A Year From Today..

I'm stressed.

I'm not going to lie or sugarcoat it.

It's not that I'm having a bad day, I'd even go so far as to say I've had a good day. That doesn't stop me from being stressed, however.

I meant to post earlier this morning, but I had other things I needed to get done first, so I kept putting it off. Then earlier tonight I sat down to write a post and just stared at the screen. Stressing about all of that blank, white space that I was going to have to fill up. Then I was immediately annoyed that I felt like I "had" to write a post. I don't. This blog is for me. I don't make money off of it (big props to those who do, i'm a jealous, jealous girl) so I have no obligations. I have plenty to write about, that's not the problem either. The problem is that I'm stressed and I don't want to talk about my short comings. But that's what I feel like writing about. I'm a big bunch of contradictions. Welcome to my life.

So today, instead of filling the post with pictures like I usually do, I'm just going to write. Feel free to stop reading, starting now. 


I think my problem is that a few weeks ago I turned 23. I know that's not old. But I can also vividly remember my 18 year old self thinking I'd have my life together by 23. How naive was I?

18 year old self.. dear lord

Things don't always go as we plan them to. Plans change, people change, life changes. I'm glad I didn't stick with the plans my 18 year old self had made. However, I wish I had actually replaced those plans with more plans. Instead I just kind of.. stayed. In a lot of ways I feel like I got lazy. I wouldn't say I'm a lazy person, at all. I'm a workaholic for goodness sakes, I'm not lazy. But as far as my life goals go, I've always had some, sure. But I haven't done everything I should've done to accomplish those goals. I lost site of the long-term.

So, I've been carrying around a notebook and pen all day today. Writing things. Making lists. Lists are like my baby blanket. I cling to them when I need comfort. I make them for everything. I just like seeing everything written out.

Some of the lists included..
New majors for myself. Time to change this school thing. Time to get something accomplished. Time to think long-term.
New manageable cleaning schedule for my apt. Time to stay on top of it, so I'm not wasting spending a whole day cleaning once a week.
New financial management list. Time to save that cash money.
New meals I want to try. I'm sick of making chicken and veggies.
New exercise schedule. I need to find something that actually works for ME. Something I will stick to. Something manageable.
New and updated lists of DIY projects I want to do. Soon.

The last list I made was my most important. Goals. Big life goals. Ultimate goals. But I didn't stop there. This time, I made "sub-goals". Little goals to complete on my way to my big goals.

Ya see, I'm just overwhelmed. I have so much I want to do and I have for a long time now. Years. I have bigger goals than I sometimes think possible. Some of my goals might not ever get accomplished. I know that, and I guess I accept that as a likely outcome. I just don't want to focus on that.

I have big dreams, a big heart, and a big pant size. That's me. That's where I'm at today.

A year from today? Let's talk again. Because a year from today I'm gonna be a lot closer to the person I want to be the rest of my life.

What's "the weekend"?

Today, on this beautiful Monday morning, let's play a game!

It's a fun game I play far too often. It's called "What's 'the weekend'?" It's fun. Basically it's where you try to figure out when work on Friday stops. Because my weekend was missing. I had no weekend.

We had a little.. mishap, you could say, at the office. I spent 3 weeks working on a client and finally finished them. Well somewhere between my laptop, the thumb drive, and my boss' computer, the file went missing. Poof. Gone.

We tried everything we could think of to try to find my 3 weeks of work. We still have no idea what happened. So a lot of my weekend was spent re-doing that work. It looked like this..

Now that sounds super depressing, and trust me, it was. I did escape to go see Safe Haven on Friday night.

LOVED IT! I make fun of Nicholas Sparks all the time, if you follow me on Twitter or Instagram you've probably seen this. For instance, the cover art for all of his books turned movies annoys me.. Guy and girl in an embrace, almost kissing, hands on face.

BUT, I seen all of those movies. AND own all of those books, plus more. So, yes I make fun of him, but also yes, I love most of his books (hated Best Of Me). Even though someone always dies and usually it's someone you don't want to die. So frustrating.

I also printed this picture out and put it on my fridge.

Hello Inspiration.

So Miss Julianna will be in my thoughts this week as I force myself to run and do Jillian Michaels. Now that I've reread that sentence, it sort of sounds creepy and sexual.. but I've decided not to change it. I'm probably shaming my grandparents, but you guys have my back, right? Right. Let's go with that.

Oh and of course, please go check out Sami's blog!

And make sure you read her blog on Friday's too. She does this Twitter recap thing now that I LOVE! I think I need to go to Twitter anonymous or something.

And on that note.. Follow me on Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest! (links on the right, under my picture) 

Victory! {NSVs and a Hoosier win}

I missed this link-up last Thursday because I was spending my Valentine's Day with the love of my life dentist. Insert sad face and a bottle of wine.

So I did not want to miss this link-up today! Because #1, I think this is an awesome way to remind yourself that there's more to you than your weight and #2, because I'm nosey and I like clicking around to read everyone else's NSVs.

Without further ado.. My girls KTJ and Lex..

My Non-Scale Victories for the week are.. weak.

1. I haven't skipped breakfast once this week. Which is huge for me because in the past I would constantly skip breakfast and then be starving by lunch.
2. I created a meal-plan for the next 2 weeks that involves eating more often, but smaller meals. 
3. I start my C25K this weekend. Cold or not, I'm starting. Wish me some major luck, because I'm going to need it.

 Since those are lame, I'll leave you with some #iubb lovelyness! They kicked some booty against Michigan State on Tuesday night. Hoosier pride!

And snap chats with my girl after the #iubb game!

Caprese Corn Salad

How do we feel about "Recipe Tuesday"? Because I think that sounds awesome. Because Tuesdays are hard days to find things to write about because I'm so busy at work right now. So posting a quick recipe is fast and I like it. And what I say goes!

So my mother (who i discussed a little bit here) makes this all the time. It's awesome and this is my first attempt at making it without her. So it's not perfect, but still, really, really good.

Here's what you need..

• 1/4 - 1/2 Cup EVOO (extra virgin olive oil for all of you non-Rachael Ray lovers)
• 1/4 Cup Red Wine Vinegar
• Fresh Basil (if you don't have fresh, don't use any basil at all. dried basil would NOT be good in this)
• 2 Tbs Dijon Mustard
• Mozzarella
• Tomato (1)
• Corn (1 small bag of frozen is what I used) (not pictured above)
• 1 tsp Salt
• 1 tsp Pepper

First dump that bag of frozen corn into a skillet and cook it. My mom has made this recipe with grilled corn taken off of the cob before and it was amazing. But it's February and even in Indiana, fresh corn on the cob is not something you can get right now.

While that's in the pan dice up your basil, mozzarella, and tomatoes.

Ps. That's the same cutting board, but one is with the flash off and the other with the flash on. Crazy iPhone5 camera. #iphoneprobs

Anyway, toss all of that into a bowl..

The in another bowl, mix the dijon mustard, EVOO, red wine vinegar, salt, and pepper. I would recommend starting with a 1/4 cup of EVOO and add more if you feel it's necessary. You can always add, but you can't take away. I jumped right into using a 1/2 cup and later decided that was too much. You could always substitute the red wine vinegar for rice wine vinegar. *update I also added more pepper than it called for. I like pepper. Sue me.

The next step is where things get crazy.. Are you ready? Are you sure?

Add the cooked corn to the bowl full of mozzarella, tomatoes, and basil. Then pour your liquid into that bowl and combine. I know, super complicated.

And Ta Da! It's delicious! I've been known to drizzle balsamic vinegar over it too. So yummy, quick, and easy!

No excuses not to eat healthier!! I'm talking to you Kay..

Weekend Shenanigans

Monday already? I will never understand why someone decided that 5/7 days should be for working. They were crazy. I also don't understand why I never relax on weekends. I'm always busy doing something. I just need a full day to lay in bed and not move.

Anyway, I've mentioned these next 2 blogs a couple times in passing, but I felt like I needed to give them a big shout out because they are 2 blogs that I read daily. I mean, even if I'm crammed for time and I can't read through all of the blogs I follow, I have about 5 that I always make sure I read and these 2 make the cut.

Whitney from I Wore Yoga Pants and Sami from Sami's Shenanigans.

Seriously, go read them. I laugh so much. Hilariousness. And then I get creeped out when I think they're writing about me because I can totally relate to their posts. It's weird. If blogs were like Twitter, I would think they were subtweeting me. And they like wine and honestly, who doesn't like wine?

So in the spirit of my new blog love, I'm linking up with Sami today! Holla at cho girl.

My weekend..

1. I Snap Chat, a lot. This is one of many.
2. I went into Barnes & Noble to waste time and ended up walking out with 5 books..
3. I worked and watched the IU vs. PU game on Saturday! IU killed Purdue. I was a happy girl. And my main man Will Sheehey broke a school record, I'm just saying..
4. I cleaned my apt and decided to purge shit things I wasn't using or didn't need. I ended up with these 5 full bags of trash. Ridiculous. Happy Weekend.
5. To reward myself for #4, I gave myself a little mani. Pink and gold. Gold is currently my new obsession.
6. I laid in bed last night watching Harry Potter on my cute, ghetto TV. And I wasn't sad about it.

And because my friends are going to be pissed and whiny about this and I think that's funny.. Here are some of the Snap Chat gems I received this weekend. I love these people.

Also this happened..

I know, I know. Not part of the diet. But I was having a girl moment and if it makes you feel better, I barely ate any of the ice cream. The wine however.. It's gone.

I hope everyone else had a good weekend! Feel free to bitch to me about it! I love a good vent session. And to all of my #operationredbikini girls.. I hope your weekend food choices were better than my wine and ice cream.

Corn Doggy-Dogg

Get it? Snoop Doggy-Dogg. Corn Doggy-Dogg. No? Just me? Okay.. Anyway.. Things are getting crazy in blog world. I'm posting a 2nd recipe this week. Stop it, I know. I'm getting all domestic on you guys.

This recipe is FOOL PROOF. You heard it here first. Fool. Proof.

Yes I added hearts to the picture. Yesterday was Valentine's Day. It's not weird, it's totally appropriate. Or at least that's what I told myself while doing it. 

Here's what you need..

Totally serious.. Especially if you use the exact box mix that I used, because it was just mixed with water. No eggs, no milk, no oil. Just water.

Then I cut my sausage links into quarters. That's 4 pieces for all of you non-math majors.

THEN I spooned a tiny bit of the batter into the bottom of my greased mini muffin pan. Then I plopped (yes, i plopped) a piece of the sausage on top of that. Then I filled it the rest of the way with batter.

DO NOT use as much cooking spray as I did. There was an explosion. It was unavoidable.

The I put the pan into a 400 degree oven for about 12 minutes. I basically just followed the instructions on the box of muffin mix though, so I recommend doing that.

Finally (12 minutes later) they were done!

And the inside..

JUST like a darn corn dog. And so so taste-y!

Oh, and you could obviously use hot dogs. I think the inspiration picture I saw used hot dogs, but I'm not a hot dog fan, so I switched it up a bit. Either way, they were good and I was happy.

Enjoy! Also enjoy your weekend! Come back on Monday and make sure you tell me all about it! Oh and all of my Dietbet peeps, how's it going for you? How's #operationredbikini going for everyone? Check out Kassie's blog for more info on that.

Valentine's Day 2013

Happy Valentine's Day, lovers and friends!

Today, on Valentine's Day, I was lucky enough to spend all morning at the dentist..

AND.. it's gets better.. I have to go back tomorrow. I know, I know. Lucky me!

I did buy myself a Valentine's present though..

Giant tervis.. holla at your girl! I'm so excited about it, hah. I actually got 3, in 3 different colors. Yay! So Happy Valentine's Day, loves!

All Squash Are Not Created Equal

Let me tell you a story, about a girl, who's never had spaghetti squash.. Until now.

First of all, I told ya'll I was meal planning this week. Basically I spent hours creating a pretty little sheet and then filled it out. I sat down with my calendar and figured out what days I'd have to eat easy meals, what nights I wasn't going to be home, etc. etc. Here's what it looked like when it was all said and done..

This is a guideline for what I'm eating this week. I should point out that it's not set in stone and I can change things whenever I want. For instance, I had a bagel and banana this morning instead of yogurt, granola, and grapes. I'm not gonna sweat it.

Using this sheet, I made a grocery list and went to the store. You'll notice on Monday I was going to make spaghetti squash. Well, I had never eaten spaghetti squash. It was going to be a new experience for me and I was really excited to try it.. Then I got to the grocery store..

I couldn't find the spaghetti squash and when I finally found it, they were not what I was expecting. But they were clearly labeled, so I did a quick shoulder shrug, grabbed two and went home.

When Sunday rolls around I start panicking about my squash. So I do what any other 23 year old does.. I called my mom.

momma and i circa 1994ish

My poor mother. She gets the best cooking calls from me. I called once and said "I bought raw chicken, now what?" True story. Anyway, I was really worried about my squash. So I called her, got advice, and continued on.

Monday rolls around, time for me to conquer cook this squash. Just to check, I hope on Google and search "how to cook spaghetti squash". And not one article said the same thing. 425 degree oven for 30 min. Microwave for 7 min and 35 seconds (because i'm really sure those extra 5 seconds count). 350 degree oven for 45 min to 90 min. That's when I panicked. Excuse me, what? 45 min to 90 min? That's a pretty big time frame, buddy. So I called mom again.

my mom and stepdad this past spring right before my stepdad dropped about 40lbs. and yes, my mom is old enough to be the parent of a child in their 20s. she gets that a lot. she loves it.

Because even if my mom says something completely different than Google, she's my mom, so whatever she says wins. 9 times out of 10 I go with her cooking advice over a recipe's and 10 times out of 10 her way works just fine.

So I selected 375 degree oven. If it was a regular sized spaghetti squash, it'd need about an hour. Mine was not. I apparently selected the smallest spaghetti squash anyone has ever seen, yay me. So I choose about 30-45 minutes.

First I cut it in half, and scooped out the seeds.

For anyone who doesn't know, scooping out the seeds is exactly like scooping the seeds out of a pumpkin. I used a scoop and just scraped them out. Easy peasey.

Then I placed them on a cookie sheet to bake. Just the way they were. Uncovered with no oil or anything on it. Mom told me to.

When they came out I waited for them to cool enough so that I could hold and and I took a fork to the inside. Going from stem to stern.

Then I had a pretty plateful..

The shells looked a little burnt on the bottom once I scraped all of the stuff out, but I don't know if that was wrong or right. Nothing tasted burnt, so I think it's fine.

I ate it with spaghetti sauce, chicken sausage, and mushrooms..

Verdict? I liked it. I didn't love it. I think I need to get used to it. Also, it wasn't pasta and it didn't taste like pasta, so as a pasta substitute, it'd be a bad one. I love me some carbs and so I guess in that way it was a little disappointing. The texture also surprised me. I thought it'd be a lot more.. mushy? Does that make sense? But it wasn't. It was actually kind of crunchy. Not like a raw carrot or something, but it definitely has a crunch factor to it.

I know that's sort of a ho hum post about spaghetti squash, so I'll leave you with this..

Last night I made Skinny Taste's Baked Spaghetti Squash and Cheese (inspired by Kassie's post about it) and it was amazing. I'm serious, it was SO good. No pictures because I was too busy stuffing my face enjoying it. If you're still on the fence about spaghetti squash, try this recipe. Trust me. If you still don't like this one, you're not going to like spaghetti squash.