Yin + Yang

Life is all about balance... so I present to you, today's yin and yang. (In my head, yin=good, yang=bad, so let's go with that.)

Yin = I don't have a heart problem.

At least, I don't think so. Ever since my "episode" in December at the gym I've been really freaked out. And have had two other instances of dizziness and lightheadedness at the gym since. Today I finally went to the doc and got an EKG, blood tests, etc. Turns out I'm just mildly anemic. I still have to go take a treadmill stress test just to be sure, but I'm very happy the initial verdict is that I won't die. Happy Monday!

Yang = I have no sense of fashion.

I'll admit that this down of the day is much less important than the the upside. But for a girl, it's very disheartening. Recently, in my quest to find blogs to read that are healthier than The Pioneer Woman and Bakerella, I've stumbled across new reads. My favorite, is Kendi Everyday. Not only is she super cute and from Texas, she also touts the benefits of doing what you can with what you have in your own closet.

Well Kendi... I tried... and I failed... The end.

Triple Date Night

Tonight was one of those nights when I can't help but notice that I'm not so young anymore. I mean, I'm young enough to still slightly envy those fist-pumping, solo cup holding, night starts at 10 p.m.-aged people... but I'm old enough to be so thankful that tonight I had a fabulous evening - filled with food, friends and some delicious vino, and was home in my jammies by 10:14 p.m. - perfection!

The evening was hosted by the newlywed Betty (who by the by lives in the cutest apartment in one of my very very favorite cities!)

She had a fabulous menu planned, pappardelle (homemade!!) with mushrooms, braised short ribs, and a chocolate pecan tart. All ridiculously delicious.

Mushrooms...
Homemade pasta...
And a big ole bottle of zin from Ponte winery - mmm!

Selective Hearing

This past weekend I went to meet the newest member of our family, Kiyah! During the trip, my hubby discovered a new and annoying trait of mine. As long as I have a little baby in my arms, I'm apparently oblivious to anything said or done outside of a one foot radius from the baby. According to him, I ignored him for the 36 hours we were in Phoenix.

Sorry, Rick, but c'mon, can you blame me?

Haricots Vert (Frenchie Green Bean) Salad

Rick and I have been eating lots and lots of veggies recently, and I'm starting to realize that there are so many times you can eat plain old steamed veggies before you want to run away from the dinner table crying from boredom... which is why through trial and error I have managed to make green beans, errr, haricots vert, de-licious.

Start by chopping some cherry tomatoes

Throw in some roughly chopped walnuts

Pour in the feta

Then add the headlining ingredient, haricots vert (boiled till done, then chopped into thirds)

Make your favorite vinaigerett (I use a dollop of dijon mustard with red wine vinegar and olive oil)Add the dressingAnd then eat it... seriously... so... good.
While my food photography could use some work, please don't let the unappetizing lighting deter you from considering this. It's turned into a favorite recipe around here!

Coming soon to a mailbox near you...

My Christmas (not holiday) cards!! Anyone else see last week's 30 Rock? It must be seen to understand reference :)

Well, at least the first half of the holiday cards are addressed... I have plans to finish the rest tomorrow night. I'm so excited that it's finally feeling like Christmas!! Cards, trees, lights, and best of all... family!

Thursday and Friday night I get to host my Dad and step-Mom at my house. I have high hopes that these two days will be filled with the following:

• Advice on my sadly lacking garden
• Snarky comments
• "The drive"
• Clam chowder from Malibu Seafood Co.
• Busting open the 1 gallon bottle of Galleano Zinfandel (not a joke, a truly ginormous bottle of wine has been on my counter for a week or so now)
• Cribbage games
• Air Force 1 at the Reagan Library
• Merriment in general
• Rosemary rolls

Added bonus, my fabulous Momma helped me secure a person other than myself to clean the house prior to their arrival (since it's Finals week at school and all.)

P.S. One final, and then four weeks sans school for me!

It's been a long time...

Wow! I can't believe how long I've neglected my little blog. It's been very busy, and because of that, I haven't taken the time to chronicle my every day ramblings. But... finals are two days away, and blog, I promise not to neglect you after that.

The past 30 days have been full of studying, working, thanking, grieving, missing, and making it through the day.

The next 30 days will be full of celebration, giving, loving, and remembering.

Yesterday, things started to feel more normal for me and my hubs. We stuffed an 8 foot Christmas tree into my Prius, and came home and rearranged our living room to make it fit! Today, I finished up my homework by mid-afternoon and even got to get some Christmas shopping in. It's beginning to look and feel like Christmas.

The Power of a Hat

Cutest. Picture. Ever.

Road Rage Decreased

My commute used to drive me batty... and now I can't wait to get into the car. Because, I have found, Audible. Despite a crazy job that requires travel, and going to school, and having family in town for 50% of the past month, I've actually been able to read books. Or "read" them meaning listened to them...

Oh yeah, reading, that thing I used to like to do before the dreaded courses begining with MBAA or MBAB or MBAG started. Road rage is no more, satisfaction with life has increased, and I don't have to listen to Ryan Seacrest in the morning (which I think we can all agree is a bonus.)

So in summary:

Audible = good

Bill Bryson's "At Home" = ridiculous good

Jane Austen's "Persuasion" = early 19th Century good

Emma Donoghue's "Room" = darkly good

Alexandra Ripley's "Charleston" = good reminder that people approaching 30 shouldn't read young adult romance novels

All in all... good.

Failed Experiment

I'm always amazed at how friendships evolve over time. My friend Marsha and I met in Jr. High, and remained good friends through High School. But as she went away to school, and I stayed locally, we drifted apart in our day-to-day interaction. For some reason however, we ALWAYS met up at Christmas time to do our holiday shopping together. One year, we decided to do our Christmas baking together instead of shopping, and the tradition has stuck.

This year while coming home from a road trip together (during which this happened) we started talking about our plans for this year's holiday goodies.

There was one cookie in particular that was causing us concern. One that we make (and that is a favorite) is a mini Snickers wrapped in chocolate chip cookie dough and then baked. It's a crowd pleaser for sure, but is most definitely NOT upscale. So we thought to ourselves, we could make a layered cookie incorporating all of the snicker elements. And that is how it came to be that last weekend Marsha was standing at my stove stirring a batch of caramel.

And that this layered beauty came to be:

The layers look amazing, the elements are all there, the ingredients have been elevated. This was to be our signature cookie, known forever after as the "Turtle Dove!"

The only problem with this little cookie? Put simply, it's inedible!!!

The chocolate layer oozes, the crust crumbles apart upon cutting, and the caramel is so thick that you could break a tooth!

Test kitchen #2 is yet to be scheduled, but we have some ideas for improvements.

Birthday!

It was my fabulous hubby's birthday celebration today... and would you believe it, I forgot to take pictures!! For shame!!!!

So, while I took ZERO photos, I can share the other numerical factoids of the day:

18 people

9 racks of ribs

7 chicken breasts

30 rolls

3 quarts of pasta salad

1 fruit salad

1 green salad

1 dozen cookies

2 quarts of salsa

3 kinds of cheeses

4 football games

2 layers of german chocolate cake

5 bags of leftovers

1 happy birthday boy

Note: Picture was from last year... just imagine him 12 months older!

Chocolate and Lemon

My brother's birthday was Monday, and as the nice sister I am, I asked him what his favorite flavors were, and then scoured the internet for an appropriate tasty dessert that would be worthy of his birthday.

(He is after all getting pretty old... so I should do nice things for him...)
The only problem with my brother's taste preferences is that they're... well... ODD! He likes chocolate and lemon. Really? What kind of combo is that?

It turns out... a really. really. good combination! Introducing, a chocolate and lemon tart!

Mmmmm... I want to eat it again! Oh, and my brother called it his favorite dessert ever. EVER.

That's right, I'm a good sister.

NOTE: I modified this slightly, mainly due to time constraints. The recipe called for individual tarts... and I made one big one. Also, the recipe called for chilling the dough and then rolling it out, however I pressed the dough into the pan and shaped it until I was happy with how it looked. It turned out fine... and since I didn't graduate from Le Cordon Bleu I felt comfortable with the shortcut.

Only took a year...

Behold! After a year... countless trips to furniture stores... one insulted antique dealer (who didn't appreciate my idea to use a 200 year old trunk as a place to put my chips and drinks)... a brief time of debating whether or not to have something made... and did I mention countless trips to furniture stores? We. Have. Purchased. A. Coffee Table!

Isn't it purty?

Demetria!

So, this post is a bit late. Or, really really late. But I have to gush about our long weekend in wine country at Demetria Vineyard's guest villa. (Okay, so it was a double-wide... but it was a 10 minute drive through the vineyard to get to it, and black as pitch at night when you turned out the lights - good stuff!)

The inside was so cute! Very shabby chic, even though kitcehn supplies were limited, we managed to set a pretty cute table for our family dinner on Saturday night. My hubs went all out for the family. He grilled fish and pork, corn and potatoes. Then for dessert my fabulous sis-in-law made us ice cream sundaes to die for.

The guys enjoyed sipping wine outside while they waited for us ladies to get ready for our night at the Hitching Post.

In the morning, we hiked on a trail that meandered through the vineyard. It was so incredibly pretty.

And of course, my account of the weekend wouldn't be complete without a photo of the doggie that visited us while we stayed. He was pretty awesome. I have to admit, I didn't get his name, so let's just think of him as Buddy. He looks like a Buddy, right?

Summer Cold

So... today I'm dealing with a summer cold, and am running into a question I ask myself when I'm sick.

To exercise or not to exercise.

According to Prevention Mag, if your symptoms are above the neck, you're okay to workout, and if they're below the neck, you should wait.

http://www.prevention.com/health/fitness/tips-for-success/exercise-while-sick/article/e75e72e50d803110VgnVCM10000013281eac____/

With this advice, I put my name on the list for spin tonight at the gym. And then texted the instructor to let her know she's not allowed to yell at me to turn up the resistance tonight!

You're Welcome

The title is my preemptive response to how appreciative you're going to be that I'm introducing you to this site. It's a pure time waster, and I think I'm in love with it.

Enter at your own risk: http://awkwardfamilyphotos.com/

Spiffy Feature

Just wanted to point out a new feature... I subscribed to FeedBurner, so now you can opt into to an email that will alert you of a new post.*

And then you can come and read the post.

And then you don't have to check the blog when I'm being lazy and neglecting it.

It's a beautiful thing.

To get email alerts, please enter your email address into the box on the left-hand navigation bar under the question "What to get emailed?."

*Disclaimer: I did not create the FeedBurner email feature and have no clue how well it actually works. Should it behave funkily (yes that's a word) you should let me know so I can try to fix it.

Home Lands

On Sunday I took a break from school work to "sharpen my saw" and went to the Autry Museum of Western Heritage for an exhibit called "Home Lands" about the role women played in shaping the American West.

The exhibit was full of a lot of women artifacts... like this pressure cooker that appears more like a torture device than an item off of a wedding registry.

As well as statistics that showed the stark reality of being female in years past. This portion of the exhibit is a reminder that less than a century ago, 4% of women died in childbirth or immediately thereafter. How lucky we are to live in the times that we do.

So after all that stark reality I had to have myself a little bit of fun... so I decided to pretend I was in jail...
Check out some cowboy art - yee haw!

And listen to live music courtesy of local musicians. I wish I could put in a clip of the song this guy's music on here, but I couldn't find it...

I hadn't been to the Autry since my fifth grade class visited. It was too fun to rediscover it this weekend.

beep beep

Poor. Neglected. Blog.

In the past couple of weeks I haven't blogged... but I have...

Seen my niece Ava!
Had my kitty cat shaved for the summer.
Made a froggie cake...
Had dinner with all my brothas...
It's been a busy couple of weeks! I need to blog more! There's been too much going on!

The Bar Jar

Today is Monday... but kind of an awesome Monday filled with stuff I wanna blog about.

• The official announcement went out that I will be leaving my current position as a Marketing Manager for a new spot at my company... as a Senior Consultant... That's right, go me! It's kind of a scary move, I've been in the marketing trenches for a while now, and this is an opportunity to be a bit more strategic. I can't wait to grow into this new position, but I have a feeling it's going to be quite the transition.
• I got to the gym today. Not an accomplishment? Okay, you're right, but it's my blog and I'll write it if I want to!
• Today is the first day of week six of clean eating. No sugar, no wine (but I kind of fudge that one a couple days a week), no grains, no beans, no processed anything. Protein, fruit, and vegetables only. I am down 12 pounds, all of my clothes are loose... and the crazy part, I had baked trout with steamed broccoli and cauliflower for dinner, and it couldn't have been yummier.

So in honor of the last item, I'm saying good bye to a dear possession of mine, the Bar Jar. I bought this beauty at Home Goods for five bucks. And for three years I've kept an ever rotating supply of bars inside... Think Thin, Kashi Go Lean, Zone, I even threw in some granola every now and then for kicks.

But it's been empty now for six weeks, and I'm officially retiring it from it's spot on my counter.

Good bye bar jar. Thank you for your service. I hope you enjoy your retirement in my cupboard.