NYC Recap: Days 3 & 4

On Sunday morning, Lucy and I did more frolicking around the city in my two favorite parks: Union Square and Washington Square. They’re both such open, pretty areas where you can do a lot of people watching. One of the reasons I wanted to go to that area is to stop around NYU for one of these pita pockets I had seen on Gabriela’s blog. Gabriela ate these every Wednesday, and I kid you not, even before having one, I began to crave them too.

I was more than excited to find them at Space Market on University Place.

At first I felt crazy shelling out $5 for the Spicy Power-Fu Sandwich, but once I tried it, I didn’t care one bit. They are so freaking good. I immediately wanted more and was sad that I couldn’t get them in SC.

If you read Gab’s blog, you’ve seen these many times. Gab, honey, I thank you. So much. I should fly back to the city for a few more. ;)

Saturday’s shopping adventures included purchasing 3 dresses and a bracelet from Forever 21.

The second dress is more of a lime green or “citron” than yellow as it shows online. And yes, it’s the exact same dress as the blue. I really liked it!

That evening, we went to Canyon Road for dinner. I had the Southwestern salad: grilled jumbo gulf shrimp, toasted pumpkin seeds, romaine lettuce, monterey jack, onions, pepper & celery. No picture :( After dinner, we went to too many bars:

• The Stanton Social (upstairs, dark, not bad)
• Back Room (hidden(ish) bar that served drinks in tea cups. cute, but boring.)
• Sons of Essex (cool inside, but drinks sucked)
• Sing Sing Karaoke (dead, so we didn’t stay)
• East Village Tavern (who really cared at this point? ha)

On Monday, Day 4, I broke my vegetarian streak once more at Chipotle. I had salad with romaine lettuce, black beans, grilled chicken, salsa, and cheese. Their ingredients are so fresh and I’m excited a location is opening in Charleston!

Lucy and I were exhausted at this point of the weekend, so we hung out at her apartment for the majority of the day. We got coffee, picked up snacks, giggled about our evenings, and caught up on Real Housewives and watched the season premiere of Bethenny Ever After. This was Lucy’s and my favorite show when we lived together. We LOVE her.

If there’s one thing I do in life, it’s find a husband like Jason. That man is handsome, ridiculously patient, and such a good father. Where the hell do you get those? He even dressed up like a PANDA on Halloween for his family. Oh my.

Now for some funnies from NYC.

This mannequin wasn’t looking too hot. Lucy said “Um, homegirl got in a bad accident.”

Next time I make a mess, I definitely want to clean up with these.

Lucy has a store!!

I have a store!!

Needless to say, I had tons of fun in NYC and was not ready to leave on Tuesday morning. I want to go back right now! Or just move there.

As I said yesterday, if you read all this you are ridiculous. And I love you. xo!!

HAPPY WEEKEND!!

20 Question Survey and Currently…

I swiped this from Kari. Thanks, lady!

1. Name 3 things you are looking forward to.

• Being well so I can dance at Trio.
• Boat weather!
• Spending time with my family on Easter.

2. If you could have a dream come true, what would it be?

Meet Bethenny Frankel!

3. You have $200. You have to spend it on yourself, you can't donate it, and it can't be something you actually need. What will it be?

A macro lens for my camera.

4. What helps to pull you out of a bad mood?

Friends. My auntie Kelly and Grammy. Chick-fil-A diet lemonade. A hula hoop.

5. What is your bedtime routine?

Golden Girls!

6. If you are currently in a relationship, how did you meet your significant other?

That's funny.

7. What kind of books do you read?

Cookbooks.

 

8. How do you see yourself in 10 years?

In a mirror. I dislike this question.

9. What’s your fear?

Raw onions.

10. Would you give up all junk food for the rest of your life for the opportunity to see outer space?

NO WAY. Seriously!?!? Unless there are alien hotties, I’m not quitting sugar.

11. What’s the first thing you do when you wake up?

Grab my Camelbak and drink water. I sleep with it. I got a new purple one!

12. If you could change one thing about your significant other, what would it be?

He would exist? Ha.

13. If you could pick a new name for yourself, what would it be?

Christiana.

14. If you had to choose between six months of sun or six months of rain, what would you choose?

SUN SUN SUN SUN SUN

15. If you could only eat one thing for the next 6 months, what would it be?

If weight gain/muscle loss weren't an issue, then chocolate chip cookies!

16. What is the thing you enjoy about blogging the most?

• the people!
• the feedback
• the recognition

17. Do you prefer salty or sweet foods?

I like them both equally and sometimes together.

18. What items are in your purse right now?

This is going to be bad.

• Bodum travel mug (for tea)
• Wallet
• Makeup bag
• Lilly planner
• Gum
• A banana
• A cookies & cream Luna bar
• Cereal
• Hershey's kisses
• Applesauce
• Tissues
• 2 Menchie's spoons (wtc?)
• Ipod
• Sunglasses

Omg. I have enough food for an entire day.

19. If you had to choose between vacationing at the beach or in the mountains where would you go?

Beach! Hands down.

20. What do you watch on television that you know you shouldn’t?

DON’T JUDGE ME!!

I Love Lucy!

My roommate!

Over the past two months that I’ve been funemployed, I’ve gotten to spend a lot more time with my incredibly awesome roommate. We’ve become so much closer and am so grateful that she entered my life. We were fortunate enough to be two sane people who met over the internet. I’ve actually been really lucky with my internet friends (Hi Ben, XX!).

Lucy is the yin to my yang. She is calm, soothing, an excellent listener and advice giver and so sweet. And she is gorgeous! We are also very similar in some ways: we both gag at romantic movies and love healthy food, hula hoops, dirty rap music, hot men, neon colors, lip gloss, working out,  and Bethenny Frankel. A typical day off for us includes wearing bummy clothes, getting coffee, spending too much $ at Target, scoping out men at Whole Foods, then working out.

Lucy claims that before she lived with me she didn’t bake much. She’s been watching me and has been inspired to start baking too. Tonight, after juicing an apple, she wondered if there was anything she could do with the leftover apple pulp. All on her own, she researched and found a recipe for Carrot Apple Ginger Tea Cakes. She got everything together and successfully made them. I was so proud!

Aren’t they cute? She topped them with extra brown sugar to make them sweeter.

Being that she is vegan, I had always assumed her dessert options were so limited. Wrong! I pointed her in the direction of the blogs SpaBettie, by Kristina, and Healthy Diva Eats, by Katie. Any other blogs/sites with vegan recipes would be greatly appreciated by us both! Send ‘em over! :)

Today at the gym, Lucy was admiring a pair of Nikes a guy was wearing. We went over to ask him what style they were, and she actually said, “I’ve been perving on your sneakers. What are they?” Perving. And that is why I love her!

Luck of the Irish Cranberry Banana Oatmeal Cookies (Vegan!)

I feel like I’m either baking or thinking about what I’m baking next. This doesn’t seem to be a problem for anyone around me….except Lucy. My sweetheart roommate is allergic to dairy, so she can’t eat the majority of what I bake. I checked Bethenny Frankel’s website for  vegan recipes. I stumbled upon Cranberry Banana Oatmeal Cookies and immediately made them.

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups oat flour
• 3/4 cup Irish steel oats
• 1/2 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/2 cup raw sugar
• 1/3 cup dried cranberries
• 1 tsp. canola oil
• 1/3 cup soy milk
• 1/2 cup banana puree (1 medium-size banana)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 375 °.
2. Combine all the dry ingredients in a bowl.
3. Combine all the wet ingredients in a separate bowl. Mix the dry and wet ingredients together until well combined.
4. Use a medium-size ice cream scoop or a large spoon to scoop batter onto a cookie sheet covered with wax paper.
5. Bake for 12 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through cooking, or bake until the edges of the cookies are light brown.

The batch made 16 small cookies, at around 112 calories each. The texture if very different than your typical cookie. It’s not a bad thing, just different. I think they’re muffin-like. Bethenny has a few other recipes I’d like to try, including her Wheat-Free Vegan Double Chocolate Chip Cookies and Boo Boo Banana Bread.

Speaking of banana bread, when I got home last night, Lucy told me that there was a brown bag at the door when she came home from the gym. Praying it wasn’t another love letter (true story), I approached the bag like it might be a bomb.

Obviously it wasn’t a bomb, or else I wouldn’t be typing this…but it was banana bread!! Joey had left a couple of slices of a recipe he made last night. This bread is ridiculous. If you’re interested in a loaf that contains enough sugar to give you diabetes in one slice but tastes like heaven, you should make this. Here is the recipe he emailed me:

“Glad you liked it. I actually just improvised with the walnuts, raisins, & blueberries, but here it is from memory.

Melt 1/3 cup butter

Combine with 3-4 mashed (ripened bananas)

Mix in 1 egg

1 tsp. Van Extract

1 tsp. Salt

1 Cup Sugar

Then, add 1.5 cups all purpose flour or whole wheat flour if you choose.

I then just added 2 oz. chopped walnuts, handful or raisins and a handful of blueberries.

Bake on 350 for an hour, and you should let it cool before you cut it. I didn’t which is why your piece wasn’t a perfect slice (impatient haha)”

I really appreciate the manly writing style of this recipe. So caveman like. “Melt this. Mix that.” Ha.

. . .

I just noticed that I have reached over 400 Google followers. I feel like it happened overnight! Thanks guys!!! I’m really curious though – I know all of you who comment, but the rest of you…where are you? Please leave a comment stating who you are, where you’re from, and if you have a blog. And click here to follow if you haven’t already. GRACIAS!