A city girl married a farm boy

We had a nice weekend away in Shawano and DePere!

Halfway through our trip, we stopped at the outlet mall (no luck there) and then at Starbucks, where I got my free birthday drink. We shared a Venti Salted Caramel Mocha Frappucino.

Mmm…whip cream and caramel is divine. I do think I prefer the hot Salted Caramel Mocha though.

Last time we went up north, the Olympics were just starting and I had Olympic fever, so I didn’t read anything I brought with me. This time, I made a point to chill out and read a magazine and a book. The Snow Child is pretty interesting so far.

Loved that one of my favorite textile designers, Amy Butler, was featured in the September issue of Better Homes and Gardens.

I celebrated more relaxation time with a Sprecher beer.

Sometimes I find things in Shawano that I don’t see back home–like Biscoff spread and a BlenderBottle.

It was my first time trying Biscoff and it’s delicious. I like it better than the Trader Joe’s Cookie Butter. It’s somehow not as sweet, if that makes any sense.

The BlenderBottle will be great for post-workout protein drinks. I also think I am going to take it to work to have a protein shake as a snack around 3 p.m. as that’s when I get hungry.

The whole reason we went to Shawano was to stay an hour away from DePere, which is where my friend Jenny (a city girl) got married to Tim (the farm boy) on Saturday!

Isn’t this sign the cutest?

I don’t like the way my arms look in photos, so I had to adopt the model/actress pose during the wedding. Here is my friend Kim and I.

Hooray, Jenny is finally married! She had been dating Tim since they were 19 and she turns 33 in about a month. That girl is patient!

On Sunday, Craig and I headed into town to have breakfast before packing up the cottage and leaving.

I got a country benedict as my meal and it was very tasty! I hadn’t had hollandaise sauce in a while.

My first day off this week has been productive and fun! I’ll write that post next.

Celebrating with beer

Thanks for all of your sweet comments on my last post! The job market is just so frustrating right now. Today was much better.

I started off my morning with a new to me half and half. It was a nice change from my plain half and half.

Craig and I got a free cherry berry chiller from McD’s after work tonight. It was pretty tasty!

We went to the library and then I got a much needed car wash. I had major bird poop on my car.

Dinner tonight are these Gardein Chipotle Lime crispy fingers…haven’t tried them yet, but I love all Gardein products so they should be good. I’m pairing mine with homemade sweet potato fries.

And I am celebrating winning my fight over the evil insurance company on my worker’s comp claim. Hooray! That was such a relief to hear.

My library finds–I don’t subscribe to Women’s Health and there was an article in one of these that a co-worker recommended to me. I have always wanted to see La Vie en Rose, so I got that to watch over the long weekend.

Time to go flip the fries! Have a wonderful evening!

The 3 day weekend that got away from me

Being snowed in on Friday was fun. You see, when I have a day off of work, I have a tendency to want to leave the house and run errands or shop.

Since our area got hit with about 5 inches of snow, I stayed indoors and cleaned, baked apple pie, read magazines and a book, watched One Day and drank a beer.

source

On Saturday, I went to the gym, cleaned and played WAY too many games of Angry Birds. I’m at level 5 and did get there with the help of Craig sometimes. He’s kind of shocked I got addicted to it because I am more of a Words with Friends type of girl.

I had dinner plans with my friend Danielle to celebrate her birthday. We had plans for another restaurant originally, but we changed our mind and went to Maggiano’s instead. It was my first time eating there, believe it or not.

Danielle and I shared the Marco’s meal for two and got bruschetta, Eggplant Parmesan, Bowtie Aglio, and creme brulee for dessert. All were so delicious! The bonus was that I got to bring home a portion of Mom’s Lasagna for Craig too.

Danielle and I both love creme brulee! Yum!

We stopped at Bath and Body Works and both got a small bottle of the new scent there, Pink Chiffon, for free. It was a Facebook promotion. I tried it out today and it smells pretty good, but I probably wouldn’t buy it again.

Today was definitely the day that got away from me and I feel the same way about the weekend. It went by way too fast!

Craig and I always go to the gym on Sunday mornings, so today was no different. I had half of this bar before we left. It was my fourth day in a row getting to the gym and it feels so good to go consistently.

I was starving when we got home and I couldn’t wait for my leftovers of Maggiano’s and apple pie with ice cream for dessert.

After a nap with the kitties in bed, we got up and out of the house. We stopped at Starbucks first for a strawberry smoothie. We discovered something new by the sugars and creamers. The little gems pictured below. Usually they’re free songs and now they have ones for free apps and books from the iTunes store. Love me some Tetris and I’ve already played it once today. Craig also downloaded it for the iPad. Can’t wait to see what other little freebies they have to offer in the future.

Well, after meditating, I felt a bit funky and like I was starting to get sick, so I better go and relax. I am watching and listening to the Adele Live DVD while I blog. It’s so good. I hope I can see her live someday. Her voice is just amazing, don’t you agree?

Hope your weekend was fab!

I <3 my iPhone 4S

It’s almost 9 p.m. and my body is still feeling stressed. It’s been one of the those days…

I started the day by using one of the dry shampoos I mentioned in my post yesterday–Suave. (It’s been a hair themed week and there’s a post coming tomorrow morning about styling products so look for that if you’re interested).

It was only $2.75 at Target this past week and I figured it was worth a shot (especially for the time it saves me). It smelled tropical and did the trick.

Reader and fellow blogger Farrah commented today that she wouldn’t recommend trying the Suave dry shampoo, but it was too late. Actually the points she made about why she didn’t love it were good ones I should have made about dry shampoo in general–it made her hair feel heavier and turned it white (something I should have pointed out for all of you dark haired ladies). Because my hair is light in tone, I’ve never really seen any white powder from the dry shampoos I’ve tried. I also brush the product out after letting it sit for about two minutes. Dry shampoo also makes my hair feel heavy, but I wear it up in a ponytail most dry shampoo days so that doesn’t even annoy me.

At the end of my long day, I came home to the best package on my doorstep: the iPhone 4S I ordered a couple of weeks ago!

Since my phone arrived today, that meant my mom could get her new cell phone too. She came over and we took care of that at the AT&T store. No smart phone for her–just a regular phone with internet and texting blocked so she can’t get into trouble.

I was able to play with the iPhone a bit tonight and I absolutely love it so far. There’s so much to explore and learn on it, but it’s pretty similar to my iPod touch, so there isn’t a huge learning curve.

Wish I had another one of these to drink tonight–a Fallen Apple fresh-pressed cider blended with cream ale. I tried it over the weekend and it was pretty good! (Thanks Kimmy)!

Maybe I need to have a glass of red wine before bed instead and try to forget the stressful day I had.

Night!

Laborous computer data

Hope your Labor day was great! Ours was nothing special, but it was mostly relaxing.

I just can’t believe that on Thursday evening we were sitting outside in 90 degree temps with major humidity and now it’s only in the mid 60′s as a high. Where did summer go?

I also can’t believe that my mini vacation is over, but I am sort of ready to go back to work and to a routine.

Before heading to the gym this morning, I had the Chocolate flavor of the Vega Whole Food Health Optimizer. This was not my favorite flavor and I kind of expected it to be because I love chocolate anything. I definitely like the Vanilla Chai flavor better!

I have to say that this did fill me up though! I’ll admit that I missed eating something though and am not sure I am someone who likes drinking things for breakfast instead of eating cereal or oatmeal.

I had to get the gym early because it was closing at 1 today, so I relaxed and then was off! It was packed, but I hopped on the rowing machine, cranked out a good interval workout on the Cybex Arc trainer and lifted machine and free weights.

After the gym, I was on a mission to write a travel recap that I entered in a contest today. The voting for it starts tomorrow and since my full name is on the entry, I’ll probably keep it private, but if you are on my friend on my regular Facebook page, please vote for me!

It felt good to get that done and now I have one more entry to accomplish this week too. Hate that it’s still hanging over my head, but I did start working on it yesterday.

Lunch was just a black bean Morningstar veggie burger and then I got a craving for something sweet. Once I saw these grilled bananas on a blog, I decided I would use up our ripening bananas and make them!

I used some of the Tropical Traditions coconut oil to make them.

I didn’t grill them though, just cooked them on the stove. Craig thought I was making bratwursts.

Mmm…these were a great way to use up brown bananas! Craig liked them too!

I read my book for a bit and relaxed some more before I began what my title refers to: I labored over cleaning up some of my old computer contents, deciding what to keep from my external hard drive, then Craig wiped off my old hard drive, and now I have a big file of old photos and documents on my new computer to go through. Not a fun task! If your computer is not organized or properly backed up, this is a lesson for you. Get it organized ASAP. Luckily my husband is very computer savvy and helpful, but it was stressful getting old stuff put onto my new computer and realizing that if I didn’t clean it up, that is just more stuff taking up room on my nice laptop. The good thing is that I can now use time machine and my new computer will automatically backup anything new onto my external hard drive.

Once I was sick of working on that project, it was time for some well earned dinner!

I was on a mission to use this KC Masterpiece Barbecue Sauce that the Foodbuzz Tastemaker program sent me to use over the holiday weekend.

I baked the tofu in the stove.

I also baked kale chips with olive oil, nutritional yeast, and I coated a few with some Northwoods Penzey’s spices. These turned out perfect! Much better than the last time I made kale chips.

Loved this meal and can’t wait to have some of it for lunch tomorrow at work. I really enjoyed the flavor of this barbecue sauce and I appreciate the Foodbuzz Tastemaker program sending it to me.

Back to the grind tomorrow. Just happy it’s a four day week!

The end of the birthday coupons

Yesterday was just plain dreary. I felt like I was in a funk and wasn’t very productive.

Craig and I ran errands in the afternoon. We started out by going to Starbucks to use my b-day coupon.

We got the Iced Shaken Passion Tea Lemonade and had it with Qdoba for a late lunch.

And for the end of my birthday coupons, we got a buy one get one free entree deal. I chose a Craft Two combo of tortilla soup (love this) and a naked burrito bowl.

I always admire the “Qdoba blue” wall when we are at a Qdoba because I wish our bedroom was this color.

After we were done eating, I needed some of my favorite gum flavor, Orbit Sweet Mint, to tone down the spiciness going on in my mouth.

I have to switch cell phone carriers at the end of October, so we ventured over to the AT&T store to check out the plans and ask questions about the discounts I can get through my work.

I learned a lot, but I am still indecisive about whether or not I need a smart phone vs. just a phone used for voice. I love Apple products and wish I could get an iPhone. I just don’t want to spend so much on a cell plan every month.

I had to motivate myself to get to the gym and I went kind of late. I wanted to read my book, but every time I read it at home yesterday, I got sleepy. Instead, I decided that if I read it while biking at the gym, I wouldn’t get sleepy and I would get something accomplished! I was right–it worked out beautifully. I had to put the book down and push myself on the fake hills.

I rocked a $3 Danskin Active tank that I got yesterday. It was comfortable and cute.

I also tried this move that Tiff had posted as a video on her blog. I definitely had to be careful to make sure my hips were square and it helped to be in front of a mirror. I liked the move though and will try incorporating it into my routine more often. It gives me the benefit of a lunge, but I found that it doesn’t hurt my bad ankle as much as a regular lunge with weights does.

We ended our evening by watching The Bourne Supremacy. We have seen it a couple of times before, but my husband wanted to watch a Bourne movie and since Matt Damon is my favorite actor, I didn’t object!

I have been in the beer drinking mood this weekend, so I tried the New Glarus Two Women beer.

I loved this! I added a lime to it as well.

I liked the beer bottle cap too. I wish New Glarus would sell outside of WI so they could share their wonderful beer with the rest of the country, but I do understand their wish to stay a smaller brewer.

My Sunday has flown by and I don’t have a lot of exciting things to report. We cleaned this morning, Craig has a friend over now, and I went shopping with Craig’s sister for home stuff. I didn’t end up finding anything though.

Enjoy the rest of your Sunday afternoon!