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Sunday, July 28, 2013

Changes

After having my blog for six months now, I have decided that is time for some changes.  As you can see, I have changed the appearance a little bit.  I hope to pay for somebody to design the blog eventually, but for now I am going to continue to do it myself.  

I am considering changing the name of my blog to something that is a bit simpler that will have more meaning....  Any thoughts?

I really take into consideration what all of you, my readers,  have to say. After all, without all of you my blog wouldn't be successful. With that said, I would really appreciate if you could comment or email me (shorelifeofm@gmail.com) with your thoughts and suggestions for the direction of the blog.

Xoxo
-mQs-

Friday, July 26, 2013

Summer of Something New Week 5

Happy Friday!
I am finally back on a normal blog posting schedule, I hope. 
Today is Week Five of the Summer of Something New Challenge.  
Remember to check out Week OneWeek TwoWeek Three, and Week Four

 I made my own guacamole for the first time this week.  I have always been a huge fan for guacamole, but this Summer I found my love for avocados.  I literally eat them all the time.  They taste good and they are good for you! An excellent source of natural fats and oils.  Anyways, I had put on my Summer bucket list to make guacamole so I was excited that I  finally got the chance to make it.

I had planned to use this recipe from allrecipes.com, but as I started to cook I quickly strayed away from the recipe making my own modifications. 

Ingredients:

2 Avocados
1/3 of an Onion chopped finely
1/2 clove of garlic, mashed
1/2 Tomato, chopped
1/2 Lime, juiced
1 pinch of red pepper flakes
Salt and pepper for taste

Directions:
Peel and cut avocados. 

 Then smash them in a bowl.  I used a potato smasher because my avocados weren't quite ripe.
Stir in onion, garlic, tomato, lime juice, salt and pepper, and red pepper flakes. Season as needed with more lime juice, salt, and pepper.  The recipe recommends to chill the guacamole for thirty minutes before eating, but I didn't do this and it still tasted wonderful!


 This was enough guacamole for four people.  We ate it on our fish tacos and with tortilla chips too.

If you liked reading my posts, you will certainly enjoy reading the other ladies who are participating in this challenge:

Xoxo
-mQs-



Thursday, July 25, 2013

Something New Week 4 plus More

Hello lovely bloggers!

I am back from vacation and my almost two week long blogging hiatus. I had written most of this post last Sunday, hoping to publish it Monday, but this week was just one of those weeks where time slipped away from me. I know today isn't Friday, but since I missed week four of the blogging challenge I thought I'd recap my vacation this way.  Let me tell you this vacation was definitely filled with new and exciting things. Before we get started, I just want to remind you to check out the lovely ladies who are also participating in the Challenge:
Also, don't forget to look at Week OneWeek Two, and Week Three.

Okay so first, I'll tell you about the new things I did last week!
Something New #1
 Monday morning when I came home from my morning bike ride tDn greeted me with, "you have less than a half hour to eat, put your bathing suit on, and apply your sun screen because we're going kayaking".  I had never been before, but have always wanted to try it.  The two of us were in one kayak and his two cousins were in the other one.  I was so excited! Once we got to the bay I started to freak out a little because let's face it kayaks are much tinier than the big boats that usually travel in the bay.  After about the first ten minutes I calmed down and started to get the hang of it.  We rowed for about thirty minutes and then stopped at a private beach to take some pictures, grab a quick drink of water, and re-apply sunscreen. 

 Once we were finished our ten minute break, we got back into the kayaks and started paddling again.  We went under a huge bridge and the next thing I knew, tDn's cousin JM was telling us to be careful because we are about to enter the ocean.  OCEAN?! I love the beach but I hate the ocean. I don't hate the ocean I just hate being in it. Usually I just sit on the beach and occasionally dip my feet in the water.  I never go swimming, it literally terrifies me.  Anyways, once I heard this news I started to freak out a little because ocean waves are MUCH bigger than bay waves.  

Well, come to find out ocean kayaking really isn't that bad! I actually LOVED it! We ended up Kayaking in OCNJ starting on Bay and 3rd Street and ending up on the Beach and 15th Street.  It was a long ride, I think like two and a half hours.  Oh, and I forgot to mention that Monday was the hottest day of the week last week.  I wore shorts over top of my bathing suit, and I got a pretty nice shorts tan line going now, great.  When we came in land, we had to ride the waves in (on the kayak) until we reached our families on the beach. 

Where we go to the beach there is a pier, and we almost crashed into it, a little terrifying. 
After this long trip I was hot and hungry, good thing tDn's mom had sandwiches waiting for us.  This was the first adventure of the trip for me.

Wednesday we took  the kayaks out again, but this time we went for a shorter adventure and stayed in the bay the entire time. 

We ended up going for an hour and a half ride across the bay to an island and then back.

 Not as exciting as Monday, but it was just as fun!  
Kayaking was a great workout and an awesome experience.  I definitely recommend trying it if you have never done it.

Something New #2
Wednesday We spent the day on the beach.  We were there from about 11-4.  One of tDn's cousins had called a jet ski place earlier in the day to find out if we could get a good deal if we went later in the day.  Well, it turns out we could, happy hour special (minus the drinking)! We went to this tiny little place where we paid, watched a safety video, and then were directed to the life jackets and dock where the jet skis were located.  His cousin GM and I decided that we would ride together. 

 Since GM is only 16 and she was really nervous, we decided that I would drive.   Like I said earlier, the bay and ocean freak me out...so I was nervous of falling off the jet ski.  Once we got started, though, my nerves calmed down and we were fine.  We got to ride for about thirty minutes.  It was such an adrenaline rush and so much fun!  In case you were wondering, I didn't fall off, and I would definitely go again if I had the opportunity.  
Unfortunately, we left all of our phones and cameras in the place where we paid, so we don't have any pictures of us on the jet skis only the pictures afterwards.


---------------
The rest of vacation: 
 I think the easiest way to describe to you what else happened last week is just through pictures.
When I wasn't trying something new last week, I spent a lot of time on the beach
.. and just hanging out.  

I got a decent amount of reading done, and I also was able to cross some things off my Summer bucket list, at the end of the week.  
 One night we rode the giant Ferris wheel in Ocean City, New Jersey.

We played mini golf a few times, one of my favorite things to do at the beach.  I have a bad habit of playing golf as if it were field hockey, but somehow I managed to come in second every game we played as a large group.

One night we went to dinner, all twelve of us, in Atlantic City. 


 It was a lot of fun to get dressed up and go somewhere different. 
While at Harrah's we walked around and looked at all of the shops.  In one of the more upscale stores they had the cutest quotes about shoes.  I just couldn't resist taking pictures to share with all of you.
Friday night was our last night of vacation, so we all went up to the boardwalk to do some last minute shopping.  tDn and I matched without even planning it.

Overall vacation was great, but now it is back to reality.  Time to get ready for school and make some more money working.

My apologies for this super long post, but I had no idea how else so share my experiences with you any other way.

Xoxo
-mQs-

Friday, July 12, 2013

It's A Shore Thing

Last Weekend was a beach thing, but tomorrow I leave for a week at the "shore". Yes, I am heading to OCNJ with my boyfriend, tDn, and his family from tomorrow until next Saturday.  I spent a lot of time thinking about what to do about blogging for the next week.  After much thought, I have decided to leave you with this post until next Saturday.  Sorry for the week long blog break.


As you know from previous posts that I am a huge list maker.  I had a busy day today trying to get everything done before leaving for vacation. This is a glimpse at what my lists were like. My dad made fun of me for taking the time to make them look pretty. 


 You all know, I absolutely love clothes.  So packing lightly is not an easy task for this girl. Since five of us are going in one car, I have no choice but to pack efficiently.  Somehow I have managed to put all of my clothes, shoes, towels, and bags into one large Vera Bradley duffel.


 This isn't a very good picture, but I am bringing this mint dress from Francesca's.
 A striped maxi dress with a key hole back. 
 I plan to workout, so I am bringing several pairs of running shorts and shirts.  I love lounging in tees after a long day in the sun.  I also packed a half zip sweatshirt and cropped yoga pants in case it gets chilly.
 A girl can never pack too many shoes.  Running shoes, jcrew flip flops, sanuk sandals, reef sparkly flip flops, and my vineyard vines blue plaid flip flops.
 Below are all the outfits I am bringing. I like to bring one or two shirts for each pair of shorts.  This allows me to have options without over packing. 






 In case you can't tell from the picture. I heart bandeau bathing suits.  They are the only things I wear actually.  Pictured here is also my strapless gray and white cover up.  
 Somehow I managed to fit everything pictured above, two towels, and my beach bag into here.  It is a miracle.  Just kidding, the trick actually is to roll your clothes.  This keeps the clothing from wrinkling and it saves space too. 

I am bringing a tote bag with my book, toiletries, and shower stuff as well as my purse.  Not too bad for packing for a week, in my opinion.

I hope you enjoy my packing post.  Have a nice week!
Xoxo
-mQs-

Summer of Something New Week Three

Welcome to week three of the Blogging Challenge!
 If you haven't had the chance, check out Week One and Week Two.
Don't forget to check out the other ladies weekly posts to see what new things they have been up to each week:
This Summer is the first Summer in seven years that I am actually focusing on fitness just to better my body.  Each Summer for the past seven years I have trained, so that I am in good shape for Field Hockey preseason.  Since I am transferring, I won't be playing field hockey this Fall.  However, field hockey won't be going away completely because I will be helping to coach my high school team.
I feel like in the Summer there is a push for everyone to be skinny, and many people try to achieve this by doing many unhealthy diets.  I exercise year round, but in the summer I do put more of an emphasis on it just because  I have more time to do so.  I workout to feel good and to stay in shape.. to be healthy.  I think it is sad that not everyone does this. 

I am not over weight by any means, but I am all about being fit and healthy.  Right now I am working to lose about five pounds. This will put me at, in my opinion, a healthier weight.  I am working to meet my goal through eating healthy and exercising regularly.  In addition to my daily workouts, I also play in an adult field hockey league to keep me active. As long as eat well and exercise regularly, I should do this by September quite easily. 

Anyways, not having a team training packet this Summer has allowed for me to have a large amount of freedom to do what I want, when it comes to fitness.  I have been doing a lot of interval running. Below is one of the interval runs that I use quite frequently
 This week I decided to try something different.  I bought a video called Ballet Blast.  I was never a dancer so don't get the wrong idea.  This workout combines pilates and ballet.  It really tones the legs, core, and arms.  If I can do it, without a dancing bone in my body, then you can do it too. I bought it off of Amazon.com for I think $10.
You can preview it here:

I did this a couple days this week, and my inner thighs were definitely sore.

Earlier this week sQs came across a trainer. Jessica Smith, while doing some research online.  Let me tell you, my mom is the Queen of research! Jessica has tons of awesome videos on you tube.  She does all of her workouts in her house, so you are totally able to do her workouts at home.

After viewing her videos,  I started doing Flo Yoga.  I have been wanting to do yoga for some time now. I tried it a few times but I really didn't like how slow it was.  Flo Yoga is basically yoga but at a faster pace and to music.   I LOVED it!
For some reason I can't upload the video to this post, but if you click here you can find the workout I did. 
I also did her arm workout too.  The day after I did it, I was incredibly sore. 


I suggest you check out her you tube channel, http://www.youtube.com/user/jessicasmithtv.
This week I was definitely really sore from my new workouts.  During the exercises when I would really feel the burn, I just look at the trainer's arms and say keep going and you'll have those arms.  It is all about motivation when it comes to working out.  Feeling sore after a workout, makes me feel accomplished like I am doing something right to better myself.

Adding the food component to fitness:
To track what I eat I have started using the app, Lose it.

Using this app, I am able to easily track how much food I should consume each day.  This app also allows you to set goals and has many other neat options.

It is important to fuel your body with healthy foods like fruits, veggies, and whole grains.  While maintaining a balanced diet.  Logging my food in Lose It, helps me to see what I need more or less of in my diet.  

What do you do to exercise?
Xoxo
-mQs-

My Week Recap

This week I had off from nannying, and let me tell you I enjoyed my "free" time.  The week flew by, I can not believe that tomorrow is Friday already.  
CAMP: This week I coached a youth field hockey camp each morning, that was a ton of fun.  I love the sport and being able to teach youngsters how to play it just makes me really happy.  

SHOPPING: I also had the opportunity to do some shopping at Plato's Closet, Gap, Target, and Francescas.  

At Gap I got these super cute shorts for $20, such a steal


I think this print looks similar to a Lilly print.
 At GAP, I also got a basic Navy v-neck for $10.
 At Plato's Closet I found an adorable yellow skirt from jcrew.  After buying it for $12 I went online to the jcrew website to find that it is actually a $70 skirt.  I hit the jackpot for sure.
The picture makes the skirt look more pastel colored than it actually is.
At Francescas I bought two pairs of sun glasses, buy one get one half off.  I originally was just going to buy one pair, but with the sale promotion I just couldn't resist. 

At Target I just got a few basics like v-necks and tanks for $6. 

NETFLIX: I finally finished the whole GREEK series.  So bittersweet. I have been watching it via netflix on and off for quite some time now, so I feel accomplished to have finished the series.  However, I absolutely love this show so it's sad that it is over.  Watching it seriously makes me consider going through recruitment this Fall. To do it or not... I'm sure there will be a post on that to come in the future.

RANDOM: My mom came along with me to my field hockey game tonight. After the game, she took me to Panera Bread.  Let me tell you how much I absolutely love that place.  They have the best Iced Green tea (yes better than Starbucks). And their food is so yummy.  We each got a large iced green tea, and then we split a Turkey Avocado BLT.  This Summer I have been on such an avocado kick, needless to say the sandwhich was so good.

Paint:  The most exciting thing about my week, is that my Dad and I finally painted my room.  I don't want to give away the look of my entire room until it is 100%% complete.  Don't worry you all will see it within the next month.  I just need to add some finishing decorative touches to it.  For now, here is a sneak peak to hold you over.  Three of the walls are a shade of teal, and the fourth wall is a light gray.

I hope you all had a fabulous week!
Xoxo
-mQs-

P.S. Chances I post twice tomorrow are good, so stay on the look out!