Friday Faith, Fuel, Fitness, Funnies

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So here is another Friday post that is just now being updated.  Only a little over a week late, though, instead of over two this time!  I added some things along the way, too.

What to do when you have some almond butter left and want to finish it so you can buy a new kind?  Do you also have bananas that are on their way to going bad soon?  Well, I did.  For a Sunday post-church, pre-run lunch, I mushed up a banana in my almond butter and microwaved it and mixed it:  rich, warm, and yuuuummmm...

Coach Rita from Furman University Cross Country tweeted this list of Coach John Wooden's favorite sayings for athletes (and just people).

I found another blog post that lists way more than the above picture, but I advise you to check it out!  They're simple and encouraging!

Yeah, it's been really humid around here lately.  I really love the heat, though!  There were times that it said 100%, but I missed the screenshot.

These post-run pancakes were peanut banana with a peanut butter glaze.  The nuts in the batter added a nice crunch!

Pancake:  whole wheat batter, chopped peanuts, mushed banana, water

Glaze:  Bee's Knees Peanut Butter, honey, sugarfree syrup; microwaved and drizzled

Reading my Snoopy daily calendar is something I look forward to every day.

These are another new pancake flavor:  Dark Chocolate Coconut!

Pancake:  Special K Dark Chocolate Protein Shake, whole wheat batter, shredded coconut, coconut extract, water

Topped with honey, sugar free syrup, and coconut

I won't waste my typing and your reading of my pumpkin pancakes, because I've already talked about them a lot, but I have made one change:  instead of Linwood's ground mix stuff, I am using pumpkin seeds.  (I ran out of the other, and I actually like using the seeds more!  They are so healthy, too, but also add a little crunch!)  I also had 3 egg whites this meal to add some extra protein!

Since I finished my almond butter, I was free to get a new kind!  I had seen this grinder at Ingles a while ago and have really been wanting to fix my own.  So a few days ago, I grabbed a container, flipped the switch, and here it is!

The Funnies:

I love the comics that relate to my life so well.

I used to do this at TCBY all the time.  Whenever they would have a froyo flavor I wanted, I would grab up a bowl of snacks and cereals and various things from the kitchen and take it there to get them to put it in a shiver.

With global warming (if it's real?) is heating things up, yeah, we might could cook outside.  People also would wear less clothing!  Ahhh! 

Yes.  If my friends saw this, they would ABSOLUTELY agree.  My desserts do pile sky-high.

This one is a picture of my mom and me.  Can you guess who is who?

We both love our cereal!  I love anything healthy and whole grain.  Mom does eat whole grain cereals, but it is because she says she can't taste the whole grain; she just likes the cereal.  If it's not cereal, but contains something "healthy," she won't touch it.

Equip Senior Night

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Every year after school is out for summer, my youth group has one Wednesday night at our property on the lake at Harrell Park.  We have a cookout, play games, sing worship songs, then any seniors who want to share can tell the rest of us whatever is on their heart.  Then we hang out and have dessert of some sort.

This is my friend Trey who went to UT last year but is back here for the summer.  He's like me!  Short! I'm not actually taller than him; in this picture, I'm just in front of him. 

Meals outside are always so pretty, but it's even better when it can be at the lake! 

You never know what kind of games you will be playing when Rob Walters is in charge, but you can bet on it being interesting and original.  The one we played at Senior Share Night was what he called foosebultimate:  a cross between fooseball and ultimate Frisbee, played with a football.  In the middle of our game, some random wet dog decided that he would join and chase the ball wherever it flew!

This is Will, who graduated from East.  He is also my cousin and the brother of my other cousin...of course!  Just kidding; his sister is also one of my best friends from church.  They are both great athletes and students, as well as Christians and role models for other kids.  They seem quiet, but are really great when you get to know them and hear them talk.  This was actually the most I'd heard Will talk in my life!  He talked about how important building relationships is, with people to influence you, be by your side, and for you to influence people.  It is also crucial that we love people!

Over the years that I have been in youth, this amazing girl has become one of my good friends, supporters, and role models.  Not only is she gorgeous, but also has a beautiful singing voice and heart for serving the Lord!  Everyone in our youth looks up to her for her life and knowledge.  She is someone who would send out sweet surprise texts some days, that would be just what I needed to put a smile on my face!  Her dad is the children's pastor at our church, so she is there often and is always ready to help.  Last year she was a counselor at Camp Bethel in Wise, Virginia, and she left the very next morning after our cookout to go again this year for most of summer break!  She reminded us how important it is to "recklessly abandon" the cares of this world, because they don't really matter;  God's got our life planned out, and as Christians, it will end in eternity, so life is all His!

Tyler and Josh led worship before and after the seniors shared.  It is so nice to have church outside in God's beautiful creations!  Tyler is in college now, and working toward being in the music ministry.  One of the other senior girls that spoke made a good point about not only working to do good things, but God's things.  "We can have good intentions but miss God's intentions."

After all this, we gathered around all our seniors and prayed especially for them as they go into the next chapter of their lives.

Campfire time!  My favorite!  There is just something about roasting marshmallows.

I got creative with my smores.  The one on the left has a York Patty in it, and the one on the right is with dark chocolate Reese's!  Dark chocolate is the bomb, but try adding some other things, too, and smores get even better than we thought they were!

Here I made a mini one with a piece of Reese's.

I also ate several plain marshmallows after I roasted them!  A warm, slightly golden one is perfect.  Smooth outside, gooey inside.

DIY Healthy Ice Cream

This picture may not look too appetizing, as it looks like dirt, but I promise, it is not dirt.  I was trying to find a way to use some things that I had at home to stretch out the time until I would go to the store to get some more things for dessert.  It didn't turn out exactly ice cream texture, but it was still very good!

In my bigger blender, I threw in yogurt, frozen yogurt, cocoa powder, almond milk, cow milk, Reece's Pieces, peanuts, dark chocolate snickers, vanilla, vanilla protein powder, and at this point, I really can't remember what else.  I blended it, froze it, and kept it to scoop out for or to add to dessert for a week or so!  Since it had quite a bit of liquid in it, it froze pretty solid, so I had to let it thaw a little in the fridge during dinner before I would take any out.

 

Some other flavors I may try like this sometime are:  banana, peanut butter banana, coffee, orange

Breakfast, Birthday, and a Ski Trip

I got to sleep in for my last time for a while, unfortunately.  I just love to sleep.  I did some exercises, then around an early lunch time, I fixed this hearty healthy "brunch" to power me up for the day ahead and refuel from the night and workout.  I told my mom it was great because I got almost everything in one bowl.  Protein from egg whites and almond butter, fruit goodness from a banana, whole grains from cream of wheat and oatmeal, and healthy fats from the almond butter.  Adding eggs was an idea I got from Carrots 'N' Cake blog. 

Yum!

Saturday, January 4th, was the birthday of a little girl named Alicia who I sponsor through World Vision.  When I was in 8th grade, my parents surprised me with tickets to a Casting Crowns concert as part of my birthday present.  During intermission, this organization was the "entertainment" for a lack of better terms.  It seemed like something I really wanted to do, and it is not too expensive.  All it takes is $35 a month, and you get to help a child learn and grow in life in and in Christ.  My parents and I decided that each month would come from my $20 of allowance and the other $15 from Mom's unlimited car wash pass.  (Who needs that many car washes per month!? haha)  Our letters have been coming back and forth pretty quickly recently.  Above is the translated letter.

Here is the letter Alicia wrote herself back home in Rio Verde, Ecuador.  Since I have been through Spanish I so far in school, I can read almost her entire letters without the translated one!  That makes me so excited!  There are a few words in some sentences that I don't know, but by using context clues, I can figure out the general message of the entire letter.  I can't wait to hopefully one day get to talk to her in person.

Here she is!  12 year old Alicia!

Around 2 in the afternoon, Dad and I left for Cataloochee in North Carolina.  It is fairly close, only around an hour and 15 minutes in traffic with nothing crazy holding it up, so we always get season passes.  Conditions are iffy here, like most places that are mostly man-made snow, but Saturday (and many others) was one of those days when I just don't want to leave!  Snow skiing is my #2 love, behind running.  I've been a skier since I was 4, and I hope to do it the rest of my life!  Going down the mountain on a good snow day is such a rush and another way to experience the beauty of God's nature.

This is a view from the top before we went in for dinner.

Now, this isn't the one I ate, but this picture is for explaining purposes.  This is literally the best protein/granola bar I have ever tasted in my life.  Olympia Granola had several flavors in the gift shop at Cataloochee, but the Turtle Mocha was calling my name...and still is.  I want another one. They are quite pricey though.  One bar is 2 hearty servings, but it is just too yummy to put down.  This flavor had ingreedients like dark chocolate, honey, and espresso to give it amazing taste and health boosts, and also filled with tons of grains and nuts to get you going, too.

On the way home, I broke into some more dark chocolate.  I always go for the dark because it's not too sweet, and it is healthier, too.  Milky Way and Snickers both make wonderful dark chocolate versions that I like to keep on hand!

Monday the 23rd Already?

Shew, I cannot believe yesterday was already the day before Christmas Eve.  It was a great fun day, though!

After I slept in and laid in bed for the first time in what seemed like forever, I worked out downstairs for an hour and a half.  Then I fixed a breakfast of all new things I have been waiting since Thanksgiving break to try!  I wanted to wait so I could sit and enjoy it.  I got these things at Target-the wonderstore!

 

Archer Farms Pumpkin Spice Oatmeal-I love creating pumpkin spice foods, so I decided to try a premade version, since I know that Archer Farms is a top, trustworthy brand.  It was a success!  I mix my oatmeal using Silk Unsweetened Vanilla Almond Milk then topped it off with cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice, ginger, and nutmeg...perfect!

 

Kashi Chocolate Almond Butter Cookies are something I don't even consider a dessert.  I ate a Kashi Oatmeal Raisin Cookie before almost every race this cross country season, too.  They are so healthy, you just can't feel bad about eating these cookies!

 

Added to my coffee was another Target treat-a Dark Chocolate Espresso stirrer. I can't find an internet page for these, but there are multiple flavors available during the holiday to add some flavor to hot cocoa, milk, or coffee.

Dad took our sheltie, Frisco to get a bath!  Thank goodness...if you had seen (or smelled) this dog before he got bathed, you would not think it is the same dog.  He enjoys to bark at the rain and roll in the mud, so he is always a mess.  But, precious puppy cleans up nice!

Even the most spastic of all dogs we have had is such a lover.  He starves for attention.  Frisco wouldn't hurt anything!  He "plays" with bunnies that get into the yard.  He will hold them down, but gently, while he licks and pets on them, then he lets them go.

I can't believe that I got him to look at the camera!  He was about to clobber and lick me to death, because he was so excited to see me!  Dad told me to get some good pictures of him while he was trapped on the deck, because once he got down, the fluffiness wouldn't last long.

Here is the cutie again, with his "sister," who is now an outdoor cat since she decided whenever she got made she would pee in the laundry baskets.  When the weather gets cold, all she wants is to come back inside!  Our family believes that they think they are of the same species, because they look out for each other so much.  Frisco hardly ever leaves Sophie alone!  She may not admit it if she could talk, but we even catch Sophie snuggling with and chasing Frisco around, too.  Pets are such a wonderful gift from God!  Although they can't speak, they touch hearts and lift spirits.

As of this day, I still was not done delivering or even wrapping gifts.  So my afternoon and night was spent doing just that.  After leaving Ingles, Mom and I drove to a friend's house to take her a gift from me.  At home, I worked on additions to my parents' gifts and took treats to the neighbors.  After dinner and a shower, I headed downstairs to wrap the gifts from me to Mom and Dad while watching Charlie Brown Christmas for at least the 4th time this year.  Mom and Dad were upstairs watching one of the funniest Christmas movies, in my opinion, Four Christmases.  I caught the last 45 minutes and still got a ton of laughs.  I must say, however, my dad's laughter at certain scenes made me go into uncontrollable laughter more from him than the movie!  It has to be good to get my dad tickled like that, and I love to see it!  He is so funny; I just love him.

 

Today was full of so many things I love about Christmas:  sleep, exercise, breakfast, gifts, shopping, wrapping, doing crafts, and spending time with the pets and family, and laughter and love!

Chuao Chocolate

I love going shopping at places I don't normally get to go to because I can always find new things!  (Especially when it's a store with food!)  Mom and I went to Target last Sunday, and they already have the Christmas decor and more on display and ready to go!  I'm ready to go, too, as Christmas is my absolute favorite season/holiday.

However, we cannot get so caught up in Christmas that we forget to stop and be thankful and spend extra time thanking and spending time with those we love and appreciate.

I spent a lot of money at Target and the other two stores we went to (Bath & Body Works and Yankee Candle) on Christmas gifts!  I found some things for myself, as well.  Below is one of those items.  Simply dark chocolate and honeycomb, this is a super-satisfying treat!


 Trying new things is almost always a good idea!

Cocoa Coffee Almond Butter Banana Protein Smoothie

Here is another recepie I made with the Bolthouse Farms drink.  Some of my favorite treats are also in this shake!  I took it for breakfast to school earlier in the week.

 

These are the ingreedients I blended up:

cocoa powder

almond butter

vanilla protein powder

Bolthouse Farms mocha cappuccino

a little each of whole and unsweet vanilla almond milk

a banana

Stonyfield dark chocolate frozen yogurt

Stonyfield chocolate under vanilla yogurt

<<<The finished product on my desk in first block Physical Science!

Dark Chocolate Coffee Pancakes

Here is the first thing I made with the Bolthouse Farms drinks. These delicious pancakes are made with Bolthouse Mocha Cappuccino, coffee, chopped dark chocolate chips, cocoa powder, and whole grain batter. Tastes great with honey and sugar free syrup and a cup of coffee!

Quick Snack

Balance Bar protein bars are very tasty snacks with 13 grams of protein, gluten free, and use 40-30-30% carbs, protein, fat ratio for lasting energy. This new kind I tried today also uses rainforest alliance certified cocoa!