Yum-Yums and Cravings

First off, whoa!  Blogger updated their posting section!  So forgive me if this post is haphazard.

Yesterday I felt like a weight was lifted from my shoulders!  

Last Tuesday, I got the sh*t knocked out of me by a cold/flu.  Funny how that happens the week I have a final!  Oh, and it was final with a time-crunch. I had less than an hour and a half to take it (it usually takes about two hours), as I was going back to Ohio for a very special occasion for a very hot minute. 

This lady:

With her handsome fiance!

is getting married in a few short weeks, and we were celebrating her bridal shower.

Though we went to the same high school, Sara and I didn't become friends until college.  Then it was "love" at first site, and after freshman year we were inseparable. It also didn't hurt that telling people our names, Sara & Tara, made us very memorable, so I think we had to stick together to get people to recognize us.  I don't have a college memory that doesn't involve Sara. 

(p.s. Homegirl got engaged after my wedding reception!  Since we called each other "Wifey" in college, I think it only appropriate that the night as I became someone else's wife, she was on her way too!)

I felt like a bad bridesmaid being all the way down here.  Luckily the MOH, Cara, asked me to take care of favors and game gifts, so I felt I was somewhat involved. 

With my mind swirling with acupuncture points and herbal medicine formulas, it was nice to get to be creative.

I didn't get to Cincinnati until late Friday night and the shower was on Saturday, so I needed something easy and supplies I could transport via carry-on.  So I came up with these:

So fun and so easy to make! 

Marshmallow pops!

The inspiration for the cakes and cupcakes! 

My mom helped late into the night on Friday, and I was very pleased with how they turned out. 

And I did eat any of them (in full contest prep!)! 

The game gifts were these:

Cakes in a Jar! 

Though you can microwave the cakes (which is what I did) I think I want to try it by baking, as I think it would taste better.   Though with the amount of icing in the jar, I don't know if you'd care what the cake tasted like.  :)

It was a beautiful shower and it's always nice to be around my friends and spend some QT with family.

The beautiful bride-to-be awaiting her gifts :)

Especially since I had to come back to a new class (my herbal medicine board review class, which I have to take the exam a week early for, so its a bit scary considering I need to review 75 weeks worth of notes in 4 weeks!), and an exam yesterday.

But the exam is done and I feel like I am handling the study load okay for right now. 

Plus, I might have blinders on since I have a show coming up next weekend (man, and I CRAVING frozen yogurt and potato salad right now ... Bikini competitors crave strange things during prep).

This show, only a national qualifier (which I since my third place win in March), is huge.  A lot of my team will be there, as well as my coaches.  Whether I place or not, it's a big deal to get in front of national judges, as well as possibly get direct feedback from my coaches.  So far I look better than my last show and I get to meet/see a lot of my teammates.

Oh yeah, my last show!  I decided to do a second show a fews ago.  It was last minute and it was suppose to keep me on track for this show (dieting for 6 weeks seems like forever, so breaking it up with another show helped.) 

 Again, lucky number 3, because I placed third (out of 9 competitors).  It felt good to get first call out and to beat out 6 other competitors. 

So here's to Pittsburgh! 

Prayers appreciated!!!!!

Childless & Celebratory

Okay, I know Easter posts should be over and done with, but I am late, and I want to post it.

Especially since it will involve a gratuitous cute dog photos.

I had mentioned on the last post how Easter snuck up on me. I had mentioned this aloud later in the day. To which a women responded, “Well since you don’t have children, you wouldn’t really be celebrating holidays.”

WTF?!

First off, this woman is Buddhist, so no offense to Buddha or any Buddhist reading this, but Easter, really isn’t your holiday to begin with … (just saying)

Second, how about the fact that my friends and a majority of my family are 1,000 miles away, my hubs is 1,000 miles away on some island that may or may not have Internet and/or phone service, and if I’m not studying or gymin' it, I'm passed out ... on the couch, the floor, the bed ... these days I'm not particular.

(... These are also all reasons that BY CHOICE the Hubs and I have decided to not have children.)

I don’t lead an exciting life. It’s pretty routine, and sometimes in that routine gives you blinders that make you forget about things that are more important … like holidays!

For the record: I didn’t forget Easter, it’s just that those 40-days were really short.

And I’d like to think that despite being childless, I do a pretty good job of celebrating holidays. Granted, moving a lot has limited how much tangible décor I have at the moment, but I decorated for Halloween, Christmas, Valentine’s Day, and Easter (even though I was all by myself). Not to mention I properly celebrated each holiday, whether it was in a church pew, with family and friends, or in the case of Halloween, a few celebratory bevvies.

I like to think that when I do have kiddies, I will be the mom to make green pancakes for St. Patrick’s Day, force my kids to make elaborate Valentines (I don’t do store-bought), hide Easter baskets (my mom still does this and my youngest brother is 21!), gorge on King cake for Mardi Gras, and make tacos & virgin margaritas for Cinco de Mayo (though mommy’s may have a side car), make a flag cake for Fourth of July (my favorite holiday), bake fun Halloween desserts and create really memorable moments for Thanksgiving and Christmas.

(... and lets face it, with Pintrest, I will NEVER be out of ideas!)

But alas, I have dogs.

Martini-dog enjoying a coffee at the park

Morgs just chillin'

I did, in fact, celebrate Easter, and with family. I spent the day in Naples with my grams and aunt and uncle.

Grams loves me so much she invited the dogs, but I thought they better stay on her good side, which meant relaxing at home. Martini & Morgan appreciated the Grandma's gesture and sent along a basket for her:

Meanwhile, they stayed at home and enjoyed their goodies from the Easter Bunny:

I don't think she was upset about not sitting in the car for 2 hours ...

But Easter isn’t quite over for me.

I have a show this weekend, so I was not able to indulge in any candy. However, I have a Cadbury Crème Egg sitting in the fridge, waiting for Saturday night (and hopefully I can enjoy it next to a trophy ...and my fur-babies!).

Could I really like where I live?

Um, why didn't anyone tell Easter is Sunday?! I feel completely out of the loop!

As if the move and a competition wasn't enough stress, I had my very first apartment guest this past weekend! My bestie Kelly came down for a long-weekend.

but from the time Mark left last Sunday to Kelly arriving last Thursday, I thought I was going to lose my mind.

I had been posting on FB about not feeling well and then getting strange cysts on the back of my head (so gross!). They were SOOOO painful and itchy, and burned!

It turned out to be shingles. Gross!

It’s so frustrating when you do EVERYTHING healthy (diet, workout ... I have even been going to bed earlier and prepping everything the night before so my mornings are stress-free ... well as much as a morning can be) and your body fails. Granted it could be worse, but just knowing that there is no rhyme or reason for the shingle outbreak except an immune-system compromise, is annoying.

Last Tuesday was spent trying to find a walk-in clinic (since the one in front of our apartment complex was open, but had no doctor, WTF?!) when I should have been studying for a midterm, which happened to be the morning Kelly arrived. I was trying to finish the putting boxes away (finally my clothes are hanging ... my shoes ... are a different story) and get the guest bedroom set up by the time she arrived.

The Bestie Suite

Come Thursday afternoon, I was in desperate need of a drink.

… but I am still in competition training, so there is no fun bevvies for Miss T.

These classy bevs will just have to wait ...

Thankfully Kelly just wanted to relax too, so it was really a low-key weekend. Plus, I got to try new restaurants in my new city.

Mark and I always go out in Fort Lauderdale, but we usually go to the same places. We had a dinner and a lunch with some of Kelly’s friends/family that live down here, which meant a new restaurant on Las Olas and a lunch on Fort Lauderdale Beach (which was WAY more pleasurable than Miami Beach, even with spring break in full swing!)

On Sunday, I took Kelly for a ride on the Jungle Queen (a must if you visit South Florida). It’s a tacky-touristy river cruise. On it we past one of the major parks in Fort Lauderdale, packed with people. Apparently every first Sunday of the month the city holds a free jazz brunch.

And I found a place nearby that offers the Barre Method classes, something I have been dying to try! And down the street from me is a vegan/raw restaurant that I am itching to stop in (Seriously?! You can take the veggies away from a girl but you can't veggie outta her.)

… I might actually learn to like South Florida after all.

Bikinis and Boxes

Whew!

Happy Tuesday ya’ll. I can finally say life is somewhat back to normal.

Last Wednesday we moved, and with the competition this weekend, I hadn’t had a chance to unpack. Hubs has worked super hard to get the apartment to a box-less state, but my clothes are still packed away.

My competition went really well.

I met other Bombshell teammates, I think I looked the best I ever had, and I placed third …

… Out of three in my class.

Here’s the thing. During this training, I really tried to focus on God and the fact that He’s allowing me to do this. I asked and prayed he’d allow me to place in the top three in my height class, knowing that the top three get a bid to a national competition, and only through a national competition can you have the possibility of getting your pro card.

Is getting my pro card my ultimate goal? It would be fun and great if I did. But ultimately my goal is to go to a national competition, and guess what God did?!

He provided.

Of course, it's not without challenges, even the day of. I’ve blogged about my ankle pain, which is thankfully healed. But Saturday morning, I got up at 5 am to starting getting ready (Okay, I may have hit the snooze once). I plugged in my curling iron, which worked just days before, and found that it wouldn’t work. Since we just moved in, I still haven’t figured out which outlets work and which light switches turn on what, so after struggling for about five minutes I gave in to the fact that it was broken.

Luckily we lived across the street from a 24-hour Wal-greens. I had put my hair in curlers the night before, and tied my hair up with a scarf to keep everything in place. If that wasn't enough, I had been spray tanned the night before, and you can’t wear undergarments after being tanned, so in my PJs, bra-less, orange-skinned and hair tied up in rollers and a scarf, I walked into Wal-greens to purchase a curling iron and red lipstick at 5:20 on a Saturday morning. Let’s just say the clerk wasn't too chatty.

Hubs joined me for judging on Saturday night. This show was really cool because they had a wheelchair competition as well. These guys are such inspirations, especially since some of them have more severe conditions than being paraplegic.

With Hubs

The wheelchair competition

Afterwards, Hubs and I decided to eat, celebrating St. Patrick’s Day with guacamole and fajitas. Sunday, I tried to stick with my diet, while I decided to take off exercise-wise.

Hubs and I made a trip to IKEA, which was a terrible idea. Overwhelmed, overcrowded and just plain tired, we decided to head to Cheesecake Factory for a long overdue date.

And guess what?

I got drunk. Obviously it took less than a half a raspberry martini to get me tipsy, but I figured I’d have another … and some frozen yogurt after.

By five in the afternoon, Hubs and I were passed out in the apartment. We had every intention of unpacking and doing a little home improvement, but it was nice to be “normal” again.

I also may have splurged on the flourless chocolate chip cookies from Chocolate-Covered Katie, and I HIGHLY recommend them. They are soooooo good and super easy to make! (p.s. I used the chocolate chunks rather than chips. Also highly recommend.)

And while I started the weekend a hot-mess in curlers, I’m beginning the week the same way. I look like an Oompa-Loompa as the dark spray tan fades to orange and my drug-store, glue-on nails are popping off left and right.

But I woke up at 5 am to hit the gym for a few hours before class Monday and today (I think I like the two-hour early morning work out rather than at the end of the day. Who knew I'd be a morning person?!)

What I'm lovin' Wednesday

I haven't done one of these in a while, and I have been lusting after a few things. But with competition prep coming down to the wire all I can think about it is:

1. Getting to the gym

2. Getting down with cardio (bleh)

3. When can I eat?

4. Distracting myself from hunger

5. When can I nap?

6. Do I have to get up?

(Seriously, can't the dogs figure out how to walk themselves?)

Lace shorties

I don’t know if these are age-appropriate (I am closer to 30 than 25 … yikes!), but I am loving lace. Plus, I believe I can get away with anything living in Miami.

Some lace-spiration

And just because she's to die for:

Colored Jeans

I am a total jeans girl. Seriously, even when I was corporate, I think I had two pairs of black pants I would wear everyday. I didn't want to spend the money on non-fun clothes. But unless I need to run to the store quickly, I refuse to go out in sweats or yoga pants. So how perfect are colored jeans? It says I want to be formal, but I'm still here to party.

(name that movie quote, anyone?)

Loving the cut, Old Navy.

Love the rose color, Gap.

p.s. Gap and ON are having a 15% off online-only sale in celebration of Leap Day.

Head and Shoulders

I have extremely limp and dry hair.

It’s taken a beating since I did this a two years ago:

If there is one thing I spend money on, it’s expensive shampoos and conditioners. But I ran out of my fancy stuff while showering, so I was left with the hubs pick:

HEAD & SHOULDERS CITRUS BREEZE = SILKLIEST & SOFTEST HAIR EVER!!!!

Seriously, I can’t get over it. I’m in love with my hair again. It's a 2 in 1, and I do condition my hair after I use it as a shampoo, so maybe that helps. But I don’t think I will ever go back to the expensive stuff … EVER.

Chocolate-Covered Goodness

I found this site at the worst possible time, with just weeks until the comp. But you better believe that I will be baking these Flourless Chocolate Chip Cookies the Friday before the show in anticipation of a sweet treat (hopefully to celebrate a good placing!).

From Chocolate Covered Katie

Bethenny Frankel's Style

Always a fan, but this season on Bethenny Ever After, I loving her easy-breezy, every day style (totally doing the "hot" pink pumps with the green shorts or the white jeans with simple blue tank?!). I tried to find a photo, but couldn't so you'll just have to watch on Monday nights on Bravo.

I die for this dress too. ... and Nick ... and their falafel tour. :)

Careful what you wish for ...

You know that old saying,

“Be careful what you wish for?”

Well I believe if you look below, I was wishing for some sort of change.

It happened.

Two Fridays ago, I got a call at 8:30p from our landlord’s realtor saying that the bank approved the apartment for short sale, and once they buy it we have 60 days to vacate.

Of course I panicked.

Mark is in the Caribbean until mid-March, and let’s face four weeks out (now three!) from my competition, I am a bit emotional and unstable.

This whole past week I have been a wreck. I don’t know if it’s the impending move, the fact I have to look at apartments by myself, the competition, my bum ankle (oh, yeah three weeks out and I can barely walk on my left foot, let alone run five miles everyday) or the lack of carbs in my diet.

… I think I have school in there somewhere, too.

Like I said before, when I get stressed I clean, I make lists, I get organized.

I don’t study however.

Nor am I any good at making decisions (sans deciding whether a piece of paper is important or junk).

I made a call into a realtor in Fort Lauderdale, and of course she was out of town until Monday. I am hoping to view a few places this coming week, which is also when we will hear more definitely from the bank.

Until then I will be purging my closets and drawers … at this rate we might only have one box to pack!

Valentine's Day Restlessness

I've been feeling super "nesty" lately.

No I'm not pregnant.

I'm SUPER restless, and a lotta stressed.

I am in my final year and I am just itching to get done and get outta Dodge. Our landlord is selling our apartment as well. We are hoping it's to an investor who will allow us to stay until at least next spring, but there's a fear that it won't end up that way and/or she decides it's best to sell the property sans tenets all together.

I just want my own place and not have to move again for at least five years.

In the past, when I get restless and stressed, I get crafty.

(Seriously, I repainted my bedroom three times in 48 hours because I couldn't get the perfect "gray" color ... it's still not perfect, but it was called to my attention I could be on the verge of severely OCD, so I put down the brush and had to step away from the paint can.)

LUCKILY, Valentine's Day is around the corner.

Holidays were always a big deal in my family. My mom would go all out. We had decorations for everything, candy, cookies, big meals, etc. We use to get together with out crafty neighbor and make T-shirts or sweatshirts with holiday iron-ons for EVERY holiday (remember when those were popular? Or did I just think they were?)

With Mark working most holidays, they have sort of lost their significance on him. And a bit on me. Last year was the first Valentine's Day we spent together in our four years together. We've spent two Thanksgivings together, but one was off the coast of Turks & Caicos with a rolly boat (ie a seas-sick wife) and no food (seriously, I think we had crackers and cheese). Last year was the first Easter we spent together. We have always been together to Halloween and Christmas, so we go all out on those.

Usually when we do spent hoildays together it's super last minute, so it's pointless to decorate just a few days before the celebration. And I felt stupid decorating just for myself.

But this year is different. My restless (and maybe an obsession with Pinterest) took over.

I saw this:

and this:

And make my own for literally less than five dollars:

Ribbon: Michael's, Red hearts: Michael's, paper hearts, paper from Target ($2.50 for a pack)

I also saw this wonderful cookie recipe and was DYING to bake them.

Much to the hubs chagrin, I cook around my laptop.

Cookie cutters, Target

A dieters worse nightmare = brown sugar and butter ::sign::

But I was good and ate my sweet potatoes and fish. ::grr...::

I've never baked cookies in our oven before, so the first batch was a little overdone.

And I was afraid they'd taste a bit bland, so I also made some royal icing, with a hint of vanilla added (seriously, easiest recipe ever!)

And while my husband enjoyed a plateful over the week he was home

I did pack and send some to my parents, brothers and Grams.

I also crafted a special little gift for the hubs. I'll post later since I instructed him not to open until Tuesday.

Any other creative decor or gift ideas out there?