Fresh Start

Taking another stab st this blogging thing over at Lauraconquers.blogspot.com

ohh tasty delicious

So i made this apple tart the other day however my slices came out of the pie dish not so much this [> as this &$!%#. Making the crust out of dates and walnuts has never been attempted in my kitchen before so there was some error but as a crumble over vanilla ice cream is just grand and since there is no added stick of butter and flour -no guilt either ;)

recipe from World's Healthiest Foods LINK

SWAsHBUCKLING!

god damn my new boots are awesome. awesome buckles and straps, awesome distressed leather, awesome brown contrast bits. awesome Awesome AWESOME.
Had to force some restraint to keep them from beating the hell out of my new office underling-they are just THAT ASSKICKING!

Seychelles Ms Fixit $170 LINK

channel surfing

Caught this snippet during a commercial break of Heroes...
"It is no place for a woman who wears weave and fine jewelry."
New York of I heart New York
I now have a new standard to judge my life accomplishments-weave and fine jewelry and the spine to refuse producers' cheap attempt to get me into a mud bath.

Worth a grain of Rice

Might make you feel smart, might make you feel dumb, might make you feel like retaking the SATs-no matter is a mighty good way to spend some time doing a little good for the world in between work emails and customer phone calls. As if i needed justification behind putting off work ;)


For every word you get right, FreeRice will donate 10 grains of rice to a hungry person through an international aid agency.
LINK to freerice

Stuffing your Choke.

After breakin my butt during spinning class and pilates, what is the best way to imediately replace all those spent calories??
why with shrimp stuffed artichokes of course...

Oskar and I were culinarily delighted with this dish.
Recipe from What Did You Eat?
Was my first time making artichokes. After boiling them, the chokes got to sit for 2 hours while i went to the gym. Which made stuffing them super easy since they were no longer burning hot. Dicing up shrimp is hard so mine had quite the rustic quality. I need to figure out a better dipping sauce for the chokes since the breading tends to dry ones mouth out quickly...but oskar and i werent slowed down by this a bit.

My Current PreOccupation

i have gone from hours seraching for exercise tips to diet and nutrition and have seguewayed into organic and healthy living which has stirred up my 15 year old environmental club self again. After reading the entire backlog of Green as a Thistle and making daily trips to No Impact Man and Tiny Choices, i have implemented a few ideas into my daily life.
1)No more plastic bags -in fact i bring my adorable Miso Pretty shopper to Safeway, traders Joes, the gym and the farmers market. I have justified spending money on it since Safeway gives me back 3 cents everytime. (at this rate i only have to go 430 more times to pay it off). Currently my coffee is free trade, my yogurt organic and as much as my fruit local and in season.
2)I took the time to research all the materials Santa Clara will pick up for recycling so on top of the newspaper, there is now a paperbag filled with egg cartons, junk mail, receipts and cereal boxes each week.
3) i have a compost heap!
4) I am trying to reduce and simplify my possessions, giving away stuff just sitting in my closet to whoever i think can actually use it, making an effort to use (up) whatever i already own, and am trying to control my impulse to purchase, purchase, purchase. Doing pretty well with part A and B but THIS gives me a D+ for the last bit.
5) Dishwasher is now premanently set to air dry, will be picking up dryer balls to reduce the time/energy/need for cancer-ific dryer sheets, and all appliances, lights, electronics (def the phone charger) not used on a daily basis are unplugged.

i know i still have a ways to go still -using tons of chemically awful products, driving a truck around and using too much energy for one person. Hopefully i can keep reducing my impact while still staying Fabulous ;)

How Charming???

This is my initial and uncensored reaction to THIS:



"OHhh my fick-fucketty god."

My idea of Hell

There aren't very many things that intensely, instantly and continually fill me with rage but there is a rumor about Apple combining 2 of them into one ipod package...


ugh yellow and every Beatles album ugh ugh ugh vomit vomit vomit.

By the way -nutella cake turned out freakin amazing!!!

I want this!

so I am going to make it!
Even took special midday break from work to trek to Safeway for hazelnuts and nutella.
recipe and such can be found HERE

THE Shirt Post

$90 Lisa Kline
Asymmetry without being obnoxious about it.
LINK

$15 Burnswell
LINK
Basically just like the necklace i wanted for my birthday but despite an order and numerous emails and 2 months later that just didn't work out. Dont want this T to feel like runner-up (but we both know it is)


$14 Switched Clothing
It's just Rad-buy it.
LINK

Wish me luck i am off to car shop this weekend and would really like to get through my test drives without any "incidents" havent been nervous about driving a car since my first outing on my permit. Maybe i should practice rolling out of moving cars and running really fast to avoid blame or monetary claims ;)

You know you have a problem..

I just ate a homemade breakfast topped with ground flax seed. Since i dont want to be one of those people who makes their own granola and can tell you the calorie count of a tsp of sugar, I think it is now time to take a breather from
THIS,
THIS
& THIS

What can be better than chicken and pears?? Why chicken and pears handmade with love by Christopher Walken.



Oh and A HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Reg & Stef!

Sited

My latest online game addiction STACKOPOLIS (architectural tetris)
-LINK
have never felt soo clumsy manuevering a mouse before
lvl 11 and counting ;)

Have become too frustrated with Yahoo maps for finding new lunch places to try
Found this site on a web search and have already fallen head over heels for it after a widely successful trip to Taqueria La Bamba
UrbanSpoon LINK
(only avail for: Boston Chicago Los Angeles New York Seattle SF Bay Area Washington DC so far)

Older sister told me about this site:
is great for planning runs/walks gives you distance and lets you modify easy enough to add/subtract more-only flaw i have noticed so far-doesnt have pathways through parks
MapMyRun
and no matter where you are running-checkout this quick tips for running form
If nothing else concentrating on your foot placement keeps your mind off the pain, sweat and side cramps of running
LINK

Can't believe i havent heard of this before:
Designer Apparel is an awesome search tool for shopping
pulls search for designers across different shopping sites (Ex: Nordstrom, zappos, bluefly etc)
and gives you the results all in one place and i love the magnifyer for each pic without having to click and close a new window. LINK

Where's my Passport?

Got this off of Reg's blog.

Just makes me want to travel more...since i am competative like that. Singapore and Belize here i come!

Finally

Something worth blogging about... I have tried and tried to get into the GO -International designs at Target and after failing with 6 or so in the series. Target has finally featured one that i tried almost every item on in my size. I bought this Libertine dress and the best part is that even though i am not the size 2 that is featured here-it looks the same on my body. You can't see but there is also a Black embroidered "L" by the hip. And I do just adore items with my initial/name/head shot on them even though totally unintentional by the designer yeah there is a bit of boob flattening but pretty much every bra of mine is padded to turn my B-s* into C+s

*Among a certain group of friends it is customary to nickname the breasts-as yet I have avoided this but I think I need to christen them Siegfried & Roy since with all this exercising of late they are totally pulling a disappearing act.