Let’s do lunch

Today I enrolled a few family members to join me in a Starbucks lunch at the Mercer Island store before a meeting.

S&S MI lunchS&S drinking Starbucks

I had been talking about just how wonderful I thought the Turkey Rustico Panini was for the last week so that was on the menu as well as a Roasted Tomato & Mozzarella Panini, bananas, latte’s, San Pellegrini and a nice Goat cheese and Garden veggies Bistro box!  What a lovely lunch we all had and everybody was in agreement on the Panini’s… wonderful!

This evening I tried to go back to something that I adore doing during the colder winter months… baking!  I have been hesitant to bake because I often like to “try” the goodies I make but knew with this challenge that I had to just get the temptation over with and do it!  And with today’s ultra-rainy weather I really got my mind fixed on using those browning banana’s in my pantry to make a few muffins for the kids.

S&S Banana muffins

I tried my hardest not to eat any of the baked items and instead took a couple of bites of my Starbucks Caramel Macchiato ice cream that I bought at QFC yesterday.  I will admit to you all right now that I did indeed lick the batter-covered spoon, initially it happened out of bad habit… but it happened.  I guess you can say that this was my first “Oops” moment of this year of eating/drinking only Starbucks.  All I know is that I’m gonna have to be REALLY CAREFUL when I make cookie batter in the future… but maybe if Starbucks decides to make Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough ice cream then I might not be so tempted to lick those spoons?!

Weekend Wrap Up

Over the weekends of busy families, it’s not always easy for a mommy to post every little thing that goes on even though there are many things to talk about! So today is the introduction to my #WeekendWrapUp posts. Basically a small blow-by-blow of topics from Friday to Monday mornings. So here is the first Weekend Wrap Up!

1. #GoHAWKS

#GoHawks and StarbucksToday is a big day for our local Seattle Seahawks and our whole town has gone #12thMan on everybody! Including this blog with my own Starbucks version of my support. This time SUPER BOWL ALL THE WAY!!! (last time we were ROBBED!)

2. Besides the obvious that’s about to take up an entire Sunday for most Washingtonians… I would like to say that two of my newly tried dishes from Starbucks and Evolution Fresh have been so YUMMY! The Turkey Rustico Panini is going to become a staple sandwich for me, and the Quinoa-Kale-Spinach dinner (hot simmer) is just so low in calories (305 cal) and so filling that I had to have a second one this weekend!

3. My January plan to monitor my weight and possibly LOSE WEIGHT is working! Happy to report that this week I have lost 2 pounds! I didn’t hit the treadmill hard yet because of an auto-accident last year that keeps me in pain a lot with limited lifting and maneuverability most days. But the doctor does want me to get more active so hopefully the added exercise will help shed more pounds! But I do have to keep to my Jillian Michael’s app and watch those calories, no splurging on cookies and Venti Caramel Macchiatos yet!

4. GO HAWKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!