August Goals Wrap Up

1. Complaining- Well this one kind of failed. The first two weeks went pretty well, but after that I don't know if I stopped trying or if I just prefaced every complaint with, "I know I'm not supposed to complain but..." For a more abstract goal like this one it would be helpful to have either a more narrowed goal like, don't complain about x, y, or z, or to have lots and lots of helpful reminders around. A post-it with a positive message can work wonders. (Not scientifically proven).

2. Spending- Good job me! I didn't do much spending excluding the use of some giftcards (but I classified that as okay). Like I mentioned in a post before, I'm not really a big spender so this wasn't much of a challenge, but it did make me think about the things that I wanted to buy throughout the month and gave me a chance to evaluate what I really needed. Example: Early in August I did a lot of cleaning out and de-cluttering and I wanted to buy some organizing file folders for important documents (exciting, I know) and maybe some containers that would be good for storing craft supplies. The file folders would still be helpful, but during my clean out time I found some other boxes that work just as well as a box that was specifically designed to store crafty materials. All this to say, the month taught me that having a wait time before buying something is useful and practical.

3. Exercise- I am pleased to say that this was another very successful goal. Most weeks I did some form of exercise on Mon-Fri with one make up session on a weekend. These were by no means long and strenuous workouts but I did get moving. The fact that I did not have over night work travel this month really helped me keep up with the goal.

You know you're in Florida when...

You see iguanas walking down the sidewalk on your drive home from work.

The weather forecast is exactly the same every day for 6 months.

You can't remember the last time you wore a sweatshirt.

Lizards drop by your apartment to say hello.

The indoor plants class you took during undergrad would now better describe the outdoor landscaping.

You have tasted and learned about more tropical fruit than you ever knew existed.

Lovebugs have destroyed your car windshield on multiple occasions.

You find yourself thinking about a land of four seasons with nostalgia.

During summer your mantra is, "Winter will be amazing."

Beach Night

One of the advantages to living in Florida is that you are never far from the beach. So long as there is not a crazy storm (which is about 50% of the time) its always a fun option of something to do.

Just having dinner and an evening on the beach was definitely my style. There wasn't the long commitment of a whole day on the beach, the need to put on sunscreen, etc. Also, if you just go for a Friday evening, the beach isn't too crowded. Perfect date night.

I did a bit of experimenting with food and made a naan bread pocket filled with bbq chicken and cheese.

Here is the filling (I melted the cheese with the chicken first)

And the finished pocket, kind of has a taco look

I wanna say David was trying to imitate a pirate.

Proof that we were on the Ft. Lauderdale Beach

As we walked around we came across a lot of sea turtle nests. They are marked off so no one disturbs them. I would really love to come and observe the baby sea turtles swimming into the ocean. If the turtles would give me a call when they schedule that I'd appreciate it. 

We can't see the see the sun set over the ocean form this side of Florida, but they sky was still nice to look at

New Favorite Pizza

One of my very favorite things to make is pizza. I'll always experiment with a new crust and the latest one I tried was the Pioneer Woman's pizza dough. It was a success, which isn't too surprising, because all of her recipes are the best. Tip for the dough, you can just mix it up and stick it in the fridge for up to 4 days. The first crust I made was a little difficult to work with because I used it at room temperature just after the rising, but the cold batch from the fridge I made a couple days later was easy to roll out. 

We did go for the rectangular shaped pizza here, but once I get my new pizza stone and pizza pan (bridal shower gifts!) down from Maryland, I'll go for the traditional round pizza. 

This particular pizza was one of my favorite combinations I've tried. I topped it with sauted onions (YUM), bacon, mozzarella, a little Parmesan, Italian seasoning, and chopped fresh basil (also put a little pepperoni on half the pizza for David). Usually I like the ease of making pizza and just putting pepperoni or a raw onion on top, but if you have the time to fry up some bacon and saute onion these ingredients really take it over the top. 

My next trick will be canning my own pizza sauce, but I may have to wait a bit to get some good canning tomatoes, but be on the lookout. 

Bananas

One of David's co-workers grows bananas on a few acres. Aren't these adorable?

This

Do you like this new device that David and I invented? What could it be used for? If you said swatting a bug from really far away then you are close. This is our new lizard removal device. Before I tell the story I should explain my previous experience with a lizard in my apartment. 

When I first moved to Texas it was the first place I lived where lizards in the home could be a potential concern. You'll see a lizard here and there in Maryland and Virginia, but its just not a regular thing. Its always exciting. So...when I moved in the apartment in TX my friend Emily was with me for a few days. To make a long story short we thought we saw a strange bug, we pursued the lead, found a lizard, freaked out, and sprayed about half a can of raid on it. We acted very scared and immature, and then there was a removal processed that involved using fly swatters as tongs and disposing of the body in a box of stale pralines. I just say this to illustrate the point that I am not good at dealing with home intruders of the critter nature. 

The other day I walked into my apartment to have a lizard staring at me when I opened the door. I decided this time I would be more mature. I took a big leap over the lizard while leaving the front door open (now I'm behind the lizard), and I just tapped my foot behind it a little and it ran right out the front door. Considering my previous incident this left me feeling very mature. 

Fast forward to this past Sunday evening. David was getting read to head back to Belle Glade and as we start moving towards the door there is a lizard on the wall, at which point I tell him, "You are NOT leaving until the lizard is gone." I suppose I could have asked for help in a nicer way. 

The lizard was in the far shadowy dark corner up high.

This not being the easiest place to remove a lizard we tried to get it down by throwing fly swatters and balled up grocery ads. That guy wasn't letting go so we (David) needed to poke it with more authority. Enter: broom-fly swatter device (we might market these for money on the side). With a jump and the lizard-removal-tool in hand David managed to knock the lizard down. It then tried to trick us by dropping it's tail (which oddly wiggled for a long time after), but David caught the intruder and released it outside. He is much more critter friendly than I. 

As David was heading out I asked him if he wanted to get married right then. That way I wouldn't have to live by myself with potentially unpleasant critters. He pointed out that the courthouse was closed so we just decided to stick with the original wedding date. I'll keep you posted on stories of my survival in the wilds of Florida. Married life can't come soon enough!

Goals Progress: Week 1

1. Complaining- What I'm finding to be most challenging about this one is realizing when I am complaining. Sometimes I'll look back on a day and realize that I probably had been a little whiny about something but I did not specifically realize it at the moment. My complaining certainly hasn't been excessive, but I'm still working on cutting it off before it starts.

2. Spending- Easy so far. I didn't make this particular goal too difficult, it's not like I'm avoiding buying groceries or something, and I don't normally go out and spend lots of money. Typing this, I am starting to question why I even made this a goal in the first place. Anyway...this goal is going well. Aside from me actually noticing all the great sales right now, I'm not really inclined to do much spending on myself.

3. Exercise- Great! This is the perfect goal to get me back in the swing of things. The goal was 5 days a week, and so far I have been exercising Mon-Friday and taking the weekends off. Randomly I started listening to The Hunger Games audio book and it has turned out to be a great workout companion. Katniss running around for her life makes 20 minutes on the elliptical seem like a breeze.

Something a little different

Raise your hand if you love sweet potatoes.

My hand is definitely raised. Candied, baked, casserole, fries. I'll take 'em.

And sweet potatoes are so good for you. However, I did have the startling revelation that the ways I like to eat sweet potatoes aren't particularly health friendly. There is certainly nothing wring with the sweet potato covered in brown sugar, cinnamon, butter, and marshmallow, but if I want these guys in the regular meal-time rotation I need a slightly lighter way to eat it. Enter experiment.

I was in search of a sweet topping that would kind of have the same idea as the semi-dessert version of a sweet potato but with a bit less sugar and butter. My inspiration came from my grandmother's mini-cheesecake recipe. The little topping on the cheesecakes is a sour cream base.

So...

My mixture.

I mixed probably about 1/2 cup fat free sour cream, 1 tsp of cinnamon, a couple tablespoons of honey, and about 1 tsp of vanilla. This stuff made a pretty tasty topping. Maybe could have been a little bit sweeter, I am certainly not above throwing a splenda packet into something that just needs a bit more sweetness, but I just used this as is. 

I threw on about 2 big spoonfuls of the stuff and enjoyed my "light" baked sweet potato. 

My final review is that it's not as good as one soaked in butter and marshmallows. Because how do you beat that? But its a pretty good way to eat a sweet potato without some of the extra calories and fats. (The key is to use fat free sour cream, don't forget that detail). 

Have you discovered any good ways to occasionally lighten up a favorite recipe of yours?

A July Moment

Just had to share one of the favorite moments from July. It was a hectic month since I spent two full work weeks traveling around the state of Florida. While on my travels I stumbled upon this gem:

The Orioles training facility!!!

The office of one of my coworkers is on the same property as the Orioles spring training facility. Right before we left I had to ask to get a picture in front of the building. Saw the field where they train. It was pretty funny because it just looked like any other normal baseball field, nothing fancy. As a Marylander who grew up attending O's games this was a great find!

August Goals

As promised...I'm back! July was a busy busy month, so the blogging break was needed and appreciated by me. And that busy, fast month brings my wedding date quickly closer. YAY!

I'll update you in another post about some of my July adventures, but for now let's stick with August. If I'm good I'll update you on my goals progress each week.

1. No Complaining. I was debating weather to share my goals or not, but now that I've said it, hold me accountable! Before you laugh and this goal, yes I realize that I have sort of set myself up for failure with this one. Obviously I will complain about something. BUT I do have a thick hair tie on my wrist and I'll give myself a good snap when I realize I'm doing it. Weird? Maybe, but I'd like to try to get most of the unconstructive complaining and whining out of my life. It doesn't do a whole lot but bring down the mood and make me seem annoying. So there, NO complaining, call me out when I do.

2. Spending. Between all the travel and visiting last month I spent a little more than I usually do. And a lot of the spending was on random items that aren't immediate necessities. There are no regrets about buying my new 1L Camelbak water bottle (in fact I recommend it to everyone), but aside from gifts for others and the necessities, a new skein of yarn or a super-cute-dress-that's-on-sale can wait.

3. Exercise. I never really jumped off the exercise train, but there was a marked slump in July. The plan is to exercise 5x/week. This doesn't mean I have to run a marathon or anything, 20 minutes counts in my book if that's what I can fit in. And it's so worth it, I feel better, I eat better, and I am happier with regular exercise. This goal should help with goal #1.

Welcome August!