Tuesday, February 28, 2012

National Pancake Day!

Today I've been home sick the whole day.
For me- sick days are torture. I actually
hate them. I get so bored and can't sit still.

I felt like eating something tasty for dinner 
tonight so I present: Brownie Batter Pancakes!
They are really good and it took me two times
to get them right.

I tried to use almond meal first time to keep it
paleo friendly. Butttt the suckers didn't flip so
I altered it a bit. This is also vegan!

Ingredients:
1/4 flour- I used whole wheat
1/4tsp baking powder
1 tbsp baking cocoa
a packet of sweetner if wanted
1 tsp vanilla extract
7 tbsp almond milk

Mix all ingredients. Makes about 2 pancakes.
I covered mine with a little pb and sugar free
syrup.


They taste like little chocolate cakes. But much healthier.

I'd like to leave you with this cute photo of my niece.

Sunday, February 26, 2012

Bright Lights, Big City

Do you guys remember a few weeks ago when I said
I won a trip to NYC? Well I took that trip last
weekend with my Mom.


We flew from Boston to Newark and had a car waiting.
We were transported to our hotel right in Times Square.
and we immediately went for some tasty BBQ at Virgil's since
it was near by and we were beat.

The next morning I had my appointment at Bloomingdale's!
I needed some serious energy so I of course bumped up
on some carbs.
New York bagels really are the best aren't they?

I met my shopper, Evie, and we went to town. I had about
$1500 to spend and it was hard! I had so many things
in mind but then it came down to it.. and I changed
my mind. I was all about bright, spring clothes.
I bought dresses, shoes, jeans and tops.
The good news- I still have a little money
left to spend.



 It was successful!

We made a visit to the 9/11 memorial.


We also made a visit to the Native American Museum. If you didn't
know... I'm actually 1/16 native american folks! We made a visit
and then walked a bit more. It was a long day of walking. And
I needed this.
A little bit of sangria.

The next day we did the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island
trip. My mom had never done it before so we jumped
on early.

And it was followed by this incredible salad for lunch.
Roasted veggie salad with a side of hummus and pita.
You know how I feel about hummus.

That night we had a little dinner cruise to attend.
It was kind of rainy out but it was beautiful.
5 courses and beautiful scenery.

Little squid salad.


Our final full day in NYC was another busy one.
We started with the MoMA.


.
I felt smart for the afternoon.
Then we shot over to the Empire State Building.
This was also my moms first time so it was nice to do.
 It was super bright up there!

We had a great time and it was jam packed. As you can
imagine... I was exhausted. I hadn't even been home for
a week. I still haven't been sleeping but the insomnia
was total worth it since my trip ended with this.

Peanut Butter Frozen chocolate explosion.

Thursday, February 23, 2012

I'm on a boat- Part 5

We made it. To the final part of
this seriously epic journey. Our last 
part of the trip had us fly through Bangkok-
yup this was our 3rd time through the city in
2 weeks.

We took a plane, a ferry and a long tail to
arrive at our resort.
 We rode the ferry over. It was a beautiful ride. 

Then we arrived... here.

I know... you're jealous. Good. You should be.
This was the most beautiful place I've ever been in the
world. I'm jealous just looking at these photos.

We checked into our resort and hit the beach.
Asap. We had some lunch right on the beach.
and wandered the streets. We then hit up the pool.
since it was low tide. Plus beer in the pool 
sounded better. It was.
So we did a photo shoot in the pool. With our beer.

It was fun while it lasted.

Then it was time for our first night out on the island.
We hit up Hippies for dinner.
This also included a photo shoot.

Maggie and Me participated.

 Jillian did not.

We had some buckets at some Irish place

They were tasty. And 2 buckets cost about $7

We called it a night a few bars in due to my serious illness.
After ingesting some weird chinese food I was pretty much
getting sick on the sidewalk every 5 steps. I'll save you from
all the details.

Plus we had a big day coming up. We were sailing
around the islands! We hopped on the sail boat
and set sail. We had a stop at Monkey Beach...
No monkeys. But me and Maggie did jump
off a cliff. Yup we did. That's us up there.

We went snorkeling. I got a sea urchin in my foot.
Lucille (I named her) is still in my foot as I type.
I've tried removing her.. no such luck.

So Maggie and Jillian got to snorkel a bit longer.

 I hung out on the boat. Looking stylish.

It was a beautiful day. In the top 5 best things in my life.

We went to Maya Bay. You know.. the Beach! Hello Leo!
Are you there?
 No luck so we sailed on and watched the sunset.

It was so romantic. It was nice to be with gal pals :)

But we had to bid farewell to this beautiful view
from our room.

We had to say goodbye to the incredible land and people
of Thailand. It was bitter sweet. 

Bitter because my foot looked like this.
No. My foot is not normally that fat. Thanks
Lucille and thanks to all the Sea Urchins out there
lurking and waiting to attack.

But Farewell to Thailand and Cambodia.
I'll definitely be back to the place that stole
my heart. Everyone should be so lucky to spend
a day in the most amazing place in the world.

Tuesday, February 21, 2012

The best 16 hours of my life- part 4

 I have to have a disclaimer right now.

Dear future children I may have: I'm sorry
that your birth and overall life may never
measure up in comparison to my time in
Cambodia. It's not your fault you came into
my life after this life changing experience.. There was 
no competition once it happened. You're still important
just not as important. I'm sorry.

Ok. Let's discuss why Cambodia
rocked my socks and then some. This journey began 
on a fun foot. We took our private transfer and they
first brought us to the wrong border. It was sketchy...
as hell. There wasn't much around but there were
lots of interesting activities happening around us.

Once the driver discovered what happened, they brought
us to the right place in Poi Pet. A man came and found
us and asked to hand over some cash to get our visa. Well
this happened a few times. We handed over cash folded
in our passports and we finally made it over. We arrived
to our amazing hotel in time for serious sleep. The next
morning we were up and at them by 5:30. Here's why.
The sun started to rise over Angkor Wat. It was only
getting better by the second.

There were crowds but I swear, I felt completely
alone and like I was the only person watching this.

Once the sun was there, it was clear we needed to
dig in and explore. And so we did.


Don't mind me... Just flexing it out.

The long, detailed hallways.

The swimming pool. But missing something.


We could have spent the entire day there but we
were limited on time so it was off to Ta Prohm.
Aka- the jungle temple.


This place was incredible!

Again, there were people around but it was so
quiet and peaceful there. It felt like our own little
secret in there. 


Our guide found a little face peaking at us. Creeper.

It was time again to move along and visit the 
last stop.. Angkor Thom. Famous for it's
four faced stones.


It was incredible as well. Such amazing detail everywhere
you turned!

Now you see kids, why Cambodia has my heart. But we had
say our goodbyes and move along. Because we were about to
embark on our final part of the trip.

But fear not, I shall return to Cambodia.