Lazy Wednesday, Busy Thursday!

 Hello world!

I finally had a nice, relaxing, lazy night last night.  But of course it didn't last long enough.  The nights I have off always seem to fly by and the nights I have to work tend to drag on and on.

Anyways, I got home and laid on the couch with Marley and watched a couple episodes of Gossip Girl on Netflix (I don't know what I'm going to do when I have watched all of the seasons on Netflix, I might actually have to buy the rest of the seasons).  I took a short nap and then got up to do some much needed laundry.  I called and talked to my mom and dad for a while.  It's always nice to talk with them since we don't get to see each other often.  We talked about my vacation time that I'm taking in a couple of weeks.  I am going to visit them in Iowa for a few days.  I am more excited about this than I would be if I was going on a cruise to Mexico!  I love spending time with my family.  

After catching up with them, and in between loads of laundry, I made myself a nice little salad and a vodka tonic and lounged on the couch a little longer.  

I decided to buy Skinny Girl vodka at the store the other day because I've tried Skinny Girl Cucumber vodka and LOVED it.  The vodka is supposed to be better for you and has less artificial ingredients added to it also.  Let me tell you, it's worth the $19.99 that I spent!  I love vodka.  It's one thing that I don't mind spending a little extra on because you can definitely tell the difference between cheap vodka and good vodka (and so can your toliet).  I even bought limes the other day at Target so I took the time to cut those suckers up.  Vodka tonics always taste better with lime!

This is my cute little salad I made.  I just used romaine lettuce (organic, yum!) and then cut up some fresh red pepper and carrots and added those, and sprinkled a little colby jack shredded cheese on top.  I used Italian dressing.  Quick, easy, delicious.

Marley doesn't always like to sit still for pictures.

 So after doing laundry and relaxing while eating my salad, drinking my delicious drink (or 2), and watching a little more Gossip Girl, I did the dishes and then made Vinnie a yummy grilled cheese (poor baby is getting sick of leftover ziti).  He got home from work late again so we didn't get to see much of each other before I passed out but we did manage to cuddle and watch an episode of Friends first.  It sucks that we haven't gotten to see each other much lately because our schedules are so opposite/busy, but I cherish the time I do have with him and couldn't be more thankful to have him in my life.  Ok, now that my little love moment is over we can all move on :)

I had a couple of reward coupons from using my Banana Republic/Gap/Old Navy credit card and decided a week or so ago that it was time to use them.  I ended up buying a couple of cardigan sweaters from Gap online.  I had $30 off in reward coupons and then got an extra 25% off of the entire order because they had a special online deal going on.  So, I ended up getting these 2 cardigans for $32 and with free shipping!  I was very proud of myself.  I'm wearing one of the sweaters today for the first time and I must admit, I love it.  It's perfect for the fall.

I actually got it in a charcoal gray color because I've been needing a nice gray cardigan.  My favorite part about it is that it has cute tan elbow-patches that make it a little more unique and not just a plain sweater.  It's really cozy, thick, but not too thick, and you can dress it up a little or dress it down and keep it casual.  I kept it casual today with a peach v-neck t-shirt (also from the Gap circa 2011) and some flare legged jeans from Express.  I just added some gold stud earrings, my favorite big, gold rose ring, and a pretty simple necklace with three little pendants.  I'm feeling very relaxed today.  Which is nice because work has been pretty hectic lately and I have to run straight to my other job when I get off here.  I think I need a little relaxation before the craziness really starts!

I just looked at Gap online and they have another 25% off entire purchase deal going on that ends today.  I'm trying to save money so I'm going to stay away...staaay strong Tarah!

Welp enough of my rambling on about being lazy and relaxed.  Happy thirsty Thursday to those of you who don't have to work tonight!  I'll be the one serving those delicious Thursday drinks :) 

xoxo TARAH 

Baked Ziti Success!

I'm proud to say last night's baked ziti was a SUCCESS! It was delicious!

It was a cheesy delight!

I bought some Rex Goliath Merlot to go with it.  This is one of my favorite cheap red wines and it's literally cheap (only $8).  The best part about it is that I know this whole bottle is mine because Vinnie doesn't like red wine :)

My little helper for the night.  He either sits just like this, watching and waiting for me to drop some ingredients on the floor or he lays down on the kitchen floor and gives me those sad puppy dog eyes, begging for a treat.  At least I don't ever have to mop my kitchen floors after I'm done cooking.  Marley takes care of that.  He was a good boy so he ended up enjoying a delicious bone.

Vinnie ended up getting home from work super late, right around midnight.  So we didn't end up eating until really late and at that point the ziti wasn't as fresh as I was hoping it would be.  It was still delicious though!  What's even nicer is that we have lots of leftovers!  I made this in a smaller casserole than what the recipe called for so we have even more leftovers than I was planning on having.

I got the recipe from Sara at Budget Savvy Diva.

Ingredients:

1 lb lean ground beef

1 cup onion, chopped

pinch of salt

1 teaspoon of onion powder

1 teaspoon of garlic powder

1 teaspoon of pepper

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 (32 ounce) jar meatless sauce (fyi I could not find a 32 oz jar so I ended up getting a 45 oz jar and had tons left over)

1 cup chicken broth

1 tablespoon of olive oil

1 teaspoon of dried oregano leaves

1 (16 ounce) package ziti pasta, cooked and drained (I used penne pasta because I couldn't find ziti)

2 cups of shredded mozzarella cheese

1 cup grated parmesan cheese

Instructions:

1.  Preheat oven at 350

2.  In a large skillet - heat oil and cook onions for 8 minutes, add garlic and cook for one minute.  Add beef and cook until no longer pink (drain excess fat)

3.  Stir in sauce, chicken broth, pepper, salt, onion powder, garlic powder, and oregano.  Heat through.

4.  Stir 1 cup of sauce into the cooked ziti pasta.

5.  Place 1/2 of the ziti into a 13x9 baking dish. 

6.  Place 1 1/2 cups of mozzarella cheese and 1/2 cup of parmesan cheese

7.  Top with rest of sauce.

8.  Top with rest of pasta.

9.  Cover and bake for 20 minutes.

10.  Sprinkle with mozzarella cheese and parmesan cheese.

11.  cook until cheese is golden brown.

Now I did do a few things differently.  I placed the first layer of ziti in the dish, then added 1/2 of the sauce, then added the cheeses.  I then added a second layer of pasta, a second layer of sauce, and some more cheese.  I put it in the oven for about 20 minutes then pulled it out and added even more cheese.  I then cooked it for about 10-15 minutes longer, until the cheese was golden brown.  This seemed to work well.  I think the above original recipe is missing a layer of sauce on the top.  Although it was a late dinner, it was a wonderful dinner.  Of course, after 2 glasses of wine and a bunch of yummy ziti, I had no problem falling right asleep.  I am super tired today, though, I'm going to need lots of coffee to get me through work.

Well, I have one more night off of work until I'm back to my hectic schedule of working 2 jobs for the next two days.  I have to get some laundry done and I'm definitely planning on having another relaxing netflix night at home with Marley.

Enjoy your day!!!  xoxo

Target Tuesday

Woah...I have not had time to relax since I've gotten back from St. Louis.  I've been feeling like my life has been in fast forward lately and that is not ok!  I worked all day yesterday at my day job and then I sped home, fed Marley, and went straight to work at the restaurant/bar that I work at 4 nights a week.  I got home around 10:30 pm and ate a frozen piece of pizza and fell asleep trying to watch a movie.  I was so tired!  Then I was back up and at it again today.  Luckily I have the next 2 nights off from work so I will be able to get some stuff done around our apartment and hopefully relax a little bit.

So tonight I am planning on getting off of work and heading to Target because there are a few things I need to pick up.  The problem with Target is that every time I go there I end up buying a bunch of things I shouldn't be buying and spending a ton of money.  Target is probably my favorite store in the universe.  Everything is a great price and everything is awesome.  From their clothes/shoes/accessories to their decorations and even their food I could spend hours in that store.

I found a few items to add to my Target wishlist:

These sweaters are all adorable are perfect for the fall weather that is coming up before we know it!

Cute fall dresses and a skirt that I could even wear to work!

Colored skinnies never get old!  And this are even corduroy which is perfect for the fall weather!







 

 Cute shoes!  Still not sure how I feel about the tuxedo flats (leopard print) but they are supposed to be super popular this fall and I think I might grow to like them!

I have to have this bag!  And the belt is adorable and would add color to a plain/boring outfit!

I love these big bracelets and the earrings are big and bold too!






Ok, so these are all of the things that I'm going to be trying to avoid buying tonight when I visit good old Target.  I'm going to try and make a list so that I only buy the items that I actually need (like ice cream and wine, just kidding...kinda).  And maybe I'll let myself buy just a couple of things that I don't really need.  I mean I need to start buying a few fall items since that time of year is coming up anyways!

I decided I'm also going to cook tonight because I love cooking and haven't really had a chance to cook much in the past couple of weeks.  I also find cooking relaxing so it should be a nice little night.  I love these nights where it's just me and Marley cooking in the kitchen waiting for Vinnie to get home from work to try out my masterpiece.  He's going to be very excited that I am cooking tonight!  I'm going to make a hearty meal and I think I've decided on baked ziti.

Hopefully it turns out as good as this looks!  But I'll have to let you know tomorrow.  Here's to a relaxing night off and a little cash left in my pocket after this Target trip!

St. Louis Weekend Adventures!

Oh what a GREAT weekend I had...but I can't believe how fast it flew by!  Is it seriously already Monday again?!?  Am I seriously already back to the grind, working my little booty off again?!?

Ahh, oh well!  So I left work early on Friday so that we could try to beat traffic out of Chicago for our 5 hour drive to St Louis.  I had to get my haircut at 2 (and by had to I mean my hair was screaming at me because it needed to be cut so bad!) and that took a little bit longer than I imagined it would so I didn't get back home til around 3 and then we had to take Marley to Doggie Daycare because we were boarding him for the weekend since we were staying in a hotel.  Let me tell you, I was a nervous wreck leaving my little baby for the whole weekend!!!  Anyways, by the time we dropped Marley off we were hungry so we had to go through the Taco Bell drive through.  So we didn't really get on the road until around 4:30, therefore we definitely hit rush hour traffic and it took us closer to 6 hours to actually get to my brother's apartment where we were staying for the night.  But we finally made it and my parents were already there so we had a couple of drinks and then hit the sack.  

Saturday morning we all woke up and took turns getting ready.  My brother's apartment is a little one bedroom apartment with one little bathroom so it took a while for 5 people to get ready.  Then we headed to the hotel that we were staying at that night.  We were going to the Cardinals game and it started at 3.  We couldn't check into our hotel until 3 so we just had a couple of pre-game drinks at the hotel before we headed over to the game.

 Me and Vinnie at the hotel.

My family :)

Spicy cheeseburgers shots that Vinnie, Kiefer, and I had to try before the game.  It was Stoli Pepper vodka, tequila, and zing zang bloody mary mix.  I don't know where the cheeseburger part came in because these just tasted like a shot of spicy bloody mary.  I enjoyed them but Vinnie (hates bloody marys) did not!

At the game, our seats were pretty high but the view was awesome!

Our view!

<3

Vinnie went to get hotdogs and I went to the bathroom.  When I came out Kiefer was sitting at the table watching our drinks.  I just thought it was hilarious that he was sitting my himself with 5 full drinks in front of him!  Haha

Yummy!  Ballpark hotdog!

The Cardinals won!!!! Yay!

 Even though Vinnie is a Cubs fan, he still enjoyed his first experience at Busch Stadium!

So after the game we went back to the hotel so that we could check into our room then headed out to Morgan Street Brewery for some dinner.  After dinner we had another drink at the hotel then headed up to our room and watched a movie before heading to bed.  It was a long day and we were all exhausted.  

Celebrating the Cardinals win with shots of Rumchata back at the hotel to end the night!

We had to get going pretty much right after we woke up on Sunday because we had to pick Marley up in Chicago at 6.  So we all said our good-byes then Vinnie and I were on the road again.  Luckily traffic wasn't bad and we picked Marley up around 5:30.  They said he was very good and had a lot of fun playing with the other dogs so I was relieved and happy to see my little monster!  

Me and Vinnie ended up going to the driving range later that night where we hit a few golfballs then came home, made cheeseburgers and mac & cheese for dinner, drank a 6 pack of Stella, watched a couple episodes of Breaking Bad, then called it a night.  I slept like a log until I was awaken by my alarm clock this morning rudely reminding me that it was Monday and I had to go to work once again :(  So here I am, sitting back at my desk, after a busy, fun-filled weekend with my family and my love!

Hope you all had a great weekend too!  Happy Monday :)

 

Fitness Friday

Ok...so I just ate cheesecake for breakfast.  And now I feel guilty.  It is not my fault however, my co-worker brought cheesecake in so I felt obligated to eat some (I'm a terrible liar).  Anyways, now that I feel like I gained 12 lbs from shoving that wonderful piece of cheesecake down my throat, it's time to find some motivation to start working out again.  So naturally I am turning to Pinterest.

I moved to the city a few months ago and had to end my membership at my old gym because it was too far away.  I loved my old gym.  It's been far too long since I've been to the gym and I forgot how great it feels so, it's time to find a new gym and get back to the grind.

But in the mean time here are some awesome pins I found on the health and fitness boards in Pinterest:

I have 2 jobs and I'm always really busy so this 15 minute workout would be perfect for me for the busy days when I don't have a lot of time but need to get a quick workout in.  It sounds like something I would like to do because you're constantly changing what you're doing.  It would keep me interested and into the workout (which isn't always easy because my mind is always going in a million different directions and I can't focus).

 
 These are some good legs, obliques, and arms workouts that I found.  It's always good to have some sort of a plan of what you are going to do so that you don't go into the workout blind.  I always want to make my time count when I'm at the gym and I feel like if I don't have some sort of a plan I forget several things that would make my workout count a little more.

Now, running is really important and very, very good for you.  It is really hard to convince yourself to go for a run sometimes though.  So I found a website (30 convincing reasons to start running) that will hopefully give me that boost when I get home from working all day and just feel like laying on the couch with Marley, watching Gossip Girl on Netflix, and eating ice cream all night.  I'm going to highlight some of the reasons to start running below because I'm hoping that I will look back at this and motivate myself.

4. Visit the doctor less. It’s not only apples that can keep the doctor away. Active people are less likely to develop colon cancer. And ladies, women who regularly engage in intense workouts like running can reduce their risk of breast cancer by up to 30 percent.
 5. Eat more carbs. Who doesn’t love a pasta dinner? Now there’s an excuse to slurp up more spaghetti. During intense training like preparing for a race (sorry, channel surfing doesn’t count) increasing carb intake might help running performance and boost mood during harder runs^[1]. (so maybe if I start running I won't feel so bad about eating cheesecake for breakfast?)
 6. Keep it interesting. Forget boring laps around a track. Interval training helps boost metabolism and rev cardiovascular fitness. Bonus: Research shows runners who do intervals have more fun while running (really!) and might be more likely to keep it up^[2]. < -- interval training is actually a really good way to keep running interesting.  It's easy to start to get bored if you run at the same place the whole time.
7. Live longer. Who doesn’t want to live forever? Not only do runners have fewer disabilities and remain active longer than their sedentary counterparts, they actually live longer. And even as weekly running times decrease with age, the healthy benefits keep on ticking^[3].
  9. Slip into skinny jeans. Running is one of the best calorie burners out there. For a 160-lb person it can burn more than 850 calories an hour. Not like we’re counting or anything.
 10. Bring sexy back. Not only can having a rockin’ runner’s bod boost confidence in bed, regular exercise will help flexibility between the sheets — and get you in the mood more often. 
11. Boost memory. Exercise has been shown to help keep the mind sharp and could even reduce symptoms of dementia. Hitting the track might also protect the brain against Alzheimer’s, even among those with a family history of it^[4][5]. < -- now this is something I didn’t know running did, and I could definitely use a boost to my memory!
12. See the sunny side. Active folks see the glass as half full not only while they exercise, but for up to twice as long after hanging up their kicks than their less mobile counterparts^[6][7]. Talk about “Happy Feet!”
13. Get a natural glow. Believe it or not, working up a sweat can rid the face of gunk that clogs pores and leads to breakouts. A solid sweat session can also boost natural oils, keeping things fresh and healthy. (Just remember to remove makeup pre-workout and wash gently afterward to avoid breakouts.)
14. Improve self-esteem. Need one more excuse to go green? Runners who ran outside and snagged a good view of nature showed increased self-esteem post-workout than those who had only unpleasant scenes to gaze at^[8].
18. Get an energy boost. Feeling sluggish? Try going for a run instead. Just one running sesh can increase energy and chip away at fatigue^[10]. < -- since I work so much I’m always feeling tired.  Who knew running could give you a little energy boost!
19. Bring the furry friends. Dogs are man’s best friend for a reason — but they can also be man’s best workout partner, too. When it’s time to hit the trail, grab a leash to give your pet a new kind of treat. < -- Me and Marley can get fit together!
20. Carve that core. A strong core improves posture, strengthens limbs, and helps make everyday activities a breeze. And whether we feel it or not, running engages that midsection, strengthening those all-important muscles. Bonus: A solid core in runners can improve performance, too.
21. Sleep better. Runners tend to adapt to set sleeping routines in order to keep running performance high. Even better: Running also encourages higher quality sleep, which translates into better Zzz’s all night long.
24. Check off those goals. Studies suggest that people who set and meet (or exceed) long-term fitness goals are more committed and satisfied with their exercise routines than those who trudge along aimlessly^[11]. And who doesn’t feel good about crossing items off their bucket list?
25. Show your heart some loving. Running for just an hour a week can reduce the risk of heart disease by almost half compared to non-runners^[12][13]. And for those already hitting the recommended physical activity guidelines, an extra spurt of exercise can lower the risks of heart disease even more. (Just be mindful not to overdo it and cause more damage than good.)
26. Run stress away. Ready to pull your hair out? Instead of tuning in to a reality TV marathon, try running a real one. Not only does running boost the brain’s serotonin levels, regular exercise might actually remodel the brain, making it calmer and more stress resistant^[14].

Now after reading through all of these reasons I realized how much this could really help me.  I've been feeling really tired, stressed/slightly depressed, and my back has been hurting me.  Basically I just haven't been feeling like ME lately.  I've been trying to figure out what to do to boost my energy and make myself feel better.  Duh! - running and working out!  Problem solved :)

Since I'm going to start working out I might as well start eating better too right?!  Well I actually usually eat decently healthy but every once in a while I have a pop tart or 2.  I do need to start eating more fruits and veggies.

44 Healthy Foods Under $1 - this website lists lots of foods that are actually good for you and cost very little.  I'm going to have to remember this the next time I go to the grocery store!

52 Healthy Meals in 12 Minutes or Less - this website has 52 healthy meals that take 12 minutes or less to make.  Again, this is wonderful for my busy lifestyle!

Alright, sorry this post got a bit lengthy but I started looking at all of this health and fitness stuff and got pretty excited about my decision to start working out and eating healthier once again.  Time for the new and improved Tarah to start coming alive!  

In other news, I'm very happy and excited today.  Let me tell you why:
1. It's Friday
2. I'm leaving work early today!
3. I'm FINALLY getting my hair cut (sorry for neglecting you hair!)
4. I have the WHOLE weekend off (literally haven't had a weekend off in 2 months)
5. I get to spend the whole weekend with my parents, brother, and Vinnie in St. Louis - we're going to visit my brother who goes to school and lives in St. Louis for the weekend and to top it off we're going to a Cardinals game tomorrow.  

You cannot wipe this smile off of my face :)  Thanks for reading everyone!  Hope you have as wonderful of a weekend as I am going to have!!! 

 

Just a little more motivation :)