Wofford College Archives - Strength and Sunshine

Academia In Spartanburg

April 17, 2014 by Rebecca @ Strength and Sunshine 17 Comments

It’s recap time! What a whirl-wind week. And now I need to gear up for DC on Monday. So much stimulation, so much to take in, in such a short time. But let’s start from the beginning. On Saturday night I went over to my grandparents to sleep and then wake-up and have my grandfather drop my mom and I off at Newark airport. Our flight was at 8:30 and of course we got there early and had to wait for o so long. I get so antsy sitting like that. O and a side note. I still have not gone in one of the new X-Ray scanners! I was specially approved by TSA with a yellow card, to just go through the metal detector and not take off my outerwear or shoes. Awesome! No radiation 😉

We landed in Greenville, SC around 10:20ish and then it was time to grab our little rental Ford Fiesta and hit the road to our hotel in Spartenburg. My mom requested early check-in but of course that was a no go and we couldn’t check-in. We decided to just head out to the Wofford campus and start our day…after lunch of course. We ended up at Fresh Market. Might I say that place is foodie heaven! Organic specialty food everywhere. The produce was all spectacular and flawless. And the best thing…they had…PSPs! When I saw those purple sweets I pretty much died right there. Too bad I couldn’t get any 🙁 I did pick up 2 organic Honey Crisps though. They were perfect! For lunch we grabbed massive salads at the salad bar which were delicious, simple and quick.Read More

A Crazy April & Thursday Finds

April 10, 2014 by Rebecca @ Strength and Sunshine 37 Comments

Happy Thursday guys! I am going to do a Thinking Out Loud post this week because I have a lot to say and what better way to get it all out than to do it on a Thursday and link-up with Amanda! Let’s just dive right in, shall we!

1. My April is going to be a huge important month and a very crazy busy one as well. I usually never travel…at all, but in the next two weeks I will be doing a hell of a lot of that. Starting with this weekend. Yes this very weekend! On Sunday I will be on a plane early in the morning, flying down to South Carolina to visit Wofford College in Spartenburg. (I can’t wait to wear summer clothes!). I asked Lindsay for some recommendations on places to eat and see, since I have never been there. We are flying back very late Monday night, but if you have any recommendation let me know! But the travel does not stop there. Then after a quick Easter the next weekend, I will be off again, this time with my grandparents too, down to the beautiful Washington D.C.! We are driving down really early on Monday and then my mom and I will be diving back ourselves Wednesday morning. I am going to see George Washington one more time and American before I ~~sign my life away~~ make my final college decision. I am so excited to be in DC again! Hello Sweet Green and Mr. Lincoln! (If you have any more recommendation for DC, don’t hesitate to share 😉 And if you are in DC, let me know, we can meet-up…yoga date?

2. I haven’t been on a plane in 5 years? But I do love flying! I am excited, but I am also nervous. I just hope everything goes smoothly and that our carry-ons are okay :/ But you know what’s aggravating? We have to do a lay-over in Charlotte before we can get to SC. Really? So close…why can’t there just be a direct flight!?

3. I was so excited to pick up some new finds at the grocery last weekend! #1 we have millet flour from Mr.Bob. I was so stoked to make pancakes with this…which I did, don;t you worry 😉 Then to my surprise my always lacking in foodie finds grocery actually had Hope Hummus! I literally jumped for joy! Hope Hummus is gluten-free, vegan, non-gmo, and organic. I picked up the Balsamic Red Pepper…it is good 😉 (I have to try the spicy avocado one next! What my grocery did not have though was any exotic sweet potatoes….non at all. I had to settle for some boring normal orange ones :/ I also picked up some nut butter packs to hold me over in SC. (You can never go a day with out some nut butter!) And they are both new-to-me ones! I have never had Justin’s and I have only had Wild Friends Cinnamon Raisin!

4. Number 2 on the food front is bars! I have been adding in a bar everyday for an extra 200-250 calories. I started with some Lara Alt Bars. They are all good, but just so sweet form the dates. My taste buds just don’t like sweetness like that. But I digress. The Lemon Pound Cake and Pumpkin Pie and the best. I also love that they have an added 10g of pea protein! Then I tried some Lara Uber Bars. I tried the Cherry Cobbler and Nut roll. They are pretty strange. The are salty and only slightly sweet. I wish my grocery had the other flavors to try. Last I received some Squarebars to try! I was so super happy about this. I was actually a little taken aback when I opened them up. They are basically healthy protein candy bars…but not candy. It has no refined sugar, is gluten-free, soy-free, vegan, organic, and non-gmo. A soft nuget covered in chocolate. Again, this was a little much for my taste-buds but they were not bad and I would totally buy them.

5. I have two amazing ladies lined-up for guest posts next week! I didn’t want to leave you guys with no posts so I did some recruiting for Power Monday and a Tuesday post. You are going to love them! I will be back Wednesday probably with a recipe and then I will maybe have a recap Thursday but that might get pushed off until the week after. We shall see!

6. I finally did some online shopping! I decided to treat myself and grab some new clothes I have had bookmarked for so long. A maxi dress and shorter dress from Old Navy and a maxi skirt and shorter dress from H&M. Once everything gets here I will share it all!

7. I had one of my best yoga practices on Monday. Really I could not be more thankful for it. My body and focus were so strong. I was holding poses like forearm stand and scorpion on the first attempt and I finally balanced in Eka Pada Galavasana (Flying Crow Pose)! I had been working on that one for so long! I was beyond proud of myself 🙂 Yoga = Life. It is so damn beautiful! Tuesday was another great practice. This week yoga has felt just so good with my body. I can’t wait until my Saturday practice 🙂

8. Through my Girls Gone Sporty Ambassadorship I got hooked up as a new Bulu Box Ambassador! I can’t wait to receive my first box which will be coming in May. “Bulu Box is the first health and nutrition discovery box designed to help you feel your best. Each month, you’ll get a custom box filled with a new mix of 4 to 5 premium samples from top brands to try. Every sample is sufficient enough to decide if the product is right for you. Of course, shipping is always free and you can cancel anytime.” If you want to hook yourself up with a subscription use my promo code and get your 2nd box FREE on a monthly subscription: BULUGAN820.

9. Well 4/5 of my Vitacost shipment came on Wednesday! I am still waiting on my Maranatha Sunflower Seed Butter (I have not had it for a month now! I am dying!). But atleast I got my coconut butter, more slippery elm, my no-salt brown rice cereal, and….Julian’s Paleo Wraps! I can not wait to try these babies. A wrap made of coconut? My goodness, what will they think of next?!

10. One more thing. Why is it that after a few days of rain and clouds, people forget how to drive when the sun is coming out in the morning? Really?! It takes about 5 minutes to get to my school on the highway with no traffic, but when there is it can take 20. Why don’t we all put our visors down, slap on some sunglasses and start moving!. Going 2mph on the highway is not okay.

Now I will leave you with some flowers 🙂 Have a happy day lovelys!

So tell me:

Where is the last place you traveled to? Did you fly or drive? We have driven to SC before many years ago for a dance national. But because of traffic that we hit once we go to SC, the drive ended up being 16 hours. Not fun. The DC drive isn’t bad. Around 3-4 hours, plus I can drive this time!

Any new foodie finds?

What is your favorite protein/food bar? Please don’t be they typical blogger and say Quest bars, hahaha!

Have you ever tried those Paleo Wraps!?

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Carrot Cake Quinoa Flakes and Weekly Happenings

November 7, 2013 by Rebecca @ Strength and Sunshine 109 Comments

The healthiest way to eat “cake” for breakfast! Carrot cake quinoa flakes are packed with plant-based protein, gluten-free, and vegan. Best yet, this carrot cake porridge recipe can be made in less than 2 minutes!

Hey guys! How has your week been? Mine was short, I am already done! (Thank you NJ Teacher’s Convention) 4 day weekend here I come 😉 So my week was pretty easy, we didn’t do much in school and I have nothing urgent to study for this weekend. I got in some good workouts so far this week. Group Power, HIIT, yoga, and strength circuits. I also did some really awesome eating and have tons of ideas and recipe development to try out during this long weekend. Excited! Last night I had some salsa crockpot chicken I threw together Wednesday morning. When I came home from school the house smelled so lovely I could not wait to eat dinner! And now I can’t wait to share the recipe with you next week 😉 It was so delicious, moist (hate that word, but it is the only one to describe it!), and not so spicy that I killed my stomach which I was worried about. I also had a micro-baked sweet potato with cinnamon, unsweetened shredded coconut, and peanut flour! Best dinner thus far this week 🙂 But don’t fret! I do have a fun new Quinoa Flake recipe to share today! Behold, Carrot Cake Quinoa Flakes!

Carrot Cake Quinoa Flakes

Carrot Cake Quinoa Flakes

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The healthiest way to eat "cake" for breakfast! Carrot cake quinoa flakes are packed with plant-based protein, gluten-free, and vegan. Best yet, this carrot cake porridge recipe can be made in less than 2 minutes!

Author: Rebecca Pytell

Recipe type: Breakfast

Cuisine: American

Serves: 1

Ingredients

⅓ Cup Quinoa Flakes
⅔ + 1 TB of Water
1 TB of Vanilla Protein Powder (optional)
¼ Cup of Finely Shredded Carrot (I used a simple grater)
2 TB Carrot Puree
1 Tsp Cinnamon
¼ Tsp Ginger
⅛ Tsp Nutmeg
½ Tsp Pure Madagascar Bourbon Vanilla Extract
1 TB Unsweetened Shredded Coconut (topping)
Additional Shredded Carrot (topping)
Additional Cinnamon (topping)

Instructions

In a microwave safe bowl add all you dry ingredients and stir, then add the shredded carrots, carrot puree, water and vanilla, stir again.
Pop the bowl on high for 1 minute and 45 seconds (or 2 minutes) in the microwave. Remove and garnish it up with coconut, some extra carrots, and cinnamon.

Nutrition Information

Serving size: 1

Sneaking in those veggies for breakfast is always a win 😉

I received two free weeks on MyYogaOnline.com for following them on Twitter but it is totally going to waste. I tried to find a video for my Sunday and Tuesday yoga sessions and both times were a complete fail. I look for a power vinyasa type of class and I can not find any good ones! I started a few videos and would get like 10 minutes in and then have to turn it off and switch to a Fiji video. The videos were all just to slow, not powerful, and just, well, boring. I have one week left and I feel bad wasting it, so if you have any suggestions let me know ASAP! But that is not to say I didn’t have a great yoga session on Tuesday. And by great I mean I cried. Yoga is so powerful and makes you feel so many things. I have cried during many practices, but it always leaves me feeling cleansed by the end of the practice. I am thinking about doing a more in-depth post on this, but I thought I would mention it today as well.

So later today I am meeting with the NJ admissions adviser for Wofford College! I reached out to her myself after I sent out my application last week and she said she would actually be in Jersey this week and would love to meet me so we could talk. It should be good since I have not gotten a chance to visit the actual college (its in South Carolina).

One last thing! I am extending my ENERGYbits Giveaway to Monday! I have not gotten many entries so if you enter you have a pretty high chance of winning!