Keep on Trucking

Greetings,

In an effort to stay healthy, I decided to go ahead and make my banana muffins this evening. It's really just banana bread put into muffin tins. I think muffins are waaaaay more fun that bread, but that's just me. And now that I think about it, they are easier to tote around as a snack too. I think they came out okay. I tried a few new ingredients to make it more healthy, but still tasty.


Here is the rundown on the particulars that when into this creation:

• 1/2 cup canola oil
• 1/4 cup of sugar (normally I'd use 1 cup)
• 2 eggs
• 2 very ripe bananas (normally I like them to be overly ripe. I'm talking about lots of brown spots and softness. They are more sweet like that, but I was impatient!!)
• 1/2 cup organic apple sauce, no sugar added (to keep it extra moist)
• pinch of salt
• a couple of teaspoons of Cinnamon
• 2 cups of wheat flour (sifted)

They actually turned out pretty tasty. I got a little worried when I was mixing everything, because the batter was very dry when I used the wheat flour. (It was the 1st time I've used any) But adding the apple sauce helped a lot. They smelled absolutely wonderful while they were baking. The only thing that I think was strange after they were finished was that they didn't rise very much. I'm thinking that it was from the wheat flour, but I'm not sure. From the picture I know that they probably look like cookies, but I assure you that they are indeed muffins! lol.

I'm sad to report that I have gained back all 4lbs that I had lost, but it's a new week and a new day. I'm not going to beat myself up about it. It's just time to start over and use this as motivation. I did actually workout tonight for about 25 mins to the P90X video. It will seriously kick your butt! It's really fun though. Me and Beloved made a commitment to workout every day this week after I get off work, so that should be kool. Well it's past my bedtime.

Ciao!

Synchronicity

Hey there,

It was a really good day. So I did go shopping with my friend from work and the name of the store was 'Synchronicity'. According to the dictionary it means: the coincidental occurrence of events and especially psychic events that seem related but are not explained by conventional mechanisms of causality.

Great store. I felt really good and relaxed after I left out of there. So they had stuff like, candles, pendulums, crystals, jewelry, clothes, books, incredibly soothing music, etc... Here are the yummy fun things that I got.

• Candle - For Motivation
• 3 Stones
• Ankh necklace

I've been looking for an Ankh for quite a while now. I used to have two of them. One I gave away because I didn't wear it at all anymore and the other one I lost while I was walking to the bus stop to go to the airport. I was SO mad about that! When I saw this one it just yelled out to me and said, 'Here I am. Take me home!' I do like it a lot, because its the perfect size (although I want a longer chain for it) and it has silver and gold on it so I can wear it with either metal, yay!
The three stone are (left) Petrified Wood, (right) Aventurine, and (bottom) Smokey Quartz.

I'll explain what each of the stones are for.

• Petrified Wood - Connection to earth and nature. Rids one of petty annoyances, provides strength, grounding, and insight. It's a powerful meditation stone
• Aventurine - Spirituality, contentment, stability, strength, peace, and meditation
• Smokey Quartz - 'Stone of Cooperation', It collects scattered energy, dissolves negative energy, emotional blockages, and protection

I've never used stones for when I meditate, (which isn't really that often) but what's life without trying new things, right? Boring!!!! So here's to something new. Have a great day.

Ciao!

My Favorite Things

Happy Friday Everyone!
I'm really glad its finally the wknd, yay! In celebration of the wknd I've decided to share some newly acquired things and some oldies, but goodies. I wish I could do some more shopping and I just might tomorrow. I'm supposed to be going to a store with one of my co-workers, so I should have plenty of pictures to share with you tomorrow. So... What do we have here?

• Sterling silver bracelet
• Blue tinted glasses
• Africa shaped earrings

I got this lovely piece back in March. Me, Beloved and his sister were in this Vintage Consignment shop and she pointed out this bracelet. It was only 10 smack-a-roos! I love a great price for awesome pieces! I really like the negative spaces on the sides and the flower design on top.

Here's a close up of the earrings so you can see the design better. What's it say? Pres. Obama!!!! I gotta show my President some love and support. And as a plus I get to support local jewelry makers. I saw the guy who's store I got them from make some by hand. He carves in the lettering and dyes them as well. They are Pretty awesome and I LOVE LOVE them!

I didnt do a close up of the glasses simply because every picture I took came out fuzzy and well.. everyone knows what glasses look like. Black frame. Blue tint. Nothing more to it. I found them in a bag of sunglasses I had buried and forgotten about. I think I've had them since 1996, so yeah.. they're old. I actually wore them today because they matched my outfit and I felt pretty good about wearing them. Nothing like starting a trend (or bringing it back rather).

So that's it kiddies.. Ciao!

It's a Battle

As I have stated a few posts back, I challenged my besties to a 'Biggest Loser' (to be cliche) competition. I think it's been a slow start for all of us. I decided to take a pause for the cause and look back at what's working, what's not, and what is it that I need to be doing better.

Idk why, but I always seems to either do good with my eating habits or with my amount of exercise. Recently I've been concentrating more on the exercise and not so much on the food.. and it's definitely showing. The scale's saying I'm gaining back the weight I lost, but I don't feel like I am. My clothes are still fitting well and feeling more comfortable. I think what I'm going to do is concentrate more on my food intake for the next couple of days. Not to say that I'm not going to still workout I just want to get myself back on track with my eating.

So I had a breakfast of champions, while my Beloved had some freakin pancakes with gobs and gobs of syrup! What do we have here in the picture?

• Watermelon (seedless)
• oatmeal (no butter or sugar added)
• half a banana sliced

It was surprisingly filling and it hit the spot. My other meals weren't the best, but they weren't horrible either. I have read a host of books that say that their way is best to lose weight, its fast, it's easy, blah blah blah. Everyone has a different theory, so who's is right? Here's mine.. if you have a balanced diet, like going back to the food pyramid and you eat small meals throughout the day then you'd be eating healthy and boosting your metabolism, therefore causing normal weight loss as long as your including exercise and lots of water. We shall see.

Ciao!

Happy Easter and All That Jazz

Happy Easter to one and all!

It's been a productive day so far. I didn't really celebrate the holiday and have a big dinner and present the little kiddies with baskets full of goodies. Mainly because I don't live near any family, but it's still been a nice day.

I washed Spike which is my car, it's a 2 door red Ford Focus. It's all shiny and clean and it almost looks brand new. I did all that work to find out that it's supposed to rain tomorrow. Kind of a bummer, but what can you do?
This lovely piece of artwork is the new skin I have on my laptop. I love it. LOVE IT!!! When I have it open the drawn on lady looks like she's sitting on the table/floor/my lap. Beloved bought it and applied it on my laptop for me. He's totally my hero. Not just for doing that, no. He is also the captor of all bugs that sneak their nasty little creepy, crawly, bodies into our house. They have broken the bug/human pact once they set foot in the house. When I'm outside, I don't bother or kill them. But if they come inside, all bets are off and everyone is taken as a prisoner and made an example out of! Death to all animals that have more than 4 legs!!!! :::letting out warrior cry:::

Anyhoo, time to watch The Simpson's.

Ciao!

The Little Things

Hey,

As I often try to, I look at my life and see the positive things that occur and what really makes life worth living. I think it's a good exercise to do, because it makes you realize all the things in your life that really are good. I had a melancholy kinda day so I tried to stay upbeat so as not to think about all the things I want to accomplish that I haven't done yet.

All I know is that even though I'm completely sick of my job and the people I work with I still have to do it. I work in customer service so I have to talk and deal with a lot of idiots all day long. It doesn't help that some of my co-workers are annoying idiots as well. Its just too much to deal with sometimes, ya know. So to cheer myself up I took some pictures of my favorite place to be around my job.

During my lunch I always go sit outside so I can enjoy the silence and the scenery of nature. You might not be able to tell, but there is a flat grassy area and then I lovely huge drop off. No I've never been in there and I don't plan on it either. I've seen some people at my job who smoke that go back behind some bushes near the drop off. They are some brave souls. Lately there have been some workmen walking deep down in the forest in that drop off and cutting down trees. Why? I'm not sure. I just might ask one of them some day.Like almost everyday I take a nap on my lunch hour in my car near this foresty area and a couple of days ago one of my co-workers ups and tells me that one time the police found a dead body down in that drop off!!!! A d-e-a-d body!!!! ewwww ew ew ew ew! That was a little un-nerving, but I still take my naps. lol! I haven't seen any strange activity out there before, but when you think about it, who wouldn't throw a dead body down there. Its a large ditch.. Can you really be surprised that I dead body was found. Nope. Tomorrow is Friday, which is always positively charged, so everyone go forth and have a great day.

Ciao!

Sunday Afternoon Relaxing

Wassupper?

I'm really enjoying my Sunday. I feel totally relaxed right now. I'm just sitting here enjoying the breeze flowing in from my balcony, because I have the door open and listening to R. Kelly's Happy People album and a mix of other songs. There is nothing like a day off to just do anything you want to do.

Yesterday me and Beloved felt like getting out of the house so we went to Peachtree City to do some window shopping. Of course there is shopping near us, but we were tired of going to the same old places. One of the stores we went into was Williams-Sonoma. I can't afford most of the things in there, but the staff is warm and friendly and it's nice to dream. They had some copper pots and pans in there that looked nice but were like $400.00-600.00!! I asked the saleswoman what the difference was btw them and the stainless steel. She said the only difference is, is that they look nicer on display and they heat up quicker...... I'm like this.. If I'm paying 4-600.00 dollars for a pot/pan it better talk to me and cook the meal too! I might buy that if I was rich and that price seemed like chump change, but other than that it will stay on the shelf in the store.

After shopping we went to the movies in Morrow. It was a pretty large theater and surprisingly enough it wasn't that crowded. Idk if it was like that because it was a late movie or what, but anyway... We went to go see 'The Haunting in Connecticut'. I thought that it was a good movie, but Beloved thought it was mediocre. If you have seen the trailer then you know it's about ghosts and supernatural activity. I haven't experienced any strong ghostly encounters, but I know they do exist. I have said it once and I'll say it again. You don't phuck with the spirits and death. (pardon my french) You just don't. When I think back, I now understand why my parents never let me have and mess with a Ouija board, lol. Too many bad things can happen. But I do recommend seeing it. If your expecting blood and gore, don't. It's not that type of movie.

Moving on...

I wanted to have a picture for this post (because I always do), but I forgot my camera. I like to keep it real for you and not use pictures taken by someone else. Then again.. you may not even care. But I think it adds a personal touch. :) I think I will read my newly acquired book now and pittle the day away.

Ciao!

So Far So Good

Greetings,

So its the 2nd day of the contest and I felt like I was doing good, until I stepped on the scale and I had gained a couple of ounces.. But at least it didn't say that I had gained a couple of pounds! I actually exercised even though I didn't feel like it, and I came home to this delish stir-fry that My Beloved made. What's in it?

1. Spaghetti noodles
2. corn
3. shrimp
4. crab (imitation)
5. green beans
6. peas
7. scallops
8. peppers
9. broccoli
10. teriyaki sauce

It was pretty tasty. It had plenty of veggies and maybe too much meat. But hey! I wasn't the one cooking. I'll do better tomorrow. Time to do some spring cleaning and re-arranging.

Ciao!

Spring Competition

Its finally Spring, which means that summer isn't to far behind! yay! I really don't care for Spring other than the fact that it means warmer weather and flowers and trees are blooming. Too much rain for my taste. This picture of the tree is right in front of my apartment. I love just sitting back and looking at that beauty of nature when I'm just thinking or when I'm being nosey and seeing what's going on outside.

Now that it's April, I proposed a contest between me and my BFF's. I told them we should see who can lose the most weight in one month for a small prise of $25.00 or a gift card or something like that. I've been struggling to get motivated for a while now, so I think that this is a perfect way to do it. I'm very competitive and I hate to lose, so I think that I will do well. Wish me luck!

Ciao!