New eats

This morning I treated myself to my new ww cinnamon raisin english muffins with honey and almond butter.  It was good.. didn't look as good as Heather's english muffins.

 

After breakfast I cut coupons, made a grocery list and headed to the gym.  I was in desperate need of a good ass kicking workout after the dinner I ate last night!  I ran 1.5 miles then did a 70 min cardio sculpt  class.  It felt good! 

Here is my favorite new find:  Chocolate Cheerios!  They were calling my name so lunch was chocolate cheerios with almond milk! They are so yummy :)

 Then I got busy trying to make Heather's Black Bean and Mango Risotto 

 

 I had trouble with the mango... probably only ended up using 1/4 of it!

  

  

  

Tasted pretty good! Dinner for Monday: check!

Mom and Dad decided to join the gym (!!!!) today so I met mom at the gym (trip #2) for 30 min.  I just walked on the treadmill.

Tonight we made homemade pizzas!! I bought some wheat pizza dough from Trader Joe's and whipped these right up!  This was my first time really using my pizza stone.  They were pretty good.... I think I would of liked mine more crispy.

Justin's

Turkey Peperoni, mushrooms and black olives

Mine

    Turkey Peperoni, mushrooms, peppers, spinach and zucchini

Yay for trying new things!

Danger Zone

 

This weekend I flew into the "Danger Zone"

Friday night J and I went to Charlotte to see Darcy (SIL) before she left for Australia.  The above is her bf and J's bff.  He is not modest!  

We met up with the McCarley's and went to Big Daddy's for dinner.  This just might be one of the best burger places I have ever been to! and it also happened to be the most challenging considering I gave up french fries and chips for lent.  This place had tots, ff, sweet potato fries, and chips.  Do you have any idea how hard this was for me?  well I am happy to say after being thrown into the Danger zone, I survived with a bison burger smothered in mushrooms and a side of fresh fruit.

Saturday morning we made a pit stop at Trader Joe's.  This made my day  :)  Justin even liked it!  I picked up lots of fun stuff: plantain chips, reduced sugar blueberry jam, mushroom truffle pizza, dark chocolate covered blueberries, whole wheat cinnamon and raisin english muffins, and an oat mix that contains flax and barley and some bananas.  If we weren't on a time constraint I could of spent hours in there!!  It just baffles me that Gboro doesn't have one!

Sat night I met up with my Mom and her three sisters.  We had an outstanding dinner of standing rib roast, Yorkshire pudding, asparagus and a blueberry cream cake for dessert.

 

  

  

This blueberry cake looked delish.... but after my first bite I decided I wanted yorkshire pudding instead.

BIG mistake!  It was so rich and I had eaten way to much and felt sick for the next few hours.

Have you ever had yokshire pudding? OMG it is soooo good.  After dinner we went to see "It's complicated".  This movie is so funny and listening to mom and her sisters laugh was my favorite part :)

Today's reminders

1.  You can sweat in the water!  H2O aerobics was fun and I'm sure I'll feel it tomorrow, however I still enjoy land workouts better!

2.  There is a reason I don't like wearing shorts.... especially while working out.
     a.  pasty white
     b.  legs shake while running (thanks mirrors at the gym)
     c.  shorts ride up hence the constant tugging
     d.  my legs look like the cottage cheese I eat in the morning. hot, i know :)  I can't have a good workout if I am to busy worrying about my body.  It's just easier to wear my capris.

3.  Today is Thursday and my weekend starts at noon tomorrow!

I came home at lunch today to let Coltrane out, only to find poop and an unwanted bill.  Here I was thinking my insurance was so great (and for the most part it is) and I get a bill from Dr. Deaton for the IUI and some other things.  I'll be giving them a call tomorrow just to get a better explanation. 

Tomorrow afternoon we are heading to Charlotte to see my SIL before she leaves for New Zeland for 4 months!  I am so excited for her.. that will be a trip of a lifetime :)  We will miss her!

Saturday, my aunts from VA and NY will be in town!  I love them and can't wait to spend time with them too!

 

We had a light dinner of baked fish and veggies. Yum!

TGIF :)

Sneaky , Sneaky

Yep that was me at Poblanos last night!

 

Exhibit A:  my jungle of a purse.  Here you see my brown rice chips and a small container of reduced fat sour cream! 

I love sour cream and it can add lots of un-needed calories when I eat... so I brought my own!  CHIPS, another major obstacle when eating Mexican.  These brown rice chips were great!.. but that doesn't mean I still did not eat any of their chips.  Justin made fun of me. Oh well!  I ate two corn tortillas with flank steak that was cooked in water instead of oil and I ordered black beans instead of the lard refried beans.  Not to bad!

I was still miserable full when we left and felt guilty about no gym today so I did a walking and abs video.  Give me a break! walking was hard enough after shoving my face eating Mexican!

update on Lent.  I have read my prayer book every night and still haven't touched a french fry!! yay me

Oh.. today I got talked in to a H2O aerobics class!  It will be fun.. just not sure I am ready to have on a bathing suit with my Mexican filled stomach and ghost white skin!

Bravo!

Ok... don't do this often but I need a pat on the back!  Today I passed up on a blueberry muffin, krispy kreme doughnuts (my fave), cake and catered Mexican!  This is a big step!  Turning down cake and mexican aren't easy to do!  I knew that we were having Mexican tonight so I did a lot of self talk.  Lets just hope I can make good choices when we go out tonight :) 
Lunch was leftover chicken and a green giant barley with snow peas! yum!

 

Off to Poblano's! Wish me luck

Specials Wednesday!

I love Wednesdays bc Harris Teeter sends out their weekly specials! Nerd? Yes, I know! But it is so much fun.

Great start to the day

 

love me some bb, sb and nanas

so much that they will be my mid morning snack too!

 

Here's to a great day :)

It's Shake and Bake and I helped!

Do you remember this commercial? ha!

B: true delights oatmeal with bb, strawberries, banana, almond butter, cinnamon, whey powder and cottage cheese

L: taco soup and asparagus

S: large apple and some puffs

D: Shake and Bake :) 1/2 piece of chicky with broc

 

Exercise: 42 min of cardio  and 15 min of strength... I got bored!

I might have had some fro yo.. 

Oh.. need to remind myself to sign up for the Beer Run on March 20th!

New find!  True Delights oatmeal.  There are two flavors:  Blueberry muffin and Hazelnut latte.  I had all intentions in trying the blueberry but HT was sold out so Hazelnut it was!  .. and I wasn't let down.  It was A+

 

It was the perfect texture for me along with the added blueberries, bananas, almond butter and cottage cheese!

Oh.. for my morning snack I took a new greek yogurt (I think the brand was Siggy) and GAG! it was so sour.  I had to throw it away!  Lunch was more roasted veggies in a wrap with hummus and apple for afternoon snack.  I was really hungry today..wishing I had more! 
When I got home I decided to make some guac for a pre-dinner snack :)

 

then decided I wanted asparagus and wanted to use my asparagus steamer that we got for our wedding 

*note: we got married in July 07, this was my favorite item on the registry, and this was my first time using!

 

Monday's I have business meetings at 7 so I have to make a quick dinner.  Tonight I gave Justin the choice of Tilapia? or breakfast?  He chose breafast so I made him eggs, bacon and cinnamon toast and I had and egg on a sandwich thin and some more roasted veggies!

 

think this is over cooked?!

 

My meeting ended up being canceled so I decided to give the low fat sugar cookies one more try!

 

I added some icing this time and I think it made it much tastier!

After all this food and a canceled meeting I  just had to do some form of exercise... so Slim in 6 it was!  I tell ya.. it is a hell of a workout!! I better have that beach body they promised by summer!

Hallelujah!

1.  Justin has shaved!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
2.  We had a beautiful, warm and sunny weekend!
3.  Coupon queen!

What a beaut of a weekend we have had!  It was sunroof down, run in the park and open window weather!!
Saturday  I had my Food Assistance delivery which was powered by my new favorite breakfast

 

I really enjoy the people we deliver to.  It reminds me of how thankful I am for all we do have. When I came home I decided a run was in my near future.  I headed to the park and ran 4 miles!  It felt great :)  Went and got a manicure :) came home and attempted to bake low fat sugar cookies.. they weren't horrible but they weren't the best low fat dessert I have ever made. I still have dough left so I might make them and add an icing... icing makes anything better..right?!

 

Then made a big pot of taco soup.. thought we were heading to the Reaves house but decided we were tired and rented a movie instead.  "Funny People" isn't so funny!

 

This morning Justin brought home this hunk of goodness

 

which resulted in a butt kicking workout at the gym!!

Then off to Costco and the grocery store!  Sundays are my favorite bc I love grocery shopping - especially when I get good deals like today :)

Costco deals: Asparagus $3.99 , 12 pack of Dove $7.43, mega jar of almond butter $5.80 (can you believe how cheap? a small jar at HT is like $5.99), 6 pack of peppers, mega jar of cinnamon and oregano for like $2.75, extra gum variety pack and some brown rice chips!!

Harris Teeter was have mega double coupons up to $1.98!! I saved $54 this visit :)

I think a couple of things ended  up being FREE!! Oh.. two Purex detergents for $2.97 - never used this brand before so I hope I like it!

All this shopping made me tired so we had a quick and easy dinner: turkey burgers and potatoes

better I guess!

So today is Friday.. why should one be upset?!  The rest of the day got better.. except when one of my students "accidentally" squirted me in the face with cleaner.  It's funny now, and I hate to say it, but it was kind of funny then.  If it wasn't this particular student/class I would of flipped my sh!t. He didn't mean to and luckily I closed my eyes so no damage done!!  The rest of the day went fast.  Probably the highlight of my day was lunch!!
Here are my food pics of the day - starting with the egg that exploded in my hair!

 

  

Ahhh.. lunch! the highlight of my day!

 

This was a little bit of what I imagine heaven!! roasted red peppers, yellow pepper, asparagus, squash, zucchini,  portabello mushrooms, spring mix, hummus, goat cheese, and a drizzle of balsamic glaze! omg this was delish.. oh a little bit of quinoa!

can't wait to make this again!

Tonight we went out to dinner with the Reaves.  We wen to Fishbones, which happens to be one of my faves! Check out these blackened green beans

 

for dinner I had filet medallions with jasmine rice and asparagus!

 

Kerry loves One Tree Hill and Michael Buble! (sp?)

 

Sorry Brooke! Kerry is happily married with twin boys!  He just happened to be the entertainment for the night!

tonight is ending the way it started.  on the way home J and I randomly had a tiff ... how it started? I have no idea?  I think the stress of infertility took over and it has been flood gates since.  I am mad and sad.  Why do things have to be so hard?

Not a great start.. hopefully a better finish!

3:50 am Coltrane (dog) gets up like he needs to go out.. I quickly hop up to let him out and on my second step.. you guessed it -  I stepped in dog sh!t.  Did I mention that we have a shaggy rug in our bedroom? Gag me.  My words woke up Justin, he started complaining (I'm the one who stepped in it-quit your whining!)  After I turned on all the lights and cleaned our shaggy rug Justin couldn't go back to sleep so he went to the den to watch tv.  I finally fell asleep around 4:40 and got to wake up at 6:30.  I feel bad for Cole.  I mean, I know he is sick and can't help it but it gets old!

Breakfast.. I decided to try cooking an egg in a mug in the microwave like Heather.. I was very careful taking it out so it would pop in my face.. well it popped and went in my hair! I probably still have pieces of egg in my hair!
FML:)

Second half is already going much better!! Yay for weekends!

 

Oh how I have missed you!

 

Yummy breakfast this morning!! However didn't realize that I left off my blueberries until I was downloading my pics!

 

Today I saw someone eating hummus and it really made me want some!! So, on the way home from work I made a quick stop at The Fresh Market to pick up some veggies and hummus.  I had to do some self talk before walking in bc every time I go there I walk out with Heath Bar Cookies :) I don't know how it happens, but it does!  Happy to report that I left with NO cookies!! but somehow these little monsters snuck in my basket

 

wandering what this is?? This is a bourbon pecan and it is oh.so.good!  They are expensive and addictive so I usually put like 5 or 6 in a baggie!! I have no portion control!

The veggies I bought for the delicious wrap I am going to have for lunch tomorrow! so excited :)

 

A little roasting

 

Tonight we had breakfast for dinner. I made Justin eggs, bacon and cinnamon raisin bread and I had some cereal and one piece of toast.  Why the light dinner?? Feeney's frozen yogurt!!  Heather told me they were having cake batter and peanut butter cheesecake flavors today.  Couldn't resist!!

Any big weekend plans?

Wine Down Wednesday

 Love Wednesdays!!  For one, it is close to Friday, two- Harris Teeter rolls out the weekly special and three.. wine down Wednesdays at Village Tavern!

Wednesday Starter: Kashi Go Lean and Fiber One (rabbit pellets) with blueberries, nanners and cinnamon

with sandwich thins with pb and honey and sf blackberry perserves

 

Lunch was a small portion of leftovers and a very small piece of Domino's pizza (not worth it).  Came home from work and did the Burn it up session from Slim in 6.  Great full body workout!  While doing the video I whipped up one of these

 

No, I did not eat all of that.. I already cut a portion out to give away. I am sure I will take the rest of it to work tomorrow.  

Tonight's dinner was Girls Night Out with London and Heather at Village Tavern.  I had Thai Chicken skewers and man were they good!! oh.. and  I guess I should add I had 3 omg 3 glasses of wine!... why wouldn't you? it's half off?!  I love wine!  I really wish there were some pics.. didn't want to be "that" person, but I could of taken a few pics!!

Oh.. Lent!! I finally decided on two things

1.  I will read (and hopefully Justin too) The Power of a Praying Wife (Husband) every night

2.  NO french fries or fried chips.. oh my!! that will be hard.. but much needed :)

Zumbalicious!

Sunday I bought a cantaloupe - cut into it this morning only to find an unripe piece of fruit. What a bummer!

The one I tasted at the grocery store was as sweet as it could be!

Waste

 

filling breakfast: oatmeal with cottage cheese, whey protein powder, blueberries, apples, bananas, cinnamon and peanut butter.  I am going to give props to Heather bc this is really good!

Morning snack = blueberry yogurt with granola and the other half of my banana 

 

Kept it simple for lunch today: leftover Broc and quinoa

everyone in the office was complaining about the smell! oh well :)

and for some reason the picture won't upload.

Tuesday is Zumba at the gym!  I love this class.  It makes me smile!  I got there early and did 17 min on the stair step then it was time to shake it!!  

For dinner we had chicken burgers, mash taters and spinach... no pics for this either.

Talked to my friend LC tonight.  She is getting married on May 8th and I have the honor of being a bridesmaid!  She called tonight to make sure I had ordered my dress... um yeah, sure I had! ooops. So i ordered while on the phone with her. I am not a fan of ordering without trying on.  Strapless dresses are always a challenge for me.  Here is the dress I will be wearing.  Here's to a dress that fits!