San Franola-Granola that Packs a Punch {Review & Giveaway!}

Disclaimer: I was given boxes of San Franola granola to review and giveaway on my blog. I received no other compensation for this post. All thoughts and opinions are my own, as always. 

Congrats to Ashley who won my Bakery on Main oatmeal giveaway! 

Granola is a delicious snack or breakfast option, but I can't have too much of it in the house. If I buy a bag of it my boyfriend and I are going to finish it in a matter of days. I also make a mean peanut butter granola which I enjoy making from time to time. 

Now granola always gets a bad rap because while it is always delicious, it is usually loaded with calories and sugar,has a measly 1/4 cup serving size of deliciousness, and isn't very filling. 

When I went to Expo East in September (throwback recap one of these days?), of course there were lots of granola and cereal companies. However I tasted San Franola and was blown away not only by how yummy it was but by it's nutritional stats. They are also based out of San Francisco, a city I love, and had a super cute guy working their booth which helped.  I was super excited to have San Franola follow up with me after the expo about doing a blog review & giveaway.  

5 Things that Make Me Happy Lately (Thinking Out Loud Thursdays)

It seems right now the world can't escape Pharrell, his huge hat, and his hit single Happy. It's everywhere. and I love it.  I'm okay with a catchy song with a nice message on the airwaves among so many empty, dime-a-dozen pop songs (which can be fun, but still). Today I'm talking about being happy. Yes, clap along if you feel like happiness is the truth.  Now I'm not saying I'm completely happy-I'll always be chasing that. Lately even amid the stress and negativity I've been focusing on the positive things,even if something isn't going my way.  I'm obsessed with my daily TUT emails (there will be more TUT-inspired posts on here) and this one from a week ago really sparked these feelings for me: 

Nothing is worth your unhappiness, Lauren; not because the awful and ugly don't happen, but because there's always more of the really good stuff. 

Always, 

    The Universe

Nothing is worth my stress and unhappiness. Life is too short to not be happy and time does fly. It's like that motivation saying "a year from now, you'll wish you started today" or however it goes. Maybe it's just my birthday coming up far too fast that is causing me to be so reflective. Anyways counting all the good little things in my life makes the rest seem not so disastrous. Today I'm sharing some things that have me feeling positive.  This might become a regular little exercise of reflection for me! My random moments of happiness and tips for focusing on the present are also a great fit for Amanda's Thinking Out Loud linkup . 

5 Things that Make Me Happy Lately

1.  Taking time to cook leisurely. Last night I made some butternut squash veggie mac & cheese. I added some noodles, sauteed kale and mushrooms in with my cheese sauce. The recipe for my cheese is below if you are interested-it was tasty! You could make this completely dairy-free if you wanted-I added a little cheese from a local farm from my CSA. I just kind of winged it because I was in the mood for some comfort food and had some frozen butternut squash also from my CSA to use up. You could roast or boil and puree your own butternut squash to use.  

It was nice not just throwing something together because I was tired or eating something I meal prepped. Even though I made up this recipe on the fly, I  took my time to cooking it and even ate dinner without my phone next to me or the TV on. 

(serves 2-3)

Will Run for Chocolate: Hot Chocolate 15K Recap

Just a reminder to check out my Bakery on Main gluten-free oatmeal review & giveaway (ends Friday!). 

Mondays still suck guys. Yesterday I was exhausted from the weekend and had a busy day at work, with the only break being an impromptu lunch date with the boyfriend, which was followed by rushing to class in the rain and arriving 20 minutes late only to find lecture had been cancelled. I hung out in the library for an hour until lab started when I could have been napping at home, ugh.

On a happier note, the weekend ended up being lovely and full of family time, running, and chocolate!

I drove up to Philadelphia on Saturday for the Hot Chocolate 15K/5K race packet pickup. I had to get to my parents' house by the early afternoon for a little day trip down to Atlantic City so I was rushing around in the morning and packed in a hurry.  Packet pickup was in University City near the University of Penn, which is a really pretty area. I was especially happy a Starbucks was on my way because I needed my coffee fix! They had the packet pickup at small sports store which was surprisingly efficient and fast. Even though it's not a brand-name or anything, I really do like the pullover we got in lieu of a race shirt or medal.  

Bakery on Main Gluten-Free Instant Oatmeal Review & Giveaway!

Disclaimer: I was given boxes of Bakery on Main oatmeal to review and giveaway on my blog. I am a Bakery on Main  Brand Ambassador but received no compensation for this post. All thoughts and opinions are my own, as always. 

As a Truebar-fueled athlete I had reviewed Bakery on Main's yummy Truebars a while back and am now a Bakery on Main brand ambassador. If you didn't know, Bakery on Main has a whole line of yummy gluten-free products including bars, granola and oatmeal!

 I'm a big cliche and love ginormous fluffy bowls of oatmeal topped with nut butters so I was really excited to try out Bakery on Main's gluten-free instant oatmeal. I'm usually an oatmeal on the stove top kinda gal, but many mornings I'm short on time and that just isn't happening. I was lucky enough to have a few boxes of oatmeal sent to me with my recent half marathon training Truebar package!

What first caught my eye was that Bakery on Main oatmeal comes in unique flavors like apple pie, strawberry shortcake, blueberry scone, carrot cake along with the usual maple multigrain and traditional flavors. 

5 Friday Favorites 4/4/2014

So yesterday was one of those crappy days where you need more sleep, little stupid things happen like you can't find your keys in the morning, and you end up just randomly crying in the afternoon. Yikes. Luckily I felt a lot better before I went to bed (a glass of wine might have contributed to this) and am ready to have a fun & sunny weekend! I also have a rare Saturday post on the blog tomorrow featuring a review and giveaway of some Bakery on Main gluten-free oatmeal so stay tuned!

Five Friday Things

1. Favorite Whole Foods find: Eat Pastry Dairy-free, Egg-free Cookie Dough

My boyfriend and I went into Whole Foods for two things we needed and ended up leaving with a bunch of things we didn't. I'm not going to lie, that pretty much always happens when I go to Whole Foods, Trader Joe's or the worst of them all-Target.  

Anyways we picked up this tub of cookie dough you can eat STRAIGHT from the container because, of course, it's definitely what we needed in our fridge haha. You can bake these too, but I've only been eating spoonfuls out of the container randomly. It's amazing. 

2. Favorite afternoon snack: Larabars

Thinking Out Loud Thursday-Heat it Up!

Seriously, how is it already Thursday? or April? I need more hours in the day! Blogging has been way more sporadic than I've wanted, but I've got lots of fun things lined up for the next few weeks so keep reading!  I'm linking up with Amanda's Thinking Out Loud Thursdays since I'm feeling all over the place today (again). 

1. I'm trying to do a couple challenges this month. First, I'm doing the Heat it Up April Instagram challenge some of my fellow I'm Fit Possible and Fitfluential ladies organized. It has all sorts of topics to post photos so I'm not just posting photos of my food or bowls of oatmeal!  Use and search for the hashtag "heatitup to join me for a fun challenge!

MIMM- Electric Rides and Rainy Runs (Love Run Philly Recap)

Ugh. I have so much I've wanted to blog about and so little time. Hopefully this week I can get back on track. I swear I'll update about my races two weeks ago and other random running things! Things have been stressful, packed, and less than marvelous lately, but hopefully that will turn around this week.  

Friday I went to Rev Cycle Studio for an Electric Ride spin event with some friends. It was a 60 minute class with a DJ, blacklights, and glowstick gear.  The class was hard, sweaty, but fun. You bet I kept my glowstick tiara on the whole ride! 

Saturday morning my boyfriend and I trekked up to Philly in the pouring rain to pickup my race things at the Love Run Philly Half Marathon Expo. It's the inaugural year for the half marathon, also known as the race that loves you back (cute!), but still had around 10,000 runners.  The expo was in the Philadelphia Convention Center and was pretty well-organized.  I picked up my Love Run mug, shirt, and bib and pretty much got out of there. I loved the ideas of getting a mug and having a vanity bib where you got to choose what you wanted your race bib to say!

I'm Fit Possible Blog Swap featuring Jess and The Power of Music

I have a special blog post for you today-it's an I'm Fit Possible community blog swap! I'm Fit Possible is an amazing community of down-to-earth,sassy, creative, and fun fitness and wellness enthusiasts who are also pretty much rock stars. We are also social media superstars and thought a great way to connect our ambassadors and community with others would be a blog swap. I hope you enjoy today's guest post and check out my post for Jess about first time half marathoner race tips here! 

Hi everyone! I'm Jess  and I blog over at JustCall Me Janks. I'm a wife, puppy mom, wine lover, barre enthusiast and (fairly new) runner. My blog chronicles my life - from fitness and finances to relationships and recipes. It's a pleasure to meet you!

Lauren and I got to know each other last summer at a Baltimore blogger meet up and I'm happy to have been paired with her for today's I'm Fit Possible blog swap. She and I have bonded over our love of running, good food, and Old Bay. I've enjoyed following her adventures and appreciate her advice when it comes to the sport of running.