Awesome Eats

Thursday was pretty much awesome. It started with an early-morning walk with Mama before the sunrise. Afterward, I had a new and interesting breakfast.

Cantaloupe and oats cooked with 2 egg whites for added staying power.

 Later, I got myself looking all spiffy, and Mons and I went to Florida’s Friendliest Hometown for some quality sister bonding time. Good food makes good times that much better.

Panera classic cafe salad and black bean soup with an apple.

Mons was happy with her meal.

Bowl of broccoli and cheedar soup with sourdough OTS.

Deliciousness

After a leisurely lunch, we walked around the square, slinking in and out of interesting shops along the way. 

Matching sisters. Cute, right?

 Then, we hit up my fave store, TJ Maxx, for some more shopping.

Bags in hand, we got some sweet treats, courtesy Chick-Fil-A. Mons and I debated getting a “small” ice cream (which is actually huge) or the kids’ size. We came to the conclusion that kidlet size would be sufficient.

I'm lovin' it. Wrong fast food motto, but who cares?

 

Definitely my favorite ice cream ever. Easy to please.

 Later, Mumzy and I went to get my wedding dress. We got to our location early, so guess what we did: got food.

Bahama Breeze rocks my socks. We began our meal with some yummy cocktails.

Tropical delights. Sangria for me, Pina Colada for the mama.

 I planned on getting a salad, but the bad eating demons crept over me and I ended up ordering possibly the unhealthiest thing on the menu. In my defense, I was not aware that what I ordered was essentially a deep fried Cuban pizza.

Tostones and chicken bits topped with mushrooms, onions, jalapenos, salsa, and a ridiculous amount of cheese. This was an appetizer. No joke.

Mums got black beans and rice.

I devoured this in about 3.5 minutes. Devilishly delectable.

 After being sufficiently stuffed with spicy, greasy goodness, I went to try on my wedding dress. I figured, if it fits after eating like that, I was good to go…

It didn’t. But, let me clarify, this was not my fault. The seamstress admitted that she made the part around my ribs a little too tight. The same mistake was made on Mama’s dress. Nothing a little letting out can’t fix.  

After about an hour of girly chatting, we made our way back home. It was at that moment that I got the worst spell of indigestion in my life. Since I was already feeling like crap, I topped it off with a tea cookie. Probably not the best decision I’ve ever made. As I sit here, curled up in the fetal position while writing this post, I realize that the food I ate, although now rotting in my gut, was completely worth the pain. Cheers to livin' it up.

Enough

 On Monday, Moms and I shared one of the many major steps toward the first day of the rest of my life! Mama and I went to the bridal salon to get my dress fitted!! I had to wait until 3:30 for my appointment, but I had no trouble filling up that time with “stuff” that did not include homework. First up: breakfast.

Oatmeal Hotcakes and strawbeezies

 After breakfast, I spent the next 30 minutes waiting around for my mom to walk with me. After a sufficient amount of pestering, she still wasn’t ready to go, so I hit the weights like the best I am. In her defense, she was handling warranties on the phone all morning. Somehow, some way, the big ticket items went kaput at the same time. I am certain there was an appliance meeting in the middle of the night to arrange all of this. As of right now, our floor is warped from the leaking air conditioner and our front refrigerator is empty and hot.

After pumping iron, Mama and I finally went on that walk. Then I primped and ate a divine lunch.

Mixed veggies, pickle, and turkey provolone, onion, and mustard melt.

 Then we did some more walking when we went pre-shopping shopping for wedding dress undergarments while drinking Dunkin’ Donuts coffee. Perfection. 

Whip cream is non negotiable.

I look like my mother.

 Coffee is the elixir of the gods. I can drink it all day, e’rr day.

Upon arrival at the BS (ha), my dress was tucked and pulled to fit to a T. I’m happier now that I was when we bought it. I almost cried, but I managed to hold it together. Sharing moments like these with the best mom in the world are beyond awesome.

See how excited I am? ha. I am actually concentrating on my conversation with my lovey.

 After a successful alteration, we headed home and made din.

Chicken salad on a bead of spinach.

 Nothing got accomplished on Monday, but it was super exciting. I can’t wait to show you all pictures of the dress! But you’ll have to wait until the BIG DAY! Only 2 months to go.

This morning, I woke up and went back to the boring grind of school. Boo. At least breakfast was good.

Oatmeal, sliced nanner, and peanut butter.

 Sometimes, I can’t believe that we spend so much money so that I can spend hours listening to meaningless information taught by unintelligent professors. To be fair, most of my profs have been great, but the horrible ones just seem to ruin it for everyone. I’ve had quite enough of this nonsense.

I did take advantage of the gorgeous school grounds that we pay for and ate my lunch sitting on a towel in the grass.

Rice pudding and apple.

 Before Biff and I did our required volunteerism duties, I munched celery and cottage cheese (not pictured. duh). On the way home, I thought up a grandiose dinner, complete with stir-fried veggies. But, by the time I reached the front door, my stomach was not about to wait for stir-fry. Instead, I settled for this:

Sweet potato, hamburger with mustard and hot sauce, and cauliflower with soy sauce.

 I topped of my quick dinner with some dark chocolate. I can never get enough.

Not Meant To Be

I’ve been noticing a recurring trend on this blog I like to call “recapping,” which translated means, “I was too busy and/or lazy to post. Sorry this is late.” But the way I see it is, if it doesn’t happen, then it’s not meant to be.

Over the past two days, it felt like nothing was meant to be.

 First, it was the food…

Wednesday morning, I decided to make Carrot Cake Oatmeal. Sounds awesome, right? Well, it would have been, had I not added protein powder at the end, which created a chunky/crumbly texture. I ate it anyway. But the goodness I was expecting just wasn’t there.

Carrot Cake Crumble. Bleh.

 As I laid in bed Wednesday night fantasizing over what I would be eating for breakfast the next morning (yes, I do this), I resolved to replicate Wednesday’s lunch.

French toast with peanut butter and cinnamon and sweet ricotta. Large pear OTS.

But, I awoke Thursday morning feeling something a little different. Obviously, round 2 of French toast wasn’t meant to be.

Chopped pear and over-easy eggs on toast.

Wednesday night, I prepared myself a rather large meal because, you guessed it, I was HUNGRY. But I quickly realized that I would not be finishing the second half of this chicken sausage. Gigantor had no problem finishing it off for me.

Boiled turnips with balsamic vinegar, sauteed cabbage, and three-cheese chicken sausage.

And then it was the workouts…

Wednesday morning, I woke up not feeling like working out, which is a pretty rare occurrence for me. Convincing myself that it working out was non-negotiable, I decided to go for a walk. At that precise moment, that annoying weather alert noise came on the teli and informed me that there were severe weather and tornado warnings going on in our area. So much for the walk. Instead, I figured I’d conduct my own step class and do some abs workouts while watching an episode of Anthony Bourdain’s  No Reservations.

During my “workout” I got three phone calls, was asked to move the car inside, and my yoga mat got hijacked by the dogs. Frustrated, I ended up ignoring the weather warnings and went for a walk to get 10 minutes of something in. On my way, I was stopped two separate times by neighbors (who normally don’t give me the time of day) suddenly caring about my life. Drat.

A similar situation arose on Thursday when Biff and I made our weekly trek over the school gym for Zumba class. It was canceled, so we opted for 30 minutes on the elliptical. The workout felt mediocre at best, and I felt pretty bummed that it was my second day of less-than-stellar sweat sessions.

And then it was the blog posts, or lack thereof…

On Wednesday, the aggravation of teachers not wanting to help me with the biggest project of my college career had me boiling and wanting nothing to do with this blog. I figured I’d make it up on Thursday. However, when I arrived at Biff’s house, I notice that the only thing I forgot to pack was the USB cable for my camera.

We were having a moment...

This stumpy post was the result.

And finally, going to class…

On Thursday, I drove to school in the rain and before going to class, I took my stuff to Biff’s apartment. As if it were scheduled, I shut the door to Biff’s app and heard the heavens open up. A monsoon ensued. 

Downpour.

Rather than get drenched on my way to the most pointless class I have ever taken, I chose to stay indoors. 

Pretending to be dissapointed... Can we just take a second and look at that wayward strand on the left??

I took an early morning nap with my Biff, woke up, checked my inbox, and came across an email from my second professor of the day. It read:

Dear All, this weather is insane. There is a tornado warning right now. You should stay inside and stay safe. Don't come to class.

Thank you, Professor Awesomeness.

Instead of going to school, I snacked my way through the day, as per usual.

Celery with peanut butter (stolen from Biff), carrots, pickle, and Angus beef pastrami.

Quinoa with salsa and sauteed cabbage. Yes, I ate sitting on the carpet. I was criss-cross applesauce too.

Dark chocolate, courtesy that girl in the background.

I love seasonal fruits.

Pop.

 Although the last two days did not follow my pre-established plans in any way, shape, or form, I’m not complaining. I just keep telling myself that all that stuff that was supposed to happen just wasn’t meant to be.

Dancing Through Life

Like so many weekends of my life, this one was spent breaking plans and having a good time. Every day, along with trying to lead a “healthy and balanced life,” is enjoying and living in that life. What I mean is, it’s a constant struggle to take my analytical and obsessive nature out of the equation, and just take life as it comes.  This is arguably more difficult for me than living that healthy, balanced life. I don't want to stroll through life, but dance through it instead. In doing so, I find that plans change and we're better for it.

Saturday, I did about a quarter of the homework I had planned on doing, did 15 minutes less Zumba than I had wanted to do, and took a nap instead of laying out. Sometime in between all of that, I ate yummy food.

Shroom, onion, red pepper, and spinach scramble repeat.

Papaya with yog.

Dinner in bad lighting: boiled red potatoes, spaghetti squash, salad, and a lovely glass of Cabernet Savignon.

After my delicious, simple dinner, instead of doing the other three quarters of the homework I should have done, I decided on spending the night with my good friend Netflix.  In flipping through the new releases, I stumbled across this:

I never got around to watching it in the theater and have been dying to watch it ever since. Without going into all of the philosophical and prosaic detail, let’s suffice it to say that sometimes, you just need an eye opener. I think life is about constantly reminding yourself that there is so much more out there than what’s right in front of you. I used to care about things so much bigger than myself, but fairly recently, I’ve lost sight of those things. My worldview and life scope had decreased to the size of a pinhead and needed to be re-expanded. My perspective restoration has slowly been taking place over the past month or so, and I feel like watching Eat, Pray, Love just pushed me one step closer in the right direction. Here is just one of the many quotations in the movie that really got me thinking:

“And I was reassured, maybe my life hasn’t been so chaotic, it’s just the world that is, and the real trap is getting attached to any of it. Ruin is a gift. Ruin is the road to transformation.”

With my improving sense of life, I woke up Sunday morning ready to meet the new, beautiful day ahead of me. I had a delicious breakfast that, surprisingly, hasn’t graced my lips in quite some time.

Yogurt with a juicy pear and a nice helping of almonds and coffee with milk on the side.

 After consuming my fresh and fruity first meal of the day, I went for a walk in the Florida morning sunshine.

Later, I helped pretty-up the house for the familia and got a little bit of homework accomplished. A snacky lunchtime followed.

Snacktion: Carrots, celery with peanut butter, provolone quesadilla, and pastrami.

Around 2 PM, the house started to fill up. The rest of my afternoon was spent savoring amazing food and appreciating the strange family I have been placed in.

Imagine a photo of way too much chips and salsa right here.

Delicious salad, baked potato, and sloppy Joe sans bread.

Entire plate of dessert: sweet corn bread, brownie, mint-chocolate-chip ice cream, and a cup of peanut butter pie filling.

Apparently, my uncle thought it would be funny to have a photo shoot with my camera. The pictures are disturbing. Even more disturbing was my family's lack of surprise while all of this was taking place... I really don't think captions are necessary.

I hope you got a good laugh out of that.

I’m currently watching Eat, Pray, Love again with Mons. It might just end up being a personal classic.