Shorts in January

Another day in the freezer room…  This project is never-ending, literally.  We did the math on the number of samples and our average time to get through a box of them and if we worked for 8 hours a day, 7 days a week, it would take us roughly 244 days to complete the project.  We have gotten a bit faster lately so maybe it will only take us 203 days but then if you take out weekends, lunch breaks, non-8 hour days… You get the picture. Never-ending.

Breakfast happened a bit later than normal as I dropped my fork somewhere between my apartment kitchen and the 7:30am school shuttle.  I ended up eating my chocolate protein oatmeal breakfast cake topped with peanut butter, Nutella, chia seeds, and maple syrup once I got to work and scrounged for a new fork.

It was good though the maple syrup had kind of congealed in the cold walk between the shuttle stop and the lab.  Oh well, not too bad none-the-less.  Later in the morning, during a thaw break from the freezers, our PI (primary investigator) in the lab decided that a pizza party was called for on Friday to celebrate our long days in the cold scanning samples and to lighten the general mood before everyone headed back to school next week.  To that end we passed around some menus and everyone voted for their top three choices.  I picked three different specialty pizzas so we’ll see what actually ends up on the table tomorrow for lunch!

Speaking of lunch though, today I had the leftover black bean paste noodles from the most recent takeout night.  Everyone expressed how weird and yucky the noodles looked and I just kept saying “don’t knock it till you try it” because this dish is seriously one of my favorite things to order as of recently.

Nomnom.  After lunch it was right back to the freezer room for some more samples and some more laughs.  While the whole project is really boring, we four who are working on it really do have a great time.  It makes the time fly.  When I left work I decided to walk home since it was incredible out.  Sunny and 50 degrees.  I even wore shorts to and from the fitness room!

Crazy right?  Shorts in January, wow.  At the fitness room, I did 16 minutes on the elliptical and then 16 minutes on the stationary bike.  Shape magazine was my workout buddy and then Jillian Michaels was.  I got her 6-week 6-pack workout and did my first workout this afternoon.  She may kill me at some point, but for now I’m just going to be all sorts of sore tomorrow.  To refuel after my 60+ minute workout I had a massive chocolate protein peanut butter and jelly sandwich on wheat bread.

This sucker was large and in charge.  Greatness in multiple bites for sure.  I was pleased with both the taste and the roughly 18g of rebuilding protein.  Creamy and delicious.  After my snack I set out on a four store shopping spree.  First up was Aldi for produce.  Believe it or not they have some really good stuff, like romaine hearts, for really cheap.  Second was Walmart for a few shirts, tuna, and string cheese (best prices around this week!) and third was a quick hop over to Sam’s club for bananas which they sadly didn’t have.  Finally I pulled into Trader Joes for my favorite display ever: cheese!

Just check out this wall.  It’s got just about any kind you could want.  I ended up picking full fat (oh my!) feta.  I also stocked up on some more tempeh as well as some freshly made hummus.  I can’t wait to try it.  Maybe tomorrow night with dinner.  Tonight’s dinner was kind of last minute as it got to be 8:30 and I realized I wasn’t hungry though I hadn’t had much of anything to eat in the latter half of the day.  I warmed up some homemade French onion soup and had the garlic beans from last night.

I seriously need to try to remake these green beans.  They are so good.  I should pick some up later this month and try to roast them with raw garlic, or maybe sautéed.  I’ll let you know how it goes.  Dessert tonight consisted of a peanut butter filled chocolate cookie.

Now it’s off to bed, early this time.  I need some sleep and I have to get up at 7am again tomorrow to make it to work on time.  Blah.  I can’t wait for the weekend.  Haha.  Have a great night.

Questions: What is the hardest workout you have done?
What is your favorite refueling snack?