First Christmas Disney Trip…for me!

So, this past weekend was the first time I ever went to Disney during Christmas time! I was so excited to see the decorations, lights, and characters. Here’s a recap of the magical weekend

 Saturday:

We woke up bright and early Saturday morning, packed and loaded up the car to get to the Disney resort before the park opened. We made a quick pit stop for gas and coffee and set on the road!

We arrived at Disney’s Caribbean Brach Resort around 9:15 and immediately parked, took a bathroom break, and headed for the bus stop which was really close to where we parked. We hopped the bus for Hollywood Studios and didn’t get back on the bus until 2:30 to head back to the resort to check-in and take a break before dinner at Downtown Disney and Fireworks and the parade at Magic Kingdom!

TOY STORY RIDE!! (My score is on the left, and Josh’s is on the right! And let me tell you – this ain’t easy! When you get off of Toy Story, your arm aches for the next 30 minutes. If you think I’m exaggerating, ride it – then get back to me!)

We did have a few snafoo’s though

When we first received our check-in information and key, we headed to the room. When we parked Josh suggested we leave everything in the car and check the room out first. Me, being impatient, said no – let’s take everything now. So we filled all of our hands full of stuff, and headed to the room. I unlocked the door and the first thing I noticed were the comforters on the floor. It was then that I realized that the room hadn’t even been cleaned from the last guests that occupied the room. So, annoyed and frustrated, we turned around, put everything back in the car, and headed to the front desk. Fortunately they were really quick about getting us new keys, and a new room (which we ended up loving more than the initial room).

     

After a quick break and semi-nap, we hit the bus stop for DD for dinner! After dinner, we headed back to the room to drop off the ornaments we purchased and take a potty break before hitting MK.

Magic Kingdom was…MAGICAL AND ENCHANTING!

The castle was gorgeous and breath-taking! The parade was festive and fun! And the lights…oh, the lights! WE LOVED EVERYTHING!

Other than dealing with the shut-down of the the new Little Mermaid Ride, MK was a fun and festive night. Unfortunately, we had to leave and hit the sack around midnight!

Sunday:

The next morning, I woke up early, got a nice jog in around the peaceful resort. Afterwards, we got ready to go to the restaurant at the resort so that Josh could get his breakfast, which he said was delicious!

After breakfast, we headed to Animal Kingdom to end our quick weekend trip to Disney! We rode Everest twice, went through the plains of Africa on the Safari right, and rode the Dinosaur ride!

    

(I wasn’t really scared of the animatronic dinosaur and the picture on the right is the Safari we went on)

We ended the trip with a delicious lunch at Rainforest Café and headed home!

 It was a fantastic trip, one we’ll always remember!

Now – time to plan the next one!

Thanksgiving Practice

So this year, I have offered to make a few things for Thanksgiving dinner at my in-laws house! One thing I have decided to make (because it is my absolute favorite) is a pecan pie! The other three things I am making are corn casserole, green bean casserole, and a sweet potato pie (this is my husbands favorite).

 So this evening was my practice run for my sweet potato pie and my corn casserole. Of course I didn't have any patience to stop and take a picture of the corn casserole, but I did get a few pictures of the sweet potato pie (with Josh’s help)!

                      

And might I add…this pie was delicious! Dangerously delicious – and that’s why I have sent it to work with my husband :-)

Two recipes down with two to go!

Happy Birthday!

I just wanted to wish my wonderful sister-in-law, Tamara, a VERY HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!

(P.S. I totally stole this picture from her blog The Jolly James' )

Love and miss you SIL!!

Recent Life through Pictures

So, while I don’t have many pictures, I do have a few to show what’s been going on in our lives! Or the at least the random capturing of it! Enjoy…

Attempting to Golf

Favorite golfing partner

Ridiculously delicious chicken chile…YUM!

New find from Target

Josh is a retro Nike fan…me – I’m a Toms fan

And to leave you with the most delicious picture of them all…

RITAS!!!

Have a great weekend and and a good week!

The Baking Itch

So yesterday morning one of the representatives that I work with brought with him some pumpkin bars that his wife had made and sent with him. As many know, I have been able to cut certain foods out of my lifestyle, sweets not being one of them. I have, though, been able to cut back on how much of them I eat! So while this post isn’t going to be about how I completely indulged on pumpkin bars, it will be about how I indulged on a different sweet.

Anyways, these pumpkin bars gave me the sudden urge to want to bake and there were two things I was looking to bake. It was either going to be a Blueberry Buckle Cake or it was going to be pumpkin bread. Now I am totally into fall right now, the Pumpkin Spice Latte’s, the smell of the cinnamon brooms walking into Fresh Market, and the jealousy of the cooler states where wearing scarves, and boots would not cause one to sweat profusely. But my husband and I did decide on the Blueberry Buckle cake from Two Peas and their Pod.

Now, I don’t bake often for the main reason that I CAN NOT trust myself with baked goods…it doesn’t work. It’s like telling yourself, I am going to Panera Bread for a soup and salad, and I will not look at their AMAZINGLY DELICIOUS pastry, bread, bagel set up. Yet once you walk through the doors, smell the glorious smell, you decide that you are just obligated to purchase a baked good, I mean bread is in the name of the restaurant folks, come on!

So I decided I was going to bake the cake yet I didn’t have any of the ingredients and I didn’t have the baking pan I needed. So what does a girl do when she needs something yet doesn’t have it – she goes shopping, and shopping on my lunch break I went. I went to Publix then popped over to Fresh Market where I also scored Pumpkin Spice Milk bottled in an old fashion milk jug…LOVE IT!

When I got off work and we had dinner, we got to cookin! I was in charge of the hand mixer (I am not in the awesomely cool baking realm enough to own a stand mixer…yet) and my husband was in charge of alternating the dry and wet ingredients and what is the outcome of two cooks in one small apartment kitchen…

THIS…

This was delicious. So good that I couldn’t and definitely didn’t wait 10 minutes to let it cool. Was it burning my tongue and mouth a little bit, yes, was it completely, and totally worth it, you’re darn right it was!

So, I will end the post with a huge thank you to Two Peas and their Pod for sharing this delicious recipe! I do want to mention though, I did make a slight change in the amount of butter used in the batter (I used 2 tbsps of butter, and 2 tbsps of unsweetened applesauce) and the type of flour for the batter (1 ½ cups all purpose, ½ whole-wheat). I was trying to make myself feel better…after all; we ate half the cake in about 5 minutes

Recipe from Two Peas and their Pod

Blueberry Buckle Cake

Yield: Serves 8-10

ingredients:

For the topping:
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 cup butter

For the batter: 2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup butter
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup buttermilk
2 cups fresh or frozen blueberries

directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375°F. Grease a 9-inch cake pan and set aside.

2. To make the topping: In a small bowl, mix together brown sugar, flour, and cinnamon. Rub in the butter using your finger tips until the mixture is crumbly. Set the topping aside.

3. To make the batter: In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt. In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream together the sugar and butter. Add the egg and vanilla, mix until smooth. Alternately add the buttermilk and the flour mixture to the creamed mixture, ending with flour. Stir only enough to blend. Gently fold in the blueberries.

4. Pour the batter evenly into prepared cake pan. Sprinkle the topping over the batter and bake for 40 to 45 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Let the buckle cool for 10 minutes. Loosen the sides with a knife. Holding the cake pan in your left hand, gently tip the cake out onto your right hand, remove the pan, and gently place the cake onto a serving dish.

Recipe slightly adapted from King Arthur Flour

Running…

 

I started running about a year ago as a way to “get in shape”. I had just started working for a firm that was very healthy lifestyle focused. My manager had just lost 30 pounds, the woman I shared an office space with was a runner (and extremely healthy eater), and a representative in the branch was a gym rat.

None-the-less, I felt very out of place as the youngest person in the branch yet with the largest body. Instead of continuing my bad eating habits and poor lifestyle choices – I decided to change them for the better. I started picking up on my co-workers eating habits and her running techniques.

Instead of eating sugary cereal for breakfast, I started eating greek yogurt. Instead of bringing left over pasta dishes for lunch, I started making and bringing salads to work.  I started hitting the gym with my husband and quickly found I hated the elliptical but that I could jog in intervals on the treadmill. It all became a slow transition that built on new knowledge, stamina, endurance, and results.

I don’t want to bore anyone with a ridiculously long and overwhelming post about all of my changes but over the past year I have made a lifestyle change that has made my life better.

I have lost around 40-45 pounds within the past year and it feels great! I no longer get out of breath bringing groceries from the car inside the house. This may not be very “lady-like” and a little too much information but I was a very bad and loud snorer, so bad that Josh, my husband, would wake me up just to stop me from snoring because I was keeping him up. While I’m not thrilled to share this, I am very happy to share that I no longer snore. To some people these may not seem like big changes – but to me and especially my husband they are!

I share this because I am truly passionate about running and living a healthy lifestyle. I am not a believer in diets. I believe that to truly become healthy, and lose weight the appropriate way, your lifestyle needs to change. I’m also not going to pretend that I am a clean and perfectly healthy eater either. I have my evenings when I have two desserts, and it’s delicious. I make sure though that I get right back on track and run the next morning.

A few folks have asked me how and while it has changed from when I first started a year ago, my routine has remained pretty steady and consistent for the past 6 months. I run 6 days a week (at least 6 miles each run), I weight-lift 2 days a week, and I count calories.

To give you an idea of my physical change here is a picture from my Honeymoon in April 2010 and a picture of me that was taken two weeks ago (with my UH-mazing sister-in-law):

 

               

I also just wanted to add that I am not a professional runner and I am not a trainer and I am not a nutritionist. My blog is written based on what I practice, believe and have done. Just because something has worked for me may not mean it will work for you.

First Time

So, I have an uh-mazing sister in law. She’s definitely got the creative, bubbly, risk-taker qualities that I don’t have. I have come to terms with this because, well, she’s my sister-in-law, so I can hire her to decorate my home, teach me how to not be a debbie-downer, and live vicariously through her – or she and Josh can force me to jump off the high jump at Wakulla Springs.

Anyways, she is also a blogger. And I love her very much for that. It’s how I have kept up with her, my brother, my fur-nephew, and my fur-niece! One way she has tried to change me for the better is convince me to start a blog. Yes, this blog was created 5 months ago, and yes this is the first post. Shows you how quickly I was to be converted. After my last trip to Tallahassee, I realized I liked the idea of a blog but I didn’t know what my blog would “be about”. For example, you have your food blogs (which I LOVE), you’ve got your craft blogs, your interior decorating, blogs, etc. I didn’t know where I fit in because I don’t cook often enough to share creative recipes and I am not creative enough to have a decorating/crafting blog, but then I realized…it’s my blog and it can be about anything! Therefore this blog will include posts anywhere from my fur-child, Bailey, my new love for running, the once in 2 months meal I actually cook (and no that turkey sandwich with soup is not cooking), or my travels with my husband.

                                

    Josh and I

Hopefully you don’t get too bored – but I’m pretty sure the only person who will ever read this is Tamara (that’s my sister-in-law ).

More to come friends,

Kimberly