The Story of Me and Sara

Happy Saturday! Hope everyone had a wonderful week. I've got some fun stuff coming up starting with...

...my very first guest blog presentation! Oh man, I'm so nervous about posting this.

Recently, I posted about having dinner with Sara from Nourish and Flourish. Excellent blog. Even more excellent writer of the blog. Many of you expressed how lucky I was to meet her and how sweet she is! Both are very true. However, there's more to the story than meets the eye. You see, Sara and I have known each other for quite sometime. We just kept crossing paths!

We actually met for the first time in 4th grade. I searched and searched and searched for our 4th grade class picture, but to no avail. She went to a different school the next year but that wasn't the end.

Fast forward to high school and we both ended up at Boise High! We had friends in common but just knew each other a little bit.

Wow, we are goofy. Even back then. ;)

Sara is fouth from the right and I'm third from the right. I know, we were so young.

After high school, we ended up on opposite sides of the continent. I went to Victoria, BC, Canada. Sara went to Washington D.C.

We still saw each other from time to time at mutual friends' gatherings.

Here we are at the BSU student union building for some bowling.

Here we are at our friend Laura's 21st birthday.

This summer, Sara moved back to Idaho from D.C. for a little while. We started hanging out again and she mentioned she had started a blog. Well, I had started one but hadn't done much with it. As I started reading hers, I realized that I belonged in the health/fitness niche as well. Along the way, we've encouraged and supported each other in our blogging adventures!

You might recognize this picture from her post on our visit to the Cheesecake Factory.

Sara an awesome friend, amazing baker/cook (seriously! I'm always impressed with her gourmet creations!) and true world traveler. We've had some awesome conversations about food and diet and living up to pressures of society. I'm so glad after all these years we've actually become better friends!

So, here's a little Q & A from Sara herself:

(My comments in italics.)

1. When you were a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?

I think it changed every week! Some of my career aspirations included: mermaid (just like Ariel), dancer, actress, cheerleader, professional soccer player and president.

(I love that she wanted to be Ariel. I wanted to be a princess!)

2. Where do you see yourself in 5 years?

Married to a dark, tall and handsome husband. 2.5 kids. White-picket fence. Golden retriever.

Kidding. :-p Hopefully I'll be finished with grad school and established working as a dietitian promoting nutrition policy reform. I'd like to either live in Washington DC or the San Francisco Bay Area.

3. Favorite new recipe you've tried this year?

This is a tough question! One of my favorite new recipes is Spinach-and-Cheese-Stuffed Portobellos (which can be found on my blog).

4. What are three things you're grateful for?

An incredibly supportive network of family and friends, the ability to walk, and my relationship with Christ.

5. If you could live anywhere in the world for a year, (cost not a factor) where would you go and why?

ITALY! The Mediterranean climate, FABULOUS food, close proximity to the ocean, rich history and culture would make it an amazing place to live! Plus, I could take weekend train trips to other European countries. And the icing on the cake? All those flirtatious Italian men! ;-p

6. What has been your favorite age so far and why?

I really enjoyed being 21. My junior year of college was one of the best years of my life! I lived with friends I love, and got to spend a summer abroad interning in London and traveling throughout Europe.

7. How would your describe yourself in 3 words?

Compassionate. Curious. Active.

8. What do you like most about yourself?
I'm grateful for my ability to make make and maintain meaningful, lasting friendships.

(How true!)

9. Favorite quote?

This one is well known, but I love it:

Dance as though no one is watching you,

Love as though you've never been hurt before,

Sing as though no one can hear you,

Live as though heaven is on earth!

(An oldie but a goodie!)

10. Favorite color?

Yellow!

11. If you could have an all expenses paid shopping spree at any store, which would it be?

Zara. It's a store that originated in Spain, but now is in major US cities as well. I love their stylish, yet practical (and moderately priced) clothing!

12. If you could have one super human power, what would you choose?

The ability to be invisible! I would love to be a detective and help solve mysteries/crimes by listening in on other people's conversations.

13. Who do you admire most?

My grandpa. He knew what it meant to live life to it's fullest--with joy and passion, and without worry or regret.

14. Do you like to exercise indoors or outdoors?

Both! I think my best workouts are done indoors because I can regulate the intensity. But there's nothing like a long, mind-clearing run outside!

15. What makes you laugh?

Being tickled, boy band dance parties in my pajamas, The Colbert Report, and funny faces

16. Say all your favorite bloggers were coming to dinner, what would you make?

I'd be a terrible hostess and wouldn't make anything! I think it would be much more fun to have each of my guests bring a dish that best represents their cooking style/philosophy. What I love about the healthy-fit-food blogging community is that we all share our unique styles/tastes with one another!

(Who else is in for a blogger pot luck?!?)

17. If you knew you could be successful at any job in the world, what would you be?

I would love to be an actress. However only if I could do it without crazy paparazzi tracking my every move!

18. Vanilla or Chocolate?

Depends! Vanilla ice cream, hands down. Almost everything else chocolate.

19. Whole or crushed ice?

Whole because it doesn't melt as fast. Not a fan of watery, diluted drinks!

20. Why did the chicken cross the road?

To escape the farm and avoid being made into chicken-pot-pie.

(Hee. Hee.)

Now that you guys know some fun tidbits about Sara, skip over to her blog and tell her how wonderful she is!

How did you find Sara @ Nourish and Flourish?

Copy Cat

I have been busy, busy, busy trying all of everyone's wonderful recipes! And I still have a stack a mile high. Currently, I am typing with stained red fingers. I'm trying not to stain my white keyboard with them. ;) More on that in a minute.

Let's start off with the mysterious baked good I hinted at on my last post.

Erin's Triple Chocolate Chunk Brownies! I will never make brownies from a box again after experiencing these. The only thing I did different was I added dark chocolate chunks to instead of milk chocolate. *Excuse me while I wipe the drool off my chin.*

After trying one, I knew I had to give these away to friends as soon as possible. Before I consumed the entire pan and spent the next week passed out with a (blissful) stomach ache. As Rachel Zoe would say, "I die."

Went to PF Chang's again. Here's leftovers from the next day: coconut curry vegetables with chicken and Shanghai Street noodles. Is there anything on that menu that isn't good?

The Shanghai Street Noodles were a new try for me and I liked them way more than I thought they would. Though the ginger and onions and cilantro lingered on my tongue long into the night! I was seriously considering ordering take-out from them tonight.

I'm still completely and madly in love with Green Monster Smoothies. I can't go a day without one. Here's a tip for you: red and green make brown.

Exhibit A:

1 ripe banana, two handfuls of spinach, a handful of strawberries, half a peach, ice, soy milk. Pretty!

Exhibit B:

Swamp sludge! It (of course) still tasted amazing. It was the best of both worlds: my favorite smoothie combination + spinach.

Here's some farmer's market goodies:

Nothing like local white cheddar. This did not survive a week.

Fresh yellow beans! Fresh beets! (I always have and still do heart beets. I think if I knew the end of the world was coming, I would stockpile cans upon cans upon cans of beets.)

I cooked the beets.

They look like little hot dogs to me! Though that could have just been my intense hunger after Body Pump. I literally wanted to eat a whole pizza and a hamburger and possibly my arm.

While I was waiting for the beets to cook, I ate half of some supermarket sushi:

Normally, I don't particularly care for the packaged stuff like this, but I made the mistake of shopping when hungry. It decent though.

I give you Angela's Beet Salad. Hence the red fingers.

The only things I changed from her recipe were that I didn't add the apple and I used jarred mandarin oranges. The homemade vinaigrette is amazing! Sadly, I couldn't eat all the salad but it hold up pretty well in the fridge for leftovers! I also had a side of Mary's carrot fries. Those were super easy. Coat with olive oil and your choice of seasoning. Bake at 350 for 20 min and 425 for 10 min.

Lastly, I would like to share an accomplishment. Let me start by saying I hate taking pictures of myself. I feel like a weird-o. (Not that I think anyone else is for taking pictures of themselves, it just makes me feel insecure.) None the less I have acquired two guns.

Here's one of them. See?? I guess all that mowing the lawn and Body Pump and pilates is paying off! I have actual muscle! I'm not sure why this picture makes my arm look ginormous and my head look small, but I can assure you this is not the case in real life. That's what I get for using Photo Booth on my MacBook.

Now I'm off to do a little reading. Still deciding between Elle or more of The Host. Or maybe both!

What's one of your favorite recipes (link please!)?

Do you like beets?

What summer read do you recommend?

It's Gonna Be A Scorcher

Whew! It is finally H-O-T! What's one to do?

Make a smoothie of course!

In went half a peach (peeled), half a banana, handful of strawberries, vanilla soy milk and ice.

Ok, ok, I also ate salmon salad for lunch.

I got the recipe from a Hungry Girl email, which I will now pass on to you!

Scoopy Salmon Salad

2 tbsp. Hellmann's/Best Foods Dijonnaise (I just eyeballed some dijon mustard and mayo)
1 tbsp. fat-free cream cheese, room temperature
2 tsp. lemon juice
Dash each salt and black pepper, or more to taste
6 oz. canned or pouched boneless skinless pink salmon, drained and flaked
1/2 cup quartered cherry or grape tomatoes
1/2 cup chopped cucumber
1/4 cup finely chopped red onion
1/2 tbsp. capers, drained (yuck! I didn't add these)

Directions:
Combine Dijonnaise, cream cheese, lemon juice, salt, and black pepper in a bowl. Thoroughly mix until smooth. Add salmon and stir well. Add remaining ingredients and toss lightly to mix.

Since I only wanted one serving, I roughly halved the recipe. The lemon juice and the cream cheese really made the salad! They'd make really good wraps with some lettuce leaves too.

Later that night, I went to dinner with Sara and her friend Nora at P.F. Chang's.

I was feeling fancy in my hot pink maxi dress (I tried to take a picture, but it was a major fail) and so I ordered:

Mahi Mahi on cilantro rice with lots of lemon grass. This was pure bliss. I ate the whole fish and plenty of the cilantro rice. It was a little pricey but sooo worth it! In fact, I want another one right now.

Friday, it was time for my yearly trip to the carwash. And a good vacuum (think: golden retrivers have lots of fur!). I planned "to get to the carwash early". Early ended up being there about 10 am.

First I had breakfast:

Two eggs over medium on hearty whole grain toast. Plus nectar of the gods (orange juice).

After the carwash, it was time for my love/hate relationship with the lawn.

I love the exercise and sunshine from mowing, I hate the sun beating down on me, sweating like a pig, getting grimy with grass stuck all over me. Well, I haven't given up and paid someone to do it for me yet. Probably because I love saving the money of doing it myself and hate the thought of someone else getting all the sunshine and exercise.

We have a decent sized lawn, so when I got done I was SO HOT and SO HUNGRY. First order of business was a cold shower with the hose.

For Hunter of course!

Oh, and I took one too, inside. Ahhhh.

Lunch was an Amy's burrito and some cucumber.

If you haven't tried these before, go out and try one asap! I also love how refreshing and crunchy cucumber is.

Lunch was followed by a dreamy peach mocktail:

After a nap and puttering around I decided that I was in no mood for cooking dinner.

Pizza it is!

Green peppers, onions, tomatoes, chicken, pineapple, black olives on a thin crust. (and yes, I had four pieces, but it was a small pizza and that is a small plate)

Against my will I also had a simple spinach and grape tomato salad with poppyseed dressing.

Sometimes, simple is best.

And now, if you'll excuse me...

... I have some baking to do.

And a dog to walk.

What's your favorite menu item from P.F. Chang's?

Do you have a dog/pet? If so, what kind are they?

What are you doing to keep cool/out of the heat?

Found My Groove!

Thank you everyone for all your great comments! I want you to know that I appreciate each and every one, even if it's just a quick hi! I do a little happy dance every time! Keep them coming!

So much to say, I hope that all the jumbled thoughts on my head make it out in some sort of an organized fashion. Where to start?

As you know, I've lost my groove.

I love that movie. I could probably recite nearly the entire thing.

The other night, I took Hunter for a walk along the canal road behind my house. Technically, we're not supposed to go back there, but it's so calm and the water is right there, and I let Hunter wander ahead without a leash.

Speaking of Hunter, he thinks he is a mighty fly hunter. I've tried catching video of his cat-like (he is a little species confused at times) stalking skills, but he must be camera shy.

Here he is eying it as it taunts him.

(That brown thing is his Wubba bear, the one he got for July 4th)

Monday night, I went to pilates, and got my butt kicked. I'm still sore. In a good way of course.

My breakfast this morning was a yummy green monster.

Mmmm. This one had banana, soy milk, spinach, ice and a spoonful of almond butter.

Part two of breakfast was an egg white sandwich. I just started making these and they are so much yummier than anything from a fast food place.

Three egg whites, provolone cheese and a smear of Galeo's sesame dressing on a toasted sandwich thin. So simple and yummy!

Today, I went for a bike ride with my friend Sheridan. I probably haven't ridden my bike in over 3 years, and unfortunately, it needs a bit of maintenance. A casual bike ride was only a little tough because it was stuck in a lower gear. Oh well. It was still lots of fun and sunshine and fresh air.

We went for sno cones afterwards.

Sheridan got watermelon.

"Hey, Sheridan, is my tongue purple??" I got sweetart, of course.

Oh, so happy about sweetart.

Since I slept in and didn't make it this morning, I had completely committed myself to go to Body Pump tonight. I even got there 5 minutes early. To discover that it started at 6:30 not 7. Oops. Darn it! I was pretty bummed but I was there already so I decided to do a 30 minute hill climb on the elliptical. I could watch something on tv with out headphones I supposed.

It was probably better to do the elliptical instead of an intense weight training class, since I hadn't had anything besides a sno cone and a Luna white chocolate macadamia bar since breakfast. Only one teeny tiny setback: the guy (more like old fart) next to me kept farting!

I mean, I'm not going to lie, I've done it at the gym. This was bad though. Pretty bad. Luckily, 1) I have allergies so I couldn't smell too well anyways and 2) I was able to focus on watching tv to distract me from the stench.

Let's see... I flipped though the channels, Khloe and Kortney take Miami? Seen it. Parental Control? Nah. Food Network? Um, that will just make me hungry. Oh, how about...

UFC please! Nothing like watching two guys go at each other punching, kicking and basically beating the crap out of each other with almost no rules. There are three 5 minute rounds (or if it's a title fight, five 5 minute rounds) and each fighter gets points for.. a varitey of reasons, probably all include making contact with the other fighter with his fists, feet or knees. Five minutes is a long time when you're getting your butt kicked. You win the round if you have the most points. You win the whole fight if the other guy "taps out". A tap out is a signal you can give the other player and/or ref to say I give up. A person usually taps out if they feel they are going to pass out or give in before the other fighter breaks their bone. Yes, bones get broken. You can also win the whole fight if you knock the other guy out. UFC was inspired by a tournament in Brazil vale tudo (meaning anything goes). Is it barbaric? Totally. Do I love it anyways? Yup. Jeremy got me into watching it.

Speaking of tv, does anyone watch the Real Housewives of NJ? I know you're out there.

I secretly wish I was a Jersey girl. Teresa is my favorite. But what the heck is up with Danielle? She annoys the crap out of me when she makes herself such a victim but takes every chance to antagonize the other ladies. She is so cunning and such a drama queen. Why do I bother? I guess it's such a train wreck I can't tear myself away. Now you know what I'm rotting my brain out with. Sheesh, I'm exposing all my goofy favorites tonight.

I may watch junk, but at least I don't eat it! When I got home, I was FAMISHED. Tonight's dinner was a moster tuna sandwich (yes, there is tuna in there).

Into the tuna I mixed some onion powder, bit of Miracle Whip, salt, pepper and a smidge of lemon juice. Just a little tang really makes it delish! Into the sandwich went spinach, sprouts, avocado and tomato. Biting into it was huge relief to my hunger.

I also whipped up some deviled eggs by adding Miracle Whip, mustard, seasoning salt and pepper topped with paprika. I love deviled eggs.

Baked beans have become a nightly staple. I LOVE baked beans (my hubby doesn't like that I love baked beans for the repercussions they cause... hee hee).

Then I did something I'm not always good at. I listened to my body. Sometimes, my eyes are bigger than my stomach. After two mouthfuls, I realized I was too full. I decided the beans would be for another day.

This made room to eat a delicious peach and strawberry medley (oh! that would make an awesome smoothie!).

That's a good choice!

So, I think it's official that I've found my exercise groove again. Horray!

Tomorrow, I'll workout with Jackie to make up for my missed Body Pump class and take Hunter for a nice leisurely walk.

One more tv confession. Tonight, I'll be watching The Hills finale. Followed by The City. Followed by The Hills reunion. Yea, big plans. ;)

Take care for now!

What kid's movie (if any) is your favorite?

What's your go to meal when you've waited too long to eat?

Do you listen to your body when you're full or clean your plate?

Last Summer in Mexico

So last summer, before I was a blogger, I went to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. Well we stayed in Nuevo Vallarta right near there. Today I was looking back on my pictures and reminiscing about how much fun it was. Even though I was already sick as a dog with some virus or sinus infection (both?) the first part of it. That was sad. I sat in a beach chair and slept.

Can you tell I'm looking forward to our trip to Moab? I know it's not exactly beach front, but this land locked lady is used to it.

Why not share a little from last year? (Oh, and yes, last summer I had auburn hair. Now it's blonde again)

I think this was dinner the first night. Is Jeremy or is he not sunburned?!? Unfortunately, my face does not tan. I've since learned that bronzer is the secret for a whitey like me.

They had tigers by our hotel. It was kind of sad. I still love tigers though!

Entering Nuevo Vallarta.

Chillin' in Puerto Vallarta.

Our boys, Ryan and Jeremy.

The beginning of a serious Coke addiction. (I've kicked the habit by now, don't worry!)

Yes, we are very silly, er gangsta?

My hubby is so sweet. xo

Hey hot lips! I'm over here!

Some pictures really do say a thousand words.

Me + Audrey = BFF!!

Me + Jeremy = Love Forever

A small town we visited when snorkeling.

Um, yea, Audrey dislocated her shoulder the day before. Oops.

Actual ship used in the Pirates of the Caribbean Movies.

Our last night.

Hermit crab!!

Ok folks, that concludes the presentation. Hope you enjoyed a little blast from the past!

Where was your favorite vacation?

What is your dream vacation?

(I would LOVE to see Germany and Greece!)