Bear with Me

Right now, the blog is under construction. I am playing with different XML Coding and trying to find what I like. I'm extremely new at this so, it is a very huge task for me. If you have any recommendations on good places or websites to learn, let me know in the comments below. 

 Aside from that, I am packing the house, making sure its clean and ready to be shown whenever, finding a new apartment and starting a new job. To many that doesn't seem like much. But, for some reason I can't be like that.

Honestly, I think it's because I spend too much time fretting about the extremely minute details. And I worry about leaving my lovely readers hanging when it comes to not posting for weeks at a time. So, I am going to start doing my due diligence and try to post more regularly, whether they be photos or short blurbs about what I have learned with this new coding adventure I am going on.

Also, once we move, I will update you on where we are, what we are doing and how much we are loving it!

Hope you all are having a fantastic day!

Life is Hectic

Life is pretty hectic right now. And I may not be able to post very often in the next few weeks or so, BUT I am going to try my hardest to be able to. I hope everyone has a fantastic next couple of weeks and I will be able to update you all soon! 

Bits and Pieces

 Red wine and Olives, just because. In a champagne glass, because I don't own wine glasses. 

 Cody's valentine's day present. His favorite is hot cocoa, so he got it with a nice hot cup of hot cocoa.

 I love my cat. And I'm not particularly a cat person, but he is something very special. I love that. 

If you haven't yet!

If you haven't liked my Blog's Facebook page, then you should! 

Also, enjoy some pictures of our growing dog, Mika! She is absolutely adorable and is finally growing way too much everyday!

This first picture is of the day we got her:

The following one is of her today:

She used to sleep under the coffee table, then the office chair and then the couch and now she doesn't fit under them, so this is what she does instead: sleeps in the cat tower. Oh, this dog.

Flea Market Fun

Today we decided to do some flea market shopping. I've been looking for some plants for our home, because I really have been wanting to add some plant life to our home. But, our flea markets plants weren't very good or healthy. Unfortunately, maybe I'll get better luck next time. Oh, I forgot to mention that I'm growing my own Bonsai tree that I got from Urban Outfitters, I'm actually kind of excited for it to start growing. So far, it's a cute little bud. I'll take pictures of it soon!

Here are some pictures of the flea market day!

 These strawberries were absolutely delicious. Strawberries are my guilty pleasure. Big Time.

 Honestly, the only plants I kind of liked.

 The crew: (from left to right) Trevor-the best friend, Brittany - the sis in law, Cody- the love 

 Oh, another guilty pleasure. This, and pretzels are a must when I visit the flea market.

Hope you have a good day! How was your friday? 

Red Velvet Pancakes

Ok, so you could guess why I wanted to make these. They're red. And what season is it? The season of love, Valentine's Day. C and I wont really have time to celebrate it together because we have way too much going on, but we are taking two minutes and eating this super sweet meal together. I love him very much, and I am very grateful he is willing to try things I want to make. 

 Ok, you'll need:
1 cup red velvet cake batter
1 cup pancake batter
1/3 egg whites (2 large eggs)
1/4 vegetable oil
2/3 water

Mix all the ingredients together and cook, just like you would pancakes. It really doesn't take very long. And they are extremely sweet.

 My food doesn't look fantastic, but it tastes absolutely amazing. I, also, make very large messes.

My Red Velvet Box came with the icing, so I used it. We couldn't eat all these, actually, we barely made a dent in them, but they were very very good. Try them out! 

Cook, eat and enjoy!

Life's Been Pretty Crazy

Seriously, life has been so busy these days! I am thoroughly enjoying it. By the way, Happy Valentine's Day! It's one of my favorite holidays, not just because of love, but because it's a day we decide to actually spend some time together focused on each other, outside of our busy schedules. Anyways, I think I decided to give up on lessons. I can't keep up with it. I'd do better with a picture a day, which is how I may continue this. I haven't really decided. Maybe I should change it up every so often, at least so I stay interested. Sometimes, it's really hard for me to keep something up because its the same thing. It doesn't really help my creativity any. And that's what I really want to do, challenge my creativity. I think this weekend I'm going to go to the flea market and get some plants to start decorating the home. I also want to find ways to brighten it up. Maybe even finish decorating it. Oh, yeah. I dyed my hair red. Do you like it?

Life

40/365: Combine two of my previous daily lessons: be healthy and take time, so take time to be healthy. It really isn't all that bad to start living a healthy lifestyle. It's honestly what all of us should do. People say, "oh its so easy to just pick up fast food." Well, it's also so easy to make a shake. It takes 5 minutes, not even to make one. And, when you go to the store, get less food and spend a little more time picking out fruits and vegetables. It's extremely important to yourself to be healthy. And you need to be healthy with exercise, whether its walking, running, riding your bike or any other kind of exercise. Check out this post on a Cardio Exercise I love.

41/365: Keep your energy and motivation going. A lot of times it is a lot easier to give up and stay in bed then to get up, wash your face and exercise. It took me sometimes but as they say it takes 16 days to break a habit or start something good (or its so many days like that). But, its really good to stay positive and motivated. Tell someone that your challenging yourself that way, either have them join you or have them call you to make sure you do it everyday (or whenever you do). A little support goes a long way.

42/365: Don't let what other people say to you bring you down. It really isn't worth it. Keep your head up and keep going on about what you do. You need to remember to please yourself sometimes. 

Ok, so enough lessons. Time for some pictures of this past weekend! Enjoy!

This is our Golden Retriever and our Husky playing with each other. I really love that they get along.

I started making my own air freshener 

It took some time and actually really didn't satisfy me the way I hoped for.

There was a lot of orange zesting and juicing and slicing and dicing involved.

Flowers from our push that I never knew had flowers.

I really enjoyed them!

Buffalo chicken salad, don't hate till you try it.

I'm really a hot sauce and chicken lover. mmmm

A Cardio Exercise I Love, and Hate.

Ok, so this is one of my favorite cardio exercises outside of running, and I really recommend you give it a shot and try to do it anywhere from 3 days a week to every day. I love it and it helps wake me up in the morning.

40 jumping jacks
30 jumping rope
20 high knees
20 butt kickers
30 mountain climbers
5 jump squats
5 burpees
30 jumping rope

WATER BREAK

25 jumping jacks
20 pivoting uppercuts
30 marching in place
5 burpees
35 jumping jacks
40 jumping rope
5 jump squats
30 high knees

Tell me how you enjoyed it!

Make your own Peanut Butter!

I decided to do this because I am a huge peanut butter fan and I have been wanting to try it for a while. So I did. Have patients. I didn't get it right the first time or the second time, but I ended up getting it down. 

What you need:
peanuts
a pan
a blender
a mason jar

Most peanut butters you make, you have to add oil and other things, but as I was doing my research on how to do this (as I always do), I found that if you roast the peanuts, you wont have to add the oil. I thought that it was super convenient for me because I didn't want to add any extra oil to it. Turn the oven on to 350 degrees Fahrenheit to roast the peanuts

Before the roastin'

After!

Then, put your lovely peanuts into a blender. This part takes a good bit of time, and mixing and please have patience with your blender. I had to! I have one from Walmart that really isn't that fantastic, but it ended up getting the job done. Also, if you want to flavor it, this is the time to add it. Whether it be spicy, cinnamon  almond extract or vanilla extract, do it now. You can pretty much add anything into it!

And walla! Your peanut butter is done. Pour it from the blender into the mason jar and put it in the fridge. I like it a lot! I hope you do too!

One of my FAVORITE fellow bloggers!

Her 16th birthday, so mind you, this is QUITE old!

Ok, I must admit, this lovely lady is one of my favorite bloggers and she is of course my best friend! She has wonderful posts about SUPER healthy things. Even things I wouldn't think about. I adore her. So, I think you should go check out her blog and check back through her archived posts. 

We met in middle school, i think? I'm not sure. But we have been fantastic friends ever since. Oh, her name is Samantha, so shoo and go check her out!

Catching Up

35/365: I believe in this wholeheartedly: friends are JUST as important as family. That's something I have learned a lot about over the last few years. To me, your friends are just as important because they will be there for you, you will create memories with them and it makes more enjoyable. I have a  few very dear friends of mine (sadly I don't have any pictures right now) that are willing to always encourage me, deal with and make wonderful memories in the kitchen or anywhere else with me. It's good to have people to talk to and figure things out with, it's one of my favorite things to do (have friend time). Sometimes when there isn't anyone at the house I get lonely. Don't get me wrong, I love Cody's company, but when it gets silent and there is no one to make messes with and to help me clean them up or to even make noise, i get lonely. I love my friends.

36/365:When you are taking pictures, sometimes natural light is the best light. Rather than using a flash that can cause a photo to look weird sometimes, try to take pictures during the day or even outside and look at the difference between natural and not natural light. A lot of times, even if its a little bit darker, i rather take a photo without flash and lighten it in photoshop. Can you tell which photo has flash below and which one doesn't?

37/365: February 6th: One of the worst days of the years for me, always. Since I was 8 years old. Most of you don't know this, but thats my dad's birthday. My biological father that is, who died the summer before I turned 9. It was a tragic event in our life's, but I think by now I have learned that things will get better. It's been almost 11 years and I know now it happened for a reason.

38/365: Give yourself enough time in the day to do things that you need to. Even if that means waking up before the sun or going to bed super late. Sometimes you just really need to push yourself to get something done that you need to. I'm super having that problem right now. More lately I want to sit more than do things that I need to, and that's not good. So I have to SELF MOTIVATE. If I don't I wont go anywhere. Sometimes, you do have to push yourself.

39/365: Yesterday, I tried to make my own peanut butter. Last week, I learnt how to ride a motorcycle (not for the faint of heart). And next week I have a goal to try something else new. I feel, if you are constantly trying to try something new, not only will you entertain yourself, but you find new things you like and it'll just keep life interesting.

I love my cat; his eyes look like they're staring into your soul, not really, but still.

Same with him, he normally runs away from me, but I'm happy he let me get a picture of him. I wish he wasn't so skiddish.

BBQ Chicken Pizza

Last night we ordered a pizza, because we got a free one through the Papa Johns Superbowl Coin Toss. And we compared, the boys liked mine so much better. It made me so happy! 

Crust:

Prep time: 35 min

Servings: approximately 12

1 cup warm water

1 tablespoon white sugar

2 1/4 teaspoon active dry yeast

3 tablespoon salt

2 1/2 cup flour

Mix everything but flour first. Then, add flour, put into ball and leave alone to rise for 10 minutes.

Garlic Butter:

Chop up garlic and melt butter and mix it together, set it aside till later.

BBQ Chicken:

Dice up chicken and cook all the way through. Then, in a bowl, mix your favorite bbq sauce and the chicken.

Final Steps:

Preheat oven: 425 degrees Fahrenheit

Cook time: 15-25 min

Spray the pan with pam!

Flatten dough into pan, then put garlic butter on the dough. Cover the pizza in the bbq chicken. Add Feta Cheese and Mozzarella.

Cook, Cut and Enjoy!

Have a good Night!

Sunday Funday

31/365: Don't be so quick to judge. It's kind of involved with keeping an open mind on things. You don't know a situation or a person and you definitely wouldn't want to be judge yourself. So why is it everyones first instinct to judge? Trust me, I'm at fault at this, and I know I'm not perfect, but I definitely believe it is something that everyone should learn.

Tracking, journaling and relaxing before the superbowl

Healthy Salad

32/365: Health is super important. A lot more important than most people realize. I don't think that eating "good" occasionally here in there is what health is really supposed to be. I believe it has a lot to do with eating (obviously) but body, soul and mind as well. If you don't treat yourself well, but eat healthy doesn't mean your a healthy person. I definitely believe in a balance. And you can make health fun for your family. Especially with fun recipes and being adventurous in trying these. (Don't think that means I don't believe in splurging every now and then)

Topaz in her lovely sweater that puppy keeps taking off of her ): I guess she is jealous or something. 

33/365: The way you are, the way you dress, the way you act shouldn't be to please other people, but to please yourself. What is the most important thing to you? The way others view you or the way you view yourself? To me, being real and true to yourself is the most important thing, and that will bring like minded people around you. Isn't that what you want? Like minded people around you, in which you can have fun doing things you enjoy. Being fake to yourself, just so other people will like you isn't the way you should lead your life. Just my opinion.

34/365:Routine. I learnt that, for me, it is super important for me to have a routine. If I don't, I wont get what I want to done, and then I fall behind, get frustrated and agitated and it just ruins the time I'm having, even if the activity is enjoyable. So, I need to stick to a routine. My routines need to be super descriptive, almost time tabled. Obviously, that doesn't always happen and I don't always stick to them, but its really good to know I have some structure when it comes to my life. 

Healthy Salad

I've been trying to find ways to make way healthier meals, especially salads. I've decided to put way more protein on my salads because they fill you up better than fillers, like dried fruit, nuts, dried noodles and other things.

In this salad is baby spinach, cold cut turkey, cooked egg whites, cheese, sun dried tomatoes and olives (not in this picture). Keep it light and full of protein and you'll feel full and nourished.