Happy Anniversary

Happy anniversary to me! And my Hubby. It was just our 11 month anniversary yesterday, but that means that we only have one month left until our first wedding anniversary. I feel like this should have happened about five years ago. I can't really even believe that he wasn't always a part of my life. Should have posted this yesterday, but got a little behind. Such is life. Here's our story anyway for anyone who is interested! : )

Really it was just a little under three and a half years ago that we met. We both tried the online dating thing and hadn't had much luck. We were about ready to just give up when we found each other. I read his profile and was instantly impressed that he seemed intelligent and funny and handsome. He didn't have the text lingo or poor spelling and grammar. He didn't seem like one of those guys who is totally into themselves. He seemed real and genuine. So I decided to give it a try. Apparently he liked me too because here we are married, lol.

Our first date has to be the longest first date I've ever been on. A general rule of first dates is to keep it short; one to two hours to get a good feeling of whether you want to see them again. That's it. I believe we met at 4 PM and I went home around 11 PM. So yeah, long date. And even then we had a hard time separating. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

We started out at a Q'doba. I'd never been to one before so I was nervous. I was nervous anyway just because I was excited to meet him for the first time after talking on the phone and emailing for a couple of weeks. I am just super, super shy to begin with anyhow, so it was pretty scary. I had to go to the bathroom right before we were about to meet. Nerves, I guess. So I went into another restaurant to do my business. Didn't want to get in there and see him and say, "Hey, how are you? I have to pee. Be right back!" 

He was a little late anyway, so it all worked out. He said that when he walked in he didn't even know if I was the right girl. Even though there were two other people in there, eating together, and I was sitting in a booth waiting. That's because I wouldn't look at him. I kinda smiled at him, but being shy I couldn't do much more than that, lol. So we got in line. Again, not talking. Eventually we made casual conversation about what we were getting. Again, I had never been there, so I checked it out online and had already decided what to get. Something super simple to order so I didn't have to talk much, lol. So I got soup, he got tacos. Yes, I remember still. : ) 

We went and sat down with our food. Apparently he says I did a loud gasp when he sat down. I do not recall this happening, lol. Our conversation was pretty minimal at first, mostly him talking. Can you tell that I am sort of freakishly shy, beyond the norm? Eventually I warmed up enough to make eye contact and contribute to the conversation, lol. 

We finished up our food and decided to go get some ice cream and take it for a walk. And that's when I tripped backwards off of a curb. Luckily, and I still thank God that I did not fall into the street, but he had stopped to show me something, so I continued walking very slowly backwards while he caught up, but I didn't notice the curb. The curb was the only thing separating the street, a busy street, from the sidewalk. Luckily there weren't any cars there, and I didn't go sprawling on my back. It was enough to turn my face ten shades of red though!

I must have been contributing enough to the convo because after we finished our ice cream he still hadn't had enough of me! Or maybe that's just it, he hadn't heard enough to make a decision yet! lol

We took ourselves down to a little bar, got one drink, and sat and talked the rest of the night until people started coming in and the music got too loud. Then he walked me to my car and we said good night. He texted me that night after he got home and said he had a good time and wished me good night again. And the next day he started texting me again and we started planning for our second date! 

I don't think our dates were ever more than four days apart and I'm pretty sure that since our first date I have never spent more than 3 nights away from him at a time. It's kind of amazing how that happens, huh? I officially moved in with him a year later, although if I'm being honest I had started slowly staying longer and longer so it was basically just a matter of moving in my things at that point. He was there to help me get a job since I had just graduated, and after that first year of living together we decided to move to a different apartment to try to save some money and start saving for our future together.

That led to him proposing, planning a wedding, adopting a sweetheart of a little bunny, and now we are working towards buying our first home together. It's amazing how much your life can change in just three years. I couldn't have created someone more perfect for me than he is. And what's great is that my family loves him too. He fits right in! : )





So happy anniversary again, honey! And I can't wait to dig into that frozen cake with you next month! I love you!

Dating, of the Up Variety

That post title would be a glimpse into my husband's lingo ... and it means updating, lol. He has rubbed off on me a bit in the last few years. 

I've mentioned that we are buying a house, so I thought I'd give an update. 

We found our house, the one we want, that fits in our budget, and we will be happy with. We negotiated for a few weeks and finally came to an agreement. We've gotten the inspections done. We worked for a few more weeks on getting things fixed and passing our well test. That one took the longest. 

We finally got confirmation that our well passed the test and the well casing now just needs to be raised. We are writing up an addendum to the contract to say that the seller will just pay that part in closing costs and we'll get it fixed after we move in. So we are just waiting on that addendum. 

Hopefully we'll get it today and we can get it into our lender and we'll get to hear when our closing date will be. I hope. Prayers would be wonderful at this point. We are getting so, so close! 

And because we're getting close, we've started packing! We've gotten most of what will be put into boxes, into boxes. We've got a spare room that is full of stuff like tents, sleeping bags, camp stoves, that we've accumulated over the years, but most of that stuff is in containers already, so we'll just have to pick them up and go. 

We've still got some clothes unpacked and a lot in the kitchen unpacked, but we're close! And I just did a load of laundry at our laundromat last night. I had to stand there and wait for someone to come because all of the dryers were being used, except they were all done being dried. So they were just waiting for people to come get them. And I am one of those paranoid people who thinks that if I take someone else's clothes out of the dryer so I can dry mine that they will come back and pour bleach on my stuff or something, lol. So I waited. Eventually it worked out. But I'm hoping we don't have to rely on a laundromat for much longer. Luckily, our house will come with a washer/dryer so we don't have to worry about buying one!

 

Please ignore the crummy iPhone photo. 

So that's our update. Hopefully the next time I update you guys I will have a closing date! It seems that whenever I expect something, the opposite happens. So I'm sure there will be more 'fun' to come. Pray for us, lol. And hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

Pancakes! ... Er ... Waffles ?

I am a waffle girl. Or I used to be. I loved, loved, LOVED waffles. Pancakes were alright, french toast was yummy, but there's something about a waffle that just tops my list.

I'm sure most people know that waffles are not Paleo friendly and definitely not Whole30 friendly. We are following the Whole30 guidelines, but occasionally we do have a Paleo-ified treat. And last night was one of those nights.

 

I found a Paleo waffle recipe on The Real Food Forager website. I checked all of the ingredients and decided to give it a go. But then I realized that I had a problem. I do not own a waffle maker. You really don't have much use for one when you don't eat waffles anymore, so I gave mine away a few years ago. And honestly I really don't care much for those large appliances because they're kind of a pain to store, especially as a college student in a cheapo apartment with itty bitty kitchens.

So I decided to turn my waffle into a pancake. You can make a pancake out of pretty much anything. Just plop it down and try not to burn it. Easier said than done apparently because I burnt the heck out of my first two sets of pancakes. I started out with 3 little ones but they were hard to get the spatula under. And they ended up pretty blackened.

Then I tried one big pancake... but the consistency was a little loose. So that one was definitely not pretty. And I still slightly burnt that one.

So then I tried a medium sized pancake. That one worked great, but still kinda fell apart. I think it's mostly user error. I may have decided that I needed more coconut milk than it called for. And I know there's no coconut milk on the recipe card, but I prefer to use coconut milk instead of water. I also added in some cinnamon and nutmeg. I think of recipes as more of a guideline than rule.

I do have to say that even the burnt ones tasted pretty good. They are pretty sweet. We did go with some agave nectar and/or honey on top. Again, not really Whole30 compliant, but if that's where we splurge, then I take it as a win. And it's not something that happens every week, for sure.

The recipe looked kinda small when I started, but I only ate about half of my half. So about 1/4 of the total recipe. It's pretty filling.

I think it might be good if you add in some pumpkin to it too. I might try that next time instead of the bananas. I like to play with recipes. I'll add that to my grocery list and try it again and let you know how it turns out, but I give this recipe a 7/10. I can't say it's totally the recipe to blame, but the consistency was hard for me to work with and it was pretty sweet. Probably because we aren't used to that high sugar content, which again was our choice with the agave. But something that I will play with and try again.

Not sure if I convinced you on those or not. The picture above is from the website that the recipe comes from. I didn't take any pictures of mine because they came out pretty darn inedible looking, lol. We just threw a couple of eggs on top, drizzled some agave, and called it a day though. Works for us!

So here's the recipe. Try it or not... just thought I'd share! : )

Ingredients:

4 large eggs separated (pastured if possible)

1 1/4 ripe medium banana mashed (or one large banana)

2 heaping tablespoon applesauce

2 Tablespoon raw honey (where to buy raw honey)

2 teaspoon vanilla (where to buy vanilla)

1/2 cup coconut flour (where to buy coconut flour)

1/2 teaspoon sea salt (where to buy sea salt)

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

- See more at: http://realfoodforager.com/videorecipe-grain-free-banana-waffles-scdgaps/#sthash.WTJJCrwn.dpuf

• 4 large eggs separated (pastured if possible) (I did not separate mine)
• 1 1/4 ripe medium banana mashed (or one large banana)
• 2 heaping tablespoon applesauce
• 2 Tablespoon raw honey
• 2 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/2 cup coconut flour
• 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda

Instructions:

Separate the eggs

Whip up the whites with an electric hand mixer

Add the honey, vanilla and mashed banana to the egg yolks and mix by hand

Add baking soda and salt to the coconut flour and mix

Add the dry mixture to the wet and blend together

If the dry mixture is very thick add water (up to 1/2 cup), a little more banana or more apple sauce

Fold in the whites being careful not to over mix

The batter should be loose

Using a large serving spoon, add the batter to the preheated and oiled waffle iron

Remove when indicated by the waffle iron

These are not really crisp but satisfying none the less

- See more at: http://realfoodforager.com/videorecipe-grain-free-banana-waffles-scdgaps/#sthash.WTJJCrwn.dpuf

1. Separate the eggs
2. Whip up the whites with an electric hand mixer
3. Add the honey, vanilla and mashed banana to the egg yolks and mix by hand
4. Add baking soda and salt to the coconut flour and mix
5. Add the dry mixture to the wet and blend together
6. If the dry mixture is very thick add water (up to 1/2 cup), a little more banana or apple sauce
7. Fold in the whites being careful not to over mix
8. The batter should be loose
9. Using a large serving spoon, add the batter to the preheated and oiled waffle iron
10. Remove when indicated by the waffle iron
11. These are not really crisp but satisfying none the less

Toppings

• Honey
• Ghee or butter
• Maple syrup
• Yogurt
• Fruit, etc.

- See more at: http://realfoodforager.com/videorecipe-grain-free-banana-waffles-scdgaps/#sthash.JfRhIZwn.dpuf

Toppings

Honey
Ghee or butter
Maple syrup
Yogurt
Fruit, etc.


Side note: Apparently they compare a man's brain to a waffle and a woman's brain to a plate of spaghetti. Women are all busy thinking about everything all at once whereas men focus on one topic at a time and nothing else, hence the pouring syrup into one individual waffle hole at a time, lol. Just thought I'd share that with you. : ) 

About Me ... and my Family : )

I made a new tab!I realized I was lacking a page to introduce myself, and to introduce my lovely family. So I fixed it. You can either click on the tab or just read below: 

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Sorry about the Christmas-y picture, but we don't have any decent & recent pictures of our whole little family.

Hi, my name is Ely. The good looking guy behind me is my hubby, Chris. And the little fur ball in my arms is Gus. 

I guess I should start at the beginning. Hubby and I went to the same university. He was a year ahead of me. We even lived in dorms right next to each other. I'm sure we had to have seen each other at one point or another, but we never met while we were in school. 

It wasn't until we both decided to try an online dating site, OKCupid.com, that our paths came together. I was too shy to meet anyone in "real life" and Hubby was away from home in a new town and didn't know anyone. So we tried the online thing. Apparently it's pretty popular nowadays. 

We started talking at the end of May, 2010, had our first date the beginning of June, and were officially an item by June. I like to say that our dating anniversary is May 25th though because that's when we started talking. He literally swept me off my feet on our first date. Or rather, I fell backwards off a street curb, but close enough, right? : ) 

We've been pretty inseparable ever since. He just can't get rid of me! ; ) 

He asked me to marry him on October 22nd, 2011. I actually replied with, "Are you sure?" and then finally a "Yes!!". Lol, romantic, huh? We tied the knot October 2012. It was one of the happiest days of my life, even with all the little bloopers. It was a pretty chilly October day, but it didn't rain, and the colors were gorgeous. And I don't think that I will ever forget the feeling of such overwhelming love as I felt that day. 

Our wedding day was also the day that Gus came into our lives. 

Gus is our lovely little bunny. We thought it would be cute to do some kind of a magic skit while we did the garter toss. So we rigged up my chair with a box of props underneath and Hubby pulled out the items one by one, attempting to "find the garter". Well, Gus was the icing to his cake! Poor little guy had to sit there and get yanked out of a box and into a very noisy room. I was actually afraid he would hate us after that, but he's turned out to be quite the cuddle bug.

We aren't exactly sure when his birthday is, but we are guesstimating the end of September 2012, so he's still a youngin'. And funny story: Gus actually started out as Lola. Yeah, we thought 'he' was a 'she' for about two months. And then we noticed a couple of things that had never been there before. So we changed the name to Octavius ... or Gus Gus for short. Yeah, that's from Cinderella. I grew up loving Disney! : ) 

I currently work as a Spanish/English translator/coder and Hubby is a graphic technician. That means that he is super creative and has an eye for details. Me, I just love all things cultural. I fell in love with Spanish and studied abroad for a while and decided that teaching was not my thing. Too shy, remember?

So this blog. How did I decide to start writing a blog? It started back in 2008 when I weighed in at just over 275 pounds. I was extremely unhealthy and not very happy about it, so I decided to change that. I joined Weight Watchers and lost a lot of weight. A hundred pounds and then some actually. 

Unfortunately, wedding planning stress, married life, and just slacking off has caused me to gain some of that weight back. So I started the blog to document my success and to keep me accountable for getting back on track. I don't want to just lose weight, I want to be healthy and feel great. So I decided to start the Whole30 diet way of living. I don't like the term 'diet'. It seems to have a negative connotation and implies that it is a short-term event. I'd rather find something that works for me and just live a healthy life. Whole30 has been that something. Even Hubby has decided to hop on board with me. He definitely doesn't need to lose weight, but the other benefits have been enough to prove to him that this is the way to go. You can read my whole story over on my "How I gained and lost 100 pounds" page. 

So that's where I'm at now, trying to find a balance, trying to get healthy, trying to find something that works for our family. We're also in the process of buying a house right now. That's been fairly stressful, but we're trying to stay on track and hopefully it will end happily. I try to incorporate a bit of my personal life into the blog. I know that's one thing that I really love in other blogs that I read. I feel like it lets me connect to that person. So I want to share that with you guys. So you may see posts about family or outings or Gus or home buying/decorating in addition to the posts about fitness or nutrition and general wellness. I don't know exactly where I'll take it, it pretty much just keeps evolving and I like it that way. I hope you do too and I'm happy to share my little world with you all! : )

Update on the House!

We started this process back in the end of July. We've gotten everything done and paid for that we're required to do before closing, but we are waiting on the well. The well is the one thing that we really expected to fly through. But we are now on our fourth treatment and testing to see if we can get it cleared up. We should find out the results some time today. So a little good luck/prayers/fingers crossed would be greatly appreciated today! 

We don't really have a lot of options if this test comes back negative again. I don't think that continually treating it and testing it is going to get anywhere if it comes back negative a fourth time. I haven't seen the reports beyond the first one though, so I'm not exactly sure what is going on. 

But if it comes back negative then we have to discuss the seller digging a new well for us. We're not sure if he'll be willing to do that. He is required by the bank to have the house up-to-code before selling, but I'm not sure if he could find someone else with a different kind of loan who would be able to buy as-is. 

So we are holding our breath and crossing everything possible that we get some good news today. I know that everything happens for a reason, but we're hoping that we don't have to start all over from the beginning and lose all the money we've put into it thus far. 

And since we all love pictures. Here is one that I took of our baby furbaby, Gus. : )