What's Up Wednesday {3.27.19} -

Happy Wednesday, y’all! Here’s a little life update with What’s Up Wednesday with Shay and Sheaffer!

What We’re Eating…

Y’all. I know this shouldn’t be that big of an accomplishment, but we have gone over a week without eating out at all. At all. Not even lunch. Like I said, this shouldn’t be that amazing, but it’s a really big deal for us! We feel a lot better not eating all the fried foods (even though Chick Fil A will always have a piece of my heart, y’all), and we’ve saved so much time and money (and sanity, if we’re honest– who else hates the “where should we eat right now” game??). Part of what has really helped this has been the prepped entrees/ meals from HEB. They have chicken, steak, salmon, shrimp, etc. that are pre-marinaded or pre-portioned with sides that we just throw on the indoor grill and dinner is ready in 15-20 minutes. It really is a lifesaver! We’ve also been eating a salad with every meal for some extra veggies and as a no-brainer side dish. We try to dress it up restaurant style- cherry tomatoes, sliced cucumbers, croutons- and Steven loves the Simply Dressed Avocado Ranch and I love the HEB Simple Ranch dressing from the refrigerated produce section. He eats his as a “pre-meal snack” and I have mine with my dinner, haha!

Sunday: Grilled shrimp tacos with rice and beans.

Monday: Basil pesto chicken (pre-marinaded from HEB!) with green beans and salad.

Tuesday: Sirloin with stuffed baked potatoes and salad.

Wednesday: Southwest chicken breasts with black eyed peas and salad.

Thursday: Lasagna with salad and garlic bread (this is my first time to try the Pioneer Woman recipe and I’m excited! I’m also making a vegetarian version with zucchini to take to an Alliance member (our resident/fellow/med student spouse group) who just had a sweet little boy! I’ve never done a veggie version, so here goes nothing, haha!).

Friday: Leftover lasagna, or bacon, egg, and gouda English muffin sandwiches with fruit

Saturday: Burgers with crispy potatoes and salad.

Also, we need to talk chicken nuggets. My parents brought us a bag of these Chick Fil A copycat nuggets from Sam’s Club when they came to visit last week and they. are. so. good!! I’d say they are about a 97% dupe for CFA. I’ve been whipping them up in our air fryer for quick lunches and really love them! (And maybe that’s the missing 3%? I wonder if they would be identical if they were fried in peanut oil? 😉 ).

What I’m Reminiscing About…

I’m not sure of anything in particular necessarily, but I went looking for a picture of us from Match Day 2016 (when Steven matched for residency) since Match Day 2019 was a week or two ago…

Just before we found out he matched to the #1 choice!

And in the process, I found this…

I guess about this time 3 years ago is when we went out to Palo Duro Canyon for the day and hiked to the Lighthouse! It was so pretty (and so hot!), and we had a lot of fun even though we got a little lost and the hike is about 6 miles total. The trail wasn’t super clear, and it seemed like we maybe ended up going up the back way that isn’t really a way that was way harder. Anyway, we ended up on top of that rock formation behind us, which they call the Lighthouse.

We hiked up to the flat part between the two taller parts there! 😉

That was just a fun little memory of just married life that I hadn’t thought about in a while! There are times we definitely miss Amarillo and wish we had taken more advantage of all the fun things they have up there like Palo Duro and the beautiful landscapes!

What I’m Loving…

We absolutely could not LOVE our Peloton bike any more than we do! As a person who loathes cardio (I legit have a tank top with the Fat Amy phrase “Yeah no, don’t put me down for cardio” on it, and it is my life mantra), I love, love, love this bike. The classes are legit– they are just the right amount of pushing and encouraging, and there are so many to choose from. And what other workout will burn 300+ calories in 30-45 minutes? I’m all about making my minutes count and this definitely gives you bang for your buck in that regard. I’ve only ridden with Robin so far and I love her. Maybe one day I’ll branch out, but eh, if it’s not broke, right?? Steven typically rides with Alex and that man sounds like a crazy person. Like asks them to ride so hard with such crazy high numbers (of both speed and resistance) it makes me want to puke and I’m just listening. But that’s his jam! I mean, how awesome is it that we can both get what we want/ need from the same machine?? We have glowingly and accurately called it the best purchase of marriage. I mean, we like our house, but we love our Peloton 😉

What I’ve Been Up To…

March has been busy for us! We celebrated our 3rd wedding anniversary…

He surprised me at work at lunch and took me for a romantic lunch to Whataburger (and every Texan just said “amen!”!). Then, we cooked dinner together that night and had lobster tails, PW fancy mac and cheese, crab cakes, and Red Lobster biscuits. Spoiler alert– it was DELICIOUS. And we watched 8 Seconds in honor of Luke Perry’s passing (yes, it’s a terribly depressing movie). Nowhere have I ever said we are normal, haha!

Later that week, we left for a long weekend in Pawhuska! We wanted to take another look at the Lodge, because we are planning to model our future house we build in a few years after this, and wanted to get a good game plan. We ate tons of de-li-ci-ous food (Babe’s (Burleson, TX) and Eskimo Joe’s (Stillwater, OK) on the way there, P-Town Pizza, The Merc, The Merc bakery, The Merc again, and Pappasito’s (Ft. Worth) on the way home– nary a sub-amazing meal to be found!), and had so much fun!

And shout out to Steven’s parents for road tripping with us, helping us measure, and eating all the good food with us!

Steven’s been working his last rotation of wards the last two weeks so he’s been busy, and we are looking forward to wrapping that up this weekend!

And my parents got to visit last week and play! We have a picture of me with my dad’s parents when I was little wearing a Texas Rangers outfit they got for me. My mom and dad got Liv a Rangers outfit when she was born and it finally fits, so I made them reenact the picture with Liv for nostalgia 🙂

What I’m Dreading…

Perhaps allergy season? I love that the weather is getting warmer, but this is usually the time of year I get a little itchier, haha!

What I’ve Been Working On…

Can I say figuring out a way to freeze time?? AHHH! I love watching Livy grow and explore and get smarter and bigger every day, but I keep having moments that are just a kick in the gut at how fast she is growing. She is feeding herself and eats anything put in front of her, she is standing unassisted and walking assisted with her walker (so, like five minutes from walking on her own 🙁 ), and is starting to follow directions and mimic conversations. Her top two teeth have been making their way in the last week or so, and she’s starting to get enough hair to wear clip on bows instead of just headbands (and we attempted tiny piggy tails last weekend! I thought they were much funnier than she did 😉 ). Where did our tiny baby go?? We now have a tiny toddler!

What I’m Excited About…

Getting closer to warmer weather and being done with residency at the end of June! I am so excited for the change of pace and to watch Steven start fellowship because I know he will be amazing at it! (And I think he’s going to really enjoy it, too! 😉 )

What I’m Watching/ Reading…

Not a whole lot? I think Livy and I are going to hit Toddler Story Time at the public library on Thursday and I have a list of books I am planning to look at while we’re there. My goal is to watch less TV and read more since I’m basically not reading at all these days. I tend to have the TV on more for background noise when I’m here with Livy, and I’ve been running through re-runs of the old show Dharma & Greg on Hulu. It’s a good funny sitcom that doesn’t require a lot of dedicated attention. 😉

What I’m Listening To…

Current Fave Podcast Episodes:

–That Sounds Fun with Annie F. Downs

interview with Andrew East and Shawn Johnson East. This was part of Annie’s Couples’ Month and it was so good! They talk about keeping your marriage healthy and what it was like to have their path turn out completely different than they expected but how they saw the Lord work it out looking back. Highly recommend!
interview with Trey Kennedy. He is so funny! He gets a little deeper than I expected talking about life with social media (because he got his start on Vine, which was working one day and deleted the next), like posing the question- do you post your life on social media, or is your life your social media? If your social media accounts were deleted tomorrow, how would this change your life? So interesting!

— The Popcast- Episode 288, The Enneagram

I have just started getting into Enneagram stuff and I find it really interesting! According to the test I’ve taken a few times, I am a 2, and that seems pretty accurate! I’m not sure how I feel about my pop culture Enneagram mascot being Samwise Gamgee, but I guess it fits?

What I’m Wearing…

I bought some Fabletics leggings about a year ago [the Salar Powerform Solid Capris] and they are hands down my favorite pair of leggings. They are always the first pair I reach for because I feel like they have good compression, they are flattering, they have a little bit of a high waist without being too high, and they are thin and comfortable. My only gripe is the whole Fabletics membership/ ordering nonsense. I rarely ever (like over a year ago was the last time I ordered) order a monthly outfit, and have to always remind myself to skip the month on the auto membership each month so we don’t get charged. A sane person would just cancel it, but I hang on to it in just the off chance that there ends up being something I want. Well, they sent me an email last week about their semi-annual sale and I got sucked in. Now that we’ve been spinning every day, I’m running through work out clothes more often, and they are not all the same when I’m sweating bullets on that bike. After a little research, I found that my fave leggings were part of this sale and were marked down from $54.95/ each (gag!) to $19.95/ each (yes, that’s more like it!). And as any slightly less than sane person does, I ordered 3 pair. I mean, 3 pair for the price of one normally? Yes, please! So, you will now see me any and everywhere in those leggings. 🙂

As far as sizing, I would say they are fairly true to size. I’m typically a 2 in jeans and I comfortably wear an XS in these. Since they are labeled as capris, they don’t specify short/regular/long, but I will say at 5’4″, they come right to my ankle bone, which I actually really love! Most pant leggings are so long that I have to roll the ends up or under to get them short enough.

(Also, I am not a professional outfit selfie taker. I wore these yesterday, so I grabbed a few quick pics. I like them for working out, but I also paired them with a white tank, kimono, and my fave tan bootie wedges from Target for work. They are so versatile!)

What I’m Doing This Weekend…

Nothing in particular that I’m aware of. Steven is finishing up that last wards rotation so he works both days. Last weekend while he was working, I got a lot accomplished (laundry, housework, etc.), so that’s probably in the cards again this week!

What I’m Looking Forward To Next Month…

I don’t think we have any really big plans. Steven is actually off for Easter, so that should be fun! Our church as some big plans for the Sunday service and combining with another congregation in town, and we’re really looking forward to that. And maybe Livy will hunt some eggs this year!