Spring Break, Easter and Grease!

My spring break was wonderful. I had time to relax, went upstate to visit Officer BF's sister and her family, went for a couple of runs, and went with Heather to visit Carlo's bakery. I also finished cake class #2, which I brought to Palm Sunday afternoon with the BF's family. I don't know that it qualifies as a new recipe but I can now make royal icing...and lots of different flowers.



I also managed to get to 2 new restaurants. Casey's up in Little Falls, NY where I had AMAZING scallops and Quinta Steakhouse in Pearl River where the steamed mussels were really great. Can you tell I love seafood? I think that puts me at 4 restaurants for the year....well on my way to the 10 I'm aiming for.




Easter was a great day with lots of family times on both sides. I sang 2 masses in the morning and then Officer BF and I had lunch with my family. This was followed by drinks with the cousins since it was such a beautiful day. I love being outside in Nyack on a gorgeous day. I am lucky to live here!


After my family time we went and picked up BF's nephews for a boys night with a stopoff for some dinner with their grandma and great-grandma. Those boys ate EVERYTHING "snacky" I had in my house that night. A box of Cheez-its, caramel popcorn and a 5lb bag of baby carrots! They're great boys and I loved having time with them. We played Wii games (love the Raving Rabbids!) and enjoyed the most recent installment of The Pacific


I went for a nice 3 mile run on Saturday morning and have another planned for this afternoon. I also have some new walking buddies which will help keep me motivated on non-running days. As additional incentive, I'm signed up for a 10K on June 13th. I'm hoping to add one on May 23rd as well.



This past week was show week at my school, which meant a lot of pizza, piano playing and time stuck inside on beautiful days. The show, Grease, turned out wonderfully and I couldn't be prouder of the kids involved. After a week of Easter break it was a long and tiring week so I'm vowing to get back on track with this whole running thing and weight loss (which should go hand in hand) this week.


And away we go!

Restaurant and Grad Class #2

Well, restaurant #2 was Joe & Joe's in Pearl River. Big portions of food, mostly Italian style, and it was yummy! The BF and I enjoyed it but think we still prefer the food at another Italian place up the road.

I had a great time this past Sunday at the Pearl River parade, my friends are great! I can't say I watched a lot of the parade but the social aspect of the day was fantastic. Plenty of Guinness and sunshine. Diet...what diet?

Tonight Officer BF and I will be heading upstate with the possibility of a 3rd new restaurant. (Yay!) There will definitely be relaxation time, which I desperately need. It was tech week here for our middle school show so I'm tired. Staying at school until 8 is wearing on me but it's almost spring break!

Plans for this upcoming week off...running, gym time, catching up on DVRs, healthy cooking and rest. There's the possibility of a trip to Cake Boss in Hoboken and hopefully some time with the girls also. Oh, and that all gets ended with 2 days of graduate class #2...woo hoo!!

Restaurant #1

Finally, a new restaurant!

I went out with Katie last night, to Woody's Parkside Tavern in Sparkill. It's restaurant week so for $28 each we had an appetizer, dinner and dessert. The food was excellent and the company was outstanding! I had steamed clams in a red curry broth, homemade papparedelle in a duck ragu and a spiced pear and ginger bread pudding. (Not such a good meal for the diet!) We also had a waitress who cracked us up, she was so chatty and conversational about everything. She was also very focused on "her boss" who she referred to at least a half dozen times. It was refreshing to hear an employee talk so nicely about their employer.

I made it to the gym Monday...Thursday is looking like my next chance to get there. Thursday is also parent-teacher conferences at school so it'll have be a quick workout. Saturday is going to be New Class day! Not sure what it's going to be yet, but maybe spinning.

Diet is going alright. I haven't gained any lately, just trying to get through this week with that goal. Starting Friday it's back on the "losing" track.

One more bag going to Goodwill is in the car and ready to get dropped, just have to do it.

Oh, Deer?

March 2nd Update....February go the best of me but I'm back on track. However, I made some awesome cakes (Andy's b'day cake is the pic today.) went on a great mini-vacation with the BF and ate EVERYTHING! I'm starting to feel much better today so I'm here for an update at the end of month 2. The BF is very supportive and we're trying to support each other. My resolutions 1-3 line up with stuff he wants to accomplish as well so it's nice to have a partner. Maybe it's time to share this blog with more people...

1. Lose 20 lbs
I'm still at 6 down...14 to go. I started back at the gym today after a week's break.

2. Cook 20 new recipes, 10 of them must be healthy.
So far I've cooked 6 new recipes, the icing for class is definitely NOT healthy, but it's useful. The brussel sprouts, beef burguignone (sp??) chicken spinach wraps and

3. Run a 10k in under 1:03
I've had pneumonia the last week or so. I got back to the gym today and have started strength training on top of cardio. I'm hoping that will help me in the big picture but I HATE it right now!

4. Read 20 books that qualify as literature, not brain candy.
"Gung Ho!", "The Spanish Bride", "The House of the Seven Sisters", "The Sharper Your Knife, the Less You Cry" I'm also trying to start a book club which will help in this endeavor. Next up...The Winter Prince. I've actually been trying to get through it for a few weeks but reading for grad class and life overall gets in the way.

5. Try 10 new classes at the gym or workouts
Starting some strength training....

6 Complete 20 credits towards my 2nd masters degree
I am in the middle of my first 3 credit class and registered for the next. I'm hoping to take 3 more classes over the summer to get myself to 15 credits by the time school starts in the fall!

7. Be able to play at least 10 chords on guitar
Oh lord....so totally haven't started on this one!

8. Give away at least 10 bags of stuff to charities
I've given away 1, started a 2nd bag which I'm hoping to give away soon.

9. Try 10 new restaurants
Very behind on this one...mostly because of resolution 10!

10. Spend 10-20 minutes every week working on budgeting in an effort to save more and spend less.
I'm doing pretty well on this one! I still look upside down because of the classes I paid for so far but I'm planning to be better about saving and have opened a 2nd savings account to help me organize my $ better. I'm feeling better about my finances even though they don't show improvement quite yet.

At the end of the rainbow....

This past week I've done a great job at my new cake decorating class...and finally, money management! Thanks to some good talks with my BF (the king of money management) I feel like I'm on my way. I'm a little obsessed now with Quicken Online and trying to get my spending under control. My only freak-out so far was when I looked at the analysis and was told I spent over $1300 on groceries in January!! I was shocked and VERY worried until I realized that my rent check had been itemized as groceries. OOPS!! This week I set up a separate savings account for graduate school, planned out how much I have to spend on groceries and going out and still have some left over for shoes. It's a good start...now I just need to keep it up!

Monday night is now Cake Decorating night with Heather. This week we learned about stars, writing on cakes and some squiggles. My Rainbow Cake came out pretty well, I tried to make it music themed since I was taking it to work with me to share. There is only so much cake a girl can eat! This may be totally unrelated to my resolutions but it's something I'm really enjoying.

Vacation starts tomorrow, I'm so ready! I'm planning to get back on track with running and work-outs and relax the rest of the time. I'll have some homework to do for my class but that's manageable. Maybe I'll finally tackle the guitar that's hanging on my wall....

Slacked off...

So this week I've had a cold and totally slacked off. I haven't been eating as well and haven't made it to the gym or running. So...no weight loss. Sunday starts a new week, we'll hope and work for the best!

However, I have managed to get a good jump on the book reading. I've read a few books this month, though not all qualified as literature. Elizabeth I was a great historical fiction biography (duh) and I loved that. I have a small obsession with the Tudors. I just started The Winter Prince, which is about the last monarchs in England before William and Mary, I think. Olive Kitteridge and the House of The Seven Sisters are the other books I've read. I didn't care too much for Olive and the 7 Sisters was good but a little strange.

I haven't started on the guitar playing. There's one hanging on my wall...waiting for me...

I have started a cake decorating class with my friend Heather. This weekend, a new icing recipe! SO NOT HEALTHY, but that's ok. It'll be fun. Chocolate cake, raspberry filling and white icing. Not too bad, right? Let's hope...I'll post a pic after class Monday night no matter how bad!

Off to grocery shop for this weekends parties. UFC Saturday night and Superbowl on Sunday. Thank goodness we have a conference day on Monday, I'll be in no shape for the kiddies!

Running and eating

So, I discovered yesterday that if I don't eat within a few hours of running I become a very nasty person. I bit the bf's head off yesterday when he was just trying to be cute...so not my usual thing. Today I ran before I ate a real breakfast which should help. 2 days of running in a row though, this is VERY good. I have to really push myself to make this a habit again.

On a positive note, I'm down almost 6 pounds as of this morning. I was thinking that after last week I might bounce back but I tried to still stay careful with my food, etc. I was at a benefit Friday night that could have put me over the edge but I seem to have managed that pretty well, too.

I dropped a bag of clothes off to a Goodwill box on Wednesday...1 down, 9 to go!

Budgeting is still my biggest hurdle. Today I'm calling the cable company to turn off HBO On-Demand. I figure that's a total luxury I don't need as long as I have the HBO package. (Big Love, anyone??)

Today's plan is a whole wheat apple muffin recipe that I got off the Self website. Their Healthy Bites blog has some great tips and ideas. I need some suggestions for inexpensive restaurants to try near me, we're still stuck in a rut!

Off to shower up and get moving on the rest of my day...