LIFESTYLE
My mom is a nurse and she always taught my siblings and I how to eat clean. Despite the fact that we always ate clean I always had trouble with my weight. I would go from one extreme to the other: I would eat all the time or starve myself to the point of my Doctor having to have conversations about it with me. Now, I'm an adult and I'm finally at the point where I feel comfortable and I follow the eating habits my mom imbedded into me. I have my guilty pleasures being bread. I grew up eating toast and tea for breakfast but now I only have them on the weekend and have smoothies or a bar for breakfast. I love smoothies and bars because I can just grab it and hit the road. Here is a recipe of my favorite bar that I have for breakfast.
No Bake Bars with Rosins and Chocolate Chips from @paleorunningmoma :)
Ingredients
1 cup raw pecan halves or walnuts
1 cup raw almonds
1 cup raw cashews
1 tsp cinnamon
1 cup raisins
1/2 tsp salt or 1/4 for less salty
1/4 cup organic coconut oilmelted (use refined for no coconut flavor)
1/4 cup smooth almond butter
1/4 cup + 2 Tbsp raw honey
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup mini chocolate chipsdairy free, soy free
Instructions
1. Place the nuts in a food processor and pulse several times to “chop” them into a crumbly texture - a few larger pieces are a good thing - don’t overmix!
2. Transfer the nuts to a large mixing bowl* and stir in coconut flakes, cinnamon, salt, and raisins to evenly combine.
3. Place melted coconut oil in a small sauce pan and whisk in the almond butter and honey. Set heat to low and whisk while honey and almond butter melt. Once mixture is smooth and well combined, remove from heat and stir in the vanilla.
4. Pour the wet mixture into the large bowl with the dry ingredients and stir to fully combine - I used a silicone spatula for this step. Thoroughly mix to make sure all the dry mixture is coated. Once coated, gently stir in the chocolate chips.
5. Line an 8 x 8” or 9 x 9” square pan with parchment paper along the bottom and sides, with extra up the sides for easy removal. Transfer mixture in and press down, using your hands, or another piece of parchment paper to get it packed tightly into the pan.
6. Cover the top with parchment or plastic wrap, then set in the freezer for at least 1 hour to firm, or longer if you have time.
7. Remove pan from freezer and grab two ends of the parchment paper to remove the bars, set on a cutting board.
8. Using a long very sharp knife, cut into 20 bars. You can wrap them in parchment individually storing in the fridge (for up to two weeks) or freezer for longer.
9.Bars will start to melt around room temp due to the coconut oil, so they’ll need to be kept chilled to stay firm.
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Over Memorial my family rented out a boat for the holiday weekend. My friend from New York came down for a visit and joined us on the boat. Now, before we found out she was coming we had rented out a boat so they didn't get all taken. When we found she was coming I told her all about the activities we were going to do that weekend. She said she had never been a boat before and she doesn't swim. In my response, I said "That's okay, my parents don't know how either but we put a life jacket on them and they are fine but you can just relax and sunbathe if you don't want to swim." Fast forward to when we are on the boat and about 3 hours into being on the lake when she begins to get really hot, which s understandable because its 95 degrees outside with not a cloud in the sky. She wanted to go into the water so we put a life jacket on her and then I jumped in with her. Once we hit the water she totally panicked and started grabbing onto me and I tried to get her on the boat while she was holding onto me and pushing me down into the water. When I came up for air I yelled at my family and my dad shouted "you two need to calm down" while one of brothers jumped into the water and grabbed my friend. Finally, we all got onto the boat safe and sound.
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Over the weekend I went paddle boarding. I've never done it before and I was so afraid of falling in the water and not being able to get up. I started on my knees and then when I got comfortable I tried to stand up. It actually was really fun and I didn't fall in considering I have terrible balance. Yay!! Have you ever gone paddle boarding?
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Growing up my parents put me in every sport, and camp known to man. The goal was for me to find something I loved to do that will help teach me life lessons. Honestly, I hated every single one they put me in and complained everyday I was forced to do it. It was probably because the majority of the time I had a bully or two from school that was a part of the team I was on or in the same camp I was sent to during the summer.
My parents new how much I loved animals (because I played with my dogs, and bunny more than I did with the kids on the block) so they decided to put me in horseback riding lessons. On my very first lesson I realized this was my sport, the one thing I would love to do everyday. I've been riding ever since! A couple years down the road I begged my parents if I could lease or buy my own horse. They kept saying no because we moved around a lot for my dad's job.
Eventually we settled down and my parents let me lease out a horse at the barn. Her name is Starbucks. She's very goofy, and is a very sweet girl. Starbucks is a retired race horse that the barn owner bid on at an auction. She's very good at cross country, and jumping in that field but not so good when it comes to arena jumping. It takes all my effort to push her into just doing one jump. I can't tell you how many times I've been thrown off when she's ducked out on an arena jump.
The spring time is the most popular time for shows. On Wednesday, I had my first one for the season. I've been training Starbucks like made in the arena during the past couple months. All our hard work finally paid off and we got 2nd place in our class. My coach and I were so excited that she actually placed in an arena show and then for it to be a 2nd place ribbon was even better.
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On Christmas one of my gifts had been tickets to see the musical Anastasia. In the moment that I opened the envelope and saw I was going to see it my inner child screamed with excitement. I loved this movie when I was little, I knew every song and wanted to be a Grand Duchess of Russia. I still remember my favorite scene of when Anastasia stands at the top of the stairs in her beautiful blue dress and white gloves going to the ballet with Dimitri. My heart swoons.
When I got to the theatre I was expecting the story to follow the movie but that wasn't the case. Yes, they had some elements from the movie: the music box, the blue dress, some of the songs but they mixed it in with the true facts of the mystery behind the Grand Duchess Anastasia.
In the musical, I really liked how they developed a back story for each character. They gave Dimitri a back story that was mostly put on the back burner when it came to the movie. Also, I really liked that they intertwined some of the old songs along with the new ones they created for the story. For example, "There's a Rumor in Saint Petersburg" had different lyrics then from the movie but still had the same instrumental effects.
Although every actor was fantastic in the play, Lila Coogan who played Anastasia took my breathe away. She made the story even more magical then what it originally was to begin with.
Even if you don't know the story or have even seen the movie the musical is well worth it. The digital effects, the singing and the historical significance speaks for itself.
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I always have this problem where I like a couple songs from one album written by an artist and then a couple from the other. I'm never fully committed to a full album. Then one day Ed Sherran released his album Divide and everything changed.
Recently, I went to his concert and it was literally the best concert I have been to since the Jonas Brother's which was like 10 years ago. You know how I know it was the best? I lost my voice from both concerts. Don't get me wrong I've been to a lot of concerts in between JB and Ed but nothing ever compared until Ed's concert.
During his concert he stayed mostly with the Divide album and threw in some past number ones. During his song "Perfect" proposes were happening all around where my friend and I sat in the stadium.
Halfway through the concert Ed told us that him and his team had a measuring system. It measured how loud people were in the stadium. He said out of all the places he had been to on his tour so far we were the loudest bunch.
If you ever have the chance to go and see him in concert I would highly recommend it!