WWU: 6

Tuesday, 2/19 - 30 min elliptical with 5 lb. bicep curls during commercials (374 calories burned)

Wednesday, 2/20 - 30 min treadmill...1 min warm up walk, 4 min run at 6.0, 5 mins of 30 second sprints at 7.0, 5 mins of 30 second sprints at 7.5, 3 min run at 6.0, 2 mins walking lunges with kick back, 1 min cool down walk (478 calories burned)

Thursday, 2/21 - Rest

Friday, 2/22 - Rest

Saturday, 2/23 - RACE DAY!!! 5k (478 calories burned)

Sunday, 2/24 - Rest

Monday, 2/25 - HIIC plus 9 minutes walking on the treadmill to round out my time to 45 mins total (526 calories burned)

Tuesday, 2/26 - 40 min elliptical with 5 lb. bicep curls during commercials, 1 set 20 windshield wipers and 1 set 20 v-ups (478 calories burned)

Wednesday, 2/27 - Rest

How Do You Eat a Cupcake???

Do you eat it like my brother???

Or like me???

If you eat it like me...then you can find a little surprise in the middle!!

Can you believe this was my very first Nutella cupcake?!?! I can't believe I waited so long...ha ha!

My brother found a new bakery by the house called Sweet Cakes and picked up 12 for his own birthday...ha ha. These were good little cupcakes...just the right amount of icing to cupcake. The flavors he got were... Nutella (2), Cookies n Cream (2), Red Velvet (2), Chocolate Delight (2), Birthday Cake (2) and White with Pink Icing (2). I can't wait to eat the other Nutella one and try one of the chocolate ones. Yum!

5k...Done and Done

I did it! Or I guess I should say WE did it!! Erica and I completed an entire 5k (3.1 miles) without stopping!! Feels good to cross that off the 13 in 2013 list :) Now, what should I do next??? I'm thinking color run! Or maybe if I'm having a crazy moment I'll sign up for a 10k...eek! Probably not thoough...ha ha.

P!NK The Truth About Love Tour

I received a surprise invitation from my Aunt last week to go with her to the P!NK concert. Of course I said yes!!! I guess I should also thank her boyfriend for not being able to go :) Here are some pictures...she moves around a lot (it was pretty much like a Cirque du Solei show) so over half the ones I took were blurry...hope you enjoy!

February Meal: Stove Top Beef Stew

Of course I've had beef stew plenty of times over my 20 some odd years of existence, but never have I ever (did anyone else play the game never have I ever???) made it myself. Since I made it all by myself this time, I'm counting it as a new recipe for 2013!

After discussing stew options with Erica, I decided to go with the stove top version since she recommended it. It turned out really good! I somewhat followed the directions on the packet of Stew Seasoning (found by the taco, chili, and spaghetti seasoning packets).

Stove Top Beef Stew

1 seasoning packet
2 pounds stew meat
3 T flour
1 T Lantana (similar to Tony Chachere)
2 T oil
3 cups water
2 cups baby carrots
3 cups chopped red potatoes

Add your carrots and potatoes to a large pot and mix in the seasoning packet and water. Start cooking that pot over a medium heat. In a skillet, pour in your oil and start heating over medium heat. Combine flour and lantana in a small bowl. Coat each cube of stew meat with flour/lantana mixture and place in oil. Brown all sides of the meat and transfer to a plate with a paper towel on top to soak up excess oil while you finish cooking all your meat. Once all your meat is browned, add it to your pot with the carrots and potatoes. Bring to boil. Cover and reduce heat to a simmer for 1 hour and 30 minutes. Stir occasionally.

All-Star Baby Shower

Yesterday, we had an All-Star baby shower at work for our friend Heather. Below is everything we made...check it out!!



The invitation...Created this using Publisher! Love that program and picmonkey for invitations!

 

View 1



I wanted to make the card look like the invitation. I had to free hand the designs onto the cut out circles and then cut one circle into a football...not the easiest thing ha ha, but I think it turned out cute. For the textured paper I used my cuttlebug and the 'B' I cut using my cricut.



Sports banner...the sports balls came from Heather, I hand cut the pennants using 12x12 paper and used my cricut for the letters. We then taped everything together using packing tape and taped baker's twine to the back to string it up



Same sports ball from Heather...I used a regular foam wreath form and wrapped it in red ribbon. We again used packing tape to secure them on. We didn't want to hot glue anything in case she wanted to use them for something else again



We saw the idea for small diaper cakes on google and decided we wanted to create some as well. We used sizes Newborn and 1. There is one size 1 in the middle, then a row of newborns and then a row of 1's. The balls are taped to Popsicle sticks and stuck in the middle diaper.



Yummy cupcakes from Sams...half white, half chocolate and half whipped icing, half buttercream. That way everyone can get exactly what they want



Desserts galore! Erica brought strawberries with the best fruit dip ever and sugar cookies with sprinkles. I made Rolo Pretzel Turtles (boy and girl versions ha ha). And Elizabeth made cookies stuffed with oreos and caramel. Yum!



Edith made these adorable thank you gifts!

I want to give a big shout out to my awesome co-hosts/friends Erica, Elizabeth, Edith and Angela!

p.s. check out these cute coasters and candle Heather made all of us for hosting!

WWU:5

Tuesday, 2/12 - Rest

Wednesday, 2.13 - 2 mile walk (316 calories burned)

Thursday, 2/14 - Rest

Friday, 2/15 - 60 minute Stride Machine resistance 5 (665 calories burned)

Saturday, 2/16 - Rest

Sunday, 2/17 - 5k (627 calories burned)

Monday, 2/18 - Rest

Banana Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

I've seen quite a few banana oatmeal recipes floating around, but of course this one caught my eye because of the chocolate chips! Luckily for me these only require 2 very ripe bananas and I just so happened to have 2!! Yay! Actually, I some how always have 2 really ripe bananas...weird I know.

I found the recipe for these over at Sweet Tooth Sweet Life. A lot of my new food recipes have been coming from her lately and they have all turned out great! I tried followed her recipe exactly, except that I only had one cup of oats instead of one and a half...but they still turned out really good! I just threw everything in my Kitchen Aid mixer and let it do the hard work...I even let it mash the bananas for me!

These were amazing right out of the oven. The edges were a little crispy while the inside was so soft! By the time they cooled, they became more of a banana bread texture, but still cookieish (if that even makes sense). I just bought some more bananas, so if I don't eat them all I may have to go ahead and make these again!!

Chocolate Flowers? Don't mind if I do...

So we all know what yesterday was...well I got a little story about these delicious beauties I'd like to share...

According to the boyfriend, I once told him that I didn't like flowers. I swear to this day I never said that. However, I do think I've said for the past few years that you don't have to get me any on Valentine's day. Anyways...yesterday I was not expecting a thing to be delivered to work (mainly because we work at the same place) and just went about my day as normal. Well 5 o'clock rolls around and I'm on my way home when the boyfriend calls me to ask if I had gotten anything that day. Confused, I said no was I supposed to? He said yes, "flowers". Hmmm very interesting.

That night he checked his confirmation e-mail to make sure the date and address were right and they were. So today, Friday, he called to say the delivery was not made. I told him to just ask for a refund, but he said they wouldn't give it to him. He was told that the "package" was waiting for him to pick up and that they would refund the delivery charge. He was like "I paid for them to be delivered and they are already a day late!" Then they gave him more excuses as to why they weren't delivered...couldn't get find the building, couldn't get in the building, it was their busiest day of the year, blah, blah blah. Well, the building is not hard to find and if they had showed up before 5 they would have been able to get in.

The lady on the phone finally agreed to have them delivered again and it still took them 3 hours to get here. I thought this was crazy and I was in a bad mood because they wouldn't give him the refund. Then I get the call that they are here and my mood instantly changed when I saw the chocolate. He didn't tell me they were chocolate "flowers"!! I didn't know this was an option! ha ha. Now I'm sitting at my desk happy as a clam trying my hardest not to eat all 17 within the next hour!

However, from this experience with Edible Arrangements, I don't know if I would ever trust them again. But at the same time, I wouldn't turn down chocolate "flowers" any day of the year! 

A Good Day to Die hard and Identity Thief



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This was a fun movie! There is action galore, but what Die Hard isn't that way. Bruce Willis kills it every time. I loved his little one liners about being on vacation...pretty sucky vacation...ha ha. The actor they got to play his son fit in really well. If for some reason BW ever decides to stop making these, I hope they would continue the series with the other guy. My only complaint would be the first scene of the movie had some shaky camera work, or maybe it just bothered me because I was watching it on the XD screen.



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Well there were definitely some mixed reviews about this one. I think Mellisa McCarthy is hilarious and will watch anything she does. I also think Jason Bateman is pretty darn funny in his own way too. The boyfriend would have agreed that both these people were funny before the movie... After the movie, he was contemplating about not even watching Mike and Molly anymore because he hated MM in this movie. There were times when I was laughing and I would look over at him and he looked so bored. I actually felt bad for making him go see it with me. While I laughed at parts, I do think they tried a little too hard for the jokes sometimes. If I'm being totally honest, it was a waste of money (good thing I got gift cards for Christmas). If you like the actors, I would suggest renting it later on. If you don't like them, just skip it.    

Valentines 2013

You won't find any hearts in my Valentines decor, but that doesn't mean it lacks the spirit ha ha.

I wanted to make a XOXO sign/tag for my wreath, but I was too lazy and instead found a pre-made Love one in my scrapbooking bag...score! I don't really like how it turned out, but oh well it is what it is. I do however love the rose petals...ha ha...I definitely had fun playing with them before I settled on what I wanted them to look like.

 I saw this layout for a card on etsy and thought to myself 1. This is so me and 2. I can totally recreate this! So that up there is my version of the card I found for ZERO bucks...ha ha. Why spend 5 bucks plus shipping when you can make it yourself????

Closet Re-Org

I was bitten by the spring cleaning bug this past weekend and I just had to do something with my shoes because they were taking over my closet. On top of that I had purses in so many different places that I couldn't keep track. So off to Target and HomeGoods I went...

I bought this shelving unit from Target. It doesn't hold all my flats, but the others were already in boxes so they were out of the way and one pair I keep by my bed for when I need to leave in a hurry and don't want to think about shoes...ha ha.

Next up...shoes with laces. I don't wear these as often as I do my flats just because I don't think they are that appropriate for work (except my Sperrys on Fridays). I knew I wanted a basket I could see through to store these in and I found the perfect one at HomeGoods. The only pair not in there are the tennis shoes I'm currently using for my workouts...I like to keep them right by my bedroom door. Why you may ask? I don't know really...maybe they make me think of working out...ha ha.

Finally, my purses. While I don't own a lot, they still get in the way or shoved under stuff and I never think about them again. My crossbody bags were sitting on a shelf above my clothes and occasionally the strap would fall and get in my way...not fun. Then my other small bags were under clothes and inside other bags...not very useful. While I was at HomeGoods I found these two matching bins with tops that I thought would be perfect! Turns out they were!! I really like that they have a top so that dust won't settle on my bags :)

Now for my labels...I forgot to take pics of the process :( but I'll try to explain my thought process...ha ha. I had three leftover wood circles that I spray painted silver for a project I was going to do for Christmas, but ended up not needing those and they have just been chilling on my closet floor for months now. To add a pop of color to them, I cut out circles of teal paper and tried to write pretty on them...ha ha. I stared at them a while and didn't like that the cut out circles were just slightly smaller than the wood disc so that's when I decided to add the pearls. Then just for kicks, I added another string of pearls towards the bottom to make them look super girly. To attach them to my baskets, I hot glued ribbon on the back and just tied them on.

I really like how everything turned out! Now I will just have to see how long this organization will last ;)

WWU:4

Wednesday, 2/6 - Cardio Barefoot Flow (from a Pin) plus 10 min standing ab routine (472 calories burned) Both of the videos are from JessicaSmithTV on youtube...so far I'm liking her routines plus they are for small spaces!!

Thursday, 2/7 - Stride machine with resistance of 5 (378 calories burned) I wanted to try and keep my heart rate between 145 and 160 (optimal fat burning zone for moi according to my trainer back in the day). So it was a lighter workout for me, but still a good one. On a normal workout day my heart rate will be around 178 and go as high as 191. I've maxed it out at 204 I believe (not trying to) which probably isn't good.

Friday, 2/8 - 5k (553 calories burned) My race is coming up fast!!!

Saturday, 2/9 - Rest (unless mopping the kitchen and scrubbing the bathroom count)

Sunday, 2/10 - Rest

Monday, 2/11 - Cardio Barefoot flow (378 calories burned) my hrm wasn't working right at the beginning so I lost a few minutes with that, but I don't think my calories burned count would have changed that much.

Wine Cork Box

A few weeks ago my Dad was cleaning out his bar area and found an unfinished wood box and gave it to me and said "I've got a project for you." ha ha. The box came with instructions for how to place corks in it, a small bottle of Emler's glue and a piece of sandpaper.

I attempted to arrange the corks how the picture on the instructions showed, but since they aren't the same size I was getting very frustrated. Finally, I found a way to fit the corks in the box without having to cut any...yay!

I love how these are corks they've actually used and not craft corks. I think the wine spots and the different names really give it character. Also, I love the unfinished frame with the corks. I think paint might have taken away from the corks. I can't wait to give it back to him and see what he thinks!

WWU:3

Wednesday, 1/30 - modified HIIT treadmill from a pin. (446 calories burned) Since I can't link to Pinterest at work here is the breakdown of the workout...

• 1 min at 5.0
• 1 min at 5.5
• 1 min at 6.0
• 1 min at 6.5
• 1 min at 7.0
• 1 min at 7.5
• 1 min at 8.0
• 2 min at 4.5

Repeat 5 times. My modified version was running the full minute up until speed of 7.0 where I switched to 30 seconds on 30 seconds off. I also only repeated the sequence 3 times plus an extra few mins at 4.0 to complete 30 minutes of cardio. I would not recommend doing this if your legs are already sore...

Thusday, 1/31 - Cardio Ballet (389 calories burned)

Friday, 2/1 - Rest

Saturday, 2/2 - 5k run/walk (579 calories burned)

Sunday, 2/3 - 65 min Elliptical (709 calories burned)

Monday, 2/4 - Rest

Tuesday, 2/5 - 5k (619 calories burned)

You may be wondering why there are 2 rest days so close together...well Friday I went and saw Camelot after work and didn't get home until after 11 pm so there was no working out that day. Monday I had my workout clothes on and everything, but I was so hungry I decided eating was more important. I had planned to make up Monday's missed workout by working out twice yesterday...buuuuutttt...after my run I took a nap and then had no motivation the rest of the night. Oh well...a body needs to rest every now and then.

p.s. - I made an update to my cookie dough yogurt post...click here to read about my second try