Welcome to My Crib

Thanks so much for being patient with my guys, it has been a whirlwind of events recently and things have been crazy over here. But, that being said, I am finally moved in, and things are started to calm down. Phew! I feel like I have so many things to tell you. I guess we will start at the beginning.

After a delicious dinner with my roommate, our mom's, a friend, and my roommate's sister at Cafeteria in Chelsea, much packing was done. Actually, not much packing was done, which resulted in a crack of dawn wake up call to make sure everything was all set before the movers arrived at 9am.  The movers were a little late, but it wasn't there fault. Can someone please explain to me what NYC's reasoning is for not allowing anyone to take a right turn between 9th Ave and Madison on 34th street?  Ooph.  No big deal, they didn't charge us until they got there- Thank you Ace Movers :) (if anyone is looking to move, these guys are great and pretty appropriately priced)

A day filled with packing, moving, unpacking, decorating, drinks with Mama Nay Nay and D and finally, hitting the pillow for a nice snooze in my new room!  The apartment came together so nicely! Want a little peak?

Fun cute sign in the Kitchen- Words to live by :)

Yay! New kitchen! So much bigger than my last one (yes I know its still small, its NYC people, this is like a mansion's Kitchen to a 20something in the big city)

Woot Spice rack!- When roommate and I first got this spice rack, it was the biggest deal ever, you would have thought someone gave us a horse. I still feel the same way.  This spice rack is the best $7.99 I ever spent

Fun pretty apron!

Bathroom- isn't our new shower curtain adorable?

 We are apparently big into the blue, green and pink idea. I do not hate it.

Well, after much moving in was done. Much food was eaten.  Mama Nay Nay, Faj-city and I went over to Josies in my hood and I dominated these flax seed organic, gluten free, dairy free pancakes.  They tastes like heaven and I am not usually a fan of these semi-sorta-kinda-the real thing- typa dishes.  These held their own.  I was quite impressed.

Dont they look amazing? They were :)

Welp children, that is all for now.  Ill catch up with you later about my Fruit Salad Life inspired Pineapple Raspberry Popsicles.

Apartment Pics

Hello Blog Family! 

Just wanted to pop in on this hectic day and say "hi".  Mom gets in tonight, dinner will be eaten, and trying to throw my life into boxes will be attempted.  Thought you might want a little sneak peak of the new apartment! Cannot. Wait. For. Tomorrow.  In I Move!

OOO Kitchens are fun (much baking to be done in this bad boy!):

(you know you love my sunglasses- don't lie)

Bathrooms are fun too- look how clean and pretty!

View from the balcony off of my room! (Yup- BALCONY)

Cant wait to move in!  Stay tuned for another great guest post tomorrow from Jenny over at Feet of Fancy!

My Mom Wears Pink Converse

Hi Guys! So sorry it has taken me forever to post today I have been running around like a chicken with its head cut off all morning trying to get things situated for the move, handling some personal stuff, and get ready for my fabulous weekend with the boyfriend in Delaware on the beach.  This girls needs some color like WOW. Legit, see through.  Not kidding, look:

That's me in the white shorts and yellow top (super unflattering picture!). See. Through. O well, moving on. Hopefully this weekend I can come back and show you guys a tan pic! Fingers crossed!

Well, beside that, a huge weight has been lifted off my shoulders because Mama Nay Nay has decide to come to NYC to help me move. She always keeps me nice and calm and it definitely means a nice dinner and some girl time so, woot woot! Look at her adorableness:

Hot shoes Nay Nay- you so cute!

So last night I decided to make some treats for the lovely woman of AWNY for our 8:15 morning meeting.  I joined AWNY (The Advertising Women of New York) about 2 months ago and love it. I am on the Young Executives Committee so I the second Wednesday of every month we have a committee meeting to discuss events, networking, etc.  The girls are great and the community is wonderful.  I thought they deserved a little pick-me-up so Chocolate Chip Banana Muffins were made. One of the girls is Gluten Free and couldnt eat any of the cupcakes (I felt so bad!) Maybe next month I'll try and whip up a gluten free batch for her.  I believe I am up to the challenge :)

These muffins are so good.  Sorry for all of you who hate this word but they were moist (my bad but I think you're ok), light, and chocolatey to the extreme! I took some tips from both Gina and Amy and mixed and matched their recipes to make this lovely creation.   

Ingredients:

6 ripe medium bananas, mashed

1/4 cup unsweetened apple sauce

1/4 cup fat free vanilla yogurt 

1/2 cups unbleached all purpose flour

2 cups whole wheat flour 

1-1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

4 tbsp butter, softened

1 cup sugar

4 large egg whites

1 tsp vanilla extract

3/4 cup chocolate chips

Steps:

1) Preheat oven to 325 degrees F

2) In a medium bowl combine both flours, baking soda and salt and set aside 

3) In a large bowl cream together butter and sugar with an electric mixer until light and fluffy

4) Add egg whites, bananas, applesauce, vanilla yogurt and vanilla to the sugar mixture and combine with the electric mixer.
5) Add flour mixture and chocolate chips to the wet mixture and blend with the electric mixer at low speed until combined (if you go to fast the flour will go everyone and make a mess!)

6) Pour batter into muffin pans (with paper cupcake liners- whatever those are called!) and bake for 30 to 45 minutes. 

7) Let the cool and enjoy!

* Makes 24 cupcakes

I enjoyed one last night with a little bit of butter. Amazing.  Had one this AM for breakfast as well... AND I couldn't resist devouring one at around 3 for a snack. SO yup, made 24, 3 were eaten by me, in less than 24 hours. Well worth it.

These deserve a solid Star Fabulous Rating of 9/10! The only thing that would make em better is if they were a little better!  Make sure to allow the batch to make 24 cupcakes and not be thrown off by size. Less cupcakes=larger portion. Larger portions changes the nutritional information.  (But then again, if I was going to eat three is just one day, maybe I should have just make giant cupcakes)

Star Fabulous Rating: 9/10

Choco Peanut Butta Cookies For Guardian Angel George

Peanut Butter is the best. Hands down. Best. Chocolate is equally the best. Hands down. Best. TIE! Therefore when I was making celebratory cookies to give to my broker at my lease signing today, Peanut Butter and Chocolate were involved.  Yes-I made cookies for my broker, George, to thank him.  If any of you have ever lived in Manhattan, you know that searching for an apartment is like sticking a fork in your eye repeatedly while running barefoot on fire. That actually may be an understatement. Therefore, when George came along, he was my guardian angel and really bent over backwards to make sure we were comfortable and that we got what we were looking for. George obviously deserved a treat! Choco Peanut Butta Cookies, here we come.

I am not even going to make you wait until the end to learn how these were starfabulously rated. These deserve a Star Fabulous Rating of 10/10. No questions asked.  Do you have your spoon out? Got the bowl ready?  Here we go!

Ingredients:

1 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup unsalted peanut butter (I went with Trader Joes- bargain hunters’ best friend)

14 cup unsalted butter

2 Eggs

½ teaspoon vanilla extract

½ teaspoon salt (if you use salted peanut butter cut this a smidge)

½ teaspoon of baking soda

1 cup whole wheat flour (or ¾ cup whole wheat flour and ¼ cup all purpose flour)

½ cup chocolate chips

Steps:

1)  Preheat oven to 375 degrees F

2) Place sugar, butter and peanut butter in a large bowl and with an electric mixer, beat until light and fluffy.

3) Add eggs and vanilla to sugar mixture and blend well with mixer until combined.

4) Add salt, baking soda and flour to sugar mixture and beat until completely combined with the electric mixer

5) Add chocolate chips and mix with the electric mixer until evenly distributed through the batter.

6)  Put tablespoon size blobs of the batter on a pam-ed cookie sheet. Note: Make sure to leave about 2 

inches between each cookie, they expand!

7) Bake cookies for about 7 to 8 minutes. When removing they will look slightly undercooked.  Cookies continue to cookie once removed from the oven so it is essential that you remove this early enough to allow them to be ooey gooey.

8) Makes about 30 cookies! 

Now you have two choices...

a) You can be the smart responsible person who individually packages them up for friends before they devour the whole batch

OR

b) You can be the girl like me, who ate four before she remembered that she was supposed to give them to her guardian angel broker friend. The choices is yours :)

Star Fabulous Rating: 10/10

Waking Up on the Right Side of the Bed is my JAM

Morning everyone (or a suppose afternoon- sorry for the late post!) Today was one of those morning where I woke up and everything was great (sorry to all of you who woke up on the wrong side of then bed, I am sure reading this is painful- o well!).  Yesterday I got my head fixed. Looks fab- brown is definitely more my color than blonde. The night was followed by a lease signing- WOOT! 

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That is how I feel about finally having an apartment. Geeze I cannot wait to move in and have it all done with! AND the best part, the kitchen is HUGE (well, huge for NYC)!  Good thing since I spend 90% of my time at home in the kitchen!

 This am I woke up and started week three of my 5K training! It is going really well and I am loving the feeling of working out in the morning and feeling so accomplished before I even get to the office. Double WOOT!

 

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 Definitely in need of a new pair of kicks however.  Anyone have a fabulous pair of running sneakers that they want to share?

I am also so happy to say that we have had great response to the Walk to Cure Diabetes! We raised 145 dollars in the first 12 hours.  Any support is much appreciated- thank you for those who have given.  If you would like to give or join my team you can do so here!

Today after work, Amy and I are going to paint the town red (go to Old Navy) and then sprouts will be made and many a muffin will be created!  Stay tuned for the fabulous recipe tomorrow!