Let's play catch up

Last post: February 28.  Today's date: March 22.  Oops.  Come on, are you really surprised?  What's the longest I've gone with typing on a daily basis?  A week?  Maybe.  Maybe not even that long.  I never said I was good at this.  I'm most certain that all those folks out there with the picture perfect blogs that are constantly updating and posting photos and offering contest giveaways, etc A: do not have lives or B: the blog is their job.  Now don't get me wrong, I definitely admire those that can find the time to post daily and keep the attention of followers and would LOVE to be able to spend more time writing.  AND I could be mistaken about these spoken of folks but I'm pretty confident in my A and B :P Also, I have never been much of a journal keeper growing up either so maybe I'm just not meant for this sort of thing.  Ah well, it's still fun to post from time to time :)  

So.  Let's play catch up.

It's definitely been a busy March so I have an excuse for not being around this part of the internet town.  

First, there was the annual Strawberry Festival in Plant City, FL.  Yes, I had to try some non-paleo Strawberry Shortcake... and a strawberry shake and strawberry fudge.  I was good after that day though, I promise!

make your own...

Yeah, it was devine.

Loads of silly chickens

Score!

There was Fun. at The Beacham in downtown Orlando.  Great show!

The Beacham in Orlando

There was Myrtle Beach.  Evan and I drove up (8-ish hours) to M.B. to visit with my sister and her family.  My nieces turned 3 and 5 years old this month and we consumed paleo coconut cake as part of the celebration.  Delicious!!

Mya Ann

cake!

After Myrtle Beach, my younger sister Heidi came back to Florida with Evan and I! She just flew back to Maryland today :(  BUT I got her started on Paleo and today is day 8 for both of us!  She is still living at home and my parents are stubborn about changing their eating habits so she's sort of on her own now.  Wish she could have stayed to finish out the 30 days here.  

While she was here she saw SeaWorld and met some of my bird friends.  We traveled to Busch Gardens and hung out with some really cool creatures AND made lots of yummy paleo meals :D

Aztec- blue fronted amazon

roo

lorikeets

Busch Gardens

our animal hats

mega breakfast

she became a lover of sweet potato fries

our dessert of baked apples and walnuts

I told you I've been busy!  And finally today, I'm comfy on the living room floor and it's glorious.  The windows are open, Humphrey is lounging on the couch and the birds are chirping cheerily right outside.  Sigh.

cat grass is growing!  peppers have sprouted!

 Thanks for reading!  It's good to be back.  

 Like my new pillow from Ikea?

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!