To be or not to be...healthy?

So for the past 2 months I've been telling myself that I was going to start exercising rigorously and eating food that is healthy and less fattening. The result? I crave fast food more than ever and I go to the gym every once in a while. That wasn't what I had in mind. But what do you do when you have no willpower when it comes to food? Research. Did you know that 1/4 of a cantaloupe is around 70 calories? 1/4 of a bag of cheese-balls is 150. That certainly changes my perspective.

Being healthy with someone else actually helps too! My friend Pam and I tried to go on this crazy meal & exercise plan that a coworker of ours suggested. Operation was a no-go. Worst day ever, but what I learned from that was that not every exercise plan works for everybody. Instead of making a huge change that my body will not tolerate (unseasoned chicken and a sweet potato are not going to cut it for me) I am just going to upgrade to healthy foods that are good and good for me.

Don't get the wrong idea and think that I'm one of those girls that's obsessed with their weight, it's not anything like that. I am just realizing that cheeseburgers and chipotle are not the way to go if I want to live a healthy lifestyle. So as this process continues if I encounter any exercises, tips, or good recipes that help along the way, I'll post about them in hopes that it helps somebody out there.

Valentine Madness

What a hectic week it's been! I haven't posted anything mostly because I've been running around like a chicken with it's head cut off. Six courses can really sneak up on you, but I digress. This weekend was full of family time! It couldn't have been any better. On Saturday the 11th I took my sisters to Rudy Jr's 5th birthday party! Time flies. The party was set up in a spacious dance studio with decorations everywhere. The kids had an amazing time! It was a carnival themed party with a moonbounce, cotton candy machine, popcorn maker, and tons of carnival-themed games. The food was delicious and everyone had a great time. What more could you ask for? [If you happened to ask for a life-sized red Power Ranger, he was there too!]

Then on Sunday we celebrated Valentine's day with all of the kids. Did I mention that we have a lot of kids in the family? We do. There was cupcake decorating station, a steal my heart hunt, and several other Valentine games. There's nothing quite like family time and hanging out with all the munchkins. The party came to an end around 5-6 pm and we ordered a delicious heart-shaped pizza from Papa Johns to end the celebration. If you haven't tried the heart-shaped pizza from Papa John's then I suggest you do so ASAP. Not only is it fun and festive, but something about the lovely shape makes it taste extraordinary. Either that or I just need an excuse for eating more junk food, but are you really going to miss out on a heart-shaped pizza?

Although the pizza was great, my favorite part of the festivities had to be the Valentine Exchange. I remember back in elementary school when Valentine's day, other than Halloween of course, was the best day for candy. Not just candy, but reminding other classmates, teachers, and family that you genuinely cared about them. Too many times this past week have I seen statuses or tweets about people hating Valentine's day because they're alone, single, and whatever other reason they may give. If you are one of those people who didn't get a card or a call then here's a valentine from me (and my baby sister) to you. Sorry you can't take the lollipop from the screen, but as soon as technology makes that possible I'll gladly make it happen :)

Superbowl Sunday

If there's any day in the year to break your already weak-willed New Year's Resolution it's Super Bowl Sunday. In a perfect world I said no to all the junk food so readily available to me that day AND I'll even say that I hit the gym, but in reality I became a bottomless pit.

On the bright side, I made Chicken Enchilada Puffs! This is first recipe that I tried from Pinterest and the first recipe that was a complete success. No unexplicable mess, no "let's just throw this away and order pizza" syndrome, and I didn't even burn anything! Some of you think I'm kidding about the burning part, but I almost did burn the house down once. I'll save the "I didn't know garlic bread could catch on fire" story for another time though. For now I'll give you a play-by-play on how to make these delicious snacks.




Ingredients:

•  Jumbo Crescent Rolls. [1 package makes 16]
•  1/2 cup of shredded chicken
•  2 tsp of taco seasoning mix
•  1/3 cup of enchilada sauce
•  2 tbsp of cream cheese
•  1/2 cup of mexican blend shredded cheese

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 375 and have a cookie sheet ready 
• Mix shredded chicken, enchilada sauce, and taco seasoning in a bowl
• Throw the cream cheese and shredded cheese together in a bowl and into the microwave to soften for 30-40 seconds
• Mix the shredded cheese & cream cheese with the chicken
• Spread jumbo crescent rolls out onto a pan and cut each triangle into 2 triangles (the picture explains it better)
• Scoop 1 tsp of the chicken and place into each roll
• Pull outer corners in toward chicken mixture and enclose the filling
• Bake until golden brown

Optional: the original recipe says you can sprinkle cheese on top, but I don't only because with my luck the cheese on top would catch on fire.

As I made them the second and third time I started changing things around a little, but you can find the original recipe here: Chicken Enchilada Puffs

The typical "About the Author" post

Let me just pretend that I didn't just spill an unnecessary amount of hot beverage onto my work area and start this blog off the right way. Good morning and welcome! "Welcome to what," you may ask and my answer is I have no idea. I'm at that stage in life where I think I have tons of cool stories and advice to offer when in reality I don't. We've all been there before, right? No? Just me? Figures.

Since I can't exactly tell you what this blog is going to be about I'll just entertain you with a few details:

I'm a Pinterest enthusiast, so I will be attempting a lot of the DIY crafts and mouthwatering recipes I've pinned on my boards and blogging about my process and results. Let me just warn you now, I'll either be obnoxiously excited that my end result came out the way that I wanted it to OR I will be extremely bitter that it didn't and claim that it's an impossible task anyway.

My junior year at George Mason kicked off and I am a marketing major in the School of Management! I'm taking 6 classes for 18 credits this semester so I can hurry it up and hightail it out of there. Why should you care? You shouldn't, but it would explain some of my future posts about coming up with a way to inject caffeine into my bloodstream.

I love adventures! I just don't go on any. As much as I'd like to travel the world and post awesome stories about all of my encounters I can't. Remember I'm a college student: I'm broke. I will, on the other hand, post stories and pictures about my mini-adventures. That includes taking my baby sister to a park, going out of town to visit a friend, or driving to DC to pretend to be a tourist. [Side note: I only pretend to be a tourist because even though I've lived in the Northern VA area for more than 3/4 of my life I still manage to not know where anything is. By pretending to be a tourist it makes it socially acceptable for me not to be able to point any real tourists in the right direction.]


Reflections. I'll post a lot of those. Mostly because I love looking back on things. Not in a weird "this-chick-can't-let-go-of-the-past" way, but more in a "I remember thinking like this as a kid" perspective. I'll be honest, I had the silliest ideas of what life was about when I was little and going back to that state of mind is really refreshing.

Last but not least, friends and family. What about them? I love them. So get ready to hear a lot about them. I'll tell crazy anecdotes about how my sisters drive me crazy and how my friends are out of their minds. There will be posts about how the little kids in my family are growing up so fast and how my friends' babies are too. Expect posts on how frustrated I get knowing that my boyfriend is a better cook than I am. All of that is sure to come at one point or another so don't say I didn't warn you!

My life, like everyone else's, is pure madness. I tell myself I'm in control when I know I'm clearly not. I try to be as organized as I can so I feel more in control, but it never really works. Hence the name: organized chaos.

WARNING: I have a border-line inappropriate sense of humor that you will have to excuse if you plan on continuing to read my blog. For some reason I am easily amused by: puns, sexual innuendos, chubby animals, and an array of other strange things. So if I post something that's strangely bizarre and border-line offensive, I'm sorry, and by sorry I mean: you're welcome.