MIMM: Quest Bar Sampler, Extended Cardio, and Baked Beans

August 18, 2013 by Christine Skari

Marvelous is sneaky cardio!

Today started off on a sweaty cardio-filled note with a workout that included 30 minutes on the elliptical and 30 minutes of intense incline walking. I usually get bored doing just plain cardio for extended periods of time, but I was mesmerized by the World Championship track and field events that were being played on the tv above me. I can’t get over how insanely fast all of them are! The women look almost like machines with how in-sync their bodies move, especially when they were doing the 100m hurdles. They don’t even miss a beat after jumping one and land so smoothly and fluidly. I wish I was that beast-like!

Anyways, I figured that I would look kinda stupid just standing in the cardio room gawking at the television, so I jumped on the treadmill and busted out an extra 30 minutes while the championship played out. Not was I usually do, but I’ll take it!

Marvelous is a free Quest bar sampler!

After my workout, I headed over to my local grocery store to pick up something from their salad bar and make a quick Starbucks run. When I got back home, I was uber (yes, uber) excited to see a wonderful package waiting outside my door! The great people at Quest Nutrition were kind enough to send me a sampler pack of some of their products to review. I couldn’t wait to break open the box and had the cookie dough flavor, my salad, and Starbucks for lunch! Talk about the perfect meal ;). Really, though, I’m excited to try all of the other flavors they have and am still celebrating over how fantastic their nutritional profile is. Partayyy!

Marvelous (or not so, not sure yet) is netflix and binge watching tv shows.

I spent the rest of the afternoon watching my new tv obsession, Supernatural. I have a really bad habit of binge watching tv shows on netflix and exhausting myself from watching 10 episodes a day and getting absorbed into my couch. It doesn’t help that netflix automatically plays the next episode, so I technically only have 15 seconds to decide how I’m going to spend the rest of my day. This time, it’s especially bad because my new series features things like demons, spirits, exorcisms, etc, so I’m constantly afraid that some possessed doll will kill me in my sleep and that I will die if I look into my bathroom mirror (damn Bloody Mary episode). I’m obviously winning at life.

Marvelous is great food and hanging out with Kyle’s family.

Around 6, I headed over to Kyle’s parent’s house for a BBQ. The food was fantastic and I can’t help but drool at the thought of the bacon baked beans that they had. SO good!

Also, ain’t Kyle a handsome lil’ booger? Omgz I heart him.

Marvelous is a new DIY project! (making this tomorrow!)

On a side note, how cute is this DIY camera strap from The House that Lars Built? I have a pretty standard black one for my Nikon and would love to girlify my camera. Plus, my dad’s name is Lars and so that’s basically a divine sign that I need this in my life. Time to head to the craft store!

Anyways, that was my day in a very big nutshell!

Have a great rest of your weekend!

xo Christine

Healthy Strawberry Cheesecake Bites

August 16, 2013 by Christine Skari

Living in California, I’ve had my fair share of delicious and fresh produce. In fact, California produces 83% of all the strawberries grown in the U.S (state pride, holla). So really, it was just a matter of time until I combined two of my favorite things for a quick and mouthwatering dessert. Enter: cheesecake stuffed strawberry bites!

Not only were these sweet little jewels delicious, they were outrageously easy and relatively good for you! While I do love me some decadent cheesecake once in a while, they always leave me feeling heavy and ready to take a nap. Before snapping these pictures, I probably annihilated about 10 of these healthy strawberry bites (to make sure they were perfect for you guys, of course, only the best) and felt fabulous and ready to seize the day!

These take a mere 15 minutes to whip up and, with only 35 calories per each delightful piece, you can feel free to compensate and eat 267 of them! Hallelujah! I love food!

DIY No-Slip Workout Headbands!

August 15, 2013 by Christine Skari

Whenever I workout, I almost always wear a headband to keep my bangs back and out of my face. That being said, I also need to use a million (just an estimate) bobby pins to make sure it doesn’t slip out of place. Even my fancy and expensive lululemon headband requires pinning down.

So, when I made no-slip workout headbands that require no pins and actually stays in place by themselves, I was one happy and excited girl!

What’s even better is that they’re sparkly and they spruce up my workout attire when I’m at the gym or running. My face may look like it’s melting from all the sweat on it, but my hair looks damn good! Practical and cute, that’s a win in my book.

*I’ve gotten several requests for information on where to buy these. If you’re interested, email me at christineskari@gmail.com! Thanks!

The secret to the bands staying in place is lining the bottom with velveteen ribbon, which took me forever to find! I probably wasted enough gas going to various craft stores to buy a whole arsenal of sweatybands or bicbands, but where’s the fun in that ;)? There’s something so comforting about a sewing machine and trying to avoid sticking a needle in my fingers. Le sigh.

Anyways, I was thinking that is might be fun to give a few of these babies away in the future and spread the love! I’ve worn them for 3 days straight and can’t get over how well they stay in place. Poor Kyle, every 5 minutes when we were playing tennis yesterday I would exclaim something along the lines of, “KYLE!! IT’S STILL ON MY HEAD” or “KYLE!! HOW GOOD DO I LOOK?!”. That boy puts up with a lot.

Going along the lines of sewing, I feel so domesticated right now. Cooking, baking, and now sewing? I’m a regular Martha Stewart.

In other news, I got lunch from the hot bar at my local Whole Foods yesterday, and oh my yum, it was SO good! Their mac and cheese is ridiculously delicious and I had a chilled grilled peach that was amazing. I’m drooling just thinking about it. Mhmm. I also picked up a sweet potato, kabocha pumpkin, and some broccoli and beef for a new recipe I’m trying out. More on how that goes later!

Other than that, the rest of today will be spent working on some freelance work, getting sweaty at the gym, and cooking! Sounds like a pretty good deal to me!

Let me know if you guys would be interested in a small giveaway!

xo Christine

WIAW: Delicious Eats and Man-Doll

August 13, 2013 by Christine Skari

Hello lovelies!

I hope life has been treating all you perfect people well and that you’re ready for my weekly WIAW post (I know it’s the highlight of your week, obviously). My eats have been pretty delicious, but my photos aren’t up to par. Sometimes you can’t beat the convenience of snapping a quick pic with your iPhone! Anyways, tallyho!

Breakfast: a simple cereal bowl with cheerios and mini wheats. Milk added after, since soggy cereal is my biggest enemy.

Snackage: trail mix! Cashews and chocolate=my life.

Lunch: I’ve been getting a Chipotle craving every week or so, and my belly was quite satisfied to have an enormous salad bowl with all the fixings. Well, minus the spicy salsa. Fun fact: I basically have no tolerance for spice whatsoever. Like, zero.

Dinner: homemade pizza with a garlic-infused crust! I tried out using part whole wheat to make it, and it turned out fabulous! Add an extra slice to the picture, it was too good to resist ;).

Dessert: fresh blueberries! The perfect post-dinner sweetness.

In other non-food related news, I went shopping with Kyle for some new clothes and had a blast dressing him up. He’s like my own personal man-doll.

Anddd that’s about all I have, folks!

Can’t wait to see all of your eats as well!

xo Christine

MIMM: Great Friends, Meteor Showers, and Giraffes

August 12, 2013 by Christine Skari

Marvelous is a new top and date night!

Yesterday, Kyle and I went out with some friends to grab some Korean barbecue for dinner and watch a meteor shower. I wore a new striped top ($16 from TJ Maxx, holla at me) and loved the slightly cooler weather and wearing my boots again! Fall is comin’, and that means the return of pumpkin spice lattes at Starbucks. Woo!

Marvelous is catching up with old friends.

On Sunday, I went for a nice and relaxing walk with one of my oldest friends, Karissa, followed by the most delicious brunch at a cute little cafe. It was so nice to get to see her (she had been doing charity work in Costa Rica) and talk about what has been going on in our lives! The food hit the spot as well! I also met up with five other of my old school friends at Starbucks and just sat, chatted, and laughed obnoxiously for over two hours. It was glorious!

Marvelous is a new DIY project.

I have my mind set on creating a fun little project. I won’t go into it much now, but it involves lots of sparkly ribbon. Yes.

Marvelous is a sore butt.

I did this workout again (it was leg day), and my booty is definitely feeling it haha! I always second guess myself after a workout and wonder if I did enough to get sore, and this time I can tell it was a good one!

Marvelous is lazy mornings with my giraffe cup and netflix.

I’m obsessed with this cup, to say the least. It forces me to drink copious amounts of coffee, though, because I need to save the little guy from drowning!

And lastly, marvelous is cooking and baking!

Sorry to bombard you guys with recipes lately, but I honestly adore cooking and am thinking about making Apple of My Eye into a half fitness and half recipe/cooking blog. Hope that’s fine with you!

Have an amazing start to the week!

xo Christine