All posts for the month March, 2013

Creamy Peanut Butter & Banana Smoothie

Happy almost Friday!

It has been one rough week over here and I am more than ready for the weekend. I woke up Monday morning with a stomach ache and welp, it was all down hill from there. I will just say I spent all Monday praying to the porcelain gods and hating life a little. Yeah, rough.

Today I thankfully feel back to normal and it’s about time too. It has been 7 days since my last workout, 5 days since I’ve eaten vegetables or drunk coffee and 3 days since I’ve had peanut butter. I’m not sure how I’ve functioned without all those things, but I can I assure it was not well.

I’m sorry coffee but you still make me want to puke a little. Give me a few more days and I promise I will be back to chugging you like a champ.

Luckily the rest of this week is looking up!

I have a (glorious!) 4 day weekend ahead of me, some much needed time at home (nothing makes you miss your parents more than being sick alone in your college apartment, good thing I have really awesome roommates who bring me ginger ale and applesauce) and some warm spring weather. Boone decided to be a poo-head and dump 8 inches of snow on us the past four days. I think someone needs to tell mother nature it’s officially spring because I’m not sure she’s gotten the memo.

I totally ate it on some ice on the way back to my apartment yesterday. No more snow please.

If you’re hoping for spring weather like I am, try making this smoothie, cranking up the heat and pretend it’s 75 degrees outside instead of 25, while you drink your smoothie and bask in the warmth. Just don’t blame me for your crazy how power bill.

Creamy Peanut Butter and Banana Smoothies (vegan!)

Ingredients

1/2 package silken tofu
1/2 cup milk of choice (I used almond)
2 cups of spinach (or really as much as you can shove in your blender, the more vitamins the merrier)
1 banana
1 tbsp peanut butter
a sprinkle of cinnamon (or much more if you’re a huge cinnamon lover like I am!)
~1 cup ice, or until desired frozen-ness is reached

Directions

Place all ingredients in blender
Blend. Easy peasy.
And don’t forget to clean out your roommate’s blender because she won’t appreciate you borrowing it if you leave green stuff in it. Though I don’t understand why not.

What are your go-to sick foods? Ginger ale and applesauce, and I remember growing up my mom always mixed juice and sprite together for me when I was sick, it was like the ultimate feel better drink.

Do you have any Easter plans? Is it sad that I really miss Easter egg hunts? Those things were awesome.

4 Comments

by greensandcoffeebeans on March 28, 2013 • Permalink

Posted in College LIfe, Food, Recipes

Tagged banana, coffee, peanut butter, sick, smoothie, snow, spring, tofu, vegan

Posted by greensandcoffeebeans on March 28, 2013

https://greensandcoffeebeans.wordpress.com/2013/03/28/creamy-peanut-butter-banana-smoothie/

Spring Break Edition {WIAW}

Guys, I’ve been a pretty terrible blogger lately. This poor little guy has been more than a little neglected and I feel kinda bad. But between spring and the inevitable school work catch-up after spring break (what professor assigns projects over spring break? Seriously), life’s been a little crazy. And mostly I’ve been a little lazy because I’m wishing spring break would come back.

Responsibilities are silly, I’d like to go back to the beach pretty please.

Mother Nature is also trying to play a mean joke on me with this forecast:

That’s funny, I thought spring was supposed to be warm. Thank you weather.

Sorry for all the complaining, cold weather makes me cranky. Whining over. You know what I can’t complain about?

(Thanks Jenn!)

This week my food is coming at you spring break style. I’ll admit that I didn’t eat too many vegetables over break (but I did eat lots and lots of chocolate) and you know what, I don’t feel bad about it. Sometimes you just need to stuff your face with junk food.

But let’s kick things off with something healthy shall we? This combination is one of my new favorites and I ate it everyday for lunch during Pilates training. It’s broccoli slaw, mixed with avocado, topped with sunflower seeds and a little salt and pepper. Light but filling and you can do the Pilates ab series afterwards without wanting to puke.

I was going to recreate this for lunch today but Harris Teeter was out of avocados. TRAVESTY. Bigger travesty is that they were out of bananas too. Get it to-freaking-gether Harris Teeter, this girl needs her produce.

Vanilla frozen custard with chocolate chips mixed in. Pure heaven. I’m a hard core fro yo lover, but even I need some heavy duty frozen custard every once in a while. So good.

I don’t know what my deal is but I’ve been craving chocolate like nobody’s business lately. It’s all I want to eat and I can’t seem to get enough of this. But this Trader Joe’s chocolate bar definitely helps. Is it bad that I think 85% tastes super sweet after eating so much Baker’s chocolate?

And onto the Outer Banks! I have a full recap coming soon (I owe you guys so many recaps it’s ridiculous, I need to get back on top of things) but for now I’ve got food. I didn’t lug my camera to any of the restaurants because it’s huge, so the pictures aren’t the best, sowwy.

Wednesday

Dinner

We had a Restaurant.com deal for Sanya Asian Bistro so we stopped there for dinner after getting into town Friday night. It was perfect because we could all eat there (I tend to make things difficult when it comes to eating out, whoopsies) and we saved $50 off our bill. Awesome.

I accidentally filled up on trail mix before heading to dinner (I seriously cannot control myself around the stuff, it’s too good) so I was in the mood for something lighter. So I ordered an Avocado and Cucumber roll.

It was really good, but I don’t think I’ve had bad vegetarian sushi, it’s kinda hard to mess up. You should know that I ate all of my ginger, then my friend’s ginger (ironic because she is ginger!) and then my boyfriend’s ginger. I guess you could say I like ginger a little.

Drinks

Later that night we headed to Lucky 12 Tavern for drinks. It ended up be perfect because it was walking distance from our hotel, they had a great beer selections and there was a $5 martini special. Um, awesome.

I had a Flying Dog K-9 Winter Ale per recommendation from my boyfriend. He’s a serious beer connoisseur, and it ended up being a delicious choice.

And because we had to take advantage of the $5 martinis, me boyfriend and I split a dirty martini. Pretty much the only martini this old man could handle. I can’t do sugary frou-frou drinks and this fit the bill.

Please ignore the awkwardly placed olives and straw.

Thursday

Our hotel room had a small kitchen, so to save money we at breakfast and lunch there, which was a very boring combo of eggs and frozen veggies, we don’t need pictures of that.

Dinner

We had dinner at Tortuga’s Lie (which has been feature on Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives!). But I was a bad blogger because I left my phone in the car and didn’t get a picture of my meal. That’s okay because I had beans and rice and I’m pretty sure we all know that that looks like. It was extra delicious after a long day of sight seeing, but if you mess up beans and rice that’s pretty sad.

I’m sure any seafood lovers out there are very sad that I passed up the opportunity for fresh caught local seafood. Yeahhhh vegetarians.

Dessert

Despite trying incredibly hard to find a local ice cream shop that was open, we had no such luck. It’s still considered the off season so lots of places are closed until April. Luckily, Sweet Frog was there to save the day. Not as good as local ice cream, but it hits the sweet-craving, chocolate-loving spot.

Chocolate fro yo with peanut butter chips, Reeses pieces, chunks of Reeses cups and a drizzle of hot fudge. Can you tell I hate chocolate and peanut butter? I’m not even going to lie, I could totally have eat another cup’s worth. No shame.

Friday

Dinner was some pizza place and I ordered a Greek salad. Boring. The one place in town with gluten-free pizza was no longer in business (whhhhyyyyyy?????). So salad it was.

Dessert

Don’t worry I balanced that salad out with some serious ice cream.

Oh. My. Goodness. Can I just wax poetic about how AMAZING this ice cream is? Ben and Jerry, you are pure ice cream geniuses. I don’t even care that it was store bought, I wish I could jump into this pint and live there. No I don’t, that would be a little sticky, but still. Holy cow. Vanilla and chocolate ice cream with peanut butter cups, heath bar pieces, white chocolate chips and fudge covered almonds. I’m drooling a little bit right now.

Drinks

Friday night we headed to the Outer Banks Brewing Station for drinks and late night snacks (which was also featured on Diners, Drive-ins and Dives!). It ended up being a really cool place. The food was delicious, we ended up demolishing a plate of black bean dip and chips. The beer was equally amazing, they brew it at the restaurant and the process is powered by a wind turbine, I love that they’re environmentally friendly!

(source)

One of my friends was sweet enough to buy a bottle of champagne for all of us to celebrate my roommate’s engagement!

I don’t remember exactly what kind it was, but it tasted like bubbly grape juice. Cheers.

And because I drink like an old man I switched to beer. I love me some heavy duty (none of that light stuff) and dry red wine, old man status over here.

I failed on taking a picture of my beer but it was sooo good. I ordered their Full Circle Robust Porter (a fat and sassy robust porter with complex nuts and dried fruit-like aromas over a big, round, and slightly toasty palate) I love that they describe it as fat and sassy. I think I’m only going to drink fat and sassy beers from now on, that sounds like a good policy to me. Basically the beer was smooth, heavy and darn tasty.

And now I’m skipping to Sunday because lunch was delicious.

Yet another trip to the Mediterranean Deli in Chapel Hill. I have the hardest time ordering at this restaurant because there are too many tasty looking vegetarian and gluten-free options. I’m not used to having so many choices. I like it, even if it takes me 15 minutes to order.

I had a vegetarian plate with sauteed cauliflower, roasted vegetables, sauteed eggplant, avocado and feta salad and gluten-free(!) pita points. Delicious. I also had too many dates for dessert. I have not control when it comes to those dried out little pieces of nature’s candy. Those dates fueled my 3 hour drive back to school (ugh, one thing I won’t miss when I graduate).

Upon arriving back at my apartment, I was welcomed by this site

I donated to a living playground initiative at an elementary school, and got a free candy bar and jar of peanut butter from Justin’s in return for my donation. Pretty sweet reward if you ask me. Pun intended.

Now I just want to go back to spring break. Anyway, I’ve got an 8am class in the morning (yippee) so it’s time for this girl to get to bed.

What’s your favorite vacation food? ICE CREAM!

What’s your favorite drink (alcoholic or not)? Water, black coffee, red wine and beer. I told you, old man over here.

Who’s ready for spring?

3 Comments

by greensandcoffeebeans on March 20, 2013 • Permalink

Posted in College LIfe, Food, What I Ate Wednesday

Tagged beer, champagne, chocolate, dinner, drinks, food, gluten-free, ice cream, spring, spring break, vacation, vegetarian, what i ate wednesday, wiaw

Posted by greensandcoffeebeans on March 20, 2013

https://greensandcoffeebeans.wordpress.com/2013/03/20/spring-break-edition-wiaw/

Scenes from the Outer Banks {MIMM}

Partying it up in Nags Head, NC

The girls.

The Wright Brother’s Memorial

View from the Memorial

Light houses aren’t that tall.

Bodie Island Lighthouse

Jockey’s Ridge, AKA the desert.

Proposal! My roomie got engaged!

Snake wrangler. Kidding, I was at the Aquarium.

Saving a plastic sea turtle from a shark bite wound in my snazzy lab coat. We’ll pretend that activity wasn’t for children

Real sea turtle, I didn’t save him.

Cape Hatteras Lighthouse

Sunrise

4 Comments

by greensandcoffeebeans on March 18, 2013 • Permalink

Posted in College LIfe, Marvelous in my Monday

Tagged aquarium, beach, lighthouse, marvelous in my monday, mimm, nags head, north carolina, outer banks, spring break, vacation

Posted by greensandcoffeebeans on March 18, 2013

https://greensandcoffeebeans.wordpress.com/2013/03/18/scenes-from-the-outer-banks-mimm/

Guest Posting

Hey guys,

I’m have a fantastic time at the beach, but more about that when I get back. In the mean time, check out my guest post over at Diary of a Slow Runner!

Injuries Suck and a Brain Dump

Being injured is just a big pile of poo. My naggy back-of-the-knee pain will not go away and it is about to drive me crazy. It subsides a lot when I don’t run, but never completely away and when I think I’m safe to run again, BAM post-run it’s back.

Okay, I’m being a little whiny, but I know you fellow runners/exercises/just generally active people feel my pain (pun somewhat intended). It stinks being side-lined by an injury and to be honest I’m not dealing with it too well, and it’s bumming me out a lot.

For one, I really hate sitting still, I mean I can laze around watching Food Network for hours (especially if Paula Deen is on) but there comes I point where I I have to get up and DO something to save my sanity. Two, I’m the worst injured person ever. Luckily I’ve never had any major injuries, but I usually just try to ignore the pain and keep on keepin’ on. Hey, I never claimed to be smart about injury prevention. And lastly I’ve got some big races coming up, races I really need to train for and I can’t, lamelamelame.

Okay, pity party over. Here’s what I’m doing to try to speed up recovery:

Ice, lots and lots of it
Stretching, trying to get back in the habit of regular yoga because I can tell my hamstrings/calves are tightttt.
Anti-Inflammatories, which is a big deal because I’m a hippie and will avoid taking pills for as long as possible. Desperation is sinking in.
Low impact exercises, I’ve been a spin class FREAK, I might even resort to the elliptical soon, yuck I hate that thing.

How do you keep your sanity when you’re injured?

Time for a brain dump, AKA all that random thoughts that filter through my head on a daily basis.

I hate road closures, I’ve literally ran into 6 different ones since I’ve been home, why you gotta be so difficult to navigate Raleigh?
BYOK>BYOL and by BYOK I mean Bring Your Own Kale, that should be a thing, because I totally would.
(source)

I mean, I already put it in cupcakes
Forget Walgreens, there should be a Trader Joe’s on every corner. Pretty please.
Peanut butter fixes everything. I was making a tofu/veggie stir fry and couldn’t find a good asian-y sauce (is that even PC to say?) so I mixed in peanut butter with a little salt and pepper. Problem solved.
These need to get in my belly ASAP
(source)
You can totally judge a fro yo place by how good their chocolate flavor is.
85% cacao, come on Joe, step it up, where’s my 100% at?
This afternoon I pulled up the wrong way to the gas pump and 5 different cars of people watched me get back in the car, start it up and turn it around. Sometimes my own intelligence just amazes me.
Tomorrow afternoon I will be on the beachhhhh. Well not exactly on the beach because it’s supposed to be in the 40s (ew) but beach adjacent.
Thrift Shop is the most relatable hip hop song I’ve heard in a while. I can’t relate to:
(source)

But I can relate to shopping at a thrift store, oh so much.
Sorry for being horrible with keeping up one comments/reading/all forms of social media, I’ve been enjoying spring break by spending less time on the computer. I miss you guys but I’m enjoying being a little unplugged, I promise I’ll catch back up soon!

How do you deal with an injury?

What’s your brain brain dump for today?

1 Comment

by greensandcoffeebeans on March 13, 2013 • Permalink

Posted in Fitness, Food, Running, Yoga

Tagged chocolate, fitness, fro yo, injuries, random, running, thrift shop, trader joes, yoga

Posted by greensandcoffeebeans on March 13, 2013

https://greensandcoffeebeans.wordpress.com/2013/03/13/injuries-suck-and-a-brain-dump/

Excitement {MIMM}

I hope you guys had a very marvelous Monday, I know I did. Thank youuuu spring break!

(Thanks Katie!)

Marvelous is… Sleeping for 9 WHOLE HOURS last night. Glorious doesn’t even begin to describe it. I can’t even tell you the last time I got more than 7 hours of sleep much less 9. Clearly sleep needs to be a bigger priority in my life.

Marvelous is… Pilates teacher training! I was at training all weekend (hence me being MIA) and I learned sooo much. I can’t wait to take everything I learned back to my classes, I feel like all the knowledge I gain is going to make my classes a million times better. It was such a great experience, I just have the Mat 1 training done, so I’m hoping to work my way through the rest of the trainings in the next year or so.

And the studio I did the training at was absolutely beautiful, I will definitely have to take some classes there over the summer.

(source)

Marvelous is… Random frozen custard runs.

We went to Goodberry’s which is a local NC-only chain, but if you’re ever in the Triangle area go get yourself some. It’s soooo good. I got the vanilla custard with chocolate chips mixed in and it tasted like a straight up cup of Oreos. I love fro yo, but sometimes you just need some heavy-duty custard.

Marvelous is… Thai dinner on a Thursday night.

Some friends came to my Thursday night Pilates class and we ended up going out to dinner afterwards at Cha Da Thai (their the only Thai restaurant in town so it’s a good thing their food is good!) which was an awesome treat on a weeknight. I think I could eat Thai food any day of the week and be perfectly content.

Funny story is that they served me the completely wrong dish. I actually ordered the Pad Cashew with tofu (Sauteed with tomato-based red sauce, cashews, onion, carrot and bell peppers), but they gave me the Pad Khing Sod with tofu (Stir-fried with fresh ginger sauce, mushroom, onion, bell peppers, baby corn and carrot). Not even close, and I almost sent it back, but I ordered it last time I ate there and I remembered it being delicious so I ate it anyway. It was just as delicious the second time around, even if it wasn’t what I ordered.

Marvelous is… seeing this temperature while driving around town.

Marvelous doesn’t even begin to describe. I’m so ready for warm weather again.

Marvelous is… That I’ll be at the beach in less than 2 days! It’s supposed to be super cold (like 45 degrees, what?) but I don’t even care. That just means I can spend all day in the aquariums 🙂

Marvelous is… a much needed yoga class. It’s been too long since I’ve been to one and I can tell my muscles were angry with me for it. The class actually ended up being a Yin-style class which was pretty awesome. Basically you hold poses that require very little muscular effort for extended periods of time (we held poses for 3-4 minutes) to open up the joints and connective tissues. Wikipedia does a better job of describing it than I do if you want to learn more about the style. It was pretty different from most classes I’ve taken before but it was very peaceful and I really enjoyed it. I did miss my down dogs though.

Marvelous is… I GOT THE INTERNSHIP I INTERVIEWED FOR!!!!!! Excuse me while I squeal like a little girl. But eeeeeee!!! I’m so excited! I will be doing graphic design for the American Dance Festival this summer! It’s pretty much most perfect internship for me and I can’t believe I got it! I actually applied for it last year and didn’t get it, but tried again and it paid off! Cue the excited face:

I was in the car on the way home from Boone when they called and told me I got the internship and I pretty much car danced the rest of the way home because I was so excited.

1 Comment

by greensandcoffeebeans on March 11, 2013 • Permalink

Posted in College LIfe, Design, Fitness, Food, Pilates, Yoga

Tagged college life, excited, frozen custard, graphic design, internship, marvelous in my monday, mimm, pilates, sleep, spring, thai food, yoga

Posted by greensandcoffeebeans on March 11, 2013

https://greensandcoffeebeans.wordpress.com/2013/03/11/5392/

Sugar Hangover and Snow Days

Look at me posting early in the morning. This is what happens when my professor is out of town and I don’t have class until 12:30, it’s a beautiful thing, that and the fact that I can’t sleep past 8:00 AM even though I went to bed at 2. Not the best combo.

I’ve got a straight up sugar hangover. Yesterday was a full on snow day with no class whatsoever and I fully enjoyed myself by staying in my yoga pants all day, not leaving the apartment, eating plenty of gluten-free brownies and doing absolutely nothing. It was glorious.

(Thanks Jenn!)

I can’t say I ate too many green things yesterday, but that’s okay because healthy living is all about balance. Sometimes you have to balance your greens with brownies.

Here’s a snap shot of my day, at least what I managed to get on camera, which definitely wasn’t everything.

Best breakfast ever. I’m telling you, it will not get old.

Baker’s chocolate makes the best breakfast addition. Starting my day off with chocolate is the best.

Broccoli, zucchini, onions and a few spray’s of Braggs liquid aminos. These were the only veggies I had all day and I do not feel bad about it. Though this bowl probably is a full day’s serving. A day without veggies is a day without sunshine, kind of like burpees.

Lunch dessert! My roommate made blueberry syrup and we all had pancakes for lunch, except mine was more of a lunch dessert because it was eaten after my big bowl of veggies. Recipe for the pancakes at the bottom!

Then imagine lots of afternoon snacking, that’s what happens when you’re trapped in your apartment all day.

Such as:

Cocoa powder and coconut milk, and

Apples and bananas. Now that song is stuck in my head. I realized yesterday I got through a ridiculous amount of bananas in a week. I bought 5 at the store on Monday and I ran out yesterday. I’m a banana fiend.

I wish I had a more attractive picture, that did this pizza justice, but, um, I don’t. I had a delicious Trader Joe’s gluten-free pizza that I have been hoarding in my freezer for a couple months now. I will even admit that I ate the pizza. It was absolutely delicious. And awesome because my roommates ordered Papa John’s and I actually got to eat pizza along with them.

And then one of my friends brought over cinnamon sugar scones, which weren’t gluten-free and I will be paying for today. It’s okay they were delicious and totally worth it, though I maybe be changing my tune in before the day is over.

Then this happened. My roommate baked a loaf of pumpkin bread, the mix has been sitting in our cabinet since October and she finally got around to making it. It was 100% delicious, even though I’m sure my stomach won’t appreciate that one either. If you’re curious, the mix is Fresh Market brand if you’re looking for a good pumpkin bread mix next fall, this one is a winner.

I think this is why professors bombard us with work 24/7, because when college students have nothing to do, we spend all day baking, they’re really just watching out for our health. Not long after the pumpkin bread, this happened:

Brownie cliff! I feel like that’s what it looks like.

I made gluten-free brownies using the Bob’s Redmill mix my roommate bought me for Christmas.

(source)

Three things about that, one, my roommate gave me gluten-free brownie mix for Christmas, how amazing is that? Two, Bob from Bob’s Redmill looks exactly like my dad, and three, these brownies were AMAZING. They didn’t taste gluten-free at all, even my gluten-loving friends thought they were amazing.

Cue this mornings sugar hangover. Oh sugar, you are so delicious but you leave me feeling so gross the next day. You know how to cure a sugar hangover? Pancakes. Well, maybe not but they are a delicious breakfast, or lunch, or lunch dessert.

Gluten-Free Peanut Butter Coconut Pancakes

Makes 2 medium-sized pancakes

Ingredients

1 small banana, mashed
1 egg (I actually used egg whites for my pancake but it didn’t hold together as well as I would hope, I think a whole egg would hold together much better)
1 tbsp peanut butter
1 tbsp shredded coconut
Cinnamon to taste

Directions

Comine all ingredients in a mixing bowl
Pour batter on to a greased pan cooking on medium heat until cooked on one side. You will know the first side is done when the edges begin to bubble.
Flip and finish cooking on the other side
Top with delicious things (like homemade blueberry syrup and peanut butter) and enjoy

What’s your favorite breakfast food?

How do you find balance?

4 Comments

by greensandcoffeebeans on March 7, 2013 • Permalink

Posted in College LIfe, Food, Recipes

Tagged bobs redmill, brownies, chocolate, gluten-free, gluten-free peanut butter coconut pancakes, pizza, pumpkin, recipe, sweet potatoes, trader joes, vegetables, what i ate wednesday, wiaw

Posted by greensandcoffeebeans on March 7, 2013

https://greensandcoffeebeans.wordpress.com/2013/03/07/sugar-hangover-and-snow-days/

Tuesday Tangents

I think my brain is officially dead. Thank goodness there’s only 3 days until spring break. This girl needs some major sleep.

Enter tangents, because cohesiveness is not happening tonight.

The guy sitting next to me in my 8 AM class was dipping. First off, EWWW! Dipping is pretty much the nastiest habit you could have, it’s a million times worse than smoking in my opinion. Two, 8 AM!? Seriously? Why is it necessary to dip at 8 AM? Three, I’m pretty sure tobacco is banned in all campus buildings, but of course my professor didn’t say anything. I don’t think I’ll be able to look at a Gatorade bottle for a while. Ewewewewew.
My leg still hurts. I’m dying to go for run, hurry up and feel better leg!
Only four people came to my Pilates class tonight, but I actually really enjoyed having a smaller class. They were all regulars so I got to work them extra hard and throw in more advanced exercises I don’t usually get to teach. I also accidentally turned on a running playlist instead of my Pilates playlist (hey P’s are right next to R’s!) so we did Pilates to Ke$ha. I didn’t hate it and I think my Thursday class will be getting some Ke$ha as well 🙂
Sometimes I eat really weird things in the name of protein:
Scrambled egg whites with peanut butter, a teeny squirt of honey, cinnamon and vanilla. Sweet scrambled eggs? Why not. My roommates think I’m crazy when I eat things like this.
This article about mindful awareness is pretty awesome. I will definitely be incorporating some of these tips into my life because I’m about as unmindful as it gets at the moment.
I’ve applied for eight internships in the past 2 days, EIGHT! Someone please hire me, I would really like to graduate college.
There are not enough kittens on my Pinterest home page and that needs to change.
(source)

(source)

Much better.
Ginger tea is amazing, it seriously clears all my tummy aches right up. And I’m a ginger fanatic so it’s pretty tasty too.
I start a weight training class tomorrow, I’m taking it as a one hour elective because I’m determined to squeeze in at least one elective before I graduate college, crazy schedule or not. And I’m ready to get some muscles. I’m also keeping my eyes peeled for an opening in a Swimming for Non-Swimmers class though because it would also be pretty awesome to learn how to swim before I graduate college.
I’m obsessed with the song Thrift Shop. I know I’m a little late to the party, but I can’t stop listening to it. Seriously, I put it on repeat every morning while I get ready, it pumps me up for the day.
Today I also realized just how sporadic my taste in music is, today my music alternated between Thrift Shop, Jesus music, George Gershwin, Mumford & Sons and Ke$ha. Makes no sense, but I love it.

What are your tangents for today?

What’s a habit other people have that you can’t stand?

What are you listening to lately?

3 Comments

by greensandcoffeebeans on March 5, 2013 • Permalink

Posted in College LIfe, Fitness, Food

Tagged fitness, gross habits, injury, kittens, mindfulness, music, protein, thrift shop, weight training

Posted by greensandcoffeebeans on March 5, 2013

https://greensandcoffeebeans.wordpress.com/2013/03/05/5372/

Space Cadet {MIMM}

I hope everyone is having a wonderful Monday. I’ll be honest, mine has been a little rough.

I’ve been a total space cadet today. I even mixed up the bus times for the bus I ride every single day and managed to get to campus 15 minutes after my class was supposed to start. I took that as a sign from the universe that it was okay to take the afternoon off class. I think it was much needed. Luckily my Monday still had some highlights.

(Thanks Katie!)

Marvelous is… Internship applications! I was pretty productive in my afternoon off from class and applied for several internships. Which is good considering I need one this summer to graduate and the only thing I have at the moment is a less-than-promising phone interview from last week. Help me out internship gods.

Marvelous is… Fresh juice! My parents gave me a juicer for Christmas and I finally took it out of the box for a test drive.

In the mix: 1 beet, 3 small carrots, 0.5 apple and a little bit of ginger. Delicious. Too bad the clean up wasn’t so fun, there has to be a way to make a juicer that is easy to clean. One of my roommates is a product design major and I will get her on that one ASAP.

Marvelous is… Sneaking kale into cupcakes.

We had an early St. Patty’s Day party, which was actually turned into more of a low key get together, so of course I had to make cupcakes. I look for any excuse possible to make cupcakes. I made these cupcakes which are actually muffins (and grain-free!), but I put frosting on them so that makes them cupcakes. They were less sweet than typical cupcakes but they still got devoured so I don’t think anyone minded. By the way, if you baked that recipe in a loaf pan I bet it would make AMAZING grain-free peanut butter banana bread. I will definitely be trying that out in the future.

For the frosting, I used this frosting:

(source)

It was the only frosting in the grocery store without trans-fat so I shelled out $5 for the container. It was more glaze-like than frosting-like, when I bought it I didn’t realize it was allergen-free frosting, I was just desperate for something without trans-fat but it still tasted fine. I added a little cream-cheese to make it some a little more normal and added some sneaky kale juice to dye it green. I added a little too much and things got a little grassy-tasting so in the future I will go for spinach, but kale was just what I happened to have in the fridge.

Marvelous is… It snowing much less than I thought it would. It still snowed for four days straight, which is no bueno, but we only got a couple of inches so I was actually able to leave the apartment. If I get snowed in for another weekend I might go crazy. Where are you spring?

Marvelous is… Dinner and lunch out this weekend. Friday night my roommate and a friend went to Cha Da Thai for a super tasty Thai dinner. I got the Pad Khing Sod with tofu:

Stir-fried with fresh ginger sauce, mushroom, onion, bell peppers, baby corn and carrot. It was pretty good but I will definitely go for curry next time, my love of curry far exceeds my love of ginger. While I was eating this I thinking that it would be awesome to have ginger sauce and curry sauce on the same meal, but my friends thought I was crazy. I’m sorry that I have an unnatural love of curry.

Marvelous is… Espresso News, AKA the best place to get coffee in Boone.

They even roast their own beans

Amazing.

Marvelous is… Art crawl! One of my roommates had her work in two different galleries and it was really awesome to go see them. She’s seriously talented! You can check out some of her work here.

Marvelous is… My first drink in a bar! I know I am a crazy 21 year old, waiting 10.5 months for my first bar experience. I had a Foothill People’s Porter and it was quite tasty.

I usually drink IPAs so this beer was super smooth in comparison and I will definitely be having it again in the future. Not to mention they’re a local brewery (Winston Salem, NC – just 1.5 hours away!), which is always a plus.

Marvelous is… FRO YO! Enough said.

Peanut butter and chocolate fro yo topped with Reeses, dark chocolate chips and Nutella. Pure heaven.

Marvelous is… One more week until spring break! In less than a week I’ll be home and in 1.5 weeks I’ll be at the BEACH. So pumped.

Marvelous is… A super sweaty spin class! My knee/calf (I still can’t figure out which body part this issue is with, it feels like it’s right where my calf muscle hits the back of my knee, so I’m not sure it the issue is behind my knee or in my calf) is feeling better, but it still doesn’t feel quite right so I’m being good and spinning instead of running. This is a huge accomplishment for this lady, I’m stubborn and always try to ignore injuries but I’m listening to my body for once. Plus I want to get better so I can get in a good, long run over spring break and go running on the beach!

And finally

Marvelous is…

I’m getting certified!!! I decided to go with Balanced Body University and this weekend I’ll be doing the Mat 1 Certification! I’m so excited! My bank account is not excited about it, but I’m looking at it as an investment 🙂

What made your Monday Marvelous?

Do you have any St. Patty’s Day plans?

What’s your favorite style of cuisine? Thai is definitely pretty high up on the list for me!

4 Comments

by greensandcoffeebeans on March 4, 2013 • Permalink

Posted in College LIfe, Fitness, Food, Pilates

Tagged beer, coffee, cupcakes, cycling, fro yo, gluten-free, juice, kale, marvelous in my monday, mimm, pilates, thai food

Posted by greensandcoffeebeans on March 4, 2013

https://greensandcoffeebeans.wordpress.com/2013/03/04/space-cadet-mimm/

Giveaway Winner!

The winner of my first ever giveaway is…

Jessie!

Jessie, shoot me an e-mail at greensandcoffeebeans@yahoo.com and we’ll figure out your prize!

1 Comment

by greensandcoffeebeans on March 3, 2013 • Permalink

Posted in Uncategorized

Tagged giveaway, winner

Posted by greensandcoffeebeans on March 3, 2013

https://greensandcoffeebeans.wordpress.com/2013/03/03/giveaway-winner/

Hi! I'm Lea, a 21 year old, health freak, vegetarian, art-loving, college student. Welcome to my blog!
Looking for something?

Search for:
Follow Blog via Email

Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Email Address:
- RSS - Posts
- RSS - Comments
Archives