Well, today has been quite a busy and productive little Sunday!

Jay and I started things off for the day with a lovely brunch date with our good friends, Joe & Kate. It had been way too long since we last saw them, so it was super nice to catch up and hang out.

Even better? We met for brunch at my absolute FAVORITE brunch spot. I went back and forth between pancakes or an omelet, but the last omelet I got was sort of disappointing…so I ended up ordering my favorite item off the menu, the “Two For Two.”

Two pancakes (Red Raspberry Oatmeal, no question about it) + 2 scrambled egg whites. This batch of pancakes was, by far, one of the best. So light, fluffy, and full of flavor. Oh my gosh I love them.

I also ordered a side of Cinnamon Swirl bread because, you know, my breakfast wasn’t big and carb-y enough. I only ate about half of the bread, but I devoured the rest of my breakfast.

Tomorrow is definitely “back on track” day.

*****

After brunch, Jay and I headed out to run a few errands, including a stop at Bed, Bath, & Beyond. It turned out to be one of those trips where we found about 100 different things that we just “totally needed.” You know how it goes…

But one particular item that I’m rather excited about is our new kitchen clock.

As soon as I saw it, I had to have it. It matches perfectly with the rest of my “Live Laugh Love” obsession.

It’s literally everywhere you turn in this house!

The last stop on our route today was a much-needed stop at the grocery store.

Check it out! We finally have fresh produce in the house. I LOVE it!

We also wound up getting sucked in to the “Create Your Own Six-Pack” that this particular Price Chopper has. They have quite a decent selection of beers there, and when I saw that they had my favorite beer from last night, I was sold.

Today’s trip was definitely a large order, but at least we’ve finally got food again.

Once we got home, I took some of the veggies and made a huge batch of roasted broccoli, cauliflower, and sweet potatoes to have for during the week. I also cooked up a whole spaghetti squash too, so don’t be surprised to see that in the rotations.

As for our dinner? Oooo baby, it was a yummy one!

While we were away last week, I received a nice little goody package from the folks at The Laughing Cow, which included a recipe for their Mac n’ Cheese.

I actually made quite a few substitutions, including the addition of some fresh grilled chicken and diced tomatoes, and it turned out awesome. I’ll have to share with you guys soon.

I also added in some of my roasted veggies to get a head-start on my veggie intake for the upcoming week.

‘Cuz lord knows I haven’t seen nearly as many of those babies as I had been used to!

Time to go clean up the dishes and finish watching the Red Carpet for the Oscars. I just love checking out all the beautiful (and not-so-beautiful) dresses!

*And as a heads up – tomorrow morning I’ll be sharing all the details on our resort in Mexico, so stay tuned.

Hope everyone had a fantastic weekend!!

When I last chatted with you guys yesterday, I left with saying,

“Something tells me that today is just going to be a really, REALLY awesome time.”

Truth is, I already knew that last night was going to be an amazingly awesome event. I had been given quite a huge tidbit of information that I was practically jumping out of my skin with, but I couldn’t say anything quite yet.

Earlier in the day while I was at work, I got a phone call from Jay filling me in on the info. I plan had been put into action, and I was being asked to take part in this devious little adventure. So I’m sure you’re wondering a) what the heck is the “plan” and b) what was my part in it?

Well, here’s the plan, and this is my documentation of it…

Right here is about the time where we all jumped out of the car and screamed CONGRATULATIONS!!!!

Because Brian & Mal are now ENGAGED!!!

I am so so SO over the moon excited for them, and I absolutely LOVED that Brian asked me to document this extremely special moment for them. I was basically freaking out the whole time we were waiting for them to walk up the street…it was such a rush! I felt like I was playing paparazzi!

Mal had no idea, which I loved even more, especially since we had just been talking about it while down in Mexico.

To have moments like these captured on camera is really something special, and something they will be able to look back on and cherish forever.

Congratulations to two of my closest friends/family.

Of course, once the question had been asked and a big ‘ol YES was given, it was time to go celebrate at Beer Week! Brian’s sister Denise and her fiancé Mike were also in the car with Jay and I while everything went down, so the six of us headed out together.

We decided on a local spot called Irish Times (this was after stopping at The Wine Bar for a champagne toast) and checked out which specialty beers they had on tap.

Being the indecisive one that I am, I had no clue what I wanted to order, so I suggested that Jay and I try out a sample paddle, which came with four different beers.

From L to R: Lake Placid Winter Ale, Long Trail Double Ale, Brown’s Oatmeal Stout (<—from one of our favorite spots!), Olde Saratoga Lager.

I enjoyed the Winter Ale, was not a fan of the Double Ale, the Oatmeal Stout was decent but I wouldn’t have been able to finish a full pint, so I decided on the Olde Saratoga Lager.

This beer was really smooth and was tasting mighty good last night. I ended up having two throughout the evening.

We wound up ordering a couple appetizers while we were sitting and drinking, including an order of coconut shrimp, which were awesome…

And an order of Irish Nachos. Yes, those are waffle fries, piled high with loads of gooey cheese and shredded corned beef. They were incredible, but I knew I had to take it easy since I still had a dinner coming.

That particular dinner was their Guinness BBQ Chicken sandwich, which came with sautéed onions, cheese, Rasher bacon(?), and homemade BBQ sauce. The sandwich (which I ate with only half a bun) and the sweet tater fries were delicious. Jay and I will both definitely be back!

We spent a little more time sitting, chatting, and celebrating.

And after we left Irish Times, we even went and invaded Sarah & Jeff’s house (who had just gotten back from Mexico about an hour before that) so we could share the news with them.

It was most definitely a fun and exciting evening!

*****

This morning, I woke up, completed my Full Body Superset Workout, and now I’m about to go get ready so we can meet up with MORE friends for brunch this morning! Talk about social butterflies, right?

Hola amigos! What’s shakin’?

Sorry, I can’t help with the sporadic Spanish talk every now and then. Jay and I have been doing it for the past couple of days and it appears as if we’re not quite ready to break the habit yet. Holding on to our vacation much, eh?

So this morning, I had a quick shift at work and got to catch up with a fun client of mine. She’s a lot of fun to work with and we chat about anything and everything, so our hour practically flew by. I was thinking I might try to squeeze in an upper body workout while I was there (YAY for normal biceps again!) but I didn’t get the chance. No biggie…I’ll make tomorrow a weights day. I’ve missed them.

By the time I got home I was ready for some lunch. Thank goodness we had leftovers from last night because it’s still slim pickins’ around here! I heated up two slices of leftover veggie pizza and paired it with some baby carrots + hummus.

Good thing baby carrots last a while, since they’re the only veggie currently in our veggie drawer.

I followed up lunch with a little sweet snack: a banana flavored SOYJOY bar, which I heated up in the microwave for about 15 seconds. Folks, it’s like eating warm banana bread. AKA, it’s amazing. Just sayin’.

Later this afternoon, Jay and I are heading out to meet up with a few of our friends for a fun little local event called Saratoga Beer Week.

As if I hadn’t already indulged enough last week, right? At least it’s not fruity drinks…I actually don’t think I could take anymore of those for a while now. BUT…bring on some fun new beers to try!

(Okay, I swear I’m really not as boozy as I sound! Haha)

The event is actually put on by the same group that organized the Oktobeerfest that we attended back in September, so it’s sure to be a fun time.

There are many events that are supposed to be taking place at some of the local bars and restaurants, including a few different beer tasting spots, food, and plenty of entertainment. Something tells me that today is just going to be a really, REALLY awesome time.

I’ll be sure to fill you guys and gals in later!

I don’t know about you guys, but I think I’d have to say that one of THE toughest things about returning from a vacation is getting back into a normal eating routine.

Before we left for Mexico, I was doing a fairly good job of following my nutrition plan and was feeling great. I was eating three small meals a day, with two or three snacks in between each of those meals.

However, once we arrived in Mexico, that all went out the window. I went from eating 5 or 6 small meals/snacks all day long, to three large meals with my only “snacks” during the day being of the liquid and alcoholic variety.

(In case you missed it, you can take a peek at my WIAW post from this past week.)

Oh yeah, and the guacamole? Holy cow. I honestly think I ate more guacamole and homemade tortilla chips in all of last week than I have in my entire life combined.

That scoop was probably my smallest of the week, even though half of it is being covered. The stuff was incredible.

Needless to say, while I didn’t totally throw caution to the wind, I definitely allowed myself to indulge which, in turn, does not take long to turn back into a habit for me. Last night, we still hadn’t gone to the grocery store and after watching “Pizza Paradise” on the Travel Channel for about a half hour, Jay and I decided that we were both not only starving (our bellies are used to more food!), but totally in the mood for pizza.

So we remained lazy, decided to give into our cravings, and ordered some pizza from one of my favorite local spots, DeFazio’s.

Neither of us could agree on a pizza, so we ordered two smalls: BBQ Grilled Chicken + their “Low Cholesterol” Pizza, made on whole wheat dough with part skim mozz, green peppers, onions, roasted red peppers, and sautéed spinach.

We also got a large house salad to share since we’ve both kinda been lacking in the veggie department.

Both pizzas were great, but I was still partial to my veggie-filled choice. I went back for another slice and a half after those two there because I was hungry.

Well, either that, or I was just justifying eating more by saying I was “used to eating more.” Ahh well. It was good, I don’t care.

*****

This morning, I was up nice and early since I have a short shift back at work today. Ahh yes, reality is setting in all around! I squeezed in a quick, 30-minute treadmill run (alternating 3 minutes @ 6.5mph / 1 minute @ 8.0mph), showered up, and got working on breakfast. Today’s choice?

Peanut Butter & Banana French Toast Oatmeal, which tasted extra delicious thanks to a very overripe banana and the remnants of my cinnamon raisin swirl PB.

You know, I didn’t realize it at the time, but I really missed having my own coffee last week. I really didn’t love what they had down there, so today’s mug was tasting mighty delicious.

Home Sweet Homemade Coffee.

Alrighty, time to head off to work…hope everyone has a great Saturday! Anything fun on the agenda?

**Quick side note: If any of you have left me comments in previous posts in the past week, I apologize if I have not yet responded! It was tough to stay on top of things while away, so if I happened to miss one, feel free to ask again here or just shoot me an email. I’m planning on catching up with the email inbox this weekend!

Gosh, it really is hard to return back to normalcy after an amazing vacation, isn’t it? Today has been pretty much a wash of a day…Jay and I slept in pretty late, took care of emptying out our suitcases, started some laundry, and well…that’s about it.

We finally decided to shower around 4:00, just so we felt slightly human. It helped…barely. But I am being super selfish and wanting to be back in that beautiful Mexican sunshine.

Are you sick of hearing me talk about it yet?

I’m actually still trying to figure out how I want to go about putting together all of my thoughts and pictures from the rest of our trip. I know that I want to share as much information about our resort as I can, and I know I want to fill you all in on some of my favorite moments. However, I’m thinking I’m going to hold off until next week when I have some more pictures from the rest of our friends. We all took SO many fun photos, and I really don’t want to miss out on any that can help tell our stories.

In the meantime, I’ll fill you in with a few other random thoughts…call them tangents, if you will!

Our resort offered nightly entertainment, including shows in their theater. One evening, they had a circus show, which had entertainers that completely blew my mind.

The strength that these two people had was like nothing I had ever seen. Unreal.

Even though our resort was located right on the water, there were actually only about three or four times where I went down to the beach.

We spent our first evening there watching the fire show, we went on our last day to watch the sun rise,

and Jay and I took a couple beach walks.

Other than that, we spent most of our time at the pool, which was totally fine by me.

When we were at the pool, many drinks were enjoyed…duh, they were “free.”

My favorite fruity frozen pool drink for the week was the Beach Comber. I don’t know exactly how it was made, but I do know that I would order mine with coconut rum and it was similar to a maraschino & coconut-flavored daiquiri.

If I had enough of frozen drinks, the “Imperial Punch” was my next favorite. It reminded me a whole lot of Hawaiian Punch, but ya know, adult style.

And if I had enough fruity drinks all together, then I rolled with a Tecate Light. Apparently, it’s one of the more popular beers in Mexico, and when you pair it with a lime, it’s quite tasty.

And despite the fact that I know sound like a huge booze-a-holic, there were actually no days/nights where I got “drunk” and probably only two evenings where I felt a slight buzz…this night happened to be one of ‘em.

I really cannot wait to share that evening with you guys.

Jay on the other hand? Well, let’s just say he and the boys had a good time making friends with someone you may know…his name is Tequila.

Yes, there was always something to keep us laughing.

Yesterday morning, three quarters of our crew was up bright and early at 5:30am. Yes, three quarters of us are crazy.

We all decided the night before that it would be a great idea to get up to watch the sunrise, so we all set our alarms and met down on the beach.

We were a little disappointed to see quite an abundance of clouds, but we stuck it out in hopes that we’d still get to see our sunrise.

None of us were very talkative, but it was still nice to enjoy the morning in good company.

After about 20 minutes, we could see the sun beginning to rise behind the clouds, and even though the clouds were there to block the full view, it was still such an incredibly beautiful sight.

Isn’t that beautiful?

After the sunrise, I went and had my last resort workout, enjoyed my last resort breakfast, enjoyed my last couple of hours with this view,

and said goodbye to Mexico. It was sad, but now after a long day of traveling (we didn’t get home until almost 2:30am this morning) we’re back to reality.

I feel like a have a thousand things to take care of today in order to get my life back in order, so I’ll be back shortly to try to fill you all in with a little Mexico talk (I will definitely share some info about our resort!), but for now…here are this week’s giveaway winners!

BodyMedia FIT CORE Armband Winner: #357

Haley!

Original Watercolor Portrait Winner: #30

Carolyn!

Fudgy Chocolate VitaCakes Winner: #129

Hannah!

Congratulations to all the winners! Please email me at sweettoothcourtney[@]gmail[.]com ASAP with your shipping information (including phone number).

Alright folks, gotta run…catch ya later!

I am really, really excited about the giveaway I have for you all today!

***Giveaway is now CLOSED and a winner has been chosen. Thanks to all who entered!***

About a month ago, I received a very interesting email from a blog reader, Meredith. In the email, Meredith introduced herself a a fine artist who just recently graduated from Longwood University with a BFA and is working on getting her name and artwork out into the real world.

What I found particularly surprising was when she told me that she had recently been looking through my wedding photos, had just completed a portrait of me and Jay, and wanted to send it to me. Of course I said I would be honored, but when it arrived in the mail, I absolutely could not get over just how talented she is.

Just look at how close it is to the actual photo! She is definitely an amazing talent.

Meredith does a lot of watercolor pet and people portraits, which you can see examples of on both her blog and in her etsy shop, Mica Galleries. The good news is that if you’d like to purchase a portrait from Meredith, you can use the code “SWEETTOOTH” at her Etsy checkout and you’ll receive a 25% discount off of your purchase!

The great news is that Meredith has generously offered to do a giveaway for an 8″x10″ watercolor portrait. How awesome is that, right? I could think of so many things that one of her portraits could be a phenomenal gift for!

***Giveaway is now CLOSED and a winner has been chosen. Thanks to all who entered!***

To Enter: Leave a comment on this post saying who you would like to have a portrait of, if you were to win.

I will randomly choose a winner on Friday, February 24th. Good Luck!

If you’re interested in working with Meredith right away, or want to check out some of her work, go ahead and browse her Etsy shop, visit her blog or Facebook page or follow her on Twitter.

I’ve got a great, full body workout for you guys today! And you know what it is?

Supersets!

Why? Supersets are designed to cut out downtime between sets, which increases both your metabolism and your heart rate, because the body works harder afterward to recover. This means a greater calorie burn, without the whole sweaty cardio session. Sound good? Check this one out:

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Because there are no machines involved in this workout, you can easily perform these moves at home, at work, or anywhere else you have a set of dumbbells. Need to see how the moves are done? See below…

Bent Over Rows – Hinge forward 90 degrees from hips so back is parallel to floor and arms extend down. Drive elbows directly behind you to bring dumbbells by ribs. Lower and repeat.

Decline Bench Press – Remember to maintain bridge position as you extend arms to press dumbbells toward ceiling. Lower upper arms to floor and repeat.

Biceps Preacher Curl (*if you don’t have a stability ball, sit backwards in a standard chair). Curl weights toward shoulders and lower. Repeat.

Tricep Skullcrushers (*if you don’t have a stability ball, you can do overhead tricep extensions instead). Hold one dumbbell between right thumb and pointer finger. Slide left hand under right hand for support. Keep knees hip width apart and hips lifted. Straighten out arms by lifting the weight up. Pause for one second, begin lowering the free weight back to your starting position, and repeat.

Leg Curls with Dumbbells – keep abs tight and lift leg up, maintaining a 90 degree angle. Lower and repeat.

Squat with Dumbbells – remember to keep weight in the heels as you lower and rise back up. To make it easier, hold the dumbbells at your sides.

V-Sit Twists with Dumbbell – Crunch up, lifting feet off floor, and hold dumbbell at chest level. Rotate torso toward right as you bring right knee into chest; simultaneously extend left leg diagonally up at a 45 degree angle. Keeping torso and legs lifted, switch sides and repeat to complete 1 rep.

Roll Ups with Dumbbell – Engage abs, raise arms overhead while holding dumbbell, and slowly lift shoulders and then torso off floor; hinge forward at hips to reach hands to touch toes. Slowly reverse motion back to start. To make it easier, perform the moves without a dumbbell.

Have fun with it! And if you decide to give it a try, let me know what you think!

Remember a couple of weeks ago when I made those awesome stuffed peppers?

Well, I did promise you all a recipe…and I’m not one to break a promise!

These stuffed peppers are not only super easy to make, but they’re incredibly flavorful and delicious. Because you put the ground turkey in raw, the insides cook up very similar to what you’d find in a meatloaf. Definitely different from your usual stuffed pepper recipe, but hey…different is a good thing.

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I’d be willing to bet that these would be delicious topped with some mozzarella cheese, but I didn’t have any on hand when I made them. Next time, I think I’m gonna do just that.

Alright…so who’s ready to get that crockpot out now?

Alright, I just had to participate in this week’s WIAW. I have way too much good stuff to share!

All I can say is…it’s a darn good thing I don’t live “all-inclusive” all the time. I think you’ll probably see why here.

Breakfast – 9:00am-ish

After finishing my workout for the morning (usually 30-40 minutes at the resort gym – nothing crazy, but it feels good to sweat) it’s time for breakfast. Three out of four breakfasts that we’ve had here have looked very similar to this spread here: fresh fruit, some sort of carb-y side with peanut butter and jelly, and an egg white omelet.

Our resort offers buffets for both breakfast and lunch, which also includes a create-your-own omelet station. I’m basically in love. I’ve been loading up my egg white omelets with TONS of fresh veggies and they.are.awesome.

On the one morning I decided to pass on the omelet, I went to the other create-your-own station…but THIS station is all about crepes.

That baby right there is filled up with peanut butter, Nutella, bananas, and strawberries, all topped off with some sliced almonds, caramel sauce, and cinnamon-sugar. Holy moly. This thing was unreal.

But no matter which breakfast I have, there’s always the same three beverages: water, coffee, and mimosas. Yum.

After breakfast, it’s time to head to our spots at the pool, and at 10:00am, the swim up bar opens…

10:00am – First Pool Drink of the Day

I’ve been making an effort to try a bunch of them off the menu…I’m doing a pretty decent job.

11:00ish – Second Pool Drink of the Day

Sometimes, the frozen drinks get a little heavy, so I switch to the fruity punch-like drinks. It’s a tough life.

12:00pm-ish – Third Pool Drink of the Day

This one wasn’t my favorite…but I couldn’t let it go to waste.

Lunch – Anywhere Between 1:30 – 2:30

We’ve all been having so much fun by the pool that we don’t even realize what time it is. Eventually somebody decides they’re hungry, and by the time we get to the buffet, we all realize we’re a lot hungrier than we thought.

All eight of us usually hit up the buffet for lunch, just because there are so many options and it’s quick and easy to please everyone. Most of my lunches have been looking something like this: veggies, salads, fresh fish from the grill, and lots of tortilla chips with guacamole.

Then, of course, there’s the lunch time dessert buffet. Good freakin’ lord…

Here’s an example of my plate from the other day. The ice cream is the bomb.

3:30-ish – Time for Another Pool Drink!

4:30ish – Last Pool Drink of the Day

Hey, when in Rome, right? Don’t judge me.

*Water bottles have also been chugged non-stop throughout the days. Gotta break up those alcoholic bevvies, plus that sun is a scorcher! Gotta keep hydrated!

Dinner – Anywhere between 7:00 – 8:00pm

Dinners have been a bit later since our lunches have been later. So far, we’ve enjoyed Mexican, Italian, Seafood, and on this particular night, Japanese/Hibachi.

Our waiter that evening was fantastic entertainment. Combine that with a table-full of amazing friends, and you’ve got yourself one heck of a night.

Our hibachi dinner started our with a sushi sampler. All four of those rolls were incredible.

Next was soup – I went for the seafood soup, while just about everyone else went for miso.

Up next came the fried rice, which was actually made with what we believe was Coca Cola instead of soy sauce. Interesting, right?

My hibachi combo for the evening was chicken + sea bass, which also came with veggies and shrimp. Everything tasted delicious.

And for dessert? Lychee ice cream. So unique and tasty.

I love how dessert is offered after every dinner. My favorite, by far, has been the tiramisu from the Italian restaurant. It was to.die.for.

That particular evening after our Hibachi dinner was probably the most fun and spontaneous night we’ve had so far on this vacation, if not ever. But this post is already wayyy too long, so I’ll save that story for another time.

Happy WIAWednesday!