sweet yellow puppy

Thoughts from day 4:  

even though sometimes he makes me crazy 

(esp. after five hours alone together of Nobites.Off.Goodboy!), 

my sweet yellow puppy does this and we are friends again. 

PS: right now he is swimming in his sleep.

cumin grilled chicken with deconstructed salsa salad

Ingredients:

2-3 boneless skinless chicken breasts

10 cherry tomatoes, halved
1/4 cup chopped cilantro
1-2 roughly chopped green onions
1/2 cup arugula
1 diced avocado
the juice of 1 lime
1 drizzle honey
1 T EVOO
salt + pepper + cumin to taste

Directions:

Preheat grill or grill pan to about medium high, but watch to make sure it doesn't get too hot if it takes you forever to prepare like me. (Here I butterfly my chicken to make it thinner and quicker to cook.) Season both sides of chicken with a pinch of salt, a pinch of pepper, and a pinch of cumin, making sure it's thoroughly covered. Grill chicken on both sides until the middle is no longer pink.

Chop salad ingredients and combine with arugula in a bowl to taste. When I say to taste, I mean if you like lots of onion, add more, etc. Drizzle EVOO, honey, and lime juice to taste, but make sure the salad is not too oily like mine was on the verge of being. Season with salt, pepper, and a pinch of cumin. After this picture was taken, I added corn to my salad with lots of black pepper just the way I like it!

Last step: don't judge LB's awesome photos from her iPhone, Monique!

Voila! Quick and easy!

so.sleepy.

Sampson is home. I don't know if I've ever been more exhausted in my life. Luckily, all the horror stories about puppies yowling all night were not true for our boy. But let's just say in the morning, he was more than ready to make up for lost time.

Let me rewind for a bit. We had a great dinner with Meseidy and Obed, as usual. We have really enjoyed getting to know them and spending time with them. Their friendship is living proof that Sampson has been a blessing in disguise in so many ways. Then we took our "doggie bag" home. He and JT played soccer in the yard for a little while. He only yowled for maybe 30 minutes off and on when we put him to bed and then he was done and slept through the night.

I, unfortunately, was not so lucky. Hopefully it's not Sampson that's making JT's allergies horrible, because he is pretty much allergic to everything outside. I'm not sure how much JT slept, but after going to bed at around 1:00, I woke up around 3:00 and didn't fall back to sleep until sometime after 5:20.

When my alarm went off at 6:16, I think Sampson was awake, but he didn't wake us up or anything. I carried him outside and the fun began. He went potty and then I fed him and his muddy paw prints. He is in this typical puppy stage where he wants me to be one of his brothers. Let's just say when we start puppy school on Sunday, we will have to work on biting and scratching!

So day one of taking care of a living being has been a success so far. I'm not going to lie, there have been some frustrating times already like when Sampson pooped in the house this morning or when he got work pants #1 full of mud, but we are living, learning, and loving every minute. As so many have been so kind to point out, getting a puppy is like having a baby in many ways, but we are determined to take it one step at a time and be really intentional about loving and being patient with him! Because he is just a baby, after all!

Here are some fun facts about Sampson at eight weeks:

• He is a big boy at a whopping 16.2 lbs! I think he is 2 full pounds bigger than his brothers and sisters.
• He thinks his water bowl is his personal swimming pool and always dips his paws in.
• He will not poop unless I go back inside. 
• He eats a big breakfast and a smaller lunch and smaller dinner.
• Our backyard is two levels, and Sampson cannot reach the second level yet. (Give it a few weeks.) When I got up on our porch swing on the second level, he was blissfully playing with his football (see above) but started freaking out when he couldn't get to me!
• His mommy (me) is trying reeeeally hard not to take 20932932 pictures of him and post them on blog/twitter/facebook/etc.!
• We may or may not be playing the Glee soundtrack in the room with him so he doesn't feel so lonely!

:)

This morning, I found a sweet surprise 

note on my steering wheel from  

"Sampson." 

Cannot wait to bring him home tonight!

vegging

 

My run's fate was sealed when JT offered to take me out for dinner. One of my biggest love languages is spontaneous weeknight dinners. I get JT's undivided attention -- well, before and after he is eating -- plus I don't have to cook or clean. And bonus! We discovered Calistoga Bar & Grill, a fantastic new (to us) restaurant on the Riverwalk, which is really close to our new house. Let me tell you, there are few things I get more excited about than sophisticated, delicious food at a reasonable price.

So how did my plan to eat healthy yesterday pan out?

Pretty great! I ate only my packed snacks throughout the day -- except for when my boss bought us sno-cones, but I don't feel an ounce guilty for that small treat. I hadn't had a sno-cone since college. (Remember Shimmers, anyone?) 

At dinner, JT and I split a delicious cherry spinach salad with walnuts, goat cheese, and balsalmic dressing. It was SO good. I am becoming a goat cheese fanatic (try the house salad at Red Rock in Tulsa or OKC and tell me I am wrong!) so this was definitely a treat!

It was hard to choose which pizza sounded best, but JT got this chicken pesto pizza with bacon, tomatoes, and cheddar, which I had a bite of, and it was also very flavorful!

 

I ordered a veggie wrap, which contained hummus, roasted red peppers, grilled mushrooms, zucchini, onions, and balsamic greens with a side of homemade potato crisps.  After I'd ordered, I realized that my day had a trend: in my efforts to eat healthy, I had eaten completely vegetarian. And everything was delicious!

We each ate until we weren't hungry. I can't wait to eat the rest of this for lunch! It was divine! We will definitely be eating at this cute little restaurant again to try all of the items we couldn't decide about. If you live in the Tulsa area and haven't tried Calistoga since it opened in October, you are definitely missing out on great food at reasonable prices in a location that's perfect for outdoor summer evenings.

intentional eating

This morning I had the privilege of partaking in my favorite sammy. Look at it. It's gorgeous. And it tastes fantastic. Sandwiches are quickly becoming like cereal, appropriate for any time of day. So since I had cereal for dinner last night, I thought, why not!?

I always feel motivated to eat healthy when I pack healthy snacks for the office. Today's survival includes an apple, my breakfast sammy, the last Lean Cuisine (cheese pizza -- darn!) in my freezer, and I filled up my Nalgene bottle with cold, crisp water -- and I forgot it. Every time I pack my water bottle I forget it.  Why can't I be like dear Andrea Cherie and carry my water bottle religiously?

The reason I need some good fuel today is because my body is in recovery mode. Last night, I signed up for yoga, thinking it would be a refreshing change of pace from my resistance training and running I've been doing.

Wrong. 

For one, this isn't your garden-variety yoga. It's sports yoga. And to top it all off, I signed up for the Intermediate/Advanced class. It was an accident! So last night, I'm doing this pose:

I'm feeling pretty proud because my instructor can't believe I'm doing this on my first try and I'm holding it longer than others in my class. But with pride comes a fall. Something in my neck tweaked just right and I fell. Luckily it was at the end of the class, so I was able to finish and then give it some good stretchies.

Since this was only my second class, I came into it worried that I wouldn't remember to say, "Namaste," at the end like last time. I didn't know! This time, I started to say it three different times before she said it, which was awkward but, I guess, funny in retrospect.

This morning my neck is stiff and sore. I had a nice run planned for this evening, barring any repeat performance of the cloud theatrics Oklahoma is famous for.  We shall see how I feel later!

My goal for today is to eat smartly. My favorite healthy snacks are string cheese, fresh fruit, peanut butter, carrot sticks with hummus, vanilla nonfat yogurt with a little dark chocolate, granola, and Pop Chips. (I am officially on nut burnout.)

Now I just need to learn to be intentional about making these snacks the majority of my snack repertoire. The staples. The shining gems I reach for over chocolate chip cookies. Does anyone have any good healthy food recommendations?

the best laid schemes...

Last night I laid out my plan of attack for the GRE. Everyone I've talked to has emphasized studying hard and a lot, particularly geometry and vocabulary.

How I wish I'd taken this test fresh out of college; I had a geometry class my last semester.

My plan for now is to be consistent for eight weeks and then take it. I'll see how week 1 goes before I sign up for the exam.

Have any of you taken this beast? What advice would you give?