Friday Forecast: Juicing, Belaying, and a 3-day Weekend??

Woot woot! Friday is here. Work is quieting down. Life is good.

This weekend is shaping up to be a fun one. Though I haven't gotten the official ok to not come in on Monday, I've got a good feeling about it. And hopefully it does work out because one of our plans was made with the long weekend in mind....

3 Day Juice Cleanse!

What better way to bring in the new year and repent for our holiday food transgressions than by doing a juice cleanse?? That's what I keep telling myself at least.

Tomorrow marks day one of our Love Your Liver Cleanse from our local juice bar, Arden's Garden. I've tried juice cleanses in the past and have never been able to make it to the end. Looking back I think there were two major factors leading to my demise: 1) I was going it alone, and 2) The juices didn't taste good at all.

Well this time I did some research on different cleanses and even got the hubby on board. To learn more about the Love Your Liver Cleanse check out the info sheet here. Make sure to check in next week to find out how we do.

Belay Lessons

You may remember back in my resolution post that I mentioned cultivating hobbies, and we'll be doing just that this weekend. In addition to chuggin' down the juice tomorrow, Mike and I will also be meeting up with our newly married buddies, Kayla and Kyler, for belay lessons at Stone Summit Climbing Center. 

Mike and I both have some limited experience with indoor climbing. I even took a belay class a loooong time ago. We've gone climbing together a few times and always walk away from the day thinking, "Why don't we do this more often?" 

Last October we cancelled our gym membership because we had started running outside and because we were looking for places to save some money. When it comes to exercising, I think it needs to be something that above all else you LOVE to do. I hate when working-out feels like work, and I'd much rather just try to stay active throughout the day than to spend an hour or two killing myself in the gym.

After making some big changes to how we spend our money, I'm starting to see areas where we can afford to spend a little more, and I think rock-climbing could be a great investment: it's active, we can do it together, there's room for growth and development of new skills, and it's such a bad-ass hobby! Bonus: we can totally justify having a rice bucket for the living room.

Looking forward to giving you the update on Monday! HOLD tight til then! (hahaha, hehehe)

From Frozen Pipes to Sunglasses and Sweatshirts to Drowning in Work

Oh Hi! Is it not Monday?? Ooops...

Well it's year-end and that means it's crazy time for me and my sistas in accounting. I'm beyond busy and trying to fit 80 hours of work into the next 4 days. Luckily we had a beautiful, sunny Sunday. Here are the highlights:

Sunday walk..out in just a sweatshirt!

Puppy time in the park. Nice view of the Midtown skyline.

Watching Greek and feeling goofy.

Soaking up the sun :)

FRIDAY FAVORITE! Whole Foods Bar

Willkommen! I thought that for a special Friday treat I'd share one of my favorites. Maybe this could be a thing. I'll tell you about cool stuff. You can tell me about cool stuff. Together we can unlock the secrets of the universe!

For my first ever Friday Favorite I want to tell you about my favorite bar for dinner and drinks...Whole Foods! If you don't have a nearby WF, don't distress. Check out your local natural foods store for prepared food options or even the salad bar at your regular grocery store. If you aren't finding the options you'd like to see submit a comment to the store manager. You never know until you ask :)

Our Neighborhood WF

Without further ado, why I love WF dinners in list form. Enjoy...

The 5 Awesome Things about Whole Foods Bar Dinners (and one bad one):

1.) LOTS of Vegan Options: When it comes to having a wide variety of vegan options, Whole Foods can't be beat. Beyond the salad bar, there's always a wide variety of cool grain and pasta salads, roasted veggies, and hot tofu and tempeh based dishes. Sometimes they even have vegan mac n' cheeze, WIN!

2.) Quick & Easy AND Healthy: I think everyone has those days where by the time you're hungry for dinner, you're energy stores are completely drained. It's always tempting to order in a pizza or Chinese or hit up a drive-thru, but that often means trading health for convenience. Whole Foods bar to the rescue! Now that's not to say that everything in the bar is healthy, but you can balance out your plate with a salad or veggies of your choice. Plus you have complete control over portion size!

3.) Multitasking: Have you ever heard the advice to not shop on an empty stomach? Well, what better time to pick up a few things from the store than after a hearty, healthy meal? We usually take some time during the meal to game plan our shopping list. Sometimes we even find inspiration for meals from our dinner choices.

WHOLE-y Hipster Alert

4.) Fun for the Whole Family: The first time we ate at Whole Foods was right after I went vegan. I was looking for a place with lots of food options for me AND Mike. If his always heavier plate is any indication I think we found a winner. As an extra bonus, they do an amazing job with their food labels. In addition to the name of the item, all of the ingredients and allergen info is also listed. So whether you have dietary restrictions, allergies, an intolerance, or just want to know what's in the food you're eating, you can make an informed decision.

5.) Kombucha! Have you had Kombucha yet?? Go try it. I la-la-love it. But it is on the expensive side and can have a lot of sugar in it so I try to keep it as a once in a while treat. That means that Whole Foods bar dinner is a perfect excuse to enjoy a bottle.

One Bad - Cost: It's not called Whole Paycheck for nothing. On average our plates cost around $10 each. Toss in a $4 kombucha and it's starting to get pricey. However it's still less than our average delivery tab and it get's us out of the house!

Do you have any quick and easy dinner tricks? Share in the comments!

Wishing you a Happy, Healthy Friday. And may your kale salads not taste like grass :)

Last First Day

Today is Mike's last first day of school...EVER!

Well maybe not EVER, but at least for the foreseeable future. In just 4 months time he'll have his Last last day, and within the next couple months we'll find out where we'll be living next year. I've certainly said it before, but it's really amazing how fast time has gone. 

I remember when we moved down here. It was very exciting at first. Moving to a brand new city. Finally living in the same place as my wonderful fiance. New apartment to decorate. New neighborhood to explore.

Our first place!

Too quickly the excitement of the brand new wore off. I missed my friends. I missed my family. I missed my old job. And I could not wait for Mike to graduate and for us to move back home. 

Fast forward a year and I found a new job and new friends to hang out with. I love our new apartment. I love our carpools in to work/school. I love our Moe Mondays. We've made a nice little life for ourselves down here in the ATL.

It's amazing that this time that we've been looking forward to has arrived so quickly. I can't believe that we could be moving in just 5 months. Or maybe we won't be...just have to wait to find out.

And Dave with the photobomb win. It's ok. It's his last first day too.

Happy Last First Day, Mike! 

Meet Our New BFF

Hi Hello! Warm greetings to you on this very chilly Monday.

There hasn't been too much excitement in our house.

We saw Saving Mr. Banks. Two thumbs up from me. Mike's only comment: "It didn't touch me emotionally"....well sorry Mr. Fancy Pants. Didn't know The Hobbit was so emotional for you.

We also watched yesterday's Packer game. Two thumbs down from me...and it was also a little too emotional for Mike. BUT we did get to use our snazzy new coozies from my parents. Cheers to next season!

Extra points for drinking Wisconsin brews!

Keeping in line with my New Year resolutions, we spent the weekend munching on semi-raw dishes. We even tried a new fruit: the Pomelo. It looks like a massive green grapefruit on the outside and a nice pink grapefruit on the inside. The taste was like a less bitter version of grapefruit. So yeah...it's basically just a massive grapefruit. Cool beans.

"Big ones, small ones, ones as big as your head"

On to the exciting part of this post. Mike and I made a new best friend...

His name is Elliot.

He's really cool and blows mist out of his trunk.

He's an elephant.

Oh, and the best part:  he's got GREAT personality! Packaging at it's finest.

You had me at Elliot 

In all seriousness, this dude has been a totally lifesaver as the temperature drops and the air in our house gets dryer by the day. Thanks Elliot!

That's all for today. Try to stay warm and cozy tonight!

No Rules Resolutions 2014

It's that time again. Time to take a look back at all the things you've done in the past year and make some goals for the year ahead.

I have always been a fan of new year resolutions. Something about a clean slate and the promise of a whole new year ahead of you, it's refreshing. 

I've been tossing around some ideas in my head for the past week or so and haven't had too many that have really stuck. In the past, my resolutions have almost always been health/fitness based. Grand plans to exercise everyday and eat super healthy food and stop worrying about the scale (while still magically losing 10 lbs.). Since these ideas keep popping into my head year after year, I think it's safe to say that I've never been particularly successful in achieving them. But maybe successful completion isn't the point.

Maybe more important than the outcome is the process of taking stock of all the things in your life, both good and bad. Taking a step back to think about what you want your priorities to be and comparing all that to how your life is looking right now. Then coming up with new habits to get you back in line with how you want your life to look.

In the past, I've focused on specific, actionable resolutions. Things like: eat a salad every week or work out at least 3 times every week. These are what the HR folks call SMART goals, meaning that they are Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Timely. As an accountant, I love the idea of a perfect goal making formula. But I think it's time for a change.

No more rules. No more formulas. This year is about ME. I'm resolving to throw caution to the wind. Follow my whims. And enjoy the adventure. 

My accounting brain is mumbling in the background right now with ideas like: New Resolutions each Week... or Monthly Themes, but I'm shushing it up. Quiet down you! I've got adventure ahead of me :)

So instead of a year-long resolution, here's a list of things that just sound fun. A 2014 Bucket List of sorts. Enjoy.

1) Travel...to Europe! This is first on the list because it's happening. We've already started planning. We started saving up money last fall with no real idea of what we were saving for. Perhaps a someday house. Perhaps a someday nicer apartment. Perhaps we'll get a nice nest egg started for our someday children. Never did travel even cross our minds, not even "someday travel". Well that's changed. We are going to Europe...in May...first stop Finland. Second and third stops TBD, but I've got my eye on London and Paris.

Source

2) Experiment with Whole and Raw Foods. Ok, this one is health/fitness based BUT I'm not being very specific and I'm not being restrictive. Going vegan has opened my eyes to a whole world of food that I didn't even know existed. I want to keep exploring this year, and I think my first trip will be into the land of Raw. Scary :)

I got this book with some Christmas money. Already enjoying the cauliflower soup. Source 

3) Cultivate a Hobby. Notice I didn't say start or find a hobby. I've done that a million times with a million different things. This year I'm going to clean out my figurative closet of hobbies and pull one out to really focus on developing.  At this very moment I'm thinking sewing might be it, but things like pottery, music, foreign language, and knitting are all stuffed into the closet begging to be let free.

The best part about my bucket list Resolution? I can totally changed this list whenever I want :) No rules, remember.

Happy New Year! I've got a great feeling about 2014.

HAPPY NEW YEAR! Married Christmas Recap

Well hello! It's 2014! YAAYYYY!

This post is going to just be one big ol' recap, mostly done with through photo highlights. Let's dive in.

A Mike and Allie Christmas

This tradition started a couple years ago when Mike and I wanted to have a Christmas gift exchange of our own. At the time, I was living in NYC, and Mike flew in the weekend before Christmas to visit. I bought a cheap-o fake tree from the Duane Reade below my apartment and did my best to make my little place feel homey. 

It's fitting that the tradition started that year becuase that was also our last Christmas as boyfriend/girlfriend. A little over a week later we were back in NYC and Mike proposed.

Last year was our first and only engaged Christmas. Living in Atlanta and traveling home for the holidays we once again opted to exchange our gifts in our home under our tree. This year we did the same, and it's safe to say a tradition has been born.

Nativity handed down from my grandma and grandpa. That was a fun surprise to unwrap.

SNOW Place Like Home for the Holidays

That's right guys. SNOW!! I could not have been more excited to wake up to the sound of plows. It took me right back to my school days. The anticipation the night before a big storm. Rumors of school being canceled. The absolute quiet the swallows up the world when it snows. And then, waking up the the rumble of a plow coming down the street. I'd lie there for a few seconds imagining the winter wonderland that waited outside my window. 

When I peaked out by bedroom window on Sunday morning I was not disappointed. I suppressed a small eeeee! (Mike was still sleeping) and scurried out to the living room to watch the snow fall by the lights of our tree. 

Not too much later I was outside shoveling a path to the hot tub. Nothing beats a hot tub in the winter.

Doodle wanted to join in the fun.

Oh look a wintery clip for you...

Mike and I got lucky with our pre-existing holiday traditions. They fit together beautifully with the only downside being a 4 hour drive on Christmas day, but hey, I bet we miss a lot of traffic that way. My family has always been a big Christmas Eve celebrations house. We open our gifts on Christmas Eve. Our traditional holiday meal is our Christmas Eve Reuben. We always, ALWAYS, watch the Grinch (old-school, animated version) after dinner and before present opening. And the first gift to be opened...PJs!

The more matching the better!

Even the pups got in on the action.

Socie Winter Olympics

Inspired by the real-life Sochi Winter Olympics happening this year, I thought it would be super fun to have our own Socie Winter Olympics made up of Minute to Win It -style games. We cued up the Olympic anthem, did a quick opening ceremony with team photos, then got into the games.

Finland, Ireland, and USA

We had 6 events: Clothes Pin Drop, Caddy Stack, Speed Eraser, Face the Cookie, Nutstacker, and MarBowling. 

Face the Cookie was pretty hilarious to watch.

Sorry to have to say this, but Team USA was not victorious. 

Congratulations, Finland! Olympics well played.