Cardio!
Seriously! The past three nights, after hard cardio sessions in the afternoon (I went running last night after gardening,) I have slept SO incredibly well.
No trouble falling asleep.
No waking up in the middle of the night.
No grogginess in the morning.
I can 100% tell the difference in the quality of my sleep on the days that I have vs. have not had a tough workout. What about you?
On my rather chipper, warm (57 degrees!) morning Mom walk today, we stumbled upon the signs of spring twice! First we came across a baby bird on the sidewalk, that couldn’t have been more than a few days old. He had yet to shed his “fluff” and was just sitting there, so cute! I would’ve taken a picture, but didn’t want to disturb it and/or face the wrath of mama bird - trust me it’s happened before. Picture my brother being chased around and around my parents house by a very angry mother bird after messing with her nest – hysterical!
Later we came across this perfectly blue, Robin’s egg. So tiny and perfect. Awwww. 
The blue continued onto breakfast – I had Blueberry Banana Overnight Oats!
In the mix:
- 1 Fat Free Raspberry Yogurt
- 1/2 cup old fashioned oats
- 1/3 cup unsweetened vanilla almond breeze
- 1 mashed banana
- 1/2 Tablespoon chia seeds
- frozen blueberries
Obviously this picture is pre “overnight” but this morning the blueberries had melted and made a thick, sweet, luscious sauce. Divine!
This bowl was HUGE! It’ll definitely keep me full for the morning. Hopefully, anyways…!
Lunch is the same salad I made on Sunday night for Monday’s lunch, (chop once, eat twice!) a big Chopped Salad!
In the mix:
- Mixed greens
- Spinach
- Dole Stir Fry Medley
- Celery
- Dried cranberries
- Turkey
The Trader Joe’s brand Sesame Soy Ginger Vinaigrette was FANTASTIC on this on Monday, so I’m excited to use it again. A little goes a long way!
I also brought a Lime + Salt Orville Redenbacher’s popcorn bag to crunch on this afternoon. It’s sooooo good.
Good eats today!
In other news, it’s soooooomebody’s speeeecial day today!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!
You won’t find a man that loves his family more than this guy, right here.
He’d do absolutely anything for us,
which we all feel incredibly lucky to know.
I am my father’s daughter in MANY more ways than one,
and I couldn’t be prouder to call him mine. Happy Birthday Pops! 
We’re celebrating with a BBQ at my parent’s house tonight. Here’s hoping the rain hold out!!
TGIAF – have a great day!
~~~~~
When is your birthday? Do you have any special birthday traditions?
My birthday is July 5th – SO CLOSE to the 4th! 6 hours and 42 minutes close, to be exact.
Our birthday traditions include having a Pepperidge Farm birthday cake, and choosing which restaurant you wanted to go to for dinner!
Awh happy bday to your dad! Mine is May 27th – it falls between FOUR exams this year – great!!
I wish I was seeing cute baby birds instead of my current view- my cat just caught a pigeon and won’t kill it
Have a lovely day
I once read about 5 years ago that the prime time to workout was between 3-5pm, and it usually resulted in a great night’s sleep. I guess it’s true!
Happy birthday Iowa dad!
Awwww…that is so great. Happy Birthday to your Dad! I feel the same way about mine. My birthday falls on Dec. 26th, but my parents always made sure I had actual birthday wrapping on my presents AND a birthday cake. As I kid I always thought it was depressing waking up the next morning, knowing Xmas was over, but I woke up the next morning and got more presents!! Yay! I agree about the workouts and sleeping better. I hadn’t been sleeping well until I started working out again a month ago. It makes a huge difference!! Enjoy your BBQ tonight!
ooo your birthday is coming up! Mine’s February 21st. We used to have the same tradition as kida. My sister and I always picked Inaho, our favorite sushi restaurant. Way to make my parents spend the big bucks on our special day
awh i love the pics of you and your dad!! you are so pretty
mine is june 16th! our 1 birthday tradition is that we eat off a special plate that says, “it’s your day, celebrate!” we started years ago, and everyone gets a turn on their special day. other than that it’s telling mom what we want for dinner. that’s all!
My birthday is June 24th! My birthday tradition is I have a HUGE chocolate chip cookie for my birthday cake
I know exactly what you mean about sleeping better after a workout. Never did I feel as good in my life as I did when I was training for that half marathon last year. I went to bed exhausted, fell asleep immediately and always woke up refreshed. Now that I’ve cut back on running (almost to nothing), I’ve noticed that I feel much worse all around – and it takes me forever to fall asleep.
Happy Birthday to your Dad!
My birthday is on April 22. Growing up I always had a party, or at least had a few friends over to celebrate the day. I loved when I got DQ ice cream cake. We usually went out for dinner too with the family. Now that I’m married and have a kid, we just go out to eat with family.
Happy Bday to Poppa IGE! My bday is April 29th and we pretty much did the same as you with the restaurant. BUT, my cake of choice is Funfetti…heck yes!
I was almost a 4th of July baby, too! My mom actually went into labor on July 4th, but apparently I decided to take my good ol’ time and wasn’t born until July 6th!
Happy birthday IDE!
My birthday is April 8–it always landed on my spring break growing up, so that meant NO SCHOOL in addition to my choice of a homemade meal (always spaghetti and green beans) and homemade cake (always shoofly cake)! What can I say, I love traditions that don’t change!
Happy Birthday, IGE Dad!
This makes me miss mine. He’s in Nicaragua right now. Hope he has a fantastic day.
Happy Birthday Iowa Dad! My birthday is soon too- May 30th. I think all this running definitely helps me sleep better, but if I work out late in the day I sometimes wake up drenched in sweat. Gross!
9 days till my birthday!
My birthday is March 1st, AND I was born on a leap year! I missed February 29th by just over 7 hours. Which was good and bad… good because Februaray 29th was a huge blizzard and I would have been born on the living room floor… bad because I can’t use the line “I’m 6 1/2 years old. How about you?”
Breakfast looks wonderful. I need to make your overnight oats. Happy Birthday to your dad! Cute pictures. I love looking through old pictures of me and my dad…I’m my father’s daughter too!
My birthday was last Friday, May 14th.
you are always making big salads. i love ‘em. are you using any salad dressing or eating the veggies raw?
Ahh happy birthday to your Dad – there are some amazing pictures in there!
My birthday’s in March and I got to spend it at home this year which was pretty magical!
Oh and agreed on cardio – I ran 8 miles last night and conked OUT afterwards. Cardio = sleep for sure!
Happy Birthday to your dad! My birthday is July 6th! We usually celebrated it with the big 4th of July bash. Summer birthdays are fun – pool parties and halfway ’til Christmas! Enjoy the BBQ!
So…..because I noticed that you love mojitos just like I do, you’ve got to try this recipe for kumquat mojitos! So refreshing!
http://bethcooks.squarespace.com/journal/2010/5/20/my-favorite-summer-drinks-so-far.html
Mine’s July 2nd! You have to admit, it’s pretty nice always having a holiday weekend accompanying your birthday though!
Happy Birthday Iowa Dad!
great to hear the cardio has been helping you sleep! and happy birthday to your pops. my birthday is in 11 days! eep!
Awww, those pics are so cute. Lovin’ the ’90s outfits!!
We always got to pick whatever we wanted to eat at home… not many restaurants for this fam. o.O
Happy Birthday IDE!
Makes me miss my dad alot!! He passed away when I was 19 
My birthday is February 24th. I always make it a birthday week and go to one of my favorite restaurants. I agree that working out at night makes for a great nights sleep.
A happy birthday to IDE! My birthday is September 13. No real traditions here, it’s different when you don’t live close to your parents
P.S. I’m eating a chicken salad sandwich right now off your recipe. I roasted a chicken last night! (eek, talk about foods we’ve been scared to cook). I didn’t have any celery but I think it would make it even better. It tastes a little sweet without out.
My birthday is today too–May 20th. So is my husband’s, but I am 8 hours older!
Happy birthday to your Iowa Dad–it’s a great time of year to celebrate a birthday!
Happy birthday Patty!
june 15th for me. can’t wait. you are too cute with your dad!!
the only affect that cardio has on me is that it makes me super hungry! haha.
Mine is also in July! But on the 28th. Growing up my mom would always make my favorite cake–chocolate chip date. Now if we happen to get together in July, she’ll be sure to make it.
Happy Birthday IDE!
I definitely sleep better after a great workout. I think it gets all the nervous energy out of me.
And Happy birthday IGE dad!
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Kristin, MirandaJayne. MirandaJayne said: @balanceblog did you see this blog entry? http://iowagirleats.com/2010/05/19/how-to-sleep-better-tonight/ [...]
Aww… your pics with your dad make me miss my dad so much…. He is far away in India and I am in the US. I love your pics. Wish your dad a very happy birthday.
My bday in Feb/20. We have some traditional stuff that my mom would do on my birthdays. She would also cook up a special meal with a yummy dessert and we would also have cake. Blending the west and east
Your salad looks good and I need to buy that popcorn next time I hit the store.
Love your “blue” photos! So clever! I always sleep better when I run or go to yoga class. I’m a high stress person, so I consider after-work excercise a necessity to lift my mood. Have fun tonight at the B-day BBQ. Dads are the greatest!
Happy Bday Iowa Dad!
Mine was the 8th and my daughter’s is next wednesday!
Lots of MAY BABIES!
September 17th! Ill be turning 21! My parent’s and my birthdays are all within 10 days (dad=7, mom=12, and mine=17) so we generally just get a cake on my mom’s birthday and say its for all of us! Always from this bakery down the street from our house… it’s SO good!
BTW, I have looked for that pepperidge farm cake because of your raving about it, and all I find is chocolate, key lime, orange, and coconut.. and none of those appeal to me! I really want to try the vanilla one!
LOVE the Daddy/Daughter pictures! I remember going to the DM Zoo with my dad, and they had these big roaring lion head water drinking fountains.(Anyone else remember those?). You had to stick your head in it’s open mouth to get a drink & I was about half scared of them so my Dad would pretend to hold the mouth open for me so I could get a drink! He was quite comical & would make quite a scene acting like he was really struggling to hold it open! Ha! I miss my dad. Wonder what ever happened to those cool fountains? My birthday is Nov 28th. Every so many years it lands on Thanksgiving.
Look what I found today?! I hope the rumor is true. I thought you might share in my excitement! Trader Joe’s!
http://www.businessrecord.com/main.asp?SectionID=4&SubSectionID=6&ArticleID=10087
I’ve actually had the Pepperidge Farms vanilla cake many times- my dad used to buy it just because. We never defrosted it- just kind of ate it frozen- yummo!
My birthday is tomorrow, May 21. It usually got lost in graduations, but that wasn’t always bad. At least people remembered it and would be together close to or on my birthday. My daughter graduated from high school on my birthday. My favorite tradition was Mom’s German Chocolate Cake. Yummm!
Tough workouts totally help me sleep better too! For my birthday we always go to my favorite restaurant – papa hydens for Sunday brunch. They have the most amazing selections of desserts there
Happy Birthday to your dad!! Mine is April 20th.. otherwise known as National Pot Day. Yep. Thanks Mom..
Sorry the Iowa rain wasnt on your side! Hope your Dad had a great bday.
Happy Birthday to your dad! Regarding the lime and salt popcorn, I tried it on your recommendation and really liked it but my eyes bugged out a bit when I looked at the nutrition stats – it’s going to have to be a once in awhile treat. Then again, maybe I can add lime zest and salt to air popped popcorn and get the same result. May have to try that.
My birthday is tomorrow! 39!! Holy crap!! I remember kindergarten like it was yesterday. I love the goat in your photo with your dad – a good goat bomb! I made the green monster today and it was actually really good – posted it on my blog. Tonight? I’ll try overnight oats.
April 14th for me, family tradition is to pick our favorite restaurant. And I get a birthday pie b/c I don’t like cake. Happy B-day to your dad!!!
Humph! I wish I was sleepy after my cardio! I’m always amped up afterward and find it harder to sleep!