This is my 10th WIAW! Ever since I started reading healthy living blogs, I knew that I wanted to start one. While I’m sure a lot of the recipes I post don’t exactly qualify as “healthy”, I generally consider this blog to fall under the healthy living category. I would eventually like to work my way up to WIA-everydays, but for now, I love Wednesdays because they give me an excuse to really focus on what I’m eating and have fun taking pictures of it. So, without further ado….

WIAW (this links to all my WIAW pages!)

This week I’ve really tried to focus on summer staples. To me, a summer food staple is anything that is fresh and colorful. I love organic farmer’s market foods, but really, the produce from the store is never bad this time of year, so I’ll take what I can get! That being said, another summer staple for me is ice cream. Of course, I won’t say no to it any other time of year, but that is one treat you just can’t beat on a muggy summer day….

Breakfast (E, N, GF)

Greek yogurt and farmer’s market blueberries. I think I’m re-developing my intolerance to oats, so I’ve decided to take a break from the granola for a while. Oh well, you win some and you lose some when you have allergies and food intolerances.

Lunch (E, N)

Open-faced ham and cheese melts (with a drizzle of honey on top – is that weird?), cucumber (also from the farmer’s market), pepper jack cheese crackers, and an un-pictured nectarine.

Even though I forgot to take a picture of it, to me, the smell, look, and taste of nectarines just scream “summer”. 🙂

Snacks (E, N, D, GF)

Air-popped, zero guilt.

Sweet, salty….not zero guilt. 😉

Dinner (E, N, D)

Tilapia (onto which I sprinkled a mixture of panko breadcrumbs, Italian herbs, cayenne pepper, and garlic powder), broccoli, brown rice with dried cranberries, and lemonade. Lemonade = summer.

Dessert (E, N, GF)

Ice cream.

Workouts August 12 – 18
Sunday: off
Monday: treadmill – 15 minutes jogging, 30 minutes walking
Tuesday: P90X – yoga
Wednesday: 30 Day Shred + stretching
Thursday: treadmill – 20 minutes running, 40 minutes walking
Friday: 30 Day Shred + elliptical
Saturday: ??

The other day my mom came to me with the goal of completing a triathlon next summer at this time. At first I was very hesitant to say “ok” and jump on board with this goal (I am not a good swimmer, I’ve had tons of running set-backs in the past few years, my PT told me biking would aggravate my IT bands, etc.), but I figured, why not go ahead and start training? If I need to stop, I’ll stop, but it can’t hurt (knock on wood) to just give it a try! If any of you have ever started training for anything – a 5k, a bike race, marathon, anything! – please share you experience! I’d love to hear about it.

In other news, this is basically my last week of babysitting. (!!!) The kids have started school, which means I only need to pick them up off the bus and be with them for a few hours before their parents get home. It’s kind of sad, really – they all live in my neighborhood, so I’ll see them frequently, but just knowing that next year they’ll be a whole year older is kind of bittersweet. I guess that’s why it’s so important to not take each moment for granted, but instead take the time to savor them all. 🙂

At least one of us can remember to take the time to stop and smell the roses. : )

This also means, by the way, that I start school in about a week and a half. Boo. I really shouldn’t complain (I know I’m very fortunate to be able to go to school), but to me, the arrival of school always means winter is not far behind. And here in Michigan, winter lasts for about 5 months. Bleck.

So, with that said, please join me in soaking up these next couple of weeks of summer!

Have a great evening!

P.S. Happy 100th Birthday, Julia Child! 🙂