Bowled Over

I made today’s lunch last night as I was making my dinner. I swear I never get sick of pasta bowls!

Parmesan-Topped Pasta

My noodle bowl contained:

• Carba Nada egg fettuccine pasta
• Emeril’s roasted gaaahlic pasta sauce
• Portobello mushrooms
• Broccoli
• Parmesan cheese

Monday's Lunch

For dessert I enjoyed a cup of sugar-free strawberry Jello.

Snack Time

Today’s morning snack was lemon yogurt pudding!

Lemon Yogurt Pudding

I stirred lemon instant pudding mix into a cup of Fage Greek yogurt and it tasted like creamy lemon mousse. So good!

AMA Round Seven

Thanks for submitting more questions! Click here if you still have something you’d like to anonymously ask. You have ’til Wednesday to submit a question fo’ me! 🙂

Have you ever had to officially “diet” or have you always been naturally thin and active?

I have never considered myself naturally thin, but more “average” in body weight. I have always been active and was involved in sports growing up (basketball, swimming, diving, water polo). I didn’t worry too much about my weight until I entered into college and found myself surrounded by weight-related conversations constantly. It made me much more aware of my own appearance and I felt more critical of myself. I worked out throughout college and never really dieted. My eating habits changed last year a bit when I realized that living off Lean Cuisines, Lean Pockets, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and oatmeal wasn’t going to cut it. By incorporating fresh vegetables and fruits into my diet and preparing my own meals, I naturally lost a little bit of weight but never once felt deprived or like I was dieting.

I love your hair and can’t believe you get it cut at Great Clips for only $5.99! I would be so nervous to get a $5.99 hair cut! How do you get it cut and how often?

My hair cut is hard to mess up because I just get it trimmed every time! I ask them to cut about a half of an inch off every two months, and angle it a bit in the front.

I love your blog!! My family also has a vizsla. She’s only 6 months and I noticed that you had said your dog stays home during the day while you and Ryan are at work.  My question is how did you go about training her to stay home alone? And how long did it take for her to adjust to it and at what age did you start this?

Vizslas are the best!!! I’m obsessed.

Since Ryan and I both work full-time and have since we first got Sadie when she was 8 weeks old, she’s been home alone her whole life. Fortunately, when she was a puppy I worked less than three miles from home and could come home every day at lunch to let her out and take her on a walk. This helped a lot with the potty-training process and she adjusted to it pretty early. I felt awful leaving her alone, but she really did get used to it fairly quickly. I make it a point to take Sadie on a long walk (approximately 2.5 miles) before work and Ryan and I always do some sort of a physical activity with her after work for at least an hour, whether it be another long walk or a trip to the dog park.

Have you and Ryan picked a honeymoon destination?

Ahhh no!!! We NEED to do this! Any suggestions are welcome!!! Ryan is a nervous flier, so we’re trying to brainstorm places we could go that wouldn’t involve a long plane trip, though he said he would “suck it up” for our honeymoon. Still, I don’t want to make him fly somewhere far away because I’m claustrophobic and totally understand the anxiety that comes along with certain fears.

You have a gorgeous flat stomach! Do you do a particular ab workout? Do you mix it up? Have a you found a particular set of exercises really works for you? Do you find any particular foods help you achieve a flatter tummy?

Thank you. 🙂 I briefly touched on this same question here. As far as abdominal workouts, I do not have a set routine when it comes to working out my abs. I typically workout my abs during BodyPump classes three times a week, but find that cardio and healthy eating is really what keeps my stomach the flattest. Eating a lot of fibrous foods (veggies! fruits! whole grains!) keeps me “regular” 😉 and I think this helps with the appearance of a flatter belly.

Are you planning on stopping biting your nails before your wedding?

This question literally made me laugh out loud. Gosh, I sure hope so! I’ve already made tremendous strides in overcoming this terrible habit because I am going through Invisalign and it’s impossible to bite my nails when wearing the aligners. I am going to make every effort to have pretty nails on my wedding day!

How long have you been using Invisalign? Do you like it? Does it take forever? Tell me everything!

I never had braces as a teenager and was always bothered by my “fangs” as I called them. The two teeth on either side of my two front teeth stuck out a bit and I finally decided to bite the bullet and commit to adult braces. I couldn’t commit to real braces because I knew I’d feel too self-conscious, so I elected to do Invisalign (clear braces). I started Invisalign in April of last year and should be done with the treatment in two months or so (Hallelujah!).

The actual process has not been bad at all. I was never in too much pain and while taking the aligners in and out can be a pain, it has never been that big of a deal for me. It took a while for me to notice changes, but after a couple months I really began to see a difference in my “fangs.”

What I haven’t liked about the treatment is wearing rubber bands, though most people don’t have to do this. I have two little attachments attached to two of my upper teeth and two of my lower teeth and I have to string rubber bands between them to prevent an overbite. Not so cute! I’m great about wearing my rubber bands to bed, but take them off a lot in the day or in social settings because I feel like a 12 year old. 🙂

Would you care if Ryan went to a strip club for his bachelor party?

No, I really wouldn’t because I trust him 100 percent and I know his feelings about strip clubs are not positive. Also, it’s not something I even am concerned about because I know that his bachelor party plans involve all of his groomsmen taking a bachelor party cruise. Fun, huh?

Why do you use so much processed and packaged food?

I really do try to buy fresh foods, but I definitely buy packaged goods as well because I’m not about to make my own pasta sauces, cheese and soups every week. I work full-time and love cooking but definitely use packaged foods for the sake of convenience and affordability.

A Pear Through and Through

At the grocery store on Sunday, Ryan picked up a jar of Emeril’s roasted gaaahlic pasta sauce.

Gaaahlic Pasta Sauce

Woo-wee! This pasta sauce is like a garlic explosion in your mouth. It’s so garlicy that it’s almost spicy!

I like it, but I don’t love it and probably wouldn’t buy it again. Still, it added a nice punch of flavor to my pasta bowl for lunch today.

Pasta Bowl

Oh, Hello There, Zucchini

Yummy Noodles

My noodle bowl included:

• Carba Nada egg fettuccine noodles
• Roasted gaaahlic pasta sauce
• Portobello mushrooms
• Roasted zucchini
• Parmesan cheese (of course)

For dessert I enjoyed a cuppa sugar-free strawberry Jello.

Fruitful Bodies

When I purchased by wedding dress on Saturday, I inevitably had to be measured to ensure we ordered the proper size gown.

I’ve always been smaller up top and had a boot-ay and hips (the definition of a “pear” body shape).

My Body, In Fruit-Form

Since I’m such a pear, I wasn’t surprised to find out that I needed a split-size dress… but I didn’t realize just how split the size would be.

My dress size was broken down into three segments: bust, waist and hip size.

I actually have three whole sizes between my bust/waist size and my hip size… And get this: I actually ended up ordering the bottom of my dress in a size size larger than recommended because my dress is more form-fitting and I want it to be more A-line and flowy. I don’t want my dress to cup my booty, so there is a four dress size difference between the top half of my dress and the bottom half. Wow-zaa!

What fruit body shape are you? An apple (carries weight in the middle)? A pear (carries weight in the hips and butt)? A banana (straight up and down)?