Monthly Archives: January 2011

A Kickin’ Booty Monday!!

Good evening!!

I had such a GREAT Monday today!!! I had another 10 hour day at work today, which usually wipes me out, but I TOTALLY KICKED BOOTY today, and FLEW through my work to-do list!!! YEAH! HOO!! What that means is that over my next 3 weeks, while our office is in HEAVY OVERDRIVE, my efforts today has given me some breathing room!!!

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!!

Did you hear that HUGE sigh of relief!?!? It is sometimes the small things that pushes you right into bliss!!! 😉

Anyway, as for this evening! I have had a lovely dinner with my sweetie, and we are both hanging out up in the office, getting some work and play done – him working, me playing! I was so motivated the other day by crafting my sister’s journal, that I am working on making one for myself!! As soon as I get it finished, I will take pictures and post them for you!!! 🙂

I am soooooo inspired, to tap into my inner artist, and see what I can create. I have always wanted to be one of those people, you know who I am referring too – we all have someone in our lives who is just naturally creative! I want to be one of them!! You know, art studio with a lot of natural light! an easel, paints EVERYWHERE, happy music playing, a couple of puppies running around, HUGE barn doors open letting in fresh breeze!!

OH THAT WOULD BE HEAVEN!!! 😉

Another thing that I am actively on the hunt for are some places to get centered and re-energized, especially with all of the stress that I have been juggling in my daily life right now. Do you know the kind of places I am referring to?? Places and activities that feed and re-energize your soul. Some ideas like that for me are, laying on a blanket in the middle of a beautiful park under a large tree, or sitting on a quiet bench overlooking the ocean on a windy day, or walking on a forest trail while listening to all of the sounds in nature, or even something as simple as looking at classic architectural buildings. That is pure  joy.

Anyway, I am going to close shop early this evening, and spend some quality time with my sweetie tonight! He really deserves some undivided time; he has been SO SUPPORTIVE and making my life SO MUCH EASIER during this time of crazy busy-ness!!! THANK YOU, BABY!! I LOVE YOU!!!

Have a FABULOUS evening!!! 😉

Happy Quick Monday Morning!!

Good morning!

I have an early AM meeting this morning, and I am running a little behind, so I am going to make this post quick!! 😉

I had the opportunity to make my FAVORITE go-to, healthy soup yesterday, and I thought I would share my recipe with you, in a step-by-step pictorial:

Start by sauteeing 1/2 a large sweet onion, diced, over medium heat.

Add two large bell peppers, diced. Any color bell pepper would work, but I found some green ones at a great price.

Add one can of black beans, drained and rinsed.

Next add one can of any type of spaghetti sauce. I personally like Hunt’s Traditional. You could also use regular tomato sauce and tomato paste here, but the spaghetti sauce already has seasonings – so it saves time! 🙂

For more flavor, I next add about a cup of chunky salsa, whatever is your favorite will work. Also add 1 package of taco seasoning (chili or fajita seasoning can also work here, depending on what you have on hand).

Turn burner down to low, and cover pot with a lid.

Set your timer for 30 minutes, and let soup just simmer away!

After the timer has gone off, remove lid, and then I stir in about 2 cups of leftover steamed rice. You can also use dried pasta, this works well too!

Yep, you guessed it, let simmer for 30 more minutes.

and VIOLA! There you have it!! EASY-PEASY, and SUPER-DELICIOUS!!! 😉

To serve, just dish out a bowl, top with cheese, place under the broiler, if so desired, add a dollop of sour cream and you are good to go!! You can also add diced up tortilla, eat with tortilla chips, or serve over a bed of crisp lettuce – HMMMM – ALWAYS GOOD!!!

I hope you enjoyed this little recipe. If you do, please let me know in the comments up above, and I will see if I can cook up (HAHAHA – pun intended) to share with you next week!!

Have a FABULOUS day!! 😉

The Sunday of Goodness!

Today has been such a GOOD day!!!

To start, my husband and I spent a good portion of the day putting all of our Christmas decorations away – yes, I know, it is January 30th, but last year Christmas was up in our house until sometime in March! Sad, really, but we were just soooo busy, and we never made it a priority!! Well, not this year!!! AND, did you hear me say that MY HUSBAND and I put the decorations away????? Well, this is the FIRST TIME IN 16 YEARS that HE HELPED!!! Thank you, sweetie!!! THAT WAS SOOOOO MUCH FASTER THAN DOING IT BY MYSELF!!! 😉

I was so impressed with our work that I took a pic as proof from here and evermore that, once during 2011, OUR LIVING ROOM WAS CLEAN!!! WHOOOOOO!!!!! 😉

Have a FABULOUS evening!! 😉

Vintage Dreams!!!

Good morning!

After going clothes shopping with my girlfriend, Dawn, yesterday! All I can think about is ALL THINGS VINTAGE!!! I REALLY need to learn to sew, so that I can re-create some of these for me!!! OH DELISH!!! And although I have A LOT to do today to get ready for my week, I just COULDN’T HELP BUT SHARE!!! 😉

ALL of these LOVELY fashions were found online at Dorothea’s Closet, a FABULOUS site that I recommend you visit often – there selection is ALWAYS changing!!! 😉

Have a FABULOUS day!! 😉

Hanging with My Peeps!

OK, actually, I hung out with one peep, not plural – like the title of this post implies! 😉 My girlfriend, Dawn and I met this morning to get together for coffee so we can spend some time catching up! We have a lot going on right now, and we don’t always get the chance to keep in touch like we want to, so our coffee dates are IMPERATIVE to our friendship!!!

After coffee we did some walking around downtown and did some window shopping – one of our FAVORITE NATIONAL PASTIMES!!! 😉 She has THE BEST fashion sense so I always have fun perusing the latest clothing wares with her! Of the two of us, I am the decorator, and she is the fashion stylist – that just works for us! She helps me, I help her, and that makes us the most stylish girls on the block – ok, maybe in our minds, but we love each other and have a TON OF FUN!!!

I remember, when we just 12 years old, I would spend the night at her house as often as possible, and would play dress up and I would beg her to do my hair and makeup!! SHE IS JUST A NATURAL!!! 😉

We did happen to go to one of my favorite home accessories shops downtown, Olivia’s. The owner there was very gracious to let me take some pictures of her goods! I could take almost literally one of EVERYTHING and they would fit BEAUTIFULLY in our place!!! I would LOVE it, Jason might go a little into sugar-shock, but I am sure he would let me decorate however makes me happy!!! What a lucky girl I am!!! 😉

Here are those pictures I took at Olivia’s:

Isn’t her place just divine??? I really do LOVE ALL THINGS FRENCH!!! 😉

Anyway, I had so much fun going out with Dawn today, and ALWAYS look forward to the next time!!! I love you, Dawn!!! You are DA BEST!!!

Have a FABULOUS evening!! 😉

A Saturday of Randomness!

Good morning!

I am up dressed and ready to head out the door this morning! I have a date with one of my BFF’s to go have coffee and catch up, which is always so much fun!!

I went to bed extra early last night, with the intention of just taking a short “nap” while Jason was out with the nephews at a basketball game. Well, my nap turned into just going to bed for the evening, so I woke up this morning FEELING GREAT!!! I am totally refreshed and rested and ready to take on the world!!! 😉

One of the things I have been thinking about is my efforts to lose weight/get fit!! I think I need to get myself some more motivation for why I want to do that so I stop punking out and making it LITERALLY THE LAST PRIORITY ON MY LIST!!! No wonder I am exactly where I am – it is because I keep doing THE EXACT SAME THINGS!!!

I want to:

  • Fit into an airplane seat with lots of wiggle room
  • Walk all over Paris without getting winded or super-sore
  • Ride a bike for hours at a time
  • To run
  • To be able to be flexible and have stamina and energy to play with the kiddos for hours
  • To be able to hike at Silver Creek Falls without feeling like I am going to die there because I can’t make it up the steep hills to get back to my car! 😉
  • To shop in a normal-sized store, or at least be in a size where I have TONS of CUTE options for fashion!!
  • To be able to wear sexy heels again!
  • To feel super-confident
  • To dance!!! Ok, so I do do this anyways, but it would be nice to do it without the stares – oh wait, that just my dancing not what I look like! HAHAHA! Nevermind!!! LOL! 😉

Anyway, I don’t want to be late, so I am heading out the door!!!

Have a FABULOUS day!!! 🙂