Back to reality

As Sunday evening comes to an end I find myself reminiscing over this lovely Holiday Season. I gaze upon the empty wall where my Christmas tree stood just a few days ago and already I feel a deep void. I'm now left with only a cold, brutal and gloomy winter season. No more Christmas. No more New Years. No more Vacation. It's officially over. Work and my normal schedule starts again tomorrow and there's nothing I can do about it. Except cry, whine, kick, groan and moan. WHAAAAA! WHAAAAA! WHAAAAA!

Alright, I feel a bit better. This is the part of winter that I hate the most. It's the coldest, darkest, snowiest and most miserable stretch of three months EVER!

Moving on. Enough complaining! Breakfast today was a bit different. I wasn't craving oatmeal or eggs so I decided to have yogurt.

I made a yogurt mess with Weight Watchers Boston cream pie yogurt, banana and a small handful of pomegranate granola. I also had a toasted English muffin with fat free peach jam on one side and Trader Joe's pumpkin butter on the other. It was all delicious!


After breakfast I worked on some laundry and hung out with the Mr. before getting ready to visit Mama and Papa for lunch. I decided to take a delicious salad from home to have for lunch. The original plan was to cook up some Shrimp which I had taken out of the freezer to thaw in the morning. However, once they thawed out something about them just seemed "off" and "not fresh" so SADLY I had to toss them out. Instead I grabbed a Morning Star Farms black bean burger which I crumpled on top of the following...

• Baby Spinach
• Sweet Butter Lettuce
• Black Beans
• Fat Free Mozarella Cheese
• English Muffin (toasted and crumbled for "croutons")
• Spray Butter
• Red pepper flakes
• Black pepper

I love this combo. Lunch was VERY good. After my salad we played some Yahtzee, chatted and enjoyed a nice cup of coffee. I also brought over the leftover brownies that I made on Friday for everyone to enjoy. I thought it best to get them out of the house so they weren't there to tempt me. That and Nick isn't into sweets and they would've just gone to waist. I can't even lie, I had one. It went unphotographed though. What can I say, IT HAPPENED SO FAST! Maybe going back to work next week isn't such a bad thing. I need to get back into the swing of my regular schedule of meals and workouts and stop with the excuses and the mini splurges. Now don't get me wrong, I have NOT been feasting on cake, frosting, fried chicken or drippy cheesy fries. However, I have not been eating as clean as I usually do, drinking enough water or working out 5x a week. BAH! I think I only worked out 3x in the last 9 and the last time I made it to the gym was on Tuesday! I FEEL LIKE A SLUG!


Also, I CLEARLY did NOT update you on my weigh in this Friday. Why not? Because I decided to skip the weigh in this week. I figured that I only do this once a year and I deserve to have a good time, splurge and relax a bit and not stress myself out about it. I will weigh myself next Friday and if I lose 1.9 pounds I will still count it towards my mini end of year goal of 35 pounds lost. I know it will be the 8th when I weigh myself which is obviously not the end of the year but that's okay. Let's just say I'm "IMPROVISING"! ;)

Dinner was simple tonight. My Mama sent breaded chicken and butter rice for Nick to have for dinner and I was craving sweet potato fries. I put a batch of fries in the oven and tossed in a Chicken Sausage as well. CATASTROPHE hit when I plated up my food. I REALIZED I WAS OUT OF KETCHUP. OMG! I WAS SO SAD! Instead I dipped the fries in fat free maple syrup and I dipped the sausage into Sriracha sauce. It turned out okay. Disaster averted!


For a DELICIOUS snack later I enjoyed a scrumptious 18Rabbits granola bar. I received a sample of their new flavor (Belle Bananas Foster) to try.

HOLY YUM! This bar made me want to swoon and sing with delight. It was absolutely delicious! I've said it before and I will say it again, this brand is super tasty and I have yet to be disappointed. Find it, buy it and eat it immediately! I give this bar a 10 out of 10. As with all the other bars I've had the pleasure of trying, it was rich, moist, chewy, bursting with flavor with a great texture. Excellent!! Thanks for the sample 18Rabbits!

I think Nick and I will play some games before heading to bed. Speaking of bed, I better make sure to get to sleep early tonight. The alarm is set for tomorrow whether I'm ready or not. It's time to get back to reality, bright and early.

Have a great night!

Bring on the games!

Is it Saturday already? My vacation is almost over. NOOOOO!!!! I'm not ready to for this to end yet! I could use another week off. I'm not even kidding!

Anyways. How about we pick up where I left off last night? Sound good? I had a BLAST and I have lots of FIERY and SPARKLY pictures to share.

We SLOWLY drove through the HORRIBLE snow storm and made it to Nick's mom's house safely. The roads were incredibly bad. We didn't see a single plow or salt truck all the way there. BAH! This years tree was even bigger than last years.


We waited on a few friends to show up and then dove into the "decorating". We attached roughly 250 sparklers, 30 roman candles and spinning stars as toppers. Awe, so pretty and violent looking.


The boys were so pleased with the tree that they busted out a Polka. No.... I have no explanation for this.


After the decorations were done we stopped to eat. There was so much food. Here is my plate. Sauerkraut and pork loin, sauerkraut balls, stuffed mushrooms and some cheesy potatoes.


After dinner the boys drug the tree out and tied it safely to the yard before starting the fire.


It took a while for the whole thing to catch fire and get crazy. Honestly, these pictures do it no justice. HA!


The boys played with some more fireworks while the tree continued to burn. ;)


After the tree was burnt to a crisp, we gathered inside and toasted with a little champagne and chatted till almost midnight. We had the best time! The drive home however was SUPER BAD! We made it safely though. YAY!

That was last night, here is today.

For breakfast this morning I had another delicious bowl of oats.

• 1/2 cup Irish oats
• 1 cup chocolate Almond Breeze
• 1/2 banana
• small handful of raisins
• 1 tbs coconut flakes
• dash cinnamon
• dash salt
• 2 packets splenda
• 1 tbs chocolate peanut butter

YUM-YUM! Oats cooked on the stove are SO much better than in the microwave. I wish I had access to a stove at work.

After breakfast Nick and I busted out several board and card games and spent ALL afternoon hanging out in our pajamas. It was so nice to relax and do NOTHING!

At about 2:00 we stopped to make lunch. Nick had leftovers that we brought home from his mom's last night. I had some veggies with hummus, pickles and a chicken breast sandwich on an Ezekiel bun with fat free American cheese and spinach. It was nice to have an extra chicken breast leftover from last night. Both of our lunches were ready in a matter of minutes.


Like some sort of gaming machines we started playing more games and didn't stop until almost 8:00 at night. I don't think either ones of us wanted to set foot outside today. We just wanted to be lazy! Not to mention the high today is 15 degrees. I don't want to be anywhere NEAR that frigid cold weather! It was nice and cozy inside. Basically the entire day was perfect. ;)

For dinner we had Taco Salad (you can find the recipe ***HERE***). I thought I would make it tonight and surprise Nick since we didn't have it on Friday night as usual. It's his favorite.


Well, I think we just decided to play more games. HA! Enjoy the rest of your Saturday night. We're such nerds!!!

On the First I Thirst for FIRE!

Hi everyone! Hope you had a fun and safe New Year's Eve last night. Mine was very fun and mellow. We got to the bowling alley at about 5:00 and dove right in. In case I haven't mentioned it before, I SUCK at bowling! I AM SUPER BAD at it with the occasional and rare moments of luck. HA! It was no different last night. As soon as Nick's family and friends showed up we dove right into playing and I was HORRIBLE! I think the best I did all night was 98. :(


After the end of game one we hydrated with a delicious pitcher of beer. Perhaps it will help my aim? I doubt it though!


I lost every single game. As in I was dead last each time and 5 of us bowled on our lane lane (everyone else was on the lane next to us). BAH!

Here I am with Mr. Winner. I LOVE YOU NICK! YOU JERK!


Here is Nick with his Mama Tamy. ;)


At about 8:00 we left the bowling alley and headed over to Nick's Aunt Lori's house to eat and play games. When we got there Nick's mom surprised me with a necklace she made for me. She's so dang crafty. Not sure if this picture does it justice or not but in the center is a face peeking out. A partial face that is. You can only see the nose and one eye. On the bottom she dangled a lock and key and she called the necklace "The Prisoner". I LOVE THAT CONCEPT!


For dinner I had a bit of everything that they had to offer, minus the sweets and meatballs. My contribution to the evening feast was a veggie tray with regular ranch veggie dip and roasted red pepper hummus. My plate consisted of those veggies & hummus, sauerkraut and pork, 7 layer salad (minus the bacon layer, yay) and cold sauerkraut salad. Everything was delicious!


After we ate we must have played at least 4 different games while we waited on midnight to roll around.


I enjoyed a few bottles of Red Stripe Beer while we celebrated. I know, I know! I'm being bad again. The Holidays are almost over though and all will be back to NORMAL soon enough!

At midnight we toasted with champagne and played a few more games. However by 1:00 my old lady side started shining through. I almost passed out on the couch. So for obvious reasons we called it a night. His family did not need to see me drooling like a maniac. :)

WHEW! It was a LONG but FUN day! I passed out as soon as my head hit the pillow. I was exhausted!!!!

I still managed to wake up by 8:00 this morning though. Even though I felt tired my body just couldn't sleep anymore. I shuffled downstairs, made some coffee and delicious omelette.

• 1 whole egg and 3 egg whites
• 3 slices of ham lunch meat, shredded
• 1/2 tomato, diced
• chopped onion
• chopped green pepper
• chopped broccoli
• 1/4 cup fat free american shredded cheese

I haven't had an omelette in a while. It was so good. I also brewed some Chocolate Chop Cookie coffee. I love having all of these flavored coffees at home. I never know which one to brew in the morning. ;)

After breakfast Nick was itching to try his new game. It's called San Juan and it's SUPER NERDY! It took a while to read over the rules and what not but it actually ended up being fun. AND I WON! EVEN MORE FUN!


I wanted to keep lunch light and simple. I pan seared some chicken breasts and made us a lovely salad. It was a mix of baby spinach, romaine, croutons, tomatoes, shredded cheese (fat free for me), cucumber, broccoli, cauliflower and of course diced chicken. I tossed it all with light caesar dressing. YUM!


After lunch I cleaned myself up and got ready to head out later. The anual burning of the Christmas Tree at his mom's was happening tonight. I witnessed this magical event for the first time last year and it was ridiculous!!! They take an old Christmas tree, stuff it FULL of fireworks (sparklers and bottle rockets etc...) and then SET THE WHOLE THING ON FIRE outside. Holy heck, it was WILD last year! I can't wait to see that BABY BURN! BUUUUURRRNNNN!!

Nick is taking his beloved cheesy potato bake to the gathering tonight. I decided to make the mix of Kodiak Cake Brownies. I figured the two of us would and could never eat a whole box so events like this are a perfect way to test out these tasty treats.


I made the mix per the instructions on the box but I substituted plain low fat yogurt for the butter. Before I put the dish in the oven I shaved some Newman's Own Organic Mocha Chocolate bar to sprinkle over the top.


OH MAN! SHOULD BE GOOD! Just look at them. I have't tasted them but I bet my life that they taste delicious!!!


Alright, we're about to take off so I must go. The snow is out of control outside and the roads look like CRAP! It will take us for EVER to get there. I HATE SNOW! At least Nick is driving with his winter tire sporting, sexy, all wheel drive Mitsubishi. YEAH!

Enjoy the rest of your Friday night!

Did I already mention that I hate snow? WELL I DO!