The alarm, as always, went off at five o'clock so that there would be time to fit in a workout before the day really got going; I'd planned on going for a run but lo and behold, when I opened my eyes and the brain fuzz washed away, it was raining harder than I've ever heard it do before on Kauai (no, I didn't actually see the rain; that would have meant getting out of my warm, cozy blanket cocoon.) The coffee machine automatically starts brewing at 4:45 (did you know that even a half-cup of Joe before early-morning cardio can increase your performance by upwards of 25 percent?) and so I lay there listening to the outside symphony and reveling in the comforting smell of Kona beans from the safety of my little piece of memory-foam heaven.
And then at six, it stopped. Which meant there was plenty of time to get that run in.
It was maybe not what I wanted to do anymore. But I dragged myself out, hauled on the workout gear, and slammed out (okay, okay, schlepped is more like it) a decent 2-mile loop through the Hanalei Bay Resort so as to take advantage of their garden pathway's steep inclines and many stairs.
And when I got home, the first of many glorious, glorious darlings met me:
Oh, coffee. You are the truest, most loyal companion. You make even ironing tolerable.
An appointment with my lawyer in town meant that at half-past six, shivering in my skeevies after peeling off my sweaty clothes, I was stuck ironing a ridiculous skirt that refused to dewrinkle fully even after a voracious battle with the steamer. That coffee was the only thing that kept that skirt from being ripped apart stitch by stitch.
Then it was everybody's favourite time: Brekkie! Two poached eggs with peri-peri sauce and a small bowl of apples and peaches. With coffee.
After first breakfast (and more coffee) was finished, I hopped to showering and getting ready. Ah-ha, you've discovered something haven't you? Yes, we are a family of hobbits. We quite often eat two breakfasts - one early (7-ish) and one as we're heading out the door (8:30-ish). To be fair, second breakfast is really the monster that gets us through to snacktime.
You will need this stuff (not pictured is the star ingredient, spinach, because I am a doofus who forgot to grab it for the shot and couldn't be arsed to retake it):
Say hello to my little friend, Mr. Mean Green.
Mean Green Smoothie
2 big handfuls spinach, washed
1 cup mixed berries, fresh or frozen (pictured is a blend of raspberries, blackberries and marionberries)
any other fruit of your liking (today was leftover apples and peaches)
1 Tbsp flax meal
1 scoop Greens 8000
Any additional supplements (usually I add protein powder, but today was Emergen-C, raspberry flavoured)
Soy/almond milk to blend (depends on what consistency you prefer)
Mix all ingredients together in a Vitamix or blender. Pulse until thoroughly combined. Enjoy.
This smoothie is fantastic for getting all sorts of veggies into kids without them realizing it. I'll often put broccoli, beets, kale, etc into it; all they can taste are the berries!
With that powerhouse combo supercharging me, off I plowed into town. Boring meeting with lawyer was boring. Tedious errands at stores were tedious.
There were snacks:
Tomato slices drizzled with a little bit of sesame oil and balsamic vinegar, and a handful of raw almonds and walnuts. (I swear I actually ate this on the road, but I couldn't take a picture while driving so I reconstructed it at home... and then packed it away for tomorrow.)
Lunchtime!
Crimini mushrooms, onion, garlic, bok choy, bean sprouts, baby green tomatoes from the garden, diced hothouse tomato sauteed in cold-pressed safflower oil, sprinkled with Frank's Red Hot, and wrapped up in collard leaves. Green burritos!
... there also may have been a half-glass of smoothie leftover from this morning in the fridge that I also polished off. *cough, cough*
Then it was time to go sleep for a few hours. I chose to do so outside, today.
I rocked out to some Springsteen while I made dinner, which was enjoyed thoroughly out on the porch.
Mixed greens salad with fresh basil vinaigrette, pan-seared asparagus with lemon-herb "beurre" (Earth Balance), and Hunter Baked Mahi-Mahi with roasted onion and mushrooms, topped with fresh, homemade guacamole. And a big ol' glass of H2O, of course.
Dessert was a MASSIVE bowl of fruit; cantaloupe, apples (Red Delicious and Granny Smith), cherries, strawberries, honeydew, all spritzed with fresh lemon juice. Seriously, I thought I was going to explode when I finished this sucker.
And now there is half an hour of yoga to be done, followed by the long-awaited bubble-bath-and-book-reading festival.
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