Spa, zoo and sugar

So I didn’t disappear this weekend because we won the lottery. Craig’s work pool won about $7 by my estimates. I just felt like living and not blogging about it the whole time (even though I am taking some time to do it now). Here’s what I was up to.

Hit the grocery store on my way home on Friday and found this new to me yogurt. It tasted like mango lassis, which I adore.

Had a relaxing facial on Saturday morning. It was one of the best I have ever had and I probably haven’t had one in about three years. I got massaged, relaxed and peeled (my first peel ever). My skin felt fantastic after and still has a nice glow. My facialist said she has never seen anybody smile as much as I did through the treatment. I guess I was happy!

Post-facial glow. Well I could see it at least.

After the spa, I met my friend Danielle and her daughters to go to the Milwaukee County Zoo.

Me with my buddy Taylor. She had been talking about having sandwiches with me since Wednesday. And that we did. She had a lunchable and I brought an almond butter and strawberry rhubarb sandwich to the zoo.

In one of my favorite exhibits–the birds!

Baby Kiersten, who is super mellow and such a good baby.

In my other favorite exhibit–the cats! This jaguar was looking pretty vicious.

The lions were so much fun to watch. The cubs were trying to wake up their daddy and were playing just like our domestic cats do.

Made enchiladas for dinner! We made them with beef, which I seriously have never cooked in this house. Craig has made stuff on the grill, but I refuse to cook the meat. I’ll eat it, but it grosses me out to see it in it’s raw form. Next time I will make tofu enchiladas.

For the last march photo of the day, I took a picture of the little corner of our couch I relax on. I blog from here and read the newspaper or books here.

We watched Moneyball on Saturday night and had some of this deliciousness for dessert. Neither of us loved Moneyball. Good story and acting. It’s just that baseball isn’t our thing (if it was about tennis, now that would be totally my thing).

Played with the kitties, of course. Tanzi was trying to get a rubberband.

The first April photo of the day was reflection. Here’s me in my Sunday scrubby state. I showered after the gym, but didn’t bother to brush my hair or put any makeup on. My shirt says “Wisconsin, Smell Our Dairy Air.” Love it!

Gave myself a manicure and it was a little sloppy. I made the tips sparkly.

And finally, was so excited to watch the 60 minutes special on sugar. A year ago, a nutrition class I went to at the YMCA actually talked about how sugar would be the next big topic in nutrition. That registered dietitian was right! Now I am checking all nutrition labels and will be trying to cut back on my consumption.

Hope you had a good weekend! I say this every Sunday, but I can’t believe how quickly the weekend flew by. I wish I was like my husband and had off this Friday. Maybe I’ll take off to extend my holiday weekend.

Morning at the spa

I got up early today, checked us in for our flight because we are flying Southwest and wanted to get in line “A” and then ate this for breakfast. Vanilla flavored coffee with Special K protein cereal.

This morning, I went to the spa for a mini manicure and pedicure. My nails and feet needed the pampering! The best part was that it only cost me $13 for both because I had a gift card that I won.

After feeling relaxed and pampered, I went to the mall to look around for a bit.

I enjoyed a Skinny Vanilla Latte from Starbucks.

Thought about picking up this cute Packers Super Bowl t-shirt, but it was too expensive.

I was on the hunt for some new shirts, but didn’t have any luck. I am hoping to find some at the outlets in Orlando.

I stopped at Target one more time for some travel sized items and a 7 day pill container. Am I an old lady or what? I take a lot of medicine, so I needed that to keep me organized.

I also got some pretzel and peanut butter m&ms.

Had to try the pretzel out right away in the car. It was my first time having them and they were pretty good!

Once home, I had a salad with grape tomatoes, feta cheese and sunflower seeds.

To use up fresh blueberries, some almond milk and a banana, I made a smoothie. This smoothie was different though because it contained Amazing Grass Berry flavored powder. Swanson Health sent this product to me to try, along with some other healthy products which I will review later. If you are interested in reviewing some of their products on your own blog, contact them. They encouraged my readers to do so and you won’t be disappointed. I worked with Ben, who blogs on their site and he was so nice to communicate with.

Check out their site for prices and more info on the Amazing Grass Green SuperFood Berry flavored drink powder:
http://www.swansonvitamins.com/AMZ014/ItemDetail

Swanson Health offers this product for $19.99 and it retails for $27.99! There are some great deals on their site!

Hey look, my nails matched my smoothie! I swear I didn’t plan this perfect match.

I really liked the Amazing Grass powder, especially because I feel like I am getting sick and need all of the nutrients I can get! The flavor of my smoothie was a little more “green” tasting, but it sort of reminded me of a green monster so I am used to drinking my veggies.

When packing for a trip, I often think how unfair it is to be a woman! Check out my husband’s toiletries vs. mine for the trip. His is the solo bag on the left and mine are the three on the right, which includes my makeup!

Time to get off of here, check the laundry and then get to the gym!

Be back tomorrow from Orlando!

Feeling pampered

I spent my morning getting pampered. Don’t you just love spa treatments and haircuts? I had a free “balancing treatment” for pre-booking my haircut today and it was so nice. The Aveda salons always have Chakra treatments and my husband says true Chakras cannot be achieved until you do years of meditation and yoga. I honestly don’t know anything about chakras, but the subject does interest me. I chose my Chakra based on the colors, design or words I liked on these flash cards. I picked three and then my stylist had me smell the three with my eyes closed. My final selection was Wisdom. She said I seemed happy and the card told her I could either be feeling very wise and at peace today (which she could tell I was) or I could be seeking wisdom. She then sprayed the smell around my head and did a scalp, neck and shoulder massage. Aaah, it was so nice!

Then it was haircut time! I never realized I had so much hair until it started to get thick in the back of my head over the last couple of weeks. When I went to see her in August, my stylist had asked me if I normally get it thinned out. Well I didn’t know, because no stylist ever told me they did that, but I guess I normally do, because she didn’t thin it in August and it got thick! This time, she got the back nice and thin and just updated my layers with a small 1/2 inch trim. I love a fresh haircut and style!

When I woke up this morning, I still felt full from the pizza and breadsticks we had last night! I still was craving pumpkin oatmeal and made myself a nice bowl before heading out for the spa. This was the first time I used Pumpkin Pie spice in my oatmeal and it definitely was the flavor I wanted to taste! I added Libby’s pumpkin, half of a banana, oats and then raisins, a spoonful of greek yogurt and nutella on top.

Craig has a friend over this afternoon, so when I got back, we cleaned as much as possible. I vacuumed, did the dishes in the morning, cleaned glass on windows and then so did Craig. Like a nice spa morning, I also love a clean house!

All of that cleaning left me hungry for some veggies! I made myself a nice spinach salad with fresh mushrooms, tomatoes, red peppers, cucumbers, hummus, sharp cheddar cheese, broccoli, and the last of Annie’s Asiago cheese salad dressing.

I’m indecisive about whether I want to go to the mall to check out the Banana Republic sale or if I just want to stay home to read, get caught up on things and organize in general. We’ll see…I am leaning towards shopping so Craig can hang with his friend all alone. But, then again, shopping can wear me out and I still want to get to the Y today.

Hope you are having a good Saturday!