Snowed-Out

No, I am not actually snowed-out of my apartment or anything like that, but this constant barrage of snow is becoming quite tiresome. I know it's my fault for moving to Boston from sunny South Carolina. I know I brought this upon myself. But if I had any idea it would snow THIS MUCH, I don't think I would have moved!


Don't get me wrong, the snow is beautiful at times. When I can be inside, bundled up all nice and warm with a blanket and some tea, the snow is lovely. It makes the outside world sparkle. It's nice to take a pause and relax, slow down, and enjoy the winter wonderland. However, the winter wonderland only last so long. Once this beautiful, white, fluffy snow turns to mush, it becomes messy, dirty, and unattractive. Melting snow is a mess. 


I'm going to quit complaining, suck it up, and learn to love (or at least tolerate) all this snow. After all, if I'm ever going to live in a snowy city, my 20s is the time to do it. I found this recipe from Bobby Deen (Paula Deen's son) and thought that a nice, yummy, healthy chili would be just the thing to get me out of my should-be snow-day slump. (I mean, come on, we got almost 10 inches!) I'm so looking forward to coming back from work tonight and making this hopefully delicious meal!

Update: This recipe is DELICIOUS!!!! I halved the recipe so I wouldn't waste the leftovers, but I'm somewhat regretting that decision. Super filling without being heavy and making you feel disgusting afterwards. Next time I'm going to try a little less chili powder and some red pepper flakes instead. Can't wait to heat up my leftovers :) 

Bobby’s Lighter Chili

Ingredients:
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 pound ground turkey
1 green bell pepper diced
1 medium onion, diced
2 celery stalks, diced
2 tablespoons finely chopped pickled jalapeno peppers
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 (14 1/2-ounce) cans petite cut diced tomatoes
1 (15 1/2-ounce) can red kidney beans
1 (15-ounce) can pinto beans
1 cup medium salsa
2 tablespoons chili powder
1 teaspoon ground cumin
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup reduced-fat shredded cheese
1/2 cup chopped scallions

Directions:
Heat oil in large nonstick saucepan over medium-high heat. Add the turkey and cook, breaking it up with a spoon, until the turkey is browned, about 6 minutes. Add the bell pepper, onion, celery, jalapeno, and garlic. Cook, stirring occasionally until vegetables are tender, about 8 minutes.
Add the tomatoes, beans, salsa, chili powder, cumin, and salt; bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer, covered, stirring occasionally, until the flavors are blended and the chili begins to thicken, about 1 hour. Serve with the cheese and scallions.

Prep Time: 10 min
Cook Time: 1 hour
Difficulty: Easy
Yield:  8 Cups  

Per Serving: (1 cup) 260 Cal

New Year, New Life!

Today's post will be short, and I'll post again over the weekend. However, I just wanted to give a shout out to my dear dear friend, Mary Helen, and her husband Nate. They just welcomed their new baby boy into the world last night!

Mary Helen and I in college

Our senior prom - my how we grew up!

The adorable couple (and now new parents!) on their wedding day

Check out their blog about their life as brand new parents and a few posts about their adorable puppy Tibi!


Congrats Mary Helen and Nate, I love you both and can't wait to meet this sweet bundle of joy!

Cozy Winter Comforters

On this first day of "spring" semester, I woke up to swirling, twirling, beautiful snowflakes. The novelty of snow itself has quickly worn off - I don't know how to walk in it, and it takes me much more time than it should to navigate the sidewalks. However, there is still something magical about watching these tiny ice crystals fall from the sky. I'm sure that too will get old quick!

As pretty as the snow looks, I still wouldn't choose to wander around in it. Oh no, I'd much rather spend a snowy day curled up on my couch or in bed with a mug of hot chocolate and a warm blanket. I absolutely love blankets and bedding collections, especially those from Anthropologie. While they’re outrageously expensive, they look so divine that I’m almost tempted to spend the money on them. Keyword being almost.

Rivulets Quilt

I absolutely LOVE this bedding from Anthroplogie! I'm waiting for the Euro shams to come in this cream color; they already have a place reserved on my bed! It's ruffly and romantic and girly...and that to me equals love.

Tuxedo Bedding

This is also from Anthroplogie and has an equal ruffly and romantic feel. I love the way their designers mixed this simple tuxedo bedding with bright, colorful sheets! This is definitely a runner-up to the previous bedding since it doesn't exactly work with the comforter I already have. Come on, I'm a poor graduate student, I can barely afford the pillows I'm buying, let again a whole new bedding set!

Laerke Duvet

 And to prove to all of you that I don't have some bizarre dislike of color, here is this adorable duvet from Urban Outfitters. Orange and yellow are my two favorite colors - yellow is so happy and can instantly brighten my mood, and I have a soft spot for orange ever since I became a Clemson Tiger. I seriously thought about getting these pillows, but I'm not sure how they'd look with my current bedding. I'll have to think about that a little more...

Wherever you are, I hope you stay nice and cozy and warm during these chilly winter months! Just remember, sooner or later it'll be 90+ degrees and you'll be begging for this cooler weather!

It's Awards Season!

After watching the Golden Globes last night, I have come to one conclusion: if I could be anyone in the entire world, I would be Dianna Agron from Glee. Not only is she stunningly gorgeous, but she seems sweet, genuine, and totally normal. Oh, and let’s not forget about her voice!

The main reason I watch these award shows is the fashion. I love to see all of the bags, shoes, and gowns that go down the red carpet, regardless of whether they will enter the fashion hall of fame or fall dismally into fashion hell. Some of my favorites last night were, as previously mentioned, Dianna Agron, Olivia Wilde, Lea Michele (even if she looked like a birthday ribbon), Carrie Underwood…

Dianna Agron

Olivia Wilde

Lea Michele

Carrie Underwood

I could go on forever, but enough with my fashion obsession. Let’s briefly talk about the winners.

Chris Colfer won Best Supporting Actor in a Series, Mini-Series, or TV Movie for his role as Kurt Hummel on Glee. His acceptance speech brought tears to my eyes (make fun all you want) – he was so humble, shocked, and endearing. Made me love him and Glee even more than I already do! (Jane Lynch also won Best Supporting Actress in this category for her role as Sue Sylvester, and the series won for Best TV Series – Comedy or Musical!)

The Social Network won several awards, beating out films I thought were more deserving. However, I hate to say that I have yet to see the movie. It IS at the top of my Netflix queue though, so as soon as it becomes available, I will fix this problem. As a twenty-something AND a graduate student studying communication, I am fully immersed in social media and its uses. I could not get through my day without some form of social media. I definitely am excited to watch the Hollywood version of Facebook’s creation.

Natalie Portman won Best Actress for her role in Black Swan. I did see that movie and it was incredible! Her speech...wasn't. Earlier on the red carpet, she said she hated praise and congratulations, so I understand maybe being nervous or just plowing through. The only redeeming factor I saw in her speech was her adorable baby bump and glowing smile when she mentioned grandmother, parents, and fiance.

Side note – how impossible was it for the award winners to get up on stage?? It seems to me that instead of cramming 300+ stars into a tiny ballroom you would just get a bigger room! It’s not like you people don’t have money or anything…

Overall, the Golden Globes were a very successful night, both fashion and awards-wise. What's the next awards show again?

Cooking Fiasco

I'm finally (somewhat) settled into my apartment again after being gone for a month, so I decided last night was the perfect night to refresh my culinary skills. One of my favorite new meals is stuffed peppers, thanks to Bethenny Frankel. Yes, the woman from Real Housewives of New York and other Bravo TV shows. I admit, I got sucked into the Real Housewives craze, and it is one of my guilty pleasures that I love TiVo-ing for snowy nights where I refuse to leave my apartment.

Her recipe is relatively simple, fast, and delicious! I've tried other recipes of hers from her website, but this is by far my favorite. I've changed my own version up a little bit, but here is her actual recipe:

• 6 peppers (cut off top and bottom and use them)
• 1 pound turkey meat
• 1 cup quinoa (cooked)
• ½ large onion
• 2 cups jarred tomato sauce
• 1.5 tsp garlic salt
• 2 tsp tabasco
• 2.5 tsp worcestershire sauce
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp pepper
• 1 tsp chili powder
• 2 tsp fresh thyme
• 1/3 cup feta cheese
• 2 tablespoon toasted pine nuts
• Parsley for garnish

Preheat oven to 400 degrees Cook for 30 minutes Prep Time 30 minutes

1. Cook quinoa per directions. Add one cup grain to 2 cups water. Boil, then simmer until water is gone
2. Crumble turkey meat with wooden spoon over medium heat.
3. While turkey meat is cooking, chop the tops and bottoms of peppers into pieces and combine with chopped onion, garlic salt and tomato sauce. Saute over medium heat and add remaining ingredients except the feta and pine nuts
4. Combine the above with cooked turkey, quinoa, pine nuts and feta cheese (save a small amount of feta to sprinkle on top later on)
5. Remove the inside of the peppers. Portion the mixture into each of the peppers and place them on a baking sheet. Top with feta cheese. Bake for 30 minutes.

Now, I use mixed Mexican cheese (like the kind you would use for tacos) instead of feta; leave out the pine nuts, thyme, tabasco, and Worcestershire sauce; and half the time I don't actually stuff it into a pepper. It tastes just as yummy if you put it in a casserole dish and bake it!

This supposedly easy dish has been a go-to of mine since moving in by myself. However, last night's dinner could not have been more of a fiasco if I tried. I couldn't open my tomato sauce, burned my meat, and overcooked the veggies. The quinoa however turned out perfect! :)

Voila! Not the actual recipe, but close enough!

Once that was in the oven, I decided to reward myself with some wine -- BAD idea. I cut myself on my corkscrew (it's cheap and doesn't really work properly), spilled wine all over myself and my floor, AND burned myself on one of the pans.

All in all, last night was a disaster. Will it stop me from cooking this delicious dish again? No. But I will be investing in a better corkscrew, and I will always open my tomato sauce BEFORE everything is done cooking!

If you decide to try this recipe, let me know how you like it!!

Airport Etiquette

After a recent cross-country flight, I have confirmed my intense dislike for flying. I hate, I repeat, hate flying. The lack of personal space, leg room, and control over who sits next to you is something I just would rather not experience. Call me a control freak - I'll own up to it.


Now, don't get me wrong, I realize it's completely impractical for me to say I will never fly again. I go to school in Boston, and my family lives in Charleston, South Carolina. According to Google Maps, the drive is 17 hours and 21 minutes. That is just not going to happen. I got bored driving to my college that was 4 hours away; I could never make it 17 hours and 21 minutes.


I have tried to find redeeming qualities in flying, other than its practicality. However, this past trip was so awful I forgot all of them. Coming from a warm Southern climate, the concept of de-icing a plane requires some adjustment. Normally, an hour between connecting flights is fine, but not when your plane has to be de-iced. That process alone took an hour, which even the pilot admitted was rare. However, here is where our etiquette lesson kicks in:


If you are sick, hungover, suffering from food poisoning, prone to motion sickness (as I am), etc, there is an air sick bag in the seat pocket in front of you. You may also excuse yourself and get to a lavatory on board. It is not appropriate to get sick all over yourself and the seat in front of you.


Yes, this little gem also happened on my flight, and I can only thank the good Lord that it did not happen next to me. So not only did we get essentially delayed an hour because of de-icing, but we also had to go back to the gate, take this passenger and his bags off, clean the plane, and re-seat those passengers in that row. Thankfully, the US Airways representative I talked to was able to get me a seat on a plane back home, even if it did mean I was sitting in the Charlotte airport for 5 hours. Thanks, Rochelle from US Air, for getting me home at all - otherwise my parents would have had to drive 6 hours round trip to take me home.


I know flying is a necessary evil, and with Dramamine's help, I can survive the turbulence, push thoughts of crashing out of my head, and pass out for the duration of the flight. Guess I should have thought about this before I moved 1,000 miles away.

...and they lived happily ever after

Growing up, I always thought life had a set path. You went to college, met the love of your life, got married, had babies, watched them grow up and have babies, then eventually passed away. Boy, am I glad I was wrong! Not that there's anything wrong with that pattern - believe me, sometimes I wish I had that security of being a married twenty-something rather than a single girl fighting off creeps in bars. Being Southern makes me very aware of my unmarried status. But that doesn't mean I'm about to go on a reality dating show to find my "one and only."

A reality show like the Bachelor. Now, I admit that I have watched many seasons of this show in the past. I get sucked in by the beautiful girls, handsome guy, and the amazing dates that lead to happily ever after. But when you think about it, how many of those couples stay together or have gotten married? Two - Trista and Ryan Sutter and Molly and Jason Mesnick. Neither were my first choice, although their still being married give them way more credibility. I just don't believe that you are going to find your life-long soul mate in 6 weeks on a TV show with producers and cameras and 20-something other catty girls. No thanks, not for me.

I believe in fairy tale endings. I believe in finding your soul mate. Too many of my friends have gotten married to "the one" for me not to have faith in love. However, I don't want today's kind high-tech, super casual, are we dating or are we just "hooking up" kind of dating. I want love letters and phone calls and romantic dinner dates. I want flowers and candles and champagne. Maybe I'm asking too much, but I believe it's out there. It doesn't have to be all mushy-gushy romance all the time; I'll watch sports, I'll go hiking (well, if I really like a guy...maybe), I'll try just about anything once. But underneath all the fun and exciting dates, there needs to be a real emotional connection that I think takes time.

Do I think you can be seriously dating in 6 weeks? Sure, why not? But getting engaged?? Heck no, I don't think so! Especially some of the 22 or 23 year olds that go on that show with brains smaller than my sister's cat. Sure, many girls go on the Bachelor to launch careers, get noticed, and become someone. You can't really fault them for that when so many of these relationships fail. But the truth of the matter is, everyone believes in some form of happy ending. Good luck to the Bachelor and bachelorettes, I hear the final couple is very happy together. Maybe this will be the 3rd marriage...but we'll just have to wait and see.

my new years resolution

First and foremost, I want to wish everyone a very happy new year! I hope you all had fun celebrating with family and friends, food and fun, sequins and champagne - or a combination of those. I had a fabulous time celebrating with some dear friends in downtown Charlotte, North Carolina. It was a nice change of pace from my so far quiet Christmas break. In a few days I will be headed back to Boston for my second semester of graduate school; it's hard to believe I'm already a third of the way done!


As a soon-to-be communications professional, my first new years resolution is this blog. Now, let me follow that by saying I am a horrible blogger. I have had several assignments in grad school that required me to keep a blog, and I hated it. Mostly because I was too busy to keep up with writing every day but also because I felt as if nothing I had to say was important enough. Well, that ends here! No more self-deprecation for me! I am a fun, vibrant, exciting young twenty-something, and I am going to share that with the world.


In this blog I will explore all of my favorite things - clothes, shoes, cooking, the entertainment industry, sports, advertising, etc. My interests are diverse, but isn't it more fun to mix it up a bit rather than do the same, boring blog post every day? I think so! Starting now, I want to take more time to voice my opinions about what is going on in the world, whether it be Kate Spade's new spring line or what's the newest trend in social media. Hopefully you'll bear with me and maybe even find something insightful!


A few other resolutions I have:

Expand my culinary horizons.

I like to cook. I really do. But cooking the same recipes over and over again gets really tiring. I want to try to expand my cooking abilities; I've mastered a few easy recipes, but every now and then it'd be nice to cook myself a little something special. Try something fancy after I ace that theory test or get an A on a writing piece. More than anything else, I want to have fun with it - this is supposed to be a stress reliever, not a stress inducer!

Exercise more.

I feel like everyone has this resolution, but I really do have it in my head that I want to run a 5k. I'm not much for exercise - I'd much rather go on a nice walk on the beach than a run around the track. But there's no time like the present to get in shape, and it'll only get harder as I get older. Plus, as I'm sure you'll soon learn, I'm a semi-paranoid person, so anything that can make me healthier is sure to benefit me in the long run.

Read more for pleasure, even when school starts back up.

There are SO many amazing books out there, but I feel like I don't have time for any of them. My goal this break was to read at least 3 books, and I failed. Even when I get wrapped up in the craziness of school, I want to be able to have a good book to fall asleep reading. Even if it takes me months, I'm determined to read more classics!

That's about enough for a first post. If you have any favorite recipes I should try or books I just have to read, let me know!