Friday, June 28, 2013

Friday Favorites

I just want to say thanks for all the supportive comments on yesterday's post. Sometimes you take a chance by being honest and I'm glad I shared my thoughts with you guys. I think we can all relate to when we get obsessed with something, it stops being fun.

Now onto Friday favorites!

1. Setting Coop up in his own pool this week. We brought him along to purchase it and didn't quite realize how we were going to fit both him and the pool in the backseat. The poor guy had to sit all squished behind it. We had a good laugh when he tried to crawl on top of the back shelf. Let's just say Cooper is slowly getting used to it. He views it more as a big drinking bowl hah.

Thursday, June 27, 2013

The Real Truth About Bodybuilding

When I first started getting into figure competitions and the bodybuilding worlds, my trainer warned me that it was going to be really rough. At first, I thought he meant physically exhausting from all the hard work at the gym, but it was much more than that. I wouldn't get the true picture of his warning until about a year later. There is a much darker, uglier side to bodybuilding than people would imagine.

Before we get into all that, I was just want to state that this these are my opinions based on my experiences in the bodybuilding world. I am sure this is not the case for everyone. Everyone is different and all trainers have unique expectations of their clients.

About a year ago I started my food plan that I would be on for the past year. I was eating way more than I was used to. I felt good, I wasn't starving myself ever, and I ate 5 meals a day. It was the first time in my life I ever used a food scale. I never measured out portions before or weighed meat. So it was all new and exciting to have so much control of your exact caloric intake. I was still having cheat meals here or there because I was trying to bulk up. I started out with no muscle at all. I gained around 5 lbs of muscle over about six months.

Wednesday, June 26, 2013

WIAW- Dessert Is Back


Thanks to Jenn for hosting the What I Ate Wed weekly party. Now let's get to the good stuff! And there was a bunch of good stuff yesterday since I am no longer on my competition diet. It feels nice to eat real meals again.

Breakfast started off with overnight peanut butter oats. No surprise there ;)
 Alongside some hardboiled eggs for more protein.

Tuesday, June 25, 2013

Start Of Summer

Since the official start of the summer was Friday, it only seemed appropriate I get on making my summer to-do list.

Monday, June 24, 2013

First Timer

And we're back to another Monday already...don't the weekends just seem to fly by. Even though it was a pretty quiet one, it was still marvelous nonetheless.

Saturday morning I instagrammed this photo while food shopping. After seeing seriously so many great recipes of spaghetti squash, I finally got my hands on one! To be totally honest it kind of intimidates me because I have absolutely no idea how to cook it. If you have any great squash recipes, please send them my way <3

Thursday, June 20, 2013

Cloud Gazing

I decided to take the day off from popping in on the blog world yesterday. Life has been much busier than normal this week so it's left me little downtime to write. And I don't like blogging just to blog.

On Monday I got an email about being mindful and being aware of the present moment. The email ended with a question "How would you feel if you looked at the clouds everyday for five minutes?"

I thought wow, what a powerful, but such a simple idea. So this week I spent time doing nothing but cloud gazing.
 Let me tell you it will relax you. In one word- I felt calmer.
Life is all about appreciating the small things, but we all need reminders to continue to do so.

Some of my other favorite highlights from this week include:

A fabulous salad beast loaded with grilled chicken, tomatoes, olives, cucumbers, and crumbled feta cheese. The boyfriend and I were big fans of Pomodorino (for my LI friends) and can't wait to go back for Italian one of these days. And they had gluten free options which made me super happy!
The absolute gorgeous weather (no humidity or rain!!) the past couple days has led to many park trips.
With food of course. Mom and I grabbed Panera for a late lunch yesterday while soaking up some sun.
 Feeling five years old at the nail salon while choosing colors that match cotton candy is always fun.
A late birthday present from Sephora, which resulted in trying and buying some new makeup. Can't wait to share it with you guys! I love hearing what products other girls love.
 Eating SO many fresh peaches this week. I wish they tasted this good all year!

What's one highlight from your week?

Do you ever look at the clouds?

Wednesday, June 19, 2013

WIAW & Punta Cana Part Two

Time for Punta Cana Part Two! If you missed part one you can check that out here.

Since it is What I Ate Wednesday and all, I guess we should first talk about some food huh?
This was my first time staying at all inclusive resort since I've been diagnosed with Celiac's. I was bit nervous hoping there would be enough choices for me to eat. Plus my Spanish speaking skills are pretty basic.

Breakfast started off with eggs, sausage, and lots of fruit pretty much everyday. The breakfast buffet was my favorite part. Nothing beats fresh eggs and fruit!

Tuesday, June 18, 2013

Punta Cana Part One

Happy Tuesday!

Even though I just got back from vacation, I could use another. White beaches, green water, and tropical drinks sound pretty good right now...

We arrived in Punta Cana in the afternoon and stayed at our hotel Melia Calibre. When we first got there I was scared of the peacocks. I never realized they were so loud and would come so close to you!
The first three days were hazy, but I still managed to get sunburn even though it was cloudy haha.
I loved seeing all the palm trees.
The tropical drinks weren't bad either ;)
At home I never swim in the ocean since it's usually freezing, so it was so nice that the green water was so warm.
We spent lots of time at the pool too, which was also super warm.

 Mom and I walked around alot after dinner because the grounds were so pretty at sunset.
Since drinking is not really my thing, we got a few alcoholic drinks and the rest were just sugar haha. If I am going to have a drink, margaritas are my go to. Mmmmm yummy.
I don't go out to eat at home too much. So instead of going to the buffet every night, we ate at all the different restaurants there. My favorite dinner was chicken stuffed with spinach and shrimp with a passionfruit gravy. This needs to be re-created at home!
There wasn't just peacocks at the resort, but flamingos too!
 Everyone was feeding them little crackers. My mom gave it a try. I was afraid of their long beaks!

This post is getting long so stay tuned for Part Two!

Monday, June 17, 2013

I'm Back!

Hey strangers. Long time no chat huh?!

I had all intentions of blogging from the Dominican Republic, but after seeing the gorgeous beaches, blogging flew out the window. Don't get me wrong, I love you guys, but it's nice to have a break once in awhile. Blogging is like a full time job! It was nice not being on Twitter or Instagram constantly.

Saturday, June 8, 2013

Thankgsiving Again

Who ends up celebrating Thanksgiving in the beginning of the summer?

All of us weirdos last night haha. The boyfriend and I ate dinner over his parent's house last night to celebrate his dad's birthday.

And it was way past my bedtime. We didn't end up eating until 9ish so that left me hungryyyyy.
Last night's feast included turkey, corn, home-made mashed potatoes, and biscuits.

Oh my goodness, his mom's mashed potatoes are the perfect combination of lumpy and fluffy. I ate so much food.


Friday, June 7, 2013

Desserts On My Mind

Thank you all so much for all of your sweet birthday wishes! You all sure know how to make me feel extra special :)

You already saw on Instagram how I started my morning off.

After that my mom and I actually went to our medium. We were extremely lucky she was able to fit us in so last minute. It was really comforting to get validation about my uncle.

For lunch, we ended up trying out gluten free cupcakes from a new bakery near my house. The red velvet was my favorite, so so good.

Thursday, June 6, 2013

My Birthday

23 is off to a fabulous start!  I can't believe I am only two years away from turning 25. Time really does fly by.

So far my birthday morning has been great.

But, backing up to yesterday, I spent the majority of the day lounging around in my pajamas. Fabuuuuulous. After being away for a week, it was nice to sleep in my own bed. Around 1:30 I finally headed got my butt off the couch to the gym. Since I only had 45 minutes, I decided for a shoulder & hamstring workout. I was not in the mood at all, but it left me feeling energized. The rest of the day was spent getting some food in the fridge and unpacking.

Of course I had to pick up some birthday goodies at the food store.

Wednesday, June 5, 2013

WIAW- Ice Cream For Dinner

Can anyone else believe it is June 5th already?! Only one more day until my birthday, but who's counting? Oh right just me :)

I don't have a typical What I Ate Wed post for ya all since my meals have been all over the place lately. But I guess that's a good thing since this month's theme is all about snacking. That's just what I've been doing!

Lots of mini meals have been happening this week, which is perfect since I love all types of food.

Don't laugh but I'm a huge fan of bologna! Haven't had it in years and it looked so good the other night.

Tuesday, June 4, 2013

It's A Tough Life

Hey. How's everyone doing today?! I saw a post similar to this on Amanda's blog awhile back and thought it was so cute. So here is my version of it.

Life is all about the tough decisions.
You know the big important ones, like choosing....

....between milk chocolate and white chocolate


Sunday, June 2, 2013

Little Things

Hi hi!! How was everyone's weekend?!

Honestly, I wasn't sure what I was going to write about since it is Marvelous Monday and this weekend has been a tough one. I'm still in PA for the services today and have been spending lots of time with family.

As always there is no sense focusing on the negative. Life is all about finding happiness if you search for it. Let's talk about some positive and happy things shall we?

1) Feeding, errr more spoiling Wishbone with an ice cream treat before we left her for the drive to PA. By the way, that ice cream scoop is nowhere near as large as it appears in this picture. Although she would have wished it was haha!