Leaving on a Jet Plane

Start spreading the news, I'm leaving today...well, Thursday!  Jason and I are getting ready for our big trip to New York City and let's just say I can hardly contain my excitement.  We (I) am in busy preparation mode trying to make sure everything is taken care of while we are gone.  Being the world traveler that I am, I'm pretty experienced in the art of getting ready for a trip.

It's Sunday and I'm completely packed, and let's be honest, I have been since last week.  The weather in NYC is estimated to be a high in the mid 70s and a low in the low 50s which makes it difficult for me to get a handle on what I should pack clothing-wise considering it is still mostly in the 90s here in Texas.  I plan on doing some shopping while we are there so while considering the two issues I knew I would face of 1) not knowing what to pack for the weather and 2) needing to figure out how to transport extra clothes home with me as cheaply as possible, a brilliant idea came to me.  Why not pack less than normal and just wear the clothes I buy on my trip while I'm still on my trip?

It's hard to tell from this picture but my suit case still has plenty of room.  It actually isn't very big but Jason's is so the fact that I'm not going to be spilling into his suit case is a good thing!  Also, that little red speck by my shoes is a duffel bag that I can open up and pack more things in on the way home. 

So what do we plan to do in New York?  The most important and best reason we are there is to watch my friend Miguel get married to the love of his life, Joanna.  I am so excited to celebrate with them on Saturday night!

Outside of that we apparently will be spending the majority of our time eating.  If you look at the map I've created you will notice it is mostly covered in lighter blue colored pins.  Yes, these are all restaurants.  My biggest disappointment is that there are so many amazing places to eat and not enough meals in the day.

 

I knew that wine would be involved in some of our meals and since I can feel the effects of just one glass of wine, I decided to have just a little bit each night leading up to our trip.



So you may be asking, "But what about clean eating, Sarah?"  And my response will appropriately be, "What's clean eating?"  I fully expect to gain about 5lbs on this trip and I'm okay with it.  I know that I can work extra hard to get it all off when I get back.  I am going to enjoy myself and experience some of the best food in the world!

Last night I had a dream that we were running late getting to the airport and Jason hadn't even started packing.  I kept asking him to hurry and he kept stopping his packing to do this annoying little dance he does just to bug me.  When I woke up I was pretty frustrated and asked him not to wait until Thursday morning to pack, mainly for my sanity!  He is even more experienced in traveling than I am and he is never late for the airport so I know I have nothing to worry about, but the planner in me wants him to be fully ready to go Wednesday night.

Please say some prayers for me because I haven't left Aria for more than 2 nights in a row so being gone for 5 nights and being so far away is going to be a little hard I'm sure.  I'm not so worried about being away from her, but more the thought that it's possible that I could never come back to her (excuse my morbid thought).  I know that everything will be okay but it is crazy how things change once you have a child.  I am blessed to have parents that will stay with her in our home so that she can stay as close to her routine as possible.  When we come back she will be 3lbs heavier because she has gotten every berry, banana, pretzel, and bowl of yogurt she's asked for and she probably won't want to sleep in her crib. :)  She is going to have a blast and so are we!

My Important Letter to Johnny Football

For a while now (since approximately 10pm on Saturday night) I've had a few things on my mind that I feel are very important to share.  I'm disappointed in Johnny Football, and like the rest of you I'm certain that my opinion really matters.  So Johnny, here are a few of the issues I have with you:

1.  Because of your lack of personal expression at Saturday night's game, I'm not exactly sure what I will watch on ESPN this week.  There was once a time where playing well was news enough, but that day has passed.  Today ESPN thrives on reporting what you're doing wrong and without that news you have probably caused multiple reporters to be out of work. 

2.  Now that you've assisted the Aggies in winning their 2nd game of the season, you've set the standards a bit too high for our children.  They want to be just like you and when they lose their soccer/football/baseball game and look at us with tears in their eyes wondering why they can't win just like you, how do you expect us to explain to them that it's okay to not always win?  Because of you, parents all over the country will have to have tough conversations with their children.

3.  Do you really think it's fair to be so talented and at the same time have wealthy parents?  There are so many people in this world who are talented but come from a poor family, or come from a wealthy family but just don't excel in athleticism.  In order to even they playing field I think you are either going to have to disown your parents or stop scoring points on the football field.  I think this is a completely reasonable request and will make so many people feel better about their situation.

I expect better from you Johnny and clearly you need to change who you are and what you do so that I can feel better about you.  You're not a bad guy, you just make bad decisions but I think with this blog post I can get you pointed in the right direction.

Photo credit to someone who is not me.  I did not take this picture and I don't know who did.



Disclaimer: For those of you who may not have understood the tone of my post, it is meant to be sarcastic.  I like Johnny Manziel and just decided to poke some fun at the media who has ridiculous expectations for all celebrities.

Epic Failures

Over the last few weeks I have experience what one might refer to as several epic failures!  I know that is hard to believe given the extreme success we had with my husband cutting our daughter's hair. 

We've been a little off with our eating recently and while I'd like to play it off as if this is the only poor food choice I've made in the last few weeks, I would be lying!

Hot fudge sundae with nuts from Sonic....not pictured mozzarella sticks with ranch!

 

 

 

I attempted to make an easy 3 ingredient clean dessert.  It has honey, all natural peanut butter, and oats.  I even added a little cocoa powder to give it a little more flavor. It was disgusting!  Way too much honey! 

 

 

 

I did more sitting on my butt, than I did working it out!

 

 

 

Despite my failures I had a lot of great successes!

 

We have done great with our cash only system!  In an effort to make an extra push to save money for our trip to New York at the end of the month, I decided we needed to go back to the basics and use the envelope system.  In general we are great with budgeting our money, but I was amazed at how much harder it has been to spend money when you can physically see how much you have left.  As you can see, my envelopes aren't fancy but they are functional!

 

 

 

 

There were days that I wasn't feeling well and still managed to get to the gym.

 

  

 

I made several amazing recipes!  Each one turned out GREAT!

 

I found this recipe for vanilla protein pancakes and added non-fat plain Greek yogurt, frozen raspberries, and a dash of Stevia.  So good!

 

 

 

This recipe came from Pintrest!  Pintrest has been my best friend lately when it comes to finding new clean recipes.  This Cookie Dough Baked Oatmeal dessert proved to be AMAZING!

 

 

 

And yet another Pintrest success was the recipe I found for crepes!  This was by far my favorite.  I absolutely love crepes; they remind me of being back in Europe!  I used the recipe posted on this website, but I added  some Justin's All Natural Chocolate Hazelnut Butter, non-fat plain Greek yogurt, and strawberries.  WOW! 

 

 

And my final success was spending yesterday at Kyle Field watching Johnny Football and the Fightin' Texas Aggies BTHO Rice!  Whooooop!!