Hey blog buds!  Happy “JERSDAY”! (New Jersey Shore episode tonight, woot woot!)

I am happily feeling yesterday’s workout.  I did a quick but effective Tabata workout consisting of:

• 5 minute warm up
• Step-Ups (wearing a 20 lb weight vest) – all left leg first 2 minutes, all right leg last 2 minutes
• Incline Pushups
• Smith Squats (narrow stance)
• Lat Pulldowns
• KB Windmills

I love the effect that the windmills have on my shoulders.  It’s a total body move that utilizes a lot of core and stabilization, but the light soreness I get after doing them is mostly in my shoulders and upper back.  LOVE that move!  It’s a “new to me” exercise in the last month, so I’m starting with light weights when I do it.  Currently using just a 5 lb DB and STILL feel it!

I took a very chilly 30 minute power walk right after my workout too.

I had 1/2 of a Larabar before my workout.

I hit up Target to look for a travel iron and while I was there I had a decaf soy caffe misto.  I always forget about the misto, which is less expensive (and less caloric) than a latte.  My tall misto was 70 calories and $2.20 or so.  It’s basically equal parts coffee and steamed milk (or in my case, soy milk… still awaiting the arrival of almond milk at local SBUX stores).  So in Italy this concoction is called Caffe Misto while in France it’s Cafe au Lait.

I realized yesterday as I was driving away from Target how out of practice I am at snapping a pic of EVERY thing that crosses my lips, like I did when I first started logging my food on the blog.  It just doesn’t occur to me sometimes like it used to!  So I don’t have a picture of my misto to share!

I also don’t have a picture of my soup and salad lunch that I had at the Whole Foods.  I met a good friend there to grab a bit at noon and I had a kale salad with olive oil, pepitas, dried cranberries and grape tomatoes with a cup of their vegan savory quinoa soup.  It was delicious!

Dinner was completely out of character and not the cleanest…  I think my mind is already in vacation mode, because all I wanted was pizza.  And rather than make a pita pizza at home, I went out to pick up a single slice from a local pizza joint that I’d never tried called Big Bill’s NY Pizza.  Topped with eggplant and mushrooms.

I had intended to add a bunch of stuff to it when I got home, like sliced black olives, spinach, tomatoes – but I was FULL ON lazy last night.  I’m so not loving the dreary weather!  I feel like I need to eat “hibernation” foods! 

I do appreciate that I can go somewhere to purchase just a single slice.  This is all strategy on my part.  If I were to order a full pizza, I’d eat too much of it.  It’s not a food I can easily stop eating when I’m full and because I know this I find a workaround.  If I just get a slice and bring it home, that’s all there is.  (I use this strategy with desserts as well, which is why you don’t see me write much about making desserts at home.  It’s better for me to go pick up a single mini-cupcake or cookie than make a whole batch at home.)

Other than lunch, the rest of my day yesterday was pretty lacking in greens and fresh food so I’m making up for it today.

“Sunrise”  juice with carrots, broccoli stem, kale, cucumber, celery and a bit of lemon:

Then I mixed up the pulp and am attempting a raw bread in the dehydrator.  If it works out, I’ll put a recipe out here for it.

And I also have a batch of kale chips in the dehydrator.

This is kale from my garden.  And I refer to it as BABY KALE because the leaves are pretty tiny.  And it’s getting cold so fast here now that I feel like I need to keep harvesting because I think the growth might slow WAY down soon.  It’s getting into the 40s at night and right now as I type this at 9:32 AM it’s still only 52 degrees.  Record breaking heat at the beginning of the month and now I’m digging out mittens for my walks and runs.  WOW.

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CHECK IT OUT

Now, for something fun if you like giveaways, head over to the Brooklyn Fit Chick blog where she is giving away a copy of Bethenny Frankel’s latest yoga workout DVD.  Of course I entered!  And you should too!  (Who doesn’t love to win a blog giveaway AND get a new workout to do in the process?)  I really enjoy the BFC blog, especially her “What Have We Learned This Month” posts which recap what you’ll find in magazines each month, like SELF, Prevention, More, Oxygen, etc.

Have a great day friends!  I’ll see you tomorrow for the FINAL day of our 3 weeks of cleaner eating!  I’m going to have a STRONG FINISH today and tomorrow!  How ’bout you?

– Shari B. =)

Tags: kale chips, Larabar, pizza, Starbucks, Tabata, Whole Foods