What I’m Loving Wednesday

1. I haven’t found these yet, but when I do…

I’ll be opening them up before I can make it to the register. I promise to pay.

2. I reserved all of these books at the library…

but they’re all waiting for me to finish Fifty Shades of Grey. My (new) book club girls and I decided to make this our first book and boy, oh, boy, our first meeting will be interesting. I raised my hand to host this month’s book and come up with discussion questions. I feel like it’s going to be a game of “Never Have I Ever…”

3. On Easter Sunday, my family and I played the game Apples for Apples. Of course I was dealt the beets card.

It was destiny. However, I don’t agree that beets beat Brussels sprouts. I like them equally.

4.  The Mount Pleasant Farmer’s Market started yesterday! For a mere $9, I got a bunch of beets, sweet potatatoes, cucumbers, yellow corn, and a 1/2 pound of local shrimp.

5. Do you guys remember when I posted about the Foodie Terms That Make Me Cringe? It’s a funny post – check it out asap. Well, Serious Eats just posted their own list: Our Secret List of Banned Words. My favorite? Mouthfeel. That word is awful.

6. One of my new favorites from What Should We Call Me:

MY MAIN PROBLEM WITH DIETING:

7.  This dress.

And this dress.

Oh, and this dress too.

My bank account doesn’t get upset with me when I find dresses that are each under $30.

Now tell me what you love! xo

Weekend Update!

This past weekend was quite eventful!

Thursday night was the Water Ball at the aquarium. The event was so fun! Everyone looked great in their party attire, the weather was gorgeous, and the venue couldn’t have been more perfect. The Twit pic photo booth caught some glamorous and humorous moments.

Sarah, Steve, yours truly:

My new friend the firecracker, Logan, me:

Crazy props:

Jessica, Nancy, me, Logan:

Kiiiiind of excited for next year.

Friday was Seder at intern Sean’s house. I was so grateful that his family invited me to share their holiday with them.

The set table:

It was fun trying traditional Passover foods: charoset, matzoh, fresh horseradish + romaine lettuce, gefilte fish, brisket, liver, and a lot of kosher wine. The charoset was my favorite. And yes, I ate the meat. I thought it was more important that I partake in the traditions than to continue avoiding meat for no real reason. I enjoyed everything, especially the company!

Saturday: After a morning Pure Barre class, Amanda and I checked out the new Sesame Burgers & Beer in Mt. Pleasant. The brisket at Seder turned me back onto meat for sure, but I still don’t want any chicken. Team red meat?

For all the sandwich/burger options, you can choose from chicken, a beef burger, a black bean burger, or a turkey burger. We split 2:  The Napa Valley (fig & bacon jam, blue cheese, and red wine reduction) on a beef burger and The Arizona (pepper jack cheese and grilled zucchini) on a black bean burger.

They were both SO good. The flavor combination on The Napa Valley was incredible and the black bean burger was huge and very fresh.

We also shared some crispy Sweet Potato fries:

Their prices are very reasonable too. We hadn’t even left and were already discussing when we could come back. Soon, I hope!

After lunch, we sat on the pier and made bracelets.

The idea was taken from the DIY blog Honestly WTF. The materials:

Finished products:

Sunday: I spent the Easter with family, cooking, eating, and playing games. Of course the cousins and I donned our bunny ears!

Hope you’re all having a wonderful Easter or Passover! xo!

What I’m Loving Wednesday

1. Pure Barre –  I’ve done 3 classes in a row and I’m going again tonight. It hurts to sit, walk up the stairs, and lift my arms. So awesome! Lots of ladies signed up for the 20 class challenge.  They’re all champions for joining!

I also love the fact that we’re getting gold stars by our name. Great motivation!

2. Speaking of challenges, remember the Saving Money Challenge two of my coworkers and I had for March? For spending the least amount of money dining out, I won! Woop! My savings went to Pure Barre. Double win.

3. Holidays. This weekend, I’ll be celebrating Easter with my family and going to Seder with intern Sean’s family. I’ve always been curious about Jewish holidays, so Sean’s family invited me to see what it’s like. I’ve already studied this book.

I’m just as excited to don my bunny ears with the family! Best of both worlds.

4. This bumper sticker. You Only Live Once.

5. Pastels for Spring. Here in the South, it’s perfectly acceptable to dress like an Easter egg. Some call this color blocking. Others may call this offensive.

Cosmo Pink Polo, Coast Apparel

Lush Green Cords, Loft

Turquoise Tote, Longchamp

6. To fire up the pastel party, I painted my nails in a new Essie color, Barefoot in Blue:

But toned it down with some neutral flats:

HAPPY SPRING!

How will you be spending this holiday weekend?

Are you on board the pastel train or the neutral train? I ride both.

Saturday Survey

1. Are you more of a morning, afternoon, or night person?
I’m definitely a night person and always have been. Since I was a child, I loved staying up late. Going to sleep is such a chore to me…but sleeping in? Oh, I love that.

2. What is your favorite book / magazine?
Favorite books:

• any and all cookbooks
• The Secret Garden
• Speak
• The Lost Wife
• The Twilight Saga

Magazines:

3. What is your favorite thing in your closet?
All of my dresses. I may or may not have 59 dresses in my closet and 1 en route from Piperlime. Yeah. If anyone needs to borrow one, come over.

4. What are your top 5 favorite music artists?

1. Jem
2. Mute Math
3. Radiohead
4. Sia
5. Coldplay

5. What are your top 5 favorite movies?

1. American Beauty
2. Grandma’s Boy
3. Love Actually
4. The Little Mermaid
5. Man on Fire

6. What is your favorite holiday and why?
Halloween! For sure! I also love Easter for the overload of pastels and candy.

7. Do you have any weird phobias?
Nah. I don’t like random people touching me or standing too close to me, but that’s it.

8. What is your most embarrassing moment?
I have embarrassing moments daily. Nothing really fazes me anymore.

 9. If you could live anywhere in the world, where would you live?
Hawaii, probably. But for some reason, I see myself ending up in Texas. Random.

10. What is your favorite food?
Chocolate chip cookies.

And pickles.

11. What is your weirdest injury?
Weirdest? Um, here’s a story. Before one of my best friend’s bachelorette parties, a bunch of girls and I were getting ready in a small room. While I was flat ironing my hair, one of the girls needed me to move over. I quickly grabbed the flat iron, but instead of putting the flat iron down  (there was no room), I quickly put it in between my legs, forgetting that it was ON. On both of my inner thighs I have a 2 inch scar from where the flat iron burned me. It was awful.

 12. What is your favorite store to shop at?
Target!! I could spend hours in that playground. 

 13. If someone visited your city/town, where would you take them?

• The Battery
• Upper King all the way to lower King, then Broad St.
• Rainbow Row
• Marion Square
• Old City Market
• Arthur Ravenel Bridge
• College of Charleston campus

Don’t you want to visit me now?!

14. What would your ideal day look like?
Sleep in (obviously), go for an outdoor/bridge run, go pick up coffee, lunch with friends, shopping downtown, wine tasting outside, dinner downtown, bar hop later…then TRIO!

15. Where do you want to be and what do you want to be doing in 5 years?
I WILL BE 32, but hopefully still acting like this.

(No, I’ll never answer that question seriously.) What else would you expect from me?

XO!

Southwest Meatloaf and Half Marathon Plans

Don’t be scared when you see a meatloaf recipe. Chances are, it’s not like the meatloaf you shuddered at in the cafeteria line. There are so many variations to this classic dish that you’d be surprised to find a modern-day recipe that’s anything like what those hairnet-donning women were serving you in grade school. Did you just shudder? I did.

Southwest Meatloaf

Ingredients:

• 1 lb. angus ground beef, 96/4 extra lean
• 1/2 cup panko breadcrumbs
• 1/2 cup frozen corn kernels
• 1 4 oz. can fire-roasted diced green chiles
• 1/4 cup skim milk
• 2 large egg whites
• 1 tsp. ground cumin
• 1/2 tsp. chili powder
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/2 tsp. ground pepper
• 1 oz. goat cheese, crumbled

Preheat oven to 350*. Combine all ingredients in a large bowl, mixing lightly. Add meat mixture to a greased loaf pan and press down to smooth top. Crumble goat cheese atop loaf. Bake for 55 minutes or until a meat thermometer reads 165*. Let rest for 20 minutes until slicing. Makes 4 servings.

Black Bean Salsa

Ingredients:

• 1 14.5 oz. can of diced tomatoes with green chilies, drained
• 1 15.5 oz. can of no salt added black beans, drained
• 1 clove of garlic, finely minced
• 1/2 tsp. ground cumin
• juice of 1/2 a lime
• chopped cilantro, if desired

Combine all ingredients in a medium bowl, mixing well. Serve along with meatloaf.

Hot damn, that did not photograph well. But let me tell you, it was delicious! If you make this, be sure to let it rest before slicing or else you will make a huge mess. I wonder who did that? Hmmmm.

…

In my very first post of the year, I mentioned that 2012 is the year I complete a half marathon. My grandfather immediately suggested that he and I run the Clemson Easter Bunny Run in April. Racing around Clemson in bunny ears? Sure! The course starts at the South Carolina Botanical gardens and goes around the University with views of Lake Hartwell and the surrounding community.

With that said, I looked up some training courses and found a 12-week schedule. This meant I had to start, like, today. I took one look at the schedule and found it extremely boring. Instead of following the schedule, I set out to run in the gorgeous 70 degree weather to see what I could handle.

10 miles later it was dark and I had to stop. Apparently I can run almost a half without training. Who knew?

It may not have been my smartest move to run that far, but as I do run on a regular basis, my body wasn’t going to go in complete shock, right? Or maybe I am just Superwoman.

Needless to say, when I got home, I wanted to eat everything in sight. I refueled with coconut water, almonds, walnuts, cranberries, Greek yogurt, and a big bowl of vegetables. Honest to goodness, I don’t even know what I’m doing, so if you have any tips, let me know. Just please don’t tell me that I’m going to break my body or something because that will make me sad.

I know I have to be smart, so I will follow the rest of the “schedule”, but the competitive side of me took over during that 10-mile run. I couldn’t help it.

Tips on running your first half marathon – give them to me! Seriously, tell me everything you know. Write me a book in the comment section, send me an email, sing me a song. Goooooooooo!

Easter 2011 Recap

Hello!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Easter! I spent the day with my family at my aunt Kelly’s house. Each year we have a bunny ear photo shoot. Yes, even at 26 years old, I’m not ashamed to dress up with my little cousins.

We took one normal one:

One kissy one:

And we were lucky enough to get in a very sweet one…

…before somebody, ahem, Zachary, couldn’t take it anymore.

For dinner we feasted on ham,

mashed potatoes,

Paula Deen’s sweet potato casserole,

and my favorite spinach soufflé by Martha Stewart.

We had a few other sides but I drank too much wine and forgot to take pictures. I am definitely the lush of the family. And I’m okay with that.

After dinner, I nabbed a some dark chocolate Dove promises my cousins’ baskets. I love the messages inside.

I also really love this fantastic plastic holiday plate I found in Kelly’s kitchen. I have no idea where this came from but it should be thrown out immediately. She agrees, I’m sure.

Of course I wore those ears all day. Why wouldn’t I?

Have a great week!