Dinner at our House: Grilled Steak Salad

Yes! I'm alive, and eating delicious food. We haven't been cooking much, but this has been a new staple for the past two weeks: Grilled Steak Salads.

Mmmm...so good.

Tim will buy a pack of two small sirloin steaks and I will do the rub/seasoning. After it's grilled I add a few things:

• Blue Cheese Crumbles (reduced fat)
• Blue Cheese Dressing (lite; and I do a half serving)
• Balsamic Vinaigrette (also lite and half a serving)
• Additional ground pepper

All in all, when I've done the math the salad comes out to 7-8 WW points. Not too bad because I'm very full after eating steak. 

And just to update you on some of my 13x13 goals...

Notice two things: in 2 weeks I've lost 5.8 pounds doing WW and  C25K! 

Couldn't be happier and hopefully, healthier!

Thirteen in 13: Only 8 days late.

As usual, I fully intended to be like everyone else and post this on January 1. But, same old 2012 excuses- busy, busy and busy. I'm hoping that these will help whip me into shape. Without further ado:

1. Track our entire budget- last year I started out well, but it tapered off after about three months.
2. Use at least $500 in coupons- I'm pretty sure I surpassed this last year, but part of the problem was that I stopped tracking how much I was saving. This year I want to sort of unite these first two goals for a comprehensive look at our spending.
3. Personally put away $X in savings- I want to make sure I continue to contribute to our family's savings account.
4. Give up caffeinated beverages- Make a gradual change to giving them up or replacing them with caffeine free versions.
5. Lose X pounds- and keep it off- pretty self explanatory. I feel like losing X would put me at a very healthy weight and would get me back in my skinny clothes.
6. Run a 5k- I really want to do this! I need to do this!
7. Read 26 books- I really think I can do this, especially now that I have my iPad mini and I joined a book club.
8. Complete an organization program/regime- there is a 31 days to getting organized and a 13 week one. I'm not sure what I'll do yet, but I want to work on that.
9. Stick to my professional development hours at work and earn my step increase! I'm a little over 50% complete with my hours. I have about 7 or 8 months to get it done. I think I can do it!
10. Make at least three meals a week- we've been eating out way too much. This will help us stay organized, on a budget and healthier.
11. Finish wedding scrapbook- THIS YEAR MAKES FIVE YEARS!!! I have GOT to do this.
12. Wish everyone happy birthday :)
13. Have twelve unique dates with the husband. Gotta keep it fun and interesting. I'm taking any suggestions.

There it is. Thirteen things I'm striving for in 2013. I'm already off to a good start on 1, 2, 6, 7, and 12. Hopefully the rest will follow suit. Wish me luck!

Happy New Year: Twelve Goals for 2012

Woohoo! Some of you may remember my blog posts regarding goals for the new year, or Eleven in 11. Well I'm at it again. Some are similar, some are a little more private, some are easy and some are not. We'll see how it goes!

1. Track our entire budget- Now, that sounds like I don't now, but I do, I just want to get down to the details more.
2. Use at least $500 in coupons- Pretty high goal, but not once you start using those Extra Care Bucks from CVS. We'll see how it goes. I've got a little Excel sheet and I'm excited to find out exactly how much cutting coupons saves me from just the coupons.
3. Lose X and keep it off- So last year I did well losing what I planned to lose, I just gained 10 of it back. So now I'm going to get that 10 back off and hopefully just a little bit more with it and hope that come December I haven't gained back.
4. Get a library card, use it once a month- This one is in honor of my favorite librarian couple. I want to start going to the library to get books because I want to...
5. Read 26 books- Last year I tried for 52- HA! That was one a week, but this one I might be able to pull off. One book every two weeks. I am LOVING the Hunger Games books right now.
6. Shop local once a month- Tim and I like to support small business when we can, so I thought I'd make it a goal to continue to do it at least once a month.
7. Knit a scarf- this one is easy...right? I've already got one started...I just need to finish it!
8. Consistent Gym Use- if we're going to keep it as an expense I've got to go more. I'm pledging to go at least four times a week to make it worth our while.
9. BLOG three times a week- I don't want to abandon you. I did so well at the beginning of the year, and then fell off. I want to keep it going all year long!
10. Finish our wedding scrapbook- We've been married almost 4 years, it's just time to do this already!
11. Put $X in savings- gotta build it back up since we're hoping to buy that house :)
12. Run a 5k- It's time to stop saying I'm going to do it and just do it!

So there it is. The List. What do you want to accomplish in 2012?

Where did she go?

Oh my goodness, I've really dropped the ball. It's as if the last part of 2011 I fell off the planet. I know I have the same excuse, "a lot is going on" but really- A LOT IS GOING ON! Tim and I are getting ready to really embark on a new adventure of possibly owning a home and I can't wait to share the news once it becomes official. I thought I would blog more about it, but it has turned out to be quite an emotional roller-coaster and I thought, maybe I'll just keep more of it to ourselves.

But, have no fear for 2012. There will be a set of new goals, 12 in 12! I've got new ideas for updates, and I have plenty of new recipes to try to share with you all as a result of my MIL buying us some new cookbooks for Christmas. I also have a new camera from my parents to document it all with.

I hope you all had a Merry Christmas and wonderful holiday season.

I am going to blog today!

I'm rereading over my goals and I'm epic failing here in the tenth month of the year. That's why I'm thankful I was tagged in this post. I'm going to try and get back on the goal-driven horse...

I'm a ham sometimes. This is me today at work riding the "horse"...yeeeeeah. Please note the AL state flag in the background...

So here goes:

1. Do not give up on the home search. We can't be married with parents and pets forever. It's getting to that point in my life I'm really wanting to consider our family growth extension plans aka babies...and I just can't even think about it without having a home for our possible future family members. So I want to continue to look at homes and even apartments. It's just a challenge because I don't want to live in an apartment when most of the mortgages are cheaper than rent...

2. Find more things to give thanks about aka complain less. Sometimes I catch myself venting more than I like doing. I need to revive the spirit of my old blog- Thank You Have a Nice Day.

3. Get a library card. CHRIS! Help me here LOL. I want to start checking out more books rather than buying them. I want to be a library supporter.

4. Clean out a box from my dorm. I know that when I moved home for the summer after my freshmen year there were at least two boxes of stuff that never made it back with me when I moved into my sophomore-senior apartment. I want to dig those out, have a few laughs, clear some clutter and scrapbook any items left over. I know I have some old high school photos in there I want to use to make some stuff with.

5. Get back to goals in general. I want to start back to seriously working on my original goals I set for 2011.

What are your goals for the rest of the year?