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

Mamma Mia...Now That's A Pizza Pie!

Good Morning! I hope everyone had a blessed Easter! Ours was wonderful...thanks for asking :) As you know, getting a decent family picture as you're runninng out the door to anywhere is usually a stressful event. Today's photo session was the total opposite...the first time worked! A family shot then one of the kids and we were out the door. Whahoo...no yelling!

I have so many recent pictures I want to share with you but it would simply be a hodge podge of pictures if I put them all on there. So as hard as it will be, I'm choosing a few of my favorites to share with you.

We recently went on a wonderful and much needed cruise for our family vacation. Six days at sea with beautiful weather just wasn't enough..yes, I'm being selfish. There is nothing like a cruise and I highly recommend them as they are the ultimate in relaxation.

Waiting for the boat to leave our port.

The Captain and I.

Pizza anyone??? A very cool hat store in Jacksonville, Florida.

The Bahamas was a super neat place and how cool is this? If I was a celebrity, maybe I could stay up there? At a hefty price of $25,000 a night with a 4 night minimum stay, I might have to have a #1 hit to pay that kind of moolah!

Well, it's time to start my day...finally. I'm being very lazy but have a major to-do list to ninja-kick! See you soon with an awesome vegetarian reuben recipe that I must say is pretty good. Vegetarian you say??? Oh yes, yes I did!

Have a great day!

Jennifer