Friday Food Find

I haven't really blogged about this yet, but after the New Year, Jake and I started one of our New Years resolutions - eating healthier and eating smaller portions. We decided we would start eating about 60% organic and cut out about 80% of the processed foods we had been eating. So we got rid of all the boxed mac and cheese, frozen meals, chips/cookies, etc. We still have some stuff around - canned soups, cereal, etc. We are also trying to eat at least 7 servings of fruits/veggies a day.

We are also trying to cook more and experiment with foods we haven't tried before. I started reading some "healthy food blogs" a while back and got inspired seeing all the cool healthy (and delicious) food that's out there. Eating "whole foods" really seems to help with weight and health because it's natural things that you are putting into your body and not some weird chemicals.

So I will be doing a new series on the blog - Friday Food Finds, where I will post a new receipe that we tried or created, featuring a cool food that may be unknown or uncommon to alot of people. First up...Quinoa!!

Quinoa (pronouced KEEN-WAH) is techinically a seed, but it reminds me of sort of like rice or cous cous. Some people mistake it for a grain, but it is actually a relative of a leafy green vegetable, as it grows on a plant. Quinoa has tons of health benefits and nutrients, it's biggest being that it's a really good source of protein and amino acids. It is also high in magnesium, iron, and B12. It's been show to help aid in migraine management and high blood pressure.

Nutritional facts for Quinoa (1/2 Cup uncooked):

160 calories
2.5 grams of fat

Total Carbs - 20 grams

Fiber - 3 grams

Protein - 6 grams

To cook quinoa, you boil it, just like you would rice or cous cous. It takes about 15 minutes. After it's cooked, it becomes sort of translucent in color. It's slightly chewy and has a little bit of a nutty taste. You can use quinoa to replace rice or pasta in soups, salads, casseroles, etc. I found some quinoa at Trader Joes, but I believe they even sell it at a regular grocery store in the health food aisle.

Wednesday night, we decided to open our box of quinoa and make a salad to use as a base in a whole wheat wrap.

Quinoa Salad

1 Cup of cooked Quinoa

2 Thin Sliced Chicken Breasts, grilled. (if using regular chicken, probably just 1 breast)

1 Can of Navy Beans, drained (white beans)

1 Can of diced tomatoes, drained

1 small zucchini, diced

1 small carrot, peeled and diced

1/4 Cup chopped green onions

1 teaspoon garlic

1 teaspoon of cayenne pepper (less if you don't like things spicy)

a few dashes of tabasco (again, leave this out or use less if you don't like spicy)

a dash of cumin

Salt and Pepper

Instructions-- Boil the quinoa for 15 minutes, until it's tender and translucent (basically follow the directions on the box). Place it in a large bowl and add all the other ingredients (could it get any easier???). Chill for at least 1 hour before eating.

We ate our salad wrapped in a whole wheat tortilla with some baby spinach leaves. Really, you could throw in whatever you like or had on hand and then season it with anything. It was super filling (I'm sure the chicken and beans helped with the protein factor), but it didn't leave me filling super full or bloated/fat. And this recipe made a TON of salad, so we have been eating it all week.

So we will definitely be incorporating more qunioa in our diets and I recommend at least trying it! YUM!

New Colors and a dress update

So I know I said I wasn't going to be able to blog for a while, but...oh well!

First, I changed my blog background colors! I decided to make it the wedding colors, so I could keep looking at them to get inspiration. The more I look at it, the more I love it!! After the wedding, I will go back to being pink and green.

Second, I decided I was just too excited about my dress to wait to post about the "dress update". My mom and I went Monday to the bridal salon to order my dress. We had been talking about the dress all weekend and my mom suggested that we see if the store had a sparkly, beaded sash I could try on with it, just to see if I liked that better than the ribbon sash. They actually pulled 3 different beaded sashes off of other dresses to see how I liked them. Well the 3rd one I put on, I fell in love with!! Who knew I would actually like beading? Just a tiny bit, right at my waist. The belt is pretty thin, it's sheer organza (so you can see through it) and it's covered in "bling" (as my mom was calling it). I think because the dress is SO plain, the tiny bit of sparkliness looks so good! Here's the pic we took:

If you click on the pic, you can see the full size version and if you look in the mirror reflection, you can see how it looks full length from the front. I just think it looks so clean and sleek!!

We are making 1 change...they are actually going to cut the sash and take off all the extra (the bow part in the back basically) and attach it directly to the dress, to make it just a sparkly belt all the way around, so it won't tie in the back like the picture. I didn't want to lose all the beautiful buttons going down the back (my fave part) with a huge poofy organza bow right on my butt. So just imagine that bow not being there and it just being beading all the way around!! YAY!!

So now I just have to wait 5 months for my dress to get here!!

Tag!

The Preppy Polka Dot tagged me! I'm really excited because she's a cute new blogger and it's a really fun tag!! Definitely check out her fabulous website!

Anyways, here are the rules:

1. Grab the nearest book.
2. Open to page 56.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the text of the next 2 to 5 sentences, along with these rules.
5. Don't dig for your favorite book, the cool book, or the intellectual book. Pick the CLOSEST!
6. Tag five other people to do the same!

The closet book was on the bookcase behind my desk and it happened to be this, one of my favorite books!
I recently started reading this book again, for probably about the 50th time! I love it! Here's the paragraph:

"So he got a new girl, and he got to be noble. I tried to be angry, but how can you be mad at someone for not wanting to be with you? Instead I just sulked around, gained a few pounds and swore off men."

I tag...anyone who wants to do it!!

I'm SUPER busy at work with a huge event next weekend, so posting will probably be very limited until it's over. But I have lots of fun stuff going on too (planning my BFF's shower and bachelorette parties!!, some awesome dress updates!) so I'll be back soon!!

I heart Shoes

So as soon as I found "THE dress", I started searching for the perfect shoes. Well I think I may have already found them! I work quickly, what can I say! I started looking online and actually found quite a few that I really like.

Here's the favorite:

The are "Grace" brand, Evita is the style. I LOVE the bow and the open toe. I'm also a big fan of the fact that it has an ankle strap, so I don't have to worry about them slipping off during the wedding. I just think they are so perfect...preppy, girly, exactly what I want!! However, they have a 3.5" heel...not sure if I can rock that all night for my own comfort sake.

So I will most likely be wearing those for pictures and the ceremony and then changing into something lower and more comfortable for the reception. I found these on Zappos and really like them:

Much lower heel, little bit more bling for the party! I love the little twisted strap, like a knot. They just look very comfortable!

Here's my question...is it a huge problem if the heel heights are about an inch different? I was also thinking that I could just get white platform flip flops from Jcrew as my reception shoes...for the ultimate comfort! I just worry that they will hem the dress for my taller shoes and then when I change for the reception, I will have my dress dragging on the ground with the lower shoes. Or should I get the dress hemmed to my lower shoes and deal with my dress being weird during the reception when I have on the taller heels?

THE dress!!!

OMG!!! I can't believe that I found my dress already!! TODAY! In the 2nd store we went to, and it was the 2nd dress I tried on there!!! I was off work yesterday and today, so we used that time to start my dress shopping. My mom and I figured it would take a while...I'm pretty picky but I thought I knew exactly what I wanted. The dress that I picked IS exactly what I pictured, only WAY better than I could even imagine!!

Before we went shopping, my mom and I were sort of in a disagreement about what the dress should look like. She wanted me to have some (or alot) of beading, a full skirt and long train. I wanted the most plain plain plain dress you could get. Hardly any train, slim skirt, no embellishment. But I agreed to try on beaded dresses, just to humor her and get her to realize that I'm just a super plain, simple (classic) type of style. I didn't find any dresses that I liked on Monday, the first store we went to. They were all just too beaded. I think at that store my mom started realizing that beading was not me.

So we went again today, to a store where I know the owners through work. I pulled about 5 dresses and the owner pulled a few for me as well. Well I put that 2nd dress on and I KNEW it was the one! I came out of the dressing room and my mom KNEW it was the one! We both started tearing up. It's EXACTLY what i pictured in my head. Then the owner brought out the best part...a wonderful ribbon sash which she wrapped around my waist several times, and then tied in a bow in the front, off to the side. I just about lost it then!!! The sash adds just the right amount of "style". I didn't want to take it off! I pranced around the dressing room and jumped up and down.

The dress has a slight sweetheart neckline (which I LOVE), it's fitted through the body and then it's a trumpet skirt that flares out right around my knees. My favorite part - buttons ALL THE WAY DOWN THE BACK!!! ahhhhh! It has sort of a long train, which I was surprised that I liked. It has the most beautiful low v back...ahh, I'm so obsessed!! And while I originally thought I didn't want a veil, once they put one on me...I was sold! So I will probably just get a very plain fingertip length veil.

Ok, are you dying for pictures yet??

DISCLAIMER -- please ignore the super weird look on my face. My mom is not a very good photographer...she didn't tell me she was taking the picture and I look gross. But just focus on the dress!!!The only change is that the sash won't be in that coffee color...it will be in the same color as the dress (ivory). I LOVE it!!! It's absolutely perfect and exactly what I always imagined myself wearing on my wedding!!! Now to find the perfect shoes!!

Honeymooners

I have to admit, I think I'm more excited for our honeymoon than our actual wedding. Jake and I have never been on a real vacation together. Jake is a big fan of "trips"...meaning, we go away for a long weekend somewhere, but we've never taken a week long vacation together. So I really can't wait for the honeymoon!!

With our wedding being in September, we got a little scared of the hurricane season in the Caribbean, so we basically crossed that off the list right away. We knew we wanted to go somewhere neither one of us had been before. We also knew we wanted a relaxing trip...we didn't want to be touring Europe or sightseeing a ton. I basically would be happy laying on a beach for 7 days with a fruity drink and a personal butler. Jake is more outdoorsy, so he will want to go hiking, fishing, etc. which I don't mind doing, but just not every day.

After throwing around about a million options, we started considering Costa Rica at the suggestion of one of Jake's groomsmen.

It seems to have the best of what we both want - relaxation and beaches for me, and tons of activities for Jake.

Without giving away too much, let's just say that I work for an international hotel chain and I get a FANTASTIC discount on hotel rooms all around the world. It's a pretty sweet perk, but unfortunately, I haven't gotten to take advantage of it much, seeing as I hardly ever get to take a vacation. Well I decided to just check and see which hotels we could stay at in Costa Rica and how much it would be with my discount. Well we hit the JACKPOT!! There is a BRAND new hotel in Costa Rica (literally, it opened on December 1st), right on the Pacific coast (in Tamarindo), beach front with a huge pool, and we can stay there for $89.00/night with my discount!!! Needless to say, we booked it immediately. We figured we can always cancel the reservation if it doesn't work out, but we wanted to ensure we would get that rate. The hotel is a 5 diamond hotel, and it's one of the most luxurious hotels in Latin America. AHHH!! We then looked into flights and realized we could fly from Baltimore to Costa Rica for $300/each!

Since we were sort of jumping the gun on everything, we started actually doing more research into Costa Rica and realized why everything was so cheap in September...it's the rainiest month all year. Hmmm. That sort of bummed us out...we definitely don't want to have bad weather. But from everything we've read, the rainy season in Costa Rica is sort of like the Caribbean...it's sunny and nice and then it rains for about 2 hours every afternoon. Not too bad.

The major drawback for Costa Rica is that we would fly into San Jose (which is in the center of the country) and then have to rent a car and drive to the Pacific Coast...5.5 hours!! To fly into the other airport in Costa Rica (which is MUCH closer to the resort 1.5 hours), Liberia, raises our airfare to $600/person (doubles it). Jake is really worried that the drive will be a challenge, with the roads in Costa Rica probably not being very good, plus it being really rainy.

Has anyone ever been to Costa Rica and can offer any suggestions? Is the rainy season bad? Thoughts on the road conditions to drive all that way? Would it be better for us to just fly into the closer airport and spend extra? We hope to just figure it all out and make our final plans soon! Then I can start the important part of the honeymoon...finding cute outfits to take!!!

Resolutions...

Happy 2009!! That is so crazy to me...last year flew by! 2008 was one of the best years for me, so I'm really excited to see what 2009 will bring. Obviously I have ALOT to be excited about and look forward to!! Jake and I were talking about our New Years resolutions yesterday morning...

1. Get in better shape. I don't necessary need to lose any weight, but I REALLY need to tone up and get healthier. I need to overhaul my diet, cut out the crap and eat smaller portions. I need to join a gym and go at least 5 days a week and get in a good hard workout. I want buff arms for my wedding day and a flat stomach for my honeymoon!

2. Spend more time training Spencer. We've realized that while she is a good dog and she does behave most of the time, we do let her get away with too much bad stuff. We want to hire a trainer to come to the house and tell us what we are doing wrong and how to fix it. We need to be more consistant and really correct her mistakes. We need to look past her cute puppy eyes and actually say "no!" and mean it!!

3. Start going to church regularly. We're starting this Sunday and I want to try and make it at least 3 Sundays a month. This is selfish, but it goes along with the church thing - find a pastor to marry us!!

4. Learn to relax more, not freak out about so much stuff and calm down with my cleaning regimen. I've had a few crazy moments this year in regards to cleanliness with the house and I really need to take a deep breath and realize that it just does not matter if the house isn't spotless. I typically spend at least an hour each day cleaning (sweeping, vaccuming, wiping down counters, etc) and I want to try to cut back on that. I really don't need to spend so much of my life cleaning. I also need to let Jake help me more around the house, instead of wanting to do everything myself.

So those are my resolutions and I really hope I can stick to them!! What are your resolutions? Do you usually keep them throughout the year?

Also - with it now being 2009, I'm now in super wedding mode!! Expect a lot of wedding posts in the near future!!