I'm BACK!!

Wow, has it really been one YEAR since I've posted anything?! The time sure flies by. I've had a ton of changes since the last update. I may go back and tell you more details about them later, but here's my last year in a nutshell: I went on a crazy European adventure during which I got engaged (see story here!), planned a mostly-DIY southern style outdoor wedding, took a 4-day cruise with all my best girlfriends, got married, had a wonderful honeymoon, quit my job, moved to a new city, and apparently turned into Suzy Homemaker (or so I am told).

So that's a whole lotta stuff you missed out on. If my current job situation continues (in that I don't have one), maybe I'll find the time you fill you in on the whole year's worth of excitement! But I figured for now we'll start with what's going on right now.

My big concerns as of late are eating healthy, getting fit, and getting my house and yard in top shape. We're not on any specific diet, I just try to limit sugars, incorporate whole grains, lean meats, and plenty of fruit. When we're in town, we try to stick to "meatless Mondays", and we consume a ton of Green Monsters (we've even graduated to including kale!). I'm trying to save calories on drinks, so I've been keeping sassy water, or other variations of homemade, non-sweetened, flavored waters in the fridge.

As part of my healthy eating campaign, I'm trying extra hard to minimize my kitchen waste. I've had a bad habit in the past of buying specialty ingredients for one meal and then allowing the leftovers to spoil in the refrigerator. So now that I'm the full-time cook of the house, I'm trying to plan my meals around these key ingredients. It's the same story with leftovers. Nobody likes eating the same thing for 4 days straight, so I'm trying to cook smaller portions and find different ways to eat them the following day. Like yesterday, we had Apple-Cinnamon Steel Cut Oats for breakfast. Today, I made the leftovers into oatmeal pancakes. Tomorrow I think I'll try to make some banana-oatmeal bread with them.

The downside of healthy eating is the added expense. Isn't it sad how much more you have to pay for healthy, whole foods, than processed items?! It's a little discouraging. I'm interesting in couponing, but not sure I have the energy to do all the planning involved. Plus I hate being restricted to cook only using items that are on sale. I'm definitely a sucker for the BOGO items at Publix, but I really try to resist the ones that are perishable.

To get fit I've been trying to run 1-2 times a week, rock climb once a week, do at-home workouts such as tabata, and I'm trying to incorporate swimming (if it would just stop raining!). I told myself I can buy new bathroom hand towels when I lose 5 pounds, and every time I wipe my hands on the old ones I'm reminded to be good! Hopefully they will be replaced soon! ;)

The house is an ongoing project full of distractions. I have a ton of DIY improvements I want to attempt, but I'm trying to prioritize organizing the clutter. I have several yard projects I'm working on, but the most exciting is my plan to uproot the sad little tree in the backyard (poorly placed by the builders), and replace it with a potted fig that I've been nursing for months. I can just imagine it growing tall, shading our patio and producing more figs than I'll know what to do with. I just hope my dreams come to fruition. (ha! you see what I did there??)

So that's my life as I know it today. Sorry no pictures this time. And I'll try to stay in better touch.. :)