Staycation!

The pool has been calling my name all week and I've been listing to that instead of listing to my computer telling me to blog! Instead of updating you on everything I will tell you a few exciting things from the week and then blog about today!

Most importantly- Tropical Smoothie is now open! That is right Gainesville, VA now has a Tropical Smoothie- it is about time! I saw the Now Open sign on my way to babysitting Thursday morning and of course stopped there to get lunch on the way home. I got my go-to favorite smoothie- a Blimey Limey and a Hummus Veggie sandwich. It was even more amazing than normal because I hadn't had Tropical Smoothie in such a long time. My only complaint is that this one doesn't have the combos. I really wanted the half sandwich and smoothie combo but it all worked out because I just ate the other half of my sandwich for dinner that

Another exciting thing was a find at Giant. PINEAPPLE CHOBINI!?!?! If you know me at all you know I love all things pineapple. I saw this and literally was like Oh My God! Of course I bought some!
Dinner last night was this ginormous salmon. My mom bought it at Costco, thus the ginormousness of it. It didn't look this big in the package but when I pulled it out almost a quarter of it had been folded underneath because it was so big it didn't fit in the package. I saw someone else make Martha Stewarts Salmon with an Herbed Yogurt on their blog last week and so of course I tried it with my salmon. It was delicious. It was also super easy, I highly recommend this, especially if you are trying to impress people and have no time! It is literally greek yogurt, dijon mustard, dill, and parsley smeared on top of the salmon before you pop it in the oven. I loved the yogurt mixture with or without the salmon and found myself picking little pieces that flaked off when I put the leftovers away. Try this immediately!
On the side I had some eggplant that I marinated in balsamic vinegar and herbs. It was delicious too!
For breakfast this morning I busted out the pineapple chobini! It exceeded my expectations and I was very satisfied with it. My only complaint is they don't sell it in the big tubs and only in the single serving containers!
I mixed it with some Bear Naked Mango Almond Agave granola. It was pretty amazing, too bad I showed it to my dad and he sat down and ate half the bag. He loves mango and I knew he would love this granola too. The big chunks of dried mango were perfect with the pineapple yogurt!
Then for lunch I made the most delicious sandwich out of the leftover marinated eggplant, some tomatoes marinated in the leftover balsamic marinade for the eggplant, some fresh basil, vermont cheddar cheese, and a "mayo" that I made of greek yogurt, dijon mustard, and dill (essentially the same as the topping on the salmon only I was out of parsley). It was delicious!
Dinner was not as exciting as lunch was. My parents decided to grill hot dogs and I decided to try a veggie dog. I'm not going to lie I was a little disappointed. I love veggie burgers so I thought I might love veggie dogs, but that was not the case. It wasn't horrible it just wasn't that great. I wouldn't buy them again but I suppose I'll eat the rest of the ones I have in the pack. I much prefer my veggie burgers! To go with that I had some Annie's Mac and Cheese and some cherries.
My family is staycationing this week! We are going to go hiking at a couple places nearby, go to a dinner theater, and do other fun things! I was going to tell you I might not be blogging as usual, but I haven't been blogging as usual so it won't be much of a change! I think once summer is over I'll probably get back into a more regular schedule but right now I choose laying out by the pool and reading over sitting inside in blogging! Until next time I will leave you a picture of Charlotte looking ridiculous. I came in from being out by the pool and found her like this.

Puppy Play Date!

I hope everyone is having a great day! Charlotte had a very fun and exhausting day playing around with Corbin!

Last night for dinner my mom made a chicken casserole. This is like one of the only ways I eat chicken.
Wild Rice Chicken Casserole

6 ¼ ounce package quick-cooking, long grain and wild rice
1 cup cooked, chopped chicken
1 cup finely chopped celery
1 ¼ cups finely chopped onion
1 cup light mayonnaise
10 ¾ ounce can condensed cream of mushroom soup
paprika

1. Preheat oven to 325°
2. Cook rice according to package directions
3. Combine rice with chopped chicken, celery and onion
4. Place in a 8 by 8 baking pan
5. Stir mayonnaise and cream of mushroom soup together and spread over chicken mixture.
6. Bake covered for 1 hour, uncover for last 5-10 min of baking and top with paprika if desired

Last night after dinner we watched the movie Seven Pounds. I have been wanting to watch this movie for a while, there has just always been other movies I wanted to see more. If you haven't seen it I highly recommend it, it was so good but so sad!

This morning I had a lovely breakfast of Vanilla Chobini with coconut cranberry granola.
Then I lounged around and wasted time online. I was about to go out to the pool when Maggie texted me that she was up in Manassas. So I quickly showered and made lunch so we could take our puppies to the dog park! Lunch was some bunny butts with tomatoes!
And I made some juice to take with me- apple, orange, carrots, beet, and ginger! It was delicious
Charlotte spent her time at the dog park sniffing everything, sitting in the shade, and not playing.Corbin on the other hand spent his time playing with me and Maggie, sniffing everything, and sitting in the little kiddie pools. hahaha our dogs are so social!
After the dog park we brought the dogs back to my house to let them play in the pool. They were like totally different dogs, they started chasing each other around and we ended up putting them both on a float in the pool where they both ended up in the water totally wet. All this excitement has really worn out Charlotte though, she is now fast asleep on the couch!

For dinner my mom made spaghetti and I was able to convince her to leave some sauce out sans the hamburger that she puts in. I had some spaghetti along with a roll and green beans.
After dinner my sister and I went to starbucks where I got an iced Apple Chai! yummmm!
And we left some Operation Beautiful notes around Gainesville! If you haven't heard of Operation Beautiful check it out!
Now we are watching some Clive Own movie and I have no idea what is going on because I haven't really been paying attention so I guess I better go figure out what I've missed!

Cake and Pie!

I have to make this a quick post because I'm about to leave! Yesterday's birthday plus other things celebration went very good! I started the day off with some toast and almond butter in the car on the way to church.


After church we came home and I quickly scarfed down some bunny butts (original white cheddar plus tomatoes). I almost forgot to take a picture!
After lunch I got to work on decorating the cake. The night before I got it covered with fondant but the rest of the fondant was too sticky to do anything with so I let it chill in the fridge over night. I learned 2 things about fondant- 1) use a normal traditional recipe- I tried to use a buttercream fondant recipe because my mom kept complaining about how she doesn't like fondant so my priority was to find a good tasting one to change her mind, however it ended up being super greasy and just didn't work very well. 2) make sure you have a long rolling pin- our rolling pin was not long enough to roll the fondant over to drape over the cake, i ended up having to do 2 halves and try to blend the seam together. Even though it didn't turn out exactly how I wanted, it was fun and I would definitely do it again with a different fondant recipe!



Pretty soon after I finished the cake my grandparents, aunt, uncle, and cousin showed up. They grilled hamburgers and hot dogs for dinner and I had a veggie burger. I tried the Mushroom Lovers Morningstar burger. It was okay, much preferred to the hamburgers, but I like the Portabella Gardenburgers a lot better. On the side were some chips and dip and lots of fruit with a yummy dip that my aunt made (well most of those were eaten while we waited for the burgers to cook and not actually on the side haha)Then after dinner was of course dessert! We brought out my cake and my pretty Key Lime Pie!


I just have to say that this was so awesome! I used the Key Lime Pie VII recipe on Allrecipes and it was so delicious. It is super easy (well after you squeeze all the key lime's it is but you could just buy already squeezed key lime juice I suppose and make it really really easy) and super delicious. It had the perfect amount of tangy tartness and had that melt in your mouth creamy texture. I will for sure be making this again- and probably a lemon form of this since my mom does not like lime.

My grandpa loved both his cake and his pie! And also the homemade ice cream that my mom made for him (which I forgot to take a picture of!)

The cake was really good too! I used the Four Egg Yellow Cake recipe also from AllRecipes which I used in my cookie dough cupcakes too. This is my new go to yellow cake recipe, it is rally good! And I used the chocolate buttercream recipe on the back of the Hershey Cocoa box (which is so delicious) and then used this Rolled Buttercream Fondant recipe which tastes good but is super greasy and not stiff enough to do anything with, which is why everything is flat on the cake because this fondant wouldn't hold its shape!
I collapsed in bed pretty early last night and slept until noon today because I was exhausted! I laid out by the pool for about an hour then came in for lunch. Don't judge but I had a very unhealty lunch of chips and dip (soooooo good but so bad for you!) and spaghettios that my brother warmed up

Then I went back out and laid out by the pool/ sat and read on the steps in the water! Now I'm packing up my stuff and I'm going to head up to my grandparent's house for the next couple of days. Tomorrow we are going to go to Baltimore and see the aquarium and the Harbor! I'm so excited because I've never been to Baltimore- we always go to DC to do anything but Baltimore is not that much further away! And then on Wednesday we are going to the Hagerstown outlets, which are right by my grandparents house to go shopping! I'm bringing my computer but my grandparents do not have wireless internet so I'll only be able to post if I can steal a neighbor's internet!

Random Pasta

Today has been almost the same as Monday! I wasn't at all hungry when I woke up at 10:30 so I skipped breakfast. I caught up on facebook and blogs and read some more of my book. Then around noon I ate the rest of my bunny butts from yesterday.
After lunch my sister and I went to Fairfax- again- to pick up the pool pump- again. And of course I stopped at Robuks and got juice! This time I got an apple, beet, carrot, and ginger! It was delicious! My sister got a strawberry banana smoothie and she really liked it- but she said she didn't like my juice :(
Then I came home and finished reading the Pact by Jodi Picoult book. This was my first book by Jodi and it was really good! I need to get My Sister's Keeper next so I can read that before the movie comes out! After I finished my book I started packing for Ohio! I'm so excited! My grandparents are calling it a long weekend but I could very well be gone for a whole week haha. I'm heading up to my grandparents house in West Virginia tomorrow evening and we are heading to Ohio on Friday morning. We are staying until Wednesday and depending on what time we leave they will either bring me all the way back to Haymarket or I will stay at their house and they will bring me back Thursday which will be a whole week! I also didn't realize until yesterday that this is Memorial day weekend so hopefully we won't get stuck in tons of traffic on Friday- we are going the opposite direction of the beach so hopefully everyone else is going to the beach?

For dinner my brother was making chicken so I made my own dinner! I sauteed up some zucchini, squash, and mushrooms for them to eat with their chicken. I took some out and added some onion and garlic, tomatoes, and made a sauce with some white cooking wine (which was not very good but it was all we had because my parents don't drink wine) and some of this manghego sheep milk cheese!
Then I tossed in some leftover spaghetti noodles from last night and topped it with some goat cheese and fresh basil! It was pretty awesome! Pasta made from whatever is around is pretty much the best kind of pasta ever because its always different!
Now I'm watching the American Idol season finale. I haven't watched it at all this season -or any other season- but sometimes watching the finale is interesting. Anyways I decided that I liked Chris because 1- he's a Christian, 2- he actually has a good voice, 3- he looks normal (actually he is pretty gorgeous), and 4- he plays the guitar and piano. And to top all of it he just played a duet with Keith Urban who is hands down my favorite singer ever!

I'm not sure when I'm going up to Ohio tomorrow but I'm not too sure about the internet situation up there so I'm not bringing my computer because I don't want to lug it around if there is no internet! So I might not be updating for a week but I'll post a big update when I get back! I hope everyone has a great memorial day weekend!

My computer is back!

The fedex man came and brought my computer back today! yay!!!! I missed it so much. Yesterday I was still not that feeling great. I started my day with a Kashi waffle topped with Fage, lemon curd, and a banana. It was delicious!
The pool pump that I picked up on Friday was still broken- now its cracked or something, so I had to take it back to Fairfax- which meant more juice! yay! I got an Apple, Beet, and Carrot juice this time and it was delicious! I think next time I would get this combo with ginger because I loved the ginger in the other one!
yeah I took the picture when I got home and it was already halfway gone haha
Then for lunch I made a quesadilla with leftover taco meat from taco salads earlier in the week and an assortment of all the random shredded cheese we had in the fridge that had very tiny amounts left ( i think I used up the end of 3 different bags of cheese). Topped with a dollop of sour cream and it was amazing!
Then for dinner last night my mom made fajitas and I totally forgot to take a picture! I think it was because I really wasn't feeling good at that point. But they were delicious!

This morning I was feeling much better and I started the day with a Kashi waffle topped with some vanilla chobini. It was definitely amazing! I wasn't super hungry and this was the perfect breakfast.

Then for lunch I made some bunny butts! Rotini and 4 Cheese with some chopped up tomatoes! yummmm I love Annie's!

After lunch I made Scotcharoos for my mom. They are super easy and super delicious! Melt together one cup of peanut butter and one bag of butterscotch chips. Usually about a minute and a half melts them together. Then stir in 6 cups of rice krispies. Then press it into a 9 by 13 pan and stick them in the fridge. In an hour or so you have rice krispies only better!Then I went to take my car in for an estimate for the insurance people who finally called me yesterday! Its going in next week to get fixed so yay! In other news my sister's car is now also broken. Her car wouldn't start and actually had to be towed to the place to get fixed! And my brother is still driving on a spare tire and has yet to get that in to get fixed hahah. I predict my mom's car will break next!

Anyways when I got back from getting the estimate for my car I took my dog on a nice long walk. A cold front has come through and it would have been perfect running weather yesterday and today except I felt like death yesterday and although I feel better today I didn't feel good enough to go run. When I got back my dad made some spaghetti and I topped mine with goat cheese! And I had some mixed veggies and garlic bread on the side. I'm not the biggest fan of spaghetti, especially because in my family spaghetti sauce isn't spaghetti sauce unless it is overloaded with meat but I put some goat cheese on it and it made it much better!Now I think I'm going to go have a bowl of ice cream and then read some more! I'm going to Ohio on Friday for an extended weekend with my grandparents and cousins! I'm so excited! It is all kind of a random last minute thing but I'm so excited!

Mimis Cafe

I am done done done with school! Only student teaching next semester stands between me and being done with VCU forever! In between my 2 finals I went and got Tropical Smoothie and brought it into five guys with everyone else! I had another Pineapple Twist Green Tea smoothie- my new favorite! And a Hummus Among Us half sandwich!

yummmm! After finishing our finals we went out to celebrate at Baja! They had pink wristbands and $5 margaritas for Cinco de Mayo- what could be better!
And Erica got a $5 beer bucket lolAnd later we got Scooby Snacks!
This is the organism! Jamie, Erica, Bridgit, and I! Our science teacher last semester referred to us as the organism one time and its stuck ever since!And here is a group shot of everyone minus Megan who left a little earlier! Today I slept until 10:30 and then just lay in bed catching up on blogs and facebook and just doing nothing! It was wonderful to not have any school stuff to do! For lunch I ate the rest of my bunny butts from yesterday and added in some mushrooms that I cooked up a few days ago. I'm trying to use up all my perishable items before I move Saturday.
It was of course delicious! Then for the rest of the day I mostly packed up my room! I stopped midday for a snack of the last of my hummus and triscuits!
Once Ashley got off work she came over and we chilled until Courtney got off work! Then we headed out to Mimis Cafe for dinner so that Josh could be our waiter! It was delicious- I've been there for brunch before but I've always had just the breakfast (which is amazing) but today I learned how amazing their non breakfast is too! They had these 3 course specials which is what we all got!

Ashley started with grilled cheese sticks which were not mozzarella sticks which made Ashley sad. It was literally a grilled cheese sandwich cut into strips served with marinara sauce lol. It was tasty but I could have easily made that at home.
Courtney opted for the french onion soup which I didn't try but looked delicious!
And I got a yummy caesar salad! It had perfect croutons- they were crunchy but soft enough that you could spear them with your fork and eat them with your salad. I hate when croutons are so hard they break when you try to get them on your fork!
For the main course I opted for the Honey Dijon Salmon. And so did Courtney! Oh my gosh this was so delicious! The fish was cooked perfectly and had the most amazing sauce I've ever had on fish. It was a dijon cream sauce and it was the perfect tang to go with the salmon. The asparagus were also delicious and cooked perfectly and I suppose the potatoes were good not anything special and I'm not a big potato person.Ashley got maple glazed pork which I didn't try but looked delicious!
And I can't believe I forgot to take pictures of our deserts!!!! So sad! I got their delicious Chocolate Moose (which I've had before and was amazing as always). Ashley got the apple crisp and Courtney got the bread pudding both of which looked good also. I love Mimis! And I love having Josh as a waiter haha, too bad he doesn't work at the Mimis in Gainesville! Anyways tomorrow will be more packing and Friday my parents are going to drop off a moving truck and then go down to CNU to help my brother move out then back up here to move me out! Ahh so much to do and pack up tomorrow!