My Fabulous Life!

Hi ya'll...what's up?!? SO I know that I previously did an about me back in the day that focused on my health, but I wanted to let you know a little bit more about me!

I'm Jill and I just turned 24 at the end of May (gosh I'm getting old). I currently work full time as a librarian for a college:

please note this was a staged picture I had to take for work....I'm really not this nerdy (at least I like to think I'm not!)

In addition to working full time I am attending graduate school for my master's in library science part time. I only have a few classes left and will be finished in mid December....yes like 6.5 months away. I literally cannot wait until the time when I won't feel so guilty about lounging around watching countless hrs. of reality TV instead of doing my hw! Ah, the good life...

My reality TV obsession tends to lean away from those shows deemed semi-appropriate by society like American Idol, Dancing with the Stars and the Bachelor. While I will enjoy an episode or 2 of those if they are on, I simply can't miss episodes of The Hills, Girls Next Door, whatever real world/road rules trash is on, every season of Real Housewives and I have even started watching Ice Road Truckers recently...uh, what?

AND moving on! On my more cultured side I enjoy drinking wine and traveling. During my undergrad I was able to study abroad for a semester in Germany. Where I went to college 'study abroad' was essentially code for get crazy all over Europe legally while under 21. It was honestly the best experience of my life and I can't wait to go back :)

This whole past year I have been working hard on planning a super fancy, classy wedding for the beginning of August with all of our friends and family....we will see how it goes as this is typically what happens when my fiance and I go to a party:

Gotta love those sorority/fraternity formals....plastic cups, wristbands and all!

We started dating during sophomore year of college and will have been together for a little less than 5 years when we tie the knot. He is the best thing ever and puts up with my outrageous shenanigans on a daily basis. We just recently moved in together here in Indy and so far so good. He is actually relatively clean (cleaner than me!) and likes to cook...uh, JACKPOT!!

HAVE A GOOD WEEKEND!

Wonderful weekend!

So this past weekend we not only had mostly beautiful weather, but it was my birthday!!!

I was able to spend my mornings drinking tea on our new balcony:
And enjoy this awesome view: I am 100% in love with our new apt! Our balcony looks over this pretty good sized lake that has a walking path surrounding it. The path takes you right by some popular restaurants/bars (perfect for stumbling home after many drinks) and tons of shops! I love our location. Now if only I could get a job in one of those office buildings then I could simply walk to work instead of enduring my painful half hour drive downtown....oh well!

Saturday was my birthday! Fiance and I had a few friends over to celebrate. One of my girlfriends made this super impressive cake for me (it even had strawberry filling!!!) Her brother owns a dessert store so he gave her the recipe and decorating tips. I thought it was very impressive!!!

Lord knows if I tried this it would be a hot mess.

Last night I obvi. had to stay up late watching The Hills finale (the bitch is back!! omg so much drama!) and the Mtv movie awards (I wasn't very impressed). I have been a true hills fan since it started. I always watched Laguna Beach (ok, this is embarrassing to admit, but I actually own the first season of Laguna on DVD...HA!) which just kind of transferred to the Hills. I debated not watching this next season now that Lauren won't be on it anymore and it is slightly ridiculous, but I just can't help it. I know I will be glued to the TV every monday for 30 minutes of completely scripted 'reality' tv. Such a guilty pleasure of mine! :)

Well I hope everyone else is making it through this Monday with more energy than me!

Back!

So I know I just took a MAJOR hiatus, but it was totally needed! Life got super crazy with work changes, school, wedding plans and moving...yikes! I have had a busy few months and I just needed a small (ok, LARGE) break. Now I am back in business! BUT my blogging focus will be slightly different. I will still include some of my more exciting eats, healthy living info. and all that, but I will also focus on other things of interest in my life! Lately I have really felt as though I need a creative outlet to express myself so this will really become an everything blog! I can't guarantee I will post everyday or even every other day, but I do promise I am back :)

Card reader

So sorry for my absence, but I had temporarily lost this guy:

MY CARD READER! I really only use this to upload pics. to my computer and couldn't find it since tuesday afternoon! Luckily after finally having some time tonight to look through piles of clutter I found it :) 

To update everything for the last 3 days I would have to write a MAJORLY long post so I'm just starting at this morning :)
Breakfast was a bowl of cereal with a sliced banana. This actually did a pretty good job of keeping me full...almost 4 hrs! Normally after eating cereal I am hungry in like an hr.  I ate a kashi bar to hold me over until lunch which was some pasta salad:

I had about 1c. of whole wheat noodles with chopped broccoli and carrots with some italian dressing. I topped it all with some parm cheese. This was VERY satisfying and super easy to make! 

After work I snacked on an apple on my way to class.

since I was feeling VERY tired today I decided to treat myself to a caribou coffee. I got a medium vanilla northern lite latte

Just what I needed :)

So as I was looking through my pics over the past few days I realized how EXCITED I am to get new dishes as wedding presents! My pics are taken on a variety of different dishes since I eat with fiance a lot and also use mine and my roommate's collection of various non-matching dishes. Fiance and I registered for these dishes. I have been wanting white square dishes for YEARS and can't wait! 

We are getting married August 8th which feels like it is far away, but not really when I think of all the things I have to do still! I have been using theknot.com which gives you great checklists, a budgeter and other tools to utilize during the planning process. I just logged in tonight and it says: 170 days until the wedding, 186 items left on my to-do list....YIKES!! haha.

TOMORROW IS FRIDAY....YAY!!!! What are you doing this weekend?

3 day weekends go fast!

Hi bloggies! I hope everyone had a fabulous weekend! I had today off as a holiday so I throughly enjoyed the long weekend and am not looking forward to going back to work tomorrow!! The days just FLEW by! 

Now for my V-day dinner update:

While fiance was cooking away I had a glass of red wine and I continued to refill my glass through the entire evening :) (this kind is SO good and less than $5 at trader joes!)

Fiance prepared Turkey bacon rolls with roasted potatoes and green beans! It was seriously all delicious!!!The rolls had turkey, some ham lunch meat, provolone cheese, basil and were wrapped in bacon. These were def. a bit of an indulgence but tasted amazing!!!!!! I ate every bite on my plate :)Fiance and I spent the rest of v-day evening drinking wine and watching a movie...nice and relaxing!

Sunday morning we made french toast using multi grain bread. I topped mine with bananas, strawberries and blueberries. I actually only ended up eating 2 of the pieces. so yummy :)
After b-fast we ran lots of errands and trekked all over the mall. I was pooped when we got home. I made myself a plate of nachos :) I topped tortilla chips with some shredded cheese, black beans, salsa and cilantro. yum

Later in the afternoon I had a snack before going to see Confessions of a Shopaholic (!!!!!) with my sister. The movie was at 4:30 so I knew dinner would be a bit later. I had a small bowl of kashi with some blueberries and decaf coffee. 

the movie was pretty good, but no where near as good as the books! The movie just doesn't do justice to how crazy Becky is! So if you see the movie and like it READ THE BOOKS!!! :)

After the movie and a stop at Target with my sis I was ready for dinner! I made a repeat of roasted zucchini and carrot pasta. this is so simple, but so delish!
This morning I had a simple brekkie of a whole wheat bagel with a sliced banana and blueberries.then I was off to do a little shopping...I was purchasing some gifts for my previous roommate for her bachelorette party this coming weekend! I'm so excited to party and see a bunch of my sorority sisters from college!!! :) 

I made a stop at the gym before coming home and making a small plate of nachos exactly like yesterday's.  

Dinner was a pork stir fry fiance made! It had pork, broccoli, red peppers and snap peas served over brown rice. very yummy!

I also snacked on a few of these babies I got at Trader joes. VERY GOOD! 

Sorry for the mega long update!!!!  Hope everyone had a good monday 'see' you tomorrow!!!

Happy V-day!

Hi lovies! I hope everyone is enjoying Valentine's day! :) I have spent the entire day with fiance! We ran a bunch of errands, went to the gym, just watched a movie  and are now starting to make dinner! I am normally not very big on the romance of valentine's day (I consider it mostly a hallmark holiday) but I do just love the decorations sold in stores and all of the candy and flowers! haha.

It was SO beautiful out on Friday I took some pictures for you while I was on campus for class! This is the library where all of my classes are:

And here is a pic of downtown from campus.

After class on friday fiance and I decided to have a Mexican night! I started off with a Michelob Ultra Lime Cactus. Seriously yummy!

I snacked on some chips and quac. while making the tacos!

We decided to try and make more traditional tacos which are topped just with raw onions and cilantro. We made shredded chicken spiced with some fajita seasoning. I had 3 since they were pretty small tortillas. These kind of tacos are so delish!! I really love the flavor the cilantro gives the tacos. VERY GOOD....and simple :)

We watched Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist while eating. It was pretty good. I love Michael Cera he is hilariously awkward! 

This morning I got some much needed extra sleep! Breakfast was very yummy! I made scrambled eggs with 1 whole egg, 2 egg whites and some cheese. On the side I had a whole wheat bagel with light cheese (I only ate 1/2) and some berries that were FINALLY on sale at the grocery store!!!!!!!!!

Lunch was chicken creole from YATZ...sorry no picture, but it was amazing!

Right now I am snacking on a naner while fiance is preparing a gourmet meal! YAY! I will take lots of photos and update you all on how it goes.....he rarely cooks anything besides a grilled piece of meat :)

Happy love day! :) 

Here comes the sun.

Hi all! It is SO sunny out today. It is amazing how nice weather instantly puts me in a good mood :)

Yesterday mid-morning I snacked on an apple.

Lunch was a ham and cheese sammy that I toasted up in the break room! I am basically the only person who ever uses our toaster oven at work. People are ALWAYS commenting about it when whenever I use it. I just love a toasted sandwich so much more than a regular one. :) On the side I had some carrots dipped in pb.When I went to leave work we were practically having a monsoon here!!!!! It was raining crazy hard and was ridiculously windy! While walking to my car my umbrella turned inside out after like 2.5 seconds and so I got completely soaked. My hair was a crazy hot mess after all that wind and rain. Once I got in my car I could literally feel it shaking because of the wind...yikes! During my drive home (which took significantly longer due to the weather) I snacked on 1/2 of my final toasted coconut macadamia nut bar.Fiance and I made pizza for dinner while watching Talladega nights. We used a premade Pillsbury crust. I topped my side with sliced zucchini, a few pieces of pepperoni, some mozz. cheese and italian seasoning. SO YUMMY! I had a spinach salad on the side.B-fast this morning was a waff sammy. 2 Whole wheat waffs with 1/2 smashed banana and a scoop of pb in the middle. This is such a yummy b-fast and perfect for when I'm running late and need to eat in the car :)At work this morning I gave a presentation right through my morning snack time. By the time I was done I was famished and decided to just take an early lunch! I had leftover Kashi moroccan curry rice with some black beans and a cut up morningstar black bean veggie burger....a seriously good combo. Next time I will probably top it with some cheese and salsa.
I had some carrots and a plum on the side.

Now I just have a few more hours of work to get through before I am off to my night class for 3 more hrs. Tonight we will be talking about ethical issues in different types of libraries which I think will be very interesting. This is my 3rd class I'm taking with this professor and I just think she is completely fascinating! She has her MLS, JD and PHD along with TONS of amazing work experience. She is so smart, but not in the least bit intimidating and honestly one of the nicest people ever!!

Who else is pumped for the Office tonight?!?!?!

Humpday!

Hi all! I get so excited when it is wednesday! I feel like after work on weds. time just flies by until the weekend :) This will be brief since I have LOADS of work to do....yikes!!

Monday at work I made this sweet potato monster for lunch:

And tried one of these veggie burgers! OMG! I loved these. They had awesome flavor with actual whole black beans in them. So yummy!

For a snack at work I ate a pear.

Dinner was a leftover bang bang taco from Bonefish grill. The tacos had the shrimp cooked in some super spicy sauce, lettuce and tomatoes on them. I added some ranch to cool mine down some! I also had a carrot dipped in pb on the side.

Tuesday I woke up craving oatmeal! I was all out of milk though so I made it only with water!
Stove top oats made of:

1/2 c. oats

1 c. water

sprinkle of brown sugar

1 banana mashed

handful choc. chips

spoonful pb

This was SO yummy! I def. like having the banana mashed instead of sliced!

For lunch on Tuesday I had a meeting with my boss and his boss! I got a soup and salad combo. House salad with vinaigrette and pasta fagioli soup. I also had a roll on the side.

Snack at work:

I was VERY excited to try this bar after hearing so many rave reviews and it didn't disappoint! YUM!!


Then I forgot my camera at work!!!!!!!!!!! SO no dinner pictures which was a simple ham and cheese wrap anyways!

I waited to eat my breakkie at work this am so I could take photos for you :)

I had a banana nut muffin my roomie had made:

With a wild berry yogurt:

Tonight after work I am going straight to the GYM! I feel like I haven't been there in forever. I have just been doing yoga and workouts at home, but I am ready for a major sweat session.

After the gym fiance and I are planning on making a pizza tonight! yum :)

Weekend recap:

The Indy wine trail consists of 7 wineries throughout the greater Indianapolis area. When you visit a winery you can have your passport stamped. On Saturday Fiance and I went to the 2 remaining wineries that we needed stamps from!
At your final winery when you turn in your passport you get a free wine glass:I LOVE it! It says indy wine trail on the front and has the names of all the wineries on the back. While out and about fiance and I bought 3 bottles of wine which we desperately needed to fill up our brand new wine rack we got!! Yay! We bought this on sale at bed bath and beyond! :)


As I mentioned earlier we had been planning to go to bonefish grill for dinner. However, when I called to make reservations they said the were COMPLETELY BOOKED! We ended up making a reservation for Sunday night.

So instead dinner featured this new buy:
Fiance grilled up some skirt steak and we had pitas! Mine also had some sauteed carrot strips and onions as well as a tiny bit of mozz. cheese.

Sides were the kashi moroccan curry (which I REALLY liked, but fiance said: 'it just smells too weird to eat'...ha!) and a spinach salad with light italian dressing.Sunday morning I slept in....YAY! For breakfast I made a fruit bowl with a diced apple and bananaAnd an egg sammy with cheese and ham on a whole wheat bagel.Then we went out to run a bunch of errands and I FORGOT my camera! :( Sadly this is where my pictures end for Sunday. I ended up eating some veggie lo mein for lunch. Snacking on a kashi raspberry choc. bar and then having dinner at Bonefish! At Bonefish I got the bang bang shrimp tacos which were spicy, but really good!!! I have one leftover so you will probably see it in the next 2 days :)

This morning I made a bowl of oats topped with some pecans.

It is like almost 60 degrees out today....YAY!!!!!!!!! I can't wait for this week to be done:

Mon: 11-9, work

Tues: 11-9, work

Weds: 7:30-5:30, work.

Thurs: 7:30-4:30, work

5:30-8:30, class

Fri: 8-12:30, work

1:15-4:15, class

Then.....3 day weekend!!!!!!!! Yes, that's right president's day is a paid holiday for my office :)

Plus, Confessions of a Shopaholic comes out on Friday! omg. I LOVE these books. I have read the entire series twice and own all 5 books. EEK. I'm so excited and am hoping to go and see it with my sister this weekend!