Halloweenie

Happy Halloween! Kyle colored/crafted that lovely pumpkin picture at work today. They work hard :) Okay, they really do.

We were all pumped up to have trick-or-treaters this year but alas, we only had two groups. Major bummer. So instead, we ate snacks and watched the Rob Zombie version of Halloween on tv. Thanks Lesley and Brian for coming to hang out with us!

 

Getting older kind of stinks. I wish I was out trick-or-treating. It seems like a lot of people didn't have many visitors this evening. Is the concept dying it out? Is it just not safe anymore so everyone  goes to churches or something? It's really sad. If I was braver, we could've gone to a haunted house or something but I am a halloweenie.

It's funny because I remember being little and playing house or school or whatever pretend game...and everyone fought over who got to be the sixteen year old (Like we couldn't have more than one!) That was the THE age to be. Then when you are sixteen, everyone can't wait to be eighteen...and then twenty-one...and then so on and so forth. Then one day you wake up and you're twenty-five. Your friends are married with children and you are like wait...where did the time go? I know that feeling must only get worse as you get older. It's still really bizarre. It feels strange to be an adult, to live on my own, to be at an acceptable age to get married, etc (officially out of the "we got married young" category). In my head I'm still sixteen (and according to strangers on the street)!

Super

Tuesday. Tuesday. Tuesday. I am particularly happy this Tuesday because I have tomorrow off. Usually I feel meh about days off in the middle of the week but for some reason a day off to break up my work  week sounds perfect today.

My eats haven't been too extraordinary this week so no WIAW this week. I have been majorly lacking in the meal planning/grocery shopping department lately. I swear Kyle and I go to the grocery store almost every day. I just haven't been very inspired or energetic :)

I am actually super excited that the election is next week. I am slightly terrified at how close it is in all honesty. I have my own super strong opinions but I am so super tired of how amped up people get. Facebook, you have created a monster where everyone thinks whatever they're saying is the most important thing ever (says the blogger).  Honestly, people just believe the most ridiculous things. I read it on the internet, it is definitely true. 

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."

 

That pretty much sums up who I'm voting for and why. People get hateful and downright mean. I think it's great that you believe strongly in something but we are all people and we need to learn how to coexist peacefully. In elections, wedding dress sample sales, in check out lines in December, in Twilight midnight release lines and  on half-price coffee days at Starbucks (okay, that one's not real).

 

"Super" seems to be my word of the day. I super hope you have a super day and are all super snuggly in your super safe house.  And let's all calm down, okay? Super.

The Real Story

I am so exciting that I blog on Saturday night! That's how I know I'm getting old. Okay, so I really wasn't ever the party all weekend type. I'm a homebody by nature and so is Kyle. Both of us together doesn't really help things. I will admit to you, blog land, that this is not where I saw my life when I was in high school though.

Kyle and I knew each other in high school because we had mutual friends (and he briefly went to my church), but we weren't really close friends or anything until my senior year-ish (Kyle was a grade ahead of me in school. We  went to different schools though.) I will readily admit that I didn't have  the best impression of him. I knew that a lot of girls liked him and he was hot so I figured he must be a jerk (Don't judge people like this! People thought that I was a B* because I was quiet. My mom used to tell me that you can be pretty or quiet. You can't be pretty and quiet. You're welcome for sharing that, Mom!). Honestly, I can't even remember how we became better friends... I think the usual emo ways of the early 2000's : myspace,xanga, aim. I know it wasn't until the summer after my senior year of high school when he was home from school. I was still hesitant to have much to do with him because he was in his wild phase (my high school perception) and I've always been as boring as I am now. I always thought he was way cooler than me so he must be crazy and exciting, haha. Some people are naturally "cool". Kyle is, I am not. He will deny this to this day but that doesn't change it. It's why all of my friends asked about him back then. That summer was my only attempt at being more wild ( I felt like I should try it, like a rite of passage or something.."Those were my crazy years." Only mine is "Those were my crazy 4.5 weeks") All of that to say, I decided to give the whole "go after a bad boy" thing a shot.

We almost dated or something. There used to be stages of dating..like talking-->going out-->exclusively dating. Or something like that. Is it still like that now? "Oh did you hear? So and so are talking" I think you probably would've classified us as "talking."

Either way, we were pretty close friends for a bit. I was still hesitant. I could see parts of him that I really liked but I could tell that there were other things going on with him that were beyond me. A sort of distance. I didn't really know much about it at the time. There were a couple of incidences that I didn't know much about until we started dating again a year and a half ago. Things that meant a lot to him that I didn't even know I did. I was just myself. My attempts to be "wild" failed miserably. After one particular bad judgement call that sealed the deal on the end of my wild and crazy days, we went our separate ways. I thought that my previous impressions of Kyle being just an overall bad person were right on target and thought that he really never cared much about me at all.

Fast forward six years. He randomly posted something on Facebook about Brand New and I commented on it. We chatted from there and he invited me to hang out. Honestly, I am not sure why I agreed. I DID want to know what he had been up to and thought "Why not."

Best decision ever. I realized pretty quickly that he wasn't the same guy from so many years ago. Are any of us? Not that he was exactly a different person but we had both conquered some demons and did some growing up (as hopefully everyone does in 5ish years). All of the things that attracted me to him then were still there. We have been pretty much inseparable ever since. We are incredibly similar and no one knows me quite like Kyle. 

It wasn't until about a month after we started dating (for real this time) that we shared our different perceptions of our beginning and demise the first time. I thought I was a blip on his radar when actually I had made quite the impression (thats the correct boyfriend answer right?). The first  go around wasn't meant to be timing-wise, but it had to happen exactly how it did for us to end up in the place we are now. I will never forget how I felt when we finally put our different pieces of the puzzle together. It's the first time I have really ever felt like there are powers at be and things that happen that you don't have control over. Things will be how they are meant to. If we didn't have the deep feelings for each other (that neither of us knew about from back then) than I don't think we would have let each other in so quickly. He was recently out of a long-term relationship and I was not in a looking-for-a-boyfriend spot.

But alas, here we are. With two cats no less! You would think the cats were my idea but both were actually Kyle's. He turned himself into quite the cat guy! Although I think it's really that we both just really love animals in general. Cats worked for the apartment situation he was in when we got them. I can't imagine being anywhere else with anyone else. I get to hang out with my super hot very best friend every day who means a lot to me (and has for a really long time)

Disclaimer: I asked Kyle recently about how much about him he was okay with me sharing on this blog and he gave me a lot of freedom. I thought I would test those boundaries tonight with this entry. I hope I didn't embarrass you too much!

A Few of My Favorite Things (And Mayhem's)

I apologize for my blogging break lately. Over the weekend people commented on my blog (in real life) and it made me feel weird about it for some reason. Yes, the whole point of blogging is for people to read it but in an effort to be really honest and myself, I try not to think about it while I'm sitting on my couch typing it (like I am now). It's kind of like watching Social Network and then immediately checking your Facebook. Weirds you out right?

 Anyways, it's Wednesday so you know what that means! I know that talking about your food is kind of weird but its actually a really good accountability check for myself and I love seeing food blogs on the ones that I read. I'm a foodie! And a stalker blog reader.

I was talking to Kyle earlier about how I always feel like I eat 5,000 times more often than him but then he pointed out that he eats a couple of huge ( calorie dense) meals and I eat lots of lighter meals. So I only feel like I'm eating a lot more than him. Unless I'm out to eat, I rarely have meals are over 400 calories. My eating actually looks like breakfast, lunch, snack, dinner,and one more snack (Bob Harper *I think that's his name* says you should go to bed hungry but who seriously wants to do that?!?! It's miserable. Please don't do that). I also make sure to eat back the calories I lose when exercising to make sure that I never eat less than 1,200 a day. I've tried not to weigh myself too often since I've started working out more lately because my weight fluctuates a lot and as I  gain muscle, I gain pounds on the scale. I  don't want to freak out about these little fluctuations so I just check myself in the mirror and see how my pants fit. If you're a guy reading this you are thinking "blah blah blah. where are pictures? blah blah blah." If you're a girl, I know you can relate.

I decided just to post a bunch of some of my eats this week so far:

 Typical breakfast of coffee/gluten free oatmeal + chia seeds+peanut butter. Kyle also fixed me some eggs on Monday. Love him. Monday night's dinner was pork roast + potatoes.I LOVE sweet potatoes. I usually eat the whole potato, skin and all. I baked a sweet potato for me and a regular potato for Kyle. Last night we had chicken/green beans/carrots. It looks like I have tiny portions in the pictures above but I really just have really big plates. 

Today's lunch was some leftover chicken/ apple/greek yogurt. My snack was a protein shake with light soymilk. My lunches pretty much always include and apple and greek yogurt. You like what you like!

So there you have it! I promise I will write a serious non-food related post really soon. Probably tomorrow!

But for now, Mayhem is enjoying his favorite things....

  

   A piece of trash, a string toy that Kyle made and a green bean.

And I'm off to relax and watch a few of my favorite and Halloweenie shows... 

Weekly Work Outs:
Monday- Jillan Michaels dvd
Tuesday- 3 mile run
Wednesday- 2 mile run + elliptical ( I only did 2 miles because I sped up my pace and my knees needed a break) I'm not going to tell you how fast I went because I am SLOW! But I'm getting there.
Thursday- either off or Jillian DVD in the PM
Friday- Long run + weights of some kind

WIAW

I love how fast Wednesday's have been coming lately!

Breakfast + Lunch

 

Okay, so that's actually my breakfast from Monday. Today I had apple cinnamon gluten free oatmeal with chia seeds, dry peanut butter ( a knock off PB2) and some stevia. I INHALE oatmeal. I also had some coffee with sugar free pumpkin spice creamer. So good!  I wasn't super hungry for lunch but knew I would be soon. I had a Think Thin protein bar, an apple and some yogurt. Think Thin is my favorite protein bar because it has 20g of protein and no sugar. It keeps me full for a LONG time. I recommend! I especially like the chocolate fudge, dark chocolate and brownie crunch varieties. (I might like chocolate just a little!)

 For my work snack I had a piece of toast with sugar free grape jam. It was so delicious that I didn't take a picture.

We decided to dig for dinner tonight. Kyle stopped by the store on his way home and picked up some sushi and some chicken for me. My ugly thrown together plate looked like this. This is why you didn't see any of my food last week...I am a bad food photographer and I eat a bunch of random snacks at just about every meal.

 

 Rotisserie chicken, apple and veggie rolls. Don't worry guys, I only had TWO apples today. I like to cut them up in to a million pieces because then I can enjoy it longer.

  

 I just finished off a glass of hot chocolate (sweetened with stevia) for dessert. I've been having a cup just about every night lately and it's so satisfying for my sweet tooth! Some people are salty people and some are sweet. I ,unfortunately, am both. 

 Now we are settling in to watch the return of a favorite from last year....

 

 My legs were really crampy last night and I didn't sleep very well so I took it easy today and just did thirty minutes on the elliptical plus some strength training in my living room  :) I'm all for listening to your body and doing what you feel like!

What's So Pinteresting?

Happy Tuesday ya'll! Just a little check in before WIAW this week. It's a gorgeous day out today....cool and cloudy...my favorite! For some reason I am kicking butt on getting stuff done today so I thought I would go ahead and get a little blogging done before work.

Workouts so far this week:

 Monday- 3 miles on treadmill

Tuesday- 3.25 miles on treadmill + 10 min cool down on elliptical

I decided to go ahead and get some running done back to back because of my work schedule this week. I still suck in the mornings but coffee + The Kardashians help. Some mindnumbing relaxation. Thursday and Friday will most likely be shorter work outs.

 Yesterday I came home a little stressed for really no reason and was just a mess when I walked in the door. It's hard being a girl because there is so much pressure on you all the time. Sometimes it just gets to you. That's when it's really nice to have an amazing boyfriend like I do to sit you down and tell you that you are awesome and too hard on yourself. Thank you!

Things I'm loving/lusting this week:

  Blend Retreat

 

For more information you can check out Janetha at Meals and Moves. She's one of the organizers. Or you can visit the website at Blend Retreat. Basically it's a fun retreat for bloggers + friends that includes yummy food, fitness and hanging out. A dream for me! The girls who are behind this are inspirations for me and I read their blogs every day! Unfortunately, a $400 plane ticket will probably be out of my budget range for at least 5 years. Sad face. I don't forsee any outdoorsy retreats happening here in Dallas either, haha. Double sadface. A girl can dream though!

I have been toying with the idea of doing an accent wall in our living room for a little bit so I finally asked Kyle about it and he's down. Thanks to pinterest, I'm thinking wide horizontal stripes for the big wall you see when you walk in our front door. 

Something like this:

 

 Or this...

 

 We already have some paint and supplies. Now we just need to actually DO it this time. My budget for house decorations is a little low this month but my desire to continue improving is as high as ever. Solution found!

Above images clearly stolen from Pinterest....so check them out there for original links!

 

 

Weekend Round Up

I hope everyone is having a great weekend! Nothing too exciting here but that is exactly how I like it.

On Friday night, Kyle and I had first planned to finally go check out the food truck park at Heritage Village. However, after Kyle made it home from work we reconsidered. The crowds for  TX/OU weekend were already really bad and we didn't feel like messing with it. So instead we went to Alligator Cafe for dinner, had some frozen yogurt for dessert ( I had pumpkin spice and it was soooo good) and then went to the movies. A perfect, quiet, low key date night. 

 

Overall this movie was not too scary. It had the right amount of things popping out at you to make you jump but not so dark that you leave feeling disturbed. Much better than Insidious too which we thought was the most ridiculous waste of money ever. No scary movie is going to win film of the year but predictable with a few good jumps is just what I like. 

Saturday was another low key day. I think the only major outing we had was a trip to Farmer's Market specifically for apples. I love going up there for anything.

Today we went out to Kyle's moms house at Cedar Creek Lake to watch the Cowboy's game. It is so incredibly pretty out there. Today was a beautiful day so I hope you got to get out and enjoy it a little!

This week I work in the afternoons so I have to do my workouts in the morning. I love being able to take a shower afterwards to get ready for the day instead of two showers but like I mentioned in the last post, I suck at life in the mornings so we'll see how that goes. I don't have my week planned out but I'm planning a run at the gym in the morning. My mom is giving me her treadmill so I'm pretty excited about that. Even though the only place I have to put it is in the smelly cat room. Oh well. 

I wish I had a deep post to share or at least some excitement but honestly, these are my favorite kind of weekends.  We are just relaxing and anxiously awaiting the series premiere of this awesomeness......

If you are not watching this show, turn your computer off and go get started. You have a lot to catch up on before tonight.