Baked Potato Salad

Yum-O!!! This is one of my favorite dishes ever!!! I hate normal potato salad. However, one day we had an admin lunch catered and they had cold BAKED potato salad. I thought that Heather and I were going to eat our weight in it! it was scrumptious! So, after dissecting the tastes, I have created my own. Basically it's everything in a loaded baked potato, but served cold and add some cream cheese. So here's how I made it:
This made at least enough for 4 servings.
I cubed 3 small yellow potatoes (they're the ones that naturally taste like they have butter on them) and boiled them like I would for mashed potatoes. Once they're done, drain them and let them cool a bit. (leave the skins on. adds color. And the red potatoes are really good in this too!)
The ingredients:
Cream cheese (I used reduced fat and only about 2 oz)
Reduced fat sour cream (about two TBSP)
1 tsp of light butter
1 Handful of shredded cheese blend (I had the Mexican blend on hand, but you could use whatever you like - get creative)
Chopped green onions - as little or as much as you like
Bacon (i omitted for this go round, but it's super yummy in there)

Mix it all together and let it sit in the fridge for about an hour. You want it good and cold. Then, the best part:
Eat Up!!!!

I felt good about this one because it has a ton of flavors and you can make a pretty healthy version. I think I'll try all the fat free versions next time. With the reduced fat, I couldn't tell a difference at all in the taste!
Here's Gracie. She was helping.

Happy Happy Friday!

Oh my goodness I am so excited that it is Friday!!!
There's one problem:
I'm sick with a sinus infection and just feel plain icky!
BUT, I am so super excited about doing nothing tomorrow!
I have school from 11-2, but after that, it's just me, the bed and a book.
A school book that it, but nevertheless, a bed is involved.
i'm sending Chris on a play date (haha) so I'll have peace and quiet.
Especially since we have no televisions.
I'm working on that though.
I never knew how awkward silence all the time really was. It's starting to annoy me now.
We've been living in silence for two whole weeks now! You kind of run out of things to talk about.
So now we just going to bed stupid early.
I'm 25! I should not be going to bed at 8:30!!! :)
Oh well, at least we have no excuses for not heading to the gym!
Happy weekend everyone! Enjoy!!!

50 Pound Challenge

Ok ok, let me clarify! As most of you know, Chris works on staff at a church. We're getting ready to kick off a Biggest Loser series and the winner gets a cruise for 2. Now, since Chris is on staff, he is not eligible for the cruise. However, Chris does have a lot of weight to lose. So the staff got together and made a bet, that if Chris could lose 50 pounds in the 2 month time frame, they would give him money towards a vacation. Well, I got to thinking, I know he could do this with the amount of weight he needs to lose. I also got to thinking....if we go on a vacation, I definitely do not even want to THINK about getting into a swimsuit with the way I look now. SO, it's a family affair! Even if I don't lose 50 pounds, some is better than none. So beginning Sunday, we are going to try and fit in 2 work outs a day and completely change our eating plan. See, pretty much all I eat is carbs. I like to think of myself as somewhat of a starchatarian. That's my own term. So I figure if I cut carbs, I could lose it easily. I mean, I'm basically a big ball of sugar (cause carbs turn to sugar). This will also help many of my health problems, especially my PCOS. That means I could possibly get pregnant without fertility drugs. The PCOS puts me at high risk for heart disease and diabetes AND considering my dad had his first heart attack at 35, has diabetes, and my mom died of a heart attack, my days are numbered. The odds are not in my favor. Basically I'm sick of struggling with my weight. It has been a life long fight and I'm about to win!!!
So bring it on! I know it's going to be hard. I know I'll probably be crabby. But the end result will be a much better me. We're not stopping at 50 pounds though. I'm kind of thinking of the next two months as a jump start on our lives. I would love to be a runner some day. I would love to run a marathon. I would love for Chris and I to hike and do all that cool outdoorsy stuff. The time has come to make a change. I've realized that complaining about my weight does not help me lose it! :)
So any encouragement you could offer would be absolutely amazing!

Definitely Wednesday

Oh my goodness. I can't believe it's only Wednesday. Then, I'm like, it's definitely Wednesday. What a crappy day!!! Do you ever have those days that just completely wipe you out? Today drained me soooooo much! What doesn't kill you makes you stronger right?

On to more exciting news. We are 3 days from our biggest task yet: Drop 50 pounds in 2 months!!! Oh yes, starting March 1st, we are on the 50 pound challenge! We lose 50 pounds in 60 days and we get a vacation! That's motivation right? I'm exited and nervous! Should be fun!

Wish us luck!

This Is...

Ok everyone! I have joined the fabulous game of This Is. One of the blogs I follow, Carina,does this every Tuesday and she posts a topic and asks everyone to blog about it. This week's "This Is" is This is my favorite person. So, here it goes.
This one was hard for me. I went back and forth trying to decide. First I thought of Jesus, my savior. Then I thought of my mom, then my grandaddy. But, I decided to go with someone that I am able to interact with now. So then I went back and forth on friends and whatnot.
The deciding factor:
Who do I love being around more than anyone else. This is going to be cheesy....
But I decided it was my hubby, Chris. He is my favorite person.
See the truth is, I am very hard to live with.
In fact, I can be downright super mean A LOT! I tend to take everything out on him.
But Chris, being who he is, just lets me get it all out and then we have a nice time together.
I've never experienced unconditional love from someone other than a family member.
I truly know that no matter what, he will always love me.
Chris is my favorite person because:
1. He loves Jesus so so much.
2. He accepts me and all my ridiculous shortcomings, craziness, and mood swings. :)
3. He has a heart for people that are hurting
4. He ALWAYS makes me laugh hysterically
5. He's a ton of fun

We have been together almost five years, and that has been some of the hardest times of my life. I don't know what I would have done if he wasn't the one holding me when I found my mom dead. Or when my grandaddy died a year later.
You see, he is my strength.
And a lot of times I don't express very well just how much he means to me.
But I don't know how to accurately express the world.

So to go along with Chris and I getting "cultured", we went to the opening weekend of Madea Goes to Jail. Can I just say it was absolutely hysterical! i just might have to buy this one when it comes out. Soooo funny. Chris and I laughed so hard...I actually had a headache after the movie for laughing for 2 hours!

And as promised, here are a few pics from our not so unpacked apartment:




We absolutely love our new apartment! There is SO much work to be done though. It's completely bare. BUT, it's a blank canvas, so this should be fun!
The problem:
As we speak, we are waiting for maintenance to come dry our flooded bedroom carpet. Why you ask? Well for 2 days we've heard the neighbors upstairs moving. Well, the idiots moved their washer and left the water dripping!!! What? Who does that? So now, the wall in our laundry room and bathroom AND the carpet in our bedroom. I don't know about you, but that's what I call fun!
Happy soon to be Monday!

Yumm-o!

So last night was another scrumptious dinner. I had forgotten how creative I get in the kitchen! We had pan seared chicken with 5 cheese tortellini. Yumm-o! This is a great recipe (that I made up in my head) and I just had to share. Sorry there are not any pictures of it.

Chicken:
Cut into bite size pieces and mix with brown mustard (just enough to lightly coat the chicken). For the seasoning I crushed about a cup of croutons, pressed 2 cloves of garlic, salt, pepper, parsley, a dash of oregano and a little bit of parmesan cheese. I mixed it all together and then cooked the chicken in a pan sprayed with Olive Oil spray and cooked until done.

Tortellini:
Follow directions on pack. I got the tri-colored. It was just prettier.

I heated up a little Prego spaghetti sauce and made some home made Alfredo sauce, then mixed them together. Scrumptious I say!

Alfredo:
¼ cup of butter (I used low fat)
1 cup of cream (I used reduced fat milk)
¼ cup fresh parsley
1 pressed garlic clove
1 ½ cup grated parmesan cheese

Melt butter in saucepan. Then stir in milk and let simmer for 5 minutes. Add garlic and cheese and whisk together until everything is melted and heated thru. Stir in parsley last. I mix it with the red sauce to add a little oomph!

Now for dessert: I took Cool Whip Free and mixed a little in with 2 of the 60 calorie, sugar free chocolate pudding cups. It made a nice mousse. And it was quite tasty too! How easy!

You should try. This could be Chris’s favorite meal invention of mine! I can’t wait to have the left-overs for lunch!

Home Sweet Home

Ahhhhhhhh.
We are home.
Finally.

As usual, some sort of kink would be thrown into our plan. Yes, we had no help. So it was quite a site to see me and Chris moving all of our crap by ourselves! I thought I got rid of it all!!!
I guess not.
Now the fun part.....unpacking! Yippee!.
Not really. That's my least favorite part.

I promise I will post some "before" pictures soon. It's been a little crazy.
Then I can post "after" pictures once we paint and get everything settled. Fair warning, that may be a while!

I don't know how we'll ever get unpacked. I don't get home until around 8:30 every night, so I guess one box at a time. Tonight I unpacked a portion of the bathroom.

Oh exciting news! One of my favorite things about being here is being able to experiment in the kitchen. Now normally, I hate all things green. I despise veggies. Well tonight I got creative with green beans (my least favorite veggie). It was WONDERFUL!!!! I need to tell everyone right now:
I ATE VEGGIES FOR DINNER!!!!!!
This is HUGE!!!
I made teriyaki chicken, fried rice (actually I made it quite healthy), and steamed green beans tossed in sautéed garlic.
Yes it was beautiful! My mom would be so proud! :)
So, we've definitely got a new dish.
HAPPY MONDAY!!!

Happy Times

Ok I know my last few blogs have been quite depressing. Sorry about that - just going through a little funk I guess. So, I've decided to write about something happier.
What could that be you ask?
MOVING TIME!!!!!!!!!!
This is the most exciting thing to happen in a long time.
Now, normally I HATE moving.
This time, not so much. I'm loving the idea.
We're finally having a space of our own again!!!!

Now don't get me wrong. I am so extremely thankful to my in-laws for letting us stay with them the last 6 months. It was truly a life saver.
However, it is very difficult for two families to live together.
More than anything, I'm excited for my kitty cats.
They will finally have free reign of our new apartment. They need some exercise too.

So, I'm working a half day today, and then off the rest of the week.
Move in day is Friday.
Yippee!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'll post some pics of the new place this weekend and keep you updated as we make improvements.
You know what the best part is?
I have a blank canvas of apartment space for decorating and getting crafty!!!
You have NO idea how happy that makes me.

Oh and here are a few more things that make me tear up with joy:
Using Tide laundry detergent
Using Quilted Northern toilet paper
GROCERIES!!!!
COOKING!!!!

Oh my goodness, I have to stop myself. This is ridiculous to be this excited over toilet paper!

Reality Check

Every once in a while, something happens that will shake you up. That something will make you realize that each breath we take is truly a gift. I've been following the Whatever blog (on my blog list) for several months, and a few days ago her blog was asking for prayers for her friends and their baby Cora who was just diagnosed with cancer. This story truly touched me. So, I've been following their progress...and sadly, Cora died this past weekend. Can I tell you how upset this made me? I have never had any type of communication with this family in Kansas, but yet I was crying like it was my baby!!! I just couldn't imagine that.
But, it makes you think.
How many things every day do we take for granted?
When my mom passed away unexpectedly, I never would have dreamt that the night before would be the last time I told her I loved her.
You just NEVER know what's ahead.

So, today, I encourage you to really take a look around you and realize that we're not promised tomorrow.
Cherish the people in your life.
Love a little more.

We have been cultured...

So for the last couple of months, Chris and I have been talking about all the things we want to do in Georgia to become a little more exposed to the arts and various things our state has to offer. Interestingly enough, I got free tickets to the Atlanta Ballets' Dracula last night.
So we went.
And....it was....umm.......let's say interesting.
This was our first ballet. Quite comical actually. We were all dressed up!

The first act. Very intense. At the end of it we just looked at each other because we had NO idea what was going on.
All we gathered was that there were some women dancing very "naughty" over the man, and then Dracula danced a little naughty with him too! Wow!!!
I was freaking out. I thought, maybe we should go research the story of Dracula when we get home and maybe we'll get it.
Apparently, that's what the program is for.
It gave a synopsis of each act.
Much better.

Hated act 2.

The end was pretty interesting. Definitely a long ballet. Almost 3 hours!
We were not prepared for that.

In the end, I'm glad we did something different.
I can check something off my list.
Chris...well he'll probably never go to another ballet again.
The Nutcracker is still on my list though.

Worthy

So, today, at this very moment, I am having a full on emotional breakdown. I have decided that family causes more stress than it's worth. This brings me to another point....I don't know how to handle stress. So, what do I do? Cry and EAT. Luckily for me, there is no food in sight at the moment. You see, according to some, Chris and I haven't "come into our own" and "we have nothing to show for our life." Now that is just plain mean! Considering we have lived through pure hell for the last four years and we're still living and married, I think that's pretty darn good. I think that is something to show - that we are dedicated to each other and determined to see things through. It's these times that I miss my mom the absolute most.
i need her advice.
i need her hugs.
i need her.

Why would you say that to someone? Poor Chris. He just needed some advice on how to handle a difficult time in his life and that's what he gets.

All of the drama going on right now makes me realize how "not" ok I am with the people in my life. I'm not ok that my mom is dead. I'm not ok that my dad missed the first 19 years of my life. I'm not ok that sometimes Chris's family acts like he doesn't exist and that his feelings don't matter. I'm not ok that we can't talk to our family members and not be judged. I'm not ok that we have won the title of "failures" and that is something that we can never overcome with certain family members.

At the same time there are good things.
Chris has his dream job working at a church full time.
We are finally moving out on Friday.

It's super hard to come to the realization that the only person we have to lean on and confide in is Jesus.
It's humbling.
It's hard not having someone physically hug you and tell you that it's going to be ok.
It's just hard.

But thank you Jesus that You help us through.
Thank you for never condemning us for our shortcomings.
Thank you for loving me NO matter what.
Thank you for letting me lean on you.
It is in these times that I can appreciate God as the father.
It is these times that God loves me as only a father can.

Who You Could be in 2009!

Sorry. I couldn't resist...

1. YOUR REAL NAME:
Lauren Anne Thomas

2. YOUR GANGSTA NAME: (first 3 letters of real name plus -izzle)
Latizzle

3. YOUR DETECTIVE NAME: (favorite color and favorite animal):
Green Kitty

4. YOUR SOAP OPERA NAME: (your middle name and street you live on/or neighborhood if it's a number)
Anne Forrest Highlands

5. YOUR STAR WARS NAME: (the first 3 letters of your last name, first 2 Letter of your first name):
Thola

6. YOUR SUPERHERO/CRIMINAL NAME: (Your 2nd favorite color, and favorite drink):
Pink Water

7. YOUR IRAQI NAME: (2nd letter of your first name, 3rd letter of your Last name, 1st letter of your last name, 2nd letter of your moms maiden Name, 3rd letter of your dads name, 1st letter of a siblings first name,
And last letter of your moms first name):

AOTAMSA

8. YOUR WITNESS PROTECTION NAME: (parents' middle names):

Jean Robert

9. YOUR GOTH NAME: (black, and the name of one of your pets):

Black Gracie

10. Your ghetto girl name:(first 3 letters of your first name and add -iqua):

Lauiqua

A Few Pics from Church

Chris and I just love our new church! Chris is on staff full time at Life Point Church in Smyrna as the youth pastor and creative arts pastor. It truly is a blessing, because it's what he's always wanted to do. The people there are amazing! It's probably the most amazing thing I've ever been a part of. You hear about churches that want to be real. Life Point is different because it really is. It's real, relational and relevant. We're starting a revolution of what church should be. Reaching people where they are and letting God take care of the transformation. It truly is awesome and I am honored that God is allowing us to be a part of it. Watch out Smyrna, GA. Watch out GA. Watch out World! A REVOLUTION is coming.