June 2011
1 post
I've moved to my own domain - come join me!
Hi y’all….I jumped on the blogger train and moved over to
http://spinachandskittles.com/
I don’t want to lose you - clickity-click!
February 2011
24 posts
2 tags
I moved to my own domain name - come join me!
Hi y’all….I jumped on the blogger train and moved over to
http://spinachandskittles.com/
I don’t want to lose you - clickity-click!
5 tags
Weigh-in Wednesday 10: The Thin Ideal
In honor of NEDAwareness Week, I am not weighing in with a number. Instead I am weighing in with my thoughts on the scale: it’s power, the thin ideal and why you shouldn’t let a number determine a worth.
(source)
You know the rules of the scale: first thing in the morning, after your first, ahem, bowel movement, no clothes, and tada! The lowest number should appear. But wait, why...
4 tags
Positive words
Today was the first day back to school after a four-day weekend(!!). To kick off National Eating Disorder Awareness Week at school I posted a positive words wall. It was Mirrorless Monday meets Operation Beautiful.
*I wanted to play Bruno Mars Just the way you are on repeat in the hallway during passing periods, but I neglected to purchase “D” batteries for my CD player.
I...
5 tags
All about ME Monday
Today’s activity for NEDAwareness week was “Mirrorless Monday.” This activity is geared toward high school students, where the teachers/counselors cover the mirrors in the restrooms/locker rooms and encourage students to look beyond the mirror and write encouraging words to one another.
Considering the fact that it is President’s day, and therefore schools are closed,...
2 tags
It's National Eating Disorders Awareness Week (Feb...
I signed up to be a community advocate for this cause that is near and dear to my heart. This week I’ll be dedicating all posts to the education and awareness of eating disorders, with a side of self-love.
There are a lot of myths surrounding eating disorders, common ones being:
Only teenage girls suffer from eating disorder.
Eating disorders are a white, middle-class, female issue.
An...
4 tags
Saturday snapshots.
Nanner + chunky peanut butter = amaze-balls.
Dog walk in sun = glorious. Then on to a gym date with the hubs (40 min on the adaptive motion trainer + 15 min arms). Once home I created some sun-inspired eats.
Caprese salad - much better in the summer though :(
Kiwi
And carmelized onion toast.
Yum.
Then I needed to get my creative juices flowin’ for an app to bring to...
3 tags
Pizza experiment
My legs are so sore. But it is the good kind of hurt. I decided to use a light traffic hallway to do 3 sets of lunges yesterday. I have a love/hate relationship with lunges. I love the way my legs lean up quickly when I incorporate them into my work out routine. I hate actually doing them, and hate that I walk like a cowgirl afterward.
I’m currently lounging in the basement thinning out my...
2 tags
Fashion Friday: I need new clothes.
Since October I’ve dropped two sizes(!!). While it is fun to realize I need to purchase new pants, it is not as fun to realize I need new, ahem, undergarments.
Monday - Red, pink, purple and white day at school, (because it was Valentine’s Day). At first I struggled with what to wear that would include all colors. Then I remembered I owned a pair of white pants (ok, “winter...
3 tags
Flatbread....flat out blah.
I really have nothing to offer ya’ll today…I’m tired and it tomorrow is a full moon, (which, if you didn’t know, kind of makes people a tad crazy. Particularly the tween/teen type of people).
Today was gloriously sunny…yet it snowed.
(source)
My car’s temperature gage read 36 degrees…
Seriously. How was it snowing?
Nothing stuck, but still…it...
3 tags
Weigh-in Wednesday 9: U R Amazing
My co-worker, (who didn’t want her face on the blog, sorry bout the chest shot), was wearing this awesome shirt today. I want one.
Anyway…
I still haven’t replaced my scale’s battery, but it gave me an equal amount six times in a row, so maybe last week it was having a bad day. Whatever the case, I was pretty pleased with the number.
Starting weight: +21
Goal...
3 tags
Rant-tastic Tuesday
Remember how pleased I was with myself yesterday for waking up before my alarm went off? Yeah, didn’t happen this morning. I did, however, only hit snooze once. Actually, I hit it a second time, but immediately dragged myself out of bed because I felt guilty. I also didn’t want a repeat of last week when I hit snooze four times every.single.morning. (that would be 36 minutes of extra...
5 tags
Hey, did you know it is Valentine's Day?
Have you checked your facebook feed today? Yeah, it is Valentine’s Day. It always cracks me up to see married couples wishing each other a happy v-day via fb wall posts.
*quick check to make sure Timmah didn’t do that* phew, we’re in the clear.
I guess my body was excited about the ol Hallmark holiday, I woke up at 5:03 a.m., one minute before my alarm went off. Crazy, right?...
3 tags
Sleepy Saturday turned Sunday.
Happy Birthday to my mother-in-law, Gayle!
Sorry for the lack of posting yesterday, I spent the day very lazily recuperating after my food poisoning/severe soy attack Thursday night.
Seriously lazy.
Friday morning I woke up at 6:45 a.m., passed out in the shower, called a sub, and went back to bed around 7:30 a.m. I woke up at 11:33 a.m., watched a movie, wrote a blog post and went back to...
2 tags
Fashion Friday
There are entire blogs dedicated to fashion, my friend Lindsay has one. Mine is not. I don’t consider myself to be fashionable. However, over the years I’ve worked in quite a few places where I was the “cute dresser.” Me? *snort* oooookaaaay.
I’ve noticed more and more healthy living bloggers, like Laura and Megan who also work in education, are including Fashion...
3 tags
Timmy's Salsa
Tonight I am going to be slinging books at our school’s Title 1 Literacy Night. Rather than leave you postless, the Hubs agreed to do a guest post. Enjoy…
Ingredients
- Three to Four pounds tomatoes, at least 4-5 of them being beefsteak, or on the vine variety. Super fresh or homegrown is great
- One white/yellow onion
- One bunch cilantro
- One Anaheim...
2 tags
Weigh in Wednesday 7: time to recharge.
Me thinks my scale’s battery is dying. I received 5 different weights this morning, so I have no idea if I lost, gained, or stayed the same over the past week. Time to either change the battery or get a new (better/more accurate) scale. However, I am afraid to do both options because even though I know weight is rather irrelevant, I like to use the same scale every time I weigh in for...
5 tags
Salsa chicken disaster.
Homigawd I am starving. The prunes I’m munching on are not cutting it either. (Yes, I happen to like prunes. No, I’m not 80.) I’m watching Arrested Development while I wait for my dinner to hurry up and finish cooking.
BEST.SHOW.EVER. Seen it? If you haven’t you really need to put this on your Netflix queue right away. I have been known to bust out the chicken during...
6 tags
Medicine haze Monday.
Random thoughts filled my cloudy head today….
Does 24 Hour Sudafed contain caffeine? If not, why couldn’t I sleep last night.
Why am I so parched? Does Sudafed do that to you? Why does my water taste gross?
I wonder when I’ll get my next 20% off coupon for Bed, Bath & Beyond. I could really use some more storage containers.
Why don’t we have a Container Store?
When...
6 tags
Guactastic Super Bowl.
First of all: PACKERS WIN!
Remember this picture?
My mom texted me saying she was pretty sure my dad was going to wear the cheese head to work tomorrow. He was born and raised in Wiscaaaaahhnsin, and is a major, major cheese head. (Yes I pronounce Wisconsin with the long ahhhh sound in the middle. No, I don’t have a Midwest accent, but I find it more fun that way.)
Guacamole can...
3 tags
Saturday night fever...
…not really, but I am running at about 78%, and even though I’m an A student I’ll take it. Although tomorrow I really need to be hovering around 85% or higher because I have a super bowl shin dig going on.
Today a little party prep ensued, after a breakfast burrito of champions of course.
mmmm, bacon
Oh and guess who rocked a pair of jeans she hasn’t been able to fit...
7 tags
So, tell me how you really feel.
The phrase above has been uttered to me many, many times. Apparently I have difficulty keeping my (very strong) feelings at bay.
(ahem, let me get on my soapbox for a minute, I promise I will step off soon)
This week the seventh and eighth graders started a media and advertising unit. The unit focuses on how we receive messages and why we make the choices we do. Simple enough, right? But the...
3 tags
Santa Fe Chicken
Santa Fe Chicken a la crock pot
I love, love, love my crock pot! I mean, how much easier can cooking get? Throw ingredients in pot, turn nob, let sit a few hours and enjoy. Simple, simple.* I only have a few rules when making a crock pot meal: no browning or sautéing anything prior to cooking. Okay, I guess I only have one rule. The beauty of a crock pot is that meals made in it only require it...
4 tags
Weigh in Wednesday 6: Sickie
There is a nasty bug going around and my boys, (hubs and Libb), caught it before I did. Due to spending the majority of my waking hours with kiddos it is a rarity that I am the last in this house to get sick. I figured that I had finally built up my immune system, since they were sick and I was feeling great, but I thought wrong.
Here I am at home, sick, watching Groundhog’s Day…over...
6 tags
Five Hundred February Challenge.
First things first: my hair cut/color
back
Side
Front…my co-worker wanted me to “strike a pose!” so I did…
..twice.
Arrgh, why can I never do my bangs as well the following day? Sigh.
You know those girls who look effortlessly beautiful when they arrive at the gym at 6 a.m.? All bright eyed and bushy tailed, ready to run? I am not one of those girls. I...
2 tags
State of (hair) emergency.
I am kind of obsessed with my hair. Sure, it’s a superficial obsession, but I don’t care. That’s how I roll, or blow-dry with a round brush.
This obsession has led to a ridiculously large file on my computer where I store pictures of cute hair cuts as I find them. I pick my favorites the day of my new-do and bring in my MacBook Pro to pull ‘em all up. Why waste printer ink...
January 2011
40 posts
2 tags
So soon Sunday?
Why do weekends have to end?
Yesterday was so relaxing, I want to bottle up the feeling of my carefree Saturday and spritz it throughout my work week.
Last night’s festivities were quite enjoyable.
Seaweed salad,
gyoza,
and soosh were consumed.
John and Kim’s looked a lot more exciting than ours.
We skipped across the street to Nectar and cleansed our palate with their...
3 tags
Coo Coo for Cupcakes.
Today was a very exciting day, but it all started with yesterday’s cupcake trivia. Every Friday Celebrations Sweet Boutique throws a trivia question up on the ‘ol fb. Yesterday the owner was stumped for a question, so the first 50 people who responded with their favorite cupcake flavor won happy hour prices all day long ($1 per cupcake - no limit!). I was number 46 -score!
We...
4 tags
Food blog FAIL Friday.
So remember those mini-goals I wanted to attempt each week? I haven’t really talked about them much lately because I am still trying to accomplish the first one (get out of bed without hitting snooze).
I think the root cause of my ongoing snooze button affair has to do with my sleep schedule. I am the lightest sleeper I know. I sleep with a sleeping mask AND earplugs every night. No joke....
3 tags
G-O-N-Z-A-G-A Go Gonzaga!
Tonight my two alma maters face off!
I attended Saint Mary’s my freshman year of college and transferred to Gonzaga my Sophomore year. Tonight’s game is a big one, and students have been camping out in “tent city” since Tuesday.
(source)
I never participated in the camp out for games, I always had to work :(
I missed the first 6 minutes because ESPN2 seemed to think...
3 tags
Weigh in Wednesday 5: I'm a chickpea.
Holy potholes, Spokane!
The worst intersection I encounter on my route home is Monroe/Garland. I can’t swerve and miss ‘em anymore and I am not going to be thrilled if my car needs to be realigned come spring.
Another thing that might need realigning is my eating. I let Saturday’s festivities slide into a rather unhealthy Sunday and possibly yesterday as well. Nothing overboard...
1 tag
Childhood Spinach and Skittles.
Ever wonder why my blog is called Spinach and Skittles?
If you asked me to eat spinach as a kid I would have given you the evil eye and shoveled the requisite three bites in order to give it a proper taste before I ruled it out all together. Never mind the fact that I had followed the three-bite rule every time I ate spinach, and I knew I didn’t like it. I still had to suck it up and give...
2 tags
Simplifying my life.
Today was a lovely day off, which included lots of lounging. After the Snowmageddon of 2008 the school district I work for inserted a few snow days throughout the year. If we don’t need to use them to make up school we get them as days off instead.
My morning was filled by a marathon of What’s Eating You episodes stored in my DVR.
While drinking a few cups a joe,
and eating some...
5 tags
Sending Tanica off in style.
I have a confession: I make friends on the internet.
In 2005 I started participating on the self.com healthy eaters chat board and quickly branched off to a private healthy eaters board. I met a lovely group of women, including Megan, and even though our board has dissolved, I’ve remained in touch with the majority of them through facebook.
When I got engaged in 2007 I promptly booked it...
3 tags
First blog formative assessment.
I was a barista for six years, therefore I have a very real addiction to coffee. I have no desire to let this sweet delicious brown liquid leave my life anytime soon.
(After re-reading this post I realized this is the only picture, and it is rather boring. So I am dispersing very random pictures throughout the post to spice things up a bit)
In honor of my one-month blogiversary I decided to...
Gym do's and don'ts.
Do be friendly (move out of the way when trying to unlock your locker so others can pass, offer up shampoo/conditioner/whatever if someone forgot theirs, smile).
Don’t take 10 minute showers. Space, water heat and time are all factors. We are all busy, we all need a shower, but this is a get in-get out situation. Shampoo/condition/wash body. That is all you get. If you want to shave your...
2 tags
Weigh in Wednesday 4: oh crap.
My day started crappy.
Literally.
Crap on my floor, courtesy of my cat.
When the dog has an accident we say, oh, poor Rilo! She must be sick. But the cat? No, she gets, stupid cat!
I spent 20 minutes cleaning the floor and wound up not getting to the gym and on a machine until 6:20. So I had a crappy 40 minute work out.
And, crap, I forgot my undies at home.
At least I am wearing a dress...
5 tags
Happy Birthday Libb!
Today Libb, (Live-in-basement-brother), aka Jake* turned the big two-three.
*I would like to point out the normalness of my brothers name: Jacob, and the abnormalness of my name: Leila.
Jake moved in with us in June so he could attend college in Spokane. One perk for him living with his foodie sister is that he gets an extra-special birthday dinner.
When I asked Libb what he wanted for his...
4 tags
Babies and burlattas.
It seems everyone around me is having babies. One thing you should know about me: I love babies. Baby smell (the good kind, not the bad kind…), baby chub rolls, baby laugh, baby everything. I have pattened the Leila Swoop, a certain sway/bounce thing I do with babies. I love it because I get to hold said baby and I get an awesome glute/hamstring workout. Moms love it because (generally)...
Sassy Sunday.
Today’s excursion to Schweitzer Mountain did not happen. When we checked the weather for today it said: 50 degrees and raining. Not exactly great weather to learn how to snowboard in.
Yet what did we find today? 50 degrees and BLUE SKY!
Meh, no worries. This just means I had more time to do what I love…clean out the freezer and get ready for a week of cooking. We had some...
3 tags
Toasty fire, toasty kale, toasty me.
Winter is my least favorite season. I hate to be cold. Like, really, really, really hate to be cold.
Then we moved to San Diego for a (very) brief period of time and I realized I hate living without seasons more than I hate being cold.
While fires help,
only one thing can warm my winter heart: Gonzaga basketball.
On Wednesday the hubs texted me a picture of tickets for tonight’s game....
Now and Then.
Remember that movie?
(source)
I was 12 and totally in love with Devin Sawa.
Now I’m sipping on some coffee,
and menu planning for the week.
And trying to figure out a way to get this,
and this
on the menu without groans from my meat-lovin’ fellas.
Then I was nibblin’ on awesome hummus,
at The MAC for BeGin, where the drink tickets were as cute as a button!
...
Friday night can BeGin!
I love Friday’s. Specifically, Friday after 3:15. But before 3:15 can be pretty fun too. Every Friday is School Spirit day, and the 7th and 8th graders compete for spirit points.
One of the ways to earn points is dress in school colors (black and gold - go vikings!) This makes packing my gym bag extremely easy because I have 2 yellow cardi’s, 1 black/yellow/white cardi and 2 yellow...
2 tags
Sad stummy :(
Have I mentioned I’m lactose intolerant?
I require these regularly.
Given that my favorite foods involved dairy, I down a lot more of these pills than the recommended dosage.
Today’s meals didn’t include a lot of dairy. But my body doesn’t care, it wants to hate all over me just to be a pain in my stummy.
I slept in until 6:18, which I do every Thursday. It is my...
Will walk for pizza.
Remember how I said I wanted pizza? Here let me refresh your memory:
The hubs and I used to live 50 feet from a Papa Murphy’s. I think we got pizza there twice a week…at least. But tonight, when I called the hubs to find out when he would be home for dinner, I said, “I want junk food,” his response was, “yeah, I want the goat.”
To the goat we went.
...
Weigh in Wednesday 3: looser, not a loser.
I was fully prepared not to lose this week. I’m not really sure why. I’ve been feeling a tad sluggish and am trying to pinpoint the root cause. I think it may be sleep related. (Those extra 9 minutes after hitting snooze don’t actually count as extra sleep either, shucks).
In an effort to see improvements beyond the scale this week I decided I needed to find my trusty measuring...
Cruisin' for a snoozin'
Woke up at 5:04 5:13 today. Apparently hitting snooze is something I can’t do cold turkey. I’m okay with this. I still made it to the gym by 5:45, so all’s well that ends well, right?
I’ve already blown my mini-goal for the week, so I’m changing it to: only hitting snooze once. Clearly I can make this mini-goal a reality. Maybe next week I’ll tackle no...
2 tags
Insane in the membrane [turkey] burgers.
The hubs and Libb love red meat. I do not. Whenever I make a vegetarian (and sometimes poultry centered) dish Libb’s response is, “it’s good, but it could use some meat!”
I had little hope of finding a turkey burger recipe that would satisfy these meat-lovin’ gentlemen. But these turkey burgers do not disappoint. They are bursting with flavor pockets that make you...
