A crazy day calls for an easy recipe!

What a crazy day.  My mind has been somewhere else all day long!  It all started when I was leaving a very important voice message and I left my WORK NUMBER!!!! How freaking embarassing!!!  Oh, and then the person called back and at the end of the call I accidentally called her by the wrong name.  (I'm pretending that she didn't hear that though!! *lol*)  After the gym, I went to Kroger I got a few things.  Well, what do you know...I get all the way to my apartment and realized I had forgotten my eggs!!!  I went back and the attendant was very nice and she knew exactly who I was.  I then get back to my apartment....lay on the floor with my cat like I usually do until I am finally motivated to getting ready for dinner and what do you know....I have no black beans!!! I REALLY wanted what I planned to have... so I went all the way back to Kroger for a can of black beans.  I refused to put $.71 cents on my debit card so I scrounged up some change from my piggy bank.  While I was out, I figured I'd fill up my gas tank since its cheap.  (It's sad that $3.69 is "cheap" these days.)  Wouldn't you know it...I started to drive away with the nozzle still in my car.  Well, I'll just pretend no one saw that either.  Needless to say...it's a glass of wine kind of night.  I had a nice, long, relaxing weekend but today my mind is obviously elsewhere.

If anyone is interested, here's what I made for dinner!  It's originally a Kraft recipe...but I modified it with cleaner/healthier ingredients.

Ingredients:

• 1 can no sugar added sweet corn- drained (or use fresh off the cob or cooked frozen, whatever fits your fancy)
• 1 can low sodium black beans -rinsed and drained or cook your own (I used canned today...more convenient)
• 1 packet low sodium taco seasoning (I've made my own before...but I lost that recipe!)
• 1 cup minute brown rice
• 4 whole grain tortillas
• cooking spray

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Spray both sides of tortillas with cooking spray and bake 10 minutes. (Keep an eye on them...sometimes they burn!)

Meanwhile...make the brown rice according to the directions.  In a saucepan, mix black beans, corn, cooked rice and taco seasoning until heated throughout (about 5 minutes). 

Serve on tostadas and enjoy!  sometimes I add lettuce, tomato and part skim mozzarella cheese if I have it.  (Today was a cheese day!)

I'm not sure of the nutrition facts right off the bat, I'd have to sit down and figure it out...which I probably will if I add everything to my spark people nutrition tracker :o) (http://www.sparkpeople.com/. Check it out...it's free and there is a free smart phone app!)

This is seriously the quickest thing to make.  The filling is great in plain whole grain tortillas not toasted too!

Getting Frugal!

I was watching one of those shows where people make 5 years of my salary in one day....I think it was one of those real estate shows on Bravo.  I got to thinking....where have I gone wrong in life?? (kidding!!) In all actuality, I love the career path I have chosen for myself.  I love being a social worker and working with children and their families.  But, lets face it...social workers aren't exactly rolling in cash.  Perhaps it the Scorpio in me...but I have been feeling pretty frugal, so I decided to track my spending for one month.  Wow! Talk about eye opening!  There is still 7 days left of this month and I have spent way more money than I thought I had.  Now that I am completely finished with school...I am realizing that those student loans aren't going anywhere...and I suppose I shouldn't count on winning the mega millions as a back up plan.  I definitely think that I am going to keep tracking my spending, because it really does put things into perspective.  Now there are some expenses you really can't avoid such as rent, gas, food, and insurance.  Personally, I didn't feel like I was overspending until I took a look at the sum amount.  Little things add up!  I also realized that some of those "frugal tips" really don't work for me.  For example, I have read that its smart to give yourself a weekly "allowance" and pay with cash.  That doesn't work for me because when I have cash...I am more likely to buy that $4.00 coffee, a $3.00 protein bar or scratch off lotto tickets.  I am less likely to put those little purchases on my debit card.  So I guess you need to find what works for you and stick to it.  (But if I win the lottery...that would be fine, too) ;o)

My Top 10 Gym Pet Peeves

I am an avid gym-goer and most of the time everything goes smooth.  Other days, I swear every single one of my pet peeves happen right before my eyes!  So, tonight I decided to make a list of my gym pet peeves.

10. Bench hogs

I have seen these bench hogs messing with their phone, staring at themselves in the mirror, put a towel or water bottle on the bench and disappear for 10 minutes and also chit-chatting with their work out partner more than working out. RUDE!!

9. Perfume

A woman had some on last weekend and it was so strong I had to go somewhere else! Spray it on later, please!

8.  Barbies

Caked on make up, freshly curled hair, flowers in your hair....soooo not necessary!!!  Ladies who go to the gym after work might have their hair and make up on from the day...that's fine. Sometimes I see people look the way they should look when they go out!

7.  Naked prancers in the locker room

It's great and all that you are comfortable with your body to be walking around naked...but it's awkward! Yes, when you are changing SOMETHING might show...but do you really need to be talking to your BFF on the phone with it all hanging out? I don't think so.

6. Stinkers

Deodorant was invented for a reason.  Please, do us all a favor. 

5.  Those who do reps right next to the free weights.

Umm hi, see all those people standing behind you?  We would like to use those other weights that you are blocking.  K thanks.

4.  People who drop their weights.

It's loud, it's obnoxious, and you are not impressing anyone.  Not to mention that's why there is always a set of broken cables.

3.  Unnecessary grunting.

A little bit is fine.  Sometimes it helps you squeeze in that last rep.  BUT...When it goes a little past PG-13...you've crossed the line.  (Again, you are not impressing anyone.)

2.  Not re-racking

This is probably a tie with number one.  It really put a damper on my workout when I have to take 3 sets of 45 lb weights off of the machine. 

1.   People who leave sweat on the equipment. 

Ahh!!! This is DISGUSTING!!! You should at least put a towel down if you do not like to wipe off the benches or machines when you are done. 

Phew!! Glad I got that off my chest!  I'm sure I could come up with a few more but that is my top ten for now.

P.S. So pumped for Real Housewives of New Jersey!

NAMI, Bobbles, and the Attack of the Toilet Water

Today was a pretty productive day! I woke up bright and early and headed to the medical campus for the NAMI walk. *Ahem* puts on social work hat NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness) is an organization that promotes education about mental illness, spreads awareness and also advocates for those affected by mental illness.  Normally, I do not typically sign up for those walks, but I actually had to go today for my internship.  I am actually glad that I went, I had fun networking and hanging out with some of my co-workers.  One part of it that I disliked was that someone was handing out balloons.  Why did I dislike that? Well, when I was about 5 years old...I had a TRAUMATIC experience with one of those punching balloons.  I was walking out of Toys R Us with my dad, and I begged for one of those balloons.  I wanted the pink one.  We were in the parking lot and I started to punch the balloon punch..punch...BAM!! The stupid thing blew up in my face!  Still to this day, I am a little nervous around balloons.  Overall, the walk was quick and painless and it was for a good cause! 

For more information on NAMI visit http://www.nami.org/

I also purchased a new thing that I have been wanting for a while; a bobble!  It's a water bottle with the filter attached to the spout.  I love water...I don't really drink anything else but water and coffee so I always have a bottle of water with me.  I've been using my shaker cup for water which was kind of annoying and no matter what it always smells like protein powder...so today...I bought this!

This is what it looks like, only mine is pink instead of black.

So far, I love it! 

 The pros:

Filtered water always on hand, less bottles in landfills, looks cute!

The cons: 

 The water comes out a little slow, Having to buy replacement filters.

They have them at Target in 3 different sizes and lots of different colors.  I also saw a few at GNC.

Speaking of filtered water...my PUR filter was going CRAZY ...and I finally got rid of it.  I was pretty handy today and put on a new aerator AND replaced the sink sprayer because that was broken too.

OH! I also went to Hobby Lobby and had to use the restroom while wandering the aisles.  There was a sign in front of the women's and another girl had to go as well.  The worker blocked off the area for us and allowed us to use the men's room.  She was changing her baby's diaper so I went first...one stall looked backed up so I went with the other one.  The other girl must have really had to go because she then decided to try to flush the clogged toilet which lead to water spreading all over the floor into my stall.  I was surrounded by toilet water trying not to move because I was wearing flip flops.  Sooooooooo gross!  I managed to get out alive, left the store empty handed and went home.

Wow, this was probably the most random post ever! Haha

First Post!

Well...where do I begin?  I decided to start blogging mostly out of bordem.  Some of my friends have blogs and I decided to jump on the bandwagon.  This is sort of out of my box because I am a pretty private person, but I do think blogs are a great way to keep tabs on people, especially those who have moved away to different cities and states.   I have no idea what this blog is going to be about.  I have many interests and hobbies but I didn't want to make it a one subject kind of blog.  I'm sure I'll post my favorite recipes and fitness tips from time to time.
I recently achieved one of my biggest milestones in my life...I got my Master's Degree!  I can now write "MSW" after my name which is very weird to me.  I had to do the program for 2 years because I was not willing to leave my full time job.  I would have been homeless if that were the case! The first year was the hardest.  Twelve credit hours in the fall and ten in the spring...talk about busy!  I had to really get a grip on time managment.  Getting through the main classes was a huge relief.  The next year I had to focus on my finishing my field placement.  My school worked with me so that I could continue to work full time and do my internship.  Basically, I dissapeared for the next year because I was working and interning from 7am-8pm practically every day.  Somehow, I made it and graduated last weekend! I have 22 hours left in my internship and then I am a free woman.  It's going to feel so strange to not have to do assignments or go to class, but I think I'll get used to it. :o)

Me with my 2 favorite women; my grandma and mom. 

Not a fan of the way my hair looks with the mortar board on my head... but oh well!

Me with my boyfriend.  He has been so supportive while I've been in grad school and helped keep me sane!

Well that's all for my first post...Thanks for reading!