ACK + RTK

Oh man.....

2011-01-13T09:44:00.000-05:00

This is what off brand crescent rolls got us:

Here is the back story. We do our grocery shopping on the military base where it is WAY cheaper and I am not sure why but the store doesn't have off brand food. So the other day decided to get some crescent rolls and like always, just picked up the first one I saw...assuming it was pillsbury. Monday night it was Ryan's duty to make us dinner. I was watching my class when I heard him having issues in the kitchen. I look up and he can't get the crescent rolls open. This was problem one. I figured he had just messed up peeling off the paper and that it could easily be opened by hitting it on the counter....no luck. Finally we have to saw off the top and try to pull out the dough. This was problem two. Once we got it all out it was not in its nice little shape so we couldn't really tell where the dotted lines were. I was working on trying to salvage some of them when I look up and see Ryan's......bet you can't guess which one it is! That was problem 3. I was laughing so hard. He thought that they were suppose to be in a circle shape and wondered why I was rolling mine up the other way. It was so funny. He tried it my way and they didn't end up looking much better.

So all of them ended up looking weird.....but they tasted good.

** Disclaimer: I have no problem with off brand food but this one in particular was bad news.

What I have been doing.....

2010-11-08T09:38:00.000-05:00

I finally uploaded some pictures to my computer so I could post what I have been up to. In my very limited spare time I have been making pies and doing crafts for Christmas.

Here are my pies:

Pecan Pie

Raspberry Chiffon Pie

Strawberry Pie - this crust looks the best out of the three because I didn't make it...I got lazy.

I also have been working on some crafts. The pillow below I saw on the Smile and Wave blog. I still need to close up the top but I think it turned out pretty cute.

I have been making magazine bows that I saw on the How About Orange blog. My real simples have been providing lots of pretty pages to make bows out of. Every time I finish making one I make Ryan give his approval. I think he is getting tired of judging bows.

I am hoping to use only magazine bows for my Christmas presents this year (and share some with my mom). I still have quite a few to make.

That is all the pictures I have. I am working on a couple more crafts that I will share pictures of when they are finished.

- ACK

Italia!!!!!

2010-10-03T14:22:00.000-04:00

I sincerely apologize for my lack of posting. Turns out that this semester I have bitten off a bit more than I can chew and have been really busy. I just got back from a trip to Italy so I thought I would post some pictures. Ok....so maybe I was prompted by my mom. So here are some of the highlights.

Pisa

Amalfi Coast

Our rental car -- a puke yellow Fiat Panda (I think we almost drove the wheels off of it!)

My favorite picture of the Amalfi Coast

Pompeii

More Pompeii

Vatican - there were so many sculptures and paintings

St. Peter's Basilica

Colosseum

Spanish Steps

The gorgeous Trevi Fountain

Venice - Piazza San Marco (there were tons of people)

Gondola Ride

Venice

Our trip was super short but we crammed in a lot of sight seeing. My favorite things were David in Florence and the Trevi Fountain in Rome. Oh....the Sistine Chapel was pretty amazing too. We already have a list of places we need to see next time.

ACK

The New One.....

2010-06-22T08:55:00.001-04:00

I had a comment on my last post asking for a picture of the new car so here it is:

It totally looks agressive in the picture above, but it isn't. It is actually very nice.

That is new car with old car (Ryan is getting some of the stickers off of it.....I am standing in the shade taking pictures!!!).

A Great Day.....

2010-06-21T07:45:00.000-04:00

So Saturday was a really really good day for me. I got some super good news in the mail and we bought a new car!!!!! To celebrate this is what we got:

Yep....Pizza Hut, Dr. Pepper and cupcakes. No fancy dinners for me (though I like those too), just three of my favorite things. R man is so good to me! He even went in to get the cupcakes by himself and he came out with two for me instead of just one!!!!!

I would also like to take this time to say a proper fairwell to my civic.

It was the first car I "officially" owned and has been the best car ever. I even got a little sentimental when we drove off and had to leave it with strangers. This is my third car and I never felt that way with the others. This one was special......ok enough with the sadness. I will just say that I didn't feel bad for too long because shortly after leaving the civic I got to hop in the new car which I am madly in love with!

-ACK

Apple Dessert....

2010-06-09T11:41:00.000-04:00

I am pretty set in my grocery shopping ways but the other day I decided to branch out of my usual Gala/Fuji apple choice and get a Macintosh one......bad news. I took one for breakfast and hated it. Of course I had bought several so I needed to find a way to get rid of them and came across this recipe on a blog I read From Scratch.

It was really really yummy.

What a crazy year......

2010-06-01T09:36:00.000-04:00

This weekend was full of Springfield friends, DC friends, eating a lot of chocolate, and a little thing called our one year anniversary! R man and I decided to meet up with one of my best friends Beth and her family in Hershey, PA. We had a lot of fun and it was great seeing familiar faces. They are heading to DC today so we are going to get to hang out with all of them more this week. I am planning on introducing them to the to the amazing-ness that is Georgetown Cupcake sometime too.

While in Hershey we ate a lot and even got to make our own yankee doodle bar (that is why it says USA). See how creative I am......ok not so much.

Ryan decided he needed to eat his right away. Of course his says Go Navy!

I may have also eaten two cupcakes (one of them is shown below…it is the York Peppermint Patty one) and bought two 1/2 lb Reese's cups that totally melted in the car :-( Don't worry....we still ate it!

I took this picture for my dad...he loves these.

We also got to design our own candy bars. You get to choose what you want in the candy bar and eventually you will even get to pick the type of chocolate you want. They also let you design your own label and give you a fancy tin to take it home in.

On Monday we got invited to paddle boat in the Potomac with some of our friends out here. It was really hot and I will admit that I made Ryan do most of the paddling. It was fun and it gave us a really good view of the Jefferson Memorial.

Katherine and I ready to boat. Oh and my huge glasses gave me a huge tan line!

Jefferson Memorial

Ryan trying to keep cool

Our friends in their paddle boat.

Washington Monument

All of these pictures are from my phone. I should be posting the pictures from our camera soon.

So we have officially been married for a year. I have to say it has flown by. I am looking forward to many more years! I thought I would leave you with why I enjoy being married to this man (just to name a few):

He looks REALLY good dressed up!

He will eat anything, which comes in handy if one of my recipes flops. No I didn't make that...KFC did.

He makes a great hand model for when I need my mom's opinion about something.

He will participate in almost anything I ask him to....even if that means wearing a hair net....

Or taking Flat Stanley all over DC.

Happy Anniversary RTK!

Ketchup Date.....

2010-05-17T11:46:00.000-04:00

On Thursday I ended up having to work pretty late so R-man offered to pick me up (yay for not having to ride the metro) and take me for a nice dinner. I was watching The Hills a couple of seasons ago and they went to this place called Ketchup to eat. I found one in DC and immediately wanted to try it out. The food was pretty good and the atmosphere was nice. Their thing is that they give you 6 different kinds of ketchup. It was cool until I realized I only liked two of them (one of the two may have been the straight up normal ketchup…lame I know). Ryan enjoyed the others....especially the spicy ones.

We both look really tired!

Oh and later in the weekend Ryan ate this:

From the first time the commercial for KFC came on introducing it he wanted one. I thought it was out of control…..but to each his own!

I realize from this post it looks like we eat out a bunch....but we don't. Well we do quite a bit on the weekends but I promise I do cook for us!

One of those days.....

2010-05-13T13:24:00.000-04:00

Sometimes you just need this to get through the day:

Georgetown Cupcakes.....

2010-05-04T12:32:00.001-04:00

I just saw this article on Real Simple's website about Georgetown Cupcake. Apparently they recently got a TLC reality show. I just thought it was cool and got super excited.

Also they ship their cupcakes......or you could just come visit me and I will take you there!

Back Home.....

2010-05-04T12:14:00.001-04:00

I had a wonderful trip back to Missouri this past weekend. Ryan and I both were so relaxed and stress free. My weekend was filled with family, friends, and babies! I love that almost all of my friends were able to make it out for dinner....it was so nice catching up with all of them. I got to see my Ean baby when Jen came over for awhile to visit. He is getting so big. I love how he frowns a little. Kendall even let me disturb her settling in after baby time to come over and meet Presley Ann. She is so beautiful.

Ean

Presley Ann

I also decided I was completely done with my hair and my lovely sister cut it for me. She is pretty much amazing!!!! Oh and if you are in Springfield you should definitely make an appointment with her.

One of my favorite things has to be the Branson airport. As soon as we stepped off the plane I seriously couldn't believe it….I thought they had dropped us off at Bass Pro instead. It was all so funny. While it may seem like I am making fun of it I actually felt very comfortable and it was nice to not have a line at security (we were the only flight leaving). I also really enjoyed that as our plane pulled away to take off all of the ground crew, including the ticket lady, stepped out and waved good-bye to us. Now that is why I love the Midwest.

Airport Chairs....craziness!!!

Straight up Bass Pro

This is in the ticketing area....only Branson would have a deer head

Lately I had been thinking it would be ok to live out here forever, but after going home I realized that is where I belong. I like being able to drive to see my family and see all the new babies my friends have.

For now out here will be my little adventure…..and I will eat as many cupcakes as possible!!!!!

WHAT.....no food pictures in this post. Ok here is kind of one....it is of me and my Momma at Lambert's.

Yeah I know it is dark but you can kind of see our huge plates!

- ACK

My go to cookies.....

2010-04-22T07:34:00.002-04:00

In celebration of Earth Day some of us in the office decided to bring in some goodies and I chose my favorite cookies….EVER. For starters Ryan and I are completely obsessed with Reese's peanut butter cups, eggs, Christmas trees, and hearts (RTK says the hearts look more like arrows). Our favorite by far are the eggs that come out at Easter. We stock up….or try to at least. The eggs were hard to come by this year so my lovely mom went out in the wee morning the day after Easter and picked us up some. I owe her big.

Oh….so back on the topic. The cookies I make use the miniature cups which are also pretty amazing. I have taken these the last four times I have needed a dessert item and have never brought any home. I figure that is a pretty good sign! I would love to say that they are super hard to make and I slave in the kitchen for hours….but I didn't…not even close.

What you need:

24 miniature Reese's peanut butter cups
Peanut butter cookie dough (you can use your own favorite recipe or if I am feeling lazy I use the Betty Crocker mix…yeah last night was one of those)
Mini muffin pan

Roll the cookie dough into about 1 inch round balls and then put one in each hole in the muffin pan. Cook at 375 for about 15 minutes. While they are cooking unwrap the peanut butter cups. As soon as the cookies are done remove them from the oven and immediately place a peanut butter cup in the center and press down. I usually let them cool in the pan for awhile before trying to get them out. The next step is to try not to eat any if you are taking them somewhere :-)

Last Hurrah.....

2010-04-19T08:32:00.000-04:00

Starting today I am back on my calorie counting diet so Ryan and I decided to hit the eating hard this weekend because we won't be able to for awhile. Friday was pizza (my favorite) and then Saturday we went to Annapolis to try this place I saw on Man vs. Food called Chick and Ruths Delly. We both ordered a milkshake and corn beef sandwiches. They were both super yummy but the shake was beyond amazing. I got the vanilla peanut butter cup and could probably have downed 10 more! I didn't take any pictures because the place was super crowded and I was on sensory overload….so basically I forgot. Oh and someone was doing this challenge they have where you eat a 1.5 pound sandwich and 6 pound milkshake in an hour. I didn't see it happening because they were upstairs but it was pure craziness. There were also a ton of midshipmen since we were near the Naval Academy in their Navy whites…..it made me wish Ryan wore his more often. One of his cousins is graduating in May so hopefully he will wear it to that. Gotta love a guy in uniform….especially the Navy one!

Anyway…on Sunday I woke up and made donuts with homemade icing. I had never made icing (yeah I don't know why) so I was pleasantly surprised when it turned out just as good as the stuff we buy. It was all super yummy. For a late lunch we went to a burger place I had been wanting to try at the National Harbor called Elevation Burger. We both got a burger and milkshake (yes I went on kind of a milkshake binge). I thought it was the best burger I had ever had but Ryan thought that Five Guys is better. We walked around the area a little and I took some pictures of this crazy guy thing that is coming out of the sand. It is actually really cool.

This was Ryan's burger....mine was a bit smaller!

So….now I don't get to eat like I have the past….well…..4 months. I will miss all the cupcakes, milkshakes, and tons of pizza. I will however slip a Dr. Pepper in every once in awhile.

Here's to 26.....

2010-04-14T07:59:00.000-04:00

For my birthday evening I decided to try out some new places in DC. Our first stop was pizza at 7th Hill Pizza on Capitol Hill. The pizza was amazing and they are all named for areas around DC. After stuffing ourselves with food we headed over to Georgetown Cupcake. I have been hearing about this place pretty much since I moved here but we haven't ever tried it out. It is supposed to be "THE" cupcake place in the area. I will say that I was not at all disappointed.

I would have loved to have one of each but Ryan wouldn't let me....probably for the best.

I would like to say that two of these were for Ryan and one was for me but we all know that is not how it went down. I will definitely be going back…..often.

- ACK

The Big City......

2010-04-12T10:22:00.000-04:00

As kind of a pre-birthday trip Ryan and I went to NYC this past weekend. We decided to try out the whole bus thing and it was actually pretty smooth sailing. We probably didn't spend any more money then if we had driven because of all the tolls. Plus it was pretty cool driving through the city on a double decker bus! The trip was a little over 4 hours with the a stop in Philly. Problem is we didn't get home until 11:30 pm last night and still had to metro to our apartment. After we unpacked and ate some McDonald's chicken nuggets (I know I know….lame but it was the closest place that was till open) it was after 1:00 before we went to bed. I am definitely going to need a Chai Tea Latte this morning :-)

I don't know how but this trip turned out to mainly be about eating. I had looked up and found on blogs some of the best places around nyc….problem is they were all over the city. We chose the subway for our mode of transportation and it got old….fast. On average we switched lines/trains three times per trip. If I EVER complain about the DC metro again…..I should be slapped. The DC train system is a bazillion times easier/cleaner/more reliable. We ended up taking a taxi twice on the last day because there was so much track maintenance we weren't really sure how to get back to our hotel. Oh and one time we got to the platform just to realize we were on the wrong side. Problem was there wasn't a way to get to the other side without leaving and then swiping your card again to re-enter. Besides this being a total pain the fare cards can't be used within 15 minutes of when you last swiped it. So…..we had to just ride the train in the wrong direction to a stop that would let us transfer to the other direction without leaving the station. Craziness!!!!!!

We did do a little more then just eat. We went up in the Empire State Building, saw The Magic Flute (in German) at the Metropolitan Opera, and visited the Natural History Museum. It was a fast trip but we plan on going back a couple more times while we are out here especially since the bus is so easy.

Here are some pictures (sorry about the quality they are from my phone) from the sights and of course the food!

The Subway

Empire State Building

View from the top of the Empire State Building

Brooklyn Bridge

Me in front of the Metropolitan Opera

Times Square

And now for the Food.....

Sandwich from Kat'z Deli -- the counter guy gave me a lot extra!

R Man's bacon wrapped hot dog from Crif's Dogs

Best NYC pizza - Grimaldi's

Line outside of Grimaldi's at 3 pm

Go Navy!

Burger courtesy of Shake Shack....there was a long line there too.

Cupcakes from Magnolia Bakery....yes we each had two...we couldn't resist

Last meal in NYC right before we board the bus -- too bad it wasn't bacon wrapped.

Ryan and the Marathon.....

2010-04-05T11:58:00.000-04:00

So I meant to post these pictures awhile back....but I guess I got busy and then kind of forgot....oops! A couple of weekends ago R man decided to run his first marathon. I left the apartment with plenty of time so I could snag a couple pictures of him crossing the finish line. The place was packed but I patiently (well as patient as I get) waited for a spot along the front to open up and then held my ground for 45 + minutes with my camera ready. Thankfully I was able to get some pictures....though I realize they are not the best. At least it proves he did it and that I was there cheering him on!

Lookin good.....

That is him closest to the finish line in the white shirt.

I should have taken a picture of me too. I was so proud! He finished in 3 hours and 30 minutes. I thought it was an excellent time considering that is the farthest he had ever ran. He was not as impressed with the time and has vowed to get it closer to 3 hours next time. Oh and next time is in October....he has already signed up for the Marine Corp Marathon.

I shall be prepared to throw some bows at the next one too!

Flat Stanley.....

2010-04-05T08:46:00.000-04:00

Flat Stanley came to visit me this past week so Ryan and I decided to show him some of the DC sights. The weather was perfect and parking wasn't too bad.

Metro

White House

Cherry Blossoms

Lincoln Memorial

My favorite one - the Capitol

Outside.....

2010-04-01T17:01:00.000-04:00

(View from my window at work)

It is a beautiful day outside.....if only I were out there.

My New Favorite Thing.....

2010-03-23T07:36:00.000-04:00

This is from the Liberty of London for Target collection. I even had to go to multiple Targets to get it.....that is how determined I was! I am really enjoying it.

More Crafts…..

2010-03-11T09:32:00.002-05:00

Lately I have been finding a lot of crafts that I want to do and just need to find the time to do them. I recently found this cool idea:

(Source)

Later in the blog she says that you can use felt so I am going to make all of my Christmas bows with that this year!

I also thought I might make this as a gift for someone:

(Source)

Along with those I need to finish my wreath, make a wedding photo book (yeah…almost a year later), and maybe sew an apron. I received a sewing machine for the wedding and really need to learn how to use it!
I honestly don't know where all of my time goes….because there never seems to be enough of it. Hopefully I will get going on some of these things.

To buy or not to buy.....

2010-03-08T12:35:00.000-05:00

So I have been getting the itch lately to buy a house. Several things are preventing us from taking the plunge, the biggest being that we are not sure where we will be living once Ryan's term is up. That means we are going to be rocking apartments until 2012. I thought just for the fun of it I would look into what it would cost to buy a place out here in DC. I knew it would be crazy expensive because it is DC….but I still was shocked.

(source)

This beauty will cost you $945,000. Insane. That's right…for almost a million bucks you can own a 3 bedroom townhome by the metro….the catch is that it isn't by a metro stop. Yep, the metro drives by these homes but they are not close to a stop. Really?!?!
Needless to say we are not buying something out here.

Craft Project....

2010-02-23T08:05:00.001-05:00

I saw this project on Elsie's blog and thought I should try and do it. Problem was I didn't have any supplies and I had kind of forgotten how to crochet. No worries though because over my Christmas break I had my granny show me how to crochet a circle and then R man went with me and helped pick out the perfect set of crochet hooks and yarn (seriously he looked at every single set and it took him like 15 minutes to decide which one I should get). Here are some of the circles I have done:

I am not sure how many I am going to make but I have around 5 done so far and I still need to finish off the ends. This will hopefully be the Christmas wreath that will proudly be displayed on my front door this year so my neighbors don't think I am a scrooge!

- ACK

Snowmageddon.....

2010-02-12T15:38:00.001-05:00

The big new out here in my world is….snow and yes they were calling it the snowmageddon. We had a huge storm this past weekend. It dumped about 20" in Alexandria and 30" + in some other parts around here. The metro wasn't running at the above ground stations (which mine is) and we didn't want to drive. The result….I didn't make it to work on Monday. So Tuesday I went in and about half my office was there. I actually expected there to be less since there was a ton of snow. Tuesday night/ Wednesday during the day we got another 6". This again closed down the metro at my station and I didn't make it to work again on Wednesday. Thursday my lovely husband drove me to work to find 3 people in my office. It was very very quiet.

Here are some pictures I pulled off one of the local news stations website. These pretty much sum it up.

Yes this one is of a car.

(Pictures from HERE)

I would like to say that I am thankful for several things: garage parking, underground utilities, a husband who will drive me to work so I don't have to plow through snow, books, television, plenty of food, and a workout room in my apartment complex.

- ACK

Future Cars.....

2010-02-04T13:12:00.000-05:00

This past Friday I played good wife and went with Ryan to the DC auto show. Now normally I would have been thrilled to look at cars but I knew that I would be done looking long before him. I actually really enjoyed myself and was able to sit in and see several of the different cars (actually they were mostly crossovers) that I am looking to purchase in the future. We are not buying anything for awhile but once we move from DC we are going to need another car and this one needs to be kid friendly. More specifically I need to be able to lift baby and car seat into the back of the car. I looked at the following: Ford Edge, Chevy Traverse, Audi A4, and Cadillac SRX. The A4 was just in case the crossovers were too tall…which I am happy to report they weren't. So it was down to the Ford, Chevy, and Cadillac.

This was the winner:

(Ryan kept making me wave everytime he took a picture of me in a car...weird)

Isn't it beautiful. I really liked the Edge and Traverse….then I sat in the SRX. It was so nice inside and had all the bells and whistles. On top of everything the pedals move up (not quite enough but still nice) and the back hatch can be set to open to a certain height. It is like it was made for me!!!!! Now I just have to wait……..

Oh….this is what Ryan wants:

Ford Focus RS. Apparently it has lots of torque and power. We didn't get to sit in it so I can't say much about the interior.

So after totally dreading the event it actually ended up being really helpful.

- ACK

Snow.....

2010-02-01T08:01:00.000-05:00

We got a decent amount of snow this weekend like everyone else. I decide to post some snow pictures. These are pictures from the big snow we had in DC right before Christmas. It was crazy and the whole city freaked out. We got 10-12 inches where I live.

Ryan and I playing in the snow:

This is a car that was in front of our apartment complex...bummer:

- ACK

Food Post.....

2010-01-28T07:49:00.002-05:00

So I have really stunk it up with writing stuff in my blog. I have been doing a lot of cooking lately. Here are some things I have made:

Crustless Broccoli Quiche in my new ramekins. There were four of them. Ryan ate three and I ate one :-)

Pecan Pie:

My granny gave me the pecan pie recipe and it was so easy and yummy. Now that I have a food processor (thanks mom and grandma) I am going to start making my own pie shells and it should be even better. Next on the list…..chocolate soufflés. I am nervous about that one.

- ACK

Trip Home....

2009-12-02T08:37:00.000-05:00

Thanksgiving was so amazing. I had definitely been missing my family and friends. Turns out six months is way too long. I can't go that long again. I got to see a ton of my highschool friends. I really love getting to see them. I also got to meet two of my friends babies. They are so cute.

I haven't gotten upset about leaving yet since I will be back for Christmas. I will get to see more KC people and Ryan's family then so that will be good. It will be super busy….but good. The drive wasn't bad at all. We ended up making it in closer to 15 hours then 16. The only hang up was the West Virginia deer. There were seriously like 50 of them. I was so worried we were going to hit one…especially since it was midnight and there were no other cars on the road. Thankfully my husband is amazing and we made it with out any problems.
Speaking of my husband he is out of town for a couple days. Turns out I really don't like being in DC when he is not here. He took the car so I am basically stranded….well except for the metro. Thankfully I don't go any where during the week except work so no problems there. He comes back soon…but not soon enough. Every time he leaves and we have to just talk on the phone it reminds me of when we were just dating. I don't miss the long distance…that is for sure.
I only gained 1.4 pounds over Thanksgiving and I ate a lot. I am pretty happy that the damage wasn't that bad...especially since I hit the Dr. Pepper pretty hard. I am already back in loose weight mode. My new favorite thing….the elliptical (thanks to my parents). I did it in our apartment gym yesterday and felt really good afterwards. I am slowly increasing the amount of time I am on it and feel better each time I do it. I was sweating big time. Oh…funny thing is I don't really fit on the machine that well. It is especially hard to reach the buttons to set what workout I am going to do. I probably look really funny standing on my tippy toes trying to push buttons. Sometimes I am not even sure what I am pushing :-)

- ACK

Catching Up.

2009-11-18T16:21:00.001-05:00

It has been awhile since I posted something…mainly because I like to put pictures up and haven't uploaded any recently. It has been a busy couple of weeks. Since we are driving (yes we are crazy) home for Thanksgiving my plan is to bring all of the Christmas presents so we don't have to fly with them. This is good in theory but it was hard getting it all done. We are officially done and Ryan has (in his words) secured a box from work so we can haul them home easily. I am happy with everything I got. Some of it involves my craftiness…yeah didn't know I had it either…and other some searching around. Of course I had some Crate and Barrel action involved and there are also a ton of outlet stores close to us. I took advantage of those too.

Tonight is dinner with my second cousin and her husband. I am really looking forward to seeing familiar faces…especially when they are family. We are going to a Lebanese place so I am not really sure what I am going to order. I agree that I should start being a little more adventurous with my food.

The weight is still coming off even though I have slipped a couple times. I am still working out (even purchased goggles and a swim cap so swimming can start) but I give in to the food sometimes. Girl scout cookies have been a problem. One day I found myself with four of them in my hand. Ryan was like, "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?". I honestly think I blanked out….well that is the story I am sticking too. The other major fall of the wagon was a double chocolate shake at this new burger place we tried. It was so yummy though!!!!! For Thanksgiving I am not going to worry about calories but still try to workout. Then I will hit it hard again once we are back. I plan on having a Dr. Pepper date with my grandma.

- ACK

Yum.....

2009-11-03T10:38:00.000-05:00

Wish I was eating this:

Betty's Speakeasy Cupcake -- Philly

Instead I ate hummus and baby carrots.

- ACK

Craisins!!!!

2009-10-30T09:02:00.001-04:00

One of the things that I love about Ryan is that he will eat almost anything. Notice I said almost. Turns out the things he won't eat are items that I happen to like...of course! One of these such things is Craisins. This dried fruit is one of my snack items but they are pretty high calorie so I don't eat them super often. Ryan refuses to help me out by eating some for me and I didn't want them to be around super long. My solution....

(From Ocean Spray Website)

These muffins were low calorie (I used splenda and applesauce) and used one cup of Craisins. Also Ryan liked them. I think by my last count he had six. Mission accomplished!

- ACK

Gum

2009-10-28T15:27:00.002-04:00

I am addicted!

Shrimp Time

2009-10-28T07:24:00.001-04:00

Lemony Shrimp with Beans and Couscous:

Philly and Chiefs

2009-10-28T07:21:00.001-04:00

We headed to Philadelphia for most of the last weekend. The reason was the Cirque De Soleil show Alegria. It was on Friday and was pretty good. It isn't my favorite of their shows, but I am happy I saw it. Saturday we did some sight seeing, some eating (cheese steaks…yum), and driving. Oh we went to this super cute cupcake place where the owner walked us through the cupcakes of the day. We both chose Black Velvet (basically red velvet cake but with blackberry juice instead of red food coloring). It was so good. The place is called Betty's Speakeasy and if you are every in Philly you should check it out (bakery website).

We paid some guy 50 cents to take this picture....well worth it:

That Sunday was Chiefs vs. Redskins. It was super cold and the walk from the metro was a mile….one way. Other then that it was great. It was also nice seeing fellow KC supporters. Ryan and I proudly wore our Chiefs shirts…though mine was covered up by my coat most of the time.

View from the top:

- ACK

Snack Time

2009-10-23T14:17:00.001-04:00

My new thing is snacks. I usually have two or three a day. I thought I would share my current favorite ones…

* Hunts Sugar Free Chocolate Pudding Snack Pack -- tastes amazing and only 50 cals.

* Light String Cheese

* Baby Carrots -- I've got to be honest, these are not my favorite but are way healthy.

* Almonds -- I don't eat too many of these because they are higher in calories but so tasty!!!!

* Unsweetened Applesauce -- suprisingly yummy and low cal.

* Craisins

* Reduced Fat Cheez-Its

* Cottage Cheese -- can't go wrong with this…but it does need to be the fat free one.

* Fun Size Peanut M&Ms -- ok so this one is kind of a splurge.

* Unsalted Pretzels

I also found online an ice cream company called Skinny Cow (check it out HERE) but I haven't tried it yet. I am sure it will be good and they are super low calorie compared to the other ice creams out there. The website has a spot where you can find where they sell it near you.

On all of the snacks I pay close attention to the serving size and try to mix it up everyday. I get tired of things easily so it is good to have a variety.

Happy Snacking!

- ACK

Crazy Weekend....

2009-10-15T19:49:00.000-04:00

This weekend was absolutely crazy. Saturday was taken up by solar house time. We got to the mall area around 11 and checked out some of the houses and of course UMR's (yeah I am not going to be writing MS&T anytime soon). I really enjoyed California's house. They had a greywater reclamation pond that I loved…ok so maybe it is just exciting for a ChemE. We were talking with one of the students and Ryan asked about the freeze/thaw cycle and she acted like she didn't know what that was. Finally she says that it doesn't freeze where the house is going to be located. Leave it to Ryan to stump them! Saturday night we had an alumni dinner which was really fun. It was nice to be around people from Missouri again. It made me feel more at home.

Picture of Team California (and pond!):

Sunday was race day. The race was called Backyard Burn and it was tough (from what I hear). The race is basically on a trail through streams and wobbly bridges. Ryan came in 10th for the males and 6th for the males under 29. Not too bad for there probably being around 350 men. While Ryan was running and sweating I was volunteering. I did check-in first and then moved on to the food station. The check-in was fine except it was super cold. My hands were freezing. The food station was hard because they had pizza and I love pizza. I would have loved to eat a ton of it….but I didn't. Each piece has about 300 calories and that is for just cheese. Overall everything went well and we were beat. The weekend was too short and too busy.

- ACK

New Table

2009-10-09T12:07:00.015-04:00

Seems like everything has to be a little tough out here and getting a new table was no exception. We fell in love with and bought a beautiful Crate and Barrel dining room table only to find out we couldn't get it home. Two door civic = not good for hauling stuff. Long story short we ended up with a huge Penske 24' truck for a small table. Thankfully they only charged us the hourly rate, maybe because they felt sorry for our situation. Either way I personally feel that it was worth the trouble.

Here is a picture of our new table. The centerpiece is super special because it was our first pumpkin together...aww. Just kidding....I am definitely not sentimental like that! It is however our first pumpkin which we actually picked.

New Table (Don't worry it gets bigger to accommodate guests):

First Pumpkin:

- ACK

The Beginning!!!!

2009-10-08T16:26:00.001-04:00

I have recently started to count my calorie intake in efforts to drop some pounds. Turns out that the more I cook the more my waistline increases. It doesn't help that my hubby is super thin and totally into working out. I have been doing it about 2 weeks now with some results. I will say it is super hard to say no to things and even harder to figure out how many calories I have eaten. It is really sad having to count out the number of craisins I can have for my afternoon snack.

I have lost 4 pounds and will try to keep my progress with that on here too. I am also trying to cook healthier in another effort to keep the calories down. I am going to be putting pictures of my meals on here too.

The rest of the topics won't be quite as boring as my weight journey. The posts will be following the ACK and RTK journeys on the east coast.

- ACK