Saturday, January 31, 2009

Ugh!

I left myself a note to remind me of something and now I don't understand what I was trying to remind myself of!

Sigh. I'm old now.


Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Home Office Re-Do

FINALLY! I have chosen the items for my home office redo! I have to wait until I receive my tax refund, but here is what I'm planning.

Desk:



Chair:



Lamp:




What do you think??!

Thursday, January 22, 2009

Meal Plan

Due to travel, my meal plan for last week got all messed up. I'm hoping to catch up this weekend and continue my freezer-polooza.

Homemade Pizza - Friday nights are pizza nights in my house!
Turkey Meatloaf (in a muffin tin) will FINALLY be made this weekend and frozen
Honey Mustard Chicken
Falafel
Soy Meat Tacos
May also make the artichokes from last week too. I really want to try that recipe out!

I'm hoping to also make oatmeal bars for snacking too...usually I make them with fruit, but I might try them with chocolate and maybe peanut butter for a change....I'll keep you posted!

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

The Honorable Thing

Living in NYC I am not used to having a car and certainly not used to tolls/open tolling. I accidentally blew through a toll in the Ipass only lane while I was in Chicago this weekend. I felt bad about it and was freaking out they would hunt me down for the $0.80.

A friend mentioned that you can pay missed tolls online! I put my info in, paid my $ and got a confirmation #. No handcuffs!

I wonder how many people actually do this! Have you ever paid a missed toll online??

I love personal accountability!

Monday, January 19, 2009

I've been cheating on you.

I blog anonymously here, but I've also been blogging not so anonymously for awhile here.

I'll still be writing in both places, but for my weekend update, head on over and check out my new digs.

Shhhh....just don't let my secret out.

Thursday, January 15, 2009

Whoa!

This week TOTALLY got away from me! I almost forgot to tell you guys that I am heading to Chicago/Wisconsin and crossing off another line from my "before 30 (which by the way is in only 4 months) to do list". I'm going....SNOWBOARDING!!!!!!

I've always wanted to try it so I found a friend who was willing to take a little road trip with me and we are off! (Well I'm flying to Chicago and then driving, but for the sake of adventure, let's just call it a road trip).

Details and photos to come, provided I don't break my camera on the way down a mountain.

Saturday, January 10, 2009

Meal Plan Week 2 2009

Week 1 went great! Here is my meal plan for week 2! I'm traveling the week after so I'm going to try to make a little extra this week and freeze it.

Turkey meatloaf
(I use this recipe as a base, but add Worcestershire sauce, onions or whatever I have around and make it them in muffin tins so I have individual portions).

Mac & Cheese YUM!

Black Bean & Salsa Chicken from Ordering Disorder - Never made this before, so it's a bit of an experiment

Baked Artichoke Hearts from Rachel Ray - Also an experiment. I LOVE artichokes, so I'm hoping this is tasty.

Meal planning makes me hungry! I'm off to eat my leftover pizza from last night. I'm still on the hunt for the perfect crust, so if you have one you love, let me know!

Friday, January 09, 2009

A confession.

I have a TV in my bedroom and LOVE IT.

 I have a larger TV in my living room that is hooked up to cable/Tivo, but I also have a tiny TV in my bedroom that I've been using with just an antenna so I can fuzzily try to make out the morning news and weather. With cable going digital next month I had to make a decision, get rid of my bedroom luxury or get a box.

I marched myself to Best Buy tonight, bought a box and plugged it in. WHOA BABY is the picture on that thing clear. I may actually be able to tell which one is Matt and which one is Al now when I watch the Today show!

Thursday, January 08, 2009

Because Suze Orman Told Me To

I checked my credit reports (all 3) and got my credit score today.

I feel like such a grown up!

Tuesday, January 06, 2009

Risotto

Made risotto tonight for the first time. Aside from the fact that I accidentally used brown rice and it took 3 times as long to cook as it was supposed to, it was very tasty.

Not sure it's worth all that stirring though. I may try it again with regular rice and see if that makes a difference.

 On the menu for tomorrow: pasta with homemade sauce! 6 days into the new year and doing fabulously at my goal of cooking from scratch 80% of the time. I am actually looking forward to making next week's meal plan!

Monday, January 05, 2009

Oh 2009 How you Hate Me So

I was late to work today. I am never. EVER late. I am usually the only one on time, but today, because of stupid train issues, I was late. NOT the way to start the first day back.

The day did get better. I got my fotoflot and my new business cards arrived, but my work inbox overfloweth and my hopes of not getting bogged down in the daily routine slipped farther and farther away today.

I suppose there is always tomorrow.

Friday, January 02, 2009

Meal Plan Week 1 2009

On the menu this week:

Orange-Scented Quinoa from Clean Eating Magazine

Risotto from Rachel Ray's 39 Minute Meals #2 cookbook
Chicken Marinade from Chris at Ordering Disorder
Pasta with homemade sauce from a Year of Crockpotting that is in the freezer (my secret ingredient - use burgundy wine marinated diced tomatoes instead of the italian ones)
Homemade pizza

I'm making extra chicken in the marinade to freeze and use later and will likely freeze any leftovers I don't eat for lunch.

Wish me luck!

2009

Day one of 2009 I spent in airports and on planes. Now that I'm home I can focus on my 2009 wish list.

First and foremost I wish to renew my commitment to cooking from scratch. I do pretty well now, making all my own bread, pasta sauces and desserts, but I fall short on dinners because of time. I'm going to try to meal plan better this year.

Also, this year I'm going to make more days special. I fall to easily into the mundane daily routine. Be it a glass of wine after work, eating on the good dishes or planning a trip, I'm going to make more days unique and meaningful.

What's everyone else going to be up to in 2009?