our birthday week.

rachel came to visit in july. we had way too much fun and didn't take many pictures. this was one of our many toasts from the weekend {since jack had just finished the worst three months of our lives [said may, june, july = studying for and taking finals & boards + hardest two rotations of the year + full blown waiting-for-boards-results-purgatory], he got to come and enjoy this frosty beverage, too}.

{picture by me: view from our room at the spindrift in on cannery row in monterey bay, california}

ok so get this. we were in waiting-for-boards-results-purgatory during the last week of july....which made it really hard pretty much impossible to plan anything {story of our lives, right?} for our birthday on august 3rd {yes, we have the same birthday, same year, too. we turned 25 again, yay!}. we would hear boards results any day now. was he going to be super depressed about bad news? was he going to be tired from his back to back boards/july finals? were we going to be ecstatic & relieved?? when i asked him what his vision for our birthday weekend was, his answer was, "i don't care, i just wanna get the heck outta here."

since he had a final that friday, and started a new rotation on monday, we couldn't go far. so, i chose...a weekend in monterey bay. as our birthday present, jack's parents helped us with our expenses that weekend. beyond grateful. 

here was my planning process: google monterey bay. click on tripadvisor. sort by most romantic. book number one. 

the spindrift inn right in the middle of cannery row. 

woodpile outside our room for our wood burning fireplace.

chowdah sample.

birthday hef.

rom bomb by our fireplace on the ocean.

our adorable bed.

 window seat.

my old man watching the seals and the waves.

 underneath our window seat.

 so, myyyy activity choice for our birthday was easy: birthday shopping {surpriiise}.

tourists.

$100 worth of...socks. yes, just socks.

oops. i got this hat. and i love it.

jack's birthday activity choice: pool with beer & fries.

every morning they served us breakfast in bed. we ate by the window sill and the seagulls came to keep us company.

seal watching.

reading the morning paper like real normal humans. by the fire. on the beach.

lunch stop on the way home from our weekend in monterey in pebble beach. we did the 17 mile drive.

i told jack that all i wanted to do was eat and shop for our birthday weekend. the let down of all the adrenaline from our stressful few months made me want to just sit, bask in our own humanity, and be a sloth. i got exactly what i wanted!

...oh, and a new camera lens (hence all the closeups) from the hubster. 

it's a canon 50mm f/1.8 II lens. i'm still learning to use it...but so far it's been so much fun!

i just love it! thanks babe!

dino feathers.

kale. 

people have been eating this superfood for over 2,000 years. 

it is packed with more than 100% of your daily requirement in vitamins A, K & C and is oozing with free-radical-neutralizing antioxidants {known as cancer-fighting properties}. also, kale's high fiber content aids in digestion and keeps inflammation at bay. yes, please!

so, sometimes it's hard for me to convince the hubster that eating kale is...super fun. 

enter: my fabulous recipe for dino feathers.

ingredients:

one bunch of rinsed, trimmed organic dinosaur kale

extra virgin olive oil

sea salt

pepper

1. preheat oven broiler {high}

2. cover cookie sheet with foil 

{if you are as lazy as me, this will make cleanup a breeze.}

3. lay each dino leaf in one layer on your cookie sheet.

4. brush each feather with olive oil

5. salt and pepper to taste

6. broil in the oven for 5 minutes. 

{each oven is different, so you may need to increase / decrease cook time and turn your feathers over mid-way if still not crispy. just keep an eye on 'em, as they burn quickly!}

7. enjoy as a side to a salad, fish, or well...by themselves! 

p.s.//when you eat these, you may want to nibble the tops and toss the ends. the bottoms tend to get a little tough. i didn't trim the ends because i think the feather presentation is kind of adorable. can kale be adorable? 

yes, yes it can.

educate you on something i know a lot about or i'm good at.

This was a hard one for me because, man, I’m just so good at sooo many things. Not.

But, I do feel like I’m really good at fitness & nutrition & knowing what bodies need. Actually, I wanted to be a nutritionist or a personal trainer in college…And then daddy brought me back to earth, saying I had to pay the bills, so I should choose something more practical. Enter tax accounting. Ugh. {it does pay the bills & then some, so thanks daddy!!} Food & exercise remained my...hobby? Is that the right word?

I was the typical teenage girl, so impressioned by people’s words like: Fat. Ugly. 

My brother jokingly called me a whale in middle school and things like that stuck with me through college. He was totally not being serious {and I love him verrryyyy much!!}, but I couldn’t let it go. I also had the pleasure of growing up around strikingly beautiful women in my family. Two words: Swedish blondes.

Three generations: Mom {center}. Grammenner {right}.

My aunt was a model in Los Angeles, New York, and Paris. My great aunt was queen of the rose bowl parade. Seriously? How would I ever manage to fit in with these women???

As the tween brunette tomboy with a snaggle tooth & a unibrow {yes, unibrow}, more comfortable in my brother's hand-me-downs, I had a hard time feeling comfortable in my own skin. My brother finally broke it to me that I should probably shave my legs before going to middle school. No one told me I could just pluck my unibrow until church camp in 7th grade {thank you older beautiful teenage goddess}. I wasn't really good at that stuff.

Oh, and the braces as a high school junior & senior were super hot. Awkwarrrd.

Food used to scare me when I was a teenager because of my mysterious changing body, and then I learned to understand it. I laugh at all that other stuff now, but I know there are a lot of girls out there that probably went through the same thing. So, what am I good at?

Nutrition & Exercise.

What do they both revolve around?

The Calorie. A unit of energy equal to the amount of heat needed to raise the temperature of one gram of water by one degree Celsius.

Get rid of all those stupid confusing fad diets. 

Paleo, Slimfast, Atkins, Low Fat, Southbeach, Caveman, No Sugar, blah blah blah. 

They are all rubbish and completely useless. Why? Because trust me, you will end up binging on an entire box of cheezits three weeks into it; and at a pound heavier than when you started, you'll wonder what the heck happened.

When I was in college, I invested my little internship paycheck in a personal trainer {check out my super embarassing success story}. Disclaimer: I was never fat, but I wasn't healthy either. Yeah, I jogged a couple of times a week. Sometimes.

At 5’5 and 135 lbs, & like 30% body fat, I was an averagely fatty skinny girl.

 Ok, so if you live or have lived in San Diego like I did, you will be extremely aware that the above representation of "acceptable" is not accurate...the average girl is pretty much at athlete status. 

Bathing suit season is. year. round. 

Sooo, I wanted to tone up and couldn't figure out how to do it myself. He taught me the magical science behind a calorie. Same formulas, whether you have 100 lbs to lose, or 5. Let me tell you, it blew my mind.

These magical formulas are really true: 

calories in {less} calories burned = calorie {deficit} or surplus.

3500 calories of surplus = gain one pound of fat.

3500 calories of deficit = lose one pound of fat.

One pound of muscle = burns 100 calories per day while at rest.

Our bodies are sculpted with = 80% diet, 10% workouts, 10% genetics.

I didn’t believe that these formulas applied to me and my weird body. So, he suggested I get the bodybugg and see for myself. Sure enough, if I sat on my booty all day on the couch watching real housewives of oc, my body required 1500 calories for basic organ function.

I told him, IMPOSSIBLE. If I eat a bagel, I gain five pounds!! He explained that I had destroyed my metabolism over the years. I had deprived it {I thought I should only be eating 1000-1200 calories/day} and put my body into starvation mode. So, everything I put into my body was being held on to for dear life. Sorry cute little body.

Epiphany: I actually do need 1500 calories to maintain my weight using the magic formula {This number is different for everyone}. More if I’m not a sedentary sloth.

To take it a step further, in the peak of my training with him, I used the following ratio in my diet:

40% protein 30% carbs 30% fat

I accompanied that ratio with the following gym routine:

two lift days & three cardio days & two rest days

I saw the fat literally melt off and lean muscle built in its place.At my peak, I think I got to 123 lbs and 20% body fat, with enough muscle to able to eat about 1900 calories a day to maintain my weight. {Another priceless nugget: body fat % is wayyy more important than BMI by the way. BMI is useless unless you are trying to figure out if you are obese or anorexic.} I kept a food journal using the nutrition information on my basic/favorite foods listed at www.calorieking.com. It was a game! Once you track your food for a few weeks, you'll be surprised that you eat pretty much the same things and you acquire a certain awareness and get the hang of just "knowing" what you are putting into your body. As a result, my awesome secret hidden talent is the ability to tell you the calories in pretty much any basic food.

Literally, I could go on for days about this little bundle of realization. I was so excited. Loved experimenting with food. Loved knowing what it felt like when I needed more protein. Or {gasp} fat. Loved incorporating exercise and having the ability to eat an entire California burrito {cheat days are KEY} and not gain an ounce.

OK, so I’m not the shining example of physical prime right now because of my new found wifey priorities with the hubster in school. I’m not running & weight training as much as I used to…and we def have more than our share chocolate chip cookie nights {sometimes the only ounce of happiness we see during midterms/finals week}. I’m a lil softer than I used to be, but that’s okay. I’m really happy. 

So, yes, I believe in a lifestyle diet: Eat Clean. Whole Food. Real food. 

Less sugar {glycemic index}. 

Less chemicals, less artificial ingredients, more good fat. 

...As much as you can. Don't be perfect. Have a cookie. 

Wake up! The lesson is over!

Mac & Cheese.

Busy season is in full swing. {busy season in tax is February-April 15th} I'm working 10+ hour weekdays and going into the city on Saturdays. I don't know what it is about that schedule that makes me want all that is cheesy and salty, but it's a force that sometimes I cannot fight. It might have something to do with the fact that there isn't a lot of time for a hot meal at regular hours. Usually I'm getting home at 7 or 8 and I just want to stand over the sink and eat cottage cheese and stare at the colors on the tv. Sometimes, you just need a cheat day.

Enter my variation on Nancy Reagan's baked mac & cheese recipe. No, that is not a close-up of what my arteries now look like after eating one serving of this baked cheesy casserole deliciousness. Well, maybe. But I'm still not regretting it. Ok, maybe that's a lie. I might as well share the recipe so I can bring all of you down with me.

Ingredients

1/2 pound of elbow pasta or penne {I used trader joe's penne with 6 g fiber per serving...justification?}

1 tablespoon butter

1 egg, beaten

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon mustard

3 cups shredded cheese of your choice, the sharper the better {i used sharp cheddar}

1 cup milk

1/4 cup fine breadcrumbs

Preheat oven to 350. Boil pasta and drain. Mix salt and mustard in 1 tablespoon hot water and add to milk. Return pasta to pan {away from heat} stir in butter and egg. Stir in cheese, leaving enough for sprinkling on the top. Pour pasta mixture into a greased 9x9 baking dish. Pour milk over pasta. Top with bread crumbs, and then the rest of the cheese. Bake uncovered for 45 minutes or until top is golden and bubbly.

Whoa.

Au Courant Workday Parfait.

Now that you are drinking your green juice, let's talk about what's for lunch...

Lately, I've been on a health kick. Don't get me wrong, Ah lurrrv my weekend pizza & wine night just as much as the next girl, but I try to use the week days to stick to mostly nutritious habits so that I know my body is getting what it needs {the majority of the time}.

I've gone a ton of different routes in terms of the workday lunch...I've brought sandwiches, nutritionally-void and sodium-laden frozen "healthy" {ha-ha} options, preservative-soaked meal-replacement bars & shakes {starving in ten minutes}, gone next door to pick something up to-go {literally..something, because I have no idea what's in it}...anything promising a quick, cheap meal. Afterall, there's NO TIME for anything else!!! I'm on the GO! Right??

WRONG! If I can sacrifice five precious morning minutes to prepare something, so can you. And yes, I've timed it.

Here is what I've created lately...It is a low-glycemic parfait packed with protein, calcium, fiber, heart healthy fat, lycopene, antioxidants, and much {much} more:

Ingredients:

1 Glasslock tupperware

Half cup lowfat cottage cheese

Half of an avocado

Half pint fresh berries

1 roma tomato

Handful of spinach

Sea salt & pepper to taste

Step1:

Step 2: 

Sea Salt & Pepper generously.

Step 3:

Final Step: 

Au Courant Parfait.

{Au Courant: fashionable, stylish, fully familiar, smart}

I challenge you to try this menu for a five-day workweek {and workweek could be anything...schoolweek, busy week at home with the kids, etc...} :

• Breakfast - two hard-boiled eggs {cage-free organic...because happy chickens = happy humans} with black coffee
• Snack - greek yogurt & string cheese
• Lunch - parfait & green tea
• Snack - green juice

Note: You are on your own for dinner! I usually go with a salad & protein + glass of wine ... or homemade air popped popcorn made with olive oil & sea salt...I'm not perfect, people!

Tell me if, by the end you do not feel utterly amazing and full of energy. You  might even be able to skip your 3pm daily drool & nap time at the computer!