This. Is. Your. Life.

I bought this poster today. 

From Here

I'm sure you've seen it. It's been passed around on Facebook and Pinterest totaling some 50 million views. But I love it. These are the exact rules I try (and sometimes fail at) to live my life by. And in 3-5 business days, it will be on the wall of my bedroom where I can wake up every day and be inspired by its words.

I decided to buy it at the perfect time too. I was driving to work this morning, as I do every Monday - Friday at the same time week in and week out, only today I was more excited than I have been in a long time. Not about anything in particular...just life. I was simply happy and looking forward to some potential opportunities that (fingers crossed) may come up in the next few weeks. Does that ever happen to you? That wave of positive energy bubbling up inside you? Well, with this feeling bursting through me, I realized that

I'm exactly where I need to be right now. 
I've been pushing for these new opportunities and changes to happen right away. I didn't want to wait anymore. I needed everything to happen in my time. I should know better by now, that life just doesn't work that way. My life is full of experiences that happened in the right timing for me, but not necessarily the timing I had hoped for. I've had to learn to be patient and accept that things have and will fall into place just as they should. To finally accept and enjoy where I am right now was liberating. This wave of giddiness rolled through me leaving no room for all of the pressure I've been putting on myself.

Stumbling upon that poster brought everything full circle for me and I fell into this perfect balance of energetic happiness and utter peace inside. Then it dawned on me, these feelings were coming from a place perfectly described in one line on the poster:

"If you don't like something, change it." For a long time, I've wanted to change my circumstances and my environment, but I never took the steps to do anything about it. I only complained about what I wasn't happy with. Recently, though, I've taken the steps necessary to change those circumstances. There's something empowering and invigorating about taking control of your own life. Doing whatever necessary to change what you don't like. I'm doing everything in my power to change what I don't like. And when I feel like I've done all I can, I wait...for that time when the potential opportunity is actualized. Sometimes, that time never comes, but what does come is the realization that not getting something I thought I wanted only left room for what I really needed. Something better than I could have imagined.

I see people around me who are still in the complaining phase. They aren't willing, aren't ready, or don't know what the next step is to change what they don't like. I hope I can set the example and inspire even just one person to take one step today.
After all, what we make of this life is our choice. 

Healthy Frittata and Little Victories

I am totally celebrating getting 3 followers this week! Little victories people. I relish in them. 

To my first readers, THANK YOU! You seriously made my week (really...I did a happy dance). If you only knew how terrified I was to actually start writing this thing. I love to write...it's just always been in a journal that no one reads. The fear of sounding like a completely uninteresting dork paralyzed me from starting for quite some time. So, the encouragement of 3 fabulous followers is just what I need as I start this journey. Please feel free to email me and pass along your blog wisdom. 

And now...the frittata. Delicious, healthy, filling, and simple to boot. You'll be making these every weekend once you see how easy it is AND that you can freeze these babies in individual slices then re-heat them for a quick breakfast during the week. I have my morning routine down to a science, so the quicker the breakfast, the better. But I also try to eat healthily and get some protein in the morning. Well, this frittata does the trick.

Sorry. This is the only picture you're getting because I'm new to blogging and realized AFTER the fact that I should have photographed this in steps like the pros do. Lesson learned.

Healthy Breakfast Frittata

Thanks to my mom, who introduced me to this frittata, I make these on a weekly basis. For a single serving meal you can re-heat quickly, just slice the end product into the desired size, individually wrap, and freeze. When you’re ready to eat, remove wrapping and heat for 1-2 minutes or until heated through. Enjoy!

Ingredients

12  Eggs, beaten (1 dozen eggs will serve 6-8 people depending on how big you want your

      slices.)

¼  Cup milk (I use 2%, but you can use whatever you’d like. You need this to add volume)

2   Cups raw spinach

½  Cup shredded cheese (use whatever kind you like. I used cheddar)

1   Small tomato, sliced            

     Salt and pepper to taste

Directions

1.     Pre-heat oven to 350°F

2.     Spray your skillet (make sure its oven safe! No melted handles please!) with nonstick cooking spray and place over medium heat.

3.     Add spinach and cover. Cook until wilted, about 2 minutes. Transfer to paper towel to cool. (Hot spinach may cook your eggs)

4.     Let your pan cool slightly (again, so we don’t cook the eggs before it’s time)

5.     Meanwhile, add eggs and milk to a bowl and whisk for about a minute. It’s alllll in the wrist.

6.     Combine egg mixture with cooled spinach, cheese, salt and pepper. Gently mix.

7.     Re-spray pan, if necessary, and pour contents of bowl in. Make sure ingredients have evenly distributed throughout.

8.     Place sliced tomato on top in whatever design your little heart desires.

9.     Bake for about 20 minutes, until lightly brown on top and the edges have started to pull away from the sides on your pan.

10.   Slice, add hot sauce and enjoy!  


Now, this is just a base recipe. Get creative! Throw in bacon, chopped ham, black beans, top it with avocado...that's the beauty of this breakfast. You can change it up every time you make it. Hope you like it as much as I do! 

Easter Cupcakes and an Icing Trick

How Stinkin' Cute Are These?

I've been telling my Grandma that I'd bake her cupcakes for a good 3 weeks now and since she was coming over on Easter, I knew I had to make good on my promise. I'm embarrassed to admit it (b/c I consider myself a baker), but...I cheated on these cupcakes. Big time. Box o' mix, can o' icing. How dare I call myself a baker and then slack on my baked goods! In my defense, I spent 2 days hanging out (read: drinking) with my best friend and that morning we hiked about 5 miles in the middle of an 80 degree day. So, by the time I set out to bake, I was in no mood for it. I'm not even going to list a recipe for this...I'm that ashamed. For these Bird's Nest Cupcakes, I baked the cake according to the box, grabbed some chocolate icing and a bag of Hershey's candy coated chocolate eggs. Bake. Pipe your nest with the largest star tip you can find and top with chocolate eggs.

I will say that it wasn't a total loss. The cupcakes tasted good and I remembered a handy icing trick that a friend found for me on Pinterest.

How is it possible that I never thought of this before? Duh! When you're ready to ice your treats, put your tipped bag into a tall glass, fold the excess at the top over the side of your glass and fill it up with icing. So easy. No mess. and I felt like I got way more icing in there than I do when I hold the bag with my other hands. Happy frosting my friends! and I hope you had a lovely Easter. 

Wine Filled Weekend

I discovered that I'm really good at taking a photo...as in one...of something I want to write a post about and then not only do I not document the rest of the recipe or adventure, but I also don't actually get around to writing about it. Blog Fail. I think I'm going to have to practice a little more dedication if I plan on making this something worth reading.

BUT, I'm here now. and I'm writing. and I have a very fun weekend to tell you about.

As soon as I got off of work on Friday, a happy hour was thrown at my house where 3 of us downed 3 bottles of wine.

See em there? 1,2,3. That's a bottle of wine each. Now, I don't know about you, but I can pound vodka sodas until the cows come home and never feel a thing (okay I eventually feel it, I'm not invincible). But wine, for whatever reason, goes straight to my head. 2 glasses and I should probably stop. An entire bottle? And you get to know drunk Kate real well. She's loud, more sarcastic, laughs a ton and says plenty of not-so-intelligent comments. She was out in full force last Friday night (did the Katy Perry song just pop into anyone else's head?) We had fun though. The night was full of drunk kate's tears laughter.

You'd think that'd be enough wine for one weekend, right? Any normal person would have learned their lesson from the pounding headache the next morning. But noooo. I like to learn the hard way. So, my friend (one of those bottles up there was hers) and I found ourselves at Danza Del Sol Winery in Temecula at 11am the following morning. Two thoughts are probably running through your head right now. 1) This girl has issues. or 2) What the hell were they thinking? Trust me, I was thinking both that morning. But, LivingSocial said this was our last chance to use our coupon so, what's a girl to do? Skip out on a discount? I think not! Must. Drink. More. Wine. 

I now COMPLETELY understand the term "hair of the dog." It works! After our first taste, the shakes and headaches were gone and we were able to enjoy a pretty interesting tour of the winery. I wish I had taken more pictures, but there were two really obnoxious wine know-it-alls snapping away and asking questions non-stop. I felt like I would have gotten grouped in with them if I had pulled out my phone to take my own photos and I sort of have a crush on the tour guide so I was trying to play it cool. Don't worry though, we had such a good time there (read: I have such a crush on the tour guide), we joined the Wine Club and I'll be going back there many times (stalker?). If you're ever in Temecula, I highly recommend this place. Pack a picnic, pay $10 to taste 5 different, but all delicious, wines, buy a bottle of your favorite and hit the patio (I spent 4 hours doing this exact activity). It's beautiful. You're surrounded by fountains and on Saturdays, they have a live musician. Not a bad way to spend a Saturday.