Beach Wedding

This past weekend, Bryan and I attended his brother's wedding in Vero Beach. People had flown in from all over the world, including S Africa and Argentina.

Bryan and I were sooooo blessed to be able to celebrate with his family and family-in-law.

The wedding was absolutely beautiful! It was on the beach, it had perfect weather, it included a delicious menu, even more delicious dessert, mojitos galore, and the most gorgeous bride!

The rehearsal dinner was held at Bryan's grandfather's country club and featured glazed salmon, seasoned vegetables, and red velvet cake. The weather was perfect! After dinner Bryan and I went out back to the patio with a glass of wine and watched the sunset over the golf range. It was breath-taking.

The next day was Wedding day. I went for a run, got in some sun time, and headed to the beach club at 6pm. There wasn't a cloud in the sky and not a love bug to be found. (For those that don't know- Florida get infested with these annoying bugs that are attached to each other called "lovebugs" every spring. Each set of bugs has a life span of 48 hours).Wikipedia- "lovebug"

The bride's dress was simple and elegant. A gown from BCBG featuring a romantic greek bohemian style. I ended up getting a dress I found at Macys literally one day before! What luck!

The reception was a great time! The appetizers featured guacamole, salsa, bean dip, meat pies, and a few other cuban/mexican specialties with a full open bar, of course!



And there was dancing! And family and friends and food, laughter and speeches. Everyone had such a great time that we stayed til the club shut down at 11pm and carried the party over to the bride's parent's mansion house they rented for the event. It was perfectly planned and every single person there- including grandmas, aunts, uncles, and children- had a fabulous time.

Fashion

This weekend I am attending a beach wedding along the coast here in South Florida. As always, I never can seem to decide what to wear! That's where fashion blogs always come in handy. I came across these adorable hair accesories on the blog 100 Layer Cake.

{100 Layer Cake}

Seeing that I still need to find a dress, maybe I should worry about accessories later- but they are oh so cute! I love weddings! Hopefully I'll find a dress in the next two days!

Tonight's Run:

45min Gym Treadmill

Abs

Shoulders

Tonight's Agenda:

Bible Study w friends! Yay!

Have a great Wednesday!

XOXO

Tuesday's Company

Tonight's Run:

5 miles to the ocean and back

{Palm Beach Trail Guide}

Tonight's Dinner:

Broiled Chili Lime Shrimp

{Easy Lowfat Recipes}

Whole Wheat Lemon Chili Lime Pasta

{Pampered Chef}

Mango Spinach Salad w Fresh Mango and Goat Cheese

{Makes and Takes}

Tonight's Dessert:

Banana w Blackberries and Whipped Cream

{Wheeling Gourmet}

Tonight's Company:

Master Cleanse + Raw Food Challenge

I just did some research on the Master Cleanse and think I am going to try it this summer for a few days before going on the Daniel Fast again. I have realized that my stomach problems have been related to eating meat. I am going to try organic meats for awhile first. However, if I still have the gastrointestinal problems, I am going to switch to vegetarian foods.

Before I try anything I want my body to be cleansed and at a perfect Alkaline balance so I can really determine the effects of different foods on my body. I will do this this with the Master Cleanse.

The Master Cleanse is a diet that involved decaf hot teas and "lemonades" (mixture of water, lemon juice, Cayenne pepper, and maple syrup) throughout the day. Supposedly the maple syrup helps keep energy levels high and the lemon and pepper keep alkaline levels consistent.

I hope to do so more research before I begin, but I would like to start the cleanse this Wednesday.

If you have ever tried this cleanse before or heard any information on it I would love to hear.

Lemons Source

Inspiration

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Do you ever feel like you need a pick-me-up? Need a little motivation to accomplish the things that make you happy in the long run? This picture does it for me. I was sick again Friday and since then I have had the hardest time getting back into a workout routine. Tonight I am meeting a friend at Bikram Yoga. Tomorrow I hope to go for a long relaxing run to the beach and back. Slow steps to getting back out there!

Hope you have a wonderful Monday!

XOXO

Seafood lover

I have always loved seafood. It started when I was 5 and used to go fishing for trout with my grandpa on the lakes of Minnesota. Hardly classified as seafood, my family would batter up the fish and serve with warm cheddar biscuits, fresh salad greens, and corn on the cob.

Now that I live in Florida, I am in love with the REAL thing- Mahi-Mahi, Salmon, Grouper, Tilapia, and Shrimp. My first Mahi-Mahi experience was in the Keys. A few girlfriends and I decided to "rough it" and packed a tent for a weekend camping experience. I will never forget the seafood shack we found right on the coast. I savored every bite.

There are so many health benefits to fish. I am attempting to include it more regularily into my diet. Last night I arrived home from work and my roommate had just broiled honey balsamic salmon with roasted vegetables. The smell was so delicious!

With that said, I am looking for healthy recipes for salmon, shrimp, and mahi mahi. I came across a few that I am going to try this weekend, listed below:

Jerk Shrimp

Roasted Shrimp and Broccoli

Snapper with Grilled Mango

Blackened Salmon

And I always make dessert!

Healthy Banana Cookies



If you have any seafood recipes I would love to hear!

Running Route

Below is one of my favorite sites for recording my run! I used to wear a Garmin GPS, but have gotten lazy about charging it and waiting for it to pick up signal on cloudy days. I feel its more accurate if I just go and remember street names and then plug it in online when I get free time.

The site I use is: http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/



If anyone has a different site, please do share!



Today's run was:
5.25 miles
44 min
breezy, warm weather



I felt so refreshed after my run today! Post run, I fixed a bowl of banana cinnamon oatmeal and had few cuties on the side ;-)

Other News:

I haven't posted in a while due to sickness and family emergencies. But all-in-all I know God is in control of the situation. Happy Wednesday!

Cuties

Cinco De Mayo

Tonight was a fiesta at my friends' place. I love the excuse that Cinco De Mayo brings to eat tons of Mexican dips and "hint of lime" chips. The hosts of the party went all out and even had sombreros, mustaches, and maracas. Since I am a visual person, here are pictures of what we ate tonight:

Shrimp Tacos

Chili Con Queso

Guacamole

7-layor Bean dip

It was all so delicious! And the food looked exactly like the pics above (I was just too lazy to snap photos of everything before people started digging in).

Question: Do you like to celebrate Cinco De Mayo?

I do just for the excuse of having great food with friends. I don't really have any attachments to the war when Mexico defeated France.

Tacos, Guacamole, Queso, 7-Layor, Fiesta

Crafty Night + Training to Eat Chocolate

Every once in a while I get crafty. It was late last night but I was not tired so I decided to give my new Stampin Up Special Occasions stamp set a try. With Mother's Day right around the corner I figured it was a perfect time to make a few cards. But first I needed a little bit of...

THIS! A Starbucks Grande Zen Tea Latte with a splash of Soy. Ahhh, love that drink :) Anyways, I am just starting out in the world of designer card-making so I decided to make two cards:

One for my mom- using textured paper, pink card stock, a stamp, and cute flower designs I found in the latest Very Bradley catalog. I love saving catalogs and magazines from scrapbooks, etc. I also made...

One for Bryan's mom. I found the palm tree in the latest Anthropology catalog. I thought it blended well with the travel/vintage scrapbook paper. His mom runs a landscaping business so I thought some type of plant/tree/fern was fitting to include in her card, haha.

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Earlier last night I got in a gym workout of 5 miles. I had a burst of energy on the last mile and I noticed a guy checking out my treadmill time when I got off the machine. I love it when people notice my hard work- did I just say that out loud?

Later that night as I was leaving the gym he asked me: "so ...is it marathons or triathlons?" I just laughed and told him neither, "its training to eat chocolate." It made me think about my training schedule though. I am really missing the competitive high I used to get from racing every week. There are a few 5Ks coming up this summer. I want to get back into racing.

Question: Do you train just to train or do you train to race?

I used to love the competitiveness of racing and training with a purpose. Now it seems that I am just running to stay in shape. I long to get back into racing again though. I just need the courage to sign up for a 5K and wake up early on a Saturday. ;-) haha.

Baking and Running and Eating!

Don't you just love the smell of something baking in the oven?!?

I decided to try out a new vegan recipe for fruit pizza and was pleasantly surprised how delicious it was. After the Daniel fast, I have learned that Vegan food really is easy to make- just substitute flax seed mixture for eggs, use oils instead of butter, and remove dairy. The result is sweet, wholesome, and quite delicious.

Vegan Simple Sugar Cookies: (from ChooseVeg.com)

1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 cup oil
1 Tbsp. vanilla
1 Tbsp. maple syrup
Egg replacer equivalent of 1 egg
Cinnamon and sugar, to coat


Mix the dry ingredients in a bowl. Mix the wet ingredients in a measuring cup (make sure they're blended well). Stir the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients. Using your hands form the dough into a big ball. (If it sticks together well, then it's the right consistency. If not, add a bit of water and mix it well.)

My fruit pizza crust version: Form into a giant ball..Flatten into 2 pie dishes. Bake at 375°F degrees for about 14min

Top with Coconut Frosting and pineapple, mango, strawberries, and blueberries.

Just for kicks, I did another one to save for later ;-)

As always! I enjoy this dessert best after a nice 5 mile run outside, a protein smoothie, and a few HGTV shows :)

Baking Photo source

Weekend of Breakfasts and...

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Let me just put it out there, I LOVE breakfast food! If I could, I would eat breakfast for every mal all the time! From Blueberry waffles, french toast, muffins, yogurt, fruit, eggs, omlettes- breakfast food pretty much satisfies every sweet, salty, delicious craving. Luckily Bryan is the same way and we got our ultimate breakfast fix this weekend.

We started off the weekend relaxing, watching:

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Watching The Tourist. I thought it was well done- nothing overly impressive, but it made me want to travel to Venice.
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Getting a Massage!

I got a deep tissue massage after my 5 mile run on Saturday. It was definitely DEEP tissue, relaxing and slightly painful- but in a good way :)

Distance: 5 miles

Time: 41 minutes

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Breakfast for dinner! Bryan and I went to two breakfast places over the weekend. The Boynton Diner on Saturday for dinner. I got a traditional egg, bagel, and fruit breakfast- yum!

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Breakfast for lunch! We LOVE breakfast food so we decided to go to Makebs Bagels for lunch on Sunday after church. Makebs has over 110 bagel sandwich/omelet/salad platter options! Delicious!

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Oh! and...Breakfast for breakfast too!

;-) Bryan made me a delicious egg and toast breakfast Sunday before church~ what a nice guy!

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Putt-putt golfing!

We met another couple for putt-putt and self-serve frozen yogurt Saturday night at this cute little place called "Puttin Around." in Delray Beach. It was so cute! Tons of tropical trees and plants and tiki torches- with food and wine service at every hole. What a great idea!

Question: How do you like to enjoy the weekend?

Did you see the Tourist? Whatcha think of it?

I like to balance it with time for me (going on a run), time with Bryan, and time with friends and time with God.

It was okay. Typical role for Angelina Jolie but surprisingly a lot less action than her other films.