JanJan's Visit

And we're back! My mom has been in town to visit the last two days, and even when I had time to write I certainly didn't feel like sitting on the couch with a hot computer on my lap. 

My mom arrived Tuesday right after Marshall went down for his nap, so we hung around and had lunch and waited for him to wake up. Then it was play time! We didn't do much Tuesday afternoon, aside from try to stay cool in the house (will this heat wave EVER end?), and that evening we decided to order takeout from Fresh Corn Grill. We watched America's Got Talent (I've actually never seen that show, but they were in the semifinals and it was pretty entertaining!) and got to bed around 10.

Yesterday morning Marshall slept in until almost 7:30 (12 and a half hours of sleep!--but don't worry, he made up for it last night), so we got a bit of a late start on the day. We downed some smoothies and headed out for a ridiculously hot three mile walk. We ended at a bakery to grab pastries!

Then we raced home to get to My Gym. Marshall got to play with a vacuum, which was quite a thrill because he loves watching the real vacuum at home. I have a feeling he'll feel less enthusiastic about it in a few years when I actually ask him to vacuum the house.

We spent the rest of the afternoon running a few errands before Jenn joined us for dinner and got to witness the impressive battle Marshall put up before bed. My theory is that he was way overtired, so after nearly an hour he finally fell asleep on my chest in the glider. To be honest, much as I love all the nights when he falls asleep easily on his own, I savored those moments holding my sleeping toddler again. I haven't gotten to hold him asleep in months, and while I know that's a good thing, I also miss it! I managed to get him settled into his crib by 8 pm and gladly accepted a second glass of wine. The night was a hot, miserable one, so we all went to bed early and woke up way too early when Marshall decided 5 am was appropriate for play time. (I've said it before, and I'll say it again--late to bed means ridiculously early wake ups!)

Luckily we had a nice, easy morning planned, with an easy breakfast

and time at the park!

(pretty view)

And then it was time to say goodbye. My mom headed home around 10 and left me with a devastated little boy who cried for at least five minutes asking for JanJan (he can say her name!). Luckily, we'll travel up north in two weeks to visit her and my dad, so the countdown begins!

Some other fun facts:

- Last night we made this pulled pork carnitas recipe, and it was phenomenal. I highly recommend it. We did a taco/salad bar with a few options for toppings. Simple and versatile!

- Jenn is about to start maternity leave AND Amanda is living in LA again. <--I love that sentence more than you can imagine!

- My friend from college wrote an awesome article for The Huffington Post! Having such successful friends makes me feel super cool.

- Terry doesn't work tomorrow, so we're ready to start a three day weekend! We have minimal plans, including a memorial service, but family time is always wonderful, so I'm looking forward to it. We're also aiming to keep the oven OFF the entire weekend if it doesn't cool down, so tonight we're doing BLTs and salads. Workouts might be minimal, too, because I feel like I have been drinking my body weight in water just to keep up with this heat. Maybe just a walk or two around the neighborhood. 

Any big plans this weekend?

Do you prefer intense heat or intense cold? I always want the opposite of what I'm experiencing, so I'm inclined to say cold right now. It's easier to warm up than cool down, right? So I'll go with that. Although I've never lived in a place where snow is an annual occurrence, so come back if I ever move to Norway.

Happy Friday (tomorrow) to you!

Highs and Lows and Fun Facts

Happy Wednesday! I didn't document my food today, so let's take things in another direction. First up: Highs and lows of the week so far.

HIGH: Watching Marshall crawl around like a madman! He is on the move and I can't believe how far he can move all of a sudden. Needless to say, I'm constantly watching where he is off to, which is usually the most dangerous part of the room. Of course.

LOW: Yesterday's projectile vomiting. It's never happened before, and I was completely unprepared for it. All over his high chair tray, all over his lap, all over the floor. I'll spare the rest of the details (color, texture, smell), but you have no idea how desperately I wished Terry was home at that moment.

HIGH: Getting an e-mail from a reader!!! Hi Jen! This never happens, so I'm super excited, and now I have a new friend (like it or not, Jen, we're officially friends now).

LOW: Lots and lots of fussiness from our little dude. Teething? Probably. We can see two teeth up in his gums, but who knows when they'll poke through? It could be a million other things. We'll get through it.

We had a fun lunch date, though!

HIGH: I got to go to UCLA today! I was only there for an hour meeting with my former boss about helping with a reunion, but it was so nice to spend even a little bit of time in my favorite place!

HIGH: The food around here has been out of control lately--in a good way. Ina Garten makes our house a happy home because everything she puts in a cookbook is truly magic. Like this Mexican chicken soup:

And these chocolate peanut butter globs (terrible name, absolutely ridiculous cookie):

And now for some fun, random facts about me as a cook/baker:

1) I am terribly messy when I cook or bake (I get this trait from my mom, who is even worse). Luckily I love cleaning my kitchen almost as much as I love cooking in it.

2) I make a lot of cooking decisions based on how many dishes I'll have to clean. Tons of recipes tell me to mix dry ingredients in one bowl and wet ingredients in another, and I almost always ignore those instructions. I just want to avoid doing dishes.

3) When I cook, but more so when I bake, I always always always "taste test"--that's what I call it when I eat half the batter every time I bake cookies.

4) Terry says he loves watching me bake because I exude confidence in the kitchen. I don't especially feel like a confident person under normal circumstances, so I love this compliment. He says I'm in my element when I bake. I love that.

5) Recently we took our microwave out of our kitchen. We rarely used it anyway, and I thought the cubby where we kept it would be better as a bookshelf for all our cookbooks. Now I use my cookbooks far more often because they're right in the room with me when I cook.

6) I never measure vanilla. Because can you ever really have too much vanilla?

I feel like I can say the same about cinnamon rolls. You can never have too many.

7) I absolutely hate these kitchen tasks: cooking/crumbling sausage, mincing garlic, washing herbs or lettuce, and washing the cheese grater.

8) I don't cry when chopping onions, unless I'm wearing my glasses. Weird, right?

I am also terrified of slicing spaghetti squash. 

9) I think I'm worst at making sauces. They always end up too thick or too thin or too lumpy or too something.

10) Inspiration for making whipped cream always strikes after Marshall goes to sleep, so I can't use my stand mixer. Therefore we have to do it by hand. I say "we" because I start it, but Terry inevitably finishes it because my arm gets too tired.

You turn: Fun fact about you in the kitchen? High and low for the day?

The Honest Company

Well I'm pretty thrilled to see so many folks ("so many" is a relative term) liked that upper body action I posted Monday!

As I sat down to write today, my thoughts swirled with baby registry items, baby books, apartment listings, and a million other non-blog-related ideas. Granted, this blog does its fair share of discussing whatever its author wants (including but not limited to cats, travel, and pregnancy--all related topics, right?), but on days like this when my mind is running crazy I figure it's best to just roll with it. Enjoy. :-)

The Honest Company
It just gets better and better. Last month, I signed up for the free trial. You pay shipping ($5.95), but then you get five products of your choice in small quantities (about 3 ounces each). I chose hand soap, shampoo/body wash, conditioner, lotion, and healing balm. I was impressed with all the products, but obviously I was only able to use each a few times before they ran out. So when my real bundle showed up yesterday, I was so excited!

Here's how the bundles work:

• You choose a type of bundle (baby, bath & body, cleaning, or health & wellness). You can sign up to receive multiple bundles, and several products overlap into various categories.
• You choose how often you want to receive your bundle (every 4 weeks, 6 weeks, etc.).
• You choose what goes into your bundle for your shipment. Some items are excluded from the bundle option, but you can still add them on with the "+3" option where you add up to three items to your standard five. 
• You can purchase items separately (and without signing up for the bundles), but you get up to 35% off with the bundles, so it's a great deal. My friend Jenn, however, sent me a link to Zulily saying that The Honest Company has a new partnership with them! The deal lasts for two more days, and the prices are on par with the discounted bundle prices, so check it out!
• The best part: You can switch up what you get in each shipment! For example, I ordered all-purpose cleaner this time, but I certainly won't use it all in six weeks, so I won't order that again in the next shipment.

Also, I'm pretty sure Jessica Alba packed my shipment. 

Here's what I got and my initial thoughts:

• Shampoo/Body Wash: I liked the sample I used of this product, but I'm a little disappointed in the size. I'm pretty certain that two of us using this product as shampoo AND body wash, we'll go through it long before our next bundle arrives. I also have a pet peeve about shampoo and conditioner containers coming in the same size bottles, because I go through shampoo way faster. Does anyone else have this problem?
• Conditioner
• Face/Body Lotion: Excellent scent, great size (should last me six weeks). It's definitely a lighter lotion, not a cream, so I will still use my thicker cream at night.
• All-Purpose Cleaner
• Dishwasher Detergent: We are now trying out our fifth brand of dishwasher detergent. If you remember the dish soap incident, you know it's been a rough road. I wasn't happy that our original detergent wasn't getting completely rinsed off the dishes (probably our dishwasher's fault), so I figured if some residue is going to be left on the dishes I should switch to a less chemically-harsh brand. But after several other tries, including some powder brands, still no luck. Right now we're using Target's Up & Up brand, which has been good for two cycles, but I am excited to try this one, too. First world problems, I tell ya.
• Belly Balm: This one was my add-on item (optional), and obviously I'm using it for my growing belly (helps moisturize, soothes and prevents itchiness, might help with stretch marks). It smells awesome (Terry said it smells like Burt's Bees) and feels light, not too greasy. I normally use plain coconut oil, and I can't tell if there's a major difference between the two yet, but I like it!

You can click here to check out the website or to sign up for your bundle! (<--If you click that link and sign up, I get a referral credit!)


Why Today Wasn't the Best
I told you it was going to be a random post. This morning was a bit rough when Scout woke us up at 6 and then refused to let us go back to sleep. I know, I know, we better get used to it, but the baby's not even here yet!

Then I had to drink the infamous orange drink for the glucose test (to check for gestational diabetes--50 grams of sugar in liquid form). It was just as awful as I anticipated it would be, but thankfully it's done now. Hopefully I'll get good results in a few days and won't have to do it again!

Then we drove all the way to the South Bay to check out yet another apartment. It was a promising one, until we learned at the very end of the tour that cats aren't allowed in the building. And so the search continues.

After my sugar crash (they say it's a placebo effect, but I felt awful for the entire day after gulping that drink), I picked up Jenn for a quick workout at UCLA. We just did about one and a half bleacher snakes at Drake Stadium, and I was proud that I felt like I could do more! Still, the rest of the day remained in a funk.

Terry and I are heading to Jenn's for a little happy hour celebration tomorrow, and she asked me to make a dessert. Granted, she probably wouldn't mind if I bring any old dessert, but I felt it would be rude to not being at least something gluten-free so Jenn can enjoy it too. Well, after half an hour of searching and an hour of baking, I came out with two failed desserts. I made fudgy brownies and these lemon bars. They seemed so straightforward, but the brownies came out completely crumbly, and the top layer of the lemon bars were too liquidy to call them bars. Utter fail.

Disaster crumble

The bottom layer--which was actually tasty.

*Updated to say: Good news! The lemon bars actually came out pretty well, or at least the top layer solidified enough so that I can, in fact, call them bars. It's all coming together now, guys.

Alright, so here's what I ate on this less than stellar day:

Boring breakfast: plain scrambled eggs and the disgusting orange drink

Pre-apartment hunting snack: Peanut butter chocolate chip Lara bar

Pre-workout snack: Plain Greek yogurt mixed with honey, dried cranberries, and sliced almonds

Lunch: Enchiladas (actually, I got full, if you can believe that, so I only ate one)

Baking snack: Carrots, plus some taste-testing bites of the brownie crumble

Dinner: Turkey sandwiches on whole wheat with bacon, spinach, mustard, and avocado, plus about a third of a baked sweet potato

My sandwich

Terry's sandwich (he insisted I take a photo)

Dessert: The last of our pudding dessert with some brownie crumble on top

Check out the other WIAWs!

I hope you had a better day than I did. And I hope tomorrow is better for all of us! Happy Thursday!

A Day in the Life: Two Jobs Edition

Since taking on a part time, holiday-season-only job, life has really sped up around here, which is actually a good thing. With Terry gone for work so much in November, December, and January, I needed a distraction to keep me feeling like I'm a useful part of society instead of a soft lump on the couch. So here's what my day looked like Wednesday, when I worked both jobs.

Morning

2:02 am - Woke up in the middle of the night, took about 40 minutes to fall asleep again. Apparently sleeping on my stomach and back is no longer an option.
5:08 am - Alarm went off, I hit the snooze.
5:10 am - Alarm went off again, I hit the snooze.
5:10 am - Terry called me to wake me up. I barely remember this call, but it happened. It was nice to hear his voice first thing, though!
5:15 am - Showered, got dressed, dried my hair a bit, fed the cat.
5:45 am - Ate a quick bowl of cereal while making my French toast, started the tea.
6:00 am - Sat down to eat breakfast while Scout played to entertain me.
6:03 am - Scrambled to finish getting ready, packed my bag, grabbed snacks for the morning.
6:15 am - Out the door.
6:35 am - Arrived at school, subbed for a friend who was out sick. She teaches 6:45 to 1 pm, so I followed her schedule, which involved almost no breaks! I'm impressed that she does that every day (when I taught for four years, I always had my prep period in the middle of the morning, so I got some nicely spaced breaks).

Afternoon/Evening

1:00 pm - Got called to the office, which was super weird.
1:04 pm - Arrived at the office to find the best surprise ever: Terry! He came home two days early and surprised me! Woo hoo! I turned bright red and got all teary, but it was awesome.
1:20 pm - Stopped at Trader Joe's to grab a few groceries.
1:55 pm - Scrambled around the house hiding my gifts for Terry because I had planned to wrap them before he got home but obviously didn't get to it.
1:58 pm - Got started on roasting spaghetti squash and heating up marinara sauce while we also sliced up some cheese and salami for lunch.
2:10 pm - Ate lunch, watched Monday's episode of How I Met Your Mother, played with the kitten, relaxed, chatted with Terry.
3:30 pm - Terry drove me to work (one of many perks of having him home!).
4:00 pm - Started my shift at the store.
8:45 pm - Clocked out, Terry picked me up to head home.
9:05 pm - Arrived home to the dishes and laundry DONE!!!
9:10 pm - Heated up spaghetti squash with mozzarella for myself and scarfed it down, along with a bowl of cereal to bookend the day. We watched some TV and chatted while I ate, and Terry played with Scout.
10:30 pm - Got ready for bed, checked my blogs, hoped for a good night of rest.


And that was that! My routine isn't too different now that I'm pregnant, but I'm sure things will evolve over the next few months. My belly (though still not really showing according to most people but definitely there according to me) is already preventing me from bending down too quickly and from sleeping on my side or back, but those are minor adjustments so far.

Today we even managed a pretty tough workout together. I made up my own version of the 1000 Rep Workout:

Complete 10 reps of each exercise; complete 10 rounds total. Exercises are all body weight exercises, unless indicated. If using dumbbells, choose a light weight--you are doing 100 reps, after all.

• Bent over dumbbell rows
• Walking lunges (5 per side)
• Dumbbell biceps curls
• Plie squats
• Push ups (<--you better believe I did all of these on my knees)
• Squats
• Dumbbell overhead shoulder press 
• Dumbbell chest press
• Glute bridges
• Bench dips

I definitely feel fatigued after that one! Somehow, though, we mustered up more energy to make one of our favorite comfort meals: shepherd's pie. We loosely follow Sunny Anderson's recipe minus the mushroom gravy, and today we used bison meat. Hello deliciousness! And the best part...plenty of leftovers! Even Terry, with three servings, couldn't even eat half the dish.

I also baked up a new-to-me brownie recipe, promised to be the best I've ever had. They're in the oven now, and the house smells heavenly, so I'll let you know what I think!

Oh, and since I mentioned it, here's one of my maternity purchases from this weekend. Burgundy pants aren't normally something I'd be brave enough to buy, but I feel like I can make them work. 

Hope you had an awesome day! 

A Serious Meal and a Picnic Lunch

Well, we need to have a really serious talk...about the meal I devoured for dinner last night. It was ridiculous and delicious and perfect for a Sunday.

Jenn, Justin, Terry, and I have been trying to get together for a double date for what feels like (and might actually be) months. Between Terry's business trips, my new part time job, and Jenn and Justin's hectic schedules, we finally found time last night to enjoy a meal at their apartment.

Jenn and her family are Italian and mostly from Buffalo, New York; on occasion a few of them get together to make Sauce. (Jenn simply refers to it as "sauce," and I deemed the capitalization necessary after tasting it last night.) A few weeks ago, they made a few big batches, and Jenn saved some so we could try it. This stuff is insanely delicious. It may look like a typical pasta sauce, but the components are anything but ordinary: homemade meatballs, sausage (from Buffalo--they flew it out here last time they visited), stew meat, and ribs. Yep, full on ribs thrown right in the Sauce. It's all spicy, tender, flavorful meat, and it just melts in your mouth. I didn't even take a picture of the stuff.

Anyway, Jenn served the Sauce with brown rice pasta and roasted asparagus and a fresh Italian salad (mozzarella, peppers, artichoke hearts, cucumbers, greens, and a simple vinaigrette). We all went back for seconds of the Sauce and pasta, and I really think I could have even eaten a third helping.

But then it was time for dessert and some Euchre, a card game Jenn and Justin have introduced us to before.

I swear this baby (actual child, not the apple crisp) is using up all my brain cells because I just could not grasp some of the most basic concepts of the game, even though I've played it before. Luckily everyone was patient with me, but I felt so frustrated asking the same questions over and over.

Thankfully, I think my dessert compensated for my ridiculous case of baby brain. I made Lisa's Cinnamon Apple Crisp, topped with homemade cinnamon ice cream. We all thought the dessert was phenomenal. It couldn't have been easier to make, too! Terry helped with chopping the apples and pecans. I made a few changes:

• We used ramekins instead of glass jars.
• We omitted the step where she adds melted butter and honey to the apples themselves--and we all agreed it was sweet enough without!
• We used 3 apples for 6 ramekins (6 servings), so half an apple per serving, and therefore 1/6 of the crumble topping per serving (instead of 1/8 as she suggests). 
• We used almond flour instead of whole wheat flour. If you do this and use gluten-free oats (TJ's oats are gluten-free), the whole dish is gluten-free, which is why it was the perfect dessert at Jenn's.
• We used chopped pecans instead of walnuts.

I left the extra two servings with Jenn and Justin to eat for breakfast this morning, which I now regret because it was just so yummy that I want more for me! Luckily we have one more apple, so I might whip up some of this for me and Terry another day before he takes off again.

This morning I had a little extra time before subbing a half day, so I tried Tina's newest workout (every Monday she posts a workout and they're always awesome). I used her moves and threw in a few of my own for what felt like a pretty decent strength workout for a Monday morning. I also packed up a hodgepodge of a lunch for me a Terry, scraping together every last edible morsel in our house for a picnic:

• 1 orange, to share
• 2 apples, sliced, with peanut butter on the side
• whole wheat pita (3) with eggplant hummus
• Greek yogurt with a little honey to share
• about 2 cups of popcorn
• some almonds and sliced cheddar cheese

I told Terry it was a "creative" lunch, but at least it hit most of the food groups (er...except for veggies). Terry grabbed dinner at Chipotle since I wasn't home tonight, a good idea given the state of affairs in our fridge. 

Tonight I worked at the store for a few hours, but tomorrow I have (so far) the entire day off--except for grocery shopping! And I just got word that Terry doesn't leave tomorrow! Hooray!

Do you prefer multiple items for lunches or just one big serving, like a sandwich? I actually enjoy a snack platter now and then, as long as I feel satisfied afterward. I was nervous that today's lunch wouldn't be enough for us, but we were stuffed before we finished!

Travel Ornaments

Before I begin, I'd like to send a HUGE congrats to TWO of my best friends who are getting married!

Jenn and Justin just got engaged a week ago. Justin proposed at Thanksgiving dinner with their families. These two are such an awesome couple and so fun to be around; we are already stoked about their wedding! Congrats, Jenn and Justin!

Isn't this the world's best picture? Jenn, Justin, and another of my bridesmaids, Fay, who is also getting married next year! 

Fay and David got engaged over the summer. I met both of them (actually, I met David first when we were both tour guides in college) at UCLA, and Fay and I have been pen pals and close friends ever since she moved to Maryland for law school after we graduated. This adorable couple lives in DC now, and I'm finally going to visit them in January! Their wedding at UCLA (on campus! how cool is that?) will be in July of next year. Hooray for weddings!

Alright, back to business...

Since I don't really have a set work schedule, my days really vary, even week to week. This week I subbed Monday and Tuesday and worked at the store Sunday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. I had yesterday off from both jobs, and since I took care of all my errands on Wednesday, I took a more relaxed approach to yesterday's adventures. (I call my daily activities "adventures" because they almost always turn out to be somehow ridiculous and/or dangerous.)

Yesterday morning I used leftover batter from Wednesday's breakfast to make my favorite waffles before sending Terry off to work. Wednesday I also chopped up ingredients for our new favorite Italian chopped salad, and Terry got leftovers for lunch (lucky guy--I seriously considered making him PB & J and stealing the salad leftovers for myself, but I guess I was feeling generous). For my own lunch, I whipped up some tuna salad and created lettuce wraps, which turned out to be one of my better ideas this week. Deeeelicious!

I also baked two batches of muffins yesterday and sampled one of each: carrot-applesauce muffins (Lisa's recipe) and, inspired by those, carrot-pumpkin muffins (I just replaced the applesauce with canned pumpkin). Both were fantastic! I wish I had walnuts on hand, because I think the nutty crunch would be awesome in either muffin. Next time.

And we finally got our Christmas tree! We went to the same lot as last year (minus Jenn, sadly--we just cannot seem to get our schedules to align!) and found ourselves a gem. Of course, it's not as big as my brother's tree (theirs is 12 feet tall), but we made it work, I think. Last night was all about Christmas music and decorating! We collect ornaments from wherever we travel and love to open them up each year to reminisce about the places we've been and the places we'll go.

Here are this year's ornaments (starting top left and working clockwise in a spiral):

• Monkey bell ornament from Salzburg
• Purple ornament from Prague--um, remember when I never blogged about Prague? Oh, well. It was fun. I was tired the entire time. The end. 
• Actual cow bell from Switzerland (not an ornament, but we make it work)
• Lighthouse from St. Augustine
• Hawaiian doll from Maui
• Steam Whistle Brewery bottle opener, which we turned into an ornament when we couldn't find one from Toronto
• Ball ornament from Neuschwanstein Castle
• Cheesy airport ornament from Turks & Caicos (hey, you gotta do what you gotta do)

Yowza, we traveled to a LOT of new places this year! Next year's travels may be a bit more limited, since I'll be pregnant half the year and we'll be adjusting to life with a newborn for the second half. But we still hope to continue pursuing our goal of traveling as much as possible (and introducing our kids to travel, too!). We'll just see how it all works out as we start this new journey!

Thanksgiving 2013

When I think about Thanksgiving, my mind conjures images of my aunt's house (and, in the last few years, Terry's aunt's house, too). I taste my mom's crab dip, which I would argue has been the most consistent food item at the holidays. Sounds of laughter, wine glasses clinking, and couples bickering fill my ears. I smell pine trees in the mountains when we cut down the family Christmas tree the day after Thanksgiving.

This year, my senses got their fill of all these memories, and we created some new ones too. Our first new memory--and what Terry and I hope will become a new tradition--was a Thanksgiving Turkey Trot! My brother's wife, Ashley, convinced us to do it, so we woke up a bit early to get to Solano Community College for a 5K. We went with Ashley's friend Mary and all ended up running separately.

Finishers!

I didn't bring headphones, so I soaked up the ambiance of the race--eavesdropping on random conversations, taking in the semi-rural scenery, focusing on my run. I haven't run much lately, so I was surprised to find myself motivated to run the whole way at around a 6 mph pace. Despite the chill in the air (hello, Northern California), it was a lovely morning to be outside, and the run felt fantastic.

It was flat, too. Who can complain about that?

Team Trot!

As my brother said, "You had one job!"

You've never seen people this excited.

Crossing the finish line!

After the race, we took Chris and Ashley's dogs out for a run at the park (they ran, we threw balls for them) and got ready for the big day. I baked pies, Ashley created seriously delicious appetizers (bacon-wrapped dates with goat cheese and Gruyeres, which are essentially homemade puff pastry with Gruyere cheese), and we all headed to my aunt's house around 3 pm.

As I described, our Thanksgivings combine tradition and new experiments. This year, we were all a bit concerned when my uncle (my dad's second-youngest brother) announced that he would not make both the deep-fried and the BBQ turkeys; instead, we had a whole BBQ turkey and an oven-baked turkey breast. As much as I love the deep-fried turkey, I have to admit that I really didn't miss it this year; both turkeys were delicious! Of course, the rest of our spread wasn't half bad, either!

On the table: green salad that Terry and I are already planning to make at home (pomegranate seeds, pears, pecans, magical dressing, bleu cheese), two types of mashed potatoes (my favorite!), stuffing, a sourdough turkey, green beans with bacon, gravy, two types of homemade cranberry sauce, approximately one dozen types of pie, and lots of wine. Plus the aforementioned appetizers, and I'm sure there's more I neglected to mention. It was a feast in every sense of the word.

Of course, the company couldn't be better. Dinner was hilarious and included conversations about family traditions and heirlooms, why my aunt really doesn't like cats (yes, Scout included), and the latest high school drama from my youngest cousin, a senior. I feel so blessed to be part of this crazy bunch. After some amazing news from a friend (I won't get specific until she announces officially), we  went to bed tired and full.

Today turned out to be a whirlwind. I woke up early with Chris and Ashley for a quick walk with the dogs. After breakfast (leftover blackberry crisp that I made yesterday and eggs a la Chris and Ashley), we all headed to Santa Cruz to pick out Chris and Ashley's Christmas tree! We didn't tailgate or picnic like usual, and my parents skipped the mountain tree because they're in an apartment this year, but it was still a successful adventure. Their tree is gigantic (12 feet tall), and it's going to be gorgeous once they've decorated it!

After a few errands and lots of driving, Terry and I finally said farewell to my brother and Ashley and ended up back at my parents' apartment for dinner, Love Actually, and leftover pie. We head back to LA tomorrow for what will hopefully be a wonderful UCLA-U$C game (we're just watching at home) and decorating our apartment for Christmas!

I hope you and your loved ones had a fantastic Thanksgiving, and wonderful Hanukkah, and I hope you have a spectacular rest of the weekend!

What was the highlight of your weekend so far? 

Do you brave the crowds for Black Friday? Terry and I made one purchase, and even that was out of the ordinary for us, but it turns out it wasn't a Black Friday-specific deal, so I'm not sure it counts. Oh, well. 

Baking Day

One day last week, I didn't get called in to sub, so I took advantage of the time to get a ton of work and errands done around the house. Most importantly, I made cookies.

I used one can of pumpkin to make two batches of cookies and a loaf of pumpkin bread. And everything still tasted plenty pumpkin-y, so that one can really went a long way! I even mixed things up for the cookies and made a few varieties:

• pumpkin chocolate chip
• pumpkin white chocolate chip <--If I had made this batch first, they all would have been this variation, because it is SOOOOOOO tasty!
• pumpkin chocolate chip with pecans

Here's the recipe for the cookies (from An Organic Wife), and here's the recipe for the pumpkin bread (from 100 Days of Real Food). I can always rely on these two sites for simple, classic recipes with a wholesome twist.

Unfortunately, I haven't had much of a chance to devour these cookies. I know, it's so unlike me! Usually baked goods last about three days in this house, but we've been rather busy. Terry and I also went out to dinner on Monday night at a classic LA restaurant, El Cholo, which was a fun date night. Terry is leaving once again for a LOOOOONG work trip, and I'm soaking up as much time with him as possible before he goes. Scout and I miss him when he's gone. (Actually, while I do think Scout misses him, I think Scout also loves the extra attention he gets from me during these nights. Somehow I tend to spoil him just a little bit more when Terry's gone.)

The workouts around here have been sporadic, at best. To be fair, we did walk eleven miles the other day, but I feel like we're still struggling to get back into a normal workout routine--especially strength training--ever since we got back from Europe. Which was approximately 18 days ago. We're winners.

So tonight, it all changes! I hit the gym for an upper body workout and some intervals. And actually, this morning I woke up a little early so I squeezed in about 20 minutes of core work to start the day on a healthy note. And here's tonight's workout: 15 exercises, 15 reps, and you're done!

Some notes:

• You can see a pattern here: Two exercises working a particular body part (shoulders, triceps, biceps, chest, back), then a full-body exercise that emphasizes that muscle group.
• To lighten up this workout, you can reduce the number of reps, use a light weight, or omit every third exercise (the full-body ones).
• To challenge yourself more, increase the weight, and/or complete as many exercises as possible on a stability ball or on one leg. The added balance challenge increases how much your body has to work, and you'll incorporate your core. 

For the intervals, I did three minutes running, one minute walking, total of 5 rounds (20 minutes, plus warm up and cool down). The entire workout, including strength, took 50 minutes, and it felt fantastic to get back to my usual! Now we just have to continue tomorrow, and the next day, and the next...

Alright, enough shenanigans. Let's get to the fun of WIAW!


Breakfast: two pretty small slices of pumpkin bread, one of which was toasted and topped with peanut butter. Looking back, I probably should have gone with some eggs and toast and brought the pumpkin bread to school as a snack, because now I'm realizing that my snacks and lunch are less than exciting.

Recycled photo. Just imagine the peanut butter.

Morning snack: a banana and some crackers. See what I mean about the boring snacks?

Lunch: Leftover Greek quinoa salad from Saturday's football party. Delicious, but the tomatoes are just about done and I have a TON leftover still in the fridge. I'm seriously considering picking out the tomatoes in there and chopping up some fresh ones for the rest of the week. Is that weird?

Afternoon snack: half an apple and a small bowl of cereal, plus a little bit of cheese

Dinner: Remember yesterday when I mentioned all those tomatoes and the impending marinara sauce? Turns out, I also had a pound of ground turkey, so I whipped up some turkey bolognese. I browned the turkey and sauteed it with 1/2 a chopped onion and some minced garlic, then set it all aside. Then I sauteed the rest of the chopped onion in the same pan with some olive oil and garlic, added about 3/4 cup of red wine to scrape up the browned bits, and let it reduce just a bit. I processed five tomatoes to a pulpy soup texture and threw those in and brought it all to a boil with salt, pepper, oregano, Italian seasoning, basil, and red pepper flakes. I left the whole pot to simmer (without the meat) for about 30 minutes, and then I added the meat back in and let the flavors come together.

I was worried the sauce wouldn't thicken because I didn't have any tomato sauce, but I think letting the wine reduce helped get the right consistency. I also made it two days before actually serving it, which is my favorite way to let all those flavors marry and become united as one in holy matrimony.

Tonight I served the sauce over whole wheat spaghetti with roasted asparagus and a small Caesar salad. So simple, so delicious!

And I'll bet you can guess what we ate for dessert. (Hint: It's at the top of this page!)

Have a wonderful Thursday!