October Goals & Easy Lasagna

On October's Tone It Up Calendar, this week's Motivation Monday was setting up your October Goals with long term fall goals in mind. Since sharing is a great form of accountability, I thought I'd share my goals with y'all!

My goals are centered around keeping up my workouts and healthy eating despite an insane school semester:

1. Get in 4-5 workouts a week.

2. On any day but Saturday (my rest day) that I don't workout, choose to yoga or stretching so I'm having an active rest.

3. When running focus on changing my from heel striking to mid-foot striking.

4. Cut out the carbs I've been stress eating.

5. Refocus on lean, clean, and green eating!

6. #LivePink with TIU this month.

On another note, I made my fav slow cooker lasagna yesterday! It's such a great technique when you're in a hurry!

The recipe is from Williams and Sonoma. Click here to head over to the recipe.

Here are my changes to the recipe:

• Ground, seasoned, turkey breast instead of sausage
• Part Skim or non-fat ricotta cheese
• Whole wheat lasagna noodles
• Nix the Parmesan cheese except on the very top

******Important note on cooking - if you do not have the super fancy crockpot featured in the recipe, cook your meet and sauce in a regular pot over the stove!!!!!!!! DO NOT ATTEMPT to put regular crock pot inserts on your stove top!!!!************

Pic is from the Williams and Sonoma website - I forgot to take a pic of mine

Delicious Veggie Lasagna

Last week,  I made this Veggie lasagna for the hubs and I! It was really filling (flyboy didn't even miss his meat) and we had leftovers for days!

If you want to make the recipe, check it out here at recipe.com.
I did make a few changes to recipe, which are:

• I used premade red sauce, instead of making white. 
•        (My favorite brand is Muir Glen Organic in either Cabarnet Marinara or Tomato Basil)
• I couldn't find any mushrooms, so I doubled the carrots.
• Instead of cutting the carrots, buy a bag of matchstick carrots, they work perfectly
• Also, since I had premade sauce, I used no boil lasagna noodles and made sure to have enough sauce to get the noodles nice and moist.

This was a fantastic recipe, with a surprisingly small amount of cheese (perfect for those of us trying to eat healthy)!!

Enjoy! I'm headed back to make some Green Lemonade and get ready for my day!

Potato, Leek, and Feta Tart

I found this wonderful recipe at Real Simple. Flyboy and I loved it. There was a very rustic and natural feel to this recipe. For lack of a better term, it felt homey.

I followed the recipe as listed at Real Simple except I forgot the zucchini and used carrots instead. I also used whole wheat pizza dough instead of pastry dough.

I would definitely recommend this recipe for the wonderful fall days coming up!

Enjoy!

Make It Count Monday

I've been back from my summer program for almost a week and I've spent my time reading, cleaning, cooking, grocery shopping, gardening, working out, a little bit of catching up with friends, and finishing up Nehemiah: A Heart That Can Break by Kelly Minter.

It's been a whirlwind since I've been home and I can't believe that the summer is just slipping away. So, when I got this wonderful email from Mrs. Meyer's I just had to share.

So, now that I'm finished working out, I'm going to try this breakfast recipe for Chia and Oat pudding from Tone It Up and take it outside on my newly cleaned porch and savor a little bit of my summer morning.

How do you savor those little bits of summer?

Green Lemonade For Breakfast

When I ran the Color Run (to see sweet pics from that, go here) I got a free Competitor magazine. Inside along with awesome running advice and a piece on Olympic runner, Allyson Felix, there were some interesting recipes I wanted to try.

My first adventure was the Green Lemonade. I had to change a few things since I did not have Amazing Grass Berry Green Super Food, but I thought my newest breakfast addition turned out great.

Green Lemonade
Ingredients:
12 oz lemonade ( I didn't have lemonade, so I mixed a lot of lemon juice in with 12 oz of water and then added some trivia to the whole thing after blending)
1/2 c. frozen strawberries
1/2 c. frozen mangos
1 large handful fresh spinach
truvia to taste
*1/2 scoop vanilla protein powder
*1 tsp green tea powder

Method:
Blend all the ingredients in a blender and drink while still cool!

Enjoy!!!

Pre Blending

Post blending - it tastes good, I promise!!!!

*my substitute for the Amazing Grass stuff - if you have it, feel no need to add these

Watermelon Sorbet

Summer feels like its here, even if the official start of summer is still a couple weeks away. All that heat left me craving watermelon and when I found a watermelon sorbet recipe I had clipped a couple years ago from a Better Homes and Garden, I knew it was the perfect recipe to try out. I had to change it up a little bit.

If you're craving a little refreshment from the summer time, go ahead and freeze this up!

Watermelon Sorbet

Ingredients:
5 c. cubed watermelon
1 packet unflavored gelatin
1/2 c. sugar
1/3 c. cranberry juice

Method:
Puree watermelon cubes until smooth and then add sugar.

Meanwhile, in a small sauce pan combine gelatin and cranberry juice. Let mixture stand for five minutes and then stir mixture over heat until gelatin is completely dissolved.

Stir gelatin mixture into the watermelon. Pour into an 8x8x2 pan and freeze until firm (probably 2-3 hours). When firm, remove from freezer and put mixture in chilled mixing bowl. Beat with an electric mixer until fluffy. Then return to 8x8x2 pan and freeze for at least six hours.

Enjoy this frozen treat to cool you off!

Protein Waffles - A Success!!

I've said about a million times, that I love the Tone It Up ladies! One of their most popular recipes for breakfast seems to be protein pancakes. I am not a huge fan of pancakes, but the hubs just got me a waffle maker. I noticed this post at TIU that someone used their waffle maker to make Protein Waffles.

So, I headed over to TIU to get their protein pancake recipe - which you can get here. I used this recipe, but added some whole wheat flour because I didn't have any bananas to thicken it up. They turned out delicious!!

This is a great healthy and delicious breakfast option!

Look - the waffles are heart shaped - how sweet is my hubby???

P.S. Head over to Tone It Up for great workouts and encouragement!

Tropical Baked Oatmeal

So the other day I mentioned I had been craving a few random ingredients. I changed up a recipe I used to make all the time at a Cafe I worked at and it turned out great. I thought this was a great food to infuse some tropical flavor in those last dark days of winter/early spring!

Enjoy this HEALTHY breakfast that you can reheat and eat all week!

Tropical Baked Oatmeal

Ingredients:
2 c. non fat milk
4 c. water
3 c. oats (maybe a little extra depending on how thick/thin you like your oatmeal)
2 bananas - peeled and sliced into small rounds
5 or 6 oz coconut shavings
1/4 c. dried cranberries
Spices of your choice - I used:
cardamom
ginger
cloves
Sweetener of your choice - I used:
3 tbsp brown sugar
drizzled agave nectar

Method:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Use non stick cooking and spray and spray an oven safe 8x8 baking dish.

Bring water and milk to boil in a large pot on the stove (all the oatmeal is going in here, so make sure there's enough space).

When it comes to a boil, add oatmeal and cook like you would normal oatmeal. I added a little more oats because I didn't' want my baked oatmeal to be too liquidy. When the oatmeal is almost done, add spices, sweetener, coconut, and cranberries. Stir until mixed well. Taste to make sure it is seasoned and sweetened to your liking.

Pour half of the oatmeal mix into the 8x8 pan, then make a layer using all the sliced bananas. Cover bananas with other half of the oatmeal mix.

I topped my oatmeal with a little extra coconut and some sliced almonds.

Bake 25-30 minutes until oatmeal doesn't wiggle all over if you jiggle the pyrex from side to side.

Serve warm with a little milk over the top.

Also, feel free to substitute your favorite oatmeal ingredients for the coconut, banana, cranberries, and spices. Just bake it up and it will taste great!

Brainstorming Up Tropical Baked Oatmeal

Lately I have been loving/craving:

So, to add all these foods together I am going to fall back on a recipe I used to make every couple days when I worked at an awesome coffee shop/cafe in college. I'm going to tweak it a bit and make Tropical Baked Oatmeal. I think it will be awesome. Once my recipe is tried, I will be sure to share this awesome breakfast food!

UPDATE: My Tropical Baked Oatmeal was delicious. To see the recipe, go here.

Feta, Beef, and Onion Tart

Well, with all the craziness of school and keeping up the house, I have still been cooking away! Granted, some weekday meals are a lot easier than I usually make and we've had a decent amount of pasta, but we've still had some new dishes. One of those dishes we tried out was a tweaked Better Homes and Garden recipe.

Here's my recipe:

Ingedients:
12 oz lean ground beef
1 red onion, cut in thin wedges
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
Enough pizza dough to make one pizza (about 13-14 oz)
3 oz feta cheese
1 tsp oregano

Method:

Heat oven to 425 degrees.

In a skillet, cook beef and red onion over medium heat until the beef is browned and the onion tender.
Drain off fat and season with salt, pepper, oregano.

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Roll out the pizza dough to a 15x12" rectangle and set on top of the parchment paper. (Will actually set the parchment paper on the counter and rolled the dough out on top of it and after I was all done prepping the tart we slid the parchment paper onto the pan and into the oven).

Fill the dough with the beef mixture, leaving the 1.5" around the edge empty. Sprinkle the mixture with the feta cheese. Fold the edges over the filling, pleating as needed.

Bake tart for 15 minutes or until the crust is cooked.

Makes 4 servings of deliciousness!!!

Yum!!!!

To see BHG's original recipe, go here.

Add a Little Zing to Your Winter Soup!

Since we moved to New Mexico, it has definitely been a little chilly! It even snowed twice and it's still snowing today. We are loving it! Since the temperatures have been low, I thought I'd bring up the heat in the kitchen with this spicy and delicious soup.

If you and your eating companions aren't a huge fan of spicy food, I'd use a Serrano chile instead of a jalapeño.

Picante Pepper Bisque

Ingredients:
1 medium green bell pepper - seeded and diced
3 medium sized red bell peppers - seeded and diced
1 jalapeño or serrano chile - seeded and diced
1 large onion - finely chopped
Pinch of paprika
1/2 cup cooked basmati rice
4 cups defatted chicken or vegetable broth
1 tbsp red wine vinegar
salt

Method:
Combine the peppers, chile, onion, paprika, rice, and broth in a large soup pot over medium heat. Bring this to a boil.

When it comes to a boil, reduce the heat to medium-low and partially cover the soup pot. Simmer until the vegetables and rice are completely tender.

Either transfer the soup to a food processor or blender or use an immersion blender in the soup pot. Process the soup until it is smooth. (If you immersion blend in the soup pot, make sure to remove from heat first).

Return the soup to medium-low heat until the soup is reheated.

Salt to taste.

Enjoy this soup with some crusty bread - I made sesame whole wheat bread to go with ours

On another totally separate note, you should all head over to One Fine Day, a blog written by a fellow AF wife. She's having a giveaway of these adorable chalkboard tags. Apart from the tags, her blog is just amazing and worth a visit (or a lot of visits)! Go here for her giveaway.

Semi - Unpacked and Back in the Kitchen

Well, we're in our house! We are loving it! We've already experienced the joy of home ownership when our sink had a major clog the day before Thanksgiving. Lots of advice and elbow grease later, we finally got it cleared up (Sorry that might be gross, but we thought it was funny).

Now that we're kind of moved in and semi unpacked, I'm back in the kitchen whipping up food. My first trial run with this kitchen was ---- Thanksgiving ----! Crazy!

Since it was just Will and I we had a little roasted turkey breast (I used a Bobby Flay recipe), sage turkey gravy,  mashed potatoes, mashed sweet potatoes, a tiny green bean casserole, curried cranberry relish, and pumpkin pie. We made small servings of everything except for the pumpkin pie. No need for a small serving of that - haha.

I didn't take pics of much, but here are some terrible pics of my turkey - it tasted great!

If you're interested in the recipes, go here for the  no brining and no bagging Bobby Flay turkey recipe and go here to check out the absolutely amazing Curried Cranberry Relish recipe that my friend Liz has on her blog. You really need to check out this recipe for the cranberries. The taste of the relish is fresh, tangy, sweet, and the perfect texture that has a little crunch, but isn't too crunchy. I might make this to just have around because it was soo good!

Sorry for being MIA lately, hopefully now that we're settled, I'll get back in the groove! My first trick will be using my home made turkey stock to make some soup!

I'll leave you with these thoughts:

A little bit of empathy goes a long way

What little things made you happy today?

Cobbler - The Healthy Way

Since I began my quest to eat healthy, I have been LOVING my Rocco DiSpirito, "Now Eat This" cook book. All of the dinner, lunch, breakfast, and snack recipes have been amazing! So filling and so healthy. The desserts have been hit or miss for me. The cobbler, with a few tweaks is now a favorite. I thought I'd share it with you guys!

Healthy Cobbler
Ingredients:
5 Golden delicious apples - peeled, cored, and cut into large slices
1 lemon
1 tbsp cornstarch
1" Ginger root
2 tbsp Cinnamon
1/4 c Dried cranberries
1/4 c Agave nectar
3/4 c Whole Wheat baking mix
1/4 c Fat Free milk
2 tbsp turbinado sugar

Method:
Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Spray an 8x8 baking dish with non stick cooking spray and set aside.

In a bowl, mix apples, juice of one lemon, cornstarch, 1 tbsp cinnamon, cranberries, and agave. Also grate, using a zester, the 1/2" of ginger into the bowl. Put mixture in pre greased baking sheet.

Using the same bowl (which is now empty), combine baking mix, as much of the remaining ginger (zested) as you'd like, 1 tbsp cinnamon, and milk. Stir until the mixture is well mixed. It should be the consistency of biscuit dough.  Add more milk if necessary. Drop spoonfuls of dough evenly over the fruit. Sprinkle sugar over the dough.

Bake the cobbler until the fruit is tender and the biscuit topping is golden brown, about 20 minutes. Let the cobbler rest for 5 minutes before serving.

Health Facts per serving:
165 calories
1 g fat,
0 mg cholesterol
126 mg sodium
40 g carbohydrate
2 g fiber
1 g protein

For my Weight Watcher friends, 1 serving is 5 points :D

This should serve 8 people. If you'd like to save an additional 23 calories a serving, omit the cranberries and turbinado sugar.

Yum!

Also, if you are looking for an awesome workout, you should check out the Tone It Up Fall Challenge. It's a great way to keep up the motivation! I am loving it and so is Allie over at Teaspoon of Life!

Remember, now that fall is approaching and it's cooling down out there, our furry children love to stay healthy, too! So make sure they're getting outdoor time and exercise (Mack wanted to make sure to get that plug in since our outdoor running has started again).

Loaded Chicken Tortilla Soup

I love chicken tortilla soup and I found a great recipe in Better Homes and Gardens. I tweaked it a bit and came up with a soup recipe that keeps all the delicious flavor in chicken tortilla soup and adds a ton of veggies!!

Loaded Chicken Tortilla Soup


Ingredients:
6 cups chicken broth
2 cans white breast chicken meat
1 large yellow onion - chopped
4 carrots - chopped
1 bunch celery - chopped
1 bunch cilantro - washed and finely chopped
1 1/2 tsp cumin
1 tsp chipotle chili powder
1/2 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp oregano
2 bay leaves
2 cups sugar snap peas - cut in half
2 small zucchini -cut into 1/4" slices
1 can diced tomatoes
1 jalapeno - seeded and finely chopped
1 bag of baked tortilla chips

Method:
In a 6 quart soup pot, combine chicken broth, chicken, onion, carrots, celery, cilantro, cumin, chili powders, oregano, and bay leaves. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer, uncovered until carrots are tender - maybe 45 minutes to an hour.

Add sugar snap peas, zucchini, tomato, and jalapeno. Simmer three minutes or until tender. Taste and season with salt.

When ready to serve add a handful and crushed tortilla chips to the bottom of bowl before adding soup.

Enjoy this awesome soup that is loaded with flavor and veggies!!

Watermelon Killer Chiller

My mom saw this recipe in her Rachael Ray Magazine and decided to pass it along to us. We checked it out, tweaked it, and LOVED it!

The original recipe:

Watermelon Killer Chiller

Ingredients:
1 Watermelon (6lb)
12 oz Vodka
12 oz Lemon Lime Soda
1/2 c. Fresh Lime Juice

Method:
Slice off top quarter of watermelon. Scoop out flesh, puree and strain into bowl. Stir in vodka, soda, and lime juice. Use watermelon as punch bowl.

Our tweaks:
There are only two of us, so we cut up half a watermelon. 
Then we pureed the watermelon in a plastic pitcher with an immersion blender. 
We figured we wouldn't drink it all at once, so we mixed the the juice of three fresh limes in the watermelon puree, but not the rest of the ingredients.


Then we poured some puree into glasses and added the soda and vodka to our individual glasses. We just eyeballed an amount that looked like it would taste good (definitely less than 12 oz). 


If you have time to let the watermelon puree chill before you mix and drink it, it tastes even better!

Enjoy!

Make sure to use your extra watermelon puree in two or three days :D

We didn't let our puree chill, so we threw a couple ice cubes in

Slow Roasted Tomato Sauce

I always love a good pasta sauce and this sauce blew my expectations out of the water. It was so delicious there might not have been any left. If you have the time to try this out, it is worth the time investment!

Slow Roasted Tomato Sauce and Pasta

Ingredients:
3 lb Roma Tomatoes - cored and halved lengthwise
EVOO
Salt & Pepper
Minced garlic
1/4 tsp crushed red pepper
12 oz uncooked whole wheat pasta
1 small herb pack of fresh basil

Method:
Preheat oven to 225

Place tomatoes on a jelly roll pan lined with aluminum foil. Drizzle evo on top of tomatoes and sprinkle on salt and pepper. Mix your tomatoes around to make sure they all get olive oily.

Bake for 4 hours.

When tomatoes are done baking, heat a large skillet over low heat. Add 2 tsp olive oil and garlic. Cook for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. After 10 minutes add tomatoes and red peppers to the garlic.

Cook pasta in boiling water until almost al dente (about 8 minutes).

Drain pasta, reserving 3/4 c. cooking liquid. Increase heat to medium high under tomato mixture and stir in reserve cooking liquid. Bring tomato mixture to a boil.

Cook for 3 minutes. While this is cooking, tear basil into pieces and add to tomato mixture.

Serve sauce over pasta and add parmesan cheese to taste.

Enjoy!!!

Amazing!

Bonus thought: This recipe only has 389 calories per serving, so really enjoy it!

Recipe Catch Up - My Favorite Cook Book EVER

One of my favorite projects I started since I got married is my recipe book. I have subscriptions to Real Simple and Better Homes and Gardens Magazine. I love all the recipes that come out of these magazines, but it gets really inconvenient to have tons of magazines laying around. Not to mention I can never remember which issue any recipe is in. So, forever ago, I started clipping recipes and organizing them by major ingredient category and then alphabetically in a binder.

I was doing great! Then we moved....haha. I realized this week I had about 6 months worth of Real Simple and Better Homes and Gardens and a rando Cooking Light that magically appeared in my house. So, yesterday and today, I turned on some TNG (that's Stark Trek: Next Generations to you people who don't know what that is) and got to work. I finished up today and am so excited to have rediscovered so many new recipies! So excited!

If you'd like to make your own, you need:
1 super cute binder
Magazines with recipes
Plastic page protectors (one for every two recipes)
Dividers

Step #1 - cut out all your recipes
Step #2 - figure out how to divide up your book (I have mine set up as: Soup/Salad, Beef/Pork (and lamb), Chicken/Turkey, Fish, Sauces/Drinks/Desserts)
Step #3 - Divide your recipes into above sections and alphabetize them
Step #4 - Put the recipes in the page protectors with one recipe showing on each side
Step #5 - Put it all in your binder and you have your own cook book
Step #6 - Periodically add new recipes from your magazines to your cook book

I also have a mini file folder thing that I keep interesting articles in.

Too many magazines!!!

Look how fat it's gotten

Check out the start of the beef section

Other articles

Ginger Marinated Steak and Noodle Salad

I am always about trying new things and this recipe in the May edition of Real Simple seemed like the perfect new thing. I've had yummy noodle bowl type foods at restaurant but never made any at home. With this quick and easy recipe, it was the perfect trial run for at home noodle bowls!

Ginger Marinated Steak and Noodle Salad

Ingredients:

• 1/3 cup soy sauce
• 2 teaspoons grated fresh ginger, plus 6 thin slices
• 1 1/2 teaspoons crushed red pepper
• 1/2 cup plus 3 tablespoons rice vinegar
• 4 tablespoons brown sugar
• 3 tablespoons canola oil
• 1 1/2 pounds flank steak
• kosher salt
• 3/4 pound carrots, thinly sliced
• 1 jalapeño pepper, sliced lengthwise (seeded if desired)
• 8 ounces rice noodles (often labeled as “pad thai noodles”)
• 1 cup fresh cilantro sprigs

Method:

In a small bowl, mix together the soy sauce, grated ginger, red pepper, 3 tablespoons each of the vinegar and brown sugar, and 2 tablespoons of the oil. Pour two-thirds of the dressing into a shallow baking dish, add the steak, and refrigerate, turning once, for at least 1 hour and up to 12 hours. Set aside the remaining dressing.

In a small saucepan, bring to a boil ½ cup water, the remaining ½ cup of vinegar, the remaining tablespoon of brown sugar, the sliced ginger, and ½ teaspoon salt. Add the carrots and jalapeño and simmer until the carrots are crisp-tender, 1 to 2 minutes. Transfer the mixture to a bowl and refrigerate until cool, at least 1 hour.

Fifteen minutes before serving, cook the noodles according to the package directions; rinse.

Meanwhile, heat the remaining tablespoon of oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Cook the steak to the desired doneness, 4 to 6 minutes per side for medium-rare. Let rest 5 minutes. Slice and serve on the noodles with the pickled vegetables, cilantro, and reserved dressing.

Enjoy!!!

Pesto Orecchiette with Chicken Sausage

This recipe is straight out of the May 2011 Real Simple Magazine. WM and I loved this recipe. The only changes I made to it were to use one bag of frozen green beans instead of fresh and instead of regular chicken sausage I purchased andouille chicken sausage. I hope you love this as much as we did!


Pesto Orecchette with Chicken Sausage
Ingredients:

• 12 ounces orecchiette
• 1/2 pound green beans, trimmed and cut into 1-inch pieces
• 1 cup frozen peas
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 8 ounces fully cooked Italian-style chicken sausage links, thinly sliced
• 1/3 cup pesto
• 1/2 cup grated Parmesan (2 ounces)

Method

Cook the pasta according to the package directions, adding the green beans and peas during the last 3 minutes of cooking. Reserve 1 cup of the cooking water; drain the pasta and vegetables and return them to the pot.

Meanwhile, heat the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the sausage and cook, turning occasionally, until browned, 6 to 8 minutes.

Add the sausage, pesto, Parmesan, and ½ cup of the reserved cooking water to the pasta and vegetables and toss to combine (add more cooking water if the pasta seems dry).

Delicious!!!
Look, you can see some of WM's mass amounts of study material in the background.  Haha. True to life moment...

How Many Times Can I Go on Hiatus and Come Back (sitcoms do it all the time)?

Well, it has been many, many, many, many, and many more days since I have posted. I'd like to blame my inactivity on work, but that is only part of it. The fact is that my life got busy and between my new job and all my old commitments, I got a little overwhelmed and climbed into a hole that was filled with instant netflix and lots of books. After almost finishing MI-5 (I'm saving a few episodes because I don't want it to end), constantly adding books to my goodreads account (check out my sidebar to see what I'm reading), and forgetting to ever work out, I have crawled out of my hole and reemerged into civilization. I am so sorry for my absence to those who have missed me. I'm back for good this time (until my next accidental hiatus).

Here is a quick run down of what I have and have not been doing:

#1 - We went an awesome air show hosted at our base. Our favorite event of the day was the Fat Albert demonstration.

Part of a short field take off

#2 - I did not run at all because I was so tired from work. However, I am back on the work out wagon and have my next 5k scheduled for this coming Saturday.

#3 - One of the horses shut me in the feed room last week.

The guilty party who will remain nameless

#4 - I registered for Pi Beta Phi convention!!!!!! So excited!!!!

#5 - I slacked on my siesta verses, but have caught myself back up: since my last entry here are my verses:
*3/1 (I'm not sure if I posted this one): But as for me, I will watch expectantly for the LORD; I will wait for the God of my salvation. My God will hear me.
Micah 7:7
*3/15: And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. 
Hebrews 12: 1b & 2a
*4/1: Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.
1 Corinthians 15:58
*4/15: Yet the LORD longs to be gracious to you; therefore he will rise up to show you compassion. For the LORD is a God of justice. Blessed are all who wait for him!
Isaiah 30:18
*5/1: Rely on the Lord! Be strong and confident! Rely on the Lord!
Psalm 27:14
To check out Beth Moore's awesome blog, including the Siesta verses, go here. I have been using her verses as my own because they are awesome!! I have to say that my own Siesta verse partner has been doing much better than me, so props to my awesome Mom!!


#6 - I drank lots of coffee (wait, I always do this).


#7 - My exercise buddy Allie did the most amazing thing ever, which is to run her first half marathon! I think this is sooo cool. I'm so proud of her and her friend Cortney and I wish I could have been in Cincinnati to cheer them on! To read all about the Flying Pig Half Marathon that Allie did, go here.

#8 - Mack got shaved for the summer heat. This was semi traumatic for him. He hopes we'll go somewhere  cold next so he never has to get shaved again. Check out his before and after pics:

Last day of shag!

He's so pouty since the haircut. If he was standing, you'd see no belly or butt feathering and way less hair everywhere else. The goose was his toy for being good at the groomer. He picked it at Petsmart.

#9 - I cooked some. Be on the look out for recipes. For example, go here to check out my newest clam recipe. I have never cooked clams before, so this was a new experience.

Delicious!

#10 - I made sweet wall decorations for my soon to be nephew.

I only took a pic on my phone. Sorry it's fuzzy!

#11 - I made a giant wall countdown chain to countdown the days till pilot training is over. Here is what it looked like when I made it and what it looks like tonight. Tonight it is at 66 days left!

Sooo many links!

There's not many left - Oh my!

All in all, life has been crazy but good. Hopefully I'll be back in another day or so to share lots of pictures, fun times, and food. I also hope to be sharing how much I've been working out. haha!