Foundations

Blogging101 – A post for my dream reader

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Who is my dream reader?  Well, you are.  I’m afraid that is terribly cliche, but it is true.  For whatever reason, you have taken the time to visit my little corner of the internet and allowed me to share a part of myself with you.  I hope that in doing so you’ve come away with something for you – a smile from one of my dog pics, a new recipe to try out with someone you love, an idea, a new connection, or even just a feeling that you can relate to someone out there.  I really do appreciate you dropping by.

So here’s another little piece of me for you.  I love this song.  I hope it makes you smile.

P.S.  If I said I posted a song by JT, do you think Justin Timberlake?  I swear I am not that old, but my husband makes me feel ancient sometimes…

Food

Weekly Recipe Roundup – Week of January 4, 2015

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Good morning my lovely readers.  I have 5 recipes for you in this week’s roundup.  And quite a variety too: only one meat dish, a couple of vegan options, and a paleo slow cooker “oatmeal.”  I am surprising myself with the vegetarian kick I have been on.  I guess I am feeling like I need more veggies after the holidays.  Luckily there are lots of yummy options available.  Let me know if try any of these and how they work out for you.  Happy eating! Continue reading Weekly Recipe Roundup – Week of January 4, 2015 →

Foundations

Blogging101 – My first Assignment for Blogging U.

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Hello my lovely readers!  Have I mentioned how much I appreciate you recently?  Well let me take a minute to say thank you for being here.  I really do appreciate it.  I am just starting my fourth week as a blogger, but I am really liking it.  It is a fun way to connect – both with people to whom I am already close but don’t get to see everyday and with people who I have never met but come form all sorts of interesting places and backgrounds.

Today I am starting a 30-day Blogging101 course that is a part of WordPress’s Blogging U.  I will have daily assignments, but not all of them will be to publish posts.  The assignments that are published posts will be tagged Blogging101 and I will post them in my Foundations category. Continue reading Blogging101 – My first Assignment for Blogging U. →

Foundations

New Year’s Resolutions 2015

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I have to be honest and admit that I am publishing this post reluctantly. This is for two main reasons. First, because I feel a little self-conscious about it. I was the kid who couldn’t keep a diary for very long because when I would go back and read the entries I was embarrassed by them. And no one but me was even reading them! So here I am twenty-some-odd years later writing a post that I am afraid will make me feel silly in a few weeks. Second, because my life is about to change in a big way. Tomorrow marks 37 weeks for our pregnancy. I know that when my daughter arrives my life will change forever, and so I am a little hesitant to make resolutions when I have no idea how or if they will fit into my new life.

However, I think there is something sacred about reflection and setting an intention. So, I am going to risk sharing a few resolutions for 2015 with you. Hopefully, this will keep me as accountable as is reasonable, and might give someone else out there an idea for setting his or her own intention. Continue reading New Year’s Resolutions 2015 →

Food

Recipe Roundup – New Year’s Edition

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Happy New Year Everyone! So last Dec 31, Will and I got married in the Florida Keys.  We had a huge party at a resort with about 100 guests and we were all fancy and stuff.  This year, we stayed at home in our PJs and hung out with our pups on the couch.  Couldn’t have been more different, but we still managed to have a good time.  I hope you have someone in your life with whom you can fully enjoy all kinds of moments.

But just because we stayed home, doesn’t mean we didn’t have our own little party.  I love little appetizers.  Wine and cheese nights at home can be one of my favorite date night activities.  Of course, being 8 months pregnant means no wine for me.  Don’t worry, the red wine in the picture is really 100% cranberry juice.  It also means that I was looking for fast and easy recipes this year.  All of these were super simple and relatively quick.  The links to the original recipes are below each picture, so try them out for yourself and let me know what you think in the comments. Continue reading Recipe Roundup – New Year’s Edition →

Food

Weekly Recipe Roundup – Week of Dec 28, 2014

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I think I may have mentioned this before, but Will and I love to cook together.  Last year we figured out that this is much easier to do on the weekends.  So most weeks I pick out a few recipes from various sources for us to try and we go to the store together either Saturday or Sunday morning and follow up with a couple of hours of forced family fun in the kitchen.  Then we have several meals for the week prepared that we can freeze or refrigerate and not have to worry about being tempted to grab fast food during the week when things get crazy.  It will be interesting to see if we manage to keep this up once our little one arrives.

This week we only made three meals since we have New Year’s in the mix.  Also, dad sent us home from Christmas with some yummy turkey soup so we had a head start on meals for the week.  All three of these recipes I found thanks to my favorite Buzzfeed contributor, Christine Byrne.  Every month she does a “Delicious Things To Cook” post in which she gathers a bunch of recipes from various blogs and compiles them for people like me who are too busy (or lazy) to go finding them on my own. Continue reading Weekly Recipe Roundup – Week of Dec 28, 2014 →

FurBabies

Dogs in Clothes Christmas Edition

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‘Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house
Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse;

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The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,
In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there;
The children were nestled all snug in their beds;

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While visions of sugar-plums danced in their heads;
And mamma in her ‘kerchief, and I in my cap,

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Had just settled our brains for a long winter’s nap,

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When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter,
I sprang from my bed to see what was the matter. Continue reading Dogs in Clothes Christmas Edition →

Food

Not A Pretty Pinterest Food Post (or How to Create a Dinner from Some Leftovers)

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I love to cook.  I like recipes, even though I usually don’t follow them exactly.  But one of my favorite things to do is to make something up on the spot, especially when it involves leftovers.  I think I get this from my father.  He hates wasting food and has ingrained this pretty strongly in me.  And he was always good at taking leftovers from the fridge and making them into something edible.  My leftover creations are sometimes a little bit more involved with a heavier dose of transformation, but they come from the same place.

So the other day, my husband and I had lunch at McAlister’s and he ordered one of their baked potatoes.  He ate all the filling but there was still a substantial amount of potato left that he planned to throw away.  It took a little effort, but I managed to convince him to box it up and bring it home.  And then when it was time to make dinner the next night, I got to pretend to be Lynne Rossetto Kasper.  Here’s how I took what we had in the fridge and made something pretty yummy. Continue reading Not A Pretty Pinterest Food Post (or How to Create a Dinner from Some Leftovers) →

Fluff

15% of ALL YouTube Videos Relate to Gaming

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I have to admit, I have watched a few YouTube videos about Minecraft (especially when Will and I were living in different states and had our occasional xbox date nights), but the 15% statistic is surprising. I’ve never seen an actual PewDiePie video, but if South Park’s representation of him is any indication I’m not too disappointed by that. My favorite Minecraft tutorials were the Survive and Thrive Series by paulsoaresjr. Do you have any favorite gamer YouTube videos or channels?

Family

Happy Birthday to Mom

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So this week my mother had her (ahem) 29th Birthday. I guess that doesn’t really work out since I have already told you that I am 31, but I remember my mom telling me when I was about 7 or 8 that she was turning 29 again and that year. And then when I was 11 I think she turned 29 again so we’ll just say she is perpetually 29 until she lets me know otherwise. Continue reading Happy Birthday to Mom →

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