New Hobbies

I still haven't checked Facebook! I've seen a few pictures, and looked up the name of a friend's boyfriend before I asked her how he was doing (I can never remember this guy's name!) but otherwise, I've done really well! And I think compared to how much time I did spend on it, I am making great progress haha!

To fill my time I've been playing Jetpack Joyride on my tablet. It's so much fun! Poor Ian though, I had been playing for a while and he tried it once and doubled my high score. So I don't let him play anymore! He seems okay with it.

I've also decided that I want to read comic books. I don't read very much, I get bored really easily. I figured we told the kids over the summer that comic books are still books, so why doesn't it apply to me? I read one today called Chew, and it's making me wonder about drifting off into the nonstandard (to me) books. I only read the first issue and honestly, it was weird. It's about a psychic cop--that gets his visions from the food he eats. And I am not a fan of blood and gore, so that was a little shocking. Oh well.

When I was a kid I took a comic drawing class at a local community college. It was the coolest thing ever. We learned flip books, Ben-Day dots, and how to properly use speech bubbles (write the words, THEN draw the circle haha!) It was a child's class, but I thought it was the greatest thing I've ever learned for fun.

I've also been cooking a lot and loving every minute. Ian starts school this week and we were going to have a little party, but he decided he'd prefer just hanging out with me--what can I say, I'm just that fun to be around! But I'm making him the dinner I made when we first dated. It's Cranberry Orange Chicken and it was actually the first thing I ever made for him! He's been doing store inventory all day though, so he has no idea! Lucky him!!

social media

So a few weeks ago I realized just how much time I spend on Facebook. Almost every free second I had I'd check my news feed. I'd feel almost frustrated when people weren't posting. There were times I'd get off Facebook on the computer and immediately, without thinking, I'd open it on my phone. I knew it was a problem, and annoying for Ian, but I'd try just deleting the icon on my phone to add an extra step, but that lasted all of a few days. 

(This is feeling very dramatic, sorry haha)

I decided the only real way to stay off Facebook was to delete it. So one morning I clicked "deactivate" and went on my jolly way. It wasn't too bad, mostly because work was busy. Then on vacation I was okay, but kinda felt like I was really leaving my friends out. I actually was doing something interesting and no one was there to know! Sure, I use Google+ but I think I have 2 friends (not including Ian haha) that use it! So happy day for them!

I've thought about all my friends that don't use Facebook. They have hobbies. Or kids. Or both. I don't. I work. I'm at a great place in life that I can be a workaholic. We don't have kids, we both have great jobs, and we both have our own ways to get to work without relaying each other. Both of us are workaholics! But I don't have an exactly exciting job to tell the world about. Okay, that's a lie. I really love my job but picture-less posts are boring (If you're even still reading this, sorry.) And I don't want to put pictures of the kids on the internet. 

I know I could post on here, but really, I know no one thinks my life is that interesting. I need a hobby ASAP!! So yeah, I'll post when something interesting happens or when I try a new recipe!

Vegas baby!

We just got back from our first vacation together! 

It was a joint anniversary, my birthday, and Ian's birthday gift. 

He planned it out amazingly, we saw so much, did so much...ATE so much! Seriously, the best vacation ever!

Killer awesome shoes!

New York, New York

Cola from around the world....NASS-A-FRASS!

Bellagio Fountians

We saw Gordon Ramsey!

Umm, spiral escalators?? Awesome!

A very modern hotel (Aria I think?) had a really cool canoe sculpture.

This really cool tornado water feature in a mall.

The same mall had these ice sculptures. Fantastic!

Ian is on stage at the Penn & Teller show signing an envelope and checking a box for a trick.

The ever shiny TRUMP TOWER! It was fantastic! 

We ate lunch inside, it was so yummy!

The ship outside Treasure Island. We never did see the show haha!

Our last meal from the vacation. A little bit of death by chocolate!

We also saw Blue Man Group which was fantastic! I got an eye wiggle from one of them! I was SO close to going on stage with them! 

Our feet hurt--badly!!, but it was by far the greatest vacation ever! Thank you honey!

Clif Bars

I can't believe I've never posted this recipe!! This is my all time favorite recipe for granola bars. They are super duper tasty! I make them every couple weeks. You can really tweak it to whatever your taste likes, as long as you have some sort of "glue" to hold it all together.

HOMEMADE CLIF BARS

1 and 1/4 cups crisp rice cereal (Rice Krispies are fine)—I used cocoa krispies for a little chocolate flavor
1 cup uncooked quick-cooking oats
2 tablespoons ground flaxseed (flaxseed meal)

2 tablespoons wheat germ
½ cup dried coconut or ¼ cup finely chopped dried fruit (e.g., raisins, dried cranberries, dried cherries, etc.) and ¼ cup finely chopped nuts or seeds
1/2 cup honey

2/3 cup nut butter (preferably natural, well-stirred, but creamy is fine, too) try to use low sodium, it’s a fairly obvious flavor if you are limiting your salt intake
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 scoops of favorite whey protein powder (if using a vanilla flavor, skip extract)
Optional: 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Combine the dry ingredients in a large bowl.

Combine the syrup and nut butter in a small saucepan over medium heat, stirring until melted and well-blended (alternatively microwave in small microwave-safe bowl 30-60 seconds until melted). Stir in vanilla until blended.

Pour nut butter mixture over cereal mixture, stirring until coated (use a wooden spoon at first, then get your hands in it. It will be sticky, but this way you can really coat everything. Just scrape off your hands when you're done). Press mixture firmly into an 8-inch square pan (lined with parchment paper) using a large square of wax paper (really tamp it down). Cool in pan on a wire rack and chill at least 30 minutes to help it set. Cut into 12 bars. (Wrap bars tightly in plastic wrap and store in the refrigerator).

***Cocoa krispies with the coconut taste a lot like somoa Girl Scout cookies***

Spiced Muffins

Ian and I are leaving so early these days with school and work that neither of us have had breakfast in a couple weeks. So today I decided to make some muffins to help us have something quick to grab as we leave. The only problem: these are so delicious they might become dinner and we'll just keep not having breakfast!!

I adapted it from a recipe found here: Spiced Yogurt Muffins

Ingredients:
2 C all-purpose flour
1 C light brown sugar
1 TBSP baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 1/2 tsp allspice
2 large eggs
1 1/4 C vanilla yogurt
4 TBSP butter, melted
1/4 C cinnamon applesauce
1 tsp vanilla

Preheat the oven to 375°. Line 24 muffin cups with paper or foil liners (sprayed with cooking spray) or thick coating of shortening. In a food processor, combine the flour, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, allspice, and pulse to blend; transfer to a large bowl. In a medium bowl, whisk the eggs, yogurt, butter, applesauce and vanilla. Fold the yogurt mixture into the dry ingredients until just blended.Spoon the batter into the prepared muffin cups. Bake for 18 minutes, until the muffins are springy; let cool in the pans for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack. Serve warm or at room temperature.

These were so yummy!! And the shortening (I didn't have the paper so I experimented) gave the outside a nice crunch without the burnt taste! And they pulled away from the edges so well that I was able to just lift them out of the pan! The middle is spongy and it's so tasty!! Just look how yummy they are!

Burrito Filling

Okay, so Easter at my house is nowhere near conventional. Yesterday we went out for Chinese instead of using the money for baskets and candy. Today we had burritos for dinner! I like this. It could become tradition :)

Burrito Filling


8 chicken tenderloins
1 can cream of chicken + 1 can water
1 onion, chopped
1 can Rotel sauce (it's new to me, but it seems like just pureed rotel)
1 1/2 cups rice
2 cups water
1 can Rotel tomatoes with green chilis
1 can each pinto and black beans, drained and rinsed

Put the chicken, cream of chicken and water, onion, rotel sauce in the crockpot on high for 3 hours. Add the rice and 2 cups of water and the whole tomatoes. Just before the rice is done add the beans so they warm up.
Put all this on a warm tortilla with a dollop of sour cream.
Die and go to heaven.

Enjoy :)

If I blogged more I wouldn't have to title this "Catching Up"...

Things have been going pretty well here! Shouldn't complain (I'm not saying can't because I do complain, and it's a fault of mine...I'll work on it haha)

The weekend before Valentine's Day, Ian and I went to lunch, saw The Chronicle (meh, but I saw it because it's Valentine's and I love my husband), and then went to a hotel for the evening. Ian's sis is living with us and I wanted to get away. So Ian took me away! It was really romantic. And while we were still in town, we felt like we were far away. Until an old friend came up and said, "Oh hello! What are you doing here?!" **Hmm, it's a hotel, Valentines...want me to spell it out??** But it was still nice to get away. And with our room we got a gift card to Applebees, so that was a nice extra gift!

Then on Valentine's I got Ian a set of socket wrenches. Because I'm AWESOME. Because awesome people get their spouse tools. The extra good points come from buying them at like 9 pm Monday night. Ian is WAY better at gifting and planning than me. I had an epiphany on the way home from work that night, otherwise he would have gotten a bag of Reese's haha!

I took my first sick day in a LONG time on Thursday. I should have stayed home Wednesday though. I went in on Wednesday and knew I was in trouble when I couldn't figure out how many slices of bread it would take to make 2 half sandwiches. It's 2 by the way, if you were wondering ;) But after working on Wednesday I knew I wouldn't make it through Thursday so I stifled the guilty feelings of staying home, and just tried to rest. I didn't do that great of a job, but I sure tried!

With my sick day I ended up watching all my shows I reserve for Saturday so today I had to get creative! Well, I made my banana cake and spicy peanut chicken, did the dishes, did the laundry, moved all my everything onto Ian's computer. Now I'm just waiting for Ian to come home!

I need pictures...

Curves

I am now obsessed with the gym. It's been an amazing journey.

Since I've started college I've had a big gut. I was consistently asked when my baby was due and I'd laugh on the outside but obviously I wasn't too happy with it. My weight would go up and down, but I always stayed pretty consistent in my size. I was compact in my weight (the scale always showed a lot more than I looked). But after I got engaged I kept getting fluffier. Ian and I both lived and home so many of our dates involved eating out. My wedding dress fit perfectly when I got it but I had to do the slim-fast diet the week before the wedding to make sure it still fit when I came back from Florida. In October, I went to put on the dress I wore to the first valentines dance Ian and I attended. I also wore that dress home from the temple after we got sealed. It had been getting progressively tighter on me until in October I couldn't wear it. I cried and cried and cried. I threw it in the trash and put on some very stretchy skirt and top and cried at church. I realized then it was time to get my act together.

That Monday I started looking up gyms in town. Everything was really expensive and I knew I could go on campus for free, but I didn't want to go there. There are too many people there. And I don't tan so the unlimited tanning offers at World Gym was pointless, and anytime gym wouldn't return my phone call so poo-poo on them. But Curves, that seemed really good. And they offered me like a month free!

I went in on Wednesday and got the tour and did the weighing and measuring, but my anxiety got the best of me and my stomach was not up to a work out. Especially after the weigh-in. I went back on Friday and met my favorite woman ever: Cookie. "I'm the only cookie left in your life Beth." She has been my angel in more ways than one. She has never let me slack, she has pushed me further than I thought, and she is always congratulatory when I make even the slightest achievement.

After the first week I knew I was going to sign up for the year, but I didn't want to tell them because I was worried they'd end my free month early haha! I paid upfront for the entire year because I didn't want something like money to make me have to decide--gym this month or food? I knew we had it all right then, so why not get rid of the worry.

I need to get all my measurements written down but I've lost 14 pounds and tons of inches. I started in a 10/12, L or XL (dresses were even bigger than that) and I now comfortably wear 3/4 pants and medium tops. The girls aren't going anywhere so I can't go too small there haha. I tried on a dress at the Gap yesterday that was an 8 that almost fit (didn't quite zip at the top) but I'm not discouraged. Dresses are really hard to fit on me because I'm like an upside down pear, or triangle or whatever (my top is bigger than the bottom half, because my lady friends haha) so I have to get a bigger size. But it's still smaller than I have worn before. And it's all about fabric too. Some fabrics just aren't made for stretching to fit that last little zip. 

 Me at my biggest ;)

Just before we got married, you can't see how big (I manage to get rid of my big pictures) but let's just say I'm grateful that I'm leaning back some to flatten things out.

At Old Navy yesterday, size 5 skinny jeans (in my boots), a medium shirt and medium jean blazer. It's not the greatest picture, I'll do better later. 

Sometimes...

Sometimes...

It's hard for me to keep my mouth shut when I see someone doing something wrong. Not even dangerous wrong, just not the way I would do it. Sorry friends.

I'm reminded of how much I love my husband when he sits through endless girly television and gets the biggest smile on his face when I take him to man movies :)

I feel self-conscious when I go into a store first thing in the morning and all the employees kinda just stare. But I still prefer early morning shopping. 

I am mildly dishonest when I blame my phone for not sending a return text when really I just didn't want to talk to the person.

I can't imagine a world without my husband and my jobs. They make my world go round.

I'm surprised that I still cry every time I see men crying on tv. Like. A. Baby.

I get a little too easily wrapped up in making sure my house is exactly how I want it. Unfortunately not decorating yet, just cleanliness.  

I indulge in guilty pleasures like giant bags of twizzlers when I go to movies. 

I wish all things in life were as wonderful as waking up next to my best friend.

>>>

As I was writing these, I thought, I wonder how other people would end these sentences....

So I decided to make it into a little game! 

To play, just copy and paste the first, bolded part of each sentence and then add your own, personal ending. 

Play along, link up, and make sure to leave the link to your post in a comment so I can check out your "sometimes!"

**I stole this from here**