Palm Trees are Pretty

and so are you :)

One of my girlfriends sent out an email and mentioned how inspired she was by Operation Beautiful. Although I have never found a Post-it, I've heard of it and now want to participate!  If you haven't already, go check it out.  New goal: post 3 post-it's this week! 

Today was a pretty great day.  Since Shane and I share our car, Shane gets it on the weekends since I get it everyday to drive to work.  Well, he was sweet enough to let me have it today, even though he hardly ever gets to drive!

So I got to go here:

Larinna over at i heart spandex told me about an open house at The Sporting Club in La Jolla.  Since I dropped Shane off at work, I didn't make it there until 11.  Although I missed Body Pump, oh mannn, I tried TRX for the first time.  The class also incorporated moves on the bosu ball.  My favorite! 

 

Seriously, my gym in college had an awesome bosu class and there was a group of us who went every week and were obsessed!

Anywho, after the gym I drove a few minutes down the road to La Jolla Cove.  I was supposed to meet a friend for coffee but she couldn't make it.  So I decided on an impromptu run!  I was already in gym clothes, so I grabbed my car key, cell phone, and water bottle and got running!

 

  

There were lots of people walking, and since I had already been to the gym  I took it easy.  I soaked up the sun and admired the gorgeous view.  Look at those palm trees!

 Super sweaty. Awesome.

When I got home I was sooo hungry. I had a pear, pita, hummus, and potato chips.  Just a little FYI, we still hadn't gone food shopping! 

So I solved the problem, with a shower and a trip to Henry's.

I <3 leggings. Comfort + cuteness!

And I threw on a cardigan last minute, because grocery stores are chilly!

 

Samples!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

These are so good, but at $6 for one small bag, I can't justify buying them.  Plus, I read the ingredients and I think I can recreate them! 

Food Network apron from Alli, when she interned at FN Mag in NYC.  Best sis ever!

When I got home I threw on my apron with the intent of making Shane a dinner he'd be sure to love.  Well I started dinner, but couldn't finish before Shane got home.  That's okay because the recipe says you can prep it and finish the next day, phew!

 

So instead we went out for Vietnamese at Pho SuperBowl & Tea Station  in La Mesa.  We love Pho and go a lot.  It's healthy, inexpensive and I can get 2 meals out of one bowl.  Plus, they stole my boy band playlist from 8th grade.  I'm talking BSB and NSYNC.  That's a plus in my book ;)

My usual: tofu & broccoli + sprouts.  And then add Siracha for a kick.

Time to cleanse the palette

 

Now me, Princess, Daisy, and Shane are snuggled on the couch watching Meet the Parents.  

Question: I have nipples Greg.  Can you milk me?  

 

Hah, that will never get old!

For Real Question: Seen any good movies lately?

Shane and I have a knack for searching for a new movie we both haven't seen, and ending up with old faves that we've seen a bunch of times!  We have Netflix, help me pick some good ones!!

 

Fo' Free

I've been a little MIA this weekend.  But I've been busy!  Watching TV and snuggling on the couch count as being busy, right? ;)  Actually, although there has been much snuggle-age, I've also been quite productive.

Let's start with Friday, shall we?

I took Friday as a rest day.  In the "Recommendation" section of The Shred, Jillian never mentions taking rest days.  But my body needs a day off, so I decided to work a rest day into my Shred Schedule.

I woke up refreshed and ready to start my day.  *On a side note, don't you love waking up well rested?  Some days I crawl out of bed and feel tired and unmotivated, even if I've gotten enough sleep.  What's with that?!*

I had my lemon water and oats.

 1/3 c. oats

flax meal

cocoa powder

1/2 mashed banana

frozen blackberries

Lunch Box 

Snack: apple

Lunch: spinach, quinoa/millet, sunflower seeds, craisins, walnut oil

7 bean salad

Snack: roasted sweet potatoes

I got some awesome news at work!  Let me preface this by saying I am so thankful to have found my school.  The Montessori philosophy is fascinating and truly works (teachers, you need to read up!), the people I work with are amazing; friendly, caring, and willing to help a transplant out!, and my employers are wonderful.  They truly care about their staff.  

We have an "appreciation box" in the staff lounge where you can write how you appreciate someone, and drop it in.  At the end of each month they collect them and each person gets a card and their appreciations.  Each month, someone also gets the Helping Hand Award...and January was my month!

 It's sure feels nice to be appreciated =) 

And to top it off, for my birthday I got a lovely card along with a gift card to go out to eat!

Which brings me to...date night FO' FREE

We had a choice of 4 restaurants and we decided on Chili's!

Throw on some clothes and out the door! 

 The wait was about 20 minutes but that's okay when you live in SoCal.  We just sat outside on a bench and enjoyed the cool, crisp February air while people watching.

Started off with an app,  Fire Grilled Corn Guac.  It was pretty good.  The chips were paper thin and kept breaking!  Shane reminded me that I tend to overscoop and enjoy massive amounts of dip on each chip.  Woops!

Vegetarian options are a bit limited at Chili's, so I went with the Caribbean Salad.

 Fresh pineapple, mandarin oranges, dried cherries, green onions, cilantro, sesame seeds and honey-lime dressing.

 Since we had a gift card, we thought we'd go all out with dessert.  I believe as soon as we sat down Shane pointed to the  Peanut Butter Molten and said "That's happening".  However it didn't happen, we were too stuffed!

We got home and watched the latest episode of Jersey Shore!  I LOVE that show, it's a pleasure of mine.  I'm not guilty about about it either!  Gives me a little taste of home, oh sleazeside<3


Then we watched The Other Guys, with Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg.  Hm, I need to rephrase that.  We're so cool that we attempted to watch The Other Guys, but fell asleep on the couch.

Friday Date Night fo free= success!