Gettin There....

Good afternoon dears!

Soooo. I haven't done a great job of posting lately, but I've totally kept up with [most] of my pictures! Like theeeese guys

chia seed pudding

 BIIIG salad with spinach, cuke, carrots, asparagus, + tomatoes

 

banana + pb; handful of almonds!

 steamed kale; sweet tater with coconut buttah + cinnamon!

 get in thurrrr

toast with fudgie paste

Those were most of my eats from Tuesday, but the best part of that day? Here's a hint, it wasn't the food (that was hard to type.) It was the spinning class I went to! I haven't been to spinning in forever, and I finally found a great studio by my house! The class was super small (like five or six people) and the instructor was great. Seriously, this workout flew by, I practically wasn't ready for it to be over. We stretched a little at the end of class, but I still did a couple minutes of stretching in yoga poses when I got home. 

So. Much. Fun!

But this class also got me thinking about how music can make a workout feel like it's going faster than it actually is. I hadn't heard most of the music that they played during this one, and I think it really kept me going!

Wednesday morning also started fabulously. Kinda like this

Such a tasty green monster! 1c rice milk, 1 scoop chocolate greensuperfood, 1/2t maca powder, 1 frozen banana, and TONS of spinach. As you can see, this made tons of smoothie, and it was literally overflowing! But it was soooo worth it (: 

Wednesday was full of bananas -- I literally think I had three (maybe even four?!) One with breakfast. The second like this -- 

 

Frozen sliced banana w/TONS of cinnamon. Apparently, my food processor doesn't like to do any more work. So for now -- banana soft serve, homemade larabars, and other food processor-y treats will just have to wait. 

#i'mtooimpatientforthis

Wednesday night, I had a great date with the elliptical! I know some people don't like the elliptical, but I kinda like being able to zone out -- its some of my best TV watching time! Like last night, when I watched an hour of NCIS and confirmed my goal of being able to be Ziva. 

She's the bessst (:

Onto Thursday, breakfast was pretty typical, but I also totally forgot to take a picture. Whoooops. But lunch! That was pretty spectacular...

Underneath alllll those veggies was some cold lentils from TJ's -- the best I've had! Every time I try to make lentils myself, something bad happens. I forget about them, I don't cook them long enough, I burn the hell out of my finger... Ya know, the ushe. Anyways, this bowl had lentils, cuke, carrots, asparagus, & annie's light honey mustard dressing. This was so tasty! I was lovin itttt (:

Senior Search was pretty good this morning -- yesterday was Grandparent's Day, and today was Mother's Day, and it was so funny to watch the kids & parents interact! I love when the kids look exactly like their parents, I think its so funny! 

Tomorrow is a big day! It's my LAST AP EXAM -- which means when I'm finished, I'll be totally finished with high school! The only thing standing between me & my diploma is a presentation about my senior project, which is why I've been taking tons of pictures of it (: 

Have you done spinning?

It's been forever since I've done it & I can't wait to go back!

What's your ideal workout play list?

I LOVE Ke$ha, and I have to have something by her on every one of my workout playlists!  

Have you watched NCIS?

My obsession with this show is kiiiinda outta control (:

Samantha

Unstuffed

Hay therrre (:

So this is the second time I'll be putting up a post the day after I meant to. And my blog is only a week old. I'm sooo #responsible. (SO for reference -- when I say "today" in this post, I mean Monday.

Really, this just didn't go up last night because I got home late from work and didn't feel like doing much -- a downside to working evenings! But at the same time, working mornings makes me feel like I lose my whole day to work! I'm just lucky that I love my job as much as I do! Otherwise.... well, Saturday mornings would reduce me to tears. Not that I'm dramatic. Or anything like that.

Back to Monday... Senior Search was relatively uneventful! So strange to expect calamity, isn't it? That's preschoolers for ya! I actually spent most of the morning running around taking pictures! I'm on yearbook staff + we don't have yearbook photos for some of the kids in the Montessori. Today I only knocked out about half the kids on my list so I still have some work to do! 

Of COURSE I had to eat something before I started with the witttle babies! My day started with the orange+vanilla rooibos (addicccteedd) and pumpkin protein pudding from Gabriela!

Made with the usual, but I was a litttttle heavy handed with the peanut butter (; Oh well, I guess I'll survive somehow. (/Dramatic.) Also, I know that it's summer and all, but I still love me some pumpkin! Clearly my body just is dying to look tanner. Slash oranger (more orange? #grammarwhiz)

Also. I have decided that my rooibos tea is literally the perfect summer tea. It's got tons of flavor, but isn't overpowering and it kinda reminds me of an orange dreamsicle! (Do they still sell those?!)

[note from Tuesday: And now I'm craving an orange. Probs a little bit from the heat wave we've got in Cincinnatiii (: ]

I wasn't starving when I got home, so I took a couple minutes to do some bloggg readin! I saw Carrie's bowl of oats and instantly got the cravin! Pretty soon, I was in the kitch crack-a-lackin on my lunch! 

The result? Pure, warm, creamy bliss. I used 1/3c oat bran, 1 banana (3/4 whipped in, 1/4 for topping), 3T peanut flour, some vanilla+almond extracts, and topped it with TJ's superfruit spread, TJ's creamy peanut butter, coconut butter (YEEEESSS) and the aforementioned banana! Oh my lanta, this was so yum!

I had to head back to school around 3:15 to pick up my brother (we live super close) so I really just killed time with google reader, tv, & napping in the sun! I live a hard life. 

Today was a rest day, so my appetite wasn't that of a pregnant elephant as usual. But I made sure to grab a snack before I left for work. And it. Was. Epic. 

Oh yes. Banana soft-serve & a homemade Larabar! (Technically a homemade Katebar since I used Katelyn's recipe, but whattteva.) I can't believe I've never had either of these before!! Seriously, Gena wasn't kidding -- that banana soft serve changed my life. (I'm all about the dramatic today, I don't understand this.) I was so happy the entire time I was at work -- and I'm pretty sure it was like 97% because of this! 

Work was also really really good today! I was exhausted at the end, though -- which is why I was so thankful that I had leftovers from last night ready to go! 

"Unstuffed" Spaghetti Squash!

Buttttt then my impatience kicked in. I put the spaghetti squash half in the oven for 8 minutes (aka ETERNITY) and the vegetables at the very bottom were still cold! I immediately dumped the contents into a big bowl and microwaved them. Oh, and then topped it with Daiya (: Impatience brings about great great decisions, my friends. I was so hungry I couldn't even get an unblurry picture -- I dove right in! I almost finished it but I didn't want to be too full, ya know?

Just as I was climbing into bed, I got the most intense craving for a green monster! I love how my body craves nutrients like that now (: So I ran downstairs and fired up the blender... and promptly was yelled at because the blender was louder than the basketball game hahah.

Recycled picture. Because apparently I don't remember to use my camera for a good shot at 10:45. (And that's a late night for me. YEAAAAH party)

ANYWAYS I hope yall liked the Monday recap! I totally meant for it to go up last night. Guess nootttt (:

Have you made banana soft serve?!

I honestly don't want to wait to make it again. I'm dying.

Are you impatient?

Maybe I should do something about this. Ehhhh.

Should I make my rest days into yoga days?

I feel like it would be super productive... but I kinda like being lazy!

 

Samantha 

The Best Way to Start a Sunday?

* a note from Samantha:

This post was supposed to go live Sunday night, but my 

computer didn't want to upload the photos. 

Technology, you have won again.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Pancakes. 

Specifically, peanut-butter pancakes (: 

I remember being little & always seeing my mom eat peanut butter with bananas. I always associate the taaasty combo with her now! So even though I was at my Dad's house for this mother's day, I decided to make a breakfast I knew was made right after my mommy dear's own heart! Enter my best creation.... like, ever. 

Chocolate-Peanut-Banana Cakes

MMMmm! Look at those guys! Seriously, these were to-die-for good!

In the mix:

-1/4c peanut flour

-2T wheat bran

-1/2 a melted banana

-1/4t baking soda

-scant 1/2 c rice milk

-toppings: other 1/2 the banana, 1T chia seeds, & a fudgie!

My dad even took a bite of these & he was a fan! #Winning

Of course, since it was Mother's Day and all, I had to see my mommy dearest! We planned on going to Lululemon for some shopping (!!!!) but since we only have a showroom, the store isn't open on Sundays! Booooo ): at least she & I are gonna go on Saturday now, after I get off of work! I'm so excited, I'm gonna have to hide my wallet from myself! If you're wondering how far my relationship(read: infatuation & obession) with Lululemon goes, lemme paint you a picture. 

As I'm typing up this post, I'm wearing Lululemon pants, Lululemon top (on sale at the Orlando outlet! Lovin itttt), and drinking out of my stainless steel Lululemon water bottle. It's a problem for my bank account.  Speaking of that water bottle, the toddler program director for my Senior Search saw my water bottle and we got into a huge discussion about how obessed we are! Turns out, we were both at the Lululemon outlet store in Orlando (we live in Ohio) within two days of each other! It was so crazy! Hahahaha I love stories like that though (:

Once Mommy & I realized the Lululemon trip was gonna be a no go, we decided to meet up for coffee instead! We walked to a little local place that's pretty close between her house & my Dad's and I dragged my brother along hahah. Since I don't drink coffee ("My name's Samantha, & I was a caffeine addict.") I just rolled with some San Pellegrino I saw right by the counter! I love how fun sparkling water isss! My mom, brother, & I sat in the coffee shop and chatted for about an hour and it was such a great way to spend the day! I hope my Mom had as much fun as Will & I did! 

When I got home, I was el haaaangry -- and a salad beast was completely in order. This one had butter lettuce (my new favorite), mushrooms, zucchini, carrots, & tomatoes. I seriously love my salad beast meals! They feel so fresh and tasty and make me so happy once I'm finished with them (:

I had a couple of errands to run today, including the grocery store & the book store. While I was picking up Animal Farm for my brother, I also found this little gem hiding out...

I got Veganomicon!!! 

I'm sooo excited for all the sweet & incredible recipes in there, even my family was excited about some of the stuff they saw! I'm gonna crank out as many of these recipes as I can before I'm excommunicated from a kitchen (read: working with dorm room materials). I see some good stuff comin' up (;

Errands were followed by a nice, quick 30 minute run. My ankle started hurting pretty early so I didn't push it and just took it easy. Then I came home for a yoga video with Jillian -- this was my first experience with JM, and OH. MY. WORD. 

She's incredible and also makes me want to cry. I did the thirty minute Yoga Meltdown and I was really feelin it! I love great workouts from yoga, they feel like I hit all my bases!

Seriously, she's awesome. I'm gonna be watching tons of her videos from now on.

Attempting to follow along with The Thrive Diet ideals, I had a nice little green smoothie as soon as I got out of the shower! It was jussstt right (:

-1c rice milk

-1 scoop chocolate greensuperfood

-1/2t maca powder

-2 big handfuls of baby spinach

-handful of frozen mixed berries

I'm not sure if it was the amazing grass powder or the berries (or both?!) but this smoothie had the funniest dark brown color! My brother took one look at it, rolled his eyes, and walked away. And I sipped happily the whole time! 

Not too long after the dirtdelicious smoothie, it was dinnahhh time! I took a cue from Courtney for dinner, and rolled with the stuffed spaghetti squash! 

Courtney, this was fantastic! Great recipe gal pal (: I used zucchini, yellow squash, mushrooms, carrots, marinara, & nutritional yeast to replicate the dish. Good thing there are leftovers for tomorrow night!!

I spent the rest of the night flipping through Veganomicon and writing down all the recipes I wanna try! The list is getting lonnnng pretty quickly (:

Anyways, I'm off to have my snack! Not sure what that is yet though haha

Do you prefer pancakes or waffles? I've always had a tendency for pancakes... maybe because 'cake' is in their name
Have you experienced Lululemon (:
In a baaaaad way. Yes. I've been stalking their site since I turned on my computer. #Ineedrehab
What is your favorite cookbook?
Before I went vegan, my dad had this one about southern cooking from Pat Conroy. It was like a story mixed in with a cookbook and it was really incredible. Some delicccccious stuff in there -- although I don't think a single recipe was vegan (; 

Samantha

Three Weeks

Hey blog-a-linis! Happy Friday!


Personally, I'm pretty excited (: I know I don't have like, real school anymore -- just my Senior Search -- but the weekend just gives me such a good feeling! Even if I do have an extra three and a half hours of work tomorrow. Oh weellll. Anyways, I hope you guys are having a good Friday!
For me, Friday afternoons have always translated to some pretttty good TV watching! Vampire Diaries & Community -- my two favorite shows -- are on at 8 on Thursday nights, so I usually don't get to watch them until Friday (: But it's all totally worth is to see Ian Somerhalder. God I'm obsessed. 


Anyways, onto the activities of the day! 
Working with the little kiddies this morning was a total blast! It was a fairly easy day, save for a few tears from a four year old. My physics teacher from last year came to do a presentation for the kids and it was hilarious because I totally failed at making the experiment work when she explained it to us like adults... but when she explained it to preschoolers, it totally clicked for me. Sorry college, I'm gonna go to preschool next year instead. They get nap time. (:


Actually, get this: graduation weekend is only three weeks away! WHHHAAATTT?! I'm so freaked+excited+ready-ish at the same time!! Alumni induction is on Friday and then graduation mass is Sunday. At my school, we graduate in floor length white dresses, but I don't wanna show you guys a picture until the actual day! HAHAHHAAA secrecy. 

I also managed to squeeze in a workout into my suuuuper-unbusy day (: I love having these now! I got to sit outside & read The Thrive Diet for like ever! I'm loving it, by the way! It's super interesting and totally clears up a lot of the questions that I've had about veganism+healthy eating. Anyways, I hit up the ellipticizzile (sup making up words) for a really easy thirty minutes while I watched some of an episode of House! Since it was so nice, I also took my puuuuppyy for a quick twenty minute walk! I love sunshiiine


Now for some eeeaaaats!
I didn't post yesterday, and I probs won't on Thursdays just cause they're so busy for me (work+other daily stuff), and I didn't snap a picturrre of any of my food. Maybs that can just be my like, chill-no-blog-worries day? We shall seeee.


This morning, howeva, I was a good blogger & had my little morning photoshoot! 

SUCH a tasty breakfast! The bowl was a variation of Wednesday's, with 1/3c oat bran, 1/4c wheat bran, 1T peanut butter, ~1/3c almond milk, + 1 scoop Amazing Grass Chocolate Drink Powder (I think I made that name up... I kinda forgot what it's called for real.) & I topped it with a fudgie a la Carrie! It was so good I had to tweet about it (: AND OH MY LORD that tea was the best one I've ever had. I picked it up at WF cause I ran out of my other stuff and it's a rooibos -- orange creme & VANILLA. Get at me. I was like... floored by how this good was! I craved it the rest of the day! 
After I left the preschoolers, I was jonesing for some salad bar action. And I caved because, what the hell, it's Friday (FRIIIday gettin' down on FRIIIday). Check out this monnnstaa:

So. Frickin. Tasty.!! And massive... spinach, romaine, roasted corn salad, quinoa, blackbeans, chick peas, red peppers, cukes, chipotle tofu (TOO spicy! had to pick it out!), carrots, & WF's Cucumber+Tomato salad (the best thing they have. Seriously.) And I topped it with the uuusual Annie's Light Honey Mustard. If it ain't broke, don't fix it! After I threw together the salad, I somehow ended up in the freezer section... How did that happen? (; I found this little gem...

How did these end up in my basket?! Oh right. I couldn't resist (: I seeecretly may have had one as my lunch dessert... and it was strawberrybananachocolate bliss, I tell you! So yummm! While I was checking out, I also snagged a KIND bar, which I've never tried before! 

Please ignore my horribly unpainted nails (: it's on my to-do list as soon as this post goes live... along with graduation announcements.... le sigh. Back to the KIND bar! It was super tasty! I ate it with a microwaved+mashed banana+about 1T peanut butter. I cant believe I've never tried any of these before! The coconut was so good in here! I was impressed to say the least (:


Around six, my tummy started grumblin' for dinnnn, so I got to cookin! 

Baked Tofu + Roasted Broccoli + Brown Rice

"Magic Toast" from Chef Katelyn

OH MY GOD. This toast was so. Damn. Good. Seriously I didn't want it to end! Hah it totally outshone my main dinner! I'm thinkin' I know what my dessert is gonna look liiiike!

Alright sweetie pies, I'm gonna peace out for the night. I've got a date with Brendan Brazier (: 

And graduation announcements. Sorry Brendan.

See yall tomorrow! 

Samantha

My questions of zeee daaaay! 

What was/is your graduation like?

I still need to get my dress hemmed... sup 5'2" frame.

Do you have a special 'personal day' of the week?

I just like my weekends! OH. And summer is just one lonnnnng ass weekend!

Have you tried KIND bars?! 
Do I need to try any other kinds?! I loved this one!

Flow-Tastic

Haaaay gangaroos! 


So what have yall done with your days? Cause thus far, mine has been niiiiice & lazy (: Just the way I like it! Lemme tell you, it was C-O-L-D in Cincinnati this morning! I was freeeeezing in yoga pants and a sweatshirt. Then again, I spent the morning with my preschool class walking around a park! It was fun to see the park with the kids, but I think we all could have done without the cold. One poor little girl couldn't even warm up on the bus ride home! She's the cutest thing ever though, I'm actually jealous of her eyelashes at age seventeen! Random tangent-- I have SUUUPER short eyelashes, but they're still longer & thicker than my mom's (her first words to my dad when I was born: "Oh thank GOD she got your eyelashes..."). They've gotten thicker & healthier since I started using Bare Escentuals Buxom Lashliner, and it's actually super easy to put on! I'll do a review post on this eventually (;

One of the preschoolers!

We decided just to eat lunch back at school instead of the picnic we had planned on because no one wanted to put up with the cold any more! Seriously Cincinnati, it's May. Please get your act together and GET WARRRM. Despite the chilliness of this morning's weather, I still had an overnight breakfast (: heheheh. And lemme tell ya, it was SO GOOD:

In the bowl (based off of Katelyn's Cookie Dough in a Bowl):
-1/3c oat bran
-1 scoop banana spirutein
-1/4c wheat bran
-1/3c rice milk
-1T unsalted creamy peanut butter
-topped with 5 sliced strawbs (yuuuummm)


Lemme tell ya, Katelyn is a genius for this combo. It was tasty & thick, but not so much like a Fitnessista Breakfast Cookie. Plus, cookie dough has always been more of my thing than the actual cookies (; Anywhizzle, this bowl kept me full throughout our frosty trek & made it much easier to tell the kids that we would be having lunch "super super soon!". (Which was kinda not true. But they started asking at 10 AM.) It was fun (for me, probably not for any of the moms) to see what parents were packing for their kids for lunch! I thought it was so cool to see how few kids were getting Cheetos and how many kids who were getting stuff like organic applesauce & carrot sticks! It shows that healthy eating is really starting to catch on! Lovin' itttt.


I had a pretty impressive spread for myself when I got home, plus all those kids with carrot sticks were making me crave some myself! I boiled some lentils for about 30 minutes, mashed em a little bit, and spread them onto two pieces of sprouted Ezekiel seven grain bread!

All the lentils didn't fit onto the sandwich, though, so I ate the rest on the side. Oh, and I stuck some spinach into the sandwich too, for some greeeeeens (: Strawbs & carrots on the side! After lunch, I was feeling a little antsy, so I decided to go out and do something. Since senior year is over (SENYAAAAS) I actually have free time now! I'm so not used to this, especially since I used to work Wednesday nights but my boss told me on Monday that the classes were small enough that I didn't need to come in! Anyways, the point is that I have free time now, which means I can read for fun again! Katelyn has talked a ton about The Thrive Diet by Brendan Brazier (ps when I googled him I decided he was WAY attractive. Just saayin.) So I went out & bought it for myself!

So far, I like it a lot! I've only made it through the first chapter, cause I keep getting sidetracked. #TypicalSamantha. The idea of nutritional stress is really interesting though, I can't wait to read more! But, Hugh Jackman for the intro? Didn't see that one coming! 


Of course, reading all about nutrition stirred up my appetite to eat something Mr. Brazier would approve of! Enter my green monster of the day!

Thrive-Approved Green Monster:
-1c unsweetened rice milk (and now my box is empty, sucks.)
-1 banana
-1 scoop spirutein
-1 scoop chocolate greensuperfood from amazing grass (on sale at WF!)
-about half a box of spinach, this was no joke
-ice
-xanthan gum
-2 chia seeds
-topped with a scoop of peanut butter!


This bad boy was maaaasive! And thick, delicious, & tasty. After I finished this, I peaced out for a little to go watch my brother's lacrosse game! He's a sophomore at my school & is a starter on the team -- they're actually playing really well this year! What I think is so funny about lacrosse (or LAX) is the culture that goes along with it! All the preppy clothes, the flow, the chill bro life. Yes, Branford Winstonworth, I'm looking at you. "I mean, D1 is D1." Oh, but what's flow?

That would be flow -- the outrageously long hair on boys. My brother is a champ at growing it. (This is a picture of he & I at pre-prom, his practice let out just as we were finishing taking pictures!)


I left with about a quarter left in the game, cause my belly was grumbliiiin. Time for my dinner! And you know what? This Mom has the best dinner ideas. I had the Strawberry and Roasted Chickpea Salad from Mama Pea, and even with my modifications, it was darrrrn tasty (:

Spinach, strawbs, chickpeas, & almonds -- dressed in Annie's Lite Honey Mustard because I was too lazy to make my own --> why is this a trend in my life?!


I've got a date planned with the elliptical at my Mom's house in about thirty minutes, and Modern Family starts at 9! Oh, and everyone should watch Happy Endings which comes on at 10! I love that show (:


I'm gonna try to settle in with my book until it's ellipticizing time! Have a good night, dears!


Is lax popular where you live?
It's so huge here! Taking the city by storm (;
What's your favorite make-up product?
Mine's either the Buxom Lashliner I mentioned (which is supposed to help foster lash growth, and I think it kinda does!) or Bare Escentuals Warmth Face Color. It's like a super-easy super-pretty bronzer that is tough to mess up!
What's your favorite book?
I'm still looking for recommendations! I wanna read a ton before I leave for Clemson!


(:Samantha