New Blog Alert!

So I heard that Blogspot is unfashionable right now and Tumblr is in! Therefore, I now have a Tumblr. I'm still figuring it out, but we'll see how it goes. Here's the link to it: http://kpurpura.tumblr.com/

Halfway There

Good morning! I've been meaning to write for the past few days, but just haven't gotten around to it. Wednesday was pretty busy because I had a psychology experiment after class, then went to the gym for a while. This time I did the elliptical for 45 on level 9. Setting the difficulty to a harder definitely makes a difference. I felt the burn! After the elliptical I did some light weights exercises for my arms and tried out a few of the weight machines. Trying out new exercises and machines always turns out to be fun. And, boy, was I sore! Thursday I had class, another psychology experiment, then an interview for a position at a frozen yogurt store opening up down the street from me. A friend and I thought we were clever to apply online since the building had no "now hiring" sign, but apparently so many others had the same idea. I feel like the interview went well, but we'll see what happens.
Now onto the weekend! I started Friday morning with a short 2.5 mile run since I had to run 7 miles the next day. After the run I leisurely got ready for class and ate breakfast. I ended up having a lot of free time because my professor canceled out advertising class, so all I only needed to go to Italian. I spent hours that afternoon studying and doing homework. It turned out to be somewhat relaxing though because I started outside in the warm weather, then moved inside to some comfy chairs in the TV room. By the time evening rolled around, I accomplished more than I originally planned. Less homework for the rest of the weekend! At around 7:15, my friend Brittany came over and a group of us headed downtown to eat some frozen yogurt.


I hadn't eaten dinner yet and didn't want to ruin my appetite, so I just went along for the ride. Next Sunday after my race though I am soooo getting Menchie's fro yo! I can't wait for it! Self-serve is the best. And the thought of a refreshing fro yo after running the hardest 10k in America makes me jump for joy. After everyone finished their desserts, we arrived back at the house for our movie night! Brittany brought over her Disney movies, so we chose to watch The Little Mermaid. What a great movie! None of us could remember the last time we watched it, so it was the perfect movie choice!
Yesterday (Saturday) the morning started early with my alarm set for 6:30. Two of my friends and I met up with a running group that's training for the Athens Half Marathon. I had been nervously awaiting this run throughout the week because it was a 7 mile route. The only other time I ran 7 miles was just by myself at my own slow pace. Surprisingly, I kept up well with the others at their pace and felt strong the entire time. By 9:30 we were back at the house and already felt super accomplished. But the day was far from over. After lunch I went shopping with a friend and bought some cute tops that I desperately need. It wasn't until I returned to campus this fall that I realized how scant my wardrobe was as a result of having to wear uniforms to my jobs everyday this summer. We had a lot of fun at the mall and were great shopping buddies! By the time I got back home I was TIRED, so Colleen and I watched some TV and played around on our laptops. After dinner we went to the theater to see Eat. Pray. Love. It was fantastic! One of those inspiring movies that makes you want to travel the globe. Now I'm inspired to start planning my vacation to Italy.
Now onto Sunday! Slept in until 8:15, ate breakfast, did homework, showered, then got dressed. Then I headed to the flea market with the roommate to pick up some movies. I bought Despicable Me, Dinner with Schmucks, Date Night, Toy Story 3, and Inception all for $2 a piece! I forgot to take a picture of the flea market until we already left most of the action.

We stopped by Kroger on the way home because I noticed this morning that my shampoo supply is getting low. I know I wasn't going to spend any money on food this weekend, but I couldn't resist buying some apples and a small bag of grapes. I just can't get full unless I eat lots of fruits and veggies, which are somewhat difficult to get at the house during the weekends.
On another note, I think I want this GPS watch for Christmas. I've read great reviews about it and it would be really handy and useful now that I run so often. What do you think? http://www.runningwatchreviews.com/448/garmin-forerunner-205/

Salad all around!

It's been a few days since I've updated, so this post will have to cover a lot. Let's start with Sunday. My family came to visit me! They drove from home to bring me out to lunch to The Last Resort. I'm so bummed because I completely forgot to bring my camera. But I ordered my usual egg white omelet with spinach, tomatoes, and feta. It was delicious as always! It's served with roasted potatoes and fruit, but I gave the potatoes away to my brother. I'm not a big potato fan, unless it's a sweet potato of course. After lunch we drove to a sports equipment store for my brother to pick up some things for football and baseball. We ended up going to Academy Sports, which was a pretty nice place. It was huge and the prices were reasonable. Afterward, we made a trip to Wal-mart to buy my brother school supplies for his first day of school and to buy me some things. After showing them the house, they said goodbye and drove home. It's always super sad when they leave, but at least I'm in the sorority house this year. Last year it was always so depressing having to walk back to my dorm. The house this year is so much nicer!
Now onto Monday! I got up before class to run 4.7 miles and it felt great. I was practically sprinting at the end. I'm kind of bummed b/c my running buddies dropped out of the half marathon, but I will persevere! I know I can do it! The main motivating factor for me right now is the amazing feeling that I know will come after I finish the race. It will be a good way to start off the holiday season (Halloween is the next weekend). Then I showered, went to class, ate lunch, and did homework. At 5 we had our first Chapter of the year, so everyone was dressed up and excited to get some info. It was productive and overall very enjoyable. Let's hope it stays this way. :)
Today I had class, then did my homework after lunch. My teachers actually gave me stuff to do today. Luckily, I had some free time to do some shopping for ------(it's a secret). Anyways, it was fun to get off campus for a bit and take a break from homework. Chef Curry served dinner at 5:30, so I packed a late plate since I had to leave for orchestra at 6. Normally I would be able to eat in half an hour, but by the time I actually get my food and sit down it's already 5:45. But at least I got a picture of my late plate!

I grabbed some salad from lunch because I knew Chef Curry made grilled chicken for tonight. I put the grilled chicken on top of the salad and had the veggies on the side. I would have eaten more veggies, but he uses butter, which makes me feel sick. Next time I'm just going to stick with the salad. Orchestra was better this week for some reason. The whole group just sounded more together. Probably because people were less scared to actually play out. Well, I've got to get ready for bed soon. Good night!

Here Comes the Rain Again

This super rainy and stormy Saturday ended up actually being pretty productive. I went to bed really early last night, so I woke up between 8 and 8:30 this morning and headed down to the kitchen for breakfast. The chef has the weekends off, which means we're pretty much left on our own to scrape together meals. Luckily, I still have Cheerios in my room, so I had that with a banana on top. Also, I found some milk in the fridge that I was able to use. Rounded out breakfast with an orange and I was ready to go. I decided to go ahead and get my homework over with since I didn't have very much. First, I recopied all of my advertising notes, then I did my Italian homework. By the time I finished at around 10 my roommate was awake and eating breakfast in the kitchen, so I went back to the room to change for the gym. Originally, I planned to run six miles on Sunday since I just ran yesterday, but I had no plans for today which drives me crazy. Since my family is visiting me tomorrow I would rather get the run over with today and be free to spend more time with them tomorrow. Outside the weather was stormy and raining cats and dogs, so I packed a small bag and headed to Ramsey to run on the indoor track (love it!). The first three miles turned out to be a bit of a struggle since I'm still getting over my cold, so I walked for half a mile, ran two more miles, then walked the last half mile. Total: six miles. I finished right at lunch time, so I stopped back at the house to pick up some money and head to Earthfare. On my way out I ran into Meredith so she came with me! I showed her around the store, then we created some yummy lunches at the salad bar. Here's mine:

I put romaine lettuce as the base, then added tomatoes, bell peppers, some broccoli, a few mushroom slices, two pieces of BBQ tofu, artichokes, green beans, grilled turkey, a little feta, and a little quinoa. When I got back to the house I added some peas leftover from the other night's dinner and topped it all with balsamic vinegar. Such a good lunch! I am officially in love with Earthfare!
After lunch I showered, did laundry (including the sheets), painted my nails, and just kind of chilled around. Tonight my roommate and I are going to a party her friend is hosting. I'm hoping that it will be a low key affair. Then tomorrow my family comes!

Make Me a Sandwich!

Yesterday turned out to be so freakin' busy! Right after class I headed to the AT&T store to attempt to fix my phone, but I ended up leaving because they pretty much have terrible service and I cannot stand them. I got back to the house only to pack up my stuff again and head to the UGA testing center to write my statement of interest to get into Grady. It went really well and I felt much less stressed afterwards. It feels good to have the entire application process complete. All I have to do now is wait until October 2 to find out if I got in. Not too worried though :). I decided to take the bus back to the house because I walked to the testing center and was practically drenched in sweat by the time I got there. Can't wait for fall! Anyways, I rented two of my textbooks online for much cheaper than I bought them for, which made me super happy. Luckily, I was able to return my $180 advertising book and got a full cash refund. Saving money makes me feel good. For the remainder of the after I completed the small amount of homework I had and surfed the web.
Dinner last night was delicious! Perhaps my favorite yet! Our awesome chef made tilapia and salmon and served alongside salad, peas, and rice. I put a ton of the salad on my plate, then topped it with tilapia and some peas. For dressing, I used my balsamic vinegar that I hide in the kitchen cabinets. So sneaky. After dinner I napped a bit, then eventually took a shower and finished getting ready for Karaoke Crush. At 9:30 Colleen and I picked up some of the new girls then headed downtown. Our gang started the night off at Suno, which is a Korean ice place. I wasn't in the mood for dessert, so I just tried a bite of a friend's. Basically, Korean ice is shaved milk with various toppings. It was good, but I prefer frozen yogurt. (Can't wait for Yoforia to open!). Of course, we danced and sang while we were at the bar for karaoke crush, but we left the party at 11:30 and headed to North Campus to play in the fountain. The water felt so good that I wished I could go swimming! We met a bunch of really nice guys that my friends brought along, so we all ended up having a fabulous time!!!
Tonight the agenda includes a movie night at the house! So looking forward to staying in!

Getting Ahead

The best thing about my schedule this year is that my classes end by lunch time everyday. Also, I have time on most days to go for a run before class starts. This morning I woke up at around 7:30 and went for a 4.7 mile run on Milledge. It was a good run, but my slight cold definitely affected me a great deal. After completing my run I came back to the house, got ready for class, and had a delicious breakfast of oatmeal! Before my run I stopped by the kitchen because I hate running on an empty stomach. I snacked on some grapes and practically jumped for joy when I saw the spread of parfait ingredients (plain yogurt, walnuts, pecans, etc.). After munching on some of the nuts I left for my run. Anyways, I chose oatmeal instead of cereal this morning in order to take advantage of the yogurt and nuts out today. It was delicious and kept me full all morning. Classes ended at 1 and I made it back to the house by 1:30. One of my goals for this year is to walk as much as possible. I missed being able to get around without a car this summer. For lunch our chef setup a baked potato bar with a delicious salad bar. I made an awesome salad and had half a baked potato. I also had an apple and snacked on some other goodies as well. After lunch I did my homework, cleaned up my room a bit, and am now surfing the web. Tonight I'm going to Wesley (a church thing) with my friends, then perhaps a band party at one of the fraternities. One thing's for sure, I will not be staying out very late. I need this cold to go away ASAP! I miss my voice!


Oooh, here are some pics of our house from Bid Day!

Officially Over!

Finally Rush is officially over! Hallelujah! Of course, Bid Day was yesterday, but I was super busy and didn't have much time to post. I actually woke up pretty early, so I walked to the MLC and read in a comfy chair next to Jittery Joe's while waiting for time to pass. It's a great place to kill time because the coffee smells so good!

I had Italian and Intro to Advertising, which turned out to be pretty good classes. A bunch of my friends are in Italian with me, so it will be a good semester. After class I headed back to the house for lunch, which was a deli bar. I had a turkey sandwich and a salad with some snackie things on the side. I almost forgot to take a picture, but I managed to get one after taking a few bites.

After lunch I made it over to the gym for thirty minutes on the elliptical. I didn't want to do too much since I haven't been feeling all that great. Plus, I'm getting lots of exercise from walking to and from my classes. No buses for me. :) After the gym, I came back to the house and everyone was pretty much freaking out over getting everything ready for Bid Day. Right now I need to go to sleep, but I'll post more about it tomorrow. Also have some pretty pics of the house to upload tomorrow too!

Voice Gone, Sleep Gone

Wow, this week has been crazy. I woke up at five for the past three mornings for sorority recruitment. I do have to say that being on the other side of rush is much more fun. However, I am so incredibly tired. Last night we rushed all day, then had an intense meeting afterwards that lasted until midnight. And guess what! I had to wake up at five again this morning, so I am basically running on almost no sleep. On top of that my voice is completely gone and my throat is on fire from all the yelling and screaming we have to do. Honestly, we're all quite ready for this to end and for our normal lives to return. We can't wait for the furniture to return to the house for good. On another note, I discovered an awesome new blog today. Here's the link: http://eatliverun.com/ Enjoy! Well, I'm tired so I'm going to bed now. Good night!

Let's Sing Quietly Today

Posting lately has proven to be very difficult since sororities are so secretive and this week especially contained many secrets. Basically, I don't have too much that I'm allowed to post about. I will say that yesterday/last night was hilarious and so much fun!!! This morning I woke up the earliest out of all the girls in the house (at least that's what I think) to go for a run before recruitment starts tomorrow (recruitment = absolutely no time for anything). The temperature was nice and cool and I ended up running 5.2 miles. Go me! I definitely felt like I could have done more had I been running with others or in a race situation. Speaking of races, my dad and I are thinking about running in the U.S. 10k Classic ( I think that's what it's called). Supposedly, it's the hardest 10k in America since the whole thing is uphill. I figure it will be good practice for my half marathon coming up in a few months. The past two days have been a bit sad, foodwise that is, because our chef had some days off. The good news is that I have plenty of food in my room now. I don't remember if I already posted about the Kashi warm cinnamon cereal that I bought, but it is AWESOME!!! I'm hooked.They're delicious when mixed with Cheerios, which are super low sugar. It's a nice balance.
For lunch yesterday I wasn't hungry at first, so I went with some friends to Chick-fil-a to socialize. Guess who holds the door for us!!!! Vince Dooley!!! My friend Katie and I had absolutely no idea until the other girls told us. Vince's assistant/friend saw us freaking out and asked us if we wanted to meet him. Of course we did! We went outside and chatted for a few minutes and oh my gosh was he nice! So friendly! After they all finished lunch I headed to Earthfare to check it out. I've read a lot about it on another blog I read, so I figured it was worth a trip. It reminded me a lot of Whole Foods, but on a smaller scale. I made myself a delicious salad from the salad bar for lunch.

The base was romaine, then I topped it with lots of bell peppers(I've been craving them lately), grilled chicken(it's underneath the peppers), quinoa salad(first time having quinoa and it was delicious, grape tomatoes, broccoli salad, feta (my favorite), and a few other things that I can't remember. I also had fruit and Cheerios on the side. I will definitely visit Earthfare again.
After running and rush practice today (the last one! woo hoo!) I drove to the grocery store with Meredith and Stephanie. Going anywhere with them makes errands so much fun! We laughed so much! I pretty much tried to stock up on everything I'll need for the next 5 days. I bought more cereal, some milk, almonds, grapes, Greek yogurt, deli chicken, lettuce, and probably more stuff that I can't remember right now. We all ate lunch as soon as we got back into the house, then we spent the next couple of hours cleaning and preparing our rooms to be seen this week. Our main guideline: "make your room look like no one lives in it". Okay, no problem. :/ In order to give my room a cleaner, simpler look I started on a craft yesterday to replace the collage next to my bed. It turned out super cute if I do say so myself.

Wish me luck for tomorrow! :)

No More Yelling!

Sorry for the delayed post. The past few days have been crazy busy. Of course, there's been plenty of rush practicing and committee meetings, but I've also been keeping up with my running. So far I've continued to run every other day and our distances are pretty decent too. Today we did a 5.6 mile route, but it was more of a walk/jog. Anyways, the lack of sleep definitely caught up with most of the girls tonight. Last night turned out to be a big party night, so I'm guessing they'll head to bed early tonight.
In addition to all the rush festivities, I've made quite a number of Wal-mart and Kroger trips. yesterday I had to pick up a few things and decided to buy myself a little "treat" since my Cheerios are running low. I picked out some Kashi cereal for the first time! I debated between Strawberry Fields and Warm Cinnamon and settled on the Warm Cinnamon. They're like crunchy Cheerios covered with cinnamon and mixed with heart shapes. I pretty much love the stuff.
You know what's crazy? Classes start a week from tomorrow! Ahhhh! I hope I'm ready. Even if I'm not, this video will inspire me to try my hardest. haha! Enjoy: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qR3rK0kZFkg

A Work in Progress

Time slipped away from me yesterday, so I didn't get the chance to write a post. They've been keeping us pretty busy here at the house. Yesterday's breakfast was at 8:30, then role call for rush practice was at 9. Our chef made us egg sandwiches on english muffins with a delicious fruit salad on the side. Sorry no pictures yet. It's a bit too hectic to lug around a camera and take snapshots of my meals. Anyways, I ate a bunch of fruit and ate the egg off of the english muffin for some protein. Practice ended up being much more fun than I originally anticipated. Our leaders gave us a bunch of great information about the upcoming weeks. Our chef served lunch a little after noon and it was delicious! There was a big salad along with hamburgers, hot dogs, and grilled chicken sandwiches. He also made potato salad, but I skipped it since I'm not a big fan of mayo. Of course, I filled my entire plate with salad and grabbed a grilled chicken sandwich. I took the chicken off of the sandwich and ate it with the salad. After lunch they planned to hold another meeting, but ended up cutting it short which left us with a bunch of free time. I once again made a trip to Wal-mart for a brown pillow and some more food. We also stopped by Joann's to get a few sheets of scrapbook paper. I changed around my wall a bit and am pleased with the new results. I painted my "K" last night and centered it between my two Paris sketches.

On the other end of the wall I made a collage with all my 8x10 pictures. I used some leftover scrapbook paper to make a sort of frame for it.

Today we had our second day of workshops, which pretty much consisted of the same type of things as yesterday. Except, this morning I went running with a friend at 6:45. We ended up running 4.6 miles and now I am exhausted. The lack of good sleep is starting to catch up with me. Breakfast and role call was at the same time, but today I had Cheerios with a little bit of Raisin Bran mixed in. I've missed my cereal. Lunch was at noon again and consisted of salad and pita pizza. I got a whole plate of salad again and ate the veggies off of the pita pizza. I was still a bit hungry, so I scraped the cheese off and ate almost half of the pita. Tasty! Once again, the older girls held a short meeting after lunch then released us early again. Today I stayed at the house and finished decorating my room. Also, I took an hour long nap! I never do that! After crafting for a few hours I made myself a delicious oatmeal dinner. I mixed the oatmeal with cinnamon and a packet of Truvia. Then I topped it with a large dollop of plain greek yogurt and slivered almonds and walnuts. It was so tasty! The yogurt makes the biggest difference!

On the side I had some yummy cherries.

Now I've just been crafting some more and chilling. I love this house!!!

Wow, what a busy day! I woke up at 6:30 after a pretty much sleepless night in order to get ready to move back to Athens. My dad and I planned to leave the house at 8 this morning in order to get to the house by 10 when it was opened for us to move in. I quickly took a shower and got dressed before packing the last items in the car. I had a quick cereal breakfast and we got on the road shortly after 8. Overall, the traffic wasn't that bad. We arrived at the house almost exactly at ten. In no time at all we unloaded the cars and lunchtime approached. At 11 we headed to Little Five Points and made the decision to try out the Five Points Deli for the first time. I ordered the "veggie-wich" and my dad got the turkey sandwich with swiss. It was delicious! You can't go wrong with hummus, lettuce, tomato, carrots, cucumbers, and banana peppers on multigrain bread.

After lunch we drove to Wal-mart to get some last minute items for the room. When we returned back to the house I spent the rest of the afternoon organizing everything and decorating. Colleen and I received the news of no dinner being served for the next few nights, so we made a Kroger run at around 6:30 for some food and snacks. For dinner I made some oatmeal from the kitchen and had it with some grapes and carrots on the side. In the oatmeal I mixed cinnamon and a pack of Truvia. It was so yummy!

Finally, time for room pictures!



Now I'm just chilling and watching some TV with my wonderful friends! Role call tomorrow at 9 am! Good night!

Last Day at Home

This morning started off with a 4.5 mile run at 7:40. Luckily, the sun was behind clouds the whole time, but darn it was humid! Once I got home I made myself my usual bowl of cereal and I made a broccoli and cheese omelet for my mom. This omelet was the first I made in a long time, so I took a picture of it. It must have tasted good because she ate it all.

Now for the close up

After breakfast I showered and headed over to Target for a few last minute purchases before moving tomorrow. Surprisingly, I actually found a black dress that I desperately need for rush! It's not the cutest thing in the world, but it'll definitely do. $53.34 later I made it home just in time for lunch. I wasn't sure what I was in the mood for, so I made myself the usual salad. Romaine lettuce, tomatoes, roasted red peppers, grilled chicken, hearts of palm, and cumcumber. Instead of using just balsamic vinegar, I made a delicious dressing of whole grain dijon mustard (the really thick stuff), red wine vinegar, balsamic vinegar, and water.

I love how you can see the mustard seeds in the dressing!

It was delish! Too bad I didn't discover it earlier in the summer. Although I am definitely going to be the salad nerd in the sorority house because I'm planning on bringing a bottle of balsamic vinegar for my salads. :) For the rest of the afternoon I pretty much worked on packing, packing, and packing. I hope I haven't forgotten anything. At least my school is only an hour and a half away. Easy to drive home to pick up forgotten items. After packing my dad made us a delicious dinner of healthy eggplant parmesan with spaghetti squash. My brother and his friend actually ate with us tonight too! But they made themselves hamburgers and tator tots. For the eggplant parm, my dad first baked the eggplant with a little cooking spray, herbs, and some parmesan cheese. Then he layered it with diced tomatoes and cheese (without cheese for me). Then he baked them until all the layers were heated through. I almost forgot to take a picture, but luckily I remembered just after everyone had gotten their servings. Here's a picture of my parents' parm.

Here's mine!

I ate way too much. Dinner was comprised of only vegetables, but I'm still so full. Anyways, after dinner we packed up the cars and watched some 30Rock. Tomorrow will be a busy day. Wish me luck!

Last Day

So today was my last day at work and it turned out to be a busy day at the restaurant. Luckily, I got to say goodbye to most of my favorites. Also, it's better to be one of the first to leave than it is to be one of the last. "Quit while you're ahead". I guess that quotation works in this situation :/. Anyways, I just packed an apple as a snack for work today, so I ended up not eating lunch until around 4. My meal ended up being pretty randomly paired together. I snacked on some fruit with greek yogurt while I waited for my sweet potato half to cook. Afterwards I cut up some watermelon, but ended up eating a lot of it. I always lose my self control around watermelon. My parents went to a football fundraiser tonight for my brother, so I am alone for the evening. I've just been doing laundry, packing, and I walked the dog. I made dinner at around 9:30, but wasn't really in the mood for anything in particular. (except cereal, I could eat cereal for every meal). I ended up making some scrambled Egg Beaters with zucchini, tomatoes, broccoli, and peppers. I normally include banana peppers from the jar, but we were out of them tonight. Overall, it was okay but not the tastiest I've ever had.

Tomorrow's dinner will be much better since it will be my last night home. Let's hope I finish all of my packing in time! Tomorrow is dedicated purely to running and packing. Can't believe I'm moving on Monday!

Fun at Work

We had so much fun today at work! The restaurant turned out fairly busy for most of the day, but we managed to find time to play some fun games and joke around. I still can't believe tomorrow is my last day. :( I'm going to miss everyone so much! On the way home from work I stopped by my high school english teacher's house to drop something off and to pick some figs off of her fig tree. They're small, but oh so good! I've really only had figs once before and they weren't very sweet. But these figs were awesome. They had so much more flavor than the other ones I tried.
At home the temperature was way too hot to cook, so I put together another antipasto type platter. I made more roasted red pepper hummus using the same recipe from earlier in the week. I served carrots and celery sticks alongside for dipping.


The platter contained pretty much the same things as last time except I added the figs this time. It was delicious. I'm not a big pork fan though, so I just stuck to two chicken slices and the fruit and veggies. Light dinners and summer go so well together.

Tonight I need to go to bed early because I have the early shift at work tomorrow. My last day :( Good night!

Sore Legs

Hopefully this post will end up being short because I'm excited to get to bed tonight. Today started out with a 7 mile at 7:20 this morning. I got started later than I planned, but at least I still completed the goal. I think it's the longest distance I've ever run before. As soon as I came home I ate my usual breakfast of Cheerios and Special K with strawberries and bananas with grapes on the side. Afterwards, I showered and my mom took me to run some errands for various things I need for school. We ran by the post office, then searched for some storage containers for my closet at school. I found some cute and pretty inexpensive brown basket-type bins at Home Goods that I ended up purchasing. Shopping kept us pretty distracted I guess because all of the sudden we both were starving for lunch. Once we got home I made myself some sweet potato fries that I ate with some strawberries and cottage cheese mixed with cinnamon and topped with a little bit of Special K.
Then I plopped down on the couch to watch a little Samantha Brown and Julia Child. Before I knew it, I fell asleep! I never nap! That run really wore me out I guess. After vegging out a bit my mom and I took our grocery to the store to fill up the pantry and fridge.
At around 7 I began making a delicious taco salad dinner. First I made a salsa with 3 tomatoes, a banana pepper, a little onion, 2 ears of corn, a can of black beans (rinsed), basil, oregano, parsley, pepper, red wine vinegar, and some hot sauce. It was delicious! I used romaine as the salad's base then topped it with a few cucumber slices, roasted green pepper (from our garden), and an onion that I sliced and wrapped in foil to cook over the grill. The onions carmelize when you grill them for a long time, so by the time I put them on the salad they were sweet and very mild. We grilled some chicken to slice up on top of the salad, then topped it off with the salsa. For dressing I spooned a little salsa around the salad and topped it off with some balsamic vinegar. Delicious!


Time to catch up on some blogs then catch some ZZZZZs!

Table for eight?

Happy Wednesday! Last night I got a great night's sleep, which made the day start off wonderfully. I woke up at around 7:50, ate a breakfast of Cheerios and Strawberry Special K topped with fresh bananas and strawberries. I had a small bowl of grapes on the side. Luckily, I found some extra time before work, so I did the ab Beach Body DVD. I rushed through my shower and made a delicious salad for lunch right before leaving for work at 10:30. Darn, the restaurant was busy today! We had so many people come. At one point our estimated wait time was 3 hours! Because we were so busy, the day flew by. My shift ended at 6, so I took the time to buy some jewelry for some sorority stuff coming up, then I looked at Macy's for a black dress that I need. After finding nothing really exciting, I made the decision to use a dress that I already have. It's a bit formal for the occasion, but it should work fine. On the way home from the mall I stopped by the grocery store to pick up some ingredients for dinner.
Once home, I started dinner by making the flatbread first. I took the pizza dough (I made it earlier in the week) out of the fridge and rolled out a small portion of it until it was almost paper thin. Then I topped the dough with about two spoonfuls of plain tomato sauce. Next I sliced three tomatoes from the garden and placed them all over the top of the pizza. To keep the pizza lower in calories I simply grated a small amount of asiago cheese over the top for just a hint of cheesy flavor. Lastly, I sprinkled the top with chopped basil and dried oregano and left it out on the counter until my dad arrived home. With the spare time in between the pizza and my dad's arrival, I made a large salad of romaine lettuce, tomatoes, roasted red peppers, hearts of palm, and cucumbers.

My dad came home shortly, so I baked the flatbread in the oven on the hottest temperature (500) until the crust became crispy. It made the house smell divine!


Here's my plate:

Now I'm watching Pursuit of Happyness with my parents and sipping on vanilla sleepytime tea. Good night!

Home Depot= Coffee

Today got off to an early start (6:30 am) because I woke up feeling sick once again. I wish my stomach would just return back to normal. Anyways, I had a doctor appointment this morning so I immediately showered and ate breakfast to be sure that I had enough time to get to the appointment. I actually had some spare time, so I walked a quick mile on the treadmill to get some exercise in. After my appointment, which went well, I arrived home at around 11:15. I gathered some things to bring to school, then made myself a lunch of the leftover spaghetti from dinner, some carrots, two slices of deli chicken, a little cottage cheese mixed with yogurt, and an apple. It was small, but it kept me full through most of my workday (12:30- 7). Once I arrived home from work the sight of my dad finishing up dinner was quite welcome. He made a sort of stir fry of chicken breast, roasted red pepper, green bell pepper(from the garden), hearts of palm, and mustard greens(from the neighbors). My mom prepared a baked rice dish with arborio rice, green olives, and a can of garlic and herb diced tomatoes. I sliced up a tomato from the garden to go with my dinner because I'm not a big rice fan. Dinner sure was delicious!
After dinner my dad had to run to Home Depot and invited me to come, so I took him up on the offer. To me Home Depot is like coffee. I don't like it, but I love the smell of it. Odd analogy, but so true. Quickly, we gathered the things he needed then looked around for some storage units for my closet at school. We ended up just buying his items, but we stopped by Menchie's on the way home. Such a cool place! We each made a frozen yogurt for ourselves and then made one for my mom. My dad stayed simple with a trio of tart green apple, vanilla, and peach.

My dad made my mom's, so I'm not sure exactly what's in it. I believe he used chocolate, peach, and vanilla as the base for mini turtles, dark chocolate pieces, M&Ms, and brownie pieces.

For my yogurt I combined a taste of cake batter, original tart, peach, and vanilla. I topped it with some almonds, walnuts, raspberries, blueberries, strawberries, mango, and a few peanut butter chips.

Surprisingly, the yogurt made my stomach feel better! Yay! Now I'm watching The Office reruns on TBS while catching up on some blogs. So cozy! What a great way to end the day! :)

Wacky Jacks

Got off work almost an hour and a half early today, which left me with some unexpected time to be productive. First I attempted to get an appointment with the doctor at my mom's office, but after driving all the way there the schedule was too busy. Luckily, the trip wasn't completely unproductive because I stopped by the bank on the way home to make a deposit. Once I got home I snacked on an apple, some baby carrots, and some of the roasted edamame. So good! Afterwards, I did a Beach Body workout DVD. Today I did the ab workout. I prefer running, but it was waaaayyyy too hot outside this afternoon. I have to run super early or else I might melt. After the Beach Body I got busy in the kitchen making pizza dough for later in the week and prepping for dinner. First, I made some dips I've been wanting to try: baba ganoush (sp?) and roasted red pepper hummus. The hummus definitely tasted the best! And it was super healthy. I simply poured a can of garbanzo beans(rinsed), a good amount of roasted red peppers, a little basil, and water into the food processor and blended until it was smooth. Then I stirred in oregano and red wine vinegar and topped it with some sesame seeds.

For the other dip I roasted an eggplant until the skin was charred, then I scooped out the "meat" and mixed it with some pepper, paprika, lemon juice, and a few other random things from the spice cabinet. Honestly, I will probably not make this dip again for a while.

The leftover spaghetti squash served as the star of the show tonight. I mixed the squash in a medium bowl with a large chopped tomato from the garden, roasted red peppers, hearts of palm, basil, oregano, pepper, and some balsamic vinegar. Spaghetti squash is the best because it resembles pasta, yet its texture still has a crisp bite to it. The combinations are endless.


Lastly, I rounded out the meal with a tomato salad using some tomatoes from the garden. Made with tomatoes, basil, oregano, pepper, and balsamic vinegar.

Such a good meal!