All About Max...

Well it's finished. My leaf project turned into a painting that I was working on daily for over a week. It's not exactly how I wanted it to look. But I'm very proud of it, because it's my very first painting. I learned a lot during this process. Like don't paint on the bed and a little (paint) goes a long way. It was totally a fun project and I hope with some more practice I can add painting to my fun hobbies list.

Here it is making it's grand debut. Sorry everyone! This one of a kind masterpiece from the 'Mary Rocks Your Socks Collection' is not for sale.

From 2011-10-19

Yesterday was my puppy Max's 1st birthday. To celebrate I took him to get a fresh haircut on Saturday and I ordered a cake from Happy Dog Bakery. Which is a cute dog bakery in Downers Grove that offers fun treats and fun activities. I highly recommend you check it out, well only if you love your dog. They even offer grain-free cakes and cookies. A cave dog's dream. While we were picking up the cake, I found a few other cute dog treats there. One was a package of dried sweet potatoes chips. Paleo score!

Here's a few fun pictures of us celebrating Max's Birthday. You're not allowed to laugh! I know I know, I've turned into THAT girl. You know the girl who walks around with wallet sized pictures of her dogs. Yes, the same girl who in conversation people mistake my talk about my dogs as me talking about my children. And yes, I *gulp*...dress them up. Sue me!

From Max's 1st birthday

From Max's 1st birthday

From Max's 1st birthday

From Max's 1st birthday

From Max's 1st birthday

This weeks Paleo eats were some of the basics changed ever so slightly to make new dishes.
I actually got a lot of much needed shopping done. The #1 find of the week was I found a 10 LB London Broil on sale that I had to get. This sucker was huge. I ended up cutting it up into 9 steaks and a small roast. I felt like quite the cave girl cutting up my own meat. Watch out people!

I also tried my hand at making another round of egg/ham cups. I made the crockpot pulled pulled pork that I prepped in my last post. There were lots of burgers grilled. Grilled lamb and crockpot lamb for lunches. London Broil steak. Along with all the meat there were lots of quick salads made for the sides. And my favorite of the week Homemade Chicken soup(noodles on the side for my kite). Lastly I rubbed down a roast to maranade for tonight's dinner. With the cold creeping up on us, these week's eats were right up my alley.

From 2011-10-19

From 2011-10-19

From 2011-10-19

From 2011-10-19

From 2011-10-19

From 2011-10-19

From 2011-10-19

From 2011-10-19

From 2011-10-19

From 2011-10-19

From 2011-10-19

From 2011-10-19

I really should blog more. Mainly so I sneak in a recipe or two. That chicken soup recipe was ridiculously easy and fast. I did half the work in my crockpot (probably the best invention in the entire world, next to my iPhone).


Yesterday, I also joined the 5:45am class at BDCF for the workout. Which was...
Strength - BS
3 x 70% + 3 x bj
3 x 80% + 3 x bj
3+ x 90% + 3 x bj

M/C - For time:
10 x DL (bw)
50 x sq
25 x k2e
20 x wb. 20/14
250m row

Good thing I lost some weight before this workout, so I could do 125# for the dead lifts. Hahaha, just kidding. Good excuse huh?! Not bad, my time 8m 22sec. Felt good.

Afterward I practiced some Clean & Jerks with 75#'s on the bar. It's the weight I'm going to use for this Saturday's Barbell's for Boobs tribute for Breast Cancer Awareness. I'm a blur in the picture, hope I move this fast on Saturday.

On a another workout note, here's an update on my stair climb challenge. I haven't been climbing the stairs as often, but this week my time only slowed down by 4 seconds. Time to work harder.

This weekend is not only Barbell's for Boobs, but we're also headed down to the Champaign area for some pumpkin patch fun and possibly a haunted train ride. October is about to get a little better. So stay tuned.

Artsy Fartsy

Sorry for my absence this week. You know I've been preoccupied if I'm recapping last weekend on a Thursday.

This past weekend and week have been filled with shopping trips to get art supplies, actually using these art supplies, and well you guessed it, COOKING!

I spent a whole afternoon on Saturday hunting down canvas and paint for a fabulous leaf project I'm working on and rubber stamps to personalize my printed photos. Who knew you can spend hours(and tons of money) in craft stores. Someone shoulda warned a sista! I literally wanted to buy everything in the store. Good thing I had a little common sense(and my kite) because in reality it would have looked something like this..

In the store: 10 pack of styrofoam balls for $4.99, "OH MY GOSH I CAN MAKE SO MANY THINGS! ORNAMENTS, SNOWMEN, INAPPROPRIATE EARRINGS!!!!!!"

At home:(9 months later) Dusty 10 pack of styrofoam balls, "WHO THE HECK BOUGHT STYROFOAM BALLS?!"

Anyways, here's a little preview of my leaf project. It's just an outline. Warning: NO JUDGING ALLOWED

From 2011-10-10

Sunday I spent some quality time with my sister getting some brunch at one of my favorite breakfast places Maxfields in Lombard. After I got to spend some quality time with little niece Arianny. She was in love with my hair, can you blame her?

There was so much cooking being done at my house this weekend/week. I've made some Paleo spaghetti using speghetti squash and Italian sausage, grilled steak with roasted cinnamon carrots, crockpot honey chicken thighs and wings, and I rubbed down a pork shoulder with spices, half I cut into pork chops and half I used for crockpot bbq pulled pork. If anyone would like some recipes for any of my yummy eats, please leave a comment and I'll be happy to make something up for you ;)

From 2011-10-08

From 2011-10-08

From 2011-10-08

From 2011-10-08

From 2011-10-08

From 2011-10-10

From 2011-10-10

From 2011-10-10

From 2011-10-10

From 2011-10-10

From 2011-10-10

If you're every wonder if I'm lonely in the kitchen. Not one bit, because these guys keep me company. They totally love me or the smell of food (same thing).

From 2011-10-10

This week I received my subscription to Paleo Magazine in the mail today along my Cosmo. Both are going to help me look better naked. If you haven't checked out the new Paleo Magazine, you have to get a subscription. Some of my favorite blogs writers are the contributors toward this magazine. It's full of recipes, journey's, and useful articles for your primal living. I love it, because it's a great little guide to lend to my friends. Seriously, who doesn't love flipping through a magazine.

Yesterday I made it to BDCF for our 5:45am class. The WOD of the day was Helen.

Three rounds for time - Helen
400m run
21 x kb swings (a). 16/24
12 x pull ups

My last Helen time was 16:24 and I beat it. My new time is 16:11. It took everything I had to finished that. I got to the last round of pull ups and I glanced up and saw the clock turn 16:00 and I had less then 24 seconds to do 12 pull ups. BAM! 11 seconds for 12 (band assisted) pull ups. No applause necessary!

Let's wrap today's post with a great picture I took of the trees turning colors in front of my building. Applause IS necessary for this bad boy! ♥

From 2011-10-08

Banging Weekend

New things were happening this weekend. I started my weekend off with getting an amazing haircut at my favorite salon in OP. I love going here. I've never left without looking amazing! I wish I properly maintained my hair/could afford to go more often. There was mention that I haven't been there in a year....and I'm almost positive that was my last haircut. Pffft...I can pull off split ends like nobody else! I'm probably overly proud of that huh?

And I went for something new for Fall. I got banged!! I felt totally nervous about making this big jump for two reasons. 1) Maintenance, I'm NOT a high maintenance hair kind of gal, if it takes more than 10 minutes or involves more that 2 tools to do, than it's not gonna happen. Plus, I "snooze" my alarm to the point where I've mastered the oily hair look(thank you poof), and 2) I haven't had bangs since the 8th grade, when I asked my FATHER to cut my bangs on a regular basis. Probably the only time in my life, where I wished my dad was a butcher for a profession. I had flash backs of a bowl being put on my head, when my stylist asked if I was "ready"! But as you can see it turned out amazing. I love them and they are totally worth getting up an extra 3ish minutes earlier.

Another new thing was my baby niece and my sister-in-law got baptized on Saturday. The ceremony was great and so was the little party after. My brother grilled some delicious food. Which I didn't take any pics of because my hands were busy shoving my face.

I DID get to utilize my fancy camera for this special day and took some great pictures. I have to say my niece is one of the cutest babies I've seen and so precious. I loved her bow, I wonder if I can pull that off with my bangs...

From Arianny's baptism Web Folder

From Arianny's baptism Web Folder

From Arianny's baptism Web Folder

Sunday my kite and I visited Long Grove to check out their annual Apple Festival, which we did not know was happening till we actually got there, so that was a great surprise. We walked around a bit and decided to wait in line for apple cider and apple cider donuts, because why not wait in the longest line ever. When I say long I mean LONGGGGGGGGG. We waited in line for what seemed like a day, but was closer to an hour. I think that was an hour too long. When we finally got out of there with our goods, some random lady asked us if it was worth the wait. I immediately said "NO", but you can tell she was hoping for a Yes. Sorry random lady for blowing your hopes and dreams. But the cider was yummy and adorable.

From 2011-10-02

Before we left, we stopped at a stand that was selling giant dog bones. And we bought two for our cave puppies. This is probably the equivalent to an all week sucker for a child.

From 2011-10-02

There was some cooking that was had at my home. And maybe some non-paleo eats, but we will NOT discuss those here. I will share what we did have. I did roast the chicken that I prepped the night before, it came out delicious. We also grilled a steak and had leftover chicken, which I just roasted some asparagus to go along with and don't forget breakfast, my staple. Eggs with bacon and apple. Good eats!! WARNING, you will see lots of butter..do NOT freak out. It's normal and wonderful.

From 2011-10-02

From 2011-10-02

From 2011-10-02

From 2011-10-02

From 2011-10-02

So far this week, I seasoned some beef shanks and oxtail to put in the crockpot for lunch and yesterday was TACO MONDAY!! I still do a little jig to get the kite excited. I did end up putting sour cream on the tacos below, because O-M-G I love sour cream. I was too excited to take another picture...so there you go.

From 2011-10-02

From 2011-10-02

From 2011-10-03

And to leave you with a really neat picture by yours truly. I call it 'Sunset Tracks'. If you're my FB friend than you already seen it. So what, SEE IT again. Hello it's pretty neat!

From 2011-10-03