Knoxville Eatery: Tom + Chee

Hey Y'all, Happy Tuesday!

I hope you are enjoying the warm warmer weather! I'm thankful for the snow days, but I definitely am glad they are over (fingers crossed)! Broke cabin fever on Saturday and went to work, but most importantly I had date night with my cousin, Allyn. In January, she sent me a text about a new restaurant opening, and we made a date to go for Valentine's Day. But like most restaurants on this holiday (and it was opening weekend), we rescheduled and went Saturday!    

So what is this new restaurant we were dying to try?? Well another heaven on Earth called 

Tom + Chee, a place specializing in grilled cheese & tomato soup.

^ The Holy Grail: The menu has something for everyone. Nothing catches your eye? Well that's fine too because you have the option to build your own.

^ I opted for one of the Fancy Grilled Cheese, and tried the Pep + Chee with cheddar and a cup of the creamy Tomato soup! My sandwich was PERFECTION! It was the perfect shade of gold and cooked with just enough butter. The pepperoni was bountiful and the marinara was a nice compliment. I wasn't a huge fan of the soup, it was missing something, so I would definitely recommend ordering the dip size. 

 

^ Of course, We could not leave without trying their famous Grilled Cheese Donuts. I ordered the Classic, which is the glazed doughnut with cheddar cheese! This is gonna sound crazy, but I LOVED it! It was a great combination of sweet and savory(or salty depending on your taste buds). My cousin tried The King Donut, and if you know anything about "The King" it involves peanut butter and bananas. This donut creation is topped with fresh bananas, peanut butter mascarpone, and a slice of mozzarella cheese. This doughnut is more on the sweet side since it has very mild cheese; you almost forget the cheese is there!

It may seem like I am overreacting and that could be true, but you won't know until you give it a try!

 And if you decide to, please let me know what you think!

Love, Lindsay J. 

WCW: Laverne Cox

 

Happy Wednesday Y'all!

I hope you are all staying warm! Sadly, Knoxville has been frozen over this week, however the upside is I have not seen the inside of a class room since Monday morning! But I am NOT complaining, I will gladly take my snow days and catch up on Gilmore Girls in my favorite jammies! 

So last Wednesday I got the privilege to attend an event hosted by UTK's Women's Coordinating Council with featured a lecture from the one and only Laverne Cox! The title of the lecture (and tour) is Ain't I A Woman: My Journey to Womanhood. She spent about ninety minutes discussing her life as a trans woman of color; giving narratives about her journey to womanhood, professional achievement, and self-acceptance. And it was truly great!!

Afterwards, there was a brief Q&A in which she told us about her Christmas Card from Beyoncé, how to support transgender friends/family, and her new TV show for CBS. The night ended with a Meet & Greet (in which we were strongly informed NOT to touch Laverne since it is still Flu season) and this was probably my favorite part! Not only did I get a great picture with her, BUT she told me I was gorgeous and I literally could have melted!

(This was me on the inside the entire time I took the picture and after)

Overall, it was definitely an experience that I will always remember and probably in my Top 10 favorite moments of my freshman year at UT. And to think I have at least three more to go!

|Outfit| Top {Old Navy}, Jeans {Old Navy}, Clutch {via Jane Deals}, 

Necklace {Body Central}*, Boots {DEB}*

- Lindsay J.

*= These stores have gone out of business.

Witness MY Fitness: Vision Board & Motivation

Hey Y'all! Long time, no see!

I apologize for my absence! I was adjusting to being back in school and managing my time! I was also busy celebrating birthdays for my Mom, sister, and best friend, along with celebrating my own! Yes, I celebrated my birthday on the 19th and it was great. I am still trying to decide if I am gonna make a post about my trip to Atlanta, but just know if I don't, I am sure I happily gained about 5 pounds! Which brings me to today's post! As one of my goals on my vision board, I would like to lose some weight and live a healthier lifestyle. I am sure since we are still in the beginning of 2015, most people are still on their health kick, and I am definitely one of them. I can usually keep up with my goal until April, then I return to my old habits, and by the end of the year I am ashamed of myself. But this year, I am really gonna stick with it and I finally found a way to do so!

 

Because I am visual person, I decided to put my cork board to good use. I mapped out my target exercise days, along with motivational quotes and a healthy grocery list. To make it more visually appealing and totally Lindsay, I made the pearl push pins! (Oh the magic of the hot glue gun). I even decided to do the marbles & pounds idea from Pinterest. However, instead of doing marbles, I felt pearls would be much more motivational. (And match my push pins. Genius, right?)

Another visual aid I am using is a little calendar/planner I bought at Target for $1. I am using it to keep up with my exercises, any fitness challenges I start, my weigh days, Goals for the month, and rewards! (What a mouthful!) 

To kick of my journey, this month (or for 21 days) I am doing the No Junk Food Challenge (via Pinterest). It's going pretty well until my light night cravings for cookies and ice cream start, but i haven't given in and I don't plan on it! 

I hope I have inspired you to create some visuals for whatever your goal is whether it be losing weight or starting a new hobby! And be on the look out for my next post in my Witness MY Fitness series! 

- Lindsay J.

Hello 2015: Vision Board

Hey Y'all & Happy New Year!

Another year has come and gone, and it is time for me to make my New Year's resolutions. In the past, I would create this elaborate list in my head, but by the end of the month, completely forget about it. However in 2013, I found a solution to my problem: Create a Vision Board. The inspiration came from my older cousin Shannon. She wrote a facebook post about how she created a vision board and was slowly accomplishing her goals. After reading, I grabbed my art supplies and some magazines, and after about an hour, I made my first Vision Board. Since then, every New Year's day I pull out all of my magazines, art supplies, and previous Vision Board  and start to plan for the new year. This year, I thought I would share this activity with you all and hope it inspires you to have an AMAZING year!

What You Need:
1. Cardstock Paper and/or Poster Board
2. Ribbon
3. Magazines
4. Planner (OPTIONAL)**
5. Decorating Tools: glue (or tape), scissors, markers, glitter, stickers and scrapbooking cut outs
6. Pictures (OPTIONAL)**

The Process
 1. I like to start out by searching through all of the magazines and find pictures, phrases, and quotes that I would think are inspiring and will motivate me to achieve my goals. The more stuff you rip and cut out, the more creative you allow yourself to be when you start to plan everything out.

2. The next step is to decide what goals you want to include on your board. If you have a board from previous boards, evaluate what goals you accomplished and those you didn't. From here, form your list of goals. They can be anything that you want to achieve this year or start working to achieve; the goals have to be important to YOU!

3. Now this is the creative part. Taking all the magazine cut out and any other decorations you have, start laying out where you want to place things. You can always Google to brainstorm for more ideas of how to set it up. The key to the vision board is making it personalized and something that YOU would be proud of. Don't be in a rush to glue everything down, make sure you have included everything you want and have arranged it perfectly; create a balance within the pictures and decorations. Also, any magazine clippings that you don't use can be bagged up and stored away for next year.

4. The final step is to step and admire your masterpiece! For best results, I have found that if you place your vision board somewhere that you will see it often, it keeps your focused on actually achieving the goals. It's cool to list the goals and make the board, but you have to make and actual effort to accomplish everything.

** I made the Planner and Pictures optional because these are items that depend on the individual. A picture can be used to tie into the focus of your vision board. If it is about your career include a picture of your office space; if it is about you family, use your favorite family photo. This helps you keep your eye on the prize and remember your purpose. The planner can be used to set time stamps. If their are certain things you have (or want) to get done by a certain date, use your planner to help remind you. By doing this, the date doesn't sneak up on you!

I can't wait to get started on my board and show you guys my results! If you get so inspired and decide to create a board of your own, you are more than welcomed to email me OR post on instagram with the hashtag #LALVisionBoard2015.

- Lindsay J

For more Inspiration and Tips, here are some of my favorite post.
- Christine Kane
- Happy Black Women
- Huffington Post
- Simplifying 101

October Recap: All Orange Everything!

Hey Y'all & Happy Monday!

    It is so good to finally get a chance to sit down and write a post! I apologize for being M.I.A this month; school has seriously taken over my life! I am in the last month of my first semester and I am trying to tie up my loose ends into a pretty bow! However, October has been a fantastic month, and quite eventful to say the least. So where should we start?

   The first weekend of October kick-offed the month properly. I went to the UT vs Florida game and got to be a part of Checker Neyland (which if you have not seen the pics, simply google them or look down below!!!) Unfortunately we lost the game, but it was definitely a fun experience to be a part of.

    So fast forward to the next weekend and I finally got the chance to celebrate UT Homecoming as a student. As some of you may know, my mom is proud alumna from UT and I have been partaken in a few on campus events growing up. But this year was special because we got to celebrate together! On top of it all, a few of my best friends came home to participate in the festivities and that made this much more memorable. AND I finally got to wear my $20 dress from Bluetique (which I am IN LOVE with!)

    After a long and tiring (but fun) weekend, I had a three day week of classes followed by a peaceful fall break! I took my short two days to sleep in and lounge around, which is something I don't do as often as I would like! I definitely don't think the break was long enough, but I gladly took the two days given!

    Returning to classes on Monday was slightly difficult, but I pushed through the sluggish week. On Friday, my group of friends and I attended Big Orange Madness, an event that introduces the men's and women's basketball teams. I am NOT a basketball fan, but I am all for free t-shirts and campus events! Plus it is always nice to show your school spirit and support! Later that night, we went out to Vol Night Long, which is a huge campus party with food, a d.j. and different activities that happens once a month. Despite the cold weather, and the fact that I hurt myself on the way to the event, I had a good time! I am definitely hoping for the next one is indoors! I closed off the weekend by tailgating for the Alabama game the next afternoon and on Sunday going to see Dear White People, a definite  must see!

     I ended my month by celebrating Halloween with my father's church! I dressed as Tigerlily using a no-sew caftan tutorial and making the headband! My sister went as Kanga from Winnie the Pooh! I had a pretty chill Halloween, which is definitely what I needed after a sleepless week!

In between all of these eventful weekends, I managed to get a new job as a Seasonal Sellebrity for Old Navy, celebrate River's first Birthday, and cheer on the Karns Lady Beaver's soccer team on their way to becoming district champs! So if you managed to read through this, CONGRATULATIONS you can now view a some pictures of my life this month! I am sad to say good-bye to October because I miss all of my pumpkin flavored foods and nice weather, but on the bright side November - January is my favorite time of the year! Hopefully I will be posting much more this month!

- Lindsay J.

Created with flickr slideshow.