Days 142, 143, & 144: 16 Houses, 1 Recipe, 1 mini binge and 2 Exhausted Peeps

Thursday was pretty much done (crazy apartment complex day!). But, as I mentioned, I still made Kitchen Parade’s Spiced Yogurt Chicken – SO GOOD. Here is the recipe for 2 servings:

· 1/8 cup fat-free plain yogurt
· 1 tbsp lemon juice
· 1 tsp olive oil
· ½ teaspoon salt
· 1/8 tablespoon chili powder
· 1/8 tsp cumin
· 1/8 tsp coriander
· 1/8 tsp black pepper
· 1/16 tsp cinnamon
· 8 oz skinless, boneless chicken breasts
Sauce: 1/8 cup fat-free yogurt, lemon juice, and cilantro.

In a large bowl, whisk together all ingredients except chicken. Stir in the chicken, coating well. Marinate at room temperature for 20 minutes. Stir together sauce ingredients in small bowl. Cook chicken in sauce on a pan set to medium until just cooked through, about 10 - 12 minutes (6 minutes per side). While the chicken is cooking, we made 6 oz. of angel hair. We put the pasta on the plate, sprayed it with butter and salt, then topped with chicken and sauce. YUMMMM. You could easily make it low carb by putting in on salad – good, good stuff. After dinner me and Austin got to work– picking out 14 houses to see (hopefully this weekend). We talked a lot and agreed that we’re motivated, we’re ready, and we’re excited to get out with our awesome, awesome realtor Amanda from Keller Williams. By the end of the night we were exhausted, but excited and ready to get to it and get OUT of awful post properties. At the end of the day I had 1,498 calories, 217 carbs and 31 fat grams – not bad. Wish I hadn’t skipped the gym, but what are you going to do? Here’s what I ate.

Friday was intense! Austin reached out to Amanda first thing and she got back with us immediately – we were set – 11 houses (1 was an expired listing and 2 were under contract) on Saturday, and this time we’d ride together (our second time out with her). Yay! Work flew by and before I knew it it was 12, time to go shopping! You guys… I always find stuff at these sales. Always. Amazing deals, buy one get one free designer jeans. You name it. I don’t know what it was. I don’t know if it’s because I had houses and furniture and appliances on the brain, or if I just couldn’t find what I was looking for (jeans/tops – everything was coats/shoes which I have MORE than enough of). Either way, I bought NOTHING. I mean it – not one thing. Craziness. And it wasn’t for lack of trying – I was there for at least 2 hours. But alas, I left having only spent $2 to park. I headed home to chill with Reuben at 3 but the construction was so bad I headed to the gym and walked 4 miles and did abs. Not bad! I got home, hopped in the shower, cooked pizza muffins for me and Austin (he had a happy hour), and headed over to our friends’ for a chill night (a couple that’s getting married in May and we’re both in the wedding!). We had a blast hanging out, playing drinking games, catch phrase, etc.! We left around 2 and went to bed, ready for the next day! I had a high day (I know, shock with all of that drinking!), ending up at 1,879 calories, 188 carbs and 33 fat grams. Not awful, and with the cardio factored in it was a pretty good day! Here’s what I ate.

Saturday we got up at 10, had breakfast and were off to meet Amanda at her Brookhaven office. We set off and, to give a quick recap, did not find what we were looking for. We didn’t go into 4 (2 bad neighborhoods; 2 bad driveways/lots – one steep up/one steep down and), we only went into the bottom floor of 3 (just not for us; too chopped up, too much work, odd, etc.) and the other 5 all had great things about them – just not for us (weird layout, too small for pool table, too small period, etc.). We DID find some neighborhoods we liked a lot, we narrowed our search more, and we even found a house for sale as we were driving around and Amanda immediately called the realtor and got us in – it was our favorite of the day – SO CLOSE to what we wanted… but the basement where the pool table would go had a wall in the way… and the wall had a powerbox. Amanda, being awesome, knows EVERYTHING – and if she’s unsure she’s on the phone right there on the spot, getting you an answer from someone with more expertise (i.e. question about cabinets or low-baring walls). So she was on the phone with someone asking if you could move a powerbox (yes), if so how much, etc. We would have put in an offer on the spot, but the price was already at our ceiling (before the demo/powerbox work) and the yard was not good…. Not bad but SMALL. So we didn’t do anything… but it’s still on our minds… We got done early and went to her office, spending an hour picking her brain, going over contracts, asking tons of questions (none of which she couldn’t answer IMMEDIATELY). She said she would pull more listings in the area with basements and we could go back out tomorrow – wow! We left feeling so confident in what our next steps ours, so confident that Amanda is the perfect realtor for us and feeling SO CLOSE to finding what we want. We got home, took naps, showered, then got the email from Amanda with more houses. We quickly pared them down to 6 and emailed her back, she made appointments and told us she’d see us at 12:45 Sunday to go back out again! YAY – we were on clouds we were so excited. We made some lean cuisines and picked up the house a little for our friends coming over that night!! We had a great night – lots of Rock Band, pool, card games and chatting! We have such good friends, and always have a blast. They left at 3 a.m. Yes, another late night with another early morning – eek! Believe it or not, I didn’t have a high day! I came in at 1,548 calories, 142 carbs and 26 fat grams. Close – but not bad!! Here’s what I ate.

Today I woke up EXHAUSTED at 8:30 (why 8:30? I don’t know!). I couldn’t sleep, I was so excited. Me and my sister had plans to meet at Pottery Barn at 10 for the design class so I got up, got ready, ate breakfast and met her there! We had a great time learning from the cool guy who taught the class, then we spent an hour walking the store, talking about likes/dislikes, ideas, etc. I updated her on the house stuff, she updated me on her house stuff and we just had a great, great time as always. At 10 after 12 I had to go though! So I flew home, ate a sandwich/chips, grabbed Reuben (he got to come today!) and we headed out for 5 houses (1 was under contract). Let me just say no. no, no, no, no. None were as close as the ones yesterday. I was sad, tired, frustrated and just beat. So I caved…. I got a small bag of sour patch kids. Then I ordred a PIZZA. Yes, a pizza. I haven’t ordered a pizza since I started this blog! OMG! You know what – I wanted it and it is what it is. A yummy mushroom pizza was what I needed! Haha I got home, ate 2 slices and passed out for 2 hours. Now I’ve just been trying to play catch up – I feel SO behind with our meal plan, cooking, laundry, etc. so I’m trying to get it back together! I have not even pretended to put all of this in Spark People for today but let’s just go ahead and say I had a high day today – eek! Me and Austin are now in bed on our laptops (me writing you; him looking at houses) watching some episodes I tivoed of Man Caves! Haha Love it – trying to get ideas for how people lay out their basements around the pool table. Anyway – I can’t wait to get over to your blogs and catch up!

P.S. The house photo is our favorite house that needs the demo/power box work done in the basement. The last photo is in Pottery Barn - I LOVE a trunk at the end of a bed, and I thought the pictures over the bed were clever (it's a placemat in each frame - AWESOME!). :)