I Love Surprises!

Yesterday afternoon the clouds rolled in and we got a little rain.  I didn't even think there was a chance in the forecast so it was a great surprise.  We didn't get a lot of rain, but I still enjoyed the thunder and lightening.  This meant that we didn't go walking yesterday evening, but we did have movie night...which was awesome.  The movie we watched was not...Friends with Money...I didn't like it.

For dinner we had chicken, seasoned in allegro marinade, roasted cauliflower and roasted sweet potato.  It was delicious.  Dinner came in at 8 weight watchers points.

I was surprised at how few points a boneless skinless chicken thigh was.  Because of this I had lots of points left over for the day, so we had popcorn while we watched the movie.  It made the movie a little better.  :)

My friend Roberta...you remember her from Thursday! and A Little Bit of Everything...she brought me presents yesterday!  She knows I love Mary Engelbreit and she got me some cute nail files.  And it was perfect timing too...I needed one when she gave them to me.

THANKS BIRD!!

And I realized that I have mentioned working out with Rebecca for a while on the blog and her picture hasn't graced the pages since this post: BRAtober - cocktail party for a good cause.  I didn't want her to be jealous of Roberta and dump me as a workout buddy so I thought I better get her up here.  I have no pictures of us working out together, so you will have to settle for one of the party pictures.  All three of us are doing the Race for the Cure on Saturday morning, so maybe there will be a picture coming of all three of us in workout gear together.

Hi Rebecca!

Let's hope Rebecca likes surprises as much as I do!

Today the pen color will be yellow, since I am feeling bright.  HA!

It could be because it is Friday.  TGIF!!!

Have a fabulous weekend!

An Evening in the Life

We had an awesome evening, but it was very much more of the same.  Daniel and I went walking and I took bad pictures.

What tops of our heads?

Go Dano go!

Then we came in and made baked tilapia and salads with awesome balsamic dressing.  You can find the recipes on my recipes page.

Yum!

Rebecca joined us for dinner (the menu was at her request and she approved!) and she and I checked out the info for Saturday's Race for the Cure and planned our parking strategy.

Tuesday Sammy got a new toy.  It is a red ring toy...she had one when she was a puppy and it lasted a couple of years.  She loved that one and she is loving the new one.  We used to call it her pillow and I forgot about that fact until I came in and saw this.

"I don't know why they called it my pillow."

Silly dog.

The pen color today will be pink.  It feels like a pink day...

Enjoy your Thursday!

Sauteed Shrimp

I made a simple dinner last night and it turned out so well I thought I would go ahead and share my little recipe.  But first, a mocktail...in a fancy glass...it was that kind of day.

Fancy

Shimple Shauteed Shrimp

(I know, I know...I'm hilarious!)

• 4 cups raw shrimp, peeled and de-veined
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 Tbsp smart balance light spread
• Old Bay Seasoning

Season raw shrimp with Old Bay Seasoning and refrigerate until ready to saute.  Melt Smart Balance in a large pan over low heat and add garlic.  Saute on low until garlic is becoming soft.  Add shrimp and increase heat to medium.  Stir until shrimp is pink and done.  Sprinkle with additional Old Bay as needed.  This recipe makes two servings.

I served the shrimp over my Easy Orzo...recipe in this post.  It would also be good over rice, quinoa or couscous.  For the weight watchers fans out there this recipe came in at 10 points.

I served it with a side of zucchini.  Yum.

The pen color for today will be black...it will look good on my Halloween sticky notes!

Have a great Wednesday!!

Nurse Sammy

If you caught yesterday's post you know I was home sick.  I had a fabulous, very concerned nurse tending to me.

"You're in my day time sleeping spot, could you move?"

She really was right there with me all the time, leaning on me.  I thought it was very sweet.

"Seriously, will you move over?"

I get the feeling she really wanted more space on the sofa...I think she missed out on some napping since she fell asleep quickly last night.

She'll be happy to have the sofa to herself today.  She can catch up on her sleep.  :)

Have a great Tuesday.

Weekend Recap and Weigh In

I am not feeling very well today...bummer.  I am staying home with Sammy and Trixie and trying to make sure this...whatever this is...doesn't get worse.  That means this post will be short.  Ready?  Here goes...

We took Sam to the park and she got to swim.  She was super happy.  She was the only pup swimming and everyone wanted to throw her chicken for her.

Satisfied Pup

My niece Courtney scored her first goal this weekend.  Way to go Courtney!!

I made green beans for as the prepped vegetable for the week.  Yummy.

I sauteed 4 pieces of turkey bacon and one sliced onion until onion was translucent.  I added beans, two cups of beef stock, a little worcestershire sauce (I have to look up how to spell that every time) and sea salt to taste.

I love this pot.

I simmered them until the beans were tender.  Excellent.

And now the weigh in...

This week: -2.9
Last week: -5
So far:        -7.9

YAY!!!

Have a great Monday.

Burning the Evening Oil

I am working late tonight, we are patching one of our databases, but that doesn't mean that there isn't fun being had.  I am doing a little of this while I wait for computers to need me.

I am almost finished with The Help and I must admit I will be a little sad when I am done.  It is such a great book!

And I decorated!  Well, okay...decorated is a strong word...I got out my two office pumpkins and changed the ribbon on my wreath.  Yes, I am the only one in the IT office with a wreath on their door.  I am okay with it.

Festive

Got this one last season on clearance.  Love it.



Spooky

 I also brought a snack in case I get the munchies.

I hope your Friday evening is just as exciting as mine.  Okay, I hope it is a little more exciting than mine.  :)

A Little Bit of Everything

Yesterday at lunch I ran into Roberta in the gym.  I love it when that happens...working out with friends is fun.  In case you missed yesterday's post, Roberta was my workout buddy Wednesday evening.  She made me run, she is mean.  Actually the running was my idea and she humored me.

Hi Bird.

View From the Elliptical

After work I stopped at my mom's house to pick up a record for the husband.  Yes, an actual record.  My stomach was already growling to I grabbed a handful of her animal crackers for a snack on the way home.  I still call them animal crackers even though she buys the store brand and they are shaped like numbers and letters.  Anyway, I took a little bag of them to snack on.  The last two in the bag made me laugh.

Ha!  Interesting snack!

Well, I thought it was funny.

The husband, Rebecca and I went for a walk when we all got home, so dinner was simple.  Chicken seasoned in Allegro (details about Allegro in this post) and salad.

Mmmmm.

After my 9 point dinner I still had 6 points left for the day, so a little later I had some Terra chips for a snack.

Pretty.

Have you ever had Terra Chips?  They are good...different root veggies made into chips.  They have sweet potato, taro, yuca, parsnip and batata.  No, I don't know what all of those are, but I do know they are good and they are 4 points for a serving...so I had a serving and a half.  :)

In Trixie's effort to make the blog she tried to up her silliness.

Silly Kitten

Sammy countered with...

Silly Puppy

And I got a pottery barn catalog in the mail yesterday.  It sealed the deal...the fall decorations are coming out this weekend.

Love It

The pen color will still be orange today in honor of this decision.  Enjoy your Friday!!

What are your plans this weekend?

Thursday!

Happy Thursday!  More importantly happy that tomorrow is Friday day!! 

Yesterday after work Roberta and I went to Memorial Park to walk/run.  It turned out to be 56 minutes of walking and four of running, but hey it's a running start.  My guess is that we covered a little better than 3 miles...I forgot to use my handy map your walk app.  Here we are when we arrived...all smiley and chatty.

This is fun!

Here we are when we were happy to be finished.  I have learned that I should let Roberta take the photos so she doesn't have to stand on her tippy toes to get in the picture.  Sorry Bird.

Done!

We did both rock our Life is Good shirts, so we were quite the cool pair.  Memorial Park is very crowded in the evening so it took us a while to get back out of the parking area.  Of course I took pictures while we waited.

Run!

Cool blurry action photo.

And for dinner...popcorn!!

Don't judge.

I had to go pick up Sammy from my mom's house after the park so I didn't get home until around 8 and cooking was just not something I was willing to do.  I wanted something buttery and salty delicious.  And this was 8 weight watchers points of buttery deliciousness.  Of course not the most well balanced meal, but it sure did hit the spot.

OH!  Look what my mom brought me!

Halloween sticky notes!!!

They go wonderfully with my Halloween pencils.  Yes, it is still in the 90s outside, but I have a feeling the fall decorations will be coming out at my house this weekend.  Get ready Daniel!  And what other color could be the pen color of the day today?

In other totally unrelated news...I really like the earrings I have on today.

Fun!

Happy almost Friday!!!

Workout Wednesday

I've been talking about food a lot lately...and not to worry I have a dinner recap for you...but I thought I would discuss my typical workout plan in case you were wondering.  Most mornings I walk with my workout buddy Rebecca which is a great start to the morning.  We usually cover 1.5 - 1.7 miles and we try to go each morning, but it is rare that we make it all five days.

At lunch time I usually spend that hour in the gym at work.  I work on a college campus, so the gym is easily accessible and it offers classes...like yoga which I take at lunch time on Monday.  I have two office gym buddies and we hit the gym at lunch on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays.

Today I am trying something new and I am heading to Memorial Park with my friend Roberta after work for a walk (and maybe a tiny bit of jogging).  I am looking forward to that since she is taking me to a path I have never tried over there before.  YAY!

On Saturdays I come to the gym on campus in the morning and try and do 45 minutes to an hour of cardio and then some strength training.  On Sunday, I rest.  I like Sundays.  :)  And that about sums up how I get my calorie burn on during the week.

Now back to food.  Last night for dinner we made steak, salad, roasted broccoli and couscous (provided by Rebecca, she joined us for dinner).  She sauteed zucchini and onion and mixed it into her couscous.  It was delicious.

The steak was extra yummy last night.  We were eating later than normal, so I put it in Allegro to marinate.  This stuff is amazing.  I suggest you try it, you will not regret it.



source



source



The broccoli I roasted the same way I do my other roasted veggies, little olive oil, garlic salt, 400 degrees, toss mid roasting, roast about 30 minutes.

And of course the side salad with the Awesome Balsamic Dressing.

The whole dinner came in at 12 weight watchers points.  Not bad at all.

Today the pen color shall be pink...because really, how can you go wrong with pink?

And Trixie wanted to say hello.  She said she is not featured nearly enough on the blog and that I needed to fix that.

"It's about time."

I told her she needed to up her game of doing silly things like Sammy does.  I think she was offended at the suggestion.

Have a great day!  We are halfway to the weekend!