Monthly Archives: July 2011

The Great Fundraising Act – Get Your Bid On

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I know yesterday was an important day (my 26th birthday, ha) but today’s date was the one starred on my calendar.  It’s time for the bidding to begin on The Great Fundraising Act.  If you haven’t heard, TGFA was started by Janetha at Meals and Moves to help raise money for Susan, a fellow blogger, who was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma.  It’s an amazing cause, set up for one awesome blogger by another, and there are lots of great deals available.  Please head over to the live auction today to check it out.

I’m doing my part by baking up a batch of sugar cookie balls.

If you’d like a chance to try my balls for yourself, you can bid here until 10:40 EST today!

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I made a couple of mistakes this morning, as is fitting for a Monday.  I made a mistake when I hit my snooze button because it made me late.  I made a mistake when I slammed this white chocolate macadamia Luna Bar on the walk to yoga because it made me nauseas.

Good flavor though.

I made a mistake when I thought the 9:30 class this morning was my typical warm yoga because what I was really rushing to was the (harder, hotter, longer) 90 minute, 105* class.

That wasn’t really a mistake though, more like a helpful push from the universe.  I was too afraid to try the hot yoga class on my own, but once I was there I loved it.  I probably spent a third of the class in child’s pose but I still got in a great workout.  I’m not going to give up the warm 60 minute class entirely, but I will be back.

After yoga I had to shower and clean the house, but then I finally sat down for lunch.

I dressed my leftovers from yesterday’s salad with Newman’s Own Light Caesar.

The beets made everything a little pink, but since I kept the dressing off until today my salad was still nice and crispy.

On the side I enjoyed some local cherries in a new birthday gift bowl.

This lunch and breakfast set was on the small side for me but after I run some errands I’ve got my eye on an afternoon baking project and I’m sure I’ll make up the calories.

Birthday Benefits

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There are a lot of benefits to having a birthday.  For one, you exist; yay!  For another, free Starbucks.

I got a tall, iced, skinny caramel macchiato and loved every dollar-free sip of it.

When it’s your birthday your in-laws might drive up to take you and the husband out to lunch.

We chose Cheesecake Factory.  I ate one of the avocado egg rolls, but they were mostly Adam’s reward for putting up with me.

For lunch I got the Fresh Vegetable Salad, my favorite salad of all time.

If you’ve read my how to post, you know that I ordered my salad with dressing on the side and a to-go box.

Once I packed half of my salad away for lunch tomorrow I dressed it with the spicy peanut cilantro vinaigrette I requested on the side.

Delicious.  And nutritious; I checked several sites and I am fairly certain that this salad (before the split) contained less than 300 calories.

After we ate I had to do a lot of blowing.  (<– and wasn’t even a first date; ba dum cha!) 

The CF employees heard it was my birthday and sweetly brought me a sundae.

I made a wish, but passed the ice cream off to Adam.  I had my eye on bigger and better things.

We split the Chocolate Coconut Cream Cheesecake four ways and were all swooning.  I told you I hated cake.

Another birthday benefit is getting to set the day’s agenda, because I totally don’t wear the pants every other day of the week.  Adam walked around the mall with me for hours, cashing in birthday coupons without a complaint.  P.S. Sephora will give you free Philosophy birthday cake body wash – no purchase necessary! – if you create an account online.

Where else could we do a birthday dinner if not Wegman’s hot bar.

I served myself two kinds of Asian chicken, heavy on the veggies.

I kept dinner on the smaller side (about half the weight of usual) because we were heading to a movie and I was looking forward to this –

“This” is the container of pretzel bites I split with Adam and forgot to photograph until after the lights were turned down.

We saw “Friends with Benefits” and looooooved it.  Mila Kunis is hot, Justin Timberlake is hilarious, and it was just raunchy enough to not be a total chick flick.  I declared it my new favorite movie!

Let’s recap – freebies, coconut cream, mall-walking, Wegman’s, pretzels, and a movie.  <– best birthday ever (until next year!)

6 for 26

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  1. Really work at getting myself on a more grown-up sleep schedule
  2. Wear sunblock on my face every day.
  3. Continue to work on being more positive.
  4. Reclaim my love for blogging, starting with a goal to blog everything for the next 30 days.
  5. Take my vitamins (ideally a multi-vit, calcium chew, and fish oil supplement) at least 4 days a week.
  6. Go to school with purpose.  I don’t have to score an A+ on everything, but I want to be able to be proud of the work I put in, no matter what grade I get.

Do you set goals for yourself on New Year’s Eve or your birthday?  Or both!?

Confessions VI, Birthday Edition

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Click here to read Confessions part I, II, III, IV, and V.

I drank alcohol before I turned 21.

I’m 26 years old today!

I’m excited about this age because six is my favorite number to write; even if this means I’m now officially in my “late twenties” (ugh!).

My birthday requests included a walk around Anthropologie, a trip to the grocery store to buy some of the things I pick up and moon at each week but never actually buy, and the viewing of “Friends with Benefits.”  I guess this means I like frilly things, food, and movies.

I don’t like cake.

Since I’ve always been on a school schedule (student, teacher, then student again) New Year’s Eve annoys me because the new year is in the middle of the school year.  My summer birthday seems a much better time for resolutions.  I’m still writing my list (I’m leaning toward health goals now that I’m an old lady!) but I’ll post my finished goals later today.

I plan on lying about my age when I grow up, but I’m going to tell people I’m five years older than I am so they will think “she looks at least five years younger than that!”

Any other Leos out there?

Teddy Bear Tie Dye

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My last day as a 25-year-old has been a good one; though after yoga our morning got off to an ironic and frustrating start.  I heard a rumor about a Teddy Bear Picnic so I strapped my bears into the car and headed out.

Sidenote – I hate stuffed animals (always have) but I spotted this guy on sale my sophmore year in college and just had to buy him for Adam.  The husband (who also hates stuffed animals) named him Rutherford and fell in love.  Our obsession with bears has bloomed from there.

We did not develop an obsession with Old Falls Street today though, since after 20 fruitless minutes of searching we never located our picnic.  Instead we drove back to the city to cash in a Living Social deal at Tea Leaf Cafe.

I’m so glad we were forced here instead; adorable set-up, cheap prices, and delicious food.  We’ll be back soon.

Our deal was for two drinks and two small plates.  Adam went with an avocado milk tea.

He doesn’t know the joy that is boba.

I, on the other hand, am obsessed with all things tapioca and requested extra bubbles in my taro milk tea.

It can’t quite compare to China Town in Boston where they mash real strawberries into your tea, but this was the best boba I’ve had in recent years!  The tea wasn’t too sweet and the boba were the perfect texture.

Adam and I split the two side plates equally.

Chicken and fresh mushroom pan-seared dumplings.

Vegetarian shiitake spring rolls.

Again, the best version of these foods I’ve had since moving to Buffalo.  Locals – get thee to Tea Leaf Cafe!

Rutherford was stuffed,

but Adam and I decided to round out our meal with some fruits and veggies.

Roasted mushroom, squash, and the world’s bitterist eggplant that I ate only because it was healthy,

blueberries, pineapple, strawberries, and watermelon so juicy I’d eat it even if I was stuffed.

I dropped my boys at home and then headed out to partay.  My friend Mary-Kate actually had her birthday this week too and she hosted a tie dye fest.  It was tons of fun but I wasn’t sure how the guests I didn’t know would feel about their photos on the internet so I don’t have any pictures.  I will show you my shirt when it finishes drying tomorrow.  And I will also show you the amazing rainbow cake that Emily made –

Eeek!  I was seriously impressed.  I don’t actually like the taste of cake that much though (no matter how cute it is) so I ate half of this piece plus a glass of Blueberry Lemonade Stoli and called it a day.

Adam and I took a walk down Elmwood and ran a few errands, and before I knew it dinner time had arrived.  I can’t think of a more fitting way to end my 25th year than this –

See you from 26!

Give to Get

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My two-day blog hiatus was sooo necessary.  To recap – I got in bed after 1am every day of my parents’ visit.  I gave myself Thursday to recuperate.  I discovered that I’m allergic to Hershey’s chocolate syrup and spent Thursday throwing up.  I spent Friday actually recuperating, ie watching “Charmed” in bed all day.

Needless to say, I still wasn’t quite 100% this morning.  But sometimes you have to give energy to get energy.  If I desperately need to perk myself up I know the best place to head is the gym; I figured that concept would apply to hot (90*) yoga as well.  It did!  I’m still not at my best, but I felt better leaving the class than I did walking in.

Speaking of giving and getting, Adam attended yoga with me this morning as my birthday gift (I turn 26 tomorrow).

Seriously one of the best gifts he’s ever given me!  We stopped at Starbucks on the way for water and a few jelly beans to get our glucose going.

Then we slammed through 60 minutes of yoga.  I was so proud of Adam, he did such a good job!  If I was the competitive type I’d note that he actually did better than me, but that’s sort of not the point of yoga.  In my competition against myself, I started every pose and made it to the end of class feeling great.

We have some fun on the agenda today, including a birthday party for one of my friends.  My t-shirt is actually a hint, any guesses???

Share Our Strength

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Join me in support of Yahoo!’s $20,000 commitment to Share our Strength! This is a quick (30-second) way to commend Yahoo! for its partnership with an organization working to end hunger in the America.
To show its appreciation, Yahoo! has committed to donate $20,000 to Share Our Strength on behalf of US, the Foodbuzz community of publishers and readers.

In turn, you have the opportunity to show your support of this partnership by setting Yahoo! as your homepage by clicking on this link. Like what they’re doing? Let them know by changing your homepage!

Here are two things you can do raise awareness about this important cause:

1. Make Yahoo! your homepage now.
2. Share the campaign with your Facebook friends and Twitter followers.

Thanks for your support!

 Full Disclosure – I will be blogging about this program during July as a Brand Ambassador from FoodBuzz.  In return for my participation, Foodbuzz will make a donation to Share Our Strength in my name.

The Great Fundraising Act

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The Great Fundraising Act!

(read “Who is Susan?” HERE!!!!)

This fundraiser has two parts.

1: Blogger Live Auction & Bake Sale:

On Monday, July 25th, we will be having a live auction and bake sale from 8:00 AM (EST) to 11:00 PM (EST).

There will be over ONE HUNDRED items to bid on!  Several companies have generously offered amazing gift baskets and packages up for bid.  Some of these blogger-favorite companies are:

  • Annie’s
  • Attune Foods
  • Aurorae Yoga
  • Bob’s Red Mill
  • Bondi Band
  • Chobani
  • Dave’s Killer Bread
  • Great Harvest
  • Handful Bra
  • Larabar
  • LeSportsac
  • Love Grown Foods
  • Marx Foods
  • Nasoya
  • Nourish Tea
  • NuNaturals
  • Peanut Butter & Co
  • Physique57
  • ReNew Life Probiotics
  • Stonyfield Organic
  • The Simply Bar

In addition to the generous donations from these companies, there will be also be several donations from fellow bloggers.

Items will include delicious baked goods, a professional blog makeover, a lifetime recipe hosting service, autographed books & cookbooks from published bloggers, kitchen gadgets & dishes, clothing, accessories and much more.

It’s kind of ridiculous how much amazing stuff there will be for you to bid on!

All bids will start at $10.  All proceeds from the auction will go directly to Susan.

This is an event not to be missed!  Please join us in The Great Fundraising Act live auction on Monday, July 25th!!

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2: Direct Monetary Donations:

The second part of The Great Fundraising Act is for those who would like to make a monetary donation.  Many of you have expressed interest, so we have set up a direct donation account.

You can use PayPal, a bank account or any major credit card to donate to The Great Fundraising Act.  If you would like to do this, simply click here.

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PS – Bid on my Cookie Balls, you won’t be disappointed!

PPS – Thank you Allison for the format of this post.