Random Stuff

The other day I helped my friend Kim out with her RS Birthday Celebration. It was a night in Paris, and she had created this darling Eiffel Tower Photobooth. I took the pictures with her Polaroid, and completely butchered a French accent. It was a lot of fun and of course, we had to take our photo too.

And since I very rarely have my photo taken, this photo serves as my weight loss goal update. So far I have lost 7 pounds. Which is great, I'm not complaining. But it is slow moving. I have been working on this since November 1st. It was a combination of Lucy being weaned and my consumption of an entire bag of Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups that jump started me. And I have been working out 5 days a week for over 4 months. In addition, I have completely changed my diet. Whole grains! Only water!  Minimal red meat!  Smaller portions! Scott, on the other hand, decided he wanted to lose weight 3 weeks ago. He has now lost 10 pounds. So not fair. But this week has been hard. I have wanted to snack. I have wanted 2nd helpings. I don't want to go do my Tracy Anderson Mat workout (which I'm currently procrastinating while writing this.) But 7 pound is respectable.  I will take it.  I have 15 more to go.  I will not be overwhelmed by this number. The good news, I'm pretty sure I'm stronger and healthier than I have ever been.  I ran 30 minutes yesterday. That is unheard of for me. I may run slow, but I didn't stop.  My favorite workout is Zumba. My least favorite is the lifting class. I'm obsessed with healthy food and have been making whole wheat pita bread, hummus, lots of salmon, and lots of salads. It has been fun. I have a new love for cooking.  

In other news, Lucy likes to growl, she has a new pouty face, she wears her snow boots all day long and stomps around the house. She goes crazy when she sees balls at the grocery store (BALL! BALL! BALL!) Life is exciting around here!

Food

I'm not sure why I'm posting this, except that I put a lot of thought into our meals for the week, so it is fun for me to see what the whole week looks like.  I have really enjoyed getting into cooking the last few months.  We have definitely had a focus of healthy eating, so I like to find food blogs that have delicious and good-for-you recipes.  I also look for things that work well as leftovers, since I'm making a big focus on eating lunch, versus just grabbing something.  So, without further ado, The Meal Plan for this week,

Monday: Roasted Tomato Soup/Toasted Wheat Bread/Balsamic Roasted Zucchini
Tuesday: Lemon Basil Salmon/Spinach Salad (Scott did this one, so no recipe)
Wednesday: Wholewheat Pizza/Caramelized Onions/Cherry Tomatoes/Fresh Mozzarella
Thursday: Roasted Tomato Soup/Grilled Cheese
Friday: Chicken Lettuce Wraps/Brown Rice
Saturday: Pumpkin Waffles/Caramelized Cinnamon Apples/Fresh Squeezed OJ

Mmmmmmmm.  So yummy.  I did all of the grocery shopping today, and it felt so good (and expensive) to have all these ingredients in the house waiting to be made.  I modified the soup recipe.  I didn't mix the bread in, because I thought it was thick enough and I like to dip the bread in soup.  Also, I roasted half an onion, and extra garlic.

I'm always on the hunt for recipes.  What do you like to cook for dinner?

How I Survive Winter

Winter is doable for me through about New Year's.  After that, it becomes one long 3-month ordeal to Spring.  Winter means cold hands, wet feet, an assortment of fevers, viruses and infections, short days, and early nights.  It just isn't my favorite, or 2nd favorite, or 3rd favorite season.  And while I enjoy a good sweater wearing season, that is what Fall is for.  Winter is for Christmas, and then I want it to be warm again.

So, I have had to come up with survival tactics.  I drink hot chocolate, wear wool socks, layer with sweaters and have space heaters strategically placed around the house.  And I also have taken up snow shoeing.  And by taking up, I mean I go a couple times of year.  But those couple of times are literal magic.  There is something about walking through a snow covered forest, breathing fresh air (out of the inversion!), and watching Oliver bomb-dive snow piles that just makes my heart happy.  And here we are with two of my dearest friends, Marianne and Bryan.  I love these two so much.  Marianne is the instigator of lots of the good things in my life.  Bread class?  That was all her.  Snow shoeing on this Saturday?  Their idea too.  They even brought hot apple cider, crackers and Nutella on our adventure.  Everyone needs friends like these.

Sheesh

In the last 3 weeks, between Scott and Lucy and me, we have had,

3 ear infections
1 fever
1 stomach flu
1 sinus infection
1 strep-like sore throat, but 10X worse

and all 3 of us have had a standing, 3 month cold

I'm looking for a break somewhere, before I roll up in the fetal position and cry.

Uncle, Uncle, Uncle.

Update:  and Scott is pretty sure he ruptured his ear drum.

Pretty, Pretty

These flowers were probably the prettiest that Scott has ever given me.  There were tulips and roses and ranunculus.  I loved them!  Poor Scott though.  He always has bad luck when he tries to have flowers delivered.  It used to be a fantasy of mine to have flowers delivered at work.  So, once upon a time, about 5 years ago he had some roses scheduled to be delivered on Valentines.  When there was no phone call from me he started to get worried.  One week later they arrived (thanks, 1-800 flowers.)

This year he had them scheduled to be delivered to the house.  Alas, the driver quit on Valentine's.  Who does that?  But I still got them.  And they were still pretty amazing.

Scott also gave me a Mandoline, which is pretty cool.  I have been wanting one for awhile now, and it makes making my daily sweet potato chips a breeze.  The night was capped off with dinner at Cucina Toscana.  Lucy got some books and a puzzle from the Valentine's Day Man.  She wasn't overly excited.

And this weekend, we are going to enjoy my present, which was a trip to Zions.  We really need to get out of the cold and our sick, sick house.  Hopefully it will warm up a little down South, and we can have an early Spring.  All in all, it was a pretty sweet Valentines.

Lucy and How to Handle Stress

I can always tell if Lucy is getting irritated, because she starts removing her clothes.  She is irritated a lot during her naps, because I often find her in a state of undress.  It kills me what she manages to remove.  So far, no diaper.  But I bet we aren't far away.  The other day she managed to have her shirt pulled over her head, but her arms still in.  I should have gotten a picture of that one.  It was priceless.

Scott's Valentines

Scott's Valentines gift looked a little like this.  I made up clues based off of two of my favorite children's books.  The books were wrapped up with the clues.  The answers led to a 2 night stay in Zion's during his Spring Break next week.  All 3 of us have been sick for 2+ months.  A little vacation somewhere warmer is just what I think we need!

So next weekend we will be packing up our bikes, baby backpack and heading for sunnier climates and R&R!

Love, Love, Love

Who is getting kisses in your house today?

Happy

Lucy's newest word is happy.  And she says this when she is snuggling.  She will lift up her little arms, ask for a hug, lean in and say, "happy (appee)."  I don't know who taught her this.  Scott?  I actually don't think I say happy that much, but it makes me really happy when she does.  And look at those little curls peaking out from her hat.  They make me happy too.

Yummy

Lucy's favorite word right now is yummy.  A couple of nights ago, several hours after we put her to bed, I could hear her talking to her baby (featured in the post below), and saying, "Mmmmm, yummy, yummy.  Mmmmmm, yummy, yummy, yummy."

Yesterday, when I walked into the house after putting Oliver outside, Lucy quickly licked the snow off my boots, looked at me and said, (you guessed it), "Mmmmm, yummy, yummy."