Weekend Recap and Weigh In

Happy Halloween!!!!  I hope you all had a great weekend, I know I did...but first things first.  Happy birthday to my fabulous sister Audrey.

I love you lots sissy...have a wonderful day!!

Now on to the weekend recap...on Friday there was a faculty/staff bake off at UST.  Everyone was very creative.

 

On Saturday we went with the niece and nephew to the fall carnival at school...the sis-in-law was there too.  ;)

Jett and Leslie

There were slides and obstacle courses and rock climbing.

There was silly string and confetti eggs.  The kids had a great time and we had fun too.

Confetti!

As we were leaving I snapped this picture...how cute is this?

Leslie and Dawn

After the carnival, Daniel and I decided it was too pretty of a day to be inside so we sat outside at Tila's and enjoyed this cute margarita.

Sunday was my mother-in-law's birthday so we made fajitas at Dawn's house.  It was a beautiful day.  My mother-in-law and the kiddos made Halloween crafts.

Jett the devil and Leslie the witch

And now for the weigh in...

Previously: -6.6

This week: -1.6 (this was actually two weeks since I skipped the scale last Monday)

Total:         -8.2

Awesome!

Today there is no pen color...I will be using my Halloween pencils.

I hope you have a boo-tiful day!  :)

Cupcakes and Birthdays, Oh My!

Last night my sis-in-law Dawn and I made cupcakes for my niece and nephew's school Halloween parties.  Dawn found this idea for spider web cupcakes and we went to work!

Aren't they awesome?

They look like they take a lot of effort, but they were so easy.  We baked cupcakes from your regular mix.

Yum.

Dye some white icing orange with food coloring.

Action Shot.

Then ice your cooled cupcakes with orange icing and use black gel icing in a tube to make a spiral on the top.  Drag a toothpick through the icing from the middle to the outer edge to make your web and add your plastic spider ring.

Done!

And spider rings are helpful for more than just decorating cupcakes...

My wine has the black spider.  ;)

Now while you make cupcakes for kid parties you need an easy dinner...let me introduce you to the wonder that is salmon crackers.  If you like smoked salmon, dill and cream cheese this is the finger food for you...and yes, I will totally eat them for dinner with a salad on non cupcake making evenings.

Amazing!

Take light laughing cow cheese and season it with dill, garlic salt and all purpose dill mix from The Pampered Chef.  I will usually mix up a whole wheel of the cheese and keep it in a container in the fridge.  Spread the cheese onto Carr's Table Water Crackers (or the store brand equivalent), add your sliced smoked salmon and top with capers and chopped red onion (I left off the red onion last night since Dawn is not a fan). 

Ten crackers with 3 seasoned cheese wedges and 4 ounces of smoked salmon comes in at 9 weight watchers points+...and they are worth every delicious point.

Spider ring topping optional.

And finally...happy happy birthday to my dear friend and workout buddy Rebecca!!!

She's the one on the left.  :)

The pen color today will continue to be black.

Have a wonderful Friday and an amazing weekend!!!

Wonderful Wacky Wednesday

I have been very energetic this morning!  It feels great!  I was up at 5:30 for some coffee with the husband before a two mile walk with the workout buddy Rebecca.  After my walk I watered plants and cleaned...I was so productive!

Sammy spilled a little coffee on me which was not so pleasant.

Bad Dog!

But you really can't stay mad at this face.

Tonight I am playing darts again for the last time this season.  I am mostly happy about that.  Darts is fun, but it messes with my evening schedule and after a less than stellar start to the week food wise, especially following this weekend (which you can read about here: Weekend Recap and Weigh In) I don't need any speed bumps in my schedule.

On the positive side, my Weight Watchers community friends rock.  As mentioned the start to my week has been kind of crummy food wise and last night I had a Jimmy John's sandwich for dinner, delicious, but super high in points...I told my husband I had sandwich eaters remorse.  And I posted this on my Weight Watchers profile.

Support like that is awesome!!  I have had a great morning and I plan for a great day.

The pen color today is black.

Spooky

I hope you have a fabulous day!!

Spaghetti Squash is Awesome

I had never cooked spaghetti squash before, but after this post over at Honey I Shrunk the Gretchen I decided I wanted to give it a try.  It was easy and delicious.

Slice the spaghetti squash in half the long way (or if you are a wimp like me have a strong man do it...thanks husband).  Remove the seeds and pulp.  This was the hardest part for me...I used a combination of a spoon and a paring knife and a dog.

HA!  Sammy didn't really help seed the squash, but she was fast enough that she did eat a couple of seeds off the floor before I could get to them.  She seems to be fine though, so good deal.

Once the squash is cleaned I spritzed it with olive oil from my Misto sprayer and put sea salt and fresh ground pepper on it.  I then put it in a 450 degree oven cut side down on a cookie sheet that I lined with foil.  I baked it for about 40 minutes and then let it cool enough to be able to handle.

Then you take a fork and scrape all the squash out of the skin.  During the baking process the skin became kind of hard, so I would be tempted to call it a shell, but that sounds a little weird.

Spaghetti Squash Skin/Shell

While the squash was baking I threw together a marinara sauce to put on top of it.  It was simple and pretty tasty.  I had half a jars worth of Barilla sauce in my freezer, so I threw that together with sauteed onion, garlic, fresh basil and can of stewed tomatoes.

This recipe comes in at 6 weights watchers points+ and it is delicious!

I will be enjoying left overs for lunch today!! 

The pen color today is orange.

I hope you have a terrific Tuesday!!  Now tell me, have you ever made spaghetti squash?  Any good recipes to share?

Weekend Recap and Weigh In

The weekend was jam packed!  There was wine, a little sickness, lots of football and some new jewelry.  Let's get started with the recap!  :)

There was wine with friends.

Old Friends

New Friends

On Saturday I had my first University of Houston tailgating experience.  It was lots of fun!  Rebecca is a UH alum and she invited me and Daniel to join her friends at the game.

Rebecca's brother Jake, rolled up with his BBQ pit on a trailer and made fajitas.  They were delicious.

Texas pride

The guys next to us were doing it right.

Bloody Mary Bar

And someone brought cupcakes from Crave Cupcakes...delicious.

And they had spirit...

Go Coogs!

The game was at 3:30 and the weather was beautiful.  The Cougars ran right over Marshall...the score was like 63 to 28.  Good times.

Robertson Stadium

Kicking a Field Goal

Touchdown Celebration

Touchdown Celebration II

Shasta and Rebecca (far right)

Shasta and me

On Sunday I made soup for the week.  It was kind of an on the fly soup...so I will let you know if it is any good...I brought it for lunch today (crossing fingers).  I also watched football, did laundry and made jewelry.

Wearing these today

Love how yellow the yellow walls make my pictures look. Oops...lesson learned.

The weigh in did not happen this morning.  I did not get on the scale on purpose since I know what it would have told me.  After the weekend of mediocre food choices and no exercise and then the feeling of (advanced apology for TMI) PMS bloating I knew better than to get on the scale and bum myself out more.  Instead I skipped the scale and walked 2 miles with Rebecca this morning.  I might revisit my weigh in around Wednesday or I might just wait until next Monday.  You like surprises right?  The walk definitely improved my outlook and I am ready for yoga at lunch today.  I will make this a good week.

Today the pen color will be lime green.

Do you ever skip the scale?

Seasons Change, Change is Good

Rebecca and I knocked out 1.8 miles this morning and it was awesome.  The weather is beautiful!  It finally feels a little like fall here in Houston.

Another exciting change is on the horizon, Daniel and I will be moving into a cute bungalow near the museum district in about 6 months.  The house needs some work in the kitchen and in the front bathroom, so we are brushing up on our DIY skills.

Ideas

These were some items that I was already liking for the kitchen/breakfast room area.  I think that the breakfast room would look great without the cabinet doors to create shelving for cookbooks and pretty accessories.  We are thinking of browns and khakis for the kitchen as far as a color pallet, but I must admit I really like the white in the picture above.

Last weekend we wandered through Lowe's for more inspiration and ideas.  We are considering a stained concrete counter top and we were liking this possibility for stain.

The breakfast room will get new lighting and this was the closest I saw at Lowe's to my inspiration picture.

 Cute, but I like the other one better.

We are thinking of wood type flooring for the kitchen floor...at least a wood look.

 We want to put fans in all the bedrooms and replace the one in the kitchen.

So many fans.

In the bathroom we would like to replace the old style pedestal sink with a new vanity.  I really liked this one.

With brushed nickel faucets...

This toilet seat will not be an option.

LOL

And a new front porch light.

I am excited about all the possibilities...I am sure you will hear lots more about it as we count down the months.

Today the pen color is pink.  I like pink, even in the fall.

What DIY projects have you tried?  How did they work out for you?