I’ve been swamped this week at work and I’ve come home super tired. I’ll be back next week with more regular posts! I hope everyone has a fun Friday and a wonderful weekend!
xoxo
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January 2012
I’ve been doing pretty well keeping a weekly menu. I keep things flexible in case we have a change of plans or just feel worn out. This past Saturday we were schedule to have this meal, but we were invited to watch football and get takeout with some friends so we pushed it back to Monday.
I had seen Kate and Rachel both tweet and post about this recipe, but I hadn’t had a chance to try it. They both do Menu Monday posts and their recipes always seem super good and easy. I trust their opinions so when I kept hearing this dish I knew I needed to put it into the rotation.
The verdict? SUCCESS (that’s the way we spell success). REF absolutely LOVED this dish. So much that I didn’t get a chance to take a picture of it.
I made a few changes to the original recipe. I swapped out gorgonzola cheese for a little shaved parmesan cheese. I also added a sprinkle of red pepper flakes and it gave the dish some nice heat. Rachel and Kate suggested next time throwing some brussel sprouts and I think I will definitely do that next time. Also, I was nervous about the walnuts as I don’t normally care of walnuts, but they were the perfect compliment to this dish! Thanks again ladies for the suggestion!
Happy Cooking!
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Tomorrow morning we’re getting a delivery from Crate & Barrel. We’re getting the Belmont kitchen Island. I contemplated back and forth on whether or not thing would be something that we’d like or not. Honestly, I’m still not sure it will work, but we need the extra work space and storage space.
I have a hard time envisioning anything. I have to physically SEE and touch something to decide if I like it. Hopefully, I’ll be able to report on Sunday or Monday just how much I love this thing. We shall see.
Happy Friday!
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I absolutely love coffee. Not really for the caffeine high, though that’s a nice bonus, but for the taste and the way it makes me feel. I LOVE going to get coffee with friends. (way more then getting a glass or wine or beer) I love drinking decaf after a meal. However, I don’t love flavored coffee, flavored creamer or syrups. I just don’t. The exception to the rule is once yearly skinny peppermint mocha. Other then that…just give me a black coffee, skim milk & splenda (yes, I know splenda isn’t the best for me, but I don’t really care). Occasionally I’ll splurge & get an Americano or an espresso if I’m at a restaurant where I know the coffee is good, but really that’s few and far between. Also, I can’t have more then one cup in a day. I get super jittery and feel like I’m going to pass out (there’s the caffeine) so if I have my cup in the morning I’m set for the day.
REF doesn’t really drink coffee. He maybe has 6 cups a month. I don’t understand this – ha! If he does drink it, it is in the exact opposite fashion that I drink it: for the flavored coffee and the caffeine. He often times with get 4 shots of espresso in his coffee. 4!
He was sweet enough to get me the above mug for my stocking this year. I was a little skeptical of this thing as I am finicky with my mugs. I get nervous they are going to spill on my work clothes and I’ll have to dry clean something (the horror) or that my coffee will get cold by the time I fight my 20 minute commute.
Well, let me just tell you that this sucker is drip proof (I’m extremely accident prone, so if it were possible to spill I would have done so already) & it keeps my coffee HOT all the way through the morning! I have caught myself drinking a sip of extremely hot coffee and wondering why the morning was going by so slowly only to realize that it was my last sip & it was 11:00am! NICE!
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This past weekend I didn’t have any real obligations. REF and I ate at our favorite Thai restaurant Friday night and called it an early night. On Saturday I woke up to a text from a sweet friend asking if I wanted to meet her and another friend for lunch. I was so glad that I had a flexible day and was able to meet the girls. Saturday afternoon I got the bug to clean and purge. I cleaned out the front hall closet, the laundry room, pantry and underneath the bathroom sinks. It felt awesome. REF and I ate in and were in bed early.
Sunday morning we went to early church and when we were leaving church it started to rain. I was supposed to meet Rachel to walk, but the weather just kept playing tricks on us so we rescheduled for next weekend. Rachel had also recommended to me the book Divergent. I had downloaded the first week of December with the intention of reading it between Christmas and New Years, but that just didn’t happen. I decided that a cold, rainy Sunday was just the day to curl up with my kindle. Boy am I glad that I did! The book is amazing and I’ve already pre-ordered the second book. I ended up reading it cover to cover. I have a bad habit of needing to finish a book. My sister has this habit too. If I like a book I can’t just put it down. It always surprises me when it takes a few days for me to read a book. REF hates this about me, because I honestly do nothing other then READ.
So, since I really didn’t do anything on Sunday, other then read, I didn’t menu plan or shop until Monday. I decided it was for the best, because on Monday I saw this recipe for baked fajitas and decided to try it that night. Let me just tell you they were equal parts easy and good! I tweeted about how good they were on Monday night and the fabulous Blair’sHeadband asked me for the recipe. Shamelessly, I saw an easy blog post in it… So this one’s for you, M!
I followed the recipe pretty closely, but you could really get creative with this dish. I made Spanish rice for a side & REF and I both agreed this recipe was a keeper. REF actually makes a fajita with the tortilla shells, but I just had the peppers, chicken and juice over rice. It didn’t need cheese or sour cream, but I added a little salsa to my plate.
Happy Wednesday!
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In 2008 REF and I got married the last weekend in July. That year we were invited to 17 weddings + we had our own. Some of the weddings were on the same weekend in different towns. Some of the weddings were destination weddings (pre-recession, folks) and some of those weddings we were honored to be asked to be attendants. After you factored in showers, engagement parties, dresses, tuxes, travel expenses & wedding gifts we were mentally and physically exhausted from that year. Not to mention poor.
We also become wedding pros. We’ve seriously seen every wedding cliche trick in the book. When 2009 rolled around we only had 12 weddings to attend and only a handful where we were attendants. 2010 and 2011 brought fewer weddings, but there were some big weddings in there that cost big bucks & ate up our vacation time.
For 2012 we have 1 wedding & I am holding my breath that this wedding is the only one of 2012. I actually can’t really believe it. When I was going over our family calendar last week I kept flipping the pages thinking that I had missed something, but nope this is it.
I doubt we’ll be off jetsetting to somewhere amazing with our 2012 “free” time. I imagine lots of weekends at home just relaxing and I cannot wait.
I want to make sure I point out that I LOVED being able to be apart of our friends’ weddings. I wouldn’t trade those memories we made for anything. It still pains me that there have been weddings that we had to say “no” to, because they conflicted during the year of the wedding (2008) or we just couldn’t afford. I don’t want this post to sound ungrateful for being able to attend the weddings that we did.
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When REF and I were first dating I had just turned 23 and he was 26. It was pre-recession. It was pre-marriage, mortgage and money market accounts. We were babies when I really think about it. We would sit on the rooftop deck of REF’s hip Uptown condo and talk about our dreams.
We still talk about most of these dreams. A lot of them are silly, like how every time we pass an all you can eat Chinese buffet the parking lot is packed (no matter the time of day) and we always say that owning one is going to be our “cash cow”. HA! A lot of them are personal pipe dreams like how I would love to manage a stationery shop or own a wagoneer to drive to and from the grocery store (I’m serious about this one).
In 2011 we talked a lot about making our dreams a reality. We did some major home improvements, we tightened our budgets, REF took on more consulting jobs to bring in extra $$ to put toward some of these dreams. I’ve mentioned it before, but we have high hopes for 2012 and while I know that we won’t be buying a Chinese buffet or a wagoneer I’m excited about what this year has in store for us.
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Let’s do a quick December recap just so it is here…
- December6 – Grandpa turns 81
- December 6 – Cousin turns 21
- December 8 – Mom celebrates another birthday
- December 8 – Uncle celebrates another birthday
- December 8 – Aunt celebrates another birthday
- December 14 – Mother in Law celebrates another birthday
- December 16 – Step sister in Law turns 30
- December 22 – Cousin celebrates another birthday
- December 22 – Cousin celebrates another birthday
- December 24 – Uncle turns 50
- December 28 – Mother in Law and Step Father in Law celebrate anniversary
- December 28 – Grandparents celebrate 61st anniversay
- December 29 – Brother in Law celebrates another birthday
- December 30 – Dad celebrates another birthday
Oh, you thought I was talking about Christmas and New Years? Well, here you go…
We hosted REF’s Dad, step mom, sister, brother in law, niece and step sister for dinner on Friday (December 23). We both had to work the whole day & I was very organized to have the whole table set and ready to go by Wednesday. While at work I got a frantic phone call from REF stating that we were getting two more guests, unexpectedly. I rushed home, tore up my beautifully set table, moved the table to the living room, added a leaf to the table, moved the live Christmas tree, presents and two chairs & reset the table. REF ran by my mom’s house to get two more plates as I had borrowed her Christmas china. In the midst of this I didn’t get a chance to change from work, brush my hair or take a picture of the beautiful table I had worked so hard putting together. So it goes.
This guy’s mom came over to help me do all of this before REF got home. While I was in a panic this guy did some light reading. I’m going to make a fan out of him yet.
The next morning we got up and headed to Concord for Christmas Eve morning with REF’s mom and stepdad.
I didn’t take many pictures and Christmas is still about this cute one. She got some great stuff from her grandparents.
On Christmas Eve night REF, my parents and I met over at my high school where they have an alumni mass in the chapel. It was a really great mass and we saw a TON of my old friends and their families. We decided if we’re in town for Christmas eve in the future we’re definitely going to make that a tradition as it was nice to be with a small group. After mass we headed to my parents’ house for dinner. If you follow me on twitter you know I had a minor breakdown in between mass and dinner, but all was fine.
On Christmas morning REF and I organized our stuff, baked a breakfast casserole and relaxed. When the casserole was ready we packed up and headed to my parents’ house for the day.
We didn’t do a very good job of patiently waiting for my sister, brother in law and nephews. (Oh yea, I have a 21 year old step nephew. A few of you asked about that a couple posts back)
This is basically how the waiting went.
My mom and I finished up the last minute items to prep for dinner & I snapped some pictures of her beautiful table.
My dad’s grandfather made this nativity. That’s my great grandfather if you’re not too good at figuring out that kind of stuff.
Isn’t it cool?
The below chair was my mom’s father’s chair as a child. That’s my grandpa. 
Charlie was supposed to sit in it with us during dinner, but he fell asleep.
Here he is…
And just like that Christmas was over.
What?! You’re over this post, because it was so long? I haven’t even gotten to New Years!
Well, I didn’t take many pictures…
On the 30th REF’s niece and I hung out during the day doing girl things, like nail painting, playing the game of LIFE (on the ipad) and cooking. Then that evening REF and I took her and my 3 teenage boy cousins (visiting from Birmingham) ice skating. It was awesome, but a late night for everyone.
On NYE REF and I went with my uncle (the one who had a birthday on Christmas Eve) and his 3 boys to see Wide Spread Panic. My uncle went to high school with the lead singer & has been to over 300 shows. We got really good seats because of this, but I can’t say it made me want to see another show. 5 hours of playing and getting home at 3:30am was enough for me for one lifetime.
Cheers to 2012! REF and I have high hopes for this year!
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