FLORIDA HERE WE COME!

Well after many arguments and going back and fourth we finally decided on our spring vacation in Florida.

I'm sure you're thinking; Why the heck would you argue about vacation? In short answer. We're both very opinionated.

He wanted to go on a cruise. I wanted to be stationary on an island and enjoy beach life. I'm all for cruises and would have had no problem going on one, except C's entire family (including C) has opinions on what islands are the best, choosing the best boat, don't go here, or there. ugh. I wanted our first "big" vacation to be some place we've both never been.

I think it's no surprise that we're pretty big Disney fans. Neither one of us has been to Disneyworld, so that's our first stop. Well, technically San Francisco is our first stop. We'll be driving down to SFO for a week to spend some time with C's family, run a few business errands and leave the dog.

 We'll fly into Orlando, spend 4 nights. Out of those 4 days 2 will be spent at Disneyworld. We'll then pick up a rental car and head down to Key west for 3 days. Can I just say for the record how EXPENSIVE hotels are in the Keys? Holy crap. I've had mini heart attacks just looking at the prices. Apparently we're going down at the tail end of spring break, so prices are probably inflated.  I can't justify spending $300 a night for a room that you don't spend much time in. We have other vacations going on this year, so my frugal self is going to continue looking and waiting to see if prices will go down. After Key West we'll be picking up another car and heading to Miami Beach for 3 days.

We have absolutely no plans as far as attractions goes ( well, other then Disney) but I'm really interested in snorkeling, para-sailing, and lounging on the beach. We're also pretty stoked to try Cuban cuisine and key lime pie!

So there you have it. 10 days of vacationing bliss on the other side of our world. Now I just have to figure out how I can make it 57 more days. Our high today is 16 degrees. Florida? 80. oy

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SPENCER!

Today, my beautiful no longer little pup turned 9. I can't even believe he is 9 years old. He still has the energy of a puppy.

Spencer has lots of toys, but we tend to not buy any "noise" making toys so we don't get annoyed ;) I was walking in the pet sop the other day and decided, oh, okay. I'll buy him one just to see his reaction.

It was the FUNNIEST thing ever. I was laying helplessly on the couch in all my sickness glory when C showed me this picture



Spencer would not touch the thing. every time C squeaked "Herman" Spencer begrudgingly stared him down and pounced back.

Eventually Spencer learned the dog was fake and he could essentially chew the thing up, but It was fun for the first night to watch the two interact.



( Please ignore my smoking trucker man voice. I'm dealing with a nasty sinus, cough, cold, bug)

BROWNIE SUPREME COOKIE BARS

After our huge meal that was Super Bowl Sunday we couldn't help but make dessert. I had big intentions on trying to bake something new, but after browsing several recipes, only one thing sounded good. Something chocolate, but yet cookie like.

I found just what I was looking for in these bars



Yummy brownies with chocolate chip cookies mixed in? Yes please!



You can thank me later. ;)

I can't take all the credit here. You see, I did something I NEVER do.




I bought a store packaged treat. I opened up plastic bags with all the goods, added a little water and egg and viola! I popped that sucker into the oven to bake. It took me all of 10 mins of prep and 30 minutes of baking.




First you spray non stick spray in a 9X 9 baking dish, and then add your brownie mixture.



Then you dabble the cookie dough on top.


Bake, cool, eat.

SUPER BOWL SUNDAY

Just the title makes me drool.

Here's a secret. Both Sparky and I never watch sports. Maybe, we'll watch a baseball game here of there but that's about it. We're just not the sporty type. Growing up, my family always watched football, ( Packers and cowboys!) and hosted ( as well as went) to lots of super bowl parties. I didn't care about the game but loved having new friends over to play, but even more so? I loved all the delicious food! ( real shocker there, right? ;) )

This year I told C a few days in advance that I wanted to actually watch the entire game and make lots of delicious food. Just the two of us. He obliged, and off I went on the hunt for the perfect super bowl recipes.

We started off with some bbq/buffalo wings. I cheated on these as I bought them from our deli counter. After pricing what it would have cost to buy all the ingredients, plus cook them, we decided the deli counter was the best bet. They were running a deal for a bucket of wings for $8.00 Can't beat that!



Moving on, I decided fajitas sounded really good and would be good on the calorie front. I went to Chevys to pick up some fresh made tortillas and we grilled some chicken, steak ( for him) and veggies.





Everything turned our delicious! And I was pretty excited that I stayed within my calorie limit even though I indulged in 2 mikes hard strawberry lemonades.


I was also pretty into the game this year. I didn't get all the scoring stuff, but enjoyed watching, and rooting on an old family favorite team ( Packers!)

I think we may have just started a new tradition!

TUESDAY TIDBITS

-Carlos and I both have colds. Oddly enough,  we both woke up with the same symptoms on the same day. Stuffy nose, drainage, itchy throat.
 Then as the day wore on, I ended up with a dry cough. We've both been parked on the couch for the last 2 days trying to nip this thing in the bud.

- I canceled all personal training last week due to my melt down, and then turned around and canceled all my training for this week due to my cold. I did make it for 30 minutes on Sunday but even that wore me out. I'm afraid next week my stamina will be lowered, and I'll loose motivation.

- The weather has been so dang weird. It's been really cold, but sunny. Then it will warm up and rain. This is not very Oregon like for this season, so it'll be interesting to see what Spring has in store.

-I have about 6 different recipes to post and just haven't gotten around to it. I think if my laptop didn't take a dive last year, I'd be posting every day while mending on the couch.

-I need to buy a new lap top. I have my desk top, and we're talking about buying C a new desktop ( for work) but I really want a lap top, too. It would make traveling, and every day life so much easier if I had a mobile source for our computer.

-I'm feeling a craft itch and wanting to make a spring wreath. I haven't found one that I absolutely love yet but I'm hoping soon.


Nothing too exciting going on in our lives right now. We're just taking it day by day, hour by hour. Once these colds go away we'll get back into the swing of things.

IS THIS REAL LIFE?

Have you ever seen that youtube video(referring to my title post; " Is this real life? ")...That's how my life feels right now. garbled, unorganized, chaotic.


I've been kind of a negative Nancy lately. I think it has a lot to do with the dreary January days. It has to do with my need and want for fast results in the gym that just aren't happening. It has something to do with the fact that I want a vacation that doesn't involve business or taking other people. It also has something to do with losing my grams. I miss hearing her voice.

In other words, life right now is tough.

I went into the gym on Tuesday. Mind you, I did an intense booth camp on Saturday,  had personal training on Sunday, did lots of cardio on Monday  and personal training again on Tuesday. Anyhow. Tuesday rolls around, I wasn't feeling all that great, but I pushed through and headed to the gym. I was 10 minutes into my training when I started feeling the emotions, the shaking, the yucky feeling of black outs, and then I lost it. I could not do anymore. I knew if I stayed the entire hour I would have been a puking, crying mess.  At 6pm when every single person that has a membership is at the gym, would have seen me, I decided to stop, and go home.  Once I got in my car I lost it. Full on waterworks. I felt so guilty for giving up. I felt so angry for all the stress, and mind garbles I had going on. It was a huge mental block and I had no idea how to get out.

I've taken a few days off from the gym, and just spent time with myself. I did a whole lot of laying on the couch, taking naps, watching ridiculous realty shows...I have to say I'm not 100% there yet, but I'm trying. Hopefully this weekend can reshape my funk and I'll be back at the workout game on Sunday.




In other more upbeat news.

-I've been playing with some new recipes that I'll be posting this week. All are healthy, and really filling!

 - I hope everyone on the east coast is getting through the massive storms! I'm surprised Oregon hasn't had more cold, snowy days. But it seems that all the storms passed us by and went right over to the eastern states.

- I've redone our budget and started a jar system for fun stuff. I'll be posting about that too, for people interested in  saving their finances!