VLOG CITY LIFE: February 2018 Part 2- Our Birthday Month + Daily Harvest Smoothies + The Food Scene Around Tampa + Fitness Gains & Gluten Free Home Cooked Meals

We are coming to the last couple of weeks of Winter and I am so happy!!! I am one of those people who has seasonal depression and insomnia and I struggle so hard to get through Winter on these short days with very little sunshine. This photo is a pretty accurate description of how it looks at least 50% of the time here in Tampa during the Winter. I have had relentless Insomnia since November and the other day I realized Daylight Savings Time is in about 2 weeks and then we can go back to longer days! I felt like a weight was lifted off of me and for  now, just this week I have been sleeping a little bit better. Not much, but my birthday is coming up and I am hoping to get this under control.

Smoothies c/o

I'm excited to be working with Daily Harvest this year as an affiliate to bring you guys more healthy foodie options. Daily Harvest is a frozen, pre-portioned smoothie cup, harvest bowls, and soups. They are delivered to you frozen. all you have to do is open, pour, blend, enjoy - it's that simple. Not only is there no thinking involved, but the flavor combinations are delicious and loaded with the right superfoods to keep you going throughout the day. All you have to do is add your liquid and pop the fruit in the blender.

Use coupon code AIRIE for 3 free smoothies when you sign up!

It's rare that I get takeout from restaurants like this because normally this would be somewhere I would go on a date, however my husband has business dinners and sometimes he will bring me back food. This night it was Eddisons and this salad below was amazing!

Take out from Edison Food Lab- Chorizo and bibb lettuce salad

DATE NIGHTS & IN THE CITY: This month we had a lot of fun and inexpensive date nights. Some months we hit up more higher range places than usual and spend more and some months like this we hit up more mid range places and have a great time. There are a few styles of restaurants here in South Tampa and my husband and I always joke about what to expect. When you go high end out here there is always someone trying to show off and buying the most expensive of everything and making a loud boisterous scene. Then you have the restaurants where you have all the businessmen in their blue button down shirts taking up most of the space having after work meetings. Every restaurant is subject to the "girls night" crowd where a large group of women will stand up taking a million selfies and get all loud annoying everyone around them.

Then, you have the hipster/millennial places which is our favorites because the vibe is just right even though the menu might be a little try hard it's still just right because you get your Vegan, Gluten Free, Pesatarian, Non-GMO, Organic, Substainably farmed and locally sourced food gasams that make us feel like we will live forever. 

Now we have the introduction of dining halls which is still in the realm of the hipster/millennial

scene, but you have more open space and less loud rambunctious people invading your personal space being "chatty" or trying to be the "life of the party". Can you tell I am the really picky and sometimes judgemental diner lol? I am really just a people watcher and so I pick up on these things and no matter where you go the vibe is usually the same every time which in some cases will dictate where we do our date nights.

Coopers Hawk Tampa

Roys Tampa

Cru Cellars at Heights Public Market

Hall on Franklin- North Star (Lobster Pho)

HAULS: 

Adore Me bra sets

Adore Me pj set

CANDLE REVIEW:

Happy birthday: Juicy Citrus, Fresh Spring Water, Sweet Mango

Turquoise waters: Coastal Waves, Sparkling Bergamot, Sundrenched Musk. Turquoise waters was a nice fresh scent that I enjoyed so much I purchased this one more than once. It burned evenly and filled my space with adequate perfume.

Black cherry merlot: Dark Cherry, Black Raspberry, Sumptuous Merlot. On first sight I liked this candle because of it's purple glass. I do however love the scent of black cherry and it smells just like that. I purchased this one more than once also and found it to be enjoyable with an even burn. I could clearly smell all of the notes listed also.



NIMA TESTS: This month I tested more than usual because I realized that I had 1 full box of testers that expired in December and a whole box that was expiring at the end of this month. The testers are good for 6 months, however I was unaware that it was 6 months from the date they were manufactured and not the date that you buy them so a lot of mine had to go in the trash. That sucks because they are 45.00 for 12, however the NIMA customer service credited me with 35.00 to order a new box since they did expire only 2 months after I bought them which really wasn't fair. So for the February box I just tested spices and things around my kitchen that I was cooking this month and was unsure if they were 100% gluten free.

I also tested more foods while out to dinner and I must say I am glad I did because I dodged getting glutened about 5 times this month at restaurants that I usually trust and would never think I would need to double check their food. In other cases I ordered food from places where the food could be subject to cross contamination and I was able to test the food and have peace of mind while eating which makes me smile.

Roys Tampa Lobster, Shrimp, Scallops with mashed potatoes, asparagus, and red dragon curry.

Lobster and Shrimp Pho at North Star- Hall On Franklin

Chicken Bento Box at North Star- Hall on Franklin

FITNESS: Fitness was great this month! I got in several days of great 10 minute workouts and got awesome photos for March in the process. I am still in the process of wrapping up this month's Fabletics review with one more outfit to wear. I am trying to take back my mornings and give Insomnia the big screw you by working out more in the morning. I usually work out at night after dinner here in my yoga corner, but you will see a change in that next month. 

As for gains, I mentioned this briefly in the part 1. City Life for this month. I haven't worn shorts in a while because it's Winter and when I put on the new seamless shorts I was like wow! Call me thighs! lol. I have notoriously small thighs and narrow hips and I have been working very hard the last 2 years to build some kind of muscle there and you can see a little bit of a change. They are still small though. I take measurements to be accurate and they are 1 inch thicker than before (that is laughable) and I am like "Heck yes!" I am not trying to hulk out or anything, but I wanted a little more thigh muscle so I am happy to say the least.

Lotus in Infinity pose- Padmasana in Anantasana

Anantasana- sleeping Vishnu pose

Pada Garudasana in Ananatasana

Ardha Purvottanasana- Half Eastern Intense Stretch pose

Urdha Mukha Shvanasana- Upward facing dog pose

Eka Pada Prapadasana: One Legged Tip Toe Pose

I also just want to add there are many things that I purchase on a regular basis from Amazon and you guys can find them here. This list has my staple hair products on it and I plan on speaking more on that in May. You can also find the same yoga gear that I use there in case some of you were wondering where I get some of my items to help me become more flexable.

ALL GLUTEN FREE MEALS PREPARED BY MYSELF, RECIPES AVAILABLE APON REQUEST

Curried noodles and shrimp with cilantro

Curried shrimp & rice noodles

Roast salmon with cauliflower rice (you can find this pre-riced at any grocery store or market)

Southern Roast turkey leg quarter with yellow rice and veggies

This meal looks a lot more fancy then it is. A turkey leg quarter is actually huge and so this made 2 meals and we don't eat a lot of rice so I had leftover rice that I froze. It was super simple. I brined the leg quarter and then roasted it in the oven at 420 for 40 minutes after seasoning it. The yellow rice is my favorite Mahatma which is gluten free and I used freezer veggie mix. Once my rice was done I just mixed in the veggies and plated it. It looks a lot like the Nigerian Fried Rice I made last year, but it's not! Once it was done and photographed I just had my husband cut the meat and portion it out.

this is 1 serving of the leg quarter

Extra Spicy shrimp noodle soup with fresh herbs

This was a salad I threw together for the hubby since dinner was taking a while one night. He likes all kinds of things in his salads that I find unconventional so it gives me a chance to experiment.

So we have here: Lettuce Spring mix

white onion

almonds

black olives

soft cheese (I can't remember the name, but it was the fancy kind that is like six dollars a block)

Balsalmic vinigar

Olive Oil

Celery seasoning

black pepper

dash of salt

parsly

On this night I did not feel like going all out on dinner. Since I have been a Celiac the only Chinese food I can eat is from PF Chang and it's not always what I want. I miss wontons and egg rolls so much! I buy these in the frozen food section at Whole Foods Market. Everytime I have made them following the directions on the box they have turned out terrible! I decided to venture out on my own on this one starting with a homemade dipping sauce.

Tamari gluten free soy sauce
a pinch of garlic powder
seseme seeds
red pepper flakes
Hot chili oil

- Whisk until it's blended and you can let that sit while you cook. This goes well with the potstickers, egg rolls, and fried rice.

GLUTEN FREE & PRE- PACKAGED pot stickers, egg rolls, fried rice, and dipping sauce

As for the potstickers I did immerse them in a little bit of water in my cast iron to let them soften up then once the water evaporated I added my sesame oil and cooked them on medium heat until they browned on both sides.

Ground turkey tacos (less is more)