According to Austin

Birthday Fun

2012-01-24T10:13:00.000-06:00

Yesterday I celebrated my second 25th birthday (that sounds so much better than 26th birthday, right?) haha I had such a great weekend celebrating with just a couple of close friends at Global Gourmet on Saturday night. The nicest part was that Quentin asked me where I wanted to go and arranged it all for me. I don't know why, but I always feel so awkward asking people to come hang out with me for my birthday. So, Quentin contacted two of my close girlfriends and their spouses and booked reservations for our party of 6 at the restaurant. I love this little restaurant tucked away in Carbondale. It's a cute urban little place with a menu that changes each weekend, so it's always something fresh. We had dinner and drinks, and of course birthday cake! I really enjoyed having a small group this year. It's so much easier with just a couple of people, so much less stress worrying if everyone is meshing well and everyone is entertained. It was just easy, and that's what I like!

On my actual birthday yesterday, I went to work and my office mate and friend, Melissa had decorated my desk with birthday balloons, confetti and a Happy Birthday banner. Our advertising agency had cupcakes for me at our weekly meeting, and my husband gifted me with my all time favorite perfume, Juicy Couture and a sweet card. We had appetizers in the evening at a local restaurant and rented the movie Moneyball, and just had a quiet night at home. P.s. Moneyball seemed like the longest. movie. ever. Maybe I was just tired, but I didn't care for it.

All in all, I had a great time turning 25 again. :)

Weekend Recap

2012-01-16T11:06:00.000-06:00

This weekend just flew by! I cannot believe it's Monday already. Quentin and I had date night on Friday evening and had dinner with our friends, Chris and Heather at Lone Star. I don't know why we don't make it a point to hang out with them more often. I'm putting that on my to-do list though! After dinner Quentin and I went to see Contraband with Mark Wahlberg. I'm a sucker for an action flick and Mark W. so it totally lived up to my expectations.

Saturday I went to celebrate my sweet friend, Courtney at her baby shower. I am so thrilled for her. Both of my closest friends from college (both named Courtney) are expecting baby girls. This Courtney is expecting hers in March, and the other at the end of this month. I don't get to see Courtney very often since she moved to Bloomington, IN. It was so good to catch up with her.


Courtney and I at her baby shower

After the shower I went on a mission to find burnt orange colored skinny jeans. I don't know why I have gotten fixated on finding jeans in this exact color, but I have like 3 tops that I think would be just perfect for burnt orange jeans. You would think this would not be a difficult item to find, considering colored jeans are all the rage. No. I found bright orange, bright blue, purple, everything but burnt orange! I finally decided to go to TJ Maxx as a last ditch effort. I love TJ's, but I kind of hate shopping for clothes there. Too much digging. But,. I had the time and I figured colored jeans would be easy to spot on a crowded rack. Success! Well, sort of. They are really probably one size too small, but I'm banking on them stretching out a bit. haha OR, dropping another 4-5lbs before they're out of season. $19.99, they'll do.

Speaking of dropping lbs. I have lost one more pound since last week. I was really hoping to keep it at a steady 2lbs per week, but I'll take it! I was a little bit bad last week. I caved and had french fries at work as well as ice cream another day, and just wasn't overly careful about my calories. Back on the wagon this week. I'm making my weigh-in days on Mondays now, so hopefully I'll have another 2lbs down to report on my birthday next Monday!

I hope everyone had a fantastic week! I am looking forward to the weekend already. I'll be celebrating my birthday at Global Gourmet with a few close friends. It's my favorite place for dinner and drinks. That will surely be my cheat meal, I cannot resist their spinach and artichoke dip. Yum!

Small Successes

2012-01-09T11:37:00.000-06:00

Today I am celebrating a small success. I started using the Daily Plate on Livestrong.com again on Tuesday. It's basically a program that helps you keep track of your calories burned and caloric intake. You fill in your height/weight and goals and it helps you decide how many calories you should consume each day to reach your goal. I have used it before with great results. It has always seemed to be spot-on if I really follow it.

I'm glad to report that I started the program up on Tuesday and today I am 2lbs. down from my weight last week. That's 2 lbs. in just shy of one week. Yay! I did have two cheat meals while I was away in Nashville, but I didn't eat huge portions really, so I don't think it made a dent in my progress.

Speaking of the weekend, I had such a great time this weekend in Nashville with my girlfriends. My friend Kelse moved to downtown Nashville a few months ago and we finally made it down for a girls weekend. We lunched, shopped and went out Saturday night with a fun group of girls. Here's a photo of us at Whiskey Bent.


Excuse the iPhone eyes and shady bar lighting

Kelse showed us a great time and I can't wait to go back again soon!

Starting 2012 Off Right

2012-01-03T11:41:00.000-06:00

I'm not usually one for New Year's resolutions, and I won't even officially call what I'm doing a "resolution", but I have made a pledge (along with thousands of others, I am sure) to get back on the healthy eating track. I do a great job of exercising plenty, as it has become part of my routine now. I don't even really think about it, I just do it. I am making a little "exercise pledge" this year too. Time to get back on track with weight training! I'm a cardio junkie. I love running and it feels like a rest day if I get on the elliptical for 30-45 mins, so no problems there. But I am so quick to drop weight lifting from my routine and that is not good! 2-3x per week is how I'll start that pledge this year.

My main issue has always been the diet part of my healthy lifestyle goals. 5 years ago I cut fast food out of my diet and lost (and have maintained, within 5-8lbs) 40 pounds. I have significantly improved the way I eat compared to 5 years ago. However, I have lots of improvements to make still. Sugar is my biggest enemy. I love sweets and feel like I should have dessert nearly every evening before bed. This is BAD! And I know it! So why do I keep doing it? I don't know. Blame it on my parents who regularly had dessert (mainly ice cream, yum!) after dinner when I was growing up. But really? I'm 25 years old. Time to make a change! I have learned it is really easier for me to cut it out all together rather than cut down on my serving sizes. No more desserts for this girl. Oh yikes, did I just say that?

In addition to cutting out sweets, I am vowing to only allow myself one "cheat" dinner per week. This has worked very well for me in the past because I am not completely depriving myself of restaurant food (which is generally a cheat meal), but also not allowing myself to go crazy on it. Knowing I can only do this once a week helps me set boundaries for myself and makes me choose wisely what my cheat meal will be.

I'm going to be using LiveStrong.com/MyPlate to help me along in my goals. I started using this back in 2009, and have found that good old fashioned "writing down what you eat" makes a big difference! I am much more careful about what I put into my mouth if I know I'm going to have to "claim it" on my daily plate. One feature I really enjoy about this website is that it allows you to account for working out. Calories burned = calories earned. If I want to eat more, I must burn more, end of story! I remember one evening last year when I went out to eat with coworkers for lunch and used up all my calories before dinner. So you know what? I had to get my booty on the treadmill if I wanted to eat dinner!

Here's to 2012 and hoping I can stick with my healthy lifestyle goals for the year. I'm not setting a weight loss goal, just goals toward a healthier life.

What are your new year's resolutions or goals for 2012? I would love to hear about them!

Christmas in Review

2011-12-29T13:05:00.000-06:00

Quentin and I had a wonderful Christmas this year. We spent time with one another and both sides of our families, and didn't even get too stressed! On Christmas Eve we visited Quentin's grandmother and brought her a basket of Christmas goodies for herself and items she could set out for her guests to munch on as they came in and out. Later that evening we spent time with his parents and our nieces and received our traditional Christmas Eve pajamas from his parents. After that, we went to our family Christmas Eve service at church and had such a fun time watching the kids sing their Christmas songs. It was so cute. On Christmas Eve night, Quentin and I always decorate sugar cookies to share with our families on Christmas day. It's kind of a tradition my parents started with my brother and I when we were little, and it's fun to have those new traditions as a couple. Another tradition we have is exchanging Christmas ornaments with each other on Christmas Eve. We watched Christmas movies and decorated cookies until it was time for bed.

Christmas Eve Cookie Decorating

Our Christmas Eve cookies

On Christmas morning we exchanged our gifts together, just the two of us, in our living room. I cherish Christmas morning with Quentin. It is nice being just the two of us and watching one another open the gifts we picked out. Quentin got me a vanilla Marmot jacket I had been eying from Dick's Sporting Goods, Jessica Simpson sunglasses, and a new case for my iPhone. I got him a couple of new shirts and ties for work, a new wallet, and Yves Saint Laurent cologne.


Quentin & I on Christmas day

After exchanging our gifts, we make another quick trip to Quentin's parents' house to give them their gifts and watch our nieces open up their gifts from us. This year we got the girls the cutest pink sparkly snow boots that I am certain they loved. They put them on as soon as they opened them. So cute!

We then headed to my parents' house for Christmas lunch and more gift exchanging. Finally, we went to see a Christmas light display in Scott City, MO just outside of Cape Girardeau. The residential house decks out their whole house and yard in Christmas lights and viewers tune their radios to an AM station they have Christmas music playing on and the lights dance and flicker to the music. It is so magical. I never get tired of it.

Me, dad, Louie, mom & my brother Cody

My brother, Cody & I. We look so much alike!

All in all, we had a fantastic Christmas. My favorite things this year were our Christmas Eve service at church and watching our loved ones open up the gifts we had put so much thought into. I hope you all had a lovely Christmas and got to spend it with your loved ones too.

Thoughtful DIY Christmas Gifts

2011-12-20T09:00:00.000-06:00

I don't know what has gotten into me lately, but I have been on a DIY kick lately. Too much HGTV, too much time on my hands, I don't know. Anyway, not that I am super creative by ANY means, but I have been having fun with my little mini projects this Christmas. My latest creation came from a tradition that Quentin and I started during our first married Christmas together. Every Christmas Eve we exchange an ornament. I love having little traditions like this, but unfortunately there are not a lot of specialty ornament shops to choose from, so I was having trouble coming up with a thoughtful unique ornament for this year. So, I made my own! It was super easy and resulted in four total ornaments for less than $20. Here's what I bought, all at Hobby Lobby:
One package of 4 large clear glass ornaments $8ish
One tube of red fine glitter $1.50
One spool (is that the right word?) of narrow red ribbon with white polka dots $2

One bag of white gift basket filler paper $4ish
Gold paint pen that will write on glass $3ish

Add your favorite photo (about wallet-sized) and you have all you need

Here is what I did for the assembly:
- Remove metal piece from top of ornament
- Lightly spray some aerosol hairspray inside the ornament (crazy, but I wanted some of the glitter to stick to the sides of the ornament and not all collect on the bottom)
- Sprinkle in some of the glitter and shake it up
- Add stuffing to the inside until ornament is filled out but not stuffed too tightly
- Roll your photo loosely into a scroll and slide through the opening of the ornament. I had no trouble adjusting my photo with my finger (the stuffing should hold it in place pretty well, if not, add some more)
- Place the metal piece to the top of the ornament and tie a pretty little bow on top with ribbon of your choice
- To commemorate the year, I added 2011 to the back of the ornament with my gold paint pen

After I completed my first ornament, it only took me about 5 minutes each to do the other two. I made one with a photo of Quentin and I from our Christmas cards this year, and the one below for my parents as well as the same one for my brother and sister-in-law. I still have materials for one more, but can't decide what to do with it yet.

I think these make such a sweet and thoughtful gift for family and friends. It doesn't take much creativity (trust me- I did it) and it is a personal keepsake they can hang on their tree from year to year. I can't wait to share these with my family.

Thanks for reading!

Tis the Season...for Sugary Treats!

2011-12-19T12:54:00.000-06:00

At my Christmas Recipe Swap Party last week, my friend and co-worker (or cell-mate, as we like to say- we share an office) brought this amazingly delicious Ding Dong Cake. I wish I had a more classy name for it, but I just don't. Trust me, it was fantastic, and gone in a matter of minutes. Here goes.

Ingredients:
1 Box of Ding Dongs
1 Container of Cool Whip
8oz Cream Cheese
1 Cup Powdered Sugar
1 Family Size Package Chocolate Pudding
1 Chocolate Bar (Hershey's bar will do)
3 Cups Milk (or however much your pudding box calls for)

Instructions:
Cut Ding Dongs in half and place along bottom of 9x13 inch casserole-stype dish
Mix cream cheese, half the container of cool whip and powdered sugar together
Layer the cream cheese/coolwhip/sugar mixture on top of the Ding Dongs
Layer the prepared chocolate pudding on top next
Put the other half of the plain cool whip on top
Shred chocolate bar (I use a cheese grater) on top for added pizazz
Let sit in fridge for 1-2 hours (overnight even better) and serve cold.

Enjoy!

Recipe Swap Party Success!

2011-12-16T11:53:00.000-06:00

Last night I hosted my Christmas recipe swap party, and it was such fun! We had a group of about 10 and some little ones too! It warms my heart to have a house full of guests. I set the scene with Christmas music playing in the background, warm Christmas candles burning and cider on the stovetop. Yum! I'll admit I had my table set and place settings ready two days before the party because I really did not want to stress about it last night. Since I had it on a weeknight, I had to get home from work and only do last minute prep like putting my home made mac n cheese dish together and simmering the cider.

We had what seemed like a hodgepodge of food, but somehow it all worked and everyone left with bellies full of delicious food! Here is what our menu looked like:

Homemade mac n cheese courtesy of Mandy at House of Rose

Broccoli salad

Vegetable beef soup

BBQ pork sandwiches

Cheese ball

Cream cheese corn

Baked mostaccoli

Taco salad

Chex mix

Ding dong dessert

Black pepper cake

Cinnamon rolls

It was ah-mazing! I will be sharing the Ding Dong Dessert recipe on my blog, it was absolutely fantastic!

Holiday Entertaining

2011-12-11T13:52:00.000-06:00

I have been watching HGTV non-stop this past week. Well, when I have time to be in front of the tv, that is. I love HGTV during the holiday season and I get so excited to see all the fun decorating tips they have for the holidays, especially when it comes to holiday parties. This Thursday evening I'm hosting a small Christmas recipe swap dinner party with about 10-12 girlfriends of mine at our home. A recipe swap party consists of each guest bringing a dish (appetizer, side, entree, or dessert) along with copies of the recipe to share with each guest in attendance. It is so much fun because you end up with a wonderful spread of food and lots of new recipes that you've already had the chance to taste.

Since I'm hosting a party, I decided I needed to spruce up my home a little for our guests. Just a few small touches to make it look "Christmas-ey". I have two tables (one square one that seats 4 and one long banquet table for 8) for guests to sit at while they eat and one long banquet table for all the food. For the dining tables I purchased some beautiful glass tabletop pieces from Hobby Lobby at 50% off and filled them with red and gold ornaments and red ribbon, also 50% off at Hobby Lobby. For the food table, because I know it will be full, I chose two smaller tabletop glass pieces and filled them with candy canes. Candy canes are such an inexpensive way to add some color to your decor. Here are the pieces all in one photo. I'm pretty happy with them!


Forgive the crooked photo

Next, I decided I wanted to treat my guests with some home made favors at their place settings when they arrive. I found this idea on Lauren Conrad's website. Love her. They were so simple and made 18 adorable favors for less than $20. Here's what you need:
One box 18 of metal Christmas shaped cookie cutters (Wal-Mart $9)
Two blocks of white chocolate bakers bark or white chocolate morsels ($6 Wal-Mart)
One box of candy canes ($1 Wal-Mart)
One small spool of red shiny ribbon ($1 Wal-Mart)
One package of 20 cellophane bags of your choice ($2 Hobby Lobby)

Place cookie cutters on parchment paper or wax paper (I used saran wrap on top of wax paper to prevent leaks)
Melt down the bakers bark on the stovetop on low heat, stirring constantly
Crush about 7 candy canes into fine pieces and stir into chocolate
Spoon melted mixture into each cookie cutter, filling almost to the top
Let candy set until completely hardened
Place cookie cutters inside cellophane bags and tie off with red ribbon
Viola!

I'm so excited for the party and can't wait to share photos from it with you!

Ugly Christmas Sweater Champion

2011-12-05T18:00:00.026-06:00

This past week I attended an Ugly Christmas Sweater Party at my church. All of the Thursday night small groups (Bible study groups, basically) got together and had a fun little Christmas party. And what's a Christmas party without some friendly competition? There was a contest for the Ugliest Sweater, best appetizer, and best dessert. My dear friend Mary Beth cannot be competed with on baked goods, so I didn't even try that one, but she is also VERY festive when it comes to the holidays, especially Christmas. We had a little competitive spirit going on between the two of us for the ugliest sweater. She may or may not have sent me an email at work that day saying BRING IT in huge letters. As Quentin would say, I was the "under dog" in this little contest, which made me even more determined to win. So funny the things that bring out my competitive nature. haha

I made a visit to my local goodwill and found a very ugly Christmas sweater VEST (even worse than an ugly sweater) and paired it with a red turtleneck, elementary school teacher style. But that wasn't enough. I sought out Wal Mart for some hideous accessories including a gaudy bow ring, jingle bell necklace/earrings/bracelet and a Christmas tree headband with green sequins. Oh yes. THEN, rumor had it Mary had scored an amazing ugly sweater get-up on the way back from a trip to Tennessee. Not fair! So, in a last ditch effort, I made a trip to the Dollar Tree for a set of battery operated Christmas lights so I could light up my ensemble. That was the icing on the cake.

Yes, that is garland around my waist. Look closely for the lights.

Turns out, I took the prize for ugliest sweater and Mary Beth took home the best dessert prize for the second year in a row. I'm telling you, there is no competing with her when it comes to baking. I would not even try it. Here we are with our prizes. $30 gift certificates to Quatros and some chocolates. Yum!


Quentin says we look like 3rd grade teachers. Ha! Funny, both of our mothers are teachers.

It was such a fun night and I have always wanted to attend an Ugly Christmas Sweater Party. I am going to re-purpose my outfit and pass it along to a friend of mine who has a party to attend next week.

Thanks for reading!

Emberlie is ONE!

2011-12-04T17:22:00.000-06:00

Yesterday our niece, Emberlie turned one. I can't believe it! Seems like just yesterday we were waiting to meet her at St. Elizabeth's Hospital. Unfortunately Quentin couldn't get off of work (holiday season and retail, you know) so I made the trip by myself. My brother and sister-in-law are about 1hour 45mins away so it wasn't too bad. She had a Hello Kitty themed party and her mommy did such a great job with her first party. She had a cute little box set up for all the guests to write a little note to Emberlie that she can read in a few years, which I thought was really special and something she'll be able to treasure. Of course I managed to snap a few photos of the birthday girl. Such a cutie. :)

Trying out the cake & ice cream

She's over it.

Aunt Austin & the pretty birthday girl

They really do grow up so fast!

I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend. I have lots of holiday activities coming up over the next couple weeks. Work Christmas parties, church Christmas parties, Secret Santa with my co-workers. I love it. Gets me in the holiday spirit!

Thanks for reading!

Christmas Shopping & Recipe Review

2011-11-29T10:54:00.000-06:00

First, I must say my Leftover Turkey Pot Pies on Sunday evening turned out fabulously! They were SO flavorful and actually very easy to make. If you cook fairly often, you probably have most of the spices this recipe calls for, so it was an inexpensive dish as well.

Turkey Pot Pies ready to go into the oven!

Turkey Pot Pie Filling. (For some reason the photo us upside down, but you get the idea)

I think I will make these again sometime during the winter with chicken. Quentin really enjoyed them, although I think I gain a pound every time I eat a slice, so it will have to be an every-so-often dish.

On another note, I am happy to say I have gotten about 75% of the way through my Christmas shopping list! I get so excited when my Christmas tree has gifts under it. It is so much fun for me to find the perfect gift for those on my Christmas list. Some of my most exciting finds so far include pink glittery sparkly winter boots for our two nieces, Eden and Lilly, which I know they will just love. I also found some cute clothes for my brother and sister-in-law at American Eagle for 40% off and free shipping on Black Friday. Yes! Gift Baskets are also a big part of my gift list this year. We have a fabulous General Store at my workplace now, and we have so many unique gifts that work for almost everyone on my list. Our retail associates package them up so beautifully, I just can't wait to present them to my family members.

I'm still looking for a Christmas gift for our niece, Emberlie and our nephew, Sawyer, both infants. I was thinking some extra cute, snuggly pajamas might do the trick. I am sure they both have enough toys to keep them busy, but maybe a fun toy as well. Also still on my list, Quentin. I have a few items for him already and have pretty much planned out what I have left to purchase, but I'm still searching for a fun idea that is something he didn't ask for, but I know he'll enjoy. I like to find something he would never spend the money on for himself, but something I know he'll like. Any suggestions?

What are some of your favorite Christmas gift finds this year?

Thanks for reading!

The Holidays Are Here!

2011-11-27T14:11:00.000-06:00

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving and had a chance to spend time with their loved ones. Quentin and I had a sweet little house guest on Wednesday night, who kept us on our toes (and out of bed most of the night).

Em wide awake at the crack of dawn!

My brother dropped our niece, Emberlie off at work to me on Wednesday and she spent the night with us! We love having her over, and boy does she keep us busy! Being professional aunts and uncles with no kids, we are not used to having a little one on the house. Especially a busy little bee like Em. She was so good for us though. She hardly cried at all, and who could not love a little face like that?

Thursday we went to my parents for Thanksgiving and got to spend time with my parents, brother and sister-in-law, both grandparents, and cousins. It's so fun having a house full of kids at our holiday gatherings these days. I think it stresses out my neat-freak dad, but he loves them.

Quentin and Emberlie checking out Black Friday ads

My parents had so many people at their house (that or we just ate a lot!) that we didn't get to take home any leftovers like we normally do. So, I decided to buy a 20lb turkey from our restaurant at work, which was already smoked and they sold to me at our cost. Quentin and I both love turkey, and I thought that would be great to have as a healthy meal option so I didn't have to cook for a few days. Today I am going to take a good portion of what's left and make a turkey pot pie. Yum! Here is the recipe I'll be using:

Ingredients:

2 cups frozen peas and carrots

2 cups frozen green beans

1 cup sliced celery

2/3 cup butter

2/3 cup chopped onion

2/3 cup all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon ground black pepper

1/2 teaspoon celery seed

1/2 teaspoon onion powder

1/2 teaspoon Italian seasoning

1 3/4 cups chicken broth

1 1/3 cups milk

4 cups cubed cooked turkey meat - light

and dark meat mixed

4 (9 inch) unbaked pie crusts

Directions:

1.	Preheat an oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C).
2.	Place the peas and carrots, green beans, and celery into a saucepan; cover with water, bring to a boil, and simmer over medium-low heat until the celery is tender, about 8 minutes. Drain the vegetables in a colander set in the sink, and set aside.
3.	Melt the butter in a saucepan over medium heat, and cook the onion until translucent, about 5 minutes. Stir in 2/3 cup of flour, salt, black pepper, celery seed, onion powder, and Italian seasoning; slowly whisk in the chicken broth and milk until the mixture comes to a simmer and thickens. Remove from heat; stir the cooked vegetables and turkey meat into the filling until well combined.
4.	Fit 2 pie crusts into the bottom of 2 9-inch pie dishes. Spoon half the filling into each pie crust, then top each pie with another crust. Pinch and roll the top and bottom crusts together at the edge of each pie to seal, and cut several small slits into the top of the pies with a sharp knife to release steam.
5.	Bake in the preheated oven until the crusts are golden brown and the filling is bubbly, 30 to 35 minutes. If the crusts are browning too quickly, cover the pies with aluminum foil after about 15 minutes. Cool for 10 minutes before serving.

Here's to hoping my first pot pie turns out well!

Thanks for reading!

Our Christmas Commercial!

2011-11-23T10:15:00.001-06:00

My hubby and I were featured in the new 2011 Christmas Commercial for my workplace. I am so thrilled with the way it turned out. I love the beautiful snow and Christmas lights. We have a wonderful advertising agency and videographer who really pulled it together. You can see it here!

Finally Recovered!

2011-11-16T17:10:00.000-06:00

I have finally recovered from the nasty flu I caught a few weeks ago, and am just now caught up on all my work/errands from my down time. Yay!

Tonight my husband and I are "starring" in the 2011 Christmas commercial for my workplace. I'm really excited about it, because our television ads are always really beautiful if I say so myself. :) Quentin is quite nervous, but it's going to be very cute. I can't wait to share it when it is complete! It's going to be a very romantic, wintery 30 second Christmas story.

Speaking of beautiful Christmas commercials, I am just in love with this Famous Footwear ad. So sweet.

Time to go primp for my close-up! haha

Thanks for reading!

Flu Season :(

2011-10-28T17:54:00.000-05:00

Apparently flu season has arrived. I have been confined to my couch/bed since Wednesday and I am sick. of. it. I started feeling really fatigued on Tuesday late afternoon but just thought I needed some rest. Tuesday night I started getting a cough and just feeling like I couldn't take a deep breath. Downhill from there. Luckily, I already had a doctor appointment on Thursday morning to get the results of my EKG that my doctor had me do to check into a heart murmur she noticed. Turns out all is fine- just a minor heart murmur that won't affect me at all. While I was there my doctor checked me out and decided I definitely have the flu. She sent me home with a prescription for Tamiflu and lots of rest. Not that anyone needs to tell me to rest...I can barely take a shower with out falling over from exhaustion.

Anyway, although I'm not happy about being sick, I am glad it struck me well before my half marathon next weekend. My doctor seemed to think I will be just fine to get in a few more runs early to mid next week before my race next Saturday. Hallelujah. I have already missed one race way back in February due to pneumonia and it is NOT fun to train for 3 months just to have to miss what you've been training for.

Today, my sweet friend and co-worker, Mary Beth, stopped by my house and left this beautiful care package on my doorstep!

It was filled with magazines, orange juice, Ricola throat drops, cake batter dip & graham crackers (YUM!), cinnamon Altoids, a candle, and a little Halloween hanging decoration that says "Spooky". So cheerful and sweet. It really brightened my day, and I really did need some throat drops and orange juice too! It is such a blessing to have such sweet friends that go out of their way to make you smile when you're feeling sick.

Hopefully I am on the mend now. I'm feeling better than I was yesterday, so I'm hoping a weekend of rest will have me right back on my feet for next week. The hard part for me will be taking it slow. I am itching to run, but I know there's just no way yet.

Thanks for reading! :)

Fall Soups

2011-10-26T17:42:00.000-05:00

I came across this potato soup recipe on pinterest, and decided I MUST try it. Quentin and I love potato soup, and this one looks so simple and delicious. I think I'll make it this weekend or early next week.

Slow Cooker Cheesy Potato Soup Recipe

INGREDIENTS:

1 bag (32 oz) frozen southern-style diced hash brown potatoes, thawed
1/2 cup frozen chopped onion (from 12-oz bag), thawed
1 medium stalk celery, diced (1/2 cup)
1 carton (32-oz) Progresso® chicken broth
1 cup water
3 tablespoons Gold Medal® all-purpose flour
1 cup milk
1 bag (8 oz) shredded American-Cheddar cheese blend (2 cups)
1/4 cup real bacon pieces (from 2.8-oz package)
4 medium green onions, sliced (1/4 cup)

DIRECTIONS:

1. In 3- to 4-quart slow cooker, mix potatoes, onion, celery, broth and water.

2. Cover; cook on Low heat setting 6 to 8 hours.

3. In small bowl, mix flour into milk; stir into potato mixture. Increase heat setting to High. Cover; cook 20 to 30 minutes or until mixture thickens. Stir in cheese until melted. Garnish individual servings with bacon and green onions. Sprinkle with pepper if desired.

Halloween 10k Completed!

2011-10-24T19:18:00.000-05:00

I have been so busy at work lately I haven't had a chance to post about the Halloween 10k that I ran in St. Louis with my friend Melissa last weekend. We're gearing up for our half marathon (Melissa's first!) next weekend in Indianapolis, and I thought the 10k would be a great way to get a run in together and get some of Melissa's nerves out of the way before the big race. I did the Halloween 10k last year as well and it was a blast. Although we didn't dress up, there were so many people in funny costumes, and it just made it fun rather than serious and competitive. We got really nice Brooks technical shirts and a really cool medal at the finish line, all keeping with the Halloween theme.

Quentin and I spent the night with my brother and sister-in-law for the race weekend since they live just about 30 minutes from the city. After the race, we all got the chance to hang out and spend some time together. This little lady gets bigger and sweeter every time I see her.


Our niece, Emberlie, in her first Halloween pumpkin :)

I'm looking forward to the Monumental Half Marathon in Indianapolis next weekend. It's been a long 3 months of training, but it will all be worth it at the finish line.

Thanks for reading.

Quentin's Bday Weekend

2011-10-13T16:27:00.000-05:00

My recap of Quentin's birthday weekend comes a little late this time, but better late than never, right? I'll get right to it.

Friday evening I had to "work" at a Gin Blossoms concert we hosted at our venue. Work for me consisted of introducing the 3 opening acts and the Gin Blossoms before they hit the stage. SO much fun! I managed to find a pretty cute outfit in our sad little mall at The Buckle. I don't have a photo that does it justice (or shows my killer shoes), but here is a photo of Quentin and I that evening. (OMG my hair is so long!) Doesn't Quentin look nice in his new shirt I gave him as an early birthday present?

Saturday was his actual birthday, and we had such a great day together. I gave him his gifts first thing in the morning- a huge gift bag full of new shoes and clothes for fall. I think he genuinely liked them all, which is not easy. My husband is a picky man. haha He had requested a pumpkin pie instead of birthday cake, so I baked his pumpkin pie and we headed to the SIU football game and enjoyed the beautiful fall afternoon. After the game, we headed to Thai Taste for dinner and then to the movies to see Drive (with Ryan Gossling, SO good!).

Sunday we went to church and had lunch with Quentin's parents to celebrate his birthday and got to see our lovely little nieces too, Eden and Lilly. We (meaning Quentin) enjoyed the rest of the day on our couch watching Sunday football. I found that so fascinating I took a 2 hour nap. haha

All in all, we had a fantastic weekend and I am so happy I got to spend another birthday with my sweet husband.

This weekend we're going to the SIU homecoming football game and heading to St. Louis for the Go! St. Louis Halloween 10k, which I am super super excited about. We're staying with my brother and sister-in-law, so we'll get to see them and little Emberlie while we're there. Pictures to come!

Thank you for reading!

Busy Weekend!

2011-10-02T19:52:00.000-05:00

This is the first time I've sat down on the couch with my laptop all weekend. We have stayed so busy, but I got a lot accomplished, so it's ok!

Friday after work I went straight to several local mattress stores to shop for a new mattress for Quentin and I. I won't even tell you how long I/we have had our current mattress, it's pitiful. It sags down in the middle and my poor hubby has not been able to sleep well for the past several months. I was so excited to have found the perfect set in our price range at The Mattress Store in Marion, IL. They took such good care of me and they were polite, not a bit pushy, and so helpful. I would highly recommend checking them out if you're in the area and in need of a mattress.

Saturday I woke up fairly early to squeeze in a 3 mile run before my hair appointment and then headed to Vienna to play golf with my dad and brother. I have recently learned how to play golf so I could participate in some golf scrambles at work and I really enjoy it. My dad and brother are both avid golfers, but I think I kept up with them ok for only having played 10 times or so. It was really nice spending time with them, something I don't get to do often enough now that Cody and I have moved away.

Saturday night I finished up Quentin's birthday shopping with my girlfriend, Heather. I love shopping for gifts for other people (almost) as much as I like shopping for myself. :) It's so fun trying to pick out the perfect gift that someone will really get to enjoy. Especially Quentin, because he almost never buys things for himself.

Today I managed to squeeze in my 10 mile training run. ahh! I was really really dreading it, but as usual, as soon as I get out and get going the hardest part is over. I even improved my pace a little bit over my 9 mile run last weekend. Hitting the 10 mile mark means it's getting really close to race time! November 4th and counting!

In the midst of the busy weekend, I managed to do some cooking for the husband and I. I made my first batch of pumpkin bread of the season (walnuts in mine, no nuts for Quentin's) and tonight I made Weight Watchers chicken spaghetti for dinner. It's one of our favorites, so I'll share the recipe with you here:

Ingredients
Half box of Barilla plus spaghetti noodles
8 oz velveeta cheese
1 can rotel tomatoes
1 can cream of mushroom soup (I hate mushrooms, so I sub this with an additional can of cream of chicken)
1 can cream of chicken soup
4-6 thinly sliced chicken breasts

Directions
Preheat oven to 350
Cook spaghetti noodles per instructions on box
Cook chicken (I boil mine) and shred
On stovetop, combine cream soups, rotel tomatoes, velveeta and shredded chicken. Stir continuously and until melted and mixed well
In a glass casserole dish, add cooked, drained spaghetti noodles and pour cheesy mixture over the top
Cook for 30 mins, serve warm and enjoy!

Living for the Weekend

2011-09-20T16:18:00.000-05:00

This week has been CRAZY nuts with work and just things to get done in general. I know it's only Tuesday, but I'm living for the weekend right now. I'm off work on Friday (yay!) AND this little sweet pea and her parents are coming to spend the night with us Friday & Saturday night.

Saturday is the first home football game at my alma mater, SIU-C and my company happens to have a corporate tailgating location so I'll be spending Saturday afternoon tailgating! Not a bad gig. Hopefully the little cutie pictured above will be able to make an appearance with me if the weather is as nice as it has been.

Hubby and I are looking forward to seeing miss Emberlie and my brother and sis-in-law. We're all fairly close in age, so we always have a fun time together.

Cheers to the weekend, may it come swiftly!

Weekend Recap

2011-09-11T23:00:00.000-05:00

I'm curled up in my favorite chair with a ~~bottle~~ glass of sauvignon blanc while my hubby is enjoying the (hopefully soon) end of his all day long football binge. This warrants a wife of the year nomination. Seriously.

Anyway, we have had some pretty great weather in southern Illinois this week, and it brings back all the reasons why I love running. Friday night we hosted a huge event at work, so I did my long run (7 miles- woo!) on Friday morning and went to work in the afternoon. It was a looong day, but I am so glad I got my long run finished. I made it home around 11pm Friday night from work, which isn't that late, but it was one of those nights where you're on your feet running around all night long. Pretty exhausting, but thankfully the event went really well so it was worth it. Saturday I went back in to work for a couple of hours to help put the place back together after our event, and Quentin and I decided to go to a winery in the afternoon and enjoy the fall weather. We had talked about going hiking at Garden of the Gods, but saved that for another weekend because I was just too tired.

I begged Quentin for a sleep in day today (he doesn't like to sleep in very often) so we slept til almost 10am, lounged around a bit, watched football, went to the gym, watched football, went grocery shopping, watched football, went to church in the evening, watched football, and had dinner. Then watched more football. Perhaps that's a bit of an exaggeration. Well, actually, maybe not. We just switched to DirecTV from our cable company, and unbeknownst to me, it came with a ridiculous number of football channels. And there were a ridiculous number of football games on today. All I have to say is, no complaining when I'm watching a marathon of Real Housewives of Beverly Hills!

I hope everyone else had a fabulous weekend. Here's hoping the fall weather is here to stay!

Thanks for reading.

Fall Has (Almost) Arrived!

2011-09-05T22:48:00.000-05:00

Omg, it has been the most beautiful Labor Day Weekend. Saturday was warm but not too hot, absolutely perfect boating weather. We had a lovely Sunday of sleeping in a bit, going to church, and basically watching tv and vegging out most of the day. Today we slept in again and I did my 6 mile training run in this gorgeous 60-something degree weather. Let me tell you, that 10-20 degree difference most definitely makes it easier to do a weekend long run. What a breath of fresh air. The weather was so great, Quentin and I decided we had to get out of the house and headed to Giant City State Park for a small hike and came back home to roast hotdogs over a bonfire.

Fall has almost arrived and it's time for hoodies, bonfires, hiking, and college football! I don't even know a thing about college football actually, but since I run the tailgate for my company at SIU (where my hubby and I are also alums) I decided I would join Quentin for some games this season and cheer on the team. We have some friends on the field this year and it will be fun to cheer them on and just get out and do something together that I know Quentin will really enjoy.

I'm super excited for the cool weather to come. Slightly bummed I didn't get to spend one last day at the pool because it got too chilly, but bring on fall- I'm ready!

I hope everyone had a fun and safe Labor Day Weekend. I'm sad the 3 day weekend is coming to an end, but bonus- 4 day work week!

Thanks for reading!

Labor Day Weekend Already?

2011-09-02T14:45:00.000-05:00

I can't believe we're coming up on Labor Day weekend already! That means two very sad things for me, the end of swimming pool season AND basically the end of boating with my girlfriends. Boo! However, it hopefully will also mean we are very near cooler weather and fall, which I will welcome in the midst of training for another half marathon. We had a great two weeks of nice cool weather in the mornings, but lately even at 6:30 a.m. it's already muggy and warm outside and I just dread going out in it. Monday is calling for a high of 75, yay!

Quentin and I have a fun weekend planned. Tomorrow I am going to be on the lake all day and Quentin will be at a truck show with some of his guy friends. Sunday we're going to the local pool to enjoy the last weekend of swimming and Monday we're off work together again doing who knows what. Maybe a nice bike ride to enjoy the weather or something. It will be nice to have him home on a weekend for sure!

I hope everyone has a safe and happy Labor Day Weekend!

Keep Running

2011-08-21T13:34:00.000-05:00

I am officially 2 weeks in to my half marathon training program and I'm pumped to say I'm registered for the Monumental Half Marathon in Indianapolis, IN this November! This will be the first time I've come back and done a half marathon in the same city for a second time. I enjoyed the city and the race so much I couldn't resist. Plus, I really enjoy running in the cold (mainly because the colder it is the faster I tend to run :).

Thursday morning I was outside on my daily run and I ran past a man in his 40s who was physically handicapped walking with a cane. As I ran by he said to me "I wish I could do what you're doing right now. Keep on running, God Bless You". And it wasn't one of those feeling sorry for himself kind of statements, he said it with a smile and was genuinely trying to encourage me. I usually take a short 1 minute walk break when I get halfway in and turn around to head back home to catch my breath and get a good drink of water, but what he said inspired me to keep on running and not take that walk break. As I turned around and headed back home, I passed by him again and told him "You inspired me to run the whole way today. Thank you." He just smiled and told me again to keep on running.

It is little things like that which inspire me to keep on running and to be thankful that I have the physical ability to do so. Sometimes I get down on myself because I am by no means an athlete, and compared to many I'm pretty slow. I'm never going to "win" a half marathon, but I am so thankful that I can challenge myself in that way. I shouldn't dwell on getting down to a certain time, I should be thankful that I can run 13.1 miles at all.

Thanks for reading :)

Tuesday already?

2011-08-17T12:15:00.000-05:00

This past weekend flew right by me, and I can't believe it's Tuesday morning already! I had a full weekend and enjoyed it to the fullest. It has started to dawn on me that summer is also flying by, and I'm trying to cram in as much summer activity as possible before fall hits. Friday was a CRAZY day at work, and I was so happy I had scheduled a manicure after work and drinks/dinner with my friend Kelse. Boy did I need that!

I ended up staying out WAY too late on Friday night and had to wake up at 5am on Saturday to be at work at 6am for an annual 5k that I helped organize for a local animal shelter. Very tiring, yet very rewarding work. We helped the shelter raise over $5,000 toward their veterinary bills, what a great feeling. The 5k went smoothly and the weather could not have been better. We were a bit nervous about an August 5k because of heat, but wouldn't you know it turned out to be cool and sunny. One of the sweet ladies who is involved with the animal shelter made up the cutest little gifts for those of us who helped organize the race. I admire her ability to put together unique gifts full of fun little things that are actually quite useful. Maybe I will borrow some of her ideas for future birthday or Christmas presents. I wish I had taken a photo, but she took a stylish little lunch box and filled it up with goodies like:

AND a gift certificate for a 60 minute massage. Ahhh! I can't WAIT!

Have a fabulous Tuesday!

Weekend Away

2011-08-08T16:24:00.000-05:00

Quentin and I decided to go on a little extended weekend away in the St. Charles/St. Louis area this past weekend, and we had a lot of fun, despite the hot hot temps. Friday was actually really mild, so we did a lot of walking around in downtown St. Charles. We headed to one of our favorite restaurants in the downtown area, Tony's for a late lunch and spent the rest of the evening moseying around the little shops. I found a really cute shop called Lillian's that reminded me of Anthropologie and picked up a couple of cute summer tops there. Later that night we went to Delmar Loop and did some more walking around and checked out the shops and some live music there. We had dinner at Dewey's Pizza (Quentin's recommendation) and it was really delicious! Of course Quentin thought we needed a ginormous pizza for the two of us, so we ended up having it for a late breakfast at our hotel the next morning.

Saturday we met up with my brother, sister-in-law and niece at the St. Louis zoo the next day, and endured about an hour of misery before we couldn't stand the heat anymore. We went to the Boathouse restaurant for lunch, and I couldn't tell you if I loved it because the food was good, or just because I was thankful to be out of the heat. haha After the Boathouse, we all went to Ted Drewe's Frozen Custard for a frozen treat, and I had the BEST peach "concrete" (like a DQ blizzard, only better!).

Later in the evening my brother and Quentin decided to go to the gym while Steph, Emberlie, and I did a little shopping for fall clothes for Em. We had dinner later that evening and then went to check out Cody & Steph's new house that we hadn't seen yet.

We did lots of eating throughout the weekend, and thankfully lots of walking to burn off some of that eating. haha It was so fun to get away for the weekend, even if not too far away or for too long. We mostly went places that we don't typically go when we're in St. Louis, which made it fun and new. Thanks to my friend Melissa who is originally from St. Louis for all the suggestions!

Here are some photos to recap our weekend.

Thanks for reading!

What We've Been Up To

2011-07-31T20:41:00.002-05:00

It seems I have taken an unplanned hiatus from my blog again. Oops! Here's what Quentin and I have been up to for the past few weeks.

Last weekend we played "parents for the weekend" with our darling niece, Emberlie. Neither Quentin nor I have a whole lot of experience caring for small children, let alone infants. But, we were over the moon when Cody & Steph allowed us to keep her at our house for a whole weekend. Our reasoning for wanting to keep miss Em was twofold. One, to give Cody & Stephanie a weekend together alone, to go out on a date, sleep in, or just do whatever they wanted just the two of them. And two, obviously, because we adore little Em and wanted her all to ourselves. We had such fun with her. She was quite fussy the first night, being in a new place without mommy and daddy, and it probably would have been really entertaining to watch Quentin and I try to function and take care of Em at the same time. We couldn't believe how difficult it was to do small things, like sit down and eat dinner, get ourselves ready, and take care of little miss at the same time. But, it was so incredibly rewarding every time she would give us a grin, a giggle, or snuggle up with us for a nap on the couch. She melts our hearts. Here are some photos from our weekend together.

All dressed up for church

This is love <3

Swimming!

She makes this face when the flash on the camera goes off. haha

Next weekend, we're looking forward to sharing a 3 day weekend off work together. If you didn't know, Quentin works for Verizon Wireless and his hours are typical retail hours, i.e. he always works weekends. We decided to make it a point to take off a Friday through Sunday together this summer in case we want to take a mini trip somewhere, or even just spend the weekend at home together. I think we are going to spend Friday and Saturday in St. Louis together doing who knows what, and probably spend Sunday at home. I'm really looking forward to spending some quality time together.

I hope you had a wonderful weekend!

Thanks for reading! :)

I heart summer

2011-07-17T12:10:00.000-05:00

The other day (a particularly hot day) my husband was saying how much he couldn't wait until the summer heat was gone and fall was here. Although I hate the hot hot heat too, I couldn't disagree more! I have had so much fun this summer, from hanging out on the lake with my girlfriends, sitting by the pool on Saturday afternoons, learning how to play golf, and vacationing with my hubby. This has been the best summer I've had in a long time. When I was in school, I always took summer classes and worked and never really got to enjoy it. Last summer I had just graduated from grad school and was hoping to move away somewhere where the grass was greener, so I spent my weekends filling out job applications and picking out where we would live. This summer, I'm content with where I'm at (for now anyway) and I'm just enjoying the long summer days.

Take some time to soak up the summer sunshine this year- and don't forget your sunscreen.

Thanks for reading :)

Busy Busy!

2011-07-08T14:45:00.000-05:00

It has been a crazy couple of weeks at work and I'm just now remembering my little blog. After losing a few pounds for our Jamaica vacation back in May, I have decided to get back on the wagon and try to drop 10 more. Goodness, this is not an easy task! Admittedly, I gained about 2 lbs back post-vacation, but I'm still about 6 down from my pre-vacation weight. I'm back to entering every single thing I eat and every single workout I do on my livestrong.com program. It is amazing to see how many times I snack mindlessly throughout the day. So not fun to write those things down. It really keeps me in control when I know I have to enter it onto my virtual plate. Not to make excuses, but can I just say how difficult it is to eat healthy food when my office is connected to our General Store, which serves the most delicious pastries and baked goods every single day, AND we get a discount. Ugh.

In other news, Quentin and I had a lovely July 4th weekend and managed to catch not one but two firework displays in the little towns that surround us. If you didn't know, I am completely obsessed with fireworks. I absolutely love them. Quentin could probably survive with or without them, but he humors me and pretends to love them too. :)

We have a date night coming up on Saturday and we're going to watch Horrible Bosses, which I hope is going to be as funny as it looks. I don't care for Jennifer Aniston, but since she isn't the main character in the movie, hopefully that won't detract from it. Sunday we are going to our friends' son's 2nd birthday party and it's a pool party! One thing I love more than fireworks is swimming, especially during the time of year when the heat is pretty much unbearable as it is now. For once, Quentin is off of work so he gets to come too!

In the meantime, I am daydreaming about the looong overdue massage I'm going to get after work tonight. Then, somehow, I will have to muster up the energy to work out so I can actually eat dinner tonight without going over my calorie count.

Hope you have a fabulous weekend ahead! Thanks for reading.

New Car! :)

2011-06-29T16:32:00.000-05:00

After several weeks of searching for a new car, I finally decided on one that I loved and purchased it on Friday. I upgraded from my Toyota Corolla, which has been a nice reliable car for me during college and right after graduation. I wanted something with a little more space and something I could really enjoy a little more- no, not to make room for babies! I decided on a white 2010 Honda Accord which we purchased from the same salesman we purchased Quentin's car from (Doug at Ike Honda, if you're in the market for a Honda). I absolutely love it! Here it is!

Dinner Menu

2011-06-12T14:45:00.000-05:00

As I mentioned last week, I have been trying to plan out our dinner menu for the week every Sunday so I don't have to run to the grocery store a million times. Last week went SO well! I have to admit, it seemed like a huge task to put together a grocery list for a whole week (and a huge bill at the checkout line!)but it has saved me so much time and effort. Here's what our menu looks like this week:

Tonight: Steaks on the grill marinated in California marinade. We made steak kabobs this weekend for some friends of ours using this marinade and everyone raved over it. It made the steak so tender and very flavorful, it really didn't need steak sauce.

Marinade Recipe:
Ingredients

* 1/3 cup lemon juice
* 2 tablespoons olive oil
* 2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
* 1 teaspoon paprika
* 1 teaspoon minced garlic
* 1/2 teaspoon sugar
* 1/2 teaspoon salt

For best results, marinate overnight. But, 3-5 hours is sufficient.

Monday Night: Stuffed bell peppers from Nina's recipe at AccordingToNina.com We cut this recipe in half to serve two.

Tuesday Night: Grilled hamburgers with leftover ground beef from Monday night

Wednesday: BBQ Chicken Pita Pizzas from this Hungry Girl recipe

Thursday: We have small group on Thursday nights and we eat dinner there

Friday: Date night. We'll likely go out to eat on Friday but I'll make some bbq in the crock pot to get us through the weekend

I'm super excited about this new menu planning thing. It really helps me to not eat out during the week, and since I'm not home til almost 6:30 on Mondays and Wednesdays I definitely don't have time to run to the store AND cook dinner.

If you have any suggestions for quick and healthy weeknight meals, please let me know! I am always looking for new ideas.

Thanks for reading! :)

BBQ Chicken Pizza

2011-06-09T17:34:00.000-05:00

Last night Quentin and I enjoyed another Hungry Girl recipe, BBQ chicken pizza. If you like the California Pizza Kitchen version, you'll love this one with a healthy twist. Let me tell you, it was fantastic! I was a little skeptical about using string cheese for the topping, because we love our shredded cheese, but it was great! Only 340 calories in one of these delicious little pizzas and it filled me up. Here's the recipe.

Ingredients:
1 stick light string cheese

3 oz. cooked boneless skinless lean chicken breast, chopped

2 tbsp. your favorite BBQ sauce with about 45 calories per 2-tbsp. serving, divided

1 high-fiber or whole-wheat pita

1 1/2 tbsp. finely chopped red onion

1 tsp. chopped cilantro

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Break string cheese into thirds, and place in a food processor or blender -- blend at high speed until cheese takes on a shredded or grated consistency. (Or just tear string cheese into pieces and roughly chop.) Set aside

In a small dish, toss chopped chicken with 1 tbsp. BBQ sauce. Set aside.

Place pita on a baking sheet sprayed with nonstick spray.

Spread remaining 1 tbsp. BBQ sauce onto the exposed side of the pita, leaving a 1/2-inch border around the edge.

Sprinkle evenly with shredded/grated cheese. Scatter saucy chicken over the layer of cheese, and then sprinkle with onion.

Bake in the oven for 10 - 12 minutes, until pizza is hot. Top with cilantro, slice into quarters, and enjoy. YUMMMM!

MAKES 1 SERVING

A Week of Hungry Girl Recipes (almost)

2011-06-05T20:12:00.000-05:00

Quentin and I are trying to start planning our dinners out for Monday-Friday on the weekend prior. This is probably a normal occurrence for a lot of families, but we have been going to the grocery store every single time we decide what we're going to have for dinner each night. In short, we aren't very good planners. Today I was watching an episode of the popular cooking show Hungry Girl, which basically offers a healthy version of classic recipes and restaurant favorites. It inspired me to look up some of her recipes I've been wanting to try and print them off and purchase all the ingredients to the recipes that will get us through each night of the week. Tonight, we are doing some simple seasoned burgers on the grill with "Yum Yum Chocolate Muffins" for dessert. Here are the recipes:

Seasoned Burgers (Serves 4)
Ingredients:
1 Lb extra lean ground beef
1/8 tsp garlic powder
1/8 tsp onion powder
1/8 tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper
1/3 cup chopped onion
Hamburger Buns (check labels to find low calorie buns at your grocery store. I was shocked to see buns ranging from 120 calories all the way up to 280 calories per bun!)

Directions:
Mash together ground beef, seasonings, and chopped onions
Cook on grill or stovetop
Serve with your favorite burger toppings on a toasted bun

YUM YUM CHOCOLATE MUFFINS (Only 181 calories per muffin!)

Ingredients:
One 18.25-oz. box devil's food cake mix
One 15-oz. can pure pumpkin (Libby's is the best!)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Pour cake mix into a large bowl and whisk to remove any lumps. Add pumpkin and stir until completely smooth and uniform.

Don't add any other ingredients that may be mentioned on the cake mix box, like eggs, oil, or water. The mixture will be very thick, so you might be tempted to add in other things to make the batter thinner. Do not do this!

Evenly distribute batter into a 12-cup muffin pan lined with foil baking cups and/or sprayed with nonstick spray. Place pan in the oven and bake until a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean, about 20 minutes.

Allow to cool slightly and then serve!

MAKES 12 SERVINGS

Coming up this week I'll try new Hungry Girl recipes for BBQ sandwiches made in a slow cooker, BBQ Chicken Pizza (healthy take on the popular California Pizza Kitchen version which I LOVE), and my twist on her seafood skewers. Yum yum! It's going to be a good week. :)

Summer Summer Summertime

2011-06-01T21:27:00.000-05:00

I know it is technically not summer yet, but holy moly is it hot out! I spent all day long Sunday on Lake of Egypt boating with girlfriends (SO fun!) and even with my spf 50 on, I definitely got some sun. It was 90-something degrees that day, but the water was soooo nice, and it was windy, so it wasn't too bad.

My running partner, Meg and I have a 5k to run this Friday evening and the high that day is 94. Yikes! I'm hoping it is not too awful out, because she is 6.5 months preggo and if the weather is dangerously hot, I know she won't be able to run it. Tear. :( This one is supposed to be her last race until post baby, and although I've been in denial, I know our morning runs will soon be taking a little maternity leave. So sad. We ran another 5k together this past weekend though, and we kicked butt. haha Speaking of my expectant running partner, she has a baby shower coming up this month, and I would really like to get her something running related. There is a 10k race in St. Louis in October (she is due in Aug) that she wants to use as her "come back" race, which she'll probably walk/jog. I was thinking a registration for that race would make a nice baby shower gift from one running buddy to another. I am hesitant though, because I know baby shower gifts are usually about the baby, so I don't know if it is appropriate. What do you think? Or maybe I get her that plus a baby gift? Or maybe I wait until the baby is born and we know what the sex is (they aren't going to find out) and then get a baby gift? Ahh! I don't know...

Anyway, now that the weather is heating up, my hubby and I have been grilling out like crazy, which is amazing because it means he cooks dinner a lot. hehe What do you look forward to as soon as the weather starts to heat up? My favorite things are grilling out, pedicures, and swimming. In no particular order.

Thanks for reading!

Quick and Tasty Guacamole

2011-05-17T10:54:00.000-05:00

I have been on a cooking spree lately! It seems like I've been trying new recipes almost every other day for the past few weeks. My husband is lucky.

This past weekend I tried a sort of thrown together recipe for guacamole with ingredients that I thought sounded good. I'm not much of a measure-er when it comes to guacamole, I just toss in whatever amount of each ingredient looks good to me. It is really hard to mess up. So what if you get a little too much tomato in your guacamole, right?

So, here's what I used:

One medium avocado, mashed
Diced Onion
Diced Tomato
Fresh Cilantro
A dash of lime juice
A little corn
One-two diced chipotle peppers in adobo sauce

All you have to do is peel and mash the avocado and thoroughly mix all the other ingredients. My favorite guacamole companion is Mulitgrain Tostitos. Yummy!

Enjoy!

Steak Salad and New Dessert Recipe

2011-05-15T11:39:00.000-05:00

Last night Quentin and I hosted dinner at our house, and I made a new recipe for steak salad given to me by my friend Meghann. I believe it is a Martha Stewart recipe. It was absolutely delicious! Here it is:

Steak Salad (Serves 4-6)

Salad Ingredients:
2 flank steaks
1 bottle of Italian Dressing
1 can of Coke
1 bag of leafy romaine lettuce
1 chopped avocado
1 chopped cucumber
1/4 of a large onion, sliced
1 chopped tomato

Dressing Ingredients: (I doubled this, because it did not seem to be enough to serve all 4 of us)
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
2 tsp honey
3 tbl fresh lime juice
2 peppers (chopped) from a can of chipotle peppers in adobo sauce

Directions:

Marinate flank steak in 1 bottle of Italian dressing and one can of Coke overnight (we only did for 5 hours and it was just fine, but the longer the better)
Cook steak on the grill and cut into strips when complete
Mix salad ingredients in a large bowl
In a separate bowl, mix dressing ingredients well with a fork
Serve salad with steak strips on top and dressing to the side
Enjoy!

Next, we had a simple yummy dessert which I do not have a name for yet, but it was delicious. I love it because it's not heavy, and it's very simple to make. Here is a photo since I don't have a name for it yet.

Ingredients:
Tortilla Shells
1 quart of strawberries, chopped
Vanilla Ice Cream
Cinnamon
Sugar
I Can't Believe It's Not Butter Spray

Directions:

Preheat oven to 300F
Cut tortillas into 4's (like pizza slices)
Spritz butter on each tortilla slice
Mix cinnamon & sugar together and sprinkle on tortilla slices
Bake for approx 5 mins or until tortillas begin to get a crispy (I didn't use a timer, but I'm estimating 5 mins)
Let tortilla slices cool and top with vanilla ice cream and strawberries
Enjoy!

Tonight, I plan to make stuffed peppers which I found the recipe for on accordingtonina.com, and some guacamole which I plan to make by adding my favorite ingredients to avocado. We'll see how it turns out!

Jamaica Recap

2011-05-12T11:40:00.000-05:00

Quentin and I had a really amazing time in Jamaica! We got home at about 3am this morning, and as usual, after vacation is over, we have loads and loads of laundry to do and lots of errands to run before we return to work tomorrow.

We stayed at a Sandals resort in Ocho Rios, which is an all inclusive resort with unlimited drinks and food. They had about 12 restaurants to choose from, ranging from seafood, to pizza, to Italian, to sushi, so there was a lot to choose from depending on your mood. Some of the restaurants we loved, and some were just ok, but we never went hungry. We spent most of our time poolside, at the swim up bar, or on the beach. My favorite frozen drinks were the hummingbird (banana, strawberry, and rum) and the Jamaican smile (pina colada, strawberry daiquiri, and cream rum on top). So yummy!

We opted not to do any of the extra tours that cost extra, because we were happy being at the pool and on the beach, as well as doing some of the included activities at the resort. We kayaked, sailed, and rode these hilarious giant aqua trikes (you'll see a photo below).

The weather was just perfect. It was upper 70s to low 80s the entire time, and so sunny. It only rained once for about 5 minutes while we were eating breakfast, and then the sun popped right back out.

We had some professional pictures taken at the resort, which was the only thing we kind of splurged on during our trip. The photo session itself was free, and when we saw the pictures we decided to buy about 10 of them. We probably won't go on another exotic vacation like this for a while, so we wanted to have those memories. Here is an photo book I created on Shutterfly with some of the professional pictures and some snapshots we took on our trip. When I bought my new digital camera, I got a coupon for a free photo book with it, and I can't wait til it comes in the mail!

Click here to view this photo book larger

It was so nice to get away with Quentin and be without our cell phones and emails for a whole week, just the two of us. It was also nice to be at an all inclusive, where we did not even need to leave the resort. It was so relaxing and definitely nice to spend some much needed quality time together.

Thanks for reading!

Countdown to Jamaica!

2011-04-30T10:18:00.000-05:00

We have been preparing for our trip to Jamaica this weekend and it's getting me more and more excited for our trip! I have my swimsuits (which I tried on yesterday and was very pleased that they look so much better since I've lost 8lbs now!), a cheap pair of sunglasses to take with me, sunscreen, quart size ziplock bags for the airport, new sandals, snacks for the plane rides and basically everything I need for our upcoming vacation. We leave eeeearly Wednesday morning, and let me tell you, Wednesday can not come quickly enough. I've started packing away our toiletries, washing and ironing the clothes I plan to pack, and gathering all the important stuff I can't forget. The only thing I'm missing is a giant suitcase, which I'm borrowing from a lady I work with and it will be here on Sunday. I am totally OCD when it comes to packing, especially for trips that require a flight. I'm always afraid I'm going to forget something really important.

I'm debating as to whether or not I should make room in my suitcase for my running shoes and some workout clothes. I'm thinking I will, because if I don't, I know I'll regret it. I don't think I can go a whole 7 days without some sort of exercise. Or, maybe I can...but I shouldn't. haha We're going to a Sandals resort, which basically means unlimited food and drinks, so exercise clothes should probably accompany me.

Just for fun, here is a snapshot of the front of the resort.

LOOK at that crystal clear water. Ahh!

Easter Sunday and Crazy Weather!

2011-04-25T21:30:00.000-05:00

Quentin and I had such a fun Easter this year. My brother, sis-in-law and little niece, Emberlie came down to Southern Illinois and we spent the afternoon with my family. We had a house full of kiddos and all the people I love most. It was really wonderful. Of course I spent a good portion of the day snuggling my favorite baby girl, who was wearing the cutest Easter outfit ever.

Isn't she the sweetest? I think so, too. :)

We made my mother-in-law's famous Italian beef, and OMG it was so good. It was a big hit. Luckily we had some leftovers which made the perfect re-heated dinner tonight. Yum!

Our friends Drew and Mary Beth hosted an Easter potluck style dinner Sunday evening and let me just say, I'm going to be spending the rest of this week working it off. We had ham, a chicken/bacon/cheese casserole, green bean casserole, mashed potatoes, macaroni and cheese, rolls, the most amazing Paula Dean strawberry cake, and a blueberry cheesecake with Oreo crust. Yeah. Pretty amazing. I'm so glad Drew and MB hosted Easter dinner at their apartment. We crammed a lot of people into their place, and I enjoyed every minute of it. They are such good hosts and great friends. They warm my heart.

Speaking of eating like a crazy person, I have managed to maintain my 7 lb weight loss so far. I reeeeally want to lose that last 3 lbs, but I'm thinking it will be a little difficult to do so by next Wednesday. Hopefully I can get 2 more off and I'll be 9lbs down. I'm really excited that I've been able to stick to my diet (with the exception of Easter) and keep up with my exercising. I can tell a big difference in the way my clothes fit and the way my face looks.

Meanwhile, we've been having the most crazy insane weather lately. Currently it is pouring down rain and our yard looks like a swamp! The road to my workplace is totally flooded, and if anyone needs to get to the restaurant they have to go by boat. So crazy! I honestly don't mind the rain, I love sleeping during a good storm. As long as my cable doesn't go out and my electricity stays on, I'm a happy girl.

I hope everyone is staying dry and safe through the spring storm season. Thanks for reading!

Recipe Review AND New Recipe

2011-04-23T23:22:00.001-05:00

Well, my Asian honey glazed chicken was not nearly as fabulous as I had hoped. It wasn't bad by any means, but it was not anything special either. I really think the problem was that I used boneless skinless chicken breasts rather than a whole chicken, as the recipe called for. I think the flavor would have baked into the skin of the chicken and been a lot better had I used the whole chicken instead. So, all in all, the recipe was not a success, but I think I would consider going back to the original recipe and trying again. The marinade did smell really fantastic, and the flavor was good, but the chicken I used just didn't hold onto the flavor.

Now, I have a recipe to share that I already know is a good one! It's my mother-in-law's Italian beef, which is slow cooking in my crock pot right this moment. My parents are cooking pork for Easter, and Quentin and I don't really eat pork, so I'm bringing Italian beef over as an alternative. Here's the recipe:

Ingredients:
- One shoulder or rump roast around 2.5 lbs

- 2 packages of dry ZESTY Italian dressing mix

- 1 package of au jus gravy mix

- 2 cans of beer (any kind will do)

- 4 fresh jalapenos, chopped

- Red, green, or yellow bell pepper to add some color, thinly sliced (optional)

- Pepperoncini peppers (served on the side, if desired)

- Hoagie Buns

Instructions: (cooking instructions overnight for lunch the following day)
1. Pour beer, dry mixes, and chopped jalapenos into slow cooker on low heat and mix

2. Add shoulder or rump roast and spoon juices and some of the jalapenos on top of the meat

3. If desired, add bell peppers to top of the meat

4. Cook on low in crock pot overnight

5. In the morning, turn crock pot on high

6. Serve on toasted hoagie buns with pepperoncini peppers to the side

I hope everyone has a wonderful Easter tomorrow! We have plans to visit my side of the family for lunch, and then we are heading to an Easter potluck dinner with some of our friends from church. Can't wait!

Thanks for reading.

New Recipe

2011-04-21T13:36:00.000-05:00

I am always looking for good recipes to take to our small group that I can prep the night before and pop in the oven when I come home from work. There's never much time between the end of the work day and the time I need to leave for church, and I've found another recipe that seems it will do the trick. Here it is:

Baked Asian Style Honey Chicken (Courtesy of allrecipes.com user marbalet)
Ingredients:
1 3 lb whole chicken (though I used a large bag of boneless skinless chicken breast and tripled the marinade recipe)
3 Tablespoons chopped onion
2 tablespoons low sodium soy sauce
1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger root
1 teaspoon minced garlic
2 tablespoons honey
1/4 cup chopped green onion

Directions:
To Marinate: Arrange chicken pieces in a 9x3 inch baking dish. In a small bowl combine the onion, soy sauce, ginger, garlic and honey; mix together and spoon mixture over chicken. Cover dish and refrigerate to marinate for 1 hour, turning pieces once.

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F

Bake chicken at 425 degrees F for 30 minutes. Turn pieces over and top with green onion, then continue baking for about 10 to 15 minutes, or until chicken is tender and cooked through and juices run clear. Serve immediately.

I'm making this tonight, so I'll post a review on how it turned out. The marinade smelled SO good when I turned the chicken this morning. (I decided to marinate overnight). Hopefully it will be as delicious as the reviews say!

Thanks for reading!

Craaaaazy week...and hopefully less crazy weekend

2011-04-15T22:59:00.000-05:00

As the title suggests, this week has been absolutely nutso! Long, meeting-filled days at work coupled with feeling a little under the weather today and yesterday, and I am wiped out. Q and I decided to have a low key night at home tonight and ordered sushi takeout and rented The Fighter on PPV. I actually enjoyed the movie. Not the best I've ever seen, but it kept my attention and was pretty good.

Saturday night we have plans to see Avenue Q at Shryock Auditorium. So excited to have a fun night doing something different for a change. We're going with our friends Drew and Mary Beth, so I know it will be a fun time.

Sunday we are going to see the Ringling Brothers circus. Sounds silly, probably, but I have a strange love for the circus and I'm super excited.

Three cheers for being the PR person at work and getting free tickets to both of the things we're going to this weekend. Yay!

I hope you have some fun things planned this weekend too!

Thanks for reading.

Quick Dinner for One

2011-04-13T17:23:00.000-05:00

I am always looking for quick (and I mean quick!) and well balanced dinners to make for myself on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday evenings. I take group exercise classes at my local gym on those days, and when I get home at 6:30 I am practically starving. If I'm not careful, I'll let myself get really hungry and eat some things that are not so good for me. I have a staple meal that I eat almost every Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. I'm sure I'll get sick of it soon, but for now, it's the best quick dinner for one I have found! Here it is:

Spicy Baked Tilapia and Baked Potato
Heat oven to 375
Tilapia (I buy the frozen kind and let it thaw in hot water for about 10 minutes as I'm taking a quick shower)
Once tilapia is thawed, place in a nonstick pan and lightly spritz with imitation butter spray
Sprinkle Caribbean Jerk seasoning on top and pop in the oven for about 10-12 minutes
As the tilapia is baking, this is the perfect time to microwave your baked potato

Viola! I really love the Caribbean jerk flavor, but you can basically choose any seasoning you like to switch it up a bit.

What's your quick, go-to meal when you're short on time and super hungry? I'm always looking for ideas!

Thanks for reading!

5k Time!

2011-04-12T21:25:00.000-05:00

It's getting warmer outside, and for me that means it's 5k time! Usually from about late August-March or April I do a LOT of long distance running. I typically do about 3 half marathons each fall/winter. Needless to say, after my last half marathon is over in the spring, I am totally and completely burned out on long distance running. Don't get me wrong, the long distance bug bites again as soon as the weather starts to cool, but I genuinely enjoy my "summer vacation" from long distance running. I usually spend my summers doing as many 5k runs as I can fit into my schedule. They're just so much more low key and less pressure. Not that I'm going to win a 5k any time soon, but I can run 3.14 miles on just about any given day. Not the case with a half marathon. Also, I don't generally need to travel more than 30 minutes or so for a 5k, and usually a half marathon is several hours away and requires overnight travel.

I started my summer 5k obsession last summer and found that it really improved my speed for the following half marathon season. I have already been checking out the local running club calendar and I have my eye on several upcoming runs. I may do my first one just a few days after we return from Jamaica.

Let the fun begin!

Monday Already?

2011-04-11T21:37:00.000-05:00

I really can't believe it's Monday already. I had one of the nicest weekends I've had in a long time. Nothing spectacular really, just a nice relaxing weekend. Friday was super boring. But, it was SO nice not to have any plans or do anything at all. Saturday afternoon I went on a long walk with my friend Heather. We definitely hit up the Tropical Sno stand as soon as our walk was over. Yum!

Saturday night, Quentin and I went to one of our favorite local Tex-Mex restaurants for dinner and went to see The Lincoln Lawyer. I knew absolutely nothing about the premise of the movie, just knew it was starring Matthew McConaughey and I've been seeing all kinds of good things about it on Twitter and Facebook. It was definitely a really great movie! We loved it! We were debating between The Lincoln Lawyer and Arthur, so I think we'll see Arthur another time.

Sunday morning I got up and went for a nice run (to burn the calories I'd later consume in wine and appetizers) and then met one of my good friends for lunch. We hadn't hung out in quite a while and it was so nice catching up with her. I just love days like that. :) Sunday afternoon I hit up 3 wineries with 2 of my girlfriends from work. I have been waiting and waiting for winery weather, and it was peeeerfect on Sunday. (Well, minus the wind gusts that totally ratted up my hair, but anyway...)

Needless to say, Monday snuck up on me waaay to quickly. Sigh. At least Mondays mean Bethenny Ever After is on. And on that note, time to sign off for the evening.

Thanks for reading! :)

Grey's Anatomy...The Musical?

2011-04-04T20:14:00.000-05:00

I was catching up on my dvr last night, and as usual I was really excited to catch up on the latest Grey's Anatomy and Private Practice episodes. Let me just say, Grey's Anatomy was a total let down. If you missed it, you did not miss much. The previous episode ended with a big cliff-hanger, and the writers decided to follow that up with a musical episode. If you didn't see it, I cannot even begin to describe how stupid it was. I really wanted to see what was happening in this episode, but I could not get past all the singing. The whole cast just breaks out in song throughout the whole episode. It was bizzare, cheesy, and downright weird. The most awkward singing character- Owen. It was literally so stupid that my husband just laughed every time he walked into the room.

One of my friends said it best "If I had any interest in having my shows served up with song, I would watch Glee." Darn right.

Here's hoping that was a one time deal for one of my favorite shows. It was that bad.

Checking In

2011-04-03T23:01:00.000-05:00

I can't believe it's been 2 weeks since I blogged last! Eek! I had promised myself I was going to get better about that, but the time just slips away and I forget to sit down and update my little blog on a regular basis.

I am happy to share that I have lost a total of 5lbs since March 9th! I am right on track to lose 10lbs before Jamaica. I do know that the first 5lbs are typically easier to lose than the first 5, which is a little scary because those first 5 did not seem easy! I have really been working at this, because I know I'll just be so mad at myself if I don't reach my goal before vacation. I just do not want to be uncomfortable walking around the pool/beach in a swimsuit OR worry about what I look like in the dozens of pictures we'll surely take. I've been using livestrong.com/myplate to track my weight, my recommended calorie allowance, and my workouts. The thing I love most about this website, is that it gives you a really good picture of how much you should be eating each day, and if you want to eat more than that, then darn it you'll have to work out! It makes me value my running even more, as I've yet to find another exercise that I regularly do that burns so many calories in a short amount of time.

On another totally unrelated note, I recently purchased a spray tan machine, and I am SO glad I did! I was going to get a spray tan about once per week at a local salon, and it was costing me about $80 per month. Yikes! So, I made the investment of about $200 for a machine (although it is not the best machine on the market, it works great for at-home use) and $100 for a large bottle of solution that should last roughly 6 months. My poor, dear husband has been tasked with spray-tanning me. What a sport! haha He has actually gotten really good at it, although I think he pretty much hates dragging out the machine, spraying, and cleaning everything up once a week. It is so so convenient to get a spray tan any time I feel like it, in my own home right before bed. Voila- I wake up with a tan! I highly recommend it.

On one more unrelated note- my gorgeous little niece, Emberlie just had her 3 month photos taken and the photographer just posted them on his website for us to see. Isn't she the sweetest thing ever? Yeah, I think so too.

Photo Courtesy of David Michael Webb Photography

I hope you have had a fabulous weekend! Thanks for reading!

Weekend in Review

2011-03-21T12:52:00.000-05:00

I managed to stay quite busy this weekend! I was the race director for a 5k charity run/walk at work and wow was it a lot of work! Thank goodness for my wonderful co-workers who really helped pick up the slack when I started to lose my mind by about Thursday of last week. Naturally, I stayed up way too late on Friday night and barely slept worrying about all the things I might have forgotten or screwed up for Saturday. Saturday morning came so early. Up at 5:00 a.m. and at work by 6:30 to begin setup. Yikes! It was such a beautiful day for the 5k, the weather was perfect, thank goodness. Thankfully the massage therapist that was there for the runners could sense my anxiety and offered to give me the best 5 minute "mini massage" of my life. haha As soon as I made it home I completely crashed for a good portion of the afternoon.

Saturday night, Quentin and I managed to make it outside of the house to have some Thai food with friends. Yum!

Sunday was another extremely beautiful day in southern Illinois. I made it to campus lake and took a nice little 4.4 mile walk/jog around with my friend Heather.

In other exciting news, Quentin and I are "unofficially" house hunting. Really, we have just started casually looking at local real estate and seeing what's out there on the market. We have found a couple of homes that we are interested in. How exciting! Our next step will be meeting with a bank to discuss financing options so we can make the move from casually browsing to serious house hunting. My only reservation is that purchasing a house feels just so permanent to me. It would really be making a commitment to live in this area for at least the next several years probably, and I'm not 100% sold on that yet. However, I realize that continuing to rent is really not a good investment for us, and if we're going to be in the area for a while, we ought to start putting our money toward something that benefits us and not our landlord.

I hope you had a wonderful weekend as well. The sun is shining again today in southern Illinois. Yay!

Thanks for reading. :)

Healthy Snacking

2011-03-14T19:00:00.000-05:00

I have recently started tracking my calories and workouts using The Daily Plate online. I am really really trying to lose 10-15 lbs before our vacation in May, and I've been having a hard time doing so until I started really tracking what I put in my mouth every day vs. what I burn from working out. I've actually used this tool before and it has worked really well for me in the past. You enter your height, weight, age, weight loss goals, and your activity levels and it gives you the amount of calories you should be consuming each day. It's a great way to hold myself accountable for what I eat every day. Since I started tracking this past Wednesday, I have already lost 2.5 lbs. Yay!

Since I have been tracking my calories, I've been looking for some healthy snack options that are actually a little more filling than the ones I've snacked on in the past. One of my favorite new snacks are black bean brownies, thanks to my friend Mary Beth who introduced me to them! I know, black beans and brownies just do not seem to go together, but trust me, there is no black bean taste in these yummy brownies. All you have to do is purchase a box of brownie mix from the supermarket and replace the other ingredients (the eggs and oil) with a can of black beans. Rinse and puree the black beans and mix with the brownie mix and bake as instructed on the box. Admittedly, you can probably tell a little bit of difference between your regularly prepared brownies and these, but at only about 105 calories per brownie, I'll take it! They are really quite good. I tested them out on my husband and brother, and they both approved.

Another healthy snack I really love is Emerald brand breakfast blend trail mix. Sooo yummy, and only 120 calories. It makes a great post-breakfast-pre-lunch snack.

I have also been snacking on Melba toast and laughing cow cheese wedges. These little snacks are only about 60 calories for 4 Melba toasts and 30 calories per laughing cow cheese wedge. You can't beat that!

My favorite "in front of the tv" snack is Orville Redenbacher 100 calorie popcorn bags. You get a pretty good sized portion of popcorn for just 100 calories.

What are some of your favorite healthy snacks? I am always looking for suggestions!

Thanks for reading. :)

5 Years Ago

2011-03-13T11:50:00.000-05:00

5 years ago on Friday I married my hubby. I can't believe we have been married for 5 years! We are really celebrating the 5 year mark by taking a trip to Jamaica in May, but of course we celebrated on Friday as well. Friday morning we exchanged gifts. I bought Quentin the new True Religion cologne, Drifter. It smells SO good- he loved it. Quentin's gift to me was probably the sweetest gift I've ever gotten. He bought a bound book with blank pages in it, and drew "The Story of Us" on each page. The cover of it said "The Story of Austin and Quentin" and each page went through all of the major moments in our lives together. The first page started with the day we met, went on to our first date, my trip to Europe in our early days of dating, our engagement, etc. He drew it all out with little stick people and narration at the tops of the pages. On the last page he wrote me a really sweet letter. I was so touched I literally cried. I am so happy he took the time to do that for me, I have already read it like 5 times. I can just imagine looking back on it over the years.

Friday afternoon, after I got off of work, Quentin had arranged for us to get a couples massage. It was SO nice. I am a big big fan of massages, and I had been looking forward to it all day long. We came home and got ready and went to dinner at one of my favorite restaurants, The Newell House. It was a really nice night together. Thankfully, Quentin took the whole weekend off of work, so we have been able to spend a lot of time together this weekend.

I am so thankful for my husband and our marriage. These past 5 years have gone by SO quickly. I still love him more every year.

Thanks for reading!

Babysitting

2011-03-13T11:35:00.000-05:00

Last weekend, Quentin and I got to babysit our sweet little niece, Emberlie. She was such a little sweetie, and barely cried the whole time. We had so much fun, and uncle Quentin is totally smitten with her. She is just over 3 months old now, and Quentin held her for the first time last weekend. He was nervous to hold her before when she was really tiny, but of course as soon as he held her and gave her a bottle he was just in love.

Miss Emberlie had her 3 month pictures taken yesterday in her pretty new Easter dresses. I can't wait to see them and share them!

Thanks for reading :)

Weekend Fun

2011-02-27T12:39:00.000-06:00

It has been a fun, busy weekend! Natalie, my best friend since high school is making a big move almost 5 hours away this weekend to start her new job. I'm super excited for her and also a little sad that she won't be so close by anymore. Luckily, she is moving to a place with great shopping and lots of fun things to do, and even better, she has a spare bedroom for visits from friends. Friday after work I went to dinner with she and her mom. We started at Tom's Place with appetizers and drinks, and then went to The Newell House for dinner. My dinner was a-ma-zing and it was a lot of fun hanging out with my bestie and her mom.

Saturday my hubby and I were off work together so we took advantage of the opportunity to sleep in and snuggle for a little while. Saturday was my rest day from the gym, so when he took off for a short workout, I lunched with Natalie and her mom again at my faaaavorite local Thai restaurant. Mmm! Saturday afternoon, Quentin and I did a little bit of shopping at Target. I really wanted to pick up a swimsuit cover (Target has the BEST swimsuit covers!) before they got picked over, and a cute pair of sandals I could wear on our upcoming vacation in May. I also picked up a really cute, preppy spring top. I love it, and peach is one of my fave spring colors.

I found the perfect pair of sandals too, but they didn't have them in stock in my size, so I had to order them online.I'm a big fan of silver sandals because it seems like they go with nearly everything.

Saturday night I had to introduce Kenny Rogers at a concert because the company I work for was one of the sponsors. Random, right? I felt kind of bad not taking advantage of the free tickets I received, but surely no one expected a 25 year old to be a big Kenny fan, right? So I said my 45 second bit and Quentin and I headed to Lone Star for dinner and then to the movies to see Just Go with It with a couple of our friends. Overall, the movie was entertaining, but nothing exceptional. It was really funny about half of the time, and really stupid the other half of the time. I didn't hate it, but I didn't love it. It was fun seeing all of the fabulous clothes and shoes Jennifer Aniston wore throughout the movie.

Today has been a pretty lazy day for me so far, but at some point I need to turn my lazy Sunday around and do a 6 mile run.

I hope you all had a fantastic weekend and are rested and rejuvenated for the week ahead!

Thanks for reading!

Satisfaction

2011-02-23T19:59:00.000-06:00

I was just thinking today while I was at work about how lucky I am to a) have a job and b) have a job that I actually like. When I decided to major in advertising going into my junior year of college, it was honestly just a wild guess at something I thought I might like. I had taken no previous advertising or marketing classes before I chose my major. Two years later I found myself applying to graduate school to MBA programs and decided to concentrate in marketing. I won't go into the differences between advertising and marketing, because those of you who aren't in the field frankly won't care. Anyway...

I started working as an intern at my current place of employment during graduate school. I wasn't working in the marketing department at the time, and I honestly wondered if I would ever find a job (in this wretched economy) where I could put to use all the things I had studied in school. Somehow, things fell together and I am now very happily the director of marketing for my company. I am still young and relatively inexperienced, but how amazing that I get to start working in my field of study as a very recent college graduate and learn something new about my field nearly every day.

Some of my goals for my professional future include continuing education through marketing workshops, seminars, and conferences. I live in a small town in southern Illinois, so many of these learning experiences would require me to travel to a city, but I hope to be able to do a lot of that over the next couple of years.

It's a fun and exciting life being a young professional. I totally don't get it when people wish themselves back to their college years. I'm loving it!

Thanks for reading. :)

Happy Valentine's Day!

2011-02-16T21:05:00.000-06:00

Quentin and I never make a big fuss over Valentine's Day. Mainly because it is during a time with so many other things going on. We have Christmas in December, my birthday in January, Valentine's Day in February, and then our anniversary in March. Lots of things to celebrate! This year Quentin personally delivered red roses to me at work. It was such a sweet touch and so nice to see him since he had to work late on Valentine's Day evening. For him, I made his favorite lasagna recipe and bought him a small red velvet cake. Thank goodness I despise
red velvet cake, so I wasn't tempted to indulge. We ended up having a really lovely Valentine's evening together when Quentin came home to his surprise dinner and dessert. It's nice spending the evening at home alone rather than out in the crowds of people.

Between all the Valentine's chocolates and candies at the office I'm going to be back at square one after I lost 3 pounds from being sick! As the marketing director, during the holidays a lot of our advertising reps send candy and goodies to me. Which is nice and tasty, but bad for the waistline. This girl has a bathing suit to get into in Jamaica May 4th! So, I indulged in my chocolates and candies for two days, and have banished them from my office from now on.

I hope you all had a lovely Valentine's Day as well!

Thanks for reading :)

Vacation!!!

2011-02-09T19:39:00.000-06:00

First of all, I cannot believe it has almost been a month since I last blogged! Yikes. I don't usually go that long without blogging. Maybe I haven't done anything interesting lately, or maybe I've just been slacking. Anyway, I'm back with some super exciting news! Quentin and I are going to Jamaica for vacation in May!!! We are SO SO excited! We're staying at a Sandals resort, and I feel great about it. I've gotten so much positive feedback from people who have stayed in Sandals Jamaican resorts, I know it's going to be wonderful.

We haven't ever gone on a big vacation like this together. In fact, Quentin has never even been on an airplane! We usually drive to Florida every year for vacation, and we even went on our honeymoon in Florida. This year we're celebrating our 5th wedding anniversary, and I think it's about time we take a proper belated honeymoon.

Next on my agenda is losing 15lbs. by May. Ugh. Not so fun. But- having our vacation booked gives me a date to reach my goal, and I think I can do it. Every time I want to eat something bad for me I'll have to make myself think about being in a bathing suit in Jamaica. haha

Thanks for reading!

Happy Birthday to Me!

2011-01-19T21:46:00.000-06:00

My coworkers surprised me at work today with my all time favorite cake- strawberry with white icing. Yummy! They called me over to another office for a "conference call" and when I walked in, they had a birthday cake with candles on the table and were singing happy birthday. How sweet. :)

My birthday is actually this coming Sunday, and for the first time, I haven't organized any kind of get together with a big group of people. I really just wanted to have a low key birthday weekend this year. Friday night, Quentin and I are going out to dinner with some newer friends of ours, Drew and Mary Beth. They belong to our church small group, and I am really looking forward to having another couple to hang out with. Mary Beth and I have a lot in common, and I think Drew and Quentin will get along really well too.

Saturday, I am having lunch with my momma (and possibly my brother and sis-in-law if they are able to come down). I'm looking forward to having some mom-daughter time. Maybe we'll go shopping or something too. I have $40 in Kohl's cash to burn! haha

Sunday, my actual birthday, Quentin and I will be off work together and I'm not even sure what we're doing yet. It feels kind of great not to have my whole weekend booked up with things to do. Sometimes it's nice not to have plans.

Happy birthday to me!

A New Year

2011-01-15T08:18:00.000-06:00

The new year has brought some exciting changes to the McCree family. On January 1st I received a promotion and a pretty nice raise at my job. Praise God! As soon as I begin to worry about my financial situation (i.e. how will I pay my student loans and still have money to eat?!) God shows me that he is always taking care of me and that I am silly to worry. Quentin also has an interview coming up on Tuesday for a really great job that would be a big blessing to our family. Fingers crossed!

Sickly

2011-01-08T18:08:00.000-06:00

I have been one sickly girl since late Wednesday night. Let me just say, I am SO over it. It seems to be a severe cold. I'm exhausted, achy, sometimes dizzy (maybe from the cold meds), congested, and just all around yucky feeling. I went to work, against my better judgment, on Thursday feeling pretty crappy, but Friday I just couldn't do it. I stayed in my pajamas all day long eating chicken noodle soup, oranges, drinking water, and taking plenty of cold medicine. I was really hoping to nurse myself back to health by this morning so I could run in the 5k I had on my agenda. No such luck. I was really looking forward to running this 5k with my regular running partner before we run our half marathon together in February. Better to be sick and miss this one than to be sick for the half, I suppose.

I would really like to get myself out of the house tonight and go eat dinner somewhere with my hubby, but I am SO tired. Not to mention I have been blowing my nose non stop for the past 3 days, so I look a little like Rudolph right now. Not cute. Perhaps we'll venture out somewhere casual just so I can get out and about for a short while. Hopefully I'll be on the mend soon!

Besides complaining about being sick, I wanted to share one of my new favorite healthy snacks with everyone. Kale chips. If you have an addiction to crunchy & salty snacks like I do, these are a nice healthy alternative with a little bit of a veggie taste. All you have to do is buy a bag of kale, dry it out (pat dry with a paper towel), toss it with 1 tbsp olive oil, spread out on baking sheet, sprinkle with sea salt, toss in the oven on 300 for 20 minutes, and serve warm. Delish!

Thanks for reading!

Happy New Year!

2011-01-03T11:56:00.000-06:00

Quentin and I rang in the new year in style this year. We usually never do much for New Year's Eve, other than hang out with some friends, spend a quiet night at dinner and a movie or something of that nature. This year, I happen to work at an establishment that puts on a very nice New Year's Eve party inside of our restaurant every year. Everyone was dressed up in their formal attire and enjoyed a live band, a huge assortment of appetizers and desserts, and even a fireworks display at midnight. We had so much fun. It's not often we get a chance to get dressed up and spend an evening out in Southern Illinois. Here are some pictures from our night.

They had a neat photo op area as soon as we walked in the door. What a nice touch. :)

I'm not one to make New Year's resolutions. For whatever reason, I tend to set goals for myself throughout the year, not necessarily on New Year's Day. Maybe because everyone else does it. haha What about you? Did you set any New Year's resolutions for yourself?

I hope you all had a fantastic New Year's! Thanks for reading.

Merry Christmas!

2010-12-26T21:53:00.000-06:00

Quentin and I had a busy busy busy Christmas this weekend! We stayed up late on Christmas Eve decorating Christmas cookies (our annual tradition) to take to each of our family's Christmas the next day. We woke up on Christmas morning and exchanged our gifts together, just the two of us in our living room. It's important for us to spend the holidays with both sides of our family, but we want to have our own traditions together too, so we never rush through our Christmas morning together. Quentin got me all kinds of thoughtful little gifts, like having all of my race medals engraved on the back with my finishing times. You could really see a theme in my gifts, running. Haha He also got me a medal hanger to put on the wall in our office/spare room to display my medals. My stocking was stuffed with Clif Bloks (chews that I use during long runs), Nike running socks, and a small sticker for my car window that says 13.1 (half marathon distance).

Later in the morning we went to my in-laws and enjoyed seeing our two nieces, Eden & Lilly open their gifts and play all morning.

We spent Christmas with my parents in the afternoon/evening and had a house full of kids! We exchanged gifts with my family and had such a fun time. I also got time to finish the baby blanket for my newest niece, Emberlie, with my mom and dad's new embroidery machine. It turned out so well. I love it!

By the time we got home, I was so sleepy I could barely hold my head up. We woke up this morning and followed my parents to Belleville to have Christmas with my brother, sister-in-law, and little Emberlie. It was so fun to see her again, I just couldn't get enough of her and I have lots of pictures to show for it. :) I could just snuggle that little girl all day.

Isn't she the sweetest thing? :)

We are finally home from our Christmas weekend extravaganza and I am not even going to begin thinking about cleaning up the mess until tomorrow. Tonight, I must sleep!

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and got to spend it with those you love the most.

Thanks for reading. :)

Snow!

2010-12-17T12:44:00.000-06:00

We got our first snow of the season on Sunday, and it was glorious! I love waking up to all that white snow covering the ground. Here are some photos from our front porch.

The only thing I DON'T like about the snow, is when it comes with ice, which means it's not safe for me to run outside. I am stuck on the dreadmill until the ice goes away. Boo.

My hubby and I always enjoy going around to the local communities that have Christmas light displays each year. This weekend we drove through Candy Cane Lane in West Frankfort. Candy Cane Lane is a couple of small blocks in West Frankfort where most of the houses along the route decorate their homes with lights and yard decorations GALORE. It's almost too much to take in, I see something new every time I drive through. There's a "grand finale" house at the end that decorates every single inch of their yard, house, inside their garage, and even in their house, which you can see from the front window. It's amazing if you love Christmas lights.
On Saturday night we ventured out to DuQuoin's Christmas light display at their fairgrounds. Unfortunately I did not get a lot of photos from this one, but here is one of their giant Christmas tree! They have a cute little Christmas craft fair at the end inside as well.

Merry Christmas & thanks for reading!

Introducing: Emberlie Kaityn Goins

2010-12-05T17:44:00.000-06:00

My new niece (daughter of my brother, Cody and sis-in-law, Stephanie) was born this past Friday at 4:06 p.m. It was a wild ride from Wednesday to Friday to bring this little girl into the world! She was scheduled to be delivered via c-section on Wednesday morning at 9 a.m. after an amnio test to ensure her lungs were mature enough for her to be born. Well, the amnio was done at 7am Wednesday morning and the immediate (also less accurate) results determined she was not quite ready. My parents and Steph's parents were already at the hospital getting ready to welcome baby, and I was scheduled to leave work at noon that day to come meet her. We were all a bit disappointed, but very willing to wait until she was ready so she'd be healthy. The doctor informed us that they had more detailed test results from the amnio coming the next day, and that once those results came in we would know whether she'd be born THIS Friday (2 days after initially scheduled c-section) or the following Friday. Steph and Cody never heard anything all day from the Dr., so we assumed it would be next Friday. Well, early Friday morning, while everyone, including Cody & Steph, was back at work, the Dr. called and said to get Steph to the hospital at noon and that baby Emberlie was ready to make her entrance. My mom and dad whizzed back to the hospital (a 2.5 hour drive from their home) and were able to be there in plenty of time before she was born at 4:06 on Friday. Quentin and I made it to the hospital shortly after she was born, and I was able to go see her and touch her while she was still in the baby nursery before she was taken to her room with Steph.

She is THE most beautiful precious little thing I have ever seen. She has a head full of black hair (like mommy), dark skin, and she's just itty bitty (5lbs 9oz, 18 in long). I am just smitten with her. I really don't think it's my auntie bias, even the nurses were going on about how pretty the baby in room 411 was. :) Here she is! I have LOTS of pics.

Just a few hours old, discovering her fingers

Just a few hours old in her new hair bow :)

Spending some auntie time with me. Love.

Little Em grasping my finger. So sweet.

Proud parents Steph & Cody

My brother and I and his sweet baby girl

So peaceful and so beautiful :)

Obviously I am just in love with this little girl. I can't wait to watch her grow (but not too fast!) and spoil her rotten. Love, love, love her.

Thanks for reading!

Austin's Favorite Things- Men's Stocking Stuffers

2010-12-02T11:35:00.000-06:00

Stocking stuffers are some of my favorite things to buy for my hubby during the Christmas season. It's so fun finding little items to put in his stocking for Christmas morning. Here are some of my past and present favorites.

DVDs. These are the perfect size and price range for stocking stuffers. Whether they are television seasons or a great movie, you can't go wrong here.

Gift cards from his favorite stores. One fun idea is to get several gift cards in smaller denominations (enough to cover lunch) to several different eateries he might like to swing by on his lunch break. I'm also a fan of iTunes gift cards as stocking stuffers, who wouldn't want some new tunes for Christmas?

A nice pair of boxer shorts (or whatever kind of underpants your significant other likes to wear). I'm not talking Hanes here. Go out to your favorite department store and find a nice good quality pair!

His favorite candy. My hubby is a big fan of Dove chocolates. He is never disappointed to find those in his stocking.

I'm struggling to come up with some new stocking stuffer ideas for my hubby this year. What are some of your favorites?

Thanks for reading!

Austin's Favorite Things- Women's Stocking Stuffers

2010-11-30T11:05:00.001-06:00

After watching Oprah's Favorite Things episode last week, I decided it would be fun to put a list of some of MY favorite things that I would like to give (or receive) for Christmas this year. I'll start with stocking stuffers for women.

I am OBSESSED with the new Sally Hansen Salon Manicure line. I love the flat brush and feel like the coverage turns out nice and thick like salon manicures. My favorite color is Commander in Chic. At just around $6, it makes the perfect stocking stuffer.

Victoria's Secret Beauty Rush lip glosses at about $7 each. My personal favorite is Juiced Berry. Any girl would be delighted to find one of these in her stocking!

myAgenda ( or for moms, momAgenda) planners. myAgenda features a really great week-at-a-view layout. It has spaces for appointments, plus four extra spaces per day for important areas of life such as work, family, social life, workouts, school, etc. The original version is about $36.

Ghirardelli Peppermint Bark Squares. The kid in me always expects some candy in my stocking. For the adults in your life, these make a wonderfully yummy stocking stuffer for about $8 each.

What are your favorite stockings stuffers? I'm having an awful time coming up with ideas for hubby's stocking. Help!

Thanks for reading! :)

Give Thanks with a Grateful Heart

2010-11-24T21:53:00.000-06:00

In the spirit of the upcoming holiday tomorrow, I thought I would write and reflect on all the things I have to be thankful for this year. Of course I could never count all my blessings, but these are some things that come to mind.

1. In the forefront of my mind is the niece I will be welcoming to the world in exactly one week. She is due to be born via c-section on Wednesday, December 1st, and I am absolutely, positively ECSTATIC! God is so good.

2. I am so thankful that my husband and I both have good jobs. Sure, we are often frustrated with them, sometimes feeling overworked and underpaid, but deep down I am so thankful that we both have jobs that provide us with stability. What a blessing that is in this economy.

3. That brings me to number three. I am so thankful for my wonderful husband. In March we will celebrate our 5 year wedding anniversary, and I love him more today than I did the day I married him. He is truly the most loving, sweet, and genuine person I've ever known. xo

4. I am thankful for my family. I could not have hand picked a better family. Sure we have our quirks, but I have been richly blessed with a loving family.

5. I am thankful for my friends, old and new. As I've gotten older, I have learned to cherish the real, true friends I have in my life. They've been there with me in the fun times and hard ones.

6. I'm thankful for my health. As you probably know, one of my biggest passions is running. I am so thankful that serious injuries or health issues have never kept me from my sport. I've been off for 6 days from my wisdom teeth surgery and I'm already going crazy. :)

I have so many things to be thankful for, but those were just a few things that came to mind tonight. I hope you all have a chance to sit down and reflect on the blessings in your life. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving.

Thanks for reading!

HGTV Inspiration

2010-11-24T12:55:00.000-06:00

My long stint on the couch (the past 5 to be exact) turned out to be a source of inspiration for some new home decor for our new little home. I watched a lot of HGTV during my recovery, and although I usually find myself thinking I could NEVER recreate anything I see on HGTV, I actually found some do-it-yourself wall art I think I'm going to try out! I've taken care of decorating our living room, kitchen, and hallway with items we had on the walls in our apartment, but we've nearly doubled the size of our living space and I have sad, bare walls in both bedrooms and bathrooms. I've been wanting to get some wall art to put up on the walls, but just didn't want to dish out hundreds of dollars to do so. Well, HGTV gave me a solution! I wish I could find a photo of the DIY wall art I saw on one particular episode, but Google returned thousands of results and I just couldn't find it. It seems so easy, and I can't wait to try it out! I'm going to start with creating some canvas wall art for our bedroom. We have beautiful bedding in chocolate brown, a golden tone, and an icy blue tone. The choclate brown is just around the trim, so I'm going to focus the wall art on that color to bring it out in the bedding. All I need are three blank canvases (have to decide on sizes), some painter's tape, and some chocolate brown paint. I'll make the (seemingly) simple design with the painters tape directly on the canvas, and paint over the whole thing with my chocolate brown paint. When the paint dries, I'll remove the tape, and voila! The design will show up where the painters tape was placed. I hope it is as easy as it looked. I just have to make sure I keep my tape lines very very straight!

My next project might be in the bathroom which most of our guests use, where I want to try out another canvas wall art idea. This one just involves a blank canvas, some fabric of my choice (picking the perfect fabric is the key!) and a staple gun. I can't wait to try these out and show you how it went!

Thanks for reading!

Worthless..er..Wisdom Teeth

2010-11-20T13:09:00.000-06:00

Will someone please tell me what the purpose is for wisdom teeth! Besides just some extra teeth that undoubtedly don't fit in our mouth, and will therefore require surgery and several days of discomfort following that surgery...I just had mine removed yesterday and let me tell you, there is no other way to describe it than this- it sucks. I am so thankful that I was only born with 3 total wisdom teeth, and the two on top were already in and only needed to be pulled, except for my one pesky little tooth on the bottom right which was UPSIDE DOWN! Yep, you read that right, upside down. Not sideways, although it probably started that way, it ended up completely upside down. So today the right side of my face looks like (and feels like) I've been beaten up. Luckily I didn't bruise, but I am quite swollen, stiff, and very uncomfortable.

My actual surgery went okay. I asked to be put under anesthesia because I simply did not want to be awake to hear or see anything, and I get very anxious, so I thought it wise just to be put under. Well, I have teeny tiny little veins in my arms and hands, and in the middle of my surgery, the IV came out of my hand and I woke up for a brief moment. It was pretty scary, and I had this awful feeling that I'd be awake for the rest of it, but unable to express to the doctors that I was awake. Luckily they heard me start to cry a little bit and realized the IV had come out and I was waking up. My surgeon did a great job of calming me down by telling me the IV had slipped out and not to worry, that he would not do anything else to me until he got me back to sleep. Whew! Darn veins!

Anyway, today I'm spending the day at home. I don't want to go out in public looking like a victim of abuse. haha Besides, I can barely open my mouth to talk. My parents are coming over to bring me some lunch today since Quentin had to go back to work. They might stay with me for a little while to keep me company. I'm looking forward to seeing them (and getting some pasta from Fazoli's).

I'm hoping for a speedy recovery and hoping the swelling will go down significantly by Monday so I can return to work on Tuesday as planned.

Thanks for reading! :)

Family Photos Sneak Peak

2010-11-18T15:29:00.000-06:00

We received a cd of our family photos in the mail yesterday and I'm so excited to be able to share them online now! Here is a sneak peak at our family photo session.

I LOVE them! I can't wait to get some of them in frames and I especially can't wait to get our big canvas print hung above our couch in the living room.

In other exciting news, my hubby hung our Christmas lights on our house last night and they look so great! We've officially kicked off the Christmas season at our house. Our tree and decorations are out of storage and ready to be put up this weekend!

Thanks for reading! :)

Family Photos

2010-11-16T13:10:00.000-06:00

We just got to view our photos from our family photo session last week. They turned out SO well. If you're looking for a family/wedding/engagement photographer, I would highly recommend David Michael Webb (go to thedavidmichael.com).

I'm really looking forward to having some updated professional photos of us. The last professional pictures we have of ourselves are from our wedding, almost FIVE years ago! I had a pretty difficult time deciding which ones I wanted to order to display in our house, and which ones to give to family members who asked for one, but I think I picked just the right combination of photos. I am most excited about the canvas we ordered, which will go above our couch in the living room. It is going to be SO pretty!

I can't wait to get the cd of our photos so I can share some on my blog, AND order my Christmas cards. Yay!

Thanks for reading. :)

Chicken Salsa Recipe

2010-11-10T11:35:00.000-06:00

I recently hosted a recipe swap party with some of my girlfriends, and as a result I have some yummy new recipes to share! One of my favorites was the chicken salsa my friend Miranda brought. I made some for dinner last night and realized I hadn't posted any recipes from the swap party yet! Here it is:

Ingredients:
One onion, chopped
One green bell pepper, chopped
One can of corn
One can of black beans
One package taco seasoning
2 small cans of chicken (or substitute with cooked chicken breast, shredded)
2 tablespoons of olive oil to sautee onion & pepper
One jar of Chi Chi salsa
Half can of Diet Coke/Diet Pepsi
A sprinkle of sugar
Multigrain Tostitos (or tortilla chips of your choice for dipping)

Optional: Add jalapeno peppers to taste

Preparation:
- Sautee onion and green pepper in olive oil in a large pot on stovetop
- Once onion and green pepper begin to soften, add half can of Diet Coke/Diet Pepsi, let simmer until most liquid is gone
- Sprinkle a little sugar over the top of the onions and peppers
- Add all other ingredients and stir together
- Serve warm with tortilla chips for dipping

This dish is filling enough to be served as an entree or a heavy appetizer. It's also quite healthy if you use olive oil to sautee vegetables, a diet cola, multigrain tortilla chips and just a sprinkling of sugar. All the other ingredients are chicken and veggies! It's a nice alternative to the massive amounts of calories you might consume eating out at a Mexican restaurant, and it's super easy to make! It's also great for leftovers, which I'll be having for lunch today.

If you like the idea of hosting a recipe swap party, here's what we did. Ask each attendee to bring a prepared dish with them (we did a sign up sheet to prevent ending up with all desserts, all sides, etc.). The idea is to have a good mix of appetizers, one or two entrees, side dishes and desserts. Each attendee should also bring enough copies of their recipe to swap with the other guests, so everyone leaves with a copy of each recipe that was served that night. I would also recommend having your guests bring take-home containers, as we did a lot of leftover sharing as well.

Thanks for reading!

Indianapolis Half Marathon

2010-11-07T23:42:00.000-06:00

I'm home and (mostly) rested from the long weekend in Indianapolis! The half marathon went GREAT! It was super cold- 27 degrees at the start at 36 when I finished, but I didn't mind once I got a few miles in. It was a very flat course and the volunteers and members of the community were really amazing and energetic, despite the cold weather. Some of my favorite signs along the course were:

Speed Limit: None
If Sarah Palin can run, so can you!
I'm so proud of you, Random Stranger!
It's all down hill from here (written in sidewalk chalk on the road while going up a hill)

Another highlight was running past a nursing home with several elderly ladies sitting by the window waving and smiling at the runners going by. It was so sweet it almost made me tear up!

On to my favorite part..I beat my goal time by a minute and set a personal record by 5 minutes! I finished in 2:39:07, which was a great time for me. I can't wait to run the next one with my running partner in January or February. It feels good to have run a really great race, especially after the disastrous run I had at the Go! St. Louis half back in the spring.

I'll post some photos soon when I get a chance to upload them off my camera.

Thanks for reading! :)

Half Marathon Eve

2010-11-05T18:23:00.000-05:00

I'm sitting here in my hotel room in Indianapolis anxiously awaiting tomorrow morning's half marathon. Typically we don't arrive to our hotel early enough for me to have time to sit around, but I'm so glad we left EARLY this time! A typical "marathon eve" would look like this for us:

5pm: Arrive to whatever city the race is in and check into hotel
6pm: Rush to packet pickup to get race number, check out the expo briefly, and scramble to find a place to eat some pasta
7:30pm: Arrive to said pasta restaurant and hope they serve us quickly so we can get back to the hotel
9:00pm: Arrive back at hotel, rush to set out my clothes and food for the morning, pin on race bib and timing chip
10:00 pm: Shower and try to go to sleep

My point is, usually we are so rushed to get me in bed at a decent hour so I'll be well rested. I do not do well when I am rushed. It stresses me out because I feel like I've forgotten something really important in the shuffle and I end up lying awake half the night worrying what I've forgotten.

THIS time, we arrived in Indianapolis at 3:30 p.m. We had plenty of time to check in to the hotel, settle in with our stuff, and walk down to TGIFriday's for a small, and very late lunch. After Friday's we walked a block to the expo center to get my race packet, and even had time to leisurely browse through the expo. We also scouted out the starting line for tomorrow so I'll know exactly where I'm headed. The good news is, it is within walking distance (about 1.5 blocks). The bad news, it is FREEZING here! I will DEFINITELY be wearing my long sleeve running top, my Under Armour tights, ear warmers, and probably even gloves. About the time I'm scheduled to finish it will only be up to about 39 degrees. YIKES! Thank goodness my hotel has a Starbucks. :)

Hopefully I'll have a nice recap tomorrow evening or Sunday to post! I'm hoping to set a PR (personal record) this time, as I'm not running on an injury and my training has been going really well. Here's hoping!

Thanks for reading!

Halloween Weekend

2010-11-02T15:53:00.000-05:00

Halloween weekend was tons of fun for the McCree household. Poor Quentin missed the trick or treaters in our neighborhood on Friday night because he had to work late. But- I had a blast handing out candy to all the little kiddos in their costumes. By my estimation, I think I had about 80 kids come by!

Saturday night we went to a Halloween party at my friend Natalie's house. My costume this year was my favorite one to date. I always have trouble committing to a costume, but this one was SO me. I was Sookie Stackhouse from HBO's True Blood. Just to give you a point of reference in case you don't watch the show, here is the real Sookie, and one of me. I think I did a pretty good job.

The costume was pretty inexpensive to make. I already owned a pair of black shorts, black tennis shoes, and a white tee shirt. All I had to do was order a green waitress apron from eBay ($4), iron on the Merlotte's logo to the apron and the tee shirt, put some fake vampire bites and blood on my neck ($3) and viola!

Quentin's costume was absolutely hilariuos. He dressed up as our friend, Rick, who is also our small group leader at church. We got the idea while shopping around at a Halloween store when we saw a beard that looked just like Rick's, and it took off from there. The great part was, Rick had no idea Quentin was dressing up like him, so we showed up on his doorstep Saturday night in full costume. The look on Rick and his wife's faces were priceless. Rick even answered the door in his red flannel shirt, baseball cap, and glasses. haha Here's a photo of the "Real Rick" and one of Quentin dressed as him. Pretty good, huh?

Sunday night we hung out with our nieces on Quentin's side of the family. They were dressed as Strawberry Shortcake and Alice in Wonderland. They were absolutely adorable. It was so cute watching them hand out candy to the trick or treaters at their house after they returned from trick or treating through their neighborhood.

I hope you all had a wonderful Halloween! Thanks for reading!

Wisdom Teeth Woes

2010-10-25T15:51:00.006-05:00

We kicked our weekend off with a trip to the oral surgeon for Quentin to have his wisdom teeth removed. (Something I have still not scheduled for myself, but need to in the very near future). I took the day off on Friday to drive him to and from his appointment, and I'm glad I took the whole day off. Poor thing was on so many meds he was barely awake all day and couldn't remember what medicine to take at what times and when to ice his face to reduce the swelling for the next day. I felt so bad for him. Saturday he slept for a very long time, and finally woke up at about 2pm. My hubby is not one to sleep past about 8 a.m. (if I'm lucky) on a Saturday, so I knew he must really be out of it. He is still feeling pretty sore and isn't eating many solid foods yet. I am kind of wishing I had gotten mine done first, because I just made my appointment today (scheduled for Nov. 19th- Eeek!) and now I'm super nervous. At least I only have 3 wisdom teeth, I suppose. But it is still going to suck.

I think the thing I'm most worried about is taking a few days off from running. haha

Thanks for reading!

Christmas Cards

2010-10-22T18:08:00.000-05:00

It's getting close to the time of year when I start thinking about what Christmas cards we'll send out this year. Call me old fashioned, but the holiday season just wouldn't be the same without sending out our family Christmas cards and looking forward to recieving cards from our friends and family in the mail. Quentin and I are having some photos taken of the two of us in two weeks and I can't wait to choose one for our Christmas card! We don't usually have professional photos taken, but our 5 year wedding anniversary is coming up (wow!) and I realized the only really nice photos we have of ourselves are in wedding attire, not to mention, I was about 30 lbs heavier, so I'm not a huge fan of them. I'm so excited to have some nice updated family pictures taken by a professional.

Back to the Christmas cards. I absolutely loved our cards last year. The photo was taken at my friend Courtney's wedding, at which I was a bridesmaid. It just turned into the cutest card photo with a little cropping.

We ordered these from Vistaprint.com. I don't have a huge budget for Christmas cards, and I felt like these were of great quality for the price. Vistaprint.com has a ton of designs to choose from, from modern to traditional, and you can change the wording to say whatever you would like. Here are a few I'm considering for this year, depending on what photo we choose.

What are your thoughts on family Christmas cards? Old fashioned or beloved tradition?

Thanks for reading! :)

10k Fun

2010-10-20T15:58:00.001-05:00

This past weekend I had a blast at my 10k Halloween run. It was such a fun atmosphere, with many of the runners dressed in elaborate costumes. My goal for the 10k was just to get a shorter, more relaxed race in before my half marathon coming up Nov. 6th. It couldn't have been a more perfect warm up for my next race. I didn't dress up, because I didn't have my costume completed in time, but there were plenty of funny costumed runners, like these characters.

In addition to a really fun race, I did my fastest 6 mile time to date (the total distance is actually 6.2 miles, and was even faster than my fastest 6.0 mile time). So that was a great bonus! I think I paced myself really well and didn't take off too fast toward the beginning, which is a problem for me sometimes. At the finish line, we received these super fun medals themed for Halloween. By far my favorite medal. :)

I am so thankful that Quentin supports my running hobby and is willing to follow me all over the midwest for races. I know it can't be fun waiting for hours for me to arrive at the finish line. But he is always so encouraging and so proud of me each and every time. Believe it or not, he actually ran my first half marathon with me (with very little training, little stinker!) but I believe that was a one time only accomplishment for him. :) Here we are after our very first race, The Louisville City of Parks Half Marathon in 2008.

It's hard to believe I'm going into my SIXTH half marathon. I never thought I would see the day. What can I say? I'm addicted.

Thanks for reading! :)

TGIF!

2010-10-15T16:29:00.000-05:00

I am SO excited that Friday is here. Quentin and I have a fun weekend ahead and I can't wait to get it started. Tonight we'll be hanging with my lovely friend Natalie for her birthday festivities at her house. We always have tons of fun with Natalie and her other half, Noah. Isn't it great to have good couple friends to hang out with? Quentin and Noah get along so well and Natalie and I have been friends since high school (also, former roommates and she was my maid of honor in my wedding!).

Quentin has the whole weekend off because I'm running a 10k this weekend in St. Louis. Saturday I'm hoping we'll get to sleep in a little and head to the city in the early afternoon. My brother and sister-in-law live just outside of St. Louis, so we're looking forward to hanging out with them on Saturday or Sunday, or both. Saturday we plan to roam around St. Louis, definitely hit up a sushi restaurant, and pick up my packet for the race.

The 10k is Sunday morning at 8:00, and the weather should be perfect for a nice semi-long run. We're hoping I can get finished with the race and back to the hotel in time to take a quick shower and make the 11:00 service at the St. Louis branch of our church.

It will be fun to have a nice weekend away together with a little race in between. The "big race" is coming up on November 6th- the Indianapolis Monumental Half Marathon. I can't believe it will be my SIXTH half and I am still nervous about it. Training has been going exceptionally well though, so I'm confident I'll kick butt on the big day.

Have a lovely weekend! Thanks for reading.

Zucchini "Crab" Cakes

2010-10-14T12:29:00.002-05:00

I found this amazing recipe for Zucchini "Crab" Cakes (no actual crab is used, but they taste like crab cakes) here. I have made them twice so far, and they have been delicious both times. I will say, they didn't stay together as cakes very well, and were a little crumbly, but they were so good we ate them with a fork and didn't mind a bit.

Prep Time: About 15 minutes
Cook Time: About 15 minutes
Ingredients:

¼ cup chopped onion

2 medium zucchini squash, grated

1 tablespoon Old Bay seasoning

2 tablespoons melted Smart Balance butter

1 cup dry bread crumbs

1 egg, beaten

½ cup olive oil for frying

Flour to coat cakes in

Directions

1.In a large bowl, combine zucchini*, egg, and butter. Stir in crumbs, minced onion, and seasoning. Mix well.

2.Shape mixture into patties. Dredge in flour.

3.In a medium skillet, heat oil over medium high heat until hot. Fry patties in oil until golden brown on both sides.

*Note: I found it helped to dry out the zucchini before making the patties. Just grate your zucchini, spread out the grated pieces on top of paper towels, cover with more paper towels and place a heavy object (I used a weight plate, but a heavy book or two would work) on top of the paper towels. This dries out the zucchini and helps keep the patties together better.

Enjoy! Thanks for reading.

Birthday Fun and Other Things

2010-10-12T13:38:00.000-05:00

This past weekend was Quentin's birthday and we had so much fun celebrating! We both had the day off on Friday, his actual birthday, and it was nice to spend the day together. Friday morning I did my 11 mile long run. We went to Thai-D, our favorite Thai restaurant in the area for lunch. I am always pretty hungry all day after I do a long run of that length, so I definitely put away some pad thai. haha We went to dinner at Bennie's, a local Italian restaurant in my husband's hometown. After that, I had put together a small surprise party at the bowling alley for him. He loves to bowl and had mentioned wanting to bowl on his birthday, so I arranged for a group of friends to get there before us with a birthday cake. When we got there I told him "Hey, I think we know some people here." He replied, "Oh weird, what's Tim doing here?" He inititally didn't notice the rest of the group, but when he did he said- "Oh, this is for me!" haha It was fun pulling off the surprise and he had a great time.

Saturday was a long day for the two of us. As the marketing director for the company I work at, I am in charge of working the SIU tailgating events. Because we're a major sponsor we have a big tailgating tent with lots of free food and drinks and we stay quite busy! It was an early morning, and it was homecoming, so we were extra busy. I was SO worn out by the time I got home I just wanted to lie down and take a big nap. I resisted though, because we had a church meeting that evening. Boy did I sleep good that night. :)

Sunday was pretty uneventful, just church and I stuck around the house to do some cleaning and resting up from the big weekend.

I have a 10k race this weekend in St. Louis and I am so excited! My training has been going really well for the half marathon, so a little over 6 miles should be a good warm up to the half in November.

I have a delicious recipe for Zuccinni "Crab" Cakes to share tomorrow. We made them last week and they were SO. GOOD. I think I'll be making them again tonight.

Thanks for reading! :)

Apple Cinnamon Bread

2010-10-06T10:59:00.000-05:00

I finally got around to making my apple cinnamon bread this past weekend. Just in time- because we had just eaten our last piece of pumpkin bread! It turned out SO good. The only thing I think I'll change is, next time I'll probably put all the mixture into one bread pan to make a thicker loaf. Otherwise, it was amazing!

Ingredients:
3 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup vegetable oil (substitute with 1/2 cup applesauce for a healthier option)
2 cups sugar
2 eggs, beaten
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups apples, peeled, cored, and chopped
1 cup chopped walnuts

Preparation:
In bowl, combine flour, cinnamon, baking soda, baking powder and salt; set aside. In large mixing bowl, place oil (or applesauce), sugar, eggs, vanilla, and apples. Stir into flour mixture. Add walnuts and mix. Divide mixture between two greased 8x4 in bread pans. (Again, I would prefer putting it all into one bread pan to make a thicker loaf.) Bake at 350 degrees for 40-45 minutes or until bread test done. Cool for 10 minutes on a wire rack before removing from pan.

Leftovers: Heat a slice in the microwave for about ten seconds for a warm serving. Yum!

Thanks for reading!

Chicken Pesto Recipe

2010-10-05T13:54:00.000-05:00

This is a recipe my hubby & I have really been enjoying lately. The chicken pesto is from my friend, Miranda, who is an awesome cook. I'm looking forward to stealing some more of her yummy recipes soon.

Chicken Pesto

Ingredients:
1 box of Garden Delight Penne Noodles (or brand of your choice)
3 medium boneless skinless chicken breasts
1 tsp. olive oil
2 medium sized zuccini squash
2 jars of red pesto
1 package of fresh shredded parmesan cheese
Garlic salt or garlic powder

Preparation:
1. Cook noodles on stovetop according to instructions on box

2. While noodles are cooking, prepare chicken breasts on stovetop with one tablespoon of olive oil, cover chicken with lid to keep it from drying out

3. When noodles and chicken are nearly done (within 5 minutes of being complete) dice up zuccini squash into bite sized pieces, sprinkle with garlic salt or garlic powder, and steam in the microwave. This can be done with one tablespoon of water in a covered microwave safe dish for 2-4 minutes until zuccini is soft.

4. When chicken is cooked, dice into bite sized pieces

5. Combine noodles, chicken, zuccini, and pesto, and top with parmesan cheese.

This is even great re-heated! I had leftovers today for lunch at work.

Thanks for reading!

Weekend Recap

2010-10-04T11:45:00.000-05:00

We had such a fun weekend, it went by all too fast. Friday we had a date night and I had sushi at my favorite local restaurant. It was a great treat after my ten mile long run that morning! We also had Wendy's frosties for dessert. Yum!

Saturday was a busy day, as we both had work functions in the morning, mine required me to be up at 6 a.m.- on a Saturday! Needless to say I needed a nap in a bad way if I was going to make it through the wedding reception we had on Saturday night. One of my closest friends, hairdresser, and running partner, Meghann tied the knot on Friday evening at a small family ceremony and we celebrated their wedding on Saturday night at the reception. I am beyond thrilled for her! She looked absolutely beautiful at the reception and I'm glad I got to snap a photo with her.

I was also thrilled to see my good friend Courtney who I met during my undergrad program at SIU. She has been one of my best friends and I miss her a ton now that she's living in Springfield. Courtney actually recommended me to Meghann when we first met and I was in the market for a new hairdresser. Funny how things come together!

Court and I at Meghann's wedding reception

Me, Meghann, Court, and Court's mom, Lori

Sunday we finally got a day to relax. We went to church at 11:00 and had breakfast for lunch at a local restaurant with a couple of friends. After lunch, I finally got a chance to bake the apple cinnamon bread I've been wanting to try. It turned out SO well. I'll share the recipe on my blog this week.

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend as well. Thanks for reading! :)

New Recipe!

2010-09-30T13:10:00.000-05:00

I found this recipe for Spinach and Artichoke Dip on allrecipes.com and made just a few minor adjustments. My hubby and I had it for dinner one night this week and even the leftovers were yummy re-heated. Here it is:

Ingredients
1 (10 ounce) bag fresh spinach, chopped
1 (14 ounce) can quartered artichoke hearts, drained
1 (5 ounce) container garlic-herb flavored cheese spread (like Aluoette brand that can be found at most grocery stores near the deli dept. with the gourmet cheeses)
2 cups grated Parmesan cheese
1 (8 ounce) container sour cream
1/2 cup mayonnaise

Directions
1.Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).
2.Mix spinach, artichoke hearts, garlic-herb flavored cheese spread, 1 cup of the Parmesan cheese, sour cream and mayonnaise into the bowl.
3.Scoop mixture into a 7x11 inch baking dish (I used a pie dish). Top with remaining cup of parmesan cheese. Bake in the preheated oven 20 minutes, or until bubbly and lightly browned.

It was de-lish! Mmmm!

Our Busy Busy Weekend

2010-09-28T14:43:00.000-05:00

We had a fantastic and VERY busy weekend. I spent all afternoon and evening Friday making last minute preparations (mostly food and drink prep) for my sister-in-law's baby shower. This was the first shower I've thrown by myself and it was actually quite fun! I got started about a month in advance and slowly worked on decorations a little at a time. That really alleviated a lot of the stress of it. I got so many ideas from blogs and Google image searches, and took all that inspiration and made it my own. I think it turned out really well, and I'm going to do a few posts to talk about how I achieved the look on a budget.

The shower took place on Saturday afternoon, and luckily the venue was just a few blocks from my house, which really simplified things. My parents came down around 10:00 a.m. and helped me set up and prepare the day-of food.

After the shower was over, Quentin and I headed a little past halfway to Chicago and spent the night in Danville to catch the Cubs came at Wrigley Field on Sunday afternoon. Chicago is about a 5.5 hour drive for us, so we just didn't feel like we could drive up and back all in one day. We parked and took the shuttle to the game, which was SUPER convenient and helped us avoid the traffic mess near Wrigley on game day. We paid $6 to park and got dropped off and picked up right in front of the stadium. It was both Quentin and my first trip to Wrigley and we had such a fun time. It was fun seeing the historic stadium and we were so much closer and had a better view than we've ever had at Busch Stadium. Not to mention, neither of us are Cards fans! ;) I can definitely see us going back again next year and I was really happy to take Quentin to his first Cubs at Wrigley game for his birthday.

After such a long weekend it's really hard to get back into the swing of things at work, isn't it? I'm hoping yoga tonight will help me wind down from the hustle and bustle.

Tomorrow I'll have a yummy recipe for spinach and artichoke dip that I made last night, and if things go as planned, I'll be trying a new recipe tonight for apple cinnamon bread!

Thanks for reading! :)

Dad's Famous Chili

2010-09-23T15:07:00.002-05:00

The beginning of fall marks the beginning of many of my favorite fall and winter foods. My dad's chili is one of my very favorite fall foods, and I'm going to share the recipe with you. It is a sweet/spicy flavor that isn't too sweet or too spicy. If you like a little more spice, you can certainly use hot chili beans instead of regular, or use a spicy chili seasoning mix. My husband is currently at home making the first batch of the season and I can't wait for dinner tonight.

Ingredients:
-2 lbs. extra lean ground beef (or ground turkey)
-One can of Bush's baked beans (28oz)
-One can of chili beans
-One can of diced tomatoes and green chiles
-One can of stewed tomatoes
-One can of tomato sauce
-One package of chili seasoning

Prep:
-Begin browning meat
-While meat is cooking, combine all other ingredients in large pot on stovetop or in crockpot
-Once meat is fully cooked, stir in to soup mixture
-Enjoy!

Thanks for reading! :)

Fall Baking

2010-09-17T14:31:00.002-05:00

This cool weather has really gotten me in the mood to start doing some baking. I found some great healthier versions of my favorite fall/winter baked goods in Runner's World magazine. Last night, I tried out the pumpkin bread recipe and used it for my post-run recovery snack after I logged 9 miles this morning. I tasted it last night while it was still warm, but I prefer mine cold, so it was much better this morning (in my opinion). Here's the recipe for Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Bread (although I swapped the chocolate chips for walnuts).

Dry Ingredients
3½ cups flour
3 cups granulated sugar
2 tsp baking soda
1½ tsp salt
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground nutmeg
1 tsp ground cloves
1½ cups of semi-sweet mini chocolate chips (I used walnuts instead)

Wet Ingredients
4 eggs
1 cup canola oil (I used 1 cup of applesauce instead- a great healthier alternative to oil!)
2/3 cup water
2 cups canned, plain pumpkin

Instructions
Preheat oven to 350° F.

Combine all dry ingredients, except chocolate chips, in a large mixing bowl and mix well.

In a separate bowl, slightly beat the eggs with a fork or wire whisk. Add the remaining wet ingredients to the eggs and stir well. Gradually add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients. Stir just until evenly mixed. Fold in chocolate chips.

Coat 2 bread pans evenly with cooking spray. Pour half of the mixture into each pan.

Bake for 50-60 minutes.

It turned out so good! Next, I'm trying the banana bread recipe and I will post it as soon as I make it.

Thanks for reading, and have a wonderful weekend. :)

Cooking

2010-09-14T10:29:00.003-05:00

I've been trying some new recipes lately and trying to improve my cooking skills. I really enjoy cooking when I have the time, and I always feel a sense of accomplishment when I make something that wasn't frozen and it turns out good. Last night I tried a new recipe given to me by my friend and co-worker, Casey. It seemed complex to me, but if you cook at all you probably won't think so. It was actually pretty easy to cook and turned out to be one of the best meals I've ever cooked. I'm considering cooking it again tonight! Here's the recipe for stuffed chicken with balsamic reduction sauce:

-Purchase boneless skinless chicken breast
-Have the meat department pound it to thin it out (I did this myself at home)
-Place a thin slice of havarti cheese and a few fresh spinach leaves in the middle
-Roll the chicken breast with the goodies in the middle and tie off with cooking string
-Drizzle olive oil over the chicken and sprinkle with either a Mediterranean sea salt blend or Italian spice blend (or whatever spice you desire, I chose Italian Seasoning)
-Bake on 350 for 45 minutes to an hour

Balsamic sauce
-Once chicken is close to being done (10 to 15 mins from being done)- bring balsamic vinegar to a simmer on the stove and add brown sugar (to taste) until it thickens
-Drizzle over chicken breast

This went perfectly with cooked asparagus with a little cheese on top. It would also be great with a nice salad, which might be my side choice tonight. Enjoy!

Thanks for reading! (And feel free to share any of your favorite recipes with me. I'd love to try them!)

Guilty Pleasures

2010-09-13T10:09:00.002-05:00

Fall is here, which means all my favorite tv shows are back on the air again, or are coming soon. It's ridiculous how much time I waste watching silly tv shows, but what can I say? They're definitely a guilty pleasure of mine. Luckily we have dvr, so my evenings don't revolve around being at home at a certain time to watch my many shows, but I still spend a lot of time on them. Some of my summer favorites were:

Real Housewives of New Jersey. I can't help but get sucked into all those Real Housewives shows. I'm sucked into DC now.

Bethenny Getting Married. Love her. She is just so funny to me. Side note- I just found out a local specialty liquor store is carrying her Skinny Girl Margaritas. I must try them.

The Gates. I know, it's another vampire ripoff show. But I like it and I hope it returns for a second season.

Teen Mom. So embarassing. But I love it.

Fall shows I can't wait to start watching:

Gossip Girl. Season 4 premiers tonight!

Grey's Anatomy & Private Practice. I've been watching both since season 1 and the season finales left me anxious to see what's going to happen next!

Desperate Housewives. Another one I've watched since season 1. I thought I was going to fall off the bandwagon in (I think) season 3 or 4 when the story lines started to kind of suck, but it's been back on track for a while so I'm hanging on.

I've also recently started watching True Blood. We borrowed season 1 from a friend and I've finished all but the season finale (which I plan to watch tonight!) in one weekend! At first I wasn't so sure about it, but there were no movies we wanted to see or rent, so we kept watching. It is a little vulgar sometimes (ok more than sometimes) but I guess that's just how HBO shows are. I'm into it. Looking forward to season 2.

What are your guilty pleasures? Reality tv? Gossip magazines/websites? Romance novels? I know everyone has them! Mine happens to be seedy television shows.

Thanks for reading! :)

Fall is coming!

2010-09-08T16:34:00.008-05:00

I am absolutely loving this fall-like weather we have been having in southern Illinois lately. Since I've become a runner, summer is no longer my favorite season. It has been replaced by fall. Hot weather is great for swimming and other summery things, but it is NOT good running weather.

The cooler weather has really gotten me in the mood to start shopping for fall clothes, put away my brightly colored nail polish, and bring out the fall colors. Speaking of fall fashion, here are some of my favorites this year.

Love this top from Anthropologie. I wonder how it looks on?

I love a good long sleeved tee shirt. This one is also from Anthro. It looks so comfy, yet not too casual.

I am a huge fan of comfy cardigans for casual days at the office. I will probably buy this one from NY & Co in five different colors.

Another fall must-have for me is a nice pair of brown boots. I've had my eye on these from Anthropologie for a few weeks now. Beautiful. Just beautiful.

Thanks for reading! :)

Baby Shower Menu

2010-09-03T13:08:00.002-05:00

It's getting down to the wire for the baby shower I'm hosting in honor of my sister-in-law, brother and Baby Girl Goins. My mom and I finished up our last bit of shopping (well, big shopping anyway, I still have a few odds and ends to buy) last weekend, and we've started to nail down the menu. Here's what we have in the works:

Turkey Wraps
Fruit Kabobs
Veggie & Cheese Tray
Pasta Salad* (recipe below)
Little Weenies (the mommy-to-be can't have cold deli meat, so this is a warm option for her)
Cake & Punch

And a surprise menu item I'll share after the shower. I don't want to give all of my secrets away in case my guest of honor is reading.

What have been some of your favorite menu items at baby or bridal showers? My mom and I are trying to keep it simple and light because we're putting it all together on our own, but don't want to skimp on the food. Ideas are welcome!

Pasta Salad Recipe:
1 box of Barilla Plus whole grain noodles of your choice
Half of a bottle of zesty Italian dressing, and half of a bottle of creamy italian dressing
One diced tomato
One diced cucumber
One diced red bell pepper
Fresh parmesan cheese

It's pretty simple, just boil the pasta, add the dressings, add the veggies, stir, and top with parmesan. Feel free to add any other veggies you enjoy in pasta salads, you can do lots with this recipe to make it your own.

Thanks for reading! :)

Weekend in Review

2010-08-30T11:54:00.002-05:00

We stayed pretty busy this weekend, as usual. I had Friday evening to myself, as Quentin had to close at work that night. I had done a 7 mile long run that morning, and my sweet friend Heather came over to my house to help me with baby shower decorations, which was a HUGE help! I had tons of glassware to glue ribbon to and everything turned out so pretty. I can't wait to see it all set up at the shower in a few weeks! While we were decorating, she brought over The Last Song. It was such a good movie! I was a little apprehensive about watching a movie with Miley Cyrus as one of the lead characters because I find her so annoying, but it was actually good. It's not on my top ten favorite movie list, but it was a nice movie to watch on a Friday night at home. It definitely had a lot of similarities to The Notebook, and I wish the story line had been a little more creative. We also ordered sushi takeout from our local Asian restaurant! I am always down for sushi, and I'm glad I have Heather hooked on it now too.

Saturday, I met my mother in Paducah to finish up the rest of our baby shower shopping. She is paying for mostly everything, and I am doing most of the work. That is just fine with me! She has more money than I do, and I have more time than she does, so it works just fine. Plus I have just a liiiittle trouble letting people help me unless I am right there to give "direction". I'm just a little bossy, so it's probably best she isn't getting too involved. haha Later on Saturday, Heather and her hubby Chris joined us for a little date night at our house. Heather and I ended up ordering sushi again (see, we're hooked!) while Chris and Quentin grilled out. We bought Apples to Apples and had a nice little game night after dinner.

We slept in on Sunday, and Quentin had to work again, so I spent the day cleaning up around the house, worked in a run, and went to our evening service at church. I actually ended up watching the babies in the nursery because they needed help. I had a crier last night and it was tough! I thought working in the nursery was going to give me baby fever (along with preparing for my little niece to arrive in December!) but if I have many more days in the nursery like last night, maybe I'll get over it pretty quickly. :)

Now it's back to the grind! I have a busy week ahead. I'm trying to keep track of my calories (I lost 1.5 pounds this past week!) and attend some more group exercise classes in addition to my running. I'll keep you posted!

Thanks for reading. :)

Odds & Ends

2010-08-26T11:59:00.002-05:00

I have several random topics to write about today, most of which are not related at all. :)

First, I've been working really hard on my sister-in-law's baby shower which is coming up quickly! It will be held on Sept. 25th and I am so so excited. I had originally decided on a rubber ducky theme, and had so many ideas for decor, food, and everything else. Even the shower invitations had yellow duckies on them. BUT, that was before we knew it was a girl, and when we found that out, I just couldn't do a yellow and blue baby shower for a girl. I love all things pink, and just thought it wouldn't be right without some major pink present at the shower. I am still keeping the theme a secret, but as soon as the shower is over I will do several posts on my chic baby shower on a budget. It's been fun getting ideas online for chic and classy baby showers and finding inexpensive ways to recreate them. Hobby Lobby has become my best friend, and believe it or not, the local thrift stores in my area have provided nearly ALL the glassware I need for centerpieces and decor. It's coming together fabulously and I can't wait to show you pictures once it's done!

On to the next topic, I am three weeks into my half marathon training program and am feeling good about gearing up for another race in November. I'm also doing a 10k in St. Louis in October just to get another race in before the "big one" in November. My half will be in Indianapolis, and I'm pretty excited because I've never been there! That's one thing I love about running and particularly doing races, you get to go to a lot of cities you've never been to, and even the ones you have, running through them provides a whole new look at them. I've been running two days a week with my running partner, Meghann, and another 3 days a week on my own. We're finally getting some relief from the horrible hot weather. This morning it was 61 degrees! Amazing! That's the kind of weather that gets me off the dreadmill and out onto the roads.

I've also been doing group exercise classes with my friend Natalie. We've picked up BodyFlow (yoga/pilates/tai chi combination) and BodyPump (weight lifting class), each once a week. I don't want to add too many classes to my running schedule, but these are a nice compliment to running and help to keep me from getting injured. I had forgotten how difficuly BodyPump was until I got about 10 minutes into the class last night. Let's just say I could NOT hang with those people. haha But I know the more I go the more I'll get the hang of it, so I'm going to stick it out.

I've also decided to start counting my calories again using The Daily Plate, which is part of the Livestrong website. It has been a great tool for me in the past, and with taking a longer break from half marathons than I did last year, I put on about 5 pounds this summer. I'm happy to report that I started The Daily Plate on Monday and have already dropped two! I'm hoping to lose a total of ten or so, and if I stick with it, it shouldn't be too difficult. It's a super easy tool to use. You just enter your age, height, weight, activity level, and weight loss goal and it gives you a daily calorie allowance. You can log on throughout the day and enter everything you eat and it keeps a running total for you and tells you how many calories you have left. You can also enter your workouts, and it gives you some calories back (as you need more calories the more you work out, obviously). Right now my daily allowance is 1,600, and I feel like that is plenty for me, so I haven't been entering my workouts in order to get more calories. I'm thinking on my long run days I'll allow myself an extra 350 calories or so, because I'm up to a 7 mile long run this week and I will need the extra fuel.

Anyway, enough about calories and exercise! I've got a presentation to give at an event for work tonight and I need to start practicing.

Thanks for reading! :)

Sugar and spice and everything nice...

2010-08-05T13:45:00.003-05:00

It's a GIRL! I am going to be an aunt in December to a lovely baby girl! :) I could not be any more excited! Honestly, I would be just as excited if Baby Goins were a boy, but now that I know the sex, I can start shopping! I have already been on etsy for quite some time last night looking at these precious little baby girl headbands and baby bloomers. Come to find out, my brother told me mom that he HATES those baby girl headbands..Lucky for me, Steph likes them. And I have a feeling if she likes them, Baby Girl Goins will be sporting them. Yay!!! :)

Now I can really get to work on baby shower decor. :)

Aunt Austin

2010-07-29T11:58:00.005-05:00

As I've mentioned before, my brother and his lovely wife, Stephanie are expecting a baby in December! I could not be more excited about becoming an aunt again, and this time I get to plan a baby shower for them! Some of you know the story of Cody & Steph's first son, Aven, who was born at 21 weeks when they were stationed in Alaska. He never got to come home from the hospital, and we never got to throw a baby shower. I am SO SO happy to have Cody and Steph back in the lower 48, just two hours away from us. In the midst of grieving over the first year without Aven, Cody & Steph (and the rest of our family too) feel so blessed that Steph's pregnancy is going just perfectly and we can't wait to welcome a sweet little baby in December.

On to baby shower planning. I have never planned a baby shower before, and haven't really attended that many. But, as soon as I asked Steph if she'd like me to throw her Illinois baby shower (she is also having one in Iowa, where she is from) and she said yes, I put my party planning hat on. My mom is also helping, but as the grandma-to-be, I don't want her to have to do a whole lot. This is a really special time for her too, and besides, I'm a huge control freak so it's best I drive myself crazy and not both of us. haha We don't know if the baby is a boy or girl yet, but we've set the shower date for Sept. 25th and I needed to go ahead and get invitations ordered, so I went with something neutral. However- we'll find out in 5 days what the sex is, and I can start going wild buying clothes...I mean, shower decorations. haha I picked a neutral theme too, that can be accented with blue or pink once we find out what the sex is. Picking a theme was SO difficult, because I want it to be fabulous. I don't want to reveal the theme because Steph reads my blogs sometimes, and I want it to be a surprise. But here are some of the ideas I considered (the one I chose is mixed in!).

Candy themed (Steph has been craving sweets during her pregnancy)

Zoo Theme (they have 2 dogs, one cat, and a baby to add to the mix, so this could be appropriate!)

Rubber Duckie Theme (I found tons of ideas for this one and it is SO cute)

My next task is to find some shower games and activities to do during the shower. Have you ever planned a baby shower before, or had one thrown for you? What were some of your favorite activities or games you played?

Moving and Making Time for Running

2010-07-27T11:52:00.003-05:00

It seems all I've been blogging about lately is moving..probably because it has been taking up ALL of my time lately. We are all moved in and (almost) unpacked. We have unpacked all our essential items and quite a few home decor items too. All I have left are a ton of picture frames and some wall art to hang on the walls, plus some "hall closet" items that don't get used very often, but need to find a home in our new home. Our house is beginning to look like a home, thank goodness!

In the midst of all this moving, I've been forced into doing something I have been saying I'm going to do for a long time. Running in the mornings. Some of you may know, I have always been a late afternoon/evening (sometimes late night!) runner since I began running 2 years ago. I do ok at my races early in the a.m., but I believe because I'm amped up from adrenaline. I've tried a few times in the past to run in the mornings, but usually they end in disaster and lots of walk breaks, so I get discouraged and go back to running at night. 3 weeks ago, my friend Meaghan and I decided to start running together in the mornings 2-3 days a week, and on the other 2-3 days I've been going alone. It took some getting used to, but what an awesome feeling to come home from work and NOT have to plan my whole night around my run. I miss out on quality time with my hubby when I run at night, and just takes over my nights. So, I have converted, and I don't think I'll be going back! There's something about running on the quiet streets in my neighborhood in the mornings that are just so peaceful. (Minus the time a bird pooped on my head last week). I'll admit, I'm struggling with being tired when I first get to work in the morning, but that is slowly going away. I'm loving it! Are any of you morning or evening runners? Which do you prefer, and why?

Thanks for reading! :)

Busy moving and painting!

2010-07-22T14:46:00.004-05:00

We have been so busy packing up our little apartment that we've lived in for four years now to move to a house! These photos are before the front porch/stairs/railing were added on. We do have steps. :)

It's amazing how much stuff a person can accumulate in just four short years. Because of that, I'm planning to have a yard sale with my friend Natalie (who is also moving Aug. 1) in a few weeks. It will be a great way for me to get rid of things I no longer need or use and make a little extra cash. I've been selling some larger items that I don't need on craigslist, but I still have so much for the yard sale.

We painted this past weekend..every single room in the house. Talk about exhausting! Now I know why my father-in-law looked at me like I was nuts when I told him we would paint the whole house in one day and come back the next to paint the second coat. Well, he was right. It was nuts. But we did it! We put in a 13 hour day on Saturday and another 4 hours on Sunday (since we didn't have to re-trim much, it went much faster). But it was so worth it! The walls were bright white flat paint before (ick!) and we painted them a neutral color called Imperial Sand. It looks fantastic against the white trim and white doors. Much better!

Another big event this week was saying goodbye to my dear friend, Amada. I met Amanda at school in the MBA program. I'm not sure, but I think we may have first met working on a class project together. We became friends quickly, and I later found out that she also attended my church! We spent a lot of time together working on class projects and studying, going out to lunches and dinners, touring the wineries, and later working together. She is truly one of the sweetest friends I've ever had. We had dinner together on Tuesday night to say our goodbyes before she goes home to Taiwan to work as an accountant full time. I'll miss you, Amanda! Good friends like you do not come along every day.

Thanks for reading!

New Things

2010-07-14T23:09:00.002-05:00

I just realized I have not blogged in a VERY long time! We have been so busy lately I've barely kept up with reading the blogs I love, let alone writing in my own. Here's what we've been up to.

We finally found a place to rent! It's a cute little house (although much bigger than our apartment- yay!), brand new, and the landlord is very nice. My hubby actually knows him from the gym, and I am a friend of his daughter's. What a HUGE headache it was trying to find a place! Our current landlord requires us to renew our one year lease year after year if we want to stay..and I am just tired of that. Now that I'm finished with my MBA (just got my diploma yesterday!!!), neither of us is in school anymore and we just don't want to be tied down to a lease year after year in case we find a job in another area. I've been applying for positions from Connecticut to Arizona..so who knows where we'll go! Anyway, we had the worst time looking for places that were affordable, would let us have our cat, were not a complete dump, and not in a bad neighborhood. We finally found the perfect place and I couldn't be more excited. I love the fact that it's brand new and we'll be the first people to live in it! I met up with the landlord today to talk about how I wanted the closet racks and shelves designed (how nice!) and it should be all finished up and ready to move in tomorrow! My mom and I are painting inside this weekend, as the walls are standard white, which I can't stand. Then we move on the 24th! I'll post photos soon.

We also just returned from our family vacation to Gatlinburg, this time with my parents, my brother, and his wife. It was SO nice to go back and do all the things we didn't have time to do on our short trip the first time and hang out with my family too. It was HOT as can be, but it was such a nice getaway.

I'll post photos of our new home and some vacation pics soon! I need to finish getting unpacked from vacation and packed for the move. Ahh!

Thanks for reading. :)

Remembering Aven

2010-06-24T08:43:00.003-05:00

Yesterday was my nephew Aven's first birthday. It was a tough day not having him here, and I know it was especially rough for Aven's mommy and daddy (my brother and sister-in-law).

Aven was born prematurely at 24 weeks and 1 day v(doctors would not even attempt to help him live at any less than 24 weeks). He weighed only 1lb. 4 oz. and was 10.5 inches long. It was a miracle that he lived as long as he did. I am so thankful I got the chance to fly to Alaska and meet him when he was born.

Even a year later I think we all still wonder "why" and our hearts are still healing from his death. But...as Christians we hang on to the promise that Aven is in heaven and we will see him again one day. Although I'd like to be spoiling him rotten with birthday presents, it lifts my spirits to know that he spent his birthday in heaven. Love you, Aven, and miss you every day.

Summer Grilling

2010-06-14T17:31:00.003-05:00

Last night Quentin and I were dying to grill but, but I'm not much of a hamburger fan like he is, and hot dogs just didn't seem appetizing. So, I took a trip to the grocery store for some inspiration and found some ready-made kabobs in the meat section. I figured I could make my own for much cheaper, and the ones they had were steak, and I wanted chicken. So, I took a little trip around Kroger and whipped together my own. Here's what I used (makes 4 kabobs):

Three boneless skinless organic chicken breast
One bottle Kroger brand Hawaiian 30 minute marinade
One green and one red bell pepper
One onion

All I had to do was poke holes in the raw chicken breast with a fork and marinate the chicken for about 3 hours (although it was 30 minute marinade, the longer the better). When we were ready to cook, I sliced up the veggies, cut the chicken into cubes and loaded up the kabobs. We cooked ours straight on the grill, only because we didn't have any aluminum foil, turning them every 5 minutes for about 20 minutes. The veggies got a little overdone, but not too bad. I think the aluminum foil would have helped that. The chicken turned out REALLY good. I loved the Hawaiian marinade flavor and it made the meat really juicy. We also boiled some fresh corn on the cob. It really made a yummy summertime dinner. I'll be having the leftovers tonight since Quentin is working late.

Thanks for reading! :)