Candy and Quinoa

Hmmmm....new blog name?  These two words pretty much describe my diet to a T.  Half of me wants healthy goodness and the other half is like OMG GIVE ME ALL THE CHOCOLATE!

Anyway, I had to share this little story with y'all.  It's one of those classic stories that makes you laugh a leeeetle too hard and might not be funny if you weren't there, but I'll give it a try anyway.

So yesterday, after another full day of IEP writing, I went home and decided to get some cooking done before heading to the gym for spinning and weights.  Deb made daaaaalish Morocan chicken and I decided to make a quinoa tomato and corn salad as a side.  **Note to self: You actually have to have corn to make the quinoa tomato corn salad**  So it became a tomato and quinoa salad instead.

So I go to the cabinet where I usually keep the quinoa and since it's on a higher shelf I began reaching around for it and what did I find?

Plus the 4 that I ate...

My pre-Lent candy stash!  I started laughing right away.  I was searching for quinoa...trying to be healthy and all and I found some Ghiradelli's carmel and dark chocolate sea salt caramels!  Needless to say I ate 2 of the squares immediately.  This whole no sugar until the race is over thing is going seamlessly if you were wondering :)


I instantly remembered when Amanda and I bought them in Target after Valentine's Day.  The entire box (she took half and I took half) cost us $1!!  What a deal!

One of my friends told me they were Manna from God.  I couldn't agree more!  Doesn't this have sweet serindipity written all over it?


I ate two more today after my run and now they're coming to work with me.  I cannot have them here or I'll eat them all up.

I felt that it was okay to snack on them because I knew that spin was going to be a crazy event as it always is.  Thank you Carrie for kicking my chocolate loving butt.  It was a mix of 10 sprints (!) and some mountains.  She calls them hills, but they're Mt. Everest mountains.


I hope you enjoyed that little tidbit of random fun!

Happy Thursday!  One more day until the weekend!  We can do it :)

Also, shout out to my lovely friend Jaclyn!  It's her birthday today!  Welcome to 25!  Can't wait to celebrate with you tonight Princess!

This picture is us in a nutshell.  Pink, pearls, and big sunnies!

Love you girl!

xoxo,

e

Wednesday Weekend Recap

Hey All,

So Weekend Recap on a Wednesday?  Can we make that a thing?  It's been rough trying to get back in the swing of a regular work week after 11 days off.

Let's just say when given the option, I'll always pick waking up at 9:30 over 5 any day.

Well, let's just reminisce about the last weekend of spring break shall we?

Friday was definitely a FriYAY!  I went running and got my lift on before venturing out for more super secret errands.  I was successful, if you were wondering ;)

After scoring a shopping win, I drove up to Princeton (dodged the storm) and met Cara for dinner in Princeton.  Our old stomping grounds, D'Angelo's served as our fabulous din din.  D'Angelo's (35 Spring St. Princeton) has been one of our regular spots for 5 years.  We feel old saying that.

Chicken meatballs with marinara and roasted tomatoes!

After dinner (we shut the place down) we wandered the beautiful campus and just caught up and chatted. Talking with Cara is one of my favorite things because it's so much fun to discuss big issues, ideas, reminisce, and discuss dreams.  Girl chatter at it's best!  We don't get to see each other as much as we'd like to, but every time we hang out we pick up right where we left off.

After walking for hours, we ended up at the old faithful, House of Cupcakes on Witherspoon.  You need to get yourself there!  They've been featured on Cupcake Wars (and won!) and have expanded form just cupcakes to all kinds of desserts and sweets. I'm talking fudge, rice krispies, brownies, candy, ice cream, truffles, cookies, and they do specialty ones, too!  They even have vegan treats and puppy treats!  Cara got an ice cream and I went balls to the walls with this brownie!

Brownie, dipped in chocolate, with chocolate icing, with crushed up chocolate covered pretzels complete with chocolate drizzle.  

We shut down this place, too!  I guess it's becoming a trend for us :)


Saturday morning started like all Saturdays...gym time play time!  I wasn't feeling my usual Saturday routine so I decided to do some kettlebell and TRX fun.

Schwing, batter batter, schwing!

It hit the soul...and the arms...and the legs...and the abs...and the shoulders.

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Saturday afternoon my dad and I headed to the Phillies Futures Game.

Thank you Phillies 5k for the awesome seats<3

This game features the stars of tomorrow aka the next generation of Phillies and they play the current Phillies team.  It was a great game.  Both teams played hard.  The Futures look awesome (maybe 2020 will be our year?) and they almost won the game!  It's not good to lose to your minor league team, right?  

Decked out in our (warmest) Phillies Phinest!

It was awkward to see people who were younger than me on the board!  One was born in 1994!!!??? What is up with that?  He's a baby...

Oh hey big guy!

Saturday night, I ventured out for more secret errands and again was successful!  Only a few more days of secrecy I promise!

Sunday was a relaxing run day.  It was my first 10 mile run as race prep for Broad Street and it was a blustery one.  I felt like I was in the middle of the running devil and the running angel.  When the wind was blowing in my favor, it was so easy and fun...the running angel.  The I love running!  This is the best run ever! What a great idea!  

However...

when the wind was beating me in the face and pushing me in the opposite direction,  I felt like I had a parachute attached to my back the whole time.  It was a struggle...to say the least!  This is the running devil.  The you know you have chocolate at home, right?  The I hate running.  It's cold and windy and why are you doing this?  THAT is the running devil side of my shoulder.  

Sunday night was spent getting mentally prepped for work.  I also watched the ACM's.  Kate sent me this text and I couldn't agree more!  

Why we're best friends <3

He rocked it.  Plus Carrie killed it.  Miranda was amazing!  I like Blake's new song, too.  He looked super emotional while he was singing it and I wish wish wish the cameraman panned over to who he was staring at while he was singing.  Did anyone else notice that?  He seemed very preoccupied.  I loved the show, but I always wonder why they don't do more awards.  Kelsea Ballerini, Dan+Shay, and others won best new female artist and best new duo respectively and they didn't get stage time.  Those are big deal awards!  Did anyone else think Kelsea killed her performance? She rocked it.  Holy girl crush on her legs, too!  

I have to give a big shout out to my students for being rock stars this week!  I was expecting to have to pull them down from the rafters and it has been the complete opposite.  Kudos kiddos!

I hope you are all having a great week so far!

XOXO,

E

Friday Favorites

Happy FriYAY!

I'm not exactly celebrating because it means the end of Spring Break.  Spring Break has been such a good 10 day break.  It was filled with friends, fitness, and relaxation.  All the things that I love most.

In typical Friday Fashion, I'll be posting some of my favorite things from around the web, the world, and other little places.

First, funny gym story .

I grabbed a resistance band to do some curls, and just as I started to curl, one handle ripped right off!   It made a huge loud snapping sound.  To make matters worse, it ripped off right in front of the gym's owner.  That was awkward.  He was like, "That's broken."  Then he put it in the trash and said to the guy working the desk, "The women in this gym are too strong."  #truestory It's so awkward and my face went beet red.

Then, about 10 minutes later, a random gym goer started talking to the owner about this natural supplement he's been taking that not only helps boost athletic performance, but it doubles as a natural aphrodisiac.  #awkward

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He then said this magical aphrodisiac/pre-workout/testosterone booster was from, "some plant in Africa."  

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Also, a fellow gym goer told me he saw me running yesterday.  I wanted to ask if he saw me dancing...

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But I guess some things are better left unsaid...and unknown :)

This actually brings me to this week's first Friday Favorite!

THIS!  Taylor Vs. Treadmill!

This is pretty much what I look like running/rapping/dancing.  

These Running Fashion Faux Pas!  http://www.runnersworld.com/running-apparel/10-running-fashion-faux-pas

I LOVE the comments about the Triathlon suit guy and the race course.  Does this guy know something about the course that we don't?  HILARIOUS! 

My new Phillies Pluency Pholders.  I'm super excited about baseball season starting (obviously).  So I made file folder fluency readers with pictures of the Phillies players inside so they can practice reading fluency while "Reading To The Phillies!"  Hello insta-centers!

Lunching with friends this week.  Nothing beats enjoying some girl talk and yummy food.  

One of my favorite co-workers got engaged!  Congrats to you two!  You are both wonderful people and I'm so lucky to know you!  Best wishes for a lifetime of happiness and love!

Parini Prosecco!  I was at Wegman's today (because it's a day ending in y) and they had a wine sample (Cheers to 12-3 wine sampling on Fridays!  They also had samples of veggies, bourbon chicken skewers, and cookie cake and regular cake!)  This new to me proseco was delishhhhhh!  Bubbly, sweet (but not overly sweet), and fruity.  A perfect light summery dessert wine.

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THIS BARBECUE SAUCE!

I first saw this mentioned on Angie Asche's instagram account and knew I had to pick it up the next time I was at Whole Foods.  It's a great product without artificial sweeteners.  It's sweetened with dates!  I love products that use whole food to create new food.  

There's only 2 grams of sugar in one tsp (the serving size).  I'm a huge BBQ fan and there's really nothing better in the summer than a good cook out.  I will be using this stuff all summer long.  I already made a batch of BBQ marinated chicken.  I obviously took a quick lick of the marinade before I put it on the chicken and my mind was blown!  I seriously contemplated getting food poisoning because I was *this* close to licking the Tessemae covered spoon after coating the chicken in this goodness.  

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Apparently, you can also buy this on Amazon.com.  It's about $5.50, but it's worth it.  The flavor is really concentrated so you don't need a lot to get that wow flavor.  It's thick and tangy, not overly sweet.  Just the way I like it.  I dare you not to lick your fingers.  

Dark chocolate peanut butter Smidgens from Gertrude Hawk!  OMG these little bunnies are actually devils.  They are so good!  So good in fact that I'm going to have to put off the refined sugar free race prep until I finish them off in a few days.  

I am being good and only having the serving size.

Anyway, today I'm off to visit Cara in Princeton to relive our college glory days of dining at D'Angelo's! 

Also, I'm on a full on shoe odyssey.  Not a quest...oh no...this has gone beyond a quest and into a full on Odyssey.  I'll keep you posted how that goes.  

Before I say bye, I'm going to leave you with this little gem.  

This was from an ill fated girls trip to AC...4 YEARS AGO!  We were babies!  I can't believe that in 4 months Amanda will be a married woman!  Please don't judge my hair.  21 year old Erin thought this was a good look.  Oy vey!  

XOXO,

E