No Sweets Day Four

Well Bloggy World,

This is the beginning of Day 4. I have made it pretty successfully, although I am pretty sure in my dreams last night I kept accidentally eating cookie dough before remembering our challenge. Even in my dreams I can't eat sugar without guilt!

Last night we had a close call. Husband and I were driving home and he mentioned ice cream. WHO DOES THAT?!?! Cruel and unusual! Sure enough before we know it we are standing outside Snuffy's Malt Shop. I managed to have enough willpower to say no. But then there was a Caribou next door.....so Husband suggests hot chocolates! We had to run back to the car to keep us from drinking some sugar (not too mention spending money!)

When we got home, Hubby decided to make us delicious smoothies instead! Num Num!
We used all of this:

Well, minus the yogurt because it was moldy (EW) and added a banana

And Got This:

So Good! Like my garnish? :)

Maybe this choosing healthier snacks idea (crazy and hard as it sounds), isn't so crazy and hard! 

True Addictions

Dear Bloggy,

Today begins the day that I am being cut off from sugar. !!! The husband has decided that to help me lose weight I should try my darndest not to eat sugar for a whole week! I am completely sure I will fail. I can hardly make it through a single day much less a whole week!

Sure, going into such a challenge with that mindset, is probably a bad idea. But going without sugar....that is a HUGE step for me! I tried to talk him down from the ledge, perhaps some ultra sweaty cardio work out sessions instead. Nope.

So instead of having my usual cereal of Lucky Charms, the Husband made me a DELICIOUS parfait:

 Using fresh strawberries, delicious granola and Chobani (my first time!):

So ONE meal down.......................2 more for today, and a lifetime until next Monday morning.......

Christmas Planner

Today I caught up on my Christmas Countdown activities. I started my first ever Christmas Planner. It is not the prettiest thing I have ever seen! I had to use an old 3-ring binder from the Interior Design Class two years back. Its broken. But now that the husband and I are trying to tighten up the budget, I figured it would be silly to go out and buy a new one.

To make it cuter, I printed off a free cover design and a matching one for the spine. It will have to do for this year!

The most challenging activity for me so far was the Holiday Values Worksheet. It asked a lot of questions about what was good and bad about last year. What I remember the most about last year was stressing out over gifts! I never know what to get people, so I end up spending too much or avoiding it at all costs! I wish we could skip gift giving for the holidays. Sure, I like to receive gifts as much as the next girl, but I am EASY to shop for! Everyone I know is picky or unafraid to voice their distaste for the gift I got them. Example: I have known my husband for eight years now, and I think I have only gotten him TWO gifts that he has really ever enjoyed. That includes Christmas, birthdays, anniversaries...SIGH.

I am going to work hard this year to make sure that is not my focus. I don't think I enjoyed Christmas as much last year because of that. I would rather be focusing on JESUS! He is the best gift I could ever receive! I pray He is the focus for me this holiday season.

Cheers!

Reminisce and Plan

Hello World!

I just got back from a most wonderful trip to Phoenix Arizona. I flew out to spend a precious few days with my bestie, Sarah. We went shopping at the Chandler mall, went to the Arizona State Fair (where we had some interesting moments with a Llama), and spent the day browsing/getting pampered at the AZ Ultimate Women's Expo! It was spectacular!! I had a great time and it was such a blessing to spend time with my friend again. Arizona is a good looking state too; the sunsets were gorgeous.

But now back home I have to jump back into the swing of things. There is a humongous pile of laundry calling my name, cheerleading stuff to organize, showers to take, piles of mail on the floor/coffee table/counter, pictures to upload, unpacking to do, bills to pay....whew!! I am in a mood to get organized and on top of things though. Which is why I am excited to see that the Christmas Countdown has begun!

The Christmas Countdown is a six week organizing plan that gets you ready for the holidays without waiting for all that last minute stress. I know I don't have a family of my own to be organizing, but I figured this would get me excited for the holidays and ensure I enjoy them fully! The Countdown started yesterday when I was still in AZ, so I am officially starting today! Week One is Get Organized Week! Day one is about getting organized, day two has you making a Christmas Calendar! I am pretty excited to get started so I better stop blogging and hop to it!


http://christmas.organizedhome.com/christmas-countdown/2011/assignments-day-1

Last Summer Hurrah

So today is the first official day of Autumn. Here in MN though, we have had fall weather for at least the past week and a half.

To celebrate the passing of summer, I made some homemade strawberry lemonade! It was surprisingly easy too.

Ingredients:
2 cups + 1/2 cup of water
1 cup and 1 tablespoon sugar
1 cup fresh lemon juice (I used about 5 lemons)
3 cups of strawberries hulled, halved and quartered

In medium saucepan, bring to boil the 2 cups water and 1 cup of sugar. Reduce the heat to a simmer until the sugar is completely dissolved.

Transfer to a pitcher and and refrigerate until cool (a lot of recipes say this should take about 45 minutes, but I was in a crunch and stuck it in the freezer {my freezer is pretty bad} and it cooled in about 10 minutes).

In a blender add the strawberries, 1/2 cup water, and 1 tablespoon sugar and puree. Add to the sugar water (some recipes also say to pour through a sieve, but I do not own one! The result was that my drinks were a little frothy and looked a little more like margaritas than lemonade). Add the lemon juice to the pitcher also.

Stir well and pour over glasses filled with ice. Garnish with strawberries or mint. Enjoy!!

A cool trick I learned for squeezing juice out of lemons without using a juicer: Roll the lemons on the counter to make sure they are softened, than cut in half. Squeeze the lemon over your other hand into a container. Your other hand works just as well to catch all the seeds and flesh that might fall out. But beware: make sure you don't have any cuts on your hands because it will sting!! The bonus is a great lemon-y smell for the rest of the day! 

So make yourself some FRESH homemade lemonade, kick back, and finish the beach chick lit and say Adios to summer!!