Challenge #1, Ready, Set, Blog!

So a while ago I signed up for the Foodbuzz Project Food Blog.  It’s pretty much like The Next Food Network star for bloggers, and with over 1500 contestants I really have no idea how I’ll do or if I’ll advance past this first challenge but I decided to give it a shot.  Voting opens on September 20, so if you like me and my lil ol blog, do me a favor and vote for me!  This is my post for the first challenge, describing what defines me as a food blogger.

What defines me as a food blogger?  Honestly, I don’t know if I have that quite figured out yet.  I’m 25 years-old, I’m still trying to figure out what defines me as a person.  What I do know is that I started my blog nine months ago as a way to make use of the Journalism degree I spent four years earning, and it has morphed into a place where I document my endeavors in the kitchen and the gym.

I don’t claim to have the best photographs out there, I’m still learning the various functions on my camera (a point and shoot, not a fancy SLR), I rely really heavily on onion and garlic powder, but I hear I’m a pretty darn good cook.  I also like to think I’m a pretty good blogger, and it is something I love.  Since December when I started writing this, my blog has grown in ways that I never thought it would and I sometimes wonder who all the readers are that don’t comment.  I still get embarrassed when people talk to me about my blog, or about my blog in front of me because I find it hard to believe that anyone finds it interesting.  People do though, so I come back every day and try to keep things interesting whether with a recipe or story of some sort, and you really have no idea how much I appreciate you all coming back everyday.

My story isn’t unusual, high school athlete turned college party girl, turned over weight 20 something woman with a desk job who finally reached the point where enough was enough and made a change.  I don’t lie about who I am here, I drink beer, I drink vodka, I drink a lot of red wine, and I get hungover and take trips to Taco Bell.  That’s what stands out about me among a community of over 1000 healthy living bloggers, my honesty and how easy I am to relate to.  No one lives a completely healthy lifestyle 100 percent of the time, and I don’t pretend to.  I embrace the fact that I enjoy a glass of wine almost every night with my dinner, and if I was so hungover on a Sunday that I didn’t move from the couch all day except to go to McDonalds, I’ll tell you that too.  On the flip side, I really enjoy whipping up healthy meals in the kitchen that are just as tasty if not more so than something you find in your favorite restaurant.  My recipes are easy and quick and typically involve only a few ingredients.

This blog documents my life, good times, bad, and my struggles both in the kitchen and out.  If you’ve been around from the beginning , you saw me suffer an injury, drop out of a race, do months of physical therapy, come back strong and place in my first 5k, oh and swear off noodles in lasagna indefinitely.  Now we are embarking on the path to my first half-marathon together, and I hope I can continue to make delicious things in the kitchen to keep my body fueled and happy during this endeavor.  I know I’m not the most popular food blog out there, but I think I put out some great recipes and cooking tips and I’m always proud of what I do here.  So, if you agree please remember to vote for me starting on September 20.

Summa, summa, summatime!

Holler, happy Saturday everyone!  I am currently sitting on my couch willing the painters in my backyard to hurry the eff up so I can get out there and lay out.  I don’t really want to distract them by laying in the middle of my patio in a bikini ;).

I suppose it’s only suitable that it’s May 1, and feels like summer.  This area has a fun habit of skipping spring temps and jumping right to summer, which is fine by me.  I’m currently sporting some white shorts and a purple tube top, and couldn’t be happier.  Ok, that’s a lie, I could be a lot happier but I’m trying to talk myself out of my crappy mood.  This is Broad Street weekend, and I’m a little depressed that I won’t be out there sweating my brains out with the rest of Philadelphia tomorrow.  Top that off with the fact that I’m all alone this weekend with nothing to do, or anyone to hang out with and you’ve got one grumpy Kelly.  One piece of good news, I can swallow with almost no pain today, hooray!

Last night, the madre and I watched It’s Complicated, and it was so funny.  Granted I couldn’t really laugh without wanting to keel over and die from pain, but I tried.  I really liked this movie, and the fact that John Krasinski was in it didn’t hurt, I really love him.  Alec Baldwin was hilarious also.  I really recommend this, especially to anyone whose parents are divorced, you’ll totally relate. 

It’s sad, but I might recruit my mom to hang out with me tonight, at least for an outdoor happy hour or something.  Thank god my sister comes home from college on Thursday and I’ll have a live in friend! And my wardrobe will double in size :). 

Sweet, it looks like those painters were taking my death stares and refusal of water seriously and are almost done!  I may be able to get outside after all.  I hope everyone has a great Saturday!  Also, this is my second post using Live Writer, um why did I not do this before?  So much better!  Ok, that is all, goodbye.

Have you met my therapist?

Happy Friday everyone! It’s dreary and chilly here today, but at least the weekend is within sight! Per usual, I hit up Starbucks this morning for my Friday coffee, and the stupid line was a good 6 people long, and then the woman in front of me ordered eight drinks.  Eight!  To say she got my death stare would be an understatement.  There should be a rule against that, her stupid coffee order held me up for a good 5 minutes which in turn made me 10 minutes late for work.  Ugh.  Do not stand in the way of me and caffeine when I’ve been up half the night because of a bf who has insomnia.  Luckily I finally got my hands on some coffee, and with that first sweet sip finally felt like a functioning human being instead of a grumbling ogre.

Yesterday afternoon I had my second appointment with my Orthopaedist (realized I had been spelling that word wrong after endless minutes in the waiting room staring at crap on the wall) and he wasn’t too surprised to see me.  I told him that the pain in my knee wasn’t getting any better and now I had tightness in my hip.  He had me stand up I showed him where, and then he started talking about surgery.  He must have noticed the horrified look on my face at the mention of the “s” word and cutting my IT band in half because he quickly clarified that he’d only had to do that twice in 20 years.  Phew!  He did however recommend I see a Physical Therapist, which I was pretty much expecting.  So two times a week for the next four weeks, I will be placing my right leg in the hands of professional stretchers.  While filling out the 2084340 pages of paperwork, one of the questions was “what is your goal?” and I wrote “to be able to run again!” haha.  Pretty simple.  Hopefully the PT works, otherwise I’ll probably throw another temper tantrum.

By the time I finally got home from the doctor’s office, the bf was at my house, hooray! It was fun coming home to him, and I get to do it again today, although I’d much rather still be in the bed where he is than at my desk at work :(.  As an avid reader of my blog, he wanted to have the Zucchini Pepper Basil Pasta for dinner.  Lucky for him I just happened to have the ingredients on hand.  On his suggestion, we also added the Chardonnay Chicken Sausages I bought at TJ’s and oh man was it a delicious addition.  I also threw in the rest of the asparagus from the other night.

Alex cleaned his plate in record time and was finished his second plate while I was still eating my first, so I guess he liked it.  I think my favorite part of the night was after dinner when I asked Alex to wash some of the dishes.  He had gone through just about all of them when I walked over to start drying, at which point he asks “Hey where is your dish soap?”  I was like what do you mean where is the dish soap, what have you been using TO WASH THE DISHES? He just kind of stared at me with the water running and scrub brush in his hand.  He goes, “Um doesn’t soap come out of the brush?”  No Alex, it in fact does not, the dish soap is sitting in the SOAP DISPENSER next to the sink.  Men.  So yeah, if you ever come over for dinner you might want to choose your dish carefully.

After dinner and the dish washing debacle, we settled in on the couch with our bottles of wine (yes we both pretty much killed a bottle on our own, we’re champions what can I say) to watch The Blind Side.  Now I can see why Sandy (I like to pretend we’re old friends) won her Oscar.  One of the best movies I’ve ever seen, I loved, loved, loved it!  In fact I kinda want to watch it again tonight, the further I got into my wine the more chatty I became and things are a little fuzzy.  I also now want to dye my hair blond, develop a southern accent, and own 87 Taco Bell’s in the south.

Tonight the bf and I have a hot date at The Salt Creek Grille in Princeton, and I am very excited.  I’ve been stalking the menu all week trying to decide what to order, it’s gonna be deeeeliciousss.  I think I’ve rambled on enough for this morning, I hope everyone has a great day!