The first of every month always makes me want to step back and create small goals for myself. For some reason though I never really do. I never end up taking the time to write down what I want to accomplish in the month and figure out how to get there. Today marks the 1st of December. Our last month of the year and I want to make this one count. New years resolutions are made every year and tend to fall wayside as the year goes on.  To make small monthly goals keeps your eye on the prize and you are consistently focused on the smaller aspects that will in turn bring you to your ultimate destination.

It was about this time last year that I had really wanted to start a blog. I wanted somewhere that I could write down my journey and hold myself accountable for how I live my life. I ended up finding much more. Friendships, passions, and new ideas were brought together by my blog and I couldn’t be happier. It has helped me figure out who I am, who I want to be, how I want to live.

Here’s a few of my December goals:

• More yoga – In only a month and a half I’ll be going to Costa Rica for 6 days where we’ll be doing yoga twice daily. I need to prepare my body for what’s to come so more frequent yoga classes are in my future.
• Figgy Pudding 5k- Last year my friend Lauren and I ran this local winter race. It was so much fun, so this year we plan on running it again but with a much bigger group of us.
• Foods that make me happy – I want to eat foods that make me feel good and keep me healthy. What we put in our mouths has a direct line to how we feel. I know what upsets my stomach, and I need to listen to my body more.
• Cherish time with loved ones -Life is too short. Make sure the moments count.
• Appreciate what I have – so many times I wish for more when I need to appreciate what I have at this moment. ” Do not spoil what you have by desiring what you have not; Remember that what you now have was once among the things you only hoped for” -Epicurus
• Reconnect with old friends – there are those friend’s who you just lose touch with. I recently reconnected with one of my best friend’s from high school that I lost touch with during college. It makes you realize that you could have put in more effort. Now is that time.
• Give back – it’s the season of giving and I want to give what I can to help those in need. Project Feed Me is exactly that

What are some of your goals for December?

I just love the holidays. Being able to be with the ones you love and being able to completely relax is just the best. Unfortunately, I was sick over the long holiday weekend so I wasn’t able to go out with my friends but I definitely caught up on lots of sleep and tv

Wed night I wasn’t able to go to the bars with all my friends and instead stayed in and watched The Biggest Loser: Where are they now? Special. I loved being able to be up to date with the past contestants and seeing how they kept up with their weight loss.

Thanksgiving morning I woke up early and got myself to a yoga class. After class I went back to Columbia to start of Thanksgiving with my family. My mom made so much amazing food as usual. We started off with baked brie. She put a large circle of brie and topped it with some blackberry jam, craisins, chopped pecans, and then wrapped it in puff pastry and baked it in the oven. ah, mouthwatering good.

Hershey thought so too

The spread was delicious!!!

We started off with a glass of Riesling.

My mom made a turkey, sweet potato casserole, roasted butternut squash, green bean salad with feta, walnuts, red onions, and a pomegranate vinaigrette, stuffing. and some cauliflower.

My contribution to the dinner was some Pumpkin crumb cake with pecan streusel from Veganomicon. I didn’t have any pecans so I subbed it with walnuts and it turned out just as amazing. This is such a quick and easy dessert to make that is so moist and delicious. It was a big hit! My mom usually makes pecan pie but this year decided to make some pecan bars instead. They turned out great and were amazing when they were in the microwave for 20 seconds. Tasted like they came fresh out of the oven. My dad made us a cup of fresh french pressed coffee to round off the meal.

Friday I went on a chilly run. The wind was brutal but by the end of the run the sun decided to show it’s face and it was perfect!

I can’t believe Thanksgiving weekend is coming to an end. I’m hoping all of you had an amazing time. All I need now is for the Ravens to win

Hi guys <3 Happy Thanksgiving eve! I’m excited to be home tomorrow and enjoy all of the amazing food my mom makes. Thanksgiving is always really small at our house. All of our family lives in NC and FL so it’s usually just the 4 of us. My mom makes an amazing spread of food and i’m helping out this year. I’m going to be making the pumpkin pecan streusel bread from Veganomicon which I made last year at some point during the holidays and it was a hit. We’re also planning on going to the movies and am hoping to go to The Blind Side or Brothers (not sure if that one will be out or not).

Usually the night before Thankgiving all of my friends and I go out to the bars and have a blast. I’m a little nervous because I feel like i’ve been fighting getting sick for a good while now and woke up this morning not feeling too hot. I’m hoping it goes away!

Last night my friend Britt came to Baltimore and we went out for dinner at a newish restaurant in town. Taverna Corvino is right down the street from me and i’ve been dying to go. The other week I bought a $25 gift card from restaurant.com for $2!  Last night was the perfect chance to use it. It’s an Italian small plates restaurant. I LOVE small plates because you get to try so many different dishes.

The meal started off with some fresh baked bread and some type of bruschetta they served with it.

We got a spinach salad, and I can’t exactly remember what was on it but it was amazing and light.

Next was butternut squash raviolis in a sage brown butter sauce. Oh my this was heaven. It was my favorite dish of the night!

We had seared scallops with pesto and some fried cauliflower

Grilled calamari which I wasn’t really a fan of

Stuffed baby eggplant with sweet onions, roasted peppers, chestnuts, and gorgonzola

and polished the meal off with dessert that were like churros and some dipping chocolate. Perfect ending to an amazing meal. this dessert so ridiculously good. Britt and I almost drank the rest of the chocolate sauce.

I was so glad that I got the gift card to go try the restaurant out. It had some great flavors and I enjoyed almost everything. It was a Tuesday night so it was pretty quiet in the dining area and we enjoyed ourselves and were able to catch up on everything while sharing an amazing meal. YUM.

Hope you guys have a great and QUICK wednesday I’m excited for some QT with the fam tomorrow <3

Hi all! Vegan 4 a day was completed successfully! I did have some cravings and urges during the day and dinner time was the hardest part for me.

For lunch I made a kabocha and spicy hummus quesadilla. I roasted some kabocha squash the night before and took two whole wheat tortillas from trader joes and smashed the squash on one side and smeared some hummus on the other. I added in some banana peppers for an extra kick and grilled it up. No cheese needed at all and this filled me up big time.

Dinner was a little more difficult because I go straight to the yoga studio and usually grab something on the way there.  I couldn’t think of anything that I could buy, there didn’t seem to be many options. I finally decided on a falafel. I got there and they asked if I wanted tzatziki sauce. Oh my. tzatziki is my favorite and truly completes a falafel for me. I turned it down and asked for hummus. It was a chickpea party in my mouth! Even though the tzatziki sauce they have there is out of this world, the hummus on it was just as amazing. It is possible to find alternatives to dairy that taste equally as good. You just have to be open to trying new things and going out of your comfort zone. I’m the type of person that loves to order my favorites. Sometimes I branch out and try something new but a tried and true favorite to me is special. It was good to have a day to step out of my daily eats and try new things.

I’m lactose intolerant so dairy has never treated me well to say the least. For the longest time I just would push the side affects aside because I wasn’t about to change my diet at all. I’d be miserable, but think ‘oh well, it’s not that big of a deal’.  I’ve since then drastically reduced my dairy intake and hope to continue that process. Yogurt doesn’t seem to affect me as much, which is good because I love my greek yogurt!

This morning I put some of my greek yogurt to use and topped off a breakfast cookie with it. delish

Last night I went with two of my friends to yoga after I was done signing everyone in. I’m going to try and go to more of Camille’s classes. I usually only get to her Tuesday class bc she teaches at the studio across from my apartment. She teaches at different studios on other days so I’m going to go to those too now. I feel like I push myself more in her classes and try things that I would usually be too scared to go for.  My mind is focused in her class and doesn’t tend to wander around, frankly because it doesn’t have the energy too. All of my energy is put into each and every posture. It’s amazing.

Soooooooo for Chase’s birthday I ordered him dirt. haha, let me explain.

He is a HUGE yankees fan. I was looking for gifts for him online, and found some yankee sod for sale. A piece of freeze dried sod from the original stadium. It sounded like a pretty cool gift to me, but completely random and I was crossing my fingers he’d love it. After I ordered it I was hoping they’d win the world series and they did! The gift FINALLY came in the mail yesterday and he loved it. He laughed and couldn’t wait to put it on display in the house. So ladies, here is my birthday gift to my boyfriend.

DIRT

Today is Vegan 4 a day! Michelle and Katy have organized this as part of their vegan for a week challenge. It seem as if lots of bloggers are taking on todays challenge and it’s a great way for us to expand our thinking about being vegan.

I haven’t really thought much about it and figured that one day wouldn’t be that difficult. When I woke up this morning I made my bowl of oats with soy milk and then continued on to make my mug of coffee. As I reached for my carton of half and half I hesitated and remembered what today was and slowly put it back. I reached for my vanilla soy milk and used that instead.  Let it be known that I love my half and half. I only use a small amount, and it is organic. It makes the perfect cup of coffee and I love it every morning. Adding soy milk to my coffee is alright, it just doesn’t taste as rich and creamy to me. I’ve heard some good things about the coconut milk creamer… I just haven’t been able to find it anywhere.

I planned my lunch in advance. Last night I roasted up some more kabocha squash and am going to use it today for a kabocha and hummus quesadilla.  Simply those two ingredients placed between two tortillas. I made a wrap like this last week and it was amazing and simple yet so filling.

Dinner is going to be a little more difficult. I forgot that I’m going to have to be at the yoga studio directly from work. I’ll have to figure something out during lunch to prepare for dinner. The only thing is that is has to be really quick and easy. This will be tough. The only thing going through my mind is an almond butter and preserve sandwich? but for dinner? boring! Any ideas of a quick vegan dinner that I can take with me to the studio?

Last night for dinner I made an interesting meal. Once my plate was on the table Chase looked at me, and was like, what the heck is that? It didn’t really look as appetizing as it tasted. I kind of went for it and threw a bunch of stuff together and crossed my fingers that it would taste good. Success! As anything with sweet potatoes have to be good right?

I baked a japanese sweet potato (im obsessed) and then threw in the leftover of my stuffed pepper filling. I added in some banana peppers and then some of TJ’s smooth and creamy spicy hummus. This hummus is out of this world. Dare I say it’s even better than sabras? You have to find it. The hummus on the potato kind of reminded me of sour cream on a regular baked potato and was the perfect addition. Yum, so good.

On Tuesday I went to hot vinyasa and it was amazing. I was able to get into headstand and stay there for I feel like a minute? I couldn’t believe it! I was so nervous because I didn’t try it at all last week since I wasn’t able to make it into Camille’s class. I tested it out at home before I went to the class and was able to get up. This gave me a little boost of confidence to be able to try it again in class. I can feel myself becoming more flexible and beginning to see changes in my practice. Little things that I was not able to do before are becoming a little easier.  This journey is amazing because there is always constant improvement.  Two of my friend’s are coming to tonight’s yoga class. I’m excited to be able to go to classes with friends! Also on Tuesday I officially gave Camille my deposit check and got the A-ok from my boss to take off for that week. I’m going to Costa Ricaaaaa! I’m sorry I keep talking about it, im just so ridiculously excited if you can’t tell

So glad today is Thursday and tomorrow starts off the weekend! Me and Laur and Meg are going over to our friend’s new house who recently just got married. She’s making food and margaritas! girls night? Yessssss

I’ve been keeping up with my running! woo! Another 3 miles done yesterday after work Endurance is still not quite there yet, but i’m positive it will come back. I’m also excited for yoga tonight! mmm can’t wait to get my booty on that mat and sweat it out.

Last night for dinner I decided to use up a green pepper I had in the fridge. I wasn’t sure exactly how to make vegetarian stuffed peppers but kinda just went with ingredients I had on hand. In the pepper went ww couscous, black beans, mushrooms, spinach, and salsa. Topped it off with some shredded cheese and threw it in the oven at 350 degrees for 25 mins. I think they could have been cooked a little longer, the pepper was still pretty crunchy. I have lots of filling left over that I think i’m going to eat in a wrap. maybe throw some spicy hummus on it and call it amazing.

Oh, and I threw some Franks red hot on it too. Can’t forget the deliciousness of hot sauce.  For dessert I had some Edys slow churned pumkin ice cream and a brownie. YUM. heaven in ice cream form.

Last night I was just so exhausted and didn’t see the point in trying to get myself to stay up and watching some tv when I was so tired so I went to bed. at 8:30 PM. haha. I feel so completely rested today its insane. I woke up much earlier than usual and actually had time to have a sit down breakfast. I made some oatmeal in a almond butter jar and a fresh pressed coffee in my Starbucks San Fran mug  :) Here’s my little baby french press. It’s a single serving size and is the cutest thing.

Waking up for extra time to sit and relax for breakfast and coffee makes such a difference.

For some exciting weekend plans, my sister comes home this weekend for her thanksgiving break, Britt will be back for a week, and my other friend Ali will be in town for thanksgiving soon. LOVE my girls. I can’t wait for Thanksgiving to get here and to spend time with the ones I love.

Happy morning to you all

This weekend was as relaxing as it gets. Enjoying family, friends, and the sun.

On Friday I went home to Columbia to stay at my parent’s house. In the morning I woke up and went out for a 3 mile run. It was misty all morning, but it actually felt good against my face. When I got back, my dad had a cup of coffee waiting for me. I bought him some coffee while I was in San Francisco from Blue Bottle Coffee. I kept hearing this was the best coffee place, and my dad is a coffee fanatic so I knew I had to get him some. The employee told me that Three Africans was a great blend, so I bought him that. My dad checked out their company on the website and it said that Three Africans does extremely well in a french press.  Therefore, my dad busted out his French Press that my mom got him when we lived in England, and I had a fresh cup of coffee in hand. I had never had coffee from a french press, and let it be known, I am in love. It created such a smooth and rich flavor and I proceeded to go to Target and buy myself a personal sized french press It’s quick and simple and absolutely delicious!

Saturday night was reserved for girls night. We watched The Break Up and had pumpkin ice cream while all piled in on the couch. It’s nights like these that make you so thankful for your best friends. There’s nothing like a girls night in.

Sunday morning I woke up and went on another 3 mile run with Meg. I’m trying to get back into the swing of things on the running front. We ran down around the inner harbor and it was such a beautiful morning! The weather forecast was set for 68 and we couldn’t have been happier. I got home from my run and had a green smoothie in the beer glass I got from Foodbuzz Fest. haha.

Laur, Meg, and I had plans to drive down to Salisbury for the day. Our field hockey team was in the elite 8 for NCAA playoffs and this was the only game we’d be able to get to. The day couldn’t have been more perfect for the occasion. We suited up in our old field hockey t shirts and drove down as alumni.

Driving across the bay bridge made me think of going back to school. sigh.

We took our seats after saying hi to all the girls and cheered them on. It made me miss playing and being on the team with all the girls. Luckily, most of the ones I played with and graduated with are right here with me in Baltimore now. SUFH for life

They won 3-2 and are going up to Massachusetts next weekend for the final 4. I hope they bring home the big win and get a ring! During my 4 years there we won 2 National Championships, and it couldn’t have been a more amazing experience.

For some additional news: I have decided to go on the Costa Rica trip.

I made the decision, and I couldn’t be happier! This is going to be a trip purely for myself. I’m not so keen on deep water or heights so much, and this trip includes surfing and zip lining. I am going to be pushing aside fear, and doing things that I normally would never see myself doing. I can’t wait for this incredible experience and to share everything with you guys <3

Good morning and happpppppy Friday! so glad the weekend is just around the corner!

Last night I went to a vinyasa class and was so completely relaxed by the end. It felt great. I wasn’t able to go to my favorite class this week with Camille because of Chase’s birthday so I’m excited to get back to her classes next week. I look forward to them every week!

So Wed night was girls night dinner. We usually do them at one of our houses but we decided to take it to the town and get dinner out this time. We decided on RA sushi. Their happy hour specials are ridiculous. Everything we got was half off, and the drinks were $5. I looked at the drink menu and saw the sake sangria. Intresting? yes, so I ordered one. Took 2 sips and was done with it. I didn’t like it at allll. blech.

We all split an order of vegetable tempura, and I had a few pieces of the kabocha squashhhh. YUM. I ordered 1 spicy tuna roll and 1 shrimp tempura roll and 2 pc of salmon. All of the rolls got brought out together on the same plates.

eh, I’ve gotten sick from sushi the past few times i’ve eaten it and hadn’t had it in a long time because it just reminded me of when i felt awful. I’ve always loved sushi so much so I wanted my love for it to come back. Unfortunately this is not the case. I just don’t really care for it anymore.  I wouldn’t mind getting a veggie roll or an avocado roll, but the raw fish is what gets me. I can’t shake the feeling from before. Crazy how that happens right? Have any of you gotten sick from a food before and now you just don’t like it anymore?

So Sunday i’m going up with my friends Laur and Meg up to good old Salisbury. The Salisbury field hockey team is in the NCAA playoffs and the semi final game is at SU this weekend. If they win the game on Sunday they go onto the final 4. Ah those days were always sooo much fun. While I was there, we won the National Championship 2 out of the 4 years, and they won it also the year before I got there. I hope they go all the way this year, they definitely deserve it!  I also won’t mind dropping by the outlets on the way there either

I think i’ve officially gotten bit by the travel bug.  Camille is having a yoga retreat in January in Costa Rica. It’s 6 days, filled with yoga twice a day, local delicious food, surfing, zip lining, horse back riding, and the beach.  Going there is a big leap, but I feel like after San Francisco I’m ready for more. I’m not worried to not know anyone, I can make friends.  I keep thinking in my head, I really want to go, ah I want to go. Why don’t I just DO it. I save money for a reason, and to have an experience like this, the opportunity doesn’t come around every day.  I’m going to give her my answer next week… but I feel myself leaning towards a yes ahhhh that would be the most amazing trip!

I wanted to give a HUGE shoutout to one of my bffff( times that f by infinity) in the world. You’ve seen her lots and lots on my blog. Britt has decided to make a blog! We’ve been besties since middle school, shes amazing. Please check out her blog and say hi! i made her a header that she ended up loving and she’s all set up now and ready to take on the blog world! and NYCers, she’s a resident i’m jealous of all the potential meet ups lol. We’ve always been the food lovers in our group of friends so i’m so happy she decided to do this! Plus I can keep up with her even more often now

Hope you all have a great Friday loviessss! xoxo

After our humungo meal at Greenleaf we ventured back to Hotel Vitale and got a table with the girls. I was just so incredibly stuffed though that I didn’t get a thing. Water was the only thing I consumed, and my belt on my dress had to be taken off haha. Indulgent night.  What cracked me up was that on the ceiling of the bar were paintings of men in bed. hahaha.

Mr. Sexy

In the morning I woke up and got to packing. It was crazy how much swag we got. Both the bag from Foodbuzz and Danica had to be packed up. How amazing is all of this stuff? SO generous!

Foodbuzz Swag

Sweet Danica swag

We arrived at our Nature’s Pride brunch which was our last Foodbuzz event. This was a delicious meal that brought our weekend as a group some closure. It was sad how quickly it flew by, but it was great to have one last meal together.

We all had our minds set on going to the Cliffhouse. We had been told the night before that this was a sight to see. A restaurant on the edge of the pacific ocean that had the most beautiful views. We decided to walk over. Allison and Quinn headed on over first. Jasmine, Janetha and I decided to do a little shopping first then meet up with them. On the way over we found the City’s farmers market. Everything was so fresh and beautiful. I wanted to buy all of the produce. There were a TON of squash, and it made me think of Miss Heather

At this point Jasmine had to go back to the hotel to get to the airport to catch her flight. Janetha and I figured we’d keep on walking until we saw a bus to help take us there. While we were in the Puma store, the sales lady told us definitely not to walk there.  We ended up walking for about 2 hours, up and down the San Francisco hills and seeing the most gorgeous houses. We ended up in a beautiful park and took one last picture before we called the walk quits and decided to call a cab. The Cliffhouse didn’t seem as close as we had hoped.

When we finally got a cab, we told the driver where we were headed and that we had already walked 2 hours to get there. He laughed at us and told us we were still so far away. After a $20 cab ride, we finally arrived.

It was even more beautiful than I expected.

It was the perfect ending to a perfect trip These girls were amazing.

Since my flight was messed up in the beginning they agreed to let me stay longer in San Fran and let me take the red eye home Sunday night. I got there early since everyone else’s flight left before mine and took a snooze as soon as I took a seat. When I woke up, I saw Meghann’s smiling face across from me She was on the same flight and I was so happy to have her there with me! She is such a dollfaceeee.  It was a first red eye experience for the both of us.

I am so incredibly happy that I took the chance to have this experience. When I first got the e-mail about it, I thought it sounded amazing, but didn’t think I had the guts to travel by myself, to a place i’d never been (never been to the west coast at all) with people I hadn’t met in person yet. I couldn’t be happier with my gut instinct to go and live my life to the fullest. Now I have so many new friends, and so many more passions that I want to pursue. Leaving San Francisco after meeting so many determined and uplifting women left me with a new inspiration. I want to make myself a better runner, a better yogi, and continue to strive for new goals and to reach them.

I will never forget my time in San Francisco <3

Where did I leave off? Oh, right. After our taste pavillion we had a big dinner planned with Outstanding in the Field. They brought us to a local produce warehouse called Greenleaf and made one long twisty turny table for 250. Meals were served family style, and we were all treated as such. We originally called a cab to hail us to the warehouse but then Danica figured out that a limo was cheaper. What are the odds? We jumped right in!

We ended up arriving a little earlier than everyone else and got  a chance to tour the facility and get a feel of the place. Once people started rolling in, we had a few photo ops we had to get in as well as being seated for our million course meal.

It was so amazing to be able to hang out with people that I have read about for so long. It seemed as if everyone’s personality was exactly how I expected them to be. Everyone was sweeter than candy and made this whole experience unbelievable.

Mushroom dashi, maritake, shimeji, enoki mushrooms

Udon, grilled calamari in a brown butter ponzu reduction, cucumber, kaiware, frisee & yellow pear tomato with chojang & sesame vinaigrette

Meghann and I snuck in a picture between courses

Mushroom risotto with koshihikari rice, crispy maitake mushrooms

Salmon baked with dashikombu, fried garlic and Japanese curry powder

Roasted brussels sprouts, ponzu fried garlic, guanciale, bonito flakes

Soy braised beef cheeks and oxtails, baby carrots and fingerling potato, OB Beer and denjang demi

This meal was amazing. Everything was locally grown and made right on the premises. I’ve actually never been this full in my life. There were so many new ingredients that I have never gotten to try before so it was great to be able to experiment with new dishes. Foodbuzz, you completely outdid yourself!