Tennis, Shopping, & Frozen

As I sit here ready to type this post, coffee in hand, birds singing out my window I can’t help but smile. I love spring time! It has been a gorgeous week here in Texas and prime outdoor running conditions.

I grew up playing tennis pretty much from the time I could hold a racket. I played all throughout high school but declined the offer to play in college. However, playing tennis on Friday afternoons was the very thing that led me to meet my now husband Nathan! He too played and challenged me to a match one day after Speech class. The rest, is history 😉 True to form, yesterday my darling husband challenged me to yet another tennis match. We had  blast!

 

I wanted to talk honestly today about a few things that have been on my mind lately! 

Recently I have become frustrated with how much energy I put into healthy eating and exercise paired with the lack of results I have been receiving. Don’t get me wrong, I honestly enjoy running and working out, it is a huge stress relief for me. So, I decided to take a step back and analyze where I’m going wrong.

I have about 8 lbs. that I have gained over the course of winter, which might not seem like much, but on my 5 ft. 2 in. frame it really shows. I am uncomfortable in lots of my spring/summer clothing that I have put on this past week and I am tired of it. 

So, Nathan and I both joined the myfitnesspal app. It’s crazy neat and basically an online food diary. It gives you a caloric goal for the day and tells you how long it will take to reach your goal weight. I was blown away at how many calories I really was consuming on day one. Luckily you can factor in all exercise as well and it adds calories to your goal for the day. It feels great to be more aware of all the foods I am putting in my body and how important it is to measure our portions and not just “eyeball” an amount because many times it’s inaccurate! I will keep you update with our progress 🙂

I had the pleasure of one of my best girl friends coming to vacation here for her and my spring break!

San Antonio River Walk

 

We had such a blast touring the River Walk, shopping malls, outlets, restaurants, and exploring the city. She is an incredible person that I have known since we were little, tiny. I am in her wedding this summer as well so It was fun as usual to talk weddings all week! 

Dinner on the river

sushi!

And of course I couldn’t resist some deals at the outlet malls 😉

 

This past week of work has been the most challenging yet. Our private school is undergoing accreditation and us teachers have been busting our fannies to help get us where we need to be. I had the bright idea to plan an elementary wide zoo field trip on the 18th on top of everything else going on. Needless to say there have been many late hours and restless nights lately and I cannot wait for it to be over. We are having a group of people come Monday and Tuesday to decide if we can be accredited or not. They will be observing my teaching and that always makes me a bit nervous because It’s a lot of pressure. All staff is meeting at the school tonight to formally meet these accreditation people. Wish me luck!

On a lighter note, Nathan knew how tough my week was so Friday after work this happened. 

Yes he did grill us steaks, buy the movie Frozen, and get me my favorite ice cream. It was so nice to relax together and it totally did the trick! 🙂

 I’m off to conquer some miles in the blustery wind then it’s off to church! Have a great day!

-Lauren ❤

Christmas Break, Oh How I Love you

Well, hello there. It’s official I am on Christmas break over here, and llving every second of it. This week was go, go, go and it feels so nice to be at home with the Christmas tree on, sipping coffee. 

Here’s what my week entailed…

Monday was our 1 year and 6 month anniversary. When you’re newly weds the 6 month part is still a big deal. 😉 So I must post some wedding photos in honor of it!

Getting pelted with birdseed

 

My sister Lindsay making a toast

So in love and excited to start the journey as husband and wife!

Before you get married people often say, “just give it a few years, the “newlywed” feeling will fade.” Well, I’m not planning on that ever happening. I’m truthfully more in love with Nathan today than ever before and I didn’t think that was possible. That feeling of knowing someone inside and out, having them know you that way and loving you in spite of all your imperfections is beautiful. ❤

Anyways, sorry to get all mushy. Here’s some photos of our tree we put up this year. It sure is fun to decorate your own house!

Yes, I am an advocate for real Christmas trees. You can’t beat the piney smell that permeates the house!

 

 

Our little monogrammed stockings

After trimming off branches of the tree that were sticking out, instead of throwing them away, I re purposed them as a mantle decoration. My mom would be proud! ha

Yesterday was the last day of school until Jan. 6th and we kicked off break by having a PJ Polar Express Christmas party. You better believe I wore my jammies.

Before the movie, we had a classroom party with Christmas themed centers, my kids went bonkers for the cookie decorating center.

Holiday bingo

Sock snowmen!

Happy Birthday Jesus card center

Cookie decorating center

Last night Nathan and I went out to Macaroni Grill and then did a little Christmas shopping!

bruchetta appetizer, yumm

Nathan got the fettuccine alfredo with chicken and I tried their lobster ravioli. It was very good but a little too rich for my tummy.

We got Brandy a couple Christmas gifts, too!

 

This week we were able to have youth Christmas party where the entrance fee was an unwrapped toy to be donated to the children’s hospital. We got a bunch of toys that we delivered to the precious children the next day. Seeing their smiling faces was so priceless.

He cleans up nice 😉

Before the Christmas party

 

Me and my girlies and the youth Christmas party, A Night of Aces.

Our group at Longhorn Cafe after delivering toys

I ordered jalapeno poppers and creamy poblano soup, it was pretty good!

I’m pretty excite about our trip North! Last year we spend time at the Wild Horse Pass in Arizona with family for Christmas. It was a beautiful resort! I wasn’t blogging at that time but need to show you the view we had!

 

Well, I already cranked out my miles this morning before the rain hit so my plan is to stay warm and cozy inside, Christmas shopping online and reading. Yay! 

I’ll leave you with this cuteness…

Have a great day!

-Lauren ❤

 

Back in the Swing of Things

It’s official, school’s back in session for this teacher. I’ve got day two under my belt and I’m loving my 13 little students! (Pics. to come)

Here are some pictures of my finished first grade classroom!

These bulletin boards close on the weekends for church functions.

Because the private school I teach at is in a church, my classroom doubles as a Sunday school room on weekends, Which means I get to tear down and put away all school related items EVERY Friday before I leave and then set up every Monday morning.  It sounds worse than it actually is, but that explains why I don’t have anything permanent on the walls of the classroom. 🙂

Every day before school, Nathan, Brandy, and I have been getting up at the lovely hour of 5 a.m. to fit in an early morning run and workout. I’ve gotta give a shout out to Nathan here because he does not in any way love to run. He’s more of a football, basketball, baseball kinda guy. He gets most of his exercise from the sports that he plays so often. He gets up with me to spend time together before our days start and the business of life pulls us in our different directions. He’s great 😉 

On the food front, here’s what’s been cooking in my kitchen lately…

Chicken sausage with Poblano peppers and cheese atop whole wheat pasta

Homemade chili with ground turkey, kidney beans, and black beans.

Oh wait, I didn’t make those last ones? darn.

Sunday Nathan and I got lunch at Chuy’s. All I really wanted was their famous chips and salsa, it’s heavenly!  Craving satisfied.

It’s been so good to get back into teaching and doing what I love. I’m totally remembering how exhausting it is, but it’s all so incredibly worth the sore feet, tired voice, and zero energy at the end of the day.

Well, I’m off to spend some time with the hubs before bed! 

I’ll check back in soon!

-Lauren

 

Back to the Grind

It’s good to be back and blogging again, this week has been insane!

I’m in the process of transitioning from my summer schedule to a super busy “back to school” one. Nathan and I have hardly been home all week, poor Brandy.

You know it’s serious when our first chance to get actual groceries since camp was last night at 10:00 pm! This morning was our first meal together at home all week, which is why I don’t have any great recipes to share today. But I have a few ideas up my sleeve for the upcoming week.

This week’s haul…

I received some really exciting news on Monday evening…

 

My little sister is getting married to the love of her life! I couldn’t be more excited for Lindsay and Ben! He proposed on their 4 year dating anniversary, how special!

In other news, we had some visitors this week! Monday evening my Uncle John flew into Austin for business and we were able to meet up with him for dinner. It’s always a privileged getting to spend time with him because he lives so far away . Unfortunately, this happened right before dinner…

Big Blue blew a tire, yikes! But, we were able to have new ones put on while we were eating dinner.

 Thursday evening my aunt Lisa stopped by for the night and we all headed down town to have dinner on the River Walk.

 

 

It was so great to show her around the city! 

Today, I am off to hit up some teaching stores and get to work setting up my classroom for back to school night on Tuesday! I’m doing a jungle/monkey themed classroom again this year, it’s just so fitting for First grade. 😉 Hopefully I’ll have time to fit in an evening run tonight, but we will see!

I’ll check in later!

Lauren

The Sweet Days of Summer

Hello and happy Thursday!

I can’t believe how quickly this glorious summer has gone by! Nathan and I leave for summer camp next week and then teaching starts back up for me the following week. I’m trying to soak up what is left of summer break, which I think I succeeded in doing today by spending most of it tubing on the Comal River with the youth group.  We had a blast!

Some pictures from the day.

*I love these kids!

So, the other night I made these salmon burgers, and oh boy were they tasty!

I dunked mine in BBQ sauce and it was gone very quickly!

Afterwards Nathan challenged me to a good old game of Monopoly. Guess who swept the board? This girl 😉

*He’s so cute!

While I am typing away here, this wonderful concoction is baking in the oven.

Can you guess what it is?

If you guessed meatloaf, you’re right!

In the bowl: ground turkey*spinach*1 egg* 1/2 cup breadcrumbs* 1/2 cup oats* 1 whole sweet potato* 1/4 cup BBQ sauce* garlic powder.

Cook in the oven for 1 hour at 350 degrees and enjoy!

It’s been another non stop day around here, so I’m off to aloe up my sunburn, eat some dinner, and curl up with the hubby.

xoxo

Lauren

Monday Funday!

Happy Monday! I get to spend the day with this guy 😉 Did I mention that being a teacher in the summer is great?

I made my new favorite smoothie for breakfast using these ingredients…

Makes 2 servings: Blend together 2 cups of frozen mixed fruit*one lg. banana*handful of spinach* one cup of coconut milk* 1/2 cup f.f. Greek plain yogurt* a little water to get everything moving.

We headed out for a hike at the Japanese Tea Gardens downtown.

After our hike, we were both ready for lunch. We went to a well known Greek place in town. I had never been there, but Nathan has had a few business lunches there and talked it up.

We both ordered gyros as our meals, mine with a side salad and his with a side of fries.

The atmosphere wasn’t much to look at, but the food was great and I would totally go back again!

When I got home, this was in the mail! Two of our best friends from college are getting married next month, and Nathan and I are thrilled to be a part of their big day!

This adorable invitation was also in the mail. How cute is that? Lauren is a great friend of mine and I cannot wait to meet her baby girl soon!

Last, but not least, I scored big time at a local thrift store today where I found 13 new books to add to my classroom library! 75 cents a piece, yes please!

Tonight I am cooking salmon burgers for dinner! I’m also planning to fit in an evening run and possibly take a dip in the pool.

Have a great evening!

xoxo

Lauren

Just a Few Recipes

First off, I feel that I should start this post with just a few things you should know about me.

1. I LOVE coffee, just love the stuff. The stronger it is, the better it tastes in my opinion.

 

2. Reading mystery novels is a favorite past time of mine. I love getting lost in a good book! During the school year it is hard to find the extra time, but this summer I’ve already read my fair share.

 

3. My husband Nathan and I try to have a date night at least once a week. Life can get crazy and pull you every which way and setting aside that time together can help you refocus on each other. Monday is our typical evening, unless something comes up. Our dates don’t always involve going out and spending money either. Sometimes we will just cook together, listen to music, and head to the pool for an evening swim. I’m all about saving money over here! 😉

Okay, on to the food!

Dinner last night ended up being a hit! I used this recipe from Pinterest and tweaked it to make it healthier.

-Instead of a whole stick of butter I used about ¼ of a stick.

-I also used more lemon than it called for; I am a huge fan of citrus.

-I sliced up a zucchini squash and added it to the baking sheet as well.

-I cooked up some brown rice and served the shrimp/zucchini combo over top.

(before it went into the oven)

It was oh so delicious! Nathan even went back for seconds, success!

 

I also whipped up a batch of banana chocolate chip muffins this morning.

 

They are good for you and tasty, I’m eating one now as I type.

Recipe:

1 egg

11/4 cup of skim milk

3 cups of Heart Smart Bisquick 

3 smashed bananas

1 tsp. vanilla

1 tbs honey

1 cup of Hershey Semi-Sweet chips

Bon Appetit!

I am off to run some errands and tutor some upcoming First graders at the local library before our youth group time tonight!

 

Before I sign off, I’ve gotta give a shout out to my beautiful sister Lindsay! It’s her 21st birthday today and I am so proud of the wonderful person she’s grown into!  Wish I could be there to celebrate with you! I love you Linds!! xoxo