Oil of Oregano: Devil Juice

As usual I was bummed to wake up on Monday morning but because of the madness that is my work life right now I figured it would pass in a blur... Until I started feeling like crap right before lunch.  It just kind of hit me like a wall, headache, sore throat, achy body... All I wanted to do was crawl into bed and knock myself out with some NyQuil, but that wasn't happening.  So I worked until 6pm (ugh) and then as soon as I got home I let hubby do it.  I let him torture me.  Torture as in putting 3 drops of oil of oregano under my tongue.  He won't let me swallow for at least 30 seconds (minds out of the gutter ladies!) and then I still can't drink for like 5 minutes.  If you haven't tried it, let me tell you that this shit is disgusting.  DISGUSTING!  I gag every time.  But his grandparents swear by it and they just celebrated their 70th anniversary so I feel like I can't really go wrong here.

Devil juice (aka oil of oregano)

I woke up this morning feeling a bit better and the best part? No sore throat. Fever is gone too but I still have a stuffed nose but that's ok, a cold I can deal with.  

They always seem to know when you need a little love the most

Does anyone else have any good cold and flu remedies?  There is no chance of a sick day in my near future so I need to kick this thing in the ass!

Happy Tuesday friends!

Recap: Date Weekend!

Not only did I have date night with my husband, we spent the whole weekend together!  I had plans to go out with couple girlfriends on Friday night but they ended up falling through.  Half of me was super bummed because we were going out for a delicious steak feast and lots of yummy wine and my two friends are a blast, but the other half of me was looking forward to a chill night.  I definitely need to get our girls night rebooked ASAP though!

I left work on time Friday and hurried home, poured a big road pop and headed out with hubby to do our grocery shopping.  We rented a couple movies and picked up dinner on our way home, I barely made it through the movie and then headed up to bed.

Road pop... shhhh!

I slept in on Saturday and hubby brought me my coffee in bed as I lazily watched a couple of shows. Eventually I got up and organized all our laundry into piles (I've been slacking for a couple weeks so we had A LOT) and it was the perfect excuse to settle in front of the TV to watch another movie. Real productive hey?  Pretty sure I also pinned about 200 projects/recipes/home ideas... wonder if I will ever accomplish any of them?! 

Hubby and I eventually headed out for some drinks at a new restaurant near our house and I discovered a beer I really like.  We enjoyed a few drinks, a couple appies and eventually ordered dinner.  The food and drinks were all delicious and it was great to hang out and relax with my hubby.  

Goodbye wine, hello beer, welcome to the roster!

After we got back home I decided to do something I haven't done in so long - I baked!  I promised hubby a couple weeks ago that I would bake him a chocolate cake with Skor bites plus I have wanted to try a layered cake for a while.  Saturday night baking with a drink is so fun for me and I find it really relaxing as opposed to cooking where I always feel like the donkey in Gordon Ramsay's pressure test! So I decided to bake both cakes.

Chocolate cake topped with Skor bites

My first rainbow cake

Sunday morning I was anticipating a brutal hangover but I actually woke up feeling pretty good, so good that I actually whipped up quite the Sunday-worthy brunch! Oh and I actually found one of the ideas on Pinterest so ignore my comment above.  Needless to say hubby was happily surprised when he came downstairs in the midst of my cooking :)  I made scrambled eggs, baked bacon (easiest way to cook it!!) and pancake cups topped with strawberries and cool whip (the pancake cups didn't actually mold into cups the way they were supposed to but they still tasted like pancakes).

Sunday brunch deliciousness

After brunch I did some stuff around the house to get ready for the week and then went to meet my mom for coffee.  On my way home I picked up my new favorite beer (see above) to end the weekend a little easier.  

I have a week full of long days ahead of me as I finish pulling everything together for our affiliate seminar next week.  We have 24 people coming to town for a full week of training and I am praying that it goes amazingly well.  We have never done something of this magnitude and it's important we pull it off... Wish me luck!

It's been a while since I have linked up Lisa and Bella for the weekend recap so here I am and can't wait to read about everyone else's weekends... hopefully some of you had some sun?!?





Cherry Blossoms!

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The cherry blossoms are in full bloom on our street! I managed to get this shot during a break in the rain. Not much sun but the trees were gorgeous!

Is everyone as excited as me that tomorrow is Friday?  I know, a silly question lol :) I am most excited for a good sleep in. And wine. Or vodka. Or wine and vodka. It's been one of those weeks.  Oh and I am also checking out butter ripple schnapps! Good on ice cream, in coffee and/or hot chocolate? Could this be my new baileys? I'll let you know...

Long Time No Blog

Hello Blogland, remember me?  I do not understand how all those full-time working mommas write kick-ass blog posts four to five times a week... I have barely been able to manage 2! I used to get away with working on them during my lunch break but those are unheard of now.  Oh well, at least I'm banking a bunch of overtime hours (and can hopefully convince my hubby to let me take off back to Palm Springs for a week next month!).

I had a good first half of my weekend.  Friday night I ditched the husband for a girls night with friends.  We had appies, ordered Chinese, drank too many cocktails and too much wine, stuffed our faces with a variety pack of macaroons (including red velvet, DELISH!) and passed out early Saturday morning.  Frozen was on at some point I'm pretty sure.  

One of the wines we polished off, only photo I managed to take!

I then woke up to an amazing breakfast, and after lounging on the couch for a few hours I dragged myself home.  And back to bed.  We were in bed early Saturday night and then I woke up Sunday feeling like crap.  Sore throat, headache, earaches and chills... I was terrified I was getting sick.  Hubby made me take oil of oregano (that shit is nasty) and cold fx.  I basically slept all day, was fed amazing chili, popped a Tylenol cold nighttime pill and went to bed early.  I woke up this morning hating the fact that it was Monday but feeling so much better.  So I either had a crazy two day hangover, was overtired, or was catching a bug and managed to kick its ass.  I don't care as long it doesn't take me out! 

Hotel worthy breakfast: fresh fruit, egg wraps with bacon, tomatoes and                                       cheese, oj, coffee AND espresso. 

Besides work I have a few things to look forward to this week: my standing date with K for Pretty Little Liars tomorrow and then another girls night on Friday, with different girls and at my favorite steakhouse.  

What does everyone else have planned for the weekend?

It's the Little Things... Being Grateful

I really like Ashley's It's The Little Things linkup, especially right now, because I feel like life is a bit too crazy right now.  This reminds me to stop and breathe and remember to be thankful for everything I have in my life.

What is so crazy in my life right now is work.  We are basically relaunching our company and I am in charge of organizing said launch, which includes a 5 day training seminar with 25 of our sales affiliates and 3 product launches.  The seminar is desparately needed, the training, the product info, everything that we are doing is desparately needed.  Alll the work that goes into that plus everything behind the scenes is time consuming not to mention doing my every day job requirements, so I am working long days and get home exhausted and ready to comb into bed.  But I need to remember that I have a job and I work with some great people.  Some people don't even have that.

I also had a small victory in the eating department! We had cake yesterday to celebrate a colleague's 25 year anniversary with the company (isn't that crazy in this day and age?? The guys get Rolex watches and the women get diamond and sapphire rings - I only have 24 years to go!!) and there was obviously a big chocolate cake with icing and chocolate shaving goodness.... And I didn't eat ANY!  It felt so good.  I think I'm actually ready to give this WW thing a shot.  And I'm actually getting the urge to sweat so I think I'm also ready to get my butt back to working out, yay me! 

I can't wait to catch up on everyone's little things this weekend :)

Weekend Recap... Sorcerer for the Win!

Linking up with Lisa and Bella!

This weekend was the perfect mix of busy and relaxed.  Friday night we ordered in sushi and watched a movie, then went to bed at a decent hour because we were gearing up for a busy Saturday.

Saturday morning we got up early and headed right out to get our day started.  We went to hubby's favorite store Home Depot where he bought... I know it's stuff for the yard but that's about it. Meanwhile I bought four cans of spray paint in great colors, a DIY dream, now I just need to figure out what to do with them.   Then it was off to Target where I discovered all their basic T's and tanks were basically half price, and then it was all over, I am fully stocked for summer!  About an hour and a half later he managed to drag me out of there and we got our grocery shop done.

Saturday night we went to our friend's house for drinks, dinner and game night for the first time since they had their baby (LINK).  One friend is an awesome cook so he made pulled pork tacos and delicious salad, we had lots of wine, and I got lots of newborn baby snuggles.  We played the game Cards Against Humanity (you have to be really open-minded to enjoy this game and I sincerely apologize if it offends anyone) and even better, I won.  Basically someone reads out a statement/question/fill-in-the-blanks (black card) and every one else chooses one of their white cards as the best response, whoever's card wins gets a point.

Two of my winners:

Sunday was, as usual, our somewhat lazy day. We woke up at a decent hour and hubby brought me coffee in bed (I love these mornings!).  After enjoying coffee and breakfast, I set up shop in the TV room to prep all our veggies for the week while watching my recordings.  Oh and I also did five loads of laundry.  But it was great, I was home and relaxing while making the rest of the week easier.  I peeled and chopped two big bags of carrots - we both take them for lunch and go through a ton.  I'm actually not sure if these will even last us until next weekend.  

My veggie-licious haul:

Lazy Sunday naps:

Sunday night we made dinner together and it was delicious.  We had pork tenderloin, roasted potatoes and a broccoli-cauliflower mixture topped with cheese sauce (from scratch, I once made a packet cheese sauce for dinner with my in-laws and they were horrified, I only make the real stuff now!!!).  It was so good, I will post the recipe soon.

Do you have a weekend routine?  Does it mainly involve getting ready for the upcoming week? I would love to hear what other people to keep themselves on track or shortcuts to make life easier.  Please share!

   

Dinner Plan

Happy St. Patrick's Day Eve!  I'm not Irish but as many people know I enjoy a drink or 5 so this is a great holiday for me to partake in... except it's Monday and I have a lot of work to do over the next three weeks so a hangover just won't work for me right now.  But I will enjoy vicariously through all the social media posts and pictures so please put in a good effort.

 

We've had a good weekend and once again I'm so sad that it's Sunday.  Hopefully I won't have much time to be sad that it's Monday and there are four more sleeps to another Friday... I really think it's time we rally for a 4 day work week. 

 

I am still loving our weekly dinner plans but I need to get into the habit of creating them on Thursday... I always end up doing the grocery shop and then the dinner plan which is pretty ass backwards because we always have the same things.  If I remember to plan ahead then we can try different things, maybe even have a goal of one new recipe a week.  Wish me luck.

 

Here is what we have cooking this week:

 

 

I took a lot of inspiration from Skinnytaste this week, the frittata and a couple of veggie sides are from the website and I have never made them before.  I am really hoping they turn out because they look delicious and are somewhat healthy so it's a win-win.

 

I hope everyone had a great weekend, looking forward to all the recaps tomorrow, and to all the Irish ENJOY!!

 

 

Thirsty Thursday

One of the rules of book club is that you never talk about book club wine is consumed.  A lot of wine.  Well I consume a lot of wine, I'm totally the lush of the group.  And because it's fun to try new wines (and hopefully like them) I went to the wine store to ask for something tasty.  

I love the wine store peeps - they always have employee tastings so a lot of them can actually give a real recommendation.  I wonder if they get a discount on wine?  I wonder if I can get a PT job working like 2 hours a week so I can take advantage of the discount... 

You know what always gets me? Labels.  I love a good label and will buy a bottle simply because I like it, but I lucked out this time because I also really enjoyed what was inside the label... And I hope the other girls did too but I don't really remember.  I almost didn't even get a photo but thankfully I did (I didn't say it was a good photo though, sorry...)



Long Row's Moscato

This is an Australian Moscato... I like moscatos but they are sweet and some tend to be too sweet even for me.  This one was just right and was very fruity.  I can imagine myself drinking a cold glass on a sunny patio with a prawn appetizer and/or spinach salad with goat cheese... Which might have to happen this summer.  

 

And isn't the label beautiful??  I'm not sure what it is but I love it, and it's even better in person. Maybe it's the texture - the pink is like a bubble gum nail polish.  I will obviously just have to buy another bottle and take better pictures right?  Sounds only fair to me...

 

Happy Thursday - only more sleep until the weekend! 

 

     

It's The Little Things

I have received some very sweet comments from a beautiful redhead (I hold a special place in my heart for Gingers - my hubby is one!) and ever since I first laid eyes on it I have loved her blog.  Ashley from Words About Waverly is a doting momma who adores her little girl and if I ever have a daughter I know where to look for adorable outfits... especially if she is a redhead!

 

Ashley started a link-up a few weeks ago called It's The Little Things meant to capture the little moments in life that can sometimes go undocumented and this is the first time I am joining in.  I am sorry to have taken so long to get on the bandwagon but I am happy I'm finally here!

 

 

I have been lucky and enjoying some quality time with friends and family :)

 

I finally had a good long facetime chat with my sister B!  We have both been away, she is crazy busy at work and they are two hours ahead so we keep missing each other.  I really do love that girl and can't wait to see her again.  I didn't properly appreciate the time I had with her when I didn't think she was going anywhere, and now I practically want to climb inside her purse so she has to take me everywhere with her!  Needless to say I am counting the months until she is back (I can't think about this in years, it hurts my brain). 

 

I had a blast with my book club on the weekend... I have my sister-in-law/bestie K to thank for introducing me to a group of beautiful, smart, funny, friendly and inviting women who have been friends for years but have let me into their inner circle.  Sometimes I feel like the new kid who was invited to sit at the cool table. 

 

I am also thankful that K and I have officially reinstated PLL Tuesday - we make dinner and watch 3 episodes of Pretty Little Liars at K's house.  We have about 29 episodes saved up and K wants her PVR space back and I totally don't blame her.  Plus a little girls time is always good.  I am just super happy she didn't watch them without me!

 



Puppy snuggles while watching Pretty Little Liars - softest ears ever!!



 I am becoming good friends with a new colleague and I look forward to the adventures I already foresee happening... you know when you just click with someone?  Yeah she's one of those :)  The only problem is her name also starts with K so she may end up K2!

 

This is just the tip of the iceberg but I am looking forward to many more posts where I am forced to stop and be thankful for the little things.

 

Oh I sincerely apologize for my lack of photos!!  I need to start taking more!

 

What are the little things you're thankful for in your life?

 

 

Monday Rambling

I left the house 30 minutes late today.  My coffee is not kicking in and I am so damn tempted to chug a Coke (real Coke, as in not Coke Zero or Diet) for the sugar rush but am so far resisting.  My eyeballs feel like a hazy film is covering them and it’s seriously hard to keep them open.  I promised myself I would work out at lunch today and thankfully I still plan on keeping that promise because I do actually think I will feel more awake after.

I am very much looking forward to getting home this evening but at the same time I am dreading it because everything I was supposed to do yesterday but didn’t will be waiting for me.  Like the massive pile of clean clothes covering the couch.  At least the furbies will have a comfy napping spot.  What about the things I wrote about wanting to do on Friday, you ask?  Nothing. Zip.  No way Jose.  I will have to plan to do those another time.

The key thing will be to keep myself awake until it’s time to go to bed… as a lover of naps I want to lay my head down whenever I can but it always screws up my nighttime sleep.  Or maybe I’m just  night owl – I will be exhausted until I crawl into bed and then I want to stay up forever.  Ahhh #firstworldproblems.

I will admit however that an extra hour of daylight is wonderful and the sun came out yesterday and has managed to stay.  I am looking forward to watching this little guy go crazy when I take him out to enjoy it!

Sun worshiping

I hope to be back tomorrow with something intelligent to say (but no promises ;)

   

What We're Eating This Week

Daylight Savings can suck it.  Losing an hour is the worst.  Especially when you wake up as hungover as I did. Book club was a blast.  Today was one of those hangover days where I didn't move until 11am and even then it was just to change locations from the bed to the couch.  And of course it was a gorgeous day, we even had our doors open for awhile!  Is Spring coming??

We had grand plans of cooking tonight but opted for cereal instead. It was quick and easy and required zero cooking. Today wasn't a complete loss though... I made Milo's food for the month, made smoothies, peeled and cut all the carrots and prepped a bunch of other groceries we bought.  Oh and two loads of laundry.  The clean clothes are covering the couch but at least they're clean right?  I will be playing catch-up tomorrow night, including making my lunch salads.  Which means I don't have lunch for tomorrow so please let me find the strength to not hit up a drive thru.

Here is what we have happening in the kitchen this week:

Sunday: Cereal. No joke... Honey Chex to be exact.

Monday: Beef Lettuce Wraps (we didn't end up making these last week)

Tuesday: Parmesan Baked Chicken

Wednesday: Breakfast for Dinner 

Thursday: Tortellini Pasta with Tomato Sauce

Friday: Dinner Out :)

We need some new dinner ideas - any suggestions?

Friday 5 and #backthatazzup

Is it just me or does the first week back after vacation drag on and feel like two weeks?  And it's not like I was bored, nope, I have plenty to keep me busy and have even had to work late a couple days, but it's finally here - freedom!  Freedom Friday.  I like it.

I haven't linked up with the 5 on Friday ladies, ??? and I am happy to be back.  Instead of going through the 5 things I really miss about Palm Springs (sun, cocktails, food, shopping and the pool... oops) I am going to focus on some things I am looking forward to doing this weekend at home. 

 

1) Not waking up to an alarm.  As crazy as this sounds, I actually wake up naturally on Saturdays even earlier than my alarm.  I don't get out do bed or anything for a while but the fact is, I'm awake. Sundays are a different story with all the wine, etc.

 

2) Book Club.  You may remember I belong to the best book club ever and this Saturday we meet again.  Our book this time is Cindy Chupack's The Longest Date, Life as a Wife.  I would love to tell you about it but I have only read the intro... Guess what I'm doing tonight and tomorrow?  

 

3) Blog stuff.  I want to spend some time mapping out a plan for the month and maybe even working on my social media.  Did you know I have a Facebook page? Yeah I didn't think so.

 

4) A long walk with Milo.  Fresh air will do both us good and I am hoping to get out and see some signs of Spring.  For the first time since we got home last Friday it's not raining and it even looks like the sun is trying to make an appearance... but the forecast is for more rain through Monday.  

5) DIY Project.  I have some mason jars I want to paint and use on my makeup stand.  I really hope they turn out the way I envision them in my mind...

And for #backthatazzup I have chosen a song that I just love listening to.

Happy Friday!

 

We Stole a Baby

Well we really really wanted to. Not kidding... 

Our friends welcomed their baby girl recently and last night the hubby and I got to meet the little peanut.  She is teeny tiny (6lbs) and I could cuddle her for hours and hours. We are so happy for them and their little family :)

My favorite image of the night? This one:

My husband could not have been more enamored by that little girl.  Her daddy is his best friend and has been since high school, and I know hubby is very happy and excited for him.  I am pretty sure she already has daddy AND her "uncle" wrapped around her little finger.

My future baby daddy :)

 

Our first selfie

Of course I got my cuddles in too and see many more in my future... and I love the baby girl clothes! I have only had nephews to buy baby clothes for so I may end up spoiling this one a little bit. 

We can't wait to babysit!

 

I Love My Feet

At least I do right now because they seem to be the only part of my body that doesn't gain weight.  Normally I curse my midget feet because I am a size 5.  A lot of shoe manufacturers don't even make a size 5!  Guess how much fun shoe shopping is for me?

 

The one place where I seem to have luck with shoes is Palm Springs so when I was hating every article of clothing I put on my body last week I shifted my focus to shoes.  Michael Kors is usually my PS shoe savior (love the Macy's shoe sales!) but this time I managed to score TWO pairs of cute summer (not MK) shoes for $50!

 

My new shoes... on our unmade bed... awesome photo skills hey? ;)



I was beyond  thrilled to find a pair of small Havaianas at Marshall's for $9.99 and they're super cute with fancy straps!  I live in these during the summer but Havaianas trick me... they have a size 35-36 which is almost always more of a 6 but every once in a while I get lucky and find a 35-36 that is smaller than the rest and fits!  I think this has happened 3 times (not that this stops me from wearing the bigger ones, I just trip a lot more;) and this was one of those times. 

 

I then scored again at DSW Shoes (incidentally where I found my first ever pair of Havaianas that fit!) and found these cute flats.  My office is very casual so (thankfully) I would get weird looks if I wore heels but I still like to look cute in my jeans.  I found these Steve Madden flats that are a multi-coloured reptile pattern (they might not photograph well but they're cute in real life!)... and the cashier was even surprised I found a size 5!

 

So thank you once again Palm Springs, you saved my vacay shopping with your amazing shoes!

 

Do you have small feet?  If so where do you find your shoes??

 

#Oscars2014

I watch the Oscars every year but now that I have an "adult job" it's usually me and hubby in comfy clothes fast forwarding through the categories such as Best Sound Mixing.  My one big complaint about the Oscars (and it's the same for Super Bowl) is that they take place on SUNDAY.  The night before Monday morning.  I do not do work well hungover, not at all.  And I feel too guilty to call in sick so again, I drink iced tea and usually do laundry while watching.  But it hasn't always been like this!  I used to plan an Oscar viewing party with a bunch of friends, we even went black tie one year, and it was always so fun and I never had to work the next day so the champagne (sparking wine) flowed freely!  But as I said, not anymore. 

So this year hubby and I took our respective places in front of the TV, him stretched out on the long couch and me in a corner of the loveseat with Milo and Jinx stretched out beside me... and although I missed the red carpet I loved the show this year.  

Some of my thoughts are...

Jared Leto's speech - I teared up! I especially love what he said about his mom... And those blue eyes, wow!  But I really want him to cut his hair.

I love Anna Kendrick (Pitch Perfect 2? CANNOT WAIT) but I didn't like her dress.  Not at all.  I really wanted to but I didn't like the top and I really didn't like whatever was happening in her midriff area.

 

Kate Hudson looked amazing in her dress!  I liked it better when she took the shawl thing off to present but she still rocked it on the red carpet.

 

Sandra Bullock was another stunner...

I think my absolute favorite moments though were three of the performances:

• Pink singing Over the Rainbow... she has the most amazing voice and her dress was  perfection
• Bette Midler singing Wind Beneath My Wings for the in memorium tribute
• Idina Menzel singing Let It Go... although I wasn't as impressed with this version as I was with the movie version, it gives me tingles :)

I know I barely scratched the surface of the amazingness that was the Oscars 2014 but I loved all the nominees and the winners, there was a huge amount of Oscar-worthy films and acting this year that it must have been so hard to vote for just one.  

 

Until next year!

Back to Real Life & Dinner Menu

We lost a day and a half of our vacation because of snow and got home just in time for more to fall. Um isn't it March? We rarely have more than a couple days with a few centimeters of snow but winter this year has been totally unpredictable... Polar vortex craziness!  We did have amazing weather in Palm Springs though and I spent the majority of my days at the pool or reading on the patio with a bit of shopping in between.  I love the relaxed atmosphere of PS and always hate to leave.

One thing that was a bit of a downer was how out of shape I felt.  I always feel a bit self conscious but this time was one of the worst... every time I looked in a mirror or saw a photo of myself I wanted to cry.  The double chin, jiggly thighs and belly that makes me look preggo... even shopping wasn't very much fun because I couldn't stand how I looked in anything.  I know that I'm the only one who can make changes and I need to take responsibility for how I feel and what I need to do to change it, I am just really having a hard time keeping the motivation.  I get all excited for a day or so and then I'm back to my old ways.  So once again I am starting at ground zero (or in the negatives as a result of vacay indulging) and really hope I can keep my meals on track and follow my exercise plan.  Wish me luck.

Below is our dinner menu for this week and this is where I get lazy because my husband needs a hearty meal and I overindulge.  I need to learn the art of enjoying a couple bites and then stopping.  A little stomach shrinkage would help as well, any tips lol?



Sunday: Tortellini pasta with tomato sauce (I need to go heavy on the salad and easy on the pasta!)
Monday: Chicken Fajitas (sliced chicken with sautéed peppers and onions, flour tortillas for hubby and a bed of lettuce for me)
Tuesday: Breakfast for dinner (scrambled eggs with Canadian bacon, toast and fruit salad)
Wednesday: Beef Lettuce Wraps (we haven't made these before so we will see) 
Thursday: Parmesan Chicken with green beans (and potatoes for hubby, salad for me)
Friday: Dinner Out! I'm leaning towards sushi...

I have protein smoothies for breakfast and salads in a jar for lunch... Wish me luck following our menu!

What do you have planned for dinner this week?