Elf Yourself!

Happy December everyone! There's nothing like bringing in the holidays with a video of yourself dancing as an elf. Have fun creating your own, but in the meantime, check out mine here:

Math Tip

Here is a tip I recently discovered from my mom, who is a math teacher! It can come in handy when trying to figure out discounts on clothes at the mall, or figuring out what to tip for a service. Some teachers don't even know this trick! Here goes:

Can you tell me what 17 % of 50 is? 

The easy way is to flip this equation around to what is 50% of 17? Which is very easy to do, half of 17 is 8.5. This means that 8.5 is also the answer to 17% of 50! 

You can do this with any percentage problem, just flip it around and the answer will be the same. To prove this to you, think about what is 10% of 100, 10 right? Well 100% of 10 is 10 as well. Get it? Hopefully this will come in handy for you one day!

With school being back in session I thought this would be a perfect post for this Monday :-)

Enjoy and be smart!

Blueberry Moscow Mule

Recipe found at Sugar and Charm

Blueberry Moscow Mule Directions
Pour the ginger beer, vodka and lime juice in a copper cup and stir. Add in the ice and then pour a little blueberry syrup on the top. Give it another stir and garnish with blueberries and a lime wedge.

Blueberry Syrup
1 cup fresh blueberries
1/4 cup water
1 tablespoon sugar

Directions
Bring the ingredients to a boil for 5 minutes, then let it simmer for another 10 minutes until it thickens. Strain over a glass bowl and let it cool.

Enjoy!

Turkey Burgers with Peach Blueberry Topping

Delicious summer dinner that is light! Found this recipe from Better Homes and Gardens. To make it even lighter, omit the cheese like I did.

Ingredients

4

small peaches

1

pound ground turkey

 

Salt

 

Ground black pepper

4

slices Monterey Jack cheese

1/2

cup blueberries

1/4

teaspoon chili powder

4

thick slices roasted garlic country bread or garlic bread, toasted if desired

Directions

1. Finely chop one of the peaches; add ground turkey, salt, and pepper. Shape turkey mixture into four 1/2-inch-thick patties (if necessary, dampen hands first). Grill on the rack of an uncovered grill directly over medium-high heat for 4 to 5 minutes per side or until no pink remains (165 degrees F). Add cheese; cover and cook 1 minute more.
2. Meanwhile, coarsely chop remaining peaches. In a large skillet combine peaches, blueberries, and chili powder. Cook, stirring occasionally, over medium heat for 5 to 6 minutes or until heated through and juices are beginning to form.
3. Top each piece of garlic bread with one turkey burger and some of the peach mixture. If desired, top with additional chili powder.

Nutrition Facts

Per serving: 
• 464 kcal cal., 
• 25 g fat
 
• (10 g sat. fat, 
• 3 g polyunsaturated fat, 
• 6 g monounsatured fat), 
• 114 mg chol., 
• 614 mg sodium, 
• 28 g carb., 
• 3g fiber, 
• 11 g sugar, 
• 31 g pro.
• Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet

Ground Turkey Lettuce Wraps - Easy!

Ingredients:
Ground turkey or ground chicken
1/2 Onion, chopped
2 Cloves Garlic, minced
3 Scallions, chopped
Tomato, chopped
Cilantro, chopped
Peanuts, optional
1/4 c. Soy Sauce
Iceberg lettuce leaves

Directions:
Preheat 2 tbsp. of olive oil on a skillet on medium-high heat. Add the turkey and chop it up with a spatula while cooking until no longer pink. Add the soy sauce, onion, and garlic and cook for 3 more minutes. If the turkey is a little dry, add more olive oil.

Add turkey mixture to each lettuce leaf and top with chopped tomatoes, cilantro, and peanuts if desired.

For sauce, I used a hot taco sauce,  but you can be creative and use your favorite sauce.

Enjoy and Be Healthy!

Nutella Marshmallow Filled Cake Bars

My first time EVER trying nutella...and I have to say it is pretty amazing! Especially combined with funfetti cake and marshmallow fluff!! Now I know these are not the healthiest, but they are very delicious!

RECIPE (from insidebrucrewlife)

Ingredients

1 Funfetti cake mix

1/3 cup butter, melted

1/3 cup milk

1 cup Nutella

1 cup Marshmallow Cream

Instructions

1. In a mixing bowl, combine cake mix, melted butter, and milk. The dough will be very sticky. Press half the batter in a greased 9×13 pan. Spread the Nutella on top of the dough. Very carefully spread the marshmallow fluff on top and swirl lightly.
2. Spread the remaining batter on top of the fluff. Bake at 350* for 25 minutes. Do not over bake. Let cool completely before cutting into 24 squares. Store in a covered container.

5 Phone Apps You MUST Have

Waze is an app that lets you type in where you are driving to and it will get you there using the fastest route. If you are stuck on the freeway in traffic, it will re-route you to the side streets to get you to your destination faster. This app will also show your your arrival time, show you where police are, and reports road hazards. Get Waze on Google play and on Apple App store.

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Venmo makes sending and receiving money easy. As long as you use a bank account, supported debit card, or Venmo account, sending money is completely free! Get Venmo on Google play and on Apple App store.

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Save on the things you already buy at Target with Cartwheel! Select from hundreds of discounts ranging from 5% to 50% off, and add them to your personalized Cartwheel barcode. Then save on your next Target run by scanning your barcode at checkout in store. Use the discounts as many times as you like before they expire. Get Cartwheel on Google play and on Apple App store.

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MapMyRun is a fitness tracking application that enables you to use the built-in GPS of your mobile device to track all of your fitness activities. Record your workout details, including duration, distance, pace, speed, elevation, calories burned, and route traveled on an interactive map. You can even effortlessly save and upload your workout data to MapMyRun where you can view your route workout data, and comprehensive workout history. Get MapMyRun on Google play and on Apple App store.

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Charades! is the outrageously fun and exciting multi-activity game for you and your friends! With different challenges from dancing, singing, acting or sketching -- guess the word on the card that’s on your head from your friends’ clues before the timer runs out! I enjoy playing this game with friends when we are waiting in line at random places :-) Get Charades! on Google play and on Apple App store.

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Ruffles with Love

Ruffles with Love is a clothing line that has the CUTEST tank tops! My friend Vanessa started this business and is always coming up with new designs and ideas. I personally have 2 tanks so far, and will definitely be purchasing more in the future! She also does custom designs so if you are having a bachelorette party, birthday party, or any event where you would want matching tank tops, she is the perfect person to contact!!

Recently Ruffles With Love was featured on The Levity Ball website, this was a great article and interview. You can see it here Levity Ball article.  If you have not heard of these tanks, you have been missing out!

Here are the 2 tanks I have:

TO CHECK THEM OUT CLICK HERE --> www.ruffleswithlove.com 

Enjoy and BE Rufflin' with Love!!

Quote of the week

Best At Home Workout Videos

Just thought I'd share with you all my current workout routine! My TV has YouTube linked onto it, so I go home, turn on one of the FitnessBlender videos, and usually no equipment is needed. While this is going, I will turn on my Pandora music from my phone and use the Dance Cardio Radio station.

FitnessBlender has all different types of workouts, my current favorites being the cardio routines and the yoga videos. Each video gives you an estimated amount of the calories you are burning. Here are my top 2 favorite videos. Try them out for yourself!

Enjoy and BE healthy!

Lunches Under 500 Calories

Lunch is a meal where you want to get enough calories to hold you over to dinner, but not too many calories to make you feel stuffed and lethargic for the rest of the day.  You also want to be sure you are eating the correct amount of calories you need per day, and with this tool from the American Cancer Society website you can look it up. Calorie Calculator


Bring Your Lunch


ReadyPac Salads

ReadyPac salads are one of the best options for lunches under 500 calories. There are many different options and they now even have tortilla wrap kits too! Check out all of the options here. ReadyPac Salads You can buy them at almost any supermarket and bring them to lunch or school for a great healthy lunch. They come with a mini fork so you don't have to worry about that either. These ReadyPacs are also a very good way to save money on lunch since they are around $4.00 per salad. They are almost always on sale if you buy 3 or more (which means you can just buy your week's worth of lunch).


If you prefer to go out to lunch:

Starbucks has many lunch options you can choose from that are under 500 calories. Choose from any of the bistro boxes.


Starbucks Protein Box

Or choose from their sandwiches, a favorite and vegetarian option being the roasted tomato mozzarella panini.


Starbucks Tomato Mozzarela Panini

When getting these, just be sure to not add a cookie, pastry, or coffee drink that will add to the calories. A healthier option is to add a non-sweetened iced tea, or a coffee with light sweetener and non-fat milk.





Chipotle has many options under 500 calories, but you will want to start by looking at their Chipotle Nutrition Calculator before you head out.

Wendy's salads are also an option.  You will need to get just a half-size salad, but they are still filling and are also delicious! Just don't order fries and a burger ;-)

If you are headed out to grab a sandwich at a deli, you will probably only want to eat half of it and share the other half with a friend. Sandwiches can get up in calories if you have the big deli roll, mayo, or cheese.

**The most important thing you can do before going out to lunch is look up the place online and find where they have their menu with the nutrition information. This way you can be prepared to order when you get there and you know exactly how many calories you will be eating.**

Enjoy and BE Healthy!

Get a Job in the Sports Industry

If you are interested in getting a job in the sports industry, I highly recommend www.teamworkonline.com They have professional sports team positions posted and it is everything from internships, part-time positions, and full-time careers.

Enjoy and land the job!!!

How to Book a Vacation

Whenever I want to book a vacation, I end up spending HOURS on the booking process. I want the best deal along with a hotel that has received good reviews. One of the best places I recommend is that you sign up on TravelZoo and get the top 20 deals sent to your email (I think it is every week or so). Also sign up for LivingSocial and Groupon. They have deals they will send you for vacation packages too. I hope to help cut down on your booking process by giving you the best websites to search on.

Start by making sure the place you are going to visit has good weather at the time you are going. (Just use google to get some information for this.) Next, find the hotel you want to stay at. Tripadvisor has the best reviews in my opinion. To book the vacation package you should use Orbitz, AppleVacations, CheapCaribbean, or once in awhile you can find good deals on the airlines vacation packages (especially for Las Vegas) at Southwest but DO NOT use Expedia! Let me tell you about my recent experience with Expedia...

I booked a trip to Jamaica with Expedia and the next morning (12 hours later) I received an email from my Travelzoo deals saying that DeltaVacations was having a summer sale for Jamaica trips! I then went to book the exact same trip that I did from Expedia, same flights, same hotel, and the deal was $300 cheaper with this. Luckily, I went back on Expedia and they have what they call the Best Price Guarantee! I send an email saying that they should honor this new price but they responded saying that they were not able to. I emailed back and forth 10 times that day, and tried calling (was put on hold for 45 min each time) and they said they only work thru email not over the phone. All in all, I spent about 10 hours off and on that day trying to get the best price guarantee and they never granted it to me. I ended up cancelling the whole trip thru Expedia and then booking with DeltaVacations. Definitely learned my lesson and want to warn you all about Expedia's horrible customer service. If you Google "expedia best price guarantee scam" a whole bunch of reviews come up!

Anyways....back to booking....once you have the vacation booked, look on TripAdvisor for "Things to do" where you are going. You should also look on the Travelzoo website for local deals of things to do. Hope this information will help you in the future! Have fun with the whole process and get excited! It's summertime and that means vacation time!!


Enjoy and BE relaxed!

Father's Day Ideas

With Father's Day coming up Sunday (that's 6 days away!), I wanted to give you all some ideas for gifts! As always, if you have something fun that you do for your father, please add it on the comments.

A few years ago I decided to start a Father's Day tradition with my dad.  I always take him to a San Francisco Giant's game (since this is his favorite team). In the past, I have surprised him with tickets and told him to take a day off of work since I take him to a day game during the week. This makes it fun for both of us because we both get to have a day of baseball with our normal work off.  Now that he knows it is a tradition, I usually tell him in advanced what day we will be going to, but still surprise him with the location of the tickets. Here we are at one of the games, and stopping for some food/drinks after the game.

At the Giant's Game

Happy Hour After the Game- Bay Bridge in Background

I would personally recommend that you take your father somewhere special and spend time with him for Father's Day. Father's Day doesn't have to mean expensive gifts, but it does need to be heart-felt.

Some places you could go are:

• wine-tasting
• fishing
• river-rafting (look on Groupon for deals)
• camping
• dinner

If you have a really busy schedule and are not able to take time out to do something, or if your father lives too far away, you can always make something for you father. Even if you just get creative and make a card, this is still better than a store-bought card.  Whatever you do, just don't forget about him on his day!!!

Enjoy and get planning!

Everything Happens for a Reason

This is a great quote to live by. When going through any tough time, remember that everything happens for a reason! Time will heal everything. There have been times in my life where I thought the pain would never fade, but I focused on this quote, and was able to heal.  Things happen so you can learn from them, and the most important thing to do is to make sure you keep those lessons with you throughout your life. 

Enjoy life and BE happy!

Hangover Cures

With summertime BBQ's, vacations, camping, and other parties coming up, I am sure you will probably end up with a hangover one of these days and I thought I would try to help you when this happens!

Here is my go to list of things I would advise:

1. Slowly get out of bed and have a HUGE glass of water, preferably add some gatorade to it.
2. Pop some pain medicine, and heartburn medicine.
3. Get out the yoga mat and do these hangover yoga poses. I've made a video for you to follow along to, check it out!

4.  Eat something. Your body is craving sugar because of all that sugar you drank, it is also craving vitamins! Try eating a healthy breakfast and have a little juice to give your body the sugar it wants.

5. If you still feel sick, sleep it off as long as you can.

6. There's always the hair of the dog! (This just gets you tipsy again and delays the hangover.)

7. Avoid getting the hangover in the first place by drinking water in between each drink and having a HUGE glass of water before you go to bed the night before.

REMEMBER, these are all just tips I have heard and researched, and this list is just my opinion of what works for me. If you have anything to add list it on the comments!! We could all use the help, especially with the hot dehydrating summertime coming!


Enjoy the tips and BE Healthy!

Healthy Version of Cheesecake Factory Shrimp Bacon Club

Last week I went to Cheesecake Factory and had a half of the Shrimp Bacon club (thank God only half)! Later I went home and researched the calories, and found that it has 1,645 calories, 20g of fat!! That is OVER my calories I need for one day, and it is just dinner! Yes, I only ate about 800, but it got me thinking, this tastes amazing, I am sure there is a healthier version I could create! So here is what I created, let me know if you try it and have your own comparison!

Healthier Version of Cheesecake Factory Shrimp Bacon Club
2 slices wheat bread (180 cal)
1 1/2 slices cooked bacon (about 75 cal)
About 3 oz. cooked shrimp (about 100 cal)
Spinach (I'd say 0 cal)
1/2 Tomato (10 cal)
BBQ sauce for spread 2 tbsp. (30 cal) *I used Stubb's, has no high fructose corn syrup!
This total comes to 395 calories for the sandwich.


I also made potatoes to go with it, and I HAVE to share my potato recipe as well:

2 medium potatoes (any kind work)

1. Heat oven to 420 degrees.
2. Slice potatoes into small squares or triangles.
3. Place potatoes onto 13 x 9 or whatever you have (make sure you spray it with cooking spray)
4. Season potatoes with salt, pepper, and anything else (I use garlic salt or paprika)
5. Put in oven for 25 minutes, then flip and reseason.
6. Put back in oven for another 25 minutes or till crisp to your desire!
1 potato is 163 calories (Source: USDA)

All in all, if you make this sandwich and potato for dinner, it will be 558 calories total. That sounds WAY better than that crazy 1648 number, and I'm sure it is less sodium and fat as well!


Enjoy and BE Healthy!!!