Five On Friday!

Oh happy day!  It's time for Five on Friday!  And boy, am I excited about my five today.

As always, I hope you'll join me along with Darci, Natasha, and Christina ... playing along is simple!  Just write a blog about five things on your mind today, anything goes really, post the logo below on your blog, and then enter your post address below in the link-up section.  If you don't have a blog, please leave your five in the comments below so I can read them!

O N E
Girly food.  Last night I had two girlfriends over for dinner, and by dinner I mean appetizers and wine!  I used this platter that I received from Ian's grandmother, and I served green grapes, strawberries, and brie cups three ways.  The phyllo dough cups had regular brie, brie with honey and salted peanuts, and brie with cherry preserves.  The girls brought amazing appetizers as well, and we just picked and sipped all night.  It was perfect!

T W O
So here are the girlfriends I just mentioned.  Let it be known: I just love these girls.  Christina from Carolina Charm and Laura from Our Life In The Queen City are two very, very sweet gals who I just click with.  There is definitely something to be said about finding friends like that!  Especially when you meet ONLINE (ha!).  Thank goodness for bloggers!



We may have had a little hair party going on in my bedroom.

And I loved every minute.

T H R E E
Sally Girl mini nail polishes.  These nail polishes are super inexpensive but really fun.  You get them from Sally Beauty Supply and they are $0.99!  The color goes on opaque and smoothly from the colors I've purchased so far.  With a topcoat of Seche Vite, they look so professional and are long-lasting!  I gave the girls their own bottles last night of one of my favorite coral colors.

F O U R
I popped in to Aldi yesterday and they had the most stunning two-foot orchids for $4.99.  If you are an orchid lover, you know this price is INSANE.  I got this perfectly white orchid and I love how the backs of the flowers are a light lavender color.  For less than a Starbucks trip, this was such a find.

F I V E
Sweet Christina gave me this coconut shampoo that smells absolutely delicious!  Our co-hostess for this linkup Darci is also a big fan and I can't wait to try it out!  I love anything coconut and I've also been on a sulfate-free shampoo kick, so this was such a sweet surcee.

That's my five for the day ... I am super stoked about the weekend (and a relaxing one at that!).  Happy Friday to you, and I can't wait to read your five!

Back To School!

My schooling days are long behind me and we don't have children yet to be gearing up for back to school, but I have just loved seeing all of the fun back to school pictures on my Facebook feed!

Adorable lunchbox creations, chalkboard printables (like these from my gal pal Darci), and oh my GRACIOUS the first day outfits ... I can't get enough of them!  So much for the Lunchables and 4-pack Oreos I used to throw in my paper lunch bag and call it a balanced meal, right?!

School supplies are always a favorite, and I found the most adorable blogger who is offering printable monogrammed binder covers in Lilly prints.





I mean, you certainly don't have to be a student to use these -- they would be really cute inserts for a recipe binder or wedding inspiration binder (oh WAIT, nobody makes those anymore thanks to Pinterest!).  Full disclosure: I still have my wedding inspiration binder.

Anyway ... Here is the link to make your own!
Let me know if you go for it.  :)

Hope to see you all back here tomorrow for our 5 On Friday link-up!

Chai Tea Lattes: An Easy Substitution

Last Friday I had a morning doctor appointment.  You know what that means ... this gal is treating herself afterwards!  

I guess it started at an early age with our local pediatrician.  I remember walking out of the exam room, puffy-eyed and still sniffling from having to get a shot (hate 'em!) but really excited to be sporting a sticker and pushing up a red ice pop.  The art of positive connotation, ya'll.

My treat of choice on Friday was a soy chai tea from Panera.  Which was incredible.  Except for the 200 calorie count it carries.  I will give props to Panera -- their nutritional information is extremely visible on the menu (and also on this easy-to-use site) so I knew exactly what I was ordering.  But still.  I may have had a little bit of order remorse afterwards.

Enter ... my favorite new substitution!  I found these Cafe Escapes Chai Latte K-Cups at Bed Bath & Beyond and I am here to tell you that they are AWESOME.  Each K-Cup already has the sweetener and cream added, so all you do is brew it in your Keurig and start sipping.

Nutritional Info: Cafe Escapes Chai Latte

Calories: 60

Fat: 2.5g (saturated fat)

Cholesterol: 0mg

Sodium: 170mg

Carbohydrates: 9g

Sugar: 7g

Protein: 1g

Nutritional Info: Panera Chai Tea

Calories: 200

Fat: 4g (2.5g saturated fat)

Cholesterol: 15mg

Sodium: 90mg

Carbohydrates: 33g

Sugar: 32g

Protein: 7g

Nutritional Info: Starbucks Chai Tea Latte (tall with skim)

Calories: 160

Fat: 0g

Cholesterol: 5mg

Sodium: 80mg

Carbohydrates: 34g

Sugar: 32g

Protein: 6g

You can see that the Panera and Starbucks options do have more protein and less sodium, but they are significantly higher in calories, carbohydrates, and sugar.  For me, I am good about getting my protein through food sources and I am not (on most days) a big consumer of sodium, so overall the K-Cups are a better option for me.  And they are SO tasty!  

Cost-wise, you can get 16 K-Cups for $9.59 if you use your 20% off coupon at BB&B.  That comes out to $0.60/cup.  Do we even need to compare this to the other options?

I just couldn't wait to share this great find with you!

Hummus Rice Fritters: Recipe

Last night Ian had to work really late -- he didn't end up getting home until about 11:30.  I don't know about you, but the moment I find out I'll be solo for dinner, the thought of cooking an elaborate meal sort of flies out the window.  Basically, I start thinking "Do we have any cereal in the pantry?"

I did remember a recipe I pinned the other night and I just happened to have all of the ingredients on hand.  Bingo.  These hummus rice fritters were so easy to put together!

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups precooked brown rice
1 cup prepared traditional hummus
3 tablespoons flour
1/8 teaspoon ground red pepper (cayenne)
1 large egg white

Directions:
Heat 1-2 tablespoons olive oil in a pan on medium heat.  Combine brown rice, hummus, flour, cayenne, and egg white in a food processor and blend together.  Drop heaping tablespoons of the mixture on the heated pan and flatten slightly with a spatula.  Flip when golden brown to cook the other side.

We had hummus in the fridge, and our Chinese takeout from Friday night left us with a box of cooked brown rice in the fridge just waiting to be used.  Perfect!

I actually halved the recipe, which made four large fritters.  Halving the recipe is easy except for when it comes down to the one egg white it calls for.  I just chose the smallest egg in the carton and used that entire egg white.  

You don't need to pan-fry these in a lot of olive oil, just a small amount to keep them from sticking to the pan.  I flipped mine a few times just to make sure I wasn't cooking them too long.

I used the "Recipes" feature of my My Fitness Pal app to add the ingredients for calorie count.  Assuming that all was added correctly, each fritter is about 150 calories.  Being that this counted as my protein (hummus) and complex carb (rice), and the shredded lettuce I served it over is about 5 calories per cup, it was still a low-calorie meal for me when it was all said and done.

While I was perfectly fine eating this as is, Ian is a sauce man and he would definitely prefer this with a sauce added.  I think it would be really great paired with a mixture of plain Greek yogurt, lemon juice, pepper and garlic.

I will definitely be making these again soon since they are easy, quick, and healthy!  What other sauces would you add to yours?

Workin' On My Fitness

Working in a health-related field, you would think that I make workouts a priority every day.  Well -- let's just say that I have a little room for improvement.  Staying healthy overall is a daily goal I strive to meet, but sometimes I find myself in a predicament like I did last Friday ... it was 2pm and my calorie tracker on My Fitness Pal showed that I had 127 calories left to consume to stay under goal for the rest of the day.  Yikes.

Double yikes was that I'd already planned on having copious amounts of red wine and Chinese takeout that evening to soothe a bad day.  So, that happened.  And it was more than 127 calories.

The easiest way to offset that situation would have been to get in a post-work workout, which didn't happen this time around, but it's something that I'm vowing to make a priority this week.

via

Arms are a big priority to me, especially after I stumbled upon some wedding photos last night, reminding me what they are capable of looking like (most certainly different than how they look now).  

I do keep a 5lb and 10lb free weight under the couch for commercial breaks, but I need to improve the frequency on using them.

via

One thing that I truly believe is that a gym membership can make working out easier, but it's not a necessity. There are so many exercises you can do at home using your own body weight as resistance. I need to print out this chart below as a reminder of a 6-minute workout that can be done at home or in a hotel room on a towel while I'm traveling.

via

So, this week I vow to do the following:

// Do some sort of workout every day, logging any neighborhood walks on my Map My Run app

// Make a concerted effort to eat healthier and log my calories on the My Fitness Pal app

// Always have my water bottle nearby

// Stick to our detox Monday and detox Tuesday schedule (no alcohol these nights)

If you are on My Fitness Pal and want to see what I'm logging for exercise and nutrition, you can find me there under the username April8228.

To keep me accountable, I'll share my week's progress on Friday's 5 On Friday post.  Feel free to join along!

Five On Friday!

It's time for 5 On Friday once again!  As I mentioned yesterday, even if you don't have a blog, feel free to leave a comment with your five below.  Here are my five this lovely Friday.

O N E
I've heard such awesome reviews about this Josie Maran Argan Oil ($14) and as soon as I saw the email hit my inbox from Sephora saying that members are earning double points now, it went up to the top of my list. Can't wait to pick this up tomorrow!

T W O
One thing I love for sure is a nice, long bath. It is such a relaxing way to end the evening and get ready for bed. Just the other day, after getting frustrated with not being able to read on my iPad without hanging over the side of the tub, I picked up a bamboo bathtub shelf. I just love it! It has a designated place for a wine glass (hellooo!) and a stand that flips up to hold your book or iPad. Here's a similar one. It is blissful.

T H R E E
Oh my goodness, this hair.  Lord knows I love a good pouf and this just takes the cake.  I'll be practicing this look shortly.  She obviously earned a spot on my Gorgeous Tresses board on Pinterest.

F O U R
Blog organization.  See those words under the "Labels" category at right?  I've been working to update my old posts to make it easier to search for certain posts.  So, for example, now you have an easy way of seeing all posts about holidays, weddings, beauty products, et cetera! It has been taking a while and I'm not close to being done, but I've got a good start on it. Organization makes me happy.  :)

F I V E
Well said, very well said.

via

I hope you'll join me along with Darci, Natasha, and Christina ... playing along is simple!  Just write a blog about five things on your mind today, anything goes really, post the logo below on your blog, and then enter your post address below in the link-up section.

Find Me...

Today you will find me at Chelsea Notes sharing the recipe for my Blueberry Cucumber cocktail (visit me here)!

Chelsea's blog is one of my favorites.  Talk about an adorable family!  I love her posts about cooking and home decor, and let me tell you -- I think she has the best style.  Chelsea, please come be my personal stylist!

Don't forget -- tomorrow is the 5 On Friday link-up!  I'd love to see your five tomorrow, so even if you haven't played along yet, I hope you'll join!  Also, for those of you that don't have a blog, come on back here tomorrow and let me know in the comments section what your 5 On Friday are.  :)

(to get this image on your post, you can always right click on it, select copy, and then right click on your blog post and paste it right in.  additionally, if you are familiar with html code, you can visit darci's blog and scroll down to get the html code for the button)

Last Call For White Jeans?

If you follow the rules (which I like to break), Labor Day is the time when we all pack away our summer clothes, including our white jeans.

White jeans and me, well we're like peas and carrots.

(Is it obvious we watched Forrest Gump last night?)

So while I personally do like to break the rules from time to time, I also always try to get in my fair share of white-jeans-wearing before the start of September.  Here are five looks for both work and play that I love.

To Work

via

source not found

via

source not found

source not found

To Play

via

via

source not found

via

via

What white jean rule do you follow?  Are you, like me, trying to sneak in a lot of white jeans outfits before Labor Day, only then to decide not to put them up for the summer?