Machete and a Milkshake

At Home Excitement

I came home from work today to find Ryan sorting through his gear for an upcoming hike on the Appalachian Trail with two of his friends next week. He stopped off at an outdoor store on the way home from work and came home with lots of wilderness-y goodies… among them, a machete. Yes, a machete.

Apparently this machete was “cheaper than a knife,” (because that makes it a good substitute for a simple pocket knife, of course) and “really cool.”

As I was walking in the door Ryan was trying to be super suave and hook the machete on his belt loop. Well, in his Indiana Jones-like move, he dropped the machete (still it its “protective case”) and it landed on his big toe. Blood was everywhere! Fortunately after going through several paper towels, an ultra-masculine rainbow band-aid was able to stop the bleeding.

After all that excitement, it was time to show Sadie a good time. Off to the dog park we went for some trail hiking with the puppers.

"She's a Real Wild One, Wild One"

The weather was perfect and Sadie ran around like a mad dog. It was a good trip to the park!

Dinner

Dinner tonight was very tasty, but very boring… leftovers! I fixed myself a big bowl of leftover spaghetti squash, MorningStar Farms soy crumbles, sliced zucchini and marinara sauce and topped it all with Parmesan cheese.

Leftovers

Dinner was prepared in one of Ryan’s childhood bowls. We love these bowls because they are the perfect size for everything from yogurt to oatmeal to soup to pasta. Plus, it’s fun to eat out of nostalgic bowls!

Dessert was a million times more exciting: a homemade pumpkin milkshake!

The Goods for the Shakes

I combined the creamy vanilla ice cream, milk, pumpkin and pumpkin pie spice in a bowl and blended it with my imersion blender until it was thick and liquified. (I did this because our real blender is packed so far back behind all of my Tupperware and would’ve been a pain to get out. Laziness at its best!)

Pumpkiny!

Blended Shake

I poured the shake into a big cup and topped it off with a brightly colored straw.

Sippin' on a Shake

I totally should have used two straws to be romantic… “One milkshake, two straws please!” This shake was far from romantic as I was the only one who used the straw. Ryan prefers to gulp his shakes. 😉

 

I love a good dessert. There’s nothing better!

 

Question: What’s your favorite kind of milkshake?

PB and Apple Overload Sammie

I love a good salty-sweet combination. I think this is attributed to my childhood love of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.

My mom used to make my pb and j with mint jelly. It was my favorite. Who eats that!?

My love for mint jelly began when my mom served it with lamb. She made a big deal about calling it special jelly and I think this, coupled with its sweet and refreshing flavor, fostered our strong love connection.

My lunch today was a pb and j remix… “Remix” because no jelly was actually involved. Instead I used this:

Apple Butter

(Even Sadie knows this stuff is the jam.)

My dad would always eat apple butter with cottage cheese which looked beyond repulsive but tasted ah-maze-ing. I stole this particular apple butter during my last visit home. My parents are the best sharers.

My lunchtime sammie featured a whole wheat Arnold’s sandwich thin, smothered in apple butter and creamy peanut butter.

Peanut and Apple Butter

I added several Brothers-All-Natural apple crisps for some crunchy crunch.

Apple Crisps

Apple and Peanut Butter Sammie

Perfection. Salty, sweet, doughy, delicious.

I Made It!

I officially survived my first ever personal training session at Spectrum Sports Performance this morning. Hoo-rah! It was challenging, creative, dynamic and oh-so-sweaty.

I woke up, grabbed my directions and hit the road to meet with my trainer for the morning, Rob.

Directions

Rob was super-friendly and immediately told me my friend Merri (who referred me to this place for my free one-day training session) instructed him to kick my boo-tay. Thanks a bunch, Mer! 😉

Apparently he took Merri’s instructions seriously because he took me through a cardio circuit/core workout that rocked the ol’ bod. The hour I was at the gym felt like 20 minutes because the workout was non-stop and fast-paced. No room for boredom!

We did everything from jump roping and bear crawls to box jumps and sprints. I was sweaty, challenged and LOVING it.

Though I absolutely adore my gym, this facility offers so much personal attention and designs workouts to specifically meet your individual goals. Unfortunately it also comes with a hefty price tag that this poor writer cannot afford at the moment, but I loved every minute of my workout there (even when I was cursing Rob in my mind for the pain I was experiencing). Spectrum Sports Performance = A+.

Breakfast

I earned a breakfast that will really stick to my ribs this morning and oatmeal seemed like the perfect post-workout meal.

Cake Batter Oats

My oatmeal totally hit the spot. I mixed half a cup of oats with a scoop of All the Whey cup cake batter protein powder. I love eating breakfasts when, as I’m eating, I’m thinking “This is so flippin’ delicious.” This was one of those meals. Maybe I was just extra hungry, I dunno.

Thursday's Breakfast

I enjoyed a hot cup of Yogi Mayan cocoa spice tea along with my oats and am sittin’ here with a warm and full belly.

Happy Friday Eve everyone!