The Forgotten Holiday

Each year I am noticing that Christmas is coming earlier and earlier. Don't get me wrong, I love Christmas, but what about Thanksgiving and the Fall season? It's like as soon as summer is over everyone is all about pumpkins and hoodies....then as soon as Halloween is over cue the Christmas music and let the madness of shopping, parties and decorating begin. What about Thanksgiving?? Yes I know it is a one day celebration of basically eating and spending time with family. But let's just take a minute and think about the meaning... giving thanks. We should give thanks to our blessings year around, even daily,  So just take a moment and think about what is going on in your life and what are you thankful for always, daily, now, for your future, for your past

I am thankful for :

God~ His grace, mercy and forgiveness. He is my rock and has molded me into the person I am today

My husband for what we have been through and where it has brought us to today. The man he is and his huge, loving heart and our strong marriage that at one point wasn't looking so promising but is better than ever today.

My family who supports me always, my friends, my coworkers, my church family

Heat, AC, clean water, power in my house, a house at that, vehicles, a job to pay for all these things that are considered "luxuries" in other parts of the world.
~ Right now these things make me think of those poor people in the Philippines who are suffering from the damage of Super Typhoon Haiyan. My heart has been breaking for those people since I found out about it last Friday and I just want to jump on a plane and be there instantly to help anyone I can.

Food on the table each night, a warm bed to sleep in and clothes to keep me warm in this early winter weather

My dogs ~ who you all know are like my babies, they bring us joy to spend time with them and have their company

Let's take time to celebrate Thanksgiving this year, to be with our loved ones and celebrate the blessings that I could spend a life time listing and the luxury fun things that come with Thanksgiving like pumpkins, church festivals, and yes the food that we are blessed abundantly to have.

Don't get me wrong, I am ready to celebrate Christmas, the birth of my Lord and Savior, but I wish that it wasn't so rushed and had such an early onset. And truthfully all the rushing and things is not even the true meaning of the season. The true meaning isn't the shopping, the parties, the presents, the food. It is Jesus. Just Jesus.

Thanks for reading my take on Thanksgiving.......it stemmed from an article my soon to be bro in law :):) posted this morning. I will share it with you so you can read it.

http://www.relevantmagazine.com/current/lets-not-forget-about-thanksgiving-season


Happy Fall and early Thanksgiving everyone!!

Spicy Hawaiian Burgers

HI! It has been a longggggggggggg time, sorry! I don't even remember the last time I blogged but I have kept up with the blogs I follow.... anyway on to these yummy burgers.

I pinned these burgers from Pinterest a while ago and just tried them over the weekend and they are SO good. I always go to Pinterest when it is time make my grocery list for new dinner ideas for us to try. So thanks to homeiswheretheholmansare.blogspot.com I now have a new recipe for chicken burgers!

Here is the Recipe copied from homeiswheretheholmansare.blogspot.com and the pic is from their site too.

Spicy Hawaiian Burgers

2 pounds ground chicken6 pineapple rings (or equivalent slices, cut about 1/2" - 3/4" thick)6 slices pepper jack cheese6 whole wheat hamburger buns1/4 cup low-sodium soy sauce1 tsp smoked paprika1 tsp chili powder1/2 tsp seasoning salt (I use Lawry's)1/2 tsp ground cumin1 clove garlic, minced
Combine the ground chicken, soy sauce, 1/2 the paprika, 1/2 the chili powder, seasoning salt, cumin, and garlic. Lightly mix with your hands and divide into 6 even balls. Form patties, making them slightly thinner in the middle and sprinkle with remaining paprika and chili powder. Refrigerate about 30 minutes.
Preheat the grill to medium heat. Coat grates lightly with oil. Grill burgers over medium heat about 6 minutes per side. The burgers should flip easily when they are ready to turn, if they want to stick, give them another minute. Top with cheese for the last 1-2 minutes of cooking time to melt. Remove to a plate and cover with aluminum foil to rest. Grill buns if desired.
For the pineapple, if you are using rings, grill directly on the grates over medium heat. Carefully turn after 1-2 minutes. If you are using pineapple slices or chunks, thread onto skewers and grill skewers in the same fashion. Assemble burgers and enjoy.


I grilled this Saturday afternoon after a busy morning of cleaning and yard work. I do not grill very often so I was pretty proud of myself when they turned out great. Some tips for this recipe from me would be to spray your hands with Pam while pattying them - sounds gross but it keeps the ground chicken from sticking to your hands and makes it easier to get the job done. Also spray Pam on the grill before putting the burgers on there. I used pineapple rings and they were pretty easy to grill. 

Aaron said they were very yummy and wants them again soon for dinner so that is a plus. I ate my plain just as the recipe calls for but he put BBQ sauce on his - we are sauce people but I wanted to try it without sauce for a change and loved it! 

If you decide to make these let me know what you think! Chicken and pineapple are a fav combo of ours...ecspecially on pizza :) 

Happy Tuesday!!

Fiber Fruity Smoothie

Okay so I fell off the eating healthy/exercising band wagon for about three weeks, but I am back on track! I have lost 7 pounds since the new year. It is not anywhere near my goal, but hey I've lost some and kept it off so I'm happy.

For breakfast I am eating smoothies and I just put together one I haven't tried a few days ago and loved it! So here is the recipe and I decided to call it Fiber Fruity Smoothie:

Fiber Fruity Smoothie:

6-8 Fresh Strawberries (depending on their size)
A handful of Fresh Blueberries
A handful of fresh spinach leaves (hence FIBER)
About a cup or 3/4 cup of nonfat Greek yogurt (I use vanilla to add some flavor)
About a 1/2 cup of Orange Juice

Cut the stems off the strawberries and add them to the blender. Add the rest of the ingrediants in the blender and mix! I usually stick it in the freezer for about 20-30 minutes while I'm getting ready for work to make it cold and it is so yummy! You can use frozen berries too, but I just love fresh. The spinach may sound gross, but you cannot taste it at all. I was skeptical at first, but you really can't and it is a good way to get in some fiber! I added up the calories and I'm thinking its about 220 calories. So you will definately need a snack soon after, I just like the healthy jump start to my day.

My snacks are usually a banana, grapes, the 100 calorie pack of cocoa roast almonds, or the Special K chocolate crisps - which are 100 calories also.

My lunch at work is a lean cuisine and some veggies or leftovers. My leftovers this week are taco salad and taco soup - I'm on a mexican kick this week ;)

I'm doing salads for dinner or small portions of whatever I cook.

Now that the time has changed, I am walking the dogs again...in daylight! So we are all getting exercise. Its beautiful out today, so I plan to walk the dogs after dinner when I get home. Happy Monday!

Super Monday: Top 5 Commericials of Super Bowl XLVII

Congrats to the Ravens on their win of the Super Bowl XLVII!! I have to be honest that is probably the first time ever I have actually watched an entire football game on TV without getting up hardly at all. I am not a football fan really, but love Superbowl because of the awesome commercials and the half time show if it's good. In this year's case, I thought the half time show was awesome! I love Beyonce and loved the reunion with Destiny's Child. I have always loved her and hope that one day my body can come somewhat close to looking like hers, ha (every woman's dream I'm sure). I also LOVED when the Sandy Hook chorus sang, that was a bittersweet moment. Tears were starting to come thinking about that horrific day. I thought the kids did an amazing job. I loved Alicia Keys beautiful red dress and of course she sang the National Anthem beautifully.

I am going to post You Tube links to what were the best (in my opinion) commercials of the night! When I got to work this morning, we had to watch them all again and had a good laugh. Here you go!

#5. The Sketchers Cheetah and Gazelle Commercial
 
     http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cuBwAE14L4c

#4 The Audi Prom Commercial

     http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ANhmS6QLd5Q

#3 The Taco Bell Oldies Night Out Commercial

     http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KvxZcULxfKw

#2 Fashionista Doritos Commercial

     http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5R9sQQ1VrIU

     Sidenote: My coworkers sisters friend brother (something like that) created this commercial and then I saw on Beach 104's FB page that their friend made it too. So GO LOCAL person!!

    Is that my wedding dress? LOL

And DRUM ROLL.......... If you know me well and know my love of animals you know whats coming......

#1 Budweiser Clydesdale Commercial!!

     http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o2prAccclXs

    SO CUTE!!! Love this and how they have a reunion. I told Aaron I wanted a Clydesdale now ;)

So that is my best commercial list, hope you enjoy them if you didn't get to see them last night!

Here was our menu :

Mozzarella stuffed turkey meatball subs  (click here for recipe) *Father in law had no clue it was turkey ;)

Southwestern Black Bean Salad we used as a Salsa dip (click here for recipe)

Crackers, cheese and pepperoni stacks

Not an extensive menu but there was only four of us and we had left over beef stew but no takers on that.

Hope you enjoyed the Super Bowl as much as we did and Happy Super Monday!!

    

Weigh-In Wednesday

Okay so I know it's not Wednesday but I meant to post this yesterday. I have decided with my new resolution that I would weigh every Wednesday to check my progress. I used to weigh on Mondays but figured out really quick last year that wasn't a good idea because if you didn't behave over the weekend...it showed! This was not the case this past weekend because I ate good and exercised.

So I weighed in on Wednesday and had lost 1.5lbs! I was pretty excited and the Wednesday before that I had lost 2.5lbs so we have grand total of 4lbs! I am thrilled!

True diet and exercise works people! You do not need some fancy diet, special work out machine or a pill to lose weight. Just like I teach, it is a lifestyle change. You have to be in the mind set. Thank you cookies, candy, cakes, pies and all the good Christmas food overload for putting me in the mindset. When I came back to work I was so over the junk food and over eating. I have taught myself to eat when I'm hungry and eat until I'm full, no more. It was very hard the first day I must admit. My stomach was constantly growling...I think it was the first time I had heard it growl since Thanksgiving ;)

What am I doing? I am walking the pups every night, usually after dinner. This past Monday we jogged with some walking breaks in between. Tuesday night SLAW came to visit and she went walking with us....at 10pm. I told her "I have to get it in, LAST CHANCE WORKOUT before weigh in!!" I'm glad we went, even though it was late we had a good time. Last Saturday, Jess and I rode bikes from my parents house to the old manns harbor bridge and back....10 MILES!! It felt good and I loved it. I haven't gone on bike ride on the back path in years :) Let alone ride my bike since last summer I think. I was kind of sore the next day, but not as bad as I thought I would be. I also log my calories and exercise on the My Fitness Pal app on my phone. IF you don't have smartphone you can do it online too. I'm sticking to around 1500 calories a day, my fitness pal gives you extra calories when you burn calories. I try not to use them but sometimes I do. Keeping a food diary is really helping a lot so I know my limits and portion control is huge too. Seeing the results is great and I have found that you have to do both - diet and exercise. I did the Insanity workout last year, got up every morning at 5 am worked out for 45 minutes for two months, six days a week. I lost inches but gained 3lbs. I wasn't doing the diet part, just eating whatever I wanted but thought I didn't need to because I was working out hard core with Shaun T! Talk about unmotivated. Thanks for your support and if you start using the my fitness pal app, friend me!

I leave you with motivational pictures from Pinterest :)



5lbs of fat vs 5lbs of muscle......yuck

truth :)

Happy Thursday!

Flashback Friday: Christmas Edition

I know it's way past Christmas and we are on to succeeding in our New Year resolutions but I realized I didn't post anything about Christmas! We had a wonderful Christmas with family and friends ....added bonus, I had a week and a half off (Merry Christmas to me)! So I wanted to share LOTS of pictures with you to show you just how awesome it really was!.....

I did some holiday baking :) The top one is Jingle Bell Balls, the middle is Smores Bars and the bottom are peanut butter blossoms. I got the top and middle from Pinterest and the bottom is a recipe from my mom that we have made every Christmas for as long as I can remember.

The weekend before Christmas we visit my mom's family in Chesapeake and afterwards went to the Virginia Beach Boardwalk's Holiday Lights! I highly recommend it if you have never done this before. Since it was the Saturday before Christmas we did have to wait in line for over an hour but it was worth the wait :) Go see the Holiday Lights at the Beach next Christmas!

Our pretty Christmas tree!! We always get a real one and I had never had a real one before until Aaron and I got married. I love the smell of them and plus you don't have to store them afterwards ;)


So we did Christmas with Aaron's parents and sister on Christmas Eve because poor SLAW had to work on Christmas Day :( Thank you for what you do Jessica! So the following pictures are from Christmas Eve with them....

Bay opening her present from Jake and Sandy :) This pup has a serious paper fetish. She loves toilet paper, paper towels, tissue, whatever. So I wrapped it up and let her have fun ripping into it. It is a stuffed froggy that squeaks in case you were wondering.

Jessica and her Thirty-One zipper pouch from us! Whoop whoop reppin for Thirty-One! Love you Slaw and your pretty shirt!!

Handsome Hubby and his new oyster knife from his parents. Really awesome present and love the way it is designed.

The dogs had an absolute hay day with the wrapping paper. Every time we would open a present, the dogs would take the paper and shred it to pieces! They had just as much fun as we did :) I love the middle picture with the three of them going to it.

Sandy posing with her pretty Christmas Bow :) Such a good girl to let mommy mess with her.

I got us marshmallow shooters just for fun :) They shoot pretty far and a few at a time. I got Aaron pretty good while he was opening his. Please excuse his work pants, apparently he didn't think that he would be getting his picture taken.....

We had a great evening with Aaron's family! So blessed with gifts and time together. Love them so much.

The pups stockings were hung by the gas stove with care :) Yes they get toys too! The next morning while waiting for Daddy to get up they would walk by and bump them.....I guess they knew they were for them.

Christmas Day my parents, brother and his girlfriend came over for breakfast and to open presents! Aaron and I had our own Christmas real quick before everyone got there and gave the pups their stockings. They loved all their stuff and surprisingly didn't rip it to shreds in five minutes.

Jake loving his bone and Sandy seemed a bit overwhelmed with all the toys and bones. She is giving Jake the "don't take my bone" look.

Aaron got me a Nixon watch! I asked for a bright colored watch and he did good! Can go up to 100 meters in the water so I think we are good with getting it wet. I love it!

Bay + Buddy = BF/GF....they love each other and get along so well! Buddy posing with all the wrapping paper!

My parents, Jason and Jess with their presents and Jason playing with the marshmallow shooters. He's packin :)

Aaron's dad with the three pups who are begging him for a cookie. They know who to hit up when it's dessert time ;) We ate dinner with my parents Christmas night and it was so yummy!

My second cousin, Graham. How cute is he?!?!?! This was taken a few days later at my Uncle's Christmas party.

Lastly, Sandy and Jake's picture on our Christmas Card :) I love it, but Sandy.... not so much she was terrified of the lights. I bribed them with a bag of treats....otherwise it wasn't happening.

That was our Christmas in a nutshell, we are so blessed to have wonderful parents, siblings, family and friends. We love you all! We have so much to be thankful for. Hope you had a wonderful one too!! Happy Friday!!

New Year, New Resolutions

Happy New Year! It's been a long time since I have posted and I am sorry. We had a great Christmas and New Years and I hope you all did as well :)

So, just like everyone else, my main new years resolution is to lose weight. I have gained a little each year and it's really starting to add up. Every new year I say okay this is going to be the year that I get my weight down by my birthday or by summer. Well this year I REALLY want to do it and keep the weight off! Especially since my husband is skinny and all defined...I need to keep up. Not that this really matters to much either but it's my ten year reunion this year! Wouldn't be great to get down to the size I was in high school. It's possible but unlikely. I am pretty self conscious about the actual amount that I weigh so I will not post that even though I know it's just a number but I would like to lose 30 pounds by my birthday. So that is May, which I think is definitely doable being it's four months from Wednesday. I wanted to share what I was doing so that if you have the same resolution then it could be help for you as well!

I'm using the Myfitnesspal app. I love it! It's really easy to use and it tracks your food and exercise. We recently switched cell providers and got iPhones so its great to just key in everything on my phone! You can also record your weigh ins and measurements. You always hear the tip "keep a food diary" and I use to ignore it but now I see that it is a real eye opener! You don't really know what all calories you are taking in until you record them! I am shooting for about 1500 calories a day with my plan and when you exercise, you get more calories. I usually try not to use them but on days I go over and I exercise it makes me not to feel so bad when I see that negative number of calories left. I started on January 2nd and I am doing pretty well. I kind of cheated last night and made a "southern supper" for Aaron and I. When he is gone fishing (aka working) for three days, I try to have something hot for him to eat cause I know if I was out on a boat for 3 days in the cold I would want something nice when I got home.

I usually weigh in once a week, some people at work weigh everyday and I just don't see that working out to well for me. I would obsess over it! Tomorrow is weigh in day so wish me luck!

My exercise so far has consisted of walking the dogs at night after dinner. At Jake's last vet appointment he was 99 pounds and his vet said he can't gain anymore! He could actually stand to lose a little. So the walking is benefiting us both :) Sandy is a skinny little girl so I know it's good for her too, she just doesn't need to lose any weight. I think I'm going to stick to walking them this week and then next week upgrade to jogging/ running. I have a love/hate relationship with running. I love the way I feel when I am done and how quick the results are there from doing it, but I start running and I'm like ugh why am I doing this again? and then I'm like oh yeah. I'm hoping after doing it for a while that the hate part will go away and I will really love doing it. That is another goal- to run a 5k. So my plan is to walk to the dogs in the morning and run at night. I hope it works out.

Another thing is that I'm packing my lunch everyday. I usually do that anyways but I got slack towards the end of last year. It saves so much $ and I usually pack the correct portion and something healthy. My snacks have been almonds, celery and peanut butter, a small salad. I want to start adding apples in there and other fruit. Edamame is a good snack too and very filling!

So my few readers, it is your job to hold me accountable! Ask me if I have exercised today or if I am eating right!!

Another resolution is to come closer to God, read the bible and to not judge. We had a great service this past Sunday about reaching out to people who are usually "shunned" from the "church scene." These are the people that need it the most and should be welcomed with opened arms at church. Jesus reached out to people like this and we should too. A friend of mine from school and college goes to church there as well and wrote a poem and read it to the congregation on Sunday. It was amazing and a real eye opener. She has come so far in her faith and changed so much. I'm so proud of her :) Everyone has a past, you don't know why they are doing what they are doing (drugs, drinking, lust, etc). You don't know what they are dealing with at home or work or why they are the way they are. This is something that I need to remind myself daily. To not judge, and while usually I try not to be much of gossiper (let's face it, most of us gossip), I still find myself doing it sometimes. So I'm going to do my best to be optimistic, to help others and to not judge. Also to read my Bible at night and to pray more. Again hold me accountable AND JOIN ME!

So those are my resolutions. Good luck with yours and I'll try to keep you posted more often then I have been. Happy Monday!