Asian Pear and Pecan Waldorf Salad

I came across this recipe in Fitness Magazine this month and like all of the ingredients, so I tried it out and really liked it.  I did forget to buy a pear (really?) so I substituted apple and then I also added in carrots because they are good and some grilled chicken breasts to make it a more substantial meal.

Asian Pear and Pecan Waldorf Salad
From Fitness Magazine

Ingredients
1/3 cup reduced-fat mayo
3 tablespoons plain Greek yogurt
3 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 teaspoon dijon mustard
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
2 tablespoons chopped fresh chives (I left these out)
1 large Asian pear cored and cubed
2 cups chopped Romain lettuce
5 celery stalks, chopped
1 cup seedless red grapes halved
1 cup lightly toasted pecan halves (10 minutesish at 350 to toast)

Directions
1. In a large bowl, whisk together mayonnaise, yogurt, lemon juice, mustard, salt, pepper and chives.
2. Add pear, lettuce, celery, grapes and pecans to bowl and toss to coat.

On the brink..

of a break! Praise the Lord my grad school semester is ALMOST over! I will have a few weeks break before the summer session begins.  Unfortunately for me though summer session starts on the last student day of school school (aka kindergarten), so I will not have an absolute break for both.  I will however be grateful for what I do have.  These next two weeks will be BUSY though with final projects, so I've played today.
After staying up late for our staff retreat Friday night, I got up early to head down to the City Centre for the Green 6.2 (10k) with Carolina.

It was a hot run, but a great way to start a Saturday.
Afterwards we met up with Dinah for breakfast & coffee at Flora & Muse.  Great atmosphere and food!  And we did a little shopping.  I love the City Centre.
I ran by Ikea to pick up a few things that you will see once they're actually put to use in the organization of my office and then headed on to lunch with Lyndsey, Chris, Jenni and Dave.

Other than church and a few other distracted breaks, I've been working on grad school.
Praying God can help me sustain my attention span and focus long enough to get these projects finished!!  Have a great week!

It's all about You

Sometimes in the midst of all that we have going on, in the midst of what we find important or in the midst of our struggles, God will choose to calm us enough so that we will hear Him. He's layed this song on my heart this week and I thought I would share.

It's all about You, Jesus
And all this is for You
For Your glory and your fame
It's not about me
As if You should do things my way
You alone are God
And I surrender to your ways

Jesus, lover of my soul
All consuming fire is in Your gaze
Jesus, I want you to know
I will follow you all my days
For no one else in history is like you
And history itself belongs to you
Alpha and Omega, You have loved me
And I will share eternity with You

Here's a link to the song.

Mid week to Weekend Update

Wednesday we met Lyndsey and Chris at Collina's in the Heights for dinner. Perfect weather, great atmosphere and lots of yummy pizza! We had like 3+ leftover meals per couple.


Thursday was Earth Day. I usually ride my bike to school on Earth day, I drove to work that day. I think that makes me a bad person.

Friday a storm came through Houston just before dismissal. Lightning, thunder, the whole shebang. Have I mentioned lately how much kindergartners loves storms...they don't and they were scared and it was hectic, but we made it through. Friday night our cable/internet was out after the storm, but what a blessing that was. Cody and I were able to have quality time with one another without tv/computers to distract us. We even ate dinner outside (I love eating meals outside).

Saturday I got up for a 6 mile run and walked outside in a sleeveless shirt and capris to behold the blessings that God bestowed upon Houston. Y'all the humidity here in Houston has been GONE the past couple of days! Praise the Lord! It was cold and I loved it! Now if only it will stay this way a little longer. I'm afraid to check the weather report for fear of it all returning.

I went later on that day to see The Lucky One. Loved the movie! It didn't follow the book that closely, but once I gave up on scrutinizing the differences, I really enjoyed. What girl doesn't love a chick-flick!? The song at the closing of the movie, The Story, will forever be associated with the movie. Do y'all do that too? There are certain songs that each time that I hear them I associate them with memories, tv shows or movies. Feels like Home will always be associated with How to Lose a Guy in 10 days. Breathe will always be associated with Meredith Grey pulling a bomb out of patient's body on Grey's anatomy. In the Garden will always be mine and my dad's song as that was the first song we ever sang together in church. Dave Barnes' On a Night Like This will always take me back to Cody's proposal and us walking up the steps together at First Baptist Church on our wedding day. Music is so closely tied to memories!

Okay off of my tangent...
That night we headed into the City Centre for Cody's sister's surprise party. It was so fun and she actually was surprised.


Sunday after church I cleaned out my closet. I had 3 bags of clothes to give away...
but my closet still looks like this:


Random tidbits:
My M-I-L gave us a Food Saver to vacuum seal food. If you recall, my husband has a love of hunting and we have started to process our own meat. I also have a love of cooking ahead and freezing food, so I feel that this will be put to good use! We've already used it for an avocado. I used half of the avocado on Sunday, vacuum sealed the other half and ate it on Friday night. Impressive!

I've started to do Insanity workout with some of my girlfriends after school. Its like bootcamp on steroids. I'm pretty sure that my arms may fall off...but whatever it takes to get ready for swimsuit season!

Only a few weeks until I finish my second semester of grad school! Whoop and PTL!

Sic 'em RGIII

Our Heisman winner's new commercial. Sic 'em!

The attention span of a 5-year old

I have a paper due Monday....I currently have the attention span of a 5 year old. This is a problem. While I'm off task though, I have a few pictures to share : )

Ellie loves three things in her life super fiercely:
1. Cody Sage 2.Her wubba toy 3. pillows (she will move them so that they are positioned under her head).

2 of her loves are picture below

Chloe makes herself comfortable on the ride home from Longview. Her head is poking out between our bags in the back. (Ellie's green wubba made the picture too..)
After reading lots of funny iPhone autocorrects, I had one in a conversation with my mom that I thought was funnier than I'm sure that it actually is
We went to our first Astros' game of the season with Cody's sister Lyndsey and her husband, Chris. Its perfect baseball weather right now!

Happy weekend!

Happy Birthday!!

I began my Saturday driving 290 to highway 6. This is probably a road I have driven more than any other. Cody and I started dating at the end of high school and then he went to Texas A&M in College Station and I went to Baylor in Waco. The two schools were separated by about 1 hour and 15 miuntes via highway 6. For the first 3 1/2 years of college, one of us traveled that road nearly every weekend to see the other. My final semester at Baylor, Cody went to Houston to do an internship, so we traveled the 3ish hours from highway 6 to 290. Cody's final semester, I was in Houston teaching, so we traveled the southern portion of the highway 6 to 290 route. Needless to say, its a path I know well. : )
The reason I traveled to Waco this time was for my sweet niece's 4th birthday! I had not seen Alex and Erin since Christmas and it was ridiculous how much I was missing them. Well I got my fix Saturday!! EG was hamming it up like always (she is such a big girl!) and Alex was happy regardless of the fact that he missed two naps! I hope my own kids have such good dispositions.
Erin's bday party was at Cameron Park. Cameron Park is a beautiful, huge park just a few miles from Baylor that I wish that I had taken greater advantage of when I was at Baylor.
She opened presents and played with quite a few.



Blew out her candles and gobbled up her cake.
Everybody got to swing...

(even the grandpas)

And looked at the pretty scenery.


After the party, we headed to Baylor's beautiful campus to pick up food from the SUB and have a picnic. We also looked for the Bears, but they were not out today.
This is EG sharing her lemonade with Alex by counting to 5 to give each of them a turn (so sweet!)

Everyone went their separate ways and before heading back to Houston, I ran by another Baylor staple, Common Grounds, for a skinny iced latte for a caffeine pick me up.

Here's the yearly picture growth of miss EG

Newborn

1 year old

2 year old

3 year old

4 year old

And since I missed Alex's 1st bday, here's his growth in the past year!

Newborn

1 year old