tis' the season

Happy holidays, guys!

I have been kind of MIA on the blog scene, lately. Just busy with the holidays! I hope Thanksgiving was good for you all, it was great for me! My brother was home for the holiday, so it was wonderful to spend time with him before he deploys next month. We ate...a LOT, and my sister and I did the annual Black Friday shopping! We didn't get anything except for tons and tons of movies!

I've been trying to balance work and health and play and relaxation all amidst the crazy holidays! I manged to finish 50 of those peppermint cards and mail them out last week. That was DEFINITELY one of the most time-consuming projects I've ever embarked on...and it will not be something I will do again anytime in the near future. But at least I can say that I have made Christmas cards completely from scratch once in my life!

Here is the photo we chose for our cards!

One of my college roommates is getting married this weekend, and it is a Friday --> Monday event, so it has prompted me to get Christmas taken care of nice and early! With cards out and shopping finished, I am looking forward to enjoying myself in the mountains this weekend with friends!

Also, today is my husband's birthday! Happy 25th to the love of my life! Boy am I thankful that he was born! :) 

I hope you are all doing well and finding time to remember the reason for the season! Hugging your loved ones and enjoying the Christmas lights & cocoa, candy canes and Nativity Scenes :)

Speaking of Nativity Scenes, I saw this stone one at Target..and I LOVE IT! We don't yet have one of our own, so hopefully I'll find one on sale after the holidays!

Isn't it gorgeous? Anyway, hope your holiday season is off to a fun and enjoyable start!!! 

Cheers :)

 Like our Christmas tree?

truffled wild mushroom lasagna

Hey folks!

So my shift got canceled last night at work {at least I was put on call, so I got half-pay instead of my shift being cut entirely}, which left me time today to cook a recipe I have been wanting to try! I am not the biggest fan of mushrooms, but I am always looking for ways to expand my palate's tastes, and new recipes that might help me to enjoy mushrooms more. And this recipe sounded really good {white truffle oil, yes please!}! Found in Cooking Light's December issue, I give you:

Truffled Wild Mushroom Lasagna

(PS - don't try this if you don't have 2 hours to spare!)

You don't have to spend a lot on truffle oil; look for small 2- or 3-ounce bottles, which are less likely to go bad before you use up the oil. {I got 8 oz for $9 at Sprouts}


Yield:  8 servings (serving size: 1 piece)

1 tablespoon olive oil
2 cups thinly sliced leek
8 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
3/8 teaspoon salt, divided
7 cups sliced cremini mushrooms (about 1 1/2 pounds), divided
4 cups sliced shiitake mushroom caps (about 1 pound)
2/3 cup Côtes du Rhône or other fruity red wine
1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme
1 tablespoon chopped fresh oregano
1 tablespoon chopped fresh sage
3 tablespoons white truffle oil
1 teaspoon black pepper, divided
2 1/2 cups 1% low-fat milk
1 bay leaf
2 tablespoons butter
3 1/2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
2 cups fat-free ricotta cheese
1/4 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
1 tablespoon grated lemon rind
Cooking spray
8 ounces precooked lasagna noodles {use whole-wheat noodles to add fiber!}
1 cup (4 ounces) shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese
1 cup (4 ounces) grated fresh Parmesan cheese

1. Heat olive oil in a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add leek, garlic, and 1/4 teaspoon salt; sauté 2 minutes. Add 4 cups cremini mushrooms and shiitake mushrooms; sauté 10 minutes or until mushrooms release moisture and begin to brown. Stir in wine; cook 3 minutes or until liquid almost evaporates, stirring frequently. Remove from heat; stir in thyme, oregano, sage, truffle oil, and 1/2 teaspoon pepper.

2. Combine milk and bay leaf in a heavy saucepan; cook over medium-high heat to 180° or until tiny bubbles form around edge (do not boil). Remove from heat; cover and let stand 10 minutes. Strain mixture through a sieve into a bowl; discard bay leaf. Set aside.

3. Melt butter in saucepan over medium heat. Add remaining 3 cups cremini mushrooms; sauté 4 minutes or until tender. Add flour, stirring with a whisk until blended. Cook 1 minute, stirring constantly; gradually add milk. Bring to a boil; reduce heat, and simmer 8 minutes or until thick. Stir in remaining 1/8 teaspoon salt, 1/4 teaspoon pepper, and nutmeg.

4. Preheat oven to 350°.

5. Combine ricotta, parsley, lemon rind, and remaining 1/4 teaspoon black pepper in a bowl. Spread 1/2 cup milk mixture in bottom of an 11 x 7-inch glass or ceramic baking dish coated with cooking spray. Arrange 3 noodles over sauce; top with 2 cups mushroom mixture. Sprinkle with 1/4 cup mozzarella and 1/4 cup Parmesan. Arrange 3 noodles over cheese. Top with 1 cup ricotta mixture. Repeat layers once with 3 noodles, 2 cups mushroom mixture, 1/4 cup mozzarella, 1/4 cup Parmesan, 3 noodles, and 1 cup ricotta (dish will be very full); spread remaining sauce over top. Cover with foil; place baking dish on a baking sheet. Bake at 350° for 30 minutes. Remove from oven; increase oven temperature to 450°. Uncover the lasagna, and sprinkle with remaining 1/2 cup mozzarella and remaining 1/2 cup Parmesan; bake an additional 10 minutes or until golden brown.
 
CALORIES 424 ; FAT 17.7g (sat 6.4g,mono 2.2g,poly 8.1g); CHOLESTEROL 31mg; CALCIUM 393mg; CARBOHYDRATE 41.3g; SODIUM 455mg; PROTEIN 23.7g; FIBER 2.8g; IRON 2.6mg

This was DEFINITELY tasty, but it took a LOT of effort to make, lol! So if I were to make it again, I would probably do a double batch and freeze it, and serve to guests as a show-off dish :)
Cheers to holiday cooking & new recipes!

pasta and books

Happy Thanksgiving Week!

I can hardly believe how quickly Thanksgiving has snuck up on me! I am really looking forward to the festivities this year, though :) My brother is home from the Marines, so that will be really nice to spend the weekend with him! Then the usual Black Friday madness with my sister, and the traditional family outing to the movie theater to see Harry Potter! It will be great!

Anyway, thought I should share with you a recipe and a book review! Recipe first. A delicious pasta dish from Cooking Light's December issue. I decided to make it because I have only cooked with kale once before this dish, and I didn't particularly like it. This time around, however, it was YUMMY! It is a seriously low-cal and healthy dish, super simple too, so it's a perfect quick meal for during the week! Enjoy!

Orecchiette with Kale, Bacon, and Sun-Dried Tomatoes

Other Time: 20 minutes minutes
Yield:  4 servings (serving size: about 1 1/4 cups)


8 ounces uncooked orecchiette pasta {we used farfalle, because that is what we had on hand}
5 cups bagged prewashed kale {just got a bushel for cheap at Sprouts!}
2 slices center-cut bacon {we used turkey bacon to cut down on fat cals}
1/4 cup oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes, drained and roughly chopped {probably my new favorite ingredient to incorporate into meals! YUM!}
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper
3 large garlic cloves, chopped
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
3/8 teaspoon salt
1 ounce Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, shaved
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

1. Cook pasta in boiling water 8 minutes or until almost tender. Add kale, and cook 2 minutes. Drain in a colander over a bowl, reserving 1/2 cup cooking liquid.
2. While pasta cooks, cook bacon in a large skillet over medium-high heat 4 minutes or until crisp. Remove bacon from pan with a slotted spoon; crumble and set aside. Reduce heat to medium-low. Add sun-dried tomatoes, crushed red pepper, and garlic to drippings in pan {since turkey bacon doesn't leave drippings, we added a dash of olive oil here to give these ingredients something to cook in}; cook 1 minute, stirring frequently. Add pasta mixture, reserved 1/2 cup cooking liquid, black pepper, and salt to pan; toss to combine. Top pasta mixture evenly with bacon and cheese; drizzle evenly with lemon juice.
 

CALORIES 350 {lower if you use turkey bacon!}; FAT 9.2g (sat 3.1g,mono 3.4g,poly 1.3g); CHOLESTEROL 12.4mg; CALCIUM 218mg; CARBOHYDRATE 53.7g; SODIUM 486mg; PROTEIN 14.7g; FIBER 4.1g; IRON 3.7mg

On to the book review!

Tonight I finished Stephenie Meyer's The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner, an Eclipse novella. I wouldn't consider myself a Twilight Saga fan, but I have read all of the books, and I was curious when this novella came out this summer. 

This book follows Bree, a newborn vampire made by Victoria during her attempt to create an army of newborns to take down Bella {for revenge of her fallen lover}. It is a short read {178 pages}, and it offers an interesting perspective. Twilight readers are so used to seeing the composed side of vampires, not the savage side of newborn vampires. Stephenie Meyer admits that by the end of writing this book, she wished she hadn't written Bree such a tragic ending in Eclipse, because she grew to love Bree so much. 

Overall, it was worth the time to read. I wouldn't call it a good book {but then again, I wouldn't call any of the Twilight Saga books good books}, but it gave a fresh perspective, one less attached directly to the plight of Bella {which got old for me real quick}. 

Have any of you read this book? If so, what did you think?

Oh, and sorry if I offended any of you Twihards, but I'm just team Harry Potter :) 

Cheers {as I move on to my next book on the reading list!}

my blog is one :)

After looking forward to my baby blog's first birthday for about a month, November 18th came and went and I completely forgot to celebrate! Haha. Just wanted to thank you --- my readers and followers, both stealthy secret readers and comment loving followers, for being there for me. I love having this blog! Apparently I'm self-centered because I have the nerve to think that what I am thinking is important enough to put into blog form and send out for all of you to read, but whatever. The blog makes me smile, it makes me remember what I thought about a book or a recipe or a movie, it holds me accountable to the goals I set for myself. 

Maybe I haven't been too gung-ho in the "ambitions" department lately {the three original ones I set last year: fitness, Spanish, art}, but I have made progress in each goal throughout the year!

Here's to another year of goals, trials, fun times, and friends --- old and new :)

Cheers!

chicken enchiladas verdes

Happy Sunday! I felt obligated to share the recipe for the delicious dinner I made tonight! Props to Real Simple for including this recipe in their September magazine. YUMMY! I have never made enchiladas from scratch before {shred my own chicken, what?!?!} and these turned out super delish! The magazine recommended doubling {or even quadrupling} the recipe and freezing half for an easy reheat meal at a later point! 

 Enjoy! 

Chicken Enchiladas Verdes

Serves 4
Hands-on Time: 30 minutes
Total Time: 50 minutes

Ingredients:

• 2 chicken breasts (1 1/2 to 2 pounds total)
• 1 16-ounce jar mild salsa verde
• 2 cups fresh cilantro sprigs, plus more for serving {ended up being about half a bushel of cilantro}
• 1 cup sour cream, plus more for serving
• 1 1/2 cups frozen corn, thawed
• 8 ounces Muenster or Monterey Jack cheese, grated (about 2 cups)
• kosher salt and black pepper
• 8 6-inch flour tortillas
• rice, for serving

Directions:

1. Heat oven to 400° F. Place the chicken in a medium sized pot, add enough water to cover the chicken, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer until cooked through, 15 to 20 minutes; remove from pot and let cool. When cool enough to handle, shred the chicken, discarding the skin and bones; place the meat in a large bowl. 

2. Meanwhile, in a blender, puree the salsa, cilantro, and ½ cup of the sour cream until smooth. Transfer to a small saucepan and simmer until slightly thickened, 10 to 12 minutes. Stir in the remaining ½ cup sour cream. 

3. To the chicken, add the corn, ½ cup of the sauce, 1 cup of the cheese, and ½ teaspoon each salt and pepper and toss to combine.

4. Spread 1 cup of the remaining sauce in a 9-by-13-inch baking dish. Roll the chicken mixture in the tortillas (about ½ cup per tortilla) and place seam-side down in the dish. Top with the remaining sauce and cheese. Bake until bubbling and beginning to brown, 15 to 20 minutes. Serve with cilantro, sour cream, and rice, if desired.

Delicioso!!!

Cheers!

christmas cards!

Hello, hello!

I hope you all have had an enjoyable weekend :) I'll blog about my weekend adventures later. This blog post is a step-by-step look at how I am hand-making my Christmas cards this year! Keep in mind, I'm a novice :) But since I will be in PA School {and busy as hell} for the next 3 Christmases, I figured the time to be crafty for Christmas is now!

Without further ado, I give you my Peppermint Christmas Cards!

I started with blank white cards & envelopes...

My cute stamp {Michaels's for all supplies seen here!}

Stamped the inside of cards with green ink, then colored in a yellow star at the top of the Christmas tree

Then I wrote a personal note in metallic pens, and stamped puppy paws, too!

Cut lots of red and green ribbon

And glued to the fronts of the cards

Used glitter and glitter glue to create the wrapper effect for the peppermints

Then I drew a peppermint design and filled it in with glue {Martha Stewart Crafts Ballpoint-Tip Glue Pen has been a lifesaver! It allows you to do really intricate things with glue and glitter!} then used liberal amounts of red glitter :)

Lastly, I colored green strips in along the red swirls!

VOILA!

I am also including a picture of our little family on the inside, but we have yet to pick out our photo, so I'll keep you posted when we find the one we will use! Oh, and just for fun, click here to see our holiday photo from last year! It was before we had Gryffin :) So just Tyler, Penny, and me! 

Oh, and we can't just forget about the envelopes! I found a cute snowflake stamp and used metallic silver ink to stamp on the corner of the envelope. 

Then just for some extra sparkle, I stuck on cute green rhinestones on the envelope flaps!

The end.

There's my craftiness for the rest of the year! 

Are any of you doing any cute holiday crafts?

Cheers :)

heaven in the form of a jacket

Hello, lovelies!

I hope you are finding yourself at a happy place in the middle of the week :) I certainly am in a happy place! Namely because I had a some fabulous date with friends today! After a sweat sesh with my Andrew this morning, I headed out to the Outlets at Castle Rock for a lady date with Pro. We only shopped for about an hour, but don't worry, I managed to find myself a little congratulatory treat :) At the Columbia outlet store, there was the rack of clearance fleeces... The one that I fell for sells for $100 at stores, sells for $85 online, and was selling for $60 at the outlet. THEN it was on sale for $40...THEN we got 20% off! My total {tax included} was a whopping $34!!! HELL YEAH! What a steal. Here's a picture of my beautiful new jacket :)

The microfleece is as soft as silk, there are slimming side panels, a hood, and even surprise thumb-holes in the sleeves!!! ADORE :) And even better, Pro got one in the Black Cherry shade. Scrumptious! Shopping is 100 times better when you're with friends! 

We then went to have a quick lunch and were off to see the movie Morning Glory! I loved Rachel McAdams, and she easily played the energetic and quirky protagonist of the story. Diane Keaton was just as lovely, but I didn't really get attached to Harrison Ford's SUPER grumpy character. I wouldn't say it's a good movie, per se, but it was cute :)

Oh, and one more purchase to talk to you about. Have you tried Extra's new dessert delights sugarfree gums? They are FANTASTIC!!! They have Strawberry Shortcake, Key Lime Pie, and Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream! I haven't tried the Mint Chocolate Chip, but I have to say I am a super fan for the Key Lime Pie flavor! It's like the crazy gum that tastes like actual food in Willy Wonka's factory! Except I promise that you won't turn into a giant piece of pie :) Haha, soooo good. 

That's all for now :)

Must get to work on my Christmas Cards!

I'll be posting what they look like tomorrow!

Cheers!

literally. one of the best days of my life :)

Hey party people :)

I just can't control my excitement right now, and I have to share with you all the reasons for the huge smile on my face right now!

I will go through the day in a list format, just to count my blessings tangibly :)

1. I was finally well enough to go back to work last night!

2. Work was fun, I worked with lots of my friends, which allowed times for lots of laughs amidst the craziness of baby cries and poops {love you Andrea & KP}. 

3. Came home to my husband and pups and slept for a solid 5 hours... mmmmm :)

4. Woke up and met my love Andrew at the gym. My first workout since my crazy sickness set in last Monday. And it felt GREAT! I coughed a lung out during the hour-long speedwalk, but I felt fab after. 

5. After the gym, I was driving home {when November decided to be nasty and throw a freak rain/hail/snow/windstorm for 30 minutes...but, whatever} when I got a call from an unrecognized number...I answered...and it was the Assistant Program Director for the PA Program in Denver that I have been dying to get in to... Christina said, "I just wanted to say, Congratulations!" At which point I started SCREAMING my brains out. I told her, "YOU JUST MADE MY LIFE!" and then said, "Welp, there goes all the composure I showed you last Monday! She just laughed at me :) I am so so so freaking happy. This is a life-changing thing to find out, because it finally gives me the direction I have needed! I am going to be a Physician Assistant! I am so proud, and so happy :) And then, upon telling everyone on the good ole' fb, I got such a tremendous outpoor of supportive and loving words from my friends and family. I don't always feel like I have a lot of close friends, but today I felt loved --- for SURE! :)

6. Took a trip to the Discount Liquor store near us, and bought 9 bottles of wine {before I found out about PA School} to stock up for the holidays! Wine for Thanksgiving, wine for the EPIC wine party in December, and so on :)  9 fabulous random bottles of red delicious liquid goodness.

7. After my husband got home and we danced around with happiness, I hopped in the shower to get ready for an impromptu date to PF Chang's. {I adore impromptu dates}

8. We had a $20 gift card to PF Chang's so we ate a FABULOUS 4-course dinner and spent $40 {including wine and tip!} and really enjoyed each other's company. We don't usually go out to eat, and I enjoyed every minute of it!

9. My husband even played the role of the romantic and opened my car door for me and everything, haha :) Cheesy and I liked it. 

10. My fortune in my fortune cookie said, "You will receive a good surprise soon!" I already found out about PA School...so I wonder what could be in store?

11. As we walked out of PF Chang's, hand-in-hand, I just felt magical. There were trees lit up with gorgeous white Christmas lights, Coldplay was playing overhead, and life was just GOOD. No, great :)

12. Came home to enjoy a glass of Cupcake Petite Sirah with my hubby and watch tonight's episode of Glee with my husband on the couch and with my sister of FB Chat. My favorite thing about watching Glee is the chat session I have with my sister during it :) 

13. Um - the Glee episode was SO DAMN GOOD! I love Gwenyth Paltrow...and apparently her voice is so good! I cannot WAIT to get this season's CD so I can listen to the Singin' In The Rain/Umbrella mash-up! INCREDIBLE! Can I get an amen???

14. Now we're watching Biggest Loser, and I'm hoping that someone I don't like goes home...we shall see! 

I just had to share the many blessings in my life with you :)

I hope you are all doing well. 

Love to you :)

Cheers.

chasing harry winston

Happy Monday to you!

I haven't been in touch since my sick girl escapade to Target, and honestly, that's because there hasn't been much to tell! I have been ridiculously sick this last week, spending my days with my butt glued to our couch. After a few days, I couldn't stand to watch TV anymore, and I remembered these wonderful things called books! In all my preparation for my PA School interview, I haven't been doing any leisure reading, but I had my big interview last Monday, so I am now free to read non-PA books again! Yay! 

I have been putting forth a really good effort into reading The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. But it just isn't happening. I decided to go with some Chick Lit instead, because that always puts a smile on my face. I bought Lauren Weisberger's 3rd book months and months ago, and I finally decided to dive in. It only took me three days to get through, and it was pretty enjoyable. 

Chasing Harry Winston follows three best friends in Manhattan as they make a pact to make a big change in their lives. Of course they girls are flirty, fun, and impossibly good-looking, but books are for escaping, right?!?! Not on par with the laughter you get from The Devil Wears Prada, but more similar in caliber to Everyone Worth Knowing. Another of what I call a good "frothy" read. 

Other than Weisberger as a Chick Lit writer, I have read some of Emily Giffin's books {Something Borrowed and Something Blue}, and all of Sophie Kinsella's Shopaholic books. Although, I did JUST find out about Kinsella's latest book - Mini Shopaholic being out! So excited! Do you have any favorite Chick Lit writers? If so, I probably need to know about them :) I love losing myself in a witty book about the lifestyles of other women.

I'm onto The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner, Stephanie Meyer's spinoff story from Eclipse. Yet another book that I bought many many months ago, and am just getting around to reading :)

Happy Monday and Happy Reading!

Cheers :)

PS Stay tuned for a SUPER CUTE post about my ambitious new craft: Christmas Cards! They are so so so cute and I am really proud of how they are turning out!

when a sick girl goes to target...

Hey friends :)

I want to thank you for your sweet well wishes yesterday! I went to the doctor, and have a respiratory infection. Blah. She said my lungs are filled with mucus...yummy image, right? So I left the doctor's office with three prescriptions and a note for work, and headed to Super Target to get my prescriptions filled. As you know, when you drop off a prescription {or 3}, you have a wait a minute {or 20} to get them filled. What's a girl to do during that 20 minute window? Shop, I guess... *sheepish grin ensues*

There are a few fall trends I have been eyeballing, and I decided to give them a test try-on. And I ended up buying 4 of them :) 

1. A fabulous oversized teal neckwarmer. Similar to this but in a gorgeous teal color!

2. A heather gray hat with a hint of sparkle. Like this but the lightest shade of gray:

 

3. A caramel brown skinny braided belt to pair with my fall cardigans. Similar to this, but better :)

4. A gray and white striped wool button-down cardigan. Complete with short sleeves and a way better high-neck than this example. 

Obviously I couldn't find exact pictures of my purchases, but that's okay. I am happy with my little trip to fall accessory land, and I am currently lounging in a long sleeve white tee, my cardigan, long underwear pants, wool knee-high house slippers. Perfect sick-wear {yep, I just made up that category!}.

Thanks Target, much love. Aaaaand before I forget, much love to the Veterans of our country. One of my favorite sayings about Vets is that "all gave some, some gave all." How true. Thank you, from the warmest part of my heart, to all those who have/are/will serve our country. It is a blessing to have these brave individuals among us

Cheers :)

sick of being sick

Hey there bloggy people!

How is your Wednesday going? I am supposed to work tonight {and I was kind of excited to get out of the house and into work, and hang out with my work buddies}, but low and behold I woke up with a 100.0 temperature. Oh, and I haven't slept much the last two nights because I've been busy coughing my throat raw all night long. I am so frustrated! I went a whole year at work without calling in, then in the last two months I've had to call in once for being sick, 3 x for my foot issues after the half-marathon, and now today for being sick. I'm so over it! I hate feeling like that person letting everyone down at work. But there is no way I'm going to work like this to expose myself to newborns and their mamas {let alone all the other visitors and my coworkers}. I think it's totally irresponsible to show up to work sick. 

Anyhoo, that's my rant.

Doctor's appointment with a doctor I don't really care for at 2:30 today. So that's exciting. I'm crossing my fingers for something to help me sleep at night! 

Oh, and Colorado had it's first snow yesterday! Since it has been warm it didn't stick on the sidewalks very much, which is nice. The puppies think the snow is very cool. Very fun to prance around in!

Well I'm going to steam myself silly in the shower now...so toodles :)

Cheers -

cheese festival??? yes, indeed!

Happy Tuesday to you!

How has November been treating you?

Unbelievably, it is still sunny and in the 70s here in Colorado! Usually there's snow by mid October, and by Halloween for SURE! Snow is on the forecast for Thursday, but hey, if November 11th is the first snow, I'll take it! 

Anyhoo. Guess what I did this weekend??? Tyler, the in-laws, and I went to the Colorado Cheese Festival! haha. Cheese is like my favorite food, and when groupon.com told me there was an entire festival dedicated to cheese, my smile got real big real fast. We tried probably more than 100 cheeses...heaven! Goat cheese, chevres, sheep cheese, cheddars, blues, bread cheese...the list goes on! Fabulous! Here are a few pictures from the day :)

The In-Laws

Cheese Lovers!

My notepad of favorite cheeses - most of which I can find at King Soopers! Yay!

Do any of you love cheese as much as I do???

Cheers :)

oh man...

Happy Election Day!

Here in Colorado I am crossing my fingers that Ken Buck is not elected to help run our government... but anyhoo. Let's not talk politics, too messy amongst friends!

I am writing to tell you about an awesome thing my friend told me about today. I ran into a girl I played rugby with in college at the gym. She told me that she and 12 friends got together to do a Biggest Loser challenge! For 3 months, they weigh in weekly and hold each other accountable. There was a $50 buy in to "play", and the winner {most percentage of body weight lost} gets the $$$ - $600! That's awesome incentive! I thought that idea was so cool, and I was telling my husband about it.

We came up with our own little game! We decided that we need to get better about going to the gym, and I need to stay on track with food better. Not a diet, per say...but maybe that is what I need to get myself on track. But anyway, we decided that if one of us skips the gym {mandatory 5 days/week}, then we have to put a dollar in a fund that goes toward something the other person really wants. My husband wants an ant farm. Yes, an ant farm. REALLY??? Well, I guess we all have our dreams... I am BOUND & DETERMINED that we NEVER have an ant farm in our home, so I am going to work my ass off to assure that I don't put dollars into his ant farm fund.

So it turns out my fear of having an ant farm just may help me get into shape! Haha. Now I have to come up with something that I could buy that he would REALLY hate to have in the house. He hates pink and Jersey Shore. But I don't necessarily want a lot of pink decor or J Shore seasons or anything like that. Do you have any ideas for me? I need to motivate him to hit the gym or else I get to buy _______ .

Hmmmm.

Cheers! (what have I gotten myself into?!?!)

celeb crush revision

Hey hey! 

Happy November!

Today, my plan of attack is to pack up Halloween, blow some kisses into those Halloween boxes, and wish it all well for the next 11 months until I see it again :) Then meal planning {and tons of recipes to follow, I promise}, grocery shopping, and a trip to the gym for a good sweat {work off some of my Halloween weekend...}

And in between my chores, I am working on making a dent in Season 4 of Brothers & Sisters. Season 4 brings the addition of Gilles Marini to the cast. And he is SMOKIN' HOTT. I hope you all know who I'm talking about. In case you don't...let me share the hotness with you:

To say that I have a crush on Mr. Marini is an understatement. I am realizing that I made a horrible mistake in my list of top 10 celeb crushes I posted in July. {If you missed that post, here's the link so you can check out some good looking fellas: http://kaitlynsambitions.blogspot.com/2010_07_01_archive.html} Gilles smashes so far beyond my previous #1 that he is an a completely different realm. 

And it's not just his face that is pretty...

OMG. He first came to my attention {and my liking} when he starred on Dancing With the Stars a few years ago. There is almost nothing hotter than Gilles doing a Latin dance. 

This Frenchman also showed us a different set of goods during the Sex and the City Movie. He kind of stole the show, I'd say. Now, I have a renewed interest in sticking with Brothers & Sisters :) 

Yum yum. Just thought I'd share my adoration of a foreign sexy dancing family man. Happy Monday to you {and to me}

Cheers!

trick-or-treat!!!

Happy Halloween!

This weekend, whether you played monster, fairy, ghoul, or Gaga...I hope you enjoyed yourself! I certainly did! Halloween & Christmas are almost neck-and-neck as my favorite holidays! The festivities started Friday, when we headed downtown for a midnight viewing of Rocky Horror Picture Show. 

Now, I have never actually seen the iconic 1975 film that is Rocky Horror. But in anticipation of Tuesday's Rocky Horror Glee episode, I at least googled the plot and the Time Warp. Glee was awesome, and it really made me excited for our outing on Friday! Not one to go to a dress-up event without dressing up, I really had fun with it :) Makes me miss doing theater! 

It was QUITE the experience! Have you ever been to a viewing of Rocky Horror Picture Show??? I mean, I heard there was audience participation and such...but I think my jaw was dropped for the duration of the movie because I wasn't expecting a line from the audience during every pause of the movie! LOL. I'm glad I went, it's definitely a life experience worth having! Haha.

Moving on to Saturday, I slept in a bit, and took my dogs to the dog park! This weekend had to be the most beautiful Halloween weekend in the history of Colorado Halloweens! 80 degree weather?!?! Incredible! After the dog park, it was time to get ready to go corn mazing! I have never been to a corn maze before, and this was tons of fun! Creepy "mental patients" crawling through bus windows, clowns breathing down my neck, and men chasing me with chainsaws...every girl's dream! But no, it was scary in that nervous giggling way, so it was perfect!

After the corn maze, it was time to put on my witch get-up! Off to our party we co-hosted with Mandrew, and we had SUCH a fun time! Our double beer pong table was a hit! 

There was flip cup, dancing, snacks, and a costume contest {I won scariest costume!} Here are some photos from the night! The face paint started to go downhill after 4 hours...but that's to be expected :)

Isn't Malificent incredible?

Haha, totally at the end of the night :)

My cutie pie husband. Today, 7 years ago, he kissed me for the first time :)

And now I'm sitting on the couch with my costume-clad puppies catching up on my DVR and wistfully thinking about living in a neighborhood where children actually go Trick-Or-Treating. It's 9pm and we've had 8 kids total. Dammit. Well, looks like my coworkers will be getting lucky at work this week when I bring my leftovers in on Weds! Would you like to see those costume-clad puppies? Surprisingly, they've kept them on since Saturday morning! I was anticipating that the costumes would be in shreds within minutes, but they don't seem to mind dressing up too badly! They're my little flower & businessman! Enjoy :)

Haha, my little munchkins :)

Happy Halloween!!!

What were you this weekend?

Cheers :)