Monday Menu Madness

Last weeks recap:

Monday - Parmesan chicken and rice. Muy delicioso. I think I used too much wine when I made it, so it had a strong taste of my box white wine that I have in my fridge. Other than that, it was easy, and the mushrooms carried a nice flavor in it.

Tuesday - Parmesan and sage crusted pork chops with roated brussel sprouts. True story - up until last August I had not in fact ever tried a brussel sprout. I loathed them but I had never actually tasted them. Bad reputation. In any case, I tried my first roasted brussel sprout at Alisa's house, and man, I was sold. Delicious. So I attempted to make my own this week. They were good. Not as good as hers, I don't think I roasted them long enough, but the balsamic tasted really good on them. I'll definitely try them again. The pork chops were easy peasy. Just had one bowl of flour, one bowl a bread crumb plus parmesan plus sage concoction, and one bowl a mustard + egg white concoction. I dipped each pork chop in each bowl and then pan fried them in canola oil (I'm not sure how this falls under "cooking light", but in any case they were pretty tasty.

Wed. - Had Freebirds with the boyfriend instead of cooking.

THIS WEEK:


Monday: Baked Lemon Pasta - a la Pioneer Woman - with salad.



Tuesday: Leftovers.

Wednesday: Roasted Butternut Squash Soup - From Tasty Kitchen (i'm really into soups right now - I think its the coldness outside); most likely serve with bread on the side, and a salad.


Thursday: Dinner with friends.

I'll let ya know how it goes!

Monday Menu Madness

I should grocery shop on Sundays, but a lot of the time I end up not going. Which has its benefits because well, Sunday at the grocery store is chaotic. I've started going to the grocery store on Monday nights after work, and it is a lot less crowded. So, to hop on the bandwagon of posting menus to your blog for the week, I'll start posting what I'm making for the week on Mondays! I eat out way way way too much. way too much. I started putting in the money spent on eating out into a spread sheet and it was mind bending. So, following Elaine's lead - I'm going to try to cook more at home, and eat out less (on week days atleast, weekends are for eating out). I'll also let y'all know which food I liked the best from the week!

This week's menu:

Sunday night: Just got back from NOLA.

Monday night: Parmesan Chicken and Rice (from Cooking Light)

Tuesday night: Quick Beef and Pinto Bean Chili - because baby its cold outside... (from Weight Watchers online)

Wednesday night: Parmesan and Sage-crusted Pork Chops (Cooking Light) with Roasted Brussel Sprouts with Toasted Almonds (WW online)

Thursday night: Christmas show.

I'll let you know how my first week of menu planning goes!!


P.S. - PT and I had a FAB time in NOLA this past weekend, blog post to come!

It's my kind of town - Chicago ("Frank Sinatra" aka The Man).

A few posts ago, I blogged about coaching "moot court" again. Well, my first team I coached competed in Chicago at the beginning of November. I had a great group of "kids" (I use that term loosely, as one of the guys was older than me), and I was super proud of them. We had a good time in Chi-town, and saw lots of sights, and pretty much ate our way through the town. Here's a brief synapsis of our trips through photos -

We arrived on Thursday afternoon and immediately went to the hotel bar for cocktails and snacks. That evening, we went to dinner at a tasty steak place (where I am pretty sure none of us ordered steaks). Then it was early to bed for their competition in the morning.

Friday was their competition at the Federal Court house. They did a great job, and I was really really proud of them. It was a long day though, and after arguing two rounds, and going to a reception, we ended up at Giordano's for some delicious deep dish pizza. Yum!




The team - Kristen, Geoff, and Kelsey





Shock em Coogs.





Saturday was spent being touristy. We went to Millenium Park, the Shedd Aquarium (which was AWESOME), Navy Pier, and did some shopping on Michigan Ave. It was topped off by a delish italian meal and then some drinks in Wicker Park. All in all and great day. And we couldn't have asked for better weather!

The Bean



Fall!




Entrance to Shedd Aquarium - we stood in that line for a long time.



Sunday we headed back to Tejas.

It was a great team, a great trip, and a great time!

OH, and how dare I forget, the night before I left for Chicago I went to see Hanson with Lauren. It was a blast! They put on a really really good show, and at the HOB you really are up close and personal. I do have to say that they grew up to be nice lookin men, who wear tight pants.



I'm headed home for Thanksgiving this week, and I cannot wait. It's been about 6 months since I've been home. That's a long time for me, and a length of time i'm not proud of. But, in any case, i'm looking forward to some home-cooking and some relaxation.

The Half Marathon Experience

Wow, I really suck at this whole NaBloPoMo thing. Sorry about that.

In any case, I know most of y'all have been sitting on pens and needles this week waiting for my Half Marathon blog post, so, here you go -

Saturday

PT and I rolled out to San Antonio around noon time. I managed to avoid stopping at Buc-ees along the way, which I have to tell you takes a lot of mental energy to avoid. But we had an expo to get to! We went straight to the expo so that I could check in and get my number and swag bag (free stuff). Man, there were a ton of people at the expo. A little bit overwhelming, but we managed to meander our way through.

Afterwards, we checked in at our hotel, and then headed to this hole in the wall pasta place that was awesome to carbo load! And carbo load I did!

Sunday

Sunday morning came early. Lucky for us, Jen and I's "corral" was right outside our hotel. So, we stumbled out to our corral and waited patiently with lots of nerves. Around 7:40 am, our corral crossed the start line, and we were off!

The course had some hills, but they weren't too bad. And, the best part of the course was all the people cheering us on as we ran, and the bands playing at every mile. I took it easy and knew that I just wanted to finish the race!





Here I am at Mile 8, running backwards. (PT cheered me on at Mile 8)

 


Here's Wu at Mile 8

 


If you look closely, you'll see behind the girl in the purple shirt - this is the straight away to the finish line!

 


My wonderfully supportive boyfriend.

 


My running buddy - Jen!

 

I will not forget the feeling I had when I turned the corner on the last stretch and saw the finish line. I was beyond excited and proud of myself, and got a little emotional. I couldn't even run a mile in January, and here I was about to finish a half marathon. Crazy. I sprinted to the end (because why not) and was handed my shiny fiesta medal. I was met at the end by PT, his dad and step mom and Jen's parents and her hubby Nick. What a great way to end the race! Oh, and for those curious, my race pace wasn't all that great but I was still proud and I didn't walk at all - 2h 33 min.

Well... I did it!

I finshed my first Half Marathon yesterday in San Antonio - 13.1 miles - check!
I'll post pics and a detailed synopsis once I get them on my computer at home. But for now - here is a pic of Jen and I after we finished:

Ok, so I missed four days of posting...

Please forgive me for failing at NaBloPoMo after only 3 days. I will do my best from this point on to post every day. I couldn't figure out how to post from my phone and I didn't have computer access in Chicago so I just didn't post. And, well, I was out enjoying Chicago in any case.

I returned from Chi-town last night. It was a great time. I took photos, and so once I upload those I will post about the trip.

I'm now back at work, and this week is going to be a busy one! Not only do I have two big projects at work, but we also have this conference beginning on Wed. till Friday, with events at night. AND then my HALF MARATHON is on SUNDAY! I cannot believe it is only a week away, seems like it was only a month ago that I was registering for it. I'm about ready as I'll ever be. I'm going to try to get in a few more runs this week, but not overdo it. Then its on to San Antonio on Saturday (the actual race is Sunday morning).

Also, I cannot believe that Thanksgiving is in less than three weeks! I miss my parents terribly and I haven't seen them since the beginning of August (I know, that doesn't make sense, seeing as how I only live 4 hours (3.5 on a good day) away from them, its been a busy busy fall). I am more than ready to visit them for Thanksgiving and enjoy all the comforts of home :)

Mmmm...Bop

Yes, that is in fact a reference to my junior high crush - Hanson. Its been 14 years since the releas of that single, and 13 years since the release of their first album "Middle of Nowhere." Tonight I am going to see Hanson for the first time live.

Two friends asked if I wanted to see Hanson. Jen sent out an email regarding the concert a while back and the "L" of SnL asked me a month ago if I wanted to see Hanson with her and two other girls at the House of Blues. My junior high self couldn't say no. Who cares that I haven't listened to them in 10 years. I owned Middle of Nowhere back in the day (no telling where that cd is now) and I hopefully will be able to recall some of their songs. Did you know that Hanson has released NINE albums? I didn't. And that the most recent album - Shout it Out was released this year? I hope tonight they play some oldies. Did you know that all three Hanson brothers are married? With kids? Yea, even that little one in the below pic. Crazy.

1996

Present day

I have to say, they grew up nicely.

In any case, 13 year old Sara will be rockin out tonight to Mmm bop. Judge me if you will, but don't lie and say you didn't love that song back in the day also.

Hair laziness

*Disclaimer: I realize that I quoted NaBloPoMo wrong as my title yesterday. There is in fact no L in Post.

Despite that, here is my second post of the month:

I am hair lazy. What is this you may ask? Well, I for some reason have developed a sheer laziness when it comes to fixing my hair in the morning. I remember when I was in high school and college, I'd wake up early, shower, and spend a while blow drying and curling my hair to make it look its best. Somewhere between studying for law school crap and becoming a lawyer, I lost that desire. I'm not sure where it went, and I would really like to have it back.

I'd say 1/5 days of the work week I actually "fix" my hair. And by "fix" I don't mean I actually in fact use a curling iron. More just that I blow dry it straight. So, what am I doing the other 4/5 of the work week? Well, I have two options that I rotate through 1) put it in a low bun, wet. Yes you read that right. Wet. No blow dry. or 2) take a shower, and NOT wash my hair so that I can just put it in a low pony tail, dirty. Yes, you read that right, dirty.

Actually fixed.

I really need to get out of this rut. I'm pretty sure being a 27 year old attorney, with wet hair, at work, doesn't make the best impression. (Although, today on the elevator, a woman (who had fixed her hair) complimented me on my low bun of wet hair and said that she wished she could get her hair to look like that..true story). As I write this I am sitting at my desk, with my hair, still wet, but no longer in a bun because it was giving me a headache.

Wet.

The second option.

One of these days, I need to make use of the $150 hair cut and color that I get every three months, and actually fix my hair. Baby steps. Maybe next week I'll strive for 3/5 days of actually fixing it. I'll let you know how that goes...

NaBloPloMo

One of my besties asked me if I was going to do NaBloPloMo this month... i've never done it because its hard for me to post everyday. But, I decided today that I'll atleast try. November has lots coming up in it, so the blog posts should hopefully be a little interesting... i can't promise there won't be a few boring ones thrown in there also. Because, let's face it, my everday life just isn't all that interesting.

But, for my first Blog Post of November, a little recap of the Halloween Weekend:

This weekend, Patrick and I threw a Halloween party at his new place to 1) celebrate Halloween, 2) dress up in costumes, and 3) show off his new house! It was a success! My camera unfortunately died about 10 minutes into the party, so the pics below are a result of 1. my iphone camera or 2. friends camera.

Patrick went as Kenny Powers from Eastbound and Down, and I went as his WT ex-girlfriend. Party. The one pic of us is on my dead camera. Sorry about that.



 The above pic isn't from Halloween, its from watching the Rangers play in the first game of the World Series (in Houston in Patrick's living room).

And this is Callie, she LOVES that window sill. This was taken outside of my apartment. (which I still need to post pics of on here, I love that too).

Three Years!

Yesterday was the boyfriend and I's three year anniversary! Three years. Holy cow. It's amazing to me how fast three years can fly by! In that time, we both graduated from law school, have taken three long vacays together, and are both now entering our third years as associates at law firms. But Its been a great three years. I'm blessed to have such a wonderful man in my life!

Right around the beginning!

Right around 1 Year

At about Two Years.



This was about like 2.8 years. Close enough (ignore the awkward crouch position I am in)





We celebrated by going to eat at this fancy shmancy restaurant Haven in Houston. It was delish! We are taking a romantical trip to New Orleans in December (neither of us have ever been before) to realllyyy celebrate. I'm excited about that too!

In any case, it was a great anniversary!

One Month!

Today is October 14th. While just another manic..Thursday... it's also the ONE month mark till my FIRST Half Marathon! One Month from today, Nov. 14th (for those that were curious what a month is from today. duh sara) is my Half in San Antonio!

I'm nervous. of course. but I feel like I've been training well enough up until now and just need to push through these last 31 days to get there. Last Saturday I ran 12 miles. TWELVE. A half marathon is 13.1...so really just 1.1 more miles to go after that, which I think I could have pushed out of me last Saturday.

I haven't been very good at running this week. Well, in fact, I've only run once. On Tuesday. For 40 minutes. And I felt like crap. Which was a little disconcerting, but I think was just a result of still being EXHAUSTED from the 12 mile run on Saturday. The first half of this week, I literally had no energy. It just got zapped on Saturday. Which is probably why I haven't run as much as I needed to this week. But, do not dismay, I will be making sure I run 4-5 times a week from now till the race. I need to run in the mornings. Life at night is really busy right now with my moot court practices, and with Patrick moving. So I have run out of time at night to run. I'm not much of a morning person but I think for the next month I'm going to have to be. Let's hope that works.

Anyways, I have high hopes that I'll survive the Half in a Month and I cannot wait to see if I do!

R-A-N-G-E-R-S!

A little background info for my readers -

I am a Rangers fan. A Texas Rangers fan that is. Yes, I realize I live in Houston, and should support the Astros, which I do, but my heart belongs to the Texas Rangers. See, I grew up in Arlington, Texas. Where the Rangers play. Back when I was in elementary school, my dad came home from work and informed the family that he had made an investment, an investment in fun, I think is how he put it. And that investment was season tickets to the Rangers game. From about 5th grade till about 11th grade or so, many a night between April and September of every year was spent at the Ballpark in Arlington. We weren't fair weather fans, we went to games even when the Rangers sucked. And, let's face it, they did for a while there. I remember when my dad told me in college that he had gotten rid of the season tickets. It was a heart breaking day in our family, but as the kids were slowly leaving home, there wasn't anyone to use the tickets as much anymore. Well, that last approximately one season. Becaues by the next year, my Dad had season tickets again. They couldn't stay away.

Now - I like to go to a Ranger game or two when I can when I'm up in the DFW area. Nothing is quite like watching the Rangers play with my parents, eating hot dogs, getting cotton candy sugar stuck all over your fingers, and enjoying these precious moments with my family.

Last night, all those years of support and patience were rewarded when the Rangers beat the Tampa Bay Rays and made it to the ALCS! I watched the entire series (well listened/watched) and a little tear came to my eye as the fly ball was caught in the end of the 9th inning and the Rangers won!

I cannot wait to watch the ALCS, and hopefully see the Rangers make it to the World Series for the FIRST TIME EVER!

Let's go Rangers, let's go!

TOMS

I bought my first pair of Toms last week, and they arrived in the mail from the UPS guy (who...knows me by name b/c I buy all my shoes online (i have large feet) and have them delivered to my office at work...he personally brings them to me now). AND I LOVE THEM. I walked around the office showing them to everyone. And the best part, they are PURPLE cords.

My purple Toms (yes, those are my large feet, and yes I'm currently wearing them in my office)

My feet and I are happy about my Toms purchase

Oh - and I'm completely excited that a child now has a pair of shoes!

One more thing - GO RANGERS!