January Challenge 2nd Update

After spending those 5 or so days limping around in pain I finally made it back to the gym. I didn't feel up to going until Thursday night and just did cardio to ease back in. The next week, I finally met my January Challenge goal (one out of 3 weeks is not a great way to start my 1st challenge of the year, but at this point it is better than nothing). On Monday night I did cardio and an arm workout, on Tuesday night I did an hour of cardio, and on Wednesday night I did cardio and a leg workout. I must admit that it is pretty tough to work all day, go to the gym, get home around 7:30 or 8, try to make dinner, eat and then try and accomplish my normal "to-dos" like laundry, dishes, finances, etc., but it actually feels really great to be working out again!

Cooking Class

On Sunday I went to a cooking class with some friends from highschool. We spent the afternoon drinking wine, chatting, and watching the cook made all the food for us. Then the highlight was getting to eat it all! We learned how to make prosciutto wrapped asparagus, chicken cordon blue with roasted potatoes and vegetables, and french chocolate bark. Everything was delicious and fairly easy to make. We are planning on having more of these classes in the future and I can't wait!

Here is the recipe for the prosciutto wrapped asparagus. It was so quick and easy to make and would be a great appetizer for a party. Enjoy!

Prosciutto Wrapped Asparagus

Ingredients:

1 large bunch of asparagus, trimmed (*we used the snapping technique-they snap in the right place so you don't eat the tough part)

8 thin slices of prosciutto

olive oil

salt and pepper

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 400°

Toss the asparagus with olive oil and salt and pepper, arrange on baking sheet and roast for 8-10 minutes until starting to brown. Cool to touch.

Wrap 3 stalks of asparagus with one slice of proscuitto. Arrange on platter and serve warm or at room temperature.

Homecoming

On Saturday, Nic and I went down to Irvine for UCI's homecoming. We met up with a bunch of my sorority sisters for happy hour at Steelhead. It is always so great to catch up, sometimes I really wish I lived closer to my college friends. After happy hour, we went to the street fair where we kept running into people we haven't seen since college. Then we went to this special basketball alumni event. We had food from Newport Rib Company, wine and Nic got to spend time with a bunhc of the guys he played basketball with. The game was great too, especially since UCI won! It really was fun to be back at UCI, back in the gym watching b-ball, and it was especially nice to catch up with so many great friends. I think we might have to make the homecoming game an annual tradition!

Dinner with the Quills

On Wednesday, Nic and I took the day off to show Suze and Waz around. It was so nice to have the day off. We took them down to the OC. They joked that we were on the "story of Nic and Crystal's life tour". We took them to UCI, we went to Dana Point, the Ritz Carlton, and Laguna Beach. We got cupcakes from Sprinkles (I think this might have been the highlight of the day for Suze) before having a huge lunch at Islands. Then we went to Newport beach where we visited my old place. We spent a bit of time walking on the beach and on the pier in Newport before heading to Huntington Beach. We ate our cupcakes and did some shopping then headed to LA for the Clippers game. It was a really fun day!! We always love having friends come visit from Australia!!

Suze and Waz

Suze and Waz came to visit us from Bendigo! I picked them up from the train station on Tuesday and we all went to the Lazy Dog cafe for dinner. Then we took them to Coldstones for dessert, where Suze and I managed to scrore ice cream cups twice the size of the boys! ;)

On Wednesday, Nic and I took the day off to show Suze and Waz around. It was so nice to have the day off. We took them down to the OC. They joked that we were on the "story of Nic and Crystal's life tour". We took them to UCI, we went to Dana Point, the Ritz Carlton, and Laguna Beach. We got cupcakes from Sprinkles (I think this might have been the highlight of the day for Suze) before having a huge lunch at Islands. Then we went to Newport beach where we visited my old place. We spent a bit of time walking on the beach and on the pier in Newport before heading to Huntington Beach. We ate our cupcakes and did some shopping then headed to LA for the Clippers game. It was a really fun day!! We always love having friends come visit from Australia!!

Fridge Leak

Not sure how I almost forgot to post about this since it turned our house upside down for over a week.....our fridge leaked!! One night, just as I was heading up to bed, I noticed some water on the floor in front of the fridge. I had Nic pull the fridge out to check and the entire area was covered with water!! The ice machine hose had a drip and we have no idea how long it has been leaking. We had to pull the fridge out to attempt to dry out the area. There was a little bot of mold, some mildew and calcium build-up. One of our drawers bubbled up and wouldn't shut so we had to pull everything out and set up a fan. There was obviously no convenient place to put the fridge so the kitchen turned into a disaster within minutes! We still haven't re-attached the water, but we got the area dried out, the fridge back in place, and the house straightened up the night before our guests arrived from Australia. Isn't it too soon for these kinds of problems to be happening?

Work Party

On Sunday January 16th, Nic and I went to a party for my work. We had delicious appetizers, played a few games, enjoyed the Haddad's gorgeous backyard, and had a tasty dinner. It was a really nice event! :)

Dinner with Mark

Last night, Nic and I went and had dinner with Mark, Rachelle, Brandon and Mark's friend Tim. We got to see Ryan and Judy too. We had delicious steak tacos for dinner and cupcakes for dessert. It was so nice to catch up with everyone, I just wish it was under better circumstances. Please say a few prayers for Mark and the rest of the family.

January Challenge Update

So I went to the gym again on Wednesday night and took advantage of a free personal training session. The guy killed me! I kept telling him that I had not been to the gym in 2 years, but I'm thinking now that he might have thought I was just making excuses. We started off with 90 calf raises using the machine with weights on your shoulders! Followed by at least 90 reptitions of abducter and 90 repitiions of adducter presses on machines. Then I did walking squats. Followed by 30 jumping squats. Then I did a wall sit. Then I did a quad workout on a machine (probably about 90 repitions-the guy seemed to like 30-30-30 sets (Even when I was in great shape I usually did 10-10-10 sets). We finished the workout off with a ton of sit ups on some machine I had never used before. Of course I am super competitive (and used to be in really good shape) so I pushed my way through the entire workout. Well, I am paying for it now!! I could barely get out of bed on Thursday and have been limping around ever since. (I joked that I wouldn't be able to walk the next day, but I never actually believed it would happen). My left calf is killing me!!! I can't straighten my leg with my heel on the ground and today gave in and took ibuprofen, elevated and iced it. :( So much for my January challenge and new years resolution to work out regualrly. I already wasn't able to get my 3 days in this week and unless my leg drastically improves it doesn't look like I will be making it to the gym this upcoming week either.  :(

January Challenge

I finally began my challenge for the month: Workout!!
This is one of my New Year's resolutions this year, but I figured I would also make it my January Challenge to give myeslf a kick start. My goal for the month is to go to the gym at least 3 days a week.
I went to the gym tonight for the first time in about 2 years! It was a bit intimidating and I will admit that I was nervous, but it felt really good to work out again and I am really looking forward to getting back in shape.

Happy Birthday Gracie

On Sunday, I went to Gracie's 2nd birthday party. Fist of all Lindsay, aka Martha Stewart, did the most amazing job, as always. The theme was tutus and ties and the house was decorated so cute! The food was delicious, the desserts were amazing, and it was so great spending the afternoon with friends. I'm sure Gracie had a great birthday celebration.

Go Kings Go

On Saturday morning, Sabrina and I met up with Sandy and Caitlin for breakfast at Corner Bakery. That afternoon I finally took a bath in the bathtub!! I turned the fire on, filled the tub with luxurious bubble bath and Nic even brought me a glass of wine. I felt like I was staying at a hotel!! That night Sabrina, Sandy, Caitlin and I went to the Kings vs. Blue Jackets game where the Kings won 6 to 4. It was such a great game!!

Happy Hour

On Friday night I decided to work on my "live it up" resolution, so Nic and I ditched the gym and went to happy hour at the Elephant Bar instead. After dinner, we picked up our ornaments from Color Me Mine. Didn't they turn out so cute?

Baby Tyler

On Thursday night I made the Johnson family a Dream Dinner and took two more over frozen so they could have a few home cooked meals (this is a great idea for a shower gift). Hopefully the meal helped them out, but the best part of the night was meeting baby Tyler of course! He is the cutest little guy, who has new born baby smell, and slept in my arms so sweetly for over an hour. I also got to spend some time with Alyse, who is also just the most adorable thing. It was such a fun night!

SNOW

It started snowing today in Valencia!! At first it was melting the second it touched the ground, but about an hour later it really started to come down and stick.  By 5pm this evening we had a white lawn! It is so beautiful and apparently hasn't happened in 20 years!! Nic and I ran around like excited little kids all day over it!! :)

Date Night

Nic and I went to Color Me Mine to use gift cards Nic got me as a Christmas present. Nic made a reindeer ornament and I made a gingerbread man and fancy bulb ornament. It was freezing in the store, but other than that it was really fun! Afterwards we went to Elephant Bar for dinner. We used a gift card we got for Christmas from my parents, so it was a very inexpensive date night!

New Year's Resolutions

Here are my resloutions for the year:
1. Go to the gym! My resolution last year was to exercise and I failed horribly, so this year I am getting a gym membership and hopefully doing a much better job of fulfilling the resolution.
2. Live it up! Nic and I work so hard and then come home and work hard. My goal this year is to enjoy life more. I don't want to feel guilty if I sleep in or sit on the couch and watch tv all day. I want to go out to dinner more, go to the movies more, just have more fun!
3. Decorate this House! I finally want to fill this house with furniture and make it feel like our home.
4. Complete monthly challenges! I want to continue to give myself monthly challenges on my blog to complete.

New Year's Eve

We spent New Year’s Eve with Rachelle and Brandon this year. We met up at their house then took the subway down to LA to Brandon's brother, Trevor's loft. It was a really impressive loft and we had delicious dinner from P.F.Changs, drank wine, and ate rice krispy treats that I made. It was an interesting crowd and got even more interesting when Ryan Cabrera showed up. From there we took the subway to Natalie's house to ring in the New Year. We got there shortly before midnight and enjoyed some more wine, tacos, and champagne. It was a really fun night and I'm happy we got to ring in the New Year with my best friend!

Christmas Cards

I absolutely LOVE getting Christmas cards!! It is one of my favorite things about this time of year! I normally hate going through the mail, but each night I can't wait to see what new cards have arrived! I get so excited to open each and every card! It really brightens my day!

Here is the Christmas card we sent out this year:

Happy Birthday Sabrina

Sabrina turned 22 on December 30th! She celebrated by going out for a few drinks with some friends then came back to our house to drink some wine with us. :)

Dinner With Friends

On the 26th I met up with a bunch of friends from my performing arts highschool (LACHSA) for lunch. It was great to see everyone and it still blows my mind that we are all grown up! It seems like just yesterday we were all joking around in HS and now most of us are married and have kids!! When did I become a grown-up?? Crazy!!

Great Minds Think Alike

Nic and I got each other the same gift for Christmas! When Nic first decided what he was getting me for Christmas he told me it was really good, but he was nervous I would find out what it was before Christmas. I was very confused and reminded him I'm not a snoop and wouldn't find out. I kept thinking it must be some "top gift" that everyone would be talking about and that is why he thought I would find out what it was before Christmas. Then when he said it was sold out and he was having a hard time getting it I really thought I was on the right track.

Then one night, while I was doing a search I do every couple of months, I came across the perfect gift for Nic! I was beyond excited that I too was going to be able to give a gift I could be really excited about. Nic's mom makes these most amazing meat pies (meat pies are very popular in Australia) and since we have moved here we have been searching for a pie maker. So when a meat pie maker showed up on my google search I was beyond ecstatic.

It was only available at Williams-Sonoma so I went in right away. I ran into my mom and she asked what I was getting. When I told her, I instantly had a bad feeling. She got the weirdest look on her face and tried to talk me out of it. Nic had told me he got the last one of his gift a few days earlier so when they told me they had one left I started to relax a bit, but when they said it was the floor model that worried feeling returned. I couldn't shake the feeling all day, so I finally texted Nic and told him that I had a feeling we got each other the same gift.

That night we each described the box size, which was the same. We each said we got it from Williams-Sonoma, then the confirming factor, we each said the price of our gift and new we had bought each other the same thing! Nic said he had been doing everything to ensure I wouldn't find out about the pie maker. He tore the page out of all my Williams-Sonoma catalogues. He closed the pie maker when we went into the store together. The only way I could have possibly found it was to be searching for it, which I unfortunatly did. I am very impressed with Nic and know I would have been beyond surprised to have opened that on Christmas morning, but the fact that we bought each other the same gift does make for a pretty hilarious story and either way we get to make delicious pies!! Plus my mom got her very own meat pie maker, which she told me she really wanted, seconds after she tried to talk me out of getting one for Nic by saying it was a lame present (Not suspicious at all, huh?). ;)

Christmas Day

On Christmas morning we went up to my parents house for brunch. I made the scrapple and Oma's potatoes the night before when we got home from Christmas Eve and the holiday lights. My dad made applesauce sausage, bacon, and hot apple cider. Grandma made her scalloped eggs and we also had peppermint hot chocolate and cinnabons. The food was delicious as always. It is honestly one of my favorite meals of the year! Then we opened our stockings and presents.

In the afternoon, Nic, Sabrina, Tyler and I went to the Lakers vs. Heat game. It seemed like it was going to be a great, exciting game, but it ended up being a bit of a disappointment, especially since we lost.

After the game we drove back up to my parent's house for a Christmas dinner. My mom made prime rib, gravy, mashed potatoes, and peas. We opened crackers, which is another new tradition to our family. Nic's family does it every year in Australia, so we decided we wanted to do it too. :) We had sprinkles cupcakes for dessert and watched the holiday movie Small One together. It really has been a wonderful Christmas!

Neighborhood Lights

Nic and I went to look at the neighborhood Christmas lights again this year. I think this is also going to have to become a holiday tradition. It is just so beautiful and really makes it feel like Christmas. This year one of the houses even added a huge Lakers light.