The Curious Case of the Escaping Kitties

And we interrupt the healthy living/recipe posts for a brief interlude of CUTE PETS!

First, the gatos. It’s been warming up a lot here in Phoenix (that’s an understatement) and, since we’re trying to save money and it’s been dry outside, we’ve been using the swamp cooler (AKA evap cooler) a lot. As you may or may not know, swamp coolers work the best when you have a door or window open, so that the hot air in the house gets pushed out by the cool swamp cooler air.

Well, let’s just say that not all of our windows have screens (I know, I know, that’s one of the first things we’ll be fixing this summer!). And Blake, unlike me, thinks that ALL THE WINDOWS must be open to have a truly cool house, so he goes around and opens windows even though I tell him a) no screens b) flies will get in the house and c) we have crazy kitties.

I’m sure you see what’s coming next, right? Oh yes… the Curious Case of the Escaping Kitties time! Unbeknownst to me, Blake had opened the window in his office fairly wide, although not wide enough for a kitty to get through (so we thought.) By some stroke of luck, I had left my phone in Blake’s office and went to retrieve it when I saw our fat kitty, Izzy, sitting on the bench, looking shady.

POC: Partner in Crime

This wasn’t typical behavior for Izzy– she’s usually our ‘sweet’ kitty, the kitty that comes when called, that purrs and meows and loves to be petted and around people… but yesterday, her squirrelly-looking face made me look twice– and who did I spy sitting RIGHT OUTSIDE the window, on the ledge? MADISON!

“One day I shall be free…”

Knowing that she would run away if I made any sudden moves, I called Blake and told him calmly that Maddy was outside. He understood immediately, and went outside and gently called Maddy’s name, all while slowly moving to grab her. Luckily she took his ‘nice Daddy’ bait and came willingly (like I said, she’s not our ‘sweet’ kitty).

Our cats don’t speak English (we’re working on it) but I could tell for the rest of the night, Maddy was annoyed at being caught. Her one shot at freedom, cruelly taken away because Izzy can’t keep her poker face (nor could she get her fat butt through the small window opening). Oh well, the bright is that we caught her and she’s safe, and now Blake is beginning to understand that windows without screens should NOT be open. Training the boyfriend is a slow-going process…

And now, Molly! Nothing exciting to report about her– she’s still our crazy puppy. We took her to the dog park at 6:30 AM yesterday (yes, on a Saturday!) because, again, it’s crazy hot outside by 8 AM. She had a great time, although she did get beat up a little by a giant 11 month old Great Dane (11 mos. and it weighed 155 lbs…. what?!)

She also has her own precious way of coping with the heat:

Best of both worlds.

My Dad got her this great bed (he spoils his grand-puppy) and she absolutely loves it… but when it gets too hot in the house, she compromises by doing something like this. I don’t know how she finds it comfy, but someone she’ll sleep like that for an hour to two… go figure!

Hope you all are enjoying this lazy Sunday!

Avocado Pesto Pasta

Hey everyone! I hope you all had a lovely Mother’s Day… if you didn’t celebrate with your Mom, maybe you celebrated with a Mom of some sort (pets count! I’m a Mom! ), or maybe you just got down with your bad self. I hope getting down with your bad self included either pancakes, waffles, or doughnuts/donuts… because there’s no better way to celebrate ‘Day’s’ then with SWEETS!

Speaking of sweets… I drove down to Tucson to spend the weekend with my parents, and on Mother’s Day, Dad and I took Mom out to breakfast and made her pay! Just kidding… not really… Dad paid for himself and Mom paid for me and her. We’re precious, aren’t we? (Don’t worry, Mom, I promise to make it up to you once I start getting a paycheck!) Anyway– I had waffles. That’s pretty much the best part of the story. Also, Mom got flowers, a card, and delicious See’s candy from Dad and me, which I’m sure she loved as well

Dad didn’t really do the best job of holding the phone still to take a photo, so this is the best we’ve got. Yay! And clearly, we dress fancy…

Anyway, on to the stuff you were promised!

No, not Molly!

Good try to distract me, but I’m not here to talk about the dog (even though she’s the best puppy everrrrrrr!)

Instead, Avocado Pesto Pasta , recipe from Chloe Coscarelli! We actually ended up halving the Coscarelli recipe and mixing it with Simply Organic’s Sweet Basil Pesto sauce mix. We also made one tiny change in the Coscarelli recipe, which you can see below…

Ingredients

• 1 lb. dried linguini (we used the pasta we had in the house– angel hair. Whatevs, it’s pasta (Italian-foodies, please don’t beat me!)
• 1 bunch basil leaves
• 1/2 cup pine nuts (okay, so check it: pine nuts are crazy expensive. I read online that you can actually substitute raw plain cashews for pine nuts, so that’s what we did! Same amount.)
• 2 ripe avocados, pitted and pealed
• 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• 3 cloves garlic
• 1/2 olive oil (we used coconut oil, because we’re out of olive oil and we heard it’s just as good of oil as olive)
• Salt to taste
• Black pepper to taste
• 1/4 cup chopped sun dried tomatoes (once again, we have a million tomatoes left over from the Market, so I chopped up 2 whole tomatoes and threw them in)

Directions (hint: it’s so easy!)

1. In a large pot, bring water to boil. Cook pasta according to package directions.
2. While pasta cooks, in a food processor, blend basil, cashews or pine nuts, avocados, lemon juice, garlic, and oil. Season with salt and pepper.
3. Drain pasta. In a large serving bowl, toss pesto with pasta and garnish with basil and tomatoes. (This is also the point where I quickly brought the Simply Organic mix to a boil, stirred it, and threw it in with the Avocado Pesto.)

Pesto in the processor.

So my photo skillz (and phone) aren’t the best, so this looks gross, but I promise you, it tastes amazing! Also, since I have a tiny food processor, I had halved the ingredients… if you have a regular-sized food processor, you can blend up more pesto at once!

Yummm!

The finished product! I have to say, speaking as unbiased as possible, I liked Chloe Coscarelli’s Pesto recipe much more than just the packaged Simply Organic pesto, but that’s probably because a) the CC recipe was creamier and b) the CC recipe was fresh. I think if you substitute cashews for pine nuts, you could make this pesto really affordable… so do it!

Product Review: 100% Pure Red Wine Mask

There’s nothing quite like a glass of red wine and a relaxing day at the spa, now is there? That is not, unfortunately, how I spent my weekend, but rather the start of today’s product review: 100% Pure’s Red Wine Resveratrol Mask/Scrub!

I had first heard of 100% Pure on the awesome blog vegansaurus. 100% Pure is a vegan-friendly skin/body care and make up company that neither tests on animals, nor uses animal products (there are a few products by 100% Pure that use honey, but they are clearly stated and have a ‘vegetarian’ label vs. a ‘vegan’ label, so you’ll know the difference.) Most of the ingredients 100% Pure uses are fruit and essential oils, none of those nasty, bad-for-you chemicals that typical make up and beauty companies make.

Anyway, with vegansaurus’ happy review, I decided to dip my feet in and try the Red Wine Reseveratrol Mask/Scrub. As a friend told me, “you could put on the mask and drink red wine at the same time!” (I have to admit, that suggestion was the main reason I decided to try this mask over the others.)

Don’t worry, it didn’t arrive looking this way… all a quarter empty and everything. For the sake of fully trying out this product, I’ve been using it for about the past 2-3 weeks.

One of the things that impressed me about the company 100% Pure is that, like Sephora, they included free samples along with my purchase… I got a small tube of children’s toothpaste (Tom’s Strawberry), which has now become my go-to traveling toothpaste, and sample sizes of 100% Pure’s body lotion, which I haven’t tried yet, but look like this!:

As you can tell, each lotion is labeled. You can see how the ‘Honey Almond’ body cream is labeled ’100% vegetarian’, because it contains honey, while the others are labeled ’100% vegan’ because they contain no animal ingredients. Handy!

Free stuff aside, I have to say I’ve been pleasantly surprised by how well the mask/scrub works. One thing that bothers me is that there are no directions on the back of the bottle for how much or how long you’re supposed to use the product… so I use about a dime sized amount 3 times a week. I typically use it as a scrub more than a mask– I use it in the shower while my pores are all open from the hot water, and then gently buff it off in a circular motion with my hand after leaving it on for about 30 seconds-a minute.

It’s made my face really, really soft. Also, at first I notice my breakouts went away in a snap, but now that it’s been a couple weeks, my breakouts have returned and I’ve had to incorporate my Neutrogena Acne wash again. That said, the Red Wine Reseveratrol Mask/Scrub is not designed to deal with oily skin. Instead, it’s more about age prevention and keeping skin ‘youthful’ looking.

For the softness of my face factor: 5/5 carrots! (That’s the best!) Also, it’s made my skin look more glowing and just feel better in general, so 5/5 carrots for that. Lack of directions disappointed me… 1/5 carrots.

Unfortunately for me/you/the company, they are in the process of moving production facilities, so a lot of their products are ‘out of stock’ and won’t be back in stock until June… I wanted to try the starter pack with the tinted moisturizer, mascara, and under-eye serum, but that’s out of stock until June, which is just a little too long for me. I’m disappointed that 100% Pure (to my knowledge) didn’t make a stockpile of stuff before moving production facilities. For those reasons, I’m unsure if I’ll purchase from 100% Pure in the near future. I’ve heard good things about Juice Beauty, so I’ll probably be checking them out next!

Disclaimer: I was not given this product free of charge to review, nor was I even asked to review this product. For all I know, 100% Pure doesn’t know me, and I don’t know anyone who works for 100% Pure. All views are my own and are not sponsored by anyone else. I bought this product wishing to try out organic and/or vegan beauty products for my own life, not attempting to sell it to anyone else. If you think I’m lying, look at this beautiful face! You’ll forget about everything!

Black Bean and Spinach Enchiladas

For those of you who don’t know, I am a huge Real Simple magazine fan. Like, huge. It was “my thing” in high school… in fact, one of my best friends even swore I’d grow up to be the future Martha Stewart.

Unfortunately, due to either poor fine motor skills, or lack of talent, I have not become the next Martha Stewart… not even close. I can barely even hang pictures straight… and don’t ask anyone about my abilities in the kitchen! I mean, it gets done but… it’s not pretty.

Anyway, my lack of talent aside, I still love getting Real Simple magazines and perusing their recipes. So when I found this awesome Black Bean and Spinach Enchilada recipe in (what was I think) the February issue, I knew I had to try it! Even better? It utilizes our slow cooker!!!

I’d been dying to make some vegetarian meals with our slow cooker, so I knew this meal had to happen sooner or later. I ran it past Blake, he agreed that it looked delicious, and a few days later I had purchased the ingredients and given them to him to cook.

Yup, he cooks. And he is very, very good at it. Better than me, some would say (I would say…). Without further ado, the recipe (with our changes), pictures, and review!

Ingredients

• 1 can black beans (I bought the organic kind from Sprouts) (on sale!)
• 2 cups fresh chopped spinach (the recipe calls for frozen, but you have to defrost it anyway so…)
• 1 cup frozen corn
• 2 cups shredded Mexican blend cheese
• salt and black pepper
• 3 cups of Blake’s homemade salsa (it’s basically an enchilada sauce recipe– RS calls for salsa, but I would highly recommend buying or making your own actual enchilada sauce!)
• 8 6-inch corn tortillas
• 1 head romaine lettuce, chopped (about 6 cups)
• 1 cup shredded carrots (or grated)
• 3 medium size tomatoes
• 3 tablespoons fresh lime juice
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• Sliced scallions, for serving/garnish
• 1 ripe avocado, cut into pieces for serving/garnish

If you take a look at the RS recipe, there’s a lot we omitted or changed. The beauty of this recipe is that you can add or subtract basically anything you want, as long as you keep the beans/veggie/sauce theme going, and still have it taste delicious

Directions:

1. In a medium bowl, mash half the beans. Add the spinach, corn, 1 cup of the cheese, the remaining beans (keep these ones whole), ½ teaspoon salt, and ¼ teaspoon pepper and mix to combine.
2. Spread 1 cup of enchilada sauce/salsa in the bottom of a 4- to 6-quart slow cooker (we used a 4 quart cooker). Dividing evenly, roll up the bean mixture in the tortillas (about ½ cup each) and place the rolls seam-side down in a single layer in the slow cooker. Top with the remaining salsa and cheese.
3. Cover and cook until heated through, on low for 2½ to 3 hours.
4. Before serving, toss the lettuce, carrots, tomatoes, and avocado in a large bowl with the lime juice, oil, and ½ teaspoon each salt and pepper. Serve with the enchiladas and sprinkle with the scallions.

And the final product…

That is one enchilada next to the romaine/tomato/carrot salad medley. HUGE!

We had about four leftovers between the two of us… they were that filling! They were even better today when I reheated one for lunch… and surprisingly, the salad kept overnight pretty well too!

The only thing I would change about this recipe is adding more spinach too it– 2 cups of fresh spinach isn’t enough, considering how it cooks down. Other than that, it was fabulous! Do you think it would be overkill to have it two nights in one week?

Tell me: Do you have a favorite slow cooker recipe? If you do, I’d love to try it out! I think I’m in love with using slow cookers now!

Also, I’ll leave you with this pic of Molly from yesterday when we took her to the park:

Also, regarding my Mile a Day: Going to the gym in about an hour to use the treadmill (holla at my Run 5k app!) and then tonight we’re taking Molly for a long walk around the park. Looks like it will be a multiple mile a day today!

We got a new dog!

You’ll notice I didn’t post yesterday and, if you follow me on Twitter (which you totally should), you’ll notice that I was exhausted all day… why? Well, we got a new puppy! Meet Molly:

She’s a 5 month old lab/pit bull mix, and she’s the sweetest dog ever! We got her on Friday, the 13th (a lucky day for her! And us . It’s funny… I went to pick up the boyfriend from work, and he was on the computer looking at dogs. We had already been denied the dog we wanted, a sweet Doberman/Lab mix that was already adopted, and he knew I was bummed about that.

Blake told me that our local animal shelter had gotten in some sweet German Shepherd mix puppies, and he wanted to check them out, at least “just to play with them.” I grumbled but acquiesced because he was so excited, but I was fully not intending on adopting any puppy that day.

When we got there, we did end up playing with the one German Shep puppy left, but then Blake saw Molly (named Sky at the time) and decided he really wanted to play with her instead. On Molly/Sky’s bio, it said that she was a “Pit Bull mix”, with no mention of her lab background. I was hesitant about adopting a pit bull mix, because Blake’s roommate had one and she wasn’t the most trainable dog but, once we were in the play room with Molly/Sky, I started to fall in love, especially when we discovered she’s much more lab than she is pit bull.

Long story short, I wasn’t convinced but Blake sold me and, in the last two days, I’ve fallen completely in love with her!

Upon doing some more research on pits, they’re actually totally trainable, really sweet dogs. They definitely get a bad rap, which is ridiculous. And honestly, within the past two days, we’ve discovered she’s basically 100% potty trained (no accidents thus far!), knows the sit and stay command, and is slowly but surely learning her name.

She’s a little bit of a chew puppy, but we have several Kong toys and a tug of war toy for her, with all intentions to get more. The kitties are hissing at her and not eating very much, but I have a feeling they’ll come around. They have to establish the pecking order with her

All right, we’re off to take ‘little’ Molly to the park and play frisbee! I promise I’ll be updating the blog with a LOT more pictures to come!

Still alive!

Hey everyone– I thought I’d get a quick post in to assure you I’m still alive… barely! We’re in Week Six of school (out of 10 weeks) and, as this is my last quarter of graduate school, EVERYTHING is ramping up, and I am, as usual, overwhelmed!

So I thought I’d catch you up on a couple of cool things that happened over the break… 1) I finished the VegNews challenge! Some highlights of that were incorporating more broccoli into my diet (yum!) and finally learning how to use cabbage… which I didn’t learn very well, haha. So far I have put red cabbage into my ‘green drank’ (thus turning it into purple drank, which is not to be confused with the illegal substance! as well as using it in stir frys.

Surprisingly, cabbage lasts a really long time in the fridge… I didn’t even wrap it up in anything special, but so far it’s lasted for a week. I hope this is normal?

2) I found my favorite go-to meal when I’m in a crazy hurry/have a long day ahead of me… the night before, I’ll stir fry broccoli and cabbage (and maybe spinach and asparagus), make some couscous, and heat up either Gardein ‘meat’ or Boca ‘chicken’ pieces (for protein)… throw that in a tupperware and get a move on! It’s especially good for Wednesdays (like today!) when I’m busy rushing from work to class!

Yum!

Yes, I know this has some processed food in it and might not be nutritionally complete, but damn if it doesn’t fill me up for a solid 4-5 hours… which is exactly how long I need it too!

3) Blake and I also celebrated our second anniversary (Feb. 2!) Woohoo!

2nd anniversary celebration at our favorite place

No, our favorite place isn’t the hotel… haha. Our favorite place is Gallo Blanco, a restaurant inside the hotel. Delish!

Blake surprised me with a trip to the Glendale Chocolate Festival while I was in Phoenix visiting him… oh boy did we gorge on chocolate!! He’s the best, because he knows I DIE for chocolate! I’m definitely a sweet tooth type of person This is how we celebrated Valentine’s Day, since we won’t be together on the actual day (boo long distance!)

4) I’m sorta transitioning back to being vegetarian vs. vegan. Blake did not help my willpower when he made one of my favorite things… bean and cheese burrito!

So delicious but full of cheese!

I think after my VegNews challenge, I will go back to being vegetarian mostly, and vegan when I cook for myself. As much as I enjoyed the challenge, I’m just not ready to 100% commit to being vegan all the time. That’s something I’ll have to ease my and Blake’s relationship into…

5) Finally… I got to see and play with my favorite little monkey while I was back in Phoenix… Maddy!

Trying to hit the camera phone

She looks possessed in this photo… I have a couple better ones of her, but since she is a possessed kitty, I thought I’d share this one with you all. As usual, while I was back in AZ, I took more photos of our kitties than I did of either Blake or me… haha, I’m an animal lover for sure!

So there you have it! I’m still alive, although unfortunately I won’t be updating daily as I did in January. February is going to be very busy… I’m not saying that to get pity, just to give you a heads up.

I promise when I am done with grad school, you will see many exciting new posts! Or stressed posts, depending on whether or not I find a job… ay Dios mio!

Days 16 & 17: Think about the future & Turn off the TV!

Hey, great news! VegNews has decided to publish its totally awesome ’31 Changes in 31 Days’ challenge, which you can check out here! If you’re interested in where I am, or interested in trying out the challenge for yourself, you should check it out! It’s really great and, so far, surprisingly easy! Hey, I’ve even gotten addicted to broccoli, so it’s been good for that too

You're looking mighty yummy, Mr. Broccoli...

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To recap, here is the beginning of the challenge for me. I’m about half way through and, yes, I’ve made some mistakes. I know I’m going to end up making more this weekend, mostly due to hanging out with friends (a friend is cooking dinner for us and I’m bringing a vegan chocolate cake… as much as he understands veganism, I highly doubt he’ll check every ingredient, but I’m okay with that!)

I haven’t exactly followed every single VegNews recommendation every day but I’ve definitely made an effort. Most importantly, I’ve been sticking with boot camp like a champ (hey, that rhymes) -  I just finished my second week of boot camp today! Plus I’ve discovered some new stuff (yum!) and I’ve realized how it can sometimes be a pain in the butt to be vegan. Going out with friends has definitely been the hardest thing so far! Surprisingly, making my own food hasn’t been as much of a pain as I thought, but going out and being unable to order things because they have dairy in them sometimes sucks A lot of places don’t make accommodations!

Anyway, I’m glad I’ve made it this far, and I haven’t made up my mind yet as to whether or not I’ll carry on being “strictly” (80/20 sense of the word) vegan. I still have another 2 weeks(ish) to decide, so we’ll see!

On to yesterday and today’s challenges: Think about the future (AKA kids!) and turn off the TV. I haven’t done a whole lot of research (yet!) into raising kids vegan, but VegNews has some cool links to veg- and kid-friendly organizations, plus a tidbit on how eating a lot of veggies can help help reduce a woman’s risk of delivering a pre-term baby.

My future shopping cart... with or without the kiddo!

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Finally, by my favorite blog vegansaurus, the cutest series you will find anywhere on the web: Happy Veggie Kids! All these kids are either vegan or vegetarian and they are PRECIOUS! Seriously, check this out if you still need your daily dose of cute!

As for turning off the TV… considering I was super busy all day, I haven’t been home to be enticed by the TV. When I had a spare moment to myself (and was munching on dinner), I did turn on the TV to watch the South Carolina Republican debates, but then I got nauseous (and interrupted by my talkative roommate), so I gave up on that.

Tonight I’m just going to chill and read. I really did a lot today (my next post will be about that!) and I was up at 5:45 this morning for boot camp so… early bedtime for me!

Question for you all: Have you ever considered raising your (potential or already existing) kid/s vegetarian or vegan? Is that something you would let them “choose” when they grow up, or raise them that way now? How does your partner/spouse/significant other feel about raising a potential/real life kid vegetarian/vegan?

Happy New Year!

Hey everyone! Happy first evening of 2012! I hope everyone survived (driving, being with family, being out in the crowds, and, most importantly, their hangovers!) I can say with absolute certainly I did have a hang over this morning, and although I was at first ashamed, I went through the night before and determined I didn’t do anything too embarrassing or horrible, so then I felt much better. In other words, I don’t have to apologize to anyone and/or avoid anyone. Hooray! It helps to also be dating someone who doesn’t give me a hard time for being a drunk wench the night before, haha. Blake knows to burn any unflattering photos of me from last night!

One photo that wasn’t unflattering of me and Blake:

Happy New Year!

Today, when we went hiking! Our New Year’s resolution (which actually isn’t new at all, but oh well) is to be healthier this year and to do fun, active, outdoorsy things with each other so, after my hangover wore off, we went for a hike to go to see sun set. Yes, a chorus of “awww precious” is perfectly appropriate

I would have another lovely photo of the actual NYE night last night, which I just uploaded to the computer, but for some reason WordPress isn’t recognizing the photo and won’t let me upload it. Next time!

One thing I wanted to mention: the category of this post is called “New Year, New Me” (or at least it should be… WordPress, stop messing around!) Anyway, I was reading the latest issue of the best magazine in the world, VegNews, and in the column “Plant-Based Dietitian”, Julieanna Hever recommends making SMART goals to help achieve your fitness and health goals. SMART stands for “Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Timely.” What she mentions in her column is that instead of writing “get healthy”, it is better and easier to follow something more specific, like “eat one cup of veggies 3 times a day at least 5 days a week.” That’s specific, all right!

So here’s to my New Year’s Resolution (let’s see how smart I can get): I pledge to follow VegNews’ “31 Changes in 31 Days.” Unfortunately, I can’t link to the article because VegNews apparently doesn’t published anything online, but I will be telling you basically what the changes are every single day.

There are a couple reasons behind me doing this:

1. I’ve wanted to try being vegan for a while now, and I feel like a month is an attainable goal to try it and see how feasible it is for me
2. It will keep me accountable (which is huge!)
3. It will keep me blogging (that goes along with the accountability issue, plus I want to blog every day anyway)
4. It’s SMART

I mean, really. The whole plan is laid out for me and it’s only 31 days. It’s also, coincidentally, happens to be during the easiest 4 weeks of school, so I won’t even have stress as an excuse to fall off the wagon.

For those of you who are curious, I’m not completely a vegan. I am a vegetarian (as I note in the About section) and I mostly eat vegan while in school, but obviously since being back home and not in a familiar setting (plus being surrounded by mostly carnivores – friends and family), I’ve slipped out of veganism and into vegetarianism.

I’m not going to go too much more into why I’m trying veganism right now, nor will I argue the merits of going vegan (for now That’s another post! I just want to try and see if I can last a month.

Luckily, I got an awesome present from my Mom for Christmas!!

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I’ve already dog eared three recipes: Berry Suisse Muesli, Cheesy No-cook Sauce, and (of course) Denver Quiche, since I live there Yum!

I’m starting this on January 3rd, since I’ll be traveling all day tomorrow and today I already ruined “being vegan” by eating those freaking delicious waffles for breakfast again… blame the hangover! But Jan. 3rd, expect cool stuff

As for my other’s New Year’s resolution: Work out 3 times a week, strength train 2 times a week, attend at least 1 work out class a week (work out class can count for either strength training or a “regular” workout depending on the class.) I’m super motivated, so I doubt I’ll be breaking this resolution.

And finally: Go out more with my friends! Not to get drunk, but to spend time with everyone before we graduate. It’s my last quarter!! Ahh!!

Until the 3rd, my friends! PS. What are your New Year’s Resolutions, if any? Are you doing resolutions this year?

Christmas recap

Hey everyone, happy after-Christmas! Did you all survive the holidays? I definitely did… I may have gained a couple of pounds, but I have to say I had one of the best Christmas’ of all time… and that’s saying a lot, because I’ve had some pretty awesome Christmas’! To summarize: on Christmas Eve, Blake (the bf) and I went to his parents’ house to hang out with his family: his mom, dad, 3 brothers, 2 nephews, 1 niece, one brother’s girlfriend (actually 2, but that’s a long story)… and me. That’s it, but for an only child like me, that’s a lot! We opened presents with the one niece and nephew, who weren’t going to be spending Christmas with their Dad, so we celebrated Christmas early with them. The nephew got some really sweet games, including this one “mind” game where you’re supposed to use your mind to “control” the game and push a ball forward. Yeah, it sounds complicated, and it kind of is… Blake swore the trick was to just relax and think calming thoughts, so that the game “read your mind” by thinking you’re as cool as a cucumber. Apparently, sweating would not help you win this game. Let’s just say… I wasn’t that good at it

The next game Blake’s nephew got was Apples to Apples– AKA one of my favorite games ever!

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If you haven’t played Apples to Apples, you need to, right now. It’s kind of difficult to explain, but it’s sooo easy to play, and if you’re playing with friends and family, it’s even better. It’s NOT like those horrid games Monopoly or Sorry! that devolve into you hating your family/friends. Everyone gets a turn at being the “judge” in Apples to Apples, and anyone can win. There’s no luck involved, and there’s no real skill involved save for the “skill” of knowing your family and friends really, really well. Or at least knowing how sick and twisted they might be

Christmas morning found us over at Blake’s parents again, this time with fewer brothers and only one nephew… who, by the way, happens to be one of the cutest babies EVER! Blake’s Mom and Dad (the baby’s grandparents) had us take the baby for a walk because they weren’t finished making breakfast, so we got to take this cute little monkey out:

This baby is the sweetest, quietest, most precious baby I’ve seen in a long time. Also, I happen to think 6 month is the best age for kids. They’re soft and cuddly and kissable, and they don’t talk back or hit that hard. I’m pretty sure I only want a 6 mo. old when I have a kid. I don’t know what I’ll do with it pre-6 months, or obviously what I’ll do with it as it grows up… maybe “gift” it to my Mom to raise. She did a pretty good job

Christmas afternoon, Blake and I drove down to Tucson where my parents live and opened presents/had Christmas dinner with them and my grandparents. It was so delicious and wonderful to spend so much time with my folks– I love when I get together with them and Blake. We always have such spirited discussions And of course, Mom and I crack jokes at Dad’s expensive almost every 5 minutes, which makes everything better/more hilarious!

We spent Christmas night with my folks, and then the next morning, Blake and I got up and went on a hike with my Dad while Mom made delicious chocolate-stuffed French toast. Okay, she may have had help from Trader Joe’s, but she also cooked up some veggie “sausage” and made eggs for the guys, plus her signature delicious coffee, so she was plenty busy. We ended the day by helping my parents with some projects around the house, and then drove home.

All in all, a really good Christmas! My favorite foods of the weekend were definitely: the stuffing Blake’s parents made for Christmas Eve dinner (I looooove stuffing!), the red velvet cake my Mom had for Christmas night dessert, and the chocolate-stuffed French toast (plus coffee!) Mom made the day after Christmas. Yeah, I definitely gained some weight… oh well, it was so delicious!

Next post to come will be about the sweet legs workout I did today– this post is already a little long, so tomorrow you’ll have something else to look forward to!

Friday flowers!

Happy Friday, everyone! My Friday has been busy busy busy! Then again, when is any day for me not busy?

Today I…

• went to the gym bright and early and stayed for an hour and a half (weigh in today: I’ve lost 2 pounds in one week, right on track!)
• Did laundry
• Visited the doc for a check up
• Deposited cash money in the bank
• Paid my rent
• Did more laundry
• Did homework for tomorrow

And in half an hour, I’m going to cut up and apple and an orange, hit up Starbucks, and go to work for a couple hours. Hooray for busy Fridays!

Other than having a great check up with my fabulous doctor, I got a surprise from my totally awesome boyfriend today…

Flowers!

I’m sure you saw them coming from the title of this post, huh? The bf was so proud of himself too, when I called and talked to him about it. He said, “They’re autumn flowers! Because it’s fall!” Awwww! He knows fall is my favorite season, so this meant a lot to me.

We had talked about him getting me flowers a few months ago (he sent me flowers when I first moved to Denver for school), but we had agreed that flowers were expensive and that he would do something else in lieu of flowers. Well, not only did he surprise me with a flight up to Denver in October, but he also sent flowers. Such a keeper!

Carnations are my favorite!

So anyway, that’s my day so far. Not only did I get flowers, but outside my apartment today, I saw a cat… and not just any cat. It was a TABBY on a LEASH!! The tabby part isn’t the coolest part, the leash is, but I figured emphasizing tabby couldn’t hurt. Anyway, it was so freaking cute! I’ve seen this cat before, but I never was able to pet it (it was always inside.) Today I got to pet it and play with it, and talk to his owner, my neighbors. The kitty’s name is Clyde and he is SO friendly. Much friendlier than our grumpy cats…

Silly, evil kitty

No new recipes for today, but I’m planning on making some new stuff this weekend. Stay tuned!