but, ep’s sister just had a little boy, and my brother just had a little girl. and i’m smitten, though i’ve only met each one once.

i mentioned to ep that i planned to show a few photos, because i’m just jumping back into the blog, and it’s been on my mind a lot. he said he wouldn’t. he wasn’t telling me what to do, but it made me think better of it.

just because they’re related, i guess i’m still not entirely comfortable. i posted some photos of my nephew last summer, but he’s usually moving too fast to actually make out who it is. and i’m fairly sure that brother would have no problem with a little blog fame. {hi, 10 readers! :) i’m really digging you today.} he asked for royalties when i used their photo in an email to our immediately family.

but i will leave you with one photo of the little bitties. mostly because it highlights my comfort level at holding brand new little people + knowing exactly how to handle them. he’s only a day old, and his eyes are closed, so i think he looks more like a brand-new baby than anyone in particular…

this was not staged. i didn’t even realize ep took my iphone. i was in the middle of asking something like, “did you hear that? i think something’s wrong. is he supposed to make noises?“

and while we were on the topic of blogging… while dipping my foot back in {for the … whatever time this is}, i’ve realized that i’ve modeled my own topics off those of my favorite blogs of the moment. i started out posting nothing but food-related things. {hello, i found the blogging world because of a google search for oatmeal + landing on kath’s blog.} i think that food will always be a good block of my blog, because i just love it so much.

but i just remembered that i posted a few craft-related things when i fell for elise’s blog. i’m not bummed i shared them, because i was experimenting at the time. but in real life, away from the blog, have i ever considered myself a crafter? no. a writer, oh yeah. writer in the sense that i love holding a pen, like i’m a photographer in the sense that i love holding a camera.

and just recently, i guess, i’ve finally discovered a few awesome blogs that truly just blog about life. the small, less-than-significant moments that really make it beautiful.

i don’t know if i’ll get there with my blog, but i wonder if i could. i never have enough to say to keep up with posts. but i love the idea.

and from the one i’m crushing on most today, living in yellow, i’ll leave you with this…

“I honestly believe that the biggest hurt you can cause your blog is to invest too much time into it.
Your life is what makes your blog come alive.
Go live it.”

happy long weekend!!! for me, at least.

yoga on the steps is a fundraiser for breast cancer, put on by living beyond breast cancer. the philly event still has some fundraising to do… you can donate here, or just learn more about their organization.

melissa + i met up with my yoga studio [my slightly non-current but still loved studio]. we carpooled into the city, and then all set up together.

it was rainy all morning, but stopped just as we got ready for the yoga class. it literally started within a minute of yoga ending.

afterward we went to get beer + lunch at a nearby bar. turns out, they only offered a brunch buffet. so we got irish coffee + brunch. i stuck with brunch.

it was surprisingly delicious, for not really wanting to partake. [scrambled eggs, fruit, cinnamon bun, cottage cheese blintzes, + apple fritters.] i’m trying to get my parents to go back with me.

all in all, it was a great morning with a bunch of awesome women.

i miss doing yoga. when i’m in it, i know how happy + grounded it makes me. and then, somehow, i always get away from it… and it’s so hard to jump back in.

i just went to an ok class at the gym. i did leave feeling better than when i went, but still, not quite committed.

happy wednesday, regardless. on to thursday! the air conditioners are officially in today. [and my parents just opened the pool!]

does anyone remember yoohoo? i know it’s called chocolate drink, and has at least 85 ingredients. but it made me happy for one afternoon while i was away on business last week.

it didn’t make me as happy as some new favorite pens. [staedtler triplus fineliners.]

but about as happy as when someone spells my name right when i order a coffee. or a caramel macchiato, which is in this photo. i cannot tell a lie.

tonight, i made banana soft-serve.

it wasn’t as awesome as i remember. the chocolate chips were stale, so i picked them off. and the texture of the banana was a little off. i did buy white chocolate wonderful peanut butter tonight. that probably doesn’t need to be sitting in my pantry. but it took the cake over the banana. [did that make any sense outside my head?]

linking up with carissa for miscellany monday today.

i hope everyone has a great tuesday. it’s gotta be better than this monday… it’s [take-out, curl-up] date night. and i should get to meet the newest member of my family! :)

into the blender:

• ½ banana
• 2 handfuls spinach
• ½ cup frozen pitted cherries
• 1 cup unsweetened almond milk
• ¼ cup raw rolled oats
• tbsp cocoa powder

i blended the spinach with the almond milk first. it incorporated really well. next time, though, i would definitely let the raw oats sit in the liquid for a while, maybe 15 minutes. they added some grit to the texture. {i also think i used old-fashioned instead of quick-cooking.}

i loved the cocoa + cherries.

and with that, and my new work on appreciating myself a lot more, i’m working on the next few weeks just being as happy and pleasant and healthy as possible.

i’m not trying to crazy diet until departure. i definitely have before, and the feeling is always the same. never measuring up (to myself and my own nutty expectations), never feeling quite as happy or healthy as the plan had called for, and getting ready to leave just not really liking myself over the whole thing.

cooking in was becoming a little difficult, too. it was usually pasta there. or tomato soup and grilled cheese. or pizza. and those all make me happy. but that’s really not what i’d eat if i was alone.

and then, we found my favorite option. mexican.

i do not know how it took me almost two years to discover that ep would willingly and happily eat black beans. but at least i know now.

we made black bean and cheese quesadillas on corn tortillas, with salsa and greek yogurt (for me) to dip.

they were awesome.

with some salad on the side.

i made it again the next day, open faced, with some crumbled tortilla chips on top.

i have a feeling we’re going to be making a lot of quesadillas. :)

tonight, though, we’re going out for mexican food for ep sr’s birthday.

smoothies.

i used to make them so much more than i do now. they’re more of a warm weather thing, but i can curl up under the covers for one once in a while. i watched “sick, fat, and nearly dead” with my amazing new comcast internet connection and free hulu. the guy lived off green juice for 60 days. it was amazing. and made me jealous of his nutrients.

i love the idea, but i still feel like blending is probably healthier than juicing, if only because it keeps the fiber content.

i don’t love my immersion blender as much as i’d convinced myself. it’s convenient. but it’s not an amazing blender. so on a whim during errands saturday, i pulled off at the k-mart, and found something close to what i’d researched.

that meant sunday was smoothie day.

green peanut butter banana smoothie

• 2 handfuls spinach
• ½ scoop sun warrior vanilla protein powder
• 1 cup unsweetened soy milk
• 3 tbsp pb2 powder
• 1 large banana
• 5 ice cubes

no directions this time. i used to start with two things, use the immersion blender. add something else, repeat, etc. this time, i put everything in the blender and let it go. i stopped to shake it maybe twice to dislodge the ice, and i didn’t have any problems!

it was such a light, bright green color. there were still some bits of spinach. no funny taste, but i could feel them. next time i think i’ll blend for longer, maybe scrape down the pitcher a couple of times.

i did curl up under the blanket to sip this. complete with desperate housewives. {i’m just starting the series. and just mildly obsessed.}

i also made a treat to take to a work birthday. s’mores marshmallow treats. i just followed the original rice krispies treats recipe, but used golden grahams. then i added chocolate chips and extra marshmallows.

on to the food!

there were only three main restaurants. i wasn’t sure how i would do with vegetarian options, since it wasn’t a big chain resort. but i loved that everything was a la carte.

the fancy restaurant option was our favorite for dinner, and was one of the nicest places i’ve ever eaten. all-inclusive. it was odd leaving such an amazing experience and not having a bill on the table. they made me a secret drink called something like “silk stockings,” which apparently you can only find in mexico {and is apparently made with sweet condensed milk}.

i fell in love with the asparagus leek double cream soup.

and then i remembered that “double cream” is really heavy cream. and that was the start of my gaining ten pounds that i’m still working on losing. the meal that followed was just as incredible. and probably also crafted around “double cream.”

the main restaurant by the beach wasn’t the best for dinners. but breakfast overlooking the ocean was so beautiful.

like i said, the first 5 or so days of our trip, the resort was empty. so it was just me + ep. and our 3-course breakfasts.

maybe the best breakfast photo ever: ep captions this “waffles!”

i didn’t know about the delicious cappuccino until near the end of the trip {so 1 of 2 was consumed while realizing i wasn’t leaving mexico without experiencing a nasty stomach problem — ep got out fine}.

seriously: three-course breakfasts every day. i was ill-prepared to deal with this. ;) the “fried beans” were amazing. not at all like refried, and i can’t find them anywhere online…

my first lunch, one hour into vacation, was the only bad vegetarian experience. i told them i’d prefer not to have the veggie wrap, to see if they would just throw something together for me like they said they would. i ended up getting the veggie wrap veggies on a plate.

we discovered a couple of days in that we could get lunch brought to us right on the beach. it was so much more delicious that way. chips with salsa and guacamole; a delicious salad with sun-dried strawberries {!}; mozzarella sandwich. always frozen drinks. always.

i probably could have lived off the calorie and fat content in my pina coladas all week. :) do you know how delicious they are?! i’d never tried one. heavenly.

we got room service one night. we ordered cheeseburgers {my veggie burger was sort of diced up tofu/mushrooms on a roll}, and the frozen drinks got melty on their journey to our room. but it was so much fun!

it was an amazing seven days of sunshine and snuggling up on the beach. and i am so excited for the next trip.

i’m linking the post to what i ate wednesday, hosted by jenn at peas and crayons. not the standard ‘what i ate,’ but i think it still counts.

it was 40 minutes from the airport, all-inclusive, and adults-only. it was our first all-inclusive, so we couldn’t compare it, but i can’t imagine a sweeter place.

we were greeted with drinks.

the resort has 128 rooms, which i think is pretty small, and they’re all suites. i remember giggling like crazy when we were walked through our junior suite. so many perfect little areas.

the resort is very long, but we took golf carts almost everywhere. it was fun enough that it was never annoying.

we’d call and ask for a ride to dinner, and then finish getting ready in the insane bathroom. really, did you see the shower a few photos ago? insane. sometimes EP got bored and stole my camera.

the last 2 days of the trip, a few families and lots of other people checked in, and the whole vibe changed (a few annoying loud travelers, and a lot more hip-hop music during the day). but we enjoyed the pool before that happened.

and the quiet, blissful beach.

we made an appointment to get massages. neither of us had ever been. it was a little awkward getting ready, because i felt sort of lost. and he almost made me have the guy masseuse. but we fixed that. and it was incredible. we’ve already gone another time, and will definitely make an appointment on our next trip. so. dang. relaxing.

earlier in the trip, we were usually alone at breakfast, and with 3 or 4 other couples on the beach.

it was a gorgeous resort. i checked recently, and the price now compared to what we found is just about double. i’d still consider it.

i thought i would write about our last vacation, before it’s too late and i have another one to talk about. nothing like a recap 10 months after the vacation. but really, i wanted an excuse to look through all our photos, and finally share a few that didn’t come from my iphone.

in may 2012, we spent 7 days in riviera maya, mexico. i found a great deal at a little all-inclusive that had just been renovated and reopened.

i was very hesitant to travel to mexico, but after about a week of research, i felt comfortable flying directly to the cancun area and then directly on to the hotel.

we ventured out on a tour one day, organized through the hotel. we had absolutely no problems during the trip. and i am so glad we went.

i might be romanticizing it at this point, since it’s been so long, but i kind of doubt it. it was incredible. i did get an intense stomach situation on our last day. but i ate through it. and was ridiculously lucky to get through our trip back home with no problems.

i think i’ll break up the photos over a few posts. i’ll end this one with the day we spent golfing. and me in the golf cart, obviously.

it was my least favorite day of the trip. and still, look how gorgeous.

my favorite breakfast last week was rice pudding. black rice breakfast pudding. i think i found out about black rice from emily, and she actually used it to make a pudding. it tastes a lot like brown rice, but it’s fun for a change. any kind would work here. i’ve been throwing it all together like overnight oats and carting it to work. but i also made a stovetop version over the weekend.

rice pudding to work:

• 1/2 cup cooked black rice
• 1/2 cup {unsweetened organic} soy milk
• 1/4 cup {2% plain} greek yogurt
• 2 tsp sugar-free vanilla syrup, or sweetener to taste
• big handful blueberries and 1/2 banana
• dash of cinnamon
• 1 tbsp sliced almonds
• microwaved for 30 seconds to take the chill off.

and on the stove:

• 1/2 cup cooked black rice
• 1/2 cup {unsweetened organic} soy milk
• 1/2 banana
• vanilla
• dash of cinnamon
• simmered for 10 minutes or so until thick.

i’ve been working on planning or fixing some easy, healthy lunches for work. i’ve also been going out with EP. but i stopped with my veggie wrap before i was full if i wanted to get ice cream, and i stopped trying to match him slice-for-slice at our pizzeria.

after a bigger lunch, for dinner i had sweet potato fries and crispy baked brussels sprouts.

i’ve been planning out better snacks, too, that get me full instead of just helping a sweet tooth.

but i’ve also had treats. like this delicious marshmallow treat from a baby shower.

so far, so good. it’s really easy to slip into negative thinking. criticizing myself in my head all day, without even realizing it because it seems so insignificant and no big deal. but i love the idea that i can really control it if i think about it. it’s not like it ever left me healthier than it found me. ;) kindness seems like it might get me much further.