Ravens Obsession

HAPPY SUPER BOWL WEEKEND!!

I’m SURE by now you know we are a little bit obsessed with the Ravens. But why are we so Ravens obsessed???

Well, here’s a few reasons why.

1. The BIG milestone in our relationship was when Craig let me watch a Ravens football game with him. Let me explain. Craig doesn’t like to watch Ravens games with anyone. He likes to be by himself, only because he gets SO into the game. The boy can’t sit down. He paces (like when I was giving birth to Gabriella), he screams, he punches the couch, he runs up & down the stairs, he tears up (when they beat the Broncos & when they were heading to the SuperBowl!), he throws his jersey on & off, he does ‘the worm’ on the floor, and he’s just absolutely insane. It’s HILARIOUS. I WISH I could make a video of it, but he would kill me! Haha!

The first game I ever watched with Craig ended up being a Ravens/ Steelers game. & if you are a football fan, you KNOW how big the Ravens/ Steeler rivalry is.

It’s no joke, and usually VERY instense games. So I was VERY surprised he asked me if I wanted to watch THAT one with him.

December 14th, 2008 was the game I watched. And that’s the night he told me he loved me. No, I’m totally kidding 😉

2. Our engagement.

August 12th, 2010. Before the first game of the season. ON RAVEN’S FIELD!

I thought I was surprising Craig by getting tickets to the game. Well, he had talked to his brother a few months before about it, when he told Mike (his brother) that he wanted to propose to me on Raven’s field. Mike was the one who was able to get us on the field, which I just thought was a surprise to Craig & I. (because while we were tailgating he ‘surprised’ us by saying we were going on the field before the game to watch the players warm up. I was in SHOCK!) Little did I know this was all a plan that Mike & Craig had worked on months before. 😀

3. Our wedding.

Our colors were black & purple…of course. 😉

Groom’s cake

(The Ray Lewis dance was part of our intro)

4. The games we have been to.

(Ravens v. Jax. Embarrassing loss)

(Ravens v. 49ers- first ‘Har-bowl’- Ravens won! Let’s hope for a repeat tomorrow 😀 )

John & Jim hug after the game.

5. Gabriella’s Introduction to the Ravens

We’re raising this girl RIGHT…a Ravens fan from the very beginning 😀

Me at 29 weeks pregnant. She was a Raven’s fan even in my belly 🙂

Her first dress! (before she was even born)

G at a DAY old!

Newborn photo session- she was 10 days old! 🙂

Before a Ravens game, 2 weeks old, sleeping on Daddy.

And you know all of these photos, from her Ravens photo shoot 😉

A more recent one, in her Ravens dress! (from this week- 12 weeks old)

Thank you Aunt Char for my bow 🙂 – another 12 weeks photo.

Ever wonder why we went in on Sunday NIGHT to be induced rather than Sunday MORNING?! 😉 Here’s a hint: The Ravens game was at 1pm.

This little girl has been the Raven’s good luck charm, I swear by it! 😀

You all know who this family will be rooting for this weekend!!!! & if you aren’t sure, or don’t have a preference on who wins, I would kindly like to ask you to root for the RAVENS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We have to do it for Ray 😀

 

G in Ray’s Doo-Rag 😉

Now before I let you go, you HAVE to watch this video of Craig doing the Ray Lewis dance when he was in college. Now, you have to keep in mind this video is about 10 years old, so it’s not the best quality…but it’s still pretty funny. 😀

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Old Bay Shrimp Cakes

Well guys, I hate to say it, but it’s another one of those Mondays. Yuck. It’s true they never get easier, but thankfully once we get past today it always seems to get a bit easier, right?

Today I have a new recipe to share with you, and all of the credit for the idea even popping into my mind goes to Craig. You see he’s a Maryland boy, through & through. He was born & raised there; and most of his family lives there.

He love crabs, crab cakes, Old Bay, & Natty Boh.

He is a DIEHARD Ravens fan. (well, we both are…but now you know where I get it from)

(that’s Craig & his cousin Steve after the win over the 49ers on Thanksgiving night. This may be one of my favorite pictures that I have ever captured. Emotion is ALL over their faces & it CRACKS me up everytime I see it 😀 )

I mean he even proposed to me on the Ravens field!

We are also big Orioles fans. In Craig’s vows to me, one of his lines was ‘in Orioles induced sickness & in health.’ I’m sure if you follow baseball, you will find that pretty funny as well. 😉 Even though the Orioles haven’t been doing so well for the past few years, we still love ‘em.

Now lucky for us, we can buy Natty Boh in Florida (even though it’s difficult to find sometimes), we can still be Ravens & Orioles fans, and Old Bay is in every grocery store. But we CANNOT find good crabs down here.

If you have ever had Maryland crabs, then you know what I mean. You will never want crabs again, unless they are from Maryland.

No more ‘k’ krab for this girl. Only ‘c’ crab will work! I guess you could call me a crab snob…and I’m ok with that. 😉

We both love crab cakes, and I hate only being able to have them like twice a year when we make a trip to Maryland. So I decided to come up with a substitution. Shrimp cakes! Even though nothing could ever replace crab cakes, these are do a really good job of satisfying my crab cake craving (say that three times fast 😉 ) …for the time being at least. 🙂 I think it’s because of all of the Old Bay that I used. Love that stuff!!

Old Bay Shrimp Cakes

Makes 8 shrimp cakes.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups cooked shrimp
• 2 egg whites & 1 egg, beaten
• 1/4 cup 0% plain Greek yogurt (I used Chobani)
• 2 tbsp. butter or margarine, melted
• 1 tbsp. lime juice
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/2 tsp. pepper
• 1 & 1/2 tsp. Old Bay + additional for topping
• 1/4 tsp. Cayenne pepper
• 1 tsp. garlic powder
• 2 cups panko crumbs
• EVOO, for cooking

Preparation:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. In a chopper or food processer, take you shrimp & pulse them in the chopper until they are no longer whole. This should be pretty quick, they chop easily.
3. In a large bowl combine the rest of the ingredients. Once it is well combined, add in the shrimp. Shape into 8 cakes.
4. Preheat a large skillet over medium heat, drizzle EVOO in pan. Once heated, cook the cakes for about 3 minutes each side, or until slightly browned. You will probably have to cook them in two batches.


5. Put the cakes on a cookie sheet, sprinkle them liberally with more Old Bay & then bake for about 17 – 20 minutes.

6. Serve with sweet and spicy sauce (recipe below), if desired.

Sweet & spicy sauce
(Recipe from Gina)

Ingredients:
1/2 cup apricot preserves
1 tbsp. rice wine vinegar
1 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes

Preparation:
Combine all & mix well.

The sauce isn’t necessary, but it adds more more flavor to them. Kind of gives them even more of a kick. I like the whole sweet and spicy combination, and this sauce is just that!

We enjoyed these yesterday while watching the NBA All Star game, which was right here in Orlando! It was pretty cool to see it take place here- only happens like once every 20 years.

Hope you have a great Monday! And if you need a little morning pick me up, you could always stop at Starbucks. I have a few excuses that you could use.

Full Body Weight Workout

I have a feeling this Monday is going to be even more rough than normal for most people. I bet quite a bit of you stayed up to watch the Super Bowl last night. As much as a football fanatic that I am, I did not stay up. I guess I’m still kind of spiteful, and think that the Ravens should have been in the big game. Don’t worry, I won’t go there. I will just keep my thoughts to myself.

The good news is that I think I’m almost over my cold….almost! I have been taking Mucinex & Sudafed like crazy. I always swear by Mucinex, I love the stuff. Every doctor I have gone to always recommends it to me. (for sinus infections)

I’m almost back to my old self.

I’ve been drinking lots of this to help with the symptoms. 😉

Nothing like Starbucks coffee to pick you right up!

I did a KICK butt workout on Saturday & then had a nice long run on Sunday. I haven’t talked much about my workout habits, only because I don’t want my blog to get too caught up in those subjects (eating/ working out); that is part of why I started this new blog. But I do want to share some of my favorite workouts with you; I know I get a lot of workout ideas from blogs, so I thought you might like me to share some of them with you. 🙂

This is a full body workout & it took me about an hour to complete. I also used heavy weight, so that on my last set I was at failure.

Exercise	Reps	Sets
Pushups on Bench (or incline pushup)	15	3
Supersetted with Dumbbell Rows	15	3
Barbell Deadlift	12	3
Supersetted with Dumbbell Sumo Squats	12	3
Bench Dips	15	3
Supersetted with Barbell Bicep Curls	12	3
Incline Dumbbell Bench Press	12	3
Supersetted with Wide Grip Assisted Pullups	12	3
Bulgarian Split Squats with a barbell on shoulders	12 each leg	3
Supersetted with Leg Extensions	12	3
Barbell Upright Rows	12	3
Supersetted with Barbell Military Presses	12	3
Cable Straight Bar Pushdown (for Tri’s)	15	3
Supersetted with Rope Attachment Cable Hammer Curls	15	3

Once I finished the weight part of my workout I did some ab exercises (like incline situps, planks, etc) & then did 20 minutes on the elliptical. I was POOPED by the time we left the gym.

I love doing longer workouts on the weekends, since we don’t have any time constraints, like my weekday morning workouts. It’s nice to be able to not have to worry about leaving in a certain amount of time.

If you want any specific types of workouts- let me know! I have a whole binder full of weight workouts- I’m really BIG on weight lifting. I love it!! I used to be a cardio freak- all I did was run a TON- like 6 miles everyday. But once I discovered weightlifting, my workouts changed entirely. Now I still run, but definitely not as many miles. (unless I’m training for a race) I love the feeling of lifting heavy, & I love how it tones my body.

Some of my favorite weight lifting blogs and websites are: One Fit Foodie, Julie GoLean, JillFit, Meals & Moves, and Body Building.com. If you are ever looking for weight workouts, I suggest checking out any of those sites!

20 Questions

Good Morning!

I saw this post on Christina’s(aka ‘Xtina’s) blog the other week & thought I would ‘borrow’ it from her. (thanks Christina 🙂 )I always love these surveys, and for new readers I figured you might like to get to know me a bit better!

1) What is one of your favorite ways to spend a Saturday?
Waking up with a cup of coffee (Starbucks in particular- extra bold), watching some shows that I have on DVR, going for a long run (or long workout at the gym), ordering take out food & enjoying a glass of wine with a movie. Sounds like a perfect day to me! 🙂

2) List your top three favorite TV shows.
1. Big Brother. I hate having to wait until the summer each year. They need a summer & winter Big Brother!
2.  Dexter…obsessed.. & I can’t wait for the new season.
3. Shameless- Craig & I just watched the whole first season & now I’m hooked. It’s such a good show & William H. Macy plays the perfect role.

3) Would you rather be in pictures or take them?
Take the pictures. You can ask my family & friends, I’m like the paparazzi. Whenever we have a get together I always have my camera!

4) Why do you blog?
Well I stopped for a while, and then I realized that I DO enjoy it- I like keeping in touch with family & friends. I also enjoy the ‘blogging community’ & I have met some genuine friends, which I would of never met if I didn’t blog.

5) Share five websites that you visit
Facebook
Twitter
Aol (my email)
Google Reader (have to catch up on my favorite blogs)
E! Online (Love the latest celebrity gossip)

6) If you could have lunch with one person from your Twitter list, who would it be? Lardarius Webb. Because he’s my favorite Ravens player. Love him ❤ …and I have met him before, but it was brief. I would love to be able to talk to him over lunch.

7) List a few of your favorite snacks.
Chobani Greek Yogurt (I eat it everyday, usually for lunch), Rice cakes (seriously…with peanut butter on them), peanuts (only salted), & blueberries.

8 ) Do you have a pet? If so, what kind?
Fish count ,right?! I have two betta fish- one at home, his name is 27…and one at work, his name is Webb. (wonder why that’s his name?! ;))
<—27

9) Which three material possessions would you struggle to live without?
Camera, chapstick (the green blistex…it’s the best), & toilet paper. (<—totally legit, right?!)

10) What’s your favorite drink?
Iced coffee from starbucks followed closely by ice water

11) Do you enjoy cooking?
LOVE it!

12) Do you have children?
Not yet, but definitely in the future!

13) What are your favorite hobbies?
Working out / Running, Reading, scrapbooking when I have time
<—Now isn’t that intimidating?! Yikes! 

14) Would you consider yourself to be shy or outgoing?
Outgoing, definitely. I’m little Miss Chatty Cathy, I could talk to a wall.

15) If you could change one thing about yourself, what would you change?
I would take away my Crohn’s disease. Blah!

16) Who is your favorite actor/actress?
Mark Wahlberg / Reese Witherspoon.
<—Oh, HELLO!

17) What’s the coolest thing you’ve done this week?
Ha! It’s only Tuesday. Yesterday was Monday…. So I would say it was pretty cool to get myself to work ontime. Go me. It’s the little things. 😉

18) Do you live near your family or far from them?
Most of my family is in Florida, most of Craig’s family is in Maryland.
<—My family
<—Craig’s family (well, my family now too!)

19) List three of your talents.
– Cooking/ baking- anything in the kitchen
-I have an eye for interior decorating- you might not be able to tell it quite yet, but our house is coming together room by room. We still have a lot planned to do & I can’t wait!
-I think I take pretty good pictures. It’s a work in progress, but hopefully soon I can truly call it a ‘talent.’

20) What is your greatest attribute?
I have a lot of motivation. I don’t give up easy. I am constantly pushing myself in life- at my job (always trying to move up in the company), in the gym (daily 5am workouts) , and in my relationships. I want to be the best that I can possibly be.

Now it’s your turn, tell me something about yourself that most people might not know.