You say it's your birthday...

Today is the bf's bday!  I'm making homemade Chipotle bowls for dinner and then we're going out to celebrate!

Thank you youtube lol.

Happy Birthday Dave!

This picture is from last year when I informed the restaurant that it was

his birthday, much to his dismay!  He may hate me for posting this...

Mood Food

I woke up this morning feeling terrible.  I had this pain my neck (slept funny?) and I just did not want to start the day, at all.  And to top it off I dropped a big box of paper on my foot yesterday at work and I think I broke my middle toe, womp womp!  Anyway, I think my general blahness this morning was partly to do with yesterday's eats.  Although I did get some watermelon and green beans in, my lunch consisted of two slices of pizza.  For dinner we went out with Dave's parents for his birthday (which is Thursday!).  We ate at Cheeseburger in Paradise, a Jimmy Buffet owned/themed restaurant in Exton.

We all shared a fried pickle appetizer and the triple D - guacamole, queso, and a crab and spinach dip with chips.  Both were very tasty, especially with the peach mango mojito I was drinking!  For dinner I got the island quesadilla (pulled chicken, cheddar and jack cheeses, crimini mushrooms, balsamic applewood smoked bacon, drizzled with avocado cream) with teriyaki broccoli as my side.  The quesadilla was ok, I mean it was good but didn't really wow me.  The broccoli was surprisingly good.  I left feeling uncomfortably full (I only ate half of my quesadilla!) and wanting to take a nap.  Food coma!

I got home thinking about what I would eat for the rest of the week so I whipped up a pasta dish using some veggies I had at Dave's and some leftover from last week's healthy grocery trip.  I ended up sauteing some asparagus, carrot, squash, zucchini, and green onion in garlic and butter and putting it in some garden vegetable pasta with some alfredo and parmesan cheese.  I know alfredo isn't exactly good for me, but I tried to use a small amount and I felt ok about it since all those veggies are packed in, including in the pasta.  Cooking was the last thing I wanted to do when I got home, but I'm really trying to plan ahead to get the good stuff in my diet and save some cash!

Do you notice your food affecting how you feel?  How do you beat the morning blahs?

Family Fun Beach Weekend

This weekend was lovely.  The weather was perfect.  The food was delicious.  The drinks were tropical.  Here's our weekend in pictures, enjoy.

Whenever Dave hits the lottery, we're buying that house.  Cape May is so beautiful.

What's your favorite beach spot?

Midweek Happenings

I went to the gym last night, that's right people, twice in one week!  It's a record (well not really but definitely more than I've been going lately).  I hit the treadmill for 32 minutes, doing somewhere between 2 and 2.5 miles, I can't remember.  I did a lot of walking breaks last night, I felt great but my groin muscle (ew?) was feeling really tight with some pain so I wanted to take it easy.

Then Michelle (my sis), Alex (her bf), Nicole (one of my besties), and I went for a Chipotle feast.  I went vegetarian again, this time I got a burrito instead of the bowl though.  Soooooo delicious.  There are so many awesome ingredients that the burrito really isn't any less amazing without the meat.  And again, you can't argue with the free guac that comes with the veggie burrito!

Then we all headed over to Border's and I picked up Michael Pollan's In Defense of Food.  I plan on reading it this weekend at the beach.  And guess what, my mom already stole it from me and is in the process of reading it now.  I'm excited that she's open to hearing more about all of this.

Last night concluded with hanging out with a big group of friends (which also included teaching Heather the proper way to do a squad haha), cleaning my room, prepacking for the weekend, and some random push ups and tricep dips in my bedroom.

Today's eats:

Breakfast - Some strawberry banana Chobani with some fresh strawberries and some chocolate delight granola.  So yummy.  I love the crunch that the granola gives it.

Lunch - Still going with the quinoa salad but added some feta, some more balsamic, and some fresh broccoli from my friends' garden.  I was definitely getting kind of bored with this, but changing it up a little gave me a new appreciation.  I loved the broccoli in it and I also love that it was grown by people I love.  (I thought I took a picture of this but apparently technology failed me.)  I can't wait for more fresh produce from them and some tomatoes and cucumbers from my dad's garden.  I think having a garden would be awesome, but I'm just too lazy busy!  I really need to go on an adventure to the local farmers market!

Tomorrow is Friday, yay!!!!!

Do you grow anything?  Where do you get your produce from?



Healthy Shopping & Some Quinoa

Last night I actually made use of the gym membership I'm paying for (thank goodness I'm only paying Planet Fitness $10 a month btw) and I even convinced my mom to go!  I did a combo of running and walking and did 2.7 miles in 35 minutes.  I took it nice and easy because I'm still trying to let my foot heal.  It has felt pretty good since I gave it a good rest and wore sneakers to work all last week but I'm still avoiding heels and trying to be aware of how it feels.  I also did a few random arm exercises, gotta tone the guns.

After the gym, I went to the grocery store.  It was the first time I ever walked down the organic aisles!  Here's what I got:

Um who am I????  My cart has never looked quite like this!  I went home and sliced up some carrots and cucumber to eat with the veggie dip as a snack and I also made a cold quinoa salad including chopped carrots, squash, zucchini, and cucumber, all covered in some balsamic vinaigrette.  Hello healthy lunch for the week!  I'd never had quinoa before, honestly it doesn't really have much of a taste (what grain does?).  I totally meant to put some feta in it this morning, but I forgot.  Womp womp!

Tonight the bf is taking me out to the Victory Brewery for dinner and some brewskis.  Yay for date nights :)

What's your favorite grain?  Is it tasty by itself?  Do you like quinoa?

Opple Topple & the boyfriend

A shower and sleeping in my bed never felt better than they did yesterday!  This weekend was a blast.  Opple Topple Fest had a bit of a different vibe than Folk Fest (the only other festival I've been to - twice and loved both times), but the music was awesome and we had a great time.  A huge bonus was the whole thing was shaded by the woods, so it was a perfect temperature and we didn't have to worry about sunburn.

Here's our little camp site.

And here we are.

Everyone meet Dave.  We've been dating for over a year and couldn't be happier.  He's laid back, funny, smart, family oriented, active, adventurous, and one of the nicest people I've ever met.  He's the ying to my yang and I hope that we're together for the long haul!

Aren't we cute???

Anyway, my Sunday evening included a two hour nap, eating dinner, and then taking another two hour nap.  After all that sleep, plus a full eight hours last night, I don't know how I was still tired this morning.  For the rest of the week I'm trying to load up on sleep and feel good foods so I can be ready for the beach this weekend.  I love summer!

What's your favorite feel good recovery food?

Happy Friday

TGIF yay!  We made it :)

This weekend I'll be camping out at Opple Topple Fest, which is conveniently only 10 minutes from my house.  I'm so excited to be outdoors, meet new people, hear some awesome live music, and get my dance on.  Hopefully Puddin' won't miss us too much while she's staying at my parents'.

Nah, I'm sure she'll be spoiled all weekend.  Who could resist that face?

Do you like camping?  Have you ever been to a music festival?

I have a confession...

I am addicted.

Once again I failed at my blogging duties and did not take a

picture of my actual bowl - next time, I promise!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm mildly obsessed with Chipotle.  The food is so good and I love that they promote food with integrity.  Is it sad that I'd rather have their guacamole than some from any actual Mexican restaurant?  Oh well, if Chipotle is wrong, I don't want to be right.  Yesterday I got a vegetarian bowl for the first time.  It was hard to resist the steak, but since the guacamole is already included in the vegetarian price, I was able to stick to my plan.  My bowl consisted of rice, black beans, fajita veggies, mild and medium salsas, corn (for the first time as well), sour cream, cheese, and guacamole (of course).  I wasn't a big fan of how sweet the corn was but I'm glad I tried it.  Otherwise the bowl was delicious, I didn't miss the steak that much and (as always) I got to eat the second half for lunch.  Tip for saving your bowl with guacamole for later - cover the guac up with all of the other ingredients before you put the lid on so that it won't turn brown.  Win!  Now if I could just get rid of the onion breath I'm rocking...

Tonight I'm trying out a new recipe on the boyfriend.  If it's worthy, I'll blog about it in the future.  Maybe I'll even remember to take pictures!  Maybe.

What's your favorite Mexican food?

How Convenient

Last night I came home from work with intentions of going to the gym, getting some laundry and packing done for this weekend, and attending a meeting for the organization I coach for.  Instead I took a 2 hour nap.  Whoops!  On my way home from work I started getting a wicked headache and after eating dinner I curled up on the couch and passed out.  I woke up feeling amazing!  I rarely get to nap, especially during the week.  When I actually have some free time, sometimes napping or taking time to do nothing sorta makes me feel guilty, like I should be working out or cleaning my room, or at least doing something productive.  But I definitely feel like I needed that nap last night and I think listening your body is a good thing.  The night wasn't a total loss because I did get a load of laundry done and I busted out some push ups and tricep dips.

So I'm trying to eat less meat, definitely less red meat.  Between the environmental effects, consuming all of the antibiotics and crap they give cattle, and the risk of heart disease (which runs in my family) I just don't think it's worth it.  So of course my mom makes it for dinner last night and I find some (perfectly cooked steak) in the fridge (where I scavenge for my lunches).  At dinner I may have just tried to load up on the rest of dinner and take little or no meat, except the rest of the meal was a baked potato and cucumber slices, not exactly a complete dinner.  Do I refuse to eat what she makes and then spend money that I wouldn't have to otherwise?  I love just looking in the fridge and having free lunches.  And even though I'm trying to cut back my meat intake, that doesn't change my love for steak.  I don't know, maybe that's why so many people in our country are overweight, because it's convenient.  It's cheap and easy to eat fast food.  It's easy to sit on the couch and not exercise.  It's easy to keep doing what you're doing, whether it's good for you or not.

I recently watched a documentary called Food Matters (it's on demand on Netflix - go watch it ASAP).  There's a lot of slap in the face information about drug companies, cancer treatments, raw foods, and various other topics (some of which I am slightly skeptical about) but the biggest message was simple and made a lot of sense: you are what you eat.  If you don't give your body the vitamins and nutrients it needs, you won't operate at your best.  The documentary basically said most people are malnutritioned and have no idea.  They aren't giving their body what it needs and then wonder why they are tired, sick, overweight, etc.  So my sister and I tried to pass some of the knowledge on to my parents last night in a casual conversation over dinner.  They are so stubborn!  As soon as they hear any crazy newfound vegetarian talk they immediately close their minds, start pointing out any flaw they can think of, and completely miss the point.

If changing our diets to include significantly more veggies and fruit (and less crap) would most definitely increase our chance of living long healthy lives, shouldn't we all be jumping at this opportunity?

Sushi Feast & Comfy Shoes

Hello and Happy Tuesday!  Another day closer to the weekend, which I pretty much live for... especially during the summer.  This weekend the bf and I are headed to a local music festival to get our hippie on.  In the meantime...

Last night was a sushi date with the girls at Ooka in Montgomeryville.  I got the King Crab Roll (which was basically a California Roll but which actual crab instead of crab stick), and then Heather and I split the Out of Control Roll (tuna, salmon, avocado, masago) and the Baked Philadelphia Roll (eel, avocado, baked salmon, spicy cream cheese).  Everything was so yummy!  The Baked Philadelphia Roll was different from any sushi I'd ever had before, very good.  I wish I had taken some sweet pictures of all the tasty sushi but as a rookie blogger, I was not thinking about that when our food finally arrived - fail!  Let's pretend...

After finishing up our feast and raiding Sally's Beauty Supplies, we headed home and my sister and I went for a 2.5 mile walk.  What better way to get some light fitness in then strolling around your neighborhood and chatting?  Speaking of which, I think walking is going to have to be my primary form of cardio for the next few weeks since I've been having pain in the ball of my right foot for about a week now.  I believe it's related to overuse and probably stepping on a giant root or something during the huge outdoor party we had two weekends ago so my plan is to try to rest it and go from there.  This also entails not wearing any cute (unsupportive) shoes :(

Yup, I'm wearing sneaks with my dress pants today. 
At least they aren't bright white!

Today's eats include a leftover piece of Chef Boyardee pizza with mushrooms for breakfast.  Breakfast of champions, I know.  For some reason I just can't resist this pizza cold for breakfast.  Next was half of a peach Chobani (ate the other half yesterday) with some cereal, yum!  On the menu for the rest of my work day is a Granny Smith Apple, some cherries, and some leftover rice-a-roni mixed with steak, broccoli, and cauliflower (thanks to my parents' fridge).


Well hope you're having a fabulous day :)


Do you like sushi?  What's your favorite roll?

Well, hello there...

For the past few months I've been consistently following a number of blogs and I finally decided it was time to start my own!  Maybe the blog will find a specific focus as I go, but as of right now it will be ramblings of my life including fitness, food, fashion, and figuring it all out.

I have been involved in sports for as long as I can remember, which always provided me with the ability to eat like a truck driver with no consequences.  I am still very active between hiking, random "better than nothing" workouts in my living room, coaching cheerleading, running, and hitting the gym but I usually seem to lack a consistent schedule.  One of my goals for the near future is to get into more of a workout habit.

Since I started reading healthy living blogs, I've also been reconsidering what I eat.  My favorite food list is like a collection of everything that's bad for you: mozzarella sticks, pizza, cheeseburgers, chicken parm... well anything with cheese actually!  After reading the blogs, doing some research, and watching some recent documentaries, I'm working on giving my diet a makeover and moving meat out of the spotlight.  I currently do not have any plans to give up meat all together, but I am trying to teach myself how to love vegetables and to fuel my body so it can be at it's best!

I'm currently half living at my parents' house and the other half of the time (well over half) I'm at my boyfriend's house, which means I am always packing and hoping I'll actually want to wear what I have with me at the time.  I am a volunteer coach for a youth cheerleading squad, which currently practices once a week, but will rule my life soon enough with four practices a week in August.  I am a highway design engineer and I'm also in the process of getting my masters... eventually (I'm only on #3 out of 10 classes and I'm not really in any kind of rush).  I'm always on the go and sometimes it can be a bit overwhelming, but I've been busy all of my life and I wouldn't want it any other way :)

I am loud, ridiculous, opinionated, and love to have a blast with my friends.

Welcome to my blog!