Weekend, Workouts, and Date night

It's been a while since I've given you an update, so here it goes--all in one post!

On Saturday afternoon Brad and I took a hot yoga class at Lehigh Valley Yoga. This was my first attempt at hot yoga, and it was definitely quite the workout! They are having a special on hot yoga class on on Saturdays and Sundays at noon, so if you're in the Lehigh Valley area, check it out.

My mom and dad arrived on Saturday afternoon, and we spent some time catching up (and watching our wedding video) before heading to Paolo's in Northampton for dinner. All of our meals were delicious, and Paolo's serves some of the biggest portions that I've ever seen! I ate my entree for dinner on Saturday, Brad and I shared some leftovers for dinner on Monday, and I finished it off for lunch on Tuesday. I got four meals out of one entree! If you see my mom and dad, ask them how their leftovers were ;).

On our way home we made a stop at Premise Maid for dessert. Check out these photos:

Yes, those are the Blues Brothers.

Sunday included church, Fuse, a trip to the grocery store and a stop at the gym. Monday was a crazy kind of day, which included a Zumba class for me. We were able to get in a crazy leg workout on Tuesday, and I can still feel the results of walking lunges--they were killer!

Since workout Wednesday technically happened on Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday, we choose Wednesday night as date night. We've decided to take turns planning date night, and this week was my turn. We started with a picnic in the living room (OK, so we really just ate dinner on the floor, but it was fun), followed by some Wii Jeopardy (because we're really that cool).

Today also included a surprise lunch date at Wegman's before coming home to get some more work done. We've both got a few things to do before a quick workout and an evening with friends.

Until next time,
-Nikki

Friday Date Night

Since Brad and I both spent part of last week traveling, we needed to spend a couple of evenings this past week catching up. We decided to make Friday night out "official" date night, but we were luck to be able to spend quality time together on Wednesday (after Brad got home) and Thursday.

We spent late Friday afternoon in a park near the house, and I was able to play with my new camera. We enjoyed the spring-like temperatures in March and got some photos of the flowers blooming.

 

After our walk we headed to Paese Mio for dinner, where we ran into our friends Andy and Andrea. We headed home to enjoy an episode of Jeopardy and and episode of Psych before calling it a night. After all, we had an exciting weekend to look forward to! More on that tomorrow.

Until then,
-Nikki 

Trip to Nashville

Brad was very lucky to be able to have the chance to attend a conference in Orlando for most of this past week. Since he was going to be away, I figured that this was the perfect opportunity to head on down to Nashville to visit the Cain Family.

After a very early trip to the airport on Saturday morning (thanks, Brad!) I landed in Nashville just after 9:00 a.m. Kathy picked me up at the airport, and we were off! We headed back to the house, where this little cutie was waiting:

We made plans for the afternoon that included lunch and a trip to the playground (and later, a nap):

Saturday night was girl's night, and Kathy and I headed to a local winery with some of her friends. The girls did a fabulous job packing a delicious dinner, and we enjoyed food, wine, and great conversation.

Sunday included a trip to church, followed by my first ever visit to Costco. We had lunch at the house (Lydia was asking for capers, so we had chicken with a caper cream sauce. It was fantastic!). While Lydia napped, Kathy and I headed out to do some shopping. The goal: a hat and sunglasses for Lydia.

 Success? I think so!

Sunday evening included dinner and a trip to Menchies (if you live near one of these, I'm jealous). We finished up the evening with a movie before heading to bed.

Monday morning included a trip to the Nashville Zoo. You have to check out these pictures!

I had an absolutely phenomenal time with the Cain Family (although right now I am realizing that I don't have any pictures of Jeff--sorry Jeff!). We had the chance to catch up and spend quality time together. Lydia is one of the smartest children I have ever met (seriously, she's brilliant!). She can speak very well for only being almost two years old--Lydia was asking her mom for quinoa, and knows that the man on TV who does the weather is a meteorologist. She can spell her name, recognize letter, and count in Spanish. Can you tell that I'm a proud aunt? :)

I'll fill you in on the rest of the week later!

Blessings,
-Nikki

MIA

I haven't posted for quite a while. It's (mainly) because I was lucky enough to spend the weekend in Nashville lovin' on this little cutie:

More to come soon!

Workout Wednesday Date Night Extravaganza!

Yesterday turned out to be a combination of Workout Wednesday and our weekly date night. We started in the gym with this workout:

After our workout, we decided to take a walk through the local park since it was such a nice day. Seventy degrees in March? I'll take it!

After our walk we headed back to the apartment for dinner (stir-fry with chicken, peppers, broccoli, and mango--yum!). Our next stop was to Hava Java, a cute little coffee shop in Allentown.

The ceiling, lined with coffee cups

The view from our table

We munched on  some delicious snacks and hot chocolate while we worked on the book that you saw in a previous post. 

Mint Chocolate Chip Brownie

Hot Chocolate

Just in case you forgot, this is the book that we've been working on: 

We finished up the night with an episode of Modern Family. What a great day!

Blessings,
-Nikki 

Weekend Festivities

Hi again!

You already heard about what we did on Friday, but here is what the rest of our weekend looked like. Saturday started a bit earlier than normal (at least, for me). I had to work at a special event for most of the day, so we headed out shortly before 8:00 a.m. Brad dropped me off at the event, and was lucky enough to have breakfast with this little lady:

After breakfast Brad joined me at the event and helped out until it was time to clean up and head home. We managed to squeeze in a little nap before heading to Philadelphia for the evening.

Of course, we can't make a trip to Philly without stopping at Trader Joe's, so that's where we headed first. After we stocked up on goodies, we headed to the main event and our reason for the trip: Tieg's surprise 30th birthday party.

You may remember Tieg from our June wedding

We were thrilled when Tieg's boyfriend, Lenny (he's to the right of Tieg in the above photo) invited us to join in her surprise birthday celebration at Giorgio on Pine. We had a great time catching up with old friends (Poo'triever, anyone?) and meeting some new friends. The food was fantastic--since there were about 40 of us, we were serviced a price-fixed menu. We had plenty of appetizers, a pasta dish, our choice of entree, and delicious dessert. The best part of the evening--seeing Tieg's surprised face as she entered the room!

We headed back to the Lehigh Valley after our late dinner. If you know us, you know that we're not used to staying out late. Coupled with the time change on this weekend, we were pretty wiped out on Sunday. After church, we were lucky enough to spend a few hours with this little lady: 

Isn't Charlotte adorable? Her mom and dad were house-hunting, so we hung out for a little while. It was lots of fun!

We spent the rest of the day on Sunday getting ready for the week, napping (yes, again), and eating a delicious homemade dinner. 

What did you do this weekend?

Friday Night Date Night

This week, Brad and I had our date night on Friday night. After a quick trip to Wegman's, a delicious homemade pizza dinner, and a cutthroat game of Jeopardy (yeah, we're that cool), we headed to Premise Maid for dessert. You may remember Premise Maid from this date; this wonderful little shop is close to our house and delicious, so it's an easy go-to date night. We also wanted to keep it pretty low-key since I had to work almost all day on Saturday and we had a wild night planned for Saturday night. More on that soon!

It's been a busy weekend, I'll be sure to fill you in soon. Right now, I'm off to plan myself on the couch. See ya soon!

-Nikkki

Watch this

Take the time to watch this video and learn about Kony 2012. Let's make a change.

Workout Wednesday

Yesterday was again workout Wednesday! The plan from bodybuilding.com called for a leg day, so that's just what we did.

Those walking lunges were tough! We're still going strong, and are about to head off of the gym in just a few minutes. See ya soon with an update of our date night this week!

Blessings,
-Nikki

Weekend Date Night

Last week was absolutely crazy. Between a trip to Kutztown University on Tuesday, Growth Group on Wednesday, meetings on Thursday evening and dinner with friends on Friday, we decided to make Saturday night our date night.

Saturday morning started with a trip to the gym (we’re still going strong!), followed by lunch. We spent Saturday afternoon running around—we had some errands to do, which included a trip to the Allentown Farmer’s Market and a stop to see the Grizz. After returning home for a quick nap (OK, my nap was a little bit longer than I had planned…) we headed to Bethlehem for dinner at Horns. Horns is a farm to table restaurant that serves farm-fresh food year round. It was absolutely delicious!

Brad and both decided to go for a burger. I was a bit more conservative and went for the all-American cheeseburger and sweet potato fries. Brad was bit more adventurous and went for the fungi burger (topped with mushrooms and Swiss cheese) and some Brussels sprouts.  You can see our meals (and Brad’s excited expression) below:

I managed to save some of my burger and a bunch of my fries, because I knew where we were headed next: The Bethlehem Dairy Store. Here we shared a chocolate milkshake before heading to our next stop.

Brad was sneaky. He casually mentioned, “Do you know where might be a good place to walk off that dinner? DSW.” Only my husband would be the one who has to drag me to a shoe store!

Unfortunately for him, I found a great pair of sneakers in the clearance section, and Brad came out empty handed.

Sunday turned out to be another whirlwind day, filled with church, laundry, a trip to the gym, good food, and good company. Brad’s mom and step-dad came over for dinner, and we caught up with them and heard about the cruise they are about to take (lucky!). 

We spent the rest of the evening gearing up for another busy week. We’ll get you all caught up soon!

Blessings,

-Nikki

Workout Wednesday

I've mentioned that Brad and I have recently started a new exercise program, and that we've been sticking to it! We're (loosely) following a plan from bodybuilding.com and are really enjoying it. I've never been real into weightlifting (besides BodyPump while I was in college), but am finding that I am really enjoying this lifting program. After two weeks I already feel stronger and have been able to increase my weights. Here's our workout from Wednesday, just to give you an idea of what we've been up to:

Tonight we're off to have dinner with some friends. I've made some new recipes to take for dessert, and I'll be sure to share them with you soon (if they're a hit, that is). Until next time!

-Nikki