One more day of vaca

Hey Guys!! Long time no talk!

I have been so busy having fun this past week on vacation which has turned into very little bloggie time. I have been periodically reading about all my favorite ladies lives via my phone when I got a chance though!

Today, we are all pretty exhausted and just wanted to take it easy and relax…poolside. :D  Later we will be heading out for our last dinner here in St Louis.

I will be sad to leave but I am also excited to get home. After a week of being away from home, I am always ready to come back. Is anybody else like that?? 

One reason I am happy about getting home is so I can have one these babies:

It has been far too long, indeed. I am in dire need of greens…in smoothie form. :D

And I’m also pretty psyched about seeing this face:

I miss her so much when I’m away from home!

I’ve definitely got some pics to share with you guys but that will have to wait until Sunday when I get home. I gotta give you something to come back for. ;) And maybe the words “almond” and “butter” would get you guys interested…yes, no?

Anyways, I hope you all have had a wonderful week and I can’t wait to get caught up with all my wonderful bloggie friends! <3

Big Hugs..Audios Amigos!

~Kristi~

A tragedy and a celebration

Hey Ya’ll!

Welp, we’ve made it to another weekend. WooHoo! This is one weekend I have been looking forward to in particular. I think you all can guess why. :) More on that in a minute.

First of all, a tragedy hit during lunchtime…I will just show you with pictures…I’m sure many can relate:

And here is what I thought about that:

Yep, No more hummus. It’s been a sad day for sure.

BUT luckily, I’ve got great blogger friends who host wonderful giveaways…like the wonderful miss Abby!

Abby pretty much rocked my world with her recent giveaway…and by some unbelievable form of luck, I was one of the winners!!

Oh yes, I got saved by the hummus gods and will be trying out some of this deliciousness when I get home from vacation:

Ohhhh Yeaaaaa.

Thank you SO much Abby!!

 

Today has a bit crazy over at the Sweet Cheeks residence because we are all getting things ready and packed for our trip. We will be leaving bright and early tomorrow morning and hitting the road on our way to St Louis. Actually, we are making a pit stop halfway through to visit some family and spend the night. Then our voyage will continue on Sunday.

Me, being the procrastinator that I am, am packing now…at 10:00 pm, the night before we leave. Ay yey yey.

So the good news is that I will be taking my laptop on the trip and we should have free internet in our room, so I will be able to keep up with everyone’s lives and give some updates hopefully as well. :D

Okay. MUST. FINISH. PACKING.

I hope you all have a fabulous weekend, whatever you have planned!

Hugs! Love, Kristi <3

4 Days to Vaca!

Morning everyone!

I just finished off a fab bowl of oats and oh how I have missed them! I have been so addicted to my grass lately…it is pretty, errr, uhh-mazing. ;)

Here is the bowl of lovelyness I had this morning:

Glorious. :D

What’s in this mix you ask?

• 1/2 cup oatbran
• 1/2 cup unsweetened organic soymilk
• 1/2 cup water
• 1 tbsp chia gel
• 1/2 sliced banana
• cinnamon
• Oikos greek yogurt, plain
• Naturally More PB
• fresh blackberries

Maaaan, greek yogurt is the SHIZ in oats. Try it asap!

And here is what was consumed last night, thanks to the fabulous Fitnessista!

Raw Vegan Sloppy Joes!!!

This was total deliciousness! The recipe can be found HERE.

And then as if that wasn’t delicious enough, I followed it with some of my homemade coconut icecream:

And of course, ya’ll know I had to top it with some creamy PB. ;)

If you missed the coconut ice cream recipe, you can find it: HERE.

In other news, I’ve got a day at the salon planned for today. No, I’m not getting a massage and a pedicure (i wish)…It’s a workie day. Ahhh well, this girl needs to be making those dolla bills before vacation. Holla!

Speaking of vacation, I have starting making a packing list so I won’t forget anything. I always start packing at least 2 days prior to leaving, because I ALWAYS end up remembering something that I need AFTER I finish packing. Now packing early is not an easy task for me, being the queen of procrastination..but it’s got to be done!

Now it’s time that I stop procrastinating on my blogging, so that I can go get ready for work…After I watch some trash tv, mosey around, play with Jaci, read some more blogs… ;)

Are you a procrastinator?

What do you do to prevent procrastinating?

I will leave you with your daily hunk of eye candy…wolf style:

Thank youuuu, Jacob.

Weekend Shenanigans

Good Morning Beautiful Ladies! Hope you guys like the little bloggie change-up. It just fun to mix things up a bit every now and then. I've been having fun messing around with it, so who knows what it will look like tomorrow. ;)

I hope you all are enjoying your Saturday mornings. Mine started off pretty grand with this babe:

A lovely breakfast cookie topped with Oikos plain greek yogurt and PB2. The perfect icing. :)

And some tea in my weekend mug:

Now the plan is to hit up the grocery store with Momma Sweet Cheeks for a few essentials. We are going to *try* and be good while shopping and not pick up everything we lay our eyes on…because this next week we will be trying to eat up as much of our food as we can before we go on VACATION!!! *does happy dance* wooowoo!

Then this afternoon I’m hoping to hit the yoga mat and get my zen on.

Yesterday my sister, a few friends, and I hit up the mall because someone was hankering to go to Forever 21…not me, of course. ;) I ended up falling in love with a dress but I was trying NOT to spend any money. This girl needs to be stashin’ it away with two trips coming up. It may have been the hardest thing I ever had to do to put it back. Wahhhhh. I wonder how long it will take for me to give in…bets, anyone?

I <3 pockets. :D

I also liked this one:

And here is some ruffle lovin’ for my girl, Jenny:

Jenny, it was ruffle mania in that store!

And now that you all have had your dose of Sweet Cheeks Fashion, here are a few eats:

Pizza salad:

my first bean burger! using Kath’s recipe:

Some shrimpie action:

yogurt mess:

Okay loves, I’m off to make the most of this weekend. I hope you all have a wonderful day!

"I am your Shield. No buffets of the world can harm you. Practice feeling this shield until nothing has the power to spoil your inner peace."

Bootylicious Buns

Hey Ladies!

This will be a quickie (TWSS) as I need to get ready and get off to work, but I wanted to check in with my lovely blogettes first!

This morning I started off with some random moves on the yoga mat, then proceeded to check out this Bootylicious Buns video from exercise tv. I was feeling the burn…big time. It was fab. :)

Yesterday I am pleased to report that I had a much better run than the last one! My legs no longer weighed 100 pounds each; they were light as feathers. ;) I ended up doing 4 miles total, with a combination of running and walking.

Afterward my buns workout, my stomach was a rumblin’ so I set out for the kitch, knowing exactly what I wanted.

It involved this:

Ta Da!

The classic oatbran in a jar, HEAB style. :)

I had mixed emotions about this breakfast. On one hand, I was thinking “oh my gosh, foodgasm” but on the other hand, I was thinking about how once I finish this, I will officially be out of not other Barney Butter, but almond butter in general. The horror!

What is your favorite almond butter brand?

Guys, I am getting SO excited for my trips! One thing I am stoked about is being able to hit up Whole Foods and Trader Joes!! It will be my very first Trader Joes visit, can you believe it?? This is most definitely a downfall of living in a small town…you just don’t have access to near as much stuff! I can’t wait to be in foodie heaven. :D

So that is where you all come in…What are some must have Trader Joe goodies? I am already for sure planning on trying out the following:

• TJ’s peanut butter pretzels
• grind your own almond butter (anybody know how much $$$ this is at TJ’s?)
• sunflower nut butter
• TJ’s cinnamon raisin doughnuts

Yum Yum Yum!

Alright, I’m off to go get ready for the day. Then tonight I will be getting together with some friends for a little Big Brother viewing. Ok my fellow trash tv watchin’ sisters…who has been watching this? Come on, fess up!

-Kristi

Trip Announcement #2

Happy Sunday everyone! I’m currently still snuggled in bed, while blogging and sipping on a green monster. I love lazy mornings! I can’t believe another week has passed…Summer is seriously blowing right by!

So referring to the title of this post, I now have TWO upcoming trips to look forward to! In addition to our girls St Louis trip, my sister, dad, and I will be heading to Boston in August! No, unfortunately I will not be there for the Summit blogger meetup (DARN!!!)…I will just miss it by 2 days…very sad indeed. This whole trip came up because my dad gets the great opportunity to travel for his business, especially during the Summer…so my sister and I are coming along for the ride!! I am super excited because first of all, I LOVE LOVE LOVE to travel. And second of all, I will be going to 2 different places that I have never been before!

What is awesome about it is that since it’s technically a business trip, my dad’s company will be paying for the hotel, etc, and we just have to pay for our flight! We will be going up a few days before my dad has to actually work, so we will all be able to do some fun stuff together. Then while my dad works at the shows during the day, my sister and I will get to explore Boston! I am SO excited!

So…if any of you are from Boston/have been to Boston, PLEASE help me out with some suggestions on what to do, where to eat, etc. Thank you!!!

Yesterday I hit up the public library because I was in need of some good reads after finishing Breaking Dawn. Yes, I finally did it. I dreaded the time when I would actually finish this awesome series. But don’t worry, I definitely plan on the reading it all over again in the  future. (Edward, Jacob, I <3 you)

I picked out two books;

The Teens Vegetarian Cookbook:

Keeping The Moon by Sarah Dessen

I have heard that Sarah Dessen is a great author so I was excited to check out one of her books. The cookout just caught my eye and I decided to try it out. I peeked through it and it may have some promising recipes. I originally wanted to get Skinny Bitch in the Kitch, but it wasn’t there. :( I did make sure to put myself on the request list for it though!

And I suppose you guys would like to see some eats? Okay, lets take a look…

My breakfasts have been very green-filled as of late:

My current mixture that I have been loving is as follows:

• 1 frozen banana
• 3 ice cubes
• tons of organic spinach
• 1 cup unsweetened vanilla almond breeze
• 1 scoop all natural vanilla protein powder
• 1 serving chocolate Amazing Grass
• 1 spoonful of chia gel (!!!)

Oh Amazing Grass, how I love thee.

Some lunch grub:

A sausage, egg, and cheese sammie a la Kristi :D

• 1 whole wheat english muffin
• 2 egg whites (plus salt and pepper) microwaved in a bowl
• 1 Morningstar soysauge patty
• 1 slice of american cheese

Here’s a picture that’s painful to look at…

WCW, you will be missed greatly.

It seems like homemade pizzas have been making it’s way around the blog world and I finally gave in last night:

And it was worth it. VERY worth it.

I followed Jenna’s recipe, except I used all whole wheat flour. This was my first time making pizza dough from scratch. I was so proud of myself! (lol) I actually thought it was a lot of fun! After letting the dough rise, I put half in the freezer for another time, then got started on laying some toppings on the other half.

My toppings were: a few pieces of turkey pepperoni, mozzarella cheese, basil, spinach, and mushrooms. I loved it, but I am definitely going to veggie up the leftovers even more with some chopped peppers, onions, and olives!

here is my dessert, inspired by Heather

frozen fruit with almond milk poured over it. (blueberries, mango, and cherries!) The milk freezes over the frozen fruit and makes a cool ice-cream type of effect. This is perfect for a refreshing summer treat!

Okay girlies, I am off to get my strength training on. Don’t forget: if you have been to Boston, let me know some suggestions!

Have a great day, lovely ladies <3

Stonyfield Rocks!

Hey guys!

I’ve been meaning to give a big shout-out to Kristina from Stonyfield for giving me the opportunity to try out even more yogurty deliciousness!

She sent me a ton of coupons:

Plus an awesome eco-friendly re-usable bag! I definitely am planning on using this the next time at the grocery store!

Now we all know, from the many yogurt-mess bowls that show up on my blog, that I LOVE me some yogurt! Especially greek…especially Oikos! I do love all greek yogurts but Stonyfield holds a special place in my heart, as the first greek yogurt I ever tried. And it’s definitely a plus that it is organic. :D

Now since I have these coupons to get to using, I am planning on experimenting in the kitchen with new ways to eat/cook with yogurt. Stay tuned on that!

In honor of Oikos, I thought I would include a picture of the lovely yogurt mess I recently consumed:

The heavenly mixture included:

• 3/4 cup Oikos 0% plain greek yogurt
• 2 tbsp PB2 mixed in, more sprinkled on top
• 1 Kashi TLC fruit and grain bar: dark chocolate coconut

So delicious, thick, and creamy! I definitely recommend adding PB2 to plain yogurt for flavor. I try to watch my added sugar intake which is why I mostly stick to plain greek yogurt. The PB2 really gives it some extra oomph!

And now here is the homemade coconut ice cream I promised!

Heaven on Earth, I tell you.

Coconut Ice cream:

• 2 cans of coconut milk
• 1/4 cup agave nectar
• 2 ripe bananas, mashed
• 2 tbsp vanilla extract

combine in a pot on the stove on low heat to bring flavors together. Plop in an ice cream maker and make according to the directions.

Thats it! My week have been filled to the brim with creaminess, from greek yogurt to ice cream. Ah yes, life is good.

Now I must get off the computer as I have some kiddos waiting for me to come babysit. Have a lovely Wednesday!

Quote of the day:

Somebody should tell us, right at the start of our lives, that we are dying. Then we might live life to the limit, every minute of every day. Do it!, I say. Whatever you want to do, do it now. There are only so many tomorrows. (Michael Landon)

Got Greens?

Hello! Hope everyone’s week is off to a good start after all the weekend festivities. The fireworks show over the lake was just as fantastic as the last time. It is a gorgeous sight to see, especially when it all reflects off of the water. The bad news is that, being by a lake and all, I managed to come home with a whopping assortment of mosquito bites. Ugh, I look like a pink ladybug!

Back to this morning, I started off with this gem:

That would be a Kashi waffle with natural peanut butter and a big dollop of Oikos vanilla yogurt.

I am used to plain greek yogurt but it was nice to change it up and start my day a little bit sweeter. Ahhh, creamy sweetness. :)

I also had a green monster a la Amazing Grass:

I was so excited to receive my Amazing Grass package last week. I immediately proceeded to tear the package open and much to my surprise…I saw that there was not only my Pomegranate Mango Amazing Meal, but also samples of everything else! Woooohoooo! I am a girl who loves samples…and anything free. I was one happy camper! :)

This morning’s green monster contained:

• 1 cup unsweetened almond milk
• 2 huge handfuls of organic spinach
• 1 spoonful of flax
• 1 frozen banana
• 1 scoop of Pomegranate Amazing Meal
• 3 ice cubes

It was incredibly yummy and energizing! I LOVE starting my day off this some greens. I am a little ball of energy after one of these babies!

After my breakfast digested I decided to hit the treadmill for a nice run. My mind thought it was a great idea…my legs disagreed. I felt like each leg weighed 100 pounds. Ugh. So I finished up 1 mile and then walked it out for a while before hopping off and doing some stretching. It must have something to do with the awesome strength training workout I did yesterday! Lately I have really been enjoying doing yoga followed by weights for my workouts. So yesterday, I started out with a yoga video called Hips, Buns, and Thighs Yoga from exercisetv.tv. Unfortunately I can’t seem to find it on the website today, otherwise I would link back to it! I’m thinking they took off some of the older ones and put new ones on.

Anyways, after my yoga video (which was intense! Chair poses galore) I hit the weights and strength training moves which included:

• walking lunges
• reverse crunches
• shoulder presses (5 lb. weights)
• biceps curls (5 lb. weights)
• squats
• girl pushups

My body was like jello afterwards!

Yesterday I also tried a Kashi meal:

Oh yes, this is a keeper! It had sweetness, crunchiness , and was all around delicious. Kashi, you never let me down.

Among other eats was this bar,thanks to Meg!

Yet another score. This has got to be my favorite Luna bar so far! If you like white chocolate, you will not be let down by this bar. I totally left like I was eating dessert!

So this afternoon’s plans are unknown at this point. I would be perfectly happy with a leisurely, lazy Monday. :) Unfortunately the weather is less than Summery today so I think I see some Breaking Dawn in my future. :)

P.S. stay tuned for a homemade coconut ice cream post soon! Mmmmm

Hope you all have a Magnificent Monday!

Vacation here I come

Hi everyone!

First things first, I wanted to thank all of you for the sweet comments about my family and I in my last post. You guys really know how to make a girl feel good about herself! :D

Geeze, where has the week gone? It’s already Thursday! I guess I am okay with this week going by fast because I am ready to get my 4th of July festivities going on! A bunch of friends are heading over to this huge lake not too far away and watching the fireworks show. Watching fireworks over a lake (or better yet, on the lake) is SO PRETTY. And of course i’m going to make sure I get to do a sparkler or two. :)

What are you doing for the 4th of July?

So referring back to my post title, last night my mom, sister, and I booked a trip to St Louis, Missouri! We have been wanting to plan a girl’s trip for this summer to just get away and relax. Well, we are the worst procrastinators EVER, and I have been stressing that we wouldn’t get it planned. I set aside everything else yesterday, and spent all afternoon searching for decent hotels that wouldn’t break the bank. So much stress was relieved last night when it was finally booked. If you have ever been to St Louis, please help me out with some suggestions on places to go/things to do!

This morning I started off with something that has been missing from life for way too long:

A big ol’ breakfast cookie! BUT…this may look like your average normal deliciousness, however, it was quite different. This b-fast cookie is a hybrid! Here is what I used:

• 1/4 cup old fashioned oats
• 1/4 cup oatbran
• 1/2 smooshed naner
• 1/2 scoop protein powder
• tons of cinnamon
• splash of almond milk

I mixed it and let it set overnight, then this morning I topped it with PB2 and Oikos fat free plain greek yogurt! This was a nice change-up to the normal bfast cookie. I really don’t think I could choose a favorite though…I like them both ways! I love oatbran, especially because of it’s nutritional stats. Oatbran has more protein and fiber than old fashioned oats, AND higher amounts of essential vitamins and minerals. It gets two thumbs up in my book!

And here is last night’s veggie-liciousness:

sweet potato fries, edamame, and roasted broccoli

I was just craving veggies! So that is exactly what I made. Rock on, intuitive eating! :D

Here’s a yogurt mess creation from yesterday as well:

HOLY YUM! This was a mixture of greek yogurt, 1/2 sliced banana, flax, blueberries, Nature’s Path flax granola, Barney Butter, and a few M&M’s. Foodgasm, for sure.

Last but not least, some juice:

Now I am off to do some yoga, followed by strength training. This afternoon I will be trying to put together a list of things to do on our vacation! Then I will head off to work, getting home in time to watch So You Think You Can Dance! For all the watchers, who is your favorite? I love ALL of them, but I especially like Philip and Janeane!

Adios Chickas!