9. First Paddle Board Outing

Monday I used another Living Social coupon to try out some fitness fun.  Paddle Boarding!

 I had to be at SUP Diego at 11:30 to check in and get the board on my car.  Driving with one of these on my car was an experience itself.  Definitely nerve racking to have a board creak and flop in the wind as you drive! Some how I managed to make it to our location around Tecolote shores without the board flying off.  We unloaded and hit the shore for a little instruction before hopping on.

Paddling is much like a canoe only your standing.  Paddle close to the board to go straight and wide to turn. Left side paddling turns you right and vice versa. Holding the handle at the top of the paddle gives you more power because you use your arms. The boards are very buoyant so it is just a matter of balancing while paddling.

As you can see from the picture below I started off on my knees until I learned to paddle with out turning my body.  Turning the body turns the board.

 It was a two hour excursion and I paddled for a little over an hour.  I won't bore you with the pictures of the super small island I paddled around.  Sore the next day from some newly found muscles but well worth it.  I love the water so this is a perfect fitness fit for me.  I will be on the board again soon adding another joyous adventure to this wonderful life!

Anyone else had a paddle board experience? or some other fitness fun activity?  Please share.

8. DIY Bathroom Update

Completed  Bath Reno

Buying a "fixer" house was not in the plans when we made the move to San Diego.  Things changed when we found a fantastic view (pic below) with a project house attached.  Keeping within the budget meant doing some projects ourselves.

One of my first projects was a half bathroom.  The wall color made it feel gloomy and did not match the yellow in the floor tile.  Both the tile and cabinets had patterns that did not complement each other.  I did not want to spend too much since our plan is to do a full redo in a few years.  What immediately came to my mind was, you guessed it, painting.

 I decided to go with a valspar color combo I saw at Lowe's...Muslin Wrap for the walls and Deep Walnut for the cabinets in a satin finish.  Muslin Wrap is an off white with a touch of yellow and Deep Walnut is deep brown.  I hoped the yellow touch would brighten up the area since it receives no natural light and complement the tile.  It worked almost too well.  The lighting in the bathroom made the yellow really stand out. I wanted to make the medicine cabinet less noticeable so decided to paint the trim the wall color.  Deep Walnut on the cabinets and mirror brought out the brown in the tile.  I used accessories I already had to add pops of green to the space.  We replaced the facet, lighting, and hardware to brushed nickel to complete the modern update. See some before and after.

Later I will post about my cabinet painting adventure with a few tips of dos and don'ts I learned the hard way.  Lots of work but well worth it.   I loved how it turned out in design and budget!  On to the next new DIY adventure.
What colors would you have chosen in this DIY project?

7. Herb Garden Pizza

Thought it was time for an herb garden update.  My herbs are growing and doing quite well.  I added a small second bed with more basil and parsley and an addition of mint.  Mint is a fav in tea, lemonade, mojito, and lots of other beverages! This a link to my first herb garden post if you missed. Herb Garden
Loving gathering these fresh herbs to make delicious dishes for my table.  One I recently made was a quick Herb Garden Pizza. This time I used a ready whole wheat crust instead of making my own.

Ingredients:

• Pizza Crust-ready made
• 2 Tablespoons Tomato sauce
• 1/4 cup cooked ground meat (turkey or beef)
• 10 to 12 Turkey pepperoni
• Veggies-1 Romo Tomato sliced, 1/4 cup Sauteed Spinach, 1/2 cup chopped Mushrooms and Zucchini, 1/2 roasted bell pepper
• Herbs-1 Tablespoon or so of chopped Rosemary, Parsley, and Basil
• Mozzarella cheese-lots for us,  around 8 oz shredded
• Cheddar cheese-amps up flavor, around 2 oz shredded

Layered all ingredients on pizza crust in following order:

Tomato sauce, Rosemary, Parsley, 1/3 cheeses, pepperoni, ground meat, 1/3 cheeses, zucchini, mushroom, spinach, parsley, basil, rest of cheeses, tomato, roasted bell pepper (only on my side, hubby does not like bell pepper)

Baked on pizza stone according to crust directions.  400F for 10 to 12 minutes.  Delish and so quick especially if you have already cooked the ground meat.  This is very easy to adapt to your families taste!

What are your favorite veggies or herbs to add to pizza?