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Friday – It seemed like the work day couldn’t get more hectic. After work, Chris and I were trying to decide where we wanted to go. It started raining and I was exhausted from busting it all day that I asked if we could settle for Red Robin in Trussville. I just DID NOT feel like driving back downtown again! He was fine with that, so we headed on over and sat at the bar.

Our bar tender was awesome! She was super nice and laid back, and we sort of decided we want to be her friend but we cant be creepers so we might have to become regulars for a little while and feel it out. Ha! Anyways, we ordered some beer and a few appetizers to start the night off.

Angry Orchard and Old Black Bear (local brew from Gadsden)

 Pretzels and beer cheese

Homemade Chips and French Onion Dip

We snacked on that for awhile and just hung out, and then ordered some dinner. I usually get the Whiskey BBQ burger there, but blue cheese was speaking to me. I love the complexity that it adds to the flavor of a good burger. After we ate, we had hung around a bit longer and our bartender had to make some beer shakes for some people. There was extra left in the blender after she poured the glasses, and she asked us if we wanted to try some with her. HECK YES WE DO!!!!

 Blue Cheese Burger

Beer Shake

Red Robin turned out to provide the perfect Friday evening for  us. When we came back home, Because I Said So was on LMN so we watched that. Chris fell asleep, and Georgia Rule came on. I watched that too. Damn you Lifetime!!! Always sucking me in to your movies!

Chris was also sweet enough to go to TJ Maxx with me before we went to dinner to see if they still had my shoes. You guys….BOTH pairs of Michael Kors shoes that I wanted were still there!!!!! It was meant to be! A TJ Maxx miracle! We also got Gracie a new dog bed and she was SOOOOO excited when she came back in to her room and saw it sitting there for her! She has been hamming it up inside that thing all weekend!

Saturday – Saturday morning we caught up on a few of our shows during breakfast. We got ready, and headed over to Chris’s parents house. We decided we were going to spend the day with his dad. We went to eat at Baumhower’s and shopped the Bargain Hunt in Hoover. I found three Scooby Dvd’s and a Tom and Jerry DVD for Cooper for $1 each. I would say Bargain found!

After that, we headed back to his dad’s house and just hung out for the rest of the evening chatting. Chris had stopped by our favorite place in Trussville to get beer, Raceway. Yes, the gas station. This particular one has about 25 craft beers on tap that you can purchase by the gallon. They also have the BEST selection of craft bottles and cans. I wasn’t really wanting anything, but then I saw that they had the Redd’s Strawberry Ale in individual pint cans for $1.79. Seriously?! Yes, please!!! I had been wanting to try this one for awhile, it did not disappoint. I think I found my new beach beer. It is light, refreshing and in a can which means it can go in the pool with me!

Sunday – I did our meal planning and grocery shopping early, then headed to my sister’s house for Cooper’s 4th Birthday party! It was dinosaur themed and they had a dinosaur egg hunt! It was so cute! She even hid a golden egg, and three little girls were on the search for it. One of them got it, then the other two started crying hysterically and screaming how they wanted the golden egg! I told my sister that next time she asks me when Chris and I are “going to stop popping out nieces and nephews for her to spoil” to remember that moment and she would have her answer. Haha!

Anyways, my sister is AMAZING at making cakes. She makes the most beautiful cakes! And the best themed cakes ever! Check out the volcano dinosaur cake and the cupcakes she did! Not only are they adorable, but they taste AMAZING!

She also had the cutest place cards with fun foods on them!

It was fun seeing everyone, and we will be back up there next weekend for Berkley’s birthday! She will be eleven!!!!! Three kids all within a month of each other, I told her they are going to break me! Haha!

I also got a little crafty on Sunday. While I was grocery shopping at Target, I saw the cutest sparkly Easter eggs and I thought….hmmmm where can I make these work?! I re-purposed a basket that I wasn’t using and am now using it as a center piece on our kitchen table! I love it!

Everyone needs glittery Easter eggs in their life. Just sayin’.

Hope everyone has a great week!

Well hey there blog world. Anyone else happy that it is Friday? I came down with a 24 hour big or something Wednesday and felt like death was upon me Wednesday night, I started feeling better yesterday afternoon and think I am in the clear now. Good thing too, because my first thing for today is….

1. I finished T25 Alpha this morning! I did have to skip the cardio work out yesterday morning due to the fact that I probably would have passed out and died since I hadn’t eaten anything since Wednesday at lunch.

I start Beta on Monday morning. While I haven’t really dropped any ell bees (damn you Shaun T!) I have seen some great improvements in my abs, thighs, calves, and lower back. Soooooo I must be doing something right.

2. The battery in my scale died this week. I have no plans on replacing it. I think that is the best thing that could possibly happen for me as I start the next month of this program. I can purely focus on physical results, and not what that damn number is!

3. My little Cooper James turns four on Sunday!!! Cant believe that! He is such a mature four. He doesn’t want “kid things.” He asked me for belts to match his boots. I asked if he wanted brown or black…he said both! He also wants Teenage Mutant Ninja turtles movie. His birthday party is dinosaur themed, and they are going to have a dinosaur egg hunt!

Ugh! Just stop growing!

4. I am going to see if the TJ Maxx law applies to me this weekend. I saw some super cute Michael Kors sandals and shoes last Sunday, along with the perfect dog bed for Gracie. Will they still be there this weekend when I go back for them?!?! Or will the YOU SHOULD HAVE BOUGHT IT WHEN YOU SAW IT rule come in to play? Jury is still out!

5. There are better days ahead…

I confess that….

–I have finally made it to week five of T25 and gosh darn is it a tough one. THREE times this week I am scheduled to do the total body circuit. I think I can I think I can I think I can…

–Every time I am at work and hear the popping sound of a soda can, I am immediately jealous. Basically because I know who is popping it, and it is a Diet Dr. Pepper, referred to as DDP by me and my college DDP addicts. I cut out all regular soda, and almost all diet soda from my diet a long time ago. Now, I just have a diet coke when I am eating Mexican out, if I am wanting it. Not always do I want it. The sad thing is, I am jealous with no cause. Anytime I have given in to weakness and gotten a can out of the vending machine I take two sips and toss it because it is not near as good as it once was for me. Crazy, right?

–I have to admit that one of my favorite moments from this past weekend was Sunday evening when Chris and I were laying on the couch watching TV. Chris wanted to lay his head on my legs, and I moved so that he could do so. He settled in, then moved his head around a few times and I asked him if I needed to do something different with my leg for him to get comfortable. His reply, “Well, your leg just has more muscle now so it is hard everywhere…..” YES!!!!! If that isn’t a non-scale victory, I don’t know what is?!

There are a few things that I see far too often and I need to get them off my chest:

• If you are wearing UGGS and a skirt, I am secretly judging you. Just kidding, it is no secret. You look dumb.

• Unless you are walking your dog outside in the early morning hours, if you are wearing a sweatshirt, gloves, scarf and other clothes deemed “winter” and you have on flip flops….I am judging  you. You look dumb.

•  If you wear your pajama pants (not to be confused with athletic attire, I am talking about obvious pajama bottoms with hello kitty or sponge bob or whatever you are in to) out in public, I am judging you. Put on same damn clothes.

Ahhh, yes. The power of annunciation and correct English.

I am linking up with Liz today for the Hump Day Blog Hop. She has a bikini body giveaway going on today too! Go check it out!

Also, with Kathy for Humpday Confessions.

I have been trying a lot of new recipes lately. I like to change it up! Today I am going to share with you Cilantro Lime Chicken. This is a lot like my Salsa Chicken, but it has a twist with the lime and cilantro and a nice change of pace. I found the recipe here.

What you need:

Chicken Breasts ( I had two on hand, there was enough juice that you could do up to three or four)

2 fresh jalapenos (we LOVE jalapenos and a little kick….if you do not like spicy things, do NOT put the jalapenos in)

1 jar of salsa

3 tbsp of lime juice (or one fresh lime squeezed)

Cilantro – (about 1/4 cup or so)

1 packet of taco seasoning

What you do:

Mix the salsa, taco seasoning, jalapenos, lime juice and cilantro together in the crock pot.

Put the chicken in the crock pot and cover with the mixture.

Cook on low for at least six hours. Mine cooks for a good 10 hours when I am away at work. The chicken is so tender and juicy when it is ready. Mmm Mmm! I served this with Brown Spanish Rice.

On the menu this week:

Lunch:

Veggie soup and salads

Dinner:

Turkey Mini Meatloaf with green beans and skillet potatoes

Chicken Burrito Bowl

BBQ Chicken Sweet Potatoes

Black Bean Burgers with baked beans and skillet potatoes

Fitness Goal: 

Week FIVE of T25 (last week of alpha, I start Beta next Monday!)

Well, I am not quite sure where the weekend went?! It is quite certainly over though. I think I have lost my mind. This morning I had to turn around because I couldn’t remember if I turned my straightener off or not. Ridiculous!!! OCD at it’s finest people! Also, my knee is KILLING me and I have no clue why. I feel like I slammed it into something, but I have no bruise and don’t remember running in to anything. Like I said, I have lost my mind. And because I cant help myself:

Friday- We kept it simple Friday evening. I painted my nails so they look like peachy spring time, appropriate for the blast of warm weather we  had this weekend. We ordered Chinese food, I just got egg drop soup #willpower and watched TV.

Saturday- I made scrambled eggs a new way this weekend, thanks to Liz. I added feta cheese when I was mixing them up and they were AMAZING. My new favorite way to have eggs for sure!!!

After breakfast, I cleaned the house from top to bottom and did a load of laundry. We then decided to head out and do a little shopping. Chris wanted to get some stuff to decorate his new office with, and I was on the hunt for some shoes. We found some great Alabama pictures for Chris’s office, and realized that the new Donkey Kong game came out for the Wii U. We were super excited, but I wouldn’t recommend it. We tried it out yesterday and it was really hard to play. Too many different buttons for moves to remember. It might be fun if you have time to sit and study the manual, but we do not. But, my momma didn’t raise no quitter, so I am sure I will still play it from time to time.

Unfortunately, we didn’t find me any shoes. Why is it so damn hard to find some comfortable winter shoes that aren’t boots? I have never found a pair of flats that I can wear for more than an hour without killing my feet. Maybe its the deep arches in my foot? Or maybe flats just aren’t as comfortable as they look for anyone? Either way, I surrender and put up my white flag. I will order the same pair I currently wear to work from Kohl’s since the store doesn’t ever have them in stock and then count down the days til flip flop/sandal season for my weekend shoes! I have plenty of boots, but I don’t want to wear boots and skinny jeans when it is 70 degrees out like it was this weekend!

After our shopping, we met up with my sister in law and her family to try out Tortuga’s in Trussville. It was good, but it wasn’t amazing. I have yet to find a pizza place in the south that even compares to pizza up north. The only thing that has come close is Felini’s in Atlanta. Either way, it was great to spend time with them and it was such a pretty afternoon.

Sunday – I did our meal planning and grocery shopping. I looked around for shoes at Belk and TJ Maxx. I also checked out TJ Maxx’s home section….which I got inspired by several different things they had. I have a few ideas in my head for what I want to do with some spaces in our house….and cant wait to look around some more! While I was at Target grocery shopping, I picked up a drawer tower to FINALLY organize my sweaters. I was so excited to clean up the disaster that was the short side of our closet that I forgot to take a before picture. Here is the after.

We had enough space on that side for me to squeeze it in there after moving the shorts and winter coats to different areas. The other side of our closet has two long shelves where Chris has all his shirts and shorts on the top and I have all my shirts and skirts on the bottom. I am just so happy to have it finally organized in a way that doesn’t take me 10 minutes to find a sweater in the mornings! Another thing I can cross off my winter goals list!

Yesterday evening we just watched some re-runs of The Big Bang Theory and had dinner. It was nice and relaxing. So relaxing, that I fell asleep on the couch, woke up at 10:00pm and had no clue what day it was. Whoops!

I hope everyone has a great week! Let’s do this!