Last Week

quick little post before i have to go to crossfit...

This is my last week of freedom before school starts back up. I am so excited to get back into a normal working routine, but I am really going to miss lounging all day and practicing my cooking skills, hanging with my parents during the day, working out whenever I feel like it, watching reruns, and basically having a lazy summer!

This weekend was a friends bachelorette party! We had so much fun! We stayed in San Antonio for one night and then finished up the weekend at a lakehouse with lots of beer, sun, lingerie, yummy food, and of course fun times :)

beautiful bride-to-be! 

ew. supposedly these cookies were really yummy though! 

my view at the lake! 

I was inspired by this post to do a week in the life in photos! I thought it would be fun to remember what I did on my last week of summer and so I am starting this today! 

wish me luck at crossfit. 

25 things before 25.

It is my birthday! I can't believe this year has gone by so fast! I wanted to recap my 23rd year on this amazing earth!

I...
got a real big girl job, got engaged, started working, planned a wedding, went to New Orleans, ate oysters for the first time, faced fears, loved a lot, went to Vegas, watched my brother win $26,000, found a perfect wedding dress, got professional engagement pictures done, had a bachelorette party, made new friends, prayed, smiled, laughed a lot, cried, gave long hugs, learned to semi-use a DSLR, bought an antique, completely re-did the antique, rented a townhouse, bridal portraits, fought, got annoyed, felt completely loved, went to San Francisco and Napa Valley, celebrated 3 years of being with my best friend, gained a sister, and the best of all was got married to my very best friend in the world.. my sweet, sweet hubby, who I love more than anything! There is so much more I wanted to put on this list, but I would have just been rambling! 


So I wanted to do something before the big 2-5.  I made a list. I have 25 things on my list. Some are silly, some I am nervous I won't be able to do, and some are just purely for me, for my soul. My plan is to document myself accomplishing each to do that I have made for myself. I plan to post pictures to my Pinterest account, update my blog, and keep a list hung up somewhere in my house to remind me that I only have 365 days to reach my goal. So here it is. My list.

25 Things before 25

1. Have a dinner party at my house (Home cook the meal!)
2. Go to an NFL game
3. Run 13.1 miles. (sign up for a half or just on a random Sunday)
4. Get involved in Victory, or some volunteer organization
5. Finish getting my hunter safety license
6. Learn to play the guitar and harmonica 
7. Make a piece of art to hang somewhere in my house (painting, photography series…)
8. Go on a trip with just my mom
9. Go surf with dad
10. Take a cooking class
11. Sew something
12. Take my brothers out to dinner (somewhere that we have never been!)
13. Drive to Austin with no music on!
14. Play 18 holes of golf
15. Do a photo shoot of somebody
16. Make a book (recipe book, photo book… a 25 things book!!)
17. Go to an SMU football game
18. Take a pottery class
19. Go to Vegas with Stuart!
20. Go on a picnic
21. Find a house to live in!
22. Read 1 book a month
23. Visit somewhere in Texas that I have never been
24. Go camping
25. Cook something extravagant 

Well there it is! I am so excited to see what 24 brings to me! Tonight is all about being unhealthy, birthday dinner at my parents with red velvet cake and you know lots and lots of prosecco!

xoxo

Day 10 of Clean Eating

Woah. Crossfit today. HARD. loved it. I am so excited to go back!

Breakfast:
Smoothie (whey, strawberries, blueberries, and bananas)

Snack:
1/2 Apple
2 tsp Sunbutter
Watermelon/Grapes

Lunch:
Fajita Salad w/chicken (tomatoes, salsa, a little bit of black beans, and jalapenos)
Salsa

Dinner:
3 oz. Grilled Chicken
Homemade Salsa
Salad with homemade vinaigrette
Cucumbers with apple cider vinegar

A couple of bites of frozen banana were eaten too :)

Today was a good eating day, and good workout day!

No Excuses.

xoxo

Day 9 Clean Eating

I am feeling so great now that I haven't eaten processed foods in a week and a half! I thought that it was going to be so much harder than it has turned out to be. I do have to plan meals ahead of time, and have been spending more time at the grocery store, but hey it will all be worth it in the end!

I have to tell y'all I had my one cheat meal today. I made Stuart this homemade cheddar jalapeno bread, and I had to have a slice and try it out. Man was it delicious, and so worth a "cheat"meal!

Workout: Ran 3 miles, it was incredibly hot today, but I am getting back into my running groove. I did this run in 27:43 minutes, averaging a 9:26 pace, pretty good for me, I was just happy to be doing a sub 10 minute mile :) 

What I ate: 

Breakfast: 

1 scoop Whey Protein ( I got the OK from the trainer who we do crossfit with that this is a good source of protein for me as long as the powder has <3g sugar and >15 g protein!) 

Frozen Bananas, Strawberries, and Blueberries 

Snack: 

Freshly cut Watermelon 

Some Grapes
a small Turkey burger (2.5 oz.) with mustard 

Lunch: 

Grilled Chicken breast 

1/2 Peach 

1/4 Avocado 

(some grapes and watermelon too! ..I can't resist them!)
1 Piece of Jalapeno Cheddar bread (at least it was homemade right!?) 

Dinner: 

Grilled Chicken
Homemade Salsa
Salad with homemade mustard vinaigrette
Wine

.. I aslo had a couple of bites of Stuarts meat dish that I made for him (that had butter in it. argh) and some sweet potato fries. I guess today was cheat day numero uno. I was doing great earlier in the day, I don't know what happened... I think after I had that one bite of bread I just kept eating and eating and since I stayed home all day I was bored and I usually just sit and snack when I'm bored... it was no good and now I feel super bloated. This is what carbs does to me, I immediately get bloated. Back on track tomorrow. No Excuses. I think that is going to be my new motto.

No Excuses.
xoxo 

It's All About The Wine

I love wine. I mean obviously, since we went to Napa for our honeymoon....

hubby and I at Cakebread Cellars (one of my most favorite wines/vineyards that we went to!)

So since I am sad that my honeymoon is over and I want to hop on a plane right now and go back to Napa to sip wine with my hubby I thought I would give a list of my favorite wines (that are a reasonable price of course!)

Sparkling Wine:
Can't really call this a category because I only really drink one type...

Zardetto Prosecco: $12.99

This is my favorite sparkling wine. It is not too sweet, not too dry, and best of all it doesn't give me a headache in the morning! (champagne always makes my head hurt!)

White Wine:
I never really drink white wine unless its a Pinot Grigio 


Kris: $12.99 

It is kind of fruity tasting, but in a good way, for the price I think it is a really good choice if you are into Pinot Grigios! 

Santa Margherita Pinot Grigio: I can find it anywhere from $18.99-$21.99 

By far my most favorite white wine. It is so good, very light and refreshing on a hot Houston summer night. yum, yum, yum! Although this is pricey for me... I would rather have a red wine that cost the same! I always drink this with my Dad! 

Red Wines:

These are my weakness, I look forward to a quiet dinner with Stuart and a nice, cool glass of red wine, or a fun night out with friends having wine over a margherita pizza . When we were in Napa we really learned how to actually "drink" the wine, swirling it in our glasses, smelling for flavors. Drinking wine is so much more enjoyable when you know the flavors that you are actually tasting. If you are pairing wine with food, the food can bring out so many flavors in the wine, just as the wine can bring out the flavors of food. I know that I am not sommelier (although I do wish that I knew as much as they did!) these are my recommendations! 

Top 3 reasonably priced wines: 

Peter Lehman Clancy: $13.99... This is our go to wine when we don't know what we feel like drinking, reasonably priced and it is a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot (my 2 favorite types of wine) 

Tait Ball Buster (gotta love that name!): $18.99 I know this might be a little pricey, but it is really good wine if you are looking to splurge a teeny bit! I actually haven't been able to find it recently, I need to become Detective Madi and go search for this! 

Masi Campofiorin: $17.99 this is a blend, really good, I only usually buy it when I find it on sale at the HEB! It was on sale for like a month for $13.99 and we drank it all.the.time. Pairs well with all types of foods! 

Top 3 Splurge Wines 

... This should be noted that we only drink these wines if we are 1. At my parents house, 2. It is a special occasion, 3. Stuart/I got a bonus at work and want to do a little fancy celebration! 

Jordan, Cabernet Sauvignon: $40.00, definitely one of our favorites, it's smooth and pairs very well with red meats! 

Provenance, Cabernet Sauvignon: $40.00 again another very smooth, earthy wine, we have this at Thanksgiving at my parents house every.single.year, it is actually what I most look forward too! 

Frogs Leap, Cabernet Sauvignon: $31.99 ..This one is so good, like so good I am going to say it is one of my most favorite wines ever, and the vineyard was ah-mazing, they let you walk around the whole property by yourselves (which was nice to explore the vineyard with the hubs and not have someone explain every little detail about the barrel...) they also have  incredibly beautiful views and they had cornhole (if you don't know what that is...please look it up now, such a fun game) The price actually isn't that bad compared to other wines that I could have listed :)  So since I have been tooting (ha. ok stop being 12) Frogs Leap horn I thought I needed to share Honeymoon/Winery pictures from FL 

the "house" on the vineyard where you do all the tastings... gorgeous 

all of the wines, so pretty! 

beautiful view 

ching-ching

cornhole!!! 

they had amazing gardens everywhere 

the big red barn where the barrels of wine were! 

Frogs Leaps symbol! 

barrels inside the red barn 

view from the top of the barn, so gorgeous. 

"perhaps the surest sign of a wine of character is that it has the ability to transport you, captivate you and ultimately draw you back to the source of its distinctiveness" so, so true. 

Are you a wine girl? beer girl? vodka tonic kind of girl!? Let me know if you have any good vino recommendations!