I'm attempting this for the new year

It's sort of a New Years resolution, but mostly I just want to see how long I can do this for... I deposited my first week yesterday, so I got to check week 1 off the table!

I input all the weeks in my calendar and if my math is right, if I make it the whole way I should be done the week before Christmas. 

As usual, I'm late on this. Merry belated Christmas!

Tour of our new home!

I just realized that I hadn't taken any photos of our house post-construction. I would like to say that this is real life and my house isn't pristine. Please take note and no judging! Shall we begin: 

Here is our entry way. 

Dining room

Living room

Here's where the no judging part comes in. Kitchen. 

Other half of the kitchen. 

1/2 bath at the bottom of the stairs 

Laundry room at the top of the stairs

Master bedroom

Master bathroom

Other side of master bathroom. 

Bedroom #2. This will eventually get organized into my sewing/craft room. It will also be the nursery when the time comes. 

Bedroom #3. We use it as the office. 

Bedroom #4. The guest room. 

Media room. 

Media room. Hubs used my scarf for the USA v. Panama MLS soccer game we went to this summer as decoration. This is his sports themed room. 

Media room

Media room. Everything hanging has been signed. 

And that's our home! We still have some decorating and organizing to do, but we have the rest of our lives to do it. 

My favorite parts are the media room and the master bathroom. I love using that bath tub!

2013 is going by so fast

Can't believe it's already November! This year is flying by!!

Vacation was fabulous. I did not want to return. It was so great to be in 80+* weather. It was NOT fun to come back to Washington State to this:


Total buzzkill.

Here are some photos from my trip:

My cousin's wedding in Darlington. This plantation has been in the bride's family for...ever? Absolutely gorgeous. 

First dance of the happy couple!

Driving across the border into Florida and you get fresh squeezed orange juice!

Our condo in Orlando. 

Tree of Life at Animal Kingdom

Me at Magic Kingdom

My brother and oldest nephew watching the characters outside Magic Kingdom. The boys did amazing at Disneyworld. Not one meltdown and both boys had ear infections, the youngest had molars coming in a Luke (the one above) is autistic. 

Grandma pushing Warren on the swing. 

Also, since I've been home, I've been cooking a little just to clean out our pantry and fridge so I can stock up on groceries sometime this week. I've been slacking, but this is what I've made lately and it's delish:

Pulled pork stuffed sweet potatoes - The Novice Chef

Baked pumpkin pie oatmeal - Budget Bytes

Cheesy Chicken Bacon Broccoli and Rice - Kevin and Amanda

I also have this in my crock pot for tonight's dinner. We'll see how it tastes!

Today I do day 4 of Insanity. I am so sore from the first two days, I could barely do my workout last night. Hubs has done this workout program 2 times all the way through already and is starting his 3rd time this week. He says that the workout I do tonight will help my sore muscles...I hope he's right. I can't pull myself up the stairs anymore! I'm okay when I'm walking, it's sitting down and getting up that has been killing me. I feel good though, have more energy, which is what I really wanted. That and a 6 pack....

Today's the day!

After work I leave for vacation, hallelujah!

Of course, I'm also sick. Again. For the 3rd time this fall..unless this cold never actually went away, then I'll have been sick since the end of August. Yuck! I've been downing DayQuil and Mucinex like candy the last few day. It's pretty disgusting. 6 hours and 15 minutes to go, I can do this!!

Since I can't seem to sit down and write a complete post, I'll just do talking points:

• I leave in 8 days for vacation. 8 DAYS. I am so ready for it! In 8 days I'll be down south for 12 whole days - Charleston, SC for my cousin's wedding, and then Disneyworld with my parents and my brother and his family. Can't wait!!
• Almost all settled in our new house. Still have some unpacking (not much) and organizing (a lot!) to do, but I believe it will be done in time for our house warming party this weekend. So excited to show off our new digs!
• While taking a break this weekend from organizing, I sat down and got hooked on ABC's Scandal (Thanks, Netflix). Season 1 breezed by (doesn't hurt it was only 7 episodes...) and now I'm into season 2. I should be done before I leave for the south so I can pick up when I get back and start watching the current season!

My summer in photos

I am horrible at updating this summer. It's been super busy though, so that's my excuse.

 

1.)Yesterday we signed the closing documents for our house! I picked up the keys after work and my mother in law and I got right to work sealing all the grout and granite in the joint! I have a hair appointment after work today so I am not able to go to the house, but Hubs will be painting two rooms. Wednesday is the Hub's day off so he's renting a Uhaul and moving furniture. My goal is to be sleeping in the house Wednesday night. I miss my bed!!

 

2.)The last weekend of August I spent down in Portland for our annual girls weekend. We usually go to an Oregon ocean town, but because everyone had lack of funds this year (Denise and I just purchased homes, our friend Mickey flew in from NYC, Leah is 8 months pregnant getting ready for baby, Tori is going on a holiday with her husband to England to visit relatives, etc) we stayed local in the Vancouver/Portland area because a lot of the girls are from there. Saturday we had a few hours to kill before the WSU v. Auburn football game, so we drove out to a local vineyard for tastings. We got there before the tasting room opened, so we walked the grounds and came across these grapes. I thougth it was artsy.

 

3.)Earlier in the summer (July-ish), some girlfriends and I drove an hour and a half northeast to Rattlesnake Ledge (across from Mt. Si in North Bend, WA). Once we hiked up to the top, we took a lunch break and had to take a shot of us. In the background is a wildfire on Mt. Si. It had closed the whole mountain from pedestrians due to the smoke and they were afraid it was going to spread.

 

4&5.) I was on my way to the last preseason Seahawks game and there was a crazy flash flood in Seattle. Even though I left a lot of room in between my car and the car in front of me, when I slammed on my brakes after the car in front of me stopped abruptly, because of the amount of water on the road and my brakes locking, I hit him. He was driving and Jeep Wrangler so all the damage was done to my car. I hit the stupid spare tire of his. Farrah the Xterra is in the shop with $4k worth of damage. <insert crying here>

6&7.) These were two anniversay/house warming presents from my sister-in-law. I'm a huge fan of fall, and since I'll be house poor I won't be able to afford Starbucks' pumpkin spice lattes for awhile. It was so sweet of her to spring for my pumpkin addiction. I love the candle, it smells so good! I had the lid attached to my nose the whole day. My new favorite scent from Yankee Candle.

8.) Because Mickey and I shared a bed the weekend of girls weekend, I was "gifted" the cold she had. Woke up on Sunday with a sore throat and that was it. Tried to Airborne, chicken noodle soup, tea it away. I was pretty miserable on Tuesday when I went back to work (Monday was Labor Day), so when I woke up on Wednesday and still felt horrible, I didn't hesitate to call in sick. I slept until noon when my mother-in-law woke me up (we're staying with them until we move into the house) to let me know she and my father-in-law were leaving to head out of town to Reno, NV for the balloon races which is a yearly tradition for them. After waking up, I couldn't go back to sleep so I decided to get some reading in. Currently I'm reading Dark Places by Gillian Flynn. I really enjoyed Gone Girl, so I figured I'd like this new book. So far, I do! :)

Hashtags: #FakeJayZLyrics

I have been obsessed with this video all morning.  I'm in a mini-van!

Source: YouTube

Movin' On Up!

Summer has been in full swing in the Seattle area. Weather has been sunny and gorgeous, and of course I haven't had a free minute to relax. My sister in law's wedding is this Saturday, so we've been full on wedding mode since early May. Bachelorette/Bridal Shower/Bridal party mani-pedi day. I'm exhausted! The Favors family is ready for Saturday to come and go, let me tell you!

On another note - shortly after returning from NYC we put our condo on the market - July 3rd to be exact. By July 10th, we were in mutual acceptance with a buyer and decided that if we're to close at the end of August, we should probably figure out where WE are going to live...After a day of house hunting together, Hubs and I had narrowed it down to 2 - both in Puyallup. One in the valley area and one in South Hill (if you aren't familiar with the area, South Hill is more towards downtown and the main street in Puyallup, Meridian. This area is constantly growing and several developments are in the area with neighborhoods. It's starting to get a little crowded..The valley has that undeveloped look, it has more greenbelts so you don't feel like the houses are building on top of each other, and just has a serene/peaceful feel to it). We LOVED the location of the house in the valley, but for the price, the South Hill home just made more sense. Both are brand new (the house we chose is still being built - construction is supposed to be completed the end of August). After a weekend of going to each house with different people, we finally decided on the South Hill home. It's 4 bedroom, 3 car garage, 2 story Craftsman. There was a buyer's bonus when we made an offer and they agreed, so all appliance are coming with the house (refridgerator, washer and dryer you usually have to buy separately), and we asked that the yard be landscaped and a fence be installed with our purchase price. At first the developer said no to the landscaping and fence, but because my husband is a master negotiator and they finally agreed.

Here are some of my favorite things:
1. The outside looks nice. This is the model home, so our house is going to be brown, and the 3rd car garage and porch are flipped.

Source of photos: D.R. Horton Homes. Images found on Redfin.com

 2. The floorplan. At first I didn't like that all the bedrooms were on the same side of the house, I would have liked for the master to be on the opposite side as the others, but after walking through I decided that was such a stupid thing to be picky about. And it's great that the laundry room is upstairs!



 3. The kitchen is so much more functional than our condo with the pantry actually IN the kitchen and not in the dining area. I know it sounds silly, but after having our teeny tiny pantry in the opposite corner, it gets really inconvenient. And this way, I have a wall I can create a coffee bar area {:)} The island bar is also oversized and so that will be nice. I like that our house will have a nice gas range which is what we have in our current home. I've gotten used to it so it will be nice to keep. Our cabinets had already been upgraded to the espresso color so we won't have to pay for that. The floors will match as well.

 4. The master bathroom. We will have two sinks, and they'll be far enough away from each other that we both can get ready in the morning in the same bathroom! I get shunned to the guest bathroom now, which is a drag. I also love that the tub and shower are separate. And it's a soaking tub, hallelujah! What you cannot see in this photo is the toilet is in it's own little room so someone can be using it and the other person can still be doing whatever it is they want to with the rest of the bathroom. The cabinet color from downstairs is carried in here, so it will be the dark wood. The mosaic tiling in the shower and by the tub is standard, but the tiling beind the sinks is an upgrade. They already made the decision to do the mosaic stones as the sink backsplash so another upgrade that we don't have to do. Yay!

 5. Along with 4 bedrooms, this house has a large media/bonus room. I think we will be putting the video game console systems, blu ray player, surround sound in here. I love the fact that we can grow into this home and still have plenty of room.

NYC

I've finally found the time to recap our AMAZING vacation to NYC. We were blessed with free lodging at one of the top hotels/apartments in Manhattan, The Sherry Netherland. If we had not had free lodging, I don't think this vacation would have been possible.


View of the Sherry Netherland from Central Park

WednesdayWe left a dreary Seattle early in the moring. We arrived in Newark, NJ in the afternoon (we lost 3 hours, poo...but gained it back by leaving late on Sunday). We hired a driver to take us into the city because we had no experience with taxis over there (This was both our first time), so we didn't want to get suckered. Our driver, Lydia, was great, but a very aggressive driver. I think I held onto the door the entire time. As we were driving through the Lincoln Tunnel, two window washers at the Hearst building in midtown were stuck on a scaffold that had collapsed on itself, so traffic was INSANE. Where they were was very close to our hotel, so every route to get to that area was completely jammed. Thankfully these two men were resuced after an hour and a half of being trapped.

After finally getting out of traffic and to our hotel, we checked in, basked in the amazing view the place had and then headed out to go exploring. One of the main things Hubs and I do on vacations is walk everywhere. We don't plan to do a lot of things, a few bullet points here and there, but walk until something catches our eye. We walked down 5th Ave (As Mickey would say, "F---king 5th Ave." (She was not a fan of this busy street) and explored F.A.O. Schwartz (saw the big piano! Didn't play on it though because a little girl was busy with it :( ), saw Radio City Music Hall, Rockefellar Center, Rockefellar Plaza, experienced Mr. Softee ice cream (really wasn't impressed with it, I was disappointed I must admit). We headed back to the hotel when it was close to 5pm because Mickey was going to meet us after she got off work. Once she arrived, we decided to go to a BBQ place her coworker performed at every week. He is from North Carolina and this BBQ place specialized in NC bbq. He and his band (Him and two other guys) played some instruments, I'm not really sure which though, I wasn't paying attention, and did some covers. They were really good though, I enjoyed them! Since we had been up since 3:45, Hubs and I were exhausted and I fought falling asleep at the table for about an hour.

Reunited and it feels so good!

I loved my swizzle stick

Thursday
Our first stop for the day was trying to find a Starbucks. I know that no one on the east coast drinks Starbucks, it's all about Dunk'n Donuts, but I have a Starbucks gold card. If I could my card there, I'm golden. I hate having to use real money when buying coffee, don't ask me way. As we were walking around, a terrential downpour started. We thought we'd be okay since we're from Washington. Let me tell you, west coast and east coast rain in completely different. We walked around the block and gave up and went back to the hotel where we could pop our clothes in the dryer. Hubs definitely wasn't embarrassed to carry an umbrella with us the rest of the trip. After the rain let up, we ventured back out. We had tickets to see Chicago that night, so we decided to walk around again, this time to Times Square area, as well as Macy's (which was like 30 blocks from our hotel). Macy's was CRAZY. It's 2 buildings that are together and 9 stories high. Since we were there over Father's Day Weekend, there was a huge sale and it was just crammed with people. Didn't help that they were remodeling, so a lot of the store was blocked off. We spent the majority of the day going though every floor of Macy's, it was that big!! Since we were going to be walking back from the show Hubs didn't want me to wear the heels I had brought with me, I needed to buy sandals that would be dressy enough to match my dress, but still comfortable to walk in. I found a pair of Nine West sandals that were pretty cheap because of the sale (cha-ching!). I love those sandals too. I've been wearing them on the days here that have been nice. After walking back from Macy's we had just enough time to relax a little before having to get ready for dinner. This was the one days I planned on dressing up and I purchased this super cute dress from Express, and an adorable bubble necklace from Franchesca's before we left.

We went to a restaurant close to the Admiral Theater that was playing Chicago, I wish I could remember the name because it was the best meal I've had in probably my life. I had lobster fettucine and Hubs at the veal chop. Hubs still says that if he had found a way for it to be socially acceptable, he would have knawed on the bone after he was finished. Also, if we were back home he would have asked for a doggie bag to take the bone home to the dogs.

As for the show, I enjoyed Chicago, but I didn't love it like the previous musicals I've seen (Wicked, Phantom of the Opera, Les Miserables, Mary Poppins). After the show as we were walking back, it started to downpour again. The great thing about east coast rain, was that it was raining, but it wasn't cold out. I'm always cold, so being able to walk around in my dress and not shiver was a great feeling. My feet were slipping to the sides of my sandals though because suede and rain really don't mix.

Friday
One of Hub's requests for this trip was to do Shakespeare in the Park. Every summer Central Park puts on 2 Shakespeare plays throughout the summer. While we were there, they were showing The Comedy of Errors - it was a really cool take on it where they set it to Swing Dancing in New York. There were two actors that looked familiar to me, Jesse Tyler Ferguson from Modern Family, and Hamish Linklater (he looked familiar to me, but I had no idea from where. It wasn't until later I was told he was on The New Adventures of Old Christine). One of the front desk workers at the hotel had told us that we needed to line up early if we wanted to get some free tickets for this show, the box office didn't open until noon but the line usually started at 8am. We got in line around 8:30am after a little stroll through the park. After 3 and a half hours we recieved our free tickets to the show (I think it is AWESOME that they put these shows on for free. It was definitely worth the wait), and went off on our merry way to enjoy the park some more. We saw Belvedere Castle, which was awesome to look it. Gorgeous view from the top, a movie being shot by the Alice in Wonderland statue that had Emily Van Camp in it (from ABC's Revenge), and really awesome/creepy looking bridges. I've definitely seen way too many Law and Order SVU episodes because everytime we came to one I had flashes of being mugged, raped and dragged into the brush. Speaking of Law and Order: SVU, we ended our night with a drinking game set to the marathon that had been playing all day. Needless to say, we all fell asleep pretty fast.

Saturday
Saturday was our walking/subway excursion with Mickey. First we grabbed real NY bagels (plain with cream cheese), Dunk'n Donuts coffee and then headed to Grand Central Station. We also explored Little Italy, Chinatown, The Village, and had macaroons and madelines at a super swanky/famous bakery. The madelines were better than the macaroons in my opinion.

 Little Italy!

Washington Square

Saturday night we decided to make our own pub crawl. We started on a rooftop bar. It was nice to see a great view of the Empire State Building, but it was way too trendy for us. We then went to an Irish Pub where Hubs was very upset with his service and actually emailed the owners the next day he was so angry.

Sunday
I was incredibly hungover thanks to our makeshift pub crawl, I literally couldn't get out of bed. 30 minutes before we were supposed to catch a cab to head back to the airport I had Hubs go down to the nearest pharmacy and pick me up some anti-nausea meds. Until they kicked in, it was again Law & Order: SVU marathon. Seriously, does USA play anything else?!?

Please note: I literally started this post on 6/28/13 or so...and I'm finally finishing it on 7/8 to post. Yikes, I've been busy!



Vacation update

Have not had time to post on the amazing vacation to NYC yet, but I'll try this weekend. Until then, here is a sneak peak...

NYC

This is our view. That is all. 

Sore.

Back in 2009, on New Year's Eve, I was involved in a serious car accident. A driver in the right lane did not like the fact that his lane on the highway was stopped and so, without looking for oncoming traffic, he changed lanes really quick to bypass traffic. Well, as he was changing lanes, I was in the left lane next to him. He hit my passenger side and the hit actually knocked my tire off of my car and into the next left lane. There are 4 lanes on our local I-5 highway. Before I was hit, I was in the 3rd lane to the left. After I was hit, I was in the 2nd to the left lane. My glasses flew off of my face from the impact...so I was basically blind...trying to make it over to the shoulder....with three wheels. So not how I wanted to spend my NYE!!

Anywhoo, more to the point. Because of this accident I will never be the same again. Right after the accident I started having constant and chronic headaches. At the time I thought they were migraines, but when I actually had a migraine I determined that what I had was thankfully not. My entire body was also aching  and sore. A coworker suggested going to a chiropractor (note: something I learned from this process - Do NOT go to a chiropractor first. Insurance almost never covers it unless your primary doctor refers you. Go see your doctor! Who will most likely recommend physical therapy. Save yourself the headache). After a year and a half of seeing a chiropractor and massage therapist 3x/week, I was able to be pain free for about a month at a time. I purchased a membership at Massage Envy and went there every time my back started to tighten up (which like clockwork was almost once a month due to my full-time job of sitting in front of a computer during the week). I also added an exercise regimen to build my back muscles so they could tolerate sitting all day (I'm still working on this today). Eventually I cancelled my Massage Envy membership because the cost was really taking a toll on my budget. So far, I've been doing good. Since canceling my membership last year, I've only gone back twice to get full price massages (which are expensive by the way).

So again, to the point of my story, last night I went to my husband's best friend's house for a BBQ celebrating her 30th birthday. Her house is the perfect BBQ locale - they have a deck outside with a yard that is tiered. The top tier is perfect for a game of corn hole or horse shoes. The bottom tier is a basketball court/pickle ball court. And it's down the street from the private Jesuit high school in our town, so you can park at the school and walk to the house. Last night I was "playing" pickle ball with two friends. Playing is in quotations because:

1. I've never played pickle ball in my life. 

And 2. We didn't have enough players, so basically the girls were on one side hitting the ball as hard as we could at Sam who was on the other side of the net. 

So finally: my point. I woke up this morning with sore upper arms and a sore back. Where's a Massage when you need one?

Reading on my lunch break

As I'm sitting at my desk eating the Chicken and ceasar salad made with kale I purchased from Starbucks this morning with my morning coffee because I didn't preapre anything for lunch, I came across an article that hit close to home with me. It's titled, 5 Things that Real Adults Do. I mostly do everything listed - so hey, I'm an adult, woohoo! - except one, meal plan. After reading some of the comments from others, one paragraph is exactly me, this girl hit the nail on the head!

On meal planning: I have all my favorite recipes (and ones I want to try) on index cards, each with a list of all the necessary ingredients on the back. In theory, I’d pick a week’s worth of meal cards out on Sunday or Monday and use that as a grocery list.

In reality, I often buy the ingredients then end up eating peanut butter sandwiches or a box of Wheat Thins while all those veggies turn to liquid in my fridge. Planning? Got that shit down. Execution? Needs some work.
 

My planning is impeccable. Actually preparing meals? Not so good. Last night is the perfect example. Hubs worked late, so instead of making a huge meal for just me, I prepared one of those skillet meals you get from the freezer asile. What did I end up eating for dinner? Bowl of Rice Krispies.  Seriously, Briana?! Yes, dead serious. Pretty sure the veggies I bought over the weekend are sitting in my crisper right now all mushy. I'll have to look into that when I get home...

Oh, I also don't wash my hair every day. Who has time for that!? Something that should be on this list, at least for females, is put makeup on. It's been a foreign concept for me lately. I was actually just thinking on my way into work this morning that I look a mess everyday and really need to work on my appearance...all this after standing in the Starbucks line and seeing the most put together woman. And then there's me...in a wrinkled shirt, damp/poofy hair from not blow drying all the way, jeans, sans makeup. I look a mess!

Spring

I obviously don't want to be stuck in the office this week...

Things I'm Looking Forward to

Mr. and Mrs. Favors are planning on being very busy in 2013! Some things we're looking forward to:

1. May: My 27th birthday! My girlfriend Dee and I are planning on having dinner with friends at a local Indian restuarant. I've never had authentic Indian food before so I've been looking forward to it. Afterwards, my favorite 80s coverband, the Spazmatics, are playing at a bar close to my house. I plan on attending that and I can walk home!
2. Girls day trip to Canada: My girlfriends and I were tossing around the idea of taking a day trip to Canada. I've been joking I need to go up there because I'm almost out of Royal Wedding tea that I purchased during a trip up there the day after the Royal Wedding. Now that I think about it, I need to get my passport updated. Yikes!
3. NYC in June: Jason and I were lucky enough to stay in a super great two bedroom apartment on 5th and Park. Jason's dad has a client who owns it and offered it up to us. Some things we have discussed doing/seeing: Chicago on Broadway, Shakespeare in the Park, maybe taking in a Mets game. One of my good girlfriends from college recently moved to New York, so we plan on meeting up with her. We google chatted last night and were talking about maybe going on this food tour in the West Village. I'd like to rent bicycles and ride around Central Park as well. So excited!
4. Weddings: Jason's sister is getting married in July in Seattle. My cousin is getting married in October in Charleston, SC. So excited to be a part of one and attend another!
5. DisneyWorld: After my cousin's wedding in SC, my parents have reserved their timeshare at DisneyWorld and invited us all to spend the week with them there. I'm so excited, I've never been. And it would be great to see the boys (my brother's sons - Luke, 3, and Warren, 2). Luke has Autism, so I'm not sure how he'll do with crowds!

I fell in love today...

With a model home..a Quadrant model home at that. Like, I wouldn't mind extending my commute from 10 minutes to 30 on a good day (and spending a pretty penny for my gas-guzzling SUV) kind of love. I was gushing over finishing a like a mother would a newborn.

I don't know how much we can afford, but if this house is not in our budget I may become clinically depressed. It was AMAZING. 3 bedroom, 2.5 bathroom, bonus room right next to laundry room (that has a utility sink), giant master suite with 5 piece bathroom. Ginormous pantry and a mudroom with a built in bench and cubbies. It was only 2200 square feet, but they did such a great job with the layout that it feels like 3500-4000sqft. I died and went to heaven.

Weekend Update

Eating dinner is so hard for me. Well, not the eating part, the preparing part. I work full time - with a lot of overtime. Hubs works full time. When we get home neither of us wants to cook. I just want to go to bed in all honesty...I'm trying to cook more though. I'm tired of my meals coming out of paper bags and shoved out a window, or delivered by the pizza guy. I want more "real" ingredients, and I want to know that nothing weird has been added. Now, I'm not an all organic person - my budget doesn't really allow that, not that I would be if I could afford it either..but fast food kind of grosses me out. I didn't grow up eating a lot of fast food. IF we did eat it, it was Arby's roast beef sandwiches or during the summer while living in Wisconsin we walked our dog to McDonald's and got the 50 cent ice cream cones. We didn't even eat hamburger helper or boxed mac and cheese...

My list of ingredients needed

So my project for the weekend was to make 5-7 crockpot ready meals and freeze them for when I'm in the mood for a meal after work that I don't have to put too much effort into and just stick in the pot before I leave for work. I made 6 meals - 2 bags of teriyaki chicken, brunswick stew, honey sesame chicken, meatball stroganoff, and italian bolognese sauce. Before I could make these meals, I had to clean out my freezer. I really wish I had taken a before picture - it was a mess! Bags of frozen fruit that were iced over, bags of bread that we'd probably never eat, gnocchi that I'm not entirely sure how long it had been in there. I organized everything where frozen fruits and veggies had a shelf, my bags of crock pot meals were on a shelf with a half full bag of Costco chicken tenderloins, third shelf down holds most of our frozen meats - ground beef, ground turkey, kielbasa, my remaining 4 chicken breasts from a Costco pack where 2 breasts came in a packet - and my two bottles of sweet tea vodka which I loved to add to lemonade in the summertime :)

The After. So excited to try these out!



On Saturday, I cleaned out my freezer. It surprisingly didn't take as long as I thought it would, probably because I just threw most of it away..afterwards I spent some time with my sister in law and went to a Scentsy party her friend was throwing. Bought some new scents and a new warmer that I think will look nice in the kitchen - it's a red color that reminds me of the poppies that are on my kitchen mats.

Sunday consisted of spending the day with my sister - we went to breakfast at my new favorite pizza place, Puget Sound Pizza. Christy and I went there last summer I think (?) after just exploring downtown Tacoma and came across it. Ever since, it's been my go-to breakfast place! I know, a pizza place/bar for breakfast, but let me tell you, it's so delicious! After breakfast Christy and I went to Winco, pretty much my go to grocery store when I have a long list (and if you saw the earlier picture of my ingredients, it was pretty long) because I feel I get more for my money. If I would have gone to a regular grocery store, I would have spent well over $100 - close to $200. My total at Winco yesterday was a whopping $65. What really saved me is the only meat I had to purchase was ground sausage for the bolognese sauce. Everything else I already had in my freshly cleaned out freezer!

After grocery shopping, I walked down to a bar in downtown Tacoma to meet some girlfriends for our monthly Book Pub where we discussed Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn. Most of the group couldn't make it, so it was just the three of us. One of the girls, Tori, hadn't finished the book yet so we just talked about things that had happened in the book she has read so far, and then we talked about the cruise Tori just returned from the previous night - she, her mom, her mother in law and a family friend took a cruise out of New Orleans and went to Jamaica. How fun, right?!

After I returned home I got started on making my meals. Hubs had soccer after work so he didn't get home until around 10pm, so I didn't have to worry about feeding him. Prep was pretty easy, thanks to a gadget I'm so glad I registered for! The Progressive Fruit and Vegetable Chopper. I love this thing so much, it makes chopping onions a breeze! I also chopped celery and potatoes for the brunswick stew with it. Did I have to? No, but I did anyway because it is so much faster than I would be by hand!

After finishing all my dinners so much urge to keep going, so I decided to make green smoothie packets.

 

 

 I put 1 giant handful of spinach, between 1/2 - 1 banana depending on it's size, and 1/3 c of either frozen mango or frozen pineapple in a baggie. I had 3/4 full carton of vanilla greek yogurt in my fridge I wanted to make sure I used up in my fridge, so I put about 1/3 c of greek yogurt in a muffin tin in each hole and stuck it in the freezer to freeze into disks. I definitely put too much spinach in each pack because this morning when I took one out and put it in my Magic Bullet, I had the hardest time getting everything blended. Probably didn't help that everything was very frozen. Tomorrow I'll let it thaw a little. I blended it with almond milk and a splash of apple juice. All I tasted was the banana and almond milk. I could taste a hint of the frozen mango as well.

 

And that was my weekend in a nutshell! Next weekend consists of movie night with some girlfriends - I'm picking the movie becuase Jamie isn't allowed to have movie choice anymore after a crazy night of watching the Descendents with George Clooney (that movie was just weird), and Dee falls asleep during EVERY single movie we watch together. Has since high school. We're watching it at Jamie's apartment. She has a 3D tv and so the request I've gotten is it has to be a 3D movie. And it's peachy that no one rents 3D movies, you have to buy them. Boo. Another plan for next weekend is our nephew's 4th birthday dinner. His choice of restaurant was Famous Dave's so that's what we're doing. I'm also going to go out and buy his present...I'm thinking books because I don't know what to get the kid who literally has everything...

 

I leave you with my favorite picture as of late - the view from a vacant unit in Jamie's building that we looked at for Dee who wanted to move into her building, but after looking at her finances has decided she cannot move there. Sad day. I loved this view! And yes, this is the high school that 10 Things I Hate About You was shot at, Stadium High School.