Monday Musings

After a weekend of indulgent, delicious dinners and more than one cupcake taste, it felt wonderful to enjoy some whole, natural foods today. I packed my breakfast and lunch today which meant I was able to enjoy healthy food without much thought or temptation at the office.

Breakfast was a bowl of banana oats topped with chia seeds.

Lunch was a homemade spinach salad and a bowl of soup. While my mom and I made last night’s salad I grabbed a Tupperware and made my lunch salad at the same time with the leftover ingredients. Today’s salad contained baby spinach, cherry tomatoes, walnuts, 1/4 cup blue cheese, and Whole Food’s all natural honey mustard dressing. I loved the fresh addition of walnuts and baby spinach.

The soup was definitely not a winner. This very photogenic soup was my last can of Healthy Choice vegetable soup I bought on sale a few weeks ago.  Luckily, I ordered a case of Progresso Light soups from Amazon tonight. I realized a few weeks ago that my soup habit, while healthy and filling, cost at least $4 per day and didn’t allow me to control the sodium content. Therefore, ordering a case of soup from Amazon is far less expensive and healthier!

My afternoon snack was a yogurt bowl, which has quickly become a daily staple. Over 20 grams of protein, a serving of fruit, and lots of crunch keep me full for at least 3 hours.

Dinner on the other hand was a bit more random due to this evening’s Junior League meeting. I didn’t eat the yogurt bowl until 4:30 which meant that at 7:30 I still wasn’t very hungry. I had a dish of crunchy vegetables, hummus, and some cheese cubes while we discussed the month’s agenda.

During my cab ride home tonight, while brainstorming my post, I came up with some Monday Musings.

• After reading Theodora’s post about her session with a stylist, I realized that I couldn’t stand the shirt I wore to work today. Therefore, it immediately went in my donate pile this evening.

• In case you’ve never taken advantage of Origin’s free mini facials, they are the perfect treat for you and a friend, or parent! Last night my mom, dad, and I stopped by the Flatiron Origins and enjoyed being pampered by Augustine. While we both left with new skin care regimens, no purchase is necessary to enjoy this relaxing treat.
• This product works better than you’d ever imagine! For $11.00 everyone deserves one of these for their desk drawer or bedside table.
• Each week, I’ve tried to cleanse and purge a different part of my life. Last week my focus was my daily food through a one day cleanse and cleaner eating. This week, my goal is to clean under my bed and get rid of anything I don’t need or use. I tend to get lots of beauty samples through my job but never use everything. It’s time to get rid of clutter and excess products.
• This weekend’s weather reminded me how much I love my Hunter Boots. While the $125 price point is hard to stomach, they’ve shown up on RueLala and Gilt before. If you already have a pair of Hunter Boots, or something similar, upgrade them for winter $30 with a fun bright liner sock!
• One of my favorite Valentine’s Day traditions is buying a 6 or 8 pack of Hallmark cards and sending a random note to my college girlfriends. While we don’t talk weekly or even monthly at this point, it’s still a nice way to remind them how important they are. In addition, a random note brightens anyone’s day!

Do you send Valentine’s Day cards?