A Happy List: 154

Planning our camping and weekend trips for the summer. (Weird to think it will be our last summer out here!)

Learning about Pay As You Earn and Income Based Loan repayment programs. (Hello freedom!)

Meal prepping and planning for the week! It will be nice to eat some quality food lol.

The Bachelor taking place in Finland! I am obsessed with Finland lol.

Getting a new photography website! Check it out here!

J calls Golden Girls "Golden Grandma's" lol.

Making the decision to get a second car.

Getting approved to start my internship.

Making unicorn hot chocolate.

This $6 E.L.F. bb cream. 

XOXO

- - - - -

E

Neil's Donuts

I've said it once, and I'll say it again. I MISS THE FOOD IN UTAH!! Utah has such good food places. This past weekend we decided to explore a bit and go to a new donut shop. It was a bit of a drive from where we live, but hey. Anything to get out of the house, right? 😂

This road is one of my favorite to drive in Connecticut.

Ok so J loved his donut (obviously). His consensus was, "If you live close, then go. But if not, then Donut Crazy is fine." Lol.

My donut was good too, but honestly there is nothing I miss more than the chocolate cake donut with chocolate frosting at Provo Bakery. NEED.

We try to be adventurous but also it's hard when you live in a state where you haven't accumulated hundreds of recommendations lol. I laugh at all the Connecticut jokes people make. They says it's like a no mans land between Boston and New York City and I'm like, "ACCURATE."

Life is weird and it takes a while to figure out what you do and don't like, but I guess I'm glad that I'm closer to knowing what I like than I was a year ago lol.

XOXO

- - - - -

E

The Best Vegetarian Burger

Ok, so this is something new I am going to try doing. When I announced on my Facebook that I was going back to being vegetarian after a week of eating meat, I had a few people suggest I share my favorite vegetarian recipes. So here I am!

Let me preface this by saying: I don't like beans, so you won't see a whole ton of that over here. I am a big fan of "fake meat" because I still get cravings for meat and fake meat is just as good to me!

So, today I am talking about my hands down FAVORITE beef-tasting veggie burger I have ever found. It literally looks and smells like meat while you are cooking it. (Also it is vegan!) It was really filling, too! We got ours at Whole Foods, which we don't go to often. I want to go and get like 3 boxes and freeze them. (Find where they sell Beyond Meat near you using the store locator tool.)

It's about $6 for two patties, which at first I was like "STEEP!" But then when you think about the other ingredients in a hamburger it averages to about $3.50 a meal, which for me is not bad at all.

Ok so one of the main reasons I am veg is because I honestly feel like it is a healthier lifestyle. Vegetarians have a lower risk of obesity, heart disease, diabetes, stroke, and they have a longer life expectancy! (Sources here, here and here.) There is this weird myth that vegetarians don't get enough protein in their diet, but just keep in mind that Americans eat WAY too much protein in their diet. (Source here.) So, it really isn't too hard to get all you need as a vegetarian.

I think the biggest reason people don't want to go vegetarian is because they love meat too much, but honestly there are so many fake meats out there, it really helps buffer the change! I initially was just trying it out for a month, but after realizing how easy it was for me to not eat meat, I just decided to stick with it. (The only thing that is hard sometimes is when you just want something quick and can't go through McDonald's and get a full meal, but hey! It's just preventing you from eating crappy fast food!)

Anyway, when I'm done with school and have more time I'll photograph all of these again in actual food photography form, but in the mean time say hello to my rug where I eat all my meals. (Idk why we just love eating on the floor lol.)

All these posts will be under the tag "vegetarian recipes"! Let me know if you try eating meatless for a day, week, or month! I honestly think if everyone had to kill their own meat there would be a lot more vegetarians in the world haha.

Lemme know if you have any questions. Nothing is offensive to me about this because I've heard it all after 7 years, I promise you.

XOXO

- - - - -

E

RIP Trixie

Snow In New England

I guess it doesn't really snow here before Christmas, but then after Christmas we get a lot of snow? Honestly I'm not sure because I thought where we are (by the beach) we are supposed to get mostly rain? 

Well, WHATEVER. Because I love the snow and it has been snowing and I'LL TAKE IT!!! 💙

This is the street we live on. We are in the "downtown" area of a really small, Connecticut town. It's maybe a little bit too small for my taste, to be honest. 😂 We are probably going to move to Norwalk this summer. (If you watch American Housewife, I had to lol that Oliver was selling rip off designer shirts to kids in Norwalk! Tooooo good.)

See, like Wendy's is basically our only choice for food close by. NOT OK. Also look at how much it snowed!!! I think we got 18 inches this day. This was the day that work was canceled for J because of the storm (last Thursday). 

Ok I am merging two separate days into one post because our life is boring and I can do that now. So this was last Friday when we did date night in Norwalk. This is their Main Street and it's SO CUTE!! It has all these yummy little food places too. J works one street over from this street, so we are hoping to live somewhere within walking distance, since having one car is an actual nightmare.

Look at the teenager in the background of this photo flipping us off hahahaha.

Anyway, we decided to break out of our usual "no waiters" rule and try a Mecha in Norwalk. IT WAS SO GOOD!!!! We were there during happy hour, so we got these Korean tacos for $3! I honestly could just get two sets of these next time and be totally happy. They reminded me a lot of my true loves at 180 Tacos. 

I got the veggie ramen, because I am kind of going back to being vegetarian. Except if a meat things looks really good I will try it (like the Korean tacos above), but just overall I wasn't crazy about the way meat was making me feel. I can honestly say that going from meat eater to vegetarian felt the same, but going from vegetarian to meat eater was no buenoooooo. And no, I didn't get sick or anything. I just felt a difference in my head and stomach. 

J liked his pho tai, but said he would try something different next time. I tasted it and it tasted really coconut-y?? V interesting!

Ope, well I guess I am combining the next day as well! This was on Saturday when we just wanted to get out of the house. Like I said before, where we live in honestly kind of boring. It's just like where people live when they want to be close enough to work in New York City, but live in the suburbs. In Utah there were lots of little sit-down-but-waiterless restaurants, but Connecticut is mainly fast food or waiters. 

So, on Saturday we did a little car picnic at the beach. This beach actually looked amazing and I want to go back tomorrow to take some pictures. It also had a huge lawn that will be fun to picnic on in the summer! I learned that the beaches here actually have warm water and people go swimming at them?! For some reason I was thinking they were not swimmable hahah. So, that will also be fun to do during our last summer here! It's crazy to think that we just had our first summer on the east coast, and now we will be having our last. My degree is seriously so fast haha, I am getting tooooooo excited to get back into the workforce and move to Washington (hopefully)!

Anyway, that was our weekend, I guess! I posted weirdly out of order, because then on Sunday we went to New York City, which I already posted about?? Oh well haha.

XOXO

- - - - -

E

Snow Day On The Train

Ok one of the things I love about living in the northeast is THE SNOW DAYS. Like we will get the tiniest amount of snow and everything is canceled. Last week school was canceled on Thursday and Friday! Can you imagine how happy those kids were lol. J got to work from home on Thursday because "the snow was bad" and he was so pumped. Then, on Sunday we woke up to find out church was cancelled!! CAN I GET A HOYAAAAA.

My aunt and uncle were in NYC for his work, so we took the train down to meet them. We were like, "Oh church was cancelled, we should take the train because the roads are probably really bad." WELL. The roads weren't bad at all in comparison to what we are used to in Utah. Plus it's like $10 for parking if you drive, or like $30 a ticket if you take the train lol. So while we were on the train we were like NEVER AGAIN. 

Frickin' Hogwarts AF on a snowy train I swear to you. It was fun to ride on a Sunday because it wasn't full of business people and we could relax and hangout.

I finally got my "girl on a train" photo lol 😂

Boy on a train.

Lunch was so fun! I haven't seen this aunt in like years I think! It was so fun to catch up and she is so funny hahahaha. Hey, pro tip: If you download the McDonald's app they have crazy daily deals! #yourewelcome

J and I went to Dō after lunch and were a little nervous the line would be like an hour long. We walked up to the building and there was no one outside! We were like, "SCORE! THE FOOD GODS ARE ON OUR SIDE." But then we saw a sign on the door that said, "The line starts across the street." We looked across the street and there were like A HUNDRED PEOPLE LINED UP DOWN THE STREET. We stood in line for like 20 seconds before J was like, "Nope!"

So we got black and white cookies at Grand Central instead. (I need to figure out the perfect recipe for those because they are like cake cookies and soooo good.) It was super fun! I love being in New York but not living there 😂 It will be a little sad when we are across the country, but I feel like this time in our lives is a good one, even if we are busy and in lots of student debt hahahahah. All necessary struggles, right?!

XOXO

- - - - -

E

Valentine's Day Adventure

Ugh I need to get back to using this blog as a journal. To be honest, life is pretty boring out here in Connecticut. We just got to work (J) and school (me) and then come home lol. But, there are little details I want to remember every once a while!

So yesterday was Valentine's Day and honestly I didn't make any plans. Sometimes I feel like there are so many holidays to make a big deal over, and while we are on a grad student budget I'm not crazy about spending a ton of money on every single holiday. So, I was just planning on like doing a normal day. But, then J said he had something planned.

So on Tuesdays we leave the house at 6:00am. I take the train into New York while J goes to work. He gets home a little bit earlier than me and then picks me up from the train station at 9:00pm. So I was like WTF are we doing at 9:00pm at night??

But he was so cute and was waiting for me at the train station. He got out of the car as soon as he saw me come down the stairs and gave me some roses. He had some Reese's minis in a heart waiting for me on the car seat (which is the true key to my heart) and a card! QT.

Then we went to Center Street Social in Shelton, Connecticut for dinner! There honestly aren't a lot of food places around us here hahaha.

 So this is one we had found a while ago that we wanted to try, but thought it was expensive?? Ok well pro tip if you are ever in Shelton, Connecticut (which will most likely never happen unless you are doing a Gilmore Girl's tour or something lol) GO ON TUESDAYS. They have taco Tuesday with $2 tacos and nachos.

This was the main thing I wanted - the Bavarian pretzel. It came with honey mustard and jalepeno cheese and I couldn't even finish half of it. IT WAS SOOOO GOOD. Also it was like 12 inches across, so yeah. Huge.

THESE NACHOS WERE $2 LIKE WUT.

These tacos were $2 a piece. Jake couldn't even eat 3. We are now wondering why we don't go there more, because even with paying a waiter our whole meal would still be under $20 if we did nachos and tacos lol. 

Then we went home and immediately went to bed! In other news, I have recently heard our neighbor coughing while we are laying in bed and I'm like "!?!?!?!?!?" Like J and I do a lot of pillow talk at night and I'm just wondering if this guy is over there listening to every. single. word. hahahaha. We haven't met him except for when our building fire alarm went off at 2:00 am on. Sunday morning and we all evacuated and he was leaving his apartment the same time we were. I hope to never meet him because I do not even want to KNOW what he has heard us talk about hahahaha.

I hope you all had a happy Valentine's Day! My mom did the cutest lil' tradition for us when we were kids where she had a Valentine's dinner and wrote us a riddle about where in the house our gift was hidden. The gifts were just little $20 things, but it was so cute and I can't wait to do that for my babies when I have them in 50 years lol.

Anyway, hap V day!

XOXO

- - - - -

E

A Happy List: 154

The nicest guy threw windshield wiper fluid on my windshield when the gas station's was frozen.

Starting to meal plan. I made squash and avocado tacos tonight and they were good!

Photographing the cutest products for Shanti Studios. Check her out!

Trixie survived her time in a kennel while my mom was in Hawaii!

Church being canceled from the most baby amount of snow haha.

Realizing I can make smoothie bowls in my food processor.

Getting all the classes I wanted for summer semester.

I found the cutest college fashion blogger!

Freshly vacuumed carpet.

Riding the train.

XOXO

- - - - -

E

A Happy List: 153

(Keeping this one short because it's 10:30pm and I still have tons of reading to do before class tomorrow.)

Trixie is at a kennel right now while my mom is in Hawaii. The guy there has been taking such good care of her! She wasn't doing well the first few days so he made her chicken noodle soup and a bed by the heater. It's actually kind of sad because she might think my mom is getting rid of her (the trip is 9 days and she has never stayed at a kennel before) but it's so sweet the guy is taking such good care of her. My mom and I talked and decided that the second my mom can see she is in any pain, she will put her down. I just hope she makes it until my mom gets back from her trip, because how sad to die alone in a kennel after living with a family for 16 years!! :( Glad she is taken care of though!)

The feeling you get after seeing the OBGYN and knowing you won't have to go back for another year.

Seeing creatives from Utah excel and making art their job. Such an accomplishment <3

The Bachelor! How have I not watched it until now.

Keeping my goal of making comments in class.

Washington Square park when it's snowing.

Finding a pair of glasses that fits just right.

Being The Girl on the Train.

Pretzels with hummus.

By Chloe's branding.

J: "Em, I'm freaking goals right now."

Shake Shack Burgers For The First Time!

K so if you missed it, I am no long a vegetarian. I am trying to eat all the meat people say is the best. So, we headed to Shake Shack in Westport for some burgs!

GUYS. To be COMPLETELY honest, I don't see what the big deal is??? Like I would rather eat a hamburger from McDonald's than Shake Shack? It was just kind of flavorless? I don't know, maybe I got a weird one or something haha. Oh, and I've had a junior bacon cheeseburger that I would rate above Shake Shack as well. 

If you have any meat suggestions, let me know!

XOXO

- - - - -

E

A Day In New York

I keep bringing my camera with me to school, but I never take photos for some reason? Well, I don't have much of a break anyway haha, but here are some pictures from a few weeks ago! I debated for DAYS over whether or not to go to orientation. Finally, Monday night, I was like, "Ok, I'll go I'll go." Tuesday morning we leave the house at 6:15 am and I catch the 7:00 train to New York.

Halfway through the train ride, I realize that ORIENTATION IS WEDNESDAY, NOT TUESDAY. I am an idiot haha. So, I just went and got my student ID, walked around, and got a treat. 

I honestly think New York is the prettiest place. I don't like living there, but it's such a fun place to visit. It's nice being able to take a train in in the morning, but then be back in the suburbs for real life things haha.

I met up with my cute new friend Hallie and we went to Momfuku for treats. I got this crack pie and it was SO GOOD. We chatted in Starbuck's while I charged my phone, and then I headed home. 

I heard that orientation wasn't too informative, so I'm not sad I missed it. Plus, it was nice to get out of the house. I swear to you, I am NOT meant to stay home haha. It's nice sometimes to have a sick day or something. But also, I get really scared that I won't be able to be a stay-at-home-mom. I just feel like I get really anxious and depressed if I don't have certain challenges and interactions. So, I think I might end up working part time or something. I don't know. I don't have to decide right now (not pregnant) but I just feel like people aren't very kind to moms who have nannies haha. I don't see what the shame is! Everyone has different personalities!

Also, I have decided that when I am pregnant, I am just going to wait and see when people notice. Like I am not going to announce it or anything lol. I am so excited because I hope it will throw people off hahahah.

XOXO
- - - - -
E