Delicious Food and Good Friends :)

I would like to start this post by explaining my LOVE of Charleston.  Over and over again I have to remind myself that I actually live here and I'm not on vacation or temporarily here!  Charleston is so beautiful and has so many different things to do especially in the summer.  Ali and I decided to take advantage of our amazing town midweek and try out a newish resturant, Amen Street.

I have passed Amen Street many times and have always been intrigued by it, but never went in because I thought it was a little out of my student price range :(! After happy hour with Mary Foster, we ended up trying it and decided that we could just get appetizers...so we wouldnt break the bank!! And let me tell you it was an amazing decision.  We decided to split an order of peel yourself shrimp and mussels with a side of wine and osyter shooter to end the meal!! It was a great time and fun little midweek break to catch up!

Mussels

1/2 lb of Shrimp

Our meal...yum!

Amazing osyter shooters...Charleston Special!

I loved the mussel sauce...ordered more bread to dip in (oops!)

Ali and I at dinner!

After dinner, I met up with some of my classmates that were out after their last class of the summer semester! Did I forget to mention...I'm finally done with summer classes woo woo!! Unfortuantely that means that this is exam week for me, so lots of studying this weekend! But on the plus side I have a wonderful 2 week break of nothing, other than vacation with my mama :)

Law School Buds!

Off for a quick run...hopefully my new ipod shuffle will actually charge and work :/ 

Waterfest 2011

Happy Monday!

This weekend was a whirl-wind and a wonderful time/blast at that! I went to Waterfest in Beaufort and saw Lee Brice and Josh Thompson in concert!  Waterfest is the best time, if you are ever in the low country around the end of July you must check it out.  I posted about my love of Beaufort before and how Laura and I planned our futures being neighbors with Paige in the cutest neighborhood ever!! We are major dorks but girls can dream...can't we?!?

Josh Thompson

Lee Brice

The concert was awesome and the weather couldn't be any better! It is usually hot and humid, especially in July, so it was a crazy and an amazing surprise that it was perfect outside and actually a little cool out :)!! We were all super thankful and had a blast together!

The Gang

Girl Picture :)

Richard...just had to do it haha!!

As for today, it has been a long day of class and the start to a long couple of weeks of studying :(!! On the brightside...I will be done with summer classes by next Friday and have almost 2 weeks of summer break woo woo!!! Eye is on the finishline!  Off to watch the bachelorette (secretly CANT wait for it to be over so I don't have to keep up watching this pathetic season...sorry a little harsh but come on)! 

Sports Bras and Baking

Hi Friends!

The past two days that I have been off of school I was planning on laying out while reviewing for class, but as I said yesterday Mother Nature had other plans for me :( but I have taken this time to enjoy the indoors and procrastinate as much as possible!! This means cleaning a lot, baking a lot, grazing (eating) a lot, and studying!

Yesterday, Birney and I took a nice trip to the outlets.  I forget how close the outlets are (probably a good thing for the wallet) but they are very convenient and you get much better deals on clothes there then regular stores.  I was on a mission to get a new sports bra...after the most miserable run of my life on Tuesday I was in much need!  I have been wearing sports bras that I got when I played field hockey in high school (about 6 years ago), needless to say they support very little nowadays (bouncing and chaffing=no fun at all) and getting a new bra was in order.  I don't have much to support and find that Nike makes a great bra with medium support, so I got one in purple (I have others from Nike that are about a year old and still support me well so figured it would do the trick)!

After shopping we headed over to Sam's Club and Wally World (Walmart) to pick up some things for dinner (and bonus: I got my beloved gels for my long runs)! We (I should say He) grilled up some steak, chicken and portobello mushrooms with a side of steamed vegetables for dinner.  I absolutely love mushrooms and haven't had portobello mushrooms in so long I forgot how delicious and almost meaty they taste.  Dinner was amazing and always tastes so much better when you don't have to cook it :)

Grilled to perfection

Huge Steak!!

I may have an addiction coming on and it may become a problem!! At Sam's yesterday I got 3lbs of bananas and a huge bag of spinach, and all day I have been craving that indescribable taste of green monsters.  So I caved in and made another one (2 for today...but they are healthy right?!) and decided to make a batch of oatmeal cookies with semi-sweet chocolate chips and white chocolate chips while holding off the urge to make a third! I have many different oatmeal recipes but the recipe that I find the tastiest and probably healthiest too is from my Betty Crocker Cookie Book! The recipe calls for more oats than many recipes--less flour more oats sounds perfect to me (recall my oatmeal addiction)!  These cookies turned out amazing and are going to be the perfect Welcome to the Weekend treat!

Green Monster (first one of the day...didn't cut it)

Cookie dough (the best part of making cookies)

First two batches done...ended with 7 batches WOW!

Hope everyone has a happy Friday and amazing start of the weekend :) 

Stormy Day but Life Changing News!

Warning this is life changing information: the Green Monster is the best creation EVER!!

I have been looking at blogs for almost a year now and have continued to come across fellow bloggers making this gross looking "green monster" conncotion.  Everyone seems to like it because there are many different versions of it and it is a common food that is posted.  Surprisingly, I never took a real interest in trying one out for myself (the idea of drinking something green or that was filled with spinach not really the best idea in my book).  Plus I'm not the biggest smoothie fan or shake person...I would rather eat all the fruit than have it blended together!  Boy, was I wrong about that one!! The green monster is seriously life changing...it is a mystery how blended almond milk, bananas and a ton of spinach (with added peanut butter of course) can be so dang tasty!!

Seriously, if you have ever thought about making a green monster and if you are like me and kinda grossed out by the idea--you need to think twice and then go to the kitchen and blend one up for yourself!! I am thrilled that I finally made one and am in absolute love with the creation.  Whoever thought of blending the flavors together should really get a reward or prize or something...because it is truly life changing (its kind of like when my sister tried a praline for the first time--speechless)!! 

Green Monster LOVE!

As for today, I woke up and got my hair did and was planning on laying out at the pool all day and studying for class (exams in less than 2 weeks..ek!) BUT mother-nature has different plans for me and instead of a sunny day, its thundering and overcast...boo! But this means lots of time to research what I want to bake next and daydreaming about green monsters all day :)

My fuel for daydreaming...

Salmon, summer veggies and pasta bowl :) (and a side of a green monster)

Hot Days and Cool Salads

Good Morning!! Happy Hump Day!

After I blogged yesterday, I went on an 8.5 mile run in the screaming heat!! There was a heat advisory in effect (affect?)...and I still decided to run=STUPID! I don't recommend that to anyone, but seriously I don't! It was certainly not the smartest idea I've ever had and I'm beginning to think that those advisories mean something....

HOTTTT!

Unfortunately, it is supposed to be even hotter than yesterday :/ which means that I won't be running outside.  I'm not a fan of running on the treadmill (my sister ran 8 miles on it yesterday--awesome for her, don't know how she does it, I certainly can't).  I find the treadmill so boring and repetitive; however, recently I found that intervals on the treadmill actually work for me, it keeps me distracted from realizing I'm on a machine that is forcing me to run in place! Hopefully today I can convince myself that running like a hamster is a good idea and I'll be able to knock out some miles on the dread-machine!

I was apparently craving fish and salad combos yesterday. I didn't realize why I was so hungry when 8 pm rolled around last night...but now I understand why I was still eating until I went to bed last night!  My lunch and dinner last night were both fish and salads, which yes are healthy--protein and vegetable packed--but they don't contain enough substance to overcome my hunger after a hot 8 plus mile run!  Even if they didn't fill me up, they were both delicious and a must re-do for later.

Lunch Salad: Salmon burger with sauteed asian vegetables and salad

Dinner Salad: Seared Tuna Steak (ginger, soy sauce, garlic, sesame seeds) over salad

As for this morning I made an amazing omelet with spinach, bacon, white cheddar. It was a sure winner and an amazing start of my long day of classes!  Hope everyone has a happy hump day and try not to melt away in this heat :)

Before cheese...

After cheese (side of runny salsa)

Back at Long Last :)

Hello Long Lost Followers!

So I am going to officially name myself the worst summer blogger ever!! I have been so busy that I haven't even had the chance to think about blogging...well of course I have thought about it a little but I have really been super busy.  I haven't been busy in the normal work piling up way but more like my family and friends love the place that I live and want to visit all the time in the summer!

So basically for the past 4 weeks (and this one too) I have had visitors come--well you know visit me! It has been a blast being able to see my entire immediate family and my closest friends, so I'm definitely not complaining!! The thing is with so many people constantly coming it is really hard to have some me time (which is when I blog) and really have time to just relax--and hard to stay on top of all these summer classes as well.  But I really wouldn't have it any other way and am totally willing to sacrifice some "me time" to see and be with my loved ones :)

Mimi and Dad in the Market

Mom, Lee and Me at the Farmers Market 

That being said hopefully I will get back to having a little more time set aside for myself these next few weeks!! As I have been gone I have officially started my MARATHON TRAINING woo woo!! I had my first long, long run on Sunday and went 12 miles!  I haven't run more than 9 miles since March, so I was pretty impressed that my legs felt as good as they did and could carry me all 12 miles without stopping.  I used my garmin and paced myself to do a 10 minute to 10:30 minute mile the whole way and finished my run in 2 hours 2 minutes...which is just over a 10 minute mile (I'm not good at math but I know that it falls between my goal)!

I am getting really excited to run another marathon and am trying to better nutrition my body this go around.  When I trained for the Disney Marathon, I lost a significant amount of weight--at the time I certainly wasn't complaining but looking back at pictures I realized my body was probably not getting as much nutrition as it needed.   I was staying away from carbs-though your body really needs them for fueling long distance runs and really was just not being overly concerned with eating enough to support my distance runs!  This go around I am trying to be a little more health conscience and be more aware of what I am eating so I tone without losing too much weight! As I'm sure many runners can relate--it is hard to eat enough food to compensate for the amount of calories you are burning while still being healthy! I am going to be actively aware of it and do my best to remain aware :)

Summer Vegetables: tomatoes, asparagus, squash, zucchini in a garlic olive oil

Angel Hair Pasta Bowl with the vegs and 

chicken tenderloins marinated in balsamic, garlic, seasoning

Morning Fuel for my 8 mile run: Cinnamon Oatmeal with bananas and Almond milk

(also had a bowl of fiber one with a few frozen peach slices--a little extra something)

Happy Tuesday...only 3 more days til the weekend :)