Mom, can I have…

cookies for breakfast?

You remember those days. When you would desperately ask for a cookie before you have eaten your meal. Now, we have grown into adults that know cookies is not part of a balanced breakfast. But when we were children, we always asked for what we really wanted.

I channeled my inner child and my wannabe grown-up this morning with sugar cookie oatmeal.

1/2 cup oatmeal
1 cup water
1/2 banana
1 tsp maple syrup
splash of vanilla extract
1/2 tbsp white chocolate peanut butter

Topped with one of my mom’s freshly baked sugar cookies.

Breakfast is my favorite meal of the day. And dessert. Do you see a trend here?

My holiday bowl of oats were satisfying and delicious. However, they were too sweet, even for me. So next time I make sugar cookie oatmeal, I will omit the maple syrup. Give it a try! You won’t be disappointed. My oatmeal put me in a good mood for the rest of the morning!

What was your favorite food while you were a child? Mine was tuna casserole and anything brownie related 😉

Hello sunshine

The weekend is here! 🙂

After feeling like a dark cloud has been above my head for several days, I am happy that today.. I could finally feel the sunshine. Things are turning around with ‘the situation’ that I had to deal with this week and it looks like it is all going to work out with minimal damage. You guys never cease to amaze me! Thank you for all of your sweet comments this week. And also about my long hair! I was so thrilled that you noticed! You see, after I got married.. I decided to be a rebel and cut my long beautiful hair 10+ inches.

I adored the cut for a few months but quickly realized it was not me. It was a sassy cut that I could play up, and it was fun for awhile but I missed my long hair terribly. I felt naked all the time without it.. and I hated the fact that my tattoo on the back of my neck was out in the open for all to see. I love my tattoo but I like that I can keep it a secret with my hair.

My outfit at work today complete with borrowed BCBG bag from mom. Yay for casual Friday! Work went smoothly, but I have been averaging 3 hours of sleep each night since Sunday. I felt nauseated, and like a train had parked itself on my head. So, I took a nap, a 30 minute nap but a nap nonetheless.

With Mr. Alligator. Hans and I got Mr. Alligator at the Ikea trip for our 1st apartment together in Sweden. It’s as close as I can get to my hubby. I think this is one of the reasons that I am having trouble sleeping- along with stress. I am not used to sleeping alone in a big bed, I am thinking of getting a body pillow.. hopefully that will help me out some.

I have to admit that my eating hasn’t been the best since I started working a few weeks ago. I find myself grabbing a granola bar and rushing out the door. So, today I made a point to sit down and enjoy a real breakfast.

Chocolate Overload Oatmeal. 1/2 cup oats, 1/2 banana, brown sugar, cinnamon, white chocolate wonderful PB, and chocolate chips. Yep, way better than a rushed granola bar.

I managed to have a sit down lunch today too. Well done Haleigh. (Yes I talk to myself) A flat out w/a veggie burger, spinach, fresh tomatoes straight from my dad’s garden and ketchup.

This was taken before I dumped ketchup all over it.

My aunt had a hayride and a bonfire out at her house tonight. It was a blast!! I haven’t been to one of those things in years. Of course, I used it as an excuse to wear my pink scarf.

A hot dog and s’mores were most definitely consumed. I was too busy enjoying the company to snap a photo- you understand 😉 Oh and I can’t forget about the Bailey’s hot chocolate. One of my favorites.

Have you ever cut your hair and deeply regretted it? I don’t regret cutting my hair off last year but it took such a long time to get it back, which makes the cute, playful short cut not really worth it to me.

Goodnight! xoxo

The mess that is my life

My day has looked like this

and this

Luckily, I am more organized now.. or as organized as I can get since I am a total scatter brain. I have to write everything down or I forget about it.

 I have been looking forward to cooking my own meals for quite some time- over a week. Going out to nice restaurants and finding cute nyc cafe’s is fun and all but it’s nice to go back home and prepare your own meals, it is soothing for me. I had been dreaming of this breakfast for a few days now, apple oatmeal. Not just any apple, but fresh NC mountain apples that I picked myself.

I just have to take a minute to say how lucky I am to have such an amazing husband. After a horrible day of travel (but really, when is traveling ever not horrible?) I came to something special sitting on my kitchen counter.

It made my day..err, night. And yes, I read it over and over again like a teenage girl.

The good news is that now I have a very good reason to go visit Manchester after New Year’s.

Our fridge is completely empty so I used that as an excuse to have Vegetarian Chili from the deli. Good but not spicy enough for me so I added some hot sauce and garlic powder.

I don’t think anything is spicy enough for me. I get it from my dad. When I was in high school, he scared off some boys by making them eat some very hot peppers. They downed a whole carton of milk and a loaf of bread after that. I cried from embarrassment but now it’s hilarious.

Afternoon coffee was epic today.

Pumpkin cupcake from Magnolia Bakery in nyc. It was smashed from being in my luggage but it was melt in my mouth good. I don’t usually like icing but I may or may not have licked the plate after words- you be the judge.

I bought one for my mom too. We both adore pumpkin. I just hope it doesn’t get too dry by the time that she gets it. Along side my cupcake was some french press coffee.

Coffee+Sweets were made for each other.

Dinner was sushi- a brown rice spicy salmon avocado roll.

I bulked it up with some broccoli.

I am leaving tomorrow for Tennessee and Tulsa-bound on Thursday. I have such a long drive ahead of me. I love living Charlotte but it doesn’t feel like home without Hans here, nowhere does but I am a strong woman and I will get through this. Sooner or later it will be February 4th and we will be back in Charlotte again. Good night! xoxo

Busy Bee

Sorry I have been MIA since yesterday! Last night I wanted to spend time unplugged with my hubby and today I have been running around trying to get everything done for when Hans’ family arrives. They were supposed to get here at 5pm but they didn’t catch their flight, customs was slow, but no worries.. they booked a later flight and will be arriving in Charlotte at 8pm. But the good news about their flight being delayed is that I had time to update the blog! 🙂

Breakfast this morning was my standard banana oatmeal.

I am cooking a 3 course dinner for every one tomorrow night. So, I thought I would do some prepping today in order to help my future self not be so stressed tomorrow. I couldn’t decide between baking a hazelnut chocolate cake and a traditional pumpkin pie. So, I asked Hans and he said chocolate cake. Well, the chocolate cake was a complete fail. I had to run to the store to get everything for pumpkin pie after the chocolate cake literally fell apart. The pumpkin pie looks good so hopefully it tastes good too. We will find out tomorrow! This is my first time to ‘entertain’ any one so I hope they like what I am preparing for them! Since I was running around all day trying to bake and clean. Lunch was more of a lot of snacks instead of a standard meal. I started with carrots and hummus.

A little later I had 1 slice of Dakota Bread with a smear of real butter and jam with an apple.

Afternoon snacks were a spooky s’mores Zbar. Love these! If you find one, grab it!

And a honey oikos with 1/2 cup cinnamon heart to heart.

After I found out that their flight had been delayed, I managed to squeeze some yoga time in. I definitely needed it today. I am going to be quite the busy bee these next few weeks so my posts are going to be pretty random until I make it back to Oklahoma. In the next few weeks I will be:

*Entertaining Hans family
*Mountains this weekend!
*Flying to NYC the 22nd
*Flying back to Charlotte the 26th
*Leaving NC for Tennessee the 28th
*Driving all the way to Oklahoma, and hoping to get there the 29th or 30th

whoa, talk about crazy… I will miss Hans so much but I am kind of excited to go to new york and to start substitute teaching again, I really love it! Anyway, I am off! I will see ya when I see ya bloggies! xoxo

Weather matches my mood

Hi!

I am really down in the dumps, so you will have to forgive me. It is gloomy and sad looking in these parts today and I have to say that is exactly how I am feeling. I had a fantastic weekend hanging out with Hans. It makes me so sad that I won’t be able to spend another weekend alone with him until well after Christmas. His parents, brother’s family will arrive on Thursday, Hans and I will celebrate Christmas together in Sweden but as for spending time together in Charlotte.. that won’t happen until January. It is just looming over my head like a big, dark cloud. Hopefully it fades away, I want to enjoy my last week with my husband. Cheer up Haleigh!

Breakfast was back to basics banana oatmeal.

You can add as many mix-ins as you want, but the original is the best. Just look at those “marshmallow bananas.”

1/2 cup oatmeal, 1 banana, 1 tsp maple syrup, pinch of salt and cinnamon.

I have a lot to do before our Swedish family gets here on Thursday, so I am off! I hope your Monday is better than mine. xoxo