2014 Weekly: #5

The only photos I took in SF: church in Washington Square, desserts at Park Tavern, Club Fugazi where they show Beach Blanket Babylon.

Saturday night: Our Town, strawberry ice cream at Coachman's and an old school vending machine.

Sportsing!!!

This week...Joanna went to San Francisco (and didn't take many photos, but did see Beach Blanket Babylon)...Chris was pretty boring while Joanna was out of town...we watched our first Super Bowl together (and by together I mean at the same location, Chris watching, Joanna in the kitchen chatting)...we saw Matt in Our Town at The Grand Theater and ate dinner at Coachman's (Chris's first time)...we discovered An Idiot Abroad (hilarious!)

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2014 Weekly: #4

This week...we celebrated Chris's 30th birthday with sushi, friends, and a hipster cake (and a family dinner, too)...Joanna went to a fitness group meetup with strangers, and had a great time...Chris organized the music on his computer, and sold a bunch of CDs at Graywhale...we met up for a weekday lunch date at Blue Lemon when Chris called out of work...we finished the second season of Game of Thrones (and I'm obsessed!)

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2014 Weekly: #3

This week...we had a weird week, full moon, hormones and all that...Joanna saw Her...Chris went to poker night and held an assault rifle...Midas joined Joanna for yoga...Chris transferred some old super 8 film to digital...we bought a doormat and a runner for the front hall (the place is starting to come together)...Chris's new favorite drink is cherry Pepsi with High West whiskey.

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2014 Weekly: #2

This week...we unpacked the last box in the new place...we ate at Franck's (Joanna's first time)...Joanna took a lot of photos of Midas...Chris invented the Banana Bradshaw...we found a living room rug, then found a better and cheaper one...Joanna set goals for the year...Chris built us a bar cart. 

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Eating Clean (first two weeks)

Two weeks ago, shortly after Chris and I moved in together, I started cooking all our meals. We fell into a great routine where we make dinner every night and eat the leftovers for lunch the next day. Once a week, we go out.

A decision we (well, I) made was to start eating clean the about 90% of the time. I'll let you google Clean Eating because I'm no expert on explaining it. For me, it translates to eating non-processed foods, watching portion sizes, and eating in a more balanced way (pasta is not a meal, it should be a side dish).

The first two weeks have been great. I've become more adventurous and confident in the kitchen (before this, I rarely cooked) and I love eating dinner with Chris every night. It's also been a challenge to meal plan each week and get the grocery shopping done in one day.

Below I've posted our meal plan (dinner and lunch) for the first two weeks. Lunch the next day is always leftovers from dinner before. Sadly I've taken very few photos of what we've been eating, I'll try to get better at that.

Week 1
Monday: Bruschetta Chicken with whole wheat pasta and a green salad
Tuesday: Slow Cooker Mexican Chicken
Wednesday: Roasted pork tenderloin with roasted carrots (my new favorite thing)
Thursday: I went out with the girls!
Friday: Turkey Meatballs with sauce in pita bread
Saturday: Roasted tilapia with broccoli and brown rice. I roasted the tilapia with lemon and garlic in foil, yum!
Sunday: Leftovers (Chris had meatballs, I had mexican chicken)

Week 2
Monday: Turkey Taco Casserole
Tuesday: Lemon Chicken Scallopine with whole wheat pasta and roasted green beans
Wednesday: Chicken and Green Bean Stir Fry with Quinoa (This didn't turn out great, all I had was frozen green beans)
Thursday: Turkey and Feta Stuffed Peppers
Friday: Almond Crusted Tilapia with dijon mustard roasted broccoli
Saturday: We're doing dinner out tonight!
Sunday: Chicken Pita Sandwiches

I've already planned Week 3 (I'll post after when I've actually eaten the recipes) and found some great blogs where I've been grabbing recipes from. Not all are clean, but if not they are easily adapted.

heandsheeatclean.com
toscareno.blogspot.com (she's written several books on clean eating)
thenakedkitchen.com
nomnompaleo.com (paleo, not clean, but a lot of the recipes are easily adapted)
deliciouslyella.com
howsweeteats.com

Next up: getting our grocery bill down! I see Costco trips in my future.


*Full disclosure: I'd been thinking about eating clean for a while but this whole thing was kickstarted by my P90X3 challenge that started on December 30. Many of the recipes came from my amazing coach Melanie's site.

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2014 Weekly: #1

I'm not a scrapbooker, but I've always wanted to have one of my life. This year, we're going to take some time each Sunday to put together a few pictures and some notes on our week so we can look back at the end of the year and remember.

This week...we celebrated our first New Year together...we unpacked a lot of boxes in the new place...Joanna started P90X3...Chris mounted the TV on the wall...we cooked all our meals...Midas got a hair cut...we saw American Hustle and The Wolf of Wall Street...Midas decided he likes playing outside in the snow

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starts a blog!

Hey, remember that time I decided to start a blog? That was tonight, while watching The Mindy Project.*

Technically, I already have a blog, but it's mostly an update on my life to friends who I don't see on a daily basis. It's unfocused and personal and I like it that way.

But lately, I've been looking for a new challenge. And I've done some soul searching (so cliche, no?) and realized a few things about myself.

So, the five reasons I'm starting this blog:

1. I need a new challenge (I already said that). I spend a lot of time at work. A lot. And instead of spending the rest of my time catching up on my DVR, I'd like to DO something.
2. I'm not the scared-y pants I once was. Maybe someday I'll expand on this, but the gist of it is that I used to be afraid of everything. Anxiety ruled my life, and I was constantly worried about what other people thought of me. But I'm not like that anymore.
3. Turns out, I like new things. Tastes change, and you can change your own tastes.
4. Some things still scare me. While I used to run from things that were hard or scary, the past few years I've been embracing them. And I've been FINE. Instead of running from things that scare me, I want to run to them.
5. I'm inspired. I have these amazing people in my life that do amazing things, and thanks to the fancy world wide web I'm exposed to a lot of things that inspire me. I have friends who run marathons, and bake wedding cakes, and make their own clothes and teach art. Participating in those kinds of things would be a real challenge for me, one I'd like to take on.

Maybe this is stupid, and maybe I'll regret it, and maybe I'll fail. But at least I'll have tried, right?

*Have you read Mindy Kaling's book Is Everybody Hanging Out Without Me? It's hilarious and real and partly responsible for inspiring me to start this blog. It's a funny memoir, but it also contains a really great message about self-awareness, and not taking yourself too seriously. READ IT!

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