What's For Lunch?

Hello there. So I've gotten lazy in recent weeks with health, finances, and blogging. On the food front I haven't been eating the well-balanced meals I hoped would continue through the end of the year. It's only March and I haven't lost hope yet, and I'm really great about avoiding most "bad" and fast foods, but a certain chain that is (imho) bad, unhealthy and should be unappetizing has been so darn appealing recently. I just love it. coughdeltacocough.

Source

Dinner has become somewhat of a "whatever's in the fridge" ordeal or if we're even lazier, whatever leftovers DH may bring home from his work-provided dinner. I've been pretty good about not buying lunch (for health purposes and to save money), but my work has provided lunch fairly consistently in the past weeks so I saved a little money but I'm still eating out. I drew the line yesterday when I had a fridge full of lovely veggies all week long (bought them last Thurs at the Farmer's market. Last Thurs!) but have been too lazy to prepare and cook it, and therefore ended up buying lunch ($6) and 2 boxes of Girl Scout cookies ($8). ugh, I can't resist buying those cookies and I don't even really like them that much! Also on the list of offending foods is Trader Joes' mini chocolate chip cookies. *guilty face*

So what's the remedy?

Get Madonna's Arms

Another fantastic 10-Minute Workout (arm circuit) by celebrity trainer Andrea Orbeck.

Gifting Grace Sale

It's President's Day weekend so you're going to find sales going on all weekend long, but the best online sale I've come across so far is on Gifting Grace, a JCPenney and Hearst company that is going out of business.  I've never heard of this site, but talk about the sale is all over the web now and I couldn't resist the amazing prices.  There's plenty of well-known brands, such as Philosophy, Bodum, DwellStudio, Jonathan Adler, Victorinox, Natori, Steve Madden, Juicy Couture, etc. and everything on the site is 50% off + tax free + free shipping over $75!  Here's the scoop:

From now until February 29, 2012, get 50% off all regularly priced gift and clearance items.  The website is http://www.giftinggrace.com/ and the promo code is "FebFamily"

Some notable deals (prices reflect the 50% discount):

Quick Workout

I found another great workout video on FitSugar.  It's perfect for cold weather days when the last thing you want to do is leave your house.  Best of all, it's only 10 minutes long!  I'm not a morning person, so my workouts get done at night - which is ridiculously difficult to do after a full workday - so this would be a great boost for me after sitting at my desk all day:

More OXO goodies

I first heard about OXO while wedding planning a few years ago and have been obsessed a huge fan since 2010.  (If anyone from the company is reading this, I'd love to be a OXO product tester!)  Since then, I've purchased quite a few of their products.  Here are my top 5 must-have, makes-your-life-easier kitchen products from OXO.  GG = Good Grips

1. OXO GG Silicone Cooking Colander.  Found here.  I have the gray one but it apparently also comes in red AND there's a larger version!  Also in red.  I might have to add that to my next shopping list...

This is great for boiling corn, edamame, noodles...anything that requires a colander afterwards.  You place your food in this, then place the whole thing in your pot.  Once it's done, you just lift it out and your food is instantly drained.  No need to take out a separate colander, pick up your hot pot of boiling water, then pour it over a colander in your sink.  Genius.  OXO deserves a round of applause for this one. Plus you're reducing the amount of dishes you have to wash after cooking, and thus also reducing water usage. This thing will save you time and money!

Workout like a Victoria's Secret model

I found a great (i.e. short) workout video by trainer Andrea Orbeck, who has trained many Victoria's Secret models.  FitSugar promises it will work your entire body in just 10 minutes.  Enjoy!

Healthy Lifestyle - Breakthrough

I don't want to call my new healthy eating habits a "diet" since I am looking for a lifestyle change, not a quick weight loss fix.  I started this new "life" the second week of January (2012) and it's been great so far.  I've stuck to my chopped salad for lunch every single day this past week (Mon-Fri and still loving it), and I've ended each day under 1,200 consumed calories for the last two weeks - even when DH and I had dinner plans!  And lastly, I've lost 6 pounds!  So to motivate myself, I decided early on that I would allow one freebie day a week or every two weeks (depending on how the week went) where I would not limit my calories and not even guilt myself for it since I wouldn't track it on MFP.  This may seem a little counter-productive, and yeah yeah yeah, moderation is always best, but I knew just having such a day would motivate me.  And it worked!  But today is my "free" day, and I'm not really enjoying it.  Let me explain.