It's a crazy life!

Life is crazy! That is all I can conclude. Since last time ( which I believe was 4 months ago..eek!) we have had a little one turn 1, Mr. J turned 30, we are in the process of closing on our house and now we live with my parents. The last 4 months have been a whirlwind but have been great. With the upcoming holidays I hope to have more time to blog (holidays=more time? Am I delusional?) I hope to post some fabulous recipes we have had recently and share some of my favorite holiday goodies with y'all!

Recreating Our Favorites...part 1

Life has been busy! My brother, sister -in-law and sweet niece came in for a visit.  While they were home we celebrated two very special little girls birthdays.  (My niece, Mads, and sweet A!) I can't believe Mads is 4 and A is 1! They don't kid when they say they grow up quickly! It was so great being able to celebrate the girls together!  It was a really special week.

Since they have left, Mr. J and I have been working so hard to "get healthy".  With my love of cooking I am trying to re-create some of our favorite foods into a "healthier" version.  Tonight...Burgers.

Mr. J and I like our food spicy (and so does sweet a!).  These burgers had just the right amount of spice and a whole lot of flavor.  We hope you enjoy them as much as we did.

Jalapeno, Black Bean and Turkey Burgers

Ingredients:

• 1 lb ground turkey meat
• 1 can Black Beans, drained and rinsed 
• 1/4 cup bread crumbs
• 1 egg white
• 1 jalapeno, seeded and diced
• 1/4 cup Monterey jack cheese, shredded
• 1 teaspoon minced garlic
• 1 teaspoon taco or southwestern seasoning (or both) 
• Salt and Pepper, to taste 

Drain black beans and rinse.  Seed and dice jalapeno.  Place all ingredients in a bowl and mix well.  Pat out into 6 patties.  Grill around 5 minutes on each side.  Enjoy!

I did place a little bit of guacamole on top of mine and it was fabulous! Mr. J turns green at the thought of guacamole so he passed but still loved the burgers just as much as I did.  We ate them on 80 calorie buns and paired with some broccoli . It was a great meal and we are looking forward to left over tomorrow night! 

I hope you have a fantastic weekend! 

Motivation

I believe that anything you want to do is 1% physical ability and 99% mental.  Before Mr. J and I were married, we were both active people.  Mr. J constantly worked out and I ran and would go to the gym.  After we first got married, we still tried to remain active.  When he was deployed for almost 9 months we both put a large amount of energy and time into working out and staying fit.  Then he came home.  We both had jobs and were working crazy hours.  I LOVE to cook and LOVE to cook for Mr. J.  Things other than the gym and our bodies became priorities.  I hate to even admit this to myself, let alone the whole world...but over the course of the last 5 years I have managed to put on about 20 lbs. I am now in a mental state where I am ready to get this off! I not only want to lose weight to look better, but to feel better and be healthy for sweet A.  I want to set an example of what it means to live a healthy lifestyle but not stress over your body and being skinny.  With so much negative media about how women are suppose to look, I want to make sure and be the example for A that we should not worry about our size, but our health and wellness.  My running shoes are still in my closet and I am waiting for a break in the heat to really start running again, but have made huge changes to our diet and exercise is now a daily activity.

Now...why has it taken me 5 years?  I have no clue?  Life?  Lack of motivation?  Lack of time?  Lack of motivation? Convenience? Lack of motivation?  I believe it is all of these things, but really my lack of motivation!

So...what motivated me?  It is a funny story really...and maybe too much information.  Last week I was at my parents' house after a day out on the lake.  My parents have this HUGE shower (I call it a party shower, because I really think you could fit about 15 people in it).  I have been DYING to take a shower it in because of the wonderful rainfall shower head.  Well, not only does this shower have glass doors, but also a HUGE mirror across from it.  I literally screamed when I saw the lady in the mirror...not even recognizing myself. True motivation hit right then.

What motivates you to live a healthy lifestyle?  Not currently living it?  Join along with me!

Running and Fish

Well y'all, I have made a decision.  I am getting back into running.  No questions.  I started running a couple of years ago and got really sick before my first half and got so bummed that I just kind of gave up.  I picked it back up in the fall and then found out I was pregnant so I hung up my shoes once again.  After sweet a made her appearance, I tied up my laces and headed out again.  Winter came, days shortened, Mr J worked longer, and once again... I think you get the picture.  I have used many excuses, but this time,  I am for real.  My goal is to run the Nashville Half in April.  That should give me plenty of time to train.

Also, I have made the decision that starting next week, our household will start eating fish.  I hate fish, but am determined to make it work!  Wish me luck!

Any tips for running? Any tips for killer shin splints?  Any great fish recipes for non fish lovers?  Hook me up!

Have a great Thursday!

Homemade Gift Exchange.. squeal!

I am a serious craftaholic!  I love all things crafty!  Even if I am not that great at anything crafty...I love it!  So when I saw that Linda @ Craftaholics Anonymous was hosting a homemade gift exchange, I knew I wanted to participate at once! I drew a girl named Jaimee and saw on her wish list this super cool mail organizer.  I knew I wanted to attempt it!  You can for sure tell it is homemade, but I promise it was made with love! I hope Jaimee enjoys it as much as I enjoyed making it.

Sorry for the horrible pic, but seriously..it is the only one I really got before I sent it out. 

If you would like to make one of these yourself, here is the tutorial: We All Sew.

If you think a homemade gift exchange sounds fun, Linda is hosting another this fall! It starts on November 1st!  Join along!  

I will post again when I receive my gift! I am super excited to see what someone has crafted up! 

Happy Saturday! 

The Little Things

So I follow a sweet blogger named Lindsay over at Hello Hue who does a little things linkup party.  I have never participated before, but I thought, why not!  This is my first linkup party and I am excited to reflect on the little blessings God provides us with each and every day!

Homemade Gift Exchange- I participated in a homemade gift exchange that Linda at Craftaholics Anonymous is hosting and I finally finished my gift.  I made a mail organizer for a sweet girl named Jaimee.  I am excited for her to get it. (more on this later!) Also, while mailing it, I met a sweet man named Darrell who worked at the post office.  He was so helpful and a real joy to be around.  I am pretty sure they should give him a raise!

Swimming with my bug- Our sweet A loves the water!  I think it may be because I swam so much with her when I was pregnant?  Maybe?  But no matter what has caused it, she has a pure love of the water. It is so much fun to see her splash and kick.

Quiet/Study time- My quiet time and study time is one of my favorite times of the day.  It is so refreshing to spend time in God's word, reading and listening to what he has to say.  Yesterday A went to mother's day out and I got to soak up the Word and some sun.

11 months- Wow! Our sweet A is 11 months old.  Pictures are hard to capture, as she NEVER sits still!  A is such a blessing in our lives and we can't imagine life without her!  It has been my joy to watch her grow over these last 11 months and I can't wait to see continue to grow.

God provides us with little blessings all the time!  I pray you enjoy the little things this weekend!

life...

Life has been crazy the past couple of months.  I am not sure what it has been crazy with...I just can tell you it has been crazy! Mr. J has taken on a huge project at work and that has left little extra time for me to sit in front of a computer other than when sweet baby A is napping and that is normally when I do my quiet time. When Mr. J gets home and little A is down, all I want to do is spend time with him (all 30 minutes of it before we head to bed) So therefore, my blogging has been lacking (that is an understatement!).

Speaking of quiet time, I have been following along with SheReadsTruth. I would highly recommend it if you are needing a devotional/study to follow along with. We start a new one tomorrow so it would be a great time to start!  I tried to add the little picture/link thing, but obviously I need to brush up on my html skills.  So...check it out here: SheReadsTruth

Sweet baby A is about to turn one! I can't believe it!  In less than a month we will have a sweet 1 year old running around!  On one hand it seems like just yesterday we were headed to the hospital for her arrival and on the other hand, it seems like she has been with us for ever!  We are planning for her party and excited for her "Tweet to be 1" party.

Mr. J and I both got to celebrate our first mother's and father's day this year.  Mr. J made sure to make mother's day extra special and Sweet A and I tried to make sure and do that for dad.  Below is a sample of what we did for Mr. J.  I wish I had a picture of the actual picture frame and pictures, but it is already proudly displayed in his office! :)

I hope that everyone has a great Wednesday!  The weekend is almost here! :)