**Under Construction**

Hey ya'll!  The blog is going under some major renovation.  Please disregard all the mess right now.  It'll be up and going here shortly.  Sorry for the inconvenience!

Cara

Excuses for Bad Food

Recently, when talking to one of my best friends about diet and food, she was expressing her reasoning as to why she doesn't eat healthy.  And I, like most, can agree with her.  Many people don't eat healthy because it seems to be such a "hassle"... well.. it's really not!  It just take a little bit of planning.  Now, I know I'm not an expert by any means, but slowly and surely the hubbs and I have learned to not only pick out healthier options, but also to force ourselves into taking my lunch and picking out healthier options at restaurants.  

Source: singlelifecook.com

Here are the excuses my friend had for not eating healthy, and as I said, I'm sure many people would agree:   

1 - Hate grocery shopping

2 - Spending money
3 - Never know what is needed

4 - Never enough time to thoroughly shop
5- End up buying quick/boxed foods that are horrible

6 - Anything fresh tends to go bad because it's not cooked in time

 As I said before, I've been working on eating healthier and trying to find better options for cooking and eating out.  Below are a few of the things that I've done to make that transition.

Source: Taste of Home

1-  We buy TONS of fresh fruits and veggies and each eat it along with our breakfast and lunch.  Some days fruit is over half of my food intake.

2-We try to buy in bulk to save money and freeze the additional food.  For example, we get a 5 lb package of Turkey from Sam's Club for like $10 and it lasts us approximately 4 weeks (we make a TON of Turkey Tacos!  Yummmm!! :)).  We also buy Coffee, Chicken and Fruits to freeze.  This will give us fresher coffee for longer, the ability to make homemade chicken, and fresh fruits without preservatives at a cheaper price for winter eating and making delicious smoothies.

3- We used to grocery shop on our paydays, which is every 2 weeks.  However, we learned that after the first week we were eating crap, rather than fresh stuff because we'd eaten it all the first week.  Now we shop weekly and just make a BIG trip every month for all the pantry items, since most of the stuff we get is fresh anyways.  This seems to work the best when we set aside a budget for groceries, too.  That way we wont end up buying crap, especially when it isn't in our budget.   

4- Just like my friend, I used to hate grocery shopping.  I think when I started to set time aside for it, and really think about what I was buying, I really started to enjoy it more.  When I would go just because my cabinets were bare and I had NOTHING to eat, I'd just go to grab a ton of expensive pre-made or boxed dinners.  (And...I'm not sure anyone truly LOVES grocery shopping, but it has to be done so your family can eat.)  We tend to shop on Sunday afternoons once we get the newspaper and check out the sales for the week.  Yes, it tends to be busier on Sundays, but it works for us.  Just pick a day that works for you and go weekly. 

5- Lastly, the hubbs and I tend to have a somewhat rotating schedule of meals.  Like I said earlier, we eat turkey tacos at least once a week, and I eat popcorn and an apple as a meal once in awhile as well.  So these are cheaper options and still healthy.  We do change it up once in awhile, but we have our set groceries that we buy each week/month since we consistently eat the same things.  Now, this may sound a bit boring, but we don't eat the same foods from week to week, we have probably 15+ meals that we change around with different sides and veggies.  Its simple and healthy...and we like it.  :)

6- Now if you wanted to take this one step further, you could create a calendar and a meal plan for each day.  That way you know what to purchase each week and nothing, especially fresh foods, will go to waste.  This will help you to always have food on hand, and to eat out less since you can prepare some ahead of time for lunches etc. 

7-Another thing I do is subscribe to food blogs and newsletters.  This constantly gives me new and fun ideas to try.  One of the favorite magazines/websites that I use is Taste of Home .  Their magazine comes out quarterly and gives ideas for holidays, in addition to everyday eating.  A recent blog I started following is called Dashing Dish.  She talks about all of the alternatives to creating healthy, low cal meals to some favorite dishes, desserts and drinks.  I'm totally in love with her site right now!  Yumm!!  No Bake Cookies are by far my FAVORITE thing ever thanks to Josh's Aunt Kim!  And Katie at Dashing Dish has a healthier recipe option listed.  Too bad I didn't find the recipe last night when we made No Bakes.  Bummer!  Guess we'll have to make them tonight! :)

What other things do you do to keep good food in your house, rather than bad food?  I'm always open to additional suggestions as well!

What I'm Reading Now...

In the past few months I've been reading tons of books.  Partially I like to keep my mind occupied, and partially becuase I don't have much else to do.  Ever since our Wedding last year, I've been trying to find new hobbies to keep me busy.  It's hard to know what to do with yourself after planning such a big event... especially one that consumed ALL of your time.

Anyways... the book I've picked up recently is called Basic Black: The Essential Guide for Getting Ahead at Work (and in Life) by Cathie Black.  I'm only about halfway through, but I've really enjoyed it so far.  She is the President of Hearst Magazines, and she gives advice and input on the things she's learned along the way to the top.  It's really interesting the things that she points out.  Some of it seems like such basic information, but so much of it is not practiced on a daily basis. 

Source: Amazon.com

I definitely recommend picking up a copy.

I'm always open for recommendations on a good read if anyone has any.  Personally, I prefer non-fiction, self help, biography type of books... but I'm open to other suggestions as well.  Have you read anything fabulous lately???

Google Calendar is A-MAZING!

As I've mentioned before, I use a calendar to write down all of my bill due dates and dog meds that need given each month.  I've slowly been transitioning over to paperless.  Now that I've been using Google Calendar, I'm learning tons of different things I can do with it.

Did you know that you can share calendars between yourself and other people AND sync those shared calendars with your phone?  NO?  Oh, you can!!  My husband and I each have our own personal "event" calendar for appointments, meetings, hanging out with friends etc.  I even set myself reminders on the calendar for "to do" stuff.  Since it pops up, its much more noticable and easier to remember than the Notepad on my iPhone. 

Until recently, I've been using my PAPER calendar for bills.  I put them on the calendar on the due date, in addition to putting (most of) them on my google "bills" calendar.  I'm moving even more in the paperless direction (not 100% because I have a couple of things that require check payments because I refurse to pay a fee to pay online).  I love finding new and more efficient ways of organizing, cutting costs, clutter and going green.  I'm not going to have a crutch anymore, which is what my paper calendar has been... and clutter in my office, too! ;)

My goal is to put the following in my Google "Bills" Calendar for each bill due:

Date Due on Calendar

Date Paid (in notes)

How much paid (in notes)

How paid - check and check #, or online (in notes)

I already have all of this info listed either on my paper calendar or previously on my old paper bills.  The electronic bills that I've saved have a date due and a date paid on it, so really the benefit is cutting the paper out of my life, plus being able to pay my bills wherever because I have my calendar on my phone and online (synced, of course, too).

Additonal Goals:

Get rid of the existing paper clutter in the apartment - this will be an ongoing task as I go through old documents and shred the ones we no longer need.  It's merge and purge time! :)  Maybe I'll get a super organized office out of the whole deal!!! Wahoo!!

Below is a screenshot of what all monthly calendars look like together.  Looks HECTIC right?  Nahh... it's not too bad!  See, they're all color coded.  My personal calendar is pink; Josh's is light green; Unpaid bills are red, while paid bills are green; Paydays and dog meds are purple, which are located on the Bill calendar;  the yellow was miscellaneous (aka our AC broke and I want to be able to track what we said/did/told our landlord and vice versa.  This was the best way to do it so hubbs and I could each see without having to put it all on paper).

 

I will say the one downfall is that if I INVITE Josh to something, like say a Wedding, it will put it on here twice since I'm also viewing his calendar.  Minor detail.  Not a big deal, just take up space and seems a bit annoying.  But oh well... I can get over it because of how AMAAAZING Google Calendar is :)

If you just want to view a specific calendar, you can view just one.  For example if I just wanted to view my bills and paydays, I could unclick all the other calendars and it would appear like this:



See how much easier that is to see JUST bills???  **LOVE***

So who else uses Google Calendar?  And how much do you LOVE it?!  Anyone need help?  I'm a pro at this point! lol!

Carefree Living

"TODAY IS A NEW DAY!  LIVE IN THE PRESENT, HOPE FOR THE FUTURE, FORGET THE PAST AND LIVE WITH NO REGRETS."

 

This is a quote I came up with myself one day after a streak of really bad days.  I've decided that there is no reason to continue to be down in the dumps about everything.  Yes, life sucks sometimes, but why dwell on it?  Everyone has bad days.  Everyone goes through bad hair days.  Everyone has a lack of money at some point in their life.  Everyone hates their job at some point.  I came to this realization and it was like a huge epiphany. 

 

And off went a LIGHT BULB....

 

I want to continue to live my life the way I USED to when I was younger.  I used to not care what other people thought about me.  I have always been a carefree person that's always done what I wanted, when I wanted and not cared about what others thought.  I've even told any guys that I started dating that's how I was and wouldn't answer to anyone.... and if they had a problem with it, we shouldn't be dating.  And most people haven't had a problem with such an independent person.  My husband has never minded... I think :).  Right, honey?  RIGHT? ;) 

 

So here I am.... not caring what others think about me anymore, doing what I want, and just living in the moment.  I've realized if I want to get where I want in my life, I can't do it by sitting by and letting others get the job, or walk on me.  I've got to stand up and BE in the MOMENT and not look back.  No regrets.  Everything happens for a reason, and the reason I'm here is so we could get married (and a lack of jobs back in Tennessee).  It's time to toughen up and move on to bigger and better things.

 

World, I hope you're ready for me, because I'm ready for the world!!!!  Now, WHO IS WITH ME?!

 

Again, "...Live in the present, hope for the future, forget the past and live with no regrets" 

Summer is Finally Here!!

Summer has officially started today!!

There are so many wonderful things about summer, but I thought I'd give a quick run down of my top things about summer:

1. Water, water, water.  It can be the beach, the pool, sprinklers, or playing the rain.  

2.  Grilling out - hot dogs, burgers, chicken.  I want to try some veggies on the grill this year, maybe even a grilled pizza since it's all the rage.

 

3.  Playing outside with the pupp.

4.  The local farmer's market

5.  ... and fresh fruits from the farmer's market, especially the juicy white peaches!!  I'm not sure what we'll do if our lady from last year isn't there this year!  Oh my!!

6.  SUNSHINE, need I say more?

7.  Sandals and cute summer clothes

8.  Driving with the windows down (while singing and dancing to good summer music)... aka country cruisin' for those of you who are from the midwest.  ;)

9.  Garage sales, or anything outdoors for that fact.

10.  Campfires, beer and s'mores.  This doesn't happen often, but is a blast when we do!

What are some of your favorite things about summer?

10 Week Garden Update

It's officially been over 10 weeks since we planted the garden and it's been a bit rough...

It looked like we were over-watering it since it was looking a bit yellowish and droopy, so we let up on watering it so much, then it started to look droopy and dry, even though it's been raining a bunch.

Needless to say, I think we've finally figured it out.  Whoohoo!!

So check out the progress now!!!

 Check out the yellow squash!!!  There are actually 2 of them, but this one is bigger.... by about a half inch.  lol!

ANDDDD... We have "a" strawberry now!! WHOOHOO!!! That's gonna end up making some great jam! haha!

Jake the Salty Dog

Not sure if many of you have heard of The Salty Dog Cafe in South Carolina, but my mom recently stopped by on her girls vacation and told me all about it.  Basically its an "area" of South Carolina where you can go to different restaurants, shops, cafe's etc.  It sounds like a pretty cool place.  If you want to check it out, click on this link to take you to their website.

The "mascot" for the Salty Dog is Jake, a black dog in a yellow hat with a red bandana.  And guess what I have!  A black dog.  Named Jake! :)))  My mom brought back a bandana for him along with his own squeeker "Jake" chew toy.  Of course I had to take photos and submit them on their website.  So of course I thought I'd share with you all as well.

And yes, I KNOW, these all probably look the same to ya'll, but they really crack  me up.  Especially because through the photos you can tell he's getting really bored and just wants to chew his new toy!

One of my FAVORITES :)

This one too!! :)

This is when I finally decided to give him the toy for pictures.  It wasn't meant for chewing.  Squeeky Jake was ONLY for decoration, but my Jake didn't quite get that.

This is the photo that was actually submitted on their website, since you can see his "Jake" name tag

Is it COMPLETELY obvious that I'm holding treats by the camera?  Ok, don't answer that, I know it is.  Gotta figure out a better way for next time.

So now I want to know YOUR favorite picture.  Vote vote vote and let me know, since I can't decide. :)  Has anyone else ever submitted a pet or family photo on the Salty Dog website?

Garden Update

Our garden has more than doubled in the past 4 weeks!!  It's HUUUUGE!!!  But don't take my word for it, check it out:

4 weeks ago, just starter plants.

 Today's picture.  Look at how it's all growing so much!!  The zucchini and yellow squash leaves are MASSIVE!!

 These are the flowers on the yellow squash!  Food coming soon!!! Whoohooo!!

 As I said before, I planted popcorn.  Even if I only get 2 ears out of it, I don't care.  It's still nice to think I can make my own popcorn.

 This is the strawberry planter.  See all those little flowers and all the new leaves?!  Yes, in full bloom!!

Now, the herbs aren't doing quite as well as the rest.  The cilantro had a few bad looking stems, so I pulled those off.  The basil seems to be a bit droopy?  I think we may have over-watered it.  Still trying to figure that out.  The mint was doing really well, but lately hasn't been looking so hot.  Partially I think it has to do with the recent temps, since it hasn't been very sunny or warm lately.  Hopefully next week will help them perk up a bit.  I've gotta figure out how to tell when the herbs are able to be plucked for cooking/eating.  Anyone else out there know? 

My Perfect Outdoor Space

Recently, I was sent an email from Pottery Barn with their new Summer line and specials.  And boy, oh boy, am I in love!!

So here I am showing you my IDEAL outdoor spaces.... 
(the first two pictures from potterybarn.com)

I think I like this one the most because it also has a beach as the background.  Someday I WILL own a house on the beach!  Just saying.  I love this table and chairs with the dark umbrella.  Of course the beachy feel and the lanterns really speak to me, too. 

You have to ignore the white guesthouse(?) in the background.  I love the acutal outdoor SOFA, especially with the beach/shell touches.  Soooo perfect!!

... and of course you can't forget the covered trellis!!!

Unfortunately our "outdoor" space reflects nothing of this sort.  Our balcony has our tabletop garden, a couple chairs, and our tiny little grill... all crammed into approximately 7x5 balcony.  What can I say, I'm really good at cramming stuff into a small space.  Ask my husband about our cabinets and pantry in the kitchen :)  As for the patio downstairs, it has NOTHING outside other than a doormat.  There are so many little kids running around and thieves in this area, I dont trust putting nice, good quality furniture down there for fear that it will dissapear.  Someday when we move into a house, we'll get the perfect backyard.

What is your ideal outdoor space???  

Extreme Couponing

Has anyone out there been watching the Extreme Couponing show on TLC?  This show is NUTS!!!  In the last episode, one lady spent like $5 on $600 worth of groceries!  And it's all based on coupons, coupons, coupons (and timing them right with sales). 

I'd LOVE to be able to save the insane amounts of money that they save.  But the question is HOW?!  How do people get into this?  How do they continuously save so much money?  Part of it is hard for my family because we buy mostly fresh stuff, and I've never seen a coupon for apples or romaine lettuce.  I do use coupons for anything I can, but I definitely am not getting my bill down to nearly nothing.  Apparently there are plenty of stores out there that do double coupons in addition to the store sales.  Does anyone know which stores these are? 

Does anyone have any suggestions on websites to check and stores to shop at to get the best deals (probably on things like TP and laundry soap, as we eat mostly fresh)????

Happy Anniversary

Today marks the hubbs and my ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY!  I can't believe it's already been a year since we've been married!  I love Josh more and more each day, and love that he stands by my side even when times are rough.  It's been an interesting road this past year!  Trying to get where we want to be in life is a long, exhausting road, and it can really take it's tole on a relationship.  But as my mother always says, "this too shall pass."  And this just goes back to why I started this blog.  We aren't where we want to be in our lives, careers, financially etc.... but we will get there. 

So again...  

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY to my BEST FRIEND and HUSBAND!!! Love you!!

**And yes we blew out a candle for good luck.  I thought it was a GREAT idea**

The Garden is Coming Along!!

Alright, so it was finally warm enough to get everything planted in addition to the herbs we planted earlier.

So as you can tell we started with "starter" plants this time, being our first time with the garden. We figured the garden had a better chance of surviving us and our lack of green thumbs.  haha!  

Here is the list of everything we planted:

-Popcorn (yes, popcorn!!!  if you know me, you know how much I love it!!)

-Zucchini

-Yellow Squash

-Cucumbers

-Garlic

-Roma Tomatoes

-Regular Tomatoes

-Strawberries (below) for jam

Once the zucchini and cukes start growing, we will tie them to wood stakes so they don't overrun the garden.  Again, I'll keep you all updated...

In this little planter is strawberries for jam!!  And that's Jake protecting them! :)  I've been wanting to plant strawberries, but had been warned that they have a tendency to overtake a garden, so when we found these "jam" strawberries that are meant for a pot, I figured it was a sign and we got them right away!

I can't wait for the garden to start producing so we can get our own organic produce, as well as homemade jam and salsa... and hopefully popcorn.  Fingers are crossed I get a little something out of that popcorn!!

Let's Volunteer Together

I'm going to be quite honest here:  I've had a really hard time with the idea of volunteering my time and services due to the lack of "spare" money in our household.  But I came to a realization recently: even though we many not have a lot of extra money to give, we still have the time. 

Volunteering isn't just about giving money to a charity, it's also about donating your time and energy to a project or person.  So with that being said, I have a new goal.  I want to volunteer my time more often.  At least once a month. 
So why volunteer?  It's about giving your time and energy to something other than yourself. Seeing the other side of the coin, persay.  It's a truly unique experience each and every time!!  Plus, everyone can use a little sprucing up of the resume, don't forget the added perk!

A couple years ago on Thanksgiving my husband and I volunteered at a shelter close to our home in Nashville (at the time).  It was such an AWESOME experience!  We decided that there was no reason to spend the extra money on food we didn't need, or stuff ourselves when there were so many others out there that barely had the opportunity to eat at all.  Once at the shelter we helped prepare and serve the food.  Josh also got the opportunity to talk with the people coming in about their experience coming to the shelter and many of them expressed how they got to the point of "homelessness."  It's truly humbling and I was honored to serve so many wonderful people.  It's so unfortuante the situations some people find themselves in with the economy the way it is today.  So many of us judge others because we see they have no money, no home, use drugs etc.  But how many of them have sold drugs as a means to keep food on the table for their family?  No, not ideal, but sometimes that's the only way for some, especially with the lack of jobs in this economy and lack of education of many.  Obviously, this experience taught me more than just giving my time, but it also taught me not to judge others because I haven't walked in their shoes. 

I look forward to my upcoming volunteer experiences, along with those who would like to join me.  I will definitely take suggestions for places that are great places to volunteer around the Champaign-Urbana area.  Where do you guys like to volunteer?

Table Top Garden

I know you have all been wondering what the big news and project is, well it's finally time for you to find out!  As the title suggests, we built our own tabletop garden.  Since we live in an apartment, actually planting the garden in the ground was out of the question.

After 2 hours at our local Home Depot, $100, and a bit of muscle, we now have our garden box and herbs ready to go!  Now it's just a matter of time to be able to plant everything.

The original idea for the table top garden came from Frugal Dad, one of my favorite blogs to follow.

The Garden
Step 1: Building the Box
We read someplace that cedar is the best wood to use, since it's untreated and will last the longest compared to other woods.  We built at 4x2 box -- we figured it's best to start small so it's easier to move whenever we move from this apartment.

Materials needed to build box:
-2 6x8 pieces of cedar cut size
-4x2 piece of plywood for the bottom
-8 - 1 1/2 inch screws (2 for each corner)
-12 or so 3/4 screws for screwing the plywood to the top.
-6 L brackets for additional support on the corners and middle of the box

Step 2: Tweaking the Box

Once the box was built, we had to drill drainage holes in the bottom.  We also added a garbage bag liner in order to "protect" the plywood, in hopes of it lasting longer.  This we also added holes to.  After adding the liner, we added some All Purpose Stone, to help with drainage as well.  We are not going to let our veggies get moldy!!!  

Step 3: Fill with Soil
We purchased Miracle Grow soil specific for veggies and plants.  It stated on the bag for "in ground" use only, however we had multiple people from Home Depot tell us it should be fine.  We will be dividing it up in eight 12" squares and plan on putting some dividers and labels.  That will be coming in the next update once everything is planted and labeled.

Step 4: Plant Foods
We haven't planted most of the plants yet since it's not quite time.  Since this is the first year for our garden, we decided to go with starter plants rather than seeds.  This is a bit more expensive, but figured it was the best option for starting out the first time.

Here are the things we plan on planting:
          -Strawberries
          -Zuccini
          -Cucumbers
          -Radishes
          -Jalepenos
          -Tomatoes
          -Garlic
          -TBD
We've also planted a pot of marigolds, as they keep the pests away. 

The Herbs
For the Herbs we purchased plain terracotta pots and painted them ourselves to add a bit of spice (pun intended), for just under $3 each --- the painted pots at the store are over $5.  Again, since this is our first year with a garden and herbs, we decided to go small on the herbs too.  We purchased 3 different herbs: Mint, Basil and Cilantro (for making homemade salsa!!)

I will keep everyone posted as we get everything planted, as well as the progress on our FIRST GARDEN EVER!!  Has anyone else made or used a table top garden??  If you guys have any tips, let us know, as I'm sure we could use them.