Lots for a Monday

I have lots of things to share with you all today including last night’s Cajun holiday party, today’s food, and finally a great program that Jack Rabbit Sports is hosting in January!

Last night, we went to our first party north of Central Park! Theodora, Bo, and I easily made our way up to Washington Heights via the A train, which runs express from Columbus Circle to 125th street!

Don’t worry, Theodora wasn’t drunk in this picture, I promise. In fact, we’d already run a breezy 3.25 miles together along the East River, showered, and were ready for an adventure.

Our friend Camille, last night’s hostess, epitomizes a Southern lady. She welcomed us into her home with a warm “hey y’all”, had a delicious spread set out for her guests, a signature drink ready to serve, and lots of friendly faces with whom to celebrate! In fact, people can’t help but flock to her smiling face!

Her apartment is adorable and each room is painted in a different color, but it’s no surprise that her entry way is a bold LSU purple. In true New Orleans fashion, she served all the drinks in Styrofoam “go cups” last night as they don’t “sweat” like solo cups when holding Milk Punch, her signature drink! How adorable are these cups, straight from the bayou?

The main course, gumbo and rice, were brewing on the stove when we arrived but smelled amazing!

The trick to delicious gumbo is a good roux as Camille taught us last night, requiring hours of patience and stirring.

It was a wonderful Washington Heights evening, complete with new and old friends and delicious food!

Today, after too little sleep, Bo and I made our way to the gym for a much needed rise and shine workout. On days when I’m dragging, nothing wakes me up like a workout. Due to some heel pain on my left foot, I clipped into the bike for a 40 minute workout, complete with a computerized plan that synched to my music! I really liked it and did 12.6 miles during the 40 minutes while also conquering some hills and sprints.

I focused on including healthy fats in each meal again today and making sure that I had healthy snacks around me at all times.

Breakfast: Oatmeal, banana, chia seeds, and 1 tsp peanut butter.

Lunch: Large chopped spinach salad from Pax with beets, red onions, grilled chicken, walnuts, mushrooms, tomato, balsamic, and a splash of olive oil. I also enjoyed a small vegetable soup on the side.

 Afternoon snack: Strawberry 0% Chobani with Fiber One flakes sprinkled on top and a Clementine on the side.

 Dinner: An easy dinner thanks to Pret takeout! We split two soups (Goulash and Butternut Squash) and each enjoyed one of their Cobb salads. I only ate half the avocado and half the walnuts but really loved the flavors in this salad.

Last but not least, I want to let you all know about a great program Jack Rabbit Sports is hosting in January called Resolve 2012. I signed up earlier today and it appears that it’s free and that more information such as the schedule of events will be emailed soon. Based on my research, it appears that  Mizzfit, who is well known around the blogging and health world, is partnering with Jack Rabbit to bring locals this great program and series of events. Everyone who participates, receives a free Jack Rabbit technical tee and has the chance to win a personal shopping experience for a Winter running outfit!

Let me know if you join, so we can hopefully setup some blogger and reader meetups around the Jack Rabbit events!

Have a wonderful rest of your evening!