How Fast Time Flies. Esp when theres fun goin on.

MMMMM Muffins.

Here's a recipe I found and changed up to my (and my roomates) liking. SOOOO moist and perfectly springy. Mmmmm.

Honey Wheat Pumpkin Muffins.

Ingredients

• 
  
• 1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 3/4 tsp cinnamon, 1/4 tsp nutmeg, 1/2 tsp ginger
  
• 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup canned pumpkin puree
• 1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce (almost 1/2 cup full then add dash macadamia oil)
  
• 1/4 cup honey, 1/4 cup organic (Trader Joe's I use) turbinado raw sugar
  
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional)
  

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease a 12 cup muffin pan, or line with paper liners.
2. In a large bowl, stir together the whole wheat flour, brown sugar, spices, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Make a well in the center, and put in eggs, pumpkin, applesauce and honey/sugar. Mix just until the dry ingredients are absorbed. Spoon into muffin cups so they are about 2/3 full.
3. Bake for 18-20 minutes in the preheated oven, or until the tops spring back when lightly touched. Cool in the pan before removing from cups.
4. Eat the goodness.
   

Weekends Rock! Shoulder Workout Hell. Heaven.

(One of our cats, Sebastian, she's so cute!)

Well today started out interesting with the morning run that included me seeing the hottest dude so far (which doesn't happen enough in PDX I hate to say) since I have been in Portland and an old guy yelling out to me I was pretty, that was so cool of him!!

After some hanging with the roomies and some SERIOUSLY awesome napping, Al and I head over to the gym to kill our Shoulders and Abs. She's a trooper for sticking with me on the workouts we are going to be SO SORE tomorrow, yessssss!!

Tonight's Asskicking:

Shoulders, Abs
Superset #1 (4 sets of 12)
DB Militaries
DB Laterals
Superset #2 (4 set of 12)
Barbell Power Jerks
DB Alt Front Raises
Superset #3 (4 set of 15)
Hanging Knee Raises
Hyperextension Oblique Raises
Superset #4 (4 sets of 15)
Floor Crunches
Hyperextensions

Oh ANNNND I painted!! Getting back into art is something I've been putting off for the past ten years, I need to quit that!Yeah so for dinner last night I made myself a mini quesadilla, I think I will post my recipe:

Quesadilla:
1 Lo Carb Whole Wheat Tortilla
4 oz Chicken Breast chopped
1 Wedge Laughing Cow Light Cheese
1 Slice Cabot 75% Less Fat Cheddar Cheese
Fresh Cilantro to Taste
1/4 cup fresh sliced mushrooms
1/4 cup sliced onions

Guacamole:
1/2 Advocado
3 Small Cherry Tomatoes
Garlic Powder to Taste
Chopped Onions to Taste
Fresh Cilantro to Taste
Half fresh Lime
Sea Salt

For the guacamole I start with putting the advocado and tomato and just keep adding the remaining ingredients and mixing in a food processor to taste.

For the quesadilla I first sautee the onions and mushrooms then put to side. Then I spread Laughing Cow cheese on one side of tortilla spray pan with cooking spray then lay tortilla into pan then add chicken mushroom/onions, then break up Cabot cheese and let tortilla cook until browned and then fold over like into a taco and done!!! mmmmm....I might just be making that again soon.....

Sickness & Art. And Food. Hair Tie=Higher Purpose.

I am a slacker. See look, theres me lying in bed for pete's sake!!

Day 3 and I ALREADY missed a day. Shame on me. So I must catch up with some good ole photos and commentary on yesterday's events/thoughts/feelings:

Okay so here I am yesterday chilling, doing my favorite past time (jacking around aka doing nothing productive) for a bit....my one goal yesterday was to get some good ole drawing/painting done and I did NOT do that at all!! BUT!! What I did do was:

Yester's Asskicking:

Chest/Tris
Superset #1 (4 sets of 12)
Flat Dumbell Chest Press
Dumbell Tricep Kickbacks
Superset #2 (4 sets of 12)
Incline Dumbell ChestPress w/Twist
Incline Barbell Skullcrushers
Superset #3 (4 sets of 12)
Cable Crossovers
Cable Rev Tricep Ext
Done.

So me and my AWESOME roomies have decided upon a one meal a week where we try out a new place (for at least one of us, mostly newbie me) and that means for me I eat watever I want, no 'Christen healthy food choices'. Melissa and I were craving hammmburgers and its been a loooong time since I've had a hamburger, since early LAST YEAR. WTF. So we went to Portland's Laurelwood Brewery, a decent place as pictured above, (note the hippie couple with obnoxious hat wearing during meal, a PDX normality)...I had the White Mountain Swiss Mushroom burger, not bad for not having a burger for so long....

So today.....after upon waking from a dream where I killed my other awesome roomates fish....where she laughed about it and I was mortified....I was left waking up to a new day with good ole 'dream residue' and realized the meaning of that silly little dream...upon quitting my job, dealing with ongoing body image issues, etc. I realize I'm beating myself up for stupid stuff, hence Alyssa's nonchalance at me killing her fish......

On a positive note....my hair tie ended up being reminder of an important life lesson learned recently by moi....

This morning upon waking up, pondering the meaning of my dream, and realizing I needed to get my ass up and run off that damn hamburger from last night, I was getting pissed off as I was getting ready to go run because I couldnt find a hair tie, but I thought don't worry about it just get dressed dude and as I started to head downstairs with my bed hair all askew there I saw my savior, the green hair tie I'd been avoiding picking up for the past couple of days. YAYA! See, don't worry about it and things will come your way, like hair ties when you REALLY need one.

So after running for over an hour (guilt duration) ((Creepy tree I just had to capture while running))---------------------------------------------->
I slowly succumbed to that thing called a cold throughout the day today and had to chill a lot BUT I did get cracking on the whole art deal, ya know painting....yaaaay.....
So what was the moral of today's activities?

Be positive and expect things to go your way and THEY WILL!!


Can't wait to be better and see what kind of trouble I can get into tomorrow!!

Muahhh ahhh ahhh......

Lookin for trouble!!!!

Adventures in Blogging Day 1

This is my kick ass breakfast this morning? What the hell is that on that plate you say? Yeah I'm weird, I prepare my own foods in the Christen version, I like to be healthy 75% of time. Recipe:

Christen's Healthy Pancakes

1/3 cup quick cooking oats
1/3 cup egg whites or egg beaters
1 Tbsp Trader Joe's Pancake & Waffle Mix
2 packets Splenda or Stevia (better)
1 tbsp Trader Joe's Fiber Powder
Add water and stir to make batter-like consistancy

Cook pancakes! Paired with Trader Joe's Turkey Bacon and Walden Farms (miracle stuff I tell ya, its sugar/carb/calorie free tastes EXACTLY like--->) Maple Syrup.

Okay back to the BLOG.

What is the purpose of this blogging thing?

Alright, so in starting this deal I am hoping to accomplish several things:

1. Journal my thoughts, feelings, ideas with words and pics, maybe Ill wanna look back on it one day =0P Besides writing helps me getting out my feelings I'm FABULOUS at hiding.

2. Post some cool shite, new findings, etc. in beautiful Portland.

3. Keep myself productive and accountable, doing my 'blog homework' will keep me evolving emotionally, physically!

Alrighty, whats going on today?? Well today is OFFICIALLY

Day 2 of UNEMPLOYMENT IN PDX

Why did I quit my job? Because it sucked I tell ya. First of all I worked at a mall (yuck) and worked for a company that most people think is not very reputable (gold buyers, ahem) . Congratulations company, I gave 3 months of my life to you! So, anywho, I saved a lil money, paid the rent for the next couple months, now I'm good to go, ready to find something I love to do.....

who knows....working with animals....getting back into painting/drawing...working with FOOD!!....maybe all of these? I have learned that when you are open to possibilities opportunities will come your way....

So right now I'm working on the process of becoming an egg donor. I'm 29 years old and I do NOT see having children anytime soon or possibly ever. Why am I wasting my perfectly good eggs then?? Fear not! Why not donate them to a couple who can't conceive? And I'm not gonna lie I could use the extra cash hence that whole unemployment deal. =0)

So today I set up a phone appointment for next Wednesday with the company to discuss my profile learn more about my family history, etc. I'm super excited because the coordinator Betsy I'm working with said that based on my profile info and pictures sent in so far they shouldn't have any problem finding a match for me! YAAY. Being helpful feels awesome.

So what else to do today?

Well I officially feel like I've been hit by a truck (YESSS!!) from the past two days workouts so NO workout today!!

Right now I'm sitting in an awesome neighborhood cafe having a kickass Americano. Mmmm espresso.

Time to get into some trouble. More Later.