Monday Ramblings

First, I'd like to address the devastating tragedy that took place last Friday morning. My heart aches for those precious babies and brave school faculty members who lost their lives in a place that should be a safe haven. I can't even begin to fathom what the families of the victims are feeling and I hope that one day they find peace. No one should have to go through what happened Friday. Please say some extra prayers for the families and hug your babies a little tighter, every chance you get.

There's no good way to transition into my silly ramblings of my silly life in the wake of what these people are going through. I can say this weekend was spent with family and new friends, while those angels never left my mind. I felt a little luckier this weekend, that I had these people in my life. I felt lucky to wake up each morning because I know not all are so lucky.


That being said, just a little update:
Friday my husband and I stayed in and spent the night together, watching a movie and making dinner. I love nights like this. Love love love!

Saturday was nonstop for both of us. That morning, I had the second group run of my half marathon training. Over all, it was a good run. I ran for longer than I ever have before, without stopping to walk. I will absolutely confess to an ugly cry after the run though. I won't get too much into it, but I will just say I am having a hard time not comparing myself to people when we run as a group. I know, I know, you can only compete with yourself. It's just hard seeing people who are "natural runners" smoke you and you've been running months longer than they have. It's not their issue of course, it's mine, and I am working on just being proud of what my body can do. It started with just a tad bit frustration but the Farrah from Teen Mom Ugly Cry started when the trainer tried giving me a really exaggerated compliment because the other trainer told her I was having a hard time. I tried to escape to the bathroom but she followed me and all hell broke loose. I want to be faster, I want to be better. It will just take time. Thank God for that coach though. She really turned my mood around.

I started off running a 13 minute mile and the best I run is a 12. On a good day. When I'm running in the same direction the wind is blowing. Seriously. I thought by now I'd have gotten a little faster, but nope, no cigar. I never promised I wouldn't be a Debbie Downer, just promised I'd be real. This shit is hard, yall.

 

 

After I came home and showered, S and I went to do a protein bar run and some last minute Christmas shopping. We went to lunch at a place whose pizza I LOVE. S got a 10 inch pizza that I looked longingly at till it was gone and I ordered a really good grilled shrimp salad (again) but I was happy with it.

 

Saturday night the running group got together for a little Christmas gathering at one of the girls' houses. She made a huge batch of chili and we all just kind of socialized and got to know one another. It's hard to really bond when you get to the gym and take off running. We had alot of laughs and a great time. I just wish Leigh Ann could've made it! I scored two pair of these amazing socks that I love. They are seriously like running on clouds.

 Why was I touching my crotch like MJ? Who's bad?!

 

Sunday was an errand day and we did a huge grocery shopping trip to prepare for the week. I am doing low carb all week and hoping to finally get out of the 180's. You heard it here first folks, my weight has been revealed. Cringe. I will be posting some of my low/no carb meals for anyone who may be interested, some time this week and on Instagram. Follow me on there if you aren't already! My user name is evangelineevents.

 

This morning my husband and I had an early gym session and I did this workout. Man it was a killer. I hope I wake up tomorrow looking like Daisy Duke.

 

I will finally post details about the Red Bikini Challenge tomorrow, so stay tuned for that. Everyone have a great day!



Friday, Friday, Friday OHHHHH

Morning readers!

It's Friiiiiday! Today's good mood brought to you by the letter C. Coffee!

Coffee makes the world a better place.

 

 

Not much going on over here, other than thanking Baby Jesus that it's almost the weekend. I am finally jumping on the Elle Noel no-carb band wagon starting this Saturday. Need to stock up on my Think Thin's or this girl is gonna be hangry come 2pm every day. Think Thin's are a "safe food" because they are gluten free. I'll always love my Luna Bars but I'm interested to see how/if they effect my weight loss.

 

I have been embracing salads lately too, thanks to Miss Megan and after three days, I stopped dreading them lol...I do need to get more creative though. Any ideads? PLEASE SEND ME YOUR SALAD IDEAS! A few of this week's eats:

Grilled chicken, lettuce (of course), red onion, purple cabbage, carrots, boiled & chopped eggwhites, mushrooms and 1 1/2 tbsp. light southwest ranch dressing

Lunch out with the hubs yesterday (he will kill me for calling him the hubs), grilled shrimp, egg whites, tomatoes, lettuce and a little bit of cheese. Both bowls were ginormous even though they look tiny.

 

 

Next week I will throw in a taco salad with ground turkey, lettuce, tomato, red onion and salsa for dressing, but I still need ideas so I don't get burnt out. Send 'em my way homegirls! (yes, I just said that. I'm on a roll today)

 

I tried to do the bagged salad thing like Megan but the ones at the grocery store I go to were lookin' sad and wilted.

 

I've also added more fruit and veggies as snacks and not as many processed foods. I can tell I am losing inches even though I haven't lost weight in the past two weeks. AND I can tell my skin is clearing up big time. I can definitely work on drinking more water, but all in all I am doing pretty good.

 

Tomorrow is run number 2 with the Soul Sistas I run with. Four miles! I'm gonna make those four miles my bitch! (Okay I am just talking a huge game.) I hope to run a full 5k atleast, like I did last week. Getting stronger. Come on half marathon! Here's a picture, for your viewing pleasure, of my "cold weather once a year" Louisiana running gear:

(husband, if you are reading this, yes I stole your Air Force hat and long sleeve LSU shirt to run. I am sure he stopped reading this after I called him "the hubs" though, so I should be off the hook)

 

Stay tuned for a HUGE announcement next week. It involves one red bikini. That's all I'm sayin'. Once Leigh Ann and I iron out all the details, big things will start happening, and you all will benefit too:) Can't wait to share!

 

 

 

 

I'm back! (and wearing a medium!)

Good morning blogosphere.

A little recap of my oh-so-not-interesting life.

Half Marathon training has begun! We did our first group run together last Saturday and it was a great run for me. Now when I say I am running however many miles, it doesn't mean I am running the entire time. I will stop for a minute here and there to catch my breath and then keep trucking, but I had never run an entire 5k nonstop. Not even when I ran an official 5k race. This Saturday though, it happened. Normally, my brain stupidly tells me it's okay to stop for a minute after a mile. This time, I challenged myself to two miles without stopping. The silly thing is, I never really have to stop after a mile, it's just this mental thing I have. After two miles I was still feeling good and thought, "shoot for a 5k" I never stopped! I think once I did have to stop for a minute right after my running app told me I had run a full 5k, I let out a very loud "wooooooo!" The girl running in front of me turned back to look so I suppose it was louder than I thought. I captured this gorgeousness to show you all the many emotions running can cause:

Isn't the top left corner too hot to handle? Didn't think so.

Also tried this flavor Gu for the first time. I have never seen this brand (our running coach brought it) but it was the best tasting Gu I've tried. And I hate Gu. I'll probably stick to Shot Blocks or Chomps anyway.

  

 

My BFF (Best Fit Friend) Megan has been pushing me to eat healthier and keep running and working out. She wants me to wear that red bikini yall. Thank God for her, because sometimes she is just the push I need. I send her pictures of most of my meals (sometimes I am so hungry I am like a wild baboon pouncing on the plate and forget to snap a picture), and she sends me cute pictures with a thubs up or a huge smile to let me know I'm doing good. What a difference it makes! She has also inspired me to embrace salads once again, even though it's been a little tough. Yesterday, I ate a huge bowl of salad then passed this food truck:

A little about it. I have never seen this mythical creature in real life. I have heard about Viva la Waffle several times though. This truck serves waffle "sandwiches" with the most amazing things you'd ever put in your face hole. Some examples: A huge waffle, folded in half, full of nutella and bananas, this grilled. Yes. Yum. Another popular one is a fried chicken breast, ranch dressing, wing sauce and cole slaw. On. a. waffle. Drool. I have always wanted to try one of these carb and fat traps, but the truck is all over town and I've never caught it. The one day I eat a sad bowl of salad, I see this little bitch. Proudly though, I passed it right up and thought of how disappointed my girl Megan would be if I had snapped a picture of a fried waffle with french fries and bacon on top. No bueno.

A few of our exchanges:

And even though you've all seen this on Instagram already, I just have to brag one more time because I am SO EXCITED! Jessie Spano excited! I always grab a Large or XL by habit. Same thing with pants. Always go for a 14, sometimes a 12 if the pants are loose. I bought a large sweater in three colors a few weekends ago and had to return them all for Mediums! Yes that's right. I don't think I've been in a medium top since mid-college. I was so pumped.

I also had to return a pair of size 12 dress pants to TJ Maxx the other day because they literally hung off of me. Now, I still usually wear a 12 in most pants but it still felt good to think a 12 was too big. The smallest pant size I've been as an adult is a 10. My goal is to get to a 6 one day! And I will. Just wondering if any of you always go for bigger sizes out of habit even though you've lost the weight? I think that's something all us former fat girls (or in my case, working on being a former fat girl) will do.

Hope you all have a fabulous Wednesday! 2 weeks till Christmas (aka 2 weeks till a few days off of work!)



A Cheap Girl's Guide to Making Your Home "Holiday Fancy"

It's no secret that I am cheap. My husband teases me for not buying a shirt because it's $25 dollars. But I only wanted to pay $15! He has way more expensive taste than me, so I guess it's good I'm a cheap-o. If we both had champagne taste, we'd live in a VAN BY THE RIVER (any SNL fans?)

Christmas is no different. Especially due to spending obscene amounts on my godson's Xbox 360 games because that's what he wants, and I have no clue what 11 year olds like other than that. I still want our house to feel warm and inviting, covered from head to toe in glitter and cheer, though. This is where using your resources comes in. My mama didn't raise no fool. So, I got creative. If you've read my wedding post, you know I shit burlap. That wasn't called for, I know. But I really really love me some burlap. Poor S knew there would be burlap incorporated somehow, but he was actually surprised with how everything came together. Last year's Christmas was all red, but I wanted to throw in some sparkle and of course...burlap this year.

First I hit up Cheap-O Craft Heaven, AKA Hobby Lobby. All their Christmas decor is always half off. I bought about 12 glittered berry picks to stick in my burlap topper, mixed with last year's red feather picks and glittered gold:

Seven bucks total, thankyouverymuch.

I cut some of the burlap table runners from the wedding into 5 inch strips and made ribbons for the tree and mantle. I loved it but it needed color. My aunt found holly berry (not to be confused with Halle Berry) wrapped candles at a garage sale and bought them in case I'd be able to use them for weddings. The candle holders were pretty on their own so I ripped the berries off and stuck them in the tree and on the mantle. It added just the right pop of red.


I took to Pinterest for some more ideas. I was inspired by this pin and knew I needed a glittered reindeer in my life. It came out great I think!

Between the canvas and huge container of glitter, I think I paid $10.

 

All this left over glitter could not go to waste, though. Not on my watch! (sorry, I am very passionate about glitter..) So I found this on Pinterest and got to gluing.

Voila! Glitter clothes pins to hold Christmas cards! (And how cute are my friends L and D? They did a photobooth style Christmas card that I just loooooove.)

 

The clothes pins cost me $3 because I bought them at Hobby Lobby, but I'm sure you could find them at the Dollar Store for even less. I had twine left over from the wedding that I used to string it from.

 

 

Another Pinterest inspired project was the stars on the mantle. I fell in love with this:

http://pinterest.com/pin/225250418833609311/

 

and knew I wanted to recreate it. My mom coincidentally had 12 stars just like this sitting in her garage. I asked for a larger and smaller one only to realize they were white. Nothing a little spray paint can't fix.

 

Not a bad comparison huh? Again, I used spray paint I already had and the stars were given to me so this project cost me ZERO DOLLLAAAA!!

 

 

 

So, all in all, my decor cost less than $20 and I am so happy with how it turned out. Sorry for so many Christmas posts lately, but seeing this fellow yesterday kinda put me in the Christmas spirit:

Who knew St. Nick drove an Izuzu?





I couldn't think of a clever name for this post

Morning kids, we are halfway to Friday! Thanks be to G-O-D. I am already ready for another weekend. Can I get an AMEN?!

I have nothing planned this weekend other than the first group run in our half marathon training. Oh yeah, about that. I have run a couple times in the two weeks between our 10k and the beginning of ½ training.  I am not prepared but oddly I am excited. I am excited to be pushed to my limits again because frankly, I don’t push myself half as hard. Maybe that’ll be my New Years Resolution?

To help with that though, as if I don’t talk about this girl enough, Megan has kicked me in to gear lately and it’s helping tremendously. She’s been randomly texting me asking what I’m about to eat, and I’ve been sending her pictures of my meals. She is truly an angel. A very fit, hot mom kind of angel.

Leigh Ann keeps me accountable too. She reminds me of how far I’ve come anytime I feel less than motivated. Plus, who doesn’t want to look like her when they grow up!?

I have that red bikini to think about too. I got an email on Monday saying I should receive the package within four days. Any. Day. Now. I plan to shove my busted can of biscuits body into it to take a Before picture, but don’t worry, I won’t be posting that any time soon. I MIGHT (key word, might) post a side by side with an After photo next year. Only if I feel the world is ready. Plus, I'm hoping if I can reach my goal of looking super hot in this bikini that I can convince my lucky husband to take me somewhere like this:

 

Speaking of bikini pictures, I can’t wait to be photoshopped into Melanie’s bikini photo this summer! It won’t be half as fun as hanging out with her in real life but it’ll have to do for now! Mel, can you add a 6 pack on me while you’re photoshopping? Thanks.

Last night I tried another Pinterest-inspired recipe, roasted cabbage.

I am not a cabbage fan in the least, but I love roasted vegetables (broccoli and cauliflower the most) so I figured I’d give it a shot. You will need:

1 head of cabbage

Olive oil (didn’t measure, used our olive oil mister)

Sea salt

Pepper

Garlic Powder

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Slice cabbage long ways into 1 inch slices. (I discarded the center white part) They will most likely kind of fall apart so just try to hold them together. Brush a cookie sheet with olive oil, or spray like I did. Place cabbage on your cookie sheet and mist again with olive oil. Season both sides with seasonings of choice. Bake until browned to your liking. I don’t know why but I like them fairly burnt lol. I didn’t time them so just keep an eye out. Both my husband and I loved how it came out and I’ll definitely be making this again!

 

(This is just sheet, the whole cabbaged yeilded about two and a half cookie sheets full)


ETA: I have been on the lookout for the perfect red lipstick for the holidays. I am looking for something pretty matte and more on the crimson side than Christmas red. Any suggestions? I looooove this:

 

 

Hope you all have a fabulous day and just think, half way to Friday!

Southern Girl's Southwest Chicken Salad

I found this recipe on Pinterest a couple months back, but never got the chance to try it out because it got lost in the mix. Sunday, while scanning my Skinny Girl Food board, I decided to give it a try. I also saw my new BFF (best fit friend) Megan had tried this recipe before. She gave it to thumbs up, so all the ingredients were purchased. I altered it a bit so I am calling it Southern Girl's Southwest Chicken Salad:

1 can rinsed and drained black beans (low sodium is best)
1 can rinsed and drained yellow corn
1 diced green bell pepper
2 diced roma tomatoes
1 head chopped iceberg lettuce
1/3 cup chopped cilantro
¼ cup chopped green onion
2 cups diced chicken breasts (ours were leftover grilled from the night before)

Dressing:

¾ cup plain greek yogurt
½ light mayonnaise
1 tablespoon Hidden Valley Ranch seasoning powder
1 tablespoon taco seasoning (I used Taco Bell brand)

Prepare all diced veggies and add to a huge bowl (make sure this bowl is huge—I had to transfer everything half way through because my bowl was too small) Add diced chicken and mix everything well. ***(EDIT: After eating my salad for lunch the lettuce was way wilted. Next time I'd mix everything and package separate from lettuce, adding lettuce in right before eating)***
 

 

(this was taken before mixing. To see what the finished salad looks like, click on the link above with the original recipe--I forgot to snap a picture when it was done!)

 

 

Mix all dressing ingredients in a smaller, separate bowl. Add a little bit at a time, mixing in between adding. Do not add all the dressing at one time because you probably won’t use it all. I had about ¼ of the mixture left. Serve chilled.

The recipe I used also included crushed tortilla chips and two diced avocados. I wanted to eat this throughout the week so I didn’t want the avocados to turn brown and ruin the rest of it. I also didn’t want the added calories so left tortillas out. I had to leave out green onions because it started raining and I planned to pull these from our garden! I took a little taste before packing my lunch and oh my word it was delicious. My salad yielded 13 cups (yes I measured into another bowl to calculate) and I served myself two cups for lunch today. Two cups—a huge serving will only set you back 231 calories!

This is the perfect "take to work" lunch as it requires no reheating. Sounds good to me! It does take a little while to prep so don't try to do it before you leave in the morning like I did. Oops!

Weekend Recap-Sylvia and the Short Sleeve Sweater Adventure

Here we are, already back at Monday again. I don’t know about you but I could’ve used an extra day. This weekend was wonderful, really! A recap for all of you on the edges of your seats…

Friday night S and I went to pick up Sylvia, my first real Christmas tree. I wanted a smaller tree because  the fake one we used to use seems to just eat up ornaments and never look full. We ended up buying this one that creepy Vana White, my husband is posing with.

 

 

When we took it home, it wasn’t quite as small as I thought, but I still love Sylvia. Yes I named it.

After picking up dinner we came home and decorated. Here is Sylvia in all her glory!

 

I used burlap from our wedding to make ribbon and a bow for the top. Use what ya got!

More Christmas decor, as seen on Instagram (I really need to work on not posting everything to Instagram then reposting on my blog..I just can't contain myself!)

 

Saturday I finished decorating and did some things around the house. I then decided to brave the hell that is Christmas shopping and got a ton of my gifts bought. S left bright and early to help his dad with a project and when he returned we got ready for Leigh Ann’s super fun Tacky Christmas Party. Ya’ll. We had so much fun. S bought a $4 dollar wool sweater that eventually got deconstructed into a short sleeve ensemble and I wore a sweater vest S wore to a previous tacky Christmas party. Add a belt and voila! It fits!

This was the first time Leigh Ann and I got to hang out socially, aside from hitting the pavement on a weekly basis, and a good time was had by all! This girl is such a great hostess and her husband had us cracking up. Head over to her blog for a whole bunch of fun pictures! Here are a few I took.

 

We got home around 12ish because S was to be up at 4AM to go hunting with a friend. You read that right. He got home around 11am and we were off to his neices’ birthday party. We don’t stop. Ever. We spent a great day with his family in the Louisiana winter aka 70 something degree weather. I finally got to test out S’s second wife (AKA his new four wheeler) for the first time. I thought I’d hate it but that bad boy is fun to drive! I told him next time he drives into our neighborhood he’ll see me flying down the road with my Rapunzel hair flowing in the wind. He wasn’t amused.

All in all, it was a wonderful weekend. Any time we can fit friends, family and husband/wife time into one short weekend, I call it a success!

 

Here I am pictured with one of the very few reasons I am excited and not totally petrified to have mini me's of my own. I love this little munchkin.