Monday Check-in

Working on: Planning and scheduling things for work.

Reading: Is Everone Hanging Out With Out Me? - Mindy Kailing -- Pretty good book so far. If you listen to books, I recommend listening to this instead of reading it.

Watching: I caught up on Glee this weekend. It's one of those shows where I can be doing thing while watching because I really just enjoy the music.

Loving: Yoga! Have you tried it? Very intimidating at first. I really apprecaite the instructors I've had so far because they give you level 1-3 positions so you can stay at one if it's comfortable or move up if you'd like.

Drinking: You guessed it, tea and water. Holl-er. However I do mix it up from time to time with a glass of cranberry juice in the morning for a glass of milk with dinner (cookies)

Eating: Made apple chips this weekend and the first batch turned out pretty good so I baked the second batch a little longer to get them crispier and they're a little brown...but still tasty!

Stressed about: Taxes. Seriously, no monies!?

Excited for: a concert tonight. First concert at Radio Radio. Looking forward to it!

Feeling: Unmotivated.

Obsessed with: COLORS! Colorful clothes are going to be fun this spring/summer!

F-O-O-D Food Food!!

I finally was able to cook something this week, well, two things.

First up we had Cilantro Lime Tilapia Tacos. These we delicious except I have a very low tolerance for spicy things. We used the 2 jalapenos as suggested and I thought my lips were going to inflate like Will Smith on that one movie. Yeah. They were HOTT! Rare batch? I don't know, I bought them at Marsh. So I had to pick out all my little jalapeno pieces and enjoy. Paired with refried beans and mixed veggies. (Photo via Skinny Taste)

Last night I made Baked Potato Soup. I thought it was going to be a lot more involved than it was. Very easy to make. Took me 45minutes-ish. Didn't eat any of it until today at lunch and it was really delicious and not loaded with calories like a normal Baked Potato Soup. Why you ask? Because the recipe substitutes cauliflower for a lot of the potatoes. For someone who really likes cauliflower this is awesome. And really, I don't think I would have really noticed if I didn't make it. One thing, the recipe says to use an immersion blender and I don't know what that means so I just used a hand held potato smasher. It worked good enough for me. (Photo via Skinny Taste)

Tomorrow I'm making some apple chips I found on Pinterest.

Wednesday Check-in

Working on: Getting through the Feb. SM reports

Reading: Is Everone Hanging Out With Out Me? - Mindy Kailing

Watching: Tonight I need to get caught up on Glee and Parenthood

Loving: My new nalgene bottle and lush body bar

Drinking: back to Chai tea, Twinnings was on sale at Marsh.

Eating: Funny you should ask. I asked my mom for jam (bc it's homemade!) and she brought us homemade Zuppa Toscana and another pasta chicken broccoli meal that we've been eating for lunch and left overs for dinner. Lame sauce I know. I'm making Tilapia tacos tonight if that helps?

Stressed about: how busy this week is. It's definitely a good stress though.

Excited for: A weekend without traveling to accomplish some well over due projects!

Feeling: Great feeling good, how are you?

Obsessed with: the fact that we practically skipped winter! I mean hello, it's almost March... right?

Breathe out...ahhhh

Yeah I left social media for a few days, 7 to be exact.

It was refreshing. I almost don't want to come back. Well to the blogging, yes, to the pointless banter on twitter and silly updates on facebook, not really.

I didn't realize how wrapped up in it I became until I reached the tipping point. I was checking and checking and checking and checking and checking. I was constantly caught up on Google Reader, I rarely missed a tweet, and saw all facebook posts (that show up on my newsfeed). It was bad.

Wednesday (2/15) I declared to Dusty that I was abstaining from social media for a week.

At first it was hard. I had to consciously decide to find something else to do. Things would happen during those days and I would form them into thoughts of 140 characters or less and then push it out of my mind so I could live in the moment instead of in my Facebook post.

And then I realized I didn't need to share everything/thought that I am doing/thinking and I certainly don't need to be constantly lurking on other people's lives. I wonder how much time we waste sifting through twitter updates and facebook posts when we could call or even text our friends? Not to mention read a book, watch a movie, go on a walk, work out with friends, have dinner with friends, RELAX, do something for your self, the possibilities are endless.

I will say that I really enjoy the articles and knowledge share that social media gives us the opportunity to do. I get dozens of articles and tidbits of information from twitter on a daily basis that I otherwise may have not known about.

So now I'm back and on a tight leash.

Thoughts on Marriage - Ira Glass

“I think actually one of the things that’s a comfort in marriage is that there isn’t a door at seven years, and so if something is messed up, in the short term, there’s a comfort of knowing, ‘well we made this commitment, so we’re just going to work this out. And even if tonight we’re not getting along, or there’s something between us that doesn’t feel right, you have the comfort of knowing, we’ve got time, we’re going to figure this out.’ And that makes it so much easier. Because you do go through times where you hate each other’s guts, and the no escape clause, weirdly, is a bigger comfort to being married than I ever would have thought before I got married.”

- Ira Glass

Happy Valentine's Day

Day 14: Heart

I carved our heart into a bench in Nashville. What? Everybody else was doing it?

#FebPhotoADay

Green Monster Smoothie Review

I took my Green Monster Smoothie recipe from SkinnyTaste.

Here's how I did it:

• 2 cups spinach (make sure you wash)
• 1 tbsp peanut butter
• 3/4 cup 1% milk
• 1/4 plain Greek yogurt
• 1 banana
• 3 tsp milled flax
• small handful blueberries
• 4 ice cubes

Blend it all together and voila!

The bananas were a little ripe and that's what the smoothie tastes like. It filled an entire Pizza Express cup and I'm still trying to finish it at 10am (but I'm a baby about this stuff).

Our blender also died after the first smoothie so we craftely made the second one in the food processor sans ice.

All in all I would do it again. Anyone have a blender I can borrow?

Monday Check-in

Working on: My attitude and not eating everything in site just because I can.

Reading: The Night Circus - Erin Morgenstern

Watching: Tried really hard to watch the Grammy's last night. Fell asleep around 9:15, right in time for the Beach Boys performance I wanted to see. Bummer.

Loving: Love. Valentine's Day is tomorrow and I know most people are all like "Just tell people you love them everyday." Well I do that too but I kind of failed at someone's 25th (!!) birthday and Christmas so I feel the need to revive myself and Valentine's Day (our 7th anniversary) seems like the perfect time to do it.

Drinking: Not enough water! My water bottle is getting kind of funky so I ordered a new Nalgene today to replace mine that cracked.

Eating: Chicken Enchilada soup and Pork Loin this week. Also attempting to make this for Valentine's Day.

Excited: For some Body Pump tonight. I ate and drank like a garbage disposal this weekend.

Obsessed with: trying this new Green Monster Smoothie. We're trying the Virgin Green Monster for breakfast this week with a few alterations. I'll let you know how it turns out.

Happy Galentines Day!!

Day 13: Blue

#FebPhotoADay

This is a blue collar on my first cat Baloo.

Day 11: Makes You Happy

Family outtings now that we are all old enough to have fun and not hit each other make me very happy!

#FebPhotoADay

Day 10: Self Portrait

#FebPhotoADay

San Francisco

Dusty and I went to Northern California on our honeymoon in 2010 and Dusty fell in love with San Francisco. I wasn't too sure because we were sucked into Fisherman's Warf and never got out to explore the rest of the city.

So we planned to go back and explore. And explore we did!

We went to the Full House house

rode the cable car a dozen times

went to Oakland to help a friend move a couch (yep)

went to the Mission District

Cole Valley

stayed in Inner Sunset

explored Golden Gate Park

looked at records in Ameba Records

rode bikes along the coast

spent days exploring with cousins

caught up with friends

What a city!

You can see more of Dusty's pictures here.

You are what you eat

Or...you are what you practice.

‘If you want others to be happy, practice compassion. If you want to be happy, practice compassion.’ ~Dalai Lama

What are you practicing today? Yesterday? Tomorrow?
We have an opportunity to improve everyday so we might as well take advantage of it.

Again from the blog Zenhabits.com I've pulled some of the practices I need to work on:

• Do I want to practice leaving clothes strewn about, or papers lying on the counter, or can I take a few seconds to put them where they belong?
• Do I want to practice complaining and self-pity, or can I practice gratitude?
• Do I want to practice surfing time-wasting sites, or can I practice clearing away distractions and creating?

Day 8: Sun(set)

This sun was seen from Grand View Park outside our apartment and directly uphill in San Francisco while we were visiting.

#FebPhotoADay

Fun Facts

• I kill the spiders in our house.
• Sometimes (5 out of 7) day a week I will hide from Gus and then jump out and scare him and run around.
• I don't like it when Dusty sweeps the floor.
• I also don't like it when people call vacuuming sweeping.
• If I lay down on the couch anytime after 8 I will fall asleep with in 30 minutes.
• Sometimes I like to imagine my life is a musical so I sing everything I am saying.
• I like cooking and baking but I don't like the "wife-duty" stereotype that goes along with it.
• I believe in equality but I also believe it taking care of each other.
• There is an exception to every rule.
• The more passionate I get, the louder I get. Accept it or don't invite me along.
• Sometimes I am intimidated in professional settings even though I know I am a contender.
• I finally hacked into our Netflix account and I'm totally going to be watching some awful RomComs.
• I accidentally bought 5 boxes of Girl Scout cookies.
• I own 2 cat pictures and 2 cat figurines and 1 cat.
• I've been married for 17 months and we've been together for 7 years on Valentine's Day.

Day 7: Buttons

Buttons are a funny subject. I've multiple fall off clothes because they get caught in our dryer. I've also lost these (below) off of my cheap but cute Forever 21 coat. Mom!!! Will you see these back for me?!?

#FebPhotoADay

Day 6: Dinner

Lasagna with meat and spinach! Also, a little short on cheese.

I premade this meal yesterday so when Dusty arrived home from work he could stick it in the oven and it would be ready when I got home. ...and no I don't usually plan that well with meals.

#FebPhotoADay

Monday Check-in

Working on: Finding a project or new hobby. Thinking of taking improv classes...eh?!

Reading: I'm going to use Super Bowl as my excuse. However, in the queue we have the Imperfectionists and The Night Circus

Watching: Madonna rock it at the half time show! LMFAO can go play in traffic, but Madonna was amazing. I was really mad when she was chosen and everyone was all like "Wahhh, we wish Nickleback would have been chosen" No dude. No. Madonna is a performer and she did just that.

Loving: That I found an apple in my desk today. BONUS!

Drinking: Had some SunKing last evening and Samuel Adams this weekend (Super Bowl treats!)

Eating: I made Homemade Soft Pretzel Bites for the Super Bowl Party last night. They were gone in like 15 minutes. Really tasty and really fun to make. You boil them in water and baking soda and them bake them. I suggest spicy mustard or make your own cheese sauce.

Excited: Lame alert: to be back on a semi-normal schedule. We were downtown almost every night during Super Bowl week so it'll be nice to not eat dinner at 10:00pm every night. AND to be able to wake up and go to the G-Y-M.

Obsessed with: Lavender Vanilla oil from Yankee Candle it's a delicious and refreshing scent. Perfect for the transition from winter to spring.

Day 5: 10am

This was 10:00am in San Francisco. Our last full day it town. This is getting coffee in Cole Valley. This is also me being behind in this photo-a-day thing so you get an old photo. The rest will be current.

#FebPhotoADay

Day 4: A Stranger

The Super Bowl provided me with so many prime people watching opportunities.

Apparently our friends know this man because he's a bartender at Chatham Tap (say hello next time you go). I just really appreciated his hair and the product/effort he put into it.

#FebPhotoADay

Day 3: Hands

These hands are working hard.

Dusty never stops working, never stops learning, and always makes me want to try harder.

#FebPhotoADay

People who wear leggings to work

Day 2: Words

These words are right near our front door. On the way out into the day, it's a nice reminder.

#FebPhotoADay

Day 1: My View

This is what I'm looking at every day of the week, except when I change my desktop background. Welcome to my world.

#FebPhotoADay

I'm in!

I'm a day late but let's do this. Looking forward to it! Thanks for the invite/idea Mel!