Bachelorette Girls Night

Yesterday I was super excited to arrive home and see a package from Amazon sitting by my front door.  I was only expecting one thing, so I knew it was my pre-ordered copy of Caitlin’s book Operation Beautiful.  I immediately ripped open the box and started reading through the pages and pages of uplifting notes and heartwarming stories.  I’m not going to lie, the book had me tearing up at times.  I’m already about half way through it, and I can’t wait to read more.

I pried myself away from the book long enough to go to the gym and get a run in.  I swear Monday runs are the hardest, it’s like the weekend is still just hanging in your legs making everything require so much more effort.  I managed to finish 4.43 miles in 40 minutes, so I was happy with my Monday run effort.

• Mile 1: 9:13
• Mile 2: 9:05
• Mile 3: 8:57
• Mile 4: 8:34
• Mile 4-4.43 8:20

After the gym, my sister and I hit the grocery store and picked up a rotisserie chicken and some twice baked potatoes for dinner.  Sometimes just grabbing prepared foods is the easiest thing to do, especially on a Monday when you are tired and not ready to cook.

Thank you McCaffrey’s for feeding me dinner so many nights when I’m too lazy to cook or we don’t have any food in the house.  After dinner, a bunch of the girls came over for our Monday night Bachelorette viewing party.  I think it’s safe to say that all of us were disappointed in Ali’s choice, booooo Ali we all think you picked the wrong guy!  Although, he did choose a nice ring for you.  At least you’ve got that going for you now.

Also, thanks to The Bachelorette I have officially changed my dream honeymoon destination from Hawaii to Bora Bora, I feel like one is significantly more expensive than the other, sigh.  Alright, that’s really all I have for you today sorry.  I blame it on Tuesday and Tuesday being my least favorite day of the week.  At least I have yoga tonight, which I’ve really begun to look forward to, and I think my sister is actually coming with me this time.  Col, no giggling during class!  Don’t make me laugh!  Have a great day everyone!

My Sister is a Bad Influence

Yesterday I got home from work with every intention of going to the gym, and getting at least 3.5 miles in.  I was even halfway to getting changed when my sister came into my room, plopped herself on my bed, and whined at me not to go to the gym.  I half heartedly told her that, “Nooo, I have to” to which she said “Nooo don’t go” and then I gave in.  In compromise she agreed to go with me on Friday instead.

Since I wasn’t going to work out I figured the least I could do was make a real dinner for us for once this week.  I took some chicken out of the freezer and a bottle of teriyaki marinade out of the pantry and stared at the two for a while.  Then I went back to the pantry, grabbed a box of whole wheat fettucine and stared some more.  I was trying to piece together a yummy chicken teriyaki and noodle dinner with very few ingredients.  Then I remembered about some frozen broccoli and corn, and dinner was a go.

I started by cutting up my still slightly frozen chicken into bite sized pieces (fun fact: chicken is immensely easier to cut if it’s still a little frozen) and marinading it in some Lawry’s Teriyaki with Pineapple Juice and a few Tbsps of Sesame Oil while I chopped up some onion and garlic.  Then I poured some vegetable oil into a pan, let it heat up, and added my chicken to it.  I let the chicken cook for a few minutes, and then dumped in the onion and garlic.

While all of this cooked together I put of pot of water on to cook my fettucine.  I would say I let the chicken, onion, and garlic cook together for about five minutes before adding the corn and broccoli.  Just throw it in there still frozen, it will cook.

When there was about two minutes left on the time for my pasta, I took it off the heat, drained it, and threw it in the pan with the rest of the ingredients.  This way it finishes cooking in the teriyaki sauce and absorbs more flavor.  I also added another sprinkling of sauce from the bottle to make sure there was enough.

I let everything cook together for about another five minutes before I decided it was ready for eatin.

I wish I could have thrown some peppers and other veggies in there, but it was still delicious with just the broccoli and corn.  My sister loved it also, and we both cleaned our plates :).  This was one of the simplest and quickest dinners that I have ever prepared, well once I figured out what I was going to cook that is.

• 2 small boneless skinless chicken breasts
• Lawry’s Teriyaki Marinade
• Sesame Oil
• Vegetable Oil
• 2 garlic cloves
• 1/4 of an onion
• Broccoli
• Corn
• Some sort of pasta

Cut up your chicken into bit size pieces, marinade it in the Lawry’s and Sesame Oil for at least half an hour.  Heat up the vegetable oil in a large pan and add the marinated chicken.  Once the chicken has started to cook, add in the onion and garlic and let cook for 2-3 minutes.  While that is cooking, prepare the water for your pasta and add in a large handful once it has come to a boil.  Add your vegetables to the chicken, onion, and garlic and saute until everything is cooked through.  When the pasta has about 2-3 minutes cook time remaining, remove from heat, drain, and add to the pan with everything else.  Cook until the noodles have absorbed most of the liquid and are no longer hard.  Enjoy!

I kind of wish I had made a bigger portion of this, because leftovers would have been perfect for lunch today.  Oh well, next time I know to make lots.  In other news, Happy Thursday!  I can’t decide whether this weekend feels like it has been dragging or flying by.  I think starting Monday out with seeing the boyfriend and drinking too much wine made it go a little slow.  Oh well I can make it through one more day I think.  I’m excited for this weekend because I’m off to Atlantic City on Saturday for one of my friends bachelorette parties.  It should be a show, for sure.  What are you all looking forward to this weekend?  I hope you all have a great day!

Trail Run Fail

Holler friends, happy Tuesday! It may be the worst day of the week, but at least tomorrow is Wednesday and then the week is almost over! I really hate how I constantly am wishing time away, but seriously what else is there to look forward to except the weekend?

Last night my sister and I ventured over to a local trail to try it out for our run. It is literally two minutes from our house, but yet neither one of us has ever gone. It’s a 285 acre nature preserve called 5 Mile Woods, and now I know why we never ran there before. While a majority of the trails are dirt paths, there are sections that remind me of the wooden planks on jungle gyms. You know, when one person jumps on one end the person on the other is bounced off. There were tree roots sticking out of the ground everywhere and fallen tree trunks blocking the path. It was more of an obstacle course than a trail run, and after 2.5 miles we made our way out of the woods.

Thumbs down for sure. We managed to do another mile on the streets before looping back to the car and calling at a day. Oh well, something is better than nothing right? Oh and that is the third shirt from the bf from my birthday. I told my sister I was wearing it so she wouldn’t lose me in the woods, haha. Uh, Col thought I was taking a picture here which is why she’s just posing like a weirdo but it was really a video

After our run, we had to rush home because I was getting a surprise visitor! The bf needs to drive down to VA Beach this week, so he stopped here for a night to hang out, hooray!

For dinner we enjoyed some frozen pizzas, one California Pizza Kitchen Margarita Pizza and one Red Baron Pepperoni Pan Pizza.

Girl and boy pizza. The pan pizza was thick and delicious and the CPK was just as good as always. After dinner. the three of us sat on the couch watching The Bachelorette reunion special with all the dudes who were kicked off. Extremely entertaining. I can’t wait until the season finale next week to see who Ali chooses.

Tonight I think my sister is going to accompany me to the 4:30 yoga class, yeah I’m giving it another shot. I need to find a way to incorporate cross training and I think this is a good one. I’ll be sure to report back and let you all know if the chanting is as prominent as last week.

I hope everyone has a great day and that Tuesday goes by quickly!