Busy Sunday!

Wow December has been FLYING by. But, I can finally say.....I am done with my Christmas Shopping, WOOT!! This year we drew names for gift buying within our immediate family and I was having the most difficult time trying to figure out what to get Kacey and Rossi.  So, this morning the husband and I headed out the door and to the mall bright and early. And we found it! Now of course I can't share what we found because Kacey reads my blog and I wouldn't want to spoil the surprise.  But it's good.  Real Good.  :)

We spent the rest of the day at my parents.  Watching the Broncos, cooking, baking and celebrating my Gramma Gilbert's 95th birthday.  95th Birthday, can you believe it??

I am off to start on my laundry but thought I should leave you with a picture from dinner this evening.  I made the most DELICIOUS baked ziti.  Pretty sure I am going to be full until dinner tomorrow.

Soooooo good! Happy Sunday.

Dear Santa,

Please....

And thank you......

I know that I am definitely on the "nice" side of the list this year :)

Ok. That's all.  HO HO HO

Harry Potter!!!

Love me some Harry Potter.  There is really no way around it.  I love Harry Potter. I love Hermione Granger.  I love Ron Weasley.  The list could go on forever.  I mean look at these cute faces from the first movie "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone.  They are so young!

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This weekend we saw "Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows, Part I".  And YUP you guessed it, I LOVED it! I decided I had to come directly home and re-read book 7 because I can't remember the end of the story.  I always read the books so quickly that I think I forget half of the details.  The last few movies haven't been nearly as good as the books (which is usually the case, I know). However, this movie didn't leave me longing to lose myself in the pages of a JK Rowling masterpiece to reclaim my love for all that is Potter. The movie really followed the book quite accurately-at least what I think I remember of the book ;).  If you haven't seen the movie yet, you must.  It is GREAT!  Look at how grown up our favorite wizards and witches are :)

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The Deathly Hallows Part 2 can't come soon enough!!

Running Shoes

There is nothing like a brand new pair of running shoes.  You look at the box and there is so much excitement about what lies ahead.

 This box was exceptionally exciting because it was super motivating, and made me want to get out on the road for a nice, long run.

It's strange, because many people find their love for something earlier on in life, but for me I just really started to enjoy running about a year ago.  I love running on a cool, fall Saturday morning, I love running without music if I am somewhere quiet, although most days I need my ipod to get me through :) I love the sense of accomplishment after completing a long run, and mostly I just love the way I feel after a good long run.  It clears my head, makes me feel strong and plainly stated-happy.

So anywho, back to my shoes.  Next step, opening the box, smelling that new shoe smell.  They are so WHITE!

Look at those~so clean, so many miles ahead!

Now its time for a comparison:

OLD SHOES

NEW SHOES!

ONE OF EACH!

My old shoes just got me across the finish line of my second half marathon.  It was here in Denver 2 weeks ago,  and it was the Inaugural Rock and Roll Half Marathon in Denver.  The Rock and Roll series is a fun race, they have bands set up throughout the race to keep you motivated.

 I am having trouble parting with my old shoes, because I ran so far in them and accomplished another big race in them~but as Jason tells me, the are old, have no tread left, and quite frankly they are DIRTY.  So for now I guess it's time to toss them out.  Time to start racking up the miles on my new pair.  I can't wait!

Here are a couple pics from my race :)

Early-and Dad on crutches-still there to cheer me on :)

That's me in the White hat~about mile 4. 

My love and biggest supporter!

Happy Running!

Inspiration

Thank you for the inspiration Kate :) xo

Wedding Fun

The husband and I spent last weekend in LA at his God-Father's wedding.  What is so cool about this particular wedding is that Michael (the God-Fatha) is in his 50's and he has never been married before.  Then he met Jordan, his soulmate, and they got maarrrriiieeed!!! Yippee :)

Jason and I went for a beautiful hike up Laurel Canyon on Sunday morning before the wedding.  It is just so crazy how endless Los Angeles is. You can look 360 degrees around and all you see is city, city and more city.  We were lucky because there wasn't much smog so we could see forever.  Oh and the houses up there in the hills-WOW.  I saw more than one that I could make my permanent residence :)

We spent the afternoon and evening celebrating Michael and Jordan-I know it's hard not to laugh-Michael Jordan.  It was a lovely ceremony and you could see how truly in love they are.  Cheers!

Me and my love. 

Toasty......

Just as fall is FINALLY arriving in Denver, the husband and I are heading to LA. Where when I just checked, it is supposed to be in the high 80's low 90's this weekend.  I guess I better pack my summer clothes for this trip.  Although in pictures I have seen lately on people.com Miley, Jessica, Nicole and Lindsay (before rehab), all wear fall clothes, even when it is 90 degrees out there.  Guess I better pack my short shorts and Uggs.  HA! I am pretty sure it was a warm, sunny LA day when she wore this:

Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend! My post title has made me hungry-going to toast a slice of whole grain bread and slather it with some delish ChokeCherry Jelly. :)

xo

ChokeCherry Jelly

My Gramma Gilbert (Mom's mom) has been making her famous ChokeCherry jelly for years.  This year my mom and I took the task on, only hoping to get close to the yum factor that my gramma achieves every year. Of course, I won't be able to share the "secret" recipe but let me just say-the work it takes to make the jelly far outweighs the ingredients in the jelly :o)

Chokecherries pre boil

Boiling the berries to get them ready for the juicing 

Gramma's old juicing contraption-and Dante helping out in the background :)

Mash those berries down to their last drop!

Hard work ;)

I think this is when my arm started getting tired!

Just a little longer.....

Juice! You would not believe how much jelly this makes!

So sadly, I didn't have a third person to help us take pictures of the actual juice to jelly process.  My mom and I were both needed in the kitchen to get the jelly into the jars as fast as possible, so that the jars could seal up and we wouldn't need to do parafin coating.  But as you can see it was a success!! You invert the jars for about 5-7 minutes to help them seal and then voila-Jelly!! I am still working on the label for the lids and as soon as I am done I will post a pic of the finished project.

Setting the seal

ChokeCherry Jelly-Gramma Gilbert style :)

Some of you will be getting a jar of this delicious jelly very soon.  xoxo

I Want A Mantel....

Condo living. On the 7th floor. No Fireplace = NO MANTEL. :(

Now don't misunderstand me- I love our condo and I could not imagine living in a different neighborhood.  It's just, well, I want to decorate a mantel. 

Like this:


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Or this:



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Oooh this is nice too:

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I don't need an exceptionally large mantel, I am not picky.  I just want one to make my very own.  A mantel to decorate for every holiday, because I love holidays.  Christmas would be a fabulous time of year to have a mantel, you don't even want to see where our stockings hang right now.

I guess for now I will have to live vicariously through all of the inspiring blogs I read.  They all seem to have lovely mantels to decorate. :)

Yellow and Gold and Orange-oh my!

This past weekend Jason and I headed up to Carbondale, CO to spend the weekend with his mom.  We were there to celebrate her birthday which happens to be during the perfect time to see the colors change in the mountains.  In case you are wondering Carbondale is about 20 miles past Glenwood Springs on the way up to Aspen, CO.

It is absolutely, breathtakingly beautiful up there this time of year.  We took a drive up to Ashcroft which is a road just outside of Aspen that takes  you to the base of a 14'er.  What is a 14'er you ask?  Well, it is a mountain that is 14, 000+ feet, and people actually climb it! CRAZY.

The views up in the mountains are serene and they truly make you feel surrounded by God.

 

 

Happy Fall everyone! Make sure to get out there and enjoy all this beautiful season has to offer.

Updates!

I have been meaning to sit down and write for a week now, and clearly that just hasn't happened.  Why you ask? Life is busy.  Time just flies by, anyone else feel that way?

Update numero uno: My dad had total knee replacement surgery on Monday, and thankfully he is home and beginning the healing process.  He starts PT today which I know is going to be tough.  The pain is pretty intense, but he is strong so I know he will push through it. 

Update numero dos: We had a wonderful Labor Day weekend-it was extra long because Jason and I both took Friday off from work.  We headed up to spend a couple of days with David and Daria in Winter Park. We got up there around noon on Friday and headed to Pole Creek golf course to play 9 holes.  I am a terrible golfer, but it was fun to be out there with the husband in the beautiful Colorado weather.  We spent the rest of our time up there relaxing and just enjoying the quiet of the mountains with family and friends.  I have just a few pics to share from that trip.

Adult Beer Pong

Women Vs.

Men.

My boys :)

We had a great weekend with David and Daria, but we had to cut it short because we had a wedding Sunday night.  A friend of ours from college was getting married, and we were excited to spend an evening with all of our old college buds.

Update numero tres: Work has been crazy busy lately-and I mean CRAZY busy.  Early mornings, late nights and just stressful.  Good news is, once I am home I am leaving all behind and enjoying nights and weekends with Jason, family and good friends.  And that is all that matters at the end of a crazy day :)

Update numero quatro: Our best friends Luke and Candace had their baby!! Finally baby Sloane has joined us.  We have only been up to visit once, and hope to get to see them this week, because oh my goodness she is precious.  We are so very happy for them! 

Not much else to report.  We spent this weekend with Jason's mom up in Carbondale to celebrate her birthday.  I will have a post dedicated to the weekend because we went to look at the fall colors and they were MAGNIFICENT! 

 Well we are about to head out to spend this beautiful Sunday afternoon with my parents-gotta grill dad a nice hearty steak dinner to take his mind off of the knee pain.  Happy Fall everyone! 

Shrimp Enchiladas Verde

I found this recipe in one of my healthy cookbooks and thought you might enjoy :)

Recipe from Healthy in Hurry

Ingredients

1 pound of cooked shrimp, tails removed and diced

1 cup of frozen corn thawed (I like to use fresh corn when in season!)

2- 4oz. cans chopped green chiles (NOT drained)

2 cups of canned green enchilada sauce, divided

12 corn tortillas

1- 15oz. can of nonfat refried beans

1 cup of reduced fat shredded cheese-mexican style, cheddar etc (I always use just a bit extra)

1/2 cup of fresh cilantro

Green Onions-recipe doesn't call for them but I use them as garnish

Sour Cream-recipe doesn't call for it but again I use as garnish

Preheat your oven to 425 degrees and coat a 9x13 dish with pam

Combine shrimp, corn, chiles and 1/2 cup of enchilada sauce in a medium bowl-cover and microwave on High until through.  About 2 and a half minutes. 

Spread a  1/4 cup enchilada sauce in the bottom of baking dish.  Top with an overlapping layer  of 6 tortillas.  Spread the refried beans evenly on top of the tortillas.

Then top the beans with the shrimp mixture

Next step place the remaining 6 tortillas on top and pour the remaining sauce over the tortillas

Cover enchiladas with foil and bake for about 20 minutes-until they start bubbling on the sides.  Yummy!

After waiting about 20 minutes, remove the foil and sprinkle cheese on top of enchiladas.  Cook for another 5 minutes or so.

Remove from the oven and top with cilantro and green onions.  I serve sour cream on the side for those who like it.  This recipe serves 8 and has 320 calories and 9 grams of fat.  Not too shabby if you ask me!

Enjoy~

Shrimp Enchiladas Verde-YUM!