Severely Content

Don't know about you... but I eat a lot of oatmeal. Mostly it comes down to the fact that it just works. Quick to put together, tastes yummy and keeps me satisfied for a long time. I have fallen into the habit of microwaving my oats but I think I've figured out how to fix the bowl just so, and thus they don't seem less fluffy than stove top...

Anyways.
I put in part time hours at a popular gym in my town. Not a bad situation as I get a few extra bucks and don't have to pay for a gym membership (and this is a really nice $50/mon health club with the works). Sometimes I curse myself for agreeing to opening the damn place at 7 am on a Saturday morning though. Waking up at 6:30...ish..., throwing on semi-slummy workout gear and not brushing my hair... obviously looking presentable is not my priority. But having 10 minutes to fix my future breakfast and lunchy-like meal is.

I don't know how. But today's oatmeal mixture was the most face-rocking in a while.
Hence this post. Mostly just to remind myself how exactly I did it.

1/3 cup instant oats
1/3 cup skim milk
2/3 cup water
1 banana
1/4 cup peanut flour
dash of salt
couple dashes cinnamon
Tbsp. wheat germ

This mixture sat in the gym fridge for about an hour before I nuked it for 2 minutes.
Stirred in just a glug of vanilla muscle milk (it was there, couldn't resist for some reason) and topped with half a packet of Justin's almond butter.

Doesn't scream particularly fancy compared to other days except for maybe the last two steps? Or maybe I finally figured out the right proportion of peanut flour to oats to liquids...
Whatever it was, my stomach is happy and I'm almost not bummed I'm sitting at the gym watching people elliptical and not sleeping in or rocking a mild hangover.
Oh right, that was part of my logic for taking this shift.

oh my effing gosh

I just wrote about how much I want to try making my own pizza dough, and thus make crazy pizzas.

Enter instant inspiration. I had to pick my jaw up off the floor.

Project Foodblog Pizzarama!!!!


I don't even know where to start!!!!

PIZZA ICE CREAM?!

Thanksgiving Pizza... holy moly

Brie, Bacon, Balsamic Fig...

WTF.
Vacation that I leave on tomorrow, I do love the thought of you and I can't wait to have the chance to finish packing and jettison to the tropics... but I can't wait to get home, carb it up and basically make a new kind of pizza every night.
I will.
It'll be a goal.


Okay. At least one new kind of pizza a week.
You heard it here first!


PS. WHAT what I thinking when I bought a 5 lb. bag of mixed greens ($3.99!!) at the grocery store on Saturday! I'm going to turn green after consuming salad for breakfast, lunch and dinner and perhaps will become greek as I've eaten 32 OUNCES of greek yogurt in 2 days (in between the salads). Oh so fortunate that I'm no lactard. And don't worry, these were crazy awesome doctored-up salads topped with crazy leftovers and alternating with poached eggs. Nom.

Novembrrrrr

I've been keeping a mental list of dishes I want to tackle... things I say to myself I will attempt after I get back from vacation.
Saying to myself "after st.john" is equal parts having something to look forward to after some tropical bliss, and also because I won't be as concerned with what I'm eating as I've been in "bikini mode".

By the way, "bikini mode" is very hard to get into as we transition to sweater weather and I pull my beloved corduroys out. My bedroom is also going CRAZY as I haven't been able to rotate my warm and cold weather wardrobes. I'm looking at November as a month for much needed organization. And apparently, lots of cooking. And what I hope will be a new full time job.
November = Domestication?

And recommitting to this... well blog or whatever you would like to call it. If you would even CALL THAT recommitting.

So because I know the tropical brainwash will cause me to seek out more Caribbean fare post-vacation, I going to use this space as a reminder of new england and fall and everything I want to do before I come home obsessed with rum.

Cooking and Baking Goals

*Pizza dough
*Gnocchi
*French Onion Soup (lofty goals I tell ya)
*Nut Butter, ie dust off my twice used food processor
*Roasting a chicken
*Developing a boozy frosting that is still fluffy. Science may be against me.
*Shortbread (looofffftyyyyy)
*christmas flavored cupcakes for gifting (omg)


Obviously, I'm beyond stoked to be going to St. John in like 2 days, but I'm also a a tad bummed about missing another gorgeous fall weekend in New Englad. It has been spot on heeyaaa! Conflicting, no? Easy to get over though. I'm going to an island. That is pretty sweet. Maybe this will provide inspiration for an outstanding and unique pairing of something caribbean with something squashy.
Not convinced yet.

You know you read too many "healthy living blogs" when...

When you curse life (or your blender) after a Green Monster fail. Weigh your options... buy new running shoes like planned this weekend, or a Vitamix?
Don't want to waste beloved kale leaves, delicious vanilla protein powder or fresh strawberries so attempt the SIAB.
Choke down said SIAB all the while trying not to think about how much it looks like Spinach Dip or Tzatziki.
EPIC fail.

Picture was too gross, you'd shake your head at me for spooning/sipping/choking it down.

In other news, I need to find a boozey cupcake alternative. Still thinking along the lines of Yummy Treat and Liquor. The people get too full on cupcakes trying to achieve some buzz - and I knowwww I need to cut back on cupcake baking, mama samples way too much.

Ideas? I like jello... but it's not the most transportable.
Shots? Yeah... should probably just stick to shots.

In other OTHER news, I've been obsessed with poached eggs. On top of everything. Last weekend, I went to Bobby Flay's Bar Americain (swwwoooon, love this place) and had a salad with a poached egg on top of half a head of bibb lettuce. Haven't had an egg since, can't be topped.
Need new obsession... oh right, we covered this.
Shots.

Somebody's back in the kitchen!

They're gonna be Legen.... wait for it.... dary!

Oh me my... margarita cupcakes rock my world!!

Friday's batch were made from MANGO margarita mix, topped with the same "house margarita" icing I used on the strawberry ones. Sigh, just sooo good.

As a strong supporter of balance, I sipped on this baby to keep my fingers out of the icing bowl too too much ; )
Kidz Superfood! Momma like!

Friday night the boy and I had concert plans to see Taking Back Sunday. HE's the fan, not me so he wanted to get there early so there wasn't much time for eating... just beer. Look what I found at the store

Kona Brewing Co. is actually in association with Red Hook Brewery whiiiiich is located in Portsmouth and thus, this awesome Hawaiian beer is actually brewed 2 miles away from me! I more prefer the Longboard Lager but this was pretty tasty!
I also snacked on this and some cheese and crackers.
So fresh and so green, green!


Saturday, I finally made my way to the Portsmouth Farmer's Market for my first time. It's only a 10 minute walk from my house... I totally forgot about this when I bought a ton of produce at Hannaford on Thursday so I didn't buy anything, but ohhh it looked gooooood.


There were several stands selling fresh meats too - chicken, pork, beef, lamb. Very excited to try some organic, local meat sometime!

Some views around my little city : )


One of these days, I'm going to bring my camera along on my harbor run, talk about GORGEOUS and motivating!

Sunday, I headed to my old college town to help my sister out (aww, she followed in my foot steps) and so this was my Sunday night

No worry that it was pouring and didn't feel anything like summer, but gosh was it ever delicious!
To balance it out, this was the quickie brunch I put together at the grocery store

Plusssss a small handful of my sister's Reese's PB Puffs. They definitely added something special to my yogurt! I never did get around to the clif bar though.

I was about to throw together some big, quickie salad for dinner when I saw zuchinni and chicken that needed tending to... it had been awhile since I'd made some "Zughetti" soooooooooooo




I don't have a mandolin, I just diligently sliced a medium zuke into thin strands. Sauteed them in EVOO with lots of chopped garlic and red pepper flakes. Tossed them with spinach, tomato and baked chicken breast.
Paired with two glasses of this guy...

My tum was mighty content!
I was very comfy eating this while watching How I Met Your Mother - gotta love Lifetime on Demand. My "Dear Santa" flannel PJ bottoms might have helped too... it's raining and like 50 degrees in JUNE but they still seemed wildly appropriate


While cleaning up the kitchen, I saw that my roommate had bought some of these!


Whoaaaaa, throwback! I helped myself to two, oh my, I felt like I was 10 again!


A CRUISE brochure came in the mail yesterday, so I'm going to peruse that before bed and hopefully have some sunny, tropical dreams... while rain pitter patters outside my window ; )

Keepin' my glass half full

So I was on the verge of getting very bummed out last night. I couldn't make it home in time to register for the Healthy Living Blog Summit in August and it was already sold out by the time I tried at 8:45. Yeahhhh, bummer!

FORTUNATELY, as I decided to walk away from the computer and take a moment, I discovered I received a package. Holllaaaaa, my Amazing Grass arrived.

I had taken advantage of the sweet deal on Jenna's blog and ordered some goodies for myself. I didn't try any last night, but just the thought gave me the extra oomph to hit the gym (weird?).

Actually I was still on a high from my first beach volleyball game! I somehow wound up as one of the captains (hence why I couldn't skip and be home at 8 PM!) and my team is kind of a hodge podge of people plus like 3 I do know. Ahhh sooo fun!!! ESPecially since the freakin SUN decided to come out for once. First sunny afternoon in 2 weeks and we were having fun on the beach - and in Newcastle no less (Portsmouth's shoulder - a very wealthy, beautiful and quaint shoulder).
I also came home to the news about Michael Jackson. "Rock with You" is definitely one of my favorite songs of all time and I have spent other amazing times listening to his music and I know that one of my other favorite artists, Justin Timberlake would not be who he is without the influence of MJ either (among many others!).

I headed down to the gym and ellipticaled while watching the MTV coverage and countless MJ music videos... soooooo good.

Fast forward to this morning when I could finally break out some Amazing Grass!
I wasn't really sure what I wanted so I just threw some things in my blender and hoped it would come out okay.

This ended up being a scoop of Chocolate Amazing Meal, a banana, a handful of kale leaves, peeled fresh ginger, a dash of milk, water and some ice cubes.
UM YUM!
I wanted to keep it a little on the light side as today is FRIDAY which means I need to get to baking some MARGARITA cupcakes STAT (I am a crazy batter sampler, ugh), a concert tonight = beer/drinks and then BEACH tomorrow if it doesn't rain.

OH and how crazy is this?

I know, right!
One of my first stops after moving here was Bed, Bath & Beyond of course and it happened to be a brand new store. WELL this location has a fully stocked beauty aisle and when I say fully stocked, I mean FULLY stocked. ANY kind of shampoo, style aid, lotion, make up is there. Anything I have ever thought to be "hard to find" is there. Plus nobody knows about it so some recently discontinued items are still there... I had a friend come visit who was complaining about not being able to find a certain concealer, face cream and hair glaze... so we went to BB&B and they had everything she was looking for PLUS cheaper. You don't even know how much I love this store. The other day I was checking out the goods when I saw they were selling LARABARS for 68 freakin cents!!! Whaaaaatttttttttt. Definitely will be my go-to store for bars now (they have WCMN clif too, drool)

It's looking pretty delightful outside right now so I'm gonna do the cupcake hustle and then get the heck outside before thunderstorms roll in.
PEACE

The year ALL my friends get married

In an attempt to get better about posting, I've decided to write about one of my projects today!

Right now, it's still in the hobby/special events phase.... but I see it getting bigger (and maybe at some point profitable!).

I enjoy baking and I've always loved baking special treats for my family, friends, coworkers, etc on their birthdays or other fun events.
Um, I also like alcohol.
So as 2009 finally rolled around and I was filling my weekends with bachelorette parties, I was trying to think of what I could contribute that would be different, fun and of course, delicious!

My first attempt was in March, where I decided to make the Irish Carbomb Cupcakes I saw on Smitten Kitchen. I almost followed this recipe exactly - except I used 2x the whiskey and baileys in both the ganache and frosting. I just kept on adding until I could actually taste the liquor - I'm sorry, but 2 Tbl is 2 little for me!

I decorated half the batch for my friend Tricia's bachelorette party and the second half I brought out to the bars for St. Patrick's Day (I was that girl that brought tupperware to the pub!). These were delicious and suuuuch a hit! My friends that got married are both proud of their Irish roots and actually honeymooned in Dublin so this flavor really was fitting for them (not just the holiday right around the corner!)




Oh right, I also made the bachelorette ones "minis" so they were more like cupcake shots!





Thennn when I was planning my best friend's bachelorette party as her MOH, I wanted to make sure I blew her away with some awesome boozy cupcakes. Knowing that she loves fruity drinks (but not coconut!) and white wine... I made two flavors.
Blue Hawaiian and White Wine Sangria cupcakes!



I made both of these recipes up and kind of just played around while in the midst of everything, so I'm still working on writing up the final recipe. But one of them was a riesling mango cupcake, with a riesling-soaked peach filling and peach schnapps frosting.

The Blue Hawaiians were a pineapple dark rum cupcake with a pineapple rum curd filling and blue curacao frosting! These were a little too sweet for me - def could not have more than 1. I also love the riesling cupcakes - just the cake part. They were really refreshing!

Just this past weekend, I had another blette (they don't stop!). My friend Candice is your typical hyper, crazy and over-caffeinated high school spanish teacher. She is NUTS. I know my Senorita Brown loves margaritas so that's what I went for. It also gave me an excuse to restock some tequila...


Mmmy Strawberry Margarita cupcakes. OHMYGOD. This frosting was TAHHH DIE FORRRR. I got V. tipsy sampling it ; )

I actually used a box mix as my cupcake base (strawberry cake mix + jose cuervo strawberry margarita mix + jose cuervo tequila... and some eggs, veggie oil, blah blah) and the frosting was your typical creamy mixture of butter and confectioner sugar plus LOTS of tequila, and for these babies also lime juice and lime zest. YUM. I played around with my roommate's samples with some salt on top which wasn't bad. But I kept it sweet for Candice's supply. But I think rock salt would be worth looking into.
I'm putting a batch together for one of my roomie's this weekend as she is heading to a Jimmy Buffett concert and we both agreed, these are absolutely necessary for tailgating Parrot-head style!!

If you live in the Northeast and want to order some deliciouso Boozy Cupcakes, let me know! I'm open to any style cocktail...

After all this sugar consumption, I've got some veggies to tend to now...

Head, Shoulders, KNEES and Toes

Oh my goodness it's finally Friday! My weekend is packed to the gills and I still feel like there is a lot I need to do to prepare for it!

So yesterday was one of my best runs ever. I had very minimal aching in my knees! Usually I notice a little pain during the first mile or so which eventually tapers off and comes back whenever I'm going slightly down hill. My legs were a little heavy yesterday but were weightless about 3 miles in. AND I can walk today!

I've never been a long distance runner but I've always wanted to be one. Terrible idea as both my parents have terrible knees as well. But I've always loved the little bit of running I would do. Anytime I didn't have access to a gym, I knew I could strap on some sneakers and run around the neighborhood.

Over the past year, I've been more committed to working out on a regular basis and as the weather turned cold and snowy I had to bring the running part of my workout inside. These killed my knees, I would be in so much pain before, during and after the treadmill. Though for some reason I felt the elliptical was the wussy way out. I had discovered a love for speedy intervals which kept my attention better.

I've been a regular follower of Caitlin for about 6 months now, and after some questions and reading through her own knee problems I tweaked my own running habits. Some things I've learned:
*Glucosamine Chondroitin - I've been taking this pretty steadily for several months now. Caitlin explained that it does take a little while before you notice its affects on your system. So I just kept on taking them and I finally got to the point where they do make me feel good. I just buy the Target brand.
*Knee Sleeves - I also read up on these through Caitlin's blog. When I went in for new shoes I asked about these and decided to try them out. I guess I assumed they'd be sold in pairs so I bought one package. So now I have one knee sleeve. I've been wearing it on my left knee and has totally helped the aching I would feel while running. I will eventually buy one for my right one soon as I'm adding more distance!
*Minutes over Miles - I used to run to achieve a certain mileage. I would be on the treadmill and say "okay, let's do 3 today!" But the treadmill gets so boring and blah blah, I'd crank up the speed so I could get through 3 or however many miles I put myself to through. Too many times I was hauling it (my next point) but not helping my body train through endurance. After my own running hiatus when I finally got back on the treadmill, I would say okay just run for 20 minutes, 30 minutes. I can appreciate a mile more, but I can appreciate my body for being able to run for 60 minutes more so... also to go with this...
*Slow the eff down! Between my race to a certain mileage and what become an abusive relationship with speed intervals, I was pushing my body to crazy speedwork. Intervals DO help combat boredom on the treadmill but my knees couldn't keep up to the levels I was pushing it through. Sprinting intervals at 8.7 on a treadmill HURT. Running a 6 min mile on a treadmill HURTS. As my legs get stronger, these workouts will get better but only on occasion. Not to be an everyday thing - ugh. So as boring as it was I brought the treadmill speed down to 6.5, sometimes throw some 6.2 or 6.8 in there. I started pacing myself on outdoor runs. Your legs really do acclimate to running certain speeds and it took a little bit to get my natural running motion to slow down. But now when I'm outside I'm at a steady 9:13 pace which is what the 6.5 works out to be usually.
I like to map my runs out with mapmyrun.com and remember where the mile markers are and check my watch as I go through them. I also love mapmyrun for when I'm back home and it also helps determine how many calories burned and also with pace. I never take calories literally, I usually round the number down. If I burned more than I'm estimating then bonus, but I'm not getting my expectations up (same with on machines, I like having the numbers there but I usually round down or lop off 50-100 in my head).
*Ice and stretch! I try to stretch for 15-20 minutes after a workout and then I throw on the ice packs - one for each knee plus a little bootie for my ankle (Achilles problems... something else that hindered my running for a month). 20 min on, 20 min off.
*Low Impact workouts - I realized the elliptical isn't wussy. I can't push myself to run 4-5 days a week. But I want to workout 4-5 days a week to reach my goals. I'm a big fan of the stairmaster but when my knees are tender that's out of the question. So a day or two I will use the elliptical and I am starting to like it. No pain and I can make it either a really good glute work out or just zone for an hour watching a Gilmore Girls repeat (new gym with personal tv stations at each machine... aaawesome!)
*Aleve - I pop one or two of these like 30-60 min before a run and then take one more before I'm about to head out. This helps in the pain I would get during runs. I have gone down from 3 to 2 as my legs get stronger. I just always have it on hand anyways as my go-to pain reliever. It's nice when you're hungover and you don't need to scramble around for something - I have 4 bottles floating around somewhere!

So now I just work on building my distance at a slower rate and only run 2 (maybe 3) days a week and work other things in the rest of the week. I'm excited because I want to partake in more races and eventually work myself up to a half marathon. A full marathon might be a little much but we'll see down the line!

Yes!

I figured out how to work the Comments!

And here I thought I was pretty tech-savvy... oh well.

I just mapped out a 5 miler - only a couple runs left at this address. I will miss this neighborhood. But I'm moving to the coast so I probably won't miss it for very long ; )

okay okay okay!

So I had a steady run, a longer hiatus and now I'm back!

Actually I've literally been working my ass off. I set a goal 3 weeks ago to lose 5 lbs by the end of the month and I am there - just in time for my dress fitting on Sunday for my friend's wedding. I still plan on losing some more, but mostly by toning up (Helloooo, strapless dress!)
So my eating habits were pretty routine and on the boring side. Think yogurt/shredded wheat/berry mixtures for breakfast, Turkey/Hummus wraps for lunch and crazy salads for dinner! Holler.

But I want to keep this up and really do want to be more involved with this blogging community. Especially after the mention of the summit! I'd love to be able to attend and already "know" everybody besides the few who I've met and understand that I'm a LURKER hahaha and not a regular commenter or blogger.

Posting will still be haphazard as I'm in the process of moving and my apt I'm leaving does not have a working oven (hence the move and wrap/salad meals!) If I had planned better I could have attempted the Raw diet without missing hot food since it's not an option anyways... haha.

Anyways, I'm excited. I love keeping up with all you bloggin' ladies. Now if only I could figure out how to work this damn thing!

- Ryane

Mmmm Some Favorites

The rest of my Tuesday ended up a bit differently than I had planned!

I got caught up in a project and then realized it had been 3 hours and I was hungry! So I put off the gym trip a little longer and had a mini lunch. I loooove turkey meat, especially sandwich style! There was nothing to this but some turkey on a light whole wheat english muffin, but it was toasted and delish. Plus an orange, and you can never go wrong with those!



After some quality time with an elliptical and stairmaster at the gym, I stopped by whole foods for a couple items aaaand some hot bar. I went to a location that I don't go to very often, but have had amazing hot bar experiences at. Yesterday's was a little disappointing. There were a crazy amount of roasted veggie medleys, but only one tofu option and nothing indian. I was a little bummed. I have fallen in love with this soba noodle dish that's been very present lately, so not a complete loss - also the fun groceries I got!

I kept my portions pretty small still with this as I thought the evening's plan was my usual Tuesday night activity: trivia night with friends. I usually have a beer or two and they have these amazing sweet potato fries with a curry dipping sauce. Oooh yes. So I wanted to save room!


Whole lotta random things happened and plans changed. I had put together an awesome cookie dough to sit over night. My intention for these cookies is for this bakery position I'm longing for... no details yet, still very in the works!
But, helloooo Mr. Oven! He would not light and I needed these babies baked! I grabbed all my materials and headed to my friend Serene's house. She surprised me with a lovely wine, cheese and cracker spread. She's so cute.







We joked we were getting our antioxidant dance on with the red wine and 60% percent cacao dark chocolate chips. Those huge mounds of cookie dough became large, thin and chewy pieces of heaven. Oh snap!
And obviously I am still having trouble with formatting. I tried to get ahead of myself and now don't feel like going back and fixing it.
Too bad I can't figure out comments either!
Ahhh.
Oh well, yesterday resulted in very yummy food plus quality girl time! We watch The House Bunny later on... silly, definitely but it had some really funny moments - esp with a wine buzz going on!

Excellent start to the week

So Monday wasn't the greatest of days... in typical Monday fashion right!
First I woke up and had a banana with some Naturally More PB (so nutty, I'm in love!). I turned on my computer to read some blogs while I drank water and digested for a bit before my run. Of course the internet is down, and not just in a "reset the connection" way. It was flashing the "forbidden" message it does when my roommate is late on paying the cable. I thought she ran out of here really fast in the morning... ugh. We're moving in May, separately. Nice girl but maaajorly flighty! She lived here first so everything's in her name and I just pay her half of what anything is, so I'm pissed because I paid her for everything and she has yet to turn around and do the same.
So much for trying to become a regular blogger!

I played with my itunes and made a new running playlist - and then it began to pour. It was already gray out but this was in intense. I was already planning on going to the gym later on in the evening to meet a friend for some strength training and wasn't going to head there twice in one day (I recently joined Planet Fitness, which I love but is about 20 minutes away from me. However, when I move, there will be one only 5 minutes away!)
I pulled out my yoga mat and did some poses/stretching/abs/push ups with a Friends DVD on (no cable = no Ellen!).

Showered and prepped myself for a day at the doctors. Nothing crazy but I ended up being there forever!
I had this yummy, toasty wrap before I left.

I make these pretty much everyday. Today was the first time I tried throwing it on the panini grill - great for melting the cheese but didn't love the wilty spinach effect... or next time I'll make sure to add more spinach.

Multi grain flat out with garlic lovers hummus, turkey, mexican cheddar, spinach and carrot shreds.

Aaaand my glucosamine chondroitin tabs - bad knees, baby!


I had planned on rewarding myself with Whole Foods hotbar after my hours at the Doctor's office but by then it was 5, still pouring and getting grayer and I was south of boston at rush hour and I live north of boston. I started getting emotional as well when I found out how much all my tests/prescriptions were going to end up costing.

Starving when I got home, I threw some sweet potato fries (McCains - not great for you, but not terrible either), asparagus and chicken in the oven. While those cooked I poured myself some shiraz!

I was starrrrving like I said and what I thought was enough asparagus to have leftovers for lunch too all wound up on my plate. The emotional eater in me loved the SP fries.

I threw half that chicken breast on an english muffin with some avocado and shredded mozz. Ohhh it was tasty.

I decided I wasn't in the mood to go to the gym and my friend suggested coming over for a movie instead. At his house, his parents offered me some cheesecake which I could not deny. Oh, it was heavenly with a raspberry layer. You'd lick the screen if I had a picture of it!

Woke up this morning and the internet was back on.
I was crazy indecisive when it came to breakfast and finally just nuked a 1/4 cup of oats with some milk and strawberries. I added some plain yogurt, more strawberries, coconut and PB once it was cooked.
Plus some cranberry pomegranate green tea!

I'm off to the gym soon and then I most likely see a hummus wrap in my future. Obsessed!

Just realized it's TUESDAY. I like tuesdays because that's when all the new music comes out. I love playing on iTunes sampling (and buying) fun songs.

Longest Hiatus Everrr???

I once posted on this blog for a steady... week or so back in September.
That was fun.

Times since then have gotten funner - in fact this blog could've been crazy interesting!
I've been meaning to start up again and putting it off but I've got real motivation now - more than before.

My best friend is getting married in 2 months! I'm the MOH and our dress fitting is in 3 weeks!
I am content with my body for the most part, but I do want to tone up a little bit and just be comfortable... not to mention I'm moving to the beach in a month! I know - awesome right?

I have TONS of pictures of food saved now as I procrastinated getting back to this blog. I'm not completely thrilled with the camera I have right now, so bear with me for a little bit until I replace it!


***HELP!***
When I look at my posts, I don't see any places where one could click to leave a comment. Is it just me? Or is there something special I need to turn on? I already have Reader Comments, Allow checked...? Any help is appreciated - email me at getrealryane@gmail.com

Regular posting commences TOMORROW!

I included some photos I've taken... apparently I'm really good at remembering the breakfast photos and so-so with lunch, spotty with snacks and rarely do dinner shots... It'll be a fun challenge for sure!

KETCHUP

Oh heyyyy, I'm back!

I am willing to accept anybody to email me - you know, give me a nudge, whatever, reminding me to post.

Ryane.Murray@gmail.com

Haha. I've taken a couple photos but it's been spotty.

I decided a month ago I really wanted to do something special for my mom for Christmas as she's getting a hysterectomy 2.5 weeks before hand, and also because she is my amazing mother ; ) Anyways. I got us (and my sister) very good tickets to see Billy Elliott - The Musical the day before Christmas (I don't plan on giving my mother this link.... is that weird?).

Soooo funds were low for a bit, so meals were quite creative... maybe I should've taken pictures! Haha, I think I ate a lot of lean pockets and cereal... Oops.

Anyways. I was going through my fall clothes the other day and I wasn't exactly appreciating the way things were fitting. So that was a wake up call that I really do need to reign in my eating/work out habits.

So the pictures I do have...

One of my good friends growing up recently moved back to NH this month. She came to hang out last Tuesday and we went downtown for dinner.

Bread of course with a yummy herb butter. My drink was what they described as a margarita meets mojito. It was yummy!
For my meal, I ordered the grilled chicken sandwich with sweet potato fries. Mmm, I had wanted this chicken ravioli in pesto sauce dish, but Kristen ordered it and I didn't want to do a repeat... hate that.

Last wednesday was a little company party. I'm on the events committee, so it's my duty to plan these events and participate... I'm reeeally good at that part. Oops ; )

My work bff got us this to split as a birthday present to me. This night... let's just say that margarita kicked off the theme of the evening. But we wound up at a karaoke place and that's all that matters.

Saturday I went apple picking! Yummy!!!! I'm going to bake apple crisp tomorrow, I went through a couple recipes on cookinglight.com, I'm excited!

Decided to hit up Trader Joe's for some groceries... I'm excited to try the Multi-Grain hot cereal stuff - a mix of barley, wheat, oats...and rye I think? I tend to mix oats in oatmeal and let it sit overnight or for a few hours... this says "hot cereal" will it still work the same way?

OH by the way. I had run out of rolled oats last week. So for my fave yogurt parfait-things, I was using steel cut oats. Soaking in the yogurt for several hours makes them SUPER chewy, it was a very fun revelation! Decided to try Peanut Butter Puffins. I'm in love! I am also in love with Peanut Butter Cookie Larabars! Oh man. The dates add just the right touch of sweetness... and even just half of one is such a nice, filling treat. Now I just need to try the coconut ones!

Oh gosh. I have more, but was just reminded that Heroes is new tonight. I forgot tv shows could be new... I don't think I've watched much at all in like 6 months. Good thing my friend has DVR!