Where's the Beach?

This weekend turned out to be rather relaxing, and the weather turned out far better than originally forecast so that's a double bonus. Right now we're dog sitting for my sister and my dogs are loving Lily's bed. Maddie and Heath keep alternating control. But it wasn't all lounging around. I got in a pretty good 11-mile run Saturday. The temps were in the low 60's and the sun was out for the majority of the run. I just tried to enjoy the colors that are starting to emerge in the trees and flowers. Not a bad way to start the day. We ended up going out for pizza for lunch. Recovery right? Then we decided to get creative in the kitchen for dinner. I had bought wonton wrappers for pot stickers a while back. We finally decided to give it a shot. Neither of us had made pot stickers before. They're a little time-consuming to put together, but well worth it. And if you're in the kitchen with someone, it makes it way more fun. I had plenty of the ...

A couple of months ago I was contacted about reviewing a new cookbook, Cooking with Coconut Oil by Elizabeth Nyland. Elizabeth is a blogger at guiltykitchen.com. I was really excited to get this cookbook. Not only do the recipes incorporate coconut oil, they are both gluten- and grain-free. I love seeing a cookbook that is very much based around healthy, whole foods. Also, I have coconut oil, but don't often cook with it. Mostly it's because I just forget about it and tend to just reach for my olive oil sitting out on the counter. I thought this cookbook would help encourage me to use coconut oil more while also giving me some new recipes to try out. I decided I wanted to try out one of the recipes for Christmas lunch with my mom. I opted for the Caramelized Carrots because they looked amazing and super simple to make. That's a win-win of course. This recipe really is very easy to make, but so full of flavor. It also smells amazing. If you're like me and don...

Wow, than you Friday for finally making an appearance. Show of hands if you thought it'd never show up too! Rather than dwell on the crazy week that's now in the past, I thought I'd just jump right into Fun Facts Friday . Let's put the week behind us and have a little fun shall we? I'm taking a cue from my friend Jessica. She did a post she called Sometimes (Revisited) . Mine isn't exactly revisited, just a list of Sometimes. Sometimes... ... these cuties really are as sweet as they appear here (the dogs not Jason). ... they can be rotten like coming into the kitchen to see Maddie polishing off a to-do style notepad with a magnetic strip on the back. Lip-smacking good apparently. ... they like to play the in-and-out game standing at the back door but going out only to randomly bark, repeat 5 times before they might actually potty. ... they love to get toilet paper or tissues and have both figured out how to push a basket under the coffee table ba...

Today was another long day for me. Trying to get it all done. Christmas is sneaking up fast! I spent most of the day trying to play catch up on chores. I also finished wrapping presents, made and jarred spaghetti sauce (family recipe I make and give as gifts), baked bread, and of course manged to squeeze in a workout. The Workout Today I stuck with the no DVD weight work. I did choose exercises, rep numbers, and rep patterns from Slow and Heavy for chest and shoulders. You do each exercise 3 times with a slow 8 count speed. It's hard to be disciplined enough to not speed up and rush through. Of course, it's the slow tempo that makes this workout so effective. So, I will say that with this one, it's a major perk having the DVD to keep you on track. Here's how it went: Bench press flat bench - 6 up, 2 down Chest fly flat bench - 6 down, 2 up Bench press incline bench - 6 up, 2 down Chest fly incline bench - 6 down, 2 up Front raise - 6 up, 2 down Lateral raise -...