Homemade Acai Bowl

I have been thinking of acai bowls in ever since we had them in Austin. However there is only one or two places that have them here and they aren't near by so I figured I would give trying to make them at home another go. I think I finally got down the recipe and I am very happy, I see many acai bowl breakfasts in my future.

 For the acai bowl base blend:

• One Sambazon frozen acai smoothie pack
• Half a banana 
• 3 strawberries
• Tsp of truvia 
• Splash of apple juice 

My first try was a little thin so using frozen strawberries may be a better option in the future. I think the apple juice and fresh banana are really what gives it the right amount of sweetness and flavor. Next top with the toppings of your choice I went for granola, banana and strawberries, I usually would have some coconut on there as well. Some other topping options are berries, nuts, chocolate chips or seeds. Many people also mix in some protein powder into the base to make it a more balanced breakfast, I will have to give it a try and hope it doesn't destroy all the yummy flavors. 

I hope you all enjoy

Texas Road Trip Part 2- Fredricksburg

Hey ya'll and welcome to part two of our Texas road trip adventures. If you missed part one you can catch up here. After leaving Austin and doing some major outlet shopping in San Marcos we hit the road to our next destination, Fredricksburg. In Fredricksburg we picked the cutest Bed and Breakfast to stay in called the Hoffman Haus based on lots of positive reviews online. It is the cutest place very cozy with a rustic country feel and yes they deliver your breakfast each morning in a picnic basket and so yummy!

Fredricksburg is in the heart of Texas wine country with a countless number of wineries in the area. We spent our day at Grape Creek Vineyards where we took a tour and did a tasting. It was a beautiful place and made you quickly forget you were still in Texas.

Fredricksburg was a very peaceful small town with plenty of wineries and scenery to enjoy when you want some time away from big-city life, I can see coming back again. Perhaps even for a girls weekend.

Texas Road trip Part 1- Austin

With a sudden free week off from work Evan and I decided that it was road trip time! We had been wanting to go to Austin and a couple other places in Texas but hadn't found the time yet. We set out Saturday morning for our 5 day last minute Texas road trip vacation, first stop Austin.  I originally wrote out a lot more content for this post but it got way too long so I am just giving the highlights.

We arrived in Austin around lunch time on Saturday, checked in to our hotel then headed out to try a local spot for lunch I have heard great things about, The Blue Dahlia Cafe. I got an open face tartine and Evan got a frittata that he raved about.

After lunch we head out to explore a couple sites after that we went back to the hotel and relaxed before getting ready for dinner and 6th street. We ate dinner at the Iron Cactus then we found a roof top bar with a live band and stayed put for the remainder of the night.

The next morning we woke up and grabbed some acai bowls from a local spot that were seriously delicious. Once we finished up we were ready to make our way to Lady Bird lake for  some stand up paddle boarding. Stand up paddle (SUP) boarding ended up being my favorite part of the whole trip. It was such a blast, something different, active and outdoors all make for a great time.

After walking around all of Austin we scouted out a food truck food court for dinner. It was called the Picnic and had 6 different food trucks and lots of picnic tables, we tried a little of everything.

 Then we spent the night hanging out with my cousin who happened to also be in Austin. We got up the next morning and spent several hours at the San Marcos outlet mall before heading to our next stop, Fredricksburg.

What I'm Loving Fridays

Its Friday and it's time to celebrate everyone!! I am so happy to see this weekend arrive and I'm sure you are too. Another week of life has passed and there are always those things that make it a little sweeter, what were those things for me this week? Well I will sure tell you

 

Big Life Changes- A New Job

Today was my official last day at my current job and I will be starting a new completely different job next week. Since I will no longer have an office job and will be traveling regularly this will be a big change. I am looking forward to taking on this new opportunity and think I will be a much happier girl!

 

Texas Road Trip

Since it worked out that I have a week in between jobs Ev and I decided we had to take advantage and go on a little trip. Since it was really last minute we decided on a road trip. We have been wanting to go to Austin together since we moved here so we will be starting our trip there then going on to San Antonio and Fredericksburg. I am super excited to explore the state of Texas some more and get in a much needed mini-vacation. I will be sure to post all about our adventures.

Learning New Blog Tools
I started this blog a long while back but just sort of wrote things back then. Slowly but surely I have started to learn more about blogging and the great tools for your posts and pictures. I feel like I have learned more in the last few week then in the year before that but I am excited to continue learning.

We Have a Wedding Photographer
Yes that's right what I said would be one of our hardest decisions has been made! We mailed in the contract a couple nights ago and are very happy with our decision. After narrowing down our photographers to our top five, then interviewing several our top choice was pretty clear. Who is it you ask... Tony Gambino take a look at his stuff his pictures are amazing. We are so glad to have this checked off our to-do list and cant wait to take our engagement pictures!

 

 

 

Home Office Inspiration

• Desk- Target
• Chair- Target I actually found the same chair in stores with a slightly different pattern that I liked more
• Planner- Plum Paper Designs via Etsy
• Flowers- Pier 1

We have needed a home work space in our apartment since we moved in but it was one of those things we have just never gotten around to since it wasn't a priority for us. However having a nice space where we can work when needed, use the computer, blog, etc. would be great so I have now started brainstorming some ideas for what I would like it to look like. Since we do only have a two bedroom it will be a component within our guest room. Therefore I want to keep in relatively small, clean and fresh.

I don't know if the items from the board above are what I will end up with but if I can get them all I would be happy. I hit Pinterest the other day looking for some pictures, trying to visualize some of the ideas I had imagined. The two pictures below each have some of the elements I am looking for. The first is simple, elegant and clean. The second adds in pops of color and charm that I really like.


Photo source

Photo Source  

These ladies did a great job with their spaces I am eager to see what I can come up with for mine. I guess we will have to wait and see I hope to have an update of the finished product for you all soon!

-E

Healthy Turkey Meatloaf Minis

I know for many kids meatloaf was the dreaded dinner they hated, but me I always liked it. A couple days ago the thought occurred to me when trying to brainstorm some new healthy dinner ideas that there must be a healthy way to do this using lean turkey meat. In typical fashion I set out to find existing recipes, all of which were completely different. I then asked my mom what she used to put in hers and went from there. I basically just winged it, took what I thought made sense from each recipe and this is what I came up with:

What you Need:

• 1.25 LBS Extra Lean Ground Turkey
• 1/2 cup breadcrumbs
• 1/4 cup Walden Farms Ketchup (you can use regular if you want)
• 1 egg
• 1/2 onion
• 1/2 red bell pepper
• 1 tsp olive oil
• 1 tsp balsamic vinegar
• 1/2 tsp ground mustard
• Salt, pepper and garlic powder

To Prepare:

• Preheat oven to 375 degrees
• The reason meatloaf is an easy meal is because you literally just throw all the ingredients in a bowl, mix it up and your ready
• Now I choose to cook these in a muffin tin so they would be proportioned and I was hoping they would cook faster this way (I don't think the second part worked out, oh well)
• Bake meatloaf minis for about an hour, but it could be more just check periodically, I ended up putting mine back in to cook longer several times
• Top with some reduced sugar ketchup and enjoy

Overall I think this is something I would make again, it was easy (just make sure you have plenty of time for it to bake), pretty healthy and high in protein and I thought it was quite yummy

Macros for 2 minis: 4F/ 14C/ 37P

I hope you enjoy
-E

What Timehop has Quickly Taught Me

Many of you out there may have seen many social media posts from the app "Timehop." Well we they first began I had no idea what they were (just proof that you fall out of the latest hype when you get older.) My younger sister sent me a picture  a few weeks back followed by the words, one year ago today. I quickly responded asking her how she possibly remembered that, at which time she told me that the app told her. Thinking it was a cool concept I quickly downloaded the app myself. For anyone unfamiliar the app is marketed as "the time capsule of you" and it connects with your iphone pictures and your social media accounts. Then each day it gives you a run down of all the pictures or posts from 1,2,3,4 or more years ago on that you made on that day.

I have now had the app for a week or two and I feel like it has been an awesome reminder of memories from the past and a look back on so many great times in my life. Obviously it also shows me how much things have changed over the years but overall I love being reminded of all my thoughts and activities from the years prior. What I've realized looking back:

I have had some great adventures

3 years ago at this time I was living outside of New Mexico for the first time, living in Boston for the summer. Exploring an amazing new city, figuring out public transportation, meeting great new people and learning a lot about myself along the way.

2 years ago at this time I was living outside of New Mexico for the second time, living in Boulder Colorado for the summer completing another internship before starting grad school. Colorado was a lot closer to my comfort zone then Massachusetts but it was still fantastic to explore another new place and fall in love with the area.

1 year ago at this time I had just moved out of New Mexico for good, to live in Dallas Texas. I was finishing up my last semester of Grad school and looking for my first full time job in a new and strange city.

It never really occurred to me that within the last 3 years I have lived in 5 different cities and had unique experiences in each of them that shaped where my life is today.

I have some great people in my life- through all of it

When the timehop notification comes and I look at the past years I am often comforted by how many people remain constant in the posts over the years despite all the other changes that occurred. I am so blessed by the best family, friends and finance (the 3 F's that mean everything)

Several years from now I will look back and appreciate right now

Sometimes we get so caught up living life we don't realize all the wonderful things happening around us until we look back on them later. Lately I have been stressed and frustrated but I ultimately know I am living one of the best times of my life right now, I think this is a reminder to appreciate it everyday because I know I will blink and it will have passed.

Timehop may be just a cellphone app but I feel like it has been a great tool to appreciate all that I have now and have experienced in the past. I look forward to each days overview!

Wedding Wednesday?

Well it has been a hot minute since I did a wedding Wednesday post, that's simply because I don't have much to share... like at all. Once we booked the place, picked the date and realized how far away it is we pushed the breaks on actual planning. This is partially because we have plenty of time so no rush to do it all right away and secondly because I am sorta afraid if I pick things now I will just change my mind in the next year. I am already having different visions for the day then I was a month ago so we will see where they land later this year.

So for now we are working on booking some vendors and that's about it. The big thing I want to get done asap is picking a photographer, yes I have been saying that for months. However no decision has been made, why, well because I think I am scared to make it. This is the one decision I fear, because its one I think you can actually mess up and regret. You aren't going to look back on your wedding day and wish you picked different flowers, but when you look back on your wedding day what might you be looking at? That's right your wedding photos!! You are putting your memories in someone's hands and I just want them to be great! We have it narrowed down to our top 3, but we cant seem to pick one, we agreed to work on that this week so we will see :)

Other than that I am still working on some projects for my bridal party which I will hopefully be able to share with ya'll soon, just have to get my butt in gear and finish them up! I shall leave you with a picture of the ceremony site that the coordinator sent me, I love! This is of course from another wedding they had earlier this year!

Protein Waffle Recipe on this Monday

Good Morning Everyone,

Well it is once again Monday, you know our favorite day of the week! This one hitting a little harder after a nice long weekend, am I right? This weekend was so great for me I was sad to see it go and even sadder to hear my alarm go off at 5:30 this morning. Oh well time to take on another week!

This weekend for us consisted of lots of fireworks, pool time, bbq, time with friends, etc. However unless you want to see 1500 pictures of the fireworks I attempted to take I got nothing for you on the picture front. Sorry, bad blogging at its finest right here. I promise I will try to be better. So in attempt to make this a post worth writing I will now share a great recipe for protein waffles I have been using lately:

Protein Waffles

 

What you Need:

• 1 scoop vanilla protein powder
• 2 1/2  TB whole wheat pancake mix
• 1 whole egg
• 2 egg whites
• Cinnamon and vanilla to taste

Simply combine using a handheld mixer, pour on preheated waffle iron, cook until golden brown, top with whatever you fancy or whatever fits your macros and enjoy.

Macros before toppings: 6F/ 18C/ 41P

I have tried many protein waffle recipes lately and this is the best one yet. The small amount of pancake mix makes them fluffy like a regular waffle and not taste too much like protein. Plus these have awesome macros!!

Hope you Enjoy!
-E