Blogs and Birthdays

Happy Wednesday friends!  Now that I am back at full speed after 6 weeks of surgery recovery and then a fabulous Italian vacation I am ready to concentrate back on my goals of getting in shape and being healthy.  I am back in the gym and my food choices are back on track!

The extra fabulous news is that the husband wants to join me on this journey and possibly do a little blogging of his own.  So, we decided to launch a new blog, Wells Live Well.

We are still under construction on the new site, but I will update you when we are live!  All of my recipes and weight loss posts will migrate over to that site and Ema's Grand Ideas will be my spot for crafts, decorating, and style.

As I have been working on the new blog site I have been contemplating lots of fun motivational quotes that I have seen out and about in social media.  The one that has taken up wallpapering my phone is this one.

I. Love. It.

And finally Happy Birthday to my dear friend Roberta...

Have a lovely Wednesday friends!!

Wonderful Wednesday

Yes, it is in fact another blog titled Wonderful Wednesday here at Ema's Grand Ideas.  It is just a great title for a mid week post about random things.  If you have suggestions...I am open.  :)

Yesterday I was feeling sort of lazy at lunch time.  I didn't want to go to the gym, I didn't want to give in to the PMS tater tot craving and I wanted to get away from my desk.  (TMI?  No, just honesty.  I am finished with that topic now though, so you can relax.)  I made a compromise with myself that I am rather proud of.  I put on my running shoes and went to check out our new Trader Joe's.

Here are my thoughts...very cool selection of products...very friendly people...very small store.  I was surprised how small the store is; it was only three main aisles.  The prices are very good though.  I was expecting their prices to be higher, but they really weren't and the check out was fast.  My over all opinion...I liked it a lot...I will go back.

Especially since I will need more of these eventually.  These Sesame Honey Cashews are awesome!  They are 4 weight watchers points + for a 1/4 cup serving.  A great snack.

I had this coffee this morning and it was also delicious.  I hadn't used my coffee grinder in a while.  Good times.  I also got Sammy some chicken jerky doggie treats that they make.

"Chicken jerky??  I like chicken jerky."

And she did.

My other awesome find was sour cream and onion corn puffs.  This was the snack I substituted for the tater tots.

These are delicious and they are 4 weight watchers points plus per serving and the serving size is 2 1/2 cups.  I'd say I made a pretty good swap.

Yesterday evening I went with the husband to buy new running shoes at Academy.  He was trying on different pairs of Saucony running shoes and was running back and forth up and down the shoe aisles.

Side note - Saucony is the brand of running/walking shoes we have been loving lately.  If you haven't ever considered them during your shoe buying trips; put a pair on...you might like them too.

Anyway, we were discussing how it is important to pick the best pair on how they feel and not necessarily their color scheme.  Well, trick or treat the husband is ready for Halloween!

I am considering signing him up for this race.

(source)

Love it.

Have a wonderful Wednesday!!  Do you have any Trader Joe's favorites I should try?

Wonderful Wednesday and Weigh In

Do you know what's great about a three day weekend?  A four day work week.  It is already Wednesday and I am more than okay with it.

I have been very reflective last night and this morning.  As the fall begins I am noticing that I have many friends going through huge life changes.  Some of them very exciting and some scary and sad.  There are deaths, twins on the way, divorce, apartment hunting, child support issues, wedding planning, and several new homes to warm with parties.  Life has all kinds of twists and turns.  It makes my September calendar picture more than perfect.

Thank you Mary Engelbreit

I like plan B.  I know most people's lives don't go according to plan.  If they did, we would all be much more boring.  However, with faith and patience you seem to always get to where you need to be.  To all my friends no matter what life is challenging you with currently take a deep breath and have faith.  Love and hugs to you!

Wednesday is now my weigh in day since I am back to logging everything online with Weight Watchers AND since my scale has been located and unpacked. 

Good deal.  I am down 5.3 lbs since rejoining weight watchers.  Slow and steady.  I did make a couple of drive through visits this week, but I watched portions and even ordered a kids meal at one of them.  Imagine what kind of progress I can make if I cut those out entirely!  I know the beauty of a weight loss plan like weight watchers is that you can allow for those indulgences.  I still like to wonder what if.  :)  I have been great about the gym.  I have gone at least 3 times for the past few weeks.  Let's see what this weight watchers week has in store for me.

As you might know from yesterday's post it was my niece's birthday.  My sister shared this fantastic picture of her on Facebook yesterday and I of course stole it, ordered a print of it for my house, and must share it with you today.

My seven year old.  Yes, mine.

I was talking to Chelsie on the phone yesterday evening wishing her a happy birthday and hearing about her day.  I always joke with my nieces about what grade they are in and how old they are.  I do the how old are you now?  20?  16?  You get the idea.  Last night while I was talking with Chelsie I was doing that to her and she was laughing and right after I guessed 16 she says, "NO!  Seventeen!!" I laughed and she said, "No, seven!"  It was funny.  We are silly girls.  She reported that she had had a wonderful birthday and she got to choose what was for dinner and she and the family were going for sushi.  Good choice, Chelsie, good choice.

I hope you have a wonderful Wednesday!  Anyone else doing any fall reflection?

Weekend Recap

We started off the weekend by having some friends over on Friday night to have some cocktails and snacks.

Cheeses, warm bread, and olive oil dip; Carrots, celery, and ranch dip

It was a great time.

The rest of the weekend was spent preparing for my mother to come home to Houston.  When she is in Houston she stays with us and her room was not so much ready for a guest.  We got it mostly situated and got some of it unpacked.  Sammy was excited to see her GeeGee (that's what the grandchildren and animals call my mom).

"I love Geegs.  I'm glad she is coming home."

Sunday we got massages.  Ah, massages.

I picked my mom up from the airport yesterday.  She came in a day earlier than planned because of the storm in the gulf.  She was worried about her flight getting out of Jackson today and about my sister having to drive her to the airport in the bad weather.

My mom loved the house.  This was her first time back since before we had a functioning kitchen.  She loved everything that we had done and very much enjoyed the baked tilapia dinner.

I added tomatoes to my baked tilapia recipe last night.  I am not a fan of the tomatoes so I left them out of my foil packet, but the husband and my mom liked it a lot.  You can find the recipe for the baked tilapia packets in this post or on my recipes page.  I served it over orzo last night with a side of yellow squash.

Yummy dinner.

This dinner came in at 12 weight watchers points plus; that included a cup of the orzo pasta.  If you are a member of weight watchers online I have created this recipe as a community recipe so you can also find it there.

Sammy slept at the dinner table right next to my mom.  Love.

My mom commented yesterday when I picked her up that 3 months was the longest we had lived in separate towns before.  It is true.  I am happy she is home...don't tell her...but I did miss her a little.  Ask me again in a couple of weeks if I am still happy she is home.  LOL

As part of my unpacking over the weekend I found my scale.  Uh, oh.  I was brave this morning and got on it.  I have gained 6.5 pounds while we were without a kitchen.  Bummer.  Oh, well I have entered my weight in my planner and logged my food from yesterday and today and my gym bag is sitting under my desk at the ready for my lunch hour workout.  Here we go!

I hope you had a great weekend!

Recipe Wednesday

I had another lovely evening cooking in my kitchen yesterday.  Dinner turned out so delicious that I won't even waste time talking about anything else before diving right into the details and the recipes.  If you are a Weight Watchers member you may have seen their recipe for Mediterranean chicken.  It was my inspiration for the Mediterranean chicken I made last night along with my cheesy orzo.

Nom, nom, nom

Mediterranean Chicken

• 12 ounces chicken breast tenders (4 oz per serving)
• garlic salt
• lemon pepper
• olive oil spritzed from a misto (or olive oil cooking spray)
• 1/4 red onion, chopped
• 1 Roma tomato, cut into bit sized pieces
• 1/2 cup pitted kalamata olives, sliced
• 1/2 of a cucumber (I used the seedless kind), cut into bite size pieces
• 3 tablespoons reduced fat feta cheese
• 1 medium avocado, cut into bit sized pieces
• 4 teaspoons olive oil
• juice of one lemon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
• sea salt
• ground black pepper

Season the chicken tenders with  garlic salt and lemon pepper.  Heat a non-stick skillet sprayed with olive oil cooking spray (I used my misto) and cook on medium heat until chicken is cooked through.  While the chicken is cooking begin assembling the salad that will go on top of the chicken.  Combine the onion, tomato, cucumber, olives, and feta in a bowl and set aside.  Whisk together the lemon juice, 4 teaspoons of olive oil, some cracked black pepper, and a little sea salt.  Toss this dressing with the salad ingredients and then cut and add the avocado; toss to coat.  Serve over the cooked chicken.  This recipe makes 3 servings.

Ema's Cheesy Orzo

• 1 1/4 cup water
• 1 1/4 teaspoon chicken bouillon granules
• 1/2 cup orzo pasta
• 3 laughing cow light creamy Swiss wedges
• garlic powder, to taste

In a small sauce pan combine 1 cup of water and 1 teaspoon of chicken bouillon and bring it to a boil.  Add orzo and reduce heat, simmer 15 minutes until there is no more liquid (like you would cook rice).  Remove from heat and stir in 1/4 cup hot water mixed with 1/4 teaspoon of chicken bouillon, 3 laughing cow cheese wedges and garlic powder.  Stir until cheese is melted.  Serve immediately.  This recipe makes 3 servings.

Yummy!  Seriously.

While I cooked I enjoyed this lovely mocktail.  Light cranberry juice, La Croix lime sparkling water and a squeeze of fresh lime.

Well hello beautiful breakfast room shelves in the background.  Weird that you snuck into this picture.

This morning at the bank drive through I saw a woman and her dachshund in line.  This isn't interesting news on its own, but the woman and her dog were without a car.  Apparently she forgot it this morning.  The good news is she remembered to get dressed so she is a step ahead there.

Have a wonderful Wednesday!

Thoughtful Th...err Tuesday

This was on my daily calendar yesterday.

So true.

This is one of my favorite illustrations from Mary Engelbreit.  I have a coffee mug with this picture on it.  Each year when it turns up on my daily calendar I post this quote as my status on Facebook (if you are a FB friend of mine, you might have noticed this).  Every time I post it it gets lots of comments and likes.  It is a good quote.

Here are the things I am not worrying about today.  :)

I emailed the contractor this morning to see if he had an update on when the counter tops would be ready for install.  The original date was sometime last week.  The current date is sometime this week.  I would love to have counter tops this week...that means we will have a sink installed and that means a much closer to normal kitchen life!  The ability to easily wash produce would be a welcome change.

The painters are in the house working on the bathrooms and touching up the scuff marks we made in the hall moving the refrigerator.  The bathrooms should have at least coat one finished today.  I can't wait to see the colors!

It is interesting to try and do your hair in a bathroom with no mirror.  I had the old school medicine cabinets removed so I could hang pretty mirrors.  Good thing I am all about pony tails right now.  :)  I keep thinking my goal this weekend will be to purchase and hang the mirrors in the bathrooms, but I will be relaxing in Gruene!  I am looking forward to the weekend away...even though I keep forgetting it is coming.  Here's hoping we come home to lots of progress and (crossing my fingers) counter tops!!!

Something I should be worrying about is the fact I am not working out and not eating all the great.  That is something I need to change and something that would give me strength today.  I shouldn't worry about it...I should just do it.  Goal for today...an evening walk around the neighborhood.

Have a wonderful Tuesday!

Friday Funday

I love summer Fridays...it means my work day ends at noon today!  Woohoo!  Then I am off to the grocery store to get the ingredients for Weight Watchers Raspberry Lemonade Vodka Slushies.

(source)

The recipe for these drinks calls for raspberry lemonade drink mix and diet lemon-lime soda.  We think we will substitute the lime La Croix for the diet soda so the cocktail isn't too sweet.  I will let you know on Monday how they turn out.

I will be enjoying these drinks with my friend Rebecca who is cooking us dinner.  I love home cooked healthy meals even more now since I have no kitchen!  Rebecca is making this Skinny Taste recipe:

Crock Pot Chicken Cacciatore

I will give you reviews of both these recipes on Monday in my Weekend Recap.  Have a wonderful Friday and a great weekend!

Wonderful Wednesday

Thank God it's Wednesday.  This week has been a little long already and I am happy there are only two and a half more work days before the weekend.  I am ready.

Last night the husband and I needed to get out of the construction zone house so we went to a cute little neighborhood restaurant called Sophia.  It was nice to sit and chat and not stress about everything that we need to do.  We brought a bottle of delicious wine and had the Italian pizza.

It was was great...worth its points.  :) Their pizza had salami on it, I logged it as a slice of pepperoni pizza (from a large size pizza) which I think was fair for what I had.  Sophia's pizza has nice crunchy thin crust...very tasty.  To go with my piece of pizza I ordered some grilled asparagus.  It was cooked perfectly.  Fabulous.

Together with my two glasses of wine my dinner was 16 points plus.  I borrowed two points from my weekly points...I love those points.  :)

It was nice to get out and escape the chaos at our house.  I try and focus on the things that are starting to make it look more like a home and not a full on construction area.  Here is a peak at a few of those things.

I am loving these bird prints I found at Pier One.  So cute over the bed in our awesome green room.  I am already over the striped quilt though.  Sigh.

We removed the old school screen door that was on the front door.  It made a huge and instant difference.

I found these stars at Garden Ridge Pottery and they fit perfectly on the fence behind our deck.

I love daisies.  I don't know if you knew that or not.  My nieces made this flower pot for my mom a couple of Easters ago.  I thought these daisies looked cute in it.

What kinds of things do you like to focus on to help relieve stress?

Have a wonderful Wednesday everyone!

Salads and Cereal, Oh My!

I am already feeling so much better.  It is amazing what a relaxing weekend and some deep thinking can do for you.  The bike ride last night kind of kicked my butt, but I enjoyed every second of it and I am feeling blissfully sore this morning.  Not super sore like I did a serious power yoga class but I can tell my legs are happy with me.

(source)

If you have a Zoe's Kitchen near you, I recommend it.  My salad last night was wonderful.  Their Greek salad is served over this delicious potato salad.  It sounds a little weird, but trust me it is good.  The salad was a tasty 10 weight watchers points plus.  I also got an order of their tomato bisque soup which I will be having for lunch today.  Zoe's has all their nutritional information online so it makes it easy to order and stay on track.  My bowl of soup is 7 points plus.

On to another important topic...cereal.  Did you like Cinnamon Toast Crunch?  I used to love it...not just as a kid as an adult too.  I was on the cereal aisle yesterday and I was wanting some Cinnamon Toast Crunch.  Instead I picked up this.

Holy cow!  It tasted just like I remember Cinnamon Toast Crunch tasting only SO much better.  It didn't leave that sugary film in your mouth.  Do you know what I am talking about?  The serving size for Cascadian Farm Cinnamon Crunch is 1 cup, compared to the 3/4 cup serving size of the other.  I had 1 1/2 cups for breakfast this morning which came in at 4 weight watchers points plus (without the milk).  For the same amount of Cinnamon Toast Crunch it would have been 7 points plus (without milk).  I like this math and I liked this cereal so much better.  So if you ever find yourself in the same type of situation on the cereal aisle, you know what to do.  :)

Okay dish...what is your favorite cereal?

Weekend Recap

Well, we moved.  Not last weekend, almost two months ago.

This has been a hard two months.  We are still living with an incomplete kitchen, so the eating habits are not the best.  What's worse is that work has been super busy so I haven't been making it to the gym at lunch time like usual.  What's even worse than that?  I haven't been picking up the slack by doing a work out in the morning or evening.  I have been overwhelmed and a little lazy (just being honest).  The good news...yes there is a little good news...my clothes are still fitting so I haven't been doing extra damage, so I will take my small win.

When we moved in we were not able to unpack a lot of boxes, the kitchen and dining room are still not unpacked since they are not finished, so we have what will be the den as the designated box room.  The sofa that will eventually be in the den is in the living room so we are fairly cramped.  We have finally called uncle and had some contractors out to give us bids on helping us finish the kitchen.  I am just fine with that...I hope they give us good bids and can start soon.  I am ready to get back to normal life.

Toward the end of last week I started thinking about things that I could do now that would improve our living situation and my mood.  I called it my happy now list.  I might not have a complete kitchen, I might be living in essentially 2 rooms of a 3 bedroom, 2 bath house; but there are things I can be happy about now.  Like my whimsical blue hallway.

I sweet talked the husband into climbing around the box room to find this picture.  I was floored when I realized the color I painted the hallway matched the text on the bottom of this picture almost exactly.  It looks like I took the print in with me and asked the store to match the paint.  Crazy.  This might be my favorite little corner of the house right now.  It is not finished, but it is on it's way.  I have a runner rug on order and I want to put some bottle neck vases on this table.  I am very happy about this.  :)

The other things on the happy now list were not all that pretty to photograph, like finding the box with the Pledge so I could give the furniture a good dusting, but they are getting scratched off one by one.  On the happy now list for this evening: a healthy dinner from Zoe's Kitchen and a bike ride around the neighborhood.

Oh, and I know you are wondering about Sammy.

She is very satisfied with the move.  She has a yard.  She could care less about a kitchen, her food bowl still gets magically filled in the morning and evening.  She is content.

And she gets to have friends over.

Today the pen color will be yellow.  Yellow makes me happy now.  :)

Have a wonderful Monday!

Holy Chobani

I have always heard good things about Chobani yogurt, but I hadn't tried it for myself until today.  Holy cow is it delicious!

I wish I had tried it sooner, it is SO creamy and not too sweet like some yogurts.  It is a little more expensive which is why I hadn't tried it before, but it was on sale this weekend so I picked up a couple.  I am glad I did.  If you have not tried it, find a sale, buy you some, eat it.  You will not be sorry.  I had the non fat apple cinnamon flavor which was 3 weight watchers points +.

When I logged my weight online yesterday I got this notice.

I love that notice!

Have you discovered any awesome new to you foods lately?

Pork Chops and Pretty Offices

Good morning!  I made pork chops on Tuesday night and they were delicious!  I used another of Skinny Taste's recipes...Pork Chops with Dijon Herb Sauce and they were fantastic.

My pork chops are not as pretty as the ones in the recipe for two reasons.  1 - I am not a good photographer and 2 - I baked my chops, so they are not as golden brown as the original recipe.  I wanted to be able to do a few chores while dinner cooked, so I seasoned the chops with garlic salt and pepper and put them in a 375 degree oven for 20 minutes.  I also prepped some broccoli for roasting and let them start in with the chops too.

I followed the recipe for the sauce exactly and the herbs I used were garlic (technically not an herb, but delicious in this sauce), chopped Italian parsley, and chives.  The sauce was awesome and really the star of this dish.

"I like pork chops, they look delicious baked too."

At least Sammy thought they looked great.  She is a big fan of my cooking.  LOL.

I love the Skinny Taste website, and if you have not visited, I suggest you head over.  I had boneless pork chops in my freezer and I went to the site, entered pork chops in her recipe search and presto...dinner.  Love it.  Plus she provides nutritional information and weight watchers points +.  Awesome!  These chops are 4 points +.

Yesterday I visited the BFF's office.  She is a photographer and I have mentioned her on the blog before and her work has appeared in this post.  Anyway, I love her office!  It is a bright blue and has lots of her work on the walls (duh).

It's a very happy office and I want to work there.

Pretty, right?  You can see more of her work on her website - monkey-tree.com - Kasey is awesome.

My office is cute and yellow and does have some Kasey pictures in it.

my office

also my office

But I still think Kasey's office is a very happy looking place and I would like to move my desk over and work there.  The one thing it does not have that mine does...

This cute bird to hold notes.  :)  I suppose I could bring him along and have the best of both worlds.

Weekend Recap and Weigh In

First things first...as I mentioned in Friday's post my friend Roberta's mom was having brain surgery.  The surgery was a great success, they were able to remove all of the tumor and a cyst and she is now recovering.  Thank you for sending your good thoughts and prayers in Roberta's family's direction!  Please keep them coming...she is now in the recovery stage and we all know how hard that can be.

Last weekend started with Friday Funday at The Ginger Man.  The husband loves the g-man for it's gigantic tap wall of craft beers.  I also enjoy trying all the beers, but Friday I limited myself on beers to limit calories...I was proud of me.

Their beer menu is so big they call the food part of their menu Solids.  I think that's hilarious.

We played some darts.  The g-man improved their scoreboards.  I was happy, they used to be pretty bad.  I don't know how that E + D heart got there.  Honest.  Daniel won...he would want me to report that.  Not by much of course.

The rest of the weekend consisted of cleaning up and out in preparation for our end of April move.  The scale didn't budge as I was hoping it was going to.

Previously:  -4.6
This Week:  -0
Total:           -4.6

But hey...not budging means I didn't gain either, so I will take it.

In other extra fun news, I got my car inspected over the weekend, so now my car is due for its next inspection in 2013.  I am wondering if the state of Texas is paranoid about the number 13 or if it is just worried its residents are paranoid.

Here's a sticker with a 2012 expiration date.

Here's my new sticker.  Interesting.  I wonder if 2014 will be 14 or 4.  How is your state handling next year ending in the dreaded number 13?