To Paleo or not to Paleo?

About a year ago, William and I jumped off the deep end of the exercise pool and joined our local Crossfit gym (shout out Crossfit Richardson!) Although it’s been one of the most challenging things I’ve ever done, I’ve actually gotten to a place that I ENJOY working out and look forward to going to the gym almost every day. This is in large part to the amazing community that the gym offers. Regardless of my class time, I always have a work out buddy that helps motivate me through whatever insanity is the WOD AND I’ve even made friends that I spend time with socially!

I’m not sure exactly how Crossfit started but I know it began with a guy in California and has spread across the country like wildfire with franchise gyms everywhere (even a few overseas)! There are 11 locations in the Dallas area alone, but there’s definitely something special about Crossfit Richardson (www.crossfitrichardson.com). One of the funniest things I’ve noticed is that Crossfit has its own language and it takes some time to figure out what anyone is talking about. For example, a WOD (pronounced like “wad of paper”) stands for Workout Of the Day. Everyone does this workout, in some cases modified for different skill levels, and almost all WOD’s are timed and your name and time posted on a board in the gym.

Paleo is the nutrition philosophy most commonly endorsed by Crossfit. Basically, paleo is a form of eating where you “eat like a traditional hunter/gatherer would have eaten.” This means proteins, fruits, vegetables and anything that grows naturally. I’m not an expert on the diet by any means but I’ve gone back and forth on whether or not this is something that is realistic for me to implement in my life. I do love meat and fish, which are both part of the diet, and I love fruit and vegetables and discovering new ways to prepare them. The thing that would be the hardest for me would be to not eat dairy or bread/grain products. I LOVE cheese and I think most people would agree it makes everything better (including vegetables). I also love bread and think it would be hard to live without pizza and sandwiches (2 of my favorite foods).

To figure out if the Paleo diet really makes you feel and look as great as everyone claims it does, I’m going to implement my own little experiment starting next week (Monday, June 13). Monday-Friday, I will cook and eat Paleo. Saturday and Sunday, I’ll go back to no rules dining!! I’m mainly posting this to the internet to give myself a little accountability and to document the effects in the way I feel, my performance and energy during the day and my workouts, and if I lose any weight or see a difference in body composition. I may even post a few “Paleo friendly” recipes if I come across anything life changing.

So, here’s to a new challenge and one more week to indulge in chips and queso on a Wednesday and sandwiches for lunch!

Wednesday Morning Funnies

This conversation went down last night after we watched an episode of our FAVORITE show, Friday Night Lights, in bed. William promptly turned off the tv and rolled over to go to sleep. I decided it was a good time to tell William a really interesting story about something we had just seen…

Me: That girl that was the reporter, her name is Emily Jones and she’s from Plainview! She was in high school with my brother and now she’s a fox sports reporter.
Will: I’m trying to go to sleep. Why would you think it was important to tell me that right now?
Me: Because, you’re my best friend. And best friends pillow talk!
Will: That’s what girl best friends do. Guy best friends tell each other to shut up.
Me: I LOVE YOU (laughing)!
Will: SHUT UP!

And that is a glimpse into the beauty that we call marriage. Love my husband so much.

My Own Prince William

I’m a little late on this post, but I can’t let the “Royal Wedding” go by without remembering that growing up, I used to think about the fact that Prince William and I (or “Wills” as he was called back then) were very close in age…and maybe, just maybe…if we happened to run into each other in the English countryside, he would decide that he would like to make me his princess. Well, THAT William did not ask me to marry him, but another William DID! And these are the reasons I’m glad that I’m married to my prince William instead of that other one-

-He has a full head of hair. I’m not that attracted to balding men and by all predictors, he will have his hair for a long, long time.
-He wears his wedding ring ALWAYS. Even when he’s at the gym, or the lake, or hunting. He is taken and doesn’t mind wearing a symbol to ward off all the other “princess hopefuls”
-I really don't look that great in hats and it seems that royals always have to wear them. I've never tried a diamond tiara...but I'm guessing that would make my hair do strange things also.
-He doesn’t require that I curtsy to his grandmother. I never really liked to curtsy all that much.
-He let me get married in a protestant church in South Texas where I was allowed to wear a strapless dress. Although lace sleeves are lovely, I always wanted to get married in strapless.
-He didn’t make me wait 8 years for a proposal. We knew we were in love after about 18 months so he went ahead and popped the question.
-He lets me split holidays equally between our families instead of having to hop around from one palace with his boring royal relatives to another.
-He doesn’t attract paparazzi everywhere we go, which is good because I go a lot of places wearing workout clothes with a head full of day-old curls which I’ve somehow tied up on the back of my head. Not really magazine ready most of the time.
-He doesn’t have 18 different names or titles. And when I married him, I didn’t have learn to remember a bunch of different names and titles for myself either. This is also a plus in the vows- I would have never been able to remember “I take you William Arthur Louis Earl Spencer”
-I didn’t have the added pressure of over 2 billion people watching me get married on live television. I’m not sure I could have even remembered “I take you William” with that stress.

The only thing that I do “covet” a little bit about marriage to “Wills” is the AMAZING music they had in the ceremony. I would have loved to have a full choir (including a group of young male sopranos) and the most amazing pipe organ in the world to play some majestic sounds as I walked down the aisle, but I had a pretty amazing organist and guitar/vocalist at my wedding too so I guess I’m still happy with my choice(shout out Jenni Lynn and Jared Billups!) All things considered, I definitely think I got the better end of the deal here marrying William Spencer and he tells me that the Spencer’s have some British royals in the family tree so here’s hoping that someday we get that call.

Diving Back In

You don’t have to look far to see that this is my first post in almost 7 months. It would take about 900 words and a lot of excuses to explain my absence in the blog world, and, let’s face it, would be about as exciting to read as CNN is to watch when broadcasting a general session of the House during a break. So, with the acknowledgement of my long absence in the blog world, I will dive back in with a new post that may or not be any more exciting for you than the aforementioned hypothetical post on the “absence explanation.”

One week ago, William and I celebrated our second year as Mr. and Mrs. Spencer. This started off with a little romantic weekend getaway to OKC with 16 of our favorite 11 year olds and their parents. We celebrated by watching these little nuggets play some soccer and then sharing in some amazing “group buffet dining” excursions. I would say this trip was as good, if not better, than the year one cruise celebration.

We returned to Dallas just in time to celebrate our actual anniversary on Monday night with a little dinner in Uptown. Thanks to restaurant.com, we got a pretty good deal on a sweet meal at Palomino in the Crescent building. We indulged in a bottle of wine, cheese platter, salads, scallops, steak, and of course as much bread as they were willing to bring us. After all, it was our anniversary.

It wouldn’t be an anniversary blog post without including a top ten of my favorite things about “Year 2” for the Spencers. Enjoy.

10. The many times he randomly came home with a bouquet of flowers. It always makes my heart “swell” a little.

9. Surprising the hubs by taking a day off from work to finish spreading the 1,000 lbs of mulch he had dumped in our driveway the day before. His surprise and joy when he came home to find me covered in dirt, sweat and blisters verified for me that my husband receives love through my acts of manual labor.

8. On our trip to Orlando last summer for a friend’s wedding, neither one of us had to pretend we were too cool or too old to wait in a 3 hour line to be among the first to experience the new Harry Potter World at Universal Studios.

7. Discovering the magic of the television series “Friday Night Lights” together and analyzing the incredible marriage of Coach Eric and Tami Taylor and all the ways we are just like them. Clear Eyes, Full Hearts, Can’t Lose.

6. William’s first brush with spontaneity, he suggested we meet half-way between Dallas and San Antonio during my month-long work trip. It was super sweet and he told me he just “really wanted to see me.”

5. Celebrating William’s 28th birthday with a back-yard “drive in” movie and some of our closest friends. It was a perfect night complete movie theatre popcorn, candy and Karate Kid.

4. Working together to lay-out our new backyard landscaping and then spending every night for several months watering all our new, vulnerable plants. It seemed pretty laborious at the time but I enjoyed spending time together and the end result of our beautiful backyard perfect for hosting impromptu get-togethers.

3. Relaxing weekends spent together where we had zero plans and no agenda. These sometimes occurred at home, sometimes at the lake or the farm, but always resulted in amazing times of conversations and growth in both of our marriage and our walk with the Lord.

2. Continuing a tradition dating back to long before we were married. Sunday night pizza night!! -Proof that sometimes it’s the little things in life that God uses to bring you the most joy.

1. Waking up every day to my best friend and the love of my life and knowing that God has blessed me with a man who brings me joy and challenges me to grow closer to Him.
In his anniversary card to me, he wrote maybe the sweetest line that’s ever been written and the new prayer for our marriage, “ I look forward to forever, but pray that I never overlook today.”

Here’s to year three- may we continue to look forward to our future without ever overlooking the blessings of today.

Random Ramblings

Some thoughts have been flitting through my head lately so the most logical thing to do with said thoughts is post them to the internet :)


-I can not figure out why ALL of my shirts are getting these little holes in them. Doesn't seem to matter that I don't dry them in the dryer, where they are from, or what material. I thought it was the washing machine but my mom has a fancy new front loader and she said it's happening to her too. I think the quality of clothes must just be declining. I can't afford to replace all my shirts every 3 washes. This needs to get resolved. Any ideas?

-It rained for about three solid days in Dallas. I love the rain and was kind of sad when it cleared up this afternoon except for the fact that people were suffering from major flooding issues. I was relieved for them. When the tornado sirens went off last night, I had a flashback of a childhood memory. I'm standing in the doorway of my childhood home screaming at my family and neighbors to get out of the middle of the cul-de-sac where they all stand watching the sky looking for any sign of "rotation." I had been running back and forth from the basement to the door ever since the emergency broadcast system had informed us to "seek shelter immediately" trying to convince my family that they were stupid for not heeding the weather man's intense warnings. When that didn't work, I told them they were selfish and obviously didn't care if I ended up an orphan because I was only the one who would be spared when a twister suddenly dropped from the clouds without giving us the warning of lots of cloud rotation.

- I made a really tasty BBQ brisket on Tuesday. Slow cooked it for 10 hours until it fell apart when touched with a fork. Last night, at the convincing of Southern Living Recipes, I attempted to use the left overs and create a new "BBQ Pot Pie Dish" that sounded amazing. It called for a topping of instant mashed potatoes with a little Southern Living added goodness. I followed the recipe EXACTLY and ended up with a big pot of "mashed potatoes" that was the consistency of cream gravy. I started thinking about it and decided that little flakes that look like oatmeal shouldn't really turn into mashed potatoes anyway. Can you even consider that a vegetable? What do they even make the "instant potato flakes" out of? Never again, instant mashed potatoes. I've learned my lesson.

An Overdue Update

I have been seriously neglecting this blog lately and I feel like it’s because we don’t have anything crazy exciting happening in our life right now (i.e. moving to another state, having a baby, other major life changes). I also realize I really enjoy reading other friends blogs when they are just simple updates on the day to day, so here goes my attempt at a “short” update. As you know from previous posts, brevity is not my specialty, but I’ll do my best.

Updates
-William’s soccer team officially qualified for select this fall by sweeping the qualifying tournament with 3 big wins in a row. Due to their success, we’ve had a couple weeks and weekends free of soccer so we’ve been making the rounds to visit family. Last weekend was spent in Tyler with the Spencer/Moharer clans and this weekend we’re westward bound to Amarillo to enjoy some cool nights with the Bectons.

-We have started doing Crossfit workouts in Richardson and, although they kick our tails, it’s the first time the Mister and I have been able to successfully work out together. And by together, I mean that we’re in the same room doing the same workout but not standing anywhere near each other. This is made even better by the fact that our good friends, the Carby’s, are also Crossfit-ers and we get to see them about 4-5 days a week now.

-Half of my hydrangea plants have been officially SCORCHED by the ridiculousness of August in Texas. Should have known they wouldn’t last through the heat getting afternoon sun. We’ve set up a beach umbrella to try and protect the other half from suffering the same fate. It’s kind of working for now.

-William has been approved/accepted to take his “PE” exam in October (professional engineer). He had to turn in a huge packet that summarized all the work he’s done over the past four years for review and he was approved! When he passes, he’ll get to sign his own name on his engineering plans followed by the 2 little letters, P.E., which makes you big time in the engineering world. He will be spending most of his free time studying for the next few months so, please call me to hang out, I’m sure I’ll be bored.

I think I already shot that whole “brief update” I was trying to keep to so I’ll stop here. A thought for today…this is the one time of year I’m so glad I’m not a teacher or student. Going back to school from summer was always the worst. I would send my sympathies to my teacher friends, but I don’t feel that bad for you because almost all of you that I know took about 12 vacations this summer. Happy back to school week!

A Beginning and an End

I'm a few weeks behind on all things blog but I'll try to play catch up a little. A few weeks ago, my younger cousin (who was closest to me in age in the cousin crowd) got married. Her husband was actually her brother's best friend growing up so we've all known "Johnny," (who now like to be referred to as Jon since he's all grown up and an army Doc) since childhood. Holly and Jon began their new life together as "The Hardys" on July 10, 2010.

It was a beautiful and elegant wedding and the whole family got involved in the fun! Holly asked me to be a bridesmaid and sing a little number with one of her good friends Allie. My mom served as the pianist and organist and my dad stepped in the day before as the official videographer. He also served as the only photographer for our family so the few pics I captured must also be credited to Jerry Becton.


My Aunt Lanette with Holly, the beautiful bride.


The Becton/Spencer family


All the men in my life.


The bridal party with Holly.


Allie and I cranking some tunes on the mic.

So now for the end...it's not really an end...just a transition, but one of my closest friends is moving to upstate New York next week and William and I hosted a little going away bash for them at our house lase weekend. Leslie and I knew each other from a distance at Baylor but quickly became close friends after re-uniting in Dallas. Over the past four years, she has become an accountability partner, encourager, and one of the first people I turn to for advice in a crisis. None of these things will change with her moving, we will just have to learn to do it over the phone instead of face-to-face...unless I finally catch up to 2010 and get a webcam and microphone and learn to use skype...but that's another post for another day.

I was a little busy keeping everything moving in the food department on Saturday to take pictures so I borrowed these from Leslie's recent post about the party. Leslie, please don't sue me for copyright infringement. Please notice the "Adios Leslie and Justin" sign...my first attempt at Arts and Crafts in many, many years, as well as my table decor with the flowers in some of my bright glasses from the college years. That was actually a tip from my mom that I was skeptical about but, it turned out well.

Leslie and I share a common love of Dublin Dr. Pepper.


Everyone who was still there at 10pm.



Justin..the other half of the honoree couple with some of the boys.


Some of the guests going through the food line.

Truly, Leslie and Justin are 2 of William and I's best friends and they will be greatly missed in Dallas. I'm still working on the details (aka convincing William) but a trip to New York to visit is already in the works!