Plus, whenever it rains, I get to sing my “Ducks Like Rain” song to Ryan.

Ducks like rain,

Ducks like rain,

Ducks like to widdle wobble in the rain

Quack, quack, quack, quack, quack…

(Anyone else know that song? If you’re in the mood to learn this totally fun and 100 percent obnoxious song to sing when it’s rainy outside, click here! )

Though I like the rain, little Miss Sadie does not. When it’s raining outside that means she can’t do any of this…

… and that makes her very frustrated, so she puts all of her energy into annoying me and Ryan. It’s a treat!

Dinner

Since we couldn’t take Sadie on a walk after work today, we enjoyed an early dinner. I prepared broiled salmon and roasted Brussels sprouts (Yes, they actually were Brussels sprouts this time… Great catch last night to quite a few of you!), while Ryan chased Sadie around the apartment.

I really need to take a video of Ryan when he messes with Sadie. They both run circles around this one wall, trying to sneak up on each other. It’s hilarious and Sadie’s getting pretty good at it!

Within 15 minutes our dinner was ready for eatin’.

The fish looks burnt, but it was just really crispy on the top. The fish itself was really tender and moist.

Before broiling the salmon, I seasoned it with a spice blend we received from Ryan’s dad a while ago.

The spiced added a nice sweet flavor to the savory salmon.

Now I’m off to make myself a mug of hot chocolate and do some wedding-related tasks. These wedding to-dos seem to keep piling up! I guess that’s what happens when you’re just about a month out from the big day!

Question of the Evening

Do you like rain?

I did feel a little bit of blog-related stress yesterday as my blog made the move from WordPress to Bluehost. I’ve done nearly everything related to my blog myself (except for the wonderful redesign which I owe to The Blog Fairy).

I am not tech-savvy at all, but with the help of some online tutorials and many, many Google searches I’ve been able to get by… That is until I started looking into changing the host of my blog.

Time to Move

Holy information overload! Since I didn’t want to lose any of my blog in the transfer process, I knew I wanted to have a professional’s help, if not for their skill than for my peace of mind.

I want to give a huge shout out to Seth for being my go-to web guy! He was so, so easy to work with and answered all of my questions in a language I could understand (not web-speak). Thank you mucho, Seth!

So, as you may have noticed my blog was flip-flipping back and forth bewteen my peanutbutterfingers.wordpress.com domain and it’s real home, right here at pbfingers.com.

Subscribing to PBF

Since many of you seemed to appreciate my previous blog post for the non-blog savvy folks, I thought I would quickly post easy-to-find links for those of you who may wish to subscribe to my blog or receive automatic updates.

Subscribe Me, Please!

• If you want to subscribe to this blog via email, click here.
• If you want to add this blog to your Google Reader, click here.
• If you want to add this blog to your Google homepage, click here.

I hope this helps!

Now let’s get away from the movin’ and head onto the groovin’…

Workout

My workout this morning was a sweaty one! I initially planned to take Sadie for a run, but it was pouring outside!

Plan B: Take a spinning class!

One of the benefits to keeping track of my workouts through the Exercise Log on this blog is that I can see when I last took certain classes. The last time I took a spin class was in March. Clearly I was long overdue!

I forgot two things about spinning classes:

• They make me unbelievably sweaty
• They’re really hard!

I think my time away from the bike made today’s class feel extra challenging.

The instructor said something that resonated with me though and made me push through.

“If you’re not working you’re not living.”

I know you can take this statement in many different ways, but I took it to mean that when we truly work our bodies and minds to our full potential, that’s when we’re really living!

I always feel so much more alive after a great workout and I kept telling myself that whenever I wanted to kick back and relax on the bike.

Breakfast

Breakfast today was a new combo!

Peach + Coconut Yogurt Bowl

I made myself a yogurt bowl that contained:

• 1 c. Fage plain Greek yogurt
• 1 sliced peach
• 1/2 c. old fashioned oats
• 1/2 scoop All the Whey cake batter protein powder
• Three pinches unsweetened coconut
• Dash of nutmeg

I cooked the oats and protein powder together with a bit of water in the microwave and let the mixture chill in the fridge for a bit before adding the remaining ingredients.

After topping the cake batter oats with the yogurt, fruit, coconut and nutmeg, my breakfast was ready!

Scoop it Up!

Tuesday Breakfast

Great combo!

Doggie Halloween costumes!

I wanted to wait to purchase Sadie’s Halloween costume with Ryan, but I have a feeling this one may be the winner:

Not only is the costume pink and totally adorable, but Sadie actually has a thing for pigs. Her first toy was a stuffed pig and her grandmas have added to her pig collection.

Puppy Sadie flash back… 

She was the cutest lil’ puppy in the world!

Unfortunately for Sadie, this particular trip to PetSmart was not all fun and games.

We had business to attend to.

Sadie’s nails were in desperate need of clipping. Nail clipping and Sadie simply do not mix.

Get me outta here!!!

Luckily, we can turn her over to the people at PetSmart and within 10 minutes we have our dog back sans talons.

While I waited for Sadie, I visited the other animals and had to pry myself away from the kittens. They were so stinkin’ cute!

I thought Sadie would be done sooner than she was, so I wasted time creating this Where’s Waldo picture for you guys:

Where’s Julie?

Okay, so I wasn’t exactly well camouflaged…

Eventually Sadie was done and in a much better mood! She wanted to sniff and explore, so we spent some time wandering around the store before stopping by the puppy training class to say hello.

Sadie actually graduated from the puppy training class at PetSmart about two and a half years ago.

She’s a good little shaker.

Dinner

With clipped nails and wagging tails (Sadie, not me), we headed home to get crackin’ in the kitchen.

On the menu this evening was Hormel peppercorn pork tenderloin with roasted Brussels sprouts and zucchini.

Ryan picked up the pork at the grocery store yesterday and we both thought it had a ton of potential. It smelled fantastic as it was cooking in the oven.

Unfortunately the end result was way too salty for me. I ate my portion, but wouldn’t buy this tenderloin again.

At least the veggies were great! Ya can’t go wrong with simple roasted vegetables.

I’m off to polish off the second half of yet another cookie from my bridal shower. These things are the JAM!

Sleep well tonight, friends!

Though I loved all of the flavors in the salad (feta cheese, mmm, olives, mmm), the flavor combination that really stuck with me was the watermelon and mint duo.

Watermelon is already quite refreshing on its own, but when paired with fresh mint leaves, it reaches a whole new level of refreshment.

Watermelon + Mint

I enjoyed a big bowl of cubed watermelon with fresh mint leaves during lunch today and the combination of the two flavors was just as fantastic as I remembered.

Just to keep you guessing, I included some other totally random foods in my midday meal.

Along with the watermelon, I also had a bowl of lobster-flavored imitation crab meat and a cup of Greek yogurt.

Gimme!

I think Sadie wanted in on that fakie lobster meat.

Crab? Lobster? Fish? Delish!

The Spread

I also enjoyed this monster of a cookie that was leftover from my bridal shower.

Cookie Monster

Yum.

PBfingers.com Update

As some of you may have noticed, my blog, which is normally located at PBFingers.com, is in the process of changing hosts. While undergoing this transition, I’ll be posting here at peanutbutterfingers.wordpress.com, but PBFingers.com should be back up and operational this evening!

Sometimes my body is physically exhausted and other times I feel mentally drained.

Today my mind feels shot!

Apparently date nights and bridal showers are more draining than I thought!

Fortunately my body felt totally rested, so this morning’s BodyPump class went well! The teacher incorporated the  bicep track  from the newest release into today’s class and I loved it. Our class will do the new release in its entirety next week and I can’t wait!

Breakfast

After BodyPump and a walk around the lake near our apartment with Sadie, I was ready to eat!

I made myself a peanut butter and pumpkin sandwich using the PB2/pumpkin ratio I used for last week’s pumpkin peanut butter French toast.

PB2 + Pumpkin

I spiced up the sandwich a bit with some nutmeg and coconut shavings.

Oh La La!

Open Faced

I purchased the unsweetened coconut shavings at The Fresh Market yesterday and can’t seem to keep my lil’ mitts out of the container.

Coconut

I am a huge coconut love-ahh!

Smooshed Together

Question of the Morning

Do you ever feel like only one part of your body is tired? Just the bod or just the brain?

My sister (who is also my maid of honor) and my mom have been working for months to plan this special day for me. I’ve seen the two of them whispering and I’ve been shunned out of various rooms in my parents house the past few times I visited my family in St. Pete, so it was wonderful to see all of their hard work and planning come to fruition!

They planned my bridal shower at the Tuscawilla Country Club, located in Winter Springs.

Ryan’s mom and I headed over to the country club together just before 11 a.m.

After hugging my mom and sister hello, I immediately noticed these delicious lookin’ little beauties.

My mom made these devil’s food cupcakes with whipped pink frosting which were light and delicious!

My sister was quite crafty when planning the event and clearly spent a lot of time on the cute little details.

Her little table markers were oh-so-Martha Stewart!

My mom and sister also handmade the favors for all of the shower attendees.

Not only were their cookies adorable, but they were also very tasty!

They even made a special bridal one for me which I absolutely loved.

Aside from my sister, Laurel was my only bridesmaid who was able to make it to the shower (everyone else lives in Chicago, Texas or Iowa) and she showed her true bridesmaid prowess when it came the the “How Well Do You Know the Bride” trivia game.

Laurel and I lived together our sophomore through senior year in college, so it was no shocker she had nearly every answer down pat!

The trivia game was one of four games my sister planned for the shower. We also had a great time with a purse scavenger hunt, name that famous duo challenge and a trivia game involving questions she asked Ryan ahead of time that I had to guess the answers to.

Of course a portion of the shower was dedicated to present opening.

If you can believe it, that was the gift table before my friends arrived! Clearly my mom, Ryan’s mom, Ryan’s grandma and my aunts took this shower seriously.

I received some seriously amazing gifts (Hello, KitchenAid Mixer!!!). Everyone was so unbelievably thoughtful and kind to bring something for me and Ryan before our wedding and I felt very blessed.

We had quite a time loading everything into my car!

The funniest gift was saved for last…

What in the world???

Well, it’s Jezebel, of course!

Isn’t she awesome?

Jezebel was made completely of handy household and kitchen items including an ironing board, mop, spatulas, sponges, a colander, apron, dish towels and more!

In the midst of all the game-playing, chit-chatting and gift giving, we also enjoyed a delicious lunch.

I had a turkey and hummus wrap with fresh fruit which I inhaled! Apparently my morning run with Sadie sparked my appetite!

I also sipped on a mimosa before lunch which was fantastic.

Mimosas should be an evening staple if you ask me! They’re too good to only enjoy in the morning.

I was sad to say goodbye at the end of the brunch, but I was so thankful for the love I felt from my friends and family all afternoon.

(Thanks, Minda, for driving all the way from Jacksonville!)

Once everyone was gone, Ryan’s mom and I drove back to our apartment to say hello to Ryan and his mom’s boyfriend. I had to head out pretty quickly because my mom, sister and I had an appointment at the bridal boutique where I brought my dress to pick up my sister’s bridesmaid dress!

I absolutely love my bridesmaid dresses!

My sister tried hers on and it looks amazing. I don’t even think she’ll need any alterations made! Sch-weet!

I’m finally back at our apartment and it feels amazing to be chillin’ on the couch. I have a feeling that’s exactly what the rest of the night will entail. Present unpacking can wait…

See ya bright ‘n’ early in the morning!

While changing into my running clothes, I made a special selection when it came to my sports bra!

My Bride to Be sports bra! Perfect for the morning of my bridal shower, no?

I love this sports bra because it takes me back to running the Chicago Rock ‘n’ Roll Half Marathon at the tail end of my first bachelorette party. My girlfriends made it for me to wear during the race and it makes me smile just looking at it!

Since I was wearing my special half marathon sports bra, I decided to rock out to the playlist I created on my iPod for the big race during our morning run.

I know I am always on the lookout for quality music to run or workout to, so I figured some of you guys might be interested in checkin’ out the songs I selected for the big race last August.

Chicago Rock ‘n’ Roll Half Marathon Playlist

• La Bouche – Where Do You Go
• La Roux – Bulletproof
• TLC – Waterfalls
• Carrie Underwood – Undo It
• Starship – Wild Again
• Mary Poppins – Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious
• Shania Twain – Honey, I’m Home
• Hairspray – You Can’t Stop the Beat
• Sugarland – It Happens
• No Doubt – Spiderwebs
• The Chordials (Cornell University) – Use Somebody
• Amanda Marshall – Ride
• TuPac – Keep Ya Head Up
• Straight No Chaser – Fix You
• Basshunter – Now You’re Gone
• Zac Brown Band – Whatever It Is
• Jimmy Buffett – He Went to Paris
• Oceania – Kotahitanga
• Carrie Underwood – The More Boys I Meet

As you can see my music tastes are all of the board. This list includes hip hop, country and a cappella music and even songs from Disney movies and musicals. I love it all!

My run with Sadie absolutely flew by this morning.

I had a lot on my mind and when the song “Fix You” by Straight No Chaser (originally by Coldplay) came on, I felt really emotional. I think it could actually be a great father/daughter dance song for our wedding because of these lyrics:

When you try your best but you don’t succeed
When you get what you want but not what you need
When you feel so tired but you can’t sleep
Stuck in reverse
And the tears come streaming down your face
When you lose something you can’t replace
When you love someone but it goes to waste
Could it be worse?
Lights will guide you home
And ignite your bones
And I will try to fix you

The part about lights guiding you home is 100 percent how I feel about my dad and our home. I feel that no matter how bad things get, I can always go home and feel the love of my family. He’ll always try to “fix” things and make everything better.

I was nearly in tears as this song was blasting on my iPod, but I think it actually made me run faster.

The burning feeling in my stomach had me bust out an 8 minute mile in the middle of my run!

My Garmin was being funky today though and the satellite didn’t start working until I was a good .6 miles into my run.  The above stats are not 100 percent accurate as I ended up covering closer to five miles since I did my usual 5-mile loop.

And now I am a sweaty beast and must hop in the showaaaa!

I gotta get pretty for my bridal shower!

I do not like manicures.

Sure I think the end result is pretty, but I inevitably smudge at least one nail on the way home which frustrates me way too much.

Today I had an appointment for a manicure and the entire process took almost two hours.

I even made a point to ask how long a manicure would take when I made my appointment because Ryan’s mom and her boyfriend were coming into town and I wanted to be done by the time they arrived. The woman assured me it would take no longer than 25 minutes. I waited 40 minutes before the manicure even began.

What is this? A doctor’s office?

(Okay, I know I sound like a mega-brat right now, but I was really frustrated!)

The long wait gave me ample time to choose my nail polish color.

I actually flip-flopped back and forth between three different colors since I had so much time to think about it, but inevitably I chose OPI’s Pinking of You.

One hour and 45 minutes later, my flippin’ fingers were painted and I was super irritated. I’m not lying when I say I had three nails that were only pained 3/4 of the way down. It looked like I let a six-year-old paint my nails.

I left the salon, smudged a nail when I was trying to start my car and arrived back at our apartment in a huff. I felt like some uppity version of Reese Witherspoon in Legally Blonde complaining to Ryan about my experience but luckily he didn’t think I was too ridiculous.

Dinner

Fortunately I had some good company in Ryan, his mom and her boyfriend to make me forget about my not-so-fun manicure experience almost immediately.

They’re in town for the weekend because Ryan’s mom will be joining me for my bridal shower tomorrow. (YAY!)

The four of us had plans to enjoy dinner and headed to Maitland to eat at Antonio’s, a nice Italian cafe and deli.

The inside of Antonio’s is really neat. The restaurant is essentially located in the middle of a gourmet deli and you enjoy your meal surrounded by jars of olives and marinara sauce and packages of pasta.

To begin, we were served fresh bread.

I had three slices. It was warm, crusty and delicious.

For my entree, I ordered a create-your-own-pizza topped with loads of veggies.

I ate all but two slices… and then ate one more when we got home.

Dessert

Even though we were all feeling fairly full, we still had room for dessert and headed to Jeremiah’s Italian Ice for a cold treat.

Ryan and I split a medium cookies ‘n’ cream gelati with vanilla soft serve.

It was fantastic, as always. Jeremiah’s is the jam.

Ryan’s mom and her boyfriend shared a strawberry gelati with vanilla soft serve and gave it good reviews as well.

I’m pretty pooped and hope to get into bed a little early tonight. I know tomorrow will be a big day with my bridal shower kicking off at 11 a.m.!

Hope you’re having a good weekend!

We spent the first hour of our day doing dishes and laundry and picking up around the apartment.

After snacking on a quesadilla (Colby jack string cheese warmed on a whole wheat quesadilla), Ryan and I headed to the gym for a fast and sweaty workout.

I did a random cardio hodgepodge that included:

• 10 min. stair master
• 30 min. elliptical
• 1 round At Home Cardio Blast (Same one I did last weekend)

Once Ryan and I were done at the gym, we headed home and leashed up Sadie for a 2.5 mile walk.

Sometimes I get the feeling that Sadie doesn’t particularly enjoy lots of loving cuddles on our walks…

I mean that face doesn’t exactly say “I love you, Mom! More cuddles, please!”

Ryan and I couldn’t stop laughing when we saw her stressed out bug-eyed face in that picture.

In the words of Chandler Bing, she’s a hoot!

Once our walk was over, we ran a couple of errands and Ryan got a haircut. By the time we got back home it was after 11 a.m. and I was more than hungry!

Breakfast

I wanted a F-A-S-T breakfast and thought a cold, creamy smoothie sounded perfect.

I busted out the blender and got to work.

I made a pomegranate smoothie by combining the following:

• 1 c. POM Wonderful pomegranate cranberry juice
• 1 scoop vanilla protein powder
• 1 HUGE frozen banana
• 1/2 c. cottage cheese

The result was a thick, creamy smoothie with a little bit of tang from the pomegranate juice. It was tasty!

I served it in an adorable wine glass that I received from blog reader Alyssa who noticed that I am a huge lover of Etsy, an online marketplace where artists can sell handmade goods.

Alyssa has a super-crafty shop of her own through Etsy and sells hand painted wine glasses that she creates herself.

How cute is this Wine-O glass?

It’s definitely meant for a true wine-o, because it is huge!

It held my entire smoothie without a problem.

Plus, the glass matched my smoothie, and you guys know how much I love matchy matchy things.

I gotta get runnin’ because I have a mani/pedi appointment today and then Ryan’s mom and her boyfriend are heading over to hang out for the rest of the day.

See ya in a bit!