Day Seventeen: The Lord is Gone!

[Rylee before school yesterday in her Christmas attire]

Last night, while we were continuing our Christmas decorating, Rylee busts out in chorus [while dancing around the living room in her Christmas pajamas] at the top of her lungs, "Joy to the World! The Lord is GONE!" Oh my goodness! I couldn't help but laugh... How precious and innocent she is. While trying to correct her she insisted she was singing it the right way. I really hope she's not right. ;) She is slightly stubborn, though. Hmmm... I wonder where she gets that from??

Day Seventeen= A successful day in the making! :) I did some yoga this morning and our instructor had us focus on gratitude. We were to focus on all the things we were so thankful for during class. How refreshing! Gosh, I could probably write a novel on everything I am grateful for. After class I had another amazing salad from Jan's Health Bar today for lunch with grilled chicken breast, avocado, carrots, cucumber, dark leafy greens, and a cup of fruit and at the moment I am sipping on some coconut water. Later we're off for family fun night with another family who has a little girl who is Rylee's age. First stop... Sushi on Fire. Second stop... the HB Main Street Fair where the girls can play and I get get some fresh fruits and veggies! Should be a fun time and will most definitely be any easy night for staying paleo!

I am working on gradually posting some more pictures from our road trip adventure over Thanksgiving week! I have a few below and more to come [in random order]! Enjoy! :)

[View of Downtown New Orleans and the Mississippi River from the balcony]

[Rylee and her cousin, Carter, on Thanksgiving]

[The Mississippi River]

Day Sixteen: CrossFit, 'Dre, and a True Story.

[I don't think I will ever get used to seeing this everyday ;]

I totally got my butt beat at CrossFit today, but boy did it feel amazing. I almost forgot what it felt like to ignore that little voice in my head and push through my own weakness. I definitely have a long way to go before I am back to where I was before my awesome back injury, which is definitely more than frustrating. Right now I am just so happy and thankful to have the honor of getting my butt kicked once again.

In other news, I don't think Cortland Finnegan of the Tennessee Titans can say the same thing. First of all, Tennessee is my absolute LEAST favorite team out of the entire NFL. For years, after the Oilers moved to Nashville, I haven't cared for them. I cannot stand how they play football... They play dirty with hardly much class at all. No wonder why they have employed one of the most disliked and dirtiest players of the NFL... lack of class. This is obviously just my opinion and I do not wish to offend anyone... So, I'm sorry all you Titans fans out there... Well, kinda. ;)

I will say, however, that I am proud of Andre. Is what he did okay by "moral" standards? Probably not... But what he did was not just a release for him, but for all Houston Texans fans everywhere. For years we have been watching a great mediocre football team with an extremely talented and classy group of guys who for one reason or another just can't seem to make it to the next level. As a fan it is so frustrating year after year, yet I will be a fan to the bitter end. I can only imagine what it might feel like for Andre, who has only ever played for the Texans and is one of the best players in the NFL, to have not once made it to the playoffs in all his years playing professionally. Thank you to the NFL for not suspending him. Finally, being "the nice guy" actually does pay off. Due to Andre's class, good standing, and his lack of issues in the past he will be playing in Thursday's game against the Eagles. Thank you, Andre for bringing some emotion and fire back into our team. What he did may not have been the "right" thing to do, but I am so proud of what he did.

Moving along... I stayed paleo again today! Yay! Well, all except for the half of a sweet potato I had at dinner. I had the usual: Coconut water throughout the day plus regular water and egg whites and fruit for breakfast. For lunch [above] I had a crazy amazing salad and some fresh fruit and coconut water from Jan's Health Bar in downtown Huntington Beach. That place rocks my socks! For dinner I had carrots, broccoli, squash [not sure if that's paleo, but oh well], grilled turkey breast, and sweet potato. I also had some fruit and nuts for my snacks.

Okay, so I will leave y'all with a little story regarding the my least favorite team... True story. I dislike them so much that one day while browsing the aisles in a Target [in the city of Houston, Texas... I will not disclose the exact location to protect the innocent ;)] I came to the sports merch aisle and what do I see??? In the middle of ALL the Houston Texans merchandise I spot Titans gear!!! What the HECK?! So, what do I do? That's simple, of course. I spot an empty ice chest at the end of the aisle... I open it up and load the ice chest full of all the Titans merchandise that existed in the midst of the Texans merchandise aisle. Who was in charge there? Who in their right mind would think it's okay to have Titans merchandise on sale in HOUSTON in the middle of the Texans merch aisle??? Target, I am disappointed in you. I love you, but not your actions. I forgive you, I do, but please don't ever do something like that again. Thank you. ;)

[You may purchase the awesome shirt above by following this link: http://htxsmackgear.bigcartel.com/product/anti-titans-girls-pink-tank]

Day 15: Back on the Wagon.

Seriously? Days 11 through 14 will be left with a "no comment." In all honestly I wasn't all that bad because I actually, genuinely, really do enjoy eating healthy. I had a wonderful time, but I am so glad to be done with the anti-paleo eating! Today, however, day 15 of this madness, I am back on the wagon once again. Praise God.

We went to watch the [Texans] game at BJ's this morning. Yes, "noon" games actually start at 10 am here! They have a brunch menu on Sunday mornings so I ordered the California Scramble [3 scrambled egg whites with peppers, onions, avocado, and some crumbled bacon on top]. It is supposed to come with sauteed potatoes, cheese, and bread, but I opted out of all that and got a side order of fruit instead. It was so super yummy!

While we were there I get a text from my sister, who was fishing with my dad back in Surfside, Texas, asking me to update her on the game. So I did. I apparently took my job very seriously, so much so, I ended up giving her a play by play of the entire game... and apparently it was a very detailed one. I was even giving updates from other games. I was having too much fun commentating the game through text message. Ha! What a crazy game it was, too! I have never seen Andre Johnson, who off the field is incredibly reserved and soft spoken, behave the way he did today. Punk @#$ Finnegan, from what I could see, [who knows what kind of mess he was talking to Andre] shoved him in the face so Andre shoved back and ripped the punk's helmet off. Finnegan pulled Andre's helmet off and that's when the wrath of Andre was released. He went after the little punk punching him in the face a bunch times in the middle of the field... Wow. Andre Johnson was ejected from the game and a few minutes later so was the punk. I seriously could not believe my eyes, but hey, don't mess with [the] Texans! It gets even better... We shut 'em out 20-0. Booyah! I have a serious aversion towards the Titans, so I am one happy girl right now! :) GO TEXANS!!! :)

We got home about 2 am this morning from our not so little trip, so I am going to go finish unpacking and start Christmas decorating with Rylee! Yay! :)

I posted some photos below from our dinner at The Gristmill in Gruene, Texas from Friday night. We got to sit on the top floor overlooking the Guadelupe River and we had a great view of the sunset! They also had decorated the inside so beautifully for Christmas, complete with an upside down Christmas tree. Enjoy! :)

Day Eight, Nine, Ten: Going... Going... Gone.

[One of my "on the road" snacks]

[My last paleo meal before I had a break down for fried shrimp in the French Quarter]

The past 3 days have been a challenge, to say the least, but I managed to stay paleo up until lunch today. I will let all of you know, I never go down without a fight.

I definitely put up a good fight until fried shrimp from Johnny's in the French Quarter in New Orleans [where po-boys got their name way back when] won me over big time. I'm sorry, but how could I say no to that??? I did, however, just get fried shrimp and no french roll to complete the po-boy [and I had about 2 bites of the potato salad]. Man, I just have a HUGE weakness for fried shrimp. Always have... Always will. I also figured I would not be smart if I traveled all the way to New Orleans and passed on enjoying myself.

[Pat O'Brien's Famous Hurricane]

[Yummy cupcakes!]


I will also let y'all know, I have absolutely no guilty feelings [well, maybe one...NOT.] about my choice on fried shrimp... and shortly after I helped myself to a Hurricane at Pat O'Brien's... and after that I enjoyed a gourmet cupcake from the Kupcake Factory. I [thoroughly] enjoyed myself and I am so happy I did because if I hadn't I would be pretty bummed at myself right now.






Following our day in downtown and the French Quarter, Rylee's great grandma made us dinner and dessert... all of which was so not paleo and there is no way I would ever say, "I'm sorry, but I just can't eat any of the food you just spent the last hour or two making because it doesn't fit in with my "paleo lifestyle." So I ate and was thankful. I will do my best to stay paleo tomorrow, but I'm not going to freak out if I have to veer off the the paleo path a little and Thanksgiving day is an "anything goes" day. Mwahahahaha :)

The past few days have been so much fun! We have driven across 5 states and made super random, super spontaneous stops along the way in little towns. We drove down Historic Route 66 through the Mohave Desert, down old country roads, through mountains, plains, and canyons. We played in the snow, had a snowball fight, saw the world's largest meteor crater, and watched cows cross the road [under rainbows]. We've been through sand storms, snow showers, rain, sleet, freezing temps to summer weather. We rode in a horse drawn carriage, walked to the French Quarter, and down Bourbon Street. We ate homemade banana pudding, drank Hurricanes, enjoyed fried shrimp, and gourmet cupcakes. It has been an amazingly fun, adventurous, and oh, so spontaneous [not so] little trip so far. I have loved every minute and I am quite exhausted as I write this, but what great memories we have made! I look forward to the rest of our trip and can't help but wonder with excitement what the next few days have in store! Hope y'all had a fabulous Thanksgiving Eve Eve! :)

Day Six & Seven: Wine and Road Trips.

Wine, anyone?

For the past 2 nights I have helped myself to Pinot Grigio and White Zin. I love wine, but it's not so paleo, if ya know what I mean.

The night before last, after we went to Dwight's [Rainn Wilson and yep, that's him, mid-left, if you hadn't already noticed ;)] book signing, we went to BJ's for some dinner. I am a big fan of that place including their Thai shrimp lettuce wraps. Amazing. Mix in some wine and my very paleo meal became not so paleo anymore, but I honestly didn't care. Sometimes you just gotta have some wine and so I did.

Last night we were invited over to a friends house for some Texas Hold 'Em. I, again, had some more wine, but, hey, I dominated the table and represented Texas so it's all good, right?

Today is day one of our road trip and day seven of this little thing I committed myself to. I think after looking back over my first week I am pretty happy with how I did with the exception of a few things, of course, like pumpkin bread, wine, and bleu cheese. It could always be worse, right?

I LOVE road trips, but the food selection when you're on the road is usually somewhat limited on healthy food options. It will definitely be both a challenge and an adventure, but no worries, I thrive on both of those things.

We stopped for lunch earlier today... at McDonald's. I welcomed and conquered my first challenge. I ordered a fruit and walnut salad and a grilled chicken Caesar salad. I used about a fourth of the dressing and I didn't eat the yogurt. For what it was, it really wasn't bad and I was able to stay paleo... at McDonald's. :) For dinner we ate at good ol' Juicy's Famous River Cafe off Route 66 on the border of California and Arizona in the Mohave Desert. I am proud to say I stayed paleo once again! Rylee [entirely on her own] even ordered fish and veggies instead of her favorite macaroni and cheese and opted out of the fries. She said, "It's healthier and I want to be healthy." I was such a proud mommy. :)

Enjoy the rest of the photos from day one of our Thanksgiving road trip! :) I will keep y'all updated on our travels and continue to post on my paleo adventure. Hope everyone is having a nice pre-Thanksgiving weekend! :)