Last Week of Freedom

Bow-Tie Tomato Chicken Pasta
On Sunday we got home starving and decided to use what we already had to make a simple dinner. So we cooked mini bow-tie pasta and chicken. We used sun dried tomato alfredo sauce and cut up tomatoes and topped it all with parmesan cheese :) It was delicious and hit the spot!

An Evening Walk
I had gotten very little sleep this weekend (but oh so worth it) so instead of doing our Sunday walk in the morning we did it after our dinner. We walked through campus and I showed Leanna where some of my classes are and where the library is. It was a good half hour walk, but at least we're continuing to make an effort to get out there!

School starts today... it's gonna be hectic!

Riding Against the Wind

Went to volleyball tonight, got to play 2 games (somewhat successfully for my no talent at sports). Came home and just really needed to be on my own, so I got my iPod and bike and went on campus.

It felt amazing being on my bike again (but I really need to put air in my tires...). I rode for only 20 minutes or so because I was paranoid about my tires and I have an early morning tomorrow. But riding did the trick :) Getting my heart pumping and being outside helped me to realize why I wasn't feeling that great tonight and maybe by recognizing why, I can figure out how to prevent/overcome it.

Chicken Wraps and Chicken & Tortellini Salad

Our red, white, and green meal :)

We used recipes from my Better Homes and Gardens cookbook and were successful in making a delicious meal with leftovers for tomorrow! :)

The prep consisted of cooking the tortellini and chicken, and cutting the veggies.

A simple meal but I'm a big fan of the tortellini salad. It was chicken chunks, tomato, green pepper, tortellini, and Italian salad dressing.

line up!

Despite not waking up as early as we have in the past for our Sunday morning walks, we did go out and do it :) It was a very short walk, about 15 minutes, but we did lines behind a building using the cracks as our turning points. So we got our hearts beating a bit and lost our breath haha.

On Friday, Leanna wasn't in town and I went on a Temple trip with the ward (so amazing!) and afterwards a group of us and others who weren't able to go on the trip went and played sand volleyball and go swimming. I actually played this time! :) And getting in the pool felt great despite the fact that I kept getting attacked and dunked haha.

The elementary schools start up this Monday, so soon those kiddos will be making me run and chase after them all afternoon long! I don't want work to start but I know I'll enjoy it once I go :)

Volleyball y'all :)

The public schools are starting next week, which means so is my job. So this week is training and meeting the new hires. So I've been playing gym games and running around in the hot hot Texas heat for the past 2 days. BUT in keeping with our goal Leanna and I walked around our church building for 30 minutes and added some lunges and squats into the mix as well. Go us! Oh and Leanna played some volleyball while I tried to stay awake and not get hit haha. Today was a tiring day for me for some reason.

3 is a Magic Number

FIRST:
Yesterday we went to the Comal River and WALKED!!! Leanna and I decided to count it towards our exercising because we had to walk to the river and back with our tubes and from the river's end back to the beginning which is about five blocks- with our tubes! But it was a fun trip :)

SECOND:
That night we got home and before we allowed ourselves to relax, we went for a walk through Northgate. Just a short walk in the early evening but it felt good!

THIRD:
This beautiful Sunday morning we walked down Bizzel and walked through the Bonfire Memorial and read about each of the 12 fallen Aggies. Such a peaceful place and a perfect beginning to our Sunday.

Walk #1- to the Century Tree

We walked yesterday morning, leaving our condo around 8am and not returning till 10am. We didn't walk for the full two hours, we walked to campus to the Century Tree and sat and chatted for a lot of the time. But I felt accomplished having actually woken up and gone to campus. We only walked which made me feel like I should jog or do high legs or something, to make it more worth my while- but it was a wonderful start to our Sunday! I came back from it feeling good and proud that we actually did what we had set out to do. I won't be back in our apartment officially for another two weeks, but I think that if we remind each other about our goals we'll actually do them :)

Begining with Fifty-Seven

Here are the restaurants I've already been to (in my two year's of living in this area) before I came up with the idea to visit all the restaurants in my area:
(in alphabetical order)

Antonio's

Applebee's Ben & Jerry's

Blue Baker Boston's

Buffalo Wild Wings

Casa Ole

Cheddar's

Chickfila

Chili's

Coldstone

Cotton Patch Denny's

Domino's Fazoli's Fish Daddy's

Free Birds

Gumby's

Haiku Happy Yogurt

Hebert's Cajan Food

IHOP Jamba Juice

Jin's Asian Cafe Long John Silver's

McAlister's

McDonald's

Must Be Heaven

Old Time Soda Shop

Olive Garden

On The Border

Panda Express

Papa John's

Papa Perez

Pei Wei Asian Diner Pie R Squared (on campus)

Pita Pit

Pizza Hut

Potbelly Sandwich Shop

Raising Cane's

Rosa's Cafe Sbisa (on campus)

Schlotzsky's

Shake's

Sodolak's

Sonic

Souper Salad Spoons

Starbucks

Subway

Taco Bell

Taco Cabana

Taste of China

Texas Roadhouse

TGI Friday's

Whataburger

Wings N More

According to the online Yellow Pages there are 545 restaurants near my area. So far I've been to 57 :)

Let's Do It!

In the past 2 years I've used this blog as just an archive of my favorite quotes, but as of now I have THREE goals I want to accomplish this semester (and perhaps continue to do- but I'm starting with a semester) and I think a good way to stay motivated is to record how I'm doing :)

ONE: Restaurants

I have this idea that instead of visiting the same restaurants over and over again, I want to eat at all the restaurants in my area at least once. The fast food joints, the chain restaurants, and the hole in the wall's. I'll keep track of the places I've visited and perhaps give a review of whether I'd consider going back.

TWO: Cooking

My roommate and I have decided that starting once a week we will prepare a legit meal. Both of us do not have much practice in the art of cooking, so it should be an adventure :) We'll decide on the recipe for the week, buy the ingredients, and prepare the meal. I'll keep progress of how it goes concerning our cooking skills and the recipes we use.

THREE: Walking

My roommate and I are not the athletic types, but feel we want to be active in some way to keep ourselves healthy. We have decided to walk at least 3 times a week (start with small goals). This might move up to more times in the week, we might alternate between walking in the morning and walking at night, or we might move up to jogging or biking. We'll just try to keep it up and see where time takes us :) . This semester I'll be taking a swimming and a scuba diving advanced rescue course, and I walk/bike to all my classes already, but adding an additional time of day for exercise I think will be a good thing.

Wish me luck! :)