I think the chocolate coffee beans + a few cups of coffee helped! I’m swamped – completely swamped – with work today, but the caffeine did help.

My computer is also being super slow today, which is not helping one bit…I’m hoping it will warm up a bit so I can get things done faster this afternoon.

Lunch today was some good leftovers, in a mug!

I heated up some Chicken Tortilla Soup from last night, topped it with a little guacamole and grabbed some Food Should Taste Good Olive Chips to crumble in + eat on the side.

It actually turned out to be the perfect lunch! It’s another gloomy day here – gray, rainy, and cold.

One thing that cheered me up today?!?

After listening to my morning radio show, I turned it to another station that plays ALL Christmas music :) I’ve had a good couple of hours singing along to Christmas tunes, and it definitely put me in a good mood.

 

Do you like Christmas music? What’s your favorite song?

*Can you believe we’re already on Week 8 of Project Feed Me? Click to find out the item for this week and please, please join if you haven’t!!! It’s not too late.

 

Well, it seems I’m back to my normal routine now that I’m home.

I didn’t get up with my alarm. I turned it off, snuggled back in bed with Nick, and finally got up when his alarm went off later this morning. Oops!

I guess I was catching up on all the sleep I needed after this last holiday + weekend.

The only good thing is that my work outfit today is jeans, a tshirt, and my glasses, so I’m not rushing to get ready to leave the house.

And I tried my new Trader Joe’s Trail mix this morning!

It has chocolate covered espresso beans, pecans, almonds, craisins, and golden raisins.

I just made my normal oatmeal base today:

• 1/2 cup oats
• 1 cup water
• pinch salt
• 1/2 banana, sliced

After the oatmeal was cooked, I stirred in cinnamon and some of the trail mix, saving the chocolate espresso beans for the top. :)

   

Let’s hope these + some coffee will wake me up! I’m going to have a busy day today with work.

 

How was your holiday / weekend? What was your favorite thing about this weekend?

We’re home!

My mom made us breakfast this morning before we left the house, and these sausages were great. I’m not sure of the brand, but she gets them at Sam’s Club – they’re so good for breakfast! I’ve used chicken sausages before, but usually for dinners. This was a fun change.

I had some grits, scrambled eggs, and chicken + apple sausage plus some coffee and water.

After we ate, we had to say goodbye to everyone, pack the car, and get on the road.

Our trip was pretty good – good music and not much traffic.

We stopped about 2 hours into the drive for a bathroom break and to get some lunch.

Nick and I each got a burger with freshly ground beef – mine had lettuce, tomato, onion, ketchup and mustard.

I also had an Amazing Grass bar in the car a few hours later to fill me up until we got home.

Even though we were driving for 6 hours today, I ended up getting a lot done this afternoon once we got home! I love when it happens unplanned like that ;)

As soon as we got home, we unpacked the car and got everything inside. I put away the food stuff from Trader Joe’s, unpacked my suitcase, and put away my new shoes + clothes.

I didn’t realize I still had my sandals upstairs, so I took all my spring/summer shoes out of the closet and took them downstairs to put into a storage container so I could fit my boots in our closet.

But, while I was putting my summer shoes away, I ended up going through 3 containers to clean them out! I put a few purses + shoes in a pile for Goodwill, organized the stuff I was keeping, and threw out a bunch of my WW stuff that I didn’t need anymore.

Sometimes, it just feels great to get stuff out of the house!

Once we were done getting stuff put away, I finished up the grocery list and went to the store for the things we needed for this week. I have my meals planned, so it didn’t take too long to shop and it was crowded at all tonight. It’s usually packed on Sunday nights here, but I’m glad I didn’t have to wait in a long line.

On the menu tonight: Chicken Tortilla Soup!

I bought a rotisserie chicken tonight to use in a few meals this week, and this was so easy!

• 1 can crushed tomatoes
• 1 can diced tomatoes
• 3 cups water
• 1 can kidney beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 can pinto beans, drained and rinsed
• 1.5 cups cooked chicken, diced
• 1 Tbsp ancho chile powder
• 1 tsp cumin
• 1 Tbsp garlic powder
• 1 tsp smoked paprika
• 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp oregano
• 3 corn tortillas, torn into small pieces
• 2 Tbsp chopped scallions, plus more for garnish

1. Heat large pot over medium heat and add 1 Tbsp oil.
2. Add in tomatoes, beans, and seasonings.
3. Add in chicken and bring to a boil.
4. Tear corn tortillas into bite sized pieces and throw in the pot.
5. Let simmer 5 minutes or until tortillas pieces have softened/thickened the soup.
6. Stir in scallions.
7. Serve topped with guacamole, cheese, sour cream, and/or more scallions.

Now it’s time for us to sit back and relax tonight – I’m worn out from this week. It was so much fun, I had a great Thanksgiving, got to see tons of family and friends…but I’m tired!

I have a feeling oatmeal is making an appearance tomorrow  ;)

 

Nite!

 

Want to know the most exciting thing I bought at Trader Joe’s the other day?

Butter. I think my heart started beating faster when I saw it.

Nick and I got to try this Kerrygold Pure Irish Butter at the Foodbuzz Festival and fell in love. I don’t really know how to explain how it tastes, but it’s about 100 times better than normal butter.

I can find 2-3 of the Kerrygold cheeses at home, but I haven’t found a place near us that carries their butter.

I bought salted + unsalted to take home, and I convinced my mom to buy one, too ;)

Dinner last night was leftovers and some green beans my mom made.

I had a little turkey, mashed potatoes, sweet potato/apricots, a roll with that butter, and a bunch of green beans.

These green beans were awesome! She just cooked some frozen green beans with some sliced peppers, oregano, garlic, and onion and tossed in some sliced almonds at the end. Yum!

I did have some veggies + hummus during the football game today, but I can’t find the picture! Oh well – my mom made a hummus tray with some carrots, tomatoes, broccoli, celery, and sliced peppers and we ate it all. It was a good “light lunch” to carry us over until dinner and get us some veggies.

The boys + Melissa went to a hockey game last night, and me and my mom went over to visit some family friends last night for a few hours. Too much fun…I don’t think we ever stopped laughing.

Isn’t it crazy when you see people again that you’ve known your entire life and all the kids are grown up now? It’s weird seeing everyone as tall as me and graduating and going into high school.

 

Oh, and I know I forgot to post the games yesterday! I can’t believe it – my brain has just been fried from all the family, friends, food, and nonstop shopping…so we’ll just consider this week a break – back at it next weekend for championship games!

 

I’m going to help make breakfast – once we eat and finish packing up, Nick and I are getting on the road to head home. I’m ready to see Roxy, but I’m sad this weekend is over already.