A few weeks back I found a bunch of neat tupperware at our base's MCX that were on sale. I love tupperware and kitchen gadget type things that make organizing or doing things easier. These came in a bunch of different colors and all varieties! The brand is called Sistema and it's their To Go line I'm specifically jazzed about. What I really love about them is that they snap and lock shut, sealing in anything you may have that's liquid. I'm always throwing snacks into my bag for work and I'm so afraid one day something will pop open and make a giant mess. I don't have to worry about that with these.

In addition to the ones I found at MCX I also found the exact same brand (and even more than just the To Go line) at our local Marshall's! They are priced very well in my opinion for what they do. I'm always looking for easy and convenient ways to try and bring healthy snacks and lunches to work and these help a lot. I'll show you the ones that I have and link you to their website. You can then check out Amazon on your own if you'd like.


This is the Breakfast To Go system. It has a large pot, with a smaller nesting pot that sits on top. On the bottom of the nested pot is a collapsible spoon so you don't even have to worry about bringing your own utensils. I do what they show here with granola in the bottom and yogurt in the top. When I'm ready I dump the yogurt into the granola and mix. It's probably good for keeping oatmeal too, maybe? I have the blue one.



This one is the 2L Triple Split. It is quite deep and comes with a small "yogurt pot" with a screw on cap. It's larger than it appears. I have put lemon curd in the pot and stick it in the large compartment with a bunch of mini orange-cranberry muffins. In the other two spots I've put grapes and cubes of cheese cut similar in size to the grapes, and then maybe two hard boiled eggs in the second small compartment. Even then I still have room! I have this in hot pink.


This is the salad system. It's pretty much self explanatory. What I like most that is different from other salad to go systems I've had is that there is a separate tray to put extras that you don't want getting soggy. I like to add chicken, cheese, and croutons. There is a small pot in the middle for your dressing. I believe I have this in blue.


Last but not least is the Lunch Cube. These come in two sizes, a 1L and a 2L. I have the smaller one (it's the only one available when I purchased the first set). There are three compartments. The sandwich compartment has it's own lid to keep your sandwich separate from the other compartments. The only difference between the two sizes is that the larger one is deeper, deep enough to probably stack two sandwiches inside the sandwich compartment. I have a green one.

Go to their website! They have soooooo many types and they are all freezer, microwave, and dishwasher safe and have snap-locking lids. http://sistemaplastics.com/

Have you ever known you should be working out but you are way too interested in the show you're watching? I feel like that all the time. I've found a fun way to incorporate workouts to your TV schedule! I think these would be fun to do with friends over too but you can just as easily do them alone.

So I realize it's almost a whole week late but I've been crazy busy. I got a little promotion at work so I was sent away to another location for official training and I have spent almost more time in my car driving to and from my training location than I did actually working. It was miserable. I got to carpool with some of the awesome ladies who were also training and that lived near my area but still... I'm glad to be home in my own branch :)

So last weekend someone started a Facebook post about Norman Reedus being in my town. My town is tiny. Most people don't know where it is and when you tell them the name half the time they don't believe you. It's near the southwest edge of the Mojave desert. Nothing big ever happens out here, so when you hear Norman Reedus is in town you can bet everyone is out looking for him.

In case you're unaware, Norman Reedus is currently most know for playing Daryl Dixon on AMC's The Walking Dead, he's the badass zombie hunter that rides a motorcycle and uses a crossbow. Others may know him from Boondock Saints. In either case, the girls love him.

As soon as I heard he was at one of our local bars (with pictures someone posted as proof!) I squealed and danced all over the house and called my friend from work. We planned to go look for him. We had some leads but they were all from about an hour or two prior. There were many stories of why he was here, where he was staying, and so on. One story was that he was visiting his sister whose husband is stationed out here in the military. I'm not sure whether that was true or not but what was really the case was he was doing an independent (french foreign?) film called "Sky" I believe. He was here for the weekend and eventually people were able to figure out where he was staying and which trailer park he was filming at. Like I said, it's a small town and we are a pretty chatty community. Word gets around fast.

Anyway my friend and I (leaving my husband at home) took off in search for him. We checked the bar (twice), the bowling alley, a few places on base, the pool hall, and so on. We never found him, but it was such a fun little adventure. Nothing this exciting ever seems to happen. If you look back a few days on Reedus' Instagram he posted a few pictures, so did his fellow actress he was filming with. Hopefully they return to shoot some more stuff!

As you may know, gym memberships can be pricey. And sometimes with the cheaper, smaller gyms there aren't enough pieces of equipment for the number of people in the gym and you have to wait around for what you want to use.

Here's some good news! You don't need to go to the gym! You can workout at home with little or no equipment. Don't waste money on a gym membership unless you plan on doing some serious weight lifting or something. I'll show you a workout you can do at home that I found online that basically only require the floor and a chair, a mat is optional if you want a little extra cushion but not necessary.

Australian Shepherds are a very active breed. Some say the most active. And we have two (who are still puppies might I add). They should be more well-behaved than they are, we are still working on the "no jumping" and "no eating the humans' hair" but I ran across an agility starter set at Marshal's last weekend and after doing some prior research into agility kits online this one for $19.99 was a real steal. Others, which I admit are much better quality, can be very pricey. We wanted to practice over the weekend but we got rain and since we live in the desert our yards are all dirt. I think you can figure out what rain + dirt equals with pets. So I finally broke it out today and set it up and started training the puppies one at a time. But first we played Frisbee

Dixie makes cute grunting noises while trying to flip it in the dirt

Happy squinty puppy!

I worked with Dixie first because she seems to catch on a lot quicker than her brother, Diesel. With my treat bag on my hip and a clicker in my hand I started showing her through the three obstacles then just focused on one. We have a tunnel, a hoop to jump through, and the weaving poles. We started with the tunnel today.



Dixie picked it up pretty quick. I was able to get her to go through the tunnel a few times without a treat and a few times she went even though I didn't queue her. But she was very focused and kept looking to me for instructions. Nothing seemed to really distract her. Luckily both dogs had no fear of the tunnel, it was windy and kept trying to blow away but they weren't afraid of it.

Diesel took a little more time to get him to go through the tunnel. He preferred to jump on top of it and watch it spring back up. He just wanted the treats!

No scary circus this weekend. Which is a good thing I guess. This Sunday Fun Day post actually happened on Friday! I had to go out to Temecula for a dental cleaning (ughhhhh) so I spent a little time out there. My parents took me to a few stores to shop and after my cleaning to The Habit, a burger restaurant. I got a few things for the house, picked up some supplies for my Valentine's Day journals I plan on making (Visit my Etsy Shop: Journals By K).

My mom bought me a new purple sparkly top for work. I found the "love you more" sign, sports bra, and doggy outdoor agility kit at Marshal's, also the butter dish. The paper came from Hobby Lobby, I was lucky they were having a 50% off all scrapbooking supplies sale going on!

I had a few questions after last week's Fitness Friday post so I thought I'd go over some of the things I have at home to help me track and maintain a good fitness level!

First off I'll explain the scale I use. I cannot find the exact same one I own as I bought it a few years ago, but I have found one similar on Amazon.
My Body Composition Scale

Mine does not come with the remote display pictured here but this is exactly what it looks like. There are 9 programmable users (we just use two for myself and Hubby) and it comes with a disc with software for your computer so you can actually connect the scale via USB cable and upload your data. It doesn't do anything amazing with it, it just graphs each category separately, but if you're a visual person I suppose it's helpful. It will read your weight (obviously), body fat percentage, muscle percentage, body water, and bone density. It comes with a pamphlet that shows what is "normal" for your age, gender, and size too because when you program it you actually input your age, gender, and frame (average or athletic). I think I only paid around $20 for mine, but it's very basic.

I also have a Fitbit that my husband bought me last year for either Valentine's Day or my birthday, they are so close together I don't remember. Anyway I got the basic bracelet one that tracks activity and sleep. They run you between $90-$100 depending on where you buy. They come with two interchangeable bands (plus you can now buy many more colors online as well) in small and large. I like the sleep tracking bit because you can see if you toss and turn or sleep soundly. I need to get mine out and charge it. You can set goals on program it comes with as well as the free app and when you double tap your band it has tiny LED indicators that show how close you are to your goal for the day. It also will vibrate when you reach your goal and you can set an alarm with the app so you can wake up without the alarm waking the person in bed with you, it vibrates on your wrist until you tap it a few times.
Fitbit Flex on Amazon


Finally we have pretty much an entire home gym at the house. It's cost a little bit of money but most of it we made in payments or bought as gifts for holidays or birthdays. Christmas 2013 Hubby bought me the complete Zumba DVD program with the weighted shakers to dance with. We also have a Total Gym with the Ab Workout accessories and the weight bar +weights. We just recently bought a weight rack for them because they were all over the floor. We have some of the gimmicky things too like the Ab Carver (actually is a lot harder than it looks, I'm too weak to do one rep properly but even the one rep kills my abs!) and the Perfect Pushup. We have a few yoga mats, resistance bands, and Hubby just bought himself a used TRX Force system (TRX designed to be used on tanks and tracks out in the field or on deployments, specifically for military use) and we also have a punching bag and gloves. I can't forget the treadmill we have sitting out in the garage gathering dirt because we never used it. He bought it way before he met me, never even used it then. I'll post some pictures and links below!
Zumba Fitness DVD set
Total Gym
Basic TRX System
TRX Force: Tactical

Even though we have our own home gym and really have no need to go to a gym, being military we have access to our base gyms for free and I prefer going there if I'm with a friend. Our gyms offer just about anything you can think of including a rock climbing wall and a high-altitude simulating chamber. I went with my friend today to get our workout on. Will be continuing to go but I also plan on doing my Zumba DVDs as well. I did one the other day with the cat, but the cat wasn't much motivation... Let me know some of your favorite fitness gadgets in the comments below! I'm always interested in hearing about what everyone else uses!

When the husband and I decided on getting a dog we had only decided on one. We knew we wanted a boy red merle and to name him Dixon. being fans of The Walking Dead (and Daryl, duh) I thought of the name Dixon after the two brothers, Merle and Daryl Dixon. And since we were set on getting a merle Aussie it fit perfectly.

After our first visit with the puppies and picking out Dixon I received a call from the breeder that all the males in that litter (there were 2 litters, one with merles and one with tri-colored) had to be put down due to the fact that their spines were not actually neurally connected to their hips. They'd never be able to walk and would always be in pain. We weren't going to be able to bring home Dixon.

Baby Dixon (4 weeks)

Instead, we took his sister, also a red merle. Merles have a history of having medical problems and if a merle and a merle are bred the offspring will almost always be both deaf and blind. It runs in the genes of those types.

Dixie (6 weeks)

Sad and disappointed we went back for another visit to ultimately decide if we would take the girl. She was absolutely adorable and spunky and hoppy like a bunny. We couldn't have a Dixon, so we named her Dixie instead.

Dixie (6 weeks)

The day we were supposed to meet the breeder and pick up Dixie we got a call asking if we were interested in taking a second puppy. A black-tri from the other litter had a family lined up to take him home but they changed their mind at the last minute. It was a boy, and Hubby still wanted a boy. So we took him, and named him Diesel.

Dixie & Diesel's First Ride Home (8 weeks)

We were happy that they were brother and sister and would be able to keep each other company but it has been chaos trying to potty train and teach two extremely hyperactive puppies. They can be buttheads but we still love them anyway. Dixie loves to play frisbee and Diesel just like to sit at our feet. He is the definition of "velcro dog." Dixie is a quick learner and listens most of the time. Diesel does his own thing and won't listen to a thing we say. It's a work in progress. They are almost 8 months old now.

Dixie (~10 weeks)

Diesel (~11 weeks)

Dixie (7 months)

Diesel (7 months)

Dixie & Diesel chasing their friend around their critter sitter's yard

I had initially planned a Tasty Tuesday post but I honestly don't have anything prepared. I attempted to take pictures for my New Year's Day roast but by the time it was finished Hubby was so hungry I dished out his plate and mine and forgot to take the end photos. Oops. So instead I'm going to post a Tuesday 10 and for my list of 10 items I'm going to post my New Year's Resolutions. I planned a Friday 15 but I can't come up with 15 resolutions anyway so it all works out!

1. Workout - Lose Weight - Get Fit

First Monday of the month I want to do my #MCM (Man Crush Monday), partly because there are so many people out there who should be recognized for their work!

This week's #MCM is Alec Utgoff. I feel like in the U.S. most people would recognize him as one of the villains from the movie Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit. I don't want to give away too much if you've never seen the movie (and want to) but he plays the son to the main Russian villain. His character is Aleksandr and he spends his time in the U.S. working under the direction of his father who is still in Russia.

(Source: IMDB)

In addition to Jack Ryan, he's been in The Tourist (with Johnny Depp and Angelina Jolie) and will be appearing in two upcoming films (both of which I'm super excited about): San Andreas (with The Rock, a disaster film based on the San Andreas fault line) and Mortdecai (credited just below Johnny Depp, Ewan McGregor, Gwyneth Paltrow, Paul Bettany, and Jeff Goldblum).

On the set of Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit (Source: Google)

If you have Netflix Jack Ryan and his film The Seasoning House are available and if you have Hulu (free or Plus) you can watch the original series The Wrong Mans (season 1 and season 2/ep 1 are free, the rest of season 2 you need Hulu Plus). The Seasoning House is about a group of young women being prostituted to the Russian military with one deaf/mute orphan in charge of taking care of the girls. When she sees her chance to escape she takes it, that's when most of the movie plot takes place, as they are trying to get her back. The Wrong Mans is on the complete opposite end of the spectrum and is a hilarious British comedy about two guys who get framed for a murder they didn't commit and now they are trying to get themselves out of trouble but only keep running into more. Again, Alec's role is that of the Russian villain.

Josif - The Seasoning House

Alec was born in Kiev, Ukraine, but moved to the UK at a young age and pursued acting. I don't know what it is about that Russian-type look but I'm always drawn right into them, especially when they are close to my age. I think their cute, I cannot explain why. (Side note: I used to be obsessed with Anthony [Anatoliy] Federov from season 4 of American Idol, he too was from Kiev). Since he was born in Ukraine, but did schooling in the UK, he is fluent in both Russian and English (among other languages) so he has both the Russian accent and the English accent. I don't think it can get more adorable than that. I'll link to a few video clips below so you can see what I mean. (Source: IMDB Biography)

This link will take you to a clip from The Wrong Mans where he is playing a Russian character (the accent is adorable, can't help it haha)
http://youtu.be/Vsj5Mc91kCg?t=15m23s

These clips below are interviews with his English accent