Sunday Morning

Happy Birthday Mom!!!

Sunday morning we were up bright and early. It has become a tradition in my family to celebrate birthdays with a family breakfast. Today was my mother's birthday so here we are ready for breakfast!

On me:

Old navy strapless dress and sandals from Target.

On Will:

Old Navy Tee and shorts. Will likes to call them his "poindexter" shorts. His sandals are Sketchers.

After the morning with my family, we spent the afternoon with Will's family. We are getting ready for our Fourth of July Extravaganza. It's a big production, but a lot of fun. I can't wait till the actual festivities.

It was a pretty busy weekend and after the long day, we were in the mood for some Vietnamese food. The lemongrass vermicelli hit the spot! Of course I didn't make this meal, but I'll be back in the kitchen this week.

Emmet, to answer your question... I season my salmon with whatever seasonings I may have on hand, then I sear it on a griddle pan at medium heat for just a few seconds. Then I steam it for about 10-15 minutes (depending on how big my fish it). The meat should flake off easily when done.

I hope everyone had a great weekend! Thanks for stopping by my corner of the web.

My last day before a "painful" journey

Are you wondering what that painful journey is? I am getting braces (again for the second time in my life). Yes, I was one of those bad kids that didn't listen to the orthodontist or my mom and I didn't wear my retainer. Over the last couple of years, I have noticed that my teeth are shifting more and more. It has effected my bite and if I smile really big, my smile is crooked. It has also caused my jaw to lock/pop. So I am fulfilling one of my New Year's Resolutions and getting braces. I told myself that I would wait till after the wedding, and the time has come. Tomorrow I get my spacers in. The brackets won't be on till next week. Then I'll have 2 lovely years of tightening. Goodbye pearly whites, and hello brace face!

On to my outfit....

wrap dress - TJ Maxx

floral scarf/belt - Old Navy

peep toe pumps - Rack Room

For lunch and dinner, I had wild sockeye salmon (seared then steamed), steamed broccoli, and fresh cherries. The cherries are so good right now. I cooked while we were home for lunch and we had leftovers at dinner.

Today was a rest day for me. No swimming or gym today. Instead I took a sewing survival class. I know the basics of sewing on a machine, but I can't do it by hand to save me life. Now I can proudly say that I know how to properly sew a button, mend a tear, and hem my pants. This weekend I'm going to attempt to fix on of Will's shirts.

I hope everyone has a great day. I'd like to say hello to Jennifer, who I just got into contact with. I am so glad you found me.

Thanks for stopping by!

Tuesday's Green and Eating Out

It's another green day. I have been obsessed with the color lately. I found this cute dress at Target (of course) while I was in East Texas. It was on clearance and it was just so cute on, I had to get it. I paired it with my fav pair of shoes. I found these lacy slingbacks a while back on clearance at DSW. Please ignore the work badge. I forgot to take it off when snapping my photo during my lunch break.

For the next month I don't have any trips so it's time for me to really push myself towards my new weight goal. I am going to try to lose about 6 lbs by August 1. This will put me in a new weight bracket and at my lowest (in a super long time). My plan is to continue to to eat aprox 1200 calories and burn about 2200 calories a day. I am switched up my cardio from spinning to swimming. I've already been swimming for the past couple of weeks. I got us some decent goggles and Will and I started doing laps. Trust me, we aren't the strongest swimmers, but even just 20 minutes in the pool is such a great all over body workout. Plus I get to stay cool in the water in 100 degree heat.

On my food, I've been cooking a lot lately, but there are some times where I too tired to cook or I'm meeting friends/family for meals. Here are a few of my Do and Don'ts when eating out.

Don't assume that the "low carb" item on the menu is the best bet. The picture below is of my "low carb grilled chicken plate" at my husband's favorite college eatery. I thought I was making the best menu choice until I got my plate. I guess it didn't say low calorie or low fat. I ate 1 chicken (yes, there are 2 under all the cheese and bacon) and the salad it came with.

We met a good friend for lunch and Will was craving Chinese food. Here, I made a great choice. I chose the brown rice, veggies and chicken in a light sauce, and the crab rangoon (OK so I shouldn't have had them). I ate 1/4 of the rice and 1/2 of the rest of the plate. I saved the remainder for lunch the next day. Will got my leftover rice.

This meal was a take-out meal. I went to a local grocery store and hit up their deli. I chose almond crusted tilapia, grilled asparagus, and whipped sweet potatoes. When I got home, I placed my meal on my small plate to make sure I don't go overboard on my portions. This was soooo good and I enjoyed the leftovers the next day.

That concludes my eating out ventures. I'll have a few home cooked meals for tomorrow. Thanks so much for stopping by and a big welcome to new readers. I'm off for a swim. Have a great night/day!

A Reader Recipe Request from Nina

"Would you mind sharing your recipes to your homemade turkey meatloaf and Chinese Honey glazed chicken....YUM-O!" - Nina

Thanks Nina for stopping by. Here is my recipe!

Turkey Meatloaf

• 1 pkg of lean ground turkey
• 1 envelope of Lipton Onion Soup Mix
• 1/2 c chopped mushrooms
• 1/4 c Ragu Light Pasta Sauce or Ro-Tel tomatoes and green chilies (if you like spice)
• 2 brown rice cakes crumbs (threw them in a processor)
• 2 egg whites

Pre-heat oven at 350 degrees. In a large bowl, mix all of the ingredients above. Lightly coat your loaf pan with oil and add mixture to the pan. Bake for 40 - 45 minutes.

Chinese Honey Glazed Chicken

• 1 pkg of skinless, boneless chicken thighs
• 4 cloves of minced garlic
• 1/4 c Bragg's Liquid Amino's (found in the Nature/Health Food section in your grocery store)
• 2 tbsp honey (you can add more to your liking
• 1 tbsp hosin sauce or oyster sauce ( found in the Asian Food section of your grocery store))
• juice of 1/2 a lemon

Place all ingredients in large ziploc bag and marinate the chicken for 4-5 hours.

Pre-heat oven at 350 degrees. Pan sear each thigh aprox 4-5 minutes on each side, then place chicken in an oven proof baking dish. Place dish in the oven a bake for 20-25 minutes uncovered. The chicken should get a nice brown color.

Thanks so much for reading. I hope you enjoy the dishes. Please let me know how they turn out :-)

A Couple Of Outfits

Just a quick post on my outfits the past couple of days. The past week has been seriously HOT here. We are now allowed to wear jeans all summer long at work, but I just can't bring myself to putting them on. So here I am in my colorful skirts.

This basic look is a white scoop from Express, the green skirt I sewed, Unisa tan pumps, and a beaded necklace won from a blogger challenge.

The top on this outfit isn't as "loud" as this photo makes it. It really is a gorgeous color. I tried to jazz it up with the red pleated skirt from Ann Taylor Loft. This outfit looked okay in the mirror, but now that I see it in a pic, I'm not too sure if I really like it. I originally had a long necklace, but swapped it out at the last minute for the brown baubles. I should have kept the long necklace on.

Sorry to keep this short. I'll be back tomorrow with my food for the week. I tried a new low-carb flour for some muffins and surprisingly they turned out great! Stay tuned...

Thanks for stopping by. I hope everyone has a great Friday!

Sew Retro Thursday

Do you remember when I was working on this dress? Well I finally put on the buttons. I didn't finish the belt, but I thought the simple white ribbon worked just as well. I like the retro feel this dress has. I think I may need to cinch in on the waist, but overall I'm pleased with it. I'll eventually finished the belt and the fabric flower. I was just itching to wear it. I had some other shoes on earlier in the day, but they were falling off my feet for some weird reason. So I threw the brown wedge peeps on. I have a few more sewing projects in the works. Now that the wedding is over, I'll have some time to work on them. Yay!

Lunch today was leftover chicken on top a a bed of mixed green lettuce and mushrooms with a light lime vinaigrette. Oh and a peach for dessert. The stats for this meal:

Protein - 38.2

Carbs - 16.6

Fat - 4.3

Total caloies - 260.5

Dinner was a Rachel Ray 30 Minute Meal recipe. I love turning on The Food Network when I come for lunch. I had just bought some ground turkey when I saw Rachel make some smokey beer burgers. I tried to find her recipe to link it up, but I can't seem to find the right one. I just remembered what I saw and improvised. My burger is basically 1 pkg ground turkey, 1 packet of dry onion soup mix, 1/4 cup of light beer, 4 oz smoked Gouda, paprika, and cumin. The flavor was awesome. I threw it on a piece of wheat toast, made a simple green salad with mushrooms, and some okra with a dash of Cajun seasonings. Here are the stats:

Protein - 33.9

Carbs - 18.4

Fat - 20.1 (yikes!)

Total calories - 397.9

My total calories for the day was 1227. Still no bodybugg. I figured I'll wait another week before wearing it again on a daily basis. I did workout though. I did 30 minutes with my trainer, and 30 minutes of intervals on the treadmill. I really wanted to swim, but I think I needed to give my body a rest.

So tomorrow (Friday), Will and I are off to Nacogdoches (East Texas) for the blueberry festival. I loooove blueberries and they have the best blueberries. I think I ate 15lbs of blueberries last year. Seriously! I have to admit, the festivals in smaller towns are really nice. The admission is free, they had free water, and free ice cream! In Houston, you cannot find that. They want to charge you for everything here. So even though I just got back from vacation, I'm off again for a little mini road trip. I love summer!

I hope everyone has a great weekend. Thanks so much for stopping by!

Feelin' Finnish

This outfit reminds me of summer days in Finland. I have a dear friend in Finland and have been fortunate enough to visit her a few times. The summer days are long and everywhere you look, you can find the blue and white Finnish flag flying proudly. It's been a while since my last visit there and I guess I just wanted to feel "Finnish" today. Now if I just get some Fazer chocolate, I'd be a happy camper. Here are the details...

White short sleeve button up - Old Navy

Baby blue tank - Old Navy

Blue and white skirt - Talbots

Brown wedge peeps - Rack Room

No meal pics today. We're having leftovers for lunch and dinner. It's also a rest day for me. I may take a light swim tonight, but we'll see how much time I've got after a run to Target.

I hope you have a wonderful day! Kiitos (thank you) for stopping by!

Summer Work Look

I guess summer is in full swing here. I thought I'd stay cool with this summer outfit...

Pink ribbon top - Anthropologie

Layered skirt - Target

Metallic heels - Target

Earrings - gifted by Jennifer

Getting back into the swing of things after 2 weeks of vacation is always tough. I was back at the gym right after I got back from Mexico, but we were still eating out a lot since we had nothing in the fridge. I just didn't get a chance to shop until yesterday. So finally today was my first full day of home cooking again. Here are my low-cal meals...

For lunch we had some leftover turkey meatloaf (topped with a tbsp of ketchup), mixed veggies, and a fresh peach.

Protein - 27.5

Carbs - 36.2

Fat - 8.2

Total calories - 311.6

For dinner we had some family over and I wanted to make an Asian inspired meal. I made a Chinese Honey Glazed Chicken, steamed bok choy, and brown jasmine rice mixed with chopped onions and mushrooms.

Protein - 25.2

Carbs - 52.6

Fat - 10

Total calories - 395.8

So far may total calories count is 1208 for the day. I haven't worn my bodybugg so I'm not sure what I'm burning, but I swam 20 minutes this morning, brisk walk for 30 minutes, and strength training with my trainer (she killed my legs today). So I think I did pretty well.

Oh and I wanted to let you know about my brother's new blog. Over the past couple of years, he's lost about 50+lbs. He's done a great job of maintaining and he still strives to lose more weight. The catch is that he travels for work a lot. He's come up with ways to stay active and eat healthy. Check out his blog on Travelin' Healthier!

Have a happy, healthy, and fab day!

The Perfect Wedding

We truly had a wonderful wedding filled with love, laughter, and good tears. I'll always look at back as one of the happiest times of my life. I am truly blessed to have a wonderful husband, a loving family, and fabulous friends. I hope you enjoy the pics!

The wedding area is set up. We bought brown and green fans for our guest to create a little extra "ocean breeze"

My brother walked me down the aisle. Love you Doug!

I always knew I wasn't going to wear a traditional white dress, but I was kind of suprised when I came acrosse this chocolate brown dress. V, was the one who found it! As soon as I put it on, I knew it was perfect. Thank you V!

You may kiss the bride :-)

The Mariachi Band played during the ceremony. Loved them!

Holley was my maid of honor

Fun photos with out guest on the beach...

Me and the guys

Will and the lovely ladies (V is in middle blue dress)

Is this muscle beach or what???

Jump for joy!

Heading into the reception dinner

We had lobster and steak. Yum!

The trolley ride to the private reception room for dancing and cake

YMCA! You can't have a wedding without it

The beautiful cake. The bottom layer is chocolate and the top was white. Both had a wonderful mousse filling. So good!

Will doing his signature move: The Sprinkler!

Ending the great night with a little karaoke

Things not caught on film...

• The tears - I was a mess with all my tears. We even had some beach goers in tears.
• The bridal toss - We played Beyonce's "All The Single Ladies"
• The garter toss - We played Joe Cocker's "You Can Leave Your Hat On"
• The 1st dance - Chicago's "Your The Inspiration"... We had the whole crowd singing at the top of the lungs. It was priceless!
• The Spotlight Dance - Everyone taking a turn showing off their best dance moves. Hilarious!
  
  Thank you taking the time to check out my wedding photos. I hope you enjoyed them. I'll be back to my normal daily postings starting tomorrow.

Take care!

Living The Resort Life - The Resort

Here is part 2 if my pictures... The Resorts. The resort complex we stayed at was The Iberostar Resort in Playa Paraiso, which is in The Riviera Maya (halfway between Cancun and Play del Carmen). The Iberostar complex has 5 resorts nest to each other. Depending on which resort you stay at determines how much access you have to the other resorts. We stayed within 3 of the higher end resorts. Here are some pictures from these resorts and a few fun pictures added in.



Iberostar Parasio Lindo
We planned our wedding at The Iberostar Parasio Lindo (which was the mid-range resort. It's very family friendly and a lot of activities. The big features were the lazy river, swim-up bar, and the wave pool. All of our guest took full advantage of all the pools! Here are pics of the Lindo.

The Entrance Walkway

The fountains at night

The Pools

Everyone enjoying the cool waters

The Iberostar Mayan

Actually The Mayan and Lindo share a lot of the same pools, but with the Mayan you have access to more private pools, the water spa, and more restaurants. The rooms have jacuzzi tubs and hammock swing chairs added to the rooms. All of our guest booked rooms at the Lindo, but we all got upgraded to the Mayan.

Our room at The Mayan

The Lobby

The Snake Bar

The Japanese restaurant

The Iberostar Grand

This is the deluxe of all the resorts. After a few of our guest left, Will and I moved to The Grand for a mini honeymoon. From the moment you walk in, it is truly impressive. There wasn't much walking around in the heat at this resort. Most of the resort was air conditioned which made walking around that much nicer. We had a butler, a feather bed (I really wanted to pack it up and take it home), incredible food, infinity salt water pools. They even had a pillow menu in case we didn't like the pillows we currently had in the room. If you are planning a romantic trip and don't want to be bothered with kids, I highly recommend this resort. It's a bit pricier, but well worth the money. Will and I cannot wait to go back to an anniversary.

The Lobby Bar

The Hallway

Our room (The bed was sooo comfy!)

Will lounging in our room.

The View

The Fitness Area (yes, I took a spin class)

Room Service

The Internet Room and Library

I hope you enjoyed these pictures. Tomorrow I will have the actual wedding photos up. Sarah from Texas, I hope this answers your question. I highly recommend the resorts. If you have any other questions about it, let me know.

Take care!