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!!

Feeling Kind of (Chest) Nutty!

First things first, we need a laugh. Remember yesterday when I said that Amanda and I went downtown to take pictures for her friend? While I was snapping shots of Longitude Lane, Amanda took a picture of me. Not only does this picture make me chuckle because I look like a midget, but PLEASE focus your eyes on the lady on the street. 

#1 – What is her face?

#2 – Her breasts are touching her belly button. Not okay. If you know this woman, tell her to buy a bra. Moving along…

After dinner last night, my new roommate Lucy asked if I wanted to roast chestnuts. I immediately thought of the Christmas song that goes, “Chestnuts roasting on an open fire…” but giggled because we had to use the oven. I had seen chestnuts being roasted over an open fire (literally) in Rome, but never bought any so I was excited to try them. Before roasting, Lucy told me that you have to cut an x into the shell. She showed me how to do a few, then I gave it a go. We scored the whole bag of nuts and roasted them at 400*.. Twenty minutes later, the shells had peeled open and the actual nut was revealed. Aren’t they precious? They were ridiculously hot, but I couldn’t resist peeling one open right away. The first thing I noticed was that they were very starchy! I did some research later and found some interesting facts on chestnuts:

• Chestnuts can be eaten raw, but can also be roasted, boiled, candied, steamed, or grilled.
  
• The texture is similar to that of a potato with a sweet and nutty flavor.
  
• Chestnuts can be dried and milled into flour.
  
• Chestnuts contain no cholesterol, and very little fat (mostly unsaturated) and no gluten.
  
• They are the only “nuts” that contain Vitamin C; 100g contains about 65% of your daily requirement.

Roasting chestnuts was not only festive, but healthy! My mind is already brewing with thoughts of grinding up some chestnut butter…Has anyone done this? What is your favorite nut to roast or make nut butter with?

Help Me and I'll Help You!

Okay people, listen up. I have a baby and I don't know what to do with him. There's a nifty guide mode, and of course the auto mode works great too, but I want to know more. I love new toys - but even more so I love learning about all of their features. I spent an obnoxious amount of time learning every single thing my Blackberry Bold was capable of doing and now consider myself a Blackberry Goddess. I wanna be a Nikon Goddess!! So, I'm turning to my readers. If any of you know any sites with DSLR guides, tips, or how-tos, I would greatly appreciate you recommending them!


In return, I have a little giveaway. You do not have to send me a site to participate in the giveaway, but I would definitely appreciate if you have one.


A couple weeks ago, Annelies from Attune Foods offered to send me some more Uncle Sam cereal. I had previously reviewed the Uncle Sam Original flavor, but now that they have three new flavors, I was going to get to try those too! 

 

First, I tried the Wild Strawberry. This one is lightly sweet and full of dried strawberries. I was really impressed with the amount of strawberries in the cereal. The Strawberry flavor packs the most fiber of the three - 8 grams in a 3/4 cup serving. 

My second flavor was the Honey Almond. This one is so crunchy! It would be great on top of Greek yogurt. It's not as sweet as I was expecting and has a very natural taste.

Finally, I tried the Great Multi-Grains. I expected this flavor to be bland, but it is actually my favorite! I swear it tasted like it contained cinnamon, but according to the ingredients it doesn't! The only thing I may have been tasting that was different from the other two was oat flakes. 

Would you like to try a box of Uncle Sam cereal? Leave me a comment telling me which flavor you'd like to try the most and you just may win a box! For nutritional information on these products, please check out the Uncle Sam site. There are also some great recipes - one of which is mine! :) Giveaway will end at noon on Friday, October 29th, when I will randomly choose a winner. Good luck!

Coast, Coast, Coast

Have I mentioned that I'm impulsive?  Yeah, just a bit. Sunday morning I woke up and told myself, "It's time to buy a DSLR." Don't get me wrong - I had been researching them for months, so I knew what I wanted. I was torn between the Canon Rebel XSI and the Nikon D3100. Since I'm an instant gratification kind of girl, I was having trouble dropping several hundred dollars on something I had to wait for in the mail. Stupid, I know. Well, when I woke up and started perusing the weekly sales ads, I noticed that the Nikon went on sale at Target. Yep, I could now drop several hundred dollars just a few miles down the road. And that's just what I did.

Born into my life on 10/24/10 weighing 1 lb, 1.8 oz, this is my new baby:

I didn't even know how to react towards it at first. The whole drive home I just stared at it sitting in my passenger seat. Once the battery charged, Margaret and I immediately decided to have a photo shoot at Mt. Pleasant Memorial Waterfront Park. We seriously took 183 photos. Here are my favorites of the park:

Just a few reasons why I love living on the coast. And speaking of the coast, we thought this would be a great opportunity for us to show off the Coast polos that TJ gave us! Glamour shots!

 

We had the best time being cheesy and not caring what anyone thought about all our posing! After our glamour shots, we got for real glamorous and headed to another Coast - the restaurant. Sunday nights are the best because they have 1/2 priced bottled wine, $3 tacos, and live music! Lucky for us, champagne was also included! Cheers!

To soak up the bubbly, I ordered two tacos. Excuse the shadows. I'm still learning how to work the monster baby.

 First was their special taco - pulled pork marinated in sriracha with blue cheese coleslaw. So fluffin' delicious.

 The other was a mahi mahi taco with guacamole, citrus slaw, and tropical salsa - very fresh and full of flavor.

After sevvveral bottles of champagne later, the boys wanted in on the glamour shots.

Rob and Cason:

TJ and Matt:

 Then the camera went back to us. Ha.

Coast is very very yummy...and typing this sober, you should actually believe me. :) Hope everyone had a glamorous weekend!