Birthday Weekend!

 I had Thursday and Friday off last week for my birthday, making it a spectacular long birthday weekend!

I enjoyed my birthday breakfast with the boys and then finished off this book for church book club- Where the Fire Falls. LOVED IT!

Then I took them for a walk and Bruno and I did get that run in a Green Lakes.  It was his first excursion there and he was super duper excited.

 It was a darn near perfect day for a run. The trails nearly empty.

We very much enjoyed our time.

My running shoes make me so happy! Especially now that they are slightly dirty and getting broken in. <3 

Hannah made me a super delicious birthday dinner and cake!

The girls got me a pop it because I always seem to mindlessly play with the nephew's when its within reach or at the store :P   And its OLAF.

Coffee. Always. <3

The mister got me two books off my wish list.

Puppy buddy

Friday was pretty low key Friday. I drove the girls to school per usual.  Ryan assisted me in the super frustrating process of activating my new phone.  I took the dogs for a walk and Rhett and I went out for lunch to Heritage Hill Brewery- super yummy.  We both got fried haddock and were so stuffed I didn't have to make dinner :P

Saturday the youth group was having a spaghetti dinner fundraiser.  I walked the dogs, short ish run with Bruno and then dropped Hannah off to help set up. Did some grocery shopping, read some more.  We met Mikayla at church for the dinner and then ended up sitting with my parents too.  <3 The kids did a great job with the dinner! And I won the coffee basket raffle! =D

Sunday was church of course. I made an every plate recipe for dinner- Turkish Chicken  & Rice Bowls- which were super tasty! I made a chickpea version for Mikayla.

*stock photo from EveryPlate

More reading in the afternoon- I am loving this book!

The boys were feeling extra snuggly. Also Chance was snoring :P

And THEN!!! 

It was soooooooo good! We had such a great time! It lived up to all our expectations.  There are no words. We each got an over priced Hamilton T-shirt to commemorate the occasion.  *Totally worth it* Hamilton will once again being playing on repeat.  As we got in the car Hannah laughed and said- So is it too soon to listen to Hamilton? 😂

When we walked out of the theatre to discover it began blizzarding during the show.  The streets were not plowed and it was treacherous.  We made it safely to Mikayla's apartment which is only 10 minutes or so in normal driving conditions.  I called the mister.  He came and rescued Hannah and me, we have to go back tonight and pick up my car.  While we waited I pet her roommate's dog for a while to lower my blood pressure and anxiety.  We got home around midnight, I had trouble falling asleep and morning came far too soon. But I am alive, the sun is out, last night's anxiety is fading and my heart is happy.

Looking forward to seeing what God has for me in the coming year.  Here's to 42...

Catching up.

 Friday after work I went for my first run since New Years Day.  It was so hard! I feel like I am totally back to square one. But it felt great to get back out there.

Saturday I had a headache and just walked the dogs.  

We made these amazing burgers for dinner from my March Tastebuds

And also Loaded Potato Wedges-  so good!

I found a new training plan hopefully to get me back up to 5K fitness. Calling myself active is a bit of a stretch these days but hopefully it will start getting easier!

Monday night I made Weelicious, Catherine McCord's Pressure Cooker Spring Risotto in Bruce 2.  

So yummy! 

Also I was too cheap to buy arborio rice and just use regular white rice... turned out fine.

Last night my 2nd run back- first official training run...

saw some geese...

listened to some Hamilton...

...in preparation for going to see Hamilton on Sunday!!  We are soooo excited!

I tried to make taquitos last night for dinner but my corn tortillas kept breaking so I gave up and made sheet pan nachos instead.

I capped off the evening watching the virtual book launch of Kendra's book The Lazy Genius Kitchen.  Yesterday was supposed to be the actual book launch but some of the first printing ended up at the bottom of the ocean and the book is now coming out May 3.  I preordered just so I could get invited to this virtual party last night and it was delightful!

I came to the end of my list of titles I had planned out for book club.  Which led me to perusing book lists etc to plan more selections. Which in turn added about 50 books to my TBR and now I am feeling completely overwhelmed by it.... but have book club tentatively planned through January of 23- subject to change at my whim of course! :P 

Looking forward to turning 42 tomorrow. NOT being at work! Taking the dogs for a walk, taking Bruno for a run...maybe at the lake depending on if the rain comes or not and curling up with a book for at least part of the day!

42 t-minus 8 days and other randomness

 My birthday is about a week away. I'm battling winter blahs/spring fever and mid-life birthday meltdown. :P

So I signed up for a race... and will start a quick 4 week training plan on my birthday (since I have the day off- it should be easier to get out and run!) Although I am hoping to get some running in before that too ;)

Rhett gave me this orchid for my 40th birthday... you know right after the world shut down and the whole fam was stuck at home for my birthday.  It has bloomed right around my birthday the past two years and I am so impressed that it is still alive!

I picked up my library holds last night... they may have gotten a little out of control.

I have always wanted to try one of those meal plan delivery service thingys...Mikayla recently tried EveryPlate and loved it- she sent me a discount code so I tried it too.  I made our first meal last night and it was delish! Jammin' Fig Pork Chops.  I don't know if I would do it all the time but it was fun! One thing that's held me back was portions and I do think it was a tad on the light side for 4 portions- although we did have a little left over (3 of us ate last night).

Halfway through March...have I started working on my goals... uh nope.

Goals for March include...

• starting a 5K training plan to get ready for the Teal Ribbon Run in May
• having a nightly quiet time to reflect and journal and review my day
• read another book from my Unread Shelf- not sure which one yet

Thrifty shopper haul, egg bites + CLEAN kitchen

 Thursday- the weekend is almost here! I feel like I am living for the weekends sometimes. 

This past weekend was a pretty good one. Saturday we had a girls day! My girls and I went out with my Mom and my nieces.  We hit the Thrifty Shopper, the Golden Bee Bookshop, went out to lunch and Hobby Lobby.

I think I had the best haul ever at Thrifty Shopper.  I spent $17.23 and got 5 practically new items! I have been wearing the grey jeans all week and they are my new fav! I have been looking for grey jeans for like a year.  When I mentioned it to Mikayla she promptly found this pair for me! The jeans and the white top are from Ann Taylor Loft- I just checked and similar jeans on the website retail for almost $80- I got them for $2.99! Major score!

Wearing my thrifted outfit at work Tuesday =D

I am getting back on track with my planner this week.  I have to remind myself- it is not a magic planner (hahaha) I have to get it out, look at it and do the things!

I loved walking into my still clean kitchen after work Tuesday night. So I am working hard to keep it that way.

I have walked the dogs 3 out of 5 days so far this week.  Today the roads felt too icy to go out because suddenly winter is back after that glorious springtime tease.   The boys were disappointed.

But the main roads were clean on our drives to school and work and for that I am super thankful.

Last night I tested out the new Sous Vide Egg Bites! You can also use the egg bites mold in a regular pressure cooker, the mold (not the lid) is also oven safe and can be used to the Air Fryer too! I'm also going to try the pressure cooker version- as it takes far less time. Although the hands on time for Sous Vide is very small.  It just cooks for a long time! The eggs took 90 minutes but I worked on a party, cleaned my bathroom and watched The Masked Singer while they were cooking. 

And then I had breakfast all ready for this morning.  I popped a couple in a reusable pouch and warmed them up for like 40 seconds in the microwave when I got to work.  Yum, yum!

Chance also enjoyed the brief reprieve from winter!

All about the snuggles...

My coffee cup from the coffee house on Sunday 💖

I finished reading One Tuesday Morning yesterday by Karen Kingsbury- holy moly this book gives you all the emotions.  It takes place surrounding 9/11.  So crazy how all those memories and emotions came crashing back reading this.  Read with a box of tissues for sure.  I promptly put book #2 on hold at the library!

Ending with my devotional from this morning.