Geaux Saints!

Happy Monday everyone!  I really missed writing a little this weekend, but it was really nice to just relax with Nate’s family and enjoy our short time together 🙂

When I last left y’all, I had eaten at Potbelly and was talking about my new-found obsession appreciation for pickled peppers (my mouth MIGHT have started watering just typing the name out).  Once we were done with lunch and relaxing at Nate’s dad’s house, we headed to Allen (in the north Dallas area) which was where the surprise party was going to be.  We had to get there early to help set up a little bit!  First, we stopped off at the hotel my MIL and sister-in-law (SIL) were staying at.  I snacked on this yummy bag of chocolate-covered Macadamia nuts:

And a sugar-free vanilla nonfat Misto before we got to the restaurant.

The party was at my brother-in-law’s (JD) favorite restaurant, Dodie’s.  There might or might not have been some goofing around with both of my SIL’s, Chrissy + Brooke:

JD is a rockstar with a crane, and it’s a really cool thing that he loves (that and boats), so that’s what his cake was decorated with!  Can you believe that Brooke and one of her friends made this whole thing?  I was super impressed!

And now…the unhealthy eats for the night!  There were platters of cheese fries:

Homemade chips and dips, bacon-wrapped jalapeno poppers, and quesadillas!

Quinn, looking adorable as always 🙂

I had a Guinness (more like 1.5) to drink along with TONS of agua!

My amazingly hot husband was the videographer for the evening!  I swear, he’s one of those guys that’s good at everything 🙂

Our nephews were there too, but sometimes adult party time ain’t so cool for the youngsters, right Micah?

JD was so surprised!  Nate + I were part of the surprise, but he even had a lifelong friend of his drive in from Little Rock to come to the party!  I’m pretty sure I saw this smile on his face all night 🙂

When we finally settled down to eat, Nate and I decided to split the Lettuce Wrap fajitas (no tortillas, obvi).  This steak was phenomenal!

Rice + beans in the same dish

Pico + sour cream on the side

And some iceburg to wrap it all up in

The verdict?  The steak was great, but everything else was not so hot.  The lettuce was still super watery and made all the flavor run out.  We both ended up just eating everything with forks instead.  Thinking back, we should’ve just shredded up the lettuce and made a salad out of it!  Got some pics of the 3 kiddos:

After the party we went over to JD + Brooke’s house to check out the new set-up, then headed over to Scott + Lauren’s house to hang out for a little bit.  They’ve been friends with Nate ever since he moved to Plano from Little Rock, and they are just the sweetest people!  They are moving to Memphis for a couple years for Scott’s dentistry residency, so we’re going to miss them even more than we already do.  Guys, Denver’s a great place to live!  We’re just sayin’… 🙂

Sunday morning we got up early and ate at La Madeleine (we miss it oh.so.much).  I was excited to do a little more health-conscious breakfast 🙂

I got oatmeal with blueberries and pecans:

Strawberries Romanoff (a light sour cream/Brandy sauce)

A slice of whole wheat bread with strawberry/rhubarb preserves:

And coffee!

Nate got this amazing, mouth-watering concoction:

French toast with strawberries, blueberries, Mandarin oranges, maple syrup, and whipped cream.  SWOON.

We went to our church in Dallas and listened to a mind-blowing sermon about worry (if you click on the link, the title is “Life’s Too Short”).  My sister and her boyfriend Chad came as well!  They even drove all the way back up to Allen with us for a birthday lunch for JD 🙂  Sooooo cute:

Obviously there were chips + salsa:

Along with bean dip, queso, and avocado ranch:

Me + Salah!  I love my baby sister 🙂

Nate and I split the brisket tacos:

Once we all left, we headed to Central Market, my FAVORITE grocery store in the world.  I love Whole Foods, but Central Market kicks tail; it has great organic and non-organic options, plus a plethora of international things too!  I loved the massive bins of amazing fruits + veggies:

I went looking for chia seeds since I haven’t been able to find any locally and am trying to avoid shipping charges.  They didn’t have any (sad!), but Nate and I were able to find some really cool beers for SuperBowl Sunday!  This was the first one…it was $10, and we basically bought it because  IT CAME IN A STONE BOTTLE. That’s amazing, even if you don’t like beer!

My husband is so hard core 🙂

Sadly, the beer was not that great; I really didn’t like the hoppiness of it, and it tasted spicy in a bad way.  The bottle is still amazing though!

We also got this beer (woohoo for porters!)

This was MUCH better and I sipped on this throughout the game.  Sadly, when it comes to food, I didn’t take any pictures because we were all sharing it and all wanted to eat.  We had Southwestern eggrolls, salsa, queso, whole grain chips, and cookies.  NOT HEALTHY.  But, it tasted good and it was in the spirit of enjoying time with family which was important to us. As I’m sure you can tell by the title of the post, I’m pretty happy with the outcome of the game 🙂

We got up at 5 this morning and flew back to Denver, then came in to work for 4 hours.  Needless to say, I’m exhausted.  However, I’m pretty stoked about dinner tonight:  baked chicken breasts, spinach salad, and whole-grain linguine with leeks, hazelnuts, and radicchio.  Hurray for healthy food!

I just want to say I’m so thankful for all of y’alls encouragement with eating well.  I certainly did not do that this weekend, which I must admit I’m pretty bummed about.  This week is going to be all about getting back on track with eating and exercise.  I DO want to point out a positive, though:  whereas I used to eat like crap and it wouldn’t bother me at all, I’ve been feeling really BLAH due to the lack of solid nutrition this weekend.  How is this encouraging?  It means 1) I was doing well before this weekend, 2) my body’s adapting to a healthier way of life, and 3) I feel that much more motivated to start doing well again because I LOVE FEELING GOOD.  Both physically and emotionally!

In the spirit of helpful encouragement, how do you recharge and get “back on track” after a not-so-hot nutritional weekend?  Any gentle detox tips out there?