It's Giveaway time!

Hi readers! I hope you are all having a great Thursday! For whatever reason it feels like Friday to me... being off for the summer is a bit disorienting at times!

It's harder to keep track of my day without pictures I've found, so hopefully I can remember everything up until now. I snacked on some cherries first thing this morning, and then headed to the gym. I woke up feeling the most refreshed and rejuvenated than I have in a long time - and I 100% blame the crappy diet that I have been eating for the last weeks, up until yesterday. I ate foods that made me feel good and filled me up at the same time, and it was great to wake up without a terrible stomach ache!

So, I perkily hopped off to the gym, where I started with 15 minutes on the stairmaster. I haven't done the stairmaster in weeks (months?) because it just kicks my butt, but to me, that is even more reason to do it more often until I get better at it! I then switched to the reclining bike for 15 minutes, and then it was time for Muscle Max. I like Muscle Max class a lot - it gives you a full-body workout, and it seems to place a greater emphasis on arms than other classes, which is the area that I probably neglect the most when I am working myself out.

After class, I snacked on more cherries... and then decided a banana "soft serve" would hit the spot... which it did :) For the first time I tried my Nu Naturals products - I threw in a few drops of their Pure Liquid Cocoa Bean Extract. According to the info that came with the product, this extract "contains no fall, gluten, sugar, sugar alcohol, maltitol, sorbitol, erythritol, xylitol" and is not made from artificial ingredients that we hate such as high fructose corn syrup, sucralose, etc. It is also higher in phenolics and flavanoids (antioxidants) than green tea, black tea, and red wine. It added a great, slightly chocolately flavor to the ice cream - and I'm sure you can control the chocolatey-ness by simply adding more drops!

Later for lunch I had a salad of spinach, tomatoes, cilantro, chives, and a homemade dressing made from balsamic vinegar, EVOO, soy sauce, lime juice, salt, pepper, garlic, and ginger. It was a good salad, but I was worried that without anything "on top" to fill me up like I am used to, such as guac, salmon, etc, I decided to have a snack before I headed out of the house.

So, I snacked on some Newman's Own Organics prunes dipped in TJ raw almond butter. WHAT a good combo... just like PB & J :) The NOO prunes were surprisingy good - very soft and juicy, not dried up like I expected. (Maybe I am the dried up one for eating prunes while in my mid-20s?? haha...)

Then I took the El up to Stern's Bookstore, which, if you live in Chicago, is a fabulous gem of a bookstore for anyone in a therapeutic profession. A retired lady with a psych background runs the bookstore out of the carriage house in her backyard, and she has books about psychotherapy, family and couples therapy, school social work, the whole gamut! It took HOURS to make this trip and back, but it was worth it. I only ended up getting one book - about art therapy - but I hope to go back to stock up on more goodies once school resumes in the fall.

On the way back from the bookstore, I walked by the grocery store where I got a sweet potato (to grill tomorrow - we arleady had another one), some kale, and some avocados... because I have been practically panicked about running out of avocados. Now that I can justify eating one (or two!) every day, that's exactly what I want to do, and I wanted to make sure I hate some green ones to get ripe while the ones I currently have are ready to eat.

One of the avocados I bought black and almost ready to eat... I am anxious for it to ripen so I have it sitting in a paper bag with an apple, per the old wive's tale.... hopefully this works ;)

Also, my so-called KALE turned out to be turnip greens!!!! Clearly I have not done this before, lol. It was marked kale on the shelf, and it had huge green leaves, so I assumed it was kale. Wrong! Please guys.... do any of you have a great turnip green recipe??? I was going to make kale chips - hopefully I still can. Let me know what YOU like to do with your turnip greens! :)

Alright I am off to go make Mike some dinner.... last night was risotto with spinach, basil, goat cheese, and tomato, I think tonight I'll make him a pasta dish! But first...

*****************************************************

The moment you have all been waiting for.............. Marathon Val's first ever giveaway!!!

How would you like to get your hands on 3 boxes of Holey Donuts?!?!?!? I know what you are thinking... that you would skydive/spend a day on a dessert island with Heidi and Spencer/eat high frustose cornsyrup (*gasp!*) to win this contest...

Luckily, you won't have to go to these extreme lengths! All you have to do is:

1) Become a fan of Holey Donuts on Facebook, if you have Facebook

2) Send an email with "Marathon Val" in the subject line to info@ holeydonuts.net

3) Post on my wall about:

* Why you would LOVE a healthy, low-fat donut, and

* What I can do to improve my blog. I would truly appreciate sincere, thoughtful answers, because as you know I am a newbie blogger, and I would love some words of advice and constructive criticism so that I can become an even better newbie blogger! :)

Not only are Holey Donuts low-fat, but they come in a vast array of flavors, such as coconut cream pie, raspberry graham cracker, jumbo cinnamon bun, blueberry crumb cake, Boston cream Orio cookie, raspberry fudge, toasted coconut, strawberry shortcake, and more!

If you are chosen as the winner, these will be sent directly to your doorstep! It's as easy as just spending just a few seconds of your time!

The end date for this FANTASTIC GIVEAWAY will be next Wednesday, at midnight! Happy Giveaway entering, everyone! :)