Picture 24 Fallen Angel

This angel is SUPPOSED to be at the top of my Christmas tree.  I bought it in Iceland last year and put it up last Christmas (at least I thought I did).  This year, not so much.  I put it at the top of the tree, it falls down, I put it up, it falls down.  So I put it on the mantle next to the tree.  Perhaps I'll try again. 

Picture 23

On Day 22, I made cookies for an upcoming work cookie swap.  I made chocolatey melting snowmen. 

Picture 22

We went to an annual Christmas party tonight.  Unfortunately, due to the weather we had to leave early.  The ride home was awful!  I put two pictures because we couldn't get a group shot of everyone so we did two smaller shots. 

Picture 21

I went out to dinner with two former co-workers.  We had a lovely time.  One of them gave me some delicious chocolates.  The other gave me a nice smelling candle and an adorable ornament. 

Picture 20, the joys of traffic

On the day of picture 20, I planned to get some Christmas shopping done.  Several of the places I needed to go were pretty close to each other and I just needed gift cards so I figured it wouldn't take long.  WRONG!  At one spot, the couple in front of me must have been buying out the restaurant because they took forever.  Following that, the lines weren't too bad, but the traffic was brutal.  It took me an hour to go what usually takes 15 minutes.  I was late for ballet and I didn't have time to eat dinner.  I did get a good bit of shopping done including a present for my aunt. 

Picture 19

On day 19, my fiancé and I finally started our wedding registry.  They gave us this book to help. 

Picture 18

This was the second gift from my Secret Santa (received on day 18 of this picture thing).  It was packaged very nicely, but I didn't take the picture 'til after I ate some.  Oops.  I should also mention that it was very tasty.  She called it salted bark. 

Day 17

I made my own Christmas cards this year.  I made a bunch over the summer and I've been making others here and there and getting them in the mail as quickly as I can including day 17. 

Day 16

My friend gave me this map for my birthday.  We celebrated my birthday last Friday so I got my gift then.  It is a map and you are supposed to put pins in the places you've been.  I put some pins in today (Day 16).  I need to add some more. 

Day 15

Went to a Christmas party today.  Here is a picture from the party on Day 15.

Secret Santa

We are doing Secret Santa at work.  Here is what I got from my Secret Santa as my first gift (day 14).  I think it's adorable.  :) 

Ballet Shoes

Geeze, I should win an award for these awesome blog post titles.  I didn't do anything picture worthy today (the day of this pic) either.  I went to my ballet class tonight so here is a pic of my ballet shoes from day 13. 

Picture 12 (what an original blog title, huh?)

Today I went to work, snuck in a quick trip to the gym--almost didn't have time for that, but barely squeezed it in, then had an appointment re:  the wedding.  So the sneakers pic is in honor of me squeezing in a gym trip.  :) 

Have a Seat (pic 11)

So there's some symbolism in today's picture.  I was at a workshop all day (the day of this pic).  Then I tutored someone for an hour, then I went to a meeting for another hour.  In other words, I spent a LONG time sitting in chairs, more than I'm used to in a typical day. 

I went to a workshop "today" (not really today but the day this blog is about).  Anyway, I had over an hour for lunch and the location of the workshop was near my house so I went home for lunch.  My friends tease me because I drink a lot of milk, but I don't usually drink milk for lunch since I'm at work and drink water all day.  Since I got to go home for lunch I had a milk hence the picture. Yeah, I know, not very creative today, but it's all I got.

Dec. 1st

I really didn't do anything picture worthy on Dec. 1st.  I prepared for a presentation I had to give, did a few chores, ran an errand, and put up some decorations.  I put some ornaments on the Christmas tree so here is the annual Christmas tree picture. 

Christmas Village

I love my Christmas village.  When I was shopping on Black Friday, I bought another piece, the ballet academy. 

 

Shop 'Til You Drop (Picture 7)

My mom and I go shopping on Black Friday (almost) every year.  We hit the usual spots and I got a gift for my fiancé's nephew while we were out. 

Thanksgiving and A Brief Arizona Memory

I had a nice Thanksgiving and I hope you did too.  My mother is big into making cards so while normally, people don't think of Thanksgiving as a big card giving holiday, lately, Mom makes cards for everything.  She's quite good at making cards and I'm NOT just saying that because she's my mother.  Anyway, you may remember back in April, I went to AZ to visit a friend.  Well, while we were out there I bought two Thanksgiving stamps for my mom and guess what?  She used those stamps and made me this cute card, which I received on Thanksgiving. 

My Day Off (Picture 5)

So I spent a good chunk of Nov. 27th cleaning and baking and sadly, even though I had the day off, I caught up on some work paperwork.  I did also go to the gym.  Tried to go out with some friends that night, but it was cold and there was a line to get into the bar.  I was not waiting in that line in the cold so I went home and watched tv with my fiancé instead.  Lazy!  Anyway, it was a toss up between posting a picture of my new mop, which I used to wash the floors and the pumpkin pecan bars I made (for the first time) to take to my fiancé's aunt and uncle's house for Thanksgiving dessert.  Try to contain your excitement, ha! 

 

A Plant

One of my colleagues gave me a plant for my birthday.  It is starting to bloom.  I'm not terribly good with plants, but I got one last summer that is still alive and well so I'm hoping I can be successful with this one too.  Here's picture four from Nov. 26th. 

Yet Another Blog About Food

Based on my recent blogs, you must think all I ever do is eat.  This week was a short work week so a few of us went out for apps and drinks after work on Monday.  Monday was our Thursday.  Here is the dessert we all split. 

Chicken Fingers

I went out to lunch with my parents and my fiancé (I went out to eat way too much the past few days).  I normally do NOT order chicken when I go out to eat because chicken is one of the few things I know how to cook.  However, the restaurant we went to has really good chicken fingers so I ordered them with sweet potato fries.  The portions, however, are huge so I brought some home.  Yay leftovers! 

A Gift and A Card

So I've decided to continue with my annual tradition and do 30 pictures in 30 days.  I started on Saturday Nov. 23rd.  I went out to dinner with my friend, her husband, and my fiancé.  She gave me a birthday present that night, which is Day 1's picture, my gift and funny card.

Dish 52

It's here!   The final dish in my 52 dishes in 52 weeks (or my attempt to make something new every week for a year).  I chose peanut butter cup cookie cups for my final dish.  It combines two things I love:  chocolate chip cookies and peanut butter cups.  Yet, I'm sorry to say it was not as good as I'd hoped.  It wasn't bad, but I've definitely had better cookie cups.  :-(  Oh, well, you win some, you lose some.  I have to say I really enjoyed making new dishes--okay sometimes it was a little stressful trying to come up with something new, but I'm proud of myself for making new things.  I've expanded my cooking/baking.  I haven't managed to continue making a new dish every week, but I have tried some more new dishes.  Who knows, maybe I'll get motivated to do something like this again in the future.  Thanks for reading--and putting up with the fact that it took me well over 52 weeks to write about my 52 dishes.  Now I'll have to try to come up with interesting blog topics.  I think I may do 30 pictures in 30 days again.  That's a good one for the holidays.  Think I can actually do it in 30 days? lol  Here's hoping.  Happy Thanksgiving!   

Dish 51 Peanut Butter Flag Dip

All right people, this is ridiculous, it's NOVEMBER and I haven't finished writing about something from JULY.  I have two dishes left to do so I'm doing them now (well, I'll write them both now, but one won't show up on blog 'til tomorrow hee hee).  Way back on July 5th (for my 4th of July party), I made a peanut butter flag dip.  I'm not being full of myself when I say it was delicious.  People devoured this.  The main ingredients were peanut butter and cream cheese (don't ask me what else was in it because I don't have the recipe in front of me right now, but there were only a couple more things).  It's called flag dip because you shape it into a rectangle and put red, white, and blue sprinkles on it to look like a flag.  I would think you could shape it into other shapes and use it for other holidays.  As I sit here typing this, I'm seriously contemplating whether I could shape it into a turkey and use it tomorrow (though I really do NOT want to go near a grocery store this afternoon).  Maybe I can make it into a Christmas tree instead.  :)  I served it with pretzels.  Happy Thanksgiving to you all!  I'm off to see if I have all the ingredients for this dip and can turn it into a turkey--uh, that is right after I write about Dish 52.  :) 

Dish 50 Summer Sangria

Okay maybe it's kind of a cheat since it's a drink, not a food, but it was new and it was delish.  I made a big ol' pitcher of this for the 4th of July party and it was GONE before the party ended.  Clearly, I'm not the only one who liked it.  I was just googling some Sangria recipes and came across this one and it was good.  Fruit, fruity wine, and rum were the main ingredients (I don't have the recipe in front of me so I forget what else was in it).  I think I will have to make it again next summer.   

Dish 49 Patriotic Berry Trifle

Remember way back in July when I had that 4th of July cook-out?  Yep, this recipe was from that.  It was also the first time I ever made trifle.  It was good, but since (per usual) I made too much food including too many desserts, there was quite a bit of leftovers and I got a little sick of trifle after having it every day.  :) 

Why It's Taking 15 Months to Write about 12 Months

I'm so behind on blogging!  I wonder if I even have any followers left.  I was doing so well and then work got busy, and well, as you can see blogging halted.  Blogging is not the only thing I'm behind on.   I was doing great with reading and now I have a pile of 30 books near my bed hoping to be read at some point.  My current book is quite funny, but I've been working on it for a month because I have no time.  I had to cut my Netflix subscription to the two a month plan because a whole month went by and I didn't even watch one movie.  So yeah, this is a busy time at work, though things should slow down for a couple of weeks then pick up again.  Then with what little free time I have during the week, I am helping to plan our work Fall Festival, our neighborhood Halloween party, and I just took a decorating class (that's over now).  Weekends have been fun, but we've had something every Saturday and nearly every Sunday for the past month or so.  In other words, those are my excuses for not blogging.  And it's also why my 52 meals in 52 weeks is taking 70 weeks to write about.  But I'm hoping to at least blog once a week for a while, if not more.  I need to finish 52 new dishes in 52 weeks and give you some wedding updates (like finding a dress!).  So here's hoping, my blogging gets better. 

Dish 48 Coconut Shrimp

Oops, I typed this wrong.  This dish was really dish 47 and 47 was really 48.  You'll forgive me though, right?  Anyway, after making coconut chicken and mostly enjoying it, I thought I'd also enjoy coconut shrimp.  I've ordered it out many times, but never made it so I gave it a whirl.  It was pretty good, not as good as some of the ones I've eaten at restaurants, but good enough that I would make it again.  I baked this one instead of frying it like I did the chicken so I didn't burn myself.  :) 

Dish 47 Chicken Dorito Casserole

Yep, that's right chicken and Doritos.  This also came from my friend Natalie's Pinterest.  I think I could do another 52 dishes in 52 weeks from her Pinterest alone, heck I might be able to do 365 dishes in 365 days from her Pinterest, except I don't cook/bake every day.  So as you can probably guess the recipe calls for chicken and Doritos.  It also has cheese, cream of chicken soup, milk, sour cream, canned tomatoes, and taco seasoning.  It was a little spicier than I like, but it was pretty good.  Truth be told, I don't like things that are very spicy, so even a little spicy seems spicy to me. 

Dress Shopping Begins

So I began wedding dress shopping a few weeks ago.  I went with my mom, my maid of honor, and one of my bridesmaids.  Considering, I had no idea what I wanted, I think it was a good start.  I knew I didn't want feathers, anything obnoxiously poofy, and I was pretty sure I didn't want strapless. 
Surprisingly, the one shoulder dress looked okay.  I thought it would look hideous, but it was all right.  Thin straps weren't bad and I also liked the halter style.  I still did not purchase a dress, but at least I have a few ideas of what looks good and what doesn't now.  We looked at two places, with two very different price levels.  One place let us take pictures of me in the dress and one strictly prohibited it.  I'm not going to post any of the pictures though, sorry! 

Dish 46 Coconut Chicken

I THINK this dish was from my friend Natalie's Pinterest. I seem to be frequenting that page.  :)  Anyway, I liked the coconut chicken, but I had some issues making it.  I made it in a frying pan and the oil was jumping around a little too much for my liking (read, I got splashed a few times and though I suffered no major burns or any minor ones for that matter, just little ouches, it was not pleasant).  If I make this again, I plan to bake it instead.  Ironically, I'm not a huge coconut fan, but for some reason I like coconut chicken, coconut shrimp (yum!), and even Malibu rum (which is coconut flavored).  So I'm not really sure why I don't like coconut by itself, but find it good when it's combined with certain things.  I make a lot of chicken so I'm always looking for new things to do with it, hence the coconut chicken.  Anyway, it was good.  :-)   

Dish 45 Caramel Rolls

I was lacking in the inspiration department for new dishes so I poked through a crockpot cookbook that my friend gave me for my birthday last year.  I found something called Caramel Rolls, which is kind of like monkey bread.  Additionally, I had some leftover biscuits from when my fiancé accidentally bought those instead of crescent rolls.  So tah-dah, along comes caramel rolls.  Unfortunately, I overcooked them a little bit.  I followed the recipe, but I guess I should have turned off the crockpot a little sooner.  So while they were okay, I think in the future, I'll just stick with regular monkey bread. 

Dish 44 Cheesecake Filled Strawberries

All I can say is yum, yum, yum.  :)  So I saw these on-line (it might have been on Pinterest, I forget) and one of my friends also told me about these.  I decided to make them for a Memorial Day cook-out.  They were a hit!  Basically, they are strawberries filled with cream cheese, sugar, and vanilla with mini chocolate chips on top.  I figure they're a tiny bit healthier than some sweets since one of the main ingredients is strawberries.  I also used low fat cream cheese.  The only thing I didn't like about these was gutting out the strawberries.  But I guess it was worth it in the end since they tasted delicious.  :) 

Dish 43 Shosh's Salmon

For my birthday, my friend Shosh offered to make me dinner.  She makes a great homemade macaroni and cheese so she made that as part of it and she offered to do something else.  After some discussion, I chose salmon.   I have never cooked salmon myself so now seemed like a good time to learn.  :)  (And by "now" of course I mean several months ago.)  So a couple of weeks after my birthday, she came over, cooked for me and showed me how to make all the stuff she made.  It was really nice to have someone cook ME dinner.  Anyway, it took a while, but a few months after she made me salmon, I decided to make it myself.  I made it a little differently than Shosh did as I baked mine and she broiled it, but I made her sauce, etc.  Anyway, it was quite good and since it didn't have an "official" name, I decided to name it Shosh's Salmon.  :)  In fact as I sit here writing this blog, I kind of want to make it again soon. 

Don't Trust the Forecast aka Why I Will Always Pack a Jacket or Umbrella From Now On

A few weeks ago I went to Chicago for a work conference.  The conference was great.  It was three days long and depending on the day it went from 8-4 or 8-4:30ish.  That meant we had the evening free to explore the city. One of my colleagues and I flew in the day before the conference started and had plans to go to a White Sox game.  Thanks to traffic from the airport to the hotel, we missed half of the game, but what we saw was good.  There was a fireworks show after the game.  I'm not really into fireworks, nothing against them, just not as excited about them as some people.  Anyway, the girl I went with wanted to see them so we stayed.  Unfortunately, the show was interrupted due to incoming severe weather.  Now with very few exceptions (i.e. going to Arizona in June), I always pack a jacket or an umbrella in case it rains.  However, since we were only going for three nights and the airline we were flying charges for luggage (seriously?!  I still can't get over that luggage used to be free and now you have to pay for it on so many airlines), I wanted to fit everything in a carry on.  So after checking the weather several times and not seeing a drop, I decided to save room in my carry on; I would NOT bring a jacket or an umbrella since there was NO rain in sight.  BAD IDEA!  Yep, the fireworks, as I said, ended early and we got to go back to our hotel in a "nice" rainstorm.  Let's fast forward to the next day.    After the conference, we went to the Sears Tower (it's not called that any more, but you know what I mean).  Sadly, we had to wait TWO hours to get to the top, which I could deal with (though I wish I'd brought my book) and about ONE MINUTE (I'm not exaggerating) after we finally got to the top (remember we'd been waiting 2 hours), the fog rolled in and the tower (as the man who worked there said) was "going to zero visibility."  There were a couple of breaks in the clouds, but let's just say I did not get may good pictures.  And yes, it rained again!  Thankfully, it wasn't raining much when we walked from the tower to a restaurant for dinner.  And when it rained at dinner and after dinner, at least dinner was a short walk from the hotel.  Did I mention the weather had been gorgeous all day when I was inside at the conference?  Moving on to the next day (you can guess where this is going), it was another beautiful day (we left the hotel for lunch).  After the conference was over for the day, we walked around a little bit (wanted to get dinner at some pizza place, but due to a 2 hour wait and the fact that we had plans to take a boat ride, no go on that so we went elsewhere and had good pizza there instead).  Anyway, we get on the boat and the first 30-45 minutes was lovely, but then guess what?  It RAINED!  Let's just say I was glad I took a Dramamene (sp?).  It cleared up a little at the end, but we missed many of the nice sights.  :-(  The last day of the conference,  you know the day I flew home, it was sunny.  Go figure!  So the moral of the story:  always pack an umbrella or a jacket. 

Dish 42 Pineapple Chicken

Since I made this back in April or May, I don't remember a whole lot about it, but as you can probably guess it had pineapples and chicken in it.  It was pretty good.  In fact, I should make it again sometime as I liked it.  I did take a picture of it, but it didn't come out that good.  In my fact my fiancé thought the picture looked awful and not good enough to post on my blog so it is not included. For a girl who likes to take pictures, I'm not very good with the food pictures. 

Dish 41 Eggless Cookie Dough

This dish is dangerously delicious!  This is another one I can blame on the Arizona trip.  Natalie made it for me when I visited her back in April and I made it when I got back home.  I brought it to the S'mores party and it was a hit.  I also made it a few weeks ago when I was stressed and craving something sweet.  Unfortunately, I ate too much of it then. Oops.  Anyway, it's basically cookie dough, but it has no eggs so you can eat it without having to worry about salmonella (sp?). 
Sadly, after making them three times now, I've never remembered to take a picture.  Anyway, getting to the S'mores...  My fiancé and I got invited to a cook-out the weekend I got back from Arizona.  They were having a S'mores contest.  You had to bring creative things to make S'mores.  They would be providing the usual graham crackers, marshmallows, and chocolate, so we were supposed to bring other things.  Anyway, since my AZ trip was fresh on my brain, I brought eggless cookie dough and cake batter cookies.  Both were good, but the eggless cookie dough was the winner.  Other creative S'mores additions included:  peanut butter cups, Chewy Chips Ahoy cookies, and I can't remember the rest, but we enjoyed some yummy S'mores that night.  :-) 

Dish 40 Cake Batter Cookies

When I visited my friend in Arizona, she made me many delicious dishes.  One of those dishes=cake batter cookies.  I enjoyed them so much that when I got home and had to go to a cook-out that weekend, I made and brought some.  They are basically cookies made from cake mix so they taste a little more "cake" than "cookie," but they are still good.  She used a strawberry cake mix; I had vanilla at home so I did that instead.  I need to try the strawberry at some point.  They are good by themselves or as you will read about in a future blog, as replacements for graham crackers when make when participating in a S'more contest. 

The "Hot" Top 10

Given that I HATE the cold and much prefer warm weather, I'm not one too USUALLY complain about the heat (though having a broken ac in my car has been a bit annoying when I drive home from work).  Anyway, here's my (really lame) top 10 list for you can tell it's HOT around here.  I was trying to make it an even 10 so some of them are kind of ridiculous.  And to all my friends out west, I know we have nothing to complain about as you've got us beat my many degreees so my apologies in advance.  This not a complaint, merely a list of observations. 

-The heat is the number one (and two and sometimes three) story on the news

-At least 75% of your conversations with co-workers start with them making some comment about the heat

-You work up more of a sweat walking from your car to  the gym than when you're working out in the gym

-You can get a close parking spot at the gym, even during the busy time of day because it's too hot for people to exercise

-It's so hot people are NOT going out for ice-cream because they don't want to leave their air-conditioning

-A school district near you cancels summer school due to the heat

-You find yourself having "lazy" meals because ''it's too hot to cook in your kitchen because there is no a.c.in there"

-You consider paying the $98 to see what is wrong with your car a.c. even though you hate spending money on your car and think spending that much for them to not even fix it is ridiculous.

-You want to do a happy dance because your room at work doesn't normally have a.c., but they have put a temporary a.c. in for you. 

-You write a blog about the heat even though you think all the news stories, fb posts, etc are getting to be a bit much--you've joined the crowd. 

Say Yes to What?

Several of my friends co-workers, etc. have told me that I must watch Say Yes to the Dress.  They say this will be especially helpful since I'm not really sure what I want my wedding dress to look like.  So I've seen bits and pieces of it here and there, but last night I finally watched a couple of episodes.  OMG, do these people think I am coming in to some sort of inheritance??? 
One woman on that show last night bought at $15,000 dress!  Um, that could be a down payment on a house in some places.  That would be the cost of dinner for everyone at some weddings.  I CANNOT afford to spend $15,000 on a dress, I will wear for fewer than 10 hours.  Heck, I wouldn't spend that much on a dress, I was going to wear for more than 10 hours.  There was another woman on the show that BOUGHT not one, not two, but THREE dresses.  Um, I'm worried enough about finding/affording ONE, never mind having to get three dresses.

Dish 39 Easter Basket Rice Krispie Treats

I feel like this dish is a bit of a cheat.  I've never made this exact dish before, but it's made from Rice Krispie treats and I've made those many times, in various forms.  My fiancé and I hosted Easter dinner again this year.  He cooked the ham and I did pretty much everything else.  Men!  I still love him though.  It was a bit of a crazy day as we went to a wedding the night before and spent the night at a hotel near the wedding with a bunch of our friends so we had to hustle when we got home.  So anyway, I made these and they were good, BUT I could not get the licorice to stay on (the licorice is supposed to be the handle on the Easter basket) so I ended up not putting handles on a lot of the baskets.  They tasted good, but per usual we had too many desserts.  There were 9 people and three desserts:  a cake shaped like the Easter bunny (Mom makes that every year), cupcakes shaped like bunnies (I made those too), and my Easter Basket Rice Krispie treats.  Oops!  Hey, at least they all tasted delicious.  :-)     

How Pinterest Lead to a Party

I was poking around my friend Natalie's Pinterest page a few days ago and I saw that she had a section on the 4th of July.  She has some cute food ideas on it.  It got me thinking, hmm...I didn't get invited to any 4th of July parties/cook-outs/gatherings this year.  Well, why not throw my own.   I love hosting parties, but it was so last minute people probably had plans, maybe I'd just have a couple of people over and grill and I could try to make some of her cute 4th of July themed dishes.  So I e-mailed a few of my friends to see if anyone was going to be around on the 4th, 5th, or 6th, and as it turned out most of the people I e-mailed were going to be around and did not have plans.  Let the planning begin.    I put my fiancé in charge of grilling the hamburgers, veggie burger (mine), and hotdogs.  A couple of people also brought sausage.  I made a peanut butter cream cheese dip and shaped it like a flag.  I served that with pretzels.  I also made fruit kebobs out of blueberries, strawberries, and bananas. One of my friends brought mango salsa and quesadillas and Tostitos.  For side dishes I made macaroni salad and a 4th of July salad (spinach, cheese, cucumbers, blueberries, strawberries, and poppyseed dressing).  Another one of my friends made her "famous" taco dip (salsa, cream cheese, cheese, and I don't remember what else but it is AMAZING).  For dessert, I made firecracker cookies (cookies made out of cake mix with red and blue sprinkles), Star-Spangled pie (graham cracker crumb crust with a cream cheese, cool whip, sugar, and red and blue M&Ms filling--okay there were a few more ingredients, but that's the gist of it), and a 4th of July trifle--it's 4th of July because it has blueberries and strawberries in it hence the red, white, and blue, hence 4th of July.  I also made sangria (first time ever making that).  The food was good, but I think the biggest hits were:  the taco dip, the flag dip, the quesadillas, and the cookies, and even though it's not a food, all 20 servings of the Sangria were consumed too.  It was a little too hot that day, but otherwise, people seemed to have a good time eating, drinking, hanging out, conversing, and playing with the two kids that were here.  I didn't post pics of a lot of the food because some of them will be featured in future blogs, but here are a few pics from the evening.  I also didn't take too many people pictures, but nonetheless, here are a few pics. 

 

Flag made out of fruit--patriotic and healthy

 

Festive Nails

 

 

'

 

Summer Goals (again)

So last summer, I gave myself a goal of reading 10 books and watching 20 movies.  I liked that goal so much that I decided to set that same goal again this summer, but per usual I didn't blog about it a couple of weeks ago when I thought of it.  So I'm off to a good start.  I've read four books and watched four movies and it's only been two weeks.  :-).  With a little luck, I'll have 6 more books read and 14 more movies watched by Labor Day. 

Dish 38 Marble Cheesecake

Well, you got a sneak preview of this in my chocolate lasagna blog.  I had only made cheesecake a couple of times before so I thought I'd try it again, but this time I would make a different flavor.  I found a recipe (can't remember where! think it was in one of my cookbooks) for marble cheesecake.  Well, mine wasn't as pretty as it was supposed to be.  It tasted fine, but mine did  not have the pretty swirl in the middle--I tried, I swirled and all, but when it was cooked, the pretty swirl was gone.  :-(   Anyway, I enjoyed it and my co-workers enjoyed the leftovers, though I think they are a little annoyed with me unloading all of my leftover sweets on them.  They keep saying I'm causing them to gain weight.   

Week 37: Chocolate Lasagna

Okay if we're being honest, some weeks I did not make a new dish and some weeks I made three new dishes.  It's all evening out in the end--though truth be told I may not get all 52 dishes made in 52 weeks, it might be 53 weeks because I have four more dishes to make in 5 days to reach my goal.  That doesn't make me a failure right?!?!?  Just slow???  I have plans to make a couple new dishes this weekend, but I'm not sure I'll do all four, but I'm sure going to try.  Anyway, the reason I mention this is because I made this dish and dish 38 for the same event...
  We finally managed to convince a couple of my fiancé's friends to come up here for dinner (they live an hour away from us).  We also invited a couple of his other friends who didn't need so much convincing.  :)  I had dinner planned out, but I was debating what to do for dessert.  One of his friends (and his wife) have two kids so I asked about allergies.  He said the only allergy was shellfish.  Not a problem, I wasn't planning to serve any.  So then I happened to mention some dessert I was making, that had peanut butter in it.  He told me his daughter was allergic to peanut butter!  WHAT?!  Peanut butter is NOT a shellfish, you said ONLY shellfish.  Grr, so much for that idea.  So I decided I would do cheesecake.  Guess who doesn't like cheesecake?  So your daughter can't eat peanut butter and you don't like cheesecake (well, I still did cheesecake, but we'll blog about that tomorrow or the next day), so much for my dessert plans.  I figured I could still do cheesecake for everyone else, but I needed another dessert.  I didn't want to do my usual cookies, brownies, cupcakes.  So I did what anyone would do in this day and age and I went on Pinterest.  :-)  Natalie to the rescue.  She had a dish on her pinterest page called Chocolate Lasagna.  (I like to tell her she is the reason I can't lose weight--not my lack of willpower, but the fact that she has so many delicious looking recipes on her pinterest page).  I told someone at work about my chocolate lasagna plans and she was completely grossed out; she thought it was real lasagna with chocolate on it.  NO, no, no, it was a dessert.  I gave her some leftovers to try and she liked it quite a bit. 
Anyway, the chocolate lasagna was a hit.  The adults liked it, the kids liked it, my co-workers who helped me eat the leftovers liked it.  Come to think of it, I should make it again. I think my friends would like it.  It's too late to make it for my 4th of July fiesta (which is actually being held on the 5th of July), but perhaps for the next gathering.  It's also not too hard to make.  If you're looking for a new sweet treat, I encourage you to make it.   

Thanksgiving in July and Christmas in July

My mother is quite crafty.  She used to do plastic canvas, sewing stuff, etc.  Now it's scrapbooking and making her own cards.  Her cards are really nice and I'm not just saying that because she's my mother.  Anyway, every once in a while she tells me I should make my own cards.  I did twice.  I made my own Christmas cards a few years ago.  One year I made my own Valentine's Day cards too. In April, as you know from previous blogs, I went to Arizona to visit one of my friends.  While we were shopping one day, I saw some cute Christmas stamps and after a brief discussion with my friend decided to buy them.  I decided I was going to try to make my own Christmas cards again this year.  Fast forward to this week.  Every year in July my mom and some of her friends do what they call "Christmas in July."  They all get together at her friend's house (one of Mom's friends) and they either have to wear something Christmasy or bring sometime Christmasy or something along those lines.  Apparently, some years her friend decorates a Christmas tree and they'll have Christmas music playing.  Anyway, the reason for this get together is so they can all make their Christmas cards.  Since they are all teachers, they have much more free time in the summer to make the cards than they do in December.  Come to think of it, most people don't have a lot of free time in December.  I've been invited a couple of times, but I was never available in the past.  Go figure this year I have no plans because I'm on vacation and no invite, but I digress.  So I decided since I had this week off, I would attempt to start my cards.  So Monday afternoon, I went to the craft store and bought ink, markers, cardstock, paper, etc.  While I was there, I decided to look for a new 4th of July decoration for my door.  I don't really like the one I have that much.  I didn't like what they had up front too much so I went to the holiday aisle and what did I see????  THANKSGIVING DECORATIONS!  Now I like Thanksgiving, but it is JULY.  This explains why I can never find Thanksgiving decorations in October/November when I look for them, you know when people are actually thinking about Thanksgiving.  When I was at the store, the 4th of July hadn't happened yet and they had turkeys up.  I don't want to be thinking about turkeys on July 1st--no disrespect to the turkeys or Thanksgiving.  And yes, the irony isn't lost on me.  I'm complaining about Thanksgiving in July and yet I'm planning for Christmas in July.  Anyway, the cards are not up to the quality of Mom's, but they're started.  I remembered why I don't usually make my own cards.  It is expensive and time consuming.  I was looking at my Christmas card list from last year and I send/give cards to nearly 60 people.  That's a lot of cards to make!  I think for Christmas 2014 we'll be cheesy and do a Christmas card with a wedding picture or something and the following year I'll go back to buying them at the stores.  If I'm smart, I'll buy them after Christmas 2014 so they'll be on sale and I'll have them cheap for Christmas 2015.  Anyway, I'll keep plugging away at the cards and maybe I'll have them done by Thanksgiving--you know around the time they'll be putting out the St. Patrick's Day decorations.  :-) Happy 4th everyone!  Enjoy your day!  Happy Birthday America! 

Random Lists: The Annoying and The Happy

Things that have annoyed me this week:

-People stealing our parking spot (what's the point of not allowing you to park two cars in your driveway if someone keeps taking your assigned spot?  It's not always the same someone.  It's been three different someones the past three times it happened this week)

-Rude drivers

-People who feel the need to take up the ENTIRE aisle at the grocery store so you can't get by

-Hotel prices going up $35 a night in less than one day (as in if we'd booked last night, we could have saved $70 overall)

-Not finding a new cute 4th of July decoration

-Staying up WAY TOO LATE trying to find a reasonably priced hotel

-Going to the gym at 5:00 only to find out the gym closed at 3 today (um, guess I missed that memo on Monday when I was there)

'Things that have made me happy this week:

-Having 11 days off from work!  :-)

-Eating pancakes with Mom at my favorite pancake place

-New recipe ideas from my friend Natalie's Pinterest page

-Planning a trip (minus the hotel business)

-Planning a 4th of July fiesta

-Having time to read a book

-Having time to catch up on my Netflix

-Trying new recipes

-People being randomly nice at the grocery store (clearly these were not the same people who took up the entire aisle) 

-Being home to watch Ellen (hey, what can I say, I like that show and I'm not usually home from work in time to see it)

-Having time to blog :-)

Week 36 Crab Casserole

Oh my gosh, this is so good!  And once again I forgot to take a picture.  I've made this at least three times now (that's how far behind I am in my blogging) and not once did I remember to take a picture for the blog.  I basically found this while looking through one of my cookbooks for a new recipe to make and blog about.  I don't like mushrooms so I don't use those when I make this, but the crabmeat, mayo, stuffing, onion, whipping cream, eggs, parsley, and stuffing mix all combine nicely for a delicious dinner (or leftover lunch).  I made it just for me, I made it for one of my co-workers when she had surgery and was home recovering for a few weeks (she said she and her family really liked it) and I made it one night when I had my friend, her husband, and two children over.  I'm not sure her kids liked it that much (they're only two-years-old), but the adults seemed to enjoy it.  So there ya' go, another good dish.  And for once a dinner that didn't involve chicken since I seemed to be on a chicken kick for a while there with all my dinners. 

Week 35 Old-Fashioned Blueberry Buckle

Unfortunately, I forgot to take a picture of this one.  It was tasty!  Very much like blueberry bread.  I enjoyed this one.  I really don't have much else to say about this so I guess this is just going to be a short blog.  Now you can go do something productive.  :) 

Week 34 Clam Chowder Casserole

This recipe was a total accident.  Wait, I should rephrase that.  The recipe wasn't an accident, but my need to make it was.  I bought clams for something a while back and it turned out I bought the wrong kind.  Well thank goodness for google because you can just type in, 'recipes to make with canned clams' (or something similar) and all kinds of things pop up so you can get some use out of your "wrong" clams.  Of course the reason I wanted to make something with the clams was to use the clams NOT to have to purchase a bunch of other stuff so I could use the clams.  Eventually, I found something that I had most of the ingredients for.  One of the only things I needed to buy were oyster crackers.  Unfortunately, the grocery store only had a gigantic bag of oyster crackers.  I should have googled recipes that I could make with oyster crackers.  I think there might still be some sitting in my cabinet.  ANYWAY...I made this recipe and it was okay. Not my favorite, but not bad.  My one complaint is that it doesn't reheat too well.  Usually, I enjoy leftovers, but the leftovers on this dish weren't so wonderful.  They weren't awful, but definitely not as good as leftovers usually are for me.  I shared this recipe with one of my co-workers (I believe my carrot cake blog on here was from her recipe and I have two more of her recipes to try at some point) and she liked it and her husband LOVED it.  She's given me quite a few recipes so I was glad to return the favor so to speak. 

Say Cheese

We booked our wedding photographer.  We met with three different places (not bad for two indecisive people!) and found one we liked.  Actually, we liked two of them.  I liked the first person we met with, but my fiancé was a little annoyed because we met the owner of the company not the photographer.  That being said, he was very nice and patient with all of our questions.  Very friendly.  And the prices were great.  The next day we met with another photographer.  He was a bit...hmm, how can I put this politely?  I get that you have to sell yourself and put yourself out there, but it was a bit much.  And he gave us the brush off with some of our questions.  The third photographer we met with, my fiancé really liked.  He wanted to book him, but his prices were kind of high.  However, the next day he e-mailed us offering us a decent discount.  Since my fiancé is no Groomzilla, I figured I could compromise and let him get something he wanted even though it was a bit over our budget.  So a couple of days later, we wrote yet another check.  :-)  But now we have one thing checked off the list.  According to The Knot, I only have 158 (or something like that) more decisions to make.    Oh, yes, and we booked a dj a while back too.  Make that 157 (or something like that) more decisions to make. 

Week 33: Blondies (with Butterscotch chips)

I made this delightful dish during Lent when I wasn't eating chocolate.  I had made blondies before, but not this recipe.  It was good.  It was also a smaller dish than the previous blondies I'd made so that meant I wouldn't eat as many because there weren't as many to enjoy.  They were delicious.  I would gladly  make these again.  Unfortunately, I keep forgetting to take pictures of these dishes.  :-( 

Week 32 Honey Glazed Chicken Stir Fry

It has been so long since I made this that I barley remember it!  I do remember that making this involved me buying honey for the first time.  I had to ask someone what aisle honey is in since I'd never had a need to purchase it.  Fun Fact:  I once read that honey is the only food that does not spoil.  Anyway, I do believe I enjoyed this dish as did my fiancé.  Sorry to be so vague, but I made it in February.  Oops, I'm a little behind (again!). 

A Month Late

So "yesterday" a.k.a. a month ago, I said I would put up the pictures from Day 5 of my trip (after I charged my camera battery) and then life got in the way.  I charged the battery, but never posted the pictures so here are some of them a month late (and two months after the trip).  Enjoy!  Many are from a museum we went to.  Some are from my friend's place and the one of Ginger (the dog) and me is because I posed with her in a similar pose several years ago.  While we were unable to retake the picture at the same location we did the best we could with my posing.  If I were as good as my friend, I'd give you the comparison shot from 2010 and now, but I don't have that picture handy.