Happy Wednesday to you! It doesn’t quite feel like Wednesday because of the holiday on Monday and luckily that means the weekend is closer than it appears! yippee!! I just got back into town late Monday night, so I didn’t have much time to meal prep and get ready for the week. Yesterday for lunch I grabbed something from Whole Foods and then ate something light for dinner before going grocery shopping.
[[ Quinoa Stir Fry, Pasta, Spicy Tofu, Fruit, Cucumbers, Black Beans, & Fire Roasted Corn ]]
I have some full re-caps for y’all about my trip to Charleston, SC to visit Meg this past weekend, but first we need to dive into my second Favorite Things post of the year! So far my New Year’s Resolutions are shaping out pretty well and what I loved about creating some specific blog goals was being able to go back and view them yesterday so I could see where I’m slacking and plan my posts for the rest of the month accordingly!
- Charleston, SC
I can’t help but mention that Charleston, SC is now one of my favorite places! I still feel like there is so much to do and see and eat there, but I got a pretty great taste of it this past weekend! Not to mention, my long time blog friend Meg now resides there and is only a whopping 9.5 hours away from me! I know that probably seems like a long road trip to most of you, but when she was a good 18 hours away before, the 9 hour drive now doesn’t seem so bad! I have so much good food to share with y’all (which btw, was NOT part of my Engine 2 Diet Challenge – I already knew I was making this exception when I left town). I was excited for her to finally meet Nick and I was looking forward to getting to know Mike better! Luckily the weekend wasn’t filled with awkward silence like you might imagine with half the people who had only met once their entire life and the other half who had never met before.
- Engine 2 Approved, Health Starts Here Approved Dressing
I’ve been head over heels in love with this no oil dressing! My favorite so far is the Tangerine Vinaigrette, but I have my eyes on the Avocado Vinaigrette for a meal this week! There are so many things to love about this dressing – It’s healthy, It’s super tasty, It’s light on your stomach, and it has no added oils! My only regret is that I didn’t know this dressing existed when I did the Health Starts Here Challenge last August!
- King Street Cookies & Others…
This was a difficult one to decide on, but I went with King Street Cookies. I promise, you’ll hear about a thousand other things that also topped my favorite list, but if I let all the good stuff out on this post, then I wouldn’t have a recap to write. King Street Cookies was one of the many places Meg & Mike took us this past weekend! Nick and I splurged and got the 1/2 dozen which gives you one free, so we got 7 cookies total. Each cookie was absolutely delicious and when we polished them off the very next day, they were just as soft as when we first ordered them! I’ll dive into which ones we specifically got on my recap post, but I was very impressed with King Street Cookies!
- Menu Planner
When I got home from Charleston, I had one last Christmas present waiting for me. My aunt, uncle, & cousins all came down to Mississippi while I was gone (they planned their trip after I planned mine so we ended up missing each other). They made me the cutest customizable menu planner! I immediately made out my weekly menu for the rest of this week! I’m excited to try some new recipes!! Nick will be coming into town this weekend, so anything I can’t finish off or end up not liking, I’ll just pass it on to him! I have one more exception in my diet coming up this weekend and that’s for our Annual Awards Banquet because they’ll be providing a free meal & drinks. I plan on sticking to the diet completely the last 2 weeks though.
- Grapefruit Beer
Oh my goodness, this stuff is AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Seriously, it’s one of my new favorite beers! Meg introduced me to this beer at a local pizza place this weekend and I couldn’t resist ordering it. I’m so glad I did because I think mixing tangerine with beer was a genius move. It has the perfect tangy flavor and it doesn’t feel heavy on your stomach like regular beer does. It was also a refreshing beer to drink since it had that fruit flavor. I’m on the hunt for a tangerine beer that I can buy in Mississippi now! I have no clue if this one even exists in Mississippi, but I’ll be on the hunt for it or something similar!
I think it’s safe to say that we had an amazing time in Charleston and I am so excited to recap our entire trip so you can see what we did and what we ate! It’s going to be legen— wait for it — dary! I’m so thankful for this little ole’ blog that brought me friendships I’d drive 9 hours to see!
- What’s on your favorite things list today?
- Any idea where I can get some grapefruit beer?
