Another busy weekend

I feel like I haven't had a quiet moment in who knows how long - between school and my internship as well as our "social life" things have been nuts and this weekend was no exception!

Friday: I finished cleaning the house in preparation for my friend Megan and her boyfriend coming to stay with us. This was the first time we had overnight guests (unless you count my brother passing out on our couch every now and then) so I wanted to make sure everything was clean and organized. That night, I cooked dinner at home and we relaxed.

Saturday: The day of the wedding. My friend Andrea who I roomed with in college got married and the whole day was great! The weather was wonderful, the groom cried when she came down the aisle and the reception was a great party with lots of dancing and wine!

All of us before the wedding. This was the second time in nearly three years that I've seen Andrew dressed up, he cleans up pretty nice! I got a new dress for the wedding (and some spanx).

Us at the reception, its rare for their to be a good photo of us. The whole evening was a lot of fun and I was happy to host my friend and her boyfriend so they didn't have to drive 2 hours back to where she is going to grad school.

Sunday: I had a meeting for my internship in the morning and then we headed to Andrew's sisters house for the fall party. There was supposed to be a bonfire, but since the weather has been so dry around here it was too dangerous to have one. So instead we enjoyed a Mexican feast and everyone company for the evening. It was fun, but I was happy to get home and lay around after having a little too much fun on Saturday night.

What did everyone else do this weekend?

You might think she's cute

But this adorable Basset Hound, is capable of mass destruction! Her hound ways always seem to get the best of her. Lets say I need to go outside and water plants, I look for the dog and this is what she is doing:

But her eyes are probably closed and she appears to be pleasantly sleeping. So I go outside for about 15 mintues and come back in to discover this:

She's gotten into the trash, eaten some of it and strew it across the floor. Andrew has even caught her with half of her body inside of the trash can digging around. I probably would have laughed had I seen that, but instead I get to spend the next hour cleaning up the trash, putting it outside, sweeping then mopping the mess off the floor.

I love that dog with all my heart but her snout can get the best of her. She loves to eat trash and occasionally steal food as well. She's been known to eat a whole loaf of bread, box of donuts or container of cookies before someone even realizes what has happened.

So although she is adorable, fun, sweet and loyal her hound-ish ways sometimes get the best of her.

So what is the least likeable trait about your pet? Head on over to Mama Kats and link up or choose another prompt!

I'm still alive

This past week was CRAZY! I started back to school again, and let me tell you, this class is going to be insane. The homework takes me around 2-3 hours to do on average every morning before I go to school. I'm also busy working on several projects for my internship, one of which just went to print and one that is an event that doesn't take place until the spring.

I've also been having major stomach issues recently, sometimes its heartburn, and sometimes it feels like something even worse. Last night was the worst of it and I only slept for 5 hours. Needless to say, I'm exhausted! We did make time for some fun this weekend and went apple picking on Saturday afternoon with some friends.

Yup, that's about 20 lbs of apples. I've got a pie baking in the oven as we speak which I'm sure will be wonderful. There is a great orchard up the road from us that has all different kinds of apples and apple stuff (cider and whatnot) and we also get our pumpkins there.

The weather was perfect this weekend too! Today we went and enjoyed the Steelers game with my mom and dad and they won so that made it even better!!! I'm hoping to get my life back on track this week and post a few blogs I have half written and saved.

Hope everyone had a great weekend, what did you all do?

Weekend Recap

It was another busy weekend for me and its looking like the rest of this month and most of October are going to be busy as well. Between weddings, birthdays and things for my internship as well as a weekend trip to Indiana and not to mention my school work.

Friday night I made a yummy roast in the crock pot and we enjoyed a nice dinner together at home. I spent most of that morning cleaning and getting things ready to go back to school. We took a nice little drive out to Buckeye Lake and came home to relax.

Saturday morning I went shopping with Andrew's sister and found a dress to wear for the wedding we're attending on the 25th. I got Andrew a new tie (by the way, why are ties so expensive?! Its just a little piece of fabric) and we had a nice lunch out. Then it was off to my friend Andrea's bachelorette party.

I wasn't able to stay out all night with them since I was doing a 5k in the morning, but I had a good time having a few glasses of wine and going out to dinner.

Sunday was the 5k for my internship, which was fantastic and around 1,600 people came to the walk. My mom came with me and it was a nice way to spend the morning together. After the walk I came home, hoping to nap, but couldn't sleep. So Andrew and I headed to his parents house and we went out to dinner with his family to celebrate my good grades, Andrew's electric truck training and a few other things. I couldn't be more fortunate to have his family be so generous to me and to love me for who I am.

So although it was a busy weekend it was a lot of fun. My first day of class is today so I better get back to all of the other things I need to do before I have to leave.....

South Beach Diet Part 2

So Monday was the end of "Phase One" of the South Beach Diet, which meant NO CARBS or sweets for two weeks. Yes, it was hard and we cheated once at a cookout for my internship. Andrew managed to loose 10lbs (boys always loose it faster) and I lost 7lbs. The low end of the loosing but I had a really hard time working out the first two weeks. I felt weak even with eating the 3 meals plus having two or three snacks.

Now we're onto "Phase 2" where we can eat carbs again, but they all have to be whole grain. Starting out we can have one to two starches per day but have to avoid sweets, potatoes and any white pasta or bread. This wasn't too horrible to think about because we don't eat white bread and for the most part I use whole wheat pasta. For snacks we can have nuts (no salt only), fruit, yogurt and veggies. I threw out/gave to other people most everything we could not eat during phase one so I had to restock my pantry for this next phase. I went to Amish Country with Andrews mom and sister to stock up on things from the bulk food store and organic food store.

I found lots of unsalted nuts, spices, different whole grain pastas (even lasagna noodles, which I didn't even know they made in whole grain) and bean soup mixes for this winter. Prior to this diet we were trying to go more vegetarian and hadn't been eating as much meat, but on this diet we can have lots of lean proteins and I've added a little red meat back into our diet.

Cooking hasn't been too difficult, now its just about keeping track of what we eat. I've gotten back into my workout routine and until school starts again I'll be doing my 30 Day Shred DVD and then I'll hit the gym at school. I'm also on the hunt for an Elliptical on Craigslist and hope to find one soon!

I'm feeling good about this diet and making it something that we can do for a long time! Thank you also to everyone for their encouragement!

Top Two Tuesday

So this is the first time I've done this, but I love fall so what the heck!

Top 2 Fave things about FALL!

1) Football Season: I am a huge Steelers fan and I love when football starts again! Yes, since I live in Ohio, I'm also and OSU fan, but I don't get as into college as I do with pro sports. My boyfriend isn't the biggest sports watcher and probably hates the crazy person that I turn into this time of year. I try to watch every game, even if they aren't on TV I'll head out to a local Steelers bar.

2) Halloween: I also love to decorate my house for Halloween, carving pumpkins (and going to pick them) and going to Andrew's family Halloween party. Last year we even dressed up our dog in a cute witch costume. We were a 50's couple. I think I got my love of Halloween from my dad since his birthday is in late October and that's always been his favorite Holiday, next to Christmas. Here is my kitchen decorated from last year.

A small wrap-up

So I've been bad about posting this week and I honestly have no excuse. I'm not taking any classes right now and I've just been doing stuff around the house, re-organizing my pantry for the next diet phase and a few other things.

• The no carb phase of the diet really wasn't that horrible. I learned how to cook some new foods and I even bought a new veggie steamer and tried some foods I might not have otherwise. I'm not sure why I thought I hated broccoli and cauliflower, but now I love them!
• I've lost around 8lbs, the low end of what you can loose in the first two weeks. I had a hard time working out the first week because I had zero energy for anything. I felt hungry all the time and it was hard to workout with my stomach growling.
• I did a lot of canning - I have 20 or so pints of applesauce and 10 quarts of tomatoes. Next year I'll have my own canning equipment so I can do more at home and I got the famous Ball Blue Book on Canning so I can learn how to do more things. I'm so thankful for Andrew's mom teaching me how to can!
• I got fabric to make curtains for my kitchen! I want to do cafe curtains and I'm hoping this can be a project my mom and I can do, since she has been complaining that we don't spend enough time together.
• I have about 10 weeks of college left, give or take - I finally have my graduation application turned in after a few set backs and I go back to school on the 13th!

Hope that everyone has a great Labor Day weekend!!!