Leavin' On a Jet Plane...

The Hansen's are headed to Indiana in t-minus 8 hours! We're packed, ready to go and literally bubbling over with excitement! Good luck getting me to focus on work today. Can't wait to tell you all about our trip next Wednesday. Until then, have a marvelous weekend!

Can't wait to see these cute little faces...


And this one, who has grown up so much since last November!


Much love!

So Much Anticipation

You know what I love about Thursdays? There is so much anticipation for Friday and the weekend that I end up looking forward to them almost as much as Friday! They're great because I don't have to make coffee for the morning since I treat myself to SB's on my way to work and I don't have to do any dinner prep for Friday because it's date night!! Bottom line, Thursdays are a relief!

Even though I still have a grueling workout to get through this afternoon, somehow I can push through because Fridays are also my rest day from working out:)

Sorry for the absence of an AIGH post today! I'll get back on track next week!

I also plan on baking up some yumminess from the Babycakes NYC cookbook tomorrow afternoon and naturally, I will post the (hopefully) delicious results of that:)

Hope it comes out looking as tasty as these!


And finally, the turkey burgers from last night were pretty good, but my standby Clean Eating recipe still holds first place in my heart and my kitchen! They were tasty, but didn't have any spectacular flavor for all the time they took. Sorry Cooking Light, you can't win em' all:)

And for your cooking enjoyment, here's the Clean Eating turkey burger recipe:

Kate's Favorite Turkey Burgers
1 lb extra lean ground turkey
3 Tsp chicken bouillon
3 Tbsp chopped onion
1 cup high protein cereal (Weetabix works really well!)
1/3 cup nonfat milk
2 egg whites

In bowl, mix milk and cereal. Allow cereal to sit in milk for 5 minutes.
Add bouillon, onion, and eggwhites. Mix well, then add turkey.
With clean hands, mix it all up, and divide into 6 burgers.
They will probably be a little "wet" - I prefer to cook on my grill pan. Cook both sides evenly and enjoy!

I sometimes add a little shredded cheese and top with fresh avocado slices for some extra pizazz!

Since I've Been Gone

Hi friends! I'm back from a much needed and well, necessary blogging break. The truth is, I've missed it!

The last several days have been packed, mostly with work, and it doesn't feel like anything will be slowing down soon! This week I will be working some overtime, which is good and bad. But enough with the boring stuff!

I do have some very exciting news to share! I just paid for my ACSM personal training certification exam!! My current certification is not one I'm really impressed with and I finally decided to just get the one I really want! I am feeling so inspired to start training again:) It will definitely be a nice distraction from my current full time job! This will hopefully be the beginning of a very nice transition to doing something I am passionate about again:) Yay!

Last week was pretty much a blur of work, workouts, errands and just trying to get to the weekend. Not a feeling I am very fond of! Chris knew I had been feeling tired and just plain worn out so he surprised me with a really fun date Friday night to dinner at Bella Bru Cafe, where they had live music on the patio! It was exactly what the doctor ordered! We listened to Blues while we enjoyed a delicious meal:)

So here we are, it's Sunday night and I'm trying to prepare myself for another hectic week. Although, I am a little more ahead of the game than I was last week. Because my Aunt was here last week and we spent a lot of time with my family, I wasn't really home to catch up on laundry, grocery shopping, and cleaning, which made this week feel a bit more chaotic. Not that I'm complaining, as we has such a great time with my Aunt!! But now that I've had a whole weekend to catch up, I say "Bring it on Monday!".

Okay, my hubby just brought in my hot tea and reminded me of the time, which means we should probably decide on the movie we're going to watch before I turn into a pumpkin:)

I'll leave you with some photos of the week...

Our delicious wild mushroom bruschetta appetizer at Bella Bru!


Relaxed as can be with his 'Down Town Brown' :)


Look at that Goodness of Tiramisu!


It deserves it's own picture:)


I was out shopping this afternoon and snagged these cute plum colored flats for only $4.90!! Oh how I love good sales:)


I also made a trip to Trader Joe's and picked up some favorite goodies of ours:) This Pesto Torta is oh so good!


And so are these scrumptious treats...dark chocolate covered espresso beans and almond coconut chocolates:)


And finally, their Vodka past sauce...mmm, mmm good!



Stay tuned, I've got some good posts for the week!

Tahoe and a Little Time

Merry Monday! I hope your weekend was absolutely fabulous!

As I told you last week, my Aunt is in town and I've been pretty occupied with my family the past several days. Therefore, I think I'm going to take a little break from blogging. Just for the week, I am just growing overwhelmed with the many priorities and responsibilities on my plate at the moment! Work is absolutely horrendous now that it's peak, family in town, appointments this week, preparing to take my next personal training certification, getting in the groove of training again, and of course the good ole' everyday stuff! You know, sometimes life just happens that way:) Stay tuned though, I'll be back next week! Thanks for keeping up with us!

I'll leave you with these two things:

Julie and Julia was FANTASTIC!!! I know I can be dramatic about a lot of things, but this truly was an incredible movie! Bon Appetit!!

On Saturday we went to Lake Tahoe with my Mom and Aunt and had a great time! We packed a yummy brunch and drove to a beach, where we enjoyed our picnic! The entire day was amazing and accompanied by perfectly warm weather! We ended up stopping at the lookout point where Chris proposed to me 2 1/2 years ago:)

And in true Kate fashion, I will leave you with some pictures:)

Lovely picnic brunch on the beach:)


The spot Chris asked me to be his wife!! (1/8/07)


Yay for the best decision of our lives:)




Recreating the picture we took when we got engaged:)



Have a great week and talk to ya soon:)