Sweet Cheeks

New Home!

2009-10-31T22:24:00.001-05:00

This weekend, I’ve been working away at a new blog…over on Wordpress!

There are definitely more things I still want to do with it, but I’ve got a pretty good start on things and plus, I just couldn’t keep it to myself anymore. :D

So…here is my NEW SITE:

http://hersweetcheeks.wordpress.com

Please change your blogrolls and google readers to this address. I don’t want to lose any of my good friends!

Thanks guys, you all are the best. Hope you like the new changes!

xoxo

Kristi

Me like cookie dough

2009-10-31T14:44:00.001-05:00

Howdy Bloggies! Happy Halloween!

Hope you all are enjoying the beginning your weekends…I know I am! I live for these two sacred days. :D

I took a break from Green Monsters this morning…

and instead started off with a much missed breakfast…its the return of the yogurt mess!

(Greek Oikos, Nature’s Path pumpkin granola, figs, Kroger natural peanut butter, Mighty Maple)

along with some herbal tea:

I have been drinking tea like crazy lately! It just warms me up soooo good.

Speaking of tea, I will be going to the new health food store today to visit their AWESOME tea section. Seriously, I am amazed by it…they have any kind of tea you could possibly want. I won’t be surprised if I come home with a whole cart full of them.

Want to see what I did with the butternut squash from my last post?

It went from this…

To this…

To finally this:

(smothered in Amy’s ketchup, post-picture, obvi)

Yes, I went for the obvious…yes, it’s been done before…yes, it was absolutely fantastic. ;)

I also had a homemade bean burger to go along with my fries:

(followed Kath’s recipe/instructions: here)

which was followed by these little babies:

I tried to rock the natural lighting…gotta work on those photography skills! Any pointers?

dough:

final product:

So what are those lovely morsels, you ask? Well they come from just about the greatest cookbook ever. Yep you guessed it…I’m talking about this gem:

As my very first EDBV recipe, I went for the Super Charge Me Cookies. I made mine with some carob chips and chopped figs (say that three times fast).

Two thumbs up…I’m already in love with this book.

So fast forwarding back to today, I took the opportunity to make a switch up from my usual exercise routines. I have been doing a lot of treadmill workouts or 30 Day Shred routines. I felt like I needed to bust out and do something different. So after 5 minutes of rummaging through my closet, I found this:

Turbo Jam!!!

This used to be my old go-to exercise DVD…talk about a good, FUN workout. This was actually my very first exercise program I ever purchased. It totally took me back to the days when I first vowed to change my habbits and get healthier. Just remembering those days was great motivation for me this morning.

If you have never heard of Turbo Jam, it is an upbeat mix up cardio dancing with a mixture of martial arts thrown in. They play fun music that really gets you up and moving. I LOVE the instructor! She is so much fun and very motivating.

I am so glad I chose to do this today. It was great to switch things up and I will definitely go for this DVD more often now!

Welp, the Madre is calling my name to help her with the Halloween decorations. I’m off to go get in the holiday spirit!

Tonight, the plan is to hand out candies to all the little kiddos around the neighborhood. I love seeing all the costumes!

What are your plans for tonight?

and because I couldn’t resist…

Kristi

Blog Switch? and Product Review

2009-10-27T14:13:00.001-05:00

Hey guys!

Guess who got an awesome package in the mail yesterday?

Looky looky!

ZEVIAAAAA!

As a former pop-aholic, I was beyond excited to find out about the all natural, artificial sweetener-free, zero calorie soda.

I jumped at the chance to give it a whirl…and wanted six of you to be able to try it out with me. Well, the Fed-Ex guy made me one happy camper yesterday afternoon. He actually came right as I was about to sit down and eat my lunch. Perfect timing!

I opted to try the Root Beer flavor first. What did I think?

AWESOME!!!

This is way better than any regular/diet soda. I have completely lost my liking for that stuff…I can just taste the pure corn syrup and chemicals now. It is amazing what changing your eating habits will do to your taste buds.

Even though I no longer like pop, I still missed being able to drink something “fun” occasionally. Enter: Zevia.

This had just the right amount of sweetness and perfectly bubbly and delicious. I think I might have to hide the rest of my package…it’ll be gone before I know it!

Thank you so much Zevia!

(Zevia giveaway winners, be expecting your packages soon!)

*******

Now, I have been doing some thinking about my blog site. I know that over time, many of you have made the switch from Blogger to Wordpress. I have been looking into possibly making the switch myself. I was wondering if you lovely ladies could help me weigh out the pros and cons of switching over. What are the benefits that Wordpress has that Blogger doesn’t?

The plan for the rest of day includes going to work at the bank for a few hours, another date with Bob, and whipping up something delicious in the kitch for dinner, which includes this:

Love me some fall produce!

speaking of Bob, Biggest Loser is on tonight. I have totally gotten into it this season. Need some exercise motivation? Jillian will take care of that, no probs.

Have a great night!

Kristi

Flaxy Pumpkin Bars

2009-10-25T18:45:00.001-05:00

Happy Sunday! I hope you all have been enjoying your weekend. I have had a pretty productive one! My to-do list has been growing and growing and I finally am putting a big dent in it. Isn’t it great to feel accomplished? Makes me feel so much better!

First things first, I started off with a lovely pot of stove-top oats:

~The Mix~

1/2 cup oats
1/2 cup almond milk
1 cup water
1/2 naner, melted in
cinnamon, dash of sea salt
frozen blueberries
plain Oikos

Simple and delish. I usually have green monsters for breakfast on the weekdays since they are so quick and I can drink them while I get ready, so my bowls of oats on the weekends have been an extra special treat. :D

After breakfast, I got my boot-ay in gear and started my laundry. I am on the third and final load. Yahoo!

Next up, I had a date with Bob.

*swoon*

I’ll be doing a review of this DVD in the near future. I just haven’t had time to get through all three levels yet. So far, I am loving level one though…but I don’t know if that has more to do with the “view” or the actual yoga part. You catch my drift? Bob, you are one sexy beast!

Then it was time for a much needed mani-pedi. My claws are looking fab right about now. :)

Next up was football, where I supported my team, The Chiefs. Unfortunately, it was yet another disappointing game…Oh, KC, how I urn for you to one day be decent…but I am a loyal fan so I will keep right on supporting!

To mourn to loss of the Chief’s game, I made my way into the kitchen to do some baking therapy.

That brings me to the title of the post…I adapted a recipe I found off of the Hungry Girl website for “pumpkin squares.” I played with the ingredients a bit and finally came up with:

Flaxy Pumpkin Bars

I was excited to whip out this lovely fall ingredient:

In it goes…

One 15-oz. can pure pumpkin
One 12-oz. can evaporated milk (or almond/coconut milk)
1/2 cup fat-free liquid egg sub. (egg beaters, or real eggs)
1/4 cup flaxmeal
1/2 cup sweetener of choice
1 tbsp pumpkin pie spice
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp sea salt

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Combine all ingredients in a bowl, and mix thoroughly.

Place mixture in a baking dish (8" X 8" works well) sprayed lightly with nonstick spray, and bake in the oven for 45 minutes. (It will remain a little soft, like pie filling.)

Once ready to serve (it's delicious eaten hot or cold), cut into 9 pieces.

This recipe was SUPER easy and quick to put together. I have a feeling I will be making this a lot during the cold months ahead, topped with a dollop of Oikos, of course.

Alright blogaroos, I’ve got to get back to my list. I’ve got the motivation today so I need to make the most of it..it never lasts long. ;)

Here’s a toughie Q for you guys:

What is your favorite dessert when its cold outside?

I’d have to say that nothing beats pumpkin pie. But I also love baked apples. Mmmm.

Kristi

Baby its cold outside

2009-10-22T18:59:00.001-05:00

Hello!

Long time no talk…I’ve missed you guys!

There just isn’t enough time in the days, but I have been keeping up with you guys whenever I get a chance. I haven’t deserted anyone!

I’ve been eating some pretty delicious WARM meals lately. The temps have definitely dropped…it has been sweaters and boot weather around here. How is the weather where you are?

Oh, and I forgot to mention in my last post that I found a wonderful little hidden health food shop IN MY TOWN. Ya’ll know how I complain about my lack of Heaven…aka Whole Foods/Trader Joes, so you can imagine my excitement!

I hit the motherload:

Mary’s Gone crackers sticks and twigs
brown rice crackers
Ezekiel bread
whole wheat couscous
Tabbouli mix
bean flour
whole wheat pastry flour
raw honey
coconut
carob chips
whole wheat noodles
plus a few unpictured teabags

I made couscous for the first time and I fell in love with it. It is so fluffy and delicious. I can’t wait to try out all the other fun stuff. Ah, the things that will excite a foodie…;)

I tried out a very Fitnessista-like lunch the other day…

Lovely raw roll ups:

carrots, bell pepper, tomato, cucumber, jicama, avocado

roll ‘em up in your preference of lettuce wraps and top with some cilantro.

I dipped mine into some spicy tai peanut sauce and it was deliciouso!

Now my warmer eats have included…SPAGHETTI!

Spaghetti squash, that is. :)

I roasted my spaghetti squash in the oven for an hour at 400* and dig it all out with a fork. While it was in the oven, I steamed up some broccoli and made up a quick batch of Marinutta (thanks HEAB, you the woman!). Then I simply combined everything for a wonderful veggie-filled warming dinner. Fabulous.

Something else worth trying:

Foil packs!! Foil packs are amazing for fall/winter. The best thing is that you customize each pack, so everybody gets what they want! It worked awesome with my family…including my picky sister. I threw together a mixture of chopped up yellow squash, mushrooms, laughing cow, salt and pepper and sealed the foil pack. Throw them in the oven for 20 minutes at 375*. Mmmmm.

In honor of going “green”:

My newest addition to my aluminum water bottle collection! It is growing rapidly. I found this one at Old Navy, where they sold them for $5!! That is awesome, considering many places I have gone have had them marked anywhere between 10-20 buckeroos. Score!

And last but not least, Jaci wanted to make a blog appearance. It’s been a while! She is still up to her usual shenanignas:

Silly girl…keep away from my socks!

Alrighty, it’s time to log off and watch ~~trash tv~~ Grey’s and Private Practice! Who will be tuning in with me?!

Whatever your plans are, hope you all have a wonderful night!

~Kristi

Winner Winner Zevia Dinner

2009-10-12T17:40:00.001-05:00

Sounds like it’s safe to say that most of you are big Stevia fans! I’ve got to agree…I’ve fallen in love with it, too. Now…

Who’s ready to win some Zevia?!?

I won’t keep you in suspense any longer…

First, I will announce the 5 runner ups, who will be receiving their very own six pack of Zevia.

Runner up #1: Naomi from http://onefitfoodie.blogspot.com/!

Naomi said…

“LOVE to try Zevia, I have only tried one flavor and LOVED it so this would be a sweeeet giveaway to win!!”

Runner up #2: April from http://foodsofapril.com/!

April said…

“I use stevia all the time! a little goes a long way!”

Runner up #3: Devan from http://melonspots.blogspot.com/!

Devan said…

“you are amazing! love this giveaway! i have yet to try this amazing zevia!
my favorite natural sweetner is definatly stevia.. it is my tried and true.”

Runner up #4: Emily from http://funnyemily.wordpress.com/!

Emily said…

“hmm i'm not much of a sweetner person, but i think would like to try truvia sometime. & zevia of course!”

Runner up #5: Savvty!

Savvty said…

“Stevia is my fave”

And for the grand finale, one lucky ready will receive an entire case of goodness…The Zevia Queen shall be…

***drum roll please***

Shannon from http://tropicaleats.com/!!!

Shannon said…

“love this giveaway! I like using raw sugar.. it usually comes in the brown packets at Starbucks and such. :)”

Congrats ladies! This is me doing the happy dance for you:

Please send me an email with your shipping address/info so Zevia can get your packages out to you!

I’m off to get cooking in the kitch. I have been craving baked tofu so tofu for dinner it shall be!

Have a great night!

Kristi

Doing the weekend dance

2009-10-10T10:15:00.001-05:00

Happy Weekend!!! This week has been a hectic one for me, but its all good now because the weekend is finally here!

First off, I wanted to remind everyone again to enter my Zevia giveaway! I will be picking the winners on Monday afternoon. I myself have not yet tried Zevia and can’t wait to get my package! Expect a review in the near future!

This morning was started off wonderfully with a new oat creation.

Chocolate Mint Oats

Into my bowl went:

1/2 cup oatbran
1 cup chocolate mint tea water
1 splash mint extract
1/2 sliced banana
1 tbsp Naturally More PB
cinnamon
carob chips (or dark chocolate chips)

The star of the show:

I found this tea at a local health food shop and I’m hooked! I LOVE fun fall/wintery teas and will drinking a ton during the cold months ahead!

And I don’t even need to tell you guys how awesome this bowl was because lets face it…it can’t fail. ;) And you could definitely make it without the tea if you can’t find it or something similar…just make sure to use the mint extract!

In other news, I received a great package from the lovely folks at POM. Here is the loot:

1 pomegranate nectarine juice
1 pomegranate kiwi juice

The verdict? Tastey! This was a great change up from the original POM. My favorite was definitely the nectarine…but I’m not hatin’ on the kiwi either. Two thumbs up from me, POM!

I received another package that I was STOKED about. I decided that with my first paycheck from the bank, I needed to reward myself for all my hard work lately. Enter: the glorious world that is Amazon. Here is what I ended up with:

WooHoo!!! How’s that for a care package?

I’ve had my eye on all three of these items and decided to go for it. I am planning on trying out the yoga dvd with ~~my boyfriend~~ Bob Harper tomorrow…because today is RUN DAY. Yay!

I’ve already searched through Eat, Drink, and Be Vegan, but everything sounds SO. GOOD. that I don’t even know where to start! Which leads me to the question of the day…

For the people who have the book…What are your favorite recipes from Eat Drink and Be Vegan?

And now I’m off for a run on the Revolving Apparatus of Death since it is so cold out this morning. Want to know the high for today?

39.

Wahhhhhhh. Come back, sweet summer!

I know some of you tough it out and hit the pavement even in the midst of snow, but I guess I’m not THAT hardcore. Oh well, at least I’ll be warm!

Everybody have a beuno weekend!

Kristi

A Grand Giveaway

2009-10-06T18:49:00.001-05:00

Hello! Well again, I have not been able to blog as much I would like as of lately, but the good news is that I’m finally starting to get adjusted into my new schedule with school, work, etc…which means I should be able to handle to more blogging SOON! Yay! I’ve been working hard to keep my grades looking good and am getting the hang of my job at the bank. I’m thriving, people! :D

I have really missed all of you wonderful bloggers and definitely have not been getting a sufficient dose of bloggage, but I am quite positive that that is going to change pronto! But since I love you all so much, I wanted to find a way to make up for my absence…

Can somebody say GIVEAWAY?

That’s right everyone…the time has come for Sweet Cheek’s very first give away! And it’s a pretty dandy one, if I do say so myself.

I teamed up with the lovely people from Zevia to bring you guys a sweet deal, literally! And here’s the best part: not 1…not 2…not 3…(or four or five) but 6 people will be winners!! Do you love me or do you love me?

What is ZEVIA™?

ZEVIA™ with stevia is the first all natural zero calorie soda. It contains no artificial sugar substitutes - no aspartame (Nutrasweet®), no sucralose (Splenda®), and no saccharin (Sweet 'N Low®). ZEVIA™ contains only natural ingredients and comes in six all natural flavors: ZEVIA™ Natural Cola, ZEVIA™ Natural Ginger Root Beer, ZEVIA™ Natural Orange, ZEVIA™ Natural Twist (lemon-lime), ZEVIA™ Natual Black Cherry, and ZEVIA™ Natural Ginger Ale.

What makes ZEVIA™ the world's first all natural zero calorie soda?

The ingredients. ZEVIA™ contains none of the chemically processed artificial sugar substitutes found in diet sodas because it is sweetened with natural stevia. Diet sodas also contain artificial flavors and colors. ZEVIA™ does not. With great effort, expense, and painstaking care, Zevia LLC found the healthiest, all natural ingredients available. Many "natural" sodas contain sugar which means calories. Diet sodas are usually sweetened with processed artificial sweeteners which means chemicals. ZEVIA™ with stevia is the only truly all natural diet soda.

If you want to learn more about Zevia, you can visit their very own website by clicking HERE.

There will ONE grand prize winner that will receive their very own case of deliciousness. Then 5 runner ups will receive a very lovely 6 pack. Sound good? Thought so.

Now how do I enter this giveaway, you ask?

There are four ways to be entered:

1. leave a comment on this post telling me what your favorite all- natural sweetener is.

2. for an additional entry, you can add me to your blog roll/follow me. Please leave a second comment saying you did so!

3. link back on your blog for entry number three.

4. tweet about the giveaway for another entry.

So hurry up and get your entries in…trust me, ya’ll want to try this stuff! The giveaway will end a week from today, on October 13th.

xoxo Kristi

Making time for exercise

2009-09-29T13:13:00.001-05:00

Happy Tuesday!

Hope everybody’s week has gotten off to a good start. Mine has been great, seeing as I have Thursday and Friday off from school. LOVE short weeks! We are half way through the first trimester and are off for PT conferences. I still have to go to work of of course, but hey, I get to sleep in. I’m a happy camper. :)

This morning, I had a great breakfast to start my day off on the right foot. It featured a new almond butter that I am now officially OBSESSED with:

After seeing this on Jenna’s blog, I decided to pick it up last weekend at Green Acres Market. 5 dollar almond butter? I’m down.

When I got home, I immediately tried it out. I have to say…I was impressed! It has a wonderful, distinctive taste. I couldn’t figure out what it tasted like at first, but after giving it some thought, I decided that it tastes like cinnamon rolls. Um yeah, I am in love with it. End of story.

I made some overnight oats last night:

1/2 cup oats
1/2 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk
cinnamon

And this morning I added:

1/2 sliced banana
3 big scoops of Oikos Greek Yogurt, plain
1 tbsp Blue Diamond honey almond butter

And for lunch, I quickly put together this plate:

Joseph’s whole wheat pita
grilled chicken
mozzarella cheese
laughing cow light
spinach

With some veggies on the side to munch.

And my first Honey Crisp of the season!

I was starving by the time I got home from school, so I devoured this all within 5 minutes.

The lovely April from Foods of April brought up a great question that I wanted to address. She asked:

“What does your exercise

schedule look like? School

is making me kind of lazy.”

I have to admit that I definitely have NOT been working out as much as I had been in the Summer. During Summer it was easy to exercise…I had most of my days free to do whatever I wanted to do with them. Now, I am not really “free” until around 6 p.m., and that is assuming I don’t have any homework that night. And like I have mentioned before, a lot of times I am just plain tired and ready to relax when I get home.

So lately I have discovered the greatness of Mini Workouts. On a regular weekday, I have been doing 10-20 minutes of some type of exercise in the morning, first thing when I wake up. Lately I have been enjoying starting my morning off with yoga, in honor of National Yoga Month.

Then in the evening, right when I get home from work, I will do another form of exercise, such as walking my dog, 30 Day Shred, or just some simple strength training moves on my own.

While it doesn’t feel like I’m getting much exercise in, these mini workouts have actually really added up. Plus, I get those endorphins flowin’ TWICE a day instead of just one!

I save my runs for the weekends, which I take full advantage of. This has actually worked out nicely, because since I am not running every day, I have “fresh legs” for my weekend runs. This also helps to prevent burn out with running.

The important thing is to find what works for YOU and your schedule. I believe that fitting exercise into your days is very important, but stressing out about exactly how much you are working out is unnecessary. Do things that you like. I adore fall weather and it has been beautiful outside lately, so I have been looking forward to my walks with my dog Jaci in the evenings. Make it fun! You don’t have to run 5 miles a day to get a good workout in.

And with that, I need to get to work! Have a great day!

Kristi

Race for the Cure

2009-09-27T12:14:00.001-05:00

Whats up bloggies?

Geeze, are we seriously another week down? I am still adjusting to my new (read: busy to the max) schedule and I obviously didn’t do very well with my blogging this week. I will bounce back though, don’t you worry!

Yesterday was the Komen Race for the Cure 5k. I admit that due to my exhaustion as of lately, I wasn’t able to properly train as much as I would have liked. I wasn’t feeling my best about doing this race. But I knew that no matter what, I wanted to participate in it, because it is such a great cause and I have been looking forward to it for a while now. So I set my alarm clock for a bright and early time, laid out my running gear, and hit the sack early.

I made an awesome new breakfast to eat in the car during the 1 hour drive to the race site:

I toasted two pieces of Ezekiel bread and topped it with a mixture of chia gel mixed with a tablespoon of naturally more, 1/2 banana, and cinnamon. It was great pre-race fuel, but I thought that the peanut butter flavor and creaminess got lost in the chia gel, so next time I will top my toast with the tbsp of plain peanut butter, then top that with a chia gel/smashed naner mixture. Mmmm.

Upon arriving, we saw TONS of people there:

And many sponsors handing out freebies (score!)

I hit up the Starbucks station:

Next up was the Fuze counter!

That morning I walked up to the race site feeling pretty nervous about the idea of running and knew that I didn’t feel good enough to race.

At first, I started to feel disappointed in myself, but then I decided to silence that negativity. This race was NOT about me. It was about thousands of people coming out to support an awesome cause and just have a good time together. I was not going to let any negative thinking ruin this.

I knew that there was a non-competitive 5k run/walk that followed the competitive run. Sooo…I made the quick decision to WALK the 5k with my mom. And you know what? It was great. It was a beautiful day, there were tons of great people to talk to, and lots of festivities. I enjoyed every second of it and did not feel one bit guilty about not running.

I am proud of myself for listening to my body and making the right decision. I know that I would not have felt good pushing myself and doing more than I could handle. I needed a break and that is exactly what I gave myself.

After we crossed the finish line, we walked around some more, listening to the live music and hitting up some more freebie stations. There wasn’t even an opportunity for me to feel bad about walking the race…I was too busy taking pictures with guys in weird costumes…;)

(Can somebody please tell me what these guys are supposed to be?!?!)

The day got even better when we went for lunch at a place that I have been wanting to check out for a while now…it is called Green Acres Market. Oh my goodness, it’s like a mini Whole Foods…only with cheaper prices! I was in pure foodie bliss. You all know how I complain about living in a small town with no good foodie options such as Whole Foods or Trader Joes. Well, you can imagine my excitement when I found this place! It even had a hot bar!!! I gladly devoured a box full of deliciousness.

So even though the day didn’t go exactly as I had planned, I completely enjoyed myself. I love running, but I don’t like doing it when I feel completely exhausted. So I will run when I feel good enough to, and on days that I don’t feel like doing it…I won’t. Lately I have realized the importance of listening to your body and giving it what it wants. Exercise should be fun, right?

Now I am going to take a complete recovery day. I am going to be lazy, relax, and watch trash t.v. :D Hope you all enjoy your day!

xoxo kristi

Hi, I’m Kristi

2009-09-20T13:44:00.001-05:00

Hey everyone! Remember me?

Gosh I don’t know where the time has gone this week…I have been so busy! And I have DEFINITELY missed all of you!

First of all, to pick up where I left off on my last post, I did in fact get the job I applied for. You are now looking at a brand new bank teller!

Me:

I scored a job at one of our local banks, and the best part is the location. It is literally a few stores down from my job at the salon AND only about 3 minutes from my house! Ummm, perfect?!? I really love it there…I have already become great friends with everybody there! Thing is, being a bank teller is not easy, folks! I have a TON to learn and it has been a rather stressful week for me, trying to get every thing down. I won’t give up though…I’ll get the hang of it!

So I told ya’ll about my work/intern program that I’m in through my highschool…well this is my job for the afternoons! And yes, I will still be working at the salon, too. So needless to say, with juggling school, homework, bank telling, the salon, and training for my race that is next week, I have my hands FULL!

This week has been kind of overwhelming, which is why I have been mostly absent from the blogging world. All I felt like doing when I got home at night was eating and then collapsing. But I do think that my schedule will actually work out very well…I am just in a transition period right now and still have some adjusting to do.

***

And don’t worry…I have still been partaking in some awesome eating…

My very first bowl of green oats!

(sorry for the horrible pic)

My opinion? Love at first taste.

I combined 1/2 banana, 1/3 cup unsweetened almond milk, buttload of spinach, 2 tbsp vanilla protein powder, and cinnamon into my magic bullet blender and whirled it around. Then I combined this with 1/3 cup oatbran. Mixed together. Cooked in the microwave for 2 minutes, as usual.

Toppings: Oikos plain and Naturally More

This is going to be PERFECT for winter! I was seriously beginning to worry what I would do once the weather started getting colder and wouldn’t be able to start my day out with my beloved GMs…but have no fear, green oats are here! (hehe)

***

Last night, I decided to try Heather’s(www.heathereatsalmondbutter.com) recipe for Marinutta sauce!

First, I cut up some veggies to get to roasting:

1/2 butternut squash, 1/2 a red onion, baby bella mushrooms, and some tomaters. I drizzled on some coconut oil and sprinkled some sea salt. Then I roasted them at 425 degrees for about an hour.

For the sauce, I combined 1/2 cup marinara sauce with 1 scoop of TJ’s raw almond butter and 1 scoop of flax meal. I mixed it together and popped it in the microwave for about 45 seconds.

I also steamed some broccoli to throw in.

After all was said and done, here was my delicious bowl of goodness, topped with feta:

Okay…new favorite dinner? Ever? Quite possibly. Go try this now!!

The sauce was a real winner, but next time I’m just going to steam up a ton of broccoli to mix with it. I think the sauce “worked” the best with the broccoli and I found myself wishing I had used more. This is actually a plus, because all I have to do is pop some broccoli in the microwave for a few minutes and I’m ready to go! Awesome.

***

I received a lovely package in the mail towards the beginning of the week…my RACE package!!

This got me so excited and motivated to just run, run, run. In fact, that is exactly what I did this morning! I started off with a piece of Ezekiel bread and raw almond butter, then I was out the door.

I ended up running about 3 miles and taking a nice easy walk for another 1 mile. It was glorious. :)

Oh, and shout out to Jenny, because before I left for my run, I did my 10 minutes of yoga for National Yoga Month. Woo Hoo!

Now I am showered and clean, and just devoured a lovely Sunday lunchie:

A hummus, turkey, spinach, and sprouts sandwich on a whole wheat bun. Leftover roasted veggies w/ketchup, carrots, and sugar snap peas on the side. Plus an un-pictured white peach.

My plan for the rest of today is to relax as much as possible. I definitely need some recovery time so I can take on a new week!

I hope you all enjoy your Sunday and have a wonderful week!

people of accomplishment rarely sat back and let things happen to them. They went out and happened to things." - Leonardo Da Vinci

Mucho Kombucho

2009-09-12T10:20:00.001-05:00

Hey guys! TGITW (thank God its the weekend) ;)

I hope your mornings are all of to a good start. Mine was spent sleeping in until the glorious hour of 9 o’clock. It felt amazing, and was much needed. I just polished off a new breakfast cookie creation…it’s legit, i promise.

Did anyone else have a weird and twisted love for dipping Oreos in peanut butter when they were young?!? Ever since I first got the idea from one of my favorite movies, Parent Trap, (shout-out to all my Disney movie lovin’ gals!) I was hooked.

So this morning, my creativity was flowing and I knew exactly what I wanted to do. So here you have it…

Nut Butter and Oreo Breakfast Cookie

(yes, I could not wait to capture a picture before I started chowing down, ya’ll understand how that goes)

ingredients:

1/2 cup old fashioned oats
1/2 mashed banana
dash of almond milk
1-3 tablespoons cocoa powder
cinnamon
protein powder (optional)

combine and form into a heavenly b-fast cookie. Let set in fridge overnight. The next morning, take out of fridge and top with some greek or regular yogurt and your choice of nut butter.

For mine, I used Oikos plain yogurt and Trader Joes raw crunchy almond butter. It was divine.

And now I get to the info regarding my clever title of this post. The wonderful makers of GT’s Synergy Kombucha drinks sent me some awesome coupons to try out all of their Kombucha products!

I had my first Kombucha when I was in Boston this Summer and I fell in love. It love the taste of it, I love the nutritional stats, I love everything about it. And now I am beyond excited that I get the opportunity to try out all the others! Thank you so much GT!

And I also received a lovely care package from the amazing people at Pom Wonderful! A big shout-out to Molly..thank you!!!

Those would be Pom’s new Super Teas. As you can see, I have tried a few sips out of two of them so far…and so far so good!

There are two regular kinds and two light kinds. The regular ones have around 70 cals each while the light have 35 per serving and are half sweetened with Erythritol (a natural sweetener).

Here are the four flavors:

Pomegranate Lychee Green Tea
Pomegranate Hibiscus Green Tea (light)
Pomegranate Wildberry White Tea (light
Pomegranate Blackberry Tea

I’ve got to say that these are SO refreshing! I am a big tea lover, so I couldn’t wait to try these out. They did NOT disappoint! They were nice and light and not overly sweet. I think I prefer the light to the regular because I am used to drinking un-sweet tea, and like that the light versions have less sugar.

And now I am about to get my yoga and running on. I have been staying faithful to Jenny’s awesome yoga challenge, in honor of September, National Yoga Month. And I have about 2 weeks until Race For the Cure, so I need to get my booty in gear!

Today I also for-see some shopping in my future. I need to stock up on some cute business-like clothes, because, oh yeah, I got the job. ;) Ahhh, a cliff-hanger…I will be back with more info about my new jobby job soon…but just know that your girl Sweet Cheeks, is going to be brining in some Sweet Bills. :D

Which brings me to this question:

What is your favorite place to shop for business/dressy clothes?

I can see the finish line now…

2009-09-07T19:12:00.001-05:00

I am officially signed up for my next race!

I am very excited for this one…it a race for the curing of breast cancer.

they have an awesome site if anyone wants to check it out:

Komen Race for the Cure

I will be participating in the 5k run. I am crossing my fingers for a pink shirt! ;)

I love doing races that are for a good cause. It just gives me that much more motivation to run, and to run my best. It also puts a lot of things in perspective. You never what tomorrow may bring…I am very thankful for each step that I take with running and with life in general, but it is very easy to forget to truly appreciate all that you have in life. Races like these are a very good reminder. :)

Yesterday I accompanied my mom to Sams to stock up on some produce goods. I LOVE this place…free samples anyone?!?

Yay!

We also stopped by a local grocery store, where I picked up a few new (to me) things to try:

BROWNIES!!!!!

I have never had the opportunity to try one of these babies and tonight shall be my first time. Get in my belly!!!

I also experimented with the nutritional yeast by putting it on some delicious homemade pizza for dinner!

I used Jenna’s recipe for the dough, except that I used all whole wheat flour. This was my second time making this recipe and it was just as delicious as I remembered.

I topped it with organic tomato sauce, nutritional yeast “cheese”, black beans, ‘shrooms, and chopped onions.

You just can’t beat homemade pizza. :)

Now that I have a nice full pizza belly, I’m going to chill with the family.

Tomorrow I have my interview!!! Eeeek, wish me luck!

Go, Fight, Roarrrrr!

2009-09-04T17:00:00.001-05:00

Happy Happy Friday!

I hope you all are enjoying your days…who’s ready for a glorious three day weekend? *raises hand*

Today, In honor of National Yoga Month, I started off my day with 20 fabulous minutes on my mat. I decided that instead of following along with a video like I usually do, I would just wing it and do whatever poses I felt like doing. It was a great, relaxing way to start my day and I definitely plan on continuing with my yoga practice. If any of you are up for a challenge, hit up my girl, Jenny, for some yoga-liciousness. I have vowed to devote at least 10 minutes a day to yoga every day this September. So come on, join in on the fun!

After my yoga shenanigans, I hit up the kitch for some seriously yummy oat action:

Oatbran (aka oatcrack)…you never fail me.

I tried the “add 2 cups of liquid” technique instead of 1 and it was a major success. Twice the amount of oatcrack for the same amount of calories?!? Count me in! I need to start using a bigger bowl for all this deliciousness!

This bowl contained:

1/2 cup oatbran
1/2 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk
1 1/2 cups water
hugh jass amount of cinnamon
1 scoop barney butter
1 scoop plain Oikos
raspberries
blueberries

Then I went off to school to promptly ~~cheat off my desk-mate~~ ace my trigonometry test. ;)

I came home for lunch to have a salad beastie:

Thanks to this little gem:

Totally awesome hummus that rocked my lunch.

And this:

HFCS spicy peanut sauce…So good, yet so bad. Somebody please help me out with a replacement for this! Recipes?

This afternoon was devoted to continuing on with the job hunt and I am pleased to say that I will have 2 interviews next week! Woot woot! More on that to come!

Now I am about to have some din din and then will be heading out to watch a little high school football action. We have a big rivalry game tonight, so it is going to be CRAZINESS!

And of course I gotta show some love for my team, so I am contemplating on what to wear…here’s what I was thinking:

Option 1:

Option 2:

Option 3:

Opinions??? hahaha

Have a fantastic Friday everyone!

xoxo

Bad Blogger

2009-09-01T20:41:00.001-05:00

Hi guys!!!

So first off, I wanted to apologize for being such a bad blogger lately! Things have been rather crazy lately with school having started back up and everything. A lot of times, I come home tired, and don’t really feel like having my brain work to read when it’s been going all day. Ya know?? But I definitely don’t want to leave all my favorite bloggie friends out of my life! From here on out, I will be doing my best to keep up with all you lovely ladies…bare with me! :)

School has gotten off to a great start so far. I really like my classes and am actually enjoying giving my brain a challenge after spending a few too many summer afternoons watching trash t.v. ;) Wait…who am I kidding…you can never watch TOO much trash t.v.!!

A while ago, I mentioned I would doing a business program through my school this year. Basically, it allows me to get out of school for the afternoon and work a job for my “elective” credits. I really loved this idea because after being at school all day, I was never really fond of the idea of going to work ON TOP of school. So this makes it much easier to fit in work AND a job! But right now, I’m in the horrid job searching progress and obviously with the economy the way it is right now, there ain’t too many people willing to help a sista out. I am frantically searching…so keep your fingers crossed for me that I find something!

Ok, you guys want to talk about food now, right?! Well I’ve got something that you all need to try stat!

Enter: Chia Pudding

Pure heaven, bliss, deliciousness…whatever you want to call it.

I have been a tad bit obsessed with chia seeds ever since I ordered 3 pounds of it online. ;)

Here’s the loot:

1 cup Almond millk

1/4 cup chia seeds

lots of cinnamon

1 tbsp vanilla extract

1 banana, mashed

I combined everything and stirred it up really good. Then I let it set and thicken for about 10 minutes, stirred it again, then put it in the fridge overnight. Let the flavors mingle overnight and get ready to have your mouth rocked. :)

Try this! Try this! Try this! Ahhh, it is so good!

Now it’s time for me to get ready for bed…it’s another early morning tomorrow!

Night folks! :D

Happy Dance

2009-08-28T16:13:00.001-05:00

YES, Fitnessista, I’m doing the happy Friday dance!

This week has definitely been a change, as I started back to school on Tuesday. It felt so weird to be back!! It was really hard for me to get my brain back into “school mode” because I’m still in “summer mode!”

I’ve gotten used to going to sleep late and waking up late so my body is feeling pretty worn out by now, having to switch around those times. So I don’t know about all of you, but I am glad the weekend is here so that I can recuperate! this week has just kind of been a whirlwind of craziness. But I think that next week, everything will settle down and become more normal. For now though…TGIF!

On the eating front, I just finished off a lovely lunch, made from leftovers….the best thing for the lunches the next day!

Last night I made an awesome batch of whole wheat pizza, following Jenna’s Recipe. It was just as delish as last time. :)

So for lunch today, I had one of my FAVORITE salads ever…none other than…

Pizza Salad:

This was so so so so (so so so) GOOD! Here is what I used:

1 slice of leftover pizza, torn up
spinach leaves
broccoli slaw
sliced grape tomatoes
chopped onion
tomato paste + garlic powder + sea salt + basil (for my dressing)

Fork lickin’ good

As for dessert, I munched on some yummy grapes:

Lately for dessert, I have been enjoying a very easy recipe from a fellow blogger, Carrots n Cake!

No Bake Peanut Butter Cookies!!!

I made these fabulous little cookies except that I used almond butter and about 1/2 the amount of agave nectar. They turned out very good!! Note: if you decrease the amount of agave nectar, like me, you will probably have to add in a bit of water otherwise they are pretty dry.

This recipe took my 5 minutes to make. So hurry up and make these babies ASAP!

On the the agenda for tonight is going to my high school’s football game. Even though i’m exhausted, one of the clubs I am in runs the concession stands, which means I will be helping out. Then I will most likely come home and crash out. Wild child, let me tell ya. ;)

What are YOUR weekend plans?

Boston Recap

2009-08-24T13:46:00.001-05:00

Happy Monday!

Well, its that time of the year…Summer has come to an end and everyone is making their ways back to school. Where did the time go?!? It amazes me every time how fast the summer goes by.

Good Luck to everybody who started school today and those who will be starting soon!

Now, back to Bahhhston. I will just show you guys some of the highlights of the trip because I doubt any of you wants to see the 1,343,434 pictures that we took. ;)

Our plane left bright and early in the morning, and I was too excited to sleep very much at all the night before…so I caught up on some Zzz’s on the plane ride. Jessica caught me in the act:

I zonked out. hard.

We settled into our rooms,

and then set out to do a little exploring.

We walked right along the Boston Harbor, which was beautiful:

Then made our way to “Little Italy”, this cute downtown section made up of tons of delicious Italian restaurants and shops, and made a stop for dinner.

I honestly don’t even remember the name of the restaurant, but it fabulous none the less. :) My sister has been to Europe and she said that this place reminded her a lot of how Europe had been.

We came back to the hotel and hit the sack. We needed to be well rested for all of the exploring that would take place!

We got a great package on a trolley tour and basically took that around the city most of the days.

One day, we went to the Aquarium. I’m sure all know, after all of my zoo pics from St Louis, that I love any kind of animal attraction. So I was so excited to go to this.

Here are some of the cool animals we watched:

Jelly Fish!

PENQUINS!!!

fish that I wanted to take home:

Sea horse:

I snapped this next picture at just the right time, ahaha:

Here’s some shark action for you:

Moving on to my birthday celebration! It was awesome to spend my 17th birthday in Boston. Living in the small town that I do, I don’t have a whole lot of options for fun things to do. So I got a great recommendation for a place called Douzo, a fabulous sushi place!

This was my very first sushi experience! It was SO GOOD!!!

here are my sis and I waiting to get in:

FOOD!!!

I ordered the seaweed salad to start out with. I LOVE seaweed, so was very glad to see it on the menu. Then I ordered the Scorpion Roll for my main meal. It was a combo of crab, shrimp, cucumber, and avocado made with brown rice:

What a great birthday dinner. Sushi is officially my new best friend. :)

Now here is a look around the city:

And I could go on and on (and on and on) but I better stop there in an effort to prevent your boredom (if you even made it this far, haha)

Oh, I do have one other picture that you guys might find amusing.

It was hard to walk away and not buy that sweat shirt. hahaha

Home Sweet Home

2009-08-23T22:36:00.001-05:00

Hey guys! I’m baaaack! :D

All in all, Boston was a blast. There is so much culture and history there and I learned/saw a ton of interesting stuff. But I am definitely so glad to be home and in my own bed. I am pretty exhausted and can’t wait for my head to hit my pillow and be able to recuperate from this week’s festivities.

Tomorrow will definitely be a relax/catch up day, especially because it is my very last day of Summer. Ahhhh, the horror! I can’t even believe how extremely fast the summer went by this time around. I start school on Tuesday and it hasn’t even hit me yet. It’s going to be weird to have to get into a new routine again but I am ready to embrace the change. I am excited for what life has in store for me, so bring it on. :)

There WILL be a picture recap, but try as I might, my eyes refuse to stay open any longer, so that will have to wait until tomorrow. I was lucky enough to spend my birthday in Boston, so there will also be some pics from a very special birthday dinner!

Also, I will be slowly playing catch up with all of my lovely blogettes. I got a chance here and there to read some blogs on my phone, but near enough to get my daily dose! I can’t wait to see what has been happening up in Bloggy Land since I’ve been gone.

See you tomorrow for the recap!

~Kristi

Bean Town here I come

2009-08-16T12:31:00.001-05:00

Well, I can’t believe it’s finally here, but I will soon be on my way to Boston! Unfortunately not for the Healthy Living Summit, but still, I’m excited. ;)

Our plane leaves bright and early Monday morning! The airport is an hour away from where we are so we will be driving over tonight and staying in a hotel right next to it tonight.

I am *almost* finished packing. I tried very hard to not procrastinate this time around and I feel like I did a pretty good job! I started packing the bulk of my stuff…clothes, shoes, etc a few nights ago and now all I have to pack is my bathroom stuff.

I woke up determined to make today a productive day since I still have a list of things to do before I leave tonight. So as soon as I woke up, I hit the treadmill for a quick interval run/walk to start my day out right. I felt so much better afterwards!

After my run I savored every sip of this lovely Green Monster as I won’t be able to have one for another whole week. Sigh.

It contained:

1 cup almond milk
butt load of spinach
1 scoop of amazing grass, pom mango flavor
1 huge scoop of cocoa powder
1 frozen banana
lots of ice

GM, you will be missed. *tear*

Yesterday while out at Target, picking up a few last minute things for the trip, I picked up this:

My first aluminum water bottle! It was too cute to say no to. ;) I have been wanting to make changes to live a more green lifestyle and I think that this is the perfect place to start. I will be taking this with me to Boston and will not be using a single plastic water bottle while I am there. Go me. :D

On the eating front, I promised more foodie pictures, so here is a glimpse at what I have been enjoying lately.

My latest yogurt mess concoction…Oikos plain greek yogurt with 2 tbsp PB2, Uncle Sams cereal, Annie’s Bunnies, and dried apricots:

Some juice made it’s way into my amazing grass shaker!

Tons of sammie combos and hugh jasses:

Eggstadas:

Stuffed bell peppers and green bean fries: (holy yum)

Recipe to come? I think so.

A new peanut butter…chocolate chip cookie dough, to be exact:

*drool*

Chocolate pudding:

I made this using Oikos greek yogurt (plain) and mixed in dark chocolate cocoa powder and stevia. Topped with a scoop of fro yo, naturally. ;)

And that’s all for now, folks! I’ve got to get my boot-ay in gear and get things done!

Adios for now!

Hum hum Hummus

2009-08-12T21:44:00.001-05:00

Happy Hummus Day :D

Okay, I totally just made up that day, but it seems fitting since I have been eating my way through some serious hummus today. (and lately)

I owe a big thanks to Abby for hosting that awesome hummus giveaway, because somehow, even with my luck, I managed to win it!

Here is the package I received from Abby:

3 containers: red hot chili pepper, roasted garlic, and sundried tomato:

Mini hummus to go!

Cute note:

This stuff has got some awesome nutrition stats. It is super low calorie, which means I get to eat a LOT of it, hehe.

I’ve got to say, this is pretty tastey. (as if there was any doubt in my mind that I wouldn’t like it!)

I also picked up a spicy hummus trio at Sam’s last weekend!

Pretty, eh??

This stuff is super yummy and oh so creamy. Definitely recommend BOTH hummus brands!

Another recent package was this:

Coconut Water!!!

This is my new love. I love drinking one of these babies right after a good workout. They are so refreshing.

I picked up one of these during vacation and have decided that I NEED to order a box of them ever since. So I did, haha. :)

benefits of coconut water:

* Coconut Water is better than processed baby milk- It contains lauric acid, which is present in human mother’s milk and benefits the immune system.

* keeps the body cool and at the proper temperature

* detoxify our bodies and fight viruses

* Full of natural sugars, salts, and vitamins to ward off fatigue

* has more electrolytes than leading sports drinks with 15 times the potassium

* has more potassium than 2 bananas!

*naturally replenishes your bodies fluids after exercise

* cleanse your digestive tract

*raise your metabolism, promote weight loss

*balance your PH and reduce risk of cancer

* Coconut water has 5mg of natural sugars where sports and energy drinks range from 10-25mg of altered sugars.

* Coconut water is very high in chloride at 118mg, compared to sports drinks at about 39mg. Chloride is one of the most important minerals in the blood, along with sodium, potassium, and calcium.

WOW!

That is some pretty good stuff right there, if you ask me. I bought this case off of Amazon, fyi.

And come I’m going to go for a late night summer time swim with friends…I can’t believe I will only be only be able to do it a few more times and then BAM. Summer’s going to be over! Wahhhh.

Night Everyone! <3

Race Time!

2009-08-09T14:19:00.001-05:00

Hi guys!

Sorry my posting has been so sporadic lately. I promise to get back to lots of food filled yummy posts soon! :D

But first, I have a few pics of a race I ran in yesterday. This was kind of a last minute thing and I just decided to go for it. So that makes 2 5k races completed for me! Woot woot!

The race site was about an hour drive from me, so I set my alarm clock for a bright and early 5 o’clock. I have to admit, I wasn’t exactly excited when it went off in the morning. ;)

I whipped up a green monster to take on the road:

My pre-run mix contained:

1 cup almond milk
1/2 frozen banana
1/2 cup frozen mango
1 scoop pom mango amazing meal
spinach
1 scoop dark chocolate cocoa powder

Mmmmmm. :)

And I packed this snacked for afterwards:

The coconut water tasted SO good after a nice run. It is so refreshing. You gotta try it, folks.

I have been continually running throughout the whole summer, but I would have to say that I was definitely more prepared for my last 5k. I remember not being so exhausted, like I was for this one. Don’t get me wrong, I did enjoy my run yesterday, but it was also a bit of a kick of a boot-ay…which we all need every know and then!

Also of note, this course was definitely NOT FLAT. In fact, the majority of it was up-hill and mannnn, could I feel it. And mannnn, do I feel it even more today. Ouch.

My mom was the photographer for these next couple of photos. I actually forgot my camera (gasp!) so she snapped these with her phone.

Around the 1/2 way point:

crossing the finish line…while I’m trying to grab my ipod earbud that is falling out:

My official race time: 28:27.

Not too shabby, in my book. :)

The best thing about the race? FREE HATS!

And not just any hat, but pink ones! There were other colors, too, but I of course opted for the pink. ;)

The cap say “Did I Beat Don?” The whole race was about this hardcore runner named Don who is in his 90’s. He still runs all the time!! I just find that so amazing. He was a speedy one, that’s for sure. So you guys want to know whether I beat him or not, eh? Wellll…I let him win, okay? ;)

All in all, I’m glad I did this race. There is seriously no feeling like the feeling you get when you finish a race. I just love it, and with each race I do, the motivation for running starts up all over again. I’m so glad that I am strong and able to run…and I will be darn happy if I am in half as good of shape as Don in my 90’s. :)

Trip Recap, Part 2

2009-08-06T10:18:00.001-05:00

Good Morning!

Back to my St Louis trip recap, I should say that we weren’t actually staying in St Louis. Our hotel was actually just right outside of St Louis, in the small town of Collinsville…home of the largest ketchup bottle!

Shout out to my girl, Baylee, for giving me the heads up on that one! :) Of course we had to check it out, because we all know ketchup is the shiz.

I wanted to get my picture taken next to it, but when we found it, we had underestimated how HUGE this thing was! It was way up on this wire thing, so there was now way I would have been able to get a pic with it. darn.

We set aside time to go another quite tall object…the St Louis Arch!

I don’t know which was taller…the ketchup bottle or the arch! haha.

After waiting in line for over an hour to get our tickets, we made our way over to hop in the “giant egg” to take us up to the top of the arch. According to the director, it takes 4 minutes to go up and 3 minutes to get back down. There are about 6 little seats in each ride, and luckily we got paired with some nice people. :)

You could literally see the entire city when looking out on top. It was quite the view.

We snapped some pics while we were up there:

The rest of that day was spent shopping. We hit up the downtown area and visited some strip malls. It was a lot of fun, especially since we live in a small town with very minimal shopping.

There were two places in particular that I really enjoyed…

LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT.

This was my very first trip to Trader Joes and I absolutely love it!!! I can’t wait to move somewhere that has a Trader Joes. Everything was such a good deal; they really know how to keep their prices low…hint, hint, Whole Foods. ;)

I picked myself up some nut butta lovin’…

Raw almond butter jars for $4.99!!!! Needless to say, I stocked up.

Sunflower Seed Butter!!

Assortment of bars:

Can you guess what’s in the bag??

If you guessed Medjool dates, you are correct! :)

New-found love:

I spotted some coconut water, and after seeing it on Fitnessista’s blog so many times, I knew I had to try it.

Two words. HOLY YUM.

I actually ordered a box on Amazon since I can’t find it here, hehe.

We also spent a day at a water park, called Raging Rivers. We had lots of fun going down slides, and relaxing in the wave pool and lazy river. :D Unfortunately, I decided not to take my camera in, so there are no pics of that.

All in all, it was a great time, and fun to get away for awhile. I’m so glad that my mom, sister, and I are so close and are able to have such a good time together. The 3 of us being able to spend time together made it a very special trip.

Next up on the travel list…Boston!

Trip Recap, Part 1

2009-08-03T19:10:00.001-05:00

Happy Monday!!!

I hope everyone has had a great start to their week. I started mine off with an old friend that I have missed dearly over the past week:

“Reunited and it feels so good…”

As you can see, I am QUITE the artist. Obv.

The mix for this green monster was:

1 frozen banana
1 scoop Amazing Meal Pom Mango
1 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
1 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk
1 tbsp chia gel
ice!

It was quite delish. I was seriously crazing these things the WHOLE time last week on our trip. And sadly there was no way I could make one, so I had to tough it out.

TRIP RECAP:

So back to the trip details…my mom, sister, and I had a blast while in St Louis! It is always nice to get away and I have a big passion for traveling. I have slowly added to my list of “places traveled” but I plan on doing a TON more in the future. There are so many amazing places out there and I don’t want to miss any of it! :D

The awesome thing about St Louis is that there is so much FREE stuff to do! We went to many FUN events that were completely free and had a blast. And you know what that means…more money for shopping! Ahhhh yeaaa.

Thanks to the advice of many lovely blogettes, we checked out some pretty neat places.

Here we are one night at the Botanical Gardens:

On Wednesday nights, the Botanical Garden has free live music performances! After a day of shopping, we packed up a picnic and headed on over.

You’d never guess what I picked up to eat…

WHOLE FOODS HOT BAR!!!

How in the world do I live without one of these stores in my town?!? I honestly do not know how.

Before leaving the gardens, we just had to snap a few pictures. It was SO GORGEOUS there. Definitely a perfect place for pictures!

Me with Mamma Sweet Cheeks:

Now with my sister:

This looks kind of like a sun:

We also hit up the Zoo. Yet another free thing to do! My sister and I LOVE zoos and we were like little kids running around that place all day. It was so much fun!!

Baby elephant:

baby giraffe:

Some wild asses: (my type, if I were an animal. holla!)

HIPPO!!!

I felt sorry for him because his water was so dirty. :/

A cool lookin’ animal…

This little fella was munching on some romaine lettuce:

I was feeling pretty hungry at that point and almost asked if I could have some.

While he ate, his brother was all snuggled up sleeping:

Our zoo day wasn’t completely free because we wanted to see the sea lion show! The price definitely wasn’t bad though…3 dollars per person!

I want a sea lion as a pet now! These guys were so smart and funny. It was amazing to see!

And in an effort not to bore you all with a zillion pictures, I will save the rest for the next post. Your welcome. :)

Now I am off to go watch Twilight with my sister! It has been far too long…I mean, I need at least a weekly viewing! Don’t judge…

Goodnight!

One more day of vaca

2009-07-31T17:03:00.001-05:00

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

2009-07-24T21:24:00.001-05:00

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