Motivation

My wonderful best friend Miss C (now Mrs. M) got married this past weekend! Congratulations again, my love!

Her oh so fab-u-lous wedding motivated me like nothing ever has to do a few things:

1) Have a professional makeup artist in my phone (you never know when you may need one).

2) Get my body together for once and for all (baby steps).

3) Hop on the shellac manicure bandwagon (these nails have been rock solid with no   

     chipping for five days and counting). 

And the BIG one:

4) Get back to learning about my camera! I've been seriously slacking-- but I saw some 

     photos this past weekend that really made me wish I knew more so I could do a lot more 

     with my canon. 

Back to snap happiness!

Summer Survival Kit

Apologies for the missing-in-actionness as of late. This girl has been busy. But, hark-- I have returned... with a list of goodies getting me through Swelter Fest '11:

The world's most amazing toaster oven-- convection oven, toaster, bake/broiler-- and most importantly keeps us from having to turn on the real oven. Thanks, Papa Willi!

The first of a few things I probably *shouldn't* have. Too bad. I love me some Jones Soda. I stick to the Zilch, because I'm not a big believer in drinking calories (unless of course, there's booze involved).

25 calories of pure bliss. Sugar water at its absolute finest. 

Vine-ripened, and perfect for BLTs (my any season favorite, no fuss, no oven meal). 

These are pretty tasty. I think they may be just a phase-- but they're making the cut for now.

Bible of deliciousness-- and all the eats are within 45 minutes. It's probably unsafe for me to have this so readily available.

Driscoll's. Love them. Planning to throw together some balsamic strawberries later this week. Stay tuned!

I totally buy into the powers of Kombucha... and nowww I feel like a hippy. 

 Grilled peaches are my all-time favorite summer time dessert. Life's a peach, right?

Millions of peaches, peaches for me. <--who remembers that song?

Lazy Bones

How I've been feeling since school ended...

(source)

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Hence the lack of blogging... I've been reclining, reading, and Wimbledon-watching. It's been GLORIOUS. Admittedly, I need to at least include working out so I don't turn into a can of Crisco. Baby steps. 

Here's the most appropriate song ever to play me out...

Best Scavenger Hunt Everrr.

Today was the last day of school. It's kind of a big deal-- mostly because I've never had a last day of school as a teacher before. It was a pretty spectacular day, and got even better once I got home...

The front door...  

Bedroom door...

 Coffee table...

 Chair at the dining table...

Fridge...

JACKPOT!

Champagne Saturday will be quite the classy affair this weekend... 

Thanks, baby! ♡♥

I can't believe this year is already in the books. Happy summer break to all the teachers out there-- it's hard-earned and well-deserved. CHEERS!

Summer Reading

I went to the bookstore yesterday armed with gift cards from Christmas. I left supremely happy. 


Women, Food and God by Geneen Roth

I eat a lot, so this seemed interesting. It was highly recommended by some friends over on Spark. These lines from the book jacket are what compelled me: "The way you eat is inseparable from your core beliefs about being alive. You relationship with food is an exact mirror of your feelings about love, fear, anger, meaning, transformation and, yes, even God."


Heavy. It's pretty good so far.


Bossypants by Tina Fey

Yeah, I know I'm late on this one-- but my everyday schedule doesn't allow for very much leisurely reading. 


My Horizontal Life by Chelsea Handler

I have the other three, somehow skipped this one. Had to correct this situation. Chelsea Handler is probably the funniest woman alive. 


The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins 

What can I say? Every now and again, I get caught up in trends. They're making a movie-- and even though I don't actually GO to the movies {because I have an issue with being that close to people}, I'm still curious. I also feel like this is something I should have read ages ago. 


OK, so there's the beginning of my summer reading list. What's on your list? 

One Whole Year...

That's how long we've been around! The past year has absolutely flown by. It's been unpredictable, inspiration-filled— and certainly hasn't been without it's bumps in the road {the great crash of 2010} and transitions {our new name}. 

Thanks for riding along with me— I hope you've enjoyed it as much as I have! 

I'm beyond excited to bring much more food, fun, and photography {and silly alliterations} in year two!   

According to your fabulous taste and Google Analytics, here are the top three posts over the past year:

Easy protein-packed breakfast

Slow Cooker Meal: Salsa Chicken

DIY fabric wall art

And since I made myself choose, here are my personal favorites{I cheated a little}:

Willi Wedding Extravaganza {all 3 parts}

This dish is bananas, B-A-N-A-N-A-S

Photo Fridays {even though I'm terrible at staying on top of it!}

Turkey Meatloaf Muffins

Yesterday, I took out ground turkey breast without really thinking it through. I aimlessly defrost meat more often than I care to admit... so I'm used to this little conundrum. As much as I enjoy turkey tacos and burgers, the thought of having them wasn't making my tummy do it's normal "ooh yeah, make that" jig. Sad. 


After a few minutes of deep thought, I remembered a SparkFriend mentioned having turkey meatloaf muffins with her dinner a couple nights ago. I like turkey... I like meatloaf... and I have been known to get down with a muffin or two-- so it seemed like a no-brainer. 


I went over to Bodybuilding.com and found Jamie Eason's recipe for clean turkey meatball muffins. I pretty much followed her recipe, but I left out the celery and I swapped the garlic powder and salt for some Adobo seasoning (had to work with what I had on hand).

Here are the meatloaf muffins from start to finish:

Hmm... please excuse the cooking spray puddles. Oh, and that I don't have photos of these on a plate or other dish. You can thank the mister for that— these meatloaf muffins didn't last very long at all.

Jamie Eason's Turkey Meatloaf Muffins - ✩✩✩✩✩ 

These little guys are easy to prepare and perfect for batch cooking. They're also just as good cold {which I've found is surprisingly important to me}. At 80 calories and 11 grams of protein per muffin, they're a great anytime snack or as part of a meal. They would also make pretty tasty turkey sliders if you just have to have a bun in your life {which I completely understand}. 

Judging by the rate at which these were devoured— this won't be the last time turkey meatloaf graces my muffin pan! Mmm.