Rise and shine, pretty people! 
<—Isn’t that guy fun? He reminds me of Joey Fatone from ‘NSync for some reason. Oh Lord, my teeny bopper ways are showing again. I love you, JTT!
Workout
This morning started out with a sweaty workout at the hotel gym.
I began my morning workout with 20 minutes on the elliptical followed by a weights routine similar to the one I completed on Monday, only I incorporated some squats in place of lunges and did Ryan’s awesome shoulder move in place of the shoulder raises.
Breakfast
After the gym, Ryan and I headed to the breakfast buffet to snag some free food.
Today’s menu featured egg patties (um, what?), biscuits and gravy and French toast sticks.
French toast sticks are freakin’ delicious, but these were obviously fried and very greasy, so I limited myself to two glorious sticks before making a more nutritious breakfast of whole wheat toast, topped with banana slices and peanut butter.
PB & B in all its glory!
Quick and Easy Chia Seed Recipes
My latest freelance piece is up on Shape Magazine’s homepage today! Wahoo!
I think quite a few of you caught on to this piece when chia seeds popped up in every other meal on the blog last week.
You’re observant little creatures. 
To see the recipe compilation, simply click here.
And good news!!! They spelled my name right this time!
Great Fundraising Act Update
Before signing off for the morning, I must give a BIG, ginormous thank you to those of you who participated in The Great Fundraising Act on Monday. In the end, TGFA raised more than $26,000 for Susan’s treatment. Definitely check out Susan’s blog post following the auction. I cried big baby tears. The blog world is full of the most generous, loving and supportive group of people and I feel incredibly blessed to be a part of it.
And a shout out goes to the winner of my peanut butter granola, Katie, who donated $178 to TGFA! Another loving shout out goes to Gina who then matched Katie’s donation and will now be receiving a fun package of peanut butter granola (and lots of other goodies!) as well. You guys blew me away! That’s $356 from PBF readers. Unreal.
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Another awesome freelance article! I can’t wait until you tackle freelance on your Blog Talk Tuesdays 🙂
I remember thinking French toast sticks were the best thing everrrrrrr when they served them back in elementary school… they created a wonderful sugar rush!
Woo hoo! I’m so glad I waited to make this granola! I can try the official version first & then try to repeat it 😉 Can’t wait!
thank you so much for your amazing donation. i know it means so, so much to susan and to me as well.
Yesyes! Thank you to the winners!!! And to you Julie for taking part. To put it in perspective, $350 pays for my blood thinners for one month – that allows the blood to flow freely through my veins despite the cancer squeezing around my heart trying to constrict it. It means a lot!!
i can’t believe you’re commenting on my blog!!! susan, you are so deserving of all of the donations. your positive attitude and strength inspire those around you.
I love that you never deny yourself and ate a couple of the french toast sticks even though they were greasy…a true inspiration!
So glad to hear that about the fundraising! I wish I wasn’t a poor post college girl or I’d donate! I love chia seeds but my stomach always kills me when I eat them! Also- a woman I used to nanny for kissed Joey from Nsync while she was traveling in Paris..bahaha I would have went for JC myself.
That’s so cool that your story is on the Shape homepage – that’s my favourite magazine! Got me started with my healthy lifestyle 🙂
I just ordered some chia seeds! Now I have a fabulous set of recipes to use!
Those french toast sticks remind me of my undergrad dining hall: soooo good, but SO bad. Maybe if they were sprinkled with chia seeds, they could be healthier? 😉
they remind me of burger king breakfasts!
Oh my goodness, I remember French toast sticks being a favorite of mine in my elementary school cafeteria. They’d send us home with a lunch calendar for the month and I’d circle and star the days that I wanted to get “hot lunch.”
I love me some chia seeds – will definitely be checking out that article – I haven’t gone much further than adding it to my oats and yogurts yet so I could definitely use some new ideas! 🙂
You have so much more willpower than I do. Hotel breakfast buffets are my favorite!!
Wow, Susan’s comment just gave me chills.
i know, me too. she is so strong and so deserving of every single donation.
SO glad to hear about the fundraising! Susan is such an inspiration.
I love recipes including chia seeds! And it’s great to see you indulge yourself when you want to.
Can’t Wait to check out all your Chia seed recipes! And I lovee French toast sticks.
Susan’s post also made me cry. It’s Amazing the fundraiser was such a great success.
Congrats on the article! That is awesome! 🙂 Can’t wait to check it out!
That is amazing with the fundraiser! She is so inspiring! 🙂
I just got a BOAT TON of chia seeds so this will be very helpful! 🙂 YAY! Perfect timing!
Yes, I agree, TGFA was a massive success!! 🙂 I’m so happy and proud of the blog community for raising such an impressive amount of money for Susan.
Heading over to your chia seed recipe now!
Once a week when I was in college, the dining halls would serve french toast sticks for breakfast. It was a HUGE deal. We would all get out of bed at the ass-crack of dawn to get as many as we could. Good Lord, and we wonder why we all gained weight in college?!
french toast stcks= totally reminiscent of college sunday brunch days!
i have no words for tgfa. AMAZING! (ok i guess that was one word. lol.)
Congrats on the new SHAPE article!! YAY!
I can’t wait to check out your newest freelance piece. I have a huge 5 pound bag of chia seeds that I need to use up! 😛
I need to get some chia seeds :). The auction was so amazing! Sadly, I couldn’t spend that much on the bidding…so I donated instead :).
I’m glad the fundraiser was such a big success!
Congrats on the article!
Can’t wait to check out your recipes! Did you reach out to Shape for these freelance assignments? Or did they contact you through the blog?
they reached out to me after seeing a bunch of my smoothie recipes. 🙂
I’ve actually never had Chia seeds before. I’ll have to go check out your article!
Ohhh I just got my first bag of chia seeds so I def. need to read this article for ideas on how to use them!!!!!!!!
All those recipes look really good. Its a bonus that your temporary hotel comes with a complimentary breakfast. Congratulations on all the freelance projects!
I heart chia seeds, so I cannot wait to try your pancake recipe! Of course, they will be topped with pb. 🙂
Wow, the fundraising act was such a success! I’m so happy and I bet Susan can rest a little easier now.
Oh man, french toast sticks are SO good! I remember them from the college dining hall. Delicious!
Congratulations on the freelance project with Shape! They’re pretty big.
And I love the PB w banana sandwich, thats my favorite combination. I ate the peanut butter banana tortilla roll-up (featured a few days back) for my post-workout snack and its genius. I can’t believe I didnt think of it before, usually I just cover the banana in PB haha! This roll-up was definitely a little neater and less weird-looking to everyone who saw me spreading PB on ever bite of my banana lol
Congrats! Chia seeds are amazing!
I have a question about the chia seeds- I finally bought some the other day and am super excited to use it in my meals, but I noticed the bag I bought was higher in calories than I thought. I believe it said there were 70-80 cals in 1-2 tbsp- is this the norm?
Btw I have been reading your blog for over a year now and you really do inspire me to workout and keep up my healthy eating- on top of it making my day every morning! I even have my bf asking about you and Ryan now! 🙂 Keep up the great work!!!!
Yaaaay! I just bought a tub of chia seeds and was brainstorming things I could do! Now you’ve done the work for me 🙂
Congratulations on your article!! That’s awesome! 🙂
That’s awesome that Shape reached out to you for the freelance pieces! And woohoo! I just got a huuuuge bag of chia seeds and will definitely be making some of these fabulous recipes. Nom, nom, nom.
I love those Chia Recipes, and I love to see you writing for Shape magazine!
I noticed you were putting chia seeds on everything. I just thought you were really loving them lately. Congrats on the article!
Congrats on the continued recipe features for Shape! Chia seeds are a great ingredient to highlight, I feel like they’re a common ingredient among food / fitness bloggers but haven’t yet caught on for everyone else. Your article will help to bring some exposure for these lil’ guys!
It’s great that you were able to help contribute to the auction to benefit Susan. The act of a community coming together to help one person is incredible and inspiring, not to mention Susan herself – what a strong, inspiring person!
Ooh, fabulous! I could use these recipes..and congrats on the Shape piece- I love that mag!
Wow $356! That’s crazy! And I smart idea for the girl who said she would just match the winner 🙂
Love the chia seed recipes!! These are quickly becoming a staple for me… I’ve been adding them to everything!
That is so fantastic about your new recipe compilation for Shape magazine…excited to read them! Congratulations! 🙂 xyx
Smart idea with the toast and peanut butter with bananas– that’s definitely my go-to breakfast 🙂
I love French toast ! But I haven’t had it forever . Are you missing all your
Smoothies since moved into the hotel? I bet I would , I have one almost every morning !
ahh I knew it! Can’t wait to check out the recipes! 🙂
Congrats on raising mucho dinero for Susan!
I kid you not. There is a restaurant here in Brooklyn that makes pb stuffed french toast sticks. And now that I’ve thought about them, I need to eat them.
i definitely agree – susan is so deserving of this! it’s amazing to see people staying strong and positive despite any troubles they are going through. great job with the fundraiser too!
mmmmm chia seeds! love them on everything! 😛
Damn girl, that toast looks dry. I thought you were peanut butter fingers?
French toast sticks are glorious aren’t they? Gotta go check out your article now, I love me some chia seeds 🙂