12.12.12

I can't believe how fast this month is already going. Also, that it's 12.12.12! If you didn't know, that means its Aaron Rodgers day! Tony and I decided to celebrate tonight by going out for sushi. Okay.... Just kidding, it's just Wednesday and we usually always do sushi on Wednesdays.

My cute sushi date :)

I can't believe I haven't blogged in so long... I've been trying to keep up, but time is getting away.

This past weekend, Tony and I went to a restaurant we had never been to before. The original one we had in mind had a 45 minute wait and we were both starving. It was a Mexican place we had never been to and if you know me, I can always use s good margarita. I mean, I am my mother's daughter! Of course, I forgot to take pictures of our great food. I had a mushroom fajita and Tony had an amazing burrito. His was way better!

Saturday, we headed home and went out to eat for the Jams, Jellies, and More Volunteer Christmas Party. I always laugh at this name because no one who helps my mom and dad are volunteers, we all get paid! Oh well! I'm never one to pass up my favorite restaurant!

Again, didn't take pictures of the food because before they could put it down, it's half gone! It's an Italian restaurant. That night I had calamari, and it's grilled and not deep fried. I love it grilled way better! I then had carpaccio, not sure on the spelling, which is like rare (maybe raw) beef with an arugula salad. I'm literally drooling as I type this. I did manage to get a pretty nice picture or Tony and myself. I also got to see my three favorite kids, my nieces and nephew. Unfortunately, miles couldn't make the shot...

After about three bottles of wine and a chocolate martini for dessert, we stopped at one more place and then headed for bed.

The next day, Tony and I got up and went home to get ready for the Packer game! It was the first real snow fall in Green Bay so I figured it would be beautiful and it was! Until about the 2nd quarter where I couldn't feel my feet or body. We really enjoyed it though! Will Ferrell was there to do "Roll out the Barrel", it was pretty much awesome! We were excited about the Packer win and the hot, I couldn't wait for the burning shower when I got home.

Kept me that littlest bit warm... Hot Coco!

It was a very enjoyable weekend and we have a couple upcoming busy weekends as well. This weekend, I'm headed home to have breakfast with Santa with my niece and nephew and then baking cookies with my mom, sister, and grandma. The following weekend, Tony and I are headed to Milwaukee to get away for our three year anniversary. I can't believe it's been three years. I can definitely say they have been an amazing three years :).

I'm hoping to start posting some recipes that I have been making lately, just always seem to forget to take pictures until I'm done EATING it!!

What fun plans are on your agenda?!

still addicted.

As always... I'm still addicted to sushi. I have been going back and forth about trying sushi from Festival Foods. I've heard from many people that is great, so after our grocery shopping trip, we decided to give it a go. 

I got the Bagel Roll. It was avocado, smoked salmon, and cream cheese. Usually I'm a fan of this type of roll. Unfortunately... I cannot say this was my favorite. I definitely prefer the fresh stuff from a restaurant. If you're in a pinch it will do the job though. 

So, I'd like to think my "diet" officially starts tomorrow. Tony already told me it will only last 3 days... Thanks for the motivation bud. He told me he is using reverse psychology...  He'll be eating his words for dinner :)

Tonight I'm trying a breakfast that I have read about all over blogs and Pinterest- overnight oats. I got a recipe from Skinny Taste. I used this website a lot last year when I did SO well on my diet and was probably my thinnest since college. 

Anyways, I thought I would give this a try. I'm not adding any sweetener like the recipe calls for. If you didn't click on the link, here is the recipe. 

Overnight Oats

1/4 cup quick oats

1/2 soy, skim, or almond milk

1/4 of a banana

1/2 tbsp chia seeds

1/2 cup blueberries (I'm using raspberries because they were cheap!)

Sweetener (I'm going to use just a bit if vanilla)
Pinch of cinnamon

Put everything in a jar and let it sit in the refrigerator overnight! In the morning, it will be a quick way to get your breakfast in. 

Follow me on Instagram to see the final results!
k8ries

Have you ever tried overnight oats and if you have what is the recipe you use?

lazy sundays.

Not too exciting of a weekend. Which is okay! Tony was gone from Monday until last night for work, so last night we just went to Chili's to grab a marg! They have the best ones there. 

My sister showed me a website last year. It is called May Books. On the site they have planners, notebooks, calorie logs, and wedding planners. The best part is, they are designed by you! They have tons of different patterns and then you can personalize it. I decided to just ge a notebook this time. On Cyber Monday they had free shipping so I took advantage of that. They are a little bit pricy, so I wouldn't buy these unless I had some sort of coupon code or they were offering a deal. Here is the one I designed!

They we recently featured on Good Morning America so they ran another deal Friday! This time offering 50% off the whole website. Unfortunately, I can't show that one because that one is a Christmas gift. 

This morning I got an early start. Tony didn't sleep much this week so be slept in. I made raspberry whole wheat pancakes. I've made these before and they are always quite tasty. 

I loved my view this morning! I'm such a fan of Christmas and am ready for a real house to decorate and get a real Christmas tree. None of this fake stuff. Yuck! 

Busy week ahead and one more closer to 10 days off of work! 

Any fun Christmas or holiday tradition you do??

hot what?

Well, this will be a quick post tonight. Buttttttt I was forced to do something I did NOT want to do... Try....

HOT YOGA.

Well.... turns out, I like it! Literally for the first half I kept looking at the clock wondering when I'd be done. It took me until half way in to feel good. I liked how I felt and even though I SUCKED, it felt good to get moving (slowly!). My friend Andrea, dragged me and I'm so glad she did. The first class was free and then you could get two more for $15. I took her up on that deal.

The heat SURPRISINGLY wasn't that bad. I mean, it was definitely hot, but in a good way. Overall it was an enjoyable experience and I'll be back for more. Maybe this will be my ticket to the motivation train!

Have you ever tried Hot Yoga? Thoughts?

hello. is anyone out there...

Remember when I used to blog... almost everyday... and then a few times a week... and then NEVER!? Well, it was recently where I decided it was time to get back into the blogging world. I've missed it. Another reason I really decided to get back on the blog is because I am lacking motivation (still I know...). Not sure if it is just me, but lately I have been just lacking any sort of motivation to do anything related to health and fitness. I have been dying to get myself on some type of diet to lose some extra pounds that seem to stay on my waistline. I also have had ZERO motivation to get myself working out. 

Well, anyways enough with the lack of motivation.... I'm decided to make this first post back into the blog world and share some exciting things that have happened since August.

Starting with...

TAKING OUT MY EXTENSIONS! Or I should say... Tony took these suckers out. GROSS! Back to the all-natural hair!

 I then was in one of my best friend's weddings. It was such a blast and so grateful to be a part of it. It was so good to see all my friends who I haven't been able to see for awhile.

 I met this handsome little man! Cameron Charles. He is one my best friend's little baby boy! This was from August, so he is much bigger now! She had him days after her baby shower in July.

 Tony and I shared another one of his birthdays' together. It was great. We had an amazing dinner and then went to a Packer pre-season games. 

It was the season of weddings for us... we had two weekends in a row!

I took my FIRST personal day ever to go on a girls' trip to Chicago! It was so great to have all of our high school friend's back together.

In September, we celebrated this little mama's 50th birthday. Doesn't she look great for being 50 :)

I can see some resemblance. 

Followed by that birthday... was my little niecy girl, Sloaney's!

My favorite little 3 year old!

We were so blessed by another birth...

The birth of my 2nd niece.. Hadley.

She's beautiful and perfect and such a good little girl :)

My mom, sister, and I went to a Food and Wine event last year together. But, my sister had just had her baby so she wasn't able to attend. This year, we brought Gramma!

We finally got to a pumpkin farm this year! Picked out some great pumpkins and got to watch my little hunnies play around in the corn fields and feed the goats.

This brings us to Halloween, where Tony and I got 1st place at a costume party! Do you blame us... check out this costume!

It was a pretty dull November, which I was okay with because we have been crazy busy!! We got to spend time with family and friends for Thanksgiving and it was amazing.

So far... this year has been wrapping up great. I feel great also about having started back up my blog... I've missed it :)

Who out there... can give me some motivation though to get my butt moving and my mouth not eating everything in sight!?!?! Thoughts. Tips. Help?

more raspberries.

I still had some leftover raspberries so I decided to FINALLY make the raspberry banana bread recipe that I found. It also is considered a "skinny" recipe, which I'm not sure if that is really that true. 

I worked all day in my classroom and got SO much done! I can't wait to share the pictures once it is all done :) I made a lot of my stuff this year and laminated all of it so I won't have to do it again for quite awhile. I didn't use a lot of my stuff from last year because I had no idea if I would even have a job this year! SOOOOOOOO glad I can finally say I am good with a job for awhile :). 

So back to the banana bread! I used just frozen raspberries that I had. The recipe also called for applesauce and I've never baked with that. It really was good in the bread! 

Here is the recipe

1 1/2 cups flour
1/3 cup of sugar
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsps cinnamon
2 large ripe bananas
2/3 cup of all natural applesauce (I used strawberry flavor.)
2 eggs
1/3 cup of vegetable oil
1 tsp of v anilla
2/3 cup of frozen organic raspberries
All natural raspberry jam (optional, but recommended)

Preheat the oven to 350. Mix the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, sugar and salt together. Whisk the eggs, vanilla, oil, smashed bananas and applesauce together until smooth. Mix in the raspberries and then stir in the dry ingredients. Pour into a 9×5 pan coated with cooking spray. I topped with about 1/3 cup of all natural raspberry preserves and “swirled” it around. Bake for 45 minutes-1 hour or until your fork comes out dry. Let the bread cool and then shake onto a plate. (It may be helpful to loosen the sides first)

I used Jams, Jellies, and More Raspberry Rhubarb jam where it called for jam. That's probably where the "skinny" can go out of the recipe! For some reason the bottom o the bread got stuck on the pan. I was pretty disappointed because I felt like I used enough Pam. Oh well, just because it doesn't look great DOES NOT mean it doesn't taste great!

Still looks good even if it is missing the bottom :).

Anybody have any good "skinny" recipes??

one day we'll decide to be adults.

What a beautiful morning. I love waking up where it's a little bit crisp in the morning. It says fall is on its way! My favorite season! This morning I decided to be a nice girlfriend and make some breakfast! I recently got some whole wheat pancake mix to try out. I also had some frozen raspberries in my freezer that I am going to use to make some skinny raspberry banana bread (hopefully tomorrow...). 

It turned the batter pink and smelled amazing!

YUM! Can't tell how pink they really were! 

I put good use to my new placemats and napkins :)

Don't mind the garbage on the floor... I was taking off all of the wrapping from the frames from IKEA! One day Tony and I will be adults and use a kitchen table... or maybe one day when we have room for a kitchen table! I'm already itching to move and we've only been in our apartment for 4 months... 

I finally put one of my Very Jane  purchases in the frame!

Not sure where it's going to go... I wanted to get another photo ledge at IKEA but OF COURSE they didn't have it in black until the next day. Oh well... looks like I'll have to go back. I know my mom would love to go as well :).

Well today I plan on attempting to laminate some of my stuff for my classroom and then headed out for dinner with a friend.

if only money grew on trees.

Yesterday I went to IKEA with my mom. YES! Only the best place in the world! Seriously if I had more money I probably would've gone crazy, but being the end of the summer that isn't quite the case. I really didn't need much of anything, but made away with more! 

I needed frames so I really bad. Because they are SO cheap there I stocked up! They are actually excellent quality too!

I also got this $20 rug! I could not believe it was that cheap. I mean, I know this rug probably isn't the BEST quality, but we just had to get rid of the one we were using so this came in just at the right price! 

I got some very cute dish towels as well. Maybe these will help me get back into baking cupcakes. Just haven't gotten there quite yet... I think I just need to find some new recipes to try out! Looks like Todd decided to photobomb this picture too! What a crazy cat :)

I got some cute bird napkins (who would've known they had bird napkins?!) and some placemats because Tony and I always eat on the coffee table in our living room so now maybe we (me) can try to keep it a little cleaner!

I got more frames and these cute prints that they had for $0.99. I have a hard time passing things up that are that cheap! I decided to throw them in some frames and put them in my classroom.

We then decided to stop at an outlet mall and I didn't find too much other than this dress..

Loooooooove! It's so cute and wasn't too expensive either which is always a plus!

I got some stuff at Target as well... well because I LOVE Target. One of my favorite places to go :)

A cute maxi dress (which I'm thinking of wearing for my friend's rehearsal dinner). $14.99!

Some more plain V-necks so I can make some more shirts with the embroidery around the neck.

And these cute scarves!

Overall, it was a great day and I didn't feel like I spent TOO much. I just love being able to spend time with my mom and we are a pretty good shopping team! We literally shop until we drop! I was soooo tired today when I had to get up for work this morning. Good thing I may have to take just a little nap for like 5 minutes :)

it came from a candle.

So first off... NO I'M NOT ENGAGED... let me just start there because when you see this ring you may have thought different.

So first off... let me say sorry for not  blogging like I should be. Nothing exciting is happening right now... just getting my classroom ready... and summer school...

I bought a Groupon for one of these Diamond Candles I have been seeing. It was $15 for the Groupon so I basically spent $15 for this soy candle. Not too bad considering how huge these candles are. I got the Cozy Cabin scent and I feel bad saying this... but it smells... bad. Not a fan at all of the smell. So, I decided to light this sucker because I say the ring and it was about 3 inches from the top so I figured it wouldn't take too long to burn to get down there. Well... then this happened...

Those silver things sticking out of the candle are... scissors. I just couldn't wait to see if I got the $10, $100, $1000, or the $5000 ring. I had to fish it out! So basically I dug in the candle with scissors until I got to the PRIZE!

WOO HOO! The $5000 ring!! Or so I was wishing. Blah... pretty sure it was a $10 ring. Let me tell you though... it looks real :) and funny thing is it is the same shape of diamond I like!

Looks pretty good right?! I think it's the perfect size ;) juuuuuust kidding! It's pretty darn big. I really did think that I had potential of getting the $5000 ring! I hate that, when you think that you actually won something. Like everytime I play the lottery... I always think "Okay... this is the time I'm going to win big". It still has never happened...

So let me just say one more time so I have NO ONE asking me... No... I'm not engaged. That's all I need!

Another one of my Very Jane products came today. This one is CUTE! Can't wait to use them!

So cute and so cheap! Little notepad! I love it and I'm very happy with the way it turned out :) I should be receiving more items soon.. or I hope!

I'm headed to IKEA tomorrow with my mom.. YES!!!! CANNOT WAIT. Stay tuned for some good blogs soon (hopefully...). 

Here are some things I'm hoping to blog about...

Trip to IKEA

My weight-loss body wrap

Banana Raspberry Bread (skinny!)

The removing of my extensions :(

and...

One of my best friend's weddings!!

Got some good stuff coming up! I'm off to (attempt) clean. Let's just say I've had a small pile of coffee ground on the carpet for almost a week. UGH! I hate cleaning!