Change is the Only Constant

-Proverb Quote

Happy November everyone!  Sheesh, where has the last year gone?  Time really flies when you're getting old having fun.

I ended up not dressing up for Halloween this year which was sort of lame.  But at least Hunter got in the spirit!


Remember this? It even glows in the dark.  Am I the only one who thinks things that glow in the dark are just the coolest?  I had a gazillion glow in the dark stars on my ceiling growing up.

Yesterday was pretty low key, just went to a friend's house and spend the evening with her and her family.



For dinner, they made this fantastic beef stew in a pumpkin.  Lorna said "I knew that you would put dinner on your blog, so I had to make something interesting." Awesome.  Now I know whose house to go to when I'm having cooking block.  ;)


I was amazed by this.  It was so good!


We carved pumpkins (well, the kids started them and we finished them), played games, watched the halloween special for modern family and funniest home videos.

After territory was established, Hunter and their dog Scout got along pretty well, they even played tug-o-war together.



Scout gave Hunter a pretty good fight!


Aren't they cute??  I love this look on Hunter's face.


When I came home, I had some surprise goodies left by my friend, Amy.


She always comes up with some cute little craft!

Lately, I've been experiencing a lot of changes/letdowns/stress.  Ah, this makes me sound like an emotional mess, but hey, I'm a woman.   Anyways, one day I was thinking to myself "I hate change".  In fact, the reason change is disliked, it because we fear the unknown.  

After further reflection, I realized that good or bad, changes happen all the time.  And maybe, just maybe, change is a necessary thing.  Change brought the end of WWII, the end of the Berlin wall.  If we did not have change, there would be no children, no growing wiser, no change of heart.  I realize that, like all things in the world the good balances the bad.  Sometimes, it feels as though there are a lot more uncomfortable changes than easy ones, but I think that they all even out in the end.

I was talking with Jeremy about this and we came to the conclusion that we'd rather take bad changes with the good, than no changes at all.  The quote below pretty much says it all:

"We cannot change the past.  We cannot change the fact that people act in a certain way.  We cannot change the inevitable.  The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude."
-Charles R. Swindoll


I think this is a powerful quote because, as humans we do have an amazing power to overcome anything we put our minds to.  We have the choice to give up because of a difficult change or to persevere.   It gave me comfort that no matter what comes our way, we can learn and grow from experiencing it.

How do you deal with change?


What are you looking forward to about November?

Carving and Cardio

Thanks everyone for all of your comments or just for stopping by to read!

I mentioned that I went to carve pumpkins with a friend the other night and I forgot my camera!  But I took a few shots at home.  I used one of those patterns and I swear I picked the hardest one.  I guess I won't be a professional pumpkin carver any time soon.


It turned out ok, though.


I think Hunter wants to eat the pumpkin.  He kept sniffing it and would run over to it when I wasn't looking. I'm willing to bet if I left him unsupervised long enough, he'd chow down.

Sadly, today was the first day I dragged my sorry butt to the gym all week.  It's better than nothing right?  I tried out a new cardio routine today to keep my ADD self from getting bored.  I did 20min on the elliptical, 15min on the rower and 15min intervals on the stair mill and 5 minutes of stretching.  I have to say, time flew by!  Thanks for the idea Janetha!  It was a fun little workout especially since I brought my recent copy of Women's Health to read while on the elliptical.

I was starving when I got home and immediately grabbed a banana and some left over apple slices.




My new favorite type of apple is Braeburn.  They are so crisp and just a bit tart.  I hate mushy apples.  Blech.

I also put together a tuna pita sandwich.  I mixed up a can of albacore tuna, chopped apple, broccoli slaw, dill, feta and a bit of light mayo.  Kind of a strange combination, but it was quite good!  I added the mixture to a pita with some spinach.


Everything but the kitchen sink tuna salad.  Sometimes, it's fun to play with your food.

It's been kind of windy and rainy lately, (which I don't mind) so I haven't spent anymore time outside then I had to.  It was actually sunny today and I decided to take Hunter for a walk after I'd gotten some food in me.

I grabbed my camera to snap some fall pictures along the way.


Ready to go.


View out the front door.








It was a leisurely little walk.  Hunter is easy to please.  He takes picture taking very seriously.  And yes, he wears bandannas on a regular basis.

I don't know if I'm going to dress up this year, but here's a picture of Jeremy and I a year back:


Biker couple.



I hope everyone has a fun and safe weekend!

What are your weekend plans?

What do you do to avoid boredom at the gym?

Hi, my name is Meg

Hello, hello!  I can't believe how fast the week has flown by.  Wait, yes I do: I've been studying.  I had 4 tests in 3 days!  Thank goodness that's over.  My brain is fried.

Some good news, I found the camera my hubby gave to me and though my iPhone takes decent pictures, a camera is a step up.  For all you camera junkies, it's a Canon cyber-shot.  Whatever that means.  Isn't that the one Ashton Kutcher does ads for?  Anyways.



To celebrate my survival of this week, I got a new coat for only $78.  Thank you Kohl's.  I love houndstooth.

By the way, I got a new haircut/dye.  Like it?


And the back. Love.

Some interesting eats of late:


My official new favorite laughing cow flavor.


Can you tell I like chipotle?


Tastes like a pumpkin pie milkshake.  I guess it's been a long time since I've had egg nog.  I forgot how thick/sweet it was!


This is so cool. It's "mulling spices" in a convenient little tea bag.  You steep it in hot apple juice and you get apple cider!  Yum.


Ginormous salad.  Let's see... spinach, broccoli slaw, tomato, slivered almonds, feta cheese, boiled egg, mushrooms kalamata olives, raspberry vinaigrette.

Want to know some things you wouldn't guess just by looking at me?

Well, I'll tell you anyway.  ;) I've seen this on other blogs and thought it was cute so here's some of mine.  Fried brain = lack of creativity.

I hog the bed.  My "spot" is the middle.


I have a viscous sweet tooth.

Sometimes, when I'm stressed, (a.k.a. this last week) I take a trip to the grocery store to browse and take my mind off my worries.  I make sure that I grab a basket and not a cart.

I'm a picker.  I pick the marshmallows out of Lucky Charms and the cookie dough out of cookie dough ice cream.  It drives my hubby crazy.


I like Hunter's "doggy" smell.

Normally, I'm a very type B personality, but I'm slightly compulsive about how the dishwasher is loaded.

I (almost) never make the bed.

I didn't get my ears pierced until I was 19, when my roommate bought me a gift card to go and get them done.

I must be one of the few bloggers who doesn't particularly care for oatmeal.  Sure, I'll eat it once in a while, especially when it starts getting cold, but you'll hardly see it here.

In a little bit, I'm off to my friend's house to carve up a pumpkin.  I grabbed one after my chem midterm tonight and was too stubborn for a cart.  Imagine me lugging a big 'ol pumpkin across the parking lot.  Whew!

So, what's one thing I don't know about you?

Let's Talk Food

Oh, let me tell you. I am SORE. I did a killer lower body work out on Monday and still walking around like a drunk cripple. It feels good to have incorporated exercise back into my regular routine, even it it's only 15-20 minutes per day. Every little bit counts and Hunter is definitely enjoying the extra walks!

AND my recent goal to eat healthier has been coming along pretty well. I definitely feel and see a difference already!

Wednesday is my favorite day. Not necessarily because it's the middle of the week (but that's certainly a plus) but because it means that the bulk of my classes are done for the week. All that's left is math tomorrow and chem lab on Saturday (yes, you read that right SATURDAY-- there's no way around the fact that class on Saturday afternoon sucks) Whew! Time to catch up on my DVR recordings. Currently on the list are: Real Housewives of Atlanta & Beverly Hills, America's Next Top Model, Millionaire Matchmaker, The Event and Biggest Loser. I know, a pretty shallow line-up, but with my class schedule I don't want to think when I'm relaxing!

Last week, I had a little middle of the semester crisis where I felt like I couldn't take much more and the end of the semester seemed so far off. Just when I felt like my head was barely above water, I discovered that I had gotten the extra credit question--worth 10 points--on my last A&P exam. Yay! I love it when I finally catch a break.

I choose not to make every post about food because 1) a lot of my food is boring, 2) I'm too hungry to remember to take a picture, or 3) I eat a lot of leftovers.

I try to do a bunch of cooking over the weekend so that I have lots of healthy quick options during the week. This weekend I made:

-steamed carrots and broccoli

-brown rice (so good with a little sweet chili sauce)

-whipped sweet potatoes

-corn bread

Sorry Hunter, none for you.

Apple butter optional. After buying a jar when visiting my parents, I begged my mom to send me a case of this scrumptious spread. Thanks mom!

It may or may not help with math homework.

-Baked turkey cheesy ziti

I was skeptical about this dish because sometimes ground turkey tastes dry in recipes, but not in this! It was the perfect balance of turkey, spices, tomatoes cheese and penne. More than happy to eat several meals of this!

-lemon pepper rotisserie chicken (ok, ok, this I bought at the grocery store)

-Lemon pepper stirfry (made with some of the lemon pepper chicken- sneaky!)

After craving mongolian BBQ, I'm so glad I whipped this up instead! Green pepper, red pepper, cauliflower, mushrooms, green beans and carrots. I just added a bit of peanut sauce to the sauce recipe.

-Apple crisp I was out of ice cream, but vanilla yogurt was an excellent compliment.

I bought a huge bag of apples with the intent (and success!) of choosing fruit over sweets to curb my sweet tooth. I still had a few left that were getting soft (blech) and when I saw Lisa's recipe for Apple Crisp which looked fairly healthy I was more than happy to use up those apples. Yum! Thanks Lisa!

On that note, a couple of weeks ago, my friend Carrie gave me a blog award. Thanks Carrie! This really made my day! She is currently eating vegan for a month which I have to commend her for. I'd have a hard time giving up my cheese!

I keep forgetting to pass the award on! So without further delay, here's my picks!

1. Christina Food.Fun.Fabulous She always makes the sweetest comments!

2. Mary Bites and Bliss I love that she has a horse and goes to Auburn (my daddy's alma mater)

3. Linzi Destination 26.2 Besides being a fellow Idaho blogger, she just ran a marathon!

4. Tina Faith, Fitness, Fun She always sees the positive side in things even on a bad day!

5. Katie Health for the Whole Self She was among the first blogs I started reading and she is so thoughtful!

6. Em Homecookedem Anyone who can teach first graders should be awarded often.

7. Lisa I'm An Okie Besides an awesome apple crisp recipe, she is always true to herself.

8. Jen Jen's Losin' It! She has a beautiful family and her blog is bursting with flavor.

9. Sara Nourish and Flourish My longtime friend. :) I can't wait to see her at Thanksgiving!

10. Christina Hungry Meets Healthy Her posts are always full of fun, smiles and terrific eats!

11. Erin The Healthy Apron She is full of nutrition advice and amazing recipes.

12. Nicole Simple Moments I was just starting out when she stopped by, she's been great support!

And the guidelines:

1. Save the image above and post it to your own blog
2. Pass the award on to 12 fellow bloggers
3. Link the nominees
4. Let nominees know they have won this award by commenting on their blog
5. Share the love and link to the person you received this award from.

Ok friends, I am off to get some homework done and then it's time for SLEEP.

What shows have you been watching lately?

And to mix things up: what kind of car do you drive? (or wish you drove!)

Lusting

The change of seasons is always a good reason for some sprucing up. It never hurts to wish, right?

Sunbeam Convertible Iron + Steamer. It's an iron AND a steamer. I've always wanted a steamer.

Military style jacket. My favorite fall trend!

Sequined pillow. One word: shiny.

These boots are made for walkin. Perfect to dress up jeans or a skirt!

Le creuset French oven. Need I say more?

Little black dress. Though I used to despise dresses, I'm coming around.

Copper handbag. More fun than black!

What's your favorite fall trend?

What is something you've been wishing for?

Fall-iffied

Apparently, I've been bitten by the craft bug.

Remember this?

Truth is, I've always been artistic. I have a stack of carefully arranged paintings sitting in a box hoping to get a frame someday. I'm not sure why/when I let it fall to the wayside. I think part of it was that I didn't have the time. Part was I have lots of creative friends and started to think that I wasn't as good at it as they were (now how silly was I?). Perhaps I didn't have the money or the space or the inspiration.

But if there's any season that is bursting of inspiration, it would be fall. And so I present to you my house: fall-iffied.

I didn't make this one, I just bought it.

I put together the rest below.

Just call me Martha Stewart. Minus the jail time.

And on a random note, I saw someone get arrested at CostCo the other day. She was walking out pretty cooperatively with her hands in cuffs behind her back. Now that makes me wonder: what was she getting arrested for? Shoplifting? Now where exactly do you expect to hide a 4 pack of cereal and get away with it? Guess I'll never know.

Happy Wednesday!