Great website

For any of you who may be trying to eat well like me, I've run across a really cute and helpful website. It's www.hungry-girl.com and it's full of great food advice, recipes, restaurant reviews and reviews on new products. I've actually tried a few of the recipes and the new products she recommends. We made "fried" zuccini and chicken nuggets both using ground up All Bran cereal instead of bread crumbs (she recommends Fiber One, but All Bran was cheeper) and of course baked instead of fried. They were both delicious, and very healthy (Drew and I actually liked them better than when we made them with real breadcrumbs)! Also, for all of you peanut butter lovers, we tried Better N' Peanut Butter (you can get it at Whole Foods or Trader Joes). It's amazing! If you're like my husband and like to eat spoonfulls strait from the jar it may not be the best, but if you mix it with jelly or put it in recipes, you can hardly tell the difference. I personally like it by itself! We'll be trying some noodles she suggests later on this week, I'll let you know how they turn out! If anyone tries the butternut squash fries, please let me know how they turn out. Mine were all soggy.

Goals

Well, Drew and I have decided to finally get serious about loosing weight and getting in shape! Drew has finaly brought his weights over to our house, and we just bought an elliptical machine. I can't wait for it to arrive, because unlike most cardio machines I actually enjoy using the elliptical! I'm trying not to set unrealistic goals for myself in the hopes that I will actually follow through and not get discouraged. I'm not really dieting, just trying to eat healthier, so I will let myself splurge every now and then. I actually decided that after every five pounds I would let myself have a celebratory splurge, while still eating well and exercising the rest of the day. We are going to The Melting Pot on Valentines Day, so hopefully I can get these next two pounds off before then! My goals are not just about loosing weight, but about being healthy. I realize that I am not rediculously overweight, but I can see how that could happen if I don't change the way I eat. Usually what happens is that I will go on a diet until I've lost a certain amount of weight, or until it becomes difficult for me (like around Christmas time). Instead of allowing myself to have that one piece of cake and then continuing to eat well, I'll have the piece of cake and figure my diet is ruined so I might as well have another. Or, I'll deprive myself of something (like bread) and then when I let myself have it again, I can't get enough of it. So, from now on, if I really want to eat something, and I can't find a healthier alternative that will do, I'm going to eat it, I just won't go crazy and I'll continue eating healthy after that! Why am I telling you all of this you ask? Well, I figure if I track my progress for all to see, it should help me stay on track a little better! So, if anyone else is also working on this, feel free to share tips, recipes and whatever else is helping you out and I will do the same.

Long Awaited Update

It's been quite awhile since I've posted anything, so I figured I'd better give an update. December was a pretty busy month, which I'm sure was true for everyone. My birthday was at the beginning of the month so we went out with friends to Tokyo, my favorite Japanese Steakhouse (it was delicious). The next night Drew's family took me out to Scalini's (also delicious) and Carol bought me an amazing red velvet cake! when we got home that evening Drew had a brochure for a bed and breakfast and a detailed itinerary that he had planned waiting for me. He took me up to a B&B in Hiawassee and we went to a couple of wineries, and just relaxed and enjoyed each other. The wine tastings were pretty good too!

Frogtowne Winery in Dahlonega

This place had some really great wines, and the inside of this building was gorgeous!View from our room.Inside the lodge at Wolf Mountain Winery.The cool truck at Wolf Mountain.

Well, it's getting pretty late, and Drew and I have to get up very early and drive to Jacksonville tomorrow so I think I'll end this update here. More to come!

Cute Smores Ornaments

I found these really cute ornaments last weekend, so I thought I'd share. They are Smores people, and they have a bunch of different ones. I found one at American Greetings in the mall and the other one at the Flashy Frog here in Smyrna. I also made an ornament last weekend, but it's a gift so I can't share it yet. If anyone around here wants to get together to make ornaments or other Christmas crafts just let me know. I've got all kinds of crafting supplies. Or if you just want to go shopping for Christmas decor, I think that would be a great girls night out too!

I thought this one was cute for Drew and my first Christmas.

I found this one for Drew, he was actually hunting when I bought it too!

New Doggy

Here are some pictures of our new dog Scooter. He is really a great dog. We've had so much fun with him this week. He loves playing fetch, but he's a really good snuggler too (which mommy likes). He lays down on the floor with me and nuzzles his head under my arm. I think we got the right one this time!

He had surgury on his hip, so he kinda sits funny.

He had been playing a lot and was all tuckered out.

My two sleepy boys!

Playing fetch, his favorite game.

What's going on

So I tried to post something last week, but I was having all kinds of trouble with blogger, so sorry it's been so long. Things have started to become routine for us finally. We are finally settling in. We really haven't had all that much going on lately. My Aunt was here last weekend. We took her to the doggy adoption, she loves dogs so she had a great time there. We tried a new sushi place here in Smyrna called Blu Sushi. It was really good, if you like sushi and are in our area you should check it out! This past weekend Drew went hunting. He had a pretty uneventful trip (he didn't even take any pictures) but he still had fun. And I had a nice weekend to myself, doing all of the things that Drew doesn't really like (crafting, shopping...), it was pretty fun. And, best of all, on Sunday night we had a play date with a dog that we have been interested in adopting. He, like many of the other dogs, does not really show you his real personality at the adoption days, so it was really good to see him in another environment. He was so great, Drew played fetch with him for about an hour, though I think he could have kept playing all night! He does this really cute little dance to great you too! We fell in love, and we are going to go pick him up later this week. I'll be sure to take lots of pictures, and maybe I'll get a video of his dance too!

Sad news

As some of you already know, unfortuately our beautiful dog Fletch is going to have to go back to the rescue organization. He had some pretty crazy issues that we were not able to deal with. Plus, we want all of our friends to be able to come over and bring thier kids to play with our dog, and we didn't trust him to do that. We became attached to him pretty quickly so this is pretty hard for us, but we know the rescue will do everything that they can to help him get over those issues and find him the right family. We know this is a very unusual situation so we are still going to adopt another dog. Please pray for us, that we will know when we are ready, and that we will make the right decision on the next dog.