Hello Monday

Linking up today for a weekend recap with Holly from Pink Lady and Sarah at Sunshine and Books. 

We had a pretty quiet weekend here, mostly because hubs had a lot of real estate-ing happening, and that meant we needed to stick close to home. He worked with a client all day Friday and I did some things around the house that needed doing, which always feels good. We ate leftovers for dinner and watched the movie Moneyball that evening. It's been out for more than ten years, but somehow I'd never seen it. I liked it. 

In my efforts to get myself in gear this year I've started using a walking app called Better Me. Hello, yes I know it's nearly May but I'm just now getting around to sticking my big toe into 2024. 

Question-does anybody really need an app for walking? 

I mean it seems pretty straightforward, but exercise is such a mind game for me, I find the app helps. It's a series of timed walks of varying speeds, and each walk is broken up into blocks so you change your pace a few times along the way. It took me a couple of days to figure out how much faster fast walking should be than brisk walking, but I've got my pace now and have been sticking with it. Sticking with it is really the thing, right? 

Also I should get extra credit for fast walking in my neighborhood because we've got some hills that make you want to cry. Not just me! I've had runners tell me they won't run in our neighborhood because it's so deceptively steep. The app helps me keep going. 

Back to Friday night's leftovers...I made a knock off California Pizza Kitchen BBQ chicken salad last week and it was delish. 

I had to watch a youtube video on how to cut a jicama but no blood was shed in the process (which is not always the case with me and knives) so whoohoo. 

I followed this recipe more or less. It sounded like a lot of dressing so I cut back on that, and hubs grilled the chicken then just topped it with a little BBQ sauce. 

The salad tasted very much like what I remember having at the CPK restaurant, although it's been more than a decade since I've eaten in one, so I can't say for sure.

Wait!! It's been more than two decades? Is that right? 

Yes I know it's right because my kids were kids last time I ate in a CPK, not grown married women with kids of their own. They weren't even in high school. Gulp. 

Are CPK's still around? There was one in the mall when we lived in Annapolis and we used to go every now and then. Now I'm wondering if people even still go to the mall? 

All that to say I will for sure make this recipe again. And I promise there is grilled chicken under there. My food photo snaps could use some work. 

Saturday hubs had more real estate-ing to do and I spent a fair bit of time on the phone with my siblings and my momma and also caught up on laundry and then took care of some paper work that had accumulated in the office. Why is there so much paper when everything is paperless? 

Hubs wrapped up work on the early side and we decided to go for sushi at a local place we enjoy. An unplanned date night-

My neighbor texted and asked if we wanted to come by for a glass of wine on their patio when we got home, so that's what we did. It was such a pretty evening, the temperature was absolute perfection, and it made me so ready for summer nights, porch sitting, sunset chasing, and al fresco dinners with friends and family. 

Hubs had still more real estate-ing to do on Sunday so we didn't go to church, and I watched online instead. l got all my grocery shopping done for the week, then came home and baked peanut butter cookies for two different friends who've had a bit of a rough time lately. A homemade cookie says someone is thinking of you. 

And just in case you're wondering, the amaryllis king is still in business. This is the same plant my daughter brought home from her classroom five years ago, that she somehow dumped over in her car on the way here so it was a literal stick by the time she pulled in the driveway. She planned to throw it away, but hubs worked his magic and she's still blooming beautifully. 

You'll have to take my word for it. My plant snaps could also use some work.