borrowed heaven

Friday, January 8, 2016

Five on Friday

Phew, thank goodness this first full week after the holidays is just about over. It's been the longest week ever, and I can't wait for a weekend filled with golf and football.

We had our last game of kickball for the 2015 seasons on Wednesday. It's been a fantastic first year with the Charleston Sports and Social Club, and we can't wait to start back up for 2016 in another month!

I have a new obsession. These Dove Peanut Butter and Dark Chocolate ~~are~~ were amazing. And now all the Valentine's Day (and Easter) candy is out. I'm doomed.

We've been catching up a lot on Netflix lately: Gilmore Girls, Parenthood, The League, and trying to get back into Mad Men. With all the shows coming out this winter, I might never leave my apartment. I've heard so much about Making a Murderer that I tried to watch that, too, but just can't get into it. I think maybe it's because Mike and I went through a Dateline phase and DVR'd every episode we could find for a few months. I liked how all of those cases were solved in an hour, while Making a Murderer, on the other hand, keeps dragging on and on. The story is interesting, and I still have 6 episodes to go, so we'll see.

I finished reading through my most recent Blogging for Books copy: Salsas and Moles. Since moving to Charleston, it's been fun to try all of the different types of Mexican and Latino food. However, the dishes we typically make at home definitely lack some of this flavor, so these salsas have been great additions. My favorite chapter in the book was "Salsas for Tacos" to spice up our weekly Taco Tuesday (or Monday or Thursday) meals. I especially liked the Mojito salsa with citrus and garlic as well as the Simplest Enchilada Sauce (another favorite at our house). This book would be a perfect hostess gift!

Last night, we tried this awesome new place called Break Out Charleston. You are locked in a room for an hour and have to use clues hidden in the room as well as teamwork to solve puzzles to get out. We chose the "Escaping Death Row" room, and I'm happy to report that we made it out with 7 minutes to spare!

Wednesday, January 6, 2016

Alright, I've Got Them!

My 2016 resolutions!

I know I'm a little late to this party since we are almost a week into the new year, but we didn't get back from our holiday trip to New England until the 3rd, and vacations don't count for resolutions - sooooo here we are. Last year was probably the first year in my life that I actually tried to keep my resolutions all year and did surprisingly well, so let's see how this year goes!

Eat healthier. I know this sounds like a generic resolution, but hear me out. With our weight loss in 2015, we mostly focused on exercising and cutting back on the snacky bad stuff. We really didn't change our actual dinner diet too much and enjoyed our share of mac and cheese as well as pre-packaged foods. You want to see something crazy I found? Check out this "then and now" from Christmas 2014 and 2015. I know it's a slightly different angle for year to year but still, shit! Right?!

Well, right now I still enjoy my second helping of chicken parmesan (with pasta!) but don't eat 5 cookies or a giant sundae for dessert. Progress, right?! I've eliminated some calories, but now I want to focus on making those calories I do eat as nutritious and possible. My goal is to start small with changes like brown rice instead of white rice and finally buying that spiralizer to cut back on carbs, but after that, we will see how the year goes. Any ideas for healthy foods I should try?

Run. Run. Run. This is a short-term one since my 10k and half marathon Disney race are in just under 2 months, but until then, I actually want to get running and be ready. Afterwards...eh, I might not run for 3 months, but that's really okay with me assuming we'll stay active with tennis, golf, and kickball. Mike is fantastic about motivating me to go to the gym with him and have active date nights, but not so much with running. Even though he's excited to run the 10k with me, it hurts him every step of the way to run because of an old botched foot surgery. We're happy he's found the elliptical as a zero-impact way for him to get cardio in, but all of the running motivation will have to come from only me.

via

Wear makeup everyday. Well, I'm going to try... I did a test run between Christmas and New Year's, and I was successful there, so wish me luck!

Better blog photography. Mike's dad got me a Best Buy gift card, and we went earlier this week to pick up this amazing 50mm prime lens. Thanks to Rebecca Jo and Allison for all the help with this one!

Listen more. Especially when watching tv, both Mike and I are known for zoning out into our phones. One of us will say something to the other, and it'll take a solid ten seconds to stop reading whatever it is, acknowledge that the other one said something, and try to decipher an appropriate response (based on the bit that we actually heard).

Monday, January 4, 2016

Christmas in New England

I don't even know where to start. The last 12 days over Christmas and New Year's were awesome! We spent so much time with family and friends in five states and ate all of the food. Basically, this post is filled with a lot of selfies, snapchat screenshots, and captions. Sorry in advance for the photo dump, but if I were to write everything out you'd be reading until Biana's linkup next Monday...