Friday Letters

TGIF!! That's all I gotta say about that! I officially have 2 days left of work and then I'm on vaca for 10 blissful days! 7 of which I will be soaking up the rays in Cancun! However since it's Friday lets get started with

Dear Self: Don't stress out- you are in a good place at work and getting everything you need to get done before you're gone for the next 10 days, I know I haven't even started packing but that's okay that is what tomorrow night is for- I've already started my mental checklist. 

Dear Weather: Please be nothing but sunshine and clear skies! I want to soak up the rays and swim in the ocean. Gosh it's been years since I've been in the ocean.

Dear Social Media & Technology: I am disconnecting for a week yes you heard me correctly a week! I am actually looking forward to not being glued to technology. The only thing I'm bringing is my Kindle and that's it! 

Dear Paleo Diet: Yes I am going to try my 100% best to stay committed to you while I'm on vaca. The only thing that I can't promise is the drinking piece, even though 95% of the time I'm not a drinker I'm staying at a all-inclusive resort so I need to get my money's worth here. 

Dear Workout: I have my strategy set for staying 100% in the game for working out. I think I would feel miserable quite honestly if I didn't work out for 7 days straight. YUCK! 

Dear Hubby: Our countdown is near a end- I cannot wait to spend 7 blissful days with you and only you! Love love love!! 

Happy weekend! I will return next Monday! 

Pit & Peak

Wednesday already what what?!?! I am offically in VACA-mode! I leave on Sunday and cannot wait. I was off on Monday & Tuesday - I took Monday as a lazy day but that meant that Tuesday was non stop errand day. Phew I'm exhausted!

I would like to say for all those who commented last week- I am so sorry I never responded I completly was out of my blogging rythym but I'm back in FULL SWING!

However let's get to our ritual Wednesday post which is:

Here are the Rules:

1. Say what was the Pit of your week

2. What was the Peak of your week

3. Any other things you want to share about your week 

Grab a button -- follow your host -- stop by other people who have linked up and post a comment! 

The Peak of my week is well duh MEXICO!!! I promise I'm not trying to rub it in your face but I cannot tell you how excited I am to be going. Plus knowing that I will have no contact with the outside world sounds amazing to me. If you remember in May I was freaking out when we were going to my lake house which didn't get cell phone reception and we don't have the internet. However now I'm really looking forward for this time with my hubby, the beach, and several books that I have a date with. 

The Pit of my week - well it isn't really of my week but I always get nervous when I fly because we check our baggage and I'm always nervous that they are going to loose our luggage- knock on wood it hasn't happened yet - however we are now traveling internationally. Fingers crossed us & our luggage arrives safely! 

Reminder since I'll be disconnected next week there will be NO link up. 

I did it for the Ta-Ta's!

Hello Lovelies! I hope that everyone had a good weekend and is having a good start to their week. Sorry I didn't post yesterday I was so exhausted from the weekend I just needed a day to relax and be mindless, and that's exactly what I did. However that now means today I need to cram everything to get done. Ahh! Oh Well.

So last week I posted about a event that I was doing that my Crossfit gym was hosting called Barbell for Boobs. The competition consisted of the work out called "Grace" which is 30 Clean & Jerks and Women's prescribed weight was 95lbs. Easy weight for me and I have done this work out many of times and just did it last Monday and shaved a significant amount off my time- I was at 5:14- which was pretty good.

So the morning of the event I as pretty nervous I'm not going to lie. However this event was more than just seeing my time but really in support of a dear friend of mine who at 33 was just diagnosed with breast cancer and just went under a double mastectomy. So in honor of her I made this fabulous shirt to show my support for her:

I had a great support group of my family there as well as my lovely friends from the gym. Here is the video of my event!


Best part is I shaved another minute off my time from that Monday!! Woot Woot!! It was an amazing event and everyone did their best and really represented CFGE very well! 

Friday Letters

Good Morning Friday! I am so happy to see you because I am off today and I have to be honest it feels so good to wake up at your leisure on a Friday morning. I'm once again linking up with Ashley for:

Dear Barbell for Boobs: AHH!! You are tomorrow and I am so so nervous about it. I seriously have had nightmares about not finishing (even though I did "Grace" on Monday in 5:14) in the 10 minutes time cap. I am hoping for the best I have a super cute outfit and a great support group. I'm ready to tackle it tomorrow.

Dear New Jersey Housewives: I swear you get crazier and crazier- is that even possible?? I cannot wait for the conclusion of this 3 ring circus. Just to be clear I'm totally Team Melissa! Without a doubt. And also on that note I'm sorry but Kathy's "new look" is horrible! I don't love the new nose & lips and wow did she pack on the pounds. I'm hoping that by the next season she will get back to her old look.

Dear G&B: Can I seriously be you?? I adore their relationship and how they are with each other- not to mention he is the sweetest husband ever!! I read their book and I seriously needed to highlight & bookmark pages for my husband to show him how to be cute and romantic. He still didn't get it. I'm totes loving their new season too! Not to mention he is from Chi town and I totes want to run into them! 

Dear Meixco: OMG!! You're officially within getting excited start checking out from work time frame. I cannot wait to start packing my bags and getting ready to jet off on a plane to the sandy beaches. I'm going to cook up one nice tan and get some much needed R&R.

Dear Frozen Yogurt Shop: I just discovered you near my house (bad thing very bad thing) and you instantly became an obsession- how do I know this?? Well I booked it (yes I admit speeding) from three towns over because we had to go to Costco back to our town to get to the frozen yogurt shop before they closed. I made it with 3 minutes to spare I would like to add. I need to tone it down because it's not Paleo and quite frankly you're killing my bank account. Plus you changed your flavors yesterday and I had a hard time choosing because they were all pretty gross.

Dear X-Factor: Yes I am a loyal fan but I have a bone to pick with you where the hell is Panda??? She was amazing!! Miss her audition here it is:



There is so much talent this year and now I have to wait until next Wednesday to find out who made it to live auditions?! It's killing me! I have my votes though. 

Have a great weekend!! 

Barbell for Boobs

Thank goodness today is Thursday because I am off tomorrow and I can't wait!! Although I have a lot to do to prep for a event I'm doing on Saturday at my Crossfit gym. It's called

This is my first time competing for the event and I am nervous/excited. Thankfully my Crossfit gym is hosting this event and we are expecting about 65 people there and about 45 people competing!! The work out that we have to do for this event is called Grace which is 30 Clean & Jerk and women's rx weight is 95lbs.

Here is a short video of what the work out is:


I will be doing the RX weight of 95lbs. I did Grace about two weeks ago at 95lbs and my time was 14:15 and then I did Grace again on Monday and got my time down to 5:14!!! I'm hoping to get my time under 5:00 on Saturday. Wish me luck! 

It will be so much fun competiting for a great cause and having all my fellow Crossfitters competiting against each other and pumping each other up. 

I am always a supporter of charities but this year it is a little closer to me because a very good friend of mine who ironically I met at Crossfit was diagnosed with breast cancer only a month ago and just went under a double mastectomy, she's only 33 years old. She's on the road to recovery and she is the reason that I am going to do this event and do it 110%! I even have a pretty amazing outfit for it. You'll have to wait until I post about it next week to check it out. 

Wish me luck! And love your ta-ta's!!!!!! 

Pit & Peak

Happy Hump Day! Gosh I can't believe that it's Wednesday already but I'll take it! I apologize that I haven't been writing as consistently I've just been so busy with work and prepping for the holiday season that it actually has taken over my life.

I am however excited to do Pit & Peak of the week! Check it out. . .

Here are the Rules:

1. Say what was the Pit of your week

2. What was the Peak of your week

3. Any other things you want to share about your week 

Grab a button -- follow your host -- stop by other people who have linked up and post a comment! 

The Peak of my week is that I am leaving for Mexico in a week & a half!!!! I seriously cannot wait! I think the thing I am most excited about is that I will literally be disconnected from the world. We aren't bringing cell phones, iPads, laptops, NOTHING! Just a kindle & iPods. I am so ready to soak up those hot Mexico rays! 

My Pit of the week would have to be wishing I had a 3 days weekend like most of the country because of Columbus Day. I will say though that it was fabulous driving to work on Monday morning because there was NO traffic! Glorious! 

Now it's your turn. . . .

I'm a pinning addict

Happy Monday! I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend- I worked all weekend which was fine because it was actually quite chilly here in Chicago-- I think summer & Indian summer is officially over. Ugh until next year. 

I have to say I sometimes get jealous of these bloggers who write these great posts on Monday's of what great and fun things they did over the weekend with all these great pics. Even when I do get my 1 weekend off a month it's usually not spent doing all these fun things. 

So what can I offer YOU this Monday morning?? Well my recent addiction to Pinterest- I'm a full blown addict. Now this wasn't a sudden thing because quite frankly I didn't get the whole Pinterest thing at first. I mean this whole posting pictures to boards- what boards?? It was all so confusing to me and quite frankly I didn't have time for one more thing in my life that involved the computer. However finally at work the girls convinced me to 'get invited' to Pinterest and that was when the flood gates opened. 

What I love best about Pinerest is it allows me to keep all my recipies in one place and easy access vs. having to bookmark all these websites- now it's a click of a button or finger because you know I have the app on my iPhone. 

Here are some of my favorite pins: 

Is anyone else a Pin Addict??? 

Friday Letters. . . finally back!

Hi Ladies! Okay so first of all I apologize for being spotty this week I just had a hectic work schedule and to be honest didn't plan out my time the best to write posts- I promise that I will be on my A game next week! Promise.

So it's been a few weeks that I did Friday Letters and quite frankly I've totally missed it. Once again I'm linking up with Ashley for:



Dear Chipolte: We had a steamy love affair but it's time to take a little break because quite frankly my stomach can't take it much longer. So this is first week of no steak bowl and I have survived thus far.

Dear No Doubt: Okay so I bought their new CD this week

I'll be honest at first I was totally disappointed however I told myself that I would play it on repeat for a couple of days and then make my final decision. I am so glad that I did because it's actually a GREAT cd and well worth it!! Way for a good comeback No Doubt!

Dear Hubby: You know I love you with all my heart however I would have never of guessed when I said YES to your proposal that I signed up for all this drama- I feel like I'm living the real life of Real Housewives of New Jersey (and for the record I'm NOT Teresa I am Melissa who is getting steam rolled by his family) but what would you do without me? You can show your appreciation by buying me this great wedding band I found. . . nothing wrong with a 3rd wedding band

Dear Real Housewives of NJ: Gosh how is it that your reunions are just as good as the last 12 weeks of your season?? I mean please don't tell me I'm the only one here who thinks Teresa is CRAZY?? I really hope they don't ask her back next season because she is like talking to a wall. 

Dear Work: Now the stress begins, I am HR this quarter which I love however I am not looking forward to hiring the 35 people I need to run a successful holiday. Can 35 people please fill out apps and be normal and over achieving and I can hire you on the spot? Thanks! 

Dear Mexico: 2 more weeks! Need I say more?? 

Just call me Betty Crocker

I never thought that I would say that I love cooking but let me tell ya I love cooking. Now let me back up here, I hated cooking before the kitchen was foreign to me as well as every utensil and indigent that there was. However I was once again trying the Paleo diet (if you don't know what it is check out my post I wrote about it) and I knew that if I was going to do this 110% that I was going to need to get comfortable with cooking. So off I was to the internet to find some good and somewhat easy recipes and to my amazement I found quite a few! Thank goodness for Pinterest because I was able to post them all to my new Paleo Board. So when I was about to make one very easy recipe the hubby called, here is how the convo went:

Hubby: Hey babe what are you up too?
Me: Nothing just about to get ready to cook
Hubby: Oh boy, please don't blow up the house
Me: Haha very funny, this is a very easy recipe
Hubby: Babe that's what you said last time and your "easy" recipe turned into a loaf instead of a dip
Me: Okay touche touche, but I swear this is easy and it will turn out marvelous
Hubby: Well good luck with that

Guess what?? The recipe turned out perfect! What were they? Bacon Egg Souffles, they were so easy. Here is the recipe:

Makes 12 cups
12 slices bacon
8 eggs
pinch of salt
1/4 tsp black pepper

(Note: Beforehand I grill up some onion and green pepper to put into the whipped eggs-- You can also add cheese but that's not Paleo approved so I omitted that)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Whip the eggs, salt, and pepper with a fork. Spray non stick spray in 12 muffin tins. Wrap each piece of bacon inside the sides of each muffin cup.

Fill each bacon lined muffin cup 3/4 of the way with the egg mixture.

Bake for 30-35 minutes, until the egg cups are golden brown and don’t jiggle. Use a knife to scoop them out of the tins. Serve immediately.

Here is the in the in progress look:

Finished Product: 

These have instantly become one of my favorites and weather you're on a diet or not they are delcious! I make about 12 at a time and put them in the fridge and when I have to wake up early I heat two or three up in the micro for about a minute and they are the perfect on the go breakfast! 

Goodbye Summer

I hate saying Bye to Summer- even though I know it will be back in about 9 more months I just love everything about the summer. However with the calendar officially saying it's Fall I guess it's time for me to move on and prepare for the next best season. Not to fast- here are some photos from what I think was a great summer! 

I kicked off the Summer with spending Memorial Day weekend at the Lake House with the Hubby

Then the annual carnival came into town, who doesn't love a good carnival?? 

My yard was starting to come together

Nothing like celebrating one your best friend's birthday

More flowers were starting to bloom 

Birthday present for my mum. . . Bruce Springsteen concert!! 

Who doesn't need a girls night out?? 

Then my Birthday!!! Spent the day in the city

I have to say it was a great Summer. . . until next year!