Monday, January 31, 2011

365, Hockey

First night of hockey. Day 4 of 6 complete for my crazy work schedule this week. I am exhausted. I have more emails to respond to than I care to count (sorry if you fall in that category- nothing personal!)... 

My next day off is on Thursday, the day Baby 2.0 will grace us with her presence. That day will be about her. Maybe Friday can be about me?

I have successfully completed 1 month of daily photo posts on the blog.



Sunday, January 30, 2011

365, Styled By Edward

This wasn't how I was wearing my scarf, but luckily Edward came to the rescue and got me all fixed up... Where would I be without my Queens?!


Thursday, January 27, 2011

365, Melting Snow

FaceTime with Ing

Ingrid (and Carter) called me tonight to video chat, and it was entertaining, as always. She asked to see my house and we had to made sure her trolls were all where they lived and waiting for her to come visit. At one point I was telling Carter about my uber productive day and all the baking I did- 2 loaves of pumpkin bread and 2 gigantic spaghetti pies. When I mentioned the spaghetti pie Ingrid said "mmmmmm", so I asked if she would like to come over for dinner one night. Her response, "I'd love to!... I have to go night-night... sorry." Too cute!

While continuing to ask to see my house, she saw my set of our matching pajamas on the floor, so she had to change to match. In the process though, she got distracted by her belly and how hilarious it is, then had to do her "nakie" dance, then was finally clothed again.

This time next week, Ingrid will be a big sister, and I will no longer be able to refer to her as "baby girl"!








Wednesday, January 26, 2011

365, Beginning of the Storm

My normal commute home in the afternoon is 10 min, 15 if I hit all the red lights... Thanks to the lovely weather, it took me almost an hour to get home today. Over the course of that hour, the precipitation changed from spewing bits of slush to full-on snowing.

Our power just flickered. Twice. Not cool.



Tuesday, January 25, 2011

365, Just in Time!

Not sure where my lungs were tonight, but they definitely weren't at my soccer game.

One of my lesser photos for 365... But I've been successful in posting one everyday this month and I'm not about to quit now!

4 minutes to spare...

Monday, January 24, 2011

365, Hot Chocolate

Since it was 18 degrees outside this morning, and only a few degrees warmer at my desk, I treated myself to some hot chocolate. I also treated myself to an egg mcmuffin and a hashbrown. And this was 2 or 3 hours after I ate a protein bar for breakfast and washed it down with a Dr. Pepper. Good thing I have a soccer game tomorrow!

(yeah, I am ridiculous... but eating healthy doesn't happen overnight!)


The Cooking Continues?!

I made chicken salad tonight! I have to give my brother, Alex, most of the credit for walking me through how to make it (and understanding just how clueless I am), but I actually did it! If you know me, you understand the magnitude of this victory-- remember, I just learned how to cook chicken last night.

I put the chicken salad on a tortilla and added some lettuce, and it was quite tasty. I had an interesting realization tonight in the lettuce department- a head of lettuce has surprisingly more character than lettuce in a bag. Maybe its not surprising since it is clearly more fresh, but it definitely made me stop for a moment. Also, a head of lettuce is cheaper and stays fresh longer... Why have I been buying bagged salad all these years?! (and by "all these years," I probably just mean the last few months... eh, details...)


18 Degrees? No Thanks.

18 degrees is NOT ok with me! How am I supposed to get out of bed when its this cold???


Sunday, January 23, 2011

Cooking Queen?

I went on an ultra cooking binge today, and it all turned out well... I think 4 straight days of complete laziness are to blame for this burst of energy! In the afternoon I made some cinnamon muffins from a mix, but this TOTALLY counts as legit baking for me. While I was watching Casey's band, I put some chicken breasts and ground beef out to defrost. I have never cooked chicken before (yes, you read that correctly), and amazingly, it tasted like chicken! It was boring chicken because I literally took it out of the plastic and threw it on my super-duper-george-forman-panini-grill thing--- no seasoning, no marinade. I found a few recipes that I wanted to try, and they all required the chicken to already be cooked... So, tomorrow I will try my hand at making chicken salad, among other things. While the chicken was still cooking, I started to cook the ground beef. Let me pause for a moment and point out that this is not only the most cooking I have EVER done, but I was cooking 2 things at once! Anyhow, I ended up using the ground beef mixed with a seasoning packet and tomato paste to make delicious sloppy joes!


The beginning of the adventure.



Boring chicken (but proof that I made it).



Sloppy Joes!



Me and my masterpiece.



Watching Abby trying to eat it without making a mess was an event in and of itself.



Deliciousness.

365, Battle of the Bands

This afternoon I got to go and watch Casey's band for the first time, and I was really impressed! Way to go, Moose, and thanks for letting us come!


Friday, January 21, 2011

365, Celery

Celery is surprisingly cheap, especially for the amount... 1 large "thing" of celery was $1. While washing and cutting it, I realized its not AS much of a bargain as I once thought, since you have to cut off the ends and blah blah blah. Also, it would be pretty weird of something of almost no nutritional value was seemingly expensive.


Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Free Money (on Amazon)

Everyone likes free money! LivingSocial Deal- $10 for a $20 gift card

New Logo for Pur

I like the new Pur logo SO much more than the old one! [via underconsideration]


365

Vacation is Almost Over

As day 4 of my 5 day staycation comes to a close, I thought I should take an inventory and see how much (I didn't) accomplish. My days have gone something like this:

day 1: snowboarding and tubing at Whitetail
day 2: laid in bed until 4 pm
day 3: slept until noon, then read some blogs
day 4: took the trash out and put away laundry

Not that there was any doubt, but clearly, I need structure to be productive. Several days of doing nothing have been nice, but I think I will be ready to return to my routine and ACTUALLY get things done!

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Monday, January 17, 2011

365

While doing some computer system upgrades tonight for my mom, we took a break from watching the blue bar progress at a snails pace to look at some new yarn... Love this combo!


Loving this Illustration

Greeting cards and the like on Dear Hancock


Top Google Searches in 2010

via elasticco's etsy shop


I DO Love Noodles!

For anyone who had heard my phone ring, you will recognize this tune... My roomie at VT showed this to me, and I thought it was incredibly annoying... within minutes of watching it, I had to watch it again, and again. Fast forward six years (was it really that long ago?!), and it is my ringtone. I love the animation, and lets face it, its a singing hippo with noodles on his back- whats not to love?! My favorite part is at the end when the hippo says, "I DO love noodles."

The other night I was trying to show Carter a youtube video on my phone, and Ingrid demanded seeing hippo noodles first. I've taught her well!



Sunday, January 16, 2011

365- Whitetail!

First day of my staycation was a solid success- Abby, Geoff, and I spent the day at Whitetail! It was going to be a Clubhouse adventure but poor Alex was sick and had to stay home. [I ate a pickle in his honor at lunch.]

More stories and pictures to follow, but for now, just the picture of the day!


Saturday, January 15, 2011

Photo of the day, 365

As of 6 pm today, I  have the next FIVE days off, and I couldn't be more excited! My stay-cation (as opposed to a vacation) kicked off on the right note by playing with Ingrid tonight. As always, we had a blast and my abdominals got a workout from laughing so much. She recently moved downstairs to her big-girl room and even has a legit big-girl bed... This was my first time seeing her new room all set up, so naturally we had to break it in and be ridiculous. I have a few cute videos from tonight that I will upload at some point within the next few days, but tonight is all about getting ready for the Clubhouse snowboarding adventure tomorrow!



Friday, January 14, 2011

Never a Dull Moment

Carter just sent me this photo, and it is entirely too entertaining NOT to share with the rest of the world...  Baby 2.0 will be making her grand entrance sometime within the next 3 weeks, and this is how Carter found Ingrid tonight... Things are sure to get pretty interesting in that house!


365, Goodies from China!

One of my favorite co-workers returned to work today after spending a few weeks in China, and she brought us some presents! She brought me a cool set of chopsticks (that I'm sure will make Chinese food taste even better), as well as a few business cards. Interesting note- Chinese business cards are a bit wider than traditional American ones. I haven't broken out the ruler yet, but I would guess the difference is roughly 1/4 inch. Who knew?!

Anyway, thanks Maura, and welcome back!



Thursday, January 13, 2011

365, The Sketchbook Project

Tonight, I sealed up my sketchbook and put in back in the original envelope... it will get mailed back to NY tomorrow! Read more about The Sketchbook Project... "it's like a concert tour, but with sketchbooks."



Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Dropbox

I would fight off a velociraptor to protect my @Dropbox. Get in on the action here with a referral from me!

Dropbox is one of my all-time favorite utilities as it seamlessly syncs your specified files across multiple computers and devices. For example, mine syncs with 2 computers and my iPhone, and is one of the best user interfaces I have experienced. You can get up to 8 gb of free storage space in the cloud, so there is no reason to say no!

Ing's Private Dance Party

After even the longest and most draining days, FaceTiming with Ingrid makes everything better... she was having a dance party tonight while we talked. While standing on the stool dancing, she announced "I on stage!"

How does she even know what a stage is?!





Spaghetti Pie

In my baking and cooking ventures, I have become pretty good at making spaghetti pie... Fear not, it is from a kids cookbook and is, well, designed to be made by kids. Needless to say, it's right within my comfort zone :-)

I've made it a handful of times over the last few months and have even started to modify the recipe (gasp!) and eye-ball measurements. This was the first time I mixed whole-grain and regular noodles, and I'm happy to report I can't taste a difference. I misjudged the amount of noodles (common eye-ball measuring mistake), so the pie ended up being MUCH bigger than expected. I was quite concerned I messed up the recipe, but I had it for lunch and dinner today and it tasted delicious both times... I guess I inadvertently tested just how kid friendly the recipe was, and it passed with flying colors!


Sunday, January 9, 2011

On the Topic of Healthy Foods...

Just came across this entertaining little guide to eating healthy [via foodpolitics.com]



365

In my quest of eating healthier, I have re-discovered english muffin pizza. Quick, easy, and cheap!


Shop Vac (kinetic typography animation)

My friend Edward showed this to me a while ago but I forgot about it until now... AMAZING typographic work!

Saturday, January 8, 2011

Friday, January 7, 2011

Happy Birthday, Moose!

Can't let today go by without saying Happy 15th Birthday, Casey! Where did the time go?!


July 2005




July 2010



365, Photo of the Day


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