Manic Monday

I am blogging from my new computer!!!

And yes, it is a Dell!

This is not what I had for dinner. I ate this on the 5th.

Tonight, we had friends over. This meant we ate this...

I put it in the oven after BodyPump (which I love) and this...

Yeah, we bought way too much salad for three people for one week...

How much salad do you buy each week?

On Thursday, our fridge was filled with bottled water in other containers.

because we emptied bottled water bottles

to make beer... lots and lots of beer!

Mary bought the beer kit for Jay for Christmas.

He is a happy happy man!

On to Tuesday! How was your Monday? or I guess Thursday since I talked more about that then Monday!

Phew, only 4 more work days until my WEEKEND. What does this mean? Lots of finances, travel plans, blogging and cleaning, and maybe a sleepover too!

Kickball and Gamecocks!!

What a Thursday!!! After the normal daily grind, I ran into DC to meet Jay.

The theory was we could run to kickball instead of our normal morning run. This run was AWFUL!! I decided to carry a backpack, but not an ordinary traditional backpack, I wore one of those rope packs. NEVER AGAIN! My lack of appropriate gear resulted in me half running half walking into the city.

At least we didn't sit in the traffic like the rest of the city!!!


Unfortunately, we lost our kickball game 2-4. At least it was a veteran team, so it could have been a lot worse. Above is a lovely picture of kickball on the mall. LOVE IT!!

Love the sunset!
Usually after kickball we head to our sponsor bar. NOT TONIGHT!!!

You guessed it, tonight was the first night of college football! AND, per tradition the Gamecocks played, so we headed over to our Alumni bar (which is now conveniently close to our home!!!).

Plus, we managed to make a friend a gamecock!!!

And in the great southern tailgating spirit, the bar served beer in solo cups (ok, they were probably just being cheap, let me dream!!). I did have my first Sam Adams Octoberfest of the season!! I heart fall! Plus, appetizers (I worked up an appetite at kickball).

Cajun sliders, yum, yum, yum!


Austen had potato skins and they looked great!

The best part of the Alumni viewing party was seeing old friends. I was able to reconnect with a grad school friend and meet other alumni from my grad program. I love connecting with people! Hopefully, I will now see this friend more often!

What are you looking forward to this fall?!?!?!

Beach burgers and grilled veggies

Welcome to "Little Ocean Hideaway" or my grandparents condo at the beach.

In an effort to be more healthy, and pinch a few pennies, Jay and I tried to eat in during our mini-vaca.

We brought our left over veggies from the week and grilled them. I love grilled asparagus!! I also added some evoo (extra virgin olive oil), cauliflower, sweet red peppers and salt and pepper.

Ok, so it is more like sauteed veggies, still delicious!

Accompanying our veggies, we had burgers (therefore dubbed beach burgers, solely due to the location of consumption).

This beach burger feature chipotle hummus, swiss cheese and lettuce. Yum! and look at that beautiful piece of cauliflower.

Cooked perfectly!

We also had some Kirkland beer with our supper. Kirkland beer is Costco brand. We only picked it because it had the most variety (Hefeweizen, Amber, Pale Ale and German Lager). I have to say each of the beers was just a touch too hoppy for me. I still wish we went for the Bud Light variety pack (Bud Light, Bud Wheat and Bud Light Lime), but since neither of us really like Bud Light (just the varieties), it did not make sense.

And our lovely view...

When you are on vacation, do you like to cook in or eat out?

Boston Brick Red

Our Boston trip was beyond a success!

Jay really got into trying everything local from Mike's Pastry to Sam Adam's Boston Brick Red.


We came across this exclusively Boston Brewed Beer at Lansdowne Pub near Fenway. The beer is a traditional European style ale and oh so delicious. The best part is for every pint of Samuel Adams Boston Brick Red sold, a donation will be made to Samuel Adams Brewing the American Dream Fund. How cool is that?!?!?!

Chicken, broccoli, spinach, asparagus pasta

It was so nice, I came home from work today to find Jay studying at our dining room table. He never does that!! But we also usually don't spend sooo much time apart!

We both popped open a Michelob wheat beer. I had the Ginger beer which I liked, but Jay says it has too much Ginger. We also both approve of Shock Top, but prefer a lemon in it (rather than an orange). With my beer in hand, I turned on Gilmore Girls (we're on season 5) and began to cook.

Tonight, the menu consisted of a broccoli chicken pasta dish. But, in my typical fashion, I threw any veggie in the fridge in the pan.

I started by caramelizing 1/4 of an onion. This onion was in the freezer and again no tears! I then ran about 8 frozen chicken tenders under cool water (to defrost slightly), chopped them up and threw them in the pan.

While the chicken was cooking, I chopped up my broccoli in small trees (that is what my little brother called them when we were little). I also threw in some frozen spinach (defrost in the microwave first) and some chopped asparagus.

When the chicken was ready and the water was boiling, I threw the rest of the veggies in the pan and covered (with a cookie sheet). I cook about 1 1/4 cup pasta. Thanks to food shopping trips with Theresa I now buy Whole Foods pasta. Unfortunately, this week I didn't have time to pick some up, so instead I used 1/2 Giant brand and 1/2 Nature's Promise.

When the pasta is done, pour over your veggie chicken concoction and viola! dinner! We added some Parmesan cheese and our left-over chicken and veggis went over some Romain lettuce for lunch.

The only disappointing part of the day was my short morning run. Unfortunately, with the DC summer heat and humidity, morning runs are becoming harder and harder. I did manage to get out in the morning, but only ran 2 miles instead of my target of 4 miles. At least I walk to work and Jay and I got in an evening stroll.

Tomorrow is my day off, but since I feel that I have barely been running I may try Iowa Girl Eats 8 minute At-Home Cardio Circuit.