Look what was on my front door!!!

UMPQUA OATS sent me all 8 flavors of their oatmeal to try and review.
They are:
Kick Start
Mostly Sunny
RU Nuts
Time Out
Take a Hike
Old School
Lei'd Back
Not Guilty

These are great because they are already pre-made, so all you have to do is add boiling water and you're ready to eat!

I'm excited to try these and will have a full post with a review after I try them all!
:)

Brothers All- Natural Sent me flavors of their fruit crisps to try.
They are:
Mickey Mouse Apple
Donald Duck Pear
Mickey's Clubhouse Pineapple
Goofy Strawberry-Banana
Pluto Peach
Apple Cinnamon
Banana
(love the Disney character theme!)

as well as...
Fuji Apple
Asian Pear
Banana
Pineapple
Strawberry
Strawberry & Banana
Peach
Mixed Berry
Apple Cinnamon

These are 100% Fruit with NO SUGAR ADDED!

SO COOL!

I will have a full post with review later on.

EXCITED FOR NEW EATS!

another new taste of quinoa!

I made a breakfast quinoa for my snack today.
It was really good!
:)

Ingredients:
1/2 cup quinoa (leftover from last night, so they've been in the fridge overnight)
Yogurt
Raisins

Directions:
Mix everything together and enjoy!

:)

FIRST TASTE OF QUINOA

In the pot cookin'

Chicken, Sweet Potato, and Quinoa.

Chicken & Quinoa mixed = SUCCESS!

I tried Quinoa for the first time tonight!
I tried it by itself at first and wasn't exactly excited, but then, I cut up my chicken and mixed it all together and it was DELICIOUS!!!!!

:)

It's kinda like couscous.

THUMBS UP for another kitchen experiment!

here's some fun stuff :)

Silly Chandler! :)

There's that pretty smile!

Ashley and I are definitely the CLASS CLOWNS. haha

We can smile and be serious too though.
:)

I love babysitting Chandler. We always have so much fun!
:)

New stuff I've tried lately..

McDonald's new Fruit and Maple Oatmeal.
YUM!

I know a lot of people are bashing it saying it has a lot of sugar in it, but I DON'T CARE.
I'm just glad McDonald's has a healthy option.
It would have been a lot better growing up if that was available because I would be the oddball who wanted to go somewhere healthy, when the rest of my family would want to go to McDonalds. Now, they have healthier options for those oddballs like me! ;)
Not to mention, it tastes REALLY GOOD!

I tried Jimmy Johns for the first time tonight.
I ordered the UN-wich.
instead of bread, I had a lettuce wrap.
inside it was filled with ham, tomato, cucumber, and alfalfa sprouts.

Pretty tasty, but I don't think I will go there again.
SUBWAY is definitely my favorite place by far!



Life Update:
It's really starting to hit me that after this semester, I only have ONE left, and then I student teach! HOLY COW! TIME IS FLYING!

hard to believe...

I can't believe I've been watching Maddie for a little over a year and a half.

(I couldn't find a pic of her any younger than this, but I know I started watching her before this pic was taken..)

I love her and her wonderful family!

I have had many fun times playing with Maddie while her parents enjoyed a night out.

I'm really sad they are moving, but excited for them at the same time!

<3

Tonight, Maddie started crying about an hour after I put her to bed, so I went upstairs and just held her for a little while and she went back to sleep. I had a flashback to one of the FIRST times I watched her and she just wouldn't lay down in her crib, so I just let her fall asleep in my arms and I just rocked her til her parents came home. SUCH A SWEET MEMORY! and I thought God gave me a wonderful gift to be able to do that again tonight!

:)

Thank you Blog world!

so, before I entered the Blog World, my appetite was pretty plain. I never knew how many great combinations were out there for all sorts of foods!

:)

Here is one example.

Before, I would have just eaten oatmeal by itself.
I LOVE Oatmeal. No doubt about it.
But now I know that adding in stuff KICKS IT UP A NOTCH!

Cinnamon Swirl Oatmeal + Banana = YUMMY!

changes...

so...I've finally had time to play around with my blog,

and made some fun changes!

Do y'all like them?

:)

Last Chobani Review and Overall Ranking

I came to the last flavor of Chobani yogurt to review.
Plain.

and it was indeed, PLAIN.
too plain for my taste.
:(



So, overall, my favorite flavors in order from MOST favorite to LEAST favorite...

1. Mango
2. Strawberry Banana
3. Pineapple
4. Raspberry
5. Peach
6. Blueberry
7. Strawberry
8. Pomegranate
9. Lemon
10. Vanilla
11. Plain

GO BUY CHOBANI AND TRY IT YOURSELF!
I PROMISE YOU WON'T BE DISAPPOINTED!
:)

My latest food obsession

No matter how many times a week I eat this, it never fails to satisfy.

PB&Banana Wrapini

Directions:
take 1 wheat tortilla and spread peanut butter on it.
Then, sprinkle a good amount of cinnamon on top.
Next, chop up some banana and add it on top.
Finally, wrap it up and put it in the panini press for two minutes.

Result:
DELICIOUSNESS!

jumped on the bandwagon

so EVERYONE is talking bout these new Cinnamon Burst Cheerios, so I decided to jump on the bandwagon and try them out myself. They were pretty good! :) and I got them on sale.


Speaking of sales, guess what else I snagged yesterday?
800 calcium pills for only 16 bucks! I was just browsing around trying to kill time before I went to dinner and a movie with my friend Christina last night, and saw that these HUGE bottles were BuyOneGetOneFree. Don't worry, I checked the expiration date, and they don't expire til NOVEMBER 2013! so wahoooooo! I have to take calcium since I hate milk. haha well, now I am STOCKED UP!


This morning, I found out that I WON A PUREBAR GIVEAWAY!!!!!! YAY!
Thank you

www.happymomblogger.wordpress.com

I'm so excited to try them out!!!!
:)

video from our car trip...

Vanilla Review

Sorry, I forgot to snap a pic of the Vanilla Chobani. I made another yogurt mess with it and it was yummy! I don't think I could eat it by itself though, it was too plain for me.


On to life news... I watched the Pretty Little Liars season finale last night with my friend Kara! WOAH is all I gotta say! haha I can't wait til June to keep watching!

I really just felt OVERWHELMED suddenly with school work. It seems like this is project week for every single one of my teachers! ahhhhhh! lol

FUN VISIT WITH FAMILY!!! :)

First of all, NO TRIP is complete without a MONSTER ENERGY DRINK!
:)
but, I was SO excited when I found the NEW FORMULA that contains ZERO SUGAR!
whoop whoop! That's a major win win right there!

On the way to Florida, I found this new flavor...SUPERNOVA (aka Strawberry Melon Diet Mt. Dew!)

We met up with the other side of the family for a little while when Papa went to a park to race his toy car and airplane around! It was fun!

Me and Grandma J

Daddy trying to race..haha

Me and Jamie!

I had SUCH a wonderful visit with my family!

On Saturday, we had the party for my grandparents 50th anniversary and it was fun!

Few funny stories:
While the food was being set up, my aunt beth's cat decided to jump up on the table. Aunt Deke SCREAMED and grabbed her. Everybody was running over to see what happened...the cat stuck her paw in the left corner of the cake...thank goodness Aunt Deke got her just in time before she nose dived into the whole cake! HAHA

My dad decided to be the "magic man" for my little cousin, Zach (he's 4). He would hide a penny in his fingers but push it back so Zach couldn't see it, and make him say Abra-ka-dab-ra and make it appear out of all these silly places. He LOVED it and literally asked my dad to do it about 50 times in a row!

I tried HELIUM for the first time. OH MY GOSH. I was laughing so hard I couldn't even complete a whole sentence! The video is on facebook, so watch it!

after the party, we all rode down to a beautiful park and were supposed to go on a boat ride, but they sold out like 3 hours before we even got there! so, we decided to just walk around, take a group pic, and eat some yummy icecream.

This morning, my daddy and I woke up at 3:30 am so we could drive a little farther and see my brother's baseball game. They won like 13-3, so they only played 7 innings and it was a short game. So, I got to see Kacy for a little while before heading back home!



GREAT TRIP!
:)

just a few pics...

t

having lots of fun hanging out with Grandma, Aunt Beth, Little Zach, and Baby Chase while the guys are golfing today!

Tomorrow is Grandma & Grandpa's Anniversary Party!
:-)

the iPod is back in action!

REUNITED AND IT FEELS SO GOOOOOOOOOD...

I FINALLY GOT MY IPOD BACK!!!!!!!!
SO SO THANKFUL to the guy who found it for me and kept it safe!

it has been TWO WHOLE WEEKS since I've had it.
that means 12 days of no music with my workouts!
oh my goodness.

tomorrow's workout is gonna be AWESOME!!!!!

:)

Lemon Review

Now, I don't normally like lemon flavored anything, but this was GOOD!
:)

Creamy, yummy Chobani Greek yogurt wins again!

I made a yogurt mess with it and it was FABULOUS!

Nashville Extravaganza

Me and Krissy.

First stop, PEDICURES!!!
Gosh, it's been OVER two years since I've had one, and boy did it feel GOOOOOOD! :)

sooooo relaxing!

pretty feet!

Next stop, dinner at a fancy shmancy restaurant, Sambuca.
It had a live band playing, which was really neat!

I was unimpressed with my food though.
:(
I paid $21 for 6 measley pieces of shrimp.
and they only gave me like a 10th of each little vegetable.
I hate rice, so I didn't eat that... lol
Needless to say, I was glad I brought a granola bar with me because I was definitely still hungry.

Next stop: goofing off in Urban Outfitters!

We wrapped up the night with YUMMY FRO-YO!
I got cake batter.
It was DELICIOUS!!

I'm so glad I finally let loose a little and SPENT some money and had a GREAT time with a GREAT friend!!!

:)

...

TODAY STARTED OFF GREAT!

THE WEATHER IS GORGEOUS.

ZUMBA ALWAYS STARTS MY SATURDAY OFF WITH A BANG!

I moved up a few spots in the contest...hopefully I will keep moving up!

I don't expect to win, but it's been fun trying and I really appreciate everyone's support!

Now, I've gotta get ready for a FUN NIGHT OUT with my friend Krissy! YAY!

Back-To-Back-To-Back

3 babysitting jobs in a row today.
FUN FUN FUN!
:-)

If I could change one thing about my day though, it would have to be that I could have slept in a little later. I didn't have to wake up early at all...but of course I woke up at like 6:30ish.
I just hope I can get the hang of sleeping in at least a FEW days over break! ;)


Contest News:
According to the ranking on the website, I jumped up from #301 all the way to #49 just yesterday! so, hopefully that's a good sign and I can keep moving up!
Luckily, I have some major help.
IowaGirlEats helped me out by giving me a shout out in her blog, so hopefully people will see it and vote for me. Thank you Kristin! :)
Emily from Chobani put my link in a tweet on Twitter... thanks Emily! :)
and lots of friends have put my link on their facebook page.

This is really exciting for me, I don't expect to win, but it sure is fun trying and isn't it great how it fell on SPRING BREAK so that I would actually have time to put the word out there and ask for votes? (GOD IS AWESOME!)

Thanks everyone for your help!

here's the link if you missed it...
http://photos.fitnessmagazine.com/category/vote/photo/728663

Peach Review

Peach tasted GREAT mixed in with my Kashi cereal for a delicious yogurt mess!
:-)

It tasted good, but wasn't my favorite by any means...still really good though!

PLEASE VOTE FOR ME!!!

HEY FRIENDS!

I WOULD REALLY APPRECIATE YOUR VOTE TO HELP ME WIN THIS CONTEST! You can vote daily and it ends March 13. If you could share with your friends too, that would be great! Thank you so much!

http://photos.fitnessmagazine.com/category/vote/photo/728663

New Recipe = Pizza Meatloaf

Tonight, I cooked a new recipe.
Pizza Meatloaf.
It was delicious!
and healthy.
I didn't tell my dad what was in it until AFTER he finished his two helpings ;)
He never would have guessed it was healthier turkey instead of beef!


Recipe:
1 pound lean ground turkey
1/4 cup pizza sauce (although I just kept adding until it looked good)
1/4 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

Directions:
Spray 9inch glass pie plate with non-stick cooking spray.
Pack meat down.
Bake for 15 minutes at 425*
Drain any excess liquid.
Pour pizza sauce on top of meat.
Sprinkle cheese.
Put back in oven for 5 minutes.


Yummy and healthy!
:)

Strawberry Banana Review

YUUUUUUUM!

I think this might be my new favorite!

I LOVE STRAWBERRY BANANA in everything so this was NO exception!

SO GOOD!

UNBELIEVABLE!!!!!!!!!!!

SOMEBODY FOUND MY IPOD!!!!!!!!!!!

I AM SO SO SO THANKFUL!!!!

what a crazy week of ups and downs!

sad morning...

I lost my iPod. I didn't realize it until last night after I got home from Aqua. I always pack my gym bag the night before so I don't have to wake up any earlier than I have to already...I usually put my iPod on top of my workout clothes and couldn't find it. I looked everywhere in my room, dumped out my purse, and looked in my car. I tried calling campus, but it was already 10:30, so nothing was open.

I am pretty sure I left it in Einsteins when I ate dinner. I was cleaning out my purse and I must not have put it all the way back in and whenever I took my jacket off, it must have been hiding, so I didn't notice it laying on the seat as I was leaving.

I admit, I freaked out this morning and told my dad. I just feel SO bad because my parents bought it for me for my birthday! But, my dad said I needed to calm down, that it wasn't the end of the world, and just go on with my day. I still feel bad, but after I worked out, I felt better. He is totally right, it's JUST an iPod and he still loves me. He is not mad at me at all.

I just feel SO DUMB for misplacing it. (TYPE A PERSONALITY SHINING THROUGH!!!! I'm usually so organized and hardly ever lose anything...KNOCK ON WOOD...and this totally threw me off.) But, I decided not to let it ruin my day!!!! I am officially on SPRING BREAK SO I'M NOT GONNA BE SAD!!!