Today was good. Here it is.

got our goodie bags for tomorrow

be here tomorrow!

brussels

paprika chicken thighs

used the juicer for the first time!  apple and orange!

chocolate paint

making of almond butter bites

frozen almond butter bites

Beef lo mein dinner

Ice skating aftermath

sweet basil plant present from Michelle :)

The weekend is here! My weekend.

As I've probably said before, I typically work Friday-Monday at SeaWorld and then get some days off beginning with Tuesday.  Hence, my weekend is not your average Saturday/Sunday weekend.  And I like it.  Sure there are times I miss out on events that occur only on "normal" weekends but nothing I can't live without.

We did our weekly grocery shopping (at least a portion of it) last night and spent a very long time perusing the aisles of Super Target.  We ended up with several items not on the list but that's an easy thing to do in Target.  I'm always wanting this and needing that.  I very much like the store :)

On this trip we ventured into the garden section and found a wall of seeds waiting to be planted so we helped ourselves to two packets and a little 3-pot planter.  For some reason Target didn't have soil for sale :/  

Cat grass for Humphrey and hot peppers for us

We long to have a yard with a garden so we can grow all our own produce but until that day... small steps and tiny indoor plants. 

As I said, we only did a portion of our shopping at Target.  Today we have to go to Whole Foods for some grass-fed meats and a few other items to fulfill our pre-made menu for the week.  This week we'll be having beef lo mein, spicy chicken thighs, turkey meatloaf, beef curry, pork sausage patties and a few other meals that you'll surely get photos of.  Target supplied us with some organic produce and some canned items such as coconut milk and water chestnuts.  

Now to play catch-up.

We tried out a new recipe from our Make it Paleo cookbook on Sunday morning.  Veggie scramble.  Easy and delicious!!  Basically cook up some broccoli, green pepper and onion then throw in some eggs and top with tomato and avocado.  I do love breakfast dishes!

And here's a couple other catch-up photos from the work week:

Hard boiled egg snack

crock pot chicken and salsa with cauliflower rice and asparagus

Mariel's salmon & salsa with broccoli dinner

This week promises to be very eventful so hopefully I'll have lots to type about. Ice skating tonight, Pet Expo tomorrow and we're making dinner for Mariel and Annie (our neighbors), Strawberry Festival on Thursday!  Yessss!

Meep meep.

I'm tired today.  I was in bed by 10 or 10:30 and slept till about 7:30 but still, I'm tired.  Hmph.  The Doobie Brothers are at SeaWorld today.  Should be quite a busy place.  I'll be fighting/weaving through the crowds as I try to reach my waterfowl and other flighted creatures to toss them some dinner. 

I worked the same shift yesterday and had a great time interacting with this guy. Yep, it's a Roadrunner :)

Here he is in action.  

He kept picking up pieces of grass and leaves so I assumed he was wanting to make a nest for his lady roadrunner.

Mariel's breakfast:

  

Evan and I had Noatmeal this morning.  With coconut of course.

I'm packing spaghetti meat with cauliflower rice for lunch and then chicken & salsa with cauliflower rice and beets for dinner.  Yum!

Our favorite things.

I asked Evan yesterday what his favorite thing in our kitchen was.  He looked at me and said "what do you think?"  And then I realized I shouldn't have had to ask.  

His knife.

As for me:

Coconut-nested eggs were had again for breakfast (no I don't think I can tire of them).  

Mariel even texted me a photo of her delicious omelet breakfast!  She's a natural.

And last night for dinner we tried a new recipe in the Make it Paleo cookbook.  Spaghetti.  But not over noodles as I mentioned yesterday that we couldn't find any spaghetti squashes.  We cooked up some cauliflower rice and served it over that.  Was quite tasty we both agreed.

We also finished our meals for the work week.  All tupperwared up in the fridge :)  Beef curry over cauliflower rice with roasted baby carrots, chicken and salsa from the crock pot with vegetables and then the rest of the spaghetti over cauliflower rice.  All fantastic meals and super easy to make!  

Day to "clean like company's coming"

We live in an apartment complex.  We get notices from time to time.  Just yesterday we received a notice that QUARTERLY inspections will be occurring this year and the first is next week.  Grumble.  Inspection- no big deal.  Inspection without having paid our pet deposit for having Humphrey- big deal.  We figured there was no other choice but to bite the bullet and pay the $300 non-refundable pet fee that we have been avoiding since September 13th!  At least he can lounge in the open windows now and we have nothing to worry about.  Humphrey, you owe us!

Aside from losing out on $300 it's been a decent day.  It's my last day off before I'm back to work at SeaWorld so I've been using the time to do an extensive cleaning before the inspection next week.  Dusting, vacuuming, laundry, bathroom and kitchen scrub downs, etc.  AND it's also cooking day so Evan and I have meals for the working weekend.  

In the crock pot is chicken and salsa.  Beef curry with cauliflower rice is ready to go.  Last one to make will be spaghetti meat with veggies served with cauliflower rice as well (there were no spaghetti squashes to be found).  We had coconut-nested eggs for breakfast and I just love those more and more each time.  They remind me of danishes!

Ginger green tea

Mariel seems to be doing well on her lent/paleo days.  She was asking if dried cranberries were okay to pack in her lunch.  Yes, dried fruit is incredibly sugar loaded but I figure if you're not out to lose weight (and she definitely doesn't need to) then I say fruit and dried fruit are fine.  

Evan just got home from work.  See everyone soon!  

Happy Fat Tuesday.

Good evening friends :)

I actually just learned about the meaning of Fat Tuesday maybe 2 hours ago.  On Wikipedia.  I'm embarrassed to state this fact, but yes, it's a fact.  

As many of you are aware, and many unaware, tomorrow is Ash Wednesday.  I did not grow up in a Catholic home nor know many that attended a Catholic church so the customs/beliefs are still fuzzy and strange to me.  That being so, I am most definitely always up for learning!  With Ash Wednesday comes Lent. The goal is to leave Lent a stronger and more vital person of faith than when we entered.  Over the years I have met many good friends who strictly adhere to the penance that comes with Lent but have never really given it much thought.  This year is a bit different.  My neighbor and very good friend, Ms. Mariel Garcia is giving something up this year for Lent as she has done for many years now.  The only difference in this year (as far as myself and this blog are concerned) is that she is giving up grains, legumes, dairy and sugar!  Yep.  She's going Paleo for 40 days.  She requested a bit of schooling from Evan and myself :)  I told her to bring her library card...

We just completed a dining room meeting on what to eat and what not to eat and how Paleo is possible.  Evan and I will be joining Mariel in Lent this year and posting daily of our progress and woes.  I'm looking forward to this!  We'll see just how disciplined we can be!  

 

A quiet morning.

I want to be a better writer.  To "have a way with words."  This is one talent I definitely wasn't awarded which is unfortunate for someone attempting to blog.  Sigh.  Even though my words aren't flawless nor poetic, I will probably still put them down on paper or run my fingers over my keyboard from time to time.  Why?  Because I can!   

The day is Saturday.  Evan's "Friday."  He is very ecstatic about this as he worked 6 a.m.-8 p.m. last night and must do the same today.  So tomorrow morning when I am waking at 4:30 to get ready for work he will get up and make breakfast with me and then fall back into slumberland.  I'm always jealous of the mornings he gets to close his eyes and get cozy under the covers whilst I am walking out the door.  My off days are right after his.  I wish they were the same.  

I got to sleep in till about 7:30 (when our cat Humphrey decided to meow till I woke) and have been relaxing, sipping on some green tea.  I got up with Evan to have breakfast this morning which was two beef sausage patties with salsa and avocado and a large serving of mixed veggies.  YUM.

I'm working the late shift today (10:30-7) and it's looking dreary out there again.  Suppose I'll be wearing my SeaWorld issued banana yellow rain jacket for another day :)

It has been a while since I've typed and several special days have come and gone so I do have lots of photos to share.  There was Evan's birthday/Valentine's Day AND our two year anniversary was just yesterday!  Lucky lucky me :D 

We are the cutest.

One week.

Japanese Bantam Roosters

Good morning :)

Those are roosters we have at SeaWorld in one of our aviaries.  Cute little guys aren't they?  

Here we are at day 7.  Pat on the back to the both of us.  Yes, I still feel like time is moving at a snail's pace but all in all it's been a not-so-difficult week. There have been very few temptations and I'm still refraining from the caffeine so I'm pretty proud of that.  

We did attend a SuperBowl party on Sunday with LOADS of anti-paleo foods but we did not partake.  There was sampling of some plain burgers and some sweet potatoes fries that we brought ourselves.  AND we only drank water!  People probably thought we were strange but of course we didn't mind.

The busy weekend is over and now that Tuesday is here, I'm off work!  I do have a dentist appointment here in a bit though and today is grocery shopping day!  We haven't planned out a menu for the week just yet but I'll be sure and fill you in on our purchases at Whole Foods.  Too bad we don't have another gift card...

Time is creeping

Day 4 is coming to an end.  Lucky for me there hasn't been any headaches today so perhaps I'm over the worst of my caffeine withdrawal.  Hopefully...  

I feel like time is creeping by.  It's only day 4?  Really??  Evan is at work right now at the dive shop and he said a girl ordered a large hawaiian pizza (his favorite) and it's sitting by the microwave as he warms up his paleo meal.  Poor guy.  Temptations are so tough at this stage.  SO easy to give in!

Today's meals:

Another massive breakfast of turkey sausage, poached egg, avocado and veggie mound.

Lunch, well, I forgot to take a picture of lunch (I devoured it very quickly) but it was delicious!  Sort of a paleo chinese meal taken from Make it Paleo's cookbook.  Beef and broccoli. Mmmmm

And tonight's dinner was from Paleo Comfort Foods' cookbook.

Country Captain Chicken

and a side of baked carrots!

And of course there has been the occasional spoonfuls of shredded coconut here and there.  I just can't help myself.  It has to be one of my favorite foods and I just don't care if it's full of fat!

There's a flag football game tonight that Evan is playing in and he desperately wants me to join but I have no desire.  I have no knowledge of the game and no skill, this I am certain.  I think I'll curl up in bed with a book and call it a day.  Another early morning tomorrow... with Eggs Paleo for breakfast!  

G'night!

Mega breakfast mega early

Rise and shine!  Or stay in bed if you'd prefer.  I should still be in bed as I don't have to work until 10:30 this morning but I am up and at 'em.  Evan and I make breakfast together every morning no matter what time the other person has to work.  He had to be in at 6 so we were both awake around 5 to concoct a mega breakfast.  Yes, I took pictures.  We made turkey sausage patties using a recipe from Make It Paleo's cookbook (the recipe called for pork but Whole Foods didn't have any this week), split an avocado, cut up loads of veggies (onion, broccoli, zucchini, jalepenos, bell peppers, mushrooms) and each had a poached egg.  It was SO filling!  

And now I sit here at my computer longing to sip on a coffee but alas, I will have to pull out a caffeine free herbal tea bag instead.  Sigh.  Day three is upon us.  I have had a headache (I'm guessing from the no caffeine) since yesterday early afternoon.  Hopefully it will subside soon.  Obviously I am addicted to the stuff so I think I'm doing the right thing and quitting for a while.  

Weekly shopping

Grocery shopping for the week is complete and I must give a huge thank you to Evan's friends for the $100 gift card to Whole Foods that they so generously gave to us recently.  So very helpful!  

We have our week of meals all planned out and will do most of the cooking today as we both have the majority of the day off.  We purchased some raw shrimp, ground beef, ground turkey, chicken breasts, stew beef, bacon, eggs and several veggies.  

Avocados were on sale!  

After we came home from shopping last night we were eager to get some food in us so we cooked up some turnip greens with bacon fat/grease that we had saved and then reheated the beef chili we made the previous night. Tasty dish!

We definitely struggled with our desire to snack last night.  Evan was craving mixed nuts (which could be healthy but not the way we consume them) and I was craving popcorn to go along with the movie we were planning to watch.  We stayed strong and sipped on some lemon water while eating a few bites of *unsweetened, shredded coconut.  


*I just learned this morning (about 5 minutes ago) how fatty this stuff is!  I've been eating it by the bowl full just to find out there are 100 calories in 3 Tbsp and 90 of those are from fat.  Yikes!  Guess I should probably cut back on the gluttonous consumption of coconut.  Bummer.

Coffee has got me on a string.

I just finished a shift at my second job (Banana Republic Factory Store) and I swear that just about every other person that walked through those doors had a Starbucks or McCafe or some other delicious coffee beverage in hand.  And every time one of them walked my way or passed by I would catch a scent through the air and nearly drool on myself.  Day one without coffee.    

No I have not given in.  

Now that I'm back home I have prepared myself a mug of Tazo Ginger tea and added some lemon just because.  Paleo diet plus no coffee is mega challenging.  But challenging is the way it goes with Whole 30.  Not that they say you can't have coffee but in my instance I think it beneficial to cut back for sure.

As for now, it's time for our weekly shopping at Whole Foods!  

Happy day before Groundhog's Day!

Good morning and happy February 1st!  I decided just this morning that I need to attempt to back away from the coffee for a while.  I rarely just have a cup in the morning and say goodbye until the next day.  I drink two cups in the morning and two cups at lunch and sometimes another two cups when I get home from work around 2:30.  Yeah... too much I'd say.  The substitute for my black coffee this morning is hot lemon water.  I long for that coffee!

Evan and I made a trip to the library yesterday and I got a few new animal books for reading.  

I started the morning with Owls Aren't Wise & Bats Aren't Blind.  It's basically a naturalist disproving common animal myths.  This morning I'm learning about beavers and muskrats :)