quesadillas!

Today consisted of school and working out at the awesome school gym. I also purchased a pumpkin spiced coffee from starbucks for the second time this week. argh, and I need to remember to write that down in my financial journal. yikes.

*My mom actually treated me to the Pumpkin Spice after picking her up at the airport, but I am choosing to put that down as my own purchase on the journal, because I would've still bought it whether or not she did pay for it


On Saturday:

You know dinner was a success 100% when your stomach doesn't kill you. I've noticed gradually that my tolerance to lactose has been dipping low. Now I can't have a sprinkle of cheese without feeling like my gut is eating itself.

When I took Tums before my consumption of cheese, I hoped and pleaded it'd work.
Ashley made dinner.

It's fun to watch Ashley cook because for the longest time I've known her, I've never seen her cook. I've only seen her pop an occasional chicken bake in the mircowave here and there. ha 

This is one of the nicer dogs that stops barking at me after two minutes. I think I got comfortable saying "Shut up!" the 362178 times I've stepped foot in the house. In fact, I think that is the first thing that comes out of my mouth.

Shrimp with butter.

Beautiful hands.

Big chunk of cheese.

She has skills.

This picture is too nice to paste over a pineapple head and hamburger belly, upon her request. I'm not that mean. She told me to do this a few days ago, and I remembered. See? I am a good listener Ashley *see the above if you missed that one.

Happy in anticipation

With Tums on the side, how nice. My stomach didn't kill me, yes!

We ended the night watching Dinner with Shmucks. It was a funny and heart felt movie, I loved it. Paul Rudd is such a charming guy.

Then we saw The Last Exorcism

During the movie I was really scared (covered my eyes and got really jumpy). I hate scary/grotesque movies that could have the potiential to happen in real life. ie) ghost stories, Saw, The Centipede.

I also hate it because I feel like I miss out of the movie from covering my eyes too much.

I believe there are demons, but maybe someones head can't rotate at 360 degrees in real life? right? ha. So I was relieved with the fact I wasn't watching a movie "based on true events". The ending was really weird and humorous. That's all I can say.

Fact: I haven't fully seen The Exorcist. It gives me the creeps, and I convinced myself that the movie did really happen in real life!

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$tar"bucks"

Tonight after work, I attended a six week course on how to handle your finances based on the Bible and God's principle. Over the past summer, it's no lie that money has cause stress in me. I worked more hours, but where was my money going? I spent more than my means, I didn't care, taking out $40 out of the ATM every other day made it seem like I was financially responsible (was I?), ...oh by the way, where was my money going???

I thought it was time that I take initative to start being responsible when I heard my church was offering financial classes. The thing I needed was a foundation. So after tonight, I thought it was very insightful and I hope I can share the things I learn along the way. I want to be financially free mentally, don't you?

I then come home to an email and find this:

The Pumpkin Spiced flavor is back at Starbucks. Let me tell you that I was addicted. Not even a month ago, I was excited for its comeback. But alas, I am trying to make a habit of tracking my spending (homework for a week). We'll see how this goes, but of course I want to buy one (preferably a venti), okay?

The important thing is learning how to say "no"...."no" pumpkin spice! <---that was hard

Dates. The first time I had one of these was last week, but they were too sweet for me that it took me a while to eat one. AND one was enough.

 Let's rewind back to Thursday, where I tried them with peanut butter. OMG they are so addicting, like seriously. The peanut butter really balanced out the sweetness. I was addicted eating these at work...8-10 dates and 4 tablespoons of nut buttah.

My indulgences also got balanced out with left-overs.

Hand shredded romaine lettuce with green bell peppers, red onions, grape tomatoes, radishes, beets, summer squash, and bulgarian feta. Along with a side of baked potato fries and chicken.

What spending habits do you need to get rid of?

- I use my plastic on auto-pilot when it comes to purchases on little things, but those little things add up! Eating out is mainly the issue here.

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School makes me eat out more, boo.

The hump is almost over, thank goodness. Since school started Monday, I've been itching for the weekend to come sooner, but then I remember I work on the weekends!

The good news is that my school schedule isn't as crazy as last semester where I had to stay at school for ten hours. I now get off at a reasonable time and my professors seem really nice.

The bad news is that I have been eating out more. Not good for the wallet, I think I could've bought a cute dress. sigh. I digress. No more eating out Angela, seriously!

So tonight, I prepped veggies and baked chicken to bring to school.

I love summer squash, it's so crispy and mild. I just love how it isn't waterly like cucumbers, which is probably why I prefer squash more.

Tonight, I prepped the following:

- Summer squash

- Green Bell Peppers

- Radishes

- Beets (mirowaved for 7 minutes and peeled after cd)

- Red Onions

- Romaine Lettuce (used a salad spinner for the first time!)

- Green onions

In the Oven:

- Chicken Breasts (marinated in evoo, salt, pepper, oyster sauce, fish sauce) baked at 450, then 350

- Pressed Tofu (in salt, pepper, evoo, and fish sauce)

- Gold potatoes cut like fries baked at 450 (evoo, salt, pepper, garlic, fish sauce)

I have been adding fish sauce to everything like crazy, I just think it makes the dishes taste good!

With all the prepping, everything came together. I have come to conclusion that I like my okra raw. I love the crunchy texture and the inside tastes so gooey and slimy due to the seeds.

This morning I had a weight training class. The great thing about having a weight training class at school is that I am forced to exercise...but happily and willingly. In the end I felt like a million bucks sweating in the wee hours.

On the stovetop I combined:

- 1/3 cups of steel oats

- 1 cup of water

- Half a banana

- Cinnamon

- Chia Seeds

Topped with: Greek yogurt and Justin's Chocolate Hazelnut butter

*update on the toe :o) : Some of you were brave to scroll on and check out the gnarly picture of my gruesome experience. Big daddy toe is doing just fine, today is the first day I took antibiotics that I was prescribed. I felt a tingle of pain so I went to CVS to fill my prescription. Gotta be cautious.

Any gruesome accidents that has happened to you?

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bread and feet! ** bloody pictures ensue

What a glorious Saturday, the weather was so nice today. From yesterdays post, I complained about my throbbing toe. You see...I stepped on a toothpick Thursday morning, now that it is Saturday (two days pass) it still hurt!

I made myself a plan to see the nurse at school on Monday, but I couldn't wait another two days. I made it mandatory to go to the emergency room after work.

But I guess getting a sandwich was much more important? and maybe watching an episode of Jersey Shore?

I stopped by Con Pane located in Point Loma after work, and requested a seasoned roast beef sandwich sans mayo, and add avocado on a multi-grain. Pretty epic.

- It included: roast beef, thinly sliced red onions, lettuce, roma tomatoes, avocado, and goat cheese. I don't like goat cheese, but the flavor combination worked so well together. I also loved how they used large chunks of fresh avocados.

-Their bread was fan-freaking-tastic. It contained so many seeds, and from what I noticed, the following are: sunflower seeds, flax, millet, and sesame. It was doughy and soft, yet it held my sandwich nicely.

I meant to eat half, but I ate the whole thing. Can't blame me though. epic

**** Warning: if you hate the site of blood and feet, discontinue reading. If you're weird like me and think feet and blood are awesome, continue****

So after watching The Jersey Shore and stalling some more, I finally grabbed my keys and headed out the door to the hospital. I relied on my music and magazines to keep me occupied.

After thirty minutes, the nurse called me in and took my temperature and vitals. At that point she took off the two bandages and tape that I used to tightly secure my big daddy toe (yes, I call my big toe "big daddy"). Boy, it was swollen and red!

Nurse- "Hun, when was your last tetnus shot?"

Me- "umm, I'm not sure."

-Okay, that's fine. [a few minutes pass by] okay! you're done.

-cool. thank you [getting ready to approach the door]

-WAIT, I almost forgot. [leaves and then comes back with a needle!]

I got terrified and told her that I was scared. "you'll be fine honey."

Ten minutes after my tetnus shot, it felt like someone punched me in the arm real hard. ow

More waiting ensued.

I watched the Cupcake wars. This episode made me tear up a bit though. Then I admired my toes some more (I kid) and compared it with each other. Left is swollen compared to its counterpart. Can you see the puncture wound?

Then the nurses took my x-ray to see if I had any pieces from the toothpick lodged inside. The results were inconclusive, because its hard to identify a small piece of wood from the scanning. So the only choice Dr. Buckley had to do was numb my big daddy toe and slice the area to "look" for said object.

-He injected three, THREE! needles of numbing medication. I screamed (for real) and held on to the rail bars for my dear life. It seriously hurt like hell, that was why I screamed! He giggled after I realized the third shot felt like nothing. "ahhh!...oh, ha ha, that actually didn't hurt."

I watched him in amazement as he sliced my flesh, and blood gushed out like mad.

This is only modest.

ohhh, look what Dr. Buckley found...

yup, the end piece of that toothpick.

I learned two things tonight: 1) never leave sharp objects laying around and 2) I need to trim my toe nails more often

Didn't I warn you that it was going to be gruesome awesome?

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What I love, the good and the ugly.

School starts on Monday and in all honesty, I think I could've had a better summer. I could have MADE it a better summer, maybe could have and should have are both dangerous words?

- I realized that if I would've in fact were to have a bad one (I didn't), then I have the choice to do something about it. Just like this morning, when I was frustrated with a situation, I identified what made me angry and I chosed to do breathing exercises to help ease the situation.


Something that I have been worried about is getting enough rest for school, because my sleeping habits are weird right now. It's obvious that if I come to class rested, I'll be ready to learn. I LOVE sleep because I don't get enough of it. When I know I don't have to wake up early the next day, I am so grateful to sleep in.

"Sleep is a gift from God."



1. Rest:  The average hours of sleep I get is five hours, when the recommended is eight. What happened? We live in a society where we have technology that serves as a convenience for us. To give us things quicker and faster (automatic toliets anyone?) but apparently there still isn't enough time in the day. We still can't squeeze in rest, instead that goes in the backburner. I can recall days where I did not sleep at all, due to school, work, or caffiene :o)

-This makes me realize, are you more or less loving, patient, caring, helpful, happy, and alert when you are tired or asleep? Having enough rest will enable you and I to be the best you, for ourselves and other people. Also, it'd allow us to be healthy overall mentally and physically.

- If our bodies suffer, so does our soul. Our body and soul are both connected, if you can't function because of sleep, your soul can't function too.

Goal: To get more rest! and train myself to sleep early.

Something(s) I Love

I love vegan green monster muffins.

Vegan Green Monster muffins from The Chiclife. This muffin is so great. I love the concept healthy muffins. It isn't green because of food coloring, but because of spinach :o) My favorite color is green. That helps.

I realized this morning that I frozed some GM muffins from a couple weeks ago when I looked through my freezer. When you don't see it, you forget it! so true, so true. It proved to be true when I cleaned my trunk today, I realized that I need to resell my old text books and that I don't need to buy more index cards.

I also love this cow dog

especially dogs that wear diapers

When Lily "cow dog" came into our lives, she was a terrified and fragile little thing. Afraid and rattled by everything that surrounded her, she did not bark at for the first couple of months because she was neglected by her previous owner. After we decided to keep her, she grew comfortable around us and started barking. Her barks are obnoxious! but I love it because I was starting to worry for a bit when she didn't. On the plus side, she also gained weight because my mom feeds her everything.


I love at at-home beauty remedies

Let me intorduce you to a do it yourself pore strip! I realize how disguisting it is, and how I am possibly embarrassing myself for posting this, but it's so cool not to.

The last time I ever bought Biore Pore Strips was in high school, the downside to buying these strips is the cost and the pain. ouch, but it works.

You'll need:

- 1 tbsn of milk (fat free, 2%, whole works)

- 1 tbsn of unflavored gelatin powder

- brush pen (think paint brush or a small cosmetic brush)

Directions- Mix everything, then pop it in the mircowave for one minute. Stir again, and wait til it's good enough to brush a thin layer on your nose. You don't want it to cool all the way because it will harden fast, so hurry! Then brush a thin layer on your nose and wait for ten minutes or until everything is completely dry. Make sure you brush it all over your nose and a bit on the outer layer of your nostrils, so that you can begin peeling from the outer layer towards the tip of your nose.

Let me warn you, it smelled like armpits. yuck. Make sure you deep clean your nose after, because we still smelled stinky pits after.

The peeling was a little painful at certain points, but if I recall, the Biore strips hurt like hell to peel off. I cried tears. But with this home made one, it was only a drop of tear that fell from my eyes this time.

Okay, I am warning you with this next picture. Be prepared to be disgusted, or if you're like me...AMAZED!

This is how it looked like after the peeling. It's kind of hard to see using my camera, but with my naked eye, I saw everythaaang.

I darkened this picture to give you a clearer look.

You're welcome! :oP My nose definately felt softer after.

mmm, I love figs.

I truly hate fig newtons, I don't like anything about the cookie. I can see why people like them, but yuck. This year was the first time I tried fresh ripe figs from the tree. OH.EM.GEE! they taste so amazing, just like candy. I love the texture, the sweetness, and the fact that there are millions of seeds inside. They remind me a lot of chia seeds.

My co-worker Jeff is so lucky to enjoy these fruits of labor. It's a gift.

If I ever own a home, I would definately LOVE to grow my own garden and plant trees. I am adding tomatoes, a fig tree, an orange tree, a grapefuit tree, herbs, onions, peppers, zuchinis, lettuce, etc etc etc. wishful thinking? Well, I am going to turn it into a reality someday :o) Do you plant a garden? If so what are you growing? If not, what would you like to grow?

I also love my home brewed kombucha

I added TJ's concord grape juice before bottling it because the only ingredient is grapes, and oh my goodness, it tastes like the real thing!

                                                             

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I love how my mom suprised me by bringing home pasta. nom nom

And she loves volunteering me to do the dishes.

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In a Curry

This morning started on the wrong foot toe. Literally. Yesterday morning I accidently got pricked by a tooth pick that was on the floor, and from then on my big toe has been throbbing. It brought back memories of when I got stung by a sting ray, because that's exactly how it feels. The pain is radiating throughout my toe which made the 35 minutes of my morning cardio a bit unbearable. leee sigh.

I hope I don't have to visit the doctor soon. Then I drive 20 minutes out to my way to get a pass for my car for nothing, unfortunately THAT was denied. I realized in tense situations, I hardly breath. So on the car ride home I did some breathing exercises to help calm me down, but I was a bit stubborn because I wanted to be angry. Then later on while I was cooking, I hit in the head on the cabinet door. Doh!

But you know what helped make me feel at ease? hot curried stir-fry on a hot summer day. Because I am weird like that.


Yes, another one. After coming to my moms house, I thought I had left left-overs. Nada. Ya know what? That's okay because it was so easy to prepare. I just threw everything together in a pan and waaahhhh-la!

Instead of TJ's meatless sausage, I had fake "chicken". I'm not intentionally avoiding meat, cause believe me I would use it! but I've just been using what left in the fridge and saving some money.

Served with barley. I am obsessed. It's a nice change from brown rice, it hit the spot and fills me up ~4-5 hours. Hopefully I am still hungry in a couple hours because I have dinner plans.

Time to do some summer cleaning and de-clutter my life before school starts, before I go. I leave with this flashback from last week.

***************************

Last week Jasmine, Ashley, and I ventured to downtown to watch a screening of Eat, Pray, Love.

I was excited, although I've never read the book. I was anxious to know the story behind Elizabeth Gilbert's bestselling novel. I think I was looking forward to EAT out of the PRAY and LOVE.

Great movie, it definately had sad, happy, hilarious, and life learning moments. Quite inspirational actually, I'm looking forward to reading the book now. That's only if I am willing to pay $12 for the book, Amazon.com here I come.

After the movie, we decided to eat at Fred's Cafe located in Old Town.

Steak Rancheros. So good. I assumed that the steak would be sliced, cause you know, I'm a diva like that. I need my steak sliced! I was afraid how the texture would turn out, because I've been to places where the meat was tough, bland, and chewy.

Let me tell you, it was some really good steak. Medium rare, mostly on the rare side. Soft and chewable, also flavorful.

Taco trio.

Jasmine with her chicken enchilada. I had a bite and liked it, I think the cheese made it taste good. Monteray? sp?

Happppy!

What makes you happy? And when you get upset, what do you do about it?

Gotta jet!

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