Merry Halloween Weekend Recap

I know it’s a day late, but hey- who doesn’t want to reminisce about the weekend?

Mine was pretty fun- not overly Halloween themed- honestly it was more like Christmas with all of the snow!

Friday

Friday night was really low key. I came home from work and just relaxed. I received the books I ordered a few weeks ago and read Jenny McCarthy’s Belly Laughs from cover to cover in just a few hours.

It was really funny and I could totally relate to it. I loved her honesty and humor about pregnancy. It was so refreshing! Joe ended up having to work until around 8:30 so he didn’t get home until late. We ate leftovers from the freezer and fell asleep on the couch.

 Saturday

Saturday morning I had to wake up bright and early for my glucose tolerance test. As I may have mentioned, I wasn’t looking forward to it. I have to say though- that it wasn’t nearly as bad as I expected. The drink was orange flavored and really sweet (so sweet that it burned my throat when I drank it). But it was chilled and the whole ordeal was over quickly. After drinking it, I felt a bit dizzy, but that subsided. I put some headphones on, read a book, and the hour was over before I knew it.

Now I’m hoping I passed.

After the appointment I walked outside into a winter wonderland! It was snowing and actually sticking. Crazy!

The rest of the day was spent running errands with my friend Diana and then driving home on crappy roads.

While I was out, Joe was at home working on the nursery. He was prepping the room for painting and by the time he went out to get the paint, the store was closed. It’s amazing how things work out for the best. Because I think I changed my mind on the paint AGAIN. Time to sample one more color. Fingers crossed because this is getting ridiculous.

FYI: None of the colors above are the actual color I chose

Although I had plans to meet up with some friends downtown, Saturday night was spent in the house. I was having a major cranky, headache, moody, teary, pregnant lady evening and didn’t want to grace anyone with my presence. The roads were also pretty nasty.

Sunday

On Sunday Joe and I drove down to Atlantic City(about 1.5 hours away) and met up with my Dad and stepmom for lunch. It was a great day to be outside by the beach and we enjoyed walking the boardwalk. Lunch was also delicious! (I had a Chinese chicken salad), and then the trip was completed with some delicious salt water taffy for dessert. YUM!

How did you spend your weekend? (Or what do you have planned for this upcoming weekend?)

Did you dress up for Halloween? If so, as what?

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Well Rounded Weekend

First things first, have you entered my Sentry Safe giveaway? You can win a pink fire safe ($30 value) that will help your protect your important items in case of a fire. A portion of the proceeds benefit the Breast Cancer Research Foundation.

 

Hi guys!

How was your weekend? Mine was actually really fun and relaxing (and somewhat productive) all at the same time.

Really can’t ask for more than that, can I?

 

Friday night Joe and I chilled at home, made pizzas and watched the rest of Season 5 of Dexter. Overall, a good season, but I kind of think the series is ready to end soon. A bit too formulaic at this point, but that’s just my opinion.

 

Anyhow, back to the food. We used fresh whole wheat dough from Wegman’s and made our own pizzas.

Most of mine was topped with with tomato sauce, mozzarella, peppers, mushrooms, onions, and turkey sausage.

The other side had olive oil, balsamic glaze, a little mozzarella, spinach, mushrooms, and goat cheese.

Joe made his with most of the same toppings I used for my red sauce side, but also added some spicy banana peppers from his garden.

We love toppings!

 

Saturday morning was so calm and relaxing. Both Joe and I slept in until around 8:45. I whipped us up some whole wheat pancakes, and added some pumpkin, cinnamon, and pumpkin spice the batter.

Not the prettiest picture, but once topped with syrup and a little more cinnamon these were soooo good!

 

After a little cleaning up around the house, I had to get packed and showered.  By 12:15 we were on the road heading to the Poconos for a friend’s wedding. The wedding was at the Blue Mountain ski lodge and it had the most beautiful views. All of the trees were changing colors and it was simply gorgeous!

Joe and I had a great time eating, drinking (club soda for me), and dancing.

Unfortunately all of my sweet moves accompanied with a not-so-comfy hotel bed led to some bad pelvic pain on Sunday. Guess I can’t get down like I used to right now.  No biggie.

 

Sunday was spent getting a carpet estimate, watching football, and clipping coupons (look for a follow up to my first coupon post on Tuesday!) and dinner was prepared by Joe!

 

We had grilled sirloin with caramelized onions, greens, mozzarella and spicy mayo on toasted baguette. Some leftover mashed potatoes on the side. I love this man.

Now it’s back to the grind…blah!

 

What did you do this weekend?
Are you enjoying fall foliage where you live?

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Weekend Stuff

Happy Monday everyone! Hope you all had a nice weekend!

 

I spent my weekend getting some things done- looking for carpet and getting price quotes and slowly narrowing down the plethora of paint samples that I collected for the nursery.

 

I pasted all of the swatches I liked on the wall and then had a few face-offs between similar colors. When I had a small sample left, I observed how the colors looked morning, noon, and night. It’s amazing how a color changes with the lighting in a room.

Here’s a sneak peek at the nursery closet which is currently housing some (and I use that term loosely) items for our little girl. Only one outfit so far, a super soft snuggly onesie complete with a hood with little ears. I think it looks so cute just hanging there all alone.

She also has some little hangers and two sets of those adorable socks that look like mary janes. So cute! (The rest of the stuff in there is mine! I need to move out of that closet soon)

 

Okay and one other cute item that my mom bought…a little piggy bank! So sweet.

Speaking of sweet…this weekend I had a major craving for 2 ingredient pumpkin spice cookies. (spice cake mix + can of pumpkin)

 

The best part was the egg free batter that I could eat!

These came out HUGE! I’m not complaining, but next time I need to make them a little smaller. They are more like muffin tops than cookies. Oops.

 

Yesterday I went to Trader Joe’s and picked up some food for the week. Here are a few highlights:

(try this applesauce warm with a dollop of greek yogurt)

(I don’t know about you, but I like my apples extra fancy)

(a total impulse buy at the register, but OMG, it’s amazing)

 

The rest of yesterday was spent cooking up some of my lunch staples for the week. I roasted a butternut squash…

And made a delicious batch of lentils. I’ll share the recipe tomorrow- it’s fantastic!

 

What did you do this weekend?
Any fun grocery items you scored lately?

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A Weekend Walk

Happy Monday!

 

Hope everyone had a nice weekend! I had a great and relaxing weekend.

 

Friday Joe was out of town so I was home alone. I was actually looking forward to a nice quiet evening, so it worked out well.

 

Around 6:30 I had an overwhelming craving for wonton soup which HAD to be fulfilled. It was then I realized how ridiculous it is that there is no local Chinese food delivery in my immediate area.

 

Hence why some of you probably saw this tweet go up:

 

I ended up driving about 15 minutes to the town over to pick up some wonton soup, steamed dumplings, and Hunan chicken (spicy chicken in a brown sauce with veggies). The food was awesome, and made fabulous leftovers on Saturday.

 

The highlight of my weekend however, was probably the 5 mile hilly walk I took on Saturday afternoon. The weather was cool and sunny, and I just couldn’t wait to get outside.

 

I packed up some of my old running buddies:

and hit the trail

5 miles later I was tired, but I felt great! I was so happy that the workout bug seems to be back!

 

Saturday concluded with a trip to the movie theatre to see Horrible Bosses.

It was okay- pretty funny, but not great. A little too long. The best part was probably the huge box of Jujyfruits that I snuck into the theatre. Yes, I even like the black licorice flavored ones. (Actually, those are my favorite)

 

Sunday was rainy and lazy. We pretty much just sat around, except for a short 25 minute kickboxing on-demand workout. (woohoo!)

Seen any good movies lately? I saw Bridesmaids at the beginning of the summer and LOVED it.

What is your favorite movie theatre treat?

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Weekly Highlights

Oh how good it feels to be plopped on my couch right now. Even better is knowing that Joe is on his way home with a bottle of wine.

This week, as you can tell from my scattered blogging schedule, has been really busy.

 

Lesson planning, my first observation, and everything else has kept me on-the-move.

 

Highlights of this week

• I’ve been waking up at 4:50am and getting in my workouts
• Subsequently, I’ve been going to be at 9:30pm
• I had my first really bad day of teaching

• It was followed by some good self reflection
• My meal planning this week was great

• Tried a great new recipe
• I’ve been in tune with my body’s signals, even the ones telling me to eat for comfort

• I’ve been able to redirect those signals

 

This weekend I don’t have much planned. Tomorrow I’m sleeping in really late (9am?) and then hitting the gym and doing work for school.

 

Sunday I’m going for a training run with my friend Katie.

 

What are you guys up to this weekend?
What were your highlights from this week?

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Ooey Gooey

I had a glorious night’s sleep last night!

 

I’m really thankful for that since I’ll be up at the butt crack of dawn tomorrow morning.

 

Today will consist of relaxing, seeing my mom and sister who are coming this afternoon, spending some more time at the Expo, and being nervous about various race details.

 

To fuel up for the day, I made myself an ooey gooey breakfast bagel.

Everything bagel thin, 3 egg whites, american cheese, morningstar veggie sausage and ketchup.

 

It really hit the spot.

 

Have you tried Morningstar veggie sausage? It has great flavor and 10 grams of protein. It’s perfect weekend fuel when I don’t eat as often.

 

What is your eating schedule like on weekends?
Does it vary from your everyday schedule? How so?

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P90X is for lovers

Ok maybe not. But Joe and I did do a workout together this morning. He wanted to show me the Kenpo X workout and thought I would enjoy it. He was right, it was fun!

It’s basically kickboxing, nothing new, but we never workout together, so I had a blast doing it.

Its just funny because you never see men in workout classes at the gym, but yet this video is somehow all the rage. Marketing genius I tell ya.

 

Breakfast was great. Just keeping it simple. Real whole grain bread from Trader Joe’s with Smart Balance margarine and some ‘loupe. That’s what the cool kids (and ones that can’t spell) call cantaloupe.

 

Isn’t that mug cute? It’s actually a measuring cup from Nigella Lawson’s collection.

My sister got them for me for my wedding shower. Here’s where you can buy them if you want.

 

What are you guys up to this weekend? Here are some clues of what I’m up to.

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Sweet Saturday

Good morning! I love Saturdays where I don’t have anything to do. This morning I was fortunate enough to wake up to the smell of fresh brewed coffee. I set the timer last night so that it would be all ready. And I just put on another pot. We drink a lot of coffee in the FoodIRL household.

Between Joe, myself, and my father-in-law who is visiting, we finished a 12 cup pot before 9am.

Don’t judge us.

Today the guys will be working on a shelf building project in the basement and watching college football. I on the other hand will be taking a trip to the mall to buy some new clothes.

I start a lab in a school next week and I really need some professional clothes to wear. All the ones I have are from 2006 when I actually needed to wear business casual to work. After that I worked at an online company where we could wear whatever we wanted. Then I was a nanny, and now I’m a full time student, so..the business wardrobe is lacking.

The good news is that the 2006 clothes are all way too big now. So I’m excited to get some new work basics that actually fit.

Breakfast this morning was inspired by some fresh figs that my father-in-law brought from his fig tree.

French Toast with Warm Apple and Fig Compote

Ingredients:

1 sandwich thin (or whatever bread you want to use)

1 egg white

1 splash skim milk

cinnamon

pumpkin pie spice

vanilla extract

1 small/medium apple (i used a macintosh)

a few fresh figs

maple syrup (I used the chemically sugar free version and I’m not apologizing for it)

 

How To:

Beat the egg white, dash of milk, 1/2 tsp vanilla, dash of cinnamon and pumpkin pie spice in a bowl.

Add the bread and let it soak.

Meanwhile, dice up the apple and slice the figs

Heat a non stick pan (medium heat) and spray with a little PAM or use a little butter

Add the apples to the pan and let them start to break down

After a few minutes, move the apples to one side of the pan and add the bread

Cook the bread for about 3 min on each side

Once the french toast is almost ready, add a splash of syrup to the apples, and a dash of cinnamon.

Toss the figs with the warm apples right at the end

Put the french toast on the plate and top with the fruit

 

Pour a little more maple syrup on top (optional but highly recommended)

Enjoy!

What is the dress code at your job?

What are your plans for this weekend?

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