Everybody's Working for the Weekend....

Today started out as a little of a let down. We woke up to this:


This is the view out my back door, and as you see, its raining. Not only did it rain last night, but the wet stuff decided to settle in a stay for a while. Like until 3pm! Jennifer and I had big plans to take the kiddos to the pool today (Friday is her day off work)so that we could layout and have a gab session (and eat ruebens and swedish fish!). I was a little bummed and so were my children at first, but they made the most of a free day at home and did some of this:

"Just Dance 2" Cardio and fun? Yes, please. After dancing with them for a bit (little brother joined the group as well, but he's not into dancing like the girls :), I decided to get productive! I started the laundry and set about prepping some food for the weekend.

I pulled out some veg and prepped them so I could make this:

Jana's Most Delicious Salsa!
Then I made some of this:

Mama Peas White Bean Guacamole! Its a favorite at our house!
Then, it was lunch time, so I made these:

Pineapple Chicken Quesidillas! I found the recipe over at Hungry Mom on the Run and have been drooling over them ever since!

Here's the finished product! They were excellent!
Next, I decided that supper needed to be tended to, so I started this:

This is a picture of the second step. The first was just a bunch of black beans floating in water in a black crockpot. Somehow, the picture turned out a little boring..... haha! After a couple of hours bubbling away, this is the result:
Vegatarian Black Bean Soup! Oh my yall! This was so good! I am so glad we have a crockpot full to eat the rest of the weekend. I even added a dollop of White Bean Guacamole, HIT. THE. SPOT.! I have been searching for a good black bean soup recipe ever since Jennifer and I had a Cuban version at a local sandwich shop. This is the best I have come up with and it definately made the cut!

We also have a guest tonight,

This is Jennifer's youngest with Big Sister and Little Sister. Big Sister and R are Besties, just like their moms!

Workout Re-cap:
Wednesday - 35 minutes total body strength training
Thursday - 6.5mi run
Friday - 45 minute upper body strength training (I try not to workout my lower body at all on Fridays since I do long runs on Saturdays!)

Tomorrow Jennifer and I have our long run! I'm excited, we've not been able to run together in some time! Yay!

Since I've worked hard to prep for the weekend I think I deserve a little of this,


And look, the sun has come to say hello!

Happy Friday! ~Carie

Monday, Monday

Whew! Ladies I had a busy busy weekend! I've got a lot to talk about, so lets get this party started, shall we?

Saturday Hubs and I attended his nephew's wedding. They got married in one of the prettiest churches in this area. Its right next to the local university and is just so gorgeous. The ceremony was lovely, the bride radiant, and the groom, was the groom, just kidding, he looked more handsome than I could have imagined. It was really surreal seeing him all dressed up in a tux and taking his vows. He was a freshman in high school when Hubs and I started dating. The reception was at a local yacht and country club and was so much fun! We got to spend time with family that we had not seen in years. The food was so good, I really wish I could have asked for seconds, but thought that might be tacky, ya know? The band played all Mo-town music and was so good. We all dance until our feet hurt! The brides family was so much fun and I was so glad we got to meet them. Oh and guess what the father-daughter dance was to? My Girl. How perfect. I had tears in my eyes, truly, I did.

Sunday was church of course and afterward we took the kids to eat at a new restaurant. We've been trying to not eat out on Sundays and instead cook enough for dinner on Saturday night to have for leftovers on Sunday. However, my menu plan got messed up by the wedding (which I had totally forgotten about when I made the menu plan).

After lunch I took the girls to the Y so they could play while I worked out. (Did I mention that we joined the YMCA? We did). Anyhow, I decided to take the spin class for the first time. OH MY STARS! I love it. It was tough though,but that's what I need. I am very proud that my legs are just a little sore today, but my heinie is killing me! I can barely sit girls! But I can't wait to go back!

After spin class I got the girls from childcare and let them play in the kidzone for a little while. I saw a little picnic style table off to the side where a mom and her little girl were sitting. I asked her if anyone was sitting there and she said no, so I took a seat. I told her how cute her little girl was and then we just started talking, and talking, and talking. You know how a conversation begins and it just flows so easily and goes from one subject to the next seamlessly? Well, that's how this was. She has 3 kids, 2 girls and one boy (just like me!) but her boy is in the middle (and mine is the caboose, but you knew that). We talked about books, raising kids and food (all subjects near and dear to my heart) without my remembering how we even got on those subjects. Then, the subject of blogs came up. I was hesitant. Not many people that I know in real life know that I have a blog. Theres AR, JenD, Christel, JKW, Junebug, JulieW,JulieMc, my friends Mia and Laurie and that's all. I just don't tell everyone. I don't know why, but I think that some people would think I am crazy or stuck on myself or both. I gave her the blog address of Grocery Cart Challenge because we got to talking about food budgets. She said that she had totally gotten addicted to blogs and we talked about some blogs that we liked. Then she said "Do you have a blog?" I know my face got red. I thought about lying for just a second because I didn't want this potential new friend to think I was some looney toon. But honesty is the best policy, so I said "yes, do you?" And guess what? SHE HAS A BLOG! I was so relieved. She writes about food, her kids and books (but not in that order). You can go visit her here. Go visit and give her some comment love and tell her that you found her through me. But come back here, okay, cause I might get jealous! I kid, I kid. Oh, and guess what? She wants to do the 500/50 challenge. Its kismet I tell you! (although I don't believe in that!)

Okay, so its Monday, and you know what that means! Menu Plan! I have 2 roll-over items. One because my sister-in-law is in town and made a huge roast at my father-in-laws house and invited us to eat and I provide the yummy rolls and impressed everyone! The second meal rolled over because of the wedding. So here you have it! Whats on your menu? And more importantly, do you tell complete strangers that you have a blog?

Monday - Fried Rice with egg rolls
Tuesday - Leftovers
Wednesday - Meatloaf with mashed potatoes and carrots
Thursday - Leftovers
Friday - My sister -in-laws yummy vegetable soup
Saturday - Poppy seed chicken
Sunday - Leftovers

Come on, you know you want to join....

So far we have 8 confirmed participants in the 500 miles/50 books challenge. I am very excited about this. I emailed someone about doing our little blinky but haven't heard back yet. If you haven't officially joined yet, just comment to this post and let me know.

So far the participants are...

JenD - Cheaper than Therapy
AR - Our little Bunch
JKW - Daily Laughs and Struggles
A.D. - The Cats Pajamas
E.B. - Healthy Living 2009
Shanna - Its Shanna...Like Banana
JulieMc - JMc x 3
And of course ME!

If you haven't been here in a couple of days let me lay the challenge out for you. Its 500 miles and 50 books this year. You can walk or run or do a combination of both! The point is to get out and get moving a little everyday. If you strive to work on the challenge everyday, that would be 1.39 miles per day, but lets face it, most of us are going to do more than that anyway. If you go over the goal, then it is just icing on the cake. 50 books? You can do this.

A lot of people ask me when I read. I have 3 kids and am involved in a variety of activities, but I make it a priority to read. I do a lot of reading after my kids go to bed at night, but I also want them to see me reading books so that they will grow up to have a love of books as well. If they are watching T.V., I will grab my book and sit in the room with them and read. I try to never be without the book I am reading. If I leave the house the book goes with me. The reason being that we live in a town that has a lot of trains. I get stuck by the train at least once a day. These aren't short trains either. So, if I get stuck at a train or a red light , I pick up the book and read. In a long line at the grocery store? Pick up your book and read (but only if it fits in your purse, right now I'm reading Eclipse, and it just doesn't fit). I had to go to the doctor Tuesday (I am currently struggling with a UTI, which is why the running part of my challenge is on hold) and waited 45 minutes in the waiting room, I had my book to keep me company. You'd be surprised at how much reading you can get done in a short amount of time. Pick easy reads if you think you just can't get through a 700 page book. Here are a few suggestions:

Marley and Me
The Shopaholic book series (these are hilarious too)
Meg Cabot books
The Joy Luck Club
What Looks Like Crazy on an Ordinary Day
Jen Lancaster Books

If you find a fairly short book, make a goal to read at least a chapter a day.

Check back for the blinky! Also, if any of you have suggestions for easy reading, put them in the comment section! Happy Day!

Happy New Year!!

Hello! I know that if you are here you are probably shocked to see a new post. It seems that I took a bit of a blog break, but I promise it was totally unintentional! December means busy, busy, busy around here, but as the month wore down and Christmas came and went, we enjoyed some much needed down time. So, I've been up to absolutely nothing and loving it!

Christmas was fun and Santa was good (a little too good) to the kids this year. Hubs and I managed to buy all of Christmas within our budget, and with that we were very, very pleased. We also managed to do it without using a single credit card! Woo! Hoo! We entertained several times in our home and it was so nice to be able to cook for friends and family. We've had a bumper crop of pecans from our backyard tree this year, so I got to make 4 very tasty pecan pies! By the way, do you want some pecans? I will ship them to you. You pay shipping. Seriously. Someone say yes. We are drowning in pecans!

New Years Eve was low key but fun! We were invited to our neighbors house were they made fajitas! The kids played and the adults socialized while we waited for 2009! Of course yesterday we had our traditional New Years Day food. I cooked black-eyed peas (for luck), Greens (for money), and Ham (for health). The kids love this meal and Little Sister ate her weight in Greens! I suppose she will be the richest 5 year old on the block!

We've joined a new gym. I'm excited about this because this new gym has more to offer for our entire family, including childcare, which I have never had before! I took the kids there on New Years Eve and yesterday too. They had fun in childcare and I didn't have to get up at the crack of dawn to work out! Did I mention I love the child care? I also got to run a lot this week! It feels so good to get to run after eating so much during the holidays!

Since we've had some down time this week, I've finished 2 books. The first was Marley and Me. I really liked it and found myself laughing out loud at several parts. I hope to see the movie sometime next week. The second is.....Twilight! Oh my stars! How have I gone this long without reading this book? Everyone around me has read the book. My neighbor, the other moms at school, friends at church, the teenagers at church... everyone but me. Somehow I had convinced myself that I wouldn't like it. Wrong. Wrong. Wrong. I had the whole book (all 498 pages) read in 2 days. I could not put it down! I can't wait to see the movie and read book 2.

So, that's life around her in a nut shell! I hope all of you had a wonderful Christmas and a Happy New year! By the way, did you make any resolutions? I have, but that's another post for another day!