Luna Baby

If you haven't heard by now with my many, many Facebook posts: we got a dog!*

(*I give you full permission to unfriend, unsubscrible, hide or run from me. I am "that girl" with how much I talk about Luna already!)

Luna (who is named after Jeremy and my favorite Harry Potter character) is a full lab and 2 years old from the Central California Lab Rescue. Her and her brother, Boomer, were given to the CCLR from their owners who lived by Mount Shasta who had them as outside dogs and didn't want to/weren't able to care for them anymore. 

Luna from Harry Potter: 

The CCLR is, like many dog rescues, a great organization! We highly recommend our experience with them. My favorite part is the bios and pictures they give for each dog. And there's a two week trial period where you can give back the dog if it's not a good fit. 

Luna's ad below (where she was named "Bentley"):

Originally we went inquiring about getting both dogs but Boomer's personality was a little too "Boom!" He's a sweet dog but has too much energy and didn't show signs of slowing down. Plus, we haven't heard good things about training siblings- it is a lot more work. 

Luna stole Jeremy's heart for sure. I mean, we both love her, but she's a daddy's girl ;) 

I have NO idea how Luna was an outside dog her whole life. First of all, she's a sweetie! She loves to snuggle and be as close to you (or on you) as possible and lick you the whole time while you pet her. This is how she likes to sit with Jeremy:

Also, she's partially house trained, which is great we're not starting with scratch. She hasn't picked up *anything* with her mouth. That's including the toys we got her too- ha! You can tell she never had much human attention, as she doesn't know how to play with toys or balls and is a *little* confused on a walk.

I took her for her first long walk and the first half she sniffed... a lot. 

Then she was up for running and MAN can she run!!! Jeremy and I have taken her on a number of walk/runs and her energy beats ours every time! 

Some quirks:

• If you wake her up and she falls back asleep she gives a big, deep, dramatic sigh like a 14 year old girl would do :)
• Seems to love kids! We had her over at my parent's house for a family party and she interacted well with the 6 kiddos there! 
• LOVES water but clearly hadn't been in a pool before by the way she slid in front paws first. 
• Rides in cars well and mainly sleeps the whole time. 

• Likes dog beds and slept on one in our room for the whole night... sometimes sniffing us to see if we're really asleep then going back to bed if we keep our eyes closed.
• Unphased by dogs and birds on our walk but wasn't quite sure about the men that were walking their dogs UNTIL she saw turkeys and barked at them, unsure of how to proceed
• Thinks you're going to hit her, so we are trying positive training only with praise/treats and very few pops on the nose 
• Doesn't see why there's any problem seeing what's on the counter for lunch
• H-A-T-E-S being alone. We're working on getting her comfortable little by little so when we're at work it's not such a shock

And that's it for now! Everything you've ever possibly wanted to know (and probably more) about our new pup :) 

With love from Roseville,

Paige 

Crock Pot Lasagna & Homemade Croutons

In my adventures of learning to cook differently (aka without an oven or grill) I have been making lots of crock pot recipes. This Betty Crocker's Slow Cooker Lasagna recipe I'd highly recommend!

Changes I would definitely make to Mrs. Crocker's recipe:
1) Add at least 1 extra large can of spaghetti sauce (about 24oz minimum) to the meat sauce. This will obviously be much more saucy at first than regular oven baked lasagna, but since it's in the crock pot for so long a LOT of the sauce soaks into the noodles and you're left with what tastes like hamburger helper.
2) Add some Italian Style (or regular) diced tomatoes too. Since so much of the sauce absorbs it is nice to have some tomato in your bite
3) I cooked my lasagna on high for 3 hours due to a time crunch, but I would recommend following the directions for cooking on low for 4-6 hours (if you can). The outside layer of my lasagna got too crispy with that high heat.
4) I added an egg to my ricotta & cheese mix out of habit... not sure if that was necessary though.

Tip: Serve at sunset with wine and a salad as a first course and you will feel spectacularly fancy and healthy... even when your salad is a caesar salad which has very few redeemable qualities. ;)

I also added some homemade garlic bread croutons in the attempt to use up a LOT of leftover rolls that were going to go bad soon. They were so delicious and SO EASY to make we have declared a rule in our house we will no longer buy "regular" croutons.

STEPS:
1) Cut rolls into bite sized pieces & put on a skillet
2) Drizzle olive oil
3) Sprinkle garlic salt, garlic powder, some onion powder and cayenne pepper if you're feeling frisky
4) Stir around so every side gets a little bit of everything
5) Cook for about 3 minutes (once the pan is hot) on Medium, flip and repeat

WARNING: This is embarrassingly easy and extremely delicious. Your life will be changed.

With love from Roseville,
Paige

Workin on my fitness

So I never should have posted the "wow I'm eating healthy and doing great with exercise" post because I'm pretty sure the moment I pressed "Publish" I jinxed myself with terrible eating habits and zero motivation.

But nothing is more motivating than seeing your increased number on the scale paired with swimsuit shipping in this sunny and gorgeous Sacramento weather!

So I'm back on the wagon and working this summer on increasing my metal discipline. See, I'm not naturally competitive with myself- I couldn't care less if I meet a personal goal most of the time. But I want to care, so I'm finding the inner dancer... err I mean athlete... in me and getting FIT!

I don't have specific goals yet... But I will post when I do so I have some sense of accountability. Humm although I did post my new years resolution and I have no idea what it even says...

Here's to new goals that I will actually accomplish!

(I really want to write "We'll see" but that sounds like I'm already quitting)

With love from Natomas,
Paige

New Beginnings

It always seems like there's some kind of change going on in our household!

I am starting a new job in medical sales April 30! I'll be a Customer Support Specialist for a company called Millennium Labs.

I will call on physicians who treat patients with chronic pain and provide them a medication monitoring service. This service allows the doctor to understand what the patient is or isn't taking and overall care for their patient in the best way they can.

I am so excited to start this journey!!! But that's not to say it will be easy leaving the school.

The school I work at has been such a wonderful place. All of the teachers and staff welcomed me and included me from day one. Every person at the school works harder than I've ever witnessed to provide the kids with quality education... oh and the kids! They are too cute. I am so thankful to have been a part of Westlake Charter!

I've been busy buying clothes for my new big girl job... shoes with heals and pointy toes, pants not made out of jeans, shirts that are called blouses... :) It's been fun adding to my wardrobe!

I'm excited for the journey that waits ahead and the many, many things I will learn.

With love from Roseville,

Paige

Yum!

I have decided I really love feeding people. Mainly, I love feeding Jeremy.

One, because he doesn't complain if the meal is "eh."

Two, because I love knowing that he has been feed good, nourishing, food and is energized for the day. Sometimes he only eats dinner (how he does this I will never find out- coming from the girl with an emergency granola bar.. or two... in her purse at all times) so I want to make sure it is hearty, fairly healthy and delicious.

Here are a few meals we've had lately.

Delicious pasta. My new go-to!

• Noodles
• Chunky spaghetti sauce
• Diced tomatoes, italian or jalepeno flavored
• Garlic salt, garlic powder, pepper, basil, oregano, salt to taste
• Chicken, shredded or cubed
• Top with parmesan cheese and parsley

Tacos in lettuce! Great for holding it all together and obviously less calories.

The Pioneer Woman Pantry Pasta for Two. Relatively simple to make and delicious! I accidentally bought sweet white wine and would not recommend using that. I'd make it again with more sauce to noodle ratio.

And sweet treats like these are ALWAYS at work tempting me as I walk by the table. We have a love hate relationship- basically I love the way they taste and hate caving into the temptation!

With love from Roseville,

Paige

Home, Food & Goals

HOME

This past week we've been focusing on settling into our home! Every moment we have seems to have been filled with cleaning, organizing, setting up services, etc.

It was so, so helpful to have family help us get settled. My family helped clean & get all of our stuff into the house and Jeremy's family flew up to see the house and help deep clean & organize.

We are BLESSED & THANKFUL.

It was great timing for me to have this week off of work. I've been able to relax, cook and continue making our house a home!

I had no idea how much this house would mean to me. I thought it would be like getting a car- fun, exciting and useful- but it really has been meaningful to me. And I love it.

FOOD

Last night was our first date night in the house and I made Crock Pot Chicken Taco Chili. It was flavorful, healthy, delicious, and easy to make. Like, actually easy to make.

I made Jeremy a burrito and I ate mine, as you can see, in a bowl.

Click here for the recipe.

GOALS

My senior year of high school suddenly it mattered a lot what I ate in relation to how my body looked. I have been figuring out over the past 6 years how it looks for me to be healthy. I have realized it doesn't mean dieting, exercising daily, or anything extreme. Being healthy for me means a balance.

And today I am the same weight I was about 6 years ago as a junior in high school, which has been my goal weight. Yey!

One of the biggest things I've learned is "It's not worth it."

It's not worth feeling sick to have extra sugar.

It's not worth eating milk products and not feeling well.

It's not worth being bloated and overweight to have extra snacks or desserts.

And going with that, I've learned "It IS worth it."

It is worth it to eat real food.

It is worth it to take extra time and cook meals at home.

It is worth having delicious chocolate daily in small portions.

It is worth eating small portions throughout the day because that's what my body is asking for.

Some of the rules I've followed (sometimes not so well) to get me here:

- Don't eat when I'm not hungry

- Don't overeat/stuff myself

- Don't drink soda on weekdays

- Only 1 soda a day on weekends

- No sweets before lunch or after dinner

- Lots of fruits and veggies when possible

- Always have water or tea in my hand

Now to start exercising. I kind of suck at that...

With love from Roseville,

Paige

Prayers for the Black Cat

Yesterday evening I approached a busy intersection where I can almost always bet a homeless person will be standing with a sign.

To my surprise, a black cat was sitting attentively at the spot where a person usually stands.

Now I don't have a love, or even a like for cats, but I felt bad for the dang thing. It was sitting there in the cold, probably minutes away from dashing out in traffic and become roadkill.

I found myself wondering who's cat it was... We're they looking for it? Was it lost? Hungry?

Then I thought, "I should probably say a prayer for the cat."

And I stopped suddenly in one of those moments of clarity and realization.

The homeless people on that corner have become a lawn ornament to me. They're always there, and most likely always will be. And I've stopped thinking about them.

Are they cold?

Are they hungry?

Are they lost?

Is someone looking for them?

And why don't I say a prayer for them? Ask God for their protection?

Why do I experience the 45 seconds of awkward-not-making-eye-contact-and-looking-at-my-phone and not exchange that for what I would give for the black cat?

With love from Sacramento,

Paige