I've been so busy lately that I didn't realize it's been almost a week since my last post! So sorry! Life has been crazy trying to get ready for the first day of school. I'd really like to offer some life changing revelation or advice, but after a 12 hour day, you're getting randomness. Enjoy : ) * I treated myself to one of my favorite desserts after dinner. One Minute Banana Pudding!!! And guess what? It's 100% guiltless!
1 banana
1 tbsp plain greek yogurt
Splash of milk: I normally use coconut or almond milk
Sprinkle of stevia: You like my measurements don't you ; )
Sprinkle of cereal: I like Honey Bunches of Oats with Almonds
Directions: Break the banana into pieces and place in a small bowl. Microwave for one minute, stirring after 30 seconds. It should end up caramelized. You may have to add additional seconds, but check it often or it will overcook. Add all other ingredients, stir, and enjoy! Yum : ) Almost as good as Grandma's.
Life is all about the little things. I'm convinced of this. It's the little things in life that allow us to experience joy, peace, love, happiness. Even in times of complete chaos, if you take just a second to look around I'm certain you'll find at least one small thing to make you smile.
In February of this year I read a book, One Thousand Gifts, that taught me to look for the small things, and appreciate all of life's little blessings. It's a christian based book describing one woman's journey to grow her sense of gratitude in life. While it took me a while to really get into the book, it turned out to be one of my favorites because of what it taught me. Inspired by the author I started my own gratitude journal (confession: I'm the world's worst at starting something and not finishing, but I did manage to write down my gifts for about a month. Now I just store them away in my memory).
(Obviously I AM NOT an artist lol)
Today I woke to an early morning thunderstorm and have been enjoying it's peacefulness while cuddled up on my couch, sipping on a cup of hazelnut coffee, no responsibilities requiring my attention elsewhere. My favorite! I couldn't have asked for a better way to start the day : ) and have been inspired to share with you some of the other small things that have filled my gratitude tank.
My mama coming to visit
The perfect song during a run. Yesterday I was especially loving "Ho Hey" by the Lumineers and "As Long As You Love Me" by Justin Bieber. And no, I'm not too proud to admit that I listen to Bieber : )
Cook Out Milkshakes!
Chai lattes AKA "Christmas in your mouth!"
Surprises in the mail and life long friends
Taken 10 years and 1 day apart : )
Randomness and random acts of kindness: I passed this during my run yesterday morning, and it definitely made me smile : )
Thank you, whoever you are, for being cool enough to think to do this!
Encouraging words from a friend validating who I am and what I'm doing in life; reminding me that no matter what time or distance is between us, our friendship will never fade. @ Angie Sneed : )
Daily devotionals: Charles Stanley and Joel Osteen are two of my fav podcasts to listen to while getting ready in the morning.
Kiddos: their innocence and fullness of life make my heart smile.
The Bose system in my car. Thanks to spending a week in a rental while my car was being repaired, I've learned that my morning drives just aren't the same without my Bose blaring to wake me up!
One of these days I'm going to make time to sit and write about the millions of things that have been on my mind lately. But for now, I'll just take a few minutes to wish my BFF in the whole wide world a HAPPY BIRTHDAY : )
Friendship is something I truly value, and without a doubt can say that you have been the very best friend a girl could ever have. I can't thank you enough for always, always, always being there for me, for giving me advice, for holding your tongue, for encouraging me, listening to me rant, saving my life (because you have many times), having faith in me, being my partner in crime, putting up with my silliness, making mistakes with me, loving me, and most of all... for just being FABULOUS YOU : )
You are such a wonderful person and deserve the best life has to offer!
p.s. we need some updated pics!
Monday, August 13, 2012
Taking it back to my roots of food blogging today! I had some YUMMY food this weekend and thought I'd share...
After a great long run Saturday morning, I came home craving one of my favorite easy meals... Toasted turkey with goat cheese, spicy mustard, and apple slices. Only I realized I didn't have apples and substituted peaches instead. Not bad : )
Dinner Saturday night turned out not bad either. In fact, it was DELICIOUS!!! I went over to help my friend Joey prepare to host her husband's football team cookout, but a last minute team meeting lead to the whole thing being called off. Instead of hosting, we left the five pounds of burgers and dogs in the fridge and headed out for an impromptu girls night : ) Within 30 minutes we were seated at the bar of Soul Gastrolounge enthralled in the amazing menu trying to decide what to order first! P.S. Never believe the hostess when she says there's a two hour wait. Slip her some cash or do what we did... pounce on the first bar stools that come available! Sitting at the bar is way more fun anyways.
Pork belly tacos with watermelon salsa...most AMAZING food ever! (This pic came from Yelp... I was too busy stuffing my face to take pretty pics)We also had the taramasalata and a replay roll.
And last but definitely not least, on Sunday I finally decided to try out a new sweet potato recipe. It was very easy to make, and I loved it! Can you tell I have a thing for brussels sprouts too?
Spicy garlic black beans, Baked sweet potato filled with spicy black beans and topped with a warm goat cheese honey spread, And of course brussels sprouts with spicy mustard.
Oh, I almost forgot... I was craving something sweet Sunday night and decided to try ad-libbing a recipe for black bean brownies. Can you say EPIC FAIL!?! More like disgusting bean flavored eggy pudding. Disgusting! Made their way to the trash can faster than anything containing chocolate ever should. Maybe next time I'll actually follow a recipe. I'll give them one more shot.
I didn’t have to work on Friday and spent the day trying to be productive, with hopes of getting my To Do list down to only one or two items. I managed to spend most of the morning working out and then doing work on my computer, and finally made it out of the house around 2 pm. At that time I set out to run a few errands, only to return several hours later feeling like I had accomplished very little.
At 8 pm I was still feeling pretty unproductive, and a little bored after being holed up alone in my tiny apartment for most of the day. I had been planning to head to South Carolina to visit family and a friend who was in town for the weekend, but realized that I hadn’t even packed yet. It was looking like the 1.5 hour drive was going to have to wait until the morning, because as it was, I wouldn’t arrive until after 10pm. Might as well wait and leave early in the am. But what was I going to do for the rest of the night? Feeling extremely restless, I texted my sister to tell her not to expect me until the next day and sat down to eat dinner. Less than halfway through however, I changed my mind. It might do me some good to get out, even if it was late. And maybe I’d like a milkshake instead of the rest of my dinner : ) I picked up the phone to call my sister and she encouraged me to come on down. She was bored too lol. So I packed my bags, threw everything in the car, and Jackson (my pup, and I set out on our trip. Unable to make up my mind about what kind of milkshake I wanted quickly enough to stop by the Cookout nearest my house, I decided I’d stop at the one in Monroe. I had 45 minutes to decide on the perfect flavor : ) Since my trips to Cookout are pretty infrequent (yes, 2-3 times a month is WAY less than I’d like to go) I always go for exactly the one I’m craving, which is usually banana pudding. Surprisingly though, this didn’t sound as enticing to me at the time. I had already had a banana and yogurt earlier in the day, and was now craving something chocolatey. The following is something like the conversation I had with myself while trying to make a decision...
“What if I tried a chocolate Oreo? Or chocolate M&M? Banana pudding peanut butter fudge? Orrrr maybe the peach cobbler. I’ve been wanting to try this one for a while, but no- I’m pretty sure I want chocolate tonight. Oohh... what about cookies! A big, gooey chocolate chip cookie would be yummy! I COULD just stop at a convenience store. Maybe even find a chocolate chip cookie ice-cream sandwich! This would be a little healthier considering it’d probably be less calories in comparison to a 1,000 some-odd calorie milkshake. Or maybe I should just hold off on the sweet stuff all together for the night. I’m sure there will be plenty of desserts around this weekend, and if I have a milkshake now I’m going to feel like I need to pass most of them up, having already expended my junk food calories for the week. And besides, desserts are always better when you have someone else to enjoy them with. So no ice-cream. No cookies. No candy bar.” (Because a snickers bar had crossed my mind too)
Ridiculous, I know! But when I reached the Cookout in Monroe, I just kept driving. Passed right by the Dairy Queen too. Decision made. Instead of ice-cream, I pulled out the sandwich I had left over from dinner (because I always travel with a cooler full of food ; )) and finished it off. And although it was yummy, I developed a stomachache almost immediately after eating it. MORALE OF THE STORY: Always choose the ice-cream!
The next day that’s just what I did (chocolate Reese’s cup milkshake), and I even got to share my enjoyment. Looks like my nephew thought his was pretty awesome too!
So does anyone else suffer from this kind or ridiculous indecision, or am I the only one? Have a great one!
As noted in my original post, I did have a little accident recently that has somewhat interrupted my videos. I was very lucky no one else was hurt or involved, and that the accident wasn't any worse that it was. Nevertheless, it made me think. Even with all of the hype about texting or using cell phones while driving, I've always disregarded the warnings and continued to use my phone while driving. Having this little incident has made me realize how easily accidents can happen, I actually wasn't even videoing at the time but was simply changing the song on my Ipod.
I've had so many friends request to be added to my viewing list when sending out videos, and posting them on my blog is an easy way to share the love and entertainment. After giving it a lot of thought I've decided to share while making it clear that I DO NOT promote cell phone use while driving in any way, but rather want to use this as an opportunity to encourage you to be safe.
As a professional in the medical field and especially working with kids, I feel it's my duty to be a good role model and struggled over my decision to post the videos for fear of setting a bad example. From now on I only plan to record when the car is in park, but life is too short not to have fun and share the love : )
Just a little more about me : ) 1. The first time I flew in an airplane, I jumped out of it. 2. I love to travel... My most interesting trips so far were medical missions to India and Haiti 3. I ran my first half marathon last year and began training for my first full soon after. Due to injury this didn't happen as planned, but I've just started training again! 4. I have an identical twin whom I love. (And the most AWESOME nephew in the world!) 5. I want to write a book one day- a biography of sorts based on my personal journal entries. 6. I drink hot chocolate everyday. Usually twice a day. Even when it's 100 degrees outside. 7. I LOVE eating out in nice restaurants and trying new foods. 8. I could happily eat my weight in watermelon. And ice cream. And of course bananas and peanut butter too : ) 9. I have the best family and friends a girl could have. 10. I want to see the world : )
I've spent the afternoon with my wonderful friend Joey learning lots of fun things about setting up my blog... and now I can finally post my videos!!! Yay : )
Enjoy!!! (And if you don't know the story behind these videos, read about it here.
