Last Post....

Sorry to let you guys know I will know longer be keeping up with the blog. This will be my last post!! I will continue to read yours and keep updated with everyones, but I have been very busy these days, and at this time I don't have the time or energy to keep it up. I have been working alot and I just need to focus on other things. I have enjoyed this blogging experience but it's just something I must do for me right now. I hope everyone has a great week!! See you around!!

Fredericksburg

Okay, so I am finally getting around to posting about our trip to Fredericksburg. Sorry it has taken me so long. I haven't felt like blogging lately. We had so much fun in Frederickburg. We enjoyed hanging out with my brother and his girlfriend Kate. I forgot how much I loved that little town. It is such a neat town with so many shops, restaurants, tasting rooms and wineries. What more could we ask for. We went into a neat shop called bath junkie. You get to make your own soap, shampoo, lotion...whatever kind of bath product you want. Kate and I both made lotion and Zeke got shower gel. You even get to pick your own color. If you have never visited one, you should. It's a fun experience and they have every smell you could ever imagine. I got top shelf vanilla with plumeria lotion in turquoise. I love it. It smells so good and feels good on my skin. We enjoyed visiting all the wineries and tasting so many different kinds of wine. I never knew how many wines there are. I am usually a white wine drinker but I have kind of developed a taste for red wine.

It is a very small world. We went into one wine tasting room and started talking to one of the ladies there and she was asking where we were from and blah blah blah and she was from Baytown. Come to find out, I went to elementary with her son. We were in school together from 3rd to 5th grade and pretty good friends. She was also our homeroom mom. It was crazy how we ran into her. We had a good time catching up.

Overall we had a fantastic trip and I have lots of pictures to share. I won't put all of them on here because that would be too many. Here are a few for you to enjoy.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Valentines weekend. Nothing too exciting in the Stracener household. I was on call this weekend so I am enjoying my day off today by cleaning and laundry. Sounds like so much fun huh? ha-

A cool statue carved from a tree.

Becker Vineyards

Me and my brother Zeke

A group shot at Torre di Pietra

Grape Creek Vineyards...My favorite

Me and my Valentine <3

Todd loves cats. He saw this cat and just picked it up and started petting it.

Torre di Pietra Vineyard. This place was so pretty.

Ice cream break

Kisses for my hubby

Downtown Fredericksburg, Main Street

Update on Boot Camp, I am now in my 5th week. I can't believe there are only 3 weeks left. I am still doing good and I can feel my body changing. I am so much stronger now. I started only being able to do 1 pushup and I can now do 30!! I never thought in a million years I would be able to do 30 pushups. I can tell the difference in my arms and waistline and my face. My cheeks aren't so chubby...thank goodness.

I hope everyone has a good week. Happy Monday!!

Valentines Weekend

I will be out of town through Monday so blogging is going to the back burner. I promise to be back with lots of pictures from our weekend. I am so excited about going to Fredericksburg. We are leaving around 2 when Todd gets home from work and I haven't even packed yet. Maybe I should quit blogging and go do that. I have been researching all kinds of stuff about Fredericksburg and planning our trip. I know we will have so much fun. Its Friday the 13th...AAAHHH. I hope everyone has a wonderful Valentines weekend : )

I am a little sad because we have to board Bentley :( I hope he does okay. He has only been boarded one other time and I won't go into details about that because it was a nightmare. Todd picked him up from that place and said if I would have saw him I would have cried. It was apparently really bad as they left him on this concrete floor and he was with his pee and poop all weekend. UGH!!! Needless to say we aren't going back there. This time we are boarding him at our vet and know they will take good care of him.

My sweet Mom is going to be all alone this weekend. Her kids will be in Fredericksburg and my dad is flying to Florida and won't be back until Monday as well. It makes me sad, I told her to come with us. hehe. I did send her a card and some flowers to her work today to brighten her up. My family is starting to feel the effects of the economy if you could please keep them in your prayers. My dad was laid off from his job and next Friday will be his last day. Please Please Please pray for my dad that he will be able to find another job as well as everyone else that has lost their jobs. Our economy is bad right now but I know that God is in control and I believe it will only get worse before it gets better. I know that God has it all planned out and it is in his hands but we all need to look up to him and give it him and give him all our glory for he is the one and only!!

Happy Valentines!!!!!

Hair Cut....

Guess who got a haircut yesterday.........

Nope NOT ME this time.....

BENTLEY!!!

He looks so cute with his hair cut all short. I can't believe we let it get so long. I always love the way Bentley smells when he comes home from the groomer. I just want to cuddle him up all day. Check out the before and after pictures. He looks so much better right?

Look at his Valentines bandana...cute huh?

I am so glad its the weekend. I love getting to sleep in on Saturday after waking up so early every day during the week. There is nothing like getting in a little extra sleep on Saturday and just laying around, cleaning house, doing laundry and watching a little television. Next weekend we are heading to this place and I couldn't be more excited. I have not been to Fredricksburg since I was about 13 years old. I cannot wait to visit all the vineyards and little shops. It should be a nice relaxing long weekend getaway. It will be a great Valentines weekend, lots of pictures to come. I am so sorry I have been short on the pictures lately.



Update on boot camp. I have just finished my 3rd week of boot camp and it is going great!! I really am enjoying it and I love how I feel so much more energized during the day. At the end of next week is when we get all of our measurements taken again. I can't wait to see the results. I also have some exciting news today. I hopped on the scale this morning and I am down a TOTAL of 6lbs!!! YAY!! That definitely gives me the motivation to continue. I can also tell how much stronger I am getting. The other day I jogged 3 miles. I have never ran that much in my life. I am planing on running a 5k in April for my sorority. We have a 5k for breast cancer awareness. I am so excited that finally I am starting to see some results. It just makes it so worth it all. All this hard work is finally paying off. I get up every morning and go to boot camp and then come home and get ready for work and work all day and then come home and run at least 1-2 miles and walk the rest, and then start all over for the next day. I am trying extra hard so I am so glad to see the results and can't wait until the end of this. I plan on doing the next boot camp as well. I have to keep it up somehow.



Tonight Todd and I are headed over to David and Bonny's for Johnstons 1st Birthday!! I can't believe he is already a year old. It should be fun, I love our family get togethers. Happy Saturday and I hope you all have a good weekend.

This is a picture from 6months ago. Isn't he a cutie?

Tuesday Ramblings

Yes, I did forget about Recipe Monday so I am making up for it tonight. I have 2 recipes for you. I have 2 side dishes that I absolutely love. I can only take credit for 1 of the recipes. The green bean recipe is from my mother in law. I hope ya'll enjoy. Let me know what you think...

Green Bean Bake

4lbs- green beans

1 cup- brown sugar

5 slices- low sodium bacon(raw)

1 cup- butter

2 tbsp- soy sauce

2 tsp- garlic salt

Mix all together and bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour.

Sauteed Squash

Cut up 3 or 4 yellow squash and saute in EVOO and garlic and onion. Add a dash of salt and pepper. ENJOY! It is my favorite way to cook squash and healthy too. Cook until squash is tender and soft.

I hope Tuesday finds everyone happy and healthy. I have a date with The Biggest Loser tonight. This show keeps me so motivated with my boot camp and diet. I can't get enough. Also, who watched The Bachelor last night? What did you think? I am rooting for Melissa and Molly. Who do you like? I was sad to see Susan go last night but I think its for the best. I would have hate to see her go to the end and then Jason not pick her. She went out with such integrity too, which made me love her even more. I know she will find her prince charming some day. I cannot wait to see what happens when Deanna comes back. Will he pick her? What will she say? I almost don't feel sorry for her, she made her choice and now all of sudden she wants Jason back....UH i don't think so missy!!

Guess what I got in the mail today....

Oooo I am so excited and cannot wait to try out some of the recipes. I will let you know how they taste. I am pretty sure every recipe will be absolutely amazing. I hope they fit into my diet. ;)

That's all my ramblings for tonight. Happy Tuesday!!

Monday already...

Does anyone else feel that way?? Like my title? I can't believe it's Monday already. How did the weekend fly by that fast. I could use an extra day off this week for sure. I just absolutely dread Mondays. I guess its because its the start of the week, 5 more days until the weekend and Monday also means starting up my 3rd week of boot camp. Gotta love getting up at 5 in the morning to go get my booty kicked at boot camp. Thats what its all about right? Thats why I am paying this good money to get my self in shape. Hopefully by the end I will be in the best shape I have ever been in. I can tell my clothes are starting to fit better which is so nice :) I have worked muscles that I don't think I have ever worked in my life. Its definitely not easy and very hard but I am so motivated that I know I can do it. I have also been running about 2 miles in the evening when I get off work. It can't hurt to burn a few extra calories right?



What did you do this weekend? I did a whole lot of nothing and it was oh so nice. I love when the weekend comes and we don't have any plans. It just brings a big smile to my face : ) Friday we went out to dinner. It was yummy and I am glad to say that I was within my calories and did not eat one single breadstick. Saturday I just cleaned up around the house and ran errands and then cooked Turkey Burgers for dinner. Mark and Callie and Caroline came over for dinner. If you have never had a turkey burger, let me just tell you that they are delish!! I would like to say its a famous recipe of mine. haha. It is always a big hit and one of my favorite things to cook for guests. I also made a huge salad for me and made queso and had chips and yes once again I did not have any chips or queso. I just ate my burger and salad. I was so proud of myself that I did not fall into temptation. I will say that this time around I have truly changed my eating habits and have not fallen off the wagon yet. I also feel so much better, my body feels better and I am not so tired all the time.