Stuff on the Internets

Posted on April 11, 2013 by Jen @nutcaseinpoint

*Just add to add this little story before publishing. Last night, a friend on twitter mentioned that she had just ordered pizza online for the first time. It immediately made me think of a story which I promised to include in this post, as it’s longer than the 140 character twitter limit.

SO. A few years ago, my ex and I were at my parents house in NY. They were in Florida for a few months, and their house was the halfway point between where he and I were living at the time. The first night we were together at the house, we decided to have a few drinks and hang out at the house. Fast forward to around 1AM and we were pretty drunk and STARVING. Since my parents were gone for quite some time, there was no food in the house. We decided to register and order a pizza online since it was pretty much the only available option.

We set up a profile for Domino’s pizza, entered my parents address, picked our poison, and prepaid. About 10 minutes later, the pizza arrived at our door. Genius idea, Dominos. Genius.

Ok, now fast forward about a year- year and a half. I was back at my apartment in Boston. I was out drinking with a friend and we decided to share a cab home. He ended up coming to my apartment for a food break (we tried to get the cabbie to stop for Chinese on the way home because we were STARVING. Cabbie wasn’t too keen on the idea). So we get into my apartment and start scavenging the kitchen for food. Pretty much the only thing that was remotely meal-like were a bunch of frozen dinners. Meh.

I had the brilliant idea of using the online pizza service. My friend got really enthused, and we quickly forgot about Chinese food. We logged in, picked our pizzas, paid, and waited.

And waited.

About an hour after the order was submitted (roughly 2AM), I get a call from my mom. There was a guy on their front porch (IN NEW YORK) with our pizzas. 200 miles away.

I couldn’t stop laughing.

My dad was PISSED.

I hadn’t changed the account information for my ‘pizza profile’ in over a year, so they still had my parents home address in the system!!!

AHAHAHA.

End of the story: My friend and I had those frozen dinners. And my parents had pizza the next night.

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Now, onto regularly scheduled posting:

Yet more things I have found on the internet to share. Perhaps they will inspire you. Perhaps it’s just some additional reading. Here we go:

FOOD

1. Cheesy Spinach ‘n Chobani Enchilada Bake. I am totally making this in the near future. Only, it won’t be with Chobani because they don’t sell the stuff here. Oikos to the rescue!

2. Creamy Almond Butter Fudge. Ummm, say whaaaaaaa? I am drooling. Need to jump on this one stat.

3. Wait, wait, wait. Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Overload Bars?! Yeah, I need to make those too. Even though I am pretty proud of my streak of not eating chocolate. Wonder how long that will last..

4. Perfectly Easy Pancakes. I’m actually already pretty familiar with this recipe. It just reminded me that I really need an immersion blender.

5. I once tried beef in the crock pot and royally failed. However, since this recipe uses beer WITH beef in the crock pot, I think I might try again.

6. Another enchilada recipe to add to the long list of other waiting to be made. I seriously need to start making them. I’m afraid I’ll love them way too much though. This just reminded me of the first and FAVORITE Mexican Restaurant my parents and I would go to when I was little: El Conejo in Irvina, CA. I just googled it and saw that it closed a few years ago. Sad.

7. Now this is a genius idea. I think I need to make these for when we go on long walks with the dog. Or really, when I want to sit a veg (because we know the latter of the two is more likely). Trail Mix Peanut Butter Cookies. Oh my Lawd it incorporates the best of almost every world (except the tequila world. but JUST YOU WAIT for what I have to say about THAT later!)

8. At my parents house, my mom would make Hollandaise sauce from scratch. Confession: Tyler and I now make it from a packet. Oof. I recently came across this recipe that makes it appear to be much easier than I remember back home.

(I have about 5029735209375 other recipes flagged on my computer. Ahhhh, to take the time to share them all..)

HEALTH

1. I just flagged this post because it really struck a chord. Finding your happy weight. I still haven’t found mine. There are too many issues that I’ve had with eating and dieting and fitness and body image and negativity for me to have completely weeding through all that to find my happy weight. Tina explains that it’s a feeling rather than a number. Yeah, still trying to get over that too.

2. Oh, and this post, too. I secretly love knowing that there are other people out there having the same struggles as me. (Not happy that we are all struggling, but you know what I mean). It’s about food. My best and worst enemy. Especially when it comes to wearing pants that have a button and a zipper and less than 90% spandex.

3. How to Eat Healthy on a Budget. Guys, it’s possible. I did it in Boston when I was making approx. 4 cents an hour at my previous job.

4. Ahh, I loved this post. Janetha had a comment on one of her previous posts that she addressed. And her response was phenom. The comment was in regards to her projecting a healthy lifestyle, yet still getting sick. She addressed the sick part, then the response evolved into things she does that fall outside of the ‘healthy living’ circle. It’s only normal, right? You have one life so live it. Out of all the healthy living blogs I subscribe to, I identify with her the most. If you don’t already read her blog, you should!

5. Remember Fraggle Rock?! This video montage shows that were actually pretty depressing. (I’m afraid to admit I actually laughed while watching this.)

6. 5 Superfoods to eat in April. Have you been eating any on the list? (If you have, and have a cool recipe, send ’em this-a-way!)

7. Dara Torres says that exercise helps her sleep. I totally agree. I LOVE when I do a late night workout, come home, shower, and fall into bed. Then, it’s lights out for Jen for the WHOLE night. Lately, I’ve been doing my workouts in the afternoon (due to digestion issues) and I’m really bummed I don’t get that workout high right before beddy-by time.

FITNESS

1. Here’s a sweet poster that might address things you didn’t know: 40 Facts About Fitness

2. A challenge for women to go shirtless (not in the skanky way. In the ‘be-secure-about-your-body’ way.) Oh and ladies, while you’re shirtless, you’ll be participating in group fitness classes. Tie ’em down if you knowwhatimean.

3. An article that addresses the best way to change up your workouts. It wasn’t what I thought! (But totally makes sense)

4. Don’t forget to stretch! Athena explains some great upper body stretches.

You Turn: Have anything to share from the internet that stuck out to you this week? Link up in the comment section!

Fx4

Posted on March 3, 2013 by Jen @nutcaseinpoint

Thought I’d talk a little bit today about my Food, Fitness and Fashion favorites as of late.

FOOD

–Protein, obviously. I think I need to scale it back a bit because I have been experiencing some digestive issues, but that’s a whole other discussion.

-Fruit. I can’t get enough berries in my everyday eats. Strawberries, blackberries, blueberries and grapefruits have been my favorites. Especially when I can get a ton of the berries from Costco on the cheap. And- these suckers:

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Specifically the Sundia brand not only because they have consistent quality, but because they also come with a collapsable spork!

-Red Peppers. Raw. So sweet, and they go with everything.

Fashion

Haha, well that’s kind of a joke. I haven’t bought new clothes in ages because I don’t really wear clothes. Let me rephrase: I don’t really wear real clothes. I tend to stick with workout clothes and bangaround jammies. I guess I can still tell you things I’ve been eyeing lately.

-Colored jeans.

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Dude, I have been searching high and low for pairs of colored jeans that not only FIT right, but also FIT my budget. The ones I have come across so far that are within my budget are so ill-fitting it’s ridiculous. I am not the only almost-6-foot lady with hips and a butt. C’mon retailers!

-Big watches.

Yeah, I managed to snag one from Target when I was home in January!

–Essie nail polish.

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Of course, this brand comes with a slightly higher price tag than most others, but it is completely worth it! The polish doesn’t bubble or stay tacky for long and it perfectly coats each nail. And they have tons of colors. And I need more….

–Moroccanoil.

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Just a TINY drop combed through hair after washing, and it gives you silky, smooth, rich-smelling hair. I have gone through TONS of different products over the years, and this is BY FAR the best I’ve come across that helps manage my frizzy nasty head of hair.

FITNESS

Let’s be serious, I could post 203597203957203957209 things regarding fitness that I love. I mean, it’s pretty much my life. But, for the sake of you actually reading this post, I will limit my recent favorites to just a few.

–TRX.

It can be incorporated in just about EVERY type of workout. I use it to change up my regular strength moves, AND I get some cardio in when introducing plyometrics, the bands, and my own body weight. It’s pretty fantastic. And if you haven’t heard of DOMS, you will know it after doing TRX.

–Gliding Discs.

Similar to how I use my TRX bands, I use these discs to change up my regular strength moves. I could do lunges till the cows come home, but use a disc- and I will reach fatigue much faster (because I have to use more muscle strength to slide the disc to its destination and back to its starting position. Sure, you can use paper plates, but these are sturdy. I even threw them in my suitcase for my last trip home because they took up no space!

–Best Body Bootcamp.

Yup, I’ve been linking to this for ages now- because I really love it. Tina outlines every workout- giving modifications and substitutions. Round 5 sign up starts soon, so take a look! It’s only $25 for 8 weeks of workouts- and there are cash prizes and a great online community and support system throughout the process.

-Running Shoes. I have been really going back and forth as to which running shoes will be my next purchase. I have heard some great things about Mizuno (and it’s coming from distance runners! If they like the shoe for 20+ miles, I’m betting I’ll like them for my 4 mile runs.)

I’ve narrowed it down to the Wave Rider 16s (on the left) and the Elixir 8s (on the right). Help!- not just for the color choice, but for the comfort/durability/etc. of each shoe.

That’s all for now!

Tell me: What are your recent favorites in fashion, fitness or food??

Harlem Shake

Posted on February 12, 2013 by Jen @nutcaseinpoint

I have a clusterfudge of stuff to share with you (it took me 4 days to gather enough stuff worthy of a post)

Let’s start with food. I have been doing a lot of experimenting in the kitchen lately. Mostly they are just new recipes on basic meals. Still, it was fun to follow other recipes and see how they turned out.

First up: PIZZA. Tyler and I love pizza. We used to order it all the time, but I have chosen to make our pizzas as a means of controlling what goes into the mix. I like knowing there are no preservatives in my food, thankyouverymuch. However, most all the recipes I tried resulted in uber doughy pizza. Yuck. I don’t want bread for dinner, I want PIZZA.

After going home in January, I learned some special tips and tricks from my parents as to how to yield a decent homemade pizza (keep in mind the altitude in NY and the altitude here are drastically different).

Here’s a pic of my pizza- it had pineapple, olives, peppers, prosciutto, and a bit of leftover bacon crumbles from Tyler’s pizza.

It was really good- especially topped with tons of sriracha!

Sunday morning/afternoon, I made us brunch. We had hit up Costco on Saturday, so we were freshly stocked up on produce and meat and lots of other goodies.

Nothing like a TON of food on a Sunday afternoon to make you lazy. But that fruit was faaaaantastic. And so was the coffee..obviously.

Later that night, I decided to whip up yet another recipe that I finally snagged from my mom. In my parents town, there is this hot dog place that is out of this world fantastic. Not only are they tasty, but they are super cheap, and they have this really awesome meat sauce on them. My mom got the recipe from my uncle, and now it is finally in my hands. Bwahaha.

We used some of the yummy Costco hot dogs as our base (I think I managed to eat about half of this. Phew, was it a lot of food). The sauce took about 2 hours to simmer, and I’m pretty sure the next time I make it, I’ll have to put a lock on the lid- I went to the gym while it was simmering and I’m pretty sure Tyler would’ve eaten it straight out of the pot because the smell was so good.

If only there was smell-o-vision (or…smell-o-internet??)

Next up..cookies! I had recently gone to the health food store and picked up a bunch of ‘different’ baking ingredients so I decided on some paleo chocolate chip cookies.

I used this recipe, but substituted agave nectar for honey/maple syrup, used an egg, and used carob chips rather than chocolate chips (almost the same thing. google it)

They came out pretty great! At least, my tastebuds thought so because I inhaled way more than I’m willing to admit.

Ok. NEXT! Chili. I’m now on the Meatless Monday bandwagon- simply as a means to find more meals I can throw together without meat, both for money saving and health reasons.

I chose to use this recipe. Only changes I made were omitting one onion and adding a zucchini.

Meh. Quite flavorless. I added tons of sriracha in mine and Tyler mixed shredded cheddar in his, and there was hardly an ‘oo’ or an ‘ah’ at the table. I also had some leftover dough from pizza-making on friday, so I balled it off, topped with melted butter and garlic salt, and viola!

Sad to say that was probably the best part of the meal. No bueno, folks.

And last, but certainly not least, in honor of pancake day today, I made a hearty stack of coconut flour pancakes.

They took forever to cook on the griddle (different consistency since I was using coconut flour) but they still had tons of flavor.

I topped the stack with plain greek yogurt mixed with cinnamon, and strawberries/blueberries.

The fruit was yet again my favorite part of the meal. Yummmm.

Now that I have shown you all this food I’ve been eating, I guess I should jot down what I’ve been doing in attempts to burn it off.

Friday: Strength Workout C from BBB and 20 minutes of spin, followed by only 42 burpees.

Saturday: Day off. I originally planned on doing cardio, but my body felt so dead and heavy, that I opted to switch my cardio to Sunday. Thanks to a pep-talk facebook message from Athena. Thanks!

Sunday: 30 minute run and 90 burpees.

Monday: Strength Workout A from BBB, 125 burpees (done during Biggest Loser commercials) and a 30 minute run.

Now onto random things:

1. Took the dog to the dog park on Friday. Then we hopped in the car and went to another spot along the river for more walk/play.

This girl was plowing her face into the snow and ice so much that she made the bald spot on the inner part of her eyes bleed! Silly.

Lots of passersby were laughing or smiling at her romping and rolling.

2. Got my visa extension in the mail yesterday. Now I can plan a visit to see my best friend in Seattle!

3. I can’t wait to meet her beautiful baby. I’m also really glad to see she’s already pumping the iron I’ve sent her 😉

4. I brought back tons of bottles and cans and cartons to the bottle return the other day. Like, 2 carts worth. And I made $32.35. Too bad I probably won’t be making that much anymore since we are reusing our special bottles for homebrew.

5. Skyfall and The Man With the Iron Fists: bad movies.

6. I am obsessed with the Harlem Shake videos. Honestly, I would post them all here if I could, (and I could), but I won’t. Here are a couple to give you the idea:

I’m off to workout and find another pair of sunglasses since I managed to break my $5 ones that have lasted me about 4 years. What are you up to on this fine, Fat Tuesday??

I’m back

Posted on December 30, 2012 by Jen @nutcaseinpoint

I honestly just haven’t felt like blogging lately. Mostly because my posts would probably sound like every other blogger’s posts about winter or Christmas or presents or favorites from 2012, etc…but then when you take those topics out of the equation, I really have nothing to write about. Therein lies the dilemma.

If you follow me on Instagram, you pretty much get the idea of how life has been as of late. Lots of yummy eats, and even more adult beverages. In some sort of brief recap:

December 21st– We went to The Keg. Insert the best filet mignon meal ever. And a martini, of course.

December 22nd– Lunch at Smashburger

Christmas Eve- made pork tenderloin with broccoli, balsamic mushrooms, and 7 grain rice. And double chocolate cookies 😉

Christmas Day- Cinnamon Buns for breakfast. Ham, creamed corn, glazed carrots, and twice baked potatoes for dinner.

December 29th– Eggs Benny for breakfast. Homemade pizza for dins.

Ok, food pictures are over. Onto workout stuff.

Tyler got me some pretty effin sweet gifts this Christmas. Two of my ‘biggies’ were fitness related. TRX and a Nike+ Fuelband!

Tyler actually completely dumped my computer for me (so that it would run faster) and he downloaded the new software. It runs SO MUCH FASTER. Once that was done, I set up my Nike+ profile and slapped on the FuelBand right away to see how it worked. And I totally love it! It tracks my active time, distance, calories, and the Fuel I have earned for the day. So awesome.

And I broke out the TRX bands the other day to incorporate a pretty sweet full-body tabata workout. (I’ll post that workout soon!)

I signed up for Round 4 of Best Body Bootcamp! The sign up deadline is tomorrow and Bootcamp starts January 7th for 8 weeks (and it’s only $25!)

Layla tried to take part in all my at-home workouts.

I also got to the gym quite a few times for cardio sessions (spin/run)

And on a final note, Tyler booked my trip home! I leave for NY on January 13th for a couple weeks, and I’m super excited!

Ok wait, one more final note: Check out pv.body (if you haven’t already).

It’s the monthly mail subscription that assesses your fitness apparel likes and sends you one top and one bottom each month. They’re top name brands, and they generally retail for considerably more than what you pay for the subscription! If you sign up through me, via this link, you get 20% of the normal purchase price of $49. And you’re locked in at that price. I suggest you check it out… I have gotten a few of the boxes already and love the clothing! (Free returns.exchanges, too!)

What are some good eats you’ve had recently?

What about workouts?!!

Starting Easter weekend

Posted on April 6, 2012 by Jen @nutcaseinpoint

I have some serious catching up to do. Especially with food pictures. Because I eat a lot of food. A lot.

Last nights dinner was quick as painless.

Chicken strips with broccoli and quinoa. For the chicken, I cut the breasts into strips, dipped them in egg, coated in cornmeal and baked at 350 for 15 minutes. Yum.

It was obviously a great meal, because Layla wanted every bite.

Then, Tyler and I sampled quite a few of those cookies I mentioned yesterday. They were all-too tasty. And I love them.

Mmm, chocolate never goes wrong in my eyes

We watched the third Harry Potter movie and were off to bed. I finally finished Fifty Shades of Grey and have moved on to Loce the One You’re With by Emily Giffin

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Thank goodness for Facebook, I got some great suggestions on what to read next!

Oh, and I finally changed my dang nail polish

Easter festive!

Speaking of Easter, I gave Tyler his basket early. 1) because I suck at holding on to presents because I love giving them, and 2) because some of the candy in that basket was for me and I wanted it!

I.love.easter.candy.

This morning’s breakfast was nice and hearty because we were going for a hike with joe, Twyla, and all the doggies. I had oats mixed with 1/2 mashed banana, raisins, cinnamon, honey, almond milk and almond butter.

We drove to the mountains for our hike and I was able to get some b-e-a-utiful pics.

And my water dog..

Tyler had put some chicken in the crockpot before leaving, so dinner was practically made when we got home (and finished painting the living room!!!!!!! Yay, no more painting for a LONG while!!!! Jen is happyyyyy!)