A wonderful saturday

Today, lee and i went out to explore our new little town 

first, we went to the waterfront shops... it was so pretty there & really fun to look at-

basically it was a TON of really rich rich big name stores ...

 it was kind of fun to make fun of the prices... 

there was a sale going on at some really high end clothes shop for men & it was 3 polo's for 120 dollars.

HA

we also finally made our way to the beach! 

we've been so busy and just haven't gotten to the beach here yet-

the beach we ended up going to was fantastic, like seriously... i couldn't believe we were in the states. 

it seemed like something from a different country !

 in order to get to the beach from the parking lot you have to go on this half mile bridge type 

thing & its so pretty!

 its all surrounded by trees and woods, it awesome.

so we decided to walk it the way there... but took the free little trolly ride on the way back :) 

the beach was incredible- as soon as we got there we looked out and saw a DOLPHIN swimming pretty close to the shore ... it was awesome! unfortunately, we didn't actually see the dolphin just the fin (is that what you call it??)  but it was so cool! 

 and then right after that, while we were swimming, we saw like FIFTEEN sting rays swimming in a pack RIGHT BESIDE US! we flipped out! 

i'm loving all the wildlife :) 

i wish i had pictures, but i didn't have my camera with me- 

next time!

tonight, for dinner, we went to a cute little restaurant.. it was super yummy & we TRIED to make healthy decisions :)

it was such a wonderful day- 

i feel like i live in paradise!

Easter dinner

we didn't have the typical easter dinner- 

but here's what we had: 

Cajun Grilled Shrimp with Brown Rice Noodles and grilled Asparagus: 

now, i'm not a pro chef by any means...

i'm really just learning everything, so excuse me if i don't always use proper cooking lingo in my cooking posts ;) 

anyways, this really did turn out good. 

& its healthy too! 

the noodles i used were brown rice noodles {for their health value}, i was excited to see how these would taste opposed to just regular noodles. and there super good & healthy! they weren't soggy or anything.... although i didn't cook them quite long enough

 {like i said, i'm new}

the shrimp was wild caught & deveined when i bought it.. the price wasn't bad on these either.

while they were still raw i covered them with cajun seasoning  

to cook them, i used walnut oil {i used this because it keeps its health value even when it's heated in high temperatures & it tastes great too!} i put sea salt and a rather large amount of ground pepper on these. & then more cajun seasoning for spiciness & flavor, while they were cooking- 

they didn't take too long to cook, but i kept them in there until they were brown and had a grilled look to them. 

they were SO good! 

the asparagus was good too, 

i just cooked them in walnut oil, then added sea salt and fresh ground pepper,

 i also threw in some flax seeds,

and kept them in the pan on low until the noodles and the shrimp were done

they turned out really crispy and yummy 

thats it! 

so easy, quick, and tasty! 

{my camera's not the best... but i promise these things taste better then they may look!}

All things {WHOLE} food

well, i don't know if any of you remember that blog post a lonnggg time ago about lee and i deciding to start eating healthy. 

yeah, that didn't work out so well living on the road. 

it totally failed... and so did the exercising idea too. 

SO... we decided that when the time came that we actually moved in to an apartment we would rid of all of our nasty eating habits. and actually be healthy. 

not a diet. 

but a lifestyle change. 

so the time has come-

and moving to Naples was a GREAT place to start, 

because you see, 

just 5 miles away there is a HUGE whole foods store. i mean HUGE. 

you should have seen me when i saw it for the first time while we were driving by.

 i flipped! 

it's sweet on the outside and incredible on the inside- 

so trust me.. you're going to be hearing a lot about this place :) 

anyways, lee and i are going full out on this. 

were following a 'lifestyle eating plan' that lee found online & the guy is genius. 

so, from here on out all of our food will be from the lovely whole foods store

{which contains ORGANIC everything} 

no more preservatives or hormones or crap that they put in EVERYTHING

so, as i'm sure you can imagine, 

our kitchen is full of organic goodness- 

we love it! 

{p.s. i'll be posting things i've been making with all these organic foods soon!!}

New apartment w/ pics!

Lee and I are all moved in to our apartment! 

wooo! 

let me just say... we LOVE it! 

its perfect. i honestly love everything about it... its so fresh and new.

 the windows are so big so its always so bright and happy in here! 

basically we live in a rather large community, its really great.

 we get full access to a really large pool, tennis courts, volleyball courts (i think), and even laundry and dryers! 

we live on the second floor... but have a private door. 

our bedroom is a great size.. and has a WALK IN closet... never had one of those before! 

our bathroom is semi-small but is still cute. 

the kitchen is my FAVORITE part... i LOVE the little bar thing/ open floor plan... i love feeling like i'm not trapped away in some back room while i cook, and also i can talk to lee while he's in the living room.

there's a little hard-wooded area for a table right off of the kitchen.

the living room is rather large and very sunny!

we also get an awesome little screened in lanai/ deck thing- which i really like! its perfect for chairs and a little table- i'd love to eat out there!

here's some pictures of our perfect little place:

{excuse our mess & the lack of furniture ;) }
{you can click on pictures to make them larger}

{living room/ kitchen/ deck}

{other side of the living room/ kitchen counter}

{deck/ living room}

{little kitchen table area}

{kitchen/ kitchen table area}

{kitchen!}

{kitchen view from living room}

{bedroom... we just bought this elevated air mattress... i didn't know they made them that thick!}

thats all for now! were really excited to get some furniture for this place & to make it our own! 

as of late, i've been loving my kitchen & cooking a lot! 

post to come soon of what i've been making! 

hope everyone had a great easter! 

i know lee and i did! :)

move-in day & a happy easter!

yep, thats right! 

tomorrow morning we move into our new apartment!! 

i am SO super excited, it feels like its been forever since we've had a place 

so thankful to be moving into a awesome apartment in a cute little beach town! 

pics to come soon! 

{have a wonderful weekend & a happy easter!}

{pic i took when we visited berkeley, cal}

Update from the crazies!

I'm back again! 

who knows for how long... but we'll see ;) 

well, for starters.... we have LEFT clearwater/ tampa area

you all probably think were crazies.... oh wait, we are!

we drove 2 1/2 hours FURTHER south {yahoo!} to the beautiful city of NAPLES 

we L O V E it here. 

its so much different then the tampa area... 

& its definitely more suitable for our future plans

were so excited to be here! 

for those of you that don't know, we came to Naples to sort of follow the company that we used to work for in erie, they moved here a few months ago and we are eagerly waiting to start working for them locally-

 when they gets things set up and ready for us to work

but for the time being, lee and i landed ourselves {ok, we didn't do it... it was GOD} jobs at a small non-profit organization- 

basically were tele-marketers... you know the people that you all love so much ;) 

ha.. i think its pretty funny were doing this, but hey we make money, get to be TOGETHER while we work, & there's no uniform! 

wahoo! 

we just started on monday... and its been going well. 

in all of our competitiveness, lee and i are LOVING this. we've started a new thing where we see who can get the first call of the night and who can get the most calls to donate, and so on. 

and whoever wins gets a prize. its really pretty fun. 

unfortunately, i must report that lee kicked my butt last night... 

and he won the back massage :( 

stinker!

i'll beat him today! 

anyways, apartment wise, its been crazy. 

we thought we had the perfect one picked out but God saved us in the nick of time

were SO thankful we saw the things we did RIGHT before our purchase. 

He cares for us so much! 

I'm so excited to announce that it looks like we have another great one picked out, and we will be finding out SOON if we get it or not. 

Hopefully we can be all moved in before Easter! :) 

Anyways this week I've learned, God really actually KNOWS me. 

I mean, he gave lee and i both a job, but not just that, He gave us a job TOGETHER. 

I guess He knows just how inseparable we really are :) 

well, if i don't get on before- 

happy easter everyone! 

be blessed!

crazy week!

well, hello people! 

i've missed the blog world! 

things have been so busy over here, but i think things may be finally slowing down. 

maybe.

we are finally here in clearwater after a nice visit in erie and a warm sunny mini-vacay in mexico beach, fl.
( thanks to my aunt and uncle for lending us their adorable beach house!) 

so currently, we are checking out and calling and visiting and e-mailing tons of people about apartments and on top of that- setting up job interviews. 

transition is always a little stressful but we are doing good nonetheless. 

this is both of our first times being in clearwater, so its a fun little adventure.

clearwater beach area is so so pretty... we haven't yet gotten to actually go on the beach but the drive by is amazing. 

sorry for the long blog "pause", 

hopefully i will be posting more often now that things are getting settled...

hope you all had a happy Monday! 

& enjoy the sun- i hear its even come to the north! :)