I woke up early for a special cooking experiment. Any guesses what I made for breakfast today?
Here’s a clue…
…but I’ll be posting the recipe tomorrow so guess fast!
Coooofffffffeeeeee.
It seems like all my friends are getting sick right now. I like to be proactive whenever possible when sick season comes around, so soup seemed like a good idea. I decided to go with some Muir Glen Chicken Noodle.
I spruced it up with some fresh parsley from my garden and had some Great harvest toast on the side (with a dab of real butter)
Lunch #2 was a giant spinach salad with baby carrots, cherry tomatoes from the garden, sunflower seeds and a balsamic dressing.
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Post work, it was time to teach zumba again. Since I subbed for my friend, I ended up teaching 3 days in a row this week! Phew am I tired!? I had some really spectacular classes this week, though, so I was loving all the ZUUUUUMBA!
Hubby was in charge of dinner since I was teaching zumba tonight.
For our veg, hubby started with an appetizer of edamame.
For the main event, he made spaghetti with meat sauce.
Lovely, simple dinner.
Bailey’s been so loving since we got back.
Ok, so he’s always like this. He’s a lover, not a fighter.
***
I posted some new photos from my wedding (yea, the wedding was back in 2008, but I have so many photos, I could share for a looong time). Click here to check them out.
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Do you let your pet kiss you? I like it when Bailey kisses my cheeks or my chin but not so much on the lips. Ew. lol
I love look-backs. If only I were a video guru, I’d do some crazy video like the time-trick videos they did in Titanic…those were so cool.
When hubby and I were in the Bahamas last week, I couldn’t help but be reminded of scenes from our wedding in 2008 as we passed familiar places. Here are some of my favorite then and now photos from our wedding in 2008 to our Bahamas vacation in 2010:
NOTE: 2008 photos are by my wedding photographer and 2010 by me or hubby
Going straight from the tropical, summery Bahamas to cool, fall-weather North Carolina has been almost a shock to the system. One minute I’m sipping coconut daquiris on the beach, the next minute, I’m eating pumpkin oatmeal in a sweater. C’est la vie.
Since I’m now in full-fall mode, I started today with pumpkin spice brewed coffee…
…and since you guys know I’m like a 5 year old at Christmas with new stuff, I busted out my new Bahamian starfish bowl for some pumpkin oats.
Hello delicious oats! This batch was made with rolled oats, hemp milk, canned organic pumpkin, pepitas, and maple syrup.
I wore my boots for the first time this season (ok, first time with the exception of my Lady Gaga concert get-up).
I packed up a large salad for lunch today (last night), but didn’t have anything to go with it.
So, I scored some rice and beans for only $2 at a local burrito shop.
I was really excited to try this Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip protein bar from a local eatery, but I wasn’t a fan. I love their other flavors to pieces, but this one had RAISINS in it. I don’t know if it’s the fact that I don’t care much for raisins or that I totally didn’t expect raisins to be in a PB-Chocolate-Chip flavored bar, but it was not my cup of tea. I’ll stick with the blueberry or banana flavors next time because those are scrumptious.
We had a really, really FUN class! I hope tomorrow’s is just as good. The playlist was kicking and the class was really moving great tonight!
Fave songs of the playlist:
The Power
Everything I Can’t Have
She’s Hotter
Hello Good Morning
Krazy (an old-school song I’m trying to revive in class)
Speaking of songs…
I CANNOT get Lady Gaga’s Speechless song out of my head! I’ve found myself singing it non-stop for about the last 48 hours. Whoa. Check out the video above – it’s sooo good live!
I would really like to try singing this at karaoke…if I could just muster up the courage.
Anywho, hubby had dinner ready when I got home – breaded halibut, garden medley rice and steamed broccoli.
Plus we split a Great Harvest cinnamon roll for dessert. Soo ooey-gooey and yummy!
And speaking of sweets, I’ve had TONS of birthday dessert but ZERO official birthday cake. I think this is pretty tragic and needs to be remedied immediately. Or at least ASAP. Anyone want to bake me a cake?
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Btw, the Bahamas were beautiful, but something was missing…
Bailey! That’s our little cuddle-monster.
This little guy may have missed us, but he also missed our BED! He’s been getting pretty cozy there a lot lately. Spoiled little guy.
On the last morning of our Bahamas vacay, I was totally not ready to go. I could spend several weeks there no problemo.
But since we were leaving, I had one last stop to make:
The Port Lucaya Marketplace – straw booths.
I didn’t have long to look so I whizzed through the booths, which is pretty hard since most of the ladies manning the booths are such good salesmen and like to get really chatty.
Of course, chatty = deals and many were offering “first customer of the day” discounts.
My inner hippie wanted to collect an armload or two of gorgeous, colorful, gauzy dresses to bring home and wear all the time, but the adult in me managed to keep my goal at finding one dress to take home. Not to mention I wanted to spend only $20.
I was rushing a bit since we had a plane to catch, and I don’t like shopping when I’m rushing, but I think I found a pretty fab take-home:
Oddly enough, I ended up bringing home a size that is 2 or 3 sizes larger than what I normally wear…the sizes seemed to be pretty variable no matter the tag and the size I brought home was actually a better fit than the one that was smaller. Tags don’t mean anything, right? I’m gonna go with “size=healthy“.
I did a wee bit of shopping earlier on the trip and also found some fun stuff to take home:
Consumable stuff: bath salts, blackened spice (to re-create that amazing mahi mahi) and Caribbean coconut tea (because I’m not officially obsessed with all things coconut thanks to the Bahamas lol). I love souvenirs you can use or eat – they seem to cause a lot less clutter.
New, handmade in the Bahamas plateware!
A new oatmeal/cereal/yogurt bowl.
And how cute is this little starfish plate?
There were some really cool other home-goods items I wanted to get but we were trying to not spend more money and had no space left in our luggage: a basket, some salt and pepper shakers, a chess set. I have an idea that it would be really cool to have some Bahamian things to use at the dinner table (or house in general) when we’re entertaining.
I may have also picked up a couple things for Christmas…which I can’t blog since people might see it!
I definitely got some “thank you” gifts for my sis for taking such good care of Bailey while we were gone.
Tea in the Passion Fruit flavor since she’s a big tea fan, too… plus a new Grand Bahamas hat.
What souvenirs do you like to take home from vacations?
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I'm Diana - a clean eating locavore, 9-to-5 career gal, recipe developer, photography enthusiast, fashion lover, Zumba instructor, & corgi fan with a mega sweet tooth. ;)
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