A dramatic post about hot yoga

I totally thought this was going to be me last night.

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Instead I heard, "people pass out all the time. It's okay."

Ummmm....excuse me?

Since when is passing out normal?

Oh, it's normal at Bikram yoga...or the stinky hot yoga.

I went last night to Bikram for the first time.

And yes, the room smelled like feet but you get used to that. Just embrace it.

I've done hot yoga before (not at Bikram) and don't remember being as intense.

Either my buffalo chicken sandwich for lunch at Subway yesterday got to me or Bikram is like the bar test of yoga classes.

So yes, I'm going to go again on Monday because I want to give it a fair chance to change my body ;). I'm sore in places I didn't know could be sore! I thought I didn't even get a good work out because I missed a few poses from wanting to throw up from the heat.

But boy was I wrong!

Have you done hot yoga before?

That phantom vacation I keep mentioning revealed

We're going here:

Source: sun-surfer.com via Time Out For Myself Travel on Pinterest

And here:

Source: peoplemelt.com via PeopleMelt.com on Pinterest

See you this summer, London and Rome. :)

Red Pepper Goat Cheese Alfredo Pasta

So quick back story...two years ago I went to San Francisco, walked to Little Italy from Union Square and ate the most amazing red pepper sauce pasta at this hole in the wall restaurant. It blew my mind. It blew my mind so much in fact that I don't remember the restaurant's name (or maybe that was because of the amount of wine I had...). I talk about this red pepper sauce mystery meal a few times a year at least. I've been on the hunt to find it somewhere else locally and I haven't been able to.

Fast forward to last week when I found this recipe. I didn't expect it to be on par with my SF meal...but I'm pretty sure it was REALLY CLOSE. This recipe was RIDICULOUSLY easy to make and tasted gourmet.



Ingredients

+1/2 pound pasta

+2 tablespoons butter

+1 clove minced garlic

+1/2 cup heavy cream

+4 ounces goat cheese

+1/4 cup parmigiano reggiano (parmesan), grated

+2 roasted red peppers, coarsely chopped

+salt and pepper

+1 handful basil

 

Directions

+Cook your pasta! We used the spaghetti kind. You can follow the package, or wing it like I do ;)

+Melt the butter in a pan on the stove. Add the garlic and cook for a minute on medium.

+Now add the cream, red peppers, parmesan, and goat cheese until the goat cheese is melted.

+Once your mixture is melted, remove it from heat. Add the basil and some salt and pepper. Put in a blender and mix it up!

+Serve over your pasta and use some basil to make it pretty.

I found this recipe here. It's a great website, you should check it out!

Five Things You Probably Don't Care About

Oh hey! Remember, me? It's only been about five thousand years since I last posted. Okay, maybe I'm exxagerating. It was last Tuesday. Anyhow, it's been quite the eventful week. So here's five things for you.

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1.  I got rear-ended last week. At a stop sign. Homegirl claims she wasn't texting, but I don't know how you crash into someone going that fast unless you were texting. Anywho, I've had a badass Dodge Challenger this entire week while my poor little Civic is being repaired.

2. The boyfriend and I have been cooking some delicious meals lately. Does homemade red pepper and goat cheese alfredo pasta sound good to you? I thought so. That's why I'm posting the recipe manana. (That's tomorrow in spanish. See school taught me something!).

3. I'm literally obsessed with West Elm these days. Mostly the light fixtures. And pillows. And night stands. And dining room stuff. Except I don't think I could bring myself to pay those prices. Someone give me a furniture allowance when you win the lottery!

4. The past few months for me can be defined as rut. It's a weird transition time for me before the next stage in my life and I couldn't be more ready to make those changes. However, as frustrating and trying as those feelings can be, I couldn't be more grateful for TODAY. Right now. I have so many things to look forward to in the next week or so and I'm really lucky to have so many blessings right now.

5. The new season of Game of Thrones starts next Sunday! Is anyone else beyond pumped? It's definitely one of the best shows on television. Who agrees with me?

I am giving things away.

I'm participating in two group giveaways! I'm giving away a Sephora gift card over at Because Shanna Said so and three months of large ad space at Penniless Socialite. You can also win some other fantastical prizes like a jcrew gift card, enough starbucks to buy me coffee a few times...(whaa?) and a Bauble Bar gift card!

Enter below because I sure wish I could.

  a Rafflecopter giveaway a Rafflecopter giveaway

Five Mundane Things

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1. Has this week been the longest week ever or has it not? I could barely roll out of bed this morning. I had a midterm this week (another next!) but this week has just dragged and dragged. It seems like everyone else has had the same issue. Hallelujah for Friday!

2. About a year ago I started to watch the first episode of Downton Abbey and couldn't get into it. Maybe I couldn't get past the accents, or maybe I was surfing blogs while I was watching. But nonetheless, I gave it another shot due to some peer pressure and finished the first season in one night when the boyfriend was out of town. (It's only seven episodes). I really liked it! I am on season  two and even though I accidentally saw a spoiler about Lady Sybil (UGHHH!) I am still about four episodes in. For those of you have men that watch this show...how do you get them to like it?? I'm confused.

3. I heard Jason Segal and Michelle Williams broke up. I'm heart broken. I really thought those two were going to go the distance. They seemed so happy. Sigh.

4. Last night I pinned about twenty recipes. Lately, I have been MORE obsessed with food. Maybe this is because I'm on a weekday diet, or maybe it's because I have an increasing urge to cook fancy things. Either way, I have food brain. It's borderline insane. I thought about deleting this blog and starting a food blog but then I realized I doubt anyone would read it. I already came up with the blog title: Eat this to get fat. Charming, right? Guess that's not happening....

5. I'm giving away a Sephora gift card on another blog next week. Stay tuned....I know you want to buy some Benefit makeup! Okay, you can buy whatever you want...but Benefit has a few products I'm dying to try/buy.

Did anyone else cry on the inside about Jason and Michelle?

Crockpot Yumminess-Homemade Beef Tomato Sauce

This sauce was AMAZING! Seriously, I know I overuse the word amazing but it best describes the deliciousness that happened in my mouth because of this beef tomato sauce. We bought the store foil/throw in the oven garlic bread to go with it and it was the perfect dinner while waiting for The Walking Dead to come on.



You'll need:
1lb ground beef (lean!! we used 94% lean)
salt & peppaaaaa
1 medium onion, cut in small, small pieces (insert fancy cooking term here)
28oz can crushed tomatoes
8oz can tomato sauce
6oz can tomato paste
1 Tablespoon brown sugar
3 garlic cloves, minced
2 teaspoons dried oregano
2 teaspoons dried basil
3/4 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1/4 teaspoon red chili pepper flakes (Iowa Girl Eats says optional, I say mandatory ;) )
2 Tablespoons butter (you might as well go for the real stuff)

Directions:
+Put some oil in a pan, then season and brown your meat.
+Throw in the onions and sauté those bad boys (We only sauted about half of our onions)
+Drain and throw into your crockpot!
+Put your butter aside
+Add the remainder of your ingredients and mix, mix, mix. 
+Cook on low for 5-6 hours.
+After 5.5 hours add your butter and stir.
+Leave for 20-30 minutes.

It takes ridiculously good over macaroni noodles. Trust me.

Recipe from Iowa Girl Eats!

Lusting After

1. Frye loafers 2. Rose Gold Nixon Watch 3. Marc by Marc Jacobs Crossbody 4. Chevron Maxi