Leftovers, cookies, and the Plan

Last night's dinner with the girls was so much fun. Just four of us chatting away for like 4 hours. I'm sure our waitress was wondering if we were ever going to leave. :) We ended up going to Cut Steakhouse, because Nectar isn't open on Mondays. Cut is really good, but fairly pricey and I had really been looking forward to Nectar's menu. The fun part about Cut though is that it is a la carte, so we each ordered different side dishes and shared so everyone got to try a few things. I chose the 6 0z local filet mignon (just the right size!) and the sweet potato au gratin (so freaking good...I'm going to try to make it at home!)...but I also got to try their truffled pomme de terre (mashed potatoes wrapped in shoestring potatoes), the bok choy, the curried spinach, and the huge home fries. I started with one of the best tomato & bocconcini salads I've ever had...and we all shared the flourless chocolate cake for dessert. With a glass of red wine, it was all soooooo tasty!

The best part was I saved half my steak, the last big scoop of sweet potatoes and some of the spinach as a doggie bag. I just had it for dinner, and let me tell you it was all better the second time around. :)

This morning I slept in, just because I could. Got up and ate the leftover Chinese food for brunch...then had coffee. I actually would have loved to go to the gym, but for some reason my gym chose this stat to be closed (they don't always close for stats)...so instead I bundled up and went for a walk on the local BLT trail for about 3km. Crisp and brisk out there, but blue skies and lovely. This did bring on the craving for chocolate chip cookies though....so I ended up coming home and making a batch. I tried a new recipe I borrowed from Mrs. Furious...and they are quite tasty! It makes 4 dozen, so I baked off 2 dozen, and froze 2 dozen to bake off in the future. I have already eaten more than enough, but let's be honest and just admit that I'll probably suck back a few more with my tea tonight. :) (Good news is that I was actually out of white sugar so I used Splenda.)

Of course, my lack of planning and counting and eating whatever did start to bring up some guilt...so while the cookies were baking I took the time to clean the fridge of any spoiled produce and leftovers that I needed to get rid of. Clean slate. I've decided not to buy any groceries this week except milk, strawberries and granola bars. I even wrote out menus for Wed/Thur/Fri so that I have a system for using up what I have on hand and for making sure I stay on plan so I can have a guilt-free weekend (it's my actual birthday on Saturday and I want to be able to have fun at my girls night in). This is a good opportunity to eat up a few meals from the freezer too....all while staying OP and well balanced (including allowing myself 2 cookies per day). :)

My goal for the next 5 days is going to the gym. Tomorrow and Thursday I plan to get up early like I used to and go before I start work for the day. Friday I will go in the afternoon. Saturday early afternoon. Sunday we shall see (my girls night in is a sleepover so it will really depend on how late we stay up). Wed/Thurs/Sat will include strength training...Fri/Sun will be cardio. Next week I'm going to check out the yoga options I mentioned the other day.

Today is like a Sunday for me. Recharge, Reinvigorate, Restart.