Style File 2/27/12

As promised I have an outfit photo to share! yay! I decided to go for something I wore to church. Our Church is pretty casual, as in our pastor preaches in jeans and and nice button down. More Sundays than not, I dress up for Church. It's just one of those things I like to do. Yesterday I felt like being a bit more casual.

 I think you have seen these jeans before. I love them; they actually came off a sale rack at target, but they've fast become my go-to skinnies in my closet. I pair them with everything from a tee-shirt, to a sweater and boots. And they're super comfortable, which is always a plus when talking about jeans.

 And my nude flats! I don't actually wear these a ton because they can be uncomfortable, but if I'm just running to church and back generally they're ok. They would not be if I were doing a significant amount of walking, but every girl has shoes like that.

Hope you all have a great week! Next week's Style File will be a break from my normal style files, so be looking for it! I think some of the guys out there might appreciate it!

Update

Obviously I have been a bit absent from the Blog lately. There are a couple reasons for that... So I thought I would give y'all an update.

First, I'm training for a half marathon. The race is in less than three weeks, so my off time has generally been about training for that. My long runs are usually on Saturdays and I'm usually out running for a couple hours (by the time you factor in driving to the Ocean front, parking, walking to the start point, getting my run in, getting back to the parking garage, and then driving back home, it's usually almost three hours). Then when I get home I have to do homework/clean/cook/do all my normal Saturday activities, on top of the fact that I'm just tired after a 10+ mile run and taking outfit pics is not on my list of things I want to do after.

And second, probably way more exciting too, I've been absent because my online time has been spent planning our vacation. Brad and I decided when we got married to not take a huge extravagant trip as our honeymoon. We also decided that someday we would take a fantastic trip, preferably before we were too old to enjoy it. As luck would have it we have just booked our fab trip!

We are going to...

We will be leaving on July 1st and returning on July 12th. We'll have roughly three days in each place. I know it is going to feel short in each place, but we really wanted to hit these cities at least once in our lifetime. It's honestly iffy that we'll ever get back. Plus, we figured that if we go to each place once, maybe over time we can return to each city for five days or so and not worry about trying to squeeze in a two week vacation.

Over the next couple of months, I am going to be sharing some of my Pinterest boards, things we plan to be doing, and of course some of the dresses I plan to purchase for the trip! :) We are very excited for our trip, but we've never been to Europe before. Any tips for us?

oh, be looking for an outfit post on Monday. I'm not going to run today because my knee is a bit sore. Since I'm so close to the race, I thought I better rest it another day and try to do the long run tomorrow (or maybe just have to skip it this week :( ). Anyway, that means I'll have time to shoot a style file today! Have a great weekend!

What's for Dinner? 2/6/12

Lentil Spaghetti is what's for dinner!

I honestly can't remember if I already posted this one or not. So if I did...sorry! I adapted this one from the eat clean diet cookbook by Tosca Reno.

(I also got a new iPhone and instagram has been AMAZING. That's how I got this photo. I have wayyy too much fun with it. :) ).

What You'll Need:
2 Tbsp Olive Oil
1/2 cup finely chopped carrots
1 medium onion, finely chopped
4-6 cloves garlic (depends on how big they are. I used 4 huge cloves)
1 1/2 cups lentils, well rinsed (I used plain old green lentils, however, French Lentils would work just as well)
1/2 tsp thyme
1 28oz can of tomatoes
4 cups chicken broth
1-2 cans tomato paste (optional)
Spaghetti Noodles

1.) Heat Oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add carrots, onions, garlic, and celery. Cook until veggies are soft. Add the lentils and thyme, stirring until lentils are coated. Add tomatoes to the lentil mixture and break them up. Add the chicken broth and bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover and simmer, stirring occasionally. Cook until the lentils are done.

2.) Meanwhile, cook your noodles. They can be any variety you like. I do whole wheat pasta.

3.) Now, with the sauce, you can be done when the lentils are done. This makes more of a soup like consistency. You can add two cans of tomato paste to make it more saucy, if you want. What I usually do is dish up the lentil mixture into freezable containers, leaving only what Brad and I will eat in the pot. Then I add about half of a can of the tomato paste. Then when we go to eat this meal later, all I have to do is thaw, heat, and add the tomato paste. It's up to you though! (and I hope that made sense!)

This meal was the perfect meal to recover from running 13 miles on Saturday. And it was tasty! I also like that it's a great way to keep your favorite foods while going meatless. Try this for a meatless Monday meal. :)