146.2…The Trip of a Lifetime

There are no words to describe the beauty of Alaska. Our Disney Cruise was amazing. We all had a blast and enjoyed every minute of it. I highly recommend this cruise.

The pictures do not do the beauty of Alaska justice. I will share some of my favorites with you.

We left Vancouver and sailed towards Tracy Arm to see the glaciers.


As we approached, it felt like a scene out of Titanic with all the icebergs in the water.



When we finally arrived at the glacier, it was seriously magical.

You could see pieces of ice fall off and the roar it made left goose bumps all over.


Our first port was Skagway. We took a train ride on the White Pass Railway down into Canada.

The railway was built in the late 1800’s and was used to access the areas where gold was being found.

Our next stop was Juneau. We took a whale watching trip and it was very successful in spotting animals!







Our dinners on the ship were all together. There were 23 of us total! The dinners were my favorite part. I loved watching the kids hang out with their cousins and it was great catching up and sharing some laughs with family.

One night there was a Pirate Theme night. Arrrrrrrr!!


Our final port was Ketchikan. We took a 2 1/2 catamaran ride through the fjords.


To get back we took a floatplane. It takes off and lands in the water!!!



Views from the plane:

Our ship, The Disney Wonder:

Seriously….this was a trip of a lifetime.


Have you ever been to Alaska?

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142.6…Bon Voyage!

Finally a Saturday morning that I got to sleep past 7AM. No meeting my team to go running at the crack of dawn!

Last night we met some friends at our club for dinner. I had a glass of wine and a few appetizers they had out for everyone.

A mini slider and hummus with crackers.

We sat down for dinner and I ordered the Beef Tenderloin. It came with a lobster béarnaise and pea tendrils and green beans.

After all that pasta for the past few days, it was nice to have a big piece of protein!

After a fabulous sleep I woke up to have some coffee and make breakfast. I had the last grapefruit as well as two slices of raisin bread with peanut butter.

Then it was off to a very sweaty spin class! I worked out every day this week. Super proud of myself! Hopefully I banked enough calories to get me through our vacation for the next 10 days. :)

Lunch was a struggle. This is all I had left:

Hot dogs, carrots and hummus. I ended up having a second hot dog. I love hot dogs. :)

Next up on the agenda: get dressed, finish packing and hit the road for my mother in law’s house. We will stay there tonight and then had to the Los Angeles airport tomorrow morning for our flight to Vancouver Canada. We stay there two nights and then head to our Alaskan Disney cruise for 7 nights. I will be “unplugged” the entire time!

So Bon Voyage folks! Don’t miss me too much….but don’t forget me either!

Technorati Tags: Everyday,Peanut Butter,Raisin Bread,Hummus

142.8…I Can’t Do It Anymore

I just can’t eat anymore pasta. Don’t get me wrong…I love pasta! It’s just that I’ve had it for almost every meal (except breakfasts) for the last few days. It’s really all that I have left in the house and since we are leaving tomorrow for our trip, I just don’t see the point of buying more food.

I did enjoy the glass of wine I had last night though!

Yes the glass was fuller before the picture was taken. Patience isn’t my strongest skill.

So back to the pasta problem. I found this in our freezer:

Trader Joe’s Pasta Medley. I’ve had this before and it’s really good. I love all the veggies in it. My husband likes more sauce on his pasta than this has so I always add some extra marinara.

I served broccoli on the side. Like I mentioned before…I like this pasta normally. Last night, though, it wasn’t as good. I’m over pasta. 

For breakfast I had an egg beater sandwich with Swiss cheese and some cantaloupe. I dipped my sandwich in ketchup. :)

If you look closely, there’s a bite missing in my sandwich. Did I mention the patience problem?

I took my son to school and went to Cardio Muscle class. I have now been to the gym doing non-running activities for the last five days in a row! Go me!

My daughter and I picked up my son from school. Today was his last day of Kindergarten. I cannot believe he will be in 1st grade in the fall!!! How did the year go so fast!?!

He had a half day today so it was lunch time when we picked him up. I only had a little time before their final swim lesson so McDonald’s it was.

I ordered the grilled chicken sandwich (no mayo) and a side salad with light Italian dressing. Eh. I don’t like eating at McDonald’s. I would prefer to eat the chicken nuggets and fries but I tried to be good. It did help to dip the sandwich in their hot mustard though. :)

After the swim lesson we came home to chill. Tonight we are meeting some friends at our club and I’m looking forward to some fabulous wine and dinner that does not include any form of pasta whatsoever.

What are your weekend plans?

Favorite fast food restaurant? In N Out Burger and Taco Bell. Don’t hate.

Technorati Tags: Everyday,Trader Joe's,Egg Beaters,McDonald's

143.4…Getting Bare

I’m going to have to start getting really creative for meals since my fridge is starting to look bare and I’m running out of pre-made frozen dinners (shocker!).

Last night I brought out a container of something called “Spaghetti Pie” from the freezer for dinner. Can’t tell you where it’s from (need to start making notes of this) but I can tell you that it tasted delicious!

I used the last of the lettuce and Caesar dressing  that I had. Operation “Clean out the fridge before vacation” is in full effect.

This morning’s breakfast was a slice of toasted raisin bread with peanut butter and a grapefruit.

Grapefruits remind me of being a kid. My mom used to give them to me for breakfast. She had a special grapefruit knife that she would use to cut each segment perfectly so I could get them out easily. Then she would top each half with a bit of sugar. 

I took my son to school and came home to get laundry started. Then it was off to Zumba. It felt so good to be back! I missed Zumba!

I scrounged through the the fridge for lunch. I made a pretty tasty lunch from what was left in there.

Grilled cheese, carrots, orange bell pepper and hummus.

Then it was off to Target. After getting everything put away, it was time to pick up my son from school. On the way, I snacked on a Larabar.

Loving the apple pie flavor!

I took my son to his dentist appointment. He had to have a couple cavities filled. :( I’ve never had a cavity and I’m pretty good about flossing and brushing his teeth. Poor kid. He did awesome though!!! So proud of my little man!

Now we are home relaxing and trying to figure out what to have for dinner. I know I still have wine in the house……

Have you ever had cavities? Do you like going to the dentist?

If you could only eat at ONE restaurant forever, which one would it be?

Technorati Tags: Everyday,Raisin Bread,Peanut Butter,Hummus,Larabar,Zumba

144.0…A Lunch Date

It was another freezer meal last night for dinner. I’m finally making a dent in there! Last night’s dinner was Turkey Taco Bake, corn, refried beans and salsa.

I tried a new product for breakfast this morning. I received a sample of Cascadian Farm’s Dark Chocolate Almond Granola at the Rock n Roll Marathon’s Expo and finally got around to trying it!

I put it on some Fage yogurt with strawberries.

Holy yum!! This granola was delicious! Perfectly crunchy and a tad sweet from the small dark chocolate pieces. I may have to purchase this!

I took my son to school and came home to get some packing done for our upcoming cruise. It’s amazing how much stuff you have to pack for 2 adults and 2 kids for ten days.

I hopped in the car to go to Target and on the way received a text from my husband that said: “Want to go to Firenze for lunch?” Um, is the sky blue!?! Firenze is my favorite restaurant. I promptly turned the car around and headed home to meet my lunch date!

They had some lunch specials that included a salad for an extra charge. I usually order the Chopped Caesar salad but that wasn’t one of the options so I tried something new.

Insalata Firenze:

Very fresh and the dressing was light and delicious. I still prefer the Chopped Caesar.

For my entree I ordered the Linguine with Clams…..an old favorite.

Awesome as usual.

I picked up my son from school and drove to the automatic car wash. They had never been through one (except when they were babies) so I thought it would be fun. We waited our turn and turn the car wash broke. Major bummer.

How often do you wash your car?

Do you order the same thing when you eat somewhere specific or do you like to try new things?

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143.2…A Frozen Noodle

For my “carb loading” dinner the night before the half marathon, I made WAY too much spaghetti. I don’t like wasting food. I freeze pretty much anything I can….so why not spaghetti? I put it in a big zip-loc bag and hoped for the best.

I pulled it out of the freezer for dinner last night. Once it had defrosted, the noodles were perfect!! I served them with some meat sauce I had in the freezer as well as a big salad.

You would have never known the noodles were frozen!

After yesterday’s egg sandwich, I was crazing another one this morning. I changed it up a bit though. I cooked up a real egg this time and put in on a sandwich thin with a slice of Swiss cheese. The fruit was different too…strawberries. :)

After taking my son to school, I ran over to FedEx Office to pick up a gift I made for my son’s teachers. I had all the parents submit a drawing their child made, along with a photograph of them and I had it made into a book. They turned out great!

Normally I go to spin class on Tuesdays but the instructor cannot teach spin this summer so the gym is replacing it with another Cardio Muscle class. This works perfectly with my goal of doing more weights workouts this summer. I was already sore this morning…I will be double sore tomorrow!

For lunch I threw together a big salad with tuna salad, romaine and shredded carrots. I drizzled everything with balsamic vinegar.

I’m trying my best to use up all our produce before we leave for our cruise on Saturday. Speaking of my cruise, I will be “un-plugging” for the whole time. Internet/cell phone service will cost and arm and a leg. So for ten plus days, there will be no phone, texts, internet, blog, facebook, twitter, etc. This is supposed to be good for me right? I hope I can survive!

What’s the strangest thing you have in your freezer right now?

What’s the longest you’ve gone “un-plugged” from technology?

Technorati Tags: Everyday,Sandwich Thin

143.4…Bring on the Weights!

I did something very rare yesterday. I took a nap. Not just any nap…a nap that lasted over three hours!! I cannot tell you the last time that happened. My husband and the kids didn’t get home from Palm Springs until late in the afternoon so I took advantage of the time!

We decided on Souplantation for dinner. I was excited….I needed some veggies in my life!

I had a huge salad, chili and pizza bread. Their pizza bread rocks my world.

Even after taking a long nap, I was able to fall asleep very easily last night. Las Vegas wore me out.

Hopefully my meals this week won’t bore you. I’m trying to use up what we have in our fridge before we leave for our cruise this weekend. I was happy to see that I still had all the ingredients for a nice egg beater sandwich this morning.

My son still has school this week so my husband took him. Later on I went to my Cardio Muscle class. I haven’t been in three weeks because of all my half marathon training/recovery. I have not lifted a single weight in three weeks! I love lifting weights!

I decided during today’s Cardio Muscle class that I need to focus on weight lifting this summer. I love to challenge myself and love the feeling of lifting weights. I also love how strong I feel during and after a good weights workout.

Funny side note: I keep a pair of 15lb weights in my car to bring to Monday’s Cardio Muscle classes. The heaviest weights in the room where the class is taught is 10lbs. That is not enough for me when I’m doing biceps, squats/lunges or chest work. So every Monday I walk into class carrying these weights on my shoulders and leave the class carrying them back to my car. I’m sure people who see me walking with them think I’m weird. I’m not weird, just strong. :)

After I class I changed and ran a ton of errands. Along the way I grabbed a sandwich from Subway for lunch.

I ordered avocado on my sandwich today. I love avocado but never get it at Subway. I really liked how delicious my sandwich tasted with it.

My daughter and I went to pick up my son from school. On the way to their “Dog Smart” appointment, I snacked on a Fiber One bar that I found in my purse.

It was pretty squished but it did the job.

So along with getting more weights in this summer, I really want to focus on drinking a ton of water and eating as many fruits and veggies as possible. Who’s with me?

Do you like lifting weights?

What are your summer goals?

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