the daily julie

Breakfast of champions (Taken with instagram)

Fri, 18 May 2012 07:36:58 -0400

Breakfast of champions (Taken with instagram)

((no idea why the formatting in my last post looks wonky. I tried to fix it to no avail. sorry.))

Thu, 17 May 2012 21:15:00 -0400

((no idea why the formatting in my last post looks wonky. I tried to fix it to no avail. sorry.))

Q&A with Julie

Thu, 17 May 2012 21:00:00 -0400

I saw this Q&A a few days ago over at Life is Reed-iculous and decided to do it myself here because I actually miss getting those email forwards that tell you to delete your friend’s answers and fill in your own and then forward to 15 people so you will be lucky in love and life. So, this is currently filling that void for me.

1. What is your profession? I’m a marketing manager for an engineering firm that specializes in water and wastewater. Every time you flush the toilet, it’s gotta go somewhere. G-L-A-M-O-R-O-U-S.

2. How would you describe your style? I like to think I’m a polished bohemian. I tend to veer towards flowy, hippie styles but I can’t deal with too much fringe, lace or patchwork or I feel like I’m wearing a costume. I also just like to dress for the mood and crowd I’m hanging with.

3. What is one make-up product that you can not live without? Lip gloss. One time, my purse was feeling really heavy on my shoulder and I barely had room to stick anything inside of it, but I could swear there wasn’t much in it, so I dumped everything out and - I kid you not - counted 23 different tubes of lipgloss. Sometimes I wonder how many pounds of lipgloss I have consumed in my life because you know some of it has to get into your mouth. My lipgloss addiction started in 7th grade with the kiwi lipgloss from The Body Shop. I remember my friend telling me once that I wore so much lipgloss my lips looked like they were made out of water. I thought that was an awesome compliment.

4. If you could be besties with one celebrity, who would it be? I would normally say Britney Spears to this question, but if I really thought about it and thought who I would want to hang out with ALL THE TIME, it would be Kate Middleton.

5. What is your dream vacation? Paris. Again. But this time, we’d stay in a really expensive hotel and eat at all the really expensive restaurants and I’d shop (and buy stuff) at Chanel.

6. What magazines do you subscribe to? InStyle, Southern Living, Lucky, Real Simple

7. If you could have a special talent (that you don’t currently have) what would it be? I would be able to paint really well. I love art but I don’t have thousands to drop on an originial piece (yet…), so if I could just be the awesome artist, that would be great because I’d get my paintings for free and then I’d sell the rest. I’ve tried my hand at painting before, but those wound up in the laundry room.

8. What is your favorite breakfast food? A piece of homemade bread schmeared with half an avocado and topped with two over-medium eggs. Nom nom nommmmmmm. I dream about this every day that I don’t have bread.

9. If you could do anything, what is your dream job? I would be one of the people that comes up with names for nail polishes.

10. What is the best piece of advice you’ve ever received, and who gave it to you? ”Your college degree shows your employers that you have the capability to learn new things. That’s more important that what your degree is actually in.” - Man I sat next to on a plane once.

I‘m now going to tell you 11 facts about me.

1. Cole is the first dog I’ve ever had. My dad is severely allergic to cats and dogs, so we had pets growing up, they were all just weird ones - ferrets, parakeets, sugar gliders, and an iguana.

2. I use bar soap in the shower. I feel like there are two kinds of people in this world - those that use bar soap and those that use shower gel. I’m not really sure the difference between the two besides what kind of soap they use. This is my favorite bar soap.

3. I despise paying full price for anything - clothes, furniture, appliances, food, makeup, etc. I mean, obviously this is unavoidable in some situations but I get secretly pissed at myself.

4. The biggest regret I have from my wedding is that we did not hire a videographer. Are you getting married? HIRE A VIDEOGRAPHER!

5. I think my feet are shrinking. I’ve always worn an 8.5 or 9 in shoes, but usually I would have to go with the 9. Now, I usually have to go with the 8.5. Has this happened to anyone else as you’ve gotten older?

6. I can’t stand cockroaches. One time, when I was like 13 and my parents made me and my sister do the dishes, I remember having water on my arm and I just starting to scratch it (without looking) because the water was making my arm itch. Well, the itching didn’t go away and I looked over and there was a giant cockroach (do NOT call them water bugs) crawling up and down my arm. I scrubbed my arm until the first layer of skin was gone.

7. I have my MBA. That was hard and stressful but I lost 12 pounds while I was in grad school. I tell Jason I need to go back on the “stress diet”. As charming and lovely as I’m sure I was during those two years while I was working full time and going to school at night, he doesn’t find that funny. weird.

8. My most embarrassing moment happened one time I was at the grocery store and the cart flipped out from under because I was leaning on it and all of my items flew out and I was left lying in the middle of the aisle with an upside down grocery cart. It was a Saturday afternoon.

9. I haaaate stopping to fill up my car with gas. Hate it. It’s so boring and tedious. Gah.

10. I have a scar on my face. I had a bump in my cheek when I was in highschool and had to get it surgically removed. I don’t think they did a very good job with the stitches. You’ve probably never noticed it in pics on this blog because it’s small, but it’s right there.

Also, FRECKLES!!!

11. I have never seen Friday Night Lights. WAH! This is also where I need some help. We have like every season on Netflix but Jason refuses to watch it. Flat out refuses. I mean, I can even get him to watch Gossip Girl with me if I beg and plead enough but not FNL. For those of you that have seen it which is probably everyone on earth, please leave Jason a reason that he should watch it. I promise I will read him every single reply and comment about this show that I just know we need to watch. multiple times probably.

(food) this salad

Wed, 16 May 2012 15:52:23 -0400

It’s probably going too far to say that a salad has changed my life. So, I won’t go there, but this salad has infinitely improved my lunch hour.

It’s simple, as most delicious things are but it’s so, so, good (and most low carb-ish). You can make it to with just some butter lettuce, the most ripe mango you can find, this cheese (seriously, it’s the best cheese I have ever tasted and I’m pretty sure it’s the main reason this salad is the bombdizzle), some toasted pine nuts and then dress with a sploosh of rice wine vinegar and a squeeze of half an orange. Toss and eat.

And yes, I eat my salads out of mixing bowls because a) if this is going to be my meal, it’s got to be big, and b) I hate when stuff falls out.

(fashion) mother's day

Tue, 15 May 2012 20:21:48 -0400

(top and shorts: Vestique // shoes: Sole Society // bracelet: Ashlar // ring: Jenna Logan)

In case you didn’t know, this past Sunday was Mother’s Day. In honor of the day, I slept in, woke up to my husband making a fresh pot of coffee and enjoyed some homemade scrambled eggs and bacon. Then, I had a relaxing brunch/lunch with a fab group of girls including a dear friend of mine who was visiting (and just started an awesome new jewelry line. hint: check out my bracelet). I may not be a mother yet, but I’m pretty sure I’ve got this mother’s day thing down pat.

All kidding aside, we did spend some time with my mom who is pretty great, if I do say so myself. We hosted a dinner at our house, and I even made this strawberry-rhubarb pie.

P.S. Make sure to enter my Darphin giveaway which ends next week! $100 of luxe beauty products could be yours. for realz.

I love wine and I love my dog, so obviously a custom made wine...

Tue, 15 May 2012 08:50:49 -0400

I love wine and I love my dog, so obviously a custom made wine stopper featuring my dog’s head is an absolute necessity.

I mean… duh!

Cheeeeeeeeeese! (Taken with instagram)

Sat, 12 May 2012 17:03:21 -0400

Cheeeeeeeeeese! (Taken with instagram)

(fitness) Goals and a Game Plan

Fri, 11 May 2012 11:40:30 -0400

Alright, y’all said you wanted to hear about it, so prepare to hear all about my attempts at getting in shape for the summer. I just want to say that I am not a nutritionist or a doctor or a professional trainer. I’m just a girl who is willing to live off sticks and leaves for a little while to catch a case of the skinnies. So, if you decide to do what I say without consulting with any of the above three, you do so at your own risk. Capiche?

Alright, so to get this sweat party started, we need to set some goals and a gameplan, so that’s what this post is going to cover in case you didn’t already figure that out based on the title.

Let’s talk goals first. My “summer weight” is about 6.5 pounds from where I am now. So, that’s what I want to shed, 6.5 el-bees, and that’s my main goal. However, I find it easier to stick to a big goal if I set little goals on the way. These aren’t weight related, but more like little mini summer milestones to keep me focused on my big goal. Here are my ministones (get it?):

Memorial Day. I managed to get through New Orleans without putting a bathing suit on, but I’ll probably not have the same luck on Memorial Day weekend, aka the official start of summer in my book. This is in two weeks.
In June, I’m in my friend Katie’s wedding. Our dresses are strapless and cute and I want to look cute in it. This is 6 weeks away.
July 4^th. We always go to the beach for the 4^th and it’s probably the most important day of the whole year to be skinny. I guess I’d really like to have all 6.5 pounds gone by then. This is in 7.5 weeks.

So, that’s 6.5 pounds in 7.5 weeks. The internet tells me this is doable. Plus, I had a big bathroom visit this morning so I’m pretty sure I’m already down at least 0.5 pounds since I weighed myself when I first woke up. TMI?

Now, we need a game plan. And when I say game plan we need to figure out exercise and diet. Y’all know I love me some Tracy Anderson Metamorphosis and if you want to get serious about getting in shape, I highly suggest you purchase it for yourself and follow it to a tee for the first 90 days.

Since I already did that last summer, I plan to follow a modified version of her plan. I, The Daily Julie, solemnly swear to workout with the Trac-inator for five days per week, one hour per day. Tracy says to work out 6 days, but I prefer to take Mondays and Fridays off. Since I’ve already taken this whole week off (It took me a few days to recover from NOLA. Sorry I’m not sorry), I’m starting back up on Sunday and going from there. I’ll report back on Friday to share my stories.

As for diet, I’m going low carb, y’all. In all my life, I’ve felt the fittest, skinniest, and hottest when I’ve cut out carbs. And I’ve also learned that I can really only cut out one thing at a time. If I were going low carb and low fat you might as well just punch me now because I will be the hangriest (hungriest + angriest) beyotch ever. Plus, and this sounds weird, but I notice that mosquitoes don’t bite me when I’m eating low carb. I don’t know why and I have no scientific evidence to back this up, but it’s true. And since there is a creek behind my house and mosquitoes are everywhere, this is a huge diet perk.

Low carb is not to be confused with no carb and I’m following my own diet plan not Atkins, South Beach or Mediterranean. Basically, I think if it comes from the ground or is raised on the earth it’s okay to consume. This means fruit is a-okay in my book. Here’s what else is okay:

Beer and wine, because duh.
Coffee. Technically I don’t even think coffee has carbs.
Vegetables
Lean proteins and maybe even not so lean ones like bacon
Cheese
Truvia
Fruit. Already said that.
I may try this (click and scroll down) Paleo bread if I’m itching for some carbage down the road. Top it with unsweetened cashew butter and a drizzle of honey and that sounds great.
Honey
Eggs
A piece of cake at my friend’s wedding because wedding cake is the best cake ever and I only eat it like three times a year these days.

And here’s what is not okay to toss down the hatch into the garbage disposal (when I was younger my parents called me a human garbage disposal because I would eat just about anything. true story):

Frozen yogurt. Sigh. This is my summertime weakness.
Steak for every meal. barf.
Bread. This one is really going to be hard. See, you don’t know this but for Christmas I got a bread machine and my Great Uncle Tony has the best bread recipe ever and every weekend I make a fresh loaf of bread that we eat off of during the week. My favorite thing to do is slice a piece of the bread off right when it’s done cooking and is actually too hot to even touch but I touch it anyway and then I slather chocolate-almond butter all over it and gets all melty and is warm and delicious. OMG! I will miss you, hot bread with chocolate-almond butter.
Chocolate-almond butter…. and all chocolate and candy. When I was a teenager I remember eating tons and tons of Skittles all the time because they were “fat free” and therefore “okay.” Oh what little I knew about…erm… anything. Processed sugar is bad and candy has sugar. Sucks for me.
Pasta and rice. duh.
Also, I’m not going to eat those fake sugar bars and candy. I won’t do it. I swear! Though, I do use truvia in my coffee, but it’s the only fake sugar I eat. I promise.

So that about captures what I’m looking at for the next 7.5 weeks, and of course, I’ll blog every stupid detail about every stupid thing I eat and stupid workout I do. I think my plan is doable. Are you with me? What is your goal and ministones? Are you going to do TAM and low carb? Or do you have another tried and true methodology that I need to know about. Even if it’s crazy, I want to know what works for you. I’m seriously serious. For really real.

(life) hi!

Thu, 10 May 2012 21:41:41 -0400

Taking the blog back old school with some random photobooth pictures. I was supposed to work out (more on that tomorrow) but scrapped it to go to Beach Music at North Hills. That was a really great decision, if I do say so myself. It’s always nice to have a good excuse to dance with my man.

Whilst there, I proceeded to run into:

My H.S. boyfriend’s parents. Jason LOVED meeting them btw
My bestie from middle school whose dad had speakers as tall as we were and we used to practice slow dancing on them at slumber parties.
My “good” friend where we shared an awkward moment while leaving/entering the bathroom. (OMG! Jennifer! OMG! Julie!… the end)

Question

Wed, 09 May 2012 19:38:15 -0400

‘Tis the season for getting into tip top shape. Short shorts, bikinis, and breezy skirts all means it’s time to step away from the queso and pick up the carrot sticks. To keep myself on track, I’m thinking about documenting my weekly adventures in fitness every Friday. Sort of like I did last summer with the Tracy Anderson Metamorphosis, but this time, I’ll talk about more than just her method, like exactly what I ate and stuff. Because if there is one thing I want to know when someone is getting in shape, it’s EXACTLY what they eat every day.

Anywho, before I embark on possibly boring/entertaining you every Friday with my (attempts at) fitness recaps, is this something you are even interested in?

holler!

(life) Little bit o' [cajun] fried

Mon, 07 May 2012 11:33:00 -0400

I’ve just returned from the best. weekend. ever. with my favorite friends. We headed down to New Orleans to celebrate the bachelorette party of my bestie Katie who is getting married in June, and we purposefully timed our visit (even further) South to be there during Jazz Fest. It was my fourth trip to New Orleans, but my first to Jazz Fest and we had so much fun!

(Special shout out to my friend Sean who lives there and supplied us with plenty of chairs, sheets, and insider tips!)

I couldn’t believe that our entry ticket provided us the opportunity to see Bruce Hornsby, Grace Potter and the Nocturnals, and Zac Brown Band. They just played one right after after the other. I’m still smiling thinking about how much fun we had at Jazz Fest (and the entire weekend as a matter of fact). Here are some snapshots from the weekend…. well, those that are appropriate for public consumption anyways. hee hee.

Houston, we have arrived:

Me and the bachelorette:

My Jazz Fest snack of choice was a softshell crab po boy. I made the right choice:

The crowd at Jazz Fest was ba-na-nas:

Here’s our entire bachelorette party crew. What a group!!!

Moving on after Jazz Fest, we spent the rest of our time just enjoying little bits of New Orleans. Our time there was limited, but I think we did a really good job getting a taste (literally and figuratively) of everything the city has to offer.

Pedicabs were our preferred method of transportation:

This was actually from our first night in New Orleans. We rallied ourselves after a long day of travel to get a drink out on Bourbon Street before crashing for the night.

You never know what might happen in New Orleans. Here my friend Katie (not the same one getting married in June) got pulled in to assist in a fun little magic act happening in the street:

A picture on the Mississippi River because why not:

Saturday afternoon (after a fabulous brunch at the Court of the Two Sisters), we walked off the copious amount of food consumed with a Voodoo Tour. Again, why not?

I obviously ignored the signs on this chair because I simply had to get a picture. If I had a spare $6,000 you can bet this crazy thing would be sitting in my house. Alas, it’s still at the store. sigh:

Our entire group out on Saturday night. From the looks of this picture our waiter was so kind to take, you would think he was the one who shared four carafes of sangria:

I hope you had a great time, Katie. It was certainly a weekend for the record books. Love you!!!

Crowd + Grace Potter and the Nocturnals (Taken with instagram)

Fri, 04 May 2012 16:49:41 -0400

Crowd + Grace Potter and the Nocturnals (Taken with instagram)

In New Orleans at Jazz Fest with my favorites. (Taken with...

Fri, 04 May 2012 14:29:44 -0400

In New Orleans at Jazz Fest with my favorites. (Taken with instagram)

(book review) You Have No Idea

Thu, 03 May 2012 08:55:52 -0400

The latest book I’ve read as part of BlogHer’s book club is You Have No Idea which was written by Vanessa Williams and her mother Helen Williams. I am totally a sucker for famous people so I read this book in a couple of days. It was a pretty light read that chronicled Vanessa’s life to date and told her story from both her perspective and her mother’s perspective of being a mom to a beautiful, spirited, rebellious child. Helen was much more interested in being Vanessa’s mother than friend growing up and I could totally relate to that. It was really interesting to hear her mother’s perspective on this style of parenting. Now that I’m older, I’m so grateful my mother was a mother first and my friend second.

The book had everything you could ask for in a book written by a celebrity:

Scandal - 1982 was the year I was born and also the year Vanessa was stripped from her title of Miss America due to nekkid pictures being released. Though I obviously don’t remember this scandal, it was still interesting to read about from an inside perspective.

Celebrities - There’s definitely names dropped in this book that make you go “oh!”

Romance - Vanessa was married and divorced twice. She talks about her love and heartbreak openly.

Secrets - I won’t spill the beans, but there are definitely some parts about Vanessa’s childhood (and her mother’s, too) that I would never in a million years have guessed. It makes it all the more amazing that she’s gone on to have such a successful career.

You should definitely check out this book, and it would totally make a perfect-o Mother’s Day gift, too. To read some more reviews, check out the BlogHer page.

I was compensated for my time to review this book, but the opinions here are (and always will be) my own.

eeek! Carolina Style is out!

Wed, 02 May 2012 11:07:48 -0400

The first issue of Carolina Style is available online! Check it out to see yours truly as well as the 24 other most stylish people in the triangle. Holler.

A little cartoon I made inspired by recent events. Last image...

Wed, 02 May 2012 08:51:32 -0400

A little cartoon I made inspired by recent events.

Last image via.

Don’t forget to enter my giveaway for $100 worth of Darphin Paris products! It’s a good one, y’all!

(fitness) One year later

Tue, 01 May 2012 14:35:00 -0400

(look ma! It’s a little exercise angel!)

Sacre bleu! I almost let this day pass me by without documenting that today marks one year since I started Tracy Anderson’s Metamorphosis (TAM) program. I had previously done her boot camp book and worked out with the myriad of YouTube videos available (for free!) but it was May 1, 2011 that I took the plunge into Metamorphosis. Here’s that year by the numbers:

1,435,329: The number of times (I feel like) I have pureed, juiced, blended, and chopped to adhere to Tracy’s dynamic eating plan (ugh).

221: The actual number of times I’ve worked out in the last year. Tracy recommends working out 6 days a week with one rest day. Obviously, I took a few more rest days.

117: The approximate hours of sleep I have lost by getting up at 5:15 in the morning to workout before work. It’s much easier to get up in the morning when the days are longer.

14: The number of various Pandora stations I have to get my groove on while I workout. I had two before: Britney and Christmas.

7: The number of workout bottoms I own.

2: The number of tops that match those bottoms.

0: The number of times I have actually cared what I am wearing while I workout because I don’t need to look cute for anyone while I jump around my basement.

This is the first workout program that I’ve actually stuck with for more than a month. And I can honestly say, I’ll keep doing it as long as Tracy keeps putting out new content. I have not gotten bored once. Sure, sometimes I hate her guts (you want me to twist that how?!?!) but deep down, I really do love her and her masochistic method. Anyone else know what I’m talkin’ bout? Have you tried TAM? What do you think?

Ready to rock with the beach boys! cc: @shopvestique for the...

Sun, 29 Apr 2012 20:23:36 -0400

Ready to rock with the beach boys! cc: @shopvestique for the super colorful outfit! (Taken with instagram)

Cute summer wedge… …for $22. (!!!!) Heck,...

Sat, 28 Apr 2012 18:17:00 -0400

Cute summer wedge…

…for $22.

(!!!!)

Heck, that’s a cute wedge no matter the price.

Let’s get a pair in every color.

Last night, I was supposed to go home and work on my skinnies...

Fri, 27 Apr 2012 12:32:00 -0400

Last night, I was supposed to go home and work on my skinnies with Tracy Anderson, but this happened (see above).

I couldn’t help myself really. The weather was so nice that it was just begging me to please, please, pleeeeease sit on the porch with my main squeeze, a good beer and some good tunes and talk about stuff.

One of mine (my?) and el husb’s favorite things to talk about is inventions.

Specifically, things we should invent.

We’ve come up with lots of great ideas over the years and I’m here to share them with you.

Things we invented without realizing they were already invented:

Irrigation system that automatically waters plants based on the moisture of the soil (instead of preprogrammed times) Obviously, this one was the brainchild of my engineer husband.
All natural herbicide/fungicide for landscaping.

Things we invented but don’t actually know how to invent so you can take these idea as long as you pay me royalties:

An app that you take a picture of a leaf and it tells you what kind of plant it is.
An app that can recognize smells. (No, it wasn’t the dog that just farted it was you. See, my app tells me so!)

Things that we are going to invent and make millions:

HA! I can’t tell you those, silly.

I know there are more ideas that I just can’t remember (see above brewski and add until fuzzy but still fun).

Anyways, I hope you have a great weekend and leave a comment with your latest and greatest invention. I don’t even care if it’s already invented. I know you had the idea first. harumph.