I have been failing miserably as a blogger who posts on a consistent basis! With all this moving stuff, doctors appointments and birthday’s (4 of my bestest  friends’ bdays + mine are ALL in one week! ahh), I haven’t had a chance to breathe!

A proper post is to come in the next few days after our move-in on Saturday SO EXCITED! I’ve definitely been reading & catching up on all your lovely lives! Hope you all have amazing weekends!!

 

xoxoxo <3

I’m a doofus because …

I had put a bunch of links to fun giveaways in a draft on friday & then completely forgot to use it for my post Sunday night! So here they are…

dun…dun…dun…

A Few FABOOSH giveaways to check out from a few of my favorite bloggers:

Jenny from PB and Jenny is giving away some great FiberOne muffins!

Lo from HoneyNutLo has quite possibly THE most fun/creative giveaway here!

Amanda from Another Prior Fat Girl is having a SHAPE giveaway!

xoxo, gossip girl

Happy Sunday Funday!

I am seriously obssessed with these oats. So filling & delicious. One bowl keeps me full for 4 hours!

Meet: Cinnamon Raisin Swirl Oats

drizzle honey + a pinch a couple pinches brown sugar + handful of raisins + dash of cinnamon = a party in your mouf.

Seriously amazin’ w/ a glass of good ol’ skim milk!

Our kitchen is dark & the wallpaper (yes, i said wallpaper) transports you back to the 70s. I’m used to it because it’s all I’ve ever known..

buuut, I’ll be happy to move into the nice, new apartment w/ an updated kitchen

B, being the sweetheart that he is, sent me flowers at work on our Anniversary Day. So gorgeous! And such a sweet thought since he knew we would not be seeing each other that night.

j’adore flowers.

I hadn’t brought a lunch to work and was a little worried about what I would grab to eat.

Luckily, Karen, had made lasagna the night before and brought in a TON for the both of us!

So deliciously cheesey. Definitely an indulgence, but oh-so-worth-it!

As part of B’s anniversary present from me, I bought a half dozen of Georgetown Cupcake Cupcakes. These cupcakes are so delish and popular, there’s ALWAYS a line out the door and around the corner for them. Luckily, I had pre-ordered my batch for the boy and could walk right in. They have 3 seasonal cupcakes every month and I was so excited about this month’s flavors.

Pumpkin Spice, Halloween, and Orange Chocolate.

I was so curious about the Pumpkin Spice, I might have bought a couple extra to try out with Karen…

I think they’re packaging is adorbs

Hellllloooo beautiful! I mean really, how could one resist this beauty??

close-up action of that delicious mapley-sweet icing.

SO amazing. Pumpkin flavored cake + maple-y delicious icing. The cake is super moist flavorful.

I might be in love.

When I finally got to B’s place, we did our gift exchange and voila! He knew I was worried about moving into the new place and not having a crockpot to cook my oats in, so he bought me one as part of my anniversary gift! He’s such a keeper! He certainly knows the way to my heart! (He also knows, that he will reap the benefits of my cooking )

Not only is this baby an amazing crock pot, but it’s a DOUBLE! I can use one side for my oats in the morning while the other side cooks all day long for dinner!

Such a fabulous gift! I love it!

After exchanging the rest of our gifts, it was time to dig in to those cupcakes! They were amazing and he loved them! I think I’ll pat myself on the back for that one.

Hope you all have been having a great weekend and continue to have a fabulous Sunday!

xoxoxo

<3

Good evening lovelies!

I have an amazing announcement.

I am in love with steel cut oats.

Yes, I am. I am not going to lie, I have never been a fan of oatmeal so I had my reservations about oats. Yet, when my mom brought home this guy…

I had to try it. Especially when she explained a fabulously easy way to cook them!

Goodgollymissmolly, I cannot believe I have been missing out on oats this whole time! They were seriously AH-MAZING. I now understand why all of you love them so much!!

Not only are they fantastically creamy, but they’re so simply delicious with just a pinch of brown sugar & a drizzle of honey. (Soon, I will get more adventurous with my oats creations)

My mom let me in on her secret to easy-peasy “stovetop” oats, without the stovetop.

My mom puts the oats in a crockpot every night & by morning there are magically delicious oats waiting for me!

For time-saving, creamy, absolutely amazing (okay, i’ll stop) oats:

1. Add oats & water to a bowl that is microwaveale (this is 1/2 cup dry oats, 2 cups water)

2. Put the bowl in the middle of the crockpot, and add water around the outside to create a “double boiler” effect.

3. Turn crockpot on LOW 8 hours before you need to eat your oats.

4. Sleep peacefully knowing that your breakfast will be ready and waiting for you, without ANY time in front of the stove.

The amount of water around the bowl should match the water line IN the bowl.

Creamy oats at 7:30 am! WITH NO STOVE PREP

A dash of brown sugar & drizzle of honey and I was in some serious foodie heaven.

I’m thinking I need to branch out & add other delicious mix-ins to my oats.

What do you recommend?

Lunch was a typical spread from the hot bar at the Canal Cafe near work.

Salad, some rice, a little chicken pasta salad & some fruit.

I’m pretty excited because tomorrow is the boyf’s and I’s one year anniversary!

Unfortunately, he has a volleyball tournament, so we won’t be celebrating tomorrow but, we have a fun day in downtown DC planned for Saturday.

I did however, decide to use him as my guinea pig to try out Caitlin’s Egg in a Basket (that Meghan was raving about!) considering it was my first time attempting it.

Toasted some multi-grain bread, popped a whole out the middle, cracked an egg in the center & crossed my fingers.

I added some shredded mozzarella to melt, for a little more flavor.

The verdict? This is really good. My egg didnt stay intact but, I think that actually made it taste even better.

In fact, boyf liked it so much, he asked if I would make him another one.

Boys and their appetites.

As for now, we’re just relaxin, watchin a little Property Virgins (seriously, NEW obssession!!) and being lazy for the time being

Hope you are all having a good night & seriously, if you’re an oats lover & have a crockpot, TRY that method!

<3<3<3<3

This afternoon’s lunch felt like it should have been paired with a little of this…

But alas, it is not Thanksgiving quite yet..

However, my lunch might have made you think otherwise..

Some turkey + stuffing & gravy. Deeeelishous-ly home-made. My dad’s friend came over last night and made a huge bomb @$$ turkey and some homemade stuffing with veggies.

While the boy and I had already eaten dinner (at BGR, a burger place in Bethesda, with the most amazing sweet potato fries – the entire reason I wanted to go!), I quickly packed up a to-go amount of the Thanksgiving spread to bring for lunch today.

Along with some carrots + grapes

I was surprised at how amazing the grapes were. I forgot how much I love grapes.

Work was the usual for a Monday but, around 4, I ate the other half of a Cliff Bar I had started on during breakfast.

Cool Mint Chocolate.

I. love. mint. + chocolate. and this bar, certainly did not dissapoint. It has a delish mint “frosting” over chocolatey goodness.

Not only did it work well as my pre-workout fuel, but also satisfied my sweet tooth quite well.

This is actually only the second Cliff Bar I have tried. I usually find them to be too high in sugar for my tasted but this was good!

What’s your favorite Cliff flavor?

30 minutes on the Arc Trainer + 15 minutes of weights = one sweaty and hungry woman!

Dinner was more of the same but, in a different variation.

I heated up some of the turkey and stuffing while toasting some 12 grain bread. I mixed the turkey, stuffing and gravy together and it made for a fabulous filling for my toasty bread.

Seriously delish, the perfect pre-cursor to Thanksgiving!

Have any of you ever celebrated a Holiday before it really happened?

Unfortunately, I may have scarfed  down the sammie before I could get a picture.

As for now, I’m watching some trash TV (anyone else thing Gossip Girl is just getting a little bit too ridiculous?

Hope you all are having a great start to your weeks!

<3<3<3

Good evening lovelies!

First of all, I would like to apologize for the Blackberry pictures, my camera battery is dead & I haven’t been able to find the charger.

Also, I would like to announce that I got the Foodbuzz email that I’m now a Featured Publisher! Sweet! Just getting all the loose ends put together now

On Saturday, the boy & I went to a local farm, Butler’s Orchard, to pick some good punkin’s for carvin’! After some quick searching (and some good use of those biceps!) we both had two glorious looking gems! Both of our punkin’s each weighed in at 23 lbs a piece!

Butler’s is an extremely cute place with a market at the bottom of the hill full of seasonal fruits (aka the most delicious honeycrisp apples!), homemade goodies (the boy and i might have shared a pumpkin cream cheese brownie) and fun season knick-knacks (things I don’t need but can’t help but buy anyways!). I picked up a “pumpkin caving kit,” and while suggesting to the boy that he grab one as hell, I recieved the response of, “Why? I have knives at home.” Boys. So stubborn.

When we got back to his place, we gutted the pumpkins and put the insides in a bag. (and the boy STOLE my pumpkin shovel from my kit!) I knew he would. And he kept saying, “Wow, I’m so glad I suggested you get this kit,” and ” I have such great ideas with telling you to purchase this kit!” He thinks he’s funny

He picked through the guts, for the seeds, so that we could roast them with some salt (deeeelish if you have never had roasted pumpkins seeds!) Such a good and healthy snack! They’re a surprisingly good source of protein and iron!

Once the kins’ were gutted, scraped, and picked “clean,” it was time to pick our templated and begin carving!

Whooooosh! Whoever said carving a pumpkin is hard work was RIGHT! Mine took about 45 minutes to carve alone and B’s took about an hour and half!

Have you ever carved an intricate pumpkin? Did you enjoy it? What did you carve?

For my pumpkin, I decided to carve a ghoul holding a trick-or-treat bag because the ghoul in the picture, heavily resembled our loved Boomer.

To give you an idea of how bog this pumpkin was..

Once Brendan finished his pumpkin, we put some tea lights in them and lit them up on the porch! They turned out great!

My “Boomer” inspired Gremlin..

Brendans AWESOME “Spooky Tree” & the top (which unfortunately you can’t see very well but, is actually the best part) says “Happy Halloween.”

Yesterday evening was cold, rainy and grey. What better dinner than a fabulous bowl of chicken soup! I wish I could say this is a fabulous homemade bowl of chicken soup with wild rice; but unfortunately, I was starting to feel like I was getting sick and resorted to a Cambell’s version so I could lounge on the couch covered in blankets…

Despite being canned, it defintely hit the spot. My mom had bought some multi-grain wheat thins which I sprinkled over the top! Gave it a nice crunch.

Paired with a side of crackers, glass full of Zeigler’s natural apple cider, and some DVD lovin’ Hocus Pocus, I would call this a very successful dinner for my tired self!

Hocus Pocus is by far my favorite Halloween movie! Do you have one?

It’s a running joke with my friend Megan that I creep her out when I say “uhhhhh, buh-bye,” in the same weird voice as Kathy Najimy in the end of the movie. With a cast of Sarah Jessica Parker, Bette Midler, and a young Thora Birch, you cannot go wrong! Seriously one of the greatest movies EVER.

Unfortunately, the forecast says is calling for cold temperatures & tons of rain for the next five days. I shall be hibernating with some good food, movies, and lots of blankets!

Hope you all have been having a good week! Tomorrow is friday!

<3<3<3<3

Take me back to California, please?

Phew! Y’all certainly had some eventful weeks! (I’m still reading through the 336 posts I came home to in GoogleReader) A belated Congratulations!!! to Leslie on her engagement!

*Warning: this post contains a ton of cuteness and a lack of food pictures* (sorry, but when you have two adorable models in front of you, it’s hard to concentrated on the food – you’ll understand )

Mom, Dad, and I arrived in Los Angeles on Friday morning and after checking into the hotel, we went to a fabulous new restaurant in Santa Monica called La Grande Orange. I got a classic Turkey sandwich on wheat but, my father got amazing chicken nachitos that I may have dug my hands into a couple of times.

I’m a sucker for melted cheese.

All right, time for some cuteness photos. I can’t keep them away much longer…

My cousin, Nicole and her youngest daughter, Presley (1)

She just turned 1, and she’s already walking.

Okay, so she’s still a bit wobbly. But, she can walk better than any 1 year old I know. Not to mention, she’s not even phased by falling on her booty.

The second day we were in Cali, was Presley’s 1st birthday party at a fun place called Giggles and Hugs. It’s basically a huge play area for kids, with a restaurant for the adults (beer too?). Presley and Tristan (4) has a blast in the play area. I may have as well. I’m also a sucker for kids & playtime.

durrr?

Princess Tristan decided to get her face painted. She’s getting a crown painted on her forehead. She looked so adorable.

Our hotel was in Santa Monica, on Main street, about 2 blocks from the beach (too bad it never got above 73 degrees). However, every Wednesday is a huuuge famer’s market with all kinds of goodies. Amazing omelettes, breakfast sammies, MASSIVE pancakes (my dad’s fave), and of course, great local produce.

Tristan and Presley nommed on some on corn on the cob…

Those eyes get me every. single. time.

Her cute little teeth (she has like 5) just munched away at the corn.

I enjoyed an omelette “the size of my head (and I have a big head!” – name that movie) with spinach, mozzarella, and tomatoes. It was delicious. Funny thing was, I was wearing a Maryland shirt and the guy who made my omelette, went to a high school 10 minutes from my house. Small world.

Presley is such a mama’s girl. She won’t let anyone hold her for longer than about 5 minutes before she’s looking around the room for Nicole, saying “mama” and reaching for her. She did, although, take a huge liking to my father. She would just walk up to him and climb on his lap.

Even got a smile outta her!

She wasn’t so keen on being in my arms though…

But, she eventually warmed up to me.

One day, we met Nicole’s Husband, Eli, at the Will Roger’s Estate/Museum. It’s a huge property located right off of Sunset Blvd & it’s insanely beautiful. We spent about 3 hours just playing in the front yard, looking at the stables, rocking in the rocking chairs and just goofing off. The perfect way to spend a Tuesday afternoon! The weather was also amazing which made for some great pictures.

Presley constantly kept going to the outdoor fireplace. She loved it.

My mom knit her those leg warmers for her 1st birthday. So cute.

She likes the rocking chair, too!

Playin around on the lawn.

Tristan got ahold of her mom’s camera. So beautiful. I want her hair!

Palm trees in the palisades make me happy.

So do pictures of my cousins

Our last night, we ate at a restaurant called Tivoli, in the Palisades (a special place to my cousin) and had a fabulous italian meal. I couldn’t resist the bread basket with some olive oil and balsamic drizzle. MMM! So delicious.

If you made it all the way through this post, I congratulate you and to make it worth your while, I’ll leave you with some adorable Presley action.

So stylish! She’s gonna be quite the fashionista.

It feels good to be back home, with the boyfriend and my friends and back to every day life. I love going on vacation, but it still feels great to come home, too.

I’m still catching up on all of your weeks so my comments miiiight be a little late but I’m enjoying hearing about everyone’s adventures! Hope you all had amazing weekends and a good start to the week!

<3

Heyyyy giiiirls,

I’m baaaack Fabulous vacation, LOVE the west coast, such a great time with my family & of course some AMAZING food! Full update soon! Just catching up on some boyfriend time and hanging with the pups!

xoxoxo <3

Hope you all have had a great week!!!

Adieu, Adieu, to you and you and you.

off to the West Coast for a week! Recap when I get back!

Enjoy your weeks! <3

Happy Gossip Girl and One Tree Hill Day!

.. er, I mean Monday! Monday just sounds so much better as a good T.V. night!

(& special points if you figure out what the line of my title post is from!)

I got home from a rather regular monday at work to find this:

had to blur out the address, you understand

loves!

Our favorite homegirl is quite talented in the homemade card department! I was so excited to receive this beauty in thanks for the package I sent her. Girlfren’, no thanks needed

FOR reals, you should go into the card making business! That thing is awesome & your handwriting is to die for!! You are quiiite the artiste! I loved it, thanks so much for making that for me! xoxo

After a short jog/run (just a mile to get the blood going), a walk around the neighborhood, some crunches, lunges, planks, and a few “get rid of the old lady arm flab” dumbell moves later, I decided baking something autumn-like would be fitting. However, I was limited considering the baking ingredients we had in the house. While the ingredients were not as healthy as I would have preferred, I made these mainly for my father & boyf to enjoy. A google search & some improvisation later, I had these:

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

• 1 cup canned pumpkin puree
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1/2 cup butter or trans-fat-free margarine (I used margarine)
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1 tsp. milk
• 1/2 cup white whole wheat flour
• 1-1/2 cups unbleached white flour (I used 1 cup whole wheat flour, 3/4 cup white flour)
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1-1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp. ground cloves
• 1/4 tsp. nutmeg
• 1 Tbsp. pure vanilla extract
• 1 cup semisweet or dark chocolate chips (mine might have been 1 1/4 cup – we had a little bit more in the bag, so I used it)
• 3/4 cup chopped walnuts (we only had a few crumbles of walnuts so I used those)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray two cookie sheets with nonstick spray. In a large bowl, cream together pumpkin, sugars, butter and egg. In a small dish, dissolve baking soda into milk. Set aside. In a separate bowl, stir together flours, baking powder, salt and spices. Add baking soda mixture to flour mixture.

Add flour mixture to pumpkin mixture, stirring until just combined. Be careful not to overmix or the batter will get tough. Add vanilla extract, chocolate chips and walnuts. Drop by rounded spoonfuls onto prepared cookie sheets. Bake 10-12 minutes or until lightly browned. (I found that 11 minutes was perfect!)

Makes 24. Per serving: 174 calories, 8 g fat, 0 trans fat, 19 g cholesterol, 194 mg sodium, 2 g fiber, 2 g protein, 34% Vitamin A, 4% Calcium, 6% Iron

These were so good. Like holy-goodness-this-is-delicious good.

My father legit sat down and ate 5. He will never understand portion control.

I was sure to stash away a few for some co-workers & the boyf. I’m excited for B to try them!

a little more food porn for ya’

I’m off to finish watching Gossip Girl (such a fabulous guilty pleasure that i know some other people also enjoy) & head to bed!

Goodnight loves!

<3