The Chic Life

Mommy's Home!

The day I was traveling home from AZ, hubby was on the way to DC for a family reunion (one I had to miss unfortunately). Poor Bailey was left all alone in the apartment with the exception of a break at lunch when a friend let him out (and he's not used to being home alone for very long).

The poor little thing must have been so sad all day without us!

He was so HAPPY when I finally got home from the airport. I snapped this photo just after I got to the apartment. I love how Bails looks like he's smiling! :)

Doggie

Cupcake Smorgashborg!

So, before my Phoenix trip last week, I had the pleasure of partaking in a Cupcake Smorgashborg. It seems my tweets of my eats are working better than I thought since people know how much I love cupcakes. :)

I got TWO batches of cupcakes to enjoy before my trip!

My friend Dana baked me a whole slew of cupcakes!

Kate + Nate got me a sampling box of cupcakes from a new cupcake shop that opened in town. Did I mention how excited I am that we have cupcake shops like the ones you hear about in NYC? So excited! I still want to visit the NYC city ones.

Anywho, this box was so adorable! I loved the packaging and I couldn't wait to try a little bit of each cupcake.

Here are some photos from my Cupcake Smorgashborg (yes...I ate 1/2 of each of the following cupcakes over 3 days!):

Dana's cupcake was cream-filled, too!

Thank you so much Kate + Nate for all the delicious cupcakes! I loved them!

Wow, these photos are making me hungry...I may have to swing by the cupcake shop tomorrow to pick up another cupcake or two! It's ok to celebrate your birthday for slightly longer than 1 week, right? ;)

Dessert

AFAA Success, Tiles, + New Bread

I have a TON of recap posts to make up for the last couple days (those business trips really throw me off!), but in the meantime, it's late, and I want to go have sleepy time. So, just a few tidbits for now...

First up...

I PASSED THE AFAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (check here for recap of the AFAA certification) I'm so excited and happy and proud and elated. That test was no joke and I was really worried I failed possibly both the written and practical portions. I just have to get my CPR certification to make everything final, but I'm just so happy that I DID IT! *jumping for joy* :)

After receiving the good news about the AFAA, hubby and I went tile shopping. We've been in negotiations with a couple contractors over the last couple weeks and while we really like both of them and had a tough time choosing, we think we found our contractor. Either way, we're tiling over the kitchen floor and have to find the perfect flooring now. I want my kitchen to look like Giada's (the version before her Giada at Home kitchen), but they never show floors! I can try to match everything else, but I have no clue what the floors in Giada's kitchen looked like so we'll just pick out whatever we want.

The mailman brought me some goodies.

I received two loaves of Nature's Pride's new bread products to sample for free via the Foodbuzz Tastemaker's program.

I received a loaf of 12 Grain and a loaf of the 100% Whole Wheat. I can't wait to dig into these. I'm a BIG fan of their cereal and other food products, so I'm sure these will be just as great. I'll let you know!

I'm off for now to relish in my AFAA success...you guys have no idea how worried I was about passing the AFAA so the news is especially sweet! Now I just need to get 100% better so I can get back to zumba! I'm hoping to start going back to classes at a low level in the next week or two. Hopefully the home renovations allow me some workout time! If not, I'll have to make some! :)

Life

Phoenix, AZ - Day #3 - Part #2 (Biltmore + True Food!)

...Day #3 - Part #2 continued...

After touring those gorge AZ houses, we hit up the Arizona Biltmore Resort (check out the link for a link of famous people who have stayed here) + Spa to check out the work of Frank Lloyd Wright who consulted here for a few months.

We parked our car and headed straight to the Frank Lloyd Wright ballroom.

The lighting was the more signature part to me. I think we caught the ballroom pre-event - I'm sure it looks better when it's all gussied up.

I spotted a hummingbird grazing the flowers - can you see it in the photo? It's sort of in the middle area.

Loved the stone work.

Setting sun

Beautiful glass work.

Guess they used this to do that fancy stonework?

The hotel was lovely and had so much personality to it.

The place was hopping and full of people.

We took one last stop to see the Gold Room - so pretty!

Next up, we headed to the Biltmore Fashion Square where I had found an interesting-sounding restaurant online earlier in the day.

More of those neat mister things in the outdoor eating area. We walked under some of the mist and it really was nice and cool.

We easily found the restaurant - True Food Kitchen. I loved how the restaurant is related to Dr. Weil - I think he's awesome. We chose the restaurant because the dishes sounded interesting and we liked how there were plenty of vegetarian/vegan options (Y is vegetarian) and how they tried to use as much organic food as possible. The also use natural, hormone free meats and their seafood is sustainably harvested. LOVE THAT!

The interior was nice, open, and clean-feeling.

It was Arizona Restaurant Week when we stopped by. I wanted to order off the special restaurant week menu, but the menu didn't have the entree I had researched online previously - green tea soba noodles. Luckily for me, Y and I decided to split an appetizer and 2 entrees so I was able to get almost everything I wanted course-wise, except for the amuse course of hummus.

We started with the Edamame dumplings with Daikon Radish, Dashi Broth & White Truffle Oil ($8). It was so-so good and the combination of flavors and ingredients was so unique!

Although I really wanted a glass of wine, I couldn't resist trying of the Natural Refreshments. I'm a sucker for unique food and drink concoctions. I had the Medicine Man ($6) - from the menu - "(Antioxidant Blast) Olivello Juice, Pomegranate Juice, Cranberry Juice, Black Tea, Soda Water & Muddled Blueberries." The juice was so-so good! I loved every drop.

What's Olivello Juice, you may ask? I asked the waiter, but I think their site sums it up nicely. From their web site: "We are the only restaurant in the nation to provide Olivello Juice, an extract from sea buckthorn berries. Olivello is full of powerful natural anti-oxidants and other protective phytonutrients. (You can find this ingredient in Andy’s Elixir, Medicine Man, and Orange Olivello Sorbet with Fresh Berries.)"

Y and I split two entrees. Entree #1 was the Green Tea Soba Noodles with Peas, Bok Choy, & Ginger ($11).

This is a half portion pictured above. The restaurant was kind enough to split both entrees for us, which was a nice plus for a germiphobe like me.

Anywho, the soba noodles were amazing! I didn't really taste the green tea, but the overall flavor of the dish was phenomenal and I loved how the dish contained tons of veggies. Some places really skimp on the veggies.

Entree #2 shared was the Spaghetti Squash Casserole with Fresh Mozzarella, Organic Tomatoes & Zucchini ($13). Doesn't the melty cheese just say it all?

This dish was DIVINE! It was my first time eating spaghetti squash and I fell in love with it. The tomato sauce was delish and the melty cheese was perfection. I promised to try to re-create as much of the foods I enjoyed at dinner at home as soon as possible.

Although Y and I were stuffed, I (amazingly enough) managed to save a wee bit of space in my tummy for dessert. I ordered the Lemon Olive Oil Cake with Marinated Strawberries & Greek Yogurt.

True Food was an eye-opening eating experience. I only wish we had restaurants like this back home in NC. If only I were independently wealthy...I would totally open one of these in town to help spread the love of local ingredients, fresh food, healthy eats, and unique flavor combinations.

This whole trip really was an interesting eating experience. I've never had so many vegetarian meals in one week. I started with a veggie burger at Burger King at the airport on the way to AZ, then I had the Veggie Plate at Daphne's, and then my amazing meal at True Food...and I didn't even miss the meat. You truly can enjoy vegetarian meals and be happy and satisfied, even if you're not an official "vegetarian."

All in all, I think I had a successful trip. I worked hard and helped make sure our meetings for work were successful. I worked on building relationships with my co-workers and I had some truly awesome eats. Not sure when or where I'm traveling next, but for now, I have my photographs to relive my AZ adventure. Hopefully next time I'm in AZ I will be able to stay through the weekend - I'd really like to check out Sedona!!

Dinner, Life, Restaurant

Phoenix, AZ - Day #3 - Part #1 (dim sum + houses)

Day #3 of my AZ excursion brought the best eats yet. Day #3, Part #1 started bright and early...

I was super hungry when I woke up and grabbed breakfast at Starbucks: oatmeal (with raw sugar, dried fruit, and nuts) and a tall non-fat vanilla latte.

I was disappointed to see that the oatmeal was just a packet of instant oatmeal. I had high hopes that they had a big pot of steamy oats somewhere in the back, but I guess that was pretty unrealistic. Anyone know what kind of oats Jamba Juice serves?

Day #2 of meetings went well - long but productive. They were stressful and hopeful and helpful and overall good, but I was ready to break for lunch when we did. I talked two other co-workers to go with me to get dim sum (you guys know this is a personal fave of mine).

We hit up a dim sum spot I'd researched on Yelp - China King Restaurant.

I was a little disappointed that a lot of the food we had had been sitting on carts and was served cold or room temperature, but the flavors were really good and my co-workers ended up really enjoying everything, so it worked out ok.

We got bombarded by two waitresses who quickly loaded us up on some great eats. I've never had dim sum served so quickly, which I thought was awesome - especially since we had to get back to work quickly.

Chinese Broccoli

Baked BBQ Pork Buns

Curry beef, shui mei, sticky rice, har gow (shrimp dumplings + one of my faves)

Steamed BBQ Pork Buns

Pork dumplings

My plate - a little bit of everything (except the shui mei - it's good, but not my fave and I can only eat so much dim sum)

Dim sum + hot tea + nice co-workers = happy me

Coconut buns (read online these were a must-try - they were right!)

Sesame bals (another personal fave)

Inside the coconut buns - deliciousness!

After lunch, we rushed back to finish up our last day of meetings with an afternoon session. The day finished out quite smoothly and overall, I think our meetings were successful.

After work, Y and I decided to tour around a bit and headed over to the Biltmore Fashion Park. We started by touring some houses near the Arizona Biltmore. I loved their architecture:

After driving around the Arizona Biltmore, we decided to stop by the resort to check out the Frank Lloyd Wright work.

More on that in Part #2 of my Day #3 in AZ... (ecto doesn't like me putting lots of photos in my posts, so I'm splitting this into 2 parts)...

Breakfast, Life, Lunch, Restaurant

Phoenix, AZ - Day #2 + Le Petit Prince

Day #2 of my AZ trip last week brought more good eats.

I started my day bright and early around 5:30 am PT and in the fitness center. My doctor said I can work my way back into zumba (yay!) but also that I should do the bike and elliptical to help strengthen my hip and leg muscles. The elliptical was taken, so I got on the bike, but only for a little bit. Then, it was back to my room to get ready for the day.

We headed straight to work and kicked off the first of 2 days of some intense meetings. They were busy, but good and definitely productive.

We broke for lunch around 11:45am PT and headed over to a teammate's suggested restaurant - Daphne's Greek Cafe.

The restaurant was located in a cute little shopping center. I thought the misters in the outdoor eating area was fascinating - haven't seen these since the themeparks in Orlando, FL!

Daphne's is my kind of "fast food" restaurant. I thought the menu was simple but had some great options. I had a tough time deciding what to get, but ended up ordering the Veggie Plate.

I like to think of the Veggie Plates as "parties on a plate." I just love all the flavors you get - it's like a sampling platter! You know me and my love of many flavors.

On the plate: hummus, falafel, spanakopita, dolmas (stuffed grape leaves), grilled pita, rice pilaf, Greek salad, and tzatziki sauce. The plate was HUGE! I knew I wouldn't finish all this food, but luckily, we had a newbie (to Greek food) at the table, so I shared a few bites of my food with him so he could experience some new tastes.

After lunch, we were back to work for another intense afternoon session. Things were busy, hectic, sometimes crazy, but overall great.

I couldn't help but snap a few shots of the scenery on the way to the hotel. So pretty! We thought the palm trees were pretty unusual. Guess I always thought of them as a beachy thing...but I suppose they're more of a warm weather kind of plant?

The sun was still very strong by the time the work day was over, but it set quite quickly.

The sun was so bright, right in our eyes, on the drive to the restaurant, but we literally watched the sun set behind the mountains in the distance. Luckily, we both had our sunglasses (bring those if you go to AZ!!).

After the afternoon session, we headed over to Abuelo's for a team dinner.

The inside of the restaurant was super cute. The middle area looked sunlit, but totally wasn't.

The germiphobe in me loved how we each got our own mini bowl of salsa - no need to worry about double-dipping!!

For drinks, I was torn between the sangria and the mojito, but ended up going with the sangria. Nice and fruity! This version had a bit of a fizzy-buzz to it.

I got the fajitas for my dinner. I was slightly sad that the chicken was cooked into the veggies on the hot plate - it was grilled, sliced, and put on top of the hot plate, but it still tasted good.

Toppings plate: cheese, guacamole, pico de gallo, sour cream, slice of lime.

The fajitas came with a lovely side of beans. I thought the bean dish was quite tasty.

I managed to scarf down about 1 1/2 fajitas some about 1/2 the beans, but boy was there a lot of food there!

Dinner wouldn't be complete without dessert, of course. I ordered the sopapillas.

Little pillows of fried dough with a cinnamon-sugar topping...

...and a side of a honey sauce.

Dinner mint.

After dinner, I headed to the hotel room and got out my trip reading material to wind down: body + soul (sent my card in for this months ago and haven't gotten 1 magazine yet...wth? Will send a new card in once we're homeowners.) and Le Petit Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry.

Le Petit Prince

Le Petit Prince is a book I once studied in a high school French class. The book is fascinating and has a much deeper meaning than the surface stories tell. Stories that sound like simple children's tales speak more to life than to kings, snakes, and roses. Some of the lines in the book are downright beautiful and some can bring you to tears. I once told my college French professor about my love of this book and how I wanted to buy it and would you know...one day, she just handed the book to me in class. It was one of the most thoughtful teacher-student moments I've had. The book pictured is the one she gave me. I don't know what happened to the copy I once studied in high school. I read the book throughout my AZ trip sans dictionary and it was an interesting experience. Normally, I have a dictionary on hand to look up the words I don't know (since I'm not fluent), but without the dictionary, I had to use common sense to figure out some words. I was surprised at how well I was able to read the book without the dictionary, though I'm sure it helped to be so familiar with the story.

Big thanks to both the teacher to intro'ed me to the book and my college professor who helped encourage my French studies.

I leave you with my favorite quote from the book and what I consider to be one of my all-time favorite quotes: "On ne voit bien qu'avec le coeur; l'essential est invisible pour les yeux." Translated: "It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; the essential is invisible to the eyes." So beautiful!

Books, Dessert, Dinner, Life, Lunch, Magazine

Phoenix, AZ - Day #1

Well, you've probably noticed I've been a bit MIA over here at TCL, but I have good reason. I've been in Phoenix, AZ for the last week-ish for work and boy has it been a whirlwind! Sadly, my bags were pretty tight and I made the tough decision to leave my DSLR at home. I, of course, missed my camera terribly and will probably do better to make space for it next time.

I spent pretty much the entire day Tuesday just flying to AZ between 1 stop and long flights. I left my home around 7am and got to my hotel in AZ by about 9pm ET.

I was lucky enough to travel with a co-worker, Y, whom I've traveled with before. As soon as we got to the airport, we hit up a rental car shuttle to pick up our car for the trip. First things I noticed - big mountains in the background, bright-bright sun, blue-blue skies, cactus, palm trees, and lots of flat land.

First up, we picked up our rental car.

Just kidding...this one is actually our rental. I recognized it immediately as the "hamster car."

The keys were already in the car for us.

Check out the digital dashboard - 100F!

Interesting highway traffic mitigation system. Sign reads "One vehicle per green." It helped pace the cars merging onto the highway.

This is what it looks like driving down almost all the roads in Phoenix. Big open blue sky, tall mountains all around in the distance, and hardly anything cluttering the view.

Unfortunately, we arrived right around rush hour and got stuck in quite a bit of traffic. It was 2 hours from the time we landed till we got to our hotel room. Phew!

By the time we got to the hotel room, I felt like this.

But, I still wanted to get a really good dinner in and so did Y.

The sun was setting by the time we went out for dinner and the skyline looked so beautiful!

We found a neat shopping center with tons of small, local dining options.

We walked by each restaurant, checking out the scene and the menu before settling on Kokopelli - a restaurant featuring house wines.

The theme of the restaurant was strongly laid out through the restaurant with wine bottles and barrels all over.

I wanted to try the Gewurztraminer - (Ge-verz’-tra-me’-ner) - Fruit and spice nose, honeyed, dry fruitiness on the palate. - Silver Medal, but they were out of that AND the viogner. Boo!

I did end up sampling the pinot grigio and the chardonnay and went with the chardonnay, which was quite nice. (Both were, but I just preferred the latter).

Cheers!

I started with the Spinach with Candied Pecans Salad. It was divine! I loved every bite of it!

We also had some really lovely bread with some honey butter.

For my entree, I was torn between the Merlot Braised Pot Roast (from the menu - "seasoned roast, seared and then slow-roasted in our Merlot and it's own juices") and the Garlic Chicken. When I mentioned my selections for entree, she quickly suggested the pot roast saying it was a specialty of theirs, so I took her advice. I was soooo glad I did!

The plate came out piping hot with mounds of tender pot roast in a cozy gravy-like sauce with broccoli and mashed potatoes. I was very happy to find bits of skin in my mashed potatoes so I knew they used real potatoes. I think the skin adds nice texture, too (not to mention, I believe there's extra nutrition in the skin maybe?). Dinner was the perfect comfort food after such a long and draining day of travel. Y and I were both so happy after dinner - totally on Cloud 9!

I really wanted to check out what delicious dessert concoctions they had, but Y and I were too stuffed to even share something. Maybe next time?

After that, it was bed time for moi. I decided to try to maintain my East coast sleep schedule so I wouldn't be too jet lagged when I got home, so I hit the sack around 9:30 pm PT. I was exhausted anyways, so this was pretty easy.

Up next...AZ Day #2...

Dinner, Restaurant

AZ Trip Posts Soon

If you noticed I haven't been blogging this week, it's because I've been in Arizona for work all week. I just flew back today and am getting ready to make a nice home-cooked vegetarian meal and have movie night with Bailey. AZ trip posts to come...ta-ta for now! :)

Life

A Very Pink B-day Celebration

I went out with friends to celebrate my birthday Saturday night. This would mark my second annual pink-party, meaning, I asked if people would wear pink. :) Why? For fun! Hubby missed out on the festivities, but he had some of his own - a bachelor party in Charleson, SC.

First up, we had to do dinner. I selected Mama Ricotta's because we've gone before and the food was fantastic.

We had a quite the group: Kath, Matt, Kate, Nate, Amanda, Justin, Michelle, Ben, Emily, Justin, Dana, and Megan.

Lovin the pink! Wish I could have gotten a photo of Matt's pink tie but I forgot!

Chopped salad - split (this is a "small"! good thing I shared it). Delicious with pepperoncinis, chickpeas, and tomatoes (among other ingredients)

Megan's Rigatoni (she wanted me to take a picture of it)

Chicken Carciofi (had this last time...had to have it again!) Delicious mix of chicken, capers, artichoke hearts, served over creamy polenta. Yum!

Loved how this card coordinated with my fingernail polish.

Kate + Nate gave me cupcakes. Four of them! I heart cupcakes! I got some other goodies, but forgot to photograph them. Oops!

Birthday candle time!

Megan helps with her photography skillz

The chocolate decoration drooped over...must have been the heat from the candle.

After dinner, many friends went home, but some decided to hit up a night on the town.

We took the light rail uptown.

We headed straight to the Epicentre.

We headed over to Strike City first. The original plan was to go bowling, but dinner took longer than we expected and we didn't make it uptown as early as I expected.

Drink of choice - Grey Goose...as in anything with Grey Goose in it. Here we have a Sex on the Beach. Yes, I love fruity-girly drinks. The girlier and fruitier the better!

Cheers!

Inside strike city. It's the nicest bowling alley I've ever seen.

At the bar.

The girls!

Next up, we got in line for Suite. We wasted 20 minutes waiting in a non-moving line at Suite. We would have gotten out of line sooner, but we were worried the lines would be just as bad everywhere else. Finally, we decided to move on after Emily scoped out the line at Whiskey River and discovered there was none.

Inside Whiskey River. You can't quite tell, but the black blob in the middle is a HUGE group of people dancing on a stage area. You can kind of make out the tops of their heads from the lit windows.

Hallo! Whiskey River was fun. There were tons of people and they played some really good music.

Bullriders! (No, not me...I didn't ride the bull)

We stayed out waaaaaaaay late. I haven't had a night like that in awhile, but we had a good time so the lack of sleep was worth it.

All in all a very fun b-day celebration night. I'm feeling so blessed right now to have such great friends.

Look out for next year's celebration because I'm throwing a huge party to celebrate the big 3-0.

Cheers!

Dessert, Dinner, Life, Restaurant

Hubby's Graduation Celebration

Hubby has just completed his MBA! Yay! He has the option to walk with other students graduating (even undergrads, I think) next May, but for now, his school hosted a graduation party.

Here are some photos from the event:

Met up with a teammate and his wife for a pre-event drink.

At the event. If the room looks familiar...it's because we've been here before. Last time we celebrated something in this room, it was a wedding.

At the table

Vino - just ok...I didn't finish it

Dinner is served - chicken with a mushroom sauce, (I think roasted) veggies, + rice.

Chocolate cake (had some sort of fruit infusion, but we couldn't figure out exactly what)

Coffee

The graduate - congrats babe!

We hit up a local restaurant - Andrew Blair's for an after-party.

A little mas vino - pinot grigio this time.

We kept it low key and headed out early. Hubby had to save up for a bachelor party and I had to save up for a b-day celebration.

Dessert, Dinner, Life

Trader Joe's No Nitrite/Nitrate Fully Cooked Uncured Bacon

I decided to try out Trader Joe's Fully Cooked Uncured Bacon - No Nitrites or Nitrates Added - Apple Smoked bacon recently.

I've heard both good and bad things about nitrates and nitrites, but mostly that you should try to get your nitrates and nitrites from natural sources over those added to processed meat products.

This was my first time working with fully cooked bacon. The cooking time to re-heat and/or crisp the bacon was so short! The box recommended 10-15 seconds for 2 slices.

Here's what the bacon looked like after removing from the box. I thought it was really well packaged.

To get the bacon as crisp as I wanted, I cooked it way longer than the 10-15 seconds recommended (not to mention I had 4 slices to cook up, not the 2 referenced for the 10-15 seconds cook time). I think I ended up cooking it for a total of 1 minute, but in 15 second increments.

I served the bacon with a fried, cage-free egg. Btw, I'm pretty bad at cooking fried eggs...I don't know how they make them look so pretty at most breakfast spots. Perhaps when I get my griddle the eggs will be easier to flip?

All in all, I thought the bacon was really good. The short cooking time was nice and the apple-smoked flavor was really good.

Does anyone else do nitrate/nitrite-free bacon?

Breakfast

More of Dad's Mac and Cheese

All this rainy weather and talk of fall has had me craving cozy meals. I decided to make my dad's mac and cheese (recipe to be provided once I can translate the darn thing and add measurements) for dinner the other night.

Dad recommended using elbow macaroni. In preparation for out big move in a few weeks, I've decided to start clearing out our pantry, so I used this half full box of Gemelli pasta.

The sauce cooked up nicely, but I feel like I can get it going faster once I get this recipe down.

Before baking

After baking

Hot, melty, deliciousness!

I served the mac and cheese with more of those Trader Joe's frozen halibut pieces (a big staple for us now) and some steamed broccoli.

I have to say, I definitely think the mac and cheese tasted better with the elbow macaroni.

I think maybe you get maximum cheese sauce coverage with the smaller, hollow elbow macaroni pasta. Gemelli is hollow, too, but long and twisty - prob not as easy for the sauce to navigate.

Still, all in all, mac and cheese is always a winner!

Dinner - served with red wine and water...yum!

What's your favorite family recipe? Care to share it? Feel free to email me at thechiclife at gmail dot com - let me know if you'd like me to post the recipe or keep it to myself.

Dinner

Red's BBQ - Amazing BBQ Street Vendor

There's a BBQ Truck that I like to frequent when I'm working in the uptown area. It's called Red's BBQ Express and it's amazing.

Red's serves its famous BBQ out of this truck parked near the Bank of America building and Omni on Wednesday and Friday. They've even been featured on Food Network! (See web site for video)

One of my favorite features about Red's, besides its delicious BBQ, is the fact that they use local hams for their BBQ and make (I believe) all their food from scratch.

Their sweet tea is pretty darn good, too!

Yummy BBQ with the sweet and mild sauce.

I got some mustard on the side to sample and that was delish, too! The sauce is a family secret recipe.

Cole slaw and pickle slice

Baked beans

Place meat on bun and enjoy. So-so good! :)

I only hope Red's updates their web site because the site indicates that by eating at Red's, you're supporting local farmers. However, it wasn't until I stopped by the rig myself and spoke with the lady behind the counter (I think her name is Charlotte and she's the owner/owner's wife) that I found out that their pork and some other ingredients come from local farms.

Thanks Reds!

Lunch, Restaurant

Freelance Photography, Anyone?

So, I've been brainstorming a lot about things I like to do and how I can make what I like to do more productive, and I think I'm gonna look into Freelance Photography (on the side...I'm not quitting my job any time soon!). More to come on this as I figure things out, but I just love taking pictures! I think I'd like to start by finding some local restaurants to work with. Perhaps I can shoot some photos for their web sites and menus?

I took my first photography class way back when in elementary school. There was an optional, extra class for photography where we learned how to use a 35 mm camera and how to take and frame photos. We even had a dark room where we learned how to safely remove film from a camera, run it through a special machine, move the photos from the film to photograph paper, and process that paper in the various chemical baths. I remember how cool it was hanging the papers up on strings to dry and watching the photos come to life. I've been loving photography ever since then.

I wanted to take a photography class in college but couldn't afford the fancy camera you needed just to partake in the class.

I found a photography class in town, but it's a bit out of my price range at the moment, too. I'm hoping to save up for it, though, because I'd really like to learn more about how my DSLR works and how to really work it for all it's worth.

Anywho, lots to think about...anyone have any tips?

Life, Life

Hibachi Fun + Furniture Stores

Hibachi Dinner

Hubby and I love to frequent those hibachi-style Japanese restaurants, but we hadn't been to one in what seemed like forever. So, I suggested we hit up one of our faves, Kabuto ...especially since they almost always have coupons online. I found 1 for buy 1 entree get the second half off and we headed over.

I'm feeling pretty lazy today, so here are some photos (with little text):

Kabuto cocktail - midori and some other fun stuff

Broth soup - the only way I enjoy mushrooms (though I feel like they're fiiinally starting to grow on me)

Shrimp app

White sauce

Veggies

Ginger sauce - they used to give this along with the white one. Now, you have to ask for it. I highly recommend - it's delish with the veggies!

Noodles

Fried rice - I've tried to recreate this at home many, many times to no avail. There must be a secret!

Hibachi shrimp - my fave unless I get the shrimp + chicken combo.

Furniture Shopping

After dinner, hubby and I went shopping. I, of course, loved this light turquoise set. This would be perfect in our sun room!

Check out this ginormous ottomon! It was bigger than the couch!

We found a couple nice things, but nothing we loved. We're hoping to get some good deals on Craigslist and at local garage sales, too, so we'll see.

Dessert

We came home to a dessert to share - a Cheryl & Co Finer Baked Goods Blondie Bar. I read the label on this earlier in the day and was pleased to see so many natural ingredients on the list - even wheat flour!

Hubby and I split the blondie...it was decadent and delish - perfect for sharing!

Good News!

Finally, I have some good...no, GREAT news! I saw my doctor again today and he thinks I can work my way back into exercising...even doing zumba soon! HOW EXCITED AM I??? I've missed my zumba workouts and seeing my zumba friends soooo much! I can't wait to go back to class. Till then, my doctor suggested trying some light spinning and working out on the elliptical to build up my leg and hip muscles...gently, of course. I'm not a member of a gym, but hubby and I are thinking of joining one. I'd really like to start doing more cross-training - specifically strength-training to help prevent injuries.

Either way, I can't wait to DANCE!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yippee!

Dessert, Dinner, Life, Restaurant, Shopping

Quasi Spinach Dinner

Hubby and I picked up a bag of a new veggie to try - something I've been eyeing at the market since we first started going there. I'd like to tell you what it is...but I can't remember its name.

It's apparently some sort of green that grows on vines and (I was told by the vendor) cooks up like spinach. I love trying new things, so I was happy to give this a go...especially since hubby picked it out at the local farmers market this past Saturday.

I didn't think dinner was particularly interesting, so here are some pretty food photos:

Cellier du Rhone - Cotes du Rhone - yummy wine we sampled at Trader Joe's this past weekend

The quasi-spinach stuff really did cook down just like spinach. It was pretty tasty...whatever it was...haha.

served with buttermilk mashed potatoes...yum!

Pan-seared, red-wine filet.

Dinner was quite tasty and the cut of meat was certainly top notch, but I really think I'm starting to taste the difference between grass-fed and regular beef. Not to mention regular meat is starting to weird me out. I can't stop wondering what kinds of chemicals and what not are in my food! I feel myself getting to the point where I'd rather have no meat than meat that isn't grass fed, cage-free and/or hormone/chemical-free. Either I'm going to turn into a meat-snob or vegetarian...yikes! I didn't see this coming! lol

Anyone else out there afraid of their food?

Dinner

Greek Festival + Sweet Summer Sunday (Part 2)

This post continues where Part 1 left off...my fave part of Greek Festival - the desserts!

Since we beat the crowd by arriving so early, I was able to take as many photos of the food I wanted.

Lady making deliciously strong coffee

So fun watching people pick out their desserts. Saw one little kid who reminded me of myself when I was younger. He was eyeing the desserts with his family and excitedly reached his arm up to grab one of the pastries off the table and his mom's hand shot down to stop him. Think she said something about eating real food first. It's ok to eat dessert first, right? ;) Plus, why did they walk by the dessert table first anyways? lol

Forgot to snap a photo of this dessert before digging in.

It still looks good, though. This was dessert #1

This was dessert #2 - Flogeres

Baklava is still my fave but I like to try new desserts when they're available to me and I can always get good baklava at Kabob Grill.

After dessert, we did a little window...err...booth shopping.

I found some fun belly skirts, but the one I wanted came with a top and was $45! I decided to wait till next year for one.

I noticed a bunch of people carrying around delicious-looking iced coffee. I finally spotted a booth where I could pick some up on my way out.

The drink took no time to blend up.

My frappe

The drink itself was quite tasty and had the strangest consistency....like nothing you can get at Starbucks. The drink was cool and very liquidy, but the foamy stuff on top was so airy and thick. It was almost like the consistency of whipped cream but it tasted like airy, milky, coffee. I really enjoyed it and will look for more next year.

After the festival, we met up with some friends to watch the Panthers game on the patio of a local bar. I was going to just drop hubby off but the weather was beautiful, I decided to stay and soak in the last warm bits of summer.

Here's Nick - he wanted to be on the blog.

Here's Nick's lunch - he wanted me to take a picture of it. lol

Beautiful, clear, sunny sky

Game on TV.

I have to admit, I have a hard time sitting still, but it was really nice to relax outdoors with the warm weather and light breeze and just not worry about the 10 thousand things I had to do at home. I should probably try to get away from my to-dos more often.

For dinner I cooked up my farmer's market veggies with that local shrimp.

The mini pepper was just so neat-looking.

Oh, and remember my Dad's trick for making an extra mini Mac and Cheese (from yesterday's "risky" mac and cheese)? I baked that up to go with dinner...such a good tip! Thanks Dad!

Spicy shrimp saute with brown rice.

Ooey-gooey mac and cheese...mmm...I'm seeing more cozy casserole type foods in my near future with the cold weather headed our way.

More cinnamon bread for dessert.

So-so good...I'm surprised I was able to resist another slice tonight!

Phew...long but great weekend! I had a blast, but I'm going to have to start saving some time for packing!! We'll be moving into our house before I know it!

What are your tips for packing for moving from one home to another?

Dessert, Dinner, Life

Greek Festival + Sweet Summer Sunday (Part 1)

Today was one sweet summer Sunday. I had a lot of fun today.

I couldn't wait to dig into the Cinnamon Swirl bread we picked up at Great Harvest yesterday. I heated a slice up in the microwave and had it with a cage-free fried egg and some farmers market tomatoes.

Greek Festival

Hubby slept in but shortly after he woke up, we headed over to the Greek festival. We thought it opened at 11am and got there at roughly 11:15am. Turns out it opens at noon, but our strategy worked out well because we were at the front of the line and didn't have to wait for food.

Here are some photos from the festival:

Waiting in line...we came prepared with water from home. Budget and eco-friendly. :)

We said hi to a man who owns a local restaurant we frequent and he gave us two free tickets. Score! So nice of him.

Check out that line! We were literally the 7th and 8th people in for the day.

Empty inside! We beat the crowd! Last year, we went midday and you couldn't see through the crowd of people.

Food tent...no lines... woot-woot!

Spanakopita! I want to try to make this some time soon. Barefoot Contessa featured the recipe one time and it looked so delish.

Hubby ordering a gyro...no lines!

Spanakopita

Gyro - split with hubby

Greek fries

My favorite part of the festival - the dessert!

Sweets everywhere... *swoon*

To be continued since my publisher is not playing nice at the moment...look for Part 2.

Breakfast, Dessert, Life, Lunch

BBQ Festival + Risky Mac and Cheese

On Saturday, Hubby and I decided to make a quick stop at Blues, Brews, and BBQs .

As much as we wanted to stay and enjoy the food and music, I was pretty exhausted from Friday's AFAA certification, so we were hoping to make a quick trip.

We found a decent parking space and headed over to the event.

After briefly scouting the food vendors, we decided to give Big Bob Gibson Bar-B-Q a try since they apparently have won a couple of the festivals contests.

We split a pulled pork sandwich with some of Bob's famous red sauce. The meat was really tender and the sauce was just the way I like it...nice and sweet.

Next, we searched for a good side. I wanted to try a roasted ear of corn, but hubby wanted the blooming onion, which I like, too, so we went for that.

The vendor who sold the blooming onions was grilling up all kinds of good-looking things.

I snapped a photo of this guy's giant turkey leg.

But we stuck with our selection of the blooming onion with ranch dressing. We also got a lemonade from the same vendor - fresh-squeezed!

There were people sitting on walls everywhere because the festival was so packed.

Luckily, I'm familiar with the area and found a nice, quiet spot for us to enjoy our food.

Pretty flowers behind us. Gotta love my macro lens!

I do want some new camera goodies, though:

• Wide angle lens
• Special DSLR Flash

After the festival, hubby and I headed to Best Buy where he almost got his baby - a new flat screen TV. I got cozy in the "sample TV room". We had a hard time getting attention from anyone since it was so busy, so we just left. We took it a sign that he'll find a better deal soon.

After Best Buy, I went home to prep a side for a cook out with friends later. We had the option to bring sides or drinks, so I picked sides. Hubby chose Mac and Cheese.

(Note mini mac and cheese in white dish - dad suggested this little trick so we'd have more for later. It's sitting in my fridge right now and will probably be baked for dinner tonight!)

My sister was kind enough to send me a copy of Dad's famous Mac and Cheese recipe, so I went ahead and did something I don't like to do - tried a recipe for the first time for something I planned to serve to a large group of people. I normally like to test my recipes out before serving them to friends, but this seemed foolproof.

I prepped everything at home and baked it off at my friend's place, so it would be nice and hot and ooey and gooey when it was served. I'm not sure it's PC to finish things at people's houses, but I really think the quality of food, especially for something that is supposed to be served hot weighs out in my book. :)

I stressed all night that it wouldn't turn out ok, this being my first attempt at making it.

I was so relieved when people at the party I didn't know made sure to let me know how much they liked it. Phew! Big phew! Actually, the mac and cheese was a HUGE hit! I was so happy.

Here are some photos of the other food goodness at the party:

I found this veggie tray hidden under a bag of hamburger buns and promptly opened it. Guess I'm the only dork who wanted fresh veggies...haha.

Charlie's new grill.

My plate - split the burger with hubby. Not pictured - seconds on mac and cheese (I have to make this stuff again!) and a frosted sugar cookie with sprinkles for dessert. It was too dark to take pictures after round #1 of eats.

I tried taking a photo and this is what happened...the shutter stayed open for forever! And, I didn't want to use my flash...not till I get my new flash at least!

Here's another weird picture...I took a photo of hubby walking and shutter stayed open so long, all you see is a slight blur where hubby is walking...bizarro!

Oh, and here's our casserole after the party...that mac and cheese is DONE-ZO! I love it! Seriously...so relieved the mac and cheese was such a hit. Remind me to test things out next time first!

Dinner, Life, Lunch

Pumpkin Pie Muffins + Friendly Farmers Market

Pumpkin Pie Muffins

I've been wanting to do something with the extra canned pumpkin I had on hand from my glorious bowls of pumpkin oats and decided almost immediately to make Ellie Krieger's Pumpkin Spice Muffins (which I made last year) because I remembered they were so good and pretty easy to put together.

Saturday morning was the first time I've had all week, because I've spent the week studying for AFAA, so I got started first thing.

The recipe uses lots of great ingredients that remind me of cooler weather: brown sugar, molasses, and of course, canned pumpkin. This is organic canned pumpkin.

Besides the pretty colors, I love topping these muffins with the green pumpkin seeds - they look great against the orange pumpkin.

20 minutes later and your muffins have popped up all nice and pretty.

Hello sunshine!

Yum-O!

Friendly Farmers Market

After breakfast, hubby and I turned in our forms to our apartment complex to let them know we're moving to our house next month (yay!). Then, we were off to the Farmer's Market.

I have to say, I've been hesitant to take too many pictures of the market because in the arts & crafts show-world, a lot of people get upset if you ask to take pictures of their booth. Some art/craft vendors just don't like anyone taking any pictures of their booths. I mean, I've seriously asked someone for a picture of their booth to promote on my blog and they looked at me like I'd just them I thought their booth was the most hideous thing I'd ever seen.

After frequenting our local farmers market for a couple months now, I worked up the courage to finally ask one of the vendors - the local honey vendors - about taking photos of their booth and local goodies.

The honey people were soooooo friendly and welcomed me to take as many pictures as I wanted. So I did. :)

Their honey was very photogenic afterall.

Here the honey vendor is holding the honey up to the natural sunlight to show how pretty and golden it looks with the sun streaming through. It really is gorge!

And let's not forget "The GIrls". The honey vendors are beekeepers, so they keep their bees and make honey with help from "The Girls." They were happy to give us tips for storage and to tell us more about how they make their honey and differences between the way they produce their honey versus the mass-manufactured stuff. I have to remember to talk to my vendors more because the way a local vendor grows and creates their product is often the key reason it's better to buy local.

The honey was delicious so I picked up a 1lb container of their summer blend. I can't wait to taste the next one!

Thanks Libby and Gerry for being so kind! For my readers, feel free to call or email Very Local Honey at 704.358.8075 or [email protected] for inquiries.

I was so encouraged by my new friends at the honey booth that I snapped a couple more shots at the market. Here is the basket of bell peppers where I selected 3 to take home. I will have to come to this market earlier because the vendor said that the basket was brimming with peppers earlier in the day. We also got some jalapenos and the vendor's grandmother's recipe for Mexican Corn Bread (a recipe that inspired this vendor to start growing jalapenos).

At another booth, we were torn between the asparagus-green-beans and the vine-grown leafy veggie that apparently tastes like spinach. Hubby chose the latter, which I'm pretty happy about because I've been wanting to try that leafy veggie (can't remember the name) since I first spotted it at the market several weeks ago.

Hubby spotted something interesting on the way out - lollies. lollies are frozen popsicles that this vendor made with local fruit. I was so hot and parched from walking around in the hot-hot sun that this popsicle was a lifesaver! It really hit the spot and I loved how the popsicle was made with local fruit...so neat. I chose blueberry, which turned out to have a wee bit of mint in it. It was FABULOUS! I should have taken a photo of this vendor's whole table because it was so well set up and pretty with big baskets of fresh basil, pretty fresh flowers, and some veggies. I took home some of her tomatoes because they looked so delish.

Everyone at the market was just so-so friendly...it makes me extra happy to be able to shop there and support them. Plus, it's nice meeting the people who are growing and nurturing and creating your food.

We hit up just one more farmer's market and got some fresh, local shrimp and a couple other bits of produce.

After the market, we hit up Great Harvest Bread Company to stock up on bread. We got the last Oat Bran bread for free because we took home what was left on the sample board (they were sold out!). I also got to sample the pesto bread and the Dutch Apple swirl. Both quite tasty, but the apple one...yum! The photo is my last bit of sample...I forgot to take a photo until there was almost nothing left to photograph! haha

Hubby requested a loaf of Cinnamon Swirl and who was I to say no to that. So we brought home 2 yummy loaves of fresh bread.

Here are the goods - tomatoes, green peppers, jalapenos, onion, local apples, that vine-grown leafy green, bananas. (I forgot to take a photo of the honey, but we did get some of that local honey, too)

Here's an up-close shot of that leafy green...wish I had written down the name!

Here's one of those little bell peppers in my hand to show you how cute and tiny it is.

Mexican Corn Bread - I love family recipes!

Aren't these tomatoes gorge? I love the mixture of colors and those zebra-striped green tomatoes are too-cool.

Wonderful, excellent Saturday morning! I need more Saturdays that start like this!

Breakfast, Groceries

AFAA Primary Certification Day

Yesterday, I went with 8 of my zumba friends to take the AFAA Primary Group Fitness Certification. I had a lot of fun and learned a lot but boy was it a loooooooooong day! We were there from 8:30am-6:30pm.

For those not familiar, AFAA Primary Certification is a widely recognized certification in the group fitness industry. You have to take the workshop and pass the written and practical exams to get your certification. You have to do continuing education to maintain your certification over time. Basically, it's no joke.

To get your certification, you have to pass:

• The Practical: group cardio demonstration (8-9 minutes of warm up, cardio, and cool down demos), group muscle strength + flexibility demonstration (they call out 10 different muscles, or muscle groups, 1 by 1 and you show 2 strength moves and 1 flexibility move), and an individual demonstration (you get 1-2 minutes to teach your group a single move with 3 levels of intensity)
• Written Exam (100 multiple choice questions - harder than you may think)

I went to the APEX version in Charlotte, NC. Because the event was an APEX event, it was $99 instead of $299, which resulted in a very large number of participants. Normal certifications have closer to 15-30 (I believe)...we had 98! We were supposed to have 115, but we had 98 people! That's a lot!

I was glad to know so many people there...we were sort of our own little zumba clique...lol. I rode to the certification with Katherine and we quickly found our zumba friends and chatted it up before things got started. I was glad we got there early (8:30am with start time=9:00am) because there were a lot of people trying to register at once.

Here's Katherine demonstrating a strength move in preparation for the group portion of the certification.

And here's Megan demonstrating some cardio moves.

Before things got started we talked about what kinds of practical moves we'd been practicing.

Things got started around 9:15am. I'd go into detail about what went on, but I think this blog, GroupFitPower, has some great detail and sums things up nicely. Click here to read some super-detailed posts about AFAA Primary Certification.

The first half of the day we had an introduction, got some general information, went over the group cardio workshop and finished about 3/4 of the group muscle demonstration workshop.

At around 12:40 pm, we broke for lunch. We had a 45 minute break.

I lucked out that Kat was sweet enough to bring me a chicken/cheese/lettuce sammie. (Kat, you rock!)

Above is a picture of the gym we were in during lunch break when everyone was out getting food. Not everyone had yoga mats, so you may not be able to tell, but envision this gym packed full of people...we took up TWO basketball courts! That's a lot of people!

I should have eaten more, but I thought we'd have time for snacks later. I was wrong (I had a couple minutes to down a Clif Zbar). After lunch, we wrapped up the muscle workshop, went over our study guides, took a quick break to hit up the restrooms, etc and then it was on!

Here's where things got kind of serious. We were each assigned numbers, which were on stickers to put on our stomachs. We were separated into groups of 30, 30, and 38. I "lucked out" and got the group of 38 (was hoping for the small group!).

Cardio Group Demo

For the cardio group demo, we stood in several, long lines across the length of the gym, about arm length apart from each other. When they started the music, we had to start our demo.

The first 3 minutes were for the warm-up. Then, they cued us to start doing our cardio workout. After about 4 minutes, they cued us to start our cool-downs. The time seemed to go on and on...it's weird how when you're nervous the 8 minutes can seem like an eternity.

You really have to focus here because it's easy to get distracted by all the action going on around you.

I'm pretty unsure of how I did on this portion of the practical. I tried to prepare what I'd do in the week before certification, but changed things up once I saw what they did in the cardio workshop (the part earlier in the day when they go over what they're looking for). I prepared and practiced the moves I'd do for the group cardio during the lunch break, and I know I showed different levels of intensity, but I'm not sure how they graded them. There were so many people there...I wonder if they noticed I started at a low level, went to mod, and then high...or by the time they made their way to my side of the room, did they only see me doing mod or high level and mark me down because they missed my low? Did I land on my whole foot (and not just toes) for my high-impact moves or did I maybe flub that up just for the time they happened to be watching me. I'm not sure.

My Tips: (Note: Please take my tips with a grain of salt. I'm not affiliated with AFAA...I'm just a regular person sharing my personal opinion...I hope my tips help you, but they certainly won't guarantee you pass...when in doubt, ask the people who are running your certification. I found they were happy to answer any questions)

• Check out the tips on GroupFitPower - they are great. I have a couple more that I want to share...
• Practice, Practice: Not everyone who does the Primary certification is a cardio instructor (some do bootcamps, yoga, etc). Whether you're already a cardio instructor or not, I recommend preparing some moves...especially if you're not already a cardio instructor.
• How to Learn Cardio Moves: If you're not sure what kinds of moves you should do for the cardio, I found some great ones by looking up youtube videos. This video #1 and video #2 were my favorites because they showed some great simple moves. Pick 3-5 of cardio moves that you like and feel comfortable doing and practice them. You want to get your body used to doing them with ease and to transitioning from one to the other. You'll want to pick moves that you can easily move up in intensity because you have to show 3 different levels of intensity during the practical. An easy one is taking step-touch to step-touch with arms to hamstring curl with arms or taking basic grapevine with a foot-tap to grapevine foot-tap and with arms to grapevine with arms and hamstring curl.
• Music: I was really curious about what kind of music they'd be playing since I'm used to doing my zumba jams. The music they play will probably vary from certification to certification, but our music was your typical non-stop cardio with one song blending seamlessly to the other. You can find some good cardio songs on iTunes. I downloaded some from iTunes and practiced various cardio moves at home. I kept the songs I downloaded to songs between 125-135 bpm (you can enter "bpm" in your general iTunes search and some albums say what bpm the album's songs have).
• High-Impact: For high-impact moves, should you choose to do them, our instructors really stressed to us that you land on your whole foot (not just toes)...practice this...it's hard to do if you're not used to it and when you're stressed about remembering your cardio moves, you may forget this.
• Rules: Read the study guide for rules and additional information. The study guide tells you what the testers are looking for so try to make sure what you practice meets those requirements.

Muscle Strength + Flexibility Group Demo

As soon as the group cardio practical was over, we were instructed to get our yoga mats and come back to our places for the muscle strength + flexibility group demo. This part went pretty smoothly, but I'm not sure how strictly they were grading for form, etc. If you can, I recommend learning some strength and flexibility moves for each of the 10 categories listed in the study guide - pay attention to the guide here...very important stuff! Learn as many strength moves as you can and at least 1 flexibility move. You only need 1 flexibility move and though they didn't say it during our certification, I believe you get marked down if you don't hold your stretch long enough.

Additionally, if you can, prior to the certification, go over your strength moves with someone who can correct your form. It's one thing to know a move, it's another to do it right. I had at least 2 moves for each of the categories when I did the practical, but my biggest concern/question is whether I did them correct enough to receive a passing score. The proxies don't tell you if you're doing them right, so you just have to hope you're doing your moves to their standard.

My frustration with this section is that I spent 5-6 hours researching strength and flexibility moves, but a lot of the ones I found online said different muscles were the primary movers and some that I found online, I asked the instructors about and they basically said were not acceptable. Remember, you have to demonstrate strength moves that use the muscle they're announced as the primary mover. I wish they would have provided a list of acceptable moves beforehand because it's hard to remember it all from that 1 day.

Muscle Strength + Flexibility Group Demo

The individual presentation was stressful but at the same time, possibly the easiest part of the certification for me. The 1-2 minutes are basically over before you know it and if you follow everything they ask for in the study guide, you should be ok. I rehearsed exactly what I was going to show over and over before certification day and I think that really helped.

Practice what you're going to do beforehand. I think the practice I did beforehand really, really, really helped me. I used a timer to make sure I stayed between 1 and 2 minutes and really worked on remembering everything I needed to say. I'm glad I practiced saying so much because when the time came, I forgot some of the things I wanted to say, but still seemed to hit each of the categories.

Oh, and if you're going to a strength move, maybe try to do not do push-ups. We had about 15 people in our group doing push-ups and we were getting kind of tired of doing them. I mean, choose whatever you're most comfortable with, but variety will help keep your group happy (not that you're being judged on that, but just something I noticed).

Written Exam

The written exam was really hard. There's a lot of material you have to learn and a lot of what you're questioned on comes from the book, not the study guide. For example, a question in the study guide asks you to list the six classes of nutrients, but the question on the exam asked which of the nutrients provided the body with the most energy. I suppose this question may be obvious to some, but my point is that if you only look through the book enough to find the list of nutrients and don't both reading about them, you may not know the answer to the exam question.

My personal recommendation is to fill out the entire study guide and try to not race through answering the study guide questions...try to read the sections highlighted in the study guide. For some exam questions (not all), you'll need to know more than just the study guide answers. If you have time, try to really read through the chapters.

I'm pretty worried about this part just because a lot of the questions were so tricky. I'd much rather pass the practical and have to retake the written, but I'd really just like to pass both. :)

Over and Out

Overall, I'm really proud of myself for even attempting the AFAA primary certification. I feel so much more empowered from the group fitness perspective from all the knowledge I gained through this experience. Even though the day was long and stressful, I had a good time, and I'm glad I did it.

I'm crossing my fingers that I did well, but I'm really unsure because they don't give you any feedback during the certification. I won't know anything until I get a letter from AFAA in 4-6 weeks. I told Katherine I'm worried about the results and she reminded me that the AFAA is now over and I can't change anything, so there's no reason to worry. I'm trying my best to follow her advice and stay positive. *crossing fingers*

Oh, and I wasn't sure what to bring to the certification because it's apparently on the back of your registration confirmation (which I lost until the day of the event), so here's just what I remember needing/using off the top of my head)...

What I recommend you bring (AFAA has an official list...this is just mine):

• Number 2 pencils (the test is a bubble-test...you'll need these)
• A pencil sharpener
• A clipboard (we took the written test in the gym on a basketball court... my back was killing me by the end of the written exam...a clipboard would have helped tremendously)
• Snacks (snack bars, fruit, etc)
• Water
• Lunch (so much easier to have food than have to go out and buy some...our Y had food, but it was nice to not have to take time getting food...I used that time to practice what I'd be doing for the practical - group and individual parts
• A yoga mat - yes, bring a yoga mat even if you don't do/teach yoga. You'll want one for the strength portion and for the individual portion. Our gym ran out of yoga mats and people were doing push-ups, sit-ups, etc on the hard basketball floors...not fun)
• Your AFAA registration confirmation...I didn't need mine, but you never know
• Your ID (You need it to register)
• Sweatshirt - there were a couple times when I needed mine
• A change of clothes for your practical (I didn't need mine, but I think it's better to be prepared just in case)

Does any one else have any good AFAA tips? If so, please leave a comment with your tips. If you're looking for more, be sure to check out the GroupFitPower blog, which is one thing I used to prepare for my certification.

NOTE: The above information is just my personal opinion and from my personal experience. Certifications are open to being updated and changed as time goes on, so I can't guarantee the above information will always be true (who knows if they'll add a new section to the practical or change the way they do it?), but I hope that someone finds a bit of help in this post.

Life

Sara's AFAA Study Session

Sorry for being MIA, but I've been cramming for the AFAA this past week...phew! It's been a long week.

Taking things baaaaaack a bit...

One of our zumba head instructors, Sara, was kind enough to have a study session for some of her zumba girls this past week. She had us over for dinner and to help us with our studying. Here are some photos from our study session:

Yummy lasagna, caesar salad, and garlic bread.

And let's not forget dessert. I had 2 of these delish funfetti sugar cookies with frosting and sprinkles.

A little vino

Muscle man! The muscles were very important because they're on the exam AND because you have to do demonstrations for strength and flexibility moves for the muscles when you do the practical part of the AFAA primary exam.

Getting pointers on my merengue for my individual presentation.

Soph dog was our mascot for the evening. She's so cute with her little hair-do!

Soph loves Megan!!

The study session was awesome and I'm so thankful to Sara for taking the time not only make us dinner but for taking the time to help us prepare for the AFAA.

THANK SARA!!!!!!!!!!

Dessert, Dinner, Doggie, Life

Labor Day Eats: Pumpkin Oats + Bison Spaghetti!

Phew! Just got home...it's a been a long night of studying, but one of our zumba head instructors was kind enough to have us over for dinner and to have a group AFAA study session (Thanks Sara!).

I was hoping to do a post on yesterday, but instead, I'll just share the pretty food pics I took:

Monday Breakfast - First Pumpkin Oats of the Season!

First PUMPKIN OATS of the season! First Pumpkin Lattes and now Pumpkin Oats...fall is here! I made my bowl with chia seed, flax seed, maple syrup and pecans.

Monday Lunch - Leftover Peas + Greens

I served my leftover Peas + Greens over Kashi 7 Grain Rice Pilaf. Yum!

Snack

Stonyfield Plain Oikos yogurt parfait with sliced strawberries, banana, almonds, and agave syrup

Monday Dinner - Bison Spaghetti!

Hubby requested spaghetti so I did a healthy play on the dish using local ground bison from Earthfare. We normally get around 1 lb of ground beef for our spaghetti, but I'd rather have more quality over quantity, so we got just under a pound of the local ground bison instead.

Roasted Garlic Italian Demi-Loaf

2 tbsp butter + 2 tblsp extra virgin olive oil + 2 cloves smashed garlic. Heat over low heat while cooking evthing else. Brush over toasted bread (this is a Rachel Ray recipe...abbreviated form) PS I like to add a dash of salt to my mixture.

Salad

Dinner is served!

Bison Spaghetti = Deliciousness

Bison Meat Sauce tastes just like the kind we make with ground beef, but is much more healthy. I'd google health stats, but I am about to fall asleep. You would too if you'd just worked all day in a cubicle and then spent 3 hours studying for the AFAA!

Delicious toasted butter/olive-oil-drenched bread...sooo good!

We had some good eats for Labor Day. Not the tradition grill out party you typically see in the South, but it worked.

Did you eat anything special for Labor Day?

Breakfast, Dinner, Lunch, Snack

G'Night From Bails

Mommy stayed up late researching muscle moves for her upcoming AFAA certification and is ready for bed, so no posts on today's wonderful eats.

I've been waiting on her for bedtime because I'm pretty sleepy, too.

I'm pretty cozy here on the couch...

...but my eyes are feeling pretty heavy so...*yaaaaawn*...I think I'm headed to bed now.

G'night!

Doggie

Impromptu Brunch

We met up with Amelia and Kevin for an impromptu brunch at one of our fave Charlotte brunch spots - Pewter Rose.

Pewter Rose is well-known for its famous brunch, but is also a great spot for a romantic dinner.

One reason to make it to brunch, however, is the fact that they serve complimentary Butterscotch Scones. They are oh-so-good and served with butter.

Hubby ordered a mimosa, but I started with coffee and water.

I love the interior of Pewter Rose - very cozy.

We all had a tough time deciding what to order since everything sounded so good, but it worked out that Amelia and I split two entrees so we could both enjoy some sweet and savory flavors.

We got the Fingerling Frittata - from the menu - fingerling potatoes / caramelized onions / stilton /Bacon/ green salad with red wine vinaigrette (loved the flavor of this paired with the yummy onions and crispy potato slices)

We also split the Bananas Foster French Toast (a personal fave of mine) - from the menu - sweet banana filling/ rum butter/ whipped cream/ maple syrup (so decadent, you don't need the syrup!)

Brunch was so-so good and the company was equally awesome! So nice meeting you two, Amelia and Kevin! Hope to see you two again soon!

Reader Question: What's your favorite thing to order for brunch? Do you have a usual or a fave at a particular restaurant?

Brunch, Recipe

Pizza Goodness

Hubby and I met up with friends, Kath , Matt , Caitlin, Jason, Amelia, and Kevin tonight for a brick-oven-style pizza dinner.

We all met up at a local fave of mine - Brixx .

Kath got a lovely beer sampler, which I really wanted to order, too, but couldn't because of the anti-inflammatory medicine I'm taking for my pulled muscle. I will have to check it out next time...they had some interesting brews on the menu.

Passing samples

We had a long booth with a window. Here's my view. The place was packed! They were having live music all night, so there were tons of people around.

Hubby and I split a small Caeser salad. The salad was just ok tonight...I usually really like their Caesar, but tonight's was a little heavy on the dressing.

Hubby and I split a BBQ Chicken pizza...soooo yum!

Mmm...fresh cilantro...

Looking down the table...lots of pizza goodness there!

Love their thin-crust, brick-oven style pizza!

After dinner, we made our way over to Cold Stone, which was conveniently located a couple stores down. Kath and I split a "Like It" concoction of 3/4 birthday cake ice cream + 1/4 cup Jell-O Butterscotch ice cream + Oreo cookies. I normally get the Birthday Cake Remix, but this new mix was awesome! I especially liked how the Oreos stayed crunch in the ice cream...I hate when things that are supposed to be crunchy turn mushy. So glad I tried something new. :)

We managed to catch a wee bit of the live music outside before finding the boys watching sports at the bar. Boys will be boys, no? lol

Group shot!

Thanks for the fun night friends!

Dessert, Dinner, Restaurant

Greens + Peas + Texas Donuts

I was very inspired by my farmers market goodies today...so much so that I dug right into them for lunch today. I knew I had leftovers from last night's dinner that I wanted to finish up, but I wanted to make something delicious to enjoy with my market goodies.

I tried looking up recipes for the Tendergreens, but couldn't find anything! I finally figured out that tendergreens are also known as mustard greens and a search for mustard greens yielded much better results.

I found a few recipes that looked ok, but decided to wing it and create something on the fly.

I gathered my ingredients and got to cooking.

Sautéing the onions

Rinsing the peas

Cooking down the greens

Putting it all together

With red pepper flakes for some heat

All together with my leftovers....another yummy veggie combo.

I was really impressed with my Greens + Peas concoction...so tasty and so simple! This side was ready in about 25 minutes.

Greens + Peas
A simple, healthy side dish by moi
NOTE: This is a good recipe to use any frozen, chopped onion you may have in your freezer. I also think that with the addition of a few more ingredients and more broth, this could easily turn into a yummy soup.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups shelled field peas, rinsed
• 3-4 cups mustard greens, extra-rinsed, prepped (remove thick stems), ripped into smaller pieces
• 1/2 cup chopped onion
• 1 14-ounce chicken broth
• garlic powder
• oregano
• salt and pepper
• extra virgin olive oil

Directions:

1. Heat about 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil in a medium pot. Add onion. Cook till translucent, about 4-5 minutes.
2. Add prepped mustard greens and saute till wilted, about 2-3 minutes.
3. Add chicken broth and rinsed peas. Season with dash garlic powder, oregano, salt, and pepper. Bring to boil
4. Once at boil, cover, lower heat, and simmer for 15-20 minutes, till peas are to desired tenderness.
5. Serve and enjoy!

Lunch was fab, but I did manage to save room for dessert:

My mini "Texas donut". A glazed donut and donut hole.


And since some of you may be wondering...here's a shot of the real "Texas donut" from the bakery - Suarez Bakery .

Decorated Texas donuts with my hand for measurement...these guys are HUGE! I want to try one of these Texas donuts one day...and one day, I'm sure I will. :)

Dessert, Lunch, Recipe

Saturday Market Goodies + Ready-to-Blend-Smoothie

Ahh...good start to the day. Hubby let me sleep in and even cooked breakfast - bacon, scrambled eggs with cheese, and Great Harvest Bread Company Honey Whole Wheat toast with (real) butter (check my twitter for photo).

After breakfast and some fiddling around on the computer, we went to the Farmers Market! Here are some photos from our stash:

Stawberries

Shelled field peas

Cherry tomatoes

Local okra

Tendergreens

Apples and bell peppers

Romaine lettuce - clearly not local but I'll take it for 99 cents!

Bananas

We only managed to get okra from the local farmers market, and though the other market doesn't feature local veggies, they are at least far better priced than those in the grocery store. We got all our loot for $18 and some change.

Ready-to-Blend-Smoothie

If you're like me, sometimes you just can't get to your produce fast enough. Rather than letting your fruits spoil, why not prep them for smoothies and stick them in the freezer for future blending?

I had a banana that was past it's prime, so rather than let it go to waste, I peeled it, broke it up and stuck it in a tupperware. You could stop here, stick the tupperware in the freezer, and have a key smoothie ingredient ready when you are...

...Or you could add some more fruit to the tupperware to have a Ready-to-Blend-Smoothie waiting for you in the freezer. I picked the latter today and rinsed and prepped a few of the farmers market strawberries we picked up this morning.

Stawberry-Banana smoothies are one of my fave basic smoothie flavors.

You could add more fruit to this later, but at least you have enough fruit in a single tupperware to make a quick smoothie for breakfast or a snack.

Just cover...

...and pop in the freezer. Tada! Now you have a smoothie waiting on you to be blended. When you're ready for it, just add milk, yogurt, or whatever else you'd like and blend away. This really helps out for those mornings when you're pressed for time and can just throw a bunch of ingredients together with little prep work.

Enjoy!

Groceries

Open Your Mind, Allow Yourself to Enjoy the New

It's been a great day! Besides the beautiful weather... (be sure to read the bottom section of this post - good stuff there!)

Work was steady but not too hectic and hubby offered to go with me to Kabob Grill so I could enjoy my new favorite meal - the vegetarian combo.

The vegetarian combo is perfect for me because I'm a girl who likes to sample lots of different flavors in a single meal. Usually, I try to get someone (typically hubby) to split an appetizer, entree, and dessert with me. With the veggie combo, I get all the flavors I can handle!

In the vegetarian combo:

Mini spinach pie and stuffed grapeleaf

Combo comes with baba ganoush (sp?) but I subbed the foul muhammed (sp?)

Plus delish hummus and pickled veggies

Potatoes harra

Taboulleh

AND a new fave of mine - falafel!

It is all SOOOO SOOOO SOOOO GOOOOOOODDDDDD!!!! I just love enjoying all the different flavors in one meal.

Things wouldn't be complete without dessert - pistachio baklava (apparently my new fave type of baklava)

After dinner, we hit up Barnes & Noble to browse house decorating maagazines and for me to check out a book I heard about on email. Actually, I received a coupon from B&N to get the book Clean Food by Terry Walters for 50% off. After checking out the book in the store, I was intrigued and decided to take the book home with me. I can't wait to read through the book more!

Here are some recipes I'm looking forward to trying:

Some great stuff in the Clean Food book...need to do more exploring now!

I also scored the last copy on the stands of Martha Stewart's special Halloween magazine. Her older version is behind the new one and it is a personal fave of mine! Halloween is one of my favorite holidays and I just love all the dreadfully delightful ideas Martha Stewart comes up with.

Open Your Mind, Allow Yourself to Enjoy the New

Going back to my vegetarian meal, I have to say that I cannot believe that for the last 20+ years I've skipped vegetarian meals because I'm not a "vegetarian". What was I thinking?! For whatever reason, I've always had the mindset that dinner had to be complete with the following:

1. A Meat
2. A Veggie
3. A Starch
4. Dessert (ok, ok...this one is optional) :)

Now that I've started to educate myself more on nutrition, I'm learning that a complete meal has less to do with those 3 items above and more to do with getting a nutritionally well-balanced meal. I've learned that I like soysage better than sausage...That I can enjoy both traditional burgers and veggie burgers equally...That anyone can eat vegetarian/vegan/raw meals and enjoy them. That you don't have to be a strict "vegetarian" to eat a meatless meal.

Most importantly, I've realized how close-minded I've been to such a simple concept as vegetarianism. That's a word, right? "Vegetarianism." Yes, a quick google search found the term on Merriam-Webster . Anywho, if I missed out the last 20+ years on the delicious meal I enjoyed so-very-much tonight, and one that is quickly becoming a (dare I say) favorite meal, because I didn't think I was supposed to eat it...what else am I missing out on? What am I inadvertently closing out? What new joy am I missing because I'm not open to it?

Going forward, I'd like to try to be more open-minded...not just in food but in life.

Reader Question: What is something you were once close-minded to but now love...or...what is something you are currently close-minded to but would like to open up and try?

Books, Dessert, Dinner, Life, Magazine, Restaurant

Fall is Just Around the Corner...

...and I'm so looking forward to nice big mugs of hot chocolate, cozy crochet projects, and comforting-home-cooked meals.

Till then, we have a bit of summer left.

The weather outside was beautiful! The sky was sooo BLUE! I took a 15 minute break to pick up a treat for myself, and called hubby on the way. Turned out he already had a treat. So, I nixed my bakery trip, and I made my 15 minute lunch break a 30 minute break so I could wait till he could swing by work.

I had already eaten lunch at my desk, so my break was spent basking in the beautiful, last embers of summer. I wandered around outside for a bit to enjoy the weather. It was warm, but not too hot...actually, it was a bit cool outside, as though fall were whispering into the summer air. The sun was shining, the sky was nearly cloud-free, and the breeze that was blowing through the streets was just lovely.

Hubby's treat was a good one indeed! A fave of mine from a local bakery - a vanilla cupcake with chocolate frosting and sprinkles. Gotta have sprinkles!

So deeeee-lish!

I couldn't resist picking up some skim milk to go with the cupcake...such a good combo!

What are you looking forward to this fall?

Dessert, Life

Making Lemonade + Udon Stir-Fry Dinner

"When life hands you lemons, make lemonade."

~ popular quote - source unknown

This morning I couldn't find much at all to put together to take to work for lunch. I almost didn't take anything at all, but I've been working hard on eating in as much as possible, especially during lunch (when it's so convenient to just pick something up). Slightly frustrated and irritated that we didn't have much else, I slapped some turkey with some baby spinach on the 2 end-nubs of FOB bread we had left and called it "lunch." I also managed to rinse off some cherry tomatoes.

I noticed that at the office, someone was using the toaster oven again (which someone had ruined recently by spilling something inside), and toasted sandwiches are so much better than cold fridge-sammies. Hoorah for a working toaster oven again!

My lunch came together pretty nicely: I toasted the sandwich, found some Laughing Cow cheese in the fridge to spread on the sandwich and on some Kashia crackers, and also found some almonds. I was actually quite happy with lunch today.

Those cherry tomatoes hubby picked up from the Farmers Market this past weekend were pretty great with lunch, too. An Adora made for a great dessert.

Wore my hair curly today. I wasn't sure how it would turn out styled curly since I got a few inches chopped off last week, but it ended up not-too-shabby. Don't ya just love a good hair day?

Dinner turned out pretty fab also. I made one of my faves - an Asian-inspired noodle stir fry, like the asparagus version I've made before - click here for recipe . I love this meal because it's very quick and easy to put together.

Tonight I made a broccoli, green bean, chicken udon stir fry, except I subbed farmers market green beans and broccoli for the asparagus.

To save pans (since I used a separate one for the asparagus in the original recipe), I boiled enough water for the pasta and then used the same water to cook the veggies. In first - the green beans for 10 minutes.

Then, I added the pasta and broccoli and cooked for 3 minutes.

Black and red pepper for heat.

Mix up and cook for a minute or so for flavors to combine, top with sesame seeds, and dinner is served!

Anyone have any tips for "making lemonade" out of a sport injury? This non-zumbaing is driving me crazy!

Dinner, Life, Lunch