Happy Monday friends!  How was your weekend?  I can’t believe it is already Monday again, but we had a great weekend over here.  It was so nice to be home with my husband (and pups) and spend some quality time together and get some things done around the house.  

Friday night we just hung out at home.  We have been watching Dexter on Netflix so we got in a few episodes.  Have yall seen this show?  It is crazy.  On Saturday morning we took the pups on a long walk to grab a coffee.  After a quick workout we got to work on some things around the house.  I washed sheets, did laundry, vacuumed, while my husband worked on painting our new carport out back.

After I was finished inside, the pups and I joined my husband outside (it was 85 degrees!!!) and I relaxed and shelled some pecans while the pups ran around.  My mom always asks if I have shelled all the pecans in the box we gathered from our pecan tree in the backyard.  No mom, I have not.  Everytime I shell pecans I do not make a dent in this thing!  🙂

After a while we got cleaned up and headed to the Pearl, a cute little area with restaurants and bars in San Antonio for a much needed date night.

We were going to go to dinner at another restaurant, but the wait was so long, we ended up putting our name in at Southerleigh.

We grabbed a drink at the Hotel Emma bar and sat outside by a fire while we waited.

It didn’t take long to get a table though so we downed our drinks and headed on over.

We got a side salad and shrimp cocktail to start and I got the scallops and my husband got the redfish for our entrees.  We both loved our meals.  Yum!

 

There were tons of people hanging out with kids, pups watching the water light show after dinner.

After dinner we met up with a friend of ours for a bit before calling it a night.  We both forgot to cancel our class pass trials (when we went to Dallas) so we have a bunch of credits for this month.  We are too cheap to let them go to waist so my husband found us a circuit type class for Sunday morning.  It was really fun and challenging.  I love trying new workouts so we are already planning our next one.  

While meal prepping for the week, I decided we needed a new snack to change things up a bit so I decided to make some protein balls.  

The base recipe is: 1 and 1/2 cups of old fashioned oats, 1 cup of peanut butter, 1/4 cup of honey, and 2 scoops of protein powder (I used vanilla Sunwarrior).  

From there I just added a couple tablespoons of chia seeds, flax seeds, unsweetened coconut flakes, and chopped almonds.  I didn’t end up adding raisins, but you definitely could add these or chocolate chips or any other dried fruit or nuts you prefer.  This recipe is completely customizable.   

Then you just mix it all up and roll the mixture into balls.  

I popped them all into an airtight container to store in the freezer.  I will pop two or three of these in my lunch for the week and each them alone or break them into a greek yogurt.  

For lunches this week, I made salads for my husband and I.  This week I used mixed greens, beets, chickpeas, pumpkin seeds, dried cherries, and goat cheese.  We will top with chicken or salmon or tuna each day.  This took me all of 10 minutes and makes our life so much easier throughout the week.  

My husband went to grab a sandwich this weekend and sent me this picture.  I just can’t with the cuteness.  Riley loves car rides and my husband takes him on all his errands, it is so precious.   

That’s all I’ve got for today!! I hope you all had a wonderful weekend and have a great week ahead!! 

Questions:

1. Highlight of your weekend? 
2. Favorite healthy snack?
3. Do you meal prep on the weekends?

 

Hey Friends!!!  Happy Thursday!! This week is flying by for me, which is always nice.  My husband has been out of town since Monday for work so these weeks are usually a little tough for me, but luckily my pups have been keeping me company.  My sweet husband sent me the sweetest note and a bouquet of roses to let me know he was thinking of me while he has been gone.  It is the little things, yall.  

Last week when I was eating some dinner, I had quite the admirer.  She is never far away from me…especially when there is food. 🙂 

Does anyone else still watch Wheel of Fortune?  I look forward to it every night. 🙂

I came home the other day and saw this.  It looks like he is giving the dogs a stern talk, but he really was just telling them to sit so I didn’t run them over.  So obedient. 🙂

The king of the castle. 

My bestie sent me this that popped up on her timehop.  This was me and my little brother 11 years ago!  Crazy.

This past weekend my husband was away on a boys ski trip so I decided to hear to Dallas for the weekend with the pups.  

We did a TreadBarre class on Saturday morning and got some juice afterwards!

Aren’t they all just the cutest??  Anything for a treat!

Saturday after our class we went to my sister and her bf’s old apartment to clean it up before they give up the keys.  We just did a quick clean then headed home.  On Saturday night we decided to just stay in and watch movies/organize my sister’s closet.

Ofcourse we got our favorite, poke bowls!

We helped my sister’s bf hang some mirrors.

And I dried my sister’s hair.  Hey, what are sisters for?

On Sunday morning we went to a bootcamp style workout class before packing up my car.  It was such a fun little trip to Dallas, but like always, it went by way too fast.  The pups and I were glad to be home and to see Jonny!  

Questions:

1. How was your weekend?
2. When was the last time you moved?
3. Tell me one highlight of your week!

Good morning!!!! I have a fun post planned for you today.  I have been waiting for what feels like forever to share our master bathroom/laundry room renovation with you all.  We finished most of the project a while ago, but had a little hiccup with the shower glass getting installed so that delayed us a bit.  I am excited to show you the carport that we had built out back too.. it looks so great and we love it! 

When we first bought this house I told my husband that the master bathroom had to go asap… like I may have had contractors at our house the day we were moving in.  To me it just wasn’t very practical and was extremely dark and outdated.  My husband probably would have been fine with it… but that is a man for you. 😉 Since we knew we were going to change out the flooring in the bathroom, I decided it was the perfect time to change out the flooring in the laundry room (it is the same tile).  This is the before tile.

I know it is not horrible, but it is just not my style at all.  I like light and bright and neutral colors. 

New flooring getting installed!

All done!  Riley approves.  We got this tile from the Habitat for Humanity store.  If you haven’t checked these out, you are missing out.  The prices are unbeatable and we saved SO much money doing this.  We have a few more plans for the laundry room so I will share those when the time comes.  

So this was our bathroom before the renovation.  The viewpoint is from the master closet, the entrance to the bathroom is directly to the right by the light switches.  The dual vanities are on opposite sides of the bathroom.  

View from inside the bathroom looking towards the master closet. 

The after!  We tore down the wall right when you enter the bathroom and the two walls connecting the door to the shower and toilet.  We made them all half walls. 

We actually got the window from Habitat for Humanity store too.  Guess how much it was?  $20!!!!!! Insane!

This was the shower before.  It felt so dark and dull. 

The tiny old window.  The new window makes a huge difference.

The old flooring was so gross.  I was soo happy to see it go.

We chose subway tile for the shower.  Riley wanted to test it out.

We did a neutral accent strip through the middle of the shower.  We used the old fixtures to save some mula.

My husband was set on using dark grout for the subway tile and I think it turned out great. We chose flat stones for the flooring.

We did a little built in place for soap/shampoo.  

The old door way to the shower and toilet.

In the middle of the reno!

The same view, with the half walls all finished.

The old vanity.  There was an identical one on the opposite side.

We were able to sell the old cabinets and make some money, which was nice.

Refinishing the old cabinets!

In the middle of the project.  Noticed the direction of the light fixture.

Refinishing the old cabinet underneath my new makeup vanity.

New counter tops installed.

We reused our old sinks and fixtures and updated the cabinets (we had to update to make it a duel vanity on the same side), new counter tops, and new mirrors.  The backsplash matches the one in the shower.

We reused the light fixtures too, but just turned them upside down!  By reusing the shower and sink fixtures, the light fixtures, and the sinks, we saved a lot of money.

We got new cabinets for the duel vanity on the right side of the bathroom from Habitat for Humanity (great price!), but kept the one on the left and just refinished it to match the new cabinets.  

These are the new cabinets and I was able to refinish and paint the old one to match it perfectly.  They didn’t have the exact size vanities we needed so I just asked my husband to add in some shelves for towel storage to complete the look.  

New cabinets.

The left side of the bathroom is my makeup vanity.  I begged my husband for this and he finally agreed.  I love to sit down and dry my hair and do my makeup.  These are the cabinets I refinished to match the new cabinets on the right side of the bathroom. The makeup mirror… my husband made it for me. 🙂 

We researched a lot of different ones online and they either weren’t big enough or cost as much as our mortgage so we opted to go the DIY route on this project.

We kept the storage closet to the left of the makeup vanity.  There is a TON of storage on top. 

And the bottom opens up for a place to drop your laundry!! Such a smart idea and no way I was giving that up.  I love being able to conceal a laundry basket and not have it out in the open.

The important part of the new bathroom! 🙂 

Our master bathroom renovation was a LOT of work. We interview a lot of people.  Since we knew the design we wanted, we searched for a handy man instead of an entire design team since we didn’t want to pay for all of that.  We reused quite a few items and did a bit of the work ourselves.  It was no easy task, but we are both thrilled with the outcome!  It is exactly what we wanted and it is so much more functional this way.  I think it is important to love where you live and this project really makes our new house feel like home.  

I hope you all are having a fantastic week!! xoxoxo

Questions:

1. Have you ever done a home renovation project?
2. Are you a DIY-er or do you hire someone for projects?
3. If you could change one thing about the place you live in, what would it be?

Hey friends!!! Happy Friday!!! I am pretty freaking happy we have made it to Friday.  It’s been a loooooooong week over here.  What about you?  Any fun plans for the weekend? 

I told you guys a while ago that I hopped on the celery juice band wagon to see if it was really worth all the hype it is getting.  I have been regularly juicing celery every morning since the beginning of January so I feel like I have given it a fair shot to be able to give an honest review.  

If you haven’t read about all the benefits to drinking celery juice, I highly reccommend doing so before starting because there are a LOT of testimonials out there from helping people with acne, pain, sleep, digestion, etc.  As always, you should consult your doctor before changing or altering your diet. 

If you want to learn all there is to learn about celery, go to the Medical Medium’s blog where he clearly explains the benefits of drinking celery juice and exactly how to begin this process (how much, how often, what time of day, etc). 

This is what my kitchen looks like at least twice a week.  I buy about 12 stalks of celery at a time and stalk up about 4-5 days later with maybe 8-10 stalks.  I make celery juice for myself and my husband so take that into account for why I buy so much.  Celery is cheap where I live so it’s not a big cost concern to me, but I do feel like a bit of a weirdo in the check out line with so much celery (LOL) but I actually have had really great conversations with strangers about it so I’m ok with that. 

I drink 8-16o ounces of freshly juiced celery every single morning on an empty stomach and wait at least 20 minutes to each breakfast afterwards.  This is just what works for me.

One of the biggest issues I have with the celery juicing process is the prep.  I usually grocery shop on Saturday (sometimes Friday, sometimes Sunday) and when I get home I immediately wash all the celery and chop off the ends.  I have two big veggie drawers on the outside of my fridge that are now the “celery drawers” because celery takes up a LOT of room in the fridge.  So I would say the time to prep and the space the celery takes up are the biggest downfalls for me when it comes to juicing celery regularly. 

While those are a couple negatives, I have experienced quite a few positive changes from drinking the celery juice.  I have not changed anything else in my diet or supplements because I really wanted to know if the celery juice actually made a difference.  

The biggest change I have noticed is my energy levels.  I usually hit that slump in the afternoon around 2-3pm where I am so tired, but after starting the celery juice regimen, I often feel an energy burst in the afternoon or evening, which is so rare for me.  I also feel more energized when I wake up in the morning.  I may still hit snooze a few times, but I don’t feel so groggy in the morning.  

Another big change I have noticed is my mood.  I would say I am a pretty happy, but melancholy person most of the time.  I don’t get SUPER excited about things, but I also don’t get SUPER sad or mad about things most of the time either.  Since drinking celery juice, overall I have felt in a better mood most of the time.  Just happier, almost euphoric feeling sometimes.  I will get crazy energetic and happy and my husband is like, “Are you ok? Did you take too much pre-workout?” LOL.  So I think my mood and energy levels are not only noticed by myself, but my husband has noticed them too, which I definitely didn’t think would happen. 

I know a lot of people experience clearer skin when drinking celery juice regularly and this one, I’m not quite sure.  I have been using Rodan & Fields for a few years now and I feel like that keeps my skin pretty clear, but I definitely have not had a break out since starting the celery juice regime.  

Digestion and bloating.  This is another one you hear about a lot with celery juicing.  I have definitely noticed a difference with this too.  I feel like my digestive system is working properly and I don’t get as bloated as often anymore, which is a huge plus.  

Yall know I have been dealing with migraines stemming from my back and neck pain for awhile now.  I think I told yall I got botox for them, which helped a LOT.  I still had dull headaches here and there, but not near as often as I used to.  Since starting on the celery juice train, I have had a lot less headaches and they have been a lot less severe.  This is very important to me because they were starting to get in the way of simple daily tasks and work, which can be very frusterating.  

Those are the biggest changes I have seen and noticed throughout these last 2 months.  I am starting to increase my intake to at least 16 ounces every day.  It is a big time commitment (the prep and cleaning the juicer), but if it has a huge positive impact on your life, it is worth it.  For now, I plan to keep juicing my celery every morning for me and my husband.  (My husband hasn’t been as consistent, but once he gets in a rhythm, I’ll have him do a review for you guys too!).  If you have any questions, please let me know! I am happy to answer any! 

Questions: 

1. Have you jumped on the celery juicing band wagon?
2. What is one healthy ritual you do each day? 
3. Have you ever tried a crazy, fad diet? 

Good morning!!  I’m trying hard to get back onto a regular blogging schedule, but I will tell you, even that has been hard these days.  We just have much busier jobs, a lot of commitments outside of work/after work, and lots of traveling or house projects going on at all times.  I’m not complaining, I love it all, and I am very fortunate, but I just have to figure out where blogging fits into my new routine! I will eventually…because I am not going anywhere anytime soon.  I like blogging too much. 

As I was organizing all my pictures the other day, I realized I didn’t really have enough from this past weekend for a full post, but I had a bunch that didn’t really fit into other posts either so here we are.  You get it all today… lots and lots of ramblings.  

Tacos! Tacos are still a household staple over here.  We make them at least once a week.  Last week I used jackfruit in mine and my husband had mahi mahi.  We just use whatever we have at the moment.  I haven’t had a bad taco yet. 😉

I missed Valentine’s Day on here, but honestly, it’s just another day to us.  We get each other something small and my husband cooks me scallops every year. This year was no different. 

Except this year’s scallops were the best he’s ever made.  It was some kind of lemon butter sauce with parsley, but he also cooked the scallops to perfection.  

This year a coworker was doing a fundraiser for a mission trip so I brought my husband home some cake balls for dessert.

Don’t judge a book by it’s cover… this may not look especially tasty, but I promise you, it was soo good.  Last week I need a quick dinner and was trying to use up a bunch of veggies in our kitchen so I threw zucchini, asparagus, and broccoli in a saute pain then added tuna (from a can) and pesto and mixed it all together and it was amazing.  I will definitely be making this more often when I don’t feel like being creative or need a quick healthy meal. 

Yall, last weekend we went to the Rodeo.  If you don’t know, the Rodeo is a big deal here in San Antonio.  It goes on the whole month of February and each event ends with a concert. While I didn’t love the actually bull riding aspect (it just seems so dangerous??), we got to see Randy Howser, who I really like! The sound quality wasn’t amazing in the AT&T stadium, but it was fun to experience.  

But anytime I get to spend time with this guy (and our friends!!) is a good time!

After the Rodeo we went home for a bit to hang outside with the pups since it was such a beautiful night. It’s not often I get a picture with both pups looking at the camera!

Lately that night we met up with the same friends at Betos for dinner.  They love it just as much as we do.  I got the fish tacos and gobbled them all up!  We ate outside and brought our pups along too.  They enjoyed sniffing all the food. 🙂 

That’s all for today! I hope you guys all have a great day!! 

Questions:

1. Have you ever been to a rodeo?
2. Last concert you went to? 
3. Do you celebrate Valentine’s Day?

I’m a week late, but hey, that’s just how it goes around here lately.  We have been going nonstop and I haven’t had much time to do much of anything outside of work and traveling and doing things around the house.  I’m tired. 🙂

But let’s back up to last weekend.  Jon and I headed to Dallas after work on Friday and made it in time for a late dinner with my family. Riley loves to have his head out the window like most pups do. 🙂

I pulled out my old Shania Twain CD for the car ride and we belted out some tunes. 🙂 Does anyone else listen to CD’s anymore?  I keep all my old ones in my car and pull them out when there are constant commercials on the radio.

We just ordered takeout, which was perfect because we were all too tired to go out.  Some of us got pizza, some of us got poke.  I’ll let you guess which one I got.  😉

We were in Dallas last weekend to help my sister and her boyfriend move into their first home together!  They movers had moved all the big stuff and they had moved a few loads of boxes so the new place was starting to fill up quickly.  The pups were a little confused by all the boxes and stuff everywhere. 😉

But Riley made himself right at home when he found Murphy and Otis’s toys.

Saturday morning my sister, her bf, and I went to Beyond for a circuit training class that incorporates cardio (on the self propelled treadmills) and weights on the floor.  It was a great way to start the day! Then we stopped for a juice and to pick up donuts. 😉

My husband and I got the lovely task of heading to Home Depot and Walmart to pick up a bunch of needed supplies for our projects that weekend.  My husband was like a kid in a candy store with the scanner. 🙂

New ladder and all, we headed back to the house.

I made a big salad and sandwiches for a quick lunch for all of us.

The boys hung this huge store rack in the garage, which was awesome for storing suitcases and holiday decorations that don’t get used often.  They also got all the tv’s mounted, which was a big accomplishment too!

My sister decided she wanted one of the guest rooms and the master bedroom painted so my mom and I took on that task.  I trimmed and she rolled.  We make a good team.  Anyone want to hire us? 😉

I put my sister to work outside sanding down some end tables that we were going to refinish while we painted.  Callie was the only dog allowed in the room while we painted… she is my shadow and can’t stand to not be with me.

Working hard.

I love reusing old furniture and updating it to make it fit your style today.  Saves money and you feel a sense of accomplishment. 

A little while later while I was cooking dinner, I had some admirers.  🙂

Riley eventually joined us too.

My mom brought this recipe out of a magazine for us to try for dinner on Saturday night.  They were Smoky Sweet Potato & Black Bean Enchiladas.  They were sooo good.

My sisters boyfriend had already cooked up a few sweet potatoes so that was a nice make ahead step that shortened the prep time.  We didn’t have all the spices so I just added in some taco seasoning and chili powder and a few of the ones we had on hand, but this recipe is very forgiving and you can omit or add spices that you like or dislike.  I also chose to saute the veggies instead of boil them to give them more flavor.  This mixture may not like pretty, but I assure you it was soooo yummy! It would be good as a dip with chips too!

Loaded up the tortillas and filled the pan!

Top with a little more enchilada sauce and cheese and pop in the over to heat through.

The finished product!

We served ours with homemade guacamole (avocados, onion, garlic, salt, pepper, lime juice, and cilantro).  And champagne.  We all earned the champagne. 😉

Cheers!

My sweet sis with the pups.

We made this recipe for dessert and it was delicious!  Even better the second day!

My sweet boy.

Sunday morning we convinced my husband to join us for a workout and I am not sure he will ever agree to that again. LOL.  We did a circuit type workout at a nearby gym with an instructor who had a crazy amount of energy.  It was 12 stations and you had to do each station for 60 seconds then all 12 again for 50 seconds then all 12 again for 40 seconds and all 12 again for 30 seconds.  We were exhausted by the end!!! But it made for a pretty great start to the day!

Sunday night we broiled salmon and roasted broccoli and brussels for dinner.  I made a marinade with lemon, olive oil, salt, pepper, honey, spicy mustard, and balsamic and used it for the salmon and veggies and it was all so tasty!

Monday morning we got up and packed up the car to hit the road back to San Antonio.  My sweet girl and her painted tail….

And this little munchkin who has to sit on me at all times in the car.

That just about wraps up our weekend in Dallas!  We had so much fun helping my sister and her boyfriend move into their new home and getting to see my momma too!  I have a few more posts I am hoping to get up this week so fingers crossed that will happen!! 

Questions:

1. What is new with you?
2. How was your weekend, this one or last?
3. What is one thing you are looking forward to? 

Happy Thursday!! I hope you are all having a great week so far!  Mine has been LONG.  That is what usually happens before a 3 day weekend since I am more anxious for the weekend.  My husband, and our pups, are driving to Dallas on Friday to meet my mom, sister, and her bf to help my sister and her bf move into their new house!!! Eeeek I can’t wait!  It is extra special because this is their first time purchasing a home.  Each time we have purchased a home is exciting, but there is nothing like the first time!  I am seriously so proud of them.  I told you guys my sister is working in corporate law and some days she literally sleeps 2 hours… working until way past midnight.  I don’t know how she does it.  I’d quit. 😉 So we are all really ready to help make their new house a home!  

Anyway, I’ve got a new smoothie recipe for you today!  I may have mentioned that I have given up coffee a few times over the years because it upsets my stomach.  My sister actually has the same reaction to coffee as well.  I had an allergy test done once and coffee was one of my top five things I am allergic to… soo it makes sense that I don’t feel great when I drink it.  But I love it. 🙂 My sister and I actually both get tired after we drink coffee, which is obviously the opposite effect it has on most people.  We researched this and it actually is a real issue that affects a small percentage of people.  Weird, right?  

Back on track… my husband is really into cold brew coffee with almond milk these days so I decided to switch up my morning smoothie the other day and by surprise, it is now a favorite of mine!! 

Yall, I don’t measure so I am not sure how much of each ingredient I used, but really smoothies can be adjusted to your preference since it will all be blended together anyway.  

This smoothie contains: ice, frozen banana, almond butter, cinnamon, cold brew coffee, and unsweetened vanilla almond milk.  

Sometimes I put it in a glass, sometimes a bowl, and sometimes I add spinach or greens powder to it.  The possibilities are endless!

Hope you guys give this smoothie a try because it is SO delicious!!  

Questions:

1. What is your favorite smoothie recipe?
2. What is your go-to breakfast?
3. Do you like sweet or savory for breakfast?  Hot or cold?