Food, Fitness, Fashion

Since we started The NYE Challenge, I have not touched any sweets. I thought I’d be freaking out by now. The last time I gave up candy, the first two weeks were the worst. In exchange, I’ve had these three foods every day:

Much healthier options. By the way, that Oikos key lime Greek yogurt is fantastic. If I put it in a pie crust, you’d be just as satisfied as eating key lime pie.

PS: The current score is Boding: 0,  Kaye: 2, Christina: 1, Carter: 2.

In addition to running and strength training, I’ve been planking like a crazy woman.

Forearm planks. (2 min each, 8-10x a day)

Side planks.

Kissing planks.

Flying planks. Just kidding, I look like an idiot.

While I’ve not been baking, I’ve been shopping. Great for my stomach, horrible for my budget. In hopes that at least one will fit me, I bought four potential NYE dresses today.

What’s your favorite replacement for sweets?

Do you like doing planks? Anything’s better than burpees, I suppose.

Which NYE dress do you like the most?

What I’m Loving Wednesday 12.5.12

1. Danielle and I eat lunch together every Monday. For the past month, we’ve gone to Mi Xao each week, at least once. This week, we went back for our favorite items on the menu. Mine is the Tom Yum Kung, extra spicy.

See the coconut shrimp? The owner was being nice and brought us some samples. Naturally, I threw one back and then bam! It hit me. They were fried and I just got a damn strike for The NYE Challenge.

Boding said it counts. I say it doesn’t because it wasn’t a conscious decision. Ugh!! I immediately confessed when I got home, so he then asked Kaye how she was doing.

Pizza. Really, Kaye?!? That evening, Carter admitted to eating chips and I had to explain to Boding that chips are fried. Hahahah. WE SUCK!

2. To me, this is heaven.

(The cookbook section of The Coastal Cupboard)

3. Rachel found a tutorial on how to make monogram Iphone wallpapers here. Pretty, pretty.

4. I finally got my hair colored last Friday. It’s my natural color in the back, with gold lowlights…

…then gold & blonde in the front.

Don’t ask me how I am standing in that picture, or how the tree didn’t get knocked over. Christmas miracles!

5. Low-key arm parties. This is one of my bracelets from Peppermint Lollipops.

6. On Saturday, I went to a food truck rodeo at Whole Foods. Of course I had Roti Rolls.

Here’s the Funky Farmer: curried local butternut squash, carrots, red potatoes, and totsoi, pickled local beets, and an egg.

The Roti Roll kids are opening a restaurant downtown called The Green Door. It’ll focus on local goodies and have a similar concept to Roti Rolls. We’re going to the Friends & Family Dinner on Thursday and I’m so excited! I will tell you all about it. : )

The NYE Challenge. It's on.

So I’m sitting on the couch with Boding last night (shocker), and he’s reading The Abs Diet. He mentions something about reducing his saturated fat intake, and my ditzy behind asks,  “Wait, so no butter?”

“Uh, yeah, Christina. No butter.”

About 400 things I ate this weekend contained butter. You heard me. Since Friday I’ve consumed three kinds of bread, three different cookies, a croissant, and birthday cake. I realize this does not add up to 400; I tend to exaggerate.

Then Boding mentions how hot he’s going to look for New Years Eve. Excuse me, what? I want to look hot for New Years Eve too!

And then we created the challenge.

We are allowed to break the rules, but for each one, we receive a strike. We’ll have a winner and a prize (to be determined). Later that night we recruited two more kids.

The Competitors

Boding  -  “Boding runs the gym and is the king of all men. He can also be found in the wild running shirtless downtown. Despite his Adonis-like looks and physique, he is a tech geek.” (he wrote that! hahahah!) He loves the carbs.

Kaye – This New Yorker brings her city smarts and style to the challenge. She lives her life unfiltered, especially with food and words. She attends the occasional fitness class at Equinox, but gets the majority of her exercise done being sassy with men. Kaye really likes a big beer.

Christina – Currently training for a half marathon, this girl still plays at the gym when she has time. She enjoys burning calories downtown – running around The Battery or tearing up the dance floor. She has little to no self control around sweets of any kind.

Carter – This good looking individual is an active crossfitter, shameless dancer, and thinks he can beat Boding at ping pong. He claims to eat “very few carbs other than vegetables.” When not running through Christina’s mind, he may be found sprinting over the bridge and back. And here he is eating a lot of carbs.

Who do you think will win?

What I’m Loving Wednesday

1. Doesn’t the chilly weather just make you want to turn on your oven? This is my favorite roasted vegetable combo: sliced carrots, sweet potatoes, and beets with rosemary and salt & pepper. Simple, delicious, and full of antioxidants for your pretty face.

2. I get really excited when any of Christina Perri’s songs come on the radio because I see my name on the screen. Dork.

3. Danielle works for Red Bull and got a shipment of the new Red Bull Editions on Monday. She literally jogged to our apartment’s office to pick up the package, then jogged to my building so we could try them. (Yes, we both get very excited about little things. This is why we are friends.)

The new flavors are: cranberry, lime, and blueberry.

To celebrate, I pulled out wine glasses. Why not? I liked the cranberry best, then blueberry, then lime. We really liked the cranberry and blueberry mixed.The Editions will be available in select bars/clubs next week but fully launch on March 4, 2013. Get excited!

4. Best license plate ever.

5. My grandma introduced me to my new favorite tea, Yogi Bedtime. It’s so good!

I also love the little messages tied to the tea bag. What’s your favorite Yogi flavor? I want to try more!

6. I need these. Need. Thanks for pointing them out, Nick!

7. Over the long weekend, Boding and I picked out a Christmas tree. We got a petite one, about 5’2”…just my size.

Why we decided to take my car and not Boding’s truck is beyond me. It made for a funny picture though.

Last night I decorated it with two kinds of ornaments: neons and Chick-fil-A cows. Surprised? I didn’t think so.

Have you tried any of the Red Bull Editions yet?

What’s your favorite tea?

Have you put up holiday decorations?

What I’m Loving Wednesday 10.31.12

1. Last night I instagrammed/tweeted a picture of the Pumpkin & Black Bean Chili I had made for dinner.

One of my readers who I met this Spring tweeted that it looked so amazing. I was pretty sure she lived in the same complex as me, so I told her to come on over. Shortly after, I sent her back home with chili, Sriracha, and a few pieces of chocolate. She had never tried Sriracha before and I knew I had to convert her. The chocolate was given for obvious reasons: always eat something sweet after a spicy meal. It’s a rule.

I LOVE MY READERS. You guys are the best.

2. Last Friday when Danielle and I were out, we ran into our friend Will who is just as much of a beet lover as I am. Danielle suggested that we just get married and demanded that Will get on his knees.

Obviously this was a joke, but I’m humored that a) he’s holding his own arm up, b) he’s holding my wrong hand, c) he looks like a Twilight vampire, and c)we are in front of a gay bar. But by far, the funniest part of this whole situation was people’s reactions.

People take stuff on Facebook so seriously! No one in my family called me -- they’ve either abandoned me or know quite well how peculiar my behavior is.

3. After I ate on Saturday, I boxed up my leftovers before I went out for the night. I left myself a love note.

No, it did not work….for me or Danielle.

4. Last week  Groopdealz had a sale for these chunky anchor bracelets for only $7.99. I bought the blue and it’s just as pretty in person.

I found some similar bracelets on Etsy here and here.

5. This is pretty darn accurate. 

6. I was one happy child on this day in 1987.

25 years and 92875298729687 cavities later, I want to wish you a HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

What I’m Loving Wednesday 9.26.12

I love a lot of things this week! Weeeee!

1. I’m terrible at home decorating. This is the one Cancer trait I don’t possess. Out of curiosity, I took this style quiz to see what my home design personality was. I was not at all surprised by the results.

2. Amanda and I both had last Friday off, so we went to Black Bean Co. and split two wraps. On left: South West Chicken wrap (chicken, black beans, jasmine rice, sweet corn, roasted tomatoes, chipotle sauce, carrots, parmesan cheese, mixed greens). On right: Almost Summer wrap (chicken, mandarin oranges, goat cheese, candied almonds, rice noodles, arugula, raspberry citrus vinaigrette). The Almost Summer is a new fave!

3.  Have you ever noticed that Publix puts the most random assortment of goods on sale? I couldn’t help but make a comical display out of a few of them.

Then I thought, what the heck? I guess I should try making matzo ball soup if this mix is on sale. Into the basket it went! #Jewstina

4. Eating at Ali Baba on Sundays has become a ritual for Boding and me. Before he got to my apartment last Sunday, I posted a sign on my door, proposing our dinner plans.

As the picture shows below, he said yes. I wish Ali Baba was a real person so I could date the heck out of him.

5. Amanda and I have always run a couple times a week, but after 3ish miles, we’re like “Where’s the food?” Suddenly, we’re addicted. We ran 4 miles on Saturday, 5 miles on Sunday, and then Tuesday evening we just kept going…until we hit 6.5 miles.

We were kind of delirious after, unsure if we were hungry, dizzy, going to vom, laugh, cry, or pass out. We were both so excited though. Runner’s high is a real thing y’all. Here we are after our run on Sunday, playing tourists at Waterfront Park.

6. Last but not least, I bought the iPhone 5 on Friday and I love it like my first born (that I don’t even have). I love Siri and telling her what to do, like call me Xteeny because Christina is just too formal for this kind of love.

I’ve downloaded a silly amount of apps already.

 

Take the decorating style quiz, send me a matzo ball soup recipe, and tell me your favorite iPhone apps. Please! :)