Happy Birthday Hubby!

Happy Birthday to my wonderful hubby! He finally has caught up to me and will be turning 29 today. We don't have any big plans for Tyler's actual bday, I mean come on we have to make sure we get in our daily Insanity work out! Although I should point out we will be splurging and by having Nothing Bundt Cake bundletts (White, White, Chocolate and Cinnamon Swirl) and for dessert tonight, so it's not a total bust for Tyler.

We will continue the birthday celebration throughout the weekend. We are headed to our first LA Clippers game on Sunday! They are playing Oklahoma City, so it should be a fun game to watch.

Below is a picture of the birthday boy. I'm not sure if Tyler is 1 or 2 here, but either way it was a couple of years ago. My favorite thing about his outfit are the saddle shoes....so cute!

Favorite New Recipes

We've been trying to branch out and try some new recipes. Thanks to Pinterest I've been able to find quite a few. We made Mini Corn Dogs for a Super Bowl Party, that were very tasty and easy to make!

The recipe can be found here. We changed it up by using a spicy sausage and a "kickin' ketchup" for a dipping sauce.

Then I made lasagna roll ups. I'm a big fan of of lasagna, but it makes a lot of food for two people. We are usually sick of it by the third meal. These were perfect because we have enough for two meals! 

I wasn't a huge fan of the original recipe I found, it was a bit bland. I'm going to try this recipe next time. 

I was telling a co-worker about our new recipe adventures and they sent me a great recipe for ice cubes, check out the reviews! You'll have a good laugh :)

Hope you all have a great weekend!

"Favorite" Workout

One of our resolutions this year was was to get back into a workout routine. Between all of the travelling back and forth last year, the move, and Tyler starting school we had really gotten out of our gym routine. We decided that January was going to be hectic and thought we would start our new routine in February. 

Tyler originally wanted to do P90X, but I was hoping for a bit more cardio, so we decided to go with Insanity. I was introduced to Insanity from Nick T and really liked it. It's a great workout and isn't too time consuming. 

Well the DVDs arrived this week and I'm happy to say that I can barely walk! It's amazing how much better we both already feel. Granted we have a LONG way to go, but it just feels good to get back into the routine. I think the true test will come when we do our next fit test and we can track our improvement. I will keep you all posted ;)

P.S. I think starting a couple of resolutions every month is a great way to go. I started two in January (blog and budget), which helped ease me into the new year. Now I'm adding two more resolutions to my routine this month (skin care regiment and working out). I think I will stop adding in June.

Favorite Perk Part Two

This will be a lame post, but it's been a busy week and since I don't want to give up on my New Year's resolution this earlier in the year, this will be short, sweet and to the point!

I found out this week that I will be ordering a Fusion Hybrid as my new sales car! With gas now at an average of $4.08/gallon 47 MPG will be nice! I haven't made my final color decision, but I think I am going to go with Deep Impact Blue as pictured below. 

Happy Friday!

Favorite New Magazine

So you may have recall from my last post that I mentioned both of my posts this week would be things that I forgot to tell Lindsey. About a week ago I had instgrammed a pic of my new HGTV magazine (a wonderful Christmas present Tyler gave me) and she wanted to know what I thought of the new magazine. Well I think it's GREAT!!!

I'm probably an easy sell though, because most of the shows that I watch on television are on HGTV. I know House Hunters is fake, yet I still watch episode after episode. Then there's Property Brothers, Income Property, Design Star.....I could go on, but this is about my favorite new magazine and not my favorite tv shows.

The magazine is filled with great decorating tips, project ideas, highlights a variety of "home goods" and has a lot paint colors to browse. Below are two of my favorite pieces.

The High/Low List- This is based on one of my favorite shows with Sabrina Soto. It's great because she provides low price alternatives to some high priced items. And I'm always looking for a good deal!

Expense Comparison- Not 100% sure that is what the title is, but it's close. This section of the magazine compares two families who live in two different areas of the U.S. and compare expenses. It's pretty interesting to see how the two places differ. 

P.S. HGTV is a great member to follow on pinterest!

Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree

Today I was finally able to have a phone date with my dear friend Lindsey! It was great being able to catch up, but I hung up the phone and realized I had more things to tell her. One would think that 43 minutes would have been plenty of time to catch up, but apparently not. As I finished my drive home I realized that the two items I wanted to tell her about would make perfect blog posts! So, here we go....

You may be wondering what today's post title is all about? Really it should have been titled great phone date with Lindsey :) But, this post is about Christmas trees and the fact that our tree is still up!

Yes, you read that correctly, I haven't had the heart to take it down. Granted all of the ornaments have been removed, so it doesn't appear as quite as festive. I took down all of the Christmas decorations the Saturday we got back from Michigan. But it was a bit chilly out that day and I thought the Christmas tree made it feel cozier inside and decided keeping the tree up another week would be socially acceptable.

Then another week went by and Tyler started classes, work was crazy and we didn't get around to it. I had planned on taking it down during our 3-day weekend, but I thought at that point I should really leave it up all January.....it only makes sense.

I realized it's not the actual tree that I'm in love with, but the lights on the tree. They add a nice glow to the living room. Then I began to think about how restaurants keep lights up all year round, so I must not the only person who thinks this.

Check out the lights on our street. Granted Palm trees don't scream Christmas, but how much more inviting does the street look?

Here is what our tree looks like today....not as bad as you thought?

Ok, I admit this one gives the allusion that it's December!

Our solution? Tyler and I have a wine barrel in our living room and are thinking of adding lights around the barrel. This is probably a much better idea and will keep us from being on one of those TV shows that feature crazy Christmas tree addicts :)

Favorite Perk

It's that time of year, ordering my new sales car! I'm sure it's not surprising that this is my favorite perk! Sometimes I have lots of options and other times I don't. But I'm smart enough not to complain about choosing between and Edge or a Flex, both are great vehicles! All I'm saying is that it's extra special when I have lots of choices and this year I have choices! So I thought I would take a quick poll and see what everyone's top choice would be?

Option One: Taurus SHO

Option Two: Fusion Hybrid

Option Three: Explorer Limited

Option 4: Fiesta