My morning was such a whirlwind! I was up at 6:00 AM knocking off tasks from my To Do List. I’ve made a pretty good dent so far! 
- Exercise
- Spray tan
- Drive Mal to golf
- Blog
- Clean apartment
- Lululemon
- Health post
- Health invoice
- Pick up/drop off dry cleaning
- Get bridesmaid dress hemmed
- Buy hand-weights
- Shower gift
- Grocery shopping?
Workout
Before I did anything else, I hit the gym for a much-needed workout.
Thank you for all of your words of wisdom regarding my exercise guilt. It’s comforting to know that other people experience the same type of feelings. I guess I’m normal! 
I spent 60 minutes at the gym this morning: 30 minutes strength training, 10 minutes on the elliptical, and 20 minutes walking on an incline on the treadmill (incline: 5.5 – 7.0, mph: 3.8 – 4.2).
Back, Biceps, and Triceps
- Bench Press: 3 sets, 10 reps, 20-25 lb. dumbbells
- Bent Over Row: 3 sets, 12 reps, 12 lb. dumbbells
- Chest Flies: 3 sets, 12 reps, 20 lb. dumbbells
- Seated Reverse-Fly: 3 sets, 15 reps, 12 lb. dumbbells
- Concentrated Biceps Curls: 3 sets, 10 reps, 15 lb. dumbbells
- Triceps Dips: 3 sets, 20 reps, body weight
Breakfast
I’ve been dying to try the empty nut butter jar + oats trick, so I was psyched when I realized that we were just about out of peanut butter this morning.
I made banana oats to accompany my empty peanut butter jar.
Holy yum! 
I loved finding “pockets” of peanut butter on random bites!
With iced coffee…
To my iced coffee, I added vanilla soy milk and NuStevia. I usually don’t like Stevia, but this brand didn’t have that weird/bitter aftertaste.
NuNaturals actually has an entire line of Stevia products, including baking products.
I’m excited to try the Cocoa Bean and Vanilla extracts in my baking experiments.
Spray Tan Fun
I have a photo shoot with Shape magazine on Monday, and since there has been ZERO sun in Boston this summer, I decided to get a spray tan this morning. I am much too pasty to appear in a national magazine!
I’m a total spray tan rookie, so I checked out tips online before going to Glow this morning. The spray tan process is really quick and painless. I was in and out in about 15 minutes!
I also took some “before” photos to compare the contrast of shades. Hopefully, I don’t blind you all with my ghost-colored legs! 
I need to let my tan “soak-in” for a few hours, so I’ll snap some “after” photos a little later. I guess the spray tan gets quite a bit darker the longer you wait to shower. So far it looks pretty good!
Lunch
After dropping off Mal, I sat in traffic for a solid 45 minutes (damn 93!), so I was good and hungry by the time I arrived home. I whipped up a tuna sandwich on toasted Arnold Sandwich Thins.
I mixed Claire’s relish and salty pepper Somersaults into the tuna. The combo was seriously delish!
We don’t have a single fruit or veggie in our refrigerator, so I made due with what we had. I added half of an Odwalla Wholly Grain fruit smoothie to lunch. I figured that the tropical blend of orange, pineapple, and mango juices was a good substitution for fresh produce.
This particular Odwalla drink packs 32 grams of natural whole grains into each bottle. The entire bottle has 400 calories in it, so I poured half of it into a glass and added a splash of water and some ice.
The taste was refreshing, and, of course, it’s a delicious way to incorporate healthful whole grains into your diet, but I’m not sure I’d buy this particular flavor very often. I tend to get a good amount of whole grains in my diet each day, so I don’t really need to add more. If you want to drink your whole grains this smoothie is a great option with 6 grams of fiber and 6 grams of protein per bottle.
National Hot Fudge Sundae Day
Today is National Hot Fudge Sundae Day! Who would have guessed?!
Here are a couple of recipes to help kick off the holiday:
Moja Love
MojaMix received quite a bit of traffic from from the giveaway the other day, so they decided to implement a 10% discount on all orders. Just use the code “carrotsncake” at check out. The deal is good until the end of the month, so be sure to jump on it!
A Delicious Life Balance
Check out a post about Carrots ‘N’ Cake on Do You Digg It!
Tackling my To Do List continues!
See ya later! 
{ 32 comments… read them below or add one }
Hope the spray tan turns out well! I’ve done sunless tanner myself by Clarins and loved it but I’ve never been sprayed. I’m interested to seeing your afters
Have a great weekend!
P.S. Happy Hot Fudge Sundae Day! Haha, I had no idea!
I LOVE Glow! That’s where I get my brows waxed (by Marissa) and, not to brag, but I think I have awesome brows! Did you do air brush or the spray booth? I’ve done the air brush and it was amazing and lasted a solid week. Loved it.
It’s so cool you have a photo shoot! You’re a real celeb now!
Shape?! What are you doing for them – are you being a fitness model? They always feature “real” people as models in that one part of the magazine…
Magazine photo shoot?!?! Very glamorous and exciting Miss Tina!
Wow! You’re going to be in Shape?? I LOVE that magazine! Awesome! =D
good work with your list! And congrats on being in Shape!
Omg you get to appear in Shape? That’s so awesome, congratulations:)
I love SHAPE magazine! It and Real Simple are my favorites. Congrats on completing such an awesome workout – looks like your exercise funk has lifted a bit
Oooh! What is the photo shoot for?
Good luck with your photo shoot…sounds pretty cool and your lookin good.
http://www.alovefornewrecipes.blogspot.com
Those Odwalla drinks are seriously good. And now that you mention that I want to try that NuNaturals brand of Stevia~ thanks for the mention!
Shape?! Congrats girl! I’ll be sure to pick up that copy!
i just got the same beautiful bounty of goods from nunaturals and i have to agree – it’s so much better than i was fearing!!! have had bad experiences with stevia. can’t wait to see what you end up doing with your stuff…so far i’ve used it in oatmeal and tea.
Just wait til Day 5 of the spray tan! It gradually gets darker and darker each day that goes by then by day 3 you’ll be golden and by you’re sun-kissed to the max
Just in time for the Shape photoshoot too! 
Oooh how exciting – can’t wait to hear about the photo shoot! I haven’t had a spray tan before – but I have had a professional one and it’s awesome! It was so good looking healthy and tan next to all my pasty British friends! Haha.
I get Shape magazine so now I really looking forward to this issue. You are a great healthy role model!
Mmm Your PB oats look amazing!! I’m excited to see you in Shape!! I use Truvia but I think I’ll have to check out NuStevia!
That’s one heck of a to-do list! Good thing you woke up bright and early! I really need to try some of those Arnold Sandwich thins. That’s awesome that you’re going to be in Shape!
Nice looking tan!
I love Stevia. I am still working on how sweet it is… I end up putting in way more than I need and ruining the whole thing
That’s an interesting drink. Usually I feel like I get enough whole grains(a bowl of oatmeal is just 8g shy of the daily recommended value) but on days I skip the oats I feel like a little boost from an unexpected source would be helpful
Good luck on the spray tan. I tried it out once before my wedding and didn’t think it looked too good on me. I’m SO tempted to go to the tanning bed. I just can’t bring myself to take the risk!
Yay for getting back in the exercise routine. 
Congrats on being in Shape! I’m excited for you!!
Glad to hear it’s national hot fudge sundae day. I just had one! I must have subconsciously known
LOVE Spray Tans! I get them a lot in Summer and do my own fake tans in between. I love Loreal Sublime Bronze too it is the best I’ve tried (and that is a lot!). Hope it turns out well. It really is better than baking in the sun
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Everyone is doing that empty nut butter container + oats combo and I’m dying for my almond butter to run out so I can try it!
So cool that you are going to be in Shape magazine!
can’t wait to see how the tan turns out!
So cool that you are going to be in Shape magazine!
can’t wait to see how the tan turns out!
OH! You’re my new favorite blogger fyi
I was wondering, how much of the Stevia did you use in your coffee? I have been wanting to wean myself off Splenda, but have had bad experiences with stevia (as you said – wierd/bad aftertaste-eeww)and I don’t want to add the calories of sugar or agave nectar. I will look for this brand and try it again! Thanks:)
Congrats on the Shape photoshoot! Can’t wait to hear all about it!
Hi Tina-
I read your blog every day and LOVE it! I HAVE to write you after seeing your painful apartment hunting experience. I’ m not crazy- but I have to let you know from one Boston dog lover to another, I’m moving out of my 2 BR condo on Comm Ave in Bline/Brighton, and I’ve lived there for 7 years with my little dog Maddie (pets allowed!!!). Anyway, my house is on the market, and if your interested, email me and I will send you the link to the listing. I CANT BELIEVE HOW MUCH THAT NASTY APARTMENT WAS!!
xo
Ali
Tina: Your post on exercise guilt inspired me to get back out there. I’ve been feeling sorry for myself since having hand surgery in June, since I couldn’t do my main forms of exercise, tennis and yoga. But I did a hilly 3 mile fast walk (I used to run and am trying to get back to it) and feel excited about the momentum. But you should not feel guilty in the least!! Trust me, your exercise habits are better than 99% of Americans!
Yikes, I had no idea NuNaturals had so many products. I’ve never tried any, but I use stevia almost exclusively as a sweetener. Thanks for the heads up!
mmm I love odwalla drinks..especailly the berries gomega one
…I have never seen the one you mentioned before though!
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