Daily Photo

Last week at the doctor’s office (I just went for a checkup), my doctor said something that stuck with me. He said that the best thing I can do for my overall health for the next 60 years (hello, wishful thinking!) is to keep exercising.

I like working out…most of the time, and I like it even more when I’m wearing cute nail polish that matches my outfit. 🙂

I swear, I can run faster when I’m wearing cute nail polish.

This tank I’m also wearing is one of my new favorite workout pieces. I got it on sale for $10 (regularly $15) at Old Navy! It’s so soft and feels great, and I love the message.

I can’t seem to find it online right now…but sometimes when that happens they still have things in the stores. I think it’s called the Women’s Go-Dry Tank, and I found it over in the section with all the workout clothes.

I’m wearing it with eye-catching Essie Blossom Dandy from the Flowerista collection, a pastel blue-green with a creamy finish.

I needed three coats to reach full opacity.

Yup, three. I still saw some streaks after two…

If you’re interested, it’s $8.50 and available now online and wherever Essie polishes are sold.

The official name of this dish is Shrimp Zoodles Parmesan for Two, but the unofficial name is HOLY FREAKING SH*T, MA!!

I made this dish last night and it was SO bomb. It’s baked shrimp parmesan with zucchini “noodles” and a tomato sauce.

Shock. Ing.

That’s how good it was. Not ’cause I had any doubts about the recipe or anything — I got it from skinnytaste.com, which never steers me wrong — but because I didn’t mess it up, haha!

Most of the time when I cook something for the first time, it ends up a little off. I mean, it’s usually edible but…I’m not naturally gifted in the kitchen, so it takes me a few tries.

But this one was really, REALLY good right off the bat.

Granted, I did end up tweaking it a bit. I was really hungry and didn’t have the time/patience to make the tomato sauce from the recipe, so I just opened up a bottle of tomato basil spaghetti sauce I had in the cupboard and used that. I also doubled the amount of shrimp the recipe calls for because El Hub is a growing boy who needs meat. LOL! Feeding dudes… It’s a challenge sometimes.

A lot of people don’t know this, but it’s a proven fact (not really). Rainbows taste like pad thai.

Yeah! Who knew? 🙂

I got a bag of crazy yellow and purple carrots (the carrots are buried down there in the bowl somewhere) at Trader Joe’s and thought they’d be perfect for this Rad Rainbow Pad Thai recipe I found on — yup, you guessed it — ohsheglows.com.

I’ve made this a few times now. Sometimes I’ll have it as is, and sometimes I’ll add a protein on top, like I did a lightly fried tofu a while back, and that was really good. Another time I cooked some frozen shrimp in TJ’s Sweet Chili Sauce — also delicious, and cooking the shrimp only took about five minutes. El Hub’s favorite was the time I added Trader Joe’s Ginger and Soy Cod Fillets, which I baked in the oven. The ginger-soy flavors go really well with the pad thai veggies.

You gotta give this one a try. It’s SO nom.

It looks like pasta in there, but it’s all veggies.

More food-ness!

I’m pretty sure that this soup was supposed to be less lumpy and a lot smoother, but whatev. It was delish! — and I like the green color. 🙂

I made this the other day from a recipe I saw in the May 2015 issue of Cooking Light magazine. Here it is, in case you want to get yo’ pea soup on…

SWEET PEA SOUP WITH YOGURT AND PINE NUTS

Ingredients (serves 6)
3 cups shelled fresh green peas (I used one and a half bags of shelled peas from Trader Joe’s; you could also use frozen peas)
1 cup unsalted chicken stock (I swapped this out for vegetable stock)
1 cup coarsely chopped pea shoots or baby spinach leaves (I used spinach)
2 tablespoons chopped fresh mint
2 garlic cloves
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
2 tablespoons pine nuts, toasted (I used silvered almonds because it’s what I had in my cupboard)
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon chopped fresh dill
2 tablespoons plain 2% reduced-fat Greek yogurt

Directions

1. Bring a large pot of water to bowl. Add peas; cook 15 seconds. Add pea shoots, mint, and garlic; cook 15 seconds. Drain; plunge pea mixture into ice water. Drain well.
2. Combine pea mixture, stock, and salt in a blender; process until very smooth.
3. Combine nuts, oil and dill in a small bowl.
4. Ladle about 2/3 cup soup into each of 6 shallow bowls.
5. Drizzle each serving with 1 teaspoon yogurt; top with 2 teaspoons nut mixture.
6. Nom, and enjoy. 🙂

I’m the only one in my house who eats this soup, by the way, because my husband 1) hates peas and 2) dislikes soup, so this dish was pretty much his nightmare in a bowl, haha! I made him a very boy-friendly salami and cheese sandwich to eat instead.

Since we’re on the subject of soups, what’s your favorite? Mine’s probably potato leek…

Let me tell you, it is NOT easy to find a maxi dress that doesn’t drag along the floor like a train when you’re pint-sized, and up until a few weeks ago, I didn’t have a maxi dress in my closet because every. single. one. I’ve ever tried on has made me look like a kid playing dress-up in her mom’s work clothes.

Normally, I would’ve walked right by this Petite Paradise Halter Maxi Dress by LOFT because — hello! — maxi dress trauma, but I liked the print so much that I decided to give it a try.

And I’m so glad I did, because I freaking love this dress. It feels fantastic, for one. It’s made of a very comfy, lightweight, breathable linen blend.

Ah… Perfect for hot days like the ones we’ve been having (it’s been in the 80s in Novato lately, YOWZA!).

Then there’s the print, with the flowers and leaves. When I look down, I almost forget I’m not on a tropical vacation. I like that the whole design is bold but not too bright…if that makes any sense, LOL!

Fun fact about LOFT and prints: the nice sales associate at LOFT who helped me while I was there said that when LOFT makes printed clothes, they scale down the prints for petite sizes, and scale them up for their taller sizes, so the prints maintain the intended proportions and layout.

Maybe that’s the secret sauce behind this dress! I really do feel like the print was designed for someone of…unimpressive height (I’m 5’1″). Most of the time when I try on dresses like this one, I feel like I’m swimming through an infinity pool of fabric.

You may or may not have noticed that I’m not wearing shoes in the top pic… I’m just keepin’ it real, dawg. 🙂 But seriously, it’s the dress. I feel like I should be running barefoot through the sand or something when I wear it.

Outfit breakdown…

• Dress — LOFT (I’m wearing the petite size; it’s also available in regular and tall sizes, too)
• Earrings — Alexis Bittar
• Bracelet — Nordstrom (no longer available; here’s something similar by Charming Charlie)
• Lipstick — MAC Satin Lipstick in Steam Heat (from the new Wash and Dry collection)
• Nails — Chanel Le Vernis in Méditerranée

P.S. The dress is machine washable, which for me is a major selling point because I never end up wearing clothes that I have to take to the dry cleaners; it’s such a pain.

P.P.S. It’s also currently on sale for 50% 40% off…

I’m just sayin’!

P.P.P.S. (!) tgif 🙂

Good morning, glory, and hey, hey, New York, gals! Anyone headed to The Makeup Show NYC this weekend? If you are, lucky! Also, here’s a quick look at some of the products making their debuts at the show.

These items were made exclusively for The Makeup Show’s 10-year anniversary (hence the special packaging for some of them, like the INGLOT lipsticks), and they won’t readily be available anywhere else.

For more info on The Makeup Show (which I wish I could attend this weekend), check them out online. I haven’t been to one yet, but I’m keeping my fingers crossed for someday.

P.S. My bright pink behemoth shelves arrived yesterday. Sadly, while unpacking it and getting everything ready to put everything, I realized — DOH! — there aren’t any bolts/screws. They’re straight-up MIA. I’m guessing that they might’ve fallen out of the box during shipping because it arrived with a couple of dinged corners.

So the giant frames are sitting in the middle of my office floor for now, but I’m not worried. I’ve still been making a lot of headway in the overall office reorganizing process. This is just a minor pink bump in the road…

But I can’t wait to put this dang thing together! It’s that combo of girly and tough/industrial at the same time. Totally my style, and I’m in love with the color, even though I think it looks more orchid than pink in person, doesn’t it?

Happy Wednesday to you! Have a spectacular, hopefully sunny day. It’s supposed to hit the ’80s out here in Novato.

P.P.S. I’m having problems, yo! 🙂 I just realized that I wrote Wednesday when I first published this post (thanks, Agata). Whoops! On the plus side, we’re one day closer to the weekend! Homegirl needs some help…