30 Day Fitness Challege

March and April were CRAZY months for us. Between Matt getting a new job, selling our house, finding a place to live and moving to TN, Matt starting his job, me learning to work from home and traveling, and then the icing on the cake, our wonderful trip to California, we have gotten "jiggly." Hence the 30 Day Fitness Challenge right in time for bathing suit season!

 

We started the workout/diet frenzy last Monday, May 13th. To lose the jiggles, I started going to Barre 3 (a studio here that combines ballet, pilates and yoga) and Matt joined the YMCA. In addition, we try to run at least 4 days a week and eat healthy.

 

I am in LOVE with Barre 3! Since I am working part time, I actually have time to go. I pretty much go to the 8:45 class M-F and try to go once on the weekends. This is such a treat for me.

 

We are also eating healthy. We pretty much eliminated carbs from our dinner and are trying to cut out the post dinner, sitting on the couch snack- you know what I am talking about...

 

I found these "skinny rules" on another blog and thought they were right on! I am going to try to incorporate these into this challenge (with the exception of one meatless day- we love meat!)

 

 

I can already tell a difference and am looking forward to taking new measurements on June 14th!

 

xoxo

Fran

Weekend Recap!

This weekend was fabulous! We finally feel somewhat "settled" in our condo and got to enjoy Knoxville this weekend!

 

Friday was great! I got to swing by Matt's new office and take his diplomas and pictures to decorate his office. I got to meet everyone who works in the business office (about 20 people). They were all so nice and love Matt (no surprise there!). They were so happy I was there decorating their office - it meant he wasn't leaving!  That night we got to check out Crown and Goose- a British restaurant with amazing fish and chips. We have so many places we want to try.  

 

 

Saturday morning was the best part by far- it was the International Biscuit Festival! We got to sample 5 biscuits and had to choose those 5 from all the vendors. It was a tough choice but we ended up going with the shortest lines. I think that our favorites were the Plaid Apron, Southern Living (I got to meet the director of the test kitchen- my dream job!) and then the bananas foster biscuit. MY ABSOLUTE FAVORITE part was the band siging biscuit themed songs. Matt's parents and brother came up for the festival and then came back to our condo. Matt's dad helped us hang our new pendant light. Doesn't it look great?!

 

Matt and I at the biscuit festival

 

 

 

Our new light! I wish I had before pictures.

 

 

 

Saturday night was a first for Matt and I- we saw our first movie together- The Great Gatsby! It was great! But still... it was hard to sit through...we just aren't good at sitting still...hence why we don't go to movies!

 

Sunday was so relaxing! We woke up and ran the Boulevard through Sequoyah Hills. This is where Matt and I want to live someday. It is a beautiful neighborhood right on the  Tennessee River. Our favorite part is that the main road, Cherokee Boulevard, has a tree lined median with a running path down the center. I have to say, the hills in Tennessee are killer! We weren't use to that in Charlotte!

 

We are on Day 8 of the 30 day Challenge! We are doing really good!

 

 

Recipes: Quick, Easy and Delicious Pork Tenderloin

One of the things we miss the most about our house in Charlotte is our grill. We probably used it 4 times a week. It was just so easy to grill chicken - or anything for that matter- and it was always delish! We love living in this condo in downtown, but we miss the convenience of the grill for sure.

 

Pork tenderloin was on sale at Krogers this week so we got one... then I realized how am I suppose to cook this since we would normally grill it (sliced and wrapped in bacon of course :) )... I immediately turned to google and found this recipe on food.com and was kinda skeptical... but it worked and was AMAZING! Even if we had a grill, I would cook it this way from now on.

 

Here is how you do it:

1. Rub your pork tenderloin with a dry rub and a little bit of olive oil. I used Longs Peak Pork Chop spice from Savory Spice Shop (another little gem in Charlotte that I will miss). You can order it online here: http://www.savoryspiceshop.com/blends/longs.html

 

2. I let my tenderloin rest for about an hour- let that rub soak in! I put mine in a glass Pyrex dish as I read in the recipe comments that metal pans can get damaged during the cooking process.

 

3. Preheat your oven to 500 or 550 (however high your oven will go).

 

4. Cook your pork tenderloin for exactly 5.5 minutes per pound and use the weight on the label from the pork. For example, our tenderloin was 3.66 pounds, so I cooked it for 20.5 minutes (I rounded up).

 

5. Turn off the oven and let the tenderloin sit in the oven for 60 minutes. DO NOT OPEN THE DOOR.

 

6. I pulled ours out of the oven, covered it with tin foil and let it rest.

 

7. Slice and serve!

 

Y'all, it was AMAZING! It wasn't dry, the flavor great, I really have no complaints. The best part is that you can pretty much forget about it- just set a kitchen timer.

 

Enjoy! Here is a link to the recipe that I found on food.com:

http://www.food.com/recipe/perfect-pork-tenderloin-63828

 

On a side note, can I tell you how fabulous Kroger is? It is sooo much cheaper than Harris Teeter (the Charlotte chain)! The biggest thing I get a kick out of is cilantro. To buy cilantro at HT it is $2.79. At Kroger, it is $0.79! That is just one example. Oh and avocados- $1. If you can't tell, we eat a lot of guacamole! haha!

 

Have a great Thursday!

xoxo

Fran

 

 

 

 

 

 

California: Sausalito, Sonoma and San Francisco

Our last three days in California were spent in Sausalito, Sonoma and San Francisco. We left Pebble Beach on Wednesday afternoon and headed to Sausalito. Sausalito is a little town just across the Golden Gate Bridge from San Francisco. It was so cute! We stayed at Casa Madrona which was right on the main road and had a view of the bay.

 

The entrance to our hotel- Matt really wants to have a room in our house look like this.

 

The view from our hotel room:

 

A view of San Francisco from Sausalito:

 

 

 

That night we enjoyed walking around Sausalito (all the stores close at 6) and grabbed some sushi for dinner. The best part of our time in Sausalito was Thursday morning. We woke up and ran the Golden Gate Bridge (about 3.5 miles). It was so much fun and such a great thing to do. Afterwards, we went back to the hotel and relaxed in the steam room at the spa. Then we headed up to Sonoma for the afternoon (about a 45 min drive).

 

A view of the Golden Gate Bridge from the vista where we parked our car and started our run:

 

After we finished running!

 

 

We weren't quite sure what we wanted to do in Sonoma besides go to one winery. The 36 Hour book highly recommended going to downtown Sonoma and walking around the square- so that is what we did! We had a great lunch at Sunflower Cafe. They had a great outdoor shaded patio which was nice because it was hot! We walked around downtown and went in lots of little shops. We asked one of the shop owners what winery we should go to and she recommended Sebastiani, which was a 5 minute drive away. We went there, each did a tasting series and ended up buying a bottle of Chardonnay. I am not a big Chardonnay fan, but it was great! We figured we could drink it over the next two nights in San Francisco...and that is exactly what we did! After the winery, we headed south to San Francisco!

 

Lunch on the patio at Sunflower Cafe.

 

Matt taking a post lunch "sit" in the square after lunch

 

Smelling the roses..haha

 

 

 

 

 

 

We got to San Francisco around 4:00 and had to return our rental car to the airport...bye bye Spyder! We weren't sad to see it go! We checked into our hotel in Union Square. It was a great location! We put our wine on ice and headed out to dinner at 6. We went to a great place for happy hour (it was highly recommended on yelp) and then headed home to have a glass of wine. We were exhausted!

Thursday morning we experienced the cable cars. They were pretty neat! We had fun riding them. Matt and I got a great spot, hanging on to the outside pole seeing everything! We went to fisherman's wharf first and walked around. It was pretty touristy...reminded us of Myrtle Beach or Pigeon Forge with the trinket stores and such. It really wasn't our scene- we like smaller places. We went to Ghirardelli Square and hiked up to see Lombard Street (the crazy street that loops back and forth). After a quick lunch at In and Out Burger (you have to try it right?), we headed to the pier to catch a boat to Alcatraz. Alcatraz was awesome and kinda crazy! They have a free headset tour thing that was really helpful. The best part of the day by far was dinner! We had the BEST sushi (recommended by yelp!). It was a great day!

 

 

 

 

 

Us on the cable car!

 

 

Lombard Street

Alcatraz- San Fran in the background

 

 

When we woke up on Friday, we were EXHAUSTED! We were so lazy! We checked out (we flew the red eye home that night) and headed to lunch at Boudin Bakery for a real sour dough sandwich. YUMMY! Then we pretty much spent the day shopping in Union Square. Matt got a new wallet from Cole Haan that is orange leather on the inside..had to buy it! 

 

Friday night we had dinner with Abby and Eric. Matt went to grad school with Abby. So here is the funny thing... Abby and Eric got married the first weekend of our trip in Mississippi. We couldn't go to their wedding since we had planned this trip to Cali. Ironically, they honeymooned in Napa and were spending their last weekend in San Francisco...so we had dinner with the newlyweds! It was great!!! We went to Woodhouse Fish Company (yelp said it had the best lobster roll). The lobster roll was amazing but the clam chowder and lobster bisque were the best! This restaurant was in Lower Pacific Heights, which is such a cute area. Matt and I wished we had spent more time there. The main street had such cute shops and restaurants. Then we headed to the airport to come home.

 

Our trip to California was AMAZING! I am so glad that we went and that we drove from San Diego to San Francisco. Our favorite places were the small towns we visited along the way. I think small towns are more our scene than big cities-no suprise there. I highly recommend this trip! Next trip- Gulf Shores with Matt's family for the 4th of July!!  I have to say, we are really excited to stay home for awhile and enjoy Knoxville!

 

xoxo

Fran

 

 

 

California Vacation- Big Sur, Carmel by the Sea and Pebble Beach

Our absoulute favorite part of our California trip was our time driving through Big Sur, spending two nights at Carmel by the Sea and enjoying the 17 mile drive and lunch at Pebble Beach before we headed to Sausalito. I am so excited to share this part!!

 

After shopping in Montecito, we headed out on the PCH to Carmel by the Sea. It was about a 4 hour drive. Our drive took us through rural California and ended taking us through Big Sur. It was incredible. First of all, when we left Montecito, it was like we were driving through prairie land..seriously! Sometimes we had the ocean on one side of us and farm land on the other. We passed wineries (we overheard at dinner that the wineries outside Santa Barbara are great!), avacado farms, artichoke farms, all kinds of things. Matt and I were so surprised- we just were't expecting this. We were thinking it would be like the east coast- beach town after beach town after beach town. Not the case at all! About half way to Carmel, we passed the Hurst Castle but didn't go in. I did get Matt to pull over and take some pictures though! Then we started the drive through Big Sur. It was so beautiful! There was no beach- it was all a rocky a coast. Driving through Big Sur was like driving through the mountains here. Matt loved it even though I know he was secretly wishing we had a Porsche and and not an Eclipse Spyder (see the pic of our beloved spyder below)! We did see lots of sports cars driving the PCH through Big Sur. They were having a blast. There were these neat vista points along the drive where we could pull off and take pictures. Here are a couple of pictures of our drive through Big Sur:

 

 Matt driving along the PCH!

  

 

We pulled off along one of vistas along the PCH when we were driving though Big Sur...these are some of the pictures.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The sypder! It was little bigger than this picture makes it look...but it was tiny!

 

 

Once we got to Carmel, we checked into our hotel, The Cypress Inn, which is co-owned by Doris Day. The 36 Hour book highly recommended it and they were right! It was totally worth it. When we checked in, we told them that we were celebrating and they upgraded us to a king suite with a patio-which was AWESOME! We had a patio right outside our door. Then to make it even better, they brought us a bottle of champagne!

 

 

 Since we checked in around 6, we unpacked and headed straight to dinner. We asked the concierge if Mission Ranch (Clint Eastwood's restaurant) was worth it and he said definitely! (We heard about Mission Ranch from the 36 hour book). We got there and had to wait about 20 minutes but had a great glass of California wine while we waited. We got a fabulous table outside on the patio (which had heaters!) and were able to watch the sun set while we ate. Matt got the prime rib (what they are known for) and I got an iceberg wedge. It was delicious! I got to wear my new jacket from Montecito tonight too.

 

Pre dinner photo!

 

 

The view from our table

 

 

Aren't the sheep cute!

 

 

 

my new jacket :)

 

 

 

On Monday morning, we woke up and headed straight for the beach! It was about a 10 minute walk from our hotel. Just FYI- California was having unseasonably high temperatures. It was generally in the 80's during the day and 50's at night. We definitely didn't mind the heat wave given that the east coast has been oddly cold! The beach was beautiful! Unbelievable! We were also surprised to see Pebble Beach Golf Course right there. Matt loved it! We hiked up the rocks and set foot on the course. It was stunning.

 

 

 

 

 

After the beach, we walked around Carmel by the Sea and went in lots of cute little shops. We ate lunch at a little Italian place called Casanova that was highly recommended by both our book and the concierge. Matt got pasta and I got an arugula salad with strawberries. Delish! 

 

 

 

 

 

After lunch, we headed home and took a much needed nap! (I mentioned the heat wave above- well our hotel isn't known for the best air conditioned rooms given that the average high is in the low 70's). After our nap, we thought we would go see the Carmel Mission. We headed that way, but it was closed for repair (bummer!).

 

 

We walked back and got ready for dinner. Before dinner, we enjoyed our free champagne on our patio. It was so much fun! The Cypress Inn also has sherry in all the rooms. We tried it but definitely wasn't for us...we stuck with the champagne! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After our cocktails, we headed to dinner which was at this little Greek place down the road (recommended by the book!). It was great!

 

 

 

 This is the courtyard outside our hotel room:

 

On Tuesday morning, we woke up and set out of the 17 mile drive. We started the 17 mile drive at the Montereay gate, which was about 15 minutes away. It also allowed us to see Monterey. We didn't like the touristy part but we loved the park and vista. Matt and I got out and played on the rocks...of course I turned it into a photo shoot!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

These pink flowers were in bloom in Monterey...beautiful!

 

 

The 17 mile drive was neat but it was a foggy morning. We went though several golf courses, got to see Pebble Beach golf course, and the lone cypress tree. This cypress tree has been living on this rock for 250 years! If it looks familiar, it is because it is the logo for Pebble Beach!

 

 

 

We got off the 17 mile drive in Carmel, and went to our hotel to change and check out. Then we headed back to Pebble Beach for lunch. Our hotel had a made us a reservation when we checked in. It was great!  Matt loved it! The course was beautiful! Before lunch we were able to watch some golfers tee off and we did a little shopping. Matt got a great pull over! For lunch, we were able to sit on the patio of the clubhouse overlooking the 18th hole. The food wasn't amazing but it didn't matter! I had a tuna nicoise salad and Matt had a burger.

 Matt watching the golfers tee off from the first hole

 

View from inside the clubhouse!

View from our table: 

 

 

I am pretty sure this is the only time Matt asked me to take his picture!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My salad.

 

 

 

 

Looking back at the clubhouse

 

 

18th hole

 

 

After Pebble Beach, we headed to Sausalito! I'll tell you all about Sausalito, Sonoma and San Francisco tomorrow!

 PS- today is day 2 of the 30 day fitness challenge! Headed to barre class at 12:15!

xoxo

Fran