Hey everyone! I`ve moved! Please direct yourself to http://www.thesouthernbellecooks.com!

See you there!!

I recently made the decision to enter the Miss Garner Scholarship Pageant that is taking place in November. I`ve always wanted to enter a pageant for the experience, but now that I realized that it could possibly be a way to fund my nutrition degree, I`m going for it. I`ve already sent in my letter of intent, and have been non-stop googling pageant information. In this particular pageant, there is a talent portion (I got my mom to bring up my trumpet, I just need to pick out some sheet music), an interview portion, evening gown, and swimsuit.

Swimsuit for me is going to be the most nerve-racking. I love my body, but I have to admit, I have gotten a little bit out of shape in the past few weeks. But now I really have a reason to start running and lifting weights (I love the burn). I have the option of wearing a two-piece or a one-piece, and I`ve found two gorgeous suits to wear. I just need to get into the store and try them on.

I`ve been looking on Ebay for evening gowns, however, when I was at the mall today, I found my perfect dress. I had the option of wearing a short gown, a long gown, or a pantsuit. With my short stature, I knew I would look best in a short gown. This dress, the moment I saw it, I fell in love with it. When I tried it on, I knew I had to have it. Luckily, it was on sale for $44.99. I`m trying not to go broke with entering this pageant. I`m also planning on bringing up my junior year prom dress as a back-up. There is a slight possibility that I might have to have my new dress taken in. It’s a juniors 5, but right now, it’s almost a perfect fit.

I also fixed chili last night (with pinto beans, dark and light kidney beans), with spicy corn muffins. My mom came up for the Ray Price Bike Fest in downtown Raleigh yesterday. Unlike today, it was rainy and chilly, but it didn’t stop the festivity. I didn’t bring my camera, so it`ll be a few weeks before I can get pictures. But after I left, I was craving something warm and comforting. My chili was amazing.

There are only a few things that truly scream FALL to me. Pumpkins, leaves changing, Halloween candy, and the NC State Fair. To me, the fair is the perfect place for firsts. First dates (just be careful not to throw up on the Ferris Wheel), first time eating fried candy bars (a deep fried Snickers is truly heaven on Earth), even first time completing a turkey shoot (I actually managed to hit the target!). I`ve been coming to the state fair for almost 7 years now, which is why I think that I would make a great Deep-Fried State Fair Ambassador. Fall just isn’t fall for me until I sink my teeth into that sticky red candied apple. I`ve never learned that even if I wrap my candied apple back up, the red sugar will leak on everything (see picture haha). The smell of the fair lingers on me long after I’ve made my way to the exit, wading through the crowds of people oohing and ahhing over the fireworks. It’s a great smell that bring back warm fuzzy memories of good times. I have a growing collection of stuff animals won by me, ex-boyfriends, and even by a current boyfriend (who displayed a complete lack of game prowess, or maybe he was just letting me win?). Since my birthday is October 12th, the fair always seems like an extension of my birthday, sort of a party where everyone is invited.

My goal this year is to try even more fried foods. Can you believe that I`ve never tried a deep fried Oreo? But since I`m also planning to ride more rides than ever before, I need to create a plan so I can balance riding and eating (if you don’t… bad things happen). I`m also hoping to stop in and visit my cousins, which I do every year. They always show some sort of animal, whether it’s a steer, lamb, pig, or sheep. Hopefully they do well again this year!

All in all, it’s very simple why I would make a great Deep-Fried State Fair Ambassador. I`m willing to try new things (and I`ll always have my camera on me to document my adventures), I love food, I love having fun, and most of all? I love the state fair!

(If I win, please contact me at elliott.emily1@gmail.com)

I`ll also be blogging at the Durham World Beer Festival for the blog Foodbuzz.com (I get a press pass and everything!), so if you see me around, don’t be afraid to say hi!

Recap:
For lunch yesterday, I thawed a bag of pork roast that my mom had given me a few months back (it’s my emergency food for when I`m running low on money close to pay day). I slice up some cucumber on the side to use up the other half of the cucumber from the night before. In the little dish, I have homemade Barbecue sauce. It`s an East Coast Vinegar based one (remember, I am from NC!) made by on of my mom’s friends at work. For a change, I mixed in a Suger-Free Hawaiian Punch Lemon Berry Squeeze single into my water. Yum!

I ate dinner over at my friend’s apartment. He had just gotten home from a weekend in the mountains with his family (lucky). So we ordered pokey sticksfrom Gumby’s Pizza (it’s basically cheese bread), and he sipped on a beerfrom Asheville, 13 Rebels or French Broad or something. I tasted it and it had that strong beer taste that I don’t like. I like more of a mellow beer.

I spent the night over at his place, and when I got back home this morning (I actually have to work today), the cat had flipped the hamster’s cage over AGAIN. I don’t think he understands that no matter how many times he flips over the cage, the hamster will not come out. I was going to take a picture, but I wanted to go ahead and make sure the hamster was okay. He was fine, a little pissed off that this has happened again, but I think he realizes that there isn’t much he can do about it. I think that I`ll leave the cage on the floor whenever I`m not home, just to see it this will help.

For breakfast, I heated up my last two of Van’s frozen waffles, and topped them with maple syrup. I wasn’t in a berry mood this morning.

That’s it for now! I have to leave soon for work. I not exactly sure how long I`ll be there, but no longer than probably 4 or 5 hours, so I`m just going to pack a lemon Lara Bar to hold me over. Enjoy the rest of your labor day!

Do you have any plans for labor day?

I was a bad girl yesterday! While I did take pictures of my meals, I got too lazy to upload them. So here is a brief run-down:

Breakfast:
McDonald’s Country Ham Biscuit (I was running late on my way to work due to not being able to get to sleep that night)

Lunch:
Rest of my burrito from yesterday, unrolled into a bowl. I don’t like soggy bread. I also got to pick up my gorgeous new Lily Pulitzer calling cards that came into work. They are absolutely gorgeous. I also broke down and purchases the 2010 Lily Agenda. I currently use a Quo Vadis Tri-Note, but we haven’t gotten the 2010 refills in yet (and I`m already needing to write down things for 2010). Plus, the Lily agenda has the one feature that I wish Quo Vadis had, a month at a glance. If it’s a major event, I like seeing it on a monthly calendar. Now I can’t wait for 2010 to begin so I can use my new planner!

Dinner:
Big failure! I cooked lime shrimp and spicy potatoes, but I put too much spice on the potatoes and not enough on the shrimp (it also probably didn’t help that I was using frozen cooked shrimp…). So I ended up eating some sliced cucumber, which was amazing!

Snack:
I made some of Tina’s (Carrots ‘N Cake) No-Cook Peanut Butter Cookies! I`m not going to lie, they were amazing! I mixed it all up by hand and I ended up getting peanut butter everywhere in the kitchen because I had to open the fridge, open the cabinet to grab a pan, scratch my toe (this was after they were safely in the fridge). Then I needed to fight off the cat who started licking my now… I ate 3 of them before they even had time to set! I did make a few changes to her recipe, which made it even more amazing (if that’s even possible)! I added 1/4 cup Chocolate Chip granola, which gave it this really pleasant crunch, and a 1/2 scoop of Chocolate Protein Powder, which made it all nice and chocolately! This was a great recipe, and I definitely recommend trying it. It definitely beats the old recipe I used for quick peanut butter cookies which only had sugar, eggs, and peanut butter. Ugh… I took the rest to the pool today. I figured that since I had the day off, I would enjoy a little bit of sunlight!

I love going to the pool in the early mornings. Most people are still passed out in their beds from the night before, so it’s always deserted and quiet. It’s a great time to lay around and just think about things. 

That’s all for right now. Make sure you stay tuned! I have a small giveaway coming up sometime today!

Originally I had wanted to complete two posts today. One for my breakfast, one for dinner. However, about the time I sat down at my desk with my yummy breakfast cookie, one of my friends called and said the bus has missed him (i.e. drove by him at the bus stop), and he needed a ride to school. So I ended up eating my cookie on the road. It still tasted just as good, it was just a bit harder to eat.

Gina is a genius! Her breakfast cookie is amazing. I definitely suggest checking out her blog, The Fitnessista, and checking it out. In mine, I combined:

• Oats
• Chocolate Chip Granola
• Low-Fat Milk
• Almond Butter
• Designer Whey Chocolate Protein Powder

I left it sit overnight, then topped it with banana, agave nectar, and cinnamon. I figured that I would start out basic for my first one. I`ll definitely do this again. It filled me up and I wasn’t hungry at all during my internship.

At my internship, we ended up filming today in the car. That was a lot of fun. Not only did we get some great footage (including shots of this graffiti covered train), but I got to see even more of Carrboro/Chapel Hill. I found the Whole Foods, a few raw places to eat out, a couple of cute stores that I want to check out. Basically, I plan on one Saturday, heading down to Carrboro/Chapel Hill and just explore. I do want to go back to Franklin Street again. I love checking out all the shops/restaurants. There seems to be a bigger variety than in Raleigh.

I left my internship about 3, but I ended up not getting home until 5. Why? Because of this.

Not only was there holiday traffic, but there was also rush hour traffic, three or four accidents and construction. What were they thinking? I knew I wouldn’t feel like cooking when I got home, so I stopped Qdoba Mexican Grill. I actually meant to go to Moe’s, but I took a left when I should have taken a right. Oh well, it was yummy, even if the rolling guy broke my burrito. I got the vegetarian burrito with black beans, cheese, cilantro-lime rice, lettuce, roasted chile corn salsa, pico de gallo and salsa roja. It was so huge that I cut it in two, ate half with a fork, and put the rest in the fridge. Next time, I think I`ll try the grilled vegetable burrito. It sounds amazing.

After that, I just kind of watched my roommate paint the living room some, then I went and took a nap. So that`s all for today! I plan on spending the rest of the evening drinking chocolate milk and watching Neil Patrick Harris on Letterman tonight. Sorry for such a long post. I`ll leave you with a picture of my roommate painting!

I`m just drained after today. I`m not even sure why. I didn’t even have to go into work until an hour later than normal, but I`m just exhausted. I think it may have to do with only working 4 hours. I wasn’t really able to get started on any projects at work because I knew that I`m off tomorrow and wouldn’t be able to finish. Maybe it also had to do with my co-worker who was overly helpful. Oh well.

Let me start off with a photo from last night. This is the pumpkin spice muffin from Starbucks. It was delicious, but I always have to eat so fast because of someone lurking in the background.

I went for a run after work, which was wonderful. NC State was having their first football game of the season, so where I run was basically deserted. The moon was full and gorgeous, the weather was so pleasant. I`m not a morning runner, but I may have to start since it was already dark when I got back (at 8). I`m nervous around running around where I live after dark. It’s college student apartments, so there are a lot of stupid people out there who drive drink. I don’t want to get hurt because of someone else’s mistake. Since most of the time I don’t have to go into work until 2, I just need to get up at 8 or 9 and I`ll be fine to run in the morning. I didn’t check my distance, but I ran 15 minutes (I just wanted a quickie), and I think I hit a mile. I could have ran more, I was just hungry.

For supper I fixed some Annie’s Mac & Cheese. It was my first time fixing her stuff, and I loved seeing the little bunny pasta noodles. I think that I would love the chedder flavor more than this one (white chedder maybe?). I added some frozen spinach, frozen broccoli, 2 cloves of minces garlic and some diced tomato about two minutes before the pasta was done. It was delicious, but I had a little trouble draining the pasta, so it was a tad bit runny. I also had some AMAZING pineapple on the side. I love pineapple! Nothing beats the freshly picked/cut pineapple I had while I was down in the Dominican Republic though.

Proving what an uber-twitter stalker I am, almost as soon as Joggerslife posted a link to her Raw Vegan Coconut Almond Macaroons, I bought them. How could I not? They looked amazing, they were only $8, and I would get a whole dozen (6 original and 6 chocolate). That will be an amazing treat when they arrive. Plus, I plan on trying the famous breakfast cookie tonight, so I`ll let you know how that goes tomorrow!

While I need the money from working 11-7 each day, working 2-7 does have it advantages. The first being that I get to sleep in an extra hour, slowly wake up, and enjoy my morning instead of rushing rushing rushing to get dressed and get to work. The second being this:

Yes, I`ve had this meal before, but have you ever seen it look so tasty? I love my new camera. Two Van’s Home-style Buttermilk Waffles topped with microwaved frozen berries and agave nectar(I smashed the berries a little bit too). Absolutely de-licious! I love my new melamine plates from Target. I got this “soup” bowl, a smaller salad plate, and then a larger square plate, all in white, partly because I know that my pictures would look so much better on an all-white plate. Next paycheck I plan to buy 3 more of each dish, so at least I`ll have a set of four for whenever I get my own place (is it bad that I hate sharing my cooking supplies with my roommates? Yes? Well, they’ve already ruined my favorite pot).

Getting up in the mornings also gives me time to tackle this:

Or not. Note: This is all the crap in my room that was spread out on my floor. Last night, I just pushed it into one huge pile to tackle sometime soon. Just wait until you see what my closet looks like. It is absolutely hideous!

Well, enjoy the rest of your day!

I`ve known for a while now that I`ve need a new camera. My old one was 5 years old, the flash never worked, and it was at least 2 1/2 inches thick. But since I`m blogging more, I decided to take the plunge. I went to K-Mart and saw the perfect camera on sale for $139.99! It is the Kodak Easyshare M340 (see picture from Kodak website). My camera looks like a darker blue than this one, which is odd because there is only one blue offered. I love this camera though.

I wanted to take my new camera on my run, but I decided not too. But I did end up running 20 mintues, not sure of the milage, I think a mile and a half. 

After my run, I fixed myself some supper. I fixed a Mozzarella (this time I used processed Mozzarella), tomato, and pesto panini. It was amazing. So delicious. I`m going to be sad once all of my fresh Sourdough bread is gone!

I also had a slice of bread with apple butter for breakfast (pictures did not come out, which I`ll never have to face again with my new camera), roasted asparagus, a mini-Cliff bar, and way too many miniature Reese’s Cups. I didn’t mean to snack on so many, but I just kept popping them into my mouth. Sweets are my hardest problem to overcome, any suggestions? I`m ending the evening with the rest of my Dr. Pepper. I had been doing really well on soft drinks (oh! I had my first ever/of the season Starbucks Pumpkin Spice latteyesterday, delicious! I got a vente with nonfat milk and whipped cream), but sometimes I just crave one.

To end today’s post, I`ll leave you with the first decent picture of my kitty, Ziggy!

I love going to the Farmer’s Market. Who wouldn’t? The smells of produce, the freshness of everything, the cheapness of everything, the localness of everything, it’s heaven! Yesterday, my two roommates and I made the trip down to the NC Farmer’s Market (all of a 10 minute drive). I only took a few pictures because I was so concered with trying all the free samples. I had pound cake, rum cake, so many kinds of salsas, tomatoes, grapes, grape jelly, grape slushi, yum yum!

I only bought a few things ($20 worth of things), just because I really didn’t need anything else! I bought a freshly baked loaf of Sourdough Bread, a jar of Apple Butter, two cucumbers (it`ll probably be the last time for fresh cucs), two German Johnson tomatoes, and two turnovers – Apple and Blueberry.

For supper that night, after I got back from my run (I ran just to time how fast I could do a mile. Right now, I`m about at 13 minutes), I knew I had to fix something with my fresh ingredients. So I make a tomato and mozzarella panini. I used my fresh Sourdough bread, the German Johnson tomato (a few slices, because they were HUGE), and some of my roommate’s mozarella. It was good, but the mozarella was store bought, and a little blah. I might add some pesto tonight, just to add some flavor.

For breakfast today, I had two lightly toasted pieces of Sourdough bread topped with the amazing Apple Butter and some Almond Butter (store bought). My snack, at work, will be some Chobani yogurt with chocolate chip granola. Hopefully it`ll get me through the day. I have to work 1-5 today but then I get to come home and run! If I don’t run, I start to feel a bit antsy. In fact, I always can’t wait to be done with work so I can run! I love this feeling.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend~!