Category Archives: Lifestyle

Getting Back to the Artist Within!

Good evening!

I am having the best kind of quiet evening at home!! 😉 My sweetie picked me up from work, and as soon as I got home, I got busy cooking a healthy dinner for the two of us. It was a new little ditty that I kind of dreamed up, thinking that the combo sounded really veggie-sentric, filling, but still very delicious!! For my sis,Alex, who I know will be reading this and will want to know EXACTLY what I made, this is for you!!

  • Prepare 2 servings of whole wheat angel hair pasta – enough for each person to have about 1 cup of cooked pasta!
  • Next steam about 1 1/2 cups of diced broccoli – leaving it a little on the crunchy side (just a little though!)
  • Slice 1 1/2 cups of cherry tomatoes in half
  • Cube two boneless skinless chicken breasts
  • and dice about a third of a large sweet onion

Here comes the fun part! The putting it all together!!! 😉

In a medium-sized saute pan, pour 1 or 2 tablespoons of olive oil, and heat over low to medium heat. Once heated, add 1/2 of the diced onions and sautee them until they are clear. Next add one chicken breast worth of the chunked chicken, and cover with lid, while stirring frequently to brown chicken. Keep an eye on it at this point, so you don’t accidentally dry out your chicken.

Once your chicken has cooked through, add 1/2 of the steamed broccoli, and 1/2 of the slice cherry tomatoes. Heat thoroughly. Then add 1 cup of pasta, and toss until all ingredients have been warmed back up. Add 1/2 a cup of your favorite store-bought Alfredo white sauce (we used Bertolli’s – YUMMY!!) Toss a few times to coat all ingredients!!

Serve immediately with some freshly sliced French bread, that has been sprinkled with some good olive oil and sprinkled with some fresh cracked pepper.

Let me tell you, it was ABSOLUTELY DELISH!!! 😉

This meal was TOTALLY healthy, very Weight Watchers friendly, and my sweetie LOVED it too!! Here is the kicker though, I wasn’t able to get a picture of the dish – my camera should be here within 2 weeks, I really can’t wait!! and when I make it again, I will make sure to share a pic then!! 😉

As for this evening, I am going to continue my night of flexing my creativity muscles by spending the evening up in my art studio – something I haven’t done in literally MONTHS!! and play! Play! PLAY!!

I will make sure to keep you posted!! 😉

Have a FABULOUS evening! :-)

“If you want to have a different life, live differently!”

Chunky Dunker’s Night!

Good evening!

Welcome to another exciting night of Chunky Dunker’s night!!! A club for people from all walks of life to get together online to support one another in their health and fitness goals, whether it be to lose a few pounds, or to do one situp; I am very happy to welcome you here every Wednesday evening, where we “meet” in the comments section to catch up, share hints, tips, and ideas and to just encourage each other as we go through our health &  fitness path together!!

Tonight, I thought I would talk about Making Progress!

Today I have been on Weight Watchers for one week, and in that time I have lost 3.8 pounds – YEAH!!! I’ll take it!!!

I am not exactly sure HOW I lost that much weight, I really didn’t do so well tracking, but maybe it was because it was in the back of my mind that I really could get healthy if a I make smart choices!! 😉

I haven’t done much in the way of exercising much more than normal either. I have a knee that I really tweaked going up the stairs to my office the other day, so I am going to get back into the pool and start working it out!! I also have a belly dancing, and a plus size Pilates DVD that I want to get into the habit of using when the weather is not cooperating outside! Once the days get a little longer, I will be able to start doing my daily walks outside again – that will be good!!!

Also, because of the book I am reading, Living the Savvy Life, I have really become inspired to try and eat at home more often, which means getting creative in the kitchen! I know how to cook, pretty well (if I may say so), but generally I don’t enjoy it! Too many years of HAVING to cook, makes cooking not so much fun now. That is, EXCEPT when I GET TO cook!! That somehow feels different. Especially when it is just for my sweetie and I. I generally look forward to those cooking nights!!

This evening, I assembled a healthy dinner this evening of a chicken strip, covered in lots of fresh spinach, a couple of sprays of Ranch vinagrette, all wrapped up in a large whole wheat tortilla. It was incredibly satisfying!!! 😉 Tomorrow evening, I will be making us something very Olive Garden-ey, but WAAAAAY healthier!! I can’t wait, it should be fun!! 😉

Well, I seem to really be going on-and-on here this evening, so without further ado, I will meet you in the comments section of tonight’s post so we can all chat!! 😉

Have a FABULOUS evening! :-)

“If you want to have a different life, live differently!”


Getting Things Done!

Good evening!

This evening, I am working on getting my day’s to-do list done so that I can spend some additional time reading for bed this evening! I am reading two really great books at once. One book is called Living the Savvy Life, and the other book is called, The Sorceress, (book 3 of the Secrets of the Immortal Nicolas Flamel Series) !! 😉

I don’t have anything deep or profound this evening. I am just focusing on creating balance in my life for just this evening. Baby steps, baby steps!! Do a chore, do something you want to do, do something fun, do something you want to do. It is slow going, but it seems to be working!!

Jason is in the kitchen making dinner. He is grilling some barbecue chicken (one of my FAVORITES!!), and making some steamed broccoli, and steamed rice. We are going to eat well this evening! 😉

Talking about eating well, tomorrow is my very first Weight Watcher weigh in day, and I have to confess I am a little bit nervous!! I have been writing down what I eat, but not really tracking my points well. That is one of the hard things about not being able to go on the internet while at work to track my points. WW does have an app available, but unfortunately not for Blackberry – dang phone.

Which segues me nicely into the fact that my sweetie is trying to talk me into getting a new phone. I am a creature of habit, and I have grown accustomed to having my Blackberry, so I am not sure how I feel about a new phone. However, it would be really nice to have one that takes pictures, and doesn’t click when you are texting someone!! So we will see, I have been eying the new Samsung phone that is out, and an i-phone might be kind of cool, but I would have to change carriers to get an i-phone!! Hmmmm…decisions, decisions!! 😉

Anyway, I have got a few more chores this evening that need my attention, including hopping on over to my Fly Tribe’s Blog site, to check out some more of the artists who are currently participating in our blog hop!! It has been fun seeing everyone’s blogs, and getting to know all of the fun people that I have been “Flying” with!! I hope you take the time to go check them all out!! 😉

So, I am going to call it a night for now!!

Have a FABULOUS evening! :-)

“If you want to have a different life, live differently!”

My Word for 2012, Freedom!

Good evening!

I have been giving this a lot of thought for the past few days, what should my word for 2012 be?  Even now, as I sit here with my sweetie and two four-legged girls, I was struggling to decide what word would I love to sum up my life for this new year. I turned to me sweetie, and out of sheer desperation, I whined to him

“If I had one word that I would want to describe 2012, what would it be???”

Without missing a beat, he said, “Freedom”.

My jaw practically dropped onto the floor. DUH!!! That is such a PERFECT WORD for me, and my 2012!!

Freedom in my life is something that I have been really struggling with!!

Freedom from fear!

Freedom from debt!

Freedom from clutter!

Freedom from indecision!

Freedom from my own perceived limitations!

Freedom from negativity!

This is the year that I want to get out of my own way, and live the creative life that I know that God must have put me on this earth to live.

There is a quote from one of my favorite movies that keeps running through my head. It is from the movie Answer Man:

Kris Lucas: Why can’t I do the things I want to do? There’s so much I know I’m capable of that I never actually do. Why is that?
Arben Faber: The trick is to realize that you’re always doing what you want to do… always. Nobody’s making you do anything. Once you get that, you see that you’re free and that life is really just a series of choices. Nothing happens to you. You choose.

This is something that I need to remember, freedom is a choice, that I either take advantage of or miserably neglect. I am already free!!

What a perfect word for me…Thank you, my love, You still know me so well!!!

FREEDOM!!! I am so excited to see what this new year brings!!! 😉

I hope you will take the time to check out my Fly Tribe’s Blog and visit my friend’s sites. I’d like you to meet them, and see what their words for the year are. Maybe you will be moved to adopt one for yourself!

To access these blogs, either click on the red words above, or the “Word Hop” logo on the right side bar. Either will take you directly to the blog where you will find links to their posts! Enjoy!

Have a FABULOUS evening! :-)

“If you want to have a different life, live differently!”

Chunky Dunker’s Night!

Good evening!

Welcome back to Chunky Dunker’s Club! A club for people from all walks of life to get together online to support one another in their health and fitness goals, whether it be to lose a few pounds, or to do one situp; I am very happy to welcome you here every Wednesday evening, where we “meet” in the comments section to catch up, share hints, tips, and ideas and to just encourage each other as we go through our health &  fitness path together!!

Tonight, I thought I would talk about Not Giving Up!

I may have talked about this before, but I feel that now more than ever, I have kind of given up on my fitness goals. I have let them and regular life overwhelm me to the point of not caring! A friend reminded me today, that God put us here to support each other, and when she told me that I realized, that I wasn’t on this journey alone.

That is pretty powerful!

Maybe that is for you too!

This week I want you to recommit to your goals and to reach out to one friend that you trust and tell them what you have recommitted to. They do not have to hold you accountable, but just reaching out to someone, telling them what you are going for helps solidify the fact within yourself.

That you are gonna do it.

Little by little.

Step by step!

I am here for you!!!

We are in this TOGETHER!!! 😉

So, tonight I start my journey over. Having had a bad day of eating not-so-good-for-me-foods, having no idea how much I weigh this evening, but knowing that NOW is exactly the PERFECT time for change.

Have a FABULOUS evening! :-)

“If you want to have a different life, live differently!”

Randomness Tuesday!

Good evening!

I thought I would share with you some random thoughts on this randomness Tuesday!

I woke up this morning, with my first alarm, which is not something I have a tendency to do. I usually let the first alarm wake me up, but the second one, that goes off a half an hour later is the one that says, “Ok, you have been lazing around in bed long enough – get up!!” Well, today I got up with the first one. You see, I had this thought that was running over and over through my mind, and it was saying:

“If you want a different life, live differently.”

Simple, sweet, and powerfully true!!

This was a message that apparently my subconscious thought I needed to hear, and my conscious self has been taking it to heart all day today!!

So, I got up with the first alarm, because it was different then I normally do, hopped in the shower first thing, and I was ready, having eaten a healthy breakfast and all, and I got to work a little over half an hour earlier than normal. I concentrated on staying focused at work, and trying to find the very little things to do better than I normally do. It made for a pretty good day! I even got a 15 minute walk in, which may not sound impressive, but when you sit confined like veal in a small cubicle all day, every day, a 15 minute walk, out in nature, with one of my girlfriends really means a lot!!

Anyway, after work today, I knew I had to head over to Nordstroms to pick up some more of my facial products, which I did, and then I picked up two eye shadows that the old me would not have tried before!!

Jason sent my camera off to Texas to be fixed or replaced. I don’t care which as long as my baby returns to me in one piece and in working order!!! I really miss taking pictures!!!

Tonight would have been a great time to have my camera, because in my quest to have a different life by living differently, when my sweetie called me while at work and asked if we could have a spontaneous dinner, I jumped at the chance. I am sooo glad that I did!! Dinner was delicious, and I haven’t had a chance to hang out with my sis, Nette and her kids in AGES!! Megan had basketball practice tonight, and she asked me if I could go watch, normally I would have made excuses, because I knew that my to-do list for this evening was just so long, but again, if I want a different life, I have to live differently. So, you guessed it, I agreed to go with her and Nette to her practice. Nette is one of her coaches. It was so much fun to watch Megan!! She is really growing up so fast, and she is such a girly-girl, and yet still such a sporty girl that she is such a hoot!!! I really love her so much, and sometimes I feel like I am missing all of these special moments with the kiddos, so I am really so thankful for my new attitude about living!! AND I can’t wait to have my camera back because I would have had SOOOO MANY GREAT pics of the girls practicing!!!

I am finally home for the evening, a little later than I had expected, but feeling really blessed! I still have a little time to get a couple of chores crossed off of the to-do list before I crawl into bed early this evening and get some reading done before bed!!

What a good life. I am very thankful for new beginnings. I know it is still early, but it is looking like 2012 is really going to be a GREAT year!!! 😉

Have a FABULOUS evening! :-)

Be It Ever So Humble!

Good evening!

Jason and I are happy to report that we have made it home from our visit with our family, safe and sound!! We were a little unsure that that would happen because on our return home, when we stopped on our way out of town to get gas, our car decided not to start! EEK!! Thankfully we have AAA and they were able to send assistance to us, and we were only delayed 45 minutes in total!! So, I say, I am soooo thankful that we have made it home safe and sound!!

I would love to tell you that since our return home, we have been productive, and unpacked everything and put it all away into it’s proper places, but that would be so untrue!! We got home at about 3:30, and then by 4 we were so zonked, that we decided to go take a nap, and have only just awoken within the past 15 minutes. So, our day is pretty much gone!! 🙂

Jason is in the kitchen cleaning up all of his baking evidence, as I sit in the living room, chatting with you, while at the same time, I have a virtual fireplace crackling on my television. It is strangely soothing. LOL! Does anyone else know what I am talking about?? Or is it just me who is loving this little “program”!?!? 😉

Anyway, I don’t actually return to work until Wednesday, which means I will have some active thinking and planning to do tomorrow. I have realized that my health life is spiraling out of control, nutrition and fitness-wise. I am not sure that I have actually taken the time to plan a healthy meal in almost 3 weeks, and the good Lord Himself knows when I have purposefully done any kind of exercise. That is soooo unlike me, and soooooo very UNACCEPTABLE!!! It is causing me to sit on the sidelines and watching my life go by because I am either too sore or too tired to do anything else.  SO, this has caused me to want to take a good hard look at what is working and not working in all areas of my life, so that Jason and I can have the life we want, and not the life that we accidentally stumble into!! I will keep you posted!!

Tomorrow may just turn into a vision board day! I will have to get creative on how in the world I am going to share pics with you because my camera is still on the fritz, which by the way, is very discombobulating!! (Ooh!! I love that I got to use that word, that may just have to be my word of the day!!!) 😉 Ok, so I digress!

“Either you live the life you create for yourself, or you live the life that someone else creates for you. You choose!” ~Me

Have a FABULOUS evening! :-)

Merry Christmas!

Good evening!

Merry Christmas!!

After being on sabbatical from being on the internet for the past few days,I am happy to be back, and wanted to with all of you VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS!!! 😉 I have been spending quality time with my family. We have gone antiquing, shared meals, laughed, had an insane Nurf fire fight over all of the opened Christmas gifts, gone to church services, and spent time with each other just having a GREAT time!!

Unfortunately, I am not going to have any pics to share. I am very sad to announce that my camera has gone kaput, for some unknown reason! So, I will either have to have a Christmas miracle to have it fix itself, I am going to have to find a way to get it fixed, or I am going to have to purchase a new camera! I am praying for that miracle!!! 😉 I will keep you posted! 🙂

Jason and I are heading home tomorrow morning, and as sad as I am that we will be leaving our family behind, I will be very happy to sleep in our bed again!! Air mattress living can wreak havoc on our poor backs, something that I am sure we will get over rather quickly!! 😉

As I make spend the rest of the evening trying to squeak some more time with my family, I want to wish you and all of your families a VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

Have a FABULOUS evening! :-)

Ta-Dat-Dat-Daaah!!

Good evening!

Tonight is my 365th post in a row!! YEAH!!!! I had set a goal for myself that I would blog every day for one year, and I am very happy to announce that I HAVE MET THIS GOAL!!! 😉

You know, I have learned a lot about myself and of life while blogging this past year, and I thought I would share some of those things that I have learned with you!

  1. If you don’t live your life, you don’t have a life!
  2. Experiences are waaaay more important than material things!
  3. It is ok to ask for help!
  4. Even when you think you are all alone, there is someone out there who is willing to lend you some encouragement!
  5. Even the scariest goals can be accomplished if you are determined enough to make the needed sacrifices!
  6. Sometimes it doesn’t matter if you want to do something you should, just doing it feels great!
  7. There is a whole world of people, ideas, and places right outside the door of my little world!
  8. I only know what I know, and I still have a LOT left to learn!
  9. There is a whole community of creative people who are willing to cheer you on!
  10. No matter what you are going through, there is always someone who is going through the same thing themselves!
  11. Kindness and sincerity is always a fan pleaser!
  12. Taking a leap of faith may be scary, but landing further than you expected is always worth it!
  13. You can always do one more thing!
  14. Taking time to do nothing is medicine for the soul!
  15. So is laughter!
  16. You attract to you what you send out!
  17. Even after 17 years my sweetie can still dazzle me!
  18. It is ok to pick and choose your family!
  19. You can’t please everyone at all times!
  20. Learning to say no is so difficult, but once you say it once, it becomes a lifesaver!
  21. Children grow so quickly, but are great at keeping you feeling young!
  22. There isn’t such a thing as being too sparkly!
  23. Sexy doesn’t just come in one size!
  24. You are never too old to begin again!
  25. You really only do get one life!
  26. Just because the corporation owns your job doesn’t mean you don’t still own your career!
  27. It is therapeutic to often let your inner child out to play!
  28. It is ok to have a bad day every once in a while, you are human after all!
  29. People are more precious than gold!
  30. It is ok to listen to my intuition, she knows what she is talking about!!

I hope you have enjoyed following my blog for the past year!! By no means do I plan on stopping now, but I may not be quite so hard on myself if I don’t blog EVERY SINGLE DAY!! I will continue to share my stories with you to hopefully provide encouragement to someone to try something new, or to let someone else know that they are not alone, or to even just share something inspiring!!  Thank you so much to those of you who stop by every day to see what is going on, those who comments and offer words of encouragement! I hope that I have given to you even a small slice of what you have given to me, I appreciate you!! 😉

In the next coming weeks I have some ideas to give my blog a fresh new take that I have been toying with, and I hope that as I start to implement some of these ideas that you will continue to give me your honest feedback, and encouragement! I always look forward to hearing from you! 🙂 I am so very excited to see what this next year brings!!

Have a FABULOUS evening! :-)

Hangin’ at the Manse!

Good evening!

I have had a pretty good day today!!

  • Had a yummy brunch with my sweetie!
  • Got all of the laundry done in the house – which if you would have seen our massive pile of dirty clothes, you would have realized what an AMAZING accomplishment that was!! 😉
  • Helped my sweetie pain on a Victorian doll house for a little while! (He has been contracted to refinish one for one of his clients!)
  • I have read a little in a romance novel I have been reading!
  • I have watched one too many episodes of tele off of our Netflix!
  • Had a GIANORMOUS, but extremely delicious dinner with my sweetie!
  • and am now sitting in my living room enjoying my family, while the Christmas lights are on, my sweetie is writing, and I am getting ready to spend a little too much time on Pinterest!! 😉

Talking of Pinterest, is anyone else as completely addicted as I am???? Oh-em-gee!!! I can open it up and start rifling through pics, and before I realize it 2 hours have passed!! I am sooooo ENAMORED!!! It’s all good though! I have always loved collecting photographs of all things inspiring – I have about 15,000 different pics on my computer – I know, a little obsessive, right?? But I have been collecting photographs online for about 5 years, so n average of 3000 pics a year – I can handle that!! Maybe I just need to be a photographer so that I can start collecting some of my own inspiring shots!!! 😉

Talking about photography, I am getting ready to sign up for an online photography class. It is not your typical, technical type class, but more about how to take more artistic and expressive pics using whatever kind of camera you may have available. Right now I have a normal point and click, but someday soon I hope to have a real big-girl-camera, with lenses and everything.  WOULDN’T THAT BE AWESOME????? Oh man, that idea just jazzes me SO MUCH!!! 😉 I can’t wait!!! Anyway, the class is given by Darrah Parker, and if you click on her name it will take you to a page telling about her class. I can’t wait!!

Anyway, I just noticed the time, and realized it is later than I thought it was (it is about 8:45 her, and I am an early to bed kinda gal!!), so I am going to skee-daddle to get ready for bed!!

Have a FABULOUS evening! :-)