Great New Recipe

I got this great new recipe from the Weight Watchers website and it was amazingly good!!
I see awesome chicken recipes posted constantly on blogs however, alot of times they have canned cream soups or cream cheese added and that kinda does not jibe with the whole weight loss thingy!!!! LOL
Anyway I saw this and decided it would be something different to try and we loved it last night!!
Waliacha could not get enough and the chicken was the juiciest baked chicken I have ever had!!!
Here is the WW recipe - seriously try this even if you dont do weight watchers - it is soooo yummy!!!!

Preheat oven to 450 degrees

In a bowl combine...
2 tsps paprika
2 tsps thyme
2 tsps rosemary
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
Press the chicken breasts (I used 4 halfbreasts coated on both sides) into the mixture of dry ingredients in the bowl to coat them all

Heat 1 T olive oil in non stick pan and add the coated chicken breasts. Fry on medium heat for two minutes on each side.
Then add 12 peeled garlic cloves (whole) and 1 1/2 c chicken broth to the frying pan.
Scrape the bottom on the pan to remove all the good stuff fried on the bottom and them transfer the whole thing into a pyrex square baking disk (you can skip the transfer part if you frying pan can go into a 450 degree oven - mine could not)
Then bake 15-20 minutes
Remove from oven and with a fork smash the garlic pieces into the broth.
Then serve...we did veggies and mashed potatoes and used the juice as a gravy.....sooooo good!!!
I promise you will love this!!!!!!!!!

Top Two Tuesday-TV shows

How appropriate!!! Top Two Tuesday!!
I am excited to participate in my first ever Top Two Tuesday hosted by Jimmy Choos and A Baby Too and the topic is TV Show Favorites!

I have a major conflict right now because I used to go to a support meeting on Tuesday evening and I have had to quit going due to this conflict - LOL (but not really)!!!!

Now my two favorite shows are both on the same night - TUESDAY - at the same time - on different channels....

HELP!! Does anyone else have this issue?!??!??!

Biggest Loser is the greatest and

Lost is the greatest....

and I do not yet own a Tivo or DVR so I have to watch one and tape one....life is getting harder - LOL!!!

So rather than suck it up and purchase something a little more advanced than my VCR; I will be staying home on Tuesday evenings from now until one of the two is over for the season!

:-)

Girls Night Out!!

We had Girls Night Out last night. This is something a few of us girls that are friends started doing and then it dropped off for a year or so and we are starting it back up again - YIPPEE!!!

Approx. once a month, the girls go out and we rotate who gets to pick the activity and location!

Last night was April's birthday so she chose The Melting Pot for a dinner....no activity could be added as dinner alone took about 2 1/2 hours - wayyyyyyyyyyy fun!!!!!!!!

I have to add that Teri (one of our girls) was not able to make it and she was sorely missed but we look forward to the next one which will be her birthday so she is choosing the location, etc.

Here are the pics from the melting pot night (I look awful...be prepared...LOL)!!

From left to right: Sherry, April(birthday girl) and I dunking our marshmallow treats in chocolate...

Sherry and I frying our shrimp in the broth (one healthy choice-we fried in broth and not oil)...

I fried a piece of radish leaf - I think it was a plate garnish but I figured I needed all the fiber and roughage I could get with this meal!!!!!!!!!...

Sherry and April eating the appetizer (that is cheese sause that you dunk bread and veggies into) - sooooo yummy!!!!!!!

It was a pretty pricey place to eat very often - but, like we all decided - it was for April's birthday and Girls Night Out and WE ARE WORTH IT!!!!!!!

Check this out

Here is a great giveaway By Hillary to win an awesome hair straightener!!

Check it out!!!!

http://www.byhillary.com/2010/02/you-are-gonna-want-to-read-this-hint-it.html

Really...The Melting Pot?!?!?!

I am getting back into WW serious - I have gone to the gym for six consecutive days and am doing sooo well and ...

We are having girls night out tonight and the Birthday Girl picked the restaurant and she choose...

The Melting Pot

Now way am I goona find anything Weight Watchers friendly on this menu.....LOL!!!

You actually dunk everything you eat - minus the salad - into

gooey cheese for your appetizer...

oil for your frying pleasure of your meat...

and chocolate for your dessert...

This is a can't win night...so I am planning ahead and skipping the cheese appetizer part, eating my salad with no dressing,getting fish or chicken to dunk in the oil to fry and eating ONLY a few pieces of fruit in chocolate.

Also, I made it to the gym for lunch so at least I am on the right track there....

Wish me luck!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

What I Call Running...

I am posting this just to keep things real.

I say on this blog and when I talk to people that I run about 4-5 times a week for five miles and one top of that I take a few Zumba classes or BodyPump classes a week.

I realized today that what I call running may ACTUALLY and TECHNICALLY be jogging to others - here is why...

I was on the treadmill today at a busy time in the gym and had a man on my left and a woman on my right. It appeared that their legs were moving wayyyyyyyy faster than mine on the treadmill (they were running-LOL)...so I will now say that I jog on the treadmill for 5 miles and am pushing myself to someday run!

Anyway, I think just because I was aware of it and pushing myself - I got my personal best time on those five miles according to my Ipod runner, yippee!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

5 Miles
1 hour and 2 minutes and 31 seconds (1:02'31")
Pace 12:28 min/mile
Calories 744

New Old Fun Workout!

I took an early lunch today and went to a class at LA Fitness. I know in an earlier post about a year ago I swore never to join there due to high pressure sales..however...here is the background. (And I swear they are not paying me to say this - although that would be nice!!!!!LOL)
My gym had not paid it's electric bill and the gym and equipment was off for three days...this started me thinking that maybe paying upfront for a year was silly since it appeared financial issues were coming in the gym's future. LOL
So I asked what the renewal for monthly was and they quoted me some outragious price so I started shopping around AGAIN for a gym.
I heard through work that we get a great deal on LA Fitness so I went to our Wellness office and got the info. It is an amazing deal and I was sooo excited that I ran right over and joined and told the I had to hurry back to work so I could not do the tour, etc.
Anyway - I love my new gym!!! I can go to any location - there is one by work and one by home and they have classes all moring and all night...like 8 to 10 a day. My old gym had 1 or 2 if you were lucky at night!
So, today there was a morning class for .......who knows........Step Aerobics!!!!
It was sooooooooooo fun!!! I have a work dinner from 5:30 - 8:30 so I thought I was going to have to run at lunch (boring as that is what I did yesterday-5 miles). So, I decided to take an early lunch and try out the OLD NEW step class...I forgot how much fun they are!!!!!
Yippee for my new gym and motivation galore to work out!!!!!!!!

First we did this...

Then this (that is not me-LOL)...
Now I am back at work and getting ready for working dinner out at PF Changs!!!

Yummy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Is that Santa on the roof?!?!?

Woooooooo Hoooooooo!!!!!!
NO...it's Waliacha!!!!!!!
Waliacha got a call from the union today that he will be returning to work in two weeks - yeah!!!!!!!!!!!! With a new company - yeah!!!!!!!! Maybe this one won't lay people off before the summer is over - yeah!!!!!!!
Apparently there are many many roofs in need of repair after the snow storms so the union companies are vamping up a month or two early this year - yippee!!!!!!
I am sooooooooo happy for him!!! You can hear it in his voice - he is actually excited to get back to work - yippee!!!!!!!!!!!
Everyone pray with me that this does not fall through - PLEASE.............
Thanks and love to you all!

New Sponsee

I got a new sponsee!!!!
Yippee!
She is actually someone that has been clean and sober for a while now but has never worked the steps. Needless to say, she is a dry drunk and is struggling pretty hard right now with LIFE issues.
I am so so so so grateful for my first sponsor (11 years) that stressed working the steps continually!!! (Thanks Sherry) It helped me soo much in those first years and also helped me move closer to the person I am striving to be...myself in God's eyes!
I am really excited to assist someone else in this wonderful walk through the steps and watch as the light sparks in her eyes and she is rocketed into the fourth dimension!!!!
Did I mention, I love this program!!!!!!!!!!!!

Happy VDay Pictures!!

Sorry!!! Happy late Valentines Day to all my blogger buddies!!!

I am THE WORST at weekend blogging...sooooo Happy Monday and Happy Late Valentines Day!

Waliacha and I went to eat and to the movies with friends.

I used the Fandango website to reserve our movie tickets because I figured on VDay the good movies would be sold out (Little did i know...LOL).

So I reserved them (after clearing this with our friends) for the 4:30 show of SD Avatar!!!!!!!!!! YEAHHHHHH - SOOOOO EXCITED TO SEE THIS MOVIE!!!!!! They charged an extra 3 dollars for the 3D part and an extra dollar per ticket for the "convenienve charge" (believe me, no convenience here at ALL!!)

We met our friends Suzi and Jeff for lunch at Olive Garden (yummiest salad around) and got RIGHT in at 2:00PM...only like a ten minute wait?!?!?! Then found out that Avatar is 3 hours long (The problem with this is that our friend, Jeff had a prior commitment to "lead" at 8:00PM that night - problem!!!!)

So we took our time and had an amazing brunch/dinner and then headed to the theater where our friends traded in their Avatar tickets to see something shorter and Waliacha and I still saw Avatar...see, like I said, in the end no convenience....Oh well, it is really neat to be able to use a website to buy your tickets but only if your plans are CEMENTED in stone - in my life....that NEVER happens!!!

Also, Waliacha gave me an awesome card and crystal figurine and I gave him a huge bag of chocolate and pistacios (it's what he loves-LOL)!!!!!

Here are the pics of it all!!!

PS-If you have not seen Avatar - I highly recommend it........such a great movie with a great message!!!!!!!!!

Suzi and Jeff in Olive Garden...

All of us (waiter practically sat on the floor to take this)...

Me and Waliacha...

In the car....

Another car pic (can you tell Waliacha does not like alot of pics...LOL)......

And in Avatar with our cool glasses!!!!!!

Friday Fill In 2/12/2010

1. Fage yogurt cups and Skinny Cow ice cream sandwiches are one thing no one in my house likes but me.

2. I totally love being with my family as often as possible doing anything at all.

3. More snow is in our forecast.....and I don't like it!

4. To me, God is most vividly seen in the eyes of a person in recovery.

5. I am at the gym because it's 5:16 pm.

6. Sometimes a true friend needs a true friend.

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to either a meeting with my homegroup or pool with Waliacha's brother (weather dependant), tomorrow my plans include meeting with my sponsor and bird watching for the great backyard bird count at work and Sunday, having lunch at Olive Garden and seeing Avatar with Waliacha (my valentine) and another couple that we are friends with!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

YEAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

If you want to play along - just fill in the parts in black with your answers!

Finally Dug-Out and The Great Backyard Bird Count

I AM FREE!!!!!!
I am the worlds biggest fan of working from home - really, I am!!!! However, that said - after three days of not being able to leave the house and go anywhere or do anything....I am sooo happy to be out!!!!!!!
The Association finally came yesterday with a digger truck to free us from our parking lot - this is more snow than I have ever seen in a short period of time! WOW WOW WOW!!!
By last evening I was sick of playing scrabble with Waliacha (actually sick of getting beat at scrabble by Waliacha - I DID NOT WIN ONE SINGLE GAME!!!!).
I was begging him to play "spa" with me....a girl just wants to have her feet and hands rubbed sometimes!!!! Just totally sick of being trapped in the house really!!!
Anyway - I am at work today and sooooooooooooooooo happy to be here!!!!!! Seriously, it is sad when I am happier to work at the office than home!!!!! LOL
Case in point...this is a pic of a common site for our area...this is a car not dug out yeat from the storm....can you see the Ford Escort under the snow??????LOL



I am a member of the Wildlife Sustainability Team at work and it is sooo much fun!!! Last summer we were all in charge of monitoring our own assigned bluebird nest boxes to count the number of nest and hatchlings and fledglings, etc. I love this!
We just had a meeting today and found out that we are participating in the The Great Backyard Bird Count, Feb. 12-15, 2010. We all get to go log the kinds and numbers of birds we see in the field - WOOOO HOOOO!
If this sounds like fun to you - you can also participate just with your household. It is a fun way to learn more about nature and birds and field identification, etc.
Check out the website for more information at http://www.birdsource.org/gbbc/ (it is sponsored by Cornell and the Audubon Society along with many, many others!!!)

Something to Talk About - Blizzard 2010!!

Finally...I have something to talk about!!! LOL
I am smack dab in the middle of the Blizzard of 2010 in Pittsburgh!!!
It took Waliacha and I about 5 hours to dig out our two cars (we also did one neighbors car that just had surgery).
We have power, heat, cable, etc. but many in our area do not.
We are very very lucky to have power and health and warmth.
It was a great workout this AM and it is also sooooooooo pretty!!!!
The total that a neighbor measured in the middle of the grass area in 23 inches!!! That was in a 24 hour period!! We got slammed!!!
Here are the pictures...
Outside the condo





The beautiful trees....
Waliacha finally done shoveling

my car burried on the left...my neighbor on the right is done. :-(

A shot of the "hump" behind my car from the lovely snowplow....had to move the hump...there was no driving over it - LOL!!!!!

Random Dozen Tuesday

I am participating in the randon dozen at Second Cup of Coffee

Cant wait to read everyone elses answers!!!

See ya there!!!! Here we gooooooooooooooooo...

1. Do you use the labels various charities send you as “free gifts?”
Yes, I just got some!!!! I always try to send AT LEAST a little donation back...even 5$ is better than nothing right?!?!

2. What is your favorite time of day (or night) for skywatching?
Morning, with my cup of coffee as I do my morning meditations (try to remember everyday but I am definitely not perfect at this)

3. What is the most adventurous you've ever been with trying a new food? (Keep it G-rated please)
Sushi....thats it ans now it is my favorite...I guess that means I should try new things more often!

4. Have you ever heard a rock sing? (Trust me, there's a reason for this one!)
nope - cannot say I have

5. If you could learn a language you don't presently speak, what would it be?
German

6. Al Capone's tombstone read, “My Jesus, Mercy.” If you could write your own epitaph, what would it say?
I have made it to the big meeting in the sky!!!

7. If you were a famous musician who was known by one name, like “Cher,” “Sting,” or “Jewel,” what would it be? It doesn’t have to be your first name, but it can be, if you’d like.
Annster

8. Have you ever been inordinately “into” a television show?
ALL the time - right now it is Biggest Loser and Lost...also love Amazing Race

9. When you sneeze, do you go big, or do you do that weird “heenh!” sound that makes people think you’re going to blow your brains out? Any other variation we should know about?
I hold back...people say I am going to blow my ears out!!! LOL

10. Do you still read an actual newspaper that you hold in your hands, or do you get your news elsewhere?
Online

11. Are you a good speller?
yes

12. At what time each day do you start thinking about lunch?
10:30AM - I am ALWAYS hungry!!!!!!!!