Why I Love Blogging: Part Uno

I've said it before and I'll say it again: My blog is my child. I love it more than any man or pet and it's by far the healthiest relationship I've ever had. And since I'm not in the mood to have a real child, I think I'll stick with it for a while. :) There are so many benefits to having a blog, some of which I'd like to share.

1. Blogger meet ups: On Tuesday, I met up with Erica and Amelia to take Body Attack. Erica is a fitness instructor, and this is one of the classes she teaches. She was nice enough to give us passes to the latest release. Here's a picture of the three of us before we got hot nasty:

The class was SO much fun. Although my clumsy, uncoordinated little body was all over the place, I felt like it was a really solid workout. I sweated up a storm and worked lots of baby muscles. Please note the nice, tame, straight hair above...and enjoy the damp, unruly, curly mess below:

2. Blogger goodies: Amelia, a pastry chef, whipped us up some treats.

Vegan and dairy-free coconut covered chocolate truffles and breakfast cookies:

They were both sooooooo good. 

And for my birthday, Erica gave me a sweet card and sesame honey cashews. 

The cashews shown with supermodel Jenna Beck:

Erica warned me that these were addicting, and yes, they really are. Thank you girlies for the gifts!

3. Finding other foodie friends:

Because of my blog, I have made new friends who share the same type of love for food as I do. Today I met up with my new friend Erin. We met at The Eclectic Chef in downtown Summerville. We both got The Eclectic House Salad: baby field greens, walnuts, mandarin oranges, and dried cranberries topped with sliced chicken. Per Erin's recommendation, I got the house-made raspberry vinaigrette. 

Erin is such a cool girl and I had so much fun chatting with her about food, nutrition, fitness and life in general. She's a really sweet girl and I look forward to more lunch dates! Erin has done the P90x program and her husband is giving me a copy. Yay! My newborn baby muscles might just grow into toddler muscles!

3. Bloggers' thoughtfulness: Last weekend a bunch of us got together to watch the USA vs. Ghana soccer game. 

While I was sipping my adult beverages, I got an email from Sara. She was writing to let me know that the latest issue of Food Network magazine had a copycat recipe of the Chick-Fil-A original sandwich. She even offered to mail me a copy of the recipe in case I didn't want to buy the magazine. How sweet is she? Luckily, I'm a subscriber. I hadn't actually read that article so I was very excited to check it out. 

And then, in yesterday's mail, I got a little note from Allison. 

She had ripped out the very same article and sent it to me! I thought it was so cute that both of them thought of me. Thank you Allison and Sara - you guys are awesome :)

4. Inspiration for blog content is everywhere: Emily from Puppies, Paychecks and Prozac sent me The Fabulous Sugar Doll Blogger award:

I'm supposed to share 10 random things about me. Let's get personal!

1. I'm left-handed. I can do everything with my left hand except cut with scissors. I'm also goofy-footed. In case you don't know, this just means that I am right-foot dominant when snowboarding, kicking, or doing cartwheels.

2. And speaking of goofy, I'm ridiculously clumsy. I have no sense of balance, crappy coordination, and little to no motor skills. It's kinda like I have a buzz all the time. I walk out into the street without looking, I constantly drop things, and I have an unusual amount of cuts, bruises and burns at all times. Check out this sweet calf bruise that I don't know how I got:

Seriously, how does one get a bruise on the back of their leg? I think ghosts beat me in my sleep.

3. I am a horrible driver. "I feel like I'm driving with a sixteen year old I'm so nervous." -Julius, the day he let me drive his car to the beach.

4. My favorite dessert to eat and bake is cookies. I love love love cookies. When I bake them, I get extreme joy out of giving them to people and watching them smile as they chew away. My favorite kind is plain old chocolate chip and I prefer mine to be thick and chewy over thin, crispy, or cakey.

5. My family situation is quite unusual. My mom was 20 and my dad was 18 when I was born. That awesome relationship lasted until I was about 2 months old. Both parents found new partners: John had my half-brother Sean when I was 3, and my mom had my brother Justin when I was 4 1/2. Years later when I was 8, the wackos got back together, got married, and had my youngest brother Jake. By the grace of God, they divorced when in 2003. True story.

6. I can't jump into a pool without plugging my nose. I'm petrified of water getting up my nose. I can swim just fine but I don't stick my head underwater without pinching the nostrils or wearing an extremely ugly mask. I can do a cartwheel off a diving board, but it has to be a one-handed cartwheel because the other hand is plugging up. 

7. I can't stand bad grammar and spelling. I have deleted people off of my facebook because their statuses annoyed me. I wouldn't date someone whose love notes had spelling errors. Ew. It all started when Grammy taught me how to respond on the telephone. When someone asks "Is Christina there?" or "May I speak with Christina?" I reply, "This is she." It sounds odd, but it is correct.

8. I've mentioned this before, but I love love love lime green. I have a laptop, Blackberry cover, Longchamp purse, keychain, gym shorts, and many kitchen utensils all in lime green. I want more. I also really love actual lime juice in my liquor drinks and guacamole.

9. My favorite animals are penguins and sheep! If I could ride a sheep, I'd be in heaven. I also really love small, white dogs. 

10. I love bumpy roads. When I was little my mom used to drive me down "the bumpy road" because it had lots of little hills and bumps. It makes me giggle every time. There's a road in my town that has a few bumps and I get really excited whenever I have to drive over it. I still laugh like I'm 3 years old again.

I'm passing this lovely award onto:

1. Jenna @ The Charleston Nugget

2. Callie @ If You're Bored then You're Boring

3. Brittany @ Smart Cookie

4. Allison @ One Day at a Time

5. Megan @ Fried Green Pickles

Get excited for the weekend!!