Christmas Sweaters, Shrimp Scampi, & Weekend Recap!

December 17, 2013 -
4 comments, add yours

Hi all! Happy Tuesday! Up & at it this morning with 6 am spin & some hamstring work! I always try and work on some lifting as well after spin class – call me crazy but I swear my legs are even more warmed up/flexible after spin! 

It’s funny because usually I am so focused on what I’m doing in spin but today I had thoughts of a story I feel like I should share was going through my head. Instead of stressing over it or feeling like “omg I need to share this right this very second” – I breath into it, knowing that I am having this intuition for a reason & maybe someone needs to hear the story. 

My soul sister Heather would totally advise me to take this as a sign to share so that means a bit of a deep post will be coming to you at some point this week! I’m going to let my fingers flow & hopefully my story will help someone out there possibly going through what I went through.

So let’s get to a weekend recap, shall we? Can you believe Christmas is next week!! I swear these months go flying by. With the Holiday’s come some awesome Christmas Sweater Parties. Corey’s co-workers were getting together & sweaters were a must! 

As I traveled around looking for sweaters for him earlier in the day – I walked through the decorating isle of Wal Mart & BOOM! IDEA! He was just going to be one big present. So I bought a $4 big red bow & some safety pins. He turned a dark green shirt inside out & his outfit was ready – along with about 45 bandaids underneath from all of the safety pins…just kidding! But seriously, I suggest taking your time whenever you pin the bow.

It’s also really entertaining to have him pump the gas in his bow.
We had a lot of fun with our friends- especially our buddy Kraig, aka Mr. Red Pants. LOVED it! I mean, when you don’t have a sweater you can always just buy some tight red pants & call it a day. Or you can rock a sweater that your mom wore back in the 80’s like I did – shoulder pads & all!
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The weekend was also filled with some fueling EATS! per usual.

Breakfast power oats: 3/4 cup rolled oats + a few TB chia seeds + 1 Cup So Delicious coconut milk heated up then topped with VEGA Choc-o-lot Protein Smoothie “pudding” & Trader Joes Freeze Dried bananas.

The pudding was just a scoop of the Smoothie Mix combined with enough coconut milk to make it thick like pudding. Then I just popped it into the freezer for a bit to make it cold – because I like most of my food cold & the combo of cold & warm was legit.

While I was at Trader Joes last week, I picked up some frozen Wild Salmon – my favorite! I used it throughout the weekend for meals! I let it defrost, sprayed with grapeseed oil spray, sprinkled with old bay, & dill. 

Baked at 400 for about 12-15 minutes until done. Had it with some roasted carrots, parsnips, basmati rice (love it & so does my digestion), coconut aminos, (iherb.com coupon code XUG228), and some green peas. I am a huge green pea lover – so simple & sweet!

I also made us dinner another night with the same salmon, roasted veggies, & a brown rice quinoa blend (Uncle Bens).
Saturday night we hung out with Corey’s parents & his mom Gale makes the best shrimp scampi over rice!! She actually made everything separate and then we all just ate it family style & combined it all on our plate.

She sautéed the shrimp in a pan with garlic & oil until done. Roasted the veggies (sprayed with oil & seasonings) in the oven at about 350 for about 25-30 minutes until tender & boiled the brown rice separately. The scampi sauce was a packet of scampi seasoning mixed with some olive oil & lemon juice – so simple but really hit the spot.

She was so cute and got so excited whenever I said I was going to put her cooking on Instagram & she totally blushed whenever people asked for the recipe!

Hanging out on the couch & relaxing after dinner is my favorite, especially when we take out the old year books to go through. Fun side note: Corey was most athletic in high school with one of my best friends Courtney!

How funny? AND ironic! Courtney and I met in college & she was my workout bud daily with our girl Lindsey! Court actually introduced me to Corey on a double date with her & her now fiancé. I’ll be in their wedding next Fall! SUCH a small world!

This might be one of my favorites of all time – little Corey in his barney t-shirt. How cute! ;] I love going through old pictures.

After a weekend with Corey’s family, I got to spend some time with my fam as well! On my mom’s side, our family has truly grown. I can’t get over how fast we are all growing up & how our family keeps expanding! We all live in different areas & states so all of us in one picture, let alone one room, hasn’t happened in such a long time. My Aunt had us all over & an epic family picture took place!

This room was filled with so much love & it was so nice to see everyone! We were missing a few that were still at school or in another state, but their love was definitely present.

We haven’t seen my cousins from Florida in a while so I got to meet my little cousin Kamdon for the first time! My cousin Kelly had him almost a year ago & he is just TOO adorable! Such a happy little guy. Gosh, the smile of a baby can totally brighten your day.

I’m off to get ready to teach my POWER HOUR class then running a bunch of errands & catching up on laundry! I hope you have a great day!

BE TRUE TO YOU,

xo Kasey


What’s the most creative DIY project you’ve done for the Holiday’s? Or any time really!


Now that I have my iPad – Pinterest happens a lot more now & I am suckered into so many DIY ideas!! If we haven’t yet – let’s connect on Pinterest!! 

Category: be true to you, Blog, Recipe

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4 responses to “Christmas Sweaters, Shrimp Scampi, & Weekend Recap!”

  1. i just adore your blog.
    I have a few questions:

    Do you track your macros or intuitive eat?
    How do you get over dogma like grains are bad paleo etc.
    thanks girl1

    • Kasey says:

      Thank youuuu!! ;] I appreciate that so much! I will totally answer your questions & they are good ones!! 1) After I got through my competing where I tracked everything (and was totally undereating) so for a good 2 years I just intuitively ate. I was dealing with a lot of stomach allergies so it was always trial and error. After I got some things back on track with how my digestion was feeling, I felt that I truly wasn’t eating enough still. My energy was kind of low & my workouts felt they needed more fuel so I did some research and came across Dr. Layne Norton (phd and personal trainer) who teaches people aboout how many macros they really should be consuming and it often times is more than we think. I plugged my info into the one website I posted about in this post and found that with my height,weight, activity level,and other factors – I should be eating 2000+ calories. I plugged in a normal day of eating for myself into a food calc and found that I was about 300-400 cals under that even though I thought I was eating more! I tracked macros for about a month just to make sure I Was eating ENOUGH which was so liberating because for so long I worried about eating too much without really knowing the science behind it. This also totally helped change my outlook on “off limit” food that I used to tell myself I couldn’t eat certain “unhealthy” foods. I started to see that I needed the carbs, fats, & proteins and if I got all of my fiber, vitamins, minerals in for the day – why not enjoy some cereal or white rice or chocolate covered raisins if I want – I truly have found that moderation & balance has changed my life for the better. I don’t track so closely now since I have a good handle on how much my body needs and I really do listen to my body- If I’m hungry- I eat! I definitely intuitively eat the foods I choose and that my gut likes – I’ve tried paleo before a few years ago but I was over-doing animal protein and my digestion got bad…then I was eating 100% plant based for a few months that totally helped my digestion! After a few months I found myself craving some eggs or meat so I started to introduce it back slowly & found that more “moderation” of these foods worked best for me and my digestion! SO basically this goes to show that I truly live by my motto – be true to you! My digestion is my number one priority & having energy & eating ENOUGH to fuel my workouts and lifestyle is key for me. It’s all about finding what works for you! Some days I want tacos & some days I want an omelet and then some days I want some tempeh with hummus! I’ve found the foods that I feel best eating and I just like to share different ways to prepare them! I also love oats & rice and my body does too so again, doing what works for me! Fueling my body properly, taking care of myself, eating enough, & also living in balance and moderation with all foods that I truly want to enjoy! Life is too short to be too complicated with food labels – finding a way that works for you and just owning it while accpeting others for their choices! ;] I hope this helps!!!! <3 #betruetoyou

  2. I have hand sewn a Christmas decoration out of felt as part of a craft afternoon with friends. I was meant to make more than 1 but it took me so long to sew just 1 I’ve not had the patience to make more 😉

    Sounds like you had a great weekend. Drooling at all of your eats as per usual.

    Can’t wait to hear about that story you were thinking about during spin.

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