Link Love #18: My Top 5

Happy New Years Eve!! Wow, I can’t believe the year is over.. it seems like it just began. It’s time to wrap this baby up and look forward to creating new goals [and achieving them!], new experiences, and new memories. I usually use my link love posts to share some of my favorite posts from the blogosphere, but in the spirit of wrapping up this year, I thought I’d share my top 5 most popular posts and my top 5 favorites from this past year.

Most Popular

5. What I Ate Wednesday #4 – 5 Day Slim Down Edition!

That’s a tasty pineapple protein pancake!

I most certainly have some Tone It Up ladies to thank for this being up there in numbers! People seriously want to know about that slim down. It’s no joke.. you need to be really dedicated and if you are, it really works!

4. Spaghetti Squash Kugel

Definitely making this again soon!

Between Passover and all of the Paleo and low carb diets, it’s no wonder this recipe was a hit! And have you ever had kugel? YUM! Give me my kitchen!

3. Recipe Remix: Carrot Cake Protein Pancakes

Ooh baby! I almost forgot about these.

I love my sweet breakfasts and anyway I can sneak a little veggie in there makes it that much more perfect.

2. Foodie Friday: Peanut Butter Wonderful Powerballs

Everything is better with peanut butter!

My first attempt at protein bites and they were a delicious success! I definitely recommend this recipe.

1. Minty Irish Powerballs

The perfect mix of chocolatey, nutty, and minty!

How do you make a protein bite better? Use your homemade nut butter 😉

My Top 5 Recipe Posts

Eggy Quinoa Stuffed Squash
Coconut Flour Pancake Variations
Homemade Cashew Butter
Buddha’s Feast
Chipotle Lime Sweet Potato Tofu Burgers

My Top 5 Life Posts

Hitched
Dealing With Doubt
I’m grateful for…
The “S” Word
Baltimore Bucket List and Big News!

My Top 5 What I Ate Wednesday Posts

#44: Wine in Italy
Quick Honeymoon Update
#45: The Wedding Food
#59: Ten Years Gone
#64: The First Weekend

Food for Thought

Do you have an all-time favorite post from this past year?
Any big plans for NYE?

I’m grateful for…

I have to admit, while I hoped to participate fully in Elf 4 Health, it’s been really tough. I’ve been doing so much running around over the past week looking for a place to live and any downtime that I have is spent searching for more places to visit or skyping with my family. Or doing both at the same time. That said, today’s Elf 4 Health challenge is to make a list of 20 things I’m grateful for. I just couldn’t skip this one.

1. Skype. Maybe it seems weird that this is first on my list, but since moving across the country, I couldn’t be happier to have this technology. I talk to my parents on skype a few times a day and have been able to see the rest of my family and some friends.
2. Jilly. Speaking of skype and the rest of my family, the baby is here!! I’m sad I wasn’t able to be at the hospital with everyone but I did, at the very least, get to see the baby girl when she was just hours old. She’s such a cute little nugget and I’m so incredibly happy for my brother and sister-in-law. They couldn’t be happier and I know they’re going to be amazing parents.
   

   Really, how perfectly adorable is that face?!

3. Nathan. Obviously I’m a fan, but he’s been really great with this move. He has his job and is starting to create his routine while I’m trying to figure everything out. He couldn’t be more encouraging and supportive of me trying to figure out what I want to do with my life. Not to mention he knows how to make me smile and takes me on road trips to breweries!
   

   Our first farmers’ market trip. Many more to come!

4. My parents. To say they weren’t thrilled about the move is an understatement but they’ve been great. They put us up at their house for a few days before the move and the day after Thanksgiving, they woke up bright dark and early to take us to the airport. They have given all the support they can possibly muster up and I love em.
   

   3 generations – baby girl, daddy, and grandpa.

5. My grandparents. I got to skype with my maternal grandparents when they were at the hospital visiting Jilly and even though everyone was totally confused as to how to hold the iPad and what to do, it was great to see them so happy with their great grandbaby. And I know my grandfather on my dad’s side couldn’t be more excited to visit the new family soon!
6. Jessie. She’s one of my best friends and knows what it’s like to move all over the country and away from family. She knows what homesick feels like and even though I was texting her last night at 10pm, I have to remember that it was 1am for her. Her texts may have been influenced by a bit of wine, but those are the best kind, right?
   

   Miss her.

7. The gym. The hotel where we’re staying actually has a decent enough gym and my workouts are making me feel more normal. I like to pretend like I have some sort of routine 😉
   

   I can only use one machine at a time anyway..

8. FREE FOOD! Our hotel has breakfast included everyday and dinner/drinks included Monday-Thursday. Breakfast is fine.. I always have my oatmeal but Nathan is learning to deal. Dinner is.. well.. we’ve eaten it once. But they do have a decent salad bar so I’ll take it. Free is free!
9. Whole Foods. There’s one right around the corner from Nathan’s office and I’ve been able to get a few small things to cook up quickly as well as some food from the hot bar and we’re practically living the dream over here! [I’m just happy to eat all of their roasted veggies!]
   

   And they have kombucha on tap!

10. Beautiful scenery. I’ve been loving all of the views of the water and mountains as I’ve been driving through San Francisco by myself, but driving with Nathan yesterday and seeing his reactions really made it even more special.
    

    The hills here are terrifying to drive!

11. Healthy lunches. They’re everywhere in SF! I love trying all of the new places.
    

    Evolution Fresh has a cafe here and it’s amazing!

12. Almond milk lattes. Really, they’re just great.
    

    The best.

13. Chocolate and peanut butter. And marshmallow! This homemade s’mores peanut butter cup was out of this world!
    

    I need to make these.. genius!

14. Beer. Nathan and I took a little road trip yesterday to Lagunitas and Russian River. They both make some mighty fine beer and serve awesome food too! We split a roasted veggie pesto sandwich at Lagunitas and then a crispy crust vegan pizza at Russian River. Great way to spend a Saturday!
    

    So tasty!

15. Our king size bed. We definitely took it for granted and didn’t realize until we started sharing a queen size bed at the hotel. I can’t wait to get ours back!
16. The rest of our furniture. I miss the cozy feeling of sitting on my own sofa. Soon enough, though. Soon enough.
17. PayByPhone. While I don’t love having to pay for parking everywhere I go right now, it’s definitely much easier when I can just pay my meter from my phone when I’m 10 blocks away!
18. Guest bloggers. Like I said, I’ve been slacking lately and it’s nice to have such a wonderful community to help me pick up some of the slack and keep you all happy 😉 [P.S. I have one more coming!]
19. Social media. I love reading blogs and haven’t been reading as much lately, but as Caitlin reminded me, they’ll be there when I get back to it!
20. You all! I’m so happy to have you reading my blog even with my lack of attention lately. Thanks for sticking around 🙂

I’d say that’s a whole lot of marvelous, huh?

Food for Thought

What are you grateful for?