WIAW

I have had many crisis encounters this week.

One: I finished season four of LOST. And I don't own the fifth season DVD set. *Smacks forehead with hand*

Beige breakfast....banana oatmeal w/ a banana, milk, PB and coffee

  

Two: Both of our computers, desktop and laptop, were acting up. While sitting at the computer, wondering why it was I who had to deal with the burden of crappy Internet connection, I figured out I could just restart it. I'm a genius, I tell you. *crisis averted*

 Midmorning snackage of cinnamon-y almonds and an apple.

Three: I lost my cat for about an hour before anybody noticed, and found her locked inside the laundry room/closet. *Responsible pet-owner fail*

Lunch: turkey, veggie, and hummus wrap w/ apple and greek yogurt - forgot to photograph my carrots w/ PB (we were about to start Falling Skies!), washed down with a grapefruit La Croix.

And the most disturbing of all: I haven't seen a Chocolate Chunk Luna bar at the grocery store for a couple of weeks. After searching a different store, I melodramatically moaned, groaned, and complained while looking for another bar to satisfy my chocolatey needs. 

But nothing....nothing....shall ever replace that flavor.

Afternoon snack: Choco-chip cookie dough Larabar sufficed. Yum!

I kind of have this thing about bars.

It's a bit of an obsession....as in, if we're out of them at the house, we will scrounge for money to get at least a few at the store. 

 

You see? Proof of my stash.

I have attempted savory snacks like 1/2 a sandwich, veggies and dip, pita chips and hummus....but they really just don't satisfy me! Psychological or physical?

  Afternoon snack: una manzana....need more variety.

Off the topic of bars, we've been reeaallyy low-key the past few days. I guess all that swimming tired us out! Why does it seem like I'm hungrier on lazy days than when I exercise??

Dinner: homemade pizza!!! w/ tomato sauce, fresh mozz, and basil leaves. So scrumptious. Perfect carb/protein mix after my walk.

I've been really attempting to try to find stuff to do - but it's kind of hard when you just want to be lazy - and you can't drive yet. But....I'm getting my permit today!!! Booyah.

Unpictured dessert of fro-yo. My computer started acting up again. Meh.

Have a wonderful Wednesday!!!

I Dream in Pumpkin

There comes a time in our house when my mother and I go on a pumpkin-induced high and attempt to clear all the shelves of the grocery store of canned pumpkin.

Es muy delicioso.


I've noticed that I tend to gravitate toward the veggies and fruit on the orange side of the color spectrum. Cantaloupe, mango, carrots, pumpkin, sweet potatoes, bell pepper.......


Anyhoo, I have many, many ways that I like to satisfy my obsession with this delightful autumn vegetable (fruit?). Stir it in oatmeal, mix it in yogurt, combine it with peanut butter and spread onto toast (so delicious!), make it into pancakes, add it into a milkshake or smoothie, make it with French toast, the list goes on and on. I'm sure that there are also many adventurous savory ways to cook it, as well!


But one of the staples in our household.....muffins!

I made these muffins (or cupcakes!) this morning, and half of them were gone in less than two hours.

They're that delicious.

Another bonus, they're so ridiculously easy to make that the recipe might be a slight insult to your intelligence.

Therefore, you have no excuse not to make them. (Unless you don't like pumpkin.)

I cook these puppies low and slow.

Maybe that's because I can't remember the actual temperature/time from the recipe......but they still turn out yummy!

Easiest Pumpkin Cupcakes Evah

Ingredients:

1 15-oz can of pure pumpkin

1 box of Spice Cake mix

1/2 cup water

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 325* F

2. Stir pumpkin, cake mix, and water*.

3. Scoop into muffin tins, and bake for 30-35 minutes.

4. Enjoy!

Feel free to add anything on top or in the mix - this is an extremely versatile recipe! I added chopped walnuts to half of the muffins, and they toasted while in the oven, and gave the fluffy muffins a nice crunch factor.

I also made another batch using Carrot Cake mix, and although they weren't quite as sweet, they were just as yummy. They'd probably be good with some cream cheese frosting smothered on top! Mmm.....

Shots of Father's Day

Happy Monday!

The weeks are flying by faster and faster!! Can you believe it's almost July?!

Gah. I need to quit wishing the time away. (Although I have to say that 15 isn't my favorite age - everything I want to do starts at age 16! i.e. driver's license, hospital volunteering, work release....)

I could babble on about how we celebrated Daddy's Day, but I thought I'd show you some pictures of how it went instead. (See more about the Padre)

(Yeah, we planned the color-coordination. We're special.)

 Brosef and the Padre decided orange and blue should be considered black and white.

Take one:

Take two:

Take one:

Take two (I'm sure Reba appreciates lovely photographs of her on the web):

Take one:

Take two:

Take one:

Take two:

I love you, Daddy!

How did you spend your Father's Day?



10 Reasons Why I Especially Love the Padre

1. He does most of (if not all) the yucky yard work. Worst chore ever.

2. He loves my kitty. As much as he insists he doesn't as much as Oscar - he lervs Lilly.

3. He converted me to a baseball fan. Go Braves!

4. He teaches me a lot of things, like driving, math, and how to grill meat.

5. He makes the best coffee. I feel uncomfortable making the coffee in the mornings if I wake up before him.

6. He always says he likes what I cook, even when I'm not quite sure if he does!

7.  He appreciates mah Spanish-speaking and medical facts and trivia.

8. He makes me feel safe and secure.

9. He's always supportive of me in any way I need him to be.

10. He ROCKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I love you so much, Daddy.

Seriously.

I'm not even kidding.

Caffeine Defficiency

Aaannnddd we're out of coffee. Ugh.

I hate to admit it, but there are two bad habits that I have picked up over the past year. One - too much diet soda. Two - too much coffee.

15 is too young to be addicted to stimulants!!

Coffee is a pretty iffy drink anyways; some say there are health benefits from the actual drink, but the caffeine tends to have some icky side effects. Sometimes it keeps me up at night (and I'm a crappy sleeper anyways!), and I tend to not replace it with water - making me dehydrated. I normally stick to two cups a day, which doesn't seem like much (to me - hehe), but two cups a day every day - that adds up to 14 cups a week, and roughly 1,260 to 2,100 grams of caffeine a week!!!!! Plus, it makes my breath smell like death.

Another lesson learned: too much caffeine for my 15 year old frame.

I drank Tazo Chai tea instead - I think that "black tea" kind of tricked my brain into thinking it was the same as black coffee.

Me gusta Chai tea. When you steep it a long time, it has a spicy bite to it! Me like.

It's been pretty low-key around here lately. We went to the dermatologist yesterday (I will spare you pimple-talk), then headed straight to the Y.

It was ridiculously hot. So insanely hot. So naturally, only one pool was open. I'm a bit of a germaphobe (thank you, Healthcare Science class), and there was no way I was getting into the cleared out pools even after they opened again.

The Hermana and I walked around the park again while we were waiting.

We got our sweat on big time, and were wiped out only half way through. Luckily this little dude made us a little less miserable....

Oh, the things that entertain us......

Although we were a bit miserable walking around in the intense Georgia heat/humidity, it made the pool feel all the better!!

Goodness, I love swimming. It's fun to be a mermaid for a couple of hours. :)

It's funny - I feel like I'm an Olympic swimmer in that pool, but I'm sure that my technique would give Michael Phelps heart palpitations.

After swimming for about an hour, I relaxed out by the pool, pulled out my humongous book, and got mah tan going.

I had planned on reading my Driver's Ed book, but I left it on my bed!! Grrr...the one thing I don't want to forget, I forget.

And that pretty much wraps up what we did for the day!

*Post Update: Mom bought coffee! Bwa ha ha......*

Do you like coffee? If so, what is your favorite way to drink it?

It's Fun to Stay at the YMCA

It's two and half weeks into summer. How could this have happened?!

Time flies when you're having fun. *sniffle*

Totally off the topic of summer, I love weekly themed posts. For example, something like: Sunday Snapshots, Favorites Friday, Wordless Wednesday.....

So, in an attempt to join in on a weekly theme (and meet new blogs!), I have joined What I Ate Wednesday (aka WIAW)! Once a week, I post some meals, snackies, and desserts. I love taking pictures of food with my new camera - it's so colorful and diverse and fun!

Given my history, I wouldn't be surprised if some of my readers were a bit skeptical that I'm doing this. It is absolutely not about obsessing over food, restricting, or judging what I have/haven't eaten. (read more about it at Jen's website). As written in this post, one of the purposes of the blog is to keep me motivated and on track. I am learning how to create a healthy relationship with food. It's only one part of my life.

If I (or my parents/team) decide that this is to my detriment, then I most certainly will stop engaging in it. However, I don't believe that this is a big enough deal to affect me negatively.

(PS - there will be another theme day! :) Favorites Friday, perhaps?)

*Rant over.*

On to my day! I woke up at about 8:30 - and have pretty much been busy nonstop!

Breakfast:

Banana Oatmeal with almonds and sunken peanuts, almond milk (we were out of cow juice!), a banana, and honey.

With a cup of Java, of course.

Mid-morning snack: Cinnamon-y apple slices with peanut butter. And *cough* anothercupofcoffee. Plus more PB.

After we finished our chores and mom got home from work, we packed up a picnic and mozied on over to the YMCA!

*cue theme song*

I was hangry by the time we got to the Y, so mom and J went straight to the pool area, while Reba and I brought our lunch down to the park and had a picnic.

Our lunches:

 Both turkey sammiches, but mine had hummus and cucumbers added, with cute little apples, and Wheat Thin crackers.            

Also had baby carrots. Getting that Vitamin A in. :)

When we were done, we packed up our picnic and took a walk around the park. It was fantastic, but then it got HOT. I love all the green!

I would say we walked almost a mile when we came upon our favorite part......the hills!! They look like giant worms emerging from the ground. We dubbed them "Wormy."

Finally made it back to the Y....we were two sweaty girls! (Note: I totally typed two sweaty "worms" on accident - oops!)

I was so hot and sweaty that I planned on jumping right into that glorious, luxuriously cool water when - I realized the bottom of my swimsuit was messed up! I thought I was going to cry.

I had to figure out a way to cool down, so I bought an overpriced water bottle from the vending machine, sat myself under the shade, and pulled out my ginormous book.

It worked. :) I read for an hour, and then ate my snack.

Afternoon snack:

Pomegranate Chobani and Vanilla Cherry Granola. So yummy.

We left at 5, and ate dinner around 6:20ish. I made the best rice evah.

Dinner:

Rice w/ tomatoes, garlic powder, EVOO, Tuscany season blend, chicken (the cut was SO flavorful - thighs I think?), green beans. Unpictured snackages of blackberries, whipped cream, and carrots & PB.

Glass of ice water 'cuz it looked pretty.

Upictured evening snack whilst watching What Not to Wear reruns:

Homemade Vanilla Milkshake (mom went to the store for malk)

Have a Wonderful Wednesday!