Homemade Latte Love

RIP Coffee Addiction

Current Coffee :: Starbucks Christmas Blend

It has been almost 3 months since Christmas but I absolutely LOVE Starbucks Christmas blend. I bought it whole bean and grind it fresh at the beginning of the week in my Magic Bullet (I'm not sure if a Magic Bullet is even allowed in the dorms, but hey, I'm a rebel ;) )

The Christmas Blend has a slightly spicy taste along with a nuttiness which reminds me exactly of Christmas, without being overpowering.

About a month ago I went to the doctor and found out some HORRIBLE news.

I have to cut back on coffee!!!!!!!!!!

I about cried right there in the office but I held it together until after I left. I have fibrocystic breast disease (which sounds 10 times more scary than it is haha) but I have to cut out as much caffeine as possible. :(

So I decided to drink only one cup a day... I decided to give up all but one cup of coffee for Lent to help me along the way.

It's been an interesting journey going from 3 cups a day to 1. I have a much easier time sleeping at night which is a HUGE HUGE plus. However I find myself downing 5 Hour Energy shots when it comes to my long study nights.

-----------

Btw, I don't just drink coffee! I drink tea too! (all the time actually!)
That's why I'm completely in love with this giveaway!

http://www.loveveggiesandyoga.com/2010/03/give-away-french-press-tazo-tea-gift.html

Check it out! She's giving away a ton of Tazo teas and a french press!!!!!

Fresh Start

It has been months since I have posted. Since my last post I have been back at school for almost 2 semesters, become treasurer of my sorority, gotten an amazing boyfriend, and also gained weight.

This is the heaviest I have been in a long time and I need some serious butt kicking to get back on track.

This picture was taken during my first month of Freshman year of college. [no clue about my exact weight]

This was taken the summer after Freshman year... I have pretty much maintained this weight for a long time [145]. Side note: short hair = a big NO NO for my face.

This picture [and the next] were taken last week during spring break.

Current Weight: 147

Goal Weight: 130-135

I know I will have to make a lot of changes in what I eat and my level of exercise. Changing what I eat is going to be difficult while living on campus and being tied down to a campus meal plan along but I will figure it out!

I've missed blog world!! I hope starting up with this again will help me loose the weight and maintain a healthier life. This isn't just weight loss for me, I want to live a healthier, more active life.

Super Scooper

Being surrounded by tons of delicious ice cream while either A) stressed out from dealing with customers or B) bored due to lack of customers ... is HARD.


Butter Pecan, Turtle, Black Raspberry, Oreo Cheesecake, Coffee Ripple... the list goes on and on. Not to mention tons of candy toppings and brownie sundaes! Oh my! It's enough to make any girl that cares about her health go running!


Ice cream every once in a while is good. Every day is very, very bad. I am struggling with this so much right now. I go to work every day telling myself I will NOT have any of this. Then I end up taking a bite or two and I justify it because it was just a "sample size." Then at the end of the night I ruin it out of habit. It's late (11pm or later), I'm stressed, and my feet hurt. For 2 years I have been used to grabbing a treat at the end of the night, a milkshake here, a waffle cone there. Now, even when I desperatly want to break this habit, I can't seem to keep from slipping up.


Trust me I have tried many times to completely cut out ice cream when I work. And trust me, every single time it has failed. As soon as you say "NO! ABSOLUTELY NONE OF THIS"... doesn't it just seem that much more appealing?




I need a solution! I know I could easily cut out 5-10 pounds if I stopped eating so much ice cream 5+ times a week...

My [Potential] Solution :

Have a very filling, healthy dinner so I will be full during work and cut down my urge to nibble on ice cream and in turn shove 2 milkshakes down my throat at the end of the night. A lot of times I will grab something for dinner on my way out the door (I almost always work the closing shift... 6/7-11pm). I think having a big (and healthy) dinner will be the first step in keeping myself on track.

Any suggestions?!

Roadtrippin'!

It's been about a week since I last posted, life has been crazycrazycrazy.

I took a road trip last Friday-Sunday to visit with my best college friends. The trip was supposed to take 3 hours... we missed an exit in Atlanta and our GPS took us a new way, a way that added an extra 2.5 hours to the trip!!

However, I didn't mind the 5 + hour drive. It was absolutely stunning! Mountains, farms, little quaint towns, lakes. It was the epitome of a seneic drive.

That Saturday we laid out by a friends pool for 5 hours... BAD IDEA. I was so BURNT and now I am peeling... grossssss. I decided to not wear sunscreen for some stupid reason. I seriously which I hadn't done that, peeling = disgusting.

BEFORE [at a Brave's game a few weeks ago]

AFTER [me 2 days ago, holding up the present I got my sister]

Crazy how different it is?!

I have basically been working non-stop since I've been back. I feel in a slight funk, I've only worked out once this week and I haven't done any yoga. I actually attempted to stretch earlier and it was painful. One thing I have been good about though is ab workouts. I have been doing ab stuff while watching tv at night! I'm really liking this concept, because its an easy way to atleast work some sort of exercise in at the end of the day.

I am supposed to be going out on a boat tomorrow and then going camping at night... but I think I might have to skip the boat for the sake of my skin. It really can't take much more right now.

I hope you guys have a wonderful weekend!!

Keurig Krazy!

My week has been pretty blah. If I haven't been at work, I've been doing housework. Nothing eventful.

I've been doing a lot of yoga lately. I started out doing short yoga sessions as a way to stretch before I worked out... turns out the yoga itself was a work out! I've been doing yoga along with my workouts every day and man can I tell the difference! I use either the Yogamazing podcast or 20-minute Yogadownload.com podcast.

Yesterday, I was able to strongly hold a pose that last week I feel over doing and couldn't even imagine doing for half a second.

On Tuesday afternoon/early evening (4:30ish) I decided I wanted to go for a run for my exercise. Note: I am NOT a runner, for me it is painful and I never run very far. But I wanted to push myself by running outside.

30 seconds into the run I could tell something was wrong, 2 minutes later my lungs were burning worse than I have ever felt and constricting at the same time. I couldn't get a full breath so I walked back home, defeated. Turns out the air quality that day was "Orange: Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups" ... having slight asthma, I would put myself in a "Sensitive Group." So I retreated to my air conditioned gym.

On a coffee note!

I am very close to purchasing a Keurig single cup coffee maker! Does anyone own one?

I am going to get the Special Edition B60. It can brew a perfect cup of coffee in 30 seconds (can you say perfect for me in the mornings running out to class??), it has a setting that can allow you to fill a whole travelers mug (again, perfect for class!), there is no mess or cleanup (all you have to do is throw away an empty K-cup).

It's a little bit more expensive than a regular coffee maker but there is no wasted coffee, ever. It's supposedly a perfect cup of coffee every time and you never have wasted coffee sitting in the pot to get cold.

I'm a little bit excited for this :)

Since I've gotten my camera back I've only taken a picture of a few of my eats.... oops!

A couple of days ago I decided to try a Think Thin bar! I went with the peanut butter flavor and I ended up rather enjoying it! It's 240 calories but it packs 20 g of protien into one bar and 0 g of sugar (among many other great things) !

So that was my lunch 3 days ago and for dinner the next day I was craving spinach... weird I know. I looked in our freezer and saw that we had some spinach I decided to make a spinach pasta. It was really yummy.

I cooked the spinach for 6 mins then took it out, added lemon juice and lemon pepper, and cooked it for another min. Then I cooked some whole wheat pasta to go with it. I topped the spinach with the pasta and a little more lemon juice. Then I decided to put a little vinegar on top for an extra taste... except that way more than intended came out! (oops!). Then added some feta cheese on top! (I wanted mozzerella but we were all out). All in all it was a good and very easy dish!

After dinner I decided I wanted to try Tinas Iced Coffee idea to have the next morning!

Mine turned out less than fantastic... thanks for the not-so-wonderful coffee I used to make it. I will defenitly have to try it again when I have some better coffee because I absolutely love the idea of having my own iced coffee in the summer!

Currently drinking: New England Coffee Hazlenut Creme. It's alright... it was on sale at Publix and I decided to try it. It's ok but I'm not in love. C+