Posts tagged ‘cats’

December 21st, 2012

Holiday Wishes

by Tiff

Congrats to the soon-to-be mommies out there, including but not limited to: Katie, Courtney, Ashley, Dorsa, Brittney, and Nichole!  (And new mommies too, including but not limited to: Erin, Katy, and Erin.)

I must admit, this is the time of year I wish a little rug-rat was crawling around my floors.  These are purely selfish reasons, of course…

  1. So Kevin wouldn’t judge me when he finds Home Alone and The Grinch in our Netflix queue.
  2. So I could put Legos under the tree.  (We’ve already dedicated a future Lego room.)
  3. So I wouldn’t have to decorate cookies by myself.
  4. So I could take one of those Polar Express themed trains, or at least a sleigh ride.
  5. So I could buy itty bitty holiday dresses or bowties.  (Adorable!)

But enough of that.  This holiday will be plenty of fun with Kevin, my mommy, daddy, and kitties.  Who needs Legos over the tree when you have a Cleo?

cleo

So as all of you gear up for the big day, I leave you with these wishes:

1. May your love be as fruitful as my fridge.

fruit

2. May you find happiness outside the box (and bags and stockings).

boxes

3. May you have as much cheer as I have ‘cheers.’

cheers

4. May you find as much merriment as I have peppermint. (Actually, TJ’s was out last night, but I hope to try these soon!)

joejoes

5. Lastly, may you have fun!

What are your plans for the holidays?  Visitors or visiting?

Posted in Uncategorized | 23 Comments »

Tags: , , , ,
July 10th, 2012

Beast Mode

by Tiff

My body hasn’t been happy with my slow and steady return to running, but that doesn’t mean I quit moving.  Kevin and I started a walk streak this weekend to gear up for our Europe trip. Do we really need to train?  No.  Is it a fun excuse to bond and be active together?  Heck yes!

In other weekend news that I failed to mention yesterday, we took our cats to the vet Saturday.  They needed another rabies vaccine, and apparently they also needed to be sedated.  I had no idea my sweet babies could act like such demons!  Just look what Cleo did to the wall before knocking a picture frame off the wall and then promptly getting stuffed back into her cat carrier.

photo (1)

my “claws” added for effect

It’s okay – we all get into beast mode sometimes.  I can’t recommend getting into beast mode at the doctor’s office, but I do recommend beast mode during a workout.

 

I’ve been in beast mode lately at the gym.  It’s not that I’m doing the hardest arm workout ever, but it is definitely my favorite.  This one gives the best results even though it only takes about 35 minutes to complete.  So with out further adieu, I present my Armed & Dangerous upper body workout – beast mode optional… kinda.

armed & dangerous

Start with 3 sets of 10, but change it up with a few drop sets or 3 basic sets of 8 or 12 reps on subsequent runs of the workout.  I usually do this one 2-3 (usually 3) times per week for 4-6 (usually 6) weeks.

cat 001

afternoon cat nap

Even though we all love beast mode action, it’s good to relax too. This pic is just to show how my furry children didn’t stay angry at us for long.  (Kev + Leia = BFFs)

 

  • Do you have a favorite go-to upper body workout?  If so, link up!

 

Posted in Fitness | 18 Comments »

Tags: , , , , , ,
November 8th, 2011

She’s Crafty

by Tiff

I’m totally feeling this cartoon. Luckily I don’t feel too old yet since most of my friends are older than I am, but you get the idea…

getting older

Congrats to Caitlin who just announced her little gift from God, and while we’re at it, let’s also congratulate Jen, Shanna, and Kjirsten. Oh, and Brittany’s still a new enough mommy to deserve baby link love too!

Remember that baby shower I went to a while back for my neighbor? (Probably not – I didn’t post pics) That proud mommy is due in about 3 days. Yay to her too!

Moving on… that’s quite enough baby talk for the year day.

I wanted to share a couple crafty things with you guys.

1. How to store wet, gross, gym clothes and a stinky collection of shoes

nice rack

Nice Rack

Buy an ugly shoe rack. Don’t spend extra money or make it pretty with decorations. It’s going to hold your stinky shoes. It’s also going to be stashed behind a door, behind dresser, or in your closet.

full rack

Full Rack

My gym clothes hang here to dry overnight. When it starts to get gross, just wipe it down with cleaner (ie: vinegar and water). Bam. Good as new. This keeps me from throwing the grossness on the clean carpet or leaving my towel/bag/gloves/etc somewhere I’ll forget them.

2. If you buy a house with oddly placed cabinets, remove them.

green kitchen

You can repaint too, but that’s a different post.

new

Cover the cabinets in cheap carpet samples. The hardest part is cutting the carpet. Nailing it on is no biggie, but be sure no nails are exposed. I knocked this out in just a few hours.

scratch

The cats still use it daily. I’m so happy they prefer their scratcher to my furniture. Total cost = $40, but that’s because I had a ton of carpet leftover. It should have cost $15-20.

Are you crafty? As you can see, I’m not, but sometimes I try.

Got any gym gear tricks?

Posted in Link Love, Uncategorized | 22 Comments »

Tags: , , , , , , ,
November 7th, 2011

Cheese, Wine, Chocolate, and… Football???

by Tiff

Who all was loving that extra hour we got yesterday? That was a dumb question. I used my extra hour to vacuum my house. Am I the only one that considers that a workout? Vacuum cleaners are heavy!  Speaking of workouts – I raked all afternoon on Saturday.

bring it on

Bring it on leaves!

After all the chores, we decided we’d rather relax at home rather than go out. Kev ran out to Trader Joe’s, and he picked up these goodies for dinner.

dinner

Wine, cheese fondue, a baguette, and Italian cold cuts. He also brought back an 85% cacao dark chocolate bar. Mmmmm…

leia

I like to at least pretend I eat healthfully, so I cut up a honeycrisp apple for the cheese too.  I know wine and a fire doesn’t sound like it pairs well with football, but Cleo wanted to watch the game…

cleo

Anyone else catch the LSU v Bama game? Wow – what defense! Clemson didn’t have a game this weekend, so hopefully they’ll be rested up for Wake Forest this Saturday.

Luckily I squeezed in a run yesterday to burn off a wee bit of that cheese fondue!  I also had made my version of this yummy slow cooker super with red quinoa.  Mmmm…

cashew chicken

What was the best thing you did this weekend? Catch any good football? (or other games)

By the way, I created a new workout this week that I’ll be doing for a while. I’ll post it soon – maybe Tues or Thurs???

Posted in Food | 26 Comments »

Tags: , , , , , , ,
October 17th, 2011

A Free Weekend

by Tiff

I was so glad to have a free weekend.  Free from work.  Free from plans.  And free from travel.  On Friday, we ended up making plans, but their spontaneity still felt pretty free.

 

Saturday started out as a lazy day.  No one knows how to relax like the kitties.

My beautiful pictureMy beautiful pictureMy beautiful picture

After spending too much money at Target, going for a run, doing some yoga, and making a salad…

lemson 001

it was finally football time!  Kev and I went out to watch the Clemson game, and although we had healthy chili for dinner (recipe coming soon), we went for fried pickles at halftime.  Mmmm… fried goodness.

lemson 003

Beers for the evening included a Sweetwater 420 (flavorful but bitter) and Flying Dog Dogtoberfest (too sweet from excess caramel malt).

sweetwater420flying_dog_dogtoberfest_200

Minus the cleaning and errands I did Sunday, it was another great weekend.  Even the errands weren’t too bad – $75 for groceries that will last Kev and I Sunday afternoon through Friday afternoon.  Sweet!

lemson 007

Kevin made his first Oh She Glows recipe.  It smelled great, and I was pretty jealous.  That’ll be his lunch all week.  Gotta’ love a man in the kitchen…

How was you’re weekend?  Try any good beers?

***Don’t forget to enter my tech-t or tech-tank giveaway!***

Posted in Brews, Food | 22 Comments »

Tags: , , , , , ,