Aaaachoo!

That’s the noise that can be heard when I get around a fluffy kitty or a long-haired dog.

Achoo!

Allergies = no fun!

Do you have allergies?

Being the huge animal lover that I am, I find allergies especially annoying. I hate that I have to walk past kitties that are up for adoption because of my drippy nose and itchy eyes. (Yes, I do know that there are allergy shots out there, but I have a seriously intense fear of needles.)

When Ryan and I decided we wanted a dog a couple of years ago, we began scowering the internet for hypoallergenic breeds.

I loved the cockapoo (cocker spaniel + poodle) and the labradoodle (labrador retriever + poodle), but Ryan wasn’t sold on “fluffy” (and, therefore, “girly”) dogs.

Cockapoo Puppy

(How stinkin’ cute is that cockapoo puppy!?)

We randomly stumbled across Sadie’s breed, the vizsla, and read that they do not have an undercoat, which makes them great for many people with allergies (HOORAY!), though they are not technically hypoallergenic. After doing additional research (and lots of it) we decided a vizsla was the dog for us!

"I don't got no undercoat! Woop! Woop!"

With Our Sniffle-Free Girl

Do you own a hypoallergenic pet?

If you’re in the market for a new furry (or not-so-furry) friend, click here to read about 15 different hypoallergenic dogs and cats (Yes, cats!) on Health.com.

If you decide on a certain breed, definitely look into rescuing a pup! After getting Sadie, our eyes were opened to all the different vizsla-specific rescue organizations out there. It seems like there’s a rescue group out there for nearly every breed.

Aaaand on to DINNER! 😀

Dinner

I was a bad dinner planner and forgot to put the ground turkey in the crock pot for turkey tacos tonight.

Oops!

This ended up being a blessing in disguise, because the lean ground beef we had in the fridge was about to expire, so I used that in place of the turkey in tonight’s tacos.

Lean Ground Beef

I haven’t made tacos with lean ground beef in forever! They reminded me of taco day in junior high school, but in a good and healthier way.

I ate two hard shell tacos (and one of Ryan’s soft tortillas), as well as a huge plate of taco salad.

Taco Time

Dos Tacos

I’m off to call my friend Michaela who took her optometry boards last week. She’s gonna be a real docta! 😉 I can’t believe my friends from elementary school are teachers and nearly doctors already! Phew!

Resisting Would Be Wrong

Freshly baked Otis Spunkmeyer cookies made their way into my office today.

Chocolate + PB Cookie

I nabbed an ooey-gooey, warm and chewy peanut butter chocolate chunk cookie.

Of the following cookies we had to choose from, which cookie would you pick?

• Chocolate chip
• White chocolate macadamia nut
• Oatmeal raisin
• Sugar
• Peanut butter chocolate chunk
• Double chocolate chunk

Oh My Wafer

Yesterday when shopping at T.J. Maxx for a couple of things for our new apartment (I scored an awesome rug for $20!), I naturally found myself spending way too much time in the gourmet food aisle.

Is anyone else out there a sucker for the awesome foodie items at places like T.J. Maxx and Marshall’s?

I can’t get enough! I love trying new items I find on sale in the food aisle and yesterday I came home with Carlsbad Oblaten original vanilla almond wafer cookies.

Carlsbad Oblaten Wafers

I bought them for $3, but online they sell for nearly $10 a tin!

Original Vanilla Almond Wafers

I cannot believe how flippin’ delicious these wafers are!

I ate about a billion yesterday, but managed to save a couple wafers for dippin’ in my Greek yogurt after lunch today.

Wafer Cookies + Greek Yogurt

I think I plowed through my lunch just to get to this “dessert.” 😉

Lunch

Lunch today was an old favorite.

Tuna Salad with Sweet Corn

Tuna salad!

I enjoyed my tuna salad on top of a bed of romaine lettuce.

Tuna Salad + Romaine

Lunch

I love how a can of tuna packs such a huge protein punch.

…Aaaand I’m off to prepare for a meeting. See ya fo’ dinn-ah!

Poppin’ Ham

This morning my breakfast included what I’ll call poppin’ ham.

Have you ever tried to microwave ham or Canadian bacon? Inevitably the meats seem to “pop” in the microwave.

Today a woman even asked me if I was making popcorn for breakfast! Um… no. But that’s a fantastic idea! 😉

I reheated a ham steak I had leftover from last night’s dinner and used it as the core of my breakfast bagelwich.

Ham + Cheese + Bagel

After spreading one half of an Alternative Bagel with Laughing Cow light Swiss cheese and heatin’ up the ham, I inhaled my bagelwich.

Bagelwich

Yum, Yum

I ate this baby so quickly that when I was done I actually thought to myself, “That was good… I think. I don’t really remember how it tasted.”

Sloooow down, Julie!

Are you a fast eater or a slow eater?

I am a (lightning) fast eater. I really need to learn to savor every bite and take my time when eating meals. Sometimes I just get so excited to dig in that I inhale my food!

Poaching an Egg: Revisited

It was nice to see that I’m not alone in my poached egg failure, though some of you seem to have mastered the art!

Here’s a great tip Melanie shared yesterday:

“I actually found a great way to poach eggs You take some clingwrap (microwave safe) and lay it out over a small bowl, break the egg inside of it and then bunch it up on top, tie a knot in the top part of the clingwrap. Then you just drop it in the water, boil for 6-8 minutes and it comes out perfectly poached. Basically you’re making a little bag for the egg to go in – kind of cheating but it works!”

I love this idea and will definitely use it next time! I’m all for easy-peasy cookin’.

CSN Stores $40 Credit Winner

Thanks to everyone who entered the CSN Stores giveaway!

Using Random.org’s True Random Number Generator, the winner of the giveaway was…

Number 28!

Congrats to Laura who said,

“Awesome giveaway! I’d love a waffle makers…but I think I’d go for the Cap Barbell 40 lbs Dumbbell Set – Free Shipping! Wow!”

Please email me (pbfingers@gmail.com) with your mailing address!