Marvelous In My Monday: Eat ALL the Food!

January 19, 2014 by Christine Skari

Happy Monday all! I hope you have today off to celebrate Martin Luther King Jr. Day, but if you don’t, I hope today is going smoothly for you.

Here’s a few marvels from my Sunday. Mostly food, because food is always marvelous!

Kyle and I went to browse through our local Farmer’s Market this morning and had a great time in the sunshine. The weather here is unreal right now and I’m really enjoying being able to wear sundresses and sandals!

While we were there, I grabbed some apple chips from a local vendor to snack on as we walked around. I feel like these would be so simple to make. Just slice some apples super thin, sprinkle with cinnamon, and pop em’ in the oven on a low heat for a few hours! I’ll try them out within the next few days and report back :).

Kyle and I went to one of our favorite Thai restaurants after some shopping at TJ Maxx to grab some lunch. Since he had a late breakfast and the portions are huge, we split a beef pad thai. Delicious!

Later that day, Kyle and I took his little brother and my younger cousin (they’re bffls) along with a few other boys to get some Korean BBQ!

Then, to round the day of eats off, we split a huge bowl of frozen yogurt.

To say I’m stuffed would be an understatement!

This is going to be short MIMM since I need to sleep off this food coma, but I’m also looking forward to some birthday festivities for Kyle tomorrow. His actual birthday is on the 24th, but we’re home for the long weekend and his family want to celebrate!

Have a fantastic Monday!

Marvelous In My Monday

January 6, 2014 by Christine Skari

Happy (err… Can Monday even be described like that?) Monday!

My college starts back up today, which means more late nights in labs and endless amounts of studying. However, it also means that I’m reunited with some of my best friends and get to enjoy a few weeks of an easier course load before my midterms are here.Guess there’s a silver lining in everything- including Mondays!

Which brings us to today’s post: another rendition of Marvelous in My Monday!

Marvelous is date night!

Kyle and I spent Friday night at a fancy restaurant by the pier called The Lobster. While neither of ordered lobster, we both really enjoyed our meal and getting to spend some quality time together. It’s always nice to dress up a bit and enjoy a romantic getaway, even if it’s just for a dinner date!

Marvelous is good food.

Nuff’ said. Drool.

Marvelous is cute new cooking accessories!

Kyle’s mom got me an adorable cookie stamp as part of her Christmas gift to me. Along with that, Kyle got me the cutest set of measuring spoons from a small store in a town nearby to where we went skiing. Useful and the perfect prop to my food photography!

I know this was a brief, picture-filled post, but I need to get some rest!

Hope you have a marvelous Monday lovelies!

Getting Organized, New Shoes, and Other Marvels!

December 15, 2013 by Christine Skari

Hello lovelies! It’s Monday, but I’m free from the copious, disgusting amount of work and studying I’ve been dong for the next month :). If that isn’t marvelous, I don’t know what is! Here are some other marvelous things happening lately:

Marvelous is becoming determined to organize the blog more!

It absolutely breaks my heart that I’m not able to keep up a consistent routine of blogging. I get such a huge sense of joy and happiness from interacting with all of you, and letting my thoughts seep out into words is therapeutic when I’m stressed out. To help myself become more organized with my blogging, I made a quick calendar! I’m still trying to figure out how to make it so you guys can click on in and print it out (it should print out as a full page, but no luck so far), so please let me know if you know how to fix this!

Marvelous is finding a groupon for a local gym!

Since I’m home for break, I was annoyed at the prospect of not having a gym to attend since I was definitely not up to starting a new membership if I was leaving so soon. Luckily, I randomly checked my Groupon account and saw that my local gym had a deal for 10 visits for $50! Compared to the usual $200 price tag, I was ecstatic! Today’s workout consisted of a sweaty 30 minutes on the elliptical, a back and bicep workout, and some abs! It felt good to move after being a stationary slug at a desk for 4 weeks straight.

Marvelous are new shoes! Being the highly educated college student that I am, I forgot one of my bags at school that contained all my makeup, a ton of clothes, and all of my shoes, including my Nike’s. While they’re still in pretty good shape, I bit the bullet and bought a new pair to tide me over. Aren’t they beauties?

Marvelous is the Farmer’s Market!

I’ve always had a soft spot in my heart for Farmer’s Markets. There’s something so wonderful about the ambiance and happy people casually walking the isles and trying all the samples of bread and fresh fruit (what, just me?). While I didn’t purchase anything today, it felt so nice to be home and go to some of my favorite spots in town.

Marvelous is date night!

Tonight Kyle and I are going to see the new Lord of the Rings movie after eating a homemade meal. Hooray for date nights!

And lastly, marvelous is Christmas decorations!

Tis’ the season!

Have a great Monday!

The BEST Skinny Dip Ever, the “I Don’t Want to Workout” Workout, & More!

September 9, 2013 by Christine Skari

Happy Monday everyone!

I hope you all enjoyed your weekend- I know I certainly did! Let’s kick off the week with some Marvelous in My Monday fun and a great game day recipe.

Marvelous is a fantastic workout!

Yesterday was one of those days where I didn’t really feel like working out, but had no excuse not to move. I headed over to the gym and created this bad boy, which ended up being a great workout and left me feeling sweaty and accomplished.

It was easy to get myself on the treadmill since I could tell myself I was only running half a mile at a time, and I loved how quickly the time passed since I was switching up running and incline walking. It’s weird, but I’m more sore today than I usually am on leg day!

Marvelous is sharing my favorite dip recipe!

Okay, you guys… you NEED to try this dip. I’m known as the “dip girl” and anytime there’s any sort of potluck, I’m told that I need to bring it. It’s one of those foods that almost ruins the party since everyone just stands around the platter concentrating on eating instead of talking.

*if you’re going to pin this recipe, pin this one please

I got this recipe from my mom, who in turn received it from one of her teacher friends. The original involves more fatty ingredients (yum), but I was easily able to lighten it up so that it won’t weigh you down (literally) on game day or wherever you choose to bring it! Trust me, it’s addictively good and reasonably low calorie for the flavor punch it delivers!

For the record, my friend Kate and I demolished almost the entire thing ourselves yesterday while we watched our boyfriends work laboriously with woodcutters and automatic saws. The good life.

Marvelous is sweaty hikes with my favorite guy!

I love going on active dates with Kyle, especially if it involves hiking or playing tennis! We had a great 4.5 mile hike on Saturday with two of our favorite people to double date with. Mixing in fun cardio with the gym definitely keep me from becoming bored with my routine and loving fitness!

And lastly for today, marvelous are my Dark Chocolate Avocado Truffles!

I whipped up another batch for Kyle since he likes to have them in the morning with his coffee, and they were gone in a day. I actually had a 5 minute long conversation with his Dad later about how unreal they are. They’re SO fudgy and you can’t taste the avocado at all. He was dumbfounded!

Whew, this post was a doozy to write/make. Time to catch up on what you guys have been up to!

xo Christine

Marvelous in My Monday #1

July 7, 2013 by Christine Skari

Marvelous is learning more about photography!

I bought the eBook Tasty Food Photography from Pinch of Yum and it has been a godsend in terms of explaining how to improve my photography and how to properly use lighting and props. I just started putting some of the thing I’ve learned into action (see my photos below!) and I can already tell that it’ll improve my pictures drastically! I had no idea how much of an affect using the manual setting on your camera can have and am excited to put my Nikon to good use.

Marvelous is the fabulous inspiration and ideas that come from Pinterest! I may or may not have already coerced Kyle into agreeing to bake me one. Seriously. He agreed to do it. All of us definitely deserve a cake and pampering when Aunt Flow is tearin’ up our house haha.

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Marvelous is new workout clothes!

I’m still in love with my pair of Nike Frees and the addition of my two new Lululemons make me a happy camper. Anyone else as obsessed with cute athletic wear?

Marvelous is roasting up a kabocha! I’m half Japanese and kabocha has been a part of my life for a while now. I never get over how delicious it is, though! A drizzle of olive oil, salt, pepper, and diced garlic is all it takes to make these perfect little bites of heaven. They make the perfect side or snack and a quick recipe with roasting time will be up soon!

Marvelous is having a successful first week of self-hosting!

I’m grateful that the change has gone relatively smoothly and I haven’t had any problems since the first couple of days! I’m so happy with the layout of Apple of My Eye and feel like it expresses my personality pretty darn well :). Also, a couple of you have expressed interest in moving from wordpress.com to wordpress.org (a.k.a self hosting) and the graphic design behind my blog. I’m in no way an expert about either, but if you need some help, I can try my best to walk you through it! Feel free to email me at christineskari@gmail.com for any reason :).

Marvelous is hiking and spending some time with furry friends!

And lastly, marvelous is getting to spend quality time with my handsome man and his adorable laugh lines!

Side note: Kyle will be writing up a guest post soon about a guy’s thoughts on how women negatively pick apart their body and what he considers, along with many other men, to be the most important and beautiful aspects of a girl. Stay tuned!

Hope you have a marvelous Monday as well!

xoxo Christine