Thoughts...

I'm sitting here needing to go run today and not really "feeling it". Have I put on here that I'm sort of training for a 10K? Well I am...yikes that's scary to put out in public. I am doing my first ever run/race of any kind in less than two weeks. A 5K here in Louisville @ the zoo. I am excited, but also a little nervous...is that dumb? Well there is a 10K at a place just across the river in Indiana in June and I thought I'd start a training plan JUST IN CASE I decide to register for it. I'm giving my training plan a couple more weeks before I officially register and commit. We'll see how I hold up. :) So it's the start of week #2 of an 8 week training plan to run a 10K...for beginning runners. Hey, that's me!!!!

So, all that to say, I'm supposed to go run today but I don't want to. I mean, don't get me wrong, I will, but I don't want to. Honestly I think it's cause I've been slacking off when it comes to food and it's starting to "take a toll" on me. I figured if I put these thoughts out here then maybe it will help me GET MY ACT TOGETHER and get eating well again and running strong! Or at least wanting to run. I really was enjoying it there for awhile, but then a few sweets here and a few sweets there started to sneak in. And then late night eating (so bad!) and all that jazz. So, the whole "no sweets until the 5K" thing, ya I broke that a long time ago. But here is a new-found commitment to no sweets or junk. Not just so I can say I am doing it, but so I can run better and train better. So at the end of a day of sitting at a desk all day long I feel like running and I have been fueling my body accordingly.

But in the midst of all of this I need to remember that numbers, miles, even goals, although all good things, don't make me any more loved by others or by God. Amen to that! And good thing...cause I had three Samoas today...but God doesn't love me any less!!! ;) At the same time, I do hope to press on in getting in shape and continuing to eat right. I reached my 10 pound weight loss goal (also not sure if I put that on here yet or not...) and it felt great! I want to be able to maintain and even continue to get in shape!

What are some things that you've found help with this? For real, share your tips! We all know we can use some. What healthy snacks have you grown to love? (mine is freshly chopped up carrot sticks!) Please do share.

Hope you all are having a great week!!!


P.S. On another note, please don't FOR ONE SECOND think I am actually good at any of this. I am the slowest runner EVER...it should probably just be called speed walking with a skip in my step...AND I totally crashed and burned (literally) when running on Sunday night. As in chin all bruised from hitting the sidewalk and knee gushing with blood. It was not a pretty picture (embarassing!!!!) and I have a gross brown scab on my knee to prove it. So, I'm lame, I can't run fast....and apparently I can't really run at all...so, as long as we are confessing. :)

Weekend & What We Are Eating

The weather was insane this weekend. It was so warm, like late June, early July warm. I think the weather man said we were 15 degrees above normal. So we had the windows open and were really trying not to turn the AC on, but on Saturday night we gave in. We had the Bebees over for dinner and decided sweating through a movie wasn't really worth it. I made Chicken Curry in a Hurry and we watched Slumdog Millionaire. Eron and I had already seen it, but gladly watched it again so the Bebees could enjoy it too. It is such a great film!

Eron went with me to Creation Gardens (one of my new favorite places!) and thought it was pretty cool too! We also went to Paul's Fruit Market and got some tomato plants! Cherry tomatos, sweet banana peppers, and serrano peppers to be exact. All for like $0.74 each. I am hoping they grow and we have lots of yummy tomatoes and peppers come late June and early July. Here's hopin'!!!

Also, since it's Monday, I'm including in this post what we are eating this week:

Sunday

Seasoning from this recipe for some burgers on the grill late @ night

along with some grilled asparagus

Monday

Sandwiches to go on the way to community group childcare

Tuesday

Lemon Garlic Chicken Noodle Soup (w/o noodles)

I still haven't made this recipe, but the chicken stock and shredded chicken

are waiting for me in the freezer. I was waiting for it to cool off a bit outside.

Wednesday

Breakfast for dinner (always good!)

Thursday

Pinto bean burritos (from dried beans) with cilantro, red onions, and sour cream

Friday

Leftovers/Misc./heading to the grocery store!

**Nothing too exciting, but I did make some long overdue Baked Oatmeal last night (with applesauce instead of oil and natural cane sugar instead of white). I LOVE this stuff. Eron isn't the hugest fan, but I could eat it every meal. It is so good. Make it if you haven't yet!

Friday

Might as well keep up the frequent posting with a HAPPY FRIDAY post. Maybe no pictures this time, ok maybe just one. It's from a lovely dinner Eron and I had out on our porch last Saturday night cause the weather was A-M-A-Z-I-N-G. Maybe we will do that again tonight! Eron has a lot of studying to do over the next couple weeks to finish up everything for the semester, so I'll probably be getting stuff done on my own too. I have plans to spruce up the porch this weekend with some spring flowers and work on some other stuff around the house. Also continuing Spring Cleaning and sorting out stuff for our upcoming SUMMER YARD SALE. Good times.

It is going to be ridiculously warm this weekend....in the 80s. Wow! Love it. I am SO ready for warm weather. Shorts, sandals, farmers markets. Bring it on! Maybe it will also provide the opportunity to get out and continue to "experiment" with what I'm learning in photography.

Then in a few short weeks the semester will be over, we'll have the whole summer ahead of us. Which I'd like to think we are "unofficially kicking off" with a roadtrip to Kansas to see Bethany & Dan. I am so excited about the trip!! Well, about seeing them, we aren't huge road trip people, but the destination is worth it! :)

So, what are your plans for the weekend or even for this lovely time of year as Spring approaches and warmer weather welcomes us all!

More Photography

For some reason I have been photo happy lately. Normally I'm recipe happy, but there's always room for something new, right? I have had two weeks of a photography class at church and have loved it! Last night we did a photo scavenger hunt and maybe I can post some of those pictures on here later. We are supposed to submit our five best shots for our homework assignment as well as continue taking our daily photos. I have only missed one day, so that's good!

A couple weeks ago some good friends of ours had a sweet little baby boy and they had asked me to take some pictures of him when he was one week old. I felt unprepared and under-qualified, but I said "yes" anyway. Experience, right? I did get experience and I was a little dissapointed in some of the shots that didn't turn out, but after editing and cropping some...I came up with about 35 shots that I really like that I am passing on to them. I am also going to have another "photo shoot" when he is one month...this should be coming up soon...so hopefully I'll know more by then and be improved. Here is one of my favorite shots.

I mean seriously, he's pretty cute, huh?

This is another one of my daily photos

for some reason I really like it...

Daily Photos

Make sure to scroll down to see my other post from earlier today with some info about yummy food.

I am taking a photography class at church on Wednesday nights and this week will be our second week of class. One of our big assignments for the class is to take daily photos (one photo each day) and if we don't miss more than five days at the end of the assignment we will get our "life" (photos) displayed in the second floor gallery at church in a grid display. And we'll get them printed for us for free! So, it's been hard to take a picture every day and just take a normal shot, and not necessarily try and get something perfect. But it's been good. The guy who is teaching the class has been taking daily photos for three years. It's kind of like journaling, only with pictures. I might keep this up!

Here are a couple of my pics:

What We Are Eating

Week 3 of sharing our menus with you in hopes of helping you think of some new and creative ways to eat well, but also inexpensively! Here's the plan:

Saturday
We had a nice dinner outside on
the porch and I made a yummy
Penne with Ricotta & Asparagus

Sunday
We had Roasted Chicken & Brussel Sprouts
*shredded extra chicken for another meal
*made broth out of scraps (probably 2 quarts worth!)

Monday
Herbed Chicken and Purple Potatoes
*Thanks to ZIP N STEAM bags
it will be ready in about 6 mins!

Tuesday
Lemon Garlic Chicken Noodle Soup (Rachael Ray)
*with leftover roasted chicken and green onions instead of leeks

Wednesday
Eggplant Crockpot Recipe
*This is a new recipe that is simply pasta sauce,
eggplant, and cottage cheese layered in the
crockpot kind of like a lasagna. I am excited to try it out!

Thursday
Whole Wheat Biscuits & Eggs

Friday
leftovers


Other:
*I made some Granola Wheat Bread for Eron to have
for toast for breakfast this week

*Also made some homemade granola (always yummy!)

*Going to make some Red Velvet Cupcakes for a birthday
party at work (a different approach to these!)

Bet you can't eat just one!

I saw these little awesome balls of goodness on a website I check often and was excited to see them get some attention. I have been making peanut butter balls for a long time and I remember having them growing up. In college, I'd even make the mixture, pop it in the freezer for a bit and just eat it chilled right out of the bowl! It is that good. This recipe adds in unsweetened coconut, which I think might be pretty good. I'm liking coconut these days. Anyway, get some honey, some PB, and some powdered milk and you're in business. These are great for snacks, and although you definetly can't eat just one...don't eat the whole batch at once. It is still honey and peanut butter, which is good for you, but not in massive amounts of course. Hence the whole eating the whole bowl out of the freezer thing probably not being the best idea if you are watching your waistline. Anyway, try making some...soon!

Sucking me in...

Every day or at least every other day I get an e-mail from ETSY with new and unique finds that are available on their site. Normally I just quickly scroll through and see if there is anything I can't live without (which is usually not the case). More often than not I just delete the e-mail. But for some reason these beauties really caught my eye. They are sucking me in, one engraved class and hand-stitched tote bag at a time!!!

I heart Etsy. But in reality I can live without them...bye bye pretty glasses.

Photos

Sushi for our night out. Yum! Our favorite (although this isn't a picture of it) was the Thai Spicy Tuna Roll.

Eron & I hanging out about to go get some frozen yogurt on Saturday night.

What We Are Eating

Here is the breakdown for the week:

Monday
Egg sandwiches or scrambled eggs
w/ veggies of some sort

Tuesday
Grilled chicken w/ Kale & Potato Gratin
(we ended up going out to eat last Saturday)

Wednesday
Ham, Potato, & Leek Soup (revised)
(making it with regular onions and no cream)

Thursday
Leftovers

Friday
possibly dinner @ a friends
or something else random (breakfast anyone?!)

Saturday- back to the grocery store for the next two weeks!!


OTHER:
Making some homemade (in the bread machine part way) Oatmeal Bread for friends tonight and some whole wheat, fat free pumpkin bread for a breakfast @ work on Wednesday. Good times!

Creation Gardens

I went to this grocery market place here in town today with a friend from church. It's called Creation Gardens and I love it! It has lots of gourmet food items, tons of bulk spices, and yummy produce. It sells mainly to restaurants around town so it has lots of gourmet type stuff but also lots of stuff in bulk containers (olive oil, spices, vanilla extract, etc.) I got tons of great stuff...including a HUGE thing of Tabasco sauce (Eron loves Tabasco) for only $6. Also dried beans for $0.85 a pound and rolled oats for $1.50 for two pounds. Oh and a pound of yeast...that I think was under $2!! Nothing is priced really, and I forgot to pay attention to everything when it rung up. But it is all cheaper than your normal grocery store. You aren't paying for the packaging or the middle man.

I think I'll visit again soon! How exciting!

Update

Spinach Rice Casserole---not that great. I mean it was good enough to eat, but not good enough to store away in the "make again for sure!" category of recipes. But for real, check out that vegetable soup recipe. I am making it again for a friend that just had a baby along with some homemade oatmeal bread. It is that good!

Well, tomorrow is Good Friday which means a day off of work to rest. I am loooking forward to it! I have some housework to get done, hopefully getting to the gym, and then taking some new baby pics for the same friend who just had the baby. I'm a little nervous about that part. Yikes! Hopefully it will go well.

I'm going to do this this weekend and store some up in the freezer for future use! Yum!

Speaking of which, I am starting a photography class @ church next week. It will run for 6 weeks on Wednesday nights and I'm pretty pumped to actually start to learn some stuff and somewhat know what I am doing with my new camera!

Well, that's my quick update for now. Happy Thursday!

What We Are Eating

I was going to post this yesterday, but I was at home in bed and sick. I have gotten my first cold of the season and thought I might actually escape the winter without having one...but I guess not. Anyway, sorry for the delay, but here is what's on the menu for this week:

Sunday
I made this delicious vegetable soup
and it makes so much, we have SO many
leftovers and I froze a bunch of it too.
Check out the recipe HERE.

Monday
nothing really cause I was sick
do pretzels @ community group count?!

Tuesday
Baked Potatoes (in the microwave)
with spicy yogurt sauce (just cumin and plain yogurt)
and roasted asparagus

Wednesday
Spinach Rice Casserole
(made with brown rice and frozen spinach)

Thursday
breakfast or leftovers
(omelettes, fried egg sandwiches, etc.)

Friday
Pasta w/ simple garlic sauce
Mixed Greens Salad

Saturday
George Forman "Grilled" Chicken
Kale & Potatoes

*Also made homemade Oat-N-Honey bread and plan to make homemade granola soon!*

I guess that's it. I have actually grocery shopped for two weeks, so I have the menus tentatively planned out for that far out, but I can post the others later. Besides I'm flexible so some of these may get "switched out" for others that are "supposed to be" next week. Hope you see something you like and want to try!

What are you making this week?

Things I Love

Well, I love to read food blogs and you can see some of my favorites on the blogroll on the right. For real, check them out! I also love getting ideas and inspiration on how to decorate and arrange our apartment. I love APARTMENT THERAPY because of inspirational posts like these:

Charmer


Lofty


Colorful

They also have a "sister" sight (The Kitchn) that satisfies my hunger...or makes me more hungry. Either way, they always have some good recipes. I.E.---these muffins! Don't you just want to goble all of those up?!

Speaking of food, I've also loved checking out this site and although I'm not sure if I could do $30 a week for groceries, I am attempting to be more creative. And in hopes of saving money I am going to attempt every-two-weeks shopping instead of the current weekly trips. Granted things may still come up, but I hope to think ahead and avoid extra trips to the grocery store. And now that it's almost Farmers Market season I'll be able to "fill in" with fresh produce that way. Um, yum. Can't wait!

The weekend is almost here. We have big plans of babysitting tonight and I have some stuff going on tomorrow morning. The dog sitting for little Bella continues and maybe doing something tomorrow night. I hope to continue the Spring Cleaning too! Gotta get the linen closet organized and the fridge scrubbed down....not to mention the TONS of laundry I have to do. Sounds fun?! Actually, I kind of like that stuff. Well, not laundry, but the other stuff.

So, I'll post on Monday with the "what we are eating" posts I'm hoping to start now with menu plans and recipes that are worth sharing. See y'all then!

Happenings

Well, I did it. I signed up for my first 5K. Now I feel like a lot of people I know are doing half marathons or even the full marathon that is coming up here during Derby season...but for me, a 5K is a good goal. And this one is at the zoo here in town, which happens to be a really HILLY location, so it's not the same as running a few miles on the treadmill that's for darn sure! So, I signed up for it, so now I have to do it! I don't have a goal for time, as I'm a very slow runner, but just to finish it without stopping. No walking!

I also have been doing no sweets for the birthday "diet" thing, but I broke it on Monday for sure and even yesterday and already today. Stupid Dove Dark Chocolate! :) But, now, with a new goal in mind, no sweets until the 5K. I am fine that I've had them on my birthday and the leftovers after that, but really I would like to not eat them on a regular basis AT ALL. But, saying none until the 5K is a good way to just continue on with the no sweets. Next time I'll eat them will hopefully be the next special occasion, birthday, etc.

On another note, I am thinking about posting on here what menu/meal plans we have for the week. Some people have asked or when I've posted ideas and stuff people ask other things. Maybe if once a week I just put it "all out there" then it might be helpful. Maybe. Besides, sometimes I try new recipes during the week and I really want to share them, but this way they could be all linked up and all that good stuff. We'll see!

This is Spring Reading Days this week...a.k.a. Spring Break. Kind of slow at work and Eron is catching up on studies. We are dogsitting for the Bebees this week while they are in Texas on vacation. And spring cleaning is underway...of course! I've rearranged and organized some stuff in the kitchen, done some good dusting, and cleaned out some clothes to donate. It's been good!

Hope y'all are having a good week!