Annual Beach Weekend

Hola a todos!

This past weekend my hubby and I made our way down to Topsail Island, NC for our annual beach weekend with some of our best friends (a couple of whom are getting reading to move-see HERE to read more about that).

Anywho, I don't know about you, but I have a VERY hard time eating healthy when I am around a group of people at a party or on vacation.  Just being out of your element eating foods that aren't really in your normal routine makes it hard, before even mentioning the treats and goodies that everyone brings to share!  Don't let me fool you-I didn't exactly take cut up veggies to share.  I made a delicious COOKIE DOUGH DIP, adapted from Chocolate Covered Katie's Recipe.  Check her recipe out HERE.

My version of the COOKIE DOUGH DIP!  **recipe from Chocolate Covered Katie**

Needless to say, it was a huge hit.  I decided last week though, that I wasn't going to let food guilt bring me down this weekend.  Oh no!  Instead, I would incorporate some fun beachy workouts into my day Saturday.

Saturday morning, I woke up HOURS before everyone else at about 6:15.  Not on purpose, mind you.  I just have a hard time sleeping in.  Blame it on all those 5:00 am mornings while I was teaching elementary school.  So, instead of sitting around watching the news, I went for an hour-long morning walk on the beach.  It was AMAZING, and really gave me some time for reflection.  After my walk, I headed back to the house and people were starting to wake up.  Hooray!  We hit the beach and walked a bit more, followed by a 45 minute swim.  I am pretty surprised that I was able to stay in the ocean that long-murky water and such;)  You just can't see what you are swimming with, which usually slows me down!  We also had an ongoing couples tournament involving cornhole, bocce, and ladder ball, which kept all of us up and moving.  I felt good about the amount of physical activity on Saturday, which ALMOST made up for the copious snacks I consumed Saturday night!

My FABULOUS view on my morning walk-I would be TOTALLY ok seeing this every day!

More from my walk-this gazebo overlooks the sound side of the island.

Us with all of our friends on the beach-Mike and I are on the far left!

For dinner Saturday night, we made a low country boil.  I don't know how much you know about low country boils, but it is a little slice of heaven when cooking for a big group. You boil all of the ingredients together in a pot, then drain and dump the pot in the middle of a table for the group to share. And-at only about $9 per person, we ate a lot cheaper than heading out to an expensive beach restaurant.  Here are Mikey and I getting ready to partake in the boil-literally PILES of food on the table.  Click HERE for a recipe similar to the one that we used.  **One big change that we made to the recipe is that we used carrots in addition to potatos.**  Also-notice the tin foil under all the food.  Clean-up was a BREEZE.  We just rolled up the foil and tossed it in the trash.  No muss, no fuss.

Once we did get back home, we definitely ended up doing the whole movie and takeout on the couch situation for recovery.  It went something like this:  

Jax and Zoey-nap experts.

Needless to say, the weekend was  a success, and I can't wait for us to all get together again sometime this winter for our "winter classics" tournament.

mon amour

Question of the day:  What fun traditions do you have with your friends or family?

I may live in a sauna.....

So, being as I am training for this half marathon in October, every other day I find myself outside in the steamy eastern NC heat for a run.  Today was no different!  But, sadly, today marked the beginning of the countdown until one of  my running besties relocates with her husband.  AHHHH!!!! *panic setting in*  I hope that when she leaves, I will still find myself motivated to run solo!

Me....running solo?!

Anyway-as for the heat-I could LITERALLY see STEAM coming off the road when we left for our run.  Sheesh.  But, even through the steam, 6 miles and approximately one hour of girl talk later, we were done!

Question for the day:  Do you prefer to run with a pal, or run solo?

Homemade Granola Bars

It's Tuesday Blog World!  And I see no reason to tiptoe around what was on my mind today-Granola yumminess!  

I got the urge this morning **and every other morning** to bake something, but I wanted it to be a healthy option so if I accidentally ate the whole batch, I wouldn't feel as bad about it! Hmm.  Where to begin?  I decided to play around with some of the items that I had in my cabinet to bake up some fresh homemade granola bars!  There is only 1 tablespoon of brown sugar in this recipe, so there is very little added sugar.  The sweetness comes from the banana and unsweetened applesauce, which also bond together the bar.

Here are the stars of my granola show in order of appearance:

1/2 cup of unsweetened applesauce

1 banana

2 tablespoons of powdered peanut butter

1 tablespoon of milled flax seed

a few drops of vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups of old fashioned oats

1/2 cup of campground trail mix

2 tablespoons of chopped walnuts

1 tablespoon of brown sugar

1/2 tablespoon of cinnamon

1 teaspoon of nutmeg

To start, I combined the unsweetened applesauce and banana in my chopper.

 

Before

 

After

 Next, I added the powdered peanut butter, vanilla extract, and milled flax seed to the chopper, and blended them with the banana/applesauce mixture.

 

After you have finished the wet ingredient mixture, add your oats, trail mix, brown sugar, spices, and chopped nuts to a large mixing bowl.  I used my kitchen-aid mixer, but any mixing method will work!

 

Pour your wet mix into the bowl, and get to mixin'!

 

Pour the very thick mixture onto a baking tray.  I don't have a smaller pan, so I made sure that my granola mix only filled up half of the pan.  The size of the pan will determine the thickness of you bars.

 

Bake for about 20 minutes at 350 degrees.  Once the bars have cooled, cut them into 10 bars.  *I may or may not have eaten half of the one at the top AS SOON AS I took it out of the oven!

 

After the bars have cooled, wrap them in plastic wrap or baggie them up and store in the fridge or freezer!

 

 

These bars are chocked full of nutritional value and protein, and are very low in added sugar.  If you make 10 bars, each bar has about 95 calories, and only 6.4 g of sugar!  You may find that these bars are not as sweet as you may like, and you could certainly add honey or more brown sugar to adjust the sweetness to your liking!  Happy baking!

Hello Bloggers!

Hi Everyone! 

Some of you followed me over at Life and Times of a Third Grade Teacher, but, as I am no longer going to be a third grade teacher, I decided to start up a new blog, keeping with my current lifestyle. 

Here's the story:

I am a 26 year old, happily married, running, reading, blogging grad student!  Here is a pic of me and the hubby with our two ADORABLE poochies:

I scored quite a catch with this one!  And as for the doggies, Jax is on the left, and Zoey is on the right.  We adopted both of these dogs from our local shelter, and haven't looked back!

I have been teaching for 4 1/2 FABULOUS years.  I love teaching with all my heart!  Here is me, with some of my kiddos:

**oldie but goodie**

But, sometimes, you have to make changes to do what is best for your family.  So, I decided to go BACK to SCHOOL to become a school administrator.  I applied for a scholarship loan, interviewed, and the next thing you know I am getting together MY school supplies and prepping for a whole new schedule and lifestyle.  *WOAH*  This is a far cry from my usual July meandering through Target, waiting to get the best deal on crayons, markers, and Lysol wipes in bulk! 

This is such a huge change for me, and I am actually surprised by how emotional the whole thing has been-I mean, I get on pinterest, and the next thing I know I am getting excited about back to school games and new classroom management ideas!  Sheesh.  So, I am on the hunt for ways to distract myself from the bittersweet emotions I have with the impending approach of a new school year, that I won't be a part of.

Distraction #1:  run girl run

I love going for a good run.  It definitely helps clear and quiet my mind, and gives me a sense of accomplishment, even on a bad day.  To date, I have run various 5K, 10K, and Half-Marathon Events.  I am NOT going to claim to have the best pace, best stride.....whatever.  I run for the enjoyment, and I love seeing other motivated people at races!  Here I am with a friend at our most recent half-marathon (I'm on the right!):

I am going to call running distraction numero uno since I am training for the Neuse River Bridge Run in October.  Bring it on, bridge!

 

Distraction #2:  chef.boy.ar.dee

I have also developed a passion for trying to cook or bake new things lately.  I have certainly had my fair share of FAILS, but I would say there have been an equal amount of YUMMY treats that have come out of this hobby.  I will post about recipes that I try, and let you know how they turn out!

Distraction #3:  house upgrade

My husband and I put our house on the market almost a year ago.....womp.  We are still sitting right here in the same living room we were a year ago....womp.  No time for pity parties though.  We are constantly trying to upgrade and re-do something, and I will let you know how each reno goes!


Anywho, please follow along with my journey, and I hope you enjoy some of the recipes, workouts, and other projects that I share!

Question for the Day:

What kinds of challenges have you recently had to face or overcome?