I'm allergic to.....

Ok, I get it. I have a lot of allergies. At this point it's no secret. I know what they are and how to handle them. I carry my epipen like a responsible adult. I the.k I do well since I have never had to use it. I have battled allergies all my life. The tests. The shots. The anything else associated wits allergies.

What drives me bonkers are thepeople who insist they know my body and allergies better than me or my doctors. I vet it they care or are scared I'll have an episode. But it doesn't sit well when others tell me what I'm allergic to when I'm not or dwell on figuring it out for me. That's more annoying than the allergy itself.

I just needed to get it off my chest. It has happened several times in the last couple of days.

Some people have pets

I, however, have plants. Plants EVERYWHERE! Home, work, etc. I love my plants. Trust me. Nothing makes a home feel better than a plant. Granted, I'm allergic to most animals and I would not put any pet through the forgetfulness I have. I thought about getting a Beta Fish but yeah, that would not work for me.

With plants, I can pick those I am not allergic to, and that can withstand my forgetting to water them. They are real troopers.

Yes, that is a gnome in the picture above, a little inside joke from my last office. But those are some of my newbies. I love these plants.

The one above from my old office. It makes any office more pleasant. Plants and a Billy Holiday picture.

Get yourself some plants. One you love they definitely brighten my day!

Applied to Graduate

YES! I have submitted my application to graduate! It feels great! I can't wait for graduation! This has been a long time in the making.

~Adria

Adria Meets Brussel Sprouts

Today, I had my first real-life encounter with brussel sprouts. I always saw them on tv where no one ever liked them. Never really noticed them going to the grocery store. They definitely were not common in my household growing up. So this was EXCITING for me!

When I met with my nutritionist earlier this week, we were talking about veggies that I like. The list was rather long, as I've always been a good girl when it comes to eating veggies. Well except okra (EWWWWWWWW!) She suggested that I try brussel sprouts, she said I cook so I should be able to get it right. LOL Thanks. So I was doing my weekly veggie load up, and I'm in BJ's, my home away from home, looking for peppers.... And there they were... FRESH BRUSSEL SPROUTS! I must admit, I was a tad nervous paying for these things when i didn't know if I would like them. I'm sure people in the store thought I was crazy inspecting them to see what I could compare them to. I finally decided they looked like mini baby cabbage. I love cabbage. OK in the cart they went. I did what Hillary said to do, and guess what?!?!?!?!?! I LOVE BRUSSEL SPROUTS!

Well that's my excitement for today, other than my achy calves from yesterday's leg work out. I'm sure Hillary will love to hear that one of the things on the "Let's try it once, Adria" List has been moved to the "OK, I can make this happen, Hillary" list.

Return to Strike

Oh, my! I need to return to my cooking strike. This cooking for others has opened a bad, but yummy can of worms for me. The red velvet cupcakes we so good, I think I got addicted. During this week's ice storm, I got a little cabin fever looking at this:

I decided to make my own little batch of red velvet. Only issue is I was out of red food coloring, but I had other colors. So I pull down the colors and decide, YES I will mix green and pink.. It all tastes the same. As I mixed the batter turned purple. Even more exciting, my favorite color. Who said they had to be red??

I ended up with the yummiest purple velvet cupcakes.

Yes, I even piped the cream cheese frosting in the middle. It was heavenly. But we won't tell my nutritionist or trainer about this slip, I will enjoy and return to my cooking strike :-)

Yummy and healthy

I'm so proud of myself. I have been doing these delicious, healthy meals using some of the tips from my nutritionist.

Last week I made sloppy joe pizza on whole wheat crust. I added so many veggies it double the amount so I am all set for another pizza next time. Convenience and healthy. No I did not use sloppy joe mix but it does come out looking as such. I filled it with spinach, corn, 5 kinds of peppers, jalepenos, scallions, and garlic. Topped with some reduced fat cheese. It was amazing.

Yesterday, I made collard greens with the same veggie additions of peppers, etc. brown rice with corn (since I'm not a big rice lover). And Chicken breasts. It was so yummy. And guilt free. I can't wait to have it for lunch today. Eating healthy can be fun.