High Five For Friday

It's Friday. That's enough to put a smile on my face...along with the white chocolate & macadamia cookie I had for breakfast. (I blame my coworker for this).

Breakfast of champions?

Linking up today with Lauren for High Five for Friday:

1. New Sunglasses for Summer purchased from Aldo on our NY trip (2 for $12).

2. Quick and healthy dinners at home - BBQ chicken with spinach & mushrooms.

3. I'm so excited my Mary Kay Voxbox arrived in the mail this week. Review to come soon on the products they provided me to sample.

4. Visited Downtown Disney on Thursday with my coworkers for "team building" day...turned out to be more like team drinking day ;-)

5. Finally got to use the gift certificate that K gave me for our anniversary last night. New mani & pedi just in time for the weekend. I love this turquoise color for summer.


Have a great weekend

Taste of Tuesday: Baked Pesto Salmon & Veggies

Hi Lovelies!

I ran across Jessica's blog yesterday and found her & Ashley's Taste of Tuesday Linkup which is right up my alley. Last night I cooked Baked Pesto Salmon with Steamed Broccoli and Mashed Cauliflower that was leftover from Sunday night.

Baked Pesto Salmon Recipe:
~ 6-8 oz Fresh Salmon Fillet

Mix the following ingredients & baste Salmon fillets:
~ 1 tbsp Olive Oil
~ 1 tbsp chopped Garlic
~ 1 tbsp Pesto

Bake for 15 minutes at 350 degrees.

I posted my mashed cauliflower recipe a few weeks ago here. It's delicious and a healthy low-carb alternative for mashed potatoes.


What's on your menu this week?

Relaxing Weekend Recap

Oh Monday...You come way too quickly!

Did anyone else watch Nik Wallenda walk the tightrope over the Grand Canyon last night? That was pretty intense but he made it to the other end thankfully. I had a pretty relaxing/productive weekend. Nothing too crazy.

~ K and I did some gardening to make our lawn look pretty.
~ Had brunch at home (english muffin, eggs and turkey bacon).
~ Cooked mashed cauliflower again for dinner on Sunday night. It's officially replaced mashed potatoes in our household since we're on a low card, high protein diet.
~ Cleaned through my closet & the entire house. Now have a trunk full of stuff to donate to Goodwill.
~ Went over to Kate's place on Sunday and hung out by their pool. We also grilled some chicken kabobs and Roxy (English bulldog) kept everyone company.
~ Enjoyed some Pinot Grigio and movies at home.

Linking up with Sami for Weekend Shenanigans. 
Sami's Shenanigans

How did you spend your weekend?

Happy Friday: Recap of NYC Trip

 The weekend is finally here so I'm a happy lil camper today. Should be a heck of a lot more quiet than our long weekend trip to NYC last weekend which was AMAZING! I'm in love with the city now and it's enchanting beauty.

(I apologize in advance for the overload of photos.)

Day 1 - Friday
- Checked into our hotel (view from hotel room)
- Toured Times Square
- Met up with a friend for drinks & tapas
- Walked our friend to catch her train in Grand Central Station - Toured the station
- Bought NY cheesecake from Junior's
- Went to a rooftop restaurant that had a beautiful view of the Empire State Building.

Day 2 - Saturday:
- Cruised the Hudson River around the Staue of Liberty
- Visited the 9/11 Memorial Site
- Walked through Wall Street
- Dinner at Marseille in Hell's Kitchen (was fantastic)
- Visited Madame Tusaauds Mwax Museum in Times Square
- Late night drinks at the cheapest bar in NYC - Rudy's Bar & Grill

Day 3 - Sunday (Our Anniversary):

- Visited the Empire State Building observation deck and went on the Skyride
- Toured the Rockefeller Center and Top of the Rock
- Lunch at Heartland Brewery 
- Visited Herald Square and Macy's. 
- Did some shopping in Fashion District
- Cocktails at Asiate Lounge in the Mandarin Oriental Hotel overlooking Central Park
- Anniversary dinner at Landmarc restaurant in Time Warner Center

 Day 4: Monday
- Checked out of our hotel and went for lunch at Houndstooth Pub
- Headed to JFK to head home

Lining up with Lauren for H54F.
 photo H54Fbutton-1_zpsa7aaa665.png

An absolutely memorable trip for the books!

Anniversary Weekend Festivites

What a whirlwind A-MAZING long weekend trip K and I just had to NYC for our anniversary. I will do another post about the trip itself and all the attractions we visited.

We started celebrating our anniversary at home on Thursday night. We planned to cook a nice dinner and have some of our wedding cake for dessert. 

 I came home to find some red roses and a gift certificate for the nail salon from K, which was very unexpcted since we were leaving on Friday morning for a long weekend of celebrations.

On Sunday (which was our actual anniversary) we explored the city all day and then got dressed to go out for a nice dinner. We started off at the Mandarin Oriental's Asiate Lounge that over looks Central Park. It's extremely expensive so we just had a cocktail and enjoyed the beautiful view.
We then walked over to the Time Warner center and had dinner at the Landmarc Restaurant

It was the best anniversary a girl could ask for and a super fabulous trip altogether. Joining Sami for Weekend Shenanigans (super late).
Sami's Shenanigans 

We were so sad to leave NYC last night and head back to reality. It was such an amazing and enchanting city.

Happy Friday from NYC

I'm a tourist in New York exploring this big, wonderful city for the first time so here's a quick High Five For Friday post to get the weekend started:

1. Recieved a Starbucks gift card in the mail for filling out a random online survey.

2. Lunch with my coworkers - Grilled chicken & pesto sandwich with Caeser salad.

3.  Patio happy hour drinks last Friday - Sea Dog Blueberry beer is one of my favorite.

4. Got my new office all set up this week and I've been training a new hire to support my team.

5. My car got a nice bathe by K on Sunday and then it started to rain :-/

Enjoy your weekend! 
xx

Summer '13 Bucket List

Hi everyone! 
I'm off to New York tomorrow so I actually get to cross #1 off my bucket list. Eeee!

Soo excited to explore The City for the first time, visit the Statue of Liberty and 9/11 Memorial, and try all the amazing food that I hear NYC has to offer.
 

I also wrote my "lifelong" Bucket list a few months ago which includes everything I hope to accomplish at some point in my life. Big dreams over here ;-)

What's #1 on your bucket list?

xx

 

Weekend Fun in FL

As I always say, Monday came way too quickly but I had a great weekend hanging around locally and getting some stuff done before our trip to NYC....4 more days!!


- I got my hair done on Saturday. Love my new highlights and lowlights!

- We went to Red Lobster for dinner on Saturday night bc I had a $4 off coupon. I had a dirty martini with dinner, of course.

- After dinner we met up with some friends at the bowling alley to hang out.

- On Sunday, I dragged K out of the house to Target to get some last minute stuff for our trip to NYC. We stopped at our favourite hole in the wall place to get fresh oysters for lunch (it was an easy bribe to get K to come to Target with me).

- When we got home, we put on our swimsuits and headed to our neighborhood pool to get some last-minute sun before the weekend was over. Sunday evenings can be depressing but a cold drink by the pool makes it all better ;-)

Joining Sami's Weekend Shenanigans Linkup.
Sami's Shenanigans 

How was your weekend?
 

High Five For Friday....and Vodka

Happy Friday!

I feel like a bus ran over me from this week at work so I'm counting down the hours until I can relax with a martini tonight and sleep in til whenever I want tomorrow. Those are the simple things in life that I love the most :-)

1. The boys grilling in the rain last Sunday at Kate's house. It's been a rainy week in Florida.

2. New comfy flats from Express.

3. Got our visitor passes for 9/11 Memorial next weekend in NYC.

4. Vietnamese spring rolls = the best cheat meal ever!

5.  Vodka, club soda & a squirt of pomegranate Mio is a delicious little cocktail without the added calories & sugar.

Joining Lauren for High Five For Friday.

Have a great weekend lovelies!

Health Challenge Update

I mentioned a few weeks ago that we are doing a health challenge at work and my company is paying for everyone to see a Nutritionist. My goal is to tone up & replace any fat with muscle. K is also doing the program and we've both come a long way in a month with learning how to eat healthier and making better choices at the grocery store and at restaurants.

We're now in Phase 2 of the program which consists of a high protein, low carb & low sugar diet along with exercising (at least 25-30 mins of cardio per day + weights, in my case, to build muscle). This is an example of how the diet/lifestyle works if anyone is interested in trying it out.

Breakfast:  
1 hard boiled egg
Protein shake (My favorite is the EAS Carb Control shake in Cafe Caramel flavor)
Morning Snack: 
2 fiber gummies   or
1/2 cup low fat cottage cheese

Lunch:
3-5 oz cooked protein (chicken, lean turkey, tuna, etc.)
2 cups salad with light dressing (max 2 g sugar)
Afternoon Snack: 
 (Up to 100 Calories)
 Sea Salt Almonds  or
String cheese        

Dinner:
3-5 oz. cooked protein (chicken, salmon, tilapia, pork, etc.)
2 cups of green vegetables
More to come on recommended supplements and vitamins.

I'm half way to my goal weight and steadily working to increase the intensity of my workouts and decrease my cravings for unhealthy snacks and food.

Weekend Dishes & Doings

Hi everyone!  
Sad that Monday came so quickly but the countdown has officially started for our NYC trip - 11 more days!  I had another fun weekend hanging out with friends and grilling outdoors.

Sat: 
We cleaned our house from top to bottom and then I went to the nail salon to get a lil pampering.  Later that evening we went over to a friend's house for a BBQ. They smoked a chicken and had these amazing bacon-wrapped jalapeno poppers. 


Sun:
I made chicken kabobs and we headed over to Kate and her husband's house to hang out and grill at their new pool.  We got to lay around on floaties sipping on some cold drinks for a few hours until it started to storm. Perfect way to spend a Sunday!

Linking up with Sami for Weekend Shenanigans.
Sami's Shenanigans

What did you get into this weekend?