Sugar Cookie Sleigh Ride Tea

I can't believe I finally found this tea. I've been seeing it on blog after blog after blog and now I have it in my kitchen!

I'm getting ready to take my first sip....mmmm, this is good! It is also caffeine free so perfect for drinking at night.

Does anyone know how long tea lasts? Might just have to stock up on this stuff.

Late Start Monday

I had trouble sleeping last night so getting up this morning was, to put it lightly, hell. At around 8:15 am I jumped out of bed and hit the shower. Then it was on to dressing, getting bags ready and walking the dog. I made it out of the house at 8:45 am. I hate that I have trouble sleeping, the only time I don't have trouble is when I take NyQuil for my cold but that is not a solution to getting a good nights sleep on a nightly basis. My husband said I need to come up with a night time routine where I start to unwind from my day. I can't even tell you how hard that is for me.

Breakfast

To help me stay awake I had some Tazo Awake tea.

And to help with the Christmas spirit I ate a chocolate peppermint stick Luna bar. I love this bar, so good.

I also think it is neat how on the back of the Luna bar they have a "who inspires you" quote written by a customer. The quote on my bar was:

To my beautiful daughter: you have taught me to take life one day at a time. Your laughter and joyful personality have been just what my soul needed. I love you. - Mom

So sweet! If you want to submit a quote go to Lunabar.com.

Lunch

No picture of lunch today, sorry. It was a pretty simple lunch but just because it was simple doesn't mean it wasn't tasty!

I had 1 cup of Vegetable soup which included cabbage, carrots, celery, cauliflower and red beans. The broth had a little spice to it which I liked a lot. I also had 1 cup of Ginger chicken soup. Both soups were good and did the job of making my stomach happy!

After work my husband and I had a cocktail at Rosebud in the Chicago loop. This place was totally decked out for Christmas. The first drink I had was a cosmo:

The second drink I had was a champagne. This was the same champagne that was served at my wedding!

Question:

Do you have a nighttime routine that helps you unwind and fall asleep?

Obviously I don't have one but I am open to suggestions!

Monday

I woke up today to see a beautiful sight outside. The city of Chicago had snow overnight and this morning (before everyone had a chance to trample on it) everything was so beautiful. The trees and Christmas decorations with a light dusting of snow on the branches, gorgeous.

Once I was done taking in the snow views I packed my bags and headed out to work. Once at my desk I had an amazing breakfast. This is the first time I've tried Chobani yogurt and I have no idea why I waited sooooo long! The pomegranate flavor Chobani yogurt is by far my favorite yogurt I've ever had.

I added some granola.

I wasn't really hungry for lunch but my overworked husband actually had a couple minutes to eat with me today! I jumped at the chance at headed to the cafeteria with him. I ended up getting some homemade Turkey Noodle Soup. It may seem strange to some people but whenever I have chicken or turkey noodle soup, I never eat the meat. I eat everything else but never the meat and I'm not vegetarian. I guess it is one of the many strange things I do!

I wasn't able to get pictures of my lunch cause I didn't want to waste any of the precious time I had with my husband. Once at my desk I was able to take a snapshot of my lunch beverage.

Sobe life water, flavor - acai fruit punch. Very tasty.

After work I stopped at Ceres to get a drink. I ordered a Captain Morgan Diet Coke.

Monday's are so difficult for me. This one is over so I'm very happy about that!

Thursday

Last night was a productive night. Haven't had one of those during the work week in some time. I got home from work around 6:00 pm. I was able to stop at the pharmacy, walk both dogs, do dishes (which included hand washing), 2 loads of laundry (folded and put away), dinner made, blog posts made and kitchen floor cleaned all before 9:00 pm. This may not seem like a lot but it is for me. I like to just veg or go out to dinner after a day of working. I'm thinking the latte at 3:30 pm yesterday may have played a roll in my productivity Wednesday night;)

This morning was a cold one. So cold I had to dig out my hat and gloves before leaving the house. I ran out of my Awake tea so I was forced to try a new flavor. I decided on Tazo Passion tea. The Passion tea smelled wonderful and looked really pretty but the flavor is too sweet for me. Plus upon closer inspection I discovered no caffeine is in this choice of beverage which means this is not a good choice for morning consumption;)

Breakfast was an Odwalla sweet & salty almond chewy nut bar. This bar contains crunchy almonds and hearty oats and is fantastic!!! Loved the chewy nutty flavors!

Take a look at the nuts in this bar (this sentence made me giggle for some reason).

During my lunch break I had to go get my husband's watch battery replaced so while I was out I decided to get take-out from a new place. Kramer's Healthy Foods (menu) is not only a health food store but restaurant too. This store is FULL of healthy items from organic beauty supplies, books and exercise tapes to an organic grocery store. The store also has vitamins, supplements and a bunch of different bars. This is a rare and great find in the Chicago loop!

I ventured up to the loft to place my lunch order. The worker's were very friendly and knowledgeable about the food they offered. I decided on the Cuban Black Bean soup and Kramer's salad.

The soup was really good and filling. Tons of black beans and carrots, both are items I like. I would have liked the soup to have a little spice to it, so next time I will have to experiment with all the spices they had available at the order counter.

The salad was very fresh. It had marinated asparagus, tomato's, onion, cucumbers & feta cheese served over a spring mix. I opted to have no cheese and remove the tomato's. This was a great salad!

I'm so bummed I didn't get any pictures of Kramer's but it will give me an excuse to go back! As if I need an excuse, I loved my meal and am planning my next visit as I type this!

Around 4:00 pm my husband stopped by and asked if I was interested in Starbucks. No need to ever ask me that question, I'm always interested in Starbucks. We walked over to the local shop and I ordered a tall no foam skinny vanilla latte. Perfection!

Isn't it cute :) I normally order a venti or grande but since it is late in the day I decided to downsize.

Oh - Chicago had it's first snow flurry of the year! How exciting!