Happy Birthday... To Me!!!!!

(Dad & I after our run)

Today is my 26th birthday, folks!

I started off my birthday with a 730am run in the park with my dad. My dad runs all of the time.. He has run several marathons, so I have never been able to really "keep up" with him. Well we ran 4.2 miles in 40-41 minutes! Averaging 6.0-6.1, which is GREAT!!!!! Woo Hoo!!!!! I was definitely on a runners high.

My momma made cupcakes with sugar free icing & my hubby made a "special" birthday cake for me. I feel loved :)

He always makes a "theme" birthday cake for me and I can't wait to see the reveal this year!

Several of my best friends have already called and several people have left Facebook comments... I'm feeling the love!! :)

Off to continue the celebration! HAPPY BIRTHDAY :)

3*2*12

Wednesday I wrote about Ryan marinating chicken with the jerk rub my parents got him. He grilled those on the grill last night & they were fabulous. A tad spicy, which I love.

I sautéed some mushrooms and onions. My hubby HATES mushrooms, so I had to sauté them in two different pans. They were delicious!

Mushrooms:

Onions:
Chicken on the grill:
All ready!
Mmmm.. fresh cantaloupe:
I feel like I'm fighting a cold bug.. yuck! Ryan & I are snuggled up on the couch about to watch 50/50 with our fur child... I adore relaxing Friday nights.

Getting up and going for a 5K (3.2mile) birthday run with my dad tomorrow morning & then Ryan and I are going to our WW weight in/meeting. As for the rest of my birthday day, we'll see where it takes me! Have a great weekend!

Together as a Team

Do you have a typical "routine" for your weekly days? I have a general routine, and when I stray from it, I just feel off. Needless to say, I try to stick with my routine. Well, today was one of those days that just didn't go as planned.

First and foremost, I was crazy hungry and tired all freakin' day. I am thinking it's because I have been working out so much?

I had clinical this morning, so I got up super early (4:45 is for the birds) and made my morning protein shake (vanilla whey + a banana, grapes, ice, & water). I then packed a small bag (portion size) of unsalted pretzels to take to eat half way through clinical so I wouldn't be starving by lunch (epic fail). I ate that, and after post conference I had a subway 6 inch roasted chicken breast on wheat with spinach, pickles, olives, banana peppers, and mustard. I also had some grapes that I packed in my bag. I then got home from lab around 4 and had a small portion of left over chicken pieces with peppers and onions.

All throughout the day I was so sleepy, even though I got great rest the night before, that I needed a nap. It is a rare day when I nap, but today it just needed to happen. Normally, I get home from lab on Wednesdays around 4 and then automatically get dressed and head to the gym to get my work out on. Since I napped today, I bummed around and then finally MADE myself get off my butt and get to the gym. I was totally not in the mood to work out, but I looked at my vision board and made myself. I ran a hard 2 miles and was satisfied with that.... my legs are really sore from the long runs I've been doing.

I got home from working out at 8pm and my hubby had cooked cornflake chicken and asparagus for dinner since he knew I wouldn't feel like cooking so late. It's the little things that remind me of how much I value & love my partnership with my husband. Marriage, or any relationship really, is a team initiative. In order to succeed to the best of your ability, working together will achieve that. So, I would just like to say thank you to my handsome husband for doing things that he doesn't even realize that de stress and help me out.

I have been trying not to eat after 8pm, but I didn't get home until 8 and I was starving (go figure) and figured I needed a good meal after running. So Ryan & I split a chicken breast and had some asparagus.

I dipped mine in some fat free ranch and hot sauce... Yum! It was delicious.

He also marinated some chicken breasts for tomorrow with the new jerk marinade that my parents brought home for him from their vacation Jamaica. The weather has been so nice, so I think he's going to grill them outside!

There are a number of cornflake chicken recipes, but I have adapted ours and this is the way we've made it for years.

Ingredients:

-Boneless chicken breasts (thin and prepped) I usually have about 4 pieces

-1 cup of cornflake crumbs (I put mine in a zip lock bag and crush)

-1/2 cup of skim milk

-Seasoning of your choice if you'd prefer (I don't add any, but most of the recipes call for salt/pepper)

Put the crumbs (& seasoning if you choose) in a small bowl. In a separate bowl pour your milk. Dip your chicken breasts in the milk, and then in the crumbs. Spray a baking sheet with non stick spray; place prepared chicken on the sheet. Bake at 400 degrees for about 25 minutes or until golden brown.

Enjoy!

DIY Birthday/Easter Door Wreath

The other day I saw a DIY door wreath for a birthday. My birthday is Saturday (March 3rd) and Ryan's is April 1st, so I decided to go with a gender neutral birthday wreath. I picked up three things:

1. A styrofoam circle wreath (ideally I would have liked a thinner one, but that's all they had at Hobby Lobby and I didn't feel like going anywhere else)

2. 7(ish) 3 packs of curled ribbon (it depends on the size of your wreath- since mine was bigger, I will add a few more on later)

3. Ribbon to hang the wreath from

Here's the supplies:

I stapled the ribbons on the wreath and it worked just fine, but you could use a hot glue gun instead if you'd like.

Continue all the way around the wreath. Yes, it's that simple.

Here's the final product!
It turned out super cute. Like I said earlier in the post, because it's staying on our door for both my birthday and Ryan's, I decided to go with a gender neutral color. This ribbon was the only multi-colored ribbon and I am happy with the product. If it were just my birthday, I would have totally done PINK and if it were Ryan's birthday I would have done a BLUE, but this works fine. It also reminds me a lot of Easter, so I'll add a few plastic eggs and voila, it'll be an Easter wreath!

Bella was wondering what the heck mommy was doing:

Speaking of my birthday--- here's my present that Ryan is taunting me with:

:)

I ran 3.2 (a 5K) tonight before having dinner with my friend Laura. My legs were sore from yesterday, but it felt good to get a run in!

What are some of your favorite DIY projects to do?

6.5 MILES!!

That's right, folks! I just got done running 6.5 miles!!!!! I am feeling GREAT :)

I don't have much time to blog tonight...... I've got skills testing tomorrow, so I'll be buried in my books tonight, but I'll check back tomorrow!

YAY 6.5!!!!!!!!!

Congratulations!

YAYYY!! I can finally talk about one of my best friends engagements!!

I have been having to swallow this huge (that's what she said) secret since the summer bash in winter party at Laura's house. At their party, Joel pulled me aside and told me about his plans to propose on their vacation to Key West, FL next month. Of course I was super excited and I seriously couldn't be happier for them.

Laura is one of my best friends from high school. We had many fun memories from high school and even traveled to France with one of our other best friends, Hilary, the summer after high school graduation. She went to college at the University of Illinois and earned her masters in accounting, which is where I attended graduate school as well, so we enjoyed a few fun times in Champaign as well :) Laura was also one of my lovely bridesmaids who stood besides me as I vowed to honor & love my husband for life. :)

Want to know something super cute?

They're both accountants at the same company. How stinkin' cute is that?

They met at work when they began working there a couple years ago and became good friends. The cool thing is, they really were just friends at first. I love when people fall in love after they have a solid foundation of friendship, that's just so romantic to me. Anyways- they somehow began dating and after an awkward teeth smashing kiss, became official. They are so cute together & again, Ryan and I are truly happy for them! Congratulations you little lovebirds!!!

Before Laura & Joel left to go to Key West, I got ahold of Joel and asked for his key to Laura's house. I told him that I wanted to surprise her by decorating her house after he proposed. He got really excited when I told him about it, it was really sweet. You can just tell by the way he talks/acts/and looks at Laura how much he loves her. Anyways, I decorated her house! Here's a few pictures I snapped:

Me before exiting the scene:

"I do.. Me Too!"

I was super excited to do the streamers on the fan. My hope was to have her turn the fan on and have her and Joel get covered in streamers, but her being the smart person that she is, didn't turn the fan on to avoid a mess. Oh well, I guess it's the thought that counts. ;)
Bling Bling, she got the ring!!!

"Mint" to Be.

Rubber love duckies.
And of course, balloons. What kind of celebration would it be without balloons?
This was so much fun! I LOVE doing stuff like this--- surprising people and making people happy & it doesn't help that I love her, right? :)

Anyways, congratulations to a beautiful couple!!!!

Sizzlin Sunday

Earlier this week I posted a recipe of sweet tater black bean burgers that I prepared and was going to cook later in the week. Well today was the perfect day for us to eat them. We defrosted them from the freezer earlier in the day and then Ryan fired up the grill around dinner time, slapped them on there for 7 minutes, flipped, and finished off for 5 minutes. Next time I'll actually listen to the ladies recipe by baking them in the oven at 375 degrees 15 minutes on each side. They were still DELICIOUS, just a little crispy! Seriously though, you should try them out! My husband loves his meat, but he was pretty impressed with these, too.

I also put some asparagus (favorite food ever) and green beans in some tin foil and he cooked them on the grill to. So-darn-yummy.
Looking at my past posts, I have been making it a Sizzlin Sunday tradition to post my new years resolution every week. So last Sunday I was at 284, and this Sunday I'm at ..... 270!!!! That is determination, folks. And How can you not be motivated when "I'm sexy & I know it" comes on Pandora when you're running? I almost caught myself singing for everyone at the club to hear! ha!

Check back next Sunday and hopefully I'll be down even more!

What are some of your new year goals that you made for yourself?