Shopping for Ecuador

I've been thinking of things that I'll need for my studies abroad. So far I'm thinking hiking backpack, possibly keens, and a rain jacket! I can now check the third item off of my list, thanks to eBay and birthday money from my Grandma Lerla :)

The title is Women's REI Gore-tex Zip-up Hooded rain jacket. .

Speaking of Grandma Lerla, I am looking forward to cooking dinner for my family when we travel to Missoula. The recipe I want to use is from Country Living, and is a chicken pot pie! 

HERE'S THE RECIPE

Here's the photo (photo credit Country Living.com)

I plan on making my own crust, I don't want to use store bought. It's really simple, but just adds a little to the cooking time. Also I will be leaving out the peas! 

Tips for Traveling to DisneyWorld..

I found these on the facebook site, so if you want to see where they are sited hit up the DisneyWorld Fan page.


Christine Randall Collins: gardengrocer.com - get your groceries delivered to your room upon your arrival - (if you have a fridge) so you can eat breakfast and have snacks and water in the room.

Nicole Zoi Fisher: Go to Touringplans.com to see which park to visit each day. Also visit allears.net to see how they review the dining and see the menus and review the resorts.

Laurie Wielgus: Read the Unofficial Guide. Plan, plan, plan!

Janet Everett Krakowski: Be the FIRST one there in the morning when it opens!! You get to do and see SO much more.....

Julie Obert Leite: Do your homework on resturants you may want to eat at, and make reservations ASAP or you wont get into top picks like Chef Mickeys with Mickey and friends or Crystal Palace with Pooh and friends

Lydia LaNoue Slinkard: ride the "big" (or the most important to you) rides first when entering the park **stay on site to take advantage of early opening!**

Rebecca J Wagner Weberding: Read the "unofficial guide to Walt Disney World." It tells you about everything, wether its good or bad, worth it or not, what time of day to go for the shortest lines etc. It helped our family tremendously.

Robin Hannah-Hungerman: Wear matching outfits or the same funny hats as the rest of your group for quick identification in a crowd.

Elizabeth Hall: Make sure you bring a camera or two and extra batteries!


Linda Doro: Buy the refillable mug at the resort.

Sharon Lawrence Scadin: take some ibuprofen every morning...your feet will thank you.

Debbie Weiser Fasenmyer: The lines on the left side are usually shorter.

Debi Johnson: Go Early, Rest in the afternoon at the pool, go back and stay as late as you can.

Teresita Verdaguer: Start in the back.

Rebecca J Wagner Weberding: Read the "unofficial guide to Walt Disney World." It tells you about everything, wether its good or bad, worth it or not, what time of day to go for the shortest lines etc. It helped our family tremendously.

I'M SO STOKED!!! 

Thoughts on Ecuador

Summer is coming SO. FAST. I will be done with my freshman year of college in less than two weeks. I still can hardly wrap my head around the fact of being a "college girl" much less a sophomore in college.

As I've been thinking about the summer, I was becoming more and more unsure of my decision to study in Ecuador. I'll miss the photo business, time with my family (and DOG!!!!), hanging out with friends, etc. A couple times I even wondered why the heck I'm doing this!

Just this morning, however, I was connected with a girl who also travelled to Ecuador. I know have two "facebook friends" that have gone. And let me tell you, after clicking through a few of their photos and journals, I am so excited to go. SO EXCITED. ¡Ahora nececito practicar mi español mucho!

If you're interested in reading some of the journals that have again convinced me how awesome this opportunity is, click here!

Now I need to get researching so I can figure out what I will need to buy and pack to get ready. I depart June 23 early in the morning- just a little more than eight weeks from today. Holy Cow.

And I still need to figure out what to do for a camera. I really want to leave with some truly beautiful photos that I can make huge prints of for my apartment. Maybe my SLR will be the answer?

Happy Earth Day!

Tina from CarrotsnCake posted this on her blog this morning and I had to share!

Less than a month left!

I can't believe it. I have a week of classes, dead week, finals week, then I'm home free! Where has this school year gone? Where is 2010 going??? I'm still rockin' the whole "new year's resolution" track.

For my bday (which was last Friday) my lovely family got to come visit for Mom's weekend. I didn't realize it at the time, but my birthday also marks the 1 year bday of this blog! Though it doesn't really count, because I didn't start continually blogging until this year, but it can still count.

Here are a couple photos of what I've been up to for breakfast lately. The battery on my camera is dying so I haven't been taking any photos these past few weeks :o but I'll get those replaced and get rolling again. I really like looking back at my old posts for food inspiration!

Whole wheat mini-bagels with PB, banana, cream cheese, and jam.

It's a face!!

One morning I wanted to go for a nice walk. I instead woke up to this:

Thank God it's almost summer.

ZUMBA® Certification

Yaaayyyyy!!!!!!!!! I'm Zumba fitness certified!!

Here's the pictures- I'm headed for a shower then TO BED! woot woot!

At 6 AM (Hella early for the college life- especially a Saturday morning)

It's official!!

With Roger, the coolest Zumba instructor/guy ever!

With Yvonne (I'll need to double-check spelling on that one), she's also an amazing dancer! She taught some of the dances.

:) :) :D :D :D

Long Time No Post

I've had 2 tests, with one more tomorrow!

A lovely evening at La Casa Lopez

THAI FOOD!!

an audition!

and studying until my head explodes!!!!! GGGGAAAAA!

{I'll be home in two days, and back in MT tomorrow. Praise the Lord}

Operation Eat it Before Spring Break: Starting NOW!

So.. I have muffins, eggs, apples, oranges, bread, almond butter, jam, peanut butter, tomatoes, and onion, and various cheeses that I need to eat so they don't go bad when I come home for spring break! So long dining centers- I'll be eating in my dorm room the next week and a half!

Dinner was AMAZING tonight:

Almond Butter + Jam (a TON of both :) )

with a blood orange!

For breakfast I had the egg/banana/oats/PB combo again. Seriously I'm in love!

I had other food today, obviously, but I'm tired and just want to post what I had last night for dinner after Zumba. Pasta and milk!! So good.

Good night! :)

BEST OATS EVER!

I'm so excited. This morning's oatmeal seriously tops them all!

Allowed to soak overnight: 1/2 cup old fashioned oats + 1/2 cup skim milk

This mix was reheated for 30 seconds in the microwave today before 1 egg and 1 banana (in pieces) was added. Then it was microwaved for a 30 seconds, stirred, then 1 minute, stirred, and a final minute.

The egg got cooked (but you really can't taste it) and the banana turned to a sweet, sweet mushy goodness. It was so much sweeter this way!

Then a tablespoon of peanut butter and some cinnamon and ta-da!! It's aroung 470 kcal, which again is more than usual, but something about the added egg/old fashioned oats combo makes it stick around in my tummy so much longer. Usually I'm STARVED by lunch! I hate that, because then I tend to want to overeat.

I finished this off with some iced coffee and milk leftover from yesterday.

Oh, and here's my dinner from last night!

Eggies eggies eggies

OATMEAL!

Long story short: I have (or had) 4 eggs that will expire this week, and I did not get around to using them this week, so I needed a way to eat them!

So.. I put one in my oatmeal this morning!

1/2 cup oats + 1/2 cup skim milk left in fridge overnight covered..

then I added a raw egg this morning, and microwaved for 30 seconds, stirred, then 50 seconds, stirred, then 20 more and it was all cooked!

1 banana + 1 tbs pb + cinnamon + more milk (the egg made it almost solid) and we're ready to go. Yumi!

this is just the egg + milk + oats after cooking..

see the cooked egg whites??

At right around 500 calories, this is a pretty rich breakfast, but I need it to last me from 8-1 with a workout tossed into the mix. I hope it holds!