Doors

Doors are funny things.

Sometimes they’re shut.

I’ve had a lot of those kind. Sometimes they slam right in your face, in fact. Knock you down with the ferocity of it.

But for every door that is slammed shut…

there’s one that will open.

Good things come of those open doors.

Maybe it’s just ants on a log bench.

Maybe it’s a mini recreation of bfast for a quick bed time snack.

Or maybe, just maybe, it’s something great.

I went through a spell where every door was slammed in my face. I was working at a job where, although I loved the people I worked with, I felt stuck. No doors were opening for me, even though I was banging on them. I was searching for a church home, bouncing from place to place every Sunday.

Then, one Sunday my dad took me to a wonderful church. When I walked in, I knew I belonged there. When the friendly church family greeted us with smiles and hugs, I knew. I felt God there. And I felt loved.

Three weeks after that first Sunday at my new church home, a door opened. One of the church members had a job offer for me, that was a perfect fit. It was a promotion from where I was, even!

I thanked God and took the job.

Doors continued to open, and God continued to bless me. I made new friends, and kept the old. Every time I turned around a new experience was waiting to be had, a new door swinging open.

I was reading my bible and praying. Thanking God.

Lately though, the doors haven’t been opening quite as readily. And I haven’t been reading my bible and searching for God like I was.

I’ve felt stumped about things. Fearful. Doors have been shut. And I’ve looked in the wrong places for answers.

At myself.

Not to God.

Tonight at worship, Dave had us take a moment of silence, and just connect with God. Just be in the moment. Trust Him and thank Him.

I realized just how long it had been since I had done that. Just connected with God. Lived in the moment.

Not wondering what was around the next corner. What was in the future. What new door was waiting to be opened in my life.

In all my wondering and waiting, I had forgotten to look for the doors God wanted to open in me.

Luke 11:9 (The Message)

Here’s what I’m saying: Ask and you’ll get; Seek and you’ll find; Knock and the door will open.

I can’t wait to see what he has in store for me.

And the only way I’m going to find out is by trusting Him. Seeking Him. Reading His words. And walking through those doors when he opens them. Because for every door that is shut, He opens another.

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the shack

As I type a massive storm is brewing outside the window.

Very dark.

Very rumbly.

Anyway, this is what I ate for a snack today, while the sun was still shining.

1 organic pink lady apple + chocolate covered edamame = snack.

Do I really need two pictures? Probably not, but I could not decide between the two. They both show off the simple beauty of this delightful snack only to well. It could only be better if my camera had twice the megapixels. Oh wait. It did. And I lost it.

Small camera rant.

Back to business.

Funny.

That’s exactly what I said.

After business hours were over and all the shops were closed, this little lady took her administrative assistant a butt home.

Where a beautiful package awaited. Only this administrative assistant did not know that yet.

But when I found it, all the tape in the world could not stop me from tearing it open.

Giveaway goodies from Megan at Runner’s Kitchen! Thank you, thank you, thank you, Megan!

Check out the goods.

• soy crisps
• mini pretzels
• mints
• chocolate bar
• pb cups
• dark chocolate and milk chocolate caramel cups
• Newman-O’s
• organic prunes

Megan definitely knew what to send a chocoholic like me. And I don’t even think she knows about my slight mint addiction.

Oh what a welcome sight this was.

Since I needed proper food before I could dig into this, I cooked up a quinoa dish.

• quinoa
• cheese
• broccoli
• red bowl + red spoon

It was nice and warm.

So I had some nice cold frozen blue berries on the side.

bowl + bowl = dinner

Then I wasted no time digging into the Newman goodies.

dark chocolate caramel cups.

Oh so, so good. And only 160 calories to boot. The perfect dessert.

Only I supplemented it.

apricots in my dwarf hand x2.

I just really like apricots, and had a sudden craving for them. So I gave in.

And now the the thunder is rolling and the clouds are darkening, and OH MY! the rain is pouring.

I’m gonna call it a night, and retire with my current read, The Shack.

I am loving it so far. I really appreciate the author’s portrayal of the Holy Trinity. It’s all starting to make a lot more sense to me now.

Have you read The Shack? Thoughts?

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spirits and magic

After I encountered Ms. Luna;

in all her caramel covered glory, the remainder of the day was harried to say the least. I ended up working late. Ugh, hate that. When I finally left, all I could think about was soup. I can’t explain it, I mean it’s July. Thankfully Mama D and I have a handy dandy ESP connection.

Look what was waiting on me!

Not just any soup.

Veggie soup!

I ate mine with some TJ’s savory edamame crackers. Have I mentioned how much those are da bomb? Well they are.

Mama D also had a pile of blueberries.

Which she turned into this:

I know, that lady is like magic or something!

With a single ingredient she can produce the darnedest things.

Hello, cobbler and ice cream. How did you get in front of me? Funniest thing, he did not stay long AT ALL.

I also had another treat waiting on me.

Kacy’s giveaway prize pack!

I am going to be smelling delicious! Thanks Kacy!

Then I got busy.

Giveaway winners, be on the lookout. Shiz is in the mail! Holla!

So with all that inside behind me, I was feeling my inner yogini.

And Cecily was feeling her inner photographer.

Down dog, perhaps?

I really don’t know what those last few are. I was transitioning, perhaps? I do know that I have a stubby ponytail. No question there.

After fulfilling my yoga desires, I fulfilled my spiritual desires.

Psalm 52:8 (The Message)

And I’m an olive tree, growing green in God’s house. I trusted in the generous mercy of God then and now.

Funnily enough, I had just finished the tree pose when I read that.

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Trippin’

I had so planned to arise bright eyed and bushytailed at the butt crack of dawn; ready to run.

Plans go awry. Especially when your bed is ohsocomfy.

I also am currently fending off a slight cold. Don’t worry I called on the powers that be.

Long tall drink of water Green Monster.

It’s antixoidant powers shall fend off all nasty germs.

I put:

• 2 handfuls spinach
• 1 frozen banana
• handful of blueberries
• 1/2 cup frozen strawberries
• 1 scoop whey protein
• 1/2 cup almond milk

Germs begone!

I finished up my bottomless can of black beans at lunch.

• Flatout
• chicken tender
• black beans
• bell pepper
• fiesta corn
• pepper jack cheese

Oh yeah! Shawty knows what she’s doin’ in the kitch!

It was a lunch of lasts.

Last of the BLUE CHIPS. Last of the YUMMY SALSA. Not the last of the FLATOUTS.

I am sure you have noticed the overuse of Flatty. He was at Costco in a 3-pack for $5.00. He also has many uses, the most of which have yet to be explored.

I had Mr. Z-bar drop and give me 10 for a warm up.

He’s such a little wimp.

Hey Z, you lost your glasses.

I let him have his wimpy way and microwaved him instead.

Perfecto. Even if he does have noodly arms.

Since I was wimpy meself this morning, I dragged my rear to the park and ran 3 miles after workie.

Then to CVS for some drugs.

I’ve never had either, but the ImmuGo was $2.50. I feel it will work miracles.

Then I went home and sat at the computer and refreshed my browser until it was time for registration of the Healthy Living Summit. Who else is going? I am supa dupa excited fo’ sho’. Those chickies hosting are da’ bomb.  

Some more germ killers for dinner.

Some one is shy:

Apricot! You get in my mouth!

Sides of meth pickles and crack edamame.

Oh you little chocolate covered soybean.

Who ever knew we would end up together?

‘We met on a shelf above the frozen goods’, we shall tell our grandchildren. ‘We knew then that we were meant for each other. Truly it was a match made in heaven.’

Despite my love of all things chocolate, are ya’ll aware I am a bit of a klutz?

That’s why I smiled as I read this:

Psalm 25:15 (The Message)

If I keep my eyes on God, I won’t trip over my own feet.

How perfect is that? I love The Message paraphrase so much! It really hits home some days.

Don’t trip over your own feet!

So am I going to see you in Boston? 

I’d love to hear from the rest of you that are going, perhaps we can get to ‘know’ each other a bit better before we go.

See ya healthier! 

 

 

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Operation Beautiful + more Swamp Monster!

I did a morning run again ya’ll! I was going to just hop on the treadmill and do some incline walking, but you know how some times a girl’s just gotta run? It was so pretty out, so I hit the streets and did a quickie (TWSS) 2 miler. It felt so good to get that behind me, it being Friday and all.

After I washed my stank off I was feeling great from my run and so inspired by this post from Caitlin. Thanks Caitlin, for your beautiful post and inspiring me to write this note to myself, my mom and my sisters:

Genesis 1:27 (New International Version)

 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.

At church the other Sunday the pastor spoke of how we are handmade. I thought that was a beautiful way to put it. God loves us so much, because he created us with his own hands in his own image. We are truly his masterpiece.

Angela also had an awesome post today. These ladies are so incredible! They are truly influencing an entire generation.

I mean if not for Ange I’d never have known about this baby:

the Green Monster. Only this was another Swamp Monster. Ah-YUM!

I had that a little extra pasta left from dinner last night so I tossed together this spaghetti:

with some steamed broc:

It was supa, supa delish.

The sauce contained:

• 1/2 cup organic marinara sauce
• 1 shredded carrott
• 1/2 shredded zuke

I love, love, love adding those veggies to my marinara sauce! It really helps bulk it up!

Since everyone else has been Miz Behavin’ at snack time lately, I went with the only one that hasn’t.

He did not disappoint. No stripping or sunglass stealing. He just hopped right in my mouth like a good lil’ snackie should.

I don’t know what will be for dinner, but I’m hoping maybe this? Julie and I are heading to NoDa (Charlotte’s answer to an arts district) for their bi-monthly Gallery Crawl. ART+FOOD=FUN!

See ya healthier!

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For the love of shrimp and swamp monsters

I tested the chocolate Shakeology today.

My life will never be the same.

This. was. da bomb.

Of course my Green Monster was actually more of a Swamp Monster, but that was ok by me.

• 1 frozen banana
• 1 spoonful PB
• 1 scoop chocolate shakeology
• 1 handful spinach
• ice

You guys have got to try this stuff. It really did change my life. I will never again be a vanilla whey protein drinker. Not when I can have some Shakeology!

The rest of my morning was rather uneventful. No coworkers bringing rice snacks or casting disdainful looks at my lunch.

Speaking of lunch.

Leftover quinoa anyone?

Low and behold, I nearly licked the bowl clean!

I had a yummy fruit salad on the side:

and that concludes lunch.

Moving right along.

To Lady Luna Snackwell!

If you can call Luna here a lady.

Stealing Mr. Snacky’s sunglasses and coming out of her clothes like that. If that’s gentry, what is the world coming to?

I’ll tell you what it’s coming to.

My most favorite shrimp pasta in the WHOLE WORLD!

I present to you Shrimp Pasta El Ranchero!

This is actually a recipe I adapted from one of my Aunt Christi’s (an ahhhh-mazing cook!) I lightened it up quite a bit, but lost no flava whatsoever!

• 1 cup cooked whole wheat pasta (fettucine or spaghetti work fine)
• 1 cup pre-cooked frozen shrimp (preferably tail-off)
• 1/3 cup Naturally Fresh lite ranch dressing
• 1/2 cup almond milk
• 1/2 tablespoon spicy seafood seasoning (I use Tony Chachere’s)
• 1/2 tablespoon cornstarch

Go ahead and boil your pasta, the sauce will not take long. Also rinse your shrimp in warm water to thaw and set aside.

In a skillet over medium heat, add this:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(this stuff is great, it’s all fresh natural ingredients, nothing unpronounceable and 80 calories a serving! Check it out here.)

+

this:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In a seperate bowl or cup mix the cornstarch and milk, whisking it well. When the skillet ingredients begin bubbling, add the milk mixture. Let it simmer for a little while, stirring occasionally as it thickens. When the sauce is sufficiently thick and bubbly, add the shrimp. Let simmer for 5-7 minutes.

Your sauce should look like this:

mmmmm, that’s what I like to see! Dinner is right around the corner…

Drain your noodles, place them in a bowl and add the sauce to the top. 

Voila!

A pasta worthy of kings! (and 528 calories to boot!)

Serve with greenies on the side:

(flower centerpiece and cookbook optional)

There it is ladies and gents. One of my all-time favorite recipes that always gets rave reviews. Enjoy!

 

So I went to the gym and did my thang ‘fore I made that pasta. 3 miles on the treadmill (cause I was waaaaay to lazy to get up this morning) and an hour of strength. I finished up with 15 mins of incline walking. Doesn’t get much sweatier than that, yo. I felt deeee-licious when I left.

 

Psalm 17:15 (The Message)

And me? I plan on looking you full in the face. When I get up, I’ll see your full stature and live heaven on earth.

That kind of thinking is what gets you invited to dinner with God. I wonder if he’ll serve Shrimp Pasta El Ranchero, or do you think they have ranch in heaven? I think they do. Ranch is pretty heavenly.

See ya healthier!

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The recipe for a perfect Sunday

An early morning bike ride, church and Grandma’s for dinner.

Like we heard in church today:

2 Peter 1:2 (NIV)

 ²Grace and peace be yours in abundance through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.

 You add a bike ride and good dinner to that and you are set!

I love my Sunday morning rides so much, and since I have my new camera I thought I’d share why.

First let me explain, that although I have Charlotte as my city (if you cared enough to read my about me section), I actually live in a small town right outside Charlotte. It’s so nice cause you have the convenience of a city close by, but you also have the beauty of the country.

Here is some of what I enjoyed this morning:

Ok, I didn’t actually see this, but you would if you were with me. Let’s make this tour as real as possible, ok?

Coming around the first little bend in the road…

and if you look back over your left shoulder you see this.

This little stream winds it’s way through my entire ride.

A field full of Queen Anne’s Lace. The sun was barely peeking through the clouds right here.

Someone’s been busy!

If you squint really hard I think you can see the two ducks floating in the pond.

Check out how nice and straight those trees are. Just like God and nature intended.

That ladies and gents, concludes our little tour of my weekley bike ride. Don’t you want to join me? I have an extra Huffy in the basement!

 

I was so worn out from taking pictures peddling super hard, so I had some of these babies for breakfast:

PB Puffins in almond milk. I know what you are thinking: All that spinach and you didn’t have a Green Monster? Well no, I was still kind of feeling the effects of the night before. I didn’t want anything too filling, so PB Puffins it was! They were deeee-licious too!

 

After church I went to my grandma’s for dinner. That lady makes the absolute best chicken ‘n dumplings in the world. She also makes some pretty killer turkey dressing too. Thank goodness she did not have either of those or I might’ve cracked.

This was the spread:

Lotsa fruit and veggies, yay!

Stir fried veggies, chicken, brown rice and peas!

Chloe’s our little chef. She was stirring some creamed corn, and I think that’s a roast in the back.

 

This was my plate: Stir fry, rice, veggies and fruit!

When we sat down to eat Blair was all: I wanna be on your blog, and he kept sticking his head in front of the camera like so:

I actually think this was a brazen attempt to steal my food.

Oh yeah, he’s klassy too.

 

Bonus: 

Thanks to my Aunt Mendy (she’s such a dear) I will be well fed tomorrow as well…she sent the rest of that delish stir fry home with me! Yay me!

Now, I’m going to grab one of these:

and chill around the house. I may dig into that Trader Joe’s sushi for dinner. That would be nice, huh?

See ya tomorrow (and healthier!)

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Muffins, muffins, muffins.

Hi everyone!

It’s raining here in Charlotte…meh. Perhaps it will move out before the weekend, cause there are lots of good things to do going down in this city come Friday. First off we have the Brad Paisley concert (I love that guy), and we have the ever fun and extremely delish Taste of Charlotte festival. I am mucho excited for it! I plan to take many pictures to document all the eating I do.

Breakfast 

Oh yes, it was a muffin.

 

However did you guess?

Of course it was not alone:

 

I paired it with a bowl of 0% Fage yogurt topped with blueberries and mango so it’d have a little company. Yum-a-licious all the way!

Lunch

 

I know what you are thinking: Whitney, isn’t that the same thing you had a dinner last night? To which I reply with a resounding, No!

See:

 

This one has turkey meatloaf on it. It’s also on a different paper plate. Oh yah, a meatloaf sammie. It was super duper delish too.

Snack

I had my regular snack around 3 pm:

 

Half an apple with crack Trader Joe’s Natural PB. Have you guys tried the Pink Lady apples? If not, do as I say and GO BUY ONE RIGHT NOW! That’s an order. No one should live without trying one of these.

Dinner

When I got home from my nightly sweat fest, I found some black beans in the fridge. Uh, yum!

So I created this monster:

 

Lettuce, black beans, salsa, spoonful of 0% Fage (why yes, I do use that in absolutely everything, glad you thought to ask), and few low sodium multigrain chip crumbles. My tummy said thank you.

And since it was being so nice I rewarded it with this:

another one of those bad boys bites the dust!

I seriously think I am in love. Which is handy since I don’t have any significant other in my life. Me and my little muffin man will just move to some desert island and live happily ever after. The end.

 

 

 

 

Haha just kidding!

You know I have to record my Exercise or else you folks will think I just sat on my pretty  little bum all day reading blogs.

Ok, so I did my required hour of strength/circuit training. It involved lots of rock star jumps, shoulder presses and lat pulls. Lovely. I finished up with 2.5 miles watching Bones reruns running on the treadmill. I looked a hot mess when I left. Many handsome men stared. Or not.

Spirit

From my reading of Psalms yesterday. This passage from Psalm 1 really stuck out to me:

Psalm 1:1-3 (NIV)

 ¹ Blessed is the man
       who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked
       or stand in the way of sinners
       or sit in the seat of mockers.

 ² But his delight is in the law of the LORD,
       and on his law he meditates day and night.

 ³ He is like a tree planted by streams of water,
       which yields its fruit in season
       and whose leaf does not wither.
       Whatever he does prospers.

A bit lengthy, but very encouraging, as well as nice reminder that we should be walking with the Lord day and night. I love the 1st Psalm. I have read it since I was a little girl and always found such comfort in it.

See ya healthier!

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Haunted Houses?

This past week, I have really been struggling with some adversity in my life. (Let’s just say that I have some friendships that have slowly been growing apart, and it all culminated in the last week.)

So, instead of doing my usual (bashing, gossiping, crying; although I did that too. Forgive me.) I have really been getting into the Word to help me through this. I found a few verses on love that were really helpful; mainly:

Luke 6:35
But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked.

and

1 John 4:20
If anyone says, “I love God,” yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen.

I read these verses several times to help keep love in the fore front of my mind. I found them very helpful, but even more so was the Bible study I attended Tuesday. It was just what I needed to hear!

Our bible study leader played a video that was excellent. The minister was speaking of letting go of the ‘old you’ and letting the ’new you’ take over. He spoke of how it is no longer our nature to sin after we are saved, and how to change your mindset from a sinner to a saint. He called letting the ‘old you’ back in ‘haunting’. I realized that the aforementioned gossiping, etc. was the ‘old me’! I was letting my ghost in to haunt me! It really clicked with me and made me feel reassured to know that yes, I had sinned, but it was that tricky old Devil haunting me and not actually the ‘new’ Christian me.

So I ask you, is your house haunted? I found that yes, mine was, but I am working on banishing that ghost! 

~Whitney

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