Milestones

Fall is in full force and I couldn't be happier. September is usually my favorite month of the year, but I felt it was still a little warm to really enjoy it... However, football has started and now that October is here, I think the cooler weather is finally here for a while too. I love the 2nd season in Texas (yes, there are only 2)...the season of Less Hot. It makes me a happy person.

We celebrated 2 special birthdays in September - both on opposite sides of the spectrum. Andy Roo turned 1! What a precious little boy and his mommy and my best friend did an amazing job with his party! And I got to play with lots of babies, so that's always fun!

This past weekend we celebrated my Mom-Mom's 90th birthday! Her actual birthday is October 10th, but it worked out best to celebrate a little early. It's the first time all 9 of her children were together for quite some time. Yup - all 9 of them. God bless her! My mom is one of 7...God Bless my Nan too! Times were definitely different back then. Almost all 18 grandkids and 18 great-grandkids were present too. It reminds me of all the blessing in my life to have such a wonderful family on both sides. And it's also made me extremely homesick for the Northeast. What I'd do to live up there again. I've never felt like Texas was home and every time I visit either family in Philly it makes it a little harder to come back to Texas... 

We got some great photos of Mom-Mom's day...in between dancing of course.

Also in September was Courtney's baby shower! We had tons of fun with our mustache themed party! And I made adorable guilt-free cupcakes! ;) This project was a little harder than I anticipated, but well worth it for the results! See below for instructions.

Guilt-free Cupcakes for Baby Shower:

4 receiving blankets

4 onsies (works best with newborn)

I used the following "recipe" to complete: Cupcake Tutorial

I couldn't get my blankets to a perfect 3 inches, but it still worked out alright. I think the best touch is the box and wrapping. I found mine at Michael's. 

Lots of fun coming up in October! My Godson's turning 2!!! We're doing a "trash the dress" session (sooo can't wait for this!) AND I have my 10 year high school reunion. It blows my mind that it's been 10 years already, but I'm looking forward to seeing friends I haven't seen in years! Oh how time flies!

A Whirlwind Weekend and a Day to Remember

This past weekend was fast paced and exciting! Since the wedding, our weekends have been much calmer and relaxing. It was nice for a while to have that break, but I'm not one to waste away weekends on relaxation. Sure it's great to decompress a few hours each day or maybe Friday night, but life is too short and although this past weekend blew right by with everything going on, I loved it so! Now that the fall weather seems to be fighting through, I hope to have many more outdoor-filled weekends and adventures. Fall is by far my favorite season and I can't wait!

Friday night we went out with some of my friends to say goodbye to our fancy DC-living Lindsey. She's making a name for herself in the political world and until we have her back in TX permanently, we wish her the best and enjoy the brief visits we have with her! Lindsey is infamous for dragging us out to Billy Bobs - or Hoots...even worse (or better depending on how you look at it), but this time she threw us for a loop and we ended up in Kennedale, TX. Yeah, I know - you've probably never heard of it... None-the-less, we headed that direction and found ourselves in quite a fantastic Austin-like bbq restaurant/bar called Reds Roadhouse. They have live music outside every Thurs-Sat and the food was incredible. The service - eh, but still worth it overall. Might just become the new tradition!


Saturday morning started off bright and early with the Color Me Rad Run! I did the Color Run in Dallas in February, but I feel that this one was a bit more successful and my shirt turned out a lot cooler! The weather was gorgeous and it was a true "fun run". No chip times and we just had a good time with it! Only downfall was that it reminded me that I am no longer in the running shape I was about a year ago... It takes forever to build up a running endurance and NO TIME lose it! Which is unfortunate, considering I have a 1/2 marathon in a week & a half. Wish me luck!

So, by this point, I've accomplished quite a bit - friends, exercise, outside...but why stop there? I went on a "date" with one of my dear friends, Shannon. We don't get to see each other nearly as much now that she travels for work. We spent a leisurely afternoon at the Dallas Arboretum to check out the Chihuly Glass Exhibit. Stunning, amazing, etc.

I'm trying to dedicate more time to an interest I've always had - photography. That interest intensified when I studied abroad with the Photography Dept. at Texas A&M, in Germany. Ah, Germany...another story, another post... Although I don't have the fancy equipment and editing programs I dream of, I do the best with what I have...and I think I captured some great photos this weekend!

Sunday was a little more laid back. We did some housework and watched every football game! It's so wonderful having football back - just another reason to LOVE the fall!! Then, Sunday night our new foster dogger arrived! I've fostered pups in the past, but took a break for a bit. Now that we're settled in our house and have a yard again, I was ecstatic that B jumped on board with helping out one of my favorite local rescues: Dog Star. Ladies and Gentleman, meet Rufus:

He's as sweet as can be. We keep joking with Timmy that he better take a lesson or two or else we're keeping the foster kiddo and adopting him out. Obviously, joking, but Rufus really is a fantastic pup! He's only a year old and about 45lbs. Thus far he hasn't required much direction. As long as he is exercised properly, he seems to be mild mannered and ridiculously sweet. No accidents, no chewing... Maybe I should knock on wood... Get in touch with me if you're thinking of extending your family! He's definitely a keeper!

So, today wasn't the best day at work...there's some stress and drama there and I let it get me down a little today. But, then I stopped myself to reflect on my blessings. It angers and saddens me that it took what happened 11 years ago to bring our nation so tightly together, but I'm also grateful and have so much respect for all the men and women who did pull together and those that are still defending our country. I'm blessed to be home tonight with my husband and doggers and to have my family and friends. I think we should all always remember and reflect on today as we move forward as individuals and as Americans. I came across this article today...it was interesting to read about some of the "volunteers"...  The Dogs of 9/11

Goodnight and God Bless!

If Life is Like a Bowl of Cherries...

Then I eat life nearly every day for a snack! :) And it's delish!

I think that cherries are probably my favorite afternoon snack. Good news is B doesn't like them so I get them all to myself as well!

Today was day #10! We're 1/3 of the way through and I don't know how I feel exactly. Today our office was filled with temptation - catered lunch, birthday cake and snacks...whew! I was ready to get out of there! The prep is no longer the hard part - the willpower is! In so many diets you have a point system so you can allow for cheats or you have a cheat day every week or so, but one of the foundations of this date is that for 30 days you are ridiculously strict. ZERO CHEATING! It's a little intense, but we're definitely seeing and feeling the effects/results. I think we both feel and look healthier.

A couple of this week's meals:

ZUCCHINI LASAGNA:

2 large zucchinis
1lb lean ground turkey
Tomato sauce or homemade if you have a good recipe for it (organic/no added sugars)
1/2 head of cauliflower
Grated almonds
Onions, mushrooms & any other veggies you'd like to add.

Slice the zucchini thin, longways.
Ground the cauliflower into a "rice" consistency
Saute all other veggies in EVOO with salt, pepper, garlic and Italian seasoning to taste

Layer zucchini, then veggies, then cauliflower and last a layer of sauce. Repeat until casserole dish is full. Top off with layer of sauce and grated almonds. Bake on 400 for about 20-30ish minutes (honestly...I don't remember and just cooked it until the veggies were tender and it was hot all the way through). It was pretty tasty!

I'm also not a professional food photographer either. Hope it gets the gist of it across. It all wound up coming apart (no cheese to hold it together...sad), so it doesn't really matter how pretty your layers are really.

WHOLE FAJITAS

This was super simple:
2 large boneless, skinless chicken breast
1tbsp ghee or clarified butter
1 onion
1 bell pepper
Leaf lettuce
1 large avocado
1 bag frozen organic zucchini
Homemade salsa (recipe here)

I chopped the chicken into cubes (actually, B did) and then pan grilled it in EVOO with cayenne pepper, cumin, salt and pepper to taste.
Slice the onions and bell peppers into strips and sauté in ghee with seasoning on chicken. Sauteed zucchini separately with same seasoning.

Fresh Guac: Mash 1 avocado with about 4-5 tablespoons of salsa and add salt and/or garlic seasoning if necessary.

Use the leaf lettuce instead of a tortilla and dress as with all the toppings. Now, you may need to just chop up the lettuce and make into more of a fajita salad, but I was determined to make it feel like a real fajita, so I managed...a little messy, but ya know. Add zucchini to the side in place of rice and beans.

Not much else going on this week. Trying to get my runs in - have a 5K on the 8th: Color Me Rad! I am so excited! And another 1/2 coming up in the near future as well!

Looking forward to my best friend's son's first birthday party in 2 weeks in Houston and my Mom-Mom's 90th birthday party at the end of the month in Philly!! She's kind of adorable, don't ya think?

Until then - stay ding-dong-dorable!

Lisa

Rainy Weekends

This is one of the first weekends in quite some time where we haven't had a full schedule of events, errands, chores, etc. Today has been a moderately lazy day, which has worked out perfectly, because the majority of the day has been rainy. Thank the heavens because we sure needed the rain and the cool air that comes with it is an added bonus.

B and I were talking today about how much less harsh this summer has been compared to last year's! It's exciting breaking records, but not if the record is how many straight days in a row we break 100 degrees! Ugh! Texas has been my home for several years now - more than half my life, but I will never ever get used to or "accept" the long, scorching summers. And I still dream about when we will eventually pack up and head somewhere with 4 seasons! One day...

My parents are in the process of selling their house. It's bittersweet. It's the home that we lived in the longest and my mom bought the house because she said she could see me walking down the steps in my wedding gown...

CHECK!

I think it took about a week or two after that for them to decide to put it up on the market. So, today we went by and picked up some of my old stuff that my parents had in their attic. Man - we found some gems... A journal about my 4th grade crush, a bunch of notes from junior high still folded in that funky little fold we'd do, a huge megaphone from when I was on pep squad (kept that since my hs reunion is in a couple of months...ha), and of course a whole box of what I call the "ex-files". I went through most of the stuff with my mom...we laughed a lot, teared up a bit. Like I said - bittersweet. I did keep a few items from the "ex-files" - a scrap book, some trinkets & pictures, etc. I wasn't sure but I remember when I was young that my mom showed me notes, drawings, etc. that she had kept from her "first love". I always thought it was so interesting and I debated back and forth on whether to keep any of my stuff to show my kiddos one day. Curious to see if other people have done the same...?

I think the greatest experience about today was that my parents bequeathed the nursery furniture that they used for all 3 of my sisters to us. It's the crib and the changing table and I didn't even know they still had it. It's old and vintage-y looking and I absolutely love it! Made it very real that we're at the age of considering starting our family and it's pretty exciting!

After that we made an afternoon of watching movies and relaxing. Today's laziness will mean tomorrow's productivity! We are embarking on a journey starting Monday - it's called the Whole 30 food challenge - www.whole9life.com. It's structured on a Paleo style of dieting, but stricter and it is more or less a metabolic re-start/jump start into a Paleo lifestyle. Brandon and I have been talking a lot about health and change lately, and when a friend of mine posted about this challenge on facebook, I did some research and am very much looking forward to getting started. We'll be doing our grocery shopping and prep work for the week tomorrow. It will no doubt be a challenge, but we're both looking very forward to it and the benefits of embracing a "clean eating" lifestyle. I'll be sure to post about this journey and any recipes I come up with along the way!

Praying that the rain continues tomorrow along with that cool air!