Seahawks Game Weekend

I hope everyone had a great weekend!

On Friday, I went to a small yarn store about 20 minutes from where we live and sat in on open knitting time.  I got to meet some fun (mostly older) ladies, who, to my delight, told me I was one of the fastest "throwing" knitters they had seen.  This was news to me, and I had no idea what it meant to be a "throwing" knitter.  Apparently it is when you hold the leading yarn in your right (dominant) hand and throw the yarn around and in front of the needle as you knit.  This is different from how most of them were doing it, by holding the leading yarn in their left hand and using the right needle to go through and grab stitches.  Essentially, I move the yarn and keep my needles stationary, while they keep the yarn stationary and move the needle.

Anyways, it was a fun little adventure, and gave me a chance to eyeball some yarn for another project another day.  Check out these beauties:

On Saturday, Kevin and I kept to ourselves and our crafts.  While I knitted and cooked, Kevin stayed at his desk writing a book he had been working on as a Christmas present to his family.  Later in the evening, we made our way to Tacoma, 30 minutes away, for a Hells Belles concert.  They are a high energy, super fun ACDC tribute band.  We have seen them two times before this and they are always a good time.  For only $12 a ticket, WAY better than a movie!

On Sunday, we made our way down to the Puyallup train station to take the commuter train up to Seattle to go to the Seahawks Raiders game.  Being from Washington, we are both, of course, Seahawks fans.  But, my husband spent part of his childhood in California, so he is still a Raiders fan at heart.  He was happy to get to see both teams, but was internally conflicted with who to cheer for.

The atmosphere of the stadium was just electric!  Although it rained the whole time (its Seattle, what did we expect) and the Seahawks stayed steadily in the lead, every seat was packed until the very end.  After the day was done, it was a really fun time and worth the money for the tickets that a family friend sold to us for face value, rather than paying a couple hundred dollars per ticket in the nosebleeds.

I stayed energized for the weekend by enjoying a new salad Ill be posting later this week.  Stay tuned!

How was your weekend?

Health and Happiness,

Amy

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Memorial Weekend

Days 5, 6, and 7 of Week 3

I hope everyone is enjoying their weekend whether it included camping, BBQs, or picnics while remembering the men and women who have died for everything we have today.  My weekend included 2 birthday parties, 1 BBQ, and a few more drinks than I would like to admit.  Lets start with my daily log from the weekend:

Friday, Day 5 of Week 3

Food Log:

• Breakfast: watermelon
• Lunch: spinach salad with broccoli, chickpeas, and hummus
• Dinner: veggie burger and fries
• Extras: a few drinks out

Exercise: couples dancing at a the Iron Horse

From right: my high school friend April, Marley the birthday girl, Kevin being creepy, and me :)

How I felt:  On Friday, our friend Marley came into town to celebrate her 21st birthday with us.  We ended up starting the evening at a close by martini bar, then made our way into Idaho to go around in downtown Coeur dAlene.  Overall, it was a pretty decent day of eating, other than I waited to eat dinner till very very late in the evening, and Im sure that the drinks I had that night didnt help me with my health/weight loss goals.  Although I am not perfect in that regard, I still have to remind myself that I am ahead of the game with eating for health when it comes to comparing myself to others my age.  Eventually, we will get older and drinking with friends will be less and less of our social focus.  Till then, Im going to say cheers every now and then, and enjoy myself.... While eating a bunch of salads during the day!

Saturday, Day 6 of Week 3

Food log:

• Breakfast: none, we slept in
• Lunch: slice of Daves Killer Bread and celery with hummus
• Dinner: hummus dip with chips, crackers, and veggies
• Extras: beers throughout the evening

Exercise log: very little :(

How I felt:  During the day on Saturday, I took some me time while Kevin was visiting with a friend who was in town.   I learned how to better apply makeup for a "flawless face" with this video, and I dyed my hair dark brown.  I generally jump between dark brown and light brown throughout the seasons, and I was getting a bit sick of my grow out from my last dye, so dark it goes!  I also spent the afternoon making two different types of hummus for a BBQ/party for our friend, Danielles birthday that evening.  I made my usual Sabre mock hummus as well as my new favorite Chive Hummus (recipe coming later today or tomorrow, I promise!).  When we arrived at the party, there were the usual burgers, so I stuck to my hummus with a few veggies and chips over the night.  I got quite a few compliments on them from hummus lovers and even some newbies to hummus.  Yum, it is my favorite!   Overall, I dont think that I ate enough in the day, let alone enough veggies or any fruit.  Not the best day, but at least I didnt go for the grilled meats (never again!). 

Sunday, Day 7 of Week 3

Food log:

• Breakfast: potato, broccoli, and pepper breakfast skillet with a bit of hollandaise sauce
• Lunch: whole grain chips with hummus
• Dinner: sweet veggie curry with brown rice
• Extras: 2 Dr. Fuhrman brownies

Exercise: Helping my parents put in their new door. Does that count?

How I felt:  Yep, just about all day Sunday was my body being angry with me for how I ate and drank over the weekend.  I felt severely dehydrated and lethargic.  It really made me realize how great eating healthy makes me feel, and how terrible deviating from the Nutritarian lifestyle makes me feel.  In the end, it was ok that I was on the couch all day nursing my food and drink hangover since Kevin and I were watching the new episodes of Arrested Development on Netflix (and other Bluth family fans out there?).  Today (Monday) I am ready to get back to it and to keep progressing with my health transformation.  My goals for this upcoming week (#4 of my 6 week challenge) are to get in some form of exercise daily, to get in raw and cooked greens daily, and to cut out processed chips and breads. 

Do you feel like you have to reset your goals every week? What do you do to assure that you achieve what you set out to do?

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Mothers Day Weekend 2015

Happy (belated) Mothers Day to all of the moms out there.  Since just buying our first house and having all those "adulting" things that go with that, Im so happy to have my mom be my biggest cheerleader through it all!

Kevin spent the last weekend in Spokane for a friends bachelor party, so it was happy timing that my parents wanted to come visit last weekend for Mothers Day and to see our new house. Im always so happy to see them, and it is so nice to be able to cook whatever nutritarian thing I want and know it will be loved and appreciated.  No need to make any substitutions like I have to do with Kevin; my parents love every veggie and fruit under the sun!

On Friday, my dad had business in Seattle, so my mom and I enjoyed breakfast at home, then shopped around the area for a few new things for the home, including extra rugs and trash cans for two bathrooms and the kitchen.  While out shopping, Mom and I had lunch out at my favorite Indian restaurant in Puyallup.  That evening, we enjoyed my new "cabana" having some chips and guac and probably way too much wine!

The next day, we headed to Northwest Trek, a wildlife park only 20 minutes south of our new house.  We spent the majority of our day here enjoying the cat, wolf, bear, wetland, and aviary exhibits, as well as an hour long tram ride through 400 acres of protected natural habitat that housed 8 different types of herbivores and other small critters.  It was a beautiful way to spend a sunny, warm Saturday.

Saturday evening, we enjoyed a homemade dinner of corn on the cob, two different salads, and a quinoa red kidney bean burger I made (can you tell we love our food?).  Then, we all got to work on little things around the house.

My amazingly handy dad, with the help of my moms coaching, tore apart pieces of our recently broken couch, reinforced it, and put it back together.  I couldnt believe it!  Kevin and I had bought this (cheap) couch with part of our tax return the first year we were married, after I begged for months for us to have real furniture rather than a futon.  About a month ago, a few weeks before we moved, a heard a clunk in the couch and the entire back cushion just collapsed.  It was still sit-able with a lot of pillows behind, but Kevin and I figured we would have to toss it for a new one soon.  Thankfully, my dad was able to save it, so when we do get a new bigger couch for our family room, it will move to the living room next to the fire place.

A few other things my dad helped me out with include fixing the tight door to the closet below the stairs, fixing the front door deadbolt so it slides into the lock position without pulling the door tight, hanging Kevins United States map in the stairway, hanging our family room clock, checking what was malfunctioning with our new lawn mower, and changing the battery on my garage door opener.

While my dad was busy with his fixes, my mom helped me by making a curtain for my small pantry doorway, weeding a portion of my garden, figuring out how my garden soaker system worked, showing me how to use my sourdough starter, helped me set up my new hummingbird feeder, as well as drinking wine and mimosas! ;)

Here are a few pictures of all the fun...

My parents arrive Thursday evening and I give my mom her Mothers Day present.
Part of it was this bottle of merlot from Columbia Winery,
where one of my best childhood friends actually works at near Seattle.

On Friday shopping, we find a clock even bigger than the one we already have.
Kevin has an obsession with gigantic clocks for some reason,
so I assume we will get another one someday for our house.

Getting every scrape of Indian leftovers from my favorite Indian restaurant in Puyallup.
I love that we can always find beans/lentils at Indian restaurants.

In the evening, we enjoy too much wine, and my dad figures out how our lighted grape string work.

Mom and I getting ready to go into Northwest Trek.

On the tram ride through the wildlife reserve we see caribou...

One mountain goat,

Two mountain goat,

some elk, and much more!

Later on Saturday evening, my dad hangs Kevins U.S. Map.
This is one that Kevin snagged from an alternative school he was student teaching at when it closed last year.
The map was made in 1969, and it truly one of our favorite things we own.

On Sunday we have steel cut oats for breakfast,
 and my mom poses with the small yellow rose plant I got her for Mothers Day.
My parents got married with yellow roses, so I always try to go for yellow roses for her when I can.

After my parents left on Sunday (after an already extremely productive weekend),
I started gardening in my front yard with all of the new garden tools my parents gifted to me.
I should have taken a before picture or two, because it was a BIG improvement!  

Out of this front yard bed I pulled out tons of weeks, some tulips, and daffodils.
Not sure why, but tulips and daffodils dont really ring my bell.
Im saving the bulbs I pulled and thinking I will plant elsewhere come fall.
In this bed, there are hydrangeas in the middle,
lavender in a "L" that I transplanted the middle ones,
and day lilies (I think?) in the bottom that I left in place.

My first hummingbird visitor came when Kevin got home
and we were catching up in the Cabana on both of our fun weekends.

I mentioned that my mom sewed me a curtain for my small pantry door this weekend.
She also brought me this dress and one other top she had made me.
I cant believe how much talent (and patience) for sewing she has!  

Health and Happiness,

Amy

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Moving Weekend

This was a very exciting weekend!  We were able to move into our first house!

A few weeks ago, I gave you guys a sneak peek of some of the pictures I had of our house... and that garden with a "Cabana"!  Ive spent many a nights leading up to our move cherishing these photos and trying to imagine how our stuff will look in them.  What pictures Ill hang on the wall (actually using levels for once to get everything just right).  How I will organize all of the kitchen cabinets (and teaching Kevin where everything goes this time so he has no excuses to not put away the washed dishes).  What colors I want to paint the walls (I actually have a few paint swatches hanging out in my purse that I pull out and admire in different lighting from day to day).  I know... Im a big nerd.

Ill tell you right now.  I am not a good mover.  I grew up in the same house my whole life until I moved for college and then when Kevin and I were first married.  In total, Ive moved about seven times in my whole life.  Kevin, on the other hand has moved nearly 20 times.  He moved many times as a kid in California because his dad was a real estate agent and was able to find them really cheap rent until certain houses sold.  His mom and him made it a game, so Kevin thoroughly enjoys moving.

I do not.  I hate the feeling of all my things in boxes not ready for me to grab when I need them.  I dont like the uncertainty of when those boxes will be unpacked someday.  I hate the anxiety of feeling temporarily homeless because a place doesnt feel like home until I unpack.

This move, however, felt a bit different.  I did get anxious from all of the chaos, but not nearly to the extent I have in the past.  I think the peace of mind of knowing that this is the last move for a long while made me more calm.

On Saturday, we finished packing up the apartment and cleaning a few things.  Then on Sunday, Kevin had several of his coworkers come (with trucks, yay!) to load up.  We ended up making it in two trips with four trucks and two cars.  We worked loading and unloading from 11 to 4, but we got it done!  We spent the rest of the evening unpacking (the kitchen for me, the tv room for Kevin), and were able to set up our bed in the spare room to sleep in (we are getting a new master bed set soon).

It was exhausting and exciting all rolled into one.  I ended up hitting my step count goal around 1 (10,000) and the majority of that was stairs since our apartment was on the 3rd floor.  After a long weekend, we are in and so excited to be home owners.  Hopefully (!) very soon Ill be able to start bringing you some new recipes from my own kitchen!

Health and Happiness,

Amy

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Oktoberfest Weekend 2014

This weekend, Kevin and I made our annual trip to Leavenworth, WA for one of the Oktoberfest weekends.  We met our group of 11 people there, cramming into two hotel rooms, and had just a blast.  I thought I would share some of the fun pictures my good friend Matt took over the weekend.

My friend Matt shmoosing with some older gentleman.  He is an old man at heart, we always tell him.

Matt and Kevin near the end of the first evening.  They had a little TOO good of time that first night... ;)

Most of our group at the end of the first evening.... except for the gal on the left.  We dont know her.  Kevin has had a bit too good of time.  Stephanie (top) and I (sitting) are enjoying our matching outfits and the fact we took it a bit easier so we could enjoy the second day.  

Our group on the second day relaxing in our nice hotel patio area.  At this point, all of the people on the "struggle bus" from the night before have gotten up and are ready for another fun night.

Our friends Ian and Dannielle, who are getting married next summer.  Dannielle officially asked me to be a bridesmaid over the weekend.  So excited to see these two join the married-club soon!

Our friends Kyle and Moody enjoying a beer while the women get ready for the evening.

From left: Stephanie, me, Dannielle, Ashley, and April below.  Ruining the moment: Mitch and Ian.

The lovely ladies of Oktoberfest 2014.  I wasnt planning on dressing up until Dannielle told me she had ordered an extra dirndl that wouldnt quite fit her girls.  Score!

Bring on the evening!

I believe this was our faces when prompted with "How would you feel if there were no more beer?"

Us hanging around town when the guys picked up some liquor and cokes to drink outside of the festival.  Beers in Oktoberfest cost $7 for a pint, rather than the $5 last year.  :(

Kevin and I getting cozy on the grass.

Selfie of Matt and I while waiting for the others to use the port-o-potties on the way to the festival.  Ok, I seriously dont have a double chin.  This is just one of those looking-downward angles!

Fun face-cutout sign in the festival.

Kevin bought another silly hat to wear all night.  On the bright side, it had orange LED lights in it, so it was super easy to spot him from a distance!

Matt met some interesting characters within the festival.

We randomly saw I guy with some .... jugs of beer?

Thanks to everyone who came this year.  Cant wait for next Oktober!

Health and Happiness,

Amy

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Friends Weekend Wedding

How was everyones weekend?

Mine was busy and wonderfully fun!  On Thursday I went to a church BBQ for Vacation Bible School volunteers, then on Friday morning, I helped with the final day of VBS.  Afterwards, I had lunch with my mom and she graciously came over to help me tidy up my apartment a bit before Kevin came home that evening from a week long trip to see family in Sequim, WA.

Me and fellow bridesmaid, Kaylee.

After that, I took off to go pick up the bride for the rehearsal dinner and a girls evening at the historic Davenport Hotel the night before the wedding.  The rehearsal went smoothly, as did the finishing touches of decorating the venue.  Afterwards, the bride, the other bridesmaids, and I made our way to the hotel with champagne, nail polish, and a Cosmo (of course!).  The evening was spent with lots of giggles and some bubbly.  Just perfect!

All done up!  LOVE the pearls the bride gave all of her bridesmaids!

The morning of the wedding came and all of the girls and I headed to a local bakery (Rocket Bakery) for some coffee/chai teas and a bit of breakfast.  I was so happy to see that they had fresh fruit bowls available, and their iced chai tea with soy milk was sooo yummy!  We strolled back to our hotel to have our hair professionally done (thank goodness!), and to primp and get ready.

I got to put the brides garter on (it was black with a mini flask attached). :)

A few of the bridesmaids headed to the Nordstroms to get their makeup done (Ha! $50 in product to get my makeup done? No way!), while bridesmaid Kaylee and I headed to the venue (Chateau Rive in the Flour Mill) with most everyones things.  We found some free time and went up to Clinkerdagger for an afternoon drink before the bride and other bridesmaids made it to the venue.

The ladies hanging around playing
Cards Against Humanity before the wedding started.

Next were pictures of the bride and bridesmaids in the outdoor ceremony area, then playing Cards Against Humanity while waiting for guests to arrive and time for the ceremony.  The ceremony was beautiful and happy tears were had by most.  Following the reception, more pictures, and then a fun entrance to the reception of the bridal party done to Party Rock.

The lovely bride, April.

The evening progressed with dances and food and drinks and toasts.  For the dinner, they had Caesar salad, bread rolls, mashed garlic potatoes, and mushroom risotto (chicken and beef for the meat-eaters).  The potatoes and risotto were super yummy, other than the salt in them seemed a little overwhelming after a while.  I guess I have gotten used to minimum sodium by now lol!

The wedding ended with mostly close friends and family left with dancing and taking pictures in the rental photo booth (seriously so fun, why did we think of this when we got married?).  After the wedding, the bridal party and their significant others continued the party to a bar or two downtown.  Kevin and I ended up home around about 3:30, exhausted and thoroughly partied-out.

Congrats to Mitch and April!

Sunday was spent with just Kevin and I (other than the few hours he went to work).  After not seeing your husband for over a week, a nice day at home together is so needed!  Plus, we had Drunk History episodes to catch up on!

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