Goals to Stick To

It's almost 2012 and everyone keeps making their lists of resolutions so I figured I'd hop on and write mine down. Usually I write down my resolutions and keep them to myself, but I never end up keeping them; once I get this stuff public I'm stubborn enough to keep up with it so I'm enlightening you all to my 2012 goals.

I've noticed I always make extremely vague resolutions (i.e. I'm going to get healthier, save money, etc.) but I never have a battle plan to follow to make this stuff happen. This upcoming year I'm a clean slate so I'm going to make my plan and stick to it. Though I won't punish myself if I fall off the bandwagon once in awhile, I'm only human. So here we go!

• Get toned and be proud of how I look. I plan to go to the gym 5 times a week, go to every Zumba class, (hopefully) get in touch with a trainer, and try kickboxing at my gym.
• Run a mile every morning before work. Simple, no explanation needed except I need to haul my butt up at 6 AM to get it done.
• Eat healthier. Vague I know, but the plan is detailed. I want to cut down on eating meat, eat only lean meats (i.e. chicken breasts, lean cuts of beef), and reduce my red meat intake. Eat less sweets which is very very hard when you enjoy baking so damn much. Eat less processed food. I also need to introduce myself to fish again which doesn't make me jump up and down, but it's a healthy meat so I've got to try.
• Blog more. Simple and to the point. I need to not ignore my blog for over a week.
• and the big one. Put myself first. I've written about it before and I'm sticking with it this upcoming year. I'm so blessed to be where I am, happy and single, and I need to keep me first.

Hope you're all making a good list of things to do for this upcoming year! I'll be posting about my New Year's celebration in 2012!

Christmas 2011

Hey there lovelies! I hope you all had an amazing Christmas this year! I know I'm exhausted from my celebrations and ready to sleep until New Year's Eve comes around.

Friday my mom and I got off work early so we could go to lunch with our bosses at this fancy-smanchy restaurant. Everybody loves free food, especially me :) After lunch my mom and I went home and started doing chores around the house since we'd be gone all weekend. Exciting huh?

Saturday we went down to my grandma's house for a big family celebration and boy was it crazy. The amount of food was staggering. The dining room table was covered in savory food and the kitchen table was swamped with desserts. I'm talking 3 different kinds of pie, cookies galore, petit fours, and many many more. I of course brought my array of treats so I didn't help matters ha! I was good and didn't snarf down platefuls of food and kept to the healthy (but still delicious) food that was there and avoided the dessert table as much as possible. I wasn't so overcome with food lust to remember that the more I eat the more gym time required. After the fun started to settle we hauled our butts back home to relax and watch Christmas movies. My dad always requires us to watch A Christmas Story which I hate with a passion dislike, but then we went to our more classic ones like How the Grinch Stole Christmas and I got them to watch the Disney version of The Christmas Carol, which they loved. Eventually I went into my room to watch another non-Christmas movie and then promptly passed out. Normally I stay up super late watching Christmas movies and then wake up at like 3:00 AM and scare the holy crap out of my dad who doesn't realize I'm awake. Call me a little kid, I don't care, I enjoy wringing every last minute of Christmas out.

Unfortunately my mundane work schedule killed my Christmas tradition because I actually passed out (gotta make up that sleep) and slept until 7. We went through our stockings and I got some pretty cool stuff I've been wanting FOREVER. Like an iPhone armband so I can go running, a new running jacket, earbuds to workout with (see a theme here?) and some other neat stuff like makeup, an iTunes giftcard, and movies. After the Christmas morning chaos my parents left for another family thing while I stayed home and relaxed. I walked my butt over (gotta keep the exercise up) and rented the first season of The Vampire Diaries and stayed up until 4 AM watching it non-stop. Crazy right? But I had an awesome Christmas relaxing watching a new show and wasn't tempted by insane amounts of food, all in all, a good day.

Monday my brother, sister-in-law, and niece and nephew drove up and visited us and let me tell you, I didn't get to go to the gym, but my niece and nephew certainly kept me moving. It was so great to watch them open their presents and immediately ignore us all to play with them. This was by far my favorite day because I got to spend it with a bunch of people I love.

I forgot to get pictures of all my events, but that doesn't matter because I had an amazing weekend with people I love and that's the greatest gift I could ask for.

Christmas Baking Part 2,3 & 4

I survived my weekend!
It was definitely eventful; crazy mall shopping, smashing 4 different cookies into one baking day, being almost run over a few times while trying to buy flour. I'm exhausted, but happy to be done with it all.

Now, on to the baking!

I originally had a plan to bake 2 kinds of cookies Friday night, make peanut brittle Saturday, and 2 other kinds of cookies Sunday. Well, that plan didn't pan out quite so well. Friday night my mom and I braved Target to get that out of the way and we were out until almost 10. Staying up and baking was out of the question when I would be up early the next morning to make brittle, shop, and go to a birthday party.

So on Sunday I was up and about for about 8 hours baking. Boy are my feet unhappy!

But the end result was pretty yummy!

Butternut balls

Peanut brittle

Gingerbread cookies

Shortbread with raspberry and white chocolate

Again I forgot to get pictures of the cathedral windows, whoops! Hopefully they'll be in the final box of all the treats that I take down to my relative's house for Christmas.
I'm also missing sugar because with all that baking crammed into one day, I just didn't have the energy to make another cookie. I figured I had enough sugar that nobody would miss the sugar cookies.

As for the shopping experience, holy bajeezus! Target was crazy busy and I was already exhausted from working all day. Navigating that store with a big crowd of people while cranky from work didn't make for a pleasant shopping trip. Nevertheless, we made it through and thankfully didn't have to make the trip on Saturday, which would have resulted in mass injuries from my cart ramming into shins.

The mall wasn't much better, though I was without a cart which helped some. It was pretty busy, but not as bad as I was expecting, which I think is what saved my sanity. I was able to indulge myself in a new pair of jeans and running shoes which were necessary. Merry early Christmas to me!

Christmas Baking Day 1

It's officially the Christmas season in my little world. I started my marathon baking last night and won't be stopping until Sunday. Phew! I've deemed these last days before Christmas the homestretch and boy is it getting craaaazy around here. Tomorrow I have to get ALL of my Christmas shopping done and my mom and I already have a war plan game plan for where we're going and what we're buying. Yes yes, I am that crazy person that shops that weekend before Christmas, hopefully I make it out alive.

Anyway, on to the baking!

Last night I made my delicious fudge and cathedral windows (aka rocky road)

All the ingredients for last night's candy making

The makings of delicious fudge.


I couldn't get any pictures of the finished cathedral windows

because it's still setting in the fridge. I promise I'll

post a picture of it.

Tonight I'm making butternut balls (no snickering)

and shortbread cookies with raspberry and white chocolate. Yum!

Weekend Recap

Happy Monday! Maybe if I say happy Monday enough it'll actually be happy. Wishful thinking on my part ;)

I hope you all enjoyed your weekend and didn't get mowed down by Christmas shoppers while doing your Christmas shopping. I'm dreading Saturday when I'm getting all mine done. My mom and I are going to be those women that power walk through the mall to get everything done. But enough about this upcoming weekend.

Saturday my mom and I started our new workout schedule. I was supposed to do a kickboxing class that morning buuuuuut I was far too lazy to get out of bed at 7 to get there on time. Instead we did a mile walk at a decent time and then went to the gym for weight training and zumba class. Lemme just say that working your upper body and then going to zumba class isn't a smart choice; my shoulders are killing me! Nevertheless, I powered through zumba with aching shoulders and a hurt foot (I'll spare you the gory details of that).
My full workout went like this:
10 x 3 tricep extensions
10 x 3 bicep curls
10 x 3 pec flies
10 x 3 weighted crunches (this machine is beyond awkward)
10 x 3 shoulder presses
10 minutes on the elliptical
1 hour of zumba

See why I ache? I don't remember the weight I used on the different machines so next time I put myself throught the tortue again I'll make sure to remember them.

Sunday I had zumba and more weight training on the schedule, but since I couldn't put a shoe on I decided to sit it out and relax at home. We watched football instead and smelled homemade chicken noodle soup simmering all day long. Yum!

This week is the start of my Christmas baking so once Thursday rolls around I'll start posting about delicious Christmas treats that negate my hardwork in the gym haha.

Chickening Out and Birthday Surprises

Happy Friday! It's almost the weekend thank goodness!

I said I was going to a pilates class at my gym last night and well....I didn't end up going. Working out Wednesday made me super sore so yesterday just wasn't the day to start a new class I've never been to. Instead I went home and caught up on all my recorded shows. Unfortunately last night's class was the last pilates class and I'm hoping it was just the last one with that instructor. This weekend though is the start of my mom's and my workout plans. The poor thing has no idea what she's getting into *cue evil laugh*. I'm also (hopefully) doing a kickboxing class tomorrow morning, but we'll see how I'm feeling at 7:30 am.

As for birthday surprises, it was my mom's birthday Wednesday and my brother, stepdad, and I had a nice surprise for her. My brother came up to surprise her and make her dinner and my stepdad and I were in charge of making sure she didn't know. Unfortunately my mom doesn't do well with surprises and tried to weasel out hints from me all day at work. I had to keep telling her to leave it be and just wait, which she'd do grudgingly for an hour or two before she started pestering me. When we came home my brother was hiding and jumped out at her and the look on her face was priceless. She was so happy and it was well worth the hours of pestering I endured. We made her a delicious dinner of roasted chicken, garlic bread, angel hair pasta, and steamed asparagus. Sadly I didn't get any pictures of our delicious dinner as I was too busy carving up chicken and making 3 things at once lol. All in all it was a great way to celebrate my mom's birthday.

I'll be back with an update on if we survived our new workout routine. Have a good weekend!

Getting Back Into the Swing of Things

Happy Wednesday everyone!

As I've said before I recently moved back in with my parents which involved long weeks of packing, hauling stuff to the new place, and exhaustion. Unfortunately that also meant I had little time for anything other than work and sleep, which means no gym for Brittany. Once we finished the move I was determined to haul my butt to the gym, but my brain ended up doing more work thinking about it than my body did doing it. For example, yesterday I was going to do a mile run in the morning before work; I woke up, weighed the pros and cons and ended up falling back asleep. This morning though I was determined to haul my butt out of bed and get moving. And I succeeded :) I was also going to do a zumba class at my gym tonight buuuuut it's my mom's birthday (happy birthday Mom!) so I'm skipping out on that for a surprise celebration instead.

I've always been super active so it's been weird sitting around doing nothing so I've written up a workout schedule (I'm a nut for charts and schedules). I'll be reporting back at least once a week about how tired my out of shape butt is.

Another thing I'm getting back into is healthy food. I've been lazy and haven't eaten well, plus I've been bored which equals lots of munching. Baaaaaaad bad! So I've been watching what I've been eating (let's not talk about the tuxedo cake that keeps taunting me to eat it at home) and so far I've done pretty well keeping to good portions. And yes, I do treat myself because life is boring without some delicious peppermint Joe Joes (Trader Joe's oreos)...go out and buy these, they're AMAZING!

So these are some of the stuff I ate yesterday. 1/2 good, 1/2 not so great.

Greek yogurt for breakfast, 3 cuties for a snack, 2 Joe Joes, and hot chocolate (it's Christmas time give me a break).  I also had a Subway sandwich for lunch and some whole grain Cheez-Its (buy these too, they taste the same as regular but better for you).



An About-Face

First off I want to apologize to everyone for my insanely depressing Christmas post. I was going through a rough patch and Christmas took the brunt of my depression. I finally realized that I can't give up on a happy holiday that everyone else is celebrating. Not to mention that the reason I was depressed was pointless and I just needed to march on through. Anyway, I'm back to my normal self and will continue to post happier Christmas posts.

This weekend my parents and I decorated the house and went to buy our Christmas tree. My first pick ended up being the perfect Christmas tree (takes a bow). Once we brought it home I had a nice fight getting it into the stand and then watering it, but we got it up and decorated which is what matters! We also went and bought almost all the stuff I need to do my insanely large amount of baking. Want to know what I'm making? Of course you do! This year I'm making:

• Butternut balls (no jokes people)
• Gingerbread & sugar cookies
• Shortbread with raspberry and white chocolate
• Fudge
• Peanut brittle
• Cathedral windows

Once I've spent the weekend slaving away making everything I pack them up in boxes and send them off to friends and family. It's one of my favorite traditions I do every year.

Sunday I went to San Jose with my mom to take my grandma out Christmas shopping. I just about killed everyone in the mall. The downside to Christmas is all the crazies out in the malls that feel it necessary to run me down with their 30 bags of stuff. But I helped pick out some fun gifts for my niece and nephew and got to spend time with my grandma and mom which always brightens my day. After that fun adventure I came home and promptly died on my couch.

And here are the pretty decorations around my house...the tree thanks to moi.

And the lights in my room.

Hope you all are enjoying the crazy Christmas season!

The Misery of Christmas

Odd title right? Well this year Christmas isn't wanted around here. Between the crazy move, getting kicked down, and basically being told I'm not wanted around here, who wants to fake being happy when everyone else is already over the top happy? Well not me. It's December 1st and by now I'd have all my Christmas decorations up, listening to Christmas music, and watching all my Christmas movies, but have I? No. I put lights up in my room and some ornaments and I'm at the point now of just taking them down and saying "screw Christmas" this year.

And what upsets me even more is that I'm depressed about Christmas. Whenever something I've been anticipating for awhile comes around and I'm upset/depressed and I can't control it, I go into a crazy panic. I'm talking staying-up-all-night-freaking-out type panic. But there isn't any way I can change this. Sure I can try and force myself to enjoy the season, but what the hell is the point? It's not like my house is a plethora of Christmas cheer anyway. I rarely see friends to cheer me up. And when I do interact with anyone it's at work and trust me, that's not too cheerful.

So I'm just going to drag my depressed self around glaring at the insane Christmas decorations and being a real-life Scrooge. Yay for a whole month of irritation!

Making Some Changes

Originally this post was supposed to be my What I Ate Wednesday, but other things popped up and needed to be put out there rather than my daily food.

Apparently I've fallen back into the same rut of letting someone kick me down and make me feel bad about myself. That sh*t just doesn't fly with me anymore. I let someone change who I was and influence decisions I made and I should never have let that happen. Maybe I wouldn't be so angry if I just listened to myself rather than someone else, maybe I wouldn't hurt like this if I put myself and my needs first. Well, now that I've seen the light I plan on coming back a better person, lesson learned.

I'm not going to say I'm a fair person because I sure as hell know I'm not. I'm judgemental and mean, but that's just who I am, take it or leave it. But it's not like my heart is made of stone (though with how things seem to be going maybe it should be), I get hurt pretty damn easily. Especially when it's someone you care about that knocks you down.

Lesson learned. Me and myself should always come first and that's just how it's going to be from now on. I've been hurt and need to lick my wounds, but I'll come back stronger and show them what they're missing.

Vent/rant over.

Lessons Learned

Lately I've been thinking about different things that have happened throughout my life, both good and bad. I've always had the mindset that something good comes out of a bad situation, you should always learn a lesson when you make a mistake, and pick yourself up even when things knock you down. And while yes, when I get knocked down with a hard blow it takes me a little while to get back up, I always do it. Being alive today is a testament to that.

I may be only 20, but I've had some pretty monumental things happen in my past that taught me some pretty important lessons. Some of these lessons may apply to you or someone you know, or hell, this could just be a list of things you shouldn't do in the future, but I figure why not impart some of my hard earned wisdom (that was indeed a little sarcastic). Some of the back story will be brutal and disturbing so feel free to skip over it if you'd like, I'll try and bold the lesson parts. But I always feel the importance of a lesson is lessened (ha) if you don't know how that lesson was realized.

In an earlier post I mentioned this serious relationship in high school and if there is one lesson that I have always in my mind, it's the one I learned from the break-up I went through. To spare the details for now let me just say the break-up was pretty nasty. I spiraled down into a horrible depression and refused to talk to anyone and started cutting myself. Cutting myself had been something I used before when I was depressed from a break-up a few years before (same guy, should have stayed away). Eventually things started getting so bad that I was planning out my own suicide. I had written letters to family and close friends telling them how much I loved them, but my pain was too immense. When my therapist finally caught on to what was happening she immediately put me on suicide watch at school. Eventually I got help and I'm here today with a new outlook on things. No matter how bad things get, no matter how much you want to give up and say "screw it", the world just keeps on turning. Find a way to fight through it. Ask for help, remember what matters most because just because you stopped doesn't mean the world does too.
I've also mentioned that I broke up with my fiance not too long ago and while the break-up wasn't hard, the aftermath has been a pain in the ass. We moved in together a couple months after we started dating and I was 18 and naive. I always assumed we'd get married so we got a joint checking account, put my cellphone on his bill, and when we had bills they went under his name. Once he moved out and I went to cancel the bills that I wouldn't need anymore I ran into a crappy road block. Since they were all in his name I couldn't cancel them. I wanted this break-up to be clean,  unlike my last one, but I had to keep in contact with him to get everything solved and figured out. It's been a headache to say the least, but it definitely gave me a lesson that I plan to pass around to anyone I know that tries to get in this situation. Some situations may be different, but it can always happen so keep it in mind. Don't move out with your boyfriend at 18 and definitely don't put all the bills in his name. Break-ups happen and if you've got this stuff combined it makes it that much harder to go your seperate ways. Even if you're engaged, things can still go south so just don't do it. Stay with your parents or move in with close friends, it's a helluva lot easier.

And another one regarding the last story. Don't get engaged at such a  young age, especially if you really jump the gun because everyone else is getting married. Young marriages break-up or go south real quick because we don't have the real life experiences or maturity to make them last. Sure some may succeed, but I've known far more couples to get a divorce or stay miserable because they got married at 18, 19, or 20. Stay together longer, get to know each other more before you decide to tie the knot.

No matter how awesome a guy is or how much you love him, DON'T ditch your friends for him. I've lost good friends and ruined friendships because I became too wrapped up in a relationship and didn't make time for them. Guys come and go, but your friends will always be there.

Don't lose sight of your goals when you're with a guy. My dream is to be a pastry chef and I gave up school because we couldn't afford it. In all honesty, if I hadn't moved out of my parents house I wouldn't have to work full-time and put my college education and career on the back burner. It's much harder to go back to school when you've taken a break as I'm finding now, but I always keep in mind that being a pastry chef is my passion and who I am and I won't let that dream go. Don't let anything get in the way of achieving your dreams.

A lot of my lessons have come from my past relationships if you haven't noticed, but that's where I've been kicked down the most. I've picked myself back up everytime, even if it took a few months, and learned to just keep pushing through. Life is tricky and as my favorite quote goes, "Nobody said it would be easy, they just promised it'd be worth it."

Things To Be Thankful For

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Everytime this year my brain tends to skip ahead to the crazy holiday season up ahead and I always try to skip over Thanksgiving. No, I'm not one of those people that puts up Christmas stuff before Thanksgiving, but it gets damn close. Growing up I was taught the brunt truth of what Thanksgiving was all about and don't worry I won't bore you with a history lesson. I always disliked Thanksgiving until I really sat down and thought, "Hell screw celebrating Thanksgiving for it's history, I'll celebrate it by remembering what I'm thankful for." Very cliche I know, but how many of you sit down and think of what you're truly thankful for? This year I have so much more to be thankful and to save this from being a long post I'll just do bullet points.

I'm thankful for:

• first and foremost in my mind this year, not getting into a marriage I didn't want
• my family and friends who jumped in to help me in my times of need...and craziness
• our military, without them I wouldn't be able to sit down at a nice meal with my family in this amazing country
• my unfortunate job, but hey, people are unemployed right now and can't afford what I can so I can't bitch too much about it (even though I always do)
• this blog which will help me keep my sanity through my life
• being a good chef- y'all have no idea how grounded cooking keeps me
• music and books to help me escape reality when it's needed
• and to end it, I'm so thankful to be alive today to enjoy my life.

 So how was my Thanksgiving? It was amazing. I'm so thankful to spend my holiday with my family who loves me. Cooking food with my mom and being asked for advice was really awesome. I started my day with these delicious cinnamon rolls that are a tradition on holiday mornings in my family. We munched down on these while watching the Macy's Thanksgiving day parade. It was so comforting.

Delicious yes?

Turkey, green bean casserole, and garlic mashed potatoes

Candied yams, homemade stuffing, and crescent rolls



My overstuffed plate

 Every year I always tell myself to not overeat and every year I don't end up listening to myself. Now I'm uncomfortably full and am going to slip into a food coma for awhile.

 Hope you all enjoyed your Thanksgiving and remembered what matters most today!

What I Ate Wednesday

Happy Wednesday everyone!
And since it's Wednesday it's time for What I Ate Wednesday with Jenn @ Peas and Crayons. So here we go!

Breakfast:Greek yogurt & half a bagel with pumpkin cream cheese

Snacks:Green grapes, graham crackers, & pita crackers with hummus

Lunch:

Turkey, cucumber, & lettuce pita with feta greek yogurt spread

Dinner:3 sweet potatoes with Irish butter and salt
Sorry no picture!!
Hope you all enjoy your Thanksgiving holiday!!

Figuring Things Out

Hey everyone! It's been almost a month since I last posted and it feels like forever! I can say the partial truth that I've been busy, but the whole truth is that I wasn't sure if I even wanted to continue blogging.  Warning in advance this is going to be quite a doozy of a blog post so if you decide to bow out now, I understand and I'll be back to short posts again. Now on to the harsh truth of things around here so hang on tight.

What have I been up to lately? Well I've been moving which takes quite a lot of time when combining two households. Who am I moving in with? Well I actually moved into a nice condo with my parents. After my failed engagement I couldn't afford my apartment by myself anymore so I turned to my parents, who being the rockstars they are, helped me out and decided to move out of their place into a new place with me. I've been spending the last few weeks slowly moving my stuff over to the new place until the day came that my rental company wanted to show my apartment which still contained all my stuff. I ended up taking the day off work to move all my important stuff to the new place and have been living at the new place for a few weeks. It's so nice to get out of the ghetto and live in a really nice place. The peace of mind after everything that's gone on has been a tremendous relief. But enough about that, on to the harder stuff. Feels like we're going into my own private layers of hell, but hey, you can bow out still if you'd like.

So if being busy wasn't the only reason I didn't blog what was the rest? Well in all honesty, I didn't know what to write about. My last blog had been about my ex-fiance's journey in the Navy and our life as a soon-to-be military family. Obviously that plan didn't work out well (anyone wonders I'm perfectly fine so don't feel sorry for me) and I just didn't know what to say. Should this be an all healthy food and exercise blog? A random thought blog? I was at a loss until I realized that it's my blog. I don't have to write about anyone, but myself. I don't have to worry about writing someone else's thoughts because all written here are mine. So I've decided this blog will be all about my life, be it what I did that day, future plans, or a journal. I'm sure not everyone will like this and hell, I don't know if anyone even reads this, but it helps me to get stuff out. And down another level we go...

So who am I? Well let me spend this time introducing myself since anyone who's read through everything else is probably actually interested. I've had to spend awhile thinking about who I truly am. Let me rewind and give you a little background. In high school I dated one guy for about 3 years and during that time I molded myself to be what he wanted. I acted how he wanted, didn't say things that would upset him, and lost myself in our relationship. He was my first boyfriend so I had nothing to compare this to. I lost track with my friends and barely hung out with them because he didn't like them. Eventually things fell apart between us and I had two huge mountains to climb after the breakup. I had to pick myself up from that heartbreaking breakup and then I realized I had absolutely no idea who I was. By this point I was 17 so I couldn't even compare myself to who I was at 14 before our relationship. I spent months afterwards figuring out who I was and reconnect with my close friends I rarely ever talked to before. I had promised myself I wouldn't ever lose myself like that again in a relationship and the few short relationships I had I kept my promise, until I met my ex-fiance. Long story short, I came out of this relationship almost 2 years later a different person. Once he left for bootcamp my tranformation started to take place. Without him around I was able to think clearly and realize I wasn't who I wanted to be as a person. So here I am still working towards who I want to be, but still way past who I was. I always put everyone before myself; I always made sure their needs were met before my own. And yes, that meant I had compassion and cared about everyone, but it got to the point that my own needs weren't met. I didn't look the same because I didn't bother to take care of myself and I just plain wasn't happy. I sacrificed my friendships to make him happy and I just wasn't having that anymore. I've been putting my needs first and everyone else second because honestly, if my needs aren't met how the hell am I supposed to help anyone else? I reconnected with my friends and always keep in mind that I can lean on them when times get tough. Do I think I'm perfect? Absolutely not! Lately I've compared myself to Taylor Swift. I make mistakes, I make bad choices, I fall for the wrong people, but I still live life to the best of my ability. I try to not regret anything that's happened in my past because that helps me be the person I am today.

Did you all stick through it? If so I send you a virtual toast. I can't promise you that anything else I post won't be heavy, but I'll try to limit the posts so they're not insanely long like this one!

A Little Catch-Up

Hey everyone! So sorry I've been MIA for almost 10 days! It's been a little busy around here and I've also lost access to a computer at home so I can't blog unless I'm at work. So anyway, on to a quick recap of the only stuff that I can remember important stuff around here.

My mom and I joined a gym together a few days ago and I've been making sure to kick her butt while we're there. I was already a member at a gym around the corner from my house, but it was so tiny and this new gym is so big and beautiful and there was a pool. If you didn't know, I used to be a champion swimmer so swimming is definitely a love of mine! Last night my mom and I took a zumba class together and it just happened to be her first zumba class ever. She had fun, but was still challenged a bunch which is exactly what she needs. She's signed me up as her own personal trainer so I'm looking forward to pushing her and keeping her motivated. After my workout I made sure to try this new smoothie that I've heard a bunch about called a Green Monster. It's super easy and really delicious. Why is it green? Well, it contains a whole lot of spinach, buuuut before you get grossed out by drinking a spinach smoothie, it tastes nothing like spinach. It's actually quite sweet and delicious when you add the right ingredients. Here's my recipe:

1 1/2 cups fresh spinach
1 banana frozen and cut into chunks
2 ice cubes
1/4 cup vanilla protein powder
1/2 Greek yogurt

The only reason I use Greek yogurt is because I'm out of milk, whoops! It'll be a lot easier to blend with milk so definitely stick to the milk. Please try this, it's absolutely delicious and refreshes you after an intense workout.

Last Saturday I also got a new tattoo! I've been wanting this for awhile, but couldn't decide where I wanted it. I got it behind my ear and if you want a virtually painless tattoo, go behind the ear. It tickled more than anything and my tattoo artist was done in like 10 minutes. I just hate the fact that I can't see it, but what are pictures for hmm?


There isn't much more to catch up on so hope everyone enjoys they're upcoming weekend and Halloween!

What I Ate Wednesday

Hello there everyone!

One of my favorite things to do is to exercise. Sounds crazy right? But I love the healthy lifestyle. I love pushing myself to new limits and eating delicious healthy food. I've made it my goal lately to be aware of what I put in my body and what I do with it to keep it in shape. One of the wonderful things I've discovered in the blogging world is called What I Ate Wednesday. Jenn at Peas and Crayons does this every Wednesday and will tell you what it's all about. It's a good start to really thinking of what you put in your body everyday rather than mindlessly shoveling food in your mouth. So here we go!

Breakfast:

 Blueberry Greek yogurt with homemade granola

Snacks:

Red grapes (not pictured) & pita crackers

from Trader Joe's and garlic hummus

Lunch:

Turkey pita sandwich with feta Greek spread
(I'll post the recipe at the end)

Dinner:I was too busy eating it to take a picture whoops!
Lean Cuisine Cheese Ravioli

Doesn't sound so hard to record the food you eat right? Try it for a week, you'll notice how more conscious you are of what you eat! And that recipe I promised you? Here you go!

Greek Salad Pitas with Feta Spread and Turkey (makes 4 sandwiches)

recipe by Ellie Krieger
For the spread:3/4 cup crumbled feta cheese (4 oz)
3 TB nonfat plain yogurt
1 TB fresh lemon juice
2 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp finely grated lemon zest
1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper

For the sandwich:4 whole-wheat pita breads
4 large pieces romaine lettuce, torn in half
1 English cucumber, sliced into half moons
1/4 cup lightly packed fresh mint leaves
3/4 pound thinly sliced roasted turkey breast

Combine feta and yogurt with a fork. Stir in lemon juice, oregano, lemon zest, and pepper. Keep the spread in an airtight container in a fridge for up to 5 days.
To make the sandwich cut a pita in half, line each pocket with half a lettuce leaf. Spread 2 heaping tablespoons of feta spread into each pocket. Fill each pocket with about 6 cucumber slices, 4 or 5 mint leaves, and 2 or 3 slices of turkey.

My personal changes: I used Greek yogurt instead of plain yogurt and it had a really great consistency. I didn't use a cucumber because I forgot to buy one (whoooops!) and I didn't use mint leaves because I don't like fresh mint in sandwiches.

Please make these! They're delicious!

 

A Little Switcheroo

Welcome to my brand new blog everyone! Now, as the post title says, this is a bit of a switcheroo. I had an old blog that was about my life as a future military wife in the Navy. Unfortunately the military factor is out of the equation now. My fiance got discharged from the Navy for having asthma which no one detected before he went to boot camp. I didn't feel it appropriate to keep posting on that blog so I created a new one with a new focus. Now that we have that lengthy explanation out of the way, let's get blogging!

This weekend I kept pretty busy trying to keep my mind occupied. Friday I ended up skipping out of work halfway through the day since that was the day I learned my fiance had been medically discharged. I went to a barbeque with some friends to brighten my spirit and then came home and had margarita night with my best friend. I ended up munching down a bunch of junk food and let me tell you, going from healthy food to processed food was very comforting.

Saturday I spent the day shopping with my friend and what more can brighten your day then buying new clothes? Unfortunately I ended up sick so I couldn't go to the bonfire that I had helped plan so I just lied around on my couch watching The Lost World. Fun fact: The Lost World and Jurassic Park were my favorite movies when I was little. I reenacted scenes during recess with my friends and everyone was expecting me to be a paleontologist when I grew up....I ended up being a pastry chef, but! my love for dinosaurs never diminished.

Sunday I cleaned my much abused apartment for hours. Surprisingly I enjoy cleaning because who doesn't love the feeling of a clean house and in turn cleaning up your life? Sunday is also football day and that's something I definitely don't miss. As I write this my Chicago Bears are playing and kicking ass. What a wonderful end to a good weekend!

Hope you all have a great week!