Life as a first-year teacher, in a long-distance relationship, can be stressful and down right HARD sometimes.  But then I remember…

 It’s the little things that make me happy.

Like cute dog friends

Dear Lola,

You are so cute when you behave. Can we put our differences aside and just be friends. Okay, thanks!

-J

and nature

When I’m feeling stressed I go up the mountain for a little time in the pines.

and climbing rocks (best girlfriend shreds way harder than me!)

and REAL food

and my little garden-that-could (maybe)

and the sunshine!

I’ve had the week off from school and it has been nothing short of glorious. So much free time!!!! I’ve been walking to coffee shops, taking Bodypump classes, hiking in the pines, having sleep-overs with my best girl friend, and eating really yummy (and new to me) foods. I couldn’t have asked for a better fall break.

New Beginnings

I finally roasted the butternut squash I bought at the farmer’s market three weeks ago!

This was awesome and I still have some leftovers. I’ve had butternut squash in different forms before (i.e., ravioli) but I’ve never cooked it myself. I’m in love! Move over sweet potato ‘fries’, you have some competition!

Pumpkin Chili

I saw this recipe on Rachel’s blog a few days ago & immediately went to the grocery store to stock up on all the ingredients! I tweaked the recipe a little. I left out the onions because I’m allergic and added some veggies, and cut the whole recipe in half since I only needed to feed one belly (for the original go here):

Ingredients:

1/2 c. canned pumpkin (I used Libby’s)

8 oz. 96/4 extra lean ground beef

1/2 can low-sodium kidney beans

1 can no-salt-added diced tomatoes

1 large yellow bell pepper, chopped

3 oz. mushrooms, chopped

1/2 tbsp chili powder

1/4 tsp crushed red pepper

1/2 tsp cumin

1/2 tsp salt

Procedure:

1. In a medium soup pot, brown meat on medium heat.

2. Add remaining ingredients. Stir.

3. Simmer on low 1-2 hours. (I cooked mine for about 1 hour & 15 minutes because I’m impatient and I was starving)

4. Garnish with cheddar cheese (I used reduced fat), cilantro, and green onions (I’m not allergic to the green variety as long as I only eat the green part. Weird, I know).

This was SO good. And insanely simple. I can’t wait to eat this everyday for the next three days (I have at least 3 servings left!). Also, you can’t really taste the pumpkin, but one serving provides you with 97% of your RDA of vitamin A! 

I guess you could say I’m on a pumpkin kick lately. Somehow I avoided this seasonal blog  ‘trend’ last fall, but this year, I’m a pumpkin-eating fool. So I  decided to make pumpkin blondies too.

Unfortunately I skimped on the butter and apparently the recipe calls for 3/4 c. for a reason. They just aren’t amazing. And for the amount of butter and sugar I did use, I was expecting amazing. They taste all light and airy, very fall, and you can definitely taste the pumpkin and the cinnamon, but they don’t completely deliver. I don’t know, maybe I just don’t like blondies.

But let’s not end on a bad note. I wore this for the majority of the day:

That’s a fall-themed apron I picked up from a rummage sale. It’s definitely hand-made and I love it. You can’t see it, but there is a HUGE turkey on it. I think I will rock this look more often.

It may not look like much, and this picture is borderline terrible, but I’m in love with my new kitchen.  It’s the nicest kitchen I’ve had since moving to AZ in 2006. As a struggling, unemployed college student, my options were limited when it came to rentals and for the last four years I was lucky to even have a kitchen.  (Okay, that came out a lot more woe-is-me than I intended!) Anyway, I’m pretty stoked on my new digs. I even have a dishwasher! But if we’re being totally honest, I still do dishes by hand and use it as a drying rack.

I didn’t do much cooking this week. Actually, that’s a lie, I cook every night, but I ate the same meal 5 out of 7 nights, so I didn’t bother taking pictures. There are only so many ways to artfully present grilled chicken and veggies, so I deemed it a waste of memory card space. But here’s some hummus for you.

Has anyone tried Pita Pal brand hummus? I found it at Safeway & it was almost $2 cheaper than Tribe hummus. It was pretty good, on par with Sabra, but still lacking what I love so much about Tribe (although I still can’t pinpoint exactly WHAT I love about it). I polished off the tub in a week if that says anything.

I ventured out of my grilled-chicken-comfort-zone and made Danica’s Baked Cheesy Turkey Ziti one night this week (which I found on Janetha’s blog). The recipe makes 6 HUGE 250-calorie servings so this fed me for days and I still have leftovers!

Sorry for the crappy food photography, I haven’t quite regained my mojo. Also, the basil is from my very own (really it’s K’s) basil plant. I’m pretty excited I haven’t killed it yet!

This week in teaching:

What started out as a very rough week, ended on a pretty good note. I’m learning that teaching high school is a little like BEING in high school. There’s drama, arguments, cliques, etc. But I still love it and that’s what really matters.

I was expressing to a friend last night that teaching just feels right to me. I’m still surprised every other Friday when I get my paycheck! Sometimes I forget it’s my JOB. But that’s the thing, it doesn’t feel like a J.O.B. Yes, it’s challenging. Yes, it’s hard WORK. And sometimes it can be stressful, but it never feels like a job. I’m pretty blessed to be in this place in my life and I’m glad I have this little blog to document it!

I hope everyone had a beautiful weekend.  The temperatures here have finally cooled off a little (we were having 90-95 degree days last week) and we’ve even had a little rain. Yah for rain in the desert!

On May 8, 2010 I graduated college with a BA in Secondary Education with an emphasis in Expeditionary Learning & Environmental Studies. Yes, that really long title is printed on my diploma.

I received many gifts.

And then I walked across the stage, spoke for 60 seconds, tried really hard not to cry but ended up doing so anyway, and then it was over.

I’m in the dress with the pink flowers. No, we didn’t where caps and gowns. As a result there was nothing to throw in the air at the end. That was a bummer. But that old guy in the picture is the president of the college, so at least I was in close proximity to the man I gave all my money to for four years.

On May 9, 2010 I left Arizona on a two week road trip through the southwest with my parents and Lola; destination: Idaho.

First stop: Grand Canyon National Park. I went to college in AZ for four years and this was my first time visiting the GC.  After two full days, I had definitely seen enough of that giant hole in the ground, so we moved on.

Lola absolutely hated being in the car. She drooled constantly. At one point she was in the front passenger seat of my car (we took two cars because I was moving and had all my earthly possessions in the back of my jeep) and she jumped under my legs while I was driving! It was scary. She had to ride with my parents for the rest of the trip.

When we got to Bryce Canyon, UT it was snowing. This was not a good sign of what was to come for my new life in Idaho.

Hoodie and down jacket. In MAY. Lame.

Shoshone Falls, ID. I seem to be missing a few days worth of pictures. It appears I became pretty lazy with the camera.

May 17, 2010 I arrived in a little mountain town in Idaho. Lola and I moved into our new home with K, the fanciest single-wide I ever did see.

Lola was really excited to see her Dad! We hadn’t seen him for almost a month!

There was a fire in the wood stove every day, well into June. It snowed multiple times between my arrival in mid-May until almost July. Then it was 80 degrees everyday and I was once again regained my sanity.

I went to work as a cook at the restaurant where I had worked the previous summer. I worked for a new chef and although I was nervous at first, it turned out to be an awesome summer!

K and I spent our free time hunting and gathering. Well, he hunted, we both gathered. The above are some of the stinkiest mushrooms I’ve ever encountered. Fortunately, they taste good.

Photo evidence of previously mentioned summer snow. At least the lake wasn’t frozen by this point.

Evidence of K’s ability to grow lettuce. I had some of the best salads of my life this summer.

K tried to get Lola to go swimming almost daily. We lived less than two blocks from the lake, so everyday we would walk her down there.

And then he would get in the water and bribe her with treats. She hated every second of it.

I “golfed” in my free time. The restaurant where I worked was in a golf course clubhouse, so golf was free. I never improved. In fact, I think I got worse.

I saw some pretty sweet fire works on July 4th.

But then on July 31, 2010, I packed up my life once again and moved back to Arizona!

I sat in 2 hours of traffic at the Hoover Dam.

I was less than pleased to sit in traffic for hours with no air conditioning in 110 degree heat.

But I was more than pleased to return to the desert, even though my summer vacation was cut short dramatically.

BECAUSE I GOT A TEACHING JOB!!!!!!!!!!

On August 9, 2010 I started teaching high school science full-time at a wonderful charter school in Prescott, AZ.

My students and I get to play with jello.

And clean up simulated oil spills.

And go hiking.

Not a bad gig if I do say so myself. Don’t get me wrong, teaching is not without it’s challenges, and there have been quite a few since I started, but it’s more than worth it. I’m absolutely in love with my job! I still have to remind myself that I get paid to do it!

Lola and I are currently living in a shiny new 2 bedroom apartment (which is way more room than we actually need) and patiently awaiting K’s arrival in October when the fire season ends.

Here’s to a new future for CrazyBananas!

I’m officially, officially finished with ALL my undergraduate coursework! I turned in my portfolios (we do portfolios of our work instead of taking finals) yesterday and now I am FREEEEEE! Graduation is on Saturday!

CONFESSION:

It’s been a little bittersweet though. On the one hand, I’m finally finished college (after 5 years of going part-time off and on & seven semesters full-time!!!!) and now I have the opportunity to finally pursue a full time teaching position! On the other hand, I have to GET A JOB!!!! Saying I’m nervous is a huge understatement. Confession: I’m scared I won’t be able to find a teaching job!

Here have some food pics before I make this the longest post in all of food-blogging history:

Easy-peasy chicken stir-fry w/ sprouted brown rice

This is the one picture I managed to take while K was home, in between working back east and leaving for Idaho (where he works 6 months out the year). I was much more worried about spending every spare minute with him than with taking foodie pics. Obviously.

Funny Story: I served up this dinner but then I stole K’s bowl so that I could take a picture first. He was a little annoyed at first, he doesn’t mess around when he’s hungry. But he relented quickly, because he loves me so!

Salad: no-salt added Trader Joe’s albacore tuna, spring mix, grape tomatoes, ‘shrooms, yellow bell pepper, green grapes, braggs & nooch.

I’m seriously lovin’ on some fruit in my salads lately. Pears, grapes, raisins, mango, strawberries. Ummm, yum! Why haven’t I been doing this all along? I usually only include one fruit per salad, but you never know, I could get crazy one of these days, and throw them all in there!

Salad #2087487548 I have consumed in the last few weeks. I’m diggin’ salads even more now that it’s getting warmer. I also seem to crave them if I’m dehydrated, which seems to be often, now that it’s warmer! I’ve been eating them at least 3+ times a day lately. I can’t for the life of me remember what’s in this salad though. I think I spy some chicken, carrots, sprouts, and peppers.

Roasted asparagus, SP moons, ‘shrooms, & grilled chicken breast

Good thing I haven’t been blogging everyday or you will get tired of seeing this same picture day in and day out. This meal passed my lips at least every other day. I am so in love with it. I want to eat it 6 times a day!

C

CONFESSION:

Oh look, it’s a salad! Love me some veggies! I actually ate this salad for breakfast! I’ve never been a fan of breakfast foods. I would rather eat chips and salsa than oatmeal, but obviously that’s not the most nutritious choice, so… confession: I don’t always eat breakfast!!!! I know, I know, what kind of healthy-living blogger am I? I’ve struggle with the breakfast thing for many years and I swear I try, but it’s been a long, hard road.

K recently purchased and read Born to Run while he was working back east and brought it home for me to read. I couldn’t put the book down and I highly recommend it for all of you runners out there. One of the most intriguing parts was on performance nutrition. One expert interviewed for the book suggests eating salad for breakfast!!! And so I thought, why not? I don’t like breakfast foods, so why do I HAVE to eat them? I don’t. It was pretty big DUH! moment for me.

There is so much more to say, but I want to hit publish while I still have your attention.

Dinner has not yet been consumed but I’m not sure there will be pictures of that either. Why the lack of interest in photographing dinner? THE BOYFRIEND IS COMING HOME!!!!! After more days weeks months than I care to count, K is en route to the sunny AZ desert from the East Coast. Finally. I thought I was going to die.

It’s a nice break sometimes, when he goes on his little firefighting trips, because it forces allows me copious amounts of “me” time, however, I never need 6+ weeks of “me” time EVER AGAIN. Three weeks is miserable, ten days is long, 5 days is just the right amount of time for us to miss the other, but 6+ weeks, no thank you. I’m not saying it will never happen again, in all reality it could happen as soon as this summer, but at least I’ll have experienced it before. I give myself a huge pat on the back for surviving these past few weeks.    

Since I was big foodie failure today, I will show you pictures of things non-food related:

One-year anniversary flowers!!!! K somehow had one of his friends sneak up & drop these on the door step early in the morning. So sweet!

My bestie’s mom was in town so a few of us took a really long nice hike up the mountain. We got lost. As usual. But it was a gorgeous sunny day & it was so nice to spend time with my people.   

Apparently Lola is starving. She is constantly eating sticks and try as I might, she won’t stop. I even tried feeding her more food. It doesn’t help. She’s a little nutty.

I still have many, many hours to wait for K’s flight to get in so I should probably be productive & go to the gym. The house is clean, I’m (mostly) finished any & all school work, so I’m pretty sure the gym is my only option.

Okay, here I go!

PS: Don’t forget to tell me what you want to hear about first!!!! (I already covered the boyfriend’s homecoming, so that one’s out!)

Yes, I like to wear my sunglasses inside, my bathroom mirror is in serious need of a scrub down, & I’ll never be photogenic. Also, I am obviously in desperate need of some self-tanner.

The last month (has it really been THAT long?!?!?) has been full of ups & downs, however, there have been more ups than downs as of late, so I figured I’ve run out of excuses for abandoning my blog. I’ve thought long & hard about whether or not to continue blogging, and after much deliberation, I realized I love talking about myself and taking pictures of yummy food related things way too much, not to continue. So there you have it, I have returned.

For the last four weeks I mostly looked like this:

A few really, really long short weeks ago, I started teaching full-time as part of my senior project for my BA in secondary science education. Why I ever even thought for a split second I would have time to blog during these weeks is beyond me. I had very little “me” time, and the time I did manage to set aside for myself was spent either at the gym, reading your lovely blogs, or attempting to get outside as much as possible to enjoy the gorgeous desert spring. It worked for the most part, but I had to give up something, and blogging was that something. Guess what though? I still managed to take a few foodie pictures in the midst of the madness.

See?

It appears I like to eat all my meals out of the same white bowl. It’s mostly true.

Scallops! These were fabulous. I sautéed them in a smidgen of EVOO & added a little S&P. Ah-maze!

Oh look, the infamous white bowl. I rarely, if ever, eat off a plate.

I want this meal again RIGHT NOW! It was a taco salad of sorts, with sautéed bellas & red pepper, ground turkey breast, spring mix, grape tomatoes, and cilantro. AND taco sauce!  Git in ma belly! 

Cheetahs!!!! I think these pics are from my first cheetah making attempt. I am now fully obsessed with SPs of any & all variety. I have them at least three times a week.

I am also fully obsessed with roasting veggies! Funny thing really, now that its 80 degrees everyday, I feel the need to turn my oven on. Silly, silly Banana.

The obsession continues with nooch. Completely & totally in love. I use it every. single. day.

Fave dinner as of late: Roasted asparagus, sweet potatoes, & bellas, with grilled chicken & bbq/mustard sauce. I seem to have overcome my fear of plates for now.

Last night the white bowl made a comeback, but had a lovely green plate companion. I’m telling you, I should buy stock in the local asparagus farm. That shit’s too expensive for me to be eating as much of it as I do, however, I’m willing to shell out the $5/lb. to satisfy my craving addiction.

I had it for lunch & dinner on the same day at some point last week, but then I said to myself, “Self, you are still a college student with no job. Asparagus can not be consumed more than once a day.” Since then I’ve cut back a little.

I have so many exciting upcoming events I want to write about! I have a feeling, though, that if I don’t hit publish soon, this post will become the longest post in the history of blogging. And I really don’t want to subject you to that.

Upcoming Excitement:

• The boyfriend is coming home tomorrow after working out of town for 6 weeks!!!!!!
• I’m graduating college!!!!!!
• I’m moving to Idaho!
• I’m going back to my job as a cook for the summer!
• My parents are coming into town for graduation & we are taking a week & 1/2 road trip through AZ, UT, & ID! (Janetha: we’re coming to SLC!!!!!)
• I’m completely finished with my senior project (teaching) & I have two & 1/2 weeks to do whatever I want!

Now you: Tell me what you want to hear (read) about first! I will eventually get to everything, I hope, as long as I don’t abandon the dear blog again.

Night kiddies!

I have some catching up to do…

I seem to be running a day (or two!) behind

Friday’s(!) breakfast – egg whites, orange bell pepper, bellas, & spinach

I totally put taco sauce on this AFTER I took the picture. Busted.

Interesting… there are no photos between Friday’s breakfast & Saturday’s breakfast. This is odd. I wonder what I ate? I bet you it involved taco sauce.

New-to-me Larabar – Tropical Fruit Tart & a tangelo

I did not love this Larabar flavor. It was good at first bite, and then, it disappointed me with an overwhelming citrus flavor. But I ate it, and it filled my tummy. Win, win. 

leftover chicken breast & salmon w/ green beans & mixed veggies AND taco sauce

I destroyed this mango and it was amazing. I want another one right now.

And last but not least, last night’s dinner featuring Normandy & stirfry veggies, sprouted brown rice, spinach, basil, braggs, & nooch! It was ugly, but it tasted just fine. I don’t remember being overly impressed with it though.

Tonight’s dinner was one hundred times better, but it’s almost my bed time (9:00 pm) & tomorrow’s my first day of teaching, so you’ll just have to wait. I’ll play even more ‘ketchup’ tomorrow. 

Night bloggie girls and boys!

After 10 hours of babysitting yesterday, I somehow convinced myself to go to the gym for my LBWO & abs. I warmed up on the arc trainer for 20 minutes, did a bunch of squats & lunges, and cursed out loud, and tried to remember to breathe, as I struggled through my abs routine x 2. My energy level was great until I passed the one hour mark, then it was all down hill. But I pushed through my 30 minutes of abs even though I would have much rather skipped it (again) and fed my starving belly instead. Yesterday was just one of those days, you win some, you lose some.

Gluten/Diary/Soy Update: I want pizza. End of story.

I did a guest post on Ms. Allison’s blog about Baltimore for all you Fitbloggin’ fools and anyone else who has any interest in the wonderful Charm City. Check it out!

It appears I have ten thousands photos of yesterday’s breakfast:

Sautéed bellas, orange bell pepper, and cherry tomatoes with (4ish) egg whites & taco sauce!

The infamous taco sauce returns after not even 24 hours. I just love it. I’m not ashamed.

New-to-me Larabar flavor. It was good. I still love the PB&J best so far.  

spinach, mixed veggies, & grilled salmon seasoned with the Dash

I was so tired last night I’m surprised I didn’t just eat pb out of the jar for dinner. I am impressed with myself for at least having the sense to thaw some salmon before I went to the gym. Hopefully I will have enough sense to do the same to some chicken tonight or I might just be eating that jar of pb after all.

Giveaway Madness!

julie golean’s tea giveaway, but don’t go enter because I really NEED that Celestial Seasonings mug & my boyfriend would be ecstatic if I added more tea to my already overflowing collection!

The healthy everythingtarian is giving away a pretty sweet grill pan! You can enter this one if you want.

Gotta go, I hear a baby crying!

Yesterday was upper body weights! I would rather do upper body than lower body any day, but not because I’m strong, my upper body is actually fairly weak, but lower body hurts my old lady knees! Yep, I’m falling apart at the ripe old age of 27!

I’m still working on achieving that very delicate balance my body requires with working out, and running especially. Since I started running again (back in January) I have to convince myself that my body can’t handle running everyday. So there’s lots of WAAI (walking at an incline!) and cross-training in general.

As a result, I’m trying to up my strength days, doing a 2 day split between upper body & lower body. I’m really hoping that strengthening my legs and core with help my old lady knees! Also, I wouldn’t mind a perkier butt. Everyone has always told me I’ve been blessed with a nice behind, but really, it’s kinda flat. I’ve been doing squats like it’s my job!

ANYWAY! Upper Body Workout for 3/17 (I’m too lazy to put this in a spreadsheet, so bare with me):

• treadmill warm-up – 25 minutes at 6.0 incline and 4.0 mph (I was way too engrossed in Women’s Health to go any faster)
• stretch! (I never keep track of how long I stretch for)
• 3 x 8 reps – pushups; jump rope 60 seconds between sets
• 3 x 8 reps – tri dips; jump rope 60 seconds between sets
• 3 x 12 reps – hammer curls with 10 lb dumbbells; jump rope 60 seconds between sets
• 3 x 10 reps – bent over rows with 12 lb dumbbells; jump 60 sec (you get the picture, I jumped rope between sets!)
• 3 x 10 reps – flys with 12 lb dumbbells; jump
• 3 x 10 reps – should press with 10 lb dumbbells; jump
• elliptical cool-down – 20 minutes at level 10 
• foam roller extravaganza! I rolled my piriformis and IT bands until my arms started shaking

Holy crap Batman! That jump roping kicked my bootay. My heart rate was soaring! I really liked adding a little cardio to my strength workout, it helped me from getting bored and stopping early. My old lady knees didn’t like the jump roping at first, but they warmed up to it. I will definitely be incorporating the rope again!

I was going to do abs, but I decided to go home and stuff my face instead. The gym makes me hangry!

Question: how often do you do ab workouts? I don’t think it makes much sense to do abs everyday. Your abs are muscles just like the rest, and your muscles need rest to grow and get strong, so shouldn’t that apply to abs as well? 

Of course I HAD to stop at Kroger on my way home from the gym (it’s an addiction people!). I was out of my dandelion root tea, but I ended up spend $18 on other things as well. The loot included: 1 carton of strawberries, 2 mangos, 1 avocado, 1 sweet potato, frozen asparagus, 1 pb&j larabar, and of course, tea. I really didn’t need the larabar, as I still have 3 new-to-me flavors at home, but I really like the pb&j one.

As promised, there was a St. Patrick’s day green monster when I returned from the gym grocery store.

Me & my monster – 1/2 packet Biochem vegan vanilla protein powder, 1/2 c. almond milk, 1/4 c. water, 1/2 frozen banana, handful frozen mango, 3 strawberries, & big handful of spinach

the pink reflection is from my fleece

celery & hummus x one million

At some point there were copious amounts of Guiltless Gourmet Blue Corn Chips consumed with even more hummus. I spared you the boring picture. I’m officially in love with these chips. One serving is 18 chips, that’s twice the amount of regular, fried tortilla chips! Sheer amazingness. Tortilla chips are probably my favorite food. Always and forever.

Note: I do not photograph all the food I consume in one day. Ever. So please do not assume that what you see here is everything I eat. Just had to put that out there since there’s been a little controversy around the blogosphere. I don’t want/need this blog to be a running account of everything I eat. It would get crazy boring believe-you-me.   

Lunch in stages:

spring mix & grape tomatoes (oh look, there’s a wrinkly one)

topped with steamed mixed veggies…

… and leftover ground turkey breast, avocado, and taco sauce 

I have a confession: As if you didn’t see it coming, I’m in love with mexican/latin american-inspired dishes. You might get bored of seeing it, but I never get bored of eating it. I like other things, for sure, but this is my default. I ask myself, “What should I have for breakfast/lunch/dinner?” And the answer is always, “It doesn’t matter, just put some taco sauce/salsa/cumin/chili powder on it and it will taste good.” Yes, I talk to myself. Does that make me crazy? Only when I do it out loud and other people hear me.

I’m still working my way through the leftover ground turkey breast. I will most likely eat it for two more meals & then take a break for awhile. Who knows, maybe you will see something on the blog that doesn’t include chili powder/cumin/taco sauce in the near future.

Warning: Teacher Talk Ahead 

I’m still way behind where I should be with lesson planning, however, I spent yesterday evening going through the CD tutorial that comes with our textbook and refreshing my knowledge of the rock cycle, volcanoes, geologic time, and relative/radiometric dating. Hoo Boy! It was an exciting time, let me tell you. I feel much better about moving forward with my lesson planning now that I’ve done a little (more) background research. That said, I’m babysitting all day, today and tomorrow, and it’s a little difficult to plan lessons while holding a baby (but not difficult to blog!). We shall see.

Dinner last night was very green! 

spring mix; steamed asparagus & green beans

+ sprouted brown rice

+ grilled chicken

I seasoned everything with a little Dash and called it good. Veggies are so filling! I was stuffed, but also energized. Yah for greens!

Note the absence of chili powder/cumin/taco sauce. See, I told you it was coming!

QOTD:

1. Do you have a default spice combination? This answer is pretty obvious, just see above.

2. What are your favorite upper body moves? I need to incorporate more/different ones to keep my muscles guessing, so give it up!

Happy Thursday! The weekend is right around the corner.

Just wanted to say Happy St. Patrick’s Day to everyone!

That leprechaun is a little creepy. Okay, let’s be honest, leprechauns are just creepy in general.

How are y’all celebrating? Will you get all dressed up in green & hit the town? Will you drink green beer? I promised a friend I would go downtown with her tonight but, since I’m an old lady, I will probably be home and in bed by 10:00! I have to get up early and hit the gym before I babysit. Expect cute pictures of my little munchkin at some point tomorrow. He’s getting so big!

Do you want to win a sweet cookbook from Xagave and have your very own copy of Janetha’s pumpkin smoothie recipe? Okay, that’s totally a given! Go enter Allie’s giveaway!

Also, remember that Bhutanese Red Rice bread I’ve been raving about? I usually have a slice with natty pb (I’m loving on some Kroger brand right now; cheap & tasty!) before bed every night. Want proof?

Oh Em Gee! Can you believe that is only 1 tbsp of pb? It certainly looks like I put 1/2 the jar on there. So good!

Peace out kiddies, time for the gym!