It's Good to be Home...

While it was SO nice to get away for a few days and relax - it was also really nice to get home. There is something about sleeping in your own bed that feels so comforting after a few days away. Not to mention the fact that I missed Oscar and Lucy immensely.

It was great to meet Kevin's family and see a part of the country that I had never seen before. Makes me want to take a drive cross country for a few weeks just to see all of the places I have never been!

Here is an extremely brief recap of our time in Cincinnati:

View from Mount Adams of the Cincinnati skyline. After stopping to take pictures here, we drove over to Krohn's Conservatory. It was beautiful with lots of flowers and plants, but it was so muggy and hot in there that I got nauseous. We didn't stay long.
My place setting at Thanksgiving dinner. Kevin's aunt is so creative! The little turkey is a chocolate covered nutter butter that she made and then decorated. I, of course, ate this before dinner and was double fisted with a bourbon slushie drink and wine. :)
Two places I had to try while I was out in Cincinnati. No pictures of White Castle because I only took one bite of the small little burger - I am not a big burger person and wasn't a fan of these.
Skyline Chili was a different story. Check out all of that cheese. Whoa! It looks messy and it WAS, but in a GOOD way.
Kevin and I went into the city one afternoon to walk around and ended up stopping for a drink at this cute little French Bistro - JeanRo. I got an Irish coffee that was huge and extremely STRONG. I drank most of it and left there with a major buzz.
The drive home on Saturday was a tough one because we hit some traffic and then got locked out of the car after lunch. Somehow the lock got stuck and the keyless entry buttons weren't working. After calling Triple A, and settling in to wait for an hour, we tried the lock one more time and it magically opened. whew!

SUNDAY (11.30.2008)

Despite it being rainy and horrible - Sunday was a great day. Woke up and had one of the cinnamon crumpets from trader joes. I topped mine with homemade apple butter and had sliced bananas on the side. I hadn't photographed my food in so long, that I tried to make the bananas look extra special. These crumpets were delicious. They have the consistency of a pancake, but are lighter and fluffier with lots of holes throughout.
The most exciting thing about Sunday was - joining a gym!!! It has been months since I belonged to a gym and I am so excited. We were able to get 30 days free, so I haven't paid a cent yet!

My workout was 40 mins on the arc trainer and then lifting upper body doing a few ab exercises. It felt great and my hamstring didn't give me any problems!

After a shopping spree at the grocery store, I came home and tried some of these dates. They were a little pricey, but totally worth it.

For dinner, I drizzled some of this sauce (which is THE BEST) over thinly sliced chicken breast and baked them in a 350 degree oven for about 15 mins.
Meanwhile, I sauteed the asian veggies below with PAM and the sauce that came with it. Love trader joes.
After slicing up the chicken, I mixed it with the veggies and voila - a simple and pretty healthy dinner. Can you guess what I want for Christmas?! new bowls!!!!
I had to use up some skim milk, so I made these quick cheesecake flavored pudding pies! Sugar free-Fat free instant version. I figure that I will throw different toppings on these to mix it up.
Now it is back to work for me! Oh and my google reader is overflowing with 335 unread messages, so I am going to try and make my way through - I feel so out of touch and cant wait to read about all of your holidays!

Have a great Monday!