Fine Tuning the Meals (or, I Heart Pioneer Woman)

Well, I've settled down on a couple of the things that were uncertain in last night's meal post:

1. I will be making Chicken Scallopine (PW) and salad for company this Saturday I think

2. I am switching up my Turkey Pot Pie recipe because I found one by PW! Link here.

I realize my PW obsession hardly makes me unique, but I sure am thankful for her!

Meals

This will be a light meal planning week for various reasons, but I do need to still do it, and since I always do it here, here we go!

Monday: Baked Macaroni and Cheese and Ham
Tuesday: Turkey Pot Pie 
Wednesday: Husband's work function
Thursday: Probably going out with friends
Friday: Pizza
Saturday: Undecided - might have company over, so I'll decide later

I waited til the end of the weekend, but at least there's not really that much to plan!

Holiday Wishlist

Because I am so greedy generous with ideas, I definitely have a few to give anyone who might ask what I want for Christmas! Without further ado -

- A yoga DVD. Any one, really. I love doing yoga at the gym in class, and it's occurred to me that I could just as easily do it at home on my own time, but it's harder to just come up with a full sequence myself, so why not use a DVD!

- The Pioneer Woman cookbook. Enough said. You know that particularly if you read this blog on any sort of regular basis!

- Gift cards to J. Crew, New York & Company, and/or DSW

- A spa gift certificate, specifically to one in this area. I love to get massages but never pay for them myself, and I would love to try out a facial or something too! It's just the type of thing I have a hard time justifying to myself usually.

- New luggage. My parents gave me a wonderful suitcase toward the beginning of college that has been all over the place with me (Italy, Turkey, New Zealand, Samoa, to name a few!) but it's really starting to show its age and use. I'd love a new suitcase to use when visiting family and friends!

This suitcase can be found here

- A new wristwatch. My last one, which I loved, broke somewhere in the time frame of our move down here. I would love another watch similar to that one.

This watch is on Amazon here

And probably the star of this list is something that fits right in the the emphasis on cooking that I have on my blog - a Dutch oven of the Le Creuset style... I think my favorite colors are Cassis: 

 Source here

And cherry red:

Source here

(It's also not lost on me that the dutch oven colors essentially match my wedding colors!)

In the meantime, I am doing alright with my own Christmas purchases and all of that. Our parents are taken care of already, and I just ordered some more gifts online today. I've definitely got a few more to get together, and I need to keep on working on our Christmas cards, but I have it all underway!

Hubby's Birthday and Thanksgiving (aka, a bunch of food pictures)

As I wrote, hubby's birthday was Wednesday, and of course Thanksgiving was Thursday. I'm going to do a quick recap of both mainly through the food photos I took!

 Hubby's birthday pecan pie that I made him - continuing the tradition his grandma started, of pecan pie instead of cake. 

 Chicken parm, his birthday dinner

 Pumpkin pie that I made Thanksgiving morning! 

 Stuffing ready to go into the bird

 Raw bird ready for the oven

 Some of our side dishes on the table

Hubby carving the turkey - you can also see our two guests for the day

My plate - though it was missing the corn spoon bread I made, because I ate it before I remembered to take the photo! 

The meal was definitely a success. The main snafus were the bird taking longer to cook than planned (but everything else was adjustable enough that it wasn't an issue), some chunks of cornstarch in the gravy (my fault), and a slightly singed oven mitt, the result of me accidentally touching the mitt to the heating coil in the oven when I was basting the turkey. Other than that though, things went smoothly and the reviews of the food were very good! Both of our guests (guys who are training with hubby and stayed in town for the holiday) put down a LOT of food, which is really the ultimate compliment when it comes to Thanksgiving! We were also really glad to have some guests which made the occasion seem even more special. We were also happy to pull out our china and silver for a meal! 

So now I can say I have successfully planned and executed a Thanksgiving meal - with the help of hubby for sure. It was a lovely celebration, and I'm happy to say that we've also managed to clean up our mess! We're working on some leftovers bit by bit. 

I hope everyone else had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Thankful, the final chapter (on the blog at least)

With Thanksgiving weekend wrapping up, I figured I should finish out my thankful posts. My other three posts focused on the people in my life, and when I stop to feel thankful they are the ones who truly come to the top of my list as making such a big difference. However I thought I'd add some more things here, both silly and not so silly, to finish out my little series. :-)

I am thankful for my health and the health of many family and friends. I am thankful that some family members have their conditions under control, and that one friend has a serious condition diagnosed and is now in treatment. You know who you are, and you know I am thinking of you constantly!

I am thankful for the physical security my husband and I have - that we have an apartment, and can buy our groceries and pay our bills, and that we have medical insurance. Despite many of the negatives of his profession, I am thankful that he has one with pretty extreme job security and that we can live off his compensation while I take my "gap year" and go to school again starting next year. I know that so many in the world, and many in the United States, don't count this among their blessings, and I know I need to remember that every day.

I am thankful for both of our educations and for the way our parents supported those educations, and I am grateful for the opportunity to go to a very good law school near our next duty station.

I am thankful for the lovely wedding we had in June, where we were surrounded by so many friends and family and so much love.

I am thankful for the weekends I've had to make food, travel a little, watch movies, and relax with my husband.

I am thankful for the volunteering opportunity, baby-sitting work, and fitness classes I've found to keep my schedule full and somewhat productive.

I am thankful for all the culinary adventures I've had time for since we moved here - it's truly fun and yummy!

I am thankful for my morning coffee, for my laptop and the internet.

I am thankful for social outings with friends here in town.

I am thankful for the TV shows I like to watch - trashy and non-trashy alike!

I am thankful for the trip we have planned to our home state for the holidays, and the fact that there is a prayer for a white Christmas up there (because I am pretty sure the chance is teeny tiny for a white Christmas here!).

I am thankful for all the time I have had to read for pleasure, and for the local library that has a good system and wide selection of books!

I am thankful that I know myself well enough to not go shopping on Black Friday, because that type of thing is just not my thing at all!

That sounds good! I will post again, as soon as later today, to quickly recap our Thanksgiving and my first time heading up the meal preparation!

Thankful, Part III

As is probably not surprising, I most definitely need to devote one of these posts to my wonderful husband - and today is the perfect day to write about how thankful I am for him, because it's his birthday! This fact has possibly been just as exciting for me, if not more, as it is for him.

Anyway, it's hard to put into words how thankful I am for my husband, our relationship, and our marriage. We've known each other at least since we were 7 years old, we've been dating since we were 16, engaged since December 24, 2008, and now married for about 5.5 months, and I am thankful for him every single day. He does so much to make me happy, he is incredibly selfless in our marriage, and admittedly puts up with a lot from me when I have my crazy unreasonable moments. He makes me laugh so much, he has so many strengths that are my weaknesses, and he is the first one I want to tell everything to - the one I bounce my problems off. He has given me so much, and he is one of the best parts of my life.

After two years of our high school relationship and four years of long distance during college, we are married and living a new adventure, in the real military, in this new state, in our very first apartment as "real" adults. I have really been loving it - from the exciting occasions (and purchases and improvements) to the little moments listening to silly Youtube songs, watching movies and TV, cuddling, eating meals, and living our daily lives together. It is in the most ordinary and wonderful moments that I am the most grateful for this man and his role in my life.

In addition to all those things, I know that not every military couple gets to live out their first married months in the same apartment, or state, or even country. I was also lucky enough to get my law school admission deferred for a year so I could take this "gap year" to be with him here. I try to remind myself how grateful I should be for those things - for spending his birthday, our first married Thanksgiving, and our first married Christmas together. I am soaking it all up this year because in his profession, the spending the holidays together is never a guarantee.

So, happy birthday darling, and please know how grateful I am for you, and for the fact that you wanted to marry me too. I hope to keep on being thankful for you for many years to come!

 Hubby and me at our high school graduation

Now hubby, I will post this, tell you about it, and you'll read it right away I am sure - because that's how you roll. :-)

Thankful, Part Deux

Family! Most people have it, some people love it, some people hate it, a lot are in between. I feel particularly blessed for the fact that I have a wonderful nuclear family I grew up with (aka my parents, as I'm an only child - fun fact alert!), a wonderful extended family on both my mom's and dad's sides, though many of them live far away, a wonderful nuclear family-in-law (hubby's parents and brother), AND an extended family-in-law - one in which I've known most of the members since I was 16-17 years old or so, since many of them live in our home state or visited back then. I know I used the word "wonderful" way too many times just now, but I really want to emphasize how grateful I feel. (I suppose it was also a run-on sentence. Oh well.)

Hubby's parents have been wonderful to me since I became his girlfriend when we were in high school, and I have a great relationship with his brother too. The fact that there was so little family drama related to the wedding also was such a blessing - and now that we have had to figure out how to split up our Christmas vacation back home between the two families, we appreciate their understanding there too. We might even have a Christmas dinner that includes everyone - my parents, his parents and bro, and his extended family who will be around. I know that not every married couple is blessed with such family harmony, so I definitely try to be mindful of my good fortune.

In addition to the general love, acceptance, and understanding of our families, we have so many wonderful examples of marriage - my paternal grandparents (married I believe for around 40 years before my grandfather's death in 1991), my maternal grandparents (married for 48 years this year), hubby's grandparents (married 51 years this year), my parents (married 26 years this year) and his parents (married 25 years this year). Many a time I have been heartened knowing how many examples we have close to us - I really hope it's contagious, and I know that some studies have shown it often is. Feeling the support of all those couples in this, the year of our wedding, has been wonderful too.

I'm really looking forward to going to home (our old home at least) next month to spend time with everyone in our family. I treasure that time that we get, and I am grateful for all their love toward us in the past and especially as we have begun our marriage.

One of my favorite photos of hubby with his mom, dad, and brother.

And me with my parents!

A Tale of Two Turkeys

In addition to the "Thankful" series I am working on this week, I wanted to also share this random little story to give you a glimpse into the adventure of our first married Thanksgiving. That, and I came up with this title and HAD to use it on a post!

So, being someone who plans ahead and had never procured a Thanksgiving turkey before, I felt the need to get my hands on a turkey during my last trip to the store (a week ago today). I got a frozen one that was between 8 and 9 pounds. Hubby had invited some other friends over to our place but I doubted that very many of them would be able to make it, if any. I wanted to be conservative and not go overboard. I congratulated myself for being prepared and all of that good stuff.

Well, last night hubby revealed that a) he was afraid we wouldn't have enough turkey, or just barely enough for the 5 people we anticipate at our Thanksgiving (including ourselves) and b) he had run the situation by his mom (whose opinion I will always trust on food and entertaining) and indeed, she felt like at 9 pounds, we might have enough but not enough for leftovers, or possibly not enough if someone wanted to binge on turkey. Being the food-lovers we are, hubby and I could not stand the thought of no leftover turkey, or (heaven forbid) not enough turkey for everyone to pig out to their heart's content. So, with a bit of persuasion (not that much) from hubby, I went ahead and purchased another turkey today - this second bird weighing in at 13 pounds. Which is how we have arrived at the current situation - the original turkey still in the freezer, and the newer one beginning its thawing process in the refrigerator. Hubby had a good idea though - what if, when one of our buddies who will be training straight through Thanksgiving gets his break during December, we use the smaller turkey to recreate a Thanksgiving feast for him? This idea has a lot of potential, especially because Thanksgiving is basically hubby's favorite meal ever, and I don't hate it either. ;-)

So there you have it, the story of how we ended up with two turkeys in our apartment at the current moment. If this ends up as our worst Thanksgiving snafu, I will not complain at all!

Thankful

I'm hoping to make this a series/focus for this week, the idea being focusing on different areas of my life I'm thankful for. It won't be an exhaustive list, but I want to take the time out to be mindful of all the blessings in my life. I am feeling inspired by Thanksgiving, but a goal of mine is to remember to be thankful each and every day.

Without further ado, my focus today is going to be on friends - those I have gathered in past parts of my life, and the wonderful social network I have found in the months since I moved here with hubby.

Hubby and I are from the same small town, and we're still in touch with many of our high school friends. A good number of them also graced us with their presence at our wedding, and we're set to see at least a few of them over Christmas break when we head back to our home state. I love that those bonds are still strong, 4+ years after high school graduation.

I was also beyond blessed to find the girls I did in college - some as early as new student orientation (AH, I'm thinking of you!) and others who I met a bit later on but still can't imagine my college experience without them (Kristen!). Words can't even express the love and good memories I've shared with them. Though I wish I was in touch with them all more often, I am glad to be in touch with them all, thanks to technology, and I've got plans in the works to see a few of them in Chicago early next year (I'm pumped for that by the way!). Since anymore words I write about being grateful for these ladies are likely to just sound cornier and cornier, I'll go ahead and share some photos -

 AN, AG, Kristen, KT, and myself 

 

Making sure not to leave Molly out - she was singing a cappella when we took the above photo!  

 

This is an oldie but a goodie - with ES and AH, freshman year!

And me with the lovely MS in Zurich - she was studying in Milano, I was in Firenze, and we got to take a trip north one weekend! 

I left college knowing I could never really replicate bonds like the ones I had in college, but hoping to find other military wives (and girlfriends and fiancees) who I could rely on and have fun with as I embarked on this new adventure. It took a few months (and is still continuing) but through a couple different channels I've met some really wonderful ladies here. I feel blessed that as a group, these women are so open to meeting new people, and have so much to share and offer from their experiences. A silver lining to the nature of our spouses' work is also that we often have a chance for total girl time - something that many married people probably have to forgo a bit more often. Hubby and I have also developed relationships on a married couple basis - hubby knows the husband and I know the wife, and we're all friends, and that's always fun too since being married is an adventure all on its own. I know when Kristen and Molly visited in July, they could tell I had a lack of female social bonds in my life here, but that definitely changed. I am grateful for things like having someone to shop and go get pampered with, which is something that HB and I have already done (shopping!) and are planning to do (get haircuts) together. I know that my military relationships will continue to shift and change with each move, and as others move, but between the online network and knowing how to find people and get involved, I have high hopes that I can continue to make the most of all the social opportunities.

I am full of gratitude for the people I have met in each phase of my life. I know that part of that is being open to new relationships, but I am grateful that so many of the individuals in question have been so open to me as well. 

I know a lot of the people I mentioned here read this blog - so I want to thank each of you for being a wonderful positive influence in my life! I feel like there are more, and better words, to describe what all of these relationships mean to me, but at the risk of rambling on and on, I'll end here. I'm hoping I'll continue this week to post about the things I am grateful for (or at least a small representative sampling). 

Hope everyone is enjoying the Thanksgiving preparations this week!

Meal Planning for a Special Week

This week is certainly an unusual food week, but one I am very excited for! I'll be cooking special items both for hubby's birthday on Wednesday, and for Thanksgiving. In addition to the Wednesday dinner, I'll be making a pecan pie since it is one of his favorite desserts. Our weekend has been pretty relaxing, I'm looking forward to another short week and a weekend full of food and celebration. 

Monday: Family Favorite Salad with Ranch Dressing by Guy Fieri
Tuesday: Burrito Bowls with rice, beans, cheese, salsa, avocado, and other fixings
Wednesday (Hubby's birthday!): Chicken Parm (PW version) with linguine and steamed broccoli
Thursday: THANKSGIVING, specifically: Turkey, stuffing, gravy, cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes (done by hubby), my godmother's corn spoon bread, Green Beans with Caramelized Onions and Almonds, and pumpkin pie 
Friday: Sausage and Broccoli Pizza
Saturday and the rest of forever: Any Thanksgiving leftovers that need eating :-)

I also managed to finish Julie and Julia, which means my next book to start is The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, which I've had on hold for a while and finally got to pick up at the library. Of course in the meantime, another book I had on hold has become available, so I'll stay motivated to read quickly. :-)

I'll try to update a couple times this week, and of course I will also attempt to document our first married Thanksgiving as well!

Frugality (or attempts at it anyhow)

I felt good about myself and our household energy use today - we haven't had our climate control on in a while, we've just been leaving windows open from time to time now that it's pretty mild here. When it gets cold, I just put more clothes on! (Today, that means hubby's flannel shirt and some nice warm socks.) I just gave me/us a mental pat on the back today, because we are (hopefully) saving at least a little money by waiting to turn the heat on, and making sure not to ever have the AC on these days, while we can.

Without going into too much detail (because it's boring but can also be a touchy subject), marriage has been great for me in taking better ownership of money management than I ever have before, now that I am in a partnership and we have long term plans. I read Smart Couples Finish Rich* this past month (rather quickly actually) and while it wasn't totally life changing or anything, it reinforced some of the good habits we have and got me more serious about fixing some of the less ideal habits. I also totally organized all our financial records at the book's suggestion, which kind of made hubby think I was crazy, but he already knew this. :-) I've also recommitted to our grocery budget this month (even though it's Thanksgiving) and I'm trying even more than usual to make meal planning work to save us money, find coupons where I can, make smart choices and use our resources wisely.

Besides - flannel and comfy socks are just so darn cozy!

*The title is a bit misleading I think - it's more about managing money to live according to personal values, communicate and work together as a couple, and save enough to live comfortably through retirement - rather than amassing large amounts of wealth just for the heck of it.

And in other news, I made Spicy Chipotle Shrimp Salad for dinner tonight, and it sure was spicy, but tasty! I had the last bit on a piece of pita which was extra good and helped out with the spice. At the last minute I thought some Greek yogurt would have been wonderful too, but it was all gone... definitely a successful recipe though! Thanks for bearing with my random foodie musings, if you got this far!

I Might Have a Problem

But it's not the worst problem or compulsion a person could have. You see, my possible problem is with borrowing books from the library. The good news is, I have embraced the idea of reading for pleasure this year to the point that I feel I must have a book out from the library at all times that I'm reading. Never mind that I am also reading a book I own, The Red Tent. Part of the issue is that the library changed up its system recently, so that it wasn't doing holds at all in October, and now it seems like filling the requests online is taking longer than it used to. For the past couple weeks, I was first in line for three items that didn't seem to be moving at all. "I might have to take matters into my own hands, and just find books that are available to ensure a constant stream of reading material," I thought to myself.

Over the weekend, one of the three materials said "shipped" - so I went to the library to return something yesterday and double checked that it wasn't there - it wasn't. In such a situation, I couldn't resist the temptation to get another book on my to-read list - Julie and Julia in this case. Lo and behold, I got an e-mail this morning saying the shipped book was ready and available for me to pick up. So here I am, having started Julie and Julia, still working on The Red Tent, and now I'm going to pick up this other book. Oh and did I mention I am borrowing a book for military wives from a friend? Madness, I tell you.

Anyway, it's not all bad because it pushes me to read the books fast, which I like. I feel so accomplished when I finish another book and I'm really enjoying my project this year - a concerted effort to read more for pleasure and truly take advantage of the free time I have. Also, thank goodness for renewals. They're a lifesaver in this situation.

All I can say is, so many books, so little time until I start law school. (Okay, so I have like 9 months. But still!)

Anyone have any book recommendations I can add to my to-read list?

Another week of meal planning and culinary adventures

This week's planning was all about using the things we had leftover after last week, for whatever reason - broccoli, goat cheese, sundried tomatoes, parmesan cheese, red bell pepper, among other things. I was/am determined not to let all that good stuff go to waste! Here's what I came up with, including the dinner we ate tonight:

Sunday: Kimchi Fried Rice with chicken (based off a couple of websites)
Monday: Pasta with Broccoli and Sausage
Tuesday: Spicy Chipotle Shrimp Salad (CL)
Wednesday: Goat Cheese Pizzas
Thursday: Leftovers from one of the other days, or spontaneous creativity (this is just because I so often have leftovers of other dinners, or end up being invited to someone's home)
Friday: The Marlboro Man Sandwich by PW
Saturday: Curry Turkey Burgers (RR)

I also think I've got our Thanksgiving menu planned out, and will start officially picking up supplies tomorrow. I'm pretty excited and I've definitely started planning how to get everything done. Thanks to your feedback, and hubby's I'll be making some green beans to go along with the meal, using a Tyler Florence recipe from the Food Network website.

I'm pretty excited for the upcoming holidays and all the associated food and time with loved ones - I bet the part about being excited for the food isn't coming across at all. ;-) Have a great start to the week everybody!

A Trip to a Foodie Haven

Hubby had a long weekend due to a holiday, so we took the opportunity to take a day to make a day trip to the big city closest to us. We visited a few museums, ate at a couple of neat restaurants, and did one other thing which I'd heard about and hubby was skeptical of, but turned out to be really really fun.

Basically, he'd had an idea a little while ago that we should try to make kimchi, as in the Korean fermented spicy cabbage. I laughed as I do at many of his ideas, but still took it seriously. I ended up talking to my "boss" at volunteering about Asian food and all that, and she told me about a place near the city that is full of ethnic food and all sorts of produce and things like that - including a large selection of kimchi. Being the foodie that I am, I was like hmm, it sounds like I have to go there.

So we did. We showed up in the late afternoon, started in the produce section and went from there. As we progressed through the store, hubby began to definitely agree with me that the place was awesome. The food offerings ranged in everything from Korean, Japanese, Chinese, to Hispanic, to Eastern European, Indian, Thai, and all of that. Aside from the kimchi, we ended up buying a strange assortment of foods which included: sugar cane, coconut, dried kiwis and figs, udon noodles, glass noodles, panang curry paste, chiles in adobo sauce... and I think that's about it. All I know is, next time I am gearing up to go to the big city, I will be making a list of the strange and/or interesting ethnic foods I want to buy! It was a foodie's dream, is all I can say. I think tonight I'll be making up some kimchi fried rice, so I'll have to let you all know how we like it.

Hope everyone has been having a wonderful weekend!

Another Holiday Poll

Well, as of now there is no clear favorite out of the comments for my Shutterfly post. I got one vote for each haha! It's all good though, because as I play with our photo options and look at it more, I think a personal favorite is emerging, though I have to run it by hubby. I'll wait to reveal the final choice so it's a surprise for any of you that may be receiving a card from us!

Now, there is an even more pressing matter at hand that I'd like to ask for input on. Thanksgiving is coming up SOON, and we are doing it right here at our apartment, since our home state is a loooong journey and we'll be there over Christmas. So I really need to get planning, but so far my problem is I don't have a good veggie dish. A lot of other things are no-brainers, turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, pumpkin pie, and I think this really moist cornbread recipe I got from my godmother. The big missing piece? VEGETABLES! So, I am appealing to you dear readers, to share any of your favorite Thanksgiving veggie recipes. I'd love some inspiration! Thanks in advance. :-)

I had a great day here, though I am slightly unnerved by the 70+ sunny weather. In November! I know it's silly to complain about that type of weather, it's just an adjustment for me! Anyway, I went back to spin class (yay), socialized over coffee and fro yo, and got some good volunteering in. I'm happy and grateful for things right now and I'm trying not to take it for granted.

And on one very last little sidenote, I just finished watching this week's Glee and loved it! So over the top cheesy, but the messages and musical performances are irresistible for me.

Alright, let's have it. Any Thanksgiving veggie dishes you all want to share?

Shutterfly and a Christmas Card Promo!

I am definitely in full out Christmas planning mode, though I haven't actually purchased that many gifts yet. I figure this is the best year to get away with slapping a wedding photo of us onto a Christmas card, but I want to do it and send it to a decently-sized group of loved ones without breaking the bank. That's where this post comes in - I am writing because Shutterfly currently has a promo offer for bloggers (even inconsequential ones with 23 followers like me!) offering 50 free cards in exchange for a blog post. I've never made a practice of "sponsored posts" or anything like that, but I was already going to get Shutterfly cards when I found out about the promo and I figured why not! If you want to participate, you can head here: http://bit.ly/sfly2010 

Now the only thing to decide is which design to use - I'm going to find a few favorites and then ask you all to comment and let me know which is your favorite. I want to keep it simple with one photo (especially since it's a photo of us, so I don't want to have overkill), and I want it to be elegant, simple, attractive. Something with "Happy Holidays" would be great, but most people I know do celebrate Christmas so I can handle that as well. 

Upon a little bit of browsing, here are three finalists (I'm just trying to go with gut feeling here!).

1. This first one is very understated and elegant:

 

See/order the card here

2. I love the graphics of the next one, and the cute little girl. Sadly, we'd have to replace her with our own faces... 

Link to the card here

3. I love the fun font and graphics of this last one: 

Link here

They all have their pros and cons for me! Please please comment, and tell me which one you like the best! Thanks for your help, and for bearing with me. :-)

(P.S. I may be planning for Christmas, but I am not happy that two of my six preset radio stations are playing Christmas music! I'd like to actually enjoy Thanksgiving before the music of Christmas is everywhere... trying my best to avoid those stations til later this month!)

Blogging Potpourri

[So titled because I'm mixing quite a few things into this one post! Maybe a list is in order.]

1. Hubby had a short weekend - he had to work today in the afternoon because of the long weekend coming up. I guess that kind of cancels it out a little bit, but there you go. We made it count though, by going out to dinner Friday night (fun, tasty food, definitely a success) and doing absolutely nothing that required us to put on real clothes and leave the apartment yesterday. Hooray for PJ days!

2. This morning I made Barefoot Contessa's Maple-Oatmeal Scones for hubby because he'd mentioned scones as a request a while back. I could only make a 1/4 recipe, because I only had one stick of butter and the recipe called for a pound, and I substituted some milk with lemon juice for buttermilk, but in the end I was able to make it without making a special trip to the store. They came out really well and I'll definitely make them again! Hubby especially loved the glaze. :-)

I took a photo, of course:

 Got 4 scones out of the 1/4 recipe!

3. One of my major tasks this weekend was getting our finances in order. I was spurred on because I'm currently reading Smart Couples Finish Rich by David Bach. Hubby thinks it's the same as any other financial book, and he may well be right, but at the very least I used it as inspiration to get a box of files together the way the author recommends. I love organization (even though I do tend toward clutter...), so it's really satisfying to know I'll have our statements, tax returns, and other documents within easy reach.

4. I did some meal planning and even got a few things at one store tonight, so I had a meal planned for tonight too:

Sunday: Chipotle Bean Burritos (Cooking Light)
Monday: Cavatappi with Prosciutto and Parmesan (CL)
Tuesday: Seared Tuna with Japanese Salsa 
Wednesday: Beef with Snow Peas (PW) and jasmine rice
Thursday: Philly Cheese Steak with Carrots and Broccoli
Friday: Eat out on our daytrip to the big city during the long weekend
Saturday: Chicken Breasts Stuffed with Goat Cheese and Sun-dried Tomatoes (CL), with Orzo and Roasted Broccoli

Tomorrow I'm back in fitness class, grocery shopping, and baby-sitting. Crazy to think the hubby's weekend will start Wednesday night! 

My Ever-Evolving Sleep Schedule

It's been a slow posting week for me - I just feel like I've been doing a lot of different things! (Baby-sitting, military spouse group event, lunch with some friends, volunteering, time with hubby, and oh yeah, attempting to keep the apartment somewhat clean...) Anyway, I was reflecting on last night and how it is a good example of how I view proper sleeping times so differently now, partly as an influence from my husband and partly because of my schedule.

In college (where I still was 6 months ago!) on school nights, on average I would go to bed between 11:30 and 12:30, and wake up around 7:30. Not "early" on either end for a normal person, but definitely compared to many of my peers (my senior year roomie excepted, who always got up to go to the gym... love you Kristen!). On weekends those hours often shifted later, as there was plenty of socializing to be done and no pressing need to be up much earlier than 9 or 10. I got along with this schedule pretty darn well, if I do say so myself!

Fast forward to now... I resisted the change at first, often staying up later than hubby because I simply wasn't tired when he went to bed at 9 or so. Then, fitness classes entered the picture... and volunteering... and now baby-sitting. I've also found that prior to my usual half hour commute, I like to sit around in the morning and take my sweet time to drink coffee, eat cereal, and resist getting ready til the last possible moment. (That is exactly what I'm doing right now in fact.) These facts combine to have me awake usually no later than 6:30 most weekdays (which is still usually after hubby leaves the apartment). With everything I'm doing, I'm now tired much earlier, and yesterday was no exception. I kind of felt out of it all day, and I was tired even though I'd slept a lot more than my husband, who got up at 2:30 to work on some homework. So, after dinner, we both decided it was time to head toward bed. What time was it? 7:30 pm.... He actually had more to do, so I read in bed while he finished things up and I think we were asleep around 9. The best part? I still notice the change but feel no shame. I delight in being able to get in bed so early, because I know that I won't always be able to do that even when I want to, because I know what's in my future (namely, law school and eventually kids).

And you know what? I got up at 5:45 this morning and so far I feel great! I'm excited to get some volunteering in, take off in the early afternoon and come home to get our apartment back in order and ready for the weekend.

I hope this wasn't too much rambling - it's just amusing to me to observe the change in my sleep habits over a short period of time, but it does make sense with all the different factors and scheduling involved! Sleep makes such a huge difference (particularly since I get a little extra crabby when tired - just ask my hubby.) I think I'm doing us both a favor by making a big priority. :-)