Joan (my car) had an appointment for an oil change! I felt extremely shaky when I woke up so I didn’t even take a second thought when I threw together this somewhat odd breakfast of Weetabix and trail mix. Yeah…M&M’s in my cereal was a bit different.

Video Gaming

No inspirational quote today because this photo is inspirational enough! Congratulations to my sister, Whitney, for getting her Masters degree in Fine Arts from the University of San Diego. She finished her final thesis (and I helped with my miniscule Japanese skills!) this week and now just has the summer to finish up her acting program with The Old Globe Theater in Balboa Park.

She’ll always be the person I look to whenever I need to feel brave, social, or just plain friendly. <3 I’m so glad my mother was able to go visit her to see her thesis!

Anyway, sorry this post is late but you’ll see why shortly.

Surprise Day

Today turned out to be surprisingly refreshing and laid-back. Win and I have decided that perhaps we tried to pack too much into our Spring Break vacation week. >.< We just keep feeling like we are rushing everywhere!

This morning I got to sleep in while Win took her car in for an oil change though. Gods I love sleep. I am so exhausted by the end of the day here the nights just don't seem long enough. By 9am it was go-go-go again though.

We had a brunch with my sweetest reader, Heidi, to get to at The Mission of course! Heidi was the first person to suggest me eating there two years ago and since then it's become one of my favorite places in San Diego. Of course, The Mission being as amazing as it is we had a lonngg wait. Brunch turned into lunch but when we finally sat down it was well worth the wait.

Fashion Day

Gah! I've been so busy it's been really hard to find time to blog! Forgive me!

Yesterday started off on the right foot with a banana before heading off to do an hour of hot yoga. There were a few poses I couldn't do because of my foot, but in general I think it was really good on my hurting body and got me to sweat buckets. On the walk home I grabbed a doppio ristretto with 2″ hot water, 1 raw sugar, and a splash of half and half to refuel.

Interesting thing about Starbucks in SoCal…they seem to think it's okay to take all day making espresso! Seriously, I've never seen a slower Starbucks before. Seems like they don't know how to drink sequence or anything…Win thinks it's due to the laid back attitude everyone has here. It's freaking nuts.

Adventure Day

Today turned out really adventure filled.

It started bright and early with Win making us egg white veggie scrambles in small whole wheat tortillas. Plus a banana! (I'm in love with them) And followed by a Mexican Mocha on the road for an hour drive east of San Diego.

Off the Sunrise Highway we found amazing hiking trails! My foot is still really messed up from yesterday but getting it moving actually helped the pain subside.

It was an absolutely gorgeous day!

We had fun chatting and taking silly photos.

Plus the traditional “Lets try to fit our giant heads in the photo and still have some background”!

After our hike, we headed to the nearby small town of Julian where we had crisp and clean veggie wraps (half each) and split slices of pie! This town is famous for pies. We shared an apple peach crumb slice and an apple mountain berry crumb one. Perfection. Normally I find pies too sweet but these ones were just right.

On our drive back to San Diego, we got sidetracked by the Viejas Resort and Casino! Normally not gamblers, we didn't really know what we were doing…

But somehow I managed to turn my $20 into $29.66!! Victory! We quickly cashed out and ran…and didn't get very far! I ended up spending it (plus more) on a new pair of flats that have Dr. Scholl's inserts built-in. My feet felt 100x better in them.

When we got back to Win's apartment we worked on her thesis for awhile before cooking up dinner. An encore of roasted Brussels sprouts with a peanut mustard sauce and the other half of our veggie wraps. Plus some more wine!

Last time I was in San Diego Win and I got delectable desserts at a place called Extraordinary Desserts. They were soo memorable, we knew we had to go there again. This time we split a Macadamium Shortbread Cookie…

And a Strawberry Coffee Cake! Wow am I full now.

Icing my foot right now. =( Hopefully I'll be able to be more active tomorrow. I feel like I'm really letting us down!

 

Pampering Day

So while yesterday was all about family, today was definitely all about Win and I. We pampered ourselves!

We started the day off walking to Win's yoga studio and signing me up for their free weekly pass. We then did an hour long hot yoga intro class in which I sweated buckets and was extremely shaky by the end! It was intense and such a great way to start the day.

On our walk back home we stopped into Starbucks so I didn't faint. I got an iced tall nonfat latte with caramel drizzle. <3 It's never tasted soo good. I informed Win that I'm gonna need breakfast of some sort from now on!

Family Day

Man am I exhausted! Today was filled with one thing: family!

Including my favorite little cousin, Raiden! He's gotten so big and active. He basically ran all over all day long!

Surprisingly, I wasn't hungry for breakfast. SHOCKING I know. I knew I should eat something to get my metabolism rolling though and luckily Chris & Glo had a perfectly underripe banana for me to devour while I typed up yesterday's post.

At noon we arrived at the main event: meeting baby Evan, my cousin Derek and his wife Rita's baby boy who was born in December! Check out his hair. Born that way. Also a super sweet little guy.

Better shot of the hair!

Win's always a natural with babies.

Me? Not so much. But I do love all my baby cousins!

Group photo! (minus Chris, Glo & Raiden who had to leave due to nap time, and mother, Rita, who took the photo.)

At their gorgeous house we swarmed, 9 cousins and spouses plus 2 babies! We had a lot of refreshments: Arnold Palmer's and chips.

Plus a smorgasbord for lunch: grilled salmon, a really delicious green salad, and an equally yummy quinoa salad. (Plus some breadstick which I didn't like so didn't finish.)

For dessert Kristen (my cousin Mark's wife and who's wedding I attend last September) made a mascarpone cheesecake with fresh berries. It was really tasty but I ended up not eating it all. I just didn't need it. Intutive eating win.

We didn't end up leaving their house until 7pm! O.O It was a long visit but it was such fun seeing everyone and playing with baby Evan. Next Win and I booked it down to San Diego to get some dinner.

Since it was late, we stuck close to Win's apartment and hit up Ranchos Cocina for vegan Mexican food. Sadly, the experience was a little lacking. The menu was so huge it was hard to pick food! Plus, the waitress just decided not to bring us the margaritas we ordered. =( Instead we munched on chips and somehow made a decision. I ended up with the Veggie Trio Enchiladas: one blue corn avocado, one enfrilojada with mole, and one tofu with rice and beans. I asked for brown rice but alas no beans. (har har!) The enchiladas were really yummy and I ate pretty much the whole plate minus the blue corn avocado one(just not enough texture).

It was decent vegan fare. Tasty, filling, and satisfying.

On our way back to Win's place we hit up a CVS for Riesling white wine and dark chocolate to go along with our Red Box rental, Pitch perfect.

Ah I love vacation. ^_^ Night!

 

MOD Pizza

Darnit! I was hoping I'd get this post in before midnight but alas, having a social life is time consuming. No wonder I avoid it so much!

This morning started off like pretty much any morning. Had a jar of creamy and cold strawberry overnight oats topped with a spoonful of crunchy peanut butter and a sprinkle of raisins. I'm about out of Greek yogurt since I've felt kind of bored of it lately, so I really tried to enjoy every bite.

Woowzahs.

That’s the word that came to mind once I looked at all the pictures of food I’d eaten today! Let’s just say it’s probably not the best idea to only eat dessert for a meal. It makes me ravenous later. I knew this but sometimes these things happen.

Anyway I got to sleep in until almost 8am this morning! It felt so nice. Once I did get up I had something completely new for breakfast: Weetabix! That’s right. That somewhat odd British cereal that comes in the form of grain bars. I put two of them in milk and topped them with a banana and sunflower seed butter. The first bite was decent, however after the first bite all the milk rushes into the bars and they become a soggy mess. I did not like the texture! Just so…mushy. I ended up adding some dried fruit to the bowl to give it a little more chew.

“Friday, Friday”

I had every intention of working out today…but when my alarm went off and I moved my legs painfully, I knew I aught to listen and give them some rest. I just wish I knew why they were so sore! I was able to walk better today…but I definitely still felt it. Tonight I might try some hot pads on them.

So I should have been very well rested today with almost 10 hours of sleep, but to be honest I still felt drained. I was even too tired to do my hair and instead threw it up into a very unattractive pony tail. -_- Hey we don’t need to look good every day right?

Lucky for me I had a jar of prepared blueberry overnight oats in the fridge which I topped with the very last of TJ’s Crunchy PB and golden raisins. Time for me to make my own! Maybe some chocolate peanut butter?