Back to the Grind….

Hello Hello! Hope you all had an awesome Monday. The weather was crazy beautiful today. I totally had a moment to myself while driving with the windows down, music up, and the warm, golden sun shining thru all the gorgeous fall colored leaves. Ah, the simple things in life… not to be taken for granted.
So happy for a new week and to be feeling motivated & back to the grind today after a pretty stressful & chaotic last week..

Returned from my amazing Wanderlust/Austin, TX weekend last Monday evening about 6pm, which made for a short week with lots to get accomplished. Catching up on work and also a move which I think we all know, is so NOT fun! I was feeling completely drained and exhausted from travel + my Wanderlust Yogathon. Landed back in CLT starving, mom scooped me up from the airport and we headed directly to Bricktops in South Park. My mom about fell out of the booth when I ordered Chicken Fingers & FF -Mmm Mmmm Yessss! Cleared my plate and enjoyed every last bite.

So, just keeping it real with you guys…I think my marathon yoga weekend pretty much did me in after the last few months of intense workouts and clean eating nearly 100% of the time. There’s just no way to be 100% perfect in nutrition & workouts, 100% of the time and neither should you be.  For some reason, my body was feeling outta whack and telling me to pump the brakes. I took it a little easier last week on my workouts and was kinda lax on my food. I only worked out 4 days vs. my usual 6 or even the occasional 7 days, but still got in a few really good workouts! 2 days of Cardio, Boxed on Thursday and Yoga’d on Saturday morning. Other than that my week was filled with work and moving. Although, moving is not to be underestimated as a workout! Whew! I wonder how many times I ran up and down the stairs AND with boxes and furniture in my hands, no less. ughhhh! I have so many bruises all over my legs from carrying boxes and bumping into walls and doorways. Fun stuff!

With everything packed in boxes and feeling completely unsettled, food was a little all over the place and did a lot of snacking here and there.

2 Yummy Oatmeal’s last week…

Apple, Cinnamon & Gogi Berry Oatmeal

Pumpkin Oatmeal:
Added pumpkin puree for a couple minutes before I scooped my oatmeal out of the pot. And plenty of coffee in my giant, made-with-love Aunt Lauren coffee cup! 🙂

Chicken, Vegetable & Brown Rice Soup w/ lots of cheese grated in! Yummm. I ate this for dinner 2 nights and lunch one day. Nothing like homemade Chicken Soup.

Yummy Mixed Salad with Spinach, Onion, Feta Cheese, Beets, Tomatoes & Peppers.

Clearing out the fridge…I had a little bit of pumpkin left over so I turned it into this totally random Apple & Pumpkin Smoothie. – Small Gala Apple (cored & peeled), 3 tspns chia powder, Pumpkin Pie Spice, Vanilla Almond Milk (unsweetened) & 1/2 banana. A little thick from the apple but tasted really good!

Afternoon snack: 
Apple, Pineapple, Goji Berries, Walnuts, Cinnamon & Coffee 🙂

Still sampling the line of Love Grace Juices I had shipped to me…I drank a number of these throughout the week….

All of these juices are SO good! I really loved the Super Cider!

Real exciting Saturday night of unpacking and this Spinach, Onion & Sun dried Tomato Omelette, along with chips & salsa + wine for dinner. 
You can check out my BYO Omelette post for a How To on Omelette Making.

Yummy Sunday night dinner of Steak, Broccoli & Squash! I don’t eat red meat too often but so enjoy it when I do! Couple glasses of wine with dinner and some of my fave Lindt Chocolates. Dark Chocolate Truffles & their amazing Peppermint Bark squares that only come out this time of year! OMG… LOVE.

That sums up last week! Nothing too exciting to report but wanted to catch you up on what’s been going in my life. This move has me motivated to do some serious purging and organizing my closet. Deciding what closet system I want to go with to create more functional space & storage for my ridiculous amount of clothes & shoes! Will keep you all posted!

Much Love,

LS