thankful

Happy Thanksgiving! I hope everyone reading this has as many things to be thankful for as I do. This time of year always inspires me to step back and think about it just a little. I wanted to list a few of the many:

An awesome family. Great friends. My hard-working husband. A secure  job and a paycheck. Educational opportunity. My cute puppy. My lovely home. Hot water. My health. Good food. Good karma. This country and our freedoms. Hand sanitizer. Good coffee. Books and magazines. Hot sauce. Happiness.

Photo source.

green olive chicken // recipe of the week

I whipped up this recipe tonight loosely based on this one. I was looking in the fridge for things I needed to use up, and noted the abundance of green olives, of the cocktail garnish variety, someone left at my Halloween party. I’d never actually put them in any type of recipe before, so I thought I’d try it out.

Verdict: Yummy, even the picky husband liked it

File under: Easy, economical, healthy, feeds an army

INGREDIENTS

2 tablespoons olive oil

1/2 cup chopped onion

2 cans diced tomatoes, drained

1 can chicken broth

1/2 cup of water

2 (4 ounce) cans sliced mushrooms

1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley

1 tablespoon salt

1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

1 cup uncooked long-grain white rice

1/4 cup uncooked orzo

1/2 cup sliced green olives

2 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves, diced

DIRECTIONS

1. Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add onion and saute until lightly browned. Stir in tomatoes, chicken broth, water, mushrooms, parsley, salt, pepper, rice, orzo, and olives. Arrange chicken in skillet, cover and bring to a boil.
2. Reduce heat to medium low and simmer for 1 hour.

a rebellious wardrobe challenge

So. I have this boss. She is from Kentucky, which is {apparently} the reason she was brainwashed to follow outdated fashion rules as if THEY WERE WRITTEN BY GOD. Full makeup is not optional. Always wear a slip even if your skirt isn’t see-through. No white after Labor Day. So, she frequently looks at me in horror when I wear gray with brown. Or my shoes don’t match my purse. I am, to her, a fashion disaster.

“You can’t wear blue and black together.”

“Yep, you can. That rule was revoked.”

“By who?”

“Kenny Wayne Shepherd band.”

Then today, I boldly informed her that black and brown are totally awesome together, and she was horrified. {I should mention, I LIKE to freak her out. It’s one of my favorite hobbies. Thank you for funding it with your tax dollars.}

{source}

So, determined to prove her wrong I told her I’m going to rock her WORLD tomorrow with a freakin AWESOME black and brown ensemble. Stephanie’s joining in for the great Black and Brown Challenge of 2009. It will be epic. And here is {roughly} what I’m planning:

Not too crazy, right? – don’t you think black and brown can look great together? I think it’s because it’s simple but still unexpected. It looks like planned rule-breaking. It has to look intentional and put-together to work, maybe, but it’s certainly not boring.

fashion distraction

Don’t you think one of the best things about winter is getting to wear crazy tights and awesome boots?

{source}

It is SNOWING today for the first time this season and I’m pretending to hate it. I mean, I will hate it by tomorrow for sure. But today it’s inspired me to drag out all my tights and hats and scarves. And read lots of fashion blogs. Because suddenly I get to wear MORE LAYERS! And incorporate OUTERWEAR! And if I skip the gym and drink too much spiked eggnog NO ONE WILL KNOW UNTIL SPRING! So yeah, ok, I totally hate winter but I love putting away the shorts and tank tops.

And also…. I should be plugging away at cramming for my Accounting midterm, but I’ve got a 20-minute attention span for things I hate. One positive of homework-avoidance is I get lots of other undesirable tasks done when I should be studying. Like grocery shopping, cleaning the floors, getting an oil change, marathon-cooking? CHECK. Those all suddenly seem less horrible pitted against the alternative. My fridge is full and my house is clean but reeks of pot roast and potatoes.  Pot roast and potatoes I can now EAT and hide my sins under wool and corduroy for months.

whole grain waffles// recipe of the week

I am terrible about keeping my promise to post weekly recipes. I totally try new recipes all the time, for serious. Anyway, this one’s been tested and approved by my cooking club* AND my picky husband.

Verdict: Freakin delicious

File under: Breakfast, Healthy

Ingredients:

• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1 3/4 cups skim milk
• 1/4 cup canola oil
• 1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
• 1/2 cup flax seed meal
• 1/4 cup wheat germ
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 4 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

Directions:

1. In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk, oil, applesauce, and vanilla. Beat in whole wheat pastry flour, flax seed meal, wheat germ, all-purpose flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt until batter is smooth.
2. Preheat a waffle iron, and coat with cooking spray. Pour batter into waffle iron in batches, and cook until crisp and golden brown.

Best when served with a mimosa.

*By the way, my cooking club posts our recipes here when we get around to it. So yeah, I’m recycling a post. :p

Note: I didn’t use wheat germ because I didn’t remember to hit the health food store in time for cooking club. Everything else was available at normal grocery stores. The missing wheat germ didn’t seem to effect the taste in a negative way because they were still pretty good.

end of fall hike

I spent my Veteran’s Day off, coincidentally, with some of my favorite veterans, hiking the Sunset Trail in Farmington Canyon. Tomorrow the forecast calls for snow, so this is also probably the last hiking-worthy day for a lot of months. SAD.

Here is Steve, Teresa, Ed and I {plus Jolie and Soro} up toward the top of the trail.

My favorite thing was this suuuuuper old car just sitting off the side of the trail. I have no idea how someone got it there! Freaked me right out.

Steve’s chunky dog, Jolie, is the best hiker ever. Soro was keeping up on his short legs. I always liken dogs to celebrities. I think Jolie looks like Christina Ricci.

Zombie Bash recap {in pictures}

Thanks to everyone who came!

Best costume prizes went to Becca {Sally} and Jim. Congrats!!!

But no one disappointed. Check out the rest of the sexy people:

And a few other snaps worth posting…

Kid’s wretching Jack-o-Lantern & Morgan’s pumpkin cooler.

Food spread & body parts:

Cowboy lap dance action:

Creepy-perfect Halloween moon:

Halloween costume recap

I want to post about the Halloween party in some detail, but for now, here are a couple costume shots.

For work, my team dressed in 80s-style garb. My inspiration was Cindy Lauper-esque. Dustin channeled Ted from Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure. Deanna was a Glam rocker. Teresa did a wicked goth-punk look. Rowr. I don’t know what the Jazz-hands are for. I was mixing up decades maybe.

For the Zombie-bash, I WAS going to go for something Zombie-like. I came up with pin-up girl Zombie because I wanted to wear my bridesmaid dress from Heather’s wedding again! But the makeup didn’t work out so I went for plain-ol’ pin-up girl.

I watched YouTube tutorials on how to do my retro hair. Wish I had a better picture, because it was bad ass, if I do say so myself.

Jonathan made a great Tommy Lee. Love the tattoo sleeves!!

More to come on the party. Everyone had GREAT costumes and it was soooo much fun!!!

zombie bash fabulous prizes

I promised a costume contest with “fabulous prizes” at this year’s Halloween party. Here they are, those of you who are vying for the coveted title of Zombie Queen and Zombie King.

Best costume, female: Your glam prize bucket, you gorgeous ghoul, includes: a bottle of dangerously cheap white zinfandel, two goblets, a copy of the horror movie staple  “Dawn of the Dead,” a bleeding skull candle, and a pink glittery skull key chain.

Wait? What’s that label say? MUUUAHHHHHAHAHAHA

Best costume, male: Your fabulous prize, your clever devil, includes Blue Moon Pumpkin Ale, two skull beer mugs, horror classic “Night of the Living Dead” and a bitchin skull lighter.

Best of luck!

diy digs and some house porn… for the ladies

I have some news.

We are building a house. Maybe.

I’m incredibly nervous and have a million concerns I won’t explain here while we work out the details in marriage counseling. {Just kidding}. And like I’ve mentioned, I love my house. I don’t want to move, and I’m content.

But that doesn’t mean I’m not scheming and planning…

Because imagine getting to design the perfect home. AWESOME.

Our floor plan will probably look something like this, what’s called a ranch-style or rambler.

I don’t like them because they all look the same. JB loves them because they really are super functional and the one-level plan is popular in the Utah suburbs. And that kitchen/dining/family room layout would make for an excellent party house. The floor plan I dig. It’s the exterior I don’t love. From the outside, they all look like this, kinda:

Source.

No offense if your house looks like that. They are very nice houses, no question. I just lean toward old, crumbly houses.

We are compromising. My favorite home style is Craftsman style. I am going to find out if the exterior of that ranch/rambler can be pimped out to look more like this:

Source. SEXY.

Or this:

Source.

Those are beautiful homes with character. That first one’s brand new and looks like it could have been built in 1930 and just repainted.  That mix of vertical wood siding, shingle-style siding, and rock. Brought together with that classic wide, white trim. A cozy porch.

Google “craftsman style rambler” and you get things like this:

Source.

Closer, warmer, better.

Anyone out there had a house built? I’d love to hear some advice, stories, suggestions, comments. I seriously ordered “Building Your Own Home for Dummies” from Amazon- that is the baseline I’m working with here.