Water-less and a Surprise Guest

Hi friends! Happy Tuesday!!

Today is already off to a much better start than yesterday– since today I actually have RUNNING WATER!! Yesterday morning our water was shut off for 5 hours, thanks to street repairs… so annoying! Since I wasn’t about to break out my juicer (and not be able to wash it for hours), I ended up eating the rest of my chopped watermelon for most of the morning. (I was so hungry, I forgot to take a picture!)

When we finally did have water again, I got the urge to break out another appliance– my mini food processor. I had raw cheesecake pudding on the brain again!

I rationalized making it again, because I had a little more of my homemade cashew butter left to use up! Cheesecake pudding is the BEST use of cashew butter I can think of!   I’m still playing around with this recipe, but I’ll try to share it with you all soon– believe me, it’ll be worth the wait!

And while this pudding is DELICIOUS on it’s own, I was in the mood for some graham cracker crust, too! For some variation, I tried pistachios as the nut-base of the crust– and I don’t really recommend that! You definitely need to use a more oily-nut… like walnuts or pecans! The pistachio crust is just okay… not terrible, but not crave-worthy.

(I ended up eating this portion, and a second one!! It’s addicting stuff…)

And of course, I was a “good girl” and ate a salad before indulging in my raw cheesecake– gotta get those good enzymes in your body to help digestion!

A simple mix of greens, organic cherry tomatoes, cucumbers and zucchini, all topped with my Lemon-Oregano Vinaigrette.  Eating the salad first also gave my raw cheesecake some time to set in the freezer! I like my cheesecake nice and cold!

After work, I headed to the gym for a quick treadmill session. I’ve been really into my Jackie Warner workout lately, and I was looking into her book, This is Why Your Fat, the other day on Amazon. In the book description, they listed Ten Tips from Jackie Warner for Getting in Shape. I loved her first tip:

It’s not how long, it’s how strong. Incorporate 20 minutes of high intensity cardio each day.

• Walk fast on a treadmill for 2 minutes at a 15 incline
• Sprint for 2 minutes on flat ramp
• Cool down for 1 minute

Repeat this cycle 3 more times until you reach your 20 minute goal.

[source]

So guess what I did on the treadmill yesterday? This workout was tough– even though it was only 20 minutes! I will say, I stopped doing the incline of 15 after the first circuit because I was too impatient to wait for the ramp to move up and down… it took almost 40 seconds each transition! So, I settled on an incline of 10 with a  faster pace– and I was still sweating in no time!

I followed up my workout with a 30-minute session in the dry sauna. Boy, was that hot! I normally use the steam sauna at my gym, but it was “out of order” yesterday. I had only tried the dry sauna once before, and had HATED it, but I was determined to get my sweat on! Surprisingly, I didn’t mind it as much when I tried it again! I think the key is LOTS and LOTS of water! Preferably COLD water to start, since it will heat up the longer you sit! When you initially sit in the dry heat, it’s kinda gross to breath in the dry heat– it dries out your nose and mouth! But the water helps a lot! And once you actually start sweating, it gets better, too. I did two 15-minute sessions in the dry sauna, with a cold shower in-between to cool off. Very refreshing!!

I came home to find out we had a surprise guest in town– my father-in-law! He was in town for business, so he offered to take us out for dinner. You don’t have to twist my arm!!   I enjoyed a (un-pictured, since the family doesn’t really know about the blog)  goat cheese salad on a bed of romaine, with cherry tomatoes, cucumbers and a lemon vinaigrette on the side. It was delightful!

And no night is complete without dessert!

Herbal peppermint tea and some 70% dark chocolate, enjoyed while watching (a rather boring) episode of The Bachelorette. Anyone else looking forward to the new show, Bachelor Pad?? Last night was the first time I saw an ad for the show, and I must say… I’m intrigued.

Here’s what I’ve got planned for the rest of my day:

Colonic Appointment (the second in my series of 3!)

Picking up my new dress at Nordstrom (yay!!)

Going to see a play tonight!!

Hope you all have a great day!!

Reader Feedback: Do you ever go to the theater/opera/symphony? We bought season tickets to a theater this year, and it really made me feel like “an adult” by supporting the arts!