wear, eat and share your greens

Happy St. Patrick’s Day–yesterday!  You all know me by now, I love, love, love holidays, and St. Paddy’s Day is one of my favorites (my favorite is next!).  I know I owe you all a “catch up” post, since I have so many new recipes to post, workouts to blog about and life revelations to journal about, but holiday posts take precedence.  So gear yourself up for a Pot o’ Gold Breakfast, Skinny Shamrock Shake, Veggie Roast and Vegan Grasshopper Parfait.   

hearts, hearts and more hearts

I have been both single and in relationships for Valentine’s day, so I speak from experience when I say that Valentine’s Day is a very weird holiday on both parts.  V-day has always just be eh for me.  I don’t hate it, I am not its number one fan.  In my opinion, it is just a holiday in which everyone gets all stressed out and–more often times than not–just straight up sad on the 14th.  Please people.  Calm down.  If you have a significant other, just relax.  Spend the day together.  Do not build these huge expectations of grandeur.  My best Valentine’s day with my boyfriend at the time was a night spend at home making dinner together and watching Scrubs.  If you are single, oh my gosh!  Enjoy it!  Once I embraced being single (and happy) this Valentine’s Day, I am more in favor of this day of love than I used to be.

christmas patience and presents

Christmas eve and Christmas this year were very different.  I cannot think of a tradition that was followed to a tee this year.  I guess that is what happens when you grow older and you are the youngest in the family.  The Christmas season this year started out with a bang–maybe too much of a bang though, because my spirit slowly faded.  I felt like Cindy Lou Who from the Grinch.  I should have sung “Where are you Christmas” on repeat.

eggnog cupcakes

Merry Christmas Eve!  Just to let y’all know, this is my favorite holiday (in front of Easter and my birthday).  The excitement of Christmas approaching, family getting together, and all of the festive parties.  I never like going to a party empty handed, so when I was assigned to bring a dessert, my heart rejoiced!  I immediately thought of my favorite–eggnog.

fruit cake swirl cookies

Say what you must about fruit cake.  To be honest, I have never actually eaten fruit cake, so I cannot be one to judge.  I just know that it has a bad reputation.  That is why when the time came for my nutrition club’s secret santa recipe exchange, I decided to challenge myself and turn the not-so-beloved holiday cake into a “semi-healthy” holiday cookie that could restore the good name of both “fruit” and “cake” around the holidays.

back from break

Well, it was great while it lasted–my Thanksgiving break that is.  At least I got a full week off at home to relax, enjoy the warm weather, spoil my tummy (maybe a bit too much), and decorate the house for my favorite holiday!  ‘Tis the season.  My home in Houston just explodes with Christmas spirit and I soak every moment of it in.  This is everything holly and jolly that happened in just the two days after Thanksgiving.

happy twenty-first birthday

A few of you may have seen on my Instagram, or know, that a week ago today (July 21st) would have been Jessi’s 21st birthday.  It was a weekend full of emotions, both happy and sad, but I am thankful that I happened to be in Colorado to celebrate with all of her close friends and family last week.  

freedom fun

I hope everyone had a GREAT Fourth of July!  I know I had an amazing and patriotic day!  I absolutely adore holidays, and I get very wrapped up into the festivities.  Everything I did yesterday had an element of red, white, and blue to it, like my Strawberry, Banana, and Blueberry Fruit Bowl!  Yummy!