Leap Year Baby

Are there any Leap Year babies out there?  My dad was a leap year baby.  Today would have been his 19th real birthday.  We turned 13 together in the same year.  We are cool.

Super Cool

Double Super Cool

We took him some flowers this weekend.

And then we celebrated his birthday as he would have wanted us to...with steamed vegetable dumplings from Ta Hua.  This Houston restaurant is located on the west side of town, nothing to write home about other wise, but they have the BEST steamed vegetable dumplings I have ever tasted in all my life.  If you have never had them, I am sorry.  You are really missing out.

They used to have a location closer to us near the Galleria and my dad would go over and pick up dumplings for dinner.  I am sure they thought we were crazy with the amount of orders we would ask for at a time, but they reheat SO well!  I have had them for lunch everyday this week.  Worth the 10 points +!!

Yummy!

Happy Birthday Big D!!!  I miss you everyday, but especially on your real birthday!!

Weekend Recap

The weekend was full of work and more work.  Friday night I was at the office late...then the rest of the weekend was spent cleaning out at the house in preparation for the April move.

Here are the favorite old pictures from the weekend.

Little me with puppy Lucy.

The sis and me on the junk mobile.

Mom's engagement picture.

The weekend also had me going through old toys.  A lot of which were in great shape and got packaged up for donation.

My Exxon Legos

The best find by far was the Oscar Mayer Weinermobile whistle.

A must have.

The treasure find of the weekend was this pillow.

My mom's sister made it.  Hi Aunt Boo!  What do we think of it on the bed?

I definitely like it better than the denim, but it might be a little too small.

What do you think?

The weekend was definitely a tiring one.  Lots of hard work...but it will pay off in the end.  The animals were exhausted.

They worked VERY hard.  Have a great Monday!

All Will Be Well

My daily calendar is perfect today. This is my theme for the day.

Have a wonderful Friday everyone!

Treasures from the Clean Out and More Good News

As we are cleaning out the family home to prepare for DIY projects and moving in April we are finding lots of fun treasures along the way.  Over the weekend my mother and I sorted through tons of linens, some which were hers and some that had belonged to her mother....many of them with hand detailing.  The hand details were amazing.

Look at the cut outs.

I thought these pillow cases would look great with out new bedding.  I was right.

I think the denim pillow is on the way out.

 

Awesome.

At the opposite end of the spectrum from antique linens, check out my new office decoration that I found last weekend.

Nice right?  Yellow unused floppy disks in a yellow IT office.  Fantastic isn't it?  But wait it gets better...

Rainbow!

Yes, I am a nerd...I am still okay with it.  To fully embrace my nerdiness, I might tie a cute ribbon around them.

Now for my good news!  I got a promotion.  It was unexpected and I am very pleased.  I know my good fortune comes to me because one of my awesome co-workers is leaving...he is moving to Austin.  I have learned a TON from him and I wish him all the best.  I will miss working with him. 

My promotion comes about a month and a half after the husband received his.  We both got our good news on Mondays...maybe we should like Mondays better!

Weekend Recap

The movie, This Means War, that we saw on Friday Funday was hilarious.  It was one of those great comedies where you just want to lose touch and laugh.  I recommend it.  The extra bonus about this movie trip was that I found these old gift certificates that have been hanging around for who knows how long.

We decided we would take them and see if they were still good and they were!  AND they gave us $3.50 in change!  We got paid to go to the movies.  How often does that happen??  All in a days work.

The rest of the weekend was spent cleaning out the house in preparation for our April move.  My favorite story from the weekend was about these Texas Gold saving stamps.

Grocery stores used to provide savings stamps to their customers, one stamp for every 50 cents spent.  You collected them in a booklet and then went to a redemption center (not back to the grocery store) to purchase things with your filled in booklets.  Everything in the redemption center was priced by the booklet.  Some things were one booklet, some two...etc.  My mom said you could purchase all kinds of things like lamps, kitchen items, and small electrics.  You learn something new every weekend!

Here are my favorite old photos from the weekend.

My parents...not sure what the discoloration on my mom's nose is...I assure you it isn't there in real life.  :)

Picture taken by my dad.

With his handwriting on the back.

The Leaning Tower of Pisa picture makes me smile.  I hope to take the same picture very soon.  This one is going in a frame.

I hope you had a wonderful weekend as well.  Did you learn anything new?

Friday Funday!!

It is my half day Friday and I need it this week...it has been a crazy busy week!

Sammy is fun.

I couldn't resist snapping this picture of Sam for today's blog.  Whenever she has one of her toys we ask her if she's fun and she always looks very happy and wags her whole body.  She is fun.

Today it is supposed to be another rainy day here in Houston...so for afternoon fun today we are heading to the movies!  I haven't been to the movies in a long time.  The husband and I have maybe been to 4 whole movies together total.  We should go more.  We will put this plan in motion today.

(source)

I will let you know how it is.  It looks like it will be super funny, a little romantic, and things will still blow up...which will make the husband happy.  :)  And I love Reese Witherspoon...she's one of my favorites.

In other fun news.  I got some cute new shoes.  Love.

I hope you have a wonderful weekend!  What are your plans?

Weekend Recap

Last weekend we were in Hattiesburg for the chili cook off at the Keg and Barrel. 

The husband's chili was delicious.

Proof.

The chili was ranked 10th of around 30 other entries.  I think the judges were crazy.  Daniel's chili was clearly the best.

There was good music.

 
We had a great time with the family.

And we still managed to do this!

Go us.

The hills in Hattiesburg were not so fun to run/walk.

I hope you all had a great weekend too.  I leave you with this...I love this.  My sister has this sign hanging inside the back door of her house above the bulletin board.  So true.  :)

Day II Done and The Naked Face Project

We completed week one, day two of Couch to 5K last night.

Wheee!

That combined with serious lunges in yoga yesterday, my legs are definitely sore today.  I will be sticking to a slow walk today to get some movement, but I am calling this a rest day.

Check!

As I mentioned in yesterday's post I have been following Caitlin Boyle's blog, Healthy Tipping Point and she and another woman are going sans makeup for 60 days.

Molly on the left and Caitlin on the right (source)

They are calling their journey The Naked Face Project.  I really appreciate their reasoning, they both work with Girls on the Run (Molly is its founder) and Caitlin is the founder of Operation Beautiful so they both have opportunity to not only impact young girls and women's lives, but to be fabulous role models for them.  Their point with this project is that you can be beautiful without primping and no primping is required.

Here is what they are giving up for 60 days:

"For sixty days, we will give up wearing any makeup, removing any body hair, altering our hair from its natural state (dying, curling, straightening), wearing uncomfortable feminine clothing (high heels, tight skirts), wearing jewelry (with the exception of wedding bands), painting our nails, using anti-wrinkle or anti-acne lotions, wearing deodorant, or styling our hair for reasons other than function." (source)

I really starting thinking about their project Tuesday evening.  I was fresh out of the shower, had just shaved, exfoliated, put on my eye cream and my night cream.  I climbed in bed to read my magazine and this ad made me think of their project.

The tag in the ad, "Go out without my Covergirl on - are you crazy?" really struck me.  Don't get me wrong, I like my makeup, but I will go out without it...and I will be confident doing it.  I do not feel weird or self conscious talking to people in a store or the gym without any makeup on...and I would hope no other woman does either.

I admire what Caitlin and Molly are doing, they are brave women...they are giving up a lot more than makeup.  I could get on board with giving up heels and tight skirts for 60 days...heck I give those things up most days.  I could even go without nail polish for that long, but I don't think I would be able to go without lotion, deodorant, or hair removal...not for that long.

My take on the makeup piece is pretty simple...I like putting on makeup.  I find it fun.  I love to try new colors and to play with makeup.  It is part of my relaxing morning before work.  Coffee, my pup and my makeup bin...I could give it up for 60 days and sleep in, but I wouldn't want to.  I have too much fun with it.  Are there days that I put on very little?  Absolutely!  My typical weekend face consists of tinted moisturizer with SPF, a little powder, and some mascara...some days for work are like that too.  I know plenty of women in my personal and professional life who wear very little makeup or none at all.  I see no problem with it.

I think the Naked Face Project is a pretty cool example for girls of all ages and I am glad there are some who are brave enough to do it.  They blog about it each week as well, so you should check out their thoughts.  I will continue to read about their journey and admire their bravery with my freshly shaved legs.  :)

Ema's naked face

So tell me, would you be able to go without your "beauty" routine for 60 days?  What do you think of the naked face project?

Busy Lazy Evenings

Good morning!

Yesterday evening seemed very relaxing, but I managed to get a lot done.  The husband, the workout buddy/neighbor and I went on a 30 minute walk after work.  That was a good start to the evening.  I felt a little like I was dragging and I am hoping that is no indication of how I will feel during week 1 day 2 of C25K tonight.  I am actually looking forward to it.  I am also looking forward to lunch time yoga today!!  YAY!

My laziness was probably most reflected in the dinner I prepared.  Hey...it wasn't take out, so I will chalk that up as a win for productivity.

The salad was spring mix, mushrooms, cucumber, reduced fat feta and boiled egg white for protein.  I added tomatoes to the husband's salad because I am nice and he likes them.  I do not like raw tomatoes so much.  The star of the salad was a lemon vinaigrette dressing, which is super easy to make.

• juice of one lemon
• 1 tsp extra virgin olive oil
• 1/4 tsp cumin seed
• salt and cracked pepper to taste

Whisk all the above ingredients together and you have dressing for two large salads.  It is easy and really tasty.  The dressing adds one point + to the salad as does the reduced fat feta.  So my salad was a whopping 2 points +.

In addition to salad I also made us some roasted asparagus.  If you have not roasted asparagus, you really should.  Spread it in one layer on a cookie sheet, spray it with olive oil from your misto or use your olive oil cooking spray, sprinkle with garlic salt and put in a 400 degree oven for 20 minutes.  Delicious.  I record the asparagus at one point + because of the olive oil, I doubt there is a whole teaspoon on it, but better safe than sorry.

I also managed to get some laundry done, which was nice.  Trixie was a big help.

Okay, actually she was having a lazier evening than me, but she sure looked cute doing it.

Have you heard of The Naked Face Project?  Caitlin Boyle who writes Healthy Tipping Point, a blog I love, and another woman, the founder of Girls on the Run are doing no makeup, no shaving, no grooming for 60 days.  They are pretty much, brushing teeth, bathing/washing faces and that's it.  Check out the project and let me know what you think.  Tomorrow I will be blogging my thoughts about it.

Interesting Magazine Ad

I got to thinking about it more last night after I got in bed with my magazine after a nice shower that included leg shaving and using an exfoliating scrub on my face and was closely followed by my evening regime of eye and face cream.  These ladies have given up all these things (except the shower) for 60 days.  Check out the site and the reason why they are doing it and let me know what you think tomorrow.  I'll detail my thoughts then.

Have a wonderful Wednesday!

Decisions

Lots of decisions were made over the weekend...

I decided that blogging a weigh in every week was a little boring and put way too much pressure on me...pressure under which I was cracking.  I will do a weigh in each month instead, at the beginning of the month starting in March.

I decided that I am adding the Couch to 5K plan to my workout routine.

Week One, Day One Done!

It felt great, so great that I walked another 20 minutes after the cool down.

Check.

Now, what 5K to sign up for?  More decisions!

I decided that I am excited about our trip to Hattiesburg this coming weekend.  Okay, that wasn't a huge decision over the weekend, but before the trip seemed so far away, that now I can decide to be excited.

I get to see my girls!!

The husband decided to do a test run of the chili he is entering in the 2nd Annual Keg and Barrel Chili Cook Off.  He decided to do the test run on Super Bowl Sunday.  I approved of this decision.

A winner in my book!!

 He won't be serving it over rice or topped with cheese...I added that to mine since it is yummy.

Sammy decided the new bedding is hers and that she likes it a lot.

"I look good in blue and green."

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend.  Did you come to any good decisions?