spring break is in the books

well, the spring break of my junior year is in the books. and what a wonderful, couldn't have dreamt it to be any better spring break it was. mom and i flew to miami on saturday and boarded the ship on sunday. from there the phones were turned off and we sailed into the sunny horizon of the caribbean sea towards mexico and the bahamas. after a morning spent in the spa getting a much needed facial and hot stone massage, multiple naps by the pool, plenty of good food (and free ice cream 24-7), a walk through cozumel (mexico is not my favorite place), yoga on the beach at castaway cay and all the disney characters, it safe to say that mom and i had a great time. i am so lucky to have a mother who will take me on a cruise and one that i enjoy spending so much time with. i couldn't thank her more for everything she did for me on the cruise! it was truly the only way i would have wanted to spend my spring break!

i quite enjoyed dressing up in all my summery clothes for dinner so i made sure to document each outfit to share! some things i had saved to wear for the cruise and then other things were favorite outfits that deserved an encore!

tory burch linen tunic, lilly pulitzer white beach pants, dolce vita green heels, lilly pulitzer bangle 

j. crew top and shorts, kork-ease wedge sandals, kate spade necklace 

lilly pulitzer originals whit shift, tory burch sandals

lilly pulitzer print top, lilly pulitzer beach linen pants, jack rogers sandals

j. crew button down and linen skirt, kork-ease wedges, j. crew pineapple necklace

la roque shell, leona blue linen pants, tory burch sandals

lilly pulitzer knit sweater and linen skirt, j. crew orange tank, tory burch sunglasses and sandals 

kate spade shirt, j. crew pixie pants, tory burch reva flats, kate spade necklace

everything went absolutely perfect and mom and i both wore stretchy pants home if that tells you how good the food was. disney cruise line has spoiled me and i don't know if i could go on a different cruise line! daddy met us at the airport and we ate at a nashville favorite, taco mamacita's, for supper then it was home to phillip, stella and sapphire! this morning came early because phillip and i signed up for the Special Kids 5k! we ran on ally davis's team, who is a family friend with down syndrome and one of my favorite people. she is always smiling and cheering on her dad's team, the blue raiders! i finished third in my age group with a time of 27:03, which i was quite proud of since i hadn't run since the last 5k i ran in december! it was fun to run with phillip and also one of my best friends megan and kelsi, who i went to high school with. exercising for a good cause is always a fun thing!

unfortunately it is back to the real world tomorrow (and regular meals). i am headed back to knoxville and will be back home for easter! it hard to believe that there are only about 8 weeks left of this semester! where did the time go? today i am meal planning, unpacking to repack and target-ing. pretty much, today and tomorrow will be spent reorganizing my life! i couldn't have asked for a better spring break and am already looking forward to my next girls trip with my mama! 

xoxo,

clp

p.s. i am back in the sublease market for a place in nashville this summer! let me know if you hear of anything! 

tacky sweater 5k & a recipe

today was the day of the ugly sweater 5k in nashville. megan and i signed up to run it, not really thinking at the time how cold it could possibly be. luckily though, the rain from last night ended and we ran in frigid, 32 degree, windy and spitting snow weather. though it was cold, it was a good route and we both finished together in about 27 minutes which i was happy with since i had not run since august. the most fun part was dressing in the tackiest christmas apparel we could find.

afterwards, we, including mom, dad, phillip and zac, all had a delicious lunch at the southern downtown. i treated myself to a delicious burger. we all love the southern and had a hard time deciding what to order! 

since we had a big lunch, tonight for supper i made some crockpot lentil vegetable soup (similar to my lentil, chicken andouille sausage and vegetable soup) and instead of the usual cornbread, broke tradition and tried a new recipe: sweet potato biscuits! the three of us really liked them and they would be good both sweet and savory! we are going to eat the leftover ones tomorrow morning for breakfast! 

sweet potato biscuits

2 cups whole wheat flour

1/2 tsp salt

3 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

4 tbsp cold butter, cut into pieces

1 cup mashed sweet potatoes 

1/4 cup skim milk, or more if needed

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or spray with cooking spray. 
2. Mix dry ingredients together in large food processor. Add in butter and process until butter has been blended into flour mixture. Add in sweet potatoes and process until combined.
3. Add in 1/4 cup milk to mixture. Process until a ball of dough is achieved (it should be soft and sticky).
4. Roll or press with your hands the dough so that is 1/2 inch thick on a piece of wax paper sprinkled with flour. Cut into 2 inch rounds with a biscuit cutter. Place on baking sheet and repeat until all the dough has been used. 
5. Bake for 12-14 minutes, until biscuits are a golden brown.
6. Serve savory topped with butter or sweet topped with butter, cinnamon and brown sugar. 

i head back to knoxville tomorrow so that i can take my final exams starting monday. i have gotten a good deal of studying done here and now i just have to take it one test at a time. i am really looking forward to being back home on thursday and not having to think about school again until next year! 

xoxo,

clp

last summer saturday in the boro

today is my last saturday in murfreesboro for a while and it is a busy one!

this morning came super early because i ran the Fenton, Payne and Fred 5k with Alex, my older cousin.  i have only run 2 other 5k's, but i think they are really a fun way to donate to charity. this race's proceeds go towards multiple organizations in murfreesboro which is a plus. also, the race's route was really nice, especially since my grandparents and aunt and uncle could walk out their front doors and cheer us on!

alex and i pre-race

and i'm off! 

i ran it in 27 minutes and 41 seconds and placed 192/702 overall and 4th in my age group! pretty happy with my results since i hadn't run a mile, much less 3, since early may!

after the race, dad and i went to the farmer's market on the square for our weekly trip! i loaded up on veggies and fruits to take back to knoxville with me! i really am going to miss the market on saturdays, but UT has one on wednesday afternoons on the ag campus that i will have to visit!

i mixed up a batch of my go-to granola this morning as well. it is a breakfast staple in our house so i wanted to make sure mom and dad had some for after i left and that i had some since i have a busy couple of weeks coming up. it is a simple recipe but i like it that way because you can mix it with just about anything. we like ours over yogurt or with kefir and any kind of fruit. here's the recipe:

claire's go-to granola

2 c Old Fashioned Oats

1 T Cinnamon

1 T Vegetable Oil

2 T Honey

2 T Splenda Brown Sugar Blend (or 1/4 c Regular Brown Sugar)

1 t Vanilla

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
2. In mixing bowl, combine cinnamon, vegetable oil, honey, brown sugar and vanilla. Stir.
3. Stir in oats until oats are fully coated.
4. Spread on baking sheet and bake for 10 minutes.
5. Take granola out and flip with spatula. Bake another 15 minutes.
6. Cool completely and store in airtight container. 

this afternoon is going to be busy as well. there are four birthdays in our family during the month of august and since all the grandkids are home, everyone is coming to our house to celebrate. to make it easy on the birthday girls (who would have ended up doing most of the cooking), we ordered pasta, soup, salad and bread from demos' and i am already looking forward to it! we will top off the meal with birthday cake of course!

before supper we are having pictures made of the six grandkids for my grandmother. we attempted this two years ago and the whole thing was a catastrophe from start to finish. mom and i were in tears from laughing so hard when we got the proofs back. however, we are using the talented Angel Pardue today and we are having her take casual shots outside. i feel like i have been recruited as the personal shopper for everyone on what they will wear and am loving it! hopefully these photos turn out much better than the last ones!

amidst all this, i am also trying to get packed up to head back to knoxville on monday. i can't believe that summer has come to an end so quickly but i am looking forward to seeing my sisters and friends in knoxville and moving into my first college apartment. the packing list keeps on growing and growing, along with the piles of stuff that are ready to be loaded in the car tomorrow. hopefully we will have most everything done by early afternoon tomorrow so i can lay by the pool!

happy saturday to all & xoxo,
clp