New Cat + Another Fun Announcement!

Good morning!!!!! How has your week been going?? Mine has been pretty good......didn't get a whole lot of sleep the night before last due to the new cat wanting to explore, but other than that, I've been doing really well!!! Lot of school stuff going on, but I'm really enjoying all of my classes so far this year!!!!!!

Anyway, like I said Monday, our cat's name is Katsa, after a character in the book Graceling. She's pretty much all white, with one green and one blue eye. As promised, here are some pictures of her:

We all think she's pretty adorable! :D

So, anyway, I have some super awesome news for this blog!!!! I'M HAVING MY FIRST EVER GIVEAWAY! Whohoo!! :D I'm sort of excited. haha

The awesome people at Larabar have offered to send one reader a box of any flavor of bars!!!! Here's how to enter:

1. Visit their site and tell me which flavor you would choose. (this is the only step you have to do)
2. For an extra entry, mention this giveaway on your blog and leave a separate comment telling me you did.
3. For another entry, like "Musings of a Healthy Chocoholic" on Facebook!

You can enter until Saturday, and I'll announce the winner next Monday!

What Larabar flavor would you choose??

Do you like cats or dogs better?

I actually am more of a dog person, but especially since we live in an apartment, having cats is so much easier!

Our trip + Special News!

Heey!! Hope you all had wonderful weekends!!! Our trip was so much fun, even if we only there for a little over 24 hours! I'm still sort of recovering, so I'll just post a quick summary of our trip in pictures!

Me and My Sister

The Beach! :D

Sunrise

We saw a parrot!

View from the Top of a Hill

As I mentioned Friday, I have some fun news for ya'll!!!! We got another cat!! She's sooo cute! She has a blue eye and a green one! We named her Katsa (after a character in a book who has a blue and a green eye!, and she's the sweetest thing ever! I'll have some pics of her up tomorrow!! Let me just say that a certain fat cat is not pleased with this development! hahaha


When you're at the beach, do you like to just relax of go and sightsee???


I was most definitely born to lay out in the sun all day long. :D

Fun Weekend!

Hey everyone!!!!! Thanks for the feedback on my last post! I'm super excited about teaching this class, and will definitely keep ya'll posted on how things go!!!!

So this week has been pretty busy.....school really started with a lot of stuff to do! For example, in my Webpage design class, we're already working on a 6-page site!!!! Plus, I have my first test (math) and persuasive essay (american lit) due soon!!!!!! I'm busy, but am really enjoying all of my classes!!!

Physically, this week, I haven't felt 100 percent.....don't really know why, but I've been trying to listen to my body. The strange thing is, I've still had the motivation to go to fitness classes (jump and spin), but anything more physically demanding than that, and I just don't feel it. Maybe I need to just recover from running for a little while...don't want to cause any injuries!!! Also, I've been sooooo hungry all week long (helloooo peanut butter straight out of the jar! haha) so I really do think I just needed to have a more restful week. I'm definitely still having to work on the whole intuitive eating/working out thing, but I'm really proud of myself for being able to practice it this week!!!!!

Well, I'll be MIA over the weekend.....we're having a ministry beach retreat! Fun stuff!!! Monday I'll be back with what happened over the weekend, plus a very special announcement!!!!!!

What are you up to this weekend? 

This is New to Me

Heey!!! Today's post is going to be just a quick one! I have something that I'm pretty excited/nervous about that I wanted to share with ya'll!!! First off, how has your week gone? I've been pretty busy school-wise, getting back into the routine of things......I'm really enjoying most of my classes, though! Like a said yesterday, there's a whole lot less stress than last year!!!!! Pretty sure that my favorite class is Intermediate Web Page Design, which is a continuation of the Intro class I took last year. Who knows, one of these days I might actually design my own blog! hahaha Anyway, last night we had a fun little family outing! We were going to go buy some supplies (a bottle for barbeque sauce and latte milk frother thingy) and it just so happens that McDonalds was riiight beside us. Apparently, for the first time ever in this country, McDonalds has blueberry sundae topping. Now let me just say this, McDonalds desserts, especially the ice cream, are really,really yummy here!! So we had a family dessert time! My dad and sister got waffle cones with the blueberry syrup, my mom got a cone with swirl ice cream and I got a strawberry/raspberry parfait!! I did sneak a bite of blueberry though, and it was awesome! What have you been up to this week? 


Anyway, about my news. My parents have spoken with the pastor of the small church up in the community, and they asked me if I would lead a small beginner's workout class on Wednesdays!!! I'm really excited about it!!!! Some of the ladies who were at the event we had a couple of Saturdays ago might participate. Mom and Dad are going to talk to some of them and see who is interested and what they would be interested in doing. My main issue is knowing how to put together a class for beginners.....with little to no equipment. Anyone have any ideas or DVD suggestions for me?


Well, that's about it for today....see ya'll again later!!!!

Stressin' Out

Morning!! :D Hope everyone is doing really well!!!!! I've got a lot going on school-wise, but I'm not half as stressed out as I was last year, so that's definitely a good thing!! I have a brand-new set up for my computer now, and I love it! We brought over a table from another place in the house, and now I'm set up right in front of a window, which is pretty awesome! Someone else seems to enjoy it as well.

I don't usually post on Tuesdays, but there is something that has really been on my heart for a little while now, so I thought I'd share today. 

I'm a worrier. I'm really, really good at stressing out over small things. Like things that might not even occur. For example, last year I tried to take 7 classes instead of the usual 6, and instead of taking an easy class as my extra one, I chose Chemistry. Definitely not the smartest thing I've ever done. I was so worried about accomplishing everything that's necessary for the advanced diploma that my school offers, that I put extra work on myself as a sophomore. The funny thing is, we charted out all of the credits and classes that I need before I graduate, and next year, I'll only need to take 4 classes. So why exactly was I worried? I've got no clue. 

Another thing is, it wasn't really until this year, when I have a normal class load, that I realized how stressed out I was last year. I mean, I knew I was stressed, but I didn't realize just how stressed I was. Isn't it interesting that the actions I took because of worrying only ended up causing more worries instead of preventing them? In the Bible it says:

"An anxious heart weighs a man down," Proverbs 12:25 

"Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?" Matthew 6:27 

One thing that I want to work on this year is the constant worrying. I end up missing out on fun things, and usually just end up causing more stress, which has a lot of negative health impacts,  both physical and psychological. Here's a list:

Physical symptoms

high blood pressure chest pain cold hands & feet fatigue sleep problems sweaty palms acne

irregular heartbeat reproductive problems headaches diarrhea more infections (cold, flu etc.) hair loss weight loss

Psychological symptoms

moodiness depression nervousness irritability lack of concentration

memory problems overreaction's coping problems argumentative becoming withdrawn (source)

Do you ever deal with anxiety or stress? 

 This year, I want to actively work on dealing with stress!!! How about you?

Another Workout that Kicks my Butt

Hey everyone!!! Hope you all had wonderful weekends!! We didn't do too much...got out a couple of times, and it was great to relax!! I'm really enjoying my weekends now that school has started back! What did you do this weekend?

So remember when my first tempo run absolutely kicked my rear? Well on Friday, I tried an at-home workout that pretty much did too! It was Jillian Michaels' 30 Day Shred! When I first read a little bit about it, I thought, well 3 min strength, 2 min cardio, 1 min abs per circuit, 3 circuits per level..I can do this! Yeah right. I did level 2 and felt like death afterwards.....in a good way though. :D I definitely have not done that many push ups in my life! hahaha Have any of ya'll tried it??? What are some other good strength circuit-style dvds? I found that having a limit (like three minutes) on my strength really helped me get through it! Especially since, if I were allowed, I would pretty  much run forever and never, ever do any sort of strength. Buuut I know it will help me run even faster in the long run, so I'm trying to include more strength in my workout routines!

In other, tastier news, I  made these today! Soo yummy!!! I did have one problem though, and I'm wondering if any of you can help me out. I made the muffins and topping exactly the way the recipe called for, poured the batter in the muffin tins, and sprinkled the topping on top. While they were baking, for some reason, the topping didn't stay on the muffins....it sort of "exploded" and got all over the muffin tins. There was still a little bit of crumb topping on each muffin, and the part that spread out sort of caramelized on the tins......taste-wise, this wasn't a problem, and I just whipped up a little glaze to make up for some of the lost sweetness of the muffins. However, everyone loved these, and when I make them again, I'd like to try avoiding another crumb topping meltdown.....anyone have any ideas as to why this happened????

Well, I just got back from jump (so much fun), and probably need to get going on school....se ya'll later!

Rolls done Right

Heey!!! Is anyone else glad its Friday? I sure am!!! I've been putting off actually looking at my school schedule for the day, but I'm hoping that there's not too much to do! I have absolutely no idea what we're doing this weekend, but I'm looking forward to just relaxing a little bit!

So last night I re-attempted the rolls that I messed up a couple of days ago!!!! As it turns out, adding all of the necessary ingredients to a recipe actually does make a difference! Who knew?! hahaha Anyway, here's the recipe:

Super-Quick Rolls

Ingredients

• 1 cup self rising flour (or 1 cup ap flour + 1.5 tsp baking powder and 1 tsp salt)
• 1/2 cup milk
• 2 T sugar
• 2 T mayo

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees. 
2. Combine all ingredients in medium bowl and stir until everything is completely incorporated into the dough. 
3. Spoon dough into 6 greased muffin tins.
4. Bake for 20 minutes or until the rolls pass the toothpick test. 

So there ya have it! Quick, easy dinner rolls!!!! :D They're not quite as delicious as a yeast roll, but they are great for weeknights where you want some form of bread to serve with your dinner, but don't want to wait for a yeast dough to rise! 

Sooo in completely unrelated news, my sister, who did my cheetah nails a while back, has another new creation, this time on her own nails!!!!

Can you guess which nail has which designer label on it??

Well, that's about it for me today.....what are your weekend plans????

Tempo Runs Kick My Butt

Heey!! Happy Wednesday!!! What all have you guys been up to this week???

I've been pretty much just getting back into the school routine...so far I'm enjoying my classes, which is a good sign!!! Although, seeing my cat sleep on the couch all afternoon sort of makes me wish that I could do the same thing. :P

Aaand why are you disturbing me?

So anyway, Friday I did my very first tempo run, which was a heck of a lot tougher than I anticipated it being! I figured that well, since I wasn't going to run at my fastest speed, but instead at a moderate one, I would be ok. Let me just say that by the end of it I was one heck of a sweaty beast! haha I enjoyed it, but my favorite runs are probably the speed runs, which is weird, but I like running fast. :P Which type of training run do you prefer: hill, tempo, speedwork or a long run? 


So last night, I had a little bit of a baking disaster. For dinner, I wanted to make some of my favorite quick rolls to serve as a side. However, I forgot to add baking powder to the mixture because the original recipe calls for self-rising flour, so baking powder isn't on the ingredient list. We don't usually buy self-rising flour here, so you have to add some salt and baking powder to it whenever a recipe calls for self-rising. Anyway, after about 20 minutes, the rolls still looked sort of small and undercooked, so I took out the recipe and reread it. That's when I realized what I had done! I guess that we weren't supposed to have rolls last night....hahaha Do you have any funny kitchen disaster stories? 

Well, I had better get to studying....have to get some stuff done before spin!!

My New Favorite Way to Eat Oatmeal

Heey everyone!!!! Hope you all had an awesome weekend!!! Mine was pretty jam-packed! Saturday we had a women's event up in the community, which was a lot of fun!!! Those ladies really needed some time to just laugh! We did a devotional, sang some songs, played a couple of games and ended the day by giving them all manicures and a little snack!!!! We also talked with them to see what they want to do for any upcoming meetings, which we're hoping will happen once a month! Then yesterday, it was Father's Day here in Brazil, so we just did whatever dad wanted to do! :D Which wasn't a whole lot since he's exhausted! Omelets for breakfast lunch (we slept in), a trip to the acai place in the afternoon, and steak (from the restaurant across the street!!) with salad and baked potatoes for dinner!!! We watched some soccer, talked about some upcoming changes (nothing too dramatic.....its a surprise for now though! haha) and pretty much had some awesome family time! How was your weekend????

So Friday for some reason, I was really craving a huge bowl o' oatmeal.....for lunch. Not really sure why I wanted oats for lunch, but I went with the flow and came up with what might just be my all time favorite way to eat oats! 

 

It is really very simple, so I'm not even going to write my method out as an actual recipe...just thought I'd share what I did! Basically, I cooked my oatmeal like I normally do (1/3 cup oats in 2/3 cup milk and 2/3 cup water...cooking it in double the liquid for a little bit longer than usual really makes the oatmeal extra creamy!), and in the last few minutes of cooking, I added some maple extract and some strawberry extract. Then, I caramelized some banana and mixed it in the oatmeal, for extra creaminess and flavor, and topped it all with cinnamon! So easy, but the extracts really made the oats taste different! :D What's your favorite way to eat oatmeal?

Well, for today, I've pretty much just got school stuff to do....getting back in that routine! I'm pretty excited about most of my classes though, so this year should be a good one!!!!

See you all later!

I Made Dinner (but forgot to take pictures....)

Morning everyone!!! Hope you all are doing really well!!!!! My week started off slow, since Wednesday has been pretty busy!

First off, the new RPM release=awesome. Just wanted to say that! I think it was release 61, but I'm not absolutely positive. Either way, we had little blue balloons tied on the bikes and at the end, instead of having an additional 15 minutes of ab work (which usually is taught by the same teacher), we just hung out as a group for a little bit! So awesome! There were definitely more high tension hills than in any of the other releases that I've done, and because hills challenge me the most, I was pretty much exhausted after my workout! Much better than the last class I attended! :P

Anyway, yesterday my mom and sister were out all day, so I got to make dinner for them!!!! I made baked potatoes, pasta, and a new-to-me recipe, chicken souvlaki! I didn't have pitas, and couldn't make the sauce, but the chicken was yummy! I didn't get any pictures, though...but here's my recipe:

Skillet Chicken Souvlaki (based on this recipe)

Ingredients:

1 pound chicken 

1 tablespoon oil, divided

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon pepper

1 1/2 medium onions, sliced thinly

1 medium bell pepper, sliced thinly

3 tsp bottled minced garlic

1 tsp oregano

Directions

• 1. Heat 2 teaspoons oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Sprinkle chicken with 1/2 teaspoon salt and black pepper. Add chicken to pan; sauté 5 minutes or until done. Remove from pan.
• 2. Add 1 teaspoon oil to pan. Add onion and bell pepper; sauté 3 minutes. Add chicken, garlic, and oregano; cook 30 seconds.

Easy, and delicious!!!

For dessert, we had some of Katie's single serving cookies!! Mom had chocolate chip, my sister had peanut butter , and I had half-and-half! Deelicious! :D

Since I don't have any pictures of anything that we had yesterday, I will share a pic of my lemon cream scones, which I happened to make on Monday!

Come to Recife.....I'll bake for you! :D

Well, that's about all I've got for today.......
What are your weekend plans?

First Day of School!

Edit: Everyone, check out the awesome giveaway that Chocolate-Covered Katie is having!! http://chocolatecoveredkatie.com/2011/08/10/the-best-giveaway-ever/


Heey!!! I hope you all have been having a wonderful week so far!!! Thanks for the positive comments on my last post....I'll try to have a vlog up sometime soon!


Soo today is the first day of my junior year of high school!!!!! I really can't believe how fast these holidays flew by!!!!! Something about being gone for two weeks just makes it seem like it wasn't that long ago that I was finishing up with my final exams and everything! Now, I'm back to the beginning of a new school year!!! Wow! Do you ever feel like holidays fly by faster than the school/work year?? I definitely do!!!

Well, this little guy apparently thinks that life is just one big vacation:

 

Soooo tired!

I have said it once, and I will say it again: What a life! :D And yes, he is on my bed, sleeping on top off my dress! Oh well......it just means that I don't have to organize my room yet...wouldn't want to disturb the cat! haha

Oh! I almost forgot...my gym is releasing a new RPM track today! I'm going and I'm really excited!!!! :D Here's a funny gym story for ya'll. Yesterday, I decided that I wanted to try out a new class, and I saw that they had a dance class in the afternoons. Since the only other dance class is too early in the morning for me, I decided to give this one a go. What I didn't realize was that the afternoon class was set up for people who already knew the routines and just wanted to practice. I have never in my life felt as lost as when the instructor suddenly started the music and everyone was dancing! I must have had the most dazed look on my face! Needless to say, I lasted about 5 minutes.....think I'll be sticking to RPM from now on. hahaha
Did you ever start to take a class without realizing something about it?

Well, that's about all I've got for now....see ya'll later! 

August Group and Vlog Question

Heey!! Hope you all had wonderful weekends!!!! I sure did, but mine was really busy! Our usual August group is here now, so we spent some time with them over the weekend! Saturday we had a big welcome to Brasil dinner, and yesterday we went to church in the evening! My school starts on Wednesday, and my sister's has already started, so we wanted to try to spend some time with the group while we could! What did you do this weekend? 

Another thing that I did was attempt to make my first ever vlog. I used my computer's webcam, but for some reason, blogger would not upload my video! I just kept getting tons of error messages! Has this happened to anyone else? Any tips on what I should do to make my vlogs work in the future? 

Before I go, there's one serious thing that I want to talk about from my Chicago experience. Actually, it has nothing to do with Chicago, but it was something that I needed to really pay attention to while I was there. As I've mentioned before, I don't deal well with stress. Instead of being a stress eater, I just don't eat. Lose my appetite completely. In fact, last time I went through a major transition (moving back here from the US), I lost every bit of the weight that I had worked for about 5 months to gain. That was almost 10 lb, by the way. So, one of the biggest things that I worried about before my trip was how I was going to deal with transition. Especially since I'd pretty much be in transition the entire time, first going to Memphis, then road-tripping it to Chicago, and finally flying back home. I am very happy to report that, though I did lose some weight, it was only a fraction of what I lost last time. 2 pounds. My ultimate goal was to not lose any weight, but since I did lose some, I'm soooooo glad that there was such an improvement over last time! So encouraging! Maybe the next time that I go through a transitional phase I won't lose any weight at all!!!!

So finally, I wanted to thank all of you guys for being there and actually sticking with me! I've loooved blogging and have :met: a bunch of awesome people! I also want to thank anyone that I actually know who is reading this.....I've been sooo blessed to have you in my life! :D

Has blogging helped keep you accountable for anything? 
What was the reason that you began to blog? 
Does anyone that you know read your blog?

Well, that's about all I've got for today! See you again soon! :D

"Like" Me!

Heey everyone!!!!!!
Not much is going on....that's why I don't have a regular post up.

However, I do have one little bit of news..............


I CREATED A FACEBOOK PAGE!! Whoo! Sorry 'bout the yelling....I'm kind of excited! :D

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Musings-of-a-Healthy-Chocoholic/229465250422601?sk=wall

Please, please "like" me!!!! :D



What are your weekend plans????

NSLC

Hey everyone! Thanks for sticking with me while I was away and not posting! You guys are the BEST! :D

I had an absolutely amazing time attending the NSLC and was sooo fortunate to be able to do so! I got to meet some awesome people and learn so much, not only about business, but also about leadership and myself in general. I really hope that I'll be able to stay in touch with the friends that I made over those 10 days! :D

View from Willis Tower

Willis Tower take 2

When I say that I learned a lot about myself, I mean that I now know that I can push myself to do my absolute best in any situation. I learned that God is always with me, even when no one else that I know is near. And guess what? I learned that it's not that hard to talk to people you don't know.....and even better, become friends with them! :D

I guess that what I'm trying to say is that not only did I learn all about running a business (I'm supposedly an excellent negotiator, by the way), I also grew as a person!
What was an experience that you had that made you expand your horizons and grow as a person?

Home again, home again!

Heeey everyone! I'm HOME!

I ended up not having internet access while in Chicago, which is why I didn't post at all the past week and a half. I have a BUNCH of things to cover and a heck of a lot of catching up to do with ya'lls blogs!

Today, I'm not going to go in to too much detail about the NSLC, just because I'm still a little overwhelmed and trying to recover from the trip. I will say that I had an amazing time both in Memphis and in Chicago and am sooo fortunate and blessed to have been able to make this trip!!!

For now, while I take some time to sift through everything, I'm going to post a recipe. Its the last thing that my sister and I made before I left, and it was soooo yummy!!!!  If you like banana bread, than you really HAVE to make these!

Banana Bread Muffins

 (based on this recipe)   

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 2 cups flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup oil
• 3 mashed ripe bananas
• 2 teaspoons baking soda

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Cream sugars, oil and egg together until smooth and light yellow. Add the mashed banana. Stir in flour, baking soda and salt until completely combined. 
3. Spoon muffins into 12 greased muffin tins and bake for 30 to 40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.  

Sorry for the kind of boring post...I promise that I'll be back very soon with updates on how my actual trip went!!! :D
What was the most exciting/fun thing that you did in the past 2 weeks? 
I feel so out of the loop....want to catch up on what ya'll are up to! :D