One door closes...

...and another one opens.

This blog is being DISCONTINUED as of 12/16/2011 (date of this post). I created a new blog over at www.therealpretty.blogspot.com. Check it out!!!

Peace and love!

that boy can cook

I am a sucker for pretty much any and everything (with the exclusion of wasabi) spicy. I absolutely love love love the taste and feel of my lips burning! Okay, well it's more like a love-hate relationship. You know those things that are so spicy they make your nose run but are just too good to stop eating? Yep, that's the way I like it.

Lucky for me, the mister made some yummolicious chicken wings last night! I don't know what he seasoned them with, but I do know that he cooked them in Red's Buffalo Hot sauce. And they were so good. And I would eat them every day if I didn't care about my pants buttoning or developing a case of cottage cheese legs.

Good job babe. Good job chicken. Good job Red's. Love you all.

you probably never knew

I was browsing the net and stumbled upon this interesting article. The title intrigued me and if you're at all interested in random facts that you probably never knew, you just might like this one!

15 Random Facts

If you have 3 quarters, 4 dimes, and 4 pennies, you have $1.19. You also have the largest amount of money in coins without being able to make change for a dollar.

In the average lifetime, a person will walk the equivalent of 5 times around the equator.

DAMN, that was a long run!

Odontophobia is the fear of teeth.

They aren't that scary, are they?

According to suicide statistics, Monday is the favored day for self-destruction.

The first known contraceptive was crocodile dung, used my Egyptians in 2000 B.C.

There are two credit cards for every person in the United States.

The King of Hearts is the only king without a mustache.

Elephants are the only mammals that can't jump.

Maybe not, but I can still kick your ass.

 The human heart creates enough pressure to squirt blood 30 feet.

A lion's roar can be heard from 5 miles away.

Did you hear that?

 You burn more calories sleeping than you do watching TV.

The word "nerd" was first coined by Dr. Seuss in "If I Ran The Zoo".

Thanks a lot, Dr. Now look what I've gotta grow up as.

Children grow faster in the Spring time.

The United States has never lost a war in which mules were used.

Clans of long ago that wanted to get rid of unwanted people without killing them used to burn their houses down- hence the term "to get fired".

Thanks Manson... you've made me a rich(er) man.

Thanks to the good ol

' www, anything can be found out!

chocolate chip blondies

As I mentioned in yesterday's post, I had some baking to do last night. If you can remember, I participated in a virtual bake sale, in hopes to raise money for the Susan G. Komen foundation for breast cancer. I ended up making a batch of my healthified oatmeal cookies, and will ship them off to the highest bidder!

Because the cookies wouldn't be sticking around for me to eat, I was inspired to continue on my baking for the evening and made a delicious pan of chocolate chip blondies. I've never eaten a blondie, let alone baked them... so this was very experimental to me! Fortunately, they turned out quite fantastic!

Being that I have never had blondies before, I wasn't sure what they were supposed to taste like. To me, they resembled more of a chocolate chip cookie bar. Maybe that's what they are supposed to be like? Either way, they were great!

Chocolate Chip Blondies:
1/2 c. melted butter
1 c. tightly packed brown sugar
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/8 tsp. baking soda
Pinch of salt
1 c. all purpose flour
1/4 c. chocolate chips
1/4 c. Reeses peanut butter chips

Whisk together melted butter and sugar. Add egg and vanilla, and whisk until combined. Mix in the rest of the ingredients and whisk thoroughly. Bake for 25 minutes at 350 degrees. Cool and enjoy.

Please note, these are highly addictive. I immediately ate two (yes, I burned my tongue) and wanted even more. Luckily, I was able to pawn them off onto my parents so I am blondie-free and can still feel good about that 2.5 mile run this morning.

PS- As always, DON'T forget to lick the whisk!

a great weekend

This weekend was perfect. Why? Because the entire thing was spent in the sun, in the pool, playing water volleyball. I'd never played before, but I wont fail to mention that I am quite the ace. Okay, so maybe that should be Raymond's title.. but I'm not half bad myself!

The rest of the weekend looked a little something like:

Complete with bbq and finally watching the movie True Grit (great movie), I'd say this weekend was one of the best in quite some time! Off to finish the work day and then I've got lots of errands to run and cookies to bake for the bidding winner of the Boobie Bake Sale!

sour cream enchiladas

As of late, I have really been trying my hand at cooking... and I'm not so bad at it! Not only does it save us money because Raymond can take leftovers for lunch, but it has started to become something I really enjoy doing.

Ever since I was little, I liked to cook. My mother tells me about the times she'd be in another room, hear me talking to somebody, and come to find out that I was in the kitchen "hosting my cooking show". While back then I was probably giving tutorials on how to spread the peanut butter and jelly on the bread, I can definitely say that my skills have majorly matured and improved! Take last night for example... I made these bomb dot com Sour Cream Enchiladas.

I was doing my usual blog creeping and found the recipe for these here. Of course, my version is slightly modified, to make it much simpler and quicker!

Around our place, time is limited. While I enjoy cooking, I don't have the time to clean, cut, skin, and boil an entire chicken BEFORE I even get started on the actual meal itself. So, to make it easy on myself, I bought a pre-cooked chicken from HEB, a box of chicken broth, I didn't fry the tortillas (saved our bodies from that much more oil), and pre-diced chilies. I'd say I saved myself a good 30 minutes, just the way I like it!

PS- Seeing that I could eat an entire block of cheese for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, I'm trying very hard to skim down on my cheese intake, so I definitely didn't use as much as the recipe called for.

Sour Cream Enchiladas
2-½ cups Cooked, Shredded Chicken
2 cups Chicken Broth
1 Tablespoons Canola Oil
10 whole Corn Tortillas
3 whole 4 Oz Cans Whole Green Chilies, Diced
1 teaspoon Paprika
½ cups Heavy Cream
2 Tablespoons Butter
2 Tablespoons Flour
1 cup Sour Cream
2-½ cups Monterey Jack Cheese, Grated
Salt And Pepper, to taste

Heat 1 tablespoon canola oil in skillet over medium heat. Add chicken, half of the green chilies, and 1/2 teaspoon paprika. Stir together. Add 1/2 cup chicken broth and stir. Add cream and stir, allowing mixture to bubble and get hot. Turn off heat and set aside.

In a separate large skillet, melt butter and sprinkle in flour. Whisk together and cook over medium heat for one minute. Pour in 1 1/2 cups chicken broth. Whisk together and cook for another minute or two. Stir in the other half of the chilies. Reduce heat, then stir in sour cream. Add 1 1/2 cups grated cheese and stir to melt. Add 1/2 teaspoon paprika. Check seasoning and add salt and pepper as needed.

To assemble, spoon chicken mixture on top of tortillas, one by one. Top with plenty of cheese and roll up. Place seam side down in a 9 x 13 casserole dish.

Pour sour cream sauce all over the top of the tortillas. Top with extra cheese if you’d like, then bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

These were absolutely, hands down, the best thing I've ever made. Yes, I am a sucker for anything with sour cream, but Raymond is not a fan the stuff and he loved them. So much so, that he is taking the rest of the dish for lunch and I'm stuck with nothin'! I'm extremely jealous, so he's lucky that I love him!

mexican wedding cookies

It's already hump day again? Sheesh... where are these weeks going?? Not that I am complaining or anything...

My week really hasn't been very eventful, so I don't have much for you guys. Luckily, last night I was in the mood to bake so I do have a recipe to share with you!

While we were hangin' out on the ranch over Memorial Day weekend, I tried (for the first time) wedding cookies. I'd never had them before, and upon eating them, I was warned by Raymond and his entire family that these are the greatest cookies ever. Well, they were right. Amazing is just what they were.

I had totally forgot about those yummy devils until last night, while I was recipe-browsing on blogs. I was at one of my go-to sources for sweet treat recipes, Sweet Tooth Sweet Life, and it just so happened that Courtney had a "Mexican Wedding Cookie" recipe. Looks like we've got a winner! I immediately checked to see that I had all ingredients necessary (sure did) and got to baking!

You can view Courtney's recipe here. Mine was slightly modified.

Mexican Wedding Cookies
1 cup salted butter, softened
1/2 cup confectioner's sugar (extra for coating)
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 3/4 cup all-purpose flour (extra for dusting hands)
1 cup finely chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 275 degrees. Line cookie sheets with parchment (wax) paper.

Using an electric mixer, mix butter and sugar at a low speed until smooth, stopping to scrape sides of bowl. Mix in the vanilla. Continuing at a low speed, gradually add the flour until thoroughly mixed. Stir in the walnuts with a spatula.

With floured hands, shape glob of dough into circle or disk form.Continue to dust hands with flour as shaping more cookies. Place cookies onto parchment paper and cook for 40 minutes.

When cool enough to handle, but still warm, roll in additional confectioner's sugar.

ENJOY and don't forget to lick the beater!

These cookies were very simple to make! The prep was easy peasy and as long as I kept flour on my hands, they were so simple to shape into discs. While the cookies melted in your mouth and were really yummy, there was still something that wasn't the same as the ones we ate at the ranch. I'm not sure if it was the substitution of salted butter for unsalted, the walnuts for pecans, or some little secret those amazing Hispanic ladies have. I can't quite pin it, but I'm hoping once I get my Mexican man to try them, he can help me out! 

When I sent Raymond a text letting him know I made these, his exact words were:

"I gotta try one. If it's not the same, I gotta kill you. K?"

No pressure. Right?

buy my cookies

Hello and happy Monday guys! Can you believe the weekend has already flown by? I can't... and I miss it already!

The boy and I spent Saturday with a couple friends by their pool. Seriously, I have never in my life seen a pool so crowded before. It looked like Cancun on Spring Break!

Okay, so maybe it wasn't that packed... but there were a good 100 people there. We spent the day basking in the sun, playing pool pong, and grilling yummy food. 10 pm finally rolled around and after 7 hours of day drinking, we all thought it'd be a good idea to pack up and head upstairs to the apartment where we watched the UFC fights and order some pizza.

Now, usually after such long periods of being in the sun, any kind of food sounds amazing and ends up being "the best thing I've ever eaten", but this time it was for real. Along side our pizza, we ordered a Chocolate Chip dessert pizza... and well... it. was. amazing. I kid you not, if you've never tried it before, and you have a Double Dave's in your area, you need to put this on your bucket list. It's that serious.

The rest of the weekend was spent in lazy recoup. mode and I thoroughly enjoyed each last minute of it.

Although today is Monday, which never excites me, I am thrilled to tell you guys that Cait's Boobie Bake Sale kicked off this morning!

This summer, Cait from Beyond Bananas and 4 of our closest friends will be walking 60 miles in the Susan G. Komen 3-Day for a Cure.  Her team has a fundraising goal of $11,500 and have currently raised $7,226.  Cait has created this bake sale to help fight back against breast cancer.  All proceeds will benefit the Susan G. Komen Foundation - funding community support programs and ongoing breast cancer research!

How the sale will work:

1. Choose an item that you would like.
2. Send an email to BeyondBananas@ymail.com
3. Put the ITEM and the BID amount in the SUBJECT LINE ($15 min)
4. Bid on as many items as you would like... but please make a SEPARATE EMAIL for each.

If you are the high bidder at the end of the sale - you will be contacted VIA email with your next set of instructions (i.e. where to make the donation.. remember 24 hour time limit.. or else it goes to the next person)

I am participating in the sale and am contribution my healthified oatmeal cookies! Remember these babies?

Please make sure to head over to Cait's blog where you can see and bid on all of the amazing goodies available! Let's kick breast cancer's ass!

living up to my name

TGIF! I can't wait for a good night's sleep and a relaxing weekend!

Since I've returned from our mini-vaca last weekend, I have been in a funk, and have not been able to snap out of it. I've noticed that although I'm getting a decent amount of sleep, I'm extra tired. Also, I haven't worked out all week (fail) and have been eating like an 8 year old boy (fail again).

What? Haven't you ever seen real muscles before?

While I've been eating my usual veggies, fruits, and grains, for some reason I thought adding Little Debbie Oatmeal Cream Pies (I could eat my body weight in these things), Honey Buns, and Donut Sticks to my daily meal plan was a good idea. 

You're makin' me fat Lil' Deb!

My prayers have been answered!

Don't forget the Reeses PB M&Ms, the chocolate brownies with cream cheese frosting, and that bag of goldfish that left crumbs all over my sheets. God, I'm attractive.

Who doesn't want a bed made of burger?

Yeah I look this sexy when I eat in bed. You don't?

Yeah... when you try to put on a pair of shorts that fit just fine last week but can barely zip this week... something's not right. Either I gained 14 pounds (yikes!) or shrunk my shorts. I'm gonna go with the latter of the two. ;-)

That's not ok.

With that being said, I had a small epiphany yesterday. I was telling myself that it's okay that I ate a bunch of crap because tomorrow's a new day and I can just fix it then. Well, then I realized that I've been telling myself that all week and nothing's changed. Then I pictured myself about 20 pounds heavier and almost fell into the dumpster I was throwing trash into.

So, as of today I'm back to my normal eating habits and feel better already. There have a been quite a few times in the past year that I have thought about going Paleo, or at least mostly Paleo. With my eating-in-bed days behind me, I think it'd be a good time to attempt this. Now, I say this is a good idea... but we all know how well me and diets mesh together.

What? I don't have a problem. I'm not a closet eater. I like the way I am.

I guess it's time to put away the Cheetos and start living up to my name "Fat Girl at HEART" not "Fat Girl For Real". Whatever I decide to do, as long as I don't look and feel like a cow/pig/shamoo, I'm cool with it.

I think it looks good!

  
What diets/lifestyles work best for you?
Are you good about sticking to your diet or do you steer off the path a lot?

abc's of food

Happy Hump Day! I sure am glad the weekend is only 2 1/2 days away... because lately I'm living for the weekends. Meh.

As I browsing through the blogs I typically read, I saw this super cute survey on Chelsey's blog, and figured I'd give it go. (Yes, also because I don't have anything prepared to talk about today... oops!)

ABC'S OF FOOD

A is for Apple: What's your favorite variety?
I grew up eating Granny Smith apples and always believed they were my favorite. Eventually I tried a Pink Lady and loved that it was less sour than the GS. Then I tried a Gala and fell in love. They are my absolute favie fave!

B is for Bread: Regardless of nutrition, what is your favorite type?
This is one of the most difficult questions ever! I am a bread lover and will eat any kind put in front of me. I don't know how I didn't eat any for an entire week! If I had to choose, I'd say any brand Texas Garlic Toast. SO. DAMN. GOOD.

C is for Cereal: What is your favorite kind currently? (just one!)
I am currently on a cereal combo kick, but if I had to choose, it'd be Cinnamon Burst Cheerios.


D is for Donuts: You might not currently eat them, but what kind do you fancy?
Round Rock Glazed fo sho. Hands down, best donut ever, especially when warm. If you ever plan on visiting Austin, Texas, make SURE you plan a visit to RRD!

E is for Eggs: How would you like yours prepared?
I'm not a huge egg person, unless they're deviled, but if we're talking breakfast, then I prefer sunny side up.


F is for Fat Free: What is your favorite fat free product?
To be honest, I don't purchase anything that is fat free, so I guess it's fruits and veggies!

G is for Groceries: Where do you purchase yours?
For the majority of the time, I buy from HEB. Every now and then I'll stop by Wal-Mart or Sprouts.

H is for Hot Beverages: What is your favorite hot drink?
I don't typically drink hot beverages unless it's winter, and if so, I'll have the occasional coffee or hot chocolate.

I is for Ice Cream: Pick a favorite flavor and add a fun topping.
Ben & Jerry's Peanut Butter Cup. Doesn't even need a topping because it's so good.

J is for Jams or Jellies: Do you eat them? If so, what kind and flavor?
I love jelly! My favorite and what I grew up on is Smucker's Red Plum Jam.

K is for Kashi: Name your favorite Kashi product.
7 Grain Crackers. So yummo.

L is for Lunch: What was yours today?
A large salad with caesar dressing and a Thomas' whole wheat bagel thin topped with almond butter and apple slices.

M is for Microwave: What is your favorite microwaveable meal/snack?
Anything Amy's Brand.

N is for Nutrients: Do you like carbs, fats, or proteins best?
Carbs for sure. Fats are a close second.

O is for Oil: What kind do you like to use?
Olive or Coconut. Pure Soy Bean Oil is good too!

P is for Protein: How do you get yours?
Chicken and fish. I eat a lot of nut butters, too.

Q is for Quaker: How do you like your oats?
Warm, and sweet! A touch of brown sugar or cinnamon! YUM!

R is for Roasting: What is your favorite thing to roast?
Chicken.

S is for Sandwich: What is your favorite kind?
Definitely turkey and avocado!

T is for Travel: How do you handle eating while traveling?
I usually don't freak out about it. I eat what's available. Besides, I don't travel much so it's not big on my list. Sad.

U is for Unique: What is your weirdest food combo?
I'd have to say cheddar cheese and M&Ms. What? Have you ever tried it? Well then shush!

V is for Vitamins: What kind do you take?
I don't always take them, but when I do, I just take a multi-vitamin.

W is for Wasabi: Yay or nay?
Love spicy foods, can't stand the flavor of it though.

X is for X RAY: If we x rayed your belly right now, what would we see?
A big chocolate brownie covered in cream cheese frosting because Mother Nature turns me into a bottomless pit.

Y is for Youth: What food reminds you of your childhood?
Tyson chicken nuggets, vanilla cake with strawberry frosting, Totino's pizza, Gogurt, Fried Okra, Creamed Eggs with sausage and biscuits. Wow, no wonder I was so chunky!

Z is for Zucchini: How do you prepare it?
If I ate like a cow all the time, I'd choose to fry it and dip it in ranch dressing. But instead, I like to cook it into my stuffed spaghetti squash!

life on the ranch

Good afternoon! I keep thinking that today is Monday, come to find out it's actually Tuesday, and I get SUPER excited because that means only 3 1/2 more days until the weekend! Can you tell what I'm living for these days?!
If you've been reading, then you remember that the boyfriend and I packed up and hauled our butts to Brownwood, Texas to spend the weekend with his family. We had high hopes of getting away, kicking our feet up, and relaxing the weekend away. Well, that's just what we got- sort of.

We departed from Austin on Saturday afternoon, foot to the metal and the music blasting. I absolutely love going on trips with Raymond for the sole fact that I get to throw my feet up on the dash board to bask in the sun and sing to the blaring music as loud as I can, just to serenade annoy him. How could you not just love me???

The drive is only about 2+ hours, but we always make sure that we leave on an empty stomach, just so that we can stop in Lampasas at Storm's Burgers. The actual restaurant is similar to a Sonic, with the curb side ordering layout, just a wee-bit butt load older and slightly falling apart. You know, no biggie. You know what they say-- "good things come in small ugly packages!" A lot of people like to believe that Storm's is highly overrated, but I beg to differ. While I don't think that they are the best burger that I'll ever eat, they definitely are at the top of the list. Besides, I don't think the Food Network would feature somewhere that totally sucked, now would they? Take that haters.

Our first stop after getting into town, was to pick up Raymond's son... Raymond III! I absolutely love spending time with these two together. To see how happy they are around each other is awesome. To watch my man smile from ear to ear for 2 days straight just because his boy is asleep in the next room gives me the best feeling in the world. Aint it just the shweetest!?

Another 10 minute drive and we arrived at the El Rancho!... to an empty house. We were expecting to be greeted by his parents, the sisters, nephews, etc. But nope, nothing... no one. While waiting for everyone's arrival, we unloaded our things from the truck and the boys decided to start playin' around. A short while later everyone arrived home, and the fun began!

Knife Throwing

Sweet Tea Drinkin'

Rabbit Hunting

Cheesin'

With a full house of boys ranging from ages 2-15, the thoughts of relaxation were becoming more and more sparse! Looked like we were in for a looooong noisy few days!

The rest of the weekend was spent with an outing to the mall (which is the size of a Wal Mart) to see Kung Fu Panda 2 in 3D. This was my first time to see a 3D movie, and it definitely took some getting used to. For some reason, those glasses were rather weird at first. After a good 15 minutes I felt like I was finally adjusted enough to where I could kick back and enjoy. I'm not sure if my expectations for a 3D movie were set too high, but I can only remember a good 2 or 3 times when I really felt like I was there in the movie. Maybe it's because it was a cartoon? Or maybe that's just how 3D movies are. I guess I'll just have to go watch more to find out! As for the actual movie itself, it was fantastic! We were a big fan of the first Kung Fu Panda, so we had high hopes for the second, and it sure did deliver. It was cute, touching, and funny, and I definitely would recommend it! Also while at the mall, we did a tiny bit of shopping and purchased some new running shorts. I wasn't planning on buying anything, but I got 2 pair of Adidas tempo shorts for $30. Couldn't pass that deal up. I also almost purchased (twice) a new pair of running shoes but decided to wait and browse a bit more here in town. I have a feeling that purchase will be happening soon, and I can't wait!

After the mall we headed over to wally world where we bought a small pool for the little ones to play in since it was about 103 degrees outside and the wind was blowing so insanely strong it felt like we were standing in front of a burning building. You know it's hot when you stand outside for .2 seconds and your back is drenched in sweat. Attractive, I know.

Playing Life Guard

The food we eat on the ranch never ceases to amaze me. I always end up trying something I've never had, and never even knew people ate. I wont lie, when I discovered what we would be eating for dinner the first night, I got a little bit nervous. On the menu? Mollejas (moy-e-has). Other wise known as cow pancreas. GET OUT OF TOWN! I seriously cringed just a little bit at the thought, and decided that some chicken better be cooked for backup. Now, I've tried menudo (soup made with cow stomach), and lengua tacos (cow tongue) and have not been a fan of either. But, I am frightened pleased to say that the mollejas were rather tasty in that it tasted just like fried meat. A few pieces were consumed and then I moved on to the chicken.

Frying Mollejas

Another not-so-tasty treat consumed this weekend? Rabbit. I watched Raymond shoot, kill, skin, wash, and cook a rabbit in 10 minutes. Not only was I sad, but rather disgusted. I tried to muster up the courage to take a picture of the boys with their catch, but upon doing so I almost died at the sight of the eyeballs dangling from the head. Seriously, worst thing ever. Not only was I not too thrilled about tasting it, when I did take a tiny bite, it was awful. (I pretended to enjoy it for Raymond's sake.) It clearly was fresh, and tasted much too gamy for my liking. Not a fan of the bunny. RIP Bugs.

The boys with their catch

I quickly got over my bunny depression and we spent the rest of the weekend listening to stories and sippin' on cold beers. I had a fantastic time and was really upset to have to return to reality. I could live the rest of my life out on a ranch under the stars (coughraymondcough)! But, we're back and it's time to move on with the usual routine and the usual foods. I must admit, I am a bit excited to eat vegetables again!
Off I go to eat some green stuff!

im not a bitch

Hello and happy Saturday! I hope your weekends have started off superbly!

Aint I puuurddy??

Sorry for the scary, picture. I'm in the process of curling my hurr as I type up this post. I thought I'd squeeze in a quick and breezy post before I head out of town for the weekend. As much as I love all of you, I have a feeling relaxing on a ranch gazing up at the stars > blogging. Please forgive me, k?

I really wanted to talk about something that happened last night while I was waiting tables. This has really bothered me more than I think it should, and I could use some advice from you guys.

Everything is going normal, and all of a sudden a huge crowd of people were surrounding a table of guests. Apparently, a woman that was sitting at the table had fainted. She had eaten, and was only on her second beer, so clearly it wasn't due to mal-nutrition and she wasn't by any means drunk. She was there with her friends and her daughter (who was probably in her early 20s). She immediately came to, but an ambulance was called anyway, as it should have been. The ambulance came, took her vitals, spent about 20 minutes with her and then left. She and her friends stayed at the retaurant for about another 2 hours just chit catting.

Now, while all of this is happening, I'm making sure to just stay out of the way, and let the retaurant managers deal with it. I'm not going to go sticking my nose into business that isn't mine. Of course, if they needed anything, I'd get it for them in a heart beat. With that being said, I notice that throughout the rest of the duration that the women were sitting there, they started talking about how "they know the owners of the restuarant and they are definitely going to take care of it." My first thought is... what are the owners going to take care of? Why are they mad at our establishment for her sickness? Something that we have no control over. Whatever. I dropped it and moved on with my night. I continued working, but I couldn't help notice that the daughter kept staring at me. Every time I looked over at their table, she was turned around shooting me evil looks. Maybe I'm just crazy and she's looking at something else. Maybe. Hopefully. For about 30 minutes, this mean-mugging went on. Seeing that they had closed out their tabs when all of the comotion was taking place, I thought maybe they needed to order something else. Finally, I went over to the table and asked if everything was okay, and if they needed anything. The daughter immediately turned her head and wouldn't even speak to me. I asked again, and the rest of the women smiled and said that they were fine. Cool. So what's this girl's problem? Whatever it is, she's going to have to deal with it herself, because I'm not about to start anything with anybody and risk loosing my job. Done and done.

Eventually, the women decided to leave, and as they were walking out, a co-worker of mine told them to have a nice night, and I smiled polititely. As that happened, the daughter looked at me, turned to one of the other women, and then proceeded to say "BITCH! Did you see that girl laughing?" HOLD. THE. PHONE. Did she just call me a bitch?? Both my co-worker and I were in awe. Seriously, I felt my chin hit the floor. I couldn't believe it. Yeah, I've been called a bitch before. That's not what upsets me. What really gets to me, is the fact that this girl truely believed that I was standing there for 2 hours laughing at the face that her mom was sick. Really???? Never in my right mind would I EVER make fun of somebody for needed medical assistance. Coming from somebody that has called an ambulance twice in the last 3 months for their own father, I don't find anything remotely funny about it.

So why did she think that? What did she think she heard/saw me saying that would give her this idea? Did I make the wrong facial expression at her? I know I couldn't have said anything that would have put this idea in her head, because the only words I spoke to her was "are you doing okay?" Is this girl just a looney tune that has no idea what she's doing or does she genuinely think she heard me say something about the situation? Whatever it may be, a big part of me is super upset about it. And I wish that I could tell her all of this. But then I wonder if it would even matter. Would she even believe me? Or would she just think I'm lying to her? I guess I will never know, but I hope that everyone can take something from this. You don't know everything that other's are thinking. Even if you think you do... you don't.

With that being said, I'm off to spend the weekend with the people I love that know me and love me too! I hope you all have a great weekend!

breakfast morning noon & night

It's FRIDAYYY!! Yee-haw! I'm stoked!

I'm not gonna lie, this week was a rough one. The boys had me at my wit's end all week, and there were a few times where I thought I wasn't gonna make it! You ever have those days where you're just so frustrated you want to stop everything, lock yourself in a room and cry? Yeah, that was my Monday-Thursday. Don't get me wrong, I love my cutie little baby cousins, but everybody needs a break every now and again. Can I get an AMEN?!

Because I was put through the ringer this week, I have never been more excited to pack up, and head out of town with my babe for a few days. This Memorial Day weekend we will be heading to his parents ranch about 2 1/2 hours North-West of Austin. I'm sure the weekend will be filled with delicious authentic homemade food (his mom makes the BEST tortillas), gun-shootin', drinkin' around the fire and looking up at all of the stars. The difference in the air between here and there is amazing. Have you ever compared the night sky between the city and the country? It's baffling at how many more stars are visible in the country, and it really puts pollution into perspective. It's beautiful out there, and I can't wait to relax with the man I love!

Moving past all of the mushy stuff.... today's eats have been all about the B-MAN aka breakfast (yes, I just made that up, and yes, I know it's really dumb)! After the typical morning green machine juice, I munched down a combo bowl of cereal that included Quaker Oatmeal Squares and Cinnamon Cheerios with Silk. I love both of these cereals, but the Cinnamon Cheerios really made it today.

For lunch I had a Thomas' Bagel Thin topped with almond butter and apple slices. The rest of the apple was consumed upon preparation. What?? I couldn't wait!

Yep, I make faces with my food.

I'm sure that I speak for many, when I say that I can eat breakfast at any time of the day. While I wouldn't say that it is my favorite meal of the day, it definitely ties for first with lunch and dinner (hehe)!

Now my belly is full and I'm ready to take on these last few hours with these children! See ya!


What are your Memorial Day plans?


What is your favorite meal of the day and why?

chocolate brownie bites

Happy hump day people!

Do you ever have those days where you just want to eat any and everything in sight? Welp, that's my day today! Seriously, I can't stop eating! I started my morning with green juice, followed by a mixed bowl of Quaker Oatmeal Squares and cinnamon Cheerios. That wasn't enough so I munched down a handful of raw cashews which luckily got me to lunch time. I had a salad drizzled with Caesar dressing, a leftover croissant from last night's awesome dinner, and now I'm about to pop an Amy's dinner into the microwave! And I'm already thinking about what I'm going to have for a snack later... sheeeesh! What is wrong with me today! Fatty-boombalatty!

I figured I should stay on the topic of food and being a tubbo, so I wanted to share a recipe with you guys! I made these ooey-gooey chocolatey brownie bites while I was on my vegan cleanse. Err.. that lasted a long time. Point being-- not only are these little treats to die for, they are also vegan, gluten-free, and low sugar! Sounds like a quadruple win to me!

Chocolate Coconut Brownie Bites
1/2 cup + 2 T buckwheat flower
1/2 cup + 2 T brown rice flower
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 cup agave nectar
1/2 cup apple sauce
1/4 cup coconut oil
1/8 t baking soda
1/2 t salt
1 t vanilla extract
1/2 cup dark chocolate chunks

Mix all dry ingredients together and set aside. Mix all wet ingredients together, and then combine with dry. Using a spoon (or ice cream scoop), dollop batter into mini cup cake liners. Cook for 15 minutes at 350 degrees. Remove and enjoy!

Don't forget to lick the bowl!

Leaning tower of amazing.

Don't forget a smear of nut butter! ;-)

Moist center!

These things turned out SO great, and were the perfect size! I loved them because they had a brownie AND cake like consistency (best of both worlds if you ask me), and they were moist on the inside because of the apple sauce! Plus, they are low-sugar so you don't have to feel guilty about popping 2... or 7 into your mouth!

Hope you enjoy!