Paco: A Great Excuse for a Party!

Some colorful pictures of paella, the veggie prep, and a few Paco shots.

I am in charge of all the chopping; here are the tomatoes, artichoke hearts, peppers, onions, and garlic.  Not pictured (because they were in the refrigerator): sausage, chicken and shrimp.

This was one HUGE batch of Paella; look at it in comparison to TJ's head!

C'mon over!  There is plenty leftover!

Hot cornbread on the side.

Lemon cupcakes for dessert; the delicious recipe was found on this blog.  

Paco has taken over my favorite corner of the couch.  I can't say I put up much of a battle!

Catching some zzz's before his guests arrive.

A puppy stare down.  That is Paco's new friend Gabby on the right.  He would not leave her alone!

Yesterday was all about party prep; shopping, baking, cleaning (thank you Ben) and paella prep.

Today is all about laundry, relaxing and Paco!  We (Paco and I) were up at 5:55 this morning for playtime.  After breakfast, we (Ben, Paco and I) went for a walk.  At this point, Paco scampers leash-less.  It will be interesting to see how he does when he is tethered.  For now, he stays pretty close and does a wonderful job keeping up with the bi-ped crowd!  

Now, he is sacked out, back in the corner.

Just getting his rest before the afternoon walk!

Hope you have a great Sunday!

Meet Paco Chavez Javier Castroneves!

Hi!

I am a long hair Chihuahua!

This was taken the first time I met my mom.

I crawled right into her lap.

I am always smiling!

Love at first sight!

I even have already been permitted on the couch!

Paco will never replace Bailey, but he has added a new joy into our hearts!

Check out the story on Nutrimirror!

A Du is Doable!

I feel like Wonder Woman right now!

I did it!

Today, just to see if it was even possible for me to do, Ben and I did a practice duathlon.  The one we are looking to sign up for is a 5k, 18 miles bike, then another 5k.

Today we did 2.3 miles, 17 miles bike, then 2.3 miles again!

Fuel is going to be a HUGE consideration to achieve this.  Fuel, and training, of course.

There are some kinks that still need to be worked out, but I am so proud of myself!  I know I can do this!

A proud, happy, sweaty girl!

How does one refuel after that?

A Smoothie in a Bowl!

By no means is this my creation; KATH makes them all the time.  

I blended:

A frozen banana
1 scoop GNC vanilla protein powder
1/2 tea vanilla extract
1/4 cup old fashioned oatmeal
The dregs of a frozen berry blend
Bottom of the spinach barrel (I need to go shopping)
8 ounces skim milk

After it was blended, I poured it into a bowl.  On top I added Ancient Grains Granola, sunflower butter and then melted coconut butter.  If you like Magic Shell on your ice cream, coconut butter does the same thing when you melt it.  (You can actually make your own magic shell at home by combining anything with melted coconut butter.  It solidifies on contact.)

I had the best picture planned; the granola and the sunflower butter sprinkled strategically on top.  Once I added the coconut butter, the weight made a giant whirlpool in the middle of my smoothie!  I watched it all get sucked into the vortex and my pretty picture was not to happen!

You can see a hint of granola here.

There is some SERIOUSLY tasty goodness in those granola clumps!

This is not a breakfast I would have every day.  It was almost 800 calories!  I had torched some serious calories during my duathlon, so today it works!

Time to clean the house (actually I think Ben may already be hard at work doing that), hit the showers and head to the grocery store.

We are having a pizza party here tonight!

Have a great Saturday!

Kel