noBOLOGNA

[Insert Sickly Face Mask Emoji Here]

Good morning!  I’ve been MIA due to some sickness going around.  I think everyone is getting it, but I’m making that little emoji with the face mask on so I don’t get everyone else sick.  It’s been a rough few days and my marathon training has come to complete halt at the moment.  I didn’t get my long run in last weekend and I’m hoping I’ll be well enough to push through a long run this coming weekend!  Every day gets me closer & closer to this marathon.  Which reminds me that I need to book a hotel room.

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This weekend was a pretty great one, but I don’t have a lot of pictures because I wasn’t feeling up to par.  Friday was our work Christmas party and it was a lot of fun!  There were free food & drinks for 3 hours straight.  Then afterwards, a few of us went out together to Fondren Public, a local bar.  On Saturday, I spent some time with Nick and then ended up taking a long 3 hours nap – which I’m pretty sure was the first indication that I was getting sick.  After that, we met back up and went to Whole Foods for dinner and to pick up some wine to take to our friends house.  We ordered pizza, drank wine, and watched Naked & Afraid which is a ridiculous show!! All I know is that I would NOT survive… ever!  Nick could totally pull it off, but not me!  All the bugs & harsh conditions, plus the whole naked thing… not for me!  These people have to build their own clothes out of leaves.  If you ever get a chance to watch, please do!  It’s very entertaining.  Most of the people who go in guns blazing, have to give up, and then the people you’d least expect actually survive the whole 21 days.  You don’t actually see them naked, they blur it out, so if you get the chance, watch it!

On Sunday, I went to lunch with Nick’s family and  then went home to rest some more.  I finally got up to go see Nick before he headed back up to Starkville.  We got some coffee, discussed some various topics we had on our mind and went to Whole Foods so I could get some grocery shopping done.  Then my sickness really settled in and I haven’t really cooked anything I bought yet.  Luckily, I also purchased 2 frozen vegan lasagna’s so that’s been getting me through lunch this week, but I need to make chili tonight so I’ll have leftovers for lunch tomorrow.

One other thing I forgot to mention… My dear friend Meg sent me a little happy for the holidays!!  She knows me so well, everything was wrapped in Disney themed wrapping paper!  I also got dDisneystickers and a mickey head wine stopper.  Seriously, I eye this wine stopper every single time I’m in the parks, but I never bought one for myself.  She also sent me a large box of Hershey’s dessert recipes!  Holy Cow, so many recipes!! I think I’m going to make it my mission to transform the majority of these into delicious vegan recipes.

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I’m still pretty heart broken that I didn’t make it up North for Meg’s wedding.  It was important for us to stay home at the time, but I’m looking forward to 2015 because I definitely see a visit in our near future!!

Here’s to hoping I can feel better by tomorrow!

New Design + Thanksgiving (part 1)

Happy Monday!!

Maybe you notice the updated blog design – I got tired of messing with my own design and my navigation bar continued to not work, so I buckled down and bought a fairly inexpensive design that was super easy to put together!  Etsy is great for finding pre-made blog templates for those of you looking!  I’m excited to be back up and running.  I was having a lot of issues around Thanksgiving with the blog, so I ended up not posting or re-capping at all, but Thanksgiving was a wonderful time had by all.

First, my weekend was pretty basic.  Didn’t have a lot of plans, did a lot of cleaning and rearranging, got the spare room ready for my sisters to come to town next weekend, did an 8 mile run (it was supposed to be 10), had coffee with a friend, and went to Whole Foods!  My marathon training is going…. okay.  I’m just a couple miles behind on my long runs, but I’m feeling stronger and more confident.  I really need to focus on strength training – it’s be lacking.  I also need to focus on being more active in the evenings.  I do my runs like I should, but I also spend a lot of time watching TV or messing with the computer.  Running, but then leading a sedentary life style is not going to cut it!

Breakfast this morning was delicious toast with peanut butter, banana, honey, and cinnamon along with a comforting cup of french vanilla coffee.

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Now for my very late Thanksgiving Re-cap (Part 1)

Nick and I arrived to Gainesville later in the day on Tuesday before Thanksgiving.  When we got there, his siblings weren’t at the house, but we spent some time with Kathryn & Nick’s dad until they arrived.  Nick and his siblings were so excited to spend some quality time together so naturally we had a late night planned.  A good many strenuous games of Jenga ensued!

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We finally headed off to bed only so we could wake up really early for our day at Disney!  We left the house around 6am and got there in time for opening at Epcot.  We definitely picked the wrong line to stand in because the people in front of us had NO CLUE what finger they used for their magic band.I kid you not…. the guy asked him, “What finger did you use the first time you scanned your magic band?”  The guy said, “This one” and held it up.  The cast member replied, “Ok, use that finger.” and then the not so smart person in front of my proceeded to use a DIFFERENT finger.  I didn’t get it, but finally Nick and I made it in line for Soarin’.  Soarin’ is one of our favorite rides!  After Soarin’, we decided to have breakfast in The Land.

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I ordered the eggs, hashbrowns, french toast, and biscuit platter.  It came with sausage & bacon, but I passed that along to Nick.  The hashbrowns were absolutely delicious!  So much flavor to them.  The rest of it was pretty basic, but still very good & satisfying.

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Nick ordered a breakfast Panini that came with eggs, ham, and some other stuff.  He thought it was really good.  He made a comment about how there are good & bad things to me not eating meat… The good is that he gets the meat that I don’t want (i.e. the bacon & sausage), the bad is that when he tries something so delicious, he wants me to experience it as well, but I won’t eat it.  That’s what he said about the Panini.  He really wanted me to try it, but I couldn’t.  He also likes how me not eating meat helps incorporate more vegetarian dishes into his life though.  There are definitely some give & takes when you’re with a non-meat eater, but then again… that’s with any relationship!

After breakfast, we went and did Figment & Captain EO.  We had never done Captain EO before, but It turned out really good.  Not gonna lie, it was kind of nice seeing Michael Jackson performing.  Around this time, we were ready to walk around the world.  I was able to purchase my dad’s Christmas gift while there and I also grabbed some German chocolate for us all to share when we got back to Gainesville.  It was a little chilly, so we grabbed some warm Apple Cider while we looked around.

Our next stop was Animal Kingdom, but unfortunately it was SO CROWDED!  Ridiculously crowded in my opinion…  we didn’t ride a single ride while we were at Animal Kingdom.  We did manage to get a vegan donut, my favorite!

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After that, we decided to head home a little early so we could spend some more time with Nick’s siblings before they headed out of town the next day.  We enjoyed our day at Disney, but I’m so thankful we chose to head back because we had such a wonderful evening together.  On the way back to Gainesville, we saw the coolest sunset.

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I’ll recap part 2 later, for now I need to get ready for work.  If you’re interested in reading about any other of my Disney adventures, then check those out here!

Have a great week and I’ll talk to y’all soon!

Big Hero 6 and Food Prep

Good morning!  How was your weekend?  I hope it was full of fun, laughs, and relaxation!  My weekend turned out pretty great, so let’s re-cap.  Friday after work, I attended a Brewery Grand Opening with a co-worker.  You may have seen me blasting your instagram feeds, but a special re-cap of the event is coming to a blog near you!

On Saturday, I spent the morning sleeping in, going on a 30 minute walk, watching Grey’s Anatomy, and meal planning.  It turned out to be quite productive and I had a full weeks meal plan and grocery list ready to go.  Once I was showered and dressed, I headed up to Starkville for the rest of the weekend.  Our first stop was Starbucks and I tried their Gingerbread Latte, let me say.. not a fan.  I politely asked them to replace it with a Cinnamon Dolce Latte and the barista completely understood.  After that, we were both a little hungry so we went out for Mexican.  I got rice with sauted veggies & cheese drizzled on top while Nick went a nice healthy route with a grilled chicken & avocado salad.  After we ate, we decided to see a movie.  It seemed as if Big Hero 6 was the only good option out and it’s Disney, so it was a no-brainer.  If you haven’t seen it, please go see it!! It’s wonderful.  Be warned, you may tear up, there are some seriously sad parts, but it’s a feel good in the end type of movie and I promise, you will NOT be disappointed!

On Sunday, I headed out to Starbucks to get some planning done.  I went with my usual Cinnamon Dolce Latte so I wouldn’t be disappointed and a loaf of pumpkin bread – seriously, it’s my favorite!  I was planning out our Mississippi Women Bloggers meet-up and dabbling with some ideas of a non-profit idea I want to work with.  That’s all up in the air right now and really just thoughts, but we’ll see how things transpire.

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It was good quality time with myself and I personally felt productive.  Later I thought about how it might gross people out that my feet are propped up on a table they may eat on… I moved them.

After Starbucks I went and watched some tv with Nick then we finally headed out to lunch at City Bagel.  It was delicious, per usual.  We then grabbed some groceries for Nick and proceeded to watch more tv.  When we finally got hungry again, we headed out to Stagger Inn before I left Starkville.  I was going to get their veggie burger, but it was Morning Star brand and I find it absolutely ridiculous to pay 8 bucks for a burger that’s not home-made.  I went with onion rings, not exactly a healthy choice, but I did enjoy them.  Nick went with the most ridiculous sandwich I’ve ever seen!  It was 2 large chicken breasts, bacon, cheese, and ranch piled high.

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I finally made my way home and I had grocery shopping and meal prepping to do.  I had already picked out my meals for the week and the majority of them are being used 2-3 times throughout the week.  I think I did fairly well on my groceries and I’m excited to try 3 new items on my meal plan – Morning Glory Muffins, Hummingbird Cake (as a snack) and Pad Thai.  You may remember the Pad Thai & Hummingbird Cake I raved about from our Health Starts Here 28 Day Graduation.

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I forgot that I’m also trying out a smoothie for 3 days this week, hence the large bag of mango.

When I got home, I knew I wanted to make the Morning Glory Muffins and Pad Thai because I want to eat the muffins in the morning as part of breakfast and I wanted the Pad Thai for lunch.  This took a little longer than I anticipated, but I think they both turned out looking great and I’m excited to try them out tomorrow.  With my marathon training, I really need to revert back to my healthier eating to help fuel my body and keep the junk out.

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The rest of my evening was spent typing up this blog post & getting ready for bed.  It’s way past my bed time, but I feel super productive having cooked up some food for tomorrow so I’m now scouring for the quickest & easiest thing without taking the health factor into consideration.

  • What’s on your menu for the week?
  • Have you seen Big Hero 6?  Thoughts?

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The views and statements expressed on No Bologna are my own. You are reading No Bologna at your own risk and I am not providing any type of professional advice. Unless otherwise noted, all material on No Bologna may not be used, reprinted, or published without my consent. I do occasionally have affiliated links on my blog - this does not raise the price of the product, I simply get a very small commission from the regular retail price if something is purchased using an affiliated link on my site. I appreciate any support by you in regards to affiliated links.