New Year and New Beginnings

What is it about a new year that spurs people to want to take on new ideas and new goals? I've got an endless supply of ideas and dreams that I always want to try out...I usually just begin them right then and there and am not one to wait for a specific date to come and go.

I've kept up with *most* of my New Year's Resolutions the past few years and I've VERY proud of how far I've come...I used to be the queen of procrastination and a failure with following through. But here are a few things that I've tackled over the past few years:

*Keep up with a blog - although, this particular blog has seen better days.

*Knit more - I can check this off...I've managed to whip up a few scarves in the past few weeks.

*Take more pictures - HAHAHA! If I had known what this goal would do for me, I would have done it sooner! Look at me now - I'm a picture-taking fiend with a photography business to boot!

*Cook at home more - Okay, confession...I've eaten out more than I care to admit, ESPECIALLY since I almost always complain about how my cooking is always way better than the crappy, expensive meal I just downed.

*Work out more - And yet another confession...I did amazingly well with my running regimen in the heat of the summer. I completed all 9 weeks of the Couch to 5K program and felt the best that I had ever felt in my entire life...and then I got lazy. Now I'm back to square one.

*Maintain a clean house - This is the biggest joke ever! I do have to say, that I LOVE the Fly Lady...she keeps me motivated and without feeling like a total loser. Her chores she assigns for each day are incredibly do-able. Thank you Fly Lady!

So, what are my New Year's Resolutions today? They are in no particular order but here they are:

*Complete a 5K in half hour...piece of cake, right?

*Cook at home at least 5 days a week - Right now, I'm doing MARATHON cooking. I've made so much delicious freezer food, we may need a second freezer (scratch that, THIRD freezer, since we have two fridge/freezers right now). I would like to have a few fresh meals mixed with a few freezer meals each week so I don't feel so guilty about the money we waste on crappy foods.

*Exercise AT LEAST 21 days a month (random number, eh?).

*Eat breakfast AND lunch at least 3 days a week (I've got to start small, people!).

*Complete my NEW 365 Project. I've never kept a daily photo diary where I actually have a single image every single day but I'm doing it! There will be a link at the top of my blog to my Flickr 365 Project hopefully by tonight.

*Knit a sweater! I've done quite a few wearable items this year but I'm ready to tackle the dreaded sweater! Now I just need to save up for the yarn!

I believe that is it but don't count on it. Will I fail at these resolutions? Probably. Am I going to beat myself up about my failures? Absolutely not. We'll find out soon enough though...I'll report my progress on each point!


And since a post is never any good without a picture, here is a picture of food...I can't remember the last time I posted a food picture and I do miss it so! Roasted Vegetable Salad with Fresh Mozzarella...leftovers from the Roasted Vegetable Lasagna I just assembled and put in the freezer for a future meal.

PS: I may be back later to post some Christmas Day pics...those are always fun!

Backyard Adventures

Some days I have to wonder who is really into being a little kid - Lawyer or myself. Since Lawyer's been out of school all this week, I really wanted to have lots of fun with him at home but, alas, Granny and Papaw's house is WAY cooler than hanging out with your mom.

Yesterday, I got this brilliant idea to make a tee pee out of garden stakes and a half-finished quilt so that Lawyer could have a change of scenery. It really was quite cute - Lawyer ate popsicles and watched a movie in it.

Lawyer, by the way, isn't this pale, pasty white in person...it's just how I did the post-processing. I happen to love it when he's really white since it looks so beautiful on him.

We've had lots of questionable visitors around the yard, what with the Texas rat snake and this little fellow. I researched him and found out it's a wolf spider. I like to investigate what things are since I find no need to kill off every creature - if it's harmless, it stays. He will stay...if he bites, it's like a mosquito bite.

I made this random concoction for lunch the other day. I was feeling adventurous not wanting to read a cookbook and all. It was some cut-up veggies I had in the fridge that I threw onto some lettuce leaves and then made ramen noodles (without the seasoning packet) that I tossed with a peanut sauce I made. It was alright, definitely not what I'm used to eating when I eat Ina Garten, Ruth Reichl or Martha Stewart recipes.

My dad bought this 28-135mm lens that is really awesome (by the way, Dad, I think I forgot to tell you what I thought about it!). I was about 12 inches from the center of this sago palm and the detail truly is amazing. In fact, all the above pictures were taken with it...it may be a new go-to lens for me.

Anyhow, it's FRIDAY!!! We've just got a few plans: last t-ball game, a birthday party to go to and go see the movie UP. The rest of the time? We'll be hanging out by the pool! Enjoy your weekend!

How to create your own sunshine...

When the clouds won't go away and you are in some serious need of sunshine,

what should one do?

Brighten up some body's day!

Lawyer and I made some cookies and picked some flowers to take as a special delivery to Granny. It brightened up all of our days for sure!

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Okay, I've still made dinner every night, I've just been absent from this little blog of mine. Oh and to set the record straight (not that anybody has asked) the reason I've been posting pics of my dinners is not because I feel the need to document every mundane detail of my life. It's because I feel accountable when I can post a pic of our dinner...it forces (well, force may be a tad too harsh) me to make dinner every night and so far it's worked!

Here's what you've missed (I can hear the tears, people...or is that crickets?):

Monday-

Tortilla Soup
Cheese Quesadillas
(the pic above were of the accompaniments to the soup...the soup wasn't all that beautiful to picture, but it was very delicious)

Tuesday-

Thai-Style Steak Salad

Wednesday-

Turkey Cobb Salad (minus the turkey...I went for store-bought rotisserie chicken instead)
Also, I find the blue cheese to be a tad too overwhelming for me. I mean I like blue cheese and all but sheesh!

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And a secret knitting mission is under way...I'll share at a later date!

Just need to breathe...

Hmm, today sort of flitted itself away. I started my day as usual (opened the blinds/drapes, made some coffee, browsed through my fave blogs/websites) and then all of a sudden, like a punch in the stomach, I discovered that my ENTIRE transferred C Drive was missing. Just like that. Poof. No warning, nothing out of the ordinary with my computer, just gone.

So after announcing that I felt I needed to throw up due to this catastrophic event (my entire work life was located here) and after my dad talking me through various solutions (thanks Dad) I "happened" to stumble upon the entire missing C Drive. It magically appeared in a file that I have never even looked in before. Hmm. Not certain who, what, when, why, how or where but it was there, safe and sound. I immediately backed up my computer.

I was determined for this event to NOT set the tone for the rest of my day. While my computer basically spent the entire day backing up, I got some knitting done (I promise pics of the baby dress will be materializing on here soon), picked up the house a bit, took a few pictures (I love my new blog header...how about you?), played firemen with Lawyer (off of school for the entire week due to a democratic freak-out of this ridiculous swine flu...seriously, don't get me started) and just like that, I found the day already coming to an end. Like I said, it just flitted away.

So see this?

Yeah, I've got dreams of back stitches floating away in my head. I found so much creative inspiration at Sublime Stitching. You MUST do yourself a favor and check out the owner's embroidery work...simply, well, SUBLIME.

And dinner was delicious as usual. Here was what we had:
Beef Tacos with Radish and Avocado Salsa
Grilled Corn on the Cob

Searching for the Silver Lining

Today started out well enough. Jason and I got up early after a wonderful dinner last night. I just about finished my baby knit dress. The weather was warm. I have one cherry tomato that is turning from green to its new shade of red (yeah, I can't wait for Jason and I to share that one tiny tomato! haha!).

Jason was "starving" and I just decided to make whatever I saw so I made Chili-Rubbed Skirt Steak. The entire meal from thought to sit-down meal was maybe 9 minutes tops.

And I made an accompanying salad with a chili dressing...delicious!

Then I was browsing around on the internet and come across this lovely sight called Sublime Stitching....I'm heading to Hobby Lobby later on to purchase my first bit of embroidery gear!

Then, without warning (well, maybe...if we had seen the weather on the news, we would have known) it went from beautifully warm and bright, albeit overcast, to a torrential down pour. Seriously, it must have dumped 8 inches or rain in about 5 minutes.

And the mayhem ensued:

So, instead of being a "Debbie Downer" while I'm sharing my afternoon-of-torrential-rain-pool-follies photography, I thought I'd search for the silver lining in each picture. Shall we?

We now have "water-front" property.

We've always wanted a lagoon pool.

We can now say we have one of those great "infinity" pools.

My toes look great submerged in water at our back door.

Jason was the first one to get to enjoy our new infinity/lagoon pool.

The flowers and grass look exceptionally lush and green.

Wow! Wasn't that so refreshing and positive? I'm going to start doing this "silver lining" thing more often!

Hope the rest of your weekend is more dry than ours!

I'm a Big Girl Now

Last night, Jason and I had another couple over for our first "adult" dinner.

The table was set beautifully with fresh tulips (I LOVE the purple against the white and navy), white cloth napkins, and votives sporadically on the table.

Frank Sinatra softly crooned in the background, a Texas red wine was served with our dinner, laughter was abundant and good times were had.

Here's the low-down on what I served for dinner:
Peach Bellinis
Arugula, Beet and Goat Cheese Salad
Bistro-Style Ribeye Steak with Provençal Butter
Grilled Asparagus
Bistro Fries with Parsley and Garlic
Blackberry and Ginger Trifle

Everything went off without a hitch since I prepped everything in advance. Once our guests arrived, all I had to do was throw the steaks and asparagus on the grill. Speaking of steaks, I wasn't watching my time at all and I took the steak off way too early. Nothing like sitting down to dinner to discover your meat is still mooing....so, pride aside and the fact that everyone was eating their steak regardless of its doneness, I went ahead and asked who wanted their steaks thrown in the microwave for a few minutes. Not embarrassing...it was what it was...I just adapted.

I highlighted the above recipes that you can find online. The peach bellinis were just a quick version: Kern's Peach Nectar, Prosecco and frozen peaches that were the ice cubes. The asparagus was also super simple: asparagus drizzled with olive oil, sprinkled with kosher salt and fresh ground pepper, put on a hot grill until crisp-tender and then fresh lemon squeezed over it before serving.

Sorry I didn't take dinner pictures! It's a little ridiculous to make your dinner guests wait while you stage a photo shoot!

Too Personal?

Hmm, sometimes Blogland can seem overwhelming to me...but then I realize that I CHOSE to put myself out there and I have to either like it or retreat. I choose to like it. There have been so many wonderful blogs that I have come across (check out my new list of fave blogs on the right!) and I have learned everything from how to sew, how to knit, how to decorate, how to cook and how to love my job as a mother and wife even more (there isn't a blog dedicated to that...I just find wonderful ways to make the "every day" more special and meaningful to all of us).

Anyhow, since my house is still reveling in its cleanliness, I thought I would show my bedroom....and then I thought about NOT showing my bedroom (you know, the overwhelming scary thing about Blogland) and then I decided that I would. There's nothing too personal about it...heck, I don't even have personal pictures up or any pictures/art for that matter! It could be anybody's room or you could see it on HGTV's "Rate My Space" (oh my gosh...such inspirational spaces there!).

So here it is in all its clean glory.

I had the color picked out almost 5 years ago (one apartment and 2 houses ago!) when I stumbled upon it at Restoration Hardware...it's called Silver Sage. It changes colors throughout the day depending on the light and it's the most serene, magical color I've ever had on my walls. It goes from a beautiful silvery-blue to silvery-green to an indescribeable silvery-grey shade in the evening.

See the 6 foot tall mirror? Yeah...it was about a $500 frame (there wasn't even a mirror in it!) that I found at Hobby Lobby. And guess what? I BOUGHT IT FOR $10!!

Anyway, switching subjects yet again...I have begun my epic journey of drinking more water. I've been a water drinker my entire life...I don't like soft drinks much (unless it involves Coke and Crown) and I'm not a big juice drinker. But, I've noticed that over a course of a year, I've been drinking less and less water, which means my daily input of fluids has dwindled drastically.

Well, I've made a tremendous effort and am on my 3rd day of drinking from this big dog:

That's right a gigantic 64 ounce water jug...exacly 8 cups of water. And the scary thing is that in a two hour window yesterday morning...I had drank the ENTIRE THING!!

The plus side is that I really have noticed that my skin is more dewy (sorry, super lame word you'd probably see somebody on HSN saying to hock their line of skin care products) and healthy looking...even Jason noticed it. And that's only after 2 days of drinking myself silly with water!

And dinner last night? OH...MY...GOSH. I'm not a huge fan of chicken since it gets old really fast but I made another recipe from this month's Everyday Food mag and it was too die for.

Honey-Teriyaki Chicken Thighs
Plain White Rice with scallions
Grilled Teriyaki and Mango Chutney Pineapple
Veggies with Dip

People, do yourself the biggest favor and make the chicken this weekend (you can find the recipe HERE)! You can thank me for mentioning the recipe on Monday!

PS: I'm just about finished with the purple baby knit dress (thanks for the motivation Marissa!) so I'm hoping to have it seamed, blocked and embroidered by Monday for all to see!

Random, As Usual

You know what I love? Pressure to get the house clean. We had somebody out at our house yesterday and it was imperative that our house be as perfect as possible (for Jason and I, anyway) so at 7:00 yesterday morning, I did a MASSIVE cleaning of our house from top to bottom and by 9:00am it was immaculate.

That brings me to my office (did you know I actually have a job and work every day...it's true).

Here it is. The walls are a lovely shade of yellow-green called Bamboo (more yellow than green) and Jason wants to puke on himself every time he lays eyes on the color I have in here.

This room will be the LAST room in the house that will ever get decorated how I want it. I usually spend an absurd amount of time (don't let my blog fool you into thinking otherwise) at my desk in front of my computer so decorations are really unnecessary. But at least I get to look out over my backyard in the window! Before any one asks, yes, that is a large sheet of 1/4 inch thick glass that I roll around on.

Anyway, this room is never clean. I'm lucky to find a few inches of space of the floor usually and it's essentially 144 square feet...do the math.

See this picture above? On the other side of that wall is our upstairs family room (a total waste of space, in my opinion). Jason and I really want to take out part of that wall and put in double French doors and close up the existing door. I see it in the near future.

And this picture above? It's the opposite wall. I like the idea I have going on but I hate the cluttered mess. I'm a function over form kind of girl so I love the clear totes that I get from Container Store (seriously, I think we have these in every room....I'm sure we own somewhere around 200 of these boxes, they are the best!) but then you have to look at the crap inside of it. Isn't my Audrey painting delightful? That was my Mother's Day present last year from my mom. She's going to eventually have a home up on that wall...the Audrey painting, not my mom.

Lawyer fishing in the pool...he found his tackle box and his fishing pole and set to baiting it himself with one of his fake worms. Nothing like fishing in your skivvies with a utility belt. Oh, and I'm sad to say, Lawyer didn't catch anything.

Hmm, let's see...oh, we had this for dinner last night:
Grilled Pork Chops
Broccoli
Grilled Potatoes

I more or less played with the cut-up pork chop on my plate...I don't like pork at all but Jason and Lawyer do. Trust me, you don't want to know what I think pork possibly tastes or smells like.

But, on the flip side, I made the most AMAZING cookies last night! They are in the Everyday Food mag that's from Martha Stewart for this month. I'm a die-hard chocolate-chip cookie fan so for me to switch to an overly lemony sugar cookie was huge.

Like I said, AMAZING. You can get the recipe online HERE. I'm hoping to make up a margarita version for Cinco de Mayo.

Future Class Clown of 2022

His antics and hilarity are never-ending, people.

You can not imagine the number of photos I took from one T-Ball game last week that were of Lawyer doing anything for a laugh.

See that picture above? You might not be able to tell what he's doing...

then you zoom in and see this...the "pitcher" giving a secret thumbs-up to his die-hard fan base.

And this picture? Lawyer's dancing 'cuz he made it to first base (the ball is still in play...see the first baseman waiting on the outfield to throw it to him?)...he has no shame.

This? It's Lawyer's "spazoid" run. He has many variations...and they never get old...except when the coach is getting fed up and the runner behind him is passing him.

I'm not certain what is going on here...I figure it's either free-style dancing or karate, I haven't yet determined the answer.

Huh. Moving along...

Lawyer is a notorious nail-biter. He gets this from his dad who is also a notorious nail-biter. I have to admit though, at Lawyer's age, I did the exact same thing. My point is, we decided to start having him start his games with a piece of gum to hopefully deter him from wanting him to chew on his nails and keep his eye on the game. Well, it ended up being even worse than the nail-biting since we saw the gum constantly going in and out of his mouth using his hands or the gum hanging out of his mouth, as is the case with the picture above.

I'm not certain Lawyer got the memo, but a game was going on while he decided to stop and have play-time in the dirt. Specifically he wasn't watching the ball and it zoomed past him. He tried to get down to it but, since he wasn't keeping his eye on the ball in the first place, he decided while he was down on the ground, he might as well play.

And totally changing the subject, here's what we had for dinner last night:
Loaded Hamburger w/ grilled red onions, arugula, pepper jack cheese and tomatoes on a kaiser bun
Guacamole Salad (seriously, you MUST try)
Sliced Strawberries

Sometimes You Have to Just Go With it...

I told Lawyer repeatedly last night "Lawyer, PLEASE quit playing in the dirt and eat your dinner!" Well, this 4 year old is equipped with the world's best "auto tune-out" when he hears my voice so he continued to do his business. As his lasagna continued to get colder and colder and my frustations were getting hotter and hotter, I remembered what little boys were made of.

And thus, my story begins...

This is a boy...

...a boy on a mission...

...Mission Accomplished!

In other news...

this is what we had for dinner:

Homemade Lasagna
Simple Greek Salad
Homemade Garlic Ciabatta Bread
And a Fruity Concoction (mango puree, L&R's Pineapple Coconut Juice, fresh grated ginger, Sprite and ice with a squeeze of lime)