Jay, Your Duck is Quacking…?

During the week, Jay has been living with my parents these past few weeks as he has been working at a hospital in Baltimore. Having Jay in Baltimore is a billion times better than New York because I get to see him at least every weekend. Plus, the next few weeks, we barely go three nights apart due to friends visiting, wedding planning and doctors appointments.

Today while Jay and I were relaxing his phone started quacking… apparently he has an alarm set to change the dehumidifier for my mom. Apparently, he really likes living there, I’m starting to get scared he won’t come back to me ;)

This weekend is our last before the wedding where we have NO plans (that’s a big deal to me). We spent the day relaxing and preparing for the next couple of weekends. (Yes, there is backpacking in our future!!)

We started with a leisurely 8 mile run. Jay really felt it, but I felt really good. I feel like it is rare when we both have a good run.

Upon our return, I made Bacon, Egg and Asparagus Personal Pizzas with Asparagus Fries for lunch.

The personal pizzas were delicious, but the Asparagus Fries were out of this world. I’ll post the recipe soon!!

But, the best part about cooking today is that Jay and I broke out some new kitchen toys that we acquired from our registries!! A big thank you to Hilary (for the cookie sheet), Courtney for the pizza stone and Jay’s parents for the blender. I see lost of baking, pizza making and smoothies in our future!!

Whole-Wheat Orzo Salad with Broccoli-Pine Nut Pesto

I wish I could say this recipe is my own, but alas it is not. I found it through Pinterest. Jay LOVES broccoli and I LOVE avocado. After perusing the recipe and instructions, I only make recipes that are quick and easy, I decided this one is a keeper.

Whole-Wheat Orzo Salad with Broccoli-Pine Nut Pesto

So go on and give it a try!

What recipe did you try recently that you loved?

Relaxing Weekend

This past weekend flew by! I don’t think it helped that I worked on Sunday. The pressure was on to make the most of my one day off. And trust me, Jay and I took full advantage of Saturday.

But, let’s start at the beginning. Friday, we played softball on the mall with fellow gamecocks.

Our team may not be the best, but it’s always fun to play with fellow alumni.

Saturday, Jay and I did as close to nothing as we possibly could. We stayed in our pajamas past noon relaxing. After a errands and a margarita, we saw The Five Year Engagement. The movie was really funny. It is not a must see in the theatres, but if your looking for a fun date night, consider seeing it.

Sunday, we started the day off a lot earlier with a quick 6 mile run before I went to work.

And that brings us to today. It was kind of strange to have a Monday which isn’t really a Monday. Thankfully today was uneventful and ended with a new recipe.

Portobello Mushroom Parmesan by Sing For Your Supper. I served my mushroom over spinach (YUM!).

How was your weekend?

Wedding Round Up

It was a beautiful day in Washington, DC today. It was such a shame I was stuck at my desk :( 9 to 5. After work I had a headache so I quickly whipped up Anne’s Cheesy Coconut Sautéed Chickpeas and Kale over whole wheat couscous.

I didn’t have Coconut Oil so I used Olive Oil and added Shredded Coconut. It was delicious and hit the spot! With a full tummy, I headed outside to enjoy the warm 80 degrees temperatures.

I strolled down to the newish park in Arlington. What a great view!!

This weather is starting to feel like summer, which means we are even closer to the BIG day. With 95 days to go, I thought I would catch y’all up on a few recent decisions.

Bowties

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Jay has recently become even more obsessed with bowties. As a result, he decided he wanted his guys in bowties for the BIG day. Jay is wearing the “Light Powder Blue” bowtie and his groomsmen are wearing the “Dark Blue” bowties.

Since we are asking the men in our families to wear khaki pants and navy blazers, we decided to buy them ties as well. The Dads are wearing the “Lime Green and Lavender” ties and our brothers (and in-laws) are wearing the “Key-Lime Green” ties.

Kids Books

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We aren’t having a lot of children at our wedding, but we are inviting a few. Above is a cute book I saw online that is super simple to print. Easy = something I am willing to do for the wedding.

Signs

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When Charlotte was in town a few weeks ago, we went to Michaels to pick up supplies to make wedding signs. I feel like my list of potential signs just keeps growing, but at least I have the makings of what I need. Now just to pick up the rest of the supplies and start working!!

Favors/Escort Cards

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Jenna and Bill had a greatest escort cards at their wedding back in September. They simply put labels (printed with the guests name and table number) on bags of red jelly beans. I knew this was the way to go since I don’t want to have to deal with writing out all the names and I am too cheap to pay a calligrapher ;)

Instead I decided to take their idea and make it ours. So instead of jelly beans, Jay and I are going to use Benne Wafers as our favor/escort card.

The only downside, for them to be fresh, I can’t order them until a month out. Good thing I am just printing labels ;)

Squash and Some fun Facts

I made Emily’s Butternut Squash and Cranberry Maple Millet for dinner tonight. It was delicious!!! So glad I finally made it.

Other than that, I am spending my evening getting ready for the weekend. My weeknights have been pretty filled with cleaning the apartment, laundry and catching up. I guess that is what weekends are meant for. My weekends have been filled with everything weddings and some quality Jay time.

Tonight I also sat down and did some planning. It was very refreshing reorganizing my thoughts of where I am and where I am going. I am also a dork and find such planning to be a lot of fun.

I also decided to share a few really random facts, for fun.

1. I talk to my fish, BS (aka Black Spot or Bull Shit. Yes we named our fish after card games). Sad, but true I say hi to her every time I come home. If you are wondering how I know her gender, please read this post.

By the way, BS did not like her photo shoot.

2. I still sleep with Pinky, my childhood teddy bear. I tell Jay its because she is a great pillow between my arms, you know… so the girls have some room, but we all know the truth.

I am also secretly scared Jay has it our for her. Don’t worry Pinky, I won’t let him take you!

3. I can hold a grudge like no other. Ask any of my friends ;) Oh, and I am working on this!!

What are three fun facts about you?

Trilogy Complete

I just finished the Hunger Games Trilogy. OMG!! I can not wait to write up all my reviews!! But for the sake of my sanity, aka the need for sleep, I will just give you a quick recap of my weekend.

Saturday, after visiting my friend Lauren, my Mom came over for the weekend. We went to dinner, did a little shopping and saw War Horse.

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Honestly, all I knew about this movie is that Kate Middleton saw it the night before her 30th birthday and that Steven Spielberg directed it. Pathetic right?!?!

Actually this was probably good. I really enjoyed the movie because I had no idea what to expect. I would say this is by far one of my favorite “horse movies”. It was touching and really kept my attention.

Today, mom and I went Mother of the Bride shopping. Unfortunately, I forgot my camera :(. But I think we found her dress!!! It is very pretty and very original! Yay for actually getting something done this weekend.

After mom left, I made Caitlin’s Stuffed Potato Skin Shells. They were super easy and delicious!

Well, I’m off to bed! Can’t wait to share my opinions on the Hunger Games and hear what y’all think!

More Pinterest Finds

As I mentioned Wednesday, tonight I made another one of Mary’s pinterest finds.

Kalyn’s Easy Cheesy Zucchini Bake. It was very good, but definitely not a main dish. I did add a little Nutritional Yeast to beef the meal up, but I was surprised it wasn’t more filling. It was definitely lacking protein. Oh well, live and learn. At least my guest, Courtney, didn’t mind.

While dinner was cooking, while we were enjoying it and after we watched Tangled. Courtney had never seen it, so I had to introduce her.

Every time I watch it now, all the other Disney princess movies jump out at me. I still love it though!

To make up for the void the Zucchini bake left us with we finished the movie with some popcorn. We mixed Kettle Corn and Butter Popcorn. Soo good, very subtle, but the perfect balance between salty and sweet.

I hope y’all had just a relaxing Friday as I had!

Time Flies

It is amazing how fast time flies when your having fun. I am completely engrossed in the Hunger Game series which has literally sucked up my days. I was in a waiting room on Tuesday and didn’t want it to be my turn because the book is soo good.

Besides being a major book worm, I have also managed to have a bit of fun.

Last night I went over my friend Courtney’s house for dinner and Country Dancing, Wii style. The meal was delicious!!! and I got to take home some leftovers.

I haven’t played with the Wii a lot, so I always forget how active the games are. Playing Country Dance was a lot of fun but also pretty funny. Line dancing is mostly all about feet movement so it was fun to see how the game incorporated your hands (which is where you hold the Wii remote and how you earn points, hence why they added hand movements). I think these images appropriately describe our ridiculousness.

Since I spent last night having fun, tonight I was all about cleaning. I started with the fish tank since Uno passed away. Jay and I think we accidently killed him by giving the fish a Goldfish weekend feeder instead of the normal weekend feeder we us. While it is sad to say good-bye, I felt good about cleaning the tank and giving our remaining fish, BS, a fresh start. And who knows, maybe BS will have a new sister this weekend.

After the tank was clean, I moved on to the entire apartment. The best thing about having a small living space is it takes no time to clean.

And before I knew it, it was time for dinner. Tonight I had some leftover mashed potatoes, baked parmesan tomatoes and black beans.

The baked parmesan tomatoes were a new recipe that Mary posted to our shared Pinterest board from when we lived together. Now that she is gone, I just steal all her recipe ideas ;) I am actually very excited to try one of the recipes she pinned on Friday.

Before I leave y’all, and because its Wednesday, I wanted to show you Val’s wedding invitation. You may remember talking about my invitations a few weeks ago. Val ordered hers and showed them to me which completely sold me on the company.

I can not believe how close her wedding is now! Invitations make it so real and make me realize how much wedding planning I have left. Eeks!

Skinny Mac N Cheese and Photography

Tomorrow is my work’s annual Thanksgiving lunch. My work provides the Turkey and all my coworkers make the side dishes. It is truly a feast.

The first year I worked there, I made my Mom’s Sauerkraut and last year I made Roasted Root Veggies. This year I knew I needed to do something different. Since my work is sponsoring a weight watchers group, I decided to make Mary’s (or Cooking Light) Light Mac N Cheese.

Since Mac N Cheese is a dish Jay and his family traditionally have at Thanksgiving, I thought I would share some of my new family traditions with the group, only the lighter version ;)

I love about this dish, it makes enough for me to take to work and have for dinner. Plus it is super filling!! I am a Happy Chef tonight!

While dinner (and lunch) was in the oven, I played with my newish digital camera. I call it newish since I have had it for about 4 months but have never found the time to play with all the settings until tonight.

An subject was Crumble-Top Pumpkin Muffins. Since we are moving soon, I have made an extra effort to clean out the pantry. Sadly, I had a can of Libby’s Easy Pumpkin Pie mix that I bought last year and was about to expire (eek). Thankfully, the label provided me with a great easy recipe.

But enough about muffins! I finally played with all the settings and found the one that I liked the best for the muffin (above). I feel like I learned a lot in just 15 minutes. I am so glad I finally took the time to play around!

It is amazing how much all the settings look so different. Even though I feel more comfortable, I still feel like I have a lot to learn about my camera and a whole world to learn about digital photography.

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Besides my time in the kitchen, I also wanted to take a minute to talk about last night’s Glee. I loved how Glee has gone back to its roots and has started incorporating more music into its episodes. This, in my opinion, is a big improvement from the beginning of the season.

Second, I am glad Glee has stayed with its anti-bullying attitude. I loved the dodge ball scene and how the writes flowed that into Kurt’s stance on anti-bullying.

Lastly, I am very very interested where the writers are taking the Santana storyline. I think its about to get a bit more interesting.

How did you feel about last night’s Glee?

 

How/Does your work celebrate Thanksgiving?

Mary’s (err- Cooking Light’s) 20 Minute Soup

I am one more day closer to feeling more human. I am so glad this cold attacked me now instead of closer to the marathon. Not that feeling under the weather is ever good timing, but I have to say it picked a great week. I am also so glad we worked in some extra wiggle room into our schedule. I felt less guilty only accomplishing 10 miles this weekend.

Which brings me to another point. I no longer know how to categorize my runs. I am sure other long distance runners feel the same way. 10 miles is soo far, but right now with all our other runs it is just another run. Pathetic right?!?!?!

So with that I am starting a little blog challenge for all my lovely readers at home. I want you all to run a 5k with me on Thanksgiving in your neck of the woods. Not a runner? Well you have a little less than 9 weeks to train and I have the perfect program for you, the Couch to 5k. Good Luck!!!!

On to the delicious Spinach, Pasta, and Pea Soup Mary made us for dinner. This 20 minute soup from Cooking Light was delicious, I was shocked when she made it in the amount of time it took me to figure out rent and write the check. Pathetic on my end right?

To accompany our soup we had grilled cheeses. Nothing says it’s Fall like soup and grilled cheese. As much as I loved the summer months, I have missed warm soup!

But for serious, go check out the soup, then the Couch to 5k, then go visit our engagement pictures. In backwards order.

Where will you be running your Turkey Trot?

Five Meals for Friday

Since it’s practically Friday (aka Thursday evening), I thought I would sum up the week with my five favorite meat-less foods.

1. Pea Daddy’s Jambalaya from Mama Pea’s new cookbook.

2. Cow Girl Corn Bread (also from Mama Pea’s new book)

3. Tina’s Oatmeal Pancake

4. Light Mac N Cheese from Cooking Light

5. Vegetarian Lasagna

What was your favorite food this week?

Everything I Ate Today

Week after week I see so many blogger post everything they ate. I have never been very good about documenting exactly what I eat. Today, I finally did it. Well I almost did it. I accidently ate two things without photographing them, but I was able to snap a quick photo when I got home. Without further adieu, today I ate:

Breakfast: Tina’s Oatmeal Pancake (originally from Kath, who know?) with a cup of coffee

At work: I snack all day long about every 2 hours. Instead of categorizing my food as “lunch” or a “snack”, I give you all of the food I consumed at my desk.

Usually my morning cup of coffee is enough for the day. After my extra long weekend and with an overflowing e-mailbox, I could not resist a coffee invite from a friend.

After some quality work and a meeting, I finally had my first snack at 11:30 a.m. I was starving! (which probably explains why I forgot to photograph). I normally have my first snack around 10 a.m. It may have been the coffee or the work piled up on my desk, but I just wasn’t hungry at 10 a.m. So when I ate, I had some Stoneyfield Activia Yogurt (courtesy of a coupon from HLS) with about 1/4 cup of granola (I keep a box in my desk) and some of Mama Pea’s Cow Girl Cornbread (from her new book) with Honey on top.

Still not feeling like lunch, I snacked on grapes around 12:45 p.m.

And then some Adora Calcium Chocolate at 1:30 p.m. as motivation to put new subscribers in our database.

Finally at 2:30 p.m. I had what most people would consider to be a traditional lunch. A salad with Chipotle Ranch dressing and Annie’s Cheddar Bunnies. Like the granola I keep in my desk, I also keep dressing in the work fridge. This is so much easier than having to pack it daily. I love Whole Food’s Chipotle Ranch dressing. It is so spicy that I can only have a little but none of the dressing guilt!

Dinner: Mary made us Cooking Light’s Lighter Mac and Cheese and I accompanied it with a beer (and an additional helping). Yum!

Do you document your food daily?

I typically do not document my food. I eat about the same thing everyday with little variation here and there based on what is on sale at the store, leftovers from dinner and my mood. Since training for a marathon, I have noticed I can have an extra snack daily. Besides the extra 250 ish calories, I eat pretty much the same and have no need to count or track my food.

I do slip-up and splurge occasionally, but it’s ok. I think the occasional splurge is an equally important part of Healthy Living.