I want muscles!

Today started out awesome. Wanna know why? Do you reeeeeally wanna know why? Do you really reeeeally wanna know why? Okay, okay. I'll tell you. Yeesh. Calm down. It's because this morning I had an optometrist's appointment at 9:30. Not as awesome as you expected? Oh, it gets better. I slept in until 6:20 because of the appointment. And I still went to the gym even though I really didn't want to. I call that a win all around. Sleeping in, great workout, and no need to rush to get ready. Woot!

When I got home from the gym, I made my awesome protein shake because I want muscles. I'm told (by Mark, so it's legit) that you're supposed to have protein within 45 minutes of your workout to help bulk up your muscles. And since I want muscles, I drink protein concoctions. This morning, I mixed some vanilla almond milk with the new protein I got at Whole Foods this weekend. It's got a lot less of that extra junk in there that you really just don't need.

I blended it up in my $5 blender (I got it at Salvation Army this summer) with about 4 ice cubes and it was awesome. Yeah, I'm pretty pumped about my protein! [<---- Did you catch that pun there? Hilarity ensues!]

Anywho, I also had my typical breakfast, but I added some grapes because I didn't know how much longer they would last.

When I got to work after my appointment, I didn't have a whole lot to do, which makes me glad that I didn't go to work before my optometrist's appointment to try to accomplish something. I took my sweet old time doing the things I did need to do, and then Sheli and I decided to go to lunch and bitch about Carrie, who has been getting on our nerves a lot as of late. We went to Big Apple Bagels, but instead of getting my favorite sandwich ever (which probably hovers around 700-800 calories), I decided to keep it a bit healthier and just had a turkey, tomato, and lettuce sandwich on an everything bagel for a total of 465 calories.

After lunch, I did some more "work." Mostly I crunched some data and listened to Pandora on my phone, but work was accomplished. And then I was off to the grocery store to buy some more baby (mmm...babies!) spinach for what was the best salad ever! I made some shrimp to put in it to add some protein and then added some cheese, tomatoes, and almond slices. And now that we're on the subject of nuts (great transition, eh?), I must say that I used to add croutons to my salad pretty much every time. But croutons are really not that good for you. So, I decided to add almonds so I could enjoy some crunchiness and healthier fats.

I only used half of this in my salad, don't worry

My awesome cheese, kerrygold killaree Irish Cheese

Best salad dressing EVER

So much deliciousness. Now if you're observant, you noticed that I make my salads in tupperware containers. The reason for this is two-fold: 1.) I only own small bowls and I like big salads and 2.) I can put a lid on it and shake it up. Cue Metro Station's song "Shake It," which is also good to sing when shaking a separatory funnel in lab...I digress. Here's a picture:

 Dessert today was the amazing strawberries I prepped yesterday. Sooo good!

After dinner I watched an episode of 30 Rock. I wanted to watch another one seven, but alas! I had to get to medical terminology, a super exciting class. Look, here's a picture of me excited at the prospect of learning!

Yeah, I don't think I can get any more excited than that. Tonight I did my presentation on osteoarthritis. Ironic that I had that topic as I have osteoarthritis in my knees, but such is fate. After class, I came home and cleaned my bathroom which was probably just as exciting as class was tonight. I really hope you guys can pick up on my sarcasm...

What do you like on your salads? Anything that you must have?

How do you get poonch-key from paczki?

This morning was my knee doctor's appointment, which I purposely scheduled at 9:00 a.m. so I could sleep in. They had earlier appointments, but I wouldn't have an excuse to sleep in, so that just wouldn't do. However, Bailey has a personal vendetta against rested Danika, and thus, he came in at 6:51 and meowed non-stop for about 3 minutes. Worst. Cat. Ever. In retaliation, I ignored him and laid in my bed doing nothing for an hour.


Once I was up, I had my bagel and added a banana this morning because they were finally ripe! My freshman roommate liked her bananas green. Um, that's not when they're ready for eating. They're ready for eating when they are spotted. Yum!


After breakfast, I went to my knee appointment, and the doctor and i talked about a few more options for pain management. I had new x-rays done and we talked about how much the damage has progressed over the last two years. For some background, I've got a couple things wrong with my knees: they're aligned incorrectly (formally known as patella femoral syndrome), I have inherited osteoarthritis in my knees from my mom and her side of the family, and I have bone spurs forming since my cartilage is slowly disappearing. All in all, it makes for knees that are constantly inflamed and uncomfortable. And it means that I can't do many high-impact things unless I want to suffer for it, i.e. running, jumping, etc. Anyway, I'm going to get some custom-made braces to help hold my kneecap in place, and if that doesn't work, I'll have injections of synthetic cartilage in my knee to decrease the inflammation and pain (the drug's called synvisc). We'll see.


After my appointment, I dragged my butt to work only to do more monotonous tasks groundbreaking research. Fortunately, I had a lovely Indian lunch to look forward to with Danny.

 

We both had two plates of delicious food and I documented it accordingly. Danny was a bit embarrassed at my constant picture taking, but the flash didn't go off so I doubt anyone even noticed.

 

After lunch, I went back to work and discovered the 5 gallon blend I made was completely wrong (not my fault - it was mixed up in the system), and that I have to start all over tomorrow. But, the afternoon wasn't all that bad because Sheli and I used work time to go on a quest for paczkis! We had to make two stops before we finally bought a 6-pack at Kroger. We both had two, and I made Sheli take the other two home because otherwise I would've eaten the other two tonight. But, since I was super full from lunch and my paczki overload, I decided to go grocery shopping (grocery shopping when hungry = baaaaad idea). Nothing super exciting to report, but meijer finally had dark chocolate almond milk! The original's okay, the vanilla's better, but the dark chocolate almond milk is amazing! I'm going to have to limit myself to one serving a day because I could probably drink the entire half-gallon in one sitting. 

Now onto the subject you're probably most interested about: what I'm giving up for my 40-day diet Lent. I've decided to give up gym-free mornings and drive-thru food. This is going to be rough, but I figure if I can do it for 40 days, then I could do it everyday. When I'm in Ann Arbor this weekend and East Lansing next week, I'm probably going to have to do an evening/afternoon workout, but those should will be the only days I miss.

What are you giving up for Lent? Did you have any paczkis today? What's your favorite flavor?