Eating Healthy

After a full week of eating out and eating really good food that's really bad for you, it's time to get healthy.

So my goal this month is light healthy dinners served around 5:00. Who knows, it might even inspire me to do more posting on my food blog.

Last night we had a spinach salad with pico de gallo & leftover tri tip, along with a healthy pasta salad. Tonight we had marinated chicken & quinoa. We never had quinoa before & really liked it.

I think we're off to a good start.

Been Too Long

Paul and I have been on vacation this week so that's why I have not been posting. We didn't leave town, but we've been spending lots of time just the 2 of us & checking places out in our area that we've never seen.

Things we've done:

Strawberry Festival.

Bike ride to the pier to have lunch, then watched a movie at home.

Japanese Garden at CSULB. (pictures to below)

Toured Rancho Los Alamitos.

Had lunch at "At Last Cafe" which was featured on a recent episode of Diner's, Drive-ins, and Dives. It was AWESOME!!

Spent the day in Old Town Temecula, where we did lots of window shopping, ate BBQ, went olive oil tasting (instead of wine), etc. On our way home we stopped at Tom's Farms to buy some produce, and Paul was super excited to find a jar of really BIG dill pickles--it was cute!!

A lot of eating out.

Relax, watch golf, read, play Gin Rummy.

We didn't take a lot of pictures this week, but we have some of the gardens we visited. I hope you enjoy them.

I love this picture!!

Happy Feast Day

"Sisters, be careful where you look, where you go, and with whom you convene. There is always danger in what we see becoming the occasion of offense against God and our vow." ~St. Rita

When I chose St. Rita as my Confirmation saint, I had no real information to go on. Paul and I were in the car, on our way to Sacramento where I would be Baptized, Confirmed, and receive my first Holy Communion. Selecting a saint was something we only thought of hours before leaving, so Paul printed out a list of saints with brief descriptions next to the name, it was actually one word next to each name, telling what they were the patron saints of.

St. Rita was listed as the patron saint of loneliness, and though it may sound sad, that's exactly what drew me to her. So without knowing anything else I decided on St. Rita of Cascia. I'm almost glad I was under pressure otherwise I might have had more trouble choosing a saint.

Once I started reading about her life I realized how perfect it was, not because we are so much alike, but because she is exactly who I should try to emulate. All of St. Rita's strengths are my weaknesses, and because of that I believe we are a perfect match.

I have since realized that she is more commonly known as the saint of the impossible, and after reading her life story I know this to be true. I've read 3 books on St. Rita and I really feel that this one is THE BEST, you should read it. I'm not sure if EWTN will be showing the movie called Saint Rita with Vittoria Belvedere, but if you have not seen it and plan to, DON'T!! Or if you do, watch it with the understanding 98% (my opinion) is not accurate. This movie is very far removed from the true life of this amazing saint, the directors definitely took a great deal of poetic licence.

Happy feast day St. Rita!!

Quoting Paul

The other night Paul said something that I just knew was a quotable quote, in fact as soon as the words came out of his mouth I stopped him from speaking further so I could right down exactly what he said. I thought it was perfect, especially since it came from a discussion about St. Zita.

"We do God's work when we do our own well, and with the right intentions." ~Paul

Shopping Trip

Tomorrow Paul & I are planning on going guitar shopping & I'm so excited. I never learned how to play an instrument, but always wish I had. The guitar has always been most fascinating and something in me says "now's the time". So after we find the perfect guitar we'll figure out where I'll take lessons.

I'm also excited because Paul plays the guitar & it's something we can enjoy together. I do feel a bit guilty buying a new one though, since he already has 6 guitars, but they're all way too BIG for me. He's 6'2" & I'm 5'1", so I'm sure it's easy to imagine that I'm sure.

Our Saturday

I love the feeling of accomplishment once somethings been on checked off of your to-do-list. It's just wonderful!!

Once Paul was home from golfing we just relaxed & talked a bit, then I suggested we go have an early lunch. Paul then did an Internet search for a healthy place to eat, he read off a menu that sounded interesting so we got ready to go.

The place was nice, but there was a strange vibe to it. It wasn't until we opened our menus before we realized they only served VEGAN food. hahaha!! I was starting to dread ordering, but tried not to let it show. I ordered an enchilada which was all vegetables, and Paul had a weird lasagna. I don't know how people could eat that way, I'm not even a big meat eater, but I still gotta have it. But even without the meat, almost nothing on the menu was a hot meal, which is what I was hoping for. Good food or not, it was an interesting experience.

I then talked Paul into going to Costco on the way home. I think he was dreading the trip, it being Saturday and all, but I was excited. We just recently got our Costco card so to us it's still new, that and I love going shopping with him. Every thing is more fun when we do it together.

Once all the Costco stuff was put away we were able to tackle our BIG project for the day, our garage. We had to get rid of some stuff, and re-organize. It took a while, but we're so glad it's done. It was so bad Paul was having trouble getting in & out of his car. We found an old carpet while cleaning that we decided to put on our garage steps, so we have a clean place to walk on when we get something from extra fridge. We are a no-shoes in the house family, so the shoes aren't aloud on that carpet either. I know we're both relieved to have an organized garage again.

For dinner I cooked up the take & bake pizza from Costco and we ate that while watching "The Real Face of Jesus" that I recorded over Easter weekend. It was amazing to watch, it's about the Shroud of Turin and the different studies that have been done to it. At the end of the show, a 3D image of what they believe Jesus looked like was shown. I thought it was AMAZING!! I have to say that they left out some important facts, but it's still worth watching.

We had a wonderful day together, even the working part was fun.

I hope all of you are having a wonderful weekend.

18 Again!

Today was my husbands birthday, and like many years before and many that are to follow he is 18. :)

I hope you had a happy & wonderful birthday Sweetie, I love you so much and I am truly blessed and thankful that you have chosen to share your life with me.

I made my first from scratch cake today, in his honor. To check it out please CLICK HERE to visit my food blog.

Chocolate Rose & Cake Balls

Tonight I decided to make Chocolate Rose Lollipops...they were really easy but I wish I would have bought more red chocolate 'Cos I ran out, which is OK since I also LOST the pretty wrappers that I wanted to use for them. Errrrrrrr!! Paul helped me look for them for a long time, long after I had given up he kept on looking. :) But they never turned up.

My plan was to take these to everyone at work tomorrow, but I guess it will have to wait, which is OK since I'm not sure I like the taste. I added some cherry flavoring to the Red Chocolate & I think I should have left it alone. I think if someone else made it I'd think they were great, maybe I'm too critical with myself.

I also made cake balls, which is something I make quite often. These ones were chocolate cake with butter cream icing mixed with Bailey's Irish Cream. Yummy!

Happy Anniversary!!

Two years ago today I married the most wonderful man in the world, and every day I know I am blessed to share my life with him. I never tire of spending every moment with him, and we never run out of things to talk about.

I'd like to mention a few things I love & appreciate about him, to him and to you, and even though I could list 100+ I'll only name 10.

1. I love how you wake me up every morning to talk while you eat your cereal, so that we have some morning time together.

2. I appreciate every time you help with the dishes & that you always wash all the dishes you use. THANK YOU!!

3. You're a man of true faith, and strength, and are a great example to everyone around you.

4. Thank you for working so hard to stay in good health, and for dragging me along kicking & screaming. :)

5. You have taken such great care of your mom this past year and have spent countless hours/days by her side, which just proves that you're a true blessing to so many others.

6. Creating reading weekends was one of your best ideas ever! I really enjoy spending the weekend on the couch doing nothing but reading and snacking all day together.

7. It was you who helped guide me home to the Catholic Church, and showed me how to have complete faith in God without even trying to, just by living out your faith daily, effortlessly.

8. Sometimes when you get really excited about something, a look comes across your face that makes you look 8 years old. I love that!!

9. Thank you for working so hard to provide for us. We are very fortunate to have what we do, and I am thankful to you and to God everyday for making it possible.

10. You are sooo much fun to be around, no matter where we go, or what the activity is, even if we go nowhere and do nothing, we have a blast together. You have a gift for making every moment special, fun, and unforgettable (yes I'm singing it-inside joke).

I love you so much Paulo and I can't wait to experience all of life's future adventures with you.

Great Finds

Paul has been finding some great pictures on the web lately & though I have yet to decide what to do with them, I thought you'd like to check them out. Great job Honey!!

It's About Time!!

Today I finally made it to the court house and picked up our Marriage Certificate, YAY!!! It only took me 1 year, 9 months, and 1 day. Tomorrow I will go down to the Social Security office and legally change my name. Finally!! I don't know why I waited so long, I guess it's just the procrastinator in me. I had promised Paul that I would take of it before the end of this year, and I'm so glad it will be official soon.

Photoshop is Amazing!

Paul took a picture of me that did not come out well at all, but he liked it. So I did the best I could to fix it for him.

I can't believe I'm showing you both pictures, but here you go.

Before

& After

It's not perfect, but still an amazing difference, & even though I have no nose & half a mouth in the second photo, I like it.

I Love My Husband!

Thank you Sweetie for my flowers.

Just Because!

Paul came home today with a bouquet of Sunflowers (my favorite). No special occasion, just because. :)

I didn't have a vase large enough so I put them in a glass pitcher that was painted by my Great Grandma.

I think they're beautiful. Thank you Sweetie!!!

Pictures From Our Anniversary Weekend In San Diego