Celebrating 32 - Part 1

The last time my birthday fell on a Saturday, I was turning 27.

Since this only happens every 5 years or so, I knew I had to live my birthday up!

I was awake by 8am and made a healthy breakfast to start my year off right.

Since we took our 2 week road trip, neither Gary or I were going to buy each other birthday gifts, but he had lost a bet a few weeks ago and I won a foot massage!  Well, we both really won, because it was a win-win bet we had made.  It's much more fun when 2 people can enjoy a win! 

There's this massage place that has been in town for a little over a year now and we kept saying how we HAD to try it out.  Thank goodness we finally did.  They charge $15 for a 30 minute foot massage, which actually included a 10 minute head, shoulder and arm massage before they moved to our legs & feet.

I'm ready to be pampered!

Holy crap!  It was amazing!  I actually preferred the upper body massage more, just because I did a killer arm workout earlier this week, so this loosened my muscles!

Both Gary & I said we would be back.

For the both of us to get a 30 minute massage for $30 {not including a tip} we could afford to do this at least once a month.

Do I look relaxed or what?!?!

 After they made us leave before we took an afternoon nap, we had some errands to run, but I was hungry {it's hard work turning another year older}.

Neither of us wanted anything too heavy since we were going to have a big dinner, so Qdoba it was.  If you have a Qdoba by you and you've never been, stop the insanity and GO!!!

They have what they call their Craft2 menu, where for $6 you can get 2 items off this special menu.  Gary & I always get the 2 chicken tacos and a chicken quesadilla to share.  The picture below is my half of the lunch.  It's a crazy amount of food!!

 We also got a side of chips & a root beer. Gary felt like it was HIS birthday because we haven't had soda in months.

I loved this cup!

 After lunch, we headed to Target to make some returns, then next door to Famous Footwear to find Gary some new sneakers.  I love when Famous Footwear has their BOGO 1/2 off sale....Gary & I both win in that situation.  Unfortunately they didn't have his shoes in stock, so we went home to look online.  We ended up getting him a pair of Puma's and I got my own pair of Puma's:

I've been wanting sneakers to wear to work that don't look so bulky.  I think these are really slick and since they are black, I can wear them with almost anything!

Besides the BOGO sale, I had a code for 20% off our purchase.  So we ended up paying $95 for 2 pairs of Puma's....I was a HAPPY birthday girl!  Gary's shoes alone were normally $80.

While I was processing our FF order, Gary took my car to be washed and came back with these:

Awwwwww!!

 We had plans to visit some friends at their place that night, so I made a quick salad, grabbed some bottles of wine to share and we headed out.

By the time dinner started, Gary & I had enjoyed some orange muscat, so I had a few sips of champagne.

Our friend BJ works with a lot of different brewing companies, so he knows his stuff!  He busted out 2 bottles of this stout for all of us to share.

I was crazy enough to offer to take the glass with the least amount of beer in it.  Silly Mo!  It was seriously one of the best beers I've ever had.

Of course, wherever we were, the dogs had to be there as well!  How cute are they??

 Once the sun went down, we all jumped in the pool for some night swimming.  The only positive thing about living in a place where it can easily reach 100 is that it keeps the pools warm!

 By the time we got in the pool, Gary & I had started chugging some water bottles.  I think we had about 8 between us!  One more difference between 32 & 22 - I now know when I have reached my limit and need to start coming back to reality so I'm not suffering the next day.

 I was so sad when we had to leave, but we needed to get home to Sasha, who had probably thought we abandoned her!  Plus we had another birthday celebration planned for Sunday with my family.

I had SUCH an amazing 32nd birthday!  If my whole year mimics this one day, I am a lucky girl!  :)

When The Beer Isn't Flowing

Gary & I had been looking forward to this past Wednesday for about a week.  The local brewery was going  to throw themselves a 1 year birthday celebration with deals for their loyal customers.  Our plan was to get there early {between 4 & 5}, drink some brews, eat some dinner and stroll down Main Street.

During my break at work, I decided to check out their Facebook page to see if they had posted an specials yet.  Well, I didn't find specials, but I found this:

FAIL!!!  Why in the world did I think the celebration was on the 25th?!?!  

I was so looking forward to a night off from cooking dinner, but neither Gary or I wanted to spend extra money on dinner & beer when we already knew we would be going there NEXT Wednesday.  Plus, my birthday is this weekend, so the festivities {aka the spending on money} will begin.

Gary was kind enough to stop by the store and pick up some lettuce so I could throw a salad together.

I tossed together some salad, chicken cooked in BBQ sauce, chopped walnuts, strawberries and blue cheese.  SUPER FILLING!

But there's always room for dessert!

We have been consistent with eating fruit after dinner if we are still hungry.  Normally a small handful is all I need to fill my sweetness craving.

Today was a crazy busy day at work.  I had to go to Costco to buy enough hot dogs, buns, chips, water, etc. to feed 400 incoming 9th graders on Monday.  Buy the end of the work day I was already close to 7,000 steps!

I definitely felt tired and had to make myself go to the gym today.

Guess what??  Once I got there, I did not regret it.  Shocking, right?!?!

I played musical cardio machines.  First I went on this torturous machine that resembled an elliptical, but felt more like a stair master.  I lasted about 5 minutes, then had to get on the treadmill, where I ran half a mile.

I then did the following workout from here:  

I don't have a wedding to prepare for, but I figured my arms could use it.

DAMN!!  They are burning!

Working it!

Love my little gym bag!

 After that, I jumped on the Arc Trainer for about 10 minutes.

By the time I got home, Gary had washed the zucchini for me.

All I had to do was chop it, season the heck out of it with Garlic, S&P.

AMAZING!!!

Half a sweet potato and some leftover tri-tip rounded out our meal!

Sweet cherries for dessert!

What a weekend!!

My weekend started Friday night with a trip to the Stanislaus County Fair.  We hadn't been in a few years, so we wanted to support our community.

This guy eats his Wheaties!

 It was about 93 degrees at 5pm, but we stayed cool by drinking beverages.  ;-)


My mom & dad were working the American Legion beer booth, so we HAD to buy from them.

We also enjoyed cheeseburgers that were very tasty!  They didn't taste like a burger you would buy at a Fair, so I was really impressed!

 You KNOW we couldn't leave the Fair without sharing a funnel cake.  This tiny sucker cost us almost $6.

I totally forgot that Bret Michael's was playing at the Fair that night, but I was gently reminded when I saw women of ALL ages walking around like they were auditioning for another season of "Rock of Love."  Don't some of these people realize that certain things cannot be unseen??  

We hung around the Fair for about 3 hours, until we were sick of the farm animal smell, the temptation of food and the lack of clothing around us.

Saturday morning started with a filling breakfast of scrambled eggs, bacon and strawberries.  NOM NOM 

I then made myself run 2 miles at 9am.  It was already in the high 70's and felt MUCH warmer in the sun.

I made myself some iced peppermint tea once I was done!

It was worth it though.  The energy I had all day was indescribable!

Saturday was also a big day for us technology geeks!  Gary & I finally decided that after 4 years of being cable-less, we were going to have Dish Network install a dish for us!!!  

Yes, we have TV again!!

I am excited, yet nervous at the same time.  I am thrilled we finally get to watch some of our favorite shows in HD, but I still do not see why people NEED 250+ channels!  

We celebrated that night with a glass of orange muscat.  Both of us were so excited we nodded off during the movie we were watching.  Our exciting life!!

Sunday was the BEST day though.  

We could no longer see our friends post on Facebook and Twitter about how amazing Dark Knight Rises was.  We had to see for ourselves.

Take it from me....HOLY MOTHER WHAT THE WHAT?!?!  IT WAS AMAZING!!!!! 

GO SEE IT!  I cannot count the number of times I got goosebumps while watching.  And I totally want to go back and watch the last 10 minutes of the movie over & over.

Instead of spending my July paycheck on fatty popcorn and soda, we brought our own snacks.  I have not had Reese's Pieces in at least 3 or 4 years!  This may be my new movie theater treat! 

What could make my Sunday even better {other than work calling and telling me to take tomorrow off on their dime}??


I AM THE NEWEST FITFLUENTIAL AMBASSADOR!!!!  


What is Fitfluential?  According to their website: "FitFluential is a growing family of fitness fanatics spreading a positive healthy message year-round."

To me it is more than that.  Ever since I started reading blogs, I saw how hard these Fitfluential Ambassadors worked at their health & sharing that with others.  Once I started my own blog, my goal was to become one of these Ambassadors.  Fitfluential Ambassadors are people from all walks of life and all different sizes.  What we all have in common though is that we are doing the best we can health wise and we're sharing it with the world!

I am so glad to be #fitfluential!!

Oregon/Washington Road Trip: Day 9

"Goonies never say die!"


If you grew up in the 80's, you KNOW about "The Goonies" and watched it a million times. If you are die-hard fans, you own the VHS, the DVD and the Blu Ray {yup, that is us}!


A warning to those of you that ARE a fan of the Goonies - you will be ever-so-jealous of what we did on Day 9 of our road trip.


But let's start from the beginning.....


One of my favorite things about our beach bungalow was that we had our own kitchen, so I could make us a healthy breakfast every morning.

Hard at work!

Breakfast by the beach is always better!

Yup, I have proof: Gary smiling with a strawberry in hand

Wishing this could be my view every morning

After breakfast, we left for Astoria, which was about an hour drive North of Rockaway Beach.  They have a great Farmer's Marker that I wanted to check out and I was not disappointed.  We left with a bunch of cherries, some kettle corn, and some fresh beef jerky to snack on the rest of the trip.

Me with our goods!

We worked up quite an appetite and headed to The Wet Dog Cafe {aka Astoria Brewing Company} for lunch.  I had the Oregon Hazelnut salad, which was heaven on a plate.  There was a ton of salad topped with a generous amount of local hazelnuts and even more blue cheese, topped with dried cranberries.  I barely used the salad dressing because of the amount of toppings.


Gary had a Western Burger that was HUGE and super tasty!!


We also shared a beer sampler...my favorite was the Poop Deck Porter!

Cheers!

Double fisting! LOL

We were stuffed with food & beer and decided it would be best to walk around town a bit.

First stop was the Oregon Film Museum.  It is housed in the jail from "The Goonies."  Admission is $4 a person.  Gary & I were in and out within 20 minutes.  There really wasn't anything in there we had to see, but at least our money went to keeping the building open.

We also got some mug shots....obviously I am still happy from the beer I just had!

Strike a pose!

Following our break out of jail, we drove a few miles to Mikey's house.  You know, the house in "The Goonies" that is going to be torn down to build a golf course?  Well, it's in Astoria, OR.

Sign at the bottom of the hill.

It's the freaking GOONIES house!!

Why the idea of a golf course being built here is so funny to us now that we've seen the town!

The biggest Goonies fan I know!

View from the house.  The home next door is up for sale...I'd love to live here!

It felt somewhat weird to me to stand there taking pictures of a house someone lives in!  But I got over that real quick!

Our next stop was the waterfront to take the historic trolley ride.  If you are ever in Astoria, take this ride!  It costs $1 a person and is about an hour round trip.  The guys that run the trolley are a hoot!

One of the things they pointed out to us was Astoria's only beach {see below}.  Not only is it there only beach, it's the only NUDE beach in Oregon...but only during the months of December, January & February! 

Another good one was when we rode by the Safeway in town - originally it was just a Starbucks, but when they realized how much extra room there was, they decided to add groceries.

I'm a sucker for corny jokes!  

Here are some cool pics we got during the trolley ride:

Originally we though we'd only be in Astoria for a few hours, but we spent a good portion of our day there, so on the way home, we did a quick stop in Cannon Beach for some pictures by Haystack Rock.

It was so beautiful out that we pulled over quite a bit on the ride home to take pictures.  No matter how pretty the pictures are, nothing beats seeing it all in person!

The next day we spent at the beach....can't wait to share those pictures with you!  :)