Holy Moly

Guess what... I'm still a live! I have so much catching up to do on here. Since my last post when school started again, a lot has changed. Since I'm heading out for a haircut, mani & pedi, maybe even a trip to whole foods (oh my!)... here is a very brief recap.

I got an A in my silly music class. yay!

I've slowly incorporated meat and other diary into my life. It's all about balance, right?

We got a crazy amount of snow in Maryland and the pup got salt in her eye. Poor baby is on eye drops 3 x a day.

I'm no longer running the half-marathon on my birthday. (this post is starting to sound like failure). Still working my butt off, literally or trying to, just not much running in this crappy weather. Looking forward to a 5K on st. pattys day with my hubby.

Here is something cool... I got a new jobbie!!! Beginning March 8th or sometime around there I'll start my new role as Branch Manager.

What else...
For those of you who don't know, the hubby and I are TTC!

Almost forgot that I'm down to 129 lbs! Sweeeet! 4 more to go for my goal weight.

That is all that I can think of for now but hope to post more details soon. I hope everyone is doing well!

Looking forward to SPRING!

xoxo
Stasa

Let the fun begin

Hello all! I've been M.I.A. for a while since the winter semester started on Monday. I am cramming in an online course that is only 4 weeks long which makes for a huge work load. Music Appreciation sounded like an easy fine arts credit to take online but I could never have guessed how much work would be assigned. Since I'm devoting an hour each night (plus lunch breaks) to school work, that doesn't leave time for blogging.

There will be a lot of catching up to do come February but I'll try to stop by over the weekends.

I hope that everyone is having a wonderful 2010 so far! Reach for the stars.

Ring in the New Year!

Happy New Year’s Eve!! So, what kind of plans do you have to ring in the New Year this evening?

We’re having some family and friends over for munchies, drinks, and fireworks. The city does a great firework display at midnight that we can see perfectly from our rooftop deck.

I’ve spent today doing some final touches, cleaning (o.c.d. here) and prepping food. We have quite a spread planned…

Pulled pork BBQ
Harry & David’s pepper relish cheese dip with crackers
Hot pepper cheese ball with sliced almonds
Dill Havarti cheese
Deviled eggs
Tortilla chips with salsa
Fresh veggies with hummus
Pumpkin roll
Cookie tray with chocolate covered cashews

Let me check the frig to see if I missed anything…. Oh yeah, three bean salad.

As you probably guessed I will not be eating much of this so I’ve planned on making a BBQ tempah sandwich to fill my belly. What better way to get rid of food you don’t eat, feed it to guest. (Oh that sounds terrible). I’ll post pictures of all these goodies sometime soon.

While I was cleaning today I used these stainless steel wipes for all our appliances. They work great so I thought I’d share.


Method Stainless Steel Wipes



We pick these up at Big Lots super cheap. Look how shiny the refrigerator is!

....

Have you thought about your 2010 resolutions? Mine seem to be about the same every year and I haven’t put too much thought into them this year but here’s a general idea of what I would like to accomplish.

Save money (always on the list)
Live a simple and healthy life
Start a family (TTC this spring!)

I try not to set goals like loose 10 pounds, although I’d like to, I rather be realistic and stick to a healthy lifestyle. I just want to feel great and be happy! Of course I have other goals besides just these three (i.e. attend church frequently, spend more time with family and friends, further my education).

....

In case you’re wondering about my eats (probably not but I’ll share anyway)…

Today started off with my regular black coffee and pb/ab oats. Like always I wanted to lick the bowl clean.

After cleaning a while I ate an apple, sliced with sprinkled cinnamon. This taste so good I’m not sure why I hadn’t tried it sooner. I also polished off the last two vegan cookies I baked. They were in the freezer just yelling my name :)

For lunch I am baking some carrot fries that I can’t wait to try. I always see these on Mama Pea’s blog and wanted to try them. There’s no better time than after buying 5 lbs of carrots from Sam’s.

Note to self: don’t toss in olive oil. The first batch burnt in less than 25 minutes.



Much better with canola oil.



For someone who loves sweet potatoes fries, carrot fries are right up there! I could have done without the salad and had more fries. These maybe a new staple in our house.




Fiesta themed salad: spring mix, broccoli, carrots, salsa, Kashi Fiery Fiesta rice

Time to finish house work and get myself cleaned up. If I have time I’d like to workout before guest arrive, we’ll see.

Wishing you a very happy 2010!!

Shrimp Scampi

Good Morning! As I mentioned yesterday, after watching Julie & Julia I was inspired to cook something different. After raiding our cabinets for ingredients I found this recipe to try. It’s nothing too fancy or out of the ordinary but something different for us. Shrimp Scampi.

I used the base of this recipe since those were all the ingredients we had and it turned out lovely.

Shrimp Scampi
(modified from the GoodLife eats recipe here)

1 lb shelled and deveined shrimp
2 Tbs Smart Balance Light buttery spread
1 Tbs olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/3 cup white wine
2 Tbs lemon juice
1 Tbs parsley
cooked pasta for 2

Sauté shrimp in Smart Balance until cooked through. Add garlic, sauté one minute more. Add white wine and lemon juice. Simmer sauce until thickened, about 2 minutes. Add olive oil and some parsley. Combine cooked pasta and shrimp with sauce in large bowl. Toss with additional parsley and add freshly grated parmesan (optional).




This didn’t photograph well but tasted great. I especially liked this scampi since it wasn’t rich tasting like most made with real butter. It went great with steamed broccoli on the side. I also made salad but we were so eager to try the scampi that I forgot to get them out of the refrigerator. So I have my lunch ready for today.


This morning started off like any other day with my black coffee and oats.



At the moment PB and apple butter oats are my favorite!

½ cup oats
spoon of peanut butter
spoon of apple butter
cinnamon
½ packet of stevia
cooked with about 1 cup hot water

Perfection!

There’s a lot to do today so I need to step away from the computer. Here is what’s on the agenda:

• Give Elli a bath
• Get oil changed
• Workout
• Finish Cleaning

Doesn’t seem like much but the last on the list may take awhile. Off I go…. Have a great hump day everyone!

Windy 3 Miler

I finally motivated myself to get out of the house and outside in the cold to run. Since my training schedule has been nonexistent over the last week with the snow and holiday get-togethers, I'll be playing catch up this week!

It was rough getting my foot out the door with the windy weather. It's 30 degrees here but feels like 17 with gust of wind up to 39 mph.

I had to return our DVDs from last night so I carried the movies for my first 2 miles until I reached a RedBox to return them. The last mile I ran against the wind which explains the decrease in time.

Here's what the Garmin reported:

Distance 3.01 mi
Time 29:59
Calories 317
Avg pace 9:57

Splits

Mile 1- 9:32
Mile 2- 9:59
Mile 3- 10:12

I'm not thrilled with this run but after a week off and crappy eating it will have to do.

After I thawed out with a hot shower I made some lunch. While cutting the veggies for my salad I dipped some in the container of hummus. (no pic)

I had a huge salad with carrots, sugar snap peas, green pepper, sliced almonds, and Annie's Goddess dressing.



I also had some crackers with homemade plum jam. Thanks Aunt Bonnie, it's delicious!



Time to start cleaning... oh what fun!

2010 is right around the corner and I still haven't posted my goals. Have you though about your goals yet?

Getting back on track... Monday

Jeff was off work yesterday so we spent the day together running errands and watching movies. Fun stuff!

I started my morning off with pb and apple butter oats. Oh how I missed them! It feels so nice to get back into my routine. We then headed out to pick up our kitchen tile that finally came in and also did some grocery shopping.

First stop was Trader Joe’s where we got some odds and ends. Peanut butter (I can’t live without it), frozen vegetables, pizza sauce, and other random things.

The most fun we had was at Sam’s club! With our Christmas money we decided to join the club and do a big grocery shop. We cursed up and down every isle in the store and Jeff tried every sample too :) Most were meat but I got to sample a soft pretzel that held me over till lunch.

From what I’ve heard we would probably enjoy a membership at Costco much more since they carry more foods that we eat but Sam’s is much more convenient. I did get some good deals on daily eats like my 9 pound box of oats!! They had great produce too so I stocked up on fruit and salad. We were a little bummed that they didn’t have a faux meat products but were happy to see lots of soymilk.

When we got home I made a big salad


Lots of veggies, slivered almonds, and hummus. I’m really trying to get back to healthy eating after all the holiday treats I had the last couple days.

We rented two movies for tonight: Paranormal Activity (Jeff’s pick) and Julie and Julia (my pick of course). I am not a huge fan of scary movies but somehow Jeff always talks me into watching them. Promising to hold me tight...blah blah blah… you get the drift. It never makes the movie any less scary and Paranormal Activity was no exception. Needless to say I didn’t sleep well last night.

Julie and Julia was very cute and made me want to cook a fancy meal. Jeff kept reminding me that I could never live off French cooking. I assumed because it would make my ass huge but he just meant that they cook with a lots of foods I don’t eat. Either way I don’t know how the French stay so thin.

Before eating dinner I had to fit in a workout after the weekend I've had. So I did Jillian's 30-Day Shred level 2. These are the best 20 minute workouts!

For dinner we had a very Americanized meal of salad and pasta.





It was nice to spend the day with my hubby but now we're back to the daily grind.

I need to get motivated to run this afternoon. It's so windy and cold outside that I'd much rather workout in the basement but I haven't ran for a week. Santa did bring some warm running gear so I'll head out a litte later hopefully it will warm up.

Is anyone else having a hard time heading outside in the cold weather? I could really use a running buddy to help keep me motivated.

Hope you all have a great Tuesday!

Lots of Catching Up

Hello there, wow it's been a while! I'm glad that I'm off work all week since there is so much catching up to do. Not only with the blog but I have to clean house for our New Year's party, get my oil changed, and other stuff. Surely there are other things to do. Rather than writing a really long post about the holidays I'm going to keep it semi short with mostly pictures instead. They're more fun anyway!

Christmas Eve started with my first ever oats in a jar! Here is the pb I started with


I added oats, cinnamon, stevia, and apple butter. Cooked with about 1 cup hot water.


Yummy! When I was done, this was the cleanest pb jar to ever go in our recycling.


Now for the good stuff!

We spent Christmas Eve night at my parent's house. This has been a tradition for as long as I can remember. Here's a peak...





Lots of good food and company!


My FIL with the silly cat.

Best girlfriends!


Good news! I'm going to be an aunt!! Me with my SIL who finally shared the news that she is 3 months pregnant.

(for those who didn't know, shhhh!)

And being silly with my mom


Christmas Day was also spent with my parents. We had too much fun opening gifts and trying on our new onion goggles that I forgot to take pictures. woops.

I was able to snap these of my parent's cute dog.

He loved the camera!


And I have to show off my Mom's favorite gift this year- Lenox Christmas china.


Saturday we spent the day with my in-laws and family. Once again I didn't get out the camera but we had a blast together. We laughed our butts off playing charades!

The entire weekend was wonderful and we couldn't have ask for a better time with our family and friends! I'll admit it's nice to be home and away from all the Christmas cookies though :) Now I have to get back on track.

I'm enjoying my morning coffee and Good Morning America this morning. I'll brave the cold weather for a run this afternoon.

I keep this mug out all year since it fits me so well... thanks Mom!

Well that's all for now but I'll be back with a Monday recap.

I hope that everyone had a wonderful holiday! Have a great day!!