It's Been One Year

Since we have been married now for one year, does that mean Mike and I are no longer newlyweds? How does that work? If not, are we already the old married couple? I hope not. hahaha.

I started my day off with a bowl of Honey Bunches of Oats with some greek yogurt. The cereal was only $2.50 and it is one of my faves so I did it, even though it isn't some super good for you one. Oh well. The greek yogurt might have balanced out the healthiness?

For lunch I decided to go home. I couldn't afford to go out to lunch again after going to Gloria's the day before. I made breakfast for lunch. Had a piece of toast with an egg and some leftover ham. I also added a bit of maple syrup. Tasty.

For a snack I had some annie's crackers and some carrots.

After work I met up with Michael. We went to Evangeline Cafe in South Austin. This is one of my favorite places to eat in Austin. The food is good and I love the atmosphere. We got sat at a table we have sat a a few times before. We also got out favorite waiter, who I suspect might own the place. It was a Tuesday night, but there was still a 40 minute wait. This was because there was a band playing. Not sure of their name but they brought a lot of fun to the restaurant.

How kitch is this? I love it.

While Mike and I waited for a table we had some Abita beer. This one was pretty good.

The specials that night cracked me up, even though they shouldn't. We have tried the oysters contraband before and it is amazing. I refuse to eat frog legs because I had frogs as a pet before, and  my meat rule is to not eat an animal I have had as a pet before. Plus they sound gross to eat.

My dinner was the a spicy Cajun sauce with fettuccine noodles and fried shrimp. Heaven. I tried to make this once,  but only got halfway to the flavor I wanted. haha. I probably just needed to add a lot more butter.

Mike and I decided to skip the aps and get dessert in place of them. We tried two desserts. The one on the right was amazing. It tasted like funnel cake. The bread pudding on the left was also good.

We went home and watched Burn After Reading in bed. Maybe we are an old married couple? haha. We will be spending the day together on Sunday to celebrate for real. Working during the day does not call for a real celebration. We have a bottle of champagne at home to help us celebrate. Can't wait to open that!

Completed My Long Run

When Mike told me that our long run was supposed to be 1.5 hours I laughed. He wasn't kidding. We were already at that insane amount of running time for the half marathon training. I was supposed to do it over the holiday weekend but it was too cold one of the days, and then the next I didn't feel up to it. So I did it on Monday instead.

I realized around 430 that I had to feed teddy's kittens before going to the gym (she is out of town) so I needed a new plan for the gym. My normal options were out of the way. I decided on a Golds Gym now on the way, that I heard had a Cardio Cimena in it. Once I got there I headed to the cardio cinema. I thought a movie plays there constantly but I just saw a bunch of different tvs with different programs on with closed captions, but dimmed lighting. Maybe the movie just wasn't playing that day? Either way I enjoyed some mtv reality crap, that was perfect for my attention span.

I decided to do intervals since I am really not prepared to run for 1.5 hours. Not even an hour at this point. So I did 3 minute walk, 3 minute run intervals. This worked out perfect. It was a challenge but not so much that I was jello by the last 30 minutes. Score. By the last 2 intervals I was able to up the speed because I had more energy left. I definitely got my runners high and still kind of have it. Yay.

This is how I fueled for the run. I had some raisin toast in the morning with vanilla cranberry pb.

For lunch we went to Gloria's at the Domain and got fajitas. I didn't even eat half. Tasty though. Mmm.

After my workout I went to the grocery store for some veggies. When I went home I just threw things together in a salad. I added some leftover turkey, mushrooms, black beans, cheese, ranch, and bbq sauce. Amazing. Mike and I ate an entire bag of salad. Not each, together. This was perfect. He also heated me up a leftover brownie from Dean. Amazing.

Today is Mike and I's one year wedding anniversary. We are going to celebrate with some cajun food tonight, and then spend the day together relaxing on Sunday. I can't believe it has already been a year. I still love the boy more and more everyday. Who knew it was possible to love someone that much? I didn't. <3

We Braved the Crowds

Sunday started out pretty slow since we stayed out pretty late the night before. Dean surprised us again with a delicious breakfast. I had a few bites of a pistachio one. Mmm.

We bought Dean a belgian waffle maker for Christmas (his request) and he wanted to make the bacon waffles I always make. He did a fabulous job. These were fantastic. We even got to use a fancy syrup, butter pecan syrup. I want it now.

We braved the malls after breakfast. They were insane. Seriously. Do not recomend. I ended up buying a pair of pants there without trying them on bc the waiting room line looked too overwhelming. Plus they are a brand that always fits. Turns out these ones don't. Hope I can still return them.

After the shopping adventures we went home and had some leftovers. I had a nice turkey sandwich with stuffing and cranberry sauce on the side. Mmm.

I forgot to mention the day that I made brownies, Dean also did. By the end of the time there we actually got started on his brownies. I liked his more.

After we  had some lunch and dessert we headed our way back to Austin. It is a 3.5 hour drive home. We listened to Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk by David Sedaris the entire way home. It made the trip go by much faster.

On the way I dreamed up a meal. I wanted it to be spicy and include veggies. I heated up some sweet potatoes, added some cilantro, some sweet and spicy chili sauce and ham. Odd combo perhaps, but tasted pretty good.

I slept pretty awful last night because it was so cold in our house. I kept waking up freezing, then putting on a ton of blankets then waking up too hot. Then the pups were restless too. At least I feel fine today so far.

More Firsts

Christmas started off slow with an amazing breakfast made by Dean. He made us some eggs, bacon and biscuits. I added blueberry jam to mine. It was awesome. I need to figure out where to get some now. Mmm.

We had fun opening presents. We all got some fun things!

I made the family do some Christmas tree photos.

After spending the day relaxing and enjoying Diva's new blu ray player I decided to start helping with dinner. I made the stuffing. It included celery, onions, garlic, bread cubes, apples and maple sausage cooked in some veggie broth. Mmm. It was a little mushy for my preference but everyone else seemed to like it.

Dean made the delicious Turkey and Diva made a really  great cranberry sauce. It had a lot of different berries in it. Mmm. So good.

Diva also made her famous corn casserole. Mmm soo good.

Here is my plate all together.

Mike made a fancy chocolate fudge and black tea infused chocolate mouse pie. Sooo good. I think we got the idea off a dessert we had at Soleil. This was so good. Mmm.

After a long day, we were all pretty tired. Including the pups. They think they are cats. Yes there are two dogs there.

Later in the night we went to a bar to hang out with some of Mike's and his brothers friends. We played some darts and had some fun conversation. I never went out on christmas night before that I can remember. It was interesting. A lot more people out than I would have imagined.

Do you ever go out on Christmas night?

First to Bed

Mike and I woke up early on Friday to head to  his parents house in Dickinson, Texas. We didn't even have time to make a breakfast or have coffee. Instead we went to Starbucks and I got a latte and a muffin. I forgot to take a photo of it though. I was distracted by cute pups in the car.

The pups love the car. They go back and forth between trying to sit on my lap, and find a dark corner to sleep in.

Once we got to Mike's parents place we were pretty hungry. We went to Cafe Adobe for lunch, one of our fave places. We started off with some chips and salsa. One of their salsa's is made with avocado. Heaven.

We got the lunch fajitas. This meal was huge. I ate a ton of those onions straight. Mmm. So good.

They had all the toppings as well.

I had about 2 tacos. Well rather I ate the equivalent of 2 tacos while only eating one tortilla.

After lunch we went home and relaxed. Later we went and watched True Grit. I have never been to the movies on Christmas eve. A LOT of people were there. We got popcorn and I ate too much of it. Seriously, I felt so gross afterward. Remind me to not do that again. ;-)

After the movie we wanted some real food. My dad bought Mike's family a honey baked ham for christmas. We broke into that early. So good. We had some ham, asparagus, carrot and rasin salad and potatoes.

The rest of the night was spent watching tv. I really didn't stay up very late though. I was the first to bed I think. haha.

The Last Day Before Vacation

Granted my vacation was only 3 days, it still felt like something I should prepare for, since it was for Christmas. I started the day with a smoothie. I forgot that smoothies just make me starving, all day. For some reason a lot of fruit does something to my blood sugar to make me hungry ALL day long. I think I had a few snacks in here that were not taken.

For lunch we went to Galaxy Cafe. I got a burger with some cheese, caramelized onions, jalapenos and some sweet potato fries. I ate about 1/2 of the burger and 1/4 of the fries.

After work I went to the gym. I was set to do an hour worth of a run. Since my ankle is still healing I did a little more than half (35 minutes) on the treadmill and the other part on the elliptical (25 minutes). I ended up doing 3 miles on the treadmill and 2.08 on the elliptical.

After the gym I went to HEB to pick up a few things to take to our Christmas celebration and for dinner that night. I also picked up a last minute present for Mike's brother, as a joke. This candle is great.

Once home I made smores brownies. I used a ghiradelhi mix, added some graham crackers in the mix, and then topped them with marshmallows. The graham cracker addition didn't really do much other than dry it out a bit. Ehh. I have an idea to improve this next time.

For dinner Mike made baked beans with sausage and grilled some corn. this was a very tasty meal. Definitely a winner.

Mike and I attempted to watch the Suns game that night, but we both fell asleep part way through. Oops.

Arms are Still Shaking

Yesterday I had an insane appetite. I imagine because I have kicked up my workouts or hormones? Who knows.

Either way I started my day off with some greek yogurt and some cereal.

I had an unpictured snack in here of some crackers.

For lunch we went to NXNW because we had a lunchdeal. They wouldn't let us use 2 at a table so now I have to go back. Darn. This place is pretty great. I got an appetizer as an entree. It is quail with jalapenos, goat cheese, golden raisins,  and poltena with a balsamic vinegar. This meal was pretty fantastic. The only bad thing was the jalapenos were not okay spicy, and I am pretty good with spicy. I look forward to going back there.

After work I went to BodyPump again. Yay. It was a different teacher this time, I think the regular one. He was definitely not as informative as the last one, and there was a newbie here too. I was clueless as to  how much weigh to put on for each one. I just kept looking at others for reference. I think it worked out for the most part, because I only felt like death on the triceps and chest exercies. haha. My neck is a little sore today, which means my form was off. Oh well, will work on improving soon. Hopefully I can go back tomorrow. Oh I also did 18 minutes on the elliptical yesterday waiting for the class to start.

After the gym I was starving. I heated up some leftover spaghetti squash.

I also made an egg sandwich with jelly. Tasty. I love eggs with jelly now.

Have you ever tried BodyPump?

Aww sweet morning

Mike surprised me this morning with a latte and toast with lingonberry jam. How Sweet! Isn't that mug great?






I ended up needing a snack later in the morning.



For lunch I went home. I had a tiny bowl of the rest of my drafthouse Mac n cheese and some leftover spaghetti squash.



After work went to the gym. The ankle is still a bit swollen so I did my "run" via elliptical. Thanks to some intense person on the elliptical next to me I was inspired to push hard. I did 4.34 miles in 45 mins. Compare that to Saturday when I did 4.79 miles in an hour.


For dinner I had a sandwich of Brie, lingonberry jam and bacon. Amazing.


I also had some sweet potato chips. Def not enough veggies w dinner. Life moves on.

How was your Monday?