Dunkin’ VS. Starbucks and the Most Filling Lunch!

Hey friends! Happy Tuesday. I hope you’ve had a healthy, productive start to your week!

I woke up at 6:45 yesterday and headed to the gym for an elliptical sesh. I did an hour-long hill program on the ArcTrainer while watching “Catfish” and picking out some wedding music, then I stretched and hopped in the shower.

Then I was off to work. I picked up Starbucks on my way in – I got a grande Blonde roast with a splash of almond milk and one pump of pumpkin! I think I like Dunkin’ Donuts’ pumpkin syrup better… but it was still delicious. I drank my coffee and ate maple brown sugar oats for breakfast.

Lunch was a salad with spring mix, half of the best avocado I’ve ever eaten, baby carrots, cherry tomatoes, and a little light Italian dressing drizzled on top, a low fat vanilla yogurt, and one of the HUGE apples I picked on Saturday.  I felt so full after eating all of this, but the good kind of full. It also helped to go on a half an hour walk after eating!

Around 3:00 I snacked on a Blueberry Cobbler Quest Hero bar. I know I’ve raved about Hero bars before but they are seriously better than candy. I can’t buy too many because I’m scared I will eat like ten in a row… I wish they were vegan though 😦 .

And at 4:00 it was yoga time at my company! It always feels great to end my workday with some stretching and flowing. I took the subway home after, and sipped on a Gingerade kombucha as soon as I got home. I felt like I hadn’t had kombucha in forever… I think it’d been like a week! So unlike me 😉 .

For dinner I cooked up a Sriracha stir fry with tofu, broccoli, snow peas, and baby carrots.

And for dessert I had some blueberries and one dark chocolate covered champagne gummy bear 😛 . I ate that while watching the new “Shark Tank” episode with Frankie, and I went to bed super early.

I had a productive, super healthy Monday and it felt good to stick to all of my goals 🙂 . Excited to keep it up today and throughout the rest of the week. See you guys tomorrow!!

Have you gone apple picking this season? What did you do with all of your apples? I made these pumpkin apple muffins, but I still have SO many apples left!

What is typically your biggest meal of the day? I think mine is usually dinner but I’m trying to make it lunch and eat the majority of my calories at the beginning of the day.

❤ Marina

Caffeine Water?!, the BEST Spice, and this Week’s Goals

Hello hello! Happy MONDAY! Hope you guys had a great weekend.

Yesterday I woke up around 7:00 (I “slept in”!) and tried this caffeine water drink. It tasted delicious (not too sweet) and gave me the boost I needed to get out the door for a run.

I did five miles along the river (~8:30 min/mile average). It was a gorgeous day in Boston and I couldn’t stop smiling.

I ended my run at a bakery/restaurant and met up with Frankie and his family there. We chatted for a while, then we said our goodbyes and I picked up some Dunks pumpkin coffee.

I was starving by the time I got home so I cooked up two eggs and a ton of veggies. I have days when eggs completely disgust me, and other days when I’m craving them like crazy; yesterday was the latter.

And I used this “Everything but the Bagel” seasoning. SO. GOOD. You need to buy some right now (but it actually made me wish I was eating an actual everything bagel… I’ve been thinking about one since).

Frankie and I chilled and watched TV for a while. It felt really good to just do nothing – we had been running around/entertaining all weekend. I snacked on one of the apples we picked yesterday and also a few unpictured baby carrots.

After a couple hours of hardcore chilling, I made myself get up and go to the grocery store. Our fridge was literally empty so it felt good to restock for the week! I snacked on this Blueberry Cobbler No Cow Bar when I got back.

And around 5:00 I walked to a yoga class downtown. I walked through Boston Common which looked just gorgeous – I love weeping willows!

Yoga was exactly what I needed for my Sunday evening. The class was called “Sunset Chill Flow chill flow”, and it was full of detoxing twists, breath work, a lavender oil massage, candles, and chill music 🙂 .

When I got home I roasted some butternut squash and red onion drizzled in coconut oil and sprinkled with salt, pepper, and garlic powder. I also spiralized a zucchini and put all of this together in a big bowl (yes, I ate everything you see in this picture haha).

And for dessert I ate two dark chocolate-covered champagne gummy bears that Frankie’s mom got for us 🙂 . I spent the rest of the night meal prepping for the week, watching the new Kardashian’s ep, and cleaning the apartment. It was the best Sunday and I feel refreshed and ready for a new week. Here are my fitness goals for this week!

1. Stick exactly to my eating plan each day. No mindless snacking!!
2. Drink 12 cups of water each day.
3. Do at least six cardio sessions this week.
4. Do at least three yoga/strength sessions this week.
5. Walk at least 10,000 iPhone steps each day.
6. Sleep 7-8 hours each night.
7. Think happy thoughts 🙂 .

Hope you guys have a marvelous Monday!

Do you like to spiralize your veggies? What do you usually spiralize? Zucchini is my fav! So easy, too.

Tell me one or two of YOUR goals!

❤ Marina

Vegan Pumpkin Apple Muffins and the BEST Night of My Life!

Happy Sunday peeps! Hope you guys have been having a wonderful weekend. Mine has been great but SO busy – excited to chill a little more today.

I woke up at like 5:00 am yesterday because I am weird and can’t sleep in lately, especially when I have a couple of glasses of wine the night before… Frankie, his mom, and I went to a 60-minute Soulcycle class at 9:30! It was probably the hardest spin class I’ve ever been to; EVERY song was hard! We were dying but felt amazing at the end.

Then we picked up Dunks. I got my usual medium iced with one pump of pumpkin and skim milk.

And when we got home I made some maple brown sugar oats in my favorite little Anthropologie bowl!

Then we showered and left to go apple picking with Frankie’s parents. They’d never been apple picking before (they live in Baltimore and it’s not really a thing there) so they LOVED it. The first apple I picked went straight into my mouth.

Frankie’s mom, Frankie, and me!

When I got home I made a big salad with spring mix, baby carrots, cherry tomatoes, and a little light Italian dressing.

And I snacked on a Lemon Cream Pie Questie!

We picked so many apples so I decided to do some baking. I made these vegan pumpkin apple muffins! So fun and easy to make, and they turned out delicious.

Then I started getting ready for dinner and a night out! We went to a potential rehearsal dinner restaurant (one of my favorite Greek places in Boston) with Frankie’s parents and my mom and her boyfriend. It was so much fun and we got SO much food: hummus, tzatziki, spinach pie, brussels sprouts, shishito peppers, pumpkin fritters (!!!!), sesame seed-encrusted feta, stuffed grape leaves, artichoke moussaka, etc. etc. We also got a lot of wine and some ouzo!

After dinner we made our way to my and Frankie’s engagement party. We decided to have it at the bar/restaurant where we had our first date back in June, 2014. It was seriously the best night I’ve ever had. I was surrounded by all of my family and best friends and couldn’t have asked for a better way to celebrate our engagement 🙂 .

Well I’m off to go on a run in this beautiful fall weather. Hope you guys have a lovely Sunday and I’ll see you tomorrow!

Who else is doing some grocery shopping and meal prepping today? What’s on the menu for this week?

Tell me your Sunday plans please!

❤ Marina

 

Something You Didn’t Know About Me…

Happy weekend guys!! I hope you have something fun planned. As I mentioned in yesterday’s post, my future in-laws are visiting us so we have a busy weekend ahead.

I had the best Friday morning – I woke up around 6:00 and walked to YogaWorks. It was a really tough class, but I felt so relaxed and rejuvenated after. I might make Friday morning yoga a thing 😉 .

Then I headed to conquer the last workday of the week! For breakfast, I had Starbucks coffee and a bowl of maple brown sugar oats. I’ve been eating these oats nonstop this week.

Around noon I had my lunch – a salad with baby spinach, cherry tomatoes, baby carrots, and a little light Italian dressing drizzled on top. Dessert was a fat free blueberry yogurt!

I took a longer lunch break than usual and treated myself to a manicure and pedicure at a salon near my office 🙂 . This is my new favorite fall nail polish color – OPI’s “Gift of Gold Never Gets Old”.

Random fact – I have Raynaud’s disease (basically really poor circulation in my hands and feet). This photo might gross you out but this truly means fall temps have arrived!

Then I work work worked until 3:00, when I took a snack break. I had a Mint Cocao Chip No Cow Bar. I think this is my new favorite?!?

 

After work, I tried out a new gym in the area. I’m potentially interested in doing a couple of training sessions to get in perfect wedding shape! But it’s really pricey, too, so we’ll see… I did an hour on the ArcTrainer while I was there.

Then I walked home, showered, and Frankie’s parents came over for a champagne toast to celebrate our engagement! We went to a cool restaurant in Cambridge for dinner, and enjoyed lots of wine and delicious eats. I got the “Natural Bowl” with farro, beets, oranges, kale, radish, parmesan, and falafel! SO yum.

It was an awesome Friday and I’m excited for the rest of this weekend! We’re going apple picking today 🙂 . Hope you guys have a great one.

Are you a mint flavor fan? I LOVE the mint/chocolate combo.

How are you spending your Saturday?!

❤ Marina

Friday Favorites #7!

Happy Friday friends!!! We made it through the week, woohoo! Here are my Friday Favorites…

1. My new Lilly Pulitzer planner. I am ALL about writing out my schedule/to dos/goals by hand, and I just got a new August 2017-December 2018 planner. There is nothing I love more than starting fresh in a new planner, and this one has the cutest graphics and stickers!! You can get one here.

2. Going along with my new planner… my new Huhuhero pens! My sis recommended these to me and they write so beautifully and don’t bleed through the page. Perfect for my new planner 🙂 . You can get them here.

3. My Madewell arrowstack necklace. I probably wear this necklace twice a week on average – it goes with everything and adds a little spice to a simple outfit. I’m even wearing it as I type this 😉 .You can get it here (I don’t think they sell the rose color anymore).

4. Minted.com. We ordered our save the dates, made our website, and will be ordering our invitations from minted.com. This website has lots of amazing designs and it’s easy to customize! Plus, it isn’t too pricey.

5. SQUASH! I’ve been eating tons of squash lately (spaghetti and butternut this week) and I am loving it. It’s so easy to prepare and it’s a great substitute for pasta. I shared my spaghetti squash recipe here – make it, it’s so easy and delicious!

---

Let’s take it back to my day yesterday. I woke up around 7:00 and headed to my favorite Flywheel spin class! And Frankie joined me 🙂 . I was SO close to breaking my “total power” PR but I didn’t quite make it. Oh well, it was still an amazing workout!

I took a quick shower at the studio and then headed to work. I had a Starbucks coffee and maple brown sugar oatmeal.

Lunch was another salad with baby spinach, baby carrots, cherry tomatoes, and a light balsamic. I also had a lowfat vanilla yogurt 😛 .

I got out for a short walk/podcast listening session after lunch (I’m catching up on “Off the Vine”). I spent the rest of the afternoon working and snacking on this amazing Questie – Mocha Chocolate Chip. I wished I had eaten this for breakfast instead and dunked it in my coffee.

I also sipped on this pomegranate bai. Soo tasty.

I left the office around 5:30 and met my mom and sister at one of my fav sushi restaurants for dinner. I got a miso soup, cucumber roll, and avocado roll.

And then the three of us walked to the Boston Opera House to meet my godfather and see the musical “Fun Home”! It was about a girl’s upbringing and her relationship with her dad and finding her sexuality. But that description definitely doesn’t do it justice… it was SO good!!!

My mom drove my sister and me home after the show – I got home, brushed my teeth, and passed out. It was an amazing Thursday! And I was able to stick to all of my goals again. Day four and counting!

Frankie’s parents (my future in-laws) are visiting us this weekend and arriving today. It will be nice to spend some time with them and celebrate our engagement! I hope you guys have an amazing Friday and start to your weekend.

Do you like going to musicals? Which one is your favorite? My mom and sister are much bigger musical fans than I am, but I enjoy the occasional show.

Tell me one or two of your Friday Favorites!!

❤ Marina

 

My Current Fav Cardio Songs 🎶🎶

Happy Thursday guys!! Almost to the weekend 😉 .

I woke up at 6:30 am yesterday and headed to the gym. I did an hour-long hill climb program on the elliptical while listening to some of my fav workout tunes.

Here are a few of the songs I’ve been loving lately for cardio!

1. House Work – Jax Jones, Mike Dunn, MNEK
2. Good Thing – Tritonal, Laurell
3. Stargazing – Kygo, Justin Jesso
4. Come My Way – Tep No Remix – Kiki Rowe, Khalil, Tep No
5. Particula – Major Lazer, DJ Maphorisa, Nasty_C, Ice Prince, Patoranking, Jidenna
6. Younger Now – Syn Cole Remix – Miley Cyrus, Syn Cole
7. Real Life – Duke Dumont, Gorgon City, NAATIONS
8. Late Night – ODESZA
9. I Like Your Booty – Shiba San
10. It’s Not Right, but It’s Okay – No Way Back

After my workout I took a quick shower at the gym and then headed to work. I had the same breakfast I’ve been loving all week – a grande Starbucks Blonde roast with a little almond milk and maple brown sugar oats!

For lunch I had a salad with baby spinach, baby carrots, cherry tomatoes, and a light balsamic dressing. I also had a fat free blueberry yogurt (they had a bunch of these at my office and they’re pretty good (but I prefer Greek yogurt)), and a Jazz apple!

And around 4:00 I got hungry again, so I had a Dark Raspberry Truffle No Cow Bar. The day seriously flew because I ended up getting pulled into so many meetings… I’m excited for fewer meetings today so I can really focus on my work!

I didn’t have any plans for the evening, so I signed up for a 45-minute pilates yoga fusion class. The first half of the class was traditional pilates, and the second half was vinyasa yoga. It was at my favorite beautiful studio and it was the perfect way to end my busy workday.

The sun was just setting when I left class, and I decided to walk home because it was a beautiful night. When I got home, I cooked up some dinz: a nourish bowl with Sriracha tofu, chopped cauliflower, green chickpeas, and a curry sauce. Mmmmm mmmm (this photo definitely doesn’t do it justice).

Then Frankie and I watched Tuesday’s ep of “This is Us”. It was sooo good but I really want more to happen in every episode. I guess I’m just impatient 🙂 .

Yet another healthy day where I stuck to my goals. That’s three days in a row, baby! I plan to keep up the momentum today and into the weekend!! Hope you guys have the best Thursday.

What are one or two of your current fav workout songs? Please share!!

Do you like tofu? What’s your favorite non-animal protein?

❤ Marina

HALLOWEENTOWN and a 4:00 am Wake Up?!

Hi friends! Happy hump day! This week is sure speeding by for me.

I woke up at 4:00 am yesterday because Frankie had an early flight to Chicago for work… but LUCKILY I was able to go back to sleep for another couple of hours. I woke up again around 6:30 and headed to my sisters spin class! The theme was “One Direction, Odesza, and Oliver Heldens” – so much fun and such a great way to start my day.

After class I took the subway to work, picked up Starbucks, and drank my coffee and ate maple brown sugar oats for brekkie.

I had a meeting-filled morning, and then it was lunchtime. I had a salad with baby spinach, baby carrots, half of a tomato from my dad’s garden (so good!), and a light balsamic dressing. I also had a low-fat vanilla yogurt and a Jazz apple.

I powered through work for the rest of the afternoon, and snacked on a Double Chocolate Chunk Quest Bar.

And then I took my company’s yoga class at 4:00! I was definitely needing some stretching; I haven’t been doing as much yoga as usual so I gotta get back to my happy place of 2-3 yoga classes a week.

I stopped by the grocery store on my way home to pick up some produce, and when I got back I sipped on a GT’s Synergy booch.

And cooked up dinner: a giant sweet potato with Brussels sprouts and red onion. It was so delicious and super filling!

After eating, I lit my “Sweater Weather” candle and watched “Halloweentown”. Yup… fully taking advantage of Frankie being away 😉 (he came home at midnight).

Yesterday was another super healthy day! I stuck to all of my goals again woohoo 🙂 . I’m adding one more goal to my list: Get 7-8 hours of sleep a night. I completed this both Monday and Tuesday!

Hump day let’s go! I hope you guys have a great day, and I’ll see you tomorrow.

How many hours of sleep do you typically get a night? Do you wish you could get more?

What’s your favorite Halloween-ish movie?! Mine is def “Hotel Transylvania” and I’ve seen both movies way too many times…

❤ Marina

Checking Boxes and Crushing Goals, Monday Style

Hi! Happy Tuesday! I hope you’re having a smooth start to your week.

I woke up yesterday morning and headed to the gym. It was certainly a struggle to get out of bed (like it always is for me on Mondays), but I forced myself to get up. I did 60 minutes on the ArcTrainer, stretched, showered, and was off to work.

For breakfast I had a grande Starbucks Blonde roast with a little almond milk and a bowl of maple brown sugar oatmeal.

Lunch was a salad with baby spinach, baby carrots, half of a tomato from my dad’s garden, light balsamic, and a pumpkin Greek yogurt! Best. Yogurt. Ever.

After lunch I went on a half hour walk! And the rest of the workday flew. Luckily I don’t have too many meetings this week, so I can work on crossing off items on my to do list and get some actual designing and report-writing done! Before I knew it it was 5:00 pm so I snacked on an Apple Pie Quest Bar and then left the office.

I got home, changed, and then walked to meet one of my best friends for a 305 Fitness class! I’ve talked about this class before, but it’s basically just a big dance party in a dark room with disco lights. And it’s a sweat-dripping, heart-pumping workout. What could be better?!?

I was starving by the time I got home, so I sipped on a Pink Lady Apple Health-Ade kombucha and started cooking dinner.

I made a quick, simple, carb-filled dinner: butternut squash “zigzags”, broccoli, cauliflower, and Sriracha.

After din I took a shower, put on a face mask, did some laundry, and had some quality couch time with Frankie. We watched “Shark Tank” and went to bed nice and early.

So I had a super healthy day yesterday and was able to stick to my goals!

✅ I exactly followed my food plan for the day.
✅ I did TWO workouts and pushed myself during both.
✅ I drank 12 cups of water (3 were tea, 2 were kombucha 😉 ).
✅ I walked 10,716 iPhone steps.
✅ And I stayed super positive!

I’m ready to crush the rest of this week and start feeling like my healthy self again 🙂 . I hope you guys have a terrific Tuesday, and I’ll see you in the am!

How many cups of water do you try to drink each day? Do you drink it in other forms (tea, seltzer, fruit-infused), or just straight up water?

What was your Monday workout?!

❤ Marina

NEW WEEK NEW ME!

Happy Monday guys! I don’t know about you but I am SO ready for a new week/fresh start. Last week was long, unhealthy, and stressful. I am definitely ready to crush some new goals, which I’ll talk about at the end of this post.

Fletcher woke me up bright and early yesterday so I fed him and took him on a walk around the neighborhood. By the time we got back, Frankie was just waking up, so we chilled for a bit then headed to a 60-minute spin class at a studio near my mom’s house. It was SO much fun and the playlist was incredible.

We picked up some Dunkin pumpkin coffees after class.

And then we stopped by my dad’s house (my parents are divorced so he lives in the town next to my mom, where I grew up). He was out of town so he wanted me to pick his ripe tomatoes 🙂 .

Took these babies home for salads this week!

Then we picked up Fletcher and took him to a nearby baseball field for some fetch. He is a strange golden retriever – he doesn’t really “retrieve”. Rather, he’ll go get the ball and then try his hardest to make sure you can’t get it back.

He’ll also just sit there trying with all his might to tear up the ball.

After he was tuckered out, we drove home, took showers, and had breakfast. I had a bowl of GOLEAN cereal with almond milk, heated up in the microwave for 30 seconds 🙂 .

And soon after I had a Black Cherry Chobani with a banana.

We spent the afternoon watching “Friends” and wedding planning. We took a break to grab some pumpkin spice coffee from Bruegger’s (so good)…

…and to get a car wash. Who knew car washes are $20 now?!? (And please excuse our dusty dashboard.)

When we got home I snacked on a Fudge Graham Zone Bar.

And I had too many handfuls of banana chips, pistachios, cashew clusters, and spoonfuls of Justin’s maple almond butter. My mom always has the best snacks and I definitely snacked way too much throughout the weekend 😦 .

For dinner we picked up B.GOOD. I got their Spicy Avocado & Lime bowl with kale, sautéed veggies, avocado, black bean and corn salsa, grape tomato, queso fresco, lime, cilantro, chipotle puree, red pepper vinaigrette. We also got some sweet potato fries.

It was so good and filling, but of course I had to top off my day of nonstop eating with a Chipwich when I got back to my apartment…

Ugh. I was in the “it’s Sunday, I don’t have anything to do besides eat” mindset. Not good. So instead of moping around, regretting yesterday’s (and pretty much this entire past week’s) decisions, I am making a plan to get out of this unhealthy streak. Here are my fitness goals for this week:

1. Plan my food for each day the night before, and STICK TO THE PLAN! (This is a new thing I’m going to try to avoid mindlessly snacking and overeating!)
2. Exercise at least six days this week, and push myself during workouts.
3. Drink at least 12 cups of water each day.
4. Walk at least 10,000 iPhone steps each day.
5. Keep a positive mindset and take one day at a time!

Can’t wait for a new week and a fresh start! Ready to detox and crush these goals and feel amazing come next Monday. Hope you guys have a great day!

For those of you with a dog – does he/she actually play fetch?

Tell me one or two of your goals for the week!

❤ Marina

A Quiet, Cozy Saturday with the BEST Spaghetti Squash Recipe

Hey friends! Happy happy Sunday!

Frankie and I have been enjoying our weekend dog-sitting at my mom’s house in the suburbs. It’s been so relaxing and we’ve been doing some major wedding planning 🙂 .

We woke up at 6:30 yesterday morning, packed up the car, and headed to my mom’s. We picked up some pumpkin Dunkin coffees on our way.

When we arrived we hung out with the pooch, Fletcher, took him on an walk, and spent the next couple of hours addressing our save the dates! I had some GOLEAN cereal with almond milk for breakfast.

When we needed a break from writing addresses and putting on stamps, we went to the local Saturday farmer’s market. We picked up some pumpkin spice soy lattes from a nearby cafe.

And we split this amazing vegetable hummus wrap.

Fletcher was super hyper when we got back to the house, so we took him to a nearby baseball field and played fetch and ran around with him for a while. He was pooped by the time we left.

We spent the rest of the afternoon hanging out, snacking on my mom’s amazing snack collection (I ate way too many banana chips), and doing more wedding stuff.

We wanted a squash-related meal for dinner, so we decided to make spaghetti squash. We cooked it in the microwave while preparing the rest of the recipe: sautéing minced garlic, red pepper flakes, and broccoli florets. When the squash was done, we scooped out the insides and mixed that in a big bowl with the broccoli, and added lots of spices and some parmesan cheese. We put all of that back into the squash “shells”, added some fresh, grated mozzarella on top, and broiled that until the cheese started turning brown. IT WAS SO YUMMY and so easy!

My bowl:

We went to bed pretty early, since this one was pooped as soon as the sun went down 😉 .

I hope you guys have the best, most relaxing, healthiest Sunday! I’m off to a nearby 60-minute spin class this morning to kick off my Sunday. I’m planning on using today to kickstart a healthy week by only eating clean foods only when I’m hungry (no snacking)!!

Do you like spaghetti squash? How do you usually prepare it?

What’s your Sunday night dinner plan?

❤ Marina