Day 169: Delish Salad

I met my friend Aaron for lunch at Gloria's today. I always order salads at Mexican restaurants, since I go nuts on the chips before the meal arrives. However, I always hate that Mexican restaurants never offer salads on their lunch menus. Turns out--that is NOT the case at Gloria's! They have several salads on their lunch menu, and I died when I saw this one! Strawberries, pineapple, mangos, chicken, and a fab vinaigrette dressing. Delish! I highly recommend it....

Day 168: Photography Student Fail

My first photography class was all of 24 hours ago, and I've already forgotten everything! Our homework for next week is to take six photos using the "rule of thirds". But I tried to get all fancy with the new ISO, f stop, and other settings that we learned yesterday--and I can't remember a thing! I seriously tried to take a picture, and it took 13 seconds for the shutter to click. 13 seconds?! EEEK! I have no clue what I'm doing....

This photo actually ended up looking kind of cool. But it was completely unintentional. I have no idea what I did. Hopefully all of the information will start to absorb next class :)

Day 167: Shady Town

Tonight was my first photography class! The class is three hours, each Monday, for eight weeks {a birthday present from my parents}. I am sooo excited to learn more about photography and my camera.

But I'm not too excited about the shady location of the Creative Arts Center. This picture does not do the shadiness justice. Let's just say the class started with the teacher telling us to go put everything from our car into our trunks. And I quote: "They will bash in your window if they see 50 cents showing." Awesome.

Day 166: Green Monster

I'm feeling a little sick tonight, so I made myself a huge green monster {1/2 banana + milk + ice + toooons of spinach} for an instant pick-me-up. Green monsters are my favorite post-workout protein boost. Turns out it's also perfect when you're feeling icky, tired from a long weekend, and dreading the early Monday morning.....

Day 165: The Eagles Still Got It

Brian and I joined my parents tonight for The Eagles concert. And let me tell you, those boys still got it. They made fun of themselves--and their age--a lot throughout the concert, and it was hilarious. Great concert!

Day 164: Go Stros!

Tonight a few of us went to the Rangers vs. Astros game. Of course, I was the only one cheering for the Astros. And before the game started, I thought I was fighting the losing battle. The Rangers were on an 11-game winning streak, and while I love the Stros, they haven't been looking too good. However, I was thrilled when they pulled it out and played a great game. They ended the Rangers' winning streak and finally got a win for themselves! GO STROS!

Day 163: Saying Goodbye Sucks

I hated saying goodbye to my family this morning. Look at that adorable, sleepy, crazy-haired little boy. It sucks saying goodbye to him :( But I'm thankful for my time with all of them!

And on a completely unrelated note, I started day 2 of month 2 of Insanity. And it.freaking.sucked. I said about 10 times {to myself, of course} that I hated this and just did not want to do it. But I did. And I hated every second of it. OH, and this DVD was 55 minutes! Not cool....

Day 162: Perfect Day

Today was a fun-filled day with babies. But as every mom {or aunt!} knows, there's no such thing as everything going according to plan when it's baby time.

My sis and I had planned for a fun day at the pool. So we packed up everything {which is a LOT when you've got a 2 year old and a 4 month old!} and then headed to the pool. Joseph was in the pool for all of 2 minutes before he flipped out! So pool time lasted literally 5 minutes. Oh well!

But seriously--how flipping adorable is Ellie in her bathing suit?!

The rest of the day was spent lunching, napping {not me or the sis, of course!}, running errands, and just enjoying our spontaneous time together. And really--how could I go wrong when I get to cuddle with two of my favorite girls at the same time :)

Joseph sure loves him some Brian!

Day 161: Look Who's Here!

My sister, nephew {Joseph}, and niece {Ellie} arrived this evening! Randomly on Monday afternoon, my sister and I decided they should all come up this evening, hang out all day Wednesday, and then they'll head back Thursday morning. I'll tell you something--no vacation day of mine has ever been better spent than on these three! They're my favorites :)

Of course, it's hard to take a picture of anyone except Joseph because he LOVES the camera. The second you take a picture of him, he dives into your lap and wants to look at the picture on the screen. And when his face pops up, he says "Ooooh, it's JoJo!!" So.Freaking.Cute.

Day 160: Good Reason

There are few things I hate more than vacuuming. I don't know why I dread vacuuming so much, but I do. However, I had good reason to bust out the ol' vacuum tonight. I have three very, very special house guests coming in town tomorrow! And clearly they need clean carpets...

Day 159: When Cravings Strike

All I could think about today was eating pizza. So I whipped up a BBQ chicken pizza {with jalapenos, of course} that was just delish. Zoe got a small bite and agreed :)

Day 158: The New View

When Brian moved to a one-bedroom apartment last weekend, it was on the other side of the building. And I have to say, the new view is a-ma-zing. Much better than his other apartment. At night, it's almost like Dallas is a real city....

Day 157: small victories.

Tonight I convinced Brian to watch a girlie movie. In a relationship, it's really all about the small victories :)

Day 156: Lunch Coffee

One of my fab coworkers took a few of us to lunch today at The Mansion. Which is fab. As was the food. But the fab-est {yeah, that's a word....} part of it all? The "lunch coffee". One of my favorite parts of a nice meal is having coffee afterward. Of course, after all of this, no part of me wanted to go back to work....

Day 155: Operation: Clean Out My Closet

I randomly decided today that I MUST clean out my closet. I really need to just donate all the clothes in my closet that I seriously never wear. I was going to start with just the long sleeved items as seen on my bed below.

But then I was hooked and ended up cleaning out my entire closet. All that remained was the graveyard of coat hangars {after three large trash bags were stuffed with clothes for Goodwill}.

Day 154: wine.

aaron and i consumed wine tonight. a lot of wine. let's just say it was more wine than what is pictured.....

Day 153: Month One: DONE!

I was so excited to see today that I am DONE with Month 1 of Insanity! Check out all those pretty green check marks :) AND, I looked back through the blog and saw that I started Insanity on Day 121. That means I finished the first 30 days in 32 days. NOT BAD, considering I've gone out of town/had visitors in town during those 32 days!

Now I have one week of core cardio and balance. I was pleasantly surprised to find out that the Recovery Week workout was a little more intense than it sounds, but I still thought I could use more cardio than it provided. So after my first day of my Recover Week today, I took Zoe for a quick 1.5 mile walk.

Hope I survive the remaining 60 days!!

Day 152: My Baby's Birthday!!

Today, my little girl turned 5!!!! We celebrated with a long walk, a new collar/leash, and some bones. And then I tortured her by making her wear her annual birthday hat {which I love, and she hates}. But then I rewarded her for her cooperation with a piece of cheese, and all was well again. Happy birthday, Zoe!!!

Day 151: Moving

Brian moved into an apartment two floors below his current one. So we are spending the whole weekend moving him. And trying to find a place to store his golf clubs, mountain bike, snowboard, 967 books, queen sized bed with head and foot boards, 3 (??!!) night stands, a kitchen table with four chairs, two 50" TVs, and 37 boxes of, well, crap. But don't worry, there's no couch and very little food to store ;)

Day 150: Technology's Crazy

Today at work, we all gathered in the conference room and watched a coworker get married. On the computer. Live from Vegas. Cra-zy.

{This is a picture of the screen, right before the bride and groom came on screen. Like I said, cra-zy!}

Day 149: bowl.

I took the little sister bowling tonight. And yeah. We're not going back. Here's why:

A. Dynaya didn't even seem to really have fun.

B. It is crazy overpriced.

C. Dynaya ordered {crazy overpriced and absolutely disgusting looking} nachos and ate, like, 2 chips. Awesome.

D. Oh, and she ordered a strawberry lemonade. That cost $4. And they poured it out of a plastic bucket. I can't make that up.

E. We had to get the maintenance guy to fix our lane eight times. During one game! Um, your bowling alley sucks, De Soto Lanes. 

Day 148: Randi Knows Me.

I met one of my favorite people, Randi, for some shopping and dinner tonight. And she gave me some birthday gifts! I opened up the bag, and the first thing I found was cherries! Man, that Randi knows me :) The other gift was a fab candle. Love her! Thanks, Randi!

Oh and there's a chance that somewhere between the time I took the photo and posted it, I ate about half of the cherries. Okay, okay....3/4 of them.....

Day 147: No, I'm Not 7 Years Old

But I still have a lunchbox I take to work. And I seriously love it.

Day 146: Going Vegetarian?

My thoughts on going vegetarian started last week at Cafe Express. I ordered the vegetarian black bean soup and half veggie sandwich. The cashier asked me if I was a vegan or just a vegetarian. Ummm, neither? 

Then I stared at my dinner tonight and realized it was lacking one big thing--meat! {It's a sweet potato + bbq sauce, salad, and squash + zucchini, by the way....}

So it got me thinking if I could ever really go vegetarian. I think it would be hard--I practically live off of turkey sandwiches--but doable. But, I really don't have a desire to give up meat for good. Sure, I normally order salmon at steak houses, but I simply won't give up the right to order a good steak from time to time :)

Day 145: Cutest Photo Ever

I just took the cutest photo ever {in my humble opinion, of course}. Love it!

Day 144: An Old Favorite

At the grocery store today, I walked past the green peppers and suddenly decided I just had to cook stuffed bell peppers. They're an old favorite of mine, which I haven't had in years. They were just as good as I remembered! 

Day 143: Avenue Q

One of my birthday presents from Brian was tickets to see Avenue Q downtown. 

It.was.hilarious. It's a broadway show that's now on tour, and it is sarcastic and seriously funny. If you have a chance, everybody needs to see this!

Day 142: The Whole World

As I watch TV every night, I get to stare at the greatest thing ever. The whole world. Also known as an a-ma-zing birthday gift from my sister. Loves. Seriously loves.

Day 141: Finally Relaxing

I went straight from a long weekend away from home into my birthday. So tonight, I was so excited to just relax. I got some much needed couch time with my three favorite things: Zoe, my laptop, and my TV :)

Day 140: Happy Birthday to Me!!

Since today is my birthday, I feel it deserves multiple photos. I'm just that obsessed with birthdays :)

My day started out with a gift-wrapped office door at work......

Followed by Einstein's bagels, lunch with the always-fabulous Shelley {and of course Little Miss Caroline!}, chocolate cake {Boo to no photos....}

Dinner with Brian at Al Biernat's.....

And of course, frozen yogurt. I mean, you have to eat dessert on your birthday, right? ;)

It was definitely a great day.....