So, Been Busy!

Getting Blessed on Peachtree!

The view from our room. (camera phone pic

Ah, Sunday! Time to sleep in, have a nice breakfast and relax together. Brian and I are fiercely protective of our Sunday. It is our only day together since I work on Saturdays. I am using this time to put my feet up and update yall on what's new!

I've been working like a mad woman. I have been averaging over 55+ hours a week at my regular job, not including any time I devote to teaching and learning Body Pump. Needless to say, we have not been up to much up until last weekend. Last weekend was the Fourth of July, and it was amazing. We ran the Peachtree Road Race! It was my first time, but Brian had done it a few times. What an experience! The weather was amazing! The heat is usually the hardest part of the race, but this year it was very cool and not humid at all. We got to the very front of our time group so we could see all the action. It was quite the spectacle and all that training paid off. We didn't walk a step! I really enjoyed all the spectators and the excitement of the race. I think we both felt very patriotic as well! Halfway through the race we were handed small American flags and we waived them with pride! I can't wait to do it again. We have come a long way from watching it last year on TV to running it in a decent time this year. I am really happy and proud of our lifestyle changes over the past year.

After the race, and the LONG walk back to Marta. Yeah, no one talks about the miles you have to walk uphill to get back to Marta. We finally made it back to the house and got ready to head to the W Downtown. It is such a cool hotel! I had one a free night in a silent auction. The hotel was really hopping for the holiday and we got to take Dolce. She really stole hearts as she trotted through the lobby in her dress. The W has an amazing rooftop pool! We threw on our suits and headed up. It was beautiful!!!! Amazing views of the city, and the weather was still amazing. We thought we should treat ourselves with a cocktail. $12 each!!!!!!!!!!!!! Luckily, we had planned ahead and brought some from home! Our room was really hip and dark. The best part was we were on the 10th floor with a view of the park. We were afraid we wouldn't be able to see any fireworks but we had the best view in the city. We could see the fireworks in the park perfectly as well as all over the city. It was pretty romantic to be sitting there, just the two of us. It seemed like we were the only two people in the world! After the fireworks our friends Emily and Zack came by and we spent some time with them in the swanky lounge. What a night. Even though we were just a few minutes from home, it felt like a vacation!

Last week was pretty low key. We had a great date night last night! We went to our favorite neighborhood wine shop and enjoyed a flight of wine. We then wandered around Wine World, a huge wine superstore, and reminisced about vineyards visited. It was really relaxing and fun. We finished our evening with a nice movie at home.

Hope you had a fabulous 4th too!

Dinner With The Castors

Well, after a wonderful 4th, it is time to get back to reality. Back to eating healthy, working out and and working hard. Today being a Monday, I always like to try and cook something a little more special than the average dinner. I reached back to the an old Weight Watcher cookbook archive and pulled out one that had been pretty good before, veal with a light mustard cream sauce. I served it with some brown rice and broccoli. Pretty yummy! If you would like the recipe just post in the comments.

Yay For Friday!

Ah, Friday is here! It is Brian's offical start to the weekend, and my "almost" start! We are heading to our favorite Friday spot, El Azteca in Dunwoody. We have been threatened that we may not be served any margaritas if we don't bring Dolce. She's looking forward to it too! The funniest, cutest, sound in the world is a tiny dog crunching on a tortilla chip! Yes, I do see the irony of taking a chihuahua to a Mexican restaurant!

The plan tomorrow is for me to get up and get a good run in before work, and kick some major wedding selling butt tomorrow. I am hoping I have a strong day tomorrow. A vintage Cartier watch may be coming home with me this weekend, but I am forcing myself to close some serious business before I can bring it home. Brian will be doing some stuff around the house and enjoying some general weekend niceness! Tomorrow night will be cocktails on a patio with some fun friends. We are headed to Treehouse in Peachtree Hills (our DREAM neighborhood, swoon) and yet again we will be joined by the tiny dog! Yay for dog friendly patios.

Sunday will be our normal Sunday Routine. Sleep in, go for a run, watch Sunday Morning, bake blueberry muffins and relax together. I am teaching Pump in the afternoon then heading to Serenbe to get my hair done. My friend finally realized her dreams and opened a salon. Pish posh that it is 45 minutes from me without traffic, I am going! Gotta support my Amber!

That's about it! Time to enjoy the weekend! Have a good one!

What's For Dinner?

Tonight we are going with BBQ shrimp pizza. It is a Weight Watcher recipe, and sounds pretty good. It consists of the following:

-Boboli Whole Wheat Pizza
-1/2 Pound Cooked Shrimp
-Fat Free Mozzarella
-Chopped Red Onion
-BBQ Sauce (I am using Williamson Bros)
-Fresh Cilantro

Combo all together, dress the pizza and bake to desired crispness. I am serving what I call my "California Salad". It is my signature salad that I developed while we were vacationing in the wine country. It is spinach, red onion, goat cheese, walnuts, with balsamic vinaigrette.

Should be good! I will keep you posted. Off to teach Body Pump, again!

Summer Table-Scape

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I did a new table-scape for summer today on our kitchen table. No, not having company, but just wanted an excuse to decorate! Snaps to Mom for coming through with the cute vase filler. The placemats are William Sonoma. Note the tall glass votive holders. There were a deal at Z Gallerie and I know I will be able to fill them with all kinds of fun stuff for each season!

We had a pretty low key day. We slept in late and enjoyed a relaxing morning. I baked some Fiber One blueberry muffins which are pretty low fat and still really yummy!

Tonight we are doing a Tex-Mex grill! I've been marinating a skirt steak all day in our favorite spicy Goya Chipotle marinade. We will be grilling that to make tacos. I am also doing grilled corn guacamole to put on the tacos. Can't wait! Also grilling some peppers for some crunch on the side. Should be a pretty lean but zesty dinner. I may just have to whip up a Blushing Mexican to go with.

Hope you had a nice weekend!

Um, Annoying.

My apologies by opening the last two blogs by saying, "So,...". Ugh. Annoying.

Ummm... Yummy Cocktail

So, those of you that know me know that over the past year I have made a major life change when it comes to my body. I've lost about 30 pounds and am almost the same size I was in high school. Well, dieting is all well and good but it usually discourages cocktails which is a bummer. To combat that, I developed a cocktail I call the "skinny bitch". It is basically a shot of vodka and raspberry lemonade Crystal Lite. Low cal and yummy. You can serve it over ice or shake it, and strain into a martini glass.

Well, tonight I developed another low-cal calorie cocktail! I like to call it the Blushing Mexican. Yum.

Ingredients:
Generous pour NICE white vodka
Splash Triple Sec
Squirt Lime
Raspberry Lemonade Crystal Light to finish

Shake with ice and strain into a martini and ENJOY. Just go easy or you may throw a shoe. Long story....