Breaking the Ice [ aka what’s been happening around here ]

Hey there! It’s always awkward (maybe just for me?) to start posting once I’ve taken an intentional (or completely accidental) blogging break. 

It’s like if you haven’t talked to someone in a long long time..you don’t just walk up and kiss them on the face. You use some light conversation to break the ice, right?

Welp, that’s what’s happening here. I won’t be kissing your face today. Just reviewing some things that have been going on in my semi-healthy life to catch you up to speed. So we can talk more intimately later…like sharing recipes! (why? what were YOU thinking?)

[ Of course if you’ve been following along on Instagram or Snapchat (follow me: semihealthnut), you might be more in the know. ]

The Stuff I’ve Been Up To:

1. Holiday-ing. Since we last chatted, it was nearing Thanksgiving (yikes!). I would like to pretend like family holidays are glittering bits of delightful rainbows, but it was your typical holiday with a mixed bag of good and awkward moments. I did manage to bring some veggies (a HyVee veggie tray to be exact) to my family shindig and made some chocolate biscotti cookies (recipe coming soon!!) for Dave’s family deal. Much leftovers were consumed. Yay food!

 

2. Making coffee at my coffee catering job. It’s getting a little chilly out, so I’m starting to remember what a bummer this job was working in the snow. I can’t complain too much though because..coffee.

And smoothies. I’ve been bringing protein powder to add to a frozen coffee or smoothie at the end of my event and it really helps with the hanger (hunger + anger) that tends to happen working at such a physical job.

3. Drinking lots of coffee. (Speaking of coffee.) I’ve been trying to get out of the house more lately instead of just working at home on the couch in my unwashed hair and pjs. Zoey judges me too much (or just sits on my arms so I can’t type), so it’s nice to get out in the fresh air and get into a less distracted workspace. 

Some of my current favorite coffee drinks include:

–Chai latte (iced or warm depending on the fickle Nebraska weather): nice spiced latte; I try to ask for half the syrup because too much of a good thing isn’t good

-Pixie Mate Late (found at my local Scooter’s Coffeehouse): a bit of a matcha taste, but much more mellow and a touch sweet

-Cinnamon sugar americano: I’m kind of obsessed with a new syrup we have at my coffee catering job. I put a couple of splashes in an americano to balance out the sweetness. It kind of tastes like a cinnamon bun!

 

4. Making over blogs! This is probably where most of my time has gone. Like I said in my last post, I started a third blog all about blogging! I’ve successfully helped a handful of bloggers with their websites and for the most part, it’s insanely awesome and rewarding. I am very aware of how scary coding is, though, so I’m sticking to Studio Press Themes for now.

[ Check out some of my recent blog makeovers here. ]

5. Not eating my veggies. Unless they are in chili or on top of pasta. I’m making it a goal to do a couple of green smoothies and salads each week though because I keep buying a container of spinach and letting it go bad in the fridge. Not okay.

6. Eating plenty of peanut butter. On everything from the usual bread to wraps and chocolate chip muffins.

7. Participating in chili cook offs. Well, one of them. But now I have chili on the brain and want it all the time mixed with Kraft Macaroni (the kind with shaped. obviously.). Dave actually won the chili cook off we attended with his interesting mix of meats + chipotle peppers. He was extremely proud. Note the sheer joy on his face for having conquered all of his friends.

 

Next time though, I am determined to take the belt. Literally, there is a belt up for grabs for the next chili champ.

8. Gearing up for Christmas by doing all of my shopping online aside from some ingredients for jars of cookie mix. I feel like that’s a serious trend this year, right? I always feel like I don’t follow trends, but it definitely happens unintentionally. I’m not as original as I like to think I am. In fact, I found out that my sister is gifting something very similar…dangit.

Maybe I will get my presents to look this fancy?

9. Looking for houses with Mr Dave. We have a family friend who does real estate so she sends us a giant list each week and Dave and I bicker over which houses are the best and what we can really afford and what location we want and whether a 3 car garage is really necessary or not. #reallife

I really am getting excited to have our own place again especially so we can invite people over! We’ve been back in Omaha living separately in our parents’ homes since JUNE. Definitely longer than we planned.

I predict this blog turning into a how-to-entertain-all-the-people blog within the next year. Just kidding (kind of). If anything I will be able to invite people over to be taste-testers..woot!

10. Getting excited about all things COOKIE. If you notice on the sidebar, I changed the pumpkin recipe list to a cookie list. I think December is a good month to celebrate cookies, yes? If you want to join in with my cookie madness, tag #cookiemonth2015 and I might even include your cookies in the link-up later this week. Woot!

[ Whole Wheat Lemon Snickerdoodle Cookies! ]

Okay, I feel like we are better reacquainted now, don’t you? Now I can share a recipe post with you this week. And maybe even invite you to a #cookiemonth link-up on Friday?

[Tweet “Break the ice with Amanda! And get ready for the #cookiemonth2015 link-up!”]

Tell me…

What have you been up to lately? Are the holidays busy for you? (Is that a silly question?)

 

PS I’m all about Pinterest this year, so I would LOVE IT if you could pin one (or two!) of these images. Just hover over the image to reveal the "pin it" button or use the handy dandy buttons at the bottom and top of each post to display the whole list of pins. Follow SemiHealthNut

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