A Night in Rodanthe

September 7th was our first wedding anniversary! We took a short little trip to the Outer Banks of North Carolina. We had an amazing night on the beach, but got rained out the next day. In short.. Wonderful weekend, wonderful year. I love my husband, I love my life!

Have a happy one :)

So much going on lately! Here's a little update on everything!
The job at Ruby Tuesday is going great! I am finally getting the hang of bartending. It's a lot of looking cute & being talkative. (& suggestive selling!) I'm still working at JC Penney Potraits & I love it. I love those cute little kids (well.... most of them)! I really do hope to do something with photography one day whether it be wedding photography, family photography, portraits, or a mixture of everything. Photos are so special to me, so I take it very seriously when I am photographing others. I love to capture one-of-a-kind moments and be able to share them with the family. It's amazing what a close connection you can have with people you barely know! Ok now that I sound like an infomercial... Moving on.

Sean is doing fantastic in his classes! He has a above 97% average I believe! One of the best in each of his classes! For those of you who don't know, he is going to school for Avionics and Electronics for the Kiowa. (In Megan terms... he's learning how to work on helicopters.) He graduates in early November, and is going out to Fort Huachuca, AZ to go to another course until March when we get stationed back at Fort Bragg for a few months. I will be going to live with Mom & Dad in Daytona for the time he is in Arizona. Ultimately we will be stationed at Eglin AFB in PENSACOLA, FLORIDA!!! (You are allowed to be jealous)

Umm.. what? You want to know how P90x is going? Well to put it simply, it's not. It's not realistic for me to work out every single day, and it's definitely not realistic for me to be sore every single day especially with two jobs! I have been doing a few work outs a week, but what I really needed was to join Weight Watchers again. I am on a mission to lose the weight I gained (20 pounds) after getting married! (Well.. technically I lost the weight before the wedding & I gained back what I had worked so hard to lose... So. Yeah.)

Speaking of getting married... Our ONE YEAR anniversary is coming up!! How insane is that?? It doesn't feel like it's been a whole year! Where does the time go? Our plans are to go to Nag's Head, North Carolina. If you have seen the movie Nights in Rodanthe, we are going to that same island the movie was filmed & based on! SOOO excited to get away & see the wild horses & relax on the beach for a few days!!

Well, it is definitely time for me to get some sleep before opening tomorrow! I'll leave you with some recent pictures & of course, some kind of project!

This is Bo, our curious, playful, LAZY & big boy of a kitten.

This is Dixie, the fuzziest, cutest, cuddliest little demon ever.

Chelsea recently came to visit me & we got some pictures taken!

Me & The Hubster before going on a date

This is a necklace I made. (If you want to buy one for $10 let me know & Ill make one for you! Just pick the color scheme! Or if you want one for the holidays, maybe I'll be nice & hook you up with one fo' freeee!)
Its super lightweight & because it has multiple fabrics, you can pair it with anything!

Alright y'all. You made it through the rambling.... Congrats! Have a happy night.

P90-OUCH!

Well yesterday was officially Day one of P90x & I am in painnn. Yesterday, my arms felt like jell-o, and today they feel like hundred pound weights. So yeah. Definitely intense. My reps were low, even though I pushed myself really hard- but I am confident that I will improve as the workouts continue. Along with the workouts, there is the nutrition guide. Sean and I won't be following that as closely, but we are definitely going to be eating a LOT better. Lots of fruits & veggies, lean protein (maybe I'll try fish again..?), & cutting back on carbs... making sure to eat small snacks between meals.. that kinda thing. They really stress the protein (protein shakes... protein powder...) I'm trying to use everything I've learned from Weight Watchers & use that too. Anyway I will be posting pictures eventually....

Have a HEALTHY day!! :)

Tissue Box Cuteness

I am learning how to sew & I am having SEWWWW much fun! (Lame pun, I know..) But really, I am. I have made three things today! I can't post two because they are gifts, but I will post this one I made for myself. It was so quick and easy & CUTE! I found it here a few days ago, & today when I was at Jo-Ann's I found the perfect fabric on sale. Anyway, here's a picture! I'll keep posting as my skills improve! Thanks Mom for the sewing machine! Have a happy JUNE!

French Toast Goodness

I am in love. (with french toast, that is...)

I recently came across the show Cook Yourself Thin. There are three hosts and every week there is another guest on the show who wants to lose weight. They hosts take three of the guest's favorite foods and give them a healthier alternative for each one... (As well as giving them a basket for a few weeks of weight loss tips and stuff.) I was excited to try their low fat & low calorie recipes like Stuffed Shells, Orange and Lemon Cake, Mediterranean Chicken, Roasted Peach Crisp & Stuffed French Toast Sundaes. This past weekend I was in Georgia, and my father-in-law made us some french toast with big hunks of white bread, 2% milk, sugar & oil (not to mention the butter and crazy sugary syrup). Don't get me wrong, it's great, but I decided to look into this french toast alternative.. which reminds me... I AM IN LOVE! So I am going to share the goodness with you!!

Start with spraying non-stick spray on a muffin pan:

Use whole wheat bread, and cut the crusts off the desired amount. Each piece of bread will make one French Toast Sundae. (The bread I use is full of nuts and oats & really adds a nice touch)

The recipe calls for (FAT FREE) milk, one egg, one egg white, honey and cinnamon. I added a little Splenda.. If you know my mom & I, you know we like things sweet!

Soak the bread in your egg mixture, like you do for regular french toast.

Next, place one piece of bread in each section of the muffin pan. It looks like it would be weird to fit in there, but it goes in really easy actually. Bake these babies on 375°for about 10-12 minutes. I like my food toastier so I let it sit in the oven on broil for a minute after the cooking time.

While the little guys are in the oven, get out your low fat ricotta!

The recipe calls for just stirring the ricotta until it's smooth, but I thought I would add a little honey to sweeten it up. (Good call too.. I really liked the difference it made.) I've never been a HUGE ricotta fan, so I was a little leery about using it, but I was soo surprised. It was GREAT!

This is what they look like out of the oven!

Each one gets a dollop of the ricotta. The original recipe calls for some raspberries and blackberries, but I didn't have any so I tested out the fruit I had. For one (the picture below) I used fresh strawberries, one I used fresh pineapple, and the last one I topped with some mango. How great does it look!?

Lastly, top with a little syrup. Again, the original recipe calls for pure maple syrup, but I used sugar-free syrup.

My mind is racing! There are sooo many ways to get creative with this recipe. I can totally get excited about raspberries and blackberries on top, but what I want to try next is topping them with banana slices, and using sugar-free caramel topping instead of syrup. YUM!!

Happy Thursday!
Meg

Lite Cookin..

So here's a little update from the Malmos! :) We recently found out we are moving to Virginia... Sean will be in AIT for 6 months. Who knows where we'll end up after that!

I've been cooking healthy lately... I'm trying to lose some of this newlywed weight by making much healthier recipes, or by renovating unhealthy ones!
Here are a few of my most recent:
These below are chicken egg rolls, an adapted version of this Hungry-Girl's recipe, along with some veggie and chicken stir fry with brown rice and some duck sauce. :)


This is our new patio furniture (we have had some amazing weather lately!) with some whole-wheat spaghetti and canned spaghetti sauce on the table... :) I made garlic bread by cutting up whole wheat english muffins, spraying them with spray butter and sprinkling with powdered garlic, and toasting until YUMMY!


This Valentine's day, we spent the night in. We made chicken cordon bleu, Guy Fieri's blackened green beans, and roasted red potatoes. Turned out so yummy and it was fun spending the night in instead of facing the Vday crowd!


Okay, okay.... So this isn't healthy (AT ALL!!!), but this is the cake I made for Sean's 21st birthday (which is today....) HAPPY BIRTHDAY BABY! I made the recipe as is, but I added peanut butter cups to the top, and to the inside layer. Mom has made this cake before a few times, and it was always a big hit and as much as Sean loves peanut butter... I thought I should give it a try! (PS... If I had to rename this cake it would be called "Death by Peanut Butter")
Yum.. a close up. :)

Everyone have a happy day!

Meg's Made With Mags Coasters

(So I got a little carried away with the alliteration...)

A few days ago, I found a picture of one of these cute little coasters on a website, (and I thought they would be cool addition to my collection of restaurant coasters) but there were hardly any instructions on how to make them! The past few weeks have been really slow at work.. So during the days I've been sitting alone in a very clean apartment with nothing left to do but... CRAFT! Darn! :) I decided to try them out, and document it in the process for others. Enjoy!

(Click to enlarge any of the photos)

All ya need is a magazine or two (you really only need one magazine to make quite a few coasters.... But using more than one will give you more of a color variety) and a pair of scissors.


Oh and some double stick tape helps :)

Carefully tear out a sheet from your magazine.
(The hunks are a plus but really not necessary.)
Fold it in half to get the center line, and cut into halves. Do the same to both halves.
You should end up with 4 strips per magazine page. And repeat!

Once you have a nice little stack of strips, start folding!
Take one strip and fold it in half. Then in thirds.
(Notice the cut edge is folded inside)

Now your folded strips need to be folded in half to make little "V"s.

What are you waiting for?? Start weaving!!
Lock the "V"s into each other. This will start off the coaster.

(I'm not even going to try to explain this with words.. Just watch.)

And repeat... And repeat... And repeat...........

The strips need to be pulled pretty tight. They like to slip on you, so that's where the double stick tape comes in. My friend Claudia was doing these with me and we decided what we really needed were some of these guys to hold the strips in place:

Unfortunately we didn't have any, so we settled for the tape and a bunch of complaining :)
If you don't keep them tight and straight, you'll end up with a funky crooked looking coaster!

Decide how big you want your coasters, I chose a 9x9 (strip) square.

Next, snip the excess length so you still have enough left to tuck them in.
You will need to alternate which side you tuck them in. See how I tucked the green strip down? the next one will tuck down into the other side of the coaster.

There you have it! Enjoy!

Have a happy week!
Megan