And here we are in the middle of another week. Happy What I Ate Wednesday. As always, thanks to Jenn for hosting the weekly link party. To see more WIAW from other bloggers, visit Peas & Crayons.

Anyone else completely blown away by how fast December is going? I say that like I’m surprised…I always find this time of year moves so quickly and also that it’s packed with about twice as much stuff as usual.  Sometimes it’s stressful, but it’s also a lot of fun. By the time January hits, my body and brain are like, “Nice hustle out there—Go team.”

Fortunately, food has never been one of the stressors for me—it’s actually part of what helps keep me sane. Eating balanced meals does a lot for my energy levels, and knowing that the day before and after a holiday meal include mostly good-for-me stuff makes it easy to enjoy seasonal treats without engaging in any post-prandial guilt-tripping.

Because this week is packed to brim with goings-on, I’m going to share what I ate on Saturday. First there was work, and then dinner and live music on the Lower East Side. The latter would not have been possible without a quick catnap, but I’m so glad I fought the work-zombie-ness for a night (even if every day feels like ZombieCon lately).

Speaking of ZombieCon,  SantaCon folks were everywhere Saturday, which totally messed with my sleep-deprived sense of reality. Can someone please explain the appeal of the Slutty Mrs. Claus costume?

Anyway, the

Breakfast: Greek yogurt, a banana, chia seeds 

Lunch: Leftovers from Friday night’s dinner; an unpictured apple later on 

Snack: A microwave-scrambled egg with pepper on sprouted-grain toast. Why snack on 150 calories worth of, like, crackers when you can have real food that will actually fill you up? 

Dinner at Beauty and Essex: Split a few appetizers with a friend—Kale & apple salad with goat cheese; eggplant pizza-thing; roasted veggies; champagne

Snack: (unpictured) yogurt with a little cereal 

And just because, here’s a picture of the love bucket of money for the band. Support your local artists! 

What keeps you sane during the holidays?