Note to self: dining out twice daily is not necessarily conducive to losing five (or ten?) pounds in time for my cousin’s wedding.

Yesterday was one of those hectic Mondays. You know those days, when you run-run-run from daybreak to midnight and still don’t manage to get everything done. And if you’re like me, you tend to grab a cereal bar and call it breakfast, scarf lunch over a business meeting, and squeeze a quick dinner-and-a-drink with a couple of terribly neglected friends before dashing back home to get back to work.

The upside to all this running around is the lack of guilt I feel about eating whatever I happen to be craving at the moment. Lunch yesterday brought a pleasant surprise at the Victory American Grill, where my stuffed tomato arrived fresh and overflowing with chunky chicken salad (including sweet onions, celery, and slices of granny smith apples). The super-fresh raspberries, blackberries, and blueberries piled around it made it easier to overlooks the creamy mayonnaise dressing — not too much though — and the wafer-thin rye toast offered some small semblance of healthy food as well. (My lunch companion did not fare so well; her candied walnut salad was huge, but plain and a little dry.)

Afternoon errands, appointments, and writing projects sucked up the rest of my day, and then hubby and I headed off to Forest Room 5 around 7 in the evening for a quick bite and a visit with friends. I opted for the Forest Sliders off the tapas menu, and was served two “mini” cheeseburgers topped with grilled portobello mushrooms and grilled tomatoes. Yummy. These oversized minis are smaller than an average restaurant burger, but plenty big enough to fill me up, and the $5 price tag makes them a great option for cheap and tasty late-night eats (Forest Room serves until 11 p.m. on weeknights and midnight on weekends). After a generous pour of pinot noir from our friend Ally, the friendly Monday-night bartender, I rolled my overstuffed self off the bar stool to head homeward and back to the grindstone.

Today I’m just as busy as yesterday, but I think I’d better get back to eating health food. It’s much harder to justify the on-the-go diet when you work at home all day. Plus, you know, there are only four weeks to go before that family wedding. Guess I’ll have to save the next round of sliders for September.