Mac & Cheese!

I'll admit before I lived on my own - not counting college - I was a boxed Mac&Cheese girl. Then I discovered cooking and I'll take the homemade any day over the boxed stuff.

easy ingredients - simple is always better! I use Velveeta but you can use what you like! 

I also use a quick cook pasta. But any kind will work!

everyone in the dutch oven! love this a definite must in the kitchen! 

get that pasta in there too!

mix and melt!

and done! delish! my 3 year old LOVES this too and will eat bowl fulls of it!

Old Family Favorite with Some New Twists

I really enjoy cooking but have since kind of let it go in favor of exercise so I don't spend as much time as I used to on it but still try to make at least 2(if my schedule allows) meals a day. And I love to try new things!

The meal I made last night is a take on a recipe my Mom makes quite a bit.

i use Uncle Ben's rice. Mmm good stuff. 

follow the directions as indicated on the box..(and no I'm not great at following directions but I made myself here - rice is tricky enough!)

this is the pan for the veggies. I put in some Olive Oil

then added the veggies - canned green beans, peppers, onions, fresh garlic, carrots and i added fish to the mix also. But you can add pretty much whatever you want here. 

everything coming together - then after about 10mins or so I added Greek yogurt and spices to make it a more complex taste. 

the rice ready and somewhat strained I combined everything and let it sit for another 20 minutes.

and done! Yummo. Not exactly like my Mom's but simply delicious! 

Manicure Fail!

After reading this blog - http://www.thenailasaurus.com/2012/04/gradient-nails-picture-tutorial.html and some others that showed the new gradient nail trend I wanted to try it myself.

This is the prep beforehand...

mixing...

i used a sponge and well..

this was the result.

I'm going to try it next time with maybe lighter colors and not so loose nail color. But hey I tried, and not all things we can excel at. That's why I will be tweaking this until I get it right...

Stay Tuned for more updates on this ongoing experiment!

"Life Begins When You Step Out of Your Comfort Zone"

This has to be one of the single most important pieces of advice I have read in a long time. And it got me thinking isn't that what my journey is all about anyway? Stepping away from things that I am comfortable with to grow as a person. 

The things I have embarked on are things that are definitely NOT in my comfort zone and that I would have easily shied away from even a few years back.

Isn't that the point of life? To discover even - through some discomfort - what we are capable of? 

I hope to share with you more about my life and also learn about my audience. I truly believe that we will learn a lot from each other and maybe be out of the comfort zone sometimes too but that's OK!

How have you stepped out of your comfort zone?

Follw on Facebook!

If you haven't already here's the link!
https://www.facebook.com/MyJourneyTo30AndBeyond

First Crockpot Corn Chowder of the Season!

Let me just say that yes it is 80 degrees today but I had a hankering for some good corn chowder so the crockpot was taken down and I started to work!

This is the recipe I used as a guide - http://www.food.com/recipe/perfect-crock-pot-corn-chowder-78483

I put everything in. Halfway through cooking I shaved one of the ears of corn and left the other whole. I added flour and sugar to the original recipe along with carrots and some seasonings to my taste. Old Bay is my favorite!

This is the finished product approximately 4.5 hours later. The recipe calls for 4 hours but that will vary with the crockpot and anything else you may add to it! I topped it with cheese and served it hot! So excited for leftovers this week with this! yum!

So I was able to complete one thing on my goals list - I made a healthy meal! One down for the week :) I also replaced my normal soda with OJ for the meal! Win for me! 

Goals for the Week of 8/12/12

I don't have much as far as working this week so I am going to focus on getting more miles in for the 100 Mile August Challenge I am doing, hitting the gym at least 3x and making at least 2 healthy meals for the week.

Next weekend will be busy so I hope to accomplish all of this by Thursday! 

What are your goals for this week?

Hair Dying Mishaps...

I get bored with my hair very very easily and this has been something I wanted to give some kind of drastic change to recently. In my attempt to do this I bought Revlon Frost and Glow.

(via Revlon.com)

Sadly it didn't do much except highlight the red I have in my hair right now. I think I have to wait until this color is out and try again. Anyone have any suggestions for at home frosting?

Banter

I banter a lot and go on tangents so this is your warning :)

The things I can on never ending tangents include - nail polish, WWII, my kids, exercise, food, couponing. and a strange combo of all of those...

My Passions

nail polish! i love love love it! :) this was my collection before i got a train case but i like this picture so i wanted to show you all this way :)

Autism - I moderate a group on a mother-targeted site(Cafemom.com) and this is our focus! I will be undergoing testing for it myself in the next few years because I believe I may be Autistic. 

Magazines and Travel! This kind of encompasses both :)

Cooking! Something else I take much pride in and love to do!

Exercise! I use this picture because well it was taken at the gym after a hard workout :) 

What are some of YOUR passions?

I will be 30 in just over 6 months. To commemorate this milestone in my life I will be running a 5K race in Maine. 

30 commemorates so much more then just an age to me. It will be 10 years since my diagnosis of Bipolar, which to say changed my life is an understatement.

I decided to do this run to give myself the motivation to do something for myself and better my health which I have neglected over the years. 

I will also share with you the things I love to do outside of exercise including cooking, healthy eating, nail polish, researching WWII, traveling and much more.

I hope you stick around and share this journey with me and hopefully the time beyond it too! 

(yup that's me!) HI!