Oldies but Goodies

Since about 9 I have been working on a speech that I have to give tomorrow and thank you notes. I always like to have something going on in the background and what did I find when browsing the channels?? DIRTY DANCING!!! I love love love this movie! I am 1 of 4 girls and we always used to want to watch it on our long road trips on vacation and my dad absolutely hated it. Of course he did; he has 4 girls. This definitely did not stop us. It is an all-time classic! Then, when I finally (it had been a while) took a shower and got to work on thank you notes, what other fabulous movie did I find?? A BED OF ROSES!! Good ole' Christian Slater. Such a sweet movie and perfect for writing thank you notes for our wedding shower. Oh love....I love love!

Rewind--
So lately I have discovered a new obsession. In all my 22 years I have never made stove-top oats. GASP, I know. They are incredible! Why had I not discovered these before?!

I woke up yesterday morning craving blueberry muffins, so I improvised. 

Blueberry Muffin Cream of Wheat

- 1 pkt. orig. cream of wheat

- 1/4 container plain Greek yogurt

- 1/2 c. water

- handful of blueberries (and a 1/2)

- xanthum gum

- 2 pkts. Splenda

YUMMMY!! It was exactly what I was going for. I was completely satisfied. Then this morning I tried another...

This was almost like Strawberry Shortcake in a mug.

This concoction was made with:

- 1/3 c. oat bran

- 1/2 cup water

- 1/4 container plain Greek yogurt

- xanthum gum

- 2 pkts. Splenda

- 5 chopped strawberries

I plan on making many more of these. I'll keep you updated on all my new recipes. 

Happy Wednesday!! I hope your day was as beautiful as mine. It was gorgeous outside today and I took full advantage of it. A 4 mile run, a 2.5 mile walk and lots of walking to class. I love being outdoors!! 

What's your favorite "oldie but goodie" movie?

Showered with Love

Yes, it sounds corny, but that is exactly how I felt this weekend. All weekend I had people around me who I love and who are so supportive of me. I cannot thank everyone enough for how wonderful they made the weekend, especially Ben and my first wedding shower. IT WAS AMAZING!!!!

After my morning class on Friday, Blair and I packed up and headed for Dallas. In order to keep me occupied before my very first  dress fitting, my mom and I went to a fabulous lunch at Highlands Cafe and then she offered to get me a mani/pedi. I think she could tell I was pretty ansy! It was the perfect solution to passing the time. Before I knew it we were on our way to Mockingbird Bridal!

 My mom, Christie (one of my sisters), Blair and Karen (Ben's mom) all met up at the boutique. It was so nice to have so much support and approval. Surprisingly, the dress fit perfectly! All they have to do is hem the bottom...HALLELUJAH! My mom's pocketbook was pretty happy about this too. :) I still absolutely love the dress and just didn't want to take it off. I was super nervous that I wouldn't like it after not seeing it for so long, but I feel positively bridal in it! The rest of the night was filled with family dinner, shopping for a bday present and watching the MAVS (lose). I fell asleep during the game on my parents couch. I know I was tired, but I think it was really because I wanted it to be Saturday so bad.

After a long, beautiful walk around Lake Highlands, I met up with Blair for coffee with our high school Young Life leader, Michelle. Blair and I got to hang out all weekend, but we always love hearing about Michelle's life and telling her about what's going on in ours. It's so weird to think that 4 years have passed since she led us, and so much is going on in all of our lives. I can't wait to see her at the wedding and hopefully we can all hang out when we move back.

Later that afternoon I had the dreaded hair cut....it actually went very well and you'll see pictures momentarily. Then it was off to Denton to get ready for our first COUPLE'S SHOWER!!!!!! 

Check out the set-up---

I mean seriously...could our hostesses have done a better job?!?! Everything was soo cute and they incorporated our wedding colors perfectly! The grill up top is where most of the men hung out. They grilled burgers, chicken, bacon-wrapped venison and had fried onion rings and french fries. It was incredible! 

These were the hostesses for the night. They were amazing and I cannot thank them enough! 

We are so blessed by wonderful friends. They are the ones who made the night so special. I think there ended up being about 70 people at the shower and when we were opening presents it was so cool to look up and see everyone who we love. Like I said...I felt completely showered with love. Friends, family, friends of friends, and Ben made me feel so special over the weekend and I could not be more thankful for all that God as blessed me with. 

Here's some candids of the present opening--

I GOT MY KITCHENAID!!! 

Isn't he cute?! I think so!

After all the present opening festivities, they tried to get to me to make a speech, but I kindly passed that one off to Ben. I am not a public speaker! We mingled and hung out for a couple more hours after everything was over and had a blast. I am so excited to continue all of the friendships after Ben and I are married. We have an incredible support system! 

Having a little fun with our new wheelbarrow!! 

My soon-to-be hubby and me!! 

Thank you everyone who made this weekend so amazing!! I love you all!! 

Day of the Bear

If you don't or didn't attend Baylor University, you probably don't know what I'm talking about, but I'm about to inform you....

Here at Baylor we have something called Dia del Oso, translated "Day of the Bear." It is a Thursday in April where all classes are cancelled and we celebrate the bear, our mascot. I know, it sounds pretty ridiculous, but it is probably one of the best, if not THE best day, of the school year. The students usually refer to it as "Dia del 10th" because we all congregate along 10th Street for tons of festivities. Anyway, DIA was yesterday and it was fabulous! To top it off, Blair, my best friend from high school, came in from A&M to participate since she's going home with me this weekend.

It's not a party unless there's a goat! 

DIA really starts the night before with a washers tournament out in a huge field. This is what I came upon in my mingling. Can you say RANDOM?!?!

I started off the fabulous day with a fabulous breakfast and morning run before heading out. 

My delicious pancake creation. Egg whites, whole wheat flour, almond milk, baking powder and xanthum gum. 

Oh, and of course, spray butter! 

Anyway, after a morning and majority of the afternoon of DIA festivities, Blair and I decided to run some errands. I finally got a new charger for my camera (HALLELUJAH!), so I can take lots of pictures this weekend, and since Best Buy was having some good movie deals, I bought The Bone Collector. Any reviews? I've heard it's good, plus it's a Denzel movie and Ben is obsessed, so I figured I'd grow our collection. Then, we did a little shopping to see if I could find anything for the shower this weekend. Oh yea, I forgot to mention...Ben and I have our first shower this weekend. We are soo excited!! I shopped all day Wednesday and could not find a thing that I thought was worth my money, but I finally found a really cute, bright skirt at LOFT yesterday. Always a good fall back store. I did a little fashion show for Blair last night and we have a very spring outfit all put together! 

We went back to 10th Street for a little while and mingled after shopping. I love front porch sitting...it's one of the best pass times ever created. I totally intend to have a wrap around front porch one day and front porch sit all the time. Anywho -- After a long day we were pretty hungry so we headed for some eats. I finally fulfilled my craving for Pei Wei!! Gotta love the kids Honey-Seared Chicken. It's the perfect portion size too. I also finally fulfilled my long-time desire to see The Last Song!! Ohmygoodness, I loved it! I've read the book and of course there are differences, but it's still very well made. I cried! We ended the day with good friends, good conversation, and good froyo. I LOVE DIA!!

Today, I have my first fitting. I am beyond excited!! It will be my first time to try on my wedding dress in MY size! You just don't get the full affect when it's all clipped in different places to fit you. I started off the morning with a hardy breakfast. I want to have lots of energy today and hopefully ZERO bloating. That means NO gum-chewing today! 

Yummy egg whites on a sandwich thin with a juicy orange. 

I'm off to have a great run before heading to Dallas. Don't worry, now that I have my camera back I will be taking TONS of pictures this weekend. None of the dress of course. Ben would totally peak!

Brain Food

Sorry I have been MIA for almost a week. I was really enjoying posting everyday, but school completely took over my life this week. I didn't even get to see many of my friends unless we could squeeze in a quick walk or something. I was all business. The good news is that now I have soo much to catch you up on! I don't want to make this the longest post you've ever read, so I will just give you a quick wrap up. 

Lets start with my eats...they have been great this week! Like I said I was studying the whole time, so I was trying to fuel my brain! 

This lunch was absolutely wonderful! I will be buying some more tuna on Sunday during my weekly grocery trip and making this more often. It was just tuna salad, but I don't generally like restaurant tuna salad because it's too mayonnaisey...I HATE MAYONNAISE! With mine, I just put in a can of tuna, hard-boiled eggs, about 1 Tbsp. light mayo, spicy mustard, chopped red onion, and a diced kosher pickle. YUMM! All on a bed of spinach. 

Later Monday, after an afternoon of studying in the sun (it made it soo much more enjoyable), I was absolutely starving. I thought that big plate of tuna would hold me over for longer, but I was ready for a snack. I purchase a new peanut butter to try earlier in the week and decided I would put it on a whole wheat waffle. It hit the spot! 

I was pretty nervous about this because a lot of the time when something is better for you it doesn't taste as good. Not this!! This is my new favorite peanut butter. I'm not sure I will even go back to the real thing. It's soo creamy!!

Wow-I forgot how yummy Monday was. For dinner, I heated up a Morningstar Spicy Black Bean patty and then made an avocado dressing. It was about 1/4 of an avocado, 1 Tbsp. cottage cheese, 2 Tbsp. lemon juice and a dash of salt. All on a sandwich thin accompanied by blue corn flax seed chips. DELISH!!

We also had a special guest at our house this week. Emily (my roommate) and her fiance's dog got fixed over the weekend and since he can't jump or run and Colby's apt. is on the 2nd floor, he came to visit. 

Don't worry, he's alive. He started dreaming soon after this photo and was moving all over the place. Jack is such a hyper dog, so he was running around everywhere and since he's not supposed to, Emily had to give him a Benadryl. He was soo cute! Sometimes he would wake up and try and keep his eyes open like a little kid, but he just couldn't do it. He's a fabulous dog! 

Tuesdays are my long days and I had a speech and a presentation, so I decided on a good breakfast. 

I got the idea for these from HEAB. She always inspires me with her delicious and healthy pancake recipes. In the past I have thought of pancakes negatively as just empty carbs and calories. This recipe was her cherry pop-tart inspired version. They were delicious! Mine weren't as thick as hers, but I think it's my somewhat ghetto blender. It ate some of my whole wheat flour and baking powder. Hopefully this problem will be fixed when Ben and I get married. Please please please let us get a good blender!! 

I forgot to take pictures of my other Tuesday meals. Tuesdays and Thursdays are hard. I feel like I'm constantly hungry and it is the one day that I have no opportunity to go home or grab any food. I just have to make do with what I packed. I did pack a protein bar for my afternoon snack, but it was lacking. 

As you know I love trying new bars, but this one was kind of chalky. I still ate it, but I will not be trying anymore of these. 

I tried something new for breakfast on Wednesday. I've seen a lot of people who put chocolate protein powder in their yogurt or oats and I thought I'd give the chocolatey breakfast a try. 

Also not my fave. I mixed light and fit yogurt (vanilla) with a chocolate Breakfast Essential. I can't say that I really like the chocolate flavor in the morning. I'm not too fond of sweets in the morning. 

After a good workout and peer review for my neverending research paper, I came home to bake some cookies. One of my friends is involved in a ministry that goes to prisons and talks to all the inmates. They take dozen and dozens of cookies to hand out to the inmates. He said that the officers can tell the difference in the men when they know the cookies are coming. Being so busy, I opted for a very simple recipe. 

These are so easy and quick. They're No Flour Peanut Butter cookies and that's exactly what the recipe calls for. I think there were only about 4 ingredients and they smelled delicious. 

After getting ready to go study again I realized that I desperately need a haircut. It has gotten soo long!

I still want my hair to be long, but it needs a good trim so it looks a little more healthy. Plus it's been so long since I've had a haircut there's really no style to it anymore. Maybe a couple of layers and an inch and a half would do the trick. I'm seriously terrified of haircuts, so I'm hoping it doesn't take more than that. I feel like they always do something I don't want them to do or cut it way too short. I think I have some to spare now. 

Announcement--Thursday morning I finally had the famous "Oats in a Jar." Mine probably weren't as good as others since I put them in my no cal peanut butter jar which I simply use to add some bulk to recipes, but they were still good and it was kind of fun to eat out of a jar. Can't til my new pb runs out!

As always, I'm kind of pressed for time when packing my lunch on Thursdays, but I threw this together and it was great! 

Will you look at how big that container of yogurt is...it's still the same calories and everything, but so much bigger than the old one. I love it! It is perfect for mixing granola and fruit. I finally bought some Bear Naked Banana Nut granola and am hooked. I mixed 2 Tbsp. in my yogurt and then had a side of cantelope and strawberries. I'm gonna pack this more often. 

After lots of classes and an hour on the elliptical followed by hip abductions and hip adductions I was more than ready for a good dinner. 

I threw some broccoli, yellow onion, cauliflower and chicken in a skillet with chili pepper, S&P, and lemon juice. This was so good and light but totally filled me up. I would love to try it with shrimp sometime. 

YAY FOR THE WEEKEND!!! I am soo excited to not be doing any homework. My research paper is turned in and 3 presentations are behind me. I think I only have a couple more presentations and projects and a test this week and then I will be done til finals. After that I'll be a college graduate!! 

I met with the wedding planner at the Piazza (our venue) yesterday and it was so exciting! It made things seem soo real. We talked all about the ceremony and reception and then talked with her for a long time afterwards. I can really tell I'm gonna like her and completely trust her on the big day. Afterwards my mom and I went to a late lunch at Celebrity Bakery & Cafe. I tried something new and it was wonderful. They alway have the freshest bread and my Cranberry Chicken Salad was wonderful. I came to Denton after and have enjoyed some quality time with Ben and his family. We will leave for Dallas this afternoon for my dad's birthday celebration. I'm super excited because I'm hosting and making the dinner. Wish me luck!! 

Exactly 3 Months!!

I AM WALKING DOWN THE AISLE EXACTLY 3 MONTHS FROM TODAY!!! Ahhhh!! When I was working out tonight I looked down at my watch and it was 6 o'clock, and I realized that in exactly 3 months I will be about to walk down the aisle. Ohmygoodness...I CANNOT WAIT!!

After yesterday, I decided that I would have a new attitude today and make it super productive. I know I mentioned that I had a moment of feeling sorry for myself, but after the fabulous morning most of my day was like that. A lot of it was just having to study and feeling like I was missing out on soo much at home. It was Karen's (Ben's mom, my future mother-in-law) birthday yesterday and I thought I was gonna get to be home for it. I absolutely love birthdays and making them soo special for people and I was so sad I couldn't be there. I got to be at her surprise party last year and was so bummed I couldn't be there for this one. HAPPY BELATED BIRTHDAY KAREN! I missed you on your birthday! Hopefully I'll be able to celebrate a little next weekend. Plus, today was Tony's (Ben's dad, my future father-in-law) first half marathon. I am soo happy for him and his big accomplishment! I wanted to be there soo bad at the finish line for him. I know how much it means to have people at the end for you and I wish I could have been there. Anyway, enough complaining, but just wanted to set y'all up for how I viewed today.

Go Tony!! Congrats to Karen and Katie who participated in the 5K! 

I was so excited to find the Weight Watchers cooking magazine I purchased a while back in my car while I was cleaning on Friday. I started looking at all the delicious recipes yesterday and the breakfasts inspired mine this morning. 

You can't tell because of the bowl but I made a parfait.

In the bowl:

-Kashi puffs

-sliced strawberries

-vanilla light & fit yogurt

-blueberries

I alternated kashi, strawberries, yogurt, kashi, blueberries, yogurt. It was perfect! I immediately wanted to go to Target and look for parfait glasses. On the way to church I snacked on this...

This was my fabulous find the other day at H-E-B. It is freeze-dried fruit and is soo soo good! The pineapple is my favorite. Church was great this morning and put me in a much better mood. My tummy was rumbling after church, but I wanted to go ahead and knock out some errands so I put off lunch for about an hour and a half. I had a very successful (minus finding parfait glasses) trip to Target and H-E-B. If you know where there are some cute parfait glasses let me know....I'm in the market. Target did have some super cute summery plates and cups that were definitely in my basket until I remembered that I have showers coming up and I should wait. Cannot wait to stock the kitchen!! 

I think my favorite find on my errands were these Archer Farms blue corn chips with flax seed. Holy Yum!!! 

My lunch was more snacky since I was working on lots of papers, so these were featured with some El Fenix salsa followed by a pink lady apple. After a lot of working I decided I needed a sweat session so I headed to the SLC. Of course I grabbed a protein bar first...

These were a new find and a new favorite. I seriously felt like I was just eating a Butterfinger. MMMM!! They also only have 2g of sugar but still 15g of protein. Success!

The rest of the night was pretty uneventful with some cereal, group project meeting and more school work. Booo!! I'm looking forward to my date with the treadmill tomorrow morning in aerobic running class. I've been looking for new treadmill routines to keep things interesting. I'm also thinking of trying something else new. I always eat something before I workout, but have thought about just having a piece of fruit and then refueling with a good breakfast after the workout. How do you handle morning workout sessions? Do you eat pre or post? I might have to delay the experiment for Wednesday because I'm thinking of not coming home in between classes, but I'll let you know if I do it on Wednesday. 

Hope you have a great Monday!!

Is It May 15th Yet?

Holy Moly, I am so tired of writing papers. I am ready to be a college graduate. Today was work work work/try and enjoy the outdoors as much as possible. I woke up this morning for the first time at 7:30. I'm not sure whether it's my body just knowing that I wake up then every morning or the boys next door revving their truck engines. Since my fiance is an AVID hunter, I am very aware that it is turkey season right now and just assumed they were leaving to hunt them turkey. I went back to bed after rolling my eyes and woke up again at 9:30. MUCH BETTER! I was craving some pancakes. I peeked out the window and saw that the sun was shining and desperately wished I had a wrap around porch to sit on and enjoy breakfast. I made do--

Yes, I am sitting on my step eating my pancakes and reading Real Simple. 

These pancakes were great...kind of chewy, but really good. (Whole wheat flour, baking powder, cinnamon, salt and almond milk)

The sunshine inspired me to go for a run. As always, my ipod wasn't charged so I had to wait while it charged a bit. When I finally hit the pavement it was kind of cloudy...bummer. Thankfully, the sun was in and out during my run. Plus, my girl Carrie Underwood made it all good. I forgot how much I love listening to her while I run. Those angry songs give a good beat! 

3.4 miles later I was hungry. I made a good salad for lunch in between laundry loads and then headed straight for CG to get some work done. I looked at my schedule and I have a research paper, a debate, a persuasive speech, and 2 presentations this week. EEK!! 

I packed an apple and purchased a very large pineapple guava tea to power me through the writing. So something a little odd happened to me when I sat down...the guy next to me said, "I know this might be weird, but can I have one of your apple slices?" No stranger in a coffee shop has ever asked me to share my apple slices. I was caught a little off-guard, so I cheerfully said yes. Still think it's just a little different. Oh well. 


After some intense school work, I took a break to mail more save-the-dates and grab a pure protein bar. I was pretty burnt out on homework and the weather was still so beautiful, so I went on another quick run. Just a lap around the bear trail (2.33 miles). Then it was more laundry and some L.A. Ink. This might be one of my new favorite shows. I've never watched it before but loved it! I will be looking for the next time it's on. 


After laying down for a bit to get some rest and feeling a little sorry for myself because I missed Ben, I got up and made myself some dinner. I have been craving chinese food soo bad lately for some reason. Not usually my thing at all, but Pei Wei has sounded so good. Since I'm trying to save money, I made my own chinese food. 

I whipped up some Teryaki Chicken w/ broccoli, cauliflower, mushrooms and sweet onion. It was delicious and light. Hit the Spot! Soon after, Amy and Sadie wanted to get together so we all went on a wonderful walk. It was a beautiful night for a walk around campus. Kind of windy, but I didn't even notice because the company was so fabulous! All the exercise and good company helped motivate me to be extremely productive tonight. I just knocked out a good chunk of my research paper and may or may not have eaten more chocolate chip cookies. Tomorrow shouldn't be too bad...still not ideal, but I'll survive. 

Clean Up Clean Up

"...everybody everywhere." I'll let you finish, but you know it's gonna be stuck in your head all day now. This was pretty much the theme of my day, and what a coincidence that when I got home from class today this was peeking out of my mailbox-

Can't wait til I get to read this one!!

Today was an extremely fabulous day!! Let's start from the beginning, shall we?!

My morning was started off with a mug of oatmeal before I was off to the gym. I hopped on the treadmill for 25 minutes and then on to the arc trainer for 20 more minutes of cardio. After running a quick errand, I came home to a Triple Chocolate Muscle Brownie. SWEET DELICIOUSNESS!! I will never get over how wonderful these creations are! I spared my class and did a quick change of outfit, application of more deo for my b.o, and spritz of perfume before heading off to class. After getting some work accomplished in the lab after class, I ran to the store to grab some cleaning supplies for the Clean Streak I was planning for the afternoon. 

Once I got home I opened all the windows so I could enjoy the bright and beautiful sunshine and got started on the kitchen. This is when I wish I had a screen door to let some of the breeze flow through the house. I guess it's not appropriate to keep the door wide open all day. Many disinfectant wipes, a load of dishes and a lap with the vacuum later, I allowed myself to take a break for lunch. The intense cleaning I was doing made me work up an appetite. 

This might just be my new favorite lunch. Whole wheat bagel with pine nut hummus and cracked-pepper turkey with a dill pickle on the side. It definitely hit the spot. The bagel was extra thick today (extra yummy), so instead of toasting it I had to broil it and it was equally if not more delicious. I finished off the lunch with a good ole' Gala apple. :) 

I'm a picker...meaning I love to pick at my food, ie. pancakes. I love to just pick up my pancakes (no syrup) and tear at them. This is why I generally cut up my apples so I can just pick at each little piece! 

I took the cleaning process room by room so I wouldn't get overwhelmed. I mopped the kitchen after I made lunch and then moved onto the den. After that it was bathroom, bedroom then car. I am now super organized and the whole place is spotless. I LOVE IT!! I have a whole lot of work to do this weekend and I work much better in a tidy environment. When it's messy all I can think about is the mess. Granted, I will probably take my work elsewhere to enjoy the sunshine, but I still like to come home to a clean place. 

I sat down after all the cleaning and began finishing up the save-the-dates. There are only a few more to be sent out and Ben sent me some addresses today so I pounced on the chance to sit down and get that out of the way. Shortly after sitting down, Megan called me and asked me to run some errands. Of course, I jumped at the opportunity to hang out with one of my favorite people and get out and enjoy the weather. First stop, Laverty's. This is like a second hand/antique store. I ended up making the first purchase for Ben and my apartment...I will picture it tomorrow. I'm very excited about it! Then, it was off to the flower shop, Sonic and H-E-B. What a wonderful afternoon!!

I had a girl's night out planned for dinner. After some much loved porch fellowship with a bunch or girls, we headed off to Gratziano's for dinner. They changed their menu since the last time I was there, so I was excited to see what was new. While we waited, I ordered a dessert wine (still not sure what it was called), that had pineapple, pear and peach flavors in it. It was SOO good!! I decided on the Shrimp Far Diavolo for dinner. I thought it was just shrimp, but it was a pasta dish which I usually don't order. It ended up being super good. The shrimp were super juicy and the pasta was spicy...just the way I like it! I didn't eat too much of the pasta, but just enough to compliment the shrimp. 

I called it an early night so I could come home and work on a research paper. First, I had to bake some cookies. They were a total success!!

Can you see how fluffy these are?!?!

I saw this recipe for Chocolate Chip Cookies made with Applesauce on CNC this morning and immediately wanted to give them a try. OMG--these might be my new favorite chocolate chip cookie. They are soo thick and fluffy. I LOVE THEM!!

 

This was my set-up as a I settled in with Steel Magnolias to write my research paper. Wow! They were delicious! Best part... they're super low in calories too. Could you ask for more?!?!

Sweaty Mess

Many of you may be asking yourself, "How could she limit that title to one day?," but I assure you it's been the result of 3 nasty days in the gym. I don't think that our gym, colloquially known as the "SLC," has turned on the AC yet. WHAT?!?! I know...it's crazy! I mean do they not think of the people like me who literally sweat 24/7? I get a sweatstache when involved in an intense conversation. I'm obviously gonna sweat like a champ while hard at work. Anyway, moral of the story is that the past 3 days in the gym have been incredibly sweaty. Today may have been the worst. As I was poundin the treadmill I thought I had a stray hair on my arm. When I looked down I realized that it was just a good amount of sweat drops making their way down my forearm. Do your arms sweat profusely? WOW!

Lets move on-- I started off this morning with a rather tasty breakfast. I decided to try something new with my oatmeal.

I added 1/2 a Tbsp of sugar-free syrup to my oatmeal and 1/2 a banana. It was accompanied by a mug of yummy peppermint tea. This breakfast was wonderful, but I'm not sure whether it was the right choice before going to my Aerobic Running class. Something just felt off today while I was running. I know this sounds silly, but for a while I literally felt like one of my legs was longer than the other. haha OK..I just laughed at myself for that, but I'm serious. I ended up getting a sweaty 4-mile run in, but it was pretty hard for me to get through.

After all my classes were over, I made myself buckle down and get some work done. I had lots of job searching, resume sending, textbook reading and presentation making to do. Oh yea and essay writing. School is super crazy right now and it's topped with the job search and wedding planning. After this afternoon I think I got a good handle on everything and feel a lot better. I'm a little less overwhelmed.

I took a break to walk with my good friend Michelle before a project meeting. Today was nice and warm so I worked up another good sweat while catching up on life.

This is Michelle and me at her birthday earlier this year. She is such an important person in my life!

After getting lots more work done, I walked to the grocery store to get a couple ingredients for my amazing dinner. It's definitely one of the top 5 best salads I've ever made. 

A mixture of mushrooms, kidney beans, raw ramen, feta, red onion, cauliflower and spinach. For the dressing I just added a little white wine vinegar and a scoop of pine nut hummus. It was appetizing and filling!

Work work work...after dinner that's just what I did again. I headed up to Common Grounds for a Ginseng Peppermint tea and some homework time with my good friend Sadie. Of course we mixed some fabulous conversation into our work, but all-in-all, it was very productive. I decided on my persuasive essay topic and got enough research done to allow me to unstress. 

I finished off the night with a small mug of Dryers Slow-Churned Cookies 'N' Cream. I am a total vanilla girl, but I'm not sure there's anything much better than Cookies 'N' Cream ice cream. Little secret for you...my favorite part of opening a new carton of ice cream is scooping the excess off the lid. For some reason it just tastes soo much better than the rest. Goodnight!

A Rather Blustery Day

Don't you just love Winnie the Pooh?! It was a seriously windy day today and I thought of his "rather blustery day" comment as soon as I walked out the door. Back track... lately I've been waking up in the morning absolutely ravenous. I started off the day with a yummy bowl of cream of wheat, pumpkin puree and frozen blueberries. Exactly what I needed to get me going. 

I was pretty much dreading classes today. It's not exactly ideal to start back to school with my long day after a 5 day weekend, but my classes surprisingly flew by. I got through my first class with a tumbler of peppermint tea. About half way through Negotiations I could feel my tummy start to rumble, so I was really excited when class got out early and I got to break into the dried fruit I had packed for my mid-morning snack. My two favorites are the dried mango and papaya...I could munch on these two all day! 

By the time my next class was over I was starving for some lunch. I walked to my 12:30 class and enjoyed my lunch during the 15 minute break at a table in the middle of the hall. 

Apparently I couldn't wait to take a bite. I had to break out my Real Simple to give me a little break from classes. My whole wheat, fiber bagel with laughing cow and peppered turkey was delicious!

I came across this article while reading...SPF 100?? Holy Moly, that's a whole lot of SPF! I will admit I'm a bit of a sun addict and have been known to frequent the tanning beds, so I'm not really an advocate of sunscreen, but I have learned to use it in the past couple of years. I'm sure my skin would love me if I transitioned from SPF 4/8 to SPF 100, but I'm not ready for that kind of shock yet. 

I also enjoyed a yummy Gala apple while reading up on the best beauty products. 

After a couple more classes I got to enjoy my favorite Pure Protein bar, S'mores, while I sat in yet another group meeting. Good thing it didn't last too long because I was ready to hit the gym! I got in a drenching 55 minutes on the elliptical and then joined the boys with the weights for some arm work. Do any of you girls ever feel awkward going down to the weight section of the gym? There are never any girls down there and I feel kind of weird lifting weights, but oh well...I am enjoying the new found definition in my arms, so I'll suck it up. 

When I got home it was all business. You should have seen my to do list today. I started it at 9:30 in my first class and it consistently grew throughout the day. I was thinking of going back to Dallas this weekend because my wedding dress is supposed to come in, but I think I'll have to wait til the next weekend so I can get some work done this weekend. I took a break from work around 7 to...drum roll please...PICK UP MY WEDDING INVITATIONS!!! I absolutely love them and am soo excited to send them out! I am still getting all of the save-the-dates out, but it won't be too long before the official invitations go out. 96 DAYS TIL THE WEDDING!! 

I ended the day with a fabulous date to get some Froyo with Megan. This is me and Meg on our snow day earlier this semester...

I freaking love this girl! 

We ended up going to pick her boyfriend, Lunden, up and I accompanied them on a trip to the grocery store. Nothing better than some good quality time with two of my very favorite people! 

Today was a "blustery" day in another sense of the word, so spending time with friends really did help end the day on a positive note. I'm pretty overwhelmed right now. I've been really stressed lately about jobs and school totally hit me hard today. I have a lot to get done in these next two weeks, but want to continue to pursue jobs as much as I can. I am soo interested in the event/wedding industry and nutrition/fitness industry and absolutely love details, planning and organization and want soo badly to find a job that fits. I know I shouldn't stress and I am trying my hardest to leave everything up to the Lord, but it's much easier said then done. I've always dreamed of being successful and I'm just yearning for that opportunity right now. Anyway, enough venting...the stress of all that is going on in my life started to get to me today, but good friends and good conversation definitely helped to relieve some of that. I hope everyone else had a fabulous Tuesday!!