Celebration Date

I think I say this every weekend but …. I love weekends!

As you remember from my last post, I had exciting news to celebrate about. Long-and-slightly-complicated story short, I basically got a promotion. The department I have been working in the past year and a half was a pilot department so they started us all as temp workers. Well, they decided to hire two officially full time workers and after applying, interviewing, etc, etc, I am one of them …. and I’m so thankful and excited for it!

So, Erik and I went to KC for a little celebration. First, we stopped at Ted’s Montana Grill for dinner in the Power & Light District.We like Ted’s and hadn’t been there for awhile. We ate kind of early and as you can see … it was a packed house ;)We entertained ourselves by taking pictures. I really like the booths at Ted’s because they’re so tall and really blocked off from the booths next to each other. It feels really private and enclosed. We were big drinkers … obviously!
 
Ted’s is known for being eco friendly with their paper straws, recycled paper menus, to-go cups that bio-degrade in landfills after just 50 days,  recyclable glass bottles, bio-degradable take-home food containers,  as well as working to conserve water and energy at all restaurants.

Erik got the bison burger on an oatie wheat bun with a baked potato. We’re pretty much always happy with their bison burgers. I heard that their veggie burgers are good so I decided to try one, also on an oatie whole wheat bun, with roasted asparagus. I thoroughly enjoyed it : )After dinner, we went to see Avatar in Imax 3D. We didn’t really even know what Avatar was all about, just heard that it was good. Plus, neither of us have seen a movie in 3D before (does that make us lame?). It was a pretty good movie and the whole Imax 3D thing was pretty neat too! ; )

Plus, we got perfect seats, ha.Before the movie, we consumed some Turtle Mountain Purely Decedent Coconut Milk Cookie Dough ice cream. (And it was very good ; )

Now we’re off to church! Hope you’ve had a great weekend!!!

What we do on lame & tired nights

What a day!!

I found out some very exciting news at work today which made my day fly by. Then as I came home tonight, the lack of sleep I’ve gotten all week started to catch up to me.

In fact, Erik and I were both pretty out of it! So we decided to lift tomorrow morning instead of tonight. (Saturday is normally an “off” day). Here is how our lame and lazy Friday night has played out …

Computer: (p.s. I love Windows 7)Computer tonight for me basically has equated to … watching our church’s Friday night service online (since we obviously didn’t go), e-mailing, blogging, Facebook, etc, etc. All to be expected.

Easy and quick Amy’s margherita pizza: (yum enough?)  Am I the only person who puts their pizza on the box to cut it when it’s out of the oven? Sometimes it sounds kinda gross since I’m not sure what/who has previously touched the box but most of the time when I’m eating pizza, I’m being lazy and don’t care …. so I often cut my pizza on the pizza box. I ate half of this bad boy! Hot, delicious tea:Crabbiness: unpictured

Art: Erik’s been working on his latest piece of art. When I started to take pictures of him, he got all fake serious on me …   … at which point I told him to stop, ha. So he started being non fake Erik again … Dogs: Rocky must think she’s a small lap dog … And that’s how we do a lazy, lame, and tired night!

Pretty exciting, huh?? Ha!

I’m glad to be in my warm house tonight as it’s supposed to be –19 tonight. That’s cold!! In fact, I’m thankful to have a nice, warm house to sleep in at night! Last night as I was curled up under the covers falling asleep to the sound of my warm space heater, my thoughts went to the homeless and how hard of a time winter must be for some. So, I did all I could do at the moment and said a prayer for anyone out there who had no way to keep themselves or their families warm … 

Amidst this cold season that many of us hate, don’t forget to be thankful for how blessed we really are! :)

And … Happy Weekend!! Erik and I have some celebrating planned for tomorrow night ; ) (It has to do with the whole “exciting news at work” thing I mentioned at the beginning of the post).

Before and after; back and dinner

Happy almost weekend!!! Hooray!

Thanks for all the juicing suggestions … I’ll keep them all in mind!

Remember in my gym tour video I told you I’d post a before picture of your new gym room? Well, I forgot … so here it is now: Pretty bad, huh?? Yeah, it’s MUCH better now!

Tonight I came home to our newest piece of gym equipment … some “mat” flooring to go under our dumbbells. Love it! Only problem we might have? Thus far, it seem to be a dirt and dog hair magnet, ha! We’ll just have to sweep a lot! Tonight as far as lifting was concerned … it was back night. Ha, I could easily have called it frustrating night. I’ve always had a hard time really focusing on working my back effectively, and in the right places! So we worked on that a lot.

(Please excuse the laundry in the background … Erik did a lot of it today! He’s the best!)

As you can see, Erik was wearing his special lifting shoes tonight. They are oftentimes otherwise known as slippers, or house shoes. Haha.

      And then after lifting as Erik was walking out the door to run a few errands for his dad he told me, “I left you a little hint on the counter of what I want for dinner".

I was just kinda like … okay? Ha, here is what I saw when I went into the kitchen … It made me laugh! He even took out all the seasonings and pots and pans.   So … pasta with ground turkey it was.

Here is dinner being born …. yum! The dogs were more than willing to help me cook and all sat right outside of the kitchen just in case I dropped any food. (They always pick it up for me ; )

P.S. Why there is a stamp on the floor by Adrian’s leg, I have no idea!

That’s all that’s going on in my evening … and now … the weekend ; )

Any fun weekend plans??

Juicing Combinations?

Happy cold weather!

Ha, why I seem to like talking about the weather so much, I have no idea but I do! Here’s a look at our weather for the next few days. Wind chills of –25? Yes, that’s cold enough for me.

Actually, I’ve been good this winter. Normally I constantly say “I hate winter” but this year, I really don’t hate it. I simply decided to enjoy it instead and it’s amazing how that works, ha. Attitude is everything. It’s currently flurrying and I always love the sight of freshly falling snow. There’s just something about it that’s cozy and wonderful! How’s your weather?  In The Gym

Tonight was my “off” night, so I didn’t work out. My trainer has me lifting Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, Fridays, and Sundays.  It’s nice having the night off but I’m not gonna lie, I kind of missed my workout!

At least for now, lifting is definitely my niche …. it hurts so good!  One of these days, I’ll post what a my typical “bulking diet” day-in-food is currently like. More video posts are coming as well!

Juicing

One of the things I got for Christmas is a Jack LaLanne juicer that looks just like this (though it didn’t come with the freshly juiced orange that’s in the picture ; )  …

I was very excited to get this because I’ve been wanting one for a really long time!!! I used it a lot when I was stuck in Nebraska after Christmas but haven’t used it much since I got home. Tonight was the night to break that streak. Here was my experimental combo based on what I had in my fridge:

• Small organic Fuji apple
• Broccoli
• Celery
• Cherry tomatoes

Does anyone have tasty, mostly veggie based juicing combinations to suggest to me?? I know how to make a fruit drink taste good, it’s not that hard because fruit is just good! Ha. However, I’m having a hard time coming up with tasty veggie drinks so far.

This combo was just all right. Something threw it off a little and I’m not sure what it was. I think either the celery or the broccoli? I know you guys will be able to help me out on this one! ; ) Now I’m off to eat some dinner … I’m hungry!!

Don’t forget to tell me your favorite veggie based juice combo! ; )

Cold night in Kansas City

Obsessed with blogging enough? Ha. We went to Kansas City tonight and I brought my laptop so I could blog on the way home! Yes, I’m weird.

Anyways, first off, thanks for all the positive feedback on my first video post! : ) You all made me smile! More videos to come!

After work tonight I rushed home, changed, worked out (bis and tris), changed again and off we were …

As I mentioned last night, we went to Blue Bird Bistro tonight with a couple of my coworkers (they’re friends too, haha) and their significant others. As we were pulling into the Big City, I tried to snap a few decent pictures. (I’m still trying to learn how to take good pictures, ha).

We had a good time and ended up hangin’ out and laughing for almost 3 hours.

I ordered the same thing as last time … stuffed acorn squash.

“Organic Garden acorn squash stuffed with organic quinoa, organic sliced almonds, and organic raisins drizzled with Elmer Gingrich Farm sorghum syrup and served on a bed of JCCC Farm spinach”

Yes, it’s good! Ha, one thing I like so far about my figure competition “bulking” diet is that I get to consume a large amount of carbs! :) My squash wasn’t quite as good as last time I had it there but I still enjoyed it!

Erik was extra hungry (well, that’s actually a normal amount of Erik food, ha) and got two bison burgers. Sadly, they had a very weird, tough texture and tasted very salty. It must have been an “off” night because normally they’re really good. And here’s a lovely picture of us girls : )    

We just pulled into our garage,  it’s about 11:00, I have to get up at 5:30 and I need to go to bed!!!

Did anyone watch Biggest Loser tonight? Erik and I recorded it so we can watch it later ; )

Happy Wednesday!

The official Lesley Lifting Life video gym tour

Hey guys!

Hope you had a fabulous Monday! (Mondays CAN be fabulous, I promise ; ) 

Last night, Erik and I shot Lesley Lifting Life’s very first video! It’s the official new gym tour. More on that in a minute … first, tonight.

One thing I LOVE about working out at home is that we can be complete weirdos and no one but our dogs are there to care, haha.

We’re good at being weirdos so it’s a nice fit ; ) 

And that brings us to the video! Here’s some things to keep in mind, ha:

Firstly, I’m video shy! Erik had to tell me to pretend like I was talking to my friend at work because I was nervous and didn’t know what I was going to say.

Secondly, I apologize for saying “and we’re thankful for that” … I didn’t realize how “thankful” I was for everything, haha, until I watched the video and noticed I said it after juuuust about everything. Oh well … it’s true.

Thirdly, I was forgetful and lost several words I was trying to say. You will see.

Without further ado …. here is the official gym video tour …

Hope you guys enjoyed it! You’ll have to let me how you liked it and if you’d like to see more Lesley Lifting Life on video ; )

Have a great Tuesday!!! We’re going to Blue Bird Bistro tomorrow night with some friends and I’m looking forward to some delicious carbs in the form of a stuffed squash with quinoa :)