The Heat Is On...

The past several days we've been going through a heat wave. It wouldn't be so bad except that there's this lingering humidity in the air that makes you feel like everything is sticking to you. Needless to say, when it's this hot out working out is not at the top of my list.

Thursday was my off day and Friday I planned on going to the gym for some cardio. However, given the heat/humidity and how hot the gym has been this past week I opted to go home and start cooking since I had to get to my sister's graduation by 7:30. Another long day so by time I got home I was beat.

Let me start by saying that today was not about watching what I was eating. There just are going to be days like that and the sooner you accept that eating well and taking care of yourself is a lifestyle choice rather than some "diet", the sooner you realize you are going to have "cheat days".

Today was a really fun day. My cousin has been living on the Upper East Side in NYC for the past 2 years going to grad school. This is her last month there so she's trying to accomplish things she had on her list of NYC things to do. Two of the things on her list were to have brunch at Sara Beth's Kitchen and go for pedicures at the Dashing Diva. She had been asking me to go in so I decided to go in for brunch and pedicures and also to help her move some stuff out of the apartment.

By 11 am it was already close to 90 degrees out which meant it felt like 100 in the city. We took a cab to Sara Beth's because it's too far of a walk on a day like today. There was a half hour wait so we walked up a couple blocks to a street fair and perused tables of books. Even though we only walked maybe 3 blocks in that heat it felt like a lot more. The sweat just drips off of you in no time and we decided right then that we would be eating INSIDE the restaurant rather than at an outdoor table.

Brunch was AMAZING. We split a spinach & goat cheese omelette & lemon/ricotta pancakes...may sound weird but don't knock it until you try it. So light and fluffy they really just melted in your mouth. We topped it off with Orange Flower/Pomegranate/Banana Mimosa. From there we walked 9 blocks and one avenue over to the Dashing Diva. By the time we got in there I felt like I had partially melted. The pedicure totally made up for that. They seat you on these couches and give you a menu of all their services and I have to say not only was it the most luxurious pedicure I've ever had it was also just really nice sitting there. Everyone was very pleasant and it was definitely a really cool experience even though I should've went with my gut and gotten a DARK color on my toes :)

Back in the cab we went and headed over to the other side of town where we hit up a fruit stand and Tasty D'Lite. The fruit stands are ALL over the city. There is just something about being able to pick your fruit from a stand that some how makes it seem better (AND it's cheaper!). We stopped into Tasty D'Lite for some froyo (it's soft serve frozen yogurt with the consistency of soft ice cream & it only has 100 calories). Definitely the perfect treat on such a hot day. Our last stop of the day was to Agata & Valentina...an AMAZING Italian market on the Upper East Side. We made a few quick purchases and walked back 6 blocks to my cousin's apartment. A store like that is KILLER to someone who likes to cook and eat. I had to remind myself that I'm on a mission for a slammin beach body & I couldn't just buy everything I wanted. The paranoia that settles in is ridiculous, but it's there none the less. You start thinking "Okay, so I'll eat this just this once, and then it tastes SO good that you figure okay if I eat it another time it's not a big deal and then you just keep on eating it and before you know it you're having trouble getting into that cute summer dress you've been dying to wear. At least I felt satisfied that we did so much walking so I didn't feel guilty about not making it to the gym. On top of all the walking I helped my cousin move some of the stuff out of her apartment and into my car which also added to the melting feeling.

Once I got home the only thing on my mind was a shower and to figure out what I was cooking for dinner. The heat really can take effect on you in strange ways. I opened the fridge and NOTHING was appealing to me. I knew for certain I didn't want to be standing in front of my grill, but there was nothing else that I really wanted to make. After an hour long debate, mom and I decided on some chicken club sandwiches. I fried up some bacon and we had a sandwich and a half each of chicken breast, bacon, lettuce, tomato and a little mayo on whole wheat toast. I have to be honest, it completely hit the spot. It was refreshing and very tasty. I'm about ready to crash so I'm thinking of finishing things off with this new brand of Greek yogurt I picked up in the city. Tomorrow morning I've got a work out scheduled (BOXING DAY LOVE IT!) and then I'll be spending the rest of the day cooking/doing homework. I'll definitely be stepping it up in the work out tomorrow. Hopefully, I'll have some more recent pictures to post so I can compare them to ones I plan on taking in a few weeks. Until tomorrow...
Marisa