Friday Night and I Feel Alright

Happy Friday girlies! I know everyone has been looking forward to the weekend and its finally here! Tonight is kind of a chill night for me, I think my friend Tina and I are going out tomorrow night.

Today was a pretty relaxing day as well. I got in a little gym time. I only did 35 minutes on the eliptical today because I just wasnt really feeling it for some reason...I was nervous because I have been waiting to hear back from my interview...but a little exercise is better than none at all, right?! After the gym I went into the grocery store to pick up a "few" things, and ended up with a little more than I had anticipated! They had so many veggies on sale!

How could I possibly pass up these tri-colored baby cauliflowers...how cute are they?!

These broccoli sprouts were on sale too, the PERFECT thing for my sammies, for sure :).

And of course I had to get stocked up on my fruit: apple (cameo and crispini, bananas, oranges, and grapefruit).

Back when I was student teaching and eating lunch in the teacher's lounge, I always saw this one teacher bringing these salads for lunch and thought they looked kinda good and convenient.

Tuscan Pesto Chicken Fresh Express Salad

I decided to pick on up (since it was on sale too) for something quick for lunch...since I was STARVING. Upon further investigation of the salad when I got home, i realized that it kinda sucked. All it had was romaine lettuce, that was IT for the veggies, and then some grilled chicken, some gross looking cheese, croutons, and dressing. I definitely had to "health" it up a litte. I quickly tossed the croutons and the cheese and just used the lettuce, chicken, and dressing...then I added in some spinach leaves, tomatoes, and cucumber...it ended up looking something like this:

The dressing and the chicken were actually pretty good...and once I added the extra veggies the salad was pretty decent.

I worked a little after that and then came home and the roomie and I cooked up some stir-fry using this HUMONGOUS bag of stir-fry veggies she bought. That girl and buying in bulk, im telling ya. ;)

We cooked up some noodles to go with it and mixed it with soy sauce and the stir-fry mix. Here is my plate:

and a small glass of wine...hey its Friday isnt it?!

And dessert...

Fudgy peanut butter chocolate vitatop, with cool whip on top. YUMMM!!!

Oh yeah, something VERY exciting happened today. I walked out of my door to go to work and there was THIS laying on my door step.

What is you ask?!.....A package from Mike!! In case you didnt know Mike is my boyfriend, and he currently lives on the complete opposite side of U.S.! It was a very good surprise for the day :)

Inside was a book that I told him I had been wanting to add to my collection of books for my future classroom. It is one that all of my professors recommended. He knew that I had wanted it because I showed it to him one day, but decided to wait until later to buy it. AND he got it for me!

Well, that is about all of the excitement for the night, I think. Ill probably call it a night soon.

But first I have a question for you gals...those of you who eat Tofu regularly, I really wanna start making it too...like in sandwiches and such. How do you cook it and season it?! Please give me ideas!!!

Thanks and tons of love to everyone!! Goodnight! <3

EDIT!!!!

ok i had to do it, if you think his gift was cute...just look at this picture!

I miss him!

Ups and Downs

So today has just been one of those days that has been filled with ups and downs. It started off pretty good. I woke up got caught up on my episodes of The City. Boy, do I love that show! Did you know that Whitney was named one of the top 100 hottest blondes on AIM.com?! I just love her style, I wish I could steal all of her clothes (and especially her shoes!).

Anyway, then I had breakfast (the usual) and went on over to the gym for a GREAT workout. I was not really feeling going to the gym today and I almost turned around about 3 times on my way there, but I knew I would feel better if I went, so I did and I got in a good 35 minutes on the eliptical and 25 minutes on the bike :). I got home and made up another DE-LISH wrap.

Flat Out Wrap with garlic hummus, 3 slices of turkey, salsa, spicy mustard, and spinach. And obv. an apple ;)

Does anybody else have a certain order that they stack their ingredients in sandwiches or wraps?! It has taken me a couple of trial and error tries, but I think I have the discovered the OPTIMAL order for wraps. Maybe if your lucky one day I'll reveal it! Also, maybe one day I'll discover the secret to eating them without needing 39208402834 napkins!

After lunch i hopped in the shower and got ready for work, which was....ehhhhh....lets just not go there.

I did some REALLY cute things from Charlotte when I went on my interview that I broke out last night though.

Feather printed shirt from Forever 21

Fish necklace from Forever 21

Here are some pics from my dinner and movie "date night" with the bestie.

When we got to the movie we were the only ones in the theater, so we started jumping down as many of the stairs that we could in one jump. I tried to get a cool-looking mid-air pic, but it just was NOT happening! damn camera delay!! haha. Here are my attempts:

The movie that we saw The Unborn just OK. Im not really all that into movies about possession and stuff like that, it just REALLY creeps me out. I wasnt aware that this was that kind of movie, but oh yes it was! Lets just say coming home alone to a dark empty house at midnight was less than a fun time.

In other news...TOMORROW IS FRIDAY GIRLS! WHO HAS FUN WEEKEND PLANS?!

Dinner and a Movie Night!

So I wake up this morning to a text from the bestie saying "dinner date tonight?"...um of course! I have not seen her in about a week and we have a TON of catching up to do over dinner. I got even more excited when I realized that it was Wednesday and my all time favorite SUSHI restaurant has HALF-OFF of all their sushi rolls :) talk about the ultimate BEST night for a dinner date. My friend doesnt really like sushi too much (im trying to get her into it), so I asked her if it was ok to eat there but that we didnt have to, but she said it was fine! YAY! Then we decided that we might as well make a night of it and go to a movie afterward as well. I have been in the mood for a scary movie, so we decided that we are gonna go see The Unborn.

Purrrrrtty scarrrry! haha.

You guys will be so happy to see a break in the flat out wraps streak. I was in the mood for a just plain-o sammie today. I have been craving mushrooms for the past couple o' days so I picked some up yesterday and just HAD to use them in my sandwich for lunch today. Here she is with some Kashi crackers on the side:

roasted red pepper hummus, spinach, mushroom, and salsa sandwich on whole wheat bread...grilled on the Fore-Man!

BURSTING with mushrooms! :)

And then I may have snuck in a couple of these thing-ys for d-cert.

and maybe a few more ;)

I just wanna say thanks again for everyone who was thinking about me and gave me such awesome support for my interview yesterday. Your kind words and thoughts meant soooo much more than I could ever say. It really was a big accomplishment for me to even go. I had to wake up at 330 in the morning to drive the 3 and half hours to get there for the interview. There were so many times where I thought "im just not going to go, there are too many things working against me, it wont be worth it." But, I bit the bullet and I went for it! I knew I wanted to and I WAS NOT going to let negative thoughts get in my way. In a way it kind of reminded me of overcoming the negative feelings and thoughts associated with ED. There was that little voice in the back of my head that told me I couldnt do it, just like with ED telling me I needed to control my body by restricting and exercising, that I was weak if I didnt. But I turned around and looked that little voice right SMACK in the face and I said "I am strong and I can do this", I shook it off and I DID IT! and I was so proud of myself for accomplishing that, whether I get the job or not :)

Ok, time to get ready for "date night"...im GONNA take pictures of the food, im not going to be embarrassed! haha...because you just have to see how AMAZING this place is!

oh yeah, and you bet your Valentines Day Lovin' booty i WILL be particpating in Lee's "Secret Cupid" extravaganza and you probably should too :)

I might try something new tonight...What is your favorite sushi roll?

8 Hours of Driving + 5 Hours of 2 Year Olds + Shopping = EXHAUSTED!

Oh my gosh I am SO tired!!!

I woke up at 330 this morning in order to leave my house by 430 for the 4 hour drive to my interview at 9! whew!! Oh yeah, and did I mention that the "interview" was really 5 hours of interacting with the children in the classroom?! Lets just say it was a VERY busy day for me! But, I loved every second of it and the interview went pretty well :) Now, I just have to wait for a phone call from the director of the school to do one more phone interview...so we will see! I also wanna say THANK YOU SO MUCH for all the good luck messages, it really meant alot and mad me WAY less stressed to know that I had girls backing me up!

Unfortunately, since today was so hectic and most of it was spent in the car, my eats were not so exciting today! BUT I did get some pics from yesterday! I was in the mood for something different, and warm, and YUMMY yesterday for breakfast so I made my version of healthy FRENCH TOAST. It is soooo easy! All I do is mix two egg whites, 1/4 cup vanilla soy milk, and a dash of cinnamon sugar and VOILA! Dip your whole wheat toast in, pour on some maple syrup and blueberries and you have this masterpiece ;)

And lunch was a little repetitive, ill go ahead and admit it, but you will probably be seeing these things until they are gone (I think I have about two left)...they are THAT good!!

turkey, spinach, garlic hummus, salsa, and stone ground mustard wraps in a Flat Out :) with a side of DE-LISH apple.

And that is all...sorry this post is soooo incredibly boring but I am too tired to write anything more witty and fascinating. But I wanted to update you girls on my interview. I LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH YOU ARE SUCH A GREAT SUPPORT SYSTEM :) I HOPE EVERYONE HAD A GREAT DAY <3

Lazy Sunday

Ok have you seen this VIDEO?! Its an old SNL skit, but every time I have a "lazy Sunday" I always think of it and its sooo funny. FOLLOW THE LINK AND WATCH IT if you havent all ready seen it, and even if you have seen it...watch it again.

So sorry I missed posting yesterday, but I worked ALL day long plus I have been so stressed out about that interview that I have on Tuesday that I havent been able to think about much else!

This is def a LAZY Sunday! I woke up and had my usual brekkie, that I did not get a picture of because I feel like its a little redundant! So, I have this dorky hobby (DONT LAUGH) but i love the work puzzles. Since I have been out of school I thought that I would have a little extra time and I saw this puzzle at target so I thought I would get it. Its a 2000 piece puzzle of Van Gogh's Starry Night painting. Its supposed to look like this:

But currently it looks like this on my dining room table:

Oh my gosh! It is sooo hard, usually I work on it for about an hour and then get frustrated and quit. All my friends that come over and see it say that they will help me but they usually only last about 20 minutes. haha.

After breakfast and a frustrating round with the puzzle, I actually ventured out into the world to run some errands. While I was out I ran into the local Natural Foods Market and picked up a couple of these babies:

Vitatops!! I got three different flavors, velvety chocolate, deep chocolate, and fudgy peanut butter cup.

I have never tried these before, and as you know, they are ALL OVER the blogs, so I went online to see if they sold them anywhere around here and lo and behold THEY DID! I'll be sure to let you lovely gals know which one I like the best :)

When I got home I fixed up a quick lunch of a wrap and some kashi crackers on the side. Im telling ya those flat out wraps have turned me into WRAP GIRL, I never thought it would happen.

Flat out wrap with roasted red pepper hummus, spinach, and salsa with Kashi veggie crackers.

And you girls know I just HAD to try one of my vitatops for desert.

This was the Velvety Chocolate Vitatop with a little cool whip on top :)

Oh man! Everything they say is true! This was soooo good and the bites with the melty chocolate chips in them was even better!! YUMYUMYUM!

Ok well, Im gonna get back to my lazy sunday I suppose. I may go visit the parentals later on. I hope everyone is having a nice relaxing Sunday as well! Ill see you gals a little later! <333

Opinion

Ok girls. I have something that I need you advice your on:

In my last post I told you that I was getting ready to go out with my friend Brittani for the night. Well, Brittani is one of my good friends, she know a little about what I have gone through, but not much...I just dont really like to talk about it to certain people and she is def one of them! haha. Anyway, last night while we were getting ready to go out she talking about how fat she was and how she was going to just "not eat". This is not the first time that she has said things like this and everytime she brings it up I tell her that that is an issue for me and it makes me uncomfortable for her to say things like that, but she STILL talks about it!! She talked about not eating to lose weight for a good 30 minutes before I looked at her and I said "Brittani, believe me that is not a place that you want you to go" and then I went on this HUGE rant about self-confidence and how there are so many other things is this world to care about and dedicate yourself to that are WAY more important than outward appearance. I still dont think that she was fully convinced and the whole time we were eating dinner she talked about how she should not be eating what she was eating and it really made me SUPER uncomfortable and SUPER mad. Have any of you girls ever been through this? What should I do when someones starts talking like that? Most of my other friends are strong confident girls and also know a little bit more about what I went through and they NEVER bring stuff like that up. I love Brittani, but I dont know if it is good for me to surround myself with that. But on the other hand, I want to help her if she is headed down the wrong road. AHHH!! I need everyones expert advice on this, because I know some of you may have been put in this position before as well.

Ok with that said last night was also pretty fun besides that. We went to this dance club called CHROME (I know cheesy name, right?!) and we danced all night...I just love dancing and always have such a blast there! I came home and crashed and now I have no idea why I am up at 830! haha. I just really dont like to sleep in no matter what time I go to bed the night before, what can I say?! Im def a morning person :)

My breakfast this morning was the perfect cure...some berry banana oats and several cups of coffee!

Enjoyed all together by my computer, on top of my ironically "teachery" apple notebook!

So anyone have any fun plans for the weekend? Mine is pretty much up in the air, so well see.

“Confront the dark parts of yourself, and work to banish them with illumination and forgiveness. Your willingness to wrestle with your demons will cause your angels to sing. Use the pain as fuel, as a reminder of your strength.”

-August Wilson

HAPPY FRIDAY LOVES! <3

***FOOD UPDATE***

oh boy! I had some good eats today after brekkie. I finally broke into my flat out wraps and made a wrap with garlic hummus, LOTS of spinach, a few turkey slices, and salsa...OH MY GOODNESS where have these flat out wraps been all my life?! I have always been more of a sandwich girl than a wrap girl...but these definitely could convert me!

I also had some 2& Fage yogurt with blueberries mixed in. AKA the PERFECT lunch.

I ate kind of a late lunch so I wasnt hungry for dinner before I had to leave for work at 6...but I knew that it would be around 10 before I could actually eat dinner, so I snacked on my new Kashi cereal, mixed with a handle of bran flakes, some blueberries, and vanilla soy milk!

And now for the BEST eats of the night...I picked this dinner up at earthfare on my way home...

Spicy tuna roll...YUMMY! MY FAVE

Now Im just relaxing at the house talking to the boyrfriend on the phone. I hope everyone has a wonderful firday night! <3

Girl Just Wanna Have Fun-un

Hello beautiful girlies! I hope everyone had a good Thursday. I must say a am a TAD bit jealous of you girls that are in classes all day. I know, i know...your thinking what?! But this is my first semester as a "graduate" and I kinda miss the whole college thing. Girls dont rush to be out of school!! Enjoy while you can, while you still dont have to face the "real world"! haha. In related news I DO have an interview to be the lead teacher of a 2 year old classroom at a center in Charlotte, NC...which is about 4 hours away from home. Im excited about a change, but we will see! I am driving down for the interview on Tuesday and they told me that basically it is just me spending 5 HOURS in the classroom with the kiddos while they watch me!!!!

WISH ME LUCK!

Today has been a pretty chill day. I had the whole day off from work so I woke up and made some "very berrrrry oats". It included:

• 1/2 cup of oats
• 1 banana
• blueberries
• strawberry preserves
• splash of vanilla soy milk
• and CINNAMON

It looked something along the lines of this:

In the slightly annoying words of Miss Rachel Ray: YUM-O!

I then headed on over to the gym for a nice workout:

• 15 minutes on the stairmaster
• 35 minutes on the eliptical
• 3 reps on each of the leg machines (leg curls, hip abductors, hip adductors, and glutes)

When I got home I made up some lunchie. Still not in the mood to try my wraps...hopefully tomorrow :)...you gotta go with your moods ya know?! So I made up a turkey sammie on whole wheat bread and an apple on the side.

Now I am sitting here blogging while I wait for my girl to get over here so we can have a "girls night out". It is def much needed and I am soooo excited. I always have so much fun with her! I went by the store and picked up this little friend as well. I hope no one is offended but I just think it is so cute and FUNNY

"Bitch" wine. haha

You cant really see it too well, but all those little words?! No description necessary...it just say bitch over and over and over! haha. Gotta love it!

Well, girls im off to get all prettied up for a night on the town! :) I hope everyone has a great night and I love you all.

TGIF tomorrow, friends!

What a Difference!

WOW! what a difference a day makes, im tellin ya, it was a total 360 today. Yesterday was completely awful and today has been such a great day. To start with the SUN actually decided to show its beautiful face again, which always gets my days off to a great start. I woke up, opened up the windows and let the sun shine through and decided that today was gonna be a better day...and it worked!

First of all I just wanted to tell you girls how great you are and how lucky I feel to have stumbled across you all through blogging and how much you lift my spirits! So thank you I just love all of you and think you are AWESOME, and GORGEOUS, and AMAZING, etc. etc. haha

Ok so back to what I was saying...I started my day off eating a wonderful breakfast of banana oats with blueberries, raspberries, and cinnamon. YUM!

After that, I danced around in my pjs getting ready for a little bit and decided to go to the gym. I had a GREAT workout and it really gave me so much more energy and made me feel awesome! I did 35 minutes on the eliptical and 20 minutes on the stair master. It felt so good to get out of the house, finally...and break a sweat! haha. The only bad thing is that I think it is time for a new pair of shoes. Just look at these old things!

haha yep. its pretty bad. But they are so broken in and comfie and my daddy got them for me and I JUST love them! I cant give them up, I wouldnt want to hut their feelings! haha.

After my workout I did another one of my FAVE things...grocery shopping! They had sooo much good stuff on sale. I got some of these:

and some of this:

Then I found this cereal on sale for SUPER CHEAP, I have never had it before...but it looked good and it was Kashi...so I thought heck! Ill give it a try!

honey crunch mighty bites with "nothing artificial" sounds good to me!

AND the best of all............LOOK WHAT I FOUND!!!!

Flat out wraps! I cant wait to try them tomorrow for lunchie! :)

I would have made a wrap today for lunch when I got home but I was really feeling a salad. So I made one up with all kinds of veggies and added some grilled chicken on the top!

After that I went to work...adding even more productivity to my productive day. Now I am home and just had dinner. I had to make something quick because I'm about to go meet a friend. So I microwaved some noodles that I got at the store, added a few shrimp, broccoli and cauliflower, and had a few kashi crackers on the side.

Not bad for something quick. Now, I'm off to hang out with one of my besties! :) Hope everyone else had a great day...and again you girls are AWESOME and I LOVE YOU!

GOODNIGHT DEARS!