Food, Business, and Exercise Miles

Food

Seeing as how I am going to be a server at a restaurant for now, I am studying up the menu so I know what questions to ask, have a general idea of what is on everything, and I have a little test on Wednesday of next week (my last day of "training") at The Egg and I. 

It is one large menu. Working at The Egg and I so far feels a lot like working at the City Cafe back in Newman Grove, just on a bigger scale. Bigger menu, bigger restaurant size, and more staff. Friendly small feel, though, which I enjoy. I'm also pretty easy to train, since I've served before, and I learn quickly most of the time. 

Food is also on the brain as you all know I have goals to maintain my healthy form. Coming back to Nebraska early June, I was in the best shape of my life. I'm working on keeping it that way. Healthy living is just part of my lifestyle, including the food choices I make and exercising. Jessica is still slightly crazy. :-)

More times than not, I choose more healthy options. I love food, I love food that tastes good, I love food that is simple, and I love food that is good for me. I try to keep the other indulgences to small portions from time to time.

A few of my favorite eats from this week. Seeing beautiful Belgian style waffles go through at the restaurant made me want some waffles, and lucky me I found the waffle iron all by myself at the house. One day I whipped up some wheat waffles (not Belgian style) infused with sliced almonds topped with a sliced banana, strawberries, a few full raw almonds, and drizzled with a little honey. The day after that I made wheat waffles infused with granola, topped with the same fruit, and a sprinkling of granola. Yum yum.

All pancakes and waffles at The Egg and I are made from whole wheat batter. Whole wheat tastes the same as white waffles mix, and people don't really know any different. Mindset makes you think it tastes different.

Monday night, I cooked us up a little alfredo pasta (small portion for me). I also cooked up some yellow squash and mushrooms to put on top, boiled some broccoli for a side, and warmed up some leftover bread from the night before. Chef Jessica. :-)

Joe made us some stuffed mushrooms Wednesday night. He sauteed up some veggies including yellow squash, red pepper, spinach, and red onion. Stuffed those in some mushrooms and sprinkled with some mozzarella cheese. They were yummy. An experiment that he just put together, like the cottage cheese stuffed mushrooms I made a few weeks ago.

Thursday morning Sarah made some french toast from some bread we needed to finish. I topped mine a sprinkling of powdered sugar, and ate some sliced banana on the side. Lunch, I enjoyed a watermelon, spinach, and feta cheese salad. Brought home some slices of watermelon from work on Wednesday. Our manager had a bowl and said we should take some home. Mmmmm. I enjoyed a little snack Thursday afternoon of some vanilla frozen yogurt with fruit. One of my favorite things! For supper, Joe whipped up a scrambler of just about everything we had sitting around - some sweet potatoes, white potatoes, spinach leaves, tomatoes, eggplant (a little weird in there), and cheese.

Business

Been going through some interviews this week. Was sort of looking for another potential part-time job I could do late afternoon/early evening in addition to my waitressing at the restaurant. I am also in contact with a few other leads with future job potential. I'm not gonna say too much. I will let you know what I learn as more things happen, but I am learning that there are some really cool things out there! Whether or not I land a full-time job with some of the things I have been looking into right now or not, something I could also keep on my list of things to check back on in the future. I'm always learning more about the world each day. One thing I love about life.

I also decided I could make a cute businesswoman. Also, one who looks good on a small budget. Black blazer - $8 thrift shop purchase from a week ago. Purple-pinkish dress a $10 clearance purchase from Kohl's before Seth and Kathryn's wedding, and black styling close-toed heels I paid less than 20 for, I believe. Bought those a few years ago, and I forgot how much I liked them.

Exercise Miles

For the past two weeks and two days, I have been using this online mile tracker MapMyRun I had heard about. I've been doing so much more cardio exercise outside lately, changing up my routine from all the videos I had been doing for a while. It's been nice to do some exercise outside in nature and enjoy the beautiful weather (as I'm sure you've noticed in some of my mentions of riding the bike).  Anyways, I can map my route after doing it using street names, clock my time, and the program calculates my pace and calories burned. Pretty cool. As of today (16 days after I began logging my bike rides, runs, and evening walks), I have logged 125 miles. Wowza. About 90 on the bicycling, 20 running, and 10 walking.

I have also officially written down my current personal exercise plan. Writing things down keeps me more focussed. Reminds myself to stretch each morning and night, get a run in four days a week, bike five days a week, and at least one good walk. This little calendar marks my minimum goals for now. Not sure how long I will stay on this track before I change gears again, but I'm enjoying it so far. Been good for me. I strategically placed the schedule between my "beach body" photo (haha yep) and my running shoes. I'm a goof, remember :-)

Writing things down also helps me remember. As I study my menu for The Egg and I, I decided to write some things down in a notebook, organizing some reminders. Picking it up more quickly now.

One more thing. I took a little 5-minute break on my bike ride Thursday. I aleays want to stop and just enjoy te lake. I finally did it today. Stopped a little after my halfway point. I enjoyed the five-minute meditaion I gave myself with the nice view, sounds of nature, and mid-day calm. 

Random random. Anyways, hope everyone has a great weekend! I have two training shifts on busy days at work ahead of me and who knows what else fun. Toodles!