This past month seems like it has been ONE THING AFTER ANOTHER!!  First came all of the problems with my teeth, next was a badly sprained ankle.  I thought I was in the clear after my teeth issues had subsided, but boy was I wrong.  Let me take you back to what started off as an amazing weekend!  Will and I ventured to Hastings, NE for the annual Whoopers and Hoopers Basketball Tournament.  This was the first time I was able to meet all of these guys {& their wives} that Will always spoke so highly of.  They were all amazing.  He truly has a great group of friends that continue to play together every year.  After an  exciting win Friday night, the team all went out for a delicious steak dinner and drinks, all paid for by Dan The Man!  Thank you again Dan!!  The next morning was an early one, but the boys ended up getting done pretty early.  It being St. Patty’s Day and all, we of course started drinking.  But, only after Will scored himself a free t-shirt from Taco Bell!  

     Only you Will, only you.  From there the beer kept on flowin as did the dance moves at the Slam Dome – Hasting’s pride and joy.  That place had some of the BEST people watching I have ever experienced.  Dan graciously offered to drive us all back to the hotel in his pimp daddy mini-van, lo and behold where it all started going downhill.  Upon arriving at the hotel and trying to wiggle my way out of the back seat, I stepped down to the ground [in my heels] only my foot didn’t come down quite right.  Heels + A bad angle = Excruciating pain, immediate swelling, & of course me bawling like a baby.  I Could. Not. Even. Walk.  Once again, thank God for Will being a strong man and carrying me up to our hotel room.  The next morning I woke to what looked like a 300 lb person’s foot.  It was HUGE & I was completely devastated.  I am an extremely active person who is always on the go, so when something is prohibiting me from doing the things I love, I HATE it.  I cannot stand to be injured, laid up, hobbling around on crutches whatsoever.  I was especially terrified after I went to the doctor and after one look he sent me in for an x-ray.  Just what I need… Thank goodness there was no fracture, just a really, really bad sprain, which ultimately landed me in das boot.  

     Pretty attractive, huh?  I thought so too.  After a week of lugging that thing around I am proud to say, I AM BOOTLESS!!  And just in time to get in shape for Arizona!!  I can’t believe in ONE short week, Will and I will be lounging by the pool and catching some rays!  I need this vacation badly!  Especially after this hectic past month.  And Will probably ESPECIALLY needs this vaca after having to deal with me for this past month!  I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, he is an absolute saint.  I’m certain my body would be in pieces right now without him there to hold it together.  Thank you Will :)

     On another note, this past weekend was absolutely amazing.  Gorgeous weather, spent with great friends and of course one or two Bud Light Limes. Mmmmm, there’s just something about BLL’s on hot summer  spring days.  Sunday was spent running {walking for me} hills and riding our bikes around Zorinski Lake.  I can’t decide if the highlight was the absolute fiasco of having to attach the bike rike, stop on the way because the bikes were falling off, then get flipped off while driving slowly {so the bikes wouldn’t fall off} down the road -OR- watching Maddie come within an inch of taking out an old man sitting on a bench, because a bug flew into her eye and she couldn’t see.  It was definitely the most adventurous bike ride I’ve ever experienced.  Parting advice: Have somebody who knows what they’re doing attach the bike rack! XOXOXOXO

Missing In Action

     Can you say MIA?!?  I can’t believe it’s already been almost a month since I’ve posted!  Oh, how the time flies.  This past month has been absolutely INSANE.  And insane in a mostly horrible way.  The craziness all started the 24^th of February {a day I have since come to loathe}.  Why you might ask?  Well, this is the day I got my wisdom teeth out.  For those of you who don’t know me or aren’t fully aware of my fears, the dentist is one of them.  I absolutely, 100%, incredibly HATE anything having to do with the dentist whether it be cleaning or drilling.  That being said you can imagine my angst prior to that Friday.  The extraction all started off smoothly until I woke up... in the middle of the procedure…  I’m not entirely sure if the anesthetic dentists use isn’t as strong as the one doctors use, but regardless it was not one of my favorite experiences.  In the days to follow I ended up with a dry socket.  Of course, why wouldn’t I?!  Once the dry socket was finally beginning to heal, I thought I had escaped my bad luck. WRONG!  Rewind: A few months ago my dentist told me I had a fracture in one of my back molars.  Nothing too serious to worry about, it was just caused by my silver filling contracting and expanding with heat and cold.  In fact, so minute that they wanted to wait until I was done with my Invisalign trays before fixing it.  Fast forward to last Tuesday.  This tooth was becoming more and more painful, really an annoyance more than anything.  Come Thursday I was working out and happened to be jumping rope.  While working on my fitness (Ha, I couldn’t resist) my teeth accidentally slammed together and a jolt of pain shot through my mouth.  I could hardly think straight the pain was so intense and after feeling the tooth, I came to the conclusion I had completely fractured through it.  Thank goodness for my saint of a dentist getting me in at 8am the next morning.  I got there and barely had time to sit down in the chair before he told me I needed a root canal.  What did I do?  The same thing any adult woman would do, I cried!  Cried and cried my eyes out, because I was terrified!  I went to the dentist thinking I was going to get my fracture fixed and left on my way to an endodontist for a root canal.  Talk about a rough day.  I was so drugged up by the end of that procedure I had to go home and the rest of the day was pretty much a blur.  I now get to go back on the 26^th to get the procedure finished up…oh joy!  Let me just say Will was an absolute savior during this whole time.  I can imagine I wasn’t the most enjoyable person to be around, but he did an awesome job taking care of me :)

       The one great thing that happened during this time period was the Barstool Open.  I had never participated before, but I can tell you I will definitely be participating in the future!  Basically you travel around to 9 different bars downtown, and each bar has its own mini putt-putt hole.  The more bars you go to, the drunker you get and the harder it is to make your shot.  Good thing we had Will on our team to swindle the score keepers!

 We dressed up as none other than the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.  Team name: Fore Play

The next two months are shaping up to be amazing.  Not only is the weather glorious, but the countdown is on for some much needed vaca’s.  Only 21 short days until Will and I leave for Arizona and 53 days until we travel to DC.  I am so excited and beyond ready to get away for awhile!  Plus, this will be our first “real” trip together.  Hopefully he’ll be able to handle my fear of flying okay :) XOXO

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Thank Goodness It’s Friday!  I don’t know about you, but I’ve been ready for Friday since, well pretty much since Monday!  Don’t get me wrong I love, love, love my job, but I love my weekends more.  Weekends are a time to refresh and rejuvenate.  A time to relax and spend time doing nothing with my man.  And of course, a time for fun nights with fabulous friends. 

Today I feel wholeheartedly happy.  My day started off bright and EARLY with 5am Sumit Yoga.  Something about sweating my little (ahem, large) tush off just completely refreshes me.  Will and I even convinced his brother, Daniel, to go and guess what, HE LOVED IT!  I half expected him to run for the hills as soon as he stepped foot into the scalding hot room, but he was a trooper.  One of my best friends, Taylor, even made it and the only thing better than doing yoga is doing it with your bf’s! Yoga was followed by a quick trip to Caribou coffee with Will, where the small coffee that was paid for got upgraded to a medium, gotta love that!  Work even started off fabulous with a healthy breakfast provided by one of our wholesalers!  But, what makes this day incredibly great is the fact that I FINALLY get to see two of my favorite people in this world!!  One of my best friends, who unfortunately lives hours away from me, is coming down for the weekend with her soon to be hubby. And I ADORE them both!  You see, Jordan & I met back in college at good ole’ UNK.  And let me tell you, we have been through the boys, the breakups, the makeups, the fights, and everything in between together.  We’re each other’s go to gals.  We’re there for each other for a shoulder to cry on, words of encouragement, or simply someone to laugh with {or at ;)!}  Throughout all of those times, the times we wanted to give up on men forever, we forced each other to keep going with a smile upon our face, because somewhere out there God had our Prince Charming just waiting for us to discover him, we were sure of it!  A little over a year ago Jordan met hers and a few months ago she said yes!  I was over-the-moon-happy for her when I received that phone call.  Jay is one of the kindest, sweetest, smartest men I know [other than Will of course!] and they are 100% perfect for each other.  However, I do wish their wedding was a little sooner, only because I CANNOT WAIT for it!!  I can’t wait to stand by their side and witness them pledge themselves to each other forever, for better and for worse.  They are perfect and I know they will be infinitely happy for the rest of their lives.  I can’t wait for my favorite people to meet my favorite man, and have an absolutely wonderful time together!  I hope everyone has a splendid weekend ahead of them!XOXO

PS.

I had someone ask me what the recipe for the enchiladas are so here you go:

Mamma Morales’s Enchiladas

•         Tortillas
•          Red enchilada sauce
•         Hamburger
•          Onion
•          Fine mild cheddar cheese
•         Green chili
•          FF sour cream

Directions:

1.  Preheat oven to 350
2. Brown hamburger
3. Warm tortillas in pan
4. Place tortillas in enchilada sauce
5. Fill with hamburger, finely chopped onions, and mild cheddar cheese
6. Mix enchilada sauce and green chili’s together
7. Spray pan and put a little enchilada sauce in bottom of pan
8. Roll them and place in pan, seam side down
9. Pour enchilada sauce over enchiladas in pan
10. Top off with mild cheddar cheese
11. Bake for 20 minutes, or until the cheese is melted
12. Bake under high broil for 3 minutes to brown cheese

*I personally prefer white enchilada sauce over red, so I made a separate batch for myself.  Here is the white sauce recipe that I used:

White Enchilada Sauce:

1. In a sauce pan, melt 3TB I Can't Believe Its Not Butter
2. Stir in 3 TB what flour and cook 1 minute
3. Add 2 cups FF, Low-sodium chicken broth and whisk until smooth
4. Heat over medium heat until thick and bubbly
5. Stir in 1 cup FF sour cream and 4oz. diced chillis, do not bring to a boil, you don’t want curdled sour cream

Happy Late Valentine's Day!

Happy Hump Day!!  I hope everyone had a spectacular Valentine’s Day.  My V-Day was BY FAR the best one I’ve ever experienced.  Rather than spending money to go eat in a restaurant that was too crowded, too expensive, and too busy, I opted to make a home cooked meal!  Earlier last week I slyly asked Will what his all-time favorite meal was.  His answer- his mamma’s enchiladas!  I immediately started to panic the second the words came out of his mouth.  Why you might ask?  Well for those of you who know me, know I’m fairly new to the cooking world.  Sure, I can whip up a mean batch of cheesy potatoes and broccoli, but enchiladas?!  Those are a bit outside of my realm.  Once my initial panic subsided and logic began to ease its way back into my brain, I thought who better to instruct me than Mamma Morales herself!  She was a saint!  Not only did she give me step-by-step instructions on how to prepare her specialty, but she also reminded me that it’s the thought {not the taste} that counts.  And so I began prepping.  One unbelievably loooooong visit to the grocery store later I was geared up and ready to cook!  I got all of my supplies unbagged, organized and ready to be made into some BA enchiladas.  Come Wednesday morning I woke up with a sweat of panic all over again, knowing that tonight was the night.  It was do or die.  I know this ordeal is something rather silly to stress about, but being Will and I’s first Valentine’s Day together, I wanted to make it special, and by special I mean avoiding a trip to the ER due to food poisoning!  I peeled, sliced, browned, stirred, mixed, and cooked my way to what ended up being a fantastic meal [so he said].  He wouldn’t tell me even if it did taste like crap!! ~another reason why I love him!  We finished it off with my first stab at a Flaugnarde of Mixed Berries, baked in the shape of a heart!  It was delicious and so easy to make.  

Here are the directions:

Flaugnarde of Mixed Berries

·                     2 1/2 cups of mixed fresh berries (such as blackberries, blueberries, raspberries)

·                     3 eggs

·                     10 tbsp light agave nectar (or sugar)

·                     1/2 cup unbleached all-purpose flour, sifted

·                     1/8 tsp of salt

·                     1 cup of 1% milk

·                     2 tsp vanilla extract

·                     powdered sugar for dusting

·                     baking spray

Directions:

1.    Preheat the oven to 350°

2.     Lightly spray a baking dish with baking spray and dust with a little flour

3.    Toss in the berries

4.    Whisk the eggs, agave, salt, and flour together until smooth

5.    Add the milk and vanilla extract

6.    Whisk until smooth & Pour into the baking dish

7.    Bake for 45 - 50 minutes or until lightly browned and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. When you pull it out of the oven it will wiggle a bit which is completely normal. Cool on a wire rack.

8.    When cool, dust with powdered sugar and serve.

I highly recommend trying it!  It was healthy {for a dessert} yumminess!  

                                                 Here's a little picture of our evening :)

The night couldn’t have been more amazing and left me on cloud 9.  I was still feeling the giddiness when I rolled out of bed this morning.  I thank God that he put such an outstanding man in my life, I am BEYOND lucky.  XOXO

Winter Wonderland

          Happy Monday, friends!  I hope you all had a fabulous weekend, I know I did! I started off the weekend with my birthday dinner at my favorite restaurant EVER, Mahogany.  It’s a bit on the pricey side, so I typically only get to indulge once a year in celebration of my birthday.  And let me say, it was as delicious as ever!  I also got to enjoy having my parents, brother and sister, grandparents and Will there to enjoy the tastiness with me.  The evening continued with my favorite cake and ice cream at my parent’s house.  I was incredibly spoiled by my loved ones and couldn’t have asked for a better birthday.  Saturday we woke up to snow, snow, and more SNOW!  It was a white wonderland.  

          Although I loved that we finally got our first big snow, that also meant my birthday party had to be postponed until this weekend.  It was still a great evening, having two of our friends over for a little dinner, drinks and of course Workaholics!  Sunday topped the weekend off just right with some adult style sledding.  After hours preparation, which included - finding snow clothes that would fit everyone, digging the sleds out of the garage, packing on the layers upon layers of clothing, and making our hottie totties, I believe we only went sledding for about an hour.  Most of which was spent catching our breath at the top of the hill.  It was a blast being able to feel like a kid again, although I’m not sure I would have made it up the monstrous hill had there not been a delicious drink waiting for my arrival.  The evening was spent on the couch with Will and his brother, cheering on the Patriots (I’m still bummed they couldn’t pull out the W).  Entirely too much food was consumed and I am definitely feeling it today!  For all you wing-lovers out there, I would highly suggest trying Oscar’s.  They were absolutely amazing :)

One hot mess

Happy Friday loves!!  I don’t know about you, but I am READY for the weekend!  Not only does the weekend give me days off work, but this weekend I get to celebrate my birthday with my loved ones :)  Everyone did an amazing job of making me feel incredibly special yesterday.  Thank you, I am truly blessed.  On another note, today started off bright and early.  4:30am E.A.R.L.Y. I rolled my tired butt out of bed and got ready for some hot yoga, specifically Sumits.  I’m fairly sure I was still in zombie mode on the drive there, but as soon as I walked into the room, BAM!!  Talk about a wakeup call, 120 degrees slapping you in the face will do the trick!  I am not a morning person whatsoever.  Let me reiterate that, I would rather do almost anything than wake up early in the morning.  Yet, after finishing this morning’s session I believe it will become a Friday morning ritual.  Sumits has a way of making your body feel absolutely amazing in a way that no other exercise I have found can, not to mention its one of THE BEST all-around exercises you can do for your body.  For those of you who are “non-yogis” Sumits is fairly similar to Bikram yoga, only faster paced and they play music!  I always tend to struggle with Bikram, because when the going got tough I had a hard time finding something to take my mind off the pain.  With Sumits the music does just that.  It makes you forget your drenched in sweat, in a hotter than Hades room, working your little tush off {at 5am!}.  It’s also a good time to just let your mind and body go: Not worrying about work that day, or what you have to get done this weekend, simply just YOU time.  I highly recommend trying it, at least once.  You never know until you try…..http://sumitsyoga.com/

Happy Birthday to Me!

          23 years later and life is absolutely amazing.  I am so incredibly blessed to have the family, friends, boyfriend, co-workers, pets, etc. surrounding me in my life.  This morning as I was getting ready for work oh so bright and early, I was thinking about the past year of my life.  One year is so small, so minute in the grand scheme of things, yet my life has changed 100 fold for the better.  Right now, this minute, this second, I can honestly say I have never been happier in my 23 years of existence.   And it makes me so ecstatic to know that the best it yet to come!  Since I’ve gone on gushing about my happiness, I think I had better show those of you {who don’t know me} where all of this happiness stems from.  Let’s start from the beginning…

               

          I was born and raised right here in Omaha, NE and absolutely love it!  I’ve been lucky to have lived elsewhere [Denver, Kearney, Grand Island] okay, maybe not so lucky on the last 2!  I am thankful for those opportunities because it allowed me to really see how much I adore Omaha and really Nebraska in general.  People are friendlier, my family is close by, and going out for a night on the town is cheaper!  Hey, it’s a recession!

                

          I was raised by 2 wonderfully adoring parents, Ron and Jeanie.

          Awwww, how cute are they?!  My dad is the most driven person I know.  Not many people can start a business cold-calling from his college dorm room, and grow it to one of the top 5 financial advising firms in the nation.  He can, and he did!  Along with the occasional mountain climb, plane flying, white water rafting…like I said, driven.  My mom is the sweetest, happiest, most kind-hearted woman you will ever meet.  She is my rock, my stone, my best friend.  My family and I would be totally and completely lost without her!  Did I mention we would be lost?

                

          After I was brought into this world, my parents decided they wanted two more perfect children just like me (he, he) Behold ~ Maddie & Grant. 

I love them both dearly for different reasons.  Maddie is an incredible inspiration with a huge heart.  Throughout the past 9 months she has been on a journey to become a healthier being and I couldn’t be more proud of her!  She inspires me to want to do better and be better in my life.  She is stunningly beautiful inside and out, and I am so lucky to not only call her my sister, but also my best friend.

                Now Grant.  Grant is on another world, and I mean that in the nicest way possible!  Have a question about a movie, game, or TV show?  He’s your man!  He stands at a staggering 6’8” and is STILL GROWING!  You would think someone of that height would be a king of the sports world, but games and books are really more his thing.  He is essentially one gigantic teddy bear who could never hurt a fly and is always around for a good laugh!  We’re laughing with you, not at you Grant!

                Out of this whole beautiful mess I came to have one child…Daisi.

          She is the sweetest dog in the world with the most hysterical personality.  Guaranteed to brighten up any cloudy day.  I mean come on, who can resist those puppy dog eyes?  Not I!

Now a few tidbits about me...

                                 

          I played volleyball at UNK (Kearney, not Kentucky), which led me to have 2 knee, 1 shoulder, and soon to be 1 hip surgery.  Oh the perks of collegiate sports.  I moved back to Omaha in May and became a first time homeowner in August!  I am unbelievably {blessed} to be able to work alongside my dad everyday at Carson Wealth Management Group, where I am a Wealth Advisor.  I love working out, being active, and staying healthy.  I believe too much of a good thing is never enough and laughing is the best cure for anything.

          As I close this post, my birthday wish for all of you is to find tremendous happiness in your life.  Tell those around you that you love them and take advantage of every last breath.  Life is too short to be wasted.