Happy 4th of July everyone!! I hope you’re all having a great day with family and friends. Since I know you want to get back to your festivities, let’s get straight to the point and talk WIAW, or rather, what I ate yesterday, Tuesday, which was a day off for me. Staycation 2012 baby. Be sure to check out the lovely hostess of WIAW: Jen from Peas and Crayons!

WIAW: On My Day Off; or While Hungover; or What I Stole From my Parent’s Fridge

I started my day a little slowly, with just a tiny bit of a hangover from last night. My friend Vicki from Boston was in town, and one of Andrea’s friends from Canada was also visiting. We all went to a local bar with an outdoor patio and had a blast! Anyway, I wasn’t super hungry when I woke up which is weird for me, so I started my day with a little yogurt and some fruit.

A very Patriotic morning snack. After a little while, my appetite was restored, so I fried up an egg and some egg whites, added a little cheese and had GF toast and coffee on the side.

How cute is that coffee mug? Andrea bought them for us when she was in Boston this past weekend, an M for me and two A’s for her and Amanda, how cute!

After breakfast, I was dying to get outside because it was an absolutely gorgeous day. The best and easiest option for me: drive to my parent’s house and hijack their pool while they’re at work. When I got there, I realized my sister was home, so I got to hang out with these cuties!

My niece and nephew. They don’t like the camera. (Anyone else noticing how blue that sky is? It was seriously gorgeous out).

There’s nothing better than relaxing by the pool with a good book and good company

When I got hungry for lunch, I started rummaging through my parent’s fridge for salad ingredients. My mom always has way more fresh veggies on hand than I do (I feel like I can’t eat them fast enough before they go bad, need to work on that).

I whipped up a delicious salad with tuna, almonds, dried cranberries, and lots of veggies including carrots, red and orange peppers, and red onions. I topped it off with a little red wine vinegar and it was great! Totally hit the spot.

I eventually extracted myself from the sunshine and drove back to Providence because I wanted to get a workout in and try a new recipe for dinner. Before my workout I snacked on a Peanut Butter Vanilla Protein Bar because I was hungry!

Work it Out

I got another swim in today! About 20 minutes or so. I decided to really spy on the other swimmers around me to try and get some tips to improve my form and breathing. I quickly realized that I am swimming way too fast. It’d be like hopping on the treadmill and running 9 mph and wondering why you’re out of breath. I don’t know how to swim slowly! Once I had this realization, I consciously tried to take long, deliberate strokes to establish a “steady” swim pace. I’m also working on my breathing, I need to find a rhythm that’s comfortable for me. Now that I know I need to swim more slowly, it should be easier for me to work on my breathing.

Btw, swimmers out there. My goggles today would not stop fogging up! But the other day they were totally fine. Thoughts? Do I need better ones? I left my swimcap at the gym today so I need to buy another one of those anyway…..

After my swim I changed and went to the fitness center to get a strength workout in, and to complete the Ab workout of the day (I’m doing the 30 day Ab Challenge through Run to the Finish). My abs were actually really sore today from yesterday’s workout. I can’t remember the last time my abs were sore. I’m taking that as a very good sign! Today’s workout was tough, but I managed a little better than yesterday. Once I finished the ab workout, the gym started to get a little crowded. I was overwhelmed (my secret spot had a class there today). I ended up cutting my workout short because I just felt claustrophobic. I’m gonna start planning my strength workouts around class schedules to avoid this in the future!

After my workout I was hungry but I still needed to make dinner, so I snacked on some rice cakes, one with salsa, and one with cinnamon raisin swirl peanut butter.

Dinner came together pretty quickly, and was incredibly delicious. A double bean burger with avocado basil cream….SO good. The recipe was from How Sweet, but I’ll share my GF version tomorrow! I had some fresh pineapple on the side too

And for dessert, the most incredible frozen yogurt ever. Seriously, go buy this:

If you like coffee ice cream, you have to try the Stonyfield Gotta Have Java flavor. It’s amazing.

After dessert, I headed to my bedroom to blog, watch tv, and relax in the air conditioning.

I was greeted by about 20 baby spiders, crawling on and hanging from my ceiling.

Not. Even. Joking. SPIDERS. Right above my bed. Where I sleep. I freaked out, killed all the ones I could see, and tried to move on. But then they kept coming out! MORE spiders, where does it end?

I didn’t find out. I moved all my stuff to the living room, cried like a baby, ate some more froyo, then composed myself and finished this blog post. I am really afraid of spiders.

At least it’s only 88 degrees in my living room today. I guess it could be worse?