Ash Wednesday...

...today is Ash Wednesday, ya'll! It's a crazy busy day but I'm going to try my bestest to meet Matt and his family at church tonight at 7. Between Easter and Christmas, I really find the Easter story the most interesting and inspiring. It might be because when I was in middle school I attended a conference that walked through the last few days of Christ's life. Anyways, I think it's an inspiring time and I always enjoy church services during this time of year.

Every year, I give something up for Lent and no, I'm not Catholic. I found this website that explains why some people give up things for Lent, here's an excerpt:

Giving Something Up For Lent
In Lent, it's traditional to give up (or 'fast from') something(s) that we do a lot of and that we find pleasure in. This giving up or fasting is done:

*as a discipline for learning self-control, to free our minds from the chase after material things, to tell ourselves 'no' and make it stick;
*to identify with Christ's sufferings, and remember what the true pleasures are for followers of Christ;
*as an act of sorrow over our wrongdoings and our state of sin.

I do it for me as a challenge for God, to see that with God, I'm strong enough to do without one of my favorite things in life in addition to the reasons listed above. At church this past Sunday, the pastor made some comment along the lines of if you want to give something up and it makes you feel better then go ahead. Phew! I was a little offended but he also said that instead of GIVING something up, we should also ADD something to our lives. So here's my game plan for Lent:

*Fasting from potatoes (Thanks Mrs. D for this idea!).

*Lent has 7 Sundays, my goal is go to church 7 times. Our church adds a Wednesday service during Lent so we have 5 opportunities to make it each week.

*Compliment my husband every day for 40 days.

*Start a prayer journal.

So that may not be exactly what the pastor was talking about but I feel that by adding a compliment every day about my hubby, it'll help our communication. I love potatoes, Matt frequently tells me I can't have meat and potatoes for dinner every night so I figure that'll be a tough one for me. Attending church, we've done a pretty good job attending regularly this year but I want to keep it up and as I stated above, I love the story of Easter so what better time of year than to try to attend every week. And for the prayer journal, well, my prayer list is getting pretty long and I want to be sure to remember everyone and take note of all the answered prayers. So this is just me being totally OCD!

There you have it, my game plan for Lent. So tell me...what are you giving up or adding to your life for Lent this year?

The Blue Owl...

...this past Sunday, Matt and I drove down to Kimmswick and met up with my dad, grandma, sis and H for a pre-birthday celebration. Usually we just celebrate mine, Matt's, my sis' and stepsis' birthday at Easter but since it's so late this year, we decided to meet halfway. We ended up going to The Blue Owl.

Here's the H and me:

Sunday was my no-count day for last week meaning I didn't count calories. Good thing because I think I ate ALL my calories for the week in that one setting. My plate is on the left, I had chicken-n-dumplings (they were eh, not fabulous but decent, we had them for leftovers that night and Monday night), spinach and artichoke casserole (like the dip but by the spoonful!) and delicious rolls! H's plate is on the right, she just had chicken fingers and "dinosaur eggs." What a fun name! The waitress said they were like tater tots but I had one and it was almost like it was mashed potatoes inside.

The Blue Owl is known for their bakery. I was so overwhelmed and didn't know what to order then I saw, "chocolate peanut butter pie." Oh be still my heart!!! I had taken a couple bites already before I remembered to snag a picture:

My sis and Matt. He's so good at this fake "I'm having a great time" face, lol:

My dad, me and H. I realized I didn't get a pic of grandma but she had snuck off to the bathroom.

Overall, it was pretty good. Definitely a lot of calories, not sure I'd make a special trip back down there just for the food but if I was in the area, I'd stop back by. Next time though, I'd get the white chicken chili. Thanks for lunch daddy and for my birthday gift! Thanks to Grandma too for the cashola, we all know I love that!!!

I Got Cracked, Yo!!!

...last Thursday, Jen, Jenn, Cece and I headed to GO! Spa in Des Peres. It was a Tweet/Blogger meet up. When we arrived, we had to put on nametags and silly me just wrote, "Alyssa." Once we started walking around, I noticed everyone put their twitter name and blog-oops! Oh well, none of them will find me...luckily.

Jen-come on in girlfriend!
Cece was already there getting beautified when we arrived.

Jenn and Jen getting some pedicures.

Okay, so let's talk about "Crackle." Jenn told me about it. You put on a base coat in whatever color then you put on some Katy Perry "Crackle" on top. EVERYONE wanted to do it! It was the in thing. Here's my pedicure lady, Sharon, showing off the Crackle.

Now Sharon's "cracking" me. See what it does? It looked kind of like clumpy masscara.

Tada! After I got "cracked!" Oh and shaved my toes before I came and oops! Of course, I cut my toe...see?

It was an...interesting night, to say the least. We all got "cracked" (which was the word of the night if you can't tell) then headed to the Elephant Bar for some drinks and apps (or just water for me!). It was a good night out with the ladies filled with getting "cracked," counting points and laughing a lot!

Have any of you heard of the"Crackle" or this style of nail polish? Happy Monday all!

Mardi Gras Pet Parade!!!

...last Sunday I took Shadow to the Mardi Gras Dog Parade. It was CRAZY! Tons of people, tons of dogs but amazing, most all the dogs got along!!! Like most of the time tons of people get together, some people were rude and pushy but we still had a GREAT time!!! There were mainly dogs but I did see a cat, a bunny and a couple miniature horses. I took TONS of pictures, so sit back and enjoy.

While I was waiting for the girls, I got there early because I didn't know what parking would be like, I met some interesting new friends. One offered me a beer, I politely declined and they all LOVED Shadow. We parked at the END of the parade route and walked to the front so I'm glad he was worn out so he wasn't jumping! Over all, we walked half a mile to the start of the parade and a half a mile back.

First off, if you were parked on the street then you got TOWED! They meant business. The two cars we saw towed were a Hummer and the other had new tags on it so that MAJORLY stinks for them.


Here's our attempt at a pic of the three of us with our dogs, um...can you say FAIL? LOL This is me and Shad, Maggie and her foster Midnight and Angie and Ginger.
Angie and Nick joined us too!
The parade must have been sponsored by Beggin' Strips. They were throwing out FULL SIZE bags! Shad got one and was VERY happy.

Most of the dogs in the parade were all dressed up, this was one of my faves. It was difficult to take pics while handling a 100 lb black lab who DESPERATELY wanted a hamburger or brat, the whole parade area smelled of grilling!

Look a dog from the 80s decked out in leg warmers!

Randall and Nick were in the parade with Winnie, can't make out Winnie very well but here's Randall and Nick!

A Spuds McKenzie dog with spots!

Shad got tired halfway through the parade and laid down, head in my lap. He was so sweet and generally pretty good. He did a couple "bad dog" things but considering the environment, he was a DOLL!

Me and my Shad dog before the parade got started

I'm SHOCKED that we all were able to find each other! L to R: Angie, Jen, Maggie, Angie and me. I was all up in Angie's business because I thought we were smooshing together so we'd all fit...obviously we all did and I just look silly!

And that my friends was the Mardi Gras Dog Parade 2011! It was a good time, not too hot, not too cold, great friends, cute doggies-what more could you ask for? Happy Friday!

Grocery Thursday Part III...

...meal plans for week 3. We didn't eat at home on Saturday because I had my Tastefully Simple and Homemade Gourmet party. I also replaced the giant salad on Sunday with some potato soup. My Tastefully Simple lady gave me a packet and all I had to do was add water-easy and cheap!

Monday-Chicken Pasta Salad
Tuesday-Deer steak & Green beans
Wednesday-Chicken w/ bbq sauce & Corn
Thursday-Taco Soup w/ deer burger
Friday-Easy Baked Fish & Chip
Saturday-Chicken a la King with Rice
Sunday-Giant salad with ranch

The grand total for groceries this week was $67.59. The only non-food related item was a $5 DVD I bought for my dad. Part of the reason this bill was higher than normal was because Matt's back to work regularly. I spent about $21 just on his lunch and the rest of the bill was on breakfast and dinner for both of us and lunch for me. I accidentally bought grapefruits instead of oranges (GROSS!!!).

Improvisions: On Tuesday, we had leftover veggies from Monday night. Matt steamed them with a little butter and salt/pepper. OMG! They were AMAZING! We nixed the salad and had Potato Soup instead (got it from my Tastefully Simple Party).

The Kraft Baked Fish and Chips recipe=gross! We'll be replacing it soon. The chips turned out good but the fish not so much.

We also moved the Taco Soup to Sunday because there's usually plenty of leftovers which we were going to use in place of dinner the following week.

P.S.-Ten days until my birthday!

Compliment Yourself!!!

...okay, so for the past 1+ year, I've really had an issue with my self-image. It's horrible! I've wanted to blog about it but I didn't want it to come off as a pity post just to get comments that "I'm great!"

Well this past Saturday morning, I woke up feeling down about a comment that Matt made to me (hey, we all hurt each other feelings from time to time even if by accident), and hopped on FB. My good 'ole friend (and very CUTE friend at that!) Stan had on his FB status, "Compliment Yourself! Share something great or one of the favorite qualities about yourself."

Ten hours later, he posted another status, "There are 2800+ friends on my list and when asked to compliment yourselves, 15 hits??? That's all? If this were a trivial comment or something negative we'd JUMP on it. Give yourself Shine! Write it, then read it so you believe it. Compliment Yourself =) Share something great or one of the favorite qualities about yourself."

How true is that? We're all over statuses/blog posts that we disagree with or that come across negative but asked to compliment ourselves and we can't think of a single thing. Maybe it's because we're too hard on ourselves, maybe it's because we're afraid of coming across as cocky but today, I say WHO CARES!!! My challenge for you is to leave a comment COMPLIMENTING YOURSELF! Tell me about your great hair, your awesome personality, your pretty eyes and NO DISCLAIMERS! Just tell it like it is! I'll get us started:

*I'm really good at remembering certain things. If I met you 6 months ago, I can remember your name and probably even what you were wearing.
*I'm good at my finances.
*I'm good about blogging! :)

Okay, so there, I compliemented myself so now it's your turn...what makes you SHINE???

Pacers!!!

...race season is upon us! My two big races are the Indy 500 Mini Marathon in May and then my favorite Hospital Hill Run in June. Both are half marathons. Matt doesn't think I need a pacer and I may not but it's WAY more fun running with someone. My good Daily Mile friend, Mary Beth, will be running the Indy 500 race with me. I've never met her in real life but she's become a great friend on Daily Mile offering me lots of support and encouragement, not just in running but in life in general. She's ran this race before so that's a bonus too.

For Hospital Hill, my ex-co-worker but still good friend, Shelley will be pacing me. She just recently moved to KC and has lead me on a couple training runs for my past races. She was on our triathlon team last year; (L to R) Amy, me, Shell:


Yeah, she's fast!!! She ran the 5k in 23:24 (only a dream time for me!) and she's ran Boston once but qualified twice. She's great about giving me tips and sharing her water! I'm pretty excited about the race in general but esp to be running it with her!
Her husband is hilarious so Matt should have a good time with him while tracking us on the course. Matt told me I'd better get to training hard so I don't disappoint her, he's right! Hard core training starts in 13 days!

I love my Sherrie, who paced me in Hospital Hill last summer and the full in the fall, but I have to share. She'll be pacing someone else for Hospital Hill, not sure who it is but they are VERY lucky because Sherrie is AMAZING!!!

PS
RABBIT! RABBIT! OH! And 13 days until my birthday!