Monday, April 30, 2012

Weekend Recap


Hey, happy Monday! Hope everyone had a wonderful weekend! Here is what our weekend looked like.

FRIDAY
Mexican Pizza! 
Movie night: The Sitter 

SATURDAY
(No Sugar) Cinnamon Raisin Pancakes w/ 2 eggs

StayStrongLila.com Fundraiser. I lost every raffle I entered ;( lol

 Pool day with Daddy & the puppes
while I laid by the pool with a delish SeaDog Blueberry beer
SUNDAY
Another pool day with some friends (Not pictured)
A trip to the little famous farm market Parkesdale in Plant City, FL Best Strawberry shortcake in town! 

Love, 
Alex

P.S.
I is for…
Insanity
Workout DVDs for some awesome cardio! We are official graduates of the 2 month + 1 week Insanity program. It kicked our butts everyday and got me into the best shape of my life after having Sophia. These are some of the hardest workouts I have ever done, but so much fun! ShaunT is a badass mammajamma!

Thursday, April 26, 2012

The forgotten newspaper


Good morning to ya! I’m sittin here eating some Steel Cut Oats (how boring am i?), drinking a cup o’ Joe, and reading the newspaper. Thursday’s paper includes a section called the Weekend with all the events coming up in the Tampa Bay area. The Blueberry Festival and Dragon Boat races/Asia Festival are both coming up…FYI.
Do any of you still subscribe to & read an actual newspaper that land on your driveway every morning?  I don't read any of the real "news" in the newspaper...that's what my Twitter is for. ;) We do get The Tampa Times every day but I only read it Wednesday, Thursday, and Sunday. Wednesday’s has the grocery ads & a section called Taste with recipes & restaurant reviews, Thursday’s includes the Weekend, and Sunday’s has all those pesky coupons & sale ads that I always clip but never remember to use. 

H is for…
Happy

Since becoming a mother, there hasn’t been a day I wasn’t happy. Last week I was asked what one of my favorite parts of motherhood is and my reply was, “There hasn’t been one “wake up on the wrong side of the bed” mornings for me since Sophia was born. I wake up excited to see my little baby’s smiling face.” I love sleepy, yawning, babbling Sophia; she truly melts my heart every day.

Sophia enjoying her breakfast

Healthy Eats
I believe in healthy eating, with limited artificial colors, flavors, preservatives, & sweeteners, limited to no Trans fats, antibiotics and growth hormones in my meat and dairy and no products that contain high fructose corn syrup. I really do try my hardest, but in today’s world it’s REALLY easy to fall off the healthy eating wagon.  Of course I splurge every now and then and when we eat out I can’t control that most restaurants don’t serve organic, no hormone chicken, etc. I don’t drive myself crazy about it, I just do my best and that’s all one can do. The easiest way to keep up with healthy eating is to eat at home as much as possible.  Here are some of our recent eats:

Dinner: Salad wrap: Spring mix, chopped carrot, celery, & cucumber, quinoa, tabouli, & hummus wrapped in a whole wheat tortilla. 
Breakfast: Steel Cut Oats sprinkled with Stevia & cinnamon, raisins, and walnuts.
Sophia’s mid-morning snack: A trio of mashed banana, blueberries, and strawberry.

How’d you get over there?!
She always makes her way from the living room to the kitchen to play with the dog's water bowl. 

This morning I’m just hanging out while Sophia naps. Then we’ll venture out into the world and do some business errands, make a trip to Costco, Office Depot, and the mall. When we get home we’ll take our daily walk, then tonight Angelo & I are sitting down with some pizza and finishing up our new company website!

Love,
Alex

Wednesday, April 25, 2012

Teething


Happy Hump Day or Work-it-out Wednesday! Always the latter one for me ;) 
This morning we went to the usual Power Plate workout then met up for lunch with our favorite husband/daddy at Tropical Smoothie CafĂ©. I usually go to Tropical Smoothie every Wednesday in between PowerPlate & Gymboree, but Gymboree got canceled today so I asked Angelo to come join us. I am in love with the Peanut Paradise smoothie! 

I officially have a teething baby on my hands. Drool & fussiness galore. I had to run an errand to pick up some documents from Clearwater which is about an hour away from here and Sophia cried almost the.entire.way.back. OW! She even lost her voice from crying so much. Poor baby…I hate when she cries in the car seat when I’m driving alone because I can’t crawl back there and try to sooth her. I know she was in pain from her teeth coming in so there’s nothing I really could of done until we got back home.. When we did come screeching into the driveway on 2 wheels (jk…kinda), I put some BabyOrajel on her bottom gums and she almost immediately went down for a nice hour nap. That was yesterday.

Today after lunch we went to BuyBuyBaby to get some teethers. I think Bella & Rome are hiding or possibly ate all the other ones they’ve found on the ground. BuyBuyBaby is almost as dangerous as Target. Go in for 1 item, come out with 20. 
I found this recipe on on WholesomeBaby and I'm going to give it a try tonight. 
Eggless Baby Cereal Cookies 
Ingredients:
1 cup flour
1 cup baby cereal
1 cup juice
Directions:
Mix ingredients well. Roll out and cut into shapes. Bake for 20-30 min @ 350 deg. F.
Freezes Well *Dough will be very sticky and seem "wrong" and may be hard to work with. This is as it should be so do not panic. You may wish to add more flour and/or cereal to achieve a more doughy consistency.*


This afternoon we’re off to do some business errands, then back home to mop these dirty floors. So gross. Hope everyone is having a great week so far! Can you believe April is ending?!

Love,
Alex

G is for  GYMBOREE
We go to Learn&Play classes once a week. Sophia graduated Level 1 and is now in Level 2 classes. I really enjoy bringing her because we meet so many moms and babies. Sophia isn’t in daycare or any sort of thing like that so there’s no where else she would get that kind of interaction. (Hopefully my friends will start popping out kids…)  Right now, almost all the kids in her class are crawling. There is usually one little boy who is the “leader” and starts crawling away from the group, then the rest of the adventurers go crawling after him. Sophia likes to crawl up to the others and try pulling their name stickers off their backs. She’s a little sticker thief. It just keep getting cuter and cuter

Monday, April 23, 2012

Vast Desert


Aaaaaand it’s Monday again!
It was just a regular Monday morning around here eating my Steel Cut Oats with ½ banana & walnuts…then I heard the news that Guiliana & Bill Rancic are expecting a baby!  SO HAPPY for them! I got chills when they announced it on The Today Show this morning.

Saturday was such a fun day! We went on our usual “Saturday Six” mile run and my brother, his wife, my best friend, and her husband joined! The best part of getting a group of people together to go for a run is having lunch with them afterwards! South Tampa is such a neat place when it comes to restaurants. There are so many unique places, not many chain restaurants. Saturday night we went to dinner & a show at the Colombia, a famous Spanish restaurant in Tampa since 1905.The have flamingo dancers who perform while you eat, which was perfect to keep Sophia entertained. 
Sophia & I watching the performance before our food came.


Sunday we FINALLY finished painting the house after a trip to the grocery store & Lowes. Everything except the beds/baths is a matching beige color now called ‘Vast Desert’. Perfectly named.  I was really hesitant at first because I thought it would be really boring and the color was advertised as a color for a garage...but It actually does make the house look better. I made Sophia some sweet potatoes for the week & spaghetti squash for dinner. Angelo really likes the spaghetti squash as a replacement for a huge plate of pasta. That’s a WIN!

F Is for
FIRST Birthday!

Ooooh man! Sophia’s first birthday is all I think about lately.  I have been glued to Pinterest (more than usual) and I have a bajillion ideas for what to do. It’s like planning a wedding all over again! Lol
FLOWERS
I love the feeling fresh flowers give to a home. Once & a while I’ll get flowers from my love and other times I buy my own flowers to give the house a little pick me up. These are my anniversary from Angelo

FRIENDS
We are the first couple in our group of friends to have a baby, so our relationships have changed. We obviously don’t go to the bar or club anymore but we still try and hang out with them just as much by having dinners together or just hanging out at each other’s house. Pretty soon there will be more members in the baby club!
FAMILY
I love my little family more than I can explain and I can’t wait to see it grow.  I ‘m amazed at how I can almost actually feel my heart getting bigger and bigger with joy.

Hope everyone has a marvelous Monday! We are going to workout on the Power Plate this morning followed by a walk then random errands & projects around the house until a Relay for Life event at a local restaurant tonight in honor of my best friend's mom who is a Breast cancer survivor!

Love, 
Alex

Saturday, April 21, 2012

First & Last time for everything

Hey! Happy Saturday to ya!


Last time I posted it was Thursday, our 4 year wedding anniversary. We decided to go to Bonefish for dinner Thursday night as a pre-celebration. We made reservations for tonight to go to a locally famous restaurant in Tampa called the Colombia for the REAL celebration ;). So Bonefish made dinner for the evening. I NEVER order fish from restaurants. It's just not my thing. The only seafood I order from restaurants is shrimp or scallops or crab/tuna if we're ordering sushi. But like a filet of fish...no thank you. Thursday I was being a little adventurous and ordered salmon as my meal. 8 hours later and i'm yaking it all up...I'm thinking food poisoning. That was my first & last time ordering fish from a restaurant. 


This is how my yesterday went: Woke up, threw up, ate a piece of plain toast, went to go workout, got nauseous in the middle of the workout, decided to just do some stretching, went home, ate some pretzels, threw everything up, went to sleep with Sophia until about 4pm. Woke up, feeling better, but dehydrated, so started getting ready for Relay for Life at a local high school. My best friend's boyfriend's sister (got that?) died about 4 years ago from cancer, so they set up a "Princess Makeover" Tent in her honor every year. Sophia got crowned :)




The only thing I ate yesterday (that stayed in  my belly) was a couple handfuls of popcorn and half a chicken sandwich, so I woke up starving this morning! I missed my Steel Cut Oats (it's only been a day!) so I made some and crumbled a piece of carrot cake on top ;) 


My mom made me a tiny carrot cake with flax seed for our anniversary. Angelo had to head to work this morning to get some stuff done and once he gets back we're going to go do our Saturday Six! I'll prob have to slow my pace down but we will see how my stomach feels.


E is for EAT YOUR VEGGIES TOES?

Love, Alex

Thursday, April 19, 2012

4 years ago...

Four years ago I married my best friend. 



Happy Anniversary to my husband, love, partner, and father of my children!
 I love you today, tomorrow, and forever ever!
Love, Alex

The D's of my Day

Downtown Markets
Every Friday there is a downtown street market with different vendors & lots of food trucks selling all sorts of cuisines. For about 2 months, a few friends & I would go get lunch and stroll around every Friday after our PowerPlate workout. We’d try to get a different cuisine each time, but I’d sometime repeat and go to a food truck called 3 Suns Organics. They have the best pulled pork & mango sandwich with Strawberry tea or you can get the contents of the sandwich poured over nachos! YUM!  One of my old friends actually sells her jewelry at the market now.
Do you frequent a local street market in your town? Do you have a favorite vendor?

Dogs
I’m starting to feel a little guilty about not taking my dogs on runs anymore. They get so excited and then let down when they realize they aren’t going. I still take them for walks which they get extremely excited about but it’s not the same. I always think about taking them but then decide against it, they’re just too much and with them, my runs were more stressful than a stress relief.

Dinner
Last night’s dinner was a little lighter than normal. I had went out to lunch at Tropical Smoothie a earlier in the day, and my stomach started growling around 4pm, so I started snacking. By dinner time, I wasn’t too hungry so I made a nice salad in a mixing bowl.

Spring mix, chopped celery, chopped carrot, tabouli, & quinoa. The tabouli acted as the salad dressing since it has olive oil & lemon juice in it. 

Hope everyone is enjoying their Thursday! Today is a very special day! ;) 

Love, 
Alex


Wednesday, April 18, 2012

Where is she now?!

Hey it’s Hump Day! My body is aching this morning and I don’t know why. Maybe from the 5 miles of walking/running we did yesterday plus painting. We got the front room & hallway finished last night, 3 more rooms & 3 little hallways to go. Then the house (except bedrooms & bathrooms) will be all one beige color…just like Angelo wants. As long as we have stuff to put on the walls to cover up the blandness, I’m cool.
Last night I made a quick Italian chicken (Mrs. Dash Italian seasoning, sundried tomatoes, & artichokes) topped over quinoa before we got to paintin’. Angelo did most the painting since I had to supervise Sophia the whole time. She gets into everything! No more staying in one stop on the floor playing with her toys. That leads me into today’s word….

Crawling!
Sophia has become a crawling machine the past 2 weeks! She wants to always be on the ground crawling around. You really don’t realize what needs to be “baby proofed” in your home until your baby becomes mobile. We found some electrical sockets that didn’t have protectors in them, we can’t leave the dog’s water bowl on the floor anymore, we have to keep all doors to bathrooms & bedrooms shut, and we had to tie the wires & cords up behind the TV.  I thought all that stuff was done before she started crawling and I didn’t think she’d be able to get to the cords & wires from the TV stuff, but somehow she did. If she can see it, she will try her hardest to get to it. Out of sight out of mind is the way to go. She also loves to follow the dogs around and look out windows with them.


As I type this, Sophia is crawling all over Bella. Bella is def getting used to it and more tolerant because she isn’t running away anymore.

This morning I had the usual Steel Cut Oats with ½ banana and walnuts with my cup of coffee. Sophia had some rice cereal with mashed up banana.  We are out the door in a few to run by the post office, PowerPlate workout, and then Gymboree. I’ve been waiting on stuff to come in the mail so we can finally get Angelo’s business up & running! Hopefully today is the day! 

Love,
Alex

Tuesday, April 17, 2012

B is for Baby

How can 'B' NOT be for baby at this moment in my life?

Last night was GN, but only myself & 2 other girls were able to make it. We went to a place called Shrimp Boat, a little mom-n-pop place in town. We all got a different meal & split them, so dinner was a plate full of coconut shrimp, shrimp scampi, and crab cakes with a side salad. I brought the left overs home for Angelo since there was still so much. I was shrimped out! 
This morning I ate some Steel Cut Oats with a 1/2 a banana and walnuts for breakfast. When I tried to put Sophia down for her morning nap she wasn't having it but started to get super fussy. At that point I knew we had to get out of the house. So off to BuyBuyBaby we went. Afterwards we went to a friend's house to take a nice 3 mile stroll together.

Baby food
I’ve been making Sophia’s baby food since she started eating solids. At first I bought  a couple jars from the store to make sure I was getting the consistency right when I pureed them. I bought the Organic Earth’s Best baby food, only the ones without the preservatives. If it had anything other than water and the food, I didn’t buy it. I found out that almost all the baby foods that have fruit in them will have preservatives. I also go through the baby food aisle to get inspiration on different recipes.
Foods Sophia LOVES: Bananas, sweet potatoes, carrots, peas, pineapple, squash, pears, pieces of wheat bread

BuyBuyBaby
Today we made a trip to BuyBuyBaby. Always a dangerous place (for the bank account). While cleaning out the self-made junk room I found a package of bottles, bottle cleaner, and tons of nipple replacements. With a cabinet full of every brand of bottle known to man, I knew they’d never get used at least with Sophia, so we got out of the house and returned them this morning in exchange for all this!
GreenSprout food storage containers, 2 Organic Food Puffs (Sweet Potato & Spinach), 2 sippy cups, Sippy Cup holder, Boob Pads, Tshirt, Face wipes, Goodnight Moon & Love you Forever Books! Talk about a deal right?!

Now we have to catch up on some online work, then do some painting around the house. There is still so much to do.. -__-

Love, 
Alex

Monday, April 16, 2012

A is for...

Starting today I'm going to go through the alphabet and choose different words that have plenty to do with my life. Let's start...


A is for:



April
The month is already half way over. How is your month going so far? Are you on the right track of finishing your goals for the month? My goal for the month is to Spring clean my closet. I've started it and will probably finish this week. 

Apple
Think an apple a day keeps the doctor away? I do! An apple was part of my morning routine when I worked at the doctor’s office. I’d clock in, go to the kitchen, cut up my apple, sprinkle cinnamon on it, and sit at my desk and eat it while catching up on that morning emails. I’ve been slacking the past month or so and went on some sort of banana kick. I’m determined to bring apples back in my life! Here's how I usually eat them:
Bag o' apples

Simply by itself

Sprinkled with cinnamon

On top of Greek yogurt & granola

Attitude
“… is a little thing that makes a BIG difference” – Winston Churchill
Even though I don't always succeed, I always try to have a positive attitude. 

Love, 
Alex

Baking

Hey!
How is the weekend going for ya? Our has been pretty relaxing.

Saturday we went to the monthly Tampa Fit Club workout.
Tampa Fit Club is a nonprofit organization my friend started about a year ago. He puts on free monthly workouts in a park off Bayshore Blvd.  He drags his ropes, medicine balls, tire, sledgehammer, etc. out there once a month to promote health & fitness in our community. There are usually hundreds of runners/bikers/skaters out on Bayshore every Saturday who are welcome to join in on the fun. There has been anywhere between 10-30 people who join in on the workout. It’s customizable, so you can do as many reps of the exercises as you see personally fit. From the Twitter page: Tampa Fit Club is non-profit organization dedicated to promoting physical health and providing a platform for people to make positive changes in their lives! It’s a pretty cool concept and I really hope more & more people start coming out. It’s FREE & FUN!

Yesterday’s workout had about 15 people present. The sky was overcast and the wind was kind of crazy, but we got some work in! We did 2 different circuits of 4 workouts, with a short run & rest following each circuit. For each workout you have the option to do 9, 15, or 21 reps. I did 21 reps for most ;) I’m glad it wasn’t too hot since Sophia likes to hang out in her stroller on the sidelines. She was taking in the views of Bayshore while enjoying some cheerios.

After the workout we hit up a lunch spot called Daily Eats with some of the other participants. I had the BBQ salad shredder bowl filled with brown rice, lettuce, mango, & bbq chicken. It was delish and from looking at everyone else’s empty plates I’m thinking their food was equally delicious.  After lunch we came back home and bummed it out. Angelo & Sophia took a nap while I made pizza dough for dinner & wasted time on Pinterest. -->Addict. Dinner was a turkey pepperoni & onion pizza with a spinach salad, and a nice cold Yuengling beer. Can’t go wrong. 

Today has been filled with house chores. As I post, Angelo is painting. He decided he wants the entire house (except bed & bathrooms) to be one beige color. He hated the colors of the accent walls we painted when we first moved it.  I have been baking vegetables to make Sophia’s food for the week, and doing laundry (why does it never stop?).
Sweet Potato & carrots

Hope everyone had just as a relaxing, fit-filled weekend as we did!
Love,
Alex

Friday, April 13, 2012

No more candy!

TGIF! And that’s the truth! This week has been crazy busy and I’m so glad it’s coming to an end! Time for some relaxation! (Let’s hope.)

You see, I do online e-learning course work for a company as a part-time job. The software that we use did an update and all our courses went haywire, so this week we’ve been frantically trying to get them back to normal.  Along with that, we’re still getting things all lined up to open Angelo’s new business.So that’s basically what I've been doing the past couple of days…stuck in the office on the computer doing work. Fun right?

Look who turned 8 months old yesterday!
She is a crawling machine and goes everywhere around the house, terrorizing the dogs. ;)

On the workout front, I’ve decided to stop running with the dogs. They’re a little crazy when we bring them both at the same time and it becomes a very stressful situation. I’ll start taking them on walks AFTER we’re done running…
because this is what happens when they see another dog and charge like wild animals. I have to wrap my arm around a tree so I don't face plant. Sorry pups, last night was your last 4 miler with momma. I'm telling myself that it's getting too hot for them anyways, they're over it after about 3 miles. 

I figured out why my appetite has been kooky the past couple days. It’s that evil thing called sugar! Lol I’ve been munching on Easter candy here & there, grabbing jelly beans and gummy worms almost every time I walk past the Easter basket. So yesterday I declared NO MORE CANDY…this week. I can’t bring myself to just throw it away, so there it sits...starring at me. Plus, how bad can YummyEarth Organic Gummy Worms be?! Just have to tell myself a little at a time. 

Hope everyone had a productive work week! Today we're going to workout on the PowerPlate, have lunch with our 2 best girlfriends, then run some random errands. Tomorrow is our monthly workout with TAMPA FIT CLUB and a local newspaper is coming to write a story on us! I'll make a post about it this weekend. 

Love, 
Alex

Wednesday, April 11, 2012

Snackage

Happy Work It Out Wednesday!
I usually do a tabata style workout on the power plate on Wednesdays but switched it up to include a 4 circuit rotation, 5 times round.

Station 1 – Row 250 meters
Station 2 – Run around the building twice (probably about .3 miles)
Station 3 – Ball slams (side – front – side) with 10lb medicine ball.
Station 4 – 50 scissor kicks.

It was a doozy but I loved it and it was perfect to help me get over the hump of hump day ;)

After that sweaty mess it was Gymboree time = running around chasing Sophia. The past couple days she’s really gotten the crawling thing down and it getting into everything around the house. One second she’s playing with her toys by the couch, the next second she’s over trying to tip over the dog’s water bowl. It's been fun times and I'm always on alert mode now, quickly learning that nothing is out of reach for Sophia now. 

The past couple of days my appetite has been funky. I haven’t had much of one during lunch time and nothing really sounds good so I end up snacking on a bunch of random stuff. Hand full of this, and couple of that.
Chopped up pineapple

These fine things I found at Costco

Breakfast has been the usual Steel Cut Oats & dinner last night was one of the best salads I've made in a long time. I was really starting to get tired of salads and needed to spice things up a bit. Last night I topped some spinach with baked bbq chicken, tabouli, carrots, celery, and mushrooms. I didn't think Angelo would like the tabouli so I snuck it onto his without telling him and he really enjoyed it! Even commenting on how good it tasted and asked what spices I added.;) WIN

Hope everyone is having a wonderful week so far! It's coming to an end once again...

P.S. Someone please come rid my house of all this left over Easter candy...

Love, 
Alex

Tuesday, April 10, 2012

Easter Recipes

Sorry I didn't live up to my blog duties this weekend and take any pictures of the recipes I made for Easter dinner. I snapped a few pics of the cake only because it was a double decker carrot cake with raisins in the middle!

On the menu:
Appetizers: Veggies with hummus & Sweet Potato rounds topped with goat cheese.
Entrees: Prime Rib Roast.Roasted brussel sprouts.Roasted carrots, parsnips, & onion melody.Antipasto salad.
Dessert: Strawberry cookies , Carrot Cake, and a couple handfuls of Easter candy every time I walked by the basket.

Recipes:
Sweet Potato rounds with goat cheese. (Fitnessista)
Cut the sweet potatoes into rounds, drizzle with EVOO, salt & pepper, bake at 375 fot 20 min. Take out, top with herbed goat cheese and bake for another 5 min. Serve.

Antipasto salad. (this wasn’t really a recipe, as I just threw a bunch of different stuff into a bowl)
Cook Tortellini according to package. Drain & stir in Balsamic Vinaigrette dressing. Let tortellini marinate in dressing for a good hour or so. Stir in marinated kalamata olives, roasted red peppers, marinated artichokes, and halved cherry tomatoes. Sprinkle with salt & pepper.

Carrot Cake. This was a Duncan Hines box cake.

Champagne punch.
2 bottles of champagne, 1 2liter of Ginger Ale, 1 package of frozen berries

All recipes were fantastic and gobbled up by the hungry family!

Love, 
Alex

Monday, April 9, 2012

Weekend Recap

Saturday: After I last posted we went on a 4 mile run then got ready and headed over to a friend's house for a Summer kickoff pool party! Sophia had a blast hanging out with everyone and swimming in the pool with daddy (it was too cold for me). We went to dinner at Outback on our way home and she snoozed the entire time. 

Sunday: We woke up to discover that the Easter bunny had made a visit! 
Went to early service at church
Hung out at my parent's house the rest of the day where we ate, ate, and ate. Sophia is a pool-aholic and went swimming with grammy. 
Then we came back home where Angelo's mom, sister, and brother came over and gave Sophia her 3rd basket of the day! 

Hope everyone had an awesome Easter weekend! We had such a good time hanging with friends and family and the weather was beautiful all weekend. 

Love, 
Alex



Saturday, April 7, 2012

Twas the day before Easter

'Twas the day before Easter, when all through the houseEveryone was stirring, looking for that perfect blouse;The baskets were waiting by the door with care,In hopes that the Easter bunny soon would be there'

The day before Easter…
While everyone is running to the grocery store and mall, we are doing some Spring Cleaning & prep cooking this morning! The grocery store & mall were both hit up yesterday in-between a “corporate lunch” with Angelo & my brother and a workout on the Power Plate.

We bought Sophia’s Easter dress a couple weeks ago from BabyGap and Angelo already has enough “un-worn with tags” shirts in his closet to pick from, but momma needed a new outfit! I got my outfit inspiration from www.jseverydayfashion.com (LOVE HER SITE!) and bought a high-low skirt from Forever21 yesterday. I’m thinking of pairing it with a purple tank I already have.


For Easter dinner at my parent’s house tomorrow, I picked a few recipes to make and gathered all the ingredients from Publix. 
-Antipasto salad
-Sweet potato rounds with goat cheese
-Carrot Cake (No event Easter is complete without it)
-Champagne Punch or Mimosas

Recipes & reviews coming Monday!

This afternoon we’re going to a friend’s pool party to kick off Summer! Hope everyone has a superb Saturday!

Love,
Alex

Thursday, April 5, 2012

Grocery List

- Coffee
- Sleep
That was totally me this morning. Towards the end of each week, our fridge and pantry get a little bare. Among others things, right now we are out of coffee. An essential in my world.

Sleeping has also been scarce here since we have stopped swaddling Sophia. It has been getting better each night, but she still wakes herself up multiple times. She also rolls over on her belly to sleep, which freaks me out a little, so I keep waking myself up to check on her.

With little sleep and no coffee, this morning was a mess.  At first I was going to fore go the coffee (gasp), but I’m weak and around 9am I gave up. Off to Starbucks we went and now all is well!

We just ate a salad and soup for lunch. Angelo asked if I worked for Olive Garden, but he was quickly disappointed when he didn't see a basket of bread sticks in the middle of the table. Sorry Charlie.

Salad included: Romaine lettuce, carrot, celery, mushroom, ½ apple, and topped with Annie’s Goddess dressing. Soup was an Alessi Neapolitan Bean Soup Mix made in 15 min stove-top.

Later today I plan to get in a 4 mile run, then sit down and figure out what I’m making for Easter and getting a grocery list together. 
Hope everyone is having a great week! Today is Angelo’s Friday since he doesn't have to work tomorrow,such an exciting weekend ahead!

Love,
Alex

Wednesday, April 4, 2012

Back to the Basics

Swimsuit shopping...hate it or love it?

I haven’t bought a new swimsuit in over a year. Last season I was pregnant so I wore an old bathing suit that once was too big, but fit me pregnant. This season I have been on the search for the past week and can’t seem to find anything I LOVE. I have tons of old bathing suits but seems like everyone else has them…you know that awkward situation when 3 other girls at the beach are wearing the same bathing suit? I don’t like that situation and try to avoid it. That’s hard to do when you buy bathing suits from Victoria’s Secret & Target. I have a couple bathing suits that I bought years ago from boutiques that I’ve never seen anyone else wear. There’s only so many times you can wear those tho…right?!

After searching the mall the other day I think I’ve come to the conclusion of going back to the basics this year with a black string bikini. Can’t go wrong right? There's just something so right with the black string bikini.

Now that I'm a mom, I kinda like these bathing suits too..Secretly I've always wanted one...Whatcha think? ;) I honestly think they are so cute!

I hope everyone has a wonderful WORK IT OUT Wednesday! We're on our way out the door to go to our Power Plate session, then Gymboree, then fingerprints! LOL! I feel like a criminal but I have to do them for a license for the business. 

Love, 
ALEX




Monday, April 2, 2012

Breakfast of Champs

Good afternoon! This morning has been quite hectic, but I did manage to go to my Power Plate workout session before anything else. I went to 3 different places for 1 item, which none of them ended up being able to do. Isn't that always fun... After the 3rd place being a no-go, I called it quits and came home to get some food in Sophia's & my tummy.

I’ve always heard good things about Steel Cut Oats and often read about other people eating them on their blogs and in gossip magazines about celebs eating them, but never bought some to try. Two weeks ago while staying at my parent’s house, my dad made me some for breakfast, and ever since then I’ve been hooked. They aren’t as quick to make as putting whole wheat toast in the toaster oven or pouring a bowl of my Kashi GoLean Crunch. They tak about the same amount of time to make as pancakes and eggs but are more on the healthy side. They take me about 15 minutes to make, which gives me enough time to feed the dogs & make my coffee.

Here’s a look at their awesome nutritional profile:
A 1/2 cup serving of cooked steel-cut oatmeal provides only 150 calories. It is a good source of complex carbohydrates, and provides 4 g of soluble fiber, which works to lower cholesterol. It also provides 5 g of protein.  

I love how you can top them with just about anything, depending on what you’re feeling like that morning. I usually put a pack of Stevia in once done along with various items.
Walnuts & dried cherries

Bananas, flax seeds, and walnuts

Walnuts & Craisins
You should try some...they may not be everyone's cup of tea but I'm a fan!

Well, once again it's Monday. How was everyone's weekend? This weekend was amazing esp having Angelo back home. It was exactly what a weekend should be; family, friends, exercise, and fun in the sun. This little booger had a nice nap by the pool yesterday :)


Love, 
Alex