Sisterly Love

I have blogged about my older sister and her cute little family on here before! She has finally decided to join the blog world and write about her life as a new mom of the cutest baby girl, Delainey! Go over and check her blog out. She is just starting, but you will be entertained by all the cute pictures of my niece.

Organized Chaos

4th of July BBQ

I don't know what our plans are for 4th of July especially since it falls on a Wednesday which stinks since most people have to work the next day! (not me) Hopefully we will be spending it either on our boat or at the beach in the sun, but I'm sure we will end up cooking out and I will be making this side dish from SkinnyTaste.Com. I am italian and love my carbs so when someone says its okay to have them in a healthy way count me in. It is only 3 ww pts and 115 calories for 1 cup. Yes Please!

Summer Macaroni Salad with Tomatoes and Zucchini- 

Summer Pasta Salad with Tomatoes and Zucchini
Skinnytaste.com
Servings: 16 • Size: 1 cup • Old Points: 2 pts • Points+: 3 pts
Calories: 115 • Fat: 2 g • Carb: 23 g • Fiber: 3.3 g • Protein: 3.7 g • Sugar: 1 g
Sodium: 77 mg  (without the salt)

Ingredients:

• 16 oz uncooked elbows
• 4 cups grape tomatoes, cut in half
• 2 cups (1 small) zucchini, sliced and quartered
• 1/2 cup red onion, finely chopped
• 7 tbsp light mayonnaise (Hellman's)
• 2 1/2 tbsp red wine vinegar
• 2 tbsp fat free Greek yogurt
• 2 tsp Dijon mustard
• 1/4 tsp oregano
• 1/4 tsp garlic powder
• salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Cook pasta in generously salted water according to package directions. Drain and rinse with cold water.

In a medium bowl, combine onions, mayonnaise, vinegar, yogurt, mustard, oregano, garlic powder; mix well. Add tomatoes (and any juice from the tomato), zucchini, pasta, salt and pepper to taste, toss well and place in a large bowl.

Makes 16 cups.

Tropical Storm Debby

This little storm came with some heavy rains and winds yesterday! I think the meteorologists make it seem much worse than it actually is but my fingers are crossed it takes the rain and bad weather with it and moves on quickly! Hubs and I are having a little mini vacay this weekend with just the two of us. I love having company and friends around us on vacations makes for a more entertaining vacation, but Jeff and I need one just with the two of us with nothing planned out and don't have to be anywhere at a certain time relaxing vacation. Jeff's work has been crazy and well I can't say I have been busy but more along of the lines of boredom.  We are going just an hour away to Hammock Beach Resort. We have been there before with my parents and loved it. They have great food, an awesome pool with a slide and lazy river, and its right on the beach so hopefully the weather cooperates.

30 before 30

So my birthday is coming up in two months and I am turning the big 25. To a lot of you that is not old but what I see is I am five years away from being 30. For some reason I dread turning 30 I don't know why because I don't think other people are old when they are 30 but I guess its just more of a personal thing. Anyways Jeff and I thought it would be a good idea for us to set some goals or some things we want to do before we both turn 30 in 5 years. Now a lot of the things that came up were traveling and obviously we will not be able to accomplish all of them before we are 30 due to time and money constraints but our goal is to get as many of the things as we can checked off the list! The ones left over we can try to do at some point in our lives. But it is a good visual for both of us. Now I am sharing this with you and really my friends and family so then Jeff and I will stick to it. A lot of times I say things but really don't ever get to it. So here it is..
1. Buy a House (Accomplished and have been living In our house for 2 months now happy as ever).
 2. Get pregnant at some point
 3.Visit Napa Valley and go to all the vineyards (think this would be a great girls trip)
 4. Zip Lining in Costa Rica
 5. Get a nice camera/video camera and take more pictures
 6. Go to Ellen Show
 7. Visit Italy and parts of Europe (this will be a difficult one because Jeff has no desire to go)
 8. Run Disney Half Marathon (maybe walk some too)
 9. Give a family in need Christmas
 10. Start party planning on the side
 11. Spend Christmas in NYC (jeff has never been)
 12. Attend a bible study regularly
 13. become a better cook/take a cooking class
 14. work out 3-5 times a week
15. throw Jeff a big birthday party
 16. Host a formal dinner party at our house with a chef
 17. Learn how to play golf so I can play with jeff
18. Start a supper club with friends and family
 19. Become a better listener and less stubborn
20. Read more books
21. Go to a road football trip every year (obviously Jeff's input)
22. Loose 10-15 more pounds
 23. learn how to make homemade meatballs like my Bumpa and Jeff's Pop Pop
24. Still be teaching
25. Take salsa dancing class
 26. start up volleyball program at my school
27. Finish Decorating our house
28. Have an annual girls weekend trip
 29. Build a pergola in my backyard
30. Have a big 30th birthday party!!

Another Girl

A precious baby was welcomed into the world by my friends Allie and Brandon early Wednesday morning. This is baby girl # 2 for them. Her name is Haigan Marie and she is cute as can be! Camdyn is now a big sister and is so excited about it. They sure do make some cute kids. Congrats Al & B! We love you guys!

What's Cooking

So my husband is the guy who comes home from work and likes to have dinner on the table, but during the school year after hanging with 23 8 year olds all day that is the last thing I tend to do and he doesn't like that so much. I am making a conscious effort to cook a meal for him every night during the summer especially since I have all day to cook or I can run to publix if I need something. Again I am trying to be somewhat conscious of what I eat so I tend to turn to skinnytaste.com for quite a few of my recipes. I love how she gives you the weight watchers points since my brain has been sort of trained to count points. Tonight I am making crock pot buffalo chicken lettuce wraps. Crock Pot Buffalo Chicken Lettuce Wraps Skinnytaste.com Servings: 6 • Size: 1/2 cup chicken + veggies • Old Points: 3 pts • Points+: 3 pt Calories: 147.7 • Fat: 0.1 g • Carb: 5.2 g • Fiber: 1.6 g • Protein: 24.9 g • Sugar: 1.7 g Sodium: 879 mg Ingredients: For the chicken: 24 oz boneless skinless chicken breast 1 celery stalk 1/2 onion, diced 1 clove garlic 16 oz fat free low sodium chicken broth 1/2 cup hot cayenne pepper sauce (I used Frank's) For the wraps: 6 large lettuce leaves, Bibb or Iceberg 1 1/2 cups shredded carrots 2 large celery stalks, cut into 2 inch matchsticks Directions: In a crock pot, combine chicken, onions, celery stalk, garlic and broth (enough to cover your chicken, use water if the can of broth isn't enough). Cover and cook on high 4 hours. Remove the chicken from pot, reserve 1/2 cup broth and discard the rest. Shred the chicken with two forks, return to the slow cooker with the 1/2 cup broth and the hot sauce and set to on high for an additional 30 minutes. Makes 3 cups chicken. To prepare lettuce cups, place 1/2 cup buffalo chicken in each leaf, top with 1/4 cup shredded carrots, celery and dressing of your choice. Wrap up and start eating! The other night I made cheesy jalapeno popper baked stuffed chicken. It was amazing! I dont even like jalapenos so I took out all the seeds and it wasn't spicy at all. Definitely recommend making it. Jeff enjoyed it too. Cheesy Jalapeño Popper Baked Stuffed Chicken Skinnytaste.com Servings: 4 • Serving Size: 2 stuffed breasts • Old Points: 9 pt • Points+: 9 pts Calories: 371 • Fat: 17.5 g • Protein: 42.7 g • Carb: 11 g • Fiber: 1.5 g • Sugar: 0.6 g Sodium: 355.8 mg (without salt) Ingredients: 2 slices center cut bacon, cooked and crumbled 3 jalapeños, chopped (remove seeds for milder) 3 oz 1/3 less fat cream cheese, softened 4 oz reduced fat shredded cheddar jack (Sargento) 2 tbsp chopped scallions 8 thin sliced skinless chicken breast cutlets, 3 oz each 1/2 cup Italian seasoned whole wheat breadcrumbs 1 1/2 juicy limes, juice of 1 tbsp olive oil salt and fresh pepper olive oil non-stick spray Directions: Wash and dry chicken cutlets, season with salt and pepper. Preheat oven to 450°. Lightly spray a baking dish with non-stick spray. Combine cream cheese, cheddar, scallions, jalapeño and bacon crumbles in a medium bowl. Lay chicken cutlets on a working surface and spread 2 tbsp of cream cheese mixture on each cutlet. Loosely roll each one, secure the ends with toothpicks to prevent the cheese from oozing out. Place breadcrumbs in a bowl; in a second bowl combine olive oil, lime juice, salt and pepper. Dip chicken in lime-oil mixture, then in breadcrumbs and place seam side down on a baking dish. Repeat with the remaining chicken. When finished, lightly spray the top of the chicken with oil spray. Bake 22-25 minutes, serve immediately.

Washington Island Trip

My friend, Allie, informed me I need to get it together with my posting! I think she just has more time on her hands since she is on maternity leave! Haha I have been slacking on my posting so I will try to get it together this summer and get back to posting regularly. We have just been on the go and getting settled into our house i just never seem to have time nor do I want to sit down and post other times. So here goes nothing. We went to my cousins wedding in Washington Island. The island was beautiful very outdoorsy and not alot to do but it was nice because all her guests and family were there. The views of the lake were beautiful. Not a place I would pick to vacation every summer but the actual wedding was beautiful. I was proud of her. Here are a few pics to recap the weekend. We seriously ate, drank, and slept the entire time. It was a little bit of gluttony for 5 days we all felt terrible at the end of it but we sure did have some delicious food. Baby Delainey came with us on her first road trip and did amazingly. The baby blows my mind how she thrives in loud settings like airports, bars, weddings etc. After the wedding it was quite an early morning because wanted to catch one of the first ferry's to get back to the main land and we knew being on an island with 200 out of towners it was going to be packed at the dock. We headed back to Chicago, not feeling up to par constantly sleeping and taking BC powder, but I knew all of the shopping and declicious food we were about to eat would be worth it. Jeff has never been so right when we got there we went to Portillo's. It was crazy how busy and fast they got the food out, but we had a traditional chicago hot dog and my dad had an italian beef which was amazing as well. We then walked around on Michigan ave to all the shops. I knew there had to be a Tory Burch store in the midst of all these amazing shops so Jeff and I went on a little scavenger hunt to find it. Lesson learned not to let Jeff be in charge of GPS but we finally found it and it was glorious. We then went to this pizza place for dinner and it was a little much but we got two huge deep dish pizzas. I can down a lot of pizza, sad and gross I know, but my dad said you will not be able to eat more than one slice. I disagreed! It was the best pizza I have ever had but it was so thick and filling I thought I was about to die after one slice. I was disappointed because I wanted to eat more but my stomach was not having it! This is my sister and brother-in-law enjoying the pizza! It was a great trip but we were happy to get home and detox from all the booze and food we ate over the weekend. Congrats to my cousin Melissa and Kent! It will be nice having them live right around the corner in the house Jeff and I just moved out of! My mom always says how happy my Papa would be if he was here watching all of his granddaughters live in his house.

Sweet Summer Time

It is officially summer for me, so maybe I will have a chance to post more than every couple of months! I have closed my classroom up and I am officially on break mode. We have been quite busy around here, but we are just over the moon with our little niece so every chance we get we try to see the little princess. It is hard to believe she is already one month old and is such a good baby! I am not around a bunch of babies often, so I may be a little biased but she seems to be so fantastic I hope I get blessed with one just like her when we are ready! Here are a few pics of Delainey...

We went and spent the weekend in Tampa with friends of ours. It was nice to go to a Devil Rays game and just hang out, so I am currently cleaning the house and doing laundry to prepare for our next adventure on Thursday! We are gearing up to head to my cousins wedding up in Washington Island which is by no means close! We give her a hard time for choosing such a far away destination but I am excited to go to a new place!

My parents rented a house up there so we can all stay together so it will be fun! After the wedding the next day we are heading back to Chicago to stay for a night and we will get to see one of Jeff's college roommates who has relocated there and we are going to do a little sight seeing! It will be a nice little get away and hopefully somewhat relaxing! I am in need of some downtime! Here's to the summer full of relaxing, sun, weddings, vacations, friends, and getting back into shape!!!