Pesto Paradise

There are 3 magical ingredients that can be paired with any food to transform it from delicious to borderline crack cocaine: (1) chocolate; (2) bacon; and (3) pesto. Chocolate, duh. Bacon, obviously. Pesto, hm? Let me elaborate on this love affair. I've always enjoyed a good healthy helping of pesto, but recently discovered how easy it is to make from scratch (now if only I could make my own chocolate and bacon, I'd never leave my house). My adventure begins on the way to my local greenery. I must of been undergoing mental...

Good Search: Step Aside Google

I am a Google-holic; to the point where I use "google" in my everyday vocabulary as a verb (I was googling until late last night), noun (I am obsessed with Google), and adjective (His name is definitely googleable). If I need information, Google is my man (woman?). On a different note, I do my best to donate to charities and do what I can to help them (I promise this will all come together). I am a charity's dream because I can't say "no", especially when it has to do with helping children or animals. When Santa rings...

Organic Gardening: My Backyard Supermarket

Update! I took advantage of the first sunny day we've had in the past week and a half, and I finally got my garden up and running. Blimey, ain't she a beaut! I bought most of my plants at a local greenery (which proved to be the cheapest and best quality) and a few at Home Depot (which was almost double the price of the greenery). I've impressed myself for not going plant-buying overboard, but I definitely crammed in as many vegetables humanly possible. I've got lettuce (I've had some already and it's incredibly crisp...

Happy Food comes from Happy Animals

After reading this title, you may be thinking a couple things: (1) animals aren't particularly happy if they're dead; and (2) why does my food need to be happy? Before I go on, let me say something: I love animals. I wanted to be a vet my whole life (except from ages 6-8 when I wanted to be a tattoo artist). But, sigh, I instead took the business route because I'm a wimp and didn't want to rough it in school for another several years after graduation. But anyways, like I said, I love animals but I am not a vegetarian. I do eat meat, but don't agree with companies wrongly treating animals...

Facebook would be really annoying as a person..

This has nothing to do about being healthy (possibly living well), but I just saw this video on someecards.com and had to share it. This is not to bash Facebook (because I use it just as much as Mark Zuckenburg), but rather a reminder on information sharing. As sad as it is, the video below is pretty on point with how publicized information is via Facebook. As much as I wanna trust Facebook with my privacy, I constantly have to change my settings to stop them from having marketers, other websites, and Donald Trump accessing my information.  Knowing all this, I still have Facebook...

The Post-5K Experience

My parents, as well as the rain, came out to support me. I give the Half-Marathon runners a ton of credit because they all got poured on (my "runner's high" isn't yet immune to such weather conditions). Luckily, the rain tapered off by the time we lined up. I soon realized that all running levels were apparent within the 5K group--this eased my nerves and my "nervous pee" (my urban dictionary definition: the urge to pee, caused from feeling nervous and anxious before an important athletic event). Once the race began, it was energizing...

The Pre-5K Experience

To even think that I would have entered a race to run would have sounded crazy a year ago. I used to hate running--the thought of a 20 min. run after softball practice would ignite a miniature panic attack; but last year, I decided to face my running demons. Let me tell you, going from a non-running individual to trying to become one was a long and grueling process. Maybe it was just me (and I wouldn't doubt it), but building my running stamina took forever. If I ran Monday, and didn't run again until Thursday, my stamina pretty much evaporated and I'd be huffing and puffing...

Gardens: Fresh and Cheap Food

I started an organic garden last summer, and I have been dreaming of pruning my plants all winter. Gardening has been a great experience, and I love the feeling of growing my own food and living (somewhat) off the land. The taste of a freshly grown tomato doesn't compare to one bought in a supermarket, plus it's rewarding to know that your hard work has deliciously payed off. But now that it's summer time, I am ready to get my garden pants on. Being my second year of hoeing around, I have learned from my past gardening mistakes. Mistake...

Dark Chocolate & Its Tasty Benefits

I love chocolate. I would drizzle it on everything if socially acceptable (and if I didn't inflate into a blimp). I was (am) one of those girls who, if a chocolate craving struck, would turn green & become tunnel-visioned until some form of chocolate was in my possession. Snickers. Twix. Reeses. Kit-Kats. You name it, I consumed/inhaled it. Until the last year, I only purchased mass-marketed chocolate products and ignored all ingredients and nutrition. Like most highly processed foods, I could never pronounce half of the ingredients...

Today: Mums the Word

Happy Mother's Day to everyone and their wonderful Moms.  I remember when I was little, I used to complain that there was a Mother's Day, Father's day but no Kid's Day (I was a snot)--that was until my mom informed me that everyday is kid's day. She won that argument. Our moms do so much for us, that it seems almost selfish to only nationally recognize them once a year. I am so, so lucky to have my mom, and I don't know where I would be without her support and guidance. She is my best friend, and I hope to follow in her motherly footsteps (hopefully not right away,...

Vibram FiveFingers: An "I love you" gift to myself, and an investment in my health

I decided to buy myself a little "I love you" gift, and what's a better reminder of my self-love than a new pair of Vibram FiveFingers (FiveFingers has a better ring to it than FiveToes). For those of you who have never seen a pair of FiveFingers: (1) yes, they are sneakers and; (2) yes, you're correct, they do look funny. And you're probably thinking: No way, they look like frog's feet. And I say hey!, don't judge a sneaker by it's web toes! These little beauties are worth the investment. This is my second pair and I'm hooked. Why...

Recommendation: LUNA Bars

I love Luna bars--no, not boozing on the moon or moon pies (though they do come in equally delicious flavors). These nutritional bars are focused towards women because they include the DV of folic acid (good for when woman are ready to pop out babies), and other essential nutrients and vitamins that are geared towards females. The equivalent of a Luna bar for a man = Clif bar. I steal bites from my boyfriend's and they're scrumptious (don't worry ladies, you won't wake up with a beard or a penis--I actually...

The Scary Side of the College Cafeteria

Forget what you know about the happy-go-lucky tales of a Bob and Larry. This gruesome tale is about vicious vegtables on steroids and...with vampire fangs (sounds more like the Twilight Zone than Twilight, and you're right). So last week, I went to my school's dining hall for some laxative-infused grub. Thought it would be a positive experience, enjoyable even. No. Above is the sheer madness I encountered--- a picture of the nutritional value of a (*gasp*) vegetarian item.... Here are a few comments (not calories *cough-cough*)...

Food Labels: Keep it Simple

I never watched what I ate until the beginning of my sophomore year in college. Not that I downed boxes of Twinkies (though I'm sure I could have), but I was one of those people at our school's dining hall who needed a slice of pizza as a warm-up while paroozing the other food options. I was the epitome of a foodie. I still live the happy life of a food-lover, but I've learned to indulge more simply.   My eye-opening experience was: (1) I found out I was lactose-intolerant (so 4-cheese pizza and I were no longer on good terms); and (2) a shopping experience...

Western NY Rain Festival: Jan. 1st - Dec. 31st

Clouds, worms. and puddles the size of kiddie pools. I know April showers bring May flowers, but how can the flowers even breathe when they're being drowned in wet depression. Sigh. Screw the flowers, how about some real Mayflowers so we can stay afloat (the pilgrims had the right idea). We get it Mother Nature. You win. We don't wanna play any mo...