Playing Catch Up

Yikes- August 24 was my last post to you guys - I'm sooooooo sorry. This year has been flying by and wedding planning has taken a forefront to my personal writing and downtime lately. But don't worry, I have still gone out and enjoyed many places downtown with friends and family.

Let's start with some upcoming fun, then a quick recap of what I have been up to. And then I PROMISE that I will get more thorough blogs out on each of these topics below before November is over!!!

First off - can you believe we are less than two months away from Christmas! The season is upon us. I recently wrote about the downtown Waukesha happenings for the holidays for the Waukesha Pewaukee Convention and Visitors Bureau. Check out the post here.


Ok - here's a brief recap of what I have been doing.

Salsa Chicken - super simple dinner!

1. I have been experimenting with new recipes and family favorites. I try to cook one new dish a week -- sometimes they are kiddo friendly and other times, they are for more advanced palettes. I also recently completed a 10-day cleanse and it taught me a lot about my food choices and what I should be eating. I would say I haven't had any cooking "fails" lately, so that is always a plus. Meals include chicken salad (two ways), chicken cordon blue pasta, "crack" brownies (seriously so good), salsa chicken and z'paghetti noodles with shrimp.

2. I have enjoyed a few meals out and about with friends and my fiance. Gyros West, Bernie's Tap Room, Meli and Tofte's Table top the list of places I have visited late.

Lighthouse Events Pumpkin Run in Oconomowoc

3. I am really trying to get myself into a fitness schedule in addition to eating better. The wedding is coming up in less than six months and I have some work to do before the big day. I signed up again for the Winter Run Series with Lighthouse Events and just completed my first of the five. I also have been trail run/walking with my friend Tory.

Nature Trails at Retzer Nature Center, Waukesha

White Gull Inn Fish Boil

4. I recently had my bachelorette party up in Door County. We did it early because we wanted to make sure things would be open while we were up there. My MOH picked the perfect weekend and we really lucked out with weather. I ate plenty of cherry items and partook in the famous Fish Boil at White Gull Inn. Upon returning, I checked out Raised Grain's Door County Cherry IPA to reminisce on the amazing weekend. I won't be sharing all the details of that weekend, but it was a great time and we actually hope to make it an annual trip.

Raised Grain beer flight

Oscar H. Hanson Bed & Breakfast - Breakfast

5. My fiance and I just returned from a quick weekend trip to Cambridge and stayed at the amazing Oscar H. Hanson House B&B. The service was stellar and we found plenty to do in the neighboring cities to keep up entertained for a few days. We definitely will return to the B&B and maybe venture deeper into Madison next time.

Ok - so before November is over, I promise my readers will see at least four new posts. I am making a commitment with my fitness to also give myself more person time. Typing, doing crafts, or reading gives me less time to snack and more time for creative outlets.

Working Out and Refueling

As you may or may not know, I was training for a half marathon earlier this year. I fell off the training plan with my busy lifestyle and ended up just doing the 5k instead. However, I still want to run a half marathon before my 35th birthday, so that gives me......140ish days to get it done.

Training for a half marathon is quite complex and requires dedication, proper nutrition, and a variety of workouts. It's not advised to just run to prep for a half marathon. Your body will be going through a lot during those 13.1 miles, so you need to make sure you prepare it properly. And that is a whole body experience.

While I currently haven't started training for the half marathon, I do run and walk when I have time to stay active. Two years ago, I worked really hard during the summer months and lost weight and gained muscle. Unfortunately I gained some of that back and more importantly I lost the muscle. So it's time to get back to it.

Recently Nuts.com reached out to me to find out how I incorporate nuts into my workout recovery. It really defeats the purpose of a quality workout to gorge on not-so-healthy options when refueling. You won't get the progress you want and will most likely feel sluggish. Check out this great chart on post-workout snacks.

Here's my method:

Post-run, I make sure that I provide my body the fuel it needs to recover properly--a good mix of carbohydrates and protein. Sometimes I have a vanilla protein shake and other times I eat some nuts or trail mix....depending on my mood. And of course, I give my body plenty of water.

All natural almonds are one of my favorite snacks of all time. They are great when I am in need of a mid-morning or mid-afternoon snack and keep me from snacking on the junk food snacks that I typically go for. A handful provides a nice snack that is lower in calories and high in protein. Here are some other ideas of great times to eat nuts instead of junk food.

Sometimes I find it hard to find recipes that I feel have adequate amounts of protein for recovery. Nuts.com offers up some great recipes to help you pack your diet with protein in a healthy way.

So while I'm running and enjoying myself this summer in the amazing outdoors of Wisconsin, you betcha I will have some trail mix or almonds on my for recovery! And I know where to go if I happen to run out of them--Nuts.com - Their website has just about everything you can think of.

So please send those kind words of encouragement my way to help me stay on track this time and maybe you will see me out and about running and training this summer!

2015 Goals

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!


Resolutions, Goals, Intentions, Plans.....they all mean the same thing and many people make resolutions at the start of the year, only to break them and fall off the wagon within a month.

I used to be part of this group, but I have decided to make my goals more attainable and work on progressing them forward throughout the year. For example, weight gain doesn't happen in a month, so you can't expect to reverse the holiday affects completely by the end of January. But if you stick with it, you will see progress that should keep motivating you to go further.

I'm not going to layout all my goals for 2015 in the blog, but I will mention a few that I hope to work towards in 2015.

1) I hope to continue to live my healthy lifestyle. I really kicked it in gear and figured out what worked for me starting at the end of June. I made attainable goals and kept working towards smaller goals to get to that main one. Anytime you complete a goal, I feel a reward is due and I gave myself small rewards along the way. The holidays were tough for me, but I'm excited to get back at it!

2) In conjunction with the healthy lifestyle, I hope to continue my running and working out. I really got into a groove and made amazing progress on running a faster 5k. Then a miserable cough (and a possible asthma diagnosis) took me out of commission for a few months. I didn't let it completely stop me, and I now know what I can do to keep working at my goal.

3) I want to continue to eat and cook healthy. I hope to cook more at home and received some great cookbooks for Christmas. My guy likes to cook too, so I hope we can blend our flavors together and come up with some really great dishes that we will then share with all of you.

And I won't stop the recreations of my area restaurant favorite meals. The duck confit flatbread from Bernie's will be accomplished this year....thanks to finding duck breasts at Woodman's (I really didn't want to buy an entire duck and fear having to clean it!) But don't worry this won't deter me from coming to the restaurants downtown - not even a little bit.

4) I hope to grow my blog. I have a few things already in place to make this happen, but I hope that I can grow my readership and one of the best ways to do this is word of mouth. I'm out of business cards and I hope to get some new ones made so I can pass them out around the city and get them in the hands of more people. But I also would love the help of my existing community of readers to help me get new folks on board by sharing my blog and Facebook page with your friends.

5) Renovations - My condo is great and I am very happy with it as my first home. But with all things that are almost 30 years old, some work is needed. I am hoping to renovate a bathroom and get the basement back into shape after the Great Basement Flood of 2014. I also am going to rip out some plants and do a little landscaping so I can enjoy my outdoor space more this summer. Other areas to renovate include the kitchen, deck and shower, but I won't put too much on my plate for one year!

Oh if only! Maybe in my next house!

6) Try more new things. My family already tells me that I am someone that always is on the move and trying new places to eat, checking out new stores, trying a new drink, making new recipes, going to shows, networking and meeting new people. I love that I do this and I hope to continue it. I hope to try at least one "new to me" place, thing or idea a month.

6) And overall, I hope to be a more positive person. I think that moods are contagious and no one wants negativity to spread. I know that not everyday will be sunshine and rainbows, but after completing the 100 Happy Days movement on social media, I can definitely notice a difference in myself and how I view the world. My friend gave me a jar for Christmas last year to put your happy thoughts in. I read them back and it made me really happy to reminisce. I will continue to fill that jar this year!

Those are my goals for 2015 and I hope you come along for the ride! It's going to be a great year! 

Happy 2015!

100 Happy Days: Week 7

This post marks the midway point of my 100HappyDays and I have to say that I actually am feeling a lot more positive about my daily life. Sure there are things that still get on my nerves and stuff but I try to not focus on that and am looking for my happy thing everyday - no matter how small it is. 

Day 45:

Well for some reason I didn't post anything for day 45 - I did watch a lot of Gilmore Girls and relaxed until meeting a friend at a bar for the Packer game. The bar experience was just average and the Packers lost. But all in all it was a good day and I'm not sure why I didn't post about it. I find myself becoming a bit more sarcastic from watching so much Gilmore Girls in a row but not in a mean way....just adding my two cents to things like Lorelai and Rory do. 

Day 46: 

 

Beautiful sunsets really make me smile. The sky just looks amazing and I really applaud nature for showing us this so often. It's probably the last weeknight sunset I'll see in a while because the sun is now setting when I'm still at work.

Day 47:

 I packed up my car and headed up to Appleton to visit my cousin and help her get things ready for her son's birthday weekend. It was Trick or Treat as well and us adults needed something to keep warm so Spirited cocktails for us while the kids were layered up under their costumes. 

Day 48:

 Yes the birthday theme is Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and these cupcakes turned out really cute. More on the themed birthday to come after this next weekend. I really enjoy cake/cupcake decorating and themed parties. Maybe a new side job?

 Day 49:

 Took the birthday boy rollerskating and it really made me remember all the fun times at Skateland and Skate U I had in grade school. Rinks still look the same, the dice game and limbo are still played and the skates are just as ugly. However there are really cool jumbo wheeled rollerblades that are the new speed skates.

Day 50:

My first post-Day Light Savings run after work. Headlamp on the front, reflective wristband on and flashing red light on my back. No one can claim they didn't see this Minion coming by. And I ran my first 5k without stopping for a walk break. I was majorly impressed with my self and I think I'm still on a runner's high about it. Now I have to work on the speed.

#100HappyDays

100 Happy Days: Week 4 & 5

I got a little behind on posting so I did two weeks+ at one time to get you all caught up in my happiness. I hope maybe this has influenced you to at least look for the happinesses in every day life. I am really focusing on those and not the negative things. What good is it to dwell on that when you can smile and be happy?!

Here are Weeks 1, 2 & 3. 

Day 23:

Running has been going well for me lately. A little nagging knee thing is happening so I am taking more days off but my time/mile is getting closer to where I want to be!

Day 24:

Here is where my geeky side comes out because I completely and totally loved the #PRSMS at Marquette. Learning that the Brewers use one gal to run multiple social media sites for the team really surprised me but made me happy too! One gal can do it all!

Day 25: 

Eat all the pumpking things! I love pumpkin and the all of these rock. Ok the Reese's is just thrown in for it's shape but you can't beat sweet & salty at the same time! :)

Day 26: 

Again I went to Lapham with a friend and did some pretty hardcore running. My knee definitely felt it after this one. But seeing these beautiful deer that didn't spook too much when we were near was really awesome! I hope to make it to Lapham this week and get some great pics of the fall leaves!

Day 27: 

 My friend Caroline invited my mom and I and another friend and her mom to her church's annual Mother/Daughter Banquet. It was a wonderful time where the men of the church waited on us for dinner. Many laughs were shared and we all really enjoyed ourselves.

Day 28: 

I forgot to post yesterday's happy. Spending time with friends new and old and celebrating birthdays!!! ‪#‎100happydays‬ ‪#‎day28‬

Bonus photo - I didn't post a picture of the day but found this after the fact. Beers were large, lines were long, but we all had fun. 

Day 29:

Spent the afternoon with my mom watching the Packers win, hemming up some of my pants and making Banana Blueberry bread. We each got a loaf and it was so tasty!

Day 30: 

Started a new book - a recommendation from Lauren Conrad (she knows what I like to read and we never even met). So far this one is pretty good. An almost 20-year-old finds out she has a decade left of site and decides to change her life plan to do all she can while she can still see. 

Day 31: 

Fall is here and I made my favorite fall soup - Butternut Squash/Apple soup. Sooooo good! 

Day 32 & 33:

I didn't post yesterday, but this is what made my last two days happy. Meeting up with friends and trying new places! ‪#‎100happydays‬ ‪#‎day32‬ &‪#‎day33‬ 😀

 Day 34: 

I love pumpkin beer. I bought so much last year that I actually had some leftover to drink again at the start of this year's season. I can't drink them in the summer because they are too heavy but it's all I want to drink from September to March :)  This was an excellent one and I may need to find more of it. Woodman's has had the best selection so far. 

Day 35: 

Saturday was a bummer weather day and so I decided to spend it cleaning and cooking. I made a broccoli cheese soup (with Gouda!), Roasted squash and sweet potato soup, gryo meat in the crockpot and pasta with pesto sauce. I have a fridge full of food now so I don't have to worry about what to make this week for meals. 

Day 36:

 My niece & nephew are my world and I got to spend a lot of the day with them. Alex is growing into such a smart little man asking all sorts of questions and helping me back cookies by counting out the Reese's for on top. We might have eaten a few. And Maddie is my little sweetheart sharing big smiles and belly laughs with me all afternoon. 

#100HappyDays

Easy Eggs

I'm not someone that typically picks eggs for breakfast. I like French Toast, Pancakes, Waffles - the carb-loaded dishes. But this past Sunday, I decided to get myself started on the right path and eat some quality protein and make some eggs.

Omelets, hard boiled and scrambled are the only ways I like my eggs. Runny yolks gross me out! So I cracked two of them in a bowl and added some milk. This gives fluffier eggs with a smoother texture. I add a little salt and pepper right at this point so it cooks into the eggs and I don't salt them after.

I was going to go for an omelet but then decided to be less fancy and add the veggies directly into the eggs. I started by chopping some green pepper and tomato up and then added that into the pan I planned to use for the eggs. A little EVOO spray from my MISTO and then added some spinach to that. I sauteed it all for just a few minutes - the spinach was wilting and the hard crunch from the veggies was gone. I put the veggies on the side and using the same pan and another squirt or two from my MISTO, I poured in the eggs over medium-high heat.

I let the eggs sit for just a minute and tehn start scraping around the pan. Once the eggs started to clump into their scrambled state, I added in the veggies. Then just a few flips around in the pan to make sure the eggs were cooked through and voila breakfast (almost done).

I put the eggs on a plate and sprinkled a little Romano cheese over the top and served with a side of toasted light wheat bread (ok I couldn't completely ignore the carbs that were screaming my name) and some four-berry jelly. This was a great breakfast. I only missed the butter on my toast slightly but I survived. I didn't need that extra bit of fat with all I had going on.

This filled me up for all of the morning and through the Packers game (sad loss). I didn't even realize I forgot to eat lunch until I headed out on my run and realized my body was very low on fuel. After three great miles on a new route I made, I came home and made a sandwich quickly to tide me over.

Later that night I made a big pot of Broccoli Potato Cheese soup and my 'whipper-doodle' broke. For those that don't know, my whipper-doodle is the name my mom came up with for the immersion blender and it stripped out. I would guess it's two years old now and used maybe a dozen times so I'm a little bummed that it died so soon. This one was mid-range in price, so I would hope that spending a little more is going to provide me one that will last a little longer! Luckily my birthday is right around my corner and I shared with my mom the devastation of the whipper-doodle's death and she thought that a new one would make a great present!

 

100 Happy Days: Week 1

Day 1:

Couldn't find the original, but here is a screen cap from Instagram. We got Kacey (the guy) and JB (the dog) to run at Lapham Peak. We started with Asthma Hill and did a nice loop and ended at the tower. Big feat for both of them. And JB walked down the tower no problems. Up was another story for that little guy so he was carried. Extra workout for his mom. (Kacey did both on his own with only minimal complaining!) A great workout overall. 

 Day 2:

 It was a cold one this morning and I couldn't warm up at work. I was gifted some Salted Caramel Hot Cocoa and decided to try it out. Heavenly! The cup kept my hands warm and the cocoa is divine. Archer Farms (Target)

Day 3:

I went for a run right after work - the legs were ready to quit, but a few people said Hi and cheered me on to keep going and I did just that! Thank you's to all of them!!!!

Day 4:

My parents dropped off my bike a few weeks ago and I decided to take her out for a spin. It has been almost 2 years since I last went for a ride but it felt fabulous. Getting to the trail off of Meadowbrook was a little scary and I used my brakes a lot on the steep decline, but I am going to take that trail west someday! The hill up Meadowbrook was a good leg workout for sure! I have had that bike since 7th grade and she is still kickin!

Day 5:

I used a gift certificate I received last year for my birthday to treat myself to a massage. Huge shout out to Marlis at Serenity Spa for the BEST massage I have ever had. I felt more relaxed after than I have ever before!

Day 6:

Flashback to 3 years ago and our 2nd annual Brewers tailgate with the crew from Fox Run Sentry Liquor. Although the store closed 4 years ago this month, the crew still keeps in touch and we see each other often. I am so thankful for all of these people in my life and I hope the Brewers game tradition continues!

Day 7:

 

My niece and nephew are my world. I got to spend Saturday with them and my mom. Alex and I played trains, puzzles, baked cookies, and  talked a lot. Maddie is getting some teeth so she didn't want to sleep, but she liked to tell stories and be held. And I enjoyed every minute of it. 

#100HappyDays

Waukesha Upcoming Events

This weekend is the next Art Crawl in downtown Waukesha. Unfortunately I won't be able to make it as I will be standing up in my friends wedding. But I did want to share with all of you the fun things planned for this weekend and the coming weeks.

This isn't an event but I did want to share that the Clarke Hotel is now serving complimentary breakfast to their guests. This has been a long time coming and the first step in the revamping of the hotel and restaurant. I can't wait to try out the restaurant once it's open.

Every Friday thru Sept. - Waukesha Friday Night Live - 6:30 - 9 pm - listen to great music and entertainment on the streets of downtown.

Every Saturday thru Oct. - Waukesha Farmer's Market - 8 am - noon - On the riverfront in Waukesha, see a great selection of products from local vendors.

Saturday, Aug 2:


The 82nd Art Crawl is being held from 4 - 10 pm. Here is a flyer with all the information.

But before the Art Crawl the Duck Race will be held at 12:30 pm on Saturday, Aug. 2. The launch will happen at the Barstow Bridge and here is more information.

Tuesday, Aug 12: 

VOTE - Use your voice and vote in the primary election. This primary will decided the next Sheriff of Waukesha County because their is no democrat on the ballot. 

Friday, Aug. 15:

Run From the Cops 5K Fun Run - Details here 

In addition to these special events, the downtown businesses have live music and entertainment scheduled throughout the week as well as food and drink specials - so many it's hard to keep up with. Hope you can make it downtown to experience one of these events. 

Healthy Living Week 5

Well, here we are just about a week shy of my finale of my Healthy Living experiment and I have to say that I am feeling really good about myself. Sure there are areas that I have not perfected and areas that I epically failed at (dang diet soda!) but I do think that I have definitely made a conscious effort to think before I put something in my body for nutrition reasons.

Besides eating two Doritos chips off my boyfriend's son's plate at a cookout, I have not had a potato chip since Lent began. And I can say that I honestly don't miss them. Tortilla chips are another story but even those I haven't indulged on :)

I have really worked to bring down my portion size and make responsible decisions when it came to what I have ate and drank in the last few weeks.

I got in a 2 mile run last week Thursday. It was a little brisk, but I had to take off my gloves by the end as my hands were overheating. It wasn't a speedy run, but a run is still a run.

Friday I tried to make some Vegan Pumpkin muffins and banana bread to take to my boyfriend and his kiddos and had some pretty epic baking fails. Completely cooked on the top, raw on the bottom.Waaa. waaa (sad trumpet)

My mom and I deduced the cause to be that my oven only has one coil on the top and so the bottom of my oven doesn't warm as evening. So I'm essentially baking food from the top down instead of evenly around. We are going to work on some things to divert the heat better in my oven so I can bake some yummy treats and not waste food. Otherwise, I'll be in the market for a new oven soon if this doesn't work.

Saturday I met my boyfriend's kids for the first time and we started the day getting his middle kid fitted for a batting glove and baseball mit. Then off to Chuck E Cheese's where we all acted like a bunch of kids. I did enjoy a piece of pizza but mainly stuck to the salad bar. His boys actually eat rather healthy too and wanted salad instead of pizza. Some pizza was even leftover because they all liked salad so much. I got schooled in basketball against Tim's oldest but it was still a fun time. 

Sunday I came home early because Tim got called into work. I decided to try out protein powder pancakes and was a huge fan. A few different blogs that I follow (Run, Eat, Repeat and Blogilates) have talked about how yummy protein powder pancakes are but I was skeptical.

Besides the fact that the mix is rather gooey at first, these were delicious! I used 2 scoops of vanilla protein powder and 1 egg. I added just a bit of water and this made three nice sized pancakes. I added chocolate chips to the last pancake and the only issue is that the pancake starts out rather thin and eventually puffs up when you flip it. So the chocolate started to melt in the pan before the pancake was done. No syrup necessary, just a little bit of margarine and they were sweet enough. Highly recommend making these!

And now for the main event meal of the week - Mojito Shrimp tacos! I found the recipe a while back on Pinterest, but it's really from this blog.

Here are my modifications to the recipe: I used precooked shrimp, so I had to make sure I didn't turn them into chewy rubberbands by overcooking them on the grill. They really just need to get heated through.

The tortillas I bought didn't work, so I threw together some jasmine rice, salsa, cumin and onion to make Mexican rice and served it over that. It was really delicious. The mango really added the sweet flavor that I was looking for to make this meal different than other Mexican dishes.

And lastly - I have continued my "Oatmeal in the morning" routine and have almost finished all of Katie's Gourmet Instant Oatmeals. Just in time for me to get more at the Farmer's Markets. More on her oatmeal soon on the blog :)