Life Happened

I had a post planned for today but well, life happened.  But I will leave you with a little taste of what I was dealing with last night when Milo hogged the bed ALL. FRIGGING. NIGHT. 

 

 

Today my mantra comes from my new wall hanging 'Keep Telling Yourself It's Almost Friday'.

 

Almost.

 

Until tomorrow friends!

 

Happy Day!

I am so happy today!!  And not just because it’s Friday but because it’s Friday and MY SISTER IS HOME FOR THE WEEKEND!! Is it slightly pathetic that she only moved away three weeks ago?  But I don’t care because she and her fiancée are home for a few days and that makes me over the moon excited!

I haven't talked much about B on here because her sudden uproot and move kind of rocked my world (in a bad way).  I know, how selfish can I get it??  She moved for all the right reasons… her fiancée got into law school which has been his dream for like 10 years and B ended up getting an awesome job that pays her basically double what she was making.  So I am incredibly happy for her and I know this is an exciting new chapter in their lives but I am just going to miss her so goddam much.

B is (besides my hubby and in only a way a sister can be) my bestest friend, my rock, my champion and reality kick when I need one.  She is an amazing person - last year she worked her full time job, became a CMA and was my maid of honor (another full-time job in itself, sorry B!) AND she was still the amazing friend that she has always been.  That’s one thing I envy about B – she has developed some of the best friendships I have ever seen and is so loyal to those lucky people, me included.

It wasn’t always that way… B is four years younger than me and when I was a teenager that was a pretty big age difference.  And I’m pretty sure all sisters fight but I’m also pretty sure certain I was quite the bitch and not the nicest person to my little sister.  But thankfully now that we are ‘adults’ we have an amazing relationship and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

I can’t wait to see her tomorrow and hubby and I are having some people over as a farewell for B & A because everything happened in about 6 weeks and with everything involved, we didn’t really have a chance for a proper send off.  So I am looking forward to hugs and laughs and good times and many, many drinks… and then doing it all over again on Sunday with the family!  Hopefully I’ll get some good photos too.

B and me

Have an amazing weekend everyone!

Sxxo.

Another Weekend Come and Gone

This past weekend was another great one which meant it was that much harder to wake up and get out of bed this morning.  Mondays… a bad day to begin with and only made worse because two fun days were over.

Our Friday evening got off to a slow start as I was stuck on the parking lot highway following an accident on the bridge and it took me over an hour to get home.  Needless to say I wasn’t in a great mood when I got there and proceeded to snap hubby’s ear off.  This continued until the grocery store when I finally relaxed (I was surrounded by food and planning the bad for you yummy snacks I was going to devour eat all weekend!) and realized hey, IT’S FRIDAY!!  After grocery shopping we picked up dinner (best butter chicken EVER) and headed home to enjoy… at 8:30pm.  I managed to get hubby to stay up until after 10pm so all in all it was a good evening :-)

Saturday started with my usual bliss (Carolan’s coffee and PVR’d shows in bed) and then I finally got myself out of bed and dressed for… I can’t believe it… a run.  Yes, I finally started running again on Saturday.  I am starting slow with the C25K (couch to 5k) app and I have to say, I felt great after.  And Milo obviously had a blast so it was a win-win.

[caption id="attachment_176" align="alignnone" width="200"] First run of the program completed![/caption]

[caption id="attachment_175" align="alignnone" width="225"] Someone is very happy he gets to run again![/caption]

 

The weather this weekend was amazing (most likely our last tank-top acceptable weekend of the year) so after my run I poured myself a nice big glass of wine and sat in the backyard until hubby convinced me to run a quick couple errands with him.  Then my friend/SIL came to hang out with me and we took over the living room to watch girly shows on the PVR (at least once a month we sing to watch Pitch Perfect but this time it was Drop Dead Diva) and we managed to polish off two bottles of wine AND break into the box of wine I finally got smart enough to buy for midnight later in the evening when we no longer have any tastebuds.  Which lead to…

An epically hungover Sunday morning.  I don’t often get the real bad put-me-out of my misery hangovers but when I do, they are vicious.  What made it worse was the sun shining even brighter than Saturday and the fact that my mom was coming over to help me do some organizing in my house (clean out my car, sort (and finally get rid YAY!) all the random crap lying around, clean out my closet and organize the spare room).  I managed to get myself together and outside by the time she showed up with a Starbucks white chocolate mocha (now this drink is amazeballs PSL people!).  It was GORGEOUS outside!  Thankfully we were doing some stuff outside so we got to enjoy the sun.

[caption id="attachment_178" align="alignnone" width="225"] Gorgeous sunny weather!! (Apologies for the horrible iPhone pics!)[/caption]

I have to say that hangover aside,  it felt so good to get some stuff done around the house and I also have the best mom in the whole world (seriously, she rocks) and by the time she left I felt great.  Not pour a glass of wine great but wow I accomplished stuff this weekend great.  The rest of Sunday was spent trying to stay awake relaxing on the couch.

I made a casserole for dinner and will post the recipe this week :-)

What did you get up to on your weekend?

Sxxo.

Weekend Recap

Hubby and I had an awesome weekend!  But before I get into I just want to tell you that I tried to upload a post on Friday night but was having connection issues so will have to save that one for another time.

So here is a brief recap of our weekend happenings:

Friday

We woke up to pouring rain but it was Friday so it really didn't matter.  And because it was Friday, I miraculously got myself out of bed at 6:20am and got to work early which meant I got to leave early :-)

Normally hubby and I head out after work on Fridays but  I didn't feel like dealing with the rain or grocery shopping, and I really just wanted to get home and put on something comfy and relax.

So that's what we did, I came home and we decided on dinner (pasta, delivery) then I threw on some comfy clothes and took Milo for a quick walk during a break in the rain.  We got home just in time for me to pour wine and get settled before dinner arrived.  It was a lovely evening at home.

Friday's sipping pleasure was actually a rose called Hush from the Dirty Laundry Vineyard, a great vineyard to visit for the legend behind the name, the gift ship and of course the wine tastings - we got to taste 9 wines!!!  That never happens!

 

I also did some laundry and was going to fold it but someone made it his very comfy bed... so thankful he doesn't really shed!



Saturday

I woke up Saturday morning to more rain but all was made better by a Baileys Carolan’s coffee, and then hubby left me on my own for a couple hours so I lounged in bed with the dog and cat watching the PVR.

I had a Costco tripped planned with my SIL (I know, we’re crazy to step foot in there on a Saturday!!) and we ended up driving to the one 45 minutes away so we could look for shoes in a store right beside it… no shoes but my SIL ended up getting two coats at awesome prices.  Costco was a nuthouse and I managed to restrain myself really well but I did buy 4 types of cheese?!?!

After I finally got home (downpour still happening) and carried the Costco goodies into the house I planned to do the second round of grocery shopping for the usual everyday stuff we needed… but the rain was a bit off-putting.  Then to my wonderful surprise, hubby said he would go with me in a couple hours and suggested I relax with a glass of wine.  No arm twisting needed here!  We went grocery shopping and then hubby spoiled me with two pairs of jeans and a cast iron pot – it’s purple and I LOVE it!  Now I need to figure out what the heck I am going to cook in it… ideas anyone??



My purple pot :-)

Saturday night I got my bake on!  I poured some (more) wine and made coconut macaroons (recipe and instructions coming):



Coconut macaroons drizzled with milk chocolate - recipe coming!

Hubby loved them!!

Sunday

Another great day… I helped watched hubby do an oil change on my car and then cooked us a big tasty breakfast.  After that I tried out a recipe I found on another blog I love, Megan at Hello Newlywed Life, for frozen breakfast burritos.  She included super simple step-by-step instructions and they were so easy to make!  I had one today and they were delish.  I will post a link to her recipe and then show you my pictures in an upcoming post (I hope mine look as good as hers!).

We had a big family dinner last night to celebrate hubby’s grandparents’ 70^th wedding anniversary.  There were about 20 of us and it was the first time we had been together since the wedding.  Hubby’s grandparents are an amazing couple with so much love for each other and I only hope we are as lucky.



Love <3

Well, I'm off to get through the rest of this Monday!  How was your weekend, what did you get up to?

Sxxo.

 

The Honeymoon is Over!

As I was cruising Pinterest last night (I am so addicted and it’s the first thing I do when hubby falls asleep!) I found a photo of Lauren Conrad and I. love. it.  She is a beautiful woman, wears gorgeous clothes that I know I never would and of course I watched her on Laguna Beach and The Hills and think she’s very classy and wish we could be friends.  But this picture?  I love it.  I love the outfit, the relaxed yet looks totally put-together look complete with brown boots (I love my brown boots, I feel sexy in my brown boots).  Normally I think she’s gorgeous but know I would never wear the same type of outfit but this one I would.  I don’t know why this picture speaks to me so much except I feel like it’s telling me that I need a change.



I love this outfit, the makeup, everything!!

Hubby and I have settled into a pretty good routine following the year of chaos joy of being engaged and planning a destination wedding (side note: most destination weddings come as a package and yes, you make some decisions but you have someone there who organizes all the details… I didn’t and did everything by phone and email!  Not that I didn't have help because I did!).  There are two major pitfalls of our routine: I eat whatever I want whenever I want and I don’t exercise enough at all.  It’s as if I got married and went PHEW, it’s over!  And sat on the couch with a bag of chips and a chocolate bar.

I have never been an avid exerciser but I understand the benefits of it and yes, I do actually feel better when I do it.  I did a ‘learn to run’ program a couple years ago with a friend and did really well although I realized I do not like running for long periods of time.  It’s just not fun to me.  Around that time I also tried Weight Watchers and did quite well on that but I never went to the meetings so didn’t really see the point in paying the monthly fee for someone to simply weigh me.  But I lost weight. And I had more energy.

Before the wedding I was going for 50-60 minute walks on my lunch break and really watching what I ate, counting calories.  Every once in a while I would do a Jillian Michaels video and of course I took Milo for walks with our friend and her dog, he loved this because he got walks AND he got to play.

Now the only time I do anything is when I take Milo out for a walk but those have gotten shorter and I’m doing them solo because they are not part of our newlywed routine.

And food… food is the devil.  I like it.  Actually I love it.  If it’s fried and covered in cheese then I will most likely devour it.  Croissants with butter and jam? Yes please!  Chocolate chip muffins?  Watch out!  I am horrible.  My only saving grace is the spinach and fruit smoothie I have every morning Monday through Friday.  But my jeans are getting a bit tight.

 

So basically, I need to get my shit together because this newlywed’s honeymoon is over!  Well not the newlywed and honeymoon parts exactly, just the extreme lack of exercise and not caring what I eat.

My plan so far:

• I downloaded an app called C25K (couch to 5km run program) and am starting it tonight… of course I read about this on Yoga Pants


• I am going to dig out my Weight Watchers calculator and start counting points again


• I am going to start bringing salads to work again and be active 3 lunches per week


• I am going to limit wine/alcohol to weekends only

Do you have any advice for me?  What helps you stay motivated?  And if you have any tried and true recipes for hearty/tasty meals and snacks please share!!

Sxxo.

Weekend Recap

Hello Monday, goodbye weekend… and such a great one you were, please hurry back and if you want to magically make Monday through Thursday feel like a 24 hour time warp, I am totally down with that!

Our Friday evening got off to a late start (my fault because of an extremely busy day at work – how does it always happen on a Friday?!?) and so not exciting, we ran a couple errands to start the weekend.  We went grocery shopping and succumbed to every craving we had (it really is a bad idea to grocery shop while hungry) and then we picked up dinner (butter chicken YUM!) and headed home to pop in a movie.

    

My Friday night treat :)

Hubby chose the movie Jack Reacher and I chose to pour wine instead of putting up a fight.  The wine was perfect and the movie was actually pretty good.  I always get bored near the end of any type of action movie because the shootout scene goes on for way too long! I know the bad guy has to put up a bit of a fight but come on, we know the girl is going to be saved so can’t you shave a good 5 minutes off and let everyone enjoy?  Anyway, I digress…

On Saturday I got to sleep in and then indulge in baileys coffee courtesy of my love while watching the finale of Masterchef (I LOVE Gordon Ramsay but would never let him taste my cooking!).  I finally dragged my butt out of bed, ate a bagel for brunch and took Milo out to enjoy the last day of summer.  Then hubby and I dropped Milo off at the groomers and ran a couple errands before heading home where I decided to make not only a banana cream pie but also red velvet cupcakes.  I apologize for not taking a single photo; I really need to remember to because they were both amazing!!  But I do have a photo of Milo after picking him up from the groomer:



Our fluffy guy with a fresh haircut

We had dinner Saturday night at my parents’ house for my sister’s last night before moving to join her fiancée far far away from me (and the rest of my family).  I am now the only one of three left living in the area and have already received a phone call from my stepdad asking me to visit and reminding me that this is, in fact my duty as the only remaining daughter.  This could be really good for me or really bad, we’ll just have to wait and see…

Sunday was perfect because we woke up to rain, rain and more rain.  It was gray and stormy and chilly and I was a bit down due to my sister leaving (and maybe also the headache from all the wine I drank the night before), so it was the perfect day to snuggle up in blankets and have a family day on the couch.  I did manage to make a pretty awesome dinner of baked ham, cheesy scalloped potatoes and steamed broccoli/cauliflower/carrots with cheese sauce.  Again no picture L  And we had banana cream pie for dessert.  Delicious!  And I really need to go on a diet.



A rainy Sunday being lazy at home



Hubby thinks I take too many pictures of Milo... um obviously - he's adorable!

So all in all a great low key weekend spent with family!

What did you get up to this weekend??

Sxxo.

Weekend Fun

And another weekend flew by way to quickly!

Friday’s book club was so much fun and I am very proud that we had some quality conversation on our book!  I am also happy to report that I finished the book!!!  I managed to finish it on my lunch hour so didn’t have to google a summary of the end.

Book Club started on the deck with blueberry lemonade cocktails and chips with dip:





Blueberry vodka and lemonade... refreshing and yummy!

Once we had all relaxed a bit and stuffed our faces with homemade guacamole made by my sister-in-law (DELISH!) and ordered sushi for dinner, we went through the questions in the back of the book that are included for book club discussion.  Some good discussions were had and I really enjoyed hearing everyone’s perspective on different parts of the story.  The questions gave us a good starting point to work from so I think they should be included every time!

After two blueberry lemonades and the sun going down, we made our way to the dining room and the sushi finally arrived (after 1.5 hours – NEVER ordering from Gen Sushi again!!!), we switched to wine and jumped into important conversations about Thursday’s episode of Big Brother and how much we love Duck Dynasty (seriously hubby and I love the show, and my favourite is Jase).





Salmon roll, asparagus roll (first time, LOVE), dynamite roll, chicken wings and salad.  I was full after 4 bites.

After two bottles of wine we called it a night.

Our next two books are Night Road and Gone Girl… when is the Shopaholic series going to come back??  I need some chick lit!

Saturday was pretty quiet.  I did some stuff around the house and then grocery shopped, and then my sister came over for dinner, wine and a tv marathon – we watched New Girl season 2.  Hubby went to his friend’s and let us have the house to ourselves, such a sweet man.  My sister B is moving east next weekend while her fiancé is in law school and I am going to miss her so much.  She is my bestest friend, my rock.  So it was nice to spend some quality girl time with her.

I have a busy week at work but hopefully it just gets me to Friday that much quicker!

How was your weekend?

I hope Monday isn’t too painful for you!

Sxxo.

Friday's Feature

 

Tonight I have book club and this time we read a book!  At first it was just an excuse to get together and have some drinks and catch up but then we figured it is a book club so we kinda need a book portion.  The late summer heat wave is still holding strong and steady so my girlfriend’s patio will be perfect for some cold cocktails!

The first book we’ve read is Love Anthony by Lisa Genova (ok I haven't exactly finished it but am going to try my best between now and 6pm, I’m ¾ done).  It’s a story about a woman who lost her autistic son and another woman whose marriage falls apart, and something brings these two strangers together.  The book is pretty good, I loved her book Still Alice, but this one hasn’t been quite as gripping for me.  I like to lose myself in a book and I haven’t connected to Love Anthony in that way.  Maybe it’s because I haven’t had kids and would like to, and selfishly I am scared of dealing with autism.

Because it’s a Friday and everyone works, we are going to order sushi and drink blueberry lemonades (main ingredient = blueberry vodka) and of course, wine.  I think I will take Blasted Church’s Mixed Blessings:

I get to suggest the next book choices and I’m hoping for something a bit lighter but with some substance.  I guess I better start looking…

Does anyone have any good book suggestions?  What are you reading right now?

Happy Friday, Cheers!

Sxxo.