Puppy Update!

Rene just gave me a call with wonderful news! There isn't anything wrong test wise with little Stitch! They think that since he had a little bit of pancreatitis 2 week ago his system is just still being very sensitive to higher fat foods. We feed Stitch Organix which is a high quality organic wheat free food so it's not like we were feeding him puppy chow but apparently his little tummy needs some more time to recoup and that should make him better! I am relieved to say the least! Now it's back to work!

Inside the box...

Sorry for taking so long to post what was inside my box from yesterday...we had a sick puppy when we got home from work last night :( so Stitch is on his way back to the vet again this morning. He even had to sleep in his crate last night which hasn't happened since last summer, it was quite sad. I'll be sure to update when we find out what's wrong with the little guy.

To continue from yesterday inside the box was a cute pair of rain boots from the private sale!

I had been looking at boots like these (just because I think they are cute, and functional) for a while now, and since the "deal" that I got was about 75% off the original price I couldn't refuse!

Yay Presents for me!

Earlier this week I received an email from a friend letting me know about a Private Tory Burch Sale...typically by the time I find out about these things everything in my size is sold out (which is better for my bank account!!), but this time I was in luck!

I found lots of shoes and handbags that I loved and they were in my size! *Happy girl*

After consulting Rene and asking which items I should buy...and him being no help at all!

I used some self restraint and only bought one item, which arrived at the office today!!

What's inside? Check back later--it was too much of a steal not to purchase!

Accounting Lectures Yuck!

Today was a really tough day, it seemed like everything that could go wrong did go wrong but none of it was actually my problem yet I still had to deal with it :(

I had one of my recruiters out of the office sick today and it seemed like everything just fell apart that she had been working on...and they had "no idea what went wrong" or "couldn't seem to get in touch with the contacts they needed to" which as a result just made my day pretty much awful!

Why do I feel like people don't take accountability for themselves and try to just pass the blame onto something "out of their control"? I just don't get it--oh well.

Then follow that up with a couple of hours of accounting lecture starting now (oh yeah *note the sarcasm*)--well I guess it's time to pay attention to my class...

Day 2 = Fail :(

What can I say I just don't think that I am a big morning person (unless I have to be). I really did think OK I'll get up and take the dog on a little mile walk this morning....but nope. I failed in attempt #2 for a morning workout, I stayed curled up in bed with Rene the extra hour.

I guess the I can back up my love of sleep with the fact that getting enough sleep for an adult (6-8 hours) helps fight weight gain....so even though I'm not packing in 2 workouts a day I'm still ok right?

5am Wake-Up Call--No luck!

Well yesterday I thought that I would be super productive and start to try to get up early to do my little mile run before work....that would mean waking up at 5am. Well let's just say that at 5 o'clock when my alarm went off I tried to get out of bed and realized 2 things. First, my legs were in some serious pain for my lunges and squats over the weekend and 2. it was early and chilly outside (around 45 degrees). I quickly got back into bed and waiting til our alarms went off at the normal wake up time. Maybe I'll have better luck tomorrow and I can do a morning run Tues-Friday and then my usual after work workout....I guess we'll see what happens tomorrow! Happy Monday!

A Good Germ to Have!

First off, the fiddleheads last night were pretty tasty. Nothing amazing but nothing too nasty either. It was a crunchy mix between a green bean and a piece of asparagus. Will we try again? Possibly, but I won't be heartbroken when they aren't in season. It was a nice little change though from the typical veggies.

Yesterday I was feeling pretty accomplished after my little jog and work out I decided to take Stitch on a 20 minute walk in the sunshine before hopping into the shower. After which I was starving! So I pulled out some Greek Gods Yogurt (Honey my #1 fave!) and blueberries to throw together for a quick lunch....


Then decided to throw in some Chia seeds for extra protein and a little crunch (1 tablespoon has around 2g of protein) then while going through the pantry remembered we had some wheat germ that I was planning to use in pancakes a few weekends ago and completely forgot.

I must admit I've never eaten wheat germ in anything but mixed into a batter to make it feel "healthier" so I wasn't sure what to expect. But it made my little yogurt bowl delightful! The toasted wheat germ gave a hint of an almost coconut flavor. I actually went back and added more after my first bite! YUM!
Not only did I get an extra boost of folic acid I also got even more protein and fiber as well. My lunch gave me almost the same protein I would have gotten with a piece of chicken!

Moral of the story? You can believe me that the wheat germ will be making it's way into a lot more of my meals!

Oh and by the way I got myself a new little kitchen toy yesterday too! Since my original fave blender that had a blend in cup attachment didn't make it out of the sorority house after college I found this beauty at Target for $29.99 lots and lots of smoothies on the horizon!

You're a Fiddlehead!

I almost forgot to mention the new item I found at the grocery store last night! Now yes, our grocery store (for those back in Grove City) is not the typical Bi-lo.. :)

When Rene and I decided that we were going to switch and start eating mainly organic we moved our weekly shopping trips to Central Market (more or less a TX based Whole Foods)...so of course some of the things are a bit "different" from your basic veggies but I'm always interested to see what's there. Last night I found Fiddleheads.
I had seen these on a couple of shows on the FoodNetwork but never actually in the store so I felt the need to give them a try since fiddleheads are only in season for about 2-3 weeks at most.

More or less they are baby ostrich ferns before they actually uncoil and bloom. When they do start to uncoil they are actually poisonous so that's why the in season time is so short!

Rene of course wasn't too excited about the purchase and I don't know exactly how he feels about our these for dinner...
Apparently the taste is something of a nuttier version of asparagus and I figured that at $15 per pound they should be tasty!
Everything I have read says that you can serve them more or less as a side with a simple marinade to cook them. So this morning after my little job I took some balsamic vinegar, horseradish (extra hot), mustard, garlic, and extra virgin olive oil and mixed up a quick vinaigrette So now we sit and give them the rest of the day to "cook" and see how they taste!

Today's the Day

Rene has been running like crazy recently and keeps saying that it's the easiest way to stay in shape (yeah and kill your knees for when you are older!!) but I've decided that today is the day that I am going to start a new working plan and change things up a bit.


My summer after my sophomore year in college I ran/walked as my workout. My typical morning while on break and at home in PA (not working) included a morning run/walk of around a mile, then 10-20 minutes of pilates and a tofu smoothie...I must say after the summer of this I looked really good so I figure that I'll give it a try again, what do I have to loose?

I'm not by any means saying that I need to get thinner, I'm pretty happy with the 20+ pounds that I lost before the wedding after living in Virginia for a year and gaining a lot of weight, eating poorly and doing nothing in term of working out.

But I figure why not right?

So this morning while Rene was on the phone discussing our plans for the future with Sam Eppy(college friend and boyfriend of my bridesmaid Kelly) of Eppy Financial Group. I decided there was no time like the present.

I threw on my beat up running shoes (clearly in need of some new ones) strapped on the iPod and ran/walked a quick lap around the apartment complex. It's a little under a mile but I was impressed that it only took me about 10 minutes. Not the 7 minute mile that I could do a couple of years ago but not too shabby--my hip aches a bit and my allergies are horrible right now so I couldn't really breathe but we'll see how things go. Not its time for pilates and a shower, next up a 5 hour accounting exam (yuck!!) maybe running was the highlight of my day!

Spring Weather is Here!

This past weekend was a nice relaxing one for us, which was a nice change over the past couple of weekends where all it seems like we did was household "chores" and homework or work.

Saturday night we used our Fandango deal that I had bought offline a couple of weeks ago where we got 2 movie tickets for $9 and went and saw a movie at the theater. I think that the last time we did that was actually almost a year ago when we went to see Harry Potter or maybe it was Toy Story 3! We went and saw Limitless which was really good! I love me some Bradley Cooper so that of course made it all the better!

This past weekend was amazing weather wise in Dallas! Rene and I got to enjoy sitting out on the patio with Stitch and reading on Sunday while enjoying a slight breeze and the sunshine! We even got a nice deal on some cushions from Target that we added to our chairs to make them super comfy!

I am so happy that springtime weather has finally gotten here! The extra hour of light is a nice bonus so that we can come home (Rene's not working crazy late hours) eat dinner together, take Stitch on a walk and then Rene goes off to run while I hit up the gym. The weather has been perfect but I am in desperate need of a tan!

I feel like a piece of raw chicken and since I promised Rene that I would stop tanning I am resorting to try to find any self tanner that doesn't completely turn me orange. Most recently I was using the Jergen's daily lotion that has a tanner in it, but I feel like it fades if I don't use it every single day and that just adds up, so I've decided to try to L'Oreal Sublime Bronze ProPerfect self tanner.
I've read mixed reviews some say it's great others say that it is a bit more orangey than the previous gel versions….after one day I can't see much of a change except one spot on my arm where Rene missed spraying (yes I make him spray me down with it at night!) I'll have to continue using it a bit more to see if I like the results.

Any suggestions on a self tanner?

Green!

Green is everywhere today for St. Patrick's Day! But I realized yesterday while trying to figure out what to wear that I really don't have a lot of green in my closet. Not sure why that's the case but I was at least able to find one shirt to wear so I wasn't getting pinched today!

Of course March Madness starts today as well, the office poll is happening again this year so I threw my $10 into the mix and picked my winners.....my final 4 - Notre Dame, Duke, Pitt, and Ohio State---my champion? Ohio State! Here's hoping for a little "Luck o' the Irish" and my team picks to win me some money!

Really on the Ball at Work!

I’ve been noticing over the past few years that working at a desk all day has started to put a toll on my body. Not only have I noticed that my eyes started to get worse (and now require glasses/contacts) but my posture has been getting worse and worse and my neck and lower back hurt almost daily.

So about a month ago I started looking into some alternative options. While I would love to have the desks that accommodate a treadmill, I don’t think that the director of our company would go for that regardless of how beneficial the studies say they are for health of employees.
Then I found this, where you can put an exercise ball into a chair and sit on that, but really I am not spending the $99+ on one of those…..
That lead me to my current sitting situation, I went to Target and bought myself a large exercise ball which now serves as my chair. Monday as I started inflating it in my cubical yes I got some very odd looks, and the looks continued throughout the day by the guys that walked by my desk…..

But I must say that yesterday when I got home my back didn’t hurt and I could tell that I was sitting up much straighter than I normally do. Add to that I am strengthening my core and apparently I can burn up to an additional 350 calories throughout the day I think it’s a win-win situation.

Plus it gives me some entertainment when I find myself rolling around a bit or having a little bounce while sitting here. Now it’s time to get to work – it’s meeting time.