Another spectacular Sunday!

Hello fabulous friends!

Another week has come and gone and I am finding myself wondering where the heck the time is going! Today was a wonderful day (as Sunday always is!).  I try to say "no" to babysitting on Sundays but that isn't always a possibility because "no" seems to be a rarely used word in my vocabulary.  I did a little this morning, then met a wonderful friend for lunch after, followed by a hard gym sesh where I even surprised myself with my superhuman strength today ;).

Another lovely thing about today was receiving our wedding pictures that I have been anxiously waiting for...they are FANTASTIC! Major props to Mrs. Aimee Fredy with White Daisy Photography.  I am so happy with them.  :)

Hmmmm...aside from a wonderful lunch, a target run, and seeing our fabulous pictures today was a low key relaxing day...I intended on working on my portfolios but once again, the day got away from me and I didn't get to them...yikes!

OH and I almost forgot...Friday I was told that I was being promoted to head teacher...what?! what!? Actually it's Co-Head Teacaher since I am taking on the task with one other girl, which is what we wanted all along. Go me! :)

Well, that's all the "exciting" news in my life for now...short and sweet :)

Happy Sunday

Happy Sunday friends! Today I have spent most of my day relaxing....YES! Finally.  It was a much needed slow paced morning.  I haven't had a morning like this in a long time.  I also decided that today was the perfect day to hit the pavement again! I LOVE running and I especially love doing it outdoors.  It is WAY too cold to go early in the morning and usually too dark when I get home from work so I've been glued to the treadmill for my cardio sessions which isn't neccessarily bad to do incline sprints and with the right company which I usually have.  Nothing like 4 miles of sunshine and fresh air on a beautiful Sunday afternoon! Take advantage of the outdoors if you can.  It's there, it's free, and it's great for you! Enjoy your Sunday doing whatever it is that you enjoy the most. We've got football on (Me rooting for SF and Danny for Atlanta), a little John Mayer radio on Pandora playing in the background, and we are heading to dinner later this evening.  I love Sundays. <3

Another adorable pinterest DIY

This wreath is simple and cute! It was so easy to assemble it made me want to make more.  Who knew wreath making could be this easy? I found the idea on pinterest (probably last year sometime!) and was finally able to actually do it.  Adorable!

Super cute, right?

A craving satisfied! Butternut Squash Chili

Ladies and gents she has done it again! I had a giant spaghetti squash given to me from a friend who grows them and a butternut squash that I purchased with the intent of making both...life got a little crazy and I didn't get a chance to do them as planned but eventually got around to it.  I just made a simple spaghetti squash recipe by baking it and forking it out into shreds and added garlic and vegan butter. Simple, easy, delicious.  As for the butternut squash, I have had a hankering for chili lately and decided I was going to use the butternut squash in the chili...GOOD DECISION! :) It was honestly one of the easiest things I've made in a long time and it got deemed the "best chili you've made yet" which is funny because every other time I've made chili I have followed a recipe (who does that anymore?) and they've all been good, but not what I was craving.  This time, no recipe! Just went with what I felt was right...

I used:
1 - 14oz can of black beans, drained, not rinsed
1 - 14oz can of red kidney beans, drained, not rinsed
1 - 14oz can of white beans (cannellini beans), drained, not rinsed
1 - 14oz can of corn, drained, not rinsed
1 - 14 oz can of diced tomatoes with green chilies, not drained
1 - 14 oz can of diced plain diced tomatoes, slightly drained
1 medium sized can of fire roasted diced green chilies, not drained
1/2 large onion
1 packet of taco seasoning (I used a TJs one, it seemed big, I ended up using 3/4 of it, add as much as you want)
A spoonful of minced garlic (I buy it fresh and crushed and have found the crushed stuff is so easy to just take a spoonful and add it to recipes)
1 butternut squash cooked, peeled, and diced (I baked mine at 375 for about 40-50 mins)
*NOTE* If you buy low sodium beans, you will need to add salt and maybe pepper for more flavoring...but if you're adding salt, what's the point in buying low sodium ;)

To do:

In a large pot, while the squash is cooking, sautee the onion in a little olive oil until softened. Add the garlic, cook for a minute longer, add all the above ingredients and simmer until squash is done.  Once you have the squash cooked, peeled, and diced add it to the chili and simmer another 10 minutes (or longer if you have the time).  We served ours with organic blue corn tortilla chips, avocado, some freshly grated cheese, and I, of course, added a tiny bit of sour cream to mine! :)

That's it!!!

Enjoy, lovelies.

*Was also totally excited to FINALLY use my new dutch oven* :)

Hmmmm officially stink at this, "keeping up with the blogging" thing...

Hello pretties! I'm back...once again! Things have been a bit busy around here for us so I haven't had a chance to even begin blog posts to potentially finish later.  We've both been sick again, I of course seem to have gotten it a bit worse, and it stinks! I took off two half days and a full day last week to recover.  We have a nice long weekend (which I of course spent half of it babysitting because I don't say no) that will hopefully get me back to good by Tuesday.  Last week may have been one of the longest weeks in a while for me as we began it in the ER last Sunday for something that I considered pretty serious...NOT. FUN. I, of course, was given antibiotics and a few other things and was sent on my way. Lovely. Slowly but surely that week I ended up with the nasty little cold going around and a headache that I still have.  I honestly and truly believe (because I may have been told, but I believe it) that these are superbugs! I always thought my immune system lacked, but I just think that these little bugs know how to attack! I am such a stubborn person too and I insist on go, go, going when I'm still sick but I've recently learned to just STOP. Also, I am thankful for friends that happen to be biochemists and can convince me to take medicine...once I listened, my headache temporarily alleviated...hmmmm

On a brighter note...here's a bit of happiness to share...

I BOUGHT A CAR! That's more than a bit of happiness...it's pretty exciting! It has been something that was being talked about a lot lately because of the mileage on my car but it wasn't anything I ever wanted to do right away until my car started doing little things that began to make me worry that the worst has yet to come and paying for something anymore expensive than we already have done to it just wouldn't be worth it at this point.  So Friday, I was off, we went down to the VW dealership and bought a 2013 Jetta SEL TDI. Now, I was always skeptical about VW...my mom and sister owned one and both had major issues with them but Danny is completely convinced that the diesel engines are very reliable, will run forever, and it was the way to go.  I have also had this confirmed by a friend who knows a bit more about cars ;) but shhh don't tell Danny! :) Fact of the matter is, I am happy with it!

Life has been a whirlwind of busy, busy, busy! I start all my days at 5am (6/6:30 on the weekends) and don't stop until sometimes close to 10 at night babysitting on weeknights and even later on weekends. I don't mind it, but today was the first morning I had to just get up and not have to be anywhere at a specific time. It was sort of nice.

See ya 2012, Hello 2013!

Lucky number 13! Is it bad that I was really excited for 2012 to end? Probably just as much as I was happy for it to begin last year.  It has been a whirlwind of a year and I am so happy to have wrapped it up the way we did and kick off a new year. Fresh start? Sure! If you must call it that. We had a wonderful year this past year and I know there's many new and exciting things to look forward to in the upcoming year.  I am currently staring at our Christmas decorations that yes, are STILL up and thinking to myself  "I can NOT WAIT to have my house back".  Danny says it's unamerican to think like that about Christmas decor but I am sick of looking at it now.

We were lucky enough to kick off the new year with good friends Jess and Josh.  2012 brought them back to us and we are so grateful for that! I could go on and on about all the wonderful things 2012 brought us. But most of all I'm just grateful for family, good health, and friends. With those three things, the rest of life falls perfectly into place.

May your 2013 be filled with family, joy, love, adventures, peace, good health, and great friendships.