Good-bye September!

Does anyone else just feel like doing a happy dance because September is over? For some reason it just seemed like the month that would never end!

Work just seems to be a drag for everyone lately. The people who do their job well get more put on their plate and the people who don't do their job or don't do it well seem to get away with it. I know it has really been frustrating me lately and I see the frustration in some of my favorite co-workers too! I try to start each week with a positive attitude but it seems like something happens within the first hour that sends my good mood right back into the toilet. So I am hoping a new month will help with that! 

I made a Target trip with just Lucas and I this weekend so what I could get was limited since the baby was taking up most of the cart but I did have to make room for this: 

Apple pie bagels and pumpkin spice peanut butter- yum yum! Perfect fall combo and I recommend it to everyone!

So here's to October- new month, hopefully a new attitude and all the pumpkin flavored food I can get my hands on! 

#Runningforacause

Well the results are in... And I totally PRed my 5K yesterday! My sister in law and I agreed that we were going to take it slow up the hill of death (ok that's just my name for it) which was forced on us because we were behind a bunch of slow people and there was no getting around them the first quarter mile. But after that, there was no slow. 

So cross off my new year's goals of getting a 30 minute 5K! Adding another bib to the plaque. 

Considering I hadn't run in 2 weeks, I was pretty proud of this one!  Now to keep motivated now that I don't have a race in the future.. 

Photo Dump

What do you do when your precious baby wakes you up at the crack of dawn? You blog of course. While trying to keep his little fingers occupied as he tries to rip your pump parts out of the machine.  So actually you come back 9 hours later to finish the post.

I had a terrible cold at beginning of week and have been playing sleep catch up as much as you can with a 6 month old who doesn't quite sleep through the night yet and wakes up at 5:30 (in his defense he does go to sleep between 6:30-7. 

Here are the random photos I have gathered this week.

Got these at Target- save your money and just buy a jar of peanut butter and some pretzels. The fancy container is convenient but not worth it :)

Chicken pesto in the crockpot! Cook chicken on high for 3-4 hours and then add a cup of sour cream and three fourths cup pesto for last 30 minutes. Had I thought ahead, I would have cooked some pasta to go under it and used some of the remaining sauce. But will delicious and easy! Recipe here!

Apple pie and pumpkin spice gum.... I had a long debate about trying it but decided not to.

Still on the search for the caramel apple and pumpkin pie Oreos. If anyone buys me a box, I will pay you back and be how best friend for life... Or until someone else gives me something cool.

First official 5k tomorrow since one year ago... Just going out for a fun run. No time pressures, no goals. Just finish and have fun! 

Lucas Update

http://lovingonlucas.wordpress.com/

Finally got a Lucas update on his blog...maybe this week I will get some updates on my own blog done :)

Cleaning out my makeup bag

Well I would have liked to do this in June, but I finally cleaned out my makeup bag. The hardest part was getting rid of all my brushes. I've created quite the collection over the past couple years and it was time for new ones...

I bought two new brushes from Bare Minerals to replace my favorite eye shadow brush that had a 2 for 1 style. It was my favorite brush and very hard to part with, especially when I couldn't get an exact replacement. I ended up getting their full tapered shadow brush and crease defining brush.  The tapered brush was the exact same as my old one but I just picked up another brush at Target today to replace the crease defining brush- it was not what I was looking for.

So this is what I am down to. Origins tinted moisturizer and eye brightening and depuffing cream, Clinique toner (which still needs to be replaced but I'm probably done with bronzer for the season), Bare Minerals Enjoy Fate eye shadow combo which came free with the brushes (thank God since they cost more than I was ready to pay), and Lash Blast mascara... Not organic but I love it so much.

I am pretty simple when it comes to makeup.

My other beauty products: 

Love my Origins foaming face wash and toner and depuffing roller. When I don't use my Origins moisturizer because I don't want the tint, I use Olay with SPF. 

I am just glad to be able to cross that off my yearly to do list- 3 months late :)

Fall TV Schedule

So as previously stated, I am a TV addict.  I have gotten 100 times better since Mike has started making fun of me on a regular basis and 200 times better since having Lucas and having almost no time to watch TV.  So tonight's bedtime pumping activity was something that I used to do religiously every fall and didn't even think about doing this fall until I saw on Facebook that the Biggest Loser premiered tonight.  So here is my "Fall TV Schedule".  Do I think I am going to have time to watch all these shows?  Absolutely not.  But this is what I would have been watching last year.. until I decided all the new shows were dumb and went back to my favorites.  Previously watched shows are a different font.  The numbers behind the show are the premiere date.

Don't say I never gave you guys anything... Ha.

Sunday

7:00 Madam Secretary CBS 9-21

8:30 Mulaney FOX 10-5

9:00 Revenge ABC 9-28

Monday

7:00 Dancing with the Stars ABC 9-15 Gotham FOX 9-22

8:00 Scorpion CBS 9-22 Jane the Virgin CW 10-13

9:00 State of Affairs 11-17

Tuesday

7:00 Selfie ABC 9-30 The Flash CW 10-7 Utopia FOX

7:30 Manhattan Love Story ABC 9-30

8:00 Marry Me NBC 10-14

9:00 Forever ABC 9-22

Wednesday

7:00 Arrow CW 10-8 The Mysteries of Laura NBC 9-17

8:00 Red Band Society FOX 9-17

Thursday

7:00 Grey's Anatomy ABC 9-25 Vampire Diaries CW 10-2 Biggest Loser NBC 9-11

8:00 Scandal ABC 9-25 Reign CW 10-2 Gracepoint FOX 10-2

Bad Judge NBC 10-2

8:30 A to Z NBC 10-2 The McCarthys CBS 10-30

9:00 How to get away with murder ABC 9-25

Friday

7:00 Cristela ABC 10-10

8:00 Utopia FOX

9:00 Constantine FOX 10-24

Things I Tried Tuesday

Can I just say how happy it makes my heart when I get texts from readers on things I should try? On the list of things that I am on the lookout for are Caramel Apple and Pumpkin Pie Oreos and test Pillsbury pumpkin cookies.. I love all things fall (except the colder weather and start of my job again- just kidding on one of those...)

I don't always just try food products. I've always heard rave reviews about these wipes but with smells like grapefruit, blueberry and carrot I could never get on the bandwagon. But coconut?!? I can definitely do that.

Unfortunately my skin was a little too sensitive for these wipes. I am hoping it will get better because I love the smell and how clean they made my skin feel but they left it a little irritated the first try. 

I am a big fan of the idea of salads but I am not one who is going to throw a good one together myself. So I was excited to find these Dole companions for a reasonable price. I tried two different kinds (failed to get a pic of the first) and they were pretty good. I divided it into two servings and I had plenty of toppings and dressing. 

I meant to talk about this yogurt when I did my huge yogurt review a couple weeks ago BUT I forgot it in the fridge at one of my districts so I left a friend eat it for me. I managed to pick myself up another one (Hy-vee find) and we both agree- it's amazing. Its dessert in yogurt form! 

Lucas had his 6 month checkup today after turning 6 months yesterday. He did great and a full update will be on his blog in the next day or two. 

What I ate on Wednesday- Friday edition

Breakfast was a bowl of this delicious cereal with a big coffee!

Lean cuisine breakfast sandwich was second breakfast... Not such a fan I these. The English muffin gets a little tough.

I forgot to take a picture of the main part of my lunch until it was on the garbage- nothing special. Lean cuisine spaghetti and meatballs.

Side dishes included:

Yes to my favorite Chia seed filler and yes to the new slammer (they have a vegetable- fruit mix I need to try... I hate eating vegetables by themselves) and NO to Honest root beer unless you like diet root beer- tastes about the same.

Driving home I am ashamed to admit I ate an entire bag of jerky!

And somewhere in there I also had some pumpkin yogurt... Mike almost died when he saw the price ($2 something a container) but it's so good! 

Supper was a Pinterest recipe... Cheeseburger Sliders. Definitely a good one! Just put a pound of hamburger in a small baking dish, bake 25 minutes at 400 degrees, drain the fat and put some cheese on and bake for another 5 minutes. Cut into four patties and enjoy!

I also snacked on some homemade salsa and chips that my mom dropped off with my burger- delicious!

Hope everyone is gearing up for a fun and fabulous weekend! 

BLK water... More like Bleh water

I have to admit, I got very excited when I found BLK water on clearance at Target. As a big Real Housewives of New Jersey fan (the company is featured a lot), I have always wanted to try it. 

Yah.... Not so good. It tasted like watered down fruit punch. Glad I didn't pay full price!

Something that IS worth paying the full price (and then some for) is this cereal.

It's amazing... And probably not good for you at all.

And finally, another "Lunchable" type food... Only a gourmet version of it ;) thank you Target. 

That's all I have for now. I bought a lot more but since we just hit up Target yesterday, this is all I've had the opportunity to try so far.

Today was Lucas' first day of daycare... We all survived. I will hopefully have full details up on his blog in the next day or so. For now, here is a picture his daycare provider sent me. Enjoy! 

Wake me up when September ends...

Good morning!

Hope everyone had a fabulous Labor Day. I spent the weekend at home snuggling my baby since tomorrow is D day. That's D for Daycare. Pray for me. Want to see what else Lucas is up to?

Lovingonlucas.wordpress.com

Well it's September. How the **** did THAT happen? Somehow even though I've been back at work for 3 weeks, admitting its September seems like the official end of summer. Boo. However it does mean that fall is here and that means fall colors and pumpkin everything. And since Mike wouldn't let me have a Pumpkin Spice Latte last year because I was pregnant and our doctor was pretty adamant I didn't drink caffeine (that lasted 12 weeks... If he gets ADHD, I will deal with it. But I would have been fired if I hadn't gotten my caf fix) so you better believe I will be hitting up every Starbucks I see this summer.

The first of the month is also a great time for some monthly "to dos". Change your contacts. Replace your razor blade. And because it's the 9th month, replace your toothbrush! You are supposed to do it every 3 months so I do it in months that are a multiple of 3 so I don't forget when I last did it  :) You are welcome for that tip. I am also going to get around to replacing my makeup this month- I try to do it at the end of June and December (every 6 months) but I am having troubles finding organic products that I like... Damn those chemically infused products for the way their mascara makes me eyes pop! 

Making a Target run today- hopefully I will find some new things to let you all know about. Along with 8 billion other things that are not on my list... damn you Target. 

I will leave you with this photo. My husband takes about one photo a month of Lucas (I take about one photo an hour) and he thought that Lucas holding a bottle of Mellow Yellow needed to be documented... I don't understand men sometimes... Most of the time... Ever. 

A new drink with an Italian recipe

So does anyone else have a board of "homemade Starbucks/Caribou/insert major chain here" on Pinterest? I know I do.  It's actually called my "No More Soda Project" when I thought I was going to give up pop but let's be honest, that didn't last long.

So I finally made one of the recipes.  You can find the link I used for the idea here.  Iced Passion Tea Lemonade.

What I did was make some sun tea.  Put four bags of your favorite tea in a container (this one was a Target clearance find) and put it out in the sun all day.  Definitely one of my favorite things about summer.  I used Passion tea which I would not recommend unless you are mixing it with something-- way too "flowery" tasting for me.

Then I put some in a glass with about 2/3 tea to 1/3 lemonade.  I usually end up going through 2 containers of lemonade to the one container of tea.  I wish I could have found the Minute Maid Light 15 calories tea but the local grocery store and Target did not have it... would have made it a lot less calories.  I put some sugar in there too just to make it extra sweet.  A delicious summery treat for half the price of Starbucks!

Another new recipe we tried was Chicken Parmesan Casserole.  A very easy recipe to make and good flavor-- we threw in pepperonis for a little extra flavor.  We did have to cut up and cook chicken breasts because I couldn't find any pre-cooked cubes at Target or it would have been even easier to make.  

I love when my Pinterest ideas turn out good-- we have definitely had some fails in the past :)