Butter Lettuce Wrapped Tacos

Ryan and I are changing our eating habits.  We aren't notoriously poor eaters, but we have our bad habits.  I have a sweet tooth and love my dark chocolate.  Ryan loves his beer.  Those two loves have not been in our lives since Monday morning bright and early.  We eat eggs for breakfast, 2 pieces of fruit and two dairy products (I opt for coconut/almond milk) before 2pm, unlimited lean protein and unlimited vegetables.  We also drink lots of water and green tea.  Since it's been a little chilly, we have been drinking hot green tea.  I know this diet sounds pretty intense, but it's not that bad (for me).  I eat fairly similar to this on a daily basis, but my husband does not.  Let's just say he is not enjoying it.  We are loosing weight though.  I am down a little over 4 lbs and he is down a little over 5 lbs.  I doubt I will lose much more because I'm close to my natural/healthy/comfortable weight. 

Being on a diet like this makes us be creative in how we see foods and especially how we make dinner, well how my husband makes dinner.  I work longer hours and don't enjoy cooking nearly as much as he does, so he is the resident chef.  Last night he made Pulled Chicken Tacos in Butter Lettuce Wraps!  Oh my heavens!  They were amazing!  

Ingredients:

• Chicken breast
• Black or Pinto Beans
• Avocado
• Lime
• Jalapeno Pepper
• Onion
• Tomato
• Garlic
• Butter Leaf Lettuce
• Salsa
• Salt & Pepper

Recipe:

• Slow cook chicken breast & pull apart (we used leftovers from another meal)
• Prepare guacamole using avocado, lime, garlic (minced), salt and pepper
• Chop & mash avocado
• Juice half lime
• Mince garlic
• Mix together
• Prepare Pico de Gallo
• Finely chop Onion, Tomato, and Jalapeno & mix
• Cook beans on stove top until mushy
• Smash with back of fork
• Add salt to taste
• Rinse Butter Leaf Lettuce and pat dry
• Serve
• In lettuce leaf, put beans, guacamole, chicken, pico, salsa (your choice)

Enjoy!

Christmas Morning

Christmas mornings are about Baby Jesus and children...and coffee!  It's a tradition in our house to all gather in the hallway and sing Happy Birthday Baby Jesus in the most amazing morning voices and we do it without shame.  It's a little tradition that some think is goofy or silly, but I love it!  It's free, it's unique, it keeps Christ in Christmas and it's our tradition... I am a sucker for traditions and am beyond excited to have babies and carry on and create traditions for my little family to be. Singing Happy Birthday will definitely be carried on! 

The children.  

This year the only child, who really is a teenager and much more mature than I ever was at her age, but will always be my little sister, was quite a joy this year!  She has an extremely sweet demeanor, puts thought into Christmas presents and truly appreciates the gifts she receives.  I have my children learn these qualities as early in life as my little sister did!  She's always had a huge heart!  This year she used her own money that she earned from doing yard work for a neighbor to buy Christmas presents for everyone.  This isn't a small feat.  We have a large family.  2 parents, 5 siblings, 2 brother in laws, 4 nieces & nephews, and 2 pets.  Yes, she bought for all of them.   Here she is on Christmas morning reading about a present that hadn't arrived yet.  She was happy!

This year our little man was with his mom.  It wasn't quite the same.  Nothing is quite the same, but let me say, THANK GOD FOR SKYPE!  Seriously!  Skype has saved us this year and this holiday season.  While he wasn't with us, we were able to watch him open all his presents from us, see his face, wish him a Merry Christmas and share in the excitement of Christmas morning. 

This year we gave him woodland camoflague pants and hat, a mini Nikon camera with wifi that he can fit in his pocket and document his life and hunting expeditions in Iowa, a few CDs, a few books that he is actually reading thanks to some wonderful suggestions from my history loving best friend, an over the door basketball hoop, and I made him a quilt from all of the races we did together! Here's a cellphone picture of the quilt.  Yes, my husband is holding it up over his head.  The quilt has shirts from races we ran together with fleece trim and fleece backing.  Since him and his daddy love to golf together, I used a print that reminded me of golf.

 

Ryan and Lira were super cute Christmas morning.  Him in his ballcap.  Her in her Christmas sweater!  I love these two.  

And since I love surprise gifts sooo much, I surprised Ryan with...

 

a guitar!!!

I got it off craig's list for a great deal because I wasn't 100% sure that Ryan would actually like it.  Well, the present was and still is a success!  He has taught himself multiple chords thanks to iPad apps and youtube and he can play what actually sounds like music!  It's quite impressive!  It's super sexy to have a man who can play an instrument!  I can't wait until he's actually good and can sing too!!  Ahh!  I'm melting just thinking about it.

I hope your Christmas was amazing!  Happy New Year!  May 2014 be amazing!
Much love.

Our 2013 Recap

Every year my husband writes a letter for our Christmas cards and I design the cards.  I absolutely love reading about our year from his perspective.  While I've edited this letter a bit, the bulk of the letter is still intact.  Enjoy our 2013 recap.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * 

**It was written in November 2013.
 

Hello Family & Friends!

It’s been another crazy year for us.  I’m not sure where 2013 went, but in looking back it seems to have flown by.   Our little family continues to be blessed with knowing all of you, our steady jobs, good health, and quite a bit of fun.

Sarah has certainly had a busy year.  She still works as a financial analyst for the same coffee roasting company, and her job has grown in scope and importance.  Knowing how hard she works makes her list of extracurricular activities even more impressive.  She continues to dance competitively, and won her division in both the spring and fall Arthur Murray invitationals up in Washington DC.  I got to join her to watch one evening of the fall event, and boy is that an intimidating environment.  Hard bodies, skimpy clothes, judges with piercing looks, constant changing and dancing.  I could never do it, but Sarah thrives on it.  She’s still dancing between one and three nights a week and I join her once in a while.  We’ve made great friends at the Arthur Murray studio.  Sarah’s big summer accomplishment was training for and completing her first half marathon!  She ran the Rock n’ Roll half in Virginia Beach and survived mostly unscathed, with just some IT band pain that took a few weeks to heal.  Her friend from college came down and ran with her and they had a great time.  Sarah’s also tutoring occasionally, and for the last several weeks has spent one night a week working with a 9-year-old girl and 13-year-old boy.  She was recommended for and recently accepted a job teaching the math portion of the evening GMAT prep course at Old Dominion University, which will start in February.  On top of all this, in her “spare” time, Sarah’s become a professional-quality photographer.  She created Turnaround Photography and is in the process of gathering a client base and getting the word out.  We just heard that she’ll be taking photos for one of our favorite local bands!  Most evenings are spent editing photos with the puppy curled up on her lap.

My (husband -Ryan, author of this letter) year started with my back pain intensifying, and once my MRI finally got in front of a neurosurgeon, they made the decision to operate immediately.  My bulging L5 disc was “molesting” my S1 (sciatic nerve) according to the doc, and I had a micro discectomy in early February.  Recovering from back surgery was no treat, and was probably hardest on Sarah because I was pretty useless for a few weeks.  Still, I eventually recovered and thankfully have none of the sharp pain that I had before.  I still experience some general lower back soreness, but that has subsided over the year with exercise and stretching.  I was back to golfing six weeks after surgery and started working hard to get back to where I left off.  I had a very up and down tournament season.  On the good side I qualified for the Virginia Tournament of Champions and won my club championship by a landslide.  I also had my best ever “major” tournament finish, in the Virginia Public Links Championship at Golden Horseshoe Club up in Williamsburg, where I qualified for match play and then won all of my matches before losing 1-down on the 18^th green in the semifinal match.  I sort of slumped after that though, and finished middle of the pack in the Virginia Mid-Amateur and missed the cut in the Middle Atlantic Amateur.  Still, it was a good year considering the surgery and trying to finish school.  On that note, I finished my MBA from Penn State University in August – a culmination of two long years of constant work.  I spent a week up in State College doing my final residency and capstone project and had a blast.  When I’m not golfing I enjoy cooking, walking the puppy, and date nights with Sarah.  I serve as the tournament director and secretary of my golf club’s men’s association, so I’m constantly dealing with issues that come up at the course.

Jared, or J-man as he is usually called, has definitely exited boyhood and is firmly into the preteen years (he’ll be 12 in March).  He began the year as a 5^th grader and continued to do well, making honor roll every term, and “graduating” from elementary school in June.  He played baseball this spring in the pony league and had a much better experience than last year.  He’s now playing with 12-year-olds, some as tall as me, so it was kind of funny watching little J-man run around with them.  He did well though, and started most games at 2^nd base.  While hitting didn’t go so well, we learned that the kid is an awesome bunter and with his speed he found the base a good percentage of the time.  The sad news with J-man is that we had to give him up to his mother for the next school year, part of a pre-arranged agreement we had, and he moved with her to Southeastern Iowa in late July.  It’s been a strange transition, especially when we’ve been used to having kids run through the house for two years.  More alone time and more golf/dance time, but I can tell you we prefer to have the kids and the mess.  Sarah and I took a road trip out to visit him in October (WAY cheaper than flying, and I have trucker blood after all), and put nearly 2,600 miles on a rental car in five days.  We got to play Jared’s golf course, explored Iowa City (home of the University of Iowa), spent time at the Amana Colonies (a former religious colony turned touristy area), and just enjoyed being together.  He lives in a very small town, less than 2,000 people, and he can ride his bike through town safely to his joint middle/high school.  He’s enjoying the 6^th grade, and he’s doing better than we expected.  I can see that kind of rural life being good for him for a while.  When he comes back depends on my schedule and on when we start producing more mini-Nolan’s.  The separation has been made easier by the wonders of technology.  We have nightly Skype calls, and he can email and text now, so I’m far more comfortable than with previous separations.  Sometimes “Dad eyes” or “Sarah eyes” go a long ways.

By far the most loved and most spoiled member of the family is little Lira.  Even though she’s five years old she’s still “the puppy”, and if you haven’t met her, it’s hard to describe her goofy personality.  I’ve had some spoiled dogs growing up but this little one takes the cake.  She shares our eggs in the morning, peanut butter when I make my sandwich, and darn near eats at the table with us.  She likes to prowl the house at night but usually scratches the side of the bed until I pick her up and put her between us, usually around 4am.  She lives for her afternoon walks, sleeping in with Sarah on the weekends, and of course food!  We love that crazy puppy. 

Next year will likely be one of major transition.  Most importantly new mini-Nolan’s are on the horizon.  None baking in the oven yet, but we’re reviewing the recipe, if you will.  Uncertainty has pretty much become the norm for us, so we’re just trying to have fun in the meantime.  We have lots of plans for 2014 that we’ll try to squeeze in among the madness.  Those include a West Coast trip for my annual golf tournament with dad, the family reunion in Iowa, and several visits up to visit Sarah’s family.  As I write this, Sarah and I are four days away from jumping on a plane to Dunn’s River, Jamaica near Montego Bay.  This is our first vacation alone together since our honeymoon and we’re excited to soak up the sun and the fruity drinks (and catch up on sleep). 

We wish you and your families a safe and happy holiday season.  May 2014 be a great year for you all.

Oh Philadelphia

Oh Philadelphia how I adore you and thank you for all the wonderful memories.  From an outsider looking in, I can see how they only see an old, dirty city, but for me, I see memories, lots of wonderful memories!  I see art, history, great food, snazzy bars, college memories, first jobs...  It's my city.  It's the city I know and love.  It's Philadelphia, the City of Brotherly Love!  As I am writing this the city is preparing to dominate the Cowboys.  Go Eagles!  

Over Christmas, Ryan and I were able to sneak in a visit with Delia and Bud in downtown Philly!  To say it was fun would be an understatement.  It rained the entire time we were there, but we made the most of it!  We started out by meeting Delia and Bud at the Reading Terminal!  The best friend, I missed you, You look Amazing, I love you, hug was perfection!  I love raw best friend hugs and that's exactly what Diz and I had.  It was perfect!  She was waiting in line when we met up because my lovely husband had to have the "Best Sandwich in America,"  the Pork and Broccoli Rab sandwich at DiNiC's in the Reading Terminal.  After getting our sandwiches, we found a seat, chowed down, shared a cookie and headed to get a drink.  We found a swanky bar with a great beer list and we settled right in! There is something to be said for easy conversation.  I love how comfortable I feel with Delia and Bud and I really love how comfortable my husband feels with them.  I'm very lucky to have amazing girlfriends who have amazing significant others. 

After a few beers and an abundance of quality and quick hilarious conversation, we headed outside to find the rain at subsided momentarily!  It was picture time for sure! 

Ryan & I (Thanks Diz for snapping this picture!)

Delia & Bud! I love these two!!

The boys were sweet enough to get us some hot malt wine while Delia and I browsed a few shops, made a return and enjoyed some girl time.  This is Delia's classic face!  Gosh I love her!

And here we are! Thank God for studying abroad in Galway, Ireland and being roomed with this lovely lady!

Today, I thank God for friends!

Much love.

I Love Weekends!

I love weekends! Driving home from work on Friday makes me giddy because I know I have three nights and two days that I can fill with things that I want to do!  On Friday, Ryan and I made a spur of the moment decision to go out to dinner, hit up the local Target and find some live music!  All were accomplished and were a great success!  We went to Mexican because that is our go to comfort food and after the week we had both just had, comfort food was on the menu.  Gorging ourselves in chips and salsa was heavenly!  I think I gained 5 lbs in one sitting.  Ugh. Sometimes it’s nice to get out of the house, be served and just sit back and talk.  Don’t get me wrong, we talk at home, but when we are out to dinner, we don’t have the distractions at home.  We are forced to stay seated and focus on one another.  It’s good. 

 

After dinner we went to Target to find a bathing suit, white T-shirts and Christmas lights for our bedroom.  We left with white T-shirts and two decorative Christmas pillows.  No lights, no bathing suit…wrong season for the latter. It was after Target that our night really started!  We hit up this bar/restaurant called Grumpys for a local band that we had heard good things about, but had never seen.  Well, let me tell you, those 15-17 year old boys rockin out on the stage were freakin awesome!  If you are in the Virginia Beach area and are in the mood for some good 90’s music with a few originals thrown in there, look up the band MOCEAN.  They were great!  Their families were there because they are under the age of 21, heck they are under the age of 18, but Lord Oh Lord, they were good!  The bass player was insane and the vocals were clear.  It was a great show and no cover…tips appreciated. 

MOCEAN Band

 

Saturday morning I slept in with my puppy and didn’t do much of anything until 10 when I decided to walk Lira, rake the yard, mow the yard, dust, vacuum, clean the bathrooms, scrub the kitchen, put away my weekend bags and clear my dresser.  Basically I went from super lazy to insanely busy in a matter of seconds.  Oh and in the middle of all that I took pictures of my friend’s pups!  They are a hoot! 

She was born to sniff and she rocks it!

Fruit and peanut butter is my favorite!

Hubby got home toward the end of my madness and joined right in!  He changed the oil in my car, added some wiper fluid because I go through that stuff like it’s my job…it’s because I have a small car that sits nice and low to the ground, big trucks like to splash me, birds love to poop of it and bugs can’t avoid my windshield.  He also started the laundry, took out the trash and recycling and then we ran errands.  It was a productive days.  Productive days make the weekends feel longer because I can look back and see what we accomplished. 

We bought wine and sparkling cider for Thanksgiving!  It's our contribution since we travel.

That evening we took it easy, had breakfast for dinner and watched Skyfall.  It was a good one in my humble movie opinion.  Basically I didn’t fall asleep and I didn’t cover my eyes, so it was a winner in my book. 

Martini and potato pancakes for dinner!

Sunday was a good day too!  Ryan got up early to golf and I headed to Church by myself.  I’m glad I am back in the swing of going to Church.  I feel more at peace when I do.  After Mass I walked Lira and headed to the beach to take some pictures of my friend, her husband and their adorable 39 week old little boy!  He was adorable as always and I was able to get some great candid shots! 

After spending an hour at the beach in the 70 degree and sunny weather, Ryan and I headed to Williamsburg for a little shopping.  We went to Golden Horseshoe Golf Course to spend some money he won this summer and then we went to Yankee Candle!!  Ahh!  Holiday Heaven right about now!  We got some lovely scented candles!  My home now smells of peppermint or The North Pole as Yankee Candle would suggest!  We also got Mistletoe which is evergreen heaven!  Oh my Lord! We are in love!

That evening we had a nice little dinner in, watched some football, edited some pictures, drank some wine and went to bed at a decent hour…only to be woken by a barking puppy and high winds.  I basically got 3 hours of sleep last night and I am dying today.  Yikes!  Mondays are rough as they are.  Mondays with little to no sleep are brutal. Here’s to hoping I sleep better tonight!

 

Oh and I made banana bread from these frozen bad boys.  Tip: If your bananas go brown and you don't have time to make banana bread or the like, put the bananas in your freezer.  They are easy to peel and are easy to bake with weeks later.

How was your weekend?!  Fabulous I hope!

Much love.

Rainy Day Blues

Rainy days make me want to curl up in a pile of blankets with a good, candles flickering and hot tea steaming. Today is one of those days.  It’s dreary here and while some may complain about rainy days, I enjoy them now and then.  They speak to me. Sometimes I need an excuse to stay in and not do much of anything “productive” and rainy days off that guilt-free excuse for me.  Rainy days also let me mood reflect them.  It’s ok to be dreary.  It’s good for the soul to reflect and really appreciate life for the good and bad and the lessons held within each.  Today I am missing my little man.  He was such a homebody and loved a good day of movies, cuddles, naps, a little baking and PJs.  Today is a day for that.  Instead I am headed to work and Lira puppy is looking at me like I am abandoning her.  The saying “puppy eyes” was made for her.  Holy guilt trip Batman.

J-man has been with his mom for almost two weeks now and there is still a huge hole in my heart.  I can’t go in his room without getting sad.  Finding little socks that need washing and folding doesn’t help with my missing him either.  He’s doing ok, adjusting to a new environment and routine.  Changes like these take time, but my heavens, I pray my heart out that he is happy.  He is very aware of other’s feelings and knows how to cater to them.  I make him promise that he will always be honest with me and remind him constantly that his parents and I are adults and want the best for him always.  We can handle anything; it’s our job. 

Since I’m in a reminiscing mood, here are some pictures that I took of Ryan and Jared on our last day together.  Since they are both golf lovers, I figured a five minute golf themed photo shoot was the way to go!

 

  

Looking up to his dad.

Being Goofs!





Future Golf Commercial!





See you soon little dude!  I'm going to miss these walks on the course.  We had some good conversations out there.

Much love.

Green Jeans Lead to Awesomeness

A strong desire to go on a fun date, no idea as to what fun things are happening, no babysitter in place and some killer green jeans that need to make their debut leads to one determined lady! 

Thursday afternoon our awesome neighbors and great friends said they were free and would love to babysit J-man!  Hannah and Willie, you rock! 

I slipped in my killer green jeans, black slinky shirt, black wedges and funky New Orleans earrings with no set in stone plans, but a strong desire to dance, dance, dance! 

To start the night off, we went to a guest dance party at Arthur Murray on Friday night with a feature dance by the wonderful Katie & Taras. It was a blast! Ryan and I are starting to get the hang of dancing to a variety of song, with different tempos. We aren't great by any means, but we are waaaay better than we were in January. 

 Now that you have had not one, but two sneak peaks at the green jeans, what do you think?  Too much?  Just right?  I receive a ton of compliments on them which only made me love them even more! 

After our dance party, we went to a local bar that normally has live music.  Well, we were in luck because not only was their live music, but it was live 80's music!  I looked like I planned my outfit!  It was so much fun!  I sang my heart out, danced in place and absolutely loved every minute of it! 

She was the best female vocalist and this Billy Idol impersonator was amazing!  I think he sang every song to me and it was glorious!  Ryan was like...jeez dude.

It was a spur of the moment date night gone extremely right!  Ahh...I love nights that turn out to insanely and unexpectedly fun!  Mission accomplished.

Much love.

Dance update

Ahh!  My new dance shoes!  They aren't official dance shoes, but they are pretty close to ballroom regulation style shoes and I love them!  I will never wear them outside; they are only for dance floors! 

**They were originally $60 and this thrifty lady got them for $20!  Whoop!  It was actually extremely coincidence that they were on sale, but I am still very happy about the price.**

 Tonight wasn't a super smooth night of learning for Ryan and I, but it was still fun and successful!  We were introduced to the hustle for the first time...well, the first time for Ryan.  I have been dancing the hustle for about 10 years now, so it was a snap for me.  You'd think that since I knew what I was doing, it would be easier to learn as a couple.  WRONG.  By me knowing what I was doing and Ryan not knowing, it only caused frustration.  We both had the basic steps and turns, but there was one intricate move that we just were not getting.  

So far, we have learned the Rumba, Foxtrot, Waltz, West Coast Swing, Salsa, Cha Cha, and the Hustle.  Ryan loves the West Coast Swing, Cha Cha, Rumba, and Salsa, while I love the Rumba, Foxtrot and Hustle!  I enjoy the West Coast because Ryan enjoys it so much as well!  As a matter of fact, we are going to a west coast dance club this weekend at the oceanfront that I am beyond stoked about!  It will be our first time dancing outside of the studio!!  I'll be sure to update you all on how we do! 

I hope you all had an extra sweet Valentine's Day!  Ryan surprised me with these beauties!  I absolutely love tulips!  They aren't traditional and have an elegance to them...in my mind.

Much love.



Life...

As soon as J-man got off the bus on Friday, we headed golfing!  I played really well...2 pars!!  Yay for me!  J-man played well, not his best round, but once he starting swinging hard and listening to Ryan's comments, he played much better.  We are both works in progress.  This is a fake swing, but I really liked the idea of this picture, so I made Ryan pose.

New Year Resolutions are made and quickly forgotten. Not this year, 2012 is different. I feel strong this year. My moods are strong which doesn't always bode well for those around me. My opinions are strong. My determination is strong. Frankly, my muscles are getting strong too! Thanks to yoga, dancing and medicine balls.

Dance more - check! Ryan and I had our second dance lesson and it was glorious! We both had much more fun and learned more technique. I caught a glimpse of our new and improved waltz posture and thought damn, we look good...almost like we actually know what we are doing! Go us! I received a bit more technique instruction...point my toes, pretend to dance with a book between my legs to avoid looking frog-like, keep my butt in, shoulders down and back. Overall, a good starting point for proper posture is to pretend you are zipping your jacket all the way up; this extends your spine and creates a long, beautiful posture to which you add the proper frame and leg extensions.

Read More - check! I read The Art of Racing in the Rain, am midway through The Namesake and just started reading The Hunger Games. I have the Kindle app on my iPhone and realized that I am able to borrow books from friends who have purchased kindle books! Genius! Thanks, Mel! I only have 14 days to read each borrowed book, so I am spending my spare time staring at my little iPhone because The Hunger Games are good...super easy to read, but good nonetheless.

She's my little reading companion!

Write More - check! Letters have been sent in addition to my thank you notes. There is something about new stationary that gets me in the writing mood! I've found that Marshalls has some great stationary for quite cheap in comparison to most stores. Also, I started keeping a journal. I don't write a lot, but I write enough. It's a little something that I hope to be a gift for Ryan and my children in the very distant future...

Still no job. I've been studying for my GMATs. Photography has been here and there; I seem to be getting a better grasp on my photo editing program which is nice. Walks have been part of my daily routine and this lovely lady is happy as a clam to accompany me!  The fresh air doesn't hurt one bit either.

Oh and big news in hubby's world.  The 49ers won this weekend!  We were able to enjoy a little free date time while J-man was at a birthday party!  I thought a BL Lime was a good choice...it brought feelings of summer and baseball back to me!

Speaking of baseball...J-man has tryouts for minor league in March, so we are practicing daily!  We discovered as a family that I, yes, the only girl in the house, have the best baseball technique!  My catching, throwing and fielding pretty much dominate the family.  J-man is lucky to have such a great coach except he prefers dad to coach him for real.

Good luck with your 2012 resolutions!!! Have a great week!

Much love.

I've Got the Fever

the dancing fever!

If you read this post about my 2012 goals and resolutions, you already know that dancing is on that list.  My lovely husband helped me achieve my goal and a promise we made to each other before getting married by purchasing a Groupon for 3 dance lessons. 

**Side note: Upon saying "I Do" we also made two very specific promises.  I promised that I would learn to golf and Ryan promised that he would learn to dance.  These are two things that a)we individually feel passionate about and enjoy and b) that we can do until we are much older...unlike soccer or mountain climbing.**

Dancing is something I have never had any formal training in, but have done for years and can get by on the dance floor.  I know the basics for East Coast Swing, West Coast Swing, Two-Step, Waltz, can hold my own through a line dance, fast swing i.e. the Hustle, and in general know how to move to the music.  Thanks Mom and Dad!  My love for music and dancing are two gifts, other than the obvious ones, that I will carry through life and try to instill in my children. 

So, we show up to our local Arthur Murray Dance Studios and fall in love.  The instructors look like Dancing With the Stars professionals and apparently have the hook-up there. They were nice, easy going, yet very professional.  Ryan and I hear music counts differently in our heads and our instructor picked up on that immediately and started teaching us each in our own fashion.  Before we knew it, we were doing the basic box step, a little rumba, east coast swing with the rock step, and west coast swing with the one, two, three, and, four stepping on the "and"...it was awesome! 

I was very proud of Ryan because he was completely out of his comfort zone, but still went out there and gave it his all!  That's not easy to do.  Thanks Babe!  While I don't have any photos of us looking at our feet and thinking we look ok dancing, here are some photos of our instructors...

See the personality?!?!  I do and I love it! 

We had no idea that they were ranked nationally and internationally, but they are and we totally lucked out!  Ryan's even talking about continuing lessons past the first three weeks!  I am super excited!  If I am able to take any photos next week, or if I can snap any of us practicing in the living room, I will for sure! 

Oh how I missed dancing! 

Happy (hopefully long) Weekend!  We have some fun plans - golfing, bowling, yoga, a birthday party, maybe a day at the beach and of course, some football viewing.

Much love.

Weekend Fun

Ryan and I have been doing the 17 Day Diet.  We have heard some great things about it and wanted to jump start our weight loss, so we figured we'd give it a chance.  It works.  I'm back to my normal weight and Ryan has lost 6-ish lbs.  We just wanted to drop a few pounds.  Neither one of us has insane weight loss goals.  It's a great diet if you want to restructure your meals and eat more vegetables, fruit, and lean meat.  It does take some time though and there are sacrifices as most diets require.  

This weekend was filled with lots of action!  On Friday my computer battery went kaboom...a new one is in the mail.  That was sad, but it prevented me from looking at my computer which is a good thing sometimes.  In response to my extra time, I took down all of the Christmas decorations, tree and all, and cleaned the house!  Laundry, bathrooms, kitchen, bedrooms...that's the entire house!  I LOVE a clean house!  It literally makes me giddy!  Call me crazy!  That night, we watched the new Harry Potter in HD and it was ok... I never read the books, but all the hype had my expectations sky-high and it was a flop in my opinion.  

Saturday was glorious!  I went to yoga with my friend Julia and it was so needed!  Yoga works my body in ways I never work it.  I was feeling the alligator the next morning.  Holy Cow my arms are weak.  Balancing on my right side was a breeze, but I looked like a swaying tree when balancing on my left leg.  I blame my lack of balance on my knee surgery when I was 17. 

That evening, Ryan, J-man, Julia and I all went ice skating!!  I am proud to announce that Julia and I didn't fall!  J-man fell quite a lot which is to be expected because he had no fear and it was his first time ice skating.  Ryan didn't fall until he started to get cocky! Bahahaha!

Julia, Ryan and J-man all ready for some fun!

Ryan and I ready to hit the ice!  I was so excited!  I grew up ice skating, so this was a fun night out for me with little to no stress or anticipation.  Plus, I got to wear my super cool and crazy hat!  Totally stoked!  

**Little fact:  I had double bladed ice skates when I was little...4-6 years old.  My siblings and I used to skate on the creeks and ponds that line our property.  Avoiding the bumps, branches, snow puffs, and holes made us pretty talented skaters!

 

Bracing himself for the ice and watching the zambonie making the ice extra smooth and slippery.

 Off he goes!

Lira was a lazy puppy and enjoyed the sun streaming through the windows all weekend long!

Sunday Funday

We started the day off right with Mass!  It was an exceptionally long Mass, but it was very nice and my favorite priest!  Since it was the feast of the Three Kings, I received my last and truly appreciated, dose of Christmas songs!  This Christmas season I felt that Christmas songs were not embraced at my new parish as they have always been at my childhood parish.  It was disappointing.  Needless to say, I thoroughly enjoyed belting We Three Kings this past Sunday!  Ryan felt differently about singing Christmas carols after Christmas, but to each their own. 

After nourishing our spirits in Mass, we ventured over to Costco where Jared sampled absolutely everything and Ryan and I made selections to nourish our bodies.  Costco is an amazing place.  There are some great deals there..and there are some not so hot deals, but in general, Costco is always a successful trip. 

 

After our morning errands, we headed home for some lunch and prepared to go golfing.  Ryan is a stud; he grew up on the golf course.  Jared is a pretty good, especially when he listens to our guidance!  He figured out we actually knew what we were talking about when he took our advice and hit a really nice drive.  Once that happened, he asked does this look right before every single shot.  He did much better after the first 4 holes.  I did well for not playing in months.  My drives were decent, my  4 wood shots were amazing, my putting was accurate, but my speed was off.  Oh and my chips were way better! With practice, I will get better.  Oh and I fed the pond a few balls...oops.  That's nothing new though.  Overall, it was a successful outing...no tears, still smiling at the end. Oh and I looked cute and used my new LaSalle golf bag! It's awesome!

 Jared showing off his skills!  He received a golf glove in his stocking and loves it!  With a little more practice and attention to his swinging, he will be a little stud.  I just want to get good enough to not embarrass Ryan on the course.  

This week has me in a tizzy.  Yesterday was Ryan's first day at his new job, Jared was at school, the house was clean, it was raining and I was at a loss.  I studied for my GMATs, looked up some jobs, and got myself into a funk.  Not having a job...a purpose as I see it...is killing me.  Please pray that I don't drive Ryan crazy because last night was one of those nights that I just wanted to be alone, cry a bit and try to figure things out.  

Here's to an uphill climb from here on out! 
Much love.

Gone Camping...

Every now and then nature calls and this weekend it called via a little trip to North Carolina for some camping with the good ol' family.  Our initial plan was to hike two and a half miles into a remote campsite, but that quickly changed when we were told there were no rivers or ponds near those sites, but an alternative option was to rent a canoe and paddle our way to a campsite.  You don't have to twist our arms much...hike 2.5 miles with a 9 year old, a puppy, three sleeping bags, a cooler, 3 backpacks OR load a canoe up, pile the kiddo, puppy and luggage in and paddle away. 

We got a little lost.  There were two sets of orange buoys and we followed the wrong ones first.  Typical.  Luckily, Ryan brought the map with us and we were quickly on our way.  The total trip was under 45 minutes with a detour as we'd like to call it. :)  The boys quickly got to work putting up our three person tent and I sorted through food and clothing so that I knew where everything was when it got dark which always seems to happen sooner then expected. 

 

Looking good boys! Chopping wood was the next item of importance!  Ryan chopped while Jared and I gathered all sorts of branches. 

I have to admit, I love it when Ryan does manly things like chop wood, work in my car, weed wack, fix the dishwasher...it just gets me every single time and he thinks I'm crazy!  Needless to say, I was smitten to see him chop wood and be all sweaty!  Love you babe!

Now that we had the goods to make a great fire, it was on to finding the perfect marshmallow roasting sticks!  Jared was stellar at finding long skinny ones and super animated about showing me how he was going to carve the tip to make it pointy.  His method was to use a tree.  My method was to ask daddy to shaved it with his knife.  I won.  Not that it was a competition though.

We took an afternoon siesta on the pond... Well, I took a siesta while Ryan and Jared paddled and Lira tried to jump overboard. 

FYI, there are fairies here.  The live in the Bald Cypress Trees, ride dragonflies from castle to castle, skip from lilypads and dance in the moonlight. 

This little guy let us get right next to him!  Literally, we could have touched him if we stretched far enough.  It was pretty neat.  He had the right amount of camouflage and had a knack for doing leg lifts.  Needless to say, I watched him for a long time.

 Wait, did I say Lira tried to jump in???  She succeeded! 

Crazy Puppy. I got nice and wet after her little escapade, but she was happy.  She needed a little cleaning as it was.  Little shaggy dogs and the woods don't mix well. A bath was first on my list of things to do once we got home the next day. 

I represented LaSalle and my dorky headlamp side while Ryan hicked his head and feet out with camo and wore a Banana Republic shirt.  We had fun and enjoyed being dirty in each other's arms!

Hot dogs were roasted and devoured.  We were hungry bears and it showed in our eating habits :) 

After 7:30 PM marshmallows were roasted and smores were made!  They tasted beyond yummy!  Did you know that Graham crackers come in mini packets for freshness?  I didn't, but I do now! 

The best part of waking up is Folgers in your cup!  A big kudos to Folgers for making these nifty coffee bags!  Folgers, I've always thought of you as a mediocre coffee, but you have proved me wrong on this front.

Chilly mornings in the woods with a little fire, coffee and your hubby are wonderful!  We look super special here :)

 All good things must come to an end...

That's a monster.  I didn't kill it.  We were in his home, so he deserved to live.  Nothing this ugly could possibly be a she, so it's gotta be a he.  Sorry boys. 

And a little trivia...  You know you're in the south when???

Cotton on the roadside, cotton in the ditch

We all picked the cotton but we never got rich
Thank you Alabama for getting that song stuck in our head the entire trip! 

Much love.