Fall Leaves

I love Fall. I always thought I was a spring girl until a few years back when I realized I was more obsessed with everything that came with Fall than I was with the Spring. With Spring, at least the notion of warmer weather would be around the corner, an obvious reason why it can be liked by so many people. However, Fall is definitely the intro to colder weather around here... and you never know when that colder weather will happen. We got some snow last week, which pretty much shocked everyone in town, and I actually had to put socks on, instead of just throwing some sandals on for work. What a pain! *lol* But, Fall is still my fave. I love the scents mainly: cinnamon, pumpkin (pumpkin spice lattes anyone?), nutmeg, spice, etc. Everything brings good memories and makes me feel all warm and cozy. Plus, this year the colors on the trees have been phenomenal... so pretty!

I am always sad to see Summer go, especially this past summer. We actually had decent weather for once (still, no tan was received), so it was nice to be able to go outside and do things... or stay inside and enjoy the AC when it was just too hot. That usually was the case, which is probably why I didn't get a tan. details, details... I went on a couple road trips, spent a lot of time with my boyfriend and got back into a gym routine that I am still continuing now. August was a rather sad month, as I lost one of my Grandma's. I wouldn't say she passed away due to one thing, as it just kind of came on, and 17 days after she entered the hospital, she passed due to everything that had been infecting her body. It was definitely a hard month, but also a good month for bringing that side (my dad's) together and catching up with people I hadn't seen in years. I miss her every day.

But anyway, I think a lot of people start things over at the beginning of the year since it's a new start and they can focus on something for the next 12 months ahead of them. I think Fall is a great time to start things, as that's when school started and your mind is usually in that mode to pick new challenges up and work on them for awhile. As I mentioned, I have continued with my routine regimen since the beginning of the summer and love it. I do Zumba 2-3 times a week, and then hit up one day for regular cardio on the machine. I honestly get bored doing that cardio work now, but know I need to add some new things in so my body doesn't get bored. It's fun. I also have focused more on eating more whole foods than processed. I love my frozen lunches,  but for the last month I have been making meals in my crock pot to eat for the week and I just feel better about it. This week: Salsa Chicken in a wrap. Yum!

Now that it's October, Fall is certainly in full swing. Halloween is upon us and although I don't think I will be doing much for it this year, I still enjoy the time leading up to it - checking out the costume stores in town, or on websites to see what people are snatching up this year. The boyfriend's one nephew is going to be Po from 'Kung-Fu Panda'... he's gonna rock that costume like no other! And his little baby brother is going as either a giraffe or a puppy - which will be super cute!

Time to get out my boots, scarves, hats, gloves... and light those pumpkin and spice scented candles!

Music and Memories...

I am currently working on perfecting my "90's Summer Hits" playlist on Pandora and it played one of my absolute favorite songs: "The Freshmen" by The Verve Pipe. I have loved this song since it's debut in 1997, and although isn't a "summer song"... I allow it on my playlist because I love it so much. It also brings back a lot of memories from that time of my life - which is pretty common with any song I ever listen to. As hard as I try not to associate songs with certain events/life experiences... it is very hard and usually impossible. This song is a great example.

"The Freshmen" brings me back to my sophomore year in High School. It was currently in between winter and spring, and the group of friends that I hung out with listened to the radio like it was going out of style, we loved it! I am not sure why this song attracted me so much, but it still is one of my favorites today. Anyway, one of my good guy friends and I had started to taking a liking to each other around the time that it came out. There was this one Friday night, and a bunch of my friends and I were over at another friends houses just hanging out. It was getting late, and I needed to go but needed a ride since I didn't drive there (I didn't have my license yet). So my guy friend had driven there himself, and everyone suggested that he take me home. I shouldn't have been nervous about this, but everyone knows those butterfly feelings always happen when you're around someone you like! The drive wasn't very far, but we had some time. By chance, "The Freshmen" came on the radio and my only thoughts were, "If he kisses me goodnight during this song (we had kissed before), that's what I will associate it with and do I want that? Do I not want that? Oh... what to do, what to do?" The song was still on when we pulled into the driveway and that moment approached. I think I freaked myself out too much and pretty much rushed out of the car just to avoid the situation. Plus, I never knew if my mom would be staring out their bedroom window waiting for me to come home - as if I wanted her to see me making out with a guy in a car. *lol* So the kiss never happened during the song, but I still always remember this situation. Lesson: Although I didn't want to associate the song with that moment, I still do.

An actual relationship never happened between us (normal high school drama), but there was always this connection between us. I always considered him my high-school sweetheart that never happened, although we had plenty of chances. It's funny to look back at it now though. Him and I met up a couple years ago just to catch up, and the topic of us back then when we were young and 16 was talked about... including the "what ifs" of that timeframe in our lives. Silly? Probably, but it was fun.

Oh, the memories and the power of a song... who knew!

Recipe challenge.

I consider myself a healthy eater - maybe not 100% of the time, but I would say about 80% of the time. After doing Weight Watchers 5 years ago and losing almost 20lbs, it made me realize that some of the food out there was definitely not worth the calories per serving. For one, I loved any type of Helper (chicken or hamburger) growing up, but only getting a 1 cup serving of that stuff for about 8 pts. (when I was only allowed 22 a day) was not worth it to me. I haven't had one since. Along with some other stuff, it shed me a new light on what other things were out there that could give me the healthy decision and keep me on track to losing that weight. And losing that much weight was certainly a worth it!!

I just recently ordered a few new cookbook/recipes books recently. I am a devout follower to Spark People, and decided to order the cookbook from the site when it came out. Along with that, I have acquired a few Hungry Girl books as well. I have flipped through them all, and have decided that I will try a recipe from either book once a week. The one thing I love about the HG books, is that a lot of the recipes are a single serving. That works perfect for the evenings that I don't eat with my boyfriend and need to chow down on something on my own. And with most of the recipes having around 5 ingredients for each - even better.

Tonight: Hungry Girl - Stuffed Chick Cordon Bleu. Wish me luck!! :)

Baking endeavours

I think of myself a baker rather than a cooker. And granted it usually takes me a couple times to get something right - I find that baking has a less chance of this. Ha. Lately I have been obsessed with cupcakes, but since I would rather not polish down a Baker's Dozen myself, I refrain unless I have something to actually bake for or need a practice run just to be sure. Plus, baking is much easier to make into individual sizes than a big meal. When I was single, I never cooked for myself - as I didn't want to have the same leftovers for a week straight. It's strange, cos I could live a week straight on having cereal for supper... but that leftover lasagna bake? No thanks!

This weekend I made pumpkin spice chocolate chop muffins, and banana muffins. I hadn't originally planned to make the pumpkin spice muffins, but my BF's family was getting together and I figured I should make something for it. It's fairly easy - 1 spice cake box mix, 1 can pumpkin, 1 cup water, 1 egg white. You mix and dump into muffin pans sprayed with baking spray, cook the desired minutes on the cake box and there ya go. And it's pretty healthy too, something like almost 100 cal per muffin. No one ate them during the meal, but brought some with them on their way home. Success!

I also made banana muffins, with a couple leftover bananas I didn't get to last week. They turned out well, but I should have decreased the cooking time by 5 minutes. I will share below, and refer you to where I found it. I also changed a couple things, but have updated those from the original recipe.

Seriously Healthy Banana Muffins
http://healthiefoodie.blogspot.com/2009/02/seriously-healthy-banana-muffins.html?showComment=1315313944895#c7578158618076690309

Serving size: 12 big muffins (will have some leftover batter)

Ingredients

• 2 very ripe bananas
• 1/2 cup whole wheat pastry flour
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup regular sugar
• 1/2 cup Blue Agave Nectar
• 2 tablespoons light butter, softened
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 egg
• 2 tablespoons unsweetened applesauce
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

1. Preheat oven to 350
2. Cream sugar with butter (this helps to get all the butter blended smoothly!)
3. Add egg, and beat lightly to get the mixture to fluff up a little.
4. Add the 4 bananas, already smashed up in a separate bowl (a pastry fork works really well for mashing and mixing the bananas if you don't feel like busting out the mixer)
5. Add the vanilla, and applesauce.
6. Then add all the remaining dry ingredients and mix well.
7. Pour mixture into pan sprayed with cooking spray so they don't stick! (12-cup muffin pan)
8. Bake for around 25 minutes. You'll be able to tell it's all ready when the color is good and golden brown, or when a knife comes out clean from the center.
9. Remove muffins or loaves from pans to cool on a rack.

 Happy Baking!

Triple D!

I swear I should make up my own "Diner's, Drive-Ins and Dives" like Guy Fieri on The Food Network. Since I started dating my BF, we have been to a few 'hole in wall' joints, all with amazing food. His grandparents like to go to these places, so whenever we go visit them and his parents (OK, so we mainly go so he can get his haircut and then do supper with them after) that is usually where we hit up. Last night we went to a place in Great Bend, ND (population 60, as of 2010) called Cow Gal's Saloon. It was a bar and grill, and I guess his grandparents just raved about the place so we figured that the next time we went down... that's where we would go.

The atmosphere was definitely a bar, and a small town one for that matter. The walls were covered with beer signs, old pictures, anything cowboy related, etc... definitely an 'American Pickers' dream. And the menu... I swear every person in that town could get something different - it was huge with a good selection of apps, chicken, steak, fish, soup, etc. I also look for the chicken entrees, whether it be a chicken sandwich or a meal and sides. It's usually a safe bet, and semi-healthy. I ended up getting chicken breast and swiss... which consisted of 2 small chicken breats, covered with a slice of swiss cheese a piece. I got the clam chowder and garlic mashed potatoes as my sides. We also ordered an app of chicken drummies in a cajun rub, and I had a couple of the BF's moms onion rings. All in all, very good... and I had leftovers for lunch today!

We even had our own entertainment, a few things actually. An older gentlemen was the singer singer of the evening, who was doing part karaoke and part off the top of his head - with guitar. He took a break for a drink and we think he ended up drinking a whole bottle of something with the way the songs were coming out in his second half. *lol* Also, the BF's grandpa was all about killing any fly that landed on anything near him. I think he managed to get 3 or 4 of them, and even one that landed in his drink. We told him he did that on purpose so he could get another drink. We all had a laugh.

I enjoy going to places like that, since they're usually one-of-a-kind. I think next we're hitting up a place in Mooreton, ND!

T > G > I > F >

Ah, another Friday is here. I feel like it was just last Friday and I was about to head off to the MOA to do a little shopping with my sister, then take in the fabulous sounds of NKOTBSB at the Target Center. Which by the way, was pretty awesome. What wasn't awesome? Having to get up early last Saturday and drive to Grand Forks. Ha.


As I have said before, this summer has just flown. I feel like I've kept busy but at the same time don't feel like I have done much. I blame work for getting in the way and cherish the summers I had when I was a kid. I'd get up just before the Price of Right was going to start, eat my breakfast downstairs in our "Nintendo chairs", then do whatever until noon for lunch and "Days of Our Lives". The afternoon usually consisted of watching some old school games shows on USA, playing outside or being involved in a variety of sports. Oh... those were the days.So easy,  no worries.

And now I have the Katy Perry TGIF song in my head. So catchy.

Stars & Stripes

I don't think I'll get to this again before the 4th on Monday so here is my 4th of July blog.

I usually don't do much on the 4th, one of those holidays where I kind of wait and see what's going on and then see what I want to do. Now that makes me sound like I look for the best offer, not true! :) But honestly, I never usually have concrete plans and sometimes I think that's OK - especially depending on the day that the 4th falls on.

Last year was nice, since it was a Sunday and everyone had Monday off as a bank holiday. Some friends and I rented a pontoon and floated around a lake all day long. It wasn't super sunny, but enough to get us burnt. So... the old wives tale is true! It was a really fun weekend and we made the best of it. The year before I worked, so doing anything was better than that.

This year I am heading to my mom's hometown to celebrate my grandparent's 65th Wedding Anniversary (that's actually in September). We have gathered friends and family from across the country together to do this, so it should be a good time. At least for them anyways. I won't know too many people except for my immediate family, which is fine by me. Most families only seem to get together when there is a funeral, and MAYBE a wedding. And no one really has family reunions these days. Heck, the last time I went to one of those on my mom's side... I was 8. The funny thing, the one 2nd cousin I met there and kept in touch with pen-pal style for a few years after is actually going to be at this party... so that will be fun to see her again. I guess she's married, kids, etc. At least I have a boyfriend, so I won't be the *single* gal. Oh... it's not that bad!


This will be weekend #3 that I will be out of town, which is nice to get away but even nicer to come back. Last weekend I was in Milwaukee for a Twins/Brewers baseball game (that unfortunately the Twins lost). Nice road trip, and fun to go to an "away" game. That's my second one, as I hit up Wrigley Field 2 years ago to watch the Twins/Cubs play. Good times. :) Enjoy your long weekend everyone.