Dinner with New&Old Friends

I have been the biggest slacker with blogging! Sorry! Catching up now!

At least a week or two ago....I keep losing track of time...Collin and I planned dinner with my old friend from college and her husband (they just got married in Telluride!!). We went to one of our favorite margarita places, El Camino, right on the main street of Highlands. Jackie and I had already met up for Pure Barre the day before but obviously didn't have any time to really talk while they were kicking our butts at the barre. Dinner was nice and we all decided that we were glad that we didn't have to make up fake excuses to bail and actually enjoyed each others company so we walked down the street to have a few more drinks and continue our chats! haha!

We ended up having a really great time. It was so nice to catch up with an old friend....honestly, we weren't really "friends" per se, more like we had a ton of mutual friends and hung out at the same places with the same people?!....but after talking we realized that we really have so much in common and wondered why we didn't hang out as much before!

I was a fun night and I'm so excited that they live only a few blocks from us...hoping to get together again real soon!

Pure Barre

I mentioned before that an old friend of mine from my early college years (and her new hubby) moved a couple blocks away from us. Jackie and I planned to try a new exercise class together called Pure Barre. It's described as a mix between pilates, yoga, and ballet and it is supposed to be "the fastest, most effective way to change the shape of your body. Using small isometric movements at the ballet barre set to music.." Well oooook then.

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We went Thursday morning and it's no joke. You barely move around at all but we were sweating like we just ran a few miles. Granted, I'm SUPER out of shape but whatever! The small isometric movements are so intense that your muscles start shaking uncontrollably. Serious stuff. Picture this...laying in a fetal position and lifting your top leg and moving it in mini circles. Weird. Yes. But so hard after a while you wouldn't believe it.

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We did feel great afterwards though!

Today was day number two...we were sore as hell already and I was nervous that my body would just reject anymore exercise for the week! But it went just fine. Felt awesome again after it was all over.

There is a 70 year old lady in our class who is really just amazing. She is basically our best friend in the class so far and probably one of the best in the class...she's pretty awesome.

Only downside is it's wayyy too expensive...like $23 per class!! Luckily, they have a special for "first-timers" and we got a month unlimited for about $100. Still too expensive so I don't want to fall in love with it but I kinda already am....ooooh wellllll.

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Easy Yummy Healthy

I've come up with some super awesome recipes lately and thought that I'd share with you all.

First up: Open Faced Smoked Salmon Sammie

Ingredients [what I used, exactly]:

• 1 piece of bread [sprouted whole grain bread]
• 2-3 tablespoons of hummus [roasted pine nut hummus]
• 1 small tomato/3-4 slices
• Smoked salmon slices
• 1/2 avocado, sliced lengthwise
• Salt and pepper to taste

What to do: Toast your slice of bread to your liking, spread hummus on toast. Place sliced tomato on top of hummus. Layer smoked salmon and top with sliced avocado. Sprinkle with salt and pepper to your liking.

Wow...easy and sooo delicious. Small but filled me up so much! 

I ate it with my hands...and a little help from a fork and knife....little messy.

I'm not a calorie counter...if something has fresh veggies/fruit, whole grains, etc...that's healthy to me. But...if you're interested...

|Estimation of calories|

Bread: 90 Hummus: 80 Tomato: 12 Smoked Salmon: 100 Avocado: 120

|Total| 402

I hope you try it!

Suki's Homemade Bed

You know I'm into sewing. And to Collin's astonishment, it's not as short lived as my other hobbies/obsessions. I actually love it....a lot! I always have at least one project ready to go....as in raw fabric that is so darn pretty laying next to my sewing machine....and always many projects on my mind. My biggest and boldest project right now...this one is still in my mind, but I do have the pretty fabric laying out too...is a really cute patchwork duvet for our king size bed! Don't think country, amish, or anything along those lines...that's not what I'm going for. More of a bohemian, eclectic, bold piece............ BUT that's not what my post is about....

Anywho.

I've been wanting to make Suki a bed but had trouble finding a "pattern" online that I liked. By pattern, I really just mean a tutorial because I have yet to sew anything with a pattern....apparently it's supposed to help you but it just seems like too much trouble!

I finally found one that I really liked and it seemed simple enough as well. It's actually for a little dog...one that Suki would probably beat the shit out of...but I could see Suki liking it just as much. Here is the tutorial that I followed: Dog Under My Desk.

Her finished product!

Adorable and super comfy...what more could a leopard kitty ask for!?

I bought cute fleece fabric from Joann's but haven't had time since Lauren's visit and then I worked five 12's with only a day off in between (aka no time off when you work night shift!) Tuesday morning was my last day of my long stretch so when I got home I got right to cutting, pinning, and sewing Suk's bed.

Well, I really whipped this sucker out. I got home around 7:45am, changed, ate, got Suki's moving crate together, and started cutting fleece. By 10am I was finished with the whole thing except the stuffing part....forgot to buy it! I was already unpresentable to the folks of Joann's, Target, or really anywhere outside my apartment, so I went to sleep for a while, woke up and went to run some errands, including stuffing.

How fast was that!?

I stuffed it and put it on the floor for the little princess.

She took one look at it and then looked up at me, eyes only, without moving her head.

Kinda like this...

"What the hell is that? Oh, you want me to lay on it...ha...no."

Yeah...she hates it...the little shit! I guess we're going to have to get a dog to use this thing. Collin curled up on it and said it was pretty comfy. Suki prefers places that aren't meant for her...so I should have figured she wouldn't like it!

Pretty little bed...no pretty little sleeping kitty. She won't even sit on it for a picture. She's actually half scared of the friggin' thing. Oh well....bring on that puppy Collin!