InstaFriday

We made it through another week. This was a busy week but I still have lots to do this weekend (study, write a paper, work on my thesis results, & go to the pool). Hopefully the rain does not take away from the last thing on the list.

Here's a short recap of the week:

Whole Foods had 1/2 price quesadillas last weekend! Yes, we bought 6 for lunches this week. They were delish! We usually do not buy their pre-made food but this was such a great deal.

Study, study, study! Cadaver lab is fun... studying for identification exams takes up a ton of my time.

 I love Saturday morning poolside yoga at The Renaissance. What a great way to start my weekend.  This weekend is the last of the 8 week session.

Running is going good so far. By 9:30am today I will have completed week 3 which means I am jogging for 3 minutes at a time. Its really not as bad as I thought. What! Did I just say that?

Have a great weekend! If you need me I will be studying by the pool. Stay cool southern friends... it is supposed to be 36C/97F today!

pool time

One of the things I love about our current place is the pool. I like having pool access any time I please. The first few times I went I always forgot something at home. Like any other area of my life I decided to make a list of things to bring. Here's whats on my list:

workout 1 - workout 2 - a purple bikini - sunglasses - a hat - a cup of water - sunscreen - an extra large beach towel - a cute HBC bag to fit everything into

Some other things I bring with me include a hair clip, my dissection textbook, my iPod with some great music. 

Time to go get some sunshine & underwater exercise to stay cool.

garlic rosemary polenta fries

When I first discovered that I love polenta, I pinned tons of recipes for future use. This past weekend I decided to try out another new one: polenta fries!

ingredients:

1 tube garlic polenta

Pam spray

black pepper, to taste

manchego cheese

Preheat oven to 425. Line cookie sheet with parchment. Cut polenta into 36 fries. Spread out on cookie sheet then lightly spray with Pam. Bake for 45 minutes, flipping half way through. Remove from oven. Top with crushed black pepper and grated manchego. Serve & enjoy!

We had ours with tomato, basil, mozzarella salad and it was a great combination!

cucumber salad with roasted chickpeas

I find the best recipes online. Seriously. 

Sometimes those recipes come from vegan blogs. Those are the ones B raves about for days... I think he is a closet vegan.

This cucumber salad was amazing. Honestly, I am not going to give you the recipe because I copied it exactly. You should just head on over to Oh She Glows and follow along yourself. This would make a great side dish or an entree. We ate ours as an entree and had multiple extra servings to eat for lunch.

My bowl was vegan...until I added some blue cheese crumbles. It was a great addition!

anniversary #2

I cannot believe B and I have been married for 2 years. It has gone by so quickly! For our anniversary we went to Gino's as recommended by some classmates of mine.

The restaurant had a beautiful rustic vibe with excellent service, a great menu & extensive wine list. We enjoyed a bottle of 2008 chianti.

 For our appetizer, we each had the house salad with green olive vinaigrette and fresh anchovies!

 I went for the house lasagna for dinner which was delicious. B had the special: osso bucco!

Finally, we shared the chocolate mousse cake for dessert!

We both said we will go back to Gino's anytime we want Italian food. If you come visit us, we may even take you to this hidden gem.

P.S. For my anniversary gift, B got me a card, green juice, and pimento cheese. He knows the way to my heart... oh and Michael Buble tickets for the concert in NOLA in October!

InstaFriday

Is it seriously Friday already? This summer semester is going by so quick! We have already completed 2/7 weeks! That means I need to work more on my thesis and my anatomy paper. Oh, and read my dissector textbook all weekend.

Here's what I have been up to this week:

1. At the grocery store on Sunday I found some Duck Dynasty sunglasses. The shape was really cute but I do not think I can pull off camouflage on a daily basis... or ever.

2. 111F! That was a toasty afternoon.

3. I picked up these flowers last weekend at Whole Foods. I purposely bought them closed so I could watch them open. What a great view in the morning.

4. Wednesday night's anniversary dinner was a great time to wear my J.Crew pearls and paisley dress. I will tell you more about dinner on Monday, it was delicious!

 

This weekend involves lots of reading and maybe some writing, pool time (if it is not raining), Saturday morning yoga, grocery shopping, and a little bit of relaxation.

Have a great weekend!

 

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anniversary #2

Happy 2nd Anniversary to my wonderful husband!

What have we been up to? Well B finished his PhD, we moved to a different country, traveled to 4 new countries plus tons of domestic trips, I am half done my MSc and.... well that's about it. Its been an amazing but busy 2 years but I would not change a thing.

Thank you for being you.

Anyone want to predict what we will accomplish this next year? I honestly have no clue!

run

Shhh... I have a secret. I have been working towards my goal of running 5km. It was one of my NYR and since half the year is past I thought I should get working on it. Yes, I know June in Louisiana is not the best time to start running but I find it quite enjoyable in the mornings. I can teach 2 hours straight of Zumba but I cannot run for more than 1 minute. Nuts! I did some research and I decided to start with the couch to 5k program. Its only 30 minutes of training 3 days per week, the app on my iPod tells me exactly when to run and when to walk, and I can listen to my fave music at the same time. 

Week 1 was successful! B even joined me on Friday (even with the excess humidity). This week I increase my running time. I'll let you know how that goes.

To keep me motivated I have pinned a bunch of running quotes. Here are some of my faves:

Time for week 2 day 1!

feta slaw

Have you ever been to Zoe's Kitchen? Its a southern place with delicious Greek food. Sometime I go there for a quick meal if I am short on time but need something healthy. They have some amazing feta coleslaw... luckily it was easy to make at home too! We added some caramelized onions on top for some sweetness.

feta coleslaw

1 small head of cabbage, thinly sliced

6oz crumbled feta

6 green onions, chopped

1/4c red wine vinegar

1/2c evoo

pepper

1t sugar

Combine first three ingredients in a large bowl. In a separate bowl, whisk together last 4 ingredients. Toss together. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

We loved this because it included feta and it was a great way to have coleslaw that was not mayo based! This would be a great recipe to try for your next potluck or picnic.

InstaFriday

Happy Friday!

This week summer semester started at LSU. Did you know we are already 1/7th complete? It's a been a busy week of teaching, class, research, oh and some other fun stuff too. Here's a quick recap:

1. Sundays at the pool = sunshine + studying for cadaver lab.

2. Breakfast cookies have completed my week. With an early morning Zumba class to teach I need something substantial to get me through to lunch. This has been the perfect solution!

3. A bestie birthday FaceTime! Happy birthday week!

4. My mornings really have been "me time" this week. Here's how I have spent my time:

M/W - teach Zumba, study, teach Zumba, study, cadaver dissection

Tu/Th/F - teach Zumba, complete couch to 5K workout, teach Zumba, yoga, study, volunteer

Seriously. I feel so spoiled is summer semester! I have really been enjoying my schedule so far. Remember when I made my 2013 goals? Well one of them was to be able to run 5K. I did nothing about that goal for the first half of the year so I have decided to start now... in June, in Louisiana... the humidity in the morning is nuts but the heat is bearable and I have found the perfect route that is shaded most of the way! B even came with me today! I feel successful after completing week 1. I have an app that tells me when to walk or run over my music so the workouts fly by!

Have a great weekend! Mine will be filled with studying (first cadaver test on Monday), Mexican food, pool time, and some Saturday morning yoga!

 

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nectarine

I don't have much to say today. So, here's a story for you:

The other day at the grocery store I saw nectarines and they looked amazing. I put two in a bag to purchase. Thank goodness the cashier noticed because they were $2.35/ nectarine! That's crazy! I decided to only buy one.

I cherished every ounce of that nectarine.

 

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225 discount

We went on a date on Saturday. Actually, we refuse to buy cable and wanted to watch the LSU baseball game so we knew we had to go out for dinner to a location with a TV. I really like this strategy because I feel like buying cable would not be a good use of money and its a good excuse to go out for dinner. After I went to yoga at The Renaissance Hotel on Saturday morning I was reminded of Tallulah crafted food & wine bar. They have a great atmosphere and delicious food so it was our location of choice. I went on their website and found out that Baton Rouge residents get 22.5% off on Saturday nights when they show their local ID. Score! 

We shared some wine, each had a cup of tomato, crawfish & artichoke soup, and shared an andouille sausage and olive pizza. The food was delicious and we had great service by the staff while sitting up at the bar.

It was a perfect date and ended with a win by LSU. We plan to go back on a Saturday night again soon.

P.S. I loved my pearls & stripes combo!

green juice #5

I really have no clue if this is the 5th green juice recipe I have posted. I thought it was a good guess so we are going with it. I watched Fat, Sick & Nearly Dead on the iPad this week. Have you seen it? It made me realize we have not made any green juice for a while so I knew it was a necessity this weekend.

I made this juice on Sunday morning with a bunch of random veggies that I found in the fridge. 

No planning, basic prep, and a delicious result.

1/2 handful herb mix lettuce

7 leaves kale

1 bulb and stalks anise

1 cucumber

1 red apple

saturday yoga

How was your weekend? Mine was excellent, thanks for asking. 

On Saturday morning I was finally able to attend a free yoga class put on by Lululemon at The Renissance Hotel. They had 59 people in attendance! After class, the hotel provided free smoothies to the attendees. Although I forgot to take a photo during or after class since I was in zen mode, here is a selfie I took in the car:

Thank you Lululemon Baton Rouge for the great yoga class, the tasty smoothies, and for refreshing my curls for the weekend.

I do not work next Saturday so I am definitely attending again!

P.S. If you want to see photos from the event check here.

InstaFriday

Happy Friday!

How was your week? Mine was filled with class prep, working on data for hours, work, volunteering, and exercise! We walked or ran the lake everyday single day this week! I even mapped it one day using Map My Run on my iPhone, one loop is .76 of a mile. Usually we do three loops in the morning which is the perfect length (distance & time) for a morning workout. Here are some highlights from my week:

1. I love my new J.Crew dress.

2. A friend has asked me to make her a cowl in green. I finally went to the craft store and took photos of yarn options. She picked her shade of choice and now I just have to wait for the yarn to go on sale and get knitting! I told her I will probably make it when we go to Florida in August. I love to knit in the car.

3. Pool time! It felt like 36C on Saturday afternoon so this was absolutely necessary. I finally went in the pool.

4. Have you tried the new McDonalds egg white delight breakfast sandwiches? They are delish and only 250 calories! I got 2 coupons for free sandwiches in my newest Shape magazine so they were cheap too!

5. First hurricane of the year. Luckily it is not headed toward us! I know you cannot see the small writing but it is reported that this is supposed to be a very active hurricane season, not cool.

6. I took this photo at 6pm on Thursday. Over 10,000 steps is a successful day for me.

7. Thank you Starbucks for the $1 iced coffee this morning! There is a coupon on Facebook for today only!

8. Have your tried these sugar free, gluten free chocolate peanut butter bites yet? They are amazing... and gone. This photo is from last weekend. I posted a link to the recipe yesterday.

 

Have a wonderful weekend! I do not work so we will be busy doing things around the house, running errands, and going to the pool! LSU baseball also plays this weekend some may find somewhere to watch the game. Summer semester starts Monday so that shall keep us busy for the next 7 weeks!

 

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snacks

Summer session starts next week! This means this week has been busy with class prep, getting ahead on my thesis work, and doing everything else I try to achieve every week. Next week gets even busier with a new schedule for the next 2 months: teach 2 classes in the morning, class in the afternoon, and work or volunteer in the evening. With such a busy schedule I will need to plan ahead to ensure I am eating healthy snacks throughout the day. Here are some of my fave snacks that are portable, simple, and quick:

pb chia seed cookies - healthy and decisions

nuts - you can take them anywhere

hummus & veg - we eat this every day

frozen chocolate pb bites - a delicious sweet great that is sugar free!

green juice - just put it in a mason jar and you can take it with you

 

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sauteed brussel sprout salad

B was out of town last week which means that I made everything he does not like... blue cheese and brussel sprouts.  I did not think I liked brussel sprouts but I read recently that they are very good when chopped and sauteed. I really wanted to try it this way because I have been enjoying so many new foods lately. Dinner for myself was the perfect time to try the recipe!

sauteed brussel sprout salad

12 brussel sprouts, stems removed, thinly sliced and separated

5 slices pancetta, diced

8oz mushrooms, sliced

1T coconut oil

1/4c craisins

1/4c chopped walnuts

1/2c blue cheese crumbles

Melt coconut oil in a pan. Add pancetta and cook until crispy. Add brussel sprouts and mushrooms. Sautee until cooked through. I like my mushrooms extra soft so I always add a few minutes to the cook time. Remove from heat. In a large bowl mix sauteed ingredients with remaining ingredients. Serve immediately.

This salad was refreshing and delicious. I now know I really like brussel sprouts this way. They were sweet and full of flavor. Sorry mom, you may need to change how your serve this vegetable... although I do not think I could convince you to add blue cheese... or KD to eat mushrooms... or B to eat craisins or brussel sprouts. I guess dad and I will be eating this one by ourselves.

This also made amazing leftovers the next day! Yes, I like stinky food.

J.Crew sale

Happy June! Its a new month. This month will be filled with summer semester, days at the pool to stay cool, & delicious food (most likely salads as I hate cooking when it is hot out).

There were tons of great markdowns at J.Crew last week. Lots of things I have had my eye on for a while went on sale. Here is what I purchased:

skinny patent neon citron belt - perfect shirt in crosshatch linen - ratti electric kiwi tank - rugby stripe dress

I would call it a successful shopping moment in my life.

I think I will get tons of wear out of everything this summer!