LONG week…

Sorry guys, I did it again - I haven’t blogged in almost a week :(  Sorry!  Wow, things have been so crazy around here!!!  Not a whole lot to say on the Food and Fitness front….except for these nummy guys!!!

Be careful people, these are addicting!!!!!!!!!!!!  And get this, only 130 calories for 30 of these guys!  Not too shabby!  Even Chad loved them….SHHH, don’t tell him they’re healthy :)  Too bad they were $4.60 for the box!!!!  Otherwise they’d be making a regular appearance in my pantry!  Well okay, they probably still will

Oh yeah!  I almost forgot….guess what we did last night???  Grilled a pizza!!!!  We did it once before, but it burnt….it was still delish, but not as delish as it could have been!  This time, it worked MUCH better.  Chad and I both love Hawaiian Pizza, so that’s what we did.

Our trick?  Using a pre-made pizza crust (like Boboli’s).  Then put on your toppings (obviously).  We then preheated both sides of our gas grill, but when it was time to cook the pizza, we turned off one burner and put the pizza on.  That way we used the heat of the other burner to heat it.  Nothing needed to be cooked, just heated up basically, so this worked like a charm!!!!!!!  It was SOOO good!

Other than that…nothing new and exciting.  We did have Chad’s B-day last week (Friday, 7/11)…..normally we don’t do huge celebrations anymore, but he turned the big 2-9 (hopefully he’s okay with me telling everyone) so he figured we’d have a big bash :)  It was a blast…however, we didn’t get home until 3 am!!!!  WHAT?!?!?!?  I cannot handle that anymore!  Wow, I’m still catching up!  Geez!

I couldn’t decide what to wear so I had Chad take pictures of me in a bunch of outfits.  This is the one I ended up picking, minus the black tank top.  Chad wasn’t a fan of this method of picking out an outfit, but I didn’t really care….sometimes sacrifices for each other are necessary

To top it off, we drove to Appleton (an hour away) the next night to go out to Red Lobster……Seriously, we’re so lucky we don’t have a Red Lobster in our city because we would have to go EVERY DAY!  I am in love with RL!  I don’t think I’ve ever had anything I didn’t like there…..Usually, Chad and I both get the Ultimate Feast.  However, this time my conscience was talking to me about how many calories that has to add up to….so I obliged and instead got some dish with lobster, crab legs, and scallops.  All broiled.  I did have 4 cheesy/garlic biscuits, but that’s not the point!  Those are sent from Heavenso that doesn’t even count!  And yes, I did get the Caesar salad with petite shrimp on it…….okay, now my mouth is watering again so I need to stop!

And….just for kicks, I’ll leave you with a picture of my pup:

Some new food ideas and products!!

Good morning everyone :)  It’s so nice to be back to blogger-land!!  :)  Things have been relatively uneventful this week, which is good!  My meals have been relatively boring lately so I’m just going to do a post with new food stuff, ideas, tips, etc because I always love that kind of stuff.

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• This first idea LOOKS a little gross, but trust me, it’s DELISH!!!!!  I’ve been doing it for a couple of years now - basically since I started Weight Watchers and don’t even give it a second thought anymore, but decided to post about it because most people have probably never heard of this!!

What you do is put SF pudding (the powder) into your oatmeal!!!  I just chocolate or chocolate fudge, and you have Chocolate Oatmeal!!!!  All you do is take 1/2 cup oatmeal (or whatever portion you’d like), 1 cup water, cinnamon, and about 2 Tbsp of the SF pudding powder and microwave like normal.  I also add a little splenda because I like it sweet.  It’s SOOOOOO good!  Yesterday I added some PB of course :)  But, it would be a great snack because if you just had this, it’d only be about 170 calories total!!!  Not bad, and SO filling!  You can do other flavors too, but I’ve only been adventurous enough to do chocolate.

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• A New Find:

I was grocery shopping the other day and saw this for $1!  I HEART Rice Noodles so this looked like a tasty alternative to Ramen…and get this, 190 calories for the WHOLE thing!  Crazy, right?!?!?  So I had to try it.  OMG - fricken’ amazing!!!!  I tried the Garlic and Vegetable flavor but I think they had 2 or 3 others too.  This was SOOO good, I cannot wait to go get more!  Seriously, I thought about it ALL day and night!  Here’s what it looks like made:

And it couldn’t be easier to make - all you do is add 1 cup water (I did 3/4 so it wouldn’t be so liquidy) and microwave for 3 minutes!!!  I’m in LOVE!

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• I tried a new flavor of Lara Bar yesterday: PECAN PIE

YUMMERS!  This was amazing, but I wouldn’t expect anything less

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• Here is another idea that I’ve done for years and years…..I think we started doing it as a family growing up, but a little more unhealthy.  Now I just lighten it up and it’s SUCH a great snack!!!!!  If you like crab meat, you’ve got to do this.

All it is, is imitation crab meat broken up into a small bowl, then spray it with spray butter and microwave for 25-ish seconds.  It is SO good, and light so it’s the perfect snack!!

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• I tried a new idea/combination for supper yesterday and it was incredible!!!  *Sorry for the horrible photo*

It’s a wrap, filled with deli turkey, 2 slices of the heat and eat bacon (Only 60 calories for 3 whole slices!!!!), and LF Co-Jack cheese.  Then I wrapped it up and baked it in the oven for about 10 minutes.  I’ve never baked a wrap before and usually have it cold, but it was so DELISH - OMG!!!!!  I tried to savor every bite.  It was great dipped in FF Ranch!

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• These kind of speak for themselves

My first fresh produce from my garden!!!!  I was so excited

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• Here’s a new product I stumbled on a few weeks ago: Nescafe Iced Java

All you do is add 8 oz of milk or so and add 2 Tbsp of this stuff, stir, and add ice : Iced Latte basically!  It is so YUMMY!  Not the best nutritional fact wise, but not horrible.  It’s 80 calories I believe for 2 Tbsp.  I add it to 8 oz of LF Vanilla Soy Milk, and you have a 140 calorie Iced Latte for free basically!  I am in loved with iced coffee and iced lattes during the summer but it gets SOOOO expensive!  So I found a semi-solution :)  They also have different flavors in this but this was the Chocolate Mocha - I’d definitely recommend it!!!

Go out and make it a GREAT day!!!!!!  The CHOICE is yours!!!!!

I’m Baaa-aack!!!!

I know, I know….where the heck have I been?  Well, things got really busy for me at home and at work and unfortunately, blogging took the back burner.  The first week off was just because I was so far behind with everything, and then not blogging ended up giving me some free time and it was somewhat nice to take a break.  I find that when I started my own blog, I found less and less time to read other peoples’ blogs and that’s sad for me because I love doing that!  So I decided just to take a small break to catch up on things and recoupe :)  And….it worked!

So….I’m back!  I may not be able to post every single day, just because I don’t have much time at work to do so anymore and previously, that’s where I had extra time as well as the fact that my work computer is easier to download pictures with than my home computer…..but I will post as often as I can

Unfortunately I don’t really have any food pics to post and I know this is a “food blog” but there’s nothing big to report.  I did make 2 AWESOME, AWESOME new recipes but don’t have pictures of the final product :(  OOPS!  So maybe I’ll just post the recipes sometime this week and you’ll have to take my word for it that they look AND taste amazing!!!!!!  One was a Key Lime Pie and the other was a Hamburger Hotdish.  Recipes to come

There’s a lot that I’ve done since I last blogged but now it seems SO long ago so I barely even remember :)  So we’ll start with this past weekend - 4th of July.  WOW, we had amazing weather!  It was in the 80’s and sunny every day!  That’s not usual for a Holiday weekend!  And, we took advantage!  We were outside A LOT!!!

This past weekend we were actually babysitting Baylee’s sister, Emmy.  Our friends own her, which is actually why we got Baylee……Chad and I were contemplating getting a dog, and we both loved Boxers….the VERY next day after a long chat about whether or not to get a dog, my coworker brought in her new 7 week old Boxer puppy.  I took it as a sign :)  And if you’ve ever seen a boxer puppy, I think they are some of the cutest puppies in the world!!!!  So, I called the breeder and low and behold they had two left.  Well, the rest is history :)  My friend actually had to give Emmy up for personal reasons, but another good friend of mine adopted her.  It’s pretty cool because now we get to see Emmy a lot and her and Baylee are just awesome together!  Her owners have watched Baylee a few times before, but we’ve never watched Emmy.  This weekend we watched her Wednesday-Sunday and had a blast!  Just an FYI that I have a LOT of pics of the two of them :)  Once again, I know this isn’t a “Dog Blog” but for today, it kind of is :)  Sorry! 

Healthy Ashley and Jessie - you are going to LOVE these pics!!!!  (They’re Boxer owners too!)

Now, you have to look close because Baylee and Emmy look VERY, VERY similar!  Baylee has the red collar and Emmy has the green.

Just hangin’ out

Chewing on bones together…..

They had to be on or next to each other at ALL times!  It was pretty darn adorable!!

They played hard and slept hard!

I LOVE this picture of Baylee hanging out outside

After a long day of being outside, they crashed on our bed and took a nap together

On the 4th, we had Chad’s Mom, her boyfriend, and Chad’s Grandma over.  It was a blast - we sat outside for a majority of the day and grilled out.  I think they were entertained by the two Boxers doing their thing :)  When we got in, the Boxers took their spots and got a good nap in.

Saturday we had a good friend’s wedding.  Here are Chad and I with two good friends of ours and our friend’s stepdad.  It was so much fun!  They were passing out those glow sticks to everyone and that’s what I have on my head

Here is a book I recently finished….you MUST go read this book!  Seriously!  It may be the best book I’ve ever read, and that’s saying a LOT!  I got the recommendation from Jenna on EatLiveRun.com and fell in love with this book.  Go get it today!!!

And here is some decoration I put up this weekend……it’s that Uppercase Living stuff that I previously posted about when I made the cutting boards and coasters for wedding gifts.  This was a fun project and I love the final look!

Alright, that’s it for the photo album :)  I hope it helped catch you all up.  Sorry for all the dog pics but that was basically our weekend!!  I hope everyone had a great 4th and Happy Monday! 

P.S. I’ve seen some comments on your guys’ blogs that you have Facebook!?!?  I’d love to add y’all as Friends!  If you have facebook, let me know your screen-name or whatever it’s called and I’ll add you

Stay Tuned…..

Sorry guys that I didn’t get a chance to post today!!!  Work got kind of busy….Fridays are hard for me.  In the morning I’m SO unmotivated and sit and read everyones’ blog, and then at the end of the day I have to rush, rush, rush to hit my goals before I leave work……  and I totally to forgot to post on my own blog until it was too late.

Well….now I’m at home and ready for bed on a Friday night.  My home computer doesn’t work as well for uploading pics, so unfortunately I don’t have any pics from yesterday - I took pictures of us at the softball game and everything :(  Oh well, I just have to post them when I get back to work.

Chad and I are heading out tomorrow in the early afternoon for a mini vacation.  Every year Chad’s whole family (it’s HUGE) rents condos up in Eagle River, WI for a week on a lake…..it’s SO much fun.  Well we can never afford the whole week off of work, so this year we’re going until Monday night, and then are coming back for work on Tuesday.  I’m very excited!  I could use a little R&R!!!!!

Have a great weekend everyone!!!!

Happy Anniversary!!

Today is it!!  Our 4th wedding anniversary!!!  I honestly cannot believe it!  We’ve been together for 9 years and sometimes it feels like forever - I can’t remember my life before I knew Chad!  And other times, it seems like just yesterday that we were planning our wedding - crazy!  That’s life I guess

Here is a picture of us last night having our picnic by the lake:

 

And the view:

It was SO nice out - a perfect day for our outing!!

Afterwards we stopped and got ice cream (!!!) and went home, took Baylee for a walk, and then sat down and watched a movie.  We got P.S. I Love You.  Normally Chad HATES chick flicks with a passion and will not watch them - I guess I can’t blame him - but last night he said I could pick out whatever movie I wanted!  It was really good!  Some parts kind of dragged on but it was a great movie and had a great lesson - “Live Live to the Fullest Every Day” - SO true!!!!

No, onto our wedding, a mere 4 years ago :)  I don’t have any electronic pictures to upload unfortunately :(  I wish I did for you guys!  But…..it was a great day!  The weather was absolutely perfect - 72 degrees and sunny with a slight overcast (great for pictures).  We had 5 couples stand up and they were in purple dresses (my favorite color back then….now it’s green).  I had a gorgeous strapless dress and all the girls were in strapless dresses as well.  The guys were in black tuxes, and they had canes and top hats for the reception!!  :)  The made the BEST pictures!!!  And we all wore our sunglasses so the pictures are all pretty cool and hilarious!  I danced almost to every single song!!!!  I think I only missed 3 songs the whole night and those were probably because I was in the bathroom.  I know that normally you’re supposed to mingle with everyone on your wedding day because they came there to see YOU on your big day….Well I did some of that too, but I just could not stay off the dance floor!  Seriously :)  I had flip flops on the whole day/night because I wanted to be comfy.  Actually all the girls were in flip flops :)  I danced “our first dance” on Chad’s toes :)  That’s “our thing” I guess you could see.  I’m not sure if he prefers it, but he puts up with it - LOL.  Hmm….what else…..I had purple, cream, and light green flowers.  Georgeous!!!  For centerpieces, we had fishbowls filled with water, and then had green apples floating in them with tealights - it was SO cute - we got a ton of compliments on them and it was all my idea :)  For favors we had pretsels dipped in white chocolate and they said “Chad and Melissa TIE the knot - June 19, 2004″.  We had a square cake that was absolutely gorgeous.  Alright, that’s about it without pictures

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY CHAD!!!!!!!!

Onto the food

 I was prepared and did some prep work the night before, and made a mock Egg McMuffin with 3 egg whites, a light English Muffin, and 1 oz of LF Cheddar cheese.  I was so mad - I forgot my morningstar breakfast patty at home :(  bummer!

And a snack (nectarine - of course)…

I was really ahead of the game this week :)  On Sunday, I prepared a few things ahead of time for meals so we could just “grab and go” when we needed too.  I find that one of the easiest things to do this with, is taco meat.  Not only is it quick to make, but it stores for almost a week and is almost better reheated because the flavors can sit overnight!  I made mine with 93% FF Ground Turkey, and put it on a WW Tortilla with lettuce and RF Cheese.  The only bad thing about transporting this, is it’s hard to take extra toppings (tomato, onions, taco sauce, etc).  Still delish though!!

I didn’t need a snack today because I was leaving right after work to meet Chad for our picnic.  We went to the same place that I got a sandwich from last week and was raving about - Emy J’s.  It’s was Chad’s first time there and he loved it as well!  I got a sandwich that included smoked turkey, gouda cheese, red onion, tomato, and a cranberry mustard - the star ingredient!!!  SOOOOO yummy!  On the side I had a pickle and some kettle chips.  Oh, and diet root beer - a perfect drink for a picnic

Afterwards we went and fed the ducks - it was so much fun!  There were some baby ducklings who we made sure got some bread in their tummies

On the way home, like I said, we stopped for ice cream.  I made two good moves - got a SMALL size (! - hard for me to do!) and got the dole whip.  I made one bad but tasty move - got the Turtle Cheesecake flavor….this guy had pecans, chocolate, carmel, and chunks of New York cheesecake!!!  HELLO!!!!!!  I didn’t take a picture because we were watching the movie and I just kind of scarfed it down :)  I’m sure you don’t blame me!!!

Have a great Thursday everyone!!!!

I heart the Lawn Mower!

Yesterday was all in all a great day.  It was really nice outside, I got a great workout in, food was good…the only bad part was that it was only Tuesday and I have 4 days to go before the weekend

Anyway, I had another bowl of muesli for breakfast.  Seriously, love this stuff!

For snack, I had a tangerine.  I bought like 6 this weekend and they all ripened at once so I’m quick trying to finish them off.

For lunch, I had my FAVORITE tv dinner EVER!!!!  The Lean Cuisine Sesame Chicken - seriously, I could have this every day for lunch!  I love it so much and it is very filling as well.  I try not to do these often, but I like to keep some in the freezer when I have nothing to bring for lunch, or don’t have time to pack a lunch.

I moved it to a bowl so it’d look for appetizing for the picture :)  You are welcome!!  LOL

 

For a snack:

 

and…

 

After work, Chad and I went to the gym for a quick 30 minute workout on the Elliptical machine.  Once we got home, it was time to mow lawn!!!  Now, Chad and I are the only couple in the WORLD that I know of that actually fights over who gets to mow the lawn!!!  We’ve been in our house now for a little over 2 years, and I’ve only gotten to mow lawn 2 or 3 times!!  We both love doing it - me, for the exercise and to clear my head, and Chad for the exercise and so he can listen to the iPOD.  Well yesterday, I WON!  I “got” to mow :)  I wore my HRM and was surprise to see I burned 400+ calories!  We have a lot that is about an acre, so it takes a little over an hour to mow with the push mower.  I love it because I’d much rather do that and be outside, then sit inside in the gym and not even burn that many calories!  I also had to do some raking afterwards to get rid of some excess grass clippings, so burned over 500 calories total!!!!!  I told Chad I’m mowing lawn more often

For supper, we had an old favorite.  Homemade Chicken Pot Pie!  I used to make this ALL the time back when I started Weight Watchers.  It is SO easy and SO delish!!!!!  You all need to go make this ASAP. 

The picture looks kind of off because of the lighting, but trust me, it was really delicious!  Here is the recipe: Chicken Pot Pie.  I doubled the recipe so we’d have more leftovers.

And of course afterwards, I needed to have my ice cream since I burned off so many calories :)  I added some coconut, flavored PB, and almonds ;)  YUM!

New Schtuff!!

Hey peeps - sorry it’s been a few days…..I was going to put up picks of my meals from this weekend but uploading 20 pictures would take FOREVER!  So instead, I’m posting some new stuff I tried this weekend…..some healthy options, some low fat options, and some just plain delicious options!

But first….here is a pic of Baylee from Saturday.  Chad was gone at a friend’s bachelor party, so I was home alone.  I did my best to wear her out so I could just sit and relax and watch some TV.  I think I did a good job - here she is passed out on our bed that night:

I LOVE this picture - don’t her legs look like they go on forever!  I wish I had long legs like that!!! :)  LOL

And another:

Alright, alright, I know this isn’t a dog blog :)  hey, but that sounds cool! 

Now, onto the food:

WOWzers - I don’t even think these guys need explaining!  Low cal chocolate covered pretzels?  Be still my heart!  My only complaint?  There’s not many in the bag….I don’t care though, SO delish!

Another HOLY CAMOLY product!  Geez!  I was leery about buying this for 3 reasons.  1) It wasn’t on sale and was $5.99!  2) The last time I got FF Ice Cream I woke up screaming in the middle of the night with stomach cramps from whatever it was they put in that stuff and 3) A whole thing of ice cream in my freezer is dangerous!!!!!

But, this will definitely be on this blog more often…so delicious!  I might have had 3 bowls on Sunday alone….might have!

I have no clue how this appeared in my shopping cart but I’m glad it did!  I thought I’d try it because I found it by all the Melba Toast, Akmak crackers, etc…..they’re really, really good!!!!  And only 40 cal per slice…..it’s crunchy and cinnamony - yummers!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  I’ve seen everybody raving about flavored peanut butters and thought I was totally missing out because they don’t sell it anywhere near me.  I was just about to order some online from PB & Co but somehow, unfortunately (fortunately - depending on how you look at it) I found out that they sell these near me….actually about 3 blocks away from me!  I rushed out to buy them and was pretty iffy about spending $6.99 a jar for them.  YIKES!  But I decided what the heck, throw caution to the wind.  WOW - these things knocked my socks off!  Almost literally :)  I am going to have a hard time staying out of these jars!!!!!!!  SOOOOOOO good!

….and last, but certainly not least……

I tried muesli for the first time!  Althought it’s not too warm yet here in the mornings, I’ve wanted to mix up my normal oatmeal for a while now.  The night before, I threw together 1/2 cup rolled oats, 1/2 cup FF vanilla soy milk, 1/2 cup FF vanilla yogurt, 1/4 cup cooked wheatberries, and cinnamon.  Then before eating, I threw in 1/4 cup raspberries and a half of a banana, as well as some SF maple syrup…..this was REALLY, REALLY good!!!!!  I loved the texture of it!  And the chew - WOW the chew!!!!!  It was so yummy!

That’s about it….:)  I’m so excited for the upcoming week.  Thursday (JUNE 19) is mine and Chad’s 4-year Anniversary!!!!!  I can’t believe how time has flown (in July, we’ll have been together 9 years!)  Since Chad plays softball on Thursdays (actually this week he has a doubleheader), we are celebrating Wednesday and Friday :)  Wednesday we’re doing a picnic supper by the lake and watching a movie, and then Friday night we’re going out for sushi and to a concert.  WOOHOO!!!!!

Then…this weekend we’re going up north for a few days.  All of Chad’s relatives rent out a resort for a week every year.  We’re only able to go Sat-Mon but I’m SO excited.  It’s always a ton of fun!!!!

Craziness!

In the morning I always listed to the radio while I’m getting ready….it’s probably a bad idea because for some reason it makes me take longer to get ready, but I need the human interaction in the morning.  Well this morning, it was just insane.  All they were talking about is all the major roads in southern Wisconsin being closed.  It was just crazy!  I live in central Wisconsin, and we’re just north of the Wisconsin Dells.  Some of you may have heard about this on the news, but a huge manmade lake (Lake Delton) was drained this past week and flooded the nearby town.  It washed away some huge houses as well.  You can view the clips on CNN - it is just horrible to see!  It was where the Tommy Bartlett water ski show always took place if you’ve ever heard of it.  We actually have 2 really good friends that used to water ski there so it was just horrifying to hear!

On top of that, because of yesterdays torrential rains, there are so many cities and roads in southern Wisconsin that are now flooded…..from where I live, you can’t even get down to Madison or Milwaukee on the Highways!  It is just so weird to hear your area talked about on the national news!!!  Weird and scary!  My thoughts and prayers also go out to everyone else who’s been affected by the last week or two of crazy weather, including the Boy Scout camp that was hit by a tornado in Iowa this week :(  How sad!!!

Anyway…….on to brighter topics!! :)  Just so you all are aware, I am OBSESSED, yes OBSESSED with So You Think You Can Dance - the reality dance tv show…..OMG!!!  Love it!  For any of you that don’t watch it, go watch it :)  It’s on Fox on Wednesday and Thursdays.  Now, for any of you that DO watch the show….don’t tell me what’s been happening.  I have 3 shows to catch up on that are DVR’d and waiting to be watched :)  Since Chad has softball Thursday nights, I’m behind but will hopefully catch up this weekend….hopefully!

Wow, I have a lot to say today!  The list continues! :)  I am SO happy to report that I had weigh-in for WW yesterday and I am down to 124!!!!!  I am SO excited!  I’ve been to the 125 and 127 mark SO many times and plateau out so I was SO happy to see that number!!!!!!  I’ve got to keep on trecking because I’m still not at my goal, but I’m inching in on it!!

And last but not least before I finally get to FOOD……a lot of you have been asking about “my designs”  :)  I like saying that!  Everything was from Uppercase Living.  You can custom order letters/words and make your own stuff, which is what I did…..the company is similar to Pampered Chef, Partylite, or Tastefully Simple, etc….where you have a demonstrator come in and do a party and place an order.  I wish you all lived by me - I’m having a party in July so I can order more stuff to make!! :)  I LOVE it!

Okay…..now for the FOOD

Breakfast - 1/2 cup oatmeal made the night before on the stove with 1 cup water and 1/2 banana.  SO good - tasted just like with milk because it was made on the stove.  Drizzled with SF Maple Syrup and 1 Tbsp PB

Mid-morning Snack - 12 oz FF Latte with SF Caramel

BEST, BEST, BEST LUNCH EVER!!!!! - I decided to try out this little hippy sandwich shop that I’ve heard rave reviews on and have been wanting to try for like a year.  OMG, it was A.mazing!!!!  I got a chicken, pesto, provolone sandwich on toasted multigrain bread (!!) with a side salad and their homemade vinagrette - Everything was SO delicious!  I was actually moaning as I was eating it at my desk!  :)  It was that good!!!  And look how cute they packaged the sandwich

and unwrapped….

YUM!

 SNACKS - YUM!

SUPPER - All I can say is WOW!  I tried something quick and new for us….I picked up some of those Bertolli refrigerated Tortellini (sp??) pasta things (filled with chicken, and sweet Italian sausage), topped it with some marinara sauce (marinara with Burgundy wine!!), and some garlic bread on the side……it was SO good!  It was the second meal of the day where I ate “oohing” and “ahhing” :) 

 and of course, DESSERT!!!!!  I had a bowl of frozen FF Cool Whip topped with FRESH RASPBERRIES!!!

Another WOW eating experience

What a great day!!!

Random things…

Okay, so honestly I haven’t been taking pictures of my food lately because A) I’ve been lazy, and B) I haven’t had time to do many posts at work lately so figured it didn’t pay to take pictures….but starting today I’m going to try and get back on track with it, so hopefully tomorrow you’ll have some pictures of FOOD!

Anyway, for now you’ll have to settle with these!

Here is a picture of my oatmeal from this past weekend….I decided to try and mix it up a bit, and obviously make it kind of a dessert :)  YUM!  I put a little SF chocolate syrup on top, as well as some FF Cool Whip and coconut………….mmmmmmmm……….

Next, remember how a week or two ago I posted a picture of those ROCKIN’ coasters I made for our friends for a wedding gift?  Well here are 2 more things I’ve recently made for wedding gifts…..cutting boards with their last NEW initial along with their wedding date.  I used to be one to give money for weddings because let’s face it, that’s what most people want and need the most!  But now I am ALL about making personalized gifts :)  When we got married, besides the money, personalized gifts were my absolute favorite!!!

And last, but certainly not least…..here is me with my pup on her Birthday!  If only she was that calm and tired everyday!

Marathon, Baylee, and NKOTB!!!

#1 - MARATHON

WOW!  So, we completed a WHOLE fricken’ marathon on Saturday!  I still can’t believe it!  Yes, we were just walking, but we actually talked to a few people who also run marathons, and they said walking one is harder!!!  I think because it takes so much longer and it’s a long time for your body to be exercising constant!!

Now for the details :)  I woke up just ready to go - I was SOOO excited I couldn’t wait to start!  When we got to the location, I knew it was going to be a scorcher….it was only 7:30 and already so hot all I needed was a tank top and shorts - rare for me!  It started out great, until mile 9 came….it was really weird because I’ve walked longer than that before, but I think the heat really, really got to me because during mile 9 I felt really light headed and dizzy!  Luckily shortly after, the sun went away and while it was still hot, the sun wasn’t beating down on me and that helped a ton!  Chad’s dad and step-mom met us at the halway point (13.1 miles) and walked the remaining half with us!!  That was really nice because I was already really tuckered out at that point, and their fresh attitude, conversations, etc got us through the remaining 13.1 miles!

Around mile 19 or so, it started to totally downpour on us!  We didn’t care though because we were hot it actually felt amazing!!  So refreshing!  It poured on us for 45 minutes or so, and then stopped completely.  I was going to stop and change into dry socks, but I figured I didn’t want to look at my feet because if I had any blisters they’d really start to bother me once I knew I had them :)  I actually wasn’t feeling all that horrible until about mile 22……I was SO ready to be done!  WOW!  I could feel my body wanting to shut down as we went from a 15 minute mile, to a 20 minute mile…..  as I saw the finish line come into sight though, wow, what a feeling!!!

The best and worst part about the marathon, is that it’s through a gorgeous wooded loop all around the city of Stevens Point, Wisconsin….it’s really, really pretty and scenic.  However, since it’s wooded, you guessed it: BUGS!!!  Once again, I got eaten alive!  I doused myself with bug spray at least 10 times throughout the day and I still came out with about 15 mosquito bites!!!  What the heck??  And Chad?  Well he didn’t apply bug spray once and he had no bites….Seriously, they just LOVE me!!! 

Anyway, we finished in about 7 1/2 hours….not too bad, but that is SUCH a long time to be walking!  Yikes :)  I walked away with about 6 blisters on my feet, 15 mosquito bites, and legs sorer than heck, but it was SO worth it!  I can’t wait to do it again next year :)  It was kind of commical because we had a wedding to go to right afterwards.  It was a really fancy wedding but Chad and I weren’t feeling in the mood obviously to get all dolled up, so the sandals (flip flops for me) made an appearance :)  There were 5 of us that did the whole marathon and attended the wedding and we were all walking gingerly that night!!!

OH!  And get this….I wore my HRM to see how many calories we were burning, as well as to track how many minutes we were taking per mile.  By the end, guess how many calories I burned!?!?!?!?  Just guess!  Okay, I’ll tell you :)  2,700 calories!!!!!!  Is that insane or what?!?  I would have guessed like 1,600 or maybe 1,800, but 2,700!!!!  I should do that every day!!  :)  ha ha!

#2 - Baylee

Baylee turned 1 yesterday!!!!  I cannot believe she’s already 1-year old!  Wow, we’ve already had her for 10 months….crazy!  I treated her by taking her to the dog park for 2 1/2 hours after work.  She came home and collapsed on the couch and curled up on me for an hour long nap!  SO cute!!!  I even have pictures but of course I don’t have my stupid camera cord :(  Sorry!  It’s crazy though to look back and see how far she’s come!  One of our good friends stopped by this weekend with her 8-week old little yellow lab/golden retriever puppy….OMG was she adorable!  There are SO many things I miss about Baylee being little ~ the naps every half hour, being able to carry them, watching them learn how to exist in this big world, how fricken’ cute they are, etc……but, there are SO many reasons I’m glad she’s older ~ no more accidents in the house (usually!), no more whining in the crate, no more having to get up at 2 am to take them out to go potty (usually!), they’re on a routine now, etc.  Ah, the joys of motherhood!  Happy Birthday, Baylee!!!

#3 - NKOTB

OMG!!!!  So we were watching TV this weekend and flipping through the channels randomly when I happened to stop on VH1.  I never watch VH1 anymore but it’s fun to watch some of the music videos once in a while…..I was on the channel for 30 seconds maybe, when all of a sudden there was an announcement that New Kids On The Block had a new song out….WHAT?!?!?!?  Their song/video came on and I was LMAO!  It was SO hilarious to me!  It was so funny to see what they all look like now…wow!  The song actually wasn’t too bad, but it brought back so many memories.  I had the BIGGEST crush ever on Jordan of NKOTB, and boy does he look different now!  I actually think he looks kind of goofy!  Actually, they all looked kind of goofy except for Joey MacIntyre (sp?)…..how hilarious!!!!