Happy Friday! This week, I did something I had been wanting to do for a while….I signed up for Girls on the Run!! I’m super excited. It doesn’t start until September-ish, so I have some time, but it’s such a great program. More info when I get it

Yesterday, I went to a work luncheon. It was hosted at a building on the grounds of the Oakland Zoo! Great spot and it had a beautiful view of the city.

The food was pretty good too- pea soup (actually not very good) and a steak salad (very good)

And the best part? I won the table raffle and got to take the centerpiece home! It’s now sitting in my living room, brightening up the place. Love fresh flowers.

The hosts made it really nice too– much nicer than I was expecting. Fun way to spend the afternoon (as opposed to in front of my desk eating “the usual” for lunch. My lunches are super boring lately!

I’m seriously obsessed with greek yogurt these days though. Check out my fridge. There’s 7 or 8 in ther I totally stocked up….and I don’t even think this will last me a week!

It’s interesting though because for 3 years, I gave up dairy completely (except for ice cream). I gradually started adding it back, but it wasn’t until a few weeks ago that I would eat yogurt (I only ate soy yogurt before). I’m not lactose intolerant, but I was caught in the Skinny Bitch and China Study mantra about how bad dairy is for adults. I still don’t drink dairy milk, but I do eat yogurt, the occasional butter, and ice cream— and I’m still not sure how I feel about it. Cheese isn’t my thing (unless it’s on pizza), so no prob there. I’ll have to do more research…..I felt really great when I was semi-vegan…..but I can’t help loving yogurt lately. Controversy in my head everytime I eat it!! What are your thoughts on dairy?

And lastl thing to tell you– my green smoothie exploded in my blender this morning! I still have absolutely no clue why, but it was a disasterous mess! I still managed to save enough for breakfast, but there was green everywhere! eek!

Happy Friday!

– Do you eat dairy? Why or why not? Besides those who are lactose, what do you think of it health-wise?
– What are you doing this weekend?
– For your job, do you stay mostly in the office or are you “out and about” often? Mine’s 50-50, though lately, I’ve been in the office a ton.

It’s Friday!!! And it’s supposed to be nice weather this weekend- Yeah!

Here are four random Friday things:

1) I started taking Gummi Vitamins….suggested by my doc (she takes gummy kid ones too because she doesn’t like the pill ones either). Ummm, why didn’t I start this ages ago?! It’s like being able to eat gummi bears every single morning. They taste so good, I have a hard time restraining myself from eating just 2 (serving size).

Obviously, they carry much less nutrients than a regular adult multivitamin pill, but I can’t take the regular ones (they make me feel terrible), so taking the kid ones are better than taking nothing.

2) I drink a lot of water. Like a LOT of water every day. I generally carry a HUGE water bottle around all day.

But….Have you heard that they found out that metal water bottles (even the ones that SAY THEY’RE BPA FREE) carry MORE BPAs than regular plastic water bottles? The metal outside is BPA-free, but whatever they line it with inside to keep it clean….is supposedly FULL of BPAs. Sheesh, you really can’t win.

My "old" bottle on the right. My "newer" and smaller bottle on the left

I have no idea if my old metal water bottle was part of the BPA ones, but just in case, I got a new Camelback BPA free bottle. I don’t really think that can fix all the BPA exposure I’ve likely gotten over the last few years, but oh well.

3) Who else is loving the Real Housewives marathons on BRAVO? They are the best thing to watch on the treadmill or elliptical. Bethenny or that Milliondollar real estate show is a close second. Lately, I go to the gym, just as an excuse to indulge my Real Housewives vice. It’s so ridiculous, it glues me to the tv. I can’t believe they all agreed to do another season!

Here I am obviously too enthralled in Danielle and Jacqueline's NJ drama and whether or not "that is like that" to keep up with my workout!

My best friend just bought a house in Franklin Lakes. I’ve put her on Real Housewives sighting watch at the grocery store. She thinks I’m crazy. Haha.

4) I went to an office for a meeting this week, and they had THIS out all the time for their employees!

So awesome, right! I wanted to work there just for the cucumber water.

And besides, then I wouldn’t even have to worry about BPAs!

Happy Friday!

- What shows do you usually watch at the gym? (or would you rather listen to music?)
- What kind of bottle do you drink water in?
- Do they have any neat foodie things at your work? We have granola bars…but that’s about it….
– Do you take a multivitamin??

I talk a lot about my llllloooonng commute to the office. It’s an hour+ each way- blah. The one thing that makes it more bearable though is that I started listening to books on tape cd. The radio and my ipod were getting really monotonous, but the books keep me engrossed.

Recently, I listened to Katie Couric’s The Best Advice I Ever Got: Lessons from Extraordinary Lives. It was sooo good that when it ended, I started over right from the beginning and listened to it twice all the way through.

For the book, Katie interviewed a ton of people– everyone from Mario Batali to Suze Orman, Bill Clinton, and Chelsea Handler. Through the stories of their lives and their journey to success, they all gave the very best advice they were given. And their advice was inspiring!

I think the most interesting thing I took away from it was that every single person interviewed was told at some point in their life that they would fail. They made mistakes and people told them no. But they ALL believed in themselves and their goals and pushed their way through. We all go through those times in our lives and knowing that the road is not easy, but hard work really does come through is such a wonderful lesson!

I liked all their advice so much, that I thought I would share some of it with you. It all sounds a lot better in the context of the story in the book than it does summarized in my post, so read listen to it if you can.

The Best Advice:

• My favorite story was from Kathryn Socket, who wrote the Help. Don’t Give Up. She received 61 REJECTIONS for the Help before it was finally published. She could easily have given up after 15. Or 30. Or even 60. But she didn’t. And because of that, she succeeded.
• There is no success without failure…..and usually a lot of it. So try. Fail. Try again. Fail better.
• Follow your bliss.
• Listen. Really, really listen.
• Always be yourself. There will never be anyone you can be better than that.
• Always say yes. To social invites, trips, new experiences. Saying yes opens you up to opportunities that you never would have expected.
• Dare to be happy. Let yourself be happy.
• Be LUCKY. Luck is a choice. Choose to think of yourself as more luck will follow.
• Find your magic. Figure out what makes you great. And trust me, there’s something in each of us.

My mom with Charlie at my sister's apartment.

The best advice I ever got was from my mom. I tend to be overly dramatic pretty often and get into pessimistic, glass-half-empty moods. One day when I was having “one of those days” when everything seemed to go wrong, I called my mom to commiserate about how terrible “everything” was.

She said to me, “Rebecca, some days are just like that.”

And just like that, I snapped out of it. ‘Cause you know what? She was right. Some days things don’t always go perfectly. Some days are harder than others. But that doesn’t mean that ALL days are like that. Or that my LIFE is like that. It’s just this day. And tomorrow will be better.

It still sticks with me whenever I get in those moods. I know that advice won’t resonate with everyone, but it’s what helps me.

I loved hearing everyone’s stories and it was so inspiring. I don’t think you have to be a celebrity to have good advice like that– I think we all are full of great advice.

So you tell me,

–What’s the best advice you’ve ever got?
–Who do you count on to give you good advice?

Holy almond moly.  Have you tried Katie’s almond milk ice cream yet?  That girl is seriously a genius.

This is the simplest, low-calorie way to eat delicious ice cream!

As you can probably guess from the poorly-lit photos, I made it last night.

bad lighting in my kitchen at night

All you do is: put a cup of almond milk mixed with a little vanilla, sugar, and salt in an ice cube tray.  Let it freeze and when you’re ready to eat, just blend it all in the blender.

I had to add a little water and cold almond milk to my blender because I just have a “normal” one, not a fancy Vitamix or Magic Bullet.  But not to worry, normal blenders work just fine.

The result is a filling, ice cream-ish dessert that’s not too sweet and tastes great.  Only negative is, it melts quickly, as you can probably see….so not the best for photo-taking.

Try it this weekend!

Happy Friday!  These still make me smile

Whew, we made it to the weekend! Happy Friday!!

Ok, this is totally non-food-and-fitness-related, but since it’s Valentine’s Day weekend, I thought we all could use a little Friday Love, Audrey-Hepburn style:

Love this. Isn’t her hat amazing?

And the very best motto:

I believe in chocolate.
I believe that laughter really is contagious.
I believe that “sleeping on it” works and a bad day will be erased by morning.
I believe in fresh flowers, singing in the shower, and dancing in the rain.
And I believe that in the end, it really will all work out, so you might as well smile and enjoy the journey.

What do you believe?

Happy Friday!! Take Audrey’s advice– have a laughing-kissing-believing-in-tomorrow kind of weekend.

xo
Rebecca

Breakfast:

Farina made from brown rice (from the WF bulk bins), chia seeds, a pear, blueberries and a splash of coconut milk.  Coffee with almond milk.  I put coconut milk in my coffee at first and had to dump it- tasted really gross.

Have you had coconut milk?  I bought it once before, but this was my first time with So-Delicious’ brand.  It was a little sweet, should have gotten the unsweetened version.

I like trying something new, but didn’t love the coconut milk.  I prefer almond milk and when I compared their nutritional stats, the coconut milk didn’t wow me.  But coconut is pretty new to the grocery shelves and there seems like a lot talk about it.  There was an interesting article in the LA Times, that you can read here.  Kathy wrote an interesting post about it here as well.

I think it’s good to switch it up a bit and change my milk rotation. I’m not so into soy anymore (except at starbucks, I love putting it in my coffee there!) and rice milk isn’t my thing either.  I put regular milk in my coffee when I’m at work or somewhere without a soy option.

How about you?  What types of milk do you drink?  Do you like coconut milk? 

And lastly, for Fun Facts Friday, here are some things I read in “Open Exchange,” a free SF healthy living monthly magazine.

Average American Lifestyles:
– The average American consumes 22 teaspoons of sugar EACH day. (holy cow!)
– The average American consumes 110 pounds of red meat yearly.
– The average American watches over 4 hours of TV each day.
– The average American exercises almost 20 minutes a day, but there really isn’t an “average American.”  Most don’t exercise AT ALL, while 17% exercise over 1 hour.

Sheesh.  Cheers to being NOT AVERAGE! (unaverage? what’s the proper grammar?)

Not sure how many teaspoons of sugar I eat, def don’t eat 110 pounds of red meat (eat more like 6 oz once a month), I probably watch 1 hour of tv/day, and exercise 45 mins/day.

Do any of those stats surprise you?  Do you think you fit or don’t fit them (do you watch 4 hours of tv a day?  any guesses on how many teaspoons of sugar you eat?)