One to Nothin'

Insta-Weekend / Music Monday

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On Friday night, I went to Gainesville and partied with some of my lovely friends. We played ring of fire and hit up midtown. I was really jealous of Sarah’s epic feather earrings.

I even managed to catch a lipstick-drawn elderly wand, invisibility cloak & resurrection stone symbol on the bathroom wall (not sure if you guys know what GDI is, but it does NOT necessarily apply to Harry Potter fans, just sayin’..).

Ziggy would not stop licking me after my 6-mile run (I wasn’t all that happy about it..), but I was extremely excited to have gotten a 114-point word in Words With Friends!!!! There’s Austin deflating the air mattress, and some vegetarian eggs benedict I made because it’s all rainy and gross outside, resulting in my sleeping all day and wanting breakfast in the afternoon.

There’s me and my new ginger beard (anyone else stoked about St. Patrick’s Day?!), my nephew and I before we went running in the rain and then proceeded to play Wii Fit (he’s awesome), then there were mimosas, girl scout cookies and fantasy Oscars (I got the least right of everyone. Figures.), and lastly my sweet dog cuddling with my arm while I stalk all your wonderful blogs.

I hope you all had a fabulous weekend. It’s raining and raining and raining here. I know we need it, but it’s not motivating me to do anything. Except maybe watch music videos..

& come up with a Music Monday playlist!!! 
I keep forgetting to do this for some reason, but today the theme is One Hit Wonders over at Confessions of a GDS. Here goes:
Warning: Some Most of them are inappropriate..

Tofu Red Curry

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Thai food is my absolute favorite lately. Not too long ago I discovered the wonder that is red curry and I’ve been obsessed ever since. I’ve ordered it at three different Thai restaurants, and finally I tried making it myself. I was sort of expecting to be disappointed after the glorious restaurant-made ones, but I actually loved it. Like, a lot. So here I am sharing it with you.
I roughly followed this recipe.

Here’s what I used:
Boil-In-A-Bag Brown Rice
1/4 C Water
1 Onion
1 T Olive Oil
1 T Chopped Garlic
2 t Red Curry Paste
1 Can Unsweetened Coconut Milk (full fat)
1 t Salt
Cayenne Pepper (the more, the spicier)
1 Box Cubed Extra Firm Tofu
1 T Fish Sauce
Baby Corn
Snow Peas
Bamboo Shoots
Culantro
Mushrooms
Sprouts

First I sauteed the chopped onion in the olive oil for a while over medium high heat, then added the garlic and curry paste. After the onion was good and red, I added the coconut milk and water (next time I might use less water so it’s creamier). After they came to a boil, I added the vegetables and again, brought it to a boil.

Then I turned the heat down to simmer, covered it and let the veggies soak for a bit, then added the tofu and fish sauce. At this point I started boiling water for the rice since it only takes 10 minutes.

I poured it over the rice and ate it all up. I was quite pleased with the outcome, and there were plenty of leftovers for me to eat for the next two days, even after feeding it to my parents.. excellent. 

I’ll update you about all the cookies I made this weekend at a later date, hopefully followed by a “look-how-much-I’ve-worked-out-since-then” kind of a post as well, but there’s really no telling. 😉

Did you make any great recipes this weekend?

Pass It Forward

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Dear Blog readers,

Today I am extremely excited to share with you all the brain child of the creative, altruistic and fabulous Ashley of The Shine Project: Pass It Forward.

Ashley says, “Pass It Forward was designed to get people to do little things, every day, that make an impact on the community around them. Pass it Forward is designed around a card. Each card is given a unique ID number. Let’s say we’re at McDonalds, and I decide to pay for the person behind me in the drive through. I’d give the cashier the card, and tell them to pass it along to the next car when they give them the food that has been paid for. I then go home and log into the website that was on the card, and find my unique ID number. I log into it, and add my information… My first name, city, and a description of what I did….

Let’s say the person behind me was you, you would pass it forward to someone else, and then would go home and do the same thing. From the very beginning, you will be able to track where your card goes, and how many people you affect just by doing one simple act of kindness.” (www.spreadtheshine.com/)
Be sure to visit The Shine Project to find out how to get your own cards and start making a positive impact on the people of your community. As soon as I receive mine in the mail, I will tell you all about the good deed I did with it. Ashley will also have Linky parties so we can all share the good things we’ve done that week, so be sure to check her blog often. 

TheShineProject

Happy Friday, friends! 

Sincerely,

MacKensie

Dear Dairy-Free Chocolate Chip Cookies I just made, 
YOU ARE DELICIOUS!!!! Sorry, bod. This is happening.
-Big Mack

Dear Chemistry,
You won this time.. But next time I’m taking you down.
-Kens

Dear Charlotte Russe,
Please don’t let anyone buy those lacy shorts in my size before I have enough money to buy them myself.
-Brokensie

Dear The Office,
Thanks for making me almost pee myself every Thursday. Also, Kathy sucks.
-Kensie

Dear Weekend,
Let’s make this one count.
–PARTY Mack

Check out Adventures of Newlyweds for more Friday’s Letters! 🙂

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Born to Run Recipes

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Ever since I read Christopher McDougall’s “Born To Run” I have been dying to try the recipes of the simplistic, vegetarian dishes the Tarahumara tribe (“The Running People”) use to fuel their ridiculously long runs described in the book. Since I was planning on doing a medium-length run of about 6 miles yesterday, I got to researching and came up with these masterpieces:

(My girl Kaleigh says it looks like thrown up glitter. Awesome.)
This is Iskiate, kind of a natural energy drink. Here’s what you need:
Water
Chia Seeds (yea, the kind that grow hair for your chia pet)
Lemon or lime
Sugar/Agave Nectar/Honey
(This is what chia seeds look like when they’re not green and sprouting out of a head)
You just add a tablespoon of chia to a glass of water and let it sit for about five minutes (the longer you wait, the more gel-like the water becomes) while sliminess coats each individual seed. This might be a little too weird for you texture freaks out there, but I happen to be a huge fan of bubble tea, so I was totally down with it. Then you add lime or lemon and sweetener for taste. I used lemon juice & agave nectar. It was pretty tasty, but it didn’t really kick in until I was already done running and sitting in class, wishing I was running instead of hearing every person in the room’s personal experience with every abnormal psychological disorder in the book. (Seriously, there’s something about psychology classes that makes people way too willing to contribute inappropriate, personal information.. Next class about sexual disorders should be interesting.. but I digress.)
The next thing I made was called Pinole, which I made a bit differently from what is described in the book. I used the No-Meat Athlete‘s recipe as a guide.
First I put 1/2 C polenta (basically corn grits) over medium heat. Supposedly it will turn a light brown color.. mine did no such thing.
I added these things in. I basically kept adding water until it was the consistency of cookie dough because I decided I would bake it and make little pinole cookies, which would be easy to carry and eat while on a long run. I preheated the oven to 350 and baked them for about 10 minutes.
They really weren’t super flavorful, but the aftertaste was slightly addictive. I ate most of them.
Then I took pictures in my new socks and thought about how incredibly attractive I looked in my alien toe-shoes and knee-high socks.
(I’m goofy and I know it.. <–sing that.)
So after all this build-up.. it was finally time to run. The sky was a very dark shade of gray and was ready to burst open at any moment. I went anyway, and after about three miles my knee started bothering me. Needless to say, it was a disappointing ending to any exciting beginning of a run. 
To make myself feel better, however, I’m going to show off the splits from my 9-mile run a week and some change ago (the one that resulted in the most epic blister ever). Check it.
I am pretty pleased with that. Now I just need to do it again, plus four, sans blister & knee pain.
Oh, and the new Fun. album is out. Seriously, the highlight of my day was learning this information. 

What I Wore on 19thentine’s Day

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Three years later, I revisited my Kensie dress for 19thentine’s Day 2012-edition. This time I paired it with Nine West heels, my grandmother’s bracelet, InPink earrings and the Brighton heart necklace Austin gave me just a few hours after our awkward prom pose photos were taken (unfortunately Austin’s roommates weren’t as enthusiastic about paparrazi-ing us this year as mine were back then.. they also didn’t decorate his bed with condoms, candles and cosmos. Bor—-ingggg.) Luckily I have mad arm-reaching skillz.
Our day’s adventures began when I showed up at Austin’s place with the first clue to his treasure hunt and these bad boys:
Homemade sugar cookie deliciousness. The first clue took us to yoga in the park (where I didn’t actually hide the clue because I was running late from hiding all the others, woops!) And in case you were wondering, the clue did in fact rhyme with “Namaste.”

The clues, in plastic baggies because it was raining off and on, took us to the dog park, apartment complexes, a nature trail, a picnic..

And eventually to a second-floor balcony full of treasure, that only had one way up.

(My boyfriend is a very strong monkey man)
Here’s most of the loot. Not pictured there were numerous records to go with his new record player.
AND
He got me super-awesome compression socks that defend against crazy blisters and lactic acid in the calf region.. I will definitely report back with photos and what not once I try them out. He also got me the most delicious sushi dinner ever, complete with Saki. He’s a keeper.
Overall, I’d say 19thentine’s Day was a success.

19thentine’s Day

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In all the three years we’ve been dating, Austin and I have never celebrated Valentine’s Day on February 14.
Working at a super-fancified restaurant guarantees you’ll be pretty busy on v-day, so we’ve gotten into a sort of tradition of celebrating whatever day (in this case the 19th) we can and calling it –thentine’s Day.
This year, for 19thentine’s Day, I decided to make a scavenger hunt for him so he really had to work for his presents. It went all over Gainesville, involved a picnic and he had to scale a balcony of a second-floor apartment to get to his grand prize. It was epic.
There are a lot more photos and details (including the recipe for these homemade sugar cookies) to come, but for now I’m off to learn chemistry. 
Enjoy your Monday.

Shabby Apple Giveaway

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I am extremely excited to offer all of you beautiful people the chance to win this gorgeous dress from 
Shabby Apple! I’m sure you all have seen some of this online dress boutique’s products floating around the blogosphere before (I know I’ve tried to win plenty myself), but the difference is THIS time you get to win the Waimea dress in navy (an $86 value) and you get to win it from ME! I would love to rock this dress, particularly because the romantic ruffles remind me of the ocean and I imagine the shape is pretty flattering as well. Here’s a look from behind.
To win, leave a separate comment for each of the following:
Mandatory Entries
“Like” Shabby Apple on Facebook
“Like” this blog on Facebook
Follow this blog via BlogLovin
Follow this blog via Google Friend Connect
Extra Entries
Follow Shabby Apple on Twitter
Tell me what your favorite item is from the store
Follow me on Twitter
Follow me on Pinterest
Mention this giveaway on your blog, Twitter or Facebook 
(Be sure to mention me or leave your link in the comment!)
Giveaway ends Friday, February 25!
Good luck, ladies!!!
*Open to US residents only, sorry!*

InstaFriday / Friday’s Letters

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Dear Running Shoes, I appreciate you supporting my ankle and allowing me to run 9 (pretty fast!) miles, but in return you gave me the biggest, reddest, grossest blister I’ve ever had, hindering the rest of my running this week. Not cool, man. (I am so tempted to post a picture of it, but I will spare my poor blog readers’ eyes… for now.) Sincerely, Running with my Vibrams next time

Dear Valentine’s Day, Thanks for being awesome. Can’t wait to celebrate you more on Sunday. Love, Kensie

Dear Fan, I hope you’re not offended by how terribly your light bulbs match now, but that’s what you get for letting all three blow out at the exact same time. -me Dear Sushi, I will love you forever and always. -Big Mack Dear Hunger Games Trilogy, Seems like just yesterday when I first started reading your pages and now I’ve finished you all. *sigh* Let’s just hope the movies can come even remotely close to your amazingness. -Mack

Dear Britni (my sis), I enjoyed eating froyo & drinking wine slushees with you. Let’s do it again some time. -Mack 
Dear Hair, Thanks for cooperating with me lately. I enjoy having an actual pony tail again. -Me

Dear Weekend, for the most part this is what you’re going to look like:
Minus the delicious coffee drink.. considering they’re about 5 bucks a pop. (That shi cray..) & while we’re on the subject, Dear Chemistry, I HATE YOU. -Kens
Happy Weekend, y’all!

Guest Post: Tessa

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Today I have a very special guest post from an incredibly talented artist and personal friend, Tessa, who is offering some excellent advice to those of you looking to express your creativity in new and exciting ways.
“If you hear a voice within you say, ‘You cannot paint,’ then by all means paint, and that voice will be silenced.” — Vincent van Gogh

5 Ways to Let Your Creativity Take You Wherever It Wants to Go

Hi everyone!  My name is Tessa, and I blog over at How To Make Art.  My blog is full of all things arts and crafts related, so I thought I would write a little bit about how to nourish your creativity and allow it to grow and change over time.
1. Do not define yourself as just one type of maker.  Don’t declare yourself as simply a painter or a musician or a writer or a crafter.  Think of yourself as a creative person, and don’t be afraid to try things outside your area of expertise.  You’ll find that by trying things that are out of your comfort zone, your creativity will grow.  Perhaps you are a writer, but sometimes you feel like you might want to paint… You should try it!  It doesn’t matter that you haven’t formally studied painting – you should do it anyway and be gentle with yourself and not too critical of the initial results.  Be proud of yourself for experimenting, and don’t be afraid to be a beginner in a new form of creative expression. 
2. Don’t be a one trick pony.  Let’s say you are a painter, and it turns out you are really good at painting big red stars.  Every time you make a painting of a big red star, it sells immediately, and you become known as the Big Red Star Painter.  While it’s great that those paintings are selling, don’t get stuck in a rut and make stars the only subjects you paint, because you won’t grow as a creative person if you just
paint one thing over and over again. This works in all mediums: don’t be just a haiku writer – try all kinds
of poetry and writing; don’t just be an acoustic guitar player – maybe experiment with learning how to make some digital music as well.  You get the idea.  Don’t box yourself in too narrowly!
3. Don’t be afraid to try new things.  Not only should you be trying new creative things, but you could also experiment with new foods, seeing new places (even if they are close by and don’t require a big road trip or a plane ride), and meeting new people.  Not only will all this wonderful newness enrich your life as a person, but you might find that trying new things will also expand your creative horizons. Get out there and experiment!
4. Being a copycat is okay some of the time.  While I would never suggest running amok on the internet, grabbing photos that aren’t yours and renaming them as your own creations, a little bit of copying some of the time is okay!  For example, one of the exercises we had to do in art school was to pick pieces of artwork we liked from a specific list of “Master Artists” (like Picasso and Emily Carr) and reproduce them with only a pencil.  We learned so much about how to draw just by “trying on” the style of a master artist.  It was just an exercise, only practice for learning purposes, so it was okay to copy.  Here’s another example: when a friend and I used to write song lyrics together, sometimes we would choose an existing song by a popular artist, find the karaoke version on YouTube, and then re-write the lyrics
completely.  We were just doing it for fun and to get our creative juices flowing.  In most cases, it is okay to copy things if it is for personal use only and you aren’t trying to sell the work you made by copying.  Copying can be a fun learning experience!
5. You can cheat when you make your creative work, no one’s watching!  Sometimes artists cheat by using a projector to blow up one of their drawings so that they can trace it onto a larger sheet of paper
to create a large-scale drawing. This is sort of like cheating, but not completely, because the artist is
using their own drawing as a jumping off point to create a larger work.  Musicians do similar types of
“cheating” when they sample other songs create mash-ups.  Sometimes cheating can be a good thing!
Don’t hold yourself back when you are being creative!  There are no rules in creativity, so
enjoy yourself and have a good time. 🙂

Thank you so much, Tessa!
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