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

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!