see ya later, 26!

hello! as i type this there are only about two hours left in the day.. AKA 2 hours left in my 26th year of life! it’s been a great year. so much has happened in good old year 26!

• i bought a subaru wrx wagon
• i went to lake powell
• i went to san fran and met a zillion blog friends at the foodbuzz festival
• i went to jamaica
• i got engaged
• i bought a house

i mean, i am sure there is lots more to it.. but that list alone is pretty fun!

let’s talk about the shenanigans that have taken place since i last posted, shall we?

sunday

i ended up going to the gym instead of going for a jog like i’d originally planned.  i didn’t keep track of my exact workout because i was busy reading my latest issue of shape magazine.. i was SO stoked when i saw not one but TWO people i know in the issue! the first was meghann, her weight loss success story was in the issue (very cool!) and the second was emily, my body for life buddy, who was the model for an article about abdominal exercises! emily was actually the 2008 body for life GRAND CHAMP. i was really excited to see her in the magazine :)

i did 30 minutes of intervals on the stair mill (preset intervals, level 12) along with 10 minutes on the elliptical @ level 15. followed by 5 minutes of stretching.

total workout stats:

forty five minutes on the dot!

i cleaned myself up and headed to btown for my joint birthday celebration with the family. yep, i said joint! my big (and only) brother’s birthday is just two days after mine, on june 3rd.  he will be 30! old man!  i love that our birthdays are so close, we’ve always celebrated together and i don’t mind sharing the specialness of a birthday at all. in fact, i prefer it!

on the menu for the birthday dinner was build your own kebabs!

the protein: filet mignon, chicken breasts & shrimp.

the veggies/fruit: pineapple, bell peppers, red onion, tomatoes & mushrooms.

i love interactive meals :) it was fun building and grilling the kebabs!

 

i threw together this orzo spinach salad that was fantastic. recipe can be found here.

 

we also had fruit..

and asparagus..

and i made a honey mustard dipping sauce..

2 parts mustard, 1 part honey.

the kebabs were epic!

my plate:

you know i went back for another kebab!

after dinner, my brother and i opened our gifts from mom & dad.

guess what..

i got!

YAHOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

i had no flipping clue i was getting a digital SLR camera. my mom is sure sneaky :)

from the looks of it, i think doug got cash money for his gift.

THANKS MOM AND DAD!

after the gifts i got to work on dessert..

there had been a lot of pizzookie talk lately, so i decided to try my hand at the infamous pizzookie!

what is a pizzookie you ask? well it is a pie/pizza/cookie hybrid. and IT. IS. AMAZING.

i used my recipe for chocolate chip cookies (i doubled the batch) and then put the dough into three cast iron pans. marshall’s grandpa seriously hooked us up when he gave us his whole set of cast iron skillets! those bad boys are expensive and we have a set of four! thanks, grandpa!

i baked the pizzookies until the tops were golden brown but they were still nice and gooey in the center.

no pizzookie is complete without vanilla ice cream!

i also made some regular cookies for my sister in law who isn’t into the doughyness… she likes her cookies well done ;)

the final spread:

ummmmmmmmmmmmmmmm… check out the center. gasm.

i served myself a slice with vanilla bean!

words cannot describe how delicious this dessert was.

i want more. please.

 

mmmm.

okay! so sunday night was spent reading about my new camera. wow. i am in over my head.

monday.. we slept in until ELEVEN O’CLOCK! that’s what happens when i sleep at marshall’s and don’t set an alarm clock. he has no windows in his room. it is like night time 24/7 and i can sleep forever and ever. and ever.

we finally climbed out of bed and immediately started messing around with the new camera.  i read the manual and read websites and marshall took a more hands-on approach:

eventually we realized we needed to go get coffee. we also stopped by the store and grabbed some groceries to make brunch. and dog bones.

while i fixed the food, marshall gave the pups their bones and took photos with the new camera. these are great!

pretty soon, brunch was ready. on the menu? omelets and melon!

 

please just bare with me as i figure out the best settings to use with the new camera! these photos are a little horrible..

i sauteed diced ham, onion, bell pepper, tomato and spinach.

marshall’s was a 3 egg omelet. mine was a 4 egg white omelet.

cast iron is where it’s at! it makes such a good omelet.

i put a little avocado on top for good measure.

AHHH melon is SO, SO good right now!

delicious meal!

i messed around with the camera a bit more while finishing my coffee.

yep. lots to learn.

after eating, we headed to the house so we marshall and his buddy could get to work on the kitchen ceiling.

before.. there was a drop ceiling with an ugly fluorescent light. yuck.

it was demolition time!

while the boys worked, i went for a run around the neighborhood.. i signed up for a 5k today that is this coming saturday! so i decided i should do a few outdoor runs this week to prep for it.

total distance=3.2 miles, stats:

not bad!

my calf skins are awesome. my tendonitis doesn’t even bother me when i have these bad boys on!

i also did day 1 of heather’s 100 pushup challenge.. i haven’t mentioned that but i did join the challenge and hope that it helps my arms get toned before the wedding!

i goofed off with my camera more this afternoon..

i figured some things out with the focus!

and i found my favorite subject ;)

oh.. check it out! the tile behind the over revealed the bottom half of a huge goose!

or is it a duck??

either way, it i s HILARIOUS! who would put that on their kitchen wall?!

don’t worry.. the removal of the baseboards uncovered kitchen wallpaper to match!

hilaaaarious.

i got bored and wasn’t helping out so i bailed and went to tj maxx and target, like any normal person would do to pass the time while the boys worked!

i got a cute dress, a skirt, a pair of shoes and this rad bowl!

five  bucks!

i also found the elusive banana nut vitatops:

i toasted a vitatop and threw it on top of a cup of oikos yogurt and a dollup of this old friend:

all together~

ehhh… anyone have tips on getting good photos of food when there is no natural light? clearly i need lessons.

‘twas delicious, regardless of what the photo shows!

i also polished off the watermelon..

watermelon coma.

oh, marshall eventually came home. he took photos of the ceiling!

can lights! and a high ceiling!

 

i will have more progress photos for you tomorrow. and a video.

and this post took me almost 2 hours to type! it is 13 minutes until my birthday!

and marshall just came upstairs with an early birthday present.. HE SHAVED HIS FACE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i gotta go!

Qs~

1. what kind of camera do you have? if you have a point & shoot and a DSLR, which do you use more? now that i have a DSLR, marshall has declared my old canon point-and-shoot to be his! but i think i will still use it sometimes. it’s so portable.

2. what is your favorite thing to shop for? dishes/kitchen gadgets all the way. i would rather find a cute mug than a cute shirt any day of the week.

xo. janetha b.