I want to keep track of my favorites posts from the year, so here are my top 12 from January. Enjoy!  

How I Chose My Protein Powder

I swear there are some mornings that my iced coffee tastes better than others. Today was one of those days. Holy yum! Cold, creamy goodness in a glass. Hey, sometimes, it’s the little things in life… Breakfast Along with my iced coffee, I enjoyed a Coconut Protein Pancake.

Apple Crisp Light

Remember my mom’s recipe for Apple Crisp? It’s seriously delicious and one of my favorite desserts ever, but, sadly, it’s not at all healthy. I mean, there’s a cup of sugar and a full stick of butter in it.

“Oatmeal” Minus the Oats

Last night, within minutes, I received two emails from readers asking very similar questions about breakfast and protein: I’m so sorry to say that I just don’t like oatmeal. You’re so creative with it and i know it is a great source of protein but I just can’t get into it.

Running + CrossFit: A Match Made In Heaven?

Now that I’ve been doing CrossFit for almost a month, I’ve noticed that it really interferes with my running— not really my motivation to run, but my physical ability to actually do it. Typically, I’m too exhausted to run after a CrossFit workout, so I try to run before, but, sometimes, my body is just too exhausted.

Bob Harper on CrossFit, The Biggest Loser & His Last Meal on Earth

Awhile back, Quaker Oats invited me to participate in a conference call with Bob Harper along with a few other bloggers. The call was scheduled on the same day as the NASM Live Workshop, so I wasn’t able to attend, but Quaker folks kindly offered to coordinate a one-on-one email interview with Bob.

NASM Certified Personal Trainer Q & A

Hi, guys! Look what arrived in the mail this afternoon! My NASM Certified Personal Trainer certificate! Woohoo! I figured receiving my certificate in the mail today was a sign that I should probably reply to your questions about NASM, so here’s a little Q & A.

Lunch with Ellie Krieger

Hi, guys! I just got back from having lunch with Ellie Krieger. No big deal. Lunch This afternoon, Kris, Karen, and I met Ellie at Cookshop for lunch. (Kris and Karen are the PR folks from the California Grapes Commission.) Cookshop was a great spot for lunch.

How I Started Running

Good morning! Check out last night’s Workout of the Day: Hmm… Surprise WOD? I should have known then that it was going to be a killer workout! (Our coaches didn’t post the WOD because they thought people wouldn’t come if they saw it ahead of time! Ha!)

How Much Exercise Is Too Much?

Yowsahs. Last night’s WOD was another killer CrossFit workout! Two days in a row of tough workouts, and I’m spent. Today is most definitely a rest day. Check out last night’s WOD: Strength: Overhead Squat 5-5-5 WOD: “Helen’s Ugly Cousin” 15 Minutes As Many Rounds As Possible of: 400 meter run 21 Sumo Dead Lift High.

Mostly We Don’t Remember The Days; We Remember The Moments

It’s never a dull day in the Haupert house! I live with the two biggest clowns ever. So, I haven’t been totally truthful with you guys about my life lately. Not because I have something to hide, but after my ex passed away last summer, I’ve been hesitant to share the really personal details of my life.

Mohegan Sun WineFest ’12

Wow! What an event! I’ve attended all sorts of wine tastings over the years, but nothing like Mohegan’s Sun WineFest! Featuring beer, wine, specialty spirits and delectable dishes this weekend extravaganza has something for everyone. Wine and beer enthusiasts can select from over 1,000 brands or enjoy tastings of specialty sponsor spirits.

At-Home and Budget-Friendly CrossFit Ideas

In the past several weeks, I’ve received a ton of questions from you guys asking for cheaper and at-home ideas for CrossFit. It seems that quite a few of you want to try it, but don’t live near a CrossFit location and/or don’t have the funds to afford a membership.

What a weekend! I still can’t believe how quickly it fly by. Hey, time flies when you’re having fun! In cased you missed my adventures, here are my Mohegan Sun recaps from the weekend.

After all of that boozing on Saturday, the four of us woke up on Sunday morning ready for a healthy start. We grabbed breakfast at the Seasons Buffet and then drove to nearby Mystic, Connecticut to walk around, explore, and enjoy lunch.

Breakfast

Anne and I were starving when we woke up, so, as soon as we arrived at the buffet, we loaded up our plates with fresh fruit and chowed down while we waited in the omelet line. Check out this fruit rind carnage!

For breakfast, I went with a veggie + bacon omelet with a side of smoked salmon (hooray for omega-3’s) and some more fresh fruit.

On my way out of the buffet, I grabbed a waffle stick because they just looked so darn delicious—and it really was! It sort of reminded me a churro. Mmm!

After breakfast, we packed up our things, checked out of the hotel, and drove about 20 minutes away to The Museum of America and the Sea at the Mystic Seaport. It’s the first touristy thing we saw in Mystic (and it had a big parking lot), so we went to explore.

Sadly, the museum was closed, so we used the opportunity to snap some photos and check out the nearby gift shop.

Before leaving the gift shop, we asked the woman working there for some recommendations for coffee and lunch. She suggested two great places: Lis Bake Shop and Oyster Club.

The museum and gift shop were about a 15-minute walk from downtown Mystic, so we decided to hoof it and get a little exercise in for the day. First stop: Lis Bake Shop, an adorable little bakery with all sorts of delicious-looking pastries, cupcakes, bagels, muffins, and other goodies as well as a variety of espresso drinks, coffee, and tea.

It was so cute inside!

So true.

I ordered a hot coffee with a shot of pumpkin syrup. The first several sips were absolutely amazing, but the intense sweetness eventually started to upset my stomach, so I only drank about half of it.

In downtown Mystic, we did a little window shopping and then stopped by the famous Mystic Pizza that the popular 80’s movie is based off. Cool!

Lunch

We enjoyed lunch at Oyster Club, a “casual fine dining restaurant” that just screams New England. The restaurant has a warm and fuzzy country-chic feel with beautiful dark wood and lots of sunshine from its large windows. It was adorable both inside and out.

The menu features local and seasonal farm- (and sea) -to-table foods, which determine the day’s dishes.

We started with freshly baked bread, warm from the oven, with salted butter.

I ordered the turkey burger with roasted apples, cheddar, honey mustard aioli and house made turkey bacon. It was served with a green salad. It was so tasty and the combination of toppings knocked my socks off. I actually couldn’t stop talking about the honey mustard aioli. Holy yum!

After lunch, I dropped Ashley and Theodora off at the train station and then brought Anne to the airport in Boston. I’m not going to lie, it was a little sad saying goodbye to my friends after such a fun-filled weekend. Perhaps we’ll have to do it again sooner than later!

Wow! What an event! I’ve attended all sorts of wine tastings over the years, but nothing like Mohegan’s Sun WineFest!

Featuring beer, wine, specialty spirits and delectable dishes this weekend extravaganza has something for everyone. Wine and beer enthusiasts can select from over 1,000 brands or enjoy tastings of specialty sponsor spirits. Foodies can sample signature dishes from the region’s most highly rated restaurants. The Main Culinary Stage is the backdrop for two days of celebrity chef demonstrations, including Food Network stars Bobby Flay, Iron Chef Marc Forgione, Donatella Arpaia and Robert Irvine, along with fun-filled contests – Mohegan Sun WineFest Grape Stomp presented by Ciroc Ultra Premium Vodka and Oyster Open presented by Bud Light Lime. Throughout the weekend there is an impressive lineup of wine and beer experts hosting seminars intimate private-dining restaurant settings throughout Mohegan Sun.

The Grand Tasting was held at Mohegan’s Convention Center, so we didn’t need to travel far.

We walked right into the event, grabbed a wine glass, and we were off!

The Grand Tasting was really crowded (shoulder to shoulder crowds in certain places), but we never waited more than a minute or two for a sample. There were THAT many wine exhibitors!

The afternoon started off innocently enough.

Lots of tastes and sips.

There were so many amazing wines to try, I knew I needed to pace myself if I wanted to survive the afternoon. My game plan: only drink the wines that I really enjoyed. If I didn’t like a wine after taking a couple of sips, I poured it out and went to find another one to try. This strategy is also known as “alcohol abuse” ended up working really well because I tried a ton of new wines, but I didn’t up totally hammered. I also drank a ridiculous amount of water throughout the afternoon, which helped too.

I discovered a bunch of new favorites (Valley of the Moon, Rombauer, and White Wedding from Sip & Give) and rediscovered some old favorites (Chateau Ste Michelle, La Crema, and Entwine), and I made sure to snap pictures of the bottles for future reference. The Chateau Ste Michelle Sauvignon Blanc is a MUST BUY ASAP for me. I loved it!

As the afternoon progressed, wine tasting got more and more fun!

After a few hours of tasting wine, it was time to try some beer! (Yep, this Winefest had plenty of beer too!)

Touchdown! Hooray for beer!

Clearly, some of us were super psyched about the beer part of the Grand Tasting. Beer me!

Beer highlights for me:

Blue Point Brewing Company. I love their Toasted Lager and Winter Ale.

Harpoon Brewery. Their Vermont Spruce Tip Ale (100 Barrel Series) was so delicious. FYI: One of the Harpoon reps told me that Catamount Maple Wheat is back in March! YESSSS!

Lagunitas Brewing Company. Duh. Best brewery ever. This brewery only makes good beer.

Hey, Theodora, nice Lagunitas Maximus.

The folks at the beer tasting were a lot of fun (I think everyone was feeling pretty good at this point in the afternoon), so we chatted with a bunch of random people.

Let’s just say, some were more fun than others! Haha!

Once the Grand Tasting ended, we did some drunk shopping (I bought $23 mascara from Sephora. WHY?!?) and then headed back to our hotel room for an epic game of “Never Have I Ever” and some more cocktails.

We had a dinner reservation for 10:00 PM at Bar Americain, but we were so famished, we ended up ordering a pizza to the room. (Quick tip: If you plan to dine at Mohegan after the WineFest, be sure to make a reservation well ahead of time. I called the week of the event and had trouble finding a table for four.)

I only ate a couple of snacks during the afternoon, so I housed four pieces of pizza and then passed out hard. Theodora and Anne rallied and hit the casino again, but Ashley and I called it a night. Sadly, I can’t party like I used to. #iamold

Many thanks to Mohegan for inviting us to Sun Winefest and comping our tickets and hotel stay. And, of course, a HUGE thanks to Anne, Ashley, and Theodora for a fabulous girls’ weekend! I already miss you guys!

A girls’ weekend with four runners = morning run! Yay!

The four of us set our alarms and woke up bright and early to get our run on around the Mohegan Sun grounds this morning.

Unfortunately, there weren’t any actual trails around Mohegan, so we stuck to the roads as well as a few random large parking lots and a landfill.

The weather was beautiful (cool, but sunny) and we enjoyed a really nice 5.6 mile run.

Hello, my name is Tina. I wear my Spibelt extra high. I also do CrossFit, so check out my huge muscles. Did you know I can climb ropes?

Snack

Before our run, I snacked on some Fig Newtons that I bought at a convenience store at Mohegan. I needed a little something in my stomach before running.

Breakfast

After our run, we headed straight to breakfast at the Seasons Buffet. (A complimentary breakfast is included with our media passes.)

I was in the mood for eggs, so I hit up the omelet station.

I got all sorts of veggies and bacon in my omelet. The bacon was a GREAT decision. I also grabbed some fresh fruit to add to my plate.

As well as a side of oatmeal with a few raisins on top.

Now, we’re having a quick blogging session before the grand wine tasting. Ooooh, boy!! I can’t wait!

Hi, guys!

Say hello to my special visitor: Anne!! I picked her up from the airport yesterday afternoon and, of course, we needed to make at stop at Marylou’s for delicious, dessert-like iced coffees. I got Anne hooked on Marylou’s the last time she visited me.

Before we hit up Marylou’s, Anne and I headed to Whole Foods for lunch. It was way past both of our lunchtimes, so we were starving! On the menu: salad + hot bar + club soda.

After lunch and a quick pit stop at Marylou’s, we hit the road to drive down to Mohegan Sun to meet Theodora and Ashley for the weekend. Our friends at Mohegan invited us to enjoy complimentary hotel stay and tickets to their Sun Winefest. Hello, girls’ weekend! Naturally, it started with champagne.

Dinner

For dinner, the four of us headed to BALLO for dinner. I loved it so much the last time I dined there, I wanted to take the my friends to see what its awesomeness was all about.

To start, we ordered a bottle of Pio Cesare Arneis, which was the same bottle of wine that Mal and I liked so much when we dined at BALLO.

The four of us also shared a bunch of dishes: meatballs.

Fried artichokes.

BRUSSELS SPROUTS!

OMG, love these!

And a sausage pizza.

I was so hungry, everything tasted especially amazing last night.

More adventures to come! Stay tuned!

Greetings from Penn Station!

I can’t believe I’m already headed back to Boston. What a whirlwind/awesome trip! A big thanks to the California Grape Commission for showing me such a wonderful time in the Big Apple!

Breakfast

The other day when I grabbed a snack from the café across the street from my hotel, I stumbled upon a delicious-looking breakfast option called “Swiss Oatmeal.” I was really intrigued by it, so I got it for breakfast this morning.

Not the most appetizing photo, but in the mix: low-fat yogurt, a little bit of granola, tons of chopped walnuts, raisins, and chucks of apples.

My goodness, it was delicious! Clearly, I need to recreate Swiss Oatmeal at home.

Also with breakfast, I ordered a soy latte, which was insanely strong. Holy cow! I don’ think the barista put enough milk in it? Or maybe she just threw in an extra shot of espresso? I dunno, but I ended up drinking the whole thing, and now I’m wiiiidde-awake!

Lunch

After breakfast, I walked to Penn Station to get my train back to Boston. I planned to hit up Zaro’s to buy lunch to take with me on the train, but, sadly, their salad bar wasn’t set up yet for the day. Bummer. I thought about buying one of Zaro’s pre-made salads or sandwiches, but, for some reason, I’d much rather watch someone make my salad (or sandwich) than buy a pre-packaged one.

I wandered around Penn Station looking for a different lunch option and, not even a minute later, found a similar-style salad bar at Chickpea. Yay! The salad bar at Chickpea had all the veggie fixings as well as falafel, chicken, hummus, and guacamole, which I added to my salad. I probably got a little carried away with the ingredients because my salad cost me a fortune, but it looks delicious, and it’s packed with protein, healthy fats, and nutrients. It was worth it!

Question of the Day

What are your thoughts on pre-packaged salads and sandwiches? Love ‘em? Hate ‘em? Do you buy them or avoid them?

P.S. I have an awesome giveaway coming up later this morning! I just need to set it up. Stay tuned!

Greetings from New York City!

I arrived at Penn Station just before 1:00 PM, and then I hoofed it about a mile (luggage and all) to my hotel. From door-to-door, the trip was quick and painless.

So, I bet you’re wondering what I’m doing in NYC for the next few days? Remember that behind-the-scenes Food Network video that I filmed at Rialto with Jody Adams? It was part of the California Grapes video challenge, which I won thanks to you guys (you’re the best!) and all of your votes, so my prize for winning is this trip to New York City. Very exciting! It includes a tour of the Food Network, lunch with Ellie Krieger (!!!), and an “influencer” dinner tomorrow night with some pretty fancy people. (I hope I can reign in my awkwardness!) 

Obviously, I’m super excited to be here, but, man, it was hard saying goodbye to a sad pug face this morning!

Please note the uncurled pug tail in the above photo. I guess Murphy didn’t want to say goodbye either.

Breakfast

This morning’s breakfast was a whole wheat wrap with sunflower butter, sliced banana, shredded carrot, raisins, walnuts, and cinnamon inside. It was an awesome mix of ingredients, and I got a serving of fruit and veggies with breakfast!

After breakfast, I took Murphy for a long-ish morning walk and then returned home to see a car waiting outside my house to take me to the train station. It was 10 minutes early, so I gave Murphy a quick hug and kiss, packed up my things, and hopped in the car. About 45 minutes later, I was at South Station. Easy-peasy.

I had about 20 minutes to kill before my train departed, so I grabbed a skim milk latte, which, as soon as I tasted it, wished was made with soy milk. I definitely prefer the creaminess of soy milk over non-fat milk when it comes to lattes. Oh, well, I drank it anyway.

Lunch

I packed lunch at home to take with me on the train: roasted broccoli + two slices of leftover pizza. I also brought a bottle of water, so I didn’t spend a single cent on the train!

I just checked into my hotel room, and I have about six hours of free time until dinner with the PR folks from California Grapes, so I’m going to hit the gym and then meet up with a friend for Happy Hour.

Hi, friends! We have lots of catching up to do—and I have a fun giveaway at the end of this post for you! OK, let’s get to it!

Yesterday morning, Mal, Sibylle (Mal’s sister), Coleman (Sibylle’s fiancé), and I started our drive to Mount Baker. Since it was about 3 hours from Seattle, we planned to spend the day exploring Bellingham and then stay overnight there (at a hotel), so we could hit the road bright and early to Mount Baker for a full day of skiing.

Brody also accompanied us for the trip. He’s so cute!

Lunch

We arrived in Bellingham around lunchtime, so we popped into The Temple Bar for some food.

The Temple Bar was an adorable little restaurant with a wonderful menu full of tasty-sounding options. 

On the front page of the menu was a lunch prix fixe where you chose one item from each column to complete your meal. This sounded like a lot of fun to me, so I ordered it for lunch. I picked: A) Salty Apple sandwich, B) salad, C) pickles, and D) house wine.

The Salty Apple sandwich was prosciutto, sliced apple, and blue cheese on thick, grilled bread. Apple + blue cheese is an amazing flavor combo. I need to remember it! Yum!

After lunch, Sibylle and I spent a lovely afternoon at Zazen Salon Spa.

Each of us enjoyed a 60-minute massage + 60-minute facial, and it was awesome. Both of us left feeling incredibly relaxed.

After our spa treatments, we met up with the guys at a nearby Irish pub.

There, I drank a couple of beers.

Snacked on some pretzels with mustard and played Pitch.

Dinner

A few hours later, the four of us worked up quite an appetite playing cards, so we headed to Boundary Bay Brewery and Bistro for dinner.

As soon as we arrived, I ordered a Cabin Fever Ale, which was dark and malty with a spicy hop finish. I liked it, but I only drank about half of my pint during dinner. I wasn’t really in the mood to drink anymore, and I wanted to make sure I felt 100% for skiing in the morning.

For dinner, I ordered the Yam Alechiladas, which were a mixture of yams, cheddar and Jack cheese, caramelized onion, and toasted garlic, wrapped in tortillas, and served with rice and beans. It doesn’t look pretty, but it was quite tasty and very filling.

Mal & Sibylle! Don’t they look like siblings?!

After dinner, we headed back to the hotel and went right to bed. We planned to get up super early to drive to Mount Baker, so we all wanted a good night’s sleep. (Ski adventures to come next!)

$100 Serve Giveaway

Remember when I tested out the new Amex Serve app a couple of weeks ago? Well, I flaked-out and didn’t realize the program also included a $100 giveaway for you guys! Oops, sorry!

If you’d like to enter, just sign up for Serve and receive $10 credit towards your first use, and then comment on this post for your chance to win an extra $100 credit to your account! (Official sweepstakes rules and regulations may be found here: http://www.foodbuzz.com/blogs/4622317-win-serve-dollars-giveaway-official-rules.) The folks at Serve will be drawing a random winner soon, so be sure to enter!

Hi, friends!

I woke up to the fuzzy face of a cutie-pie Golden Retriever this morning. Brody is the sweetest pup!

Once we got out of bed, Mal and I took a quick trip to Caffe Ladro for iced coffees. The last time we were in Seattle a few years ago, we fell in love with their coffee, so it was a priority to visit this morning.

I added soy milk to my iced coffee. The coffee at Caffe Ladro is so flavorful and strong. Love it!

For breakfast, we had eggs, toast, and fruit.

The toast, in particular, was killer good! The Powerseed variety that I ate this morning had 6g of protein and 6g of fiber in one slice– and it’s really delicious.

Off to Mount Baker!

P.S. We went to dinner at Tamarind Tree last night and it was fantastic. My photos didn’t come out because of the dim lighting, but if you like Vietnamese food, definitely go there. I highly recommend it!

Hello and greetings from Seattle!

Mal and I arrived safe and sound a little while ago. Now, we’re waiting for his luggage (he checked his snowboard boots and bindings), so I figured I’d blog while we had some downtime.

Our day started bright and early (aka in the middle of the night) with a 2:45 AM wake-up call. (I’m pretty sure it was the earliest I’ve ever woken up for a flight.) A cab arrived at our house at 3:15 AM, so Mal and I made sure that we were completely packed up and ready to go, so all we needed to do was shower and get dressed in the morning.

Things went as planned and we arrived at the airport a little before 4:00 AM. We whizzed through airport security, so Mal and I had a plenty of time to spare before boarding our first flight of the day.

This meant that we had time for Starbucks, so I ordered an iced soy latte to get my day started on the right foot.

Mal and I drank our iced lattes and played Words With Friends while we waited to board our flight to Charlotte. I can’t remember why exactly we chose Charlotte for a connecting flight, especially since it’s not really on the way to Seattle, but I sort of remember our tickets being dirt cheap. I guess it makes sense then. Plus, we arrived in Seattle at 1:30 PM (PST), so ya can’t beat that!

On the flight, I read my new book: A Pug’s Tale.

A couple of months ago, the author herself emailed me to see if I wanted to read her book. A book about pugs? Obviously, I did, so she sent me a complimentary copy. I’m about halfway through so far, and it’s really cute. If you love pugs, you’ll love this book.

Breakfast

When we landed in Charlotte, Mal and I immediately went in search for food. We were starving. Thankfully, our terminal had a great little bagel bakery in it, so we stopped there to order breakfast.

I ordered an egg and cheese sandwich on a whole wheat bagel. I’m not sure if I was super hungry or what, but this particular egg sandwich tasted amazing. Apparently, I really savored each bite because Mal made a joke about how slowly I ate it. (I think I was still half asleep when I was eating it.)

Lunch

Our second flight of the day (to Seattle) departed at 10:30, so I planned to purchase lunch on the plane. Unfortunately, US Airways wasn’t able to restock their menu items, so they ran out of meals by the time they reached my row. Wicked bummer. I ended up with a package of Blueberry Pomegranate Trail Mix, which was really delicious, but not the lunch I had planned on.

With it, I drank some seltzer.

And watched The Hangover II, which was pretty much the original movie with plot variations, but it kept me entertained for part of the flight.

After not eating a proper lunch and it being nearly dinnertime on the East coast, Mal and I are famished when we arrived in Seattle. Our first stop: FOOD + BEER at West 5!

There, I drank a couple of Sierra Nevada Celebration Ales.

And ate half of a tuna melt and a salad with dressing on the side.

Now, Mal and I are hanging out and relaxing at his sister’s and fiancé’s house before dinner.

Stay tuned! More adventures to come!