Direction.

The beginning of a new chapter :)

For over a year now, I had been contemplating enrolling in the program to become a Holistic Health Coach/Counselor*, and I have finally taken that first step (this is huge for me)!  Improving upon my health & wellness has been at the forefront of my mind for the longest.. and I can't wait to use what I learn to help others improve their own lives.

So, the status of my lovely little blog here is uncertain. Maybe this will be my personal blog... but I lost sight of my original direction -- as kindly pointed out by one of my best friends :) -- and I stopped blogging. The "blog in my head" (lol) has never stopped, and I constantly have new ideas for blog posts and things I wanted to write about. But for some reason, they never went any further than the keyboard.  Part of it was the "perfectionist" in me, wanting to make sure every single post was exactly right. And instead of having fun, I ended up overthinking things, getting stressed, worrying about what others thought... and nothing would get posted.

But now comes my new direction.

As part of program, I will be given my very own website to use as a marketing tool for potential clients. I can't wait -- I've been told that the websites are awesome. I plan to start and stay committed to my website and a new blog, focusing on wellness, nutrition and my work as a Health Coach. There, I'll post those recipes and ideas that I had originally intended to put onto this  blog. I would like to keep you, my lovely mini-group of readers, as followers of my new website/blog when the time comes. So please stay tuned, if you're still interested! Thanks for reading.

*In case you wanted to know...

"A Health Coach is a wellness authority and supportive mentor who motivates individuals to cultivate positive health choices. Health Coaches educate and support clients to achieve their health goals through lifestyle and behavior adjustments. Proper health coach training programs and health coach certification ensure that Health Coaches know how to work with diverse groups of people and equips them with the tools necessary to best fit the needs of their clients."
Integrative Nutrition

A Prince Marries his Princess :)

 

This Friday, April 29th is a big day in England's history - 

 Prince William will marry his "princess" Kate Middleton!

I know there is so much hype around the wedding in the media but I have always been a long-time fan of Prince William so I wanted to do my own little post in honor of him and his soon-to-be princess! I think he's just so handsome (photo evidence below!) and though the middle-schooler in me is sad that my chance of becoming a princess is now long gone (haha), I'm so excited to see him happy with a "normal" and down-to-earth girl. It makes him seem more like a regular person and not just a stuffy British Royal. It seems that his lovely mother had taught him well :o)

And of course I have to feature photos of Prince William's beautiful bride-to-be, Kate. She has a really simple & classic style, similar to his gorgeous & elegant mother Princess Diana. Some of my favorite outfits of hers... loooove those fancy British hats/fascinators!

The best husband ever surprised me with this lovely magazine a few weeks ago, knowing my fascination (and mild obsession?) with the Royal Wedding whirlwind :o)

I'm looking forward to watching the William & Kate's wedding - they seem to be really happy & in love. I don't think I'll be up at 3am to watch it (it begins at 9am London time) but I'll definitely have the TV on the rest of the evening, celebrating their love with my love :o)

"Spring is HERE!" Inspiration palette

I am loving the spring weather and can't wait to work on projects to liven up our apartment and our palettes (taste-wise!). Spring means bright, airy & happy colors as well as fresh, clean, simple flavors.

So, I put together an inspiration palette that will help me spark some ideas for upcoming projects and future recipes.

Natural light, bright colors

Great desk area

Some antique, classy decorations

Entryway inspiration

Jewelry display

Kitchen additions

My dream pantry (just for fun!)

And with warm weather of course comes spring & summer fruits and veggies (from my hubby's parents' & grandparents' gardens!!) Can't wait :o)



Summer berries (in tart form, of course!)

Grilled peaches

Garden cucumbers

Roasted garden tomatoes, goat cheese, crusty bread

(all images found on Google)

All you need is...

Love! Okay since my last few posts have been on the topic of love, I'll follow the theme and end that "series" with a song... one of my favorites of all time. 

It's called "Make You Feel My Love" by Adele. The song was originally written by Bob Dylan and performed by some of the greats like Billy Joel, Garth Brooks and Bob Dylan himself. I think Adele's version is amazing & even better than the others (sorry, Dylan) mostly because Adele's voice is just gorgeous. For me, it's one of those songs that gives me chills whenever I hear it. 

I had this on loop one night while Steve & I were just relaxing.. it was the perfect theme for just being cheesy together, hehe. Or as my cousin recently taught me, "cupcaking" (being sweet on each other, haha.. new word for me).

So here it is... This is the version I liked better than the official video.. maybe it's the radio edit? Either way, I love this song.. makes my heart happy.

(p.s. I love that Blogger has some new fonts, hehe..)

I was reading some blogs one afternoon and came upon this cute post on a NYTimes.com blog. It's about describing your relationship using only six words. Fun, right?

Check out the article below, and then check out Smith Magazine's website here, where the article's info came from. They have tons more "Six-Word Memoirs" on a variety of topics (not just about love).  Some of the things people post are really clever.

Let's see if I can come up with one for us!  How about the obvious:
"Live simply, laugh often, love deeply"? Yea that works.. Or how about...

"First comes friendship, then comes forever."
"You, me - to infinity and beyond."
"I'm sweet, he's savory. Good mix"

The last one was a wacky one.. but I guess it has to do with our taste in foods! Thought it was fun :)

This is what I ended up posting on Smith's website: "Our motto: Laugh, love and eat!" I think that sums it up for us quite nicely... unless I come up with something more witty!

Now, for the article:

What’s Your Six-Word Love Story?

By TARA PARKER-POPE

Can you sum up a relationship in six words?

The readers of the Web site Smith Magazine are doing just that, offering six-word memoirs to describe both love and loss. Some examples:

Love hurts. Choose vodka or valium.

You lost me at hello “ma’am.”

Life’s like chocolates. Picked, processed, pooped.

Hearts clubbed by diamonds in spades.

Passion, fireworks, good loving. He’s gay.

But our domestic partnership was notarized….

Your new wife is too friendly.

There’s nothing sex can not fix.

Finally found love, at age 41.

Note to self: avoid head cases.

He wasn’t worth the panic attacks.

Chocolate is the coward’s bad apology.

Pet-sitting for ex-husband describes amicable divorce.

Loved her madly — then went mad.

Warning, love: I blog my breakups.

What do you think? Do you have six words to share about love, marriage and relationships? Please post your own six-word memoir below. And be sure to check out the Smith Magazine Web site for more six-word memoirs on happiness, teenagers, food and other topics.

So now the obvious question - what's YOURS?

Valentine's Day Dinner & a Recipe!

Can't believe it's been almost 3 weeks since my last post! But between phone crashes & upgrades and computer crashes & fixes (phew!) I haven't really had the chance to blog lately.. I will FINALLY get the ball rolling here with a post!

I should be heading to bed but I can't without posting the loveliness that I came home to after a long day of work.. We don't usually make a big fuss out of Valentine's Day (Steve is always romantic every other day of the year, lol) except to use it as an excuse to make "gourmet" meals and just spend the time together. Here's what my love made for me tonight...

We had roasted Alaskan salmon & Chilean sea bass (I had salmon, he had sea bass) that was marinated with soy sauce, lime, ginger, scallions and garlic (and possibly more ingredients?) with white rice and roasted asparagus. Yummy!

I knew what the menu was going to be beforehand (I even bought the ingredients, lol) but I didn't realize it'd be as fancy as this!  He sliced the lemons into very thin rounds and even made the scallions into these tiny, pretty pieces as garnish!

Mmmmm it was awesome. And he made everything! I loved it! Iloveyou, Stephen :o)

And of course, I took care of dessert and made us homemade chocolate peanut-butter cups, one of Steve's favorite chocolates (and he's not usually a fan of sweets). Wow those were so a-maaa-zing! Wish I could take credit for the recipe! I couldn't believe how easy they were to make and we had all the ingredients already. So that is the recipe I'm going to post here.  (If I can find out from Steve what he marinated the fish in, I'll post that another time.)

Hope everyone else had a lovely day with their loves... <3

Chocolate Peanut-Butter Cups
Adapted from Design*Sponge
Yields 12 cups





Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups chocolate, any kind - I used organic semi-sweet chips
1/4 cup powdered sugar
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/8 cup graham crackers, crushed into crumbs
1/2 tsp sea salt


** One main difference between this recipe & mine - my recipe is half of what the original recipe called for but I still had enough for 12 mini-cups!  Use the original recipe if you're using regular muffin tins (and making gigantic cups) or making 24 mini-cups. 


Directions:

1. Line a muffin pan with 12 paper liners. Set aside.

2. Melt 1 1/2 cups of the chocolate in a double boiler. Alternately, you could do this using a microwave, melting the chocolate in short bursts. Remove the bowl of melted chocolate from the stove and turn off the heat.

3. Using the back of a spoon or a pastry brush, paint a layer of melted chocolate onto the bottoms and sides of the paper liners. Don’t skimp on chocolate here; coat the liners generously. Set the bowl aside with any remaining melted chocolate left in it. (I saved enough to coat the tops of the cups).

4. Put the muffin pan in the refrigerator for 20 minutes while you make the peanut-butter filling.

5. In a mixing bowl, combine the peanut butter, crushed graham crackers, powdered sugar and salt. Stir with a spoon until well combined.

** I skipped this step because I had enough chocolate leftover: 6. Return the bowl used to melt the chocolate to the top of the double boiler. Turn the heat to medium-high. Add more chocolate if desired

7. Meanwhile, divide peanut-butter mixture into 12 even amounts. (I used a cutting board while doing this to have a surface to rest the mounds on.)

8. Remove the muffin pan from the refrigerator. Put one mound into each paper liner. Tap down each mound with your fingertips to “nest” it into the chocolate bottom.

9. By now, the chocolate added to the double boiler should all be melted. Using a spoon, dollop the top of each peanut butter mixture mound with a generous portion of chocolate.

10. Use the back of a teaspoon to smooth out the tops (alternately, use the spoon to make a swirl atop each cup).

11. Place the muffin pan in the refrigerator. Within one hour, your cups should be set, depending how cold your fridge runs.

ENJOY!

Some sweet quotes =)

I don't usually like forwards (especially the ones that say your life is going to be cursed if you don't send it on, haha) but I was drawn to this one. I've always loved quotes -- I'm a huge nerd, I save them on a document on my computer, lol! At one point I used to write them down in a book.. I should go back to that someday.

Anyway, these photos that go along with the quotes are too cute.. Definitely made my day =)

My two favorites...

My little project & 3 more days...

My husband Steve has been away at his new job training for 12 - yes TWELVE - days! In newlywed time (yes, yes I still consider myself a newlywed, hehe) that's a long time to be apart.  I did get to see him over the weekend briefly, but it wasn't long enough. It's ok though - only 3 more days to go..!

In order to combat boredom and sadness from missing him too much, I decided to make sure to keep myself busy.  I haven't been cooking since he left (luckily my in-laws helped take care of me in that department, hehe..) so I did the little things around the apartment that I'd been wanting to do.

The one little project I'm most proud of is my makeup organization! I've recently developed an obsession with makeup (thanks to all the blogs I subscribe to) and I quickly ran out of room in my lavender Caboodles organizer from 1992 (haha) so I figured it was time for an upgrade!

I went to Michaels and found an awesome desktop crafts organizer on sale and thought it was perfect. It fit nicely inside my linen closet and had enough compartments for all my makeup - most of it at least! The rest is tucked into a little plastic drawer organizer on the side. And my brushes stand nicely in my repurposed mason jars filled with pretty rocks (the florist at my wedding used the jars for our bouquets!).  I'm hoping this'll jump start a bunch of projects I've been wanting to do for quite some time.

 

Anyway, so now I've got 3 days left until he returns - hoping the mister will be proud of my little project, though it doesn't pale in comparison to what he's done around here (seriously, he's done some major construction projects!). He really does so much for me and for our families - I'm so lucky & so blessed to have him. Aaaand to add to the cheesiness.. my friend Michele posted this on Facebook, which was the perfect quote to describe how I've been feeling while he's away..

If you have a wonderful man who helps balance your whole world...who isn't perfect, but is perfect for you... who works hard and would do anything for you.. who makes you laugh and drives you CRAZY, who is your best friend, who you want to grow old with, and who you are thankful for everyday, and who you could not live without, repost this!!! -- ♥...

Thank God, I do =)

'Twas a Merry "cooking" Christmas

It's been almost a month since Christmas now, but I must share how I think my family was sending me a "sign" with all the gifts they gave me for Christmas... see below!

Posing with my mom in my "Will cook for SHOES" apron (haha soooo me) and my mini Giada pot (what in the world will I cook in it, I have no clue, lol).

The ORGANIC spice rack from my sister-in-law Jen... looooooooove it

An awesome cast iron pan from my brother Ray.. Emeril, no less =)

And my "green" cooking pan (along with a bunch of baking items) from Steve!

All of these items are FOOD & COOKING related! (duh, haha). These are just a few of the many cool cooking-related items I got.. So, I'm taking this as a sign - I am meant to have a career involving food. Haha, that or maybe they just know I like to cook and want me to cook for them.. but either way works for me.

So bring it on 2011.. let's see what dishes I'll whip up, what culinary adventures await me, and maybe what cooking-related hobby (or even career?) I may pursue.. I'm hoping to motivate myself to blog about them all (the tasty & not so) as well as other things that "inspire" me this year!

Oh, and here's a few more pictures just for good measure. I love my family.