Playing catch up

I don't know how to write this post without it becoming obnoxiously long! The remainder of my trip to NY was busy and I haven't had time since I got home Saturday afternoon to do any picture uploading or blogging. I'll start by suggesting a blog post on sedentary lifestyles and how to combat them. This is something I've been working on in my own life. I take a 15 minute walk every day at work, I try to do it about half way through my day. I also take stretch breaks if I haven't been moving a lot, and will do squats or standing cross crunches to get my blood flowing. Even though I exercise for 30-45 minutes five to six days a week, I still try to work movement into the rest of my time. Back to trip recap:



Wednesday - Spent the day with my parents in Saratoga. I really adore that town. There are so many good shops and restaurants to explore. There were so many vegan options to choose from that I wish I could have eaten every meal there! The downtown area is very hilly, so you get a nice leg workout just walking up and down the streets. I bought an amazing vegan cookie and some quinoa at Four Seasons, and dry roasted edamame at Putnam Market. We had lunch at Scallions. They have a regular menu and a vegan menu! I got falafel to start and a tabbouleh salad for my main dish. After lunch we walked to Johnny's to get ice cream. They had at least 15 dairy free options, plus regular ice cream and homemade Italian ice and Liege style Belgian waffles. I had cinnamon coffee and it was out of this world delicious and creamy. By the time we got home we were all tired so we made dinner at home. I had my leftover BBQ tempeh on a salad.

Tabbouleh Salad at Scallions

Cinnamon coffee vegan ice cream at Johnny's

Thursday - My Mom had a doctor's appointment in the late morning. I ran when I got up but my legs were beat from 2 days of bike riding and the squats I did the morning before. I couldn't sprint like I wanted to, but I still got in almost 2 miles in 20 minutes. We had lunch at Mr. Wasabi in Schenectady. We each got bento boxes, and they were able to substitute a veggie roll for the California roll. I had curry tofu which wasn't at all what I expected but was still delicious! We had a bunch of my family over for dinner. We ordered pizzas and their local place was able to make mine with no cheese. We also had hummus and salsa and a big side salad. I had a blast hanging out with my little cousins and catching up with my big cousins :)

Bento box at Mr. Wasabi

Friday - This was the day I was most looking forward to. We drove up to Speculator, a town in the Adirondacks where my parents used to have a camp. We hiked to Auger Falls first. It was a short hike, and I attempted to get more exercise by trail running. It's the first time I've run on a trail with lots of rocks and tree roots and unfortunately the trail won. I fell hard and smashed my knee and hip, but was still able to get up and finish the hike to see the amazing falls. The trail head wasn't marked and is just a random gravel lot on the side of a road. It's amazing that since so much fantastic nature exists in the Adirondacks, a short trail to gorgeous falls isn't even labeled! After our hike we had a picnic by the lake. I made quinoa and black bean salads, plus we had hummus & veggies and fruit. I also got a kombucha tea that was ridiculously good. After the picnic we canoed for 1.5 hours on part of the Sacandaga river. It was gorgeous and we saw lots of bird action. Trip pics:

 Since it was my  last night, we decided to go out to dinner. I found a Mexican place near my parents house that had veggie fajitas with cauliflower and broccoli, so that's where we went. The food was excellent, and my parents are planning to go back soon!

Veggie fajitas

Saturday I got up at 4:15 for a 6AM flight. I was smart and brought my almond butter sandwich with me for breakfast, and my day was much better than my day flying there. Carly picked me up in Charlotte at noon and we went to Pinky's Westside Grill in Charlotte for lunch. I had their Nature Boy burger which was a chickpea & pinto bean patty (with no cheese/mayo) and black eyed pea salad on the side. It was excellent and I'm looking forward to going back. We stopped at Earth Fare after lunch to use some fantastic coupons, then went to a regular grocery store for a few last things. We spent most of the afternoon doing chores and watching Olympics, then went out to dinner with a friend from work and his wife at Thai House. I wanted to try something new so I got the beef & broccoli with tofu. I think it's a winner. Broccoli is one of my favorite veggies and this dish had more than the one I usually get.

Nature Boy burger and black eyed pea salad at Pinky's

Sunday I was so happy to be able to get back to the gym! I was afraid I wouldn't be able to lift the same amount of weight I normally do, but I had a great workout. I walked the dog when I got home (good for both of us!) and then spent the day doing chores, getting ready for a long work week and watching Olympics. I wasn't feeling that well, I think all the traveling caught up with me. For lunch I made a wrap with hummus and smoked gouda nut cheese (delicious but weird texture). Carly made dinner and some of  Monday night's dinner as well. We had a wild rice/Israeli couscous dish with mushrooms, cauliflower, onions & peas topped with pan fried tofu and a vegan cream sauce. It was really good, definitely something we'll eat again.

Hummus & nut cheese wrap

Wild rice dish

Monday was back to work and I had a jam packed day. I went to the gym after work and got in 30 minutes of solid cardio, although my knee wasn't liking the sprints. I still burned over 400 calories according to the machine (by the way, calorie counts from cardio machines at the gym are definitely inflated...subtract at least 30% to get a more accurate idea of what you burned). For dinner Carly made curry quinoa the night before with golden raisins and almonds. I ate mine on a salad with tofu, Carly had hers in a wrap with chicken. It was fantastic, I need to let her cook more often! We spent our night watching the most amazing soccer game in history, USA vs. Canada in the Women's semifinals. I'm a HUGE Megan Rapinoe fan and that game was ridiculous.

Curry quinoa salad

I'm hoping that now that I'm caught up I can make the next post more thoughtful and engaging. I don't want to lose the memories of what I did this week so I appreciate having a format to keep them, however I feel bad for anyone reading!