I started my morning with a blueberry flapjacked muffin and a mango.

I spent the morning studying before heading outside to the park for a workout. I did a Nike Training Club workout, and then a sprint/agility workout that I had saved on my phone from years ago. The weather was perfect to head outside!

When I got back, I had a super light lunch of egg whites, spinach, and garlic and herb laughing cow with some peach Cheerios.

I have 3 Neuro finals this week so coming home for Easter wasn’t plausible. My parents were nice enough to come up to me, and we went out to Easter “brunch” with some of my friends. They also brought me Easter eggs!

Before brunch, I broke into the jelly beans.

Here were my plates from the buffet! I think the highlight was the chocolate creme brûlée.

It was so nice to be able to sneak away from school for a few hours!

Later that evening, I had some more Easter candy, some toast with jam, and some protein chips.

And that’s a wrap! Except more full days of eating coming up, featuring hard boiled eggs!

I think I owe you all some food pictures, especially with my fantastically limited diet. As for how that’s going-I’m not ready to start adding things back yet, and I’m feeling ok. I sometimes feel bad, but it’s pretty good and lately hasn’t been a problem. So I’m feeling PRETTY good.

So-the weekend! I worked on Friday afternoon instead of Saturday because I had a recruitment workshop. I had to pick up my employee key tag from the gym I’m going to start subbing at (which looks exactly like my membership key tag from when I was a member).

And the gym was right across from Whole Foods, so I grabbed dinner there.

Turkey meatloaf, quinoa salads, and normal salad. The real highlight though was raiding the dairy free/gluten free bakery area. I picked up this AMAZING brownie which I think was made with garbanzo beans?

Saturday’s meal schedule was really strange since I had my workshop, but I had a super early dinner of sushi-type of things, which I dipped in vinaigrette. Yeah…

Then, my sister and I got full body massages! I had never had one before, and it was so nice! Although the next day I felt a little bruised. Afterwards, we went out for Pho, because rice noodles are one of the few things I can eat!

Then, I went home for Easter! Yes, we are in our 20s and still do egg hunts.

Also-know what is gluten and dairy free? Jelly beans. YUM. I had so many! Because Easter is one of the times where candy mid-morning is 100% acceptable.

After the hunt-we ended up not finding anywhere near all of them, although we found one with a giant hole far from where it started so maybe animals played a hand-we met up with my grandma and uncle for brunch at a fancy hotel.

I actually managed pretty well to avoid gluten/dairy/nuts.

I brought my own soy sauce in my purse that was gluten free. Cute. Sushi, smoked salmon, salad, chicken.

Corn taco with beans, guac, rice, and salsa. Plus more sushi and jasmine rice.

I also had some dessert. I had a few bites of gluten/dairy containing things, but I think it was ok, especially since I’m doing a full other week of total elimination. My favorite was peach crisp!

After brunch, we did some egg dying!

Which is what I will be eating for the next week straight. These are all for me:

In other news, I did my last major long run of half training yesterday. It was 9 miles, and it was a mix of great and really, really sucky. Saturday-Monday I was dealing with really bad allergies (that always occur the week of formal recruitment), so my lungs felt disgusting. My stomach was kind of off so I felt gross. And my new shoes are definitely not ready to be raced in. HOWEVER. My legs felt fantastic! They weren’t even tired, so I’m taking that as a good sign! That being said, I still have no expectations for race day. It will definitely depend on how I feel!

What did you do for Easter?

I definitely had a fabulous day. First thing in the morning, I prettied myself up and drove home for an Easter Brunch with my family.   

After a few obligatory pictures, we were off to a fancy hotel for a snazzy Easter feast! I really tried to pace myself this year. My family takes buffets really seriously, and I think I committed a foul by filling up on cookies the previous day and having reduced stomach space today. And yes, we even had a conversation about how you can “win” a buffet. Ohh my crazy family.

First course-I guess I’ll call it the appetizers? Blueberry bread, fancy cheeses, watermelon, a cauliflower salad, and the star-a cheese blintz.

Course 2: real food. Mahi mahi, jasmine rice, a whole wheat roll, and bread pudding part 1. It was a sampler, ya know?

Course 3 was real dessert. My mom and I got some things to share (although you better believe that the bread pudding was all for me.) Super rich chocolate cake, berry rhubarb pie, baby chocolate eclair, a petit 4, and of course, bread pudding. My family certainly has a thing for bread pudding. We have an amazing family recipe (which I should totally post if we make it again. I could even try a healthier version?), and normally I don’t go for other types. But this, my friends, was amazing. It was made with croissants. CROISSANTS! What a revolutionary idea! Seriously, SO good. So buttery and custardy, with a deliciously creamy custard sauce. This definitely stole the show today! After waddling away from brunch, it was time to search for Easter baskets and then embark on the annual Easter egg hunt!

We found them all this year! Nothing like finding little plastic eggs in July…

After some Easter candy and a subsequent food coma, I headed over to my neighbors house for a conversation in Spanish. I had to record it for a class, but it was a lot of fun! Sadly, my understanding of Spanish is far superior to my speaking ability-but that’s just something to work on! Another Easter tradition happened as well-dying of eggs! We didn’t do anything too crazy this year, but I think they turned out quite well!

So now I basically have a million colorful eggs to eat! There are certainly worse problems to have! Somehow I ended up taking them ALL back with me. So expect nothing but eggs on here for the next week. But actually… I hope everyone has a fabulous Monday! What are your Easter traditions?

Ok, let’s do an Easter recap. Breakfast was the best cinnamon toast: cinnamon twist bread with butter and cinnamon sugar. Plus an Easter egg of course! Ok, and there may have been some jelly beans involved…My sister came back for a little Easter egg hunt with her boyfriend. We found them all this year! And of course those plastic eggs make the best cat toys…Funny story, we found one like 3 months ago that the kitties must have kicked around…Last year was an interesting one with the eggs though. The plastic eggs with candy inside were hidden in a yard, and a squirrel grabbed one, carried it up a tree, and chewed through the plastic.

After a few pieces of candy, we headed out for a fancy brunch at a nearby hotel. It was a beautiful buffet. Now let me just warn you, I take my holiday buffets VERY seriously (especially Thanksgiving) and I usually want to try some of everything. The food was delicious and beautiful.My favorite things were the shrimp gnocchi and the warm bread pudding. Also pictured on the dessert plate is a fruit tart, random baby mousses, and a mystery cake believed to be mango green tea. Oh, and a baby eclair! Somehow I managed to get honey all over my food….I blame the cheese plate. The set up was so pretty. There was even an ice sculpture on a bunny!The rest of the afternoon was spent relaxing, napping, and watching TV. Dinner was low key and easy, artichokes, and macaroni and cheese from a box. Yumm healthy, right??Some See’s eggs may have rounded out this meal….

Sigh. But today it is back to the healthy habits. I woke up still stuffed from yesterday. Is it possible to gain 10 pounds in one day? Haha. This morning I went to my abs class at home before going back to school. I ate a quick breakfast of my favorite mangos, and an Easter egg.My first class was at 10. My classes seem interesting this quarter, but I can already tell I am going to have a TON of reading to do. I have to retake Organic Chemistry since I dropped it last quarter when I got sick, so that should be funnn. Right now my schedule is very M/W/F heavy. I don’t have much Tuesday and Thursday. After I was all done with class for the day, I had planned to run, but that run turned into a nap. Eh, I need to listen to my body, and if it says sleep, that’s what I’ll need. I already know I am going to need way more sleep this quarter. 

Today was the return of dining hall food. 1 meal in and I’m already tired of it. There just aren’t very many options.At least the line for the grilled chicken was short. I also had some melon. Upon retuning to my room, I ate about a third of the banana with sunflower butter and am saving the remainder for tomorrow’s breakfast. And I didn’t have any yogurt today! GASP. Ok, off to figure out my workouts/start my homework. I may sneak in a run later today (it is still light out). Tomorrow’s workout is still TBA; I was planning on spin, but it doesn’t start until next week. Good night everyone!