30 July 2010

just one more 'thank you' on the oldie ...

Just one more post on the oldie blog


Dear leftover steak and veggies -

You were so delish for lunch today. So mush so in fact
that I did not go out to eat. This was very hard since
I was craving nachos! Oh, my waste thanks you too. :o)

Love, Liz

27 July 2010

Discovered new things ...

This fine bloggety blog is getting
a makeover people!

Yes! Finally! Wahoo! Woot woot!
Can you tell I am kind of excited?

Sooo ... what does this mean to you?
Well your most awesome daily reading pleasure will
be down for the rest of the week.

Please check back on Monday to get
a first glimpse of the goodness!

If I am up earlier I will post on Facebook and Twitter.

Thank you!

26 July 2010

Make healthy food LOOK Fun to eat!

Do you want your kids to eat healthier
but don't know how to get them
to munch down that fruit or veggie?

Or, get them to drink water with crystal light
instead of sugary juice or soda?

I know I always do!
Luckily daughter already loves fruits
and veggies {phew!}
and she has taken a liking to water.
Thank goodness!

So why not get creative anyway?
Whether you child likes to eat the good stuff
or not you should still incorporate
some of this fun-ness on to your kid's plate.

Mom of the year? Absolutely!

So here we go ...
Do you think your little kiddo
might eat this before munching down just a
plain old pear?

I'm thinking so!
Let's see.  Give it a try.
Check out the instructions here.

How about that plain, boring water?
We all know water is good for us. All of us.
But kids want the sweet stuff.

How about making the water look fun & tasty?
Add some fun straws ...

And add some fresh fruit to the glass.
Does the fruit give lot's of flavor?
Umm ... probably not unless you
squeeze it a little.

But it sure does make that glass of water
look so much cooler.
And more fun for sure!

Give it a try.  These things have worked for me.
And I am confident that they will work for you too!

Good luck and enjoy!



23 July 2010

Some Friday Fun ... For smiles only

Just some fun in hopes to
make you smile.
I sure did!

Remember earlier in the week when
I mentioned my car was broken
in to?
Well, one of the things they took
was my favorite pair of sunglasses.
Ya. I know. Sheesh.
I mean they were my favorite pair.

Good thing 1) everything happens for a reason
and 2) we happen to be going to San Francisco
that very next day.
WAHOOO!

So I found these!
I love them more then my
previous favorite pair.

daughter modeling the fave shades

Cute huh? Ya, I think so too.

Oh! Hey! Check out this site for
some crafty fun.

I hope your weekend is filled with
bubble blowing excitement!


photo credit

I know ours sure will be!



21 July 2010

Got lots on the mind today ...

So much on my mind ...
The wheels are definitely spinning ...
Lots of ideas ...
I sense an opportunity ...
WE just have to reach out and grab it ...

(in deep thought)

On a side note ~
That pesky undiagnosed insomnia is
really driving me batty.
Well not really but ...
Some days you wouldn't know I had 3-4 hours
of sleep and other days
I won't take the office stairs
because I don't feel the energy to lift my
feet high enough to climb them. hee tee
Today is an elevator day.

20 July 2010

Butterfly Inspiration

Why? Do you ask.
It's simple.
{in my opinion} butterflies are peaceful.
So dainty. So Graceful. So colorful.
They won't hurt you.
Unless you are in some kind of
weird movie or something. HA!

This is what inspires me today ...

Nice design. I would do
something like this over
our bathtub. I need something like
this over our tub. Now.

My favorite picture.
I want to go home. Immediately.
To make some cute displays. 

I look at this and think * stationary.
I want to write a special someone
a special note. ASAP. 

Ahhh ... sweet dreams tonight.
I sure hope so anyway! 

Time to go home. Get pretty
in a ruffled skirt and put
these in my hair. If only I had these.
I must find similar hair clips. STAT! 

So cute for a girl's bedroom
or a playroom.  I have ideas for 
daughter's playroom. I need to
gather more picture frames like
... yesterday so I can get
that room done. I want to
get that room done. 

I am smiling right now.
Butterflies make me happy.
Well butterflies and daisies if you
must know. :o)


19 July 2010

Weekend Wrap-Up - It's Random Ramblings

The weekend started out fantastically
on Friday night.
Even though my car got broken in to at
the restaurant.
Yes, you read correctly.
Car. Broken. In to.
It's cool though. Not a lot of damage
and they didn't get much.
So no big deal after all. Could have been
worse. Right?

Prior to the break-in I was
having dinner with some old friends.
Not old like in age old but old
like in long time friendships.
Jen, Heather and Charlene.
I see Jen often & Heather a lot.
Not so much of Charlene though so it
was fun that we could all get together
for a nice dinner on Friday night. 

I brought these silly gumball machine rings
for us. Aren't they cute? Well the idea was cute. :o)
We laughed. Talked. Laughed some more.
All of the memories from when we were
younger.  Back when we just knew we
we THE coolest girls walking the earth.
I am sure you all know that feeling.  :o)

Then Saturday was a big day.
Daughter was done with Art Camp on
Friday and went to San Francisco with
her grandparents, her Aunt Staci (from PA)
and Kim (Aunt Staci's friend) to see Peter Pan.
They stayed close to the city that night
then met us back there Saturday morning.
We spent all day there.
{more detailed blog post to come}
It was so fun. The weather was beautiful!
Had lunch at a dim sum place.
Not a huge fan of the ambiance.  My husband's reference,
"this looks like a place in a Jackie Chan movie.
I keep waiting for him to come running from the back
doing a fight scene."
It was funny.  Seriously, we ate in a banquet room
but it was the restaurant.

the desert. daughter liked it. I didn't try it.

We walked. And walked. And walked. 
Until the end of the day when we took a cable car
from the warf back to China Town.

We were so excited to see daughter.
It had been two weeks!

I LOVE our peek-a-book picture ...
as I call it.
p.s. I am really liking all of the things
I have learned to do on photobucket.

Oh my gosh. This is so funny {in my opinion} ...
My girlfriend pulled her lint roller
out of her desk drawer and all of this
stuff was stuck to it!
I mean it makes sense that stuff would
stick but dang her desk is a mess!
ha ha ha
See for yourself!

Anyhoo ...
Sunday was a fantastic day too.
Well the day was. Not so much the evening.
I got up nice and early for my
one hour fitness class.
Then I came home to a house of friends.
Our out-of-town friends were passing through town
on their way home and stopped for lunch. YAY!
Unfortunately my camera was dead from
Saturday but the kids have made my blog before.
See! Aren't they cute!

They left and daughter's softball practice resumed.
Yep, winter ball is back people!
She was out there for 2 1/2 hours.
I on the other hand was visiting
a dear family friend who recently had 2 heart attacks.
She is looking marvelous of course but she still
needs to relax.

Scary enough, her daughter, Heather
(friend from Friday night's dinner) was
taken to the hospital with back pain and
shortness of breath before I got there.
I hung out, visited, played with Heather's kids
and was kept well informed by Steve, her hubby.

This is their youngest, Jacob.
Yep, I am in love.

This is big brother Gabriel taking good care
of little Jacob. Ahhh ...

Luckily Heather was able to go home last
night.  She had more tests scheduled
for today.  I am glad they are taking every
precaution. 

Phew ... Here's to the week ahead!

16 July 2010

Summer Spruce up - What's in your fridge?

And just in time for the weekend.

Do you know what is in your fridge?
I mean all the way in the very very back?

You know that tupperware container
you have been ignoring because the
leftovers in it have grown a blanket?
Ya, you know what I mean.

I recently went through every shelf.
one by one.
Picked. Cleared. Cleaned. Organized.

I wanted to make room for all of the
fresh, healthy and refreshing
fruits and veggies we just bought.
One reason why I love summer -
the cold foods taste so much better.
{in my opinion}

see what I mean?
breakfast this morning


I like wiping down the shelves
about once a month.
I do this because I would be mortified if
a guest went to my fridge and
tried to grab a jar of something
that was stuck to the shelf because
of something else.  Yes, this has happened
once. Only once.

It is a good idea to use your
grocery shopping day as a
fridge organizing day.
It makes total sense.
You do need to make room for
your new goodies, right?!

My fridge is set so I have other plans
for the weekend.
Dinner with the girls ... San Fran ... Fitness class ... Relax

Until Monday! Enjoy!




15 July 2010

Baby it's H.O.T out here!

Yowza!
It's sizzlin' out here today!

The sun is definitely shining. down. bringing the heat. 
I am a summer girl. I enjoy the heat.
I really do. I think ...
However, I AM beginning to realize that I like
the heat a lot more when I am not running
around in it. Yep. I definitely
like it better when I have water to dip into.
Pool, Ocean (preferred), lake.
You know what I mean?
Is this too much to ask?

I've got some tips for you if you share
my same experience today:

If you are working (like me) then
take cover! Find some shade such as ...
umbrellas are a nice portable
kind of shade

Or ...
sitting under a tree in the
grass with a nice breeze
is the diggety

If you aren't working hopefully
you have access to one of these ...
Pool

Ocean

Lake

Either could work. Don't be picky.
Again, I don't think this is too much to ask.
heeeee heeeee

And when it's blistering whether you
are enjoying the water or taking cover under
shade during your work day you
should always stay hydrated and
eat healthy, refreshing snacks such as ...


That is my advice for the day.
Stay cool. Stay hydrated. Stay healthy.
Have a great one!




photo credits: weheartit.com
Well the apple is mine. Can't you tell?
It's not as fancy as some of the others.
:o)








14 July 2010

A Bike Ride ... Funtabulous!

It’s no surprise that our family {Hubber, Daughter and I}
have been focusing on a healthier lifestyle.
Healthy eating habits and lots of exercise/activity.
It’s not just thinking we are eating better
it’s knowing what we are eating and why it’s better.
And to come up with different activities to do often.

We have had our bikes since before Daughter
was born. It’s true. We used to ride along the
American River.  Since having daughter and, well,
the stories you hear about people getting attacked
by mountain lions and such,
we haven’t really done any riding at the river.

We do have a big circle in our neighborhood.
The street is almost two miles.
A good ride for daughter.
But as you can imagine we got bored with
looking at the same houses, elementary school
and park time and time again.

So while Daughter is away at camp weep weep we have
been scoping out local trails to take her on & we
report in to her to share the new ride finds.
She IS excited to see them.

It’s nice that we are lucky enough to have really
nice bike trails right in our town.
They are very pretty too.

This one is about 5 miles and has so much scenery.
Lots of ducks.  Although none pictured here.
Please note; this photo is the beginning of our ride.
Prior to Hubber calling me slow poke and saying, "you know you
are slow when a jogger passes you." Gosh I love him! :o) 
only issue is you have to dodge duck poop until you
get out of the first park.
There are even some small inclines. Nothing
huge but enough for you me to feel it in the legs.

Check out this site to see if you have trails close to you.
My guess is you will be suprised at what you find.

P.S. That jogger was fast! I swear he was
training for a double marathon or something.

13 July 2010

Friends on the Fence

Aren't they so very adorable?
I sure do think so!

I purchased them at Joann Fabrics
oh probably 4 years ago.
Back then I had every intention of
hanging them in the then backyard.
Eventually they got shuffled to the garage and were
never hung.
Then we moved. YAY!
I like our new backyard so much more then
the then backyard.
There are more plants, bushes and flowers.
We were inspired to dig out the yard decor
and get to work and cutesifying our yard.
Front and back.
FYI, we have the cutest turtle
stepping stones in the front yard.
Ohhh future post to come on those. YEP!
I have yard stakes placed in various spots
and a mini flag stand.
We have a little patch of grass that
I could even mow.
oh and the pool.

This piece of fence has no plants.
not even under our friends on the fence.
So of course we thought this was
THE perfect spot.

I think they look cute here.

It's Our yard is so pretty. I love sitting in the hot tub
and just staring around.
It's pretty cute ... in my opinion.



12 July 2010

{www} What a Wonderful Weekend

We had a busy but very wonderful weekend.

Let's see, it started with a 6:30 wake-up call
(thank you alarm clock) on Saturday.
This was necessary actually becasue we had
to be at Elk Grove Park by 8:00am to start our
shifts at the snack bar during the All Star
softball tournament.  I heard there were
something like 55 teams there. WOW!
That explains why we were busy.
Busy busy. All. Day. Long.
Hubber worked the grill and I worked inside.
We were there from 8:00am until about 7:00pm.
I know. Long day right?
But oh so worth it.  We love helping out
whenever we can.

Sunday, we got to sleep in until about 8:00.
Well, actually I woke up sporadically during the
night so I am not sure I would call it
sleeping in. Would you? Opinions please.
Anyhoo ... I had a 1 hour fitness class at 10:00
then a meeting from noon until about 3:30pm.
Both in Roseville.  By the time we got home
I was pretty tired. Just wanted to veg and watch
movies. Independence Day and then
Remember the Titans.
I love when good movies are on channels like
TNT and E. 
Especially since we don't have movie channels!

That was our {www} ... in a nut shell.

Undiagnosed insomnia update:
for a while I was doing great!
Getting 5 hours of unbroken sleep.
Pretty impressive eh? Well lately
my lovely undiagnosed insomnia has returned.
Now I am waking up 2 to 3 times a night
and wide open peepers at 4:33am.
Seriously? errrr
I like to tell myself this is because
I have so many ideas. So many plans to put in
motion that I am constantly thinking about
so it wakes me up at night.
Yep, that's it.  That's the reason.
I'll keep you posted ...

Good day and good night y'all!



11 July 2010

dear late lunch ... very late

-dear late lunch ... very late,

thank you for being available for me after 3:00pm. 
you were so important today because I 
realized that after fitness class and a
meeting that I had not yet eaten for the day. 
nope.  not at all.
not even a coffee. not even a mocha. wha!?! 
I already know.  no need to tell me how crazy this was.  
only thing now is I don't think
I will be hungry for your friend ... dinner. 
I won't eat past 8:00pm so I'm pretty sure
dinner is not happening tonight.  oooh actually,
I will have some blueberries in about an hour.  yum! 
yep that is my new plan.  just decided.

thanks again.
love,
liz :o)

09 July 2010

As Promised ... The Recipe

I didn't realized that when I mentioned
I would post the recipe for the yumm-o pasta salad
later this week in my last post that
it was already later this week. HA!

Sooo ... here ya go!

Please note: the goodness you are about to prepare in
your kitchen is straight from this fantabulicious cookbook!
Thank you mother-in-law!
And it goes a little something like this: Ok
it's typed exact. Word for Word from the pages.
Well, kind of.  :o)

ROTINI with CHICKEN, ASPARAGUS & TOMATOES
Prep time: 7 minutes / Cook time: 8 minutes YES!

You will need to gather:
~ 8 ounces uncooked rotini (corkscrew pasta)
~ Cooking spray
~ 1 lb skinless, boneless chicken breast
  cut into 1/4-inch strips
~ 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt (!we skipped this)
~ 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
~ 1 cup (1-inch) slices asparagus (!add more if desired)
~ 2 cups cherry tomatoes-halved (!add more if desired)
~ 2 garlic cloves-minced (!add more if desired)
~ 2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil
~ 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
~ 1 tablespoon estra-virgin olive oil
~ 1/4 cup (1 oz) crumbled goat cheese

Then you do this:
1. Cook pasta according to package directions, omitting salt and fat.
2. While pasta cooks, heat a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat: coat with cooking spray.  Sprinkle chicken with salt and pepper. Add chicken & asparagus to pan; saute 5 minutes.  Add tomatoes & garlic to pan; saute 1 minute. Remove from heat. Stir in pasta, basil, vinegar and oil to chicken mixture in pan. Top with cheese. Yield: 4 servings (serving size: 2 cups).

Calories 419; Fat 9.5g(sat 3.2g, mono 4.1g, poly 1.6g); Protein 33.9g; Carb 48.5g; Fiber 3.4g;
Chol 70mg; Iron 3.2mg; Sodium 324mg; Calc 105mg

FYI: We seasoned & grilled the chicken and asparagus. Saute'd everything else but the tomatoes.  Cooled/Chilled everything then mixed pasta. We ate it cold and it was DELISH. In our opinion.

I hope you enjoy yours!









06 July 2010

Celebrated Independence ALL weekend. YAY!

***Warning - there are A LOT of photos***
 This 4th of July weekend was so amazing.

Saturday we had the Run 4 Independence
in Elk Grove Park and the bike parade at Van Doren Park.

As Mrs. Northern Valley and my fight against
childhood obesity I thought it would
be fantastic to get a group of kids together to
participate in the Run 4 Independence. 
(The kid's runs were 1/4 mile for under 6 and
1/2 mile for 10 and under)
We had 6 kids including daughter!
They all loved it and are looking forward
to next year. YAY!

Our kids were sponsored by Mikuni. YUM
It was so great to see the Mikuni runners
get excited when they saw the kids.
They LOVED our customized shorts too.
Yep, we are lifers at Mikuni. For sure!

The kids of Team Mikuni & I

The entire team Mikuni

The big girls waiting for Cate to run the 1/4 mile

The big girls run the 1/2 mile


And they all finished ... ahhh

After the run we headed to the bike parade.
(all 6 kids went too! WOOT!)
The kids even decorated their bikes and helmets.
Yep, they were stoked! And they looked adorable!


P.S. Jen & I walked the parade with Jeff

Saturday was fabulous! to say the least.

Sunday, the 4th, we were low key.  
Headed to a good friend's house for dinner
and fireworks.
For dinner we all wanted something light & somewhat healthy.
After going through the new cookbook my mother-in-law
gave us we came up with a pasta salad that had
chicken, garlic, tomatoes & asparagus.
It was delish!
(recipe will be posted this week)
For desert we had frozen yogurt with fresh fruit.
It was the healthiest 4th of July meal we
have ever had! True story.

The fireworks were pretty and
the company was super.
 
It was a great night!
A GREAT WEEKEND!