Brewery #2 on my quest

I went to Schlafly bottleworks with my future sister in law this past week and it was awesome, like I knew it would be. We met after work so it was pretty late, but not so late that we still couldn't eat! We split their appetizer of soft pretzels with hefeweizen cheese sauce and we split a pizza (pepperoni and mushroom). It was delicious food!

But on to the more important part of the evening...the beer! :)

I liked pretty much all of these beers!

1) Pale Ale - This is a classic. Who doesn't like Schlafly Pale Ale?? It's a good beer that goes down smooth.

2) Hefeweizen - One of my favorites by Schlafly. It would have been better if it were the raspberry hefeweizen but regular hefe will do. :)

3) Kolsch - This is a light beer and pretty good. Not as good as the summer lager or the hefe in my opinion but definitely still good.

4) Dry Hopped IPA - Not a fan. But I figured I wouldn't be. I just don't like IPAs very much. Don't get me wrong, I still drank it all! Let's not get crazy but not my favorite. I'll drink it in a sample, but not as a pint.

5) Summer Lager - This is a great beer to drink outside at a picnic during the summer. It's light and has flavor and literally screams "summer". I like this beer and it's one of our favorites to get from Schnucks to just have around the house.

6) Oatmeal Stout - So incredibly pleasantly surprised by this beer. LOVED it. It's definitely heavier but I knew it would be. So much flavor, so delicious. Loved it.


Overall I had a great time at the Bottleworks in Maplewood. Good beer, good food, great company. :) Will definitely go there again and keep buying their beer! This brewery gets an A!

Second Weigh in

I was so bad this week. SO bad. I started at a new job and went through orientation where they give you food. I went out to Schlafly with my future sister in law and drank beer and ate pretzels and pizza. I ate ice cream. I was bad.

But even though I did all of those things, I still tried to eat better or eat less of the bad stuff. I only ate 1 pretzel and 2 pieces of pizza instead of 2 pretzels and 3 pieces. I ate a snack size McFlurry instead of a regular. And I made healthy dinners.

Somehow, I even managed to lose weight. I lost 2 lbs this week making my total 6.2 lbs lost. So I hit my first goal! And my second one is less than 3 lbs away. I'm going to be VERY good this week and hit that goal. I'm very proud of how this is going. I'm making it a lifestyle and not being too hard on myself and it's working. I'm even slowly getting back into exercising.

Yay for weight watchers and yay for my goals!! :) 5 1/2 months and counting!

Weigh in (a little late)

So I weighed in last week and I lost 4.2 lbs!! Woohoo!

However, my motivation has gone this week. I'm trying to get my act together but man all I want is sugar and ice cream and carbs and BAD BAD food!!

But I'm trying to straighten back out by Tuesday's weigh in. Yikes. Wish me luck!!

Weight watchers...AGAIN

So I broke down and joined weight watchers again. I know there are a million losing weight apps out there but they weren't working for me. I'm too stubborn. I need the accountability that weighing in at a weight watchers facility gives me. Someone else is going to see my weight. And I'm going to have a little book with a record of it. I MUST lose weight for those reasons alone!

So I joined on the 7th. I did my first official weigh in on the 9th. One week ago today. I weighed 182.4. Yikes. The highest "healthy" weight for my height is 169.0. So here are my goals (because if you know me at all, you know I like lots of small goals so I feel accomplished):

1) Let's start easy, 5 lbs. It's doable and a good number and makes me feel better about myself.
2) 5% of my body weight lost - so 9 lbs. So that would have me weighing in at 173.4. That's a good goal because it's close to that healthy range and it's halfway to 10% which has a TON of health benefits.
3) Getting to that healthy range of 169.0
4) 10% of my body weight lost - so 18 lbs and weighing in at 164.4.
And my last goal is: 5) Weighing 155-160. That's my goal range. The technical healthy range for my height is 135-169 but I think 155-160 is much more realistic for me.

So here we go. Today is my first weigh in. I'm going in 20 minutes. Hopefully I at least lost a lb! I've been sticking to it for the most part (who doesn't have cheat days?).

Last night I made an AMAZING meal from the weight watchers website. I'm going to share it here so I always have it. It was SO good and SO easy and I loved it. Nick probably didn't, but he'll survive. :)

It's chicken, tomato and basil packets!

You take a piece of foil and spray it with cooking spray. Then place one 4 oz piece of chicken in the center. Spread 1/4 tsp of minced garlic on the chicken. Then top with 1/8 tsp of each salt and pepper. Sprinkle 1 tsp of olive oil over the chicken and add 1/2 cup of grape tomatoes and 1/4 cup of fresh basil leaves around the chicken (or on top if they will stay). Fold the short ends of the foil up and fold over twice to make a good seal. Then fold the sides with a double fold to create another seal. Just make sure there is enough space in the packet for steam. Bake in an oven set to 450 degrees for 30 minutes. Be careful when opening because there's a lot of steam in there and it will be hot!

The chicken is So juicy and tender and just plain fantastic! And each packet is only 5 points!! I made those and cut up a cantaloupe, make some mixed veggies and had a salad (dressing on the side). Delicious and low in points. Loved it.

I think this is my time to finally hit my goal weight. My 30th is looming and I know I want to hit that goal weight before then. I have just under 6 months. I KNOW I can do it.

Granite City Brewing Company

Well one brewery down, just 14 to go!!

Some wonderful friends joined me for my first brewery in my quest. Abbie, Jim, Michelle and Ashley joined me at Granite City Brewing Company in Creve Coeur. I thought it was great!

First things first, I did a beer sampler platter. Four of their signature beers AND four of their seasonal beers for $3.95. And they are 5 oz samples. Um, Yes please! Good price, good drinks. I liked it.

I'm going to break down the beers as I liked them in case anyone ever goes there or in case I go back and forget how great some of them were. :)

The beer sampler!

1) Northern Light Lager - a little too light for me. It was the closest thing to Bud Light and I didn't like that. I know a lot of my friends liked it but I'd rather have more craft beer flavor in my beer.

2) Duke of Wellington India Pale Ale - I'm not normally a fan of IPA's, but this one was pretty good. It was a little hoppy for me, but good flavor overall.

3) Brother Benedict's Bock - This was a pretty good beer! Again, not my absolute favorite, but better than I thought it was going to be. I got a little nervous of the color. (It's a little dark and I love wheats and white ales so I was nervous, but it was good).

4) A double IPA that I didn't get the name of... - I was expecting to hate this. I LOVED it. I thought it was really good. Not my favorite but top 3 for sure.

5) A blend between the Northern Light and the Brother Benedict's Bock - This was ok. More flavor than just the Northern Light but again, just ok in my opinion. Which was a shame, because I loved the Bock but the Northern Light just brought it down.

6) A seasonal unfiltered wheat - #1. I loved this. It had such great flavor. Almost citrus-y without any fruit added. I wish I knew the name, but they just told me it was a seasonal wheat. I see they have the Whag's American Wheat on their menu so maybe this isn't seasonal and they were confused?? Hopefully because I'd love to try it again!

7) A white ale - Again, I love a white ale. Blue Moon, Shock Top, White Rascal, love those beers. This was a good beer, but nothing compared to the Wheat.

8) A blend between the Duke of Wellington India Pale Ale and the Northern Light - This was decent. But since I didn't love the IPA and I didn't love the Northern Light, it was just ok in my book.

Overall, good beer sampler (can't beat that price!) and everyone else liked the food (I didn't eat since I started weight watchers and was using all my points on beer!). I give this brewery a B+.

Here are a few pics of the night:

 The menu at GC Brewery

 My sampler - what a deal right?!?!

Me enjoying a nice sample. :)

One down and 14 to go. Hopefully going to hit up Urban Chestnut in a few weeks. Can't wait!!

BSN, RN

Need I say more? 

Heck yeah! :)

St. Louis Breweries - The NEW Quest!

Here's a list of breweries I found on google...

Urban Chestnut
Six Row
Morgan Street Brewery
Anheuser Busch
Buffalo Brewing C
Four Hands Brewing Co
Schlafly Bottleworks
Civil Life Brew
Kirkwood Station Brewing Co
Alpha Brewing Co
Perennial Artisan Ales
Granite City Food and Brewery
Ferguson Brewing Co
Trailhead Brewing Co
Square One Brewery


And here's the list of the TOP ST. LOUIS BREWERIES:

Anheuser Busch
Schlafly Bottleworks
Square One Brewery
Urban Chestnut Brewing
Morgan Street Brewery
Six Row Brewing
Buffalo Brewing


So that being said, I think this should definitely be my new list to conquer. 15 breweries on the first list and 7 of them listed as the top of St. Louis. Who's coming with me?!?! I bet each one offers a 'flight' and I can try a flight at each one. I'm game.

This above list, the list of 15, is my new quest. And I'm really excited about it actually!!

30 x 30 - 6 months to go...

I'm not doing so hot on this 30 x 30 thing! But I have 6 months to finish...

Here's what's left:

1) Run a half marathon - DONE!

 
2) Watch the Star Wars Trilogy - DONE!

3) Learn a foreign language - bought a book...working on it. ;)

4) Have 2 of my 4 children - DONE!

5) Take up golf - This has been a weird summer to try this! Rain, rain, rain, 100 degrees...rain, rain, rain. Plus with the three kids, this is harder, but I have 6 months. We'll see!

6) Write a short story - In progress...

7) Complete an indoor triathlon - DONE!

8) Watch Gone with the Wind - DONE! And I loved it!!

9) Watch the Godfather - DONE!

10) Play in a poker tournament at a casino - still need to do this. I can do this anytime really...just need to practice a bit and go do it!

11) Decorate the kids rooms - Need to do this still. Again, an easy one, just have to do it.

12) Shoot a gun - DONE! I went to a shooting course with my neighbor Jeff. I wasn't any good at it. At all honestly. But I shot a gun and can cross it off my list. And I don't need to do it again. :) 

13) Go back to school - DONE!

14) Learn to drive a stick shift - Tonight was another reason why I need to do this. SOON

15) Learn to french braid hair - DONE-ish...needs a little work but does look like a french braid!

16) Get into cooking - With some extra time off now, this is in progress.

17) Finish entertainment center - DONE!

18) Register to vote in St. Louis City - DONE!

19) Consistently dedicated one night a month to a date night - Haven't done this yet but think July is a great month to start.

20) Start a savings account - Starting this as soon as I get my first paycheck as a nurse. :)

21) Make my own recipe - Still must do this...

22) Go back to Signature Room in Chicago - This is looking more and more like it won't happen, but maybe!!

23) Go on a family vacation with my whole family - We have this one planned!!! Unfortunately it's planned for a few months after I turn 30, but it's before I'm thirty one so I'm counting it.

24) Start college funds for the kids - Again, starting with the first big girl paycheck.

25) Consistently have a clean house - Getting MUCH better about this!! I'll call this in progress.

26) Get into exercising 3x a week - Am exercising, just not 3 times a week. Working on it.

27) Reach my goal weight -Been trying on my own but I just can't do it. I succumb to temptation too easily. Re-joining weight watchers and I KNOW that will help.

28) Try every beer on the list at Growlers - Growler's closed...so now I'm not sure what to do. I like the idea of drinking being on my list though. :) So I think I'm going to do a brewery list. I'll make that another post, but try to have a drink at each of the breweries in St. Louis. There are a LOT so this will be fun I think. Or make a "golf" pub crawl. Try to go to 9 bars in a day. Drink 1-2 drinks at each one. Make those the "holes". Maybe? No? I'm crazy? We'll figure something out.

29) Read the Lord of the Rings trilogy - Dang, still working on this.

30) Become a nurse!! - DONE DONE DONE!!!

Obviously this is going to be some work still, but I'm definitely working on it. I think I can, I think I can, I think I can. 

 

12 done and just 18 to go. 

 

Maybe I can change it to 30 things I do before my 31st birthday and I'm still 30? Maybe that will count?!? Something to think about...

So thankful!

For the past month or so, I've been terrified that I wasn't going to get to keep my new job. There have been layoffs and offers rescinded due to low census and I was afraid that I would be one of those numbers. But I got the word last week that I'm not one of them. I'm actually one of the VERY FEW who get to start my new job in April. I'm thrilled beyond words.

So the countdown begins. :) 2 weeks from today I start my orientation. THANK GOODNESS!!!