tapas and relaxation

It seems to have been a while since I’ve done a day in the life type post. Not a full blown blog-my-every-move post, but just a post that talks about life in general.

Why? Well for one, I have been working a lot. One of my co-workers was out for the month of April and some of May, so I took over most of her hours while continuing to work as a research assistant as well.

So my day in the life posts during April would have went a little something like this – breakfast, sit in a computer chair, lunch, sit in a computer chair, snack, sit…you get the idea. Total snooze fest. Wouldn’t you say?

Yesterday, however, was a bit more interesting. Finally. I am taking the majority of the summer off to rest up and prepare for my PhD program in the fall and yesterday was my first full day of freedom.

I am using the word “freedom” very loosely because I still have a lot of responsibilities other than work (taking care of a home, a son, a family, kitties, and all that jazz) – I’m simply talking freedom from a 9-5.

It was, in a word, wonderful. After taking my son to school, I brewed a pot of coffee and ate breakfast at home. Not from a lunchbox. Woohoo!

I spent the rest of the morning doing some random, but very necessary household chores and then I went out to lunch with my sister and Dad. We met at a new-to-me Mediterranean tapas restaurant that I’ve been wanting to try.

Saying that the food was delicious would be an understatement. Everything was freshly prepared and made from scratch.

We started with a variety of appetizers.

[roasted beets with garlic mashed potatoes]

[eggplant crostini with feta, navy beans, and lentils]

[amazing hummus with thin whole wheat flatbread]

Then we shared the Mediterranean flatbread as our main entrée.

[feta cheese, red onions, Greek olives, tomatoes, and spinach]

Everything was finger-licking good. I can’t wait to take Sam and Adam back.

After lunch, my sister and I took our pup for a leisurely walk in the beautiful sunny weather. Then I followed that up with a 2 mile run—again leisurely. It was extremely nice not to feel rushed.

The rest of the night involved bike rides, smoothies, spending time with the family, and reading. There were also several hilarious family group MMS messages. We bought my Mom an iPhone for Mother’s Day which means that 7 of us now have iPhones. Hello, crazy iMessage chats.

It was just a wonderfully chill Thursday—exactly what I’ve been wanting (and needing).

What would your perfect day entail? Just for fun—let’s forget about jobs and other responsibilities. The day is a blank slate.

Google Tags: chill thursday, day in the life, mediterranean tapas, eggplant crostini, a perfect day

Product Love (2)

There is a strong possibility that I have already written a post with this exact title – hence, the 2. What can I say? I am a product junkie.

I am also a caffeine junkie. So, I’m always on the look out for new k-cups or coffee grounds to add to my caffeine cabinet.

Yes, I have a caffeine cabinet – it is filled to the brim with coffee and tea. Hey, I have to be prepared for impromptu coffee dates. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

The newest additions to the cabinet o’ caffeine?

Coconut mocha k-cups by Donut Shop. This is great warm, but it’s also delicious iced.

Add some espresso cubes, a little so delicious coconut creamer and you’ve got a nice tasty treat.

Speaking of espresso, I recently picked up this new (to me) coffee at Trader Joe’s. They had samples of it for their coffee of the day and it was rich and smooth. Just how I like it.

As much as I would love to dedicate this entire post to coffee, I have a few other new products to discuss.

Like the new line from LÄRABAR – über bars.

As they put it – über is synonymous with super duper, wicked awesome, and seriously epic. Yep, all of the above.

I cannot decide which to dig into first – it’s a tie between bananas foster and cherry cobbler. Hello, afternoon snack.

Another new foodie love? This JUMBO sized container of nutritional yeast.

I ran out of my teeny tiny bottle a few months ago and when I finally went to restock, I saw this. Love.

Now the thought of this next product totally freaked me out at first.

Anyone else a little freaked out by the combination of coconut water with chocolate? After seeing so many people rave about it, I finally picked up a bottle to try for myself.

Low and behold—they were right. It IS delicious.

It reminds me of chocolate milk – but it’s dairy free and super hydrating. I will definitely be buying more of this in the near future!

And now for something totally unrelated to these foodie products—hand soap!

Was anyone else totally excited to see the new summer scents in Bath & Body Works?

There’s just one problem—I want to eat these. Strawberry basil and cilantro peach? Amazing flavor combinations right there.

Would it be weird to eat a meal inspired by your hand soaps? I hope not because I did.

Cilantro peach rice. It happened. It was amazing. Want the recipe? I didn’t write anything down but I would be happy to make it again. Actually, I’d be more than happy.

Any new products that I must try?

P.S. There WILL be a Sweat it Out Saturday link up this week – so if you have any workouts or fitness-related posts to share, I’d love for you to add your link to the mix.

P.P.S. I’m still waiting to hear from one of the Beanitos Giveaway winners! Amanda, are you out there? If so, email me your mailing address (the new healthy at gmail dot com). If not, then I’ll announce a new winner in a few days.

Hang in there – it’s almost Friday!

<3 Stefanie

Google Tags: product love, larabar love, new larabars, uber bars, coconut water, zico chocolate coconut water, k cup love, coffee lover, espresso ice cubes, cilantro peach rice, bath and body works soaps, nutritional yeast, donut shop k cups, coconut mocha k cups

We got DIRTY {dirty girl mud run}

This past Saturday, my childhood dream of playing in the mud came true. Thanks to FitFluential and Dirty Girl, I was able to participate in the Indianapolis Dirty Girl Mud Run.

I recruited my sister and my friend (who are both named Courtney) to run the race with me.

It was a BLAST. By far, the best race I have ever participated in. I honestly don’t think I stopped smiling throughout the entire 3.1 miles.

The course included quite a few crazy fun (and muddy obstacles) along with a ton of super motivated women. To make the day even more perfect, mother nature cooperated and gave us a sunny day in the 70’s.

Want to see us in action? Here is a photo progression from clean to dirty to dirtier.

Clean and PUMPED up. It is impossible not to be pumped up when you’re surrounded by energetic teams dressed in head to toe pink and listening to jamming music.

AND we’re off! Shortly after taking off, we encountered the first obstacle—piles of haystacks.

And we’re off again.

[already smiling and excited for what’s to come]

Here is where things start to get dirty—we climbed through a few tubes and then trekked through our first mud pit.

[If you can’t tell by our faces, we’re having a blast!]

Next to the mud pits, this rope climb was my second favorite obstacle! I’m kind of scared of heights—so this was freaky and fun at the same time!

Next up? Tires!

Followed by more laughing. And screaming. And cheering.

Insert a few more obstacles—more mud, the hangover (swinging tires), and a wooden wall and we were (sadly) in the final stretch. I honestly did not want this race to end!

At the end, I had the grand idea of splashing my friend Courtney with mud. Just as she turned around (with her mouth open no less), I splashed. The mud went straight into her mouth. I fully expected retaliation. Heck, I would have retaliated.

But she was a good sport and we ended the race, once again, laughing our butts off.

See the muddy face? Sorry Court!

At the end of the race I met up with my fellow FitFluential Ambassador, Emily, from Perfection Isn’t Happy.

The race was much bigger than we anticipated so we weren’t all able to meet up as initially planned.

After cleaning up a bit, I also saw Heidi from Banana BuzzBomb.

[Yes, I still have mud all over my face in this picture.]

Although I only spoke with each of them for a few minutes, I can tell that both Heidi and Emily are extremely friendly. And I know we’d get along great (hey, we all love fitness). I hope we have more opportunities to meet in the future!

I cannot thank FitFluential and Dirty Girl enough for giving me the opportunity to participate in this race!

There is another Dirty Girl mud run coming up in Chicago and I just might sign up again. It was that fun! Who’s in?

FitFluential LLC compensated me for this campaign. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Google Tags: fitfluential, dirty girl mud run indianapolis, dirty girl mud run, mud run, my first mud run, dirty girl mud run was a blast, obstacle mud run