All for one and one for all!

So I feel like I need to ask a really important question. Does anyone actually LIKE Mondays?

Like, seriously.

I feel like my entire office had a case of the Mondays today. Everyone was kind of slow and sluggish and not exactly super productive. It probably didn’t help that it was overcast and a little chilly today. Definitely made me (and I ‘m pretty sure everyone else in this entire town) want to curl back up in bed and laze the day away.

The only good part to my morning was this:

Yes, that’s right – Oats in a Jar! Not only is it OIAJ, but it’s also my FIRST EVER. You read that right, I’m an OIAJ virgin. (Funny story – I actually almost titled this post OIAJ Virgin, but since I’m like a 12 year old girl, that kept making me giggle. So I passed).

ANYWAY, so my OIAJ experience was a terrific one. And since I have like 6 peanut butter jars that have been hanging out in my pantry, this might be repeated soon.

The rest of the day was pretty Monday-like. Boring.

Gym

After work I headed to the gym for CXWorks. This is hands down one of my favorite classes. Not only is the instructor hilarious, but I really do feel like it is making a difference in my core strength.

After CX, I headed into the Cardio Cinema to run. I’m not going to lie, I was a little hesitant considering my horrible run from last week.

I don’t know if it was the fact that I had leftover pasta for lunch and the carbs helped me out, or if it was the fact that the movie playing (Three Musketeers) was a fast paced action movie that kept me interested, but this was seriously one of my best runs OF ALL TIME. I busted out 5 miles, which is my longest run of all time. And I felt terrific the whole time! I seriously wanted to bust out a happy dance in the cardio cinema!

I came in to the movie near the end though, so after about 20 minutes the credits ran and the movie went back to the menu screen. Normally the movies will automatically play after running through the menu a few times, but for whatever reason this one did not. So for 25 minutes I watched the intro and the “all for one and one for all” scene OVER and OVER and OVER. I have no idea how my run turned out so well considering I think I groaned every time it started over!

Dinner

Dinner today is another great meal brought to you by Jenn of Peas & Crayons – Lentil-veggie tacos!

I followed her recipe exactly, because she’s never failed me yet, and it turned out AMAZING. Although, I will admit, this is definitely not the most photogenic meal of all time. I’m actually going to refrain from showing you a picture of the filling itself, because it kind of resembles cat vomit, but I SWEAR that it is seriously amazing.

While I love my normal ground turkey tacos, this filling may definitely make some more appearances. It is a great veggie alternative, and because of the heartiness and chewiness of the lentils, you really don’t miss the meat at all!

I definitely recommend you all try this immediately.

Also, I have no idea how Jenn makes this meal look so incredibly photogenic. She clearly has a talent!

Anyway, that’s all I have for tonight! I’m off to rest my tired legs and snuggle with my puppy dog!

Since I’m new to OIAJ, what are your favorite toppings? Anything you do different from normal oatmeal?

Birthday Boy Weekend Recap

As I have been doing pretty much every weekend for the last few months, Laney and I headed down to Blacksburg this past week. However, this time it was for a good reason. This boy turned 22!

Flashback to his 21 birthday last year at about 3am… He’s pretty happy, and I’m pretty tired!

We celebrated this year with dinner at a local Italian restaurant, and then spent the rest of the night bar hopping. It’s definitely not really my scene (and I definitely can’t party like a college kid anymore – I’m old), but as long as the birthday boy enjoyed himself, it was worth it. Sadly there is no picture evidence, but that is probably a good thing…for everyone’s sake!

Saturday

After sleeping in on Saturday morning (very necessary after our late night on Friday), we braved the rainy morning and headed to Blacksburg’s Fork and Cork festival, which is an annual wine and food festival!

Since the day started out so rainy and cold, we decided to hang out under a tent for awhile and eat lunch from local vendors. I ended up with a spinach and artichoke dip and lentil southwestern salad platter, which was absolutely delicious. My eyes were definitely bigger than my stomach though, and I only was able to eat about half of it.

We ended up wandering around the festival for about 6 hours total, and stopped by 5 different wineries for tastings. Needless-to-say, since I’m not a huge drinker, I was feeling VERY HAPPY by the end!

We also say some very interesting characters wandering around, like the kind of scary-looking HokieTron!

After the wine festival (and about 2 hours of sobering up for poor little lightweight me), we headed out to dinner to celebrate Chris’ birthday and his mom’s 50th birthday! I decided to live life instead of putting the blog first, and enjoyed the evening without my camera. But to give you a picture, it involved some great gag gifts, including saggy boob suspenders and a squeaky cane.

Sunday

We headed out Sunday morning to hike a local trail called The Cascades – named for the beautiful waterfall at the top. Laney was really excited to get out with us and run up the trail!

It ended up being such a nice day, and the scenery along the trail is gorgeous. It was also nice to get my pasty legs out in the sun for once!

After a rocky and uphill 2 miles, you come around a corner and right in front of you is this giant waterfall. It really is a beautiful sight.

Chris, Laney and I even ventured out on to one of the rocks closer to the falls. Laney wasn’t so sure about the water, but then she saw another dog she wanted to play with and leaped right in. And then panicked a little bit.

She wasn’t really sure about this whole water thing…

But after a little while it was time to head back home, and for Laney and I to get back on the road. So we said goodbye to the birthday boy and Laney proceeded to pass out in the back seat before we even got off campus. Poor puppy was worn out!

While it was a terrific weekend, I was definitely glad to get back home. I didn’t end up getting home until almost 8pm, so I threw together a quick and random pasta dinner.

Whole wheat macaroni, mozzarella and artichoke chicken sausage, bell peppers, onions and vodka sauce, topped with some parm. Quick and delicious, and made enough for lunch tomorrow!

Now I’m off to finally check my email and get myself unpacked before I pass out too!

Martha Moment

My day went from being painfully slow and dragged out during the morning and afternoon to being totally packed and busy all evening! Amazing how that seems to happen!

It’s been a pretty slow week for me at work (although I probably just jinxed myself with that comment), so it’s been nice to have a little bit of a breather. I’ve completely reorganized my desk, cleaned out some of my files, checked a bunch of less-important things off my to-do list. Pretty successful.

Lunch was some leftover fiesta quinoa over spring mix, with salsa, greek yogurt and half an avocado sliced on top. I DID actually have a picture of it for you, but some how my phone managed to do some major wonking (yes, that is totally a word. As in, “to make something wonky”) and the picture is all jacked up. Sad face. To be honest with you, it wasn’t the most appetizing looking meal – although it tasted amazing.

Gym

After work I had a MAJOR list of things to get done, but first on the agenda was the gym! I headed to Bodyflow, which ended up being a TINY class of 4 people. But that at least meant we weren’t all up in each other’s business during sun salutations. This instructor was very different than my usual instructor, more serious and “yogi” like if you get what I’m saying, but it still ended up being a good class.

However, I didn’t really break too much of a sweat during class and I was really just kind of itching for more afterwards. So I came up and took Laney for a 2 mile run. I even used my new running socks!

They have tight support bands around the ankle and under the arch, which I could definitely feel while running. Totally worth my splurge purchases at TJMaxx yesterday!

Also, it’s really awkward and difficult to try and get a good picture of your own foot. Try it.

Dinner

Dinner ended up being kind of random, because I had to use up some leftovers before I go out of town this weekend. But then again, half the time my meals are really random, so I’m sure you all are used to it by now!

The rest of the pork tenderloin, a baked potato with a little bit of colby jack cheese and greek yogurt, and a big pile of steamed green beans.

Random, but delicious.

Martha Moment

So Chris’ mom’s (aka my future MIL) birthday is on Monday, so I decided to channel my inner Martha Stewart for some of her gifts. I am also getting her an ACTUAL gift as well, but these are way more exciting. I like to pretend like I do homemade gifts because I’m creative and stuff, but really, it’s just because I’m cheap 🙂

The first gift is one that I talked about a few weeks ago – Homemade Vanilla Extract. Well it’s now been sitting for almost a month, and I gave it a pretty label and twine to make it look more rustic and fancy.

Chris’ mom is also really in to bread and olive oil at dinner, as well as entertaining, but the current olive oil dishes she has don’t really match her everyday plates. So I decided to make some that were fun (and Virginia Tech themed, of course), and some that were pretty and matched her everyday china.

I used Pebeo 150 Porcelain paint pens for most of it (except the maroon, which is just Pebeo 150 paint). I took some ideas from the internet for patterns, but I was kind of going for more of a anthropologie kind of style with the fancy ones. Here are some close ups:

Now I need to go pack for this weekend, since it’s already after 11pm! I blame Martha for making me lose track of time!

 

Do you consider yourself a crafty person?