Tonight I spent roughly $20 doing 4 loads of laundry at the apartment. $20. Not kidding. I’m convinced this laundry cost had to somehow be an oversight on the landlord’s part… yet the price hasn’t gone down in well over a year.

Wash and Fold has to be cheaper than this.

Then I cried during an ASPCA commercial. You know which one I’m talking about. That commercial.

Source

Heart. Wrenching. I started blubbering worse than Lindsay Lohan in court when she realized the judge actually didn’t find her F-You nail decals humorous and she was headed to the big house.

Dinner

Since we were busy spending our life savings doing laundry tonight, we didn’t get a chance to go grocery shopping just yet so dinner was a mish-mash of what we had left in the fridge.

Enter the Smorgasbowl!

While I folded and put away laundry, boyfriend whipped up a delicious feast.

He’s a really creative cook and I love seeing what he comes up with. I’m getting better, but for now we’ll just say I’m really good at following a recipe. And washing dishes.

In the bowl:

• Pulled Rotisserie Chicken
• Chopped Turkey Bacon
• Brown Rice
• Spinach
• Red Onion
• Parmesan cheese
• Balsamic Vinegar
• Splash of red wine

Which commercial/movie/music video gets the water works flowing for you?

The ASPCA commercials… forget it. I am a goner. I’ll spare you the gory details of what happened when boyfriend and I saw Marley and Me but the words “blubbering” “sobbing” and “bawling” come to mind. And yes, this was in a theater. I also refuse to ever watch Stepmom again. It’s pretty typical for me to cry during Biggest Loser, Grey’s Anatomy and Extreme Makeover Home Edition. Basically we’ll just accept the fact that I’m an emotional basketcase when it comes to these topics/shows.

Monday is now officially over and we are all that much closer to a long holiday weekend!

Workout

Since we all know I have the work-out attention span of a 5-year old, and just doing pilates really doesn’t cut it for my mental sanity (I work out for equal parts physical and mental benefits – its amazing how much better and less stressed out you feel after a long day at work!)

My run looked like this:

0-2 @ 4.0

2-3  @ 6.0

3-23 20 seconds at 9.0-9.5, 40 seconds 6.0

23-? cool down.

It’s so hard to be precise on a treadmill I just left the speed wherever it stopped above 9.0. After my 20 minutes of intervals, I walked for a mile to cool down before high-tailing it out of there.

It was a HARD run. After about 10 minutes, I found myself having to tell myself “just 9 more… just 8 more…” to keep myself going. I was tired and it was hard to push myself to sprint that fast, even if it was only for 20 seconds. I felt amazing when I was finished and so glad I pushed through.

Just goes to show that running is just as much mental stamina as is it physical! Talk yourself into it!

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I’m currently watching “The Best Thing I Ever Ate” on the Food Network (we’ll ignore the fact that my mouth is WATERING for a bacon cheeseburger. Yes, really. It’s all I currently want in life) and it has a bunch of Food Network chefs talking about their all-time favorite burger from places all over the country.

One of my favorite Food Network chefs has Bay Area roots – Tyler Florcnce.

I may or may not have attended a cookbook signing at Williams Sonoma and asked for a picture. I also may or may not have purchased 3 cookbooks – 2 as gifts, 1 for my selfish little paws.

Tyler’s pick was Pearl’s Phat Burger -which is conveniently located right by his shop in Mill Valley, CA.

It says they have an SF location, but I will be taking Tyler’s advice and hitting up the Mill Valley location – you just never know. When it comes to cheeseburgers, I have very discerning taste buds. 

His go-to is the 8 oz Deluxe Burger 80/20 ground beef, seared on both sides with 3 slices of thick bacon, lettuce, tomato, onion, mayo and sharp cheddar.

Rather than asking for your burger rare, I think you should adopt Tyler’s slang and ask that it “tip-toes across the grill”.

Then they’ll know you’re not an amateur.

When a burger is described as “Perfection between two sesame seed loveliness.” And that “Someone sound the alarm because there’s an avalanche of cheese coming out of here” I don’t ask questions. I just eat the darn cheeseburger.

My favorite burger as of late from Barney’s Gourmet Burgers -

Barney’s Classic Burger

Natural Niman Ranch ground chuck, flame-broiled. Served with melted Cheddar Cheese, fresh red onion and lettuce (hold the tomatoes please)

I have yet to find a burger more delicious… but I promise you I will give it a hell of a try.

Time to cook dinner… we’re thinking a smorgasboard of what’s left in the fridge since laundry beat out grocery shopping tonight.

What’s the best burger (or veggie burger!) you ever ate?

Great news everyone – Monday is 1/2 way over!

In my efforts to make the work day go by as quickly as possible I went to my new favorite Mat Pilates class at the gym during my lunch hour.

I walked in with a little spring in my step.

Oh yeah, third class. My abs are definitely stronger than last week. I’ll probably even be able to straighten my legs during teaser. I should probably sit in the front row.

No, no they are not. I thought my abs muscles were going to stop supporting me altogether. And sitting in the front row only allows you to see the grimacing facial expressions you’re making in the mirror that much clearer.

Source

Expect a LOT of this. Please ignore the amazing mid-90′s ponytail we have here. Google you aren’t giving me much to work with.

I am really into Pilates (yes after 3 classes) for 3 reasons:

• It works your core – core strength is necessary for just about any other form of exercise you do – running, biking, swimming, everything. A strong core makes everything easier, and allows you to go harder, longer. (Yes I giggled when I wrote that, don’t think for one second I didn’t.)

“Think of (your body) as a tree, Pilates experts say. Does it have all its strength in its limbs? No. The tree is only as strong as its trunk and roots. Without a strong trunk, the tree would topple over.

It’s the same for human bodies, say Pilates experts. If we don’t concentrate on building a good foundation and a strong trunk or core, we’ll end up tight in some places and weak in others” Source

• It conditions the entire body- I left today with sore arms, legs, booty and abs

• It’s low impact – as long as you’re listening to your body (how far you can/can’t push it). Pilates is for the most part done sitting down, and laying down on your back or stomach so it’s only partially weight-bearing. It’s so safe it’s used as Physical Therapy Source

I somehow survived the class (and my abs didn’t give out on me, which was an added bonus) and left the class with only 1 thing on my mind.

I was more parched than hungry leaving the class so I finally got what I’ve been salivating over for so long.

The Chocolate PB Bomb

Yes I may or may not have inhaled half of it on my walk back from the gym. It was AMAZING.

Like drinking a Chocolate, Peanut Butter milkshake… only healthy and actually good for you!

It was rich, creamy, chocolate-peanut buttery goodness. Why I ever went for the Ultimate Crap Green is beyond me.

It would be SO easy to recreate this at home for a snack, breakfast, whatever. They literally used Whole Foods Organic Creamy PB, Chocolate Protein Powder (and then tried to sell me some- noooo thank you sir), organic bananas, soymilk, ice.

I think I would go frozen banana, and add in a little agave nectar to really kick it up a notch. I’m thinking that if I added spinach the flavor would be totally disguised but it would add a serving of greens to it too.

Hello Tuesday breakfast project!

What’s your favorite post-workout snack?

I love a good protein smoothie (mainly because I love milkshakes and this is really the only way I could possibly drink at least 1/day. Chocolate milk ties a smoothie for first. Are you sensing a chocolate theme here? Weird.

Happy Monday! Who else is seriously looking forward to a looong weekend and a (maybe) short week? I definitely took Friday off… it was necessary.

The SF summer we all know and love has reared it’s ugly head again.

It’s cloudy, overcast, windy, and COLD outside.

And not to be outdone by the fog by my apartment/sunny financial district weather of last week, I dressed for sun. Fail.

After freezing my booty off walking to the bus (-1 pt for me) but getting one of the last seats (+1!) I turned on my Lady Antebellum Pandora station and accepted the fact that this (weather) is what I signed up for in SF.

Confession: I love country music like LeAnn Rimes loves tweeting bikini pictures of herself and I’m not ashamed to admit it.

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Today started off as usual, a cup o’ joe-

Yes, the reindeer mug is back and I wouldn’t have it any other way. It makes a bad thing (6:30am) a good thing.

After a serious lack of fruits/veggies this weekend a Green Sludge was the way to go this morning:

It was Monday and therefore my laziness is at an extreme high so this smoothie picture is being recycled from last week.

Into the mix went:

• 1.5 C milk
• Scoop of vanilla whey protein powder
• Organic frozen strawberries
• Organic frozen mango
• 2 handfuls organic spinach

As usual it hit the spot and was so delicious. Definitely my favorite week day breakfast.

Even if the blender did want to keel over and die once I loaded it up with all the goodies. If you’d like to donate a Vita-Mix to my cause, just let me know and I’ll let you know where to ship it to I’ll even make you a smoothie every day when I make mine…. bet you’re pretty tempted now, no?

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But the real reason you’ve checked out this post… the winner of the 25th Blog Post Give Away! (such a lame milestone I know, but work with me here… I’m new)

And the winner of the Toss Monogrammed Insulated Lunch tote is….

Sarah! Please send an e-mail with your address to me at runningonhungry@gmail.com and I will send you a PDF to choose your color scheme/design from and get it shipped out to you ASAP!

Just wanted to thank you all for entering the give-away and being so supportive of the blog! I’m having SO much fun with it and it’s really combining all my passions of nutrition, exercise, food, writing and subtle celebrity gossip undertones.

I’m off to get some work done – enjoy your Monday! We’re only 4 days away from a nice long weekend!

What was the best part of your weekend? What’s your favorite Pandora station?

I had a blast celebrating the engagements of 2 amazing couples! My favorite Pandora stations are Lady Antebellum, Jack John (mellllllllow), Kings of Leon, and Glee (you had to have seen this one coming).