Soup in a Blender!

Recipe Thursday seems to have become my only blog post each week. Whether or not that means my life has become incredibly dull or that it revolves around food, I'm not entirely sure- maybe a combination of both. I can't help that I live for my next meal.

A few weeks ago I remembered that my Vita-mix came with its own cookbook which, in all my excitement about smoothies galore, has sat gathering dust since I got it. Looking through it I realized how many cool things I've been missing out on, including soups. As in, you make the entire soup in the blender- no pot and no mess! Pretty cool, right? The Vita-mix's motor is so super awesome that when you let it run for a few minutes it actually heats up and cooks the soup.

We decided to try tortilla soup. I started by gathering my ingredients:

A stalk of celery, a little bit of red bell pepper, a carrot, roma tomato,  some onion,
yellow squash, a mushroom, cumin, and vegetable broth.

 Then you put everything in the blender

The cookbook even lists the ingredients in the order that you're supposed to put them in the blender. Softest (meaning liquid) to hardest- turns out I've been doing it wrong all along!

And let it go for about 5 minutes, until steam starts coming out (or foam, in my case):

I got a little worried that the whole thing was going to explode. I had to use all my
willpower to let it run the full five minutes.

Pour it into bowls and enjoy!

Carl made some Mexican-y fish to go with it, baked with bread crumbs, a bunch of secret seasonings, and salsa. It was quite a delicious and effortless meal- as easy as chopping vegetables in half. If that doesn't make you want to go drop a few hundred dollars on a blender, I don't know what will!

Recipe Thursday: Quinoa and Kale Patties with Sweet Clementine Vinaigrette

For this week's recipe I thought I'd try something out that I've drooled over on Pinterest. I don't know about anyone else, but despite my love for Pinterest, I have to do it in very small doses so as to avoid feeling like a complete failure at life.

"Why am I not more organized?"

"I should set aside more time for cleaning."

"Why don't I make a recipe from scratch every single day?"

"I think it might be time to buy a house so that I have the space to try out all of these designing ideas."

"I really need to work out more. If I'm not doing 100 burpees every day I'm not reaching my potential."

"How come we don't have more parties? At this rate I'm never going to have the chance to make all these cleverly themed drink and appetizer recipes."

... These thoughts and more are what overcome me every time I get on Pinterest. I always have to give myself a pep talk afterwards to remind myself that I don't completely suck at life.

Anyways, back to the recipe. I've been wanting to try quinoa for months now and I finally built up the courage when I made these delicious quinoa and kale patties. This blogger is clearly a much better photographer than I am so I went light on the pictures, but I couldn't help but take a few:

The ingredients: green onions, parmesan cheese, bread crumbs, garlic, and eggs. I've got the
quinoa cooking in the bottom pot and the kale steaming above it (I was pretty proud of my ability to maximize time, space, and energy with my double boiler!).

Once the quinoa cooks and the kale steams you just mix all of the ingredients together, form into patties, and pan cook. Easy peasy!

As usual, I served the patties atop a bed of lettuce. It makes for such an exciting and satisfying salad.

I was surprised at how much I liked quinoa! It tastes a lot like rice, but it's a little bit lighter. I think I would have been stuffed if I ate the same quantity of rice. The patties were absolutely scrumptious; this was one of those meals where we sat and ate in complete silence for 5 minutes or so because we were so focused on the food.

At a loss as to what to top the salad with, I was forced to pull out my Iron Chef hat and come up with a dressing using the ingredient of the day: clementines. I had just bought a big case of them and thought something sweet might complement the flavors of the patties. I'm proud to present you with an Allison Bussells original:

Sweet Clementine Vinaigrette

1 clementine
3 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
1 tbsp agave nectar
1 clove of garlic

I didn't expect this to turn out as great as it did so these measurements are approximates because I was just dumping stuff into the blender haphazardly. As with any dressing it's pretty easy to play around with the ingredients to reach your desired flavor. I blended all the ingredients for about 30 seconds and then poured it into a cute little carafe that I saved from some gourmet dressing that I splurged on a while back. I wish that my picture captured the cuteness of the dressing carafe. Shucks.

Living the Frugal Life

I mentioned a few posts ago that Carl and I are embarking on "Extreme Budget 2013" in an effort to both save more money and eliminate student loans. As January draws to an end and the reality of long-term frugal living sets in, I'm finding that my initial enthusiasm for the budget is turning into a feeling of dread and premature defeat. We don't make nearly enough to be extravagant with our spending in the first place, but we certainly enjoyed our fair share of eating out, barhopping, and personal indulgences on the old budget. Now we can eat out approximately 1 time per month... at Moe's.

I'm a list-making enthusiast so I've been enjoying planning out all of our at-home meals and groceries. I thought I'd give couponing a try- you know, if Honey Boo Boo's mom can do it I totally can too, right? You always hear about those people who leave the grocery store checkout with the store owing them a refund for the three cartfuls of groceries they plan on putting in their basement stockpile for the impending apocalypse, and I thought if I could get in on a little bit of that action I could save us a lot of money. I signed up for all of the appropriate coupon websites and started going through this week's featured coups when I came to a sad realization: I don't buy anything that the coupons are for! It's all uber-processed food, or weird frozen stuff, or health and beauty products that I don't use (everyone knows that I rarely shower). What about a coupon for bananas or lettuce? Where's all the healthy stuff? No wonder Honey Boo Boo's mom is the person she is today; she's forced to buy crappy processed food with her coupons. So frustrating!

Has anyone else had any luck with this kind of thing? Part of me feels like I gave up too soon, but the other part is somewhat relieved that I don't have to put the effort into keeping up with the coupons. It seems like an awful lot of hard work, as does money-saving in general. I'm determined to stay determined, though, and hopefully have some budget friendly tips to share with you all along the way.

Recipe Thursday: Red Pozole with Beans

Hi! I can't believe it's Thursday again. I had every intention of writing a blog post earlier this week, but somehow the days just got away from me. I figured it was time to fill everyone in on my new job, so I'll give a quick update before I get to the recipe.

I started my job on January 2nd, which I think is an ideal time to begin any job or big endeavor. It really gives meaning to the whole, "new year new you" saying. A true fresh start. My position was newly created as a response to the mortgage department's increasing sales volume, so it was nice that I didn't have to fill a predecessor's shoes or anything like that. I get to pave my own way in terms of setting standards and establishing norms for my position. Fifteen days in I still can't quite come up with an accurate description of what I do, other than "mortgage processing," which entails more than you'd ever imagine, especially with all the strict new regulations. I've learned something completely new every day! I love the variety, the challenge of multi-tasking and prioritizing the plethora of things that I do, and I've found that I'm a lot more interested in mortgages than I originally anticipated. Granted, I don't actually ever get to meet the customers (which is somewhat of a blessing), but seeing the process from start to finish behind the scenes is very cool. I still haven't gotten used to waking up in the morning and not dreading going to work. It's very refreshing, and I hope it stays that way.

Carl was out of town the past few nights for a work event, so to celebrate his homecoming I made Red Pozole with Beans, another recipe from Michael Natkin's Herbivoracious. Pozole, I learned, is a Mexican soup or stew- stoop, as Rachel Ray would say!- with hominy, beans, tomatoes, and chiles. Shopping for ingredients proved to be quite an endeavor. I'd never even eaten hominy before tonight, so trying to find cans of hominy in the vegetable aisle was like looking for a needle in a haystack. I actually had to Google images of hominy so that I knew what i was looking for. I almost gave up after about five minutes of feeling like a freak for staring so intently at the canned veggies, but I'm glad I persevered. In case you're like me and haven't tried hominy before, it tastes a lot like tortillas... which makes sense when you think about how tortillas are made. Carl and I had a big 'duh' moment as we were discussing this during dinner prep. I also had issues locating the dried chiles that the recipe called for. Publix is usually pretty good about carrying somewhat obscure ingredients, but I could not find a single dried chile in that entire store. I tried Food Lion because they have a big Hispanic food section and sure enough, that's where I found them. Once I got my ingredients gathered, here's what I had:

Two cans of hominy, vegetable broth, a can of pinto beans, and some fire-roasted diced tomatoes. Two limes, two dried chiles, garlic, onion, and cilantro. Not pictured: vegetable oil and oregano.

The recipe called for 3 cans of vegetable broth, but I just used one and subbed in water and a little extra salt to save some money. It also only called for 1/2 can of tomatoes but I was feeling crazy so I used the whole thing.

To start, you cut the stems off of the chiles and then boil them whole in a little bit of water (just enough to cover them) for about 20 minutes. I realized towards the end of the boiling period that my water had all evaporated, so be sure to check on it a few times. Once the chiles are softened you blend them and the remaining liquid to make a chile puree:

Scary chile fire-water! Mine actually didn't turn out too spicy- not sure if it's because I had to replace my water or if these particular chiles weren't as hot as others. 

Set the chile water to the side for a while.

Then you sautee the onion and garlic, adding the tomatoes, about 1tsp of oregano, and broth/water after a few minutes. Bring it to a simmer and then add the beans and hominy (rinse and drain first). Let it all cook for about 10 minutes and then add the juice of the limes and the chile puree.

That's it! It was super easy, especially since Carl chopped the onion and garlic for me. We topped the pozole with some cilantro and served it alongside nachos:

Yes, I'm aware that I burnt the nachos.

The recipe supposedly yields 4 servings, but holy cow do we have a lot of leftovers! We'll be eating pozole for days, so it's a good thing that it's delicious. Another thumbs up for my new cookbook.

Recipe Thursday: Chickpea Fritters

Well, here we are: my first Recipe Thursday since I don't even know when. I'm pleased to report that I haven't eaten out once since my last post (except for a work lunch, which was someone else's treat). I can't say that I've been whipping up tons of complex recipes from scratch because that just wouldn't be true. But I made sure to try one new thing so that I would have something to share. Behold, the chickpea fritter:

I was immediately attracted to this recipe when I saw the word fritter, and even more so when I glanced at the ingredients list and it wasn't full of weird stuff that we don't already have. The recipe came from the cookbook, Herbivoracious, which Julie and Ernie gave to me for Christmas. This was the first recipe we tried, and I've got to say, I'm impressed. As usual, I messed it up a little bit, so here is the ingredient list that I used:

Two 15-ounce cans chickpeas, rinsed and drained
1/2 cup scallions (which was one scallion "frond," thinly sliced)
5 garlic cloves was what the recipe called for, but we have one of those squeezable garlic bottles so I'm not sure how much I actually used... several big squeezes!
a few shakes of dried rosemary
some salt
grated zest of 1 lemon
juice of half a lemon
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/3 cup flour
1/3 cup bread crumbs
1/3 cup sesame seeds

*I accidentally got a little mixed up with my dry measurements, but I think as long as you end up with 1 cup of dry ingredients it should be fine.

Once you've rounded up your ingredients you just throw everything into a food processor:

And pulse until everything is mixed, but not yet smooth:

At this point Carl and I both took a little taste and it was very hummus-y. Yum!

Then you fry them in a little bit of olive oil for about 3 minutes on each side. At this stage it's important that your kitchen and living room fill with smoke; that's how you know they're good.

We ate them atop some green leaf lettuce with spicy chow chow. Carl threw in a little honey mustard and ranch for good measure. They were absolutely delicious, and tasted just as good leftover in my lunch today.

Happy New Year

Happy New Year, everybody! Instead of talking about the fact that I am 5 days late in admitting that it is 2013, I'm going to focus on more exciting news. I think it deserves a drumroll.

Maybe even trumpets.

Ok, here goes:

This is my ONE HUNDREDTH blog post.

100!!!

Wow. I can't believe that I've had so much to talk about. So, to my 11 followers: thank you for your readership!

I hope that everyone had a fantastic Christmas and New Year's. I had more time off than I've had since college and it was wonderfully refreshing, despite the fact that I was stricken with the holiday plague and out of commission for a lot of my break. I was incredibly bummed because I so rarely get sick and it isn't every day that my whole family is in the same place at the same time. What are the odds that the two events would coincide!? We still managed to have fun, just in a very lazy, snotty way. And because I've been really slack about adding pictures to my posts lately, here's one from New Year's that I'm sure everyone has already seen:

We actually stayed up past midnight this year!

Festive as they are, I really wish Carl and I weren't all beaded up because this is one of the rare times that we're both relatively photogenic.

Has anybody made any wild New Years resolutions? In light of last year's failure I decided to keep it fairly simple this time around:

I resolve to floss my teeth at least once a day.

Totally doable, right?

I'm also going to make an effort to not watch TV before 8:30 (p.m.), but I don't want to commit to it as a resolution because sometimes after a bad day couch time is a must. I'm hoping that the lack of entertainment will inspire me to exercise and clean and cook more- really all of the activities that I haven't much participated in over the last two months.

I AM going to be cooking a lot more for a multitude of reasons:

1) 2013 is the year of the budget. I'm sick and tired of student loans and I don't want to see their stupid faces in 2014, so by the end of this year they will be toast. The prospect of this makes me so giddy. Almost as giddy as I got when I sat down earlier today to make our budget. Inevitably, the "leisure and eating out" section took the hardest hit; therefore, we are going to be doing a lot more dining in. Which is good news for you all and leads me to my next point.

2) I plan on reinstating Recipe Thursday! With all of the recipes I'm going to be whipping up it should be no problem coming up with something to share.

3) I got an awesome new lunchbox from Louis and Aditi for Christmas and I want to do it justice by packing more exciting foods than PB&J.

4) It's healthier!

So there you have it. 2012 is going to be a tough year to top, but with all of the flossing and cooking I'll be doing I think 2013 will be just as great!

CHRISTMAS!

I am unbelievably excited for Christmas this year. I've been marking the days off of my magnetic advent calendar with increasing enthusiasm; now that only a day stands between me and vacation I feel like I'm about to explode! I'll fill you in on more Christmas details soon, but I wanted to kick off the season with a tribute to my all-time favorite holiday songs. I'm kind of a Christmas music junkie, and from Thanksgiving to New Years I'm content to listen to holiday music non-stop. If I had to pick my top ten, here's who makes the cut:

10. "Mr. Grinch"- Thurl Ravenscroft (I had no idea who sung this song until about 2 seconds ago. Who knew!?). It makes the list because it's such a juicy compilation of insults. I love it! "Your brain is full of spiders, you have garlic in your soul..." them's fightin' words.

9. "Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)"- Mariah Carey. Say what you will about me, but I really am burnt out on "All I want for Christmas is You." Please, it was my favorite song in 1999 when I got the Mariah Christmas CD, but now it's totally overplayed. Someone needs to recognize her other Christmas songs.

8. "Christmas all Over Again"- Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. Tom Petty does Christmas and it is everything you hoped for and more.

7. "Wonderful Christmas Time"- Paul McCartney. This song is so peppy, it really makes me want to go shopping. Take note, retailers.

6. "Old Toy Train" - Raffi. Are there any other children of Raffi out there? He is the greatest, and I will force feed him to our future kids, whether they like it or not. His Christmas album gets two thumbs up, but this song is one of my favorites.

5. "Santa Claus is Coming to Town"- The Pointer Sisters. This is the first song on A Very Special Christmas, and will forever remind me of being hopped up on the Christmas spirit as a child. The best part is right at the beginning: "I want a BICYCLE!"

4. "Jingle Bell Rock"- Hall and Oates. Because I love Hall and Oates and I love Christmas. If you have an extra minute or two, this video is really a gem.

3. "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas"- Judy Garland. I swear I get weepy-eyed every time I hear this. A definite classic.

2. "Christmastime is Here"- The Peanuts. Ok, really the entire Peanuts Christmas album is to die for, but this one has to be my favorite. The Peanuts are timeless, and so is this song. It only got better for me when I watched the Arrested Development episode where all the characters are moping around to it.

1. "Little Drummer Boy"-  Bob Seger. While I love each and every rendition of this song, Bob just has a way of making me really feel for that poor little drummer boy. Plus, how can you not like a song that allows you to sing "pa rum pa pum pum" repeatedly? I rest my case. Clearly, the makers of this video agree with me.

The Cat is Out of the Bag

Hi!

As many people know by now, I have very exciting news. I found a new job!

Let me rewind a little bit to share the not-so exciting, somewhat embarrassing part of my story, so you can all appreciate how thrilled I am about my news. For months now I've been moping around because of my job*, dreading each week as it was about to begin, and convinced that there has to be something better for me out there. I've been living for the weekends, for time spent with friends, and for the evenings when I could hang out with Carl, the dogs, and binge on Netflix to forget about my day. Except a lot of times I couldn't forget about my day. I'm the kind of person that, when something bad happens or somebody does something particularly mean, it weighs really heavily on me and I carry it around far longer than a normal person should. An easy solution would be if everyone could be nice to one another (or civil, at the very least) but alas, we are living in a bully's world. And working in a customer service job has exposed me to a lot of the bullies.

I read this article about how people, by nature, will endure a certain amount of misery without taking action. If you have a small headache, chances are you won't drop everything and rush to the hospital.  The same holds true for our jobs; people will work day after day at jobs that they don't like because their unhappiness hasn't reached a degree that would justify giving up reliable employment. Something extreme needs to happen before they'll throw in the towel and look for another job. This is exactly the situation I found myself in. To be fair, I had a lot of good moments at work that made the rest of it much more tolerable. But did I really want to be the kind of person who is just tolerating their job?

Perhaps I'm too young to know any better, but I truly believe that it's possible to get up in the morning and look forward to your work day. So I decided to quit my job, not because anything extreme happened, but because I felt it was necessary to pursue happiness.

Here's where the risk-taking begins, which is really uncharacteristic of me, but when you're going through a quarter-life crisis a few risks are just par for the course. I gave a four week's notice at my job. I knew I was exposing myself to the potential of being let go early, but I also knew that it would be in their best interests to keep me there as long as possible. My conscience wouldn't allow me to only give a two week's notice. I wanted to leave on good terms, and I didn't want to see my coworkers punished by my selfishness. Luckily, my gamble paid off and I am about to begin my fourth and final week.

I arranged our finances such that I could potentially be unemployed through the end of February without having to dip into savings or become delinquent on any bills. Two and a half months seemed like plenty of time to figure out what the heck I wanted to do with my life. I envisioned myself meditating in the mornings, taking the dogs on long walks, cleaning our house from top to bottom, and then having the answer to my life's happiness fall into my lap one day during this time of joblessness.

But then I had a rude awakening. On the drive home from Columbia on Thanksgiving Carl's car started making some crazy noises. We were fortunate enough to make it all the way home without issue, but weren't quite as lucky when we got the estimate on the repairs. It would have cost more than the car was even worth, so we decided it was time to buy Carl a new car. Something about this experience completely changed my outlook on what I was doing. While at first I thought I was being courageous in walking away from a job that makes me unhappy, I realized that I was being somewhat stupid in willingly walking away from my source of income. Most people don't have the luxury of just quitting their job in this economy- why did I think that this was a good idea?

And so my job hunt began.

And then it ended, almost as quickly as it started. I felt as though the stars and planets must have aligned perfectly for me (that, or I had some good karma coming my way) because I submitted my resume to the hiring manager on Tuesday night, received a response on Wednesday, applied and interviewed on Friday, and three hours later got the job offer. I'm still in shock. I'm pleased to say that starting January 2nd I will be working in the mortgage department of a small, local bank. I'm delighted to be embarking on something new and fresh, and even more excited that I did not have to become an unemployment statistic.

So hopefully you'll be hearing more from me, blog-wise, because I vow to no longer come home from work and immediately put on my pajamas and wallow in my sorrows. I will be seizing the day, grabbing life by the horns, etc. etc. Be back soon!



*For professional reasons, I'm not going to divulge exactly where it is that I work or what it is that I do; plus, I'm sure most of you know already.

Stepping out of my Comfort Zone

Hello, and happy almost-October to everyone! I'm ecstatic that fall is upon us; every year I think I love fall more and more. I wish I had the time and resources to host a fall-themed party every weekend, complete with apple bobbing and costumes, a huge snack table, and fall decor to the nines. As a recent new member of Pinterest I've discovered about a zillion crafty and/or yummy fall things and am hoping I get to try some of them out- I'll keep you updated. Please follow me on Pinterest, I think it's so much fun! I tried for about a half hour to get the "follow me" link to post on the blog with no success, but search for Allison Bussells and you'll find me. Even better, if you are tech-savvy and know how to get the link to post let me know!

Lately I've been really focused on my fitness plan, and am proud to say that I've made it to Week 14. It's so uncharacteristic of me to stick with something for this long so I'm going to pause a moment to pat myself on the back.

Okay, I'm back.

Along with my ever-expanding collection of workout dvd's (I've got some new ones to share reviews on!), I've been stepping out of my comfort zone a little bit and trying this crazy thing called running. I have never ever ever been a runner. I don't know what it is about it, but every time that I've attempted to run in the past I've felt like I was without a doubt going to die after about 30 seconds. Cardio workouts just aren't my cup of tea but finally, inspired by people who weigh twice as much as I do on The Biggest Loser, I decided it might be worth it to give it another shot.

It all started when Carl and I took the dogs to a nearby trail a few weeks ago and after walking it, Carl triple dog dared me to run it with him. I really didn't think that I could but he yelled at me like Jillian Michaels until I had no option but to kick it into high gear. It was only about a half mile from start to finish but to me it was a pretty huge deal. Although I didn't die I felt truly awful and so from that point on made it a goal to get to a point where I could run and not be worried that I need medical attention. Melman didn't fare so well either. I didn't get any of the good stuff on video (i.e. him repeatedly throwing himself onto the back seat of the car in what I think was an effort to cool off), but here's the poor little guy panting up a storm, which is just how I felt:

Determined to hold myself accountable- and get in better cardiovascular shape than my overweight pug- I downloaded the Nike Running app on my phone. I got it to help track my progress but it's also proving to be a huge motivator. Each run I try to push my limits by either going faster or further and it's so rewarding when I do, if not painful and exhausting. If you break a record, the app will congratulate you at the end of your run. I love it! Today I pulled out all the stops and decided to run the bridge with Carl. For those of you who don't live in Charleston, here is the Cooper River bridge that goes from downtown to Mount Pleasant:

taken from http://ravenelbridge.net

The pedestrian/bike portion is 2.4 miles long- what you don't see in the picture is the uphill slope on each side, yikes! Every time I drive over it I feel a mixture of admiration and spite for the joggers, and have always assumed that I could never be one of those people. This morning I proved myself wrong, though. Carl and I ran the entire way over, walked a little over halfway back, and then ran the last mile. I took pictures to document the occasion but they are truly horrendous, so I'll spare you all and share my screenshot from the Nike Running app instead:

 I DID IT!!!

Another cool thing about Nike Running is your home screen- it gives you a summary of how many miles you've run, calories burnt, and average speed. You can tell I'm a newbie, but here's my progress so far:

Nobody is allowed to laugh at how slow I am. Running is tough!

I'm making it a goal to run 100 miles by the end of the year. Do you think I can do it?

Be back soon- I've got another cool app to share. Happy October!

Sleep is Not for Wusses

I have always been an exceptionally sleepy person. I'm told that I developed a strict nap schedule at a very young age; my biggest issue with going to kindergarten (aside from being painfully shy) was having to give up my morning nap. I could- and still can- find a way to sleep anywhere, particularly moving vehicles. While I've been forced to give up naps at this point in my life I still average about 9-10 hours of sleep at night. I simply don't function well throughout the day on the prescribed 8 hours, and anything less turns me into a complete zombie. When I happen to share this with people the general reaction is disbelief and something that seems a lot like scorn over the fact that I'm wasting so much valuable time indulging in sleep. I've always been frustrated by society's views on sleep, a constant competition to see who can survive on as little as possible. When did it become the norm for us to deprive ourselves of something so essential to our well being? And why is nobody doing anything to stop it? In a recent read I came across a quote that really resonated with me:

"Sleep is a biological imperative for every species on earth. But humans alone try to resist its pull. Instead, we see sleep not as a physical need but a statement of character. It's considered a sign of weakness to admit fatigue- and it's a sign of strength to refuse to succumb to slumber. Sleep is for Wusses."*

After reading this I decided to stop being ashamed of the amount of sleep I get each night. True, I'll probably never hold a job that requires me to work more than 40 hours a week, and I'll probably be a total wreck when we have kids that wake up in the middle of the night, but I'd rather be the best that I can be on the seemingly excessive amount of sleep that I require than spread myself too thin and be absolutely miserable.

If you're a person who is skeptical of the value of a good night's sleep, consider this: memories are synthesized in our brains while we sleep. Any learning that we do over the course of the day becomes cemented over night. If you're not sleeping enough you are jeopardizing your ability to recall information! With regards to the way that memories get processed in the brain while we sleep, "negative stimuli get processed by the amygdala; positive or neutral memories get processed by the hippocampus. Sleep deprivation hits the hippocampus harder than the amygdala. The result is that sleep- deprived people fail to recall pleasant memories, yet recall gloomy memories just fine."**

Furthermore, in a study that involved shortening the amount of sleep in a group of adults to six hours per night for two weeks, tests showed them to be "just as impaired as someone who has stayed awake for 24 hours straight."***

WHAT!!??

Why aren't we listening to all the doctors and scientists who recommend that we sleep more?

At the risk of over-simplifying the issue, I think a lot of the world's problems could be solved if we all  stop what we're doing and take a big nap. Otherwise we're just a bunch of grumpy, forgetful, and dysfunctional people.

With that, I'm off to bed.




*Taken from  Nurture Shock, page 44. I haven't read this all the way through, but it's incredibly interesting and entertaining. If you liked Freakonomics then this is right up your alley.

**Nurture Shock, page 35.  ***page 44.

Concerned English major that I am, here's the full citation:

Bronson, Po, and Ashley Merryman. Nurture Shock. New York: Twelve, 2009. Print.

All Grown Up

Today marks my 3 year anniversary with the bank, or the way I see it, three years of being a real adult. Once I got my big girl job after college my parents more or less cut me off from the bank of Allison that had kept me afloat during school, I moved in with my first craigslist roommate, and I bought my first pencil skirt. All superficiality aside, I was reflecting on the past three years today and realized how much I've grown; I'm pretty proud of myself.

-  I am tough now! I've got much thicker skin than I did when I entered the workforce. An angry customer no longer brings me to tears, and I've been forced to develop the ability to keep cool under stressful situations. It's kind of sad that I've had to adapt to cope with all of the bullies in the world, but hey, if you can't beat 'em, join 'em.

- I'm much more resourceful than I used to be. When confronted with a problem I make a phone call or turn to Dr. Google (sometimes I even know the answers off the top of my head!) instead of thinking the world is about to end.

- I've actually become somewhat outgoing. Talking to strangers comes a lot easier than it used to for me- this from a girl who once cried when my mom made me go ask for my own sweet and sour sauce from a McDonald's cashier... I think I took "stranger danger" to the extreme.

- Hopefully Carl agrees with me on this one, but I think I've gotten better at leaving work at work and not allowing a bad day to ruin my night. I used to come home a huge grump, ready to rant and rave about whatever injustice I was met with. I'm sure a lot of married couples struggle with the challenge of leaving the day on the doorstep when they get home, but whew, it's tougher than it sounds!

- I am an excellent multi-tasker. For instance, right now I'm writing this blog post, watching Biggest Loser, drinking a smoothie, and playing phone games all at the same time. Talk about success.

It's hard to believe that it's been 3 whole years since I graduated college and became gainfully employed, but it's nice to say that I'm a productive member of society now and really getting the hang of being an adult. Who knows where I'll be after another three years!

Throwin' it Back

Happy Labor Day! There's nothing I love more than a 3-day weekend (except a full week of vacation, of course). I don't really have anything exciting to say, but I did want to take a moment to bring everyone back to the days when the internet seemed so ripe and new. Does anyone else remember the hamster dance? I can't remember what year this became popular... sometime in the late 90's or early 2000's. Either way, it reminds me of the era of dial-up internet and online chat rooms. Who knew we'd be so evolved now? I don't care what anyone says, I still think those hamsters are really funny. Enjoy!

Catch-Up

I am really terrible at blogging every day. I was doing so well until Wednesday rolled around and I found myself stuck at work until 9- yuck! By the time I got home I had no desire to eat dinner, which meant that I didn't make the salad I had planned and I skipped my post. On Thursday I ended up getting dinner with some friends visiting from out of town; catching up trumped my original salad plans but, in a completely unprecedented Andolini's moment, I did manage to order a salad with my pizza.

Friday and Saturday were salad-free, but I tried to make up for it today by making two special salads. Here's lunch:

Curried tomatoes and chickpeas on a bed of romaine lettuce.

This recipe came out of one of the daily recipe emails that I get from Real Simple. A lot of times I ignore them because they're not vegetarian or have way more sugar than I need to consume, but they do send out quite a few good ones. I love that they are quick and easy to prepare and generally have a short list of ingredients. 

For dinner we had my favorite: bean cakes. This time I made a really big batch so that I don't have to get depressed when they run out after a day. 

Bean cake salad with peppers, cucumber, corn, sprouts, and spicy chipotle dressing. Delicious.

Not only was today a day of salads, but also a day of workouts. I had to catch up on the two days that I missed to finish out Week 8 (yay!), and I was also dying to try one of my new Bob dvds. I had a morning session- Jillian Michaels yoga, Firm Express cardio, and Jackie Warner abs, which was about an hour total. Then, before dinner I did Bob Harper's Pure Burn Super Strength. I have a feeling I'm going to be in a world of pain tomorrow from this one. It was just over an hour long and worked every single muscle in my body. The only part I didn't like about it was Bob's backup talent, Stephanie, who was performing the modified version of all the moves and looked like she was about to die at any given moment. It was hard, I'll give her that, but she needed to get a grip- especially since she was doing the easy version. I really like Bob's teaching style and the fact that the workout was comprised of fairly simple moves that still managed to kick my butt. I can't wait to try the rest.

Hope everyone has a wonderful start to their week!

A Week of Salads: Day 3

I think it's no secret that I have an unnatural love for Mexican food. I could eat Mexican all day every day. One of my favorite places to go is Moe's, but I always end up mesmerized by their crazy soda machine and tempted by the queso. No bueno. In the spirit of salad week and to help curb my Mexican cravings I decided to make a healthier version of the nachos I normally get- no chips and no cheese, but still delightful:

This salad was made up of romaine lettuce, various peppers, carrots, corn, black beans, and avocado. I substituted salsa for dressing and the whole thing was absolutely delicious. My nose is actually still running from the spiciness. The best part was that it only took me about 10 minutes to prepare and half of a Biggest Loser episode to eat. Looks like I'm right on schedule for my 9:00 bedtime.

See y'all tomorrow!

A Week of Salads: Day 2

Happy Monday! I think at one point in my life I swore to myself that I would never be one of those people that fits into the whole hatred of Mondays cliche, but it has totally happened. I'm sorry, younger Allison, I didn't mean to be lame. It's gotten so bad that around dinner time on Sunday I start getting truly depressed at the thought of another week. Mondays at the bank are no fun; we seem to pay a heavy price for being gone over the weekend. Does anyone have any good tricks for coping with their Mondays? Maybe I need to start my day with a good pillow fight or something.

At least I had my lunchtime salad to look forward to:

This was a bed of spring greens, which I'm convinced were the weeds that some farmer picked out of his field and laughed at the thought of somebody actually purchasing and eating. Look closely at the bottom left corner. Weeds, I'm telling you! For toppings I had cucumbers, tomatoes, a sweet yellow pepper, and goat cheese, all topped with Brianna's Real French Vinaigrette. I highly recommend Brianna's dressings. They've got really simple ingredients so I don't have to feel like I completely ruined the integrity of my salad with some skanky dressing. I've been on kind of a goat cheese kick ever since I had it on my salad on Saturday while babysitting. It was so good that I knew we had to pick some up at the grocery store. Holy smokes, that stuff is expensive! After getting home and reading the packaging a little more carefully I discovered that this particular goat cheese came from Johns Island which means that there's a very real chance that it comes from my little goat friends. All in all, this was a deliciously fresh (and colorful!) salad and I'll probably have the same thing for lunch again tomorrow. Don't worry, I've got a fun one planned for dinner.

Right now I'm waiting on pins and needles for my Amazon order to ship. Like a highschool girl, I took my babysitting money from this weekend and used it on an impulse buy. Instead of 3 tubes of lip gloss and The Notebook on dvd, I bought workout videos. Big shock, I know. I think I may be developing a problem. I got 3 Biggest Loser and 2 Bob Harper workouts and I'm super excited to try them out. According to the reviews they're all very tough, so I look forward to having my butt kicked. I'll keep you all posted- if I like them then there's a bunch more on my wish list that I might just have to try.

Be back tomorrow with another salad!

A Week of Salads

I realize that the title to this blog post sounded a lot more exciting in my head, but you know what, I'm sticking with it. 

Salads!

I decided that this would be the perfect week to give my diet a little tlc in the form of at least one salad a day. I don't know about anybody else but I tend to easily tire of eating the same type of salad over and over. I have to switch up my dressings and toppings pretty regularly in order to keep wanting to eat salad. It takes a lot of plan and preparation, which is why I tend to fall off the bandwagon, but I know I can commit to at least a week. After a mega trip to the grocery store today I've got an exciting line-up that I'm looking forward to sharing (and eating, of course). 

Tonight's salad was Greek-inspired: romaine lettuce with a healthy portion of sprouts, diced tomatoes, falafel, and homemade tzatziki sauce.  

I felt so fancy when I sat down to eat this, but it actually took very little effort to prepare. We bought the falafel pre-prepared in the "healthy and somewhat obscure vegetarian foods" section of Harris Teeter, and all it took was 10 minutes in the oven to cook before adding it to the salad. 

The falafel was both inexpensive and delicious, so I definitely plan on getting it again. I found a simple recipe for tzatziki sauce and was able to make it in the time that the falafel was cooking. Well, kind of... I'm not a big fan of yogurt but Carl has been really into Greek yogurt lately and had picked some up that I was going to use in the sauce. He thought he had gotten plain, but just as I was about to add the processed cucumbers and spices to the yogurt I happened to dip my finger in for a taste and realized that it was strawberry flavored. Whoops! I know, I know, it's just a thrill a minute in the Bussells house. I CAN'T believe that we mixed up yogurt flavors!!!! Carl was sweet enough to run back out and get the plain variety, and I'm sure that without the delay I could have whipped it up in 10 minutes. Gotta love quick and easy.

Stay tuned for tomorrow's salad! 

Holy Yum

I think I mentioned in a previous post that my sweet tooth has been out of control lately. If not then here it is, full disclosure: my sweet tooth has been out of control lately. I've been caught with Reese's in bed, searching the drawers at work for hidden candies, and finding any excuse to eat dessert. To try to curb my cravings after my workout this evening I decided to make myself a little treat that wouldn't completely destroy the efforts of the past half hour. What happened in my blender was truly a miracle (so I immediately rushed to my computer to share it with you all). I swear on Melman's life that this smoothie tasted just like a McDonald's milkshake:

Please excuse our creepy utility closet in the background. 

Look at that pretty pastel green! Here's what went into it:

1 banana
1 very ripe pear
1 cup spinach
2 tbsp peanut butter
1/2 cup unsweetened almond milk and water
9 ice cubes (because 10 would have been too many)

The only thing slightly unhealthy about this smoothie was the peanut butter. I would love to say that it was an all natural brand but in all reality it was just Jif. Compared to a fast food milkshake this version is infinitely cleaner and just as delicious- plus, no guilt and no funny tummy syndrome afterwards. I just wish that I could have one handy for whenever people act disgusted by my regular green smoothies. I think that even the most skeptical of skeptics would enjoy this!

Killer Buns and Thighs

Oooooh lordy, my butt is killing me today. Yesterday I did level 2 of Jillian Michaels' Killer Buns and Thighs and I am paying for it. The upside is that I know I'm getting stronger because I probably wouldn't have made it through even 15 minutes of this workout about 4 weeks ago. As it was, I thought I might die when I made it through the third circuit thinking it was the last one, only to find out that there was a fourth- which included one-legged burpees. ONE-LEGGED BURPEES!! Even my belly button was sweating. I recommend this workout to anyone who is up for an extreme challenge. Every single muscle in my lower body is so sore that I don't even want to know what level 3 is like.

I recently discovered that all of the seasons of Biggest Loser are on Netflix and have become completely obsessed, which means that every time I do a Jillian workout I feel like a contestant on the show. It's actually been a huge motivator for me because if people twice my size can workout for 4 hours a day I should absolutely be able to put in my 45 minutes. The only disappointing part is that I don't lose 10 pounds a week- in fact, I weighed myself this past weekend and found that I've gained 3 pounds. Life is so cruel sometimes! I'm not going to let it get me down because in all fairness I haven't really done diddly squat to improve my diet. I haven't been eating fried twinkies for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, but my diet could use a little work (aka less pizza, more salad).

This week the PGA tournament is being held out on Kiawah, something that all of the residents and merchants have been bracing themselves for these past couple of weeks. For me it means the potential to sit in traffic for hours and possibly meet a few golf celebrities at the bank. Although, let's be honest, I probably wouldn't know if a famous golfer was in my midst, except for maybe Tiger. I also get to fulfill my lifelong goal of becoming a bartender! In all seriousness I've always thought it would be really cool to bartend but I think my hearing issues would prevent me from ever succeeding. It always amazes me that bartenders get drink orders right with music blaring at what can only be a damaging decibel level. Lucky for me this is going to be sort of an outdoor oasis with limited drink choices, only moderately amplified music, and the use of tickets instead of cash and credit cards- the perfect opportunity for me to make my big break.

I'm going to be absolutely exhausted by the time this week is over working two jobs, so I'm really glad I was able to enjoy a relaxing weekend with my family. My mom and Lauren flew down from Iowa and Nick popped down from Clemson for a lovely lake weekend with the Bussells. All we were missing was my dad, but he just started a new job (congratulations, dad!) and had to sit this one out. We floated in the cove for hours on end, did a little shopping, ate too much food, and squeezed in some Olympic viewing. Being with my family always makes me wish that they lived closer; a visit every 6 months is nowhere near enough!

Charleston Eats

We are truly spoiled by the abundance of delicious, unique, and high quality food in Charleston. It is the reason we cry over our bank accounts at the end of the weekend and the main contributor to our lack of weight loss. I tend to take more pictures of food items than actual people, so when I was going through my camera roll earlier today I decided it was time to share a few.

Earlier this month Carl and I went to Mustard Seed on James Island for my birthday dinner. We enjoyed a half-price bottle of wine (yay!) while I drooled over their impressive selection of vegetarian entrees. Moments where I scan a menu and realize that there is absolutely nothing meatless for me to eat are few and far between these days, but it's still refreshing when the vegetarian section of the menu consists of more than just a handful of overly cheesy dishes. I decided to order the sweet potato ravioli and it was truly life changing. It was served in a creamy sauce with goat cheese, pecans, and spinach. YUM. I got giddy when I went to pack my lunch the next day and remembered that I had delicious leftovers.

This picture was sort of an afterthought once I took a break from shoveling raviolis into my mouth at lightning speed, so I apologize for the bad quality. It comes nowhere near to doing it justice. 

My sweet tooth has been somewhat out of control lately, so I have it to thank for leading me to the discovery of the Closed for Business ice cream sandwich. During a recent happy hour there I happened to notice that a homemade ice cream sandwich was featured on their specials board. I immediately ordered one and I know that it's only a matter of time before my taste buds lead me back because it was so stinking good. Here's a really flattering picture of me digging in:

Manners seem to fly out the window when good food is involved. It's just so much more effective
to bring the plate to your face!

Speaking of delicious desserts, I have a pretty serious love affair going with King of Pops, a fun little popsicle company that has stands set up at various events and locations in Charleston. I'll be here waiting while you follow the link to their list of different flavors.

Clearly these popsicles are far superior to any others. The best part is that the ingredients are all natural, making it the ultimate guilt-free snack. The only way I can think of to improve them would be to use the sticks with jokes printed on them. So far I've only had the chocolate sea salt, bluegrass, and key lime pie, but I'm making it a personal mission to try as many flavors as possible before the summer ends.

Here's the key lime pie. It even had graham cracker crumbs!

I've made myself hungry in writing this post, so I'm off for a little bedtime snack. If only I had a personal supply of those popsicles...

Taking Time to Smell the Roses... and Baby Goats

As far as 40 minute work commutes go, mine could be a lot worse. Most of my drive is under a gorgeous canopy of oaks and other trees that I don't know the names of, passing farm fields, marsh views, and an interesting mixture of enormous houses and shacks, expensive cars and hitch hikers. It gives me time to clear my head after a long day or drink my smoothie in the morning (if, of course, I've woken up early to make one- not going to lie, it's been a while). This is my most recent smoothie fiasco:

I was glad that the mess was confined to my center console but holy cow, that was hard to clean up!

This morning as I was driving to work, wallowing in my Monday sorrows and the fact that every radio station decided to go to commercial concurrently, I looked up just in time to notice a field full of dozens and dozens of baby goats- kids, if you will. I think I like the term baby goat better. Something about those baby goats was just so breathtakingly cute that I knew I couldn't possibly have a bad day. On the way home I planned on stopping to snap a few pictures, but those goats had been moved to a different field further away from the road and I wasn't really in the right mood for trespassing. I'm hoping they'll be back out tomorrow. My lack of goat pictures prompted a half hour long Google search of baby goat images and I think I've almost convinced myself to go into animal husbandry... minus the animal killing aspect.

Look at the baby!

Here's to finding a way to escape the pressures of our days- whether it's smelling the roses or getting a little too excited about young ruminants.