Happy Thursday! Maybe it's just me but this week seems to be going by so stinking slow🙈 I wish we could speed time up by a week so it could be Thanksgiving. I'm looking forward to all the delicious foods but mostly spending time with a BF who isn't totally stressed about the zillion projects he has to do for school. Fair warning my brain it totally scattered so this thinking out loud is probably even more random than most weeks, so let's get on with it!
1. I did a happy dance when I found purple sweet potatoes at Whole Foods last week. I rarely go to Whole Foods because they're so expensive and I have to drive over 40 minutes to get to one, but I was less than ten minutes away at a doctor appointment so of course I had to stop. Countless employees asked if I needed helping looking for something but I was just taking my grand old time looking at all the cool products and geeking out at the fact that I found purple sweet potatoes. Purple sweet potatoes are my favorite potato but are nearly IMPOSSIBLE to find in Michigan so of course I loaded up😋
2. Jessica's Granola is MUST when I go to Whole Foods. It's made in Michigan and it's allergy friendly, plus it's incredibly delicious. I got the bag on Thursday and it was basically gone by Monday😂 I've tried multiple types of her granola and every single one is SO.GOOD. Literally try to stop yourself from demolishing the entire bag, it's near impossible. I ripped the bag open as soon as I got in the car.
3. California is seriously calling my name. I'm having massive beach withdrawals right now. The temps have finally dropped off and are more typically for November in MI and it has me seriously missing the warm temps and the beach. I've been going through pictures from this year for a Christmas gift for someone and all the pictures from my trip to California are making me seriously miss it! I mean just look at that water and pier, it's gorgeous! All of Newport Beach is just as beautiful, so if you make it out to SoCal Newport Beach is a must!
4. Weekly Chipotle date nights have become a thing. Mexican food is basically the way to my heart so I have no problem with the fact that my boyfriend and I have had Chipotle once a week for three weeks. I know some people hate on Chipotle because some people got sick, but honestly that can happen at any restaurant. Chipotle is delicious, affordable, and their buy one get one free coupon will lure me in every time😬
5. Speaking of date night I found this place out by my boyfriend that was basically a museum of arcade games. Armed with a load of quarters we checked it out and I'm pretty sure it's his favorite thing that we've done. He was in arcade heaven with all the old games. I was never really into or got the chance to play arcade games, but the one game I do love is skeeball. My BF and I are both really competitive so we wound up playing probably a dozen games of skeeball, I won every single time😏 he kept trying to hit the 10,000 points and failing and he was so not a happy camper when I hit the 10,000 slot three times in a row😂 I may have gloated a little bit, but it was all in good fun. I don't think he wants to play skeeball ever again though😂
6. I LOVE getting deliveries, especially when they're surprise deliveries. When the edible arrangement truck pulled into the driveway the other day I was definitely surprised, but immediately thought awe my BF is so sweet, but NOPE the delivery wasn't for me😒 the arrangement was actually for my dad. I was a little disappointed, but my dad shared so that was nice. Edible arrangements are one of my favorite things, don't get me wrong I love flowers but a bouquet of fruit is definitely the way to my heart.
7. This week my energy levels have been really low, I think partly due to the flare but I'm also still fighting off the end of the cold. I've cut back on running and focused more on strength training this week and holy smokes am I sore💪 I love the feeling of being able to lift heavier than the previous week, but after leg day on Monday and arm/shoulder/chest day on Tuesday my entire body was sore🙈 No pain no gain though right?
8. I'm excited to say I FINALLY have some new recipes in the works🎉 there may be a new pumpkin recipe coming soon! My meals have been pretty basic recently which is why I haven't shared anything, but I;m breaking out of my funk and I will be breaking out the crockpot again soon so be on the lookout for that!
I'll end things on number eight today, but have a terrific Thursday friends!
What kind of recipes would you like to see more of?
Do you have any fun weekend or Thanksgiving plans?
Happy Wednesday! I have been looking forward to today because it's halfway through the week, but it's also Wine Wednesday🍷 The awesome folks at Natura Wines sent me some wine to sample so I am pumped to share a review with you. Break out your wine glasses (or wait until an appropriate hour to do so) because you're going to want to try this wine!
I had seen some posts about Natura Wines on instagram and my interest was peaked. We all know I love a good glass of wine every now and then but I don't like to indulge in it too often because I always worry about how the grapes are grown and what they are treated with. Wine is great, but I don't want to be drinking a gallon of pesticides and who knows what else with my wine.
Natura Wines peaked my interest because it's 100% organic wine. The grapes are grown and produced by Emiliana Organic Vineyards, which is the world's leading organic winery. Emiliana Organic Vineyards is located in Chilie's central valley and their vineyards are chemical free- they don't use any pesticides, herbicides or fertilizers. I was really excited when I learned that because I can feel good about drinking a glass of wine without worrying about what chemicals were used to treat the grapes. Natura Wines are certified organic and are vegan friendly!
I got to test out both the sauvignon blanc and the rose wines. The sauvignon blanc had a light taste with notes of lime and grapefruit. I found the sauvignon blanc to be a sweeter wine as opposed to a dry wine, which I am not a fan of. It paired really well with grilled meat and I could easily see it being served at a dinner party. The rose wine was my favorite of the two wines because it had a lighter flavor. There were notes of cherry and strawberry currant, it was a very fruity flavor and it made me crave summertime. It would be the perfect wine to sip on the back porch or out by the lake in the summertime. Once summer rolls back around I know my friends and I will definitely be getting a few bottles of rose to enjoy while out on the lake, by a bonfire, and while grilling up some delicious eats. This wine will be front and center at the girls night I'm having at the end of the week🙌
I definitely recommend trying Natura Wines and I'm looking forward to trying the other varieties they offer, I've got my eye on the merlot😋 Besides the delicious flavors my favorite part about Natura is it costs about $10 a bottle. As a recent graduate I'm not looking to shell out big bucks on a bottle of wine, but I can justify $10 for a bottle of wine, especially as a once in awhile treat. If you try it tag me on instagram and let me know how you like it! Cheers to a great Wednesday!
Cheers because it's almost the weekend🎉 This week has felt short but strange, I think election day threw me off and before I could fully figure out what day it was it's now Friday, but I have ZERO complaints about that.
I haven't done a weekend dets and eats or a life update post in awhile so I'm combining them into one and calling it recently. At lot of times my life is pretty boring because I am a creature of habit and routine, but this past week has actually been busy.
I am not one to watch a lot of TV. Typically the only TV I watch is the news and that's when I'm running on the treadmill, but I couldn't take election coverage anymore. I started watching The Newsroom on Amazon Prime and I'm addicted. My other recent obsession is a new show called Pure Genius. Pure Genius is a really different show, in a good way, and I've gotten my parents hooked on it as well. It's about a tech genius and billionaire who builds a hospital called Bunker Hill where he enlists the greatest minds in technology and medicine so they can develop revolutionary treatment for patients. The show is very well written and the camera and lighting work is phenomenal! The geek in me gets really excited during the show because it's so well done. I definitely recommend checking it out, plus you can get the first episode free right now on iTunes- all the more reason to check it out!
Last Friday night I headed down to see my boyfriend. Earlier in the day my brother had been texting me about getting Chipotle because he had a buy one get one free coupon and of course I had been craving Mexican food. My boyfriend is always up for Chipotle so when my brother sent me the game to play to get the coupon he was quick to finish it so we could go get food. I had never been to Chipotle but I had heard people rave about it. I got a burrito bowl with chicken, rice, black beans, fajita vegetable, tomato salsa, and romaine lettuce. By the time we actually got food I was starving so I devoured the entire thing. We spent the night in watching one of my favorite movies of all time, Accepted. If you've never watched it it's hilarious and I HIGHLY recommend it!
Saturday was an unusually warm day so we took advantage of it and drove out to Spicer's Apple Orchard. It's quite a hike but it was a beautiful drive with all the leaves changing so we didn't mind. We walked through all the orchards soaking up all the sunshine because the weather is bound to change. Apple picking season is over but we still found some apples on trees. I bet dear and other animals come in when people aren't around and eat the apples left of the trees and the ones that have fallen on the ground, which there were a lot. Most of the leaves are still on the trees so the orchard looked like it was on fire because the trees were almost all shades of red, it was so gorgeous.
There was a little market where they sold cider, donuts and various other homemade items. There were so many different types of apples for sale. It was fun to look at all the types of apples because there were so many I had never heard of before, let alone seen in any grocery store. I loved looking at the gourds because each gourd is so unique, but every one is beautiful in it's own way, kind of like people.
My favorite part of the day, aside from walking around the orchard, was the wine tasting. There is a winery on the property that features a full bar complete with hard cider that they actually make, a variety of wines and small eats. I'm the only one who likes wine, but he tried the hard cider and took a few sips of wine. I wasn't a fan of the hard ciders, they tasted like a dry white wine to me and I cannot stand dry white wine. My favorite wine was the peach wine. I have been obsessed with peach wine since venturing out to Robinette's with some friends a few months ago. Robinette's still has the best peach wine, but this was definitely good.
Sunday was dedicated to getting some work done around the house. There was LOTS of leaves outside that needed to be gotten and some various other things that needed to get done before winter. Cora was thrilled to spend the entire day outside even though she is still stuck in the cone. Please excuse my ugly boots, they may not be attractive but they are super comfortable. I never wear them out in public because they are not cute😂
My mom went to small group Sunday night so I spent the night hanging out with my dad. We went to Home Depot to get some supplies for my dad's latest home improvement project. By the time we got back the sun was already setting so I quickly fired up the grill to cook dinner before it got totally dark. I love daylight savings time but I am not a fan of it getting dark so early. While I was cooking I broke open a bottle of sauvignon blanc wine that the team at Natura sent me. It's a totally organic wine so I was really excited to try it because while I love wine I'm not a fan of all the pesticides that are used to grow the grapes. A full review of Natura will be up next week!
I knew was going to be working the polls on election day so I spent Monday meal prepping. I haven't meal prepped in awhile because I've been lazy and while I was prepping I realized how much I missed it. It makes life so much easier, so I'm going to try to get back into the routine of prepping some meals for the week. Even though the polls didn't open until 7am I had to be there at 6am to set up. I couldn't sleep so I was up at 3:20am and hit the gym to get in a quick 5 miles before heading home to clean up and get to the polls.
Not pictured is the breakfast I prepped. I cut up strawberries and a banana to throw into my oatmeal which I ate while I headed out the door. For lunch I had an O'Dough's gluten free bagel thin topped with avocado, organic turkey breast and goat cheese with a honeycrisp apple. For dinner I packed roasted sweet potato, sautéed garlic green beans, and grilled greek chicken breast with ketchup for dipping. Normally I am not a snacker, but I knew it was going to be a long day so I packed a container of strawberries (not pictured) and a chocolate sea salt rxbar.
This was my first experience working the polls and it was a unique experience. I always bug everyone to register to vote and to get out and vote so I wanted to be part of the election. It was a really long day since I ended up working from 6am until almost 10pm. I loved interacting with the public, it's the reporter in me, and it was genuinely awesome to see democracy at work. People were excited to be there and it made the day go by faster. I was dead tired by the time I got home so I cuddle up in sweatpants and a hoodie and my boyfriend came over to watch the results roll in.
I was kind of nervous to be interacting with so many people since I was still getting over being really sick. One of my friends had given me a bottle of hand sanitizer spray from The Honest Company. I kept it with me all day and besides smelling amazing, it smelt like orange, it was super convenient to have. I liked that it never discharged too much like a regular hand sanitizer bottle does sometimes. It helped my germaphobe self not worry about all the people and germs I was interacting with, especially since my immune system is still pretty weak from dealing with this flare. I would definitely recommend this hand sanitizer though as I know I will be buying more.
We were up until almost 2:30 watching the election results roll in. After a long day of working the polls I couldn't last a minute longer so I went to bed. Of course my body woke me up at 5:05am and was wide awake🙈 I knew I wouldn't be going back to sleep so I hit the gym for a quick treadmill run because I did not have it in me to lift and run. For staying up so late I was surprisingly really awake all day.
After getting back from the gym and getting breakfast I whipped up some pancakes and took them over to my boyfriend. He's definitely not a morning person😂 After spending the morning with him he had to head back to school so I headed home to enjoy some time outside. Cora was so happy to get outside and run around in the leaves. While Cora ran around in the leaves I enjoyed a few quiet moments by the lake. The water was like glass and it was so peaceful.
Thursday was a blur of doctor appointments, errands and helping my change the oil in the cars, yes I actually know how to change the oil in my car. It's one of the many benefits of having a dad who's all about doing everything himself.
I'll end things here and I'll try to get updates posted sooner so posts aren't a mile long. Have a great day and happy Friday!
Do you have any fun weekend plans?
What is one skill you have that people would not expect?
