Good morning friends! Happy Monday. Today is a good day for so many reasons. As most of you know, for the past three years I have been working toward becoming a Registered Dietitian. While the days went slow, the months and years flew by, and on Saturday, I took and passed the RD Exam. I still cannot believe I’m finished. It is such a glorious feeling.

I want to first thank each of you from the bottom of my heart for your support, encouragement, questions, answers and much, much more for the past three plus years (for those of you who have been reading along before I ever even knew I would embark on this journey). It’s crazy to think that I started this blog simply to write about our journey through minor league baseball and had nothing to do with nutrition at all. I cannot thank you enough for pushing me to keep writing, keep learning, and keep sharing every single day. I have learned more through this process than I ever knew possible.

In preparation for my test on Saturday, I stayed the night at my parents for some last minute studying, a delicious meal and also to put the final touches on a gift for a friend’s wedding shower after my test  (I loved anything and everything that would distract me from studying).

These formulas will haunt me forever.

Sweet Potato, Coconut Balsamic Roasted Beets, Chilled Quinoa Salad, and Sweet Kale Vegetable Salad. 

My mom always knows exactly what I need!

The Sweet Kale Vegetable Salad is actually a Salad Kit from Costco and is so easy to throw together.

It includes seven different “super foods:” broccoli, brussel sprouts, cabbage, kale, chicory, dried cranberries, roasted pumpkin seeds and poppyseed dressing. We left off the poppyseed dressing (not a fan of the ingredients) and made our own dressing out of olive oil, fresh squeezed orange juice, apple cider vinegar, balsamic vinegar, a tiny squeeze of agave and a dash of salt and pepper. If you are a Costco member, I highly recommend you give this product a try!

After dinner we (meaning mostly my mom) finalized a wedding shower gift that I started pulling together months ago but was rudely distracted by all the studying that I had to do.;-)

Thick rope to hang the frame

Burlap to cover the back

And the final product! I was very happy with the turnout and I think the bride was too!

It was so awesome to hang out with my friends again, sans deadlines, long drives back, and study requirements.  

To continue the weekend fun, on Sunday we attended the Alive Expo, a natural health and wellness expo, held at the World Congress Center in Atlanta.

Feelin’ Alive!

At the Expo were vendors representing healthy foods, natural beauty products, yoga practices, essential oils, alkalizing promoters, message therapy, etc. I loved taking to the vendors and learning more about the different forms of CAM (Complementary and Alternative Medicine). I set up a private session with Dahn Yoga this Wednesday to learn more about ways to use yoga, flexibility, stretching and breathing to heal the body from the inside out. I can’t wait to share what I learn with you.

Anyways, that’s the weekend in a nutshell… an awesome, celebratory weekend to say the least! I hope you all had a great weekend as well!

Good health!

The post My First Post Officially as an RD! appeared first on The Gypsy Dietitian.

Good morning and happy Sunday!

Not sure if I ever thought this day would come, but today marks my last day of my “summer break” and tomorrow marks the start of a career I’ve been working toward for the past few years.  I am beyond thrilled to start my internship at the Mayo Clinic TOMORROW morning at 7:30 am.

The past few months have been nothing short of amazing, as Dustin and I got to spend time in various cities with family and friends and just enjoy life. I’m excited to get back on a schedule and continue working toward my goals.

As summer vacay comes to a wrap, it’s time to get my ducks in a row and prepare for what the next eight months hold.  First stop: COSTCO.

Nothing helps me feel more prepared to take on the week (and excites me) more than a fully stocked kitchen…

Dustin and I were members at Costco back in the baseball playing days, but when we moved back to GA we never rejoined.  I guess there is something about living in FL and us being members there? Who knows. We felt the time was right and made our way back to that mosterous place since it is just a few miles from our house.  Since Dustin and I eat relatively the same foods every week (minus veggies), grocery shopping there makes sense.  There were only a few items that I had to run in Publix for, like unsweetened Almond milk and Ezekiel bread, but other than that, we were good to go.  We even found a few goodies there too, like the center picture above.  I’ve been wanting to make Stuffed Grape Leaves for a while after enjoying them so much at the St. Augustine farmers market, but when we saw them at Costco, they looked too good to turn down. They would be so easy to make though: grape leaves, brown rice, tomatoes, red peppers, olive oil, and a few more ingredints: I think I can handle that.

Anyways, today I plan on listening to North Point  Community Church Online, running a few more errands to prepare for tomorrow, enjoying a long run with the hub and pups, and maybeee laying on the beach for a few hours. We will see what all gets done.  Have a wonderful and blessed Sunday!

Good health!

The post So Long Summer Break appeared first on The Gypsy Dietitian.