Paradise Lunch, Fingerprinting and Fajita fun...

Today was a really good day I must say. My boss came back from his month's vacation so it was good to see him, but bittersweet because he is leaving the company for good and it was his last day. So the team took him out to lunch at Paradise Bakery. I luuuuuuv that freaking place! I had a Chicken Walnut Sandwich and a Chocolate Chip Cookie. Which of course was the best part! I looked up the calories for the cookie online. Ummm... yeah... 300 calories for one freaking cookie! But so worth it!

After work I had to stop by the Police station and get fingerprinted for the Series 65 exam I am taking. Apparently they don't mess around. Can't pull a Bernie Madoff or they'll find out. Although, Mr. Madoff wasn't found out for quite some time... apparently the fingerprinting didn't help. So nevermind. So yeah, that was interesting. And annoying. That damn ink is messy and takes forever to get off your hands.

Then when we got home I made my Tangy Chicken Fajitas recipe that I got from one of the Jillian Michael's books I have. Here is the recipe for 4 servings:

2 pounds of Chicken
1/2 cup Olive Oil
1/2 cup of Distilled White Vinegar
1/2 fresh Lime Juice
1 chopped bell pepper
1 chopped large onion
2 small packets of dry Italian dressing mix

Place the olive oil, vinegar, lime juice and italian dressing mix in a large bowl. Cut up the chicken, peppers and onions and add them to the bowl and marinate overnight (or at least 15 minutes). Add the ingredients to a medium pan on medium heat and cook until the onions are translucent. Serve on a tortilla. The nutritional info (not including the tortilla): Calories 256, Fat 7 grams, Carbs 19 grams, Protein 14 grams. They are so damn yummy and good for you! All I usually need is one and it fills me up for sure!

Sorry I don't have a pic again. I keep forgetting to take pictures before I stuff my face with the food! Argh! I need to get better at this...

So also, tomorrow I start the clomid. I am pretty excited and a little nervous. I will let you know how it goes! Nighty night!

Chil-ax weekend

Yes. I just used the word "chil-ax" (which is a combination of "chill" and "relax", if you didn't already know) because it rocks! And I like it. So there. It describes my weekend well because not much happened.

Friday night was awesome because of the friends and the Pei Wei of course. I'm a bit dissapointed in the Dan Dan Noodles now though. Not so spicy anymore and Janae has confirmed this as well. Wtf?! That was what made it so damn yummy. Oh well. I added some chili sauce to it and it was spicy enough. Guess I will just have to do that everytime now. Lame.

So yeah, Friday after Pei Wei the Surprise 7 came over and we played Virtual Tennis 2009 (new Wii game) and the game kind of sucked. But it was nice to still spend time with the friends.
Saturday I got up and hit the gym for my usual 1.5 hour workout and then came home and made this beauty:
It is my first attempt at an eggwhite omelet and I think I did a pretty damn good job! I just heated up some fresh mushrooms and spinach and then once that was ready I poured in about a half a cup of eggwhites. Let that sit for about 2-3 minutes then folded it over. Let it sit for another minute or two and ta-da! Had to add some toast with jam. It was delicious and full of protein. It really filled me up.

So after breakfast I just did some cleaning around the house. Then when Tim got home I made some gnocchi that I found tucked away in the cupboard that I forgot we had. I wish I could say I made it fresh. Nope. Pre-packaged from Trader Joe's. But it was damn good. We stayed in and ate that and watched a movie called Awake with Hayden Christiansen and Jessica Alba. Kinda wierd. It was okay. I mostly just like to watch Hayden Christiansen :-)

Then Sunday I was having major girl problems. I woke up with the worst cramps. Holy crappola! I had to take 4 ibuprofen which is alot for me. After that kicked in I was feeling okay so we went to Dani and Greg's to swim. I didn't drink though. I figured I better be good to my body since I was already going through enough. So Sunday was cycle day one for sure. So Thursday I start the clomid. It will be interesting to see how it affects me! And so in 2 weeks Tim and I will be a little busy (baw-chicka-bow-wow). Heh heh. Just kidding. But no really! I can't freaking wait! It's going to be so awesome.

So that is my weekend in a nutshell. Now it's back to work this week. I have only 2 more chapters to study for my Series 65 exam. Today I was studying derivatives and calling and putting and forwards and futures and blah blah blah. It was so confusing I had to go back over and read it again. Bleh! Oh well, at least I still have another month to get it all straight.

I'm going to go hit the shower and go to bed. Ya'll have a great night!

So today is Friday. THAT, in itself, is freaking awesome. Of course.

But the othe thing that makes it so incredibly awesome is that my aunt came for a visit today. Finally! I've been waiting for her for 2 freaking weeks! Hallelujah! Now I will have to start the clomid in 5 days to help with my ovulation and well... we all know what that calls for. I'll spare you the details :-)

This is such great news because I had called my doctor yesterday and left a message because nothing had happened yet and if they needed to do testing then I wanted to make an appointment as soon as possible so as not to waste anymore time. Well I left the message yesterday and still had not heard anything back 24 hours later so I called again this afternoon and the voicemail said that they were out of the office and that "any messages left would not be returned". Needless to say I was a bit peeved that they left the office yesterday without calling me knowing that they would be gone for 3 days. Whatever. It doesn't matter now. Lucky for them.


Oh! And the other thing that makes this day even better is that I am going to be finishing it off with people I love with food I love. Tonight is dinner with the Surprise 7 (this consists of Greg, Dani, Jeremy, Janae and of course the newest addition, Xander) at Pei Wei! My fav! Yum yum. I made sure to allot some extra space in my daily calories to squeeze in some Dan Dan Noodles. I usually get them with tofu and vegetables so they really aren't that bad for you. Each dish is 2 servings so here is the nutritional info for 1 serving with chicken: Calories: 390, Fat: 7 grams, Carbs: 57 grams, Protein: 26 grams. So with the tofu I am probably eating less calories and less protein. Can't wait! And I think I will need to have a glass of wine too. Yes. Need. That's right.

Series 65 whiz! That's me!

Well yesterday ended up being a great day with all of the rain and all of the studying I got done at work. I was able to study two whole chapters for my Series 65 and I did really well on the practice quizzes for each chapter! Woot woot! Hopefully I don't get over confident and then totally bomb the exam, but at least I know I am understanding this so far. I'm already halfway through the book. I'm learning all about Debt Securities (Bonds) and Portfolio Management. Hey pretty soon I'm going to be telling you all what to do with your money. Cuz you know, I will be a whiz at timing the market. Oh wait, market timing is bad. Crap. Well nevermind.

Anyways, last night it was nice to just relax at home. It only took us 40 minutes to get home from Tim's work which was super cool. So we had the Quinoa Chicken for dinner. I added the Feta cheese to mine and Tim added some Ranch dressing. He said it needed something and everything is better with ranch right? Hmmm... I dunno about that. But hey, I put ketchup on my macaroni and cheese so who am I to talk? So then I hit the hay around 9pm and started reading the Canterbury Tales by Chaucer. An oldie but goodie I remembered I had from college but never actually took the time to read. I figured I need a break from the teeny-bopper-chic-lit I have been reading. Time to make myself a little more well-rounded. At least in the well-read sense. Although I wish I was well-rounded in another sense of the word too. Hah!

Make it a good day!

Rain and coffee mix very well. Just not in the same cup.

So let me start off by saying that when it rains here in Arizona, it is amazing how much it affects my mood. I guess one could compare it to sunny days in Sweden. After our recent trip there to visit Sofia I realized how few and far between their sunny days are. So when they get a sunny day it is like a party in the streets. Literally! People flock to them and spend the whole day outside and everyone is so happy! But here in Arizona it is just the opposite. We get so sick of the sun that when we actually have a little splatter of rain we go nuts. Well, some of us go nuts. I just become calm and content. Like, right now I am drinking a cup of coffee. Anyone who knows me knows that I don't drink coffee. But the rainy day just made me want something warm and yummy. And I do love coffee, I just can't handle how it affects me. But! I figure my calm and content mood this morning will then cancel the panicky jittery feeling I normally get from the caffeine. Okay. I'm rambling.

Anyways, so here is a lovely beautiful happy day in Sweden during our recent trip:

And here is a happy day in Arizona:

Both so beautiful. Each in their own way :-)

So in other news, or not so news, still no aunt flow. This is driving me nuts and it's starting to worry me. Like, what if something is wrong with me? Like, seriously wrong? Or what if they put me on stupid injectables where I have to inject hormones into myself with needles? Needles people! Man, I really hope not... Well I still have majorly sore boobs (much to Tim's dislike) so that's good. And my temps are still high which means the progesterone is still hangin' out in my body so I'll give it a few more days.

And I really need to post a pic of the recipe I made the other day with the Quinoa but I don't have one yet. Here is the recipe for two servings:

Quinoa with Chicken and Veggies

Chicken Breast, 8 oz.
Quinoa (dry) ½ cup 1 16 oz. can Fat-Free Swanson Chicken Broth, divided
1 Green bell pepper, diced
1 Tomato, diced
1 Red bell pepper, diced
1/2 cup Mushrooms, diced
1.5 oz. Fat-Free Feta Cheese
3 tsp Olive Oil, divided
2 tsp minced garlic

Place Quinoa in pot with 1 cup of chicken broth. Once it starts to boil, reduce it to a simmer, and let simmer for 12 minutes. Then you will need one medium sized and one large pan. Spray both with nonstick olive oil spray, and add 1.5 tsp of olive oil to each pan. Set them both over medium. Add chicken seasoned with salt and pepper to the medium sized pan. Stir, adding ½ cup chicken broth. Cook until chicken is no longer pink, about 5-6 minutes. For the other pan, add the garlic, then add all veggies. Stir until veggies are soft, about 5-6 minutes. Add chicken/broth mixture to veggie pan, add quinoa to veggie pan and pour the last of the chicken broth in. Sprinkle with feta and salt, and stir for 1-2 minutes. Serve.

Nutritional Information: 377 calories, 38 carbs, 12 fat grams, 38 protein grams, 700 mg sodium

All in all it was pretty good. Lots of chicken though that totally filled me up. I couldn't even eat the whole serving. I don't know what my deal is with chicken though. It is really hard for me to eat sometimes. Maybe it was just too dry for me. Who knows. But I would make it again. Especially because it is so nutritionally good for you.

Well, I'm starting to feel the caffeine. Woooo! All it takes is one cup ladies and gentlemen! I should use this caffeine high to my advantage and do a little studying for my Series 65 exam. I'm on chapter 7 which is The Fundamentals of Debt Securities. And let me tell you. If that doesn't need some coffee, I don't know what does.

My Hot Date

Last night Tim and I went out to a movie. Something we never really do anymore, mostly because it's so dang expensive. We went to Westgate (near the Cardinal stadium) and saw The Proposal. It was sooooo super cute! I love Sandra Bullock and I love Ryan Reynolds and they had such great chemistry in the movie. I loved it. And so did Tim. I was actually suprised that he suggested it b/c it seemed like more of a chic flick to me and that he wouldn't be interested. But I think he likes Sandra Bullock so I'm sure that helped.

Anyways, we had gotten to the movie theater about 20 mins early and it's a good thing because the theater filled up! I was surprised since the movie had been out for a few weeks already. So Tim and I found seats with one seat open on his side and one seat open on mine. The movie started and two other chicks came in looking for seats (mind you, the whole front portion of the theater is still totally open) and they come over to our row and they're like "Do you mind moving down one?" I don't know why this annoyed me but it did. I mean, the whole front of the theater was open and we had gotten there early and here these chicks came in late and made us move. Gah! Just annoying. Whatever. Maybe I'm PMS-ing.

Speaking of PMS-ing... I'm still waiting for my period to show up. So here's the story:

I have not had my period since April. Yes. April. This is my second super long cycle of over 80 days. So I finally went to see a new Dr. that practiced obstetrics (thanks Janae!) and he was awesome. He put me on Provera right away to make me start my period. Well, I finished the Provera about 9 days ago and still nothing. So I called there a few days ago and they told me to wait another week to see if it shows up. So very frustrating. Especially because we are ready to start the baby making! Grrrr! The baby fever is just so very high I can't even explain. I'm trying to relax and not stress about it so much.

Anyways, so today is going to be a nice relaxing day. Doing chores, catching up on some TV shows. Oh! And I'm going to make a new recipe that I stole from Fittingbackin's blog. It is Quinoa with Garlic Chicken & Veggies. I will let you know how it ends up and post some pics. I'm pretty excited to make it. Tim found the bag full of Quinoa that I bought at Whole Foods the other day and was like "Ummmm babe? What the hell is this?" Haha.

Oh yeah, and I heart Whole Foods. I wish it wasn't so damn expensive! This is the one I have to go to in Scottsdale because they don't have one out by me in Surprise.

Well, sounds like we are going to our friend's for some swimming so I better go make this Quinoa recipe now! Hope you all have a fabulous Sunday!

My very first blog post. Exciting? Or completely boring. I can't decide.

This is my very first blog post so forgive me if it is completely uneventful.

This begins somewhat of a journal/record of my life and the exciting times that lie ahead. I know that I would like to remember this time in my life when I am older. What better way to talk about it here for all to see? I am pretty open already with the things I deal with in my life. I've never been very reserved. So this should be easy.

I have been on a journey through marriage, financial freedom, weight loss/fitness, and now.. the ever present journey of infertility. So I will mostly be discussing these!

I hope you all enjoy my blogs. Whoever you may be.

I must now go make some dinner. I am going on a date with my husband this evening. I promise to give updates later!

:)