I got to spend Memorial Day weekend at my favorite place in the world:
In my opinion, it really doesn't get any better than this beautiful lake.
Time passed too quickly. I really hope I get to go back again soon.
Remember those seaweed snacks I picked up from Trader Joe's last week? Yeah, probably not. Anyways, I was excited to try some roasted seaweed snacks.
Well, they became the running joke of the weekend. I had one on the way up to the lake and was not a fan - it tasted really fishy to me. And I couldn't pawn them off on anyone else! Many ideas were thrown around (seaweed pancakes anyone?) but none of them went over very well :) That white bean and basil hummus, on the other band, is absolutely incredible! You win some, you lose some.
On the way home, my dad and I stopped to load up on tons of fresh, local asparagus.
We've had it two nights in a row now (grilled, with a little bit of olive oil - my personal favorite, and steamed - still very tasty!). Yum!!
The idea was to eat some of the asparagus fresh and freeze some so that we could enjoy it after the season is over, but at this rate, I'm not sure any will make it to the freezer!
Nothing else very exciting going on around here, except a little visitor this morning:
I saw something in the straw from my bedroom window this morning and wasn't sure what it was, so I went to get a closer look.
But not too close. Hello, snapping turtle. The reason I know this is a snapping turtle is not because I'm an expert at identifying wildlife. (Surprising, right?) It's because when I was younger, around 10 years old, we saw a turtle like this in our driveway and my mom made my sister and me get really close to the turtle so she could take a picture of us with it. This was pre-digital camera for us, so it wasn't until we got the film developed (which, for our family, could take many, many months... or a year) that my dad saw the picture and asked why we were so close to a snapping turtle. Um yeah. It definitely could have taken my arm off. Scary!
And true to form, my mom still cut off the top of my head in the photo. Worth it? Not so sure.
Hope you all enjoyed your weekend!
Song of the day:
"Tallulah" by Company of Thieves. I like this song more and more every time I listen to it.
I've been a very bad blogger. I don't feel like I really have a lot going on, but all of my days have been absolutely packed. I've been taking a few pictures here and there, though, so I'll use them to share what I've been up to.
First things first - I've successfully woken up in time to do 6AM workouts 3 times since I last posted. Luckily I just stumble blearily down to the basement, so I don't have to worry about my bangs sticking up everywhere. Although I don't love waking up that early, I am always so happy to get my workout in first thing in the morning; if I wait to exercise after work, something else almost always comes up and I don't get around to it.
I'll write more about the Physique 57 DVDs once I've done them a few more times, but so far I'm a fan! I've done the classic 57-minute DVD twice and the 30-minute ab and arm booster DVD once. The workouts are definitely tough and I struggled to get through a few of the exercises - mainly the ab routine! After I did the classic DVD for the first time, I could really feel it the next day in my booty and my lower abs <-- good signs! I particularly like incorporating the ball into the workouts - I could really feel the burn in my inner thighs, which is great since that area is typically difficult to target. And the ball also greatly increases the effectiveness of the ab exercises, from what I can tell (as evidenced by my extreme shaking, haha). So far so good!
Check out these beautiful flowers which greet me when I go to work:
I still need to work on improving my lunches - this is basically what I've been eating every day (apple, carrots, bell pepper, sugar snap peas, Larabar). Tasty, but I could use some more variety and creativity.
Someone wants to share my lunch.
I've been mooching off my parents so far, but today I finally stopped at TJ's to get some food of my own. Hopefully that'll help me to mix things up a bit.
My haul:
Brown rice cakes, seaweed snacks (excited to try these for the first time), beer for a Memorial Day party, spinach, steamed lentils, Greek yogurt (it's been too long! Can't wait to dig into this container), sunflower seed butter, raw unsalted almond butter, natural peanut butter, kalamata olives, artichoke hearts, salsa, cherry and cashew cookie Larabars, B vitamins, white bean basil hummus (sounds interesting - can't wait to try it), dry roasted unsalted pistachios (I haven't had pistachios in SO long, very excited for these), sweet potatoes, and a baguette to go with bruschetta that I'm planning to make for the Memorial Day party. Oh and there are some medjool dates hiding somewhere in there, too. There have been so many desserts and treats around lately and I've been over-indulging, so my plan is to snack on a medjool date to satisfy some of my cravings for sweets.
I think Barbie was out shopping while I was at TJ's. See that bubblegum pink Mercedes convertible?
A new favorite snack of mine:
Whole wheat bread with peanut butter, a sprinkle of cinnamon, and some granola that my sister made.
I had a coffee date at my favorite local coffee shop (Angel Falls) with my BFF who was in town from DC. I got a cortado, which is 6 oz. of milk with 2 shots of espresso. Bzzzz.
I brought some work with me to do after my friend left.
More coffee today. It wasn't actually 95* out, but that's what my car was reading when I first got in. Great day for iced coffee!
Plus a chocolate cookie with walnuts (both from Panera). About those medjool dates to satisfy my sweet tooth...
Other happenings include a day at the racetrack.
The muscle cars were my favorite.
But the semi with a jet engine was pretty cool, too :)
I got a little overzealous with my library holds. Lots to read/ watch/ listen to!
Last but not least, did you know that wiper blades don't come in pairs? You have to buy two separate packages. Mmhmm, I didn't know that. Also, I decided which brand to get based on the packaging. (Bosch won, clearly.) That's logical, right? I'm such a sucker for marketing/ good design.
And I think I'm all caught up now. Hope you enjoyed that hodgepodge of random stuff. Oh, one more thing - I've already worn my new maxi dress twice and have gotten compliments each time. Success! So if you've been hesitant to try one on, I say go for it! It's super comfy, and looks very chic, in my opinion. I mean, come on, doesn't a floor-length dress make you feel fancy? I've already got plans to wear mine again this weekend, haha.
Off to tackle a million and one things on my to-do list. See ya later!
Song of the day:
"Beekeeper's Daughter" by the All-American Rejects. I know, I know, but I had to. I have a soft spot for AAR (I get nostalgic every time I hear any song from their debut album - it instantly takes me back to summertime in high school, driving around with my best friends, singing along with the windows down). I got to meet the band one time at Warped Tour (yup, I definitely thought Warped Tour was the coolest thing ever when I was in my wannabe-punk stage) - the guys had a signing tent - and I can assure you that Tyson Ritter is just as beautiful in person.
I even got a picture with Tyson <-- prized possession, haha.
One of my contributions to our family Easter dinner was a loaf of homemade sourdough bread. I followed this recipe by the lovely and hilairous Mama Pea. I used my own sourdough starter that I've had for awhile now, though, which I made by following a recipe from Martha Stewart's Breads cookbook.
I let my sourdough starter sit out for about 2 hours, then added all of the ingredients to a mixing bowl:
I stirred together 1 teaspoon active dry yeast, 1/2 cup unsweetened almond milk (heated to about 95*F), 1 1/2 tablespoons honey, 1 1/3 cup white whole wheat flour, 1/2 cup all-purpose flour, 1 teaspoon salt, 1 tablespoon olive oil, and 3/4 cup room temperature sourdough starter.
After the ingredients were all combined, I turned the dough out onto a well-floured surface and kneaded everything together. I had to add quite a bit of white whole wheat flour, probably about 1/2 cup, and continuously added flour to the counter so that the dough wouldn't stick.
I kneaded the dough for about 10 minutes until it was smooth and springy.
I lightly coated a clean mixing bowl with olive oil and placed the dough inside, turning the dough around so that it was completely coated.
Then I covered the dough with a towel and let it rise overnight, for about 12 hours.
Ta-da!
I punched the dough down and let it sit for 15 minutes.
Then I placed the dough on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper, which I sprayed with cooking spray, and shaped the dough into a loaf, lightly scoring the top a few times. I baked it at 375*F for 27 minutes.
It smelled ahhhh-mazing.
And tasted delicious! My family agreed. I think it actually tasted more like honey whole wheat bread (which makes sense since it contains both honey and whole wheat, imagine that) but not so much like sourdough. Still very tasty, though!
I wish I could take credit for this little guy, but my mom got him from Great Harvest. I wanted to have a back-up loaf of bread in case mine didn't turn out, so I suggested my mom pick up a honey bunny from Great Harvest after seeing them on Kath's blog a lot!
We had a special helper in the kitchen with us:
That's Bella.
Just one of the girls.
Well the weekend went too quickly and it's back to the grind. I got in some cardio at the gym this morning (elliptical and rowing machine - still loving it) and had to stop by the post office to mail my taxes. Fun stuff!
Most exciting thing of the day: Hart of Dixie is finally new again!! Ahhh so excited, I really love that show. I will be foam rolling my way through it tonight. I think 2 Broke Girls is new, too - perfection.
Hope you had a great weekend (filled with chocolate like mine, haha) and that the week is off to a good start for you.
Song of the day:
Okay, this isn't so much a song of the day as it is a video clip of the day (but I do like the song, too). For your viewing pleasure, here is James Franco in all of his corn-rowed glory, singing along to "Love You Like a Love Song" by Selena Gomez & The Scene. Yes. Yes, please.
For Christmas, I got my dad speakers for his iPhone. Unfortunately, they didn't work with the 4GS, so I ordered him some new speakers. Over a month later I still hadn't gotten them, and I ended up getting a refund. Speakers were not in the cards, so I went in a different direction:
Grow your own 'shrooms!
Amaze your kids dads. I can't wait to see how it works! (Found this at Whole Foods.)
The shopping bug really did bite me last week because in addition to my mall finds and new earrings, I ordered a couple of things from Madewell. I first discovered Madewell at Tyson's Corner in Virginia (my all-time favorite mall) while I was living in DC, and it was love at first site. Madewell is owned by J. Crew and only has women's clothing. I've visited stores in NYC and Columbus, too, but there aren't any close to my apartment in Cleveland Heights.
Luckily, both the shoes and shorts fit! I've had my eye on those shoes for SUCH a long time now, and even had them in my online shopping cart a few times and then decided against getting them. But this time they were on sale AND there was free shipping, and I couldn't resist any longer. The shorts were on sale, too, and I really did need a new pair. I love the cuffs and the dark wash. Per usual, I already wore the boots and love them just as much as I thought I would. If it weren't 40 degrees outside, I probably would have already worn the shorts, too!
I'm so bummed because this morning I overslept and missed the yoga class I was planning to take. I absolutely love the teacher for the Friday Ashtanga yoga class at the gym where my parents belong and was really excited to take advantage of being in the area today, but alas, I turned off my alarm in my sleep and woke up 2 hours later than I wanted to.
My activity consisted of walking around a craft show with my mom, grandma, and a family friend (then having lunch - not so active), and then trolling the mall with my friend who is in town from DC. I only bought a fresh-squeezed juice (carrots, oranges, ginger) while I was there, though - I definitely didn't need anything after my prolonged shopping spree last week.
I'm spending one more night with the family, then back to my place tomorrow. Hope everyone's ready for the weekend! Any fun plans? Or any recent purchases/ splurges lately?
Just for fun, you should watch this video of Jennifer Aniston on Ellen; Jennifer is wearing an ear piece and Ellen is telling her what to say to an unsuspecting delivery guy. (Ellen has also done this with other celebrities like David Beckham, Dennis Quaid, and Sofia Vergara - they are all SO hilarious! Definitely check them out if you get a chance.)
