Weekend Recap: Snow Day!

Good thing one of my resolutions wasn’t to publish blog posts early because we’re only 5 days in and I would have failed!  I had the best of intentions to write this post yesterday afternoon but something inside me decided to start cleaning out my closet.  It was time, I was attempting to put away clean laundry and there wasn’t anywhere for most of it to go… and I looked at all the summer dresses and shorts and piles of unknown clothing balled up on the floor and said to myself, something needs to change.  So I started pulling things out, packing away for summer and making a donation pile… I took a break for dinner and then was right back to it until I decided I should get some shut eye.  Our room looks like a bomb went off but I promised my husband that it will look better when I’m done.
 

Long story short – I started cleaning out my closet and lost track of time and went to bed instead of blogging about our weekend.
 

Maybe it’s because our weekend was so good and I didn't want Sunday to end. It really was, I was off work for four days and we had a lot of fun doing nothing much.

In a nutshell we...

Thursday: we spent the day packing up Christmas inside and out.  I was sad that it was over but I was actually thrilled to de-clutter… we don’t have a lot of space in our living room and kitchen areas so it was nice to breathe. I even got crazy and cleaned out the lazy susan in the kitchen… another nightmare cupboard will be done this coming weekend.

 

Friday: we got up early and crossed the border into Bellingham, WA to visit some of my favourite stores: Target (the US ones are so. much. better.), Marshall’s and Trader Joes.  Hubby found a new store that sells every thing a man (or woman who enjoys that stuff) could want to build a house, fix a car, buy power tools… he bought some new equipment for his landscaping business and we learned how to import commercial goods into Canada.  Shockingly, it wasn’t that difficult once we got a customs officer who was willing to tell us the steps we needed to take and now that we know how to do it, it’s not that scary. Pretty sure this means more US shopping trips for me! #winning

 

Saturday: the ‘weather experts’ were predicting a big winter storm for our area starting Saturday night so I took the dog out to burn off some energy and picked up a couple things we might want if we were stuck at home for 24 hours: booze and grapefruit.  An odd combination I know but I have been loving grapefruit so I stocked up.

 

It didn’t snow.  Hubby was very sad. It has now been raining since Saturday afternoon.

 

Sunday: after a sleep in for me, we headed up the mountain to take Milo to play in the snow.  It is so much fun to watch him hop around in a foot of snow, he loves it!  He couldn’t get enough and I got some funny photos of him face-planting right into fresh powder. 

 

 

Completely exhausted!

 

We are also going back to our weekly meal plans – we eat so much better and I am more relaxed when we know prepare what we are going to eat for the week.
    

     Sunday: BBQ chicken breast, mushroom risotto and roasted green beans
     Monday: homemade pizza (dough from Trader Joe’s) with turkey pepperoni, mushrooms,

                    green peppers and tomatoes.
     Tuesday: Roasted pork tenderloin (trying this recipe from the Barefoot Contessa), wild  

                     rice and veggies.
     Wednesday: Leftovers (the pork tenderloin is huge!)
     Thursday: Breakfast for Dinner (vegetable omelettes)
     Friday: Greek take-out (we have a gift certificate we keep forgetting to use)
 

And now it’s Monday and we’re back to work. Everyone is all excited about the start of a new year but I’m like, it’s still Monday. Cheers to this week flying by!

 

How was your first weekend of 2015?  

 

Linking up with these lovely ladies:

Funday Munday, Manic Monday, Mingle Monday, Weekend Recap

   

Weekend Recap: 3 More Sleeps!

Well it's Monday and for the first time in who knows how long, I'm not that upset about it.  Because in 3 more sleeps we are going on vacation!!  Goodbye rainy gloominess and hello sunshine!  Thursday we fly to Las Vegas for 3 nights, my sister and her fiancé meet us there on Friday and then on Sunday we are driving to Palm Springs for a week.  I can't wait.  I may have already packed.  I will for sure be repacking but I feel better because I did a dry run.

I can't believe Halloween is already come and gone... it was a total non-event at our house this year because neither of us had the energy to do anything.  Normally we go all out including tombstones in our front yard but this year all we had on display was a motion activate spider (that only scared me) and two pumpkin cat-food-turned-candy bowls.  We did buy candy and crossed our fingers that we would get a few kids, which started to look even more hopeful as the rain stopped for a few hours... in the end we got 3 kids. Lame.  I told our friend who is house/pet sitting while we are away to eat all the leftover candy because I definitely don't need to!


Milo's Halloween sweater



Then the fireworks started... can you spot him?



My anti-cuddle furbaby was so terrified of the fireworks that he wouldn't leave me.  I was in Heaven (sorry for thoroughly enjoying this Milo)



My big revelations this morning:

 

1) my iPhone 4S really sucks at photos and I need to use my DSLR a lot more.  Now to only learn how to use my DSLR...

 

2) we really need to decorate our walls.

 Our weekend was also pretty quiet... I slept a lot to try and get over this bronchitis and I finally have some of my energy back. This was good because it was my husband's birthday Saturday.  Originally I had grand plans of hosting a dinner party (cause we're all mature and stuff) but he didn't want to do anything except get to Las Vegas.  At first I called him a party pooper but now I'm so grateful.  I did take him out for lunch and then we met his dad and stepmom for dinner.  I tried to last for a couple of after dinner drinks but it was home to pjs and couch for me.

Sunday I made a partial comeback when I polished off a couple spritzers.  I know I'll be double-fisting as soon as the plane takes off Thursday so I might as well work up to it now... although maybe I'll be a cheaper drunk.

We did put together a mini meal plan for the few days we are in town... I didn't want to do a big grocery shop so we plan to use up a lot of the food we have on hand.  

This is what we have cooking this week:

Sunday | Chicken Fajitas: super easy... we sauté red and green peppers, onions and diced chicken breasts in a bit of olive oil with seasoning and then serve it up with soft tortilla shells, salsa and plain greek yogurt.  

Monday | Pizza Quesadillas: I saw this post and thought it was a delicious idea plus I had even bought turkey pepperoni and mozzarella cheese with another apply in mind.  We had chicken quesadillas for dinner one night last week and since I had the ingredients on hand I decided to throw a pizza one in and wow did the hubby love it!  They are yummy and I never made the apply (shocker) so we'll have them for dinner.

Tuesday | Cheese Tortellini: I have class Tuesday night until 10pm so hubby is on his own.  We always have cheese tortellini and serve it with a garlicky tomato sauce.

Wednesday | Breakfast: with all the prep we won't have much time so a quick breakfast will do the trick... scrambled eggs, bacon, hash browns and toast.  

Linking up with Bella and Lisa for the Weekend Recap, Biana, Monday Morning Gossip and Meg's Monday Mingle! 

 

#Blogtober14: Blogging Advice & Our Meal Plan

Happy Monday!  We had such an awesome weekend and then the dreaded Monday dawned and here we are again at the start of another week.  Thankfully #Blogtober14 makes life a little easier with yet another prompt.
#Blogtober14: 10 Things You Would Tell Yourself When You Started Blogging
I still consider myself a very novice blogger and I know I have a ton to learn but I do have a couple snippets of advice I would give myself... I also have some things that I know I still need to learn.  This is my post and I can tweak it if I want to (see what I did there ;) so I am doing a combo of things I would tell myself and that I am telling myself I need to learn.

1. Plan, plan, plan.  Map out your first month's worth of posts.
2. Write as much as you can on the weekends.
3. Learn to use your DSLR.  Or win the lottery and buy the new iPhone 6 because the camera is supposed to be amazing.
4. Use social media.  Schedule tweets if needed but figure it out.
5. Recipe posts are awesome... make a list of recipes you want to make and then remember to take photos when you actually make it!
6. Set an advertising budget and stick to it.
7. SEO.  Learn it and live by it.
8. Wine helps your creativity.
9. Download all the free fronts you can and use them to make graphically appealing images.
10. I was just given this piece of advice last week and I think it's the most important on above all else - remember that you are writing for YOU, not anyone else.  This is your space and needs to be your voice. 

I love it when we have a super easy dinner week.  It even makes Monday just a tiny bit easier. 

Sunday | Peanut Butter Sandwiches: seriously.  Neither of us were really hungry and sometimes you want something simple... I had PB and he had PB and J.

Monday | Chili:  we have one more dinner left in the fridge from my crockpot chili (get the recipe here).

Tuesday | Fish Tacos: we will bake tempura battered tilapia and serve it with coleslaw and salsa in soft taco shells. My hubby will cover his with cilantro and I will gag inwardly and refuse to let it touch my plate. 

Wednesday | Chicken pot pies: can I hear it for freezer meals??  Get this tasty recipe here.

Thursday | BLT sandwiches with salad: Hubby has been craving these for a couple weeks and if it means he is in charge of dinner, I'm all for it.

Friday: we are going to our favourite schnitzel place!

What advice would you give an earlier self?

Garage Sales Suck

It’s Monday, it’s pouring rain, my coffee is cold and I have cramps.  TMI?  Sorry but that’s my morning.  I did manage to sleep in for half an hour this morning but really I was catching up on sleep because the pains ripping through my abdomen kept me up until midnight.  Do cramps get worse as you get older or is it just me??  Isn’t that something that should go away with time??  And the best drugs for taking away the pain make me sleepy so I can’t really take them at work so I have to suffer which obviously means that everyone around me has to suffer. 

 

Sorry I didn’t mean for this to be a post about my lady business but that’s Monday for you.

 

We had a super busy weekend.  Our tenant decided to have a garage sale on Saturday and because I am a hoarder pack rat I thought it would be a good idea to throw some of our (my) junk out there so Friday after work we raided the house and put out DVD’s, video games, household crap, shoes, purses, clothes, etc.  Then Saturday morning I hauled it up to the carport and got it all organized (of course my husband had to work) and settled in with my Baileys coffee. 

 

Garage sales suck.  Seriously people are cheap!  You’re already selling a brand-new-in plastic DVD for $1 and people want to pay $0.25.  And people are rude!  Some woman was telling me how old our tenant’s little dog looks.  She is old but she doesn’t need some stranger to rub it in her face.

Around 10am my Baileys was replaced with something a little stronger.

 

I started taking pictures of stuff and posting it on Facebook groups and would you know, it started selling.  We actually made just over $80 and then yesterday I made another $41.  I also took the books that didn’t sell to a local used bookstore and got $56 in credit, and then I donated all the non-name brand clothes.  So I did actually get a lot of crap out of the house and made a little bit of cash doing it.

 

And then all too quick it was Sunday evening and the weekend was over.  Here’s hoping this week goes by quick and Friday rolls around soon!

This is what we have cooking this week:

 

Sunday | Cheese Tortellini with Homemade Tomato Garlic Sauce: our garden this year was the best it’s ever been and although they took a while to get going, our cherry tomato plants exploded (and we still have more coming!).  I had so many cherry tomatoes that I knew would go to waste if I didn’t do something with them so I decided to make tomato sauce because if there is one thing my hubby can’t get enough of, it’s pasta. I even got to use two tiny green peppers from our veggie crop as well!   

Monday | Asian Style Pork Chops: one of our new favourites, this recipe is so easy to make but has tons of flavour so I always get away with it.  I marinade the pork chops overnight and then serve with rice and veggies.

Tuesday | BFD: we actually missed out on our BFD last week so we are craving some breakfast food tastiness.  I think I am going to toast up some bread, slather it with cream cheese and then pop an over-easy egg on top.  Serve with fruit and enjoy!

Wednesday | Turkey Parmesan Meatball Casserole: I am trying this recipe and if the photo is true to life then it will not disappoint.

Thursday | Chicken Fajitas: nearing the end of the week is when we get lazy and in order to avoid slipping into fast food easiness, we need to have some fast and ready to go.  This recipe for baked chicken fajitas looks like just that.

  
Friday: I am out for dinner with my book club and the Mr. will probably get takeout.

 

Have you ever had a garage sale or are they a thing of the past?

 

Linking up with Bella and Lisa for the Weekend Recap, Biana, Monday Morning Gossip and Meg's Monday Mingle! 

 

Big Bang Love (and Other Stuff...)

Good morning world!  The only reason that I am happy greeting a Monday is because I am so excited because... THE BIG BANG THEORY SEASON PREMIERE IS TONIGHT!  A FULL HOUR!  I apologize for the type yelling but TBBT is my favourite show.  I love a lot of shows past and present, but I choose this one over them all. I may or may not have discussed a friend's betrayal in this post that illustrates my obsession with the show. So if anyone needs me this evening I am unavailable #sorrynotsorry.
And so another week has started, another Friday countdown, and catch up time for me with everything I missed at the office last week.  Last week's training seminar went amazingly well and I met a great group of people from all over the world.  We even had a guy from Scotland and we kept teasing that he wouldn't be allowed back into the country if the separation vote went through.  When the results came in Thursday night he kicked off one heck of a celebration.  He also slept through breakfast and barely made it to the final session Friday morning... not that the rest of us were much better, I was downing Advil like candy.  I left work a couple hours early and passed out at home until my hubby dragged me out of bed for date night.  It was an early (and sober) one.
After sleeping like the dead I woke up and spent Saturday lounging around the house.  I didn't have any appointments or places I needed to be and after running around all week, it felt great to be lazy.  Taking advantage of the sun that appeared after 4 days of rain, I set myself up outside and got into the new read for my book club. We had a quiet night in catching up on PVR shows (ok I may have taken over the PVR to catch up on my chick shows but hubby kept himself busy) and crawled into bed at a decent hour.

Saturday's hardest decision... start with pear, blackberry or citrus? (For the record: pear)

My chillaxing companion

Spent some time reading our book club's latest pick... perfect read for a lazy day!

Sunday was another fairly quiet day, I ran a couple errands to make sure we were ready for the week meal-wise and then resumed my lazy weekend position.  I had to get as much rest in as possible because I am back at my side gig this week so have long days Tuesday through Thursday... hopefully I get into some sort of rhythm with this schedule.  Oh and a family nap, we love our family naps :)

I am excited for this week's meal plan, we are trying out a couple new ideas.

Sunday | Beef Dips:  We have roast beef that was simmered for a few hours in au jus, the perfect meat slices for a beef dip night.  

Monday | Flat Bread Chicken Pizza: We bought some Turkish flat bread and if we don't use it up sooner rather than later it will go stale, so I'm thinking pizza?  We have pizza sauce, veggies, pepperoni and cheese.  Sounds like a winner to me and bonus - thin crust!

Tuesday | Pork Chops: I found a pork chop recipe that we both love and it's super easy so perfect for a week night meal

Wednesday | Macaroni and Cheese: I bought organic red lentil pasta from Costco and am going to try sneaking it into homemade macaroni and cheese.  I just hope it can pass as pasta for my hubby...

Thursday | BFD: Our old faithful Breakfast for Dinner... this is a good way to use up peppers, zucchini and mushrooms in a veggie egg scramble.  

Friday: Ordering in!

What do you have cooking up this week?

Linking up with Bella and Lisa for the Weekend Recap, Biana, Monday Morning Gossip and Meg's Monday Mingle! 

 

Weekend Recap & Tasty Meal Plan

And another Monday rears it's ugly head all too soon. Remember that whole taking it easy and possibly even learning to meditate weekend I was planning? Yeah that didn't happen... but I did catch up with a friend I see rarely, planned a couple get togethers my mom and I are hosting, ate some delicious sushi (our new delivery spot for sure) had too many drinks in the sun, played with my camera and laughed a lot. It felt great to let loose and have fun.  It means that I didn't get anything on my list done but you know the saying - rules are made to be broken.

Hubby and I enjoyed a fairly quiet Sunday just hanging around at home.  I organized the kitchen and got lunch stuff ready for the week.  I am going to be MIA this week as we 10 people in town for a training seminar which means long days for me, but I am excited about meeting new people and observe the training sessions.  I organized a seminar in April for 24 people and it was a blast so I'm sure this one will be fun as well.  

On a side note, you know how facebook suggests groups for you to join?  Below is the recommendation I got yesterday and I'm thinking they really need to qualify their members a bit better.  I'm not single and I'm pretty sure the wedding photos seen all over my profile reinforce that fact.  Also, if I were in fact single, I would not be looking for a girlfriend.  Friends who are girls, sure always happy to have more in my life, but I don't need to be single for those ones.   So yeah, facebook knows me really well.

We have been doing really well with our meal plans and even though I won't be here for a couple dinners we have some tasty eats planned.

Sunday:  I defrosted some puff pastry on Saturday for some appetizers I intended to make but never did, so I put my big girl panties on and made chicken pot pies for the first time.  And I nailed it.  They were delicious.

Monday: I will throw some prawns into a tomato cream sauce and boil some linguini and mix it all together.  Easy and tasty.

Tuesday: Hubby is on his own and making one of his favourites, fish tacos.  Tempura battered tilapia with coleslaw in garden veggie wraps.  He might be just a bit too excited about them...

Wednesday: I have been buying a rotisserie chicken and removing all the meat so it's quick and ready to throw in a dinner.  I will cut up some veggies and make chicken quesadillas to serve with a side salad.

Thursday: Another dinner I will miss so the Mr. is making himself BLT sandwiches with turkey bacon.  

Friday: Dinner out :)

What do you have coming up this week?

Linking up with Bella and Lisa for the Weekend Recap, Biana, Monday Morning Gossip and Meg's Monday Mingle! 

 

Weeked Recap & Meal Plan

What a gorgeous weekend!  The sun was shining, it was HOT and with no commitments we had two full days of doing whatever we wanted.  It was lovely and very relaxing.  But it probably makes for a boring weekend recap so my apologies in advance...
Jinx didn't appreciate my Saturday sleep in - of an hour - and he let me know (don't you love his 'dining area'? we have to keep it out of Milo's reach so he eats in a corner of the office).

The Mr. spent the morning doing some stuff around the house with tools, loud tools that Milo did not like.  As in did not leave my side for the entire two hours which was not fun.  He even laid right beside me while I was taking my bath and he normally refuses to enter the bathroom because he knows that where he gets dumped into a pool of water.

After our productive morning my hubby took off to hang out at a buddy's and K came over for drinks and appies.  We blended up a batch of yummy blueberry lime margaritas (you can get the recipe here) and soaked up the sun in our backyard. 

And that's all the photos I took.
Oh wait, except this one I took while I was grocery shopping - Halloween already??

Sunday was spent doing exciting things like laundry and recovering.  Gotta love a lazy Sunday!  I also spent a fair amount of time on Pinterest and added a couple newbies to our meal plan for the week.

Sunday:  This chicken recipe was one of my Pinterest find and screamed Sunday dinner, throw the ingredients in the Crock Pot and let it take care of itself. Easy peasy.  Hubby made his amazing roasted potatoes and I served it with a spinach salad, it was delicious!

Monday: Another recipe I found on Pinterest, this Sour Cream Noodle Bake had me at cream.  I wanted to get it all ready to just throw in the oven but I ran out of prep time on Sunday but we'll see how it goes.

Tuesday: We recently added pork chops to our menu and I have done them in an Asian-style marinade the last couple times and my hubby really likes them.  Apparently they have enough flavour to please his taste buds so I will keep these on the menu as long as I can.

Wednesday: Grilled chicken breast on a caesar salad, so. quick. so. easy.

Thursday: One of my favourite nights of the week is when we have breakfast for dinner... I love scrambled eggs with light cream cheese mixed in.  I would be happy with the eggs and a piece of toast but I have to beef it up for the Mr.

Friday: Dinner out :)

How do you manage to minimize prep and cooking time during the week?

Linking up with Bella and Lisa for the Weekend Recap, Biana, Monday Morning Gossip and Meg's Monday Mingle!