The Funky Monkey

Friday morning started with a solo 3mile run as both my running buddies are now both at the beach :(
I ran from my house to the lakes in my neighborhood and back which is a great 3mile route. It rained so much here Thursday it cooled it off some; It was only about 75 degrees! Something about morning runs too, they are just so peaceful, but I did miss talking with Rainie and Virginia.



After my run I showered and got ready for work and enjoyed my usual overnight oats on the way to work. I was out of yogurt this morning so I just used milk instead and added chia seeds to make it a  yogurt consistency.

Recipe: 1 cup milk + 1tbsp chia seeds + 1Tbsp raisins + 1-2Tbsp walnuts + 1/4 cup oats. Be sure to let it sit overnight to let the oats and chia seeds absorb some of the milk and thicken up. I prefer yogurt usually but when I'm out this makes a great alternative.
---Sorry its not pictured, I ate it before I remembered to snap a pic!

Morning snack: homemade granola bar

Lunch: Spinach salad + Hemp Hearts + Feta cheese + Red Bell Pepper + Vinaigrette dressing
Sorry, thats not pictured either, work was pretty busy so by the time I got to eat lunch I inhaled it completly forgetting to take a photo

Snacks: banana and some PB

After work I headed straight to my friends Katie and Emily's apt. to get ready for the 9th annual Camp Smile a Mile Funky Monkey Party. Camp SAM is a camp for kids with cancer and it allows them to attend summer camp like any other kid. One of our friends Brooke is on the junior board for Camp SAM. We all went last year and it was fun so when Brooke mentioned it again this year we were all game!  It is a fundraiser for the camp and it has a silent auction, live auction, food, beer, wine, and dancing! I think my favorite part was the photo booth though!

Its was at the Regions Baseball Field in one of their upper event rooms which had a great view of the field and the city! It was quite a fun night, and I am so grateful for the #clinnuts!

Happy Friday!

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Orange is the New Black

Thursday started with a morning workout at the YMCA. We did the 6 a.m. body pump class and I guess I was too preoccupied and didn't snap a photo. Kathleen and I walked home after the class and had some refreshing watermelon that she brought to share. I also made us both breakfast smoothies while we got ready for work.

1 frozen peach + 1/2 cup water + 1 scoop vanilla protein powder per smoothie

We had a meeting at lunch and I almost forgot to take a picture. Which really would have been fine because it was a bit messy looking anyway. I had leftover taco salad with avocado and light sour cream. 

We had to take a picture of the four of us because this was totally unplanned. Orange is the new black. 

For a snack, I packed walnuts and Ghirardelli dark chocolate chips and ate them at my desk. I had twice as much as pictured here but I really dropped the ball on the whole food photography thing.

After work, I packed for the beach and met Kayla and Courtney for our trip. I snacked on these homemade granola bars on the way and they were pretty good! The recipe is from Gimme Some Oven  and instead of making "bites", I just flattened the mixture on a baking sheet and refrigerated it until it was hard enough to cut into bars. I left off the coconut because I thought they were plenty sweet enough. 

The day ended by arriving at the beach! No better ending, I might add.

Have a great weekend, friends!

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A Caramel Macchiato + Cocktails at MELT

Tuesday started early with a 5:30 am "strength" class. The tuesday teacher is great and she always seems to come up with a different class layout and different exercises to prevent the "regulars" from getting bored in her class every week. This week had a lot of moves using the stability ball, which Rainie and I both decided adds an extra level of difficulty to any move simply because of the added core strength and balance required to do the moves. Her class is called Strength but she does add some cardio moves mixed in which is nice to keep your heart rate up and really makes you feel like you achieved a total body workout at the end. This morning the frequent cardio move was burpeees which no matter how many times I do them I don't think they ever get any easier! Lets just say I think I will be sore tomorrow!

After class I showered at the Y and enjoyed breakfast on the way to work. My breakfast is just the usual overnight oats (yogurt + walnuts + oats + raisins) enjoyed with an adorable spoon Rainie gave me for a gift a while back :) However my coffee this morning was exceptional! I am a fan of 8-o'clock coffee in general but they have a flavored kind I have just discovered, caramel macchiato, and its AWESOME! I opened the bag to make a cup of coffee and it smelled like a Starbucks coffee shop. I added my caramel creamer with it and it was quite delicious! I drank about 12oz. on my way to the gym! I would highly recommend trying it!

Midmorning Snack: Homemade granola bar

Lunch was my usual salad: spinach, bell pepper, bleu cheese, hemp hearts and my favorite addition today... caramelized onions! I also had a handful of peanuts and a bite sized Twix for dessert!

I ate an apple mid afternoon but I was saving my appetite for dinner!

After work a few of the nurses from work and I headed to MELT for happy hour and dinner. They have awesome happy hour specials from 3p-6pm, half off all alcohol (beer, wine and mixed drinks) and $5.00 apps! Our server was nice and she let me try a few beers on tap to see if I liked them but she could tell I didn't love any that I tried, so she suggested a new one they just got in served in a can, called "Summer Love". I figured I couldn't go wrong with a name like that so I went for it, and I liked it, its always fun to try a new beer!

We all chatted and enjoyed happy hour before ordering dinner. I opted for the summer tomato sandwich which is made on Birmingham Breadworks sourdough bread (http://www.birminghambreadworks.com)  pesto, tomato and mozzarella cheese. It was delicious! It comes with fries, pasta salad or fruit salad; I opted for fruit salad just simply because fruit is delicious this time of year!

Robyn ordered the original grilled cheese sandwich which is served on Texas Toast, so clearly that is going to be delicious. The tomato salad looked pretty fancy too and some of the girls had the BBQ nachos which were awesome (they came with fried jalapeños!) so I might have helped myself to some of theirs  too:) -- and as tough as it was I did resist their fried oreos for dessert.

Im so grateful to work with such awesome people! They are definitely the best perk of my job! They make work seem not like work everyday :)

After dinner I headed home and chatted with the family for a little while, packed my lunch for the next day and hit the sack because Rainie and I had a early morning run planned Wednesday!

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Caprese Salad Pizza and Dinner Guests

{Rainie} Monday morning is a good start for healthy eating. I always try to start off strong in the nutrition department. Good thing, too, because the day ended with cupcakes!

Enter my homemade yogurt, local honey from Jeanna, and some Chia seeds. Carb, protein, fiber= check.

Lunch took the last of my lettuce from the previous week, some farmer's market strawberries, Cindy's blueberries, Walmart's goat cheese;) and balsamic vinaigrette and made a deliciously sweet summer salad. I had a sliced tomato to use so I added some fresh basil and Mozzarella cheese for a nice snack. 

I used my new birthday gift from Brittany and Mooch to hydrate all day.

Any time it is super hot outside, we know better than to not drink water all day before a run. It' s too risky! Virginia is at the beach this week so it's back to a duo effort. Twas a hot one!

Water breaks= photo opps.

I recently read a book (yes, shocking.) about entertaining guests and not waiting for the perfect time or super clean house. If you wait too long, you would risk never getting together with friends and making memories. It was a gift from my Secret Santa, Sophie, at work last year and it's a great read. Bread and Wine  reminds me to focus on the present and spending time with people. In the spirit of eating whatever I had at home, I planned pizzas for JT and me and asked Emily, Kathleen, and Katie to join. It worked out perfectly because JT was late getting home anyway, so we ate our girly pizza while his manly pepperoni pizza baked. 

Caprese Salad Pizza: Basil, tomato, mozzarella, and Parmesan cheese on a whole wheat crust, baked at 425 degrees for 10 minutes, then topped with arugula and balsamic vinegar for a boost of color, nutrition, and taste!

JT's pizza was pepperoni (uncured) and cheese. This is an unbaked picture because when he got home, he was tired, hot, and hungry from working outside all day and I just couldn't bear the thought of making him wait for me to take a picture of his food before he got to eat the fresh, steaming pizza. Not really, I forgot. But he was tired, hot, and hungry from working outside all day so it's only fair to let the boy eat. 

Emily and Katie came bearing gifts! These delicious cupcakes from Dreamcakes bakery with a hint of almond extract were absolutely divine! It was a perfect, no fuss, short, spontaneous dinner night that ended with a few minutes of the Men Tell All. 

How pretty are those?! Thank you girls!

My bathroom was dirty, the garbage can was full, but I had just enough pizza to share (literally, just enough), so we did! There's so much pressure to make everything perfect before having guests over, but I think that a lot of people miss out on special moments and gatherings because they are waiting for the perfect house to entertain in. Don't get me wrong, there is definitely a time for planned gatherings where things are cleaner and the tablescape is perfect, but sometimes it's nice to just get together without all the fuss and planning. 

Do you like spontaneous guests? Or do you prefer a planned event?

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Birthday Celebrations

If you have ever met a Cancer, then you know we like to celebrate our birthday...months! This was the first birthday JT was fully in charge of plans since it's our first as husband and wife. He really set the bar high for me when his September birthday comes around. He planned each day and we celebrated from Thursday through Sunday. Thursday, started with what I thought was going to be a birthday dinner at a fancy restaurant in town, but when I got home, I found my family there with brightly colored balloons and a shrimp boil cooking on the stove. It was such a wonderful surprise to see everyone at our place! I had no idea and felt so special and loved:)

After family gifts, JT let me open my gifts a little early. I love baskets of goodies! I can't wait to start our fall garden!

The next morning, I started my birthday with a solo jog around the neighborhood. 

Then, I ate cake for breakfast. Because that's what you do when it's your birthday...only, I felt sick soon after and wondered if I would know any better by my 28th birthday. Then, there was more cake. Sweet Virginia left a card, cake, and gift card on my desk at work. Isn't she the best?! Plus, she makes pretty good cake too...and I felt just fine after so I resolved to continue eating more cake that day. 

             

After work, Kathleen and I headed out to the lake to meet the rest of the group. She let me pick dinner and Five Guys happened to be on the way so, naturally, we stopped. Kathleen bought my dinner and decided this should be a yearly tradition. I won't argue that.

We got to the lake and spent our night talking and hanging out with everyone. Around 11:40 JT brought me a cupcake just before my birthday officially ended.

The next morning, Lauren made us pancakes and eggs. Check out this pancake mix...no hydrogenated oils here! JT picked this one out and did a great job!

After breakfast, it was time for the sun...and hunch punch. Remember this recipe? It usually makes it's way into a birthday celebration. This time, because I'm 27 and all, I added orange Powerade Zero to dilute it even more. 

                     

Us girls like to keep it more low key...

But low key is not for the boys...Joey arrived and we piled into the boat for even more fun. The boys found cliffs to jump off of. The girls found Disney themed music to heighten the effects of jumping. Disclaimer: I tried to get them to wear life vests to no avail.

    


   

Boys will be boys. At least they can cook. Back at the lake house we had another shrimp boil. 

We always have such a blast at Anna's lake house. It is the perfect, rustic escape to just relax and enjoy each other's company. Thanks for hosting, Anna!

We took a break from eating to marvel at the beautiful sunset.

And then got right back to it with dessert! Brownies from the Blue Eyed Baker (aka Kathleen). I just realized I have no picture because we ate them outside in the dark. But as usual, they were delicious!
We played Taboo and Cards Against Humanity before the birthday girl decided she was exhausted! I got about a 40 minute power nap in before actual bed time, but hey- I'm doing good to stay up past 11pm!

Sunday, after cleaning up, we stopped by Chef Troy's Talk of the Town Too where I had a salad with shrimp. Back at home, JT and I met his family for dinner at STIX. The final birthday celebration of the weekend complete with an embarrassing birthday song and dance (ahem, Cindy). I am so thankful they drove to meet us! Gracie kept us entertained with her squeals and smiles!



Needless to say, I had an amazing birthday celebration complete with family and friends. This whole getting old thing isn't so bad, especially if I get to do it with such wonderful people!

What would be your Disney theme song?

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