Wow, has it been forever and a half since my last post? That’s by far forever and a half too long. I’m in the home stretch of my final semester of school and I have been one busy bee! Therefore I’ve had to cut myself off from the social world including Facebook, Twitter, and sadly updating my blog. I did happen to run across these which gave me a good laugh while I was taking a, ahem, Pinterest break.
source: memeboss
This is one of my biggest fears when I take a test! I tend to have a keen eye for details but I’m always concerned I am going to somehow accidently skip a question or not realize the test was two-sided.
source: fail blog
At least this was somewhat related to studying. Where was this incentive when I first started school? I’d try placing dried fruit or almonds after every few paragraphs as motivation (Gotta keep it somewhat healthy otherwise I’d be a walking gummy bear by the time I was done reading all my assignments!)
I couldn’t stand being away another day though, and have much to update you on!
I won’t bore you with school stuff or talking about my two senior thesis papers, two senior research project presentations, my latest articles in the Arbiter, my interview research paper, or any of my finals. But that’s just to give you an idea of why I have been M.I.A. and boy am I ever ready for a break. Just to give you an idea as to how ready I am for a break I’ll share with you how my morning has gone.
Typically I will set out everything I need to workout in the morning the night before, this way there are no excuses as to why I can’t make it to the gym. I even stick my ipod, socks, hairband and bobby pins, keys, and id card into my shoes so everything is together. After my 6:17 wake up call I got ready, ate a slice of Dave’s Killer Blues Bread toast with organic peanut butter and cinnamon, and got myself in my car and off to the gym. Only thing missing, I didn’t realize I still had my slippers on and had forgotten to put on my running shoes. After going home and putting on my new Nike Free Run 3 (more about these AMAZING shoes later) I realized I also didn’t have my id card on me to get into the gym. I looked everywhere and it was no where to be found. Great, another thing to add to my lengthy list of things to do this week. I explained to the lady at the front desk who so kindly let me into the gym without having to use my “get out of jail free” pass. You only get two of these without your id card for the semester. After doing some running interval sprints I headed to the weight section to work legs. While in the midst of doing some jumping lunges I realized my left foot kept slipping, almost like the insert in my shoe was coming out. I was incredibly bummed out because I literally just got my shoes and love the feel of them. So I took off my shoe to see what was going on, and it was my student id! I was too organized for my own good and didn’t realize it was still in my shoe. Think it’s time for a break?
Just a little run down on what’s been going on.
I found a place to live in New York! I can’t remember if I informed you of this but I am incredibly excited. I also found out that my good friend John got an internship to start at the beginning of January in New York in the same area as my internship. I haven’t seen him in over a year though we have still stayed in contact. He is by far one of the funniest and nicest people I know so I can hardly wait to see what the next 6 months of adventures will bring! Watch out NY!
Last week was filled with schoolwork but also included lots of fun holiday activities. My mom told me a couple weeks ago to reserve Thursday the 6th at 9:15 pm for a surprise Christmas present. We had absolutely no idea what it could be! We showed up to Boise Art Glass and found out we had a glass blowing class to make blown glass ornaments! Luke and I admired the art and the music they had playing for First Thursday while waiting for our class.
I had no idea all that went into make a single ornament. You have to be sure to constantly be turning the pipe and keep it level so the melted glass does not fall off. Then you stick it in an oven around 2000 degrees and remove it to place it on top of colored glass for design while still turning it. This continues until the glass is as colored as you would like.
Then it is moved over to two bars where the pipe is spun with the melted glass on the end and you blowing through the other end to release air into it. Since the air is trapped it expands causing a bubble. The room gets incredibly warm while you are doing this and your arms are so tired! Wearing sweaters was not the best idea in the world, but we know for next time 
When looking online for more information on glass blowing I found this interesting quote
“Glass blowing cannot be done by a machine and must be performed by a skilled artisan.” – eHow.com
It looks as if Luke and I are officially skilled artisans now!
We both made one and then did another one together. I did a red ornament and Luke chose to do a green one in honor of St. Patrick’s Day, the day we met! They will be beautiful on our first Christmas tree together and such a wonderful memento of our first holiday 
The next day Luke and I went to the Reef with my family for a delicious dinner at one of my family’s favorite restaurants before heading to Nampa to watch one of our favorite holiday favorites, Irving Berlin’s White Christmas.
The play was very entertaining, humorous, and still brought tears to my eyes at the end, but it was no Bing Crosby and Rosemary Clooney. Which means we’re definitely going to have to watch the original White Christmas, especially since Luke has never seen it before! It was so much fun to spend the evening with my family since we’ve all been so busy lately.
The days after that have been spent with a routine of waking up super early, obsessing over taking Emergen-C (So as to not get sick right now. Can’t afford that!), gym time, breakfast, working on finals and papers, presenting papers, going to work, studying, and going to bed as early as possible. Not very entertaining. Though the one thing I’ve been doing to relax myself outside of working out is a little bit of cooking. Since a girl’s gotta eat still right!
For my last class of Advance Media Studies we all finished presenting our senior thesis papers and had a potluck. I brought mini chocolate pies made from pie crust, chocolate mints, mini Reese’s cups, and chocolate caramels. Had I more time I would have preferred to make the pie crust from scratch but Pillsbury did a pretty good job of filling in.
I also made Luke’s favorite, stuffed peppers, for our study date last night.
As you know, I have a serious protein pancake addiction right now which has actually been beneficial during this week because I haven’t had much time in the mornings to make a decent breakfast. Because of this I decided to make a recipe that would last for a couple days. My latest is an Apple Cinnamon Spice Flaxseed Protein Pancake, ooooh yum. Warm up some Agave Maple Nectar with some sliced jona apples on top and it is to die for.
Due to time constraint for today I only have time to supply the Stuffed Bell Peppers recipe, since several people have been asking for it lately! I’ll have the other recipes tomorrow after I finish a couple more papers tonight.
Stuffed Peppers
Ingredients
6 bell peppers any color (I like to get a couple medium/large sized ones and a couple smaller ones)
1 lb chicken
1 can black beans reduced sodium (you can also rinse the beans in the can a few times to decrease the amount of sodium)
1 cup yellow and white corn
1 cup cooked quinoa or brown rice
3 tbsp taco seasoning
parsley for garnishing
graded cheese (you can either add this in the mixture or sprinkle a little on top if you are trying to watch your caloric/fat intake)
Any other veggies or spices you would like to add into the peppers (onions, olives, garlic, etc.)
Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350.
2. Prepare chicken in a pan or George Forman (our favorite!) While chicken is cooking, bring quinoa or brown rice to a boil. Be sure to watch that the quinoa doesn’t boil over. I got a little sidetracked and didn’t realize it spilt all over the stove!
3. Once water is absorbed. Add the corn, beans, taco seasoning, and other veggies and spices to mixture. Cut chicken up into bite size pieces and add these as well. Stir together and cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally.
4. Line a baking sheet with tin foil. Cut the tops off of the peppers and use the extra pepper (that isn’t included in your stuffed pepper bowl) to go into your quinoa/brown rice mixture. “Stuff” the mixture into your peppers and top with a little cheese. Place in oven for about 5-10 minutes depending on how soft you would like your peppers. I like them crunchy so I prefer to cook the quinoa mixture longer by itself on the stove top before cooking it with the pepper.
5. After 5-10 minutes, turn the oven onto broil for a few more minutes. This will allow the cheese to be nice and cooked without bubbling. Just make sure to keep an eye on it so it does not burn!
6. Remove from oven and garnish with parsley. Enjoy!
Tip: I prefer to only do a couple peppers at a time and put the leftover mixture in the fridge to eat for later. This way the peppers don’t get soggy overnight and it’s nice and fresh every time! Just reheat the mixture, place in a pepper, and cook for the recommended time in directions.
Well, it’s back to working on my last papers in college ever! Happy happy joy joy! I’ll be back tomorrow with my Mini Chocolate Pie recipe and Apple Cinnamon Flaxseed Protein Pancakes…whooo doggay are they delicious!
How do you like to relax and relieve a little stress? Do you find this time of year adds extra stress, enjoyment, or a little bit of both?
Hope you all are having an amazing holiday season!
Your Daily Dose of Vitamin B with Genevieve Marie 