Lovin' my Job

Greetings! TGIF... for serious.

Two awesome things today:

1. Colin Mochrie and Brad Sherwood from "Whose Line Is It, Anyway?!" are playing the Pabst this weekend and happen to be filming both shows for future release on DVD. I've loved Colin and Brad's shows here each year, they are incredible actors and comedians. If you have the chance, I highly recommend their live show. Be sure to check them out when they are in your town!

(source)

Back to my point - I walked into the theater and up the stairs toward my office, and noticed a setup for an interview!

How cool is that? They are gonna be filming their interview right outside of my office!

Obviously, I will be quiet and courteous while they tape the interview... but may just have to take a few peeks around the corner as well ;-) It's the random stuff like this that makes me pinch myself to make sure this is truly my job.

2. Other awesome thing = a kick-ass bowl of Starbucks Perfect Oatmeal.

Main reason this rocked? It was FREE - I redeemed a coupon that 'bucks had mailed to me. Also, the texture this morning was spot on, sometimes their oatmeal can be a little dry or weird. Today, this was indeed Perfect Oatmeal - creamy, piping hot and delicious.

I added about 1/2 of each: Nut medley, dried fruit and brown sugar.

Off to work. Got a ton to do today. Cheers!

Freakin' Weekend

Can you feel it? Just one day away!

Today has been very productive at work... this AM we announced the David Cook concert I've been working so diligently on. I've never really gotten into the Idol stuff, but this should be an interesting show.

I am currently buried in invoices - blah. I haven't really had to solid of a meal today, just some snackin' here and there...

I kicked off the morning with a Perfect Oatmeal from Starbucks. Because I have instant and slow-cook oats at home, I don't often go this route, but really love it when I do. It's a quick, easy and transportable meal option that stays hot. until I am ready to add the toppings at my desk.

In the mix: one packet of mixed chopped nuts, one packet of dried fruit, and 1/2 packet of brown sugar.

Later on, I grabbed some Udi's granola nuggets.

The nuggets contain oats, honey, almonds, cashews, sunflower seeds, and not much else. They are thick and delicious. I bought these onboard the Frontier Airlines flight from Denver (couple weeks ago). I have to see if I can buy these locally, they're great!

Have you found any great airline snacks or meal options?

Also, had some more berries... on their last leg. Glad I finished them.

Tonight = NEW EPISODE of The Office! New Parks & Recreation! Can't wait.

What television shows are you into this fall?

Behold - A Starbucks muffin that's semi-healthy!

Friends, you may recall my last post about a Starbucks muffin that shocked and awed me.

It's no secret that muffins and other bakery treats contain copious amounts of fat. It's also no joke that food sold at convenience types of locations, such as Starbucks, have preservatives and other weird stuff in them to keep them fresher for longer.

This afternoon at my local 'bucks, I spied something odd. A row of muffins with a sign taped to the display, saying they had over 7g of fiber and contained Omega 3's! SOLD.

Behold - the Apple Bran Muffin.

Now, I gave the Blueberry Struesel muffin some crap because it had 33g of sugar. This one actually has more sugar (34g). The aforementioned B.S. muffin (haha!) had 11g of fat (6 saturated) and this one has a little less - 9g (2.5 saturated).

So despite my blog title, the health stats are maybe just slightly better than the B.S. muffin was. Is that entirely fair of me to say this one's healthy and the other one was full of crap? Probably not. That's why I am not a professional food critic.

What I can tell you, is why the muffin seems better from my point of view. In my opinion, the real winning factor of this A.B. muffin is the fiber - 7g. If I am going to eat a piece of carbohydrate heaven, I want it to work hard for me. The B.S. muffin only had 2g of fiber.

Also, the A.B. muffin has 25% the recommended daily value of calcium, and 20% for iron. Not too shabby.

Let me tell you - this A.B. muffin tastes really great! There are large pieces of fruit, cherries and raisins and whatnot, and it's very dense and moist.

Here are the nutrition stats - what do you think?

Shocker: Starbucks Blueberry Struesel Muffins contain a lot of fat + sugar!

33g of sugar. 11g of fat (6g saturated). 360 calories. 

I kinda knew, but didn't know the extent of just how much sugar / fat / etc. goes into a delicious muffin: Starbucks' Blueberry Struesel.

I enjoyed 1/2 of this muffin with a half packet of Justin's Natural Maple Almond Butter. This late breakfast constituted 370 calories, 13.5g fat (4g saturated), 2.5g fiber, 18.5g sugar, 6.5g protein. Not my healthiest but it surely tasted decadent! I am going to save the other 1/2 of the muffin for tomorrow.

Here are the muffin's stats:

Serving Size (g) 121 Amt Per Serving Calories 360 Fat Calories 100 Total Fat (g) 11 Saturated Fat (g) 6 Trans Fat (g) 0 Cholesterol (mg) 80 Sodium (mg) 390 Total Carbohydrates (g) 59 Fiber (g) 2 Sugars (g) 33 Protein (g) 7 Vitamin A 8 % Vitamin C 2 % Calcium 6 % Iron 10 % Allergens Peanuts Treenuts Wheat Soy Milk Egg Fish Shellfish INGREDIENTS: UNBLEACHED, ENRICHED WHEAT FLOUR (WHEAT FLOUR, MALTED BARLEY FLOUR, NIACIN, REDUCED IRON, THIAMINE MONONITRATE, RIBOFLAVIN, FOLIC ACID), SUGAR, BLUEBERRIES, BUTTERMILK (CULTURED PASTEURIZED NONFAT MILK, SALT, SODIUM CITRATE), HEAVY CREAM, WHOLE EGGS, UNSALTED BUTTER (CREAM [FROM MILK]), WATER, BAKING POWDER (SODIUM ACID PYROPHOSPHATE, SODIUM BICARBONATE, CORNSTARCH, MONOCALCIUM PHOSPHATE), LEMON FLAVEDO (LEMON PEEL, SUGAR, LEMON OIL), SALT, CELLULOSE GUM, VANILLA EXTRACT, XANTHAN GUM, NATURAL FLAVOR.

And the Justin's Natural Maple Almond Butter stats.

Some other eats I've been into this week:

Scrambled eggs with Boca sausage and toast, this made a great post-workout meal. 

Stonewall Kitchen's wonderful Peach Champagne Jam that was a gift from my Mama, she bought it at the Broadmoor Hotel in Colorado Springs, CO.

Annie's Homegrown Aged Cheddar Mac & Cheese with spinach, carrots and home-grown cherry tomatoes.

Milano cookies from Pepperidge Farm (also from my Mama). I don't eat these much anymore on account of preservatives and mystery ingredients, but MAN are they tasty! So rich.

And my new favorite packable snack... Cottage cheese (2%) with chopped walnuts. Great source of protein.

This weekend, I am headed to Janesville, Wisconsin for camping and thrift shopping at the Rock River Thesheree's Annual Reunion. Think swap meet, tractor pulls, and an annoying coal-powered train whose track runs about 10 feet from our tent... awesome.

Have a great Holiday weekend, everyone!