weekend recap

Hi guys! Wow, it has been a while since my last post! I have been busy enjoying the good company of all of my family. It was wonderful to have everyone come into town, catch  up on everyone’s lives, and just plain have fun.

On Friday, we helped set up everything for the wedding/rehearsal dinner bright and early in the morning. Then once some of the family arrived into town, we headed out to grab a bite to eat at one of my favorite lunchtime places, Carl’s Bar.

This place has the best sandwiches ever! I got a warm whole wheat sandwich with smoked turkey, swiss cheese, spicy brown mustard, and tons of veggies.

Friday night was the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner in which my sister, Jessica, my aunt Kathy, and I all helped set up and serve the dinner. We were pretty much the “catering staff.” :D We even got cute little aprons to wear:

Me posing behind the fruit salad I just brought out:

After rehearsal dinner, we headed over to the “after party” (haha) and my uncle, Steve’s, house.

We were pretty tired after the rehearsal dinner though, so I was conked out when we got home.

Saturday was the actual wedding day. It was not until 4, so I made good use of the day and got in a nice run. It feels so amazing to be running again! I felt so renewed and refreshed during and after. Gotta love that runner’s high!

Before we left for the wedding, we snapped a few pics.

Jess, Momma, and I:

 

The Walmart dress worked out perfectly! I can’t wait to wear the other one now!

The married couple to be:

The wedding was beautiful and being the emotional person that I am, I may or may not have been a tad watery eyed. I loved the wedding colors that they chose: red and lime green. So cute!

We then headed to the reception for some cake!

My crazy cousin from Las Vegas, Jenn, and I:

Steven with my uncle…ummm, did I mention he was tall?

Me with the madre:

 

After that, we headed over to my uncle Steve’s house, in which the “kids” proceeded to teach the adults how to play beer pong. Oh boy, was that a sight to see…my family is quite crazy though, so they were definitely all for it. I will not scare you with pictures from that event. ;)

Sunday was the lazy day. Everyone slept in and then eventually made it over to the grandparent’s house for a cookout. It was leisurely and very nice to just relax for the evening.

Today everyone is heading back home. It has been a fun weekend and I can’t wait until they all come back again. :)

On the food front, there was not a lot of pics taken. I will back to it soon enough though…especially with my Amazing Grass that should be coming TODAY! And I want to give a shout out to Kristina at Stonyfield for sending me a wonderful package full of coupons, plus an eco-friendly re-usable bag! So definitely expect some great yogurt experimenting in the near future! Yum!

Well, now I have to get ready to head off to workio, but I hope all you wonderful people  have a great Tuesday!!

Love, Kristi <3

Me, the busy bee

Hi guys! Hope everyone has been having a great humpday!

I have been rather busy and have a lot of busyness up ahead of me! Basically, we have a ton of family coming into town because one of my cousins, Shawn, is getting married this weekend. I think I mentioned it a while back…I can’t believe the weekend is almost here! I am very excited because I absolutely love weddings!

My sister and I will be helping out with a lot of the wedding/festivities that have been planned. There are many get-togethers and fun things up ahead, so it will hopefully be a good kind of busy!

Earlier today, my sister and I headed out to go look for a wedding outfit! Gotta find some excuse to go shopping and spend some money, right??

I actually found two dresses that I loved and they were both total bargains so I ended up buying both of them and am planning to wear the other one for another special occasion that is coming up…(more on that to come)

Here is the dress that I will be wearing to the wedding:

I thought it was the perfect little summer dress and I can’t wait to wear it! I have some sleek, black heels to go with it.

And here is dress #2:

Yet another fun summer dress. :) But you guys will never guess where I got these dresses at…

WALMART!!! :D Crazy right? Walmart actually carries some very cute stuff. I got each dress for a cool 10 buckaroos. What a steal!!!

Moving on to some eats, I picked up a Kashi meal that I had not tried before and a while ago and finally got around to eating it a few nights ago:

This was GREAT! I really enjoyed it…especially after smearing a laughing cow all up in there. Mmmmm. This meal has a hint of lime and cumin and there go together so wonderfully. I would happily eat this again!

Plain Oikos mixed and topped with PB2, 1/2 sliced banana, and Quaker Oatmeal Squares:

Close up of the goodness:

I just ordered a 4 pack of PB2. I love it SO MUCH! I really don’t use it much for an actual nut butter substitute…but I just love mixing it into some greek yogurt. I will also be experimenting with adding it to recipes and whatnot for a hint of peanut buttery flavor!

Some lovely juice:

1 beet, 1 apple, 3 carrots, a few cherries (take seeds out first…I learned this the hard way)

the pretty elixir:

Last night I baked up some tofu for din-din:

This was the best I have ever made!! I finally nailed to cooking time…I like mine nice and chewy and not too soft, but I usually always end up under cooking them. This time I cooked them at 425* for 50 minutes. Perfecto! As far as the flavor mixture, I mostly don’t measure anything but here are approximate measurements:

• soy sauce (approximately 1 tbsp)
• agave nectar (2 tablespoons)
• sesame oil (2 tablespoons)
• your choice of seasonings.. I used garlic powder, minced garlic, minced onion, parsley, and basil.

I also steamed some broc and cauli, seasoned with salt, pepper, garlic, and a squeezed lemon

Oh, I almost forgot…my post-surgery appointment on Monday went great! My doctor numbed my nose and stuck a scope up in it and said that everything looks perfect! I can totally tell a difference now, even though I am still healing…but definitely feel SO much better already!! And then I received the best news of the day…

I got the a-okay to start running again!!!

And you better believe that is exactly what I am off to do right now! I know I will have to take things slow and build back up, but my body has seriously missed it so much and I can’t wait to jump right back into it!

Hope you have a lovely day girls!

I’m just a yoga lovin’ gal

Hi girls! Happy Monday :)

I was up bright and early to go babysit for a few hours. I will be doing these early morning jobs every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday for a while, which is fine by me…I need to make some dolla bills…especially after ordering some Amazing Grass!!! I finally gave up and ordered some…I can’t wait to try it out and review it!

After babysitting, I grabbed my yoga mat and did a mini yoga sesh from exercisetv.tv called A.M. Yoga. I really liked this one! I gotta give a shout-out to my girl, Jenny, because I found this awesome site through her blog. THANK YOU!! I am in love with this site now! :)

I have decided that I want to have more yoga in my life. It really makes me feel incredible every single time that I do it. I feel refreshed, calm, positive, and happy. I am slowly learning more poses but really am rather a yoga newbie. Any advice or suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

Do you do yoga? What is your favorite thing about it?

After some yoga, I was feeling pretty good and energized so I decided to hop on the treadmill (because it’s already SO hot outside!) and do some incline walking. It was a great little workout and I happily sang along with my Ipod the whole time :)

For breakfast I was craving a yogurt mess…and here is what I came up with:

• Greek yogurt
• grapes
• sliced bing cherries
• sliced figs
• kashi go lean crunch
• a few Quaker oatmeal squares
• a scoop of Naturally More

YUM!

I have to show you my new plate that I found yesterday at Walgreens while I was waiting to pick up some picture prints:

A flower plate!!! I think it is so adorable. The best part is that each petal is like an individual space, so I can fit my veggies, crackers, hummus, etc all on there. Love it!

I have also gotten around to eating a few new bars that I receive a while back in a bar swap with the lovely Meg!

This pic was taken with my phone, so it is a bit fuzzy…the bar was absolutely delicious! It is a Luna cookie and cream bar:

And a Think Thin Brownie Crunch:

I really enjoyed both of these bars. I am especially a huge fan of Think products and absolutely love the Think Thin creamy peanut butter flavor, so I was excited to try a new flavor. I really liked this brownie crunch one and it will definitely take care of any chocolate craving you may be having. ;) My heart is still with the creamy peanut butter flavor, but this one is a close 2nd.

Do you want to see what prints I was picking up at Walgreens??? Here is my newest decoration in my room:

These are pictures that I have taken on various trips and vacations. I really love it in my room…it takes me away on a mini vacation in my mind every time I look at it. :)

And now I off to have some lunch and then leave for my post-surgery appointment. I hope everything goes well!!

I will leave you this a Jaci picture…when I came home from babysitting, I went to the back yard to let Jaci inside. Apparently she has found a new hobby for digging in the garden. She tried not to act suspicious but there was no hiding it:

BUSTED…by all the dirt that was clung to her nose. Oh, Jaci…

I hope you all have a terrific Monday! :D

Love, Kristi

Gotta keep on keepin’ on

Well, I don’t thing I prepared myself enough for the recovery part of surgery. This past week has been a lot harder than I was anticipating. Since my last post, there have been one too many breakdowns following along the lines of…“I just want a new nose!!!!”

Seriously, I’ve been breathing out of my mouth for a week. fml. It’s just a combination of things right now that is putting me on the verge of losing my dang mind. I have been stuck in this house for an entire week like a packrat, I am VERY antsy on account of I’m not allowed to exercise, Its been extremely hard to sleep so I have been weak and cranky, and I am just plain bored out of my mind!

Ahhh…sorry for the complete negativity, but that needed to get off my chest. Yep. So now that that little mini-rant is over, I shall move on.

First off, I wanted to show you all what I have been living on for the past week:

Thank God for this big fluffy cloud of comfort. I have to have my head elevated while sleeping for a while. By this point though, I miss my bed dearly….very very verrrrry much. I have seriously been on this chair for 98% of this week, haha.

Here’s my snuggle buddy:

She’s a sleepy-head, too.

How can you not smile at that face?? She has been by my side the whole time. :)

Okay, now I believe it is time for some food pics. Although I’ve been sleeping a lot, I have still found the time for some awesome eats, of course.

I bring you: Pink Juice!

Is that not pretty?! This juice contained:

• 1 beet
• 1 small apple
• 1 pear
• 1/2 cucumber

My favorite Amy’s burrito:

Hugh Jass salads:

lots and lots of fruit:

The last of Heather’s (from Heather Eats Almond Butter) peanut butter banana muffins:

Also eaten warmed, and crumbled on top of Oikos plain greek yogurt mixed with PB2:

I need to make some more of these muffins ASAP. These are for real the best muffins EVER. Make them, I tell you!!

Channa Masala!!!

Topped with greek yogurt and fresh cilantro. Holy Yum

for some odd reason, the chickpeas were hard. (TWSS) Wth? This was still good but I couldn’t get past the chickpeas…weird!

Now, I think Edward Cullen is calling my name, so I will be on my way. I hope you all have a wonderful night!

Love Kristi xoxo

Here is a great giveaway to check out:

http://luckytastebuds.wordpress.com/2009/06/16/big-lucky-giveaway/

I’m a couch potato

Hello my beautiful friends!

I am happy to report that everything went according to plan with my surgery on Friday! They got me right in for my procedure at 12:00. I had to fast before surgery, so it was definitely weird (and hard!) not eating breakfast in the morning!  I did make up for it with a pretty rockin’ b-fast the next day. More on that below. :)

I had a great staff on duty and they were all super nice and caring. The nervousness hit me on the drive to the hospital but once I got there, this staff made me feel much better and at ease. They did have some trouble with getting my IV in my arm…UGH…and I’ve got some pretty B.A. bruises to show for it. ;)  The last thing I remember was hopping onto the table…I don’t remember going to sleep at all. The surgery ended up being about an hour but we didn’t end up leaving for home until around 3 o’clock. I was so tired and loopy from the anesthesia so they kept me for a little while longer to let me wake up a little bit more before leaving. Once I was finally able to open my eyes, they gave me some applesauce to eat, followed by some pain meds. Then I came home and crashed for the rest of the day. And that is pretty much what I have been doing since then, too. I’m a couch potato…and I’m not afraid to admit it! :D

I have managed to eat some pretty delish foods though…here are some highlights:

My redeeming breakfast:

strawberry oatmeal pancakes with greek yogurt and almond butter. Perfection. I got this recipe out of my new magazine and I loved it. Tell me if you guys want me to post the recipe and I will next time!

For the first time I tried out a peanut butter cookie Larabar, thanks to Meg! This bar was def. nothing short of amazing. This is up there on my list of favorite Larabar flavors, for sure.

greek yogurt with PB2 mixed in. Nature’s Path flax granola and a figgie on top.

Giant green monster for some more glowin’ skin :) I got this HUGE mug at Walmart last week…and this giant green monster couldn’t even fill the whole thing up! This took me a good chunk of time to slurp down.

Here we have probably one of my favorite go-to dinners:

sweet potato fries, brussels, baked tofu

For dessert, I (well, my mom actually) was able to put together a creation I had been thinking about for a while now…homemade mint chocolate chip icrecream!

Oh Yes..that icecream is green monster style.

Here is what I used:

• 1/2 frozen banana
• couple frozen mango chunks
• 2 handfuls spinach
• unsweetened vanilla almond milk
• scoop of vanilla protein
• splash of mint extract
• dark chocolate chips

I blended everything besides the chocolate chips, in the Magic Bullet and set it in the freezer for about an hour. This was great!! Talk about healthy ice cream!

Well girls, its about time for me to take some more pain meds and hit the sack. Thank you all so much for the well wishes. I love you all!

New hair, blogger inspired meals, and surgery news

Is it Wednesday already?? The days (and weeks for that matter) are passing by so fast. Summer needs to slow down a bit!

Yesterday afternoon I went into the salon for work and also to get my hair done! Ok seriously…I pretty much love my job. Who can say that they got their hair done while at work?! :D I decided that I wanted to get some highlights for the summer and I also needed a trim. I took a pic right when I got home especially for you guys!

What do you think?

And now that I have that picture up…I have been thinking that all my green monster drinkin’ and homemade juices are making my face much brighter and clearer. I guess The Glow Challenge has another success!

Today I was up early and out the door to babysit again. I am also babysitting family #2 in a few hours this afternoon. Kids can definitely keep you busy, that is for sure! But there are also helping me rank in the money this summer!  Before I left this morning, I had a lovely summer breakfast inspired by the lovely Jenna!

1 cup of Quaker oatmeal squares with almond mil and fresh blueberries. I then topped it with a dollop of greek yogurt. It was divine. I used to eat this cereal all the time and totally forgot how much I loved it!

When I got home I made an awesome new lunch, this time inspired by my girl, Dulcie. 

I always see Dulcie featuring very drool-worthy lunchtime wraps filled with spinach wraps and melty cheese. I knew I needed to try this combo ASAP! So that is exactly what I did for lunch…but I also added a special ingredient:

This flavor is freakin’ AWESOME! Must have, for sure. For my wrap, I used my favorite Joseph’s lavish squares. I get these babies at Walmart and they rock. my. world. If you haven’t tried them, please do! They are the softest wraps I have EVER used! They use a mixture of flax, oat bran, and whole wheat to make them…so the nutritional stats are great!

I also had an orange on the side:

I can definitely see this lunch repeating a ton in the future. Delish.

Now before I go, I wanted to let you guys know about my upcoming surgery.  I have not mentioned it yet, but I went to see an ENT (ear, nose, and throat) doctor a few weeks ago and decided that I needed to have surgery to fix my allergy/nose/sickness problems that I have been having for what seems like forever now. The doctor took me to get a scan and see inside my sinuses. Apparently, I was all blocked up (sorry) and he basically was wondering how I could even breath at all. So we discussed it for quite a while and arranged for him to perform Sinus Surgery…this Friday. I am a bit nervous of course, because it is surgery, after all. But I am also very excited because I have high hopes that this could be the answer to all of my health problems. Once I recover, I will very possibly be able to run better, live happier, and not constantly get sick. I will be recovering most likely all next weak but I will definitely do a blog update as soon as I feel up to it, to let you all know how things went.The only downside is that my surgery is at noon on friday and I have to “fast” until then…which means no breakfast. :( I guess that is a good thing if that is all I’m worrying about though, haha! :D

Well I am off to grab a snack and get to some more babysitting. I hope you all have a wonderful day! Lots of love girlie girls :)

5k Race Recap

Hey guys! Happy Sunday!

Saturday was an amazing day for me. I woke up feeling much better than I had been feeling, and I knew there was nothing that was going to stand in the way of me racing. I got up at the crack of dawn to get ready for my race because the race was about an hour away from us and we wanted to get there early. I made a great pre-run breakfast to take with me and eat in the car on the way there:

(with a bite taken out of it…oops)

The race was held in a beautiful area and the run would take place right along a river. It was a gorgeous morning with perfect running weather.

My sister was there to support me:

Along with her boyfriend, Steven, and my mamma:

I was a tad bit excited, obviously.

Jessica was the lovely photographer for me:

You know I gotta throw some funny faces in there, too.

Here is everybody heading over to the starting line. I’ve got my pink ipod in and I’m ready to go! Note: I was definitely also sporting my Garmin, which is one the hand you can’t see.

One final stretch before taking off:

I loved every minute of this race and the time seriously just flew right by me. I talked with some runners along the way, jammed my ipod, and enjoyed the beautiful scenery. I feel so proud of myself for being able to do this. I would have NEVER thought I would be able to run 3.1 miles, let alone actually ENJOY it. Craziness! 

I was also a lot more wise on this race. I learned from my mistake on my last race that I need to start off slowly and get into a nice even pace so I don’t wear myself out within the first mile. On my first race, I dashed off full speed like a killer was chasing after me! But this is what it is all about…making mistakes and learning from them.

I was head to head with one guy at the very end. We were talking smack and challenging each other to race. It was a pretty funny way to end the race. :)

Here is a short video of me (and him) crossing the finish line:

We both ended up finishing at the same time: 29:07. Not bad for my first 5k! I was really trying not to focus on my time, and just focus on enjoying the run, but I did secretly have a goal of getting under 30 minutes..and I did it!

After I finished my run, I met back up with the fam and we all hung out, talked to other racers, and listened to the live band that was there! I also pet a few adorable dogs:

Ahhh, SO MUCH FURRY CUTENESS!!

This one decided to dress up for the occasion:

 

I am so glad to have running in my life. It has been a source of stress relief, it gives me time to myself to think, and a way to feel truly amazing. I have already started looking at upcoming races, so be ready for more race talk in the future!

I want  to thank all you for supporting me. I feel so blessed to have this blog and have made so many awesome friends in the process. I don’t know what I would do without you guys!