Birthday Post!

First of all, Happy Mother's Day to all the moms out there and Happy Birthday to me! Now on to business as usual.

Hey friends. Sorry about not posting yesterday. It was moving day for my sister which turned into a very long day for me. Let's do a quick recap and then we'll move on.

I got picked up at 8:00 a.m., we drove from Grand Rapids to East Lansing (during which time I discovered that I'd forgotten my cell phone), picked up a UHaul, which I drove to my sister's apartment. Then we moved all of her shit from the second floor into the UHaul. My mom arrived to help with the last bit and then we drove an hour and a half to Kalamazoo, spent forever getting her lease signed, and then moved all of her shit up to the third floor. It was the worst. After A BAJILLION stairs and tons of sweat, my mom and I headed to Grand Rapids at 5:15. We arrived shortly after 6, I showered, we headed to get her a new phone for Mother's Day (which didn't pan out), then grabbed dinner and started our journey back to Midland (a twoish hour drive). After 40 minutes of driving, my mom realized the garage door opener was in her car, so we turned around to go back to Grand Rapids and finally made it home at 12:15 a.m. Then we drove back to Grand Rapids nice and early so she could pick up her van and drive back to Midland. If we had timed things a little better so my mom could leave before dark (she doesn't like driving alone nor does she like driving in the dark), the day could have been considerably shorter. But man, oh man, did I get a workout yesterday.

Today, some of my med school friends who were still in town (most fled for Mother's day) had a nice breakfast brunch for me!

Breakfast brunch homemade with love

There pancakes in the center were egg nog pancakes that they made with this amazing egg nog from the holidays that they saved and froze. SO GOOD. Here's the recipe that they let me steal:

Egg nog pancakes - SO GOOD

There was also cake afterwards. It was a vanilla cake with caramel frosting that was pretty delish. I was a big fan. Plus, it was nice just hanging out.

Afterwards, I caught up on phone calls and messages, watched Jimmy Fallon from Friday (I watch him every day on Hulu), and then my friends from middle school, Jenna and Allyson, made their way over to Grand Rapids to go to dinner with me. I didn't snap photos of the appetizers we got, but we went to Kitchen 67, a restaurant that was new to me and pretty awesome. I got the chicken avocado bacon burger.

Noms

I would have liked a cheese slice rather than the cheese sauce (made with beer), but I liked the rest of the burger and the fries were well seasoned.

After dinner, we came back here, ate some more cake from this morning (which I then pawned off on my neighbors so I wouldn't gobble the rest up myself), and they headed home while I headed to meijer to do a super fast trip for the things I would need for the rest of the week (mainly, eggs - I've been out since Thursday). Now I'm updating you and then I'm going to pass out - I'm exhausted.

Positive thing for the day: Getting to talk to all of my friends who called or sent texts - I really loved being able to reconnect with some folks that I haven't talked to in a while.

Other photos from the last two days:

Birthday dinner from last night with my Mom: green beans, garlic mashed potatoes, and steak and shrimp with saffron cream sauce - SO GOOD

Probably my favorite birthday card I've ever received - I'm kinda the potty mouthed one of all my friends ;-)

First layer of fruit for Saturday = blueberries

Second layer of fruit for Saturday = grapes

Carb loading for moving (one of those slices of banana bread was for my sister)

Lunch at 3 p.m. - I ate the whole damn thing - I was starving

My ride for the day and my sister's new apartment complex

This morning's breakfast at home in Midland

Thanks for not berating me for missing a post yesterday. Catch you tomorrow!

Bowl of balls

I can't tell you how excited I was to be able to use that as my post title. Well, actually, I can. I was pretty damn excited. I probably shouldn't be a doctor...I'm very immature.

Anywho, I actually got up and went to the gym today like I told you I would. Go me! I just did 45 minutes on the elliptical. It was hard work, but I had my kindle to keep me company. My back wasn't too bad on the elliptical and my pain isn't as severe as yesterday (I don't look nearly as awkward when I'm walking today), but I'm glad I didn't try to do any strength training. If my back is feeling even better tomorrow, I'll probably lift some weights since the only thing that still hurts is my chest.

After the gym, it started snowing. Like a lot. Like snowstorm. So, I opted out of going to Panera today. But I was still good with my eating and semi-good with my productivity. I'm taking a break from watching lectures right now to tell you how productive I am...I'm pretty sure I just disproved my own point.

Anywho, here are my meals for today (and the motivation for today's post title):

Good, hearty breakfast for only 370 calories

Bowl o' turkey meatballs/bowl of balls

With marinara, my current obsession

Pancakes made from scratch for dinner - I got the recipe from SparkPeople - they were delightfully fluffy

Kinda overcooked the first two, so I opted to toss them and make another set

Much better the second time around

Tomorrow I have class from 8-10 a.m. and again from 3-5 p.m. so I'm going to drive to school so I can hit the gym right after my morning class and get a tiny bit of studying in before the second school trip. After school, I'm going to head to the mall to check out the iPhone 5 (my mother is graciously giving me her upgrade so I may be making the switch from Android to the iPhone if I like it after checking it out), and then I'm going to hit up Panera to do some studying until 9/9:30ish at which time I will go grocery shopping and begin working on making brownies in a mason jar to send to Uganda for Nasur and his roommates. 

Why am I going to send him brownies you ask? Because when I was there, it was Cathy's birthday (she was one of the little girls I lived with and she turned 11) and we had a birthday cake. Birthday cakes are ridiculously expensive there (like it costs 20,000 shillings for a birthday cake - that's equivalent to spending one night in a hotel). So, being that it was so expensive, I was pretty pumped to try it out. The verdict? Most disgusting cake I've ever eaten and I've eaten a lot of cake in my day. It was super dry and the "frosting" was rock solid. So, I told Nasur baked goods were much better in the U.S. So, I'm going to send him (and his friends) brownies in a mason jar. Apparently they won't spoil this way.

I'll keep you updated on how that works out. 

Achievement!

Entries this week are going to have to be short and sweet - I've got a big exam next Monday and I really don't want to fail. That being said, I'm sure most people don't have a goal to achieve failure. Anywho, I digress.

Today was a weigh-in and I have good news (finally!) for you and well, me.

Last week, I was at 226.4. So, for those of you are mathematically challenged, that's a 7.2 pound loss in a week! Woot, woot. Now if I could just keep losing 7 pounds a week. But, I doubt that. Last week was the first week that I really pushed myself to commit to a more rigorous gym schedule. I'm running a 5k three days a week and doing strength training on the days in-between. Next week's weigh-in goal is a 5 pound loss - shooting for 214.2.

Here are some photos from yesterday and today. Hope you're all having a good end to your Mondays. I know my Monday was fantastic - logged 12 hours at school. Boooooo...

Sunday morning breakfast: whole wheat pancakes!

Look what I found in my cupboard - it was fate!

Proof that I don't always suck at flipping pancakes

Bailey's attention is piqued while I make pancakes

This is his artsy look

Breakfast of champions

Post-workout protein

Lean cuisine for lunch

Another attempt at stir fry - I really need to find a marinade/recipe I like 

Small plate for dinner since my stomach was still be funky

Breakfast today

Ran to the kitchen when I got home to prep everything for tomorrow