The Pups

I know it's been a while since Fitness Friday,  but I think it's time for a revamp on that. No, I didn't quit working out, I just feel like it was getting a little stale. Perhaps I'll pick it up again soon? We shall see.


In any case, I'm linking up with Mrs. Monologues again for Fur Baby Friday. 

As I was rushing around to get ready for work this morning, I stopped to look at my darling pups. 

Must be a nice life. Get up in the morning, take a peepee, eat some kibble and snuggle up back in bed. 


Peanut doesn't even usually take the time to eat in the morning. She goes outside and then dashes upstairs to snuggle up close with hubs. Every.day. Without fail. 


Wiggles, well, he's too chubby to make it in the bed by himself, so you can usually find him in his very own bed. 


Do they sleep with us? No way. They used to, but then we realized that we weren't getting any sleep from because A. They both stretch out and take up the ENTIRE bed, leaving little room for us humans, and B. It's like a snoring symphony in there. I don't have an issue with it (mostly because I contribute to the snore chorus) but hubs was having some serious insomnia because of it. 


Now? Peanut sleeps in her crate at night, downstairs in the living room. And Wiggles sleeps on the living room couch. They know when it's bed time. And Wiggles wakes me up at 6:10 on the dot, every morning, by clawing at the door. He's a cute little alarm clock. 

A True Valentine's Day Story of Role Reversal

The following is a true Valentine's Day story.


One year, approximately 4 years into hubs' and my relationship, he made an observation about Valentine's Day.


"Why don't girls ever get their guys flowers? Why do we have to be the ones to do it?"


Great question. Apparently, the answer was not obvious. So, from there, I immediately hatched a brilliant plan. That Valentine's Day, hubs would be receiving no less than a dozen red tulips, right to his office cubicle. 


But I couldn't stop there. You see, that just wasn't enough. I called up the florist and asked that, accompanying the flowers, there be a very large, heart-shaped balloon with the words "I LOVE YOU!" for all to see. 


After some sleuthing with his office-mates, I found a way to get them delivered to the right place. 


So around noon, I get a call from hubs. Thanking me for the flowers. And the giant balloon that hovered over all the cubicles in Cubicle Land. Causing quite a stir, and a lot of unwanted attention.


And although hubs appreciated the effort, he learned that day why guys don't get the flowers. Girls are way better equipped to deal with public love and affection. 


Heather - 1
Hubs - 0


The End. 

Fitness Friday

It's Fridayyyy! Which means it's time for some fitness. 


This has been a busy week in our world. Just a lot of random crap during the week, which has totally thrown off my routine. But, that's life, right?


Last week was the last time for yoga. At least at that studio. Why, you ask? Well, I signed up for a 30-day trial membership for $30. Reasonable, right? I thought so. In what felt like a hot minute, my membership was expired, so I looked into getting the real deal. Then I saw the monthly price tag. 

$109 

$1-0-9 ... with a four month commitment. Which ends up being (math, oh GOD - WHERE'S THE CALCULATOR) $436. $436 of my hard-earned cash. Nearly as much as we paid for our treadmill. Or a year-long gym membership. No thanks. I'll take Jillian's Yoga Meltdown for $9.99, please. 


It's sad though. Because I LOVE the studio I went to. Loved the instructors. Loved the way they calmed me at the end with meditation. Loved looking like a giant horse's ass with Julie while we attempted far too skilled poses. Alas, I just can't justify the cost. Maybe if yoga suctioned the globs of fat from my gut, I'd make the investment.


Also, I just found out that the guy who spoke to us last week at work is also a personal trainer. Brian Boyle. Now, for that? I'd pay $436, plus change. Seriously, watch this video about his story. It's amazing, and inspirational and ALMOST makes me want to run. And he's not hard on the eyes. Just sayin'. 

Anywho, here's how the week panned out:


Sunday: Nada - It's the Lord's day afterall.
Monday: 40 minute incline walk, 100 workout
Tuesday: 30 minute incline walk/run, lunges, squats, push ups, crunches
Wednesday: Nothing. (For shame, I know.)
Thursday: 30 minute include walk/run, push ups, crunches
Friday: 40 minute incline walk, push ups, crunches, squats, lunges 
Saturday: Does bowling count as exercise? Particularly Duck Pin bowling?


Happy weekend!

Our Love Story

It's February. The month of love. I'm not sure I've ever really divulged the deets on Hubs' and my relationship. So, today? That's what I'm doing. I'm linking up with Becky at From Mrs. to Mama to bring you...Our Love Story.

1. How long have you and your significant other been together?

We're coming up on 9 years in May! 

Hubs and I circa 2005 (Hubs is on the left) His college roommate, Rich , is on the right.  Hi, Rich!

2. How did you meet? {What's your "love" story?}

Ah, yes. Our love story. Well, it was my junior year of college (2004) and I was coming off a bad break-up with my highschoolturnedcollege boyfriend of 4 years. I came back from that summer single and ready to have some fun for a change. 

My best friend and roommate, Pam, introduced me to Nile and his crazy pack of friends (who, now, happen to be some of our best friends.) And from the night I met him, I knew he was something special. Perhaps it was his beer-drinking, visor-wearing, crazy-laughing personality? From that night on, we started hanging out all.the.time. But? He had a on again, off again girlfriend that was going to study abroad. What turned into a crush and flirty relationship with us, quickly faded when he realized that he might still have feelings for her. Fair enough. So we cooled it off. 

Then? She came back from overseas and he realized that they didn't have the relationship they once did. So, it was back on for us. We started dating casually. Until he decided that it wasn't time for him to be in a relationship. Gah. Boys, right? Fine. We went our separate ways. He dated some other people, I dated some other people.  Most girls would have thrown in the towel. The beginning of our relationship was tumultuous at best. 


Then, one Saturday night, it finally began. When he called me to his room, took a deep breath and told me that he loved me and couldn't live without me. Yep. He said it. 21-year-old hubs exclaimed his love for me. And that, my friends, was all she wrote. Senior year we were always together. Then when he got a job in Jersey right after graduation I followed right behind him. Moving into our first apartment (which eventually burned down a mere 4 weeks later, but that's a story for another day.) Six months later? We were engaged with a Pug baby named Wiggles.

3. If married, how long have you been married? 

Married for 5 years in May, engaged for 1.5 years, together for 2.5 before that.

At our wedding in May 2007.

4. If you are married, where did you get married at? Big or small wedding?  

We had a modest-sized wedding of 100 people in my very small hometown in Central PA. It was the perfect size. The perfect friends, family, music, food. Overall, the perfect day.

5. Do you have any nick-names that you call one another? Do share!

We've never really been big on nicknames. It's just not our bag, (baby!) Ha!

6. Name 3 things you love most about your honey.

His sense of humor. The man can make me laugh like no one else can.
His ability to push me to be a better person.
His butt. True.

7. Tell us how he proposed? Or your ideal proposal?

He proposed on Christmas Day 2005. I'd been asking for an iPod for Christmas, so he was a sneaky little bastard. He got an iPod box and put the ring inside. Wrapped it up and put it under the tree. We were opening gifts on Christmas morning at my parent's house when I unwrapped the iPod. Secretly, I really wanted a ring, but an iPod was perfectly fine. Apparently, however, I showed disappointment all over my face. He told me to open it up and show my parents how it worked. I wanted nothing to do with that. But, finally, he convinced me. Well, when I opened the box, there was no iPod inside. Instead, it was a ring box. He got down on one knee and proposed in front of my family. It was so special. And I reacted like a crazed monkey. See?

Crazy crocodile tears. 

8. Is he a flowers and teddy bear kind of guy for v-day, or strawberries, champagne, and rose petals?

Usually, he's a flowers and teddy bear kind of guy. He's typically sent me flowers to work (you know, to make everyone jealous.) 

9. Are you a sunset dinner on the beach kind of girl, or pop a movie in and relax on the couch?

Both? I'm very much a putonamovieandputonmysweatpants type girl. But at the same time? I'm also a sucker for all things romantic.

Riviera Maya, Mexico - Our honeymoon

10. Tell us one thing you'd like to do with your significant other one day. If you could do anything? Go anywhere?

We'd really, really like to go to Europe. And travel hop. Italy, England, Ireland, France. We were thinking about doing it this year, but then realized that it's expensive and stressful. So instead? We went to Costa Rica and played with the monkeys.

Costa Rican sunset 2011.

11. Tell us what you plan on doing on this Valentine's Day.

We actually have a Valentine's Day tradition dating back to 2008. We were living in Jersey and there was a huge ice storm. We'd been stuck in the house all day and really wanted to go out and get dinner for Valentine's Day. Once we dug ourselves out and got on the main roads, we realized that nothing was open. Nothing except this one tiny Indian restaurant. Which was amazing. Every year since, we've gone out for Indian food. It's a tradition we look forward to every year!

12. Are you asking for anything this Valentine's day?

Nah. We save gift giving for Christmas and Birthdays. Just some Chicken Tikka Masala for me.

13. Give us one piece of advice of keeping a relationship strong and full of love.

Laugh. If you can't laugh together, then what's the point? We like to have fun and we don't take life too seriously.

Also, date night. At least once a week. It's important to make time for just the two of you.

Us not taking life seriously on Halloween 2008.

14.  Show us a picture of what love means to you.

You may think this is strange, but I think it's perfect. This picture (from college toga party, clearly) illustrates our relationship. Always laughing. <3 

Find the Peanut

I'm going to postpone Fitness Friday this week. Why? Yes, I did work out, don't worry. But today I'm linking up with Mrs. Monologues today for Fur Baby Friday. You know, to flaunt my puppies.

Why? Because you haven't seen a pic of my crazy pups on here for a while. Today, I'm only featuring Peanut. Wiggles has been 1. boring and 2. a huge pain in my butthole as of late. He's getting sassy and doing things like taking the throw pillows off the couch and running around the house with them (while simultaneously trying to rip the stuffing out of them.) Jerk.


Anyway, here's Peanut on Christmas day. My mom got us a nice sherpa throw, which was super cuddly and warm. Peanut clearly took a liking to it:

Awwww! That's kinda cute, right? I might have helped her burrow. 

Meal Planning 101

A few people have asked me recently about meal planning. I've been doing it for years, mostly because that's what my mom did. When you grow up in a town with one or two restaurants for takeout (pick up only, no delivery for us) eating out wasn't ever really an option anyway. So knowing what was for dinner was crucial to my mom's sanity. 


Many bloggers have tackled this topic. Recently, Sarah did a great post on it. Her and I tend to have the same philosophy. Although, mine only involves planning for 2, not 4. 


If you're trying to lose weight and/or save money, planning your weekly (or biweekly) menu ahead of time is really the way to go. That way, you'll know what you're having, have the ingredients on hand and it will take the guess work out of "What's for dinner?" and also avoid a pizza/fast food/Chinese take out dinner (although, we totally have those nights now and then.)


I use my planner to jot down our meals, as well as put in ideas for meals for the future. And I also print out recipes from Pinterest so I have them on hand. 

I realize this picture is upside down, but Blogger is being a bitch and not uploading the right orientation. Please, cock your heads. 

Usually, I'll sit down during the week, ask hubs if there's any meals he desires, take a look at the sale papers, my coupons and plan the meals accordingly. My grocery list consists of what we need to make meals for that week, plus extras (stuff for lunch, snacking, etc.) 

And, for the nerd in me, I also have a spreadsheet on Google docs of our favorite meals. Split into beef, chicken, fish, pasta, vegetarian. It's on Google docs so hubs can reference it as well. And honestly? It's nice to have them all in once place. Because sometimes, I make dishes that are a TOTAL fail. Those don't make it on the list. Only our go-to meals.

Once it's all planned out, I'll write it down on our fridge menu planner. Because hubs always needs to know what we're having for the week...and if he's cooking, what he'll be making.

And anything I need that I forgot during the week goes on our message board. This whole fridge system was a part of my resolution to become better organized in 2012. 

I do my shopping on a weekly basis. I wish I could do it on a bi-weekly basis, but with the amount of fresh produce we eat, we typically run out by the end of the week and/or it goes bad. 

We allow ourselves one night out. It's usually a Saturday, unless we're going out with friends during the week. So, I always plan for 6 meals. 

If your grocery store is like mine and runs meat sales periodically, use this time to stock up. I always buy chicken breast when it's on sale. Then come home, separate it into half pound portions, wrap it in foil and label it. Thanks to my sister for turning me on to the foil method. I was using freezer bags, but was still getting some freezer burn. Using the foil really helps. 

I also always have staples on hand. You'll always find in my kitchen:

• Onions and garlic
• Potatoes
• Brown Rice
• Chicken Stock
• Diced Tomatoes
• Tomato Sauce
• Canned Beans
• Hot Sauce (duh, Hubs is kind of obsessed)
• Soy Sauce
• Lemon Juice
• Vinegar (balsamic, rice wine, red wine)
• Olive Oil
• Whole Wheat Pasta

Tonight? We're have ribs in the crockpot! Hope this was helpful!