June 27, 2011

Life Lessons

2:46 PM 0 Comments
My sister, Laurel, lives in a world of all things pretty. She is so excited about life, and it's contagious. Her life-long goal: To see a real rainbow. 
Keep Looking Up There May Be A Rainbow Waiting For by elissahudson
I was on my way home from work last night-a thunderstorm had just passed through, and the sun was beginning to set. As I turned on to my road, I saw it-the most perfect real rainbow ever. It had every color- a true Roy G. Biv-and was sprawling across the sky. I had to call my Mom. She thanked me for the tip and rushed Laurel outside. I can only imagine the squeal of surprise and excitement!
Google Image Result for http://www.insidesocal.com/friendlyfire/rainbow-too.jpg
The innocence of a child is something to learn from. When is the last time you got excited about a rainbow? When is the last time you stopped to appreciate one of nature's gifts?
I know I learn more from my baby sisters than anyone else. It's the life lessons.
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June 24, 2011

Fitness Friday

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The girls came over last night to have dinner and spend the night so the parents could go on a date to enjoy their 27th year anniversary!!
In the spirit of home buying, we are trying to be resourceful at meal time (rather than picking a recipe, then buying ingredients for it). I haven't been to the grocery store in a while, so our options were limited. Ben says How about burgers? Hmmm...no ground beef, no burger buns. BUT! We have ground turkey and sandwich thins...this could work. 


  • 3 pounds ground turkey
  • 1/4 cup seasoned bread crumbs
  • 1/4 cup finely diced onion
  • 2 egg whites, lightly beaten
  • 1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
  • 1 clove garlic, peeled and minced
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

  1. In a large bowl, mix ground turkey, seasoned bread crumbs, onion, egg whites, parsley, garlic, salt, and pepper. Form into 12 patties.
  2. Cook the patties in a medium skillet over medium heat, turning once, to an internal temperature of 180 degrees F (85 degrees C)
**I scaled it down to 1lb of meat and also added some worcesteshire**



We didn't let the girls know they were turkey burgers until they were about halfway through. Everyone loved them (even Ben). I think next time I might actually go to the store just to pick up an avocado to top it off. YUM!
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June 20, 2011

Happy Father's/Birth DAY!

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On Sunday, I invited my family over to celebrate Father's Day and my Mom's birthday! I made lasagna (Mom's recipe-no pressure!) and we enjoyed birthday cake & ice cream! After dinner, we opened some gifts and visited on our back porch. I have been working on a project for my Dad and was so excited to finally see him open it!




                                               Picture frame from Ikea:


                                                      Letters in progress:




Mom brought the girls over to my house, and we snapped some pictures! We narrowed it down to three we liked best:


                                                      The final product:

I think it turned out great, and Dad loved it!

Our pretty gift table. I displayed my Mom's Write Plate and it was quite a surprise when she realized it was hers and not mine!

I love spending time with my family, and it was great to celebrate two AMAZING people!
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June 17, 2011

Fitness Friday

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I have discovered a delicious and filling breakfast that is awesome for WW.

- 3/4 Cup Kashi Go Lean Crisp! (Berry Crumble)
-6 oz Greek yogurt (I use Chobani)
-Mix and enjoy!

Ok, I know yogurt and granola isn't revolutionary...BUT this combination contains 23g of protein! If I eat this around 8am, it will last me until at least 1pm. Oh, and it's tasty!
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June 12, 2011

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June 10, 2011

Fitness Friday....I'm Baaaack

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No more excuses! I am back to working a somewhat normal schedule (like...during the day), I don't have a lot of upcoming trips, and I am in 2 weddings this fall-all good reasons to get back to business with WW. I have spoken with a few coworkers who have had great success with the new program, and gave me some tips I had not tried before (although I feel like I have tried everything).
Giving "Loser" a New Definition


For my daily allowance of 29 points, I have always eaten 5-6 for breakfast,0-2 for snack, 5-6 for lunch, and the rest (15-17) for dinner. I like having extra points in the evening because I always struggle between lunch and dinner...I go in to major snack mode. Plus, if I am cooking dinner for both of us, I have to keep in mind that Ben doesn't always want to eat light for dinner. 
One of my coworkers suggested that I split up the points evenly-9 points for each meal with 2 to spare for a snack. I have tried all the other tricks for losing weight on this program, so let's see if this does it!


If you haven't heard, the food pyramid is GONE! I am actually pretty excited about this and I hope it creates an easier system for Americans to follow. The old food pyramids were difficult to read and didn't provide a good system for portion control (which is what most Americans struggle with). The USDA has created MyPlate- a better image for what your plate should look like. The website is very interactive and easy to follow. (Yes, this was created from Michelle Obama's initiative on the issue of overweight Americans-but I like it and think it will be more effective)


Play around with it!
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June 09, 2011

Stress Management

9:51 AM 0 Comments


So I was looking for some bling for my blog, and I ran across this: Blogtap. It's a random topic generator for blogs. You select a category, and click 'generate topic' and BAM-new topic. Ok, it's not completely fool proof, because, let's be honest-there are some things you just don't want to blog about. I selected the category 'health' and here are the first five topics that the tool generated:


-stress management
-sleep paralysis
-running in the morning
-The World Health Assembly
-how to properly stretch


Let's go with stress management. I should tell you that I enjoy going for a run or occupying my time with some other healthy habit, but please...you know I hate running. To combat my stress, I get down to business.
The most stressful time in my life (so far) was when I was in nursing school. The curriculum was very difficult, in addition to clinicals, learning new skills...oh, and planning a wedding. I would have a to-do list that stretched a mile long, and sometimes I would think there literally isn't enough time in the day to get it all done. Ben would try to help by creating an escape for me-an evening to get away from it all and get my mind off of things. So sweet. But guess what? That just made things worse for me. Even if my list seemed impossible, the only thing that would help me manage that stress was to begin checking things off. I do love to check things off my list!

Now, my list is shorter, but bigger!
-Buy a house
-Go back to school (maybe?)
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