Friday Five Favorites: I GET to live and love life.

 

Five reasons this week was great

1.  Getting homework done (again!). I even got reprimanded for turning my homework in too early. Sorry but these one per month classes go by too fast and I get too anxious turning in work too close to the deadline.

2. Mug cakes for breakfast (and at night). Easy and filling.

3. Midday coffee run for my co-workers and getting out of work at 12:30. :)

4. Discovering "Family Tree." Chris O'Dowd, will you marry me? I know, he's not "hot," but watch him! Have you seen "Moone Boy" or "The I.T. Crowd?"

5. Meeting these 4 silly boys. Long story short, they asked if I would take them with me wherever I go. :)

Five crafts

1. DIY nail polish storage made from a shoe box and the gift wrap paper I purchased for the holidays (and beyond).

2. Gingerbread house! Check one off my "December to Remember" list!

I picked the Dancing Deer kit for $13.99. Lots of extra frosting and cookies - you build around the box.

 

My cousin helped decorate it.

 

I did the top two.

3. I could make this myself. I love ya Yancey!

4. Someone invite me to an ugly sweater party!

5. My friend says it's cold out. I suggested this:

Five recipes

1.  Pumpkin pie cheese & crackers were served at the holiday baking party.

2. Holiday stout gingerbread

3. After making pumpkin whoopie pies, I want to make some gingerbread whoopie pies with lemon cream cheese. Whoopie pies are my speciality. :)

4. Sweet potato fritters with yogurt chive dipping sauce

5. Cranberry pinot noir meatballs

BONUS: If you haven't seen this... Joy, you're killing us: Gingerbread Speculoos & Dark Chocolate Cake!

Five workouts

1. Sandbag here and here with my makeshift bag filled with clothes and some weights.

2. Resistance band workouts are all over the place including here.

3. Stability ball, which I haven't done yet but is on the schedule for tomorrow.

4. Walking every night because I don't have to plan and I did all my homework during the day!

5. Dancing - easy Latin and Bollywood.

Five links

1. When did Fullerton become one of the prettiest towns? I may have to revisit during the day...

2. 33 clever Christmas food hacks that are easy and ingenious!

3. How it would look if all humans were bodybuilders

4. 15 reasons why Costco is simply the best

5. I don't have to do anything. I get to workout. I get to go to work. This post seriously changed my life.

Five exciting events

1. Holiday baking party at work. My group make pumpkin whoopie pies and French chocolate truffles.

2. Peter's [surprise] birthday dinner tonight. It'll be a drive for some shabu - I'll explain what that is later... I should get him something though.

3. Indulge L.A. with my friend Julie. I heard there's so much sugar (and drinks) that it's impossible. We'll see about that.

4. Resolution Run, but I'm still not sure if I'm running it or volunteering. Have I told you how much I hate running and I've only ever run one 5K... and I had to train for it?

5. Holiday baking exchange with a Meetup group I joined. It's 20-somethings reading books. I'm thinking about making eggnog thumbprints, but please GIVE ME IDEAS!

Your turn:
What's your go-to cookie recipe?
What's your favorite cookie?

WIAW: Everyday is the same

Today's a shorter day. I picked up an extra hour, but it's during break. I picked up a class yesterday and it was a first! I worked with students with severe disabilities and was pretty scared!

So my last week has looked like this...

6:45 A.M. Breakfast at my desk: coconut flour mug cake with Greek yogurt "frosting." 0 period starts early at 7 - they meet everyday though so class is less than an hour.

 

10:15 A.M. Favorite Quest Bar flavor! I always get hungry because I eat so early.

12:25 P.M. Clearance spicy ketchup over greens, avocado, and a turkey burger with my co-workers even though I don't have to stay.

3 P.M. Some cheese, some tortilla chips, some chocolate when I get home.

7:30 P.M. Post-nap & workout dinner smoothie: strawberries, frozen mango, greens, Sunwarrior vanilla, and almond milk.

10 P.M. Relaxing with wine, popcorn, and "Some Girls." Hoping it's good...

Let's not forget little spoonfuls of this...

Some purchases/eats to come this week:

My inner hippie gets unleashed at Mother's Market. I've gone to several of their locations and can spend hours there! My favorite location is the one in Santa Ana - it's huge, has a hot food bar, cold food bar, juice bar, pizza, DIY sandwiches and burritos, etcetera.

Wild Friends [new?] sesame cranberry

Reed's cabarnet grape kombucha

The Bu, a Ventura-based company, has melon?!

I can't resist a deal, especially with a $1 off coupon!

How many hours do you go before getting hungry?

Any new finds or tried any of these items?

Holiday Gift Guide [for me]

Happy Thursday!

Okay, it's actually late Wednesday evening... almost bedtime since I have to be up early. I'm writing notes for this PowerPoint the teacher left me to present. One word: overachiever.

I picked up an extra class tomorrow too (more $ for the holidays) and am going to bake cookies with the staff after school (in an attempt to be more involved and known).

Did you know that yesterday was Santa's List Day? I took this advice and watched a holiday film. I watched a ton of holiday movies in October so I went with a non-traditional film, "Bridget Jones' Diary."

I also put on "Drinking Buddies" while doing homework. Sadly, it wasn't good for the great actors in it.

My plans to drive to Santa Monica to practice yoga with Dice Iida-Klein, walk the Santa Monica stairs, and have dinner there just didn't happen. I ended up staying at school chatting with co-workers and staff for another hour.

No nap either. I tried but got my workout on and walked around outside. I then trucked along with my assignments for this class. There's a lot of it, but I'm fortunate enough to do it during work.

Alright, onto this post: I've seen a lot of gift guides. This is kind of like a gift guide, but it's really my wish list.

New Balance WX20v3 are the only shoes that don't hurt my feet. I've used my old ones for hiking.

ASICS Gel-Sustain TR

Onitsuka Tiger are my favorite, and they last forever even in the washer.

Saucony Bullet are a great casual shoe.

I love the colors of this Ikea flask ($7.99). I don't need it, but it's retro!


It's about time to replace my Life Factory water bottle after 2+ years!

When I lived in Asheville, I took a couple of Bhangra classes. Not much is available around here, but I spent a Saturday morning on Doonya's YouTube video. I love the music!

I want a kettlebell and am into this one-equipment trend.

A good set of adjustable dumbbells would be lovely too. :)

And after that pain, a foam roller.

I definitely need a car charger. This should be #1 on my list.

Blend Retreat 2014

(photo from Me & the Mountains)

Maybe IFBC 2014 - the only thing stopping me is a cheap place to stay. I want to visit Seattle!

What's on your wish list?

MIMM: Thanksgiving Festivities

My friend Vanessa and I had plans to go to Palm Springs on Friday, but the rain killed our plans. Instead, we ventured into Black Friday. I didn't buy anything but enjoyed walking around the mall.

First things first, some MARVELOUS Nekter juice: pumpkin pie smoothie & the Greenie, both for me post-Thanksgiving.

We had a MARVELOUS time painting our nails with lots of glitter and watching a surprisingly odd but MARVELOUS movie, "Lifeguard." We chose it because of Kristen Bell and did not expect this to be what it was.

Saturday was MARVELOUS Friendsgiving

 It was also MARVELOUS Peter's belated birthday celebration. Now I can say I've known him for 20 years!

Reunited with old friends, met some new ones.

 

Sunday was the MARVELOUS Patchwork Festival in historic downtown Santa Ana. I obviously love going to these and we get to have 2 nearby. I snagged a "vegan spiced pumpkin & carrot cream pie" from Sugar Beak Bakery.

I woke up super late so ate a late lunch: MARVELOUS Thanksgiving leftover pizza from Mother's Market!

After some shopping with Vanessa, I met up with my friends Peter & Anthony for shrimp ceviche at Mario's. Perfectly full, and now I must go back to my normal eating patterns.

One of the things I'm learning from my past is that a few days "off track" isn't a big deal - I've worked out and eaten well consistently for 3 YEARS without fail!

Was there a lot of eating and drinking this past week? The drinking got me - I had 2 beers, quite a bit of wine, and some shots this week. Not bad actually...