Wow it was a busy day today! All good but busy. I’m really loving familarizing myself with the blogging world and I have all these ideas and updates I want to make to the site, but wow is it time consuming. The thing is that I’m loving spending my time with it, perhaps too much time, and unfortunately I must forces myself away to study at some point and I seem to be struggling with that.

Wasn’t especially hungry this morning so I just whipped up a mocha protein shake. And brought my standard Protein Pancakes for snacks and leftover Coho Salmon and Spinach bar for lunch.

When I got home from work today I found this on my doorstep

Aren't they beautiful?! The possibilities are endless

Don’t think I’ve mentioned it yet, but Hi my name is Alyson and I’m a coffee-aholic. Last school year I was drinking at least one Starbucks latte a day. My drink of choice was a triple grande soy sugar-free cinnamon dolce soy latte. Nutrition-wise it wasn’t that bad for a standard diet, coming in around 170 cal, 4.5F, 24C (17 sugar), 9P. But sadly those were cut out of my diet in July. Actually I think I may have been threatened by my trainer with physical harm if I continued to drink them with such regularity. BUT what I am allowed and drink excessively is regular drip coffee. In order to spice it up I had sugar-free, carb-free flavor syrups and sometimes a little Unsweetened Almond Breeze. Coffee is wonderful for a cutting diet. Hot beverages really help to fill me up and keep me warm (I am cold most of the time!). Most coffee shops only have the standard Vanilla, Hazelnut, Caramel flavors, but I wanted to be able to create my own awesome holiday beverages so I ordered directly from DaVinci Gourmet. The amazing flavors I got: Butterscotch, Peppermint Patty, Cookie Dough, Egg Nog, Peanut Butter, Toasted Marshmallow, Praline, Coconut, Pumpkin Pie & White Chocolate. I’m excited to try them all!

I also got notification that my MixMyGranola order was sent! Placing this was a bit pre-mature being that I can’t eat granola at the moment but I couldn’t pass up the Halloween mix. So I made the order and am going to have to have my roommate hide it from me till post-competition. I realize this sounds completely ridiculous, but I LOVE LOVE granola and I don’t trust myself during one of my hungry moments. Expect a ‘Things I Look Forward to Post-Comp’ post in the near future. As I tweeted to Oh She Glow‘s @globakery, I can’t wait to try Glo Bars come December. So many delightful things to look forward to. But don’t get me wrong, loving how I look & feel right now too!

Workout: Made me smile

Had a late workout today in order to miss the gym rush, but it was a good one! Worked shoulders & back then did intervals on the treadmill & elliptical for 30 min and steady state on the treadmill for 15 min. It’s funny what compliments really hit home.. While I was resting between lat raise sets, an elderly woman who was at least in late-70s said to me “you really have a lovely figure.” I thanked her and we chatted briefly. I should mention at the time she made this comment she was resting in between chest press sets. At pushing-80 years old this woman is in the gym using weight machines next to these gigantic muscle head guys. A compliment from her meant so much more to me than an being hit-on compliment I’ve ever received… It really made me smile.

Ohh tonight I made an unexpected fabulous food discovery..

Coconut Protein Cookie

Updates:

- I added pics to About Me,  content to the Fun & Faves section and my Pumpkin Souffle Recipe that I submitted for Megan’s Breast Cancer Fundraiser

Lastly, here are a couple pics for Operation Beautiful

How have you or what are your tips for balancing your blogging with other aspects of your life?

Related posts:

1. My Favorite Day of the Week = Carb Day!
2. All Spun