BLONDIES = <3

Today I made VeggieGirl’s Fig Almond Blondies- OMG they are AMAZING.  I always wondered what all the hype was about with these things- and now I know.  They were so moist and addicting- couldnt stop myself from taking more!  I am going to try out her peanut butter pretzel one next- sounds awesome!

Click here to see the RECIPE!

the beach was so nice today.  I went on a walk all alone since no one was around- was really nice.  Listened to my ipod and jammed out during the walk (dont worry I did not sing to myself haha).  Didnt end up running 5 miles with my sister- we decided to postpone it until the morning.  we are doing kettlebell tomorrow night too! CANT WAIT!  

plans for the night- my older cousin is coming over and we are cooking dinner-  BBQ chicken, bobby flay’s lime and cilantro sweet potatoes  and broccoli 🙂

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to the beach I go!

Good morning!  

Abroad update:  have not talked to my mom and dad yet since they are in Paris on vacation but I have managed to get my choices down to Australia and Florence.  And I have really done a lot of research on both- so when I talk to my parents I hope they are impressed with how serious I am taking this!  I am ready to take em on! haha

 

Last night my sister and I made Bobby Flay’s Grilled Pizza with goat cheese and veggies.  SO GOOD!  We used Wolfgang Puck’s recipe for Whole Wheat Pizza Dough. and we used Rachel Ray’s recipe for hummus!  IF you want to see a picture of the final product- visit my sister’s blog! It turned out really good!  The recipe was right down my alley! we served this with a nice spinach salad with golden delicious apples, candied walnuts (we did this ourselves), feta, & a homemade balsamic dressing (EVOO, balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper). 

I went to Vinyssa yoga yesterday night.  Usually the only yoga that kicks my butt is Bikram- but let me tell you- I was sweating so much!  I woke up today and was sore!  LOVE yoga!

 

Last night I made Ellie Krieger’s Tuscan Veggie Soup so that I can have it for lunch today!  I am excited to try it out today!

I’ll let you know how it is!  I am also going to make VeggieGirl’s Blondies today!  Lots of cooking going on!

 

Im off of work today so I plan on going to the store to get the blondie ingredients, making the blondies, going to the BEACH! and work on my tan (which is lacking due to my wonderful short tan and t-shirt tan lines!) and read 🙂  After my sister comes home from work we are going on a 5 mile run, too!

My cousin is coming over for dinner tonight- not sure what we will make!!

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so much going on.

Good morning!  Yesterday I went for a nice and easy 3 mile run- left the garmin at home and just ran to run.  felt very nice.  But then I came home and saw that Todd- one of my best guy friends had text messsaged me telling me to check my email.  Heart started to pound through my chest- i knew what he meant- Loyola had sent out decisions regarding studying abroad!  I had applied to New Zealand- as did he and my two roommates Becky and Kelly.  So I opened the email- DENIED.  At first I was super super bummed.  I wanted to go there so much- and it made it even better that Todd, Becky, and Kelly were going too.  I love the outdoors and doing fun- action type activities- and just knew I would love it there.  Todd loves all of that too- he would always tell me how he hoped we both got in cause we would have a blast together.  I didnt cry because I was making veggie lasagna and my sisters were both watching me!  But I wanted to!  Loyola sent me a list of places that are still open— the only ones of interest include: (1) Melbourne, Australia, (2) Florence, Italy, (3) Paris, France, (4) Copenhagen, Denmark.

So then, Mary and I went to BIKRAM YOGA (first time in about….a month!?)  I just love that so much.  90 minutes- and it feels like you are there for 2.  at no point in time do I ever think “jeez, WHEN IS THIS OVER!?” I just love it. everthing about it.  So While Im sitting there with my head under my butt and leg straight in the air- breathing the way i should breathe and dripping in sweat (okay im kinda kidding here) – it hits me!  THIS IS NOT A BIG DEAL- AT ALLLLLLL!!  There are SO much worse things in the world!  WOW- I didnt get in where I wanted.  I will figure it out.  if worse comes to worse- I stay at loyola.  Ill still have one of my best friends (court) and my 2 of my best guy friends (drew and joe).  and Ill be able to get to know these girls i became friendly with at the end of this year.  See the thing is- my parents did not want me to apply to New zealand. so now I know it going to be difficult to deal with my parents- to get them to allow me to reapply somewhere else!

 

So I call my mom and told her and said that they gave me a list of places that are still open.  and she started like yelling at me basically. asking why i would ever wanna go to a another country for half a year. whats wrong with loyola. and thats in dangerous and all of this stuff. and I was said, mother dear just because I am the only one in the family that wants to do something different doesnt mean you should just totally shut down what i wanna do. its a once in a lifetime thing to go abroad- you gotta do it when ur young- when else am i going to be able to do this. and of course its somewhat risky but what isnt? and if i lived life always doing the safe things what kind of life is that? and then she just kept being mean and getting louder and louder saying that she is so busy and cant deal with this right now so then i started to cry/get choked up and i said mom why cant you have a level head for once in your life like dad- here i am clearly upset- all of my friends got into where they wanted to go- todd/kelly/becky got into the exact place i wanted to go and instead of being nice about it you are yelling at me.  So then we dropped the convo and said goodbye. She called back about 10 seconds later and says “T (my nickname)  i am sorry for yelling at you. you just have to understand ive been working long hours with dad at the office all week and been so busy trying to get stuff ready for going away (they are going to france- europe for the first time- tomorrow!!!)  im just tired.” and i said well i dont think you should make an excuse as to why you were so mean to me on the phone when i was upset. and she said i know- dad you and i will sit down and talk about where you cant and can go. and a talk in general about what you want to do.  We will both have to hear each other out and go from there.  what do you guys think about this convo?  truthfully, now.

So it seems good to me.  I am going to wait and talk with them after they come back.  Its my dad’s birthday tonight and I am going home for dinner- I do not want them to be stressed.  In the meantime, Ill consider my options (summer programs included) and try to decide where I truly want to go). What do you think about studying abroad???

 

So after all of THAT drama…. we ate my  Veggie Lasgna!  It was really good!  But a little too messy/watery.  Needed to let it sit for 10 minutes before eating– WOOPS!  And next time I want to try putting spinach in it!

Woke up today- had my oatmeal- now I am going home with one of my sisters- while the other stays here at the shore.  We are going to go shopping for my Dad , go on a run!, and then get stuff to make the salad for dinner to help my mom out a bit.  have a good day!

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Back Where We Belong.

When the Philadelphia Flyers came back after the NHL took the year off due to the strike, the Flyers slogan was “Back where we belong”.  And now whenever I return home or return to the normal day-to-day routine, I always find myself saying it.  So if you were wondering what the title meant….thats what it means!

Mary came home yesterday from Italy/France!  She showed me all of her pictures of what they did and what they ate.  If you go on her Blog you can see a bunch of pictures.  Everything just looked absolutely AMAZING.  She went with her boyfriend and his family…they all seemed like they had a blast.  Cannot wait until I go to Europe one day…. have any of you ever been to europe?

and best of all…she brought me back 2 presents!!!  One was a Longchamp bag- which is my favorite bag- it is a really nice company but the bag itself is very simple. which is right down my alley.  and it goes with everything!  I have a old one that goes over the shoulder and this one has smaller handles- its so cute and i love the color!

It’s funny how the small things get me so excited!  I had this thing filled with all of my things within five minutes of getting it!  And she also got me CHOCOLATE!!!

My sister said she went to this place everyday for their chocolate- she could not stop eating it!  And I understand why. Some of this is just solid dark or milk chocolate.  Some also has caramel filling and some ganache filling.  I tried the ganache one- and it REALLY did MELT IN YOUR MOUTH!  AHHHH i am pretty sure I have never tasted chocolate THAT good before.  i cant wait to have some more today!

No work today so I plan on taking it easy- going for an easy 3 mile run soon.  Then to the food store to get things to make Veggie Lasagna tonight!  I got the recipe from Canyon Ranch website (you need a login and password to see their recipes- but its free- all of their recipes are healthy/fresh).  I am siked to try this one out- ill post the recipe and pictures if all goes well!  Also…Mary and I are doing bikram yoga before dinner! Its been almost a month since Ive done it last- I can not wait to do it!  

have a good day!

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An interesting ride…

holler.  so after work today I went off the island to go on a 29 mile bike ride with my friend Nick.  I live at the shore.  Granted I was off the island but for some reason I felt like I was in a different state or country.  There was blueberry fields EVERYWHERE at one point and a bunch of migrant workers on the side of the road preparing for harvest.  Then there was a bunch of little boys playing futbol (aka soccer)  in the fields.  and then there was a dog that was double my size that started to chase us!  Nick yelled “PEDDLE HARD! THE DOG IS CHASING US!” I look back to this monster of a dog chasing me- of course I am behind Nick so if he caught us Id be the first to go haha.  but i think he may have had an electrical fence because all of the sudden he stopped… that or he was intimidated by my speediness but im gonna go with the ladder of the two.  It was a nice ride though- went out a little too fast for me in the beginning and payed for it by the end- but all in all a good ride!  I found myself thinking how lucky I was to be able to see the scenes that I was seeing- i should have brought a camera along!  

whenever I am running or biking I always find myself thinking- wow, im so lucky that I can even PHYSICALLY run (bike, whatever it is) right now.  I am so blessed to have that gift.  some people dont. and I do.  Sometimes I take it for granted. so i like to remind myself every once in awhile!  do any of you ever think of this or something like this?? if so, what is it?

Off to shower, make some peppermint tea and read my book- love the one your with.  Yeah- you WISH you were as cool as me.  

laterade.

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Pizza Pizza!

check out my creation!

Jenna’s Whole Wheat Pizza Dough came out GREAT!  It made alot- so I froze the rest- i think I have enough in the freezer for 3 more personal pies?  This pie had my homemade pasta sauce, mozzarella cheese, broccoli, spinach, and sliced tomato!  Hit the spot!  

I am off to watch Run’s house, read my new book, and prob have some tea 🙂

Goodnight!

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Cooking on the Job.

Good Afternoon!  My visit to Kelly’s was really fun! So good to catch up with my roommates.  Kelly had this awesome fire pit in her back yard so we made a fire and stayed out there for hours and made smores 🙂 YUM.  And I played an awesome joke on my friend Mckay but I am not telling any of you- okay fine I will.  You take a quarter and press it really hard on your forehead.  and you say “Okay now hit the back of your head and try to get the quarter off ur forehead with the least amount of thrusts to the head.” So you count how many it takes and then say “hey (insert name here), you try it!”  and you push really hard on their head and when you let go you take the coin with you- but it still feels like they have the coin on their head. So then they proceed to hit themselves in the head for no reason HAHAHA Mckay- my roommate- was hitting herself for 10 minutes.  We were all on the floor cracking up and she thought we were laughing with her. She said “this is so weird! I have an oily complexion- i thought it would have came off by now!” HAHAHA i  am STILL laughing. needless to say..that joke was a hit.  I saw it on WFC reality show that my cousin made me watch with him.  

So when I got back from Kelly’s my parents and I went into Philly to Melograno’s- small Italian place.  I decided to be EXOTIC- watch out!  I ordered Monk Fish- it was served in this tomato type stew thing.  SO GOOD. My dad brought wine with us- it was SO GOOD- and i usually hate wine!  I was a just little tipsy when we left haha- guess i have not drank in awhile.  OH and at the end of dinner I did the coin joke to my Dad- worked like a charm.  we were cracking up at the table watching my dad smack himself in the head inside of a nice restaurant hehe- then we walked around the city and my Mom got me a magnet with one of my favorite quotes on it: “Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than the ones you did. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor, catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.”  LOVE IT.  I also got two new books!

I cant wait to read these!  I also have Love the one your with by Emily giffin that i will start tonight- i better start reading!  I want to read my sister’s keeper before the movie comes out!

So then we got frozen yogurt 🙂 YUM  and went home BOO.  Next morning I woke up and headed to the shore for work.  Rainy/crappy day.  The city was not very busy at all.  So we went back to my house and I made pasta sauce and Jenna’s whole wheat pizza dough!   First time making both of these alone!  

yes- thats right folks.  I made food at work…what a bad ass i know.  I was so siked about this though because usually I just help my Mom or sister make stuff- but this week I have been cooking up lots of things alone!  Im assuming the dough was a success- i guess we will see at dinner time!

I am making a mini whole wheat pizza tonight with red sauce, Mozzarella cheese, broccoli, spinach, and sliced tomatoes!!!  Okay- Im gonna go on a run, then to the food store to get stuff for the week, and then home to make me pizza!

Mary comes home late tomorrow night from paris/italy-  CANT WAIT!  We are going to take my grandmom out to dinner together this week 🙂

❤ Christina

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much better :)

Good afternoon!  Well the run went MUCH better than my runs have been going.  I attribute it to the rest day, good sleep, my green monster, and green tea!  Ran about 7:54 minute miles.  I was semi-pleased with this.  My first 3 miles were very fast (below 7:45), then i slowed down for 2-3 miles by alot, and then the last 2-3 were fast as well.  Next time I need to focus on staying constant! If i just stay at say a 7:45-7:50 the whole time I should be FINE!  hey…gives me something to work on!  I felt very motivated on the run and i actually wanted to be there.  It was great, energetic run.  

I came home and had a slice of toasted ezekiel cinnamon raisin with almond butter…yum 🙂

Then I showered, did some laundry, packed my bag for Kelly’s, dried my hair, watched some What not to wear and 30 minute meals haha and prepared my lunch:

The last of my blueberry stash, a bowl of Jenna EatLiverun’s Roasted Veggie & Lentil Soup, a WholeGrain Baguette, with a cup of water with Lemon! perfect.  just what I wanted.  Now I am comfortably full!  Gonna do a little more around the house and then head home and then to Kelly’s house! Be home tomorrow night!  

Oh and my answer to the question, “What would you attempt to do if you knew you could not fail?”, is become a Physician Assistant, get married, have kids, open up a restaurant/food place with my sisters, complete a marathon (hopefully running the philly this year-if all goes well!), complete an ironman (or woman I guess it is), be truly happy and truly in love.  THE END.

have a great night….relax, kick back, and enjoy your friday night 🙂

❤ Christina

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REFRESHED!

Good morning!!  Today I woke up around 8 AM and made myself a green monster:

• 1 cup of unsweetened vanilla almond milk
• 1 frozen banana
• a bunch of baby spinach
• a big scoop of Naturally More PB
• ~ 1 cup of blueberries
• ice cubes

This was really good! I also had a huge cup of Green Tea. People on RunnerWorld Forums say they like drinking coffee before their runs in the mornings- so I decided to give it a go and see how i feel!  I do not like coffee so I opted for my favorite thing- tea!  

I am off to do the dishes and then lace up my running shoes and hit the road for an 8 miler over the bridge to another island.  The bridge is GORGEOUS!  When you get to the top and look out you see the inlet (where the bay meets the ocean) and it is just gorgeous.  Really makes you appreciate life.  Afterwards I will come home, shower, pack my bag for my Kelly- my roommate’s house (she is having us all over for the night!- first time we will have seen each other since we left school!), eat lunch (Jenna’s roasted veggie & lentil soup!), head home and then to Kelly’s house for the night!!  Cannot wait to see everyone!

I will leave you with this question to ponder and answer (if you wish)—

“What would you attempt to do if you knew you could not fail?”

 

have a good day!

❤ Christina

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Night with the Cousin!

Good evening!  Today ended up being a pretty okay day despite the rain!  I got my eyebrows waxed- dont you always feel so great after that??- and then I got a pedicure!!  my weak point— i love to be PAMPERED!  if only I was rich haha

I came home and made lunch: spinach, hummus, half avocado (smashed), and tomato on an ezekiel english muffin with a bowl of fresh fruit.  i used so much spinach that it did not all fit on the  english muffin so i ate the rest like a salad. 

My Grandmom called after her Chemo and said that she didnt need me to get her anything at the grocery store but I still wanted to do SOMETHING!  So since I had extra ingredients left from the soup i made last night (roasted veggie and lentil soup)- I whipped up another batch- actually- i doubled the recipe this time!  I bought her a whole grain baguette, too.  So I stopped by her house and she was not home- her friend died and they were all out a little lunch thing after the service.  So I left her a note, put the soup in the fridge, and took out her trash and all and then headed over my cousin’s house.

We ended up making Bobby Flay’s Grilled Lime and Cilantro Sweet Potatoes– I didnt take a picture but this is what they looked like the first time i made them (this time they came out better!)

Made this with Mango-Pepper- Glazed Pork Chops (also by Bobby Flay)

and a side of broccoli!  

This was all VERY VERY GOOD!  this is my favorite way to prepare sweet potatoes now.  The pork chops were really good, too but I think I like the recipe i listed as an option earlier today better (we opted for another one we found instead).

Now I am back home, watching Friends, sipping Peppermint tea, and enjoying three cubes of this new chocolate I just bought:

ChocoLOVE- 61% dark chocolate.  this one was really good!  less intense than the endangered species- although I really really liked that one too! (that was 70%)

I want to get to bed pretty early tonight.  probably will read a bit and then hit the sack.  Today’s rest day was FANTASTIC!  tomorrow im hitting the roads with my 2nd 8 miler over the bridge again!

goodnight

❤ christina

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