Christmas time on the farm...

Candy making during Christmas is becoming a tradition.

Oh, we are only three days away from Christmas and I can't wait!!! I love this holiday so much. This will be our second Christmas on the farm and we already have our own traditions. I think traditions are so important. I remember as a kid that my grandmother always had her little traditions. Every Christmas she would always get out her Christmas cookie cutters and make up the dough and Anne and I would cut out cookies all day long. Grandmother would then get them out of the oven and we would go to town with crystal sugar and icing. That is such an amazing memory. She also always had these little coffee cups that had Santa on them. I recently found those coffee cups a couple of months ago. I will have them sitting out this year. She also ALWAYS made oyster casserole and barley casserole. We will have both of those dishes for this Christmas as well. Even though my grandmother will not physically be with us this year, the traditions she instilled in Anne and I will. Anne and I have also made our own traditions for the holiday season. My mom always joins us on Christmas Eve and we laugh, listen to music, reminisce and cook up in to the night. On Christmas morning, all three of us will wake and will diligently work like little soldiers that know exactly what their jobs are. Anne will make the coffee while mom helps me get the turkey ready. Once the turkey is in the oven, all three of us will bundle up, grab the dogs and head to the barn all the way talking about how lucky we all are. Once the horses are fed and happy, we will return to the house to sit in the den and drink coffee while eating croissants with strawberry preserves and talking, talking, talking. I love this tradition. I so look forward to it. It is one of those traditions that makes you feel like everything is right in the world. After we have showers the three of us will cook all morning and get everything ready. Around noon the rest of the family will arrive. My mom's boyfriend Bob, my brother Robbie, his wife Sarah and my ADORABLE nephew Thomas Wyatt. This will be Thomas Wyatt's first Christmas. How exciting!! Soon Thomas Wyatt will be joining in with the Christmas traditions that we have all grown to love along the way. Some are old, some are fairly new and I am sure as he grows older he will have some new traditions for all of us to enjoy. Merry Christmas EVERYONE!! I hope you all have a wonderful holiday and you get to enjoy it with the people you love.

Sunrise at TwinBay Farm...

What a beautiful morning. Anne and I awoke this morning to a text message from our friend Dottie. Dottie is notorious for sending jokes through text messaging and apparently she felt the need to send one this morning at 5:50 am. Ha! After that Anne and I both just went ahead and got up and got the morning started.

We got down to the barn this morning around 6:40. It was pitch black but the horses were up stirring in their stalls and waiting for their breakfast. We grained all three of them and then put their hay out in the field so they can munch on that when we turned them out. While the boys ate, Anne and I sat down at the barn and watched the sun come up. We see the sunrise every morning when we are down at the barn but this morning we actually SAW IT. It was breath taking.

As Anne and I walked the horses out to their paddock we talked about how lucky we are to have our own place and not have to board our horses anymore. It is just wonderful to get up in the mornings and walk out our back door and see our barn and the horses. WOW! What a great morning! I hope everyone else’s morning started off just as good!

Temptation........

We all deal with temptation in life, in one form or another. Whether it is the temptation of a cigarette, a drink, a Pizza Hut Pizza, or many other things, temptation is all around us. When you change your eating lifestyle, you encounter temptations a long the way. Leigh and I have been eating mostly fruit, veggies and some fish for almost 4 weeks now, and we both feel AMAZING! It actually consumes our conversations.

Last night, we both sat and thought about what we would eat for a long time. We haven’t splurged since we started this journey and haven’t really wanted to, just because we enjoy what we eat and we do feel so good. We started tossing ideas for dinner around… avocado sandwich on hemp bread, black beans and avocado with tomato, big salad, Chinese food, pizza hut pizza, French fries, sub sandwich. I am sure you are noticing the turn for the worse.

We both thought, “hell why not, we have been so good”, so that was that, we were going to splurge, we were going to go buy something from a fast food place, and we were excited about it! Plus getting a phone call from someone (I wont name names), that happened to be on their way to McDonalds, didn’t help!!

Our biggest concern was getting food, and being back in time to watch The Biggest Loser, that was very important, because Leigh and I love that show!!

So shoes and jackets on, keys in hand, headed for the door, we both looked at each other and said, “what are we doing?” We actually talked ourselves out of it. We stayed home and had black beans and tomatoes. It tasted great and was very fresh, and we saved ourselves from the temptation of fast food!!

So we are still on track and feeling great! We did hear that 2 family members are going to be joining us on this journey! Leigh and I are very excited about that, and we cant wait for all of us to support each other.

Weekend Adventures...

This weekend was a wonderful weekend, with lots of exciting things going on. First things first, Leigh and I are still sticking with the health routine. We bought a blender on Friday night (I know, us not having a blender, odd isn’t it), to make smoothies, and so far have really enjoyed them! Except for one MAJOR mishap on Saturday morning, when Leigh took the pitcher off of the base of the blender wrong and green smoothie went everywhere. I mean EVERYWHERE! I so wish, I had pictures of Leigh covered in green smoothie!!!

Saturday afternoon, we went to a wedding here in Georgetown. It was a lovely ceremony and it was great to see Sara and Darron tie the knot! It was also great to see Josh play the mandolin during the ceremony! He did a wonderful job. One of the best things about the day, was getting to see many friends, we don’t get to see very often! It seemed that everyone was there and it was great to get to hang out with them and catch up on their lives.

Sunday, Josh and I met Leigh at Wild Oats. I just love that place. We loaded up on lots of green lettuce for smoothies and salads, and we are set for the week. Our cart looked like we had stolen a garden, but that is such a refreshing feeling, to see all of that healthy food and know that we are putting that in our bodies.

Another great point to this weekend was getting to see my brother, my wonderful sister in law, and our adorable nephew Thomas Wyatt. We just all happened to be at Joseph Beth at the same time, and decided to enjoy a cup of coffee with them. I always enjoy being with Robbie and Sarah, they are so fun, and upbeat, and just bring a certain joy to any conversation. At a time when everyone is running crazy for the holidays, it is so nice to sit down with family and be quickly reminded what is important in life. It isn’t gifts, and spending money on your friends and family, it is the warmth that you experience when you are surrounded with people you love.

As the Seasons Change...

Well it is about this time of year where I really start to complain about the weather. I always think I am ready and prepared for the cold. For the first day I really seem to be and then by the second day I am over it. Being in Florida for four days I was quickly reminded that I am a warm weather fan and greatly miss it once it is gone. When I arrived home a couple of days ago it was very cold here in the Bluegrass and it put me in a sour mood, which is actually pretty hard to do.

Although last night when I got home and Anne and I went down to the barn to bring in our horses I realized that there are moments involving cold weather that I do love. I love it when it is cold enough to see the horses breath as they exhale. I love how the horses prance around and toss their heads because no matter how I feel, the cold weather makes them feel great. I love that once we get them in their stalls and give them their feed that they seem so content and happy. Believe it or not I love breaking ice in their water buckets because it makes me feel needed. Rebo, Dually, and Drifter completely depend on Anne and I. Cold weather, rainy weather, humid weather or hot weather….that is a wonderful feeling.

Leigh returns from Florida..

Greetings! I made it back from Florida Tuesday night. My wonderful sister picked me up at the airport. I was there for the American Association of Equine Practitioners. It was a very successful trip but very tiring at the same time. This was my first traveling venture since the new “lifestyle.” I knew when I left that it was going to be difficult. Part of my job is wining and dining my clients and that means lots of food at awesome restaurants. Looking back on it now, I did really, really well. I decided that every breakfast would be fresh fruit and that every lunch would be a fresh spring salad. I stayed at the Gaylord Palm and they do have excellent food. I had client meetings for every meal and I always left it up to the client as to where they wanted to eat.

Every morning I had breakfast at the Villa De Flora and every lunch I had at the Key West boat. I have never been so excited to leave a place in my life. I was so sick of both of those restaurants!! On Tuesday I told my coworker that if my lunch date for that day wanted to go back to that damn boat I would just skip lunch. Don’t get me wrong, the hotel is great but after a point you just get really sick of it. Although at dinner we had some wonderful meals. On Sunday night we ate at Christini’s. It is an amazing restaurant. The atmosphere and the food were outstanding. All the waiters were in tuxedos, they escorted you to the bathroom and gave you a long stem red rose when you left. It was a pretty cool place. I got the sea bass over risotto. It was incredible. Monday night we had dinner at the famous Emrils. It lived up to every expectation I had. It was amazing.

So over all I think I did pretty good. I didn’t seem to get as tired as I normally do when I am out traveling and I ate a LOT better than I have in the past when I am on a business trip. I did mess up on one thing. I forgot to take my probiotics while I was gone. So yesterday I started back with those and they made me pretty sick. I had a lot of cramping in my stomach. Oh well, that is good, it is doing its job. Now that I am back in KY I will start working out again. Tonight I will be back on the treadmill.

Going Green

Well Leigh and I have been sticking with our plan and eating very healthy. Actually I have eaten almost all raw for the past week, except for one night, when my lovely boyfriend cooked me veggies and rice. Leigh and I have been on the treadmill everyday and stretching too, and we both feel great. Friday night we both ran, and really enjoyed it. We both joked about how crazy it is, that on a Friday night, we are at home on the treadmill, when we would normally be out with a beer in hand! AHHH Change is good!

So Saturday, I got to go to a good grocery store, Wild Oats! I so wish they would build one in Georgetown. I spent an hour in there just looking around. Normally I am rushed for time, but Saturday, I had all the time in the world. I had just dropped Leigh off at the airport, for a buisness trip to Florida. I bought lots of greens, and I have been loving my salads! Dandelion, Spinach, Butter Lettuce, all very yummy, not to mention the wonderful fruit I got. I love the star fruit, it is so refreshing. In the past week, I have really enjoyed eating this way, and yes, there are times when I crave something like mexican food (especially now, since I just placed a to go order for my boss), but once I have my salad or fruit, I enjoy the taste of the freshness so much that the craving immediatly goes away.

After my voyage to Wild Oats, I went over to Disc Jockey to get a cool cd to run to! Of course crazy me, found radio hits from the 90's!! HAHA! Totally old songs, and mostly R&B, and I actually laughed as I was running listening to this. OOH, the memories it brings back from highschool, that is another blog all together!

Josh and I did go and see "Dan in Real Life" and I do recommend it. I thought it was very well done, and there is a certain simplicity to it.